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Volume 11 ... #11
The Great Tribulation: The Wrath of God
When considering The Great Tribulation: The Wrath of God, we first need the concept of the difference between the wars caused by humans and the wrath of God.
Mt. 24:3-8 ... And as HE (Jesus) sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto HIM privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of THY coming, and of the end of the world?
And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in MY name, saying, I (Jesus) am Christ; and shall deceive many.
And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.
Since the time of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus men have risen up by nations to fight wars.
These are wars created by men, by humans.
The great tribulation, The Wrath of God, will be created by God, not by humans.
Revelation 8 ... (the apostle John reports) ...
2 And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel's hand. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake.
And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
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7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!
This is the Wrath of God poured out on all the earth.
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The apostle Paul speaks of the coming wrath of God in Romans 1 ...
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of HIM from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even HIS eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified HIM not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
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The wrath of God that is coming upon the whole world, The Great Tribulation, is like nothing that has ever been seen before.
The significant point is this wrath is from God and created by God and sent by God.
We have just read in Revelation 8 some of the things coming upon this earth:
- hail and fire mingled with blood
- 1/3 of the trees burned on the earth
- all green grass burnt
- mountain burning with fire cast into sea and became blood with 1/3 of creatures in sea died and ships destroyed
- great star burning falls on rivers causing many men to die of the waters which were poisoned
These are things only God could cause to happen: This is the great tribulation, the coming wrath of God upon this earth.
These (the above listing of troubles) are from 3 of the angels sounding the trumpets ... 4 more angels sounded trumpets ... Then vials of the wrath of God were given to be poured out on this earth. (Rev. 9-11)
One of these torments coming upon man would last 5 months and would be like the sting of a scorpion ... (we have no concept of how long this coming wrath will be, months or even years or perhaps decades between the sounding of each of the 7 trumpets and the pouring out of the vials of torment upon men living on this earth)
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Will we be here at the time of this wrath or will we be removed by Jesus before the great tribulation?
I believe the apostle Paul answers this question for us in the following scripture:
I Thess. 5 ... 1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
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.
If we continue to the end, holding fast to the scripture, continuing to abide in love toward Jesus and HIS people, staying awake and not falling asleep, I believe we will be delivered by God before the Wrath of God.
But I also believe the stage is set for the coming of Jesus and the Wrath of God because we have seen and are seeing the apostasy in the churches and this had to happen before the Wrath of God and the Day of the Lord could come upon the earth.
II Thess. 2 ... NASB ... Let no one in any way deceive you, for it (the day of the LORD) will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.
Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things?
And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed.
For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed
The Holy Scriptures "restrained" lawlessness from the church but when scripture was removed, even in part, from the church the restraint against the man of lawlessness, antichrist, was removed and lawlessness moved into the church.
It has happened and we are seeing this happen today in churches.
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How will we be delivered?
I believe this, also, is explained by the apostle Paul as follows:
I Thess. 4:13-18 ... But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with HIM.
For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent (precede) them which are asleep.
For the Lord HIMSELF shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
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Our "kingdom" will not be on this present earth. The wrath of God is coming on this present earth. God will destroy the present heaven and earth in the fire, after the Wrath of God is completed.
We will be taken to "the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness." This present earth will be destroyed after all the trumpets have been sounded by the 7 angels and after all the vials of torments are poured out on this present earth.
The apostle Peter explains:
II Peter 3:10-14 ... But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
Nevertheless we, according to HIS promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of HIM in peace, without spot, and blameless.
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So do not be troubled nor deceived by wars caused by humans or threats of wars caused by man. This is not the great tribulation but precedes the great tribulation.
The great tribulation will be caused by GOD, not by man. Things will happen that only God can cause, earthquakes, stars falling, rivers turning to blood, and such.
I find this very comforting for God will always do the right thing.
Do not be troubled? Instead pray when you are afraid.
And know that no man has the power to cause the events of the great tribulation. Only God can do that.
This gives me great peace for we can trust God!
Psalm 94 ...
14 For the Lord will not cast off HIS people,
neither will HE forsake HIS inheritance.
15 But judgment shall return unto righteousness:
and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
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A meeting was going on. A man was speaking to a room filled with people. I went in and began to listen.
A second man rushed in and said: "Stop ... Wait ... Can't you see ... It's too late ... It's already begun."
The first man resumed speaking.
I looked out the window to see what had "already begun."
There was a tall pole with a yellow civil defense speaker at top of the pole. A gas was coming out of the speaker. I knew it was poisonous and would kill the people. It was coming directly toward us!
The shocking thing was the speaker that was set there for the purpose of warning us was being used as the instrument which dispersed the gas that was poison and would kill us!
I looked at the man seated next to me. He had a big grin on his face and was looking directly at the man who was speaking to the group. But then I saw this man was a corpse, though he looked alive. He was already dead!
I looked about the room at the other people and realized they were all dead.
As I sat back in my chair and listened to the man speaking I began to feel sleepy and I knew as I sat there among them this was killing me too.
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God was showing me the anarchy that was already going on in our church groups even in 1979. It is much worse today.
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