Monthly Archives: April 2020

Keys to Prophecy: Men Make Choices

Posted on by
Reply

Some say that men cannot really make choices, not real choices, and that man can only chose what God wants him to chose. These views are widespread, and would indicate that man is only a machine that can react, but that cannot really choose anything!

Yes, it is true that God is sovereign.

In fact He is,

… the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;”
1Tim 6:15 WEB

Even so, Scripture indicates man has choices,
real choices, to make.

Solomon says to us all,

“How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!
Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.”
Prov 16:16 WEB

Moses pleads with Israel in his own day.

“I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse: therefore choose life, that you may live, you and your seed;”WEB
Deut 30:19 WEB

Moses tried to get ancient Israel to choose life, Deut 30:19, and many other passages. However, most would NOT.

Or again, Joshua pled with Israel to make good choices so that they might live.

“If it seem evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose you this day whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”
Josh 24:15 WEB

Then when they make a choice, Joshua witnesses that they have made an obligation to Yahweh.

“Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen you Yahweh, to serve him. They said, We are witnesses.”
Josh 24:22 WEB

David said he had chosen good things.

“30 I have chosen the way of truth.
I have set my heart on your law.
173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
For I have chosen your precepts.”
Psa 119:20, 173 WEB

Also when they make bad choices, Scripture treats these
things as having real consequences.

In the book of Judges Israel had decided to turn away from the true and living God. This led to terrible situations, which they needed help to get out of. However, they are taunted with their choices.

“Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”
Judg 10:14 WEB

Why do evil things happen to men?

“Because they hated knowledge,
And didn’t choose the fear of Yahweh.”
Prov 1:29 WEB

Everywhere man is viewed as able to
make meaningful choices.

“What man is he who fears Yahweh?
He shall instruct him in the way that he shall choose.”
Psa 25:12 WEB

“Don’t envy the man of violence.
Choose none of his ways.”
Prov 3:31 WEB

However, man is not viewed as having unlimited choices. Man is a limited creature with limited choices. Few of us would choose the shortcomings or weaknesses we have. Man has choices, real choices, but he is not omnipotent.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Makes Choices

Posted on by
Reply

God chose a place for Israel to worship Him.

“But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation shall you seek, and there you shall come;”
Deut 12:5 WEB

Then when God made a choice, Israel was obligated to perform all of their formal worship in that place.

God choose Jerusalem in ancient times, both a the one and only place where the Jews could carry on the formal worship of God, AND as a type, symbolic of the heavenly Jerusalem where God actually “dwells.” Compare Heb 12:22 and Rev 21:1-2.

“Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose:”
Deut 12:26 WEB

Also God has the right to choose who will be allowed
to approach Him for worship.

“and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, In the morning Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he shall choose will he cause to come near to him.”
Num 16:5 WEB

We might compare it to our being able to choose who will come into our house to visit with us, so God has the right and does choose who can approach Him. In the test that followed in Numers 16, the presumptuous Korah was rejected as a priest, and he and all his house then entered Sheol alive, for their trying to push their choices on God!

And chose a special family for His Christ.

“Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,
And didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
Mount Zion which he loved.”
Psa 78:67-68 WEB

He can do that. If we can make decisions, God surely can.

“He also chose David his servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;”
Psa 78:70 WEB

Then from that family Yahweh will bring His special One, His Messiah (Hebrew), His Christ (Greek).

“Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.”
Isa 42:1 WEB

And of course, He did.

At a time, a still future time, God can “the second time recover” the Jews.

Of course the first time that God recovered the Jews from “Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,” was in the time of Ezra of Nehemiah. However, before even that first time happened, Isaiah foretold that God would recover the Jews a second time!

“It shall happen in that day, that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, who shall remain, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.”
Isa 11:11 WEB

He can do that, He can decide that, and perform whatever He wishes.

And God choses the time when He will judge
the heavens and the earth.

