been exhausted, the Lord determined utterly to destroy the vile, wicked cities (Gen. 18:20-23). Two angelic messengers were sent to rescue Lot who was a backslider. Sex-crazed So domites sought to defile God’s angelic visitors and messengers. Lot’s own sons-in-law mocked him openly when he warned his relatives to run away from the certain judgment. America needs to be very careful that she doesn’t become similarly involved. Our degradation and depravity are very obvious. Homosexuality runs riot in the land. We, too, can be headed for God’s judgment in a very real way. Just before sunrise, the an gels dragged Lot and his immediate family to a place of safety, and the cities, with all the people living in them, were obliterated (Gen. 19:25). The names of those towns are me morials to God’s miraculous, just and divine retribution. Before the children of Israel en tered the land of Canaan, they were instructed to destroy the inhabitants utterly, lest they themselves became polluted morally and spiritually by them. God’s long-suffering and pa tience forbid Him acting in haste. Still, His holiness and His righteous ness demand eventual retribution and judgment. Beyond this, even judgment and wrath are tempered by mercy for those who repent and forsake their sins. God will have mercy upon whom He will have mercy (Rom. 9:14ff). Those who es cape His judgment can never boast that they deserved it. And, those who feel the brunt of His judgment can not ever say that God was unjust. It may be an old adage, but it’s true: “The mills of God grind slowly, but they grind surely.” Always do they grind in love and in mercy.
God in the development of Biola. Thousands of young people have gone through these halls for God’s serv ices around the world. I trust you will remember the students, faculty, staff, administration and board in prayer each day. God validates His own name with the miracles He performs. Many times the Lord will perform a mira cle in which certain people or peoples will disappear. Scriptures describe vanishing cities like Sodom and Go morrah, vanishing dieases like lep rosy, and disappearing chosen serv ants of the Lord. We immediately think of Enoch, whose very name means “consecrated”. He walked in intimate and unbroken fellowship with the Lord for 300 years (Gen. 5 :21, 22). He didn’t allow his duties to interfere with his spiritual life. He saw the increasing wickedness of his day. He understood the divine punishment that lay ahead and warned the godless people of the im pending judgment to come. People wouldn’t lis te n to his message, spurning what he had to say. One day, God’s partner, Enoch, walked away never to return again (Gen. 5:24). God had taken him bodily, without dying, to Heaven (Heb. 11:5). The miracle of his bodily re moval into heaven substantiates the fact that the Lord desires fellowship with His own creatures for eternity. Unfortunately, the lessons of this translation went largely unheeded. Because the pride of iniquity went unchecked, God sent a universal flood, destroying the whole human race, except for Noah and his fam ily. The second notable example of dis appearance is that of Elijah. Elijah tried to prepare the prophetic stu dents in his school in Bethel and Jericho (II Kings 2:3-5). By mira cle, the waters of the River Jordan parted and the two prophets crossed over on dry land (II Kings 2-8). Knowing that his time of departure
P art E leven I T HAS IMPRESSED ME through the years to realize the miracles of 24
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