Chapter 12 – God Never Uses Force

CHAPTER 12
GOD NEVER USES FORCE

Our heavenly Father never uses force to motivate us to obey Him. These attributes are not part of His loving character. This concept of a non-violent deity simply reinforces what we are saying, that God has never used force or coercion. So, how does He banish every carnal weapon and defeat the powers of darkness? Simply by turning on the light of His truth and love. That is why Satan left heaven in the beginning. God revealed His truth and love enough so each angel could “see the light,” and those who were living in the darkness of Satan’s lies were eager to head for the shadows of Satan’s company. If God at that time, had revealed all of His truth about Himself and about Satan and just what he was really doing and where it was taking him, Satan and all of his hosts would have not been able to survive. They would have surely self-destructed right there and then. But, had that happened, the loyal angels and unfallen worlds would not have understood the terrible malignity of sin, nor the protection that lies in strict obedience to the LAW OF GOD, WHICH IS THE LAW OF LOVE. In the Day of Judgment, in our present age, every issue of truth and righteousness will be brought out. The fire of His truth and love will “burn up” the wicked, but will “give life” to the righteous. In other words, God will permit the sinner go his/her own way and do his/her own thing. He will no longer hold back the forces of darkness. See Psalms 9:16. That day is hastening on apace. But for right now the angels are holding back the winds of strife. Rev. 7:1.

Now, let’s talk about How the Lord EXECUTES JUDGMENT? HOW DOES HE “NOT CLEAR THE GUILTY”? Here it is: HE LEAVES THE REJECTERS OF HIS LOVE TO THEMSELVES. How does He do this? With a single word — “DEPART!” What is their PUNISHMENT to be? It is simply, “GO YOUR OWN WAY AND DO YOUR OWN THING.” Or in other words, “DEPART FROM ME.” Or, “YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN NOW, I CANNOT STOP YOU FROM WHATEVER YOU WISH TO DO. I AM SORRY THAT I CANNOT HELP YOU SEE THE RIGHT WAY, SO YOU ARE NOW FREE TO DO AS YOU PLEASE.” Of course, Satan is standing by to deceive them and he will be able to do that in this, our day, before Christ returns in this age, as well as after the 1,000 years, when the wicked are marshaled into a vast army to march against the Holy City, New Jerusalem, to try take it. These two time segments we shall now consider as we continue our study into God’s “Fire,” and “Sword,” and the final end of sin and sinners and how God “PERMITS” this to take place, but does not actually arbitrarily do it. This is what I will continue to demonstrate with Scripture, and logic along with some outside references to astral catastrophism from contemporary writers and scientists.

“THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH ARE BURNED”

Notice the words of our majestic God in Isaiah. “Behold, the Lord maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants thereof. The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled:…the earth mourneth and fadeth away…the earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because THEY HAVE TRANSGRESSED THE LAWS, CHANGED THE ORDINANCE, BROKEN THE EVERLASTING COVENANT. THEREFORE HATH THE CURSE DEVOURED THE EARTH… AND … THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH ARE BURNED, AND FEW MEN LEFT.” Isaiah 24:4-6.

We have already explained how Jesus will “smite the nations,” Revelation 19:15, with the “sharp word,” that comes out of His mouth. It is not an arbitrary act on the part of God. No. Our heavenly Father destroys no man. He destroys darkness by the light of truth. He smites the Prince of darkness with Light. The Time of Trouble will bring the WRATH OF GOD. But, Jesus does not send the Wrath, He only PERMITS it to come because of the CHANGED ORDINANCE, AND THE BROKEN EVERLASTING COVENANT. “And to wait for His Son from heaven…even Jesus, WHICH DELIVERED US FROM THE WRATH TO COME.” 1 Thessalonians 1:10. “We shall be saved FROM WRATH THROUGH HIM.” Romans 5:9. Now, notice this next scripture and how it parallels Revelation 19:15. “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe…” I Thess 1:10. (This text refers to both His second coming before the millennium and His third coming after the 1,000 years). “And then shall that Wicked (Satan) be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the SPIRIT (WORD OR SWORD) of HIS MOUTH, and SHALL DESTROY WITH THE BRIGHTNESS (FIRE) OF HIS COMING.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8, 9.

