Page 104 - Satan in the Sanctuary

106 Satan in the Sanctuary

to lament! The entire earth consumed in Armageddon.
Perhaps a billion casualties this time.
Can we learn from these debacles? Not at all, according
to the prophets. We still are scoffing. We treat Daniel, Paul,
John, and Jesus Christ no better than those patriarchs of
ancient Israel treated Isaiah and Jeremiah.
There is little difference in our time. The Jews in Jere-
miah's day might have avoided their punishment by turn-
ing back to God. The setup is the same this time. Christ
will claim God's own before the tribulation period, the
Scriptures say, and they will be spared the terrible events
to come.
It's even easier this time. Since the first coming of Christ
it is necessary only for us to ask. We no not have to fulfill
a complex law. We do not have to pay for past deeds.
Jeremiah put it very well at the conclusion of his Lamen-
tations: "Thou, O LORD, remainest for ever; thy throne
from generation to generation. . . . Turn thou us unto
thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned" (Lam 5:19-21).
The Jews remained in Babylonian captivity for some
seventy years, as Jeremiah had also prophesied. Then, as
God made it possible for them, they started to put the pieces
of Israel back together once again. The dream of every
Jew was to rebuild the house of God on its appointed site.
Let's look now at the drama of the second Temple.