NOTE: All comments in brackets [ ] or in parentheses ( ) as well as highlighted text (bolded and/or in blue) are from the author of this study.
Bible quotations are in maroon.
During the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, there will be many extraordinary events taking place. When the 6th seal of the book of Revelation is opened the heavens are rolled back as a scroll and the face of Jesus-Christ who is sitting on right-hand side of God the Father appear in the sky for all to see.
Jesus spoke about this event occurring in the following verses of the books of Matthew and Mark:
Mat 26:64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
Mar 14:62 And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.
What will be mankind’s reaction at seeing this miraculous occurrence. Will all fall on their knees and worship God finally having become convinced by these awesome and terrifying signs in the heaven that God does really exist and that He is to be worshiped? Will there be a mass conversion of the nations?
Rev 6:12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
In John 6, we find Jesus saying things that those who had been following Him found very hard to understand and many are offended by it and no longer continue to follow Him. Jesus tells them that He is the bread of life and that any man who eats of it shall live forever. And, the bread of life is His flesh that He will give for the life of the world.
Joh 6:48 I am that bread of life.
Joh 6:49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
Joh 6:50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
Joh 6:51 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
What was the reaction of those who heard Him?
Joh 6:52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Joh 6:53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Joh 6:54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
Joh 6:55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
Joh 6:56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him.
Joh 6:60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?
Those hearing Jesus were greatly perplexed not being able to find any reasonable meaning to what Jesus had just told them. They just could not understand it no matter how much they tried to reason it out in their minds.
What was Jesus’ response to their bewilderment?
Joh 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
In other words, Jesus said: “Does what I just said cause you to no longer believe me because you find it to be so incredible and nonsensical? What would you think if you were to see me ascend up to where I was before? Would you then believe me?”
Joh 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
In other words, would those that are offended believe Jesus if they were to see Him ascending to His Father where he was before? Jesus answers His own question and in the process tells them, and us today, why they cannot understand what He just said and why they are offended.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
Jesus’ answer to them is that it is through the power of the spirit being called the Word who dwelt in eternity with God and is come down to them that eternal life is given i.e., by which they can be quickened; that flesh-and-blood mortal human beings can become immortal glorified spirit beings. It is not by eating bread of any kind and it is not by drinking His blood or eating His flesh. All these things are a figurative or symbolic way of speaking; no one is to literally drink Christ’s blood or eat His flesh so as to be able to have eternal life. In other words, what Jesus was saying to those listening to Him was that they need to fully accept (eat and drink) that He was the promised Messiah who would be God’s perfect sacrifice for sin that would make it possible for all who believe to have immortal life. This is the quickening (the eternal life) that is to occur of those called by God the Father who commit themselves to a life of obedience to God.
In the next verse, Jesus continues explaining to them and us, that among those who followed Him because they thought He was the promised Messiah, there were also some who followed Him but not because they believed He was the promised Messiah. They are those who were seeking information they could later on use to betray Him and most likely were the ones who were offended at His words.
Joh 6:64 But there are some of you that believe not. [that I am the promised Messiah] For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him.
Joh 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
In John 6:65 Jesus tells us how it is that some are given to know that He is the promised Messiah while others are not. The words that Jesus spoke were spiritual i.e., He was speaking truths that to be understood, required that the Father be calling them. God the Father’s spirit would then have been with them and made it possible for them to understand the God level spiritual truth Christ was telling them.
Spiritual truth is truth that is on a higher and different plane than human truth. God’s truth are God’s thoughts from God’s mind which are inaccessible to the mind with which all are born. Being spiritual is not spending a lot of time talking about the Bible and religion; being spiritual is knowing and understanding the mind of God as He reveals Himself to those He calls out. It is God the Father who calls men; it is not men who call men to God and in the following verses of 1 Corinthians we are told how this process works.
1Co 2:6 Howbeit we [apostles] speak wisdom [God’s truth revealed to us apostles by Christ Himself] among them that are perfect: [in their attitude of obedience to God after having been called but without being perfect in their obedience which is not possible for human beings] yet not the wisdom of this world, [those things which the world cut off from God consider to be good and beneficial] nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
1Co 2:7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
The wisdom of God spoken by the apostles is a mystery to those not called by the Father. It is wisdom hidden from them as to understand it, one must have his mind rendered capable of doing so by the addition of a portion of God’s Spirit to it. This wisdom is a great gift from God to those He calls and He gives it to them to glorify them by making it possible for them to share in this aspect of God’s nature. They don’t fully have God’s nature yet; they are given to know and understand some of God’s thoughts and His mind but in the resurrection as the children of God, they will have the very same nature as God their Father.
1Co 2:8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
It is impossible for men without God’s spirit revealing it to them to know any of God’s truth or wisdom and none have ever known it or can know it through their physical senses that are wholly limited to obtaining knowledge from the physical and material world.
1Co 2:10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
The one and only way for men to know the mystery of the wisdom of God; the hidden truth of God is for God to reveal it to them by placing a small amount of His spirit in them. Men’s minds would then be like a computer to which a new program has been added giving it functionalities it didn’t have before and which make men’s minds capable of understanding the spiritual truth God wants to give them. A small part of God’s mind becomes part of our human minds and makes it possible to understand God level spiritual truth.
1Co 2:11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
Men know and understand the things of other men i.e., how they think, how they behave, how they live their lives because they have the same human spirit which gives them all the same or a very similar understanding of the material world.
