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Introduction

Should you be baptized? If so, how, and when? Does it matter whether you are baptized as a child or as an adult? Does it matter whether you are placed under water, or whether the minister or priest pours water over your head, or whether you are just sprinkled with a few drops of water? Does it matter whether you understand the symbolic meaning of baptism before you undergo the ordinance? Is baptism ESSENTIAL for your salvation?

Many people cannot see the reason to be baptized as an adult, especially if they were baptized as a little baby. Others think it makes no difference for salvation whether a person is baptized or not. All that is required, so they say, is an honest heart and the will to live a good life.

There are, indeed, endless arguments and perceptions of baptism, but in seeking the truth on the subject and dispelling any false opinions, we must go to the source of truth—God’s Word—the Bible. One cannot prove truth based on human opinion. God’s truth is easily available to those who seek it, and truth stands up to scrutiny.

The Need for Baptism

In order to accept the biblical teaching on this matter, which we MUST do if we are to be called Christians, we must admit that baptism is a godly ordinance—a command by God Himself. Peter “commanded” the Roman centurion, Cornelius, and his relatives and close friends “to be baptized in the name of the Lord” (Acts 10:48). Cornelius was a “devout man and one who feared God with all his household” (Acts 10:2). God showed through a miracle that, although Cornelius was a Gentile, he had been called to salvation and God had already opened his mind to understand the truth. Still, Peter commanded that he be baptized. Even Jesus Christ Himself was baptized. Though He had no personal need for baptism—He was without sin—He had John baptize Him in order to fulfill all righteousness and to set an example for us to do the same (Matthew 3:13–15).

Yes, God’s Word makes it very clear that we need to be baptized if we expect to attain salvation. Yet, we must fulfill certain requirements before we undergo baptism. Let us examine what those requirements are.

Faith is Required

Jesus Christ commanded His early disciples to baptize those who believed. We read in Mark 16:15–16: “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe [and is therefore not baptized] will be condemned [better translated: judged].’”

So, then, before we undergo baptism, we must first believe. Faith is a necessary prerequisite to baptism. Christ said, “Those who believe and are baptized will be saved.” How can one believe unless one is old enough to believe? How can a little baby believe? The answer is, it can’t. A little baby cannot comprehend faith. It does not even realize what is going on when it is “baptized.” That kind of “baptism” is not in accordance with Christ’s express mandate that one “believe and [be] baptized.”

Repentance is Required

In addition to faith, repentance is required prior to baptism. When Peter gave his first inspired sermon after receiving God’s Holy Spirit, his audience was moved with fear. They were, in fact, shocked. They came to realize that they were responsible for the death of their Savior. After having been convicted, in their minds, of actually murdering Jesus Christ, they asked, in despair, what they should do. Notice Peter’s answer in Acts 2:37–38: “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission [forgiveness] of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’”

So we see that before being baptized, we need to repent of our sins and we need to believe in the gospel (Mark 16:15–16). We also need to believe that the death of Jesus Christ was necessary and that His death is sufficient payment for our sins, thus prompting forgiveness of our sins by God the Father. We are to be baptized only upon repentance, which must be coupled with faith, and not before then. A little baby has no concept of what to repent of. It does not even know what repentance is. Some say that a baby does not need to repent of anything because it has not committed any sins. If that were true, then why is the baby even being baptized to begin with, given that baptism is an outward sign of inward repentance?

It is clear from Scripture that a person must be old enough to comprehend the meaning of repentance and faith. Baptism, in accordance with biblical teaching, is an outward sign, or symbol, of inner repentance from sin, AND it is a manifestation of our faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. By the ordinance of baptism we outwardly express our inward faith in our Savior—our acceptance of His death, burial, and resurrection for us, as well as our repentance of the old life and burial of it, rising to a new life and mindset. This thought process and change of heart is something a baby could never engage in.

The Gift of the Holy Spirit

As Peter pointed out to his stunned audience in Acts 2, upon proper baptism we WILL receive the GIFT of the Holy Spirit. Without baptism based on biblical teaching, we normally would not receive the Holy Spirit and we would not be in a position to look forward to salvation. (An obvious and extremely rare exception to this rule would be, of course, when it is physically impossible to baptize someone, because the person is physically incapable of being baptized.) We understand, of course, that the situation was different in Old Testament times because God did bestow His Spirit on a few people without prior baptism, so that they could fulfill His specific commission for them.

This is no longer true in New Testament times. We read in Acts 8:16–17 [more fully discussed later in this booklet] that the Holy Spirit was given to people only AFTER they were baptized and had hands laid upon them—not before then. There is only one recorded incident since the establishment of the New Testament Church where someone received the Holy Spirit prior to baptism, and that is the Gentile Cornelius and his household. This was an exception for a specific purpose—God wanted to make it clear to the disciples that He had called Gentiles into the Church, and indeed, to salvation. Before Cornelius, only Jews had been accepted as Church members. As we noted in our earlier discussion, God still required Cornelius and those who were with him to undergo proper baptism (Acts 10:44–48).

Notable exceptions in New Testament times also include John the Baptist, who received God’s Holy Spirit from birth (compare Luke 1:15), and, of course, Jesus Christ Himself, who was brought forth by the Holy Spirit—possessing the Holy Spirit from birth without measure (compare Luke 1:35; John 3:34, AV). Aside from these specific examples of God’s Spirit being given without prior baptism, we cannot find that any of Christ’s disciples in the New Testament, and especially since the establishment of the New Testament Church, received the gift of the Holy Spirit without having first been baptized.

When Paul was brought to conversion he had to be baptized before receiving the Holy Spirit: “And Ananias went his way and entered the house; and laying his hands on him he said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road [to Damascus] as you came, has sent me that you may receive your sight [since Saul had been blinded after he had seen Christ on his way to Damascus] and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized” (Acts 9:17–18; compare, too, Acts 22:12–16).

Accordingly, when Paul baptized people, they received the gift of the Holy Spirit after Paul had baptized them and laid hands on them, as stated in Acts 19:5–6: “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them.”

Were the Twelve Apostles Baptized?

Some claim that the twelve apostles received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost without having been baptized first. If so, this would have been another extraordinary exception. The purpose for this exception would have been to prove to the people in attendance that God had, indeed, given His Spirit to His disciples, and that He had now begun to build His Church, thus making it possible for others to enter into the spiritual body of Christ. Now, we know that God confirmed the giving of His Holy Spirit to the early apostles on the day of Pentecost through extraordinary signs and wonders, but it does appear that some, if not most, of the apostles had been disciples of John the Baptist and had already been baptized by John—a baptism of repentance (compare Mark 1:4).

As we discussed earlier, repentance is one of the necessary requirements for receiving God’s Holy Spirit, but it is not the only one. As such, the baptism of John—a baptism of repentance—was not sufficient to receive the Holy Spirit. Later, however, Jesus also baptized—through His disciples—as we read in John 3:22: “After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He remained with them and baptized.” John 4:1–3 adds: “Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee.”

It is safe to assume, then, before Christ’s disciples baptized others, Christ had already baptized them. This is not to say that baptized people received the Holy Spirit at that time. The Holy Spirit was only given to Christ’s disciples on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 1:15; 2:1–4). However, Scripture indicates that those who received the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost had been baptized. This assumption is supported by Christ’s statement to Peter in John 13. During the last Passover meal, prior to His death, Christ began to wash the feet of His disciples, showing them that He loved them and that He was willing to do everything for them, including washing their feet—a menial task that was usually assigned to the lowest servant. When He came to wash Peter’s feet, Peter said to Him: “You shall never wash my feet!” (John 13:8). Christ explained to him that He had to wash Peter’s feet or else he would have no part with Christ. Peter then responded by saying: “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” (John 13:8–9). At that moment, Christ replied, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you” (John 13:10).

This conversation is full of meaning and there is much to be gleaned from it. While proper baptism is to be done only once in a person’s life, the foot-washing ceremony at Passover time is to be repeated year by year. Thus we show that we are continuously willing to obtain forgiveness of the sins we commit after baptism, and we show that we are willing to humble ourselves in our desire to help others go the same way toward perfection that we are going. We are not better than others. We are to serve others in whatever way we can.

Christ told Peter that he and the other disciples (except Judas) were clean, since they had been bathed. We read in Titus 3:5 that God saves us “through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit.” We are also told that we are “cleansed” or “made clean” from our old sins (2 Peter 1:9). At baptism, our bodies are “washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22), figuratively “washing away” our sins (Acts 22:16). Christ’s statement to Peter and the other apostles that they had been bathed and were clean (except Judas who would betray Him) strongly implies that they had already been baptized in anticipation of receiving the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (John 20:22; Acts 1:8; Luke 24:49).

Requirements Prior to Receiving God’s Holy Spirit

God has ordained that certain steps be accomplished before He shares His Holy Spirit with us. They are, in proper sequence: 1) repentance, 2) belief, and 3) baptism [the elements of baptism are explained later]. After these are accomplished, THEN, as it says in Act 2:38, “you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”—not before. It is only after we have received the gift of God’s Holy Spirit that we are truly His children—belonging to Him—and rightly called “Christians.”

Paul tells us in the book of Romans that we are Christians ONLY if the Holy Spirit dwells in us: “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His” (Romans 8:9). Paul goes on to explain that God the Father will raise us from the dead and change us to spirit ONLY if the Holy Spirit dwells in us—whether we died having God’s Spirit, or whether we are still alive and have God’s Spirit when Christ returns. He says in Romans 8:11: “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who [better translated: which] dwells in you.”

Biblical baptism, though clearly an outward ritual, is, in fact, an ordinance established by God and IS ESSENTIAL for our salvation.

Proper Baptism

What is the proper, biblical way to be baptized? Do we need to be fully immersed, or is it sufficient to just be sprinkled with water?

The English word “baptism” is derived from the Greek word, “baptizo.” The meaning of this Greek word is “to immerse,” “to place completely under [water],” or “to plunge into.” The Bible shows that the New Testament method of baptism was one of immersing the person under water. “Sprinkling” or “pouring” was never used because the symbolism attached to baptism only makes sense with complete immersion (Note that the Greek word for “sprinkle” is “rantizo,” while the Greek word for “pour” is “cheo”—completely different words NOT used in the Bible when describing baptism).

The Symbolism of Baptism

Paul explains the symbolism of baptism in Romans 6:3–4, 8, 11: “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life… Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him… Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Baptism is likened to burial in a watery grave. Just as Christ died and was laid in a tomb, so we—by analogy—die in baptism, having first repented of our sins and having laid to rest our old habits and our old desires. (As will be fully explained later in this booklet, it is God, of course, who leads us to baptism and who enables us to repent and to change.) Just as God raised Christ from the dead and brought Him out of the tomb, so we are to be brought out of the watery grave, in a figurative sense and, upon receiving God’s Holy Spirit, we begin to live a new way of life. We certainly know that if we were to stay under water long enough, we would literally die of drowning. Baptism by immersion is, therefore, a perfect symbol of the death and burial of our old sinful self.

Notice Paul’s further explanation in Colossians 2:12–13: “[You were] buried with Him [Christ] in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses…He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

Sprinkling or pouring with water clearly does not exhibit this important symbolism of being dead and buried in a watery grave, and then being raised to life from the dead out of the watery grave. Only full immersion under water can adequately picture this.

How the Early Church Baptized

When the disciples in the New Testament were baptized, it was done so by immersion in water. In John 3:23, we read how John baptized: “Now John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there.” Much water was needed in order to immerse the body fully under water. If baptism were accomplished by sprinkling, much water wouldn’t be needed.

In Matthew 3:16, we read that Jesus, after His baptism, “came up… from the water.” He was fully under water for a moment, and He came up from under it. John did not just sprinkle Him with a few drops of water, nor did he just pour some water over His head.

We also find baptism by immersion described in Acts 8:36–39: “Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch WENT DOWN INTO the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up OUT OF the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.” Philip placed the eunuch fully under water when he baptized him. He did not just pour some water over his head, nor did he just sprinkle a few drops of water on him.

Counting the Cost

We have already seen that a person should not be baptized unless he or she fully understands what this ordinance symbolizes. Jesus Christ admonishes us to “count the cost” before we make important decisions, such as baptism. For instance, we read in Luke 14:25–33 that we must consider the matter and know the consequences before we decide to “follow Christ”:

“Now great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, ‘If anyone comes to Me [when we undergo baptism, we come to Him], and does not hate [love less by comparison] his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me [he needs to be willing to suffer for righteousness’ sake] cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.” Or what king, going to make war against another king [once we follow Christ, we will be fighting a war against Satan and his demons], does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.’”

Baptism is not an ordinance to pursue hastily. It requires prior meditation as to the full meaning and symbolism, as well as what all is entailed in becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ. It requires a “counting of the cost.”

True Repentance

What is true repentance? People commonly feel sorry when they are caught doing something wrong, but prior to being caught, they had no thought of “repentance.” True repentance is more than just an emotional feeling or a temporary regret that one has done something wrong and must now suffer the consequences.

True repentance means to stop doing what is wrong, and begin doing what is right. True godly repentance will produce a change in a person. The person will cease doing wrong things because the heart and mind of the person is changing. The Greek words for “repent” and “repentance” are mainly “metanoeo” and “metanoia.” They literally mean, “to have another mind,” and, “a change of mind,” respectively. This kind of godly repentance—a change in the way we think—leads to a new kind of action, and, in fact, brings about obedience to God’s Word. Such change must ALREADY be evident in a person’s life BEFORE baptism.

When the multitudes came to be baptized by John the Baptist, he refused to do so, because he did not see evidence of repentance in their lives. We read in Luke 3:7–9: “Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, ‘Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear FRUITS WORTHY OF REPENTANCE, and do not begin to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father! For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear GOOD FRUIT is cut down and thrown into the fire.’”

John expected to see good deeds in those who wanted to be baptized. He looked for fruits worthy of true godly repentance. The multitudes understood what John was talking about. They responded by asking, “What shall we DO then?” (verse 10; compare also verses 12 and 14). They began to understand that repentance was a prerequisite of baptism and that it must be EVIDENCED BY OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WILL. As John explained to them, this obedience would become evident in their daily living.

Later, the apostles would explain to the high priest and the Sadducees that God gives His Holy Spirit ONLY to those who have already shown, prior to their baptism, that they are willing to obey Him. We read in Acts 5:29–32: “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And so we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom [better translated: which] God has given to those who obey Him.’”

Again, we see a designated order: 1) repentance, 2) forgiveness of sins [as a consequence of repentance and faith], and 3) the giving of the Holy Spirit [as a consequence of baptism].

Repentance must be accompanied by obedience to God’s will. Only then is our repentance true, genuine and godly. Temporary remorse is not true repentance. Paul calls this kind of regret “worldly sorrow,” which is only fleeting. Godly repentance, however, will lead to eternal life. We read in 2 Corinthians 7:9–10: “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner… For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

We might think of Judas, in this context, who betrayed Christ for thirty pieces of silver. When he fully realized what he had done and that he was responsible for Christ’s murder, he “was remorseful.” He “brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood’” (Matthew 27:3–4). So far, so good. He was SORRY for what he had done, and he even DID something relevant—which was right—he gave the “blood money” back, with the hope that this might somehow free Jesus. Of course, the chief priests and the elders were not interested in the least about letting Christ go, so they claimed that they had no responsibility for Judas’ actions. Judas’ further reaction shows that he did not have true godly repentance, but only worldly remorse. He felt so devastated and helpless that he “departed, and went and hanged himself” (Matthew 27:5). By doing this, Judas added to his prior sin of betrayal, the sin of suicide—murdering himself.

Contrast this with Peter’s conduct. He denied Christ three times, but when he realized what he had done, he “went out and wept bitterly” (Matthew 26:75). He was truly repentant of his actions, realizing that he could do nothing to reverse his actions, but, unlike Judas, he did not proceed to add another sin to his previous ones. His repentance led to the gift of the Holy Spirit and ultimately to eternal life.

True repentance does not try to hide wrong actions, nor does it refuse to accept responsibility. True repentance does not blame others for one’s sins. True repentance makes us realize how rotten and carnal we are. It lets us break down and cry bitterly at times over our own shortcomings, weaknesses, and failures.

True repentance leads us to make right decisions and to engage in right actions. It motivates us to leave behind what is bad for us. We read a good example in Acts 19:18–19 of right conduct following godly repentance, “And many who had believed came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.”

They did not want to keep those books, perhaps fearing that they might be enticed later to return to their habit of practicing magic. That is why Christ encourages all of us to break completely with our sinful past. He tells us, “If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast if from you… And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off and cast it from you” (Matthew 5:29–30). Christ did not mean that we are to apply this literally by actually dismembering ourselves. He was addressing the principle of leaving wrong habits behind. The Lamsa Bible explains that these phrases are Aramaic idioms, encouraging the listeners to “stop envying,” and to “stop stealing.”

Ongoing Spiritual Battle

True repentance does not stop at the time of baptism. True repentance is an ongoing process, because even after baptism, we will still sin at times. Overcoming sin is a life-long spiritual battle. However, as we will see later in this booklet, upon receiving God’s Spirit at baptism, we acquire a new mind and a new heart. Our focus in life will become different. From then on, it will be God’s Holy Spirit within us that leads and guides us in a different direction, inspiring us to make right choices and exhibit right actions that are based on God’s will instead of our own carnal will. We will fully comprehend that what we did in the past, as well as what we were, was totally wrong, and we will recognize that we need to become a different person. This is not easy. It is an ongoing spiritual battle as the old carnal nature in us keeps trying to dominate our thoughts and actions.

Note the inspired words of Paul, an apostle of Christ, in describing his ongoing fight with sin. Paul actually wrote this many years after his baptism. He says, “I don’t understand myself at all, for I really want to do what is right, but I can’t. I do what I don’t want to—what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I am doing is wrong, and my bad conscience proves that I agree with these laws I am breaking. But I can’t help myself, because I’m no longer doing it. It is sin inside me that is stronger than I am that makes me do these evil things. I know I am rotten through and through so far as my old sinful nature is concerned. No matter which way I turn I can’t make myself do right. I want to but I can’t. When I want to do good, I don’t; and when I try not to do wrong, I do it anyway. Now if I am doing what I don’t want to, it is plain where the trouble is: sin still has me in its evil grasp.

“It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love to do God’s will so far as my new nature is concerned; but there is something else deep within me, in my lower nature, that is at war with my mind and wins the fight and makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. In my mind I want to be God’s willing servant but instead I find myself still enslaved to sin.

“So you see how it is: my new life tells me to do right, but the old nature that is still inside me loves to sin. Oh, what a terrible predicament I’m in!” (Romans 7:15–24, Living Bible).

Paul is describing here the ongoing spiritual battle of a converted person to overcome sin. Some claim that Paul is describing his spiritual fight prior to his conversion. This is not correct. The context shows that he is pointing out his ongoing fight with sin after his baptism. We read in 1 John 1:8 that we deceive ourselves and that the truth is not in us if we say that we have no sin—that we don’t sin—even after baptism. It is true that the realization that we do sin and must repent of sin begins when God calls us and grants us repentance. However, without God’s Spirit in us, it is IMPOSSIBLE to overcome sin. Even WITH God’s Spirit in us, the fight is still difficult, as our old sinful nature in us does not want to die. Notice that it is Christ WITHIN US (through His Spirit in us) who fights our battles FOR us. That is why Paul can confidentially exclaim, “Who will free me from my slavery to this deadly lower nature? Thank God! It has been done by Jesus Christ our Lord! He has set me free” (Romans 7:24–25, Living Bible).

With God’s Spirit in us, the fight against sin CAN be won, since it is Christ who is fighting for us. Still, we must YIELD to Christ. We must LET HIM fight our battles. We must reject our own carnal selfish nature within us. Notice James 4:5, 7–8: “Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ‘The Spirit who [better translated: which] dwells in us yearns jealously’? [God—through His Spirit within us—wants us to submit to Him and He wants us to resist our carnal desires.]… Therefore submit to God… Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

We have to be single-minded, having as our focus, a fervent desire to live God’s way of life. We have to continuously repent of following the evil desires of our heart. Yes, we DO have a part to play in the process. We DO have responsibilities. Notice 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, Living Bible: “In a race, everyone runs but only one person gets first prize. So run your race to win. To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best. An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears. So I run straight to the goal with the purpose in every step. I fight to win. I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around. Like an athlete I punish [or discipline] my body, treating it roughly, training it to do what it should, not what it wants to. Otherwise I fear that after enlisting others for the race, I myself might be declared unfit and ordered to stand aside.”

We CAN become successful! We CAN conquer sin! How? By following the lead of God’s Spirit that dwells IN US. Otherwise, we CANNOT become victorious! Without God having called us and granted us godly repentance (Acts 5:31; 2 Timothy 2:25; Romans 2:4), we simply COULD NOT overcome. In fact, we WOULD NOT even realize that we must overcome, and we would not even see how rotten and evil our carnal nature really is. The majority of people today do not know that they must repent of wrong thoughts and actions, and make real changes in the way they live. God has not called them yet. He has not opened their minds to that important fact. Christ told the Jews of His time: “Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word… He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God” (John 8:43, 47).

God did not call them at that time (John 6:65: “… no one can come to Me [Christ] unless it has been granted to him by My Father”). Consequently, they are not yet judged for their conduct because they are basically “ignorant” of what they are and what they are doing. Paul reflects on his own carnal conduct prior to his conversion and his subsequent change in this way: “And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, although I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent [violently arrogant] man; but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief” (1 Timothy 1:12–13).

Prior to our calling, all of us were ignorant of God’s values and standards. Peter confirms that the murder of Christ was done “in ignorance” (Acts 3:17). Still, sin is sin and it needs to be repented of once the realization of wrong conduct sinks in. So then, Peter continues to admonish his listeners: “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

Paul adds this important fact, in Acts 17:30–31, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men [all who have been called, compare Acts 2:39] everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Most people today are still living in ignorance. Their time of salvation has not come yet. We read in Ephesians 4:17–18, “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”

Before our calling, we were no different. God has called us OUT OF this lifestyle—not to return to it again. Notice 1 Peter 1:13–15, “Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober… as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct.”

 The time will come when God WILL remove from ALL of mankind the ignorance and blindness of their hearts and grant them an understanding of His way. This time has not yet come for most people, but it will, in accordance with God’s great plan and purpose. (Regarding this little-understood aspect of God’s plan for all of mankind, please read our free booklets, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” and “God IS a Family.”)

