A Voice in the Wilderness

A study on Matthew 25. Chapter one – He who reigns in His glory.

Posted on 05/06/2016 by remso

When you read Matthew 24 and 25, do you ever find yourself asking, what is the context of Jesus answer to the disciples and the extensive response that carries on for two chapters? If you want to understand you have to go back to chapter 22 of Matthew to find out what motivated this string of explanations.

In Matthew 22 we find Jesus telling the disciples to get the young colt and its mother because Jesus was about to ride into Jerusalem like a conquering King – the king Israel had been waiting for.

It did not take long for all that to change, for when he arrived at the temple he cleared the outer courts, the courts of the gentiles by violently overthrowing their tables and chasing them, anyone doing business with them, and their livestock out of there with a whip he fashioned out of cords. This started a two-day verbal barrage with and against the Chief priests and elders.

Put flesh and blood on these characters called disciples and you realize that the disciples and Jesus were from Galilee and really had nowhere to go hide as Jesus went toe to toe with the elders, while they were in Jerusalem, therefore they stuck out like a sore thumb.
After two days Jesus directs them back to the Mount of Olives, one of his favorite places to commune with the Father. Stunned and shaken as they walked, they did not know what to say, so they did what anyone might have done, divert to the obvious because, once again, as far as they could see, He was not the awaited Messiah, as they previously thought. Walking past the temple, the pride and focal point of Israel, they point out the architecture of the temple. Really? God’s Son was standing right in front of them and all they could see is the temple.

Based on what He said in response they formulated two questions.

Matthew 24:3 NASB As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Those two questions are extremely Jewish and have everything to do with when he will come back as the Messiah they expected. Try keeping that in mind as you read Matthew 24, 25. As I said his response was long. It was as long as the question was deep and everything He said had application to the end of time when He would come back as the Messiah Israel recognized.

Matthew 25:31-46 is only one aspect of what he told them, and, has everything to do with God’s last piece of business before we move off into a perfect eternity, a relationship as God intended it to be, free of sin.

Matthew 25:31 NASB (31) “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.

When Jesus comes in his glory

As always, I admonish you to think like a Jew. That requires that you, as a Gentile believer, think outside the religious box you were brought up in and ask, what is the Jew, even today, awaiting? A Messiah that will come in his full glory ready to clean house, take the throne in judgment, and then, lead his people into eternity with him.

Because prophecy is embedded in patterns to the Jew these words, in a similar way, had already been stated on a previous occasion to the disciples. Aside from occurrences found in the Law and Prophets, this is the second time Jesus had said this to them, so it must be not only true but very important. We find the other instance in Matthew 19:28.
Should I want to dig I can find another reference to the glorious throne in writings of the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 14:21 KJV Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.

How could God disgrace his own throne?
This is reminiscent of a conversation that Moses had with God.

“I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ‘Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. ‘Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the LORD was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.” (Deuteronomy 9:26-28 NASB)

The impact of such a statement shows that Moses understood the character of God and that doing something such as this would make people see God as something He is not.

Let’s focus on this glory aspect for a moment.

While my earlier statements probably define how the Jew feels, what backs the definition and their feelings up?

Matthew 19:28 MKJV And Jesus said to them, Truly I say to you that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

So there is a clear anticipation of the Messiah coming back in a spectacular way.

The Complete Jewish Bible translates this verse like this:

Matthew 19:28 CJB Yeshua said to them, “Yes. I tell you that in the regenerated world, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Isra’el.

When then, does Jesus come back in this anticipated way?

At the end of the time of wrath. Yes, the entire period we love to call “the tribulation” is a time of wrath and judgment.

We see this all throughout the Revelation starting with the opening of the seals in chapter six. Revelation 19 starting at verse 11 continuing through verse 21 speaks of Him judging and waging war, and so I show it to you now.

Revelation 19:11 NASB 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.

Here, though, is probably where many errors in understanding begin because it describes Him returning and tells us that He judges and wages war. The not so discerning perceive “He judges” to mean that of those thrones to be set up, Christ’s is one of them and now he sits on the throne in judgment for the next thousand years I suppose.

Consider what has taken place.

What we mistakenly call the tribulation, years of God’s wrath and judgment poured out upon the nations and Israel for rejecting Him, quite probably initiated by the rapture, has just ended.

I feel like I have to take a moment here and define something. Why would it be proper to say that the time of wrath/judgment may have been triggered or initiated by the snatching away of the church?

Romans 5:9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

1Thessalonians 1:10 And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.

1Thessalonians 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

Because of these “witnesses”, I see credible evidence telling me that as a believer/follower of Jesus Christ, that I, nor you if you follow Christ, are going to be subject to the wrath that is coming. Can you also see why it is important to label the time frame as it is meant to be, a time of wrath, not tribulation? Oh certainly, tribulation will be a part of it as it has always been for the believer. Maybe, that has been a problem too, as we invite people to Christ indicating that all their problems will go away. Sure, I want you to come to Christ primarily because you are loved and have a hope and future with the Father in eternity. But get real, you are signing up for warfare. Perhaps I need say nothing more than what Jesus said?

Matthew 10:34 KJV Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

Take the time to read Matthew 10:34 – 42, it will open your eyes.

Since God and Jesus are the same, then we could just as easily say that the last seven years have been Jesus judging the earth. Many will call this a stretch, so let’s see if we can find something more concrete for you.

Since much of what I have just mentioned comes out the Revelation, what does it say?

“The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John,” (Revelation 1:1 NASB)

So the entire book then is a Revealing of Jesus Christ. Therefore, any application of God in the book is really talking about Jesus, because they are the same and in union with each other.

Then there is that whole event on the cross; what do you do with that?

While there is no denying that, as Matthew’s gospel puts it, He comes in Glory – which happens to mean judgment. But judgment for what?

Not sin, that was taken care of on the cross, as Jesus became sin for us.

“Sin” is such a lousy word for merely not hitting the center ring of a target, especially when you are having to compensate for everyday life events that act like sudden gusts of wind moving your hands off-center just as you release your shot or, you are sixty-two years old, as I am, and now your hands are starting to shake. How naughty of you! Get real, at least some of us are trying.

After reading scripture for all these years I feel like I can put the puzzle together because I have so many of the pieces. My problem is, I do not remember while I got the puzzle pieces from. Because of my memory slipping gears on me, I begin by doing searches for keywords I know are related to the subject. Since that did not work as well as I hoped, in this case, I sat there pondering for a moment. It is often in those moments, when I am quiet, that the Holy Spirit speaks. In this case, I was reminded to look in the letter to the Hebrews. (To you Gentiles, which is about all of us, this entire letter was written with the Jewish community in mind.)

For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and if every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by those who heard Him; (Hebrews 2:2-3 MKJV)

Since sin, the damaged condition we carry that required the payment of blood, was preventing us from a relationship with God, because it put us in the ownership of Satan, then someone had to pay the price for our freedom from this indebtedness and separation. Since there was no one on earth capable of doing that God sent his Son, untainted by what seems to be a genetic disposition to fail by sinning. That was Jesus Christ; And, He did it perfectly. His payment of his own blood purified us and paid for the freedom of us all.

What then would prevent a human from entering into heaven?

Well, just what the writer of the letter to the Hebrews said, to neglect so great a salvation. You, of course, are intelligent people and know full well what neglect is , don’t you? Really it is as simple as the child, who hears the request/demand to take out the trash, but, for whatever reason does not. They have neglected to do so. A synonym for neglect is to disregard. Now I understand, as foolishly disregarding a road sign that indicates there is danger ahead due to the road being destroyed by a flood can cost you your life.

I said all that to say, it is only our own bad choice to disregard God’s voice calling you to him that will put you through the eternal separation called hell.

Read Revelation 19 and 20 to get the full picture, but since we are talking about Christ sitting upon a throne where do we see a throne or thrones after the time of judgment?

Revelation 20:4-5 MKJV And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (5) But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

I do not see one throne set up with just Jesus seated as a king that judges. I see many thrones; as many as there are martyred saints.

“ the souls of those who had been beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark on their foreheads, nor in their hands”

This horrific act of being martyred because your beliefs were different or challenged your oppressors, has happened to many already and it is not even the time of wrath yet; what happens to them?

1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 MKJV (15) For we say this to you by the Word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall not go before those who are asleep. (16) For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord.

Does all this mean that Christ will not be seated in the New Jerusalem during the thousand-year reign?

Not at all, for He will be the light.

Revelation 22:5 NASB And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.

Here is my moment of honesty. I thought I would blaze through Matthew and the sheep and goats. As you can see I got stuck on one verse; it is a vital aspect of recent arguments/discussions and a source of grief for me.

Just coming to Jesus, although a wise thing to do, does not give you all wisdom and understanding in the Word of God. The biggest problem I hear is opinion and tradition, because people choose to believe those two things over the Word, and that causes all kinds of problems.

You need to spend time in the Word of God for yourself, for in that book, all truth is found.

Posted in bible study, End times, Hope, Revelation, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged awaited messiah, Glory, God, His glorious throne, Holy spirit, Jesus Christ, jew, Jews, judge, judgment, Messiah, The Son of Man, thrones, White Throne judgment | Leave a comment

A typical question from my Sunday morning adult study.

Posted on 04/29/2016 by remso

I am not a college trained theologian, I just use my brain, what I have left of it, and I think. As a friend said recently, “I am a Berean.” I guess that might imply that he is also from Berea, should I opt to take that literally. Anyway, I get the point, he does not accept things that sound wrong at face value.

[Caution: some things that sound right can be wrong, so I implore you to read things for yourself. It’s okay and their doing this made the Apostle Paul very happy.]

These questions come out of study book called, Galatians, Fully Accepted by God, published by Q Place, and written by Marilyn Kunz and Catherine Schell. I am not going out of my way to berate the resources but I am admonishing you to use diligence when using any resource. This particular question intrigues me because I can tell you that the standard religious response is limited and very legalistic. Sadly, that is the complete opposite of God’s nature and character.

This particular question intrigues me because I can tell you from experience that the standard religious response is limited and very legalistic. Sadly, limitation and limit are the complete opposite of God’s nature and character.

