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

A crowd marked as Jews

Jude

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.

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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.

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Now war arose in heaven.

Posted on 03/16/2016 by remso

If you are a follower of my posts then you know I move rather slowly. Revelation chapter 12 opens with: “a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

“a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

Having spent more than a few minutes looking into this, I believe we can say with confidence that this is Israel. Finally, after all, those years, Jesus is born. Look at this description:

“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,” Revelation 12:5 ESV

This was Paul’s message of hope, that the Messiah, the one who is to rule all the nations, has come.

Did they listen? Some did and because of that, we have the letters to the Ephesians, Galatians, Corinthians, and the letters to Timothy and the church at Thessalonica. The gospel message spread all over the world.

I suppose in God’s scheme of things 33 years is just a blink. The verse gives the impression that child being caught to God and to his throne happened almost instantly. Did you ever think about the impact this “child” made in the world in three short years? John said this of Jesus:

“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.” (Acts 10:38 ESV)

Wait a minute. How is he supposed to rule the nations if he got caught up to God? It would appear that the implications are that he is: alive; sitting on his throne; and, if I extrapolate, coming again to finish the job he started. That is really not a bad assumption considering we know from scripture that this is the game plan.

“Caught up”, that seems so subtle and gentle. I suppose that at that point it was, but the road to get there was brutal. Beaten by order of the Jewish high priest and then handed over to the Romans to have the flesh flailed off his body. Made then to carry his own cross beam and then get nailed to that same cross. None of this was subtle, nor pretty. Dead this Jesus was placed in a tomb and the tomb was sealed, only to find it open on the third day. When they saw him again he walked among them and ate with them. Shortly after presenting himself to them alive again, he was “caught up.”

The woman, Israel, then flees into the wilderness for 1,260 days.

“and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.” (Revelation 12:6 ESV)

So, let me get this straight. Immediately after the birth of Jesus, he gets caught up to heaven (that means he died and rose again) and Israel flees into the wilderness to hide in a protected condition for three and one-half years. I can tell you from reading about the birth of Jesus that few noticed and fewer cared. While it is clear that we are talking about Israel and the birth of the Messiah, this is not a tightly knit chronology. I know this because Israel does not flee until the abomination gets set up in the temple and the false prophet arises, and from the time of Christ’s death until his promised return for those who belong to him has currently been over 2000 years. This coincides with Daniel’s seventieth week.

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.”

Unfortunately, we only made it to the sixty-ninth week and then everything seems to have been put on hold.

I suppose you caught the time frame, 1,260 days. Yes, that equals three and one-half years, and there are only a couple of places you find reference to the time frames, both of them have to do with the last days, which, if we are not in them now, we are unreasonably close.
It is said that this place Israel flees to is Petra. What makes sense about that is that the earth swallows up a flood and I think I could picture that, but it is a narrow canyon and having watched enough cowboy westerns, you always get trapped by the bad guys there. Does it really matter what I think? No, because God’s plan will not be thwarted and a remnant of Israel will be saved.

Moving on. Again, if this is supposed to be a chronology, we have just jumped backward in time once again, all the way to what may have been near the beginnings of the earth. I say that because scripture tells us that the devil walked in the garden in a perfect state. I talked about this in some detail in my previous post, so I won’t carry on about it here, but I think it is important that you see it because I cannot remember anyone ever teaching about Satan including this.

“Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.” (Ezekiel 28:12-15 ESV)

Now war arose in heaven

If Satan, under the name of Lucifer, was in the garden and he was blameless something clearly happened between then and the deception of Eve by the serpent, in the garden.

The War in Heaven by Gustave Dore

The War in Heaven by Gustave Dore

Revelation 12:7-9 ESV Now war arose in heaven, Michael and his angels fighting against the dragon. And the dragon and his angels fought back, (8) but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (9) And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world–he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.”

Earlier we read:

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. (Revelation 12:4 ESV)

Perhaps this is merely another way to describe an incident; regardless, the result is the same. I need to address something here. We make a common mistake when we assume that this is indicative of some complete and utter destruction of Satan. If not that, then this is seen as the total banishment of Satan from heaven. If that were the case, then how is it that we can see this happening in Job.

“Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.” (Job 1:6 ESV)

Perhaps it is best to think of Satan being thrown to earth as him losing his position in heaven. Don’t get me wrong, a final, destructive end will come for Satan, but not yet.
Verse 8 seems to give us some clarity as to the condition of Satan.

“but he was defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. (Revelation 12:8 ESV)

Having been thrown out of heaven merely seems to mean he lost his place, position, or title.

You might think it was a reason to shout.

Revelation 12:10 ESV “And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”

Because we just read that Satan was thrown to earth, stripping him of his position in heaven, you might think that his moment of punishment had come and it was time to shout for joy, but that was not the case.

We really have to get past the assumptions we make and pay attention to the context. I told you that this was a cryptic history lesson, but it is certainly not chronological. If you have taken history in college you learn several things: One, history tends to be told from the perspective of the winner of the battle in most cases. And, two, it oft times makes more sense studying say, the American Civil War if you know what led up to that war. But you could, for example, be specifically interested in one particular battle, like the last major action of the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House which occurred on May 19, 1864, at the Harris Farm. The point being that we can look intentionally at moments in time independent of the overall picture.

The context of the Revelation is not meant to give you a history lesson, but to show you an unfolding of God’s mystery that is the culmination of all things; a gathering of those who are his; a punishment of those who continue to reject and fight against him, and the termination of Satan. Because of all that verse, 10 would be the victory shout heard as that page in history comes to a momentary close.

What would it mean to these voices in heaven to say, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God” if that was not the case? And, though we see him thrown down in verses 8 and 9, it is not his end. And, as I pointed out in the passage from Job, he was back before God a short time later, among other angels, accusing Job.