What to Repent of…

What, exactly, is it that we need to repent of prior to baptism? Simply put, we must repent of the sins we have committed. What is sin? The biblical definition is: “…sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4, AV). Which law? The law of God’s Ten Commandments. James calls it the “royal law according to the Scripture” (James 2:8). It defines our love toward God and our love toward neighbor. When we break even one of the Ten Commandments, we are guilty of having broken them all and have become a transgressor of the law (James 2:10–11). The law of the Ten Commandments is a spiritual law, as Paul explains in Romans 7:14, because it regulates not only our actions, but also the motives and intents of our heart. We sin when we commit adultery (Exodus 20:14), but we also sin when we desire or covet the wife of another man (Exodus 20:17), or when we look at another woman with the desire to commit adultery with her (Matthew 5:28). Additionally, we sin when we kill someone (Exodus 20:13), but we have already sinned by violating God’s spiritual law of the Ten Commandments when we even hate another human being (Matthew 5:21–22; 1 John 3:15).

The spiritual intent of the law of the Ten Commandments regulates what is in our heart, subsequently leading to either right or wrong actions. Christ tells us in Matthew 15:19: “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”

Sin is the transgression of God’s spiritual law of the Ten Commandments. The penalty—the wages (what we earn)—of sin is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Sin begins in our own heart with our own evil desires, then it leads to the actual sin, and ultimately to eternal death (compare James 1:14–15), unless repented of. Godly repentance means to be deeply sorry not only for what we do but for what we are. It must be accompanied by a desire to change what we do, how we think, and what we are.

We must come to the realization, prior to our baptism, that we have been living a life contrary to God. God says that we have been His enemies in times past, prior to our conversion (compare Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21). We have been living with hostility toward God’s law, perhaps without realizing it. God says that the carnal mind—the unconverted mind—is hostile toward the law of God, and it is unwilling, and therefore unable, to keep it. (Compare Romans 8:6–7: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”)

This applies to every human being prior to conversion, whether or not he or she grew up in a Sabbath-keeping Church of God, even though that Sabbath-keeping Church of God stayed loyal and faithful to the truth. Peter, James and John lived with Jesus Christ for several years, yet Christ had to point out to them that they were under Satan’s influence when they wanted to respond to the desires of “their father,” the devil. In Matthew 16:23, Christ even called Peter “Satan,” because Peter desired at that moment “the things of men,” not “the things of God.” In Luke 9:55–56, Christ rebuked James and John, the “Sons of Thunder (compare Mark 3:17),” because they followed Satan’s spirit when they asked for the destruction of the Samaritans.

Satan’s Nature in Us

All of us have acquired, to some degree, Satan’s nature. We were all influenced and, in fact, held captive by Satan to do his will. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:24–26, “And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.”

We all walked at one time “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit [Satan the devil] who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others” (Ephesians 2:2–3). Remember, we all “were once darkness” (Ephesians 5:8). That is exactly what we were, having acquired Satan’s nature. When God calls us (Romans 8:28–29; 2 Timothy 1:9) to grant us repentance (Romans 2:4), we need to respond to God’s calling by repenting of our sins—what we did, what we desired, what we thought, and what we were, and still are to some degree.

At the time of Christ, many of the Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes and other “noble people” refused to repent. They didn’t think they had anything to repent of. It was very difficult for them to recognize that they were sinners and that they had to repent. On the other hand, “sinners,” such as tax collectors and prostitutes, could easily see how badly they had lived their lives. Christ said that they would enter the Kingdom of God before the Pharisees.

The same can be said today. Some have a hard time understanding that they, too, must repent. They think they have led a pretty good life, so what should they repent of? The answer is that ALL must repent, because ALL HAVE SINNED (Romans 3:9–19; 1 John 1:10). All of us have earned the death penalty, and without repentance, there is no forgiveness of sin. We ALL have MUCH to repent of.

Even if we have not engaged in such glaring sins as idolatry, dishonoring parents, drunkenness, fornication, adultery, killing (including war), or Sabbath-breaking, are we not familiar with hot tempers, wrong emotions, feelings of hate, judgmental attitudes, jealousy and envy toward others, or desire for physical things that are harmful for us? Haven’t we all lied “a little” at times, “shading the truth” somewhat? Haven’t we all spent too much time on wrong thoughts and actions?

Remember, sin is not only what we do—it is what we think and what we are. We all need to acquire a new heart and a new mindset. Even after baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit, we have to continuously let God’s Spirit lead us, thus purifying us and making us acceptable to God (Titus 2:14). The “old man” in us (Romans 6:6) does not want to die, and he will try, instigated by Satan, to come back out of the grave where we have buried him in baptism, to creep back into our lives and to take over, like a zombie (compare Romans 7:18–24). All of us must always be on guard and not allow that to happen (1 Corinthians 9:27).

“Re-”Baptism?

As we have seen, godly repentance is a prerequisite to baptism. A young baby, who has no concept of repentance, or a young child who is not mature enough to make a valid, irreversible decision after first counting the cost, should not be baptized. The same is true for an adult who does not yet know what sin is. If we don’t know what sin is, how can we repent of it? How can our baptism reflect the burial of our old nature with its lusts and evil desires—including the natural desire to break God’s law—if we don’t know how we have been breaking God’s law? How can our being raised out of the watery grave reflect our dedication to walk in newness of life and to live obediently to God’s law, if we don’t even know what God’s law requires of us?

People who have been baptized as a baby or as a young child would need to be “re”-baptized, that is, properly baptized for the first time, when they are called by God to genuinely repent of their sins. The same would be true for adult persons who were baptized without realizing what they were really guilty of and what they needed to repent of. For instance, people who do not know the importance of keeping ALL of God’s Ten Commandments, including the commandment to keep God’s Sabbath holy, the commandment not to fight or kill in war, not to worship idols, and not to pray to “Mother Mary” or other “heavenly saints,” have not really repented of their sins. They lack understanding of what sin is and, therefore, do not cease from their sins. They continue to engage in the same wrong conduct, showing that they did not begin to live in “newness of life.”

When someone is in doubt whether his or her prior “baptism” was valid in God’s eyes and resulted in receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit, he or she needs to look at the fruits after that “baptism.” Since God’s commandments regarding idolatry and Sabbath-keeping are of such fundamental importance, the Holy Spirit would lead a person who is called by God to immediately recognize and accept this truth before or at the time of baptism, or very shortly thereafter. The person would immediately feel a compelling desire to keep the Sabbath and to cease from committing idolatry. If such an action did not take place at the time of “baptism,” or at least within a reasonably short time thereafter, we can safely say that such a “baptism” was not valid in God’s eyes and did not lead to the pouring out of God’s Spirit on the person. If the person begins to understand now the importance of keeping all of God’s commandments, is repentant of his or her prior conduct, believes in Christ’s sacrifice for the forgiveness of his or her sins, and is willing to obey whatever God’s Spirit might reveal to him or her in the future, then that person should now consider being properly baptized.

In order to determine whether a previous “baptism” of an adult person was valid in God’s eyes, we should ask ourselves the following questions:

(1)   When I was baptized by immersion, did I understand what sin is? Did I repent of my sins? Did I ask, in faith, for forgiveness of my sins? Did I understand that forgiveness was bestowed on me because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ who died for me, so that I could live for Him?

(2)   Did I understand, at the time of my baptism, what I was—not only what I did—and did I repent of my very evil and carnal nature that is hostile against the law of God? Did I actually bury my old self in the watery grave?

(3)   Did I make a commitment with God to let the Holy Spirit create in me a new heart, to make a new person out of me, to live in me, to guide me, to help me avoid sin, and to give me strength to strive against sin so that I would be able to acquire a new nature—the divine nature of God Himself? Did I actually come up from the watery grave “clean,” a new person, knowing that from then on I would have to strive as never before to avoid sinning and to live righteously, and that I would have to continually work at keeping all of God’s commandments, including those that would be revealed to me in the future?

If we cannot substantially answer all of the above questions with “yes,” then our previous baptism would not be valid in the eyes of God and we would not have received God’s Holy Spirit at that time.

Again, godly repentance is a necessary prerequisite for proper baptism and receiving God’s Holy Spirit. We need to know WHAT WE ARE and WHAT WE DID so that we can REPENT of our carnal ways and set our course to become a different person—to think, to speak, and to act differently from then on. We need to know, additionally, that based on human strength alone, we will NOT be able to accomplish this perfectly. That is why we NEED to have God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in us, directing us and giving us the needed power and strength to live a life in subjection to God. There is no promise in the Bible that we will receive God’s Spirit, unless we are first properly baptized.

What to Believe In…

As mentioned before, the second most important prerequisite of baptism is belief, or faith. Christ said in Mark 16:16, “He who BELIEVES and is baptized will be saved.” What exactly are we to believe?

Prior to that statement, in Mark 16:15, Christ had pointed out that the disciples had to preach the GOSPEL to every creature. He then said in verse 16, “He who believes…will be saved.” Obviously, before being baptized, we must believe the GOSPEL. What is the gospel? Paul warned us that if we preach another gospel, other than the one that was preached by Christ and the early apostles, we are accursed (Galatians 1:6–9). It is imperative that we preach and believe in the gospel of Christ—Christ’s gospel—the gospel that He preached (verse 7, “[some] want to pervert [or distort] the gospel OF Christ.”). What was the gospel that Christ preached?

Mark 1:1, 14–15 tells us: “The beginning of the gospel OF Jesus Christ, the Son of God… Now after John [the Baptist] was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. REPENT, and BELIEVE in…’” What are we to believe in? “‘…the GOSPEL.’”

Before we can be baptized, we are to repent and believe in the GOSPEL of the KINGDOM OF GOD. There is only ONE gospel. It is the gospel OF Christ—the gospel that Christ preached. It is Christ’s gospel ABOUT the KINGDOM OF GOD.

The gospel of the Kingdom of God includes, of course, the fact that Jesus Christ is the coming KING of the Kingdom of God, and that He died for us so that we could obtain eternal life IN the Kingdom of God. The message about Christ, and faith in Christ, is NOT the entirety of the gospel. Neither is faith in Christ and in His name something separate and apart from the gospel. Rather, it’s all part of the one and only true gospel.

Our free booklet, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” describes in detail what the true gospel message entails. It includes the wonderful message that we can become full members of the Kingdom of God, and it explains how this can be accomplished. It also makes plain what exactly the Kingdom of God is. Shocking as it may sound, most people today have NO IDEA as to what the Kingdom of God really is. They have been taught to believe in a different gospel. Without understanding and believing the TRUE gospel of the Kingdom of God, we cannot be properly baptized.

The gospel of the Kingdom of God reveals who and what GOD is. It shows that GOD IS the Kingdom of God, ruling over His creation. It shows that God is a FAMILY, currently consisting of TWO God beings—God the Father and God the Son, who is Jesus Christ. It shows that converted Christians will become members of the God Family at the time of Christ’s return to this earth. It shows that the Kingdom of God will rule on this earth. It reveals that the Holy Spirit is NOT a separate God being at all, but rather the power of God that emanates from God—both God the Father and God the Son.

It explains that Jesus Christ was God before He became a human being, but that He gave up His divine nature to become a human being—flesh and blood—so that He could experience human suffering and so that He could die for us, thus paying the death penalty that we had earned because of OUR SINS. It shows that God the Father resurrected Christ from the dead and brought Him back to the glorified state of the God being that He was before His human birth. It reveals that through Christ’s suffering and death—through His supreme sacrifice—we can have forgiveness of our sins. It explains that the death penalty for our sins can be removed from us, if we accept, in faith, Christ’s sacrifice for us.

Believe in the Gospel

The gospel of the Kingdom of God is so much more than most people realize or want to admit! It is imperative that we BELIEVE in the gospel before getting baptized. We must believe who and what God is, believe what our human potential is, believe that we have incurred the death penalty because of our sins, and believe that Christ’s sacrifice, as the Lamb of God, brought about our reconciliation with God the Father. We must understand and believe that our sins have separated us from God (compare Isaiah 59:1–2), and that ONLY through Christ’s sacrifice could that separation be removed (compare Ephesians 2:14–18).

We must also believe that there is NO OTHER WAY TO BE SAVED than through Jesus Christ (John 14:6; Acts 4:12). We must also believe that it is the Father who draws us and brings us to Christ (John 6:44, 65).

How many people who were baptized in times past really believed all of that? If they believed in a false gospel, then God did not accept their baptism.

For instance, did they believe that God is a Trinity? (Our free booklets, “The Gospel of the Kingdom of God,” “Is God a Trinity?” and “God Is a Family,” prove from the Bible who and what God really is.) If they believed that God is a Trinity at the time of their baptism, how could the true God consider their baptism as being genuine? Did they have a clear understanding as to what will happen to them when they die? Did they believe that they go to heaven when they die or that they have an immortal soul? (Our free booklet, “Do You Have an Immortal Soul?” explains from the Bible what man really is and what man is to become.)

Did they know and believe what God says about sin? Did they understand and believe that sin is the transgression of the law? That the observance of Sunday, as well as certain annual holidays derived from paganism, such as Christmas and Easter, is sin because it violates God’s law? (Our free booklet, “Don’t Keep Christmas,” proves from the Bible why we are not to keep such annual holidays as Christmas, Easter, or Halloween.)

Further, did they know and believe that it is sin NOT to keep the weekly Sabbath—the seventh day of the week—as well as God’s annual Holy Days—Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles? (Our free booklet, “God’s Commanded Holy Days,” explains in detail the biblical command to keep these days holy.)

Now, this may seem like a lot to believe in if you have never heard the true gospel message as Christ preached it. There’s even more!

We also need to believe that we must have additional power, from God, in order to be able to keep God’s laws after our baptism. We must understand and believe that God the Father will give us the Holy Spirit—the very SAME SPIRIT that emanates from both the Father and Jesus Christ—when we come out of our “watery grave” at baptism, followed by prayer and laying on of hands (see discussion below). We must believe that God’s Spirit in us enables us to begin the process of changing our hearts and minds, replacing our carnal nature that we acquired from Satan with a divine nature that God will give us. This is the ONLY way we can become more and more like God and Jesus Christ. We must believe that God’s Holy Spirit will actually dwell in us from that time on, that it will lead us and guide us, and that we can and MUST follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in us. We must also believe and understand that we are considered true Christians ONLY when God’s Spirit lives in us. We must believe that the Holy Spirit in us is a downpayment, or earnest, or guarantee (2 Corinthians 1:22; 5:5; Ephesians 1:13–14) that God will resurrect us from the dead and change us to immortal beings.

We must believe and understand that we must obey God. True godly belief in the gospel means obedience to Christ and His words. We must believe that we have to GROW in the knowledge of Christ—the same knowledge that Christ has—and that baptism is just the BEGINNING of our converted walk toward total obedience (compare 2 Peter 3:18 and Ephesians 4:15). Although we will sin from time to time after baptism, we must believe that Christ will, upon our genuine and heartfelt repentance, continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Believe in Christ

You may have heard the expressions, “Believe the gospel,” or “Believe in Christ.” To believe IN Christ means to BELIEVE Christ—believe what Christ taught—the message that He preached, the gospel message, the good news about the Kingdom of God. Everything we covered in the previous section about believing the gospel is included in the simple phrase “Believe in Christ.” To believe in Christ means to believe in Him as our God, our Savior, and our King who rules over us. When we believe in Christ, we also believe in the Father. When we believe in Christ, we believe who and what Christ was before His human birth, what He was during His stay here on earth, as well as what He is now. When we believe in Christ, we believe that Christ is now our High Priest, continually intervening for us before the Father to obtain help and strength for us in time of need. When we believe in Christ, we obey Him, and when we obey Him, we obey God the Father. When we believe in Christ, we believe in His return to this earth to reward us according to our works.

Again, we ask, “How many really understood and believed the TRUE gospel message before they were baptized?”

As we have explained, “repentance” is a life-long process. It does not cease at the time of our baptism. Repentance is a godly change of mind from breaking God’s law to obeying God. To say that God accepts us “as we are” if we only “believe in Jesus” is a total misinterpretation of Scripture. Such a statement denies the need for change on our part.

When we believe IN Christ, then we BELIEVE Him and will OBEY Him. Paul spoke about “OBEDIENCE to the faith” on numerous occasions (Romans 1:5; Romans 16:26). We read that the disciples, including a great many of the priests, became “obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7).

Faith and obedience are not exclusive of each other. They are very much connected. James speaks about a “dead” or useless “faith,” and, conversely, a “living” faith. Faith without works—without obedience—is dead (James 2:14–26). When we believe in Jesus Christ, we must obey Him. Otherwise, our faith is dead and we worship Him “in vain” (Mark 7:6–13).

Christ told those who believed in Him that they had to “abide in My word” in order to be “My disciples indeed” (John 8:31). To abide in Christ’s word means to obey and live by His words. Only he who “DOES the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:17). We have to DO the things that we have learned (Philippians 4:9). We are blessed if we “do His commandments” (Revelation 22:14). In fact, Christ tells us in John 13:17, “If you KNOW these things, blessed are you if you DO them.”

If we say that we believe in Christ and that we love Christ, we must also keep His word. He tells us in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Compare John 14:21, 23; 15:10).

Christ is the light of the world (compare John 1:9) and He wants us to come to Him. How do we do that? John 3:20–21 gives the answer: “For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who DOES the TRUTH comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Coming to Christ—believing in Christ as our Savior, the one who DIED for OUR sins—means that we must be willing to live a life obedient to God’s law. Just believing in Christ, while continuing the practice of sin, is useless. Christ will NOT accept us that way! He tells us that we are His friends IF we do whatever He commands us (John 15:14). He even calls us His brothers, His sisters and His mother, if we do the Will of God (Mark 3:35). On the other hand, if we refuse to obey God’s commandments, reasoning that all that matters is to just “believe” in, and know of, the person of Jesus Christ, we are called liars in whom there is no truth. 1 John 2:4 makes this very plain: “He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

It is very clear that to believe in Christ means to obey Him. Notice John 3:36, Revised Standard Version, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God rests upon him.” Some translations replace the word “obey” with “believe,” however, the rendering of “obey” is correct according to the original Greek (compare, also, the Revised English Bible; the New American Bible; the Elberfelder Bible; the Menge Bible; the Zürcher Bible; and the Luther Bible).

When to Be Baptized?

Consideration for baptism requires an in-depth personal examination. It is not something to rush into. It is not a decision to be made based on emotions. We don’t simply “give our heart to the Lord.” We need to understand, repent and believe, as previously discussed. Why? Because baptism is a covenant—a contract—with God. Baptism represents an agreement that we make with God to obey Him—a promise to live by His requirements for the remainder of our lives. If we break that promise later, God certainly holds us accountable for doing so.

God does require us to be baptized in order to receive His Holy Spirit. The question of whether or not to be baptized depends on whether or not a person is old enough to understand and believe in the gospel. This includes the following: an understanding of what sin is; the fact that the death penalty hangs over our heads because of our own sins; the fact that Christ died for us so that we can have forgiveness of our sins when we truly repent of them and accept His sacrifice as payment for our sins; the fact that we need to put our carnal nature into the watery grave, and leave it there; the fact that we can acquire God’s divine nature ONLY through the Holy Spirit dwelling in us; and the fact that we must be baptized in order to receive God’s power to be able to change the way we think, speak and act. If you can grasp the meaning of the aforementioned and genuinely believe these things, then we say, “yes, you ought to go ahead with baptism as soon as possible.”

True, we must not rush into baptism. On the other hand, once we understand what sin is and have truly repented of our sins, and once we believe in the gospel message of Jesus Christ and all that it entails, we are to be baptized immediately. We must not make the mistake of lingering and avoiding our responsibility to be baptized. Thoughts and ideas can easily come into our mind to discourage us from doing so. You can be sure that these ideas DO NOT come from God.

God WANTS us to be baptized. He COMMANDS us to be baptized. Satan, on the other hand, HATES nothing more than seeing one of “his children” leave him in order to place him- or herself under the government and rule of God. Satan will attempt to thwart our intentions by putting into our minds certain concepts, ideas and arguments in order to make us think that we should not get baptized—at least “not yet.”

These diverting ideas come in different disguises. For instance, we may think that we don’t even need to be baptized because, after all, we are not such a bad person. Make no mistake, EVERYONE SINS, and EVERYONE MUST REPENT. Another argument might be that, if we are baptized now, then all the fun stops, so, let’s have our fun now and repent of it and get baptized later. A third line of reasoning may go this way: “I need to be perfect before I can get baptized. I am still trying to get rid of a particular bad habit or a sin and I don’t want to get baptized before I have got rid of it.”

All of these arguments miss the entire point as to WHY we must get baptized. Perfection will not be achieved in this life based on our own strength. That is why we MUST HAVE GOD’S HOLY SPIRIT OF POWER to help us to overcome our problems. We must, of course, WANT to change. That means, we must not engage deliberately in wrong conduct, knowing that it is wrong. Our weakness and inability to overcome our bad habits only proves that we must get baptized and that we must receive God’s Holy Spirit to HELP us with our battle against our sins.

If we reason that we don’t want to get baptized yet because we don’t want to miss the fun, then our concept of what “fun” is must be corrected immediately. If baptism is a hurdle to us because we don’t want to give up “fun,” then we are, indeed, missing the point. Perhaps we have a false concept of what it means to be a Christian. For instance, some teach that a Christian must not dance, watch television or movies, drink alcohol, or play cards. None of these prohibitions, however, are biblical. Rather, they are based on human traditions and simply constitute self-imposed religion. On the other hand, if baptism would be contrary to certain habitual actions of “fun,” then our concept of “fun” is contrary to God’s word—with or without baptism. Anyone, who KNOWS better, actually SINS by engaging in sinful “fun.” When we know to do good and to avoid evil, and don’t live accordingly, we sin, whether baptized or not. As we explained before, SIN must be repented of BEFORE our baptism. To delay repentance is dangerous. God holds us accountable for what we know and what we do with the knowledge we have been given.

When we examine the biblical record, we find that when people were ready for baptism, they were baptized immediately. They did not delay, nor did the ministers have the disciples go through time-consuming “courses” of baptismal “requirements” before they were willing to baptize the person.

