“Ho, brother, nowhere. Just buying a few things, getting ready to go to Kamamaung. We Adventists are having a meeting there next week.”
“When are you going?”
“Tuesday.”
“Tuesday? What say I go too?”
“Sure, come along. Train starts at noon.”
“Good; I’ll be there!”
“Where did we meet before, brother?”—but he was gone, and Tha Myaing was looking after the rapidly retreating figure. “Who is that man? Where have I seen him? He seems to know me all right. Wonder if he really will come. Don’t suppose so! Guess it’s only talk.” And because he was an old man and very experienced, he forgot all about it, and finished making his preparation for the meeting.
Tuesday was a busy day. They had to come in nine miles with their baggage, to catch the train by noon; but, being used to traveling, they were at the station more than an hour before the train started. They had hardly put their bundles together when—
“Oh, here we are!”
“What! you have come?”
“Yes, didn’t you say Tuesday?”
“Sure, but where are you bound for?”
“Kamamaung meeting, didn’t you say?”
“Yes, but do you really mean it?”
“Surely.”
“Well, get your ticket.”
“Right!”
“Show me! Well, I declare. Say now, brother, what does all this mean? How does it come that you know me? Where have we met before?”
“Ah, now that is a story. You don’t know me; but you know Po Thein?”
“Yes.”
“Remember coming with him one time and staying in such and such a village?”
“Yes.”
“You stayed in my house! You had been studying with him for months, and you studied with him in my house that night till nearly midnight. I was a Buddhist, and I had no time for Christianity. I had spent all my life feeding priests, seeking merit, and counting beads. That was all I wanted. I couldn’t be bothered even listening to you, so I lay down to sleep. But sleep wouldn’t come. I couldn’t help it. I had to listen to your study. One hour, two hours, three hours, four hours, and then you slept. But I didn’t. Again and again I heard that name ‘Jesus’! It was too strange for me to understand, but I heard you talk of this meeting, and I determined I would come and see; so here we are!”
“Say, but brother, you can’t smoke up there at the meeting. Can you stand four days without a smoke?”—this from Tha Myaing’s wife.
“Well, I’ll try!” and, going over to the rail fence at the station, he stuck his pipe on a picket and emptied his tobacco at the foot. “There, I’ll start now!” he declared, and the snap of that jaw showed that there was a strong, determined man behind it.
A few more pleasant words of explanation and encouragement, and the train came. The next day came a boat ride up the river, and the following day the local meeting at Kamamaung opened.
Po Thein was there too, his friend, whose studies with Tha Myaing had first arrested his attention. They reveled in the studies, enjoyed meeting the various workers, and felt more and more convinced. Then came the Friday evening service, when the call was made to accept Christ.
“Say, Po Thein, aren’t you going to stand up?”
“Er—um—yes—but—you need to feel sure you can live up to it, you know.”
“Oh, a Christ who would die for me when I knew Him not, when I was still a sinner, will not fail me when He sees me trying to follow Him; I believe He’s calling me.” And so saying, he was the first to stand to his feet.
I visited him three months later. I didn’t have to ask. His face shone with his new-found joy, and his three children were with him.
“Was your pipe still on the station fence when you got back?” I asked him.
“I never went to see,” he said.
We kept him in the probationary class for a year, and then baptized him and his eldest daughter. We put a worker in his village, but after a whole year there seems to be no other responding heart.
Verily we cannot tell whence comes the Spirit, nor whither He goes, but we continue to plead His guidance that the one of a city and the two of a family may all be gathered out.
Cha Nyut and his three children. He and his eldest daughter were baptized after their conversion at the Kamamaung meeting.
THE WORK OF EVIL ANGELS
By Gwynne Dalrymple
The great hidden force of wickedness and deception is doing a more nefarious work to-day than when it made its appearance in the Garden of Eden nearly six thousand years ago.
GWYNNE DALRYMPLE
Our first parents were happy in the Garden of Eden before the entrance of sin.
IN EARLIER articles of this series, we have mentioned that the Scriptures teach the apostasy and revolt of an angel eminent by wisdom and power; and we have hinted that this angel in his revolt had companions. That he was not alone is expressly taught by the Scriptures, for Peter, in the second chapter of his second epistle, fourth verse, asserts that “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment.”
