10. The Plagues

By John Thiel, Third Angel’s Message, study 10, mp3

What happens to the people who are the people of God is that they go through a terrible time of trouble, as we saw in our last study. In this study we are beholding the picture of those whom God denounces in the third angel’s message. We are now identifying the particular subject of God’s wrath:

Revelation 14:9 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, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:

Here is the drinking of the wine of the wrath of God. This is that which is written of in Revelation chapter 15 through to 16. The preamble, chapter 15, talks of the angels with the seven plagues, and then the actual outpouring of those plagues is written of in chapter 16:

Revelation 16:1 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.

The third angel has been sealing the people of God, the 144,000, and once they have been sealed, the judgments come. The whole chapter 9 of Ezekiel deals with this. There is the man with the writer’s inkhorn by his side, and he puts the mark upon the foreheads of the people who sigh and cry for the sins that are done in Israel. It is a picture of the third angel. While the third angel was working, what was actually being held back? He is trying to seal the people of God. This is the display of the sealing and of the wrath of God being held back:

Revelation 7:1 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.

These four angels are holding back the winds. If you look in Bible prophecy for the meaning of winds, you find that it means strife and destruction. (See Prov. 1:27; Dan. 7:2; 11:40; Isa. 5:28; 11:15; 66:15; Jer. 4:13; 23:19; 25:32; 30:23; 51:1).

Revelation 7:2 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, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

As the three angels’ work is going on, the sealing is taking place, and the angels are bidden to hold back the winds of strife. It naturally follows then that when they have finished the sealing, the angels are then permitted to let go.

Ezekiel 9:11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which [had] the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as thou hast commanded me.

He has finished his work of sealing these people in their foreheads. After he has said that, Daniel 12:1 is what follows:

Daniel 12:1 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: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.

The angel reports, I have sealed them; and Jesus can now stand up and complete His work and say, “He which is filthy, let him be filthy still: … and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” Then the unleashing of this terrible time of trouble takes place. When this angel has finished, the other angels, those that hold the winds of strife, come forth:

Ezekiel 9:5 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: 6 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. 7 And he said unto them, Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain: go ye forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.

These verses depict directly the outpouring of God’s wrath after the sealing of God’s people has taken place. These angels are to go forth and to slay utterly old and young. Here are those angels in the New Testament revelation:

Revelation 15:5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:

The heavenly sanctuary is here described. Jesus had gone into the most holy place, and then He comes back out of it. What happens when He finishes His work in the most holy place?

Revelation 15:6 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. 7 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. 8 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 16:1 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.

This is exactly what was written in Ezekiel, Go and do your destruction, and don’t spare anyone. “Go ye after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.”

I was pointed down to the time when the third angel’s message was closing. The power of God had rested upon His people; they had accomplished their work and were prepared for the trying hour before them [the time of Jacob’s trouble]. They had received the latter rain, or refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and the living testimony had been revived. The last great warning had sounded everywhere, and it had stirred up and enraged the inhabitants of the earth who would not receive the message. {EW 279.1}

I saw angels hurrying to and fro in heaven. An angel with a writer’s inkhorn by his side returned from the earth and reported to Jesus that his work was done, and the saints were numbered and sealed. Then I saw Jesus, who had been ministering before the ark containing the ten commandments, throw down the censer. He raised His hands, and with a loud voice said, “It is done.” And all the angelic host laid off their crowns as Jesus made the solemn declaration, “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.” {EW 279.2}

Every case had been decided for life or death. While Jesus had been ministering in the sanctuary, the judgment had been going on for the righteous dead, and then for the righteous living. Christ had received His kingdom, having made the atonement for His people and blotted out their sins. The subjects of the kingdom were made up. The marriage of the Lamb was consummated. And the kingdom, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, was given to Jesus and the heirs of salvation, and Jesus was to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords. {EW 280.1}

While Jesus had been standing between God and guilty man, a restraint was upon the people; but when He stepped out from between man and the Father, the restraint was removed and Satan had entire control of the finally impenitent. It was impossible for the plagues to be poured out while Jesus officiated in the sanctuary; but as His work there is finished, and His intercession closes, there is nothing to stay the wrath of God, and it breaks with fury upon the shelterless head of the guilty sinner, who has slighted salvation and hated reproof. In that fearful time, after the close of Jesus’ mediation, the saints were living in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. Every case was decided, every jewel numbered. {EW 280.2}

The plagues of God’s wrath are unleashed. Let us explore that wrath to get the correct appreciation of this. As we were reading in Revelation 15, these angels come out from the sanctuary after Jesus has finished His work there. As they came out with their vials, “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.”

