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 What
Does God Want?
The story that follows is
as drastic as the story of the first four
trumpets! In a sentence, the administration of
life on planet Earth, as we know it, will be
changed overnight. Pandemonium, confusion, fear,
depression, stupor and distress will rule the
day. Out of the suffering certain questions
always arise” “Why did God allow this?
What does He want?
According to Revelation,
a great transformation will take place all over
the world as a result of the meteor and asteroid
impacts. The most remarkable change in America
will be a great surge of national repentance.
Currently, only 39% of American attends church
regularly. This percentage will change overnight.
Religion will become a priority and evangelicals
will lead the nation – almost overnight
– into a religious revolution.
Number
One Question
There are several
different religious systems on earth and each one
worships its God in a different way. Is there
one right way to worship God? Mentally step
out into space and look down on Earth for a
moment. Moslems believe that God is pleased when
people obey the teachings of Mohammed. Catholics
believe that God is pleased when people obey the
pope and the laws of the church. Protestants,
Jews, Hindus and others have differing ideas on
what pleases God. Which religious system is
right? Does God really care how we worship Him as
long as we worship Him? The question is about to
become the number one question on Earth. In
today’s context, the question appears to be
rhetorical, but when God’s anger is felt by
billions of people, this question will become
paramount.
Desperate circumstances
quickly unite people when the focus on a common
problem or solution. (The war between Iraq and
the United Nations, led by the United States, in
1990 proved this point.) Shortly after the
trumpets begin, Revelation predicts the world
will participate in the rapid development of a
global coalition. Instead of nations fighting and
quarreling among themselves over lesser things
like power, land or money, the judgments of God
will propel religious leaders into a significant
leadership role over confused people. Prompted by
terror, controlled by fear and trying to be
significant, clerics will call for drastic
measures to appease God so His judgments will
cease. Because the destruction of the first four
trumpets is global, the union of religious
leaders will be global.
The
Wrath of God
A great change will occur
overnight in the way people think about God. Most
Christians talk about God’s love. Hid great
salvation and forgiveness, but little is said
about the things that make Him angry. Many
Christians even deny that God has wrath!
Consequently, when His judgments begin to fall,
many Christians will be at a loss to reconcile
these “Acts of God” with their assumed
knowledge of God. The result will be great fear
and terror.
It is not difficult for
God to frighten people. He only needs to tamper
with things that make us feel secure to get our
attention. When lives and property are destroyed,
the survivors tend to renew their acquaintance
with God. Like Israel of old, all nations will
tremble with fear before Almighty God during the
days of His visitation. (Exodus 20:18-21) The
solution to pleasing or appeasing God – so
that His destruction of earth will stop –
will appear simple on the surface. Religious
leaders will cry out, “Submit to the
authority of God.” However, how does a
person worship the God of Heaven so that His
wrath is satisfied? (Remember, one of the five
doctrinal pillars in this story is the truth
about the worship of God.)
Revelation explains what
God wants. John saw a message going throughout
the world saying, “Fear God and give him
glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.
Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the
sea and the springs of water.”
(Revelation 14:7) Notice the last sentence of
this verse itemizes the four things affected by
the first four trumpets! Religious people, the
world over, will quickly agree why the
judgments are falling and what they are,
but how to implement a solution that will
please God will become a global nightmare! The
nightmare is because the judgments of God will be
common upon all people, but there are different
religions on the Earth and each claim that its
way is the only right way to worship God.
Laws
Enforcing Worship
Revelation predicts that
people the world over will respond to the
devastation of the trumpets by enforcing laws
that demand the worship of God. However, there
will be no consistency between the laws; instead,
there will be great confusion. Catholics and
Protestants will seek laws that agree with their
theology, Jews will make laws agreeing with their
doctrine, Moslems will want laws respecting their
beliefs in Allah, and other bodies will demand
similar laws. Notice the problem that occurs with
diverse religions. How can diverse religions
appease one God? Is He a God of many religions?
To address this global
diversity, Revelation states that a global
coalition of religious representatives will
quickly form. This coalition will try to solve
the problem of diverse views about God. This
coming union is called “Babylon” in the
Bible because Babylon symbolizes confusion.
