Reeling on the Edge
Long ago the prophets of Israel foretold that in these terrible
days men would call evil good, and good evil (Isaiah 5:20). Men
and women act as though God does not exist. They push beyond the
age-old boundaries of the human conscience, heedless of the consequences.
God is not indifferent to what is happening on the earth. The
sin of mankind is pushing the earth to the brink of destruction
— the judgment which God has already announced by His prophets,
as recorded in the Bible.
It will be like the days long ago when God warned Noah that a
flood was coming on the earth. Noah was told one hundred and twenty
years before it happened. Noah obeyed the voice he heard in his
conscience because he knew it to be true. The earth was full of
evil, murder, and violence, and it deserved to be destroyed. Men’s
thoughts were wicked continually (Genesis 6:5). Noah and his family’s
great efforts in building the ark saved the lives of eight people
from the greatest catastrophe in the history of the human race.
Just a remnant survived, a seed of the vast population that had
perished, but it was enough to begin again.
The story strikes a resonant chord in the hearts of men, women,
and children still, thousands of years and millions of retellings
later. For one shining moment the earth was clean and pure and
fresh again, like we all know it was always meant to be. It will
be that way again.
But first the earth will become as wicked as in the days before
the flood (Matthew 24:37-40). Isaiah the prophet warned of what
would happen when men broke the
everlasting covenant of morality. It was God’s tender
mercy that caused Him to write in everyone’s conscience the
limits they must stay within (Genesis 3:16-19) in order to avoid
eternal death in the Sea of Fire.
They are simple. A woman is to desire her husband and let him
rule over her. She is to bear their children in pain. A man is
to toil and sweat to provide for his family, not live off the
labor of others. He is to rule over his wife. Sexual relationships
are to be limited to the covenant of marriage. Together, these
things provide the maximum opportunity to raise and care for children
who will be happy and secure.
When this traditional morality is scorned to the extent that
it is called evil, and when those who do good are not allowed
to live in peace, then the covenant will have been broken beyond
remedy. The hour of judgment will come. Can you see this is what
the earth is coming to?
Global Warming
The last time God’s judgment was the flood; this time it
will be the fire. Anyone who knows even a little of the potential
of global warming knows what could come upon the earth. Global
warming only takes into account what man is doing to the atmosphere,
but what if the sun itself were to burn hotter? This is the meaning
of the dreadful prophecy in the Book of Revelation:
And the fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun; and it
was given to it to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched
with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has
power over these plagues; and they did not repent, so as to give
Him glory. (Revelation 16:8-9)
This will be the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, spoken
some 2,700 years ago. Isaiah saw ahead of time the wickedness
of the modern world, and he understood why the earth would
be polluted:
The earth is also polluted by its inhabitants, for they transgressed
laws, violated statutes, broke the everlasting covenant. Therefore
a curse devours the earth, and those who live in it are held guilty.
Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and very few
men are left. (Isaiah 24:5-6)
The moral ruin of these days will be worse than the physical
ruin, and the outer burning a foretaste of something more terrible.
No one will escape who despises the authority of God in his conscience.
The pressure on everyone to compromise in the last days will be
tremendous. Who will stand?
The Holy Prophets
Many things are recorded in the mysterious writings of the holy
prophets of ancient Israel. Amos spoke thousands of years ago:
Surely the Lord God does nothing unless He reveals His secret
counsel to His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)
The prophet Isaiah said at about the same time that just as the
rain causes the plants to spring up, providing food for man and
beast,
So shall My [the Lord’s] word be which goes forth from
My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty without accomplishing
what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which
I sent it. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
It is without doubt, then, that the many prophecies of the coming
age of peace will come to pass, not through the efforts of men
to unite a fallen Christianity and take over the political affairs
of the world (Revelation 17:3-5), but through the direct intervention
of God.
The Son of God, the greatest prophet of all, described the days
just prior to the end of this age with the grim word tribulation.
