Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Revelation 14:9-13.

Posted on 10/05/2021 by remso

What I am about to say, is what I see, sense, and understand.

One of the goals of the New World Order is to bring the population down to a manageable 500 million people. The county that I live in has a population of 10+ million. Pause and think about that for a few seconds. There is nothing in the minds of these greedy people that says, let’s keep this guy. Consider our President Joe Biden, who claims he has taken both doses of the C19v and a booster shot. This seems like a critical mistake for a President, seeing as medical experts tell us that devastating health aspects will strike you at about six months, and for many people, will ruin you physically in as little as 10 minutes. 

In talking about this C19 garbage with my wife, she pointed out that for those we are calling Babylon – the harlot that rides the beast, there would be a benefit in eliminating senior citizens (think about this in terms of Social security payouts) and Christians – because many Christians find the boldness to cling to an attitude of faith and challenge the government over the C19 illegal mandates and restrictions, which are bogus, and to go after their local school boards over their integration of pornographic textbooks into the school curriculum. If you think this is funny and something you can ignore, it is not, as it sexualizes our children over and above the garbage that the world is trying to feed them. 

Revelation 14:8 NASB And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

Having covered this extensively in my previous post, I only include it here to point out that the “whole” world seems to think that Babylon and the Harlot, are good and fun. If you could only realize that you are the target of their pleasure and they do not care for you.

James 4:4 NASB You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

(The Christian community in America is riddled with fear, and fear is something that the Bible addresses and that we are NOT supposed to live in. The religious community is frequently the ones who will fight against you when you begin to share with them about something exciting, especially about Eschatology – end times events, and I speak from experience.)

Having sat under my fair share of hellfire and brimstone preaching, I do not find it captivating, nor are people drawn to it. One of my family members chooses to believe that a good God would not punish people.

Is that the case?

Scripture seems to be clear on the punishment for those who change masters.

Revelation 14:9  NASB Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,”

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wired.com%2F2011%2F11%2Fpl-prototype-disney-machines%2F&psig=AOvVaw1ZrsJ5s5soDIoITH70myoF&ust=1633540778828000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAwQjhxqFwoTCIiFweLjs_MCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAa

If you give in, worship the beast, his image, and take his mark, you have condemned yourself to eternal punishment. Thus, verse 9 creates the context for verse 10 in which it says, the one who does this will:

Revelation 14:10 NASB “he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

The “he” is that person who gives themselves over to the beast, and unfortunately, there will be many.

Revelation 14:11  NASB “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

It sounds relatively black and white to me, but it is a three-part, intentional process. It would be inappropriate to condemn a small child to hell who was forced to be chipped. They, in many cases, do not have a clue, and to think otherwise about God and his mercy shows me that you know nothing about the character and nature of God.

There is a day coming in which those in opposition to God will come to our “peaceful” streets with an overwhelming level of violence. And, just like we have seen in the African nations where Boko Haran members (a sect of Islam) have fired bombed churches with the attendees inside, or merely shot or beheaded those who claimed to be Christians.

Do you think that won’t happen here in America?

Then you are deceived already. The coming day falls under the category of “the day of the Lord,” the time of wrath. The time in which God pours out his wrath upon unbelievers – Israel and the nations. We, the church in general, were not meant to receive God’s wrath; this has nothing to with the tribulations of life.

1 Thessalonians 5:9 NASB (9) For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Why?

Because:

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” John 3:36 NASB

Romans 5:8-10 NASB “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (9) Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. (10) For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.”

As Israel wandered and complained in the desert, God sent serpents (adders) to punish them [Look this up in Numbers 21.] People began to die and so cried out to Moses for mercy. At God’s instructions, Moses had an image of the serpent made and placed upon a pole. That was a type of Jesus Christ and, just as the serpents, which did not go away because of the serpent upon the pole, but became a salvation for the people when they looked upon it. Christ became sin upon that cross and took all of the wrath due to us because of the sin built into us. Sin did not go away, but its impact, the wrath, went away when we looked to the cross where sin hung and died. 

Why then are some continuing to migrate toward wrath and eternal punishment? 

Because some are suppressing the truth.

Romans 1:18 NASB For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,

While others, because of their stubbornness and unrepentant hearts, are storing up wrath for themselves.

Romans 2:5 NASB But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,

I am telling you of things to come, although much of this has already happened in third world nations as Islam has been allowed to rise to power. Since Agenda 21 and now Agenda 2030 are designed to bring America and the Western European countries down to third world nation status for population reduction, we can expect to see Islam filling our streets with violence.

It seems like there is nothing you can do. But that is not the case as this time is not upon us yet; it will come. I know this because this is the pattern that I see in scripture. However, we have the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. This is the same power and Word that parted the Red Sea and drowned the Egyptian army in that same sea as they tried to cross. This is the same word that brought fire down from heaven to consume God’s enemies. The same Word of power caused the earth to open up and swallow the Philistines while blasting others with lightning. 

What’s my point?

That God is still looking for those through which he can show himself strong. 

Someday soon, God will remove His church from the earth. At that point, the game is on, and the wrath will begin to pour out of every crack. And, people will continue to be godless, killing machines, all in the name and power of their god, the beast.

So what happens after the rapture? 

Revelation 14:12-13 NASB (12) Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (13) And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!‘” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

Who is he talking about when he says, Saints?

We love to generalize considering everybody sitting in the pews to be saints. However, Matthew 25 does not tell me that. It shows me that 50% are ill-prepared, having no extra oil, and will not make it through the gates when he comes because they are off roaming the streets in the middle of the night, looking for more oil. Revelation 14:13 says, “blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!”

It is God who does the generalizing when he defines saints as:

“O fear the LORD, you His saints; For to those who fear Him there is no want.”

(Psalms 34:9 NASB)

We all comprehend fear as an aspect of cowering under an oppressive ruler, but God never wanted a relationship like that. Fear then conveys a respectful relationship in which we understand we have no control over anything and because of this relationship there is no want for anything.

Once the church is caught away, the number of people coming into a relationship with Jesus Christ will be uncountable. This also tells me that almost as many will be put to death because of their faith in Jesus Christ.

Revelation 14:13 NASB And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.”

These, because of their relationship with Jesus Christ, are deemed, saints. They die because of their testimony – this testimony may or may not be elaborate and many, in their last utterance may cry out their newfound affection for the Savior. Their actions are their deeds and these acts of simple kindness follow them into eternity for a remembrance.

Those that embrace a judgmental, unforgiving God frequently have problems with God showing mercy to people. Here, in the time of wrath, it is so much easier to perceive what happens to these people as God punishing them for their rejection. The problem with that kind of thinking is that you fail to understand that Jesus took all the wrath mandatory for the punishment of sin, upon himself.

Whom then is God’s wrath being poured out upon?

The nations and Israel for rejecting him. It is never about the church. Because of the timing involved with the gathering of the body to himself, some will escape all wrath; while others, joining themselves to the body of Christ after the in-gathering, will it seems, have to prove their allegiance through death. It seems the only alternative I can see.

Matthew 25: 31-46 offers us a comparable scenario when it comes to deeds that follow them. Jesus, at the end of the thousand years, having called the dead from the nations to himself, separates them into two groups – the sheep and goats. These are not Christians for they were not caught up in the rapture nor the resurrection of the saints prior to the thousand years. The nations are generally thought to be anyone outside of a relationship with Christ, and yet, the Sheep are given their status because of their deeds, acts of kindness.

This is defined as Jesus said,

‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; (Matthew 25:35 NASB)

These simple acts of kindness gained them entrance into the eternal kingdom.

If I thought it wise to take this gamble I would be making a serious mistake. I cannot even pick a line at the market without it coming to a screeching halt for some reason. It is wiser to live in the grace given to me, clinging tightly to his robe.

Consider a piece of wisdom we see in the story of the prodigal’s son. Having spent all on riotous living, this Jew, a man who would not have considered touching an unclean pig, ends up not only slopping the hogs but having to eat what they would reject. This was the young man’s bottom and looking up meant going back to his father that he had insulted. As he approaches the ranch, the father who had been looking and longing for his son’s return spots him a long way off and runs to him with outstretched arms. This is the Father and an example of the love he has for us. So, it will not be so much you merely catching a corner of his robe, but Him wrapping his arms around you to welcome you home.

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Babylon the Great has fallen; I wish. Revelation 14:8.

Posted on 10/03/2021 by remso

Revelation 14:8 almost seems to stand alone.

Revelation 14:8 NASB And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

If we try to define the Babylon we see in Revelation we have to ask, what is it and what are the implications for us; and, can we obtain a clue from the passage itself??

  • “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, ..”

God had used Babylon to punish Israel for ignoring the Shemittah (times of rest and restoration), because of this they went into captivity for 70 years and might play a role in its utter destruction. Thanks to the interactions we have between Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar, we know that during the reign or Nebuchadnezzar Babylon was great. Daniel – in explaining the statue dream to Nebuchadnezzar – told him that he, as representing Babylon, was the head of gold.

Daniel 2:37-38 ESV You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, (38) and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all–you are the head of gold.

Considering that Nebuchadnezzar had threatened to kill all the wise men if no one could tell him the dream and what it meant; it was probably the wiser choice to say, you are the head of gold.

Does Babylon exist anymore?

The answer is no.

Can we make the connection between a Babylon that was once great and the modern day world?

No, so greatness carries a different connotation these days. Babylon, having served its purpose, was to receive God’s wrath.

Jeremiah 51:29 ESV “The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

When you read this it is easy to say, “that happened and therefore does not apply to today.” We see this same logic applied to the temple of the last days. Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple and Israel saw that happen in 70 A.D.; yet his words also applied to a time in the distant future in which there would be a third temple. Therefore these words about Babylon could just as easily apply to a future time, a time which I happen to believe is upon us now.

You might not be aware that Saddam Hussein was attempting a restoration of Babylon. He built one of his fortress-like residences on a hill just outside of Babylon along the Euphrates. Chuck Missler told us that while active combat missions in Iraq were still ongoing, the military was running high speed communications cables into Babylon.

Does any of that literally mean that Babylon, as a city, would be resurrected to greatness?

No, therefore we should be looking for something else, something more symbolic. I believe the key phrase here is “her sexual immorality”.

Clearly Revelation 14:8 is speaking about a sensuality, and there is nothing sensual about the 

aerial view of Babylon

Babylon today, surrounded by the city of Mosul in Iraq.

region in which Babylon was built. So the context has more to do with something spiritual. Bel Marduk might fit that bill.

  • “…she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

Since things seemingly went well for Daniel, we assume that all went well for Israel. We also assume that Babylon was just a beautiful, fun loving place, but that was not the case. If you think about the fact that they threw Daniel’s companions into the fire, then its easier to understand that evil lurked in the background. Babylon was conquered by successive empires, of which two are clearly defined: The Medo-Persian, and the Grecian empires. It is clear that something happened.

Now, what do we do with this cryptic sentence – “…she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality”?

Apparently we know far too little about Babylon because Revelation focuses, rather intently, on the words sexual immorality. The prophet Jeremiah spoke a word against Babylon:

Jeremiah 50:1-2 ESV The word that the LORD spoke concerning Babylon, concerning the land of the Chaldeans, by Jeremiah the prophet: (2) “Declare among the nations and proclaim, set up a banner and proclaim, conceal it not, and say: ‘Babylon is taken, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is dismayed. Her images are put to shame, her idols are dismayed.’

Commentary from the IVPBBC:

Bel and Marduk. “The title Bel was applied to the supreme god of the Akkadian pantheon, which until the beginning of the second millennium B.C. was Enlil (the patron of the city of Nippur). After the emergence of Babylon as the chief city of Mesopotamia, the title was transferred to its patron deity, Marduk. Evidence of this succession to divine supremacy can be seen in Marduk’s prominent place in the Babylonian creation epic Enuma Elish and in the prologue to the Code of Hammurabi. In both instances, Marduk is said to have achieved the rank of chief god through his combative powers and the will of the other gods. The name Bel Marduk then continues to be used by the Assyrians and the Neo-Babylonians, and his New Year’s festival is the celebration of the renewal of fertility and life (see comment on Isa_46:1). Even the Persian king Cyrus looked at his own accession to power and the capture of the city of Babylon as having been achieved through the assistance of Bel Marduk. Connections in the northwest Semitic pantheon with Bel are to be found in the name Baal, also translated as “lord.”

Now again, the question is, how do I perceive and apply this information?

Mark Hitchcock, in his book The Second Coming of Babylon, states rather simplistically, “The city and the tower (of Babel) represent the two aspects of Babylon that continue today: political power balanced against rebellion and apostasy.” Mark Hitchcock continues, “The city they built represents the political unity of the city of Babylon. Babylon was a literal place, ruled over by a literal king who exercised political power over all the inhabitants of the world.”

I had to think about Mark Hitchcock’s comments for a moment.

So, is Babylon, a lasting, global, political power?

I already pointed out that God decreed devastation upon Babylon. Common sense then should tell you that Babylon’s ability to persist has to first be spiritual. Many years after its establishment by Nimrod, and after the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon is captured by Cyrus, but this line from the IVPBBC is very telling:

“ Even the Persian king Cyrus looked at his own accession to power and the capture of the city of Babylon as having been achieved through the assistance of Bel Marduk”

We are introduced to the beginnings of Babylon in Genesis chapter 10, when we are told about the generations of Noah. The son of Ham was Cush, and Cush fathered Nimrod.

Let’s explore this lineage of Ham for a minute.

Genesis 10:8 ESV Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man.

“He was the first on earth to be a mighty man” ???

The word mighty in the Hebrew is: gibbôr it means powerful; and by implication warrior, tyrant.

Another instance of the word gibbôr is used to depict a mighty man, comes before the flood, and describes the Nephilim upon the earth.

Genesis 6:4 ESV The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Most do not believe Nimrod to have been a giant as much as he was of a reckless ferocity.

Reckless ferocity – What names come to your mind when you think about the words reckless ferocity?

Og, the king of Bashan who may have been 13 feet tall; how about Ghengis Khan, or Vlad the impaler.

How did Nimrod become the first on the earth to be a mighty man when clearly the earth was filled with violence and there were giants or mighty men prior to the flood?

