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God is Largely
Misunderstood today
The character of God is
poorly understood – even in America. Most
men and women diminish His authority, glory and
power, because He has not recently revealed
Himself in the affairs of man. The prophet Isaiah
is a good example, however, of a human response
when witnessing God’s great power. Falling
on his face, Isaiah was amazed at God’s
reluctance to show Himself as the Almighty. “Truly
you are a God who hides himself, O God and Savior
of Israel.” (Isaiah 45:15)
God’s apparent
silence comes as a consequence of sin. Just as
offenses physically separate friends or family
members, the offensiveness of sin separates us
from God’s physical presence. As
generations’ come and go, knowledge of God
dims. The reality of God becomes faint, and the
longer we go without renewed evidence of
God’s authority and glory, the more silent
He appears to be. In the vacuum of this silence,
sin becomes more attractive and less offensive.
Sinners become bold and defiant in transgression.
Sin metastasizes. Violence, sorrow and suffering
spring up like dandelions after a spring rain.
Every night, the evening news confirms our
accelerating slide into depravity. Degenerate,
even hideous sins are either justified or
glamorized on TV. Sin has a strange effect on
human beings – it causes sinners to minimize
the effects of the guilt of their wrong actions.
Sin causes human beings to deny the significance
of personal wrongdoing! (How many people
in prison falsely maintain innocence?)
The Bible reveals that
God breaks His silence from time to time. He uses
four judgments to limit the growth of sin.
(Ezekiel 14:21) These four judgments are sword,
famine, plague and wild beasts. In His infinite
wisdom, God allows nations to rule until they
fill up their cup of iniquity, and when they do,
the Bible says that He removes them from power.
(See Daniel 2:21; 4:16, Leviticus 18:24-27.) What
makes this process so remarkable is that God,
even within the chaos of sin, completely
accomplishes His plans and purposes on this
Earth! We may try to explain the outcome of
Earthy events by analyzing the actions of the
players, but this is only a limited view. Do not
be naïve and think that things happen by the
prowess of man. Nothing happens in the universe
without God’s knowledge and permission. Even
though we are unable to see God on His throne, we
can know that He reigns over the kingdoms of man.
God is sovereign. We may not see all that He is
doing, but the evidence is right before our eyes.
The Bible is clear – God is in control. How
He maintains control over Earth is a mystery.
That He does it without showing Himself I call
His silence.
God’s silence is not
too hard to penetrate, if you really want to see
and hear Him. The evidences of His handiwork are
all around us if we want to acknowledge Him.
However, if we do not want to give Him respect,
we can easily ignore Him and deny Him the
recognition He is due. Thus, His silence
compliments our power of choice. God can be
either the greatest and most wonderful being in
the universe, or if we choose, we can deny His
existence. What a God! Perhaps the least
understood element within God’s character is
His reluctance to awe His creatures with His
powers and presence. His silence will be a topic
of eternal discovery!
A
Very Important Point
When God breaks His
silence by raining down His judgments upon Earth,
the events will be understood even though God
will be grossly misunderstood. To appease God and
stay His awful judgments, the world’s
religious and political systems will enact laws
“honoring God” that will be contrary to
what He actually wants! What God seeks from man
is a repentant heart and a willing attitude. He
calls men and women to live a life free of the
damning power of sin. Even more, He grants men
and women who put their faith in Him, the power
to achieve victory over sin. Unfortunately,
revelation predicts that most men and women will
reject God’s gracious offer of grace, the
power over sin and resulting salvation. The
hearts of many people have become hardened in
rebellion because of their love for sin.
Nevertheless, this is not the end of the story.
Revelation also predicts that the wicked will be
marked by a spirit of intolerance when confronted
with the Holy Spirit’s authority within
God’s messengers. A day is coming when evil
men will punish and torture those who obey the
living God of Heaven. The persecutors will think,
like Pilate, that they can wash their hands from
their guilt. However, God never ignores
evil even though He may allow it to flourish for
a season. God will avenge every evil deed and be
sure justice is equitably administered for all
the pain inflicted upon His children (See
Revelation 18:6 and Obadiah 1:15.)