Some of the events He describes are beginning to happen even now:
And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars; see that
you are not frightened, for these things must take place, but
that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom, and in various places there will
be famines and earthquakes. (Matthew 24:6-8)
He went on to say that these things are merely the beginning
of the birth pangs. Only those with faith will see these events
as leading to a better world; everyone else will be profoundly
fearful. Men will actually faint from fear.
The terrible state of the world in those days will cause most
people to accept any leader and pay any price necessary to have
peace and stability. In order to participate in the world system,
they will go so far as to take a mark upon their forehead or hand.
Those who do not conform will be hated like all non-conformists
have been hated. But this time they will be denied the right to
buy and sell anything, and will even face the death penalty (Revelation
13:15-17).
The Dawning of the New Age
So there is a new age coming, but it will not enter quietly.
Instead, it will be heralded by the most astonishing event the
world has ever seen: the sun will go down at noon and rise again
six hours later! Amos prophesied long ago:
And it will come about in that day, declares the Lord, that
I shall make the sun go down at noon and make the earth dark in
broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)
This will not be some freak occurrence; it will happen over and
over again. This will be one of the terrible troubles that will
overtake the world as judgment for its evil ways; yet it will
be a shield behind which God’s chosen ones will flee:
For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not
occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever
shall. And unless those days had been cut short, no life would
have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days shall
be cut short. (Matthew 24:21-22)
Our Master Yahshua
knew the prophecy of Amos and He knew what it meant. He
saw that the length of the days would be cut short, rather
than the number of the days, for that, too, is sealed in
prophecy. He knew that the sun would go down at noon, and
the earth would spin twice as fast as it does now. This
would have profound effects on the world, fulfilling His
unalterable words:
And there will be signs in the sun and moon and stars, and
upon the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring
of the seas and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation
of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers
of the heavens will be shaken. (Luke 21:25-26)
Dismay Among the Nations
Radio and satellite communications will be disrupted since the
earth’s magnetic field will be increased. The life cycles
of all kinds of animals, plants, insects, and trees will be radically
affected by the abnormal rising and setting of the sun. The God
of heaven will use the forces of nature to execute His judgment
upon mankind: Do not be deceived; God is not mocked; whatever
a man sows, this he will also reap (Galatians 6:7-8). A humanity
that sows corruption will reap corruption. The earth surviving
at all will be a miracle. The waves will roar and the seas will
crash. The sudden change in the rotation of the earth will have
a catastrophic effect on the climate (B. G. Hunt, "The effects
of past variations of the Earth’s rotation rate on climate,"
Nature, Vol. 281, pages 188-191, Sept. 20, 1979). The
added warmth of the sun will greatly increase the intensity of
the ocean storms, as will the melting water from the polar ice
caps. Right now scientists are keeping watch on volcanic activity
in one of Antarctica’s mountain ranges, buried under an unimaginable
volume of ice. If the heat of that volcanic activity were to release
that mass of ice, causing it to slide into the ocean, the level
of the oceans would suddenly rise about twenty feet worldwide!
That event in itself would cause huge tidal waves to devastate
the coastlines, and in combination with the earth spinning twice
as fast, their intensity would be staggering. Add to that catastrophic
earthquakes and volcanic activity triggered by the tremendous
rotational stress as the earth deforms, flattening at the poles
and bulging at the equator. So great will the upheaval be that
this amazing prophecy will be fulfilled:
And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of
thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not
been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake
was it, and so mighty ... And every island fled away, and the
mountains were not found. (Revelation 16:18,20)
All of these things will come upon those who reject the rule
of God. Some will reject Him by rejecting the voice of their conscience
which condemned them when they did wrong; others will reject Him
by rejecting the mercy He offers in Yahshua, the Son of God. He,
the coming King, is now a long way off, but when He returns it
will be too late to make peace with Him. (Luke 14:31-33 looks
ahead to the awesome encounter of Revelation 19:11-16.) At His
return, He will destroy those evildoers who have escaped the burning
sun, raging sea, and tumultuous earth. Today, however, these words
are still being preached:
The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent
and believe in the good news (Mark 1:15)
What will you do?
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