We again look at where the rebellious people of post-Rapture earth have been to understand what happens next in the progression of Bible prophecy and why. In thinking on Antichrist and the implementation of his Final Solution, it is necessary to revisit very briefly the prophetic stage-setting we have observed.
After a time of worldwide panic and chaos, the earth, as we have seen, will throw a party of sorts following Christ’s saints’ Rapture into Heaven. Earth-dwellers will be deluded into thinking, at some point, that the evil influences that have held back progress have been removed. Now they can at last achieve their Utopia, long promised by the One-World Order gurus! That thought will be at the heart of their jubilation.
There will doubtless be explanations that will eventually calm fears. Those left behind following the great vanishing will likely be told that their loved ones who have disappeared were removed by “space brothers” or some other force to take them to an ethereal location of some sort for reeducation into the ways necessary for them to become productive citizens of the emerging New World Order.
The children—all children, even infants and those yet unborn—were taken away, those left behind will be told, to see to it they are properly inculcated from their earliest days as people of the new paradigm.
Already, today, we’re seeing in the high places of academia the abandonment of evolution as a plausible theory for how mankind came to be. There are growing disputes among the scientific community that Darwin and the various derivatives of his “origins of mankind” are coming apart. There are too many inconsistencies and incongruities in the outdated, outmoded theory of evolution.
It is well within the realm of plausibility to consider that those left behind will fall victim to the deception that corrupted those of the antediluvian world. The pre-Flood people were seduced by the angels who “left their first estate” (the heavenly realm) when the “sons of god” (fallen angels) “came to earth” and took “daughters of men” (human women) and produced offspring. These offspring, it is almost certain, became the giants and titans from which the legends of super-beings like Hercules and the Titans come.
It is more than interesting to ask if there might not be a similar visitation when, for example, Revelation 12 is fulfilled and the devil and his angels are cast out of Heaven, never to be allowed there again.
The so-called seed theory, which seems to fit this prophetic scenario, is well into the process of coming to the forefront as explanation of human development. “Space brothers,” it is increasingly postulated, long ago “seeded” this big, blue marble with their biological material. Now, they have returned to keep the planet from destroying itself, those left behind will be deluded into thinking.
If not this spellbinding answer to the mind-terrorizing question of why these—especially all small children and even fetuses—vanished in a microsecond, it will be some other mesmerizing answer. Whatever the seductive explanation, that deception will set those left behind ablaze with excitement in anticipation of their promised, glorious future. But within a relatively short time, their frenzied elation will turn to uncertainty, then to fear, then to terror beyond ability to describe.
God’s Cup of Wrath Overflows
God’s cup of judgment has been filling since the time He poured it out the first time—during the Flood that covered the whole earth, when only Noah and seven of his family members went into the Ark, and God, Himself, shut and sealed the door. His saints (Noah and his family) rose above the judgment; they were saved out of the carnage.
Saints Will Rise!
One day—perhaps today—God’s saints will be taken from the planet’s surface, and, ultimately, God’s judgment will again flood the earth. Billions will die, but not from an inundation of waters. It will be a deluge of twenty-one specific judgments, which God’s Word describes as being sent in a three-part series: 1) scroll, 2) trumpet, and 3) vials (bowls)—with seven judgments coming from each of the series.
Twofold Purpose of Judgments
Earth’s party won’t get too far into the celebrations before things will begin to go wrong—terribly wrong. As we’ve seen, the great world leader will step forward and offer a plan that will astound the people of the planet. Peace between Israel and its hatred-filled, blood-vowed enemies will be at the heart of the great man’s blueprint for beginning (again) the earth’s drive toward Heaven on earth. But his real design will be the establishment of his Fourth Reich. He will soon bring forth his Final Solution.
