PRO:The Final Tribulation  by Harold Camping

   Copyright 1988 by
   FAMILY STATIONS, Inc.
   290 Hegenberger Rd.
   Oakland, CA 94621

   Table of Contents

   <0> PREFACE & INTRODUCTION

   <1> CHAPTER 1 - THE FINAL TRIBULATION
   The Final Tribulation - A well-Documented Event
   The Final Tribulation Comes at the End of the Church Age

   <2> CHAPTER 2 - THE OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH
   The Church from the Fall to Abraham
   The Church from Abraham to Christ
   God's Congregation - the Nation of Israel
   Ancient Israel Relates to the New Testament Church
   Israel's Era Comes to an End

   <3> CHAPTER 3 - THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
   The Beginning of the New Testament Church
   Jesus Went to the Cross to Establish the External Church
   The Eternal Church within the External Church
   The Eternal Church Includes Old Testament Believers
   The Task of the Church

   <4> CHAPTER 4 - SATAN'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHURCH
   Who is Satan?
   Satan's Rule Over the World Before the Cross
   Satan's Rule Over Mankind Was Never Total
   Satan is Bound so the Christ can Build the New Testament Church
   Satan is Bound But He Stills Rules the Unsaved
   Satan to be Used of God to Bring Wrath on the Church

   <5> CHAPTER 5 - THE BIBLE FORETELLS THAT THE CHURCH WILL BECOME
APOSTATE
   God's Expectation Concerning National Israel's Apostasy
   The Bible's Expectation for the New Testament Church
   How Can a Church Become Apostate?
   God Warned Ancient Israel
   God Warns New Testament Congregations

   <6> CHAPTER 6 - GOD BEGINS TO JUDGE THE CHURCH
   Biblical Basis that God Will Judge the Church
   God's Judgments on Old Testament Nations Teach Us What to Expect
   Old Testament Israel: Not a Perfect Picture of the New Testament
Church
   God's Judgment on the New Testament Church Will Parallel His
Judgment on the Old Testament Church
   Ancient Israel's Sins

   <7> CHAPTER 7 - GOD'S RESPONSE TO ISRAEL'S SIN
   God Blinds Israel
   God Removes the Truth
   God Rejects Israel
   God Destroys the Congregation

   <8> CHAPTER 8 - GOD'S METHOD OF DESTROYING ANCIENT ISRAEL
   God's Testing Programs
   Assyria and Babylon: Tests for Israel and Judah

   <9> CHAPTER 9 - SINS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH
   How Much of the Word is in Today's Church
   "Carnal Christians"
   Divorce: Changing Biblical Rules
   Birth Control: A Change in God's Law
   The Place of women in the Church
   Salvation is Not Dependent on God's Grace
   Today's Gospel: A Social Gospel
   The Changing of Times
   Unhappy Pastors
   God Blinds the Church
   Hell and Damnation

   <10> CHAPTER 10 - GOD REMOVES THE TRUTH FROM THE CHURCH
   Learn from the Old Testament
   The Church Must Engage in Self-Examination
   The Church is Overrun with False Prophets

   <11> CHAPTER 11 - GOD REJECTS HIS CHURCH
   The Task of the Pastor
   God Forsakes His Church

   <12> CHAPTER 12 - GOD WILL DESTROY THE CHURCH
   National Israel: A Sign that We Are Near the End
   God Uses Satan to Destroy
   God's Testing Program for the Church
   God's Final Testing Program
   I Corinthians 14 Gives a Clue to the Final Testing Program
   Tongues: End-Time Testing Program
   Satan Uses Tongues to Destroy
   Israel Goes to Assyria for Help
   God Intensifies the Final Testing Program
   The Success of the Tongues Movement

   <13> CHAPTER 13 - BELIEVERS ARE KILLED WHEN SATAN RULES IN THE CHURCH

   <14> CHAPTER 14 - HOW LONG IS THE FINAL TRIBULATION?
   Will believers experience the Final Tribulation?
   Time Duration of the Final Tribulation
   Duration of Final Tribulation Period Shortened
   Final Tribulation Period Is Called A Sabbath
   The Number 23 and the Final Tribulation Period
   The Tribe of Levi: A Picture of the Unsaved During the Final
Tribulation
   A Shipwreck Points to the Final Tribulation Period
   The Storm Typifies Satan's Attack on the Church
   153 Fish Are Caught
   Number Seventeen Signifies the Kingdom of God
   Number 276 Is a special Number
   The 3 1/2 Days of Revelation 11
   A Common Denominator
   Another Look at the Little Horn of Daniel 8
   It Looks Like Satan Will Win
   The Daily Candlestick
   Two Thousand Three Hundred Days
   Evening and Morning Days of Creation
   Carefully continue to send Forth the Gospel

   <15> CHAPTER 15 - AIDS
   AIDS: An End of the World Sign?
   Romans 1 Points to the End of the World
   Homosexuality and the End of Time
   Romans 1 Predicts the Plague of AIDS
   Is Judgment Day Really Coming?

   THE FINAL TRIBULATION  by Harold Camping

   PREFACE

   More than 2500 years ago God spoke through the prophet, Jonah, to
Nineveh concerning a terrible predicament Nineveh had come into.
Because of the wickedness of that city God warned that in 40 days it
would be destroyed. Wonderfully, within that 40 day period the whole
city from the king on down repented and came to salvation.

   In a real sense the world is in very much the same situation today.
The signs are increasingly pointing to the fact that we are very near
to Christ's return and the end of the world. This means that the final
tribulation also may be almost upon us. Unfortunately, as we shall
learn in this study, the final tribulation is a period when no one can
become saved. Therefore, as you read this book, the world may be very
near to an end of the possibility of salvation.

   Thus, if there were ever a time when there was an immense urgency to
bring the Gospel, it is now. If there were ever a time when an
individual must seek peace with God immediately, it is now. the same
urgency to repent is facing the world today that Nineveh faced in the
days of Jonah.

   Could it be that this book, which is long overdue, may serve in some
way to warn the world of this tremendous urgency. Could it be that in
these closing moments of the Day of Grace many might repent and become
saved.

   INTRODUCTION

   Any student of the Bible eventually will become interested in the
tribulation period that must come prior to the return of Christ. What
is this tribulation? When will it come? How long will it continue? How
extensive will it be? Will it be a time of worldwide bloodletting? Will
believers go through this period? How does it fit into God's salvation
program? Will there be events that precipitate this period? How
extensively does the Bible speak of this event? Are we close in time to
that event?

   These are some of the questions that will be examined in this study.
Hopefully when the study is completed we will have a clearer
understanding of the causes of the period and a better knowledge of the
character and nature of the period.

   Be warned that many, if not most, aspects of this study are unhappy.
You may not like what you read. This is probably the saddest book ever
written, but if we are to come to truth, we must remember that all of
the Bible is God's message to us.

   Let us courageously begin our study.

   (The above is the Preface and Introduction of the book, THE FINAL
TRIBULATION by Mr. Harold Camping. This book may be obtained free of
charge by writing FAMILY STATIONS, Inc., 290 Hegenberger Rd., Oakland,
CA 94621)

   CHAPTER 1

   THE FINAL TRIBULATION

   The Bible has much to say about the period of tribulation. God does
not assign it a specific title; however, to facilitate our study, we
will call it "the final tribulation." God has given information in
Matthew 24:21 that speaks clearly of this event. There Jesus declares:

   For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

   Tribulation, especially for the believer in Christ, has been
normative throughout the history of the world. this is shown, for
example, in John 16:33 where god declares "in the world you shall have
tribulation." It is implied by the words of Matthew 24:21 where God
states "tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world."

   The reference in Matthew 24:21 to a greatly intensified tribulation
is found in the context of the account of the events which are to take
place at the end of the world. Matthew 24:29 informs us:

   Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be
darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken,

   The sun and moon are the timekeepers that God placed in the heavens
to mark the passage of days, months, and years (Genesis 1:14). The
darkening of them indicates that time is no more. In other words,
immediately after this great tribulation, eternity begins. Thus, we can
know that this tribulation is to occur at the end of time.

   The Final Tribulation - A Well-Documented Event

   The Bible has far more to say about the final tribulation than might
be realized. In a host of passages it instructs us that just before
Judgment Day there will be both an intensification of tribulation and a
radical change in the nature of tribulation compared with any
tribulation the world previously had endured. Matthew 24:15-28
addresses itself to this matter especially in verses 15-16, 21-22 and
24:

   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: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since
the beginning of the world to this time, no nor ever shall be. and
except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved:
but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. For there shall
arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the
very elect.

   The final tribulation will be entirely different from any the world
has ever known, as seen in the language of verse 21:

   For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

   Matthew 24 is one of the most lucid and detailed Bible passages on
the final tribulation period, but many other statements in the Bible
relate to it. For example, II Thessalonians 2:1-4 speaks of this period
as a falling away.

   Now we beseech you, brethren, by they coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. That ye be not soon
shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us, as the day of Christ is at hand. 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: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, shewing himself that he is God.

   Revelation 8 and Revelation 9 speak of it as a period when the third
part will be killed. The third part refers to the body of believers
within the church, the external body of believers gathered together as
congregations and denominations around the world. Revelation 9:15
records:

   And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour,
and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

   In Revelation 11:7-8 God refers to this event when indicating that
the two witnesses will be killed:

   And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that
ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and
shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in
the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and
Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

   The two witnesses also refer to the church. Revelation 13 concerns
this dreadful event, in verses 3-8.

   And I saw one of his heads, as it were wounded to death; and his
deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast.
And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and
they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is
able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth
speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to
continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy
against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that
dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

   Revelation 16 addresses this event in the ominous declaration of
verse 13 and 14:

   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 of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

   Revelation 17 gives further insight into this traumatic time

   in verses 12-14:

   And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with
the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength
unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they
that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

   Revelation 20 describes this event as a time when Satan is loosed
for a "little season." We read in verses 3 and 7-9:

   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.

   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 of the
four quarters of the earth, God 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.

   Jesus anticipates this dreadful period of time, as He teaches in
John 9;4:, "I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day;
the night cometh, when no man can work."

   Luke 17:22-23 contains language that is not easy to understand, but
which, as we shall see, can relate only to the final tribulation
period. There we read:

   And he said unto the disciples, The days will come, when ye shall
desire to see one of the days of the Son of man, and ye shall not see
it. And they shall say to you, See here; or; see there: go not after
them, nor follow them.

   Jesus instructs us concerning this event in the prophecy of Luke
21:20-24:

   And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know
that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judaea
flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart
out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto. For
these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may
be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that
give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the
land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of
the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled.

   The Old Testament, too, is replete with references to this awesome
period. For example in Daniel 7:23-25 God prophesies:

   Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon
earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the
whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces. And the
ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and
another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first,
and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against
the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and
think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand,
until a time and times and the dividing of time.

   The same period is in view in Daniel 8:23-25:

   And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the trans- gressors
are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding
dark sentences, shall stand up. And his power shall be mighty, but not
by his own power: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper
and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And
through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand;
and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy
many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he
shall be broken without hand.

   The Bible anticipates this event in the difficult language of
Genesis 19 where God describes the wickedness of the men of Sodom.
These men wanted to molest the visitors (God Himself) who came to
deliver Lot and his family out of Sodom and its impending destruction.

   Genesis 19 is further explicated in Judges 19, which details the
killing of the concubine by the men of Benjamin. Both ac- counts teach
aspects of the final tribulation period.

   God anticipates this period by His judgments on Israel and
Judah-Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and Judah was destroyed by
the Babylonians. Deuteronomy 28:15-68, II Chronicles 36:13-21, and many
passages in Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah anticipate this dreadful
event (these will be studied later). The final tribulation period is
not an isolated event with in- cidental reference to it in the Bible.
It is of major importance; it is spoken of repeatedly throughout the
Holy Scripture. It is so frequently alluded to in the Bible that we
wonder why it has not become an important part of Christian theology.

   Ahead of that question, we wonder why God has so much to say about
an event that is to be experienced only by the people of the world who
are living near the end of time. We wonder why many final tribulation
passages of the Bible are written in such a way that they are difficult
to understand. For example, when we analyze the passages mentioned on
the preceding pages of this study (a partial listing), we see how
obtuse and puzzling the language is. Few of the statements are as plain
as Matthew 24:21 where God declares that there will be great
tribulation such as this world has never known. The context of Matthew
24:21 does not cause one to understand the character and nature of the
final tribulation.

   The Final Tribulation Comes at the End of the Church Age.

   These questions can be answered if we realize that the chief truth
hidden in the biblical language of the final tribulation period is that
there will come a time when the work of the church, to evangelize the
world, will end. This can happen only when all of the elect have become
saved. The end of the work of the church will coincide with apostasy
within the churches. God's judgment will come upon these churches-the
various denominations and congregations throughout the world. This will
be preliminary to God's judgment upon the whole world at Judgment Day

   The work of the church to evangelize the world is so impor- tant
that God did not make the end of the church age a subject for
theologians of the New Testament period. While God saved the elect from
every nation, he repeatedly warned the churches that He would reject
them if they were unfaithful. However, the dramatic truth that a short
time prior to Judgment Day virtually every congregation and
denomination in the world was to become apostate was not a concern of
the evangelical church.

   The end of the church age and God's judgment upon the church at the
time of the closing of history is apparently antithetical, in
opposition, and contrary to everything the Bible teaches about God's
plan of salvation. That is why God has written extensively about this
event. When it became time for God to reveal these truths to His
believers, they would be able to find extensive documentation in the
Bible. Therefore, God has hidden the teachings of this dramatic event
in some of the most difficult biblical language. Once we understand the
nature and purpose of the final tribulation period, the truths hidden
in these passages begin to be revealed, and we see in a fresh and
beautiful way the harmony and cohesiveness of the Scriptures.

   We shall try to more clearly understand the character and purpose of
the closing events of this world and the transition into Judgment Day.
The greatest event that will take place before Judgment Day is the
final tribulation period; we will spend considerable time studying its
character and purpose.

   As has been noted, the final tribulation period is directly
associated with the end of the church age, when churches and
denominations will no longer function as representatives of God to
evangelize the world. Therefore, the more we know about the church as
it existed throughout the ages, the more qualified we will be to
understand the biblical information concerning the church's end.

   We will attempt to gain a perspective-an objective look-of God's
plan of salvation as it relates to the corporate or external body of
believers. As we do, keep in mind that we wish to understand what the
Bible teaches concerning the end of the church and the final
tribulation period.

   CHAPTER 2

   THE OLD TESTAMENT CHURCH

   The final tribulation period has been anticipated repeatedly
throughout the Scriptures. The Old Testament anticipated it. The New
Testament anticipated it. This is an event that has been spoken of in
great detail in the Bible. The reason it is well documented is that it
is so terrible in nature and purpose. The chief characteristic of the
final tribulation period is God's judgment on the church. This event
will be traumatic and contrary to everything that we might expect; God
has carefully and extensively written about it so that there might be
no misunderstanding.

   We will not have an appreciation of the final tribulation unless we
understand the Bible's teachings about the church. The mission and
character of the church should be of intense concern to every child of
God, because he is a part of that church, which is found in every
biblically faithful congregation and denomination. It is Christ's
church; He went to the cross to establish it. Therefore, believers want
to know all that the Bible teaches concerning the present and the
future of the church. To understand the church, its mission, character,
and future, we must understand how God dealt with the nations of the
Old Testament (especially national Israel), for they relate to the
church's present and future. National Israel, for example, is presented
in the Bible as a figure, type, or representation of the church. As we
understand how God dealt with Old Testament nations, we will understand
that the warnings given in the Old Testament relate to the New
Testament church. Let us get a biblical perspective of the church.

   In this chapter we will study the external appearance of the church
from the fall of Adam and Eve until the time of Abram, whom God used as
the beginning of the nation of Israel. We will briefly outline the
history of national Israel from Abraham to the time of the cross, when
the era of national Israel ended. In the following chapter we will look
at the beginning of the New Testament church.

   The Church from the Fall to Abraham

   In the beginning Adam and Eve were created, according to biblical
chronology, about 13,000 years ago, actually in the year 11,013 B.C.
From the time of their fall, salvation was possible. Abel, their son,
was saved. Possibly Adam and Eve were saved. Noah found grace in the
eyes of the Lord. Enoch, who lived a few thousand years before Noah,
walked with God and was not because God took him. Indeed, there was
salvation from the beginning. From the time that sin came into the
world until the present day there has been the possibility of salvation.

   During the first 9,000 years of the history of the world, peo- ple
were saved as individuals, just as people today are saved in-
dividually. Today we are instructed by God to fellowship together as
congregations. In those early years, God does not speak of a collective
body assembling together. God does not speak of a congregation; God
does not speak of a church. Nevertheless, their salvation was identical
to our salvation and to the salvation of believers throughout time. We
do not find that they were admonished to be a part of a congregation.
It was not God's plan in those early days to have a great body of
believers nor to assemble believers together in congregations.

   The number of believers at any time was exceedingly few. At the time
of the flood only eight people were saved. Out of a population of that
day of perhaps a million people, there were only eight people who could
possibly have been saved.

   Thus, during the 9,000 years from the fall of Adam and Eve until the
time of Abraham, there was no structured body of believers called a
congregation or a church. Moreover, at any time during this period the
number of believers was very small.

   The Church from Abraham to Christ

   When Abraham came on the scene about 4,000 years ago, it was the
beginning of a change. He headed the first official con- gregation,
i.e., the nation of Israel. The approximately 9,000 years that had gone
before are recorded in the first eleven chapters of Genesis. In Genesis
Chapter 12 God begins to deal with Abram. He was not a Jew. He was a
Gentile who trusted God just as we must trust God. He was saved exactly
as we are saved.

   In the year 2092 B.C. Abram was called out of Ur of the Chaldees, a
Gentile nation, and into the land of Canaan (which today is the land of
Israel). At that time Abram was 75 years of age. Twenty-four years
later, in the year 2068 B.C., Abram and his family received
circumcision as a sign that they were in the covenant.

   The covenant was the agreement God made within the Godhead, on
behalf of those who were to become saved, that God would save a people
for Himself. Theologically speaking it is called the "Covenant of
Grace" or the "Covenant of Redemption." Those who become saved as part
of God's covenant plan become eternal citizens of the kingdom of God.
This covenant is intimately identified with the kingdom of God.

   God began to identify His kingdom with a visible body of believers
by the sign of the covenant, circumcision. The fact that all males in
Abraham's family and servants and slaves in Abraham's household were
circumcised indicated that God was beginning to deal with a
congregation.

   Abraham fathered Isaac, who fathered Jacob. Jacob fathered sons who
headed the twelve tribes (actually there were thirteen) that became
national Israel. Again and again in the Bible national Israel was
spoken of as the congregation. They looked to their roots; they looked
to their progenitor Abraham as the beginning because he was brought to
the land of Canaan, to the land of Israel, by God. It was in this land
that the congregation of Israel lived for most of the 2,000 years from
Abraham to the time of the cross. Israel was the official congregation
that represented the kingdom of God in a visible, corporate, and
institutional way. From what we read in the Bible, there was no other
congregation in the world. Israel alone was the congregation.

   There was salvation among the Ninevites after Jonah came on the
scene. You can read about them in the Book of Jonah. You will not read
that the believing Ninevites became a congregation. They are a special
case that God put in the Bible for other purposes, to illustrate, for
example, that it was not God's intention that salvation be confined to
the nation of Israel. Their salvation emphasized that it was possible
for Gentiles to be saved. There are other reasons why God gave us the
Book of Jonah, but there is no intimation that God is teaching that
congregations other than the nation of Israel existed in the world
prior to the coming of Christ.

   God's Congregation-The Nation of Israel

   The only congregation that existed in the world from the fall of man
until Christ came to die for our sins was the nation of Israel. This
congregation was to be separated from the world. It was to have a
distinct and unique identification that showed it was God's
congregation. In Exodus 12, for example, if a Gentile (a stranger to
national Israel), wanted to partake of the Passover, he and his
household were to be circumcised (Exodus 12:48). In other words, if
someone became saved, he was to identify with the nation of Israel by a
particular sign placed on him. If a member of the congregation rebelled
against God, he was to be cut off, which was frequently signified by
stoning. The congregation was to be kept as pure as possible.

   This was the congregation. Insofar as is known from the Bible, it is
all that existed during the Old Testament period. This congregation was
so important and so intimate with God, that He declared Israel to be
His wife. God actually spoke of na-tional Israel as His wife to whom He
was married (Jeremiah 3:1, 8-10; Isaiah 50:1).

   In this intimate relationship God lavished blessing after blessing
upon Israel. No political nation has ever enjoyed the special favors
that were experienced by Israel.

   However, for long periods in its history it appeared that Israel was
under the wrath of God rather than under the blessing of God. It
enjoyed exceptional blessings of God, but Israel did not always show
the evidence of these blessings. Therefore God's judgments repeatedly
fell on Israel.

   During the days of King David and King Solomon, Israel was in its
flower; it existed as a beautiful nation. There was no division within
its ranks, but that condition was tentative. Solomon worshipped other
gods in his old age and as a penalty God destroyed Israel-actually, He
divided Israel. He took ten tribes, the largest part of Israel, and
gave them into the hands of a foreign king. He left only Judah and
Benjamin under the rulership of Solomon's son. This was a tremendous
judgment of God upon Israel.

   Two hundred and nine years later the ten tribes, also called the
northern kingdom, were destroyed by the Assyrians because they were
rebellious against God. One hundred and twenty-three years after the
ten tribes were destroyed, the remainder of Israel, called Judah or the
southern kingdom, was destroyed by the Babylonians, in the year 587 B.C.

   That was not the end of national Israel, even though they were in
captivity in Babylon for a long time. In spite of the apostasy that had
prevailed, a remnant came out of Babylon. God still recognized the
nation of Israel as His congregation, as the corporate body. A remnant
came out of Babylon, returned to Jerusalem, and there the nation of
Israel was slowly rebuilt. Up to and including when Christ came on the
scene, Israel continued to be the external official representation of
the kingdom of God on earth. Anyone who identified with the God of the
Bible and salvation would have been a part of the congregation in
national Israel. The nation of Israel continued until the time of
Christ to be an integral part of God's visible church.

   Ancient Israel Relates to the New Testament Church

   We are interested in ancient Israel because it gives us in- sights
into New Testament congregations; as God dealt with ancient national
Israel, we get insights as to how God deals with the church of our day.
It identifies with New Testament congregations from many vantage points.

   Ancient Israel was a nation that God used as a type or figure of the
Israel of God that came into existence later in history. It shall be
seen that the Israel of God is the body of true believers, from the
beginning up to the present day and till Christ returns.

   Ancient Israel served many purposes in God's salvation plan in
addition to that of being a type of the Israel of God. During their era
they served as the visible, external representation of the kingdom of
God. They served a marvelous purpose in that God used the Jews, the
blood descendants of Abraham, as the people to write the Bible-possibly
the whole Bible was written by official members of the congregation of
the nation of Israel.

   Another tremendous blessing we received from national Israel is the
Lord Jesus. Jesus was a Jew. He was a blood descendant of Abraham, of
the tribe of Judah, of the house of David. We can be grateful to
national Israel that humanly speaking they produced the Christ.

   The nation of Israel was the progenitor of the New Testament church.
Christ came from Israel, and the New Testament church came from Christ;
therefore, the New Testament church came from national Israel. God used
them in marvelous ways.

   Another purpose in God's plan for national Israel was that He used
them to bring Christ to crucifixion. The Sanhedrin (the Jewish rulers),
the High Priest, and the Pharisees plotted the death of the Lord Jesus,
which was an important part of God's plan. If Jesus had not been
crucified, there would be no salvation for us. We are grateful that He
was crucified. The nation of Israel, particularly the leaders of the
nation of Israel, were incensed against Jesus. They were convinced that
He was of Satan and therefore they wanted Him killed. They induced the
Roman Governor Pontius Pilate to have Him crucified-a necessary part of
God's salvation plan.

   The apostles, who played an important part in the formation of the
New Testament church, also came from national Israel. The twelve
apostles were Jews. They were members of the synagogue. They were the
men that God used to begin the New Testament church. We owe much to
national Israel. It was used in a profound and wonderful way by God to
prepare our salvation.

   National Israel was a corporate, visible, institutional, ex- ternal
body intimately related to God. God brought magnificent blessings upon
them; New Testament churches and congregations are equally blessed.

   This does not imply that every man of national Israel was saved.
There were true believers within national Israel, but as a nation they
remained unsaved. Since the nation itself was the church, it can be
said that a great number of people within the church of that day were
unsaved. Nevertheless, God loved them as a corporate body. Only those
who were truly saved have eternal life. Those who were unsaved, even
though they were members of the corporate body, remain under the wrath
of God. They must pay for their sins the same as anyone else in the
world who remains unsaved. Salvation through the shed blood of Christ
was as essential for them as it is for us today.

   Israel's Era Comes to an End

   The era when national Israel served as the external representation
of the kingdom of God on earth finally came to an end. It ended in a
dramatic way. The end of the era opened the way for the kingdom of God
to be externally represented by the New Testament Church.

   The end of national Israel will be studied in some detail to be
certain of this conclusion. The end of national Israel as the corporate
representation of the kingdom of God occurred when Jesus hung on the
cross. Before the cross (throughout the Old Testament period),
sacrifices and blood offerings were made. Burnt offerings were made on
the altar. These sacrifices pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb
of God, who was sacrificed for our sins.

   The physical focus of these sacrifices was the temple in Jerusalem.
In the temple was the Holy of Holies; it was the most holy place. It
was separated from the major part of the temple by a huge veil or
curtain behind which no one ever saw. Behind the veil was the ark. In
this ark were the two tablets of stone on which the ten commandments
were written. The ark represented Christ. Once a year, on the Day of
Atonement, the high priest entered the veil to sprinkle blood on the
ark-the mercy seat which covered the ark. When he went behind the veil,
everyone else left the temple. No one could look behind the veil
because the Holy of Holies, which was the room behind the veil,
represented God. The Bible speaks of it as the place where God came
down to man. It was the most holy place that made the temple the most
holy building in the world. The temple was in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem
therefore, became the holy city.

   When Christ hung on the cross, the veil of the temple was rent
(Matthew 27:51). God, as it were, took His finger and tore the veil
from top to bottom. The huge curtain which was, as near as we can
determine, more than fifty feet high, was rent by God-no longer was the
Holy of Holies a hidden place. No longer was it a place into which no
one could look. It was wide open, and that meant that it was no longer
the holy place. It no longer was the holy place, therefore the temple
was no longer the holy building. The temple was no longer the holy
building; Jerusalem was no longer the holy city. This marked the end of
the era of national Israel.

   Christ's suffering on the cross was the fulfillment of all the Old
Testament sacrifices. He was the Lamb to which all the previously
slaughtered lambs pointed. His death, therefore, marked the end of the
observance of the ceremonial laws. The end of the ceremonial law
brought the end of national Israel as God's official representation of
the kingdom of God on earth.

   God formed national Israel in the year 2068 B.C., the year Abraham
was circumcised. Exactly 2,100 years later, in the year 33 A.D.,
national Israel stopped being the official representation of the
kingdom of God on earth. (There is no year zero. To determine the
passage of time from an Old Testa-ment date to the New Testament date,
the two periods must be added together and then one (1) is subtracted
from the total to obtain the actual years that transpired between the
two dates. Thus the period 2068 B.C. to 33 A.D. equals 2101 calendar
years but 2100 actual years: 2068 + 33 - 1 = 2100.) From that time
forward, if anyone wanted to know something about Jehovah God, if he
wanted to know about the Bible, or the Lord Jesus Christ, he did not go
to national Israel. We do not go to Jerusalem today to find out about
the Christ. We go to the churches and the congregations that sprang up
subsequent to the cross. God's action of tearing the veil as Christ
hung on the cross ended the era of national Israel because they were
the stewards or the custodians of the ceremonial law.

   During the first 9,000 years of world history there was no
congregation. During the last 2,100 years of the Old Testament era
there was a congregation-that congregation was national Israel. Its
land was the land of Israel; Jerusalem was its capital. The Lord Jesus
Christ came out of that congregation. The crucifixion of Christ ended
the era.

   The Bible says that God has one more thing to do with national
Israel; it is another subject. Briefly, it is: God speaks of Israel as
a sign that we are near the end of time. The Bible indicates that when
the fig tree is in leaf, you know that summer is nigh. When you see
these things happening, you know that Christ is at the very door
(Matthew 24:32, 33). The fig tree, which typifies national Israel in
the Bible, is again in leaf and that tells us that we are close to the
end.

   This is of great importance and will be studied later in detail. It
impinges heavily on the final tribulation period. The development of
churches and congregations in the world began with the coming of
Christ. When He was crucified man entered the era of the New Testament
church. The next chapter covers the New Testament church.

   CHAPTER 3

   THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

   In the last chapter it was determined that for almost the first
9,000 years of world history there was no congregation anywhere in the
world. Salvation was available however, as at- tested to by individuals
such as Abel and Enoch and Noah's family, who became saved. Beginning
with Abraham, God formed a congregation, and that congregation, or that
church, was national Israel. There are those who do not like the word
"church" in connection with national Israel, but it is the word that
God uses. For example, in Acts 7:38 God speaks of national Israel as
the "congregation" or the "church" in the wilderness. It is the
identical word that is used when God talks about the New Testament
church.

   The era of national Israel ended when Christ hung on the cross-when
the veil of the temple was rent. Fifty days later, God officially began
the era of the New Testament church.

   The Beginning of the New Testament Church

   The beginning of the New Testament church was as dramatic as the end
of the era of the Old Testament church. Jesus told His apostles in John
16:7, 8:

   Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go
away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but
if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

   The Comforter is God the Holy Spirit who would begin His program to
evangelize the world immediately after Christ returned to heaven. This
grand event was promised in many places in the Old Testament. One
phrase used by God to describe this new program is that the Holy Spirit
would be poured out. In Joel 2:28, for example, God decreed that "it
shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh." This prophecy was fulfilled at Pentecost in 33 A.D. It was then
that the Holy Spirit was poured out.

   The pouring out of the Holy Spirit does not indicate that God, who
is the Holy Spirit, can be physically poured out. He is not a quantity
that can be treated this way. God uses "pouring out" to identify with
the biblical concept that the world before the coming of Christ was a
spiritual desert-few had been saved. The spiritual desert was to be
turned into a fruitful field. Spiritual forests would grow, and the
wilderness would bring forth green vegetation. It is as though copious
quantities of water were poured out on the spiritual desert. The water
is a figure or type of God the Holy Spirit beginning His program to
evangelize the world. The language the "Holy Spirit was poured out"
simply means that God the Holy Spirit had begun His evangelical
commission. This was the fulfillment of hundreds of Old Testament
promises that indicated that believers would come to God from every
nation. To further build on the figure of water being poured on the
desert, God used the term "filled with the Spirit" to indicate that New
Testament believers were qualified to be witnesses. The picture God
paints is that the Holy Spirit, like great quantities of water, is
poured out and fills every believer; out of their bellies flow rivers
of living water (John 7:38). The world which had been a spiritual
desert would blossom with new believers in Christ, as God worked
through believers to evangelize the world.

   The program of worldwide evangelization began fifty days after
Christ hung on the cross. Ten days earlier, on Pentecost, Jesus had
gone back to heaven, and thereby indicated that His work of atonement
had been completed. It was time for God's program to evangelize the
world to begin.

   As previously noted, the program to evangelize the world was
thoroughly anticipated in the Old Testament. There are many Old
Testament passages that point to the time when believers would come
from every nation. Abraham, who was the beginning of the Old Testament
church, was told by God in Genesis 17 that he would be the father of a
multitude of nations. Throughout the Old Testament are statements that
the day would come when all kinds of people would come to God, and the
Gentiles would serve Him.

   These promises focused on Pentecost in 33 A.D., fifty days after
Christ was crucified. This was the beginning of God's salvation program
whereby people from every nation were to be saved. National Israel no
longer represented the institutional, visible, or external
congregation. It no longer represented the kingdom of God.
Congregations which began to spring up all over the world became the
representation of the kingdom of God. At Pentecost 3,000 were saved
from eighteen different nations. These people went back to their
nations and became the church of God. They were not identified with the
temple in Jerusalem. They were not identified with the synagogues.