So, why does Babylon
form? Well meaning religious people will stampede
the political processes of their respective
countries after the trumpets begin, and the
legislated results will be very confusing, severe
and most distressing. In every nation, religious
leaders will demand laws to end the “reign
of sin” so that God may be appeased and the
judgments stopped. Politicians will be powerless
to stop the increase of religious sentiment and
the laws will be enacted overnight. Compare
Daniel 3 with Revelation 13 and you will find
that modern Babylon’s story parallels the
experience of ancient Babylon. Modern Babylon,
like ancient Babylon, will be made up of many
religions, cultures and nationalities.
Satan
Appears in Person
Planet Earth has received
a deadly blow and chaos reigns. The next event
described in Revelation is the fifth trumpet. The
fifth trumpet reveals the devil himself will
appear on Earth after the “dust
settles” from the asteroid impacts. He may
first appear in the Middle East, Perhaps
Jerusalem. The Bible does not say, but many
orthodox Jews anticipate the imminent arrival of
Messiah to deliver them from their enemies. Their
hopes for the coming Messiah would provide an
excellent platform for Satan to weave his
masquerade of deception and use it to great
advantage. This would be especially effective,
since many Christians believe the Jews are still
God’s chosen people. In addition to the
Jews’ expectation of the coming Messiah, the
Arabs also believe a Deliverer will soon appear.
It is not hard to see why the Middle East could
be an excellent geographical target for Satan!
The
Fifth Trumpet
Be assured that God will
only allow the devil to physically appear after
a significant part of the world has heard the
gospel. Satan is allowed to appear because most
of the Earth has already heard and rejected the
gospel as proclaimed by the 144,000. Therefore,
God releases and allows the devil to rule over
those who refused to recognize Him as the
Almighty. This is an interesting point about the
Great Tribulation: Each man will have a master,
either by his choice or by force. So, who will it
be?
The fifth trumpet of
Revelation 9:1-11 is described by John as the
bottomless pit being “unlocked.” God
shows John something that looks like a great
swarm of locusts coming up out of the Earth. As
the swarm draws closer to him though, John can
see that they look more like riders on horses.
Directing this “swarm” of riders is an
angel king whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in
Greek, is Apollyon. Both names mean the same
thing: “destroyer.”
The release of Satan and
his angels from the bottomless pit reveals three
important things. First, Satan will not come in
the clouds of glory exactly like Jesus.
Although Satan will do everything in his power to
imitate Jesus’ second coming. God limits the
deception of the devil. Satan will appear to come
down from the clouds in various places. This is
why Jesus said, “At that time if
anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is
Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not
believe it.” (Matthew 24:23) Second, God
does not allow Satan to physically appear on
Earth until the first four trumpets have sounded.
Last, the physically appearing of the devil is
designed by God to force everyone into a firm
decision. The door of salvation is still open for
anyone who might repent of his or her rebellion
and turn to God.
According to Revelation
9, after Satan and his evil angels appear, they
will torment the “unsaved” people for
five months. Scripture does not reveal just how
the torment is inflicted and what the torment is.
However, it does say that the torment will hurt
like a scorpion’s sting. People who are
afflicted will long to die, but they will
actually survive the ordeal.
An
Angel of Light
Satan will so dazzle
Earth’s inhabitants with his glory that many
people will believe his claims to be God based on
his appearance alone. Paul says, “…for
Satan himself masquerades as an angel of
light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) Revelation
states that when Satan appears, he will be so
dazzling and glorious that most people will be
awestruck when they actually see him! “…The
inhabitants of the earth whose names have not
been written in the book of life from the
creation of the world will be astonished
when they see the beast….”
(Revelation 17:8, Italics added.)
Satan
Works Miracles and Wonders
Satan’s first work
after appearing “in the flesh” as a
glorious god-man will be to convince the world
that he is divine – that he is actually God.
