The Final Judgment and Earth Restored

By John Thiel

1 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

We have confidence that we are the last generation.  The Word of God has spoken it – (See The Prophecy of the Fig Tree) We have spent time to digest and realise it.  We have learnt as we have heard message after message that the time in which we are living in at this present time is a very perilous time, a time in which we are not only harassed by Satan’s sophistries in terms of attacking us personally but we are also harassed by the false doctrines that he has kindled over the years especially for the last generation.

If it could be possible, he could deceive the very elect.  This is our danger. The truth must standout vividly in our minds so we cannot be deceived.  It is important for us to understand the position in which we find ourselves.  It is important to go over doctrinal detail in our own personal memory.  The importance of our recent studies was to convince us and reveal to us the truth and to be a willing participant in this generation as part of his remnant people. We will now cement in our minds the truth that is relevant for us so that we do not become confused in any way by the sophistries that Satan is playing up before our minds.

In the importance of identifying the last scene of this earth’s history, Jesus has spent great effort in the book of Revelation and Matthew 24 to clarify to us that this is the last generation. Jesus was very earnest in his desire for the last generation to understand what he was saying in regards to the closing scenes of earth’s history so that no one will become deluded. We have studied that the religious, natural, social and political arena is definitely revealing that we are living in the last generation. We have learnt of the false teaching of the millennium.  There was another issue that we have to clarify with biblical clarity so we can assure ourselves so we are not trapped by the spiritual overtones of that angel of light the devil.

2 Corinthians 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

We saw in the study of religious signs of the last days that the unfaithful servant says my Lord delays his coming.  The servant is to give the warning of Christs Second coming by his works but he was eating and drinking with the drunken.  This shows that he doesn’t really have the truth crystal clear.  This is what we have come out of, false Christianity.  There is a dreadful and deceitful transformation of a Satanic power turning into a so-called godly power, ministers of righteous.  How deceptive this is to diminish the clarity of Jesus’s prophecies to the end so that you may know lots of bible texts but not be absolutely clear of what those bible texts are saying.  They are made fuzzy in your mind by the deceitfulness of these false apostles. A Bible text that means exactly what Jesus says is used by a human being how he chooses to use it.  This is one of those diversions that these ministers, false apostles and deceitful workers have transformed themselves into ministers of righteousness.

2 Corinthians 11:15 Therefore [it is] no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

This is why in our spiritual understanding we sometimes fluctuate in our decision in following the exact truth or staying with those who we are comfortable with. It’s just a slight change we may say or it’s just a slight angle.

Mount Erebus

To remain in exact truth will take you heavenward.  What does aeronautics teach you if a plane takes off slightly off course?  It will crash.  An Air New Zealand airline crashed on Mt. Erebus Antarctica in 1979.

“The computer reading that set it off on a track was erroneous and it set it towards Mt Erebus. The plan gave co-ordinates for the trip to Antarctica and across McMurdo Sound which when entered into the computerised navigation system, would be flown automatically by the plane.  The flight plan led the captain to believe the plane was over low, flat ground.  The single, dominant and effective cause was the changing of the aircraft’s navigation computer co-ordinates to route the aircraft directly at Mount Erebus, without the crew being advised.  The new flight plan took the aircraft directly at the mountain, rather than along its flank, and due to whiteout conditions, the crew was unable to identify the mountain. The plane crashed killing all on-board.” Wikipedia.

Do you want to crash on Mt Erebus as you set out on your journey?  I don’t.  We must get the truth right clear.  I don’t want to be a false apostle, I’m very intense in getting it right.

The millennium is identified in Isaiah.

The Millennium

Isaiah 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. 20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.

Here is the millennium picture.  There will be no second chance.  There is no one thousand years of living on this earth in peace.  It seems as though in Zechariah Jesus will live on this earth in Jerusalem.  That was a conditional prophecy.  If he had received been by the Jews, he would have reigned here on earth.  That prophecy was conditional.  Here is the true picture of the reality because the conditions weren’t meant.

Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26I 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. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

When Jesus comes to take his people home, what will it effect on this earth?  An earth that is reeling to and fro like a drunkard.  That is the real picture.

The Whole Land Shall Be Desolate Yet

The last generation always thinks that when Jesus comes, that’s the end but the verse in Corinthians says – upon whom the ‘ends’ of the earth shall come.  There are many ‘ends’ after the time of Christ.  When Jesus comes the second time that is not a complete end.  The millennium lies waste for a period of time. What we want to see what is the reality of the full end.  What is the full end?