We find that on the day of Pentecost, 3,000 believers were baptized the same day when they heard Peter’s inspired sermon and were motivated to come to genuine repentance (Acts 2:41). We find that Philip immediately baptized the eunuch who had worshipped God in Jerusalem, and who was studying the Bible on his return to Ethiopia (Acts 8:35–38). Philip explained to him the Scriptures as they relate to Jesus and the eunuch was baptized within a few hours. Paul—formerly Saul—was baptized by Ananias within a few days of Paul’s encounter with Christ. Later, Paul described his experience with these words, “‘Then a certain Ananias, a devout man according to the law…came to me; and he stood and said to me…“And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord”’” (Acts 22:12–16). Paul baptized the jailer and his household “the same hour of the night” (Acts 16:33).

When an adult person has genuinely repented and believes, he or she should be baptized without the necessity of prior laborious requirements. A person who has repented and believes and obeys the gospel, who believes in, and keeps the Sabbath and the Holy Days, who has shown fruits worthy of repentance in his or her life, who tithes and gives offerings according to God’s commandments, and who understands the future that God has in store for us, should get baptized. It is simply unconscionable to require of such a person—as some ministers have done—to first study a laborious Bible course or watch lengthy biblical videos that begin with a simple lesson as to whether or not “God” exists!

Who Should Baptize?

Once a person is truly ready for baptism, a true minister of Christ should perform the baptism, though it may sometimes require a waiting period by virtue of the fact that a minister of Christ is not immediately available. We need to understand, though, that God is in charge and that when He calls someone and leads them to baptism, He will also work out the necessary details to send one of His ministers to perform the baptism. For instance, God sent Peter to Cornelius, and He sent Philip to the eunuch so that they could be baptized.

The biblical record indicates that only ordained ministers of God should perform baptisms. The reason is that the baptism is done for the purpose of receiving the Holy Spirit. We need to remember that following baptism by immersing under water, the minister is to pray over the person and to lay his hands on their head so that the person can receive the Holy Spirit. The Bible shows that without the laying on of hands, a person normally does not receive the Holy Spirit.

Notice this in Acts 8:12–17: “But when they believed Philip [one of the original seven deacons, Acts 6:5] as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized… Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He [better translated: it—the Holy Spirit] had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given…” (Compare, too, Acts 19:5–6).

We read later in the same chapter that Philip was sent, through an angel, to the eunuch, and that Philip baptized him. If this baptism led to the gift of the Holy Spirit, then Philip, who by that time would have been a minister, would have prayed over the eunuch and laid his hands on him. We note that Philip is called an “evangelist” in Acts 21:8.

We cannot reach a different conclusion by virtue of the fact that Christ’s apostles baptized others before they received the Holy Spirit themselves. The twelve apostles were in quite a different position than the rest of us are today, having been specifically chosen by Christ for a very unique and particular purpose. They were sent out by Christ to heal the sick, cast out demons and preach the gospel, prior to their conversion (Luke 22:32, AV; compare regarding conversion, 1 Samuel 10:6, 9). These activities, especially healing the sick and casting out demons, are reserved today for God’s ordained ministers. You may want to read the stirring account in Acts 19:13–16, reporting about the futile and unsuccessful attempt of unordained people to cast out a demon.

The fact that Christ allowed His apostles to baptize does not mean that unordained people have the authority to do so today. This would also include ministers from churches that do not teach and practice the law of God, including the observance of the Sabbath and the Holy Days. (Note that in unusual circumstances, God might grant His Holy Spirit to someone who is baptized by a minister outside the Church of God, or by an unordained person within the Church, if the baptized person fulfills all the requirements for proper baptism, as discussed earlier in this booklet. There is no promise, however, that God would grant the Holy Spirit under those circumstances, especially when the person to be baptized understands the role and function of God’s true ministers in His Church.)

Every example pertaining to the New Testament Church identifies Christ’s chosen ministers as those who would baptize people, pray over them and lay their hands upon them, so that the Holy Spirit could be given to them. We find, for instance, that only God’s ministers were given special authority from God to pray for the sick and to lay their hands upon them (while anointing them with oil). Notice it in James 5:14–15: “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.” (This is not to say that God might not give power to heal to some other people, but how sure can we be of that? We can be sure, however, that the elders of God’s Church have the authority and power to pray for healing of the sick.)

Some wonder whether baptism “in the name of Christ” is sufficient. They claim that a valid baptism must include the words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (compare Matthew 28:19). Is this claim correct? Let’s notice, from the Scriptural record, how the early apostles baptized the disciples.

One of the early baptisms is described in Acts 8:14–17. This passage (discussed earlier in this booklet) summarizes for us the exact ceremony of baptism leading to the gift of the Holy Spirit. Let’s read it again: “Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He [better: it—the Holy Spirit] had fallen upon none of them.They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.”

Notice carefully that they first received or accepted the word of God. They heard the message, accepted it, believed it and repented of their sins. They were then baptized “in the name of the Lord.” Following their baptism, the ministers prayed for them and laid their hands on them to set them apart for the holy purpose of following God and His way of life. It was THEN that they received the Holy Spirit.

So we see that baptism in the name of Christ was sufficient. Some have said that this passage just describes the fact that the apostles baptized the people with Christ’s authority. Although certainly included, the Scriptural meaning is more encompassing.

We must realize that in the phrase, “in the name of the Lord,” the Greek word for “in” is “eis,” and the Greek word for “name” is “onoma.” The Greek word “eis” can mean “in” or “into,” depending on the context. Scriptures such as Matthew 2:23; 18:6; Mark 2:1; 13:16, translate the Greek word “eis” correctly as “in.” Other passages, such as Matthew 2:11, 12 and 13 (AV), correctly translate the Greek word “eis” as “into.”

Additionally, the Greek word for “name,” “onoma,” can also mean, “possession.” It would therefore be accurate to render the phrase, “baptism in the name of Christ,” as “baptism into the possession of Christ.” This phrase not only describes the fact that baptism must be done with Christ’s authority, it also shows the result of baptism—we become Christ’s property because He died for us and bought us with His blood (compare Acts 20:28; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 2 Peter 2:1).

Now notice another revealing passage in Acts 19:1–6: “And it happened, while Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples he said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?’ So they said to him, ‘We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.’ And he said to them, ‘INTO what then were you baptized?’ So they said, ‘INTO John’s baptism.’ Then Paul said, ‘John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.’ When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”

These disciples had been baptized into the baptism of John. That baptism was not sufficient to receive the Holy Spirit. John’s baptism was an outward sign of inner repentance, but it did not include the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. Another baptism—baptism in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ—was necessary to receive the Holy Spirit. This passage implies that Christ’s baptism, which He accomplished through His apostles, was different from John’s baptism (compare again John 3:22; 4:1–3). Paul seemed to have known this distinction and that is why he asked the disciples, “Into WHAT [baptism] then were you baptized?”

Let’s notice again the distinction. The disciples were baptized “into John’s baptism.” The Greek word for “into” is “eis.” After they learned of the need of another baptism to receive the Holy Spirit, they were baptized “in [or into] the name of the Lord.” In the Greek, the word for “in” is also “eis,” which can also mean “into.” As they were baptized into John’s baptism, they were now baptized into the name or possession (“onoma” in Greek) of Christ, that is, into Christ’s baptism. This passage shows that baptism in, or into, the name of Christ is not only necessary, but is also sufficient, so that the Father will forgive our sins and give us His Holy Spirit.

There are only three recorded events in the Bible when people spoke with tongues after receiving the Holy Spirit. These special events occurred to provide evidence that the people had, in fact, received the Holy Spirit. This also provides further proof that baptism in, or into, the name of Christ is sufficient.

The first event is recorded in Acts 2, when the New Testament Church was born. God wanted to make it very clear that His disciples received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. The second event occurred in Acts 10, when, for the first time, Gentiles received the Holy Spirit. God did not want to leave any doubt that He had now opened the door of repentance and faith to the Gentiles (Acts 10:45–46; 11:15–18). The third event is the one in Acts 19 that we just discussed. Here, God wanted to make it very clear that ONLY the baptism into Christ is sufficient to receive the Holy Spirit (and not, as in that case, the baptism into John). We are not baptized into a man. This is very important to understand, as our baptism does not become invalid if the minister who baptized us subsequently leaves the Church.

We need to understand, too, what actually happened when people spoke with tongues in these given instances. Some claim that baptism with the Holy Spirit causes the baptized person to fall backwards, begin rolling on the floor, and speaking and screaming in an unintelligible way, allegedly showing that he or she has received the gift of the Holy Spirit and can now “speak in tongues.”

However, that kind of conduct is not what is meant when the Bible talks about speaking in tongues. Acts 2 explains that speaking in tongues means speaking in another language. In Acts 2:4 we read: “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.” Beginning in verse 6 and continuing in verses 8 and 11, we find the explanation of “speaking with tongues.” Verse 6: “…everyone heard them speak in his own language… (verse 8) ‘And how is it that we hear, each in our own language [Authorized Version: “tongue”] in which we were born?… (verse 11) We hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.’”

The Greek word for “language” in verses 6 and 8 is “dialektos,” from which our word “dialect” is derived. The Greek word for “tongue” or “language” in verses 4 and 11 is “glossa.”

To speak in tongues, then, simply means to speak in a different language or dialect—but it is still a language or dialect “in which people are born.” They speak in a dialect or language, which other people understand due to their background, environment or upbringing. As mentioned, the Bible records only three incidents when people were given that gift immediately upon receiving the Holy Spirit. However, this gift has been given over the years to numerous baptized people, not necessarily at the time of their baptism, but in time, as they matured in their Christian lives.

Paul said specifically that “speaking in tongues,” or speaking a different language, should not be done unless someone is present to interpret what is said. The concept that one can speak in a “different tongue,” or in a foreign language, without understanding what the person is saying, is totally unbiblical and very dangerous. We are told that angels have their own language (1 Corinthians 13:1). This means, demons—fallen angels—have their own language, too.

Note 1 Corinthians 14:4–5: “He who speaks in a tongue [Greek: “glossa”] edifies himself… he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues [Greek: “glossa”], unless he indeed interprets, that the church may receive edification.”

In other words, if a minister preaches to the audience in a foreign language, the audience won’t understand him. The one who is speaking the language knows what he is saying (if he does not, then he is in all likelihood already in contact with and under the influence of demons), but nobody else in the audience will understand. Unless he or someone else who knows both languages interprets what he says, the audience is not benefited.

Paul continues, in verses 9: “So likewise you, unless you utter by the tongue [Greek: “glossa”] words easy to understand, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air.”

In the Greek, the word for “tongue” and “language” is the same; i.e., “glossa.” The translator decided to sometimes use the English word “tongue” and sometimes “language.” Translations, however, are not necessarily inspired. The Living Bible, for example, translates verse 9 this way, “In the same way, if you talk to a person in some LANGUAGE he doesn’t understand, how will he know what you mean?” Clearly, speaking in a foreign tongue means speaking in a foreign language.

Let’s note Paul’s command in 1 Corinthians 14:27–28: “If anyone speaks in a tongue [or foreign language; Greek: “glossa”; the Living Bible translates here, “No more than two or three should speak in an unknown LANGUAGE…”], let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in the church, and let him speak to himself and to God.”

We should not expect the immediate gift of being able to speak in a foreign language at the time of our baptism. As we said, God granted this gift only on three separate occasions, for a very specific and important reason. If, however, God were to grant such a gift, it would be one that would manifest itself “decently and in order” (1 Corinthians 14:40). It would not be done in “confusion” (1 Corinthians 14:33). It would be a gift of speaking in a foreign language and the speaker would know what he or she would be saying, thereby “magnifying God” (Acts 10:46). Based on Paul’s comments, those present would either understand the language being spoken, or someone present would be able to understand and interpret what is being said.

God bestowed the gift of speaking in tongues—foreign languages—on the disciples in Acts 19 in order to show that baptism must occur into Christ, not into any man. Paul reiterates the fact that baptism in or into the name of a minister is not sufficient. (After all, there is no other name than the name of Christ by which we can be saved; compare Acts 4:12.)

We read in 1 Corinthians 1:13–17: “Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, lest anyone should say that I had baptized in my own name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Besides, I do not know whether I baptized any other. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of no effect.”

Baptism in the name of a man is not sufficient to obtain the gift of the Holy Spirit. In the phrase, “in the name of Paul,” the Greek word for “in” is “eis,” which can also mean “into,” and the Greek word for “name” is “onoma,” which can also mean, “possession.” Paul tells us here that it is not sufficient to be baptized into the name or possession of a minister. We are not the property of a man. We are the property, or possession, of Jesus Christ who has purchased us with His own blood. (Compare again Paul’s words to the ministry in Ephesus, as recorded in Acts 20:28, “‘Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.’”)

Ancient Israel was “baptized,” but again, that baptism was not sufficient for them to be saved from sin and to receive the Holy Spirit. (We understand that the Holy Spirit was not offered to the people of ancient Israel, except for a few people in Old Testament times who were selected by God to receive the Holy Spirit for a special purpose. These would include Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, David, and the prophets of old, among others.)

We read in 1 Corinthians 10:1–5: “Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.”

They “drank” from the Spiritual Rock—Jesus Christ—who was with them and who taught them, but they were not baptized into His name or possession, and they did not subsequently receive His Holy Spirit. We read that they were baptized “into” (Greek, “eis”) Moses. Such a baptism is not sufficient to obtain the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Peter draws an analogy between true baptism and the flood at the time of Noah. While true baptism saves us from eternal death, the “baptism” that Noah and his family experienced saved them only from physical death. We read in 1 Peter 3:20–21: “…when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism (not the removal of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.”

The “baptism” of Noah, his wife, his sons and his daughters-in-law did not, of course, lead to them receiving the Holy Spirit. It appears from the biblical record that only Noah—perhaps Shem—had God’s Holy Spirit at the time of the flood. It is also strongly indicated in the Bible that Noah had received God’s Spirit prior to the flood (compare Genesis 6:8–9, 22; 7:1). There is no biblical indication that Noah’s other children and daughters-in-law had God’s Holy Spirit. The “baptism” of the flood was not a baptism that led to spiritual salvation because it was not a baptism “in the name,” or “into the possession,” of Jesus Christ. However, Peter’s analogy points at today’s baptism and links it to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. (We could not receive God’s Holy Spirit if Christ had not been raised from the dead.)

To reiterate, baptism in the name, or into the possession, of Jesus Christ is not only necessary, but is also sufficient to obtain forgiveness of our sins and to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We need to remember that there is no recorded biblical incident where the early apostles baptized people other than in, or into, the name of Jesus Christ. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, explained this very well in Romans 6:1–4. Let’s read this passage again: “What shall we say then? Shall we continue to sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Paul says that we are baptized into (Greek, “eis”) Christ and into His death. As Christ died a physical death, so we die spiritually in baptism. As Christ was literally resurrected from the dead, so we, too, are raised by the Father from the spiritually dead to live in newness of life. This part of the symbolism of baptism—death in the watery grave—clearly compares symbolically only with the death of Christ. Neither the Father nor the Holy Spirit—God’s power—died in any way. Only Christ, as a human being, died. Further, it is Christ’s death that is not only sufficient, but also necessary, for our forgiveness (Matthew 1:21). That is the reason why baptism into any other human being, be it Paul or Moses or John, would not have the effect of granting forgiveness and receiving God’s Holy Spirit. Their death did not, and could not, accomplish what Christ’s death accomplished.

Clearly, the ordinance of baptism consists of several key elements:

(1)   Baptism begins with our spiritual death in the watery grave.

(2)   It is followed by our resurrection from the spiritually dead by the Father through the power of God’s Holy Spirit.

(3)   The third part is the minister’s prayer to God the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the minister’s laying on of hands on the baptized person to receive God’s Holy Spirit (compare again Acts 8:14–17).

As we have seen, all of these parts are important, because without any one of them, the Holy Spirit is not generally bestowed upon a person.

Let us also read again Colossians 2:11–13: “In Him [Christ] you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses.”

When we are baptized into Christ—into His death—our old man dies, and we “put on” Christ—the new man of God. Notice Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Compare, too, Romans 13:14.

Baptism pictures our death and burial in a watery grave in the same way that Christ died and was buried in a tomb. Baptism also pictures our resurrection from the dead and our leaving the watery grave, just as Christ was resurrected from the dead and left the tomb. Finally, it pictures walking in newness of life as we put on Christ, who is now living in us through His Holy Spirit. 2 John 7 tells us that only deceivers don’t confess Jesus Christ “as coming in the flesh.” Christ is coming today in the flesh. He does so by living His life in us. Christ lived in Paul (Galatians 2:20). He lives in us today. In this way, He is coming “in the flesh,” since we are flesh-and-blood human beings.

We read in Acts 2:38 that we must be baptized IN the name of Christ. Peter tells us to “Repent, and let everyone of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” The Greek word for “in” in this clause (“in the name of Christ”) is “epi.” The Greek word for “name” is again, “onoma.” Peter tells us, then, that we must be baptized “in” the name, or possession, of Christ and then we will receive the Holy Spirit. After all, it is Christ who baptizes us with the Holy Spirit, as Matthew 3:11 tells us: “[Christ] will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Compare, too, Matthew 3:14.)

We also read in Acts 10:48 that Peter commanded them “to be baptized in the name of the Lord.” The Greek word for “in” within the phrase, “in the name of the Lord” is “en.” We find here a biblical command, through the mouth of Peter, to be baptized “in the name of the Lord.” In the passages in Acts 2:38 and Acts 10:48, discussed above, the additional thought is conveyed that baptism must be done with Christ’s authority. Only then, the Father—through Jesus Christ—will bestow on us the gift of the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 15:26; Titus 3:5–6).

It is necessary that the minister lay his hands on the person he has baptized, before the person can receive the Holy Spirit. This shows that the Holy Spirit of God, flowing out from God the Father and Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:6; Philippians 1:19; Romans 8:9) through the baptizing minister into the baptized person, sets the baptized person aside from the rest of the world for a holy and righteous purpose. The baptized person is now sanctified—set apart—to walk in newness of life. The power of God’s Spirit within that person will now guide, lead and direct the person in the way that he or she should go, giving the person the ability to walk in the right path, as well as giving the strength to not give up and return to the world, thus purifying that person from sin.

Notice the important role of the Holy Spirit during the baptism ceremony. Without baptism, we don’t receive the Holy Spirit. With proper baptism, we do receive it, as it is a baptism WITH the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts 1:5: “You shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit…” Compare, too, Acts 11:16.

Baptism with the Holy Spirit is done through the ordinance of water baptism, as was the case with the baptism that John performed. John’s baptism, however, did not go far enough, as we have already covered. It was not a baptism WITH the Holy Spirit. Only baptism in the name of Christ—baptism into Christ—can accomplish this.

It is through the baptism into Christ—the baptism WITH the Holy Spirit—that we become members of the Church, the spiritual body of Christ. We are baptized into the Church, a spiritual organism, not a particular human organization. We read in 1 Corinthians 12:13 (RSV): “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.”

We were baptized “into one body”—the Church—by one Spirit. The Greek word for “into” is “eis.” In the phrase, “by one spirit,” the Greek word for “by” is “ek” and can also mean “out of.” We are told here that it is “out of” the Holy Spirit of God that we were placed into the Church. The Holy Spirit flows out of God—both the Father and the Son—into us, making us thereby a part of the spiritual body of Christ.

We are also told in 1 Corinthians 12:13 that we were all made to drink of the same Spirit. This means that we must continuously take in, or partake of, God’s Spirit in order to remain in Christ’s spiritual body.

1 Corinthians 6:11 tells us that we “were washed… sanctified… [and] justified in [Greek, “en”] the name of the Lord Jesus and BY [Greek: “ek”] the Spirit of our God.”

The role of the Father is also very important during the baptismal ceremony. It was the Father who gave His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to die for us. It was the Father who resurrected Christ from the dead. It is the Father who raises us from the spiritually dead in baptism, and who gives us His Holy Spirit. Both the Father and Jesus Christ begin living in the converted person, through the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit—the Spirit of both the Father and of the Son—dwells in us, and when we follow the lead of the Holy Spirit in making life-changing choices, we begin to acquire the very nature of God—the divine nature of both God the Father and God the Son (compare 2 Peter 1:2–4). Ultimately, we will be changed to immortal God beings through this same Spirit and will become permanent members of the Kingdom—the Family—of God.

We are all familiar with the passage in Matthew 28:19–20, where Christ told His apostles, “‘(verse 19) Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (verse 20) teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…’”

Much has been written about whether or not Matthew 28:19 is genuine. We don’t need to be concerned that much about it, as long as we understand that this passage does not teach a mandatory “baptismal formula,” and that it most certainly does not teach a Trinity and the personhood of the Holy Spirit. (Regarding the false concept of the Trinity, please read our free booklet, “Is God a Trinity?”)

In regard to the issue whether Matthew 28:19 sets forth a mandatory baptismal formula, note the following: In the phrase, “in the name of,” the Greek for “name” is “onoma,” and the Greek for “in” is “eis.” Therefore, the phrase can also be translated as, “baptizing them into the possession of…”

We need to remember and bring into focus the symbolic meaning conveyed with the ordinance of baptism and its different components so that we can properly understand this passage. When the Bible speaks about baptism, it may not always mention all of the different components in a given passage. For instance, the necessary components of prayer to the Father, or of the laying on of hands, may not be specifically mentioned in a particular passage. They are, however, necessary in order to receive the Holy Spirit.

We have seen from the biblical record that the disciples were baptized in, or into, the name, or possession, of Jesus Christ. There is no biblical example where someone was actually baptized in, or into, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We read consistently that disciples were baptized in, or into, Christ, or in, or into, the name of Jesus Christ ONLY.

We discussed Acts 8:14–17 and Acts 19:1–6 as proof of this assertion. Note that in those passages, the Greek term for “in the name of” reads, “eis to onoma tou,” exactly as it does in Matthew 28:19. (Compare, as proof, “The Englishman’s Greek New Testament; giving the Greek Text of Stephens 1550, with the various readings of the Editions of Elzevir 1624, Griesbach, Lachmann, Tischendorf, Tregelles, Alford, and Wordsworth: Together with An Interlinear Literal Translation, and The Authorized Version of 1611.”) The occasional claim that the expression “eis to onoma” only appears in Matthew 28:19, is therefore incorrect.

