237. What We Can Expect

In the days of Noah, God saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Gen. 6:5. “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Matt. 24:37-39.

What similarities are there between our days and the days of Noah? The wickedness of man is great in the earth, and every intent of the thoughts of men’s hearts is only evil continually. They are eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage; they get divorced and remarry, which is in direct contradiction to God’s Word. Wickedness is great on the earth because people are living according to their carnal lusts with no regard for their conscience, nor for Him who sustains everything which otherwise would perish. There is a lack of respect for laws; lawlessness is subtly gaining new footholds everywhere. Innocent children must suffer because of their parents’ sins. Parents are ungodly, and they inevitably raise their children to be like themselves.

When punishment comes in the form of unemployment, famine, earthquakes, wars, and pestilence, people are dumbfounded that God, who is love, can allow such things to happen. The earth became cursed when one person sinned. How much greater the curse will be when hundreds of millions of people sin? God is love, and He severely punishes those who transgress the laws of love. This is only just for God is just. There are abundant opportunities to repent from evil, but people choose not to. They want to revel in their sinful lusts, thinking that the flood will come after they are gone. But they are mistaken in their thinking. There is a personal judgment awaiting them. “But he who sins against Me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate Me love death.” Prov. 8:36. “Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine; the soul who sins shall die.” Ezek. 18:4.

With respect to their bodies, people do everything they can to avoid suffering. They buy life insurance and insurance for their material possessions, but with regard to their eternal well-being, they outdo one another in destroying themselves. They do whatever they can to assure themselves a few years of temporal comfort and pleasure, and gladly sacrifice the eternal salvation of their souls on the altar of pleasure—to the great joy of evil spirits. Should God simply allow this to happen without sending serious warnings and punishments now and then? We need to be wise and realize that He who created heaven and earth, and formed us from the dust of the earth, knows quite a bit more than we are able to comprehend. Yet one cannot expect people who are conceited and wise in their own eyes to acknowledge that they are utterly incapable of understanding anything, unless it has been given to them from above. The Lord would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah if He had found ten righteous people in that place. Gen. 18:32. From this we can see that God will spare a city or a country from disasters if righteous people live there. However, there were not even ten righteous people in Sodom. “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens.” Gen. 19:24. God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. So we should be able to conclude the following: Who destroys the home? The ungodly! Who destroys the nation? The ungodly! Who destroys the earth? The ungodly sinners! Who causes punishment to come from the Lord? Those who live according to their lusts.

On the other hand we can ask: Who brings a blessing? Those who fear God. Who makes it possible for a nation and a people to be spared? The righteous! Who are the best defenders a country has? God’s people.

We can find proof of this in Deuteronomy 28. Read this chapter thoughtfully. If Israel obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, they would be set high above all the nations of the earth, and the Lord would command a blessing on them in their storehouses and in all they set their hand to do. But if they refused to obey the voice of the Lord their God, all sorts of curses would come over them until they were utterly destroyed.

Exactly the same principle applies to us today. God has not changed, and He who keeps Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps. Psalm 121:4. (See also Luke 2:28-32.)

When the kings of Israel were ungodly and drew the people away with them, punishment followed almost immediately. And when the people denied their Lord and King, our Lord Jesus Christ, hanging Him on a tree, they were driven out of the land and have had to suffer for it until this day.

God has a tremendous love for mankind, and the boundless salvation that He has provided for us in His Son proves it. He wants to make us heirs of all things in Him. Rev. 21:7. Consequently, when people reject such a great salvation for the momentary pleasures of sin, it should not surprise us that God is aroused to zeal against such blatant, unrestrained ungodliness.

However, we do not just have to wage war against ungodliness in the world. Even among Christians, the way is being prepared for “the lawless one.” A “Christ without commandments” and a “gospel without commandments” is preached almost everywhere. N.P. Wetterlund, a former priest in the Swedish State Church, writes: “There are 111 verses in the Sermon on the Mount. Out of all these, people have retained one half of one verse: ‘Forgive us our sins.’ The rest they have sent to Sinai.” People are quick to send Jesus’ commandments to Sinai. How then can the law of the Spirit ever transform them so they become a “man of God”? They regard the law of the Spirit as bondage; they mock and scorn it and “send it to Sinai.” Even in assemblies where they should know better, they portray Christ as having no commandments. This is why the flesh does not encounter any significant opposition, and this is also why it is able to exert its influence both inside and outside churches. People are opposed to the commandments of Christ—commandments that were intended to keep the flesh with its lusts crucified—and they proclaim that this is liberty. Consequently, true Christianity is waning. People are left with half a verse: “Forgive us our sins.”

Satan and his religious helpers take advantage of the opportunity to preach liberty and lawlessness, so that even among those who had an upright beginning, many are drawn into the false liberty and lawlessness of the Antichrist.

This will be the state of the believers when the hordes of the Antichrist possess the harlot and make her into their dwelling place.

But thank God that there are souls in this lawless time who keep the commandments of God and love His light and truth. They dwell on His holy mountain—high above the harlot’s sorcery and fornication with the spirit of the world. They, and only they, are able to overcome in our time, for only souls who have offered their own “Isaac” can dwell on this heavenly Mount Moriah. This is where you find the altar of God; here is His tabernacle. Psalm 43. Those who do not dwell in these heights must drink the wine of the fornication of the great harlot. They cannot avoid it. The inhabitants of the earth are made to drink of it.

Therefore let us obey the Lord who says, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.” Rev. 18:4-6.

The harlot’s judgment is coming. The beast (the world), upon which she rides and by whom she is supported, will soon begin to hate her, make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. Rev. 17:3 and 16. The beast on which she rides is scarlet. We can already see how the beast is beginning to hate the harlot, and the moment the red beast gains power, the harlot with all her sorceries will meet her end. Her judgment will come suddenly, and all those who dwell in heaven will greatly rejoice over it. Rev. 19:1-3. All the upright souls whom she has tortured and tormented and excluded will rejoice with them. Her flattery of the beast will have a disastrous end. All those who do not love God with all their heart and with all their strength will also suffer a disastrous end. As for those who dwell on His holy hill—Mount Moriah, Mount Zion—they shall stand as overcomers on that day when the harlot must drink from the cup of the Lord’s wrath. They distanced themselves in time and allowed the Spirit of truth to lead them away from everything else unto Him whose feet will one day stand on the Mount of Olives and split it in two. He alone is the Conqueror, and no one who puts his trust in Him will ever be put to shame.