It is with great uplift of spirit that I approach this topic for its magnitude is so far reaching and its intensity so penetrating into the very fiber of mankind’s being that it is difficult to wrap one’s mind around it all.

I have chosen the word “providence” over “benevolence” because it is the stronger of the two, and its definition seems to be exclusively related to God: Providential – of, relating to, or determined by Providence. (Man can be benevolent, but he cannot, on his own, be providential; at that point, it becomes “luck” or a “fortunate” event.)

An Overview of Provisions

It may sound like double-talk, but it is providential that we have a God who is “all-powerful” (omnipotent), “ever-present” (omnipresent), and “all-knowing” (omniscient). At the Jerusalem Conference on the extent of application of the law of Moses on the “new” gospel of grace, as reported in Acts 15, James, the leader of the Jerusalem believers, acknowledged in verse 18, “Known to God from eternity are all His works.”

With that backdrop, we can relate, with gladness, to His declaration in Titus 1:2: “…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began….” Man was His highest creation, for He created Man in His own image, and gave him authority over the whole earth. He even gave Man the right to make decisions, even though He knew, in His foreknowledge, that man would make the wrong decision and choose to follow the promptings of God’s adversary, the devil, and those of his own flesh.

One who regards God as a distant entity, once having created the universe and its inhabitants, then left it to fare for itself (agnosticism), is one who has not taken the time to read the accounts in the Scriptures. Or, having read them, he chooses to ignore them as well as the evidence on the ground in order to avoid the necessity to submit to one of greater authority. (That is commonly recognized as “the pride of life” that got Satan into trouble in the beginning.)

Providence’s Unique Beginning

We seldom think of how unique is individual man’s very beginning, and there is the running battle, of course, as to just when a person becomes a person. When I read Psalm 139, I have no use for the empty argument that a fetus or embryo does not become a person until sometime later, like when he opens the womb at birth. Pure and absolute nonsense, it is, and manufactured by the enemy of mankind who is bent on ushering as many into hell as he can.

The context of Psalm 139 shows us those three attributes of the eternal God which I listed above, and even though the evidence of His omnipotence is not presented with gigantic mountains or an ever-expanding universe of unbelievable light years beyond visibility, He is powerful enough to create a person at the moment of conception and have a plan for that person’s life ahead. Here is that portion of the passage:

“For You formed my inward parts; you covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, andskillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

“How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You” (Psalm 139:13-18).

Apparently, when God writes us up in His book, He does so with the full expectation that we will eventually, upon reaching decision making age, decide to follow Him into eternal life. He has made that provision available, and “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). But as we know, many will not do so.

Other Evidences of His Providence

God initiated the provision of eternal redemption for Man:

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

God keeps an inventory of us:

“Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:6-7).

God is not a practical joker:

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent?If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:7-11).

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord will give grace and glory;no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11).

God does not quit on us, no matter what:

“…Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

“I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his descendants begging bread” (Psalm 37:25).

“Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5).

God knows our weaknesses:

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with ourweaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Romans 8:26).

“And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

God makes disappointment His appointment:

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

This last one needs some help for understanding. Further in the context, Paul discloses that God’s final purpose for those who are His is that they are “to be conformed to the image of His Son. That takes some chipping away at our mindset that is daily blasted by the works of the flesh which is “not submissive to the law of God, neither can it be” (Romans 8:7). With the umbrella of God’s purpose over us, we hold a better chance to follow, with understanding, then, the directive of 1 Thessalonians 5:18:

“In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

As others have pointed out, the verse says “in everything,” not “for everything.” If we can believe that the providence of God is a total positive for us as He works out His purpose for us, then we can be thankful in every circumstance. He does say, “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4).

And, He does tell us that “…all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us” (2 Corinthians 1:20). Someone has counted all the promises of God, no doubt, and I don’t pretend to know them all, but every time I run across one, I will know that it is a positive promise from Him, not a negative proclamation.

These promises may seem commonplace in the normal routines of life, sometimes, but in a moment of crisis, they are as sweet as honey from the honeycomb. In those times the Word comes alive and the very presence of the Lord can never be forgotten. I recall the testimony of a Navy veteran of submarine duty in the Pacific war zones in World War II. He spoke of a time when the enemy was searching out his submarine’s location with depth charges from above. They had dropped to the bottom, shut off all audible activities, and prayed—at least he did! It was then that this portion of Psalm 139 came to him in vivid reality:

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, Youare there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:7-10).

Matter-of-fact, after writing on the truths of this Psalm, I suggest that meditation on it will greatly lift your spirit and ready you for the daily battle! It comes down to this: God wants you! He wants to bless you and show His glory in you, as He promises in Jeremiah 29:11:

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

This is a true statement: Without Him there is no hope!

Two more topics of that trio of end-time activities are yet to be discussed in this part. A beast rising out of the sea, having seven heads, one of which is described as “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is,” and another beast, rising up out of the earth, having two horns like that of a lamb—these two entities are the biblical headliners for these next two topics, as they are presented in Revelation 13 and its following chapters.

Things Political

Inseparably linked to control of the world economy is the burning desire for a One World Order or Government. Indeed, the same global elitists are part and partial of the same wolf pack. I was not totally surprised when Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State in the Nixon administration, with joyful elation, exclaimed after the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008, “He has been primed to lead us into a New World Order.” But I was really surprised that it was so openly declared, and that Kissinger, an alleged conservative, would align himself with such a pro-liberal faction. Boy o’ boy, that sealed the case for major complicity in high levels of government and industry for a shadow government that is secretly guiding the United States toward a One World Government.

