years." Rev. 20:4.

It was to this work of judging the wicked and the evil angels, that the
apostle Paul referred in the counsel to the Corinthians: "Do ye not know
that the saints shall judge the world?... Know ye not that we shall
judge angels?" 1 Cor. 6:2, 3.

On Earth

While in heaven above the saved are with Christ and the holy angels
before the throne, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, it is to
be remembered that on earth all is desolation and emptiness. The wicked
have been slain by the glory of Christ's coming. By the quaking of the
earth the cities of the nations have fallen in ruin, islands have been
removed, and mountains cast into the depths of the sea. The condition of
the earth during this time of desolation is thus described by the
prophet:

"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the
heavens, and they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was
no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. I beheld, and, lo,
the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were
broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by His fierce anger." Jer.
4:23-26.

"Without form, and void," said the prophet. This is the same phrase that
is used in the opening verses of Genesis to describe the chaotic state
of the earth in the beginning. At the beginning of creation week the
earth was in a state of emptiness and chaos--an "abyss," as it is
called in the Greek translation of Genesis. Again, during this
thousand-year period, the earth is an "abyss," or a desolate waste.
"Abyss" is the meaning of the word translated "bottomless pit" in the
text telling of the binding of Satan by the mighty angel of God:

"He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and
Satan, and bound him a thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless
pit." Rev. 20:2, 3. The Revised Version says, "And cast him into the
abyss."

Confined to this pit or abyss of desolation, as a prisoner in a prison
house, with none to tempt, the author of sin has a thousand years in
which to view the ruin that sin has wrought in the earth that once left
its Maker's hand beautiful and perfect, unmarred by any curse.

3. Events at the End of the Thousand Years

At the end of the millennium, this earth becomes the scene of events
that close the great controversy between Christ and Satan.

The Descent of th