A religious newspaper reported that a little boy wrote a letter to God in which he asked: "Dear God: What is it like when you die? Nobody will tell me. I just want to know. I don't want to do it. Your friend, Mike."

So even little children are puzzled about death and want to know more about it.

Another news report states that the body of a young woman was pulled from the Savannah River at a point near Augusta, Georgia. In a handbag tied to her wrist the police found a rambling suicide note penciled on school tablet paper, in which appeared this striking statement: "Soon I will be just another spook roaming around in space."

That girl's religious education, like that of millions of others, had led her to believe that at death she would immediately become a ghost that would wander, like a will-o'-the-wisp, invisibly here and there on the breezes.

The Tulsa World, a newspaper published in Oklahoma, in its issue of June 25, 1972, contained this item:

"Is it true that evangelist Annee Semple McPherson was buried with a live telephone in her coffin?

"Yes, but the lady never had occasion to use it."

What really is death?

A legal definition of death reads: "The cessation of life; the ceasing to exist; defined by physicians as a total stoppage of the circulation of the blood, and a cessation of the animal and vital functions consequent thereon, such as respiration, pulsation, etc."- Black's Law Dictionary, p. 488, art. "Death," col. 1.

A standard unabridged dictionary similarly defines death: "1. The ending of all vital functions without possibility of recovery either in animals or plants or any parts of them: the end of life:... 4.a: the state of being no longer alive."--Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, p. 581.

Medical advances that can keep a body functioning even after severe injury and disease make those definitions and laws based on monitoring breathing and circulation alone obsolete. A news report in 1981 stated that a group of medical, experts in the United States proposed the adoption of a Uniform Determination of Death Act, which reads:

"An individual who has sustained either (1) irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions, or (2) irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brain stem, is dead."--Tulsa World, July 10, 1981.

A news report in 1983 stated that "Chinese health departments have changed their definition of death, partly because a peasant woman was rescued from her grave after crying, "I'm not dead. Quick, let me out."'

That news report adds: "The peasant woman ‘died' in a hospital in east China in 1981, but when her son visited her grave the day after she was buried, he heard a faint voice saying, ‘I'm not dead. Quick, let me out.'

"Thinking he had heard a ghost, the son ran back to the village, and skeptical fellow villagers went out and heard the voice too.

"They dug up and opened the coffin, and the woman sat up.

"The paper said that in the hospital her heart had stopped and breathing apparently had stopped, but her brain had not died.

"It added that her coffin was not sealed tightly and, because of local custom, the grave mound had not been heaped with dirt, so air could enter and she could recover."--Tulsa World, May 18, 1983.

So the Chinese have had to redefine death also!

Death happens everywhere man lives on earth. It has occurred ever since human history began. According to a published report, 2,073,000 persons died in the United States alone in the year 1984. This makes us wonder how many persons have died on planet Earth since Abel, the second son of Adam and Eve, was murdered by his brother Cain nearly 6,000 years ago. Genesis 4:1-8.

It is an astonishing fact that many religious people do not think that a person really dies when his body succumbs to disease and is buried in the grave to decay. Some believe that if his body is destroyed by fire, eaten by sharks or cannibals, or is blown to bits by a bomb, he still lives on as a disembodied soul or ghost, either in heaven or in a fiery purgatory or in a hell of eternally blazing fire.

Nevertheless, many of those same people believe that the bodies of those dead persons will be resurrected to live again at some time in the distant future. Hence it behooves us to consider what the Holy Scriptures say about the state of the dead. Where does a person really go at death?

When God created man He placed Adam and Eve in a beautiful paradise called the Garden of Eden. In it was the tree of life. As long as they were obedient to their Creator they might freely eat the fruit of it and live forever, for it contained the antidote against death. Because man was created a free moral agent, endowed with the power of choice, he was not forced to be obedient to his Creator.

