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God’s four sore judgments are the seven seals of the book of Revelation. The number four signifies the whole experience of being judged, while seven signifies the completion of our judgment. Within those seven seals are seven trumpet judgments and seven vial judgments. Judgment is God’s goodness which brings us to repentance and which teaches us righteousness.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God [Psa 197:21-31] leadeth thee to repentance?

As hard as it is for many to understand, Christ Himself, while in an earthen vessel of flesh and bone, “Learned obedience by the things He suffered”:

Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;

Christ was tried and tempted in every way just as we are:

Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

We will not get the full meaning of those verses if we do not know that the the Greek word translated as ‘tempted’ in Heb 4:15 is the same word which is translated as ‘tried’ in these verses:

Heb 11:17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried [Greek: peirazo], offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Rev 3:10  Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation [Greek: G3986, pierasmos], which shall come upon all the world, to try  [Greek: G3985, peirazo] them that dwell upon the earth.

G3985
πειράζω
peirazō
Total KJV Occurrences: 41
tempted, 15
Mat_4:1, Mar_1:13, Luk_4:2, 1Co_10:9, 1Co_10:13, Gal_6:1, 1Th_3:5, Heb_2:18 (2), Heb_3:9, Heb_4:15, Heb_11:37, Jam_1:13-14 (3)
tempting, 7
Mat_16:1, Mat_19:3, Mat_22:35, Mar_8:11, Mar_10:2, Luk_11:16, Joh_8:6
tempt, 6
Mat_22:18, Mar_12:15, Luk_20:23, Act_15:9-10 (2), 1Co_7:5
tried, 3
Heb_11:17, Rev_2:2, Rev_2:10
about, 2
Act_24:6, Act_26:21
tempter, 2
Mat_4:3, 1Th_3:5
assayed, 1
Act_16:7
examine, 1
2Co_13:5
gone, 1
Act_24:5-6 (2)
prove, 1
Joh_6:6 (2)
tempteth, 1
Jam_1:13
try, 1
Rev_3:10

What is required to be “kept from the hour of temptation [peirasmos]” is to be “tempted [peirazo] like as we are”(Heb 4:15), now in this age:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment [God’s four sore judgments] must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

Peter did not doubt his election either, yet he tells us “Judgment must … first begin at us”. There is a reason why we all must be judged, and that reason is that it simply is not in us as “brute beasts, made to be destroyed… to direct [our] steps”:

Jer 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Pro 20:24  Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. 

“The word of God tries [us]” (Psa 105:19). God has made us to err for the very purpose of turning us back to Himself, and to do this He uses “the sword of men… the famine, and the noisome beast”:

Psa 90:3  Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

There is no doubt Joseph felt that God had forgotten him while he was so long in Potiphar’s house, and then was sent from there into the dungeons of Egypt. God had truly turned Joseph’s life to destruction, but then He “returned [Joseph’s] captivity” and placed him on the throne of all Egypt where King David tells us:

Psa 105:20  The king sent and loosed him; even the ruler of the people, and let him go free.
Psa 105:21  He made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: 
Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

There is nothing in the book of Genesis telling us that Joseph “[bound] his princes at his pleasure; and [taught] his senators wisdom”, but the holy spirit has seen fit to inform us of that fact because it confirms that this, too, is just another type of our own calling:

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: 
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. 

How will God give His elect “power over the nations”?

God will use the very same principles upon “the kingdoms of this world” to place them under us, which He used to subdue us to Himself. Just as He has poured out His wrath upon us, He will do the same with “the nations… [and] all flesh”:

Isa10:4  Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.

This is the mindset God will give those who will be at the heads of the kingdoms of this world towards His “blessed and holy… few chosen” when He decides it is time for His elect to begin their predestined rule and reign:

Gen 41:38  And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?
Gen 41:39  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art:
Gen 41:40  Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled: only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Gen 41:41  And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. 

“Forasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is none so discreet and wise as you are”. Those words came out of the mouth of the ruler of Egypt who moments before had Joseph in his own dungeons. But now He favors Joseph, and sets him over all the land of Egypt because:

Pro 16:7  When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.

What will make God’s elect so appealing to the leaders of the nations is that we will be “[men] in whom the Spirit of God is”. All you and I must do is to repeat “His word”, and it is His word which makes us “so discreet”, and it is His word which will try us, and which will try “the kingdoms of the world… the nations… all flesh”.

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

It will be only because we know the word of God that these words will have any application to us at all:

Psa 105:22  To bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom.

1Co 6:2  Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
1Co 6:3  Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?

Here are just a few of such words which reveal how God will go about causing the leaders of the nations of this world to want to relinquish the powers of the kingdoms of this world into the hands of those who have proven themselves to be “men in whom the spirit [words] of God [dwells]”. Men who are capable of being trustworthy, and Godly rulers of the kingdoms of this world.

