GOD IS SOVEREIGN: HE IS WORKING OUT HIS PLANS AND PURPOSES FOR PLANET EARTH

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When we look around and see all the horrible things happening in the world – and even in the church – and it seems overwhelming. Whether it is Western nations seemingly headed on a downward spiral, or conflict in the Middle East, or communist China making menacing moves, or culture wars going berserk, or scandals in our churches, it can seem overwhelming.

Thank goodness the Bible, God’s Word, gives us many examples of people just like us in similar circumstances who were able to hear from God about what He was doing and even though they did not know the why, they came to terms with the fact that God is in control and knows what He is doing. Habakkuk is a great example. Check it out, he ended up getting the right view on things, and we must as well.

The three chapters of the book are easily broken down in outline form:

  • 1:1-4 Habakkuk’s first lament or complaint
  • 1:5-11 Yahweh’s first response
  • 1:12-2:1 Habakkuk’s second lament or complaint
  • 2:2-20 Yahweh’s second response
  • 3:1-19 Habakkuk’s prayer

Like Habakkuk, we need the courage of discernment—to know and trust that God remains sovereign in the world of history and nature. We need to listen to the news with this perspective in mind. ‘Look at the nations and watch…’ (Hab.1.5). Watch out for God at work particularly as the Bible reveals we are in the last days before Jesus returns to set up His Millennial Kingdom and restore righteousness.

If you want to get prepared for what is next on God’s agenda for planet earth go to http://www.millennialkingdom.net.

For inspiration for this post I went to Our God Reigns: What Habakkuk Tells Us About History and Hope by Bill Muehlenberg, 29th October 2025, The Daily Declaration.

THE BIBLE IS GOD’S STORY – FROM CREATION OF THIS COSMOS TO A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH

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This article is taken from an editorial by Jonathan Sarfati in Creation Magazine 2025, volume 47, issue 1.

Make sure you get it. there are great articles in this issue: the righteous Enoch of Genesis 5:21–24 is a N.T. hero (Luke 3:37, Hebrews 11:5) (p. 32). On Day 5, God created the amazing megalodon (p. 12), trilobites (p. 15), penguins (p. 28), and jellyfish (p. 46). On Day 6, He created the giraffe with its intricate blood pressure control (p. 18), the elephant with its trunk (p. 56), and dinosaurs— and their surviving DNA (p. 38) shows it was only a few thousand years ago, not millions. The global Flood radically changed the world for Noah (p. 34). It also left very clear evidence behind, such as Devils Tower (p. 21).

Some Christians dismiss Genesis creation’s importance. Some claim to be ‘New-Testament Christians’, ignoring the Old Testament. Others, the ‘Red-letter Christians’, treat only the Bible’s red direct quotes of Jesus as authoritative. One obvious problem is ‘cutting off the branch they’re sitting on’. The New Testament cites the Old Testament as God’s Word. The NT contains about 250 direct OT quotations. That rises to about 1,000 if it includes indirect quotations and allusions—including about 100 from Genesis 1–11 (see creation.com/nt).

Furthermore, NT citations of OT passages often include “God said” or direct quotes from God as “Scripture said”. Both affirm the divine inspiration of the OT. Even the ‘red letters’ are enough to affirm the OT. Jesus said, “Scripture cannot be broken” (John 10:35). When He said that, the only Scripture was the OT. He also rebuked opponents, concerning the foundational doctrine of the Resurrection, “have you not read what was said to you by God” (Matthew 22:31). The OT is God speaking to you! Jesus also said, over and over, “It is written …”, citing Scripture and settling the matter, for God had spoken.

To believe the NT logically entails believing the OT. However, a strong case for biblical (‘young earth’) creation can be made just from the NT.

Note in the ‘red letters’, how Jesus teaches about marriage in Matthew 19:3–6 (cf. Mark 10:5–9). He goes right back to God’s ordination of marriage as one man + one woman in Genesis 1:27 and 2:24. Jesus starts with His common rebuke, showing His high expectations about OT knowledge, “Have you not read …?”. Then He continues, “he who created them from the beginning made them male and female [1:27], and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’” [2:24]. Genesis 2:24 is part of the text, but Jesus explicitly stated the Creator Himself said it.

