The war between two powers – good and evil, Christ and Satan – soon must polarize
as each side does emphasize its cause of what sort it is,
And in this conflict the human race the target is!
The last drama soon enfolds, for the battle is because of him and her,
and in the climax of the forces, each soul must then decide which banner one upholds.
The fierce controversy will lay bare, what is truly at the core
of each heart and what it treasures.
Allegiance to the law of God, the love for truth and righteousness;
Or rebellion cherished, truth rejected, call evil good, there is no God –
This is the thought of many and are bold in wicked deeds, which bears the mold
of whom so many follow – the banner of the Prince of darkness,
the enemy to meekness, gentleness, and righteousness….
To the bloodstained banner of Lord Jesus few be true,
the narrow, self-denying way and sometimes cumbersome,
proves to be too wearisome…
The masses love the broader way, no self-denial, sacrifice is to display.
A gospel of prosperity with easy going, guilty free decree.
With all religions joining to be one, they think peace and safety will come.…
Just when they expect it, sudden destruction then will come (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
Prophecy must be fulfilled, the world will end and Christ descend,
the wicked at His brightness perish, His faithful ones redeemed from earth (Revelation 14:3)
with the resurrected saints, be caught up to Him to mansions bright in the realms of blissful light.

…………….

Satan and his host for 1000 years will wander in despondent wonder (Revelation 20:3)
through the earth. No soul is there, but ugly ruins are left from all the works of men.
Thousand years he then must ponder, now he wishes to be yonder from this awful torn up place,
as he with restless pace has to behold what his defiance had achieved – nothing – but his own defeat.
His suffering then is immense, inconceivable, intense, for his ever active tactics find no victim to deceive,
his beguiling lies still to believe.
Satan’s torment during the millennium, is but a foretaste of what is yet to come –
The just reward for his rebellion, and mutiny with his host in Heaven,
And his continuing warring against God on earth, with the morbid leaven
of deceit, misleading man after his mold to follow his revolt.
Meanwhile in Heaven judgment will take place, for the wicked race
then sleeping in the grave, recompense for them be deemed by Christ and His redeemed.

………………………………

Then a short, but final interlude will come.
The chain be loosed that kept the Devil bound (Revelation 20:7–8),
And he once more be found, to exercise all satanic might, once more to fight,
With the innumerable host of those who on his side stood post.
The wicked dead are brought to life again, of whom the very first was Cain.
Then shall Jesus, angels, all the saints, descend upon Mount Olive, it will cleave
into a plain, very, very, great (Zechariah 14:4; EW 291), and the holy city coming down,
for the scenes of the tremendous, final showdown.
The wicked see Christ’s radiant glory, His majesty so grand, sublime,
Beholding Him whom they derided, hated, spat upon, His loving call to follow Him resisted unto fury.
The overwhelming, devastating truth whom they have rejected, is seen now clearly,
and rouses bitterest, terror-stricken agony.
With one painful, far too late awareness what they have lost, they shout with one accord:
“Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” (EW 292; Matthew 21:9).
Still, even so, Satan stirs to go against the city, for they are many,
Once more by his master skill, deceives the nations, Gog and Magog at his will.
They prepare for battle, march, the city to surround, to seize for themselves its holy ground.
Christ and the redeemed upon the glorious wall, behold the masses as the sand of seas,
in bold approach draw near, while Satan with a hellish sneer, sees himself as conqueror,
when suddenly from heaven fire falls and brimstone rains on the vast host (Revelation 20:8–10; EW 293–294).
The earth becomes a lake of fire; and like on Pharaoh and army
The waves closed in – they perished in the sea,
So will Satan and the wicked perish in the flames, to burn to ashes,
Till root and branch of evil is consumed, and pain and death and sin no more to be
The earth be cleansed and purified, and then created new.…

……………….

In view of eternity, the age of iniquity is like the twinkling of the eye.
Though till all of this will come to pass, what pain and sorrow sin does cause!
First it had turned Heaven upside down, brought to unfallen worlds dismay,
When man fell prey to the great lie, that caused such trauma to the planet, nature, creature,
to make it all to moan and groan as the earth grows saturated with the toxic breath of Evil,
it is all the work of that Devil, the despicable!
Had not Christ laid aside His crown (this made the Evil One to frown),
To take the garb of fallen man to defeat the fallen angel’s power,
For the human race would not have been the hopeful hour,
To pull him from the deadly pit, for Christ Himself did enter it!
O sister, brother, do consider, earth’s closing days draw hither,
Rise up, repent, and search your heart, if your faith be found on guard
To face the strong delusion soon to come,
Where if it were possible, the elect be overcome (Matthew 24:24).
Eternal life, eternal death is here at stake, therefore be wide, wide, wide awake,
And make your covenant with God by sacrifice (Psalm 50:5),
Surrender now yourself to Christ – for He is yours, and you are His eternal prize!

Amen!

Edda Tedford, Canada