Greatness in Tribulation – Part 3
Job 2:8-10 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes. (9) Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!" (10) But he said to her, "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
“Curse God and die.” These words were spoken at the prompting of Satan. This has always been the MO of satan: to get human beings to see the perfect gifts offered by the Father as “less than” God’s people deserve. This is how satan instigated the fall of mankind:
Genesis 3:3-5 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " (4) Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
God had placed the man and the woman in THE perfect existence and location: open heaven, beautiful lush surroundings, every resource they would ever need forever, purpose, identify, continual access to the creator through both the indwelling Spirit and face-to-face conversations with God in the cool of the evening. They were created with no “knowledge of evil.” Evil isn’t a force in and of itself…evil is the absence of God, like darkness is the absence of light, and cold is the absence of heat. Adam and Eve already “knew” good. The only thing the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil had to offer was an experience of evil…the absence of God. Adam and Eve were never created to experience the absence of good, but for love, the choice had to be available to them.
The enemy’s accusation against God was an outright lie cloaked in a mishandling of truth. This is how the dragon speaks. God actually DID NOT want Adam and Eve’s eyes opened to what the tree held…for their own good! The tree held an experience of the absence of God, which IS death. God is the only source of life in all of creation. He is the “light of man” like the sun is the light for trees:
John 1:3-4 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
God knew that if Adam and Eve gazed on any darkness, they would die. Adam and Eve were created with an infinite capacity to encounter the infinitely bright and holy God. Any measure of darkness introduced to their hearts would make them less than infinite in their capacity to encounter God’s glory, which cannot be contained. Anything less than infinite is “infinitely less.” Surely, they WOULD die. And die they did.
Right now, apart from the salvation offered by God through Jesus to restore our capacity to encounter God, the earth is full of the walking dead. Because God is so patient, He has allowed over 6,000 years for mankind to decide what it really wants: life or death. Life is only possible through one perfect man’s blood. To account for the legal claim of darkness on mankind, perfect life was owed. Only one perfect man has ever lived. His name is Jesus, he is the very Son of God. He who knew no sin became sin in order to satisfy the legal claim of death (which is eternal separation from God, the only source of life) for all mankind.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The glory of Jesus…God made flesh…the brightness of His holiness carried not by divine privilege but by perfect humility, was more bright than death.
Philippians 2:6-9 Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (7) Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, (8) He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. (9) Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names,
So, this brings us to the end of the age…for 6,000 years mankind has had the luxury of, over the course of a lifetime, deciding whether they believe God is the only source of life, and, if He is the source of life, whether or not they are willing to submit to His perfect leadership and obtain a reconnection to the author of life. You cannot have God’s live giving presence without His life giving leadership. In one generation, the Bible is clear that everyone will have to decide where they stand. God will not wait forever. For better or worse (I believe for BETTER) YOU live in this generation. Joel called this event…the forcing of the decision in one generation… the Valley of Decision:
Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
This is the decision before us all: 1. trust in God’s perfect leadership, though it looks troublesome due to the intense and OFFENSIVE events He has planned, 2. Attempt to remain neutral and ride out the storm that is clearly coming over the whole earth, or 3. trust in the perfect man…the antichrist who has a plan to make the world fair and equitable, peaceful, and prosperous for all.
