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When the voice of the Almighty declares, “It is done,” the universe is summoned to behold that every unfolding shadow of wickedness—every chaos, every rebellion, every trembling of creation—is not the triumph of darkness but the stage upon which the unassailable glory of God is revealed. His final word is the certainty behind all that follows; for the torrent of evil that rises in the last scenes of earth’s history does so only to magnify the brilliance of the One who has already spoken the end from the beginning, sealing in advance the victory of His righteousness. The arch-enemy of God did not rise to his dreadful power through force, violence, or open rebellion alone, but through a mastery of subtlety—an ability to bend perceptions, distort truth, and gently incline the heart away from its Creator without the victim realizing what has occurred. Scripture calls him “more subtil than any beast of the field,” not to emphasize animal cunning, but to unveil the frightening truth that his strength lies not in overwhelming might, but in imperceptible influence. His deceptions rarely appear as outright denials of God; rather, they are faint distortions, half- truths, slight redefinitions, and gentle misdirections designed to make a man believe he is walking toward light even as he is drifting into darkness. Every device of the enemy is crafted with diabolical precision to mirror the things of God just closely enough to convince the inattentive soul that he remains safe while slowly severing his spiritual lifeline. Because of this, the most dangerous weapon in satanic hands is not the monstrous, but the almost— almost true, almost righteous, almost spiritual. The enemy has learned that humanity falls most easily not when confronted, but when coaxed; not when terrified, but when flattered; not when assaulted, but when serenaded with a more convenient version of truth. And thus his ultimate deception lies not in getting man to openly reject God, but to believe he can serve two masters, walk two paths, or hold two loyalties. In this way, subtlety becomes the furnace of apostasy, and the great conflict reveals itself not as a clash of obvious opposites, but as a battle over discernment—over whether the children of God will recognize the quiet drift of their own affections or awaken to the danger before every boundary of truth has been dissolved. The same ancient subtlety that seduced Eden now operates with frightening sophistication in modern politics and popular entertainment, especially in forms like rap culture that shape identity, desire, and worldview. In politics, deception rarely comes through blatant tyranny; it arrives through carefully crafted narratives, emotionally charged symbolism, and strategic manipulation of fear and hope. Politicians learn to speak to the wounds of the people while quietly advancing agendas that erode moral clarity, weaken the value of truth, and normalize corruption. The enemy’s devices in this arena are subtle because they cloak spiritual decay in the language of progress, justice, or national strength, seducing the mind to believe that moral compromise is necessary, inevitable, or even noble. At the same time, entertainment—particularly certain strains of rap—becomes a cultural liturgy teaching the young what to desire, what to value, and what to imitate. Beats and rhythms disarm the mind while lyrics baptize rebellion, sensuality, violence, and self-exaltation into an art form that feels empowering even as it drains spiritual discernment. Adults who should stand watch become intoxicated by nostalgia or rhythm, allowing philosophies of chaos to be sung into the home without resistance. Thus, both politics and entertainment partner with the ancient serpent by making deception feel good, sound good, and appear harmless. They replace watchfulness with emotional reaction, reflection with impulse, and truth with image. Under such influences, the heart slowly trades its God-given discernment for a counterfeit wisdom that is nothing more than celebrated stupidity—a spiritual anesthesia that lulls a generation into surrendering its clarity, identity, and divine purpose without ever realizing that an enemy has bewitched them. The permitted deception—though grievous in its effects—moves within the boundaries of God’s sovereign providence like a dark thread woven intentionally into the tapestry that will end in His triumphant declaration, “It is done.” God never authors deception, yet in His wisdom He allows it to rise to its fullest expression so that the universe may see, without ambiguity, what rebellion produces when left to itself. The subtle seductions of politics, entertainment, and cultural distortion are not signs of God’s absence, but of His patience as He permits evil to unveil its true nature. Every lie that matures, every counterfeit that grows bolder, every corruption that becomes normalized is exposing the final bankruptcy of Satan’s government. As deception ripens, discernment becomes the dividing line; those who love truth are drawn into deeper dependence on God, while those who prefer illusion drift toward spiritual ruin. In this way, deception becomes a catalyst for purification, forcing the faithful to anchor themselves entirely in the Word and Spirit of God. And when the great controversy reaches its climax—when evil has exhausted its last argument, when deception has shown its full ugliness, and when the remnant stand sealed in unbreakable allegiance— God will speak “It is done” not merely as an announcement of judgment complete, but as the verdict of a universe convinced. His declaration will close the story because nothing more can be said, nothing more can be proven, and nothing more can be added. The contrast between His kingdom and the kingdom of deceit will have reached absolute clarity, and the ages to come will remember that truth endured because God allowed deception to display itself long enough for all to see that His way alone is life. Thus the permitted darkness becomes the stage upon which the glory of God shines with final, undeniable radiance. In this present hour, when deception is permitted to ripen so that its true nature may be seen, it becomes necessary for those who love truth to exercise intense spiritual scrutiny toward the most visible voices shaping society—particularly the highest political power in office and the most influential artists dominating the cultural landscape in 2025. This scrutiny is not because these individuals are uniquely evil, but because their positions give them a disproportionate ability to guide, distort, or anesthetize the moral and spiritual compass of millions. The one who sits in political authority often cloaks ambition in the language of unity, strength, or moral renewal while quietly normalizing corruption, bending truth to personal will, and using influence to shift the nation’s conscience toward self-preservation instead of righteousness. Their power is seductive precisely because it appears lawful, patriotic, or necessary, yet beneath the polished speeches and public gestures lies a spirit that thrives on division, manipulation of fear, and the redefinition of good and evil for political gain. Their danger is subtlety, not spectacle. Likewise, the most celebrated artist of the age—especially in a culture driven by rhythm, image, and the intoxication of fame—wields influence that is spiritual long before it is musical. Their persona often embodies rebellion disguised as authenticity, sensuality framed as liberation, and godlessness portrayed as empowerment. Through their art they baptize chaos in creativity, turning the brokenness of the world into entertainment that numbs discernment and reshapes desire. They do not need to openly deny God; they only need to enthrone self, glorify impulse, and present darkness as a viable lifestyle. Their deception is dangerous not because it is explicit, but because it resonates with the wounds, cravings, and ambitions of a generation unguarded. The most refined and devastating deceptions of this age do not rise from political platforms or entertainment stages alone, but from pulpits occupied by men and women who were never called, formed, or sent by God. Their danger lies not in obvious error, but in the sophistication of a message that mimics truth while hollowing out its substance. These false shepherds preach a gospel tailored to human comfort—one that soothes guilt without addressing sin, promises blessings without demanding surrender, and celebrates human potential while diminishing the authority, holiness, and centrality of Christ. They are craftsmen of selective truth, choosing Scriptures that inspire emotion while avoiding those that convict; they replace repentance with affirmation, obedience with suggestion, and the fear of the Lord with the flattery of the crowd. Their sermons feel spiritual but lack the piercing power of the Holy Spirit because they are built on psychology, performance, and cultural trends rather than divine revelation. The demagoguery of politics, entertainment, and false shepherding forms a threefold cord of deception uniquely fitted for the last days, because each sphere targets a different vulnerability of the human heart while working toward the same end—detaching the soul from truth. Political demagogues exploit fear, grievance, and nationalistic fervor, offering false certainty and borrowed strength in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. They do not lead; they manipulate, shaping public emotion rather than public conscience. Entertainment, in turn, saturates the mind with distraction, sensuality, and escapism, eroding the moral instincts and dulling the capacity to discern spiritual dangers. It creates a world where the trivial feels urgent and the eternal feels distant. And false shepherds—those who claim God’s authority but do not bear His character—complete the deception by offering a comfortable counterfeit of faith, preaching peace where there is no peace, soothing the flesh while starving the spirit. Together these forces weave a nearly seamless net: politics captures the will, entertainment captures the imagination, and false shepherding captures the conscience. Each promises clarity but actually deepens confusion; each claims liberation but strengthens bondage. In the closing moments of earth’s history, their combined influence produces a generation unable to distinguish the voice of God from the noise of the age. Yet this is precisely why the remnant must stand in holy contrast—disentangled from the illusions, anchored in truth, and illumined by the Spirit who cannot be deceived. These three forces—political demagoguery, the seduction of entertainment, and the spiritual anesthesia administered by false shepherds—do more than