Is there a contradiction, then, to Matthew 28:19 where Jesus commanded the apostles to “make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”? How can we resolve this apparent contradiction?

Some insist that Christ was giving His apostles in this Scripture a “baptismal formula” to be used during baptism. They even go so far as to say that baptism is not valid unless the baptizing minister uses that exact formula. Does their reasoning have biblical support?

If Christ had given His apostles a command in Matthew 28:19 to use a particular “formula” during baptism, then His disciples would have been in flagrant violation of His command, as they never used that “formula.” At least, there is no biblical record that they ever used it. Rather, we find that Paul told the disciples to be baptized in, or into, the name of Christ (compare Acts 19:1–6), not, in or into, the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Remember, though, what happened after the persons came out of the watery grave. The baptizing apostles prayed over them, and they laid hands upon them (compare Acts 8:14–17). We pray to the Father, as Christ instructed us to do (compare Matthew 6:9), so in laying hands on the persons and praying over them, the apostles asked the Father to give those people the Holy Spirit to set them aside from the rest of the world.

Rather than viewing Matthew 28:19 as a “formula” to be used verbatim by the minister when he baptizes a person into the death of Christ, the passage in Matthew 28:19 sets forth a description of what happens during the entire ceremony, including the prayer for the person—after he or she has been baptized, and the laying on of hands on that person. Note that Matthew 28:19 is not worded as a command to be repeated as a formula, but as a clarification how to “make disciples.” We are to make disciples by baptizing them and by teaching them to observe all things that Christ commanded. Baptism into Christ and His death is the beginning, followed by the “resurrection” from the watery grave, the minister’s prayer to the Father for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the laying on of hands. It describes the total process. In the same way, when Christ’s ministers teach “all things” that Christ commanded us, it encompasses a lengthy process of teaching the entire Gospel message, rather than a certain “formula” of words.

So, then, Matthew 28:19 does not set forth a particular word-for-word “baptismal formula,” given as a command. Neither does it set forth a particular word-for-word “teaching formula.” Rather, the command to “teach all things” is a summary term, describing the process of teaching. The same is true for the command to baptize. When a minister baptizes us in, or into, the name, or possession, of Jesus Christ, we recognize that we are baptized into Christ’s death. Note that the Bible nowhere states we are baptized into the death of the Father or the Holy Spirit. Such an analogy simply does not fit. It was ONLY Christ who died, and it was ONLY Christ who was resurrected, by the Father, through the Holy Spirit. (Compare again Romans 6:1–13.)

At the same time, it is also recognized that the Father gave Christ, His only begotten Son, to die for us; that the Father resurrected Christ; that the Father raises us up, spiritually speaking; and that the Father gives us the Holy Spirit. When we come out of the watery grave, God’s minister places his hands on our head and asks God the Father for the Holy Spirit—the same Spirit that emanates from both the Father and the Son. It is this Spirit of God flowing into us that enables us to walk in newness of life. We also recognize that, at that very moment, we enter into the Family of God as begotten—not yet born again—children of God the Father, and brothers and sisters of our elder Brother, Jesus Christ. In that sense, we become the possession, or the “property,” of the God Family (Whatever Christ owns, the Father owns too, and vice versa; compare John 16:15). All of this is made possible, then, through God’s Holy Spirit. So, rather than teaching a particular baptismal formula, Matthew 28:19 teaches how God makes it possible for us, through the Holy Spirit in us, to become part of the Family of God.

Notice Christ’s words in the parallel account in Mark 16:15–16: “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe [and is not baptized] will be condemned [better translated: judged].’” There is not even a hint of a baptismal formula here.

Even some outside the Sabbath-keeping Church of God organizations have concluded that Matthew 28:19 does not set forth a particular “baptismal formula,” concluding, rather, that baptism in the name of Christ is sufficient. The Catholic Church determined at the Synod of Nemours in 1284 that baptism in the name of Christ is quite sufficient. Further, around 1913, a Pentecostal group concluded to baptize “in the name of Jesus rather than using the traditional… [baptismal] formula” (Susan Lynn Peterson, Timeline Charts of the Western Church, 1999, page 201). In 1945, the United Pentecostal Church was formed, through the merger of two Pentecostal groups. They continued to baptize in the name of Jesus (Peterson, p. 209).

The basis for what we believe and do must be the Bible. In view of all the Scriptural evidence presented in this booklet, the Church of the Eternal God and its corporate affiliates, the Church of God, a Christian Fellowship in Canada, and the Global Church of God in the United Kingdom, have concluded that Matthew 28:19 does not set forth a mandatory “baptismal formula,” and that baptism in the name of Christ is both necessary and sufficient. This means that baptism in the name of Christ is valid, as long as the following requirements have been understood by the person to be baptized:

(1)   The person must have repented of his or her sins and his or her carnal human nature.

(2)   The person must have accepted Jesus Christ as his or her personal Savior.

(3)   The person must believe the gospel, including the fact that Christ’s sacrifice is sufficient payment for the penalty of his or her sins.

When we are baptized, we also need to understand that baptism is the first step toward entering the Kingdom, or Family, of God. The ordinance of baptism, then, includes the following concepts:

(1)   One is baptized in, or into, the name, or possession, of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

(2)   One is baptized and buried into the death of Christ, to be resurrected by God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.

(3)   One is baptized with God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit in us enables us to put on Christ and to walk in newness of life.

(4)   One is baptized by, or “out of,” the Holy Spirit into the spiritual body of Christ, the Church. The Church is a spiritual organism and could be described as the Kingdom of God in embryo. Through baptism and receiving of God’s Holy Spirit, we become begotten children of God the Father, begotten brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, and begotten members of the Family of God, currently composed of God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son.

(5)   One is baptized by, and with the authority, of our elder Brother, Jesus Christ.

Christians who have been baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” however, do not need to worry that their baptism is invalid, as long as they understood the proper meaning of baptism, including the facts that God is not a Trinity and that the Holy Spirit is not a separate divine being. After all, when one is baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” the baptism “in the name of Christ” is included, and, as we have explained, the Father and the Holy Spirit have an important role during the baptismal ceremony. As long as a person understands, at the time of his or her baptism, the functions and the nature of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, his or her baptism is valid.

Conclusion

We have presented in this booklet the biblical proof that water baptism through immersion is a necessary requirement for salvation. Without it, there is no promise in the Bible of receiving God’s Holy Spirit, and without God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we are not true Christians, and God will not grant us His gift of everlasting life in His Kingdom.

If you are old enough to understand the meaning of baptism, and what it entails, and if you genuinely desire to begin a new chapter in your life, now is the time to contact one of God’s true ministers for help and guidance. If you have been baptized in the past, but wonder whether your baptism was valid in God’s eyes, please don’t hesitate to contact us for counsel. We are here to help.

Don’t delay. Remember the stirring words of Ananias to Paul, as recorded in Acts 22:14, 16—words that apply to all of God’s called and chosen disciples, “‘The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth… And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.’”

If you understand what you have read in this booklet, God is calling you. So, we say with Ananias, “…Why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized…”

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We hear more and more about earthquakes, famines, droughts, wildfires, disease and sickness, wars and rumors of wars, floods, hailstorms and tornadoes. We hear of an undetected asteroid that almost collided with our planet.

We watch as new political alliances develop on the world scene, and ancient empires rise with renewed influence to form new alliances and power blocs. Unexpected economic developments cause uncertainty among investors and erosion of confidence among consumers. Terrorist attacks become more commonplace—and closer to home. We look for peace, but there is no peace.

Why such unrest in a world that supposedly is making giant strides to help us live longer and make our lives easier? It is because mankind, as a whole, has chosen to turn his back on his Creator. Thousands of years ago a book was written that predicted these very events would occur in our time—right now—in our day and age. God clearly warns us through this ancient book—the Bible—that even more devastating events will come upon this earth very soon, unless we repent and turn to Him.

In this booklet, we’ll take a close-up view of the frightening prophecies that describe the terrible events that will take place during the time period of the “Great Tribulation” and the “day of the LORD.” We are compelled by God Himself to speak His words as written in His book, and to openly warn people that there is a way of escape, whether people choose to listen or not. We pray that God will give YOU ears to hear and a heart to heed His warning, and to act accordingly.

Part 1 – Jerusalem and the Jewish People in Prophecy

The Middle East, especially the city of Jerusalem, has been in the news for quite some time, and we expect that this will continue. Our focus must be directed to the City of Jerusalem and the surrounding areas because that is where history-making events will unfold—events that will soon engulf the region with indescribable human suffering, pain, and misery, to be followed by unimaginable prosperity and peace!

Yes, the Bible predicts that within a few short years explosive events will take place in Jerusalem, events that will lead directly to the return of Jesus Christ. You need to understand what these things mean as they happen!

In His famous Olivet Prophecy Jesus explained very clearly what would happen to Jerusalem at the very end of this age of man. Reading in Luke 21:20, 22–24, “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near… For these are the days of vengeance [the Great Tribulation], that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”

Matthew 24:21 adds this warning: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Daniel 12:1 also prophesies that this will be the worst time ever in the history of mankind: “And there shall be a time of trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time.” When, exactly, will all of this happen and what will it lead to? Luke 21:27, 31 points out: “Then they will see the Son of Man coming [the Second Coming of Jesus Christ] in a cloud with power and great glory… So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.”

Jesus had just explained that, before He returns to this earth, the modern city of Jerusalem will be surrounded by armies. When this happens, its desolation will be near and there will be great distress because of the wrath to come upon the people of Jerusalem. Many of its inhabitants will be taken captive or killed in war. Gentiles will occupy the city—trample the city under foot—until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. How long will that be? Revelation 11:2 reveals: “…[Jerusalem, the holy city] has been granted to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months [three-and-a-half years].”

Does the Bible reveal who the Gentiles are that will attack and occupy Jerusalem? Indeed, it does, and we will discuss their identity in much more detail later in this booklet. At this point, we’ll focus just on the sequence of events.

Jerusalem will be occupied by Gentiles, led by a political and military personage–a powerful leader of a United Europe. This human military leader is identified in Scripture as the “Beast,” (compare Revelation 16:10); the “king of the North” (compare Daniel 11:40–41); or “King Jareb” of Assyria (compare Hosea 5:13; 10:6). “Jareb” means “fighter” or one who is quarrelsome. History does not reveal the existence of any Assyrian leader with the name or title of “Jareb.” This biblical reference is not to a historical leader of the past, but rather to a future leader of a modern Assyria. It could be the translation of an actual name, or more likely, the description of his character. You can read more about “King Jareb” of Assyria in the free booklet, Europe in Prophecy: The Unfolding of End-Time Events.

Historical records reveal that modern Assyrians can be found in the countries of Germany and Austria. And, as we will see in more detail, it will be this modern “King Jareb” of Assyria who will lead the Gentile armies to occupy the city of Jerusalem, trampling it underfoot for three-and-a-half years.

Initially, a somewhat peaceful relationship will exist between King Jareb and the Jewish people. But this peaceful relationship will change in time. We read in Hosea 5:13 that Judah will see his wound. This wound could be a reference to a serious military defeat in battle. King Jareb will, at that time, become an ally with Arab nations in a plan to destroy the Jews. He will enter into a confederacy—an alliance—with certain nations against the modern state of Israel.

Notice what is prophesied to happen in Psalm 83:2–8 and notice the identity of these modern peoples—revealed by modern archeology, by history and by biblical research: “For behold, Your enemies make a tumult; And those who hate you lifted up their head. They have taken crafty counsel against Your people, and consulted together against Your sheltered ones. They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more. For they have consulted together with one consent; they form a confederacy against You: the tents of Edom [Turkey] and the Ishmaelites [Saudi-Arabia]; Moab [part of Jordan and the western part of Iraq] and the Hagrites [mainly Syria]; Gebal [Lebanon], Ammon [Jordan and the PLO], and Amalek [the PLO]; Philistia [Palestinians from the Gaza Strip] with the inhabitants of Tyre [the city of Tyre is more fully discussed later in this booklet]; Assyria also has joined with them; They have helped the children of Lot [Jordan].”

However, this confederacy will not last long. A powerful United Europe, under King Jareb of Assyria, will soon find itself involved in a war with many of the Arab nations. Europe will invade the Middle East, the Holy Land, and the city of Jerusalem.

We read in Daniel 11:40–41: “At the time of the end the king of the South [an Arabic religious and military leader] shall attack him [“push at him;” i.e., the “king of the North,” also identified as the “Beast” and “King Jareb,” a military leader of a United Europe]; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab and the prominent people of Ammon.”

Notice that Edom [Turkey], Moab [part of Jordan and the western part of Iraq], and the prominent people or leaders of Ammon [Jordan and the PLO], will not be conquered by the king of the North. Notice, on the other hand in Daniel 11:42–43, which countries will be conquered by the king or leader of modern Assyria, or which countries will form an alliance with Europe: “He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt [where the Arabs dwell today] shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels.”

That the Libyans and Ethiopians will “follow” the king of the North does not necessarily mean that they will be at war with him or that they will be beaten by him in war. Depending on what translation we use, we find the meaning conveyed as, they “will follow in subjection to him,” or they “shall be his servants,” or “ the Libyans and Nubians [will be] in submission” to the king of the North. Also, note, that the king of the North will have power over the gold and silver in the region, as well as all the precious things of Egypt.

Continuing in Daniel 11:44, we are introduced to a third power bloc which will play a devastating role in end-time events. “But news from the east and the north shall trouble him [the king of the North]; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.”

The king of the North will react to rumors from the east and the north. This is the location of a strong military Asiatic power bloc with an army of two hundred million people, referred to in the book of Revelation as the “kings from the east” (Revelation 16:12), or the “army of the horsemen” (Revelation 9:16). It will, in all likelihood, be a confrontation between a United Europe under modern Assyria and a confederacy of Asian nations, such as Russia, China, Japan, and India. The modern Medes are identified in Scripture as one of the mortal enemies of modern Babylon, or Europe (compare Isaiah 13:1, 17). The identity of the modern Medes will be explained later in this booklet.

Daniel 11:45 continues: “And he [the king of the North] shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain [Jerusalem]; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.”

The king of the North will occupy Jerusalem and rule from there, during which time the Holy City will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles. Then Christ will return. He will throw the king of the North into the lake of fire, which, at that time will be a place outside Jerusalem where criminals and sinners will be burned up (compare Revelation 19:20). 

Let’s note in more detail what is revealed about the fate of the king of the North–King Jareb of Assyria. We read in Isaiah 10:12: “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.”

Isaiah 14:25 adds this thought: “… I will break the Assyrian in My land, And on My mountains tread him underfoot. Then his yoke [of slavery, or captivity] shall be removed from them, And his burden removed from their shoulder.”

Isaiah 30:30–33 continues: “The LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard, And show His descent of His arm, With the indignation of His anger And the flame of a devouring fire, With scattering, tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the LORD Assyria will be beaten down, As He strikes with the rod. And in every place where the staff of punishment passes, Which the LORD lays on him, It will be with tambourines and harps; And in battles of brandishing He will fight with it. 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.”

This passage describes the fate of the king of Assyria—he will be burned up in a place likened to a stream of brimstone, also referred to as “Tophet,” which literally means a “burning place,” or “a lake of fire.” We know from Revelation 19:20 that the military leader of the United States of Europe, called the “Beast,” will be thrown into a lake of fire and brimstone as well. Therefore, the “king of the North,” “king Jareb of Assyria,” and the “Beast” are one and the same.

Notice Isaiah 31:8–9: “Then Assyria shall fall by a sword not of a man [Jesus Christ will personally destroy him and his army], and a sword not of mankind shall devour him… He shall cross over to his stronghold for fear, And his princes shall be afraid of the banner, Says the LORD, Whose fire is in Zion And whose furnace is in Jerusalem.”

God will deal in this way with the king of Assyria because of his evil intent (cp. Zechariah 1:15). When he attacks and overthrows Jerusalem, a terrible time will begin for its inhabitants.

Isaiah 3:1, 24–26 tells us: “For behold, the LORD, the LORD of hosts, Takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah The stock and the store, The whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water… And so it shall be: Instead of a sweet smell there will be a stench; Instead of a sash, a robe; Instead of well-set hair, baldness; And branding instead of beauty. Your men shall fall by the sword, And your mighty in the war. Her gates shall lament and mourn, and she being desolate shall sit on the ground.”

God Himself will remove the protection of Judah, as Isaiah 22:8 tells us. Without God’s protection, Jerusalem will fall into the hands of her enemy. We read in Isaiah 29:1–7: “Woe to Ariel [an expression for Jerusalem, lit. Lion of God], to Ariel, the city where David dwelt… I will distress Ariel; there shall be heaviness and sorrow… You shall be brought down… Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly. You will be punished by the LORD of hosts With thunder and earthquake and great noise, With storm and tempest And the flame of devouring fire. The multitude of all the nations who fight against Ariel, Even all who fight against her and her fortress, And distress her, Shall be as a dream of a night vision.”

The prophet Jeremiah also describes in poetic terms the coming assault by the Assyrians on the city of Jerusalem. He tells us in Jeremiah 6:1, 22–23: “O you children of Benjamin, Gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem… Thus says the LORD: Behold, a people comes from the north country, [remember that the military leader of the conquering nations is called, “the king of the North.”] And a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth. They will lay hold on bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy; Their voice roars like the sea; and they ride on horses, As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion.”

Jeremiah describes the terrible future of the city of Jerusalem following the attack by the Gentiles with very vivid terms in the prophetic book of Lamentations. As will be discussed more fully later in this booklet, phrases like “in that day”, “in the latter days,” “in the day of the LORD,” or “in the day of the LORD’S anger” identify the time setting of the particular prophecy as relating to the period just prior to Christ’s return. Especially the phrase, “the day of the LORD’S anger” describes the time when God is very angry with the peoples at the end of this age (compare Revelation 11:18):

“Young and old lie on the ground in the streets; My virgins and my young men Have fallen by the sword; You have slain them in the day of Your anger, You have slaughtered and not pitied. You have invited as to a feast day The terrors that surround me. In the day of the LORD’S anger There was no refugee or survivor. Those whom I have borne and brought up My enemies have destroyed… The kings of the earth, And all inhabitants of the world, Would not have believed That the adversary and the enemy Could enter the gates of Jerusalem” (Lamentations 2:21–22; 4:12).

We are told in Zechariah 14:1–2 that “all nations” will fight against Jerusalem, and that “half of the city” will go into captivity: 

“Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, And your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem; the city shall be taken, The houses rifled, And the women ravished. Half of the city shall go into captivity, But the remnant of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”

This describes a literal captivity of the Jewish people just prior to Christ’s return. This is not a reference to a “spiritual captivity of sin,” nor to a figurative “exile,” nor is this a description of something that has already happened to ancient Judah.

WHERE will half of the residents of the city of Jerusalem go? Generally, they will be transported as captives into many nations, some of which are specifically identified in Scripture. For instance, Micah 4:10 tells us, “Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, Like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, You shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go, There you shall be delivered; there the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies.”

The reference here to the “daughter of Zion” is the modern generation of Jews, not ancient Judah. They—modern Judah—will be brought as captives to modern Babylon. As we will see in the remainder of this booklet, modern Babylon is identified as the power bloc of continental Europe, led by modern Assyria. This modern Babylonian system will, in turn, transport its captives into other countries as well.

Joel 3:1–3, 6 confirms this: “For behold, in those days and at that time, When I bring back the captives of Judah and Jerusalem, I will also gather all nations, And bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there On account of My people, My heritage Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land. They have cast lots for My people, Have given a boy as payment for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink… Also the people of Judah and the people of Jerusalem You have sold to the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their borders.” The Bible clearly indicates that many of the Jews will be sold as slaves to modern Greece, who themselves will be aligned with a future United States of Europe.

Zechariah 10:6, 10 identifies other countries or regions where Jews will be held captive at the time of the return of Jesus Christ: “I will strengthen the house of Judah… I will bring them back, Because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; For I am the LORD their God, And I will hear them… I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt [where the Arabs live today], And gather them from Assyria [modern Germany and German-speaking nations]. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, Until no more room is found for them.”

Yes, terrible times are in store for the city of Jerusalem and the Jewish people. But why is God going to allow this to happen? Isaiah 3:8–9 explains: “For Jerusalem stumbled, And Judah is fallen, Because their tongue and their doings Are against the LORD, To provoke the eyes of His glory. 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.” Notice in verse 7 that the time setting is “in that day.” This is a reference to the “day of the LORD” just prior to Christ’s return.

Amos 2:4–5 elaborates: “Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, Because they have despised the law of the LORD, And have not kept His commandments. Their lies lead them astray, Lies which their fathers followed. But I will send a fire upon Judah, And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”

Let us state here, that although it does not give us any pleasure to say that these things are going to happen, we must be true to God’s Word and cite those scriptures that clearly show the reality of these events. We cannot shrink from our responsibility to proclaim what God Himself says is going to happen. It is our hope that at least some of you reading this booklet will heed the warning, repent of your ways, and turn to God so that you can be spared.

God does not pull any punches! He voices very forcefully and directly that Jerusalem and the Jewish people will face disaster and calamity because they have sinned against Him and have refused to repent. Jesus Christ would later weep over Jerusalem, thinking of the evil that would come upon it because of their refusal to repent and to accept Him as their personal Savior. In fact, the temple at Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 A.D., a forerunner of even worse tragedies that will strike Jerusalem in just a few years from now (compare Luke 13:34–35).

Do these prophecies conflict with Hosea 11:12 where we read, “… Judah still walks with God, Even with the Holy One who is faithful”? If modern Judah still walks with God, then why would God punish it? And why do other passages read that modern Judah has sinned against God and refuses to repent? Does the Bible contradict itself?

Actually, in this verse, there is a variance among translations. We quoted Hosea 11:12 from the New King James Bible, a translation that is reliable in the vast majority of cases. However, this particular scripture is not accurately translated in saying that Judah still walks with God because, according to many commentaries, the translators added a letter in the Hebrew that is NOT in the original. To clarify this, let’s read how other translations render this passage:

The New International Version: “…and Judah is unruly against God, even against the faithful Holy One.”

The New American Bible: “Judah is still rebellious against God, against the Holy One who is faithful.”

The Revised English Bible: “Judah is still restive under God, still loyal to the idols he counts holy.”

