The Great War
War! No one wants war, the pain, the sorrow, and the grief that all have to endure. This war that Christ speaks of is different than all the other wars known to mankind. When this war begins there will only be one way to bring it to an end and having any life left. Do we know where it will take place? Who will be involved in this war? Will man destroy each other off the face of the earth? Let's begin with where this war will take place. “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up;” (Joel 3:9-16).
The motivation for the Church of God is to witness for Christ. In this present age of Grace the Bible teaches that we are living at the very end of time, great trouble is coming upon the earth (Matthew 24:21).
I believe this war will last for seven years and it will occur before the rapture of the church (Matthew 24:29-31). The Bible tells us that you will see the great tribulation that is found in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament prophecies. The first six seals are in the first six chapters of Revelation and from the seventh chapter to the sixteenth chapter will give us a glimpse of God’s wrath in the tribulation. This picture is indeed a frightening one that the whole world must go through, but for the saints they shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1).
Here are human souls who have so hardened their hearts against God that absolutely nothing can bring them to repentance. Actually confronted with long predictions and often scoffed at the judgment of God, they can only find it in their hearts to curse God to his face and plunge madly to their own destruction. What a warning against hardening one’s heart in this day of Grace!
Once again Zechariah sees Jerusalem as a ravaged city, suffering the worse consequences of siege and enemy occupation. We recognize this chapter as a symbolic description of the conflict between good and evil and the final victory of the Lord. When the enemy has done his worst against the Holy City and its inhabitants then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations.
“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2).
The power of evil forces seems too great to resist, Satan the dragon is the leader. Here is a sudden but timely warning to put every man on his guard when this sudden and unexpected tribulation should take place. “Armageddon” the mount of the assembly or the destruction of their army.
“For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14-16).
Here Gog (Russia) is represented as himself planning the attack on the Israelites, but he does not know that he is being lured on by Jehovah that He may be glorified in his destruction. When he comes into Israel, Jehovah God will strike his weapons from his hand, and his soldiers shall lie unburied. Gog believes his campaign against God’s people is of his own planning, but, in reality it is part of God’s plan to reveal His Holiness and Power in the eyes of many nations. The devastation upon Gog’s forces is destroyed. Gog will be utterly defeated. It will require a lengthy time to burn the weapons of the enemy and bury the dead.
“And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith the LORD GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:15-23).
At the end of this age, the time of the downfall of the evil king, Michael the angel who defined the Holy Temple, will be needed, for a period of bitter trouble will come. But the faithful, whose names are written in the Lambs Book of Life, shall be delivered. The victory will be the Lords’ and his people. Some who suffer for the cause of righteousness will be justified while still living. Others may be forced to wait until the world to come to the end. We divide time but to God even the present is a part of eternity.
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of His hand. Others may be forced to wait until the world to come to the end.
“God’s eternal truth concerning His people is valid in all generations. He will not allow His cause nor His people to be stamped out. It may be necessary that Christians be disciplined and even severely chastised but it is all for a purpose. The dross must be burned out in order for God’s image to be reflected in the gold of a Christ-like character.
We are told to prepare for war! Christ even names the battle, "The Battle of Armageddon!" All nations will gather for war, divided against each other, those for and against Israel. Russia will come out of the North and those on her side, they are coming to destroy and to take over Israel, but God is on the side of Israel and no country on earth will be able to come up against God! His fury will come down upon all those fighting against Israel” (Daniel 11:40-41).
The fifth and sixth trumpets herald a total different kind of judgment. Symbolic locust from within the earth suggests torment and destruction caused by forces upon the invading armies. The invasion of the host of Russia on symbolic horses suggests destruction coming from outside the war zone. Too, the sixth is more intense, the horses killed. The special judgment of the last three trumpets are shown by describing each of them as a “woe” source of unusual anguish and tragedy.
In the midst of judgment God has left open a way of repentance. When evil men do not repent, the fault is theirs, not God’s. Only destruction awaits them. Repentance seldom is the result of suffering alone. Men repent when they become aware of their own personal guilt and God’s gracious goodness towards them. Pain or anguish seldom produces this awareness. These locusts were allowed to hurt only the men who were unsealed. The mark, which God set upon the faithful, will therefore be manifest—they will be revealed in their true form as the sons of God.
“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months” (Revelation 9:2-10).
