When Do the Heathen Rage? - Part 1
In today’s class we are going to look more closely at some of the passages in the Bible where it speaks about the heathen raging and being angry at God. It is at the time of the rapture, when God supernaturally raises His people both dead and alive to meet Him in the air, where we find the nations being angry.
Revelation 11:18 “And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou should give reward unto your servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great; and should destroy them which destroy the earth.”
In Revelation 11 the nations had been rejoicing at the death of the two prophets who prophesied in Jerusalem during the 3 ½ years of great tribulation. The Antichrist had had them killed and allowed their dead bodies to remain unburied as a testimony against them. But after three days and a half, God brings them back to life, and great fear falls upon everyone. Suddenly, a voice out of heaven calls them to, “Come up hither,” and they ascend up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies behold them.
The unbelieving nations become angry because of the supernatural event that has taken place. They have been deceived by Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet to believe that Christ is evil and that Satan is the true God. But now the predicted rapture has occurred and the Christians have been saved out of their hands. God’s word says,
Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
In Revelation 16, the seven angels pour out the seven vials or bowels of the wrath of God upon the earth. God’s word says that God is righteous in doing so, because they who have taken the mark of the beast and worshipped his image “have shed the blood of saints and prophets.” Another angel declares that God’s judgments are true and righteous. Revelation 16:6-7.
Revelation 16:8-9 “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give Him glory.”
It looks like, that no matter what man tries to do, global warming will come. After the Great Tribulation and Rapture, the seven vials or bowels of the Wrath of God, are poured out upon the wicked and unbelievers for a 2 ½ month or 75-day period. The wicked will receive a just reward for their evil deeds, which they have wreaked upon the earth in killing and oppressing the righteous, the poor and the innocent.
God’s judgments are meant to bring man to repentance. However, we see that the wicked continue to blaspheme the name of God and repent not of their wickedness. They continue their raging because they have believed a vain thing in following the deception and lies of Satan and his cohorts. They didn’t have a love for the truth, that they might come to salvation, and as a result fell into strong delusion believing the lies of the enemy.
Revelation 16:10-11 “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.”
Again, we see the lack of repentance and the continual blaspheming of the name of God. In other words, they are still swearing and taking Jesus Christ’s name in vain. During those 75 days of God’s Wrath, instead of mourning and repenting like the remnant of Israel are able to do, the wicked and unbelieving continue in their unbelief and wickedness.
Revelation 16:12-14&16 “And the sixth angel poured out His vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty…And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
Apostle John gets to visualize the unclean spirits coming out of the mouth of Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. They go forth to gather together the nations against Israel to that great and glorious day of the Battle of Armageddon, that great day, that is like no other, even the time of Jacob’s trouble, who, because of his repentance, shall be saved. Even now in various internet reports, we hear of how the Euphrates is actually drying up in places. Surely, the fulfilling of these prophecies must not be too far in the future.
To go to Part 2
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