God’s Four Sore Judgments – Part 7, The Pestilence

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How The Kingdoms of This World Become The Kingdoms of Our Lord and His Christ

God’s Four Sore Judgments – Part 7 -The Pestilence

Eze 14:19 Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Eze 14:20 Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Eze 14:21 For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

Introduction

We have now come to the last of the “four sore judgments” by which God is judging His elect and by which He will judge all the nations of the earth through the fiery words which proceed out of the mouth of His elect. It was Joseph, as a type of “the Lord’s Christ”, who judged Pharaoh’s senators and then also judged his own brothers (Psa 105:22). It was Daniel, Shadrach, Meshech, and Abednego who, as types of the Lord’s Christ, judged Babylon (Dan 2:48-49). And it was Mordecai and Esther, who as the types of “our Lord and His Christ”, judged the Medo-Persian empire (Est 9:1).

It will be the same with God’s true elect before and after the first resurrection. It is the fiery words that proceed out of their mouths which “judge[s] the world” at this time and will continue to judge the nations after the first resurrection (1Co 6:2). It is God’s elect, “seated [with Him] in the heavens” (Eph 6:2) who will declare “with a loud voice”, by the same fiery words, that “the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ”.

Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth.
Rev 11:5 And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies: and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed.

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.
Rev 11:16 And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 11:17 Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned.
Rev 11:18 And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.

“Destroy the earth” means there are very prominent people whose goal in this life is to reduce the population of mankind, and God will destroy those men who have such a goal.

Before we continue and before we conclude this series of studies, I want to clarify a point which I have noticed almost all the commentaries have missed when commenting on the phrase “…our Lord and… His Christ”. I could not find a single commentary that understood the meaning of those words. The commentaries mostly agree the phrase ‘our Lord’ refers to the Father, while the words ‘His Christ’ are said to refer to Christ Himself. This understanding of the phrase “His Christ” nullifies the message which the holy spirit has qualified as referring to those whom Christ has sent “as [His] Father… sent [Him]”. Christ has sent His anointed, His ‘Christ’, for the very same reason His Father sent Him. The holy spirit has made it clear that the phrase “the Lord” refers to Christ Himself when it is used in conjunction with the phrase “His Christ”. When the phrase “our Lord and His Christ” appears, it does not refer to the Father, who is called either ‘God’ or ‘Father’. Peter makes that clear with this inspired statement:

Act 2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord [Kurios] and Christ [Christos].

The word ‘Christ’ means ‘anointed’. Christ is called ‘Christ’ because He was anointed of “God”, His Father, and was sent by His Father to be the sacrifice for the sins of all men. The Father and Christ have both anointed us to do the exact same thing. We have been anointed of God, and we have been sent to be “crucified with [Christ]… [to] fill up in [our] bodies what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24) and to become the saviors of all men:

1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

2Co 1:21 Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ [Greek: Christos], and hath anointed [Greek: chrio] us, is God;

So when we are told that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord [Kurios] and His Christ [Christos], it is clear that the Father is speaking of Christ as our Lord and us as His Christ, whom Christ has sent just as His Father sent Him, not to condemn the world but to be the Saviors of this world, as Christ told Nicodemus:

Joh 3:17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

That is exactly why Christ has sent His anointed into this world:

Joh 20:21 Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

So there it is. We too, are “anointed… of God” (2Co 1:21), and we too, are “sent into the world… that the world through [Christ and His Christ] might be saved” (Joh 3:17 and 20:21). Truly “as He is [the Savior] so are we in this world”:

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Getting back to our final judgment of “the pestilence”, we have already demonstrated that these four judgments signify the whole of God’s judgment just as the seven seals signify the completion of that same judgment upon the great harlot. We have already demonstrated that the judgment of the great harlot is simultaneous with, and is the same thing as, the judgment of the nations of the whole earth, as Jeremiah makes clear:

Jer 25:17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:
Jer 25:18 To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof [The great harlot, Isa 1:21], to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;
Jer 25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, and his servants, and his princes, and all his people;
Jer 25:20 And all the mingled people, and all the kings of the land of Uz, and all the kings of the land of the Philistines, and Ashkelon, and Azzah, and Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod,

Jer 30:5 For thus saith the LORD; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.
Jer 30:6 Ask ye now, and see whether a man doth travail with child? wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins, as a woman in travail, and all faces are turned into paleness?
Jer 30:7 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.

Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! [Rev 17] it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

What Jeremiah 25 and 30 tell us is that the “drink[ing] of the cup” of the Lord’s hand is the same as the “drink[ing] of the cup” in the hand of the great harlot, just as Satan’s hand is shown to be nothing less than the Lord’s hand in Job 1 and 2. What that means is that “the time of Jacob’s trouble… the great tribulation… [and] the day of the Lord” are all one and the same, “the judgment of the great whore”.

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials [God’s elect, you and me, Rev 19:10 and Rev 22:8-9], and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
Rev 17:3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
Rev 17:4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:

Romans 1:20 reminds us that there is both an inward, spiritual, and an outward and dispensational application to all scripture:

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

Ephesians 1 removes any doubt about whether there is a dispensational application to the prophecies of scripture:

Eph 1:9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10 That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

1 Corinthians informs us of the principle that dispensationally, the natural must always precede the spiritual:

1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

Therefore God judges us outwardly first, destroying all which we treasure more than Him and His Word. It is through that pain of physical loss that our spiritual judgment begins. In the same way God will judge the world’s religions as the great harlot which they all are. It is through the judgment of this harlot that He will at the same time judge “all the nations” on whom she sits and whom she rules (Jer 25:17 and Rev 17:1-2), and He will do all this through His “four sore judgments… the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast”.

Jer 25:17 Then took I the cup at the LORD’S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom the LORD had sent me:

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city [religions of men], which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

These words have a “never pass away” character to them, which makes them applicable in every generation, past, present and future (Mat 24:25). But they also have a dispensational application through which “in the… fulness of times”, they will have an outward fulfillment, which will culminate in the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ (Rev 11:15):

Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

What part will “the pestilence” play in giving the kingdoms of this world to our Lord and His Christ?

When we examine the Hebrew word translated as ‘pestilence’ this is what we find is Strong’s definition:
H1698
דּבר
deber
deh’-ber
From H1696 (in the sense of destroying); a pestilence: – murrain, pestilence, plague.

Here is where this Hebrew word first appears in the scriptures:

Exo 5:3 And they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee, three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence [H1698: deber], or with the sword.

This word is in the Old Testament 49 times, and of those 49 entries it is translated as ‘pestilence’ 47 times:

H1698
דּבר
deber
Total KJV Occurrences: 49
pestilence, 47
Exo_5:3, Exo_9:15, Lev_26:25, Num_14:12, Deu_28:21, 2Sa_24:13, 2Sa_24:15, 1Ki_8:37, 1Ch_21:12, 1Ch_21:14, 2Ch_6:28, 2Ch_7:13, 2Ch_20:9, Psa_78:50, Psa_91:3, Psa_91:6, Jer_14:12, Jer_21:6-7 (2), Jer_24:9-10 (2), Jer_27:8, Jer_27:13, Jer_28:8, Jer_29:17-18 (2), Jer_32:24, Jer_32:36, Jer_34:17, Jer_38:2, Jer_42:17, Jer_42:22, Jer_44:13, Eze_5:12, Eze_5:17, Eze_6:11-12 (2), Eze_12:15-16 (3), Eze_14:19, Eze_14:21, Eze_28:23, Eze_33:27, Eze_38:22, Amo_4:10, Hab_3:5
murrain, 1
Exo_9:3
plagues, 1
Hos_13:14

The only other translations for this word are ‘murrain’ and ‘plagues’, and these two exceptions help us to understand what the holy spirit means by this Hebrew word ‘deber‘, “the pestilence”.

