Instantaneously, in an instant, suddenly

Petha’ pith’ôm

“That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:

Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:

Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.

Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly^H6597 at an instant.^H6621” (Isa. 30:9-13).

“Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant^H6621 suddenly^H6597.” (Isa. 29:5).

petha’ pith’ôm

pith’ôm petha’

H6597  pith’ôm From H6621; instantly: - straightway, sudden(-ly)

H6621 petha’ From an unused root meaning to open (the eyes); a wink, that is, moment (compare H6597), (used only (with or without preposition) adverbially quickly or unexpectedly): - at an instant suddenly, X very.

These two words are related by a same word root. Therefore using them side by side gives the affect of emphasis. It’s like hagia hagion, or qôdesh qôdesh, for Most Holy.

“And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark of the testimony in the most holy^{H6944 H6944} place.” (Ex. 26:34).

“And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most^H6944 holy^H6944 place, even under the wings of the cherubims.” (1Ki. 8:6).

“And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of [the altar of incense] once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements: once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: [the altar of incense] is most holy^{H6944 H6944} unto the LORD.” (Ex. 30:10).

“And thou shalt beat some of [anointing oil] very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be unto you most holy.^{H6944 H6944}” (Ex. 30:36).

“And after the second veil, the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of all^{G39 G39}.” (Heb. 9:3).

Petha’ pith’ôm. Sudden change. Like a pin before the bowling ball smashes into it, or a building before the demolition charges explode, petha’ pith’ôm means an abrupt, offensive change from a steady state. It means instantaneously, in the blink of an eye, a split second, a nanosecond, out of the blue, blind-siding. It means an emphasized eye-catching warning, a conscience shocking warning of suddenness, suddenness, suddenness! “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth!” (Rev 8:13).

“The Lord is…longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” (2Pet. 3:9,10).

“For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.” (1Thess. 5:2,3).

“And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.…

But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but My Father only.

But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matt. 24:30,31,36-39).

“The world before the Flood reasoned that for centuries the laws of nature had been fixed. The recurring seasons had come in their order. Heretofore rain had never fallen; the earth had been watered by a mist or dew. The rivers had never yet passed their boundaries, but had borne their waters safely to the sea. Fixed decrees had kept the waters from overflowing their banks. But these reasoners did not recognize the hand of Him who had stayed the waters, saying, ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.’ Job 38:11.

     As time passed on, with no apparent change in nature, men whose hearts had at times trembled with fear, began to be reassured. They reasoned, as many reason now, that nature is above the God of nature, and that her laws are so firmly established that God Himself could not change them. Reasoning that if the message of Noah were correct, nature would be turned out of her course, they made that message, in the minds of the world, a delusion―a grand deception. They manifested their contempt for the warning of God by doing just as they had done before the warning was given. They continued their festivities and their gluttonous feasts; they ate and drank, planted and builded, laying their plans in reference to advantages they hoped to gain in the future; and they went to greater lengths in wickedness, and in defiant disregard of God’s requirements, to testify that they had no fear of the Infinite One. They asserted that if there were any truth in what Noah had said, the men of renown―the wise, the prudent, the great men―would understand the matter.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 96,97.

   

 “Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” (Luke 17:28-30).

“‘The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.’ The bright rays of the morning seemed to speak only prosperity and peace to the cities of the plain. The stir of active life began in the streets; men were going their various ways, intent on the business or the pleasures of the day. The sons-in-law of Lot were making merry at the fears and warnings of the weak-minded old man. Suddenly and unexpectedly as would be a thunder peal from an unclouded sky, the tempest broke. The Lord rained brimstone and fire out of heaven upon the cities and the fruitful plain; its palaces and temples, costly dwellings, gardens and vineyards, and the gay, pleasure-seeking throngs that only the night before had insulted the messengers of heaven―all were consumed. The smoke of the conflagration went up like the smoke of a great furnace. And the fair vale of Siddim became a desolation, a place never to be built up or inhabited―a witness to all generations of the certainty of God’s judgments upon transgression.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 162.

