12 Minutes
Let’s state what is matter-of-factly the truth... What we are approaching in this last day engagement will not be a Mt. Carmel encounter. This final “battle” will be over truth versus false worship. And we must have such a deep loving loyalty that our protection, our discernment is predicated upon the following word of God. This word is so vital that I will not present the text, but rather the word of God as it is...and it is followed up with a most riveting opportunity.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it. And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.
This is the day. The seven last plagues fall on those who chose poorly. The seal of God is experienced by those who chose to follow the Lamb wherever he goes. For here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
If we fail to see the probation imagery that God is granting us to learn by reason, we may very well be on the left hand when Christ speaks. God’s truth is so powerful that He Himself has reasoned with us to place love in our hearts. This love is a blessing for obedience and promise for overcoming. Those who are lost had ample opportunity to fall in love with Jesus, to appreciate, and receive by living faith the gift of his righteousness, and the promise of eternal life. God purposed that all could be saved. Rome tampered with God’s law. If any transgress God’s sabbath they are doing the same as did Rome. This is breaking His covenant.
None of the first six plagues are universal in nature though they have their affect upon the people of the world as they witness the upheaval of nature. Yet, in their torment at the end is the fierce anger of the Lord shown until they crescendo into full darkness, creating a vast emptiness. And as was our Savior on the cross, these torments pierce the earth as it was the epitome ofsin. As was the torment of isolation, emptiness and darkness upon those angels who fell in the beginning before creation, so will the return of torments be once again heaped upon their very souls with this exception...there will be no waters. Let’s achieve a higher truth through reasoning concerning this darkness for the originators of sin. What might precisely this darkness be? Darkness cannot exist without light. That means that even though they reside in darkness, even so as some human beings are in darkness, it does not mean that there is no light in them. How so?
Ephesians 4:18
They have learned of some truth of God or received some witness of His word. So, when the evil angels are bound here on this deserted earth they will be in total darkness and since darkness cannot exist without light it will be as though they do not exist. Yet we understand that they will be here experiencing the consequence of their choice before seeing death...how so? The darkness they will be in will be “black”. Black is a physical impression experienced when no aspect of light is present. There is nothing that can reflect back to the eye. Spiritual blackness is the realization of complete, eternal absence from any facet of God. They will be in the blackest darkness for 1,000 years, not days...years. For us, this will be the “Sabbath” of God. SOP - These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals. All the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, have been mingled with mercy. The pleading blood of Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full measure of his guilt; but in the final judgment, wrath is poured out unmixed with mercy. {FLB 340.3} It is impossible to give any idea of the experience of the people of God who will be alive on the earth when past woes and celestial glory will be blended. They will walk in the light proceeding from the throne of God. By the means of the angels there will be constant communication between heaven and earth. {FLB 340.4} The people of God will not be free from suffering; but . . . they will not be left to perish. . . . While the wicked are dying from hunger and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous, and supply their wants. To him that "walketh righteously" is the promise, "Bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure." Isaiah 33:16. {The Faith I Live By, Page 340.5}
Habakkuk 3:17, 18
SOP - Yet to human sight it will appear that the people of God must soon seal their testimony with their blood as did the martyrs before them. They themselves begin to fear that the Lord has left them to fall by the hand of their enemies. It is a time of fearful agony. Day and night they cry unto God for deliverance. The wicked exult, and the jeering cry is heard: "Where now is your faith? Why does not God deliver you out of our hands if you are indeed His people?" But the waiting ones remember Jesus dying upon Calvary's cross and the chief priests and rulers shouting in mockery: "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." Matthew 27:42. Like Jacob, all are wrestling with God. Their countenances express their internal struggle. Paleness sits upon every face. Yet they cease not their earnest intercession. {Great Controversy, Page 630.1}
Our God will not forsake us!!!
Those who so sorely chose to rebel against God in their mind, in their heart, were given the consequence of their choice. These are given grievous sores outwardly. Those who are the waters where the whore sits, forfeited life eternal for the sake of worldliness and sees the waters of the world turn to blood and death. Those who declined to drink of the blood of Christ that they might live, are given the waters turned blood to drink from the rivers and fountains of waters. Those who chose to worship the Sun-day are given the god of their choice...
Jeremiah 8:2
They are given the sun in all its glory, its scorching heat and solar flares eject intense bursts of radiation upon the earth and upon those who accepted the mark of the beast, heightening the sore punishments. Boiling blood in the oceans, the seas, the rivers. Those who accepted the errors of Rome as the mouth of truth, see the full darkness of lies and receive torment in the very tongues that spoke against God. And now comes the preparation to war against God.
These who come to battle the Lord of Lords here, are those who comprised the number who opposed God’s Sabbath as the truth was revealed to them. These are those who mocked God’s image. The Sabbath marks the coming to God in worship, in resting from the things of the world. Armageddon represents the anticipation of the coming of the Son of God not to worship, not to rest, but to battle. This gathering occurs between the sixth and last plague. The drying up of the Euphrates represents the collapse of the Beast power. Babylon represented the entertainment center of the world. Remember how the people were drawn to Babylon. People came to ride the canals; to walk the Hanging Gardens of Babylon; to see Ishtar Gate. So, when the call was made to come to the Plain of Dura, the people came. Those who disregard the Sabbath now, will respond to the call to come to
Armageddon. The waters of the Euphrates represent those people flowing to Babylonian attractions...they will be dried up...meaning without the spirit. Where is the line to be drawn between obedience to God and pleasure of the world? God first darkened their support with the fifth plague being poured out on the seat of the beast. Their hearts remain hard against God and His people. As such, they become fertile soil for the final deception by which Satan will draw the world to unite against God’s people to wipe them off the face of the earth. These all rejected the Sabbath, the day that from the beginning of creation, which was “blessed” and “sanctified”, “hallowed” as a “sign” of obedience. These denied the Creator and worshipped the creature, as their sign of disobedience. These have sown the wind, and these shall reap the whirlwind.
Jeremiah 10:10
Let’s prevent any confusion...the spirit of prophecy says, “All who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of satanic agencies, but they are to be kept under control till the time shall come for the great battle of Armageddon.” {LDE 238.3}. There are only two parties in our world, those who are loyal to God, and those who stand under the banner of the prince of darkness. {SDA Bible Commentary Vol. 7, Page 982.4}.
We will be weeping, grieving, and saddened by the loss of so many that Jesus died to save. The plagues will show that the righteous are ready for heaven, for they have heaven in their hearts. Duty was our delight, and sacrifice our pleasure. The love of God in us was spontaneously as we walked in the light, as Christ is the light.
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