THE LAST SEVEN
PLAGUES
Lesson 22
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Review
The close of mercy
will be like the closing of
Noah’s door. When the
door of the ark was closed, those
inside couldn’t go outside
and those outside, couldn’t
get inside. Every decision
was forever sealed with the
closing of the door. Jesus
says of Himself, “These are
the words of him who is holy and
true, who holds the keys of
David. What he opens, no
one can shut; and what he shuts;
no one can open.” Revelation
3:7 As it was in the Noah’s
day – “so shall it
be.”
All inhabitants of
the earth will receive the mark
except those keeping the
commandments of God and having
the faith of Jesus. The
mark will be necessary for
survival. No one will be
able to buy or sell except those
having the mark. The
remnant will be cut off from any
and all earthy support. They
can only live if they live by
faith. What a time to be
upon the earth!
The emotional
distress during the time of wrath
will be overwhelming for those
who have not made it a practice
to place their faith in Jesus.
The coming tribulation will be
greater than anything ever known
upon the earth, but Jesus has
promised to provide the necessary
grace we need to endure this
awful time. No wonder
Zephaniah said, “Listen!
The cry on the day of the Lord
will be bitter, the shouting of
the warrior there. That day
will be a day of wrath, a day of
distress and anguish, a day of
trouble and ruin, a day of
darkness and gloom, a day of
clouds and blackness, a day of
trumpets and the battle cry
against the fortified cities.
Neither their silver nor their
gold will be able to save them on
the day of the Lord’s wrath.
In the fire of his jealously the
whole world will be consumed, for
he will make a sudden end of all
who live in the earth.”
Zephaniah 1:14-18
Luke adds to
Zephaniah’s description of
the last day’s saying,
“There will be signs in the
sun, moon and stars. On the
earth, nations will be in anguish
and perplexity at the roaring and
tossing of the sea. Men
will faint from terror,
apprehensive of what is coming on
the world, for the heavenly
bodies will be shaken.”
Luke 21:25,26
Don’t be
overwhelmed! Paul says,
“And God is faithful; he
will not let you be tempted
beyond what you can bear.
But when you are tempted, he will
also provide a way out so that
you can stand up under it.”
I Corinthians 10:13
Joel, speaking of
the great testing time at the end
of the world, said,
“Multitudes, multitudes in
the valley of decision! For
the day of the Lord is near in
the valley of decision. The
sun and moon will be darkened,
and the stars no longer shine.
The Lord will roar from Zion and
thunder from Jerusalem; the earth
and the sky will tremble.
But the Lord will be a refuge for
his people, a stronghold for the
people of Israel.” Joel
3:14-16
Babylon’s
reward
Just as we cannot
understand the depth of
God’s mercy, we cannot
understand the severity of
God’s wrath contained in the
7 last plagues. To
understand why Jesus is so angry
at Babylon and those who receive
the mark of the beast, we turn to
Revelation. Notice:
“He (the
seven-headed, ten horned beast,
Babylon) was given power to make
war against the saints and to
conquer them. And he was
given authority over every tribe,
people, language and nation.
All inhabitants of the earth will
worship the beast – all
whose names have not been written
in the book of life belonging to
the Lamb.” Revelation
13:7,8
“He (Satan,
the lamb-like beast) ordered them
(the people of earth) to set up
an image in the honor of the
beast who was wounded by the
sword and yet lived. He
was given power to give breath to
the image of the first beast, so
that it could speak and cause all
who refused to worship the image
to be killed.”
Revelation 13:14,15
“I saw that
the woman was drunk with the
blood of the saints, the blood of
those who bore testimony to
Jesus.” Revelation
17:6
“They (the
leaders of Babylon) will make war
against the Lamb, but the Lamb
will overcome them because He is
the Lord of Lords and King of
Kings and with him will be his
called, chosen and faithful
followers.”
Revelation 17:14
“In her (the
harlot, the one-world congress)
was found the blood of prophets
and of the saints, and of all who
have been killed on the
earth.”Revelation 18:24
These verses
contain a great deal more
information than you would
casually notice. On the
surface, these verses describe a
one-sided conflict between
people. The saints
don’t kill people! However,
the larger issues in these verses
focus on the cumulative effects
of sin and rebellion within the
human race. These verses
describe an open, willful and
explicit rebellion against God,
His gospel and His messengers.
