The World Tomorrow

What Jesus Is Doing Today - Part 2

by Herbert W Armstrong

(PLAY FROM START)

I wonder if you ever thought of the position that Jesus Christ is in today? God created all things by Jesus Christ, as you read in the third chapter of Ephesians and verse nine. And yet today Satan the devil is sitting on the throne of the earth and invisibly ruling all nations of this earth. He is invisible, people don't see him, so people don't believe there is a devil. It isn't fashionable today to even believe that there is such a person as the devil.

Now Jesus Christ came in the human flesh born of the virgin Mary as a babe. At the time of His birth there was no room in the hotel, or the inn, in Bethlehem. And they had to lay the Christ child in a manger, of a horse, or a cow, or something, in a barn because there was no room. He came humbly, He grew up humbly. At about the age of thirty He overcame Satan the devil. He qualified to rule the earth, and to sit on that throne of the earth that is now occupied by the invisible, yet immortal, Satan the devil.

Now this Satan originally, when God created him, was not Satan, He was the perfect, super archangel Lucifer. "...perfect in all his ways, as God created him, until iniquity was found in him" (Ezekiel 28:15 paraphrased). He was given free moral agency even as you and I. He had to make a choice, and he chose rebellion against God, and against the government of God. The government of God was taken away from this earth, and this earth has been ruled by Satan and his ways, just the opposite of the government of God, ever since. It is a way that causes heartache, and trouble, and wretchedness, and discontent. And that's what the earth is suffering today, and has been now for 6,000 long years.

However, Jesus Christ came, conquered Satan, qualified, did not take over the throne of the earth, but rather went to the cross. The most humiliating possible death that He suffered for you and me. And He paid the price of our sins by His death, by His shed blood, He bled to death. And by His shed blood our sins may be forgiven if and when we repent, and turn around to go the other way and live the way of God's law, and God's way of life.

However He did not take over the throne even though He had qualified. Rather He ascended, after His resurrection, ascended to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God now as the High Priest, and also the Head of the Church. And the only thing on this earth that Jesus Christ is ruling now is His Church, that are called out from this world of Satan. He is ruling nothing else. But the day is coming when He is going to come and rule all of the earth.

Now we read of that in the tenth verse of the first chapter of the book of Revelation. I've been going into the book of Revelation recently in these programs. And the entire setting of, the entire subject, if you please, of the entire book of Revelation is revealed in verse ten of the first chapter of the book of Revelation, where John, recording what he saw in a vision. In a vision, the prophet John, or rather the apostle John, I should say, was taken in vision up to heaven. Actually he was on the Isle of Patmos in the Mediterranean Sea, here on the earth.

But he seemed, in the vision, to be in heaven. And he saw things in heaven that don't really exist in heaven, but are to take place here on the earth. Those things are to take place on the earth, and he was giving us a future revelation. Now it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God gave it to Christ. Christ gave it to His servant, the apostle John, who recorded it in writing. And so the subject is the Lord's Day, or the Day of the Lord. Now the Lord's Day is the Day of the Lord.

I've said before the Bank of Morgan in New York, was the bank owned by Morgan – it was Morgan's bank. But we call it the Bank of Morgan. And the Lord's Day is, the Day of the Lord. And that is a time just ahead of us now that you hear almost nothing about. And it's about time that a voice cries out and tells you about the Day of the Lord that is soon coming upon us. It's coming very, very soon now.

The Soon-Coming Great Tribulation (PLAY FROM 05:23)

Where are we right now in the panorama of world events, and especially events that are prophesied in the Bible? Well, we are in the very prelude, the beginning, of the Great Tribulation, as it is called in Matthew the twenty-fourth chapter and verses 21 and 22. A time of trouble such as never happened on the face of the earth before. I don't believe there has ever been a time of trouble much greater, if as great, as there is right now on the earth. War and fear of war, people can't get along with themselves, husband and wife can't get along, parents and children don't get along together, people can't get along with next door neighbor, capital and labor can't get along, different races can't get along, nations can't get along, so we have wars. People are discontented and unhappy. We're seeking thrills, we're seeking violence, we're seeking sex, everything that is wrong, and that is not really satisfying human beings.

