The Earth—Corrupt and Full of Violence

Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence. —Genesis 6:11

This scripture is talking about the earth before the flood, and we know what happened. The earth is corrupt and full of violence now, and it’s going to get worse from here. God promised not to destroy the earth again with water; this time it will be with fire:

But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare. (2 Peter 3:10)

Let’s listen to Jesus Christ:

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man. (Matthew 24:37)

In the days of Noah, people were eating and drinking, marrying, and giving in marriage. In the parallel scriptures in Luke, Jesus adds that, as it was in the days of Lot, so it will be when the Son of Man is “revealed”:

28 It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 It will be just like that on the day the Son of Man is revealed. (Luke 17:28-30)

Jesus says, “It will be just like that.” Fire and sulfur rained down after Lot left Sodom. Lot was undergoing persecution when he was taken out of the city. In the same way, we will come out of great tribulation (see Revelation 7:14). Jesus also uses the word revealed. The entire book of Revelation is about the revealing of Jesus, the second coming of Christ. It begins with Jesus’s appearing in the 6th seal.

And they said to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the One seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. (Revelation 6:16)

This is when Jesus is revealed. At this time, Christians will be undergoing great tribulation. This great tribulation is persecution from the antichrist, who appears in the 1st seal.

21 As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and prevailing against them, 22 until the Ancient of Days arrived and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for them to possess the kingdom. (Daniel 7:21-22)

When Jesus is revealed in the 6th seal, the day of the Lord, that “great day”, begins.

For the great day of Their wrath has come, and who is able to withstand it?” (Revelation 6:17)

On the day of the Lord, Jesus’s face will appear in the sky, the whole world will see him, and then the rapture will happen. After the faithful are gathered to Jesus by the angels, there will be a half hour of silence as the world stares at the face of God.

And the glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all humanity together will see it. For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:5)

During the moment of silence, as the unbelieving world stares in awe and wonder at the face of the Lord, prayers of the holy ones are offered up to God with a great quantity of incense in the golden censer. After the prayers are offered up to God, the angel then fills the censer with fire (or hot coals) from the altar (without incense) and hurls it down to earth:

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder, and rumblings, and flashes of lightning, and an earthquake (Revelation 8:5)

This can tell us that God will not hear the cries of the people left on earth. This is the fire and sulfur that will rain down, just like in the days of Lot.

The censer with the fire hurled down to earth tells us that the plagues and disasters from the seven trumpets will run unabated on the people left on earth. We know this because Moses and Aaron walked among the living and the dead Israelites with the censer offering incense to God in order to stop the plague on those who supported the rebellion at Korah:

46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.” 47 So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people. (Numbers 16:46-48)

God stopped the plague in the book of Numbers, but the plagues from Revelation will run unchecked. This is the beginning of God’s wrath on a violent, immoral, and dying world. God’s wrath is the 7th seal.

Now is the time to receive God’s promise of eternal life through Jesus Christ our savior. Let’s repent of wrongdoing and love the Lord our God and our fellow human beings. Let’s avoid the terrible fate of hell by accepting Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. Let’s receive the crown of eternal joy from God our Father, the creator of the universe.