It could be that John saw many helicopters coming but could not explain in our language, so he wrote what he knew, breastplates of iron, wings as chariots, sting in there tails, like our aircraft we have today! This series of judgment is similar to the first, the seals, and is a pattern for the third, the bowls; the first four trumpets herald judgments on the recognized division of the created order. First the land, second the seas, third the fresh water, fourth, the heavenly bodies. One third of each of these areas is destroyed.
“And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:17-21).
The nations have turned from God and His Word. Greed, pride, violence, vice, immorality and every kind of sin has been increasing more and more in the world. We are now in a time when the wrath of God is beginning to come upon the world as spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:11).
This section opens with a call to blow the trumpet, to give warning of the approaching judgment (Amos 3:6-7). In the first chapter the description was that of an actual calamity; in this chapter the prophet looks forward to a still more terrible visitation.
The quotation ends with darkness. The locusts are represented as accompanied by earthquake and storms, and Jehovah Himself as advancing at the head of His locust army. Jehovah’s voice breaks forth in thunder. Truly this calamity is no ondinary event; it is a supernatual vistation, the great and terrible days of God.
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array! Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness” (Joel 2:1-6).
But yet it is not too late to avert the calamity. If the people will truly repent GOD may restore His favor; there must be a genuine conversion, a turning with mind and will to God. Repentance is not mere outward expression of grief, but a breaking up of the hard and stony heart, making it responsive to the divine influence (Psalm 51:17).
“They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil” (Joel 2:9-13).
Wars, revolution, famine, and pestilence, persecution—those have been known in most centuries. Earthquakes and the like, which were long ago foretold as the last sign of the end, men might well be utterly terrified unless they can see the meaning in it all.
“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island was moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand” (Revelation 6:14-17).
From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verses inclusive there is amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jerusalem; the invasion, infiltration, attack, massacre, confusion, occasioned by the sound of the trumpet, amongst the cries of the people, and the shrieks and groans of the dying, are pointed out with great force and mighty effect.
“The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land” (Zephaniah 1:12-18).
Jerusalem seizes the abundant spoil. More terrible is the other picture in which man and beast, smitten as by some supernatural swift stroke of leprosy rot away while they stand on their feet. “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth” (Zechariah 14 12). Could this be from nuclear radiation from atom bombs?
This war will be so terrible that men will desire to die, they will no longer want to live they will be running to and fro from fear. The heavens will shake, the earth will tremble, the earth will become darkened, and nothing will be able to save man. Their flesh will consume away, this great nuclear war will eat the flesh right off of their bodies. Zechariah says 2/3 of mankind will be destroyed. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein” (Zechariah 13:8).
The person addressed is committed to the care of their powerful God and Saviour. Their gaze is direction forward to the judgment day, when the Christians who have lived blamelessly will rejoice in the reward that is to be theirs who remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints (angels), To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 1:14-15).
The plain meaning of this is that the destruction of Jerusalem will be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance and such a signal manifestation of the power of Christ. With a great sound of a trumpet, the earnest, affectionate call of the gospel of peace, life, and salvation, shall gather together His elect. The lightning shining from east to the west means that the coming of Christ will be visible in the whole earth; it will not be necessary to be at a certain spot in order to see Him.
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately “after the tribulation” of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall “gather together his elect” from the four winds, from one end of heaven (earth) to the other” (Matthew 24:27-31).
Every sign, whether famine or earthquake or war, is a reminder that turmoil and tragedy will mark history until Jesus comes. The impending destruction of Jerusalem, like the time of tribulation and Judgment in every age, is simply a preview of the final great tribulation and Judgment at the end of this age.
“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened” (Mathew 24:22).
John writes with prophetic certainty as though his eye already sees Him coming. Every eye shall see Him and all those who by their attitude to him share the guilt of those who crucified Him. That event, which cause the faithful to lift up their hearts because there is signs He is drawing nigh, causes amazing dismay to those who have not been able to read the signs of the times.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also, which pierced him and all kindred’s of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).
All the nations are conceived as assaulting Jerusalem and execute within her all the horrors of war; but God works a miracle for her, splitting by an earthquake the Mount of Olive in two halves, half moving to the north and half to the south, leaving from west to east a great valley or gorge through which the people remaining in the city might escape.
”Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” (Zechariah 14:1-4).