The Bible expressly informs us also that these angels have been cast down to this earth. “That old serpent, called the devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:9. We hold, then, from this scripture (for we can find nothing contradictory to it) that Satan and his angels are at present cast out upon this earth.
DEMONIC POSSESSION
The Bible has something to say about the work of these fallen spirits. There would seem to be two general ways in which they labor against all that is wholesome and good. The first way is that of demonic possession. In demonic possession a spirit of evil, entering into a man, actually controls him. It mounts upon the throne of his will, and from that throne utters irresistible commands,—commands of cruelty, misery, and destruction. Of such possession there are some instances recorded in the Old Testament, but many more are described in the New. We shall cite two instances from the Gospel of Matthew: In the seventeenth chapter, verses 14-18, we are told how a father came to Jesus, asking relief for his boy. “He is a lunatic,” the father said, “and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.” The account continues that Jesus healed the child with convulsions, and cast him wallowing on the ground. The evil spirit was loathe to leave, but could not disobey the direct command of Jesus.
Again, an even clearer instance is found in Matthew 8:28-34. Jesus had landed on the eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the country of the Gergesenes. “There met Him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.” We are told that the demons who were in these men spoke through them, crying out, “What have we to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou Son of God?”
Mark records a conversation (5:6-13) that the demons had with Christ, the victims being used by these evil spirits as spokesmen. Christ inquired their name. Evading the question, they vaguely said that their name was “Legion,”—that is, there were very many of them. At last they besought the Saviour to let them depart into some swine that were feeding on the near-by hills. Jesus having given His consent, the spirits left the men, and went into the swine and, having entered them, promptly destroyed them. The men who had been possessed were restored to their right minds, and turned from furious madness to become disciples of the Son of God.
These are the clear accounts of the Scriptures. To-day in civilized lands, demon possession is either not so frequent or else assumes more subtle forms. The diffusion of Christian principles has checked the violent horrors of satanic possession as it anciently existed in Galilee and Samaria. Yet we are not prepared to suppose that it is extinct. In heathen lands where gross darkness is yet faintly touched by the light of the gospel, demon possession as terrible as that of Gadara or Capernaum may yet be seen. In China, in the New Hebrides, in the fastnesses of the Congo where witch doctors practice their mystic rites, we are of the opinion that demonic possession, with all its terrors of convulsions and agonies, may be witnessed, and is witnessed, by those missionaries who have consecrated their lives to the giving of the gospel in the darkest parts of our world.
FAMILIAR SPIRITS
According to the Scriptures, there is a second manner in which satanic spirits work,—a manner which, though it is less violent than possession, is not less pernicious. The Bible has much to say about those who have communication with “familiar spirits.” In Leviticus 19:31, the people of God are warned, “Regard not them that have familiar spirits.” In Deuteronomy 18:10-13, the warning is repeated against “a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them [the nations of Canaan] out from before thee. Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God.” Familiar spirits, then, would seem to be connected with those who practice necromancy; and necromancy is the pretended art of communicating with the spirits of the dead. In Isaiah 8:19, 20 comes again the same warning, that the people of God should not seek unto them that have familiar spirits; that the living should not seek to the dead; but that rather men, seeking unto their God, should look to Him for wisdom, and to His law for enlightenment.
THE MYSTERY OF DEATH
Now, there has at all times been a strong desire on the part of mankind to solve the mystery of death. The cessation of life is so awful, it is so overpowering to the mind, that one whom we knew, who lived with us and loved us, who, a few days past, could see, could hear, could feel, could laugh with us and weep, should now lie before us still and cold, insensible as clay, lifeless as a log or a stone,—this mystery has always wrought powerfully on the imaginations of men. They have felt that one whom they loved could not be dead, that somehow, somewhere, he must be alive; that somehow, some way, they must be able to communicate with him, and he with them.
Such sentiments are so ancient that their origin is lost from us; but we conclude that it must be of the greatest antiquity, when we observe that such teachings are found in every mythology, and among nations of the highest civilization, as well as among the most barbarous tribes. Thus in the Egyptian legends, Isis rescues her husband Osiris from his grave in the Nile, heals his wounds by her magical arts, and resurrects him from the power of death. So the tablets from Babylon assert that Ishtar has gone to the realm of Ilat, queen of the dead, to reclaim the perished Tammuz. So in the Grecian and Roman mythology communication with the dead is held not impossible, for Orpheus crosses the Styx to the side of his Eurydice, and the pious Æneas descends into Hades to communicate with his father, the deceased Anchises.
