THE HUMAN RESPONSE
Study 4
If my conclusions
about the first four trumpets are
accurate, the book of Revelation will
make a lot of sense just as it reads.
God’s judgments initiate the
Great Tribulation and they serve as a
catalyst to achieve and show of force
will either harden people’s
hearts or open their minds.
Revelation’s story describes how
the two phases of God’s wrath
(redemptive and destructive) will be
implemented, and fortunately, it
includes the human response.
Revelation predicts the behavior of
religious and political leaders who
will occupy positions of power when
the Great Tribulation begins. The
Bible does not tell us who the
leaders will be, but God knows them
by name. Two thousand years ago, when
John received the visions of
Revelation, God foreknew who the
political and religious leaders would
be. He also foreknew their reactions
to His actions and He included their
response in the book of Revelation
for our benefit. God wants His
children to know what they are about
to face. Jesus told His disciples, “…The
knowledge of the secrets of the
kingdom of heaven has been given to
you, but not to them.”
(Matthew 13:11)
So far, we have
studied the full cup principle and
the first four trumpet judgments. We
have learned that when God’s
patience with the people of Earth
reaches its limit, He sends warnings.
Bible history indicates God’s
most effective warnings are those
that include both destruction and a
message. If there is just a message
(as in Noah’s day), few believe.
If there is destruction but no
message, few understand. Therefore,
the Great Tribulation includes both.
Global Ruin
God uses the trumpet
judgments to warn the world that He
is terminating this age of sin.
God’s spokespersons, the
144,000, will tell a surprised world
that He is about to establish His
kingdom of righteousness. They will
call on everyone to worship God and
to reject the claims of Babylon. Of
course, all who refuse to obey the
law of Babylon will suffer the
consequences. At this point, we have
only scratched the surface of all
that Revelation has to say. In order
to further develop the prophetic
story, consider the following
scenario. It describes man’s
desperate situation shortly after the
Great Tribulation begins:
The great earthquake
that marked the beginning of the
Great Tribulation will have ripped up
thousands of miles of highways,
collapsed overpasses and bridges, and
stopped most transportation. The
fiery meteor showers that follow will
set wildfires that rage out of
control for several months. Men will
not be able to contain or stop the
fires because transportation is
completely disrupted. Because
one-third of Earth’s oxygen
producing trees are burned up in the
first judgment, respiratory ailments
will become a problem for almost
everyone. When the damage caused by
the raging fires is compounded by two
mega-asteroid impacts, any optimist
would seriously doubt the possibility
of survival on Earth. Scientists have
rightly called these large asteroid
impacts “civilization
threatening impacts.” With mega
tons of ash from the fires and debris
from the asteroid impacts circulating
in the astrosphere, the added
darkness caused by numerous volcano
eruptions will make life on earth a
short term situation at best.
Furthermore, thousands, perhaps
millions of people will die from
drinking contaminated water. This
means typhus and other plagues will
be rampant. God carefully designed
the first four judgments of the Great
Tribulation to show the survivors
that planet Earth is doomed. Even
more, He wants the world to
understand the curse of sin. God
hopes that when people finally
realize that their planet is fatally
wounded, they will thoughtfully
consider their desperate need of a
Savior.
Famine
Even if food crops
survive the wildfires, asteroid
impacts, and volcano eruptions, few
crops will reach maturity after the
fourth judgment occurs because
sunshine will not be able to
penetrate the enormous clouds of ash
and soot. Crops will wither and die,
especially crops like corn that
requires 100+ days of sunlight
between the last frost and the time
of maturity. Within a few months,
food will be as scarce as gold. (At
the beginning of 2002, experts
calculate the world’s stockpile
of food can last about 45 days.) In
addition to the famine in the part of
the world specifically affected,
there will be no rain in many parts
of the world as well! (Revelation
11:6) To make matters worse,
scientists claim the rain occurring
after a major asteroid impact will
become so acidic that it will be
lethal to plant and animal life.
Obviously, a person does not have to
be a rocket scientist to understand
that Earth will be damaged beyond
recovery. God wants it this way. God
is deliberate and purposeful in
everything He does and He inflicts a
mortal blow to Earth because He wants
to send a strong message to the
survivors.
