In the first installment of this new series, we began to address God’s Work in the context of the prophetic revival of the ancient Roman Empire in Europe and, in connection therewith, the preaching of the gospel in the world as a witness, which includes a warning message of impending disaster. We showed that God will raise the ancient Chaldeans—“modern Babylon”—under the leadership of an end-time Assyrian “Führer” —the “beast” in the Book of Revelation—to punish and destroy the modern Houses of Israel and Judah. (For more information on the identity of the king of Assyria and the descendants of the ancient Houses of Israel and Judah, please read our free booklets, “Germany in Prophecy” and “The Fall and Rise of Britain and America.”).
In this installment, we will discuss in more detail how God will use the end-time “beast”—the coming king of Assyria—to punish the Houses of Israel and Judah—as being part of God’s end-time Work.
We read in the Bible that God will raise the “king of Assyria” to conquer Israel and Judah. Isaiah 10:3-6 reads:
“What will you do in the day of punishment, And in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? And where will you leave your glory? Without Me they shall bow down among the prisoners, And they shall fall among the slain. For all this His anger is not turned away, But His hand is stretched out still. Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger And the staff in whose hand is My indignation. I will send him against an ungodly nation, And against the people of My wrath I will give him charge, To seize the spoil, to take the prey, And to tread them down like the mire of the streets.”
The Bible refers to Assyria at the time of the Millennium as the “work” of God’s hands (Isaiah 19:25).
We should note that God does His Work by sending the king of Assyria against an “ungodly nation” and the “people of My wrath.” Why is God angry with the modern Houses of Israel and Judah, and why are they—the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the state of Israel—being described this way?
To God, the leaders and the peoples of both modern Houses are like Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isaiah 1:10 tells us:
“Hear the word of the LORD, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah…”
Isaiah 3:9 adds:
“The look on their countenance witnesses against them, And they declare their sin as Sodom; They do not hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought evil upon themselves.”
Jeremiah 23:13-14 records God’s Words for us today, as follows:
“And I have seen folly in the prophets [the ministers and religious preachers] of Samaria [the ancient capital of the House of Israel]: They prophesied by Baal [the sun god] And caused My people Israel to err. Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
One reason why God compares them with Sodom and Gomorrah is their wrong lifestyle, including of course committing the sexual sins Sodom and Gomorrah were famous for.
Revelation 11:8 gives us further information. Addressing the horrible murder of the two witnesses, we read about the city of Jerusalem:
“And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.”
The Living Bible renders Lamentations 4:6 in this way: “For the sin of my people is greater than that of Sodom, where utter disaster struck in a moment without the hand of man.”
And so, what was Sodom’s sin, in addition to their horrible sexual transgressions?
In Ezekiel 16:48-50, God addresses modern Israel and Judah, stating:
‘‘As I live,’ says the LORD God, ‘neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.’”
As ancient Sodom, so modern “Sodom” lives in pride (think of our disgusting “pride parades” of homosexuals, transgender persons, transvestites, drag queens etc.) and self-centeredness, without caring for and helping others, including the poor and the needy, while committing proudly all these abominations of engaging in and approving of homosexual and other aberrant and abhorrent sexual conduct.
Returning to Isaiah 1, verses 12-15 give us more information as to why God compares the modern Houses of Israel and Judah with Sodom and Gomorrah:
“‘When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, To trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.”
God is addressing here futile and idol worship. He is not addressing His Sabbaths and appointed feasts, but “Sabbath” worship on Sunday (which many “Christians refer to as the “Sabbath”) and the feasts of Christmas and Easter, which were appointed by men, not by Him. Even though one may give donations and contributions, God does not accept them, when they are made in combination with pagan religious services, and while horrible conduct is being committed. God singles out the shedding of blood. This includes our useless wars which will never bring peace, but only more and more misery and pain. It also includes another form of violence and bloodshed which we will address below.
God is angry with them because of their terrible sins, including idolatry and violating His weekly and annual Sabbaths. But there is more.
The next two passages describe conduct which might not be that serious in the minds of many people, but as we will see, God looks at it as abominable and deeply disturbing and consequential, as it shows, among other things, an attitude of indifference, or worse, towards the Word of God:
Isaiah 65:2-5 addresses especially, but not exclusively, the people of the Houses of Israel and Judah:
“I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face… Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels; Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, Do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.”
