Our Great Evil

Isaiah 14:12–14 records the five “I wills” of Satan. Ezekiel also records the same prideful spirit as the power behind the king of Babylon. Satan is driven by prideful ambition, the same ambition he works in “the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:1).

The great evil of human existence is pride—the self-deception that one can rightly trust himself (Proverbs 8:13). God says that He hates evil, which is identified in the proverb as pride. Pride drives a person to destructive living and speaking. The Hebrew for perverse or froward means “habitually disposed to disobedience and opposition.” Eve sinned in Eden when Satan deceived her into believing God was dishonest, keeping something good from her. She was convinced she deserved this power to choose for herself and would have it if she just disobeyed God’s prohibition. Adam, however, was not deceived but knowingly followed Eve in her experiment. Pride now controlled their hearts and would be genetically passed to all their offspring (Romans 5:12). Of the seven things God hates, a proud look—the exalting of oneself—heads the list (Proverbs 6:16–19; Psalm 18:27).

God’s remedy for pride is humbling (Isaiah 2:11, 17; Zephaniah 3:8–13). God charged His remnant in Zephaniah 8 to “wait for me (for salvation) in the day I pour out my indignation and remove the proudly exultant ones” (paraphrasing vv. 8 and 11). The same catastrophic judgment that destroys the proud saves the “humble and lowly” (v. 12; James 4:10).

Pride is deceptive, often lurking in a believer’s expectations of God. There is a very pervasive but false doctrine that God is just waiting to bless and reward people with greatness and prosperity if only they will believe that He will. Someone may greatly desire something, praying long and hard. He expects that God will grant his request simply because the one praying wants it? When the request is not realized, the expectant believer becomes discouraged, discontented, and perhaps angry, frustrated, and filled with doubt. That is a reaction of pride. The truth is that God is not there to reward our ambitions or to fulfill all our dreams and desires. 

True faith believes what God says in His Word, acting in obedience to God’s will, not the believer’s. In Gethsemane, Jesus asked God to remove the cup of suffering. However, He humbly submitted to God’s will and trusted God’s purpose. God did not remove the cup, but “saved” Him through His suffering, raising and exalting Him and, thereby, “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10).

Humble saints wait on the Lord. They know that He is working all things for their good and His glory. While they do have desires and seek His face in prayer for these, they also submit to His will and rejoice in His goodness, even when their request is denied.

Jim Elliff of Christian Communicators Worldwide recently posted about what God wants of us: “to always know how much we need Him, and to always be amazed at Him.” How simply and profoundly does this describe a truly humble believer who has died to himself to live in Christ (Colossians 3:3).

The Day of the Lord

There is a coming day of God’s final judgment on earth referred to as the “day of the Lord.” Its “first mention” is Isaiah 13:6: “Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; as destruction from the Almighty it will come!” (See also Jeremiah 46:10; Ezekiel 30:3; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11; 3:15; Amos 5:18, 20; Obadiah 15; Zephaniah 1:7, 8, 14.)

There have been a series of “days of the Lord” in history, such as the flood of Noah. Peter reminds nay-sayers denying Christ’s coming that they should remember the flood (2 Peter 3:3–10). The Jews experienced two days of the Lord: the first was the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem (587 b.c.), and the second was the Roman destruction of the city (a.d. 70). All these were, as Peter shows, precursors for the grand and final day (2 Peter 3:10).

The Revelation introduces the seven-sealed scroll, which is the title deed to the earth over which He has been exalted to rule (Revelation 5:12–14). Jesus declared that God had given all judgment over to Him (John 5:22, 27). Thus, the Lamb is given the scroll, and opening the seals commences that “day.” Upon opening the sixth seal, the elite, both rich and poor alike, flee to caves and dens in the mountains, “calling” for them to hide them from God and the Lamb, “for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand” (Revelation 6:17).

The seventh seal is that day of wrath, but the first five seals precede and prepare the earth. Seals one through four describe the fall of the globalist world-system under the image of the four horsemen bringing in the apocalypse (Revelation 6:1–8). The rider on the white horse is generally viewed as the coming “man of sin” (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4) or antichrist. It is my opinion that the rider is Jesus Christ Himself, metaphorically conquering the kingdom of Satan and building His earthly kingdom through the gospel (compare Revelation 19:11–16). The other three horses and their riders describe the New World Order satanic cabal that is ruling the world, responding to the advance of Christ’s kingdom. The fifth seal reveals the martyrs of Jesus “slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne” (6:9). They prayed that the Sovereign Lord would avenge their blood (v. 10). The answer to their prayer is the sixth seal, threatening the wrath of the Lamb. Christ returns to judge the earth in the day of the Lord, described by the seventh seal (8:1–5).

    A secret cabal rules the earth through the power of Satan, hiding behind duly constituted governments. They often reveal their plans in coded messages through music, movies, games, symbols, and other means that few even notice, much less understand. The horsemen of the apocalypse mimic globalist tactics to subdue nations and keep them in tow, showing that God is aware. They use wars, conflicts, famines, and pestilence, from which they profit greatly while remaining isolated from the just retribution they deserve. God is keeping account, and the day of the Lord is coming soon!

Keeping and Holding

In Revelation 12 the dragon, Satan, is powerless against the woman because she is protected by Almighty God. The woman is God’s covenant community, identified in this age as Jesus’ covenant assembly, the church (Matthew 16:18). In that reference, Jesus declared that the gates of hell would not be able to withstand the advance of His church. That advance involves the rest of her offspring (v. 17), individual believers living on earth engaging the enemy. They are soldiers on the frontlines of this eternal conflict. This means that they are us—right here, right now.

Specifically, note how these soldier/saints are identified. The Lord will not put His troops on the frontline ill-equipped and unprepared. That would be foolish. So, His ideal and necessary preparation of these servants to engage in this spiritual conflict is enabling their obedience to His orders. Thus, they are described here as keeping the commandments of God—obedient to the Word and the Spirit. Jesus said, “He who has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me” (John 14:21). Tell me, what does the army do with soldiers who won’t obey orders?

Second, they hold the testimony of Jesus. What is it to hold the testimony of Jesus? The Greek word here for testimony is the one from which we get the word martyr. A martyr is a witness, one who gives a true testimony, no matter what it costs him. Jesus gave orders to the faithful church at Smyrna, “Do not fear what you are about to suffer. . . . Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Revelation 2:10). Why? A faithful witness to Jesus is more important that self-preservation. Every true child of God is a first-hand witness to the truth of Jesus and His great work of salvation. They hold this truth faithfully, keeping it close, and proclaiming it widely, letting the Lord deal with the consequences.

More importantly, this is the testimony of Jesus—it is Jesus’ own testimony. It is not our testimony about Jesus. It is not about what we do or believe; it is about Jesus. The whole hope of eternal life rests on Christ and His work on our behalf—what He has done, is doing, and will do, not only saving us from our sin and its penalty but saving us from ourselves (Romans 6:10, 11). Soldiers must let go of their own self-interests to serve the king rightly (2 Timothy 2:4). Tell me, what does the army do with soldiers who are so self-involved that they can’t work together against the enemy?

Jesus’s testimony is that He came to do the Father’s will and to finish His work (John 4:34). He promised His followers that they will also have His life in them so that they, too, will do His will and accomplish His work (John 14:12, 13).  Let me ask you again: what does the army do with disobedient soldiers who get so distracted with their own pursuits that they fail to engage the enemy? Are you doing the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21)?