From man’s point
of view, desperate circumstances call
for desperate efforts.To stabilize
their situation, governments will
respond. First, they will put
emergency constitutions in place.
They will declare martial law to
prevent anarchy and a complete
breakdown of orderly conduct.
Stringent laws and curfews will be
implanted and people will have no
choice but to comply. Many individual
freedoms and rights will be
suspended. The price of sin is always
great – even on the innocent.
To prevent looting and
gouging, the nations of the world
will implement rationing. People,
full of fear, will do anything to
obtain food, water and medicine.
Governments will control the buying
and selling of all commodities. This
will be necessary because every
survivor needs a basic number of
items to sustain life itself. Who can
argue with these drastic methods if
it means survival? As days turn into
weeks and weeks into months, millions
of people will give in to desperation
and despair. Hope for recovery will
dim. All parts of the world will have
smoldering destruction and suffering
beyond description. The nations of
the Earth will be in a state of
shock. People who are alive will envy
the dead. Jesus saw the travail of
the human race during the Great
Tribulation. He said, “For
then there will be great distress,
unequaled from the beginning of the
world until now – and never to
be equaled again. If those days had
not been cut short, no one would
survive, but for the sake of the
elect those days will
shortened.” (Matthew
24:21,22)
Most Important
Questions
This is terrible to
say, but it is true. When humanity is
forced to feel God’s wrath, it
begins to consider the presence and
reality of God. When times are good,
God is forgotten. God’s love and
patience with sinners (God’s
silence) is misinterpreted. However,
when God initiates global suffering,
suddenly many questions will arise.
“Why did God do this? What does
He want?” Overnight, a great
awakening will occur. At the present
time, Christians talk about
God’s love, the idea of a
pretribulation rapture, and
God’s wonderful salvation and
forgiveness, but they do not often
talk about the things that make Him
angry. Some Christians even deny that
God has wrath! Consequently, His
judgments will confound many
Christians. They will be unable to
reconcile these “Acts of
God” with their assumed
knowledge of God. Their
“faith” will disappear when
they actually experience God’s
wrath and terror will overwhelm them.
It is not difficult
for God to frighten people. He only
needs to tamper with those things
that make us feel secure. With many
millions of people dead and the scale
of destruction beyond measurement,
survivors will be forced to
acknowledge they do not understand
God or have a relationship with the
Almighty. Did you notice a knee jerk
phenomenon after the terrorist attack
on the United States on September 11,
2001? Church attendance popped up
300% for about six weeks! Like Israel
of old, nations will tremble with
fear before Almighty God during the
time of His visitation. (Exodus 20:
18-21) The solution to pleasing or
appeasing God – so that His
destruction of Earth will stop –
will appear simple on the surface.
Religious leaders will demand,
“We must submit and honor the
God of Heaven so that His righteous
wrath will cease?
Religious Revolution
If the physical
destruction on Earth and the loss of
life caused by the first four
trumpets is overwhelming, the
religious revolution that follows
will see just as overwhelming.
Leaders from all religious systems
will unite and with one voice, they
will offer a straightforward
explanation of God’s judgments.
They will adjust their prophetic
interpretations to fit an unfolding
situation. They will say, “These
‘Acts of God’ have come
because we have forgotten our
Creator.” In a sense, this is
true! All around the world, religious
leaders of all faiths will agree with
one another saying, “We must
repent of our great sins and appease
God or we will be totally
destroyed.” For authority,
Catholic and Protestant leaders will
turn to the Bible, Moslems will
appeal to the Koran, Jews will appeal
to the Talmud, and Hindus and
Buddhists will use their holy
writings. The point is that every
nation will discover its guilt before
God and the accuser will be each
nation’s religion!
As people begin to
link the devastations caused by the
four trumpets to the idea that God is
displeased with the entire human
race, one question will form on
everyone’s mind: “What must
we do to appease God before He kills
the rest of us.” Even though
different solutions will be offered
in different nations, a common theme
will develop around the world. In
fact, Revelation predicts there will
be a sudden, but powerful movement to
appease God. This movement will have
great authority and power. Like
religious powers of ages past, it
will persecute everyone who refuses
to cooperate with it. This movement
is called “Babylon” in
Revelation because it will be full of
confusion. This may read like a fairy
tale, but when you think about it,
all prophecy seems strange until the
time for fulfillment arrives.
