₦airaland Forum

Cholls:
my brother Sheep, even if you are already in the slaughterhouse, it's never TOO LATE to understand that the TRUTH is NEVER TOO HORRIBLE.

I'm a sheep for giving you a verse.

Cholls:
My brother relax! God doesn't leave us out in the cold on end time things. While we cannot know the exact day and hour, we can know when it is drawing near. I also firmly believe that those who know God through Jesus Christ will be removed from the earth before the "actual" tribulation period begins. I believe the Bible tells this. We will be around to see and experience some "tribulation", but not the actual tribulation. When the christians are removed that will be a sign to many that the tribulation can begin because it's then that the antichrist is revealed. So when this actually happens don't fall for the lie(lies) that will be told of where these people have gone, for they have gone to be with the LORD. People can and will be saved after this too, and the Bible tells us that it will be a number too large to be counted.

Revelation 7:14
"And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest.
And he said to me, These are they which
came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white
in the blood of the Lamb."

You can never go wrong sticking with the plain statements of the Bible. Don't complicate what God has not complicated.

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday

There's a loneliness that a lover, parent, family or success can never satisfy. You can have it all, but still feel something is missing. That loneliness is put in your heart by God Himself so it can draw you to Jesus who alone can satisfy it.

God is love and He loves you.

Remember the most important thing is that we understand God's sacrifice by giving us Jesus and what that means to us. Prophecy and everything else must add to a relationship we already have with Him.

This is part two. Read the first part here: https://www.nairaland.com/6783710/what-expect-after-mark-beast

THE END OF THE WORLD.
At what state does Christ find His people in when He returns? How do we welcome Jesus at His second coming? Are we in church sitting calmly on the benches listening to a sermon? Are we on the streets looking up expectantly, dressed our best? Are we, perhaps, preaching His word to the unbelievers as the skies open and the Messiah breaks through with His angels? Or maybe we're sitting at home watching the evening news waiting for His appearing to be announced on TV?

Not at all.

The conditions under which Christ finds us are nothing like the aforementioned.

When "the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice
of the archangel, and with the trump of
God" 1 Thessalonians 4:16, He finds us in a state resembling those old end-of-the-world pictures where, on a gloomy day, groups of tired and weary people in torn clothes, with tears streaming down the face, are kneeling on mountain tops looking up, watching Christ coming in the distance while all around the mountains whole cities lie in ruins. That's a more accurate rendition of our last day on earth.

How we end up in the wilderness with nothing except the clothes on our back is because of Jesus's admonition:

"When ye therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation, spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy
place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand
Then let them which be in Judaea flee
into the mountains:
Let him which is on the housetop not
come down to take any thing out of his
house:
Neither let him which is in the field
return back to take his clothes."
Matthew 24:15-18.

The Messiah's return is precipitated by the Mark of the Beast. All talk of the end of the world must begin with that Mark. That Mark is the catalyst. The count down to The End begins with the creation and enforcement of the Mark, which in turn brings the anti-Christ to the world stage, which then causes the falling away of all churches as they take the Mark and follow the anti-Christ (the "falling away" of 2 Thessalonians 2:3), this leads to the persecution of those of us who call out the apostasy of the churches and who exclude themselves from the Mark. We face backlash for our defiance which includes being forbidden to buy or sell, which escalates to death threats and finally an official law that condemns us to death. All this causes the world to fill up its cup of iniquity and Michael stands up, which removes the Restraint and the world is plunged into "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time". Daniel 12:1 - this is the Tribulation, which intensifies when Jesus, the heavenly High Priest, ceases His intermediary work in the temple above and the seven plagues commence. We, the faithful, are not directly affected although we live through these calamities.

Presently the suffering world concludes that we who reject the Mark of the Beast must be the cause of all suffering, and to stop the suffering we must be found and killed so God is appeased. This triggers a massive manhunt for us the UnMarked which covers the whole world. Humans guided by demons search the ends of the earth for us - scouring the mountains, caves and forests. Until they find us. When Christ appears with the clouds of heaven, He appears first and foremost to save our lives. This is the immediate result of His return - we're delivered from imminent death. Christ's arrival gives us a way out where we have none.

At Christ's voice, dead believers come to life, while we the living are translated and together we're caught up in the sky to meet our Savior and His angels.

This is the rapture.

As we depart earth headed for Heaven, everyone remaining behind on the planet is cut down by the glory of Christ.

We go to Heaven and stay there for a thousand years. Meanwhile Satan and his evil angels spend that millennium on an empty earth covered with dead bodies. "But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:5.

This is a summary of how the world ends. For a more detailed account with scripture references, go here: https://www.nairaland.com/6757595/end-world-sequence-events

BACK TO EARTH.
After the thousand years Christ takes us back to the desolate earth. Says the prophet, "the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zechariah 14:5.

Zechariah 14 and Revelation 20 and 21 cover most of what happens at this point.

"the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zechariah 14:5. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." Zechariah 14:4
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Revelation 21:2.

At our return from a 1000 years in Heaven, we bring the New Jerusalem city with us and Christ lands His Feet on the mount of Olives in Israel and it separates into two and in the space between He puts the holy city.

THE BATTLE OF GOG AND MAGOG.
"And when the thousand years are
expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his
prison,
And shall go out to deceive the nations
which are in the four quarters of the earth,
Gog, and Magog, to gather them together
to battle: the number of whom is as the
sand of the sea.
And they went up on the breadth of the
earth, and compassed the camp of the
saints about, and the beloved city: and
fire came down from God out of heaven,
and devoured them". Revelation 20:7-9.

Christ resurrects all the dead around the world who did not make it to Heaven. This is the second resurrection, the resurrection of damnation. Every sinner who ever lived, young and old, great and small: everyone - from the beginning of the world to the end of the world - is brought to life. Their number is so vast it is impossible to calculate. They are "as the sand of the sea". Now Satan, who has been without purpose for the past thousand years because everyone was dead, is suddenly back in business. This is likened as him being set free from his prison as John said "and after that [the 1000 years] he must be loosed a little season." Revelation 20:3. Satan uses the respite given him to resume his work of deception, this time convincing the resurrected sinners to attack the New Jerusalem:

"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Revelation 20:9.

The events of the Gog and Magog war were also prophesied a long time ago by the prophet Ezekiel. Chapter 38 of Ezekiel parallels the events of Gog and Magog as told by John in Revelation, as we shall see shortly...

HOW SATAN DIES.
Satan is a superior angel once known as Lucifer. He was created magnificent and breathtaking - so much that he started to believe that maybe he was more than an angel: That he was a god, worthy of the worship of angels just like God. That is his sin and the cause of his fall.

Says Isaiah, "How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!....
For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God:
I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation,
in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds; I will be like the
most High."(Isaiah 14:12-14)

Ezekiel says of Lucifer, "Thus saith the LORD GOD, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so."
"Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness."
Ezekiel 28:12-14,17.

Lucifer allowed the glory, beauty and power gifted him to get to his head and corrupt him.

When God says, "I will destroy thee, O covering cherub..." Ezekiel 28:26, God has just the perfect ending befitting an angel that has ruined the lives of billions of humans...

When Satan's vast armies surround the New Jerusalem where we and Christ together with the angels are, this is what happens:

"And this shall be the plague wherewith
the LORD will smite all the people that
have fought against Jerusalem; Their
flesh shall consume away while they
stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall
consume away in their holes, and their
tongue shall consume away in their
mouth.
And it shall come to pass in that day,
that a great tumult from the LORD shall
be among them; and they shall lay hold
every one on the hand of his neighbour,
and his hand shall rise up against the
hand of his neighbour." Zechariah 14:12,13

In Genesis when people came together and built the Tower of Babel in defiance of God who wanted them to scatter and spread all over the world, He confused their language and caused them to misunderstand each other which made them fight each other and eventually abandon the building project and scatter all over the world. Genesis 12:1-9. At the battle of Gog and Magog, as Satan's numberless army surrounds the New Jerusalem city, God causes a panic among them and in their confusion they start fighting one another. Whatever weapons they have come with, they now use at each other. It's a bloodbath straight from the most horrifying of nightmares. As the vast throng cut and maim each other, guess who's among them getting cut up too!

I'll give you one guess.

Yes, Satan, the chief of demons himself, Lucifer the bright and morning star, in all his glittering glory is caught at the centre of the slashing. Facing the fury of his own armies.

Ezekiel makes it clear it is God's will that things end this way for Satan. Describing this divinely-engineered end to the devil's long career of ruin and destruction, Ezekiel says:

"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD;
Because thou hast set thine heart as the
heart of God;
Behold, therefore I will bring strangers
upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and
they shall draw their swords against the
beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall
defile thy brightness.
They shall bring thee down to the pit,
and thou shalt die the deaths of them that
are slain in the midst of the seas.
Wilt thou yet say before him that
slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be
a man, and no God, in the hand of him
that slayeth thee.
Thou shalt die the deaths of the
uncircumcised by the hand of strangers:
for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD." Ezekiel 28:6-10.

