Dear John and Doves -

I invite you to prayerfully consider the following scripture passage:

For thus says the Lord God: “How much more it shall be when I send My four severe judgments on Jerusalem–the sword and famine and wild beasts and pestilence–to cut off man and beast from it? “

Ezekiel 14:21 NKJV

The context is Jerusalem just before its destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. God accused His covenant people of persistent unfaithfulness. In the days of Sodom, God told Abraham that He would spare the city if there were just ten righteous people in it (Gen. 18:32). But in this case, even if Noah, Daniel and Job (three Gentiles!) were there, they would save only themselves.

NOTE:  Most scholars don't think "Daniel" refers to the prophet (who was an unknown youth when Ezekiel wrote) 
but rather to an ancient king of Syria renowned for his wise, just and compassionate rule. 
(The Message of Ezekiel, Christopher J.H. Wright, page 176)

Do those four severe judgments sound familiar? If you’ve spent any time in Revelation chapter 6 they should sound very familiar – red horse (sword), black horse (famine), pale horse (beasts and possibly pestilence). Power will be given to the four horsemen over a fourth of the earth, which (at the time of this writing) exceeds 1.94 billion people.

At the time Ezekiel wrote, God had sent warning after warning to His people.

And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.

2 Chron 36:15-16 NKJV

They mocked the messengers of God. They despised God’s Word and the words of those sent by God to warn. They ignored God’s appeal. They scoffed. That sure sounds like today!

I mention this because there’s an idea out there that God’s wrath does not begin until the 6th seal is opened. The assumption is that the seals are sequential and there’s a time line of sorts: the first seal is opened and stuff happens, and then the second seal is opened after that and more stuff happens, etc. However, it’s consistent with experience (who unseals a letter a little bit at a time?) and not precluded by the text that all the seals are opened at the same time, and the record simply explains discrete events associated with the opening of the scroll. I won’t quibble, but we see a summary statement in Rev. 6:8 that seems to pull the four horsemen together into one posse: “And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.” (NKJV, emphasis added)

And yet, at this point in time, early in the sequence of end-time judgments, we are told by some that there is a WORLD-WIDE REVIVAL going on! Yes, the “144,000 Jewish Billy Grahams” (to quote Hal Lindsey) are reaping a huge harvest. I’m sure Just As I Am will be on top of the Billboard Pop Music charts and baptistries will be operating 24/7. And people will actually be reading their Bibles.

Pardon my lapse into sarcasm, but can I be honest? God hates sin. Most people on this planet do not. That won’t change with the rapture, won’t change when God’s wrath begins in earnest, and certainly won’t change when those who have rejected the truth receive their promised “strong delusion” (2 Thess. 2:11). We in the Christian communities world-wide have made our appeal for YEARS for people to be reconciled to God. Jesus was despised and rejected when He came 2,000 years ago, and that really hasn’t changed a lot. The way to destruction is still broad, and many still go in thereat (Matt. 7:13).

I honestly don’t know why the idea of a post-rapture “global revival” has so much appeal when it has no Biblical support. All I can think is that it’s another way for Satan to deceive Christians into not recognizing the urgency of the hour or the withering fierceness of God’s holy wrath.

The folks outside Noah’s ark and the folks remaining in Sodom did not get a subsequent opportunity for salvation after God’s wrath began. Jesus said that THESE days would be like THOSE days.

Think about it.

https://stevekerp.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/wrath/amp/

Best,

Steve