Currently in the United States, less
than 33% of the population attends
church regularly. I believe this
percentage will more than double when
God’s wrath is revealed!
Religion will become “the “
priority and religious leaders with
evangelical fervor will lead the
nations of the world into a religious
revolution.
Number One Question
The coalition of the
world’s religious leaders will
discover a big problem. There are
several different religious systems
on Earth and each religious group
worships God in a different way. Is
there one right way to worship God?
Moslems believe that God is pleased
when people obey the teachings of
Mohammed and regard Friday as a holy
day. Catholics, Anglicans, most
Protestants, Greek and Russian
Orthodox Christians believe that God
is pleased when people obey their
religious leaders and the laws of
their churches, which includes
observing Sunday as a holy day.
Hindus, Buddhists and other religious
groups have different ideas about
what pleases God. Does God really
care about the way we worship Him?
This question regarding worship will
be the subject of much debate. In
today’s context, the question
has no solid footing. At best, it
remains one man’s opinion
against another. However, when 1.5
billion people lie dead among the
smoldering ruins that burn the
nostrils and eyes of the survivors,
how God wants to be worshiped will
become the question to answer.
“Sin Less”
Laws
In an earlier study,
we discussed the community effect. We
know that desperate circumstances can
unite a diverse group of people when
they share in common suffering.
During the Great Tribulation, most
people will regard God as a Holy
Terror. Religious leaders will easily
motivate their frightened government
leaders to quickly enact laws that
require all citizens to honor and
worship God. At first the laws will
be oriented as “sin less”
laws, but eventually, more laws will
be implanted in every nation
demanding that everyone respect God
or suffer penalty. However, there
will be no consistency in the
legislation of these “sin
less” laws; instead, there will
be great confusion. Catholics and
Protestants will seek laws that agree
with their theology, Jews will make
laws agreeing with their doctrines,
Moslems will want laws respecting
their beliefs in Allah, and other
groups will do the same. How can
diverse religions on one planet
appease one God? Is He a God of many
religions?
One World – One
God – Many Religions
One organization on
Earth stands far above all others in
terms of diplomatic ties with
religious and political leaders all
over the world. It is the papacy. The
Roman Catholic Church has steadily
secured diplomatic connections with
almost every segment of earth’s
population since John Paul II became
Pope in 1978. When he dies, his
legacy to the Church of Rome will be
his worldwide pursuit of formal
relationships with many countries,
which now numbers over 170 nations!
When the seven
trumpets begin, the pope in office
will move quickly to convene a
“World Council” of
religious and political leaders. This
council will form a powerful
coalition that is called
“Babylon” in Revelation.
(Revelation 13, 17, 18) Perhaps the
United Nations will be used to
expedite this organization. However,
the “glue” that will bond
the leaders of the world together
will not be politics. Instead, it
will be immediate concerns about
God’s anger and His overwhelming
destruction. Overnight, a new reality
will settle in on humanity. The old
paradigms are out, and new ones will
form. In an effort to appease God on
a global scale, religious leaders
will quickly compromise on
“minor” religious
differences. The leaders will
struggle to find a global solution to
appease God, but will be unable to
find one. The central question
remains: “How does God want the
inhabitants of Earth to worship
Him?” Moslems, Jews, Catholics,
Hindus, Protestants and other
religious organizations will have
fundamentally different answers to
this question and it will be
impossible for one person to prove
the superiority of his religion over
another. Thus, a reign of confusion
will begin. Eventually, the devil
himself will appear on Earth during
the fifth trumpet. Masquerading as
God, he will solve the solution on
Earth’s diversity by declaring
the world’s entire religions
void. In their place, the devil will
offer his new “one world”
religion and the world’s
religious leaders will zealously
participate! After all, they will
“think” this glorious being
is none other than God Himself!
What Does God Actually
Want?