(Satan now spends all his time accusing the saints. Is what Satan says about me a lie, no, because I do those things and so do you, but the fact that Christ covered us with his blood and since we accepted that salvation it makes me his – I am in him. We call this being covered by the blood. God, from that point forward, sees me as justified, as though I had hung on that cross.)

As an evidence of where we are in the biblical time frame, I want to look at Revelation 12:11.

Revelation 12:11 ESV “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

But I have to ask myself if I understand this verse to be speaking of the martyred saints throughout the time of wrath or is it speaking of saints throughout all time?
Because the context of Revelation primarily has to do with the time of wrath, then I can ascertain that verse 11 is speaking about a time that is still in the future (though not too distant future.)

Let’s camp out here for a moment.

“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Our militaristic mentality tells us that you have not conquered much if you are dead. Is that a true assessment? I do not think so for several reasons:

1. Wars have been fought and sides have won, and yet scores of good men have died. Does the fact that people have died make them a loser? Not in the mind of the winners.
2. The militaristic mentality is not truth. Truth is, things hurt, and admitting that is not necessarily a bad thing.
3. Thirdly, God does not see death as a failure.

This group of people we find in heaven, rejoicing because justice is finally being served against Satan, are those who were martyred during this time of wrath. They are painfully aware that Satan had a role in their deaths.

Revelation 7:13-14 NASB (13) “Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?” (14) I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

How did they conquer?

“by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” This is really a two-part equation, not that they necessarily did both. The blood of the Lamb is understood to be Jesus blood; often, this is seen as that which was spilled on the cross. Obviously, there is more to the blood than merely spilling it, and the trail of blood may have begun when the chief priest ordered Jesus struck in the face.

The point I want to make here is that the way I see ISIS flooding into a town, blowing up the church, and taking the survivors captive, in many cases probably point several guns at you while shouting, give praise to Allah. It could be that simple. In that moment of time you merely, through tears, say no. The end result is that they kill you. Let’s take this one step further. Suppose they round you up, demand that you give praise to Allah (we will ignore all the tortuous things they do to you for now), and perhaps you say little, but you do not bow to Allah. What if in your rejection of Allah you are assenting to God and his ways? It’s just a question; but, what if you are not given time to speak, as Paul and Stephen did? Then the word of your testimony would have to be an ongoing aspect of your life.

I, for example, am not an outgoing evangelist, and could never compete with Pastor Greg Laurie and his big stadium crusades. But, I do publish my thoughts and messages on the internet, where they are read around the world. You might also find me talking about these same things at the place where we get our coffee, and I am not very quiet about my God.

There is, of course, a problem with all this. The government here in America monitors everything we do on the internet, and so I can guarantee you that I am a marked man. How do I respond to that? By continuing to try to open people’s eyes to the truth found in the Bible.

Here is the truth: God is love, this is His nature and character. I know many can’t believe that, using the argument about God ordering Israel to kill everything on many occasions.

Knowing who he really is, aside from tradition, requires a personal relationship, and that is entirely up to you. It begins with you asking Jesus into your life to make a permanent home. He then will quietly clean the place up.

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Questions we all seem to want an answer to. Chapter 10 in our journey through Revelation.

Posted on 03/09/2016 by remso

One of the questions we all seem to want an answer to is, who is this great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads?

Since we know that Ezekiel 28 addresses him as the king of Tyre and places him in the garden of Eden, and, that he awaits throughout all time as we know it, for a chance to catch and kill this promised savior of the world, that we are dealing with Satan when we think about the main body of the dragon.

Remember the old East Indian saying, how does one eat an elephant? A little bit at a time. With that in mind let’s take this a little bit at a time.

  • ten horns

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.

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

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

Where else do I get ten horns? Daniel chapter 7.

Daniel 7:1-7 ESV In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. (2) 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. (4) The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. (5) And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ (6) After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it. (7) After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

Continuing to focus on the number ten.

Daniel 2:30-44 ESV But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind. (31) “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. (32) The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze, (33) its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. (34) As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. (35) Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. (36) “This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation. (37) You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, (38) and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the children of man, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, making you rule over them all–you are the head of gold. (39) Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. (40) And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these. (41) And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay. (42) And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle. (43) As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay. (44) And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

Nebuchadnezzar's statue

Nebuchadnezzar’s statue

You cannot separate the toes from the feet as they are an integral part of the balance system, and most people have ten. So, here, in a most subtle way, we have the number ten again. Look up the word mixed and you will find something very revealing, the Chaldean word ar-ab’, meaning: to commingle: – mingle (self), mix. Contrast what little we know and understand about the Middle Eastern nations and scripture, because God had already told us what we would find there. God, in speaking about Ishmael, said,

Genesis 16:12 AMP And he [Ishmael] will be as a wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man’s hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.

Ten nations, mixed in so many ways, with one main purpose, struggle and warfare.

Daniel explained to Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold. The Babylonian empire was the head of gold – an empire. So let’s follow the logic. Since we know that the Babylonians were overthrown by the Medo-Persian empire (Assyrians), we now have the chest and shoulders of the statue that Daniel was describing. Carrying on. We can ascertain from history the Medo-Persian empire was replaced by the Grecian empire, but more importantly, the Grecian empire came to an end under the control of two Alexandrian generals: Seleucid and Ptolemy.

As a former pastor loved to say, stay with me here.

Since the statue we see in Daniel is following a comparable pattern to the red dragon and the beasts, then it safe to say that what we are looking at when we try to define what the dragon is, is a succession of Satanically motivated and even possessed empires.

Is there anything in Daniel that explicitly explains who some of these are?

The first one is plainly laid out.

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

Without a doubt, the first empire we are considering was the Babylonian. The revelation of the second kingdom is a little more subtle.

