The Apocalypse

(Part 5)

To be reminded of this: "And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: ²¹Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luke 17:20-21. The Pharisees believed that the Kingdom of God would to handed to them after great signs and wonders overshadowed the land, and following would be outward manifestations of their supposed holy powers with Israel's enemies being consumed with fear, and God's elect would come down on them with the sweeping hand of absolute victory. And do we not see the same mentality with today's ideas of dispensationalism? I believe them to be twin sisters to the old Jewish mind-set. That which the religious figureheads were supposing in those days is not much different, if at all, to many of today's Pentecostals, Fundamentalists, Charismatics, and even Kingdom people. Things haven't changed much with men, and it is not to be expected otherwise; for the natural mind will always think natural, and naturally observe things on that lower level. It is no wonder, then, that their keys to the Kingdom of heaven do not fit the lock to the door of revelation. Their assertions and commands just don't make the grade.

However, when lightning, thunder, and voices are heard proceeding from the throne, they who hear can command from that high place and things will be done. We do not command, however, until we know and hear the voice of our Father. Jesus did not speak until He heard His Father speak, and when He spoke that which He heard from His Father, it always came to pass in the earth. Moreover, it was a simple thing for Him to hear and see what His Father was saying and doing; for although His feet walked the dusty avenues of earth's byways, He was in heaven. He made this clear when He said that no man can ascend to heaven except he first descends from heaven, even the son of man who is in heaven. Since He was in heaven, He knew what was going on in that realm. It should be the same with us, and if it is not now it shall shortly be. This is a must! For didn't Paul say that we are seated in the heavens in Jesus Christ? Yes! He certainly did, and I believe him.

Therefore, all who abide upon the footstool, the earth, always obey whoever speaks from that throne, no questions asked.

Even though we know who we are and know the heavens from where we dwell, and also from where we command, what do you suppose we will be commanding? What is the throne going to be telling the footstool? What will we be doing about the death and darkness that the first Adam brought about? How will we undo the fatal blow that was delivered to creation when everything was ripped apart and died? It seems like a mountain too high to climb; for Adam's act is comparable to a nuclear bomb that was detonated directly in the midst of the city of his very being. The explosive reaction came upon himself and to every living cell and person of humanity who came afterwards. Can such a wound be healed? Can a scattering of such a magnitude of particles ever be drawn together again? Sounds impossible, doesn't it? But praise God, it is not impossible; for with Him there is only one thing that is impossible for Him to do, and that is to lie! (rf. Hebrews 6:18).

Whether an adamic or atomic reaction starts there is an awesome amount of energy released, and I know something of this phenomenon. The very first atomic bomb that was detonated took place in my backyard, so to speak. This was when I was three years old. It was July 16, 1945 seventy-seven miles northwest of my hometown of Alamogordo, New Mexico. Many authorities in the field of science said it couldn't be done, but they were wrong, and the world was changed forever. In the early morning darkness the incredible destructive power of the atom was first unleashed, and what had been only a theory became a reality. The fact is, it was so much a theory that the scientists who designed the bomb did not know if the atomic reaction would stop once it began.  

"One of the scientists, the 1938 Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Enrico Fermi, was willing to bet anyone that the test would wipe out all life on Earth, with special odds on the mere destruction of the entire State of New Mexico!" Not only did one of their top physicists feel this way, General Thomas Farrell said: "Many were apprehensive and concerned that the blast might launch a cataclysmic reaction in the upper atmosphere leading to the destruction of the world. We were reaching into the unknown and we did not know what might come of it. It can be safely said that most of those present - Christian, Jew and Atheist - were praying and praying harder than they had ever prayed before....In that brief instant in the remote New Mexico desert the tremendous effort of the brains and brawn of all these people came suddenly and startlingly to the fullest fruition. Dr. Oppenheimer, on whom had rested a very heavy burden, grew tenser as the last seconds ticked off. He scarcely breathed. He held on to a post to steady himself. For the last few seconds, he stared directly ahead and then the announcer shouted 'Now!' And there came this tremendous burst of light followed shortly thereafter by the deep growling roar of the explosion, his face relaxed into an expression of tremendous relief...but then somberly said, 'I am become death, the shatterer of worlds.'

"Several of the observers standing back of the shelter to watch the lighting effects were knocked flat by the blast....There was a feeling in that shelter that those concerned with its nativity should dedicate their lives to the mission that it would always be used for good and never for evil.