Jesus clearly affirmed the great Flood, Noah, and the Ark as real in Luke 17:26– 27, warning about a future judgment. Peter affirmed that the Flood deluged and destroyed the whole world (2 Peter 3:3–7). Further, he affirmed that only eight people survived—those on the Ark (1 Peter 3:20)—Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their wives.

The Apostle Paul taught about the Gospel and Resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15. In v. 45, Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 directly, “It is written … the man became a living creature”. Paul said this referred to “the first man, Adam”. Paul explicitly teaches that the first man, Adam, was God’s direct creation—not human-like creatures evolving from ape-like ancestors. Paul also taught the Athenians that the Creator “made from one man every nation of mankind” (Acts 17:26). Luke 3:23–38 traced Jesus back to “Adam, the son of God” (not the son of an ape!).

Paul also referred to Genesis 3, that Adam’s sin brought death into the world. (All long-age compromises place human and animal death before sin.) Thus Jesus, “the last Adam”, would bring resurrection from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:21–22, 45). And in vv. 35–41, Paul explains theological truths about the Resurrection body, alluding to the history of what God had created in Genesis 1, on Days 3–6.

Creation Ministries International (CMI) affirms the divine inspiration of both OT and NT!

This magazine is meant to be shared. And our ultimate aim is the spread of the Good News (p. 54).

BOOK OF REVELATION – GOD’S GRAND FINALE

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Revelation, the Bible’s last book is God’s final word to mankind—and the breathtaking revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ and His return to Earth to fulfill God’s promises to the nation He established for His purposes. Though Revelation describes depravity, devils, destruction, and God’s wrath, it also provides an incredible portrait of our almighty God, delivering profound insights into who He really is and how He will end the story of planet Earth and the Cosmos He created.

Christian Post interviews Jeff Kinley, the author of GODS GRAND FINALE – Wrath, Grace, and Glory in Earth’s Last Days. I have added my own views on Revelation’s seven churches, its seven seals, and Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom.

KINLEY: We try to make God in our own image. We customized Jesus, if you will, to fit our preconceived thoughts about Him or emotions. We want to express love for God, but the basic premise of worship is that we cannot worship a God that we do not know. And it goes back to John 4 when Jesus told the woman at the well that God is searching for worshipers who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. And so, there has to be a theological foundation for Who God is before we can ever even love that God. In order to truly love God, we have to first do a little bit of theology. 

CHRISTIAN POST: Regarding the book of Revelation, you wrote that it is not “a riddle to be solved, but a revelation to be believed. It’s not a metaphoric tale laced with undecipherable symbols, but rather, a literal scene-by-scene depiction of history, to be written down in advance of its fulfillment.” Do you believe a lot of churches have this misunderstanding about the Book of Revelation?

KINLEY: I do. I think people view Revelation as sort of being off-limits to Christians because of its apocalyptic language, and some of its symbolism that’s in there. Also, it’s ironic because number one, it is the last book God ever wrote and He tells us that everyone who reads it will be blessed. Also, the very word, “Revelation,” means to uncover or reveal or to unveil, not to hide. So, the irony is that people think that it’s a book of hidden knowledge when the very title of the book tells us that it is a book that tells us Who God is and tells us what’s going to happen.

And with a little bit of study and a little bit of guidance, it really isn’t that hard to understand.

CHRISTIAN POST: You dedicated two full chapters to the topic of the letters sent to the seven churches mentioned in Revelation. Why did you believe that the topic needed to be covered in two chapters rather than just one? 

KINLEY: I think because Jesus’ heart is for His bride, the Church. He loves His Church, He loves believers very, very much, and the thing He wanted most for those first-century churches is for them to get their relationship, their doctrine, and their lives calibrated to Who God is, to God’s character. The only way He could do that was to send some messages to them that would rebuke them for their error and then offer them a way back to Himself.