The Gentiles are called upon to prepare for the struggle with Jehovah; but it will be of no avail for they are to be exterminated. High and mighty states shall be eclipsed, and brought to ruin. The evil system called Babylon will be destroyed. The blood will flow in a stream 178 miles long to the depth of the horse bridles, or four feet deep (Revelation 14:20).
“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more” (Joel 3:15-17).
Many divine manifestations will accompany this final tribulation. A terrible earthquake will occur (Revelation 16:18), no doubt the same one, which divides the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4), and cause extensive changes in the Jerusalem. The evil system called Babylon will be destroyed (Revelation 16:19). Hailstone weighing a talent each that is 125 pounds will fall. Yet, although this nightmare will come, no one alive today needs to face its terrors. Christ came to deliver from judgment whosoever will believe on Him and repent and walk in newness of life.
“And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great” (Revelation 16:18-21).
Can these passages of doom for ancient passages; ancient enemies have any meaning for us today? Yes, indeed. The prophet was not only concerned with Judah but with the surrounding nations as well God is personally leading the forces in battle against the Babylonians (Russian’s army) He gathers the armies together, He prepared them for battle. The day of the Lord would dawn as a day of judgment against the enemy of God’s will. The destruction would be complete and terrible. All of creation will suffer from these decisive acts.
They show us that God is not narrowly concerned with one nation. His interest and His active intervention reach to all the nations. God is the sovereign ruler of the world. “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:6-13).
Our war this time will not be just foot soldiers as once was in the past, but like star wars, chemical and nuclear warfare. All the elements of the earth that has been stored for so many years will then be let loose, as the ice from the Artic, lava from beneath, all will explode and erupt into chaotic conditions! As Christ says, if He wouldn't return at the peak of this battle, we would destroy all living forms of life. Nothing would be able to survive this war.
As the tribulation moves towards its awful climax, massed armies of two principal world powers remaining in existence begin converging on Israel for a terrible end time struggle. God aids the march of the kings of the east (Revelation 16:12). Demonic spirits direct the armies towards the plains of Esdraelon. Many divine manifestations will accompany this final phase of tribulation. When this terrible earthquake occurs, the same one which divides the Mount of Olive, armies will be trapped and able to escape and the evil armies will be utterly destroyed.
God’s eternal truth concerning His people is valid in all generations. He will not allow his cause nor His people to be stamped out. It may be necessary that Christians be disciplined and even severely chastised but will be purified in order for God’s image to be reflected in gold of Christ like character. The victory will be the Lord’s and His people. Some who suffer for the cause of righteousness will be vindicated while still living.
Those who are thoroughly instructed in Christ’s words and doctrine shall shine and shall be eminently distinguished in Christian Churches by holiness of their lives and purity of their creed. They that turn many to righteousness, they who by preaching Christ crucified among their brethren, shall be the means of converting them to the Christian faith, shall be as the stars—bright luminaries in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1).
Yet, although this nightmare will come, no one alive today needs to face its terrors. Christ came to deliver you from the judgment whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Already God’s wrath hangs over the head of every unsaved person. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth in him (John 3:36).
The psalmist described faith in terms of both security and happiness. The believer has a secret place, protection and care, known peculiarly to God. Security is reality even when dangers are hidden and whether they be threatened by night or by day.
“I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:2-12).
This is a prophetic description of a future judgment. Every sign Jesus gives of His coming and the end of this age has been fulfilled. The meaning of the signs is this: in time like these, just like the one, which we live, the Lord will come. It can happen at any moment. If men ignore or reject His church, His followers, they are rejecting Him; and they will be cast into everlasting fire. This must be understood of Christ’s coming at the last day, to judge mankind, though all the preceding including the destruction of Jerusalem.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matthew 25:31-33).
Expect the fulfillment of all My promises and threatnings; I am God, and change not. This promise must refer to the conversion of the Jews under the gospel. The pure language here means the form of religious worship. They had been before idolaters; now God promises to restore His pure worship among them and the Gentiles.
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent” (Zephaniah 3:8-9).
This is the climax of the divine judgment. Already Rome has fallen: the kings of the earth have been destroyed; yet this is not the end of evil. Satan, Christ’s greatest enemy is still alive and powerful. Taking away Satan’s freedom is the first of two steps in his final overthrow. This figure symbolizes a spiritual concept; Satan is a spiritual being. The meaning is that he no longer can delude men into worshipping the beast.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:1-4).
