—But When?—By What?—The New Heaven's Children!—Chapter 26! 9/86

1. SO I SAID, "LORD, YOU'VE GOT TO GIVE ME A SCRIPTURE THAT WILL HELP ANSWER THIS QUESTION, A SPECIFIC SCRIPTURE THAT SHOWS WHEN THE MOUNTAINS & ISLANDS DISAPPEAR!"—And I opened my Bible & as I was going through it & my eyes fell directly on this verse in the 6th Chapter, way back in the beginning of Revelation! Remember‚ that's the Chapter in Revelation which is the opening of the seals. What do they portray? What do they picture? What do they foretell? Do you remember? I'll bet some of the old folks even forgot!

2. ALL RIGHT I'LL GIVE YOU A HINT: I'll give you the first part of the 6th Chapter. "And He opened one of the seals, & I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, & one of the Four Beasts saying, 'Come & see.' And I saw, & behold a White Horse, & He that sat on him had a bow, & a crown was given unto Him: & He went forth conquering & to conquer!" (Rev.6:1,2) Here's the four horsemen of the Apocalypse, & who is this on the White Horse? (Children: Jesus!)—Jesus, conquering what? (David: Trying to conquer the World.) Conquering the whole World! It's the beginning of the Christian Era where Jesus is conquering the World.

3. THEN IT'S FOLLOWED BY OTHER HORSES, & WHAT ARE THEY? (Techi: The merchants.)—Merchants. (David: And war.) (Techi: Death & Hell.) Death & destruction! Were all these things happening way back then? (Techi: Yes.) Yes‚ of course! Are they still happening now? (Children: Yes!) Yes, of course. And everything else that's described here, it was going on back yonder & it's still going on now.

4. SO WHAT PERIOD DOES THIS CHAPTER 6 COVER? I guess it's been a long time since we reviewed this Chapter! This whole Chapter is telling you the history of Mankind‚ the history of the World. Then of course if it's the history of the World, what's it going to do? It's going to wind up with the End of the World!

5. NOW HERE'S THE CATCH: THE ENDTIME ENDS WHEN? We call it the End, the Disciples called it the End & even Jesus called it the End because it's the end of the Old World. In my Millennial series I talk about the Old World‚ which we're living in right now, & then there's the New World in which I'm living in the Millennium, & then there's one more World after the New World called what? (David: The New Earth?)—The New Earth! That comes after what? (David: The Millennium.) And what's the end of the Millennium? What happens? (Children: The Battle of Gog & Magog.)—The Battle of Gog & Magog! And then what happens when Gog & Magog surrounds the Camp of the Saints? What Saints are they? (David: The Millennial Saints.) Then what happens? (David: Then fire comes down from God & devours them!)—The Millennial Saints? (David: No, devours the people who are fighting them.)

6. SO WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSED GOD DID WITH THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS? (David: He raptured them.) Yes, He had to rapture them before that Fire came down from God & devoured all their enemies—& what else? (David: And burned up the whole surface of the Earth.) And after that what did God do to the Earth? (David: He recreated it.) He recreated the whole surface of the Earth so that there were no more...(Techi: Seas!) Seas. And no more...(Techi: Mountains!) Right! And when He burned up the Earth‚ what did He burn up with it, besides the enemies? (David: He burned up all the rubble of the cities, etc.) Yes, & all the pollutants of the Earth. What about something else He burned up? Oh, my! We'll have to turn back & read that, won't we? I'll read it to you, & we find the most accurate description of it in the Book of Peter, believe it or not!

7. I ALWAYS HAVE TROUBLE FINDING PETER. I can never remember if it's before or after Hebrews. Well, it's not before Hebrews, so it must be after! Can you tell me where Peter is? I love Peter, but I can't find him! Ha! There he is between James & John! Oh, dear Peter! I should remember that‚ that would be a good way to help me remember that! I'm not very good on places or references‚ but I can find the verses in the Bible. We've got Peter between James & John. Peter, James & John were the three top Disciples, weren't they? So that's a good way to remember it, he's right in the middle. He's the most prominent‚ he's the center of Jesus' top echelon of His officers.

8. (TECHI: HE'S THE WHAT?) He's the center of Jesus' top echelon, that means top class, the top most important Disciples that Jesus had were Peter, James & John. How do we know they were His most important Disciples? (Techi: Because He always took them with Him.) Yes, & at the Garden of Gethsemane He had His Disciples & He asked them to pray for Him, & then He went a little bit further with whom?—Peter, James & John, His top officers. So here we have Peter between James & John right here in the Bible! (Techi: And when He went up to the mountain with Moses & Elijah‚ He took them with Him.) That's right! He was always having Peter, James & John closest to Him.

9. NOW IN PETER WE FIND SOMETHING VERY INTERESTING! I don't always know the exact references, but I can always find them. I don't know the house number, & sometimes I don't know the street‚ but I usually know what block it's in! Do you get it?—What's the house number?—That's the verse number, right? That's the explicit, exact verse number, or the house number. The street is like a Chapter, & the block is what? (David: The whole Book!) Yes! That's right!