Peace That Destroys
The peace that the leader assures by signing the covenant that guarantees Israel’s security will be the very thing that fills God’s cup of wrath to overflowing. Israel’s acceptance of Antichrist, having rejected Jesus Christ, their Messiah, at least two millennia earlier, will cause God’s fury to become full-blown. Jesus, Himself, said of Israel’s rejection and of that time when Israel will accept Antichrist:
I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. (John 5:43)
God’s anger will flow in increasing volume upon the those who won’t turn from their sin against Him. Daniel, the great prophet, described the whole end-time scenario, from the moment Israel rejected its Messiah through the very end of the terrible judgments that will end the Tribulation and bring Christ’s Second Coming in power and glory. Let’s look at Daniel’s words again:
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. (Daniel 9:26–27)
Purpose Behind Judgments
The purpose of these righteous judgments for the entire Tribulation is to purge a remnant of Israel to love and obey God and be His people forever and bring a vast number of people out of the Gentile world to be His people for eternity.
Purging Israel
The first purpose in God sending judgment upon the earth, once Antichrist confirms the covenant of security (peace), will be to call out a remnant of His chosen people, the Jews, as people who love Him and will obey Him. Dr. Dave Breese presented this process in the following:
The Tribulation is, therefore, the time of Jacob’s trouble. Jeremiah says, “Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7).
Israel is held responsible by the Lord, along with the Gentiles, for the crucifixion of Christ. This is the reason for the awesome silence of Jehovah in relating to His people during the two millennia that have transpired since the death of Christ. Clearly, however, the Word of God declares that God has not finally and completely cast away His people.
Indeed, the Scripture speaks of the casting away of Israel and announced that that [casting away] produced the reconciling of the world. The Scripture then speaks of the receiving of Israel, which will be life from the dead for the nations. Israel moved into a period of blindness and estrangement from God until a point of time called the fullness of the Gentiles (Romans11:25).
At this point, God promises to work in goodness and severity with His people so that, under the discipline of the Israel will be brought to a place of decision and faith. This is always the intention of divine discipline for His own, in any era of history.[i]
The Tribulation, then, will be a time of the conversion of Israel. Most boldly, the Scripture announces:
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. (Romans 11:26–27)
Spiritual Revival
The Tribulation will, therefore, be a time of great spiritual revival. It will mark the conversion of Israel and great activity by Israel for the conversion of the world.
The Book of the Revelation, therefore, announces an amazing multitude of 144,000 witnesses who represent the twelve tribes of Israel. These will have been converted during the days of the Tribulation and will have a profound effect upon the world. When one remembers that there is only a fraction of this number of Christian missionaries in the world today, one is impressed with the zealous response that will come out of Israel in the form of faith in Jesus Christ as its Messiah. “The gospel of the Kingdom” will be preached with great zeal by them to the world.[ii]
Bringing Forth Gentile Saints
God’s second purpose for the period of judgments known as the Tribulation is to save, through their belief in Jesus, a great host of Gentile people, who will be a part of His family for eternity. Again, Dave Breese explains:
The Tribulation will also be a time of massive conversion of Gentile multitudes. The Revelation says, after this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands (Revelation 7:9).
So remarkable is this sight that one of the elders around God’s throne asked who these people are. The answer from the Word of God is: “These are they who came out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).
Amazing spiritual results occur when the world comes to the end of itself, realizing that nothing on earth is of any value. It then turns in great numbers to faith in Christ as Messiah, bringing in a time of evangelism that will be one of the largest and most effective in the history of the world. The anguish of the Tribulation produces a most salutary result. But a fearful time it will be![iii]
Overview of Tribulation Terrors
It is wonderful to consider that we who are Christians will be in Heaven with our Lord Jesus, while all the prophesied horrors of the Tribulation are unfolding on earth. The Rapture is mockingly called “pie in the sky,” “in the sweet by and by,” and “wishful escapism” by those who don’t believe in a Rapture or who believe Christians must prove how brave and strong we are by standing up to Antichrist in going through what Jesus called the worst time that has ever been or ever will be.
There are some things Jesus indicated that are well worth escaping. We’ll look more in depth at the most horrendous of the judgments shortly. For now, this might be a good place to put the things scheduled following the Rapture, according to prophecy, in a nutshell for quick review.
- He and the False Prophet will also have all the new believers they can find rounded up, tortured, then murdered.
- While Antichrist hunts down and murders people by the millions, God’s judgments will begin to fall directly on the rebellious people of the earth.
