The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 661
Even the wicked are now placed beyond the power of Satan, and
alone with his evil angels he remains to realize the effect of the curse
which sin has brought. “The kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in
glory, everyone in his own house [the grave]. But thou art cast out of thy
grave like an abominable branch.... Thou shalt not be joined with them
in burial, because thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people.”
Isaiah 14:18-20.
For a thousand years, Satan will wander to and fro in the desolate
earth to behold the results of his rebellion against the law of God. During
this time his sufferings are intense. Since his fall his life of unceasing
activity has banished reflection; but he is now deprived of his power and
left to contemplate the part which he has acted since first he rebelled
against the government of heaven, and to look forward with trembling
and terror to the dreadful future when he must suffer for all the evil
that he has done and be punished for the sins that he has caused to be
committed.
To God’s people the captivity of Satan will bring gladness and
rejoicing. Says the prophet: “It shall come to pass in the day that Jehovah
shall give thee rest from thy sorrow, and from thy trouble, and from the
hard service wherein thou wast made to serve, that thou shalt take up this
parable against the king of Babylon [here representing Satan], and say,
How hath the oppressor ceased! ... Jehovah hath broken the staff of the
wicked, the scepter of the rulers; that smote the peoples in wrath with a
continual stroke, that ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that
none restrained.” Verses 3-6, R.V.
During the thousand years between the first and the second
resurrection the judgment of the wicked takes place. The apostle Paul
points to this judgment as an event that follows the second advent.
“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
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