The way these scriptures have always been explained in the past is that Jesus and all the Holy Angels will come with all this tremendous brightness and glory and the wicked will be “blotted out” of existence. But, is that what really happens? Do the wicked just “vaporize” into the atmosphere due to the terrible brightness at His second coming before the 1,000 years begin? No, they do not. Notice, “And the slain of the Lord (God always takes the blame) shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.” Jeremiah 25:33. This will take place in this age in which we are now living. The wicked will self-destruct. “Every man’s sword shall be against his brother.” Ezek. 38:21. So they will all die by their own hand when the Lord removes His protection. And they will remain unburied for 1,000 years. But after the millennium all of these billions of people are going to be resurrected to face the final judgment. And that is when they will see the truth and eventually every knee shall bow and every tongue confess. So, that is when they will all come back to Him be converted and restored. “All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him…They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born.” Psalm 22:28-31. “And the glory (character) of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.” Isaiah 40:5. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” I Cor. 15:22.

Notice this next scripture from Isaiah 10:16, 17. “The Lord of hosts, (shall) send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory he shall kindle a BURNING LIKE THE BURNING OF A FIRE. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire, and His Holy One for a flame: and it shall burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day;” Notice that in Isaiah 33:5-17 we have a description of the events which will transpire after the 1,000 years. “The highways lie waste, . . . the earth mourneth . . . Now will I rise, saith the Lord; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up myself. Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, AS FIRE, SHALL DEVOUR YOU. AND THE PEOPLE SHALL BE AS THE BURNINGS OF LIME: AS THORNS CUT UP SHALL THEY BE BURNED IN THE FIRE. The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the DEVOURING FIRE? WHO AMONG US SHALL DWELL WITH EVERLASTING BURNINGS?” Isaiah 33:14. Cf. Song of Solomon 8:6 where God’s love is said to be like a flame of fire. Remember that Moses was not burned by the burning bush nor the disciples’ hair singed by the “tongues of fire” on their heads on the day of Pentecost. Acts 2:3, 4, because we know that God is “harmless.” Hebrews 7:26. Any fire that proceeds forth from Him is not destructive but life-giving. The proof for that would be Saul of Tarsus, who was literally baptized in the glorious light of the fire of Jesus’ presence (Acts 9).This was like a LAKE OF FIRE for Saul, but it did not kill him. It converted Him. This fiery experience changed His life in a very positive way.

The Word of God itself is compared to a fire, Jeremiah 20:9, as well as His holy angels, Hebrews 1:7. In contrast to this, Satan’s fire is destructive, because it is literal fire, as revealed in the first chapter of the book of Job, when Satan caused fire to come down from the sky and destroy Job’s sheep and servants, Job 1:16. Literal fire never existed until after the fall of Adam, when the curse of sin entered the world. But Jesus came to reverse this curse by bringing “fire on the earth,” Luke 12:49. I will go into more detail on this point in Chapter 17, “JESUS, THE FIRE OF TRUTH.”

Just picture if you will, Jesus standing above the wicked showing them a panoramic view of the ages. Every sin they have ever committed is brought home to each mind with tremendous clarity and force. It is all laid bare. As soon as those books of record are opened, and Jesus eyes look upon the wicked with love, they will become CONSCIOUS OF EVERY SIN WHICH THEY HAVE EVER COMMITTED. Revelation 20:11, 12 speaks of the “books being opened” and the wicked being judged by those books. This is another way of expressing the ability of God to give an instant replay of the entire history of the ages. This will not be a false history this time, not slanted or abridged or doctored, but the true history with no slimy details left out. Do you think this is going to burn the wicked in their hearts and in their minds? Isaiah 9:18. Yes it will because this will be their “Lake of Fire.” And they will all fall down and worship the Lord just like Saul of Tarsus did on the road to Damascus. Acts 9.

Is God portrayed anywhere in the Scriptures as speaking out words of fire? Yes. “Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: (and the grievousness of flame, says the margin) his lips are full of indignation and his tongue as a DEVOURING FIRE.” Isaiah 30:27. Compare 2 Thessalonians 2:8, where it says that He “Shall consume them with the Spirit (breath) of His mouth.” Now notice the next verse and how God takes the blame for not preventing the nations (permitting them) from destroying themselves. “His wrath pours out like floods upon them all, to sweep them all away. He will sift out the proud nations and bridle them and lead them off to their doom.” LB. The King James Version uses the expression “His breath,” showing that it is something coming from His mouth (words of fire) that causes the Lake of fire. But, remember that God’s fire is love and truth. Song of Solomon 8:6.