10. NOW, LET'S SEE IF WE CAN FIND THE VERSE WE'RE LOOKING FOR. I THINK IT'S IN 2ND PETER. Here it is! It's 2nd Peter, the last Chapter in the last Peter! Here he tells the last thing that happens to the Old Earth. Here in Chapter 3 he first talks about the first destruction of the Earth. What was the first great destruction of the whole surface of the Earth? (Fam: The Flood.) Right‚ the Flood!

11. THE EARLY EARTH WAS DESTROYED BY A FLOOD. The Millennial Earth is going to be destroyed by what? (Children: Fire!)—By a flood of fire, coming down from Heaven! The first one came from Heaven too, right? God opened the windows of Heaven, the floodgates, & He dropped all the water from above the firmament, the Water Globe, as we call it in our new Series. (Gen.1:7 & 7:11) "And by the Word of God the Heavens were of old, & the Earth standing out of the water & in the water: Whereby the World that then was‚ being overflowed with water, perished." (2Pe.3:5,6.)

12. THEN WHAT DOES HE SAY? SOMEBODY READ IT REAL ALOUD. (David: "But the Heavens & the Earth, which are now‚ by the same word are kept in store.") Storing them up for what? He's saving the World between the Flood of Water to the Flood of Fire! Kept in store, reserved for what? (David: "Reserved unto fire against (before) the Day of Judgement & perdition of ungodly men.") (2Pe.3:7)

13. WHEN DOES THE FLOOD OF FIRE HAPPEN, JUST BEFORE THE WHAT?—THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT! Isn't that right? Isn't that what it says in the 20th Chapter of Revelation, where the flood of fire destroys Gog & Magog & all that, & then right after that is the Great White Throne Judgement, right? It's all right here in Peter, you can piece it together, you don't even have to have a revelation!

14. OKAY, TOGETHER LET'S READ THE 8TH VERSE: (Children: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, & a thousand years as one day.") Do you know why he's saying that?—Because it says it's been a long time since the Flood, that doesn't mean that God's forgotten that He's going to finally judge the World with fire!

15. THE FLOOD HAPPENED ABOUT HOW MANY YEARS BEFORE JESUS? I tell in my latest Story how long it was between Creation & the Flood. Does anybody remember? (Fam: About 500 years?) No, About 1,500. Actually it was 1600 & something, which would make it about how many years before Jesus' birth? How long was the Creation before Jesus' birth? (David: 3,000 years?) Nope. (Fam: 4,000.) About 4,000 years. The great Bible historian, Usher, puts it 4,004 B.C. So, how many years was the Flood before Jesus, before He was born on Earth? How long was it from Creation to Jesus? (Children: 4,000 years.) About 4‚000 years‚ & so what do you do? (Maria: Subtract 1,600 from 4,000.) And how much do you have left? (David: 2,400). So about 2‚400 B.C. is when the Water Flood occurred.

16. ALL RIGHT, IT WAS ABOUT 2,400 YEARS FROM THE FLOOD TO JESUS, that's in round numbers, & how many years is it since Jesus?—Nearly 2‚000. So that makes a total of about how many years, Techi? What's 2,400 plus 2,000?—2,000 plus 2,000 is how much? (Techi: 4,000.) 4,000 plus 400 is what? (Techi: 4,400.) So it's now 4,400 years approximately, in round numbers, since the Water Flood. But it's not going to be very much longer until the End of this period. Let's say it's maybe somewhere around 4,400 years, then there's another big long period of how long, after the Endtime?—A thousand years, the Millennium!—Until when? (David: Until Gog and Magog and the New Earth.)

17. HOW DOES HE MAKE THE NEW EARTH? (David: By burning up the old one!)—Burning up the old! We're talking about the first destruction of the surface of the Earth being with a Flood of water, & the last destruction of the Earth with a Flood of Fire! How many years between?—2,400 from the Flood to Jesus, plus 2,000 from Jesus to now is how many?—4,400. Plus another 1,000 for the Millennium is what? (David: 5,400.) —5,400 years from the first destruction of the Earth by the Flood of Water to the last destruction of the surface of the Earth with the Flood of Fire!

18. YOU SEE, PEOPLE GET ALL MIXED UP. The churches always taught that the whole Earth & everything was destroyed, & that this New Earth was an entirely new Planet‚ but God' not going to let His Creation be destroyed like that that easily! The only part of the Earth that needs to be cleaned up is what? (David: The surface.)—The surface of the Earth! The only part of the Earth He cleaned up in the first destruction‚ the Flood of what? (David: Water.) It was what part of the Earth?—The surface of the Earth! Except that in the next flood, the Flood of Fire, something additional is going to be destroyed besides the surface of the Earth. (David: Cities?) Yes, cities are part of the surface. (David: Seas!) Yes, & that's part of the surface. There's something more than just the surface of the Earth that is going to be destroyed. (Fam: The atmosphere!) The atmosphere! Right!