The same masses Satan has delighted to mislead and ruin and celebrated when they died in their sins, the same ones Satan's temptations have caused to miss Heaven, the very same people whose worship he has enjoyed - at the last, God throws Satan to them to do with him as they will. Lucifer's legendary wisdom can not save him now. His glory - the brightest of any creature, that glory no other creature can equal, which filled him with pride - the doomed mob destroys it. No one cares for his screams. The lost want their revenge.

The universe looks upon this scene and fully approves. Thousands of years ago creatures everywhere watched Satan in the Garden of Eden deceive Eve, plunging the human race into unimaginable ruin. God gave Jesus who gave His life to correct that mistake via the very costly Plan of Redemption. Now Adam and Eve together with those of us who utilized the second chance given are saved and created anew now Satan wants to ruin us all over again! What kind of determination is this? How can someone be so relentless in his pursuit of destruction?

By this very attempt the fallen angel fills up his cup of iniquity and is ripe for destruction. Satan's long career of ruin reaches its limit at Gog and Magog.

There's now no doubt in the mind of every angel that Satan deserves to die. If God puts the devil down now, no one will doubt God's justice. Everyone sees the fallen angel is incurable. His unrelenting drive to destroy everything God has created exposes him as a virus that needs to be eliminated for the well-being of the universe. At this point his demise will be greeted with relief. He won't be missed. And his ideals and ambitions will die with him.

GOG AND MAGOG ACCORDING TO EZEKIEL.
Ezekiel describes this same gathering of the forces of evil against the New Jerusalem and the confused fight amongst themselves that end with God raining fire on them, like this:

"And it shall come to pass at the same
time when Gog shall come against the
land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my
fury shall come up in my face.
For in my jealousy and in the fire of my
wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day
there shall be a great shaking in the land
of Israel;
So that the fishes of the sea, and the
fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the
field, and all creeping things that creep
upon the earth, and all the men that are
upon the face of the earth, shall shake at
my presence, and the mountains shall be
thrown down, and the steep places shall
fall, and every wall shall fall to the
ground.
And I will call for a sword against him
throughout all my mountains, saith the
Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be
against his brother.
And I will plead against him with
pestilence and with blood; and I will rain
upon him, and upon his bands, and upon
the many people that are with him, an
overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire,
and brimstone." Ezekiel 38: 18-22

JUDGEMENT AND HELL.
As the slashing and the cutting goes on, "fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them." Revelation 20:9.

This is hell.

Everyone is burned in proportion to their sins - "out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Revelation 20:12, after which they're vanquished and annihilated, "This is the second death", Revelation 20:14. "For the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23. Said Jesus, "but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell". Matthew 10:28.

A NEW WORLD.
After the wicked, together with Satan and his angels, are destroyed and no longer exist, says John, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away." Revelation 21:1

God creates a new earth and new skies that is our home forever. Says Paul, "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23. Jesus Himself says, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly" John 10:10. Having been faithful stewards of our short temporary life on earth, God now entrusts us with something more permanent - A life as long as His.

We will live as long as God shall live.

KennethIbe59:
pls contact me on whatsapp zero eight one 810 six zero 594
i want to learn more about the end time ..
i wantto be saved

yes I will Kenneth

suffering:
I have the mark of the beast and OP has the mark of the beast. Every Nairaland member has the mark of the beast. It is called a mobile phone, laptop or TV. Dispose of them if you’re a true Christian.

just watch the Climate Change movement closely, that is where the storm clouds are gathering the fastest.

God loves you. Take time to think about how much He has gone through to secure for you everlasting life. Your situation may be less than ideal right now, but God has given you proof in Jesus that He knows about you and that He cares. Just hang in there and trust Him.

If today's events frighten you and you wish for an honest, scriptural breakdown of how the world ends, and what happens after, spare some time and go through this epistle.

THE MARK OF THE BEAST.
The whole world accepts and enforces the Mark of the Beast, "And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads" Revelation 13:16.

Christian churches become part of the Mark - a betrayal of the Gospel Paul refers to as "a falling away" (2 Thessalonians 2:3).

There's then a coordinated international effort to coerce those of us who don't want the Mark. We're few, but we're very firm and vocal.

Initially we're handled with kid gloves and gently encouraged to accept the Mark so the world can stand together as one.

But we refuse and the controversy escalates.

We start enduring backlash for our defiance like online censorship, and being deplatformed. In time this escalates to a denial of a range of public services and a barring of entry to social and public spaces - We're canceled and reduced to second class citizenship.
Still we fail to comply and things escalate higher: companies, businesses and government departments terminate our employment, taking away our livelihood. We face financial ruin and starvation; but still we stand firm against the Mark.

And now even harsher measures are introduced - every store, business and company across the world is banned from doing any form of business with us - we can't buy or sell anymore. Revelation 13: 17 "And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."

But we remain resolute and hold out.

And now is formulated a Final Solution against us: A law, inspired by Satan himself, is drafted that will sentence us to death who reject the Mark. We're called the worst of criminals who refuse to cooperate for the greater good and therefore it is needful that our existence be terminated so humanity can move forward fully united with no one wasting earth's resources who does not have the best interests of the planet, Revelation 13:15 "and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."

But in condemning us who have stood for truth, the world crosses a line with God. The limit of sin is reached and Jehovah's abundant patience with humanity finally runs out. The Infinite One, long holding back the full force of evil from overwhelming the world, prepares to let go. But first His children - our tiny group of outcasts dotted across the world, weary and suffering - who refuse the Mark must be sealed with His seal. We're an astonishingly small group, just 144,000 of us out of billions that populate the world. Revelation 7:1-4.

We are now sealed, "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time". Daniel 12:1.

THE TRIBULATION.
Michael standing up plunges the world into chaos because the restraining Spirit of God is withdrawn from humanity. Says Paul, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. " 2 Thessalonians 2:7.
Again Paul says, "And grieve not the holy spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." Ephesians 4:30. The Holy Spirit is the Restrainer and He's the Seal as well. When He's withdrawn from the world, He remains with the Believers as God's stamp on ownership of them.
When the Spirit is withdrawn, Everyone comes wholly under the control of Satan. The chief of demons, so long restrained from driving the human race over the edge finally gets his chance. And he makes good of it. From the East to the West, from the North to the South, there's such a spontaneous explosion of violence that one minute it's all peace and safety and the next minute sudden destruction hits. 1 Thessalonians 5:3 "For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them".

Without warning, without any given sign, whole cities instantaneously plunge into such carnage and violence even the most brutal wars can't compare. Each man is for himself and there's no safety for anyone anywhere.

The four winds have been let loose:
"And after these things I saw four
angels standing on the four corners of the
earth, holding the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow on the
earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living
God: and he cried with a loud voice to the
four angels, to whom it was given to hurt
the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
servants of our God in their foreheads." Revelation 7:1-3.

This carnage and mayhem is not God executing direct punishment on the world, but for so long He has protected the world from itself by His restraining power, now that He has let go there's left no power to enable self-control and entire populations become as wild beasts and the result is "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time."

THE SEVEN PLAGUES AKA THE WRATH OF GOD.
Now all attention moves to the Temple in Heaven of which the Temple on earth was "a mere copy of" Hebrews 9:24 where our "great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" Hebrews 4:14, "A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man" Hebrews 8:1,2 has been pleading humanity's case with God ever since He returned to Heaven.
There's a Temple in Heaven which works the same way as the old Jewish Temple did. This is the Original Temple of which the earthly Temple was a copy of. In the Heavenly Temple Jesus is the High Priest who pleads His own blood before God to secure forgiveness for everyone, just as on earth the Jewish high priest brought the blood of the animal sacrifice into the Temple to secure forgiveness for Israel.

Now as the world reels with the violence of the Tribulation, God moves to pour out the seven plagues:
"And the seven angels came
out of the temple, having the
seven plagues, clothed in pure
and white linen, and having
their breasts girded with
golden girdles.
And one of the four beasts
gave unto the seven angels
seven golden vials full of the
wrath of God, who liveth for
ever and ever.
And the temple was filled
with smoke from the glory of
God, and from his power; and
no man was able to enter into
the temple, till the seven
plagues of the seven angels
were fulfilled."
Revelation 15:6-8.

Smoke from the power of the glory of God fills the temple where Jesus our High Priest can no longer enter and has to cease His priestly work of intercession. This removes humanity's shield. There's now no pleading Messiah between an offended God and guilty men to soften the blows of divine justice. Humans must now "drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation" Revelation 14:10.

When Michael stood up, the Tribulation began. When Jesus ceases His priestly work in the Heavenly Temple the Wrath of God begins.