MOST STRIKING INSTANCE
Yet the most striking instance of attempted communication with the dead is recorded in the Bible itself. For the whole12account, we refer our readers to the twenty-eighth chapter of the first book of Samuel, where we are told how Saul, the first king of Israel, so far departed from divine instruction that he sought counsel of one who had a familiar spirit. To be sure, he turned to this means of information only in the gravest extremity. It was his last resort. Once favored of God, and once worthy of God's favor, the monarch had by slow steps separated himself from the divine will. Pride, jealousy, disobedience, and selfishness had invaded his life until they utterly possessed it; and the Spirit of God, unable to remain in a heart that stubbornly rejected its every pleading, had withdrawn itself.
Then came war with the Philistines. The king, desirous, not of communion with God, but of the information that he might obtain from God, sought the word of the One whom he had spurned. But there was no response; no dream came to the guilty monarch; the Urim and Thummim flashed no revealing ray; and every prophet of God was silent. In frenzied zeal to know the result of the approaching battle, Saul fled to a woman of En-dor who had a familiar spirit, and requested of her that she should bring up before him the spirit of Samuel. In accordance with his plea, a spirit, apparently that of Samuel, came up from the earth, announced to the woman who the disguised Saul really was, complained because Saul had disquieted his rest to bring him up, piously expressed regret that the king had asked of him information that God had seen fit to withhold,—and then immediately gave him the information,—and assured the monarch that after the morrow's battle all, good and bad, would be together. He then disappeared as the king, fainting with terror, fell prostrate to the floor.
REAL NATURE REVEALED
This account, we believe, is pregnant with suggestions as to the real nature of what is asserted to be communication with the dead. First, we notice that the spirit of Samuel appears from the earth,—an unusual direction for a heavenly spirit to come from. Secondly, before saying anything to the king, the spirit communicated the royal identity to the medium, although she belonged to a class condemned by God. Thirdly, the professedly righteous spirit revealed to Saul matters that God had refused to reveal to him. Fourthly, the supposed Samuel seemed to say that the wicked and righteous would all be consciously together after death, for he assured Saul, “To-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me,”—a wholly extraordinary state of affairs, nowhere else taught in the Scriptures. Fifthly, the mind of God toward this whole transaction is made clear to us in another part of the Bible, in the first book of Chronicles, the tenth chapter and thirteenth verse, wherein it is written: “So Saul died for his transgressions which he committed against the Lord, even against the word of the Lord, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to inquire of it.”
Unfortunately, the woman of En-dor was not the last to practice with familiar spirits. Her successors are yet with us; and spiritualism, which is nothing else than pretended communication with the dead, flourishes in our own times. It speaks to those who crave novelty and a supernatural excitement, and offers them its wares. It calls to the curious-minded, who desire to delve into mysteries, and sets before them its deceitful knowledge. It presents itself—and this is the most wretched of its dealings—to those who have lost the ones whom they have loved; it comes to them while their tears are hot on their cheeks, and their hearts are yet heavy with grief; it assures them that through its arts they can find the ones they have lost, and talk with those whose voices have been forever hushed.
“SPIRITS, . . . WORKING MIRACLES”
Alas for those who, being in affliction, receive as true these promises! They may indeed go to the séances; they may witness the tipping of tables and hear the strumming of mystical banjos; they may indeed see shadowy forms, as of their loved ones, and hear muttering voices, as of those they used to hear; but we are certain upon the authority of the word of God that they will not find the spirits of the departed. Spirits indeed will be there, but they will be “the spirits of devils, working miracles” (Revelation 16:14), and not of those who have gone from us.
For those who have passed away in death are not, in some vague immaterial form, haunting séance rooms. They are in their graves, where the wicked cease from troubling, bling, and where the weary are at rest. (Job 3:17.) Their breath has gone forth, their thoughts have perished, their consciousness has departed from them. (Psalm 146:4.) Into their repose, into their deep and dreamless slumber, the cares and anxieties, the follies and vexations of this life cannot intrude. The seasons shall come and go; the heat of summer and the cold of winter shall be changed about; the work of men and the work of nature are alike powerless to disturb the rest of those who have laid down their burdens and passed from us. They rest in unconscious peace.