Psychologists and
social scientists have written
extensively on the cumulative
nature of behavior. For
example, the abused child often
becomes a child abuser. The
child of an alcoholic often
adopts the attitudes of his
parents and in adulthood either
becomes drug dependant or
manifests a co-dependant attitude
about life. In simple
terms, the effect of sin upon
succeeding generations is
degenerative.
The second
commandment addresses this very
point! Jesus says,
“You shall not make for
yourself an idol in the form of
anything…for I, the Lord
your God, am a jealous God,
punishing the children for their
sin of the fathers to the third
and fourth generation of those
who hate me, but showing love to
thousands who love me and keep my
commandments.” Exodus
20:4-6
Two important
points must be made from the
commandment:
1.
Jesus is a jealous God. He
is jealous for our happiness and
well-being. He is jealous
for our sakes and not His. Human
jealously means burning with
selfish interest, but in
God’s case, as in any loving
parent’s heart, He is
jealous for the benefit of His
children. Just as a loving
parent deeply wants his or her
child to succeed and be happy,
Jesus wants no less for His
children.
2.
Does Jesus punish the children of
sinful parents because their
parents were evil? A
surface look at the second
commandment would so indicate.
But look again at the
commandment. Jesus does not
unjustly punish the descendants
of sinful parents. Rather,
this commandment affirms that the
Creator grants the power of
choice. Because human
beings have reasoning powers, we
can make choices that lead to
destruction and choices that lead
to life. Jesus allows the
inheritance of sin to continue
within a family or society until
it self-destructs. However,
when the world in a corporate
sense reaches this point, He
steps in.
We see these two
points demonstrated before the
flood. “The lord saw
how great man’s wickedness
on the earth had become, and that
every inclination of the thoughts
of the heart was only evil all
the time. The Lord was
grieved that he had made man on
the earth, and his heart was
filled with pain. So the
Lord said, ‘I will wipe
mankind, whom I have created,
from the face of the earth –
men and animals, and creatures,
for I am grieved that I have made
them.” Genesis 6:5-7
Entertainment
tonight?
Today, we shudder
at the thought of lions eating
Christians in Roman amphitheatres
in the name of entertainment.
We call gladiators fighting to
death before a bloodthirsty crowd
“barbaric.” But
are we any different than the
ancient pagans when it comes to
entertainment each evening?
In the past forty
years, TV has played an enormous
role in destroying our social
values. Generations of
children have grown up watching
violence, murder, theft, rape,
lying, cheating, deception and
illicit sex. Is there any
wonder that beholding these
values has corrupted us? Take
sin out of television programs
and who would watch them?
What would be entertaining?
Ask most young
people why they are attending
school and the usual answer will
tell of materialistic goals
rather than service to others.
This generation is the “me
generation” and it is more
self-centered than the preceding
one. Parents can’t
blame their offspring for having
these values either. The
older generation bears a great
responsibility for the present
condition. Today, most of
America’s children are
reared in human farms we call
“day-care centers”
while both parents work to
possess the materials things of
life. The family unit has
disintegrated because we deem the
things of this life more than our
children! The most
important things in life
aren’t things! Think
about tomorrow. What will
be the cumulative effects of our
sins?
The root problem
is that we have broken all Ten
Commandments especially the first
four commands that tell us how we
should love our Creator. When
we forget God, we forget our
neighbor. We become
self-centered. By
neglecting the first four
commandments, we have made void
the last six commandments. The
royal commandments have been set
aside. We now love
ourselves as we should love our
neighbors!
Jesus, talking
about the last days, said,
“Because of the increase of
wickedness, the love of most will
grow cold.” Matthew
24:12 Paul, talking about the
last days, said, “But mark
this: There will be
terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of
themselves, lovers of money,
boastful, proud, abusive,
disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without love,
unforgiving, slanderous, without
self-control, brutal, not lovers
of good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure
rather than lovers of God –
having a form of godliness but
denying its power. Have
nothing to do with them.”
II Timothy 3:1-5
Consolidation
The
socio-political changes happening
around our world appear positive
at the moment. Reduction in
armament, increased trade among
countries and open dialogue seems
in vogue. But a dangerous
process is taking place. World
control is being consolidated
into the hands of fewer and fewer
people. For example, in
this country, 5% of our
population owns more than the
remaining 95%! The rich are
getting richer and the poor are
getting more numerous. In
just a matter of time, the
wealthy and the politically elite
will form a global economic body
to control the world.
What does this
have to do with Revelation?
