When the children of Israel were journeying through the wilderness, the Lord protected them from venomous serpents; but the time came when, because of Israel's transgression, impenitence, and stubbornness, the Lord removed His restraining power from these reptiles, and many of the people were bitten and died. Then it was that the brazen serpent was uplifted, that all who repented and looked to it in faith might live. {8T 50.2}

In the time of confusion and trouble before us, a time of trouble such as has not been since there was a nation, the uplifted Saviour will be presented to the people in all lands, that all who look to Him in faith may live. {8T 50.3}

PP Chapter 7 - The Flood
Mercy had ceased its pleadings for the guilty race. ... Then divine grace will no longer restrain the wicked, and Satan will have full control of those who have rejected mercy. They will endeavor to destroy God's people; but as Noah was shut into the ark, so the righteous will be shielded by divine power. {PP 98.2}

What is mercy?
The history of Job had shown that suffering is inflicted by Satan, and is overruled by God for purposes of mercy. But Israel did not understand the lesson. The same error for which God had reproved the friends of Job was repeated by the Jews in their rejection of Christ. {DA 471.3}


God bears long with the rebellion and apostasy of His subjects. Even when His mercy is despised and His love scorned and derided, He bears with men until the last resource for leading them to repentance is exhausted. But there are limits to His forbearance. From those who to the end continue in obstinate rebellion, He removes His protecting care. Providence will no longer shield them from Satan's power. They will have sinned away their day of grace. {RH, September 17, 1901 par. 7}

God keeps a reckoning with the nations. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without His notice. Those who work evil toward their fellow men, saying, How doth God know? will one day be called upon to meet long-deferred vengeance. In this age a more than common contempt is shown to God. Men have reached a point in insolence and disobedience which shows that their cup of iniquity is almost full. Many have well-nigh passed the boundary of mercy. Soon God will show that He is indeed the living God. He will say to the angels, "No longer combat Satan in his efforts to destroy. Let him work out his malignity upon the children of disobedience; for the cup of their iniquity is full. They have advanced from one degree of wickedness to another, adding daily to their lawlessness. I will no longer interfere to prevent the destroyer from doing his work." {RH, September 17, 1901 par. 8}

Others, however, fail of a satisfactory understanding of the great problem of evil, from the fact that tradition and misinterpretation have obscured the teaching of the Bible concerning the character of God, the nature of His government, and the principles of His dealing with sin. {GC 492.1}

Those who endeavor to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and derided. They can stand only in God. In order to endure the trial before them, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His word; they can honor Him only as they have a right conception of His character, government, and purposes, and act in accordance with them. {GC 593.2}

Endeavor to obey ALL the commandments, ALL, those will be opposed and derided. Including the 6th? No one here is opposed to the 6th, or derides those that uphold it, right?

Elisha's Effective Rebuke for Disrespect.--The idea that we must submit to ways of perverse children is a mistake. Elisha, at the very commencement of his work, was mocked and derided by the youth of Bethel. He was a man of great mildness, but the Spirit of God impelled him to pronounce a curse upon those railers. They had heard of Elijah's ascension, and they made this solemn event the subject of jeers. Elisha evinced that he was not to be trifled with, by old or young, in his sacred calling. When they told him he had better go up, as Elijah had done before him, he cursed them in the name of the Lord. The awful judgment that came upon them was of God. {CG 272.5}


The laver was placed between the altar and the congregation, that before they came into the presence of God, in the sight of the congregation, they might wash their hands and their feet. What impression was this to make upon the people? It was to show them that every particle of dust must be put away before they could go into the presence of God; for He was so high and holy that unless they did comply with these conditions, death would follow. {2T 613.2}


From the stern punishment meted out to those perjurers, God would have us learn also how deep is His hatred and contempt for all hypocrisy and deception. In pretending that they had given all, Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, and, as a result, they lost this life and the life that is to come. The same God who punished them, today condemns all falsehood. Lying lips are an abomination to Him.


God's judgments will be visited upon those who are seeking to oppress and destroy His people. His long forbearance with the wicked emboldens men in transgression, but their punishment is nonetheless certain and terrible because it is long delayed. "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." Isaiah 28:21. To our merciful God the act of punishment is a strange act. "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked." Ezekiel 33:11. The Lord is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, . . . forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin." Yet He will "by no means clear the guilty." "The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." Exodus 34:6, 7; Nahum 1:3. By terrible things in righteousness He will vindicate the authority of His downtrodden law. The severity of the retribution awaiting the transgressor may be judged by the Lord's reluctance to execute justice. The nation with which He bears long, and which He will not smite until it has filled up the measure of its iniquity in God's account, will finally drink the cup of wrath unmixed with mercy…. {DD 43.4}

From those statements, a clear truth can be seen that God can, does, and will punish, just as He has at times in the past. While He does not delight in punishing, He will do it just the same when such is absolutely necessary, usually only after a considerable delay on account of His great mercy and patience with sinners. He would rather that we obey and live than to reject Him and perish. In rejection of God, we destroy our own souls, because we unfit ourselves to live in His presence.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

AMEN! How does God punish? He no longer protects them - ala Fiery Serpents! and many other examples...'