In the Garden of Eden the Lord planted also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of it, God said: "Thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17. i

Our Creator wants voluntary and loving obedience from His earthly children. He does not wish forced obedience to His laws.

But Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit and by so choosing to flout the law of God in order to live a life of license (unlimited freedom), man violated the condition on which he might enjoy an endless existence. The Lord immediately interposed, "lest he [man] put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever." Verse 22. "So He drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep [guard] the way of the tree of life." Verse 24.

Thus man's access to the fruit of the tree of life, which contained an element essential to his perpetual existence as a living soul, was cut off. And the Lord told man what the result of that measure would be, saying: "In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Genesis 3:19.

Thus God has stated in the clearest of terms that when the living soul dies, he returns to the ground, unto dust, from which he originally was made, as stated in Genesis 2:7. At death he does not go away immediately to reside in some extra-terrestrial paradise, purgatory, hell of fire, heaven of bliss, or a series of reincarnations, as some religious people have thought.

Back in the distant past, in Eden itself, God said to Adam, the first living human soul, when he sinned: "Thou shalt surely die" (2:17), and "unto dust shalt thou return" (3:19). Note that "thou"--the whole human person and not the mere body alone--returns to dust at death. "All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Job 34:15. It is the man--the living soul himself-who dies and returns to the ground (the dust) at death.

In cautioning us not to trust in man's ability to solve the problem of death, the Lord said: "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth." Psalm 146:4. Note that it is "he"--the man himself--that "returneth to his earth." "His breath goeth forth," it is true, but the Lord does not identify nor equate the breath with the man--the living soul--who dies.

It is written concerning both man and beast that at death, "All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again." Ecclesiastes 3:19,20. "Thou takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust." Psalm 104:29. Yes, "out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air." Genesis 2:19. And concerning man it is written: "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Verse 7. Here, again, God does not identify nor equate man--the person or soul--with the breath of life.

The ancient patriarch Job in his great physical affliction asked: "Man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?" Job 14:10. Sensing the fact that he was close to death, he exclaimed: "My days are extinct, the graves are ready for me." Job 17:1. "If I wait, the grave is mine house." Job 17:13. "For I know that Thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living." Job 30:23. That is, the grave--the dust of the ground--is the intermediate place where the dead remain after death until the Lord shall resurrect them at the last day.

Elihu, in his conversation with Job concerning the destiny of man, rightly said: "All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust." Job 34:15.

Solomon, in speaking of death, said: "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was." Ecclesiastes 12:7.

King Hezekiah (729-686 B.C.), when facing death, said: "I shall go to the gates of the grave." Isaiah 38:10.

When Joshua, who succeeded Moses as leader of Israel, was about to die he said: "I am going the way of all the earth." Joshua 23:14. King David made a similar statement. 1 Kings 2:2.

In ancient times it was customary to say, when a person died, that he was "gathered to his people." Genesis 25:8,17; 35:29; 49:29-33; Numbers 20:24,26,29; 27:13. Or, "gathered to their fathers." Judges 2:10.

The Jewish Encyclopedia aptly comments: "The tomb is to the dead what the house is to the living, so that the grave is termed a `house' (Isa. xiv. 18), or the `long home' (Eccl. xii. 5), while in Job xxx. 23 it is called `the house appointed for all living."'--Volume 12, p. 183, art., "Tombs."

The Hebrew noun sheol is commonly used in reference to the grave as the place to which people go at death. Job 3:22; 5:26; 10:19; 17:1; 21:32; Psalm 88:5,11; Isaiah 14:19; 53:9.

Death was commonly referred to as "sleep" by the ancients. The biblical obituary of a Jewish king simply states that he "slept with his fathers" in at least 38 instances. See, for example, 1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; etc.

In Psalm 13:3 David refers to it as "the sleep of death." See also Deuteronomy 31:16; Job 3:13; 2 Samuel 7:12; 1 Kings 1:21.