   It is true that the apostles still went to synagogues to teach; that
is where the Jews were. That is where they assembled in religious
worship. God had commanded the apostles to go first to the Jews to make
sure that they heard the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostles
no longer belonged to the synagogues. The church had begun afresh,
apart from the church of the Old Testament. It began with the apostles
who came out of the church of the Old Testament.

   The Old Testament church had an external corporate character. The
institutional, visible body consisted of the whole nation of Israel and
the Gentiles who joined by circumcision. Within the church were found
the true believers who had eternal life. They had personally had their
sins paid for by the Messiah who was to come. They had been chosen or
elected by God to become saved. This election process had taken place
before God created the world (Ephesians 1:4). Those who were elected by
God are the only ones who would ever believe in Christ and become saved.

   The Bible teaches that Christ went to the cross for more reasons
than to save the elect, even though that was the most important reason.
Our Lord Jesus went to the cross, first, to save all who would believe
on Him. He went to the cross to save David, to save Elijah, to save
Moses, to save Enoch. The impact of the cross reached back to the
beginning so that these men were saved anticipating the shed blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is called Jesus because He saves His
people from their sins. His people includes everyone who would ever
believe in Him. That is the big task God had laden upon Him on the
cross: He had become sin for every one of God's elect. All those whom
God planned to save were saved by the Lord Jesus going to the cross.

   Jesus went to the Cross to Establish the External Church

   One may not normally think of this, but nevertheless it is biblical:
Jesus went to the cross to establish the congregation, the visible,
external congregation.

   National Israel was important to God as a corporate, in- stitutional
body. This was seen, for example, in the wilderness after they had come
out of Egypt. They were saved from the bondage of enslavement to Egypt.
They came through the Red Sea in a miraculous way. God was present with
them in the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. God cared for
them; He brought to them the heavenly bread, manna. God gave them water
out of the rock; they had plenty of water to drink. Their shoes did not
wear out; their feet did not swell. God cared for them in marvelous
ways even though individually most of them were unbelievers. God was
tremendously involved with them as an external and visible body. In the
New Testament, God is involved with the external, visible body. Every
congregation is identified with Christ. Christ went to the cross to
establish these congregations. In II Peter 2:1 God declares that false
prophets will arise among you "even denying the Lord that bought them."
These false prophets are members of the visible body, but they are not
eternal members. They are not saved; they are in the congregation, and
they deny the Lord who bought them. The phrase "bought them" guides us
to understand the corporate body's relationship to the cross.

   God did not "buy them" in the sense that He paid for their sins. If
this were so, then they would have been saved; they would not have been
false prophets. God bought them in the sense that Christ went to the
cross to establish the congregations as visible, corporate
representations of the kingdom of God on earth. The unsaved, false
prophets were members of the congregation; in that respect, God bought
them. In other words, Christ went to the cross so that the visible,
external body of believers, called the church or congregation, could
come into being. God expected Old Testament believers to belong to a
visible body called national Israel, and God expects New Testament
believers to belong to a visible body.

   The relationship of Christ to the visible body is seen in Revelation
2 and 3. The seven churches of Asia, which included Ephesus,
Philadelphia, Smyrna and Laodicea are named. Each of these
congregations was represented in heaven by a candlestick, and Christ
walked among these candlesticks. Yet, in these congregations there were
many unbelievers. There was a Jezebel in one of them and there were the
Nicolaitanes who were in rebellion against God. Grievously bad things
were going on in some of these congregations. Nevertheless, God
repeatedly spoke of the fact that they were His congregations. They
were each represented by a candlestick in heaven. God as Christ went to
the cross to establish these congregations. Christ went to the cross
not only to save individual believers but also to bring into existence
the corporate, external body called the church. In the corporate sense
it can be said that Christ bought the unsaved members of the church.

   God's relationship to the New Testament congregation is not quite
like it was to the Old Testament congregation, national Israel. The Old
Testament congregation became the wife of God. God entered into that
intimate relationship, but the New Testament does not say that Christ
is married to the corporate, external congregation. God does not use
that language when speaking of the New Testament congregation.

   Christ was able to divorce the Old Testament congregation because
God included in the ceremonial laws (Deuteronomy 24:1), that if a
husband found that his wife was guilty of some unclean thing, that is,
she was guilty of fornication, then he could write her a bill of
divorcement and put her away. This is the law, or the principle, that
God exercised to put away national Israel because of the Israelites
continuing infidelity. They continued to rebel against Him and go after
other gods; therefore, God divorced them.

   When Christ came on the scene, the possibility of divorce was
rescinded. In Matthew Chapter 19, verse 8, the Bible declares that from
the beginning it was not so (that a man could divorce his wife for
fornication). It was never God's intention that a man could divorce his
wife, so the principle in the ceremonial law of Deuteronomy 24 no
longer stands. If a man finds his wife engaging in fornication, he
cannot divorce her.

   God never speaks of having a wife-husband relationship with the New
Testament institutional or corporate body. If He were married to her,
to the corporate body, the institutional church, in the light of
Matthew 19:8, He could not put her away. He is not married to it; He
can separate Himself from it because there has never been a marriage.
Later we shall see how God intends to separate Himself from the New
Testament congregations.

   In the New Testament God does speak of a marriage rela- tionship.
Instead of a marriage relationship to the corporate, external body (as
in the Old Testament with national Israel), in the New Testament the
relationship is with the eternal body, the invisible body of believers,
which is found in every congregation that is reasonably true to the
Word of God.

   The difference must be underscored. In the New Testament when God
speaks about His church, He may be speaking about the external,
visible, institutional, corporate body that is called the Lutheran
church or the Presbyterian church or the Mission Covenant church, etc.
This is the external, visible congregation just as national Israel in
the Old Testament was the visible congregation-the external
representation of the kingdom of God on earth. The Bible reveals that
God has a tremendous interest in the corporate, external body of
believers. When we join a church, corporately we become identified with
the kingdom of God. This is true even if we are unsaved, as were the
false prophets spoken of in II Peter 2 who were members of a church.

   The Eternal Church within the External Church

   Within the external body there are those who are true believers.
They should be found in the congregations that are reasonably true to
the Word of God, because God commands us, if possible, to be a part of
a congregation.

   The invisible church is invisible because only God knows who are the
saved ones. You and I, who are saved, can know in our own hearts that
we are children of God. God certainly gives us that assurance as we
read the Scriptures and our faith is built up. Faith comes by hearing
and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

   One cannot know who else is saved. One cannot know the heart of
another person. God knows who they are. Within any congregation there
are those who are saved and those who are not saved. Insofar as the
elders, the deacons, or the pastor desire, hopefully everybody within
the congregation is saved. However, in the seven churches of Revelation
2 and 3, there were members, called Jezebel or Nicolaitanes, who were
running after another gospel. Therefore, it is certain that in
virtually every congregation there are those who are unsaved.

   Of prime importance to God is the invisible body, the eternal
church, made up of those who have truly become saved, who have
personally received their resurrected souls. These were named by God
from before the foundation of the world. They are named in the Lamb's
Book of Life. They are the elect of God who were predestinated to be
saved. They are the individuals named in God's will and to whom God has
obligated Himself to give the eternal inheritance. These are the ones
that the Bible speaks of as, "Thou shalt call His name JESUS: for He
shall save His people from their sins" (Matthew 1:21). These are the
ones that Jesus spoke about when He said in John 6:37, "All that the
Father giveth me, shall come to me." These are in the eternal kingdom
of God.

   When we truly become saved, when we become a child of God, then we
are members of the eternal kingdom of God. The eternal kingdom of God
is found in every congregation that is reasonably true to the Word of
God. This is the Israel of God. This is the eternal Israel that has
trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the seed of Abraham in the
spiritual sense: people who have had their sins covered by the blood of
Jesus-these are the bride of Christ.

   In Revelation Chapter 21 God shows us the holy city, the New
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her
husband. The holy city is not the institutional church. The New
Jerusalem is not the external congregation. The bride of Revelation 21
consists only of those who are born from above, those who are part of
the eternal, invisible church; God alone knows its total extent.

   In Ephesians Chapter 5 there is an interesting statement concerning
this bride relationship. Jesus commands husbands in verse 25,
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and
gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the
washing of water by the word."

   Christ does not cleanse the external congregation; it can go deeper
and deeper into sin and finally, God cuts it off. He cuts it off
because He is not married to it. He need not divorce it as He had to
divorce ancient Israel. He is not married to the New Testament
corporate, institutional body, so He simply cuts it off. He destroys
it. He removes the candlestick.

   The invisible church-the eternal body of believers, which is found
within the institutional congregation-is the bride of Christ. Christ is
married to it. He is the husband of the true believers, and He says
that we are to love our wives as Christ loved the church. God uses the
husband-wife relationship to give us an idea of the intimacy that
exists between Christ and His body of believers. He declares that His
purpose is to sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the
Word. Those who are eternally saved have been cleansed by the blood of
Christ. He will present them to Himself, a glorious church, not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it should be holy and without
blemish.

   The external congregation, the Baptist denomination, or the Reformed
denomination, or the Presbyterian denomination, or the Methodist
denomination, will never be without spot or wrinkle. No denomination
will ever be without spot or wrinkle. No denomination nor local
congregation is the bride of Christ. It is the external representation
of the kingdom of God, as has been seen, but it will fall away in time,
just as churches throughout history have fallen away.

   True believers within the congregations are the eternal church. They
are the Israel of God; they are the bride of Christ. It is they whose
sins have been washed away. They are the ones who are presented to God
without having spot or wrinkle; God has covered them with His blood.
God gave them, first of all, resurrected souls when they became saved.
When He completes their salvation, He will give them a resurrected body
in which they will never sin again. This is the most important aspect
of the church. These individuals are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They
are the legitimate ambassadors of Christ, and as ambassadors of Christ,
they are qualified (by being filled with the Spirit), to be Christ's
witnesses to the world.

   Christ can never divorce this church because what God has joined
together let not man put asunder. God will not violate this rule. God
has guaranteed that we will be His bride throughout eternity. What a
blessed, blessed promise this is!

   The Eternal Church Includes Old Testament Believers

   The eternal church, the invisible body of believers, includes not
only those who have been saved since the establishment of the New
Testament church, it also includes those who were saved in the Old
Testament days. It includes those who lived in the nation of Israel and
those who lived before the nation of Israel, for example, Noah, who
"found grace in the eyes of the LORD" (Genesis 6:8). He lived almost
3,000 years before the founding of the nation of Israel. The Pharisee,
Nicodemus, whom Jesus talked to in John 3 is an Old Testament believer.
Christ here speaks on the Old Testament side of the cross, and yet He
tells him, "Ye must be born again." He must be born from above,
otherwise, he cannot see or enter the kingdom of God. This is the same
language the Bible uses in reference to New Testament salvation.

   The Bible declares many good and important things about the
corporate body, the external institution, which is called the First
Baptist Church or the First Presbyterian Church or the Episcopal
Church, or whatever it may be called. However, under no circumstances
are we saved because we belong to a congregation. Under no
circumstances do we look to that church to save us. We must be
extremely clear on this. Our salvation comes through a personal
relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. He personally has to wash away
our sins.

   Our salvation is entirely independent of our congregation. We may
have been saved before we were aware that there were congregations.
Many people are saved this way. We may have been saved after being
invited to visit a congregation and hearing the preaching of the Word,
in which case God blessed that preaching to our hearts, cleansed us
from our sins, and we became saved. Nonetheless, we are not saved by
the church. We are saved by the blood of Christ. We are saved by what
Christ did for us on the cross.

   The external church, the institutional church to which we belong, is
the place where we gather to encourage one another in the Word and to
worship. Worship is a large part of our rela- tionship with Christ. As
we pray and sing songs together, we worship Him. We can worship
individually, but we are also to worship collectively. God has
admonished us, if at all possible, to belong to a congregation. This is
very important. The eternal church is made up of only true believers.
The invisible church is eternal in character. It is the church that
will be the bride of Christ eternally.

   God's purposes for the nation of Israel, the corporate, exter- nal,
institutional body for 2,100 years before the cross, ended when Christ
hung on the cross. Unfortunately, it will be seen that the external
visible body, our congregation, whatever the name may be, will also
end, a short period before Judgment Day. The invisible church, which is
made up of those who are true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, will
go on into eternity and forever be the bride of Christ.

   Those who make up the invisible church, those who are saved, are
also called a "remnant" or a "remnant chosen by grace." They represent
a small percentage of all the people of the earth. As individual
congregations become more apostate, as they become more rebellious
against God, true believers will be a smaller and smaller percentage of
the members of congregations.

   This is not surprising. In national Israel, at any time in its
history, the true believers, members of the invisible, eternal church,
were a tiny percentage of the whole nation of Israel. Frequently in our
congregations, the same is true. Ideally, the congregation consists of
only those who are true believers. In practice, particularly as a
church becomes more and more interested in the world and tries to
achieve success by rapidly adding membership, it begins to let down the
bars. To some degree, this church begins to redesign God's laws as laid
down in the Bible. The rulers do this to make it easier for people to
become members of their congregation. Finally, it gets to the point
where the number of true believers in that church (and only God knows
who they are), is a remnant of the congregation.

   Throughout history the number of true believers was a remnant
compared with the totality of all people. The number of people in the
world who are true believers is a small percentage of the whole.

   Nevertheless, the totality of all those who have believed on Him is
a vast company. In Revelation 7, for example, God declares that the
totality of true believers is a vast company which no man could number.
The building of the church, the invisible, eternal church, of which we
become a part when we become saved, has been going on throughout
history, particularly during the last 1,950 to 2,000 years. A
tremendous number of people have become believers.

   As we study the church and see how God has worked out His program to
bring the Gospel, I surely hope that you are a child of God. In all
likelihood you have membership in a congregation. Because you have been
baptized, have membership in a congregation, teach a Sunday School
class, faithfully go to church, and pray, does not guarantee that you
are a child of God. None of these things guarantees that you are the
bride of Christ, that you are part of the eternal body that will go on
eternally. If you have come to the Lord with a broken and a contrite
heart, if you have looked upon yourself with the stark knowledge that
you are a sinner under the wrath of God, and if you have begun to trust
in Christ as your only sin bearer, as your Savior, you can know that
you are on the path of salvation. Only if you have begun to find it
more and more distasteful to sin, and if you have repented of your
sins, is there evidence that God is doing a work of grace in your
heart. Only then can you know that you are a member of the true church.

   It is my desire that each one who reads this book might in- deed
know that he or she is a member of Christ's glorious eternal church.

   The Task of the Church

   In this study of the final tribulation period, it will be discovered
that the things thus far learned fit precisely into God's end-time
program of bringing judgment upon the church. Because of the church's
increasing apostasy near the end of time, the era of the New Testament
church will end, as did the Old Testament church-the nation of Israel.

   To appreciate and understand the end of the New Testament church,
one must understand the task of the church. What is the major task of
the institutional church, the visible representation of the kingdom of
God?

   First of all, the task is to nourish and feed believers within the
congregation. Those who have become members of the body of Christ, who
truly have been saved, assemble and worship together as a body. This is
an important function for the believer and is not to be taken lightly.
The Bible teaches that we are not to neglect the assembling together of
the saints, particularly as the day draws nigh (Hebrews 10:25). The
Bible speaks of those in the congregation who rule over us (I Peter
5:1-3). It is God's plan that we be members of congregations. Within
that congregation we are to be exhorted. We are to be taught the Word
of God. We are to become more qualified to get on with the task that
God has assigned to each of us: the task of sending the Gospel into the
world.

   The other task of the church-and it is a major task-is that it is
mandated by God to send the Gospel into the world, that many more might
be saved. God does not expect the secular community, nor the business
community, nor the political community, to evangelize the world. They
have nothing to do with the true Gospel. They have no mandate, of any
kind, to send the Gospel into the world.

   The congregations and denominations that have sprung up during the
New Testament period, which have within them the true believers who are
filled with the Spirit, have the task of evangelizing the world. They
are to marshall their resources so that the Gospel might go forth. As
the Gospel goes forth, and this one is saved and that one is saved, it
is the congregation, the official representation of the kingdom of God,
that welcomes the saved ones into the body of believers. They are
baptized within the congregation. They fellowship within the
congregation, commune together in the communion service, and anticipate
the oneness that eternally exists in the body of believers.

   God has assigned to the congregations the important task of bringing
the Gospel to a lost world. Each congregation, while it labors at the
task of evangelizing the world, is responsible to God to be a faithful
representative of the kingdom of God. If they are unfaithful, if they
become apostate, and go after gospels other than the true Gospel, then
God removes the candlestick. That is, God cuts them off; they are no
longer His church.

   Throughout New Testament history, this falling away has happened
again and again and again. For example, the seven churches of
Revelation 2 and Revelation 3 were located in the part of the world
that is now called Turkey. The churches that were in Turkey no longer
exist; there is no substantial Christian presence in the nation of
Turkey today. Their candlesticks were removed because they did not
remain faithful.

   This has happened repeatedly throughout history. Denominations have
risen, they have become apostate, and they are no longer the church of
Jesus Christ. The moment that a denomination or a congregation begins
to have as its authority something other than the Bible alone and in
its entirety, it is no longer a congregation of Jesus Christ. Its
candlestick has been removed. However, as this happened throughout the
New Testament period, God raised up more faithful congregations. It is
God's plan that believers come from every nation.

   It is the church's responsibility to send out God's Word. Jesus
declared, "as my Father hath sent me, so send I you" (John 20:21). The
church as a corporate body can officially send out missionaries and use
other methods to send forth the Gospel. Individual members of the
church can exercise their responsibility by personally witnessing to
others, handing out tracts, and joining with other Christians in
ministries such as Family Radio. The Lord's command to every believer
is-Go ye into all the world making disciples. This is the grand and
important task of the church. By this means God has sought out and
saved His lost sheep. What is the end of the church, the corporate,
external, in- stitutional body? Before that question is answered,
Satan's relationship to the body of believers, or to the church, will
be examined. Satan must be kept in view when trying to gain a
perspective of what happens in the world that leads to the end of the
church and Judgment Day. True believers once were slaves of Satan and
Satan still tries to claim them. Satan is constantly trying to destroy
the church. God is actually going to allow Satan to destroy the
corporate church.

   CHAPTER 4

   SATAN'S RELATIONSHIP TO THE CHURCH

   It will be found that the final tribulation has everything to do
with the end of the church age; thus, we have taken an ob- jective look
at the history, purpose, and character of the church. With a proper
perspective of the church we will understand the end of the church. As
we see the end of the church, we will understand the final tribulation
period. We have therefore spent considerable time looking at how God
built His church and how He built His congregations.

   Before the cross there was a corporate body of believers called the
nation of Israel to which God was married. Within this body was a
trickle of believers called the remnant chosen by grace; however, the
church or nation as a whole remained in rebellion against God.
Therefore, based on the law of divorce given in Deuteronomy 24:1 God
divorced Israel.

   The New Testament church, which began at Pentecost, is also a
corporate, external body. When Jesus came the observance of the
ceremonial law ended. The ceremonial law of Deuteronomy 24 that
permitted divorce for fornication also came to an end. From that time
on, there could be no divorce for any reason. However, God did not
marry the New Testament corporate, visible body. It was God's intention
to cut off, to destroy, that body if it became apostate. He could not
do this if He had married it.

   Within the New Testament corporate body is the invisible eternal
church-those who were personally saved by Christ. It is to this eternal
church that Christ is married. There can no longer be divorce for any
reason; Christ is forever married to the body of believers. Two aspects
of the New Testament church that must be kept in mind when studying the
history of the church are the corporate, visible body and the
invisible, eternal body.

   To gain a perspective of the whole program of God's salva- tion, we
must know Satan's role. Satan has been intimately involved with the
church in the past, and he is going to be in- volved with the corporate
church as we approach the end of time.

   Who Is Satan?

   From everything read in the Bible, Satan was created as an angel
along with legions of other angels. However, he wanted to be like God.
He wanted to be a king in his own right. In Isaiah 14:12b-14 God speaks
of him:

   ...O Lucifer, (Lucifer simply means "shining one") son of the
morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the
nations! 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.

   God created the angels to be ministering spirits, used of the Lord
on behalf of those who were to be saved (Hebrews 1:14). God knew before
He created anything that man would rebel against Him and come under the
wrath of God. In anticipation of this, God created the angels to be
used on behalf of those who were being saved. They were servants of
God. Lucifer aspired to be a king in his own right. He rebelled against
God and many other angels rebelled with him.

   Lucifer saw an opportunity to be a king when God created the earth
and Adam and Eve and gave them rule of the earth. He created mankind,
and He gave them dominion over this creation (Genesis 1:28). Lucifer
reasoned something like this, "If I can get Adam and Eve to obey me,
rather than God, then by right of conquest I become their master. Then
if God is just, He has to allow me to rule over them."

   Whether he actually reasoned this out in his heart in this language
is unknown, but this is the way it worked out. He came in the form of a
serpent, the most wise of all the animals that were created in the
Garden of Eden. He tempted Eve to disobey God-to eat of the forbidden
fruit. Adam also ate of the tree, and both Adam and Eve rebelled
against God and began to be enemies of God. By rebelling against God,
they indicated their enslavement to Lucifer. Therefore, God allowed
Lucifer, who is Satan, who is also called the serpent, to have
spiritual rule over mankind. Ever since that time the heart of unsaved
man has been under the rule of Satan.

   This does not mean that God totally abandoned His rule of man. At no
time in history was Satan allowed to do anything that would frustrate
God's eternal plan for the world and its inhabitants. God did allow
Satan to have spiritual rule over unsaved man.

   Satan's Rule Over the World Before the Cross

   Until Christ came as Savior, that is, for the first 11,000 years of
the history of this world, Satan's rule over mankind was great; few
became saved. Most people were kept in the darkness of sin. Only
occasionally in the Bible do we read of anyone becoming saved. In the
days of the flood, for example, when there may have been as many as a
million people living, only eight people entered the ark to escape
God's judgment; that was a tiny percentage of the world's population.

   When Sodom and Gomorrah were to be destroyed, Abraham pleaded with
God: if there are ten righteous people in these cities that they not be
destroyed (Genesis 18:32). The only way one can become righteous is to
be saved. The heart of man is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), and
there is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10). It is obvious that
the only way one can become righteous is to be redeemed from the wrath
of God which is rightly deserved because of sins. Abraham effectively
asked God to spare these cities if only ten were saved within them.

   Thousands of people lived in Sodom and Gomorrah; ten was the tiniest
percentage of people saved within these cities. God faithfully
promised, "I will not destroy it for ten's sake" (Genesis 18:32b).

   He did destroy those cities, and fewer than ten people were saved.
Actually only Lot and possibly his two daughters were saved.

   The spiritual darkness of Sodom and Gomorrah existed all over the
world on the Old Testament side of the cross. In places like China, the
South Pacific, and North and South America, no one was saved. Everyone
was completely under the rule of Satan. They were blinded by sin. In
national Israel, which had been set apart to represent the kingdom of
God on this earth, only a small percentage was saved. For example,
during the forty years that they were in the wilderness, after they
came out of Egypt to go to the land of Canaan, virtually the whole
nation perished because of unbelief (Hebrews 3:19). It is not just a
statement. How could this be? This was God's special people. They were
"the apple of His eye" (Deuteronomy 32:10).

   During the period from the fall of Adam and Eve until the time of
the cross, Satan was allowed to bind the hearts of men to such a degree
that they were kept in the darkness of sin. This was coincidental with
God's elective program. God elected a small number to salvation from
these early nations. Had He elected more than this number, God would
have had to make provision for their salvation, but that was not God's
program. Therefore, to a high degree, He allowed Satan to control the
hearts of unsaved men. Evidence of Satan's control over the hearts of
men is seen, for example, in the days of Elijah when only 7,000 were
saved (I Kings 19:18), out of a nation of possibly two million people.
This is about one-third of one percent. The nation of Israel was the
chief nation-the only nation-where people were becoming saved, with a
few exceptions such as Rahab the harlot, Ruth the Moabitess, the Queen
of Sheba, and the city of Ninevah. These are notable exceptions.

   During the 11,000 year period before Christ came, Satan had great
freedom. He was audacious in his freedom. He was allowed to go into
heaven. God tells us in Job Chapter 1 verse 6 that Satan appeared among
the sons of God. While there he said to God that Job remained faithful
because God had put a hedge around him. Satan said Job was faithful to
God only because God had bestowed so many blessings upon him. He was
the accuser of the brethren. He enjoyed this freedom throughout
time-until Christ came on the scene.

   In Satan's rebellion against God he took many angels with him. These
are called devils or fallen angels or evil spirits. The Bible records
that evil spirits were in the hearts of people, par- ticularly when
Christ walked on earth (Luke 4:33), and in the Old Testament one may
read of evil spirits (I Samuel 19:9).

   Satan's Rule over Mankind was Never Total

   During the 11,000 year period, Satan's spiritual rule over unsaved
men's hearts was not total. He had not become king of kings and lord of
lords as God is King of kings and Lord of lords. God restrains sin in
unsaved men's hearts.

   The restraint on sin of the unsaved is seen, for example, in Genesis
20 when Abraham fled to Gerar to escape the famine of the land. While
there, Abraham became frightened that the king of Gerar would kill him
to have Sarah for his wife. This was a low point in Abraham's life. He
did not trust God sufficiently. Abraham was an individual like each of
us, and he had sinful moments. He lied to Abimelech, the king of Gerar,
and said of Sarah, "She is my sister" (Genesis 20:2). Actually, this
was a half truth because Sarah was his half sister, but the intent of
his statement was that she was not his wife.

   God came to Abimelech in a dream (verse 3 of Genesis 20), and said
to him, "Thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken:
for she is a man's wife." In other words, "You are in great danger. You
have taken a man's wife into your home." Abimelech had not come near
her, and he said, "Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? Said
he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself, said, He
is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands
have I done this" (verses 4-5). He had not committed adultery, although
he would have in time. He had not yet taken nor tried to take Sarah as
his wife, but he had taken her into his home. He argued with God that
he had had no adulterous intentions toward her. He argued with God that
this had been done innocently, that he had not realized that she was a
man's wife.

   God says in verse 6 of Genesis 20:

   And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this
in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning
against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her.

   God gives us tremendous insight here. A sinful man, Abimelech, an
unsaved man in the blackness of Satan's spiritual rule, and yet God
restrains sin in his life. He does nothing that God does not want him
to do.

   God teaches that the heart of man is desperately wicked (Jeremiah
17:9) and out of the heart comes all manner of evil things (Matthew
15:19). The reason that mankind is not more sinful than he is, is
because God restrains sin. Satan's rule is not total. Satan rules only
insofar as God will allow him to rule. The evil spirits and the wicked
who were under the spiritual control of Satan were frequently used to
accomplish God's purposes. When God wanted to destroy Israel, He
allowed the wicked Babylonians to come and destroy them. When He wanted
Saul to be a bad king, God took His Spirit from him and gave him an
evil spirit. This does not make God guilty of sin. If God removes His
hand of restraint, the evil will come in. The nature of man's heart is
desperately wicked. Satan always looks for an opportunity to rule more
heavily over men's hearts. The moment that God removes His hand of
restraint the evil spirits will be there, and the wicked will be more
wicked.

   Until Christ came on the scene, this was the nature of the world;
few people were being saved. The world was in bondage to sin as it has
never been since Christ came.

   Satan is Bound so that Christ can Build the New Testament Church

   A drastic change took place when Christ came as the Savior. It was a
change of such stupendous proportions that Satan was tremendously
affected by it, and the world was greatly influenced. The Bible tells
about this change in many different ways; for example, in the account
of Jesus when He welcomed the seventy who had been sent out with the
Gospel: the Savior is on the scene. The shadow of the cross is
brilliant. God is preparing the believers for the beginning of the New
Testament church, and when the seventy came back (Luke 10, verse 17),
they returned with joy saying, "...Lord, even the devils are subject
unto us through thy name."

   Jesus then said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven"
(verse 18). In other words, Satan will be conquered and he will lose
his right to go into heaven. This is a drastic change in Satan's
freedom.

   Further commentary on this is in Revelation 12:7:

   And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against
the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not;
neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon
was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which
deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his
angels were cast out with him.

   Satan was cast out of heaven. Careful study of Revelation 12 reveals
that the casting out of Satan occurred because of Christ's victory over
Satan. This was accomplished by Christ going to the cross. Because of
Christ's victory, Satan could no longer approach God and accuse the
brethren as he did in the time of Job.

   God has more to say about Satan. This is seen in the impact of the
cross on Satan's actions: God had begun to deal with Satan; he would
not frustrate God's plan to save people from all over the world.

   Christ bound Satan so that God's program of building the church
could take place. Jesus alludes to this in Matthew 12, where He speaks
of Beelzebub (another name for Satan). In Matthew 12:27-29:

   And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast
them out? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils
by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else
how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods,
except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

   In these verses, Jesus speaks of Satan as the strong man. Our Savior
declares that Satan, the strong man, must be bound and his house
plundered.

   Who is in Satan's house? Unfortunately, the whole world. All of the
unsaved, to a high degree, are under Satan's spiritual power. God's
intention from the beginning was that Christ came as the Savior of a
vast company of believers from every nation. To accomplish this, Satan
was bound; he cannot frustrate God's plan to evangelize the world.
God's intention was to plunder the spiritual house of Satan; i.e.,
Christ rescued those who were to be saved.

   God gives additional information in the Bible about the change in
Satan's condition. For example, in Hebrews 2:14, God speaks of Satan
being destroyed as a result of Christ's victory on the cross:

   Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

   Satan in principle has been destroyed, although he is allowed to
continue to rule over the hearts of unsaved men to some degree. A
fantastic change happened to him at the cross: Satan and his fallen
angels were consigned to hell.

   Jude verses 5 and 6 prove this:

   I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this,
how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
afterward destroyed them that believed not. And the angels which kept
not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved
in everlasting chains, under darkness, unto the judgment of the great
day.

   The fallen angels, those who rebelled against God, were consigned to
hell by Christ's victory on the cross. They have not yet actually been
put in hell. Hell is the place where people and Satan and the fallen
angels will be placed on Judgment Day, at the end of time. They will be
put there after they have been arraigned and tried before the judgment
throne of God, and their sins have been exposed. In principle Christ
has consigned Satan to hell; therefore, the Bible often speaks of him
as being in a pit or being in hell, even though he continues to rule
over the hearts of unsaved men with varying degrees of success. He will
be allowed to rule over the hearts of the unsaved until the end of the
world because he won this right when he defeated mankind (headed by
Adam and Eve) in the Garden of Eden. Christ's victory on the cross
guarantees that Satan will spend an eternity in hell. As a result, God
uses language in passages such as Jude 5, 6 that seem to indicate that
he is already in hell.

   Another passage that speaks of the change in Satan's rule over
mankind because of Christ's victory on the cross is 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.

   This language is parallel to Jude 5, 6 and to II Peter 2:4 where the
binding of Satan is discussed.

   The Bible teaches that the binding of Satan, which is a result of
Christ's victory on the cross, enabled God's program to save people
from every nation to be completed. Satan cannot frustrate God's plan of
salvation.

   This was seen dramatically at Pentecost. Before Christ went to the
cross, Jesus as eternal God was a preacher of the Gospel (Luke 4:18,
43, 44). He was the perfect Preacher; He preached for over three years
and yet there was only a handful of believers when He returned to
heaven. Then at Pentecost something wonderful happened: Peter preached
one sermon and 3,000 from eighteen nations were saved. Satan had been
bound. God had begun His glorious program to save a vast company of
people from every nation. He bound Satan, and Satan could not frustrate
God's plan. People from every nation have been saved and people
continue to be saved since Pentecost. This is the fantastic change in
Satan's relationship to the world as a result of the cross. God's plan
was to save people from every nation, and Satan was neutralized to the
degree that he could do nothing to frustrate this plan.

   Satan Is Bound but He Still Rules the Unsaved

   The binding of Satan was not total. He continues to rule the hearts
of unsaved men. For example, in Ephesians Chapter 2 God discusses
salvation in the New Testament after Satan had been bound. He discusses
those who have been saved, and indicates that before they were saved
they were enslaved to Satan. Ephesians 2:2:

   Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that
now worketh in the children of disobedience.