God wants the human
race to worship Him – our
worship is the only thing in the
whole universe that God does not own!
God does not need our adulation.
Instead, He has given human beings
the power of choice and He wants us
to choose to worship Him. God wants
us to love, adore and worship Him
because whatever we worship we
imitate! “By beholding we become
changed.” God wants people in
His coming kingdom that upholds and
exalts the same laws that He upholds
and exalts! Therefore, God will send
His servants, the 144,000, throughout
the Earth to present His message and
purposes. They will present the terms
and conditions for salvation. God
does not send the first seven
judgments upon Earth without a
clearly expressed message, for if He
did, there would be no meaning or
purpose for all the suffering.
Remember, the seven trumpets are
redemptive in nature. During the
1,260 days of the seven trumpets, God
will send three messages throughout
the Earth. The 144,000 will present
God’s first message saying: “Fear
God and give him glory, because the
hour of his judgment has come.
Worship him who made the heavens, the
Earth, the sea and the springs of
water.” (Revelation 14:7)
Notice the first sentence. “Fear
God” will be easy after
experiencing some of His power.
Notice the second sentence.
“Worship Him” will be
difficult because worshiping God will
be contrary to the laws of Babylon.
Also, notice how the last sentence
itemizes the four elements that God
has afflicted with the first four
trumpets! Religious people worldwide
will quickly agree why the judgments
of God are falling. However, the
command to worship God will be the
frustrating part. The 144,000 will
tell the world how God wants to be
worshiped, but the leaders of Babylon
will also be telling the world how to
worship God and the two
“how’s” will be in
direct conflict! When all the varying
views from the religions on earth are
merged in a context where worship is
required, it is easy to see how the
world will become a very confusing
place during the Great Tribulation.
Think about this for a
moment. Sincere people all over the
world worship God according to the
dictates of their conscience and
worship in a way that they believe is
true worship. The Bible indicates
that God accepts such worship.
According to Romans 2, Romans 14,
John 4 and Acts 10:35, God accepts
the worship of all sincere people on
Earth if they worship Him in spirit
and truth. If people worship God with
a humble and obedient spirit,
according to all the truth they know,
the God, who is always generous and
merciful, accepts their worship as
genuine. However, during the Great
Tribulation, God is going to send
illuminating truth through His
144,000 messengers, telling the world
how He wants to be worshiped. People
who honestly worship God in Spirit
and truth will conform. Everyone else
will rebel. As the honest and heart
begin to worship God according to His
law, their actions will violate
Babylon’s law. Worshipers will
have to disobey the laws of Babylon
in order to worship God, as He
requires. The penalty for worshiping
God as the 144,000 direct will be
great. The penalty for obeying the
laws of Babylon will be even greater!
This obvious dilemma is how God
establishes the great test of faith
that will separate the sheep from the
goats. (A wonderful parallel is found
in Daniel 3.) Let there be no mistake
about it, the Great Tribulation will
be a time of wrath for all people,
languages and nations.
The Gospel Truth
Remember, God will use
the destructive forces of the first
four trumpets to literally arrest the
attention of all survivors, hoping
they will consider His gospel and
learn what He wants. In other words,
the world must hear the unvarnished
truth about God and His authority
over man. God creates this setting to
tell the world How He is to be
worshiped. Notice the order of
events: God destroys a third of Earth
so that the subject of worship
becomes a consuming issue. Then, God
speaks through His servants, the
144,000. They will explain what God
wants. Everyone will hear the truth
on this matter. This is why Jesus
said the gospel must go to every
nation and every person – as a
testimony to all nations –
before the end comes. (Matthew 24:14)
The testimony of the 144,000 will
stand in direct opposition to what
the religious leaders of Babylon want
to do. The book of Revelation
predicts that Babylon will enact laws
regarding worship that are contrary
to God’s will, and regrettably,
most of the world will submit to the
laws of man rather than obey the law
of God. John wrote, “All the
inhabitants of the Earth will worship
the beast [Babylon] all whose
names have not been written in the
book of life belonging to the Lamb
that was slain from the creation of
the world.” (Revelation
13:8, insertion mine)
