Saturday, December 19, 2015

Spiritual Criminals Deserve Spiritual Punishment

Daniel and Revelation - Revelation Chapter 15   

Excerpt from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith (1897-1911)


CHAPTER -- XV -- The Seven Last Plagues 

p 681 -- This chapter introduces the seven last plagues, a manifestation of Heaven's unmingled wrath, and the fulness of its measure, for the last generation of the wicked. The work of mercy is then forever past.


VERSE 1.  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.   2.    And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.  3.   And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.  4.   Who shall not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.  5.   And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:  6.   And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.  7.   And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth forever and ever.  8.   And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

A Preparatory Scene. - Thus reads the fifteenth chapter entire. By it we are carried back to a new series of events. The whole chapter is but an introduction to the most terrific judgments of the Almighty that ever have been, or are to be, visited upon this earth in its present state; namely, the seven last plagues. The most that we here behold is a solemn preparation
p 682 -- for the outpouring of these unmixed vials. Verse 5 shows that these plagues fall after the close of the ministration in the sanctuary; for the temple is opened before they are poured out. They are given in charge to seven angels, and these angels are clothed in linen pure and white, a fit emblem of the purity of God's righteousness and justice in the infliction of these judgments. They receive these vials from one of the four beasts, or living creatures. These living beings were proved (see on chapter 4) to be a class of Christ's assistants in his sanctuary work. How appropriate, then, that they should be the ones to deliver to the ministers of vengeance the vials of the wrath to be poured upon those who have slighted Christ's mercy, abused his long-suffering, heaped contumely upon his name, and crucified him afresh in the treatment of his followers! While the seven angels are performing their fearful mission, the temple is filled with the glory of God, and no man - oudieV (oudeis), no one, no being, referring to Christ and his heavenly assistants - can enter therein. This shows that the work of mercy is closed, as there is no ministration in the sanctuary during the infliction of the plagues; hence they are manifestations of the wrath of God without any mixture of mercy.

God's People Remembered. - In this scene the people of God are not forgotten. The prophet is permitted to anticipate a little in verses 2-4, and behold them as victors upon the sea of glass as it were mingled with fire, or sparkling and refulgent with the glory of God, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. The sea of glass, upon which these victors stand, is the same as that brought to view in chapter 4:6, which was before the throne in heaven. And as we have no evidence that it has yet changed its location, and the saints are seen upon it, we have here indubitable proof, in connection with chapter 14:1-5, that the saints are taken to heaven to receive a portion of their reward. Thus, like the bright sun bursting through the mid-night cloud, some scene is presented, or some promise given, to the humble followers of the Lamb, in every hour of temptation, as if to assure and reassure them of God's love and care for them, and of the certainty of their final reward. Verily
p 683 -- the words of the prophet are among the true sayings of God:  "Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him;" but "Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him." Isa. 3:10, 11.

The song the victors sing, the song of Moses and the Lamb, given here in epitome in these words:   "Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints,"   is a song of infinite grandeur. How comprehensive in its terms! how sublime in its theme! It appeals to the works of God which are a manifestation of his glory. With immortal vision the saints will be able to comprehend them as they cannot here; and yet astronomy reveals enough to fill all hearts with admiration. From our little world we pass out to our sun ninety-three million miles away; on to its nearest neighboring sun, nineteen thousand million miles away; on to the great double pole-star, from which it takes light, in its electric flight of one hundred and ninety-two thousand miles a second, forty years to reach our world; on past systems, groups, constellations, till we reach the great star Aleyone, in the Pleiades, shining with the power of twelve thousand suns like ours! What, then, must be the grand center around which these myriads of shining orbs revolve! Well may the song be raised, "Great and marvelous are thy works." But the song covers another field also - the field of God's providence and grace:   "Just and true are thy ways, Thou King of saints." All the dealings of God with all his creatures in the eyes of the redeemed, and the sight of all worlds, will be forever vindicated. After all our blindness, all our perplexities, all our trials, we shall be able to exclaim at last in the exuberance of satisfied joy,"Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." 