God is allowing a man, called the antichrist, to offer hope and change to all the earth apart from Jesus’ perfect leadership. At first, it will look like this quintessential man, the greatest leader the earth has ever seen, is actually successful in his plans. He will confirm, with his own protecting arm, a 7-year peace agreement between Israel and her neighbors. He plans to promise to “play God to Israel”…By promising to protect Israel, He will be the humanistic messiah she held out for instead of choosing Jesus. He will have a plan to save the globe from a financial meltdown, and he will appear to be achieving, for the first time in history, major strides for world peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. (3) For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. (4) But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
The Bible says that when all looks well, the wheels will begin to come off of this humanistic messiah’s plan. 3.5 years after he makes peace in Israel, the world will plunge into chaos and violent war. His coalitions of nations will break apart as they see the evil in this man’s heart. Famine will be widespread, disease will be widespread. He will have a surveillance network that will begin tracking down anyone who threatens his fragile global empire. His arrogance will blossom into full blown messianic complex…just like Hitler…and he will demand that everyone worship him, with the aid of one of the most established religious leaders on the planet, called the “false prophet”. The false prophet will share the same philosophy as the antichrist, believing that man’s good trumps God’s truth. This Bible quoting false prophet will demand everyone fall in line with the “tangible savior” of mankind:
Revelation 13:15-17 He (the false prophet) was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast (the antichrist), that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (16) He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, (17) and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
This is the end game of what satan began in the Garden of Eden. Satan promises things he cannot deliver, and so does his boy, the antichrist. AND, the things satan CAN deliver, you DON’T want. Satan, the great accuser, mostly spends his time getting people to accuse God of evil. This is blasphemy: calling light darkness and darkness light.
Psalms 74:10-11 O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? (11) Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
Asaph’s prayer is going to be answered soon. God is about to take His strong arm out and give everyone what they want. If you are seeking the face of God in this hour, you are in for the greatest 7 years ever, for He is going to reveal His face…brighter and brighter. BUT, if you are seeking anything but God, you will get the fullness of that dark thing, which is death. If you aren’t all-n in seeking His face, the face of God will terrify you in the hour He begins to reveal it:
Revelation 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, (16) and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! (17) For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
God has a three-staged plan to reveal the truth: that life is simply not possible apart from the Author of Life. The first stage, called the seal judgments, are God lifting His restraining hand from the man-based plan…giving people the truth of what they are clamoring for, a man to save them. No man but Jesus can save you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is only one man who has proven He can handle absolute power. Jesus, the Son of Man laid down absolute power to save people. He is the one who has proven He can handle all power and authority:
Revelation 5:8-9 Now when He (Jesus) had taken the scroll (The scroll if the “Title Deed” to creation, and all of the power, riches, glory and honor attached to it), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (9) And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
Revelation 5:12-13 saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" (13) And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!"
When God lifts His hand of restraint from the antichrist plan and let’s it blossom, what the world will get instead of blessing, glory and honor is this: World war (seals 1 and 2), famine, pestilence, death, and intense poverty. This is what every man engineered social plan (socialism) has produced…oh, and the death of millions of Jews…that, too. (Hitler, Stalin…). This is Stage 1.
Stage 2 is the lifting of God’s hand of restraint from satan… the father of the “man with a plan.” If the world won’t repent when it sees the evil in man’s heart unleashed, God will show those holding out for “life without God” the evil in their other god’s heart. For the truth is, there is no such thing as a godless man. The god of the godless man is satan…the accuser of God. In stage 2, called the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and 9, God releases satan, in limited ways, to show mankind what their relationship with him is really like. Satan torments his people in agreement with him mercilessly for months. Some will repent, but many will harden their hearts. At the prompting of satan, they will not accuse satan of evil, but instead they will accuse God! Blasphemy is the plan of satan to keep people from God right through the bowl judgments. Blasphemy is what satan used to instigate Adam and Eve’s rebellion, and it is what he will use to continue that rebellion as long as possible. God says this will be finished with the releasing of the final measure of love on those attempting to live life apart from the Author of Life. That is what the seals, trumpets, and bowls truly are…God’s last measures of love for those who would choose to cast off His leadership and instead of life, choose death. Trying to live apart from the very source of life is, in truth, a lake of dry barren fire forever:
Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Blasphemy is the hardening of the heart against God despite His extreme measures to reveal truth that will save. Repentance…agreeing with God that what He is allowing is good…is the only requirement to break the spirit of blasphemy and reconnect with God through Jesus. God does not want anyone to live forever in a lake of fire. His desire is that no one perish:
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
“Curse God and die.” These words were spoken at the prompting of Satan. This has always been the MO of satan: to get human beings to see the perfect gifts offered by the Father as “less than” God’s people deserve. This is how satan instigated the fall of mankind:
Genesis 3:3-5 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " (4) Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. (5) For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
God had placed the man and the woman in THE perfect existence and location: open heaven, beautiful lush surroundings, every resource they would ever need forever, purpose, identify, continual access to the creator through both the indwelling Spirit and face-to-face conversations with God in the cool of the evening. They were created with no “knowledge of evil.” Evil isn’t a force in and of itself…evil is the absence of God, like darkness is the absence of light, and cold is the absence of heat. Adam and Eve already “knew” good. The only thing the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil had to offer was an experience of evil…the absence of God. Adam and Eve were never created to experience the absence of good, but for love, the choice had to be available to them.