So we see that Judah will be punished because of rebellion against God, and that His punishment on them is intended to bring about repentance and a return to Him. Even though terrible times await the Jewish people, Jesus Christ Himself proclaimed the good news of the Kingdom of God and what it entails, including a marvelous future for Judah and for all mankind. Jesus Christ WILL return, and when He does, HE will rescue Jerusalem from the Gentiles and call Judah to repentance.

Notice the prophecy in Isaiah 31:4–5: “For thus the LORD has spoken to me: As a lion roars, And a young lion over his prey… so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight for Mount Zion and for its hill. Like birds flying about, So will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; Passing over He will preserve it.”

The prophet Zechariah foresaw Christ’s fight against the Gentiles in a vision given to us in Zechariah 14:3–4: “Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, As He fights in the day of battle. And in that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives.”

When Jesus Christ was taken up to heaven from the Mount of Olives, two angels assured the disciples that Christ would come back “in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). He will, indeed, return to the Mount of Olives and He will then strike out against the Gentiles who fought against the city of Jerusalem and occupied it. Zechariah 14:12–13, 15 gives a very graphic description of their fate: “And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the people who fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh shall dissolve while they stand on their feet, Their eyes shall dissolve in their sockets, And their tongues shall dissolve in their mouths. It shall come to pass in that day That a great panic from the LORD will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, And raise his hand against his neighbor’s hand… such also shall be the plague On the horse and the mule; On the camel and the donkey, and on all the cattle that will be in those camps. So shall this plague be.”

Additionally, Zechariah 14:11, 21 tells us in no uncertain terms: “The people shall dwell in it; And no longer shall there be utter destruction, But Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited… Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the LORD of hosts… In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.”

The Jewish people will come to repentance—they will mourn when they see the returning Christ and when they come to realize the truth about Him and about themselves, as foretold in Zechariah 12:10–11: “And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they have pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem…”

Returning to the book of Isaiah, let’s note additional prophecies describing a glorious future for the nation of Judah, once they have repented of their sins and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and King. We read in Isaiah 4:3–6: “And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem. When the LORD has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain.”

God’s Word reveals that the Jewish people will be taken captive by a United Europe under the leadership of modern Assyria, and while in captivity, they will come to their senses and turn to their Savior. Notice what happens next: “Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean Shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; Sit down, O Jerusalem! Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter of Zion… For thus says the Lord GOD: My people went down at first Into Egypt to dwell there; Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause. Now therefore, what have I here, says the LORD, That My people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them Make them wail, says the LORD, And My name is blasphemed continually every day. Therefore My people shall know my name; therefore they shall know in that day That I am He who speaks: Behold, it is I.” (Isaiah 52:1–2, 4–6).

The Jewish people, as well as most professing Christians, do not realize that it is Jesus Christ Himself who is speaking these words. They do not understand that the God of the Old Testament was not God the Father, but was actually the One who later became a human being—Jesus Christ—born in the flesh of the virgin Mary. Christ came to reveal the Father (Matthew 11:27). The Jews of His time did not know the Father. Christ said that the Jews had never seen the Father’s form, nor did they hear His voice (John 5:37; 6:46). But some DID hear God’s voice and saw His form (Numbers 12:8); however, it was the voice of Jesus Christ, the Son of God—predominantly referred to in the Old Testament as “the Lord,” meaning, “the Eternal.” The time will come when Jews and Christians, as well as those who follow other religions, will come to understand who and what God really is.

Along with acceptance of Jesus Christ as our personal Savior comes blessings, prosperity, and peace. Note HOW blessed Jerusalem will be, once she accepts her God and begins to live in accordance with His words: “Thus says the LORD: I will return to Zion, And dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, The Mountain of the LORD of hosts, The Holy Mountain” (Zechariah 8:3).

When reading this passage, we are reminded of the famous prophecy in Isaiah 2:2–4: “Now it shall come to pass in the latter days, That the mountain of the LORD’S house Shall be established on the top of the mountains [other major nations], And shall be exalted above the hills [smaller nations]; And all nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law; And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore.”

Imagine that! No more wars! The ENTIRE WORLD will live in REAL PEACE! Jesus Christ will return to this earth and will rule from Jerusalem, and ALL nations will want to learn from Christ how to live righteously. What a different world that will be! Wouldn’t YOU like to be there?

Continuing with Zechariah 8:4: “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit In the streets of Jerusalem, Each one with his staff in his hand Because of great age. The streets of the city Shall be full of boys and girls Playing in its streets. Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, Will it also be marvelous in My eyes? Says the LORD of hosts. Thus says the LORD of hosts: Behold, I will save My people from the land of the east And from the land of the west [a reference to areas to which modern Babylon transported their captives]; I will bring them back, And they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They shall be My people And I will be their God, In truth and righteousness” (Zechariah 8:4–8).

Once they are in captivity, they will turn to God and begin to accept Christ as their personal Savior. They will become God’s people in the true sense of the word, and God will become their God. We will see in a moment why they will turn to God, and how they will even know to whom they should turn.

Zechariah 8:13–15, 23 continues: “And it shall come to pass That just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah… So I will save you, and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear, Let your hands be strong. For thus says the LORD of hosts: Just as I determined to punish you When your fathers provoked Me to wrath, Says the LORD of hosts, And I would not relent, So again in these days I am determined to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear… Thus says the LORD of hosts: In those days ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

Again, what will bring about this change in the people of Judah? What will convince them that Jesus Christ is, in fact, their promised Savior, just as He is for all mankind? 

The Bible prophesies that the message of captivity and conversion of the Jewish people will be preached powerfully to them just prior to the return of Christ. Today most of the Jews—actually, most of the people in the world—do not want to hear this very critical, life-saving message. But when the events that were announced to them actually do take place, they will finally come to their senses and realize that the prophetic word of God had been in their midst.

What this means then, for the true Church of God, is that it needs to obey God by proclaiming what will truly and certainly come to pass. This message is to be boldly proclaimed by God’s Church, and indeed, IS being proclaimed in this very booklet. We pray that those of you reading this will heed the warning and act accordingly.

Read and meditate on the following selected passages from God’s Word that reveal this part of His commission for His end-time Church:

“Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: Blow the trumpet in the land; Cry, Gather together, And say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities… Take refuge! Do not delay! For I will bring disaster from the north [brought about by the king of the North], And great destruction. The lion has come up from his thicket, And the destroyer of nations is on his way. He has gone forth from his place To make your land desolate. Your cities will be laid waste, without inhabitant…And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD, That the heart of the king shall perish, And the heart of the princes; The priests shall be astonished, And the prophets shall wonder… O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, That you may be saved. How long shall your evil thoughts lodge within you?… Make mention to the nations, Yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, That watchers come from a far country And raise their voice against the cities of Judah… Because she has been rebellious against Me, says the LORD. Your ways and your doings have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, Because it is bitter, Because it reaches to your heart” (Jeremiah 4:5–18)

In addition to this warning, the Church is also to proclaim Judah’s peaceful and glorious future following her repentance and conversion: “Comfort, yes, comfort My people! Says your God. Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, That her warfare is ended, That her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the LORD’S hand Double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1–2).

“How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news [the gospel], Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, Your God reigns! Your watchman shall lift up their voices, With their voices they shall sing together; for they shall see eye to eye When the LORD brings back Zion” (Isaiah 52:7–8).

“O Zion [Zion can refer to the actual city of Jerusalem but it can also refer to the Church of God], You who bring good tidings, Get up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem [a reference here to spiritual Jerusalem—the Church of God; it can also be a reference to the fact that the word of God will go out from Jerusalem once Jesus Christ lives and rules from there (Isaiah 2:2–4)], You who bring good tidings, Lift up your voice with strength, Lift it up, be not afraid; Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God” (Isaiah 40:9).

“I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; They shall never hold their peace day or night. You who make mention of the LORD, do not keep silent, And give Him no rest till He establishes And till He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth” (Isaiah 62:6–7).

YOU could be among those watchmen with us. YOU could have a part with those who are called by God to proclaim His message—the GOOD NEWS—to the Jewish people and to the world, warning them of their grim future and showing them that peace and prosperity await them after they repent of their sins and turn to Jesus Christ. The Bible predicts that this message WILL go out. It is your choice as to whether or not you want to have a part in proclaiming it with us.

Part 2 – The Modern House of Israel in Prophecy

Many falsely believe that the house of Israel and the Jewish people are one and the same. Nothing could be further from the truth. Judah, from whom the Jewish people descended, was just one tribe of the descendants of Jacob, whose name God changed to Israel long ago (Genesis 35:10). In due time they separated from their Israelite brothers and, along with the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, formed the “house of Judah.” The other tribes then became known as the “house of Israel.” The “house of Israel” went into captivity first, never to return to the “Promised Land.” Today, they are known as the “lost ten tribes.” The “house of Judah” also went into captivity but did eventually return to Palestine. Many descendants of the house of Judah are living today in the state of Israel. In due time, as history and archeology reveal, the lost ten tribes of the house of Israel migrated to and settled in Europe and the British Isles. One tribe in particular, the descendants of Manasseh—the older son of Joseph—migrated from there to the United States of America, where they still are today. The descendants of Ephraim—the younger son of Joseph—can still be found in Great Britain and the Commonwealth Nations, including Canada, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Bible contains many predictions about the future of the modern house of Israel (not to be confused with the Jews or the house of Judah). Israel refers to the modern house of Israel—especially the leading tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh—in many different ways, including “the remnant of Jacob.” As we will see, the coming great and mighty economic power bloc in Europe, under the leadership of modern Assyria, will have a devastating influence, not only on the modern house of Judah, but also on the modern house of Israel.

We know that when this power bloc establishes itself on the world scene, the time will be short. Do we realize that this gigantic power bloc is already forming in front of our very eyes? During a recent ceremony in Aachen, celebrating the arrival of the new European currency, Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi stated that the Euro is the beginning point for further European developments. He stressed that the need for Europe to react in a unified fashion toward crisis situations outside the European Union becomes more obvious day by day. It was also stated during the celebration that the Euro has become the symbol for the European vision, having done more to give stability to and confidence in the political unification of Europe than all of the previous European treaties combined.

At the beginning, the modern house of Israel will have a friendly relationship with this European power bloc. And, as we will see more closely in Part 3 of this booklet, they will even trade with them, including agricultural products and technological developments. Hosea 12:1 talks about an economic covenant that those two power blocs will enter into.

But will this friendly relationship last? No! Incredible as it may seem, the United States and Great Britain, as well as other Commonwealth nations, will be overthrown and enslaved by their former ally and friend—the United States of Europe, led by the modern Assyrians. Not only will Assyria be instrumental in fighting against and enslaving the modern house of Judah, they will—apparently at the same time—fight victoriously against and enslave the modern house of Israel. We will cover this in detail later in this booklet.

But first, let’s take note of a remarkable prophecy in Micah 5:5–6 (Micah 5:7 shows that the people referred to here are identified as “the remnant of Jacob,” and are, in fact, the modern house of Israel, particularly the United States and Great Britain.): “…When the Assyrian comes into our land, And when he treads in our palaces, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight princely men. They shall waste with the sword the land of Assyria, And the land of Nimrod at its entrances; Thus He shall deliver us from the Assyrian, When he comes into our land And when he treads within our borders.” 

Let’s see how this compares to history. In 1940, modern Assyria, under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, did attack Great Britain in World War II, but God gave victory to the British. Hitler was very reluctant to fight against Great Britain, as he considered the British people to be part of the master race. Nevertheless, he did assault England by air—known as the Blitz—from September 7 to November 13, 1940. Germany, however, was devastated, and most of its cities were destroyed by the end of the war.

God also protected the United States from the Assyrians at least twice more in modern history.

First, let’s look at a remarkable revelation that has recently come to light. German Kaiser Wilhelm II had a plan to attack the United States about 100 years ago. He was going to attack New York and Boston with 100 ships and 100,000 soldiers. At that time, the United States only had 54 military ships. His ultimate goal was to establish and possess colonies in South America and in the Pacific, and to gain control over the Panama Canal. The plan, though 10 years in the making, was not carried out. Instead, Kaiser Wilhelm II led Germany into World War I in 1914.

In addition to Adolph Hitler’s attack on Great Britain, he also declared war on the United States on December 11, 1941. This was just two days after President Roosevelt announced that Germany was as guilty for attacking Pearl Harbor as was Japan. Hitler then ordered the destruction of all American ships, wherever they could be found.

Hitler lost this war, as he fought too many battles at the same time—Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and the United States. But we can realize how the plan of the Europeans—especially the modern Assyrians—to attack the United States had entered their minds. This same plan will be pursued again, and next time, it will be successful.

At the end of his life, Hitler made this remarkable prophetic observation: “With the defeat of the Reich and pending the emergence of the Asiatic, the African, and perhaps the South American nationalisms, there will remain in the world only two Great Powers capable of confronting each other—the United States and Soviet Russia. The laws of both history and geography will compel these two powers to a trial of strength, either military or in the fields of economics and ideology. These same laws make it inevitable that both powers should become enemies of Europe.” (Klaus P. Fischer, Nazi Germany–A New History, 1995, pp. 563–564).

Micah 5:7–9 continues to describe the modern nations of the house of Israel, referred to as the “remnant of Jacob.” They are pictured as being powerful, like a lion among other nations. They are wealthy and prosperous; and they are victorious in battle.

But as we read in verses 10–15 of Micah 5, things will start to change. Note how and why they will change: “And it shall be in that day [recall that this phrase is always a reference to the very last days, or the day of the LORD when God begins to actively intervene in human and political affairs], says the LORD, That I will cut off your horses from your midst And destroy your chariots. I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds. I will cut off sorceries from your hand, And you shall have no soothsayers. Your carved images I will also cut off, And your sacred pillars from your midst; you shall no more worship the work of your hands; I will pluck your wooden images from your midst; Thus I will destroy your cities. And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury On the nations that have not heard [or, “obeyed”].”

The term, “in anger and fury” is a reference to the wrath of God, described in vivid terms in the book of Revelation as a time when God’s wrath is poured out on the last generation of man. God will begin His punishment with the modern house of Israel, “the nations that have not obeyed,” such as the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. And this time, these nations will be destroyed. God has prophesied it, and it WILL happen.

Jeremiah 30:3 sheds additional light on what is soon to happen. “For behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah, says the LORD. And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.”

We already know from Part 1 of this booklet that the modern house of Judah will go into captivity. Now we learn that the modern house of Israel will also be taken captive by a foreign power. We will see in a moment that it is, in fact, the same power that will enslave both the Jews and the modern house of Israel. But the prophet Jeremiah is inspired to tell us that it is God who will eventually free Israel and Judah out of captivity and they will return to the land that God gave to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Historically, the house of Israel never returned to the Promised Land—only some of the Jews did. This, then, is still a prophecy for the future.

Jeremiah 30:6–7 goes on to make very clear exactly when those events—the modern warfare and captivity, and ultimate deliverance from slavery—will take place: “Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, but he shall be saved out of it.”

As we already know, the phrase “that day is great” is a reference to the GREAT DAY OF THE LORD, a time that is still in the future. This “day” will be unique—no time will be like it. We are reminded that the same has been said about the great tribulation at the very end of this age. We see, then, that the Great Tribulation and the day of the Lord both refer to the same general time period. Technically, the Great Tribulation lasts two-and-a-half years, followed by the day of the Lord that lasts for one year. The total time then is three-and-a-half years that the modern house of Israel will be punished and the Gentiles will tread Jerusalem underfoot.

This time is especially identified as the time of Jacob’s trouble—referring to the modern house of Israel. We are told that God will save them OUT OF that terrible time—showing that they will have to first go through it!

Jeremiah 30:8 continues: “For it shall come to pass in that day [the time of God’s intervention], Says the LORD of hosts, That I will break his yoke from your neck, And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them.”

At the time of God’s intervention, “his yoke” will be broken from their neck, indicating that they were under a yoke of slavery at that time. We already know that the Jews will be under a yoke of slavery, enforced by modern Assyria, and that they will be freed by God at Christ’s return. The terminology, “his yoke,” strongly suggests that Assyria will have placed his yoke of slavery, not only on the house of Judah, but on the house of Israel as well.

God will free them from that yoke of slavery. Notice the next sentence: “FOREIGNERS shall NO MORE ENSLAVE them.” So then, foreigners, or a foreign power, did enslave them, and they are still enslaved when God intervenes. Jeremiah 30:9 reveals when all of this will take place: “But they shall serve the LORD their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them.” These events will take place at the time of the resurrection of the just, which will occur at the time of the return of Jesus Christ to this earth.

Jeremiah 30:10 concludes: “Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob, says the LORD, Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity.”

At the time of Christ’s return and the resurrection of the just, Christ will save the SEED of Jacob, the end-time descendants of Jacob—the modern American and British peoples—from the land of their captivity. What land is that?

The answer is in Jeremiah 23:7–8: “Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, that they shall no longer say, As the LORD lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, but, As the LORD lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them…”

God will bring back the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country [where the king of the North came from], and from all the countries where He drove them—where God permitted the foreign power to take them. They will be enslaved in a country north of Jerusalem—a particular country somewhere in Europe. They will also be driven, or taken, into other countries who will hold them captive. Note that the Assyrians especially, both in ancient and modern times, transported their captives from their own country to other countries.

Those who claim that such terrible things as captivity and slavery of entire nations could not possibly happen in our sophisticated 21^st century, forget that these kinds of actions did happen less than a generation ago.

Listen to these remarkable quotes from Fisher’s book on Nazi Germany, pp. 498, 486, 487, 488: “(p.498) Most of these grandiose plans [to conquer and enslave occupied peoples] reflect the Assyrian nature of German policy toward conquered peoples… (p. 486) Heinrich Himmler … declared that ‘whether nations live in prosperity or starve to death interests me only insofar as we need them for slaves for our Kultur…’ (p.487) By the end of 1941 almost four million foreigners worked in Germany, most of them Poles… [F]oreigners [were rounded up] in town squares, churches, cinemas, or other places where people congregated in great numbers and ship[ped]… back to Germany in freight cars…. As to workers from eastern Europe, the German conquerors treated them essentially like slaves… (p. 488) The rest were either incarcerated in concentration camps, sent to the Reich as slave laborers, or simply allowed to starve to death. Of at least five and half million Soviet prisoners of war, half died.”

Jeremiah 23:8 concludes their ultimate return: “…And they shall dwell in their own land.” After the house of Israel was taken captive by the ancient Assyrians, they never returned to the Promised Land. So again, this is still to take place in the future.

Some argue that the Bible does not really mean to convey that modern Israel and Judah will literally be enslaved. Is that true? We saw that a “yoke” will be placed on the modern house of Israel, as well as on the modern Jews (cp. Isaiah 14:25 and 52:2).

What exactly is meant by the word, “yoke,” and who enforces it on the modern house of Israel? Let’s look at the biblical definition of the word “yoke.”

We’ll begin by noting a prophecy in Isaiah 47:1: “Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no more be called Tender and delicate.”

The prophecy is directed at the “virgin daughter of Babylon,” not ancient Babylon, but a daughter—a descendant. “Babylon” here refers to a modern European system—an economic, political, military, and religious power soon to arise on the world scene.

Note Isaiah 47:6: “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.”

The “yoke” here describes literal slavery. Modern Babylon will put her yoke of slavery VERY HEAVILY on the houses of Israel and Judah—much more so than had been intended by God.

And so, we read in Isaiah 47:9, 11: “But these two things shall come to you [modern Babylon] In a moment, in one day: The loss of children, and widowhood. They shall come upon you in their fullness Because of the multitude of your sorceries, For the great abundance of your enchantments… Therefore evil shall come upon you; You shall not know from where it arises. And trouble shall fall upon you; You will not be able to put it off. And desolation shall come upon you suddenly, Which you shall not know. ”

This passage tells us that modern Babylon’s destruction will happen very suddenly—“in a moment, in one day.” The book of Revelation describes the downfall of modern Babylon in great detail, which we will discuss in Part 3 of this booklet. Suffice it to say here that Revelation 18:8 & 10 also explains that “her plagues will come in one day” and that “in one hour your judgment has come.” Since Babylon did not show mercy when placing the yoke of slavery on the neck of the peoples of Israel and Judah, neither will she receive mercy from God, and she will be destroyed very quickly.

We find another reference to the house of Israel’s yoke of end-time slavery in Deuteronomy 28:47–51: “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the LORD will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you [Again, we see that the term “yoke” refers to literal slavery.]. The LORD will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand, a nation of fierce countenance, which does not respect the elderly nor show favor to the young. And they shall eat the increase of your livestock and the produce of your land, until you are destroyed; they shall not leave you grain or new wine or oil, or the increase of your cattle or the offspring of your flocks, until they have destroyed you.”

“The Assyrian nature of the German peoples,” as Klaus Fischer put it, revealed itself during World War II as well, when considering how conquered nations were treated by their conquerors. Note this quote from Hermann Göring (quoted by Klaus Fischer, Nazi Germany, p. 486): “‘In the old days, the rule was plunder. Now, outward forms have become more humane. Nevertheless I intend to plunder, and plunder copiously.’”

Hitler himself declared: “‘Our guiding principle must be that these people have but one justification for existence—to be of use to us economically. We must concentrate on extracting from these territories everything that is possible to extract.’” (Fischer, ibid.)

Deuteronomy 28:68 predicts: “And the LORD will take you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I said to you, You shall never see it again. And there you shall be offered for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

The modern nations of the houses of Israel and Judah will go back by ships to “Egypt”—a symbol for slavery. It does not say here that all will go back to the land of Egypt. We will see the reason for the omission of the word “land” very soon.

We note, as a forerunner of what will happen on a much greater scale, the following example of what already occurred in World War II in Hungary (Klaus Fischer, Nazi Germany, p. 511): “The Nazis also halfheartedly experimented with a new technique—selling Jews to the Western world, a plan, unfortunately, that, as a result of Nazi duplicity and the indifference and bureaucratic obstructionism of Western governments, never really worked.”

As predicted in Deuteronomy 28:68, captives from the houses of Israel and Judah will be offered for sale, but “no one will buy” them.

The prophet Ezekiel clearly predicts, as well, that the modern house of Israel—the United States and Great Britain, Canada, Australia, and other Commonwealth nations—will be defeated in a coming war with a modern enemy‑continental Europe. This will be a unique time in the history of man—a time of calamities and terrible atrocities that have never happened before, and which will never happen again (cp. Ezekiel 5:9). It will be a time of GREAT TRIBULATION!