When Jesus was in a place beyond Jordan, He said to His disciples, "Let us go into Judea again." John 11:7. And He added: "Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep. Then said His disciples, Lord, if he sleep he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that He had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead." Verses 11-14.

When Jesus came to Bethany He went with the sisters of Lazarus and others to the tomb where the dead body lay. When He told them to remove the stone that closed the entrance to the grave, Martha objected, saying: "Lord, by this time he stinketh for he hath been dead four days." Verse 39.

When the stone was removed, Jesus prayed to His heavenly Father and then cried with a loud voice to the dead body in the tomb, "Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go." Verses 43,44

Note particularly that Lazarus was not called down from heaven or up from hell to enter his grave for the resurrection of his body.

While Jesus was teaching at Capernaum, a city on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, Jairus, the ruler of a synagogue, requested Him to come and heal his daughter, who was very ill. Before Christ arrived at the ruler's house messengers informed them that the girl was dead. Jesus then said, "Be not afraid, only believe." Mark 5:35,36.

When He entered the house full of mourners, Jesus said: "Give place: for the maid is not dead but sleepeth. And they laughed Him to scorn." Matthew 9:24; Mark 5:39,40; Luke 8:52,53. Jesus took the dead girl by the hand and said, "Damsel, I say unto thee, arise. And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the age of twelve years." Mark 5:41,42.

Note that in three of the gospels it is affirmed that Jesus spoke of the girl's death as "sleep." God can rightfully speak of death as "sleep" because He can waken dead people to life. He, as the Creator of human beings, will resurrect the dead of all ages to appear before Him in the coming great day of judgment.

Jesus said: "Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28,29. In other places in the New Testament death is referred to as sleep. See Acts 7:60; 13:36; 1 Corinthians 15:6,18,20,51; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-15.

"The living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun." Ecclesiastes 9:5,6. "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest." Verse 10.

It is really illogical to suppose that a dead person whose brain has been destroyed by crime, disease, war, accident, or other means, can think and reason, sing or talk.

In the Holy Scriptures it is said concerning God: "In death there is no remembrance of Thee: in the grave who shall give Thee thanks?" Psalm 6:5. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence." Psalm 115:17. Also: "The grave cannot praise Thee, death can not celebrate Thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for Thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise Thee, as I do this day." Isaiah 38:18,19.

We read in Holy Writ that when a person dies, "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." Psalm 146:4.

DO IT NOW

If with pleasure you are viewing any work a man is doing, If you like him or you love him, tell him now;

Don't withhold your approbation till the parson makes oration

And he lies with snowy lilies on his brow;

No matter how you shout it, he won't really know about it; He won't know how many teardrops you have shed;

If you think some praise is due him, now's the time to slip it to him,

For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead.

More than fame and more than money is the comment kind and sunny

And the hearty, warm approval of a friend. For it gives to life a savor, and it makes you stronger, braver;

And it gives you heart and spirit to the end; If he earns your praise--bestow it; if you like him, let him know it;

Let the words of true encouragement be said; Do not wait till life is over and he's underneath the clover,

For he cannot read his tombstone when he's dead.

-- Berton Braley

Have you ever thought about the human desire to live happily as long as possible? The amount of money that people spend to protect and prolong human life is enormous. We wonder how much is spent per year in building and operating hospitals, sanitariums and clinics for medical purposes. How much does it cost to build and staff medical institutions and operate medical schools? Add to this the cost of manufacturing medical equipment and instruments, plus medicines and many other things essential to medical care. It indicates that life and health are very precious commodities.

A news report in major newspapers across the nation announced:

"A specialist in the problems of age and aging predicts that the average human life span will double--to between 120 and 140 years--in the next century; and that immortality for human beings is within the reach of medical science."

The report cites a medical expert as saying: "We have already learned to slow the aging process. In the next 50 years, we will slow it still further--extending the average life span to between 120 and 140 years.

