Apostles. They speak of antichrist as "that wicked one whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 11. Thes. ii. 8. Not only will this great "man of sin " be destroyed, but Satan himself will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit, then the first resurrection will take place, and the saints will live and reign with Christ upon earth a thousand years. Rev. v. 10. xx. 2—5.

The reign of Christ cannot be universal until the reign of Satan is destroyed. Light and darkness cannot reign together. The kingdom of Christ cannot fully come until the kingdom of Satan be entirely gone. The will of God cannot be done on earth as it is done in heaven, so long as Satan has subjects to obey him here.

"When the thousand years are expired, Satan will be loosed out of his prison," for a short time, "and will go and deceive the nations which are upon the four quarters of the earth," or the whole world, "to gather them together to battle: the number of whom will be as the sand of the sea." ver. 8. They are called Gog and Magog, from their resemblance to the confederacy described by Ezek. xxxviii. xxxix. Satan will act the part of the three unclean spirits like frogs, which went forth unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together

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to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, Rev. xvi. 13, 14. The Gog and Magog of Ezekiel will muster their armies just before the commencement of the Millennium, the Gog and Magog of John, at the close. Prince Gog appears to be the commander in chief, and Magog the allied armies. They will collect their troops from every part of the earth, and proceed to Judea, and compass the camp of the saints about, and Jerusalem the beloved city; and while they are engaged in this act of daring hostility, fire will come down from God out of heaven and devour them, as it did the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah. The devil that deceived the nations will be taken captive, and cast into hell, that lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are; and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. This fire which comes down from God is the conflagration of the last day, when "all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heaven shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment they shall perish," not they shall be refined, "they shall be burnt up," "they shall be dissolved, and melt with fervent heat;" yea, they shall disappear, "and no place be found for them.'

The next event in order is the final judgment, ver. 11. Here is no account of the

coming of the judge, and for this plain reason, that he had been reigning on the earth with his saints a thousand years previous to this period, and the Apostle had described his coming in the preceding chapter. ver. 11 21. The pre-millennial coming of Christ, and the final judgment, appear to be included in the same account in Mat. xxv.; but John has here given them in chronological order, chapters xix. 11–21 ; xx. 11—15.

Immediately after the conflagration, the Apostle "saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it," even the Son of man, "from whose face the earth and heaven fled away," or were so completely destroyed, that "there was no place found for them." ver. 11. And before the throne of judgment, John says, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books which contained the laws of God, and those which recorded the actions of men, were opened; and another book was opened, which recorded the names of the righteous, and on that account called the book of life:" and the dead were judged by those things which were written in the books, according to their works. The judgment of the righteous dead had taken place after the first resurrection, at the commencement of the Millennium, or the sounding of the seventh Trumpet, when the wrath of God was poured upon the rebellious, angry

nations, in which there is no allusion to the wicked dead, but repeated mention of the righteous. That period is called "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.” chap. xi. 18. These have their names written in the book of life, and will not be judged with the wicked. "The ungodly shall not stand in judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous." Psa. i. 5. This final judgment is not of the saints, but of the rest of the dead, who lived not again until the thousand years were finished. That was called the first resurrection, xx. 5; and this will be the second, when the sea will give up the remainder of the dead that are in it, and death and hades, or the unseen world, will deliver up the dead which are in them, and they will be judged according to their works, ver. 13; and death the destroyer, and hell the prison house, with the condemned prisoners in it, will be cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and none escape it but those few saints who died in the Millennium, who were found written in the book of life; all the rest are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. ver. 14, 15. There is no express mention of the first death, nor of the second resurrection, but both are evidently

implied. At the close of the final judgment, the righteous will be invited to return with their Lord, to inherit the kingdom prepared for them before the foundation of the world: and the wicked will be ordered to depart accursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Mat. xxv. 34–41.

CHAPTER XXI.

The twentieth chapter carries on the prophetic history to the end of the world, and the final judgment. The two following chapters are supplementary and explanatory, and refer to the Millennium, which will be such a glorious state, that many commentators have supposed the description must refer to heaven. But in the heavenly state there will be no tears to be wiped away, xxi. 4; nor any new creation needed, ver. 5; nor will there be any kings of the earth to bring their glory and honour into it, ver 24; nor will any persons bring the glory and honour of the nations into it, ver. 26; nor will there be any need of the tree of life, the leaves of which shall be for the healing of the nations, for all the inhabitants of heaven will be perfectly healed. Beside these things, the heaven above does not require to be made new; and as to a new earth in heaven, it is absurd. Not only so, but the holy city, the new Jerusalem, John saw coming down from God out of heaven, xxi. 2; therefore it cannot mean the