Its translation as murrain helps us to understand what ‘the pestilence’, ‘deber‘ does:

Exo 9:1 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh, and tell him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.
Exo 9:2 For if thou refuse to let them go, and wilt hold them still,
Exo 9:3 Behold, the hand of the LORD is upon thy cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the sheep: there shall be a very grievous murrain.
Exo 9:4 And the LORD shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the cattle of Egypt: and there shall nothing die of all that is the children’s of Israel.
Exo 9:5 And the LORD appointed a set time, saying, To morrow the LORD shall do this thing in the land.
Exo 9:6 And the LORD did that thing on the morrow, and all the cattle of Egypt died: but of the cattle of the children of Israel died not one.

“A grievous murrain” [Hebrew: ‘deber‘, pestilence] overnight destroyed “all the cattle of Egypt”, and that will be the same fate for all who are the enemies of Christ’s elect, both prior to and after the thousand years. The resistance to the establishing of the kingdom of God over the kingdoms of this world will be destroyed in the same way the rebellion against that kingdom will be destroyed “when the thousand years are expired”. The first rebellion, just preceding the millennial reign of our Lord and His Christ, will be crushed by “the Lord’s four sore judgments [of] the sword… the famine… the noisome beast, and the pestilence”. Those judgments will bring about the decimation of the world’s population to the extent that there will be “few men left”. The judgment of the last rebellion, soon after the thousand years are expired, will be the total annihilation of all flesh to the point that we are informed “there was no more sea”. What “there is no more sea” means is there will be no more flesh out of which the beast arises (Rev 13:1):

Isa 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Since the subject of this series of studies concerns the establishing of Christ’s millennial kingdom, we will take the time to look at the context of that verse in Isaiah 24. Notice how the judgment of these verses differs from the “no more sea” judgment of Rev 21:1:

Isa 24:1 Behold, the LORD maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof.
Isa 24:2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
Isa 24:3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for the LORD hath spoken this word.
Isa 24:4 The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
Isa 24:5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
Isa 24:6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.
Isa 24:7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the merryhearted do sigh.
Isa 24:8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
Isa 24:9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
Isa 24:10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut up, that no man may come in.
Isa 24:11 There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
Isa 24:12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with destruction.
Isa 24:13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
Isa 24:14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of the LORD, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
Isa 24:15 Wherefore glorify ye the LORD in the fires, even the name of the LORD God of Israel in the isles of the sea. [Psa 107:20-21]
Isa 24:16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
Isa 24:17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon thee, O inhabitant of the earth.
Isa 24:18 And it shall come to pass, that he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
Isa 24:19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
Isa 24:20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
Isa 24:21 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.
Isa 24:22 And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
Isa 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.

“They shall cry aloud from the sea” will not be possible when “there [is] no more sea” (Rev 21:1).

Now we will look at what the translation of this word ‘deber‘, ‘the pestilence, reveals to us when it is translated as ‘plagues’ in Hosea 13. This verse also makes the same point that ‘the pestilence’ brings about total destruction. But in this verse we have the positive application of ‘the pestilence’ because in this verse it is the grave itself which is totally destroyed. The only way the grave can be destroyed is to first destroy all flesh, which is exactly what is meant by the words “no more sea” in Rev 21:1:

Hos 13:14 I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues [Hebrew: ‘deber‘, “the pestilence”]; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

God will not repent of His destruction of “brute beasts, made to be…destroyed”:

2Pe 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

So this is the positive application of this Hebrew word ‘deber‘, pestilence. Here “the pestilence” is upon “the power of the grave”. Paul applies this verse concerning the “destruction [of] the grave [to] all [who are] in Adam”.