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
Yet by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, those who are dead shall not always remain dead, and those who are asleep in the grave shall not forever be separated from us. “Marvel not at this,” the Saviour declares, “for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice.” John 5:28. “We shall all be changed,” are the words of the apostle Paul, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. . . . O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?” 1 Corinthians 15:51-55. And again the same apostle tells us: “I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. . . . The dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18.
The work of evil spirits, therefore, to impersonate those who are dead, cannot avail against those who take the plain word of God as their guide. We know that in Christ there is hope for our dead, and that in Him they shall rise again. He is life eternal. Not in the darkness of attempted communication with those who have gone before us,—with whom none can communicate, for they rest unconscious in their graves,—not in the attempted solaces of popular spiritualism, with its many frauds or, worse than its frauds, its spirits of evil angels; but in Christ is the salvation of both the living and the dead. His voice rings out, “I am He that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” Revelation 1:18. He, then, can unlock the tomb, and release to us its unconscious captives; and we have the assurance that He will indeed do this at the time that God has appointed. Death can indeed gain no victory; the grave shall not forever triumph; for Christ will overcome them.
Cultivate Hatred of Unbelief
By Henry Varley
CULTIVATE an intelligent hatred of the sin of unbelief, because it is the root sin of all others. Never excuse yourself on account of it. Never think of it as a mere misfortune of infirmity, for which you deserve pity rather than blame, but as a black and hateful sin.—Henry Varley.
At the End of the Pathway
By Grace Ellen Bruce
GRACE ELLEN BRUCE
THE air was hot and sultry,
A full moon shone round and bright;
With a weary, sorrow-burdened heart
I crept into the night,
Away from the brightly lighted room
And the many merry friends,
To walk alone beneath motionless trees,
To the place where the pathway ends
In a quiet little garden,
Flooded with soft moonlight,
Where myriad blossoms motionless stood
In the stillness of tropical night.
While I stood at the end of the pathway,
My sorrows began to depart;
I felt the touch of a hand on mine,
And a wonderful peace filled my heart.
The Master walked in that garden;
He knew I sought Him there,
In quiet meditation,
A burdened heart in prayer.
Sorrow fled from His presence,
Sweet peace filled its place,
There in the moonlit garden
Where He met me face to face.
O burdened heart, go meet Him there,
Where the winding pathway ends
In the quiet, fragrant garden of prayer,
Where the loving Saviour bends
To catch the faintest whisper
Breathed from a burdened heart,
Places His loving hand on yours,
And bids your sorrows depart.
Alaska Calls!
By Editor
UP AND down the rivers, and in and out of the harbors of the long Alaskan coast, the medical mission yacht “Messenger” has gone throughout the summer, carrying the gospel to hundreds who have not heard it for many a year. Now Pastor Wood, master of the vessel and superintendent of the Alaskan mission field, makes an appeal for at least one hundred copies of the SIGNS to use in connection with the meetings he will hold during the long winter. And he reminds us that the Alaskans are the greatest readers of books and periodicals per capita in the world; so these one hundred copies will only partially supply the need.
In a letter telling of the work being done on the Canal Zone, Pastor Lorntz mentions their need of two hundred or three hundred papers a week, and says: “Now, if you could secure these papers for us, we surely will appreciate it, as there are so many opportunities here in Panama, right on the crossroads of the world.”
And from far India, China, the islands of the Pacific, as well as the West Indies and other scattered fields, come further appeals for clubs of ten, twenty, or more; yet all express great appreciation for what we have been able to do for them. Will you not join us in sending these messengers of the gospel of Christ to some of these far-off, needy lands?
Fifty SIGNS a year to the foreign land of your choice, only $75; twenty-five copies, $37.50; ten copies, $15; five copies, $7.50. Send us your gift, and we will send the SIGNS to the place you choose.
Address, Coöperation Corner, SIGNS OF THE TIMES, Mountain View, California.
Satan Bound a Thousand Years
It seems necessary to spend one more hour in studying the events that take place upon this earth at the time of Christ's second coming. At that time the righteous are gathered, caught up to meet the Lord in the clouds, and return with Him to heaven. Judgments of fearful description will be visited upon this earth immediately. The wicked flee in terror from the face of God, crying to the rocks and the mountains to fall on them. This anguish will be of short duration, for we read: “Then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8.
