CHAPTER NINE

Part 1

THE TERRIBLE VENGEANCE OF ALMIGHTY GOD

PROPHETIC WORD

One Heartbeat Away From Hell

Gen.4:11-12; Lev.26:11; Psalms 5:6; Eccl.8:8;

Matt. 21:17-20; 25:41; Acts 5:5,9-10; Col.1:17; I John 3:12; Heb.12:16

People fail to consider that the same God Who breathed life into them in their mother’s womb has the power to take that life away anytime He so chooses.  I the LORD give each one of you every breath you breathe.  I uphold the entire expanse of the universe in My Hands and not even one tiny sparrow ever falls to the earth without My noticing. How much more do I record every crime of violence, every murder, every theft, every episode of adultery and every act of cruelty.

I created hell for the devil and his evil angels who rebelled against Me before the creation of Adam and Eve.  I never intended for man to end up in hell.  But after Adam sinned and cast the whole human race into a fallen condition, they needed a redeemer, Who I provided in the person of My dear Son the Lord Jesus.  All who put their trust in Him in faith and repentance shall never perish, but have everlasting life.

The hardened man of violence despises My Son because of His meekness and His gentleness.  The bloodthirsty criminal shakes his fist in the face of divine love.  He boasts that he is only in his teens or twenties and has a long way to go before he comes to the end of his natural strength.

I could take out any person I created in just a moment of time.  After Cain murdered his brother Abel I allowed him to go on living but he was as a walking dead man with no further possibility of being blessed among My righteous redeemed ones.  Cain turned His back on My explicit instructions on offering up blood sacrifice as being the only accepted way into My presence (this was before the Cross ended any further need for animal sacrifices). Cain refused to offer up a lamb on his altar, and his sin nature was not dealt with.  Instead of obtaining a lamb, he took the more convenient, easier way of offering up vegetable produce grown through his own hard work. Without proper proprietary sacrifice Cain could not reach Me by faith in the coming Sacrifice of My Son.  Instead, Cain  was headstrong, arrogant, combative, and competitive.  Competition among humans to excel over all others (the rat race)  began with Cain. 

Abel wanted no part of Cain’s mean-spirited competition to become Top Dog in the world. He wanted only to be reconciled with Me.  Cain despised his gentler, mild-mannered brother and killed him to “settle the score” for a perceived insult.  I had dared to accept Abel and his sacrifice and reject Cain’s way of doing things.

I allowed Cain to continue existing in the earth but I could no longer bless him.  He would wander from place to place, trying to be a big shot and suck off other people’s hard work.  Why? Because Cain was now under a curse.  Everything he tried to grow, everything he tried to make happen for him to “get ahead” would no longer work for him. Cain would win his way in the world only by passing himself off as a big “somebody” others should pay tribute to.  Cain was the first bully in the human race. After he murdered Abel and realized he was in danger of being put to death by the LORD for it, his first thought was only for himself.  No remorse for the brother he’d put in an early grave.  No tearing of his garment in sorrow and penitence.  Only concern for himself.  That is the way of the bully.  Always selfish and mean, looking out for his own personal welfare ONLY.  The hardened, vicious bully is incapable of tender compassion.  Hard-hearted, wicked men  despise My Holy Son for being compassionate. Violence is what the bully worships, and violence is the only thing he is willing to understand.  Therefore he shall be at the receiving end of the violent wrath of his Creator.  Fear is the only thing that will drive a bully to his knees. Not tender-hearted repentance toward God and faith toward Christ as Savior and Lord, but collapsing before his Creator in terror and abject fear.  At the judgment of wicked men, saith the Lord, they will know sorrow of heart.  Not the sorrow that leads to repentance and life eternal, but feeling sorry FOR THEMSELVES that they are about to be hurled into a far deeper pit of hellish anguish than they put their victims through.

I will allow bullies and evil men to roam the earth until they are finally dealt with at the end of the Tribulation Period, but I will no longer bless them with the blessings of life along with the righteous.  Just like I cursed the fig tree and ordered it to dry up from its roots, so I have already placed a curse on men of violence and cruelty.  Their crops will not thrive, and what they do to “get ahead” will dry up and blow away.  I will make hailstones of adversity to strike down whatever they do.  I will cause refreshing rains of blessing to dry up from their lives.  I will remove My hand of protection from them, so that their health is at risk.  Early death will come to some of those still young when they least expect it. I will cut short the probationary period of some of the worst bullies, so that they no longer have the opportunity to repent and be saved.  Why? Because after being thoroughly dealt with time and time again by My Spirit and rebuffing My pleas repeatedly, I stop dealing with them and leave them to their own self-chosen destructions.