simply deceive; they accelerate humanity toward a moral and spiritual point of no return. As each sphere intensifies, the world becomes increasingly incapable of hearing truth, responding to conviction, or recognizing the nearness of judgment. When politics stirs the passions, entertainment numbs the senses, and false religion blinds the conscience, the collective condition of humanity mirrors the days before the flood: a generation so immersed in deception that only divine intervention can halt the collapse. This convergence of darkness is not merely a sign of the end—it is the very environment that necessitates the shortening of time. It is the fulfillment of Revelation 13. The demagoguery of politics, entertainment, and false shepherding becomes the very atmosphere through which this transformational prophecy takes place. Politics manipulates the fears and grievances of the masses, molding public sentiment through charismatic figures who offer simplistic hope while demanding unquestioning loyalty. Entertainment, once a cultural ornament, becomes a discipling force— shaping desires, numbing conscience, and normalizing rebellion against God through spectacle, fame, and emotional captivity. And false shepherding—leaders claiming divine authority yet void of divine calling— anesthetizes the spiritual senses of the people, teaching a gospel with no cross, no repentance, and no holiness, while aligning themselves with the very powers shaping the political and cultural deception. Together these three streams form the dragon’s voice in a land that once spoke like a lamb. Political demagogues stir the passions, entertainers mesmerize the imagination, and false shepherds sanctify the deception with religious language. In this convergence, America fulfills the prophecy by creating a society ripe for coercion and spiritual counterfeit—ready to honor human power over divine truth. This is the environment in which the second beast compels the world to worship the first, using persuasion first and force at last. In the final crisis, when truth is nearly drowned beneath the roar of corrupted politics, the intoxication of entertainment, and the soothing lies of apostate religion, God shortens the time. For in the midst of this dragon- inspired delusion, He preserves a remnant whose fidelity exposes the emptiness of the world’s false glory. Their witness hastens the moment when heaven declares, “It is done,” and the counterfeit kingdoms collapse under the weight of their own deception. God shortens the days not only to preserve His people from being overwhelmed by the rising tide of deception, but also to bring history to the exact moment when every moral trajectory has reached its final expression. When the human heart can no longer be swayed by additional light or further warning, and when the systems of deception have fully matured, God declares, “It is done.” This climactic word is not spoken in fatigue but in triumph: it marks the moment when evil has exhausted its claims, when truth has produced its sealed remnant, and when the great controversy has reached its rightful conclusion. In the face of political manipulation, cultural intoxication, and spiritual counterfeit, God brings time to its ordained limit— cut short in righteousness—so that His glory alone remains, shining through a people who have not bowed to the prevailing idols of the age. The devices of deceptive wickedness are subtle: emotional manipulation that masquerades as anointing, motivational speech disguised as prophecy, and theological ambiguity that allows sin to remain unchallenged. They employ the language of grace while erasing its demands, produce communities without consecration, and encourage worship that stimulates the senses while starving the soul. Through eloquence, charisma, and polished presentation, they darken the mind not by attacking truth, but by diluting it— reducing the gospel to a manageable, comfortable message that leaves people inspired but unchanged. Such pulpits become the enemy’s most effective platform because they give the appearance of light while quietly extinguishing the very discernment needed to recognize darkness. In this way, the greatest deceptions flourish where people assume they are safest, and the mind grows dim not through open rebellion, but through a steady diet of half-truths served in the name of God. Therefore, those who desire truth must look beyond charisma, talent, or public popularity and discern the spirit animating these cultural giants. Their platforms are battlegrounds for influence, and the enemy’s subtlest devices often ride upon the wings of applause. In a time when God is allowing deception to reveal its final form, the wise must watch carefully—not to condemn persons, but to recognize the patterns, the energies, and the intents that either draw the soul toward God or lead it quietly away. Scrutiny becomes an act of spiritual survival, for the hour is late, and the forces shaping society do not merely entertain or govern—they disciple, they mold, and they prepare hearts either for truth or for delusion. The long arc of Scripture testifies that whenever a generation rejects the existence of absolute moral truth, the structures of society become unmoored from righteousness and drift into darkness. From Eden onward, the moment humanity shifted from the objective command of God to the subjective reasoning of the serpent—“ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil”—the template was set for the final apostasy. Judges 21:25 summarizes the pattern with chilling simplicity: “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes”. This rejection of divine standard for personal preference is the oldest sin of the world, yet Scripture warns it will reach its most malignant expression at the end of the age when “lawlessness will abound” and “the love of many shall wax cold”. To replace the eternal Word of God with human sensation, cultural winds, or political dogma is to enthrone the self as god, which is the very essence of antichrist thinking. Whenever right and wrong become a matter of personal feeling or social convenience, the conscience becomes diseased, truth is exchanged for preference, and the soul begins its descent into moral night. Present political polarization, combined with the merging of partisan identity and religious identity, has created a climate uniquely suited for the final rebellion. When religion ceases to be a revelation from God and becomes instead a projection of political ideology, its spiritual authority collapses. Many Americans, especially younger generations, have begun to flee organized religion—not because they reject spiritual hunger, but because they see religious institutions entangled in the machinery of earthly power. This mirrors the warning of II Timothy 3:5 about those who have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof, replacing the Spirit’s sanctifying influence with tribal loyalties and cultural agendas. This phenomenon is not merely sociological; it is prophetic. Revelation 13 describes a world in which political power, religious symbolism, and deceptive miracles merge into a single apparatus that controls conscience and blinds the mind. The present collapse of trust in spiritual institutions is part of the shaking foretold by Hebrews 12:27—everything that can be shaken will be shaken—so that only what is rooted in Christ’s unchanging truth will remain. Modern academic and sociological analyses show that in an age of polarized politics and constant misinformation, people increasingly treat subjective experiences as “truer” than objective facts. Scripture foresaw this inversion: Isaiah 5:20 warns of a generation that would “call evil good, and good evil,” and II Thessalonians 2 speaks of a people who “received not the love of the truth” and thereby fall prey to “strong delusion.” When individuals insist that truth is whatever they feel it is, and when societies validate emotion over revelation, the mind becomes vulnerable to spiritual deception. This condition is not morally neutral—it is spiritually catastrophic. When objective truth dies, the soul loses its anchor and becomes open to every false spirit, every ideological possession, and every unclean passion that elevates self above God. Jesus himself warned that the final deception will be so convincing that, if it were possible, it would deceive even the elect. Such deception is only possible in a culture that has already rejected the very concept of objective morality. Another accelerating component in the collapse of moral order is the swelling of government and the politicization of nearly every aspect of life. When the state becomes the arbiter of moral meaning and personal responsibility, the biblical call to accountability before God becomes dimmed. Proverbs 29:2 declares that when the wicked beareth rule, “the people mourn,” not merely politically but spiritually. This describes an internal state of profound spiritual or existential agony, rather than a mere physical expression of pain. Such a groaning would represent a state of complete spiritual desolation and separation from God. It could stem from a conscience, however suppressed, that recognizes its fallen state and inherent sinfulness, as described in Jeremiah 17:9. The groaning will be the human spirit's involuntary reaction to being utterly devoid of God's presence and grace, a profound, unutterable ache for a salvation or redemption that the wicked man, in his total immersion in evil, has rejected and lost. The mourning represents the ultimate expression of guilt and self-condemnation. Dependency on earthly systems can dull the awareness of eternal accountability, lulling hearts into complacency. Historically, nations such as Babylon and Rome collapsed morally long before they collapsed politically, and Scripture depicts these empires as symbols of the last-day world system—powerful, seductive, oppressive, and spiritually corrupt. Revelation 18 portrays end-time Babylon as a society intoxicated with luxury, deception, and sorcery—terms that encompass political corruption, moral decay, and spiritual rebellion. When the state replaces God as the center of trust and meaning, the soul loses its compass, and the nation loses its restraints. Though religiosity is declining, spirituality persists—but in forms detached from repentance, obedience, or the fear of the Lord. This shift mirrors the apostle’s description of the last days: lovers of self, lovers of pleasure, spiritually curious yet morally lawless, always learning yet never arriving at the truth. A generation seeking transcendence without holiness becomes vulnerable to spiritual counterfeit. Without Scripture’s authority, spiritual instincts become prey to the seductions of the demonic, disguised as enlightenment, empowerment, or