In Ezekiel 6:1–2 God tells Ezekiel to speak to “the mountains of Israel.” Then in verse 6 God says: “In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate…” This has not happened yet! Never, in the history of ancient Israel, were their cities laid waste in all their dwelling places. In fact, when the Assyrians conquered Samaria, they saw to it that the cities were not laid waste, but inhabited.

Continuing with Ezekiel 6:7: “The slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the LORD.” Modern America, Britain, Canada and Australia don’t really know God, nor do they know that God is against them. But they will come to realize that God forsakes us when we forsake Him. They will ONLY learn this lesson, however, when God leads them into the Great Tribulation and the day of the LORD, ultimately saving them out of it when Jesus Christ returns to this earth. If Jesus were not to return as He said He would, not even one person would survive (Matthew 24:21–22).

God has not left the modern house of Israel without warning. He told them in His own words thousands of years ago that He would first bring natural disasters on their lands—disasters such as extended periods of drought and resulting famines. We are already experiencing unprecedented droughts and insect plagues in Canada and large parts of the United States. These droughts are warnings to wake the nations up, and to announce to them at the same time, that worse things will happen if they don’t repent of their sins.

God tells the modern house of Israel in Amos 4:7–9: “I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me, Says the LORD. I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me, Says the LORD.” Read the next two verses and you will see that God next pronounces WAR and TOTAL DEVASTATION.

A similar warning can be found in Deuteronomy 28:23–24, 38–39 & 42: “And your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The LORD will change the rain of your land to powder and dust; from the heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed… You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little in, for the locust shall consume it. You shall plant vineyards and tend them, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them… Locusts shall consume all your trees and the produce of your land.”

Droughts are not to be taken lightly. God has used droughts before to try to awaken sinning people and to teach them lessons (compare Haggai 1:11), and He will do so again (compare Zechariah 14:17; Revelation 11:6). He is doing it right now. Can we see it?

Ezekiel 6:8–10 makes it very clear what will happen next to the modern house of Israel if they don’t wake up: “Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations. And they shall know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.” These are warnings from God Himself! Are we listening?

Ezekiel 39:21–29 confirms that God will ultimately free Israel from their captivity—once they repent—and that He will bring them back into the land that was promised to their fathers: “I will set My glory among the nations; all the nations shall see My judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them. So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day forward. The Gentiles shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity; because they were unfaithful to Me, therefore I hid My face from them. I gave them into the hand of their enemies, and they all fell by the sword…. Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Now I will bring back the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name—after they have borne their shame, and all their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to Me, when they dwelt safely in their own land and no one made them afraid. When I have brought them back from the peoples and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and I am hallowed in them in the sight of many nations, then they shall know that I am the LORD their God, who sent them into captivity among the nations, but also brought them back to their land, and left none of them captive any longer. And I will not hide My face from them anymore; for I shall have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,’ says the Lord GOD.”

God drove them into slavery, and God will bring them back out of slavery at the time He pours out His Spirit over them. This has not happened yet—this is still in the future.

Like Ezekiel, the prophet Jeremiah also has much to say regarding the destiny of the modern house of Israel. Let’s turn to a few passages, proving without a doubt, that disaster is decreed for the modern nations of the house of Israel, as well as a glorious future, unparalleled in the history of any nation.

Jeremiah 30:18–24 states: “Thus says the LORD: Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound [or, ruins], And the palace shall remain according to its own plan. Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. Their children also shall be as before, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all who oppress them… You shall be My people, And I will be your God… In the latter days you will consider it.” 

This is a prophecy for the future—for the latter days—when the modern house of Israel repents of their sins and are freed from slavery by God Almighty Himself.

Now notice the continuation in Jeremiah 31:1–9: “At the same time [that is, in the latter days], says the LORD, I will be the God of all the families of Israel [including the Jews, as they are also descendants of Jacob], and they shall be My people. Thus says the LORD: The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness—Israel, when I went to give him rest…For thus says the LORD: Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, O LORD, save Your people, The remnant of Israel [this is not talking about ancient Israel, but a remnant in modern times after their defeat in war]! Behold, I will bring them from the north country [where they had been held captive], And gather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there. They shall come with weeping… For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim [Great Britain, Canada, and the other Commonwealth nations] is My firstborn.”

Jeremiah 32:37–40 continues: “Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in My anger, in My fury, and in great wrath [speaking about the wrath of God at the very end of this age]; I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant [the New Covenant] with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good; but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.”

What this passage clearly tells us is that God will free the enslaved modern Israelites out of captivity and that He will, at the same time, give them His Holy Spirit—a prerequisite for entering into the New Covenant. Again, we see that literal captivity and slavery are prophesied for the modern house of Israel. And not only for the house of Israel, but the house of Judah (the Jews, the Benjaminites and the Levites) will also go into captivity—apparently at the same time—and both houses will be freed by God when Christ returns.

Notice this again in Jeremiah 33:7–9: “And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return [note that the house of Israel, when they were enslaved in ancient times by the Assyrians, never returned to the Promised Land], and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me. Then… they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I provide for it.”

The captives of Israel and the captives of Judah will return together and God will forgive their sins. This has NEVER happened before in the history of these two houses.

Again, Jeremiah 46:27–28 confirms that God will free the modern house of Israel from captivity: “But do not fear, O My servant Jacob, And do not be dismayed, O Israel! For behold, I will save you from afar, And your offspring from the land of their captivity; Jacob shall return, have rest and be at ease; No one shall make him afraid. Do not fear, O Jacob My servant, says the LORD, For I am with you; For I will make a complete end of all the nations To which I have driven you, But I will not make a complete end of you. I will rightly correct you, For I will not leave you wholly unpunished.”

God promises to save Jacob’s offspring, that is, the modern descendants of Jacob—the house of Israel—from the land of their captivity. Is all this talk about captivity and enslavement for real?

Some argue that God does not predict a literal captivity of the house of Israel, but that He is only pointing out that the house of Israel will live “in exile” prior to the return of Christ—in other words, that they will not have possessed the Promised Land. However, the Bible very clearly predicts a literal captivity. For example, in the above-quoted passage in Jeremiah 46:27, the word for “captivity” is “shebi” and can only mean, “captivity” or “captive.” [The words that can also mean “exile,” depending on the circumstances, are “golah,” or “galuth.”]

Some have raised the objection that the Bible only predicts a “spiritual” captivity for the house of Israel, since all of mankind is held spiritually captive by sin and by Satan the devil, the “god” of this world and the prince of the power of the air. Although it is true that we are presently “captives” of Satan and sin, unless God frees us through His Holy Spirit, the Scriptures speaking about captivity of the modern houses of Israel and Judah do not refer to such a “spiritual captivity.” Let’s look at the biblical perspective of this issue.

First of all, we have already established from many scriptures that modern Judah will clearly go into a literal captivity. Note that in many cases, God names the houses of Israel and Judah together when describing their captivity, not making any distinction between a literal captivity of the house of Judah and a spiritual captivity of the house of Israel. In addition, the Scriptures differentiate between the “captivity” of the houses of Israel and Judah and the “freedom” of other unconverted Gentile nations—an odd distinction, indeed, if the captivity of Israel and Judah were to describe only a spiritual captivity of Satan and sin. Clearly, such captivity would apply to every modern nation.

Jeremiah 50:4–5 repeats and confirms what we just read: “In those days and in that time, says the LORD, the children of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together; With continual weeping [showing their heart-rending repentance] they shall come and seek the LORD their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their faces toward it, saying, Come and let us join ourselves to the LORD in a perpetual covenant [i.e., the New Covenant] That will not be forgotten.”

Both the modern house of Israel and the modern house of Judah will come together in a repentant attitude, to enter into the New Covenant with God. Obviously, this is a future prophecy, as this has not happened yet.

From what region will they come? Jeremiah 50:8 explains: “Move from the midst of Babylon, Go out of the land of the Chaldeans; and be like the rams before the flocks.” This is not talking about ancient Babylon and the ancient Chaldeans, but a modern political and military system that is arising in Europe right now, as will be explained in much more detail in Part 3 of this booklet. The captives of Israel and Judah will be freed from the slavery of modern Babylon at the return of Christ. Jeremiah 3:18 also clearly shows that the prophecy is still awaiting future fulfillment: “In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given as an inheritance to your fathers.” Both houses will return together out of their land of captivity “in the north.”

Jeremiah 50:33–34 summarizes these future events this way: “Thus says the LORD of hosts: The children of Israel were oppressed, Along with the children of Judah; All who took them captive have held them fast; They have refused to let them go. [This cannot possibly be talking about a spiritual captivity of sin.] Their Redeemer is strong; The LORD of hosts is His name. He will thoroughly plead their case, that He may give rest to the land, And disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon.”

The captors—the modern Babylonian system—will have enslaved both Israel and Judah and will not want to let them go. In ancient times, the Babylonians took only the house of Judah captive; the house of Israel had already been taken captive some time earlier by the Assyrians. It is God Himself who will free both the house of Israel and the house of Judah from their literal captivity when He returns to this earth.

As if this were not proof enough that God predicts a literal captivity of the modern house of Israel in a future war prior to the return of Jesus Christ, we’ll look at what God spoke through another Old Testament prophet, Amos.

Amos addresses the actual time of the “day of the LORD” in Amos 5:18–20. In verse 25 it shows that he is talking to the “house of Israel.” And in verse 27 he makes it very clear what will happen to the modern Israelites during the soon-coming time of the “day of the LORD”: “Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus, Says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.”

God repeats His warning to the modern house of Israel—especially the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh—in Amos 6:3–7: “Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, Who cause the seat of violence to come near; Who lie on beds of ivory, Stretch out on your couches, Eat lambs from the flock And calves from the midst of the stall; Who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, And invent for yourselves musical instruments like David [As an aside, is it mere coincidence that our “modern music” played with electric guitars was invented in, and then popularized from Ephraim and Manasseh—Great Britain and the United States?]; Who drink wine from bowls, And anoint yourselves with the best ointments, But are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, And those who recline at banquets shall be removed.”

In the ninth chapter of Amos God again confirms that HE will send the modern house of Israel into captivity, and that HE will ultimately free them when Christ returns and they repent of their sins. Listen to these encouraging words: “Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, And the treader of grapes him who sows seed; The mountains shall drip with sweet wine, And all the hills shall flow with it. I will bring back the captives of My people Israel; They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make gardens and eat fruit from them. I will plant them in their land, And no longer shall they be pulled up From the land I have given them, Says the LORD your God” (Amos 9:13–15).

This is another clear prophecy for the future. Up until now the house of Israel has NOT returned to the land that was promised to their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But they will return out of a literal slavery when Christ comes back to this earth.

There is yet another witness in the pages of the Old Testament who predicts the end-time fate of modern Ephraim and Manasseh—the prophet Hosea. He proclaims in Hosea 9:3, “They [the tribes of Israel, cp. verse 1] shall not dwell in the LORD’s land, but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, And shall eat unclean things in Assyria.”

As we know from what we’ve read so far, both of the modern nations of Israel and Judah will go into captivity. The land of slavery for the house of Israel, especially Ephraim, is mainly modern Assyria. There, they will eat unclean things. The house of Israel will also go back to “Egypt,” as we read here, but not to the land of Egypt. Notice Hosea 11:3, 5: “I taught Ephraim to walk… He shall not return to the land of Egypt; But the Assyrian shall be his king, Because they refused to repent.”

Egypt, then, is a symbol for slavery. The captives will return to Egypt, that is, into slavery, but notice that it doesn’t say they will return to the “land” of Egypt. Rather, they will be enslaved by Assyria, under “King Jareb.”

When Christ returns to free them, notice where they will come from. “They [the reference is still to the people of Ephraim] shall walk after the LORD. He will roar like a lion. When He roars, Then His sons shall come trembling from the west [In the Hebrew, there is no term for “northwest.” Therefore, some passages talk about the land of captivity as being west of Jerusalem, while most other passages designate it as being north of Jerusalem. Taking all of these passages together, the reference is to a country “northwest” of Jerusalem. Germany is situated northwest of Jerusalem.]; They shall come trembling like a bird from Egypt [again note, it does not say the land of Egypt], Like a dove from the land of Assyria. And I will let them dwell in their houses, Says the LORD” (Hosea 11:10–11).

Now let’s return to the book of Isaiah and read a few more prophecies about the future of the houses of Israel and Judah. Isaiah predicts a time of trial, followed by a time of great prosperity and peace.

Isaiah 11:11–12 points out, “It shall come to pass in that day [the time of Christ’s intervention] That the LORD shall set His hand again the second time To recover the remnant of His people who are left, From Assyria and Egypt, From Pathros and Cush, From Elam and Shinar [Babylon], From Hamath and the islands of the sea. He will set up a banner for the nations, And will assemble the outcasts of Israel, And gather together the dispersed of Judah From the four corners of the earth.”

We are all familiar with how God freed the Jews from Babylon and allowed them to return to the Promised Land. The house of Israel, though, never returned. When Christ comes back to this earth, He will set His hand not only to free Judah the second time, but also modern Israel, as well, from captivity. This has not yet happened.

Notice how Isaiah 11:16 emphasizes where most of the captives will be held: “There will be a highway for the remnant of His people Who will be left from Assyria, As it was for Israel In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt.”

Isaiah 27:13 says that, at the time of Christ’s return, the house of Israel will be enslaved in the land of Assyria, while the Jews will be enslaved in the land of Egypt: “So it shall be in that day [the day of Christ’s return and His intervention]: The great trumpet will be blown; They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria [the house of Israel], And they who are outcasts in the land of Egypt [the house of Judah], And shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.”

Could it REALLY happen?

Looking at the present day, some may say that Europe could NEVER attack and successfully conquer Great Britain and the United States. They forget, however, that there have already been plans to do so, and the ONLY reason that it did not happen at the time was because God did not let it happen. Many times, God intervened by sending bad weather to prevent German attacks on British or American troops. Once God withdraws His protection, these things WILL occur as prophesied.

In the last Great War, Hitler did not succeed in his attacks against Britain and the United States because he was entangled in warfare in Europe and Africa, and also against Russia. The next time, Europe will be united and will not have to worry about fighting against Russia, China, and the other powerful nations in the Far East. THAT war will come later, AFTER modern Europe—with their Arab allies—successfully overtakes the United States and Britain. It is most important to understand, though, that in this overthrow God will cease from protecting the house of Israel and He will allow Satan to carry out his plan of destruction.

Additionally, the Bible predicts that the peoples will be astonished when they see the ancient Roman Empire forming again as a very influential European power bloc. When Hitler’s Third Reich disappeared from the world scene, most thought that Germany would never rise again. Klaus Fischer writes in Nazi Germany on page 560: “Yet, having entrusted their future to a criminal leadership, they had no choice, certainly not after July 20, 1944, except to follow their leaders into the abyss.”

Europe will not stay in the “abyss.” It will awaken one more time. The European system, referred to as the “Beast” in the book of Revelation, will come out of the abyss for a tenth and final resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire to create havoc on this earth. All nations will be astonished when it shows its ugly head one more time.

God says that He will use Asiatic hordes, or armies, to punish and destroy the United States of Europe—modern Babylon. We find a reference to the eastern powers in Daniel 11:44; in Revelation 9:13 (at the time of the sixth trumpet); and in Revelation 16:12. We will describe these battles in more detail in Part 3 of this booklet, but for now, notice carefully that these battles will take place between the kings of the East and the Beast of Europe. These battles do not involve the United States of America, Great Britain, Canada, Australia, or New Zealand, because by that time, those nations will have been enslaved by Europe.

When Christ returns He will free both Israel and Judah from captivity and bring them back—for the first time since the fall of ancient Samaria and Jerusalem—to the Promised Land. Once they have returned to the Promised Land and live in safety, powers from the east will lunge a surprise attack on them. This attack is described in detail in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and, as we will see, this attack takes place AFTER Christ’s return. Rightly understood, these prophecies also prove that the modern houses of Israel and Judah will go into a literal captivity prior to Christ’s return, and that Christ will free them at the time of His return.

Notice Ezekiel 38:8: “After many days you [a Eurasian prince, called “Gog of the land of Magog,” who is commanding a vast army of eastern peoples] will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely.”

This Eurasian army will come against Israel in the latter years. Verse 16 says in the latter days. The phrase “latter days” CAN refer to the time after Christ’s return, as it does here, but it is always a prophetic term for the future—beginning with the time just prior to Christ’s return—it does not refer to events in the ancient past.

At this time, then, the Israelites will have been gathered from many peoples—they will have been brought out of slavery. They will be dwelling safely, implying that they did not dwell safely before. At no time prior to Christ’s return‑at least not since the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in New York on September 11, 2001—could this be true for the United States of America.

Verse 11 of Ezekial 38 continues: “You [the prince of Gog] will say, I will go up against a land of unwalled villages; I will go to a peaceful people, who dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates…”

The nations of Israel will be living peacefully at that time without walls, having neither bars nor gates. This cannot possibly be a description of the U.S.A. today, where crimes and murders run rampant—at least in big cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and San Francisco. Our cities may be without walls, but we certainly do not live safely, nor in peace.

Then verse 12 says: “…to take plunder and to take booty, to stretch out your hand against the waste places that are again inhabited, and against a people gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who dwell in the midst of the land.” The places where Israel will dwell had formerly become as wasteland and uninhabited due to the destruction of the Beast power.

Verse 21 continues: “I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains, says the LORD God. Every man’s sword will be against his brother.” Note that modern Israel will not fight. Rather, the armies of Gog and Magog will fight each other.

Verse 22 tells us: “And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”

It is God who will supernaturally intervene and destroy this army. Another picture of fire and brimstone is painted, reminding us of the lake of fire and brimstone into which the beast—the military leader of Europe—will be thrown at the beginning of the Millennium. A similar fate awaits Gog and his cohorts because they operate with the same evil mindset.

Ezekiel 39:3 continues: “Then I will knock the bow out of your left hand [the hand of prince Gog], and cause the arrows to fall out of your right hand.”

Notice the kinds of weapons described here: These are bows and arrows—weapons of wood. These can be easily made after God destroys the sophisticated weapons of war at the time of Christ’s return. It is true that sometimes terms like “bows” or “arrows” can be a figurative reference to sophisticated modern weapons such as guns or nuclear missiles, but this is not the case here.

Verses 9–10 tell us: “Then those who dwell in the cities of Israel will go out and set on fire and burn the weapons, both the shields and the bucklers, the bows and arrows, the javelins and spears; and they will make fires with them for seven years. They will not take wood from the field nor cut down any from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will plunder those who plundered them, and pillage those who pillaged them, says the LORD God.”

These weapons are not missiles or atomic bombs. Rather, they can be easily burned and used for firewood. One would certainly not try to burn nuclear missiles to use them for firewood. But these weapons of wood will be burned for firewood, it says, for seven years.

A similar event will happen again at the end of the Millennium, as described in Revelation 20:7–10, when Satan is released from prison and deceives “Gog” and “Magog.” God will destroy these attacking armies by throwing down fire from heaven and devouring them. Notice, though, that in the episode in Ezekiel 38, it was not Satan who influenced Gog and his army. Satan will be in prison at that time. Rather, we read in Ezekiel 38:10 that thoughts will arise in Gog’s mind and that he will make an evil plan. Man can do wrong things without Satan’s influence.

We saw that the Church of God has been given a commission from God to proclaim in advance to the modern house of Judah, what the Bible predicts is going to happen to them. Likewise, the Church of God has also received a commission to tell the modern nations of the house of Israel what awaits them—in the hope that at least some will listen and repent before it is too late.

Notice God’s word to His end-time Church in Amos 3:13–14: “Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, Says the Lord GOD, the God of hosts, that in the day I punish Israel for their transgressions, I will also visit destruction on the altars of Bethel… [modern Israel’s false religious worship ceremonies].”

The Bible tells us that the Church will, indeed, accomplish its commission. Notice in Hosea 5:9: “Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I make known what is sure.”

Hosea 7:11–12 adds: “Ephraim also is like a silly dove, without sense—They call to Egypt, They go to Assyria. Wherever they go, I will spread My net on them [to capture them, to make them captives]; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them According to what their congregation has heard.”

In Hosea 8:1–4, God again gives His Church a very specific commission as to what to include in its preaching to the house of Israel: “Set the trumpet to your mouth! [What follows is the warning message, to be proclaimed like a trumpet to the house of Israel (compare Ezekiel 33:1–20)]. He shall come like an eagle [remember that the symbol of Assyria—ancient and modern—is the eagle] against the house of the LORD, Because they have transgressed My covenant And rebelled against My law. Israel will cry to Me, My God, we know You! Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him. They set up kings, but not by Me; They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them.”

God’s commission to His Church to warn modern Israel and Judah, along with the rest of the world, while, at the same time, proclaiming the wonderful news of the coming Kingdom of God and how we can enter into it, is an on-going commission. We don’t read anywhere that the assigned task of the Church ends prior to the return of Christ.

Quite to the contrary! Note Christ’s words to His disciples in Matthew 28:19–20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations… and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Most people who hear the message will not accept it. Their reaction will be one of hate and rejection, and even persecution. Christ told us very clearly: “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake [all will hate you when the gospel is preached in all the world, to all nations]. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another. For assuredly, I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes” (Matthew 10:22–23).

Even when we are being persecuted, we must not stop preaching God’s word and warning the people. Luke 21:12–13 prophecies: “But before all these things [the increase of great earthquakes in various places, famines and pestilences, and frightful sights and great signs from heaven, verse 11], they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and rulers for My name’s sake. But it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.”

Remember that Paul was brought before kings after preaching the gospel. Why? Simply BECAUSE OF PREACHING THE GOSPEL! He was accused of having turned the whole world upside down because of his preaching. He was HATED by many because of his preaching. So also will be God’s Church and those who follow the commission, as the apostle Paul did, to proclaim God’s word in all the world as a witness, or testimony.

Again, we have a choice. God wants us to BOLDLY PROCLAIM His warning message to the modern house of Israel, as well as to the rest of the world, in the hope that some will listen and change their ways. How about you?

