“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” 1 Corinthians 15:26.
Satan hates God and everything connected to His kingdom, including those for whom Christ died. Today you and I find ourselves in a battlefield with countless casualties. Our hearts are overwhelmed with daily accounts of pain and suffering: A young mother loses her battle with cancer, leaving behind a husband and several small children. A young boy is cruelly bullied at school to the point he can no longer bear it and takes his own life. Families suffer financially because of corporate greed.
With the psalmist David we cry out, “Lord, how long will the wicked triumph?” Ps. 94:3. How long will evil endure? When will God put a stop to it?
The Bible provides the answer and promises a day when evil will die.
Matthew 6:13 And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.
The devil prowls around like a “roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Pet. 5:8. Some become victims when they give in to his temptations. Others are victims simply because Satan hates God’s children. Jesus says we should pray to be delivered from evil within and without.
2. When Satan was cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:7–9), what did God say about his ultimate fate?
Ezekiel 28:17−19 “I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, that they might gaze at you.… I brought fire from your midst; It devoured you, And I turned you to ashes upon the earth In the sight of all who saw you…. You have become a horror, And shall be no more forever.”
God could have immediately destroyed Satan when he first rebelled, but God recognized that time was needed to clearly show that Satan’s government is based on selfishness, cruelty, and coercion, whereas God’s government is based on love, mercy, and freedom of choice. A period of time has been given for the righteous to “gaze on” (consider) Satan and his government. Only after Satan has fallen completely out of the sympathies of God’s loyal subjects will it be safe for God to destroy him. (See the article “The Mysterious Origin of Evil” for a fuller explanation of Satan’s rebellion and God’s response.)
3. What was God’s solution to the problem of evil?
Hebrews 2:14, 15 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.
The only way Satan could be defeated was through Christ’s taking our humanity and dying for our sins. The cross revealed to the entire universe Satan’s real enmity towards God, as well as God’s enormous love for sinners and His commitment to rescue them from sin.
James 5:4, 6−8 Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.… You have condemned, you have murdered the just; he does not resist you. Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord…. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.
This world is full of injustice, but a day of reckoning is coming when God will deliver His people. Until then, we are to be encouraged by the blessed hope of Christ’s second coming, when oppression will come to an end.
2. What happens to followers of Christ at His coming?
1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Both the righteous dead who are resurrected and the righteous who are living are given immortal bodies (1 Cor. 15:51−55) and return with Jesus to heaven. They are forever delivered from the presence of evil, death, and suffering.
3. What happens to unrepentant sinners when Jesus returns?
2 Thessalonians 1:7−10 When the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those…who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes.”
“The wicked perish at the presence of God” (Ps. 68:2; Rev. 19:11−21), and their dead bodies remain unburied. Jer. 25:33. Tragically, they will never experience eternal life in God’s presence.
Revelation 20:1−3 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished.
Satan is bound by circumstances for 1,000 years because there is no one left alive on earth to tempt, deceive, or harm.
2. What are the righteous doing during the 1,000 years?
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.… And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
1 Corinthians 6:2, 3 Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? … Do you not know that we shall judge angels?
During the 1,000 years, the saints reign with Christ and join Him in the work of judgment. God wants to be completely transparent in His dealings with Satan, the fallen angels, and the unsaved. Everything is open to the view of the saints, who will see that God did everything He could to save and that His method of dealing with the sin problem was perfect. After investigating the records, the saints will affirm His righteous judgments and give Him praise. Rev. 15:2−4. Only then is God able to remove the devil and sinners forever.
3. What happens at the end of the 1,000 years?
Revelation 20:7−10, 15 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations…to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire…. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
The wicked come up in the “resurrection of condemnation” (John 5:29), and immediately Satan goes out to deceive them. They surround the New Jerusalem, which has recently descended from heaven (Rev. 21:2), but God stops them.
The time has come when Satan’s rebellion is to be finally defeated and his history and character fully disclosed. In this last great effort to dethrone Christ, destroy His people, and take possession of the city of God, the archdeceiver is fully unmasked. Those who have united with him see the total failure of his cause. Christ’s followers and the loyal angels behold the full extent of his rebellion against the government of God.
At that moment the “fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matt. 25:41) consumes them and all those who’ve joined their rebellion. When the fire goes out, all that remains of Satan and the wicked are ashes. Ezek. 28:18; Mal. 4:1, 3. They have perished and will never be anymore. John 3:16; Ps. 37:9, 10, 20; 1 John 3:15; Ezek. 28:19.
Revelation 21:1, 5 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…. Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
God will recreate this planet, removing every trace of the damage caused by sin. What a powerful example of “where sin abounded, grace abounded much more”! Rom. 5:20.
2. What will be gone forever?
Revelation 21:4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
3. What alone will remain as a reminder of the pain that evil caused?
Zechariah 13:6, KJV And one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? Then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends.
Our Redeemer will ever bear the marks of His crucifixion. Through eternal ages, the wounds of Calvary will remind us of the cruel work that sin wrought, but they will also call forth our highest praise. “Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by His own most precious blood!”
4. Once evil has been eradicated from the universe, what promise does God make?
Nahum 1:9 He will make an utter end of it [trouble, wickedness]. Affliction will not rise up a second time.
How can God guarantee that evil will never rise again? It is not because God will prevent it, for that would require the removal of our freedom of choice. No, sin will not rise again because we will remember that sin cost the precious life of God’s Son. We will continually look to Calvary as the greatest demonstration of God’s love, and this response to His love will lead the redeemed to commit to Him their undivided loyalty, love, and devotion for all eternity.
SUMMARY
God has an infinitely wise plan for ensuring the complete destruction of evil. It begins with revealing to all created intelligences the results of Satan’s rebellion. His own works must condemn him so God can be fully vindicated. When the great controversy is ended, all will have a deeper and more accurate knowledge of God’s incomparable, loving, and selfless character in light of the Cross. Because of this, the universe will be eternally secure from evil ever rising again.
COMMITMENT
I love Jesus and choose to be loyal to Him for eternity because of His immense love for me.
Unless otherwise noted, all verses quoted are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.
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