Am I merciful? A thousand times, yes.  But what can a God of perfect holiness do with those who refuse to be reconciled with Him by accepting His perfect Sacrifice for sin, the Lord Jesus Christ? Good intentions never were enough to save anyone.  Obedience to My Word is the key to being accepted as one of My own.  Under the Old Covenant, those who refused to obey My Voice were abhorred and rejected by Me. In this Dispensation of Grace My Word commands sinners to repent and trust in Christ alone as Savior.  Those who refuse to submit to Christ now will pay part of the penalty now and much more later in the world to come.

Many foolhardy, boastful bullies will tear around in their cars and play dangerous games only to come to a tragic end.  Some will die of cancer, sudden heart attacks, drug overdoses  or other plagues caused by ungodly living.  I am not obligated to bless and protect the man of violence along with those who love me.

Even in the early Church there were those who died young because of sin, even non-violent types of sin! I put Ananias and Sapphira to death for just ONE occasion of lying to My Spirit!  Judgment began early, in My own House of Faith.  And if it begins in My own House, surely it must continue with the wicked.  If I must purge sin out from among My own children for their own good, how terrible My wrath will be when it falls upon the heads of those who hate Me in these Last Days of time!

I am weary of having My love and forbearance and offer of free salvation through Christ flung back into My face by braggarts who boast that “God would never send anyone to hell”, not even the worst of them. But I solemnly warn each and every son of Belial who mocks the mercy of their Creator: the precious Blood of Jesus is MY personal property, and if you ever treat it with contempt and trample it underfoot, it is MY right to withhold its benefits from you forever!  Then it will be eternally impossible for you to receive repentance unto salvation, though you seek My face carefully with tears.

All those who hate Me and boast of being immortal should remember this: They did not create themselves. Nor do they hold together the atoms which compose their own bodies.  I the Lord hold this universe together, and everything in it exists only by My permission. Death, hell and judgment are only one feeble heartbeat away.

Psalms 35: An Appeal to God for Judgment and Justice

Psalms Chapter 35 is the heartrending prayer of a hunted man who is outnumbered and overwhelmed by anxiety. David’s father-in-law King Saul is out gunning for him, bent on destroying him.  David despairs because of the superior might of the enemy and realizes that only God can help him survive.

Psalms 35:1: Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive (fight) with me: fight against them that fight against me.* * *At first glance it appears that David is asking God to try to reason with his enemies, to see if there might be a peaceful resolution to a conflict he didn’t start. And then, if they won’t listen to reason and stop the war, God must fight for His servant to protect him.

I looked up the word “plead” in the Strong’s Concordance to see how it is used in this context.  “Plead” is translated from the Hebrew word “ruwb” which means to “contend with” or to “wrangle with”.  An even stronger Hebrew word for “plead” is found in Ezekiel 38: 22.  This “plead” is translated from the “shaphat”, which means to “vindicate” or “punish”.  In that passage the wicked territory of  “Gog” decides to swoop down upon the nation of Israel, and God “pleads with Gog” by raining hailstones, fire, and brimstone upon Gog.

ASK GOD TO FIGHT FOR YOU WHEN YOUR ENEMIES REFUSE TO LEAVE YOU ALONE IN PEACE. Not to harm them, but to hinder them from doing evil and to instill enough fear in their hearts that they will know that God is on YOUR side and against them.  Only when sinners realize that God is actually their enemy will they awaken to their need for salvation (see Rom.8:7 and James.4:4). One big mistake evangelists make these days is to focus solely on the message that “God loves everybody” and never to mention that He is at war with those who hate Him (example: Ex.17:16). Peter said it best in Acts 10:35:…in every nation that feareth him (God), and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.* * *It follows that those who hate righteousness and detest God are NOT accepted with him.

