Almost 4,000 years ago, a seven-year famine threatened the entire known world. By the end of the famine, the Egyptians had sold all their land, their possessions, and even their children to the king of Egypt, setting the stage for a permanent new societal order in ancient Egypt. What lessons and parallels does this apocalyptic Bible story hold for the world today? Are we about to repeat this ancient history in today’s modern world?

<p>Almost 4,000 years ago, a seven-year famine threatened the entire known world. By the end of the famine, the Egyptians had sold all their land, their possessions, and even their children to the king of Egypt, setting the stage for a permanent new societal order in ancient Egypt. What lessons and parallels does this apocalyptic Bible story hold for the world today? Are we about to repeat this ancient history in today’s modern world?</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Pathway to Paradise Ministries

Tim Rumsey

Global Famine and the Sunday Law

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ So, if you have your Bible, Please turn with me to the book of Genesis.

Now, the Sabbath school lesson this morning was on the story of Joseph, and I'll have to say, well, it's not a happy coincidence, is it?

But I will admit that I didn't consciously base today's sermon on the Sabbath school lesson.

And we're going to look at the famine that took place in Egypt in Joseph's day.

I believe there are some important lessons and many parallels that we can recognize.

So let's start Genesis chapter 41 and verse number 53.

We're going to read through the end of that chapter, verse 53.

And the 7 years of plenteousness that was in the land of Egypt were ended.

And the 7 years of dearth began to come according as Joseph had said.

And the dearth was in all lands, but in the land of Egypt there was bread.

And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread.

And Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, go unto Joseph what he says to you, do.

And the famine was over all the face of the earth.

And Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold unto the Egyptians.

And the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt and All countries came into Egypt to Joseph to buy corn Because that the famine was so sore in all lands Now in all likelihood this famine in Egypt thousands of years ago, it may have been literally global but most likely it was just in that region of the world.

And in the mindset of these people, it was the known world, right?

We have other examples of this in Bible history.

But nonetheless, the Bible does say it was in all countries, all lands.

There was nowhere on the face of the earth that this famine was not stretching.

And as we draw and tie our parallels with end time events, we know that at the end it will be literally global.

And this is where we begin our study today.

I want to read for you, we'll get to that in just a moment here, but let's draw a few of those parallels with the book of Revelation because by the time we get through the story of the famine here in Genesis, the Egyptians have sold themselves, haven't they?

And they have sold their possessions, they have sold their land, They've even sold their sons and daughters to Pharaoh.

And so Pharaoh ends up in control of everything.

And I'm sure you can already see the parallels here in the book of Revelation.

Let's go to Revelation 13 just quickly to set the stage.

In Revelation chapter 13, we read about a power, It's called the beast from the sea and it ends up in control the earth doesn't it?

In verse 3 of Revelation 13 I saw 1 of his heads as it were wounded to death and his deadly wound was healed and then all the world wondered after the beast now Protestants have understood for many many years that this power points to the papal power And it did suffer that deadly wound back in 1798, and it's been slowly recovering for a long time.

Jump ahead in Revelation 13 to verse number 8.

Verse 8 says, all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." So through a course of tragedies, disasters, crises, coercion, force, bribery, whatever it may be, Eventually the Bible says that all of the world will be brought to where they worship this beast power now in the Bible worship Usually means you know The actual act of worship, but it can also signify serving somebody right remember when Jesus was tempted in the wilderness And he responds to Satan's demand that Jesus fall down and worship him He quotes that verse from Deuteronomy, and he says thou shalt not serve any other gods.

So to serve or obey is the same biblically as worshipping as well.

The Egyptians end up serving the king of Egypt and at the end of time the world ends up serving the modern day Pharaoh or King of Egypt.

And then later in Revelation 13, we have the description of the mark of the beast.

It becomes even more explicit, doesn't it?

About the measures that will be used to bring the world to this situation, and eventually the mark is enforced on people in their right hand or on their forehead, and then there's the death decree that goes along with that.

Now at the same time, God is working to make servants as well, praise the Lord, right?

And in Revelation chapter 7, we have these verses at the beginning of the chapter that talk about the seal of God.

Revelation 7, beginning in verse 1, after these things, I saw 4 angels standing on the 4 corners of the earth Holding the 4 winds of the earth that the wind should not blow on the earth nor on the sea nor on any tree If you ever wondered what this world would look like if it weren't for God's holding back the devil's power?