As you read Daniel chapter four, you find Nebuchadnezzar on all fours grazing with the cattle. In time his mind is restored and he honors God. That is a plus, but we have little to tell us about his end and chapter five opens with one of his sons, Belshazzar, now leading the kingdom. I suggest you read Daniel 5:1-31 yourself to get the feel of what was going on and why. Here is the direct passage that explains who we are looking for.

Daniel 5:24-28 ESV “Then from his presence the hand was sent, and this writing was inscribed. (25) And this is the writing that was inscribed: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, and PARSIN. (26) This is the interpretation of the matter: MENE, God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end; (27) TEKEL, you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting; (28) PERES, your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

Daniel 5:30-31 ESV That very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed. (31) And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.

This is now the third head of state Daniel has served under and the potential for radical change in leadership is often the order of the day, but God has his hand on Daniel.

Daniel 6:1-3 ESV It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom 120 satraps, to be throughout the whole kingdom; (2) and over them three high officials, of whom Daniel was one, to whom these satraps should give account, so that the king might suffer no loss. (3) Then this Daniel became distinguished above all the other high officials and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him. And the king planned to set him over the whole kingdom.

Daniel 6:28 ESV So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Did you notice this? Two different kings but the empire did not change focus or direction, and Daniel served well in both of them. The domain was Persian, which happens to have what affiliation? Assyrian and the Assyrians were the ruling bodies in Nineveh when Jonah was told to deliver the message – repent or be destroyed.

While this is all good stuff to take note of, we still have not migrated to the third empire as yet.

In Daniel chapter, seven we step back in time as Daniel tells us about a dream he had during the first year of Belshazzar’s reign.

Daniel describes the four great beasts rising out of the sea that was in the dream.

Daniel 7:2-4 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. (4) The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.

  • “The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings”

Sounds regal enough but you seldom find someone of such stature crawling around on the ground like a mad man.

“then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it.”

This is the description we have of Nebuchadnezzar that we find that in Daniel chapter four before his mind was restored to him. So, once again, we have a description of the Babylonian empire.

Because we have a clear definition of who the second empire is – the Medo-Persian. Keep that in mind as you read about the second beast Daniel sees.

Daniel 7:5-6 ESV And behold, another beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ (6) After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.

Here is a peculiarity. Even though all these sound very deadly, did they have that effect on Daniel, or on Israel in general? The answer is no. If you read through Daniel you find the king setting up a large, grotesque statue of himself. Where Daniel was when this happened we are not told, but to not worship the image meant death. Daniel’s Jewish brethren refused to bow and were thrown into the fire – if you know the story then you know they were not burned or even touched by the smell of smoke. Now, the question is, did these kingdoms have an evil and deadly side to them? Certainly.

Let’s ponder the third beast for a moment.

(6) “After this I looked, and behold, another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.”

Is it possible that verse six is speaking of the Grecian empire when it speaks of the beast having four heads? Historically, we know that this was the Grecian empire. We also know that after Alexander’s death the Grecian empire was controlled by four generals. However, there was no end to struggle and eventually two generals controlled all the northern and southern regions. The general that ruled the northern empire was Seleucus and Ptolemy to the south. The fact that the empire ends up under the control of two generals either eliminates them as a possibility or, it explains the legs of the statue.

Let me burst your theological bubble just a bit more.

While we have some definition to the first three: a lion; a bear, and a leopard. Just the species alone does not give you a solid link to particular empires. The problem is that there is a fourth.

Daniel 7:7 ESV After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.

When we compare what Daniel tells us in chapter seven against the interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar’s statue dream, we are now down to the undefined legs.

The fourth beast is given no animal counterpart, but it does have iron teeth. There is nothing on earth, outside of mythical creatures, that has iron teeth with the exception of one thing, man and his weapons of war.

  • “ it devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet.”

There is an entity active on the earth presently that is devouring and breaking in pieces everything they come in contact with. All you have to do is look at pictures coming out of the Middle East to see how devastated and broken those nations are now. They are currently called ISIS. What is the root of ISIS? Islam in its most vile form; and, those associated with ISIS are holding fast to every brutal command contained within the Qur’an.

Take note of where these four came from.

Daniel 7:3 ESV And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.

I have heard it said that the sea represents the sea of people, and I do not have a problem with that. But in truth, we are looking at something very spiritual/devilish/demonic = fallen angels, and their original attempts to wipe out anything that looked like it could be the Messiah? Clearly the attack plan shifted once the Messiah came, paid the price, and freed the world from the bondage of servant-hood to sin. So, then the demonic plan must be focused on deception and prevention of anyone joining ranks with God and his plan.

I am jumping ahead with this example but it corroborates what Daniel saw, and this repetition is a vital aspect of prophecy.

Revelation 13:1-2 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. (2) And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

It is no longer four beasts, but one. And yet, we still have the identities of the lion, the bear, and the leopard. It too is coming out of the sea and has ten horns and seven heads. This is the same thing that Daniel has been seeing, even if the format looks different. John here sees one other aspect that we do not see in Daniel:

“And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.””

Since Daniel alerted us that we should be looking for empires or authoritative bodies, we know that what we see in Revelation 13:1-2 is also representative of the same thing. There is, however, a subtle word in Revelation 13:2 that we need to pay attention to, and it is the word “it.” It is singular but can comprise a unity of power under one motive and action. We often refer to a corporation as it, but what if “it” is a demonic/fallen angel. The dragon, which we have established as representative of Satan, is the one doing the giving. Would he give all that power to a man? Maybe, but clearly this is not just one man and has not been in any of the examples we have looked at as evidence so far.