Genesis 6:10-13 ESV And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. (11) Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. (12) And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. (13) And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

Genesis 9:9 ESV “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you,

Genesis 10:1 ESV These are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

So Noah, and his generations are the fresh start. It only took three generations for everything to go sour again. Nimrod was the controlling authority and driving force behind the tower of Babel. That may or may not be the case, but it is clear that all known inhabitants were of the same mind and direction.

Genesis 10:8-10 ESV Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. (9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD.” (10) The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 10:8-10 fills in a few blanks, for it tells us that Nimrod founded the towns of Babel, Erech, Accad (the Accadian race) and Calneh. All in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 11:1-4 ESV Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

I want to you to see something before we move on.

Genesis 11:4 LITV And they said, Come, let us build a city and a tower with its head in the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, that we not be scattered on the face of all the

If you are anything like me you would have read a verse like this, for years, and said, how nice, and never grasped the depth of what is happening here. It is not as simple as it looks and requires that you dig a little.

  1. God has yet to state that he will scatter them, but they almost seem to be prophesying over themselves by declaring: “that we not be scattered on the face of all the earth.” As you know that happened.

  2. If we hear of someone who made a name for himself there are generally admirable thoughts that go along with that, like having a beautiful park named after that person. However there are those that were not so admirable, like: John Wayne Gacy, Charlie Manson, or Ted Bundy. They certainly made names for themselves.

  3. Here in America we have Donald Trump – the business mogul. He ran for President and won for one term. As a notable person he has his name plastered on the many things he has built. The height and design are not necessarily the issue, and there is something more implicated in Genesis 11:4.

let us build us a city H5892 – (a place guarded by waking or a watch)

and let us make H6213 – accomplish

for ourselves a name H8034, – the Name (as designation of God)

I get the sense that they were trying to make their own names a god. “Babylon also represents false religion.”

According to Mark Hitchcock:

“The first organized false religion has passed down from Babylon into all other false religions of the world. Their tower symbolizes the religious unity that dominated Babylon.”

The IVP Bible Background Commentary on the Old Testament tells us:

“The central feature of these early cities in southern Mesopotamia was the temple complex. Often, the temple complex was the city. The temple complex in this period would have been comprised of the temple itself, where the patron deity was worshiped, and, most prominently, by the ziggurat. Ziggurats were structures designed to provide stairways from the heavens (the gate of the gods) to earth so that the gods could come down into their temple and into the town and bring blessing. It was a convenience provided for the deity and his messengers. These stairways were featured in the mythology of the Sumerians and also are portrayed in Jacob’s dream.”

By the way, The Hadron collider, often called CERN, has two major goals: 

“Two of the major goals for CERN is to collapse and break apart the God Particle that creates and maintains our physical world and to tear a hole through the veil that is the barrier protecting our physical universe from the unknown, non-physical universes and other non-physical dimensions believed to be located outside our physical universe.”

So one might say, that CERN, in a sense, is just another tower, in the attempt to bring the gods down to earth.

John Walvord summarizes the Babylonian religious system:

“Nimrod, who founded Babylon, had a wife known as Semiramis who founded the secret religious rites of the Babylonian mysteries, according to accounts outside the bible. Semiramis has a son with an alleged miraculous conception who was given the name Tammuz and in effect was a false fulfillment of the promise of the seed of the woman given to Eve (Gen 3:15).”

“Various religious practices were observed in connection with the false Babylonian religion, including recognition of the mother and child as God and of creating an order of virgins who became religious prostitutes. Tammuz, according to the tradition, was killed by a wild animal and restored to life, a satanic anticipation and counterfeit of Christ’s resurrection.”

Walvord adds:

“Babylon then, is the symbol of apostasy and blasphemous substitution of idol-worship for the worship of God in Christ.”

As to this last quote. Nimrod probably had no concept of Christ, so I do not think it is fair to pin that on him. However, since God found Noah to be favorable (there is a tremendous mystery about this man having to do with the heritage that might intrigue you, but I do not have the time here) you might assume that Noah had a strong concept of who God was. Keep in mind that any knowledge of God had to be verbally passed to the next generations. As the generations begin to rebuild something very dark creeps in and Noah curses one of his sons. It did not take that long for one generation to essentially move away from God. Project this idea three generations ahead and we have Nimrod.

The worship of Baal

Isaiah 21:9 LITV And, behold, here comes a chariot of a man, a pair of horses. And he answered and said, Babylon has fallen, has fallen! And He has smashed the graven images of her gods to the earth.

There is a clear sense of multiple gods. The prophet Jeremiah identifies two of them: Merodach and Bel.

Jeremiah 50:2 LITV Declare among the nations, and make them hear, and lift up a banner. Make them hear, do not hide it; say, Babylon is captured, Bel is put to shame, Merodach is broken in pieces, her images are put to shame, her idols are broken in pieces.

From John Gill’s commentary:

“Bel boweth down, Nebo stoopeth,…. These are names of the idols of Babylon. Bel is by some thought to be the contraction of Baal, the god of the Phoenicians, called by them Beel; so “Beelsamin” (h), in the Phoenician language, is Lord of heaven: but rather this is the Belus of the Babylonians, who was a renowned king of them, and after his death deified; whom Nebuchadnezzar, according to Megasthenes (i), calls Belus his progenitor, and by whom Babylon was walled about. This idol is, no doubt, the same with Jupiter Belus, who had a temple in Babylon with gates of brass, and which was in being in the times of Herodotus (k), as he reports. This name is sometimes taken into the names of their kings, as Belshazzar or Beltesbazaar. Nebo was another of their idols, an oracular one, from whom, by its priests, prophesies of things future were pretended to be given out…”

Back to Mark Hitchcock’s book The Second Coming of Babylon.

“From the beginning then, Babylon was both a town and a tower, a city and a system, a place and a philosophy. We will encounter this same twofold depiction of Babylon later when we look at Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18.”

From the very beginning Satan has been at war. Sometimes it is hard to tell who he hates the most – God, or those that follow after him.

After Satan deceives the woman we have God saying:

You and this woman will hate each other; your descendants and hers will always be enemies. One of hers will strike you on the head, and you will strike him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:15 CEV)

Hitchcock defined this epic struggle like this:

“The situation at Babylon in Genesis 10-11 played right into Satan’s plan. While he is not mentioned by name, we can be certain that the old serpent introduced in Genesis 3 was working feverishly to energize this rebellious plan. In this setting he could influence and direct world affairs through one man.” …. “He could be ‘god’ in the eyes of all men, through occult worship and practices. After all, this is his desire.” ….. “The masses could also be converted to his false religion, with little to stand in his way.”

Make no mistake, God is, and has always been in control. Man, living in the illusion that he is in control, found out differently, for God came down and confounded their language, and scattered man across the face of the earth. Thus ended the first global community.

As Mark Hitchcock puts it:

“Globalism was put on hold.

But Satan wasn’t finished.

He set out immediately to bring the world back together so he could control all of it once again.

In a sense, human history is the story of Satan working to bring man back to Babylon under his rule.”

More and more every day, I am convinced that we are witnessing Babylon the great – the harlot that rides the beast (they are one and the same) plays its hand by manipulating the economy, the food chain, and worst of all, the population of the earth through propaganda and this phony immunizing agent – as though it has some benefit in dealing with a flu virus (which happens to be humanly designed to fuel their desires to bring about a severe population reduction and global governance. 

So in trying to understand what Babylon is, keep this passage in mind.

Jeremiah 51:29 ESV “The land trembles and writhes in pain, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation, without inhabitant.

We are looking at power structures, guided by the gods of greed and sensuality.

 

 

i John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible; Dr. John Gill (1690-1771)

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Fear God and give Him glory, for the hour of His judgment has come. Revelation 14:1- 7

Posted on 10/01/2021 by remso

We just finished up Revelation chapter thirteen in my quest to visualize a chronological timeline of the book. The difficulty lies in the things revealed, for when things seem to fit and I think I got a good feel for the sequence of things, we have had three history lessons inserted into the story that, in the case of a fallen star – Satan, who has the keys to the Abyss throws us back in time. In my mind this throw back takes us back to the creation of the earth, as it demonstrates the reasons why all this is happening, for God is bringing this all to a “legal” closure.

I slipped that term legal in on you because the transaction between the Serpent and Adam was a legal contract between the person who had dominion of the earth and the one who wanted that dominion. If Satan, in his act of gaining control, knew full well that his end would come, then there had to be another motive. The Revelation is all about Jesus, but there is something underlying, and that is the final judgment and putting away of the deceiver of this world.

Knowing this allows me to comprehend the background information and history that is inserted. As some would say, I have read the end of the book and I know how it turns. Praise God, because it is the reason for the hope that I have, a heavenly home with Abba, and a mind that finally works clearly. As my pastor recently said, “God, I appreciate that you gave me a new heart, but why couldn’t you also give me a new mind?”

In Revelation 13 we saw,

  • The dragon standing on the sea shore.

    I wonder why John saw this. Perhaps it is a lead in to the power and authority that the dragon was about to start passing out. “And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.”

  • John then sees a beast coming up out of the sea.

    The beast has been explained in Daniel’s prophecies to be empires or kingdoms; and it has four heads. To make it worse the entities look like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion.

  • “I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed.;”

    Do something most people won’t do, pay attention to the words. It says, I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain. It is not dead, although the world. for many years, thought so. In spite of the appropriate information that the scripture gives us, some quack will tell you that we are looking for a man to have an assassination attempt made upon him. We use the word attempt, because with their next breath they tell you that this man who gets shot in the head, rises to life once again. When I was a child, John Kennedy, the President of the United States at the time, was shot in the head and a large portion of his head was destroyed. Many thought, this is the guy! Well, that did not happen. The problem is that this is not the head of a man, it is an empire. The message I repeat frequently is that the Ottoman empire fits the description nicely, as this is exactly what happened when the British crushed the Ottoman in 1924. Why is this information significant? Because another empire of Muslims has taken its place and is very alive today; they just can’t settle on a name.

  • And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast because it came back to life.

    So now we have many, around the world worshiping the dragon, even though they don’t know it; I seriously doubt that they realize that Satan gave his authority to the beast, which we will quickly see migrates into a man – a spokesman. I also pointed out how many, after the United States handed Afghanistan to the Taliban, worshiped Allah, saying, Who is like him, and who is able to wage war with him? Wait a minute, are they worshiping Allah, or are they worshiping the Taliban, especially since they are little more than armed bullies, and the nation of Afghanistan of was handed to them by our inept, American President Biden.

  • This man, who in all likelihood is a Muslim, (I say this because one of his names is the Assyrian,) wages war upon the Christians.

    As of this date, 09/29/21, I have watched Amir Tsarfati teaching on the last Jihad. In this teaching he insists that it cannot be a Muslim because they cannot get along among other things. While I appreciate Amir for many reasons, I wholeheartedly disagree with him on this. Amir even says that in one passage that many use to substantiate the idea that we are looking for an Assyrian was most likely fulfilled by Sennacherib. Well let’s see.

    Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “O My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod and lifts up his staff against you, the way Egypt did. (Isaiah 10:24 NASB)

    The antichrist will strike Israel with rod, no doubt, so this could easily work. The next verse has a context and places it in the end times; and, that makes it work.

    For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin. And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man, And a sword not of man will devour him. So he will not escape the sword, And his young men will become forced laborers. (Isaiah 31:7-8 NASB)

    Here, Isaiah uses the Hebrew word that represents the fighting equipment of the day. We, in this case, do not have to take this literally. It goes on to say that he falls by the sword but not of man. There is only one way that can happen, and that would be because Jesus throws him into the lake of fire. So, he dies at the hand of Jesus.

    Micah 5:5 is the verse that Amir uses to disprove the idea that the antichrist could be an Assyrian. So let’s analyze it.

    And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will deliver us from the Assyrian When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory. (Micah 5:4-6 NASB)

    Notice how this starts, and yes, I took a couple extra verses in order to establish context.

          • “He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain,” Who is Micah talking about? Jesus.

          • Still speaking about Jesus, we get this, “Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace.” Now, it is definitely Jesus.

          • Next it says – not if, when. “When the Assyrian invades our land.” To be honest, the Assyrian invaded the land on many occasions, and, to the best of my knowledge, Nebuchadnezzar was the first. Some will argue, he was Babylonian, however, if you do your homework, you will find that they were all, in God’s eyes, Assyrians, all the way down to the toes of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue that Daniel interpreted. If I wanted to operate on the basis of the this Assyrian issues being fulfilled by Sennacherib, then I have to consider that the word tells us that the temple will be destroyed. But that also happened twice, the last time in 70 A. D. under the Roman General Titus. Obviously, it will happen once again. Because of that, we can know that the Assyrian will be coming once again.

    In the religious understanding, the people in the 7 year period probably should not be called Christians. So then, why do the Muslims label them in this manner? Because they see all Americans as the people of the bible and, therefore, Christians. God will sort them out at the end, so for now give them the benefit of the doubt.

  • We also learned that all the earth will worship him.

    But God himself tells us that this not true as it is spelled out how that those whose names are written in the book of life will NOT worship the antichrist.

    What do you suppose it is that motivates and directs them, for many will tell you that the Holy Spirit is removed with the church in the rapture? The removal of the Holy Spirit seems logical since the Holy Spirit is assumed to live exclusively in the spirit of believers. That logic works until you realize that people continue to be drawn to God’s love; and, it is the work of Holy Spirit of God that does that.

    “But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13 NASB)

    The number of people that worships the antichrist will be close to uncountable.

  • And finally, the false prophet shows up.

    This occurs at the three and one half year mark. He performs great signs, deceives many of the elect, and operates in the power of the antichrist. He also becomes the enforcer of Sharia law, which means he continues the killing of “Christians.”

So much for the chronological attempts at understanding the Revelation, let’s just try to understand what we read and perhaps the timeline will fall into place.

Revelation 14:1 NASB Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.

When did we first see the 144,000 Jewish, male, virgins?

