Friday, December 6, 2024

Some are destroyed as in a moment, while others suffer many days. All are punished “according to their deeds.”....

 

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. 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.8The Great Controversy, 673. 

Satan and all who have joined him in rebellion will be cut off.... Then the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be”; “they shall be as though they had not been.” Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16.9The Desire of Ages, 763. 

The justice of God is satisfied, and the saints and all the angelic host say with a loud voice, Amen. 

While the earth is wrapped in the fire of God's vengeance, the righteous abide safely in the Holy City. Upon those that had part in the first resurrection, the second death has no power. (Revelation 20:6.) While God is to the wicked a consuming fire, He is to His people both a sun and a shield. (Psalm 84:11.) 10The Story of Redemption, 429. 

The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will keep before the ransomed the fearful consequences of sin. 

One reminder alone remains: our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion.... 

All that was lost by sin has been restored.... God's original purpose in the creation of the earth is fulfilled as it is made the eternal abode of the redeemed. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” Psalm 37:29.11The Great Controversy, 674. Mar 348

 

Christ pointed His disciples to the flowers of the field, growing in rich profusion and glowing in the simple beauty which the heavenly Father had given them, as an expression of His love to man. He said, Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. The beauty and simplicity of these natural flowers far outrival the splendor of Solomon. The most gorgeous attire produced by the skill of art cannot bear comparison with the natural grace and radiant beauty of the flowers of God's creation. Jesus asks, If God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” Matthew 6:28, 30. If God, the divine Artist, gives to the simple flowers that perish in a day their delicate and varied colors, how much greater care will He have for those who are created in His own image? This lesson of Christ's is a rebuke to the anxious thought, the perplexity and doubt, of the faithless heart. SC 123 

 

 

Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth: much more the wicked and the sinner. Proverbs 11:31. KJV