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Sabbath Bible Lessons

Sealed for Eternity

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Lesson 10 Sabbath, September 4, 2010

The Universe Cleansed

“Before [the Son of man] shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another” (Matthew 25:32).

“The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God on the charge of high treason against the government of heaven.”—The Great Controversy, p. 668.

Suggested Reading:   The Great Controversy, pp. 662-678.  

Sunday August 29

1. AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM

a. At the end of the millennium, when Christ comes to this earth for the third time, whom will He bid to arise from the dead? John 5:29 (second half); Revelation 20:5 (first half).

“At the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the redeemed and attended by a retinue of angels. As He descends in terrific majesty He bids the wicked dead arise to receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host, numberless as the sands of the sea.”—The Great Controversy, p. 662.

b. For what purpose will the wicked be raised? Isaiah 24:22; Jude 6; Psalm 97:1–3.

“At the close of the thousand years the second resurrection will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear before God for the execution of ‘the judgment written.’ Thus the revelator, after describing the resurrection of the righteous, says: ‘The rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished’ (Revelation 20:5).”—Ibid., p. 661.


Monday August 30

2. THE MOUNT OF OLIVES IS LEVELED

a. When Christ comes again, at the end of the thousand years, where will He descend? Zechariah 14:4.

“Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives, whence, after His resurrection, He ascended.”—The Great Controversy, p. 662.

b. As Jesus stands on the Mount of Olives, surrounded by the holy angels and all the saints, what will be clear to all concerning the sovereignty of the Son of man? Zechariah 14:5 (last part), 9.

c. In Christ’s presence, how will the wicked show the same desperate feeling they manifested a thousand years before? Isaiah 2:19.

“When the voice of God awakes the dead, he will come from the grave with the same appetites and passions, the same likes and dislikes, that he cherished when living. God works no miracle to re-create a man who would not be re-created when he was granted every opportunity and provided with every facility. During his lifetime he took no delight in God, nor found pleasure in His service. His character is not in harmony with God, and he could not be happy in the heavenly family.”—Christ’s Objects Lessons, p. 270.

d. Describe what unrepentant sinners must face. Psalm 145:20.

“As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin which they have ever committed. They see just where their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness, just how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the violation of the law of God. The seductive temptations which they encouraged by indulgence in sin, the blessings perverted, the messengers of God despised, the warnings rejected, the waves of mercy beaten back by the stubborn, unrepentant heart—all appear as if written in letters of fire.”—The Great Controversy, p. 666.


Tuesday August 31

3. AN AWFUL SPECTACLE

a. What scenes are revealed, as in a moving picture film, before Satan, his angels, and the wicked multitudes? When the godless crowds realize that, through their actions, they have pierced the Son of God, how will they show fear before the expected punishment? Zechariah 12:10 (last part); Revelation 1:7; Hebrews 10:28, 29, 27.

“Before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes—the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life.

“The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan, his angels, and his subjects have no power to turn from the picture of their own work. Each actor recalls the part which he performed. Herod, who slew the innocent children of Bethlehem that he might destroy the King of Israel; the base Herodias, upon whose guilty soul rests the blood of John the Baptist; the weak, timeserving Pilate; the mocking soldiers; the priests and rulers and the maddened throng who cried, ‘His blood be on us, and on our children!’—all behold the enormity of their guilt. They vainly seek to hide from the divine majesty of His countenance, outshining the glory of the sun, while the redeemed cast their crowns at the Saviour’s feet, exclaiming: ‘He died for me!’”—The Great Controversy, p. 667.

b. What new scene is suddenly displayed before the wailing multitudes? Revelation 21:2. What must all realize about the awesome magnitude of this moment? Job 37:5.

“As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splendor, comes down out of heaven, it rests upon the place purified and made ready to receive it, and Christ, with His people and the angels, enters the Holy City.”—Ibid., p. 663.

“Let the imaginations of the people be on the highest stretch to contemplate the glories of the New Jerusalem and yet they have but just entered upon the borders of the eternal weight of glory that shall be realized by the faithful overcomer.”—This Day With God, p. 103.


Wednesday September 1

4. THE LAST DAYS OF SATAN

a. As Satan contemplates the New Jerusalem and the home that he has lost, how does he recall the history of his rebellion? Isaiah 14:12–20.

“Memory recalls the home of [Satan’s] 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 among men and its results—the enmity of man toward his fellow man, the terrible destruction of life, the rise and fall of kingdoms, the overturning of thrones, the long succession of tumults, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ and to sink man lower and lower. He sees that his hellish plots have been powerless to destroy those who have put their trust in Jesus. As Satan looks upon his kingdom, the fruit of his toil, he sees only failure and ruin.”—The Great Controversy, p. 669.

b. How will the great deceiver rally the finally impenitent for the last great battle before he and his cohorts are destroyed? Reve­lation 20:9.

