Christ Returns to Earth A Third Time
After the thousand years, Christ returns to the earth. He travels along with the host of the redeemed and attended by an countless number of angelic assistants. As He descends in terrific majestic beauty He calls the evil dead arise to receive their doom.
They come forward, a mighty host, numberless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to those who were raised at the first returning from the dead! The righteous friends of Jesus were clothed with endless youth and beauty. The evil look horribly diseased and look like the walking dead
Every eye in that huge large number is turned to look at the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the evil numbers shout: "Blessed and supremely happy is He that comes in the name of the Lord!"
It is not love to Jesus that inspires this statement. The force of truth makes them speak from unwilling lips. As the evil souls went into their graves, so they come out with the same hatred to Christ and the same spirit of fighting against God's gracious authority.
They are to have no new probation (extra time for changing their minds) in which to fix their sins or the defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by this. A lifetime of crime has not softened their hearts. A second probation, were it given them, would be occupied as was the first in getting away from the necessary things of God and exciting rebellion and fighting against His wise authority.
Christ is now flying down and landing on the Mount of Olives, from where, after His returning from the dead, He rose up and where angels repeated the promise of His return.
Says the prophet Zechariah, "The Lord my God will come, and all the saints with You."
"And His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will split in half and there will be a very great valley."
"And the Lord will be king over all the earth: in that day will there be one Lord, and His name one." Zechariah 14:5, 4, 9.
As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling beauty, comes down from heaven, it rests on the place cleaned 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 title as Ruler of the Universe. While there was 1000 years pause button of his power and cut off from his work of lying, the prince of evil was very unhappy and terribly depressed.
But as the evil dead are raised and he sees the huge large numbers upon his side, his hopes spring back to life, and he does not give up his struggle against God.
He will gather together all the armies of the lost under his flag and through them try to conquer and destroy. The evil are Satan's prisoners. In rejecting Christ they rejected the gift of freedom from slavedriver the devil.
Instead they have accepted the rule of the rebel leader.
They are ready to receive his suggestions and to obey his instructions. Yet, true to his early cleverness, he does not tell anyone that he is actually Satan!
He claims to be the prince who is the rightful owner of the world and whose inheritance was illegally taken by force from him. He represents himself to his hypnotized subjects as a redeemer, promising to them that his power has brought them forward from their places where bodies were buried and he is about to rescue them from the most cruel and bad treatment.
Satan's Counterattack
They lay their plans to take possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. All immediately begin to prepare for fight.
Excellent workers and craftsmen construct tools of war. Military leaders, famous for their success, gather together the crowds of warlike men into companies and divisions.
At last the order to march forward 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 battle and 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 (by the massive earthquake from the 7 last plagues), one thousand years before.
They march strangely across the 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 attack.
The Great Controversy Movie Starts
The Saviour's lowly birth.
His early life of simplicity and obedience.
His baptism in Jordan.
The fast and temptation in the wilderness.
His public ministry, unfolding to men heaven's most precious blessings.
The days crowded with deeds of love and mercy, the nights of prayer and watching in the solitude of the mountains.
The plottings of envy, hate and malice which repaid His benefits.
The awful, mysterious agony in Gethsemane beneath the crushing weight of the sins of the whole world.
The unresisting prisoner, forsaken by His best-loved disciples, rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem.
The Son of God exultingly (boastfully) displayed before Annas, arraigned (dragged) in the high priest's palace
In the judgment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly and cruel Herod.
Jesus was mocked, insulted, tortured and condemned to die.
All these events are vividly (clearly) portrayed (shown)
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes.
The patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary.
The Prince of heaven hanging on the cross.
The haughty, proud priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony.
The supernatural darkness.
The heaving (moving like earthquake) earth.
The rent (ripped) rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the world's Redeemer yielded up His life. The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his angels and his followers have no power to turn from the picture of their own work.
Each actor recalls the part which he played.
Herod, who slew the innocent children of Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel
The weak, timeserving Pilate.
The mocking soldiers.
The priests and rulers and the maddened throng who cried, “His blood be on us, and on our children!”. All realise the seriousness of their guilt.
They vainly seek to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, shining brighter than the glory of the sun.
Meanwhile the redeemed, those rescued friends of Jesus cast their crowns at the Saviour's feet, exclaiming: “He died for me!”
Amid the ransomed throng are the apostles of Christ, the heroic Paul, the ardent Peter, the loved and loving John and their truehearted brethren, and with them the vast host of martyrs.