The enemy’s accusation against God was an outright lie cloaked in a mishandling of truth. This is how the dragon speaks. God actually DID NOT want Adam and Eve’s eyes opened to what the tree held…for their own good! The tree held an experience of the absence of God, which IS death. God is the only source of life in all of creation. He is the “light of man” like the sun is the light for trees:
John 1:3-4 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. (4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
God knew that if Adam and Eve gazed on any darkness, they would die. Adam and Eve were created with an infinite capacity to encounter the infinitely bright and holy God. Any measure of darkness introduced to their hearts would make them less than infinite in their capacity to encounter God’s glory, which cannot be contained. Anything less than infinite is “infinitely less.” Surely, they WOULD die. And die they did.
Right now, apart from the salvation offered by God through Jesus to restore our capacity to encounter God, the earth is full of the walking dead. Because God is so patient, He has allowed over 6,000 years for mankind to decide what it really wants: life or death. Life is only possible through one perfect man’s blood. To account for the legal claim of darkness on mankind, perfect life was owed. Only one perfect man has ever lived. His name is Jesus, he is the very Son of God. He who knew no sin became sin in order to satisfy the legal claim of death (which is eternal separation from God, the only source of life) for all mankind.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
The glory of Jesus…God made flesh…the brightness of His holiness carried not by divine privilege but by perfect humility, was more bright than death.
Philippians 2:6-9 Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. (7) Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, (8) He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. (9) Therefore, God elevated Him to the place of highest honor and gave Him the name above all other names,
So, this brings us to the end of the age…for 6,000 years mankind has had the luxury of, over the course of a lifetime, deciding whether they believe God is the only source of life, and, if He is the source of life, whether or not they are willing to submit to His perfect leadership and obtain a reconnection to the author of life. You cannot have God’s live giving presence without His life giving leadership. In one generation, the Bible is clear that everyone will have to decide where they stand. God will not wait forever. For better or worse (I believe for BETTER) YOU live in this generation. Joel called this event…the forcing of the decision in one generation… the Valley of Decision:
Joel 3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
This is the decision before us all: 1. trust in God’s perfect leadership, though it looks troublesome due to the intense and OFFENSIVE events He has planned, 2. Attempt to remain neutral and ride out the storm that is clearly coming over the whole earth, or 3. trust in the perfect man…the antichrist who has a plan to make the world fair and equitable, peaceful, and prosperous for all.
God is allowing a man, called the antichrist, to offer hope and change to all the earth apart from Jesus’ perfect leadership. At first, it will look like this quintessential man, the greatest leader the earth has ever seen, is actually successful in his plans. He will confirm, with his own protecting arm, a 7-year peace agreement between Israel and her neighbors. He plans to promise to “play God to Israel”…By promising to protect Israel, He will be the humanistic messiah she held out for instead of choosing Jesus. He will have a plan to save the globe from a financial meltdown, and he will appear to be achieving, for the first time in history, major strides for world peace.