"In Los Alamos, 230 miles to the north where the work had been done, a group of scientists' wives who had stayed up all night for the not so secret test, saw the light and heard the distant sound. One wife, Jane Wilson, described it this way: 'Then it came. The blinding light no one had ever seen. The trees illuminated, leaping out. The mountains flashing into life. Later, the long slow rumble. Something had happened, all right, for good or ill.'" (References: Department of State, Foreign Relations for the United States Conference of Berlin (Potsdam) (1945); Lansing, Lamont, Day of Trinity (1965), City of Fire: Los Alamos and the Atomic Age - James W. Kunetka, and Standing By and Making Do: Women in Wartime Los Alamos - Jane S. and Charlotte Serber.)

We then dropped two of those bombs on two cities in Japan. Hiroshima was the first and three days later Nagasaki. It has been estimated that the two bombs claimed over 200,000 lives. This ended a war that had already taken over 60 million lives, as some have calculated, and whether justifiable or not, no one can say how many more would have been lost if those cities had not been destroyed, but many authorities believe millions more. Such devastation isn't an easy thing to accept as having been just, but it seems to be akin to what Caiphus prophesied of Jesus, "One man must die for the nation," and perhaps the 200,000 innocents had to die for the preservation of the world. I will leave that call before the throne of God.

After Dr. Openheimer witnessed the craft of his brilliant mind, and although he was relieved that Trinity worked, we are sure his heart sank by knowing the death and destruction that would follow, thus his tortured words -- "I am become death, the shatterer of worlds!" This was the most deadly undertaking that man had ever devised and then used against mankind. Yet, this is not altogether true; for the first man did the same but magnified many times over when he took and ate the deadly fruit given to him at the hand of his wife.

Moreover, Jesus in like manner took and drank the cup of death when His wife, the people of Israel, offered him up to be sacrificed. As it was with the last Adam who was not in transgression, the first Adam was neither in transgression, but the woman (rf. 1 Timothy 2:14), and both men died to save their wives. Eve could not be saved except in childbearing, and she could not bear the proper son without the seed of her husband. Therefore, Adam chose to die with her, as did Jesus; however, not for His bride alone, but for the whole world. The difference, of course, is that the death of the first Adam (fission) started a chain reaction that destroyed every living thing from his day forth, while the death of the last Adam (fusion) started a chain reaction that began to bring life to every living thing from His day forth. That which the first Adam did the last Adam reversed, and if He doesn't or can't do it, the testimony would be that the first Adam is greater and more powerful than the last Adam, that death reigns supreme over life, that darkness snuffs out light. It would also say that Jesus Christ is an eternal loser, that He failed in His mission. Try as He may, His commission was powerless, and He just couldn't accomplish what He was sent to do. Do any of us think that such defeat is remotely possible? Absolutely not! But if others think so, let me suggest that they read something else; for unfounded failure of the Lord of lords won't be found written by this pen.

Again, "I am become death, the shatterer of worlds," and the world of Imperial Japan was shattered in August of 1945. Little Boy and Fat Man, the names of the two bombs, were the instruments of distress that brought that mighty nation to her knees. The emperor broadcasted the announcement of Japan's surrender on August 15, and the formal ceremony took place on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri September 2, 1945.

It was then that it can be said of this nation -- "We were conquerors." Whether it was right or wrong to use the two atomic bombs, this nation was the conqueror of that nation; but is that all we have been about? Conquering aggressive nations? Fortunately, and by the grace of God, the United States of America has always been a nation that can be labeled as being "more than conquerors."

What do we suppose would make us more than conquerors? To borrow from Gary Gatlin, since we destroyed Hiroshima with the first bomb, we certainly conquered that city, for there was nothing left of it. So to become more than conquerors, what did we have to do, bomb it again? Not at all. That wouldn't make us more than conquerors. Perhaps by bombing Nagasaki made us more than conquerors. Nope! That doesn't work either. By compounding the death and destruction does not merit the title of being "more than conquerors." This is nothing more than the act of continuing to conquer, and the more we conquer does not make us more than conquerors.

However, we not only conquered the cities, and the entire nation, we went in and rebuilt cities and the nation, and often much better than what it was before the war. The lives, of course, could not be given back; but as it has always been with the U.S., every nation we have ever conquered, we went in afterwards and rebuilt them. This is what it is to be more than conquerors.

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