While outside the walls, with every vile and abominable thing, are those by whom they were persecuted, imprisoned, and slain.
There is Nero, that monster of cruelty and vice, watching the joy and exaltation (beautiful transformation) of those whom he once tortured and in whose extremest anguish he found satanic delight.
His mother is there to witness the result of her own work. To see how the evil stamp of character transmitted to her son and the passions encouraged and developed by her influence and example. How they have borne fruit in crimes that caused the world to shudder. GC 667.3
There are papist priests and prelates, who claimed to be Christ's ambassadors. Yet, they employed the rack, the dungeon and the stake to control the consciences of His people.
There are the proud pontiffs who exalted themselves above God and thought they had the right to change the law of the Most High.
As the redeemed have beheld the power and malignity (devilish extreme jealousy) of Satan, they have seen, as never before, that no power but that of Christ could have made them conquerors. (Winners in the Great Controversy)
In all that shining throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves, as if they had prevailed (did the ultimate makeover, got born again, or fixed themselves) by their own power and goodness.
Nothing is said of what they have done or suffered; but the focus of every song, the keynote of every anthem is: Salvation to our God and to the Lamb.
In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven the final coronation of the Son of God takes place.
And now, with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence on the rebels against His government and executes justice (let's them go, gives them up to side effects of holding onto their sinful characters Romans 2) on those who have transgressed (ignored) His law (friendly commandments or insructions) and oppressed (made life very difficult) His people.
As if entranced, the wicked have looked on the coronation (crowning) of the Son of God. They see in His hands the tables of the divine law, (10 Commandments, the royal law of love for God and love to others) the statutes which they have despised and transgressed. (hated and did exactly the opposite.)
They witness the outburst of wonder, rapture, and adoration (saying only nice and complimentary and positive things) from the saved.
As the wave of melody sweeps over the multitudes (jam packed crowd of people) outside the city, all with one voice exclaim,
“Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty.
Just and true are Your ways, You King of saints” Revelation 15:3 and, bowing down, they worship the Prince of life. GC 668.4
Every Knee Bows to King Jesus
Satan seems paralyzed as he looks at the glory and majesty of Christ. He who was once a covering cherub remembers how far he has fallen. A shining seraph, “son of the morning;” how changed, how degraded! (disgusting!)
From the council where once he was honored, he is forever excluded. He sees another now standing near to the Father, veiling (covering) His glory. (character and brightness).
He has seen the crown placed on the head of Christ by an angel of lofty stature (extremely tall) and majestic (royal) presence. He knows that the exalted (high) position of this angel might have been his. GC 669.1
Memory recalls the home of his innocence and purity, the peace and content that were his until he indulged in murmuring against God, and envy of Christ.
His accusations, his rebellion, his deceptions (lies) to gain the sympathy (feeling sorry for his troubles) and support of the angels, his stubborn persistence in making no effort for self-recovery when God would have granted him forgiveness, all come vividly (clear as day) before him.
He reviews his work among men and its results.
The enmity (hatred) of man toward his fellow man. The terrible destruction (terribly sad ending) of life.
The rise and fall of kingdoms
The overturning of thrones and the long succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions.
He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and to sink man (disgrace his manhood and childhood) lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots have been powerless to destroy those who have put their trust in Jesus.
The fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, (the royal law of liberty) are laid open to the view of all created intelligences. (thinking people)
God is Cleared of Responsibility for Sin
Revelation 20:10
And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur,
into which the beast and the false prophet had already been thrown.
They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
They marched across the broad expanse of the earth
and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city.
But fire came down from heaven and consumed them.
(Permanently gone, instant elimination, zapped and then devouring fire, God's glory or pure goodness burns up remains)
Before the universe has been clearly presented the great sacrifice made by the Father and the Son in man's behalf. The hour has come when Christ occupies His rightful position and is honored and praised above lands ruled by a princes and powers and every name that is named.
It was for the joy that was set before Him, that He might bring many sons to glory, that He went through tolerated the cross and ignored the shame.
And extremely great as was the sadness and the shame and embarrassment, yet greater is the joy and the glory.
He looks on the redeemed, renewed and born again, beautiful madeover in His own image, every heart carrying the perfect impress or stamp of God's glory or character, every face reflecting the likeness of their King.
He sees in them the result of His hard work, suffering and pain from the travail of His soul, and He is extremely joyful because His goal was reached.
Then, in a voice that reaches the large numbers of the morally good friends of Jesus, the righteous and the evil, He declares: "Look! the ones I paid for with My blood! For these I suffered, for these I died, that they might live in My presence through all the never-ending ages."