Paul warns, “Don’t let anyone
deceive you in any way, for that day (the second
coming) will not come until the rebellion occurs
and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man
doomed to destruction. He opposes and exalts
himself over everything that is called God or is
worshiped, and even sets himself up in God’s
temple, proclaiming himself to be God….The
coming of the lawless one will be in accordance
with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of
counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in
every sort of evil that deceives those who are
perishing. They perish because they refused to
love the truth and so be saved.” (2
Corinthians 2:3,4,9,10)
One miracle that Satan
will use above all others to convince doubting
people that he is God will be to call fire down
out of Heaven at will! This “proof of
divinity” will make his deceptions secure
for many, many people. John says, “And he
performed great and miraculous signs, even
causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in
full view of men. Because of the signs he was
given power to do on behalf of the first beast,
he deceived the inhabitants of the
earth….” (Revelation 13:13,14)
Satan
the “Lamb-like” Beast
John describes the
appearing of Satan as a “lamb-like”
beast. The intended contrast is obvious, since
Jesus is referred to in Revelation as “The
Lamb” more than 29 times. Because the devil
masquerades as Jesus, John describes Satan as a
“lamb-like” beast who speaks like a
dragon. John also warns that he will make every
effort to deceive the world.
Obviously, this coming
demonic god man will rule over Babylon. The
ultimate purpose behind his deceit is to unite as
many people as possible into a one-world religion
and then implement his one-world order. Satan
will eventually obtain a death penalty for those
who will refuse to meet his demands. At that
time, the followers of Jesus will be exposed
because they refused to join ranks with the devil
and receive his tattoo, the mark of the lamb-like
beast. After Satan has appeared in various places
on the Earth for a few months, he will call on
his followers, located in every nation, to take
control. He will ask his followers to arm
themselves and fight to establish his kingdom.
Revelation 9:13-21 describes the sixth trumpet
and a world war. This war will be similar to the
Civil War that occurred in the United States
– brother fighting against brother –
only this war will take place in every nation on
Earth. Satan’s followers intend to dominate
their respective nations on behalf of the one
they believe to be God! Millions will die as a
result of this war. The Bible says in Revelation
9:16 that the number of troops will be
200,000,000. The devil himself being the angel
king, will have four generals that will have
50,000,000 evil angels under each of their
commands, to slaughter the non-righteous wicked
and the saints when the sixth seal is opened.
Because of the carnage from this world war, wild
animals will multiply rapidly. They will feed on
the dead like the birds that feed on the wicked
after the second coming. (Revelation 19:21)
A
Day of Testing
The seven trumpets are
specifically designed by God to awaken the world
to the return of Jesus. If anyone wishes to
receive salvation during this time-period, he or
she must worship the Creator of the heavens,
Earth, the sea and the springs of water. The word
worship simply means ‘to render
obedience.” Now, every Christian should know
that man is not saved by obedience, for
the Bible states that we are saved by faith.
(Ephesians 2:8,9) Therefore, the primary purpose
of the Great Tribulation is to test faith. God is
going to test the faith of every person by
setting before us a life or death test. In this
context, each person’s faith will be
revealed through obedience! Those choosing to
submit to the laws of man will reject God’s
sovereign authority. Those choosing to submit to
the laws of God will reject man’s effort to
dictate how God is to be worshiped. It is
interesting that the penalty for rejecting either
law – God’s or man’s – is
death. Read Daniel 3 and Daniel 6 for two stories
that demonstrate the ultimate test of faith.
The
Seventh Trumpet
The mystery of God will
be accomplished just before the seventh trumpet
sounds. (Revelation 10:7) Everyone will have made
his or her decision, for or against God’s
truth. Everyone will have been sealed or received
the mark of the beast. With all decisions final,
God closes the door of mercy.
Just before the door of
mercy is closed, there will be a great number of
martyrs for the cause of Christ. When every
decision has been made, the Heavenly temple will
be cleansed and the wrath of God will be released
in full measure upon the people who have received
the mark of the beast.
Seven
Last Plagues
The seven last plagues
follow the seven first plagues (seven
trumpets) and the seven last plagues include the
four judgments! These seven last plagues are
described in Revelation 16 and all who receive
the mark of the beast will receive these
destructive judgments. The first judgment is a
plague of sores that falls upon those receiving
the mark of the beast. The second plague, like
the second trumpet, affects the sea; however, all
the oceans of the world turn to blood like the
blood of a dead man and all the sea creatures
die. The third plague affects fresh water around
the world. All the rivers and springs are turned
to blood, so rivers and springs are turned to
blood, so people who shed the blood of the saints
and prophets are given blood to drink. The fourth
plague causes the sun to scorch wicked people
throughout the world. They will curse the name of
God, but they refuse to repent and glorify Him.
These plagues deplete what food supplies remain.
Famine will become pandemic. Note that these
plagues fall only on those who have
rejected God’s offer of salvation. People
remaining faithful to Jesus will not be affected
by these last seven plagues.
