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The Great Controversy
Notwithstanding that Satan has been constrained to acknowledge
God’s justice and to bow to the supremacy of Christ, his character
remains unchanged. The spirit of rebellion, like a mighty torrent,
again bursts forth. Filled with frenzy, he determines not to yield the
great controversy. The time has come for a last desperate struggle
against the King of heaven. He rushes into the midst of his subjects
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and endeavors to inspire them with his own fury and arouse them to
instant battle. But of all the countless millions whom he has allured
into rebellion, there are none now to acknowledge his supremacy. His
power is at an end. The wicked are filled with the same hatred of God
that inspires Satan; but they see that their case is hopeless, that they
cannot prevail against Jehovah. Their rage is kindled against Satan
and those who have been his agents in deception, and with the fury of
demons they turn upon them.
Saith the Lord: “Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of
God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible
of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty
of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring
thee down to the pit.” “I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from
the midst of the stones of fire.... I will cast thee to the ground, I will
lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.... I will bring thee to
ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.... Thou
shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.”
Ezekiel 28:6-8,
16-19
.
“Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments
rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire.” “The
indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their
armies: He hath utterly destroyed them, He hath delivered them to the
slaughter.” “Upon the wicked He shall rain quick burning coals, fire
and brimstone and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their
cup.”
Isaiah 9:5
;
34:2
;
Psalm 11:6
, margin. Fire comes down from
God out of heaven. The earth is broken up. The weapons concealed in
its depths are drawn forth. Devouring flames burst from every yawning
chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The day has come that shall burn as
an oven. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the
works that are therein are burned up.
Malachi 4:1
;
2 Peter 3:10
. The
earth’s surface seems one molten mass—a vast, seething lake of fire. It
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is the time of the judgment and perdition of ungodly men—“the day of