The European Union in Prophecy The EU in Prophecy I | Seite 502

The European Union in Prophecy
" And "the rivers and fountains of waters . . . became blood." Terrible as these
inflictions are, God's justice stands fully vindicated. The angel of God declares: "Thou
art righteous, O Lord, . . . because Thou hast judged thus. For they have shed the
blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are
worthy." Revelation 16:2-6. By condemning the people of God to death, they have as
truly incurred the guilt of their blood as if it had been shed by their hands. In like
manner Christ declared the Jews of His time guilty of all the blood of holy men which
had been shed since the days of Abel; for they possessed the same spirit and were
seeking to do the same work with these murderers of the prophets.
In the plague that follows, power is given to the sun "to scorch men with fire.
And men were scorched with great heat." Verses 8, 9. The prophets thus describe the
condition of the earth at this fearful time: "The land mourneth; . . . because the harvest
of the field is perished. . . . All the trees of the field are withered: because joy is
withered away from the sons of men." "The seed is rotten under their clods, the
garners are laid desolate. . . . How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are
perplexed, because they have no pasture. . . . The rivers of water are dried up, and the
fire hath devoured the pastures of the wilderness." "The songs of the temple shall be
howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every
place; they shall cast them forth with silence." Joel 1:10-12, 17-20; Amos 8:3.
These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly
cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals.
All the judgments upon men, prior to the close of probation, have been mingled with
mercy. The pleading blood of Christ has shielded the sinner from receiving the full
measure of his guilt; but in the final judgment, wrath is poured out unmixed with
mercy. In that day, multitudes will desire the shelter of God's mercy which they have
so long despised. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine
in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of
the Lord: and they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east,
they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it." Amos
8:11, 12.
The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while persecuted and
distressed, while they endure privation and suffer for want of food they will not be left
to perish. That God who cared for Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing
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