from the throne of God seems flashing through. 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 the hurricane, like the voice of demons upon a mission of
destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the waves of the sea.
Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way.
Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The seaports
that have become like Sodom for wickedness, are swallowed up by the angry
waters. Babylon the Great has come in remembrance before God, "to give
unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath."(1095) Great
hailstones, every one "about the weight of a talent," are doing their work
of destruction. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low. The lordly
palaces, upon which the world's great men have lavished their wealth in
order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their eyes.
Prison walls are rent asunder, and God's people, who have been held in
bondage for their faith, are set free.

Graves are opened, and "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
... awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt."(1096) All who have died in the faith of the third angel's
message come forth from the tomb glorified, to hear God's covenant of
peace with those who have kept His law. "They also which pierced
Him,"(1097) those that mocked and derided Christ's dying agonies, and the
most violent opposers of His truth and His people, are raised to behold
Him in His glory, and to see the honor placed upon the loyal and obedient.

Thick clouds still cover the sky; yet the sun now and then breaks through,
appearing like the avenging eye of Jehovah. Fierce lightnings leap from
the heavens, enveloping the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the terrific
roar of thunder, voices, mysterious and awful, declare the doom of the
wicked. The words spoken are not comprehended by all; but they are
distinctly understood by the false teachers. Those who a little before
were so reckless, so boastful and defiant, so exultant in their cruelty to
God's commandment-keeping people, are now overwhelmed with consternation,
and shuddering in fear. Their wails are heard above the sound of the
elements. Demons acknowledge the deity of Christ, and tremble before His
power, while men are supplicating for mer