liberation. Revelation warns that in the last days “unclean spirits like frogs”—symbolizing persuasive, deceptive ideologies—will go out into all the world to gather nations to the final conflict. This is not a distant future; it is the present psychological landscape, where spiritual hunger meets moral relativism and produces a syncretistic darkness that feels righteous while rejecting righteousness. The most terrifying dimension of this moral collapse is what happens within the human mind when truth is rejected and hatred replaces humility. Without the restraining power of the Spirit, the mind becomes capable of the darkest impulses imaginable. Scripture gives sobering examples: Cain murdering Abel out of wounded pride, Saul pursuing David in jealous obsession, the religious leaders conspiring to crucify Christ while believing they served God. Romans 1 reveals the descent step by step—truth suppressed, worship corrupted, passions inflamed, and finally the mind “given over” to depravity. A conscience seared is not merely misguided; it is spiritually deadened. Hatred, once merely an attitude, becomes a spiritual force—something Jesus warned of when He said that in the last days “iniquity shall abound” and “the love of many shall wax cold”. Revelation 12 describes Satan’s final fury as “great wrath,” which he pours into human hearts, weaponizing anger, resentment, tribalism, ideology, and fear until they become instruments of demonic purposes. Humanity’s present condition—its rejection of truth, its confusion of identity, its moral subjectivism, its polarization, its politicized religion, its spiritual counterfeits, and its rising hatred—is not simply troubling; it is prophetic. These conditions match precisely the moral landscape Scripture describes as preceding the return of Christ. Never has the world been more globally interconnected, yet more spiritually fragmented. Never has knowledge increased so rapidly, yet truth been so widely rejected. Never has civilization been more proud of its enlightenment, yet more blind to its darkness. And because these conditions are so utterly averse to godliness—so resistant to humility, repentance, and truth—the end has never been nearer. The world is not drifting toward its conclusion; it is racing toward it. For when humanity reaches the full expression of choosing self over God, hatred over love, deception over truth, and darkness over light, the Judge of all the earth will rise, the gospel will finish its final work, and Christ will return to restore what sin has corrupted. The darkest aspect of the human mind is not merely its capacity to hate, but its capacity to sanctify hatred—calling its fury righteous, its cruelty principled, and its violence justified. This is the final deception, when men believe they serve God while serving demons, and when the conscience—once designed as Heaven’s echo—becomes the battlefield of the great controversy. But even in this darkness, the promise stands: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him”. And that standard is Christ—the Word made flesh, the Truth unchanging, the Light shining in the darkness until the world’s long night breaks into eternal morning. The sorrow that will rest upon God’s people in the closing scenes of earth’s history is not a common grief, nor is it comparable to any previous human distress. It is a sorrow born from the collision of divine love with a world that has fully rejected that love; a sorrow produced not merely by suffering, but by spiritual clarity—the clarity that comes when the veil is removed and the people of God see both the beauty of Christ and the horror of sin with unprecedented sharpness. This sorrow does not destroy faith, but it does press the soul into depths where every comfort, except God Himself, is stripped away. This sorrow is first a sorrow of separation, not from God, but from the world they once tried to reach. Like Jesus weeping over Jerusalem, the redeemed remnant will behold a world set on its own ruin. Their grief is not self-pity, but divine pity flowing through them. They see the multitudes choosing deception, the nations raging against truth, and families divided by allegiance to the Lamb. Every instinct of love within them aches with the knowledge that this rebellion was not necessary—that the same mercy that saved them was offered to all. This sorrow pierces like the sword that Simeon prophesied would pierce Mary’s soul, the sorrow of witnessing rejection of the One whom they adore. Moreover, the sorrow deepens because the entire world’s moral disintegration is felt in their spirits. They see lies triumphing publicly, hatred normalized, cruelty celebrated, and the consciences of men becoming numb. It is as if the atmosphere itself becomes heavy with demonic influence. The darkness is not merely around them—it presses against them, testing the endurance of their mind and the purity of their motives. Jesus described this pressure in Matthew when He warned that iniquity would abound and love would grow cold. Yet for God’s people, love does not die; instead, it suffers. Their love becomes their greatest vulnerability and their greatest strength, for to love while the world hates is to bleed internally while holding onto hope. Added to this is the sorrow of misunderstood loyalty. Even among former brethren and long-standing believers, many will oppose them, ridicule them, or betray them. Christ spoke of this bitter sorrow: “A man’s foes shall be they of his own household.” The remnant will stand accused of being divisive, extreme, destabilizing, or even dangerous. Their refusal to conform to enforced norms will make them objects of suspicion. Their peace will be misinterpreted as pride; their faithfulness as fanaticism. Like Daniel, they will be condemned not for wrongdoing, but for unwavering righteousness. And this sorrow will overshadow every earthly comfort because it proves how deeply sin can distort judgment and how easily truth can be turned into an offense. The greatest sorrow, however, is the sorrow of longing for God’s face while feeling the weight of the world’s final storm. In the time of Jacob’s trouble, the remnant will cling to Christ with a desperation purified of every earthly dependence. The sorrow they feel is not despair; it is the agony of souls who would rather die than dishonor the One they love. Their trials strip them of every superficial assurance so that their faith rests solely on the character of God. They feel unworthy, yet they cling. They feel surrounded, yet they refuse to let go. Their tears become prayers. Their weakness becomes supplication. Their sorrow becomes intercession. What they experience is not abandonment, but the refining fire through which God seals them into unbreakable union with Himself. Sorrow will be allowed to cast its shadow upon the final generation, becomes a mirror that reveals the inward path of God’s very elect. As the Servant was “despised and rejected of men,” so too will those sealed in the Lamb’s likeness be strangers to the world’s affections. Their rejection will not arise from wrongdoing but from the unsettling purity of their witness. Like Christ, they will stand as a testimony that exposes the heart’s true inclinations; therefore the world will instinctively recoil. They will be misread, misunderstood, and misrepresented, not because they falter, but because they bear a reflection of the One whom the world still refuses to truly behold. The loneliness of their calling becomes the echo of His loneliness, and in that echo they discover a fellowship that only the rejected of God and the rejected of men truly understand. The phrase “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief” will rest upon them not as a burden but as a mantle of intercessory love. Their sorrows will not come merely from personal affliction but from the weight of a world rushing toward judgment. They will feel the ache of divine compassion within their own spirits—God grieving through them. Their tears will often be unseen and their sighs unrecorded, yet heaven will recognize them as the very breath of Christ reproduced in His remnant. The grief they know will sanctify their discernment, sharpen their prayers, and deepen their dependence. For just as the Servant carried sorrow that belonged to others, so the very elect will bear the hidden anguish of the nations as they stand in the final gap. When the text declares, “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows,” it reveals the pattern by which the elect fulfill their end-time purpose. They do not atone—only Christ does that—but they participate in the ministry of carrying what others cannot yet bear. They will carry misunderstood burdens, prophetic insight that few believe, warnings that many resent, love that is often unreturned, and truth that is commonly dismissed. Yet, like their Master, they will not withdraw. They will offer themselves as vessels through whom Christ continues His final work of redemptive revelation. The world will esteem them “stricken,” imagining their sufferings as signs of divine displeasure, but heaven will know them as the evidence of divine intimacy. Their afflictions will not diminish them; they will certify them. The final people of God are restorers—those who, by returning fully to the heart of God, are entrusted with rebuilding what generations of sin and neglect have destroyed. They revive the “old waste places” by restoring forgotten truths and recovering the covenant identity long obscured; they “raise up the foundations of many generations” by reconnecting the last age with the pure faith that began in Eden and was upheld by the patriarchs, prophets, apostles, and Christ Himself. Heaven names them “repairers of the breach” because their obedient lives mend the rupture caused by humanity’s departure from God’s law and ways. As “restorers of paths to dwell in,” they uncover the ancient, holy way of life meant for all humanity, making it visible again so others may safely walk in it. This single verse becomes the prophetic description of the remnant who, in the last days, complete God’s work of restoring truth, identity, and holiness to a world that has forgotten its Maker. Thus Isaiah’s vision becomes a living reality in the last generation: a people whose rejection refines them, whose sorrows consecrate them, and whose unseen grief becomes the secret place where Christ finishes writing His character upon human flesh. In them, the prophecy is not repeated but reflected—Christ’s sufferings reproduced in His body, preparing the way for the glory soon to be revealed. Spiritually, this sorrow does something no comfort on earth could ever accomplish—it breaks the final ties between their hearts and the world. In that breaking, something divine is born: the complete triumph of God’s love in