(a.) How is a person reckoned righteous in God’s sight if he or she is Jewish? Prior to grace, they had to act according to the law and offer sacrifice. This was not an act of permanence because leaving the temple you could easily have someone on a camel back make an illegal left turn in front you. Cussing them out, dragging them off their camel and beating them appropriately would not have been considered righteous. Now, only minutes after offering your expensive sacrifice you are now stuck in your unrighteousness until the next sacrificial period. And, what happens to you should the Lord come then?

[As followers of Christ it is not this way for us. Christ bought our freedom and forgiveness on the cross. This was an aspect of God’s commitment and really required nothing from us. Besides that, there was nothing we could do that would move that process along. However, our righteousness, in the simplest of terms, requires one action from us, acceptance. We have to accept that forgiveness. In doing that, He makes us righteous. If you choose to throw yourself into Him so many amazing things begin to happen within you as He transforms you into the likeness of the Son you are now a part of.]

Is it just a coincidence that shortly after the cross the ability to sacrifice was gone as well? The answer is spelled out in Galatians 2:16.

Galatians 2:16 NASB nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

(b.) If he or she is Gentile?

Should the Gentile be treated any differently from the Jew?

Of course not.

Perhaps the Jew is held to a higher standard?

That is entirely up to the Father. If we start that nonsense then we have moved over into judgment

After all, the Jews had the law, while the Gentiles/nations, had what?

The ability to decide for themselves.

How is this true?

Because the knowledge of good and evil is part of the “sin” that besets every person on the earth. That means that we also have the ability to choose good. Unfortunately this has proven not to be the case and because of it God destroyed all creation except Noah’s family, with a flood.

In truth, the law of God applies to every man, or does it?

In Matthew’s gospel, we find something that disrupts our thinking on this subject.

Matthew 25:31-46 NASB “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. (32) “All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats;

[“the nations” – The catching away of the church has come and gone; the time of wrath and judgment has come and gone; the thousand-year reign has come and gone and with it the opportunity to come and worship the LORD has come and gone. We are now at the end of time, standing before the great white throne. Who is this standing here then? Since what we see here in Matthew 25 and what we see in Revelation 20 are the same thing let’s look at that also.

Revelation 20:5 NASB The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.

Revelation 20:11-12 NASB (11) Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. (12) And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

So, those before this throne are the dead. Dying, we suppose, without the LORD, with no possibility of attaining righteousness. And yet, He says to those in the group called sheep, “Come, you who are blessed of the My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

They are shocked at this and ask how and why do we deserve this. Jesus response: ‘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; (36) naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.‘

Now, the question is, where in here is the “law” that gives these the righteousness we expect, that allows them into the same kingdom that we have access to? You cannot see it, can you? Neither can I, so then my next and obvious assumption is that God is merciful beyond my comprehension.]

I finished out Matthew’s telling of this account for your enjoyment.

(33) and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. (34) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. (35) ‘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; (36) naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ (37) “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? (38) ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? (39) ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ (40) “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ (41) “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; (42) for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; (43) 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.’ (44) “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?’ (45) “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.’ (46) “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

I am not telling you to buy what I am selling. However, my admonition to you is to: read and think; look for and find his mercy. In doing so you will find his nature and character.

Posted in bible study, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Faith, gentiles, God, grace, Jews, Mercy, Paul the Apostle, righteousness, Scripture, the nations | Leave a comment

They refused to change their hearts. Revelation 16:8,9

Posted on 04/28/2016 by remso

As children, we watched a show on television called, The Twilight Zone.

1959 Series Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You were never quite sure if the person who was central to the story wasn’t living out part of a dream or their personal reality. In one particular episode “The Midnight Sun, the earth had fallen out of its orbit and was creeping closer to the sun. The obvious effect was a continuous and increasing heat, and people were dying.

I would venture a guess that Rod Serling borrowed this concept from the Revelation. How about that for a transition to our next passage.

Revelation 16:8-9 NASB The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. (9) Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

Land baked by a scorching hot sun.

I want to tell you that everything we see in the Revelation is meant to drive men to God; but, what if it is not. What if it is merely meant to punish and judge? Do I then join the chorus of people we see in verse nine, blaspheming the name of God?

To validate my argument that the destruction is meant to turn people to God, the Easy-to-Read Version says, “But they refused to change their hearts and lives and give glory to God.” So then, it is true; God is trying to get their attention. And, since reasonable people would turn to him, God would have good reason to halt the pain and destruction.

(This is not a new concept, it is one of the primary reasons that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, because he knew that God would show them mercy and Jonah wanted them dead. This was such a driving force in him that he effectively committed suicide. I know, this all too hard for most to handle, but you would understand this if you read God’s word for yourselves.)

Jeremiah 18:8 ERV But if the people of that nation change their hearts and lives and stop doing evil things, I will change my mind and not follow my plans to bring disaster to them.

Did you notice that they blasphemed the name of God?

How many times have you heard the lament, I think I have blasphemed God and I am therefore unforgivable? More than a couple I imagine.

I seriously doubt that most of us have any idea of what it means to blaspheme.

It does not necessarily mean what you mother, who was trying to control some ugly behavior in you, meant when she told you your tongue was going to send you to hell. Jesus explained this concept very plainly when he harshly berated the Pharisees and elders for attributing his works to the devil.

Mark 3:28-29 KJV “Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: (29) But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:”

Pay attention here, “All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies..:” “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness,” The Holy Ghost?! Many of my friends have loudly ranted that the Holy Ghost will be taken out of the earth with the church, at the rapture (or snatching away.)

These unidentified persons we see in Revelation 19:9, and there are many, “blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.” Jesus Christ nor scripture makes a distinction between God and the Holy Ghost, and neither should you.

1 John 5:5-8 NASB “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (6) This is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and with the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. (7) For there are three that testify: (8) the Spirit and the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.”

Look at what Revelation 16:9 says once again.

The passage does not say this condemns them to the eternal hell meant for Satan and his followers, we merely assume so. It is a logical assumption since they did not repent.

Let’s focus on the word blaspheme for a moment. The Greek word blasphēmeō means many things, all quite comparable. What we saw in Mark’s gospel was a defamation by attributing the works of God to the devil. Did they mean it when they said it? Wholeheartedly; I believe they meant to divert people away from God, the form of Jesus, back to Jewish tradition. So, yes, they meant what they said.

Blaspheme: G987 – blasphemeo – From G989; to vilify; specifically to speak impiously: – (speak) blaspheme (-er, -mously, -my), defame, rail on, revile, speak evil.

Scorched with fierce heat they vilified God, spoke impiously about him, defamed his name and character, reviled him and generally spoke evil of this God they previously chose to ignore; most people would.

Having now had many plagues, poisonings, and disasters befall them, these people still do not get it.

Get what? That there is a God and he is not theirs. Theirs, it seems, is willing to sacrifice them with no remorse. Assuming that many of these would be Muslims, then they would be calling out, “Allahu Akbar” (“god is greater.”) Since nothing will change and they have a strong belief that all fate is in the hands of Allah, then this will probably be the standard chant.

What would be the standard chant of the atheist or the apostate church, should they find themselves in this place?

At least the Muslims have a comprehension that Allah is in control and his decisions are beyond question. What a concept that would be for the Christian church, but I digress.

Where in this process is the blasphemy? Kind of hard to tell based upon one word. Doesn’t this imply that they added some descriptive language to their vocabulary, and, that they at a least acknowledge the possibility that there is some other entity out there, which, by their calculations, hates them?

What would help to make these verses about blasphemy make more sense? [Revelation 16:9 and Mark 3:28,29]

Perhaps forgiveness – the basis of our lives in Christ; the forgiveness that came from Jesus placing himself voluntarily on the cross to pay OUR debt, doing all that God intended; an action that paid the debt for everyone – whether it be in the past, present, or future. And, because of that voluntary submission and payment, these people we see in Revelation 16:9 are not judged for their sins either but for their rejection of Jesus as the Messiah over their life.

Because Jesus made this statement that we read in Mark’s gospel, “he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation”, then there must be some sort of imaginary line drawn in the sand that must not be crossed. Look closely at both verses, the line is difficult to see, because, as Mark pointed out this person or group, “is in danger”. There is no finality in that, but I can perceive a warning. Contrast this warning with one coming from a father speaking to his child who is playing on the edge of a fire pit filled with hot embers from a dinner cooked only moments before. Merely to warn of the danger does not mean that the father will push the child in. It certainly implies that the father is painfully aware of what can happen should the child push the envelope of safety and fall in.

What I see, even here, is God giving them an opportunity to receive mercy. You see something comparable in Revelation 16:9 when the Holy Spirit points out that, “they did not repent so as to give Him glory.” The opportunity for mercy is there all along; and, because they choose not to take it, this is all on them as they are making the choice, not God.

Moving on.

Revelation 16:10 LITV And the fifth angel poured out his bowl onto the throne of the beast. And its kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues from the pain.

I never noticed this before: “And the fifth angel poured out his bowl onto the throne of the beast. And its kingdom became darkened;”

Darkness poured out over the throne of the beast.

Ask yourself a few questions here.

Do we know where his “throne” is yet?

Not yet, but the whole world will almost immediately after the catching away of the church.
Does the “beast” present himself as a beast, or is that merely God’s designation for a man of such horrific actions?
How many beasts are mentioned in the book of Revelation?

Rev 11:7 the beast out of the Abyss;

Rev 13:1 the beast coming out of the sea;

Rev 13:11-14 another beast coming up out of the earth .. it spoke like a lamb. And, it exercises all the authority of the first beast whose fatal wound was healed;

Then how do we know which beast we are dealing with?

You might start answering this question by asking, what is the context of this beast, for there are several mentioned in Revelation. This one, in particular, is the Antichrist character. A human, carrying out the will of the dragon/Serpent, but he may or may not be completely aware of that the dragon is empowering him. In an effort to get a better feel for the context I went back to Revelation 13:5 where it says, “There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.” While it may not be clear to others it is definitively clear to me that the mouth speaking is speaking of someone who represents the multi-headed beast now in these last days.