To avoid offending anyone, preachers gloss over or ignore the crucial issues of sin and eternal judgment (Heb. 6:1-2). People cannot be saved to heaven until they are first saved from sin and its consequences.  Bullies need to know that a holy God loves people but he hates sin, and unless  a bully is willing to repent of (turn away from) and part with his filthy sins he cannot enter heaven. Slapping happy-face  stickers on your car bumper just isn’t good enough, where it concerns warning the wicked.  God is a good God, but the devil is a bad devil, and those under satan’s power need to be made aware of their eternal peril. The devil isn’t a joke.  He’s the power behind the bully. The power of satan in him must be broken through earnest prayer and standing on the Word of God. Pray always for God’s hand of protection upon you and your loved ones. As a teenage I learned that prolonged verbal hostility can easily escalate into real physical violence.

Psalms 35:2: Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.

Verse 3: Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.* * *David pleads with God to arm Himself and make a stand to defend him. David asks God to stand in the enemy’s way to hinder him.  Ask God to do this for you. God in Christ is your salvation (deliverance from destruction).

Verse 4: Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.* * *Ask God to put all kinds of obstacles in your enemy’s way and to create chaos and confusion in the camp of your enemy.  That would include enmity from the wicked spirits of darkness (see Eph.6:12) and from those they influence, your human foes.

Verse 5: Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.* * *You can ask God to send warrior angels to chase both your demonic and human enemies.  Spend a whole day in prayer if you must.  Put all other activities on hold until you feel like you’ve “prayed through”. Pray until you feel a “release” in your soul that all is well and God will undertake for you in power. If you are filled with the Spirit, pray a good deal of the time in tongues of the Spirit (I Cor.14:2).  I wish I’d had this spiritual weapon of defense when I was a teenager under attack.

Verse 6: Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.* * *Pray that the same God who makes your own way perfect (see Psalms 18:32) will cause your enemy to lose his/her footing as they race toward hell, just long enough to stop and wonder if they’re on the wrong path.  In the case of a hardened, dangerous, belligerent bully who threatens your physical safety, pray earnestly that the mighty angel of the LORD will drive that one out of your life.

Verse 7: For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.* * *Without provocation bullies hate their victims so much they prepare traps for them to make them stumble into bad situations.  That can take the form of a bully tripping a kid up and making him fall into a mud puddle.  Or it can be more sinister, like luring a lone victim into a secluded place to “work him over”.

Verse 8: Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he hath hid catch himself; into that very destruction let him fall.* * *What you sow you reap (Gal.6:7).  God will reward every man according to his deeds (Rom.2:6).

In verses 9 and 10 David rejoices in God’s salvation and praises the Lord for defending him from a foe who is way too strong for him. Your enemy might be too strong for you, but he is NOT strong enough to whip Almighty God!

In verse 11 David complains about false witnesses lying about him.  In verse 12 he speaks of those who “rewarded him evil for good to the spoiling (ransacking) of his soul.” When you go out of your way to be a blessing to others but they turn around and do you dirty, you feel like you’ve really been violated.  The Psalmist goes on to say that he even fasted and mourned for these people  when they were sick. But it felt like his prayer for them never got through!  Kind of reminds me of Jeremiah 14:11-12 where God instructs Jeremiah: Pray not for this people for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation (drink offering), I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

This is old Testament scripture.  But there is one verse in I John 5:16 with an implicit warning: If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.  There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.* * *John here is speaking of “your brother”, or fellow believer.  He speaks of “a sin not unto death”. It is as though John is reluctant to bring this point up and expresses it in the kindest way he knows how: There is a sin not unto death, and believing prayer can impart life to someone who repents of it. But there is also a sin unto death which is not helped by prayer.  Now if a believer in Christ must walk before God in reverent fear and is scarcely saved (see I Pet.4:18), how much greater danger must the hardened sinner be in!  Those David prayed for probably offended God to the point of no return.

After David  himself fell into deep trouble, those same people he’d prayed and fasted for turned on him like lions.  I always did say, you never know who your real friends are till you’re at your lowest.

David pleads for God to make things right and to vindicate him, so that his foes would not rejoice over him.  In verse 26 he prays that his enemies would be clothed with shame.  I can’t much say that I blame him.  Bullies go out of their way to heap shame on others.  Maybe if they felt a little shame themselves they would realize how much it hurts!

