1st Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
This passage of scripture teaches us that sacred history was written for the instruction of all future generations, including ours, and it is essential that we pay heed to what God has seen fit to inform us of. The rise and fall of nations and individuals was chronicled for the benefit of those who would come after, so that as we see the blood stained paths of those who departed from righteousness, that we in our own experiences may not repeat the same mistakes, and drive ourselves further into sin and its adverse consequences, just as if we had never been warned.
Furthermore, the prophecies that are written in the scriptures accurately depict the times in which we now live, and thus, with both history and prophecy before our faces, we are left without excuse, if we fall into the very same errors of the past.
One of the most important lessons we can deduce from sacred history is that there is not a single instance in the Bible where God rewarded a nation with blessings after it had done evil, and there is not one individual who received the approbation of God after sinning. In the beginning when Adam and Eve had sinned, The Lord visited them with the good news and the bad news, for although He there and then announced the coming of a Deliverer who would save the human family from their sins, yet He also informed them that they would be driven from their Eden home, to go forth in the earth, and finally to die, because, as stated previously, history shows that blessings do not come in return for disobedience. Never! Let's read:
Genesis 3:14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed".... 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. 21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. 24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
One of the prophecies written in the book of Revelation contain a synopsis of a terrible tragedy that was to take place in France, and so said so done, for that country reaped the results of a national departure from God and the Bible, in so much that the moral abandon that then gripped the nation, instead of bringing freedom from religion as they had hoped, brought the inhabitants to their knees, and the Bible which was burned in heaps in public, had to be printed in urgency, because our adversary the devil would have torn the country to pieces. Here is that prophecy which is being referred to. Let's read:
Revelation 11:8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth.
In treating upon this specific prophecy, the servant of The Lord writes the following in the book, Great controversy pp 269-283. Let's read:
This prophecy has received a most exact and striking fulfillment in the history of France. During the Revolution of 1793, “the world for the first time heard an assembly of men, born and educated in civilization, and assuming the right to govern one of the finest European nations, uplift heir united voice to deny the most solemn truth which man’s soul receives, and renounce unanimously the belief and worship of the Deity.”... "France stands apart in the world’s history as the single State which, by the decree of her legislative assembly, pronounced that there was no God, and of which the entire population of the capital, and a vast majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement.”
The Word of God was prohibited by the national assembly. Bibles were collected and publicly burned with every possible manifestation of scorn. The law of God was trampled under foot. The institutions of the Bible were abolished. The fear of God was said to be so far from the beginning of wisdom that it was the beginning of folly. Little did the rulers of the land foresee the results of that fateful policy. At last the ruin of the State was complete; there remained no more conscience to be proscribed; no more religion to be dragged to the stake. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay; fertile districts returned to their native wildness"...
"On the very spot where the first martyrs to the Protestant faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims were guillotined in the eighteenth. In repelling the gospel, which would have brought her healing, France had opened the door to infidelity and ruin. When the restraints of God’s law were cast aside, it was found that the laws of man were inadequate to hold in check the powerful tides of human passion; and the nation swept on to revolt and anarchy. The war against the Bible inaugurated an era which stands in the world’s history as “The Reign of Terror.” Peace and happiness were banished from the homes and hearts of men. No one was secure. He who triumphed today was suspected, condemned tomorrow. Violence and lust held undisputed sway. King, clergy, and nobles were compelled to submit to the atrocities of an excited and maddened people. The cities of the kingdom were filled with scenes of horror. One party of revolutionists was against another party, and France became a vast field for contending masses, swayed by the fury of their passions. “In Paris one tumult succeeded another, and the citizens were divided into a medley of factions, that seemed intent on nothing but mutual extermination.” And to add to the general misery, the nation became involved in a prolonged and devastating war with the great powers of Europe. “The country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for arrears of pay, the Parisians were starving, the provinces were laid waste by brigands, and civilization was almost extinguished in anarchy and license.”
In our day, there is again "dancing in the streets" as the sacred institution of marriage and the Bible have been laid in the dust, and following quickly on the heels of the recent supreme court ruling, are calls being made to remove the Bible and the Ten commandments from our culture, so that lust and rife depravity, together with demons and fiends, can eliminate the very concept of God from the hearts and minds of those whom Christ came to save. But the same results which accrued in France will soon be meted out across the entire globe, if as individuals and nations we try to remove the Bible and its sacred teachings from our consciousness. What took place in France is but a faint idea of what will come to our shores, if we continue to interfere with the absolute truths of God's word.
We therefore end with a passage of scripture which cautions nations and individuals not to push the envelope anymore, for there is a limit to God's patience, and whenever it has reached the preset threshold, then the ministration of God's judgments will begin. Let's read:
Psalms 50:1 The mighty God, even the Lord, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. 3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. 4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. 5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. 6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself.
He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what The Spirit saith to the churches. God bless!