Prelude to the Day of the Lord
(Bible Study)
How
would you react if God suddenly spoke to you and warned you to
take-drastic action to save your life from imminent destruction? Would you listen attentively? Would you heed what He had to say? Or would you just scoff and disregard His warning?
Few realize that God has already spoken to us today: "God, who .
. . spake in time past ... by the prophets, Hath in these last days
spoken unto us by his Son" (Heb. 1:1-2).
The words' of
God for mankind have been faithfully recorded in the Bible. We are told
that all scripture was inspired by God for our instruction and
correction (II Tim..3:16). Therefore, when you read the Bible, God Is
speaking directly to you!
The book of
Revelation is full of warnings of awesome, catastrophic events soon to
occur. In the last Chapter of this most misunderstood book of the
Bible, the Revelator - Jesus Christ concludes: "Behold, I come quickly:
blessed is he that keepeth [acts on] the sayings of the prophecy of
this book" (Rev. 22:7).
Bible prophecies
are not to be taken lightly. They will have tremendous effect on your
future! As the old saying goes "Forewarned is forearmed."
If you will heed the warnings God recorded, He promises a way of escape from the coming time of great tribulation.
The
scriptural warnings of Jesus' "Olivet Prophecy" recorded in Matthew 24,
Mark 13 and Luke 21 take on special meaninng in our 20 th
Century. The world is experiencing the conditions Christ foretold would
predede these great world wide catastrophies. Notice what He said would
happen.
1.
What did Jesus warn about those who would proclaim He is the Christ?
Matt. 24:5,11 What are we told elsewhere about these so called
representatives of Christ? II Cor 11:13-15 Who do these ministers
actually represent? Verse 15. How could this be? Rev. 12:9
2.
What further events did Jesus predict would take place before His
Second Coming? Matt. 24:6-7.In a world spiritually deceived
through the efforts of the devil and his false ministers preaching a
false Christ and substituting a false gospel in place of Christ's true
Gospel, we are now in the recess between stages of world war. The first
two world wars have, occurred. In this interim, brushfire wars have
raged and "rumors of wars" continue. Famines, disease epidemics and
earthquakes will continue to grow in severity and culminate in world
war.
Hundreds of millions of earth's inhabitants will experience their effects.
3. But are these events only the "beginning of sorrows" - or, more properly translated of travail or tribulation? Verse 8.
This
four-part "beginning of sorrows" is also pictured by the first four
seals or the four horsemen - described in Revelation 6:1-8. for a more
detailed explanation of these "sorrows" - false religion, wars,
famines, disease - write for our free booklet. The Four Horsemen of the
Apocalypse.
4.
How is the fifth seal described in Revelation 6:9-11? What did Jesus
say about this time of religious persecution and martyrdom? Matt. 24:6,
Luke 2.1:12-17
At this point we need to understand that the principle, of duality applies to many prophecies.
There
is a former, typical fulfillment and then a final, antitypical
fulfillment. The religious persecution and martyrdom spoken of in
Matthew and Luke did actually occur, in the typical or preliminary
sense, in the nation of Judah, when the Roman armies crucified tens of
thousands of Jews about, A.D. 70. Millions more from various
nationalities were also tortured and killed by the great false church
during the Middle Ages (Rev 17:6, 18:24). Many of these were true
Christians.
Jesus said more Christians would be martyred at the end-time; John said the same in Revelation 6:11.
This
future martyrdom, of' which the earlier martyrdoms were only a type,
will occur at the time to which John, the inspired writer of the book
of Revelation, was carried forward in vision - just prior to the "Day
of the Lord."
5.How
does Luke 21:20-24 describe what will happens to Judah and Jerusalem
(the Jews of the modern nation Israel) just before Christ returns?
Verse
23 is made plainer in the modern English of the Moftatt translation:
"For sore anguish will come upon the land and Wrath on this people."
6.
Notice the parallel account in Matthew 24:15-20. Do these verses
foretell a time of great tribulation in the world? Verse 21. What would
happen to all mankind if Christ did not intervene in the affairs
of men? Verse 22.
7.