David knows how to express his fears and sorrows unto the Lord, but he balances the bad with the good by never forgetting to offer praises to God for what He has already done to help.  David concludes Psalms 35 with praise for the Lord Who has pleasure in the prosperity (well-being) of His servant. David promises to speak of God’s righteousness and praise Him all the day long.  When God answers your prayer, never forget to thank Him and exalt Him before those around you for being your great Helper and Deliverer. And never forget that all blessings are made possible by Christ, your Redeemer.

God: A Friend to Some, A Foe to Others

In his exile the Psalmist prayed: Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me (Psalms 143:9).  And, in Psalms 57:1: Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me; for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.* * *Nothing feels more secure than being sheltered beneath God’s wings.  Jesus Himself lamented in Matt.23:37 that He would have gladly sheltered the people of Jerusalem under His wings, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.  But they rejected Him and He could not protect them.

One popular delusion going around is that God loves everybody just the same, even hardened souls who finally reject Christ and His sacrifice on Calvary.  But what does Scripture REALLY say? According to the Bible, the day will come when God’s patience will finally be exhausted and He will LAUGH AT the unrepentant wicked who face His terrible wrath. Bullies who laugh at the soul they drove to suicide through prolonged abuse will be laughed at by Somebody bigger and tougher than they are:

Psalms 2:4: He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.

Psalms 37:12: The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

Verse 13: The LORD shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

Verse 14:  The wicked have drawn the sword, and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay (kill) such as be of upright conversation (behavior).

Verse 15: Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken.* * * Trust in God that He will break ALL your enemies’ weapons!

Psalms 59:8: But thou, O LORD, shall laugh at them; thou shalt have all the heathen (hardened sinners) in derision.

Psalms 64:7: But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded.* * *Can you imagine not only having GOD laugh at you but shooting at you with divine WMD?  Now, if God is against you, who can be on your side (reverse of Rom.8:31)?

Proverbs 1:26: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh.* * *Remember the big bad bully who laughed at you and only hurt you more when you got scared and said, “Please leave me alone”? Well, somebody a whole lot bigger is gonna laugh at HIM if he doesn’t hurry up and repent of his sins and accept Christ as Savior!

What will be the glorious future of those who belong to Christ?

Psalms 150:5: Let the saints be joyful in glory: let them sing aloud upon their beds.

Verse 6: Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand;

Verse 7: To execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people;

Verse 8: To bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron;

Verse 9: To execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have ALL his saints (past, present and future).  Praise ye the LORD.

Nowadays the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, is to be the only offensive weapon the Christian carries (see Eph.6: 17).  The other equipment in the soldier’s arsenal of Ephesians 6 is for defense against satan’s evil forces (the helmet, breastplate, shield, etc.). But one day all true believers raised or translated to immortality at the Rapture will return with Christ to earth to execute literal vengeance upon the wicked.

Rev.19:11: And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.

Verse 12: His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.

Verse 13: And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood; and his name is called The Word of God.

Verse 14: And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Verse 15: 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.

You may have been bullied by brutes who were controlled by satan.  You may have felt like dirt under their feet.  But if you belong to Christ, your future will be the diametrical opposite of your wretched past.  You will assist the victorious Christ in His mop-up operation and help Him give the earth a fresh new start, free of evil beasts (Ezek.34:25). You will help Christ rule over the nations with a rod of iron.  Christ Himself promises:

Rev.2:26: He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power (authority) over the nations:

Verse 27: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my father.

Verse 28: And I will give him the morning star.

This last verse is significant, for it reminds me of Isaiah 14:12: How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning (In the Hebrew it reads “O day star”)! How art thou cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations.

Succeeding verses describe Lucifer (the devil’s) rebellious attitude toward God, and how he hurt Planet Earth and “opened not the house of his prisoners”.  In my worst days I felt imprisoned in a private hell I could neither triumph over nor flee from.

The devil, satan, used to be Lucifer, son of the morning, or “the day star”.  In the book of Revelation we “overcomers” are promoted to exalted office by being “given the morning star”.  At the same time we see our old enemy the devil bound and put on death row for a thousand years before being cast into a Lake of Fire burning with brimstone (Rev.20:1-3, 7-10).

Will God Ever Avenge the Righteous?

