Christ’s Return
185
What a scene will these mountains and hills [in Switzerland]
present when Christ, the Lifegiver, shall call forth the dead! They
will come from caverns, from dungeons, from deep wells, where their
bodies have been buried.—
Letter 97, 1886
.
The Wicked Are Slain
In the mad strife of their own fierce passions, and by the awful
outpouring of God’s unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of
the earth—priests, rulers, and people, rich and poor, high and low.
“And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the
earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented,
neither gathered, nor buried” (
Jeremiah 25:33
).
At the coming of Christ the wicked are blotted from the face of the
whole earth—consumed with the spirit of His mouth and destroyed by
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the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the city of God,
and the earth is emptied of its inhabitants.—
The Great Controversy,
657
(1911).
To sin, wherever found, “our God is a consuming fire” (
Hebrews
12:29
). In all who submit to His power the Spirit of God will consume
sin. But if men cling to sin, they become identified with it. Then the
glory of God, which destroys sin, must destroy them.—
The Desire of
Ages, 107
(1898).
The glory of His countenance, which to the righteous is life, will
be to the wicked a consuming fire.—
The Desire of Ages, 600
(1898).
Destruction of the Wicked an Act of Mercy
Could those whose hearts are filled with hatred of God, of truth
and holiness, mingle with the heavenly throng and join their songs of
praise? Could they endure the glory of God and the Lamb? No, no;
years of probation were granted them, that they might form characters
for heaven; but they have never trained the mind to love purity; they
have never learned the language of heaven, and now it is too late. A
life of rebellion against God has unfitted them for heaven. Its purity,
holiness, and peace would be torture to them; the glory of God would
be a consuming fire. They would long to flee from that holy place.
They would welcome destruction, that they might be hidden from the
face of Him who died to redeem them. The destiny of the wicked is