Isaiah 66:15-17 adds the same thought but applies it to all people of the world.
“For behold, the LORD will come with fire And with His chariots, like a whirlwind, To render His anger with fury, And His rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by His sword The LORD will judge all flesh; And the slain of the LORD shall be many. ‘Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves, To go to the gardens After an idol in the midst, Eating swine’s flesh and the abomination and the mouse, Shall be consumed together,’ says the LORD.”
It should be obvious that God is angry with those who eat unclean meat and don’t listen to God’s Word condemning such practice.
But more horrible conduct is described to show WHY God calls the modern nations of Israel and Judah ungodly.
In addressing the MODERN Houses of Israel AND Judah, God says in Jeremiah 7:31:
“And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.”
“Tophet in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom” was later referred to by Christ as the famous Valley of Gehenna, applying it to the lake of fire. In ancient times, the Israelites sacrificed their own children to their horrible self-made gods. But this is a prophecy for today. We might not literally kill our children in sacrifice to pagan deities, but we are killing our children by the millions by having them fight our stupid wars, and aborting them, in sacrifice to some humanly devised purpose or in the name of freedom and “humanity.” Women sacrifice their unborn children for convenience’s sake, or as a method of “birth control,” and politicians support such evil conduct in the name of women’s rights. God says that such conduct is so evil that it never entered His heart to do such a horrible thing.
Jeremiah 19:4-5 repeats God’s curse for such behavior and adds a few more thoughts:
“… they have forsaken Me and made this an alien place, because they have burned incense in it to other gods whom neither they, their fathers, nor the kings of Judah have known, and have filled this place with the blood of the innocents (they have also built the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or speak, nor did it come into My mind)…”
Many times, those who support the evil conduct of aborting unborn children or sending our sons to war are “religious” people. They may go to mass on Sunday, but they do not worship the true God, but a self-made trinitarian “entity”—a god who demands war and abortion in the name of “self-preservation.” This false worship as a main reason for God’s anger and His use of the king of Assyria to punish Israel and Judah is also described in Jeremiah 11:17:
“For the LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
Pagan worship in the name of Christianity runs rampant in the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But the Jews do not worship the true God either in the way they should. They do not really keep the Sabbath and the annual Holy Days; they do not rely on Him to fight their battles, are guilty of removing a landmark (Hosea 5:10); and they have included many pagan elements in their religious worship of the God of the Old Testament—not accepting the fact that Jesus Christ was the God of the Old Testament, and that He has always lived together with God the Father—the Highest in the Godhead. Jesus said once to the Jews, in John 5:39-40:
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.”
God says that the Israelites and the Jews do NOT consider the Work of His hands—they are spiritually blind and do not consider that He is raising up the king of Assyria to punish them for their sins.
Isaiah 5:11-12 states:
“Woe to those who rise early in the morning, That they may follow intoxicating drink; Who continue until night, till wine inflames them! The harp and the strings, The tambourine and flute, And wine are in their feasts; But they do not regard the work of the LORD, Nor consider the operation of His hands.”
In fact, when they hear about the Work of God, they scoff at it.
Isaiah 5:18-19 states:
“Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as if with a cart rope; That say, ‘Let Him make speed and hasten His work, That we may see it; And let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, That we may know it.’”
But God says that He will carry out His Work of punishing modern Israel and Judah, as well as the entire earth, in His due time.
We read in Isaiah 28:1-4, 7, 21:
“Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim [especially referring here to the UK, Ephraim being a son of Joseph, a son of Israel], Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valleys, To those who are overcome with wine! Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing, Who will bring them down to the earth with His hand. The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, Will be trampled underfoot; And the glorious beauty is a fading flower Which is at the head of the verdant valley, Like the first fruit before the summer, Which an observer sees; He eats it up while it is still in his hand… But they also have erred through wine, And through intoxicating drink are out of the way; The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink, They are swallowed up by wine, They are out of the way through intoxicating drink; They err in vision, they stumble in judgment… For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim, He will be angry as in the Valley of Gibeon—That He may do His work, His awesome work, And bring to pass His act, His unusual act.”