Here is an important study – to explore this wrath of God, which was of such a nature that the temple in heaven was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. We have studied what the glory of God is. The glory, the character of God is described in Exodus 34. The smoke filled the temple because of His glory.

Exodus 34:6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].

This is what God did for Moses when he had said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.

Exodus 33:19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee,

Here is what God’s glory is, the goodness of His character, as well as His unwillingness to clear the guilty by any means. It is very important to take cognizance of the language, “Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children.” This is now our study, to appreciate the character of God, not only His mercy, but also His wrath. What actually is His wrath? Here is an example of God’s glory in the earthly temple when Solomon was praying for the glory of God to come upon the temple:

2 Chronicles 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers [were] as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and when they lifted up [their] voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the LORD, [saying], For [he is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever: that [then] the house was filled with a cloud, [even] the house of the LORD; 14 So that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

Can you see that this is exactly the same sort of picture? There was a cloud of smoke in the heavenly sanctuary so that nobody could enter in. In this example the priests could not enter in either because of God’s glory pouring into that temple.

Nahum 1:3 The LORD [is] slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked]: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds [are] the dust of his feet. … 5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. 6 Who can stand before his indignation? And who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

This is His power and His glory. It is a glory which, as it comes into the presence of this sinful planet, causes it to melt, and all the things that are in it begin to shudder and fall apart. This is the introduction of God’s character in wrath.

Here is another challenge that God’s people who are preaching the three angels’ messages are called upon to display. The first angel says:

Revelation 14:7 …Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:

In this time of the three angels’ messages the people of God are to display His glory, His wonderful character, which includes the display of His wrath, because that is part of His character. Just as we are to give glory to God in the judgment of Him by the gospel, we are also to make known His glory in reference to His wrath, which is the description of the third angel’s message:

Revelation 14:9 …If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand, 10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, …and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone

The content of this glory is wrath. Is wrath something to glory in? Is that a good characteristic? This is now where we are to get to know God and to display God before the people to whom we proclaim Him, so that they will understand something about God’s wrath that is different to what they imagine; because God’s wrath is something to glory in. It is not something to regard as a despicable thing.

In the following scripture we are reminded by God not to put Him on an equal footing with ourselves. God is saying to us, When you talk of wrath, do not put Me on the same level.

Psalm 50:18 When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. 19 Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. 20 Thou sittest [and] speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. 21 These [things] hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether [such an one] as thyself: [but] I will reprove thee, and set [them] in order before thine eyes.

You thought I was just like you in your anger with your relatives, and in your thoughts towards the thief you had a demonstration of your wrath. Don’t think I am like you. The fire and brimstone preachers convey a wrath of God which is a description of something that people would not regard as glorious. But God’s glory is different to that. He says, I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes, in case you thought that way. When God is wroth He reveals His noble character. Jesus came to demonstrate what God’s character is like in wrath. It is written in Mark 3:5. To understand what God’s wrath is we must look at Jesus. Here is an occasion when He was very angry, and it is a description of the nobility of God’s character when He is wroth:

Mark 3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched [it] out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

Jesus was angry. But what was the actual emotion of anger? It was grief. God’s anger is grief. We are to examine God’s wrath from that frame of mind. It is not the vindictive temper that we associate wrath with. When somebody is angry he throws himself around in a vindictive rage. This is not what this is. In the outpouring of God’s wrath His true character is going to be displayed.

Psalm 9:16 The LORD is known [by] the judgment [which] he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.

He will by no means clear the guilty. The wicked’s own iniquity will be laid upon him. “The wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.” God is known, His character is displayed, when He executes judgment. How is it revealed? What is this wrath, this grief? The wicked is so bent on his wickedness that God just has to say, though painfully, I have died for you, but you just don’t want to turn from your way, well then, go ahead.

Ezekiel 14:4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols. 6 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn [yourselves] from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.

