Weapons of Indignation

           We’ve seen that the 3 1/2-year war at the start of the 7th Day, the Day of the Lord, is called the Wrath of that Day. It is God’s vengeance against evil. All evil. That is why Isaiah 13:4-6 prophesies that the kingdoms of the nations that gather together against Israel are called the weapons of God’s indignation. The Hebrew word doe indignation is zaam (zah'-am), and it means frothing at the mouth, in fury and anger, mingled with great disgust.
            In His mercy, when God sent Jesus into the world, our Lord primarily preached to His own people, the Jews. As God’s people, they were given the privilege of hearing the Gospel first. But when they stubbornly clung to their own expectations of the Messiah, God mercifully opened the message to the Gentiles. Yes, the very people who were oppressing them and would continue to oppress them for centuries. Talk about a slap in the face.
           For the most part, however, this spiritual equivalent of throwing a bucket of ice-cold water in their faces didn’t bring them to their senses. Though God is merciful, He is also just and fair. So He had to punish their rejection of His Anointed One—Jesus Christ—as surely as He did their oppressors. The rebuilt Temple was an insult to God and His only begotten Son who gave His life for them. The reinstatement of the sacrificial system could not go unpunished. Therefore, the initial invasion destroyed one-third of Jerusalem and the city was plundered.
            But God had spoken that Israel and Jerusalem would be a light to the nations and the praise of the earth. What God had spoken shall surely come to pass. So when the counterfeit kingdom of the Antichrist puts his evil plan in motion, God’s indignation turns against him. God’s judgment is just and appropriate.
          Which brings us to another crushing blow that we skipped over temporarily so we could show you the sequence of the final war against Israel. This other crushing blow is covered in one of the mini-visions John had after eating the little book. It’s recorded in Revelation 18. It’s called the Fall of Mystery Babylon. As always, it is declared in Heaven first, and then we see it manifesting on the earth.
          Mystery Babylon goes by other names: the Harlot, the Scarlet Women. If you’ve been following these blogs, you may recall that we called her the  “Counterfeit Queen,” the counterfeit of the Bride of Christ. If you missed that blog from November 2021, its in the archive. We went into detail describing her when we were setting the stage for the final saga and its casts of characters.
          She is the mystical, occultist power-mongers behind the nations on the earth. That is, those who have blatantly flaunted God’s existence and power and manipulated the nations from behind the scenes with their super-wealth and evil practices. God gives the people of her city one final warning to come out from her before it is utterly destroyed in one hour.
          Ironically, the very people who joined with her in these ungodly endeavors, and have lived in luxury with her, destroy her. This time, the plagues that level her do not come from Heaven but from the Antichrist’s coalition. They turn on her, probably because they want to be the sole super power when all is said and done. In short, God puts it in their hearts to destroy her, using them as His weapon of indignation against her.
          Equally ironic, however, is that there is great mourning in the earth, particularly from the shipping industry, the world’s merchants and financiers, the artisans, craftsmen, fashion industry, entertainment and media moguls—you get the drift. The bottom line is this: her lamp is no more and the voice of the Bridegroom and the Bride are heard in her no more, for she has deceived the nations with her sorcery.