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God Overturns Nature, September 29
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came
a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is
done. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there
was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the
earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
Revelation 16:17, 18
.
We need to study the pouring out of the seventh vial. The powers of
evil will not yield up the conflict without a struggle.
In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable
glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters,
saying: “It is done.”
Revelation 16:17
.
That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earth-
quake, “such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an
earthquake, and so great.”
Verses 17, 18
. The firmament appears to open
and shut. The glory from the throne of God seems flashing through. The
mountains shake like a reed in the wind, and ragged rocks are scattered
on every side. There is a roar as of a coming tempest. The sea is lashed
into fury. There is heard the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons
upon a mission of destruction. The whole earth heaves and swells like the
waves of the sea. Its surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be
giving away. Mountain chains are sinking. Inhabited islands disappear. The
seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by
the angry waters. Babylon the great has come in remembrance before God,
“to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.” Great
hailstones, every one “about the weight of a talent,” are doing their work
of destruction.
Verses 19, 21
. The proudest cities of the earth are laid low.
The lordly palaces, upon which the world’s great men have lavished their
wealth in order to glorify themselves, are crumbling to ruin before their
eyes. Prison walls are rent asunder, and God’s people, who have been held
in bondage for their faith, are set free.
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