And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: (Revelation 7:4 NASB)

I pointed that out that they were male, Jewish, virgins, because the Jehovah’s Witness believe that they have the 144,000 as their elders. What they won’t tell you is that they may well be dead by now, and since the positions are already filled, there is not much hope left for you but works, which looks a lot like mandatory, Saturday mission work. In following Christ, He did all the work to gain our salvation. We do need to make an effort and believe, that and this idea of taking His yoke upon ourselves. If that seems ominous to you, then you need to consider that we who follow Him have given ourselves to Him. Paul said, I am a slave of Jesus Christ.

  • “I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.”

The lamb, and these young men, are standing on Mount Zion. Mount Zion, according to Hebrews 12:22, is the “the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” I say all this to ask a rhetorical question,

Where are we in the timeline of end times events?

John saw the Lamb, with the 144,000, standing upon Mt. Zion; this does not happen until after the seven-years of wrath; after, Christ has come back as the warring Messiah, and the battle is over. One of the major problems we have is how long it takes to make all these governmental type events happen.

Notice what I did there?

I just applied broken human thinking to God’s plan; a plan that does not have to operate according to our earthly timing or understanding. If He spoke the universe into existence, then He can speak order over this transition into an eternal existence as well.

You might rightly assume that the Lamb, standing upon Mt Zion, with the 144,000 would be a celebratory and victorious time. You might also assume that God is holding these untainted men out before us.

Why speculate over why He might do that?

Because we the church have bought into the lies of the enemy and the world, that tell us that purity and focus is impossible.

One more thing. Notice that these men have the name of the Father written on their foreheads.

This evokes a question. Has Satan created anything?

I think not. I do not believe that he invented concept of mutiny or treason either, but he sure put it into practice when he deceived Eve in the Garden. He does, however, mimic, or imitate the things of God. I mentioned earlier how our introduction to the 144,000 comes in Revelation 7:4, but shortly after that we see the antichrist demanding that all take his mark, and it is no coincidence that it is on the right hand or the forehead, as God had already initiated.

Revelation 14:2-5 NASB And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. (3) And they *sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the earth. (4) These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. (5) And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

John’s vision of the 144,00 seems to have been interrupted with this voice, that he describes as the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. Picture yourself on a rocky seashore, on a stormy day, where large waves are crashing against the rocks. The noise is horrendous if you are close to it; and yet John tells us it is like harpists. Out of all of this noise there is singing. It is the 144,000 doing the singing and they are singing a new song. No one knows this song but them.

The verses give us an interesting description, as it describes the 144,000 as having been purchased from the earth.

Haven’t we all been purchased by His blood?

The answer is yes. Paul, in speaking to the people of Ephesus, told them this.

“… the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” (Acts 20:28b. NASB)

A part of his statement is about the church of God, which He (God) purchased with His own blood. In writing to the church in Corinth Paul also affirmed that we were purchased.

“For you have been bought with a price..” (1 Corinthians 6:20a. NASB)

The passage about the 144,000 ends with, “And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.” Are you aware that God chose us that we should/could be faultless and without blame.

“just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him….” (Ephesians 1:4 NASB)

For the Jew, in their understanding, you could not come close to this condition without offering a sacrifice. This may be going to far, but it was the blood that protected God’s people in Egypt at the first passover.

‘For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments–I am the LORD. ‘The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:12-13 NASB)

In Leviticus the blood is what made you accepted.

“Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When any man of you brings an offering to the LORD, you shall bring your offering of animals from the herd or the flock. ‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it, a male without defect; he shall offer it at the doorway of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the LORD.
(Leviticus 1:2-3 NASB)

Little did they know that Christ became the final, all sufficient sacrifice, that gave us the ability to be holy and blameless. Allow me to qualify what I just said. Christs blood was and still is sufficient, but it requires our participation by acceptance and belief.

The next verse is an answer to those who whine that Christ cannot come back because NOT everyone has the gospel.

Revelation 14:6 NASB “And I saw another angel flying in mid heaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;”

It is clear that God’s intent is to preach the gospel, beside that. Paul tells us that the law is written upon the heart of every human.

For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, (Romans 2:14-15 NASB)

Many will read Romans 2:14,15, and give themselves an excuse for not acting right, as they think God does not hold you responsible unless you believe in Him.

For those who like me struggle to see the concise chronology of the Revelation, there is definitely a line of events happening between Revelation 14:6 and 7. There are no excuses allowed. An angel has just declared the gospel of Jesus Christ, to the whole world, and now comes the judgment.

Revelation 14:7 NASB “and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

“Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come,”

We have heard this before. Revelation 11:18 is one of those places, however, verse 18 includes the time to reward the prophets, the saints, and those who fear your name.

“And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
(Revelation 11:18 NASB)

Hour is the Greek word hōra. It can mean: an “hour” (literally or figuratively): – a day, an instant, or a season.

Fear is the Greek word phobeō. While it includes the idea of being frightened the context leans more toward awe of, or reverence of the Lord.

Judgment (judged) is the Greek word krinō. It means to separate; to make a distinction between, or to exercise judgment upon.

[In Matthew’s gospel we see all three aspects of this definition when we read of the sheep and goat judgment. There, as in Revelation 20, the dead are brought to the throne of judgment, however, in Matthew’s account the dead are separated, and a distinction is made as to their fate. Here we see the sheep obtaining mercy and entrance into the kingdom of God. Read Matthew 25:31-46.]

Imagine the verse remastered to read, reverence the Lord, and give Him glory, because the season of His judgment has come. We are there and the events going on around us only demonstrate the urgency of the season. I am not a good gambler and hoping that He classifies me as a sheep, merely because I handed a guy named Richard a sandwich is not what I call good odds.

I gave my life to Jesus a long time ago, but to be honest, I have turned my back to Him on several occasions. I discovered that He never turned His back on me, and for that I love Him more. The ABC’s of salvation can give you an assurance that you are His, and I might add, He will never let you go.

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He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast. Revelation 13:11-18.

Posted on 09/26/2021 by remso

Previously, the Apostle John saw this.

“It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.” (Revelation 13:7-8 NASB)

We established who this “him” or spokesperson for the beast, is; and it is the antichrist (the Assyrian.) As you can see above, this man:

  • Makes war with the saints and to overcome them.

    War is the Greek word polēmos and, according to Strong’s concordance means warfare (literally or figuratively); whether a single encounter or a series of battles.

    So, the reality is that this guy, with some help, is going to kill the saints. But you have to remember where you are at – in the early stages of the time of wrath. The assumption most people make is that we apply the term and characteristics of the Biblical Christian to those who go through the wrath. Christians – followers of Christ or believers are the church. The church is to be caught up into the clouds, to forever be with Him.

    “Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17 NASB)

    Another aspect of being a Christian is the fact that we, the broken, will be changed. Ah, but changed into what? We will be like him (Jesus.).

    Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NASB)

    Let me point out a few other things here. Raised perishable we will put on the imperishable – immortality, a term that I used frequently in my last post. I only point to this because religious zealots, who skimmed right over this term, will have hate-filled thoughts that I could apply comic book characteristics to this life that we will soon have.

    Now, many think they are Christians, though their lives show very little fruit. Using the story of the ten virgins (Matthew 25:1-13,) it becomes clear that 50% of those who deem themselves to be in the family, will not make it in on the first pass. For me, the burning question is will these people, who believe they are Christians, and go through the time of wrath, be changed and therefore free from the draw of sin? Perhaps a part of the answer may come from 1 Corinthians 15:51-53 itself. Pay attention to the words “For this perishable must put on the imperishable.”
    Is it possible that some of us will put on the imperishable, while others will not?

    If they do not put on the imperishable then they are subject to pain and death, just like everybody else. If they displayed some love toward God, and yet, could not bring themselves to stay the course, to the point that like the virgins, did not choose to trim their wicks, put adequate oil in the lamps, nor bring extra oil, just in case. It is not hopeless for them but they, like everyone else, will have to prove their love for Him in martyrdom. It almost seems as though their love will be more precious because the cost was so high. These are those who are called saints in Revelation 13:7.

  • Has “ authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.”

The extent of this man’s actions is global. At the moment my mind says, how is that possible, but the reality of of global communications, and the fact that we see, even now, the world working in unison to get everyone vaccinated, should explain a bit of how this will happen. Holocaust again.

Page one.

  • And we see this. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.”

    Everybody worships this fool with the exception of one group of people, those whose names are written in the book of life.

    Have you ever thought about this?

    All of these people who are refusing to worship the antichrist/the beast have been known to God all along.

    Let’s go back to the virgins of Matthew 25. I want to scream here, as they were all virgins. What happened, because only half made it to the wedding.

    Did their hearts change toward God?

    Did God’s heart toward them change?

    Did He erase them out of the Lamb’s book of life?

    The answer is NO to all these questions, although I have experienced momentary shifts in my attitude toward God, especially when I knew I was in the wrong.

    And now, we find “virgins”, Christians, and people who have fought to maintain their denial of Christ because it made them look uncool. Suddenly everything becomes clear and you know that you have to hold on to the testimony of Christ, even if it is a bloody gurgle before you die.

Revelation 13:11 –

At this point in time, the madness above has been going on for three and a half years. Out of the shadows of the temple, this man called the false prophet steps forward.

Revelation 13:11 NASB Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.

  • Coming out of the earth?

    I looked at J. Vernon McGee because he tends to explain things on a farm level simplicity. He said, “The earth from which this second beast arises is symbolic of Palestine, and it is naturally assumed that the second beast comes from Israel. He is a messiah, and Israel would not accept him unless he had come from their land and was one of them.”

    Having spent my life in church I can say I have heard everything, but this is the first time I have heard this. The beast coming out of the sea represents a vast horde, but for me, it certainly seemed to convey the idea of a wide spread horde.

    I have pointed out that the Revelation is Middle East centric, with that in mind it would be easy to look solely at the Mediterranean and the Levantine coast.

    So, then, where should I look for the false prophet?

    You got it, the Middle East, but the passage gives us a huge clue in that it says, “he had two horns like a lamb.” The lamb is Jesus and the Revelation itself, give us this. John is told, not to weep, behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

    “and one of the elders *said to me, “Stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.” (Revelation 5:5-6 NASB)

Page two.
 

  • So what is John now expecting to see?

    You got  it, a lion as regal as the imagery of Aslan from the C.S. Lewis book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

    But what does he see?

    A Lamb, standing, as if slain. Something completely the opposite. In case you have forgotten, the Lion voluntarily became the Lamb for our benefit.

    With all this in mind, there is a strong push to see this false prophet as coming out of Israel, as Dr. McGee mentioned.

    What relational passage can we find from the Old Testament?

    ‘These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth.

    (Daniel 7:17 NASB)

    “Four beasts,” is similar to the terminology, used to describe the four beasts coming out of the sea. Using the term land forces us to re-center upon the Middle East.

    “And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper.”
    (Daniel 8:12 NASB)

    The “host” may well be referring to the Jewish religious leadership. The verse implies that all of them will cave to this false prophet, but if we use Nicodemus as an example, then we can know that NOT all will sell their sole to the devil.

    You need to know something, Islam has its own set prophecies, and one of them includes their understanding that in the last days there will be a high priest in the last temple.

    Israel already has this guy appointed, and this appointment happened several years ago. His name is Rabbi Baruch Kahane. He is respected and loved by many.

    Islam believes that this man, whom the Jewish council did an extensive background check to validate his lineage as it relates to Aaron, will, at some point, (3.5 years into the seven-year reign of the antichrist,) switch teams, convert to Islam, join himself to the antichrist (whom the Muslim’s call the Mahdi,) and become the deadly enforcer of Sharia law. He will throw down the law of God in exchange for Sharia law. Empowered by the dragon – Satan, he will perform miracles and signs; one of those signs is to turn the rain back on again.

    What is he doing turning the rain back on?

    Because the two witnesses from God, have been doing signs and wonders, not so dissimilar to what Moses and Aaron did before Pharaoh; and they have turned off the rain. Because after three years God calls the two witnesses back home, He has allowed to be killed, up to this point NO ONE has been able to touch them; and now they are gone.

    What or who is there to stop this false prophet from performing any evil miracle he wants?

  • The verse, Revelation 13:11, finishes by saying “he spoke as a dragon.”

    When you consider that this is Satan filling this priest’s mind and soul with evil power and direction; to the point that this priest, serving in the newly built temple, is speaking on behalf of Satan when he speaks.

As if speaking on behalf of Satan was not bad enough, “He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.”

Page three.
 

Revelation 13:12 NASB He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

The false prophet exercises all the authority of the beast, or antichrist, strangely, the verse adds, in his presence. So, whatever powers or authority that the beast has, he has, and so the false prophet continues the killing. Apparently, the antichrist and now the false prophet, do not care that the church, and, therefore, the Christians, were caught up to be with Jesus, and, therefore, protected from the dangers of the wrath. And so, the people they are now killing without thought or reason, are those that were NOT anxiously awaiting Jesus return, and they were non-believers when the rapture came, so I would be hard-pressed to call them Christians. Thank God a change can still come and God calls them saints.

But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. (2 Corinthians 3:15-16 NASB)

An even more decisive verse comes from Isaiah. I included verse 6 as it speaks to the marriage supper of the Lamb. The mountain is where the New Jerusalem will be.

The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, And refined, aged wine. And on this mountain, He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 25:6-8 NASB)

Look at these words, “And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.” What did I tell you? That the veil over the world will be lifted. I assumed that this would happen at the rapture, a prime moment of time as it would be logical and open the door for the world to come to know Him.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:3-4 NASB)

  • “And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,”

    Are you telling me, that if by believing, and, therefore, no longer perishing, that the veil is lifted from the those who come to the Lord during “the tribulation.”

    So, if someone during the time of wrath believes, are you telling me that they have the veil lifted from their heart and eyes?

    Yes.

  • “ And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast.”

    The false prophet, quite possibly the rabbi who is to become the high priest, will make everyone on earth worship the first beast.

    The first beast is the antichrist, but wait a minute, didn’t the antichrist emerge from one of the heads of this four-headed beast?

    Yes, he did. The problem here is that the story just made a shift and assigned this head wound that apparently kills a kingdom.

    “The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power. (Daniel 8:22 NASB)

Page four.

  • “whose fatal wound was healed.”

    I have explained on multiple occasions how the Ottoman empire fits the description of the kingdom that sustained a mortal head wound in 1924, and yet came back to life in 1979 with the Iranian or Islamic revolution.