Revelation indicates there will
be a global consolidation of
wealth and power. Notice
that when Babylon collapses, it
is the merchants and the kings of
the earth that are crying! “When
the kings of the earth who
committed adultery with her and
shared her luxury see the smoke
of her burning, they will weep
and mourn over her. Terrified
at her torment, they will stand
far off and cry ‘Woe! Woe!,
O great city, O Babylon, city of
power! In one hour your
doom has come!’ The
merchants of the earth will weep
and mourn over her because no
buys their cargoes any
more.” Revelation
18:9-11
When the trumpets
begin, the current leadership of
the world will be able to respond
quickly through the various
communication links established
through trade. The first
four trumpets bring horrific
destruction and each government
will quickly implement
contingency laws to deal with the
state of emergency. In this
setting, freedoms all around the
world will be restricted in the
name of survival.
Since the trumpets
will be duly recognized as acts
of God, religious leaders will
become very powerful because they
will have direct influence upon
lawmakers. Lawmakers will
cooperate with the suggestions of
clerics because they know that in
a state of emergency people are
spiritually inclined. “Appease
God,” the clerics cry.
And lawmakers respond with a
flurry of laws requiring
righteous behavior. As
nations all over the world
attempt to deal with the
multitude of problems associated
with the trumpets, they quickly
turn to legislation for economic
stability. The laws will
appear reasonable to the majority
of people and penalties for civil
disobedience will be severe.
In America
Laws establishing
reverence for Sunday will be
enforced in America. (Most
states already have laws
regarding the sanctity of Sunday
observance on their legislative
books. However, these laws
are not uniformly enforced at
this time.) At first,
Sunday laws will be defended in
the name of economic necessity,
but as time progresses, the cry,
“we have forgotten God”
will be loudly proclaimed as the
reason for the trumpets. The
irony of this matter is that
man’s solution to the
trumpets will be the opposite of
the gospel invitation! At
the very time the gospel is
proclaiming, “Worship the
Creator on His holy day” men
will be making laws respecting a
day of worship contrary to
God’s law! Because the
majority of people in America
think Sunday is the Lord’s
Day, laws will be respecting the
sacredness of Sunday. Thus
reverence for Sunday will appear
to be a reasonable solution to
the problem. It is
interesting to note, that today,
very few people actually feel
Sunday is all that sacred and
thus keep the day holy.
The trumpets will change this
attitude overnight!
The centerpiece of
Revelation’s story for
America is that Sunday is not,
nor has it ever been, the
Lord’s day. There is
no support for the sacredness of
Sunday, Monday, Tuesday or any
other day in the Bible except the
seventh day. Even more,
there is no commandment
explaining how another day is to
be kept if it is indeed a day of
worship.
When the laws are
made respecting Sunday as a day
of worship, a number of
dissidents will arise. Some
will argue the loss of
“constitutional right”
and others will intellectually
argue for “freedom of
worship.” However,
neither of these groups will be
able to hold back the tide of
religious zeal.
Another group will
argue that the trumpets have a
specific purpose. That
purpose is to call attention to
the worship of the Creator of
Earth on His holy Sabbath, the
seventh day of the week. The
resulting controversy that
attends the issue of worship will
totally eclipse all the
controversies in America such as
abortion, human rights and
environmental problems. (These
current controversies are nothing
compared surrounding the gospel!)
As a result of the trumpets,
America will experience economic,
religious and civil anarchy.
Under the guise of patriotism,
America will repudiate its Bill
of Rights!
As the controversy
matures, the issues become
clearly stated. By the time
of the fourth trumpet occurs,
survival will be the
all-consuming issue before every
mind. All over the world,
the story of Revelation will be
told. Americans will hear
why the seven first plagues are
falling and why they should obey
the Law of God. They will
hear the first angel’s
message that says, “Worship
the Creator according to His holy
law.” All will be
invited to receive the
everlasting gospel and live by
faith. The clarity of
Revelation’s story and the
power of the Holy Spirit will
attend these presentations.
The Bible and the Holy Spirit
will witness to every man, woman
and child. The gospel will
reach 300 million Americans in a
very short period of time.
America chooses
the lamb-like beast
In spite of the
unmistakable evidence provided
from scripture and the power
attending the first angel’s
message, America will continue
her downward course. She
will make more laws regarding the
sanctity of Sunday and increase
the penalties for disobedience.
Satan personally arrives upon the
earth during the fifth trumpet
claiming to be God. Most
Americans (and the world) will
ultimately accept this villain of
mankind as the true God. The
great American motto, “In
God we Trust” will be
dedicated to the lamb-like beast.
Satan knows all
about Revelation’s story.