“When I choose the appointed time,
I will judge blamelessly.”
Psa 75:2 WEB

God makes choices.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Works in Our Lives, Part III of III

Posted on by
Reply

God makes choices concerning our lives.

This is reflected in many ways and in many passages, such as,

“Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the assemblies.”
1Cor 7:17 WEB

God gives one man, one job, and another man another job. Our tasks and locations are not accidental. We should do the best we can with whatever God has given us to do.

Then of course Jesus specifically says.

“You didn’t choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatever you will ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
Jn 15:16 WEB

He is saying, quite contrary to many of our instincts, especially in modern day America, that HE does the choosing, and further that these things have an impact on our behavior, and our reception.

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, since I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”
Jn 15:19 WEB

And God has a definite perspective on who
pleases or displeases Him.

“27 but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong; 28 and God chose the lowly things of the world, and the things that are despised, and the things that are not, that he might bring to nothing the things that are: ”
1Cor 1:27-28 WEB

Or again, listen to the apostle James.

“Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love him?”
Jas 2:5 WEB

And pride and arrogance God hates.

“Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
1Pe 5:5 WEB

So now we know a little better, how to appeal to God.

One day God will decide, will choose, that the
Great prostitute, Babylon the Great, the
great the religio-economic-political
power of our age … should be
destroyed for her sins.

The apostle John wrote of those powers which would be operative THROUGHOUT the Christian Age. From an engraving by Gustave Dore.

And God will assign one of His great enemies, the beast and ten kings to that task. He can do that at His will.

“For God has put in their hearts to do what he has in mind, and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished.”
Rev 17:17 WEB

God can put ideas into the heads of even those who hate Him, and arrange it so that they serve His purposes.

It is important to read and study what God says, even in prophecy.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Works in Our Lives, Part II of III

Posted on by
Reply

God does “intervene” into our affairs.

That is the basis of our prayers.

“7 “Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened.”
Mtt 7:7-8 WEB

The prayers of Daniel delivered him in time of need.

Some call this “miraculous” and want to deny its existence.

First let me point out that miraculous is not really a Bible word. The normal Bible words for these things are the words “signs,” “wonders,” and “powers;” and sometimes men translate such words as “miracles” in our translations. Scripture uses such words to describe God’s actions that appear in ways that are undeniably from God.

Also Scripture clearly recognize that God may favor us and make things “go our way,” or even at times oppose us, all with no clear indication of the source.

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines the adjective “miraculous” this way:

“occurring through divine or supernatural intervention, or manifesting such power …”

This definition makes ALL of God’s actions “miraculous.” In a commonsense way, this is not true, even in Scripture. We may pray for a job, and God may arrange it, all with no visible manifestations of spectacular power.

Many events in history (yes even secular history), or in nature, or in day to day events are the product of God’s interventions, and make plain power and decisions beyond what is humanly possible. The includes everything from the birth of a child to the violence of a tornado, to the exploding of a supernova.

This does NOT mean that you or I can deploy
God’s power as if we were Elijah deciding
when it will rain, or Peter telling a a lame
beggar to arise and walk.

You and I cannot deploy rain clouds over North America, but God can, and may in response to our prayers. The apostles and prophets had special powers from God which we do not have.

But God’s power still exists and works in our world all the time, and we can ask for His help. And His answer is,

“If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.”
Jn 15:7 WEB

And how powerful might this be?

“20 Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, 21 to him be the glory in the assembly and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. ”
Eph 3:20-21 WEB

What then should we do?

We should study God’s word, prophecy and all, so that we might understand God’s intentions in the world, and then make our requests, as being in line with what God wants in both the overall situations on earth, and also in line with what God desires for our individual lives.

“In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.”
Phil 4:6 WEB

We should then pray and not faint, Lk 18:1.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Works in Our Lives, Part I of III

Posted on by
Reply

God works in many everyday things in our lives, and it is He who does these things and not we ourselves, or an ambiguous “nature” that does these things.