Who will be responsible for inspiring the persecution, warfare and
man's inhumanity to man during this soon-coming terrible time of
trouble? Rev 12:12. Why will he be so wrathful? Notice the last
part of verse 12.
This
period of great worldwide tribulation is Satan's wrath. It will be
unleashed upon God's Church, Jacob (the descendants of ancient Israel)
and on the whole world because the devil will know he has but a short
time left to work deception, destruction and death before being
imprisoned for 1,000 years (Rev. 20: 1-3).
8. However, does
God promise to protect those of His end-time Church - those who
faithfully keep His Word and do His Work - from the wrath of the devil?
Rev. 3:7-8,10.
These promises of protection are for the Philadelphia era of God's Church, which God has raised up through His apostle. Herbert W. Armstrong. Only this Church is carrying on the Work of God today.
Even though
God's Church is relatively small, Jesus has opened the powerful doors
of radio, television, the printing press and personal evangelism to His
Church that it may preach and publish His Gospel Of the Kingdom
of God as a warning witness to the world. And for faithfully obeying
His Word and doing His works, Christ promises to spare His servants
from the ''hour of temptation" - the terrible wrath of Satan.
9. Revelation 12
also speaks of God's end-time Church, personifying it as a woman. Will
God provide His Church with shelter away from the wrath of the devil?
Rev. 12:13-16.
This end-time
prophecy tells of an escape from the terrible tribulation caused by
Satan the devil. God's Church will be in a "wilderness" place
untouchable by Satan, or by his human agents or by the devastation of a
world at war around them. Regardless of where the place of protection
is, the way to make sure you will be there is clear.
10.
Unfortunately, will there be some of God's people who will not qualify
for this protection, who will have to go through the coming time of
Satan's wrath? Rev. 12:17. Why will those of the Laodicean era of God's
Church not be accounted Worthy to escape? Rev. 3:14-19.
Some truly
Spirit-begotten Christians will have become so "lukewarm" so out of
contact with God and consequently lackadaisical in living the Christian
life and doing their part in God's Work, that they will have to go
through the Great Tribulation and face even torture and martyrdom to
wake them up! Because God loves them (verse 19) and wants them in His
Family, He will allow this to happen as a punishment (Heb. 12:5-8) so
they may see their spiritual "nakedness" and therefore repent before
it's too late.
11. How is, the
sixth seal described? Rev.6:12-13. Will a great earthquake occur at
this time? Verse 12. Where else are these spectacular events described?
Matt. 24:29. How soon after the fifth seal does all this occur? Same
verse, first word.
The sixth seal
consists of awesome heavenly signs - sun and moon becoming dark and the
"stars" falling. Spectacular meteor showers will make the starry
heavens appear to be crashing earthward!
12.What other
great heavenly sign occurs at this time? Matt. 24:30, Rev. 6:14. Are
all these events intended to warn the World that God's wrath upon
rebellious mankind is about to begin that the "Day of the Lord,"
with its punishments for sin, is about to commence? Rev. 6:15-17,
Joel 2:30-31, Zeph. 1:14-15, Isa. 2:19-21.
13. What is the reason for the punishment God is soon going to bring upon this world? Isa. 24:4-6. Notice especially verse 5.
14. Will this
punishment in reality be a manifestation of God's great love for the
humanity He created? Notice again the principle in Hebrews 2:5 8. To
what end will God's punishments be directed? I Tim. 2:3-4, I Pet. 3:9.
As any wise and
loving father punishes his children for their own good When they refuse
to respond to kind and loving verbal admonition, so an
all-loving, all-wise God, will finally plead with rebellious
humanity in the only language humanity will be able to
understand.
God is going to
punish this world with righteous judgments - with plagues so terrible
many will at last recognize God is dealing with them. Many will then
heed, and turn from their wicked ways to seek God and His law of love.
That coming
period, of punishment! described in more than 30 different prophecies
scattered through both Old and New Testaments as the "Day of the Lord,"
shall lead directly into the Second Coming of Jesus Christ and world
peace at last.
Reprinted from the October 1981 Good News Magazine