As we study here, follow very carefully as to the simple Scriptures that have not yet been fulfilled.  We want to get that which has not been fulfilled so people who are teaching us about things not yet fulfilled don’t confuse us.

Revelation 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, 3 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: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

What is suggested here about God not making a full end?  What does it say?  Satan is going to be bound in this bottomless pit.  But God hasn’t made a full end.  After the thousand years, he should be loosed a ‘little season.’

A Little Season

There is going to be another little season before the Lord makes a full end.

Isaiah 24:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. 22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

Here are the kings are all in their graves, scattered on the earth’s crust and are all-dead.  One of them had to remain and that was Satan and his host.  Then after many days, they shall be visited.  This is our consideration.

After the One Thousand Years

Who is going to visit them?  Some people use this text for the second coming of Jesus Christ.  But is it true?

Jude 14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.

To do what?

Jude 1:15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

Is this the second coming of Jesus?  No.  Why not?  He’s come to execute judgement.  Are they the saints?  When he comes the second time he comes with whom?  Thousands of angels? This time he comes with thousands of his saints.  This is not the second coming of Jesus, this is when Satan and his angels are going to be visited by Christ and his saints as they come down.  How do they come down?

John 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Those who have come up at the second coming of Jesus to the resurrection, how do they go up?  They met him in the air and with the clouds of heaven and return with Jesus to heaven.  These same ones come back down again to visit this earth again. They will come down again to see another resurrection.

Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

Here is the other resurrection;

Revelation 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

This is that other resurrection that takes place after the one thousand years.  Jesus comes with his saints to make a full end.  What has to take place?  A resurrection of damnation.  Christ wakes up the wicked dead in verse 13.  That having been achieved;

Revelation 20:7 When the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.

The resurrection of the wicked has taken place and now Satan is loosed out of his prison.

Isaiah 14:18 All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

19 But thou art cast out of thy grave like an abominable branch, and as the raiment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet. 

Satan is Very Bored

Here is Satan and his angels.  They will not be in death.  Only the human beings on earth will be in death.  What does that constitute Satan and his Angels to be in?  They’ve got nothing to do.  Anyone under Satan’s sophistry gets very bored.  Imagine Satan for 1000 on year with nothing to do.  Bored and bored again in total prison and to look at all the mess he’s made.  This is the work of God.  He lets it happen that way.  Then, no boredom!  The resurrection of all my cohorts, we’re together again for a little season.  Look at his deluded prospects.  Observe what we’re studying is so totally different to those that have transformed themselves into apostles of Christ.  They have painted a different picture and we must study a picture that we stand for.  Jesus is coming, what will he do?

Zechariah 14:3 Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

What is the day of battle?  Remember what the day of battle was?  The battle that was taking place on the day of the Lord when the nations were fighting each other.  That’s when he came to take his people home.  Here is the exact picture one thousands years after;

Zechariah 14:4 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.

When God starts moving earth, look out.  Earthquakes happen and mountains disappear.  Jesus steps on the mountain and it opens up onto a large plain.  Here are the people being resurrected.

Zechariah 14:5 And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.

Can you see them running?  None of those people are going to be killed but they are going to be running for their lives.  What is the earth movement being done for?  To scare them?  When God does something people get scared, but it’s always for his purpose which is this one.  What did he do this great earth movement for?  This little season that commences with the resurrection of the wicked.

Revelation 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

Here are the wicked raised?  Jesus touches the mount and it becomes a great plain.  That was scary and they are running for their lives.  The next minute, they see what coming down?  The glorious city which has light unto a most precious stone.  When wicked people see something like that, what do they say?  Wow!

Can you see how God is working here?  This is a different picture to what many imagine.

• If you talk to the Jehovah’s Witnesses they say God is going to restore this earth while we are here.
• The Pentecostals say – rapture, and then all come down and there will be 1000 years of Jesus reigning in Jerusalem in peace.

But what is this?  This is different entirely.  There is this great city, how big was it? 600kms square.  This monstrous alien from cosmos.  This is an invasion.  How will people think of this invasion?  They died with the thought of trying to save this planet, what are they going to do now?  This is an invasion from outer space, we’ve got to do something!

Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

He saw the great city the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven.  What promise does he give to his people in this little season?

Ezekiel 37:26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen shall know that I the LORD do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.

How will the heathen know?  They have been resurrected and they will see this.  We must not use these bible texts to merely prove a point, we must use them to explore and to meditate.  God does it by demonstration.  God doesn’t do it by teaching. The only ones who will learn from him by demonstration beforehand by the work of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus was crucified among you, many years after he was crucified literally, is what God is trying to do for us now.  He’s trying to get us into the position of God’s word so that you will see these things for yourself in your own personal experience.

