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 ." Verse 10 . 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 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 the final coronation of the Son of God takes place . 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 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 Jesus 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 seductive 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 , unrepentant 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-loved disciples , rudely hurried through the streets of Jerusalem ; the Son of God exultingly displayed before Annas , arraigned in the high 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 .
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