Revelation 15:7 – Revelation 16:21

The Seven Last Plagues
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God is changeless. His policies are changeless.

 

One more point.

 

Remember the fiery hail that fell upon the sexually immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Do you know why that event was recorded in the Bible?

 

2 Peter 2:6   “….He [God] condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them [an example] of what is going to happen to the ungodly.”

 

Now you know why the first trumpet is fiery hail that burns up a third of the Earth. God is about to do the same thing to notoriously wicked places all over the world that He did to Sodom and Gomorrah long ago.

 

God’s policies never change.

 

Look at the big picture: Israel, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and hundreds of lesser empires have risen and fallen through history because God destroyed them!  

 

Yes, historians can tell us how they fell, but the Bible tells why they fell. Fallen nations have a common characteristic. When they fill up their cups of sin, God raised up a destroyerto take them down. Look at this prophecy concerning King Nebuchadnezzar.   Israel was about to be destroyed and God told Israel through Jeremiah:

 

Jeremiah 4:7   A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nationshas set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitants.”

 

Now you know why the devil and his demons will be released from the spirit realm…

 

Revelation 9:11   “They [the horde of demons] had a king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.”

 

A destroyer will be released at the appointed time. Lucifer will force everyone into making a difficult choice and those who side with him will receive the seven last plagues.

 

As I said, the seven last plagues are consistent with God’s changeless character. The seven last plagues are not a sudden nor last minute deviation from God’s character of love. The seven last plagues are fully consistent with the policies of His eternal and changeless government.

 

The seven last plagues are theologically helpful to us right now in the sense that we can clearly understand their role, their purpose, their justification and most of all, their function within God’s government beforethey come to pass. And once they are properly understood, God’s actions throughout the Old Testament will not seem strange.

 

Profound statement: The God of the Old Testament is the God of the New. Same God!

 

Here are two points for your consideration:

 

1.   The prophet John says that God is love. (1 John 4:8) And, the prophet John also tells us that God Himself pours out the seven last plagues on the wicked during the final days of the Great Tribulation. Question. How does one reconcile “A God of love” with seven torturous plagues? What is legal justification for this?

 

2.   The seven last plagues are seven “designer plagues.” They are designed for specific groups of people that will live at the end of the world.  Question. Who will make up these groups of people?

 

I’ll try to answer both questions shortly….

 

As I calculate it, the seven last plagues will span 70 days (7 x 10). Each plague will last 10 days and large amounts of wicked people will die as the plagues proceed. Those surviving until the 1,335^th day will also be killed.   

 

Think about this: Once the Great Tribulation begins, all of the wicked will be dead meat within 1,335 days. You may think I am being flippant when I say “dead meat.” No, the Bible says,

 

Revelation 19:21   “the rest of them [e.g., the wicked who were not thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur] were killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh[dead meat].”

 

Ok, let’s go back to the question of legal justification. God has a diverse universe. God has created different forms of life. In Heaven, for example, there are at least, two different types of angels. There are cherubim (Exodus 25:20) and seraphim (Isaiah 6:2). On Earth, there are three forms of life: plant life, animal life and human life.

 

Every form of life is subject to laws of conduct. Angels, plants, animals and human beings have marvelous bodies that behave in orderly ways. The science of biology is only possible because life itself conforms to law and order. For example, when you step on a bug, the bug dies because the order necessary for life within the bug is destroyed.

 

Billions of dollars are spent each year by medical researchers to search out and understand the various laws that govern human life. Even in society, the phrase “law and order” puts both elements in their proper order. If there are no laws, there is no order – only chaos.

 

God is the great King of the Universe and He rules with sovereign authority. No one else is capable or worthy of taking His place on the throne. God’s wisdom is beyond comprehension. He is trustworthy, fair and firm and most of all, God lives within the parameters of His own laws. He is not above His own laws!

 

Even though God has incredible powers such as omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence, these powers are not usedby an egoistical God to keep anyone else from being King of the Universe. (This magnificent point is proven by the fact that when the time came for the Father to hand over the book sealed with seven seals, everyone in Heaven and on or under the Earth was considered to be a eligible candidate. Revelation 5:3)

 

The point here is that God uses His infinite powers for one purpose: He insures that the universal rule of love will never end.God is selfless. Everything He does, He does for the benefit of His creatures.

 

Unlike Lucifer, God does not lord His authority over His subjects. God does not put His interests above the interests of His children because unlike Lucifer, God is love. And even thought He has created different types of children, (such as angels and human beings) God’s “laws of love” are universal, changeless and applicable to all beings.

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