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IMPORTANT NOTE-

Probation is OVER when the seven last plague fall!

The plagues are NOT given to induce contrition and repentance, the plague are a PUNISHMENT, a deserved punishment.

Everyone in the world at the time of the seven last plagues will have had an opportunity to know and believe in the truth of our Savior and the Salvation He alone offers, everyone!  Not a single person will receive the punishments of the wrath of God unjustly, not one!

We hear people say, but God is merciful, He wouldn't hurt anyone, He wouldn't allow pain and suffering.  The truth is, God offers a way of escape from ALL deserved punishment and that WAY is through Jesus Christ our Savior, He suffered the punishment all who sin, and that's everyone, deserves.  Sin deserves punishment.

Why?

Just look at our own justice system one that we've made up ourselves outside of all religious influence. Our justice system calls for punishment and this is a worldwide system. We have a worldwide UN that calls for punishment, we have individual countries that call for punishments, and we have states that endorse punishments and we have cities the do the same, don't we? I'm not making this up. We even have all sorts of punishments enacted outside the formal law. We have punishments given to children by parents, we have bosses punishing their employees, teachers punishing their students and so on.  The punishment depends upon the crime committed, right?  The harsher the punishment the more severe the crime committed. 

This is a worldly system and WE LIVE BY this system and at times we call in unjust and it is at times- humanity makes mistakes, right? Right. Yet ask anyone who has been a victim of a crime whether or not they want the criminal who made them a victim to be punished and most will answer yes.  We have jails and prisons filled with those who have broken our laws and we call this justice! We live by this!

And we DARE to find fault with God, our Creator, our Heavenly Father, with our Savior, Jesus Christ, for enacting punishment towards those who have chosen the path of sin? They've chosen the path of spiritual criminality, yes, they are spiritual criminals and in choosing this path they choose to be punished.  They, like many criminals if not all, will only regret their path of criminality when they feel the punishment, but it's too late then.

A lot of time for little crimes perhaps those between child and parent, boss and employee, etc the punishment seems worth the crime- steal a candy bar and suffer the grounding for a week,  report to work late consistently and suffer a written notice.   But there is NO little sin. There is NO sin that doesn't warrant death.  Sin is the transgression of the moral law of God, a law of love, a law of righteousness, a law of truth.  When we choose to live against such a law we are choosing our path towards eternal death. We might not be able to keep from sinning, but CHRIST was able and CHRIST will keep us from sinning when we submit fully to Him. I don't have all the how's and such, I have to live by FAITH- in the unseen, the unknown. 

I do know that sin unforgiven needs to be punished, because it is willfully done, willful rebellion committed, a willful denial of salvation and when we choose to disobey we suffer the consequences.

In life this is truth, in the flesh life and in the spiritual life. We can't escape punishment just because it is spiritually deserved. We can't blame the Judge for our sins, our crimes. We can't blame the jailor for our punishment.  We can't blame societies mores for our lack of obedience.  You might be saying sure we can, well it's true, you can but not with any serious believable conviction to any sane person.

Spiritual crimes will be spiritually punished if NOT repented and forgiven.

And the seven last plagues are spiritual punishment - given spiritually by angels of God and manifested in the flesh for all those who choose spiritual criminality over spiritual salvation in Christ Jesus.

When those plagues fall PROBATION is over. All chance to repent and find forgiveness is GONE. 

So as we study the seven last plagues do NOT believe as some movies, books and such depict, that they are warnings to our world, they are not warnings, they are punishments. You will NOT be able to repent when those plagues fall, not and have our Savior forgive you because the door to mercy has been closed.

This WILL happen! This WILL occur and soon! 

By the grace and mercy of our LORD and SAVIOR alone will we be found as HIS and HIS ALONE! Please, forgive us! Save us! We would be YOURS! We do NOT want to feel the wrath of the plagues! We want to be found worthy and righteous IN YOU, in YOUR worthiness and righteousness! Cloth us with YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS LORD, for we have none!

All in YOUR LOVE ALWAYS!

Amen!

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