When you have done that and have been under the correct tuition, then you will know it by experience.  God will have to show it to the wicked that have shut their ears to it by false doctrine by demonstration also but after, not before.  We must understand that what is written here is for our learning upon whom the ends of the earth shall come.  With the multitudes at the side of Satan and the city right there in their midst, what is the activity in the minds and all these people?

Revelation 20:7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 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.

They will look at that city, and say look at us, we are as the sands of the sea, we are out numbering the people in the city.  The natural mind of the wicked person is to take what is not theirs. The bible does not leave you to your own conjecture.  Every detail is found that you can experience the way God works really are.  He moves upon the mind of people by his personal and practical interaction.  We want to get to know God through this.  Not just the facts.  What does he do with the mind of the wicked?

Isaiah 26:10 Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD. 11LORD, 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.

Hath God shown favour to the wicked?  He raised them again.  What did he raise them for?  God is working in us today.  He will show us favour.  If we will learn righteousness, it will be well with us.  He will show favour to everyone including the wicked.  When they are shown the favour, what happens?  They will not see righteousness.  They will only see their own mind but they shall see this and be ashamed.

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.

What was God showing through this activity?  He was showing that if you don’t want to be good, if you don’t want to follow God, you’re going to meet him in his amazing demonstration and you’re going to demonstrate to him and to yourself that you’re going to deal treacherously with his love.  It’s wonderful if we can learn this before that time.  Let’s see how it’s demonstrated in the bible.  Satan says let’s get the city.

Revelation 20:3 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: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

A Little Season

What is that little season?  What is a day in prophecy?  One year.  What is a season?  How many days?  90 days in a season.  90 days = 90 years.  A little season so perhaps just a bit less than 90 years.  See whether the bible actually qualifies that.  The scene we’re looking at is Satan gathering his wicked people behind him.  They have observed the city coming down, the earth movement, wonderful privileges have been given them.  Will they now worship God and submit to him?  No they won’t.

Isaiah 26:10 Let favour be showed to the wicked, [yet] will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the LORD.

Now they have been given a little season.  How long?  90 years.

Isaiah 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. 19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. 20 There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed.

No more infant of days, no more babies or procreation.  A child shall die an hundred years old – a child will be approximately 10 years old, live 90 years and die 100 years old. does this make sense?  Where does this text fit?  Jerusalem is there, the wicked are beholding it.  Now God says behold, I’m going to make everything new.  In this season he is giving and intelligent participation with him in what he is doing.  The wicked are going to be scheming to take the city.  God says watch me, behold.  What’s going to happen to the sinner in that scene?   Those sinners who come up will have 100 years to do their work.  Does it take that long to take the city?

The earth is a mess.  They’re going to build weapons of warfare like they’re building today.  If you’re going to build weapons of warfare, how long does it take?  Preparations for war don’t take over night.  You’ve got to establish food, houses and factories to build this arsenal.  That is the season.  God is going to give them time.  The 90 years is going to demonstrate to the wicked he will convince them of his ways.  How do you convince someone?  Do you convince someone by reasoning with them?  A person who is wicked will never listen to your reasoning.  They say, prove it to me, show me. How is God going to convince them?

Revelation 20:8 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. 9 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. 

Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives, whence, after His resurrection, He ascended, and where angels repeated the promise of His return. Says the prophet: The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee. 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, . . . and there shall be a very great valley. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one. Zechariah 14:5, 4, 9. As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splendour, comes down out of heaven, it rests upon the place purified and made ready to receive it, and Christ, with His people and the angels, enters the Holy City.  {GC 662.3}