The wrath of God is expressed through the plagues of Revelation 16 which lead straight to Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil.

Our little sealed group around the world lives through these calamities. We press through the Tribulation as ships navigating a tempestuous storm and witnessing the horror of the plagues that follow, we long to be delivered into the safety and tranquility of Heaven, but it is God's plan that we are where we are. We are to remain patient at this trying hour. This so Jesus can fulfill His promise to us, "Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth." Revelation 3:10.

That protection is promised at this hour shows it's a universally violent time - a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation - which is the Tribulation, closely followed by the Plagues: these calamities are the hour of temptation to befall the world; and protection at this time is given on condition of patience. When the angel threatens against the Mark of the Beast promising the "wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture" - which is the seven plagues, he closes with "Here is the patience of the saints..." Revelation 14:12.

When the plagues begin, the world blames us who refuse the Mark of the Beast as the cause of all suffering. Just as before with the Coronavirus pandemic those who refused the vaccines were blamed for the spread of the disease. The narrative is that our small group provoked God who's now punishing the whole world for it and so to appease God and stop the suffering, we are to be hunted down and killed. Said Jesus, "yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16:2.

And so we become wanted fugitives.

The world wants us dead and we've no one in the world to save us. Not the police. Not our friends. Not our families. We're unarmed and trusting only in the Name of the Lord. Sooner or later the wicked will find us and do their worst. Day and night we agonize in prayer for deliverance. It's a frightening time.

THE RAPTURE.
As the wicked, possessed by Satan and his demons, seek us out in the forests and mountains and caves we're hiding in, guardian angels surround us in our hiding places. We can't see them but God promised.

Finally Satan's followers locate us and prepare to do their worst and decimate their quarry. For an anguished moment it looks as if God has forsaken us to fall by the hand of the wicked at the most perilous hour, but at that most desperate moment, the wicked exulting, weapons at the ready, ready to strike and shoot - look and see, a small cloud appears in the distance, drawing all attention to itself. It is the sign of the coming of the Son of Man.

"For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first:
Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord"
1 Thessalonians 4:16,17

Michael the archangel, the great Prince who stands for us, who is also Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our Messiah who gave His life for us at Calvary, has finally returned as He promised, at the hour we need Him the most. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and as the whole world beholds Him "the heart melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and the faces of them all gather blackness." Nahum 2:10.

Jesus said "he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matthew 24:31 This is the Rapture. Satan, his angels and the wicked are powerless as we defy gravity to meet our Savior in the air.

THE END OF THE WORLD.
Now we are with the Savior in the air, removed from the world below, What happened when Noah entered the ark and what happened when Lot left Sodom now happens when we are taken from the world - the Messiah's glory engulfs the whole planet, killing everything.

"A noise shall come even to the ends of
the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy
with the nations, he will plead with all
flesh; he will give them that are wicked to
the sword, saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold,
evil shall go forth from nation to nation,
and a great whirlwind shall be raised up
from the coasts of the earth.
And the slain of the LORD shall be at
that day from one end of the earth even
unto the other end of the earth: they shall
not be lamented, neither gathered, nor
buried; they shall be dung upon the
ground." Jeremiah 25:31-33.

Says John the Revelator describing this same global massacre:
"And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army." Revelation 19:19. After describing the beast's fate, John describes the fate of the kings and their armies: "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth." Revelation 19:21.

As believers we are the salt of the earth. God tolerates the world on account of us who fear Him. Just as He told Abraham, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes" Genesis 18:26, God has spared the world for so long because of the righteous. Now the angels have collected all the righteous and gathered us in the air with Christ, on the ground below is left not even one righteous. As far as God is concerned, there's no longer a legitimate reason to keep the world going. And everyone on earth is summarily cut down. As Paul said, Christ "shall destroy with the brightness of his coming." 2 Thessalonians 2:8.

For Satan and his angels watching helplessly, it's the nightmare of Noah's flood all over again - watching their billions of human subjects killed. Only this time not by water, but by Christ's glory:
"Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men." 2 Peter 3:6,7.

THE MILLENNIUM.
Now Christ turns around and heads back to Heaven, bringing us with Him who He has redeemed. As our glorious procession fades into space, Satan and his angels on the ground find themselves stranded on a devastated planet filled with dead bodies. It's a terrible sight. Says the prophet describing the world's last day:

"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was
without form, and void; and the heavens,
and they had no light.
I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they
trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
I beheld, and, lo, there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was
a wilderness, and all the cities thereof
were broken down at the presence of the
LORD, and by his fierce anger.
For thus hath the LORD said, The
whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not
make a full end.
For this shall the earth mourn, and the
heavens above be black; because I have
spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not
repent, neither will I turn back from it." Jeremiah 4:23-28.

This is the start of the millennium. A thousand years of desolation on earth. No human life. No animals. No vegetation. Just utter ruin as far as the eye can see.
Satan is trapped on this dead planet with no one to exercise his power over. No one to tempt. No one to mislead. Because everyone is dead. The great Tempter finds himself without purpose.

Using metaphor to describe this predicament of Satan, John says:
"And I saw an angel come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless
pit and a great chain in his hand.
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old
serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and
bound him a thousand years,
And cast him into the bottomless pit,
and shut him up, and set a seal upon
him, that he should deceive the nations no
more, till the thousand years should be
fulfilled.. " Revelation 20:1-3.

HEAVEN.
Christ takes us to meet "Our Father who art in Heaven", that we may see the One who "so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son", to show us that even though it is Christ Jesus who came and died, God's own love for us is equal as that of Christ. That it was as painful a sacrifice for God to give Jesus up as it was for Jesus to give up His life. Between the two of them, infinite sacrifices were made to save humanity from eternal ruin.

When Adam and Eve sinned, it was needful that humanity be killed off otherwise the creatures of the universe would think God is a God of empty threats and His Law can be broken with impunity - something that would destabilize the universe. All eyes were on our world to see divine justice executed on us. But God went all out to save us - not by withholding the death penalty and compromising justice - but by instead giving His beloved Son to face the death penalty on our behalf at Calvary. Justice is executed, but also Mercy. Humanity escapes punishment not because God is too weak to enforce His law, but because He's too merciful and instead allows His Son to be punished on our behalf.

This is the Plan of Redemption.

The whole universe marvels at the beauty of God's character and everyone has a new understanding of His love, and a new reverence for His Law.

During our thousand years with God, every question is answered, every disappointment and heartache of our life is explained. We're shown everything happens for a reason and nothing was permitted to happen that was not calculated to bring us closer to God and closer to the Prize.

"But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." Revelation 20:5.

BACK TO EARTH.
After the millennium Christ takes us back to the desolate earth. Says the prophet, "the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zechariah 14:5.

Zechariah 14 and Revelation 20 and 21 cover most of what happens at this point.

"the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee." Zechariah 14:5. "And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south." Zechariah 14:4
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Revelation 21:2.

At our return from a 1000 years in Heaven, we bring the New Jerusalem city with us and Christ lands His Feet on the mount of olives in Israel and it separates into two and in the space between He puts the holy city.

Let's talk about the battle of God and Magog, Judgement Day and Hell another time.

Happy Sunday

Mrscarter:
And may God have mercy on us all

indeed. We've been born at the most fearful time in history. So much is happening.

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday.

Is your pastor familiarizing you with these things?

When does the Tribulation start?
After the Mark of the Beast has been introduced and enforced on the world and everyone has had a chance to choose.

What causes the Tribulation?
"And after these things I saw four
angels standing on the four corners of the
earth, holding the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow on the
earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
And I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living
God: and he cried with a loud voice to the
four angels, to whom it was given to hurt
the earth and the sea,
Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
servants of our God in their foreheads.
And I heard the number of them which
were sealed: and there were sealed an
hundred and forty and four thousand of
all the tribes of the children of Israel." Revelation 7:1-4.

The Tribulation is caused by angels letting go of the four winds upon the world.

What are the four winds?
"And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come." Jeremiah 49:36
"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea." Daniel 7:2

The peace, order and system in the world today that allows us to go about our daily lives, we owe to divine benevolence which is restraining the winds of strife, war, conflict et cetera for the sake of Gospel work which must continue to completion. God actively creates each new day that we wake up to by holding back the overwhelming evil only permitting an allocated, carefully measured and bearable amount to bear on us day by day, as explained by Jesus, "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:34.

But fast approaches the Day when the last sermon will be given and the last believer saved and then the angels will be told to let go of the winds. The inevitable hour shall come when a God of love shall finally withdraw His offers of mercy and forgiveness to sinners, when the work of spreading the Gospel shall end and sinners shall be given their heart's desire of a world without God. The peace, safety and order of our everyday life that we take so much for granted but that has been a daily gift from God will at last be taken away and a time of unprecedented chaos, havoc, turmoil, mayhem, anarchy, ruin and catastrophe shall befall the world on a scale unlike anything human beings have ever witnessed in all of history. Angels in Heaven and all the creatures of the universe shall see, like never before, the violence, misery and degradation that must happen when God is rejected.