Part 3 – Ancient and Modern “Tyre” in Prophecy

The Bible contains a series of remarkable prophecies regarding the end-time religious, economic, and military system we have been discussing throughout this booklet, and which is forming right now in continental Europe. This system, as we already know, is referred to in the book of Revelation as “Babylon” and is also sometimes called “the Beast.” [Note that the term “Beast” can refer to the entire system, as well as to the end-time political leader ruling over this system.] The Bible also symbolically refers to this system as “Tyre.” Some of the prophecies that include the entire system, as well as the end-time leadership of that system—both on a human and a spiritual level—can be found in chapters 27 and 28 of the book of Ezekiel. We’ll take a look at Chapter 26 of Ezekiel first to set the stage in regard to the ancient city of Tyre—the historical forerunner of the end-time system.

God says in Ezekiel 26:2–3, “Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken who was the gateway of the peoples; now she is turned over to me; I shall be filled; she is laid waste.’ Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.”

The ancient city of Tyre was a famous port city of the Phoenicians. It is called “Sor” in Hebrew, and “Sur” in the Arabic language; it means “rock” in both languages. It was already an important Phoenician city in the 15^th century B.C; Joshua 19:29 refers to it as “the fortified city of Tyre.” It is mentioned again during the time of David as “the stronghold [or fortress] of Tyre” (2 Samuel 24:7).

Tyre was a dual city—part of the city lay on the coast and part was situated offshore on islands of rock. We read in verse 3 that many nations would come up against Tyre, just as the sea causes its waves to come up—one after the other. In verses 4 and 5, notice that many nations, not just one, would destroy the walls of Tyre. Verse 4 emphasizes specifically that “they” shall destroy the walls.

Verses 7–11 explain in detail how the first conqueror of Tyre to bring about its desolation would be Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon. Verse 12, however, uses the plural, stating that “they [more than one nation or emperor] will plunder your riches… and lay your… soil in the midst of the water.” Historically, Nebuchadnezzar did not destroy the part of Tyre that was offshore. He only destroyed “Old Tyre,” the part on the coast, about 609B.C. The Persians allowed that destroyed part of Tyre to be rebuilt exactly 70 years after its partial destruction.

Later, Alexander destroyed both Old Tyre and New Tyre (on the island). At that time, many people from Tyre fled over the sea to Carthage in North Africa. That city had been established by the Phoenicians as a trading post in the 9^th century B.C. Later, many people from ancient Tyre fled to Tarshish in Spain. Others settled in Italy—especially the Chaldeans and the Phoenicians—where they founded Venice.

But parts of Tyre were subsequently resettled. Tyre had again become a thriving port by the time Jesus was here on the earth (Mark 7:24–31). It was here where Christ healed the young woman whose mother said that even the dogs eat crumbs from the table of their masters (Matthew 15:21–28). Also, Tyre is mentioned in Acts 12:20–21, where king Herod died, being eaten up by worms because he did not give God glory.

In time, other nations came to attack and plunder Tyre, including the Greeks, the Romans, the Arabs, the Crusaders, and the Mamelukes. (The Mamelukes were originally purchased slaves who converted to Islam. They advanced to high military posts in Egypt. From them came the Turks, the Mongols and the Circassians. Today, they can be found in Nubia, in North East Africa). Some of the inhabitants of Tyre migrated to Italy, where they settled in Rome. The name “Tyrrhenian Sea”—one of the seas or oceans surrounding Italy—has derived its name from the inhabitants of Tyre who settled in Italy.

Today, Tyre is still a minor port and inhabited by Islamic Arabs who fled Palestine when the state of Israel was formed, and who settled in southern Lebanon.

In Ezekiel 26:13–14 God states, “I will put an end to the sound of your songs, and the sound of your harps shall be heard no more. I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt, for I the LORD have spoken, says the Lord GOD.”

This prophecy is still to be fulfilled, even for the ancient city of Tyre. Notice what God Himself says, “I will put an end to the sound of your songs…I will make you like the top of a rock…” Verses 19–21 give further details as to what exactly God did to the ancient city of Tyre and what He will do to the modern city of Tyre.

The focus then changes in the 27^th chapter of the book of Ezekiel. Notice that it no longer describes the ancient city of Tyre. Rather, it speaks about a powerful, modern economic system that is comparable to the wealth and prosperity of ancient Tyre. Just as the Bible uses “Babylon” to refer to an ancient city, as well as to a modern city, the Bible also uses “Tyre” in similar ways. Modern “Tyre” in Ezekiel 27:1–9 is described as a great merchant ship—a symbol of its importance as an economic power. This refers to the modern European system—still in the future—and is, in fact, the last resurrection of the ancient Roman Empire.

This system is also described as a military power in Ezekiel 27:10–11. Beginning with verse 12, Ezekiel returns to his description of the system of modern Tyre as a wealthy economic power. This switch from an economic to a military power, and then back to an economic power, MIGHT suggest that the real economic wealth and prosperity that originally existed to an extent, is going to be heavily increased by military actions and not by peaceful means.

Notice how this European economic system is described in Ezekiel 27:12–13, and note also, the areas and countries—as identified by archeology and history—with whom this system will trade. “Tarshish [city in Spain—symbolic of the economic power of Spain] was your merchant because of your many luxury goods. They gave you silver, iron, tin, and lead for your goods. Javan [Greece, perhaps Japan], Tubal and Meshesh [nations or peoples originally between the Black and the Caspian Sea, which could be a reference to the Russian cities of Tobolsk and Moskow] were your traders. They bartered human lives and vessels of bronze for your merchandise.” Yes, even human lives—slaves—will be traded within this system.

Continuing with verses 14–16: “Those from the house of Togarmah [Siberia, some have felt, this might be a reference to Armenia] traded for your wares with horses, steeds, and mules. The men of Dedan were your traders; many isles were the market of your hand. They brought you ivory tusks and ebony as payment [or “forced tribute,” suggesting occupation and enslavement]. Syria was your merchant because of the abundance of goods you made. They gave you for your wares emeralds, purple, embroidery, fine linen, corals, and rubies.”

Now notice in verse 17 who else will have—to an extent—an economic relationship and trade arrangements with this European system, at least at the beginning: “Judah and the land of Israel [wherever the house of Israel is today—including the British Isles, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, Australia] were your traders. They traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, millet, honey, oil, and balm.” The modern houses of Israel and Judah will export wheat, millet and other grains and goods, as well as medical supplies—symbolized by the word “balm”—to the European economic system.

Ezekiel 27:18–23 reveals the other nations that will be trading with this European system. The tribe of Dan [modern Ireland] is specifically mentioned in verse 19, with its main trade of cane or sugar. The Arabs are identified in verses 20 and 21. Verse 23 mentions “Assur and Chilmad.” Some translations have here “Assur and all the Medes.”

Notice that verses 25 and 26 refer to the fact that the modern European system is somehow situated “in the midst of the seas.”

But something is going to happen to this system. It will be destroyed in one day, through the “east wind,” as we read in verses 26 and 27: “…But the east wind broke you in the midst of the seas… Your mariners and pilots… All your men of war who are in you, And the entire company which is in your midst, Will fall into the midst of the seas on the day of your ruin.”

Read the entire prophecy of modern Tyre’s downfall and destruction in Ezekiel 27:28–36, and see the correlation to an almost identical description of the fall of this military/economic system—referred to as modern “Babylon”—in Revelation 18:9–21. In Scripture this system is sometimes called the “daughter of Babylon,” which identifies both its origins and the future time of its ultimate destruction (Jeremiah 50:42; 51:33).

In order to bring about the destruction of this modern military and economic system, God will use powers of the East and the North (Daniel 11:44), mainly the “Medes,” to attack modern Babylon or Tyre—the European power bloc.

Notice the following passages by the prophet Jeremiah that identify modern Europe’s foe with great clarity: “Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The LORD has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against [modern] Babylon to destroy it, Because it is the vengeance of the LORD, the vengeance for His temple… Prepare against her the nations, with the kings of the Medes, Its governors and all its rulers, All the land of his dominion. And the land will tremble and sorrow; For every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, To make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitant” (Jeremiah 51:11; 51:28–29).

Notice, too, the following prophecies in the book of Isaiah: “The burden against Babylon… Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, Who will not regard silver; And as for gold, they will not delight in it… A distressing vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease… And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen. Then he… said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen!” [showing that it would fall twice–in ancient times, and, as the book of Revelation predicts, at the time of Christ’s return] (Isaiah 13:1, 17; 21:2, 9).

Who were the ancient Medes and who are they today? In ancient times, the Medes lived in present-day Iran. Originally, under Assyrian rule, they revolted against and expelled the Assyrians and imposed their rule over the Persians. They then attacked Niniveh and overthrew the Assyrian Empire. Under Cyrus the Great, the Medes and the Persians were considered as one people. The Encyclopedia Britannica (ed.1959) points out that at least some of the Medes were not Iranians or Indo-Europeans, but perhaps connected with the numerous tribes of the Caucasus. The modern Medes, then, are to be found in modern Russia and surrounding areas.

Ultimately, God Himself will destroy modern Babel, or Tyre, at the time of Christ’s return. And at that time, He will also directly destroy the modest remains of the ancient city of Tyre.

In the 28^th chapter of Ezekiel, we find a description of a leader of Tyre, primarily a modern leader of the modern European system—not the ancient leader of the ancient city of Tyre. This modern leader is referred to as the “PRINCE of Tyre.”

Ezekiel 28:2 identifies this modern leader—someone who will become known on the world scene very soon—as follows: “Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, Thus says the Lord GOD: Because your heart is lifted up, And you say, I am a god [or, I am God], I sit in the seat of gods, In the midst of the seas, Yet you are a man, and not a god [or, not God], Though you set your heart as the heart of a god [or, Though you make your heart as the heart of God]…”

This man speaks like the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians 2:3–4. This personage, also referred to as the “false prophet” in other passages, claims that he is sitting “as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” Ezekiel 28:2 describes, then, the religious leadership over the European system of modern “Tyre.” [Compare with Revelation 17:3, picturing the religious system as a “woman” sitting on the “beast.”] The religious leader originally sits “in the midst of the seas.” Italy, with its capital of Rome, is located between, and surrounded by numerous seas or oceans—the Ligurian Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Mediterranean Sea, the Ionian Sea, and the Adriatic Sea.

But, as other Scriptures reveal, this religious leader—together with the military leader or the “Beast”—will move its capital to the city of Jerusalem. By that time, it seems, the Jews will have built a third temple—maybe on the Temple Mount—where they will bring sacrifices, but the European system will take away those daily sacrifices (Daniel 8:11–14; 11:31; Matthew 24:15–22), perhaps in order to pacify the Arab nations.

2 Thessalonians 2:4 also strongly suggests that the false prophet will sit in that very temple, claiming to be God Himself. The Greek word for “temple” is “naos” and means “inner sanctuary.” Although this word can apply to a spiritual temple (Christ spoke of the temple, “naos,” of His body in John 2:21), this word can also apply to a literal temple. Revelation 11:1–2 shows that the “temple of God” is to be measured. Yet the court outside the “temple” was not be be measured because it had been given to the Gentiles, who will tread the holy city underfoot for 3½ years (compare Luke 21:24). So it appears that the false prophet will be sitting in a literal temple in Jerusalem at that time.

Ezekiel 28:4 describes this religious power as being very rich, prosperous and wealthy. Verse 7 predicts that strangers will come against it and against the religious leader himself: “And they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, And defile your splendor.” Those foes are identified as “the most terrible of the nations” or “the most violent nations.” Verse 7 describes the fate of the religious leader, as well as the religious system he represents and rules over. But who are those strangers—the “most terrible of the nations”?

Notice this interesting passage in Ezekiel 7:24: “Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles [against the land of Israel, verse 2], And they will possess their houses.”

Who are the “worst of the Gentiles” to attack Israel? We know that the European army will attack and enslave the modern nations of Israel and Judah. We must, therefore, conclude that the “worst of the Gentiles” will, indeed, be the European army that destroys the European religious system.

Confirmation that the term “worst of the Gentiles” or “most terrible of the nations” does, in fact, refer to the armies of Europe under the leadership of modern Assyria, can be found in Ezekiel 30:10–11. There, the term “the most terrible of the nations” applies to the ancient Babylonians in their fight against Egypt. Both Ezekiel 31:12 and 32:12 use the same term, also applying them to the ancient Babylonians. In the same way, the Bible applies this term to the modern Babylonians—the modern European system.

Is there additional biblical support for the conclusion that the modern Babylonians—the European army—will attack the European religious system? Indeed, there is. Revelation 17:16–17 reveals: “And the ten horns [ten final political leaders in continental Europe] which you saw on the beast [the resurrected ancient Roman system], these will hate the harlot [a religious power called “Babylon the Great” (verse 5), but also a city (verse 18) sitting on seven mountains or hills (verse 9)], make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast [both a system, as well as a political leader over the system], until the words of God are fulfilled.”

We are told in this passage that the military power will ultimately destroy the religious power and confiscate her riches and burn her up, that is, extinguish her existence.

How and why could it happen that the political and military system of Europe will turn on and actually destroy the religious system of Europe? Does this not contradict the thought that Jesus Christ Himself will throw both the religious leader of that system and the military leader alive into the lake of fire that will burn outside of Jerusalem?

Remember from Revelation 17:16 that the ten horns, or military leaders of the political system under the “Beast,” will hate the woman—the religious system, as well as the city of Rome—and make her naked and desolate and eat her flesh. One possibility for their conduct is that they might feel betrayed by the woman, as she had been promising them peace on earth and invulnerability. When they see, instead, that they themselves are going to be overrun by Asiatic hordes, they might change their minds about the woman. In any event, we are told that it is God who will move their hearts to fulfill His purpose (Revelation 17:17).

One reason why the ten horns will not destroy or kill the false prophet is that the false prophet—together with the beast—will be living in Jerusalem. So, it may be that the ten European military leaders may find enough courage to go after the city of Rome, while lacking courage—or even opportunity—to go directly after the false prophet (although they will most certainly attack him with words). We may recall that Adolph Hitler was going after the Catholic Church in Germany, as well as in occupied countries, but he did not fight directly against the Pope himself.

We find another prophecy in the 23^rd chapter of the book of Isaiah that also describes the religious aspect of the modern European system referred to as “Tyre.” Isaiah 23, verses 1 and 4 tell us: “The burden against Tyre… [T]he sea has spoken, The strength of the sea, saying, I do not labor, nor bring forth children; Neither do I rear young men, Nor bring up virgins.”

Here, Isaiah describes in prophetic and poetic words the time—still ahead of us—when “the strength of the sea,” the great and influential religious power situated in continental Europe, is no longer considered to be the mother church capable of bringing forth children.

Isaiah 23:7 continues: “Is this your joyous city, Whose antiquity is from ancient days, Whose feet carried her afar off to dwell?” This is a reference to the historical fact that many of the inhabitants of the ancient city of Tyre migrated to another city and settled there—the famous city of Rome.

Isaiah 23:13 elaborates on this historical development: “Behold, the land of the Chaldeans, This people which was not; Assyria founded it for wild beasts of the desert. They set up its towers, They raised up its palaces, And brought it to ruin.”

Isaiah has in mind here that the people from the land of the Chaldeans would settle in Italy after they were no longer a people in their ancient land. Recall that the people who fled from ancient Tyre settled in numerous places, including Carthage, Tarshish, Venice and Rome. They gave the name “Tyrrhenian Sea” to one of the seas surrounding Italy. Many of those who lived in Tyre were Phoenicians. The Phoenicians founded Carthage and they later founded Venice when they settled in Italy. They are still living in Italy today, along with the Chaldeans. They will play an instrumental part in the modern United States of Europe. Modern Europe was founded in Rome. The modern Europeans have been accurately described many times in the press as “modern Romans.” Historians understand that the heritage of modern Europe is the ancient Roman Empire. Assyria had originally founded Chaldea, but God says, looking at the end of the matter, that Assyria had really founded it for wild beasts to dwell there. The same fate awaits modern Tyre or Babel (Revelation 18:2).

Isaiah contains another interesting prophecy—dual in nature—applying to both ancient Tyre and its modern religious counterpart. We read in Isaiah 23:15–18: “Now it shall come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, according to the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of a harlot: Take a harp, go about the city, You forgotten harlot; Make sweet melody, sing many songs, That you may be remembered. And it shall be, at the end of seventy years, that the LORD will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world in the face of the earth. Her gain and her pay will be set apart for the LORD; it will not be treasured nor laid up, for her gain will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat sufficiently, and for fine clothing.”

Historically, the ancient city of Tyre was forgotten and lost all influence over other nations for 70 years, from the attack by Nebuchadnezzar in 609 B.C. until the fall of ancient Babylon in 539 B.C. Then Tyre began to become known and influential once again. But this prophecy in Isaiah is also an end-time prophecy for the modern religious system of Tyre, as understood by the phrase, “in that day,” referring to the “day of the LORD”—the time of Christ’s intervention in human affairs—still ahead of us.

Note how this prophecy applies to our time. In 1859, Garibaldi united the Italian states and, by all standards, destroyed the power of the Catholic Church (referred to in Isaiah 23 as “Tyre.”). But in 1929, exactly 70 years later, Mussolini signed a concordat with the almost bankrupt Catholic Church, enabling it to again become very prosperous and powerful. Verse 18 of Isaiah 23 also tells us that the wealth of that religious power will be used in the Millennium for good purposes.

Note how the end-time activities of this prosperous religious power—called “Tyre” in the Old Testament—are described in Revelation 17:4, 5, 9, 18, and 18:3, 7, and 8. In these New Testament passages the religious power is referred to in several ways—“a woman,” “Babylon the Great,” and “the great city,” among others.

Returning to Ezekiel 28, recall that the focus of verses 1–10 is on the end-time religious leader of that religious system. He is called in other passages “the false prophet” or “the man of sin.” He will be slain by Christ Himself. Christ will throw him alive, together with the military leader—the “Beast”—into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).

God asks this religious leader in Ezekiel 28:9, “Will you still say before him [better, “Him,” Jesus Christ] who slays you, I am a god? [better, “I am God?”]. But you shall be a man, and not a god [or, “God”], In the hand of him [better, “Him”] who slays you.”

Back up to verse 8 and let’s notice what God prophesied through Ezekiel about the end-time religious leader: “They shall throw you down into the Pit, And you shall die the death of the slain In the midst of the seas.” Verse 8 explains that the “false prophet” will be thrown into the pit—the abyss—and his influence on the nations will cease and he will die the deaths of those that are slain in the midst of the sea. In other words, as they die, so will he.

Verse 10 continues, reading from the Authorized Version: “Thou shall die the deaths of the uncircumcised by the hands of strangers.” In other words, this religious leader will die in disgrace. Christ will throw him into the lake of fire.

We find an interesting distinction of personages in Ezekiel 28:11. Until this verse, the prophet Ezekiel spoke about “the prince of Tyre” (verse 2). Now, we are introduced to the “king of Tyre” (verse 12). In studying this passage, we can see that God is not describing a human being. Rather, this king of Tyre is none other than Satan the devil. He is the power BEHIND the prince of Tyre—the end-time religious leader—as well as the religious system itself. In fact, he is behind all aspects of the system, including its economic and military forces. Satan wanted to BE God—the Most High (Isaiah 14:12–14). When he failed, he began to use human instruments, influencing them with the same evil desires, to take prerogatives from God, which only God can give us.

It becomes clear that God is describing Satan the devil in Ezekiel 28:11–17. Before his fall, Satan was “the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty” (verse 12). He was “in Eden, the garden of God” (verse 13). He was “created” on a particular special day (the end of verse 13). He was “the anointed cherub who covers” (verse 14). He was “on the holy mountain of God” (verse 14). He was “perfect” in his ways “from the day” he was “created, till iniquity was found” in him (verse 15). When he “sinned,” God removed him, “the covering cherub,” from the midst of the fiery stones” and cast him out “of the mountain of God” (verse 16). Clearly, all of these passages do not describe a human being—the prince of Tyre—but an angelic being—a cherub—who sinned and fell from heaven—Satan the devil.

The second half of verse 17 reverts back to the prince of Tyre—the religious end-time leader, the human instrument in Satan’s hands—describing his fate again in verses 17–19. Verse 18 tells us that this man will be “turned… to ashes upon the earth,” and, indeed, he will be—in the lake of fire.

We read in verse 19 that this man—“the prince of Tyre”—“shall be no more forever.” This does not necessarily mean “for all eternity.” The word “forever” can refer to the time of an age; for instance, the age of the Millennium. The false prophet, being thrown into the lake of fire at the beginning of the Millennium, might very well be brought back to life at a future time, at the time of the second or third resurrection, depending on what
fate awaits him (Revelation 20:4–6, 11–15).

God warns His people not to get entangled with this military and religious system soon to arise again with great power. Both in the Old and New Testaments, He admonishes us to “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4; Isaiah 48:20; Zechariah 2:7).

If you want to understand more about modern “Tyre” or “Babylon,” and how you can obey God’s command to “come out of her,” please request a free copy of the booklet, Europe in Prophecy: The Unfolding of End-Time Events.

Throughout this booklet we have been reading prophecies that refer to the “day of the LORD.” We have seen that this term describes the time of Christ’s intervention in human affairs. This is not necessarily referring to just one particular 24-hour day, although this is one meaning of the phrase—the actual day of Christ’s return (Zechariah 14:1,6–7). It also refers to a particular time span longer than one day.

One prophetic book in particular focuses a great deal on the “day of the LORD.” This little known and almost totally misunderstood Old Testament book is Zephaniah, one of the so-called “minor prophets.” Zephaniah’s name means, “Whom the LORD has hidden.” He received the Word of God at the time of King Josiah of Judah (Zephaniah 1:1), whose reign is described in II Kings 22 and 23, and in II Chronicles 34 and 35.

Zephaniah prophesied at the time of King Josiah, and although he announced calamity to ancient Judah, which did occur, the book of Zephaniah mainly describes a future calamity to befall this entire world. The destruction of ancient Jerusalem was a forerunner of the terrible times prophesied to happen on a worldwide scale just prior to Christ’s return.

The prophet Zephaniah is dead and gone. His prophetic word has survived. It is to be announced today, prior to the disaster that will strike this earth soon. We would do well to prayerfully review these stern warnings of Almighty God as recorded in the book of Zephaniah, where God reveals to humankind what will shortly come to pass, and why.