We're in that time now. I've read that to you before; the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew and verses 21 and 22, let me just read that real quickly again:

"For then..." (Matthew 24:21)

And that is a time immediately ahead of us now, when this gospel of the kingdom has been proclaimed in all the world as a witness. The gospel of the Kingdom of God which had not been proclaimed for 1900 years to the world. It is being proclaimed on this program now. And when this program is proclaimed we are very near to the end of this world. I want you to notice now verses 21 and 22, Matthew 24:

"For then shall be great tribulation [that's coming upon us right now, we're in the preliminary stages of it], such as never was since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved alive..." (Matthew 24:21-22 paraphrased)

We're coming to the place where for the first time in all of the history of the world, the weapons of mass destruction exist that can annihilate human beings from off the face of this earth, till there won't be a single human left alive! But it goes on to say:

"...but for the elect's sake those days shall be [cut short]." (Matthew 24:22)

Now I want to show you how they're going to be cut short. They're going to be cut short by Jesus Christ coming to take over that throne of the earth! For 6,000 years all nations have been deceived by this invisible Satan the devil. People don't believe there is a devil. They can't see him; they can't believe what they can't see. And as I've said so many times, "What they don't know, they don't know that they don't know." And so they just don't know it. That's all there is to it. But Satan the devil does exist.

There has to be some cause for all of the troubles in the world, and it's the way people are living, it is what we are doing. There is a cause for every effect. There's a reason for the unhappiness and the wretchedness in the world today, for all of the violence and the troubles.

And what a paradox: what great advancement, what tremendous advancement and achievement we have today. Just television alone – such a great advancement, the automobile, the airplane, men able to fly clear of the moon and back, into outer space. And yet we're in a time of trouble such as this world has not had before, and it's going to be even worse. And then Jesus Christ is going to come and take over that throne.

Satan's Rule Is Coming To An End (PLAY FROM 09:19)

Now we have actually been, for some 6,000 years, under the rule, invisibly, of this Satan, who's sitting on the throne of the earth. You can call it the day of Satan, you can call it the day of man, if you wish, because man is doing what seems right in his own eyes. Man sets up his own kind of governments, he makes his own laws. He has his own police force, his own armies and navies, to enforce his laws and his ways, or to fight his battles. And that's the kind of world you have lived in. It's a world mingled between great achievements and also great and terrible wretchedness and unhappiness. And I tell you such things ought not to be.

Now we're coming to the time that is called in the Bible, 'The Day of the Lord.' And that's what the entire book of Revelation is all about. That's what it's all about, the Day of the Lord. I don't know why it seems that this is the only voice that has ever proclaimed that to you. If you have heard any other voice, I'd like to know about it. I would just like to congratulate anybody else that has ever proclaimed this wonderful truth, because it is a wonderful truth.

Now then, this great time of trouble is a time - Satan the devil knows he has but a short time. Because when this gospel of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, as it is on this program, Satan the devil knows he has but a short time.

Now the time is near, the end of this world of Satan, and the beginning of the world that will be ruled by Jesus Christ, because He is not sitting on the throne of the earth at this time. He's sitting on the throne of God, on God's throne in heaven, but not on the earth's throne. Satan the devil is sitting on the earth's throne. And he knows that he has but a short time, because Christ is coming to rule. He's coming to cut short these times of trouble, and a far worse trouble that is coming.

A third of our people are going to be destroyed by nuclear warfare. It's spoken of as, 'by the sword,' in the Bible. But the sword is merely the symbol of the weapons of destruction that are used in war. And one-third are to be destroyed. As a matter of fact a total of two-thirds of our people are going to be destroyed, and the other third are going to be taken as slaves and captive into other nations.

That is what is coming on this nation. And I don't know of any other voice crying out, if you do I wish you'd tell me. But it's in your Bible, and why can't people see it? Why are they afraid to speak out of what is so plain that anybody could understand, if they're willing, in the Word of God, the Bible? This Bible is God speaking. But people don't speak it out. It seems like they have been afraid.

Events Leading Up To The Day Of The Lord (PLAY FROM 12:19)

Well, I've gone through this book of Revelation up to the sixth chapter; and six of the seals are opened in the sixth chapter. And we come to the seventh seal, and from there on, the entire rest of the book is about the Day of the Lord. Now I want to give you a few of the prophecies of the Day of the Lord. It is a time spoken of in more than 24 different prophecies in the Bible. I can only have time to give you a few of them, but I want to give you a few of the times where the Day of the Lord is spoken of.