And we're beginning to get a much clearer idea of what that will look like, right?

Because As the Holy Spirit withdraws from the earth, the devil will have more and more ability to do what he has always wanted to do, which is completely destroy God's creation.

Verse 2, I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God.

And He cried with a loud voice to the 4 angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea Saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees until we have sealed who?

It everybody in the world No, is it anyone who has a passing thought Maybe I'll serve God It says the servants of God those that obey him right and we have the descriptions and other verses in Revelation about what does it mean to be a servant of God.

Revelation 14 verse 12, you know this verse as well, keeping the commandments of God and having the faith of Jesus.

Revelation 12 verse 17, keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus Christ.

So there are some things that we need to do as well, right?

God is the 1 who seals us, he's the 1 who saves us, but it's not just a blank check, is it?

He's asking us to respond to that work in a certain way.

So here's this great conflict at the end of time, and the devil is trying to make servants and God is trying to make servants, and in the end it comes down to my choice, doesn't it?

And it comes down to your choice whom we will serve.

Now I read a statement from Desire of Ages a few days ago that has really grabbed my thoughts and that's why we're doing this study this morning.

And I'm sure that most of us have seen this statement before.

In the last great conflict of the controversy with Satan, those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off.

You've heard this, you've read this before, right?

Because they refuse to break His law and obedience to earthly powers, they will be forbidden to buy or sell.

It will finally be decreed that they shall be put to death.

Okay, so here's references to the Mark of the Beast, Revelation chapter 13.

And there's a very clear connection here, right?

Or I should say there's no question in what is being referred to.

We understand those issues deal with a day of worship.

And it is at that time that every earthly support will be cut off from those who serve God.

We have no idea what that actually means, do we?

What that will actually look like and feel like.

And God is trying his best to prepare each 1 of us individually, in our families, and in our churches to trust and rely on him completely.

And That's a tough process, at least with me, and it's taking God a while.

But we need to pray that God will complete that work in each 1 of us because we're going to need it if we're going to stand through the end.

Now this part of the statement, I've heard, I've read many, many times.

It's what follows next that I had never really registered.

Let's keep reading First of all here's the promise to the obedient is given the promise He shall dwell on high his place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks Bread shall be given him his water shall be sure By this promise the children of God will live and praise God we have these promises right?

That God will provide even if it's manna falling from heaven, like he did for the Israelites.

Even if it is ravens bringing Elijah bread like he did back then Now here's the part of the statement that has grabbed me When the earth shall be wasted with famine they shall be fed They shall not be ashamed in the evil time and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied." Ellen White makes a very direct link between the issues leading up to the mark of the beast and a global worldwide famine, 1 that wastes the entire earth.

To that time of distress, the prophet Habakkuk looked forward and his words expressed the faith of the church.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall the fruit be in the vine.

The labor of the olive shall fail and the fields shall yield no meat The flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoice in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my salvation Praise the Lord for these promises But we want to look a little more closely now at this issue of famine that looks like we might be starting to see the beginnings of here in the world.

If the Lord doesn't hold things back longer, right?

Now Jesus said something about famine, Matthew 24 verse 7, he talks about some of the signs leading up to the end.

He said, nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.

And there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places.

Now I will admit again that I have always looked at this verse kind of in 2 sections.

That's humans getting upset at each other and then the other things that are mentioned famines and pestilences And earthquakes and in my mind.

I have always kind of separated the war part from the last 3 Because they seem to be more naturally caused But I want to suggest this morning that all 4 of these are going to be caused deliberately by Mankind Again war we get that there's no question there Let's jump to the end of the list because earthquakes might be the most difficult 1 for us to wrap our mind around There's an interesting website here if you search in the human induced Earthquake database you can see a map of All of the earthquakes and I don't know the exact time frame here, but it's fairly recently These are earthquakes that have been human induced and there are many Causes For this a little further down the page they break it down.

I know it's too small to read Fracking right when they pump was it water they pump down there and crack the bedrock and so forth That's the number 1 cause that's the yellow bar And then you have mining water reservoir impoundments Conventional oil and gas geothermal most of this is related to our efforts to produce energy and the list goes on The point is this that's a lot of earthquakes isn't it?

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Global Famine and the Sunday Law

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