God is yearning that they will not be destroyed by their own idols. He says, Turn away from it. But they won’t turn away, so He is grieved. Therefore He is known by the manner in which He deals with it. He says, Alright, stick to your idols. I will now visit the iniquity of the wicked upon them. Their own iniquity will be visited upon them. He clears those that repent by the glory of His grace, but by no means does He clear the guilty. The language is very plain. He clears those who repent. That is why He says, Repent from your idols. You can be cleared from that destruction. That’s the glory of His grace. But He by no means clears the guilty. They must meet their actions when God deals with them.

Jeremiah 2:19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that [it is] an evil [thing] and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear [is] not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

“Thine own wickedness shall correct thee.” It is an evil and bitter thing. The people are so distraught with the shocking results of God’s wrath, which are their own actions catching up with them, that it is a bitter thing. Your own wickedness, your own backslidings, shall do their punishment. When the vials of God’s wrath are poured out, this is what He does:

Ezekiel 9:10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, [but] I will recompense their way upon their head. 

That’s what God is like. He will now let them have the consequence of their own way, and He will take no more pity. Before, He was with pity crying to them, Please, don’t let yourself be destroyed, repent from your wrongs. But no, they insisted to have them, they wouldn’t repent, and there comes a point in time when Jesus leaves the sanctuary and He says, “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.” Now God lets Satan have what he wants. He lets the people have what they want. And what will happen? The vials of God’s wrath, the destruction, the plagues will be poured out. Jeremiah 25 gives the description of the vials of God’s wrath:

Jeremiah 25:14 For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also:

He is here talking of warfare among the nations. They will serve themselves of other people, they will do damage to other nations.

Jeremiah 25:14 …and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

He will recompense them according to the works of their own hands.

Jeremiah 25:15 For thus saith the LORD God of Israel unto me; Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send thee, to drink it. 16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad, because of the sword that I will send among them.

What is the sword that He sends among them? “Many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them.” The sword is the nations, the kings that will do their wickedness to other nations. All this is described in Jeremiah 25.

As these terrible events of the fury of the vials of wrath take place,

Psalm 7:11 God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry [with the wicked] every day. 12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready. 13 He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors. 14 Behold, he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood.

The travail of the people will be their iniquity.

Psalm 7:15 He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch [which] he made. 16 His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate. 17 I will praise the LORD according to his righteousness: and will sing praise to the name of the LORD most high.

The reason why God’s people can praise Him is because His wrath is so just. He is grieving because the people haven’t taken hold of His wonderful gift of salvation, and He says, Go forward, you do exactly what you like, and your iniquity shall be your destruction. When you look into warfare, that’s exactly what it is. The madness of nations against other nations is getting wilder and wilder, and they commit all sorts of terrible war crimes. That is what we are seeing. This is God’s wrath.

Psalm 5:10 Destroy thou them, O God; let them fall by their own counsels; cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions; for they have rebelled against thee.

The rebellion against God is recompensed by their rebellious nature upon their own head. Their rebellious behaviour is their own destruction, because a person who is rebellious will destroy other people who are resisting them. It is a natural condition of being, and God says, Go ahead, this is My grief, this is My wrath.

It is remarkable to see how the Bible delineates this in detail.

Isaiah 26:11 LORD, [when] thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: [but] they shall see, and be ashamed for [their] envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.

The very fire that the enemies use, and even want to use against God, will actually devour them.

Isaiah 26:14 [They are] dead, they shall not live; [they are] deceased, they shall not rise: therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

When the Bible reads, “He has destroyed them,” when the Bible reads that, “His wrath has been poured upon them,” what is meant is that He who gives life and gives people the right and freedom to do what they want to do, will therefore orchestrate their own iniquity upon their own pate.

Revelation 18:8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.

This is the destruction of the Papacy and all its attachments. When we read these things, we know from the other scriptures that as the plagues destroy and burn it is the result of their own actions.

The ten horns on the beast are the ten European nations:

Revelation 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.

During the Dark Ages right through to the closing of probation, the nations of Europe have continued to support the papacy. But the time will come when they will burn her with fire. Who then is responsible for the plagues that shall come to her in one day, “death, and mourning, and famine,” when “she shall be utterly burned with fire”? God hath put in the hearts of these nations to give the power to the papacy, until they will see long enough what a ghastly beast she is, and they will destroy her.