One of the horrendous problems we have had in understanding Revelation and end times events is the conjecture as to who the fourth beast, the waist, thighs and legs of the statue are. Still, to this day, I hear prophecy teachers saying that we should be looking to Rome. Although the Pope does and says things associated with apostasy, while leading a group of people who are awaiting alien leadership, that does not make him the Antichrist. It does, however, cause us to not look anywhere else, pursue logical options, and it distracts us from real possibilities, that are happening all around us.

A huge clue comes out of Daniel 7:7 when it says,

“It was different from all the beasts that were before it,”

Alright then, let’s consider this. Since God is focused on the Babylonian empire as the initiating point. What is it that is significant?

  • Babylon, under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, takes Israel captive.

    What was the purpose of Israel’s captivity? To punish them for forsaking the Shemittah, the period of rest.

    Even though, as we discussed, Nebuchadnezzar had the potential for great harm, he also had a preservative effect on Israel. People continued to live there, carrying on with their lives, and someone actually preserved the oral history and traditions.

    Daniel, a Jew, excelled under Nebuchadnezzar, as did Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael, his Jewish brethren.

  • Babylon was overtaken by Darius the Mede.

    How did Daniel fare through this? He was placed in the kingdom as one of the three highest-ranking officials.

    And, Daniel even rises to the top when Cyrus, the Persian takes the reigns of the former Babylonian empire.

So far, it is not an entirely destructive pattern we see. Since we love to assign the hips and legs of the statue to the Roman empire, let’s consider them for a moment. Rome was not an entirely destructive force upon the earth, as they made roads, built aqueducts, and established a rule of law. While it is obvious that their initial greetings may have been at the point of a spear, this was common with any invaded nation. Historically, Rome never held any ground over Babylon proper, for any period of time, and, therefore, cannot be deemed to have held the same land masses that others conquerors held.

If we are looking at invading powers as solely destructive, this was not the case. And yet, this power, which may not be as global as we think, and because of this statement – “It was different from all the beasts that were before it,” it may prove to be one of the most destructive plagues upon man.

I never end one of these without pointing out that you too can have a confidence in your relationship with the Messiah. Admit you are broken with Him and invite this Jesus into your life. He will come and make himself real to you, live in you, and give you a hope in an eternal home with the Father, God.

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A cryptic history lesson. The journey through Revelation. Chapter 9

Posted on 03/04/2016 by remso

Previously, I mentioned that Revelation 12 comes across as a cryptic history lesson. How else do you explain rapidly why we have this hope?

If you have read Paul’s writings in the New Testament, then you know that this HOPE we have is one the major themes being preached. Try to absorb the book of Acts and you come to realize that Paul’s primary audience were Jewish followers of the Law and the Prophets that had gathered on the Sabbath, in the synagogue of the city he was now in. Speaking to men educated in the Torah and Tanach, many through oral history, Paul spoke a language they understood. And, since the Law and the Prophets spoke of the Messiah that was to come, Paul made it clear that He had come already; there was clear evidence of that and many of those who were eyewitness are still alive today (he would tell them) and you can speak with them should you wish to pursue that.

In my last post, I mention these two verses as I talked about how we were jumping backward in time; where and when this action might have taken place; and what some of the possibilities are concerning the dragon’s attempts to devour the child Israel was to give birth to.

Today I had a thought that may tickle you as we try to understand the language being used.

My constant admonition – keep in mind that this is a Jewish book, written to Jewish converts within the early churches. Yes, it was meant for us to see and understand.

Revelation 1:3 ESV Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.

John wrote at the direction of the Holy Spirit of God and therefore fully intended for us to figure this stuff out.

The second half of my admonition is that John wrote in a terminology they were familiar with. So, when he writes about a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, the learned, Jewish mind has an immediate association with some passage from the Old Testament. And, this is not just some mere, worthless symbol, this is prophecy. For prophecy to the Jewish mind is a pattern, not flash and pizzazz, but solid, repeatable evidence. That evidence came as God’s word. Now consider that before the days of books history was oral tradition. Therefore, what the “prophets” did and said might have been transcribed and then orally passed along for generations. That sort of demands that you show some belief and faith.

Can you see a problem here? I can and examples of that problem show up at the birth of Jesus. How you ask?

  • Magi/wise men/game changers – come from another nation. Following evidence in the scriptures and a sign in the heavens, that was noted in the scriptures, they pursued the birth of the Messiah, the King that was to come, and they worshiped him.

  • Follow that story in scriptures and you will find Herod and all Jerusalem in a panic as these men came. Herod questioned the Jewish Chief priests and elders what this was all about, and they told him. Did they pursue the Messiah as the Magi did? Not at all, in fact, they were all in favor of having him eliminated. Are you kidding me; why? Because they knew they would lose their place and power, the same thing Herod feared.

  • Simeon the priest recognized the Messiah and worshiped him.

  • Anna the prophetess, longed to see the day he would come, and she too recognized that it was him.

So, Israel has a problem with belief. Do you actually believe we are so different? And yet, as you saw above some believed and waited anxiously for the Messiah.

Even though I covered this to some degree before, I want to discuss the bizarre description. There is a humorous reason for this, as well as the desire to understand. The men’s bible study I attend off and on has a variety of men and their thoughts, but most are deeply entrenched in some old twisted traditions. One guy, he was a gunnery Sargent in the military, asks questions and challenges what he hears because he either does not or will not open his bible. As we spent time some time talking about end times events, he goes on a short rant saying, “who can understand this stuff anyway. What is this red dragon with seven heads and ten horns? No one can figure this stuff out.”

Well, that is not a true statement. You can understand it if someone tells you what is going on in common language. The other aspect of his dismay was the imagery. As I said, John wrote with the intent and purpose of being understood. The problem is that we do not recognize that fact and we do not read for ourselves.

Revelation 12:3-4 ESV And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. (4) 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.