   To walk under Satan's rule is to walk, "according to the prince of
the power of the air.'' He continues to go about tempt- ing the
believers. In Ephesians 6:11 God declares, "Put on the whole armour of
God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil," that
is, so that Satan, the devil, cannot overcome you. "For we wrestle not
against flesh and blood (that is, against human beings), but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (verse 12).

   Satan is referred to as the ruler of the darkness of this world. He
is spoken of as the one who engages in spiritual wickedness in high
places. In other words, he is still able to deceive. He is still able
to assault the believers. I Peter 5:8 says that Satan goes about as a
roaring lion seeking whom he might devour. Satan is present in this
world, and his deception is ter rible-it is magnificent at the same
time because it is total deception. II Corinthians 11 says that he
comes as an angel of light and that his ministers come as ministers of
righteousness. This condition applies throughout the New Testament
period. Satan's rule is not so complete that he can frustrate God's
plan to evangelize the world. When God intends to save someone, that
person will be saved. Once we are saved we are taken out of the
dominion of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son
(Colossians 1:13). This is guaranteed for every believer. Satan cannot
stop God's marvelous plan to save a people for Himself.

   Satan could NEVER stop God.

   Satan to be Used of God to Bring Wrath on the Church

   There will be another change in Satan's relationship to the church
and to the world. God plans to use Satan as a means to bring His wrath
on the church-the corporate, institutional body-when it becomes
increasingly apostate before Judgment Day, which is the end of the
world.

   For example, in Matthew 24:15, 16 God warns:

   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.

   God is anticipating a time when the institutional church, called the
"holy place" in this context, will be overrun by the abomination of
desolation. God speaks of this in Matthew 24:24: "For there shall arise
false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the
very elect." He speaks of this dreadful change in the church in II
Thessalonians 2: "that man of sin" (another name for Satan, Isaiah
14:6) will take his seat in the temple and be worshipped as God. These
things will happen. After the institutional body has been used by God
to save the last of His elect, then the church will become apostate and
God will bring judgment on the church. This will be examined in great
detail. For now: the Bible teaches that a time will come when God will
remove the strictures on Satan so that all of the unsaved will be in
bondage to sin as never before in history.

   We have looked at Satan's relationship to the body of believers from
the time of Adam and Eve until just before the beginning of the final
tribulation period. From the fall of Adam and Eve until the time of the
cross, Satan's rule over mankind was so complete that at any time only
a small trickle of believers came into the eternal body of Christ.

   At the cross Satan was bound so that his house could be plundered.
Since Pentecost in 33 A.D. people from every nation have flowed into
the body of Christ. Satan could deceive to some degree and he could
continue to persecute, but he could do nothing to frustrate God's
magnificent program to save a people for Himself-people so numerous
that they would be a great nation-eternal citizens of God's kingdom.

   We will continue our quest to determine what the Bible teaches
concerning the end of the church. The next chapter answers the question
of God's expectation of apostasy in the church.

   CHAPTER 5

   THE BIBLE FORETELLS THAT THE CHURCH WILL BECOME APOSTATE

   In the last chapter, it was learned that God in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross to bind Satan. The binding of Satan
was required for the eternal church of Christ, which includes everyone
who is and will be truly saved, to flourish throughout the world.

   Believers may be found in congregations and denominations around the
world. True believers within these congregations are the eternal,
invisible body of Christ; the congregations are the visible, corporate,
external representation of the body of Christ. True believers cannot
lose their salvation. They will never fall away; they have been given
eternal life. Nothing can snatch them out of the hand of Christ.

   The external, corporate body called the congregation or denomination
is another matter. Does the Bible say anything about God's expectation
concerning its faithfulness? Is the future conduct of the corporate
body totally unknown? Is it true that God knows the end from the
beginning and, therefore, knows precisely what the church will do,
including during the end time? If God knows the future, does He in any
way disclose in the Bible what the future will be? Does He declare in
the Bible His expectation concerning the future faithfulness or
faithlessness of the church? These questions will be examined as the
study continues.

   God's expectation for the corporate body is seen as it existed in
the Old Testament. The nation of Israel was the external representation
of the kingdom of God in the Old Testament era. It also served as a
type or figure of the New Testament church; therefore, studying God's
expectation of the end of Israel teaches something about God's
expectation for the New Testament church.

   God's Expectation Concerning National Israel's Apostasy

   The nation of Israel began with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Abraham
was a man who dearly loved the Lord. Isaac was a man who loved the
Lord. One would think, therefore, that the nation of Israel was a
people for whom God had high aspirations and ideals, and from whom God
could expect the utmost in faithfulness.

   God called them, as His own people, out of the land of Egypt; He
delivered them with a mighty hand from the Egyptians and slayed all the
Egyptians' firstborn. He cared for them in the wilderness with
miraculous water that came out of the rock and miraculous manna from
heaven. He was in their presence in the pillar of fire by night and in
the cloud by day. He was with them in miraculous ways when He parted
the waters of the Red Sea, and the water stood as a wall on either
side, and they passed through on dry ground. God did the same thing
when they crossed the Jordan River.

   In spite of these marvelous accomplishments, God's expec- tation of
the faithfulness of national Israel was not good. God declares the
future infidelity of Israel in the words of Deuteronomy 31:16. The
context is that God is speaking to Moses just before his death:

   And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy
fathers; and this people will rise up and go a whoring after the gods
of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and
will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them.

   What a dreadful expectation1 God is speaking of the nation of
Israel. These are not my words. They are God's words. God says in verse
20:

   For when I will have brought them into the land which I sware unto
their fathers,that floweth with milk and honey; and they shall have
eaten and filled themselves, and waxen fat; then will they turn unto
other gods, and serve them, and provoke me, and break my covenant.

   This is a terrible expectation for the nation of Israel! In verse 27
of Deuteronomy 31 (please read the whole chapter to get the full flavor
of what the Bible is teaching), Moses addresses Israel:

   For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet
alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and
how much more after my death?

   Then he declares unto them (verses 28-29):

   Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers,
that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven and earth
to record against them. For I know that after my death ye will utterly
corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded
you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do
evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work
of your hands.

   Ugly, is it not?-yet these are the disclosures God makes in the
Bible of His expectations for ancient Israel.

   He had done many great and wonderful things to bring Israel into
existence, but the people were in constant rebellion against God. They
went their own way, and God expected this.

   The Bible's Expectation for the New Testament Church

   What is God's expectation for the New Testament church and for New
Testament congregations? Does He expect that they, too, will fall away,
that they, too, are going to follow in the shoes of national Israel?

   The Bible does not teach that the New Testament church will
continuously rebel against God as ancient Israel did throughout most of
its history. The Bible does teach that in the New Testament church
there will always be some unfaithfulness. This is seen in many ways;
for example, in Jude 17 and 18 God declares:

   But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; How that they told you there should
be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly
lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the
Spirit.

   The context indicates that He is speaking of those within the
congregation. The phrases, "last days" or "the latter days" or "the
last time" as used in the Bible refer to the whole New Testament
period, which ends at Judgment Day. God here indicates that He expects
mockers within the congregation during the last time.

   II Peter Chapter 3, verse 3, says: "Knowing this first, that there
shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts."

   This prophecy could be addressed to those outside the con-
gregation. There are scoffers out there, but is it possible within the
congregation? The first three verses of II Peter Chapter 2 emphasize
the possibility. There God declares:

   But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there
shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon
themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious
ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And
through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of
you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not.

   This is a statement of God concerning New Testament con- gregations.
It speaks the same way as does II Peter 2:3. One may be appalled at
these words, but they are the words that God gave to us. They are not
isolated statements found in only one or two places; God is emphasizing
that we can expect unbelief to arise in New Testament congregations.
There are numerous other statements similar to those that have been
read.

   II Timothy Chapter 4 verses 3 and 4:

   For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having
itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and
shall be turned unto fables.

   God says this about New Testament congregations. It is similar, is
it not, to what was read in Deuteronomy 31?

   I Timothy Chapter 4 verses 1 and 2:

   Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron;

   This is a dreadful situation1 Christ is talking about the church-the
institutional body: the First Baptist Church of your city, or the First
Methodist Church, or the First Presbyterian, or the Third Christian
Church, or whatever the name may be. The potential exists within every
congregation; it is God's expectation. He expects this to happen. God
warns about it, but He expects it to happen. He does not say that it
might happen; He says that it will happen.

   This is not surprising in view of what God says of the seven
churches in Revelation 2 and 3. These seven churches are in the latter
days. They have members who are compared to Jezebel in the Old
Testament; they are grievous, adulterous members. Some people in these
congregations are like Balaam, the wicked soothsayer who wanted to
curse Israel. Within these seven congregations are those who are called
the synagogue of Satan. This language depicts a terrible development1

   The expectation of unbelief, unfaithfulness, and spiritual harlotry
in the New Testament church is declared in the Scrip- tures. It is a
gigantic warning. No congregation can pull its holy rags around itself
and say, "We are such a wonderful con- gregation. That could not happen
to us. We study the Bible so faithfully. We have such a marvelous set
of doctrines; we have such a tremendous confession; we have such a
faithful seminary." Regardless of what they rest their laurels on, they
may say, "this cannot happen in our denomination, in our congregation."
However, these statements are addressed to every congregation, and God
says that they will occur.

   How Can a Church Become Apostate?

   If the elders and the pastor have carefully introduced and brought
into a congregation only those who are saved, how can that church
become apostate?

   Pastors, elders, and deacons cannot know the hearts of those who
become members. They may interrogate a person who wants to become a
member, and investigate as best they can whether this person is truly a
child of God. Based on the confession they hear and what they see in
the person's life, they may decide, "This person is indeed a child of
God. He should be taken into full communicant membership with the
congregation." This is proper; it is expected of the rulers of the
congregation.

   If they bring into the congregation someone who is unsaved- someone
who gave the appearance of being saved and yet was not-the unsaved
members of the congregation will eventually depart from the truth. They
do not understand the truth. They do not know what salvation is. They
may have an intellectual idea of what it is. They may know some verses
from the Bible, but in actuality, they have no idea what it is. God the
Holy Spirit has not opened their eyes.

   They may become increasingly dominant in the congregation. This may
be because they speak well, or because of their warm personalities, or
winning smiles, or because more and more of them come into the
congregation. They may be rulers in the congregation: the pastor or
elders. They will begin to lead the congregation into spiritual
adultery. This has happened in congregation after congregation.

   The measure of a congregation's faithfulness to the Word of God
depends upon the percentage of the congregation that is born from
above. God has faithfully built His church-His congregation, His
institutional body-and it consists of congregations in cities and
nations around the world. Because it is God's expectation that there
will be spiritual adultery, churches occasionally lose their place with
God. They no longer have a candlestick in God's presence (God warns of
this in Revelation Chapter 2). Consequently, they are no longer a
congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ. They may speak about a
relationship with Christ, but they have no relationship with Him.

   The potential exists for any congregation to go in the direc- tion
of apostasy. Every congregation can become spiritually adulterous and
come under the judgment of God. These biblical statements are addressed
to every congregation because the potential for apostasy exists in
every congregation.

   Even more ominously, the Bible indicates that as the end of time
approaches, spiritual apostasy will envelop churches all over the
world. In Matthew 24:15, 16 God declares:

   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.

   This statement is further developed in verse 24:

   For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.

   The elect are true believers. They are ordinarily found in
congregations that are reasonably true to the Word of God. In this
solemn verse, God warns that false prophets will teach and preach in
churches. They will come with a gospel that is so close to the true
Gospel that believers would be deceived-if that were possible. False
prophets use biblical phrases that true believers know. They speak of
salvation, heaven, hell, the Holy Spirit, being born again, sin, etc.
They declare some doctrines that are biblical. If God did not teach
true believers they could be easily deceived into following false
teachers.

   Later it will be shown: 1) that God guarantees that true believers
cannot be deceived by false prophets, and 2) how to recognize false
prophets. This verse teaches that they will come with signs and wonders
(this truth will be developed in detail). In II Thessalonians 2:1-4 God
restates the expectation for the church near the end of time:

   Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him. That ye be not soon
shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 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: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, shewing himself that he is God.

   These verses teach the same truth that was learned from Matthew
24:15-24. Whereas Matthew 24:24 spoke of emissaries of Satan called
false Christs or false prophets, II Thessalonians 2 speaks of Satan
himself (called "man of sin") coming to rule (taking his seat) in the
congregations (the temple of God). He accomplishes this through
preachers and rulers in the congregation who no longer follow the true
Gospel. These men and women are deceived by Satan, but they are
convinced that they are faithfully serving Christ.

   These dreadful things will happen. There is no suggestion that
"maybe" or "possibly" this falling away will occur. God declares that
it will happen, and Satan will rule in the church. It must be concluded
that both in the case of ancient Israel and New Testament
congregations, God's expectation is they will eventually become
apostate.

   God Warned Ancient Israel

   Let us look in the Old Testament to examine the question of God's
warnings concerning Old Testament Israel. We saw in Deuteronomy 31
God's expectation concerning what would happen to them. God's warning
to them may be read in many passages. Two have been selected because
they are representative of Old Testament warnings.

   In Deuteronomy Chapter 8 verses 19 and 20 God declared to the
congregation that was ancient Israel:

   And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk
after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against
you this day, that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the
LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would
not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

   This is the warning. God warned them that if they were un- faithful,
they would perish. Deuteronomy 31 states God's ex- pectation that they
would become spiritually adulterous. In Deuteronomy 8, God says that if
they did become spiritually adulterous, they would perish.

   God declared with startling clarity what was to happen. They were
expected by God to fall away from Him, and God warned they would perish
when they fell away. Indeed, the Bible declares how God destroyed them.

   In Deuteronomy 28 God gives a long warning. In the first 14 verses
He has good things to say to the congregation of ancient national
Israel. In verse 1 He promises:

   And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the
voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments
which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on
high above all nations of the earth...

   In this verse God speaks to the corporate, institutional, external
body. This is known from the phrase, "God will set thee on high above
all the nations of the earth."

   In the first fourteen verses He enunciates blessing after blessing
that can come to Israel as a nation. Beautiful statements are made,
like verses 9-11:

   The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he
hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD
thy God, and walk in his ways. And all the people of the earth shall
see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be
afraid of thee. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the
fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of
thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give
thee.

   God emphasized that His blessings would be upon ancient Israel if
they remained faithful. If they were unfaithful, another set of
conditions applied. In Deuteronomy 28:15-17 God declares:

   But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice
of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his
statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall
come upon thee, and overtake thee: Cursed shalt thou be in the city,
and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and
thy store.

   Please read Deuteronomy 28, verses 15 through 68. Read and weep.
Read and be warned. The warning goes on and on. Dreadful things were to
happen to the congregation of Israel if they were unfaithful.

   They did not heed the warning and God's expectation was realized;
they became apostate and consequently perished. The New Testament
congregation has also been warned.

   God Warns New Testament Congregations

   When God speaks of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, He says
of the church of the Laodiceans, "I will spue thee out" (Revelation
3:16), which means: I will vomit you out. This is ugly language. He
says of another of the seven congregations, if they are unfaithful,
"I...will remove thy candlestick" (Revelation 2:5). Each congregation
was represented in heaven by a candlestick. To have their candlestick
removed means they have ceased to be a congregation of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In these statements, God warns our congregations of what will
happen to them if they are unfaithful.

   In John 15:1 the Lord declares that Christ is the vine and we are
the branches. He adds in verse 2, "Every branch...that beareth not
fruit He taketh away..." He could be speaking of an individual who has
joined the congregation and is not a true believer, but the principle
applies to the entire congregation.

   God's warning to the congregation that dreadful things will happen
to the unfaithful church is seen in Revelation 6 when the seals are
opened. The first horseman goes forth; this is a statement of the
victorious nature of the cross. The second horseman goes forth; God
calls our attention to Satan's opposi- tion to the Gospel being spread
to all the world.

   The third seal is opened, and the third horseman appears. In
Revelation 6:5, 6 God declares:

   And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say,
Come and see. And I beheld, and, lo, a black horse; and he that sat on
him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three
measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the
wine.

   Exercise the biblical principle of interpreting the Bible with the
Bible, and it is discovered that the truth in these verses reiterates
God's warnings to ancient Israel. For example in Ezekiel 5:11-16:

   Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast
defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine
abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine
eye spare, neither will I have any pity.

   A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine
shall they be consumed in the midst of thee; and a third part shall
fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part
into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them. Thus shall
mine anger be ac- complished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon
them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have
spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

   Moreover, I will make thee wast, and a reproach among the nations
that are round about thee, in the sight of all that pass by. So it
shall be a reproach and a taunt, an in- struction and an astonishment
unto the nations that are round about thee, when I shall execute
judgments in thee, in anger and in fury, and in furious rebukes. I the
LORD have spoken it. When I shall send upon them the evil arrows of
famine, which shall be for their destruction, and which I will send to
destroy you: and I will increase the famine upon you, and will break
your staff of bread . . .

   Breaking the staff of bread signifies that God is hiding the truth
of the Gospel. The bread represents the Word of God. The ominous
implication of breaking the staff of bread is that God will take away
the truth, the Word of God. The breaking of the staff of physical bread
signifies famine, and the breaking of the staff of the Word of God
signifies spiritual famine. Physical famine results in death and
destruction, and spiritual famine results in spiritual death and
destruction. Thus, this passage warns that God will destroy the
spiritually unfaithful.

   Revelation 6:6 declares: "hurt not the oil and the wine." The oil
and the wine represent true believers within the con- gregation, those
who cannot come under God's judgment. The oil signifies the Holy
Spirit; He indwells the true believers. The wine signifies the blood of
Christ, with which all believers become identified-their sins are
covered by Christ. Therefore, they cannot suffer any further penalty
for their sins.

   God can cut off the congregation as a corporate body that identifies
with the kingdom of God. The spiritually unfaithful church or
denomination will come under God's wrath. The same warning is found in
Leviticus 26:21-26 where God declared:

   And if ye walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I
will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. I
will also send wild beasts among you, which shall rob you of your
children, and destroy your cattle, and make you few in number; and your
high ways shall be desolate.

   And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk
contrary unto me; Then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will
punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon
you, that shall avenge the quarrel of my covenant; and when ye are
gathered together within your cities, I will send the pestilence among
you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy.

   And when I have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake
your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by
weight: and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied.

   "They shall deliver your bread by weight,'' is the warning restated
in Revelation 6:5, 6 when the rider of the third horse carries a
balance in his hand. It is a solemn warning to the con- gregations to
remain faithful to the truth or come under the wrath of God.

   This warning is reinforced and underscored when the fourth seal is
opened and the fourth horseman appears in Revelation 6:8:

   And I looked, and behold a pale horse; and his name that sat on him
was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them
over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger,
and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

   God is speaking plainly of death, hell, and destruction. A further
development of this verse is in Ezekiel 14:13:

   Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing
grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break
the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will
cut off man and beast from it.

   Verses 19%21:

   Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon
it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast; Though Noah, Daniel, and
Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver
neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by
their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I
send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine,
and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and
beast?

   The four judgments of verse 21-the sword, the famine, the beast and
the pestilence-parallel the judgments in connection with the rider of
the fourth horse in Revelation 6. The fourth rider was given power to
kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts.
Revelation 6, therefore, restates the Ezekiel 14 warning: that His
destruction comes because of the apostasy of the congregation. In these
passages, God warns of the awful certainty that His judgment is coming
upon the congregations that are not faithful to the truth.

   Dearly beloved, the Bible clearly teaches that God had terrible
warnings for the Old Testament church, and He also has terrible
warnings for the New Testament church. In Deuteronomy 31 God talks
about the fact that Israel would go apostate. He warns in verse 29, "ye
will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I
have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days;..."
"Latter days" in the Bible refers to the New Testament church.
Therefore, Deuteronomy 31:29 applies as much to the New Testament
congregation as it did to the Old Testament congregation.

   Compare the warnings of Leviticus 26, Ezekiel 5, and Ezekiel 14 with
the language of Revelation 6, and it is obvious that the Old Testament
warnings apply equally to ancient national Israel and to the New
Testament congregations.

   In the next chapter, the sins which led to the destruction of the
Old Testament congregation will be studied and compared with the sins
of the New Testament congregations. It will be seen how history repeats
itself.

   CHAPTER 6

   GOD BEGINS TO JUDGE THE CHURCH

   To understand the final tribulation period, we have sought an
objective biblical perspective of God's plan of salvation as it
unfolded throughout the history of ancient national Israel and
continues to unfold in the New Testament churches. This perspective is
extremely important near the end of time. Greater sensitivity to God's
program for churches is crucial for believers.

   God formed the New Testament congregations. They were brought into
existence all over the world. As God formed the New Testament
congregations, He expected them to become adulterous. The seeds of
spiritual adultery were in these congregations, as the same seeds were
in the congregation of national Israel. God expected them to go
contrary to His will, and they did; that expectation is the same for
the New Testament churches.

   God warned the Old Testament congregation, the nation of Israel, and
He also warns the New Testament congregation of what will happen if the
church becomes unfaithful. God declares He will remove His candlestick.
He will vomit that church out. He will bring terrible things against it
and destroy it, as He brought terrible things against the Old Testament
congregation, national Israel.

   How these judgments against the New Testament churches are to be
carried out, and what is to happen to these churches will be studied.

   To look at the churches and congregations in their historical
perspective is not too difficult. There have been traumatic times when
Christians were persecuted and churches were assaulted by heresy from
within. In spite of this, the movement of the church to evangelize the
world has persistently continued. The rider on the white horse, to use
the analogy of Revelation 6, has continued to go forth conquering and
to conquer.

   Biblical Basis that God Will Judge the Chruch

   The conclusion that the time is descending upon us when the church
is to cease to function as the instrument of God to evangelize the
world and is to be judged requires a basis in biblical authority.

   Jesus promised He would build His church, and the gates of hell
would not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18). Satan was defeated at the
cross. He could not frustrate God's plan to evangelize the world;
therefore, how could anyone dare suggest anything other than a glorious
future for the church-a future that will continue till the last day of
this world's existence?

   Some verses clearly teach that God expects the church to become
adulterous. It may be argued: that does not imply that the end of the
church age is upon us; or, that does not prove that God will reject His
corporate body, which Jesus went to the cross to establish; or, some
denominations are not as faithful to the Bible as they should be, but
this has been the situation throughout the history of the church.

   In view of these arguments, great care must be exercised before
drawing conclusions that there will be an end of the church age, that
there will come a time when, as a judgment of God, virtually all
churches will be overrun by false gospels and when no one else can be
saved. This is precisely why God has given us the Bible. Under no
circumstances do we trust sin-tainted minds. Personal speculations and
philosophies have no value. The Bible is God's book. It is perfect in
its presentation of truth. Things in the Bible may be disliked but
obedience to God's Word is required. Biblical passages that speak of
God's past or future judgments are not exciting to read. It is a
happier situation to focus one's eyes and mind on biblical declarations
of God's love and grace and be content with whatever God's judgments
are; they will be tempered by God's love, compassion, patience, and
forgiveness. To some, this is a happier and more acceptable part of the
Gospel. All of the Bible is God's Word. We cannot pick and choose what
we like to study and forget the rest of the Bible. We cannot stick our
heads in the sand like the proverbial ostrich and hope that the danger
of God's judgments will go away. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and
for training in righteousness. We must be ready, therefore, to
carefully, prayerfully, and obediently examine and study everything in
the Bible. If the Bible brings us to a conclusion which is unacceptable
because it is negative, ominous, or because it is something we have
never before been taught, we must ask God for His mercy and grace to
accept it and react obediently.

   Is it right to look at the experiences of ancient Israel, Babylon,
and Egypt as guidelines for the future of the church? Repeated
references to these ancient nations have been made in an attempt to
understand the future of the New Testament churches. References to
these nations cannot be accidental or incidental. God says that all
Scripture is inspired by God. This principle cannot be set aside. God
wrote extensively of these ancient nations to instruct us in the will
of God. The Bible also answers the question of how biblical information
about these nations can instruct us today.

   God's Judgments on Old Testament Nations Teach Us What to Expect

   God recorded the experiences of Old Testament nations to serve as
warnings to us today. In I Corinthians 10:1%11 God speaks of ancient
Israel when they sojourned in the wilderness after they came out of
Egypt to go to the land of Canaan. They were a people especially
blessed by God as indicated by the language of I Corinthians 10:1-4:

   Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; And did
all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual
drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and
that Rock was Christ.

   The blessings did not protect them from God's judgment, because the
next verse says: "But with many of them God was not well pleased: for
they were overthrown in the wilderness."

   Verse 6 explains why God instructs us in His dealings with ancient
Israel. There we read: "Now these things were our ex- amples, to the
intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted."

   God emphasizes the point of verse 6 with specific examples of sins
that ancient Israel committed, sins which brought God's judgments upon
them. Verses 7-10 admonish us:

   Neither be ye idolators, as were some of them: as it is written, The
people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us
commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day
three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them
also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as
some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

   The historical account of these sins and God's judgments upon Israel
is in Numbers 16:41-50, Numbers 21:5-9, and Numbers 25:1-9. To clarify
God's purpose in writing about these events, He adds in verse 11 of I
Corinthians 10:

   Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

   God is declaring that His dealings with ancient national Israel
anticipate how He will deal with the New Testament church. Jude 5 also
warns New Testament congregations:

   I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this,
how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt,
afterward destroyed them that believed not.

   God again instructs us to look into the Old Testament to learn from
His dealings with those ancient peoples.

   The import of Jude 5 is ominous. In that single sentence God informs
us that He destroyed His own people. God is not speaking of a wicked,
heathen nation like Babylon, Moab, or Egypt. He is speaking of the
nation that is the apple of God's eye, the nation that God had set
apart for Himself. This warning should cause any congregation to
tremble. God does not speak any more lovingly of New Testament
congregations than He does of ancient Israel. Jesus, who is eternal
God, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He reacted to the sin
of His beloved ancient Israel by destroying them, and He will react the
same way to sin in New Testament congregations.

   Further biblical evidence that New Testament congregations are
warned by God's actions in regard to His ancient people is in Hebrews
3:8-9:

   Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of
temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me,
and saw my works forty years.

   He warns us not to harden our hearts like they did-like the people
of ancient Israel did when they were in the wilderness. He says in
verses 15-17:

   ...To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in
the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: Howbeit
not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved
forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell
in the wilderness?

   God is again directing our attention to what happened to ancient
Israel. This must be understood if one is to understand what to expect
for the New Testament congregation.

   It has been seen that there was an expectation in the Bible of
shattering unfaithfulness in the Old Testament congregation, national
Israel; and there is an expectation that New Testament congregations
will be shattered. It must be concluded that there is to be judgment on
New Testament congregations as judgment came upon the Old Testament
congregation.

   Old Testament Israel: Not a Perfect Picture of the New Testament
Church

   The concept of national Israel as a picture of the New Testament
church is limited. It is not a perfect picture. The reason is that the
era of national Israel was followed by the era of the New Testament
church, while the era of the New Testament church-congregations from
Pentecost to the present-will be followed by the end of the world and
Judgment Day.

   This sequence makes a difference. The difference is that grace would
shine through the worst condemnations of national Israel of the Old
Testament. One of many Old Testament examples is Ezekiel 20. In this
chapter God speaks of His wrath which is to come upon ancient Israel;
it is to be destroyed by the Babylonians. However, in verses 41-44a He
says:

   I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from
the people, and gather you out of the countries wherein ye have been
scattered; and I will be sanctified in you before the heathen. And ye
shall know that I am the LORD, when I shall bring you into the land of
Israel, into the country for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it
to your fathers. And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your
doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight, for all your evils that ye have committed. And ye shall
know that I am the LORD, when I have wrought with you for my names's
sake, . . .

   God is emphasizing that grace will come. Beautiful things are going
to happen to Israel in the future.

   The fulfillment of these promises is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
of national Israel, of the tribe of Judah. He is the head of a new
nation of Israel-the Israel of God, which is made up of congregations
that come from every nation.

   In Hosea Chapter 1 God says ugly things to national Israel. Israel
is being taken captive by the Assyrians, and God says in verse 2 of
Chapter 2, "...she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; let her
therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries
from between her breasts." God goes on to say many ominous things
because His wrath is upon national Israel.

   However, Chapter 2 verses 14-19 have some of the most loving and
most beautiful language of the Bible. God says,

   Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the
wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her
vineyards from hence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and
she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the days
when she came up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be at that day,
saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi, and shalt call me no more
Baali (Ishi means husband; Baali means lord).

   For I will take away the names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they
shall no more be remembered by their name. And in that day will I make
a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of
heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground: and I will break
the bow, and the sword, and the battle out of the earth, and will make
them to lie down safely. And I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea,
I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in
lovingkindness, and in mercies.

   God has in view here the only bride that Christ is married to
forever-the body of believers that has come into existence all through
time. It is for the most part believers that have come into the
congregations-into a saving relationship with Christ-during the New
Testament period. This softens Old Testament statements about the wrath
of God and the utter destruction of national Israel-Grace is going to
shine through.

   When (as the Bible warns) the final destruction of New Testament
congregations, which corporately represent the Israel of God, comes,
then there can be no future blessings on the congregations. Old
Testament Israel had a promise of future blessing; in this respect, it
is not a perfect type of the New Testament church.

   There is a parallel between a future blessing of Old Testa- ment
Israel and the New Testament church. When God's judgment is poured out
on the congregations, true believers will have a beautiful future. They
will receive their resurrected bodies; they will receive the New
Heavens and the New Earth. This is somewhat of a parallel between the
blossoming of the Gospel and the end of the era of ancient Israel.

   God's Judgment on the New Testament Church Will Parallel His
Judgment on the Old Testament Church

   In God's judgments there is a closer parallel. God's judgments on
ancient Israel because of their sins parallel the judgments that will
fall on the end-time New Testament congregations because of apostasy.

   God expected apostasy to cause the destruction of ancient Israel.
The Bible also indicates that God expects the New Testament churches to
fall away, and it warns that they, too, will be destroyed.

   The nature of Israel's sins will be compared with the sins that
plague the congregations of today. We will study in greater detail how
God responded to Israel's sins and thus understand what our
congregations can expect.

   Ancient Israel's Sins

   A host of verses refer to Israel's sins, but just a few verses are
needed to give an idea of what was going on. Equally explicit accounts
of their sins are recorded in Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and
other Old Testament passages and some New Testament passages. Jeremiah
will be studied because Jeremiah was being written while the
Babylonians were beginning to destroy Israel; it was the end of
national Israel as a free and independent nation. It was a time of
severe judgment on national Israel. This judgment typifies the judgment
that is going to come against the congregations of the New Testament.

   Jeremiah 5, verses 30 and 31:

   A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; The
prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means;
and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end
thereof?

   This is a terrible indictment of the spiritual rulers. The prophets
and the priests were commissioned and mandated by God to bring the
truth of God's Word to the congregation. They taught and preached in
the name of Jehovah God; therefore, they should have been sure they
were not bringing their own ideas or philosophies. They should have
repeatedly checked their messages against the written Word which they
had in their day.

   They did not check; they taught their own doctrines. They brought
messages that suited their fancy and pleased the congregation. The
phrase "my people love to have it so," indicts them for preaching lies
and bearing false witness. They ruled according to their own pleasure
rather than in accordance with the will of God.

   "And what will ye do in the end thereof?" is a rhetorical question
that indicates that they and the congregation will come into judgment
for their conduct. There will be hell to pay for such rebellion against
God.

   In Jeremiah 6:14-16 God takes the prophets to task over the Old
Testament congregation. He warns:

   They have healed also the hurt of the daughters of my people
slightly, saying, Peace, peace: when there is no peace. Were they
ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all
ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them
that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith
the Lord. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask
for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye
shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

   The indictment against national Israel is that the prophets were
saying something like: "Everything is well. God is not going to bring
judgment against national Israel. We are God's people. We are God's
congregation. We are the chosen ones. We will never come under terrible
judgment from God. Jeremiah, you speak falsely when you say that the
Babylonians are going to destroy us. There is peace in our day."