“But upon the eighth day dark clouds overspread the heavens. There followed the muttering of thunder and the flash of lightning. Soon large drops of rain began to fall. The world had never witnessed anything like this, and the hearts of men were struck with fear. All were secretly inquiring, ‘Can it be that Noah was in the right, and that the world is doomed to destruction?’ Darker and darker grew the heavens, and faster came the falling rain. The beasts were roaming about in the wildest terror, and their discordant cries seemed to moan out their own destiny and the fate of man. Then ‘the fountains of the great deep’ were ‘broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.’ Water appeared to come from the clouds in mighty cataracts. Rivers broke away from their boundaries, and overflowed the valleys. Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable force, throwing massive rocks hundreds of feet into the air, and these, in falling, buried themselves deep in the ground.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 99.

In both cases of the worldwide flood and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, it seems highly probable that providentially aimed asteroids, travelling 30,000 miles per hour, hit the Earth, literally out of the blue. Evidence indicates that the breaking up of the earth-bound fountains and the rupture of the windows of heaven resulted from an asteroid colliding with the back side of the planet. This sent massive tectonic destabilization rippling throughout the stone plates that wrap our world, as well as a splash-back of voluminous, superheated water blowing back into the atmospheric water casing. The ocean of water that had been distilled from our Neptune-like Earth on the second day of creation in order to create an open, breathable firmament, that had remained as a casing of water vapor above the atmosphere and that had been buried and encased in millions of caverns around the skin of the planet, suddenly were released. The resulting collision upon the vast ocean sent tsunamis travelling around the globe in all directions that converged upon the one continent in which the populations lived, causing massive turbulence upon the struggling murderous, arrogant wicked, and suddenly lifting up the huge ark of Noah. Had not an angel that excelled in strength held it firmly, the smashing convergence of tidal waves from all directions would have destroyed those rock-hard timbers tightly joined in the perfectly architected, engineered, and constructed vessel.

At Sodom and her neighboring cities, the asteroid left the deepest hole on the surface of the earth—the Dead Sea. The super-heated ball of fire turned the limestone cities into a cooked, ash-like substance. In the Dead Sea ash-rock can still be found millions of sulfur pellets that still ignite and burn through the spoon holding them. The King of heaven has His all-powerful arsenal that makes ours look like child’s play.

Dark clouds gathering preceded the asteroid so that the Lord could give the antediluvian world one last opportunity to give arrogant, haughty, murderous hearts the fearful message of soon-coming destruction, if per chance a soul would awaken from its hardened state. Nevertheless, petha’ pith’ôm caught every person by surprise that day, outside the ark and inside. Despite the providentially gathering animals and the stormy skies, nothing could change the polarized state of human hearts. As Jesus revealed in His parable, “Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.” (Luke 16:26).

“For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.

The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.” (Ps. 10:3,4).

“There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Rom. 3:18).

“Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.

Thou hast seen it; for thou beholdest mischief and spite, to requite it with thy hand: the poor committeth himself unto thee; thou art the helper of the fatherless.” (Ps. 10:13,14).

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

For the needy shall not alway be forgotten: the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.

Arise, O LORD; let not man prevail: let the heathen be judged in thy sight.

Put them in fear, O LORD: that the nations may know themselves to be but men. Selah.” (Ps. 9:17-20).

Probation had closed in each instance, and both camps were sealed in their determination to serve God with all that was in them, or to mock Him with all that was in them. He would reward His children with salvation, and send earth-shattering destruction on the majority who reviled and killed His servants, and trifled with Him and His warnings.

The great Creator does everything in shocking, convicting methods. The Almighty is big, and powerful, and all-authoritative.

“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” (Heb. 4:12,13).

“Whose voice then shook the earth: but now He hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

For our God is a consuming fire.” (Heb. 12:26-29).

“For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,

But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?

For we know Him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge His people.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Heb. 10:26-31).

“That no flesh should glory in His presence.” (1Cor. 1:29).

“These things made His path a thorny one to travel. So pained was Christ by the misapprehension in His own home that it was a relief to Him to go where it did not exist. There was one home that He loved to visit,--the home of Lazarus, and Mary, and Martha; for in the atmosphere of faith and love His spirit had rest. Yet there were none on earth who could comprehend His divine mission, or know the burden which He bore in behalf of humanity. Often He could find relief only in being alone, and communing with His heavenly Father.” Desire of Ages, p. 326.

“Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.

Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?

Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when He cometh shall find so doing.

Verily I say unto you, That He shall make him ruler over all His goods.