"It should then be possible ... to completely arrest the aging process and, finally, to reverse it."--Tulsa World, December 7,1980.

More trustworthy than that is the precious promise '` and plan of God for us to enjoy everlasting life in the earth ' made new, as foretold in the Holy Scriptures.

In the beginning, when man was created, provision was made whereby he could enjoy immortality on condition of faithful obedience to his Creator. The Lord endowed him with ability to think, to reason, and to learn. He was given the power of choice in order that he might freely render willing and intelligent obedience to his Maker.

In the midst of the Garden of Eden, the paradise home which God provided for Adam and his wife Eve, the Lord planted the tree of life. They could freely eat of the fruit of it and live forever. Genesis 2:9,16. To test their loyalty to Him as their Creator, He also planted there the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Concerning it, He said to them: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17.

Eating of the fruit of the tree of life once could not impart to Adam and his offspring eternal life or immortality. In Eden man had to continue to partake of its fruit from time to time in order to live for ever.

We do not know how long Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden before their expulsion from it. Their third son, Seth, was born to them after their expulsion from Eden and when they were 130 years old. Genesis 5:3. Thus Adam, who died at the age of 930 years, had lived in Eden with access to the tree of life a comparatively short time-probably less than 100 years. Cain and Abel were born to them after their expulsion from Eden, and had grown to manhood before Seth was born.

Eating of the fruit of the tree of life from time to time was necessary in order for man to live forever. To prevent this after Adam and Eve sinned, God cut off their access to the tree of life thereafter by stationing there cherubim with a flaming sword to deny them access to that life-perpetuating fruit. Genesis 3:22-24. From that time to the present man has been a mortal being, doomed to die.

Adam could not transmit, therefore, immortality to his offspring because he did not possess it to bestow. Our inheritance from Adam, our first human father, is mortality and death, the very opposite of immortality and everlasting life (eternal existence).

Only by special interposition on the part of God have any of the descendants of Adam been so fortunate as to avoid death. The two exceptions are Enoch (Genesis 5:2224) and Elijah (2 Kings 2:1,11). We are told that "death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Romans 5:12.

Eliphaz, one of the friends of the ancient patriarch Job, was correct when he asked: "Shall mortal man be more just than God?" Job 4:17. This is the only instance in which the word "mortal" appears in the King James Version of the Old Testament. We find it used five times in the New Testament, as follows:

"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." Romans 6:12. Thus Paul reminds us that we live in "mortal flesh." 2 Corinthians 4:11. The same apostle's comforting words to the faithful who, like him, would face death as martyrs, are: "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you." Romans 8:11.

The following words penned by the same apostle are very comforting for those who will die before Jesus comes to resurrect the faithful who are asleep in death: "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." 1 Corinthians 15:52-54.

In that passage the Lord makes it unmistakably clear that, though we are at present mortal souls, our hope of becoming immortal is still bright. It will be fulfilled at Christ's second advent, when He shall come to resurrect from their graves the souls who have been faithful to the end. Then He will take them to heaven with the righteous ones living on earth at that time.

"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." 1 Corinthians 15:22.

The word "immortal" is used but once in the Bible, where it speaks of the Deity as "the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God." 1 Timothy 1:17.

The word "immortality" is found five times in the New Testament, twice in 1 Corinthians 15:53,54, as quoted above, and also in the following three instances:

1. God is said to be "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords: Who only bath immortality." 1 Timothy 6:15,16.

2. Our only hope is in "Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." 2 Timothy 1:10.

3. The faithful followers of Christ "seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life." Romans 2:7. If we were born immortal there would be no need for us to "seek" immortality.

In speaking of His plan for the faithful to enjoy immortality in the better world to come, the Lord uses in the Holy Scriptures several terms that are synonymous, such as life more abundant, eternal life (28 times in the NT), everlasting life (14 times in the NT), live for ever, life for ever more, etc.