Is it possible that he is here now? Certainly, and may be speaking on behalf of the broader spectrum beast even now. (Clues: The American President speaks in defense of Islam constantly; Angela Merkel defends the infidels that rape German women. Just pick a country where the “refugees” have come and what is the leadership doing, being their mouth, defending their abhorrent actions.)

Because the restrainer (the church) is removed by this catching away of the church, the antichrist spokesman’s authority to act with no restraint is unleashed upon the world for forty-two months. 42 months = Three-and-one-half years. Because we know that the beast/antichrist operates long enough to make a seven-year treaty with many, and then breaks his own treaty at 42 months. We can assume that this happens rather quickly.

But when we go back to Revelation 13:1 we see a description of something not found on the earth. A monstrosity with 10 horns and seven heads. One of those heads sustains a deadly wound and is assumed to be dead. In time, it comes back to life and becomes a deadly threat upon the entire earth.

“And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems [crowns], and on his heads were blasphemous names [defaming things that speak vile against God]. And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority. I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; “(Revelation 13:1-3 NASB) Italics are added by me.

There is one entity on earth today that fits that description, and it is Islam. Investigate the end of the Ottoman empire and you will find that this was Islam in its finest and most destructive form for the day. Shut down, made illegal, and disbanded by the British in 1924, the world assumed the Islamic religion and its rampaging violence was dead. Not so. Even worse, it has been back with a vengeance since 1979 and the Islamic revolution in Iran. Are you looking for a one world religion, not necessarily one with a voluntary compliance, but one forced upon you? Then here it is.

Since the darkness is poured out on its kingdom, then where is that?

Again, that is not clear yet. If President Obama were to assume the role of Antichrist, would that make America the kingdom of darkness?

Give some thought to this:

I would have never imagined in my wildest of dreams that our American president would be a Muslim, but, it has become clear, by his own admissions and statements, that he is.

ISIS, the extreme arm of Islam, has openly declared our president an infidel/Kafir, they did this because they demand a strict following of the Qur’an, making him the object of their rage as well. Trying to understand who controls these people is confusing at best and makes them and their ideals extremely dangerous. If they unleash their goals upon this country, then we too will end up looking like the bombed out cities of the Middle East.
Should this all happen before the elections and a new president comes into power, then what would it mean for America, or the country you live in, to go into what seems like a painful darkness?

This makes little sense unless you understand: where we as a nation stand financially, and that North Korea, among others, wish to bomb America with nuclear weapons. Since we know that an EMP blast will have the effect of putting the lights out, for a very long time, and cause painful grief in so many other ways, then this becomes a real possibility.
Lastly, should President Obama move on to become the president of the U.N., would he take his kingdom global?

Things that stand out in my mind:

Since this head that sustained the mortal wound is clearly alive and well today, bringing its one world religion progressively to the nations by killing off for example 2.4 million Hindus in India in 1971, there is clearly something restraining this beast from running rampant, doing all that he pleases. We can see reference to that restraint in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8.

NASB “And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (8) Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;”

In case you did not know it, the restrainer is the church when it is in an active mode, praying, voting, making people aware and withholding the enemy. To make this more relevant, here in America we have elections coming up in November to elect a new president. Sadly, though, others get to make the decision for us about who we get to vote for. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I can vote for anybody, even write in a name like Dr. Ben Carson, but I might as well throw my vote in the trash at that point. That means I need to focus my attention on the horrid choices I have. Because I lean toward one political party over the other, I really only have two choices out of the four. Of the ones I will not have to consider, one should be in prison; the other is a Socialist. History has proven life under a socialist regime is a disaster unless you are a part of the global elite and very few are.

How about the options I do have? Neither of those is worth a dime. Blondie will become a vindictive dictator while the other has changed his song so many times no one should trust him. None-the-less, I will vote, putting my trust in the Holy Spirit and some intelligence to guide me.

Here is the bottom line on this voting stuff. The country I live in is done; those of us who are awake realize this. Therefore, whoever God places in office will be by his design, and I have to accept that. There is no hope in that, but there hope in Jesus Christ/God and his promise that no matter what happens we will have a home in eternity, free from violence, hatred, and pain, and it will be with the Father.

People do not make treaties unless there is some potential or real strife going on.

Ezekiel 38,39 tell us that this strife will happen, and it sounds like nuclear weapons are involved because teams are required to mark bodies while others must come and dispose of them. (This is the battle of Armageddon that gets mentioned frequently.) The ESV calls it Armageddon while the CJB refers to the place as Har Megiddo. Look up the Hebrew translation of Har Megiddo and you get two parts: a mountain or range of hills and the rendezvous. It quickly becomes obvious that God has a rendezvous planned.

Ezekiel 39:6 NASB “And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coast lands in safety; and they will know that I am the LORD.

Even though we see the dead being buried for seven months, there will be those they cannot even approach for seven months.

Ezekiel 39:14-15 NASB “They will set apart men who will constantly pass through the land, burying those who were passing through, even those left on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search. (15) “As those who pass through the land pass through and anyone sees a man’s bone, then he will set up a marker by it until the buriers have buried it in the valley of Hamon-gog.

If you have been paying attention to the not so headline news, then you would know that Russian and Syrian troops are on the border of the Golan Heights area of Israel. The potential for disaster is there already.

Ezekiel 39:1-2 NASB “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal; (2) and I will turn you around, drive you on, take you up from the remotest parts of the north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.

Soon, all the nations will be gathered against Israel.

Zechariah 12:3 NASB “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.

I mentioned a few lines ago that there is little hope for the nation but followers of Christ have a hope. What I did not mention is that this hope does not exclude you from the trials and tribulations of this world. In case you did not know it there is a clear distinction between the time immediately after the rapture called by many, “the tribulation”; however, God calls this time frame the time of his wrath or the “day of the Lord”. This time of wrath has no options, it comes from God – although we cannot exclude his usage of people, and is meant to punish. Tribulation, on-the-other-hand, is as Jesus said, a lifestyle thing for believers. What does that mean to me? It means that I have to mentally prepare for the worst case scenario. I am a grandpa, and if my granddaughter wants to go to the bathroom in a store that condones a man going into the woman’s bathroom, then I am going to protect her. The obvious aspect is that I might to jail over this. Not only do I have mentally prepare for something like this but everything I write is being monitored and the day will come when I will be arrested for expressing my opinions in a post. This is what you get with totalitarian and Sharia law, should you be entertaining that thought.

This is why I am telling you to find out who you are in Christ. You are the son of a carpenter, a man’s man and he is not telling you to be a wimp. Just the opposite. Remember, that voluntarily submitting to the Holy Spirits leading, and not fighting back takes tremendous strength also.

The Apostle Peter stood on the day of Pentecost and announced that “this is that”. What is that? The fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Joel the prophet – a prophecy about the last days.

Joel 2:28-29 NASB “It will come about after this That I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, Your old men will dream dreams, Your young men will see visions. (29) “Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

Why would I need the power of the Holy Spirit during the last days? Because those who find themselves in this time of wrath will be under the most horrific pressure.

Joel 2:32 NASB “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.

If you find yourself in this horrific time frame call upon the name of the Lord.

Posted in End times, Hope, In Christ, Prophetic, Revelation, Things I have never noticed before, Thoughts, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Bible, blasphemy, end times, future, Gospel of Matthew, Holy spirit, hope, Islam, Jerusalem, Jews, last days, muslim, prophecy, rapture, Revelation, Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone | Leave a comment

Those who get locked out, are now subject to the wrath that is coming

Posted on 04/17/2016 by remso

Do a word search in the Revelation and you will find that the word wrath first appears in chapter 6.

Why would that be important? Because of statements like this:

Revelation 4:1 NASB After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.”

After what things? The end of the church age. The typical religious response to this is an argument.

Ask yourself what has happened in the earlier chapters of Revelation? Some, rather in-depth descriptions of literal and at the same time, symbolic church bodies. Remember, we are the church, not where we congregate, so it would be proper to refer to our gatherings as bodies.

This phase of the Revelation ends with the last church, the Laodicean church – the lukewarm one which God threatens to spew out of his mouth in disgust. One of my typical admonitions is to look around you. Are we, the church, on fire? Hardly. Most have no idea of what the fire is and we certainly are not going to attempt to ignite any either.

I suppose most of you feel rather safe in your religious cloaks. Hopefully, yours has a hood and you can pull it up over your head to help you isolate yourself from reality, the world, and God’s attempts at getting your attention. There is a problem in this though and you find it in Matthew 25.

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. “Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ “Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us.’ “But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’ “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. (Matthew 25:1-13 NASB)

Make note of some keywords and phrases:

“ten virgins”

What does it take to be a virgin in this world today? Commitment? Certainly, but do not exclude the concepts of purity and separation from the world.

The important thing to take away from this is that God called them all and made no distinction.

We are not invited to judge their situations initially. Once they play their hands (A poker term indicating a showing of their cards to see if they win or not. Because so much of card playing involves bluffing you cannot ascertain truthfulness in the virgins) you can quickly see deeply into their hearts.

“ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom”

All of them went and all had lamps with oil in them. What and where this meeting point is we do not ascertain from this passage. But, if I think like a Jew from this era it would make all the sense in the world. Since the groom would already have a contractual agreement with the family, he would be off building the house we would eventually be living in. This would be no secret. The idea behind what we see here is that he knows the hours it takes to do what needs to be done, especially after spending a long time working toward the goal of the wedding night. If he had hopes of being finished as the sun sets, giving him time to clean himself up and bring his betrothed home to his bed, he would have put out the word alerting her to have herself ready. She could easily be standing outside the gates waiting in anticipation, or we could find her, sitting by lamplight, in the living room of her parents. Because there are so many, let us assume a common meeting place or they are outside said gate.

“Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.”

Is he delaying, waiting for others to join the ranks? No, the invitations have been sent, the number has been determined. Don’t get sour thinking that you have the potential to be excluded. Just the fact that you are reading this tells me that you have been included. The scriptures tell us that God has no desire that any should perish. So he longs for all to come. Delays come, I experience them all the time, especially when I am working on my computer. I will often think, this will just take a minute, and forty-five minutes later, with my frustrations through the roof, I eventually get done.

Keep in mind that this young man has longed for this night for as long as it has taken to build the “house” that they will live in, and he will not wait any longer than he has to.

