Circumstances
and Consequences
Seminar 216-04
June 3-6, 2009
Seminar Topic:
The Two Witnesses
– Part IV
Larry Wilson
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We’re very near
the end.
1 Thessalonians 5:1
Now, brothers, about the times and
dates we do not need to write to you,
1 Thessalonians 5:2
for you know very well that the day
of the Lord will come like a thief in
the night.
1 Thessalonians 5:3
While people are saying, “Peace
and safety,” destruction will
come on them suddenly, as labor pains
on a pregnant woman, and they will
not escape.
1 Thessalonians 5:4
But you, brothers, are not in
darkness so that this day should
surprise you like a thief.
1 Thessalonians 5:5
You are all sons of the light and
sons of the day. We do not belong to
the night or to the darkness.
1 Thessalonians 5:6
So then, let us not be like others,
who are asleep, but let us be alert
and self-controlled.
1 Thessalonians 5:7
For those who sleep [spiritually
dead], sleep [live for the] at night,
and those who get drunk [intoxicated
with the cares of life], get drunk at
night.
1 Thessalonians 5:8
But since we belong to the day, let
us be self-controlled, putting on
faith and love as a breastplate, and
the hope of salvation as a
helmet.”
V2:
“… the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night.
V3 While
people are saying, ‘Peace and
safety,’ destruction will come
on them suddenly, as labor pains on a
pregnant woman, and they will not
escape.”
I believe a horrible
war will soon appear. This war will
involve a nuclear exchange. Millions
of people will be killed in this war
and the world will enter into a
crisis that has no equal in times
past.
During this war,
people will cry out for “peace
and safety.” But, men will not
be able to stop the carnage. In fact,
the war will only escalate in
ferocity until Jesus steps in with a
divine show of power that will engulf
the whole world.
Before we examine this
war and the seven trumpets in detail,
please consider the following:
1. The
seven trumpets of Revelation are the
seven horrible judgments that will
befall Earth during the Great
Tribulation.
These judgments will
ruin this planet to the point that
Earth will not be able to physically
recover.
These judgments are
described as “seven
trumpets” in the book of
Revelation because a trumpet will
sound in Heaven’s temple each
time a judgment occurs.
The first four
trumpets will occur in rapid
succession. These four judgments will
be so potent that they will sever the
past from the future. Life for
everyone on Earth will dramatically
change once they begin.
The first four
trumpets will be catastrophic.
Thousands of cites will be destroyed
by fire and water. Twenty-five
percent of the world’s
population will die during the first
few weeks, and global infrastructures
such as communication, travel,
banking, manufacturing and shipping
will all but disappear.
Gods’ judgments
will impose great tribulation on
everyone. The first four trumpets
will cause the whole world to relate
to God in a way that is presently
unimaginable.
2. The
“Full Cup Principle” is a
prerequisite for understanding the
seven trumpets. The full cup
principle is a policy that God
consistently uses to manage groups of
people.
A group of people can
be cities like Sodom and Gomorrah, a
nation like Israel, a world empire
like Medo-Persia, or even the whole
world as in Noah’s day.
This principle is
fairly easy to understand. When the
majority of a group become s so
degenerate and defiant that extended
mercy has no redeeming effect,
God’s love for innocent victims
of sin and future generations cause
Him to respond to the current
generation by sending warnings and
redemptive judgments, so that if
possible, His wayward subjects will
change course.
If His warnings are
ignored and His redemptive judgments
do not produce repentance and
reformation, God destroys that group
by sending totally destructive
judgments.
This principle
explains the appearance and
disappearance of civilizations.
The full cup principle
is found throughout the Bible. For
example, God destroyed the world with
a flood in Noah’s day, God
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in
Abraham’s day, God collapsed the
walls of Jericho for Joshua, God
destroyed two-thirds of Israel and
the remainder was sent into Babylon
captivity (605-536 B.C.), and finally
God sent the Romans against Jerusalem
in A.D. 70.
The point here is that
God will soon apply the full cup
principle to the whole world as He
did in Noah’s day.
The seven trumpets
will serve as seven redemptive
judgments (seven first plagues) and
seven bowls (seven last plagues) will
be totally destructive.
3. God
thoughtfully designed the seven
trumpets to accomplish many
objectives.
On objective is
confrontation. God wants to confront
the false religions of the world with
“gospel truth.”
The destruction caused
by the first four trumpets will set
the stage for this confrontation.
When billions of
people behold the sudden destruction
of notably wicked places all over the
Earth and the obliteration of 25
percent of the world’s
population, most everyone will be
found in a state of genuine anguish,
fearing the wrath of Almighty God.
The scope of
destruction caused by the first four
trumpets and the chaos that follows
will be so great within every nation
that each government will question
whether it will be able to continue
functioning as a government.
After the first four
trumpets occur, the nations of Earth
will realize that mankind is dealing
with one angry God.
The political leaders
of Earth will humbly unite with the
religious leaders of Earth in an
all-out effort to appease God so that
His wrath will immediately cease.
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