Furthermore, we are told in the Bible that immortality is not something we have inherited by birth and already posses, but it is a gift that God offers to penitent mortals: "The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23. Also: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16.

When will He bestow on the faithful the gift of immortality? It will be when "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17. See also John 14:1-3.

How will the redeemed "be caught up"? It is written that "He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matthew 24:3 1.

It is at that time that "this mortal shall put on immortality" 1 Corinthians 15:53,54.

Comparatively few people have read the entire volume of the Holy Scriptures from Genesis to Revelation. For those who have done so, one of the most surprising passages in Holy Writ is this one:

"I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Revelation 20:1-6.

This prophetic period of 1,000 years is commonly called "the millennium," which term is derived from two Latin words, mille (a thousand) and annul (a year). This period is specifically mentioned only in Revelation 20.

In order to understand this interesting prediction, we first must find out when this long period of time will begin. The key to the mystery is provided in the passage above quoted from the prophecy. Note that the apostle speaks of two resurrections: one of them will occur at the beginning, and the other will take place at the close, of the 1,000 years. Particular mention is made of "the first resurrection," and it is said that "blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." Verse 6.

Hence the first resurrection will be that of the just, those who have died sanctified by the saving grace of Christ. The prophet describes some of them as being martyrs, who "were beheaded for the witness of Jesus." Verse 4. He says that they shall have a part in the judgment during the millennium, and that "they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." Verse 4. To be able to live, reign, and judge during the millennuim, the righteous dead must be raised from death to life. Thus it is patent that the millennium will begin with the resurrection of the just.

Paul declared that "there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." Acts 24:15. And Jesus specifically states that there will be two resurrections, saying that "the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5:28,29. It is "the resurrection of life"--that of those who have done good--that will mark the beginning of the millennium.

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished," says John. Revelation 20:5. If the "blessed and holy" are to come forth in the first resurrection at the beginning of the 1,000-year period, then "the rest of the dead" are the wicked, the unholy, who will come forth in "the resurrection of damnation" at the end of the millennium. One thousand years, therefore, will separate the resurrection of the unjust from that of the just.

Because the resurrection of the righteous will mark the commencement of the 1,000 years, and will take place at the second coming of Christ, this means that the millennium will begin when Jesus shall return to the world the second time to receive His own.

When the Saviour shall return the second time, there will be two classes of people in this world: the just and the unjust. They will be in four groups--two of the just: the dead and the living; and two of the unjust: the dead and the living.

The righteous dead will be raised from their graves at the second coming of Christ, and with them the living righteous will be caught up to meet Him in the air, after which both groups will accompany Him to heaven. "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. Consequently there will not remain a just person, either dead or alive, in all the earth during the millennium.

What will happen then to the unjust at Christ's second advent? The wicked dead will continue in their graves as they were, and the living wicked will be slain at His coming. 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Because all the righteous shall have been taken to heaven by the Saviour at His second advent, and because all the wicked shall have been left dead upon the earth, there will not exist a living human being in the whole world during the millennium.

A series of terrible calamities will precede the second advent of Christ. They are the seven last plagues described in Revelation 16. Under the sixth will come the great battle of Armegeddon. Then the Lord will announce: "It is done," and the last of those terrible judgments will strike the earth. Revelation 16:16-21. Under the seventh plague the earth will suffer the worst earthquake of its history, which will cause terrible avalanches and tidal waves. Describing its effects, the seer says: "The cities of the nations fell .... And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found." Verses 19,20. At the same time there will break loose upon the guilty inhabitants of the earth the most fearful tempest ever recorded. The hail stones will each weigh about "a talent" (approximately 55 pounds). Verse 21.

Then will be fulfilled these dreadful words: "The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear Thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth." Revelation 11:18.

The prophet Jeremiah has described the scene: "The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the Lord path a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind [a hurricane] shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth. 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; they shall be dung upon the ground." Jeremiah 25:30-33. The wicked dead will neither be lamented nor given burial because there will be no human being left upon the earth to do this for them.