- Millions upon millions will die while God’s wrath pours out in a series of three types of judgments, each consisting of seven specific judgments, for a total of twenty-one judgments.
- When all is said and done, more than half, possibly as much as two-thirds, of all human life on earth will die of the plagues.
- God will prepare, and the Jewish remnant will flee to, a hiding place, probably Petra, the ancient city carved in the rose-red-colored rocks of the Jordanian wilderness.
- Antichrist and his forces, led by Satan, will pursue the Jewish people and try to murder them, but the pursuing forces will be swallowed up by the earth.
- While the Jewish and many of the Gentile people still alive remain safely protected, God’s wrath will fall in greater force.
- The sun will go partly dark, while at the same time heating up to seven times hotter than normal.
- A great object will fall into the ocean from space. Its impact will kill life in the sea, and most likely will destroy coastal areas with tidal waves.
- Another asteroid or other mass from space will strike earth and poison much of the planet’s freshwater sources.
- Great, unprecedented earthquakes will happen simultaneously all over the world.
- People will be so frightened they will have heart attacks, just from the things they see are yet to come.
- A supernatural plague of huge, insect-like creatures will be released from the abyss, and they will sting all who have the mark of the Beast. Men and women will try to commit suicide because of their great pain from the stings and bites of these demonic creatures.
- God will then move in the minds of all military forces on earth to gather in the valley of Jezreel, the plains of Esdraelon, near the ancient city of Megiddo. This is Armageddon.
- The “Kings of the East,” a huge army out of the Orient numbering more than two hundred million troops, will invade to make war with the forces of Antichrist.
- Jesus said of this time that if He didn’t come back, everyone and everything would die because of the fighting about to take place.
- Jesus will return with the armies of Heaven. His armies consist of the mighty angels and Jesus’ Church, which will have been raptured at least seven years earlier.
- Antichrist’s armies and all others will try to prevent Christ’s return.
- Jesus will simply speak, and all armies on earth will be rendered helpless, with most killed.
Scary stuff, huh? But it will all happen. You have God’s Word on that. A bunch of good reasons to be “Rapture ready,” and to be found worthy to stand before Jesus, don’t you think?
Again, Dave Breese informs us about the coming time of Tribulation.
The Tribulation is the time of the outpouring of the wrath of God upon a wicked world. In the account of the horsemen of the Apocalypse, when the fourth horseman rides forth, the Scripture says, power was given unto them over the fourth part of earth to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth (Revelation 6:8).
In the beginning days of the Revelation, therefore, approximately 25 percent of the world is killed in the opening wars pestilences of days. Very quickly, the Scripture says,
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 (Revelation 9:17–18).
A third part of men killed! This already mounts up to one half of the world’s population, and beyond this point in the Revelation many other natural catastrophes take place. As the Tribulation unfolds, there are mighty earthquakes, occasions of scorching heat, the advent of the Antichrist, world occult religious organization, and finally, the Battle of Armageddon, which will be fatal to scores of millions of soldiers. This time of natural catastrophe combined with divine judgment will bring awesome carnage across the face of the earth.
Words of Comfort
Just a quick look around today lets us know that the darkest hours of human history loom not too far in the distance. What tremendous power there is in knowing that born-again Christians will not have to endure the things that are coming to a world in rebellion against our Mighty God. Again, we know we won’t have to face God’s anger and judgment for sin, based upon—for one example—the prophetic words of Paul to us through the Thessalonian Christians nearly two millennia ago:
For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do. (1 Thessalonians 5:9–11)
Let us indeed comfort ourselves with these words. Let us, at the same time, do all within our power—and that power, through Jesus, is considerable—to reach the lost before it’s too late for them to avoid the horrors coming upon the earth.
God as World Champion!
We’ve seen through Bible study that the Apostle Paul often used sports terms to teach principles of godly living. We’re told we don’t “wrestle against flesh and blood,” we “run” in the race of life, and we must not “beat” the air, as a boxer does when shadowboxing.
Paul’s sports analogies fit very well while we consider the final years, months, days, and hours of human history just before Jesus’ Second Coming. We will look at the Tribulation as the great climax in the battle of good versus evil. It will be a fight to determine the real champion for eternity. Although it won’t be much of a fight, from the standpoint of competition, it will be the bloodiest of all conflicts ever!
