April 17, 2025 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Greetings, friends. We are continuing in the exciting final chapter of the book, The Great Controversy. In our previous video we saw how, at the end of the thousand years, Christ comes to the Earth again. This time, however, it is not to resurrect the righteous, but the wicked.
Satan, who has been wandering the desolate earth for 1,000 years, is determined not to give up. He assures his followers that he is the one who raised them from the grave. He urges them to attack the Holy City, which has descended onto a place prepared for it on the Mount of Olives.
By command of Jesus, the gates of the city are closed, and the armies of Satan surround it, getting ready for their final attack. The saved of all the ages are inside, watching this final drama play out.
We read, “At last the order is given and the countless host moves on—an army such as was never summoned by earthly conquerors . . . Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels unite their forces for this final struggle” (The Great Controversy, p. 664).
Just as this vast army is poised for attack, Jesus appears. He is seated far above the city, on a throne fastened to a foundation of pure gold. Surrounding Him are the subjects of His kingdom.
“The power and majesty of Christ no language can describe, no pen portray,” writes Ellen White. “The glory of the Eternal Father is enshrouding His Son. The brightness of His presence fills the City of God, and flows out beyond the gates, flooding the whole earth with its radiance” (The Great Controversy, p. 665).
What an incredible scene it is! “The redeemed raise a song of praise that echoes and re-echoes through the vaults of heaven: ‘Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.’ [Rev. 7:10]” (The Great Controversy, p. 665).
In the presence of everyone on earth and heaven, the final coronation of the Son of God takes place. “And now, invested with supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence upon the rebels against His government and executes justice upon those who have transgressed His law and oppressed His people” (The Great Controversy, p. 666).
This scene is described in Revelation 20, where John writes: “I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened. . . and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (vss. 11, 12).
The vivid description continues in The Great Controversy: “As soon as the books of record are opened, and the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin which they have ever committed. They see just where their feet diverged from the path of purity and holiness, just how far pride and rebellion have carried them in the violation of the law of God” (p. 666).
Too late they see the blessings they perverted, the messengers of God they despised, and the warnings they rejected, and they realize they are eternally lost.
But the end is not quite yet. Across the sky appears a panoramic view like a massive movie screen, showing the plan of salvation—showing the temptation and fall, and down the ages to the life of Christ—His birth, His humble life, His ministry and nights of prayer; His enemies, filled with envy, hate and malice. The scenes continue, showing Christ’s agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal and the night of horror that followed. Everything is vividly portrayed just as it was.
All eyes are fixed upon the unfolding drama as it carries into the final scenes—“the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life” (The Great Controversy, p. 667).
The watching wicked attempt to turn away from the awful scene as the redeemed exclaim, “He died for me!” What joy there is inside the City, but what intense grief without.
We read, “The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God on the charge of high treason against the government of heaven. They have none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death is pronounced against them. It is now evident to all that the wages of sin is not noble independence and eternal life, but slavery, ruin, and death” (The Great Controversy, p. 668).
All, even Satan himself, acknowledge that God is true, just, and right. And yet, his character remains unchanged, and the spirit of rebellion again bursts forth. This time, however, there are none to follow. He has lost his power, and his followers turn upon him and his agents with the fury of demons.
The prophecy in Ezekiel 28 will be fulfilled. Speaking of Satan, the Lord says: “Because thou has set thine heart as the heart of God; behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords . . . They shall bring thee down to the pit. . . I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. . . . I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold there. . . . I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee. . . . and never shalt thou be any more” (Ezk. 28:6-8, 16-19, KJV).
Then fire comes down from heaven and “the elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein are burned up” (Mal. 4:1; 2 Peter 3:10). Satan, and all who chose to follow him are completely destroyed—gone for eternity.
My friends, what a fearsome day that will be. While the earth is wrapped in the fire of destruction, the righteous are safely inside the Holy City. By the grace of God, I plan to be there, inside those mighty walls, trusting in the mighty keeping of our Redeemer. I invite you to be there, too. If you have not accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, there is no better time to do so than right now. He died for you, and lives today. And someday very soon He will return to take us home to be with Him forever.
Let’s pray to Him just now.