The whole face of the earth will be desolated and demolished into a state of chaos by the fury of the earthquake and the tempest. Not a member of the human race will be left alive upon the globe. "I beheld the earth," says the prophet, "and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger. For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken and not a man dwell therein." Jeremiah 4:23-29.

The trembling of the mountains will be caused by the earthquake. The horsemen and bowmen represent the angels of the armies of heaven, who will accompany the King of kings when He shall come to execute the wrath of God upon the rebellious world. Revelation 19:11-21.

Another description of this scene reads: "The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:14-17.

The wicked will not desire to behold the face of the Saviour in that day, but will pray for the mountains and the rocks to fall upon them and hide them from the presence of Christ. Their petition will be granted when the great earthquake shall hurl the mountains and hills into the valleys, and the waters of the oceans shall be poured in tidal waves upon the coasts of the continents and over islands, while the tempest of great hailstones shall batter down the cities of the nations. The carcasses of the wicked will be given to the birds of prey to devour in that day.

That will be the end of the world, but not "a full end," as Jeremiah has said. Jeremiah 4:27. The whole earth will be left in a desolate, chaotic condition, with no human being living upon it. This planet will then be in mourning and clothed in darkness. It will then be, indeed, a veritable bottomless pit--Satan's prison for 1,000 years.

Because there will be no human beings left alive upon the earth at that time, the work of Satan will be interrupted by this chain of circumstances, "that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled." Revelation 20:3 Thus he and his angel followers will be confined to this dark and dismal terrestrial prison for 1,000 years without any human beings to tempt to sin. It will be the devil's vacation. This sentence to ten centuries of imprisonment will be a part of his punishment, which will end with torment and final destruction in the fires of hell.

The prophet Isaiah, who also describes that desolation, adds: "It shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited." Isaiah 24:21,22. All the unjust among men will be gathered into the pit of death, and in this prison they will remain shut up, while "hosts" or wicked spirits (Ephesians 6:12, American Standard Version) shall be imprisoned on this dismal and desolate earth to await their final doom. But "after many days"--1,000 years--"shall they be visited." Isaiah 24:22. Satan is to be bound thus by a chain of circumstances that will bring a halt to his nefarious work of deceiving men, and he will have ten centuries of leisure in which to contemplate a ruined world, the result of his long rebellion against the Most High.

In the meantime the redeemed will be with their Saviour in the mansions above. John 14:2,3. Nothing whatever is said in Revelation 20 to intimate that the righteous will be on earth during the millennium. During the 1,000 years they will have a part in the judgment that shall determine what the punishment of each of the unjust shall be, for John saw that "judgment was given unto them." Revelation 20:4.

The great judgment process is divided into three phases: (1) the Investigative or Pre-Advent Judgment (extending from 1844 to the first of the seven last plagues) to determine who shall be saved at the second coming of Christ; (2) the Judicative Judgment (during the millennium) to decide what the punishment of each of the wicked shall be; and (3) the Executive Judgment (at the close of the millennium) to give to every lost sinner the reward that his evil deeds merit. Thus it is done in the courts of today. First, an investigation or trial takes place to determine whether or not the accused is guilty. Second, if the jury should find him guilty, the judge must dictate the sentence, saying what his punishment shall be. Third, the judgment of the court is executed by the authorities appointed for that purpose. It is the second phase of the great judgment process--the Judicative Judgment--that will be carried on in heaven during the 1000 years that Satan shall be bound on the desolate and dreary earth.

John says of the just, that "judgment was given unto them." Revelation 20:4. Daniel likewise saw, in vision, that "judgment was given to the saints of the Most High." Daniel 7:22. God will not condemn the wicked to the fires of hell without their righteous fellowmen witnessing to His justice in every case. The redeemed will have ten centuries in heaven in which to examine the life story of every one of the lost, and they will see and understand the justice of God in punishing those who refuse to turn from evil. There will never be raised a finger thereafter to accuse God of having dealt unjustly with any soul.