    But, because the context is focused on a man, the false prophet, who is following the antichrist – the beast, the terminology feeds into the false teachings that we should be looking for someone who survives an assassination attempt.

    The truth of the matter is that the followers of Christ, really have nothing to do with any of this. We are merely trying to inform those who insist on getting caught up in this torture; this is especially grievous since you don’t have to endure the wrath of God, simply turn you heart to God and look for His salvation.

Revelation 13:13 NASB He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.

We talked about this briefly. It is highly possible that God has already sent the two witnesses. They have been here for three and a half years and have been doing the very things that this passage describes. The witnesses use fire to destroy anyone who tries to harm them. And, remember that the magicians in Pharaoh’s court copied or mimicked the signs and miracles that Moses and Aaron performed; an exception came when Aaron threw down Moses’ rod and it turned into a serpent. The magicians did the same thing, but Moses’ rod ate theirs; this they could not duplicate.

Revelation 13:14 NASB And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who *had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

Previously, we saw that everyone except for those whose name is written in the book of Life worshiped the antichrist – the beast. Now, the false prophet deceives everyone who is dwelling on the earth, and he does it by the signs.

Consider for a moment, that if this is actually a known, well-accepted rabbi, who the Jewish council promoted to be the high priest of the new temple, and suddenly he is doing the same signs that the two witnesses performed.

What would the potential impact be?

Jesus, in His response to the disciples about when these things would come to pass, said, see to it that you do not become deceived. The deception will be great, but only because these men do not have their hearts settled in God’s word.

Revelation 13:15 NASB And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

The beast was a four-headed monstrosity; a kingdom; a man – the antichrist, and all of them empowered by Satan, and most likely a fallen angel, a demon.

Which one of these will become the model for the image?

So, we truly have no major clue as to what this image will look like. It just makes sense that it is the image of a human.

But what if it is the image of Allah?

No one has seen Allah unless you count the demonic angel that tried to choke out Mohammad in an effort to convince him to follow Allah.

We live in an age of robotics and audio-animatronics, thanks to Disneyland. I don’t see this false prophet using techniques like Disneyland but they might use some of the projection techniques.

Revelation 13:16-17 NASB (16) And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, (17) and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.

Dear Lord, who is left on earth to accept this mark?

The antichrist and now the false prophet, have been on a rampage killing followers of Christ during the time of wrath. One might think that most would have been killed by now. If that is the case, this has to be only those who are still coming to an acceptance of Christ. In other words, people, from every nation, who have been able to dodge the sword; the vaccine; the wrath of man, and the hatred of the antichrist.

Are you aware that the technology to permanently mark you with a traceable tattoo, is less than three years away from being implemented in association with the vaccine?

So this can happen at almost anytime.

Revelation 13:18 NASB Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

This is like Rubik’s cube to me and I have never figured it out.

The beast has been associated with empires, like the Ottoman empire, and finally connected to a man, empowered by Satan. The last representation is a demonically empowered man. I suggest, strongly, that he is a Muslim because one of his names (given in Daniel’s prophecies,) is the Assyrian. Do your homework and you will find that the Muslims and the remnant of the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires are all Assyrians. In short, Middle Easterners; sons of Abraham through Ishmael.

 

Posted in antichrist, Antichrist, Assyrians, bible study, Deception, dragon, End times, false prophet, false teaching, Islam, Jews, judgment, mortal wound, one world religion, Prophetic, Revelation, the fourth kingdom, the king of fierce countenance, the little horn, the nations, the prince that shall come, the willful king, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture, two witnesses, wrath. | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Revelation 21:8, as for murderers, the immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars of all kinds.

Posted on 09/22/2021 by remso

Several years ago my mother, who is in heaven now, asked me if we were going to have to go through the tribulation. I said mom, Jesus told us that our lives would be filled with tribulations merely because we have a relationship with Jesus Christ. However, there is a separation between everyday life, and this seven-year period that is the time of wrath – we seem to have a strange attraction to calling it, the Great Tribulation. I realize where those words come from.

Tribulation is the Greek word thlipsis and it means pressure, affliction, anguish, persecution, trouble, and avoiding the obvious – tribulation.

An interesting thing about translations. I looked at four and got a different word in place of tribulation each time. So let’s look at Revelation 7:14 with some substitute words. Pick a noun from above and insert it below, they all work.

I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great (________,) and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14 NASB)

Pressure works very well here. Honestly, I have been alarmed at how rapidly the move to a global government has come upon us. One could deem it as pressure. We are getting pressured to get several injections of their poison under the guise of a Covid 19 flu shot; although they won’t tell you that it is meant to kill you, or that you can no longer participate in public venues or go shopping, as though you are the problem. Consider using the word propaganda to explain much of this, as we, on a daily basis, get pounded with “information” about the Covid.

All of this is conveyed throughout the Bible, but primarily in the Revelation and in Daniel’s prophecies. Revelation 9:21 and Revelation 16:9, 11, all tell me that these people DO NOT repent of their deeds or their murders.

The thing that I really wanted to talk about happened on multiple occasions, at a men’s bible study I used to attend. Yep, I left that “study” and this was one of the reasons why.

The leader of the bible study, on this particular day, said, no one goes into the millennial reign but Christians! Really? This is not only brash and ignorant, it is racist as he is excluding the Jews. Although he promoted the idea that he was approved by the Assemblies of God, it was obvious that he never read the bible for himself, because if he had, he would know that many Jews survive, turn to Jesus, and enter the millennial reign.

Want proof?

Isaiah 37:32 NASB “For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”‘

You can also find this idea of survivors in Joel’s writings. Notice that I gave you a lead-in that enforces that these survivors are coming out of a time of great distress.

Joel 2:31-32 NASB “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (32) “And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered; For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem There will be those who escape, As the LORD has said, Even among the survivors whom the LORD calls.”

The prophet Isaiah also said this.

In that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy–everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2-3 NASB)

In Revelation 21 we see terminology that should make us believe that we have finally made it to heaven. For example, Verse one states “ I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.” Try to explain how heaven and earth can pass away without fire – a fire that burns everything, which should include any mortals.

Page one

I want you to think about something. Since we the church will have been changed into a non-corruptible body, free from sin, then what are we?

The answer is easy, though your mind will fight with the idea, we are immortals, like Jesus and the Father.

Anyone surviving, and not going through that change, would still be what?

Mere mortals, and therefore subject to death.

Since we know that death is separation from God, are these mortals, during the millennial reign, still subject to being separated from God?

Yes, and we know this because Satan, having been released at the end of the thousand years, deceives the mortals into attempting an overthrow of God one last time and many follow him to his eternal hell. As we read this story it appears that all of them fall for this ploy and God burns them with fire. Soon thereafter there is a final judgment. You would think that God saw every bit of this “mutiny” and erased any chance of them maintaining a lasting relationship with Him. Even as I write this, I can hear the Holy Spirit saying to me, you don’t know that. Aren’t you the one who proclaims that I am the God of mercy? Well then, leave all that judgment stuff up to Me.

In battles, do you typically see women and children going into battle?

No, and in the Middle Eastern cultures, women have roles and rarely step out of those roles.

So, is it reasonable to see everyone living outside of the New Jerusalem as being completely burned up?

The answer is no. It is also reasonable to think that as the husband of the family goes, so goes the family. How God deals with this is not clear to me, but then there are those leaves on the trees of life, that provide healing for the nations. If no one has told you this, allow me. God is merciful beyond your wildest expectations.

There is no need for another trial when it comes to Satan, as his final sentence has already been proclaimed; therefore, he is immediately sent to his hell along with its eternal separation from God.

Now, where are those who tried to overthrow God in a final mutiny and got themselves burned up?

Ecclesiastes tells us,

For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. (Ecclesiastes 9:5 NASB)

They are, at least for a few minutes, laying there on the ground where they fell, without a thought.

So, at this point have we moved on from the millennial reign into the perpetual heavenly kingdom?

The answer is, not yet. For those that would want to argue, I understand that for the believer who was caught up in the rapture, we are, from that point on immortal. That means the world and the sin that continues to exist there, cannot touch us. From the beginning of the millennial reign and forward, there will be peace.

But, there is an obvious catch to this, and that is where Revelation 21:8 comes into play.

“But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NASB)

If I were to preach that only Christians can enter the millennial reign, then obviously I would have to tear out a few pages of my bible in order to maintain that belief. For the Jew-haters among us, I have already pointed out that they too enter the millennial reign and have every right to be counted among those of Revelation 21:8.

Since the entirety of the Revelation is prophetic and subject to validation through repetition, where else can I find a theme like this?

Students of scripture, in John’s day, would have been very familiar with the prophet Jeremiah

“Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom And her inhabitants like Gomorrah. (Jeremiah 23:14 NASB)

Page two.

Here, God equates these evildoers to the prophets of Jerusalem. This is speaking of leadership; let that sink in for a moment.

We also have a directive from God to not be fearful.

Deuteronomy 31:6 NASB “Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”

When I get to Revelation 21, I get the sense that all this pain is about to end, but, like I said, for those who follow Christ, it has.

Revelation 21:1-6 NASB Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. (2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, (4) and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” (5) And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” (6) Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

As I move slowly through the words I see in Revelation 21:1-6, I see the long-awaited hope coming to pass. However, I keep forgetting that I am one of those who is embedded in Christ and therefore will have already received my kingdom reward. That means that the crowd standing around, perpetuating abominable sins, while living during the millennial reign, will have NO impact on me.

If you think they do, then you too have forgotten that the millennial reign will be ruled by righteous judges who react as swift as lightning. Sure, the mortals will continue to die, but aging will be something like we read about in Genesis, where 900 years was not unusual.

(Kingdom rewards can easily equate to the feared Bema Seat. It is only feared because of lousy teaching, from lousy teachers, who are trying to control a people that is NOT theirs to control. We belong to Christ and it is the Holy Spirit of God that leads us and teaches us all things and shows us things to come.)

So, have we passed from the millennial reign and into the eternal heaven, that is free from sin?

Again, yes and no. No, because there is one more thing that has to happen, and that is the great white throne judgment. This is the same throne we see in Matthew 24. I know that sends many of you off the edge, as you want everyone passing before this “great white throne” to die a fiery death. Sorry, but that does NOT happen.

Guess what, I do not find the Great white throne in Revelation 21 or 22, so I have to go back to Revelation 20 to find it, but I am going to go back to Revelation 19 to understand what is going on here.

Revelation 19:1-5 is a grand announcement, and verse two may encapsulate what is being said.

BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” (Revelation 19:2 NASB)

In short, the people who are shoving this vaccine in our arms are the harlot.

The next announcement is that the marriage of the Lamb has come.

“Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. “Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Then he *said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'” And he *said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he *said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
(Revelation 19:6-10 NASB)

Page three.

Since the church – the bride has already been in heaven, with Jesus, for seven years, apparently, we have to wait until this moment in time. And then the most unusual things happen.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:11-13 NASB)

You show up to your wedding and the groom is covered in blood! He is actively at war and the armies of heaven follow Him.

And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. (Revelation 19:14 NASB)

It only takes a minimum amount of research to figure that this is the church following Him. Hey, I did not sign up for this! Oh yeah, I keep forgetting that I am immortal at this point and cannot be defeated. Besides, Jesus does all the fighting, even though I have a sinister desire to bring some justice to earth.

Note the analogy, a wine press.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:15-16 NASB)

If He is treading out people, in a winepress, then what is coming out of the press?

Yep, blood, as deep as the horse’s bridle.

Now it gets gross.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him, the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.(Revelation 19:17-21 NASB)

I thought we were being invited to the marriage supper of the lamb. I must admit I am a bit confused. It matters not as I am now, and forever, permanently with Him; and, I am on the winning side of the battle. But still, the imagery throws me for a loop.

How many people get killed in this battle?

The antichrist and the false prophet are thrown alive into the lake of fire.

The rest, all those who have come for war, are killed. What, that is NOT what I have been taught. Yeah, more of that lousy teaching encroaching on our sanity.

Page four.

“so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men, and slaves, and small and great.” And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.”

Are you telling me, that if they did not assemble for the war they are spared?

Yes, now you are catching on; and the merciful God allows these people entrance into the millennial reign. These non-combatants are not constantly forced to submit to a daily set of religious rules. They are, however, forced to come to Jerusalem once every year and participate in the week-long feast of booths. During this time they must be compliant and bow before God or lose their rainwater for a year. A second offense they immediately turn to dust. Look at it this way, during the days of grace you could turn your back on God and ignore Him, not anymore.

How many people are thrown into the lake of fire?

The answer is right there before you, but, because of, yes you got it, lousy teachers, we think everyone gets tossed and that is not the case, as yet. So far there are only two, and we have covered this already.

Then where are all the dead, and it seems that there are many?

Lying quietly in the ground, another subject we already covered.

Think about this, the earth is filled with corpses, and innumerable plastics that take around 10 thousand years to break down, not to mention the toxic waste we have created and left behind. God has a plan for all that, and it is to burn it all up. When this happens, and the best I can do is to apply some form of broken logic as to when best to do this, would be right after the “great white throne judgment, somehow, someway, this earth will burn. Not to worry as there will be a new one made immediately thereafter.

Why burn the earth up right after the Great White Throne?

Because after the Great White Throne judgment there will be no one left but immortals. There are always people who display their twisted, un-biblical thinking because they see these people as gaining access without Jesus. If we consider Matthew’s account we see the gentle shepherd separating the crowd of dead people into two groups, one is called the sheep and the other, the goats. The sheep are given entrance into the kingdom, while the goats are told:

“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” (Matthew 25:41-46 NASB)

Do you really believe that people, and we will call them sheep for this example, are merely walking into the kingdom by their own selection; who do you think is sitting upon that throne, the Apostle John?

It is Jesus; and, you seem to forget that the trees of life are lining the banks of the river and that the leaves of those trees are for the healing of the nations.

in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2 NASB)

What do you think, especially in the millennial reign, healing looks like?

It looks a lot like salvation.

Page five.