One came with clouds like the Son of man, Jesus Christ, contrast of the beast. He is the Judge, and power and authority that formerly belonged to various kingdoms represented by the beast were given to Him as an enduring and world—wide rule. God made the world for righteous people and in His time they will inherit it, His people cannot afford to become impatient.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came down from above and took our nature upon Him that He might redeem us unto Himself. The great theme and purpose of the Bible is to reveal the plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, to all mankind. “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Christianity shall increase and prevail to the end of this world.
Only those who have chosen to obey and serve the Lord will have His protection during this war. His wings will protect you, there will be no fear even though there will be thousands upon thousands dying around you. Christ then returns with all His Holy Angels to gather all His elect with Him, what a glorious sight, and every eye will see Him. Satan is then cast down to utter darkness and chained for a 1,000 years during the time of Christ reign, and all His people who served Him on earth will reign with Jesus Christ our Lord for ever and ever.
Even as world history has thus far followed the outline of Bible prophecy, so we can be sure that the final climax described in the Bible will also take place. Soon the stone will strike the image. Soon the proclamation will be made, the kingdom of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and He shall reign forever and ever.
Each day the news of the world fulfills prophecy and shows that Jesus is coming soon. Now is the time to accept Him as your Saviour and be ready for His coming.
Someday, suddenly, the wrath of God will fall. Then it will be too late. “For when they shall say piece and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them—and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3). But today there is a way to escape. Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Somewhere this day someone will yield their heart to Christ and accept Him as their Saviour and Lord. It could be you. Somewhere, some will reject Him for what will prove to be the last time, and He or she will be finally and forever lost. That could perhaps be you too! What will you do with Jesus?
If it’s your desire to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and are ready to repent and be baptized, pray and find a church that teaches the truth of God:
War! No one wants war, the pain, the sorrow, and the grief that all have to endure. This war that Christ speaks of is different than all the other wars known to mankind. When this war begins there will only be one way to bring it to an end and having any life left. Do we know where it will take place? Who will be involved in this war? Will man destroy each other off the face of the earth? Let's begin with where this war will take place. “Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up;” (Joel 3:9-16).
The motivation for the Church of God is to witness for Christ. In this present age of Grace the Bible teaches that we are living at the very end of time, great trouble is coming upon the earth (Matthew 24:21).
I believe this war will last for seven years and it will occur before the rapture of the church (Matthew 24:29-31). The Bible tells us that you will see the great tribulation that is found in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament prophecies. The first six seals are in the first six chapters of Revelation and from the seventh chapter to the sixteenth chapter will give us a glimpse of God’s wrath in the tribulation. This picture is indeed a frightening one that the whole world must go through, but for the saints they shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1).
Here are human souls who have so hardened their hearts against God that absolutely nothing can bring them to repentance. Actually confronted with long predictions and often scoffed at the judgment of God, they can only find it in their hearts to curse God to his face and plunge madly to their own destruction. What a warning against hardening one’s heart in this day of Grace!
Once again Zechariah sees Jerusalem as a ravaged city, suffering the worse consequences of siege and enemy occupation. We recognize this chapter as a symbolic description of the conflict between good and evil and the final victory of the Lord. When the enemy has done his worst against the Holy City and its inhabitants then shall the Lord go forth and fight against those nations.
“Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah 14:1-2).
The power of evil forces seems too great to resist, Satan the dragon is the leader. Here is a sudden but timely warning to put every man on his guard when this sudden and unexpected tribulation should take place. “Armageddon” the mount of the assembly or the destruction of their army.
“For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14-16).
Here Gog (Russia) is represented as himself planning the attack on the Israelites, but he does not know that he is being lured on by Jehovah that He may be glorified in his destruction. When he comes into Israel, Jehovah God will strike his weapons from his hand, and his soldiers shall lie unburied. Gog believes his campaign against God’s people is of his own planning, but, in reality it is part of God’s plan to reveal His Holiness and Power in the eyes of many nations. The devastation upon Gog’s forces is destroyed. Gog will be utterly defeated. It will require a lengthy time to burn the weapons of the enemy and bury the dead.
“And thou shalt come from thy place out of the north parts, thou, and many people with thee, all of them riding upon horses, a great company, and a mighty army: And thou shalt come up against my people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against my land, that the heathen may know me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes. Thus saith the LORD GOD; Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them? And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; So that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD” (Ezekiel 38:15-23).