It says, “they all got drowsy and began to sleep.” Do you see any condemnation in that fact? No, but watch what happens next.

“But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.”

The announcement comes, he is here, come and join yourselves to him – for eternity. What does this imply? He is now presenting himself, and, one other thing, which I am not sure why because it seems to give us the grace and time to trim a wick and refill an oil lamp.

“Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.”

All the virgins awoke, got up, trimmed the wicks in their lamps. Those that had extra oil poured the excess into their lamps, relight them and proceeded to join the groom outside.

What did the other five do? They arose, trimmed the wicks in their lamps, noted that they did not think they would have to wait this long and therefore brought no extra oil, and so, demanded that the others give them some.

Seriously – you demand? It is midnight. It has been dark for about six hours now and everyone reasonable is in bed, so, why don’t you go to the local market and see if you can buy some more oil and quickly, as the groom is out there NOW. Mind you, I see an unusual amount of grace and perhaps patience but not the time it takes to hunt for a store to be open, and this is not a society of convenience back then.

How and why all five go and come back at the same time (that is what we assume) is not known. Perhaps we have the idea that if we group together, much like the group of speeding cars I was meshed in with as we drove across the desert, that we would not get stopped since we are so many voices. We were wrong and we all got a ticket. If God is representative of the bridegroom, then it is obvious that he is not impressed by large whining crowds either.

“And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.” (Matthew 25:10 NASB)

“those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.”

What makes the five who had to go shopping at midnight unready? A lack of lamp oil? It is obvious that the lamp oil is symbolic of something else, but what? A strong possibility is the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind that Jesus told this parable to a crowd of people who had not experienced the Holy Spirit. That tends to diminish this idea. Can I exclude sincerity and enthusiasm as the oil, not really.

Those who were ready were the ones who had extra oil. However long it took to wake up, trim their wicks and refill their lamps was apparently okay with the bridegroom.

What’s the point I am trying to make, especially since there is really no wrath involved?

That those who get locked out, are now subject to the wrath that is coming, and all because they are lackadaisical and ill prepared, when they could have been. If I could reach any, or all of them I would implore them to figure out what the oil is, and then get some.

All that being said, let’s move on to Revelation 16:2 and see how far we can get.

So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. (Revelation 16:2 NASB)

The wrath started in chapter six and has been ongoing.

Note: God’s wrath is not necessarily associated with man’s wrath, however, the two of them will run concurrently.

I would love to tell you that the mark of the beast will be exclusive to the half way point of the seven-year period. Perhaps if we could get some response from people who choose not to be Muslims in a Muslim land, they could tell us what Islam does to those who refuse to follow Allah. I know there is something called the Jizya tax.

Qur’an (9:29) – “Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

So if you comply with a willing submission, then God will pour out upon you a malignant sore. The Hebrew Study Bible calls them, disgusting and painful sores.

The second one (an angel sent by God) poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died. (Revelation 16:3 CJB)

An April 15, 2016, article from the Daily Mail in Australia shows this picture.

A swimmer heads towards a red algae bloom at Sydney’s Clovelly Beach on November 27, 2012, which closed some beaches for swimming including Bondi Beach for a period of time. While the red algae, known as Noctiluca scintillans or sea sparkle, has no toxic effects, people are still advised to avoid swimming in areas with discoloured water because the algae, which can be high in ammonia, can cause skin irritation. AFP PHOTO/William WESTWILLIAM WEST/AFP/Getty Images

While these scenes are impressive, the Red tide from algae blooms is not uncommon. I strongly suspect that the seas turning to blood may be a reality when this happens. Did this happen before? Yes, during the plagues of Egypt.

The third one poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood. (Revelation 16:4 CJB)

If you read about the plagues of Egypt, then you know this too happened. Strangely, Pharaoh’s sorcerers managed to find some clear water and turned that drinkable water into blood as well. When I read this story I cannot imagine there being any clear water. But, to take what drinkable water you can find and turn it into blood is just unfathomable.

Mother and child looking at the red beach

Revelation 16:5-6 LITV And I heard the angel of the waters saying, You are righteous, Lord, the One who is, and who was, and who will be, because You judged these things, (6) since they poured out the blood of the saints and of the prophets; and You gave blood to them to drink, for they were deserving.

The words show God’s judgment against those who have poured out the blood of the saints and prophets. Since you chose blood, then blood you shall drink. Question? Since the judgment is very specific, speaking of the oceans, rivers, and streams, do you think bottled water would remain untouched?

Let’s end this “study” with this.

Revelation 16:7 LITV And I heard another out of the altar saying, Yes, Lord God Almighty, Your judgments are true and righteous.

I have come to the conclusion that all of God’s judgments are true and righteous. It does not matter how uncomfortable they make me feel.

Don’t get me wrong, pain hurts me as well. I just need to get my vision straight and keep my eyes on Jesus and his work in me.

In Recovery we make amends. We do this for a couple of reasons: to take responsibility for our own actions and the harm we have done to others, and, to do the right thing in God’s eyes, no matter what the personal consequences may be.

You need to be aware, that as a follower of Christ, God is not and will not punish you. Christ took all our punishment.

(Yes, I get it and hear the rebuttals all the time. That does not mean I will back down from this point of view. Because scripture tells that Christ took all the punishment due us on the cross, then we do not have to. This also means and tells that all sins: past, present, and future sins, have been forgiven. There is nothing to forgive. So, if we find ourselves going into eternal punishment what might have happened? You completely threw Jesus in the trash and opted to follow Satan – the god of this world, to his punishment. That puts your future completely on you, not God and some irrational decision you think he made.)

God, may, however, be testing you and trying to you, to purify you, to make you more like His son.

None of this excludes you from personal responsibility for your own actions. An example: if you drink and drive, and kill someone or do some major property damage. That was all your choice and you will have to submit to man’s laws. By the way – God instituted man’s laws as well, to keep law breakers under control. Since we – those followers who live controlled by the spirit of God don’t do those kinds of things, then we should not have a problem, should we.

But we do, and often. Why is that?

Because our central processors came damaged (we call that sin) thanks to Adam’s decisions making in the garden. God saw that coming long before it ever happened and chose to give the man the freedom to love the maker. That does not seem so unreasonable because a reasonable person should see the goodness and mercy in God and then long for Him. If this was any other way then we would just be automatons with no relationship. So, even before time began God had a plan. It involved allowing the creation, man, to make his mistakes; it involved allowing Lucifer to corrupt his power and position, with the potential to damage and kill the creation. But God had a plan, and he knew it would not fail. He would bring an uncorrupted son into the earth to be the King; he would allow that son to suffer and die with the express purpose of redeeming all mankind back to himself if they chose to come. And, He would receive his only Son back to himself alive and set him victorious on the throne; all for the purpose of ending all destruction and bringing back the family that wants to live with him.

Did God know there would be repercussions for his actions?

Yes, he knew some would choose not to believe and follow him. Those choosing against God would follow the only other “leader, the god of this world,” into the judgment that awaits him.

God did not make the eternal punishment for people; my bible tells me that God loves us, so much so, that he sent his only son into the world that did not love him, to die a brutal death, so that this world could be SAVED. They, the majority, however, choose not to be, because it cramps their style. No, God does not wish for anyone to perish, and Matthew 25, in the parable of the sheep and goats at the judgment, God shows MERCY to those who simply lived outside of their broken selfish ways and helped people at times.

Since I am not a good gambler I choose to live my life in the Spirit of God.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, (Titus 2:11-13 NASB)

Posted in End times, Hope, Prophetic, Revelation, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Belief, Christ, God, God the Father, Gospel of Matthew, Holy spirit, hope, Islam, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Jews, last days, muslim, Old Testament, prophecy, Revelation, Satan | 1 Comment

Will we have to go through the tribulation?

Posted on 04/13/2016 by remso

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”(Revelation 16:1 NASB)

Make note of the words, “the wrath of God.” If you do not know my blog and how I think, then may I make something clear. This time, that is coming upon the earth, often called the day of the Lord, is not the tribulation; it is the time of wrath. Tribulation, as Jesus put it, is a way of life for the believer.

Even my mother asked me, will we have to go through the tribulation?

Because I see events already upon us that look and sound like aspects of God’s wrath during the seven-year period, it is possible that we are already there. Add to this the testimony of a young Jewish boy. Jewish only by nationality at the time of his testimony, he died, went to heaven, spoke extensively with Jesus – the Messiah, and one of the things he said as he was questioned by the rabbis, was that we are in the last seven years. I could take that information seriously, or I could dismiss it, or I could compare it with what I see around me.

What is the obvious problem with that?

Jesus took all the wrath upon himself, on the cross,

Isaiah 53:4-5 NASB Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. (5) But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
and that we, being in Christ, are not destined for wrath.

1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 NASB (9) For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, (10) and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come.

Romans 5:9 NASB Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
All the wrath we see during this time period is meant for the nations and Israel in general for rejecting him.

Allow me to explain something. We are only looking at three people groups in the world today: the Jews; the Nations, and the Church. Once the church is caught up to be with the Lord there will only be those unbelieving (at that moment) Jews and the nations. The nations are a broad spectrum ranging from those we claim were unreached, to those who live in ignorant or blatant rejection.

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,

John 3:36 NASB “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.”

If God opened the windows of heaven and poured out his wrath upon the earth wouldn’t that mean that the church is receiving his wrath as well? And, that, is not right when I look at scripture.

What other explanations are there?

While it is clear to me that the removal of the church from the earth is the trigger to releasing God’s wrath upon the earth, there is nothing that tells us plainly when the church will get caught up.

2 Thessalonians 2:6-9 NASB (6) And you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he will be revealed. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (8) Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; (9) that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders,

Sure, circumstantial evidence is mounting and we can see that. As a matter of fact, I can see many things happening as we speak. Just within the first three seals of Revelation 6 are things that are happening all around us.

Revelation 6:2-6 NASB I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer. (3) When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” (4) And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. (5) When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. (6) And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.”