The fifth plague focuses
on Satan and his throne. His kingdom is
immediately plunged into darkness and pain. The
Bible indicates that Satan’s minions will
gnaw their tongues in pain. This darkness seems
appropriate for those who chose to reject the
light of God’s truth.
The sixth plague causes
the river Euphrates to dry up in preparation for
the appearing of the Kings from the East (our
Heavenly Father and His Son). Satan and his
demons will attempt to gather all the armies of
Earth to war against Almighty God, but God will
end this attempt to challenge His authority.
(Revelation 20:7-10) Both Jesus and the Father
will appear in the clouds of glory shortly before
the seventh plague occurs. This may be a new
thought for some people, that the Father will
attend the Son at the second coming. But notice
the words of Jesus, “…But I say unto
you: In the future you will see the Son of Man
sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and
coming in the clouds of heaven.”
(Matthew 26:64) Compare this with Revelation
6:16,17: “They called to the mountains
and rocks, ‘Fall on us and hide us from the
face of him who sits on the throne and from the
wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of their
wrath has come, and who can stand?” The
seventh plague will demonstrate who is master of
the universe and rebellion against Almighty God
will no longer be tolerated. It aptly
demonstrates what happens when sin comes face to
face with a Holy God and His wrath.
Conclusion
When Jesus was here on
Earth, He gave us a promise that resounds in the
hearts of Christians to this day. “Do not
let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust
also in me. In my Father’s house are many
rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you.
I am going there to prepare a place for you. And
if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
back and take you to be with me that you also may
be where I am.” (John 14:1-3) What a
precious promise, especially when we consider
what is before us. Paul describes the second
coming like this: “For the Lord himself
will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the
trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will
rise first. After that, we who are still alive
and left will be caught up together with them in
the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we
will be with the Lord forever. Therefore
encourage each other with these words.” (1
Thessalonians 4:16-18)
If you know Jesus as your
Savior, you have no reason to be afraid. The
Psalmist wrote, “Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil, for you are with me….”
(Psalm 23:4) If you have not surrendered your
life to Jesus, then do so today! Obey the
teachings of Jesus and live by faith in His
promises. Be willing and obedient to the
prompting of the Holy Spirit and God will take
care of you. Search for God’s truth and it
will strengthen you. Earth’s cup of iniquity
is almost full. God is about to break His
silence.
Revelation contains a
story of desperate love for man. Jesus is anxious
to save! Sadly, most people are unable to
understand the character of God and His kingdom
because we are so blighted by sin. However, God
will bring to the front of every person’s
conscience, the reality of His character by
sending His judgments. Into this turmoil, He will
send 144,000 messengers explaining the terms and
conditions of salvation. Yes, He wants everyone
to be saved, but many people will not listen, nor
give the respect due to Him. Unfortunately, some
people will have to discover their desperate need
of a loving Savior in times of distress. What
does it say of man when God is left with nothing
other than the outpouring of His wrath to get our
undivided attention?
Sound
Asleep?
Many Christians scoff at
the suggestion that the Lord will return this
decade. They see no reason for all the excitement
and say, “All things continue as usual
– why all the fuss?” These people are
content with spiritual poverty. They have no idea
about the events coming upon the Earth, and even
worse, do not want to hear about it! They like
religious programming – entertainment that
features talented singers and gifted speakers
with clever ideas. They do not want to hear about
the wrath of God nor the cross that they must
bear. Unfortunately, Satan has convinced many
within the Christian church that they are either
safe from the tribulation or that life will
continue as usual until Jesus returns. How sad
that these deceptions are so widely accepted.
Get
Prepared
If the Bible teaches
anything, it teaches that salvation comes by
faith in Jesus and not membership in any church.
God knows our fears are great and that man is
made of the dust of the ground. Yet, God loves us
so much that He gave His only Son to die in our
place. Yes, the events before us are frightening.
Yes, the coming tribulation will be more terrible
than anything the world has ever experienced.
However, the presence of God will be closer than
ever before and His peace more valuable than
gold. So, give yourself to Him right now. Tell
the Lord that you are willing to be, to do and go
as He commands. Then when He comes, YOU will be
saved. Jesus guarantees it!
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Five Essential Bible Truths Part 1
Second Coming of Jesus
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