Before the eyes of the saved the books of record in the tribunal of heaven will be opened, that all may know the full details of the great controversy between Christ and Satan from the beginning. "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?...Know ye not that we shall judge angels?" 1 Corinthians 6:2,3. Step by step the apostasy of Lucifer and his confederate angels will be traced, the fall of man in Eden will be reviewed, and the subsequent struggle between good and evil will be scrutinized. Much that hitherto has remained obscure and hard to understand will be made plain then. The unanimous verdict of the saints will be that God is true and just. Revelation 15:3.

And when the 1,000 years shall have ended, the Saviour will come "with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them [the wicked] of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard l speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Jude 14,15.

"And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Revelation 20:7-9.

Thus Christ and the redeemed will descend from heaven at the close of the millennium. Then the wicked dead will be raised from their graves, for they have been dead in the earth during the millennium. The city of God, the New Jerusalem, shall come down to earth (Revelation 21:2) and be set in a place made for it where old Jerusalem now stands. Zechariah 14:4,5. The majority of men having "loved darkness rather than light" (John 3:19,29), will be in number "as the sand of the sea." Revelation 20:8. Upon seeing this vast host of resurrected sinners, Satan will take on renewed courage, and will lead them to believe that they can win in this last fight against the government of God. Wicked human beings will be just as disposed then to oppose God as they were when they lived before. Their hearts will not have changed in the least. The fact that they will be ready to join with Satan in his last effort against God shows that there can be no hope of repentance on their part after the second advent of Christ. Their hatred and rebellion against Him will be as manifest then as it is now.

We do not know how long will be the period of time that the wicked will have to prepare for the assault against the holy city. But we are told that after 1,000 years shall have expired, Satan "must be loosed a little season." Revelation 20:3. It will not be very long.

Gog and Magog are symbolic names by which the Holy Spirit designates that vast host of wicked human beings who shall come forth from their graves in the resurrection of damnation at the end of the millennium. They are those who have rebelled against the law of God, and have rejected the love, mercy, and grace which He has offered through the gift of His Son to save them. Satan will be the leader of that great army of the wicked. The powerful angel-demons who have aided his rebellion will be there to second his cause. Cain, the first of the world's long list of murderers, will be there. In that vast host will be seen the mighty giants whose impiety filled the antediluvian world with corruption and violence. With them will be those impenitent emperors, kings, generals, religious zealots, and others who have waged fiendish war against the Holy Scriptures and the saints of God in days gone by. In battle array they will march up to surround and attack the Holy City and the saints of God.

Inside the gorgeous walls of the New Jerusalem will be the redeemed of all ages. Outside the beautiful gates of pearl will be the vast host of impenitent sinners of all the centuries past. This will be the first, last, and only time that all the sons and daughters of Adam shall ever be assembled together. The whole human family will be there. You and I have an appointment before the tribunal of the Almighty. "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to Me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Romans 14:10-12. Each of us is to decide now whether he will be outside or inside the city of God that great day.

Once the army of the wicked shall have approached the walls of the Holy City, they will be halted to participate in a grand and solemn spectacle. Says John: "And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it.... And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works."

Revelation 20:11,12. This will be the great Executive Judgment, when every one of the lost shall receive his just recompense. "Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Verse 9. Thus will come the torment and "the second death" that await the lost. Verse 14.

Will you be inside, or outside, the Holy City on that day? Are you planning to meet Jesus in peace at His second coming? If not, then you will be on the outside of the New Jerusalem at the end of the millennium and will perish with all the wicked.

Now is the time, while the mercy of God still lingers, for the living to turn in repentance to the Lord and accept His gracious offer of salvation from sin and its consequences. Now is the time to give your heart to the Lord without delay, and prepare for Christ's soon coming.