   Jeremiah 6 speaks about walking in the old ways or in the old paths.
The old paths have to do with the Scriptures. This is where truth is
found.

   Ancient Israel was not satisfied with the Gospel that the prophets
offered from the Scriptures. They wanted a more con- temporary gospel.
They wanted a gospel that dealt with the issues of the day and
recognized that the Assyrians and Babylonians also had wonderful altars
and prophets and worship services, and they wanted Israel to learn from
them.

   In Jeremiah 7:8 God accuses Israel: "Behold, ye trust in lying
words, that cannot profit." All Old Testament prophets did not speak
what God had given them. Some prophets spoke of ideas that came out of
their own hearts; they said what they thought would please the
congregation. They were lies because God had not said so.

   Jeremiah 16, verses 10-11:

   And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all
these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD
pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or
what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God? Then
shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith
the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and
have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law...

   The prophets began to bring their lies. The prophets began to
neglect the truth that God had put in the old paths from the beginning,
when He spoke through Moses and Abraham. The prophets began to speak
from their own minds, and sin followed sin until ancient Israel
worshipped other gods.

   God speaks plainly about the sin of ancient Israel and the
indictments He brings against them. History is repeating itself in that
the same sins are in the congregations of our day.

   The Bible discloses God's response to Israel's sin. This will be
discussed in the next chapter.

   CHAPTER 7

   GOD'S RESPONSE TO ISRAEL'S SIN

   God has dealt with the human race through His church. God expected
ancient Israel to become apostate and as a consequence God's wrath
would come upon them. The New Testament congregations, in the various
denominations, are also to fall away. The Bible says that they, too,
will become apostate.

   In the history of the New Testament church many congregations and
many denominations that once flourished, have ceased to exist as
congregations of the Lord Jesus. If they do exist they have become so
apostate that they have another gospel, and can no longer be called a
congregation of Jesus Christ.

   Comparing Scripture with Scripture reveals that Old Testament Israel
is a picture, figure, type, or representation of the New Testament
church. How God dealt with Old Testament Israel gives insights as to
what can be expected for New Testament congregations.

   Christians ought to be part of New Testament congregations; and
thus, should be intensely interested in what Christ did with the Old
Testament congregation, Israel. Within our congregations the same seeds
of apostasy exist. Many things go on in our congregations that match
the sins that were prevalent in the congregation of Israel when God
brought it into judgment.

   A few passages have given an idea of the nature of the sin of
national Israel-sin that brought them under the judgment of God. If one
desires to know more about the sin of ancient Israel, carefully read
Jeremiah, Lamentations, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea. These passages tell
a lot about the sin of ancient Israel. It becomes apparent that
Israel's sin parallels what is happening in many congregations today.

   God's action in response to the sin of ancient Israel will be
discussed next.

   God Blinds Israel

   The Bible reveals that a number of things happened to Israel. First,
God begins to blind them (Isaiah 6). This judgment was declared almost
800 years before the end of the era of the nation of Israel as the
external representation of the kingdom of God. Isaiah prophesied about
750 B.C. (almost 800 years before the cross), when the era of the
congregation of Israel would end. Already in Isaiah's day, Israel had
gone deeply into sin.

   Isaiah 6:10 tells of this indictment:

   Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and
shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.

   This is dreadful! God is speaking of His people Israel. They have
rebelled against God; they have gone their own way. God gets involved
and actually begins to blind them, which is what God calls for in
Isaiah 6. Romans 11, verse 8 is a commentary on this:

   (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of
slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not
hear;) unto this day.

   This indictment is brought against Israel because of their sins: God
begins to blind them. It is bad that they were already blinded in their
sin and in the perverseness of their hearts. It is bad that they were
blinded by Satan who rules over the hearts of unsaved men. When God
began to deal with Israel, He declared that He would blind them. This
is emphasized in Isaiah 29:10-12:

   For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and
hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he
covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a
book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying,
Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And
the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I
pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

   God says here that He blinds the rulers of the church when the
church begins to rebel against Him. As it becomes increasingly wicked
and rewrites the rules, God begins to blind the spiritual rulers and
they can no longer see the truth.

   God Removes the Truth

   Another of God's actions in response to the sin of ancient Israel
was that He removed the truth. He took the truth away from them. This
is implied in that He blinded the rulers.

   Almost 800 years before the end of the era of the nation of Israel,
Isaiah Chapter 3 verses 1-5a were written:

   For, behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, doth take away from
Jerusalem, and from Judah, the stay and the staff, the whole stay of
bread, and the whole stay of water. The mighty man, and the man of war,
the judge, and the prophet, and the prudent, and the ancient, The
captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the
cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator. And I will give children to
be their princes, and babes shall rule over them. And the people shall
be oppressed, every one by another . . .

   God here is taking away the stay and the staff. The staff has to do
with the bread of life-the Gospel. When God takes away the staff, the
Gospel is no longer available. It is not available because God has
blinded the prophets. They are no longer able to bring truth. This is
the judgment that comes upon the church as it becomes contrary to the
Word of God.

   The breaking of the staff is seen also in Ezekiel 4 where God tells
about His judgment on ancient Israel; it was to be destroyed by the
Babylonians. God indicates in verse 17 of Ezekiel 4: "That they may
want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume
away for their iniquity."

   This verse was previously examined in view of the third horseman of
Revelation 6. It relates to the fact that the Gospel was no longer
available. God had removed the truth. It teaches the same sad truth as
Isaiah 6.

   God Rejects Israel

   God blinded the people of Israel, removed the truth from them, and
He rejected them. A number of verses speak of this, but one in
particular is Hosea Chapter 4, verse 6:

   My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast
rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no
priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will
also forget thy children.

   The people of God (the congregation of Israel) were married to God
in the Old Testament, but they were not listening to the Word of God.
They did not want to be obedient to the Word of God. They wanted what
was in their own minds. They wanted their own kind of gospel.

   To be rejected of God is terrible. The nation of Israel had been the
apple of God's eye. God had carefully nurtured the congregation while
He miraculously brought them out of bondage in Egypt, through the Red
Sea, across the Jordan River, and delivered them into the land of
Canaan. He defeated nations and conquered cities on their behalf. He
gave them principles whereby they could know the way of God and know
God. They rebelled against Him; therefore, God blinded them. He took
the truth away from them, and now He rejects them. They are no longer
His congregation.

   Earlier in the study it was seen that this rejection is stated in
the language, He "divorced them." The divorce became final in 33 A.D.
when Christ hung on the cross. God's reaction to sin in the
congregations is dynamic.

   God Destroys the Congregation

   Another result of Israel's sin is that God brought judgments upon
them. The judgments were of such nature that Israel was destroyed. The
end result of a rebellious congregation is that God destroys it.

   In the case of the nation of Israel the destruction came by wicked
nations that were under the power of Satan. God warned Israel that if
they disobeyed Him they would be destroyed by heathen nations. God
warned the congregation of Israel before they came into the promised
land, the land of Canaan, in Deuteronomy 28:47: "Because thou servedst
not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for
the abundance of all things;..."

   In language of today, God is effectively saying, "You are not
content with the principles I have laid down for you: you want your own
salvation program." God, therefore, declared in verse 49:

   The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of
the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou
shalt not understand; . . .

   It was "a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand" that was to
destroy them. The following verses of Deuteronomy 28 describe how that
nation was to destroy Israel. Isaiah 28 presents the same truth, where
God speaks particularly about the end of the ten tribes of the northern
kingdom which were separated from Judah upon the death of Solomon. God
declares in Isaiah 28:7 (approximately 722 B.C.) that He is going to
destroy Israel because of their sins:

   But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are
out of the way: the priest and the prophet have erred through strong
drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through
strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

   God uses wine and strong drink in this context to speak of running
adulterously after other gospels. Earlier in Isaiah 28 He says,
"woe...to the drunkards of Ephraim..." (verse 1). The prophets
drunkenly run after gospels or religions of nations whose language they
do not understand.

   God declares in verse 11 of Isaiah 28, "For with stammering lips,
and another tongue, will he speak to this people." He concludes in
verse 13, "that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and
snared, and taken." This echoes the warning of Deuteronomy 28 that God
would bring judgment upon Israel by a wicked nation whose language they
did not understand. As will be seen, Assyria was the wicked nation that
destroyed the ten tribes of Israel and the capital in Samaria.

   The nation of Judah (135 years later, 587 B.C.), the part of Israel
that had its capital in Jerusalem, came into judgment because of its
sins. God says in Jeremiah 5:15-17a:

   Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel,
saith the LORD; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a
nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they
say. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And
they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread,...

   Destruction again was upon Jerusalem and Judah by a nation whose
language they did not understand. This is the language God used to
declare He would destroy the congregation of Israel because of
wickedness.

   How Israel and Judah related to the wicked nations that destroyed
them will be examined in the next chapter.

   CHAPTER 8

   GOD'S METHOD OF DESTROYING ANCIENT ISRAEL

   In the laboratory of God's Word, one can investigate what God says
about the future of churches and congregations of today. In this
investigation flashes of insight have indicated that ominous things are
on the horizon. All will not continue in a happy and wonderful way
until Judgment Day.

   Wonderfully, one can study the Word of God and know what is going to
happen. There is no need to speculate and be in doubt. Faithfully read
the Bible with a view to being obedient to what is found there.

   God dealt with ancient Israel, the congregation of the Old Testament
(the whole nation was the congregation), when they sinned and rebelled
against God. The end of ancient Israel pro- vided insight as to what
can be expected for congregations of today.

   God's response to the sin of the congregation of Israel was, first,
He blinded them. He closed the eyes of their prophets; they were unable
to bring the truth.

   Second, He removed the truth from them. They did not have the full
staff of the bread of life. They did not have all that was necessary to
know truth. What a dreadful thing this was; it left most of ancient
Israel in unbelief.

   Third, He rejected them. They rejected knowledge and did not want to
obey His law; thus, God declared in the most certain terms that He
rejected them.

   Fourth, He destroyed them. They were destroyed by wicked nations
whose language they did not understand. The nations whose language they
did not understand provided God's testing program for them. The concept
that God establishes testing programs bears heavily on the events that
lead up to the end of the church age; it will be studied in detail.

   God's Testing Programs

   God sets up testing programs through which He accomplishes His
overall plan for the human race. In the Garden of Eden, there was a
testing program. Adam and Eve had not sinned; there was no thought of
rebellion against God. Everything was sweetness and light. God saw
everything that He had created and it was very good.

   God planted a tree there which He called the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil. What kind of tree it was is im- material. They were
not to eat of that tree. They could eat of every other tree of the
garden-beautiful trees with beautiful fruit-but of that tree they could
not eat. That is where mankind was destroyed. That is where mankind
failed the test.

   Into this arena came Satan (the angel Lucifer). He wanted to be like
God; he wanted to be a king in his own right. He came as the serpent,
the wisest of all the animals; and he tempted Eve. He told her
half-truths, and she obeyed the serpent, Satan, rather than God. She
ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was the testing
program whereby mankind came into destruction: Adam and Eve failed the
test. They disobeyed God. The testing program was not a judgment of God
because of previous sin. This is the way in which God deals with
mankind, who is created in the image of God: He sets up testing
programs. When the nation of Israel was in the wilderness God set up a
testing program. Moses left Israel for forty days and forty nights. In
his absence, the people were unfaithful to God. They wickedly turned
from God after Moses left them.

   The Bible tells us they failed the test. They caused Aaron to make a
calf, and they fell down and worshipped before the calf. They began to
worship other gods, as Adam and Eve did when they obeyed the serpent.
By obeying Lucifer they had begun to worship Satan rather than God.

   Testing programs are constantly with and to be expected for mankind
and congregations. Believers are surrounded by the wicked world: by the
blandishments and enticements of other gospels, by the deception of sin
and the deceitfulness of Satan. God allows testing programs. Are we
going to fail the test or are we not?

   Assyria and Babylon: Tests for Israel and Judah

   In the case of Israel, God set up a final testing program in which
He brought Assyria close to the ten tribes. Israel became interested in
the gods and idol worship of ancient Assyria. Ezekiel 16, verse 28:

   Thou hast played the whore also with the Assyrians, because thou was
unsatiable; yea, thou hast played the harlot with them, and yet
couldest not be satisfied.

   This speaks of Israel: "Thou hast played the whore..."; that is, you
are a harlot, an adulterous woman. The Assyrians came with their idol
worship and heathen altars, and Israel wanted the same thing.

   King Ahaz was King of Judah, but he mimicked what Israel did. After
he saw an altar that had been built by the Assyrians, he had his
priests make a copy of it and put it in the city of Jerusalem. This is
dreadful spiritual harlotry.

   The nation of Judah later began to engage in spiritual harlotry with
the Babylonians. Ezekiel 16, verses 29-32:

   Thou hast, moreover, multiplied thy fornication in the land of
Canaan unto Chaldea, [Chaldea is another word for Babylon] and yet thou
wast not satisfied herewith. How weak is thine heart, saith the Lord
GOD, seeing thou doest all these things, the work of an imperious
whorish woman; In that thou buildest thine eminent place in the head of
every way, and makest thine high place in every street; and hast not
been as an harlot, in that thou scornest hire; But as a wife that
committeth adultery, which taketh strangers instead of her husband!

   In these verses, God is, as it were, weeping over Israel because it
is His wife and yet they are taking strangers as does an adulterous
wife-the worst kind of harlotry.

   A similar reference is found in Ezekiel 23, and it is ugly. However,
it is the Word of God, and it must be read; it refers to the
congregation of the Old Testament. In Ezekiel 23 God typifies the
nation of Israel (the ten tribes with their capital in Samaria), by a
woman named Aholah. He names Jerusalem, or Judah (Judah had its capital
in Jerusalem), Aholibah. God says of Aholah (ancient Israel), in
Ezekiel 23, verse 5:

   And Aholah played the harlot, when she was mine; and she doted on
her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, Which were clothed with
blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen
riding upon horses. Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with
all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she
doted: with all their idols she defiled herself.

   The Israelites saw the Assyrians and their apparent success, their
fine young men and their beautiful clothing, and they were convinced
that the Assyrians were prosperous because their god was a powerful
god. Consequently, they ran after the gods of the Assyrians; for this
reason, God speaks of Israel as a harlot.

   Ezekiel 23:11-12 declares:

   And when her sister Aholibah [Judah with its capital in Jerusalem]
saw this [saw the adultery of Israel] she was more corrupt in her
inordinate love than she [than Aholah, or Israel], and in her whoredoms
more than her sister in her whoredoms. She doted upon the Assyrians her
neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen
riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men.

   Verses 16-17:

   And as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and
sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her
into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she
was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them.

   God is speaking of the dreadful whoredoms of Israel: whoredoms
committed with the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The Israelites found
these wicked nations with their gorgeously apparelled and handsome
horsemen very desirable. They did not like the true Gospel. They did
not like what God had spiritually given them. They wanted something
more exciting. They wanted that which was so apparently wonderful in
Assyria and Babylon.

   God set these nations up as a testing program for ancient Israel: to
determine whether they would be in rebellion against these nations or
fall into damnation by running adulterously after them. God's purpose
when sin surrounds us is that it is a testing program to discover
whether we will remain faithful.

   The nations with which Israel played spiritual harlotry were the
nations that destroyed Israel. In Ezekiel 23 God speaks of Aholah (the
ten tribes, Israel). They were destroyed in the year 722 B.C. by the
Assyrians, with whom Israel had played spiritual harlotry. In verse 10
of Ezekiel 23 God says: "These discovered her nakedness," which means
they saw the spiritual nakedness of Israel and engaged with her in
spiritual nakedness. Also,"... they took her sons and her daughters,
and slew her with the sword; and she became famous," which means she
became a name among women. The verse ends with: "...for they had
executed judgment upon her." The nation that Israel had played
spiritual harlotry with (a heathen nation, a nation whose language she
did not understand), destroyed Israel. This is a fulfillment of
Deuteronomy 28 and Isaiah 28, where God warned that He would destroy
Israel with a nation of stammering lips, a nation whose language they
did not understand; He would make them fall backward and they would be
snared and taken.

   This is the judgment that God placed upon the church in the Old
Testament. He destroyed them. He blinded them. He took the truth away
from them. He rejected them. Prior to destroying them, He set up a
testing program. The testing program involved a nation whose men rode
on beautiful horses, who were desirable, and who were gorgeously
apparelled, a nation whose language Israel did not understand. God used
that nation as a judgment against Israel; it brought destruction to
ancient Israel.

   Judah was the two tribes to the south; their capital was in
Jerusalem. In Ezekiel 23 they are called Aholibah. In Ezekiel 23:22 God
says: "Therefore, O Aholibah" [Judah, capital in Jerusalem] "thus saith
the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee,..." Her
lovers were the Babylonians and Chaldeans, whose language they did not
understand, whose riders were gorgeously apparelled, and their men were
desirable young men.

   Ezekiel 23:23-29:

   The Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa,
and all the Assyrians with them: all of them desirable young men,
captains and rulers, great lords and renowned, all of them riding upon
horses. And they shall come against thee with chariots, wagons, and
wheels, and with an assembly of people, which shall set against thee
buckler and shield, and helmet, round about: and I will set judgment
before them, and they shall judge thee according to their judgments.

   And I will set my jealousy against thee, and they shall deal
furiously with thee: they shall take away thy nose and thine ears; and
thy remnant shall fall by the sword: they shall take thy sons and thy
daughters; and thy residue shall be devoured by fire. They shall also
strip thee out of thy clothes, and take away thy fair jewels.

   Thus will I make thy lewdness to cease from thee, and thy whoredom
brought from the land of Egypt: so that thou shalt not lift up thine
eyes unto them, nor remember Egypt any more. For thus saith the Lord
GOD; Behold, I will deliver thee into the hand of them whom thou
hatest, into the hand of them from whom thy mind is alienated: And they
shall deal with thee hatefully, and shall take away all thy labour, and
shall leave thee naked and bare; and the nakedness of thy whoredoms
shall be discovered, both thy lewdness and thy whoredoms.

   God is indicating: "Judah, my congregation, the congregation that I
love, because you have rejected me, and you have not obeyed my law, I
have begun to blind you. I have taken the truth away from you. I have
rejected you. I have set up a testing program to discover where you
stand and you have committed whoredom. You have gone after other
nations whose language you do not understand, and they are going to
destroy you. They are going to take you captive. They are going to wipe
you out."

   That is exactly what happened in the year 710 B.C. The Assyrians
came against the ten tribes and destroyed them. One hundred and
twenty-three years later (587 B.C.) and actually for the previous
twenty-three years, God began to bring destruction against Judah.
First, by the Egyptians and then by the Babylonians; by 587 B.C. the
ancient nation of Judah was removed from God's sight. He destroyed
Jerusalem. He destroyed the temple. They were taken into captivity by
Babylon. That was the end of the Old Testament congregation.

   It was discovered earlier, however, that even though these judgments
came upon ancient Israel, God had a future for national Israel. God
brought into existence the New Testament church, and Christ came out of
the nation of Israel. This was a sequel: God eventually brought them
back to the land, they became a nation again, and out of that nation
came Christ. Out of Christ comes the tremendous blessings of the New
Testament church. In this way, ancient Israel is not an exact type or
figure of the New Testament church. Insofar as God's judgment upon
them, it is a picture of the way God will deal with the New Testament
church. This is true even though the end of Israel as the external
representation of the kingdom of God on earth did not occur until
Christ hung on the cross.

   All of this relates to our congregations today. Israel suc- cumbed
in the midst of the final testing program. God destroyed them by means
of the nations of Assyria and Babylon, with whom they had played
spiritual harlotry.

   The Bible also speaks of the New Testament church and the end of
these congregations.

   In the Old Testament congregation there was an expectation by God
that they would fall into grievous sin and apostasy. As a result of
that expectation of God, they did fall into grievous sin and they were
destroyed. In the New Testament church there is an expectation that the
churches of the New Testament will fall into grievous sin, and God will
bring judgment upon the New Testament church.

   In this study, the nature of the sin of the new Testament
congregation will be discovered. We will learn of God's action against
that sin and determine whether or not it parallels His action in
ancient Israel.

   CHAPTER 9

   SINS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH

   The final tribulation period comes just prior to Judgment Day, and
therefore at the end of the New Testament church age. It is intimately
associated with the end of congregations and denominations that have
existed throughout the last 2,000 years. There are distinct parallels
between the congregation of the Old Testament, national Israel, and the
New Testament church. A study of Israel and its end have given insights
into God's plan for the end of the New Testament church. The nation of
Israel, which typifies the New Testament church, became increasingly
apostate. Increasingly, they went after other gods. God had indicated
that He had expected them to do this, and God brought destruction upon
them by the Assyrians and the Babylonians. God also described the
nature of the sin of New Testament churches. There is an expectation in
the Bible that they, too, will fall into grievous sin. The nature of
the sin that finally brings the wrath of God and the end of the era of
the institu- tional church will be determined.

   The sin that would envelop the congregations is disclosed, for
example, in I Timothy 4:1, 2:

   Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and
doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their
conscience seared with a hot iron;

   The New Testament church is seduced by gospels that are under the
power of Satan. Many in the church heed these seducing spirits.

   II Timothy 3:1-5:

   This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For
men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without
natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but
denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

   This is a description of the terrible sins that will overcome many
within the church and finally the church itself. The situation is
reprehensible; the charges are serious. It is speak- ing of the church
because verse 5 says they have a form of godliness, but deny the power
thereof. The secular world does not have a form of godliness. Only the
church wishes to appear godly. If a congregation is ruled by those who
are unsaved, or has many members who are unsaved, then these charges
will apply. The church could be overrun with those who are lovers of
pleasure more than lovers of God, who are covetous, proud, blasphemers,
unholy, false accusers, and traitors. This may be, even though the
outward appearance is that of a viable, holy body of believers.

   There is a total distinction between the child of God (a citizen of
God's kingdom) and the unsaved (those who are under the dominion of
Satan). An antithesis exists between the two.

   God's man: Satan's man:

   Has an earnest desire to Is still under the power be holy of sin

   Loves God above all Loves himself

   Walks very humbly Is very proud

   Is thankful to God for Is convinced he is en-

   every gift titled to what he

   receives

   Is faithful to God Is a traitor to God

   Loves God above the Has no love for God but pleasures of this world
eagerly desires the

   pleasures of the world

   This list could cover every phrase in II Timothy 3:1-5. The point is
that a church filled with unsaved people-people who think they are
saved because they went through a ritual like baptism or confession of
faith-will be a church patterned after these verses. Their sin is not
that they have been baptized or made confession of faith (true
believers do these things), rather, their sin is that they make these
acts the basis for their salvation.

   They experienced these rituals, and they believe they have become
saved. They have not actually become saved, and the same desires exist
in their lives (those which exist in the unsaved). Therefore the sins
listed in II Timothy will find expression in their lives. They fail to
realize that salvation has to do with a broken and contrite heart. It
has to do with a childlike trust in Christ which is manifested in an
earnest desire to please Him.

   How Much of the World Is in Today's Church

   An honest look at today's churches reveals that these con- ditions
do exist. Few pastors preach on such passages as James 4:4 which warns:

   Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of
the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of
the world, is the enemy of God.

   Few sermons are heard on Galatians 6:14, where God admonishes:

   But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world.

   Few teach I John 2:15-17:

   Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that
is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and
the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the
world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of
God abideth for ever.

   Frequently church members love the world as much as unsaved people
do. They find joy and security in things that money will buy just as
their unsaved neighbors do. The church member may follow certain forms
and practices expected by the church, but where is his heart? Jesus
warns in Matthew 6:21: "For where your treasure is, there will your
heart be also."

   I often wonder how many children of so-called Christian parents are
growing up in homes where the holiness of God, where the authority of
the Bible, where the lifestyle of the parents, are so all-pervasive
that the children recognize from a very young age the tremendous
difference between the kingdom of Christ and the dominion of Satan?

   "Carnal Christians"

   Many denominations have come forth with the doctrine that there are
three kinds of people: first, the unsaved; second, the saved-those who
love the Lord and want to be obedient to Him; and third, carnal
Christians-those who are saved but for whom Christ has not yet become
Lord of their lives. This is such a convenient doctrine: the third
class of people can have Christ and also the world. They are reasonably
active church members, and they can live in the world much like the
unsaved; however, this doctrine is contrary to the Bible. In I John
2:3-5 God warns:

   And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar,
and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily
is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

   In Matthew 6:24 our Savior declares:

   No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and
love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other.
Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

   These doctrines, which are widely taught in the evangelical
community of our day, demonstrate that the sinful conditions spoken of
in II Timothy 3:1-5 exist far too frequently in the church. Surely
God's judgments will fall upon the church.

   A statement in Daniel relates entirely to the final tribula- tion
period and speaks of the spiritual condition in the church that brings
the judgment of God upon it. God speaks of the little horn; the little
horn can be shown to be Satan. He is the one who is loosed at the end
of time. Daniel 7:25:

   And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear
out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws:
and they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the
dividing of time.

   This verse will be developed only insofar as what Satan, the little
horn, will do. He will "think to change times and laws." This condition
is virulent and present in so many congregations and denominations that
one wonders if we are not in the final tribulation period. We are not,
but certainly we are close: this is based on a consideration of the
number of doctrines that churches have written and adopted to suit the
carnal desires of members. A few unbiblical contemporary doctrines will
be examined.

   Divorce: Changing Biblical Rules

   When I was growing up (and that was quite a few years ago), we never
thought of the possibility of anyone getting a divorce. Divorce was
contrary to the Bible. Since then, the church has attempted to change
the law of God. The law says there is to be no divorce, and after
divorce there is to be no remarriage. The church (many denominations)
has rewritten the law, and some pastors teach, "Oh, yes, you can have a
divorce if there has been fornication. Oh, yes, if you have been
divorced under certain circumstances you can be married again." Even
deacons, elders, and pastors are divorcing and remarrying. They have
changed the law of God to suit the carnal desires of men.

   Birth Control: A Change in God's Law

   Another example of re-writing God's law is in the matter of birth
control. Presently, most pastors teach birth control. They say: God has
given us minds of wisdom to make these decisions. They fail to realize
they are teaching people to disobey God's commands, such as Genesis
9:1: "And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be
fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth."

   Psalm 127:3-5:

   Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb
is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are
children of the youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of
them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies
in the gate.

   Psalm 128:3-4:

   Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house:
thy children like olive plants round about thy table. Behold, that thus
shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord.

   Psalm 104:30:

   Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created; and thou renewest
the face of the earth.

   Isaiah 42:5:

   Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched
them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of
it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them
that walk therein . . .

   In these verses, God says that He creates the baby in the womb. For
those who are children of God, children are an immense blessing from
God. However, when man rewrites the law of God, people are instructed
that man makes these decisions, and they are not to trust that God
knows exactly what size every family ought to be.

   The Bible teaches that God utilizes the family to bring forth Godly
seed (Malachi 2:14, 15). Satan, on the other hand, tries to prevent
this: for example, when Israel was in Egypt and all the boy babies of
Israel were to be killed (Exodus 1), and when Jesus was a young child
and the babies in Bethlehem were killed.

   Today, Satan is up to the same tricks. Through the success of birth
control devices, he has planted the rebellious idea in people's minds
that they are the decision makers concerning the size of their family.
Even church rulers have decided that man knows more than God about the
number of children in a family. They do not realize that no baby is
conceived unless God Himself has taken action to create that baby in
the womb. Little do they realize that they have become pawns of Satan.
Little do they realize that the practice of birth control is a negation
of the principle that one must trust God in all aspects of life.

   God's laws have not changed. The church, which should be the
custodian of the law and carefully guard and hold it and resist
teaching that is contrary to the will of God, is now attempting to
change these laws.

   The Place of Women in the Church

   Women's place in the church is another example of the decision to
change God's law to suit man's ideas. There is tremendous pressure to
accept women in the pulpit and women who rule and have authority in the
church. This is absolutely contrary to the law of God.

   In many areas of life, the Bible is no longer the authority. Learned
theologians talk about the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible,
but where the rubber meets the road-that is, where the congregation or
pastor wants their own way about something-there have been changes in
God's law so that men can do what they want to do.

   Today in many churches those who stand for biblical truth and want
to do things God's way are considered to be oddballs even by many
within the church. They are thought to have an "holier-than- thou"
attitude and an inflated spiritual ego. There is no longer an intense
desire in many congregations to live faithfully by the law of God. In
effect, they say: "Let us change the laws so that they are more
convenient for our lifestyles." This is the desire of many in the
congregation.

   Salvation Is by Grace Alone

   The law of God has been changed and it is widely taught that
salvation is not altogether dependent on God's grace. It is taught that
God has provided for the salvation of every individual in the human
race and that salvation thus depends upon man as the decision maker. Of
his own free will, some say, man can accept or reject salvation. Thus,
salvation would ultimately be a joining of Christ's work on the cross
and man's work in accepting Christ-both would have contributed to the
individual's salvation.

   This perverse teaching disregards all kinds of laws of the Bible. No
recognition is given to the Bible's teaching that man is spiritually
dead and has no desire to seek God (Ephesians 2:1-5). It denies the
truth that Christ went to the cross to save His people from their sins,
and the rest of the world must stand on Judgment Day and give an
account of their sins. Their teaching fails to face statements such as
Revelation 17:8, which teaches that only some people have their names
written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

   Today's Gospel: A Social Gospel

   All people have three aspirations: 1) political freedom, 2) economic
security, and 3) freedom from disease. All of mankind desires these
blessings, and pastors and teachers increasingly incorporate these
desires into their gospels. The social gospel which has great concern
for the physically hungry is becoming the number one priority.
Preachers say that the Christian ethic demands that all men have
political freedom. It is believed that the church must do all it can to
provide medicine and doctors to the world, and it is also believed that
the church can expect God to provide good health (even miraculous
healings), to those who claim the name of Jesus.

   These aspirations have nothing to do with the Gospel of the Bible.
This is proven by the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16).
The rich man with all his money could buy many, many freedoms that were
denied others. He could afford the finest doctors and medicines.
Certainly he had economic security.

   Lazarus, on the other hand, was a beggar. He had sores that were
licked by dogs. He had no economic security, and he had poor health.
His political freedom was of no consequence.

   Which of these two men most badly needed the Gospel? According to
today's social gospel it is obvious that Lazarus had the greater need,
but did he? God strips the curtain of eternity aside and the rich man
is seen in hell and Lazarus is in Abraham's bosom, a figure which
signifies heaven. The beggar, Lazarus, had everything in this life
because he was saved. The rich man had nothing because he was unsaved.
Surely this teaches that the social-political gospel has nothing to do
with the Gospel of salvation.

   The Gospel is concerned with the spiritual needs of mankind. Only
within the congregation does the Gospel concern itself with physical
needs.

   A few doctrines and practices that are prevalent today pre- sent
evidence that the church has rewritten the laws of the Bible. Indeed,
congregations are being encouraged to follow a salvation program
different from that which is found in the Bible.

   The Changing of Times

   Daniel 7:25 advises that not only are the laws changed but also the
times. The changing of times is increasingly present in the evangelical
community.

   The Bible is clear that it is appointed unto men once to die and
then the judgment. Judgment is the last day; all the graves will open
and everyone will either stand for judgment or be caught up to be
forever with Christ (John 5:28, 29). The Bible is clear about this, and
yet many churches and denominations have reconstructed the Word of God
and devised an entirely different time scheme. They say, for example,
that Judgment Day is at least 1,000 years in the future. That is
convenient because man does not want to talk about Judgment Day. It is
a relief to know that it cannot come for at least another 1,000 years.
However, their timetable is not what the Bible teaches. That which is
spoken of in Daniel 7 is coming to pass all around us. We are
approaching the end of time, the time when the corporate body, the
institutional church will be judged.

   Unhappy Pastors

   This teaching may offend many pastors. They may be disturbed. They
may profess to love their congregations and are sure that they are
Christ's church. If someone warns of God's judgment on the institution
of the church, he speaks in their home territory. He speaks in the
place where they minister. This is unacceptable to them and makes them
unhappy.

   The same thing happened in the nation of Israel when Jeremiah,
Ezekiel and others prophesied that Babylon was going to destroy them
because of their sin. The false prophets in Israel were unhappy with
Jeremiah and the few prophets that dared to predict that judgment was
coming. After all, they thought, Israel was the apple of God's eye;
Israel was God's chosen people; God would never destroy Israel.

   Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Amos, and the other prophets whose
statements are recorded in the Bible, were carefully reading the Word
of God-more carefully than the prophets who did not want to see God's
judgment coming. The true prophets looked at the Word of God carefully
and realistically. They did not stick their heads in the sand. They did
not hope that it would all go away.

   I implore pastors: be realistic. Read the Bible carefully. The Bible
has things to say about the future of the church; it will be judged.
The corporate body (the institutional body that represents the kingdom
of God in congregations and denominations all over the world), will
come under the wrath of God, whether we like it or not. It is going to
happen. When it is seen what many churches are doing with the Word of
God, then it will be seen why God's judgment will come upon the
congregations.

   Matthew 24 says that most men's love will grow cold. Temptations of
the world are greater than ever in the history of the church.
Television with all of its glamour draws attention away from a love for
God. In our affluent society many people have boats and recreational
vehicles and time to camp here and vacation there and so on. These
activities all make demands upon the time that ought to be spent in the
Word of God.

   There was a day when elders came home from the worship service, sat
down with their friends, and discussed the sermon. Nothing else of
consequence took their time; they spent time studying the Word and
reading theological books. How many elders, deacons, and pastors today
spend long periods of time studying the Word, looking for divine truth,
and analyzing questions? The demands and temptations of this world are
tremendous, and most men's love is growing cold. The Bible predicts
these things and unfortunately they are happening within the
congregation.

   As these sinful conditions develop within the congregations, it will
be seen that God takes action. When in ancient Israel they rebelled
against God, and went farther and farther from His Word, God began to
take action. God blinded them as a first judgment. The same thing will
happen to the New Testament church.

   God Blinds the Church

   In II Thessalonians 2 God teaches that He will blind those who
reject His Word. In this passage God warns what will happen when Satan
is loosed, and God brings judgment upon the church. Verses 3-4:

   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: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above
all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God
sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

   Verses 9b-12 speak of Satan coming with:

   all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the
love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in unrighteousness.

   This is speaking of the church. One may ask, "How can that be, when
these statements apply to the unsaved. The unsaved are damned." It must
be realized that, obviously, everyone in the church is not saved.

   Hell and Damnation

   One frightening thing is that there there is so little conver-
sation about hell and damnation, which is what we are saved from. All
kinds of salvation messages are being presented with the general theme
of God's love, the idea being that it would be salutary and wise to
become identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. These messages imply that
by accepting Him, things are going to go well and life will have
purpose and meaning.

   How can anyone become saved if he does not know what he is being
saved from? How can he know what he is saved from unless it is
thoroughly discussed and diligently taught that because of sin that he
is under the wrath of God. He is subject to eternal damnation. To
repent of sins, turn to the Lord Jesus Christ, and be saved in
accordance with God's salvation plan, one must know what he is being
saved from.

   One can rightly fear eternal damnation only if the Bible's
disclosures of the awful nature of hell are taught from the pulpit. God
did not give multitudinous biblical references to the awfulness and
certainty of His wrath just to fill up space. These warnings are to be
read, taught, discussed, and to instill fear in mankind. If these
passages are neglected, it is not the whole counsel of God. It will be
man's, and not the true Gospel.

   I cannot search the heart. I do not know what goes on in anyone's
heart, but I reflect on this and wonder, "What is going on in so many
of our churches and congregations where hell and damnation is hardly
ever mentioned? I am afraid many of the people in the congregations
have no idea of what they have been saved from...then how can they be
saved?...What kind of salvation identity do they have? What is this in
their lives?"

   When church leaders change the laws, they no longer present the
whole counsel of God. They may present something plausible and pleasing
that men like to hear, and which makes them feel good, but they have
changed the laws and it is a gospel other than the Gospel of the Bible.

   The sin of failing to preach eternal damnation as an integral part
of the salvation message is identified and warned against in Ezekiel
3:17-19:

   Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel:
therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.
When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him
not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to
save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his
blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he
turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in
his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.

   A witness of the Lord Jesus is a watchman. He is to warn that the
enemy, death, is approaching. This death is not physical death
(everyone sees that coming), it is the second death: eternal damnation,
and only the witness who has implicitly trusted the Bible sees that
coming. He knows it is coming because of many biblical passages that
refer to it. He knows something about its terrible nature because he
has come to a realization of the holiness of God. He knows that sin is
terrible rebellion against God. Therefore, as a faithful watchman he
(like Jonah in the city of Ninevah), frankly, courageously,
insistently, and consistently tells the world the truth of its terrible
condition. Of course, he also brings the glad news that the way to
escape from hell is by trusting in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The
witness says that those subject to damnation can know the magnificent
love of God, which is lavished upon all who trust in Him.

   Ezekiel warns that if the watchman does not tell the unsaved about
the death (damnation) that is to come, their blood (those who go to
hell without hearing the Word), will be on his account. He will be
punished by damnation for his unfaithfulness in preaching the certainty
of hell. This is a crucial warning to those who believe they are called
to bring the Gospel. If a preacher does not make hell and damnation an
integral part of the salvation message, his salvation is questionable.

   If you are a pastor, please take this very seriously. Are you really
digging into the Scriptures to know the whole counsel of God? The
Scriptures contain numerous statements of the wrath of God and they are
to be proclaimed. Mankind deserves God's wrath because of sin; only
when this is understood, does one see the tremendous need for a Savior.

   When churches are unfaithful, when they are places merely for being
happy and having fellowship, God will blind those preachers and their
congregations. If the preaching is designed so that after the sermon
everyone feels good, God will blind them. If the preaching consists of
a few moralities and avoids the issues of life and man's relationship
with God, God will blind them. God says in II Thessalonians 2 that
those who do not love the truth will have a strong delusion that they
should believe a lie. God blinded ancient Israel. God does not remain
neutral to those who have been given the truth and consistently turn
from it. God is not mocked. God declares that He will blind those who
refuse to believe the truth. He will cause them to believe falsehoods.
To put it another way, He will make it increasingly difficult for them
to understand and believe the truth.

   Man is desperately wicked by nature. The only reason man desires
truth is because God restrains his natural tendency to sin. As God
removes His restraint from man, man's natural wickedness and blindness
will be increasingly evidenced. Only God's grace leads any of us to
spiritual truth. God is the One who works in us to will and to do of
His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He teaches truth. How merciful,
how gracious God is!

   How terrible when God is working to blind. The end of the one being
blinded is damnation. It is awful when pastors and teachers give
increasing evidence of this blindness.

   God, in connection with this blinding, removes the truth. In the Old
Testament, God removed the truth from ancient Israel, and God warns
that He will remove the truth from the New Testament congregations if
they are unfaithful. This will be searched out in the next chapter.

   CHAPTER 10

   GOD REMOVES THE TRUTH FROM THE CHURCH

   The sad and terrible truth is that the congregations and
denominations are heading for disaster. As they become in- creasingly
unfaithful to the Word of God, His wrath descends upon them. Ancient
Israel finally came under the judgment of God; God blinded them,
removed the truth from them, rejected them, and last of all He
destroyed them.

   New Testament congregations are becoming increasingly apostate.
Spiritual blindness will descend on these congrega- tions, this will
mean that the truth has been removed from them. God is deeply concerned
about the corporate, institutional, external body of believers called
the church. The era of the ex- ternal body, national Israel, came to an
end at the time of the cross, and the era of the New Testament external
body will end as apostasy develops all over the world.

   God's judgment on the institutional church will not include true
believers within it, those who are born from above. They do not come
into judgment, even though they go through the tribulation, affliction,
and difficulties of the time when God's judgment is visited upon the
New Testament corporate church. In the last chapter, it was seen that
as the church becomes more rebellious against God-it changes laws and
times, and men's love grows cold, it preaches a gospel of men rather
than the Gospel of God-God blinds. A dynamic activity operates whereby
God actually causes theologians and church leaders to see less and less
truth. What truth they had is taken away from them because they do not
bow their knees before God. They are not ready to acknowledge that the
Bible alone and in its entirety is the Word of God. They will not
submit to it as the Word that is to be studied and obeyed. Therefore,
God blinds them.

   The blinding of ministers in the congregations is intimately
associated with the removal of truth from the congregations. The
institutional body, the church, is where truth ought to be found. The
church is the custodian of the Word. Since Christ went to the cross and
the Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost day in 33 A.D., the Old
Testament congregation, Israel, has not had truth. Their era ended.
Throughout the New Testament period, one expects to find truth in
congregations and denominations which are reasonably true to the Word
of God.

   Closer to the end, as God's judgment begins to come against the
corporate, institutional body because of its rebellion, truth will be
increasingly difficult to find. God will begin to blind those who have
been unfaithful in their presentation of the Gospel. Pastors and others
who have been taught truth in their younger years will repudiate one
aspect of truth after another. Sometimes it seems they can hardly wait
to get on the bandwagon of teachings and practices that are contrary to
the Word. The more they depart from the Word, the less truth they have
to offer. Through their teaching and preaching, truth is removed from
the congregation.

   Learn from the Old Testament

   The removal of truth from New Testament churches is em- phasized in
the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Jeremiah 23 is an excellent
example of this. Let the warnings of the Bible seep deeply into our
souls. Jeremiah 23:20 relates to us because God teaches, "...in the
latter days ye shall consider it perfectly." The "latter days" in the
Bible points to the New Testament period. Sometimes it points to the
whole New Testament period and sometimes it refers particularly to the
end of the New Testament period. Thus, the term "latter days" as found
in Jeremiah 23 does not refer to national Israel. There are many Old
Testament references to the final demise of national Israel and their
sin (as was seen earlier in this study), but Jeremiah 23 speaks
principally of the New Testament body of believers-the church. Chapter
23 sums up many teachings of the potential apostasy that exists in the
New Testament church; therefore, this chapter of the Bible will be
closely studied.

   Jeremiah 23 emphasizes that God's wrath is going to be visited upon
the institutional, external church, because of growing apostasy. Verse
14:

   I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing:
they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands
of evil doers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all
of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

   Jerusalem is another name for the body of believers, typified, of
course, by Old Testament Jerusalem. The prophets in the first instance
are the preachers who declare the Word of God. In a wider sense, the
prophets include all who are in the congregation because every member
of the congregation is mandated to be a witness.

   God is teaching that these prophets have become false witnesses.
They run after other gospels. They hold as the ultimate authority
things and ideas other than the Bible. In their spiritual fornication,
God likens them to Sodom and Gomorrah, which were destroyed because of
wickedness.

   God declares in Jeremiah 23 verse 15a, "Therefore thus saith the
LORD of hosts concerning the prophets, Behold, I will feed them with
wormwood,..." Wormwood is probably a synonym for hemlock and hemlock is
poisonous. In other words, He will give them poison to drink. The
congregation will no longer receive the pure water of the true Gospel;
it will receive the poisonous water of false gospels. Verses 15b-17:

   and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of
Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land. Thus saith the
LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy
unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart,
and not out of the mouth of the LORD. They say still unto them that
despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto
every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil
shall come upon you.

   God here outlines the nature of the sin that causes the in-
stitutional church to come under His judgment. False prophets say to
congregations, "All is well. We don't want to talk about hell and
damnation. We don't want to talk about God's judgment. We want to speak
of loving, joyful things that fill our hearts with peace."

   Dearly beloved, these verses have been in the Bible since the Bible
was completed, and yet for most of the history of the church, few
people have paid attention to them. If you talk to most pastors,
perhaps if you look at your own life, you will discover that little is
known about the prophecies of Jeremiah, Hosea, Malachi, or prophecies
of similar nature. These are unacceptable to some preachers because
they emphasize doom and gloom, and that is not what most people want to
hear.

   These prophecies deal expressly and explicitly with condi- tions
that exist today. In all likelihood they are going to find their
fulfillment in our day because we are so near the end of time.

   Many pastors and other individuals refuse to discuss these
teachings. They do not want to admit that their church may have become
apostate. Or, in spiritual blindness, they do not see the apostasy in
their congregations. They are insensitive to the fact that the Bible is
no longer their ultimate authority. Perhaps they consider themselves
professionals, like doctors and lawyers, rather than servants who
minister to spiritual needs.

   It would be well to introduce into this study the questions: Who
puts the pastor of my church on trial? Am I, as a member of the
congregation, qualified to point my finger at the pastor and call him a
false prophet?

   Unfortunately, many believers see the growing spiritual apostasy in
today's church and fall prey to the sin of judging. Only elders and
deacons have spiritual rule of the congregation. Only they, therefore,
have a God-given right and responsibility to assess the spiritual
condition of a member of the congregation. Any member of the
congregation whose eyes, by the grace of God, have been opened to
biblical truth can recognize unbiblical doctrines or practices. In
Bible classes and fellowship meetings he may gently raise questions and
express concern about doctrines or practices which trouble him.

   He may not draw conclusions and make judgments that because the
pastor preaches thus and so, or because the pastor does not preach this
or that, the pastor is obviously unsaved and is a false prophet. That
judgment can be made only by those who are qualified by God's law to
make such judgments, i.e., those who have been given the spiritual rule
of the congregation.

   Individuals, specific congregations, and denominations have not been
named in this study; it has merely outlined and emphasized the problem.
However, we can weep as we see our congregation or our spiritual rulers
go astray. Pray that those who are dear to us might remain faithful to
the Word.

   Frequently the rulers in a church find it is easier and more
self-congratulating to point to the sins of entities other than the
church. It is comfortable to criticize those who have political rule
over us. It is easy to criticize Communism or some other non-Christian
idealogy.

   The Church Must Engage in Self-Examination

   God is forcing each of us to look at where we are in the church, in
the corporate, institutional body. God is addressing us right where we
are, and we better heed His warning. Spiritual rulers have an
especially weighty responsibility, but every believer in the
congregation should listen to God's warnings so that he does not fall
into those sins.

   The verses of Jeremiah 23 have taught us that there will be churches
that teach "Peace, peace" when there is no peace. Some will say, "All
is well...God is not going to bring evil on the church. Hasn't Christ
declared that `I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it'? (Matthew 16:18) Isn't God true to His promise? How
can you say that God will let Satan win a victory over the church, the
institutional body?"

   The reason that God will, is because God has so decreed. After the
church has completed its work of evangelization and the last of the
elect have been saved (by that time the church will have become almost
completely apostate), then God is going to bring His judgment upon it,
whether we like it or not.

   He has given ample evidence of this. It is seen in the nation of
Israel, the congregation of the Old Testament, and what hap- pened to
them. Therefore, we had better heed His warnings. Many pastors today
say, "Oh, we're just a wonderful body of believers and we rejoice in
the Lord. Praise God this and praise God that, but don't talk about
ugly things relating to God's damnation or God's judging the church. We
don't want to hear it." This attitude is precisely what God is
anticipating in Jeremiah 23:18:

   For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived
and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?

   This is a rhetorical question and indicates that the con- gregations
are not standing in the counsel of God. They are not perceiving and
hearing His Word. They are bringing their own word, which is what they
like to hear. Verse 19:

   Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a
grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the
wicked.

   That is the judgment that is coming on the church, the cor- porate,
institutional body. Verses 20-21:

   The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he hath ex- ecuted,
and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter
days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets,
yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

   God teaches that the church will be overrun with those who say they
have been sent by God. They will insist that they have been called by
God, but in truth they have not been called by God. Anyone who brings
his own gospel rather that the Gospel of the Bible is not sent by God.
This is true regardless of how his gospel may identify with the Bible.
True prophets are those who maintain the utmost fidelity to the Word of
God.

   The Church Is Overrun with False Prophets

   The prophets presented to us in Jeremiah 23 have not been spoken to
by God. They do not have a message from God. They have been blinded.
They bring their own gospel, a gospel that leaves people feeling fine.
They have gospels that stress the power of positive thinking. Their
gospels stress the idea that we need not worry about God's judgment
falling upon us. They emphasize the idea that God will do increasingly
wonderful works in our day and manifestations will develop here and
there.

   God says in Jeremiah 23:22:

   But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to
hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their doings.

   One who brings the truth of the Word of God, as ominous and negative
as it may sound, causes those who listen and who are touched by that
Word, to turn from their evil deeds and to Christ. An outstanding
example of this, of course, is Jonah, when he went to Nineveh with the
Word that God was going to destroy them. Ugly, but they listened and
they repented.

   Few contemporary preachers say that God's judgment rests on the
corporate, institutional body. The cults and sects that continuously
flourish in the world are not in view here. God has in view the
congregations and denominations with the highest percentages of the
body of believers. God declares that His judgment will come upon them
as they go more and more against the Word of God.

   CHAPTER 11

   GOD REJECTS HIS CHURCH

   Within the corporate body are the true believers. They are the
invisible, eternal church. The invisible body, those who are truly
children of God (wherever they may be and in whatever congregation or
denomination they are), do not come into judgment. True believers who
are living on earth when God brings the corporate, institutional body
into judgment will suffer grievous tribulation because God's judgments
will be coming on the congregations to which these true believers
belong.

   It has been seen that there is an expectation in the Bible that the
church will become increasingly wicked, and that as wickedness
multiplies, God will begin to take action. He will blind those in the
church. He will give them the spirit of unbelief to make them believe a
lie. He will begin to remove the truth from that church. Those who
teach and preach will become farther and farther from the truth.

   In the last chapter an examination of the sad decline of the New
Testament church was begun through the eyes of the Old Testament
prophet, Jeremiah 23:20-21 and 25-28.

   The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have ex- ecuted,
and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter
days ye shall consider it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets,
yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.

   I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name,
saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long shall this be in the
heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the
deceit of their own heart; Which think to cause my people to forget my
name by their dreams, which they tell every man to his neighbour, as
their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal. The prophet that hath a
dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my
word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

   This passage warns of apostasy in our day, not in Israel's day. When
God tells us "...in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly,"
the "latter days" are the New Testament period, even though it was
written during the time of ancient national Israel. Therefore, we must
listen carefully.

   Prophets who prophesy lies and who think their dreams reveal what
truth is, could be a reference to actual dreams of these prophets. They
are convinced the dreams are from God. This is a problem that will
increase in the church, as will be discovered. This could also be a
reference to church leaders' dreams of ideals, fantasies, or
imaginations of what they would like the church to be. This can become
a problem in a congregation where the pastor wants to have a
"successful" ministry. He can be tempted to introduce unbiblical
practices and doctrines into his church in an effort to please people.

   This study is not meant to encourage anyone to despise pastors nor
to despise the church. I, personally, belong to the church. I have been
a member of the church all of my years. My children belong to the
church. We believe that this is where we must be because God has so
declared: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the
manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more as
ye see the day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25). The day is drawing nigh.
Judgment Day is close but be careful not to leave the church earlier
than necessary. The question of when true believers should leave the
church is insistently pursued later in this study.

   The Task of the Pastor

   In the light of Jeremiah 23, many pastors today (there are
exceptions-praise God for the exceptions), have as their first interest
a large, successful congregation. As a result, the church becomes
entertainment: movies are shown and "gifted" singers are brought in.
Events are scheduled that titillate the fancies of the congregation.
The preaching becomes increasingly pinched off and bland. It does not
get into the heaven-hell question. It ignores the matter of eternal
life versus eternal damnation. It does not mention God's judgment. It
is preaching to keep the congregation happy. The pastor preaches from
his own mind...these are reprehensible ideas.

   One sad thing that happens in our day is that many pastors get their
sermons from what others have written. They trust church fathers or
certain theologians. Unhesitatingly, they proclaim what their
authorities have written; they never bother to check what they have
read against the Bible to see if it is biblical. One theologian simply
teaches what another theologian teaches who in turn teaches what
another theologian teaches until it becomes increasingly difficult to
find a foundation in the Word of God. These pastors fail to realize
that although the theologians they trust may have in many ways declared
true doctrine, they are not always trustworthy. No teacher, no preacher
is without error. This is simply because no one has a perfect
understanding of the Bible. Throughout a teacher's lifetime he should
constantly search the Bible for truth. He should persistently and
faithfully correct and refine the doctrines he teaches.

   Great havoc is created in the church if teachers or theologians
implicitly trust an earlier theologian. God has enabled each generation
of theologians to personally go to the fountainhead of truth, the Bible.

   The Bible says in Jeremiah 23, verse 28, "...he that hath my word,
let him speak my word faithfully." Faithfully means to search the Word.
It takes a lot of time to search. Word studies have to be made;
Scripture must be compared with Scripture to determine what God has in
view in a given verse. Conclusions arrived at by studying one part of
Scripture must be checked against everything else in Scripture that
might possibly relate to it to ensure that the conclusion is in harmony
with all Scripture. To ferret out truth from the Bible requires great
diligence. Teachers have to "burn the midnight oil," so to speak.
Teachers must deny themselves things with which other people attempt to
satiate themselves, i.e., hours of nightly watching television, many
trips, and long vacations. They have to diligently apply themselves to
the Word; otherwise, they will not bring the Word faithfully, and they
will bring chaff rather than wheat. The Bible asks, what is the chaff
to the wheat? and answers, the chaff is nothing.

   Jeremiah 23:29: "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and
like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?" In other words, the
Word of God is powerful. The Word of God is penetrating. The Word of
God, brought faithfully, pierces into the heart of man and breaks down
the toughest sinner until he cries out, "Oh, God, have mercy on me. I'm
a sinner. I don't want to go to hell."

   Verse 30 of Jeremiah 23 ominously declares: "Therefore, behold, I am
against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one
from his neighbour." God is declaring that some pastors negate the Word
of God and encourage their congregations to turn from those who
faithfully bring truth.

   God goes on in verse 31, "Behold, I am against the prophets, saith
the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith." Many preachers
wave their Bibles and say, "This is the Word of God and God says...",
and they proceed to offer doctrines and philosophies that have no more
basis in the Word of God than any other secular philosophy. Their ideas
come from their minds and what they think is truth.

   God warns in verse 32:

   Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the
LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and
by their lightness: yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore
they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

   God is disclosing the dreadful situation that develops when pastors
and teachers in a church do not faithfully bring the Word of God.
Rather than bearers of the truth, they bring lies. If it is not truth,
it is a lie. They bring chaff for that congrega- tion, and it will not
profit them. How terrible to realize that much preaching today is
merely from thoughts of men rather than a careful presentation of the
Word of God. How dreadful to contemplate that a pastor stands before
his congregation and preaches lies. Unfortunately, this is the present
situation in many churches.

   God Forsakes His Church

   As has been seen in ancient Israel, God spiritually blinded the
congregation of that day, then, He removed the truth from them, and
following this, He rejected them. God will also forsake New Testament
churches as they go deeper into apostasy.

   Jeremiah 23:33 declares:

   And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee,
saying, What is the burden of the LORD?

   (substitute the word "message" to understand this phrase: "What is
the message of the Lord?")

   thou shalt then say unto them, What burden?

   ["What message?"]

   I will even forsake you, saith the Lord.

   God is declaring what His action will be as unfaithful preaching
develops in the church. When pastors preach from their own minds rather
than the Bible, God warns that the message they bring is the message of
God that declares: "I will forsake you. I will reject you. I am going
to bring you to an end." This is the last step before judgment. As
those called of God become unfaithful, God spiritually blinds, then He
removes the truth, and then He rejects them.

   When the pastor and the teachers in a congregation teach the ideas
of men-even though they may use biblical language and quote Bible
verses-if what they teach is not firmly based in the Word of God, then
it is lies. It is of men, and God warns, "I will forsake you." As for
the prophet, priest, and people who shall say, "the burden [the
message] of the Lord...I will even punish that man in his house." In
other words, damnation will come upon them and their households because
they are blind leaders of the blind. God solemnly continues in Jeremiah
23:35-36:

   Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his
brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more; for every man's
word shall be his burden: for ye have perverted the words of the living
God, of the LORD of hosts our God.

   They will no longer be able to find the Word. Every man's message
will be his own word; it will not be the Word of the Bible.

   Dearly beloved, you might ask, "Is that the condition in the church
today?" It is not the situation in every congregation, but in many
congregations, it is the situation. It must be concluded that currently
in many congregations, the truth is reprehensible and there is no
desire to hear biblical preaching. The people want what is pleasing to
their ears rather than that which is faithful to God's Word.

   This is not to imply that I or that anyone has perfect truth. We all
have to admit that we are learning. We all have to admit that we have
feet of clay. One who is bringing the truth has an earnest and ongoing
desire to continue to search out the Word and to change if something
from the Word of God is contrary to what has been taught.

   God threatens in verses 39-40:

   Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will
forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast
you out of my presence: And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon
you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.

   God is not talking about Communism nor wicked people in the
political arena. He is not referring to sects and cults that obviously
are under the power of Satan. God is talking about the institutional
church from which the Gospel has been going forth throughout New
Testament history, but to a high degree has become apostate. It is no
longer faithful to the Word of God, and God is declaring what He will
do to that church. He ends the solemn discourse of Jeremiah 23 with the
declaration that He is going to reject them and cast them out. This is
what happened to national Israel, the church of the Old Testament, when
they increasingly rejected God's truth. God is declaring that this same
rejection is to occur to New Testament congregations that are
unfaithful. Jeremiah 23 is an eye opener to anyone who is serious about
Bible truth. One may not like God's threats and warnings but they are
true. The language of this chapter and of so many other passages of
this study is contemporary.

   Wonderfully, God has given ample warning. Thus, even if one finds he
has been going down the wrong path, he has time to repent and turn from
wrong ways. It is still the day of salvation. Even if one's
congregation is rejected, individual believers cannot expect rejection.

   Praise God that we can know we have eternal life and that nothing
can snatch us out of our Savior's hand.

   The last thing that came upon ancient Israel was God's judgment.
They experienced this dreadful event at the hand of the Assyrians and
the Babylonians.

   What judgment will come on New Testament congregations following
their rejection by God? This question will be answered in the next
chapter.

   CHAPTER 12

   GOD WILL DESTROY THE CHURCH

   The Old and the New Testaments have ample evidence that the New
Testament corporate, external body will come under the wrath of God and
be destroyed just as ancient Israel came under God's wrath and was
destroyed.

   Israel's era ended after Christ came from them and was crucified. It
is God's purpose to evangelize the world by means of the New Testament
church; thus, the New Testament church era cannot end until the last of
God's elect are saved. No one knows when the last of the elect will be
saved because no human being knows who the elect are. Only God knows
who they are. The church must continue to witness to the world through
faithful proclamation of the Word and trust that God will save the
elect. A significant body of truth relates to the future of the church.
It can be known that if congregations and denominations become
apostate, God will reject and destroy them. This warning is applicable
to any congregation of New Testament history; however, it becomes a far
more significant warning as the end of the world draws close.

   National Israel: A Sign that We Are Near the End

   One of the most important signs that the world's history is about to
close is Israel's return to their land. Jesus declares in Matthew
24:32, 33:

   Now learn a parable of the fig tree: When his branch is yet tender,
and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye,
when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the
doors.

   Careful study of the Bible reveals that the only nation that meets
the criteria of being the fig tree is the nation of Israel. After
almost 2,000 years they are again in their own land; this is truly a
sign that we are near the end of time. The Lord Jesus Christ must soon
come on the clouds in judgment.

   Israel as a political nation remains steadfast in its rejection of
Christ as Messiah. This identifies perfectly with the prophecy of
Matthew 24 where God declares the fig tree will have leaves.
Significantly, no fruit is anticipated, and except for a tiny trickle
of believers from Israel, no spiritual fruit is seen in that nation.

   Knowing that we might be near the end of time, we must become even
more interested and concerned about what is happening in the churches
today. If indeed we are close to the end of time, then nearly all of
God's elect have become saved. If this is so, the era of the New
Testament church must be almost to an end.

   The era of the Old Testament church ended as a direct result of
national Israel's apostasy, their unfaithfulness to God. The biblical
language of the New Testament church and its potential for apostasy is
parallel to that which was declared for ancient Israel. Therefore, if
the end of time is near, substantial evidence of apostasy within
congregations will be seen.

   This is precisely what has been discovered in this study. God
repeatedly declares in the Bible the nature of the sin of the church.
Much that is unbiblical goes on in congregations and denominations of
today. This apostasy is not in sects and cults which obviously are
under the power of Satan; rather, it is in evangelical, Bible-related
churches. To our utter consternation, these sins apply to a high degree
to the most conservative contemporary churches and denominations.

   Bibles are available to more literate people than ever before in
history. Opportunities to study the Bible do not produce greater
fidelity to the Word of God. Instead, increasing unfaithfulness to the
Bible is developing all over the world. Ancient Israel was destroyed by
political nations: Assyria, Babylon, and Rome. Will the church of today
be destroyed by a political nation?

   God warns that the New Testament institutional corporate body will
be destroyed, and He uses the figure of political bodies, particularly
Babylon. Babylon does not exist today, of course, but could a Communist
nation like Russia be used by God to destroy the churches?

   Through the years I have been trying to more fully understand
prophetic statements such as Daniel, Revelation, II Thessalonians 2, I
Thessalonians 4, and Matthew 24, etc. For a long time I wondered, "What
is the role of Communism, the dynamic ideology that is so satanic in
nature and which has swept the world with successes during the last 70
or 80 years?"

   In its anti-God stance, it seems it must have a significant role to
play. It is predominantly a political ideology, although in its
anti-God posture it has religious overtones. Will God use it to silence
the Gospel as a judgment upon the church? Or will God bring the
institutional, corporate church into great and terrible trouble by some
other political action, for example, a United States president so
anti-gospel that he persecutes the church and brings judgment against
it?

   It is significant that Satan, working through Communism, has done
his best to destroy the cause of Christ. Communism has made life
difficult for the institutional church, and by this means, has hoped
that true believers would cease to exist.

   The nation of China was placed under the heel of Communist ideology
with a vengeance. Children were separated from their parents and
carefully indoctrinated into the ideals of Communism. Christianity was
unavailable to them. Churches were destroyed. Many pastors were slain.
Everything possible was done to stamp out all religion, including the
true Gospel.

   The bamboo curtain has been opened. The church is flourishing in
China. Congregations are not found on every corner as in numerous
communities in the United States (in many villages they have never
heard about Christ); nevertheless, there is a vibrant body of believers
within the nation of China. Communism has not been successful. Satan
was unable to destroy the church by political means, therefore, that
cannot be God's plan to destroy the church.

   In the Bible, however, it is discovered how God plans to destroy the
church. It will not be by political action. It will not be by an
ideology like Communism. It will be by satanic activity working through
false gospels that look so much like the true Gospel that even the
elect would be deceived, if that were possible.

   God Uses Satan to Destroy

   Satan becomes the dominant ruler within the congregation. In II
Thessalonians 2, God speaks of the man of sin taking his seat in the
temple. It will be seen that the man of sin can be only Satan. In
Matthew 24, verse 24:

   For there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.

   In Revelation 13, verse 7 God informs us:

   And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues,
and nations.

   The beast that comes out of the earth can be only Satan and his
dominion, as he rules through false gospels. By this means, he is able
to destroy the churches that are under the judgment of God. Thus, he is
able to overcome the saints-the true believers- within the
congregations.

   Destruction of the New Testament church is not through political
action, but is the action of the church, itself, as it becomes
apostate. Clues and guidance as to how this will materialize can be
learned from God's dealings with ancient Israel, because Israel is a
type, figure, or representation of the New Testament church. What
happened in the nation of Israel gives insights as to what will happen
to the congregations of our day. Remember that God had set up a testing
program for ancient Israel. The testing program involved contemporary
nations. During the days of the demise of the ten tribes, it was the
nation of Assyria. The nation of Israel looked with longing at the
beautiful horses and the beautiful apparel of the Assyrians and decided
that their gods must be victorious gods. They began to play spiritual
harlotry with Assyria. They began to run after the gods of the
Assyrians, a nation whose language they did not understand. It was the
Assyrians that God used to destroy Israel.

   Then the nation of Judah began to play spiritual harlotry with the
gods of the Babylonians and the Assyrians. They looked at the success
of these nations (the beautiful horses and the beautiful apparel), and
all that went along with it, and Judah began to lust after their gods.
Babylon, too, was a nation whose language they did not understand. It
was this nation that destroyed Judah in 587 B.C. This is the scenario
that God gives to guide us into truth concerning the destruction of the
New Testament church.