God's desire is for a world populated with "people in whose heart is my law". Isaiah 51:7. Because then everyone will love God with all their heart, mind and strength; and then they'll love the next person as much as they love themselves - which will make for a peaceful, safe and harmless world.
The safety of all created beings depends on God being their first love, not each other. If Adam loved his God more than he loved his wife, then he would have never let her mislead him to disobedience. He would have never fallen.

But human beings have long regarded the Law of God as a burden, something blocking their freedom. They have looked upon the Ten Commandments as a killjoy, something to be removed if life is to be fully enjoyed. The "Do's and Don'ts" of God's Law have been seen as limiting and suffocating, and people have longed to cast off this moral restraint. Now at the very end, after the angels "have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads." Revelation 7:3, God grants them their wish.

He removes the restraints of His law on the human heart. The winds are loosed.

Says the holy prophet, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?" Jeremiah 17:9.
When God removes His Law from the heart of humans, the conscience turns off. And the heart is given over to its satanic nature - to its malice, bloodthirstiness, lusts, jealousies, envy, anger and every vile emotion Satan can conjure. Now everyone is free to do anything. Anyone can do whatever. Anyone can lie, steal, rape, rob and kill whoever. This is the source of the Tribulation. The removal of God's grace from the world with the resulting frenzy of violence and lawlessness that turns the world into one continuous field of carnage and mayhem: "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time". Daniel 12:1.

It gets worse...

To add to the already unequaled violence of that time, God, whose mercy has been trifled with, commissions the seven angels to pour the plagues on the world. "And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." Revelation 16:1.

The sealed saints are safe. But the wicked who have the Mark of the Beast suffer, for the plagues fall "upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." Revelation 16:2. Terrible is the suffering of sinners at this time because the plagues are the supreme expression of divine wrath upon a world that has defiantly stood united in rebellion against Jehovah and thrown His mercy to His Face, and as such are poured out without leniency and mercy. Said John, "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation". Revelation 14:9,10.

This sealing of faithful believers and the fearful execution of divine vengeance upon those without the Seal was demonstrated in Ezekiel's blood-chilling vision of the men with the killing weapons:

"He cried also in mine ears with a loud
voice, saying, Cause them that have
charge over the city to draw near, even
every man with his destroying weapon in
his hand.
And, behold, six men came from the
way of the higher gate, which lieth toward
the north, and every man a slaughter
weapon in his hand; and one man among
them was clothed with linen, with a
writer's inkhorn by his side: and they
went in, and stood beside the brasen
altar."
"And the LORD said unto him, Go
through the midst of the city, through the
midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon
the foreheads of the men that sigh and
that cry for all the abominations that be
done in the midst thereof.
And to the others he said in mine
hearing, Go ye after him through the city,
and smite: let not your eye spare, neither
have ye pity:
Slay utterly old and young, both maids,
and little children, and women: but come
not near any man upon whom is the
mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then
they began at the ancient men which were
before the house." Ezekiel 9:1-2, 4-6.

There are forces in every city, that stand ready to destroy when the limit of sin is reached. As shown by the procedure of Sodom and Gomorrah's destruction. At the end of time, after the living saints have been sealed, the angels of destruction will get to work in every city, village and camp. But the sealed of God will be safe.

Nwchkwgz:
The ending by scattering is near sha But no Jesus is coming back

then we'll have to wait and see I guess

(a very long read, but worth your time)

Here's the sequence of events at the end of the world as shown in the Scriptures.

Those looking for the building of the 3rd Jewish Temple before the end of the world read here:
https://www.nairaland.com/6743278/rapture-endtime-third-jewish-temple

One day in the near future the world will come together and set up a system that will be considered the best thing ever for the common good of our planet and its people. It will gain universal support with everyone from governments, political parties, civic organizations, non-profits, academic institutions, business groups, labor unions, world religions, as well as Christian churches coming on board. This is a system that will start off benevolent and with good intentions, but as we all know, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

For that system will quickly evolve and become the Mark of the Beast.

The Mark Of The Beast is a system based on an error whose end goals will be contrary to the Law of God. The man that will rise to the top of this system is not a politician or a businessman, but a religious figure. He is called the Man of Sin and the Son of Perdition but more commonly known as the Anti-Christ.

When the Churches unite with the world on this system that, at first glance, looks harmless but is really based on an error and causes the whole world to break God's Law, this will be the "falling away" Paul says will happen just before the Second Coming of Jesus. Says Paul:
"Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ, and by our
gathering together unto him.... Let no man deceive you by
any means: for that day shall
not come, except there come
a falling away first, and that
man of sin be revealed, the
son of perdition". 2 Thessalonians 2:1, 3.

The Mark Of The Beast and the Abomination that Causes Desolation are one and the same thing. Says Daniel:
"Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wings of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate". Daniel 9:27 New King James Version. Emphasis supplied.

This verse talks about two different men. And two similar events.

The first part is Christ the Messiah who ends all sacrifices by dying not for Himself but for us as the verse before this one says, "And after threescore and two weeks, shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself". Verse 26. Christ's death ends all sacrifices as He is the true Sacrifice, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29. After His sacrificial death there's no need for sacrifices because "He died to sin once for all" Romans 6:10. Jesus Himself says to God, "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure". Hebrews 10:5,6.

The second part of Daniel 9: 27 (bolded) first describes the desecration of the Jerusalem temple in 70AD by the Romans and secondly describes the desecration of the temple at the end of the world.
Now, since the temple of Jerusalem was destroyed in totality and there's no longer an earthly temple recognized by God today and really no longer a need for one since Christ's death ended all sacrifices; To discover exactly what will be desecrated at the end of the world needs careful study, hence Jesus's cautionary words at bolded below:
"When ye therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy
place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand)
Then let them which be in
Judaea flee into the
mountains:"
Matthew 24:15,16

Now, the Mark Of the Beast will also bring the dreaded union of Church and State.

Church and State must never unite, and no one single religion must control the government because then the government will be used to enforce religion. Something contrary to God's plan. God desires religious liberty - the freedom of worship. All must freely choose who to worship so that on Judgement Day they may be rewarded or punished in accordance with the choices they have freely made. It's called Freewill.

The Mark of the Beast will disregard all this and secular power will be used by churches to enforce religious doctrine.
The fact that secular government will originate this Mark means it will start off as a well-meaning social system that Churches will adopt and promote and eventually take over. Then the government will be used to force all Christians to fall in line. This will be done through the police and the soldiers. Businesses will play their part and withdraw their services from those refusing to conform. As the controversy escalates there'll be a point where lawmakers will create laws that condemn dissenters to death.

Because on paper, the system will look brilliant and reasonable, people in opposition to it will be considered antisocial and seen not only as enemies of the state and of the planet but ultimately as enemies of God Himself.

All this will happen in America because this is the only country powerful enough to impose its will on the world. The only country that can "causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads". Revelation 13:16. The rest of the world will follow America's lead, as they do in all things.

As the Mark of the Beast is enforced, God will also introduce His own Seal. Says John, "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God" Revelation 7:2.

The Mark Of The Beast is on people's "right hand, or in their foreheads." Revelation 13:16. Where Forehead represents a willing understanding and voluntary acceptance of the Mark, and Right Hand means a forced acceptance where victims yield to the Mark for survival or else they lose their jobs or starve.
In contrast, the faithful will bear the Seal of "our God in their foreheads". Revelation 7:3. Unsurprisingly, God's seal is only in the forehead, because our Maker only accepts willing understanding and voluntary acceptance. He never forces anyone.

When the Mark is decreed the whole world will be called to take a stand, either for the Mark of the Beast or the Seal of the living God.
Now, faithful church members in all church denominations who have diligently studied prophecy will make an important connection, that the Mark of the Beast IS ONE AND THE SAME with the Abomination that causes Desolation spoken of by Daniel and Jesus:
"When ye therefore shall see
the abomination of desolation,
spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy
place, (whoso readeth, let him
understand)
Then let them which be in
Judaea flee into the
mountains:"
Matthew 24:15,16

And so the moment the Mark is signed into law God's faithful will flee from society, having prayed that their "flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day". Matthew 24:20.
The faithful ones' refusal to accept the Mark and their subsequent flight from society will make them outlaws, banned from buying and selling, arrested and finally purposed to be killed. As in The Purge films, the general population will be at liberty, at some designated time, to find these and kill them as enemies of both God and society: "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed." Revelation 13:15

The installation of the Abomination that causes Desolation AKA the Mark of the Beast marks the point when the world exhausts God's patience. Humanity has filled up its measure of guilt and is ripe for destruction: "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time". Daniel 12:1.

