THE FINAL DECEPTION

The Great Impersonation

The last great conflict between truth and error is but the final struggle of the long-standing controversy concerning the law of God, a battle between the laws of men and the precepts of Jehovah, between the religion of the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition.

Spirits of devils will go forth to the kings of the earth and to the whole world to fasten them in deception. By these agencies, rulers and subjects will be alike deceived. Persons will arise pretending to be Christ Himself, and claiming the title and worship which belong to the world's Redeemer. They will perform wonderful miracles of healing and will profess to have revelations from heaven contradicting the testimony of the Scriptures.

As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will personate Christ. The church has long professed to look to the Savior's advent as the consummation of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. Rev. 1:13-15. The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air: "Christ has come! Christ has come!" The people prostrate themselves in adoration before him, while he lifts up his hands and pronounces a blessing upon them, as Christ blessed His disciples when He was upon the earth. His voice is soft and subdued, yet full of melody. In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gracious, heavenly truths which the Savior uttered. Satan appears as a benefactor of the race, healing the diseases of the people, and professing to present a new and more exalted system of religious faith. This is the strong, almost overmastering delusion. The multitudes, from the least to the greatest. give heed to these sorceries, saying: This is "the great power of God." Acts 8:10.

But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in accordance with the Scriptures. His blessing is pronounced upon the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class upon whom the Bible declares that God's unmingled wrath shall be poured out.

And, furthermore, Satan is not permitted to counterfeit the manner of Christ's advent. The Savior has warned His people against deception on this point, and has clearly foretold the manner of His second coming. See Matt. 24:24-27, 31; 25:31; Rev. 1:7; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17.

Christ's Second Coming
   and the Resurrection of His People

Soon Satan numbers the whole world as his subjects, except the little company who are resisting his supremacy. Satan will then plunge the inhabitants of the earth into one great, final trouble. Those who honor God he accuses of bringing judgments upon the world, and he stirs up the wicked to destroy them.

It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His people. The sun appears, shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. The wicked look with terror and amazement upon the scene, while the righteous behold with solemn joy the tokens of their deliverance. Everything in nature seems turned out of its course. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying: "It is done." Rev. 16:17.

That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, "such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty. . . and so great." Verses 17, 18. The mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. Great hailstones are doing their work of destruction. See verses 19, 21. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God's people, who have been held in bondage for their faith, are set free.

Soon there appears in the east a small black cloud. It is the cloud which surrounds the Savior and which seems in the distance to be shrouded in darkness. As it draws nearer the earth, it becomes lighter and more glorious, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Jesus rides forth as a mighty conqueror. And "the armies which were in heaven" (Rev. 19:11, 14) follow Him. With anthems of celestial melody the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered throng, attend Him on His way. The firmament seems filled with their radiant forms—"ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." As the living cloud comes still nearer, every eye beholds the Prince of life. No crown of thorns now mars that sacred head; but a diadem of glory rests on His holy brow. His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. "And He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords." Rev. 19:16.

The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The heavens are rolled together as a scroll, the earth trembles before Him. Amid the reeling of the earth, the flash of lightning, and the roar of thunder, the voice of the Son of God calls forth the sleeping saints. He looks upon the graves of the righteous, then, raising His hands to heaven, He cries: "Awake, awake, awake, ye that sleep in the dust, and arise!" Throughout the length and breadth of the earth the dead shall hear that voice, and they that hear shall live. And the whole earth shall ring with the tread of the exceeding great army of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. From the prison house of death they come, clothed with immortal glory, crying: "0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15:55. And the living righteous and the risen saints unite their voices in a long, glad shout of victory.

All come forth from their graves with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. Christ will change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible form, devoid of comeliness, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful, and immortal. All blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." 1 John 3:2.

The living righteous are changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." At the voice of God they were glorified; now they are made immortal and with the risen saints are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels "gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Little children are borne by holy angels to their mothers' arms. Friends long separated by death are united, nevermore to part, and with songs of gladness ascend together to the City of God.

Before the ransomed throng is the Holy City. Jesus opens wide the pearly gates, and the nations that have kept the truth enter in. Now is fulfilled the Savior's prayer for His disciples: "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am." With unutterable love, Jesus welcomes His faithful ones to the joy of their Lord.

"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." 1 Cor. 2:9.

"In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 14:2, 3.