Reading the admission of David Rockefeller in his “Memoirs” should convince anyone who cares to search it out that the confident goal of the global elitists has reached almost to its conclusion. Here is Rockefeller’s admission:

Some even believe we (the Rockefeller family) are part of a secret cabal working against the best interests of the United States, characterizing my family and me as ‘internationalists’ and of conspiring with others around the world to build a more integrated global political and economic structure—one world, if you will. If that’s the charge, I stand guilty, and I am proud of it. (David Rockefeller, Memoirs, page 405)

Such openness would not have been allowed fifty years ago, and certainly not a hundred years ago. Following is a statement made by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913, in respect to this secret and shadowy ruling power and its diabolical hold on government and business leaders:

“Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men’s views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere, so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.” (Woodrow Wilson – “The New Freedom” – 1913)

Standing in the way of that world domination is the sovereignty of the United States of America with its constitutional republic form of government. In the nearly six years of the Obama administration rule, it is obvious that the direction Obama is taking the nation is to its demise. What is more glaring is the apparent complicity at every level of government that is allowing him to do it. (Almost as if a Providential Hand is in the mix…! More on this later in the article.)

That seventh head of the seven-headed beast that John writes of in Revelation 13:1 is still in its formative development, but the world is eager for its leader to emerge. Over sixty years ago the chairman of the General Assembly of the United Nations, in reference to the struggle to unite Europe into the European Union, said:

“We do not want another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all people, and to lift us out of the economic morass in which we are sinking. Send us such a man and, be he God or the devil, we will receive him.” And their vision has not diminished but has risen to include the whole world, and, as Henry Kissinger has stated, has included the “priming” of such a man. It is uncanny, however, that if this man is the chosen one who is expected to take that role of leadership, then they have chosen one who is decidedly inept and unqualified, a novice, and thus, easily directed by others of broader vision. Especially would he be easily controlled by that raging red dragon described in Revelation 12 and identified as the motivating power and authority of the Beast in Revelation 13:2.

Things Religious

It is interesting how something written in the first century that seemed to have no direct application to any particular person or entity then, yet now looms large on the scene as the future unfolds.

I have in mind that word of Paul in 2 Timothy 3:5, “having a form of godliness but denying its power.” If the startup foundation is not on a pure spiritual base, it is doomed to experience a history of evil corruption of all kinds. When Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I, the Son of man, am?” (Matthew 16:13), they gave Him several answers—John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.

Then He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:16-18).

The original Greek language of the phrase, “on this rock,” cannot refer to Peter but to the declaration that Peter had made, and which Peter had not, of himself, thought up. It is not conceivable that Christ, who is the head of His church, would give that place to a human being, just after having said that the reality of His identity could only be known by a revelation of the Spirit of God.

However, that church which embodies the fullest extent of that description given by Paul, above, “having a form of godliness but denying its power,” grabbed onto that Matthew 16 passage and created its own “Tower of Babel” world-wide monstrosity that has ruled the souls of men for all of the succeeding centuries. False doctrines have abounded with the church and some have spilled out into the Protestant arena.

Any thoughtful reading of the book of Revelation would conclude that John was describing the Church of Rome in a futuristic manner. When John wrote of those things, it was about 96 A.D., according to most references, so the Roman Catholic Church was not in place then and would not be for perhaps a couple of centuries. Yet, the prophetic descriptions of that second beast and its involvements in end-time activities point to that entity and its present pope. His attempts to bring Jews, Muslins and Protestants together with Catholics into one body is characteristic of that prophetic description in Revelation.

A church whose members relegate their spiritual destiny into the hands of another man (a priest) is a church whose members are prone to compromise, to see current events without spiritual understanding. Likewise are those who have little knowledge of the Word of God and are not aware of the times and seasons of God’s appointed events. They are prime candidates for the “falling away” that the Scriptures speak about. When a spiritual leader declares that atheists will be able to be in heaven, depending on their consciences, as did the Pope recently, one might well be concerned about what foundation that church is built upon, and what its destiny will be.

Three areas are targets of rejection these days of the end-times. The worldwide hatred and rejection of Israel, the rejection of Christ and anything called Christian, and the rejection of the Word of God, the Bible. News stories show up on a daily basis of one or all of these being rejected, not allowed, in the public arena. Recall earlier in the article, I pointed out that where there is rejection of Bible truth, the void is quickly filled with evil, for where God is not wanted, He lets man have his own way. Twice Solomon wrote this proverb: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25). Is it doubly important, then?

A common expectation voiced by many has been that there will be a great revival before the coming of the Lord, in which many will be saved, but it does not appear that it will be before the Rapture, based on Matthew 24:14: “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” On this side of the Rapture, we are told of a “falling away” that will conclude with a “taking away” by the Lord’s intervention (2 Thessalonians 2:1-7).

After the Rapture and as the seven-year “time of Jacob’s trouble” begins to unfold, we see God’s anointing of the 144,000 special servants of the twelve tribes of Israel resulting in a great multitude “which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne (Revelation 7:9). This seems to be the Matthew 24:14 event, even so, with the curious description of the message, “the gospel of the kingdom” rather than a gospel of grace and redemption through Christ, as would have been common during the church age. The message of salvation will have a different connotation when God’s “economy” reverts back to the manner of relationship with God as it was in Daniel’s day, wherein the Holy Spirit was with the believers, not indwelling them.

That mocking question, “Where is the promise of His coming,” appears to be on the verge of being answered quite suddenly; for Paul informed the Thessalonians, and by the eternal nature of those words that were inspired by the Holy Spirit, believers of today, “…You yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night, for when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape” (1 Thessalonians 5:2-3). Is that cry about to resound across the Middle East and around the world in hopeful anticipation of differences being settled and “peace” coming to the Land of Israel?