If the following scripture is read without this understanding, people get confused. But if it is correctly understood it explains itself:

Isaiah 24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.

People say, See? God can do this, and He is a vindictive person. That is the way they interpret it to be.

Isaiah 24:4 The earth mourneth [and] fadeth away, the world languisheth [and] fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.

Why?

Isaiah 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;

What have the wicked people done? They have defiled their planet.

Isaiah 24:5 …because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

There it is. This is what we can see today. They talk about global warming, about how the planet is being destroyed by man’s own behaviour, and now they are trying to backpedal. They are now trying to save the planet. But it’s all too late. The only reason God has been holding back for so long is because God’s people are still to be sealed. But as the people are now trying to backpedal, when the sealing of God’s people is finished, all their backpedalling is too late. They are already seeing it. In the North Pole it is melting so fast now that the islands will sink, as it has been foretold in E. G. White’s writings. They can’t stop it anymore, because the angels are going to let go the vials of God’s wrath.

Therefore in God’s dealings with man ever since 1844 under the three angels’ messages, His personality is being totally revealed, including in the judgments of the plagues.

Daniel 8:17 So he came near where I stood: and when he came, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: but he said unto me, Understand, O son of man: for at the time of the end [shall be] the vision. … 19 And he said, Behold, I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation: for at the time appointed the end [shall be].

That was the description that the angel gave in reference to the 2,300 day-prophecy. Here is a beautiful identification of what we’ve been studying all through the three angels’ message including this study. From 1844 onwards, it is the end of the indignation. Everything that you see happening on the planet ever since 1844 is the judgments of God: Jesus goes into the most holy place, the angels are holding the winds of strife, God’s people are being sealed, and the judgment of God’s people is taking place. That is the entire study of the three angels’ messages, from 1844 to this end that we are now examining, the plagues, and also thereafter.

In the whole study of the first and the second angel’s message we are seeing that we are indeed in the time of the earth being harvested, and that the tares and the wheat are being sorted out and dealt with in all living reality.

Daniel 7:26 But the judgment shall sit,

In 1844, according to the 2,300 day-prophecy, the judgement begun.

Daniel 7:26 …and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy [it] unto the end.

This is talking about the Papacy. From 1844 onward, the Papacy, along with other nations, would go through the activities where they would ultimately be consumed to the end. You can see it already in the transactions that have taken place. The corruptions of the Papacy are already being unveiled, and many priests are being taken before the courts. The molesting of boys by the priests has come to the surface, and the Catholic Church has had to pay huge amount of money to alleviate their judgment. It is going to get worse and worse until finally the nations will burn her. The vials of the wrath of God are something that the nations will drink. They will drink of their own corruptions.

Jeremiah 25:16 And they shall drink, and be moved, and be mad,

Who is mad and angry? Not God, He is grieved. They are mad,

Jeremiah 25:16 …because of the sword that I will send among them. 17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

The vials of wrath that they will drink will be their own iniquities coming upon their own heads.

Although this takes place after the close of probation, when the plagues will be fully unleashed, however, because we are looking at this from the perspective of 1844 onwards, there is something written by which we can see why certain things have been happening. As you study the history of the Civil War in America, the wars in Europe, the First World War, the Second World War, why have these things happened? They are all precursors to the close of probation picture. In reference to her time already, and all the more for our own vision of today, Sister White makes this remarkable statement:

We are coming right upon the time when Satan is to work with all manner of bewitching influences, {2SM 51.2}

That is what she wrote back then, in 1890. Is that not where we are?

…and those who are charmed with them now, or give them the least countenance now, will be all ready to be swept right in to act a part with the devil then. {2SM 51.2}

To enjoy the bewitching things of Satan will cause you to be swept along with everyone else into his plan.

Evil angels are working all the time upon the hearts of men. Satan is working with everyone who is not under the control of the Spirit of God. It is the lying wonders of the devil that will take the world captive, {2SM 51.2}

They won’t be able to get out from underneath it, because they are all relying upon it.

…and he will cause fire to come down from heaven in the sight of men. {2SM 51.2}

People read this in a spiritual sense as if meaning that he will prove to the world that he is an angel of light. But this is far more subtle, in that he works through America. There is a combination of this. He brings fire down from heaven, and as people unite with that, of course, they will be involved in the conflagration of an atomic warfare.