1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. (3) For when they say, "Peace and safety!" then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. (4) But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
The Bible says that when all looks well, the wheels will begin to come off of this humanistic messiah’s plan. 3.5 years after he makes peace in Israel, the world will plunge into chaos and violent war. His coalitions of nations will break apart as they see the evil in this man’s heart. Famine will be widespread, disease will be widespread. He will have a surveillance network that will begin tracking down anyone who threatens his fragile global empire. His arrogance will blossom into full blown messianic complex…just like Hitler…and he will demand that everyone worship him, with the aid of one of the most established religious leaders on the planet, called the “false prophet”. The false prophet will share the same philosophy as the antichrist, believing that man’s good trumps God’s truth. This Bible quoting false prophet will demand everyone fall in line with the “tangible savior” of mankind:
Revelation 13:15-17 He (the false prophet) was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast (the antichrist), that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. (16) He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, (17) and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
This is the end game of what satan began in the Garden of Eden. Satan promises things he cannot deliver, and so does his boy, the antichrist. AND, the things satan CAN deliver, you DON’T want. Satan, the great accuser, mostly spends his time getting people to accuse God of evil. This is blasphemy: calling light darkness and darkness light.
Psalms 74:10-11 O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever? (11) Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? Take it out of Your bosom and destroy them.
Asaph’s prayer is going to be answered soon. God is about to take His strong arm out and give everyone what they want. If you are seeking the face of God in this hour, you are in for the greatest 7 years ever, for He is going to reveal His face…brighter and brighter. BUT, if you are seeking anything but God, you will get the fullness of that dark thing, which is death. If you aren’t all-n in seeking His face, the face of God will terrify you in the hour He begins to reveal it:
Revelation 6:15-17 And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, (16) and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! (17) For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?"
God has a three-staged plan to reveal the truth: that life is simply not possible apart from the Author of Life. The first stage, called the seal judgments, are God lifting His restraining hand from the man-based plan…giving people the truth of what they are clamoring for, a man to save them. No man but Jesus can save you. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. There is only one man who has proven He can handle absolute power. Jesus, the Son of Man laid down absolute power to save people. He is the one who has proven He can handle all power and authority:
Revelation 5:8-9 Now when He (Jesus) had taken the scroll (The scroll if the “Title Deed” to creation, and all of the power, riches, glory and honor attached to it), the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. (9) And they sang a new song, saying: "You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
Revelation 5:12-13 saying with a loud voice: "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" (13) And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!"
When God lifts His hand of restraint from the antichrist plan and let’s it blossom, what the world will get instead of blessing, glory and honor is this: World war (seals 1 and 2), famine, pestilence, death, and intense poverty. This is what every man engineered social plan (socialism) has produced…oh, and the death of millions of Jews…that, too. (Hitler, Stalin…). This is Stage 1.
Stage 2 is the lifting of God’s hand of restraint from satan… the father of the “man with a plan.” If the world won’t repent when it sees the evil in man’s heart unleashed, God will show those holding out for “life without God” the evil in their other god’s heart. For the truth is, there is no such thing as a godless man. The god of the godless man is satan…the accuser of God. In stage 2, called the trumpet judgments of Revelation 8 and 9, God releases satan, in limited ways, to show mankind what their relationship with him is really like. Satan torments his people in agreement with him mercilessly for months. Some will repent, but many will harden their hearts. At the prompting of satan, they will not accuse satan of evil, but instead they will accuse God! Blasphemy is the plan of satan to keep people from God right through the bowl judgments. Blasphemy is what satan used to instigate Adam and Eve’s rebellion, and it is what he will use to continue that rebellion as long as possible. God says this will be finished with the releasing of the final measure of love on those attempting to live life apart from the Author of Life. That is what the seals, trumpets, and bowls truly are…God’s last measures of love for those who would choose to cast off His leadership and instead of life, choose death. Trying to live apart from the very source of life is, in truth, a lake of dry barren fire forever:
Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. (15) And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Blasphemy is the hardening of the heart against God despite His extreme measures to reveal truth that will save. Repentance…agreeing with God that what He is allowing is good…is the only requirement to break the spirit of blasphemy and reconnect with God through Jesus. God does not want anyone to live forever in a lake of fire. His desire is that no one perish:
2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
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