When Michael stands up he declares:
"He that is unjust, let him
be unjust still: and he which is
filthy, let him be filthy still:
and he that is righteous, let
him be righteous still: and he
that is holy, let him be holy
still." Revelation 22:11

At that moment everyone's destiny is fixed: for God or for Satan. No more switching. No more accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. God's people have the Seal of the living God, the wicked have the Mark of the Beast.

Michael is our "great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" Hebrews 4:14 where He's "A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Hebrews 8:1,2.

Jesus the Messiah is our High Priest who has been pleading humanity's case with God in the heavenly temple ever since He returned to Heaven. Now when the world unanimously accepts the Mark of the Beast, when the Abomination that causes Desolation has been put in the holy place, the limit of sin is reached and God finally pours out the seven last plagues:
"And the seven angels came
out of the temple, having the
seven plagues, clothed in pure
and white linen, and having
their breasts girded with
golden girdles.
And one of the four beasts
gave unto the seven angels
seven golden vials full of the
wrath of God, who liveth for
ever and ever.
And the temple was filled
with smoke from the glory of
God, and from his power; and
no man was able to enter into
the temple, till the seven
plagues of the seven angels
were fulfilled."
Revelation 15:6-8.

Michael standing up with the resulting chaos in the world is the same event as the smoke from the glory of God filling the temple where Jesus our High Priest can not now enter and has to cease His priestly work. Jesus exiting the Temple, or Michael standing up, removes humanity's shield.

This plunges the world into a frenzy of chaos as God's restraining power over people's evil nature is removed and Satan gains full control of the human race and the result is "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time."

And then the seven plagues begin. Revelation 16. And lead straight to Armageddon, the final battle between good and evil. The Sealed of God are safe from these calamities. Not so the rest of the world who have worshipped the Beast, it's on them that the angels "pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth." Revelation 16:1

When the plagues begin, the world will blame the faithful ones who refused the Mark of the Beast as the cause of all suffering. Just as presently with the Coronavirus pandemic those refusing to vaccinate are being blamed for the spread of the disease so the tragedy of the plagues will be blamed on those who refused the Mark. The narrative will be that this small group provoked God who's now punishing the whole world for it and so to appease God and stop the suffering the outlaws have to be hunted down and killed. Said Jesus, "yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." John 16:2.

And so the faithful ones become wanted fugitives. Their flight when the Abomination of Desolation was installed in the holy place saw them taking refuge in the wilderness, in mountains and caves. Yet others were intercepted and arrested and stay languishing in jail. It's a terrible time. Their suffering is different from the rest of mankind. Says the prophet Jeremiah of that anguished time, "Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:7

When Jacob tricked his brother Esau out of his first-born blessings by pretending to be him to their poor-sighted father Isaac (Genesis 27), Jacob fled to his uncle Laban to escape Esau's fury. Years later Jacob returned with his wives, children and property to finally meet his estranged brother who, it turns out, was still angry and thirsting for revenge and had amassed a small army to destroy Jacob. Which absolutely terrified Jacob.
After sending everyone ahead he spent the night alone in prayer and a man appeared and wrestled with him till daybreak. (Genesis 32:24-29)
Jacob well understood he was dealing with a celestial being and no ordinary man. And this wrestling was not a mere physical tussle but a mental combat. Jacob was caught between a rock and a hard place. He couldn't return to Laban's home and ahead his brother wanted his head for robbing him of his birthright and blessing. Jacob had nowhere to run. He couldn't just walk away and leave his family to perish by the hand of revengeful Esau. And so he sent everyone ahead, and himself, on that fearful night, turned to God in prayer. He became a prayer warrior. And challenged God Himself. It was in prayer that he wrestled with God. And the whole night he petitioned his Maker and pleaded his case. Jacob had repented of his past sins and changed his life and lived an honorable life before God. And God had shown He had forgiven Jacob by blessing him while with Laban. Now Jacob asked for that same divine favor as he met Esau who was thirsting for revenge. That was what the whole episode was about.

The saints of God, scattered everywhere around the world in mountains, caves, forests and jails go through the same experience.
The world wants them dead and they've no one in the world to save them. Not the police. Not their friends. Not their families. They're unarmed and trusting only in the name of the Lord. They must take hold of God in prayer and plead their cases with Him directly. Having lived a life of repentance they now lay claim of God's promises of deliverance. It's a frightening time. Says Jeremiah about the whole episode:
"For thus saith the LORD; We
have heard a voice of
trembling, of fear, and not of
peace.
Ask ye now, and see
whether a man doth travail
with child? wherefore do I see
every man with his hands on
his loins, as a woman in
travail, and all faces are turned
into paleness?
Alas! for that day is great,
so that none is like it: it is
even the time of Jacob's
trouble, but he shall be saved
out of it."
Jeremiah 30:5-7.

The people of God agonize in prayer, fearing for their life, having been declared enemies of all that is good and of God. In the midst of the plagues, they're hunted to be killed to appease an angry God. They're cut off from society and every means of acquiring food and water but God provides. He feeds them and watches over them.

As the wicked, possessed by Satan and his demons, seek out the faithful in the forests and mountains and caves, invisible guardian angels surround God's people in their hiding places and await God's command to deliver them.

"But he shall be saved out of it".
Finally Satan's followers locate the saints and prepare to do their worst and decimate their quarry. For a moment it looks like God has forsaken His own to fall by the hand of the wicked at the most perilous hour, but at that most desperate moment, the wicked exulting, weapons at the ready, look and see, a small cloud appears in the distance, drawing all attention to itself. It is the sign of the coming of the Son of Man.

"For the Lord himself shall
descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first:
Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up
together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in
the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord"
1 Thessalonians 4:16,17

Offpoint1:
Where were you when the rapture happened 6 years ago?

You don't know you're the left behind?

not according to the Bible.

Polynek:
The rich won't like message like dix while d poor wish the world could end and all d suffering will end at once

yes. That's how it always is. The rich don't want the good time to end while the poor want relief from their crushing circumstances. It's why the poor have always been more welcoming of the gospel than the well-off.

Happy Sunday.

ARMAGEDDON IN OUR LIFETIME?
As unprecedented world events pile up, eg the recent admission by the American government that UFOs are real, shocking Covid measures that have practically imprisoned the global population and the utterance by governments of that most ominous phrase with Mark Of the Beast connotations, "If you don't have a vaccine passport you'll lose your job, won't be permitted to use the bank or enter such and such places etc" - there's a general feeling that something of biblical proportions is about to break upon the World and forever change the course of human history. And in some quarters, there's this terrible feeling that the world as we know it, may end within our lifetime.

Things are just moving so fast. Within the space of a year and a half we've moved from being a carefree people able to go wherever whenever to being prisoners living under lockdowns and curfews, required to wear face masks everytime we leave our homes and where we can't travel to any country without a covid vaccine certificate. And apparently all this is "for our own good".

How did we get here so quickly? And where will we be in another year and a half from now? How worse will things be by then?

It's scary to even imagine.

But life goes on nonetheless. Children attend school, adults go to work, families visit the church and we still date and marry. But it's now all with an uneasy feeling of impending doom.
Many parents around the world have taken their children out of public schools and are homeschooling them. Many families are changing states and cities. Other families are leaving cities as a whole and moving to the countryside. We're all making life choices with an understanding that things are about to get worse and worse.

And one area we have to take the possible end of the world into consideration when making a choice is our choice of a romantic partner.

DO NOT BE UNEQUALLY YOKED.
2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

As Christians we know not to unite with non-Christians in relationships because of lifestyle differences and an incompatible world view.

Yet we also know that the verse goes deeper and frowns even upon the union of two Christians of different denominations. This time because when we get down to doctrines and the finer points of our faith, different churches hold different views. As an example, the Christian world is divided between those who worship on Saturday and those who worship on Sunday. Believers from opposing sides will read the same Bible and pray to the same God and so decide to date or marry, but they'll discover they can't obey Jesus together in harmony because of the logistical challenges of a couple keeping holy two separate days. It won't matter who's right or who's wrong, the friction arising will sour both their faith. Christian as they are, they're unequally yoked.

QUESTION.
Are you and your loved one on the same page as regards to the book of Revelation and how the world will end? Do you lovebirds share the same ideas about endtime events like the Rapture and the Tribulation? Do you have the same belief about things like the upcoming Mark Of The Beast?

NO GENERAL AGREEMENT YET ABOUT THE MARK OF THE BEAST.
There may not yet be a Christianwide consensus on what the dreaded Mark Of the Beast is. And if you think about it, there won't ever be. Because once the Mark Of the Beast (MOTB), is collectively identified beyond doubt, given Revelation's promised punishments on whoever will get it, no one in their right mind will accept or give in to it. Still, we all have various ideas and opinions about the MOTB.