“A Consumption… Determined Upon The Whole Earth”

Isa 28:22  Now therefore be ye not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.

Jer 12:12  The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace. 

Here is the context of Jer 25:31 quoted above. These verses demonstrate that the judgment of the great whore occurs at the same time as the judgment of all nations:

Jer 25:26  And all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth: and the king of Sheshach [Babylon] shall drink after them.
Jer 25:27  Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.
Jer 25:28  And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink. 
Jer 25:29  For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. 
Jer 25:30  Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. 
Jer 25:31  A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.
Jer 25:32  Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
Jer 25:33  And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried; they shall be dung upon the ground.
Jer 25:34  Howl, ye shepherds, and cry; and wallow yourselves in the ashes, ye principal of the flock: for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions are accomplished; and ye shall fall like a pleasant vessel. 
Jer 25:35  And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape. 
Jer 25:36  A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the LORD hath spoiled their pasture.
Jer 25:37  And the peaceable habitations are cut down because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
Jer 25:38  He hath forsaken his covert, as the lion: for their land is desolate because of the fierceness of the oppressor, and because of his fierce anger. 

What is “the sword of the Lord [which] shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land”? Here is how He will do that:

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

“The noisome beast” is really “the evil men [who] are [the Lord’s] sword”, and with the sword of evil men “evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.”

I have pointed out that if a statement is repeated twice in scripture it is because it is important to God, and it will “shortly [be brought] to pass”:

Gen 41:32  And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

God’s judgment by wicked men who are called “noisome beasts” is repeated literally dozens of times, and here are but a few more:

2Ch 20:23  For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. 

Isa 3:4  And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
Isa 3:5  And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Isa 19:2  And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom. 

Hag 2:22  And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. 
Hag 2:23  In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, [the type of God’s elect] the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

That is what we are told literally dozens of times will be used by God to bring the nations of this world to their knees: “they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.”

But just as Joseph was safe and secure in the Lord’s hands against the power of the Pharaoh, and was even given favor in his eyes; just as Daniel and his friends were saved from the wrath of the Kings Nebuchadnezzar, and Darius, and were given favor in the eyes of those kings; and just as Mordecai and Esther were saved from the king’s commandments, and even given favor in his eyes, so it will be with us in the midst of all the civil unrest with every man’s hand against his brother and every man’s hand against his neighbor.

One more type of that favor with God, which is the source of our favor with our enemies, is the story of King Jehoshaphat when the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Edomites “came up against Jehoshaphat to  battle” (2Ch 20:1-3):

2Ch 20:9  If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house [1Pe 2:5], and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

[1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.]

2Ch 20:15  And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
2Ch 20:16  To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
2Ch 20:17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you. 

Notice how the Lord went about delivering Jehoshaphat and Judah from their enemies. It is once again the same message we are given so many times in the Old Testament:

2Ch 20:22  And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.
2Ch 20:23  For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another.

When we sing and praise the Lord, and when we bring to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the midst of our trials, then we will win His favor, and He will deliver us from all of our trials:

Psa 41:11  By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.

Psa 44:3  For they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them: but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them.

Our heavenly Father never ceases to “maintain [our] cause” in every battle for His name’s sake in which we engage, but that favor is always preceded by a spirit of repentance from sins, and gratitude for the work God is doing in “making us to err” (Isa 63:17), and in bringing us to repentance:

1Ki 8:44 If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, whithersoever thou shalt send them, and shall pray unto the LORD toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house that I have built for thy name:
1Ki 8:45 Then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
1Ki 8:46 If they sin against thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives unto the land of the enemy, far or near;
1Ki 8:47 Yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they were carried captives, and repent, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captives, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have committed wickedness;
1Ki 8:48 And so return unto thee with all their heart, and with all their soul, in the land of their enemies, which led them away captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
1Ki 8:49 Then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause,
1Ki 8:50 And forgive thy people that have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee, and give them compassion before them who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them:
1Ki 8:51 For they be thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron:

Psa 90:3 Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

It is all proving that:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

The giving of the kingdoms of this world to our Lord and His Christ is but the beginning of the “good [that is coming] to them that love God, [and] are the called according to His purpose”.

It is my prayer that this series of studies will serve to encourage us all to endure to the end of the “much tribulation” (Acts 14:22) and the fiery trials (1Pe 4:12) which must precede our ascension to the throne to rule and reign with our Lord for a thousand years, and then to judge angels in the lake of fire.

If the Lord wills we will possibly conclude this series of studies on the Lord’s “four sore judgments” and how they will be used to condition the nations to give the rule of the nations over to God’s elect, without even a fight.

2Ch 20:17  Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you.

The last of the four sore judgments is “the pestilence”. It is the death of our old man, and it is the death of the rule of men over the kingdoms of this world:

Eze 14:19  Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
Eze 14:20  Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.
Eze 14:21  For thus saith the Lord GOD; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?