“Satan rushes into the midst of his followers and tries to stir up the multitude to action. But fire from God out of heaven is rained upon them, and the great men, and mighty men, the noble, the poor and miserable, are all consumed together. I saw that some were quickly destroyed, while others suffered longer. They were punished according to the deeds done in the body. Some were many days consuming, and just as long as there was a portion of them unconsumed, all the sense of suffering remained. Said the angel, ‘The worm of life shall not die; their fire shall not be quenched as long as there is the least particle for it to prey upon.’

“Satan and his angels suffered long. Satan bore not only the weight and punishment of his own sins, but also of the sins of the redeemed host, which had been placed upon him; and he must also suffer for the ruin of souls which he had caused.”—Early Writings, pp. 294, 295.


Thursday September 2

5. THE FINAL DESTRUCTION

a. In order to make the entire universe a safe place for all who want to live and work in harmony with the Great Lawgiver, what must each person admit? Romans 14:10–12; Philippians 2:10, 11.

“Said the angel: ‘If [those who fail to imitate the self-sacrificing Pattern] should be ushered into the city of God, and told that all its rich beauty and glory was theirs to enjoy eternally, they would have no sense of how dearly that inheritance was purchased for them. They would never realize the matchless depths of a Saviour’s love. They have not drunk of the cup, nor been baptized with the baptism. Heaven would be marred if such should dwell there.’”—Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 155.

“Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has unfitted him for heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God; the purity, peace, and harmony of heaven would be to him supreme torture. His accusations against the mercy and justice of God are now silenced. The reproach which he has endeavored to cast upon Jehovah rests wholly upon himself. And now Satan bows down and confesses the justice of his sentence.”—The Great Controversy, p. 670.

b. What is the final, eternal destiny of the wicked? Who are the only ones exempt? How will all the wicked, including the originator of all evil, be annihilated? Psalm 37:9, 10; Malachi 4:1–3; 2 Peter 3:10, 11; Revelation 20:9 (last part), 10, 14, 15.


Friday September 3

PERSONAL REVIEW QUESTIONS

a. What will be the new capital of the universe?

b. What is the purpose of the great white-throned judgment?

c. What type of record books are being kept in heaven?

d. Describe the final struggle for preeminence.

e. How is the originator of sin finally annihilated?

Optional note:

THE UNIVERSE CLEANSED

“The wicked receive their recompense in the earth (Proverbs 11:31). They ‘shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts’ (Malachi 4:1). Some are destroyed as in a moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished ‘according to their deeds’ (Psalm 28:4). The sins of the righteous having been transferred to Satan, he is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins which he has caused God’s people to commit. His punishment is to be far greater than that of those whom he has deceived. After all have perished who fell by his deceptions, he is still to live and suffer on. In the cleansing flames the wicked are at last destroyed, root and branch—Satan the root, his followers the branches. The full penalty of the law has been visited; the demands of justice have been met; and heaven and earth, beholding, declare the righteousness of Jehovah.

“Satan’s work of ruin is forever ended. For six thousand years he has wrought his will, filling the earth with woe and causing grief throughout the universe. The whole creation has groaned and travailed together in pain. Now God’s creatures are forever delivered from his presence and temptations. ‘The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they [the righteous] break forth into singing’ (Isaiah 14:7). And a shout of praise and triumph ascends from the whole loyal universe. ‘The voice of a great multitude,’ ‘as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings,’ is heard, saying: ‘Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth’ (Revelation 19:6).

“While the earth was wrapped in the fire of destruction, the righteous abode safely in the Holy City. Upon those that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has no power. While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, He is to His people both a sun and a shield (Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11). . . .

“One reminder alone remains: Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Upon His wounded head, upon His side, His hands and feet, are the only traces of the cruel work that sin has wrought. Says the prophet, beholding Christ in His glory: ‘He had bright beams coming out of His side: and there was the hiding of His power’ (Habakkuk 3:4, margin). That pierced side whence flowed the crimson stream that reconciled man to God—there is the Saviour’s glory, there ‘the hiding of His power.’ ‘Mighty to save’ (Isaiah 63:1), through the sacrifice of redemption, He was therefore strong to execute justice upon them that despised God’s mercy. And the tokens of His humiliation are His highest honor; through the eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will show forth His praise and declare His power.”—The Great Controversy, pp. 673, 674.

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