human flesh. The sorrow they endure uproots every remaining trace of self-confidence, pride, hidden fear, or earthly hope. It empties them of themselves so that they can be filled entirely with Christ. It teaches them to live from the inside outward, drawing strength not from circumstance but from communion with the Spirit. Every comfort taken away becomes a divine exchange, a surrender that makes room for the fullness of God. And in the end, this sorrow becomes the seal of their identity. They sorrow because they belong to a kingdom not of this world. They sorrow because they bear the heart of God toward a dying planet. But they also sorrow because the final joy is so near that the soul groans for it. This sorrow is the shadow of glory—the last night before eternal dawn, the final trembling before everlasting rest. When the tribulation reaches its height and every earthly comfort fades, the sorrow of God’s people becomes the womb of their victory, and through it they emerge as the very image of Christ—tried, pure, unshakable, and ready to stand in the presence of the King. The height of the faith born in such sorrow is not merely survival—it is transformation. When every earthly comfort has been removed, when every human assurance has failed, when every support except the promises of God has collapsed, faith stretches upward with a purity that cannot exist in any other environment. This is the faith described in Revelation 14:12, the faith of Jesus, not merely faith in Him. It is the faith that clung to the Father in Gethsemane when the world turned dark and every sensation screamed abandonment. It is the faith that trusted God’s character above all evidence to the contrary. When that same faith is reproduced in the remnant, it becomes the crowning miracle of redemption—humanity restored to full union with divinity. Such faith leads to perfection in Christ because it removes every barrier between the soul and the Savior. Perfection is not sinlessness produced by human effort; it is wholeness formed by divine indwelling. When the soul has been emptied of every competing allegiance and purified through trial, Christ fills the vessel entirely. His mind becomes their mind, His purity their purity, His steadfastness their steadfastness. This is the mystery spoken of: “Christ in you, the hope of glory”. As the remnant clings to Him through the final storm, every trace of self-will is surrendered, every fragment of unbelief consumed, every fear overcome by love. They reflect Him not because they strive to imitate Him, but because His life has become the very breath of their own. At the height of this faith, obedience becomes joy, holiness becomes instinct, and righteousness becomes identity. They no longer obey to be accepted— they obey because they are one with the Holy One. Love is perfected in them because fear has been cast out. Their loyalty no longer wavers, their purpose no longer divides, their affections no longer wander. They stand as living testimonies that the grace of God is not only pardoning but transforming, not only covering sin but cleansing the sanctuary of the heart. The seal of God rests upon them not as a reward, but as the natural result of a faith that has become unbreakably united to the will of Christ. Thus the sorrow they endured becomes the very path to their perfection, and the tribulation that seemed to crush them becomes the means by which they are lifted into the full stature of Christ. The darkest hour becomes the birthplace of the brightest glory. And when the conflict ends—when the shaking stops, when the last deception fades, when the heavens open and the Son of Man appears—the faith they carried through the storm will shine as the final proof that God’s love has triumphed in humanity. In that moment, perfection is no longer a doctrine but a reality, for the Bride will stand pure, complete, resplendent, and ready, having been made one with her Beloved forever. When the Eternal speaks the words “It is done,” the declaration is not merely the closing of an event but the unveiling of the fullness of His mind, His justice, His mercy, and His eternal purpose. These words—issue forth from the infinite depths of the Godhead with a force that gathers all history, all prophecy, all suffering, all judgment, and all redemption into a single divine breath. They are the consummation of everything God has ever willed, ever promised, ever created, ever redeemed. To reach into the heavenly mind and translate that moment into human language is to touch the edge of eternity and attempt to speak the heartbeat of the Almighty. When God declares “It is done”, it is the voice of Omnipotence closing the era of sin. It is the Father’s own verdict that the rebellion which began in heaven and polluted the earth has reached its final limit. The cup of iniquity is full; the mystery of sin has run its malignant course; the last deceptions have matured; and every soul’s choice has been eternally fixed. In that moment, the heavenly mind sees with perfect clarity that nothing more can be offered, nothing more can be shown, nothing more can be pleaded. Justice stands complete, the great controversy reaches its judicial termination, and the universe beholds a God who has exhausted every avenue of mercy before allowing judgment to fall. The thunder that follows this divine proclamation is the echo of a cosmos acknowledging that God has been righteous in all His ways and holy in all His judgments. But when God declares “It is done”, the tone changes from the finality of judgment to the fullness of restoration. This is not the voice that closes a conflict—it is the voice that opens eternity. It is the Creator speaking over a renewed cosmos in the same spirit with which He first spoke light into darkness. It is the Triune God announcing that everything sin attempted to destroy has been restored, that everything lost has been recovered, that everything wounded has been healed. This “It is done” is the joy of God overflowing into the infinite ages, the celebration of a universe made new, the announcement that the purpose conceived before the foundation of the world has now reached its radiant completion. It is the divine exhale after the long night of sorrow, the eternal sunrise breaking upon the redeemed creation. In the heavenly mind, these two declarations—though separated in our time—are one continuous revelation of the character of God. In the first “It is done,” we hear the holy resolve of a Father who will not permit suffering to continue a moment longer than justice requires. In the second, we hear the tenderness of a Father who delights to dwell with His children forever. The first closes the age of rebellion; the second begins the age of unending communion. The first vindicates His righteousness; the second magnifies His love. Together they reveal that God’s final word over sin is judgment, but His final word over humanity is life. If we could rest our spirits upon the heavenly mind in that moment, we would sense a stillness deeper than silence—the stillness of God’s eternal will fully satisfied, fully expressed, fully triumphant. We would feel the weight of ages lift, the ache of the universe heal, the last shadow flee from creation. We would behold the Father’s heart unveiled: justice without cruelty, mercy without compromise, majesty without distance, love without end. And in that instant, all created beings—from seraph to redeemed saint—would know that the story of God has reached its perfect completion. Nothing unfinished remains. Nothing imperfect lingers. Nothing broken stands. The certainty of the promise averred means it is as sure as if it were done already. His titles of honor are as a pledge or surety of the full performance. For when He who is Alpha and Omega speaks His counsel stands, “It is done,” the universe bows not merely in awe, but in understanding—because in those three words, all the purpose of God, all the pain of redemption, all the triumph of Christ, all the hope of the ages, and all the future joy of the redeemed are gathered into one eternal truth: God has won. Love has prevailed. Forever has begun. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

The cry of the soul is the beginning of hope. Whom among the living are spiritually lost to God? Christ cried over the tragedy of a lost opportunity. The Israelites who gathered in Jerusalem for Passover, due to spiritual ignorance, missed the chance to be saved from both earthly and eternal destruction. We too cry for those who have spiritual blindness. We cry for the living. Earth is as God’s waiting room of life. Divine mercy allows revelations and lifts for us a corner of the veil hiding the most awesome mysteries which await us all at the term of our days on earth. Time is short, hastening to its close. Time which will never return. In view of eternity, occupy our thoughts with souls indifferent to the realities of heaven. Many souls of the children of God have no regard to the gospel, the lack of desire, the purposelessness or indirectness of prayer, and the absence of travail, is none the less apparent, and hardly less sad; yet of these matters all we would now say is, God save each of them, of us, from taking eternal realities as matters of course, and from becoming ourselves as indifferent to them as the sleeping among us. We plead that each of us being moved by God’s grace should be doing his special work for Him. It is marvelous grace, that He has put His Spirit in His people, and He gives His people to feel for sinners, to yearn for sinners, to weep and travail for their souls. It is the love of God moving the hearts of men for men. Through the very hearts of His servants God speaks and commands the attention of the careless and indifferent. Mere lucid gospel statements stir no souls; the character of disseminating truth moves no hearts. Though we edify understandings, they do not lay hold of the spirits of men. Neither the love, nor the light warms them. Our service is under the guidance of the Spirit of God. The grace of spiritual insight offers a deep and meaningful understanding of one's self and others, the world we are in and the world they are of, and the interconnectedness of all things, often gained through personal reflection, meditation, prayer, or other spiritual practices, allowing for a broader perspective beyond the physical realm and leading to a sense of inner peace and wisdom; essentially, it's the ability to perceive truths beyond the surface level of everyday experience. We do not need intelligence in order to be earnest, but God forbid that increase of intelligence should mean a diminishing of our earnestness. True earnestness is only to be gained in one way: we must get near to the heart of God. His love kindles ours; His compassion for a perishing soul moves our