Circumstances
and Consequences
Seminar 216-04
June 3-6, 2009
Seminar Topic:
The Two Witnesses
– Part IV
Larry Wilson
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It wasn’t for
them to know, but it is our privilege
to know!
Daniel 12:4
“But thou, O Daniel, shut up the
words, and seal the book, even to the
timer of the end. Many shall run to
and fro, and knowledge shall be
increased.”
Daniel 8:19
He said: “I am going to tell you
what will happen later in the time of
wrath, because the vision concerns
the appointed time of the end.
The end date has been
set. The hour has been appointed. God
has set, by sovereign authority the
end of the world. We cannot speed it
up or slow it down. The end is
approaching with each approaching
hour.
Revelation 9:15
“And the four angels who had
been kept ready for this very hour
and day and month and year were
released to kill a third of mankind.
The clock is ticking.
There is no stopping the oncoming
future because God has a plan and His
plan is “right on time.”
Noah’s flood came
on time:
Genesis 6:3
Then the Lord said, “My Spirit
will not contend with man forever,
for he is mortal; his [remaining]
days will be a hundred and twenty
years.”
The birth of Jesus
came on time:
Galatians 4:4
“But when the time had fully
come, God sent his Son, born of a
woman, born under the law,
Galatians 4:5
to redeem those under the law, that
we might receive the full rights of
sons.”
Just as He promised
Abraham, God delivered Israel from
Egypt right on time:
Exodus 12:41
At the end of the 430 years, to the
very day, all the Lord’s
divisions left Egypt.
Jesus sent Israel into
Babylonian captivity right on time
and He set them free right on
time….
So, what time is it?
Matthew 24:37
As it was in the days of Noah, so it
will be at the coming of the Son of
Man.
Matthew 24:38
Foe in the days before the flood,
people were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, up
to the day Noah entered the ark;
Matthew 24:39
and they knew nothing about what
would happen until the flood came and
took them all away. That is how it
will be at the coming of the Son of
Man.”
Matthew 24:36
“No one knows about that day or
hour, not even the angels, nor the
Son, but only the Father.
OK:
1. God
set the date.
2. The
Full Cup Principle explains
God’s actions.
Now consider this:
Innocent people sometimes perish
along with degenerate people because
God’s wrath against a group of
wicked people is not necessarily
discriminating.
For example, many
children were drowned in Noah’s
flood.
Many good people were
killed during King
Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of
Jerusalem.
The point here is that
when God’s wrath breaks out
against a majority that has gone
beyond redemption, it is like the
indiscriminate destruction caused by
an atomic bomb. The loss of innocent
life does not prohibit God from doing
what needs to be done because (a)
Gods knows that everyone on Earth
dies sooner or later anyway and (b)
He has the power to resurrect every
dead person.
Moreover, Jesus will
judge each person individually. Jesus
will decide each person’s
eternal case accordingly.
So, whether a child
died in Noah’s flood or a child
dies of illness, a crime, a tragic
accident, or during some expression
of God’s wrath, the cause of
death has nothing to do with
one’s eternal destiny.
The point here is that
a God of love is fully justified when
He extends mercy because He knows
that some people will benefit from
His mercy.
God is also justified
when He executes justice because
redeeming the situation is hopeless.
Revelation 8:2
And I saw the seven angels who stand
before God, and to them were given
seven trumpets.
Revelation 8:3
Another angel, who had a golden
censer, came and stood at the altar.
He was given much incense to offer,
with the prayers of the saints, on
the golden altar before the throne.
Revelation 8:4 The
smoke of the incense, together with
the prayers of the saints, went up
before God from the angel’s
hand.
[Then, Jesus favorably
responds to the prayers of the
saints…]
Revelation 8:5
Then the angel took the censer,
filled it with fire from the altar,
hurled it to the earth; and there
came peals of thunder, rumblings,
flashes of lightening and an
earthquake.
Revelation 8:6
Then to the seven angels who had the
seven trumpets prepared to sound
them.
Revelation 8:7
The first angel sounded his trumpet,
and there came hail and fire mixed
with blood, and it was hurled down
upon the earth. A third of the earth
was burned up, a third of the trees
were burned up, and all the green
grass was burned up.”
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