And so, five of the seven churches received severe rebukes from Christ, two did not. But I think they mirror many churches today. And so, that’s why it’s so relevant for today because those seven churches, we can look around us today and say, ‘Wow, there’s that church, there’s Ephesus, there’s Smyrna, there’s Sardis, there’s Philadelphia, and so it’s a relevant section of the book. So, I wanted to spend more time on it. 

EDWARDS: Sadly, Jeff Kinley misses the fact that the seven churches are prophetic, they represent the church in each of the last seven years prior to Jesus’ return. Just as the seven seals are prophetic of what is unfolding/happening on Earth during the last seven years. It is obvious the church of Philadelphia in the sixth year is the church that is raptured and the seventh church of Laodicea (spew you out of my mouth) is the church that is left behind. Just as at the sixth seal, we see the Celestial signs that precede Jesus’ return and the announcement that the wrath of God has come.

CHURCH OF PHILADELPHIA: “I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name… Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth.” Revelation 3:8,10

SIXTH SEAL: “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” Revelation 6:12-17

CHRISTIAN POST At Armageddon, you note that “The risen Christ is the hero of the ages, a conqueror for all time. The world knows virtually nothing about this Jesus described in Revelation. And sadder still is that the church knows very little of this side of Jesus as well.” Why do you believe that the church knows very little about this End Times side of Jesus?

KINLEY: Two reasons. Number one, we tend to spend most of our time about Christ in the Gospels. And we get our vision, our image, our view of God from the Gospels. But the rest of the New Testament really tells us more about the character of God and Who Christ is. And when we get to Revelation, specifically chapter one, there’s a vision of Christ there, but it’s unlike anything we hear preached in most churches today. 

By the time we get to Revelation 19, the close of the age, we see a Christ coming back to essentially, get rid of sin, get rid of sinners, to set the world right again. Which is really something that everybody wants to happen in their heart. They want evil to go away, they want righteousness to reign, justice and fairness, and Christ is going to bring that kind of Kingdom immediately following his second coming.  

EDWARDS: I have not read Kinley’s book so do not know if he understands that what is next on God’s agenda is Jesus’ Millennial reign on the Earth. When Jesus returns to Earth it is to rule and reign with the Saints with a rod of iron for 1000 years. Jesus’ Millennial Kingdom is a transition era when the covenants with Abraham, David, and the New Covenant are fulfilled. Also, Satan is bound for most of the thousand years but when he is released his still able to raise an army like the sand of the sea to come against Jesus and the Saints. Fire from heaven quickly disposes of Satan and the rebels. What follows is the White Throne judgement and then a new Heaven and a new Earth where only the righteous dwell.

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.” Revelation 20:11-12

CHRISTIAN POST: What do you hope people take away from your book?

KINLEY: The main thing is that they just know God and love Him more. Revelation is the last book of the Bible and God wants us to know Who He is. And Revelation was written so that we could know our God better. And so, that’s what I want people to do: to know God, to love Him more as a result of this book.

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor

MORE ON THANKFULNESS

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What shall we do in giving thanks to our Lord?

Note what David said in these two Psalms, that he would do. We can at least do the same.

  1. Thank Jesus for what He has accomplished for us – our salvation, recognising how costly it was for Jesus and our Heavenly Father.
  2. Devote ourselves and all we have to His service. 
  3. Doing good is sacrifice, with which God is well pleased; and this must accompany giving thanks in His name.
  4. We are not ashamed to be in God’s service and to invite others to join us. Such are true saints of God, in whose lives and deaths He will be glorified.

“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people.” Psalms 116:12-14

“I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!” Psalms 116:17-18

“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and will execute justice for the needy.
Surely the righteous shall give thanks to your name; the upright shall dwell in your presence.” Psalms 140:12-13

What about the ten lepers who were healed by Jesus. Only one returned to give thanks to Jesus, and He was a Samaritan. Not one of the Jews, members of Jesus’ chosen nation, returned to give thanks.

“And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Do we thank God constantly for His Word as Paul and His fellow believers did? Sadly, His church is not even upholding the inerrancy of God’s Word let alone thanking Him for it.

“And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.“ 1 Thessalonians 2:13