As churches and as individuals.

Because of the cryptic nature of the book of Revelation and its hard to understand subject matter, many churches don't discuss it. Hence a lot of church organizations don't have an official standing on apocalyptic subjects like the Mark of The Beast.

Then there are those churches that do talk about the Mark. And their opinions of what it is/will be, is a hugely interesting list.

Some think the Mark will be a microchip, others think it's the Covid vaccines, while yet others think it's the Covid passes being rolled out by governments around the world where everyone has to show proof of Covid vaccination or be shut out of society. It is not the purpose of this writeup to discuss what the Mark is or is not, but given that we all have an opinion already formed about what we think it is, DOES OUR ROMANTIC PARTNER SHARE THE SAME OPINION? Is our Special One and ourselves expecting the world to end the same way?

"SIR, HOW DO YOU BELIEVE THE WORLD WILL END?"
When we talk with a prospective romantic partner, even in Christian circles, we ask such questions as, Do you drink or smoke? Do you eat this or that? What music do you listen to? What's your idea of having fun? What political party do you support? Do you like sports? How do you believe a respectful partner must dress? How do you think is the best way to discipline a child? And so on.

In light of current events that point to a bleaker and bleaker future, It may be that it's time to vet possible love interests with questions that pertain to the end of the world to ensure we date people who see world events how we see them. That way, we'll be able to move as harmonious couples in a fast changing world.

After the usual lifestyle, diet and fashion questions, it may be important that we ask a date, especially a professed Christian, How do you think the world will end? Do you feel the end is near or far off? Do you believe in the Mark of the Beast? What do you think it is?
Again, it's not about who holds the correct biblical doctrine on these issues. But about being on the same page. For the sake of romantic harmony so when the time comes you move in tandem and in the same direction. So as world events progress you find yourselves making the same moves and responding in the same way.

Imagine dating and marrying someone who believes we still have centuries before the MOTB and who believes the current troubles will pass, hence they're intent on having many children. Yet yourself you believe the current restrictions and mandates of the Coronavirus are but a preparation and a prelude to the Mark of the Beast itself. Hence you don't want any kids because you believe life is about to become a nightmare. You can imagine the disappointment your partner will feel when they learn about your convictions and preferences.

Or If you believe the MOTB is a physical thing and you date and marry someone who believes it's spiritual, How will you watch out for it as a team when you're looking for two different things? You'll be in disharmony and you won't move in the same way.

Are you and your sweetheart Endtime compatible?

Because especially in these extraordinary times, It's crucial to get with someone who holds the same views as you about what's happening and where things are headed. So your hopes and your prayers stay the same. So your preparations and your family plans stay the same.

The Jews in Israel have reportedly started building the long-awaited THIRD TEMPLE that, to many in the Christian world, signal we've entered apocalyptic times and the Messiah is about to appear.

Recall that the First Temple was built by King Solomon in 1000BC, but was destroyed in 586BC by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon who carried people like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego off to Babylon (2 Kings 25:8-10). In Babylon, after that whole incident of the mysterious hand writing on the wall, Babylon was conquered by the Medes and Persians. It was king Cyrus the Great, a Persian, who allowed the exiled Jews to return to Jerusalem to build the Second Temple circa 538BC. This is the temple that lasted till Jesus's birth but was destroyed together with Jerusalem by the Romans in AD70, some 40 years after His death.

Now, according to many Christians, there's going to be a Third Temple built in Israel during the Endtimes that will usher in the anti-Christ who'll supposedly stop the sacrifices in it and introduce the Abomination that causes desolation in apparent fulfillment of Daniel 9:27.
Many are waiting for the building of this temple as the cue that the end has begun. And as long as this is not happening, they don't see the world ending any time soon.

But this doctrine is NOT Scriptural.

Let's talk about it...

THE FIRST COMING OF JESUS.
When Jesus Christ was born, the most powerful nation at that time was the Roman Empire. And the Jewish nation, like every nation, was under this super power.

At that time the 12 tribes of Israel had dwindled down to just 2 tribes - Judah and Benjamin. The other 10 had disappeared when they broke away from Israel after King Solomon's death - more than 700 years before Jesus's birth - and went to form their own independent kingdom, which they called the Kingdom of Israel whose capital was Samaria, only to be vanquished by the Assyrians (2 Kings 17:6) who scattered them to the wind. (The scattering of these tribes is why there are many groups around the world, both black and white, who claim to be Israelites looking forward to being gathered back to Israel at the end times).

Judah And Benjamin meanwhile had thrived calling their union the Kingdom of Judah with Jerusalem their capital and the people there referred to as Jews.

Moreover, the people of Judah knew they were still in God's plan because the promised Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah as a dying Jacob had prophesied back in Egypt at the time of Joseph when he said concerning his son Judah, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto him shall the gathering of the people be." (Genesis 49:10)

When Jesus was born, Shiloh had come in fulfillment of that prophecy and his birth specifically in Bethlehem was in fulfillment of yet another prophecy that pinpointed Bethlehem as his point of origin: Micah 5:2 "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

Because the Jews were a conquered nation and longed for freedom they pinned their hopes on the promised Messiah whom they well expected to come from king David's line and whom they pictured coming in great power to set them free and elevate them above all nations and usher in that beautiful prophesied age when all the world "... shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift sword against nation and they will no longer study warfare."
Isaiah 2:4, when "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the
ox..."Isaiah 11:6, 7

But these prophecies apply to the Second Coming of the Messiah. Not the First Coming. The Jews failed to understand the First Coming was not going to end with the Jewish nation exalted to super power status but end, rather tragically, with the Messiah hanging on the cross offered as a sacrifice for the sins of the world and with their beloved Jerusalem laid to waste soon after.

Daniel had foretold these gruesome events.

In chapter 9:26,27 of his book, he says -
"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate"
"Daniel 9:26,27

Jesus the prophesied Messiah was indeed cut off (abruptly killed), but not for Himself but for us being the Lamb of God offered for the sins of the world. The desolation of Jerusalem after the Messiah's cutting off, Jesus Himself foretold saying there was coming a time when "no stone will be left on top of each other" Mark 13:2. When they "shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Luke 21:20. This prophecy fulfilled in 70AD when Roman generals came and laid Jerusalem to waste, 40 years after Jesus's death.

Talking about Shiloh, Jacob had said, "And unto him shall the gathering of the people be."
Which gives the same picture as Daniel's own words, "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week". Because they're both talking about the Messiah/Shiloh/Jesus Christ.

Daniel continues, "and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease,".

Daniel is still talking about the Messiah.

Christ/Shiloh/Messiah's ministry was meant to last for a week or 7 years prophetically speaking. But in the middle of that week (that is in the middle of the seven years) he was to end the sacrifices in the temple. In other words, after 3 and a half years Messiah was to end all sacrifices.
This is a reiteration of "shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself". When Christ the Messiah was killed but for us, He was 3 and a half years into his ministry. At which time He THE MESSIAH caused the sacrifices to cease because He, the true Lamb of God had been finally sacrificed. This end of the sacrifices was signaled by the tearing of the temple veil at the moment of Jesus's death.

The Jews overlooked these prophecies.

So when the meek lowly man Jesus, whom they all knew was the carpenter's son, declared himself the long promised Messiah you can understand why the Jews were not prepared to accept it.

And they didn't accept it for three and a half years that culminated with Him being murdered. But His murder was really the Sacrifice that automatically ended all sacrifices. From that point onwards the Temple, where all sacrifices took place, was obsolete hence the temple veil tore up.

The High Priest's job also came to an end. As far as God was concerned.

Yet the Jews had continued to sacrifice until the destruction of Jerusalem four decades after the death of Christ. Unknown to them, God no longer recognized their sacrifices and everything was for nothing because Jesus the Lamb of God had been sacrificed. It was the equal of Abraham continuing to sacrifice Isaac when God had provided the ram caught by horns in the thicket.

WHY THE MESSIAH ENDED THE SACRIFICES.
To understand why the sacrifices ended when Jesus died, we have to understand what was the purpose of the sacrifices in the first place.

When Adam and Eve sinned, death was pronounced upon us. In mercy, Christ offered to sacrifice His life and die in our place. That promise was made known to Adam when God told them the woman's seed will crush the serpent's head. Genesis 3:15. The woman's seed is Jesus the Messiah who was to be born of a woman. The serpent is Satan.
Now because God had planned Jesus to sacrifice his life some 4,000 years later, God created a system for humans to observe in the meantime that would remind us of the coming Sacrifice as we waited. That will keep the great Sacrifice in our minds so we never forget and stay grateful. That system was the animal sacrifices. Every animal sacrificed over the long centuries pointed to Christ the true Sacrifice who was coming. The pain and agony of every sacrificed animal showed the future pain and agony of Jesus. And impressed vividly on the people the very real and very terrible consequences of sin.