God’s Fire of love burns in every heart to give life or death. How we relate ourselves to it determines the outcome. If we fight and resist it or run away from it, we destroy ourselves, as Judas did. If we repent, as Peter did, that fiery love will transform us as it transformed both Peter and Saul of Tarsus into Paul the Apostle. Acts 9. In Luke 24:32 the two disciples on the way to Emmaus “said one to another, ‘did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and WHILE HE OPENED TO US THE SCRIPTURES?’”

In that final day of judgment, NO ONE WILL BE SAYING THAT THE GUILT AND REMORSE THEY ARE EXPERIENCING IS ANY LESS PAINFUL THAN LITERAL FIRE. “Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The ancient and honorable, he is the head, and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail, For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still…(which shows that He never gives up pleading for them to come to Him. The gates of the city will always be open and little by little they will all eventually come in and drink of the water of life and eat of the tree of life) FOR WICKEDNESS BURNETH AS THE FIRE: … And the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; no man shall spare his brother.” Isaiah 9:14, 15, 16, 17, 18, Ezek 38:21. Other scriptures to study on fire are Jeremiah 4:4; 7:20; 20:9; 21:12, Lamentations 2:3. Isaiah 30:27; 42:25; 62:1. Just take a concordance and look up all the words on fire, burn and burning and you will find a consistent pattern all the way through. God speaks His words of LOVE (CALLED FIRE) and the people REACT instead of respond, at least at first. God’s INTENTION is to SAVE them, but they think He is seeking to destroy and try to hide.

A LAKE OF FIRE BEFORE AND AFTER THE 1,000 YEARS

Let us look at Matthew 10:26. “Fear them not therefore: for there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known.” God will reveal all sin by a revelation of His truth as it is written down in His law and all through the Scriptures and especially in the lives of His saints. The lake of fire is both spiritual and literal. God allows all the wicked to see the whole story. This “fiery” revelation of truth is the spiritual part of the lake of fire. A lake is a body of water and water is people. (Revelation 17.15) Can’t you see all of those people outside the golden city New Jerusalem, “on fire” with hatred and anger toward God and the saints? And then when they find out the real truth, they are going to be blaming each other. So the fire from heaven is the loving truth about God which will cause the wicked to react and suffer.

I do not, however, blame God or hold Him responsible for this lake of fire, as so many have taught and are teaching today. No. God permits it to happen and takes the blame or responsibility for it because, He told the entire story (truth) about Satan’s rebellion and the ensuing 6,000 years of rebellion on this planet … this He calls bringing fire on the earth, Luke 12:49. Compare Revelation 20:9, “And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.” Compare also Proverbs 21:25 and Psalms 11:6; and 2. As a result of this “fiery revelation of truth,” the souls of the wicked burn with anguish as they remember all of their sins. God’s complete revelation leaves them “naked,” and “ashamed,” before the whole world and the whole universe as well. It is the first time in history that He has revealed all the truth and the first time He has not restrained Satan from controlling them and from their own evil passions which break forth like a fire from inside of them with terrible fury. This is indeed a strange thing for Him to do. In addition to that we must admit that this “Strange Act” could not be God killing sinners. Because, according to all known theology in the world He has always been doing that. So, there would be nothing strange about God killing people at the end of the world. So, that could not be His “Strange Act.”

A “lake” is a body of water and water or “sea” (Revelation 17:15) symbolizes people. A lake of fire symbolically, therefore, could be a mass of humanity who are burning up with fear, anger, hatred and remorse. Notice Isaiah 28:21, “For the Lord shall rise up as in Mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that He may do His work, His strange work, and bring to pass His act, His strange act.” It is always good to read the texts before and after in order to obtain a clearer meaning. Notice verse 22, the very next verse after the one I just quoted above.

Here is one theologian’s position, which is the belief of most professed Christians today regarding the Tsunami which struck Sri Lanka and parts of India in 2004. “From a biblical perspective the Tsunami tragedy is purely an act of God, because there are no human factors to blame. There are no loggers to blame for clearing forests, no engineers to fault for poor design or construction, no government planners to call to account for allowing urban development in risky places. The slipping of the tectonic plates on the ocean-bed off Sumatra, cannot be blamed on global warming or on the lack of adequate precautionary measures. What happened is beyond human capacity to influence or control. Some Christians wish to blame the Devil for such natural disasters, but nowhere the Bible attributes to Satan power over weather, natural phenomena or disastrous events. Satan is sometimes called the prince of this world (2 Cor 4:4, John 12:31, 14:30, Eph 6:12), but his power appears to be limited to tempt and deceive.” This writer forgot to quote Ephesians 2:2. “Wherein time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience.” We also read in 2 Cor 4:4 that Satan is referred to as the “God of this world.”