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

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

Time to tear it up:

“ behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems.”

This was not a new concept to John’s audience. Although the terminology is not exactly the same, the ‘monster’ has some similar characteristics.

Daniel 7:19-22 ESV “Then I desired to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, (20) and about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. (21) As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them, (22) until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.

Both of these beasts have ten horns. Just because we do not see all the details, does not mean they are different.

Other examples:

Ezekiel 29:3 ESV speak, and say, Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, ‘My Nile is my own; I made it for myself.’

Isaiah 27:1 ESV In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

There is no physical dragon in the sea or streams, therefore, this is either symbolic or a fallen angel. We do have a huge clue to help our understanding and it comes from passages we are looking at.

“His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth.”

Since we know that Satan was cast out of his permanent home, heaven. We should also comprehend that this dragon being cast out, sweeping a third of the stars with him, is Satan.

Take a moment to read this and then ask yourself some questions:

Ezekiel 28:12-19 ESV “Son of man, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him, Thus says the Lord GOD: “You were the signet of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. (13) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. (14) You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. (15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you. (16) In the abundance of your trade you were filled with violence in your midst, and you sinned; so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, O guardian cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. (17) Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. (18) By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. (19) All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

  • Is he really talking to the king of Tyre, for that was a real king born long after the garden disappeared?

  • If this is the king of Tyre, how did he get to wander in the garden of Eden?

  • You know how certain religions claim that Satan is the brother of Jesus. What do they do with this? “ On the day that you were created”

  • People struggle with how Satan even got into the garden. I never really noticed this before, but it certainly makes sense. Obviously, his corruption into Satan happened during this time.

    “You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings. On the day that you were created they were prepared. (14) You were an anointed guardian cherub. I placed you; you were on the holy mountain of God; in the midst of the stones of fire you walked. (15) You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created, till unrighteousness was found in you.”

     

Take your time and ponder what Ezekiel 28 conveys about Satan’s beginnings.

While I admit I have offered you no great definitions about who the great red dragon might be, I think it is safe to say it is conglomeration of powers and leaders throughout many ages, backed by Satan himself, who have but one purpose – whether they know it or not, and that is to try to destroy the Woman and her child. Since the child, fortunately, included those of who were grafted in, then we have become the targets as well.

On the plus side, we have this closing statement from Ezekiel.

“Your heart was proud because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. I cast you to the ground; I exposed you before kings, to feast their eyes on you. (18) By the multitude of your iniquities, in the unrighteousness of your trade you profaned your sanctuaries; so I brought fire out from your midst; it consumed you, and I turned you to ashes on the earth in the sight of all who saw you. (19) All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you; you have come to a dreadful end and shall be no more forever.”

Although our hope is based on the promise of a peaceful life with the Father, there is joy in knowing that Satan and all his cohorts will be put away permanently someday.

If you do not have that hope in you, you can. Just ask Jesus to make himself real to you. He will come into your life and be a part of it if you merely ask Him to. But I warn you, your life will change.

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A woman clothed with the sun. Our migration through Revelation. Chapter 8

Posted on 03/01/2016 by remso

Revelation chapter 12 is a cryptic history lesson. I happen to think understanding what we are going to see here in chapter 12 is easy, but most struggle with the terminology. I am going to give you some clues that might help you understand. While these clues are meant to help you, they may not make sense at first. However, if you adjust your thinking to include them you will begin to have a greater understanding of not only what is going on around you, but how these prophetic words, such as we find in Revelation, Daniel, and others mesh with life.

Clue number one: This book we are reading is an Eastern – oriented book. You cannot read it with your Western – centric mentality – you know, that attitude in which you think the world revolves around you.

Clue number two: This book was written to Jewish believers, so, every word has significance to the Jewish community – a community that is serious about their scriptures. Are you serious about your study of the Word?

We will do the usual; tear it apart and make sense of it.

“And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” (Revelation 12:1 ESV)

“a great sign appeared in heaven:”

The word sign is sēmeion and means an indication. John does not tell us what that indicator was. We know that there was an indicator of Jesus birth, but we are not talking about that yet.

“a woman”

Israel is the woman. Remember that I told you that the Revelation was a Jewish book, written to Jewish converts who would have had an immediate recognition of the symbols being spoken of. The woman, a symbolic representation of Israel, is defined in the Old Testament as the wife of God. We can find references to this in Isaiah 54:5-6; Jeremiah 3:6-8; Jeremiah 31:32; Ezekiel 16:32; Hosea 2:16.

“clothed with the sun”

A look at several commentaries can sometimes fill in the blanks in your thinking. 

Gill’s commentary states: “which does not point at her future state in glory; see Matthew 13:47; but to her then present state on earth;”

Because we can follow the context as Revelation 12 progresses we know that Israel’s glory state had much to do with the arrival of Jesus Christ. Was Israel really clothed with the sun at that time? Not really, for there had been 400 years of prophetic silence. Still, this was God’s chosen people, and they were meant to put God on display as the righteous king. That did not happen. Nonetheless, God still speaks into and about our lives as though we are living fully in the kingdom He desires.

John MacArthur, in his commentary, describes the woman clothed with the sun, in this way.

“Being clothed with the sun speaks of the glory, dignity, and exalted status of Israel, the people of promise who will be saved and given a kingdom.”

“and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”

The consensus is that this speaks of the twelve tribes of Israel. I am okay with that, not that it matters.

She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth. (Revelation 12:2 ESV)

If this is Israel prior to the birth of Christ, and you did not know that, where would your mind go as you tried to find out who and what this verse was speaking of? I think almost all of us comprehend the idea of pain in childbirth, but what if it is highly significant?