When the Messiah finally came and died on the cross, but not for Himself, the ultimate Sacrifice had been offered on behalf of man. There was therefore no need for the animal sacrifices to continue because the thing the animal sacrifices represented had come. The thing God talked about in the Garden of Eden had happened. The woman's seed had crushed the serpent's head. Mission accomplished.
Says Paul speaking of Jesus, "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God." Hebrews 10:12

THE HEAVENLY TEMPLE.
With the sacrifices ended, the sanctuary (temple) desolated and the priesthood discontinued at Christ's death, what was to happen next?

Well the action moved to Heaven, where - surprise surprise - there's another temple complete with its own High Priest.

Says Paul, "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens;
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." Hebrews 8:1,2.

And who is the High Priest of this true tabernacle in Heaven? Paul again names Him: "Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." Hebrews 4:14.

The only temple that matters from now till the end of time is the Temple in Heaven, in which Jesus, our High Priest who was once a man like us and therefore understands our sufferings, ministers on our behalf before God pleading for mercy, grace and forgiveness for us. As long as Jesus ministers in that Temple, God's wrath - His righteous wrath against sinful men - is held back. But one day Jesus will have to stop His ministry and step aside and let the guilty world feel God's wrath.

And this happens with the seven last plagues of Revelation soon after the saints have triumphed over the Mark of the Beast. .

Revelation 15:5-8. "And after that I looked, and,
behold, the temple of the
tabernacle of the testimony in
heaven was opened:
And the seven angels came
out of the temple, having the
seven plagues, clothed in pure
and white linen, and having
their breasts girded with
golden girdles.
And one of the four beasts
gave unto the seven angels
seven golden vials full of the
wrath of God, who liveth for
ever and ever.
And the temple was filled
with smoke from the glory of
God, and from his power; and
no man was able to enter into
the temple, till the seven
plagues of the seven angels
were fulfilled."

The seven last plagues are poured soon after the world has accepted the Mark of the Beast as the earlier verses of Revelation 15 show how the saints triumphed over this mark. And when they're poured out, there'll be no High Priest in the heavenly Temple because smoke and glory makes it impossible for Christ to continue His ministry. Meaning for the first time in the history of the world, sinful men stand before an angry God with no Messiah to ask for leniency.

LAST QUESTIONS.
With Jesus's death having discontinued animal sacrifices at the temple and with the action having moved to the Temple in Heaven that God built and not man, where Jesus, our High Priest ministers on our behalf, Why would there be a need for another earthly temple? What would its purpose be, this so-called Third Temple at which the anti-Christ will supposedly stop the sacrifices and put the Abomination that causes Abomination? What sacrifices will be performed there when sacrifices were discontinued at Christ's death?
Christ's death stops all sacrifices as Paul says concerning Christ's mission on earth: "Sacrifice and offering thou
wouldest not, but a body hast
thou prepared me:
In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin thou hast
had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come (in
the volume of the book it is
written of me,) to do thy will,
O God." Hebrews 10:4-7.

Of what use will a Third Temple In Israel be? What sacrifices will be offered there that the anti-Christ is supposed to stop, when Christ already stopped the sacrifices by His own Sacrifice.

Answer: There's no 3rd Temple featuring in any prophecy. Yes the Israelis today may build another temple, and even offer sacrifices in it, but it won't be by God's command. And it won't be spiritually significant. And nothing about it signals anything about the return of Christ.

The Bible students who are waiting for the Third Temple base some of their belief in
Matthew 24:14,15, 21, "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)"
"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be."

But the Abomination of Desolation is not simply the defiling of a temple and its holy place. The caution: "whoso readeth, let him understand" shows there's a lot going on here that needs additional study to really understand.

And as these writeups progress, we'll do just that.

# KissTheTruthAndShameTheDevil

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The Law of God is eternal. And unchangeable. Anyone who breaks it can not be spared.. On Mount Sinai God describes Himself to Moses as One "that will by no means clear the guilty..." Exodus 34:7.

God governs a moral universe, where all intelligent creatures must abide by a common standard that He has set. This standard is for the safety, peace and wellbeing of everyone. The 10 commandments is that standard. It is the standard of character for all creatures.

Countries have laws and these laws ensure the peace and safety of everyone. By forbidding certain acts like stealing, murder etc these laws protect the citizens from being hurt, exploited or taken advantage of by others. Everyone's happiness and prosperity depends on everyone adhering to these laws. If anyone breaks any of these laws, they must be put away in jail because they've disturbed someone's peace and caused pain and distress.

The universe of God works the same way.

The Law of God governs over all. And all must adhere to it so all can be peaceful and happy. Anyone who breaks this Law will be put away. Meaning God will take back the life that He gave that person, as God clearly explained to Adam and Eve, "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Genesis 2:17.

But to Heaven's dismay, Adam and Eve went right ahead and ate the forbidden fruit anyway. Breaking God's Law. And the penalty of death was pronounced on us all.

When mankind broke the Law, God, consistent with His character as a just God, punished man with everlasting death. Says Paul, "For I, through the law, am dead to the law". Galatians 2:19.
Meaning as far as the Law of God is concerned, he's a dead man. We're all dead men.

God can not spare anyone who breaks His Law without jeopardizing the peace and order of the universe. The lawbreaker must be brought to book. Or else everyone everywhere will lightly regard God's Law. Unless the promised punishments are enforced, those who haven't sinned will think God is a God of empty threats and the whole universe will devolve into chaos. So it was imperative that Adam and Eve die. That their sons die. That our own forefathers die. That me and you and our relatives and friends die. That everyone born of a woman die. So angels and all other intelligent creatures across the universe may see that breaking God's Law indeed has consequences.

But then again, God is a God of mercy:

He describes Himself to Moses as “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin..." Exodus 34:6,7.

How is a God who forgives inequity and transgression and sin also a God" who will in no wise clear the guilty"?

Because of a plan engineered at the creation of the world. And put in motion as soon as Adam and Eve broke the Law. This is the plan of Redemption.

The laws of any country are equal to the people of that country since it is the people who elect the leaders. Any law in any country can change overnight if people want it to change. Someone can commit the most heinous crimes, but if the masses don't want that person arrested and they show their power, that person won't be arrested. The power of government is always in the hands of the people. The people = the law.

But in the universe, God = the Law.

The Law is equal to God and God is equal to the Law. Anyone who breaks the law of God can only be saved by God who is equal to the Law. God is the Judge. And only God can be the Savior.
When mankind sinned, only God could come to our rescue. Not angel. Not cherub. Not seraph.

Because mankind had been given life but forfeited it by breaking the Law in the Garden of Eden, God gave us a second chance by giving us Jesus.

Jesus is the Messiah who was born to live a blameless life on behalf of men that any man can take that blameless life and present it as his own before God. Says Paul, "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." Galatians 2:20.
In the Plan of Salvation, Jesus lives a life that pleases God, God makes that life available to us that we can claim it and be judged as never having broken the Law. The life of Jesus becomes like something we cover ourselves with so when God looks at us, He sees only the perfection of Jesus. Not our own failure.

Jesus illustrated this in the parable of the wedding banquet where a father threw a wedding feast for his son and all guests wore a wedding garment that was supplied, but one unruly guest wore his own garment. The father asked him, "Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless." Matthew 22:12.
The wedding is the kingdom of God. The wedding garment is Christ's righteousness. This garment is to be supplied, meaning the righteousness must be supplied. None can bring their own righteousness because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God", Romans 3:23.

Yet Jesus living a blameless life on behalf of us was only half of the Plan of Redemption.

God had declared to Adam, On the day that you eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree you shall die. And Adam having done exactly that, God had no choice but to carry out the death sentence of the human race to satisfy the demands of the broken Law that wanted the blood of the sinners. Now, Jesus, as the Messiah didn't stop the execution of mankind, instead he took mankind off the hook AND PLACED HIMSELF IN MAN'S PLACE. In the language of the streets, Jesus took a bullet for us.

The death penalty of the human race went ahead as the Law demands, but God, the Lawgiver Himself suffers the penalty in the person of Jesus at Calvary.

"The wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23. Fortunately for us, consistent with His character as a merciful God, God chose to suffer the penalty of death HIMSELF so that mankind can go free. Heaven takes upon itself the punishment meant for a fallen world so the fallen world can get a second chance With Heaven. Punishment is served, but a merciful God, in the person of Christ, suffers on behalf of the guilty.

Justice is served but also mercy is shown.

Justice and Mercy - two opposing forces - meet and harmonise in the Plan of Redemption. David renders this in a more poetic language, "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Psalms 85:10

And Isaiah, looking forward to Christ's sacrificial death that would satisfy the legal claims of God's broken Law, setting the guilty race free, he says, "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children." Isaiah 49: 24,25.