1Co 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
The spirit of the world is the human spirit we all have which gives our animal brains the kind of mind power enabling us to know, understand and live in the physical world and with other human beings. But men’s minds are capable of receiving another spirit, God’s Spirit which makes it possible for it to understand the spiritual truth of God.
1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
The spiritual truth of God cannot be explained simply by using the different physical languages of men; it’s not a matter of putting the right sequence of words together and all of a sudden, those listening begin to understand God’s spiritual truth.
Why?
1Co 2:14 But the natural man [those whose minds are not enabled by God’s Holy Spirit to understand God’s spiritual truth] receiveth not [does not accept nor understand] the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. [through God’s Spirit in combination with man’s human spirit; not by God turning men to a new pure language of men]
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual [who has God’s Spirit] judgeth all things,[whether they be good or bad using as His criterion the truth of God] yet he himself is judged of no man. [no man who does not have God’s Spirit can tell him that what he believes is not true]
1Co 2:16 For who [among the natural men] hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? [None of them] But we [the apostles and those called by God] have the mind of Christ. [so that we apostles can instruct you, God’s called and so that you, as God’s called, can judge all things and be judged of no man that does not have God’s Spirit.]
The key point I wish to focus on in this study is the one being made in John 6:61-63.
As has been previously explained, some of the people following Christ were offended by the things He said about Him being the bread of life that they must eat to have eternal life. So Christ says the following to them:
Joh 6:61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?
Joh 6:62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?
Would they have believed what Christ had just told them if they were to see Christ rise up in the air through the clouds in the sky as He returned to His Father. That would be an astounding miracle but would it give them understanding of the spiritual truth He had just told them?
Does seeing miracles lead to men understanding spiritual truth and becoming converted. Christ Himself gives us the answer.
Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.
The only way those following Christ would be able to understand what He had just said would be through God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in their minds. The Spirit is what gives life, it is the means by which you can know and understand God’s spiritual truth and be saved i.e., receive eternal life in the resurrection. The flesh i.e., the mind with which you were born is carnal i.e., it has no portion of God’s Holy Spirit dwelling in it and it is therefore impossible for you to understand what I have just told you in its spiritual intent and dimension. The words He spoke to them were spiritual, they were God level truth which require the presence of God’s Spirit in men’s minds for them to be able to understand them.
Those who were offended did not have access to that Spirit.
In other words, great miracles and extraordinary events do not lead people to repent and believe because they do not give people understanding of the spiritual truth of God which is knowable only by a person having a portion of God’s Spirit added to their mind. Miracles no matter how spectacular do not lead men to conversion.
The Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord
There is no lack of individuals who came into God’s Church believing that seeing miracles brings people to belief and repentance. They think that those seeing the signs in the heaven, the events of the Day of the Lord and Christ’s 2nd Coming would believe and repent as they think they, themselves would, if they saw those events.
A related false belief is that the purpose of the events of the Day of the Lord is one last great and desperate attempt by God to bring mankind to repentance so as to save the greatest possible number of them. They believe that pain, suffering and terror are tools used by God to bring men to repentance and to refine their character once they repent and believe.
But what about the fact that God’s Holy Spirit only ever leads; it never forces anyone to believe and repent (Rom 8:14). And, what about the requirement for those to be saved to be beings of character i.e., they have to self-willingly and freely make the decision to submit to God when called and they must continue to maintain their attitude of wanting to obey God to the best of their abilities in all things until the end of their lives with no one or anything forcing them to do so. It must be by their exercising their free will to do so.
Character is the unforced commitment to obey God.
If it would be possible for God to accomplish His goal of reproducing Himself through the human beings He created specifically for that purpose by forcing them to obey Him by sending physical and psychological trials of increasing intensity on them until they could no longer bear it, would He not have done so a long time ago?
But the Bible tells us that men’s mind cannot be changed by the infliction of pain; that a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still (Deu 30:19).
Why?
God commands man to choose and a choice cannot be made if there are powers in the universe that can override the decisions men make. In other words, if there is a power in the universe that can effectively change men’s minds against their will then men are not free to choose or to maintain the choices they make and God could not have commanded man to choose (Deu 30:19). Also, this power would be greater than that of God.
The purpose of the Great Tribulation and of the events of the Day of the Lord is not to bring men to repentance by pain and suffering. It is for other reasons which are covered in the following study available on this site: Why End-Time Plagues on the Unconverted Nations of the World and on Prophetic Israel?
In Conclusion
As Jesus clearly tells those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, miracles no matter how spectacular are ineffective in bringing men to repentance. The awesome and dreadful events of the Great Tribulation and of the Day of the Lord are not the means by which God brings men to repentance. The one and only way men can come to repentance is by being called by God the Father (John 6:44; 65) and if they accept their calling they are then given over to Christ who teaches them.
Joh 14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
Joh 14:17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, [Christ dwelt with the disciples] and shall be in you. [Christ after His glorification]
And what will this spirit of truth (Christ), the Comforter (the glorified Christ in true believers) do?
Joh 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Repentance is from God the Father (Rom 2:4) and knowledge of God’s spiritual truth is by the holy spirit being called the Word and God’s Spokesman who for a time dwelt with those chosen to become God’s apostles and founding members of God’s Church. This same spirit now dwells in all those who have been called, chosen and are remaining faithful.
Repentance is not by seeing miracles or being subjected by God to pain and suffering.
God's Spiritual Nation 