It's a time coming that is going to end the trouble. And just an immediate prelude to the coming of Jesus Christ to take over the rule of this earth. And change the way people live on the earth, so we will live in a way that will bring us peace, and will bring us happiness, and joy, and will bring us great prosperity. Today, my friends, about half of the people on this earth are living in wretchedness and abject poverty, filth, and squalor. Then, everybody will have plenty. My, when you stop to think - the way we're living is bringing all these troubles on us. We're living in a time of ignorance, half of the world are illiterate today, and then:

"...the earth will be as full of the knowledge of God, and of Jesus Christ, as the waters cover the ocean beds of the oceans." (Isaiah 11:9 paraphrased)

And that's pretty full! The people will have knowledge and there won't be any illiteracy, after two or three generations, after Christ comes to rule. He's coming as the King of kings. He's coming – He's qualified for it. He's going to replace Satan. Satan is going to be taken away. There won't be any Satan deceiving and misleading people. But we will begin to live the way of God. Now first I want you to notice in Isaiah the second chapter and beginning with verse twelve, Isaiah two, beginning with verse 12:

"For the day of the LORD [now the day of the Lord is the Lord's day and that's the subject of the whole book of Revelation] for the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low." (Isaiah 2:12)

People today are proud and lofty if they have a little bit of education. They are so conceited, they think they're so great in their own eyes. And so that is the way people are today.

"The loftiness of man [beginning with verse 17, the loftiness of man] shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of man shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day. And the idols he shall utterly abolish. And they shall go into the holes [and into] the rocks, and into the caves of the earth, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake terribly the earth. In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which [he has] made each for himself to worship, to the moles and to the bats; To go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear [and so on]..." (Isaiah 2:17-21)

I've read all of those things to you in the book of Revelation, in the sixth chapter at the end of the fifth seal, which is the Great Tribulation, and just before the coming of that seventh seal, the Day of the Lord. And the Day of the Lord is the theme of the whole book of Revelation.

Alright, this world started with Adam. Adam and Eve were the first created people on the face of this earth. Now Adam rejected life. And the tree of life God would have given him, the Holy Spirit, which would have given him the knowledge of God's Way and of God's Law. He rejected that, and he took to himself knowledge with his own carnal mind, which is able just to know the things that can be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or felt. You can't know anything else naturally. You just simply can't, except those things.

And Adam could have had spiritual knowledge revealed to him and the things of God. But he didn't take of that. He chose the wrong fruit, and everybody's been choosing it that way. We were born that way, and we've stayed that way ever since, down to this time.

Now in our time, the day of Satan is near the end. Satan is very wroth and he's going to bring this Great Tribulation on us. Satan is an invisible spirit. People don't see him so they don't believe he even exists. He does. Something has to be causing all of this trouble in the world. How can you account for the way people are living, that are bringing so much unhappiness and wretchedness upon them, except that they are living that way?

God Will Destroy The Haughtiness Of Man (PLAY FROM 17:52)

Now next I want you to notice another prophecy about the day of the Lord in Isaiah thirteen beginning with verse six, Isaiah thirteen and beginning with verse six:

"Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty." (Isaiah 13:6)

He's going to destroy the wickedness and the haughtiness of man, that had been deceived by Satan the devil, on this earth, and is causing us so much unhappiness. God is going to bring us peace and happiness.

"Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; and they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it [and then again in verse 11]. And I will punish the world for its evil [God says]..." (Isaiah 13:7-9, 11)

That is in the Day of the Lord. That is according to Isaiah the thirteenth chapter and beginning with verse six. Now in Isaiah the thirty-fourth chapter and beginning with verse one. I want to just take time to read this right out of the Bible:

"Come near, [you] nations, [and] 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 [the Eternal God] is upon all nations, and his fury upon their armies: he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. And...the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and...their hosts shall fall down, as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as the falling from the fig tree." (Isaiah 34:1-4)

Now next I'd like to turn to a prophecy in Ezekiel. And it's in so many places in the Old Testament and also in the New Testament, the prophecies of the Day of the Lord. Now in Ezekiel the thirteenth chapter and beginning with verse one:

"And the word of the [Eternal] came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy..." (Ezekiel 13:1-2)

That is preach or speak, and 'prophesy' means preach in the Bible, as well as 'foretell'. Sometimes it means foretell a prophecy, sometimes it means, preach. It is used both ways in the Bible.

