The title of the Word: How should we live in the totally corrupted present world?
God speaks all about the actions of God towards the fallen Israelites unto corruption in all areas of politics, society, culture, and religion. Israel, which had not obeyed God’s warning, was eventually destroyed miserably by Babylon that was the instrument of God’s judgment, and became slave of Babylon for seventy years. As to how totally corrupted the people of Israel at that time, God spoke through Jeremiah the prophet:
” Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.” (Jeremiah 5: 1)
And when we hear the appeal of the people of Israel against how severe God’s judgment has been given by Babylon, :
” O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us.
9Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones.“( Psalm 137: 8-9)
In addition, Apostle John testifies to what he saw about the judgment of the last time coming unto the entirely corrupted world like the old Israel:
” And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.
17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.
18By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
20And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
21Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. “(Revelation 9: 16-21)
The prophet Isaiah is witnessing the words that God has given to the total moral decay of the Israelites at that time. They did neither keep judgment not do justice. They defiled the Sabbath of God. But the most cursed was only those who talked of themselves as the dry tree were holding on to the covenant of God and that God would give them an eternal name so that they would not be cut off.
The prophet Isaiah testified of the fallen servants of God unto corruption, and God’s judgment against them among the total corruption of Israel:
“ All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.
10His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.
12Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. ‘ “(Isaiah 56: 9-12)
The Holy Spirit witnessed of a warning message toward the corrupted churches as a result of the total fall of the last time through Apostle John, and the lukewarm churches that eat and drink in laziness:
” And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
15I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
17Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
18I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and thatthe shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
19As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. “(Rev. 3: 14-19)
God brought up the prophet Enoch lifting up before the judgment of flood ,and lifted up the ark of Noah, who found grace in the eyes of God. When the flood came and the water rose, his ark rose to the water and led to God sitting on the flood. He also saw Lot, the righteous man who lived in the fallen Sodom and Gomorrah, who was living in the suffering of his soul , and delivered him from the judgment of fire through the hand of the angel sent to judge Sodom. In addition, God raised Apostle John to the heaven in the spirit to show the tribulation coming to the whole world ahead of time. Through him, God showed the rapture of the bride of Christ before the Great Tribulation in advance.
God has shown and testified to the prophet Isaiah about the rapture of the clean church of God into heaven before the Great Tribulation. He warned against the fall of Israel’s shepherds that led Israel’s total corruption, and spoke of protecting the righteous from future evil to come. This is a model of the bride of Christ to be raptured to heaven before the Great Tribulation coming to the whole world together with the corrupted churches : ” The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
2He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each onewalking in his uprightness. “(Isaiah 57: 1-2)
The Holy Spirit made Apostle John bear witness to the Church to be moved from the Great Tribulation, the coming disaster: ” And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
10Because 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.
11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” (Revelation 3: 7-13)
Jesus Himself said to His disciples about the signs that will come before the coming of the Tribulation and what will happen in the time of the Great Tribulation and the end of the world: ” For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
….. 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:)…
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be…… 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:30And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. “(Matthew 24: 6-8, 15, 21, 29, 30)