   God's Testing Program for the Church

   God sets up testing programs for mankind. If man fails the test,
terrible things happen to him. If he is victorious through the test,
great blessings will result.

   The first reference to this principle was made in the Garden of
Eden. Before sin entered the world, God set up the first testing
program for the human race by placing in the Garden of Eden one tree of
which man could not eat. Genesis 2:16, 17:

   And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the
garden thou mayest freely eat: 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.

   This is amazing. Before there was any sin in the world, God
established a testing program as a fundamental principle by which God
would relate to mankind. The testing arena was a tree that God called
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If man was victorious in
the test, the implication was that he would live forever. If he failed
the test, he would suffer the most dire consequence: death. It is known
from the Bible that the death God had in mind was not merely physical
death, it was also the second death: eternal damnation.

   The principle of a testing program is found repeatedly in the Bible.
Israel, for example, was tested by God when Moses left them for forty
days to receive the tables of the law on Mt. Sinai. Israel failed the
test by making and worshipping the golden calf. As a result, God's
wrath came upon them and 3,000 men were killed (Exodus 32:19-28).

   The number forty in the Bible may be a clue that a testing program
is in progress. Israel was in the wilderness forty years after coming
out of Egypt. They failed the test; few of them trusted in God.
Therefore, the Bible records in Joshua 5:6:

   For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness,
till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were
consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD: unto whom the
LORD sware that he would not shew them the land which the LORD sware
unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk
and honey.

   Significantly, it can be shown that there were exactly 400 years
from the time when Israel came out of Egypt (1447 B.C.), and Saul
became king over Israel (1047 B.C.). This occurred in the days of
Samuel, who was the last of God's prophets to judge Israel. When Samuel
was old, Israel came to him and asked for a king to rule over them. I
Samuel 8:4-7:

   Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came
to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy
sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the
nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a
king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD. And the LORD said
unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say
unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me,
that I should not reign over them.

   Saul became king exactly 400 years after Israel, under the direct
rule of God, came out of Egypt. Another interesting testing program in
relation to the number forty is in the book of Jonah. Jonah was
instructed to cry against Nineveh because of their wickedness (Jonah
1:2). In Jonah 3:4 are these significant words:

   And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he
cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

   Wonderfully the people of Nineveh were victorious in their test.
Jonah 3:5 and 10 report:

   So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and
put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

   And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and
God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them;
and he did it not.

   Perhaps the greatest testing program of all occurred in the New
Testament, and the Lord Jesus Christ was the object of the test. He had
taken on a human nature, consequently, He, too, came under this
principle. Luke 4:1, 2:

   And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Being forty days tempted of
the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were
ended, he afterward hungered.

   The first Adam was tested in the Garden of Eden, and the second
Adam, Christ, was also tested. The first Adam failed the test by
disobeying God and thus plunged the human race into sin, but our Lord
was victorious in the test. He remained entirely obedient to God. His
perfect obedience has made the incomprehensible kingdom of God a
reality for all who believe on Him. Obviously, the principle that God
tests the human race is firmly established in the Bible.

   The end-time church, too, is faced with a testing program.
Unfortunately, the Bible reveals the end-time church will fail this
testing program, just as Adam and Eve failed in their day and as
ancient Israel repeatedly did. The church will fail the test and will
come under God's wrath, just as God's judgment resulted when Adam and
Eve failed the test.

   God's Final Testing Program

   The testing program that identifies with the end-time church will be
focused on a nation whose language the congregation does not
understand. Because of the dynamic importance of this truth, how the
Bible teaches it will be reviewed, and it will be further developed.

   God gives at least two prominent clues in the Old Testament as to
the nature of the final testing program. The first is in Deuteronomy
13:1-3 where God informs us:

   If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and
giveth thee a sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to
pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods,
which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; Thou shalt not
hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for
the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your
God with all your heart and with all your soul.

   God clearly says that He is proving, that is, testing the con-
gregation through the activity of a false prophet within their midst.
One should know the character of this prophet and the nature of his
teaching.

   The introduction to Chapter 13 is the last verse of Deuteronomy 12,
where God admonishes the congregation: "What thing soever I command
you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from
it."

   In this admonishment God says that man shall not add to nor take
away from the Word of God. To recognize the Word of God as His Word and
have an intense desire to be obedient to it, is in fact worshipping God
as the giver of the Word. On the other hand, to believe that there is
an additional source of divine information (to believe that it is from
God when indeed it is not), that effectively is worshipping a god other
than the God of the Bible.

   God gives the same warning in the New Testament, in Revelation
22:18, 19:

   For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy
of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add
unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man
shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall
take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city,
and from the things which are written in this book.

   This book can be only the Bible. The Bible alone and in its entirety
is the Word of God. An additional articulated, ver- balized message
which is delivered through a dream, vision, or by any other means,
would be an addition to the Bible. If one listens to these messages and
believes they are of God, he effectively is worshipping a god other
than the God of the Bible. God warns in verse 18 that anyone who
commits this sin is subject to the plagues written in the Bible; that
is, he is subject to eternal damnation.

   Deuteronomy 13 says the false prophet is a dreamer of dreams, that
is, he is convinced that what he hears in his dreams is of God. The
sign or the wonder, the prophetic statement of his dream or vision,
comes to pass. He, therefore, has received a supernatural visitation,
but because the message he received was not from God, it had to be from
Satan. When he teaches that the message he received in a dream or
vision was from God and, therefore, is the Word of God, he is
encouraging people to go after a god other than the God of the Bible.

   This is a deadly serious sin within the congregation. Deuteronomy 13
says that this prophet is to be put to death even if he is the dearest
loved one of someone in the congregation.

   The key phrases in these verses are, "for the Lord your God proveth
you" (or tests you) and "to know whether ye love the Lord your God with
all your heart and with all your soul." These phrases teach something
about God's final testing program for the church. God clearly says that
He will test the congregation by allowing those who say they declare
the Word of God but who are in fact false prophets (because their
source is other than the Bible), to be within the congregation.

   I Corinthians 14 Gives a Clue to the Final Testing Program

   The second Old Testament clue to the final testing program that will
come against the church is that which came against ancient Israel. The
signpost to this clue is in the New Testa- ment, I Corinthians 14:21,

   In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips
will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear
me, saith the Lord.

   To understand this clue, one must know the setting in which it is
found. I Corinthians 14 discusses the phenomenon of tongues, which was
present in the church at Corinth. Certain individuals there received
from God, as a gift of the Holy Spirit, messages in a language (a
tongue), which neither they nor anyone else in the congregation could
understand. In I Corinthians 14:2 God speaks of these as "in the spirit
he speaketh mysteries."

   Additionally, within that congregation God gave certain individuals
the gift of interpretation. By means of this God-given gift, the
message received in the tongue was made understandable to the
congregation. I Corinthians 14:5 informs us that when the tongues
message was interpreted, it edified the congregation. This was a valid
spiritual event in the church at Corinth. They had only that part of
the Bible which is now called the Old Testament. God was still breaking
the silence between the supernatural and the natural when He gave
messages to Paul, John, Peter, and Agabus (Acts 11:28). Because these
messages were from God, they were an addition to the Word of God. The
New Testament had not yet been completed, even with these additions;
the churches of that day had an incomplete Word of God.

   During the same time that it was possible for the apostles to
receive direct messages from God, there were individuals in the church
of Corinth who received messages from God in a tongue. The messages
could have been in the form of a prayer, praise, or a revelation.
Howbeit, it was a message from God, therefore, it was an addition to
the written Word of that time.

   In the center of the discourse on the phenomenon of tongues (I
Corinthians 14, verse 21), is a reference to the law wherein God had
written that through tongues He would speak to the people and they
would not listen. This is a reference to the law of the Old Testament.
God speaks about tongues in Deuteronomy 28, as examined earlier in the
study. Moses addressed Israel when they were about to enter the
Promised Land. He warned them that they would not be content with the
gospel he brought them (Deuteronomy 28:47):

   Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with
gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things...

   The result of their rebellion against God was punishment. This is
declared in the remaining verses of Deuteronomy 28; however, verses 48
and 49 summarize the warning:

   Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send
against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want
of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he
have destroyed thee. The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from
far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation
whose tongue thou shalt not understand;...

   The enemy that was to destroy them was a nation whose tongue they
could not understand. Therefore, this is the passage of law referred to
in I Corinthians 14 in regards to the tongues phenomenon.

   The ten tribes of Israel were destroyed by the nation of Assyria
after Israel engaged in spiritual harlotry with the Assyrians. As a
result of their spiritual rebellion, God caused the nation of Assyria,
a nation whose language Israel did not understand, to destroy them. In
the year 710 B.C. the nation consisting of ten tribes of Israel ended
at the hand of Assyria. God gave a final warning of this a few years
before it hap- pened. The warning is found in Isaiah 28:11-12.

   For with stammering lips, and another tongue, will he speak to this
people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the
weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.

   The sequel to God's judgment on Israel occurred 135 years later. The
nation of Judah ran like a harlot after Babylon, a heathen nation whose
language they did not understand, and Babylon is the nation that
destroyed Judah in the year 587 B.C. A few years earlier they had been
warned by the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah 5:15-17:

   Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel,
saith the LORD; it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a
nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they
say. Their quiver is as an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And
they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy
daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds:
they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish
thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.

   God is focusing on "a nation whose language thou knowest not." This
passage, too, is referred to in the ominous language of I Corinthians
14:21.

   Deuteronomy 13, Deuteronomy 28, I Corinthians 14, and God's judgment
tie to the end-time church when one considers the two important
principles learned earlier.

   The first principle is that ancient Israel was a picture or type of
the New Testament church. God's judgment on them for their spiritual
adultery sheds light on the nature of God's judgment on the New
Testament church for its spiritual rebellion.

   The second principle is that God sets up testing programs for
mankind. In Deuteronomy 13 it is seen that within the church a testing
program will involve false prophets who receive supernatural messages.
They will encourage the congregation to go after other gods by
revealing their super-natural experiences, which come from a source
other than God.

   These two biblical principles give understanding as to how God will
judge the end-time church.

   Tongues: End-Time Testing Program

   The question might be raised: Why does God write extensively in I
Corinthians 12, 13, and 14 about the phenomena of tongues? One might be
surprised to read in the Bible about this temporary phenomenon. A few
decades after this phenomenon occurred in the church in Corinth, the
visions of the Book of Revelation were received by the Apostle John on
the Island of Patmos. This book closed with the warning that anyone who
added to its words would be subject to plagues; therefore, there could
be no further revelation from God by visions, voices, tongues, or
anything else. Thus, the phenomenon of tongues that occurred in the
church at Corinth would also have come to an end. From that time to the
present day, do not expect God to bring a message by these means or by
any other means. The Word of God is complete. The Bible alone and in
its entirety is the Word of God.

   It appears that the phenomenon of tongues was short-lived and
confined only to the church at Corinth. It was an incidental matter
even in that day, thus, the question persists: Why did God write
extensively about it?

   The answer lies in the realization that these three chapters of I
Corinthians discuss the matter of tongues as God's testing arena for
the end-time church. God planted the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil in the Garden of Eden, and it was the testing arena of our first
parents. Satan saw his opportunity in that testing program to tempt man
into sin and thus enslave him. In the warning and testing program of
Deuteronomy 13, God allows a false prophet to deceive some people
within the congregation. God sets up the testing programs, but it is
Satan who uses the tests as an opportunity to lead astray those who are
being tested. It is the phenomenon of tongues, recorded in I
Corinthians 12, 13, and 14, that God established as a testing arena for
the end- time church. God gave the true gift of tongues briefly in the
church at Corinth so that the end-time churches' fidelity to the Word
of God could be discovered.

   Adam and Eve were permitted to eat of every tree of the garden
except one. In these trees there were lavish blessings of God; they
provided fragrant and delicious fruits to satisfy the physical needs of
man. Lucifer wanted man to serve Satan rather than God, and he tempted
Adam and Eve into thinking they were missing something important if
they did not taste the fruit of the one tree that had been placed
off-limits.

   The church is repeatedly reminded throughout the Bible of the lavish
blessings that attend salvation. They are far more than anyone
deserves. They are so wonderful that our hearts should continuously
praise God.

   The one minor blessing that was briefly enjoyed by a few people in
the church at Corinth was an incidental blessing (being able to receive
an additional message from God in an unknown language), when the
magnificent blessing of the whole Word of God was unavailable.

   God maximized His communicative blessings to mankind by giving them
the entire record of His will (the New Testament and the Old Testament)
and placed the minor blessing enjoyed by the church at Corinth
off-limits. It was no longer to be expected in view of the fact that
God had given His larger blessing-the entire Bible. God, in His wisdom,
retained the record; indeed He promi- nently displayed the record of
the phenomenon of tongues in the Bible. Its placement there makes it a
testing arena for the end- time church, as the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil was the testing arena for the beginning of the human race.

   Satan Uses Tongues to Destroy

   It is precisely at this testing place that Satan uses his final
opportunity to win a decisive victory over Christ by defeating the
church. He defeated Adam and Eve by encouraging them to eat of the
forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden. Likewise, he encourages the
end-time church to enjoy the forbidden gift of tongues.

   When God set up the testing arena in the Garden of Eden, He used
language that made it easy-or at least paved the way-for Lucifer to
tempt Eve. God did not give the forbidden tree a foreboding name like
"forbidden" tree. God gave this tree the intriguing name "the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil." Certainly, such a title would cause
Adam and Eve to wonder what mysterious power the fruit of this tree
possessed. This is evidenced by Eve's reaction to Satan's enticements,
in Genesis 3:6:

   And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise,
she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her
husband with her; and he did eat.

   Satan stimulated Eve's lustful thinking by making reference to the
name God had given the tree. In Genesis 3:5 Satan declared to Eve:

   For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

   Note his words, "your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil." Surely in giving this tree the name "the
knowledge of good and evil," God gave Satan a theme that he could use
to stimulate our first parents into sin.

   God, of course, is not the author of sin, nor is He in any way
guilty of sin. God did, however, design an insistent and valid testing
program, in that the fruit appeared to be especially luscious ("the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes," verse
6), and in the name that the tree was given. God also made the testing
arena for ancient Israel quite in- tensive. The ten tribes of the
northern kingdom, which was called Israel, were destroyed by the
Assyrians, a nation whose language they did not understand. While
Israel was failing the test, God blessed the nation of Assyria: they
conquered Syria (II Kings 16:9), and appeared to be the nation with all
the answers. Ezekiel 23:5, 6:

   And Aholah played the harlot, when she was mine; and she doted on
her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours, Which were clothed with
blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen
riding upon horses.

   As previously mentioned, "Aholah" is another name for the capital of
Israel which was in Samaria. Assyria with its political successes and
worldly achievements appeared to be the nation to emulate. Similarly,
Judah, the southern kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem, was enamored
by the beauty, power, and successes of both the Assyrians and the
Babylonians.

   The beauty, power, and political successes of Assyria and Babylon
were the results of God's blessing. These wicked nations were in total
rebellion against God, yet God brought them to power and made them
attractive merely to serve as testing programs for Israel and Judah.

   Israel Goes to Assyria for Help

   The Bible gives a vivid illustration of how God allowed a wicked
nation like Assyria to appear to Israel to be a success story. During
the days of Isaiah, Jerusalem was threatened by Israel and Syria. The
situation was grave. II Chronicles 28 discloses the wickedness of
Judah's king Ahaz, and the resultant punishment God brought upon Judah
by Israel and Syria. II Chronicles 28:5, 6:

   Wherefore the LORD his God delivered him into the hand of the king
of Syria; and they smote him, and carried away a great multitude of
them captives, and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered
into the hand of the king of Israel, who smote him with a great
slaughter. For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and
twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they
had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers.

   The king of Judah, a wicked man named Ahaz, and all of Judah should
have cried to God for help. They should have repented in sackcloth like
Nineveh did when Jonah preached to them. They should have cried out to
God as King Jehoshaphat did when the Moabites and the Ammonites came to
destroy Judah (II Chronicles 20). Instead the Bible records that Judah
went to Assyria for help. II Kings 16:7,

   So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying,
I am thy servant, and thy son: come up, and save me out of the hand of
the king of Syria, and out of the hand of the king of Israel, which
rise up against me.

   They could not have more dramatically displayed their complete lack
of trust in God. God rescued sinful Judah by wicked Assyria, as II
Kings 16:9 declares:

   And the king of Assyria hearkened unto him: for the king of Assyria
went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried the people of it
captive to Kir, and slew Rezin.

   Assyria conquered Syria. Until recent times, it was not an
independent nation. God used Assyria to destroy the ten tribes; they no
longer existed as an independent kingdom. These two nations, Syria and
the northern kingdom of Israel, therefore were removed as a threat to
Judah by the strength of the heathen nation Assyria.

   The point of this information is that God brought successes to
Assyria to intensify the testing program that was coming against Judah.
The successes of Assyria in its flower, and Babylon in its flower,
suggested that their gods were more powerful and more trustworthy than
Jehovah God. God, for His divine purposes, gave Assyria the victory,
but Judah was convinced that the superiority of the Assyrian gods made
them victorious. This spiritual mentality is seen in the citation of II
Chronicles 25:14 where another king of Judah, Amaziah, worshipped the
gods of an enemy called Edom or Seir. This verse declares:

   Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter
of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and
set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and
burned incense unto them.

   II Chronicles 28:22, 23 records similar action by the wicked King
Ahaz:

   And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the
LORD: this is that king Ahaz. For he sacrificed unto the gods of
Damascus, which smote him: and he said, Because the gods of the kings
of Syria help them, therefore will I sacrifice to them, that they may
help me. But they were the ruin of him, and of all Israel.

   God Intensifies the Final Testing Program

   When God sets up a testing program, He strengthens the test by His
words or by allowing the actions of enemies of God to appear to be
successful. The same principles apply to God's final testing program
for the end-time church: in relation to God's words in the Bible and in
relation to the successes that God allows the enemies of the Gospel to
enjoy.

   Three examples may be offered of words that God uses to indicate the
severity of the test for the end-time church. First God says that those
who spoke in tongues in the Corinthian church were edified as they
spoke these mysteries in the Spirit (I Corinthians 14:2-4). Surely
anything that serves to edify or build up the faith of the individual
believer is to be sought after? Secondly, God declares in I Corinthians
14:39, "forbid not to speak with tongues." Surely this teaches that no
one should suggest that speaking in tongues is sinful?

   The third example requires more explanation. In three of the four
gospels the sin described as blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is
mentioned. It is also referred to in I John 5 as a "sin unto death."
This sin is unusual in that those who commit it can never have
forgiveness; that is, they can never become saved. Moreover, it is
unusual in that God protects mankind from it to the point that it is
virtually impossible to find anyone who has ever committed this sin.

   However, the scribes of Jesus' day committed this sin. Mark 3:22
says of them:

   And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath
Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

   In response to this grievous sin Jesus declares in Mark 3:28, 29,

   Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of
men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that
shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is
in danger of eternal damnation;...

   In verse 30 He explains that the sin of blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit is to believe that Christ was under the power of Satan rather
than under the power of the Holy Spirit. The scribes who hated Jesus
and desired His death had committed this dreadful sin; they were
convinced that He was of Satan. They had no desire to look upon His as
their Messiah.

   The scribes spoken of in Mark 3 and Matthew 12 are the only mention
in the Bible of individuals who have committed this sin. The most
hardened sinner of today ordinarily would never become convicted that
Jesus received His power from Satan. There may be those in the world
who have committed this sin, but if they have they would never worry
about Christ as their Savior. Anyone who has the slightest interest in
Jesus as Savior could not have committed this dreadful sin.

   One might ask: why did God put an extensive record of this sin in
the Bible? Its presence in the Bible has produced much sorrow for true
believers who have been incorrectly taught that the sin of blasphemy of
the Holy Spirit is to reject Christ. Many true believers when young
have repeatedly rejected Christ. They have become saved in their later
years, but are haunted by the question: can they be saved? One reason
for the recording of this sin in the Bible is to increase the severity
of the testing program of the end-time church.

   The correct understanding of the sin of blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit is to believe that Jesus, when He came as the Savior, was under
the power of Satan.

   By a simple extension of this idea, it could wrongly be con- cluded
that anyone who believes that Christ or the Holy Spirit works through
the church under the power of Satan, that person has committed this
terrible sin. In other words, it might be said that if someone examines
a particular gospel or church and decides that it is of Satan, by that
judgment he is in danger of having committed blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit. This conclusion is erroneous, but it is widely taught by those
who believe in tongues. Few dare to make the judgment that a "tongues
gospel" is of Satan. Almost no one dares to conclude that a gospel can
be a product of Satan if its claims that Christ is the Savior. As a
result, the "tongues gospel" is protected from criticism even by those
who want to remain true to the Bible. In fear of blaspheming the Holy
Spirit, they are forced to acknowledge that even though they disagree
with many doctrines of the "tongues gospel," it must be considered an
aspect of the true Gospel. This, in turn, encourages many people to
follow the "tongues gospel." God has built characteristics into the
tongues testing program that make it appear safe in its identification
with the true Gospel.

   The Success of the Tongues Movement

   An ever-increasing number of individuals and congregations fails
this end-of-time testing program all over the world. The tongues
movement, also called the "charismatic movement," is sweeping through
churches like wildfire. Virtually every denomination has churches that
have welcomed it with open arms. For generations attempts have been
made to unify various faiths and denominations; however, no attempt has
made progress like the charismatic movement. Roman Catholics,
Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists-all gospels that
identify with the Christian ethic-find brotherhood under the
charismatic banner. To those who embrace the tongues phenomena, it
appears to be a wonderful and certain demonstration of the power of the
Holy Spirit.

   The Bible guides us into truth; we can know the facts. The church
has become apostate. Consequently, God is blinding people so that they
believe this movement is of the Holy Spirit. They do not realize that
it is of Satan. By means of this phenomenon, Satan is defeating the
true Gospel to a degree never before realized.

   Indeed, God brought judgment on the Old Testament church (Israel and
Judah), by nations whose language Israel did not understand, nations
with whom Israel had engaged in spiritual harlotry. It was these
nations that God used to destroy Israel and Judah. Likewise, churches
and denominations of today are engaging in grievous spiritual harlotry
by blindly running after gospels that feature an unknown language
called "tongues." These false gospels are being used of God as a
judgment on the church. Expect to see the church destroyed by them.

   Congregations will continue to exist. They may appear to be more
vibrant and spiritually successful than ever. It may appear that the
cause of Christ is advancing all over the world: crusades attended in
ever-increasing numbers, churches filled to capacity, seminaries with
more prospective preachers. Nevertheless, it must be realized that the
church is under God's judgment. The abomination of desolation
increasingly stands in the holy place. The man of sin increasingly
takes his seat in the temple. The era of the New Testament church has
almost ended.

   Two important characteristics appear always to be present in the
tongues movement. First, acceptance of the principle that God is still
speaking today. Additional revelation, it is believed, may be revealed
through an unknown language called tongues, a vision, a dream, or by
hearing a voice. Invariably where there is an interest in dreams and
visions, there is an interest in tongues. Likewise, wherever there is
an interest in tongues, there is an interest in dreams and visions.

   The insistence on the principle that God is speaking today
automatically proves that the tongues movement is a false gospel. Its
authority is a different authority than that of the true Gospel.

   The true Gospel is circumscribed by its authority-the Bible alone
and in its entirety. The "tongues gospel" has as its authority the
Bible plus the messages that supposedly come from God in a tongue,
dream, vision, or voice. It is easy to know that it is not the true
Gospel, and if it is not the true Gospel, it is a false gospel.

   Secondly, in the tongues movement, there is a pronounced interest in
signs and wonders. There is a conviction that God is performing
miracles today, as our Lord and the twelve apostles did signs and
wonders. Miraculous healing is most commonly expected. The sign of
people falling backward-being "slain in the spirit," as some call it-is
evidence of a supernatural event. While so- called miraculous healing
can be explained in earthly, physical terms, falling backwards appears
to be unexplainable from an earthly, physical vantage point.

   The phenomena of someone appearing to receive a message from God in
a tongue, or vision, etc., may actually have a physical explanation. It
could be the result of an hallucination, or it could be related to the
individual's subconscious mind. Also, it could be supernatural activity
induced by Satan; he captivates the hearts of those who are not content
with the true Gospel. When it is a supernatural activity it should be
called a sign or a wonder because God calls the activity of speaking in
tongues a sign in I Corinthians 14:22.

   Significantly, the Bible makes reference to "signs and wonders" in
connection with the end of time. Of great importance is the fact that
these references have nothing to do with the true church. Every
reference relates to satanic activity. For example, in Matthew 24:24:

   For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.

   This verse indicates that false prophets will come with a gospel
that is so much like the true Gospel that even the elect would be
deceived, if that were possible. The elect are the true
believers-chosen by God to salvation. They cannot be deceived because
God will hold them fast. False prophets can be recognized by their
signs and wonders.

   In II Thessalonians 2:9 God warns of the man of sin who will take
his seat in the temple: "Even him whose coming is after the working of
Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,..."

   In Revelation 13, in reference to Satan coming as a false prophet,
God warns in verses 13, 14:

   And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell
on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in
the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that
they should make an image of the beast, which had the wound by a sword,
and did live.

   In Revelation 16 God is speaking of satanic activity just before
Judgment Day, verse 14:

   For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

   God shows in these references that as He brings His judgment on the
end-time church, it will be through gospels that feature "miracles." Do
not be surprised that signs and wonders are prominent in churches with
false gospels. When Christ came with the true Gospel He attested to its
genuineness by performing miracles. John 20:30, 31:

   And many other signs truly did Jesus, in the presence of his
disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written,
that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and
that believing, ye might have life through his name.

   When Satan comes at the end of time with his false gospels that
feature tongues he, too, will attempt to attest to their gen- nuineness
with signs and wonders. As was seen earlier, only two miracles are
credited to him in the Bible. These are: first, his ability to break
the silence between the supernatural and the natural with messages in
tongues and visions. The second is that he can supernaturally cause
people to fall backward. To add further credence to these gospels,
Satan will come with lying signs and wonders; that is, his adherents
will claim to do miracles and believe miracles have been done, when
none have been done. Chicanery and deception will be utilized to
convince followers that a miracle has been performed.

   Modern means of communication such as television will enhance the
spread of these false gospels. People who worship in churches that are
reasonably faithful to the true Gospel may become familiar with the
blandishments and enticements of false gospels in the privacy of their
homes. With no one knowing, they can drink deeply of this poisoned
water, and when the plague enters their churches, they will be prepared
to accept it as an aspect of the true Gospel.

   One can see the reality of God's judgment on the church because of
growing apostasy. Right before our eyes, church after church
capitulates to gospels that do not consider the Bible alone and in its
entirety to be the true Gospel.

   Two events develop simultaneously in preparation for the final
tribulation period. The first event is that all of the elect will have
become saved. The nature of the final tribulation period is that no one
will become saved during that time; thus, it cannot begin until the
last of the elect have become saved.

   The second event is the end of the era of the corporate church as
the external representation of the kingdom of God on earth. The steps
that lead to the end of the church era are well defined in the Bible.

   First, churches and denominations increasingly rewrite the laws of
the Bible.

   Second, God begins to blind the churches and they stumble into
greater apostasy.

   Third, God removes the truth from them as they are in- creasingly
under His judgment.

   Fourth, God rejects them and allows sin to multiply within the
congregations.

   Fifth, God destroys them in that they are no longer an external
representative of the kingdom of God.

   The destruction of the church, to a high degree, is accomplished
through the testing program of tongues. In blindness, a church will
fail the test as Satan deceives the congregation into accepting the
false gospels of tongues and signs and wonders. Thus, congregations
will continue to exist during the final tribulation period, but they
will be increasingly false. True believers will either voluntarily
leave or they will be required to leave when the congregation begins to
follow a false gospel. Those who remain within the congregations in
reality will be serving Satan even though they think they are serving
Christ. We have seen, therefore, that the final tribulation period is
God's judgment on the church because of its apostasy. It will be a
judgment on the world in the sense that the possibility of salvation
has come to an end. During this spiritually terrible period there will
be no hope for anyone to become saved.

   A number of questions might be asked, such as:

   1. What assurance is there that the final tribulation will not be a
time of massive bloodletting? If it is not physical persecution, what
trauma makes it a great tribulation?

   2. If no one can become saved during the final tribulation period,
what will happen to children born to believing parents during this time?

   3. Are there any additional Scriptures (besides those already
examined), that teach of Satan's involvement in the final tribulation
period?

   4. Can the duration of the final tribulation period be known?

   5. Will anyone know when the tribulation period has actually begun?

   6. What immediately follows the final tribulation period?

   7...What will true believers do during the final tribulation period?

   8. What about the anti-Christ? Who is he?

   These questions will be considered in the following chapters.

   CHAPTER 13

   BELIEVERS ARE KILLED WHEN SATAN RULES IN THE CHURCH

   It has been learned from the Bible that the New Testament church era
will end, just as the era of ancient Israel came to an end. The end of
the New Testament church will result from in- creasing world-wide
apostasy within the church and God's judgment upon it. That judgment is
totally involved with the final tribulation period.

   Few verses thus far quoted in this study suggest that the final
tribulation period is a time of massive bloodletting. If other verses
allude to this ugly possibility, perhaps they will teach more about the
character of the final tribulation period. Because of the important
teaching of Matthew 24:21 and because the time when this verse will
come to fulfillment is near, it will be studied again. In Matthew 24:21
God declares:

   For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

   This verse says that the character of the final tribulation period
will be different from any that has ever come on the face of the earth.
Physical persecution is not the chief characteristic of the final
tribulation period. Persecution by bloodletting has happened throughout
history. However, this will be different; it will be something the
world has not previously known.

   The context of Matthew 24:21 gives some clues as to what this
tribulation will be. Verse 15 instructs:

   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 Judea flee into the
mountains...

   As was noted earlier, the only biblical holy place, after Christ
went to the cross, is the body of believers. The homeland of the
corporate body is the congregation or church. The abomination of
desolation is the incursion of Satan into the heart of the church. The
phrase "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" identifies with Daniel 8:13:

   Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that
certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the
daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

   In this verse God speaks of the sanctuary being trodden under foot.
The "sanctuary" like the "holy place" in Matthew 24:15 can identify
only with the body of believers. Therefore, the phrase "trodden under
foot" in the Daniel account gives the same information as the phrase
"standing in" in the Matthew account. When Satan stands in the holy
place-when he rules in the church-then the sanctuary will be trodden
under foot; the church will have become vanquished by Satan. Daniel
8:13 and Matthew 24:15 speak of the same sad event. Thus, it can be
fairly safely asserted that these verses teach that during the final
tribulation period, congregations and denominations world-wide will be
overrun with satanically inspired gospels. It is God's plan that the
churches will come under this judgment. The chief characteristics of
the final tribulation period will be Satan's spiritual leadership in
the congregations and the binding of the hearts of the unsaved; no one
can become saved.

   Satan's leadership and character in the church is known from verses
that follow Matthew 24:21. Verse 24 declares:

   For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.

   Our Lord could not make plainer the fact that the con- gregations
will be grievously troubled by Satan during the final tribulation
period. This truth is in evidence in II Thessalonians 2:1-4:

   Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, That ye be not soon
shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by
letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 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: Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called
God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of
God, shewing himself that he is God.

   These instructive verses show that the man of sin will take his seat
in the temple and be worshipped as God. Satan is called the man of sin;
he is typified by the king who reigned over ancient Babylon in Isaiah
14. In this chapter, God discusses Babylon and its king and directs
attention to the fall of Satan. In the same paragraph, with no
transition whatsoever, the Bible discloses both events: the destruction
of Babylon and the fall of Satan. The reason is that Babylon is a type
or figure of Satan's kingdom, and the king of Babylon is a type or
figure of Satan. God declares in Isaiah 14, verses 16 and 17:

   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; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities
thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners?

   Satan made the world as a wilderness by tempting Adam and Eve into
sin. He desires to hold the inhabitants of the world in spiritual
bondage and refuses to let anyone out of his prison house. Praise God
that our Savior bound Satan by going to the cross and set His prisoners
free.