Again it is written: “The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall . . . give a shout . . . against all the inhabitants of the earth. . . . For the Lord hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh. . . . And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” Jeremiah 25:30-33.
SLAIN BY BRIGHTNESS
Thus we see that when Christ comes the wicked are slain by the brightness of His glory, and will lie scattered upon the face of the earth. The earth, which has suffered under the curse from the day that Adam and Eve sinned (Genesis 3:17, 18), will be mightily shaken, for we read, “The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Revelation 6:14. “There was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.” Revelation 16:18, 20.
The Old Testament refers to this same time of desolation in various places. Jeremiah said: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. . . . The mountains . . . trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. . . . There was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. . . . The fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger.” Jeremiah 4:23-26.
Isaiah presents a similar picture: “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. . . . The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled. . . . The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate.” “The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.” Isaiah 24:1-6, 20.
EARTH IS GROANING
From these texts it is very clear that this old earth, which is even now groaning under the weight of sin, will be shaken from center to circumference, and reduced to a chaotic condition, even as it was before the “Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” (Genesis 1:2) and brought order out of confusion. At that time Satan, who is responsible for sin, will feel the terrible judgments of God. God has waited long for rebellion to ripen and manifest itself in all its terrible reality; but then, once for all, He will visit His judgments, and the whole universe will say, “Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because Thou hast judged thus.” Revelation 16:5. The Scriptures state: “It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited,” Isaiah 24:21, 22. The ones referred to as the “host of the high ones that are on high” are Satan and his angels. In 2 Peter 2:4 we read, “God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, . . . to be reserved unto judgment.” There are legions of evil angels. (Luke 8:30.) They are said to dwell “in high places,” as we read in Ephesians 6:11, 12 (margin): “Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and14blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against wicked spirits in high places.”
These evil spirits, of which Satan is the leader, will be brought to this earth, and shut up as in a prison. Desolation will be everywhere. There will be no sun to witness the scene; cities and mountains will be torn to pieces, and dead bodies will be scattered over the surface of the earth. Such will be the home of Satan and his angels for “many days,” after which “they shall be visited.” This is the wilderness into which the antitypical scapegoat is sent. Here he will have time to review the results of his rebellion against heaven.
BOUND A THOUSAND YEARS
The Bible tells us just how long he will be bound here. “I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, . . . which is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled; and after that he must be loosed a little season.” Revelation 20:1-3.
During this same period, the righteous are in heaven, reigning with Christ on thrones of judgment. We read: “I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, . . . and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.” Revelation 20:4, 6. This judgment in which the righteous share is the judgment of the wicked. It is stated, “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” 1 Corinthians 6:2, 3. Again, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts.” 1 Corinthians 4:5.
When this judgment is completed, and sentence is meted out to the wicked, Christ and all the saints will return to this earth. “I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and He that sat upon him was . . . clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations: and He shall rule them with a rod of iron. . . . And He hath . . . a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Revelation 19:11-16. “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all.” Jude 14, 15.
NEW JERUSALEM DESCENDS
“Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, . . . and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, . . . and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. . . . And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee.” Zechariah 14:3-5.
The leveling of the Mount of Olives prepares a place for the holy city, the New Jerusalem, to rest upon. As Christ, with the saints and the holy city, descends to the earth, the wicked are resurrected, for we read: “The rest of the dead [which are the wicked] lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” Revelation 20:5. “When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations, . . . to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.” Revelation 20:7-9.
Here we have brought to view the final stand of Satan and his followers against God. Since his rebellion in heaven, he has waged an unrelentless warfare against righteousness, and as he sees the New Jerusalem, with the saints inside the walls, and the host of wicked, just resurrected with him, on the outside, the spirit of hatred surges anew through his being, and he marshals his followers for a final effort to defeat God's purpose. As they approach the city, there will be seen the great white throne of God: “And before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats.” Matthew 25:32. In the presence of the wicked host, Christ confers theFifteenrestored kingdom on the righteous who are on His right hand; and then the wicked hear the awful words from Him whose love and mercy they have rejected. “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25: 41. Complete destruction will be their lot.
“The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Revelation 21: 8. “Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15. God has said, “The wages of sin is death.” Romans 6:23.
The fire will devour the wicked, root and branch, and purify the earth. Of this, however, we will read next week.
