The Controversy
Ended
At
the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns to the earth. He is accompanied by the
host of the redeemed and attended by a retinue of angels. As He descends in
terrific majesty He bids the wicked dead arise to receive their doom. They come
forth, a mighty host, numberless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to
those who were raised at the first
resurrection!
The righteous were clothed with immortal
youth and beauty. The wicked bear the traces of disease and death. Every
eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the glory of the Son of GOD. With one voice the wicked hosts exclaim:
"Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!" It is not love to Jesus
that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling
lips. As the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth with the same
enmity to Christ and the same spirit of rebellion. They
are to have no new probation in which to remedy the defects of their past
lives. Nothing would be gained by this. A lifetime of transgression has not
softened their hearts. A second probation, were it given them, would be
occupied as was the first in evading the requirements of GOD and exciting rebellion against Him. Christ descends upon the Mount
of Olives, whence, after His
resurrection,
He ascended, and where angels repeated the promise of His return. Says the
prophet: "The Lord my GOD
663
shall
come, and all the saints with Thee." "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, . . . and there
shall be a very great valley."
"And the Lord shall be king
over all the earth: in that day
shall there be one Lord, and His name one." Zechariah 14:5, 4,
9. As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splendor, comes down
out of heaven, it rests upon the place purified and made ready to receive it,
and Christ, with His people and the angels, enters
the Holy City.
Now Satan prepares for a last
mighty struggle for the supremacy. While deprived of his power and cut off from
his work of deception, the prince of
evil was miserable and dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised and he
sees the vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he determines not
to yield the great controversy. He
will marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner and through them
endeavor to execute his plans. The wicked are Satan's captives. In rejecting Christ they
have accepted the rule of the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his
suggestions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not
acknowledge himself to be Satan. He
claims to be the prince who is the rightful owner of the world and whose
inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him. He represents himself to his
deluded subjects as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought them
forth from their graves and that he is about to rescue them from the most cruel
tyranny. The presence of Christ having
been removed, Satan works wonders to support his claims. He makes the weak strong and inspires all with his own spirit and
energy. He proposes to lead them against the camp of the saints and to take
possession of the City of
GOD. With fiendish exultation he points to the unnumbered millions who have
been raised from the dead and declares that as their leader he is well able to
overthrow the city and regain his throne and his kingdom.
664
In
that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race that existed before the
Flood; men of lofty stature and giant intellect, who, yielding to the control
of fallen angels, devoted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation of
themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led the world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty
and evil inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of GOD, caused Him to
blot them from the face of His creation. There are
kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant men who never lost a battle,
proud, ambitious warriors whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these
experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they resume the current
of their thoughts just where it ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to
conquer that ruled them when they fell. Satan consults with his angels, and
then with these kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon the
strength and numbers on their side, and declare that the army within the city
is small in comparison with theirs, and that it can be overcome. They lay their
plans to take possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. All immediately begin to prepare for battle.
Skillful artisans construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed for
their success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into companies and divisions.
At last the order to advance is given, and the countless host moves on--an army
such as was never summoned by earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces
of all ages since war began on earth could never equal. Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels
unite their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are in his
train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, each under its appointed
leader. With military precision the serried ranks advance over the earth's
broken and uneven surface to the City of GOD. By command
of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan
surround the city and make ready for the onset.
By E.G.White.
