the generation of the righteous had been taken home to glory before the ungodly were destroyed by the deluge, so we may suppose the “camp of the saints” to be but a “little flock,” when assailed for the last time, while they are in a militant state.—­The issue in this case, however, will be more decisive and glorious than any other battle with the powers of darkness.  We may adopt and apply the words of the prophet to God’s people in the time of Jehoshaphat:—­“Thus saith the Lord,—­Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle.” (2 Chron. xx. 15, 17.)—­“Fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured” this great multitude.  This most dreadful of all elements in the material universe, is that which is commonly employed to represent the wrath of God.  By it Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, Corah and his rebellious company, the captains and their fifties; fire proceeded out of the mouth of the two witnesses and devoured their enemies; Gog and Magog are consumed by this element; the heavens and the earth which are now, are reserved unto fire; the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven ... in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel,—­most probably these very enemies; and all such are to be consigned to “the fire that never shall be quenched.”  Awful thought!  Tremendous destiny!  Who would not fear thee, O Lord; who art a consuming fire to all thy impenitent enemies?

10.  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

V. 10.—­The first rebel against the righteous authority of the Lord and his Anointed, and the ceaseless instigator of all rebellions of individual and social man, is the last to be consigned to adequate punishment.  When the Lord first called sinners to account, the same order is noticeable:  First, Adam, then Eve, and last the serpent.  The beast and the false prophet are already in the lake of fire; (ch. xix. 20;) and now, Satan, who is here called the devil, is dismissed after them, that they may all be tormented “for ever and ever,”—­words, as already noticed, which are the strongest in the Greek language, to convey to the human mind the idea of endless duration.

11.  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12.  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God:  and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life:  and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.

13.  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them:  and they were judged every man according to their works.