Think about this, God is not the least concerned with time or laws of gravity and such; Jesus walked through a locked door for crying out loud; and, He is not concerned about your lack of faith and trust in His decision to bring others into the kingdom as sons and daughters.

Chapter twenty of the Revelation shows the dragon captured and put out of harm's way for a thousand years.

You might ask, what does that have to do with Revelation 22. The answer is, there is no one here on earth to promote sin, such as the dragon/Satan.

Don’t you realize that the evil we see in these people are things that they have brought with them in their heads and hearts; and yet, they are still allowed to live outside the New Jerusalem during the millennial reign?

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a lie.” (Revelation 22:14-15 KJV)

So when we get to the great white throne, where are all these dead people coming from?

Revelation 20:5-6 NASB The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. (6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Well, we just saw those who came to fight with Jesus killed. Others, outside of martyrdom, have died during the time of wrath (the seven-year period), and then there is everyone that died outside of a relationship with Jesus prior to the catching away of the church. Look, if you were in a relationship with Jesus, and you died, you got caught up, so don’t sweat it.

But I don’t know precisely how to explain everyone prior to the cross of Christ. This is where I throw them into the merciful hands of God, and, I have something to validate that idea.

Matthew 25: 31-46 speaks of a final judgment, that some like to call the sheep and goat judgment. It is the same judgment as the great white throne judgment we see in the Revelation. If you balking at that idea, then you need to follow a logical path. If we start with the premise that Jesus is God, then He is the one seated on both thrones. In the Revelation, He comes as an angry God, but in Matthew’s account, He is a gentle shepherd, (If you have been watching The Chosen on YouTube, then you will understand this better.)

Posted in armies, bible study, Deception, dragon, End times, false prophet, false teaching, Freedom from sin, Harlot, Jerusalem, Mercy, Our being caught up, Peace, Rule the nations, sin, the nations, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

And a mouth was given to him. Revelation 13:5-10.

Posted on 09/17/2021 by remso

Without perspective, the world looks flat; well, it does.

Fortunately, we, through the scriptures, have a perspective that allows us to see narrow and broad views. We have also had adventurous explorers and astronauts who proved that the earth was NOT flat. Over the course of time, humanity has managed to launch crewed space vehicles, and those crews were able to look back at the ball-shaped world we live on, take pictures of it as it rotated, adding to the evidence that the earth is round. It was their perspective, or point of view, that allowed them to do that.

So, as we try to understand the Revelation, especially chapter 13:3-6, we must keep theThe land alotted to Abraham context andperspective in our thinking. I have mentioned, several times, through the last few posts, that the central focus of the Revelation (and hence, the perspective,) is the Middle East and the Mediterranean Ocean.

In God’s perspective, the entire mystery, plan of redemption, and the millennial reign is centered around the land He promised Abraham. Perhaps it is about time we remembered, God has not and will never back away from that promise; and, He plans to set the New Jerusalem in that same area, which, by the way, is 1500 miles square; for you who use the metric system that is approximately 3885 kilometers squared.

At this point in time we have made it to Revelation 13:5-8. I will be surprised it gets beyond verse 8.

So what has been happening up to this point in chapter 13?

Then I (John, in this extremely vivid vision,)

stood on the sand of the sea (Both the sand and the sea are representative of the hordes of people that are descendants of Abraham, both from Ishmael and Isaac,)

and I saw a Beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, ten diadems on his horns, and blasphemous titles on his heads. The Beast I saw resembled a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth like a lion’s (Pay attention here, as the beast is first the description of empires or kingdoms, and then, like a butterfly morphs into a man.)

To him the dragon gave his own power and his own throne and great authority (The dragon is Satan. Many, it would seem, have been given power and authority to perform atrocities.)

One of his heads looked as if it had been slain and killed, but the deadly wound was healed (There is NO man with multiple heads, but there are kingdoms. Try thinking in terms of a Caliphate and this might make more sense to you, as the Ottoman Caliphate, which was effectively killed in 1924 and yet resurrected in 1979 under the guise of the Islamic revolution fits this description well,)

and the whole earth went after him in wonder (If we attribute this description to Allah – a demonic entity which no one has seen, then this too makes more sense,)

worshiping the dragon for having given authority to the Beast, and worshiping the Beast with the cry, “Who is like the Beast? Who can fight with him?” (Since the so-called overthrow of Afghanistan, the Islamic world is crying out a similar message, who can fight against the Taliban, but the underlying motive for the Taliban is a strict reading and understanding of the Quran.)

(Revelation 13:1-4 Moffatt NT) [Italics are mine.]

Page one.

The information above is brief, and, it is information that I have covered in detail in my previous posts. (Read Daniel chapters 2:17-45; Chapter 7; 8:22-25; 9:26,27; 11:28-45; Chapter12)

We know who the first three of these beast/kings are: Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire, the Medo-Persian empire under the rule of Darius, and the Grecian empire under Alexander:s dominance. There is no immense gap in time as though we are awaiting the Roman empire to come along, as many would imply, for upon Alexander’s death four of his generals contended for power. Two victorious Grecian generals emerged, Seleucid in the North and Ptolemy in the South. It is those two empires and their integration with the Assyrian nations that still haunt us today.

Daniel expressly asks about the fourth beast. Daniel 7:19-23, and this is the answer he received.

“Then he said to me, “This fourth beast is the fourth world power that will rule the earth. It will be different from all the others. It will devour the whole world, trampling and crushing everything in its path.” (Daniel 7:23 NLT)

Is it possible that we are talking about the Roman empire?

Many Bible teachers would love to tell you that we are looking for the return of the Roman Empire as the beast that rises again, however, the bible itself tells us, in a variety of locations and ways, that it is NOT the Roman Empire. Read the description and try to tell me, that Roman empire is different from any other empire, as they have all been strong, devoured, and crushed their victims.

What if it is the Ottoman Caliphate, as I have pointed out, that took the provebial shot to the head, and, therefore, stood the greatest chance to comeback to life?

You should know that while the Ottoman empire is gone, many followers of Islam are pushing hard for the return to the rule of a Caliphate, and we may have seen the resurrection with the Islamic revolution of 1979.

What makes this empire different?

It is religiously driven. If you were paying attention one of the things the Taliban did after gaining control of Afghanistan, was to round up all the Christians and kill them. The Taliban leadership projected this slaughter to be complete by Friday, Sept 10, 2021. As a side note, they also went to the music academy in Kabul and destroyed all the musical instruments because the Quran does not allow for musical instruments either. We have never seen more vicious people that were religiously driven, and that makes them different.

How did I start this post?

By talking about having a perspective that is focused on the Middle East.

Is it possible that what we have seen happen in the Middle East can happen in America?

Absolutely, and because our government has masked and covered up what is going on, we have progressively been inundated with governmental decision-makers that hold to Sharia law. Many citizens of America refuse to see this. Here is a couple websites to enlighten you to the subtle changes happening to our governing bodies.

Summary of H.Res. 576: Recognizing Islam as “one of the great religions of the world.”. https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/117/hres576/summary

I am told that Islam is an ideology and not a religion, but it does not matter.

Another website points out the Muslims elected in 2020.
https://deplorablekel.com/category/islam-in-the-u-s/muslim-candidates-2020/

The idea behind showing you this information is NOT to promote hatred, but you need to know that the Quran demands Jihad against those who do not follow Islam. The triggers for these attacks is often associated with hate messages from an Imam at a local Mosque.

Page two.

How long before this all turns against the citizens of this country, like it has in Britain?

The point here is, we are in the last days and America will fall; you have been watching it happen.

Why tell you any of this?

Because scripture starts off talking about a beast with four heads, which represents kingdoms, and then redirects our attention to a singular entity, and refers to that entity as him. As if you needed more puzzle pieces, the four-headed oddity and the man is both referred to as the beast.

Back to the verse at hand where we find a clue that might answer the question as to who or what we are looking at, and how we might expect this particular beast to act.

Revelation 13:5-6 NASB There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him. (6) And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

If I am looking at one of the heads of this four-headed beast, then according to Revelation 13:5, there has to be a spokesperson, “a mouth” that is assigned to speak on behalf of the beast.

Common sense tells you that this mouth should be a politically correct diplomat, because that is what kingdoms who want to survive in the global marketplace, do. But NOT this person and NOT this empire. (You may have noticed that I am trying to be socially correct and NOT refer to this “mouth” as a man, because several women have held positions as diplomats, like Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina. Try as I may, I am wasting my time because the Muslims will never accept a woman in leadership, nor will they accept an infidel.)

What if the mouth is NOT the spokesperson of an Islamic nation? 

Then this “mouth,” who you would think would be in opposition to a leadership mired in money lust, strangely speaks in admiration of the “kingdom.” The dynamics surrounding the antichrist – the mouthpiece then change, and none of this makes much sense.

Could I focus on a broader picture, like the Assyrians – an entity that is difficult to define and yet contains subsets of most Islamic groups?

This too opens the door to an Islamic spokesperson. We heard our, former American president, Barack Obama, on many occasions, speak longingly of the Islamic religion. Keep this in mind, Revelation 13:5 tells us he speaks arrogant words and blasphemies.

A collection of interesting words.

Arrogant is the Greek word megas and means great, numerous, large in size, and too much. It is becoming increasingly apparent that this guy talks too much.

Blasphemies – it seems that few truly knows what this means, as many Pastors will lead you to believe that your sins – a blasphemy of God, would prevent you from entering heaven.

An excellent definition came one day as Jesus cast the demons out of a possessed child, only to have the Pharisees and scribes accuse Him of casting out demons by the power of Satan (Beelzebub.) Jesus, responded angrily to them because they had crossed the line by attributing the things and power of God to Satan. Since there are NO other gods, then attributing the things of God and the power of God, to Allah – a god of Satan’s creation, should be a blaphemy, don’t you think?

Blasphemy is the Greek word blasphēmia and means to vilify or slander.

To vilify is to attempt to defame someone, while slander adds to the act of vilifying by attempting to injure by maliciously uttering a false report respecting another person. The two words are so similar.

Page three.

This “mouth” or spokesperson is attempting to defame and injure God, Jesus, and anyone who follows Him, by uttering a false report. Right now, in America, we are coming to the point of vilifying conservatives and Christian conservatives by saying that we are cause of Covid 19 spreading when in reality it is the globalist agenda and those who pursue that agenda, that have spread this lousy flu, so that they can shove their “vaccine” into you.

Even though this mouth only goes on for 42 months so many horrendous things will be happening, as none of this begins, in earnest, until the church is removed from the earth.

And watch what the next verse brings.

Revelation 13:7 NASB It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.

This spokesperson is now making war with the saints, just as the Taliban made war with their bullets and short swords against the saints in Afghanistan and overcame them,.

These saints are some of the martyred that John saw in heaven. When the wrath of God begins, anyone who dies for following after Jesus becomes one of the martyred saints.

How is it possible that this spokesperson gains “authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation”?

Because he is part of the globalists plan for world domination, at least for 42 months, then, with the cooperation of Muslim nations warfare will erupt against anyone who is not a Muslim; and, there are Muslims in every nation.

Revelation 13:8 NASB All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

If I can picture a Muslim antichrist, then I can understand better why “all” will worship him. It is definitely NOT all, but a vast number.

Worship is the Greek word proskyneō. We have seen this before in a previous post. It means to do reverence or homage by kissing the hand, to do reverence or homage by prostration, to pay divine homage.

If I go back to Revelation 13:4, we see “the whole earth” worshiping the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and hence they gave reverence and allegiance to the beast. God’s commandment about worshiping Him only can be seen in Deuteronomy 6:13,14. This is the passage from which Jesus constructed His response to Satan. So the “world’s ” worship of the beast must be especially annoying to God.

“You shall fear only the LORD your God; and you shall worship Him and swear by His name. “You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you,”  (Deuteronomy 6:13-14 NASB)

Notice how Revelation 13:8 tells us that the only ones worshiping the antichrist, are those whose names ARE NOT written in the Lamb’s book of life. Their names being written happened before the foundation of the world, and it is only God’s projection of a future event, your coming to Him, that would prompt Him to write your name down.

It is uncomfortable writing someting like this, as I am aware that I am projecting my humanity into the equation, and God does not have to respond to our frailties, although I have seen the evidence that He does.

Page four.

  • “Everyone whose name is written in the Lamb’s book of life,”

Even during the time of wrath, people are sealed, not as the 144,000 who are protected from the locusts with the scorpion like tails, and though sealed by the Holy Spirit of God they are still subject to death and the pains of the time period.

Honestly, I am not sure I grasp this, but it is clear that we are dealing with the time of wrath.

Many would tell you that only sinners go through the time of wrath, but it is becoming clear that this is not the case.

In the paragraphs below I talk about the ten virgins.

VIRGINS, how many implications can a person read into this word, and yet half of the number invited missed the call to come to the wedding.

There is a correlation between this event and call for the church home to be with Jesus.

  • If their names ARE written in the Lamb’s book of Life, why then did they not go up in the rapture?

Even after the rapture, people still come into relationship with Jesus Christ, and it could be that this is a huge clue. Unfortunately, even this logic fails because God knew what they would do and therefore wrote their names in the book before the earth was made. So, I am still stuck with the question.

Consider the ten virgins of Matthew 25. 

All were virgins, and because of that one might think they all had their names in the Lamb’s book of Life.

They all got the same invitation, so none were judged for anything; and yet, 50% of them did not make it in.

What did those 50% do differently?

We assume they all had the same opportunity to check their lamps. But then, seeing as they did not know the exact time or the hour when the bridegroom would call them to the wedding, perhaps it was one of those waiting until the last minute things. 

We assume they all had the knowledge and insight to trim their wicks, but to the 50% it was not that important. 

We assume they have oil, and if not had plenty of time to obtain more; but 50% of them did nothing to prepare.

When we read the story of the ten virgins, do we see any condemnation from the Father?

The answer is NO, but we assume there is, as the alternative to going into the wedding is to endure what you will be exposed to on the outside; in this case it is the wrath of God. I must think on this.

Why else would God have this story brought to our attention?

Maybe there is more to the story than we thought.

Maybe their names were written in the book of life knowing that they would go through something that was not meant for God’s children. How is that even possible, and yet is seems that many will go through the wrath.

