(tm)Introduction
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The greatest contrast imaginable is that between the scenes portrayed in the first two chapters of the Book of Genesis and the horrors described in the Book of Revelation; the contrast between the peace and beauty of Eden and the roaring inferno of the last days. The result of the transgression of Adam and Eve has been thousands of years of agony and death.
The history of mankind has been tragic. But of all the catastrophes of history, including the Holocaust perpetrated on the Jews by the Nazis, nothing has occurred as yet on the scale outlined in the Book of Revelation.
We may wonder, why would God permit such awful torment and chaos to be visited on the earth?
There are good reasons.
First we must point out that the Lord God takes no pleasure in the pain that comes upon man. The anguish man experiences is of man’s own doing. It grieves the Lord to see a single human being suffer pain and confusion. It is the conduct of man that brings pain and confusion upon him. Spiritual laws are inviolable. Certain kinds of behavior bring love, joy, and peace. Other kinds bring murder, torment, and anxiety.
God has done all in His power to save man. If God went any further in controlling the conduct of people they would cease to be human beings and would be puppets possessing no will or judgment of their own.
God is permitting Satan to realize and express all that is in his personality. The exposure of Satan’s personality will continue until sin and self-will have been brought to maturity.
God’s purpose in allowing Satan to utilize the physical world to portray the consequences of his ambitions and lusts is to provide an object lesson for the inhabitants of the heavens and the earth. All the creatures of God now have portrayed before their eyes the results of not abiding in the will and love of the Father. Indeed it is a horrible sight.
At the same time God is bringing forth sons in His image. God’s sons will be filled with glory and, under Christ, will reign supreme over all the works of God’s hands. The angels are ministering spirits for these heirs of the Divine salvation. But before the sons are fully born (to be fully born as a son of God we must be born of woman, born of the Spirit, and raised from the dead) they must be thoroughly exposed to Satan’s being and works.
Each son must of his own will choose to abhor Satan and cleave to God. The Lord Jesus Christ came to help us do that. God’s Glory is revealed not only in forgiving sinners but in bringing forth sons in His image—sons who under the most difficult of circumstances have chosen to obey their Father in all things.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. (Revelation 21:7)
We are drawing near the days of vengeance. It may be true that the hour of temptation already is upon us. Even now the tares may be being removed from the wheat. The foolish virgins may be running out of oil.
The Day of Wrath is at hand. The exercise of the Divine judgment will result ultimately in the destruction of the entire first creation. Man, animals, plants, the earth, the sun, moon, and stars—all will be done away. The material creation will accomplish its purpose and then will be withdrawn in favor of a superior creation.
I will consume man and beast; I will consume the fowls of the heaven, and the fishes of the sea, and the stumblingblocks with the wicked: and I will cut off man from off the land, saith the Lord. (Zephaniah 1:3)
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. (II Peter 3:10)
There will be a new sky and a new earth, and a redeemed race to enjoy the new creation.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (Revelation 21:1)
Those who would be part of the new creation must do the will of God. It is not enough merely to "accept Christ," according to the current usage of the phrase. Rather we must accept Christ as our Lord and Savior and from that point onward continue in His will. Those who do the will of the Lord become eternal creatures.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (I John 2:17)
Although man and his environment will pass away the promises of God never shall pass away.
Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away. (Luke 21:33)
All through the agonies of the end time the promises of God in Christ will remain true. Those who put their trust in the Lord shall be saved. It is of the utmost importance the reader understand that the Word of God will hold true during all the judgments. When the moon turns to blood and the stars themselves vanish from sight the Lord will be a rock of stability for all who trust in Him.
No doubt many passages of the Scriptures, particularly the Ninety-first Psalm, were written for those who will be on the earth during times of judgment and tribulation.
There has entered into the thinking of Christian people a false hope. That false hope is the concept of the pre-tribulation rapture. The doctrine of the pre-tribulation rapture, combined with the perversion of Paul’s teaching of grace to mean it is not necessary that we live a righteous and holy life before the Lord, has destroyed the Christian churches of our day. It is conjectured that since we are saved by unconditional grace it is not necessary to express our faith in righteous conduct.
Terror is about to fall on all nations. When it does, the believers who have been lulled to sleep by false doctrine will be swept off their spiritual feet. They will not be able to stand and bear witness in the last days—which precisely is what Satan hopes to achieve. Rather they will be slain spiritually (and physically, in some instances) by the antichrist political-economic system and by the spirit of religious deception. This is taking place now.
Although we probably are in the Philadelphian age, we see about us increasing signs of the lukewarmness of the last of the golden lampstands—the church of the Laodiceans. Such Laodicean lukewarmness is especially evident in the wealthy democracies in which the worship of God is permitted (with some limitations). Although Christian in name and doctrine, the church of the Laodiceans is a friend of the world.
The church of the Laodiceans professes to be "rich, and increased with goods." But it is disgusting in the sight of the Lord. He will vomit the materialistic Laodicean believers from His mouth.
Laodicea is the lampstand of God. But it soon will be replaced by that which never was of God, that is, by the False Prophet (spiritual deception) and by Babylon (the end-time Christian religious organization).
We already can observe the advent of the False Prophet—the spirit of religious deception and seduction that will give spiritual life to the antichrist world system of politics and economics. Even today we see a tendency toward the occult, toward supernatural schemes for personal success and prosperity.
The False Prophet has entered the Christian churches with all sorts of supernatural practices of "faith," imaging, and positive thinking. The next step may be for Christian leaders to approach the heads of state and teach them how to use supernatural principles of faith in order to gain power.
Perhaps they will urge the heads of government to "accept" Jesus and to speak in tongues. But they will not tell them that in order to be a Christian they must lay down their life, take up their cross, and follow Jesus. Of course, all their "saving" of the heads of state will be done in the name of Christ, as Jesus declared (Mark 13:6).