His greatest thrill will be to
deceive people at a time when the
truth was never so clear. His
goal is simple. He wants to
destroy the world before Jesus
returns. Over a hundred
years ago, a great author summed
up the devil’s great plan
saying, “the first day
will be extolled, and the
Protestant world will receive
this spurious Sabbath as genuine.
Through the nonobservance of the
Sabbath that God instituted, I
will bring His law into contempt.
Thus the world will become mine.
I will be the ruler of the earth,
the prince of the world. I
will so control the minds under
my power that God’s Sabbath
shall be a special object of
contempt. A sign? I
will make the observance of the
seventh day a sign of disloyalty
to the authorities of earth.
Human laws will be made so
stringent that men and women will
not dare to observe the seventh
day Sabbath. For fear of
wanting food and clothing, they
will join with the world in
transgressing God’s law.
The earth will be under my
dominion.” Ellen G.
White, Prophets and Kings, page
184.
The wrath of God
– full strength
By the time
probation closes, every person on
earth will have heard the
arguments of the everlasting
gospel and made a decision.
The people of earth will stand in
two camps: those obeying Jesus
and those obeying Satan. Those
obeying Satan have put their
faith in him, and they will join
with Satan in warring upon those
that refuse to go along.
Those receiving the mark of the
beast rejected the clearest
presentations of Bible truth.
These will turn their backs upon
God’s mercy. Even
worse, these people will
passionately work to destroy the
saints and covet the commendation
of the devil!
Even though Satan
and Babylon conquer the world
(Revelation 13:7), John saw the
victory of the saints over Satan
and his followers. “And
I saw what looked like a sea of
glass mixed with fire and,
standing beside the sea, those
who had been victorious over the
beast and the image and over the
number of his name. They held
harps given them by God and sang
the song of Moses the servant of
God and the song of the
Lamb.” Revelation
15:2,3 In losing, they win!
Jesus said, “Whoever finds
his life will lose it, and
whoever loses his life for my
sake will find it.” Matthew
10:39
The seven last
plagues
The seven last
plagues fall upon all who receive
the mark of the beast. The
seven last plagues will be a
horrible reward for the wicked.
They will be rewarded for their
cruelty to God’s people.
The seven last plagues contain
the wrath of God – full
strength. In brief, the
plagues are:
- Terrible
sores all over the body
- The entire
sea turns to blood
- Springs of
water all over the world
turn to blood
- Sun
scorches people with fire
- Satan’s
kingdom plunged into
darkness
- Armageddon
– universal death
decree for the
destruction of the saints
- Second
Coming / Great hail
stones
These plagues do
not affect God’s people.
“A thousand may fall at your
side, ten thousand at your right
hand, but it will not come near
you. You will only observe
with your eyes the punishment of
the wicked.” Psalms 91:7,8
These plagues are beyond the
comprehension of man for the
world has never seen the full
wrath of God – full
strength!
In fact, Daniel
says it will be a time of trouble
as never before! Daniel
12:1
Interesting points
Three points need
to be made:
1.
Many of the seven last plagues
parallel the destruction caused
by the seven trumpets. As
the first trumpets affected
one-third of the earth, the seven
last plagues affect the entire
world!
2.
Notice the parallel. The
fifth trumpet marks the arrival
of Satan and the fifth plague
marks the “unmasking”
of Satan! Satan, prior to
the fifth plague, blames the
trumpets and the first four
last-plagues upon the saints and
their “rebellious”
behavior. When Jesus pours
out the fifth plague, the world
will see that this creature
claiming to be God isn’t God
– for God would not destroy
his own throne! See
Revelation 16:10,11. The
light of truth shines. The
religious and political leaders
of the world recognize they have
been following a demon. This
starts a domino-like collapse of
Babylon. John says,
“The beast (Babylon) and the
ten horns you saw will hate the
prostitute (World Congress).
They will bring her to ruin and
leave her naked; they will eat
her flesh and burn her with
fire.” Revelation
17:16
3.
To maintain control of what is
left, Satan rallies the world one
last time by sending his evil
angels throughout the earth in a
great deceptive ploy to destroy
the saints, who allegedly,
“put the curse upon the
throne.” Satan
entices the kings of the earth to
unite in a universal death
decree. John says of
Satan’s representatives,
“They are spirits of demons
performing miraculous signs, and
they go out to the kings of the
whole world, to gather them for
battle on the great day of God
Almighty. Then they
gathered the kings together to
the place that in Hebrew is
called Armageddon”
Revelation 16:14,16
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