Angels in the Great Hereafter
201
has not softened their hearts. A second probation, were it given them,
would be occupied as was the first, in evading the requirements of God
and exciting rebellion against Him.
Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives, whence, after His
resurrection, He ascended, and where angels repeated the promise of
His return. Says the prophet: “The Lord my God shall come, and all
the saints with Thee.” “And His feet shall stand in that day upon the
Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount
of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, ... and there shall be a very
great valley.” “And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that
day shall there be one Lord, and His name one.”
Zechariah 14:5, 4,
9
.—
The Great Controversy, 662, 663
.
Then we looked up and saw the great and beautiful City, with
twelve foundations, 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.—
Spiritual Gifts 1:213
.
Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the supremacy.
While deprived of his power, and cut off from his work of deception,
the prince of evil was miserable and dejected; but as the wicked dead
are raised, and he sees the vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes
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revive, and he determines not to yield the great controversy.... The
wicked are Satan’s captives.... They are ready to receive his sugges-
tions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does
not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He claims to be the prince who
is the rightful owner of the world, and whose inheritance has been
unlawfully wrested from him. He represents himself to his deluded
subjects as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought them
forth from their graves, and that he is about to rescue them from the
most cruel tyranny.... He proposes to lead them against the camp of
the saints, and to take possession of the city of God....
In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race that existed
before the Flood.... There are kings and generals who conquered
nations, valiant men who never lost a battle.... Satan consults with his
angels, and then with these kings and conquerors and mighty men.
They look upon the strength and numbers on their side, and declare that
the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, and that it