137 The Revelation of Jesus Christ reply to the question that arises as to why John was not al lowed to write "those things which the seven thunders ut tered," that it was because he was a child of God. Therefore, he was not distressed by having to write the fearful judgments that are to come upon the world. What he had already written was fearful enough! How terrible a thing it will be to fall into the hands of an angry God, unsaved, rejecting His mercy and His grace! "THE MYSTERY OF Goo" "And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are. and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer: but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to bis servants the prophets." According to the Revised Version the foregoing words read, "There shall be delay no longer." The thought is not that there is to be "time no longer" but that "there shall be delay no longer," that "in the days of the voice of the seventh angel ... the mystery of God should be finished." The Son of God has borne with the earth for two thou sand years, but the time will come when He will delay no longer. Have you ever wondered why God permits the world to go on as it has gone for so long? People have asked me, when I have preached a series of sermons on the subject of Satan, "Why does God tolerate the devil? Why did He ever create him in the beginning? And why, when the devil fell, didn't He blot him out right then?" Others have asked, "When God created Adam and Eve, why didn't He create them in such a way that they would be incapable of sin?" I do not know the answer to these questions. They are mysteries which I cannot unfold. Moreover, if God had wanted us to know these things, He would have told us. But one day "the mystery of God" will be finished. In that day we shall walk no longer by faith, but by sight. And in that day we shall understand not only the meaning of the things referred to, but the meaning of everything that has taken place since the beginning of the world. It is then we shall un-
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker