Living in The Time of God's Judgment

Living in The Time of God's Judgment - Bill Perkins - www.compass.org

 

"There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven."   Eccl. 3:1

 

In the not-too-distant future the world will change suddenly and dramatically.

 

At the end of each of God's specific time periods on earth, referred to as "dispensations," God judges the earth for failure to obey God's commands. There's a penalty to pay and no one on earth gets out of God's judgment.

 

Examples of God's worldwide judgment in the first three dispensations-

 

1) In the first Dispensation of Innocence, God's command was very simple for Adam and Eve: "Don't eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil."

 

But they disobeyed, ate the fruit, and the result was that death entered the earth. God judged the earth by allowing every human to be infected with sin, separating them from a righteous God.

 

2) In the second Dispensation of Conscience,

 

God's command was to be moral, which included the command to marry one man to one woman. That command was broken and a devastating worldwide flood wiped out everyone but those on Noah's Ark.

 

3) In the third Dispensation of Government,

 

God said fill the earth. But instead of following God's command, the people of earth stayed in one place and built the Tower of Babel. So God judged the earth by mixing the languages.

Each time a dispensation ended, the whole earth was affected. The people alive at the time of those dispensation-ending judgments were affected whether they knew about God's commands or not. God never changed, but He changed how He dealt with humans on the earth.

 

The Flood of Noah was God's worldwide judgment.

 

I can't imagine what it would have been like to be alive at the time of Noah when God shut the door of the Ark and the waters burst forth from below and flooded the earth.

 

The people of that day were going about their daily lives, ignoring God's warnings and had no clue what was dead ahead.

 

One minute things were normal. The next minute the foundations of the world were shaken. People certainly weren't standing around watching the water rise, wondering what to do. Rather, in an instant, the earth was moving under their feet, buildings were collapsing, the wind was howling and people were screaming.

 

The amount of water that came out of the ground all around the earth would have sent scores of tsunamis hundreds of feet high that traveled hundreds of miles inland, all while the earth shook mightily.

 

But this was not an earthquake like we think of today, where only one area is decimated. The whole earth shook as it was quickly covered with water.

 

It is estimated that the earth could have been flooded from the waters below in eight hours. Click here to watch a remarkable 90-second video showing how this could have happened. The video is titled "When God Shut The Door On Noah's Ark."

 

Watching that video you realize that not only did that Ark have to be able to float with two of all the earth's animals, it also had to withstand the initial impact of the floodwaters smashing against the side of the Ark.

 

No doubt there were some who stayed alive a few seconds and remembered Noah's preaching and warnings of God's impending judgment.

 

Like the thief on the cross, I'm sure there were some people who, at the last second, believed what Noah said as they sank below the turbulent judgment waters. But the end of the Church Age, when suddenly the Believers disappear, there is no possibility of last second salvation. It's just over.

 

But the main point is this--all dispensations end with God's judgment for all who are not saved through the Door. One minute things were normal, the next minute God's judgment came without warning for those who did not enter God's Door of salvation via His Messiah.

 

The next dispensational change, the end of the Church Age in which we currently live, will be "just like" the time of Noah's Flood. Not "similar to", "comparable to" or "much the same as." No, it will be "JUST LIKE" the days before Noah enters into the Ark and God closes the door.

 

So the Bible gives us a good idea of what the time will be like. The Bible says specifically that the time before the flood was quite normal. People were not expecting God's judgment. They thought things would continue on unabated. It's the same today-

 

2Pet. 3:3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 

2Pet. 3:4 and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." 

2Pet. 3:5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 

2Pet. 3:6 through which the world at that time was destroyed,

 being flooded with water.

    

People today have no clue. They will be eating, drinking, planting, harvesting, social events and construction....until God shuts the door. Luke 17:27, Mat 24:37.

 

Most people today go about their daily lives unconcerned about God's rules. By and large, the earth is unconcerned about God, much less about God's commands and fully ignorant of the coming world judgment. Pretty much the world is giving God the middle-finger.