Now Satan prepares for a last mighty struggle for the supremacy. While deprived of his power and cut off from his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and dejected; but as the wicked dead are raised and he sees the vast multitudes upon his side, his hopes revive, and he determines not to yield the great controversy. He will marshal all the armies of the lost under his banner and through them endeavour to execute his plans. The wicked are Satan’s captives. In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule of the rebel leader. They are ready to receive his suggestions and to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early cunning, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He claims to be the prince who is the rightful owner of the world and whose inheritance has been unlawfully wrested from him. He represents himself to his deluded subjects as a redeemer, assuring them that his power has brought them forth from their graves and that he is about to rescue them from the most cruel tyranny. The presence of Christ having been removed, Satan works wonders to support his claims. He makes the weak strong and inspires all with his own spirit and energy. He proposes to lead them against the camp of the saints and to take possession of the City of God. With fiendish exultation he points to the unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead and declares that as their leader he is well able to overthrow the city and regain his throne and his kingdom.     In that vast throng are multitudes of the long-lived race that existed before the Flood; men of lofty stature and giant intellect, who, yielding to the control of fallen angels, devoted all their skill and knowledge to the exaltation of themselves; men whose wonderful works of art led the world to idolise their genius, but whose cruelty and evil inventions, defiling the earth and defacing the image of God, caused Him to blot them from the face of His creation. There are kings and generals who conquered nations, valiant men who never lost a battle, proud, ambitious warriors whose approach made kingdoms tremble. In death these experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they resume the current of their thoughts just where it ceased. They are actuated by the same desire to conquer that ruled them when they fell.  Satan consults with his angels, and then with these kings and conquerors and mighty men. They look upon the strength and numbers on their side, and declare that the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs, and that it can be overcome. They lay their plans to take possession of the riches and glory of the New Jerusalem. All immediately begin to prepare for battle. Skilful artisans construct implements of war. Military leaders, famed for their success, marshal the throngs of warlike men into companies and divisions.    At last the order to advance is given, and the countless host moves on–an army such as was never summoned by earthly conquerors, such as the combined forces of all ages since war began on earth could never equal. Satan, the mightiest of warriors, leads the van, and his angels unite their forces for this final struggle. Kings and warriors are in his train, and the multitudes follow in vast companies, each under its appointed leader. With military precision the serried ranks advance over the earth’s broken and uneven surface to the City of God. By command of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan surround the city and make ready for the onset. {GC 664.2}

Finally everything is prepared and you see them rolling across the earth to the city.  As they come to the city, what do they do next?  What do military forces do when they come to walled cities?

Revelation 20:9 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. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. 11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

As they are ready to take the city, what happens?  When Jesus was brought in by Judas, what happened?  As he came up to the gang ready to take him, they all fell back.  The same thing happens.  The great white throne comes up and they flee.  They come up again.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

How is this going to be done?  Is God going to stand up there and read to them?  In today’s knowledge that we have of computers, how would he have done it?  It’s played on video.

Video Playback

Above the throne is revealed the cross; and like a panoramic view appear the scenes of Adam’s temptation and fall, and the successive steps in the great plan of redemption. The Saviour’s lowly birth; His early life of simplicity and obedience; His baptism in Jordan; the fast and temptation in the wilderness; …. the Son of God exultingly displayed before Annas, arraigned in the high priest’s palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly and cruel Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to die–all are vividly portrayed.  {GC 666.3}

And now before the swaying multitude are revealed the final scenes–the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging upon the cross; the haughty priests and the jeering rabble deriding His expiring agony; the supernatural darkness; the heaving earth, the rent rocks, the open graves, marking the moment when the world’s Redeemer yielded up His life.  {GC 667.1}

Do you like watching horror movies?  Some people do.  You’re going to watch a horror movie! Those wicked people are going to see the horror of their own actions.  They are the actors in this movie.  Ellen White writes there is a great picture of an entire scene from the beginning of creation right to the end.  There everyone will see their own actions played out in front of them.  Are you looking forward to that if you were wicked?  Can you see what we’re studying here?  How important it is as the last generation that we get the truth right.

The whole wicked world stand arraigned at the bar of God on the charge of high treason against the government of heaven. They have none to plead their cause; they are without excuse; and the sentence of eternal death is pronounced against them.  {GC 668.2}

If you don’t get the truth right, you’re going to be there.  They are going to be convinced of their deeds.  They will see their own life played.  Then comes the fire – the fire of thine enemies shall devour them. Once again God will demonstrate.  He says behold, watch me.

God’s Manner of Destruction

What is Gods character in destruction?  What did we see demonstrated during the plagues?  What do we recognise as Gods manner of doing it?  Man doing his own evil deeds and God uses them.  The sun becoming hotter and the sea as dead man’s blood.  When people read of this they say, God is going to do that.  How?  God uses their actions to do that.  This is what he has demonstrated all through the bible.  Remember Gideon and his army.  How did God destroy the Midianite army?  Did Gideon destroy the army?  They destroyed themselves but God orchestrated it.

Psalms 9:4 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause; thou satest in the throne judging right. 5 Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.  6 O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end: and thou hast destroyed cities; their memorial is perished with them.

When you read that from your perspective, you think Gods going to destroy suddenly.  How is he going to do it?

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

Psalms 11:6 Upon the wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, and an horrible tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

There are many other texts that when God burns them with fire, it will be his co-operation with them.  He also has his arsenals too.  As they will burn, he will add his fire in such a way, that what is written about their destruction will be so perfectly displayed to the onlooker that they will see that God is so righteous.  He is known by the manner in which he destroys.