“… For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.”
Mtt 5:45 WEB

These are not just random happenings. God makes, He sends. Also this does not imply that He may not at some point or other makes specific moves to assist us or to correct us. The book of Job also speaks of God using the weather in various ways.

You and I cannot command the clouds of the sky, but God can and does.

“9 Out of its chamber comes the storm,
And cold out of the north.
10 By the breath of God, ice is given,
And the breadth of the waters is frozen.
11 Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture.
He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning.
12 It is turned round about by his guidance,
That they may do whatever he commands them
On the surface of the habitable world,
13 Whether it is for correction, or for his land,
Or for loving kindness, that he causes it to come.”
Job 37:9-13 WEB

But He is the one who encourages things, or blocks them, and sometimes merely allows them for a time.

It is all according to His will.

God overrules the affairs of men. So James argues that we should not be bragging about we are going to do.

“13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow let’s go into this city, and spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.” 14 Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away.”
Jas 4:13-14 WEB

So what should we do?

“For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.” ”
Jas 4:15 WEB

God is the overruling authority over
ALL in heaven or earth.

He is the one who feeds us, and we should receive His bounty with thanks, for they are

“3 … foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is received with thanksgiving.”
1Tim 4:3-4 WEB

We are NEVER outside of His power.

A disaster may occur which we never would have allowed if it were in our power! Outside of our power, but none are outside of God’s power!

“7 Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! 9 If I take the wings of the dawn, And settle in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there your hand will lead me, And your right hand will hold me.”
Psa 139:7-12 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Works in History, Part III of III

Posted on by
Reply

Remember the objective is that, “that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him,” Acts 17:25 WEB

Jeremiah compares God’s work with the nations
to a potter working with clay.

“3 Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 4 When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.”
Jer 18:3-4 WEB

Then the Lord comments,

“House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter? says Yahweh. Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.”
Jer 18:6 WEB

Even so, God is not just concerned with physical Israel, but with all men. God oversees and deals with all men, to discourage them from wickedness, and to encourage them “to seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him.”

So perhaps “a nation” has turned aside to
selfish and evil conduct.

Then God may decide concerning that nation to destroy it.

“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;”
Jer 18:7 WEB

However, if that nation will repent, and turn toward better conduct?

“if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.”
Jer 18:8 WEB

God has the power to do whatever He wills with, and can either bless them or destroy them.

At other times God may decided to bless a nation.

“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;”
Jer 18:9 WEB

Sometimes though, when nations experience just a little of prosperity they immediately begin to indulge in evil things which they had not considered before. What then? So God says,

“if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.”
Jer 18:10 WEB

These are continual things in history.

Nations are not made safe by military might. It takes more than that.

“The horse is prepared for the day of battle;
But victory is with Yahweh.”
Prov 21:31 WEB

Assyrian War Chariot

Further, in our time, in New Testament times, all of this power and authority over the nations is given to God’s One and Only Son, Jesus the Christ (Mtt 28:18), that He exercises the rule over the nations, and He,

“Yahweh will send forth the rod of your strength out of Zion.
Rule in the midst of your enemies. ”
Psa 110:1-2 WEB

That is of course out of the heavenly Zion that Jesus presently rules.

How we act, the decisions we make, do make a difference. Thus the relevance of what God sees as happening in history.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Works in History, Part II of III

Posted on by
Reply

The example of the Assyrians

God’s very own people, the descendants of Abraham, had become very wicked in ancient times. They had themselves turned to the very sins of the Canaanites and the Amorites whom they had dispossessed some 800 or so years earlier. The pictures of the moral condition of both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah were indeed very dark. It included a great deal of lying, cheating, violence, fornication and adultery, worshipping false gods, and even human sacrifice. The capstone was that there was no inclination to repentance.

The Assyrians at that time were a prosperous people,

and at their height dominated much of what we now call the Middle East. Art and architecture were prospering under them, and they had some very good engineers among them. Also they were a very ruthless and bloodthirsty people, and were able to field some very capable armies, with the engineering skills to attack formidable fortified cities.