The Seal Judgments
God calls on Jesus, the Lamb of God, to open the seals that will unleash righteous judgment upon a world that has totally rejected the Father’s call to salvation. With Jesus releasing the judgments of God from the very first scroll, we know that it’s God’s wrath from the very beginning of the seven years of Tribulation.
The championship battle to prove who is and is not the champion for Eternity begins…
The four horsemen of the Apocalypse will ride forth upon command by Jesus, as He unrolls each of the first four sealed scrolls. These will be the opening rounds of this bloody battle.
Round One: White Horse of False Peace
The first rider, on the white horse, is Antichrist, who will come offering peace (Revelation 6:2). As we’ve already discussed, he is really a deceiver and a conqueror, however. He will promise prosperity and freedom to do whatever feels good. But, the jubilation over the fact that the Christians are gone, thus can’t preach to earth-dwellers, won’t last long. Antichrist’s true colors will begin to show. They will be blood red! The peace he offers will destroy millions (read Daniel 8:25).
Round Two: Red Horse of War
The second rider, on a red horse, is the rider of war (see Revelation 6:4). The false peace Antichrist promised will be broken, and millions will die from unprecedented wars—all of which will be a prelude to the ultimate war, Armageddon!
Round Three: Black Horse of Famine
The third rider, on a black horse, is famine (see Revelation 6:5). Millions upon millions will die of starvation and other results of the all-out war making ushered in by the rider on the red horse.
We have only to consider the great world wars of the last century and all other wars to know that hunger and disease inevitably follow the carnage of all-out war. Considering that some of the future wars will include nuclear, biological, and chemical weaponry, the probability of great hunger and disease multiplies many times.
Round Four: Pale Horse of Death
The fourth rider, on a pale horse, has a partner riding close behind. The front rider is death (Revelation 6:8). Sheol, the abode of the dead nonbelievers, will follow. These riders will account for the death of a fourth of the world’s population. The disease and famine will continue to mount.
Round Five: Martyrs
When Jesus opens the fifth seal, the saints of the Tribulation era who have been martyred for Christ will be seen in their white robes of salvation before God’s throne (Revelation 6:9–11). Many scholars believe that the Tribulation will produce the greatest soul-harvest ever. Many believe the numbers saved during this time will far surpass the number of people saved during the Age of Grace (Church Age).
Round Six: Earth-Shaking Events
As the sixth seal is opened, there will be a great earthquake, the sun will darken, and the moon will turn (see Revelation 6:12–14). These events will so frighten the world’s leaders that they will beg the rocks and caves in which they are hiding to fall on them and conceal them from the furious God of Heaven. No wonder the prophetic Scripture tells us that men’s hearts will fail them for fear of the things they see coming upon the earth. Yet earth-dwellers still won’t repent; they’ll actually curse God!
Round Seven: Getting a Breather
Unlike human athletes, God needs no breaks to catch His breath. But, He seems to take a breather in anticipation of the next catastrophic set of judgments with the opening of the seventh seal: a thirty-minute period of silence in Heaven (Revelation 8:1–2). Following that quiet time, seven angels standing before God will be given the seven trumpets.
Most prophecy scholars see that this is a pattern God always follows in rendering His judgments, or between taking action in a series. For example, in Genesis, He takes the seventh day off from all the work He had done in the creation. He, therefore, takes a short time out between the sixth and seventh seals. But the pause doesn’t change the minds and hearts of the evil ones who oppose him.
The Trumpet Judgments
God then prepares to step up the pace of judgment as the trumpet judgments begin.
Round Eight (First Trumpet): Hail, Fire, and Blood
After the angel sounds the first trumpet, hail and fire mixed with blood will fall from Heaven. The fire will cause all green grass and a third of the earth’s trees to burn up (see Revelation 8:6–7). Certainly, it will already appear to be the end of the world as we know it. God will fire off a stunning blow to those who won’t repent of their sin against Him. But this will be just the beginning of His body blows to the planet.