Can you see that God was creating a pathway and allowing things to happen for the purpose of bringing His Son into the world? All this was a part of the mystery – from the fall in the garden; to the Son on the cross, and now, the culmination of all things and our life with Him in eternity. This is why the angel made this statement we find in Revelation 10:7 NASB

“but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets.”

How does one explain all this except to give you a cryptic history? It is only cryptic because it is described as God sees it, not man. Therefore, we must try to see through His eyes and heart.

Let me attempt to show the heart of God, just as Israel knew.

Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain. In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea. (Isaiah 26:20-27:1 ESV)

Things to note in this:

  • “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by.”

    Sure, everybody’s sins were done away with on the cross. However, that does not mean you accepted Christ, the Lord, as your ruler; without a decision from you are either operating in rogue mode or you choose to belong to Satan. It’s kind of a default situation and requires an active decision on your part.

    If perchance you have chosen to live under the banner of Christ then you are one of His people. Consider what this says and note that He is offering you the opportunity to ‘escape’ the coming fury. This, in our understanding, is the wrath that we see in the Revelation.

  • “For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”

    Who is bringing the fury? The Lord.

    Who is this fury coming against? The nations/inhabitants of the earth.

    Why? For their iniquity; and, for the blood shed upon it. Don’t be deceived, the so-called righteous have done more than their fair share of killing innocents and it has happened in so many ways.

  • “In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.”

    It seems we are taking some literary freedom here, but the beast is really the same as what we see in Revelation 12.

“And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven diadems. 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.” (Revelation 12:3-4 ESV)

Do any of you know precisely when this took place? Neither do I, but the assumption is that it happened somewhere near the beginnings of the earth before man was here. Is it possible that there was some significant release of power, causing a bright light in the heavens as this battle raged on? We should not be surprised if there was.

Jesus told the disciples, “Yes, I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” (Luke 10:18 Moffatt NT)

It almost seems as if we have evidence of a sign based on this statement. The other thing we can consider solid and factual is that Satan took one-third of the angels with him.

Don’t get lost in terminology here. What was Satan’s name prior to the fall? Lucifer – originally the most beautiful of angels, an aspect of his name means light bringer. Perhaps all angels carried that role to some degree. So, if Satan is this great red dragon, and he is, then he dragged one-third of the angels with him when he fell. This is not the place where you should get all weepy eyed, these angels were deceived but they had a choice, and they chose to attempt an overthrow of the leadership in heaven. Therefore, they too were thrown out. So, in a sense, the dragon dragged them down with him.

If this is a cryptic history lesson, we just jumped way back in time. To a time, long before Israel was born. Now, within the same two verses, we seem to be jumping forward in time by changing the terminology,

“And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it.”

Wait a minute, don’t we see this dragon’s impact in the garden. Satan seems to have some sort of clue that God has a plan. Since God, the creator of time and space, is a spirit, then He is not constrained by time. If that is true, and I believe it is, then references that prompt us to think in terms of time are relative to the action. What does that mean? It means that this dragon was there in the garden, anticipating that salvation and redemption might come through Eve as well. How is that shown? By having Abel killed. (Abel the only one that appropriately responded to guidelines for sacrifice – hence gaining a state of momentary righteousness.) So then, since deceiving the first couple into a mutiny attempt seems to have failed, Satan makes another attempt at stopping God by devouring a child, Abel.

The implications are that Satan has tried to kill anyone that closely resembled the promised seed.

As I write this I find myself thinking about Joseph and the several times he could have been killed; Daniel was thrown into the lion’s den; David, as King Saul threw spears at him. There are of course innumerable people who Satan has tried to kill. Just look at the number of Christians that are being killed for their faith throughout the world.

Have you ever wondered why Satan seems to be so actively pursuing some people? First off, Satan has come to hate God. Ever trying to take over heaven and assert himself as king, he is relentless in his efforts to eliminate anything that acts like God. Since we are created in God’s image, then we are prime targets. But take this idea one step further as we come into relationship and are then deemed to be ‘in Christ’; now we even look like him. So for Satan’s hatred to be turned against us in full force only seems natural from his point of view.

Ponder this: “She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pains and the agony of giving birth.”

If ‘she’ is Israel, then is it possible that this idea of Israel being pregnant, crying out in birth pains, is, in reality, all the whining and struggling that Israel did, not only in the wilderness but includes the times of captivity where they turned their backs on God. You should be getting the general idea that this includes the entire time of Israel’s existence. Was it Israel’s job to bring the Messiah into the world? No, they were just the path and the chosen people.

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A tenth of the city fell. Our journey through Revelation. Part 7

Posted on 02/26/2016 by remso

Life can get hectic at times, and in that short time I got distracted and needed to remind myself what I am working on.

I opened the last post with “Seven seals have been opened. Within the seventh seal are seven trumpeters. The previous trumpet, the sixth in this vision, has blown releasing four angels who have spent their traitorous lives bound in the Euphrates river. These must be comparable to great generals within the armies of Satan, for they command an army of 200 million demonic horsemen. These creatures are like nothing man has ever seen, and are therefore fallen angels themselves.”

We are on a relentless migration in our attempt to absorb and understand Revelation. Currently, we are in Revelation 11 where we covered the two witnesses.

They no sooner die and are taken off the earth when this happens.

Revelation 11:13 ESV And at that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

Previously we saw: 200 million demonic horsemen killing and tormenting mankind; two prophets from God that have the ability to kill, and now, a hellish earthquake, only one of many. Because of this earthquake, a tenth of the city fell. I believe I would fear the horsemen over the earthquake, but nonetheless, a destruction it is.