If I look at the first rider, it rides a white horse. The white horse is symbolic of peace and yet the rider has a bow in his hand, in opposition to peace, but you noticed that he has no arrows. This rider is representative of an entity that presents itself as peace but its motive is really a war. Islam nicely fits that description; the religion of peace is anything but peaceful.
The second rider removes peace from the earth. Have you been watching the news lately? Sweden is burning Mosques and Islamic terrorists have blown up the Belgium airport. Trump supporters are, in the majority, just a bunch of violent racist fools, while the group Black Lives Matter group has openly stated we will bring the violent confrontation to the streets of America if Trump is elected.
And thirdly, that loaf of bread that I can remember paying a quarter for is now as much $4.25. The general idea is that food has become expensive, and, in many cases inedible.

Another example of that evidence was the idea that the beast was thought to be a Middle Eastern phenomenon by some. And, up until just a few years ago, I would have told you that America would not be touched by Islam’s terrors. But that is not the case anymore as we have Al Qaeda training camps in the United States and feasible threats to American targets.

Is it possible that what we see in the sixth chapter of Revelation is not the wrath of God? Maybe. By the time you get to verse eight it sure seems like it:

Revelation 6:8 NASB I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.

But who is keeping count of the number of people in the Middle East, Sudan, Nigeria, Kenya, slaughtered by Islamic related groups? How many have died as verses 9-10 describes:

Revelation 6:9-10 NASB When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; (10) and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

What’s my point? Things are not that clear are they?

If God saw fit to time events as he pleased then how do we keep the timing? You see, even that gets muddy as we wanted a clean delineation; one that allows us to precisely say, see, I told you so. But, that is not our job. Our job is spelled out the second chapter of Titus:

Titus 2:11-13 NASB For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, (12) instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, (13) looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

We are to be looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.

Grab hold of that for a moment. Believers will tell you, that under grace we have no laws, or perhaps another way of stating this, commands.

This sounds like some explicit instructions to me: Deny ungodliness and worldly desires, live sensibly, righteously, and, look for the appearing of Jesus.

Posted in End times, Our being caught up, Prophetic, Revelation, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged antichrist, Bible, end times, future, God, Islam, Israel, Jews, last days, prophecy, Revelation, Scripture | 1 Comment

Having lived through my fair share of hell fire preaching.

Posted on 04/09/2016 by remso

Having lived through my fair share of hell fire and brimstone preaching, I do not find it attractive 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 this 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,”

If you give in, worshiping the beast, his image, and taking his mark, then you have condemned yourself to an eternal punishment. Verse 9 creates the context for verse 10 where 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, – there will be many, who gives themselves over to the beast.

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.”

Sounds fairly black and white to me, but it is definitely a three-part, intentional, process. It would not be right to condemn a small child who is forced to be chipped while at school. They, often, 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? Then you are deceived already.

That day that is coming 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.

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:

John 3:36 NASB “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.”

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 the wrath due us because of the sin built into us. Sin did not go away, but it’s impact, the wrath, went away when we looked to the cross where sin hung and died.

Why then are some continuing to migrate toward the 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 nations down to third world nation status for the purposes of population reduction, we can expect to see Islam filling our streets with violence also. It seems like there is nothing you can do doesn’t it? But that is not the case. 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 which parted the Red Sea and drown the Egyptian army in the same ocean as they tried to cross it. This is the same word that brought fire down from heaven to consume God’s enemies. This is the same word of power that opened up the earth to 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 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 relationship with Jesus Christ will be enumerable. 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 breath may cry out their love for the Savior. Their actions are their deeds and these acts of kindness follow them into eternity for a remembrance.

Those that embrace a judgmental, unforgiving God typically have problems with God showing people mercy. 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 have not been 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 looked 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.

Posted in End times, In Christ, Prophetic, Revelation | Tagged antichrist, Belief, Bible, Christ, end times, Faith, future, grace, Heaven, Islam, Israel, Jesus Christ, Jews, last days, Mercy, prophecy, Revelation, the nations, wrath. | Leave a comment

Being destroyed because you rejected knowledge

Posted on 04/07/2016 by remso

This has been on my mind almost every day as I watch anonymous planes fill the skies with poisonous chemicals, and while our government pushes us to vaccinate our children with vaccines which have been associated with autism and death. All the while, the rich sit back in their comfortable office chairs plotting how to remove more people from the earth.

One day my girlfriend exclaimed, “Who is doing this to us; it seems as though no one in government wants to admit they know anything. There has to be a shadow government that is running things, for no one could make such irrational decisions unless it is intentional.”

Every bit of this destructive espionage is spelled out in scripture and falls under the category of Babylon.

Revelation 14:6-8 ESV Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. (7) And he said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (8) Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”

“Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people.”

A brother in Christ, an intelligent man who retired early and last I know attended Talbot school of Theology, lashed out at me because I said, there is nothing that restrains Christ’s return for his body. My friend began reciting statistics and numbers to spell out and define the unreached people groups around the world. Although then, I could not remember where this statement was found, I told him that scripture spells out that an angel, on several occasions, broadcasts the gospel to every tongue throughout the globe. He responded back with, “I have never read that.” I learned several things about my friend, in that moment:

That he had spent far too much of his life willing to let someone spoon feed him his religion.
That reading his bible for himself was not something he did at that time.
And lastly, because he had admitted it, I knew he had an aversion and distaste for the Revelation.

So, yes, an angel covers the earth with the eternal gospel but what does that mean? The word they translated as eternal is aiōnios / ahee-o’-nee-os without beginning and end, that which always has been and always will be. The message then is the same message that He has told people since time began. The Messiah will come and there will be a peace with the eternal Father.

“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come, and worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”

While this does not specifically convey what I said, eventually, isn’t peace the underlying theme?

“Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.””

As of this writing, I can assure you that Babylon is not fallen. But then, there is God’s opinion:

Romans 4:17 .. God, who .. calls those things which be not as though they were.

It will happen.

Start talking about the mark of the beast and this is probably what you will hear:

Those that accept the mark of the beast condemns themselves to hell.
The mark is a chip
And it is all associated with the number 666.

You know what these are? Conjecture twisted traditions and misunderstandings. Let’s see if scripture can explain or give us some clarity.

Revelation 14:9-11 ESV And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, (10) he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. (11) And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”

“If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,”

So it’s not just one thing that brings you down, is it. You have to worship the beast and its image as well.

How many of you know who or what the beast is? Yeah, that is what I thought, none of us do. We do not know because we have been led around by foolish conjecture, our refusal to pursue truth through reasonable men, and our laziness in reading God’s word for ourselves.

Hosea 4:6 ESV My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

Is that what you dreamed of – being destroyed because you rejected knowledge? I did not think so. We all have had dreams and goals, and none of them included our own destruction. Then how about we turn this train we are riding, that is going downhill, fully loaded, with no brakes, around. It is what this life in Christ is all about.

Did you know that the Hebrew word also implies cunning? Webster’s dictionary shows cunning to mean: Knowing; skillful; experienced; well-instructed.

yâda‛ /yaw-dah’ is A primitive root; to know (properly to ascertain by seeing); used in used in a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and inferentially (including observation, care, recognition; and causatively instruction.

When you start putting the pieces of this puzzle called “the end times” together, you will see that during the time we mistakenly call the “tribulation” – the time of God’s wrath, there will come an event 1260 days into this period, in which a person called: another beast; the false prophet; Islam’s Jesus, will set up an image of the beast in the rebuilt temple, cause it to talk and make everyone worship it.

So, now you have a worship compliance with the first beast, quite possibly represented by a man. (Think Islam.) If it is not a man and it turns out to be Allah, then you will have a mandatory and compliant worship of a fallen angel, a demon. Add to that an image that is supposed to represent either a man, or Allah, whom no one has seen, and now it talks. [Consider audio-animatronics like you might find at Disneyland.]

The third aspect of this is to take a mark or indicator.

Is this a new or isolated idea? NO! Hitler loved the idea as well and every hated group had some form of marker. Jews Polish and homosexuals, millions got flagged for death.

A crowd marked as Jews

The star of David indicating not only that the wearer was a Jew, but mandatory compliance.

Islam too has a system for showing compliance, if they allow you to comply and based on

Indicators showing compliance with Islam.

what we have seen as ISIS has swept through the Middle East, compliance has been seen as weakness resulting in them killing you anyway.

Wearing head and arm bands

One of the arguments that get thrown in our faces as people try to come up with reasons to reject God, is, how could a loving God send people to eternal punishment?

But consider, after all, God has done to find, rescue and restore us, only to have us give ourselves over to a defeated foe – Satan, and whatever entity this beast is, how God must feel. The man was created with a free choice; that ability to choose was very costly, but God not only had a plan but a method of complete restoration for those who would accept it. This time of wrath upon the earth is really meant to drive people back to God. I know many will not accept that, now, or later. They then are apparently deemed to be followers of another god, Satan. In the end, all will follow their leader into his eternity whether it be heaven or hell.

Posted in End times, Prophetic, Revelation | Tagged antichrist, Bible, end times, God, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, last days, muslim, prophecy, Revelation, Scripture, the image of the beast, the mark of the beast, worship the beast | Leave a comment

The association with something rising out of the sea is an easy one for the Jew. Revelation 13:1

Posted on 03/30/2016 by remso

Revelation chapter twelve ends with the dragon/Satan doing what looks like a retreat.

Revelation 12:17 ESV Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Don’t ever think the enemy is retreating or asking for a peace treaty. If he pauses, it is only to change strategy or reload his weapons.

The Good News bible did an interesting thing, they included an excerpt of Revelation 12:18 I assume for clarity but it works.

Rev 13:1 (12:18) (And the dragon stood on the seashore.) Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads; on each of its horns there was a crown, and on each of its heads there was a name that was insulting to God.

You will come to realize that the Holy Spirit does nothing by random whim. Every word and how they are placed is intentional. Therefore, it is up to us to learn the intention.

Let’s start with this:

The bible is a Jewish oriented book
Written, at first, to Jewish converts for the most part.
That the Revelation is prophecy; and, Jews are not the least bit interested in something that cannot be backed up.

Consider Abram (his name when God began appearing to him): God lays out the goal and plan of bringing all men back to him and starts the commitment by stating, “as for me”. God would carry out his role regardless of what the man, Abram would do.