Round Nine (Second Trumpet): Burning Mountain
Something that looked, to John, like a burning mountain will be cast into the sea. A third of the sea will turn to blood, a third of all sea life will die, and a third of the ships at sea will be destroyed (Revelation 8:8–9).
This will be a stupendous blow to a planet already reeling because of God’s judgments. Any time God’s Word uses phrases like “as it were” (Revelation 8:8), it is a symbolic description of something that is literal. In other words, this will not be a physical mountain, but it will be “like” a mountain in size. It really will be a big rock that’s on fire, and it sounds much like the asteroids, meteors, and other rocks from space that pose danger to our planet. This prophecy appears to forewarn that something like that will slam into one of the oceans.
This event will be catastrophic to earth’s environment, because the Bible says that the sea will become like blood, thick and slimy. A third of sea life will die and a third of all ships will be destroyed by the tremendous tidal waves.
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Round Ten (Third Trumpet): Star Called Wormwood
A heavenly object of some sort called “Wormwood” will cause another great blow to earth’s water supplies as it crashes into the planet. This time, the fresh waters will be poisoned, and people who drink from the affected waters will die (Revelation 8:10–11).
As noted by many who write on prophetic matters, the word “wormwood” in the Ukranian language is “Chernobyl.” Sound familiar? This is the town in the Ukraine infamous for the worst nuclear power plant disaster to date. The object falling from space, as described in this judgment, might well be nuclear in nature, perhaps a nuclear-tipped missile.
Round Eleven (Fourth Trumpet): Darkness
The earth’s inhabitants will next receive a black eye, so to speak, so that their vision will be severely affected. The sun will darken by a third, so naturally the moon, a reflective body, will also have its light diminished by one-third. The stars also will be supernaturally darkened (Revelation 8:12).
God seems to step back and size up His opponent before moving in to punish the rebels of earth even more. The ringside announcer—an angel—will proclaim that the next judgments will be even worse than the first (Revelation 8:13).
Round Twelve (Fifth Trumpet): Plague of Locusts
God apparently allows an angelic being to open the abyss, or “bottomless pit,” releasing the weirdest, most fearsome creatures ever seen (Revelation 9:1–5). They’re described as being like scorpions whose stings hurt people for five months. Many prophecy scholars are convinced the angelic being is Satan, who will fall to earth when he is cast out of Heaven during the Tribulation, and many believe that the creatures are a horde of demons.
Round Thirteen (Sixth Trumpet): Army of Evil Horsemen
God will order the unbinding of demonic beings whose habitation is somewhere beneath the Euphrates River (Revelation 9:15–21). These are angels who followed Lucifer in his original rebellion against the Lord. They apparently will enter and possess the two hundred million troops that come from the Orient, which is east of the Euphrates. These tremendous numbers are referred to as “the kings of the East” in Revelation 16:12.
The might of these forces will be awesome. They will inflict horrific damage on all in their path. Another third of the people left on the earth will die because of their war-making. Still, rebellious people will not repent and bow before God.
Round Fourteen (Seventh Trumpet): Heralding the Bowl Judgments
Again, God will pause in His assault on His evil opponents. He’ll stop between the sixth and seventh trumpet judgments to tell all the things that will take place between the blowing of the sixth trumpet and the beginning of the vial, or bowl, judgments. These awesome prophetic events include the two witnesses’ time on the Tribulation scene; the 144,000 sealed super-evangelists; the whole story of Satan’s hatred for Jesus and the Jewish race; and the rise and fall of Antichrist.
Round Fifteen (Bowl One): Sores
The next assault will begin with the first of the seven deadly bowls pouring out the pure wrath of the living God. Unbelievably horrible sores will infect all who have rejected God.
Round Sixteen (Bowl Two): Bloody Sea
Before they switched to twelve-rounders as maximum, the fifteenth round in a world championship fight was the last one. In this battle of the ages, the fight will just be heating up. And, it will be one-sided. Judgments from God are so frightful, the prophet John must have had to totally depend upon the Lord to provide the words to describe them:
Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died. (Revelation 16:3)
God’s Word doesn’t even attempt to describe what will be poured into the sea. But whatever it is, it will kill every living thing. The water will become like a dead man’s blood. Imagine! Water with the viscosity and, apparently, the stench and grotesqueness of coagulating blood.
