A large number of people welcome Satan’s deceptions and set themselves against God, but amid the working of evil, God’s plans move steadily forward to their accomplishment. He is unveiling His justice and unselfish kindness to all created beings. The whole human race have become transgressors of God’s law, but by the sacrifice of His Son they may return to God. Through the grace of Christ they may be enabled to obey the Father’s law. In every age God gathers out a people “in whose heart is My law” (Isaiah 51:7).
God’s dealings with rebellion will result in fully unmasking the work that has been carried on under cover for so long. The results of setting aside the divine laws will be laid open to the view of all created beings. All will admit that the law of God is completely good and right. In the presence of the witnessing universe, Satan himself will confess the justice of God’s government and the righteousness of His law.
The terrors of Sinai were to represent the scenes of the judgment to the people. The sound of a trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God—the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God shall summon both the living and the dead from the whole earth to the presence of their Judge. At the great judgment day, Christ will come “in the glory of His Father with His angels” (Matthew 16:27). All nations will be gathered in His presence.
When Christ comes in glory with His holy angels, the whole earth will be ablaze with the terrible light of His presence. “Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people” (Psalm 50:3, 4). “The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel” (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8).
When Moses came from the divine Presence on the mountain, guilty Israel could not endure the light that glorified his face. How much less can sinners look on the Son of God when He will appear in the glory of His Father, surrounded by all the holy angels, to carry out judgment on the transgressors of His law and those who reject His atonement. “The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men” shall hide themselves “in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,” and they shall say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne ... . For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17).
Satan has claimed that good would result from transgression, but it will be seen that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). “‘For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘that will leave them neither root nor branch’” (Malachi 4:1).
But amid the tempest of divine judgment, the children of God will not be afraid. “The Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:16).
The result of the great plan of redemption is to fully bring the world back into God’s favor. Everything that was lost by sin is restored. Both the human race and the earth are redeemed, to be the eternal home of the obedient. Now God has accomplished His original purpose in its creation. “The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever” (Daniel 7:18).
The sacred laws of God, which Satan has hated and tried to destroy, will be honored throughout a sinless universe. “The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations” (Isaiah 61:11).
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