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord delayetH his coming;

And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken;

The Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for Him, and in an hour that he is not aware of,

And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 24:40-51).

“Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man.

And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.…

And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire.

And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Bethrehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.” (Jdg. 18:7-11,27,28).

“Behold, I will send My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, He shall come, saith the LORD of hosts. But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?” (Mal. 3:1,2).

“For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” (Rev. 6:17).

“Behold, their valiant ones shall cry without: the ambassadors of peace shall weep bitterly.

The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: He hath broken the covenant, He hath despised the cities, He regardeth no man.

The earth mourneth and languisheth: Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down: Sharon is like a wilderness; and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits.

Now will I rise, saith the LORD; now will I be exalted; now will I lift up Myself.

Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath, as fire, shall devour you.

And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire.

Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge My might….

Thine heart shall meditate terror. Where is the scribe? where is the receiver? where is he that counted the towers?” (Isa. 33:7,8).

“The flames that consumed the cities of the plain shed their warning light down even to our time. We are taught the fearful and solemn lesson that while God’s mercy bears long with the transgressor, there is a limit beyond which men may not go on in sin. When that limit is reached, then the offers of mercy are withdrawn, and the ministration of judgment begins.

     The Redeemer of the world declares that there are greater sins than that for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. Those who hear the gospel invitation calling sinners to repentance, and heed it not, are more guilty before God than were the dwellers in the vale of Siddim. And still greater sin is theirs who profess to know God and to keep His commandments, yet who deny Christ in their character and their daily life. In the light of the Saviour’s warning, the fate of Sodom is a solemn admonition, not merely to those who are guilty of outbreaking sin, but to all who are trifling with Heaven-sent light and privileges.

     Said the True Witness to the church at Ephesus: “I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” Revelation 2:4, 5. The Saviour watches for a response to His offers of love and forgiveness, with a more tender compassion than that which moves the heart of an earthly parent to forgive a wayward, suffering son. He cries after the wanderer, “Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.” Malachi 3:7. But if the erring one persistently refuses to heed the voice that calls him with pitying, tender love, he will at last be left in darkness. The heart that has long slighted God’s mercy, becomes hardened in sin, and is no longer susceptible to the influence of the grace of God. Fearful will be the doom of that soul of whom the pleading Saviour shall finally declare, he “is joined to idols: let him alone.” Hosea 4:17. It will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the cities of the plain than for those who have known the love of Christ, and yet have turned away to choose the pleasures of a world of sin.

     You who are slighting the offers of mercy, think of the long array of figures accumulating against you in the books of heaven; for there is a record kept of the impieties of nations, of families, of individuals. God may bear long while the account goes on, and calls to repentance and offers of pardon may be given; yet a time will come when the account will be full; when the soul’s decision has been made; when by his own choice man’s destiny has been fixed. Then the signal will be given for judgment to be executed.

     There is cause for alarm in the condition of the religious world today. God’s mercy has been trifled with. The multitudes make void the law of Jehovah, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matthew 15:9. Infidelity prevails in many of the churches in our land; not infidelity in its broadest sense―an open denial of the Bible―but an infidelity that is robed in the garb of Christianity, while it is undermining faith in the Bible as a revelation from God. Fervent devotion and vital piety have given place to hollow formalism. As the result, apostasy and sensualism prevail. Christ declared, “As it was in the days of Lot,… even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.” Luke 17:28, 30. The daily record of passing events testifies to the fulfillment of His words. The world is fast becoming ripe for destruction. Soon the judgments of God are to be poured out, and sin and sinners are to be consumed.  

     Said our Saviour: “Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth”--upon all whose interests are centered in this world. “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” Luke 21:34-36.  

     Before the destruction of Sodom, God sent a message to Lot, “Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed.” The same voice of warning was heard by the disciples of Christ before the destruction of Jerusalem: “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains.” Luke 21:20, 21. They must not tarry to secure anything from their possessions, but must make the most of the opportunity to escape.” Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 162-166.

“The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil;

He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure.

Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty: they shall behold the land that is very far off.” (Isa. 33:14-17).

“Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.

Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.” (1Thess. 5:4-11).

“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,

And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.

For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:

Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation.” (2Pet. 3:3-15).

“But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men…. The Lord is…not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness…. But the day of the Lord will come….” (2Pet. 3:7,9).