So, what does God do? He declares and then he does, establishing a pattern. A pattern that could be trusted. Our approach to reading the Revelation is no different. Since we are fortunate enough to be grafted in as unlearned gentiles we need to find where the pattern began.

No one is convicted, or convinced without the testimony of at least two witnesses. Therefore, somewhere in scripture, there is corroborating evidence.

Let’s consider the beast rising out of the sea.

Revelation 13:1 ESV And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.

The association with something rising out of the sea is an easy one for the Jew. This was an part of their history and salvation; and, a mandatory part of their education.

Isaiah 63:11 ESV Then he remembered the days of old, of Moses and his people. Where is he who brought them up out of the sea with the shepherds of his flock? Where is he who put in the midst of them his Holy Spirit,

All Israel and a few outsiders (such as Caleb) received deliverance from Egypt by following God’s command and walking through a the sea that God parted and dried adequately so that over a million people could walk across what would have been a muddy bottom. God deemed this process as coming out of the sea.

For our second witness, we have the prophecies of Daniel.

Daniel 7:2-3 ESV Daniel declared, “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. (3) And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

Once again, though the language is Chaldean, the word means sea, as in noisy surf. If Daniel saw these things in a dream, and there is nothing on earth physically equal, then we are talking about demons as the primary thing that motivates the world powers or leaders they equate to.

Since God can do this any way he chooses, the four that Daniel saw, may, or may not be the same thing that we see in Revelation 16. If it is, then Daniel has seen the beginnings of the first four kingdoms and will live under the rule of three of them.

Think about Daniel for a moment.

Taken captive at a time when he would have probably been getting married, he is most likely castrated, ending all hopes of ever being a daddy, and, effectively curtailing the need to escape. In spite of all that Daniel works wholeheartedly for Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom. While under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar Daniel interprets a dream about a large statue with a golden head. This head parallels the first of the four beasts he later saw and is explained by an angel as being the Babylonian kingdom. Daniel outlived Nebuchadnezzar and somehow maintains his place under the Medo-Persian and Chaldean empires. This alone should give us tremendous insight into whom some of the others are as we now know the identities of three of those empires portrayed by the statue.

This beast may not be coming out of a sea at all.

Another theory and I have espoused it as well, is that the sea represents a sea of people. While that may be, the term itself, which Strong’s concordance indicates means salt. That would tend to lend itself to a region and the qualities of that region I would think.

Thayer’s definition states that the term is used specifically for the Mediterranean Sea or the Red Sea. If you have an open mind about this, then you can see the possibilities of these beasts being demonic (think fallen angel and this entire scenario will make more sense to you.) To give more credence to what I just said, remember that scripture tells us that four angels were bound and placed in the Euphrates river until their appointed time. So, it is not that far-fetched to envision an angel called the beast coming out of the Red Sea, is it.

“with ten horns and seven heads, with ten crown on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.”

We already saw this in Revelation chapter 12. However, in chapter 12 it is not called a beast; it is called a red dragon.

Revelation 12:3 KJV And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

Because we are intelligent and have considered the context of chapter 12, we know the red dragon is Satan. We can then say that what we see here is one of two things, and perhaps both:

That these are demonic kingdoms
Or, that they were completely motivated and empowered by Satan.

We also know from chapter 12 that the dragon had three purposes:

Kill the man-child, Jesus.
Pursue Israel – the woman.

And to make war with the remnant of her seed. (Keep in mind that we Christians are grafted in and, therefore, targets as well.)

“seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.”

Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian kingdom, which was toppled by, Darius the Median, and, eventually Cyrus the Persian.

What was the common thread?

They were all Assyrian. Three empires, operating in unity and purpose under one central Assyrian head. Does this have possibilities? Yes.

Who took over next?

The Grecian empire.

Now we have a dramatic change, but what happens? Alexander dies and there ensues a power struggle. The result is that four generals run the empire until two rule supreme – Seleucid and Ptolemy. And they only maintain peace between them because of an intermarriage between the families.

But are we not looking for seven empires?

Scripture tells us that seven power structures come into being. That does not mean that the empires are contiguous, but they could be. We have extraordinary historical clarity from Babylon to the Grecian empire, but beyond that is vague, unless you do your homework.

Daniel 9:26 is a verse that seems clear and yet is greatly misunderstood. Why? Because it is attributed to Rome and assumes incorrectly that we should be looking to some leader coming out of the Roman empire to stand as the Antichrist. What does the verse say?

Daniel 9:26 ESV And after the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall be cut off and shall have nothing. And the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. Desolations are decreed.

Historically, we know that Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed by troops, operating under the Roman flag, under the control of Titus Vespasian, one of the Caesars, in 70 A.D.; Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 24 that this day would come. But what came in 70 A.D., was only a shadow of a future event.

Focus, for a moment on the phrase, “the people of the prince who is to come”.

Historians, Josephus and Tacitus, both documented that as the Roman empire swept through a region the defeated were forced into military service. They had little choice in the matter. Josephus tells us that the majority of the troops in Jerusalem, marching under the Roman banner, were men from Arabia and Syria; and, they had a vile hatred for the Jews. Many killed off the escaping Jews, searching their bellies for swallowed gold.

Because the Jews were attempting to fight back it sounds as though much of the city was burning, including the gates of the temple as the Romans attempted to quell the rebellion. Josephus documented much of this but it is lengthy. You find the details in the Wars of the Jews, book 5, chapter 13; and, book 4, chapter 6.

So, when it comes to the destruction of the temple, and, identifying who the people of the prince that shall come are, you need to know some background information. You cannot successfully understand end times events with flannel board lesson you learned as a child.

Titus was well aware of what these so-called troops were doing and their lousy attitudes toward the Jews. According to Josephus, Titus tried to stop their barbarism but the Arabians and Syrians did not seem to care.

“Moreover, do the Arabians and Syrians now first of all begin to govern themselves as they please, and to indulge their appetites in a foreign war, and then, out of their barbarity in murdering men, and out of their hatred to the Jews, get it ascribed to the Romans?”….. But it appeared that the love of money was too hard for all their dread of punishment,... Josephus, Book 5, Chapter 13

Yes, the order was originally given to use fire to drive the Jews that were using the temple as a stronghold, out, but then the directive changed, and they were to quench the fires inside. With that, Titus went off to rest.

“… when Titus had given orders to the commanders that the rest of their forces should lie still; but that they should make use of such as were most courageous in this attack. So he commanded that the chosen men that were taken out of the cohorts should make their way through the ruins, and quench the fire.”

“So Titus retired into the tower of Antonia, and resolved to storm the temple the next day, early in the morning, with his whole army, and to encamp round about the holy house. … although these flames took their rise from the Jews themselves, and were occasioned by them; for upon Titus’s retiring, the seditious lay still for a little while, and then attacked the Romans again, when those that guarded the holy house fought with those that quenched the fire that was burning the inner [court of the] temple; but these Romans put the Jews to flight, and proceeded as far as the holy house itself. At which time one of the soldiers, without staying for any orders, and without any concern or dread upon him at so great an undertaking, and being hurried on by a certain divine fury, snatched somewhat out of the materials that were on fire, and being lifted up by another soldier, he set fire to a golden window, through which there was a passage to the rooms that were round about the holy house, on the north side of it. ….”

It is blatantly obvious that Caesar attempted to stop the destruction of the temple based upon what this next paragraph tells us.

“And now a certain person came running to Titus, and told him of this fire, as he was resting himself in his tent after the last battle; whereupon he rose up in great haste, and, as he was, ran to the holy house, in order to have a stop put to the fire; after him followed all his commanders, and after them followed the several legions, in great astonishment; so there was a great clamor and tumult raised, as was natural upon the disorderly motion of so great an army. Then did Caesar, both by calling to the soldiers that were fighting, with a loud voice, and by giving a signal to them with his right hand, ordered them to quench the fire. But they did not hear what he said, though he spake so loud, having their ears already dimmed by a greater noise another way; nor did they attend to the signal he made with his hand neither, as still some of them were distracted with fighting, and others with passion. But as for the legions that came running thither, neither any persuasions nor any threatenings could restrain their violence, but each one’s own passion was his commander at this time; … and when they were come near the holy house, they made as if they did not so much as hear Caesar’s orders to the contrary; but they encouraged those that were before them to set it on fire.

And now, since Caesar was no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and believed about it. But as the flame had not as yet reached to its inward parts, but was still consuming the rooms that were about the holy house, and Titus supposing what the fact was, that the house itself might yet he saved, he came in haste and endeavored to persuade the soldiers to quench the fire, and gave order to Liberalius the centurion, and one of those spearmen that were about him, to beat the soldiers that were refractory with their staves, and to restrain them; yet were their passions too hard for the regards they had for Caesar, and the dread they had of him who forbade them, as was their hatred of the Jews, and a certain vehement inclination to fight them, too hard for them also. Moreover, the hope of plunder induced many to go on, as having this opinion, that all the places within were full of money, and as seeing that all round about it was made of gold. And besides, one of those that went into the place prevented Caesar, when he ran so hastily out to restrain the soldiers, and threw the fire upon the hinges of the gate, in the dark; whereby the flame burst out from within the holy house itself immediately, when the commanders retired, and Caesar with them, and when nobody any longer forbade those that were without to set fire to it. And thus was the holy house burnt down, without Caesar’s approbation.”

Were they operating under the Roman flag? Yes, but as you can see Titus was unable to rein them in and the temple was burned in opposition to Caesar’s orders; that would imply that this action was against Roman approval as well.

What we Christians like to say is, that the prince was Caesar and that the troops were Roman, therefore, the people who are going to come will come from Europe. Can you not see that history records the opposite. That Rome had little to do with the direct destruction of the temple, but Arabians and Syrians did. Syrian, by the way, is a generalization for those forced into duty from the Assyrian nations to the North of Israel.

Revelation 13:1 BBE And he took his place on the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten crowns, and on his heads unholy names.

Thayer’s definition of diadēma or crown is this: “a blue band marked with white which Persian kings used to bind on the turban or tiara.” This could be huge because the Persian kings are now called Iranian. And, the greatest threat to civilization now is Islam. A product of the Middle Eastern world.

