July 27, 2022
Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died. Revelation 16:3
Yesterday we saw that man’s plan for the world will promise physical safety. But non-supporters of this plan are to be excluded from buying and selling. The first plague will demonstrate that those who are trusting God will have true safety and protection. All lasting physical security is in Christ!
The “one-world” plan will have numerous positive talking points. Environmental concerns will be at or near the top of the agenda. Cleaning our environment from pollution will be coupled with ideas for a thriving economy. “Love for our fellow man” will be the impetus for supporting the plan. There will be a generic religious flavor given to the one-world plan.
In the background (and likely not reported in the news) God’s people will endure being excluded from the economy. Their faithfulness to Him will be evident in their patient, joyful countenance. They will not have the foul and loathsome sore that everyone else has, thus the sight of them will especially anger those who fervently believe in the one-world plan. Revelation 13:15 states that there will be enforced killing* of those who refuse to worship the image of the beast.
When all the salt-water oceans and seas are hit with the second plague, the floating carcasses and stench will bring the world economy to a screeching halt. No one knows how many living creatures are swimming down below the water’s surface until they are all floating dead at the top. Think of the interruption in the supply chains. Very quickly everyone who placed their economic dependence on the world’s system will be in peril. This second plague will show that all economic security is in Christ.
There is a joyfully inexplicable, divine element in God’s economy. Spiritual riches/blessings come to those who love and receive the truth of His word. But those who refuse to receive corrections stifle their own growth and will lose even the correct knowledge of the Lord that they may have. They have made themselves subject to Satan’s delusions and false teachings.
For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. Matthew 13:12 (see also 25:29, Mark 4:25, Luke 8:18)
*Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ “Yes, says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.” Revelation 14:12-13