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Earth in Ruins
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led their hearers to make void the law of God and persecute those
who would keep it holy. “We are lost!” they cry, “and you are the
cause.” The hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised
for their destruction. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed.
The Son of God and heavenly messengers have been in conflict
with 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 controversy is not alone
with Satan, but with men. “The Lord hath a controversy with the
nations.”
Jeremiah 25:31
.
The Angel of Death
Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel’s vision
by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command
is given: “Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children,
and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and
begin at my sanctuary.” “They began at the ancient men which were
before the house,” those who professed to be the spiritual guardians
of the people.
Ezekiel 9:6
.
False watchmen are the first to fall. “The Lord cometh out of
his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity:
the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her
slain.” “A great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and
they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his
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hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbor.”
Isaiah 26:21
;
Zechariah 14:13
.
In the mad strife of their own fierce passions and by the out-
pouring of God’s unmingled wrath, fall wicked priests, rulers, and
people. “And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end
of the earth even unto the other.”
Jeremiah 25:33
.
At the coming of Christ the wicked are destroyed by the bright-
ness of His glory. 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,