One last thing before I go. Depending upon the translation you will get unholy names or this:

Revelation 13:1 AMP [AS] I stood on the sandy beach, I saw a beast coming up out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads. On his horns he had ten royal crowns (diadems) and blasphemous titles (names) on his heads.

Jesus told the Pharisees that they had crossed the line, blaspheming, when they attributed the works that he did to the devil.

Luke 12:10 ESV And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

In what way do religions then blaspheme? Since attributing Godly things, including names, to someone or something other than God when they should be, is blaspheming.

Islam calls him Allah. Why would that be a problem? Because Islam was not created until 600 years after Christ’s death and resurrection. Allah is the name given to Mohammad by an angel that was trying to kill him, and that angel identified itself as Gabriel, according to Mohammad. Is it possible for an angel to lie? Certainly, Satan did. The other side of this would come from scripture that tells us that there is no other God but God and that we are not to worship man’s creations.

Exodus 20:1-5 ESV And God spoke all these words, saying, (2) “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (3) “You shall have no other gods before me. (4) “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me,

I can assume that worshiping something other than God would then be blasphemy.

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, then that tells me you are an avid reader of God’s word and in an active pursuit of this love affair, we have with Christ. What’s that you say? Your beliefs are private and you do not like to read. That is a shame. That sort of makes you like the ten virgins of Matthew 25. 50% of those invited only had enough oil to get them there. After demanding that the others give them of their oil and being denied, those lacking had to go find an all night market in hopes of getting some oil. While they obtained oil, it was too little, too late and they were shut out.

I wish I could tell you all the implications in that, but I cannot. What I can tell you is that Christ, out of love for us all, gave his life on the cross and purchased, not only our freedom from sin but removed all judgment from us. There will be a day, at the Bema seat of Christ where the question will arise, “what did you do with what I gave you?” Many respond to that with, what did Christ give me? The first response I have to that is, freedom. Dying, William Wallace cried out, “you can take my life, but you cannot take my freedom. Why is that possible? Because our freedom was secured on the cross. There is something blatantly obvious though and it becomes glaringly apparent if you spend any time in a recovery group. There are many people there who do not seem so free. As a matter of fact, they are constantly pulled back into their destructive lifestyles.

Because we can be pulled back into our destructive lifestyles, does this make God’s grace of no effect? No!

Some would even say (and they have), you should never preach a grace gospel as it is the hell fire and brimstone message that keeps people on the straight and narrow path. Really. What if that kind of thinking borders on blasphemy, as it ignores the price Christ paid for us. What if, that kind of thinking is no different from witchcraft as it attempts to control and manipulate you.

Paul wrote to church body in Rome and said,

Romans 13:14 ESV But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Read chapter 13 of Romans. That is how we are to live, by loving our neighbor as ourselves.

Posted in End times, Prophetic, Revelation, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged Beast, blasphemy, Christianity, Cults, end times, future, Islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, Jews, last days, out of the sea, Revelation, Satan, seven heads, ten horns | Leave a comment

A discussion about the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Posted on 03/23/2016 by remso

The morning bible study started out with a discussion about the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Revelation 19:7-8 NASB “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.” (8) 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.

The general opinion is that this wedding supper is a feast, much like what Isaiah describes, and that the church will be the guests at the supper.

Where do we get these crazy ideas?

What if I told you that I have never had clarity on this subject. Seeing as the leaders took us to Revelation 19 to attempt to sell their point, it was easy to grasp what the marriage supper of the lamb consisted of out of Revelation 19 and the perceived context. Considering that, in effect, we have two leaders (one seems to be the watchdog over the other) anything can happen, and it did.

One of the men, a man deemed knowledgeable, adamantly declared, “we have to eat, and Jesus had to eat; the fact that he ate fish on the beach with the disciples proves it.” Because he said this many seemed to groan in response, that must be true then.

Dig hard and you will not find anything in scripture that backs up the need for an eternal man to eat. Eating, it seems, is purely a pleasure at this point. As I thought about this, I was reminded of Adam and Eve in the garden. Edible things were pleasant to the eyes and “good” for food, but this does not prove my point either. Perhaps looking at this from the standpoint that man was first made a spiritual being. However, he did not remain a spiritual being only as God put flesh on him. Now thinking about Jesus, He voluntarily put on flesh, became a man and maintains that humanness still today, and, therefore, may have to eat. The problem I have then is not that we might have a need to eat, but the presumption that this is really some sort of fancy dinner when it is a bloody and horrific battle.

With eyes wide open let us continue.

Revelation 19:9 ESV And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

Thinking as a Jew might what would be the association I could make? Isaiah 25:6 ESV “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” At least, we have the imagery of a dinner. However, we quickly find ourselves turning our heads away.

Look up the word supper and you get the Greek word deipnon/dipe’-non. It is from the same as G1160; dinner, that is, the chief meal (usually in the evening): – feast, supper. If I pursue the reference to the Strong’s number G1160 I get this: dapane/dap-an’-ay. From dapto (to devour); expense (as consuming): – cost.

This idea of supper now carries the connotation of the bride acting savagely, for the word devour by definition means to ruin or destroy. While that may not at first make sense, it will when I consider who else is called to this supper given by the lamb.

Here is what Isaiah describes:

Isaiah 25:6 ESV On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

It is all about context.

It is not a lavish dinner where you get to sit and fulfill your selfish, glutenous desires, and the context of Revelation 19 reveals that.

Revelation 19:17 KJV And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

So, even though Isaiah 25:6 describes a lavish feast, that is not what the context suggests here. In human comprehension this is disgusting:

Revelation 19:18 KJV That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

What is clear is that this is the result of a horrendous battle.

Revelation 19:19 KJV “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”

So, who is invited to this feast?

Revelation 19:9 KJV And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

“Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb”

Since we already comprehend that the bride has made herself ready, you would assume the bride is one of the called. Revelation 19:7 tells us, “his Bride has made herself ready.”

Some of the guests include:

Flesh eating birds.

Revelation 19:17 ESV Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,

Jesus himself, of course.

Revelation 19:11 ESV Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.

The armies of heaven.

Since we have this declaration from Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica, we know that this army includes followers of Christ who are already in heaven with him.

1 Thessalonians 3:13 ESV (13) so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

The nations.

I try to tell people, as much as possible, that there are only three people groups in scripture: The Jews/Israel; the nations; and, the church/the body of Christ. What does that make the nations in this instance? All those not belonging to either of the other two.

Revelation 19:15 ESV From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

What is on the menu?

“The flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.”

(17)Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, (18) to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” (19) And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. Revelation 19:17-19 ESV

This “feast” is nowhere close to what Isaiah described and must then be taken to be symbolic.

The church is not the bride.

I challenged one of the men with this idea and he immediately went back to Revelation 19:7 to try to make his point.

Revelation 19:7 ESV “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;”

As a stand alone sentence, this does not define who the bride is. As a matter of fact, nowhere in the New Testament will you find the church referred to as the bride. All references to the bride come out of the Revelation with one exception and that is in John’s gospel where John the Baptist is speaking.

John 3:29 NASB “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.

Because John the Baptist speaks in the present tense, he reveals that the coming for the bride has happened with the appearance of the Messiah. There is a problem here because the bride rejected the groom, the Messiah, and still does. (By the way – Jesus had already been baptized by John and was already actively ministering when John said this.)

All other references to the bride are found in the Revelation, and two of the most revealing are found in chapter 21.

Revelation 21:2 ESV And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

That in itself does not convince me but leads my mind to reconsider this concept of a bride. What does convince me is this.

Revelation 21:9-11 ESV Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (10) And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (11) having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Here, in Revelation 21:9-11, is the bride and without question it is the holy city Jerusalem.

Certainly Isaiah speaks of a time, at the end of wrath, when God will establish peace once again. And, though we can apply almost everything to the church as well, it is rather specific in dealing with the restoration of Israel, his people. We know this because of two declarations made within the paragraph – “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.“

Isaiah 25:7-9 ESV And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. (8) He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. (9) It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

The bride is Israel, who still to this day awaits the Messiah.

Posted in End times, Prophetic, Revelation, Thoughts on scripture | Tagged battle of Armageddon, Bible, Book of Revelation, Bride of Christ, clothed in fine linen, From his mouth comes a sharp sword, Israel, last days, marriage supper of the lamb, Messiah, prophecy, Revelation, the bride | Leave a comment

He hasn’t much time, and he knows it.

Posted on 03/23/2016 by remso

Isaiah, prophesying about an entity and calling it “the king of Tyre”, also a real person, puts the king of Tyre in the garden of Eden, addresses him the anointed cherub and speaks of how perfect he was. Common sense would tell you that this had nothing to do with the literal king because he was never in the garden, nor was he a cherub. It might be speaking of a fallen angel, now referred to as a demon, but the most logical chance is that this is speaking of Satan/Lucifer.

Because we assume that the garden incident – you know, the one which brought about the corruption of every human being, happened so quickly, we must assume that Satan’s transition and mutiny happened a short time before the fall of man. We can also assume that after man’s banishment from “the garden” Satan made a concerted effort to kill anything that looked like it might carry the seed that would bring the Messiah. This, in a nutshell, is the mystery.

Perhaps this explains what almost sounds like an apology.

Revelation 12:12 ESV “Therefore, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to you, O earth and sea, for the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short!”

It seems, in the scheme of things, these segments of time are nothing more than a blink in God’s eyes. Consider how Daniel asks for understanding of a dream he had and the explanation comes like this:

Daniel 9:24 ESV “Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.”

The LASB says this about the 70 weeks,

“some scholars see this figure of 70 weeks as a figurative time period. Others, however, interpret this time period as a literal 70 weeks or 490 years, observing that Christ’s death came at the end of the 69 weeks (i.e., 483 years later).”

I take it literally. What we come to understand is that the part that says, “to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a holiest place” has not happened yet. For those who think it might have, just ask yourself, are we living in an everlasting righteousness yet? The answer is NO. So, the distance between the 69th and 70th year was an indeterminate time, known only by God.

Religious folk love to quote the verse from Matthew 24 that says, “no man knows the day or the hour.” The problem is, they take the verse out of context. The context actually begins in Matthew 22 when at his instructions they went and obtained the young colt and it’s mother, placed Jesus on the colt and walked him into town.

