Chapter Twenty-Four – Why World Punishment!
Back to 1The Bible’s Greatest Prophecies Unlocked!
We have seen in previous chapters what will occur during these two distinct time periods, the Great Tribulation (described as Satan’s wrath on modern Israel) and the Day of the Lord (God’s wrath poured out on the whole of rebellious mankind).
The Bible reveals that only a tenth of Israel will survive into the Millennium. But Isaiah 6:11-13, Amos 5:3 and Ezekiel 5:12 ;6:8 are also representative as a parallel of the other nations of the earth. Most of Israel will perish in the Tribulation while the remaining nations will fall during the plagues, wars and calamities of the Day of the Lord.
The first four seals, coupled with the second woe, mentioned in Revelation, take over one half of all humanity, and this does not include the other trumpet plagues, earthquakes or the seven last plagues.
As the Millennium begins, it is truly only a remnant of all humanity that will have survived the unspeakable horrors at the end of the age.
We now formally ask the most central question in this volume: Why world punishment? Why is God angry? What has mankind done that incurs so much divine wrath and such incredible chastisement?
Not Popular
Realize the scriptures you are about to read are neither popular, nor pleasant. Ministers of this “present evil world” (Gal. 1:4) will not address them because they do not lend themselves to fuller offering plates. In fact, saying too much of them—and in most cases anything at all—will get a minister fired! But I will not be fired—and on God’s authority, I show you the truth of these enormous future events soon to crash into the world!
I hold no illusion: This book will be fiercely attacked by some. It steps on toes because bluntness must be brought from God’s Word to prophecies so central to the lives of all peoples at the end of the age.
When Harry Truman fired the popular General Douglas MacArthur in 1951, he was attacked unmercifully for over a solid year by the press. While Truman suffered miserably in the polls, his response was to say that neither Moses nor Christ took polls to mean anything. Otherwise, he continued, Moses would not have led Israel from Egypt and Christ would never have died on the stake. He knew courageous leaders do not do and say what is popular, but what is right!
All with ears to hear, now is the time to truly heed!
Israel’s Punishment—Warning to the World
Comprehending what happens to Israel becomes an important prelude to understanding why God will then punish the rest of the world—again, on top of the four horsemen. We read that God declares He “will make you [the American and British peoples] waste, and a reproach among the nations that are round about you, in the sight of all that pass by” (Ezek. 5:14).
Let’s see what this means for the rest of the world. What God does with Israel occurs on the world stage, not in a corner. There is a reason.
Ezekiel 5:1-17 continues: “So it shall be a reproach and a taunt, an instruction and an astonishment unto the nations that are round about you, when I shall execute judgments in you in anger and in fury and in furious rebukes. I the Lord have spoken it” (Eze 5:15).
All other nations of Earth are to learn from this terrible punishment!
When these events occur, the rest of Earth’s inhabitants are to consider—be instructed—by the war, famine, disease and other distresses upon Israel. They are to see that after centuries of disobedience the Israelitish peoples will receive the severest chastisement.
Dark days are prophesied to first slam into the descendants of Israel’s twelve tribes, with this followed by punishment on the whole world. To avoid these terrible times, Israel—and the world at large!—must listen to God’s warnings before the four horsemen ride with full force, and before the Tribulation, heavenly signs and Day of the Lord arrive.
Today’s nations of Israel have forsaken God and His ways. They have altogether rejected His rule over them. In response to their rebellion, we saw God declares He will move “against” (Ezek. 5:7-8) these peoples. Nations the world over will behold as God executes mind-wrenching judgments on His people—judgments culminating in the Tribulation that are so terrible they will be unlike anything the world has seen, or will see again.
Notice God brings this punishment because His people have committed abominations—they have sinned. They have disregarded, and broken His holy Law—and have done this without shame! These are the very nations that most profess to know the God of the Bible.
Rather than embracing sin, Christians are to hate it! But how many who profess to know God actually despise sin? Yet we saw Jesus declared, “If you will enter into life, keep the commandments” (Matt. 19:17). And, “Whosoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law” (I John 3:4).
Ask: If the Law of God has been “nailed to the cross,” why is God going to punish Israel—and then the whole world—for disobeying it? For those who say the reason is people have not “accepted Jesus as their Saviour, thus being freed from the law and judgment,” God says, “Let no man deceive you: he that does righteousness is righteous, even as He [Jesus Christ] is righteous. He that commits sin [on the other hand] is of the devil; for the devil sinned from the beginning” (I John 3:7-8).
This is most plain! One must do righteousness—in other words, obey God—to be righteous. Just “believing on Jesus” will not suffice.
Now Romans 4:15: “Where no law is, there is no transgression [sin].” If God’s Law were no longer in effect, there can be no sin. And God could not punish mankind for sin it was not committing.