19. THE AIR AROUND THE EARTH IS GOING TO BE DESTROYED IN THE FINAL FLOOD OF FIRE! Let's read what happens here in 2nd Peter Chapter 3. He says not to worry just because God's going to be waiting a long time‚ it doesn't mean it's not going to happen! In the 8th‚ 9th & 10th verses he says, "Be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousands years, & a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promises, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering to us-ward." He even suffers those Rebels all the way through the Millennium, think of that! And then He even suffers the Rebellion of Satan with some of the nations at the end of the Millennium! Think of that! "Not willing that any should perish"‚ He tries to get as many people saved in the Millennium as He can, "but that all should come to repentance."

20. "BUT THE DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT". What does that mean?—Nobody's going to see Him? Nobody's going to catch Him? How does a thief come in the night? Does the goodman of the house know exactly when he's coming? No, it means by surprise! We don't know yet exactly when He's coming, & if the Lord is coming as a thief in the night, it will be a surprise to most people‚ right?—But it won't be a surprise to us! This is a verse, by the way, that some of these Pre-Trib-Rapturists use to support their doctrine‚ "He comes as a thief in the night, so nobody knows when it's going to happen." But that's not so! Those who are watching are going to know what's going to happen, right? Plus we understand the Bible & its prophecies. (1Thes.5:4)

21. NOW IN THE 10TH VERSE HE'S TALKING ABOUT THE "DAY OF THE LORD". Does this mean only the second coming of Jesus?—No! He says, "The day of the Lord...in which the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, & the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also & the works that are therein shall be burned up!" Whew!—And in the 12th verse, as a continuation of that Scripture, "Looking for & hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved & the elements shall melt with fervent heat!"

22. ISAIAH SAYS THAT THE HEAVENS SHALL DEPART AS A GARMENT, & "THEY SHALL BE ROLLED UP LIKE A SCROLL & VANISH AWAY!" (Isa.34:4, Rev.6:14) This is the Heavens‚ now, that doesn't mean Space City, does it? It doesn't even mean the stars & the planets, the Sun & Moon, etc. (Techi: The atmosphere?)—The atmospheric heavens! Even the scientists used to call them the atmospheric heavens, but they don't use that word "heavens" much anymore though. They all want to get away from the Bible & spiritual things & God, etc., so even Heaven isn't a very popular word any more. So when the final Wrath & Judgement of God come upon the surface of the Earth, like it did in the Flood of Waters, there will be a Flood of what? (David: Fire!)—Yes!—Fire!

23. HOW DO YOU THINK GOD IS GOING TO BURN UP THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH? (David: With fire!)—With fire! What kind of fire? What's going to burn it? (David: The Sun?) Nope‚ not the Sun. I just got through telling you! (Techi: Fire!) Yes, fire‚ but what is it that can catch fire so easily? (David: The oil?) No, not the oil, that's in the bowels of the Earth. (David: By all the gasoline?) No, what is composed of the biggest bunch of gasses in all the World? (David: Air!) Right! Oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, helium‚ etc.—the whole atmosphere is made up of a whole bunch of gasses, some of them which are very explosive‚ like nitrogen & hydrogen!

24. THAT'S WHAT DESTROYED SEVERAL OF THE BIG DIRIGIBLES THAT CRASHED YEARS AGO! (Techi: What's a dirigible?) It's a big balloon with a rigid frame inside & filled with gas so it'll float up in the air! The Akron, the Graf Zeppelin, the Macon, there were several great big dirigibles that caught fire or got struck with lightning‚ & why did they explode? (David: Because they were filled with hydrogen?) Yes! They had hydrogen gas in them, which is lighter than air, but very explosive!

25. HYDROGEN IS ONE OF THE GASSES OF THE AIR, but it's lighter than air, because air is composed of all these other gasses. Air is composed of hydrogen, nitrogen‚ oxygen, etc. I think they say it's four-fifths nitrogen & then the next largest amount is oxygen & then helium & then hydrogen, etc. Now helium doesn't explode or burn, but hydrogen does, & if the oxygen & the other gasses are united in such a way with hydrogen, if I'd strike a match right now, the whole atmosphere, all the air on the Earth would blow up!

26. GOD PUT THESE GASSES IN A PERFECT COMBINATION THAT'S NOT EXPLOSIVE, BECAUSE ALL THE ELEMENTS ARE THERE TO EXPLODE! It takes oxygen to burn things, so the gasses have to unite with oxygen to burn. There's enough oxygen & nitrogen & hydrogen in the air to explode the entire atmosphere!—If it weren't for the way God delicately balanced the gasses so that they don't explode! Otherwise if you just lit a match—boom! There'd go the whole surface of the Earth! What do you think that would do to the surface? (Children: Burn it up!) Yes! (David: So then God knocks the balance off?) He does it somehow, we don't know exactly how, but the entire air catches fire! Now if the whole air caught fire in this room, what do you think would happen to our house? (Children: It would burn up.) It would burn up with it!

27. —AND SOME DAY AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIUM AFTER THE RAPTURE OF THE MILLENNIAL SAINTS, THE ATMOSPHERE IS GOING TO EXPLODE!—Not just burn, but actually explode, & it's going to destroy the entire surface of the Earth & all the enemies of the Millennial Saints!—And what's next?—Read it in our next Chapter! God bless you!

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family