This is what Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, is thought to have looked like at its height.

So God raised up the Assyrians to bring judgement
on sinful nations, including Israel.

The Assyrians were very proud of their status as successful conquerers. They were on the top of the heap. They could do as they pleased with their conquests, and the people involved, and brutally suppressed any opposition. Part of their strategy in maintaining their conquests was simple to completely uproot captive peoples and move them en masse to far distant locations, thus removing any impulse to rebellion. They were fierce, successful and proud.

The Assyrians bragged about mutilating captives in their artwork. The above picture shows Assyrians soldiers skinning captives alive. From a bas-relief.

But God said the Assyrians should NOT
get carried away with themselves.

“5 Ho Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! 6 I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 However he doesn’t mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.”
Isa 10:5-7 WEB

Isaiah tells us that Assyria is merely
a tool that God is using.

“Shall the axe boast itself against him who hews therewith? Shall the saw magnify itself against him who wields it? as if a rod should wield those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up him who is not wood.”
Isa 10:15 WEB

So what about also sinful Assyria?

Why should they get away with the things they are doing? God’s answer is that they won’t. When God is finished using Assyria, He will then bring judgment also on Assyria!

“Therefore it shall happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.”
Isa 10:12 WEB

By and large this is not speaking of the “miraculous,” but of an Almighty God working behind the scenes to both protect the righteous and punish the wicked.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Keys to Prophecy: God Works in History, Part I of III

Posted on by
Reply

There is a master plan.

One place that gives a summary in terms of objectives, is in Acts 17. How He acts is summed up in a single verse. Paul speaks of God making mankind and says,

“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;”
Acts 17:26 KJV

Paul spoke to the philosophers in Athens and outlined God’s grrand plan for mananging this present world.

Among other things it says that there appointed times for men. Times for them to flourish, times for them to perhaps fail and waste away, or times perhaps for renewal. Time for Babylon to rise, and a time for her to fall. A time for the Medes and the Persians to rise, and a time for them to fall. A time for Greece to rise, and a time for Rome to rise. Or the United States of America, or Britain, or France or Russia, or whoever. Then Paul says something else: God appointed the bounds of their habitations. In other words, he says God determines where nations will live, and their boundaries!

These are very long range plans.

In the long ago, in the nineteenth century BC, God spoke to Abraham about a nation with whom He was not well pleased: the Canaanites. God had brought Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Palestine. God said,

… “I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it.”
Gen 15:7 WEB

So God is going to give the land of Palestine to Abraham, that is to his descendants, his “seed.” In the passage which follows Abraham enters into a covenant with God involving these promises. God assures Abraham that he will inherit these land after his descendants spend 400 year in another land as slaves. There are special reasons why it is to be 400 years. For one that 400 years is so that Abraham’s descendants will have time to grow into a nation themselves. There is something else, though. It is not yet time for Abraham’s descendants to take over this land, but,

“In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.”
Gen 15:16 WEB

So we can see: God is very patient, and will put up with much bad conduct, at times even for centuries, but there is limit to what God will endure. When a peoples sins are “full,” sometimes he will do away with a people, and give that land to others. And God foresees, and prepares a people to replace the Amorites.

“He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding;”
Dan 2:21 WEB

What then is the purpose of these plans?

“that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
Acts 17:27 WEB

KJV is the King James Version of 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Coronavirus and Scripture, Part III of III

Posted on by
Reply

“Plague” is a very general word in the Bible sense

It is far wider than our modern sense of a wide spread disease, epidemic, or pandemic. The basic Greek word used in the New Testament is pl?g? and it means to hit something. It a word used to describe a literal beating, or the wounds that might result from such a beating. Thus it could include any serious blow to a man, or to a nation, or to the world.