Maybe God is more merciful than we have been led to believe.

Where then does this presumed condemnation come from?

From the reader. We impose all varieties of guilt and foolishness to the five who did not make into the wedding.

Have you ever asked, why didn’t they merely follow those who had light?

I would have.

Page five.

Revelation 13:9 NASB If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

What a strange statement. We all have ears, but assuredly, we do not all hear.

The phrase “an ear’ is the Greek word ous and means the obvious, but there is a catch as it can also apply to mental perception.

If you are not hearing from God or His Word, then you either have a veil over your eyes from the enemy, which in many cases has to do with some activity of your choosing that affronts God; or, you merely choose not to hear.

Here in California, at the time of this writing, we have one more day to vote to remove our Governor from office and put someone else in his place. A person close to the family is simply going to let the vote just slide by and, therefore, either eliminate the necessity of making an informed decision, or they are declining just so that they can throw their left leaning ideals in our faces. To do nothing, much like the agnostic, is making a choice for the opposition; this person has ears, but they refuse to face facts and consequences. (By the way, the majority voted to keep the man, who for a time, locked us out of our churches. The saddest part of this, is that the majority, giving into the propaganda, believed that the only one capable of displacing the Governor was going to kill us by taking away a mask mandate. He was not taking away your lousy mask, he was merely giving you the choice to wear one, and I believe we should all have a choice.)

Revelation 13:10 CJB “If anyone is meant for captivity, into captivity he goes! If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he is to be killed!” This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust!

Focus on the context and don’t get lost in the words, as we are dealing with the time of wrath. So when something like this gets said, the words apply to events within the time period known as God’s wrath (or the tribulation, for those who will not read their bibles.)

Could the possibility of being killed or captured apply to things outside of the “tribulation”?

Yes, but because humanity will continue to do depraved things to other people; this happens because the others are of a different religion, practice a religion, have a different skin color, or whatever suits the need for the day. What we see, on a daily basis, is groups like Boko Haran, or the Taliban (ISIS), killing Christians as they go to church,  meet in church, or identify as a Christian.

  • “If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he is to be killed.”

What this says to me is that though many may think they can fight back, they will be killed in the manner they chose, most often by return fire. The Holy Spirit is giving you a heads up, though you may take out many of those you deem the enemy, you will die or go into captivity.

Take note: captivity is certainly going to happen during this time period. I wonder who will take the Christians captive? It is beginning to be quite obvious that the government will be a major player in taking us captive; it is happening already in Australia.

I used the Complete Jewish Bible for my translation of this verse. I appreciate how the verse ends; “This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust!”

Who are God’s holy people?

The Jews.

I can, by extension, apply these words to those who come to Jesus during the time of wrath as well, as they would be deemed to be grafted into the vine. No doubt there are some who upon reading this who will say, then why didn’t God just rapture them up to heaven and bypass the horrors down here. Because, this is all happening after the catching away of the church, and the time of grace is up. It was almost as though we had a free ride for a while, now, you get to prove your love and affection for God with your life.

So God’s admonition is, “This is when God’s holy people must persevere and trust!”

Persevere, in it’s simplest form, is to hold on.

Confidence is a reliance or resting the mind on the integrity of the Father.

I wrtite these things because I do not want you to have to go through the time of wrath. If you are a follower of Christ and actively waiting for His return for His bride, then you will escape the wrath. If not, then admit that you are a sinner and that you need His love and mercy for your life. Honestly give your life to Jesus, and you will be a Son of the Father.

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And, I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain. Revelation 13:3,4.

Posted on 09/07/2021 by remso

Recently, while talking to the son-in-law, he asks me, how do the events going on around us tie into the church’s being caught up and the antichrist entering upon the scene. He has his own ideas, but he does NOT read a Bible, he relies solely on internet teachings. (To think that you can listen to these people without being discerning is a trap of the enemy, Satan. You have to know your Bible, or will be lead into false teachings that will bind you to guilt and prevent you from enjoying the freedom in the Holy Spirit, nor will you understand things like the Revelation.)

I responded by telling him that my own journey to understand the Bible came out of a desire to undo lies and false teachings that I learned in church. Surprisingly, the word lies evoked a negative reaction, as though the church would never try to manipulate your emotions and actions. Religion seems to have one purpose as it tries to control you; they do this because they do not trust the Holy Spirit’s ability to lead and guide you.

Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit will come after He goes away.

“But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; (John 16:7-8 NASB)

Jesus did go away.

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. (Acts 1:8-9 NASB)

And finally, even if I don’t have an internet pastor in Indiana, I can read my bible knowing that He will guide me and teach me.

“But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (John 16:13 NASB)

So, the short answer, is yes, everything we are experiencing and see is leading to the great reset. This reset includes the purposeful collapse of economies, the decline of nations (America), and the collapse of others, such as Afghanistan; and, even though they deny it and cannot see it, the answer includes God’s wrath.

Have you noticed that China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the regular players are buying into the Middle Eastern poker match?

People groups that we thought would never be able to play on a global battlefield, have had $85 billion dollars in arms and equipment handed to them.

Did you notice how quickly China and Russia dove into the bloody ruins to place bids on the armaments?

The ten nations that are going to come against Israel are already aligned, and God, tells us that He will put a hook in the nose of Gog, draw him into battle against Israel, and he will die there. Oh, don’t get me wrong, Israel will take a frightful beating in the process, but the antichrist – one who comes out of the beast from the sea, will bring about some form of peace; and, if you are paying attention, then you know that Israel is not named among those the antichrist makes this peace with.  

It’s a lot to take in, I know, but if I can understand it then you can too.

                                                                                        Page one.

If you can understand that –

  • Both the serpent and the dragon is Satan;

    Genesis 3 Satan is referred to as the serpent.

    In Isaiah 26:21 God speaks of coming out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth. With this statement, we have the context for Isaiah 27 where God refers to Satan as Leviathan and the serpent that lives in the sea. Revelation 12 tells us that the angels clashed with the dragon and threw him down to earth. Satan is the dragon.

  • That the sand of the seashore represents not only the nations, but more specifically the Middle Eastern nations – the Muslim nations coming against Israel in the last days;

    God was talking to Abraham in Genesis 22:17 when He said, “ I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore.” That seed came through both Isaac and Ishamel.

  • That the beast coming up out of the sea represents kingdoms, empires, and nations; and that these nations, with the exception of the fourth empire and its offshoots, have been shown to us in Daniel’s prophecies. Daniel 7:17; 2:31-33

  • The ten horns and seven heads represents, as Dr. J. Vernon McGee tells us, “…a later development of the fourth empire, as seen in the ten toes, and not a separate kingdom. Note: the horns do not grow out of a dead beast, therefore, we are looking at a kingdom that is alive today,

    “and the meaning of the ten horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance than its associates.” (Daniel 7:20 NASB)

    “Thus he said: ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it. ‘As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise; and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.

    (Daniel 7:23-24 NASB)

    We know historically that the third beast was Alexander the Great; who then was the fourth?

The fourth empire, in opposition to repeated teachings, was the Seleucid and Ptolemaic empires. Sure, they had strength, but the strength was halved.

In what way did they end up becoming different since they both came out of the Grecian empire?

They both became assimilated into the Islamic/Assyrian empires that eventually surrounded them and were both ingested into the Assyrian ways and ideology.

then you can count yourselves among those that Daniel was speaking of when he said,

“And the teachers and those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness (to uprightness and right standing with God) [shall give forth light] like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12:3 AMP

We covered Revelation 13:1, so let’s fly through two or more.

Revelation 13:2 Moffatt NT (2) “The Beast I saw resembled a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth like a lion’s. To him the dragon gave his own power and his own throne and great authority.”

  1. We are not making this up, nor are we going to try to assign this imagery to some Chinese creation. It is what it is, imagery that represents empires or kingdoms. With imagery like this, “The Beast I saw resembled a leopard, his feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth like a lion’s,” it is easy to see how destructive this thing has been and will be.

  2. Pay attention to the words here. “To him the dragon gave his own power and his own throne and great authority.”

    Immediately the empire idea has settled upon one person. I can understand this as, NO empire, with the exception of perhaps the Roman empire has operated with anything other than a dictatorial head, the Romans had a senate, for all the good it did them.

Page two.

  1. How many people in the world have we seen where the dragon gave them the power to commit their atrocities?

    The numbers could be quite high as God has used men to move His plan forward, and Satan, has readily empowered them. Nebuchadnezzar, King Ahab, Haman, Hitler, Pol pot of Cambodia, you should be getting the point.

    Consider the recent news about Afghanistan. For certain, most of us are appalled, but is there anything about what happened that makes sense? NO, and that is because Satan is empowering the decision-makers across the globe and especially here in America.

Keeping in mind that our first understanding of the beast is that it represents kingdoms, empires, or Caliphates.

I want you to see what many believe to be the finest interpretation put into the hands of man, the KJV.

Revelation 13:3 KJV “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.”

A beast with seven heads.

Where and how do you come up with the idea, that in the last days, almost at a time that for the church, won’t make a bit of difference, someone will put a bullet into the head of this new world leader that kills him, just so that he can be raised up to life again?

You don’t, as one the empires, possibly a Caliphate, sustains what, to the world seems like a deathly wound.

How do you kill an empire or kingdom?

Slowly, in most cases. This was the case for the Ottoman Empire, an Islamic Empire, but its end came in 1924 and the entire world breathed a sigh of relief because they all thought this global threat was done with (dead.) So much for that dream, as it finally, after many attempts to revive it, came back to life in 1979 with the Islamic revolution in Iran.

Revelation 13:3-4 NASB … And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; (4) they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

  • And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast.

    The whole earth?

Is that the same thing as Governor Newsom of California, saying that 80% of the state had been vaccinated with the Covid 19 garbage? Not a chance, it’s more like 20% and the Governor is trying to make himself look good.

But didn’t we talk about seeing the world in biblical terms?

We did, and all God is concerned about is the region He said He would give to Abraham. Sadly, for the Mid-East, that is most of it, or as the passage says, the whole earth, as far as the Muslims are concerned.

Revelation 13:3b AMP … and the whole earth went after the beast in amazement and admiration.

Some, who display wisdom, will tell you that the Muslims will NOT follow after anyone who is NOT a Muslim. That means they will not follow after Emmanuel Macron of France, or Angela Merkel of Germany, and now, after Afghanistan, there should be NO ONE following after President Joe Biden of America.

Page three.

But, what about former American President Barack Obama?

They might follow after him because he has openly stated that he loved those blaring wake up calls to Islamic prayer time, and he is still pushing his weight around Washington DC.

Does the world go after Obama in amazement and admiration?

Not yet, but they might when he jumps in the middle of a ghastly fight in Israel and calls for peace, and gets it.

  • “they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast.”

    Wait a minute. The majority of the world has no grasp that there is a dragon/serpent/Satan, nor that could or would give his power or authority to the beast. Add, that this same world has no grasp on the idea of there being a beast/empire issue. What they do have is Allah.

    Have you ever given any thought to the idea that Allah is just another name for Satan?

    Consider that one day, the false prophet will set up an image of the beast.

    Since NO ONE has seen Allah or Satan, how would that work out?

Back to a dose of reality for a moment.

  • “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him”

    We are getting ahead of the horse here when we focus on Barack Obama as this is a ruling/warring body, not so unlike the Taliban, or the Iranians.

    Since the common bond in the Middle East is Islam, then we should be looking for anything that comes close to the Caliphate idea, something that unifies them toward a goal, such as destroying Israel. Since the Taliban recently had a victory handed to them, the Middle Eastern world is looking at this band of bullies as unbeatable.

Context!!!!?

What does verse four tell us?

they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”
(Revelation 13:4 NASB)

Satan gives his authority to the beast.

Authority, what kind of authority does Satan have?

Satan has, for the moment dominion over the earth, thanks to Adam; and, he has deception, that is it. If you have been paying attention, we have a power-mad group of people trying to exert authority over the entire earth.

The beast?

We know that the beast is representative of a kingdom, although those are rare these days, but we also learned that the beast empire produces a man, the antichrist, who is also known as a beast, and not because of physical prowess.

So when the dragon/Satan gives the beast his authority we could be talking about an empire that gains some Satanic power (although this the idea is only marginally logical,) or we are talking about one person who speaks as though he has control over this group of people and somewhat global control as well.

Page four.

It seems that we have to make a distinction between the two as we try to make people understand the Revelation. There is only one good way to explain the situation and that is through the usage of context.

Verse 4 also says they worship the beast. This conversation could still go two ways. Try to imagine a worship of the country of Iran.

It doesn’t seem to fit the narrative, does it?

If this is the embodiment of a god, say, Allah, in a man, then worshiping the beast makes all the sense in the world. And though, as of this date 09/06/21 I have no good clues as to who this is, we do know he is coming and is most likely ready, waiting in the wings.

John Gill’s commentary states that they are “subject to him as their temporal lord, to whom they give homage; obedience, and tribute, but in a religious way.

The word worshiped – Strong’s Greek concordance G4352 proskuneō, tells us that it means to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand.

You may not love the Pope, but most people, given the chance to pay their respects, would kiss his hand in homage.

I will end the Bible study here, but you need to know that there is a good chance that we, the church,, will be raptured out of here at any moment. I wanted you to understand and know Jesus through the Revelation; and, if you do not know Him, that you would come to know Him. His thoughts toward you are good and life with Him is peace. Believe that He is, and come to Him.

For God loved the world so dearly that he gave up his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life, instead of perishing. (John 3:16 Moffatt NT)

This belief will work even if the rapture has come, the only problem is that you chose to push the boundaries of God’s grace and will now have to prove your commitment to God through martyrdom. If you can remember back to the Taliban overrunning all of Afghanistan, setting aside how complicit America was in that happening, those “zealots” found and killed all the Christians in that country within a few short weeks of their take over.

You see, it’s not just God wanting to see your heart, He already sees that. You still have the drive of crazies trying to reduce the population, while ignoring the fact that God’s wrath is being poured upon all the earth because of their unrepentant sins.

Come to Him. Run to Him, and give Him your life.

