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Earth Desolated
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because the inhabitants of other worlds were delivered from his
presence and his temptations.
Then I saw thrones, and Jesus and the redeemed saints sat upon
them; and the saints reigned as kings and priests unto God. Christ,
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in union with His people, judged the wicked dead, comparing their
acts with the statute book, the Word of God, and deciding every
case according to the deeds done in the body. Then they meted
out to the wicked the portion which they must suffer, according to
their works; and it was written against their names in the book of
death. Satan also and his angels were judged by Jesus and the saints.
Satan’s punishment was to be far greater than that of those whom
he had deceived. His suffering would so far exceed theirs as to bear
no comparison with it. After all those whom he had deceived had
perished, Satan was still to live and suffer on much longer.
After the judgment of the wicked dead had been finished, at the
end of the one thousand years, Jesus left the city, and the saints and
a train of the angelic host followed Him. Jesus descended upon a
great mountain, which as soon as His feet touched it, parted asunder
and became a mighty plain. Then we looked up and saw the great
and beautiful city, with twelve foundations, and twelve gates, three
on each side, and an angel at each gate. We cried out, “The city! the
great city! it is coming down from God out of heaven!” And it came
down in all its splendor and dazzling glory and settled in the mighty
plain which Jesus had prepared for it.
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