Mankind, the rightful prey of Satan who they chose when they disobeyed God, a doomed race under the curse of the Law they broke whose penalties they can't escape, finds relief through Christ's offer to live a blameless life on their behalf and to also die in their place. Thus the lawful captive goes free. The law itself remains unchanged. And as strict as ever.

This is the plan of Salvation.

Where God can be a just God, and yet the justifier of all who believe in Jesus Christ. Roman's 3:26.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23.

Why God Can't Destroy Satan. Yet.

Everything we see was created by God. And because God created everything, it is the duty of everything to worship God. Just as we honor our parents because without them we will not have been born, we are to bow before our Maker and exalt his name forever.

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."Genesis 1:1.
"... worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Revelation 14:7
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13

But there's something that God created, a being, an angel, that demanded to be worshiped just like God. This angel was jealous of the honor and reverence given to God by all creatures.

"How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!....
For thou hast said in thine heart,
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God:
I will sit also upon the
mount of the congregation,
in the sides of the north:
I will ascend above the heights of
the clouds; I will be like the
most High."(Isaiah 14:12-14) KJV

Lucifer, the most powerful of the creatures God had made, and the most beautiful and wisest, desired to be reverenced and honored in the same way God was. The creature desired the glory that rightfully belonged to the Creator.

This is the whole point of the battle between good and evil.

And our little blue world got entangled in that battle when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and yielded to Satan's temptation by eating the forbidden fruit.

In Heaven Satan said in his heart, "I will be like the most High". That same sentiment he transmitted to Eve in the garden of Eden, saying to her, "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.” Genesis 3:5 NKJV.

And Eve listened. Plunging humanity into misery.

Satan's promise was a lie. There was no elevation to divinity in eating the forbidden fruit, only a life of pain, heartache and disappointment that must end with a coffin.
In going against God's express command, our first parents got us all involved in a battle we had no business being part of.

Had Adam and his wife not sinned, the struggle between God and Satan would have continued still but not in our world and without us being part of it. But here we are. Caught between two cosmic powers who have been locked in battle since before time began. Each demanding our worship and our obedience.

The question is often asked: Why did an all-powerful, all-knowing God not destroy Satan the moment Satan disobeyed, to prevent the destruction, pain, suffering and loss of life accruing daily as the war with Satan drags on?

There are many reasons for this.

The angel that rebelled was no ordinary angel. He was the best of the best. An amazing blend of beauty and power. He was the most beloved creature in the universe of God. And God's own love for him was unparalleled. He had given this angel the highest position that can be given to a creature. Lucifer stood closest to the great Jehovah. The glory and light ever radiating from the deity shone freely on him and everywhere he went, Lucifer carried this light, as his name signifies he was the Lightbearer. Also, God's purposes and plans were also made known to all the creatures through Lucifer. He was Lightbearer in all ways. If there was a creature the whole universe considered most knowledgeable about God, a creature most acquainted with the inner workings of the government of God, it was Lucifer. No creature was as close to God as he was.

Ezekiel says of Lucifer, "Thus saith the LORD GOD, Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." Ezekiel 28:12-15)

Lucifer's high position with God and the fact that he was a much loved angel among the other creatures and was highly honored for his wisdom all made an immediate extermination of Lucifer when he began sinning counterproductive. It's not that Lucifer is too powerful for God to terminate, but terminating Lucifer in haste would have been a PR nightmare for God. Lucifer was too close to God that had God quickly destroyed him, it would have raised questions: What did Lucifer know that he had to be silenced so fast? What is God hiding?

If a president gets accused by his closest ally, he can take out the ally fast to silence him and preserve his own reputation. But this very act of quickly silencing his accuser will raise even more questions and conspiracy theories. It will be much better for the president to take his time to prove his innocence lawfully even though such a path would take time, money and cost him some supporters. But in the end when he's vindicated it will all be worth it.

This is the course God, the King of the Universe, chose in His dealings with Lucifer.

As already mentioned, Lucifer was very much beloved throughout the universe and that love was too great that unless time was given for his rebellion to mature and show its ugly fruits, too many creatures would have considered him a type of a hero who stood up to an all-powerful bully who knows no one can challenge Him.

Furthermore, an expedited vanquishing of this top angel would have made all the angels fear God as Someone who destroys quickly anyone who rebels. All worship of God henceforth would have been out of fear of being destroyed, and Satan would have had the last laugh from beyond the grave.
God is love and a universe exalting Him out of dread is contrary to His plan. He wants happy, pleasant worship from His creatures.

All these reasons, made God suffer His war with Satan to drag on for thousands of years.

Satan's fall from heaven, his ruining of mankind's life in the garden of Eden, his pushing the human race to sin so heavily against God to where it had to be destroyed by a worldwide flood, his constant work of deception and destruction among humans that culminated with the murder of God's Son at Calvary, all these events were needful in exposing the true nature of Lucifer's rebellion. When Jesus Christ hung on the cross, sacrificing His life to bring rebellious humanity back in harmony with God, the whole universe saw like never before the hatred for God Satan harboured in his heart. It was an eye opener.

The universe had anticipated Christ's life and death on earth because the plan of human redemption was shared with all creatures everywhere. But the manner of his death was shocking - considering his was a mission of love. 33 years back, the universe had marveled as God the Son left heaven to become a man. But the indifference and the unpreparedness that greeted his arrival at Bethlehem was astonishing: Where were the waiting masses? Where were the unnumbered multitudes from all nations and territories who had come to welcome the One who was to reconnect the fallen race with Heaven? Where were the celebrations and the ululations? Where were the great men to receive the Prince of Heaven? Why was His birth not announced on every public square and every public gathering? Don't the world's greatest not welcome their children with pomp and ceremony? So why was the birth at Bethlehem a non event that came and went with the night?
Satan had been working overtime over the centuries to cloud people's minds that when the time came for the Messiah to be born, only a handful of people knew. And since then Satan keenly opposed the Messiah's work throughout his life and at the last had him murdered.

All this the universe saw and understood.

Satan's relentless attacks against the Messiah that ended with the bloody scenes of Calvary, showed every angel in heaven, that the Lucifer they had loved and honored was up to no good. Had Lucifer been vanquished at the start of his rebellion, he would not have been unmasked as he was when Christ was crucified. The whole universe knows that at the trial of Jesus, when the masses finally shouted, "crucify him!" "crucify him!", they know that shout was instigated by Satan himself. Hence Satan is also called a murderer.

Yet Satan has lived on after the heinous murder of Christ. God is not through exposing him. Satan has been given more time to mature his plans so that when he's finally destroyed, there'll be no doubt in the mind of every angel in Heaven that he deserves to die. There must not be even a hint of doubt in any angel's mind as to God's justice when He finally puts Satan down. Satan's demise must be greeted with relief. So he won't be missed. And his ideals must die with him. A premature destruction of Satan will only lead to a continuation of his ideals and principles as other angels take up his cause believing he was unjustly dealt with.

Satan must live on. And he'll create even more chaos, which God, in His wisdom will continually use for the good of all those who love Him (Romans 8:28). And to the angels it will be additional proof of Satan's evil nature. There must be a time when there'll be only 144,000 faithful Christians in all the world and the universe will watch as the whole world, led by Satan, unleashes terror upon these faithfuls to such an extent Christ will have to personally come and save them, destroying the world in the process. (Revelation 7:1-4, 13-14). There must be a time when the New Jerusalem, the home of the redeemed, descends from the sky out of heaven and Satan will surround it and try to destroy it (Revelation 20:7-9)

When Satan's unrelenting drive to destroy anything and everything that God loves has reached its limit, and every creature in the universe has seen it, only then will the Maker move to decommission His corrupted Cherub, Ezekiel 28:26, "I will destroy thee, O covering cherub..."

God's power is infinite, but he can't use it to prove His point. The battle between good and evil is not about who's the most powerful. It's about who's right and who's wrong. And might doesn't make right.
So God put His power aside and became a man to prove His point. Christ's earthly life, struggles and eventual death was God battling Satan while weaker than Satan. Satan was still a mighty angel but defeated by the carpenter's son born in a manger who triumphed without ever punching anyone.

The angels saw that God's victories over Satan were not because God was stronger. Which reassured them that God wasn't an infinite power tyrant bent on using His power to exact worship from all.

In His dealings with Satan's rebellion, God is taking His time because He wants to prevent the rise of another Satan. He wants Satan's life and death to be an eternal reminder to all that there's nothing to be gained by going against God, only misery and failure. And looking at the scars Calvary has permanently left on Christ's hands and feet, everyone will be reminded of the supreme sacrifice God made to save a world that Satan had ruined. And all creatures great and small will bow down and worship God, not out of fear, but for His unmatched love, kindness and mercy.

That is a universe God desires to rule. That is why He's taking His time in dealing with Satan.