spirits. His Spirit stirs our souls, and works in us and through us for the salvation of men. Love cannot but be active. Love asleep, while the objects, the very souls of its affection are perishing, is but love's image; it is but a block of stone carved into the shape of the reality, and hewed up to look like life. We do not want images, we are to be men and women laboring in the gospel for the souls Christ died for. Though heaven be our home sought for, we cannot rush out of this world having any infidelity in the foundation of the gospel. Our instruction begins with meditation. Meditation upon eternity. Praying about its realities, seeking for grace to be possessed with its tremendous issues; hoping that other souls will begin to act for eternity. Let us take yet another step. Shut ourself in the chamber alone, and speak to God about eternity, with the name of just one soul upon our lips. Let that name and eternity be breathed together before God. What is the account of a soul? Think over it, pray over it, weep over it, and, possessed with the reality, witness to this soul. We must plead for what God loves. Consider the tears of Jesus over rejecters of His grace; think upon his sighs, how he sighed deeply over the unbelief of men. We are to bring all we can out of the darkness…even if that is just one soul. Help them to see the countable years of grace received. Help them to see that the first death is not the last reality. Before the foundation of the world there was a choice made. The last name written in that book is the soul being searched for. When this last one soul comes in, Jesus is coming. The soul that is suffering is important to us because of our belief in the sovereignty of our loving and merciful God. Consider with much spiritual contemplation the full depth and genuineness of Paul’s grief expressed in his almost unbelievable declaration. “For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” For the salvation of his fellowmen, Paul was willing even to forfeit his salvation, if, somehow, that could save them from God’s condemnation. An awesome statement of self-sacrifice. Salvation is a believer’s most precious treasure, and that only Christ’s sacrificial death has the power to save. Paul felt such love that he was willing to relinquish his own salvation and be separated from Christ if somehow that could bring his fellowmen to faith in Christ. This done, calling Christ and the Holy Spirit to witness his sincerity. God so loved the unloving and evil world that He sent His only begotten Son to redeem the lost. Paul’s passionate offer of such an ultimate sacrifice reflected the gracious heart of God. It also reflected the equally gracious heart of the Son, who, in obedience to the Father, gave his life that others might live. This servant of God understood the absolute security in Christ, from which “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Yet his love, his cry for the lost in Israel gave him the willingness to surrender those intimate, inestimable, and eternal blessings, if doing so would bring his brethren to Christ. This is the love that the people of God must have for the people whom God sent our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to die for. Remember how Moses pleaded with God for the lives of the people. “Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.” Our devotion to Christ warrants that we cry for the souls lost that they may be brought to repentance. Can this ultimately bring glory to God? Is this a mystery of the will of God? Here is why the scriptural truth - for the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth - is crucial to the life. This wonderful, reassuring truth that all whom God foreknew, was decided beforehand to enter into a relationship with, and predestined to salvation will be saved and glorified for all eternity, so that Jesus will have the preeminence. God inspires the concluding verses in the chapter with the strong assurance that He by no means will forego mercy and compassion for His glory. In His eternal counsels, God has taken an account. His dealings with them are pursuant to these counsels: and He will finish the account, complete the mystical body, call in as many as belong to the election of grace, and then the account will be finished. They have a fair offer of righteousness, and life, and salvation, made to them upon the gospel terms, which at this time they do not like, and would not come up to; and therefore, if they perish, they may thank themselves - their blood is upon their own heads. This renders God’s righteousness, in favor to us, who in justice to His own design and counsel cry for the souls lost. We should be burdened for the salvation of lost souls because the love of Christ and the love of God’s truth impel us. What love did, we receive as sinners before coming to Christ? Do we not desire others to experience this love? Are we to imitate Christ? Was it Christ’s love that bore the wrath of God and moved Him to lay down His life for all…for the… to be saved… and for…the to be lost”? So, Christ’s love reaches down to us in our sin to impel us to cry out to the souls lost and share our trust in Christ to save them. It is possible to have great sorrow over the lost at the same time that we have great joy in Christ. It is our sorrowing in rejoicing that moves us to want others to know the same joy, along with sorrow over the sad condition of the lost, so that we cry out to them with kindness and compassion. We love the truth of God’s promises. And there is power in His promise. We want all to know that the word of God cannot fail. Our primary motive for crying for lost souls to be saved should be God’s glory. The book of Romans reasons God’s main purpose for creating the world was not to save souls, His election stands according to His call. His main purpose is to display His infinite glory. It is this to which we bear witness. The difficulty with many lost people is that they trust in their religious privileges, not in the Savior. What a tragedy to be religiously zealous, but lost! Salvation is not a matter of spiritual privilege alone, but rather of God’s sovereign grace that imparts life to dead sinners. We cry for the souls lost that they come to know Jesus Christ as God in human flesh. Jesus Christ is eternal God in human flesh, who offered Himself as the sacrifice for our sins, who was raised bodily from the dead. Salvation depends upon this truth. We must be burdened for the salvation of lost souls. God is calling us to cross barriers. The most terrible view that can ever be seen will be when all flesh is alive, and some are in the city, and all the rest are outside the wall of such pure gold that it’s like clear glass. The view is terrible to the inhabitants in the city because these see the souls they cried for who rejected Christ. The view is most terrible to those outside the wall because they see the privilege offered them that they lost. The horrible situation of lost people. By God’s grace and through His purposes we can be instruments of change to not only be found in the city of God but to help others find solace in caring about their spiritual condition on earth today. To the angels and the unfallen worlds, the cry, “It is finished,” had a deep significance. It was for them, as well as for us, that the great work of redemption had been accomplished. They, with us, share the fruits of Christ’s victory. We cry out to God to hear our cry for the souls lost. Our cries for the souls lost is our faithfulness in God’s power to act in His unfailing love for all. We trust in God and in his ability to act on our behalf in spite of and in the face of our current troubles. Because of who He is we praise Him simply because of who He is. We have this faith that when we cry for souls God is there. God’s past faithfulness proclaims our confidence in every situation. We trust that our cry for the souls lost will end in praise for God. It is for that character that we praise Him, not the circumstances. Our cry for the souls lost is our cry to God from the depths of our spirit. If it be thy will speak salvation over the souls we cry for. There was a cry from the cross for souls lost. “My God, My God”. Let’s understand what this cry was…it was God forsaking God! Beyond the grasp of our minds, this cry found Christ speaking to God as his Father. Imagine having the thought of all the woes caused by sin in this life. But here is the truth. God did not forsake man. This is why we can cry for souls lost. Because Jesus, the Son of God, was forsaken for our sins that his cry so increased the love of the Father. The lost soul, so hardened in sin can now be persuaded that the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. What can we say to a soul who is lost, and who feels that God has forsaken him?” We ask, “what became of that Man who died for you, whom God really did forsake”? Light comes to those who have been in the dark when we cry unto them. Christ was where they are and where they can now be – at the right hand of the Father! We are to hear the cries from the cross for the souls lost. Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. God expressed the pain of sacrifice, but no regrets. The pain of sacrifice is temporary. The pain of regret is persistent. The most significant regrets will not be the choices made, but instead the decisions never made. In our crying we will have pain. Know this, the pain of giving all we’ve got and coming up short isn’t the same as never having tried. The question is, when the pain of all that is too much for others and they give up, will we still be there? Will we see obstacles as temporary? Will the pain drive us to move away from the work of Christ, or will it move us forward? Souls are only a decision away. If we can help them take a step today, the morrow will take care of itself. Christ’s words from the cross meet the soul’s most urgent need. When we were manifesting our greatest hatred for God; Christ was manifesting His greatest love for us. The dying thief was a lost soul. He will see his day of rejoicing. The second death hung on Calvary as a cry of abandonment echoed throughout all creation. And the Christ descended into it and bore its horrors in our place. It was a cry of overwhelming distress, but not of distrust. It was this cry to restore communion between God and man. This is why we cry for the souls lost. Our cry for souls lost resonates from the cross as an act of deity. The far- reaching cry for the whole human race. Cries of forgiveness, cries of love, cries of salvation, cries of victory, cries of commitment, cries of humanity. Our cry for souls lost must show the depth and the severity of the truth of the matter. Unless God intervenes, every soul lost will enter into the depths of agony and sorrow, blackness