There is though another aspect of the wars and disease and desolations of our world which are such a huge influence in our sinful world. It is that,

These blows often serve as Trumpets of Warning

These blows are often not the end in themselves, but they serve as warnings. In Revelation chapter 8 things are going very wrong on the earth. The prayers of the saints are going up to God as incense in Rev 8:1-4. This results in a response, and seven angels are given seven trumpets to sound. Not the final punishments for the sins of men or nations, but loud warnings of judgement to come for our sins, Rev 8:6ff.

Similarly, also these age long disasters which fall on us as men are often meant to warn us, and to straighten us out.

The First purpose would be to wake us up

Chapter VI.” Trumpets of Warning” in “Revealing the Christian Age,” gives a more complete discussion the trumpets in Revelation chapters 8-11.

First to the fact that not everything is right in our world. That things are often not even right with ourselves. Often we know our sins, but do not deal with them. Let’s face it, as men we are frequently a very hard headed lot. What will get our attention? What will get us to turn and avoid final judgement for our sins.

“Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn you, turn you from your evil ways; for why will you die, …?”
Ezek 33:11 WEB

Often we are asleep to the dangers that come on us. First God will try gentle methods, and when these do not work, then more severe methods are often allowed.

“It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline?”
Heb 12:7 WEB

The Second purpose would be to get us to
no longer live for ourselves

Quite often in life we are all wrapped up in ourselves. However, it says of Jesus,

“… all things have been created through him, and for him.”
Col 1:16 WEB

We were made by Jesus, and for Jesus! What then should be our orientation for this temporary life we have now, in this temporary world?

We need to be aware that Jesus came to earth to die for your sins and mine, so that we will NOT have to die for our sins.

“He died for all, that those who live should no longer live to themselves, but to him who for their sakes died and rose again.”
2Cor 5:15 WEB

God wants us to realize how transient we are, how vulnerable we are, so that we will act with a mind of wisdom. The Coronavirus and Scripture.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Coronavirus and Scripture, Part II of III

Posted on by
Reply

When speaking of major powers at work in the Christian Age, the Bible uses more than one set of symbolism. One set is,

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
in Revelation chapter 6

I do not think Jesus is just speaking here of things at the very end of the age. I think rather He is speaking of powers that are at work all through the Christian Age. You might even say they are the everyday things of history. I am only going to discuss two of these horsemen in this post.

The first horseman is Jesus the Christ Himself

Revealing the Christian gives a more complete disucssion of the Four Horsemen who run through history. It is available through your bookseller.

Jesus is THE dominant power of our age!

“And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.”
Rev 6:2 (Compare Rev 19:11-16)

ALL authority has been given to Jesus the Christ, both in heaven and on earth, Mtt 28:18. Jesus reaches out to men to try to get them to change before it is eternally too late. What is the method to this rule?

“26 He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.”
Acts 17:26-27

Jesus presently rules in the midst of His enemies, Psa 110:1-2. He rules over the kings of the earth NOW, Rev 1:5. These kings are warned,

“10 Now therefore be wise, you kings.
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve Yahweh with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
For his wrath will soon be kindled.
Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.”
Psa 2:10-12

Everyone will have to submit to Jesus the Christ, before this is over.

The fourth horseman is Death and Hades

“And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.”
Rev 6:8

Now this is NOT talking about extraordinary times at the end of this age, but we could say normal times, in an abnormal, sinful world. This ‘horseman” has authority to let death rule over “one fourth of the earth” (Rev 6:8 above).

This “horseman” includes the wars of our world (“to kill with the sword”), the famines and desolations we see on TV, the murders, the inexplicable accidents. It includes the Spanish Flu of 1918, and the regular flu which kills about 60,000 each year in the United States. In truth the World is in “bondage to decay,” Rom 8:21, and it affects us all, everyday.

Sin and death go together. Things are not right in our universe, things are not right with us. Compare Psalm 94 in our previous post.

The only real escape is a permanent one

Giving our lives to Jesus Christ so we might be counted worthy of that new heavens and new earth where only righteousness dwells, 2Pe 3:10-13.

Scriptures are from the World English Bible (WEB), a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901