Many verses I’ve quoted out of the Old Testament.  But many think “gentle Jesus” would never take vengeance on anyone, even  hardened criminals.  Yet none other than the Lord Jesus is soon to return from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on God’s enemies, and on those who refuse to obey His Gospel.  These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the Presence of the Lord ( I Thes. 1:7-10).  The bears will come out of the forest once again to consume wicked, violent men who mocked God’s offer of salvation in Christ and boasted they were out of the reach of all justice.

Is God indifferent to the cries of persecuted Christians around the world who are being martyred for their faith by cowardly enemies of Christ?  Did He ignore the dying cries of saints who were slain for their faith in Christ down through the ages?  Will the Judge of all the earth ever  do right by those who have been wronged?  Surely He will!

Deut. 32:35  To me belongeth vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

Verse 41:  If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand shall take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me. (Deut. 32:41).

Verse 42:  I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.

Verse 43: Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.* * *Notice, that at the very same time God showers wrath upon His enemies He shows mercy to His own people!

How strange, rejoicing and divine vengeance in the same context.  God’s avenging of his servants is to be a cause for giving Glory to God, rather than regret.

Psalms 52:6: The righteous shall also see, and fear, and shall laugh at him (the wicked).

Will God’s people ALWAYS have to bear PATIENTLY with the wicked? 

Psalms 58:10: The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

Verse 11: So that a man may say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.

But surely these plain statements of Scripture about righteous people rejoicing in God’s judgment of the wicked couldn’t possibly apply to the New Testament.  Or could they?

Compare to a New Testament Scripture which exhorts God’s people to rejoice over the destruction of a corrupt world system which had cruelly persecuted them and shed their blood in martyrdom. This judgment is yet future, due  to take place before Christ assumes His rightful place as King over all the earth.

Revelation 18:20: Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. 

Notice, also, that both apostles and prophets join in the rejoicing.  This would contradict the widely-held belief that while it was permissible for Old Testament saints to rejoice in God’s judgment upon their foes because they didn’t know any better,   persecuted New Testament believers should never desire to be vindicated by God’s righteous judgment upon their oppressors.

Why do I believe it is righteous to desire justice? One reason lies in Revelation 6: 9-11. The souls of those martyred for their faith assemble beneath the altar of God in heaven crying out:  “How long, O Lord, Holy and True, dost thou not avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?”   Rather than finding fault with these holy martyrs for asking Him that question, God gives them white robes (which symbolize righteousness) and tells them they must rest a season until all those destined to be martyrs are likewise killed.  Then God’s vengeance would be poured out upon wicked sinners on earth.

In Revelation Chapter 18:20  both apostles and prophets are exhorted to glorify God for the perfect justice He has just poured out upon wicked Babylon, an evil world system which has shed the blood of the righteous. While prophets are found in both Old and New Testaments,  the apostle is exclusively an office of the Church.  The word “apostle” is derived from the Greek “apostolos”, which means an ambassador, or one sent forth in the service of Christ. Except for Christ’s original disciples, the Jewish nation did not evangelize the world to fulfill their calling to be a light unto the nations (Isaiah 49:6).  Although they might  have accepted converts to Judaism, Israelites mostly kept themselves to themselves until they were driven out of the Promised Land by conquerers.  The apostle hails from the New Testament period. 

While Christians are duty-bound to love their persecutors in this present life because they could be candidates for salvation, it will not be their duty to love persecutors in the world to come.  Jonathan Edwards, one of the greatest evangelists in American history, wrote two sermons that made me shiver when I studied them: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and The End of the Wicked Contemplated by the Righteous.  In the latter sermon Edwards  explicitly stated: “It is now our duty to love all men, though they are wicked; but it will not be a duty to love wicked men hereafter.  Christ, by many precepts in his word, hath made it our duty to love all men.  We are commanded to love wicked men, and our enemies and persecutors.  But this command doth not extend to the saints in glory, with respect to the damned in hell.”

At the time of the Apocalypse it will be fully manifest that the  unnrepentant who perish in the seal, bowl and vial judgments poured out of heaven by an angry God are vessels fitted to destruction (Romans 9:22). Then their only reason for existence  will be this:  to be receptacles of the fierce wrath of God poured into them, undiluted by mercy or restraint!  Having allied themselves with the evil Antichrist of the Tribulation Period, they will have sold their souls to satan and will  have no further opportunity or desire for redemption from sin.  Instead, they will drink of the wine of the wrath of God in the presence of the angels and of Christ, the Lamb of God (Rev.14:9-11).