“They went up on the breadth of the earth, and _compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city_; and _fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them_.” Verse 9. NOTES.—This is the last act in the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The whole human race meet here for the first and last time. The eternal separation of the righteous from the wicked here takes place. At this time the judgment of God is executed upon the wicked in the lake of fire. This is the second death. This ends the great rebellion against God and His government. Now is heard the voice of God as He sits upon His throne, speaking to the saints, and saying, “Behold, I make all things new;” and out of the burning ruins of the old earth there springs forth before the admiring gaze of the millions of the redeemed, “a new heaven and a new earth,” in which they shall find an everlasting inheritance and dwelling-place. The millennium is a great sabbath of rest, both for the earth and for God’s people. For six thousand years the earth and its inhabitants have been groaning under the curse of sin. The millennium, the seventh thousand, will be a sabbath of rest and release; for, says the prophet concerning the land, “as long as she lay desolate she kept _sabbath_.” 2 Chron. 36:21. “There remaineth therefore a _rest_ [margin, _keeping of a sabbath_] to the people of God.” Heb. 4:9. This precedes the new earth state. Length Of The Day Of The Lord [Illustration.] The Last Great Earthquake. "For the great day of His wrath is come." Rev. 6:17. 1. What is the character of the “day of the Lord”? “The great day of the Lord is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the Lord: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. _That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress._” Zeph. 1:14, 15. 2. Under which of the seven seals does this day begin? “And I beheld _when He had opened the sixth seal_, and, lo, there was a great earthquake, ... for _the great day of His wrath is come_; and who shall be able to stand?” Rev. 6:12-17. 3. What signs were to appear under this seal? “The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.” Verses 12, 13. NOTE.—For dates and fulfilment of these signs, see readings on pages 311, 319. The Lisbon earthquake of 1755 (page 286) should not be confounded with that to take place under the seventh plague. Rev. 16:18. 4. Under which seal will the Lord come? “And when He had _opened the seventh seal_, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.” Rev. 8:1.