At the end of this age, the time of the downfall of the evil king, Michael the angel who defined the Holy Temple, will be needed, for a period of bitter trouble will come. But the faithful, whose names are written in the Lambs Book of Life, shall be delivered. The victory will be the Lords’ and his people. Some who suffer for the cause of righteousness will be justified while still living. Others may be forced to wait until the world to come to the end. We divide time but to God even the present is a part of eternity.
“And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of His hand. Others may be forced to wait until the world to come to the end.
“God’s eternal truth concerning His people is valid in all generations. He will not allow His cause nor His people to be stamped out. It may be necessary that Christians be disciplined and even severely chastised but it is all for a purpose. The dross must be burned out in order for God’s image to be reflected in the gold of a Christ-like character.
We are told to prepare for war! Christ even names the battle, "The Battle of Armageddon!" All nations will gather for war, divided against each other, those for and against Israel. Russia will come out of the North and those on her side, they are coming to destroy and to take over Israel, but God is on the side of Israel and no country on earth will be able to come up against God! His fury will come down upon all those fighting against Israel” (Daniel 11:40-41).
The fifth and sixth trumpets herald a total different kind of judgment. Symbolic locust from within the earth suggests torment and destruction caused by forces upon the invading armies. The invasion of the host of Russia on symbolic horses suggests destruction coming from outside the war zone. Too, the sixth is more intense, the horses killed. The special judgment of the last three trumpets are shown by describing each of them as a “woe” source of unusual anguish and tragedy.
In the midst of judgment God has left open a way of repentance. When evil men do not repent, the fault is theirs, not God’s. Only destruction awaits them. Repentance seldom is the result of suffering alone. Men repent when they become aware of their own personal guilt and God’s gracious goodness towards them. Pain or anguish seldom produces this awareness. These locusts were allowed to hurt only the men who were unsealed. The mark, which God set upon the faithful, will therefore be manifest—they will be revealed in their true form as the sons of God.
“And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months” (Revelation 9:2-10).
It could be that John saw many helicopters coming but could not explain in our language, so he wrote what he knew, breastplates of iron, wings as chariots, sting in there tails, like our aircraft we have today! This series of judgment is similar to the first, the seals, and is a pattern for the third, the bowls; the first four trumpets herald judgments on the recognized division of the created order. First the land, second the seas, third the fresh water, fourth, the heavenly bodies. One third of each of these areas is destroyed.
“And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt. And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts” (Revelation 9:17-21).
The nations have turned from God and His Word. Greed, pride, violence, vice, immorality and every kind of sin has been increasing more and more in the world. We are now in a time when the wrath of God is beginning to come upon the world as spoken by the prophet Isaiah, “And I will punish the world for their evil and the wicked for their iniquity” (Isaiah 13:11).
This section opens with a call to blow the trumpet, to give warning of the approaching judgment (Amos 3:6-7). In the first chapter the description was that of an actual calamity; in this chapter the prophet looks forward to a still more terrible visitation.
The quotation ends with darkness. The locusts are represented as accompanied by earthquake and storms, and Jehovah Himself as advancing at the head of His locust army. Jehovah’s voice breaks forth in thunder. Truly this calamity is no ondinary event; it is a supernatual vistation, the great and terrible days of God.
“Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand; A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array! Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness” (Joel 2:1-6).
But yet it is not too late to avert the calamity. If the people will truly repent GOD may restore His favor; there must be a genuine conversion, a turning with mind and will to God. Repentance is not mere outward expression of grief, but a breaking up of the hard and stony heart, making it responsive to the divine influence (Psalm 51:17).
“They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it? Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil” (Joel 2:9-13).
Wars, revolution, famine, and pestilence, persecution—those have been known in most centuries. Earthquakes and the like, which were long ago foretold as the last sign of the end, men might well be utterly terrified unless they can see the meaning in it all.
“And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island was moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand” (Revelation 6:14-17).
From the fourteenth to the sixteenth verses inclusive there is amplification of the disasters that were coming on Jerusalem; the invasion, infiltration, attack, massacre, confusion, occasioned by the sound of the trumpet, amongst the cries of the people, and the shrieks and groans of the dying, are pointed out with great force and mighty effect.
“The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
And I will bring distress upon men that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land” (Zephaniah 1:12-18).
Jerusalem seizes the abundant spoil. More terrible is the other picture in which man and beast, smitten as by some supernatural swift stroke of leprosy rot away while they stand on their feet. “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth” (Zechariah 14 12). Could this be from nuclear radiation from atom bombs?
