The Rise of Evil and God’s Answer

“Daniel spake and said,
I saw in my vision by night, and, behold,
the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
  And four great beasts came up from the sea,
diverse one from another”
Daniel 7:2

In the midst of all the chaos, perplexity and suffering we see arising in the earth it is essential that God’s people see that these are all a result of the work of heavenly powers. The visions of Daniel and John in the Book of Revelation clearly reveal that these things must be as they are all interwoven into the Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Day of the Lord. Within this unfolding drama we see a period (3 1/2 years, 1260 days, a time times and a half, 42 months)*(see note below) of great suffering and seeming defeat for the saints of God. Jesus Himself was cut off in the middle of the week (3 1/2) as He in total submission yielded Himself to the perfect will of the Father. It is ordained that those who “would follow the Lamb” walk in the same steps in the coming hour that is to try the whole earth. The hour is upon us; in some countries our brothers and sisters are already facing pure evil in this time of great sifting. We hear stories of great suffering and even death for the witness of the Living God in these countries.

“And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake:
but he that endureth to the end shall be saved”
Matthew 10:22

“Charity…endureth all things”
1 Corinthians 13:7

This time of great trial is going to come upon all that dwell in the earth. Only those whose names are written in the Book of Life will endure faithfully to the end. The rising up of these evil expressions must be; “for whatsoever is brought to light is made manifest”. In order for God’s righteous judgments to be manifest in the earth He must allow evil its full expression that He may judge it fully. It is for us to endure and overcome these things in our day and in our land. Words will fail, the doctrines and teachings of men will not abide the hour that is upon us. The only thing that will stand is a people filled with the very Love of God. Only Love endures all things, for Love never fails and they who abide in His Love are they who abide in Him. He is our hiding place and if we abide in His love we will also love one another with the same love that is shared between the Father and Son. The oneness which they have is to be our oneness. It is in this pure expression that men will know we are His. Love is the end of God’s purposes and those who dwell in His love dwell in God. It takes very little observation to see the carnality, the selfishness and the hypocrisy of the day we are in.

“If a man say, I love God,
and hateth his brother, he is a liar:
for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1 John 4:20

Love is God’s answer. The storm that will come in all its fury and violence will seek to drive God’s people from love and mercy into its own realm of hatred and evil. It is incumbent upon us today, while it is yet today, to enter into the stronghold of the Risen Christ. It is in Him that our lives are secure; not from martyrdom or suffering but from the weakness of self. It is in Him that we will find the resources to love and shine His life into a world baptized in evil. This love is not some sentimental emotion. It is the very life and nature of God Himself and can only be known through submission and a life of identification. Teachings, sermons, Sunday meetings, prayer meetings (if not salted with obedience and submission to God) and all of men’s religious endeavors will not avail in this hour. Purity of heart, passion and full surrender of our lives into His hands is the only way to enter into this place of peace and safety. He is our salvation and this life must be entered into before the storm breaks out. Men who tarry and slumber in this hour will find great peril awaits those who did not respond to His call in the day of prosperity. We have today to interact with one another in the realm of truth and accountability. This true fellowship of the Spirit can only be known by those who walk in the light as He is in the light. Love is the end and goal of all who seek His Kingdom and His righteousness. It is this Love alone which will endure the day that is upon us.

“And above all these things put on charity,
which is the bond of perfectness”
Colossians 3:14

* NOTE:
time, times, and a half—(See on Daniel 7:25). Newton, referring this prophecy to the Eastern apostasy, Mohammedanism, remarks that the same period of three and a half years, or 1260 prophetic days, is assigned to it as the Western apostasy of the little horn (Daniel 7:25); and so, says Prideaux, Mohammed began to forge his imposture, retiring to his cave, a.d. 606, the very year that Phocas made the grant to the bishop of Rome, whence he assumed the title, The Universal Pastor; Antichrist thus setting both his feet on Christendom together, the one in the East, and the other in the West. Three and a half is the time of the world power, in which the earthly kingdoms rule over the heavenly [Auberlen]. “Three and a half” represents the idea of spiritual trial; (besides this certain symbolical meaning, there is doubtless an accurate chronological meaning, which is as yet to us uncertain): it is half of “seven,” the complete number, so a semi-perfect state, one of probation. The holy city is trodden by the Gentiles forty-two months (Revelation 11:2), so the exercise of the power of the beast (Revelation 13:5). The two witnesses preach in sackcloth 1260 days, and remained unburied three days and a half: so the woman in the wilderness: also the same for a “time, times, and a half” (Revelation 11:3, 9, 11; 12:6, 14). Forty-two connects the Church with Israel, whose haltings in the wilderness were forty-two (Numbers 33:1-50). The famine and drought on Israel in Elijah’s days were for “three years and six months” (Luke 4:25; James 5:17); there same period as Antiochus’ persecution: so the ministry of the Man of Sorrows, which ceased in the midst of a week (Daniel 9:27) [Wordsworth, Apocalypse]. (JFB Commentary)

“I beheld,
and the same horn made war with the saints,
and prevailed against them;
Until the Ancient of days came,
and judgment was given to the saints of the most High;
and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom”
Daniel 7:21

Brian Troxel
www.aword.info