Zechariah 14:12 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.

What sort of a fire is that?  An atomic fire consumes the soft tissues first.  Those that are not in the middle of the fire will burn away slowly.  Here is a powerful illustration of what it says there, their worm shall not die.  This last generation can understand the things of the bible like no other generation has understood it before.

Are you coming to know your God?  Are you coming to know him before this all happens?  Are you prepared to spend time to gather around Jesus and his ministers and not gather around the carcasses?  Can you see the way God has spoken.  The people who preach error are carcasses.  In his perspective because he sees the past, present and future, they are already carcasses.  Where are you going to gather?  We are gathered here to see God as he really is.  We are seeing it as the last generation.  What did we read in our Scripture reading?  We need to study it like this or we will have it in our intellect only.  What have we studied here?  We have studied doctrine and prophecy.  What is the study of doctrine and prophecy for?

1 Peter 1:19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

Where are we today in the last generation?  We are in a dark place.  The very elect could be deceived.  But if you study prophecy as we have studied it, then the day star will arise in your heart. This is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the people.  What is doctrine when you deal with it intellectually? It’s teaching.  But when you teach somebody something intellectually is that important?  It is important, but is it all?  When we study Scripture, we need to go much deeper than intellect.

Deuteronomy 32:1 Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: 3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. 4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

What does dropping of doctrine as rain mean?

The Latter Rain

What has doctrine done to you?  What does rain and dew do to the grass and soil?  It goes in and permeates.  The doctrine that we study is the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.  It is meant to be received by the Holy Spirit and permeate into your system.  As we have been studying, go deeper than the knowledge of where bible texts are and what information you can get together to win an argument.  It’s much more than that.  If that is all you’ve got, you’ll be deceived because it’s not part of you.  Unfortunately there are so many who do not recognise the latter rain because they are looking for a wonderful revival of emotional glee.

When it comes to the heavy study of God’s word they say I can’t sit through this.  But if you come hungering and thirsting for what we are studying you will become so amazed at what you are learning.  You will become alive with what you’re gaining.  That is the revival of the Holy Spirit in your heart.  No wonder then that the Holy Spirit may be falling on hearts all around us but some of us may not discern or receive it because our mind bend is on another track.  May God help us to appreciate our calling and to recognise the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

We are pressing on to the final conflict, and this is no time to compromise. It is no time to hide your colours. When the battle wages sore, let no one turn traitor. It is no time to lay down or conceal our weapons, and give Satan the advantage in the warfare. But unless you watch, and keep your garments unspotted from the world, you will not stand true to your Captain.  Call to your fellow-watchmen, crying, The morning cometh, and also the night. It is no time now to relax our efforts, to become tame and spiritless; no time to hide our light under a bushel, to speak smooth things, to prophesy deceit. Every power is to be employed for God. You are to maintain your allegiance, bearing testimony for God and for truth. Be not turned aside by any suggestion the world can make. We cannot afford to compromise. There is a living issue before us, of vital importance to the remnant people of God, to the very close of this earth’s history; for eternal interests are involved. On the very eve of the crisis, it is no time to be found with an evil heart of unbelief, departing from the living God.  {RH, December 6, 1892 par. 1}

Where Are We?

Where are we?  On the eve of the crisis.  Are we convinced of that?  Let it sink in.  How are we going to proceed?  If we have permitted the truths that we have considered to really penetrate in the time of the latter rain, what change will there be in my ongoing activity?

I have been through revival meetings all my life.  I remember them back to ten years of age.  I’d come back from the revival meeting and it would drop dead – why?  Because I was not an active agent in the church.  God has already established everything that needs to be established.  He has established an army.  Now we are aware on the eve of the crisis, what are we going to do?  Come to church and sit down in our pews and say sometimes I’ll be there and sometimes I’ll not be, sometimes I’ll go to prayer meeting, sometimes I won’t, I’m too weary to concentrate.  If you really take it seriously, you will be trembling in your shoes.  You won’t be sleeping at all.  If there are people still on the edges who are not in the inner circle, press into the inner circle.  If we’re not in the inner circle, we’re going to fall out.

We must go on from strength to strength.  We must press together against all the negativity’s – false doctrines and false misconceptions.  God grant us a determination to press together in Gods organised church, not independently.  Its Gods organised church that will give out the loud cry.  God will not pour out his Holy Spirit when the greater number of the church are not pressing together and not in harmony.  I thank God for the privilege that we have.  God grant us that we will respond to this call.

Amen.