Round Seventeen (Bowl Three): Bloody Rivers
The third angel will pour out his bowl into the fresh waters and they will turn to blood (Revelation 16:4). The judgments are indeed fearsome, but God is totally righteous in inflicting them upon those who have rejected Him. We hear the voices from God’s corner urging Him onwardas the fight continues:
You are righteous, O Lord, The one who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, And You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due. (Revelation 16:5–6)
Round Eighteen (Bowl Four): Scorching Heat
God will pound the earth with heavier and heavier blows. As the fourth angel pours out his bowl on the sun, it apparently goes into partial nova. That is, it will shrink and grow darker. Yet at the same time, it will get much hotter. People can’t escape the scorching, killing heat. Rather than beg for forgiveness, they will curse God’s holy Name (Revelation 16:8–9).
Round Nineteen (Bowl Five): Darkness and Pain
God pours His judgments directly upon the most rebellious of the rebels. Apparently, ultraviolet rays from the dying sun will laser through the unprotected atmosphere and cause skin eruptions on those who aren’t sealed with God’s protection. They will gnaw their tongues in agony, but when they do manage to speak intelligible words, they will spew curses against the Lord (Revelation 16:10–11).
Round Twenty (Bowl Six): Euphrates Dries Up
Next, God will allow total demonic activity to take place upon earth. The vilest spirits apparently will be unleashed in the area of the Euphrates River and will enter the military forces of the world; tremendous death and destruction from the great campaign called Armageddon (it is a war campaign, not just a single, final battle) will intensify by the minute (Revelation 16:12–14).
The hordes from the Orient called “the kings of the east” will be allowed easy access to the Middle East because the Euphrates River, a natural barrier to land forces, will have dried up.
Pause for the Big Finish
Before the seventh bowl will be poured out, Almighty God pauses to say something about those who are His own:
Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And they gathered them together to the place called, in Hebrew, Armageddon. Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” (Revelation 16:15–17)
He seems to cover all from the Church Age through the Tribulation who are Christians. His words for Church Age saints seem to commend them for watching for Christ’s any-moment return. He says He will come unannounced and suddenly upon an unsuspecting world. He will come “as a thief” because it will be an unanticipated, unwelcome break-in upon the world of rebels who do not know or want Him.
His own, however, should be watching for Him. They shouldn’t be surprised by an unwelcome break-in upon their lives. They should never be comfortable with living like the rest of the world.
He gives blessings to the Tribulation saints for keeping their robes of righteousness by being faithful to Him. They did so in the face of the rebels who wanted to see them disrobe—that is, to deny Christ.
Round Twenty-One (Bowl Seven): Greatest Earthquake and Hundred-Pound Hailstones
The final tremendous blow from God’s great right hand of judgment—following His weighty words, “It is done,” will come in the form of a devastating earthquake and giant hailstones that flatten every city on the planet. Jerusalem will split into three parts. Entire islands will disappear under the titanic blow (Revelation 16:18–20). What could stand under the pounding of hailstones that weigh more than a hundred pounds each? The rebels are literally pounded into submission in this final round of judgments. The Babylonian system of godless humanism, commercialism, and religion will come to an end (see Revelation 17 and 18).
This will be the fulfillment of the dream-vision Daniel the prophet interpreted for Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Jesus, symbolically the stone from Heaven, will strike the metallic man-image on the feet and ten toes, and all of the Babylonian, humanistic governmental system of history will crumble and fall. The debris will be blown away by the winds of eternity (read Daniel 2).
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It really isn’t much of a fight, is it? To put it in juvenile fight language: “There wasn’t really but two punches thrown.” God hits His enemies, and His enemies hit the ground.
Powerful Promise
God, even through dispensing judgment, does so in steps and with His supreme love. He gives everyone a chance to turn to Him. Each of us who has trusted Him for salvation should appropriate the power that is in the promise of God that we won’t face His wrath. That understanding should give each of us strength to live life to the fullest, knowing that ours is a God of might and of truth!
[i] Dave Breese, chapter in Terry’s book. LOOK UP REF>
[ii] Breese
[iii] Breese
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