 

But just as God shut the door of Noah's Ark and then it was too late to miss the judgment, God will also shut the Door (Jesus) with the Rapture and things will change in a split-second.

 

God's Wrath Is Coming Again

 

That incredible God-ordained event brings the world into a global state of shock as the Lord removes those who are in the Body of Christ. By God's grace, Believers are whisked to heaven and therefore saved FROM the wrath of God.

 

"Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him." Ro. 5:9

 

"...and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." 1 Thes. 1:10

 

"For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ," 1 Thes. 5:9

 

Israel Will Again Be God's Focus

 

Immediately after the Rapture, God will bring Israel back into the prophetic spotlight--big-time front and center. Just like the world revolved around Israel in the Old Testament, it will again revolve around Israel in the next dispensation referred to as "Tribulation."

 

The Bible says that at that time Israel will have become the envy of the world. They will be so rich and prosperous that right after the Rapture happens, a group of nations will invade to capture her riches.

 

We are just now seeing the beginning of Israel becoming a wealthy nation.

 

In 2015 she discovered oil in Northern Israel's Golan Heights. The massive oil discovery is predicted to be one of the largest oil reservoirs in the world, 10 times larger than a typical oil discovery.

 

This is in addition to all the gas fields discovered in and around Israel. As they say in Texas, "Where there's gas, there's oil." So expect to hear more oil discoveries in the future in Israel.

 

The Bible also states that Israel will have abundant gold and silver.

 

"...to capture spoil and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the waste places which are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired cattle and goods, who live at the center of the world. Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish with all its villages will say to you, 'Have you come to capture spoil? Have you assembled your company to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to capture great spoil?'"' Ezek 38:12,13

 

It's unclear if Israel will discover silver and gold in the ground or if nations just give them so much gold and silver for their oil. (Fiat/paper money will likely soon be replaced with a currency tied to gold and/or silver, so this could be quite prophetic!)

 

Regardless of how she acquires her riches, Israel post-Rapture will be sitting on so much oil, gold and silver that the Bible calls the amount "great."

 

The Hebrew word translated "great" is "gadol" and can be translated "exceedingly" or "extremely." And its root word "gadal" denotes the idea of recent riches, "became great" or "became wealthy."

 

Israel didn't start out rich, she is BECOMING rich, right in front of our eyes. And the richer she becomes the more the world will be envious.

 

God's Reason for Ezekiel 38/39

 

The MOST fascinating wording in the description of Ezekiel 38/39 invasion of Israel, which takes place shortly after the Rapture, is WHY God says He orchestrates all those events. The reasons are:

 

1) To bring Israel back into the WORLD limelight as God's special people and

2) To reintroduce the world to Jehovah God with whom to be reckoned.

 

Check out these quite-pointed statements about the WHOLE WORLD watching what God will be doing:

 

"...and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog." Ezek. 38:16

 

"The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; Ezek. 38:20

 

"I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD."' Ezek. 38:23

 

"And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD." Ezek. 39:6

 

"My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel." Ezek. 39:7

 

"And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them." Ezek. 39:21

 

"When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations." Ezek. 39:27

 

Therefore, in no uncertain terms, the Creator God makes Himself known to the world. And the world will know that He is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (no Ishmael). Liberals and evolutionists will go out of vogue immediately.

 

Of course Satan will also be quite active during this time, trying to steal God's thunder.

 

In summary

 

It doesn't seem far-fetched to believe that between now and the year 2040, the Church Age Dispensation will conclude with our exhilarating exit. Maybe sooner than later. And most people left behind on earth will be Biblically clueless as to what happened.

 

"For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false," 2Thes. 2:11

 

We don't know what the big lie will be. But whatever it is, people's eternal destiny will be at stake.

 

Then the next time period on God's calendar will begin, seven years long referred to as "The Time of Jacob's Trouble" or "The Tribulation." God will immediately reveal Himself both to Israel and the world as the Creator God of the universe. And literally, all hell breaks loose.

Those seven years get pretty messy, but thankfully those trusting the shed blood of Jesus to atone for their sins will miss it! PTL!