Even though the Bible does state that this world belongs to God, in reality He is taking the blame for what He permits the devil to do. For example, Isaiah 14:16, 17 clearly states that it is Satan who makes the earth to tremble. “Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms; That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof;?” Compare Exodus 19 where mount Sinai “was altogether on a smoke …and the whole mount quaked greatly.”

“Satan will continue to act a double part. Appearing to be the dispenser of great blessings and divine truths, he will, by his lying wonders, hold the world under his control; and at the same time he will indulge his malignity by causing distress and destruction, and will accuse God’s people as the cause of the fearful convulsions of nature and the strife and bloodshed among men which are desolating the earth.” {4SP 444.2}

“Satan works through the elements also to garner his harvest of unprepared souls. He has studied the secrets of the laboratories of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. When he was suffered to afflict Job, how quickly flocks and herds, servants, houses, children, were swept away, one trouble succeeding another as in a moment. It is God that shields His creatures and hedges them in from the power of the destroyer. But the Christian world have shown contempt for the law of Jehovah; and the Lord will do just what He has declared that He would–He will withdraw His blessings from the earth and remove His protecting care from those who are rebelling against His law and teaching and forcing others to do the same. Satan has control of all whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to further his own designs, and he will bring trouble upon others and lead men to believe that it is God who is afflicting them. {GC 589.2}

Here again we see that the characteristics of the destroyer are not attributed to God, but to Satan, the enemy of mankind. God allows destruction by withdrawing His blessings and protection from those who rebel against Him. This is His strange act, as He is a God of love, and such behavior seems strange to selfish mankind.

“…Even now he is at work. In accidents and calamities by sea and by land, in great conflagrations, in fierce tornadoes and terrific hailstorms, in tempests, floods, cyclones, tidal waves [called by the Japanese term of Tsunami today], and earthquakes, in every place and in a thousand forms, Satan is exercising his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and distress follow. He imparts to the air a deadly taint, and thousands perish by the pestilence. These visitations are to become more and more frequent and disastrous.” GC 589. God told Elijah the same truth: “And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:11-12. So, my friend, if the True Lord was not in any of those aberrations of nature then who was doing it? It had to be the ‘lord of this earth,’ Satan.

About 1980 I began to understand that it was the “Lord of this earth” who was the destroyer. But I still did not realize that he was actually identified as “God” and “Lord” in the Old Testament. When we examine the original Hebrew word in Isaiah “ZUWR,” Strongs 2114 it literally means, “to turn aside.” “Hence to be a foreigner, strange, profane; to commit adultery.” The second reference is from Strong’s 5237, Nokriy, which also means “strange, adulterous, different, outlandish.” It is derived from Strong’s 5234 and 5235 “nakar” and “noker.” Nakar means “to disemble, estrange, (and) to feign self to be another.” Now, this is very revealing because that is exactly what Lucifer (Satan) has been doing for 6,000 years…feigning himself to be the true Lord when he is actually the devil. It also means to “behave (make) self strange, ignore, dissimmulate.”

Another important key to understanding the “Strange work or act,” (always attributed to the true God) takes place when we realize that the Lord who is “rising up” to perform a “strange act and work,” is actually the lord of this earth who is “rising up,” or exalting himself…flexing his muscles in the earth to frighten and scare people into submission as he did at Sinai. “He shall be wroth, as in the valley of Gibeon.” Isaiah 28:21. This identifies which Lord is actually doing the destroying because if God does not destroy Satan would have to be the Lord God of this earth, who was also the destroyer in the valley of Gibeon. It is positive then that this “strange” (out of character act) could not be from the true Lord, because our God does not act strange or weird or crazy. He does not act “strange” one time and normal the next. He is not a paranoid schizophrenic. He is not a bi-polar God. That would be the devil who acts like that. “The way of man is froward and strange: but as for the pure, his work is right.” Proverbs 21:8 Christ and the Father are certainly pure: God is not strange. To be strange, this passage reveals, is to be perverted. God’s strange act is not His active behavior, but His passive tolerance of the enemy’s behavior.

So, if it is Satan who is the “lord” Isaiah is writing about what is there that is “strange” about this act or work? The obvious answer is that at the end of this age, when Satan knows that He only has a “short time” Rev 12:12, he will be allowed to destroy completely that which he formerly only wished to control and pervert. Hitler, at the end of his career, in 1945, also did something “strange.” He ordered all of Germany to be destroyed because his plans did not work out as he planned. He claimed to love the German people and to be working for their betterment and welfare. Now, he commands for them all to be destroyed. It must have seemed strange to his followers and the whole German nation that the Fuerher they worshipped and had deified was now the one passing the death decree upon them. And so, this “lord” of planet earth will do the same thing. Notice what Dan 11:44 predicts will happen at the end of Satan’s career in this final age. “But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.”

“Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord God of hosts a CONSUMPTION, even determined upon the whole earth.” The Hebrew word for “consumption,” is from “KALAH,” which literally means to be completed, finished or consumed. Its meaning is clearer when we read Psalms 37:20 . . . “But the wicked shall perish, and they shall CONSUME (KALAH); into smoke shall they consume (kalah) away.” Our modern dictionary (Barnhart, for example) says, CONSUMPTION: “destruction or decay, progressive wasting of the body.” The definition of CONSUME is: “to destroy as by decomposition or burning.” Deuteronomy 28:22 says, “The Lord shall smite thee with a CONSUMPTION, AND WITH A FEVER, AND WITH AN INFLAMMATION, and with an extreme burning….” Now when we go back to our basic principle of how God operates, we can see that when He says, “lest your bands be made strong,” simply means “unless you stop being disrespectful and defiant toward me and my law, I will not be able to protect you from the DESTROYER who will bind you with His bands of sin and lawlessness and disobedience and darkness and death until your life is totally consumed for this age.” Compare Psalms 2:10-12.

When we consider Isaiah 28:14-20 we see an even clearer picture. “Wherefore hear the word of the Lord, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, we have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, (Christ Jesus) a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: AND THE HAIL (the seventh plague is hail, and this does not mean merely ice, but rock, also) shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters shall overflow the hiding place.” Isaiah 28:16-17. (See 2 Samuel 5:20, where the phrase, “breach or breaking forth of waters is used). Satan is the Lord of breaches. Isaiah 59:19, Job 16:14, Genesis 38:29, Pharez is equal to Satan. . . . “and your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand;” Even though the wicked planned to exit this world by suicide the Lord says that He has a plan to save them which will “disannul” their agreement with death and the grave, because Jesus’ death on the cross has cancelled out all debts and there is no more debt to pay. Like the Prodigal son, they are now free to come back home into the Father’s house. Death and hell will be “cast into the lake of fire…” (Rev 20:14) because “the last enemy that will be destroyed is death itself.” I Cor. 15:26. This will happen after the 1,000 years.

Now, we are ready to study God’s “Strange act” in more depth. Mount Perazim and the Valley of Gibeon are referred to as examples of how God will operate at the end of the world, ON BOTH OCCASIONS, BEFORE AND AFTER THE 1,000 YEARS. Remember that the god of breaking forth is SATAN. He is ALWAYS trying to push himself ahead of CHRIST. This is symbolized in the story found in Genesis 38:27-30. But let us go to another scripture now about DAVID. “AND DAVID CAME TO BAALPERAZIM, (meaning Lord Of the breaking forth). SATAN has always tried to push himself ahead of Christ. AND DAVID SMOTE THEM THERE, AND SAID, THE LORD HATH BROKEN FORTH UPON MINE ENEMIES BEFORE ME, AS THE BREACH OF WATERS. THEREFORE HE CALLED THE NAME OF THAT PLACE BAALPERAZIM.” (Meaning, the valley of breaking forth). 2 Samuel 5:20.

Later on the Philistines came up again to fight David. Once again David would win the battle because the Lord told him, “when thou hearest the sound of a going in the tops of the mulberry trees, that then thou shalt bestir thyself. For then shall the LORD GO OUT BEFORE THEE, TO SMITE THE HOST OF THE PHILISTINES.” Verse 24. Remember, when God says He smites someone, it means He has withdrawn His protection from them, because they forced Him out of their lives by their choice. Notice in Numbers 14:9, “. . . neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: THEIR DEFENSE (shadow or shade: Psalms 121:5; Malachi 3:2; Jeremiah 48:45) IS DEPARTED FROM THEM, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” God’s “strange act” is not when He finally blows His cool, becomes very angry and gets even. Oh, no. This is not God’s character. And besides, what would be so “strange” about Him killing anyone at this time, if indeed He has been doing it all along throughout the Old Testament? God’s strange act is not when He takes life, but when He is forced to stop preserving life by the choice of every creature who is determined to commit suicide. And in this final age He is going to completely withdraw and let Satan have entire control of this planet. This He has never done before. It will be a strange act. We have already discussed the reason why God permitted David to destroy with the sword. It was not His perfect will when anyone in the past used force or coercion to accomplish a certain job for the Lord. But, He permitted them to go out and slaughter whole nations at times, but it was His permissive will, not His perfect will. Deut 1:29-46. “So terribly blinded had they become by transgression. The Lord had never commanded them to ‘go up and fight.’ It was not His purpose that they should gain the land by warfare, but by strict obedience to His commands.” Patriarchs & Prophets, page 392.