In the context of His
coming judgments, God’s character and His
behavior will be misrepresented and
misinterpreted. This is the heart of
Revelation’s story. It is a story of a
loving God visiting a planet in trouble. It is a
story of a just God rendering justice and a
merciful God extending mercy. What does it say
about the human race when God is left with no
other alternative than deadly judgments to gain
man’s full attention?
Revelation is a story
about rebellious people and a world gone astray.
Most people, when put to the coming test of faith
in God, will openly and conscientiously reject
the clearest evidences of God’s truth. They
will rebel against the Ten Commandments of the
Most High God by obeying the laws of the coming
Antichrist – the devil himself. God is going
to allow Satan to physically appear at an
appointed time. This is one of the most deadly
deceptions to occur during the Great Tribulation.
You need to understand that God allows the devil
to appear and personate Christ before
Christ returns. Many people receive this
deception as a true manifestation of Christ
because “they refused to love the truth
and so be saved.” (2 Thessalonians 2:10)
This imposter will claim to be God and will lead
people of Earth to believe that he has come to
establish a thousand years of peace. However, his
claims are lies. Why will this coming imposter
dupe the majority of the world? Jesus said, “This
is the verdict: Light has come into the world,
but men loved darkness instead of light because
their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil
hates the light, and will not come into the light
for fear that his deeds will be exposed.”
(John 3:19-20)
Keep in mind that the
Bible underscores a glorious but sublime truth.
God does not condemn a person for believing a
lie. Rather, He condemns only the people who
willfully refuse to believe the truth! Think of
it this way. If God places the clearest evidence
of truth before His creatures and they refuse to
agree with His principles of righteousness and
His sovereign authority, what more can be done?
Is life – whose source is God – a
privilege or a right? From God’s
perspective, are rebellious creatures just as
deserving of eternal life as submissive
creatures? Where in this universe can a
rebellious creature live in peace, if God is
omnipresent throughout His realm? We must address
these thoughtful questions. The eternal kingdom
of God has a set of issues and parameters that go
far beyond our brief life span of 70 years and
the limits of travel we have today. Therefore, we
should think about the issues of His kingdom, if
we plan to be part of it.
If my conclusions are
right, God is about to break His silence. On that
dreadful day, everyone will know that God’s
patience with sin and sinners has reached a
limit. On that day, mortals living on a tiny
speck of a planet called earth will know that
Almighty God, owner of the Universe, has summoned
man to appear before His everlasting throne of
righteousness. Is there anything we can do about
these coming events? Yes. We can prepare to be
part of God’s new creation. How does one get
prepared? By first understanding the issues
involved and the process, that God is going to
follow to resolve the problems of Earth. These
matters are explained in only one place –
The Bible. So, get ready, for ready or not, the
kingdom of God is at hand!
The
Coming Events
The Bible predicts a
future period of time when God will cause 14
calamitous events to occur on planet Earth. These
horrific events are described in the book of
Revelation. “When the Lamb opened the
fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth
living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked,
and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider
was named Death, and Hades was following close
behind him. They were given power over a fourth
of Earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and
by the wild beasts of the Earth.” (Revelation
6:7,8) There is evidence throughout the Bible
that God has used these four judgments down
through history to deal with peoples and nations
of the world when their cup of sin became full.
The Bible also reveals that He only uses these
judgments when sin and rebellion reach a point
where His love and mercy no longer has a
redeeming effect. (See Ezekiel 5.) Therefore, the
judgments described in the fourth seal are
literal and should be taken very seriously. Death
and destruction will be everywhere. In fact, if
the population of planet Earth is 6.0 billion
today, then 25% of that number would mean 1.5
billion casualties!