I was shown that the judgments of God would not come directly out from the Lord upon them, but in this way: They place themselves beyond His protection. He warns, corrects, reproves, and points out the only path of safety; then if those who have been the objects of His special care will follow their own course independent of the Spirit of God, after repeated warnings, if they choose their own way, then He does not commission His angels to prevent Satan's decided attacks upon them. {14MR 3.1}

The awful judgment that came upon them was of God. {CG 272.5}

I was shown that the judgments of God would not come directly out from the Lord upon them, ... {14MR 3.1}

Obviously, there are two different entities referred to by the "them" in each of the above. For more proof of this, see the statement below:



APL, be careful that you do not sin against the Holy Ghost by attributing God's judgments to Satan.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

The awful judgment that came upon them was of God. {CG 272.5}

I was shown that the judgments of God would not come directly out from the Lord upon them, ... {14MR 3.1}

The methods are the same. Who was it that protected the children of Bethel? Who was it that protected Egypt? Who was it that protected the children of Israel in the wilderness? Who is it that protected Korah? God! We owe everything too Christ for our peace and safety. It is the restraining power of God that prevents mankind from passing fully under the control of Satan (see {GC 36}) God is not the executioner of the sentence against sin. He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. Every ray of light rejected, every warning despised or unheeded, every passion indulged, every transgression of the law of God, is a seed sown which yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is at last withdrawn from the sinner, and then there is left no power to control the evil passions of the soul, and no protection from the malice and enmity of Satan.

In Korah accusing Moses of what? They dared to attribute His judgments to Satan, declaring that through the power of the evil one, Moses and Aaron had caused the death of good and holy men. It was this act that sealed their doom. {PP 404.4} What sealed their doom? Accusing Moses and Aaron of causing the death of "good and holy" men by the power of the devil. God was the protector. In rejecting God, it was the power of God that was withdrawn and sinful men passed fully under the control of the evil one. It was not Satan's power that instigated the judgment. And read again, the following:

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}

Green - you believe that it is God that afflicts men, but it is the evil one. The judgments of God, ALL OF THEM, do not come directly out from the Lord, but in this way, He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to themselves, to reap that which they have sown. 1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain my own ways before him.

"Notwithstanding they had had the most convincing evidence of God's displeasure at their course, in the destruction of the men who had deceived them, they dared to attribute His judgments to Satan, declaring that through the power of the evil one, Moses and Aaron had caused the death of good and holy men."

Some people use this passage to prove Satan is the one who executes the judgments of God.

APL is as daring as Korah. I'm not that brave. I won't dare to attribute God's judgments to Satan.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

You are accusing God of having the attributes of Satan. Who is it that protects? God. What happens when God in His judgment gives people up? Does God actively kill you? Are we to be more afraid of God than Satan? That is what you guys are saying! And it just is not true. God is not a killer, period, full stop. God is not the problem. Sin is the problem.

NOTE - The JUDGMENTS OF GOD, of who? GOD, do not come directly from Him, but in this way: they place themselves beyond His protection. He warns, corrects, reproves, and points out the only path of safety; then if those who have been the objects of His special care will follow their own course independent of the Spirit of God, after repeated warnings, if they choose their own way, then He does not commission His angels to prevent Satan's decided attacks upon them. WHOSE JUDGMENTS? GOD'S!!! Not Satan. Satan can not act against any whom God is protecting. The episode of the fiery serpents should be evidence enough of this.

I opened a thread asking the question, what did Christ come to save us from. Very little traffic on that thread. Why? Because most would have to answer that Christ came to save us from Himself. But that is not what Christ came to save us from.

It comes down to the question, is sin fatal? Obviously not, God has to kill the sinner. God is the problem! NO. Sin is fatal.

The destruction of Jerusalem is a fearful and solemn warning to all who are trifling with the offers of divine grace and resisting the pleadings of divine mercy. Never was there given a more decisive testimony to God's hatred of sin and to the certain punishment that will fall upon the guilty. {GC 36.1}

What happened in the destruction of Jerusalem? Did God destroy Jerusalem?