Texts for the Week: Rev. 22:11, 12; Jer. 30:5-7; Ps. 91:1-11; Jer. 25:33; Rev. 21:2; Rev. 20:11-15.
Opening Question: “What visions of joy and grandeur come to you mind when you think about the day that evil and its residues are destroyed never to appear again?”
We come now to the final lesson for this quarter, a lesson that has to do with the very last parts of the controversy between good and evil. It is important to remind ourselves that, in so many ways, the future is the most significant dimension for us. This is because the future consists of the preferred or ideal state to which we aspire. The past cannot be fixed, and the present is significant because it has the path to the future depending on how we conduct ourselves. It is clear that we humans can endure all kinds of deprivation and struggle if we have a real hope of a better future. And here in Revelation, the impending perfect future for believers is laid out. And, once again, the overall picture is very clear while some of the details may not be as clear. The final outcome is that good will triumph over evil and evil, its perpetrators and its residues, will all be destroyed in a final conflagration and a new world will emerge in which the separation that has pertained between God and humans will be removed and the universe will once again beat to a single harmonious pulse.
There are several events that we should note. First, there will be a time of great tribulation, a time of trouble such as never was, this according to the ancient prophet Daniel. And Peter, writing to the early Christians, told of cataclysm that will prevail at the end of things. But – and this is a very important item – the righteous will be preserved. Just as the plagues in ancient Egypt did not fall on the Israelites, so the final destruction will not destroy the righteous.
The time of trouble will be interrupted and ended by the second coming of Jesus, that event spoken of so many times in the New Testament in particular. Clearly this will an intervention from the sky, Christ descending the skies with hordes of angels to redeem those who have been faithful.
Another notable event will be the resurrection of the righteous dead. This is a very important feature of the end for it brings together all those who have been believers so that they will go up together to meet the Lord. Here all the severed relationships brought about by death will be mended. The joy here will be unspeakable. Also at this time, the deformities and ailments of believers will be removed. As Paul noted, we will be changed in a moment. And one of the best things associated with that change will be the dropping away of our inherent attraction to sin!
Following the return of Jesus, the earth will be left desolate with Satan confined to its environs. The period of time here is stated as being 1,000 years otherwise known as the Millennium. The texts of the Bible and the words used here create a link between the desolation of earth at the end with it condition before God worked to create life upon it in Genesis. Here the picture is one of the total reversal of creation in anticipation of a whole new world coming into being.
One of the more interesting elements of the final triumph has to do with what the saved are doing during the Millennium. Indications are that they will be in heaven as they will be caught up to be with the Lord at the Second Coming. But what will they be doing in heaven? Indications are, from Revelation 20, that they will be involved in evaluating the redemptive work of God. Paul, in one of his letters to the Corinthians, hinted a this, too. This ide fits very well with the fact that God is a God of love so He cannot resort to coercion. Furthermore, if sin is never to arise again, then those who are saved must be satisfied that God has acted fairly. One line of thought here has to do with questions that might arise about who was not saved, or who was saved who might not have looked much like a candidate for salvation while living on earth. The Millennium will be time enough to allow for those kinds of questions to be answered so, going on into eternity, there will be no cause for suspicion to arise again.
The final acts in the great controversy follow the Millennium. At the cost of those 1,000 years, there will be a third coming of Jesus. With him will not only be the heavenly beings mentioned in the Bible, but also those saved from earth, and the New Jerusalem. The city will settle on the earth and there will follow a great showdown for, as noted in Revelation 20:7-9, Satan will gather his forces who will be made up of all those who ever lived on earth who did not advantage themselves of salvation, and thy will attempt to overrun the city of God. At that point, God will unveil his glory, which is a consuming fire, and Satan and the wicked and all the residues of evil, will be consumed in a lake of fire leaving the universe pristine once more. We should note that the verses mentioned do not speak of a never-ending fire for evil, it says, is consumed, meaning it will burn until it is consumed.
With all this in mind, it is both sobering and intriguing to think of the controversy between good and evil, how it has unfolded from its beginning with Satan, how it has played out in human and cosmic history, the various misdoings of the evil one against the redemptive acts of God. And all of this in a way where a God of love has been able to guide things in such a way as not to infringe on His own character or inveigh on the freedom humans have to choose which is an essential capacity to be present in order for love to exist. To then think of the fact that, still before us is a grand finale’, one is inclined to think of the seriousness of picking sides now for now is the time to be living either a life focused on God and righteousness, or on evil and, behind the scenes, Satan. One is also drawn by the hope of one day living in a world where evil and brokenness are gone! Haste on that day. For those of us who have lived where good and evil can be found, the thought of living where evil is totally absent is wonderful indeed.
Perhaps there is no greater reflection on the end of things, the final outcome of the controversy, than the final paragraph of the book The Great Controversy – “The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, flow life and light and gladness, throughout the realms of illimitable space. From the minutest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.”—The Great Controversy, p. 678
A final thought here – there is unsurpassed power when working with sentient beings, to gaining their willing compliance in decision-making and living. God knows this and so the whole of the great controversy has been played out in ways that invite willing compliance for when a person is persuaded against their will, they are of the original opinion still. In the final analysis, there is no better way to settle matters than to bring about a consensus or even a division, that is driven or undergirded by willing compliance.