Zephaniah 1:2–3, 7 describes, in no uncertain terms, the future of this end-time generation of man: “I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land, Says the LORD; I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens, The fish of the sea, And the stumbling blocks [idols] along with the wicked. I will cut off man from the face of the land [or, ground], Says the LORD… Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the LORD is at hand, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests.”

As we can see from this passage, the book of Zephaniah describes events that will take place at the time of the DAY OF THE LORD, referring to the future. Notice how some commentaries understand the meaning of this phrase.

“The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,” Vol. 2, p. 799, summarizes the term, “the day of the LORD” as a very common Old Testament concept that describes the establishment of the kingdom of God. In the New Testament it is referred to as the Day of Wrath or simply as “the day” or “that day,” without any further qualifications, as if this day is the only day that really counts in the entirety of the history of the world. The commentary goes on to explain that this day focuses on Jesus Christ and the establishment of the everlasting kingdom of heavens.

“Unger’s Bible Lexicon,” p. 249, describes the “Day of the Lord” as the prophesied period that begins with the second coming of Christ and ends with the purification of heavens and earth by fire, and the creation of new heavens and a new earth that will last forever. The commentary points out that the day of the LORD includes the time period from the end of the Great Tribulation until the end of the Millennium.

Notice the frightening description of the events during the “day of the LORD,” as found in Zephaniah 1:14–18: “The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD’S wrath; But the whole land [or, earth] shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land [on the earth].”

Notice in this passage that the day of the LORD is called a “day of wrath,” a “day of trouble and distress,” and a “day of darkness.” This certainly does not describe a pleasant time. We had better take God’s warnings seriously, because what God has purposed to do, He will do.

Zephaniah is addressing, in particular, the punishment of modern Judah. We read in Zephaniah 1:12: “And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.”

The book of Lamentations also describes the time of God’s punishment of Jerusalem with frightening details in chapter 2, verses 21–22. All of this will happen during the time of the “day of the LORD,” or, as Lamentations puts it, “the day of the LORD’S anger.”

But, the day of the LORD is not confined to the punishment of the modern house of Judah. It also includes punishment of other nations, such as the nations of the modern house of Israel, whose name was originally Jacob. Recall from Jeremiah 30:5–7 that the day of the LORD “is the time of Jacob’s trouble.”

The second chapter of the book of Isaiah sheds additional light on God’s punishment of the modern house of Israel during the time of the “day of the LORD.” Verse 3 specifically addresses “the house of Jacob” and verse 12 specifies the time as being “the day of the LORD.” The warning is to the modern descendants of the house of Israel, in no uncertain terms: “(Verse 6) For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with eastern ways… (verse 7) Their land is also full of silver and gold, And there is no end to their treasures; Their land is also full of horses, And there is no end of their chariots. Their land is also full of idols; They worship the work of their own hands.”

In reading the entire second chapter of Isaiah, however, we notice that it is not only directed at the modern house of Israel. It also describes a terrible punishment that will come over ALL nations. Notice the following statements: “(Verse 12) For the day of the LORD of hosts Shall come upon everything proud and lofty, Upon everything lifted up… (verse 14) Upon all the high mountains, And upon all the hills that are lifted up; Upon every high tower, And upon every fortified wall… (verse 17) The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; The LORD alone will be exalted in that day… (verse 20) In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver And his idols of gold, Which they made, each of himself to worship, to the moles and bats, To go into the clefts of the rocks, And into the crags of the rugged rocks, From the terror of the LORD, And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.” 

So, we see that at the time of God’s intervention, mighty earthquakes will shake the earth. Recall that in Jesus’ famous Olivet prophecy, He warned of the increase of earthquake activities prior to His return (Matthew 24:7). Notice the following interesting comments taken from a book authored by Stephen Skinner entitled, Millennium Prophecies, published in 1997. Quoting from pages 142–143: “Earthquakes, famines and troubles have always been with us, but there has certainly been an increase in earthquake activity over the last decade… Earthquake belts are so extensive that a concerted upheaval could destroy most of the Pacific rim, southern Europe, the Near East and southeast Asia. Even Britain is not immune, having had an earthquake registering 5.2 on the Richter scale as recently as 1990. In recent years earthquakes have been occurring in previously stable areas… Some observers are convinced that the number of earthquakes has roughly doubled in each of the decades since 1950. The side effects of future earthquakes might include nuclear spillage, as some Eastern European reactors have been built along fault lines.”

Let’s also note a frightening and sobering prophecy in the seventh chapter of the book of Ezekiel, primarily addressing the modern houses of Israel and Judah (verse 2), and describing events that will take place during the time of the day of the LORD: “(Verse 10) Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Doom has gone out… (verse 11) Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness… (verse 12) The time has come, The day draws near… (verse 15) The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him… (verse 19) They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the LORD.”

In verse 15, God indicates that pestilence will make an ugly comeback, while new disease epidemics will emerge (Deuteronomy 28:27–28, 35, 58–61), and their terrible clutches will not only embrace the modern Israelites and Jews. Christ warns in His Olivet prophecy that “pestilences” will occur “in various places” (Matthew 24:7).

Let’s take note of the following quotes from Millennium Prophecies, pp. 148–149, discussing the sudden rise of ancient plagues, as well as new ones: “It is slowly dawning that the triumph of medical science over disease is no longer as inevitable as it seemed back in the 1950s… Tuberculosis, which kills 3 million people a year worldwide, is beginning to acquire antibiotic resistance. In the USA a dangerous alliance has been formed between AIDS and tuberculosis. Another former scourge, malaria, is now making a comeback, claiming 2 million deaths per year worldwide… But drugs are not winning the race, and even in industrialized countries thousands of people are dying every year from antibiotic-resistant infections which they pick up in hospital while receiving treatment for less serious conditions… The food industry’s practice of using every last piece of slaughtered animal has meant that unwholesome remains now re-enter the food chain as food for another animal. Recent outbreaks of ‘mad cow disease’ have been caused by this practice, the brains of infected animals being recycled and fed to cattle. This would never normally occur in nature; left to their own devices, cows would not eat meat.”

The quoted article also relates, in a separate box, a frightening case of the comeback of “the black death” in the 1920s in England: “Workmen engaged upon building a railway cutting near Lewes, in Sussex, unwittingly dug into an old plague pit, undisturbed for centuries. Before long the men began to succumb to an illness which was initially diagnosed as pneumonia. Several of the workmen died before the authorities realized that they were dealing with something a great deal more sinister and hastily quarantined everyone in danger. Eventually the crisis was brought under control, but it is sobering to realize that the seeds of death in the form of plague bacteria can survive in the soil for centuries.”

As already mentioned, God’s punishment on the day of the LORD will be directed against all nations (compare Obadiah 15; Joel 3:12–14). Additional scriptures reveal specifically that God will punish Egypt and other Middle Eastern nations during the time of the “day of the LORD.”

Ezekiel 30:3–5 explains: “For the day of the LORD is near; It will be a day of clouds, the time of the Gentiles. The sword shall come upon Egypt, And great anguish shall be in Ethiopia, When the slain fall in Egypt, And they take away her wealth, And her foundations are broken down. Ethiopia, Libya, Lydia, all the mingled people, Chub, and the men of the lands who are allied, shall fall with them by the sword.”

Also, modern Babylon is expressly identified as one of the nations, or power blocs, that will be dealt with by God during the “day of the LORD.” We read in Isaiah 13:1, 6–9: “The burden against Babylon…Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty…Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.”

But, again, God’s punishment will not be limited to the Babylonian system of modern Europe. God’s anger will be poured out over all flesh during the time of the “day of the LORD.” Notice verses 11–13: “I will punish the world for its evil, And the wicked for their iniquity… I will make a mortal more rare than fine gold… I will shake the heavens, and the earth will move out of her place, In the wrath of the LORD of hosts And in the day of His fierce anger.”

Let’s also note God’s coming punishment of Edom, or modern Turkey, as prophesied in Isaiah 34:5– 8: “For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; Indeed it shall come down on Edom… For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, And a great slaughter in the land of Edom… For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, The year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”

We might mention here that this passage is one of the scriptures indicating that “the day of the LORD” will commence immediately following the Great Tribulation, one year prior to, and culminating with Christ’s return (cp. also Isaiah 63:3–4 and 61:1–2, equating the “day of vengeance” with “the year of the LORD.”). In addition, as Zechariah 14:6–7 and many New Testament scriptures point out (discussed below), the day of the LORD can refer to a literal day of 24 hours in describing Christ’s return. And finally, 2 Peter 3:7–13 applies the term “day of the LORD” to the 1000-year reign of Christ on this earth, as well as the time after that, showing that it refers to the time when God begins to actively intervene in human affairs on a worldwide scale. Once He does so, His rule over man will never end.

As stated repeatedly, God’s anger is against all nations. And God wants all nations to hear and heed His end-time warning (which you are reading right now in this booklet). As Isaiah 34:1–4 states: “Come near, you nations, to hear; And heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, The world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the LORD is against all nations, And His fury against all their armies [showing that true Christians should not be serving in the armies of this world]; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter… All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, And the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; All their host shall fall down As the leaf falls from the vine, And as fruit falling from a fig tree.”

Let’s also notice the following interesting comments in the book, Millennium Prophecies, on pp. 50 and 150, discussing how those heavenly disasters described in the book of Isaiah and in other places could possibly come about: “The Apocalypse [Book of Revelation] describes earthquakes, the removal of the ozone layer (‘the heaven was removed as a scroll when it is rolled up’), meteorites (‘the stars of heaven fell upon the earth’) and many other natural disasters… One event of particular interest is the fall of a meteorite called ‘Wormwood’ [Revelation 8:10–11], which will poison all the rivers and many people; it is also possible that ‘Wormwood’ will turn out to be a man-made bomb… Possibly a fall of great comets or meteors is indicated in ‘the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind” ([Revelation] 6:13). The shaking might refer to a wobbling of the Earth’s axis, which is likely to accompany the arrival of these destructive heavenly bodies. With the destruction of the ozone layer which ‘departed as a scroll when it is rolled together’ humankind will be forced to seek shelter wherever it can find it. The next verse [Revelation] (6:15) tells how at that awful time everyone, from kings and rich men down to ordinary free men, will hide ‘themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains’. In the recent past this verse was interpreted as the population escaping nuclear fallout in underground shelters. [It could also refer to] some ecological disaster.”

In the book of Joel, we read more about the events immediately preceding, and continuing during the day of the LORD. Joel 2:11, 30–31 points out: “For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?… And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, And the moon into blood, Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.”

The heavenly signs on the sun, moon and stars could very well be the result of volcanic eruption. Notice these interesting thoughts, again from Millennium Prophecies, pp. 154–155: “The Apocalypse…does not use the word volcano [and neither does the above-quoted passage in the book of Joel], but nevertheless has some pretty accurate descriptions of phenomena that we would recognize as volcanoes… It may take months [after extensive volcanic activity] for the dust and rock particles to finally settle out of the atmosphere, but the sulphuric acid droplets can ride the winds for years. The resultant ‘dust-veils’ cause beautiful sunsets and strange optical effects [like the turning of the moon into blood].”

For more information on the meaning of Biblical passages, dealing with the “heavenly signs,” please request our free booklet, The Theory of Evolution—A Fairy Tale for Adults?

We should also take note of another important prophecy that must be fulfilled before the day of the LORD—culminating in Christ’s return—can come. And amazingly, you and I have an important role in regard to that prophecy.

Malachi 4:5–6 tells us: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse [or, with utter destruction].”

We also read in Matthew 24:22 that if it weren’t for God’s elect, this world would be totally destroyed. NO HUMAN BEING—NO FLESH AT ALL—would survive the coming dreadful day of the LORD.

We read in Luke 1:14–17 about the first fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, where John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the people of his time for the first coming of Jesus Christ. However, Malachi speaks primarily about the time just prior to the day of the LORD, which is still in the future. Therefore, another “Elijah” must come to prepare this world for the second coming of Christ.

God has given this role of an end-time Elijah to His end-time Church. There should be no doubt that Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong, who is considered by many as an apostle and who served as Pastor General of the Church of God until his death in 1986, began to fulfill this role. But God’s commission to His Church is ongoing. God expects His Church to continue to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers,” so that the day of the LORD’s return can come, and so that this earth will not have to face total and complete destruction.

(If you want to learn more about this part of the Church’s commission and how these aspects of Malachi’s prophecy are being fulfilled today, request our free booklet, The Keys to Happy Marriages and Families.)

In most of the Old Testament prophecies the events taking place during the day of the LORD are described as dealing with all of the nations of this world. In the New Testament though, additional emphasis is placed on the spiritual nation of God—the body of believers—and what the day of the LORD should mean to them. In John 6: 39 Jesus Christ applies the term “the last day” to the 24-hour day of His return.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:1–4–9 the apostle Paul states that for us‑the true follows of Christ‑the day of the LORD should not be one of wrath as it is for the nations of this earth, but rather a day of joy, as we are going to attain salvation—eternal life—at that time. The same thought is conveyed in 2 Thessalonians 1:3–10 and in 2 Timothy 4:8, referring to the day of the LORD as “that Day.”

Paul was convinced that he would meet Christ at His return (Philippians 2:14–16), referring to the day of the LORD as the “day of Christ.” It was his earnest hope and expectation that those whom he had taught would be there with him and meet Christ as well (Philippians 1:6, 10). He expresses the same desire in 1 Corinthians 1:4–8, where he refers to the day of the LORD as “the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Nothing was more important to Paul than to know that the brethren would be counted worthy to stand before the returning Son of Man, even if it meant drastic correction for the present in order to bring a sinner to repentance (1 Corinthians 5:1, 4–5).

We see, then, that we each have a responsibility to live up to the standards given to us by God, and shown to us by Jesus Christ. We will discuss a little later in this booklet that God promises us shelter and safety in the future if we are, in fact, counted worthy to escape all these things that will surely come to pass.

There is another frightening prophecy given in the pages of the New Testament that reveals events to occur just prior to the coming of the day of the LORD.

2 Thessalonians 2:1–3, 8–9 tells us: “Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ [NU: the Lord] had come. Let no one deceive you by any means: for that Day will not come unless the falling away [apostasy—a falling away from the truth of God] comes first, and the man of sin [NU: lawlessness] is revealed, the son of perdition [the false prophet discussed earlier in this booklet] … And then the lawless one will be revealed [or become manifest] whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming [by throwing him, together with the Beast, into the lake of fire]. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs and lying wonders.”

This religious leader—the false prophet—will receive power to do miracles from Satan himself (compare Revelation 19:20). He, and the system that he represents, is described in Revelation 13:11 as a beast with “two horns like a lamb and spoke like a dragon.” He “performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs” (verses 13–14). This system is also described as engaging in “sorcery” (Revelation 18:23). We are warned in Matthew 24:24 that some of those “signs” will be so convincing that, if it were possible, even the elect of God would be deceived.

Historical records establish the fact that Simon Magus, who had been baptized but had never truly repented (Acts 8:13–24), became a leader in the early Babylonian system. He had been a sorcerer, regarded as “the great power of God” (Acts 8:9–10).

Quoting from Millennium Prophecies, p. 59, let’s learn more about Simon Magus and the Satanic powers which he allegedly possessed. This should make us a bit more prepared for what is going to happen in the future and why the false prophet will be able to deceive so many people with his sorcery: “The Samarian-born Simon Magus (15 BC–AD 53), son of a Jewish sorcerer, was educated in the cradle of Gnosticism, Alexandria. He was a disciple of Dositheus, who had been a follower of John the Baptist and contended with Jesus Christ for the title of Messiah. Simon traveled widely in Persia, Arabia [and] Egypt to learn all he could about magical lore. He was accompanied by a sorceress called Helena, whom Simon claimed was a reincarnation of Helen of Troy. In Samaria, even Christians spoke of Simon as ‘the great power of God’… Simon Magus performed many miracles, including healing the sick, raising the dead, walking through fire, flying through the air, turning stones into bread, creating phantom banquets, making himself invisible, animating stone statues, changing his own shape and, of course, reputedly commanding elemental spirits or possibly demons to do his bidding.”

Simon Magus was not the only leader within the Babylonian system who practiced sorcery. Millennium Prophecies tells of another famous sorcerer, Pope Silvester II, who lived at the end of the first century. Quoting from pp. 68 and 69: “Tradition has it that he was an advanced student of the black arts… It was said that he regularly conversed with the Devil… he was credited with possessing a ‘brazen head’ that spoke to him and could prophecy future events… [He] learned… to summon ghostly figures from the lower world… [The] demons obeyed him in all that he required of them day and night, because of the great sacrifices which he offered, and his prayers and fastings and magic books and great diversity of rings and candles.”

The false prophet—the last leader of the religious system called “Babylon the Great” in the Bible—will appear soon on the world scene. He will be able to perform mighty miracles because Satan will give him the power to do so. Many will be deceived by those signs and will follow the wrong teachings of this man. May God protect YOU from doing so.

A series of remarkable prophecies that deal with the time of the day of the LORD can be found in the book of Revelation. In fact, the whole prophecy covers events pertaining to or leading up to the day of the Lord (Revelation 1:10).

Revelation 6:12–17 describes cosmic disturbances—culminating in the day of the LORD—referred to in that passage as “the great day of His [the Lamb’s, that is, Jesus Christ’s] wrath” (verses 16–17).

The book of Revelation emphasizes time and time again that God the Father and Jesus Christ will be very angry, or filled with wrath, at the time just prior to Christ’s return (Revelation 11:17–18; 14:9–10, 19; 15:1, 7; 16:1, 19; 19:15).

The reason WHY God will be so angry becomes clear when we consider the attitude of people at that time and the kind of society they are involved in. They will have “shed the blood of saints and prophets” (Revelation 16:6). They will “blaspheme the name of God” and refuse to “repent” (Revelation 16:9, 11, 21). Due to the influence of this modern Babylonian system, the sins of all of the nations will have “reached to heaven” (Revelation 18:3–5). This very Babylonian system that people will follow is responsible for “the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth” (Revelation 18:24), and God Himself will “avenge…the blood of His servants shed by her [the great false system of Babylon]” (Revelation 19:2).

When God begins to intervene in human affairs, mankind will not want him to do so. In fact, people will be so deceived that they will actually try to fight against the returning Jesus Christ (Revelation 19:19). So then, God must speak in a language that man will understand.

Considering these terrible times ahead of us, we might wonder, “Is there a way of escape, or will everyone experience the wrath of God? Do we all have to go through the times of the Great Tribulation and the day of the LORD? What can we do?”

The answer is, God has promised us protection from the terrible times to come, if we are faithful to Him. Christ tells us in Revelation 3:10: “Because you have kept My command to persevere (to have patience), I also will keep you from the hour of trial [tribulation] which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.”

Notice Christ’s additional admonition and promise in Luke 21:34–36: “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

Recall that the name of Zephaniah means, “Whom the LORD has hidden.” We are told in Zephaniah’s message, as well, that WE can be hidden, or protected, in the day of the LORD’S anger. Yes, there is a way! Notice this remarkable promise in Zephaniah 2:3: “Seek the LORD, all you meek [humble] of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD’S anger.”

King David, himself a prophet, also understood that God would hide and protect those who faithfully trust in Him. Listen to these encouraging words: “Keep me as the apple of Your eye; Hide me under the shadow of your wings…” (Psalm 17:8).

“For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in his pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; He shall set me high upon a rock” (Psalm 27:5).

“Oh, how great is Your goodness, Which You have laid up for those who fear You, Which you have prepared for those who trust in You In the presence of the sons of men! You shall hide them in the secret place of your presence From the plots of man; You shall keep them secretly in a pavilion From the strife of tongues” (Psalm 31:19–20).

King Solomon confirms, in Proverbs 14:26, that God’s people will be protected in the coming times of trial: “In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge.”

This place of refuge is more clearly described in Revelation 12:14, promising the end-time Church of God her place in the wilderness—on this earth—prepared by God, a place where she will be nourished for 3 ½ years and protected from Satan the devil. Compare this with Isaiah 33:16, describing the righteous person (verse 15) as dwelling “on high; His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks; Bread will be given him, His water will be sure.”

God gives us the same promise in Isaiah 26:20–21: “Come, My people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; The earth will also disclose her blood, And will no more cover her slain.”

Through all this, we can take great comfort from God’s promise for His people, as recorded by the prophet, Joel. We can be protected, if God looks at us as His people and counts us worthy to escape the terrible times ahead of us. Joel 3:14–16 reads: “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will grow dark, And the stars will diminish their brightness. The LORD also will roar from Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem; The heavens and earth will shake; But the LORD will be a shelter for His people, And the strength of the children of Israel.”

Yes, God has promised shelter and protection to those whom He counts as worthy to escape the horrible times to come. But in order to be worthy of God and His kingdom (2 Thessalonians 1:5), we must continue to be God’s witnesses by actively supporting His work of proclaiming His message (Luke 24:46–48; Acts 1:8), and we must be willing to suffer for it in the process (Acts 5:40–42). If we shrink back from this God-appointed duty and responsibility, God will have no pleasure in us. In effect, we will be showing Him that we do not really care for others and that we are only concerned about how WE can escape tribulation. God promises protection only to those who “sigh and cry” over all the abominations which are being done (Ezekiel 9:3–6), showing a genuine concern for others and praying that they also would repent of their ways and turn to God.

God wants us to become like Him, a God of LOVE. He has outgoing concern for the welfare of others. He wants us to have that same kind of love. He, in fact, GAVE His only begotten Son for this world, so that those who believe in Him could have everlasting life. Christ was willing to DIE for us—to give up His life for us—while we were still sinners and His enemies! Do we LOVE the world in the same way? Do we PROVE our love by SHARING the knowledge we received from God (compare Colossians 1:9–12)? Do we labor in the Work of God (Luke 10:7), preaching the gospel as we are instructed to do (Acts 13:2; 14:26; 15:38; 1 Corinthians 16:10; Philippians 2:29–30)? Are we effective coworkers with God (2 Corinthians 6:1) for the kingdom of God (Colossians 4:11)?

If we are, in fact, fully declaring the Work of God (Jeremiah 51:10), as we should be doing, we are Christ’s disciples, indeed, and we WILL BE counted worthy to escape the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord and to ENTER into the Kingdom of God. For more information about the great master plan God reveals in His Word, the Bible, and how you can understand the potential of mankind’s ultimate destiny, please request our free booklets, And Lawlessness Will Abound… along with The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.