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Posted in Antichrist, Assyrians, bible study, End times, Ezekiel 38, gentiles, God's character, invasion, Islam, Israel, judgment, Magog, New World Order, Our being caught up, Prophetic, rapture, Revelation, ten horns and seven heads, the nations, they did not love their life, Thoughts, wrath. | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. Revelation 13:1.

Posted on 09/02/2021 by remso

Here we are in the thirteenth chapter of the Revelation and thus far we have seen a chronological chain of events, many of which bring about one thing, death. But we have also learned of background information, and historical information which all mesh with the judgments and explain, to some degree, what the imagery means.

I frequently have to refresh my memory because of the similarities we see, and far too much incorrect information. So here is a recap.

  • Chapters 6, 7, and 8:1-5 announce the seal judgments. The 7th event, whether it be a seal judgment, a trumpet judgment, or a bowl judgment, all work the same way.

    We have the entrance of the antichrist. Keyword: death.

  • Chapter 8:6 through 11:15 Bring forth the trumpet judgments.

    A key to understanding or holding what happens here, in your head, is to remember one-third. One-third of the earth was burned; the sea is destroyed along with its sea life; freshwater is polluted and undrinkable; literal darkness because one-third of the sun’s light is obliterated as well as the moon.

    There is a bizarre twist as Revelation 9:1, almost as though it just happened, tells us a star fell to earth and brings great havoc. This event happened, quite probably, before Adam; and yet, Revelation 9:2 defines locust-like creatures, whose tail is like a scorpion, stinging all except for those 144,000 Jewish young men, who God has sealed.

    The sixth angel, within the trumpet judgments, tells us that four, deadly angels, who have been chained up to this point, are released. Considering that one angel killed all the firstborn, that were NOT protected by the blood of the lamb, in Egypt, that night. What could four angels do? Do they do the damage? No, they release a 200 million strong, demonic cavalry. These nightmarish creatures kill one-third of the remaining population by the smoke, brimstone, fire, and plagues that come out of their mouths.

    Revelation 9:21 defines why all these judgments are coming upon the world.

    • “they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.”

      Murders, that seems easy enough to understand and includes the murders committed through the usage of Covid 19 jabs.

      Sorceries – Wow, you could take this anywhere, although, left alone, the mind takes you to Satanism, witchcraft, and other backwood spiritualism. However, pharmakeia, the Greek origin of the word sorceries means medication, “pharmacy.” Apply this to the Covid 19 and you should be able to associate the murder aspect.

  • Chapter ten speaks of an undefined, little book and a command to John saying, “You must prophesy again concerning many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.”

  • Revelation 11:15 brings on the seventh trumpet. However, chapter eleven stands out because it tells us that John is told to measure the temple but to exclude the outer court as that is given over to the gentiles for forty-two months (three and one-half years.)

    Consider that John is an aged man and this was written on Patmos island, about 96 A.D. The temple had been destroyed in 70 A.D. So it should be obvious that God is NOT telling him to measure any temple that stood on the earth at that time. He could be talking about the one that Israel is about to build, or He could be talking about the temple in the new Jerusalem. Most likely God is talking about the one to be rebuilt (yes, that would mean that John has already seen what it looks like.)

    Why do I think it will be the rebuilt one?

    Because I do not see the Gentiles, during the 1000 years, treading disrespectfully upon the court of the gentiles.

    Revelation 11:3 suddenly inserts the two prophets sent from God. These two stand in the streets of Jerusalem for 1260 days, this too is three and one-half years. This information about the two witnesses continues until Revelation 11:14.

Page one.

  • Revelation Chapter 12 opens with “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she *cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”

    This woman has multiple definitions, such as Eve, Mary, and Israel; and then there is the child. One of the strongest images it defines for us is the astrological alignment of stars that guided many throughout the years. The Magi stands out in my mind as they follow the alignment of stars to find the, now two-year-old child, Jesus.

    The child, a male child, has been the target of Satan’s attempts to stop God’s plan since Eve and the garden. Jesus is one of the strongest images, while the nation Israel is the other.

  • Revelation 12 shows us the nation Israel being attacked.

    Only a third survive and escape. Where they go is NOT clear but there is a reference to fleeing to the mountains and Israel has a few. All we are told is that Israel goes into the wilderness for 1260 days. This number has popped up several times now, so it is either the first half or the second. The first half seems to be relatively peaceful, if you can exclude all the death and destruction that is being poured out upon the earth, and that makes me think this occurs with the onslaught from the false prophet, who also operates for 1260 days.

    Those that think it is Petra could be right but you can understand Petra, in Lebanon, as a water-carved canyon, and you are asking God to stash approximately 3 million people in the carved out caves that exist there.

    Again, we have information and history, as we are told that Satan gets thrown to the earth. But we already saw that in Revelation 9. What we get here is very detailed as Satan is now at war with the Saints. Revelation 12 verse 11 tells us

    “they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.”

Page two.

Overcome is the Greek word nikaō and also means to subdue, conquer, and prevail.

That means that, still here on earth, having to prove their allegiance to Christ, they, for the most part, give up their lives for Christ.

Where and how does conquering and subduing come into play?

What does a testimony look like?

I don’t know for sure, but many people, like we have recently witnessed in Afghanistan at the hands of the Taliban, have been pushed to their knees with the instructions to worship Allah or die. And so they choose to die. We, don’t get to see if they displayed remarkable strength or not.

So much for a recap, what does chapter 13 tell us?

Satan has been thrown to earth and is now at war with the Saints.

Typically I use the NASB, but Revelation 13:1 is one of those passages where there is a huge error in translation. I am not in love with the MKJV but look at this.

Revelation 13:1 MKJV And I stood on the sand of the sea, and I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns. And on its horns were ten crowns, and on its heads was the name of blasphemy.

The King James only crowd could revel in victory because their translation got it right. Fortunately, it is easy to understand that God, in the vision, has John standing on the seashore much like a speck among the nations.

Another thing that causes me grief is that I found NO other translation that uses the term dragon. I mention this because, having looked at information to inform myself as to which translations/transliterations would be best, I chose the NASB and use it as my primary Bible. A friend has asked me, on several occasions, which translation to use. I have told him that every translation has issues; yes, even the King James, and I learned this from the late Dr. Chuck Missler. Let me show you a recent bad example that was made clear.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
(2 Thessalonians 2:3 KJV)

Here, Paul is reassuring the church in Thessalonica that the day when God’s wrath shows up, will not come, (and as the KJV puts it,) “except there come a falling away first.” Many of us have learned from Dr. Andy Woods, that the Catholic church, disgusted with people pulling out of the “state” church, and going over to the Protestant church. So, the Catholic church, with the backing of the King, had the Bible rewritten to substantiate their disgust, and possibly manipulate people into returning to the church, along with their tithe money. And thus we got the King James Version. Historically, one of the first bibles printed was the Geneva bible and it reads thus.

Let no man deceiue you by any meanes: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and that that man of sinne be disclosed, euen the sonne of perdition,
(2 Thessalonians 2:3 Geneva)

The Geneva bible got it right, as the Greek word apostasia can also mean a departure, and the context of 2Thessalonians 2 clearly implies a physical departure.

Page three.

The word beast, which is the common understanding, is the Greek word thērion and it means a dangerous animal. This word could represent any number of animals, however, as we will see, it has some distinct characteristics, none of which are found on earthly creatures.

I show you the NASB here so that you can see the error and possibly understand the confusion that such errors cause.

Revelation 13:1 NASB And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. …

Back to the MKJV.

  • “I stood on the sand of the sea,”

    It is John that is standing on the sand of the sea. As Bible scholars, you know and understand that our Biblical narratives are all centered around one place, the land that God promised Abraham, and nothing less.

    The sand, represents the hordes of people deemed the nations, but most specifically the Middle Eastern nations and their oil.

  • “a beast coming up out of the sea,”

    First off, the sea is specific, however, we Gentiles always picture the ocean nearest us. As I said above, this is the Mediterranean. The is also representative of legions of people.

    The final ruling empire comes out of this beast.

    To help you understand that prophecy repeats, and the prophet Daniel spoke of a beast coming out of the sea, and described the animal characteristics of the four heads. John’s audience would have been familiar with this.

    “Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man’s heart was given to it.the beast out of the sea And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.” (Daniel 7:2-7 KJV)

  • “having ten horns and seven heads.”

    This empire exerts its influence for a very long time and has multiple rulers.

    One of the leading “nations” in the Biblical narratives is the Assyrians/Persia.

    When we think of Persia who are we thinking about today?

    Iran.

Page four.

I my lifetime I have seen at least four heads that have ruled that nation. Many years ago, the United States placed the Shah of Iran into power, and the nation operated in a somewhat democratic manner, much like Afghanistan just did. The Shah was eventually run out of town in the late 1970s and the Ayatollah Khomeini was voted into power.

Daniel 2:41,42 tells us of the ten toes, all of which are derivatives of the legs of iron. These ten toes are themselves smaller and weaker empires.

Revelation 13:1, in talking about the crowns on their heads, tells us that they have blasphemous names. Ponder that for a moment. Few of us speak Farsi or some of the other dialects and therefore have no clue that their names have meanings. The only thing that stands out in my mind is the commonality of Islam, and Islam, with its worship of Allah tells people that there is no god besides Allah. Jesus defined blasphemy as attributing the things of God to someone else, namely Satan.

Isaiah 37:23 NASB “Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice and haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel!”

The verse above defines the majority of the world these days.

If the rapture has not happened count yourselves fortunate, because you still have a moment to give your life to Jesus Christ and believe. After the church is gone and you will know it because the ground will rip open as bodies will be reattached to their spirits, as we go up to meet Jesus in the clouds. Only moments after that event, the hell that people have been talking about will begin to be unleashed, without any restraint.

But believe in what?

That Jesus Christ died for your sins, that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day.

He did all this for you and He has been waiting for you. It is because of what He did that lets me know that you are already forgiven, but He wants you to know that understand it, and accept that He did it for you. That is what we believe as followers of Jesus Christ.

Posted in 2 Thessalonians, antichrist, Antichrist, apostasia, bible study, COVID 19, Daniel, dragon, End times, forgiven, horsemen, leopard, lion, and bear, locusts, Protestantism, Revelation, seven headed beast, ten horns and seven heads, the word of their testimony, they did not love their life, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture, wrath. | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman. Revelation 12: 15-17.

Posted on 08/29/2021 by remso

Most recently, we talked about how Satan, who tried to kill the male child, now persecutes the woman who gave birth to the child.

And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. (Revelation 12:13 NASB)

From the first day of the revelation of the mystery, which occurred that day in the garden, he has attempted to kill anything that looked like the male child. Ah, and herein is an aspect of the mystery; your enemy did not know who this male child was.

For us this male child, in the broad view, is the nation of Israel (the male child is also seen as the woman.) This nation began its existence in Egypt with Jacob. By the time the new Pharaoh comes into power, God’s people lived in the finest and greenest area of Egypt, in vast numbers. This piece of information was so alarming that the Egyptians made slaves out of them.

How did that happen?

If you are aware of the plight of God’s people, then you know that they were making babies like there was no tomorrow, so the Pharaoh orders the midwives to kill the Israeli babies; one did not and we got Moses out of that. A narrow view of Revelation 12:13 would have us looking at Jesus as the male child.

Did Satan try to kill Jesus?

He certainly did, but he did not succeed, as Jesus is still alive.

Having tried to kill off any number of males, none of which slowed God down, he turned his perpetual attention to killing off anything that looked like the nation Israel. If you are familiar with the book of Esther,

He was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther, his uncle’s daughter, for she had no father or mother. Now the young lady was beautiful of form and face, and when her father and her mother died, Mordecai took her as his own daughter. Esther 2:7 NASB)

I made a point of telling you her Jewish name, as this is a Jewish story and an example of how one man attempted to kill off the Jews in a holocaust.

You should be well aware that the man who created the havoc was Haman.

Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. (Esther 3:8 NASB)

Wow, if you wanted to provoke a kings’ anger, you could not make a more conclusive list.

Do you think, in the environment that is rapidly developing around the Christ-followers today, that this very thing will not happen to you? Look at this.

“If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed, and I will pay ten thousand talents of silver into the hands of those who carry on the king’s business, to put into the king’s treasuries.” (Esther 3:9 NASB)

Back to the broad spectrum view. We, who are followers of Christ, are also the male child.

Satan is still trying to kill the male child, and this is where we pick up the story.

Revelation 12:15 NASB And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dreamstime.com%2Fphotos-images%2Fchinese-dragon-fountain.html&psig=AOvVaw1PnBmBnntH0VUVqTNRCZx0&ust=1630369659733000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=2ahUKEwjLzNG0vtfyAhXUoK0KHWdXDEkQr4kDegQIARBW

Chinese dragon fountain. Dreamtime.com

Page one.

Poured – is the Greek word ballō and means to vomit.

Water, it seems like a simple, understandable word. It is the Greek word hudōr and means water, as if rainy.

After (the woman Israel) – This is the Greek word opisō and carries the idea of behind, or at one’s back. There is definitely a feel for this remnant of Israel running for their lives.

While you may not look at these words and see a massive torrent, capable of killing off approximately three million people, the verse continues.

  • “so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.”

Satan is trying to kill them all off.

Does Satan gain some advantage or a reprieve from God by killing off millions of people?

The answer is NO. God has a plan and it has always included putting Satan away for a thousand years, and then finally dispatching him to his permanent silencing in an eternal hell.

Revelation 12:16 NASB “But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.”

Whoa, hold up here a minute; the earth helped the woman.

Helped is the Greek word boēthéō. It means to run on hearing a cry, to give assistance.

How do you read a statement like this and not see the earth as having some ability to comprehend and communicate?

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” But Jesus answered, “I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!“

(Luke 19:39-40 NASB)

Here again, I see the earth as having the ability to communicate and comprehend, and the Psalmist conveys the idea that everything can call out to God.

Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy” (Psalms 98:7-8 NASB)

  • “the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.”

Yes, I realize that I am limiting God by thinking this way, but I can only see one logical thing; and that would be the earth splitting open and any water flowing after escaping Israel, going into the crevice.

Mouth is an interesting Greek word that I became acquainted with in Horticulture. It is the Greek word stoma and means the mouth as if a gash in the face. In plants, it is an opening on the bottom of leaves from which the plant exchanges oxygen for carbon dioxide.