and darkness. God’s people cry for souls lost and it is calculated to benefit us. When we come to a soul that Christ died for, we too are afflicted and appalled. But the sufferings of our Savior, while they move us to grief, have about them something sweet, full of consolation. Here, even here, in this black spot of grief, we find heaven. We lament, we cry for the cause to help souls, and we rejoice in the consequences. We cry for souls lost that they be not lost! God is not indifferent to His created beings. We thoughtfully speculate on profound reasons for Jesus’ tears. Why would Jesus cry, knowing He was about to hear those He was to die for call for his crucifixion? There must be more to the tears than empathy. Jesus must have been weeping for the lost world, or mourning His own impending suffering. Jesus was also crying because he knew we would have tears for friends in the last day. He knew we would be hurting for souls lost, so Jesus was hurting. In his tears, we hear these words: “I’m sorry I had to let you go through this. I know your anguish, and my heart cries with yours.” It didn’t matter that the pain would end. It mattered that there was pain. Jesus hurts with us for souls lost. Our cries sound unto God. He hears them. We have this spiritual closeness to God…we cry for souls lost, hoping that they be not lost. To win the lost there is and will be much weeping. The tears we sow will reap in joy. These are colorless tears, no taint of racial inequity, weighed with collective sadness. There is no such thing as compassion for a lost soul that does not effect great sorrow in the heart. It is painful to bear a lost person on our heart and to stand between them and what being lost means. We know what we are being saved from. Our cry for souls lost is a crucial and foundationally formative experience for perfecting us to be that better thing inspired by the faith of all the servants of God. It is nothing other than our identification with all of those who are victims of violence. It is our existence between the cross and the resurrection. On the cross the triune life of God is thrown open for all to see. It is our cry for souls lost that the promises of change and eternal life are truths accepted for the right and proper reason, namely, that it illuminates and convinces as truth. Truth brings about assent, it brings about change without exerting compulsion. In dialogue the truth frees men and women for their own conceptions and their own ideas. In this liberating dialogue we all come into the circle of brothers and sisters. We become friends. When we see souls on their way to the fire and want to “make a difference,” then we with “fear”, fear for them and fear for ourselves if we have no compassion on their soul to pull them out of the fire. For this purpose, we are appointed watchmen. We live in a world that is struggling under the burden of the reality that all is not well with humanity. The cries of the suffering creation are heard, incorporated, in the hearts of the redeemed. Untold numbers will miss heaven because nobody cried for their souls. They believe that God so rarely seems to accomplish his will in the world that often God’s purpose, if it can be discerned, seems to be defeated. The actual redemptive presence of God in the world is discerned less in God’s taking the sovereign lead in events and more in God’s picking up the pieces after history has misfired. The whole business of the Holy Spirit in conviction of sin awaits the travail and great compassion of God’s election. We are called to finish the unsolved problem of the suffering God. Our cries are in His cries. The passion narrative on the cross was such a divineness of love. God becomes man in Jesus of Nazareth, he not only enters into the finitude of man, but in his death on the cross also enters into the situation of man’s god- forsakenness. … He humbles himself and takes upon himself the eternal death of the godless and the god-forsaken, so that all the godless and god-forsaken can experience communion with him. This is the message for invitation he offered by sacrifice and being forsaken. “If you are lost, then we are lost together”. This message song sings of a God who would rather be lost with us than be anywhere else without us. This is Emmanuel, God with us. Where was God when we were lost? He came in person to be for us. Jesus entered a broken and sinful world to stand with us, to be our friend, to carry our sin and to suffer our pain. Jesus reveals the heart of his Father to us. He comes with a love that will not let us go. He comes to be in relationship with us. He comes to share our lostness. This is why, this is how we cry for souls lost. Because those who have not chosen Christ cannot truly comprehend what took place at Calvary without first knowing who it was that hung upon the cross. Since God’s action in redemption is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, any discussion of who it is that was crucified on Calvary can only be conducted using personal, relational, and finally the triunal concept and language. Jesus experienced death for us, so that we could live with him. He offers to stand with us in our grief, in our lostness, and by doing that, Jesus changes this awful place. And he changes us. Jesus cried with a loud voice. It is purposed for us by the word of God that we are to live for others! In our cry for souls lost we are to make it apparent unto all men that we are not ourselves the end-all, and be-all of our own existence, but that we are spending and being spent; that through the good we do to men God may be glorified, and Christ may see in us His own image, and be satisfied. There is the world and Christ; there is sin and God. We cry in the spirit to move the soul from the world, and from sin, to Christ and God. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

It is said that all have sinned. It is said that is truth. That is the truth for the “all” that comes by seed. However, that is not the truth for the “all” inclusive of life. The truth is Jesus. And Jesus did not sin. It was not in his nature for he is not of the seed of man, and he in no way comes short of the glory of God. So, the truth is all have not sinned. There are untold numbers of the unfallen worlds beholding the “all” of mankind. All means the entirety of the whole of every whatever that is not distinguished by contrast of things spiritual or celestial having capability without exception, omitting nothing, incapable of adding anything considered. Man calls it an accident; God calls it an abomination. Man calls it a blunder; God calls it a blight. Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease. Man calls it a chance; God calls it a choice. Man calls it an error; God calls it an enmity. Man calls it a fascination; God calls it a fatality. Man calls it an infirmity; God calls it an iniquity. Man calls it a lavishness; God calls it a leprosy. Man calls it a liberty; God calls it lawlessness. Man calls it a trifle; God calls it a tragedy. Man calls it a mistake; God calls it a madness. Man calls it a weakness; God calls it a willfulness. It is man missing the mark! What is this mysterious thing, so downplayed and on occasion actually denied by man, but utterly denounced by God? The holiness of God is governed by his understanding of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. There must be no construct of agreement whatsoever between the purity of the one and the perversion of the other. However, there remains an interaction in time between both. Sin will bring down the full wrath of a holy God upon the political, religious, and economic systems of this entire world. Say the word and we hear the very viciousness of the viper. Sin…the sound of hissin. It is this deadly and damnable thing that is so hated by God and so harmful to man. But there was one man born by the determination of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Sin is missing the mark, badness, rebellion, iniquity, going astray, wickedness, wandering, ungodliness, crime, lawlessness, transgression, ignorance, and a falling away. If it is not right, it is sin. Sin is lack of conformity to the moral law of God, either in act, disposition, or state. Sin is a transgression of, or want of conformity to the divine law. Sin can be defined ultimately as anything in the creature which does not express, or which is contrary to, the holy character of the Creator. And when we reason with God’s purpose - sin is a restless unwillingness on the part of the creature to abide in the sphere and limitation in which the Creator, guided by infinite wisdom, had placed him. Sin is not eternal. Sin is not merely the absence of good, sin is real. Sin has no standard of its own. Sin must derive its measurements from that which is positive or good. Evil cannot exist apart from good. By its very nature sin, evil, must oppose and pervert something good. Every sin is, in reality, a perversion of some good principle. Point to the deceptive tactic of the enemy of God and sin must not only disguise itself as the good, but must also actually connect itself to the good. In itself sin has no unifying power. It must be powered by deception. Sin powered by deception means that the very nature of sin is to mislead and trick people into committing acts that are harmful or morally wrong, essentially using false promises of pleasure or benefit to entice individuals into actions that ultimately lead to negative consequences; it highlights the deceptive nature of sin, where it often appears appealing on the surface but hides its destructive potential. Sin often presents itself as something that will bring happiness, fulfillment, or excitement, while in reality, it leads to pain, guilt, and negative consequences. Here sin may be likened to a virus. Sin is the greatest evil in the universe. It is the parent of all other ills. All manner of evils draws their bitterness from this fount of wormwood and gall. Sin, embedded in man’s choice, turned every blessing into a curse. Even Christ was made a curse. It was necessary because that the law could not give the blessing of salvation, for since all had broken it, all that the law could do was to curse. But, Jesus is the only man to claim that he has continued in all things that are in the law. Christ Jesus, the representative man, alone can deliver us from the curse which the law brought upon us. It is certain beyond a doubt that the salvation and justification of a sinner cannot be by the works of the law, but altogether by the grace of God through faith which is in Christ Jesus. And since works do not connect us with Christ, faith is the uniting bond, faith becomes the way of salvation. Since faith is the hand that lays hold upon the finished work of Christ, which works could not and would not