   In these verses Satan is called "a man." Satan, of course, is not a
man. He is called a man because he was typified by a man: the king who
had ruled over ancient Babylon.

   In II Thessalonians 2:3, Satan is called "that man of sin."
Undoubtedly God deems it appropriate in this passage to call him a man
because God is emphasizing Satan's kingship as he rules in the church.
The type of Satan, the king of Babylon, ruled over Babylon; and Satan
will rule as a king within the church. Verse 4 bears this out, it
speaks of him sitting in the temple of God and showing himself as God.
"To sit" biblically connotes reigning. Jesus sat down at the right hand
of God and was given authority over all things (Ephesians 1:20-22). God
only reigns as King. II Thessalonians 2:4 says that Satan will rule as
a king in the temple. The temple can be only the congregations where
true believers should worship.

   Satan does not wear a red suit with a forked tail. He comes as an
angel of light, and his ministers come as ministers of righteousness
(II Corinthians 11:13-15). Those who remain in congregations with false
gospels will have been deceived by the master deceiver. They will think
they are worshipping the Lord Jesus Christ. They will be worshipping
Satan. This is suggested in Revelation 13, where God says that the
beast that comes out of the earth will cause those who follow him to
make an image of the beast which had the wound by a sword and did live.
Verses 13 and 14 show us this dramatic truth:

   And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from
heaven on the earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that dwell
on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in
the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that
they should make an image of the beast, which had the wound by a sword,
and did live.

   The beast that was wounded by a sword is Satan. Hebrews 2:14:

   Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he
also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.

   Christ destroyed Satan in principle by going to the cross. Christ
endured the equivalent of eternal damnation in the cross experience,
and it guarantees that all the wicked, including Satan, are subject to
the second death, eternal damnation.

   Satan lives in that he is allowed to continue to reign over the
hearts of unsaved men during the final tribulation period. However, on
Judgment Day the second death with all its force will overtake Satan
and he will be thrown into hell.

   Satan is worshipped, according to Revelation 13:14 and the phrase,
"make an image," which is drawn from the Old Testament. Israel was
frequently snared into false religions that featured idol gods.
Therefore, to "make an image" refers to the development of false
gospels. Those within these gospels will think they are serving the
Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11 pictures the beast with two horns like a
lamb. Christ is the Lamb who took away the sins of everyone who
believes on Him. Thus, verse 11 teaches that Satan will come with the
appearance of Christ.

   Revelation 13:15 indicates that the adversaries of the beast will be
killed:

   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.

   This verse parallels Revelation 11:7 which says that the two
witnesses who bring the Gospel eventually will be killed by Satan. The
two witnesses will be killed after their testimony has been finished.
God has written, in Revelation 11:7:

   And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that
ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and
shall overcome them, and kill them.

   A study of Revelation 11 reveals that the two witnesses who must be
killed (verse 7), refer to the body of believers, those mandated by God
to bring the Gospel. In Revelation 11:4 they are called "two olive
trees" and "two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth." God
speaks of the body of believers as an olive tree into which the
individual believer is grafted. The number two is commonly used in the
Bible as a figure of the church, for exam ple, when God sent the
seventy out two by two. They are a picture of the church as it
proclaims the Gospel. Moreover, it is out of the mouths of two or three
witnesses that every word is establish ed. Thus, both from the
standpoint that the olive tree represents the body of believers, and,
from the standpoint that the number two signifies the church, the two
olive trees represent the church as it brings the Gospel.

   In Revelation 1:20 God speaks of the seven churches represented in
heaven by seven candlesticks. God uses the term "candlestick" as a
synonym for a congregation. Thus, the phrase "two candlesticks" as used
in Revelation 11 describes the two witnesses who represent the New
Testament congregations that spread the Gospel.

   Revelation 13:15 and Revelation 11:7 seem to contradict the premise
that the final tribulation period will not be a time of grievous
bloodletting, the chief characteristic of persecution throughout
history. The conclusion might be reached that these verses speak of
physical violence. However, a fundamental principle of Scriptures is
that spiritual things must be compared with spiritual; that is, test
all conclusions against the rest of the Bible to see if they are in
harmony with everything else the Bible teaches.

   That physical bloodletting will not be the major focus of the final
tribulation period is strongly suggested in Matthew 24:21 where Jesus
declares that it will be a tribulation like no other. Matthew 24:15 and
24:24 and II Thessalonians 2:1-9 indicate that the final tribulation
period will be a time when false gospels that feature signs will be
present in the churches. The success of false gospels which closely
resemble the true gospel points to the absence of physical persecution.
Physical persecution is not currently limited to those who hold the
true Gospel. Persecution, if in vogue, is against all who call
themselves Christian. In Mohammedan countries, for example, the true
Gospel and every false gospel that includes the idea of Christ as
Savior are the enemy. This is true also in Communist countries where
any gospel called Christian, or any religion regardless of its
character, is an enemy of the state.

   Thus, if the false gospels mentioned in Matthew 24 and II
Thessalonians 2 are to flourish as indicated, their environment cannot
oppress any gospel that calls itself Christian. Therefore, do not
expect special bloodletting during the final tribulation period.

   The Bible indicates that the final tribulation period will be a time
of substantial world peace. It will be business as usual. Matthew
24:37-39 says:

   But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of
man be. For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark, And knew not, until the flood came, and took them
all away: so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

   Similarly, in Luke 17:28-30, God compares world conditions at the
time of Christ's return to the situation in Sodom when it was destroyed:

   Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they
drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; But the same
day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from
heaven, and destroyed them all.

   The final tribulation period does not include physical persecution
of true believers, but Revelation 11:7 and 13:15 speak of killing.
However, the Bible says that those who hate are, in fact, murderers. I
John 3:15: "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know
that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him."

   I John 3:13 emphasizes that the true believer will be hated by the
world, "Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." In Matthew
10:22 Jesus emphasizes the world's hatred for the believer: "And ye
shall be hated of all men for my name's sake; but he that endureth to
the end shall be saved."

   The basis of this hatred is, of course, that the people of this
world are enslaved to sin and Satan. They are citizens of Satan's
dominion, and Satan is the bitter foe of Christ. Satan wanted Jesus
killed when Jesus came as the Savior, and he wants the citizens of
Jesus' kingdom killed.

   Satan has two options whereby he can cause the death of true
believers. The first is subject them to physical death. This has been a
longstanding method employed by the forces of evil. Satan's difficulty
with this murder method is its long-time failure to accomplish his
desired goal: stamp out the kingdom of Christ. Physical bloodletting
actually tends to build the church. The blood of the martyrs becomes
the seed of the church.

   Satan's second method of attempting to neutralize the kingdom of God
is to kill those within the church. This method appears eminently
successful. If Satan can cause a person to turn from the true Gospel to
a false gospel, he effectively will have killed that person; he remains
under the condemnation of God. He is subject to the most awesome death
mankind will ever know: eternal damnation. Satan is the essence of
destruction; his goal is to draw people away from Christ, who is life,
and into the path that leads to destruction. An unsaved person is
spiritually dead because he is under the wrath of God.

   There is what seems to be an apparent contradiction: verses that
suggest "business as usual" during the final tribulation period and
verses that speak of Satan killing believers. Revelation 13:15 teaches
that those who do not worship the beast (that is, true believers), must
be killed. A true believer is not subject to eternal damnation;
therefore, this kind of killing cannot be in view in this verse. Other
verses teach that physical persecution will not be a major factor of
the final tribulation period.

   The solution may be found in Revelation 13:7:

   And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to
overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues,
and nations.

   In this revealing verse God assures us that Satan will win in a
sense. In the warfare Satan has assaulted the church again and again,
but Satan cannot win until the last of the elect have become saved.
Christ will build His church and the gates of hell cannot triumph.

   After the last of the elect have become saved (the temple,
consisting of true believers, has been built), then Satan will stop the
advance of the Gospel, and in that sense he will appear to have won. No
one else will become saved.

   Similar language discusses the fourth beast, the ten horns, and the
little horn, in Daniel 7:7-8:

   After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron
teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with
the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before
it; and it had ten horns.

   I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them
another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns
plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the
eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

   Who or what is the little horn before whom three of the first horns
were plucked up by the roots, and which had eyes like the eyes of man
and a mouth speaking great things? Verse 21 says that the horn made war
on the saints and prevailed against them: "I beheld, and the same horn
made war with his saints, and prevailed against them."

   The same truth is revealed in Revelation 13:7 where God says that
Satan will overrun the churches with false gospels. Thus, the little
horn of Daniel 7 is Satan. The ten horns represent the completeness or
finality of Satan's rule at the end of time, that is, the final
tribulation period. Revelation 17:12-14 addresses this subject:

   And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have
received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with
the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength
unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall
overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they
that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

   Ten is the number of completeness. Satan's rule will be completed,
or finalized, during the final tribulation period as he wars against
the Lamb. The Lamb, of course, is Christ. Satan's war with Christ will
be directed against the body of Christ, the church, in that he will
overrun it with other gospels.

   Three of the horns plucked up by the roots can be understood if one
bears in mind that ancient Israel and its end typified and anticipated
the New Testament church. Israel was destroyed by Babylon in 587 B.C.,
and Babylon is a type or figure of the kingdom of Satan. The
destruction of Israel by Babylon is a picture of the end-time when
Satan will be victorious over the church. It is in connection with the
destruction of Israel by Babylon that the putting down of the three
horns can be understood. When Babylon conquered Israel, Babylon removed
the last three kings that ruled over Israel: Jehoiakim (II Chronicles
36:5-8), Jehoiachin (II Chronicles 36:9, 10), and Zedekiah (II Kings
25:1-7). These three kings did evil in the sight of God. Therefore,
they, like Babylon, were instrumental in causing the demise of Israel.
This is summed up in II Chronicles 36:14-17.

   Moreover, all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed
very much, after all the abominations of the heathen, and polluted the
house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God
of their fathers sent to them by his messengers, rising up betimes, and
sending; because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling
place: But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words,
and misused his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against his
people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the
king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the
house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or
maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his
hand.

   The final three kings of Israel, like Babylon, became in- timately
associated with wickedness. Therefore, they relate to the reign of
Satan at the end of time. God does the relating in the language of
Daniel 7, where He declares that the little horn plucks up three of the
horns.

   The description (Daniel 7:7-8) of the little horn is signifi- cant.
It had the eyes of man and a mouth speaking great things. The phrase
"eyes of man" undoubtedly relates to Isaiah 29:10:

   For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and
hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he
covered.

   This verse teaches that the eyes represent the prophets who
ministered to Israel. Thus, God teaches that the little horn represents
Satan and his rule in the church through false prophets and false
Christs. This conclusion harmonizes with Matthew 24:24, where God
teaches:

   For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.

   The "eyes of man" represent false prophets-emissaries of Satan-as
does the phrase "a mouth speaking great things" (Daniel 7:8, 20).
Daniel 7:25:

   And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear
out the saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws:
and they shall be given into his hand, until a time and times and the
dividing of time.

   As part of the apostasy that will develop in the church and cause
God's judgment to fall upon it, God will allow pastors to rewrite the
rules of the Bible as this verse teaches. God em- phasizes that this
will be the character of Satan's rule (the little horn's rule), over
the church. Satan will rule in the manner described in II Corinthians
ll:13-15, where God warns:

   For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan
himself is transformed into an angel of light. 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.

   These verses show that Satan will be so deceptive when he rules in
the churches during the final tribulation period that his followers
will be convinced they are serving Christ.

   The dominant and all pervasive goal of the church is to send forth
the Gospel so that the temple of God can be built. It will appear that
the church has become destroyed when it is no longer used of God to
save people. Furthermore, as has been noted, the church will have
become thoroughly apostate. It will have become a dead church, and it
will show itself to be spiritually dead because it will be overrun by
gospels fostered by Satan. Thus, true believers will be killed in a
two-fold sense: the church to which they belonged will have become
spiritually dead, and although they personally live in Christ, they
will be dead in that no longer can one come to life through their
testimony. The two witnesses will have been killed (Revelation 11:7);
they will no longer be a fountainhead of life. Rivers of living water
no longer flow from them to bring spiritual life to the unsaved. All of
God's elect have become saved; no one remains to be saved.

   John 16:2-3 says:

   They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that
whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father,
nor me.

   In these verses God is teaching that spiritually to be put out of
the church is the equivalent of being killed. Thus, again, in all
likelihood the character of the final tribulation period will not be
physical persecution.

   The second way in which the final tribulation will be different from
any other tribulation is that, in the history of the world, there has
never been a time when people could not be saved. Even in that dark and
terrible day when Christ hung on the cross, the thief was saved. There
has always been the hope of salvation. During the final tribulation
period, however, hope will be gone. Satan will appear to have won.
Regardless of how diligently believers witness, no one will respond to
the true Gospel. True believers will exist as though they have been
killed. The unsaved will be in bondage to sin and Satan. No one will
come to salvation during this period. This fact sets apart the final
tribulation from other tribulations. Satan has always assaulted the
church through persecution and with false gospels, but there has been
hope in the world: The hope of life eternal in Christ. The world does
not recognize this hope. The unsaved do not want salvation, but without
their awareness, there is in the world the hope of salvation. Salvation
is being free of eternal damnation; it is the hope for the world. The
existence of the possibility of salvation is the highest blessing this
world can know. The removal of the possibility of salvation is the most
traumatic event. When hope is taken away and there is no program of
salvation, then the world will experience the most grievous tribulation.

   The awful nature of this truth can now be only sensed. Today, and
throughout history, believers witness to and pray for unsaved loved
ones. The hope is always present that God in His magnificent mercy will
save them. If a loved one dies apparently unsaved, one clings to the
possibility that, unknown to living relatives, there may have been a
death-bed conversion. Thus, to live in the world with no hope of
salvation is the most serious of traumas, but this is what to expect
during the final tribulation period.

   This truth is suggested by the language of Matthew 24:15, when the
abomination of desolation overruns the church. It is suggested by II
Thessalonians 2 where God speaks of the man of sin taking his seat in
the temple. It is taught by Revelation 11:7 which says that the two
witnesses must be killed. Revelation 13:7 teaches the same truth when
it declares the saints will be overcome. In John 9:4, Jesus declares:
"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night
cometh, when no man can work."

   Jesus has in view the work of sending the Gospel into the world.
When the spiritual night of the final tribulation comes, no man can
work; that is, no believer will have success in his work of
evangelization.

   The same truth is revealed in Revelation 7, an important chapter
which is introductory to Revelation 8 and 9. The two latter chapters
describe the final tribulation period in the most traumatic language,
and they speak of massive devastation. It may appear that these
chapters point to massive bloodletting as the chief characteristic of
the final tribulation period, but the key to understanding them is that
God is speaking in parabolic language. The earthly story, described in
all its horror, points to the spiritual meaning of God's judgment on
the church.

   In Revelation 7, God speaks of the nature of the final tribulation
period in the parabolic language of Revelation 8 and 9. In this context
He prophesies, in Revelation 7:2-3:

   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.

   The four angels and their activity of destruction are also spoken of
in Revelation 9:15:

   And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour,
and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.

   The Bible is its own interpreter; thus, it must be learned what the
Bible means by "the third part," which is frequently found in these
chapters.

   The third part of men is a parabolic phrase which points to the
church. The number is taken from Zechariah 13 where God indicates that
the world is symbolically divided into two groups of people. The
unsaved are typified by the number two thirds and the saved by the
number one third. Zechariah 13:8, 9:

   And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two
parts therein shall be cut off, and die; but the third shall be left
therein. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will
refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried:
they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my
people: and they shall say, the LORD is my God.

   The one third are God's people. They have been refined in that
Christ has endured hell for them. Thus, they are clean before God. In
Revelation 8 and 9 the one third are pictured as being dead. This truth
was seen in Revelation 11:7, 13:7, and 13:15. True believers have been
killed in that they are no longer the fountain of life. No longer can
anyone be saved after hearing their testimony. They have been killed in
that the external, corporate representation of the body of Christ (the
church), has been overrun with false gospels; it, too, is spiritually
dead.

   Revelation 8 and 9 can be understood only when it is realized that
references to one third in the earthly story point to the body of
believers in the heavenly meaning. God points in Revelation 8 to:

   The third part of the In verse

   trees 7

   sea 8

   creatures 9

   ships 9

   rivers 10

   waters 11

   sun 12

   moon 12

   stars 12

   day 12

   Revelation 9:15 speaks of the third part of men. In each reference
to the third part, death and destruction are in view. The figures of
speech (trees, sea, creatures, ships, rivers, etc.), can be shown in
their context to represent the body of believers which is called the
church. These two chapters can be understood only when it is realized
that they discuss the final tribulation period, after the church has
been judged and no one can become saved. The death of the third part of
man must be understood in the same way as the death of the two
witnesses in Revelation 11:7.

   In Revelation 9:15, "an hour, and a day, and a month and a year"
means that this will be accomplished in the fullness of time. The
figure is similar to that in Galatians 4:10, where reference is made to
the ceremonial law: "Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years."

   The ceremonial laws pointed to the first coming of Christ. Our
Savior was to come at a special moment in history, called the fulness
of time (Galatians 4:4).

   The emphasis of the ceremonial laws served as earthly stories
illustrating the heavenly meaning of various aspects of the Gospel
message. For example, the sacrifice of animals pointed to Christ as our
sacrifice. The burnt offerings were types of Christ as our burnt
offering.

   Time was of the essence in God's salvation program. Rigorous laws
dictated when feast days were to be observed. These precise times
anticipated God's precise timetable for the coming of Christ. For
example, when Jesus hung on the cross as the Passover Lamb, the priests
in the temple were killing the lambs that were to be eaten as part of
the Passover Feast. When God poured out the Holy Spirit to begin His
program to evangelize the world, it was on the same day that the nation
of Israel celebrated the Feast of Pentecost, which was a feast pointing
to the pouring out of the Holy Spirit.

   Revelation 7:2 and 3:

   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.

   In these verses, God is saying that the events of Revelation 8 and 9
cannot take place until all of God's servants have been sealed on their
foreheads. The servants of God are the believers. They became
bondservants of Christ the moment they were saved. They are called the
twelve tribes of Israel because they are typified by Old Testament
Israel. There is a vast number of believers who throughout time have
come from every nation (Revelation 7:9). The number twelve in
Revelation 12 signifies the fullness of all believers.

   To be sealed on the forehead means to be saved. In Ephesians 1:13
God declares:

   In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were
sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,...

   Sealing is on the forehead as the Father's name is written on the
forehead of the 144,000 in Revelation 14:1. The forehead signifies that
the mind has been renewed. The person has become born again; he has
become a child of God.

   Thus, Revelation 7:2, 3 teaches that the terrible event recorded in
Revelation 8 and 9 cannot take place until all who are to be saved have
been saved. In other words, God advises us that no one will become
saved during the final tribulation period. This same truth was learned
from other passages.

   Matthew 24, II Thessalonians 2, Revelation 13, and other passages
teach that the special trauma of the final tribulation period will be
twofold. First, the churches, which historically have been the bastions
of the true Gospel, will be overrun by false gospels, and true
believers will flee from them. By the end of the final tribulation
period, it appears that no church will follow the true Gospel.

   Second, the final tribulation period cannot begin until all of the
elect have become saved. Consequently, during the final tribulation
period no one will become saved. This will bring trauma to the world as
never before experienced.

   If no one will become saved during the final tribulation, what about
babies born to believers during this period? God's promises are
inviolate. He has promised to be a God to us and our children, has He
not?

   At this moment, the answer to the question of the salvation of
children born to believers during the final tribulation period is
uncertain. Perhaps God will shut the wombs of believers, there is ample
biblical precedence for this possibility. Many husbands and wives
appear physically capable of bearing children; they earnestly desire
pregnancy, and yet no pregnancy occurs. In these cases, it must be that
God, for His own divine purposes, has shut the wombs of these wives.
This possibility exists for believing wives during the final
tribulation period, and is suggested in Jeremiah 16, verses 1 and 2:
"The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying, Thou shalt not take
thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place."

   The context of this pronouncement bears on the significance of the
fact that Jeremiah is not to have sons or daughters. These chapters of
Jeremiah give insights into the nature of the final tribulation;
Jeremiah is a figure or picture of the believers. Jeremiah, the
prophet, prophesied for forty years prior to the time Judah was
destroyed by the Babylonians. It has been seen in a number of verses
that Israel, under Babylonian oppression, is a picture of the church
under God's judgment during the final tribulation period. Jeremiah
14:11-12 relates to the final tribulation period:

   Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.
When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt
offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume
them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

   God's instruction to Jeremiah indicates there was no longer any hope
of salvation for Israel. God's command to the church is to bring the
Gospel. Believers should have concern for the salvation of both those
within the congregation and those outside the congregation. When God
commands that prayer on behalf of the unsaved is no longer to be
offered, then the church's task has ended. It is no longer to be
concerned with the salvation of the lost. This will be true of churches
during the final tribulation period. Jeremiah 14:19-21:

   Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath they soul loathed Zion? why
hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for
peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold
trouble1 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of
our fathers; for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy
name's sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break
not thy covenant with us.

   Jeremiah, a type or figure of the church during the final
tribulation period, was pleading with God, recognizing that because of
the sin of the church, God had visited Israel (the cor- porate body of
believers), with these judgments. In this context Jeremiah represents
the body of believers who do not bear children. The unbelievers (those
under God's wrath), will bear children, and those children will suffer
the wrath of God. Jeremiah 16:3, 4:

   For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the
daughters that are born in this place, and concernning their mothers
that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this
land; They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented;
neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face
of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine;
and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the
beasts of the earth.

   These warnings parallel the prophecy of Matthew 24:19: "And woe unto
them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!"

   In this verse, Jesus discusses the final tribulation period. The
similarity to Jeremiah 16:3 indicates that Jeremiah 16 provides
insights into the character of the final tribulation period. One of
these insights may be that true believers will not bear children during
the final tribulation period.

   In any case, through continued diligent study of the Bible, before
and during the final tribulation period, God may reveal additional
truth.

   In this chapter, it was learned that the final tribulation period
will not be a time of massive bloodletting. The Gospel will appear to
flourish all over the world, but it will not be the true Gospel. It
will be gospels of Satan. Satan, working through false prophets who
look like ministers of righteousness, will rule in virtually all of the
congregations. These congregations will not be used of God to bring the
true Gospel to the world. They will bring a gospel that will damn the
listeners to hell.

   The final tribulation period will not begin until the last of the
elect are saved. It will be a time when the world has no hope; no one
can become saved. Those who were saved before the final tribulation
began will patiently wait for Christ's return. That the rest of the
world is in bondage and no one else will become saved-this will be
trauma that has never been known.

   CHAPTER 14

   HOW LONG IS THE FINAL TRIBULATION?

   Coincidentally with the saving of the last of the elect will be the
apostasy in churches and denominations that should be faithful to the
Bible. They will no longer bring the whole counsel of God. Instead of
faithful proclamation of the truths of the Bible, they will bring many
doctrines fashioned in the minds of men.

   God will have rejected His church. The era will have ended. Those in
the church may appear to be Godly, but no power of God will be found
within them. Spiritually they will be dead. No longer will they have
the commission to send forth the Gospel. Simultaneously, Satan will be
loosed in the spiritual sense and his spiritual hold on the unsaved
will be complete. The world will exist with no hope whatsoever. Every
unsaved person will be destined for hell.

   Will Believers Experience the Final Tribulation?

   A period of affliction more severe than this world has ever known
frightens many people. They think of tribulation as a time of great
physical suffering, i.e., nuclear war or physical persecution. No one
enjoys physical suffering; therefore, they cling to the idea that a
good God will not let His children suffer; He will rapture them before
the final tribulation period. They fail to realize, however, that when
tribulation comes into the world, believers experience it as readily as
the unsaved. When Jerusalem was destroyed, in horrible fashion, by the
Babylonians, believers experienced the trauma of the event just as the
unsaved did. Today when an earthquake, tornado, war, or famine strikes,
believers experience the same hurt as the unsaved. If persecution
comes, believers will frequently experience the trauma and many
unbelievers will not.

   Jesus said in John 16:33, "In the world ye shall have tribulation."
Anyone who thinks that because he believes in Jesus Christ he will be
safe from grievous affliction, is not reading the Bible carefully
enough.

   The Bible clearly indicates that believers will be present on earth
when Christ returns at the end of the world. II Thessalonians 2:l: "Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and
by our gathering together unto him." If believers are to meet Jesus
when He comes, then they must be on earth. In John 6 God declares four
times that believers will be resurrected the last day. John 6:44: "No
man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and
I will raise him up at the last day." Verses 39, 40, and 54 repeat the
assertion that believers will be resurrected the last day. John 12:48
says that the last day is Judgment Day.

   He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that
judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in
the last day.

   I Thessalonians 4:17 teaches that the rapture of believers will be
simultaneous with the resurrection of believers.

   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.

   The resurrection of believers is the last day, therefore, the
rapture is the last day. Thus, believers will be present on earth until
the last day. (Additional biblical proofs that believers will go
through the final tribulation period are provided in detail in "The Fig
Tree" and "When is the Rapture?", written by Harold Camping, available
through Family Radio.)

   Thus far, nothing has even hinted that the final tribulation will
take place after believers are raptured from earth. However, two verses
that are used to attempt to prove that believers will be raptured
before the final tribulation are I Thessalonians 5:9 and Revelation
3:10. These verses will be studied.

   In I Thessalonians 5:9 God declares: "For God hath not ap- pointed
us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ."

   Some theologians attempt to equate God's wrath, spoken of in this
verse, with the final tribulation. They fail to realize that the wrath
of God is eternal damnation. Most believers have lived and died and
were never threatened by the final tribulation. Until saved, they were
threatened by eternal damnation. This is the awful calamity from which
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are saved. The closing verses of
Revelation 6 disclose the truth of the awful moment at the end of time,
when the unsaved must face "the wrath of the Lamb" for "the great day
of his wrath has come." I Thessalonians 5:9 cannot speak of the final
tribulation period. Revelation 3:10 informs 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.

   Theologians may carelessly equate the "hour of temptation" with the
final tribulation period, but they fail to realize that the Greek word
"pierasmos", translated "temptation" and "try" in this verse, is never
translated "affliction" nor "tribulation" nor "trouble." It is always
translated "temptation" or "trial" or "testing." The Greek word
"thlipsis", translated "affliction" or "tribulation" or "trouble" is
never translated "testing" nor "temptation" nor "trial." Thus, the
final tribulation period cannot be in view in this verse.

   The "hour of temptation" is Judgment Day. If someone is charged with
a crime, he is brought to trial, where his guilt or innocence is
determined. Judgment Day is the hour of trial when all the unsaved must
stand trial. Revelation 3:10 would be more easily understood had it
been translated "hour of trial." Believers are not brought to trial.
John 5:24 declares that believers do not come into judgment. The Greek
word "krisis", translated "condemnation" is also translated "judgment"
in Matthew 12:18, 20, 36, and 41. Romans 8:1 assures believers that
there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

   This same truth is in the prayer Jesus taught the disciples. The
petition "lead us not into temptation, [Greek "pierasmos"] but deliver
us from evil" (Matthew 6:13), is a prayer for salvation, i.e., deliver
me from the terrible event of Judgment Day which I so rightly deserve.
Of course, deliverance is an accomplished fact in the life of the
believer.

   Time Duration of the Final Tribulation

   Matthew 24:29-31 teaches that the final tribulation is the last
event this world faces before Judgment Day. God emphasizes that
immediately after the final tribulation, the sun will be darkened, the
moon will not shine, and the stars will fall from heaven. The sun and
the moon were placed in the sky to regulate time. When they are
darkened, they can no longer govern time-time will be no more. Stars
falling from heaven indicates that the universe is collapsing. These
events signal the end of the world's existence.

   Many theologians teach that the final tribulation period will
continue for seven years. They base their conclusion on Daniel 9:27:

   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.

   These theologians believe the seventieth seven of Daniel 9:27 is a
final tribulation period that will come after Christ reigns for one
thousand years on earth. However, careful Bible study reveals that both
of the suppositions are false: Christ will not reign on earth for "one
thousand years" and the seventieth seven of Daniel 9:27 cannot be the
final tribulation period. It cannot be the final tribulation period
because in the middle of the seventieth seven, sacrifice and offering
cease.

   For 11,000 years, beginning with Cain and Abel, sacrifices were
offered. These sacrifices were types and shadows of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When He offered Himself as the sacrifice, the system of
sacrifices ended. Jews continued to offer sacrifices at least until 70
A.D. when Jerusalem was destroyed, but the sacrifices had no meaning.
The great sacrifice that ended all sacrifices was Jesus, when He went
to the cross in 33 A.D. Therefore, the middle of the seventieth
week-when sacrifices and offerings ended-can be only 33 A.D. Regardless
of anything else taught by Daniel 9:27, the middle of the seventieth
seven must be 33 A.D. This period of time cannot be the final
tribulation.

   The Bible does give information on the duration of time of this
traumatic event. It would be profitable to search this out in the Bible.

   Duration of Final Tribulation Period Shortened

   In Mark 13:20, God teaches:

   And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should
be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath
shortened the days.

   This verse unquestionably speaks of the timetable of the final
tribulation period, because the verse preceding it declares:

   For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the
beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither
shall be.

   The Bible clearly teaches that the final tribulation will come but
that the duration of the tribulation will be shortened. One might ask,
What does it mean that it will be shortened? The answer to this
question is found in the Old Testament. God anticipated the final
tribulation when He dealt with ancient Israel. The destruction of Judah
by Babylon points to God's judgment on the church near the end of time.
God's judgment on the church is the main event of the final tribulation
period. Matthew 24 discusses the final tribulation in detail. Verse 20:
"But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the
sabbath day." The context suggests that the words "sabbath" and
"winter" are synonyms for the final tribulation period. God is
apparently warning believers to pray that they may not have to face the
final tribulation. For two thousand years since the cross believers
have lived and died and not experienced the final tribulation period.
Only believers who live at the time of the end of the world will
experience the final tribulation period.

   Final Tribulation Period Is Called A Sabbath

   In the Old Testament, "sabbath" can be a synonym for the final
tribulation period. In the New Testament, "winter" is a synonym for the
final tribulation period.

   The end of the independent nation Judah began in 609 B.C., when the
God-fearing, upright king Josiah was killed during a battle with Egypt
(II Chronicles 35:24-27). Judah came under the rule of Egypt (II
Chronicles 36:1-4), and four years later (605 B.C.), the king of
Babylon ruled Judah until Judah was destroyed (587 B.C.). Many people
of the land were taken captive into Babylon. Their captivity continued
until 539 B.C. when Babylon was conquered by the Medes and the
Persians, led by King Cyrus. Cyrus decreed that the Jewish captives be
permitted to return to the land of Israel.

   The captivity of Judah by Babylon and the subsequent reign of Persia
is recorded in II Chronicles 36:20-21,

   And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon;
where they were servants to him and his sons, until the reign of the
kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of
Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she
lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years.

   In this citation God speaks of the seventy years from 609 B.C. to
539 B.C. as a sabbath. This seventy-year sabbath is a type or figure of
the final tribulation period, which must be the reference God has in
view in Matthew 24:20 when He warns, "Pray ye that your flight be not
in the winter, neither on the sabbath day."

   The final tribulation period should encompass seventy years, but God
says that the period will be shortened. It is definitely God's plan
that believers are to be present on this earth when Christ returns. The
average life expectancy is about seventy years (Psalm 90:10), and no
one is to become saved during the final tribulation period; therefore,
if this dreadful period continued for seventy years, at the end of it,
virtually no believers would be left on the earth. Thus, God plans to
shorten the final tribulation period.

   The Number 23 and the Final Tribulation Period

   Another time span suggested by the Bible is twenty-three years. This
is the length of time from the death of King Josiah, in 609 B.C., until
the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylo- nians, in 587 B.C., which
is twenty-three years if both 609 B.C. and 587 B.C. are included.