And the song of praise rises up from the white-robed ones about the throne: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain (sacrificed) to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing." Revelation 5:12.
Satan's work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand years he has followed his selfish will, filling the earth with trouble and causing sadness (about death) throughout the entire universe.
The whole creation has groaned in suffering together in pain. Now God's creatures are forever delivered from his presence, his temptations and dictatorship.
"The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they the righteous, good friends of Jesus break out into singing." Isaiah 14:7.
And a shout of praise and victory rises from the whole loyal universe. "The voice of a large number of people," "as the voice of many waters, (waves and oceans) and as the voice of mighty thunderings," is heard, saying: "Alleluia: for the Lord God all-powerful rules." Revelation 19:6.
While the earth was wrapped in the fire of destruction, the righteous or good friends of God are in their homes, safe in the Holy City. On those that took part in the first resurrection, or the returning from the dead, the second death has no power.
While God is to the sad sinners a devouring fire, He is to His friends, His people both a Sun and a Shield and protector. Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11. (consumed ___To eat down, i.e. devour, literally or figuratively, katesthรญล)
The Second Creation of Our Earth & No Eternal Torture
"I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared Revelation 21:1.
The fire that devours the evil cleans the earth. (the fire is God's glorious character, a holy and pure firey furnace of love.)
Every trace of the curse is swept away. No forever burning hell will keep before the ransomed the scary results of sin.
One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer (Rescuer and Life Saver) will ever carry the marks of His crucifixion. There on His wounded head, on His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has formed.
Says the predictor of the future, seeing Christ in His glory: "He had bright (lines of light) coming out of His side: and there was the hiding of His power." Habakkuk 3:4, margin.
That pierced side from where flowed the blood-red stream that (reached agreement, reconciliation, turned from enemies into friends) man to God. There is the Rescuer's glory, there "the hiding of His power."
"Mighty to save," through the sacrifice of redemption, He was therefore strong to do justice on them that hated God's mercy. And the symbols of His shame or embarrassment (in front of many people) are His highest honor.
Through the never-ending ages the wounds of Calvary will show forward His praise and declare His awesome power.
A fear of making the future inheritance seem too materialistic, makes many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look on heaven as our home
The Lord Jesus Christ promised certain of His loyal disciples or students that He went to prepare mansions or immensely spacious homes for them in the Father's country.
Interesting Work and Privilege of Talking with God Face to Face
In the Bible the inheritance of the saved is called a country. Hebrews 11:14
There the Saviour leads us to fountains of living waters. The tree of life yields its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the service of the nations.
There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows upon the paths prepared for the ransomed of the Lord.
There the wide-spreading plains swell into hills of beauty, and the mountains of God rear their sky-high summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's people, so long travelers and wanderers, will find a home
"My people will live in a peaceable home. And living in sure (permanent) houses, and in quiet resting places."
"Violence will no more be heard in your land, wasting nor destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls (saving or protecting someone from sin or harm), and your gates Praise."
"They will build houses, and live in them and they will plant vineyards, farms and gardens and eat the fruit of them.
They will not build, and another live in; they will not plant, and another eat
Mine elect will long enjoy the work of their hands." Isaiah 32:18
Everyone will be equipped with the wisdom of Solomon and strengthe of Samson, interior design skills and architectural abilities for building mansions and vineyards.
The Sower is the Farm owner - the Lord Jesus. His name Emmanuel - God with us - living, loving and working together forever! ๐
Amos 9:13
Behold, the days come, says the Lord
that the plowman shall overtake the reaper
and the treader of grapes him that planted the seed.
The mountains shall drop sweet wine, (sweet grape juice not sour or fermented alcoholic) and all the hills shall melt.
"the desert place will be glad for them; and the desert will joyfully celebrate, and blossom as the rose.
Instead of the thorn will come up the fir tree, and instead of the thorny bush will come up the myrtle tree.
The wolf also will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid; ... and a little child will lead them."
"They will not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain," says the Lord. Isaiah 35:1; 55:13; 11:6, 9.
Pleasant Community Life
There will be no more death
neither sadness
nor crying
for the former things are ended
Guess the synonyms for the promises in Revelation 21 ๐opposites of the above, you discover new gems about our good God and awesome blessing (be so happy!)
**Read the possible Answers the Opposites Quiz Cartoon Word Study on Revelation 21 here (at bottom of this page๐
The residents will not say, I am sick: the people that dwell in there will be forgiven their sin. Revelation 21 verse 4; Isaiah 33:24.
There is the New Jerusalem, the big city of the honored and praised new earth, "a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal crown in the hand of your God." "Her light was like unto a stone most very valuable even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
The nations of them which are saved will walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.
Says the Lord. I will joyfully celebrate in Jerusalem, and joy in My people.
The place of worship of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them, and be their God." Isaiah 62:3; Isaiah 65:19; Revelation 21:3
The peace and harmony of the heavenly courts will not be marred by the presence of one who is rough or unkind
Everything in heaven is noble and elevated. All seek the interest and happiness of others No one devotes himself to looking out and caring for self, none are selfish.
It is the chief joy of all holy beings to witness the joy and happiness of those around them
This is where all is peace, where no stormy conflicts of earth could ever come—heaven, a kingdom of righteousness where all the holy and pure and blest are congregated
Ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, living and walking in happy, pure intimacy, praising God and the Lamb who sitteth on the throne.
In the City of God "there will be no night." None will need or feel weart or desire rest. There will be no extreme tiredness in doing the will of God and offering praise to His name.
We will ever feel the freshness of the morning and will ever be far from its close. "And they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God gives them light." Revelation 22:5.
The light of the sun will be replaced by a brilliance which is not painfully dazzling, yet which way brighter than the brightness of midday sun on earth.
The glory of God and the Lamb floods the Holy City with unfading light. The redeemed walk in the sunless glory of an endless sunny day.
"I saw no temple there for the Lord God All-powerful and the Lamb are the temple of it." Revelation 21:22.
The people of God are privileged and very thankful to hold open communion with the Father and the Son.
"Now we see through a glass, darkly." 1 Corinthians 13:12.
We now see the image of God reflected, as in a mirror, in the works of nature and in His dealings with men.
But then we will see Him face to face, without a dimming cover (protective shield) between us. We will stand in His presence and see the glory of His face.
There the redeemed will know, even as also they are known on earth before. The loves and sympathies - caring feelings about someone else's troubles/feelings of loyalty to something which God Himself has planted in the soul will there, find truest and sweetest exercise.
The communion (conversations) with holy (pure) beings, the well pleasing social life with the blessed (supremely happy) angels and with the faithful ones (Friends of Jesus) of all ages who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, the holy and invisible ties that hold together "the whole family in heaven and earth" Ephesians 3:15.
All these help to make up the happiness of the redeemed.
There, immortal (incapable of dying) minds will think about with never-failing delight the wonders of creative power (showing the ability to create interesting new things), the mysteries of redeeming love.
There will be no cruel, lying to enemy to tempt to forgetfulness of God. Every intellect or thinking ability will be developed, every ability (to hold or do something) increased.
The getting of knowledge will not tire the mind or exhaust (wear out)the energies. There the greatest businesses and projects may be carried forward, the highest wishes and dreams reached, the highest ambitions or desires to do great things, to understand mysteries, made reality or achieved.
And still there will arise new heights to get on top of or win, new wonders to admire and respect, new truths to understand, fresh objects to call forward the powers of mind and soul and body.
All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's redeemed. Freed from limitations of mortality, they wing (fly like a bird, soaring without a space rocket) with endless and very energetic flight to worlds faraway.
Worlds that were extremely sad at the very sight of human trouble and rang with songs of gladness at the news or information of a ransomed soul. With delight beyond words the children of earth enter into the joy and the wisdom of unfallen beings.
They share the treasures of knowledge learning through eons and eons in careful thinking of God's handiwork, awesome creativity and creation. With undimmed vision (Microscopic and Telescopic vision) they look at the glory (goodness and brightness) of creation.
The suns and stars and solar systems, all in their perfect order circling the throne of God. On all things, from the least to the greatest, the Creator's name (character and goodness) is written, and in all are the riches of His power displayed.
*๐๐๐Take a look at Revelation 21. Ask the question,
What opposites can I find in the verse?
Can I find a matching example from the 10 commandments?
10 commandments are all about Jesus. He was the only Person who lived them
Being a true friend of God and Everyone
They are 10 promises, what our Saviour wants to do FOR us
The power to live 10 Commandments are included in the gift of New Birth we received when Jesus is our Lord for life
Do you want to be a True Friend, that loving and likeable friend is described described in the 10 Commandments?
How does it go into detail what will the community life be like in God's Country?
Guess the Opposites in Revelation 21 about what will the life in God's Country look like?
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