do, for works lead us to boast and to forget Christ - faith becomes the true and only way of obtaining justification and everlasting life. And in order that such faith may be nurtured in us, God the Holy Spirit leads us into the depths of the great work of Christ. There is no evil like sin. Satan himself cannot hurt us, except as he is allowed to be armed with the poisoned arrows of sin. We ought not to pray so much against sickness, or trial, or temptation, or even against death itself, as we pray against sin. Sin holds a great reigning power over those who are servants of sin. But to the people of God, we must cry daily for the grace of God. Even we that have been born again, and are, in a measure, sanctified by the Spirit of God; even we have a fleshly nature, whose tendencies are susceptible to evil, whose desires may draw towards sin. How much we need to be held up! To God’s people, the deceitfulness of sin is a very important matter; for in the deceit of sin lies our main danger. If sin comes to us as sin, we are instant to hate it, and strong to repel it, by the grace of God. When we are walking with God, we only need to know that an action is forbidden, and straightway we avoid it; we shun the evil thing when it is plainly evil. But sin puts on another dress, and comes to us speaking a language which is not its own; and so, even those who would avoid sin as sin, may, by degrees, be tempted to evil, and deluded into wrong. It is well when sin carries its black flag at the masthead; for then we know what we are dealing with. The deceitfulness of sin is most ruinous. We have grave cause to watch and pray against secret sins, veiled sins, popular sins, fascinating sins, deceitful sins. Sin has a singular power to deceive. We need only look back to the Garden. Eve’s faculties were well balanced. Her mind had no natural depravity, yet overcome by suggestions. Go back even farther to when Lucifer entangled the pure spirits of heaven. This deceiver was the covering cherub of God, once swift for good, now prompt for evil. Secondly, sin deceivableness has a hardening influence upon the soul. We must resist sin spiritedly. We must never doubt its penalty. Doubt to but one truth of God is as a drop of sinful distrust of God’s Word and can poison all the thoughts of reasoning with the word of God. Sin has not the substance that faith offers. Sin commonly comes as a bare suggestion, as an imagination, as an airy thing. Man gives too much pleasant thought toward sin. And once fascination hits the thought, evil begins its deadly assignment. Thought is reduced into desire, and desire grows to purpose, and purpose becomes fully grown into an undertaking. Satan knows more about us than we know about ourselves. He knows our raw places, and our weak points, and in what joint there was a breakage in our youth. Sin is deceitful in its object, for the object which it puts before us is not that which is its actual result. We are moved to do evil under the idea that some present good will come of it. The deceit - man thinks, when he yields to sin, that he shall enjoy an additional pleasure, or shall gain an extra profit, or at least shall avoid a measure of evil, and escape from something which he dreads. He does the wrong for the sake of what he hopes will come of it. Evil does not lead to good, and sin is of no profit to us. In many cases, man does not commit the sin with the design of breaking the law of God, and defying his Maker, but because he fancies that something is to be gained; and, in his judgment, he better understands what is good for him because even the enticement of sin makes us believe we are wiser even than the Lord God, by whose wisdom we ought to be guided. Eat the fruit, sin, we will be like God…erred judgment! Sin’s source of strength is deceit, and it works to dethrone grace. The mind is to guide, direct, choose, and lead; and if the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness. It is true that sin entangles the emotions, and this is troublesome, but when it deceives the mind, this is dangerous. When the mind is thoroughly deceived by sin, the impact on the person is devastating. Deceit consists in presenting unto the mind, things otherwise than they are, either in their nature, their causes, their effects, or present respect unto the soul. This is the general nature of deceit, and it prevails many ways. It hides what ought to be seen and considered, it conceals circumstances and consequences, it presents what is not, or things as they are not….it is a representation of a matter under disguise, hiding that which is undesirable, proposing that which is indeed not in it, that the mind may make a false judgment of it. Deceit throws the mind into error and hides the fact of ultimate spiritual and eternal ruin. The mind is to keep the whole soul in a frame of obedience, ready to follow the Lord in every particular act. We must be discerning of sin’s enticements. The mind is to ensure that all our particular duties before God are performed in accordance with God’s purposes, that is, all acts of obedience are done in the proper time, manner, and season. Every sin is a forsaking of the Lord our God. If the heart know not, if it consider not, that it is an evil thing, deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked and a bitter evil in itself, bitter in its effects, fruit, and event, - it will never be secured against the power of sin. This “due” and “constant consideration” of sin’s vileness can only be achieved by those who walk humbly, in the fear of the Lord. Sin attempts to abuse the word of God. Sin urges us to go beyond the boundaries God has set for us that we desire mercy. And mercy is desired when we sin. Sin does not want us to contend against temptation. God’s pardon is true, but it does not lead to lawlessness. Evil and sin are not the same though they may be aligned in context. “Evil” is considered a broader concept representing the absence of good, while "sin" is a specific action or choice that goes against moral principles, meaning that sin is considered a manifestation of evil. Committing a sinful act is considered an expression of evil intent or behavior. The evil of sin is what God created. Evil is the calamitous consequence of sin. A disastrous natural event is an evil thing, it is not a choice and it is not sin. God does not create sin. Sin is the greatest contagion on earth. One individual, the first of the human creation, committed one sin and that sin being apparently so innocuous men are prone to ridicule the thought that God would notice it at all; yet that one sin is, according to divine estimation, sufficiently evil to cause the degeneracy and depravity of the unfallen person who committed the sin, and to cause uncounted millions of his posterity to suffer in the flesh and die, and the vast majority of them to spend eternity in the realms of woe. The Son of God suffered to an infinite degree and died on the cross because of sin. There was no other way whereby redemption could be secured. However, had there never been but that one sin committed in this world, the same depths of suffering and death by the Son of God would have been required as a righteous ground for divine forgiveness of that one sin and the justification of that one sinner. Sin dulls the ear of man. It darkens the eye of understanding. Sin diverts the feet from the path of right. It defiles the tongue. Sin deceives the heart. It devours the intellect. Sin dooms the soul. Sin is a representative determinant that runs through the entire range of human life. God allowed sin to show His love for us in His creating man a free moral agent of His likeness to choose. God allowed sin to display His grace given us. God allowed sin to exist to forever secure eternity from its affect and effect ever again. We realize from experience that sin is harmful to our lives, that it brings pain and destructive consequences to us and to others affected by it. But to define sin as failure to conform to the moral law of God, is to say that sin is more than simply painful and destructive - it is also wrong in the deepest sense of the word. It signifies a deviation from what is morally right, implying an action or belief that is considered inherently bad, unjust, or harmful, often with a connotation of causing significant negative consequences or violating ethical principles. In a universe created by God, sin ought not to be. Sin is directly opposite to all that is good in the character of God, and just as God necessarily and eternally delights in himself and in all that he is, so God necessarily and eternally hates sin. So, let’s make this statement – the only thing in God that sin can meet is judgment. There can be no eternally existing evil power in the universe similar to or equal to God Himself in power. The holiness of God and the wicked evilness of sin are two incomparable powers. Sin can challenge holiness, but omnipotence rules all things. God's power is infinitely greater than the power of sin; while sin can exert a strong influence on individuals, God's power is absolute and can overcome any and every sin. All sin is ultimately irrational. It really did not make sense for Satan to rebel against God in the expectation of being able to exalt himself above God. Nor did it make sense for Adam and Eve to think that there could be any gain in disobeying the words of their Creator. These were unwise choices. The persistence of Satan in rebelling against God today is still a thoughtless choice, as is the decision on the part of any human being to continue in a state of rebellion against God. Though people sometimes persuade themselves that they have good reasons for sinning, when examined in the cold light of truth from every source possible on the last day, it will be seen in every case that sin ultimately is in direct conflict with any reasoning. Sin comes to life when the human subject of God becomes the object. It is then no longer the person committing the sin, rather now sin is at work within the person. Even the law is powerless against sin. Sin makes humanity a victim. When we consider the love of God and the power of the word, sin is just a personified deed. The ultimate sin is individual self-reliance. The attitude attempting to earn righteousness through works of the law. This attempt to attain life by one’s own effort reveals the deceitfulness of sin. Man trying to live out of his own strength loses his self – his life, rushing toward death. This is the domination of sin. Because we live in a sinful world and have done so all our lives, it’s hard for us to realize that the ongoing struggle between good and evil - the great controversy - is really only a “brief” interlude between the sinless perfection that existed in the universe before Lucifer’s rebellion and the sinless