This war will be so terrible that men will desire to die, they will no longer want to live they will be running to and fro from fear. The heavens will shake, the earth will tremble, the earth will become darkened, and nothing will be able to save man. Their flesh will consume away, this great nuclear war will eat the flesh right off of their bodies. Zechariah says 2/3 of mankind will be destroyed. “And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein” (Zechariah 13:8).
The person addressed is committed to the care of their powerful God and Saviour. Their gaze is direction forward to the judgment day, when the Christians who have lived blamelessly will rejoice in the reward that is to be theirs who remain faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ.
“And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints (angels), To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him” (Jude 1:14-15).
The plain meaning of this is that the destruction of Jerusalem will be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance and such a signal manifestation of the power of Christ. With a great sound of a trumpet, the earnest, affectionate call of the gospel of peace, life, and salvation, shall gather together His elect. The lightning shining from east to the west means that the coming of Christ will be visible in the whole earth; it will not be necessary to be at a certain spot in order to see Him.
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. Immediately “after the tribulation” of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall “gather together his elect” from the four winds, from one end of heaven (earth) to the other” (Matthew 24:27-31).
Every sign, whether famine or earthquake or war, is a reminder that turmoil and tragedy will mark history until Jesus comes. The impending destruction of Jerusalem, like the time of tribulation and Judgment in every age, is simply a preview of the final great tribulation and Judgment at the end of this age.
“And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened” (Mathew 24:22).
John writes with prophetic certainty as though his eye already sees Him coming. Every eye shall see Him and all those who by their attitude to him share the guilt of those who crucified Him. That event, which cause the faithful to lift up their hearts because there is signs He is drawing nigh, causes amazing dismay to those who have not been able to read the signs of the times.
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also, which pierced him and all kindred’s of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen” (Revelation 1:7).
All the nations are conceived as assaulting Jerusalem and execute within her all the horrors of war; but God works a miracle for her, splitting by an earthquake the Mount of Olive in two halves, half moving to the north and half to the south, leaving from west to east a great valley or gorge through which the people remaining in the city might escape.
”Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south” (Zechariah 14:1-4).
The Gentiles are called upon to prepare for the struggle with Jehovah; but it will be of no avail for they are to be exterminated. High and mighty states shall be eclipsed, and brought to ruin. The evil system called Babylon will be destroyed. The blood will flow in a stream 178 miles long to the depth of the horse bridles, or four feet deep (Revelation 14:20).
“The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel. So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more” (Joel 3:15-17).
Many divine manifestations will accompany this final tribulation. A terrible earthquake will occur (Revelation 16:18), no doubt the same one, which divides the Mount of Olives (Zechariah 14:4), and cause extensive changes in the Jerusalem. The evil system called Babylon will be destroyed (Revelation 16:19). Hailstone weighing a talent each that is 125 pounds will fall. Yet, although this nightmare will come, no one alive today needs to face its terrors. Christ came to deliver from judgment whosoever will believe on Him and repent and walk in newness of life.
“And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great” (Revelation 16:18-21).
Can these passages of doom for ancient passages; ancient enemies have any meaning for us today? Yes, indeed. The prophet was not only concerned with Judah but with the surrounding nations as well God is personally leading the forces in battle against the Babylonians (Russian’s army) He gathers the armies together, He prepared them for battle. The day of the Lord would dawn as a day of judgment against the enemy of God’s will. The destruction would be complete and terrible. All of creation will suffer from these decisive acts.
They show us that God is not narrowly concerned with one nation. His interest and His active intervention reach to all the nations. God is the sovereign ruler of the world. “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger” (Isaiah 13:6-13).
Our war this time will not be just foot soldiers as once was in the past, but like star wars, chemical and nuclear warfare. All the elements of the earth that has been stored for so many years will then be let loose, as the ice from the Artic, lava from beneath, all will explode and erupt into chaotic conditions! As Christ says, if He wouldn't return at the peak of this battle, we would destroy all living forms of life. Nothing would be able to survive this war.
As the tribulation moves towards its awful climax, massed armies of two principal world powers remaining in existence begin converging on Israel for a terrible end time struggle. God aids the march of the kings of the east (Revelation 16:12). Demonic spirits direct the armies towards the plains of Esdraelon. Many divine manifestations will accompany this final phase of tribulation. When this terrible earthquake occurs, the same one which divides the Mount of Olive, armies will be trapped and able to escape and the evil armies will be utterly destroyed.