Here’s an odd thought. Since the wrath, we are reading about, and this is all under the wrath, is directed at two people groups – the unrepentant Jews and the nations, then how does this earthquake impact the nations? I suppose an earthquake of this magnitude has a global, far-reaching impact, but haven’t we already experienced a global earthquake that has the rich and poor hiding in caves, crying out for the rocks to fall on them and save them from the wrath of God? So, let’s assume that the intention is to have a local impact. Then who are the recipients? Israel/Jews, and one other people group, who like to call themselves Palestinians. What has been happening immediately before this quake? Two witnesses, who maintain a strong position in the streets of Jerusalem, declaring the greatness of God, spewing fire (I think that would be correct since the Palestinians/Hamas/Muslims will be trying everything they can to kill these two), reigning plagues and shutting off the rain for 1260 days. Is it possible that this “woe” is a directed judgment at Israel for not acknowledging God in the evidence of these two witnesses and at the same time a judgment against those who continued to spit in the face of God by attempting to kill the witnesses?

Consider this. Jesus told Pilate,

“You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. ” John 19:11a ESV

And to the crowd who came to take him in the garden, Jesus replied,

“Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels?” Matthew 26:53 ESV

The point being, no man could have touched these two witnesses, to harm them, unless, as Matthew’s gospel quoted,

“all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled” Matthew 26:56

just like the events that happened to Jesus. Keep in mind that the Jewish mind thinks very critically, and will be looking for the evidence in the law and the prophets. They have that evidence in this statement of prophecy.

“Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. (Malachi 4:5 ESV)

You can argue about who these two persons are until you are blue in the face and you will not change the fact that they are coming and in a powerful way.

Back to our migration.

Do you realize that the first woe, announced in Revelation 9, coincides with the blast of the fifth trumpet and continues along with the second woe, for two chapters? There is nothing that segregates the first woe from the second. By the time we get to Revelation 11 the world is deeply under the effects of the sixth trumpet. It is possible that the deadly impact of 200 million horsemen and the two witnesses may be the second woe.

What is the premonition given to us in chapter ten of Revelation?

“ but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.” Revelation 10:7 ESV

I do not know what that says to you, but it tells me that the entire reason we have run this race is about to come to fruition. The idea of a mystery is splattered throughout the bible. While it was a mystery to many, some got it. We see that in Hebrews and a few other places.

“By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God’s call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations–the City designed and built by God.” (Hebrews 11:8-10 MSG)

They may not have known the name, or where it was, but they knew it was real and they were going there eventually. Not so different from us, is it? The mystery really came down to redemption and a restored life with the Father, to those who wanted it. But, you cannot go telling that to just everyone, like Satan or he would try to thwart the plan; that was his only hope. However, Satan’s attempts failed, but oh how he tried. (Having King Herod kill off every child in the region, two years and under is a good example. Thinking that putting Jesus on the cross and killing him there must have seemed like a good idea for a moment, but that failed also.)

Just knowing that the mystery will be finally fulfilled has me excited.

Revelation 11:15-19 ESV (15) Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.” (16) And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, (17) saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. (18) The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.” (19) Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

A representation of the elders from the brick testament.

A representation of the elders from the brick testament.

As usual, I have to tear it up to see what is in it.

  • there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”

This in itself is merely a statement. It denotes an action taking place, but where do we see that? We already have some evidence that Christ has completed his mission and taken the seat of authority.

Revelation 1:17-18 ESV When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, (18) and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.

This introduction is made in – if I may take the liberty, the beginning of the story, and still I am having difficulty wrapping my mind around all that it conveys. However, it demonstrates that God was never really out of control as he fulfilled his plan, and that was to create an environment for those which were made in his purposeful and exacting image. Nothing has changed, WE are still his purpose, created in his image.

In the book of Hebrews, we find Jesus, our high priest, having taken His seat at the right hand of the Father. The important aspect of this is why, and you find the details that answer the ‘why’ embedded on almost every page of the letter to the Hebrews.

Consider that for a moment: The writer wrote this letter directly to unbelieving Hebrews. This is the same uphill battle that the Apostle Paul waged, as he would come into a city and go to the synagogues, where he would preach about the hope we can have in the Messiah, all the evidence of which is found in the scriptures they so fervently study. Some believed while others rejected what Paul said.

Why would the writer Hebrews make such a detailed effort to change hearts and minds, unless he wanted the Jews to see that Jesus was the warrior king they awaited and that he was seated, merely awaiting the moment when the Father says go get them and end this mess.

Hebrews 7:23-8:1 NASB The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing, (24) but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. (25) Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (26) For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; (27) who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself. (28) For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever. (8:1) Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,

Doesn’t this, much like Revelation 1:17-18, show us a king that has already conquered. He is not stressed but waiting. Until that time arrives Christ constantly intercedes, on our behalf, before the Father.

For me at least, the obvious part of this equation is the cross. It was the line drawn in the sand. On that cross, no less an altar than the one the priesthood used, the price was paid. That cross was no different from the pole with the bronze serpent wrapped around it, that Moses raised in the desert, for Jesus became the serpent on the pole that day. The price, paid by his blood and life, was the full price necessary and mandatory to buy the freedom of man out from under an oppressive ruler, Satan. I strongly suggest you read Hebrews, for all this is there.

If you are like me, then you have asked questions like:

  • Why then aren’t things different?

  • Why is Satan still running rampant?

  • And, why is the world still filled with evil and getting worse?

I suspect the best answer lies in God using these things to refine us, and, at the same time, bring about His judgment upon the world. Don’t get me wrong, the day will come when Satan is put out-of-the-way and men of violence will be silenced. Until that day comes we have to stay faithful.

  • “And the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God, (17) saying, “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, who is and who was, for you have taken your great power and begun to reign.”

Let’s focus on the elders for a moment.

When I try to make sense of this based upon what I know, I get twelve tribes and twelve disciples. Alright, there is clearly some significance. Now, based upon my understanding that this book of Revelation was written to Jewish converts with a deep understanding of the law and prophets (The Old Testament), then there is something there that few understand and fewer have been taught. So, allow me to defer to Pastor John MacArthur’s commentary.

