Violent End of the Wicked

Satan's character remains unchanged. Rebellion bursts out again like a raging flood. He determines not to give up the last desperate struggle against the King of heaven. But of all the countless millions whom he has drawn into rebellion, none now follow him as leader. The same hatred of God that inspires Satan fills the wicked, but they see that their case is hopeless. “Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god, behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, the most terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor. They shall throw you down into 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 thee.... I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.... Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more.” (Ezekiel 28:6-8; verses 16-19, KJV.)LF 271.1

“The indignation of the LORD is against all nations.” “Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.” (Isaiah 34:2; Psalm 11:6.) Fire comes down from God out of heaven. The earth is broken up. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are in it are burned up (2 Peter 3:10). The earth's surface seems one molten mass—a vast, boiling lake of fire. “It is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion” (Isaiah 34:8).LF 271.2

The wicked are punished “according to their deeds.” Satan is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins that he has caused God's people to commit. In the flames the wicked are finally destroyed, root and branch—Satan the root, his followers the branches. Evildoers have received the full penalty of the law; the demands of justice have been met. Satan's work of ruin is ended forever. Now God's creatures are forever delivered from his temptations.LF 271.3

While the earth is wrapped in fire, the righteous are safe in the Holy City. To the wicked, God is a consuming fire, but to His people He is a shield. (See Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11.)LF 271.4