The context continues with much drama, violence and an exit past the temple.

The disciples did not understand Jesus mission and reasons for being on the earth, they only knew what every other good Jew knew, that the Messiah would come some day and clean house, making all things right. So when Jesus did not do that and instead began violently throwing the flea market salesmen out of the temple courts, the disciples were completely lost, as were the chief priests and elders. A raging verbal battle ensued for two days. Finally, the yelling stopped and the disciples began to move with Jesus to the mount of Olives. At a loss for an intelligent response to what they had saw, the disciples merely pointed out the magnificence of the temple as they went by.

Everything Jesus had said and done was meant to show them that He was the Messiah and they could not comprehend that truth yet; they only saw the temple – the source of Jewish pride and one of the main things that pulled the eyes of the Jew away from the truth. This may be one of the reasons that God split the veil in the temple.

Jesus responded to their statement about the temple with:

Matthew 24:2 MKJV And Jesus said to them, Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, There shall not be left here one stone on another that shall not be thrown down.

That surely seemed like an impossibility but they had to know and so a short time later they asked him two pointed and very Jewish-oriented questions.

Matthew 24:3 MKJV And as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the world?

It is in response to these questions that he says,

Matthew 24:36 MKJV But of that day and hour no one knows, no, not the angels of Heaven, but only My Father.

He is telling them that no one knows when he will physically return and make all things right. In reading about the end times, we see terminology such as times-time-and half a time, referring to 1260 days or three-and-one-half years. But, we all seem to have this solid idea in our head that God has to hold fast to any of it. Can we pinpoint the moment that the timing of God’s wrath will come? NO. As a matter of fact, we could already be in it. Just because the Antichrist makes a seven-year treaty with many, does that mean God must honor some man’s timetable? NO. So, in truth, we do not know with precision when Jesus will come riding back to the earth on a white horse.

Are we in the darkness, unable to comprehend the times and the seasons upon us? NO.

1 Thessalonians 5:3-5 ESV (3) While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. (4) But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. (5) For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

Since I advocate that we think like a Jew, then we too should go with the two witness concept demanded by God. Speaking to his own disciples, not yet filled the Holy Spirit of God, that aspect that teaches us all things and shows things to come, Jesus said:

Mark 4:11 ESV And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables,

They, of all people, would have had the inside track to knowledge as they walked with God himself; and yet they were clueless. We do not have to be clueless, do we, and yet religious zealots will oppose what I just stated, even when confronted with scripture that proves them wrong. Does anyone else see this as a problem?

Where were we? Ah, yes, “the devil has come down to you in great wrath, because he knows that his time is short.”

Revelation 12:13 ESV “And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.”

The woman is Israel, but, could it also apply to the followers of Christ who has been grafted into the vine? The dragon has certainly done his fair share of pursuing believers. Israel really pertains to the Jews, so it seems reasonable to consider what has become of Israel since Jesus birth. In short, tumult. Controlled by Rome for many years the region seems to have been filled with insurrections and Rome crushing those insurrections. Thousands were slaughtered and impaled on poles as a warning to others. Islam comes into full force around 640 A.D.” with the Rashidun Caliphate. Israel increasingly took on a Muslim flavor. Even as the British took control it seems there was no resemblance of sanity as violence continually filled the streets of Jerusalem. There were struggles with the Arab community and struggles against the British as Jews strained to regain some form of homeland again.

In the Balfour Declaration (November 1917) a letter from the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour to Baron Walter Rothschild, a leader of the British Jewish community, was transmitted to the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, with the intent of the establishing a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. As you can imagine, this did not go over well with the people who now claimed Palestine as their homeland. The Balfour Declaration was, if nothing else, an encouragement. Eventually, Israel fought for and gained its independence as a nation in 1948.

So we see, that at no time has the dragon/Satan, ever stopped in his pursuit of the Jewish people.

As you are reading through chapter twelve the chronological clock takes a huge jump forward in time.

Revelation 12:14 ESV “But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.”

“a time, and times, and half a time.” This terminology, when we find it, is only referring to events occurring at the end of time.

Prior to the birth of the Messiah we see this:

Revelation 12:4 ESV His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.

Having missed his opportunity Satan goes into a constant and deadly pursuit of those who carry the name Jew, and of the Lord. Unfortunately, this will continue until the Jesus physically comes back, eliminates those who choose to fight and tosses Satan into the bottomless pit for a thousand years, while tossing the Antichrist, and the false prophet into the lake of fire for their eternal damnation.

I can never read this without picturing a rather deadly end for Israel. We are told that two-thirds of Israel will be killed. Fortunately, we serve a merciful God and this happens:

“And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” (Revelation 12:14 KJV)

Once again I beseech you to think as much as a Jew as possible and remember that no testimony is valid without two or three witnesses. This is no different in prophecy, which this is. For God to speak these words bears witness through the symbolic speech he had used already.

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

Deuteronomy 32:9-12 ESV (9) But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage. (10) “He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. (11) Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, (12) the LORD alone guided him, no foreign god was with him.

Let’s assume we do not know if this is literal or symbolic, does it really matter? What matters is that God always has a plan, and his plan includes saving a remnant of Israel. Where the place is, is also speculation and many suggest that Israel will run to Petra. Listen, having watched many cowboy movies as a child, the bad guys would always be waiting up on the edges of the canyon to shoot those who tried to escape. But, as you might be seeing yourself, God is not terribly concerned with the bad guys.

However, it is the serpent that pours out this flood. I am not so sure that Satan has creative abilities like God but maybe he does. It could also be that he breaks a dam or something. Regardless, it is meant to take Israel off the map.

Revelation 12:15 ESV “The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood.”

What would be the corresponding scriptural equivalents?

Isaiah 8:7-8 ESV therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, (8) and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”

Obviously, God has played a role in washing away the wrongs done by men during their existence upon the earth. One of the first events that demonstrated that a Godless lifestyle could and would be done away with is found in Genesis.

Genesis 6:17 ESV For behold, I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.

In both cases, it is God that is bringing the judgment, but in Revelation 12:15 it is Satan. Once again, we struggle to decide if this is literal or symbolic, but I can guarantee you that the Genesis flood was literal.

Revelation 12:16 KJV “And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”

As you read your bible, how many times does the earth open up swallowing people? Several, correct? God had the earth open and swallow many of Israel’s number as they rebelled in the desert; he swallowed up the Philistines on several occasions, and it was the earth that opened up and poured out some of the flood waters that cleansed the earth in Genesis. So, the concept and validity of such a statement are rather common to the Jewish mind.

With this look into verse 17, we finish up chapter twelve.

“Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.” (Revelation 12:17 ESV)

This, should at a minimum, cause us ask about the timing.

If this is a throw back in time, then when did this flood take place? Since we really have no evidence of such a flood, then it implies something more spiritual than physical. If it is still speaking of a future event, and I want to get an idea of when this is going to happen, then I need to apply some focus to events pertaining to Israel and this time frame 1260 days.

Give some consideration to this as I try to show a timeline that represents the time of wrath.

A conceptual timeline of the years of wrath.

What’s my point? The rapid changes initiating the removal of the church from the earth and all the associated events that go along with that event could happen any day. What happens within days or almost simultaneously will be life changing for the commoners, of which I am one. Grief will rise exponentially, but then, so will the spirit of God. I believe that the majority who call ourselves Christians have done a poor job of showing the world what Godly people look like, and trust me on this, it has little with acting like you are uber religious. I prefer to think it is acting more like Elijah the prophet. Regardless, keep your eyes, if you can, on the streets of Jerusalem, for there will two witnesses, sent from God standing there. Follow their lead.
Turn your hearts toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not worship the beast; worship his image when it gets set up in the temple; and, do not take his mark. Stay committed to these three things at all cost. Failure to do so will separate you from God permanently.

Posted in End times, Prophetic, Revelation | Tagged antichrist, Belief, Bible, Christ, Christianity, end times, God, Israel, Jesus, Jews, last days, muslim, prophecy, rapture, Revelation | Leave a comment

A Voice in the Wilderness

A study on Matthew 25. Chapter one – He who reigns in His glory.

A typical question from my Sunday morning adult study.

They refused to change their hearts. Revelation 16:8,9

Having now had many plagues, poisonings, and disasters befall them, these people still do not get it.

Moving on.

People do not make treaties unless there is some potential or real strife going on.

Those who get locked out, are now subject to the wrath that is coming

All that being said, let’s move on to Revelation 16:2 and see how far we can get.

Let’s end this “study” with this.

Will we have to go through the tribulation?

What other explanations are there?

Having lived through my fair share of hell fire preaching.

Being destroyed because you rejected knowledge

The association with something rising out of the sea is an easy one for the Jew. Revelation 13:1

Let’s consider the beast rising out of the sea.

“with ten horns and seven heads, with ten crown on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.”

A discussion about the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Where do we get these crazy ideas?

It is all about context.

So, who is invited to this feast?

What is on the menu?

The church is not the bride.

He hasn’t much time, and he knows it.

As you are reading through chapter twelve the chronological clock takes a huge jump forward in time.

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A rebuttal to a post I made several years ago. Revelation 13:7

We need to have an enthusiasm for the rapture. Scriptures to back up a pre- tribulation rapture.

A commentary on John 1:45-46. We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph

Answers for Rick. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Revelation 22.

Scriptures that speak to our knowing, within a tight window of opportunity, when Jesus will return for His bride.

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Having now had many plagues, poisonings, and disasters befall them, these people still do not get it.

Moving on.

People do not make treaties unless there is some potential or real strife going on.

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All that being said, let’s move on to Revelation 16:2 and see how far we can get.

Let’s end this “study” with this.

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What other explanations are there?

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Let’s consider the beast rising out of the sea.

“with ten horns and seven heads, with ten crown on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.”

Related articles

Share this:

Where do we get these crazy ideas?

It is all about context.

So, who is invited to this feast?

What is on the menu?

The church is not the bride.

Related articles

Share this:

As you are reading through chapter twelve the chronological clock takes a huge jump forward in time.

Related articles

Share this:

Translate

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Top Posts & Pages

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Recent Posts: A Voice in the Wilderness

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