Revelation 12:17 NASB So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

When I began this study into Revelation 12 I said, we have come back to our history lesson again.

If I apply that thought to Revelation 12:17 am I talking history or a future event?

The answer is both. History because Satan fell before time began, and has been at battle, in an attempt to kill off anyone who may have become the man child himself.

Page two.

Of course, after Jesus Christ came, and the Father announced that He was the beloved Son in whom He was well pleased, there was no longer a need to kill off man-child possibilities. Don’t get me wrong, Satan is still out to kill you, through one of his demonic cohorts, but the reasons have shifted to, you look like the one I hate – Jesus.

“So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

In this case, the man child is Israel, the nation; and all attempts at destroying Israel have failed. So he goes and, not just bothers, but makes war with the rest of her children. These are either, the followers of Christ or the Jewish community. I lean toward them being followers of Christ.

How do I know that?

Because, for one, they keep the commandments.

Ah, but can any of us keep the commandments?

No, and that is why we needed a savior.

You might think that we Christians are the ones that keep the commandments, but look within the church and then tell me, how many hold tightly to the testimony of Jesus?

My first reaction is to say, not many. Oh sure, we gather there, but it is more of a social gathering and our commonality is a thin moral fiber called God.

I occasionally think that as a blogger, that does Bible studies daily, that I am holding to the testimony of Jesus more than most; however, I know me and know that I have my bad days as well. It is conversations like this that make me think that we need to realize how God thinks is all that matters; that is where a statement like this comes into play. “I have engraved you on the palm of my hand, and I will never forget you.”(Isaiah 49:17 )This passage demonstrates the depth of God’s love for you.

When I read the Revelation there are always two main themes running through my head.

First, this book is a book about Jesus (We are told immediately that it is a revealing of Jesus😉 that seems odd doesn’t it, especially since, in many ways, the gospels revealed Jesus to us. But, for the most part, the gospels revealed Jesus as a gentle shepherd, who draws all to Himself through His actions and message; and, the gospels revealed Jesus as the lamb who was slaughtered and placed upon the cross.

Another thing that I am aware of is that an uncountable number, get their heads clear and hold on to Jesus; this, of course, costs them their physical lives.

Have you ever thought about that?

It is these puny, temporary lives that impede us from seeking out the God who made us.

Why then, wouldn’t we want to clear ourselves and join Him?

I am not talking about suicide, I am talking about changing your focus off worldly desires and on to Jesus. Death has a way of doing just that, as it removes you into the spiritual realm; if you belong to Christ, then you are immediately in His presence at death, while those outside of the family, merely lie quietly, waiting for the final judgment. This final judgment is what you see in Matthew 25, and yes, there is mercy shown to those who acted like sheep. The sheep are defined as those who provided for Jesus by showing mercy to other humans in need. Read the story and you will understand.

Turning your life to Jesus now, before what many call the “tribulation” comes. If you have been living under a rock, then you may not be aware that the Taliban has been given control of Afghanistan once again; and, they are killing Christians and those who assisted the Allied forces. For them, the tribulation has begun, and yet, what we call “the tribulation,” is wrath from God and far worse than what we have been seeing. Turn to Jesus, and give Him your life.

Posted in Abyss, bible study, dragon, End times, God's character, invasion, Israel, judgment, Prophetic, return to the Lord, Revelation, Saints, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture, wrath. | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

He pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. Revelation 12:13-14.

Posted on 08/27/2021 by remso

In my last post I focused entirely on Revelation 12:11 as I asked the question, how and why did “they” overcome? The short answer is, because of the blood of the Lamb. That Lamb is Jesus, and no, He is not eternally pouring out His blood for us – besides, that would be disgusting and feed into the idea that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough; it was.

As we sat at the last of the summer concerts in the park, the singer, who had sounded fine to me, spoke out saying, “let me come clean. Two days ago I did not have a voice, at all.” Well, you would never have known it and he finished the night strong. Why tell you this? Because we can easily put our trust in a human, giving them a chance to pull through for us, and yet, struggle with putting our faith in God, His Word, and the sacrifice of His son.

Allow me to come clean.

I have done just that, struggling at times with my faith. I must tell you though, that any struggle I had believing came to an end around 2008 when I began to purposefully study the gospels with the express purpose of finding out who God is and what is His character.

I believed in God and His Son, but why did I struggle with the frequent moments of doubt. The main question was, is this “hope” that scripture speaks of, for real? In the gospels, I found the Jesus Christ I never knew; and, in Him, I saw the Father.

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
(Hebrews 1:2-3 KJV)

Jesus, for the joy set before Him, voluntarily sacrificed His life, rose from the dead, intentionally poured out His blood as a high priest, and offered up Himself as the final sacrificial lamb for our sins.

Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand, there are pleasures forever. (Psalms 16:9-11 NASB)

He knew that the brutal torture and the pains of hell, would end back in the Father’s arms, and we would be His prize. He rescued all those who would accept His rescue.

He paid the bloody price for our redemption, can you accept that?

For us, it is really that simple.

Finally understanding the nature and character of God, I understood that the earth and the evil would be purged, sort of. I now had a hope that I could cling to; and yet, here we are, not only studying the Revelation but living it out before us, the scariest aspect of this destruction is that it would consume us all disregarding our hope.

Several people I pay attention to have done their homework and told us that God follows, with precision, the feasts that He laid out for the Jewish people, such as Passover. As these feasts have come up, (and no we gentile believers don’t really have a clue, unless you do your homework,) we have been told that these feasts are times within which we should watch for Jesus’ return for His bride. Sadly, I am still here, but I still have hope. A major anchor point that allows us to understand and advocate for prophecy, was Israel – the fig tree, and its rebirth as a nation, which happened in 1948. It is this generation that shall not pass away.

Page one.

On that note, we are still in Revelation chapter twelve, and it seems we are returning to our history lesson.

Revelation 12:12 Moffatt NT (12) Rejoice for this, O heavens and ye that dwell in them! But woe to earth and sea! The devil has descended to you in fierce anger, knowing that his time is short.”

Eugene Peterson put it that way.

  • “So rejoice, O Heavens, and all who live there,”

Who is God talking to?

Assuming that this is a pre-creation scenario, then we are talking about the trinity and the remaining angels.

And another sign was seen in the heavens. And behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads! And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven and cast  them onto the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman being about to bear, so that when she bears he might devour her child. (Revelation 12:3-4 MKJV)

red dragon of revelation

We don’t really know what this looks like, but let’s assume this represents what scripture describes it as.

We know that the stars are angels.

And the fifth angel sounded. And I saw a star fall from the heaven to the earth, and it was given the key of the abyss. (Revelation 9:1 MKJV)

This “star” is a physical or spiritual being, we know this because it is given a key to hell. (Don’t foolishly assume that God would simply hand Satan the keys to hell; Satan deceived Eve to get them, while Adam, stood there doing nothing to stop Satan’s action, and therefore committed treason against God and handed the dominion of earth over to Satan.) Jesus said I beheld Satan fall like lightning to earth. (Luke 10:18). So, if I put together my evidence, then I can build a case proving that it was Satan that fell and he took a third of the angels with him.

Why in the world would they rejoice, because as we have witnessed, simply having Satan thrown to earth has done little more than cause the loss of generations of humans, endless wars, death, and a loss of peace?

The answer to this lies in a word, mystery, and God intentionally let the clues come out that day in the Garden, as He explained to Eve.

And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel.”
(Genesis 3:15 NASB)

Paul told us that the plan to restore all things has been a mystery since the beginning of time.

… according to the revelation of the mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past, (Romans 16:25b NASB)

But it is NOT still a mystery and we can understand it through our relationship with Jesus Christ.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.
(Ephesians 1:7-9 NASB)

  • “But woe to earth and sea! The devil has descended to you in fierce anger, knowing that his time is short.”

Page two.

We understand that Satan was thrown to earth by God, but what we don’t see is the anger. Lacking scripture, all we have is an assumption, and that does not work. But we do have well-defined reasoning for Satan’s anger and scripture gives it to us.

One of those answers comes from the passage itself and Revelation 12:12 tells us that his time is limited. In trying to understand this lack of time, I am well aware that just since Christ’s resurrection Satan has had over two thousand years. I suppose in contrast to eternity 2000 years is just a drop in the bucket.

When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. (Revelation 12:13 NLT)

  • “When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth,”

Assuming that God lives among the stars, and God threw Satan to earth; that is a long, fast fall.

How do you not realize that you have been thrown to earth and that the party is over?

Maybe, it is not that far, or Satan is just that dense. Notice how the passage indicates that once he realized he was thrown down, where God’s plan, the mystery, would take place, he/Satan immediately began pursuing the woman who had given birth to the male child.

  • “he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.”

Does this include Eve?

I ask because Satan immediately takes out both Cain and Able. Every possibility since has been attacked, including Jesus.

The woman is Israel giving birth to the nation. Israel was a nation before it ever became a nation in 1948. So, Satan has been going after God’s people, trying to kill them, since the beginning of time; yes.

But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time. (Revelation 12:14 NLT)

This idea of God carrying His people on His wings was not new.

‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians. You know how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. (Exodus 19:4 NLT)

Revelation 12:14 tells us,

  • “ But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness.”

Dr. J. Vernon McGee states, “Into the wilderness, into her place.” Scripture does not say that the rock-hewn city of Petra will be that place. It could be, but we just simply do not know. This “wilderness” has been variously identified—Petra is not the only place. Some say that it is the wilderness of the peoples of the world; that is, that there will be another worldwide scattering of Israel. Since Christ said, “… flee into the mountains” (Mat_24:16), we believe it to be a literal wilderness, possibly that same one in which Israel spent forty years under Moses.”

A friend asked me about how I do Bible study. I have talked in the past about my disdain for commentaries, and one by Warren Wiersbe, who is renowned for his knowledge and wisdom. In my case, the group leader chose to use the Wiersbe commentary on Romans instead of focusing on the Bible. My feeling. and I get this to some degree from Pastor Tom Hughes of 411 church in San Jacinto, is that I no longer wish to lean upon commentaries. If I can’t figure it out from scripture, then I can resort to commentaries that I feel I can trust.

As you can see above, even Dr. McGee, attempted to direct our thinking to Israel running back into the world.

Page three.

I have a problem with that idea for this reason.

“then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains. “Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. “Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.”
(Matthew 24:16-20 NASB)

When Jesus said these words, He said them to a Jewish audience that would never see this particular event, and the circumstances of what appears to be a catastrophic attack, are centered on Jerusalem. This doesn’t seem like a global event that would drive them back into the nations as we have for several years see a push (Aliyah) to come back to Israel and the Jews know that. The fact that He spoke specifically about Judea should be a tremendous clue.

The prophet Zechariah established the fact that Israel would be the focus of the attack.

“Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:2-3 NASB)

Just to say the focus is on Jerusalem is not enough. There was a time when “Israel” was a divided kingdom. Israel was the northern kingdom and Judea was the southern kingdom. Obviously, they are one nation, Israel, at this point. So the terminology is meant to promote the idea that the entirety of Israel will be under siege, and soon.

How many people in Israel escape?

“One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.” Ezekiel 5:12 NASB

Do the math. Only one-third survives and they do so by fleeing into the mountains.

If you were to say, but there a Jews everywhere and not all them come back to Israel, you would be correct; and this is where our presumptive statements, such as the Jews will flee to Petra, in Lebanon, get us into trouble. I realize that these assumptions have been made because 1.) it appeared to be the most logical place considering that scripture speaks of the dragon pouring out a flood, that God diverts, and Petra makes the most sense to some. But have you ever seen pictures of that place? Yes, it is amazing but it is not as expansive as people make it sound, and there is no plumbing if you catch my drift. And 2.) As of 2019, there were a little over 9 million people living in Israel. And you are expecting me to believe that 3 million people will jam themselves into that water-carved canyon for three and one-half years? Obviously and miraculously, some of God’s people will be saved, but it is NOT clear where.

Ezekiel chapter seven defines where and how these deaths will come.

‘The sword is outside and the plague and the famine are within. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also consume those in the city.” (Ezekiel 7:15 NASB)

I want you to pay attention to the word plague. Covid falls under this category.

Considering that the Jews are a target of God’s wrath during the “tribulation years,” doesn’t it seem feasible that many of them died directly related to what is coming? Let me point out that George Soros is a European Jew that hates God.

Page four.

Just in case you don’t know, or you have forgotten, here is a bit of what God will bring:

  • The antichrist arrives and brings death with him. Revelation 6:2.

  • And another, a red horse. To take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; Revelation 6:4.

  • Behold an ashen horse. Authority was given to them to kill a fourth of the earth, Revelation 6:8.

  • With the sixth seal there was another deadly earthquake. Revelation 6:12.

We are still looking at Revelation 12:14.

  • “ But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness.”

Wings is the Greek word pterux and surprise, it means wings, as in bird wings.

Is there a practical way to understand this?

Some would yes, as their idea gives Israel the ability to jump on an airplane and fly someone where else.

Really, do you actually think that is going to happen, especially in this newly improved Covid world we live in where Israel itself has gone back on full lockdown?

No, there will be no escape from Israel, outside of God’s plan; that only leaves one other possibility, and that is that Jews, globally, will have to run in any safe direction they can find.

Why make an analogy to an eagle’s wings?

Because this is the language that God has used with Israel on previous occasions.

“You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” Exodus 19:4.

Having read about Israel’s escape from Egypt, on several occasions, I can remember no references to eagles’ wings, this leads me to believe that God used the phrase “I bore you on eagles’ wings” as an analogy to the magnificence of His actions.

Another reference to eagle wings is found in Deuteronomy.

“Like an eagle teaching its young to fly, catching them safely on its spreading wings, the LORD kept Israel from falling.” Deuteronomy 32:11 GNB

So, when Israel has to run for their lives, God is letting us and them know that He will carry them safely. 

If the eagle’s wings are synonymous with the catching away of the church, will you get caught up to meet Him in the air? Those that are not caught up will have to prove their allegiance to Jesus Christ, almost without exception, through their death as a martyr.

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