His awesome Work may be viewed as “unusual” or surprising by many uninformed observers.
Especially warning the modern House of Israel, God says in Ezekiel 12:22-28:
“Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, which says, ‘The days are prolonged, and every vision fails’?… say to them, ‘The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision. For no more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the LORD. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed; for in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it… the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision that he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of times far off.’… Thus says the LORD God: ‘None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done.’”
However, even though God will use the king of Assyria, as part of the Babylonian system, to punish Israel and Judah, God will also perform His Work of punishment towards him, because he and Babylon need to be “dealt with” too.
We read in Isaiah 10:7, 12 about the modern king of Assyria or the beast:
“Yet he does not mean so, Nor does his heart think so; But it is in his heart to destroy, And cut off not a few nations… Therefore it shall come to pass, when the LORD has performed all His work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, that He will say, ‘I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his haughty looks.’”
In Isaiah 52:4, we read God’s Word that “the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.” Of course, there was ample cause for God to decide to punish Israel and Judah, but the Assyrian did not see this as a cause for his actions (see Lamentations 3:52). Satan did not see the cause for God’s dealing with Job either (compare Job 2:3).
And so, God will punish the king of Assyria. We read in Isaiah 14:24-25:
“The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulders.”
Isaiah 30:33 states:
“For Tophet was established of old, Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large; Its pyre is fire with much wood; The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, Kindles it.”
Isaiah 31:8-9 adds:
“Then Assyria shall fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of mankind shall devour him… Says the LORD, Whose fire is in Zion And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.”
We read that Jesus Christ will throw the beast into a lake of fire when He returns. So the beast will not die by a sword of a man. But the nation of Assyria will be punished by God through the modern Medes, who can be found among the Russian and Ukrainian peoples who will be instrumental in leading the Far Eastern nations to destroy Europe.
Isaiah 13:17-19 tells us:
“Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it. Also their bows will dash the young men to pieces, And they will have no pity on the fruit of the womb; Their eye will not spare children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Notice that God’s use of the modern Medes is described as God’s Work.
We read in Jeremiah 50:25-26; 51:11, 28:
“The LORD has opened His armory, And has brought out the weapons of His indignation; For this is the work of the LORD God of hosts In the land of the Chaldeans. Come against her from the farthest border; Open her storehouses; Cast her up as heaps of ruins, And destroy her utterly; Let nothing of her be left… Prepare against her the nations, With the kings of the Medes, Its governors and all its rulers, All the land of his dominion… The LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the LORD, The vengeance for His temple…”
God’s Temple which will still be built in Jerusalem prior to Christ’s return will be invaded by the beast and polluted by the false prophet—the man of sin, who is described in 2 Thessalonians 2.
God will deal—as part of His Work—with the king of Assyria and the Assyrian people, but He will also deal with the religious power and the false prophet, collaborating with the beast. This power was likewise unaware of God’s Work, but poured out its Satanic wrath on Israel and Judah.
Notice God’s Words in Isaiah 47:6-7:
“I was angry with My people; I have profaned My inheritance, And given them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; On the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily. And you said, ‘I shall be a lady forever,’ So that you did not take these things to heart, Nor remember the latter end of them…”
God adds in verses 12 and 13 that this big Church organization cannot save itself with their sorceries and deceptions:
“Stand now with your enchantments And the multitude of your sorceries, In which you have labored from your youth—Perhaps you will be able to profit, Perhaps you will prevail. You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels; Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, And the monthly prognosticators Stand up and save you From what shall come upon you…”
In this context, God says in Jeremiah 48:10:
“Cursed is he who does the work of the Lord deceitfully, And cursed is he who keeps back his sword from blood.”
Man of course does not know about God’s plan and His Work. God is addressing here the prevailing attitude of most who are indifferent and without zeal when they are called upon to do a certain task… or they do it deceitfully.
And so, God’s Church MUST preach the gospel, including this warning message, to the world, even if it is unpleasant to do. The prophet Jeremiah felt this way at times, but he also understood that he really had no choice. Later, Paul would make similar statements. We will address this in detail in the next installment.
(To be continued)
Lead Writer: Norbert Link
