(AN: Listening to "The Catalyst" by Linkin Park while writing this chapter. Yes, of all the thousands of songs about the End of Time/End of the World, why choose that? Well, it seemed to fit, and I didn't hate A Thousand Suns that much. Found it rather intriguing, actually, apart from "Wretches and Kings". Oh well, this isn't a political forum, so buckle down, my friends: you have front-row tickets to the End of the World!)
Armageddon
John now was brought forth to the bitter end. What he saw was less than happy. Since they could not reach Heaven, nor could their cursing and insults stop the hail, the wicked went after those who were still untouched. They were the last army of the righteous, one hundred and forty-four thousand strong, the people of Elijah's resurrection. They saw upon them a desolated world with no escape, yet the plagues did not touch them, nor were they killed by the sword.
Then all of Heaven sang out in cheer and happiness. Something of their song John caught, and in it he heard them affirm the everlasting rule of God, His true and final judgment over Babylon and her wickedness, and the final call to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
"Angel," John spoke to his guide. "The angels, they hold white robes in their hands. Who are they for?"
"They are the robes of Christ's righteousness," Sherael happily replied. "They are given to all who would obey and follow Him. Through their righteous acts in their lives, by His strength, their robes have been kept clean and are but the least of their trophies of victory."
"'Victory?'" John asked.
"Yes, and a great victory it shall be!" she exclaimed. "But wait! The Spirit instructs you to write!" John reached out and found that his quill and parchment were still at hand. "'Blessed are they which are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb!'"
In John's mind, he remembered the parable of the Ten Virgins. Only five had oil, and only those five came to the wedding: the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
"Is it indeed true?" he asked.
"These are the true sayings of God," Sherael replied.
Suddenly, John threw himself at the angel's feet. With a slight chuckle, the angel put her hands on his shoulders and lifted him up.
"Do not bow to me," she replied. "I am but a servant, no greater than any who have the Testimony of Christ: rather worship God, for the Testimony of Christ is the Spirit of Prophecy. Look now! The end has come...at last!"
Even as all looked hopeless upon the earth, John saw a dark cloud gathering in the east. Like lightning it soon covered the entire sky, then it was rolled open like a scroll. In the midst of a host of angels, there rode a lone Warrior on a white horse. Upon His head was a great crown, and His eyes burned with fire. Upon His breastplate was written: King of Kings, and upon the greaves of His legs was written: LORD of Lords.
When He spoke, He called forth the dead back from their graves: all the Righteous rose first and came to meet him. But among those risen were also others John had seen that day on the hill: Annas, Caiphas, the sadistic Roman soldiers and others who had pierced Him. The night before He died, He told the High Priest that he would see His return. They cried for the rocks and the mountains to fall upon them, but they were all gone.
He spoke once more, and the army of one hundred and forty-four thousand were raptured into Heaven, like a sea of light ascending back to their true home. All the Righteous were now saved, permanently safe from evil in the Kingdom of God.
The Conqueror King spoke one last time, and all the strength and armies of men were vanquished, crushed in the wine-press and devoured by the birds and worms, who had no lack of flesh to devour. Those who had pierced Him were crushed as well, and the Beast and his false prophets were burned away. There was no one left on Earth now to be deceived.
Gabriel came down from on high, with an iron key in his hand, and took hold of the Dragon: that old Serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world. He was locked away in the bottomless pit, with no one left to deceive. Then the angel departed with the host into Heaven, where they did 'eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.' For the books of Judgment were opened, and it was made to see that the wicked had no case, no excuse for their crimes. Judgment was sealed ere the Seven Last Plagues fell, and they continued in their chosen wickedness with 'self-assure smiles' on their faces, confident that there would be no God when they died.
How wrong they were!
"Blessed and holy are they that are risen in the First Resurrection!" a voice cried out from Heaven. "On them shall the Second Death have no power, but they shall be priests of God and His Christ, judging the evil with Him for one thousand years."
Before John's eyes, one thousand years passed on a desolate earth as if a brief moment. A sea of humans were brought back from their graves, corrupt and wicked. With people to deceive once more, Satan broke out of his eternal bonds. He personally went out among the people, who saw at last that they were wrong, that God did exist, and wrought among them his grand finale of his deception, the last desperate attempts of a power-mad tyrant with nothing to lose and nothing to gain.
To John's surprise, what Satan told to these risen dead was nothing new: the repetition of the old lies, the old foolishness that they could destroy God, conquer Heaven and take the Tree of Life. But the evil ones believed him, and all of them gathered in great concourse from all corners of the earth.
Upon the earth, there appeared the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem. Upon its shining white throne the Conqueror King sat, and He judged those who assembled themselves in vain assault upon the Heavenly City.
At last it happened. From the sky there came a second flood, like the one that befell in the days of Noah, and upon the cities of the Plain of Jordan in the days of Lot: a flood of fire. Fire and brimstone rained down from the sky and devoured all that were without the city: all the dead whose names were not written in the Book of Life were burned up and destroyed.
Satan burned the longest, for on his head was the entire fall of man and thousands of years of sin, death, murder and all the thousand wicked things that plague mankind: the last scapegoat on the final Yom Kippur of the Ages. Then Hell was destroyed by the fire, and the world on which Satan and man had lived, 'ruled' and corrupted, was burned up: and the last enemy to be destroyed was Death.
(AN: Some details from Paul's account of the Second Coming in Thessalonians were used, that's about it. In the source material, it does say that Hell and Death are the last ones to be destroyed. So how can Hell be eternal if the Word says it's destroyed?)
(As far as being 'fearful' of the End of Time, the least offensive reason probably is that the old way of things will be made no more, and that is all we know. The fear of losing that, of course, causes us to fear and opt rather for eternal oblivion than for eternal life [Sad But True])