God’s eternal truth concerning His people is valid in all generations. He will not allow his cause nor His people to be stamped out. It may be necessary that Christians be disciplined and even severely chastised but will be purified in order for God’s image to be reflected in gold of Christ like character. The victory will be the Lord’s and His people. Some who suffer for the cause of righteousness will be vindicated while still living.
Those who are thoroughly instructed in Christ’s words and doctrine shall shine and shall be eminently distinguished in Christian Churches by holiness of their lives and purity of their creed. They that turn many to righteousness, they who by preaching Christ crucified among their brethren, shall be the means of converting them to the Christian faith, shall be as the stars—bright luminaries in the kingdom of Jesus Christ.
“And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book” (Daniel 12:1).
Yet, although this nightmare will come, no one alive today needs to face its terrors. Christ came to deliver you from the judgment whosoever will believe on the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved. Already God’s wrath hangs over the head of every unsaved person. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth in him (John 3:36).
The psalmist described faith in terms of both security and happiness. The believer has a secret place, protection and care, known peculiarly to God. Security is reality even when dangers are hidden and whether they be threatened by night or by day.
“I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone” (Psalm 91:2-12).
This is a prophetic description of a future judgment. Every sign Jesus gives of His coming and the end of this age has been fulfilled. The meaning of the signs is this: in time like these, just like the one, which we live, the Lord will come. It can happen at any moment. If men ignore or reject His church, His followers, they are rejecting Him; and they will be cast into everlasting fire. This must be understood of Christ’s coming at the last day, to judge mankind, though all the preceding including the destruction of Jerusalem.
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left” (Matthew 25:31-33).
Expect the fulfillment of all My promises and threatnings; I am God, and change not. This promise must refer to the conversion of the Jews under the gospel. The pure language here means the form of religious worship. They had been before idolaters; now God promises to restore His pure worship among them and the Gentiles.
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy. For then will I turn to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon the name of the LORD, to serve him with one consent” (Zephaniah 3:8-9).
This is the climax of the divine judgment. Already Rome has fallen: the kings of the earth have been destroyed; yet this is not the end of evil. Satan, Christ’s greatest enemy is still alive and powerful. Taking away Satan’s freedom is the first of two steps in his final overthrow. This figure symbolizes a spiritual concept; Satan is a spiritual being. The meaning is that he no longer can delude men into worshipping the beast.
“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years” (Revelation 20:1-4).
One came with clouds like the Son of man, Jesus Christ, contrast of the beast. He is the Judge, and power and authority that formerly belonged to various kingdoms represented by the beast were given to Him as an enduring and world—wide rule. God made the world for righteous people and in His time they will inherit it, His people cannot afford to become impatient.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came down from above and took our nature upon Him that He might redeem us unto Himself. The great theme and purpose of the Bible is to reveal the plan of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ, to all mankind. “I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Daniel 7:13-14). Christianity shall increase and prevail to the end of this world.
Only those who have chosen to obey and serve the Lord will have His protection during this war. His wings will protect you, there will be no fear even though there will be thousands upon thousands dying around you. Christ then returns with all His Holy Angels to gather all His elect with Him, what a glorious sight, and every eye will see Him. Satan is then cast down to utter darkness and chained for a 1,000 years during the time of Christ reign, and all His people who served Him on earth will reign with Jesus Christ our Lord for ever and ever.
Even as world history has thus far followed the outline of Bible prophecy, so we can be sure that the final climax described in the Bible will also take place. Soon the stone will strike the image. Soon the proclamation will be made, the kingdom of this world are become the kingdom of our Lord, and He shall reign forever and ever.
Each day the news of the world fulfills prophecy and shows that Jesus is coming soon. Now is the time to accept Him as your Saviour and be ready for His coming.
Someday, suddenly, the wrath of God will fall. Then it will be too late. “For when they shall say piece and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them—and they shall not escape (1 Thessalonians 5:3). But today there is a way to escape. Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. Today is the day of salvation. Somewhere this day someone will yield their heart to Christ and accept Him as their Saviour and Lord. It could be you. Somewhere, some will reject Him for what will prove to be the last time, and He or she will be finally and forever lost. That could perhaps be you too! What will you do with Jesus?
If it’s your desire to accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour and are ready to repent and be baptized, pray and find a church that teaches the truth of God: