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Satan consults with his angels, and then with these kings and
conquerors and mighty men. They look upon the strength and num-
bers upon 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.
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At last the order to advance is given, and the countless host moves
on,—an army such as was never summoned by earthly conquerors,
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such as the combined forces of all ages since war began could never
equal. Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels
join their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are in
his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, each army
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 the 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.
Now Christ again appears to the view of his enemies. Far above
the city, upon a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne, high and
lifted up. Upon this throne sits the Son of God, and around him
are the subjects of his kingdom. The power and majesty of Christ
no language can describe, no pen portray. The glory of the Eternal
Father is enshrouding his Son. The brightness of his presence fills
the city of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the whole
earth with its radiance.
Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in the cause
of Satan, but who, plucked as brands from the burning, have fol-
lowed their Saviour with deep, intense devotion. Next are those who
perfected Christian characters in the midst of falsehood and infi-
delity, those who honored the law of God when the Christian world
declared it void, and the millions, of all ages, who were martyred
for their faith. And beyond is the “great multitude which no man
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could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues,”
“before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes,
and palms in their hands.” Their warfare is ended, their victory won.
They have run the race and reached the prize. The palm branch in
their hands is a symbol of their triumph, the white robe an emblem
of the spotless righteousness of Christ which now is theirs.
The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re-echoes
through the vaults of Heaven, “Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.” And angel and seraph unite
their voices in adoration. As the redeemed have beheld the power
and malignity of Satan, they have seen, as never before, that no
power but that of Christ could have made them conquerors. In all
that shining throng there are none to ascribe salvation to themselves,
as if they had prevailed by their own power and goodness. Nothing
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The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4
is said of what they have done or suffered; but the burden of every
song, the keynote of every anthem, is, Salvation to our God and unto
the Lamb.
In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and Heaven
takes place the final coronation of the Son of God. And now, invested
with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces
sentence upon the rebels against his government, and executes justice
upon those who have transgressed his law and oppressed his people.
Says the prophet of God: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that
sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and
there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and
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great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another
book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books, according to
their works.” [Revelation 20:11, 12.]
As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of Je-
sus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin which
they have ever committed. They see just where their feet diverged
from the path of purity and holiness, just how far pride and rebellion
have carried them in the violation of the law of God. The seduc-
tive temptations which they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the
blessings perverted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings
rejected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn, unrepen-
tant heart,—all appear as if written in letters of fire.
Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic view
appear the scenes of Adam’s temptation and fall, and the successive
steps in the great plan of redemption. 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; his
betrayal into the hands of the murderous mob; the fearful events of
that night of horror,—the unresisting prisoner, forsaken by his best-
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loved disciples, rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem; the
Son of God exultingly displayed before A
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325
priest’s palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly
and cruel Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to
die,—all are vividly portrayed.
And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final
scenes,—the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince
of Heaven hanging upon the cross; the haughty priests and the jeering
rabble deriding his expiring agony; the supernatural darkness; the
heaving earth, the rent 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 subjects have no power to turn from the picture of their
own work. Each actor recalls the part which he performed. Herod,
who slew the i
the King of Israel; the base Herodias, upon whose guilty soul rests
the blood of John the Baptist; the weak, time-serving Pilate; the