   The number twenty-three is prominently identified with the final
tribulation period. This is demonstrated in I Corinthians 10, which
records a tragedy that enveloped ancient Israel when they were to cross
the Jordan River and go into Canaan, the promised land. Their entrance
into the promised land typifies the completion of salvation. The forty
years that Israel wandered in the wilderness is a picture of the
believer's life on earth. Believers are strangers and pilgrims, waiting
for the completion of salvation which will occur at the end of the
world. Israel wandered in the wilderness, waiting for the time when
they could enter the land of Canaan, which was to be their permanent
home. Before they entered the promised land, a tragedy occurred.
Numbers 25 indicates 24,000 died in the plague. I Corinthians 10:8
states: "Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed,
and fell in one day three and twenty thousand." The startling
information in this statement is the number 23,000. In Numbers 25:9 God
informs us: "And those that died in the plague were twenty and four
thousand."

   There is, of course, no contradiction. The I Corinthians 10 citation
says that 23,000 died in one day (obviously, the worst day of the
plague), and the next day 1,000 died, for a total of 24,000.

   God calls attention to the number twenty-three in I Corin- thians
10. The judgment of God upon ancient Israel, before they entered the
promised land, parallels the final tribulation, when God will judge the
church before our salvation is completed. God definitely identifies the
number twenty-three with the final tribulation period.

   The Tribe of Levi: A Picture of the Unsaved During the Final
Tribulation

   One other Old Testament citation that features the number
twenty-three relates to the tribe of Levi. God uses the tribe of Levi
in two ways to picture things to come. First, as a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Numbers 3:12, 13:

   And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of
Israel instead of all the firstborn that openeth the matrix among the
children of Israel: therefore the Levites shall be mine; Because all
the firstborn are mine: for on the day that I smote all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt I hallowed unto me all the firstborn in Israel,
both man and beast; mine shall they be: I am the LORD.

   In this context, the firstborn of Egypt, who died in the plague, are
a figure of the human race that will come under judgment because of
their sins. In these verses God indicates that the Levites are a
substitute for the firstborn of the nation of Israel. Christ is the
substitute who endured hell on behalf of the believers; therefore,
Christ in the atonement is typified by the tribe of Levi.

   Many years later, as recorded in Numbers 26:62, God again speaks of
the tribe of Levi:

   And those that were numbered of them were twenty and three thousand,
all males, from a month old and upward: for they were not numbered
among the children of Israel, because there was no inheritance given
them among the children of Israel.

   In this citation God is emphasizing two important truths: the
Levites had no inheritance among the children of Israel and there were
23,000 of them. This relates to the church near the end of the world,
which will have no eternal inheritance with Christ, and includes all
who are unsaved at the beginning of the final tribulation. Corporately
or externally they are a part of the Israel of God, but eternally they
have no inheritance with Christ because they remain unsaved.

   In this context God features the tribe of Levi as a picture of the
unsaved. God again features the number twenty-three in a way that
relates to the final tribulation period.

   A Shipwreck Points to the Final Tribulation Period

   It has been learned that Matthew 24:20 indicates that believers are
to pray that their flight not be in winter or on a sabbath day. In this
context sabbath and winter are synonyms for the final tribulation
period.

   In Acts 27 the Bible gives an account of a shipwreck in which the
Apostle Paul was involved. Statements in this account show that it is
an historical parable typifying the final tribulation period. The Bible
informs us that the Apostle Paul along with other prisoners, soldiers,
and sailors were en route to Rome. They arrived in a seaport near the
city of Lasea at the beginning of winter (verse 8). This haven was not
a good place to spend the winter, and even though it had become
dangerous to sail (verse 9), they sailed on. They hoped to reach a
better port, Phenice, where they would stay for the winter (verses
12-13). While at sea, a great storm, called Euroclydon, arose and
caused the ship to be wrecked. However, not one of the 276 men aboard
was lost; all were saved.

   The ship is a picture of the church during the final tribula- tion
period. Spiritually the church will have no haven because God will
bring judgment against it. Spiritually the church will be in winter,
because it will be a time when no new vegetation (new believers) will
come forth. The word tempest, in verse 20, "no small tempest lay on
us," is the same Greek word in Matthew 24:20, where it is translated
winter. By the word winter, God is tying acts 27 to the final
tribulation period.

   The Storm Typifies Satan's Attack on the Church

   The storm, "Euroclydon", identifies with the Greek word
"eurochoros", which is used only in Matthew 7:13, and is translated
broad: "broad is the way that leadeth to destruction." A storm came up
on the sea of Galilee and caused the disciples to fear their ship would
sink. Jesus stilled the storm on the sea of Galilee. Both storms are a
figure of Satan attempting to destroy the church. However, Satan cannot
frustrate God's plan to build His church. In Acts 27 the storm was not
stilled because it is God's plan that during the final tribulation
period the church will be destroyed.

   Historical parables incorporated into Acts 27 are: 1) the ship was
destroyed as the era of the New Testament church will end during the
final tribulation period. 2) None of the 276 people on board lost their
lives in the shipwreck, and not one true believer in the church will be
spiritually lost during the final tribulation period.

   The number 276, which God carefully includes in the biblical
account, is a significant number and has an unusual characteristic.
Only one other number has this unusual characteristic; it is the number
153.

   153 Fish Are Caught

   In John 21 God records the account of the disciples casting their
net into the sea and catching a great number of fish. Jesus had said
earlier, "I will make you to become fishers of men" (Mark 1:17).
Therefore, this great number of fish is a picture of all believers.

   In this account, God discloses that there were 153 fish in the net
(verse ll). The number 153 is unusual; it has a characteristic few
numbers have. The numbers 9 x 17 = 153, or 3 x 3 x 17 = 153. Also, all
the numbers that come before 17 added together equal 153. Thus, 1 + 2 +
3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15 + 16 + 17 =
153. God is surely focusing attention on the number 17. God uses the
number 3 or 3 x 3 and the number 17 in the Bible to illustrate
spiritual truth, that is why God included in the biblical account that
there were 153 fish.

   The number three, if employed in the Bible to illustrate spiritual
truth, signifies that God's purpose will be accom- plished. Three
times, Jesus prayed in the garden that the cup of God's wrath might
pass from Him, but it was God's purpose that He must drink it. Three
times, Paul prayed for removal of the thorn in his flesh, but it was
God's purpose that He endure it. Likewise, it is God's purpose that
these fish (the believers) be caught.

   Number Seventeen Signifies the Kingdom of God

   The number seventeen evidently illustrates heaven or the completion
of salvation. Jacob, a type of the church, at the age of 130 came under
the care of Joseph, a type of Christ. Jacob died at the age of 147,
having lived seventeen years under Joseph's care. The seventeen years
is a picture of the salvation which reaches into eternity and which is
enjoyed under the care of Christ as Savior.

   A second illustration of the use of the number seventeen to signify
heaven is in Jeremiah 32. The nation of Israel (Judah) is about to be
destroyed by the Babylonians. Jerusalem will be ravished, and many Jews
will be taken captive. In this sad con- text God instructs the prophet
Jeremiah to buy a field in the land of Benjamin. Jeremiah 32:6-9:

   And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Behold, Hanameel, the son of Shallum thine uncle, shall come unto thee,
saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth; for the right of
redemption is thine to buy it.

   So Hanameel, mine uncle's son, came to me in the court of the
prison, according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my
field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of
Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is
thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the
LORD.

   And I bought the field of Hanameel, my uncle's son, that was in
Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.

   The purchase of this field for seventeen shekels was evidence that
Israel would again occupy the land which God had given to them.
Jeremiah 32:14,15 declares:

   Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Take these
evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and
this evidence which is open, and put them in an earthen vessel, that
they may continue many days: For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God
of Israel, Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in
this land.

   The return to the land points to God's entire salvation pro- gram,
as He states in Jeremiah 32:37, 38:

   Behold, I will gather them out of all countries whither I have
driven them in mine anger, and in my fury, and in great wrath; and I
will bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell
safely: And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

   The land that was purchased for seventeen shekels is a type or
figure of the kingdom of God that begins with salvation and continues
on into eternity.

   The 153 fish of John 21 represent those who are to become saved. The
numbers 3 x 3 x 17 = 153 represent the purpose of God to bring into His
kingdom all who are to become saved. The uniqueness of the number 153
is that within it the number 17 is featured (both as 3 x 3 x 17 = 153
and as 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 + 10 + 11 + 12 + 13 + 14 + 15
+ 16 + 17 = 153 which helps to focus attention on the kingdom of God,
illustrated by the number 17.

   The 276 shipwrecked people are an historical parable of the end of
the church and the final tribulation period. The 153 fish event
anticipates the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, that is, God's program
to evangelize the world. Thus, the two accounts are intimately related.

   Number 276 Is A Special Number

   The number 276 in the Acts 27 account has a number within it that is
featured the same way that the number 17 is featured within the number
153. No numbers with this unique characteristic, except the numbers 153
and 276, have been found.

   The number 276 = 3 < 4 < 23. It also equals the sum of all the
numbers that come before 23. Thus, 276 = 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8
+ 9 + 10 . . . + 21 + 22 + 23. By this unique ar-rangement, God focuses
our attention on the number 23.

   The number 3 signifies the purpose of God, and the number 4
signifies universality. The Bible illustrates this, for example, by the
four points of the compass. People will come from the north, and the
south, the east, and the west into the kingdom of God. The number 23 is
identified with the final tribulation period, when God's judgment comes
upon the church. Therefore, one can understand why God gives the
precise number 276 in the Acts 27 account: the ship represents the
church. During the final tribulation, the era of the New Testament
church will end, i.e., the ship is entirely destroyed.

   True believers within the church, represented by the 276 people
aboard the ship, are saved. Not one aboard the ship was lost. Salvation
is eternal; nothing, not even the end of the church, can separate the
believer from the love of God. The number 276, which equals 3 x 4 x 23,
represents the purpose of God that in all the world the believers who
are present during God's judgment on the external church-during the
final tribulation period-cannot lose their salvation. They are
eternally secure.

   The 3 1/2 Days of Revelation 11

   Another biblical account that dramatically focuses on the final
tribulation is found in Revelation 11. God presents two witnesses who
witness for 1,260 days. These two witnesses represent the church as it
brings the Gospel throughout the New Testament era. The 1,260 days,
which equals forty-two months or three and a half years, is a figure
taken from Daniel 9:27, where the middle of the seventieth seven was
the time of the cross, when sacrifice and offering ceased. The last
half of Daniel 9:27 says that the end of the seventieth seven relates
to "the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even
until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the
desolate." The overspreading of abominations surely refers to the final
tribulation and the consummation can refer only to the end of the world
and Judgment Day. Thus, the entire New Testament era, from the time of
the cross to Judgment Day, is typified by 1,260 days or 3 1/2 years.
During this time the church witnesses. Revelation 11 instructs us that
after the two witnesses have finished their testimony, they will be
killed and "their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great
city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord
was crucified" (verse 8). At the end of the 3 1/2 days, they became
alive again and ascended up into heaven.

   It was discovered earlier in this study that the death of the two
witnesses signifies that the final tribulation has begun. All of the
elect have become saved. The church has become apostate; therefore, its
mandate to preach the Gospel has ended. No one else in all the world
will become saved.

   The resurrection of the two witnesses signifies the end of the world
when believers are raptured to be with Christ. Thus, the 3 1/2 days,
during which the two witnesses are dead, represent the final
tribulation period.

   Thus far, three numbers point to the time duration of the final
tribulation period: seventy years, twenty-three years, and three and a
half days. It must be learned which of these time periods is in view in
Matthew 24:22, where God declares those days will be shortened.

   It has been determined that seventy years is too long a period,
three and a half days appears to be too short a period, and
twenty-three years might be possible. It will be discovered that none
of these time periods is the actual duration of the final tribulation
period. Biblical evidence tells how long this dreadful event will
continue. However, these three time periods-70 years, 23 years, and 3
1/2 days-are intimately related by a common denominator.

   A Common Denominator

   The number 84 is common to both 70 years and 3 1/2 days. There are
840 months in 70 years, and there are 84 hours in 3 1/2 days. The
number 84 is significant because it is the product of 3 x 4 x 7. The
number 3 signifies the purpose of God; the number 4 signifies
universality; the number 7 signifies the perfection of God. Thus, 3 x 4
x 7, numbers found in the 70 years and in the 3 1/2 days, represent the
final tribulation period and signify the purpose of God that in His
perfect timetable the final tribulation will take place.

   The number twenty-three in the twenty-three years also has the
number 84 or 3 x 4 x 7 as a common denominator. In 23 years there are
exactly 8,400 days. Multiply 23 times 365, add 5 to the total to
include leap year days, and it equals exactly 8,400 days. God has tied
together 70 years, 23 years, and 3 1/2 days in a most interesting way.
Each of these time spans represents the final tribulation period.

   Another Look at the Little Horn of Daniel 8

   God has given another citation that relates to the time duration of
the final tribulation; it is found in Daniel 8. Earlier in the study
reference was made to the little horn of Daniel 8. Daniel 8:8 refers to
a great horn that becomes broken. Verse 21 teaches that this symbolizes
the first king of Greece, Alexander the Great, whose brilliant
leadership resulted in Greece becoming a worldwide power. He died about
300 years before Christ, but God continues to recognize the Greeks as
representative of all the nations of the world until the end of the
world. This is seen in verses 21 and 22:

   And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is
between his eyes is the first king. Now that being broken, whereas four
stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but
not in his power.

   The number four indicates universality, or the entire world. The New
Testament recognizes this Grecian reference to all the kingdoms of the
world, it repeatedly uses the phrase Jews and Greeks (cf. Acts 14:1,
18:4, 19:10, 19:17, 20:21, I Corinthians 1:22, 23, 24), to distinguish
between the blood descendants of Abraham and the rest of the world. For
centuries the Roman empire was the dominant nation of the world, but
God does not use the phrase Jews and Romans. In agreement with the
prophecy of Daniel 8, God uses the phrase Jews and Greeks.

   Daniel 8 explains that the little horn, who is Satan, comes out of
the nations of the world. Verse 9 declares "out of one of them came
forth a little horn." God explains who this little horn is and when he
will appear in verse 23:

   And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the trans- gressors
are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding
dark sentences, shall stand up.

   "When the transgressors are come to the full," can refer only to the
end of time when God comes in Judgment. God explains that this little
horn, Satan, will be a king of fierce countenance who understands dark
sentences. To understand dark sentences is a phrase that identifies
with understanding the Bible. For example, Psalm 78:1-3 declares:

   Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of
my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings
of old; Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.

   Thus, the little horn, the king of fierce countenance, comes through
preachers and theologians who have a substantial understanding of the
Gospel. The little horn is Satan: he comes through teachers that
present a gospel that is so close to the true Gospel that even the
elect would be deceived if that were possible.

   II Corinthians 11:14, 15 addresses Satan's activities with false
gospels:

   And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. 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.

   It Looks Like Satan Will Win

   Daniel 8 explains Satan's success in causing the true Gospel to be
conquered. Verses 24 and 25 prophesy:

   And his power shall be mighty but not by his own power: and he shall
destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy
the mighty and the holy people. And through his policy also he shall
cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his
heart, and by peace shall destroy many; he shall also stand up against
the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

   This will be the situation during the final tribulation period, when
Satan ravishes churches with gospels that feature signs and wonders
(Matthew 24:24). Satan's success in overcoming the true Gospel is
further explicated in Daniel 8:10-12:

   And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down
some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them.
Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him
the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of his sanctuary was
cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by
reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and
it practised, and prospered.

   In the phrase "daily sacrifice," in the King James Bible, the word
sacrifice is "italicized", which means that it was not in the original
language of the Bible. It was inserted by the translators because they
believed that sacrifice was the daily activity that was taken away by
the anti-Christ or the little horn. However, the word sacrifice cannot
be a correct understanding, because sacrifice ended when Christ hung on
the cross. He was the completion and the fulfillment of every sacrifice.

   The Daily Candlestick

   The daily that will be taken away by the activity of Satan is the
daily candlestick. It is important to understand this because it will
give understanding of the duration of the final tribulation period. The
Hebrew word for daily in Daniel 8 is the word "tamid". It is translated
into the word continually in Leviticus 24:2-4:

   Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil
olive, beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually.
Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the
congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning,
before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your
generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before
the LORD continually.

   The candlestick which was to burn continually or daily in the temple
represented the light of the Gospel. The temple was a picture of the
church, or body of believers, that Christ came to build. Believers are
assigned the task of being lights in the world; they share the Gospel.
The Gospel was to go into the world without ceasing, that is, it was to
go into the world con- tinuously, until the elect become saved. Then,
according to God's plan, the light would go out. This is what Daniel
8:11 means. Satan, the little horn, the anti-Christ, working through
gospels that feature signs and wonders, will overwhelm the church; it
will no longer bring the true Gospel. The era of the New Testament
church will have come to an end. The abomination of desolation will be
standing in the holy place.

   Two Thousand Three Hundred Days

   Daniel 8, verses 13 and 14 declare:

   Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that
certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the
daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the
sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me,
Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be
cleansed.

   This is the time reference that was sought. As was learned, the
number twenty-three is intimately associated with the final tribulation
period. Therefore, it is not surprising to see the number of days be
2,300. It must be determined whether this is a symbolic number or a
real number. A period of 2,300 days would be approximately six years
and four months. In the phrase "two thousand three hundred days," the
Hebrew word translated days is actually a word that should be
translated "evening morning." This is reinforced by the language of
verse 26:

   And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is
true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days.

   The phrase "the evening and the morning" is fairly unusual in the
Bible. Ordinarily when the Bible speaks of the passage of a day, the
morning is put before the evening; a day progresses from morning to
evening. God reversed this order in Daniel 8 and mentioned evening
ahead of morning. The word daily in Daniel 8:11, 12, explains why. It
was discovered that the daily had reference to the candlestick that
burned continuously in the temple. Leviticus 24:3, 4 also speaks about
the candlestick burning continuously in the temple, and in the same
sequence: evening precedes morning:

   Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the
congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning,
before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your
generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before
the LORD continually.

   In the historical context, the focus of evening to morning is that
the lamp was to burn through the night. Spiritually this is an
important focus. The light of the Gospel is to go into a world that is
under the dominion of darkness. Numerous New Testament verses bear on
this concept. When the candlestick is taken away, the unsaved world
remains in the darkness of sin and the darkness of Satan's dominion.

   The point is that the candlestick was to burn in the temple each and
every day. The passage of a day encompasses 24 hours; therefore, the
2,300 evening mornings of Daniel 8 probably represent 2,300 days, each
twenty-four hours long.

   Evening and Morning Days of Creation

   An important reference to further substantiate the idea that
"evening morning" points to literal twenty-four hour days is Genesis
1:3-5:

   And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw
the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the
darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called
Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

   God's words, "let there be light" and "the evening and the morning
were the first day," teach that light was created on the first day of
creation. Spiritually this historical event was looking forward to the
time when Jesus would come as the light of the world and to the New
Testament era when the light of the Gospel would be sent into all the
world.

   The word evening before the word morning is the same sequence as in
Leviticus 24 and Daniel 8. This can be expected because all three
passages spiritually relate to the Gospel going into the world: Genesis
1 anticipates the Gospel going into the world. Leviticus 24 indicates
the Gospel is to go forth continuously. Daniel 8 says there will be a
time when the Gospel light will be extinguished.

   The evenings and mornings referred to in Genesis 1 were twenty-four
hour days. This is known because on the fourth day God created the sun
and the moon to serve as the timekeepers. Therefore, each day had to be
twenty-four hours in length. Moreover, if the third day, when the
vegetation was created, had been a period longer than twenty-four
hours, then plants could not have survived through the long night that
would have followed. If the evening and morning of Genesis 1 was
twenty-four hours, and if the evening and morning of Leviticus 24 was
twenty-four hours, then the evening and morning of Daniel 8 was also
twenty-four hours.

   The final tribulation period that the church and the world must face
before the end of the world has been examined in detail, including its
purpose, its chief character, and the time span it will encompass. Two
additional questions are relevant to this study: Will we know when we
have actually come into the final tribulation period? Will there be
conclusive evidence that we have indeed entered this final traumatic
period, which immediately precedes the end of the world and Judgment
Day?

   Carefully Continue to Send Forth the Gospel

   I feel compelled to warn that we must be very careful. The Bible
instructs the believer to "occupy till I come" (Luke 19:13), that is,
continue to witness the true Gospel as long as possible, till the last
day of this earth's existence. God has disclosed to us that during the
last 2,300 days on earth, no one can become saved, but that is God's
business. There may come a time when we will sense that we have come
into the final tribulation period because of events in the church and
in the world, however, do not risk trying to be wiser than God. God has
given considerable biblical evidence that may indicate that the end is
near, but conclusions as to the timing of the end of the world are
partially based on circumstantial evidence. No statements in the Bible
plainly and unequivocally tell of the arrival of the final period. If
every congregation in a denomination which historically had no
relationship to gospels that feature signs and wonders began to embrace
a gospel of signs and wonders, one might strongly suspect that the
world had entered the final period. If the nation of Israel were
substantially destroyed, one might strongly suspect that we had entered
the final dreadful period.

   If either or both of these events occur, continue to maintain great
caution.

   Wonderfully, the closing events of the end of the world are in God's
hand. God has cared for the world-and especially for those who have
become His children-since its creation approximately 13,000 years ago.
Be sure that God will care for this world and His children to the last
day.

   This study will consider the AIDS plague that is increasingly
ravishing the world. Was it anticipated by the Bible for the final
tribulation period?

   CHAPTER 15

   AIDS

   For the last several years the eyes of the world have been
increasingly riveted on a deadly plague, a disease that has been named
"Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome" or AIDS. It is an awful disease,
and there is little likelihood of a cure in the foreseeable future. It
may have been diagnosed in the past as a rare disease, but in the last
few years it has afflicted people by the thousands.

   AIDS particularly afflicts homosexuals and through homosexuals it
appears to have spread to many parts of the world. It is exceedingly
contagious. It has spread from homosexuals to many who are sexually
promiscuous, to some who have received transfusions of AIDS-tainted
blood, and to some from infected needles. Babies of diseased parents
are vulnerable. As with all plagues, the innocent suffer with the
guilty.

   Disease resulting from sexual misconduct is not a new phenomenon.
For hundreds of years, venereal diseases have scourged mankind. AIDS is
unique in that it has been heavily identified with homosexual behavior.
Because of its terrible nature, it has received a lot of publicity. In
our land, it has such a high profile that virtually every citizen is
aware of it.

   AIDS: An End of the World Sign?

   This plague has come when many signs seem to indicate that the end
of the world is close at hand. One cannot help but wonder if it is
related to the final tribulation period. Does the Bible contain
language that identifies a disease like AIDS as an important ingredient
of the final tribulation period?

   Many biblical passages describe the character of the final
tribulation period, but insofar as can be determined, none of these
passages has language that specifically describes a plague like AIDS.
The focus of Bible prophecy concerning the final tribulation is on the
church. The AIDS plague is only incidentally in the church. AIDS is a
dreadful plague that particularly assaults those outside the church
where sexual perversion is rampant and where the drug culture
flourishes. However, one passage in the Bible appears to contain
prophecy concerning this disease, and this passage will be carefully
studied to discover its relationship to end-time events.

   Romans 1 discusses the fact that mankind does not want to worship
God as the Creator of the universe. Verses 22 and 23:

   Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the
glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible
man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things.

   The result of rebellion against God has dire consequences. Verses 24
and 25 declare:

   Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of
their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: who
changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the
creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

   More specifically in verses 26 and 27 God says:

   For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their
women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and
likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in
their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is
unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error
which was meet.

   Verses 28 through 32 complete the list of sins to which God gives
people over as a result of their continuing and insistent rebellion
against Him:

   And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God
gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not
convenient: being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication,
wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate,
deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful,
proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection,
implacable, unmerciful: who, knowing the judgment of God, that they
which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but
have pleasure in them that do them.

   The prediction of Romans 1, that God gives the wicked over to
dreadful sins, has been fulfilled throughout history. At any time in
the history of mankind any or all of the twenty-four sins named could
be found. The heart of man is desperately wicked, mankind by nature is
enslaved to sin and Satan, and the potential to grievously sin is ever
present. However, God in His mercy restrains sin in the human race;
ordinarily, these dreadful sins are not on display. Neighbors who may
have no interest in Christ as Savior may be decent, moral, and law
abiding. This does not mean that their hearts are not wicked; it is
simply evidence that God restrains sin in mankind. If He did not, sin
would be so rampant that mankind would destroy themselves. God in His
mercy restrains sin so that the world can continue to its predestined
end.

   Romans 1 Points to the End of the World

   When the Bible uses language that God has given people up, or given
them over to awful sin, then an end is in view. When ancient Israel
began to be exceedingly sinful, God was about to send judgments upon
them. He did when He destroyed them by the Assyrians and the
Babylonians. When the world of Noah's day became dreadfully wicked, the
judgment of the flood came upon them. In II Thessalonians 2 God speaks
of the final tribulation period as a time when people will be so
deceived that they will think they are serving Christ, but they will be
serving Satan. In that context God indicates that He will give them a
strong delusion so that they will believe a lie (II Thessalonians
2:4-12). There is evidence in the Bible that when sin multiplies, God's
judgment cannot be long in coming. Thus, when God declares that He
gives up the wicked to gross sin (Romans 1), it means that an end is
very close. The language of Romans 1 can apply to many situations
throughout history, but it especially applies to the final tribulation
period.

   A prophecy in these verses indicates that they are focused on the
final tribulation period. Verses 26 and 27 speak of the sin of
homosexuality. God indicates that there will be serious consequences in
the lives of those who are guilty of this sin. He declares that they
will receive "in themselves that recompense [payment] of their error
[sin] which was meet [deserved]."

   Ordinarily God warns that those who continue in sin will be blinded
and go deeper into sin or He warns that they will come into judgment if
they continue in sin. However, it is unusual for God to single out a
sin and pronounce a specific judgment upon those who commit that sin.
It is a warning that something special is in view.

   One might wonder if the sin of homosexuality is greater than the
other sins named. It is a repugnant sin, but so are fornication and
murder. God does not indicate a natural consequence of such sins as
fornication and murder which relate to the sin itself. Homosexuality is
a terrible sin, but God is not highlighting it as an especially awful
sin.

   This world has existed for about 13,000 years. Except for the
present time, God has not brought a specific sin-related judgment on
the homosexual. Judgments of venereal diseases such as syphilis and
gonorrhea have existed, but these diseases may result from any sexual
immorality. They are not focused on the homosexual.

   There are increasing signs that we are near the end of the world,
including the fact that a homosexual runs a great risk of receiving the
AIDS virus: the prophecy of Romans 1 comes alive. Practicing
homosexuals are at the forefront of those under the judgment of AIDS.
The warning prophecies of Romans 1 have had relevancy at any time in
history. They have particular and insistent relevancy at a time when
there are other signs that the final tribulation period is near.

   Homosexuality and the End of Time

   Two historical parables in the Bible point to the end of time and
the final tribulation period and focus on homosexuality. The first in
in Genesis 19 where God describes His judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah.
The destruction of these cities typifies the final judgment on the
world. God speaks of the men of the city demanding the right for
homosexual conduct with the men who came to warn Lot of impending
judgment. God is surely focusing on homosexuality in connection with
the final judgment.

   The second account is in Judges 19, where the man of Ephraim and his
concubine, who are on their way home, are overtaken by darkness. They
find shelter in the home of an aged man of the tribe of Benjamin, but,
as the men of Sodom desired homosexual relations with Lot's visitors,
the men of this town of Benjamin demanded homosexual conduct with this
visitor. Judges 19:22:

   Now as they were making their hearts merry, behold, the men of the
city, certain sons of Belial, beset the house round about, and beat at
the door, and spake to the master of the house, the old man, saying,
Bring forth the man that came into thine house, that we may know him.

   This sad account in Judges 19 can be shown to be an historical
parable that points to the final tribulation period as are the
activities in and around Lot's home before the destruction of Sodom.
The final consequence of Sodom's sin was the destruction of Sodom. The
final consequence of the land of Benjamin's sin in Judges 19 was the
almost total destruction of the tribe of Benjamin (cf. Judges 20:44-48
and Judges 21:1-3).

   The sin of homosexuality has distinct end-time significance. This
sin is singled out for special mention in Romans 1, and it is featured
in a way in which God gives people up so the sin will be more sinful.
These are definite reasons to believe that an end- time judgment is in
view.

   Romans 1 Predicts the Plague of AIDS

   Romans 1:26 and 27 describe a judgment on the sin of homosexuality
that has not been in evidence until this decade. AIDS, with its major
focus on the sin of homosexuality, is a terrible plague and is evidence
that the world is close to Judgment Day.

   All the sins named in Romans 1 are in greater evidence in the world
now than at any time in history, including fornication and murder;
sexual promiscuity is rampant in all the world. When the great empire
of Rome fell, a large contributing factor was the debauchery of the
upper classes, but there is no evidence that debauchery characterized
the masses. Today sexual debauchery cuts through every level of society.

   Was there a time when a highly-educated people, with a Judeo-
Christian heritage such as our nation, ruthlessly murdered more than
one million babies a year? When Egypt attempted to murder all the male
children of the people of Israel, they were only a step from Judgment
Day. When the first-born of Egypt were killed it was a picture of
Judgment Day. The murder of babies in the womb emphasizes that Romans 1
points to the end of the world.

   The plague of AIDS, which increasingly ravishes the world, is in all
likelihood an end-time phenomenon. The major biblical focus, insofar as
the final tribulation is concerned, is on the end of the church age and
that salvation will no longer be possible.

   Is Judgment Day Really Coming?

   God warns throughout the Scriptures that Judgment Day is coming and
will eventuate in eternal damnation for all unsaved sinners. Believers
know that the great judgment will come at the end of the world.

   To emphasize the certainty of His wrath at the end of the world, God
has given examples of judgment predicted and realized. For example, God
told Noah He was going to destroy the entire world by the flood, and He
did. God told Abraham that He was going to destroy Sodom and Sodom was
destroyed. God warned Israel that He was going to destroy Israel by the
Assyrians; this prophecy also came true.

   The problem is that for almost two thousand years, no specific
judgment related to gross sins has occurred. Mankind in general pays no
attention to the ancient judgments.

   The statement of Romans 1-that specific judgment will come upon the
homosexual-has been unfulfilled during the almost two thousand years
since it was written in the Bible. Mankind gives no heed to the
multitudinous warnings in the Bible that Judgment Day is coming.

   A dramatic break in the apparent inaction of God to fulfill prophecy
is that the prophecy of judgment upon homosexual behavior is being
fulfilled. Mysteriously, several years ago, the terrible disease AIDS
appeared. God raised it up and all the world knows about it.

   The explosion of AIDS, in precise agreement with the Scriptures, is
a giant reminder to the world that when God predicts judgment in the
Bible, judgment will come. AIDS is a case in point; it demonstrates
that God means what He says.

   Be assured that as this judgment on homosexual activity is taking
place, so, too, all of the prophecies concerning Judgment Day will take
place. Mankind attempts to mock God and contends that eternal damnation
cannot be real, but the plague of AIDS demonstrates in no uncertain
terms that eternal damnation is coming.

   The plague of AIDS serves at least two important functions. First,
it is evidence that the end of time is near. Second, it is a dramatic
warning to the world that Judgment Day and eternal damnation are real.

   Marvelously, there is another half of the story: God has told of the
astonishing and wonderful plan that whosoever believes on Christ as
Savior and Lord will escape the awful judgment of hell. However, time
is fast running out. Throughout the history of mankind, as long as a
person was alive, there was the possibility of salvation. That
possibility will end when the final tribulation begins. Many current
events indicate the end of time is near. It is imperative that people
everywhere become right with God by beseeching God for salvation. In
the short days that lie ahead, it is imperative that Christians martial
every means to warn the world that Judgment Day is coming.

   Woe unto anyone who treats the subject of the final tribula- tion
and the end of the world as an academic matter that has no reality. Woe
unto anyone who rebelliously continues to go his own way and serves the
world and his own lusts. Woe unto those who will not cry out to God for
mercy while there is time for salvation.

   This concludes the study of the final tribulation period. Many
additional passages of the Bible offer evidence to prove the
conclusions of this study. The biblical passages that have been offered
should be sufficient to warn us that the world is in a terrible
predicament. Oh, that many would take heed to the warnings of the Bible.