perfection that will exist after the rebellion is ended forever. It’s important that we have a big picture understanding of how God is handling the problem, and the fact that we are each purposefully involved in the outcome. Only then will we be able to successfully carry out our role in the great controversy. Only then will God be able to deal with the sin problem in a way that will put it to rest forever. Vindicating God’s character is our purpose. And what a love will be demonstrated! The entire universe will see that God all along was handling the problem in love. To cause all to see this we must show the reality of the faith of those chosen by God. These chosen were real people, not characters in a play. The outcome of the story was predetermined, but they had a terrible struggle…as we will also. We learn great truths through their struggle…through their faith. We must help others see the need for God to deal with Satan and sin in a way that not only redeems lost human beings but also settles the sin problem so that sin will never arise again; better understand how faith and obedience are related and how this relationship needs to be expressed in their own lives; and rededicate themselves to serve God not only with the head, but also with the heart as was the purpose for their being born. According to the new covenant and the grace of God we will be the Israel of witness to the world. We cannot ignore the reality of sin. Sin is, in this last day, a human condition. But we cannot reduce sin to a matter of nature overwhelming reason. What propels us into sin is not the flesh, but the spirit. Sin is not the spirit’s perversion by the flesh, but the spirit's self-perversion. The sinful person refuses to submit to the authority of God’s moral law. We may want to call someone who chooses to disregard what morality demands evil. But if we call evil an action where the body with its desires just overwhelms the individual’s freedom and reason, it becomes difficult to hold the supposedly evil person responsible. That we do hold someone responsible presupposes that we think that he chose to act on his private desires, that he freely chose the evil life. This understanding of evil and sin that is entered into by human beings by virtue of appetitional consciousness factors into man’s potentialities for community corrupt themselves and are not corrupted by anything outside themselves. The ever-present perverseness in human nature indicates the manner in which man tries to put the blame on some factor outside himself. Evil is blamed upon the force of darkness in the world which holds men’s souls captive. Sin is regarded as a necessary stage of development of the spirit leading to virtue and is made into something external or beyond the limits of the personality as such. The human condition of sin wants to argue that man, being both bound and free, both limited and unlimited, is in a state of anxiety. Although anxiety is not a sin, it is the precondition of a triggered human emotion. The spirit depraves itself by itself. It turns in upon itself to love itself from no external suggestion. Sin is real and it is a human condition, and it is causeless. We must realize this truth – the evil of unsettled spirits, which leads astray the good of nature, arises from itself. We hear and understand why and how Jesus could say the enemy has nothing in him. Nothing in common with him, nothing that belonged to him, no power over him. Sin within pollutes us. The perfect expression of our being responds to the God givenness of the nourishment of His divine grace. By this we may repudiate sin. Sin destroys the community of man and sunders all responsible relations with one’s fellow men. This life force of sin throws one into the abyss of isolation and separation in which man ceases to be man. Sin destroys all that is human; it makes man not into a mere beast, but into something far more sinister – it converts man into a satanic spirit only held in check by the gift of creatureliness which identifies the reality of our station in God’s economy. God is not a creature, God is God, holy, other, Alpha and Omega, eternal with no beginning or end. We are creatures created by God for worship to God and each other. The principles of sin are true. The potentialities of man for the good are rooted in the image of God; the potentialities of man for evil are rooted in the possibility of destruction of that image. What makes sin so devastating is that we are both a corporeal and spiritual being. Bound to the external world, we also transcend it. Besides being a bodily creature, as a spirit we are a person. But with sin in us, we can be evil to a degree far exceeding the purely nature of our being. We are today observing persons becoming sin par excellence; conceited, prideful, boastful, malicious, deceitful, self-esteeming, self- worship. One who ramps and raves. Who seeks openly to command others so as to show his power. These are destroyers of the community of men. Negation of love and annihilation of grace claiming henceforth is justified by the deepest of all sins…the lie. Sin is self-corruption. It is the denial of God. Sin has the characteristic of rebellion. Nevertheless, the usual definition of sin as rebellion tends to lose the subtlety of sin. All sin is not rebellion. Sin can be measured as any indifference to God and to others. Sin can have a silent and quiet path or an open or violent one. Sin, in every situation will lead to aloneness – that of a spiritual death and death is the loneliest experience of humanity. Sin leads to judgment that voids the life from God. Emptiness, absence, separation from God. Iniquities separate us from our God; our sins hide his face from us. Sin creates a barrier not only between humans and God, but also between people themselves. When people sin, it can lead to a lack of trust in others, creating barriers in relationships. Sinful actions often stem from a self-centered perspective, making it difficult to truly connect with others. When individuals act out of sin, it can lead to arguments, disagreements, and division within communities. Sin can cloud our ability to fully understand and relate to the struggles of others. A distraction, a delusion, a pretense…sin diverts the soul from God. Sin is the nothing of nothing. It is the fear of fear. Sin is a living death. The aloneness spoken of is spiritual aloneness. Sin seeks self. Christ, on the cross, shattered this closedness. He was forsaken on the cross as sin. His death to sin opens life to all who are of the faith of Jesus. By him we live. In man, sin has brought forth a primary difficulty…the relation of man to God is barred by ignorance. How ignorant is man before the silence of God? When man chooses sin, he is not only alone, but he also lives in the unknown. When man chooses to sin the secrets of God remain hidden. Sin will cause man to imagine God as angry. He thinks his misfortunes are the results of God’s active punishments. Wrath is the consequence and effect of human sin. It is the punishment of sin upon itself. This is not falling into the hand of God to be punished; it is rather falling out of His hand while sin works toward its own desolation. Sin punishes itself and brings about its own retribution. Sin will reap its own harvest. The same bargain process will be carried over into religion. Men try to placate the God of wrath which they have constructed in their darkened minds. They try to bind Him and bargain with Him. In their “merit” scheme of salvation they manifest a total lack of faith. Theirs is a false assertion of virtue. This is man’s attempt to flaunt some merit before the decisions of the divine election. They do not trust the Elector! People of faith, without exception, accepts the absolute preveniency of God’s election. We can accept it without fear because we have heard His word. We know that His election will be just. His love has driven out fear. Work reward as a merit is just another barrier man constructs between himself and God and other men. Man, even looks to the cross in a new law to be obeyed. Man falls into these errors because sin alienates him from God rendering man alone. Self- confidence is the bottom of a sinful attitude. If man could bring himself to salvation what need of Jesus? Sin will prove to be a false fabrication of a trumped-up lie dissolved by the Word of God. Sin destroys spiritual freedom. It bounds man in hopelessness. Sin is an intense experiment that defies reason. It is that event of lying in exposure before the Word of God. Revelation is the word of God speaking to us. It is God’s presence bursting into the aloneness of sin. It is God revealing His love toward those who expose their sin. God acts justly, man is torn open in his betrayal. God wants to save. The openness of God and the closedness of man are set side by side in hope that the contrast will dissolve the pride opted in sin. The spirit of man perceives with penetrating clarity its own sinfulness and likewise perceives the everlasting goodness of God. God’s love is put in contrast with the depravity of the self. God lets our own sin judge us. It is in the presence of our own sin in contrast to the mercy of God which condemns. God, by showing Himself to us in His perfect goodness, forces our own sin to judge us within ourselves. It is the presentation of love and mercy that constitutes this most stinging of all judgments. Thus, it is that judgment and mercy are closely interwoven. It is mercy and not wrath which is the most powerful condemnation of all. Therefore, God obliges us to judge ourselves by His own judgment of love and mercy. The givenness of God’s love judges, redeems, and binds together. Before His givenness, there is not one who can be too thankful. Before God judges, He calls. God’s call is not a call to praise…it is the call to repentance. There is in this revelation the achievement, the full meaning, and the contrast of both sin and faith. Christ is the revelation of the word, and the cross is the symbol of the word. We must reveal the answer to the word, the acceptance of the word, and the life in the word. We must be so against sin as to dissolve it by restoring faith. We are to accomplish and fulfill the intention of God’s word showing what has gone before and what is to follow. The Word of God resting on the border consciousness of our thoughts, giving us bounteous faith, mercy and grace, elected us from whom no secrets are hid. Sin cannot help but be destroyed before the grace of the Word. It has no hiding place. God’s givenness is manifested in His chosen election. This is the character of the womb of the everlasting gospel. 📖 Applying the Study For ongoing spiritual encouragement and prophetical insights, visit Higher Learning.

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