1Co 15:21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written [Hos 13:14], Death is swallowed up in victory.
1Co 15:55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

It is “the pestilence, [being spoken of when Christ says] I will be your plagues, O grave”. That plague upon the grave is what God will first send upon the graves of those “who first trusted in Christ”. When we are raised up from the grave, the grave is destroyed. It will be the resurrection itself which will be the greatest single instrument for striking the fear of God into the hearts of the leaders of this world causing them to give their kingdoms to our Lord and His Christ. Notice the words “great fear” in these verses describing for us the effect which that “blessed and holy… first resurrection” will have upon the enemies of the Lord and His Christ. This is what will befall the rulers of the kingdoms of this world at the time when this great transfer of power and authority takes place:

Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them.
Rev 11:12 And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies [the rulers of the kingdoms of this world] beheld them.
Rev 11:13 And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.
Rev 11:14 The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe cometh quickly.
Rev 11:15 And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

Should we expect Christ to return before we die?

The words of Ezekiel 14:21 are an integral part of “the Word of God”. Christ is called “the Word” of God (Joh 1:1). That “Word” begins at Gen 1:1 and it continues through Rev 22:21. In Revelation one, God’s Word is called:

Rev 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

The book of Revelation was written many years after the death and resurrection of Christ, at which time He was “the only begotten Son of God”. That was 2,000 years ago, but this is what we are told:

Rev 1:2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

“The revelation of Jesus Christ” therefore includes His “four sore judgments”, which, as we have learned, are the same as the “seven seals” of the book of Revelation. The ‘seven seals’ contain within them the seven trumpets, and the seven vials, all of which we are told are “things that must shortly come to pass”.

The Greek word translated as “shortly”, is ‘tachos‘, G5034, and it is the same word translated as “quickly” in this verse:

Act 12:7 And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly [Greek: ‘tachos‘, G5034]. And his chains fell off from his hands.

It is the same word translated as “speedily” in this verse:

Luk 18:7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
Luk 18:8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily [Greek: ‘tachos‘, G5034]. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

The fact we are told “though He bear long with them”, gives us the sense in which we are to understand how the holy spirit is using this word. God’s work requires that we “bear long”, yet we are being told that when the time comes to bring His work to a consummation it will be done “shortly… quickly… [and] speedily”, in the same sense that this life is “but a vapor which appears for a moment, and then vanishes away”.

Jas 4:14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

It is in this “little time” of “[our] life”, that we are commanded to “read… hear, [and] keep [all] the things written [in] the revelation of Jesus Christ”. It is by reading, hearing and keeping the revelation of Jesus Christ, that we are judged, and that judgment includes ‘bearing record of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ’. The “judgment… beginning at the house of God” is the revelation of Jesus Christ and the reading, hearing, and keeping of the things written in the revelation of Jesus Christ:

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Know and understand that the “judgment of God” and “the wrath of God” are one and the same thing, and “it [must] first begin” at God’s elect.

Job 19:29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.

Rom 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;

“The pestilence” is the last of God’s “four sore judgments” which He sends first upon His own house and then upon “the nations [and] all flesh”.

Jer 25:31 A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

God’s judgments, like the flesh they judge, are but a necessary evil to bring us to know God and His Son.

Psa 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
Psa 2:2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, [Acts 4:26] saying,
Psa 2:3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
Psa 2:4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision.
Psa 2:5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
Psa 2:6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion [Oba 21].
Psa 2:7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
Psa 2:8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession.
Psa 2:9 Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron [God’s elect, Rev 2:26-27]; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
Psa 2:10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth [God’s elect, 1Co 6:2].
Psa 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Psa 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

This concludes this series of studies. I hope you are aware that you are living in perilous times, and it is my hope that you will avoid the natural tendency to feel complacent, even in the face of the signs of the times in which we live. I pray these studies have served to give you a sense of urgency in your service to our Lord, and that you will not have this mindset:

2Pe 3:3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
2Pe 3:4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
2Pe 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Pe 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Pe 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

All things are not continuing as they were from the beginning of creation, and I hope these studies have inspired you to realize:

Rom 13:11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.
Rom 13:12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
Rom 13:13 Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying.
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

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