He is to work miracles; and this wonderful, miracle-working power is to sweep in the whole world. It is now just beginning. {2SM 51.2}

She wrote that at the turn of the 19^th century. “It is now just beginning.”

I want to tell you another thing. The vials of God’s wrath and the sprinkling of them are already coming. What is the matter that we do not discern it? It is because the light of truth does not affect the heart. The Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the world. {2SM 51.3}

While people have studied this and they think, Yes, this is when the close of probation happens; they don’t realize what it says here, that they are actually giving in and being charmed by all these miracles of Satan, these deceptive wonders, that they are participating with them, and it will suck them right in because he is preparing the world for that self-destructive process. This is the reason why she says, “What is the matter that we do not discern it?” Why are Christians and Adventists not seeing it? “It is because the light of truth does not affect the heart.” That’s why. “The Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the world.” Everything we have been studying about the remnant is all part of this scenario.

Four mighty angels hold back the powers of this earth till the servants of God are sealed in their foreheads. The nations of the world are eager for conflict; but they are held in check by the angels. When this restraining power is removed, there will come a time of trouble and anguish. Deadly instruments of warfare will be invented. Vessels, with their living cargo, will be entombed in the great deep. {7BC 967.8}

Hasn’t that happened in the First World War? It has happened in the Second World War. It is happening now. There is that little time of trouble, then a little time of peace, then war again, and then men’s hearts failing them for fear, as we have seen repeatedly in the previous studies. Here it is.

All who have not the spirit of truth will unite under the leadership of satanic agencies. But they are to be kept under control till the time shall come for the great battle of Armageddon. {7BC 967.8}

The great battle of Armageddon is part of the plagues.

Angels are belting the world, refusing Satan his claims to supremacy, made because of the vast multitude of his adherents. {7BC 967.9}

There is the vast multitude of Satan’s adherents, and he wants to have supremacy, but the angels are saying, No. That’s what the holding back of the winds of strife mean. What are these angels doing as they are holding back those winds?

We hear not the voices, we see not with the natural sight the work of these angels, but their hands are linked about the world, and with sleepless vigilance they are keeping the armies of Satan at bay till the sealing of God’s people shall be accomplished. {7BC 967.9}

As I read this, my heart nearly stands still when I realize how much we are surrounded by danger all the time, and it is only because the angels are holding back the winds of strife that we are protected from that. We have to keep on seeing that. But the most important thing here is that, because it is men’s own wickedness and their own idols that will bring their destruction upon themselves, we must not become drawn in with Satan and his sophisticated ways. While people are being drawn in and we aren’t, we are naturally regarded as strange, and ridiculous. But they are being bewitched by Satan. Because people are being bewitched, in the plague of Armageddon they will be found with their pants down, spiritually naked.

Isaiah 24:3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word. 4 The earth mourneth [and] fadeth away, the world languisheth [and] fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. 5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.

It is man’s own behaviour that will make this planet desolate.

Revelation 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and [upon] them which worshipped his image.

We are seeing diseases and sores developing because of man’s corrupt way of dealing with medicine. As a result, those people that worship the beast and his image and submit to its government are going to have all these sores.

Revelation 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead [man]; and every living soul died in the sea.

The oceans are so polluted that the fish are dying. The sea is like a murky, ugly dead men’s blood. It isn’t red. It is a murky, coagulated, brown mess.

Revelation 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.

Have you heard of the algal bloom? It’s red. It is all to do with man’s doing.

Revelation 16:8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. 9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

With the global warming the sun will burn hotter than ever before.

Revelation 16:10 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, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

They had all these diseases and pains from the first plague, and now there is a similar thing to the dark day of 1780.

Revelation 16:12 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. … 17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, [and] so great. 19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, [every stone] about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

Who was responsible for all this? God? No, Satan. Satan will be given freedom to be released upon the people. When it is all over:

Isaiah 14:16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, [and] consider thee, [saying, Is] this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; 17 [That] made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; [that] opened not the house of his prisoners?

Satan has full control, and he is the one that has destroyed the planet, and made the world a wilderness. This is the picture of God’s wrath in the plagues. It is completely different to what man imagines it to be.

Amen.