{Chapter 41: Desolation of the Earth}
Please be advised to read the whole book of the Great Controversy to get Context.
#1
Such are the judgments that fall upon Babylon in the day of
the visitation of God's wrath. She has filled up the measure of her
iniquity; her time has come; she is ripe for destruction.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 654
#2
While probation continued they were blinded by Satan's
deceptions, and they justified their course of sin.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 654
#3
They had neglected to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to deal
justly, and to love mercy. They had sought to exalt themselves and to
obtain the homage of their fellow creatures.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 654
#4
The world see the very class whom they have mocked and derided,
and desired to exterminate, pass unharmed through pestilence,
tempest, and earthquake.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 654-655
#5
No language can express the longing which
the disobedient and disloyal feel for that which they have lost forever—eternal
life. Men whom the world has worshiped for their
talents and eloquence now see these things in their true light. They
realize what they have forfeited by transgression, and they fall at
the feet of those whose fidelity they have despised and derided, and
confess that God has loved them.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 655-656
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Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make
void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 656
#7
For six thousand years the great controversy has been in progress; the
Son of God and His heavenly messengers have been in conflict with
the power of the evil one, to warn, enlighten, and save the children
of men. Now all have made their decisions; the wicked have fully
united with Satan in his warfare against God.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 656
#8
Now the controversy is not alone with Satan, but with men.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 656
#9
In the mad strife of their own fierce
passions, and by the awful outpouring of God's unmingled wrath,
fall the wicked inhabitants of the earth-priests, rulers, and people,
rich and poor, high and low. "And the slain of the Lord shall be
at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of
the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried." Jeremiah 25:33.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 657
#10
At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face
of the whole earth-consumed with the spirit of His mouth and
destroyed by the brightness of His glory.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 657
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Christ takes His people
to the City of God, and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants. "Behold,
the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and
turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof."
"The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the Lord
hath spoken this word." "Because they have transgressed the laws,
changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore
hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are
desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned."
Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5, 6.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 657
#12
The whole earth appears like a desolate wilderness. The ruins
of cities and villages destroyed by the earthquake, uprooted trees,
ragged rocks thrown out by the sea or torn out of the earth itself, are
scattered over its surface, while vast caverns mark the spot where
the mountains have been rent from their foundations.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 657-658
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In like manner, when the work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary
has been completed, then in the presence of God and heavenly
angels and the hosts of the redeemed the sins of God's people will
be placed upon Satan; he will be declared guilty of all the evil which
he has caused them to commit. And as the scapegoat was sent away
into a land not inhabited, so Satan will be banished to the desolate
earth, an uninhabited and dreary wilderness.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 658
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The revelator foretells the banishment of Satan and the condition
of chaos and desolation to which the earth is to be reduced, and he
declares that this condition will exist for a thousand years.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 658
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After presenting
the scenes of the Lord's second coming and the destruction
of the wicked, the prophecy continues: "I saw an angel come down
from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain
in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which
is the devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast
him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon
him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand
years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little
season." Revelation 20:1-3.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 658
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That the expression "bottomless pit" represents the earth in a
state of confusion and darkness is evident from other scriptures.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 658
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Here is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand
years. Limited to the earth, he will not have access to other worlds to
tempt and annoy those who have never fallen. It is in this sense that
he is bound: there are none remaining, upon whom he can exercise
his power. He is wholly cut off from the work of deception and ruin
which for so many centuries has been his sole delight.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 659
#18
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.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 660
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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 the hearts." 1 Corinthians 4:5.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 660-661
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In union with Christ they judge the wicked, comparing their acts
with the statute book, the Bible, and deciding every case according
to the deeds done in the body. Then the portion which the wicked
must suffer is meted out, according to their works; and it is recorded
against their names in the book of death.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 661
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At the close of the thousand years the second resurrection will
take place. Then the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear
before God for the execution of "the judgment written." Thus the
revelator, after describing the resurrection of the righteous, says:
"The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were
finished." Revelation 20:5.
The Great Controversy 1911 Edition, Page 661