More than a billion
casualties tell us that God is willing to
sacrifice much for the salvation of others. After
all, didn’t He sacrifice His own Son for the
salvation of all? We cannot conceptualize the
breadth of God’s interest in our salvation
without considering the extensive destruction of
the fourth seal. To some, this may sound terribly
cruel and unfair. However, if the coming of Jesus
is delayed another century, all 6.0 billion
people currently living on Earth will die anyway
because the wages of sin is death. By
accelerating the death of some people, others
will be saved. This seems strange to say, but God
is left, at times, with no other option but to
destroy many people to save a few. Remember the
flood?
Understand that
God’s wrath is not like human temper. His
anger is justified. The coming 14 judgments have
a purpose. The seven first plagues are for the
saving of mankind and the seven last plagues are
reserved for the destruction of those who chose
to rebel against His authority. Remember that God
will fairly judge those who perish in His
forthcoming judgments, just as He now judges all
who die. God is more than fair.
How
will the Four Judgments Come?
Revelation’s story
explains how and when the four judgments of the
fourth seal will be suddenly released. God has
four angels currently holding back the four winds
of His judgments – sword, famine, plague and
wild beasts. Winds symbolize destruction and four
winds symbolize global destruction. (See Genesis
41:27; Exodus 10:13; Job 1:19; Psalm 11:6;
Jeremiah 30:23.) After God selects and empowers
144,000 people to proclaim the terms of the
gospel, the four angels will release the four
winds of destruction. (Revelation 7:1-4)
Then, 144,000 evangelists
whom God has chosen and strategically located in
every country on Earth will explain the purposes
of God’s judgments. They will proclaim a
comprehensive message about salvation and that
Jesus is returning soon. After the Fourth seal
judgments begin, the devil himself will appear
and claim to be God in the flesh. To make his
dominion of Earth complete, the devil will demand
that his followers kill the 144,000 and all who
follow them.
We
Must Listen to the 144,000
The 144,000 of Revelation
7 are people in whom God will grant special
powers. (See Luke 9 for an example.) The 144,000
will be empowered by the Two Witnesses, which are
the Bible and the Holy Spirit. The 144, 000 will
be human agents through whom the Two Witnesses
will reach every person. Like Moses and Elijah,
the 144,000 will perform many miracles to verify
that their message is from God. The Holy Spirit
will stir every heart, and signs and wonders will
add credibility to the Truth of God’s Word.
Revelation 11:6 says the Two Witnesses (working
through the 144,000) will perform miracles and
can strike Earth with every kind of plague as
often as they want!
Seven
Trumpets
When these events occur,
there will be no question that God is doing
exactly what He said He would do. His plans can
be understood by anyone who wants to know what
His coming actions are. Think about this: If the
Bible record of coming events was obscure, how
could God’s children be certain that He is
in control when the tribulation begins? This
simple point will someday stand in direct
opposition to the claims of skeptics. Indeed, you
can be sure of this development: Many scoffers
will deny that the judgments are deliberate Acts
of God. Instead, they will say that these
calamities are nothing more than nature’s
random curse.
The judgments described
in the fourth seal will begin suddenly. (1
Thessalonians 5:3) The judgments of the fourth
seal will come first in the form of the seven
trumpets and later, in the form of the seven last
plagues. In other words, sword, famine, plague
and wild beasts are found in the seven trumpets
and in the seven last plagues. The time-period of
the seven trumpets is redemptive while the
time-period of the seven last plagues is
destructive.
A
Great Earthquake
The
first physical sign that marks the opening of the
fourth seal will be a great earthquake that
shakes the whole world. (Note: This
earthquake is the first of four earthquakes
predicted in Revelation.) The first earthquake
signifies the end of God’s patience with
world conditions. In short, Earth’s cup of
iniquity will spill over on that day. The first
earthquake will not be an ordinary earthquake. It
will be distinguished from all previous
earthquakes in two ways: 1) It will be
accompanied by manifestations in the heavens and
on Earth. There will be rumblings deep in the
Earth, peals of thunder and lightening –
simultaneously observed around the world. 2) It
will literally shake all of the nations of the
world. The Richter scale will not be able to
measure its power.
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Continue to page :: 3 ::
Five Essential Bible Truths Part 1
Second Coming of Jesus
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