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Darkness Before Dawn
none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the sentence of
eternal death is pronounced against them.
It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble inde-
pendence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death. The wicked
[56]
see what they have forfeited by their life of rebellion. The far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory was despised when offered
them; but how desirable it now appears. “All this,” cries the lost soul,
“I might have had; but I chose to put these things far from me. Oh,
strange infatuation! I have exchanged peace, happiness, and honor for
wretchedness, infamy, and despair.” All see that their exclusion from
heaven is just. By their lives they have declared: “We will not have
this Man [Jesus] to reign over us.”
The Rapture of the Saved
As if entranced, the wicked have looked upon the coronation of
the Son of God. They see in His hands the tables of the divine law,
the statutes which they have despised and transgressed. They witness
the outburst of wonder, rapture, and adoration from the saved; and
as the wave of melody sweeps over the multitudes without the city,
all with one voice exclaim, “Great and marvelous are Thy works,
Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints”
(
Revelation 15:3
); and, falling prostrate, they worship the Prince of
life.
Satan seems paralyzed as he beholds the glory and majesty of
Christ. He who was once a covering cherub remembers whence he
has fallen. A shining seraph, “son of the morning;” how changed, how
degraded! From the council where once he was honored, he is forever
excluded. He sees another now standing near to the Father, veiling
His glory. He has seen the crown placed upon the head of Christ by
an angel of lofty stature and majestic presence, and he knows that the
exalted position of this angel might have been his.
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 to
gain the sympathy 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 before him. He reviews his work