“For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty.” 2 Peter 1:16.

After the death of King Solomon, 930 B.C the land of Israel divided into the northern kingdom known as Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.

Over a period of years both kingdoms become so mired in filth and evil idolatrous practices and having ignored many warnings by God’s prophets, He allowed them to be conquered and carried off by Gentile nations.

The first to go in 722 B.C. was the northern kingdom of Israel by the cruel Assyrians. These were evil men; whole villages were known to commit suicide rather than to allow themselves to be captured by Assyria.

In 605 B.C., after the prophet Jeremiah had warned Judah for some 23 years, the Babylonians came, as foretold, invaded Jerusalem and carried off the prophet Daniel and other people of importance.

Judah was now a vassal of Babylon. They rebelled against Babylonian rule and were subjugated again in 597 B.C. They rebelled yet again and were once more invaded by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in 586 B.C.

All three of these invasions were at a huge cost in Israelite lives. This time the walls of Jerusalem were broken down, the temple destroyed and all but the poorest of the people carried off to Babylon and a man named Gedaliah was appointed as governor over the rubble that was left.

For some reason the point of this lesson was missed by the folks left in the land and Gedaliah was assassinated.

At this the people panicked and went to Jeremiah to inquire of the Lord to know what to do. As usual they were prepared to ignore Him if it was not something they wanted to do (which was to flee to Egypt).

God’s reply to them was to stay in the land and He would care for them and He warned them not to go to Egypt (see Jeremiah chap. 42-45). The following dialogue took place in Egypt where the people had fled to.

“And I will take the remnant of Judah who have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine. They shall die, from the least to the greatest, by the sword and by famine; and they shall be an oath and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach! For I will punish those who dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, so that none of the remnant of Judah who have gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or survive, lest they return to the land of Judah, to which they desire to return and dwell. For none shall return except those who escape.’ Then all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to other gods, with all the women who stood by, a great multitude, and all the people who dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying: ‘As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to You! But we will certainly do whatever has gone out of our own mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings and our princes, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, were well-off, and saw no trouble. But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.’ The women also said, ‘And when we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes for her, to worship her, and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands’ permission?’ Then Jeremiah spoke to all the people – the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer – saying: ‘The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes, and the people of the land, did not the Lord remember them, and did it not come into His mind? So the Lord could no longer bear it, because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you committed. Therefore your land is a desolation, an astonishment, a curse, and without an inhabitant, as it is this day. Because you have burned incense and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord or walked in His law, in His statutes or in His testimonies, therefore this calamity has happened to you, as at this day.’” Jeremiah 44:12-23.

Kind of takes your breath away does it not?

“Though you grind a fool in a mortar with a pestle along with crushed grain, yet his foolishness will not depart from him.” Proverbs 27:22.

John chapter 11 has the account of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, after four days in the tomb, enough time for the body to start to decay.

A very large audience witnessed this amazing event and some went to the Pharisees to report what they had seen. This is the response of the Pharisees.

“Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, ‘What shall we do? For this Man works many signs [attesting miracles]. If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.’” John 11:47-48.

Ignoring the many attesting miracles (signs); seven of which are recorded in the book of John, eight counting the Lord’s resurrection from the dead, the religious leaders plotted to kill Jesus and not Him only.

“Then a great many of the Jews knew that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead. But the chief priests took counsel that they might also put Lazarus to death, because on account of him many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.” John 12:9-11.

Sinful men have no qualms about killing the innocent if it meets their need.

“Now as Jannes and Jambres [Pharaoh’s magicians, see Exodus chapters 7-9] resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.” 2 Timothy 3:8-9.

The tribulation period described in the book of Revelation is known to be seven years in duration.

During the first three and a half years of this seven year period there will be a bloodthirsty world super church which will encompass all faiths except that of true Christians.

The super rich super church will equal or exceed the carnage of the Roman games, the Inquisition and the Muslim enslavements and atrocities over their 1400 or so year history.

All of this will be done on a computerized worldwide basis. Consider the possibility of AI (artificial intelligence).

At the end of that time; the middle of the tribulation, this world church will be annihilated. And the Antichrist will rise to power and make things worse.

Upon the destruction of the super church the beast (Antichrist) will declare that he is God and demand worldwide worship, concurrently with this it will be established that anyone who wants to buy or sell must be branded with the number 666, which is the mark of the beast. Information on this last item may be found in Revelation chapter 13.

The thing of real interest here is in Revelation chapter 14. God will send out three angels. The one in Revelation 14:6 is actually the first of these three angels.

“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth – to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people – saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.’” Revelation 14:6-7.

The wonderful thing about angels is that a person can be at the bottom of a mine shaft or completely deaf and they will still hear him, in their own language; the whole earth.

The wording of the message suggests that the super church has led the world into pagan worship and worship of idols and nature. Mankind is redirected back to worshiping the Creator and not the created.

“And another angel followed, saying, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’” Revelation 14:8.

The first angel having directed people’s attention to the one and true God and exhorting them to worship Him; the second angel now tells the world that the super church (Babylon) is dead. Though it may be confusing, reading Revelation chapter 17 will show how truly dead she is.

“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.’” Revelation 14:9-11.

The second angel tells the world that the old religion (Babylon, the super church) is dead.

And then the third angel tells the whole world not to take the new religion, which is worship of the beast.

The consequences are horrific, eternal torment with fire and brimstone and no rest day or night, knowingly the godless sinner falls under the wrath of God.

And how many ignore the message of these three angels? Well, it is not stated, but at the battle of Armageddon the blood of those who fight against Christ forms a stream about four feet deep and two hundred miles long.

Could this be the blood of innocent men? Here is the response of the armies of the earth when they see Christ mounted on a horse coming down from heaven, yes flying from the sky on a horse with His followers.

“And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.” Revelation 19:19.

Cain, Pharaoh, Israelites, Pharisees, the world in tribulation; men can talk to God, see His power exhibited through plagues, or ignore His warnings about coming judgment through armed invasions, sword famine and death, even watch Jesus raise the dead. Men can suffer through horrific tribulation prophesied two thousand years ago and still look Him in the eye and say no, or – spit.

“Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, ‘Behold your King!’ But they cried out, ‘Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ So he delivered Him to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and led Him away.” John 19:14-16.

What will you do with Jesus?

Unbelief, Part 2 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 8-13-15, updated on 8-13-23.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.