In the case of David at Perazim, the Lord received the glory for the victory. David, though a man of war, and falling short in some respects regarding God’s will for his life, cooperated more with the Lord than any other King of Israel. Scripture refers us to this experience in history as an example of how God will “BREAK FORTH,” or “SMITE” THE WICKED IN THE LAST DAYS ON TWO OCCASIONS BEFORE AND AFTER THE 1,000 YEARS. The first time will be just before Jesus comes to rescue the final Elect who are under the death decree, similar to what was passed in Esther’s day. Isaiah 11:4, Malachi 3:6, Jer. 5:3. How will the Lord “break forth” upon the wicked who are hunting down the righteous? He will reveal truth by raining the fire of truth down upon them, through the preaching of His holy Word, and they will just come unglued and slaughter themselves. In David’s day his enemies were evidently allowed to see themselves as they really were in the fullness of their evil natures which made them hate themselves and each other. And then God permitted the evil angels to have full control by withdrawing all restraints and they began killing each other. Just how God is able to do this is beyond our comprehension, but when the Lord withdraws His protecting Hand, everything falls apart and men lose their courage, their physical and mental bearings and instantly reap in a few seconds or minutes what they would ordinarily reap in a life time. Isaiah 26:11-14. The key word is “visited,” as in Exodus 20:5. Someone will protest, “but why would Satan’s angels cooperate with God in casting down their own people?” First of all they are not “Satan’s” people in the full sense of the word. All humans belong to God. Satan just claims them so he can deceive them and cause them to be lost for this age or eon. How he accomplishes this is irrelevant or beside the point to him. If he can cause anyone at any time to be destroyed and blame it upon God, he is anxious to do it so more people will look upon God as a cruel tyrant a hateful and vengeful judge. In addition to that, you must remember that although Satan is much wiser than we are, he is basically insane. And an insane being does not always act rationally. Another point is that Satan figures that a “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” In other words, Satan is so anxious to destroy human kind and cause grief and heartache to the Father’s heart, that he will destroy anyone at anytime anywhere he can. That is his nature. Satan’s angels have no doubt been fighting each other too. Now, reason it out for yourselves. Is it possible that God has the power and the ability to restrain and release, prevent and permit even among the evil angels in order to carry out his purposes? And to do so without interfering with the free moral agency of either men or angels, loyal and disloyal to God’s truth, fallen and unfallen from God’s presence? I say, “YES,” God can do it and He does it all the time. He is ACTUALLY preserving SATAN and His angels from destroying themselves for the Father has a plan for them as well as all of mankind. ANGELS AND MEN ARE MADE OF FIRE. The Hebrew word for man is ESH, which is from the same word that means “Fire.” The angels are also flames or fires. “And of the angels he saith, who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.” Hebrews 1:7. Satan’s angels lost none of their power when they fell with Satan from heaven. But, they have perverted their very talents to destroy God’s creation instead of to sustain and bring glory to the Creator. So, we are caught in the middle of two fires … a fire of life and truth and a fire of deceit and death.

THE VALLEY OF GIBEON

In the last part of Isaiah 28:21 we read that God is going to “rise up and be wroth,” or angry as “in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work; his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.” In Joshua 10:10 we read the beginning of a story about a great victory the Lord gave to Joshua as the leader of Israel. “And the Lord discomfited them before Israel, and slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goeth up to Bethhoron, and smote them to Azekah, and unto Makkedah.” Now, God did not actually need Israel to do away with these wicked people. He never intended that they take a literal sword and get involved in bloodshed and the taking of life, but because of the HARDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS, AND THEIR STIFF NECKS, they had a very “fiery” spirit and a pugilistic nature which they just had to satisfy. Of course, it also is against our human pride to give anyone else the credit for a special accomplishment. We want as much or all (if possible) of the glory for ourselves. But, in this case, God permitted a natural (or unnatural) disaster to overtake these wicked ones, for it says, “that the Lord cast down great stones (hail) from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword.” Psalms 78:47-49 proves that Satan and his angels bring hail. See also Job 37:10-13, 38:8-13.