30 THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD.
They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none
shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing. Anc thorns
shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the for-
tresses thereof; and it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a
court for owls. The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet
with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his
fellow; the screech-owl also shall rest there, and find for herself
a place of rest. There shall the great owl make her nest, and
lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow; there shall the
vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.” Isa. 34:
9-15.
What a scene! The earth is waste, empty, and
desolate. The palaces of emperors, the courts of kings,
the halls of legislation, know no sound of life save the
scream of the wild fowl or the fierce growl of some beast
of prey, which has sought these ruins as a shelter from
the fierce blasts of fiery heat which sweep over the sin-
ruined earth. The hoarse wind howls its dirges over the
dead; and Satan and his minions, in remorseful despair,
contrast the result of their hellish work with their
former home in heaven. It is the sabbath of the earth.
Palestine was deprived of the Jewish nation for seventy
years, till the land had enjoyed her sabbaths (2 Chron.
36:20, 21), so the earth is desolated of all her inhab-
itants, Those who have rejected God are dead, the
righteous are in heaven, and the earth is worn out and
at rest, and this condition remains till the close of the
thousand years,
Certainly the millennium, so far as this earth is con-
cerned, is not to be desired. The pall of death will
hang over this world at that time, where men, in the
boasting of error, predict life and peace and joy.
Would that their prediction were true, if it were God's
THE GREAT DAY OF THE LORD. 31
’
will. But the ‘‘sure word of prophecy’ has drawn
another picture in order that the world may be warned
of the evil to come. There is life and peace, but it 1s
in the presence of God in heaven. Infinite Mercy has
set before us life and death; therefore choose life ‘‘be-
fore the day of the Lord’s fierce anger come upon you.”
THE CLOSE OF THE MILLENNIUM.
The consideration of events thus far has brought us
to the close of the sabbath of the earth. The millennium
will then have ended, the time of Satan’s confinement
will have passed, the “many days,” during which the
wicked have been shut up in the prison-house of the
grave, will have terminated, and the time will have
come when God will visit them again to call them back
to life. Isa. 24:22; Rev. 20:5. The latter text reads:
«But the rest of the dead lived not again until the
thousand years are finished.” “The rest [or remain-
der] of the dead’ are the wicked dead. The ¢ blessed
and holy’’ were raised at the beginning of the thousand
years. ‘This is the first resurrection.”
But there shall also be a resurrection of the unjust to
condemnation. Acts 24:15; John 5:29. The wicked
are again given life, in order that they may know what
they have rejected, that they may see the wisdom and
promises of God in his gospel vindicated and fulfilled to
those who have believed and obeyed, and that they
may receive the sentence—the due reward of their
deeds—meted out to them during the thousand years in
the Supreme Court of Equity, the sittings of which are
forever ended, and from the decisions of which thereis
no appeal,