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7-9-2023 Sunday Sermon Message

Meditations of the Week: Psalm 91:1-16

Text: 1 Corinthians 2:7-16

Word title: Fire Judgment Coming Toward the Sodom-Like World

         The apostle Paul testified of oncoming future events to the Corinthian church saints with the prophetic words recorded by Isaiah:

1 Corinthians 2:7-9 (KJV) But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, [even] the hidden [wisdom], which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known [it], they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

        If so, it is easy to know through the words of the Bible about what God has for those who love Him, what Christians who have received God’s Holy Spirit are waiting for. These are none other than the rapture that will take place on the day of Christ, the millennial kingdom, and God’s judgment upon the sinful Sodom-like world that Satan, along with the Antichrist and the false prophet, has polluted.

          We too can see, hear, and understand the things that will happen in the future through the words that no one has ever heard or understood since the foundation of the world, when we see and hear the words the apostle Paul testified “as it is written,”

       God prophesied through Isaiah:

Isaiah 34:1-10 (KJV) Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.  For the indignation of the LORD [is] upon all nations, and [his] fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling [fig] from the fig tree. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment. The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, [and] with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness. For [it is] the day of the LORD’S vengeance, [and] the year of recompences for the controversy of Zion. And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever.

       Jesus Christ said these things would happen during the Great Tribulation. On the day of His Second Coming, Matthew 24:28 (KJV) For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. and He also told Job long ago. Job 39:30 (KJV) Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain [are], there [is] she.

Matthew 24:29-30 (KJV) 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: And 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.

         Apostle John witnessed in the Holy Spirit that these things would happen when the sixth seal was opened after the Great Tribulation has begun:

Revelation 6:12-17 (KJV) And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

       The prophet Isaiah witnessed the scene where the Lord Jesus Christ appeared and judged by fire and gave a detailed testimony. Apostle Paul testified that this was prepared for those who love God:

Isaiah 64:1-4 (KJV) Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As [when] the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name known to thine adversaries, [that] the nations may tremble at thy presence! When thou didst terrible things [which] we looked not for, thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world [men] have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, [what] he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

       The prophet Isaiah also testified of the Lord Jesus Christ who judges like one who tread the winepress at the battle of Armageddon:

Isaiah 63:1-6 (KJV) Who [is] this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah? this [that is] glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore [art thou] red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat? I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people [there was] none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance [is] in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and [there was] none to help; and I wondered that [there was] none to uphold: therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.

       Apostle John testified once again, who witnessed the scene where the Lord Jesus Christ opened the heavens descending together with His Bride, the raptured Church to battle against the nations gathered to oppose Him:

Revelation 19:14-21 (KJV) And the armies [which were] in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on [his] vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all [men, both] free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which [sword] proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

       The prophet Zechariah testified and prophesied of the Lord Jesus Christ, who establishes His Millennial Kingdom and reigns forever after His judgment at Armageddon:

Zechariah 14:1-5 (KJV) Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which [is] before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, [and there shall be] a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee [to] the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, [and] all the saints with thee. Zechariah 14:9 (KJV) And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.

May the grace and mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ be with you, Amen! Hallelujah!