In the last days the false prophets will help Antichrist rule over the nations just as today they gain entrance to as many governmental leaders as they can, thinking they are getting them saved and that somehow the Kingdom of God will be increased in this manner. It is not of God. It is the False Prophet giving life to the Beast (Revelation 13:15).
There is a movement toward the occult in the healing professions, as may be noticed in the employment of transcendental meditation, yoga, and some of the holistic techniques. Hypnotism is practiced increasingly. Public educational institutions offer courses in various forms of spiritism as people turn away from materialistic science toward psychic phenomena in order to control their environment.
We are at the entrance of a new age in which spiritual forces will give life to a one-world government, performing miracles of healing, and even bringing down fire from the heaven (Revelation 13:13). Christians are becoming involved in this Antichrist scheme without realizing it. We are being deceived because we are not praying and carrying our cross in stern obedience to Christ.
Deception is rampant in our day and the Lord is sounding the trumpet in Zion. The perils of the end time will serve to purify the work of God. Every person will find himself in that realm for which his level of spirituality has prepared him. The hidden things will be exposed. Then it will be easy to determine who is serving God and who is not serving God.
If we would know the truth we must call on the Lord with fervor, watching and praying with utmost carefulness. The place of safety in the Most High is a "secret" place. It is known only to the Lord’s true servants. The majority of Christian believers are easily deceived by the cunning of Satan. The day of fire that even now is upon us will bring to the light all the secret things. Every man’s work will be revealed as to its true nature.
Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. (Luke 21:36)
The above verse means that if we watch and pray, God will deem us worthy of the truth and will keep us from yielding to the temptations that will abound in that day. It signifies that God will prevent our being deceived and overcome. Instead we shall be able to stand in triumph before Jesus, not having been harmed spiritually by the seductions and attacks of the enemy (see John 17:15).
The concept of being accounted "worthy" is of interest. Several verses of the New Testament encourage us to behave in a manner worthy of the Kingdom of God. Perhaps these ought to be stressed more in our day.
One aspect of the current deception is the way faith, or belief, is being defined. The present definition of faith is not in line with the Scriptures. The Scriptural meaning of faith is obedience, that is, works of righteousness according to God’s will (Hebrews, Chapter Eleven).
Faith without works is dead! Doctrinal "faith" does not bring salvation. In order to be accounted worthy we must do the works of watching and praying. Only then will we escape deception. The reason so many Christians are deceived today is that they do not watch and pray. They have not been found worthy of escaping the seductions of the last days and they will fall (and already have fallen) before the material and spiritual seductions of the antichrist spirit.
If we guard the Word of Christ’s patience, walking patiently after Him, not seeking our own desires, our own life, but only the will of God, Christ will guard us so we are not deceived during the testings that even now are at the door.
Because thou hast kept [guarded] the word of my patience, I also will keep [guard] thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:10)
It can be observed that those who are thus guarded are not the individuals who make a doctrinally correct statement concerning the atonement or the resurrection of the Lord but those who have followed Him patiently. Spiritual protection in the last days depends on our patient obedience to the Lord.
The protection is not from the great tribulation but from the hour of testing, that is, from the abundance of lawlessness that causes the great tribulation. We must be careful to distinguish between the hour of testing and the great tribulation. Tribulation always purifies the believers.
The problem is not tribulation it is the abundance of lawlessness and sin filling the earth today. The Christians already have been overcome, not by tribulation but by sin. It is the abundance of lawlessness that will cause worldwide desolation and the great tribulation.
Let us be among the saints who serve the Lord faithfully, diligently, and consistently. Only in this manner can we escape the spiritual dangers of earth’s midnight hour.
There are four major aspects of the Divine judgment:
The opening of the seven seals.
The blowing of the seven trumpets.
The pouring out of the bowls of wrath.
The invasion of the earth by the army of the Lord.
It is our point of view that these four major aspects of the Divine judgment do not take place in chronological order. Any attempt to place the four judgments on a chart, arranging them in chronological order, leads only to contradictions and confusion.
Rather, these four events are best understood if we do not attempt to describe them in chronological order or physical detail but instead seek to obtain from the Holy Spirit the message, the concept of the symbols used in presenting the judgments.
What parts of the personages, things and events are sequential and what parts are simultaneous or interwoven cannot be known to us except as the Holy Spirit reveals the interpretation. The same is true concerning what parts are literal and what parts are figurative, being symbolic of spiritual personages, things and events.
It is easy to miss Christ, as happened to the Pharisees, by holding to a preconceived picture of what is going to take place. The visions in the Book of Revelation often are portraying events as seen from a spiritual standpoint, and sometimes are symbolic.
For example, in the first verse of the ninth chapter of Revelation we find that to a "star" was given the key of the bottomless pit. Obviously, this is not the kind of star to which we are accustomed.
Again, in Revelation 12:4 we notice that a third part of the stars of heaven were cast to the earth. Since the physical stars of the heaven are much larger than the earth it is not possible for even one star to be cast to the earth.
To maintain that when the Book of Revelation refers to a "star" or "stars" it is always speaking of a physical star would be to make any reasonable interpretation impossible. By the same token, it would not be wise, we believe, to treat every event of Revelation as having no literal fulfillment. Our point of view is that the Book of Revelation is a mixture of the literal and the symbolic without emphasis on the order in which the episodes take place. This is true also of the Hebrew Prophets of the Old Testament.
Another important concept is that of the convergence of the spiritual and physical realms in the last days such that the spiritual realities of the Kingdom of God find concrete expression in the material world. For example, people are hurled in their physical body into the spiritual Lake of Fire.
Let us look now at the first of the four major aspects of the Divine judgment.
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