"Son of man, prophesy [or preach] against the prophets [or the preachers] of Israel that [preach], and say thou unto them that [preach] out of their own hearts, Hear ye the word of the [Eternal]; Thus says the Lord [Eternal]; Woe unto the foolish [preachers], that follow their own spirit, and have seen nothing!...[You] have not gone... into the gaps, neither made a hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle of the day of the LORD [talking of the Day of the Lord there again]. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that [a better translation is, that God would confirm what they have said]." (Ezekiel 13:1-3, 5-6)

A Voice Cries Out (PLAY FROM 22:16)

I have heard people say, for example that; "The Bible says, 'when we all get to heaven'." And I have said that I will give you a thousand dollars if you'll show me where the Bible says that. It doesn't say anything of the kind. Why do people say, on the air, to millions of people, on television, on radio, the Bible says things, and it doesn't say anything of the kind? That is what has been going on. And the wrath of God is being aroused on that kind of thing! People are being deceived, people are being misled. And it's time for a voice to cry out! It's time for a voice to awaken the people to this deception, and to come out of this religious Babylon!

Just as John the Baptist prepared the way for the first coming of Christ. A voice crying in the wilderness, the physical wilderness of the Jordan River, proclaiming the way for a physical Jesus to be born, placed in a manger, and coming to His physical people, Judah. His own who received Him not. So a voice is to cry out today, preparing the way in the wilderness of modern spiritual, and religious Babylon, to come out of this Babylon.

And preparing the way for the second coming of Christ, when He's coming in POWER AND GLORY AS THE LORD OF LORDS AND THE KING OF KINGS. To rule and to sit on that throne that Satan has been sitting on for 6,000 years. This has been the day of Satan, it's been the day of man, for 6,000 years. And I tell you the day of the Lord is coming, when Christ is coming to rule. And the earth is going to be full of the knowledge of the truth, for the first time in 6,000 years.

Now finally in Malachi four and beginning with verse five:

"Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and the dreadful day of the LORD:" (Malachi 4:5)

It's talking about the Day of the Lord, and BEFORE that time someone will come. Elijah, the prophet, lived a long time ago, he is gone and dead. But someone will come in the power and the spirit of Elijah. John the Baptist came in the power and spirit of Elijah, but he was not Elijah, preparing the way for Jesus Christ at His first coming. He was a voice crying out in the physical wilderness of the Jordan River. And preparing the way for the physical Jesus, born of the human virgin Mary, and laid in a manger because there was no room in the hotel. Coming in His humility, and coming to His physical people, Judah, and to the physical temple at Jerusalem, at that time built of stone and wood and precious stones.

But now a voice is to cry out before the Second Coming of Christ – COMING IN POWER AND GLORY AS THE KING OF KINGS AND THE LORD OF LORDS, TO RULE THE EARTH. And to replace Satan, and displace Satan, until he will not be here to deceive the world any longer, and to put an end to this trouble and this slaughter, and this Great Tribulation that is coming upon this world.

And some voice has got to come in the spiritual wilderness of modern Babylon, or confusion, and call the people out of this Babylon, as you read the eighteenth chapter of the book of Revelation: "...Come out of her, my people..." (Revelation 18:4) and prepare the way for the spiritual Christ to come in power and glory, as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And to come to His spiritual temple, the Church, that will rise and meet Him in the air. Changed from mortal to immortal, their faces shining as the very sun, their eyes as flaming flames of fire!

I tell you, my people, we're coming to that time, and it's time for a voice to cry out, and to tell the people that we're coming into that time and to say; "Come out of this Babylon of religious confusion of our day, and believe the Word of God." Because there are many that are preaching something altogether different today, it's time to believe the Word of God and exactly what it says. Now it continues here in the fourth chapter of Malachi:

"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth..." (Malachi 4:6)

It says, 'with a curse,' here, but the original Hebrew word there was a word that means 'utter destruction'. In other words, the time when no flesh would be saved alive unless God comes to intervene and cut those days short. We're coming to that time now, we're very close to that time.

Now you need to understand these things, and I have a booklet, and there's no charge, and there's not going to be any request for money. This program's a little bit different, my friends. We believe in giving, this is the way of God, not getting. 'The Book of Revelation Unveiled at Last!.' and opened to your eyes, this book of Revelation, so you can understand it. In the very center of this book are two pages of charts that will explain it. This will explain the book of Revelation to you in a way you have never understood it before. You need to know what is coming on the earth. You need to know the time that you're living in. Now this book, there's no charge, it's a very attractive book and it's gratis, it's free. No request for money.

So until next time this is Herbert W Armstrong saying, "Goodbye friends."