In his notes on Revelation 4:4, where the elders first show up, he writes:

twenty-four elders. Their joint rule with Christ, their white garments (Rev_19:7-8), and their golden crowns (Rev_2:10) all seem to indicate that these twenty-four represent the redeemed (Rev_4:9-11; Rev_5:5-14; Rev_7:11-17; Rev_11:16-18; Rev_14:3; Rev_19:4). The question is which redeemed? Not Israel, since the nation is not yet saved, glorified, and coronated. That is still to come at this point in the events of the end. Their resurrection and glory will come at the end of the seven-year tribulation time (cf. Dan_12:1-3). Tribulation saints aren’t yet saved (Rev_7:9-10). Only one group will be complete and glorified at this point—the church. Here, elders represent the church, which sings the song of redemption (Rev_5:8-10). They are the overcomers who have their crowns and live in the place prepared for them, where they have gone with Jesus (cf. John 14:1-4).

While I have issues with some of the things Pastor John says and believes, this makes sense. What do I do with it is the next question. Let’s work on the principle that Revelation pertains to a time of judgment upon the earth that we mistakenly call ‘the tribulation’. I say that because God never promised us an exclusion from tribulations, in fact, they are guaranteed to us.

John 16:33 NASB “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

The time of judgment is specifically called a time of wrath, and, it is God’s wrath. Since Jesus Christ took all the wrath we deserved when He went to the cross, then, WE are NOT destined for wrath or punishment.

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

All this tells me that WE, the church and body of Christ, are already there, with Him, in heaven. When did that happen? I believe that it happens right here.

“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.” Revelation 4:1 NASB

What things is John being shown? He has just been shown the church age, ending with the apostate Laodicean church. If you are not aware, naive or just choose to close your eyes, refusing to see what is going on around you, we are that last church, the Laodicean church.

The elders cry out:

“We give You thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign. “And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.” (Revelation 11:17-18 NASB)

I think it is fairly clear that God has never suffered defeat, nor has He relinquished control of the throne at any time, although we think so. God is merely awaiting the moment that he unequivocally makes his enemies His footstool.

It seems as though Satan is in his last throes of death on earth and he knows it. So, what does he do, raise more havoc? This has nothing to do with Satan attempting to win converts to his side of the fence, he could care less. It has everything to do with him trying to kill anything that looks like God. Think about that for a minute. We are created in God’s image, now the fact that most of us do little to act like that is irrelevant, we are still the enemy, and in his mind, worthy of death.

But consider this scenario: In the movie Saving Private Ryan, in the process of taking Omaha beach, one of the squad members gets killed and must be replaced. The only available person is a clerk and would rather not fire a weapon. At the end of the movie, he is relegated to carrying ammunition. However, the stress of being shot at finally gets to him and we find him sitting in a stairwell sobbing as one of his squad mates, who is upstairs, desperately calls out for ammo. In the scene, a big German soldier goes up that same stairwell. He pushes the sobbing soldier aside, goes upstairs where the other squad member is, and gets into a bloody, hand to hand fight, eventually killing the soldier upstairs. The German, on his way back down merely, looks at the pathetic, sobbing soldier and walks away because it is obvious that he is not a threat.

I have to tell you, I know far too many people like this (I was one), and it has motivated me to be more proactive in how I talk to people and how I pray. Whether I can make an impact or not, I have determined that the enemy is not going to win on my watch.

In a sense, what I am ending on is the idea that we get back in the battle. I understand, you did not even know there was a battle. You certainly would have known if your family member struggled with substance abuse or cancer. Perhaps you are like me, and you have no problems except your own personal anger issues, that someday get you killed as you mouth off to someone on the road.

Get a grip, we all have issues and there is only one person to turn to, and that is Jesus Christ. The Word of God tells us to cast all of our cares on Him. One could imply that means all of them, including how much I might be hurting inside. Ask Jesus into your life as a permanent resident. Not a part-time slumber party guest, but the lasting relationship that He intends to make, and then watch how He changes your life.

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For it is given over to the nations. The continuing migration toward Revelation 16. Part 6

Posted on 02/19/2016 by remso

Chapter ten of Revelation is an interlude that also introduces what is to come prior to the seventh trumpet being blown.

Seven seals have been opened. Within the seventh seal are seven trumpeters. The earlier trumpet, the sixth in this vision, has blown releasing four angels who have spent their traitorous lives bound in the Euphrates river. These must be comparable to great generals within the armies of Satan, for they command an army of 200 million demonic horsemen. These creatures are like nothing man has ever seen, and are therefore fallen angels themselves.

As I have tried to understand what these judgments are, and the order in which they fall, there is this oddity. Odd in that, with the exception of “ it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months”, it seems like a peaceful scenario. What could it mean and what does it mean to us?

Revelation 11:1-2 ESV Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there, (2) but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

First, this makes me aware that at some point the temple will be rebuilt. Here we are in January of 2016 and I have recently become aware of some amazing information. It seems that by all accounts, the temple was built within the city of David. That means it can be rebuilt possibly half a kilometer north of where we think it should be. Hopefully, the Muslims will have one less thing to fight over.

Do you have any doubt about who the Gentiles are? If you want a generalization, then it is anyone outside of a relationship with Jesus Christ. We could take this all the way back to Ishmael if we had to.

Genesis 16:11-12 Darby “And the Angel of Jehovah said to her, Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael, because Jehovah hath hearkened to thy affliction. (12) And he will be a wild-ass of a man, his hand against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell before the face of all his brethren.”

I think it is fair to say, this is the beginning of the Arab nations as most Middle Easterners will tell you that they trace their heritage back to Ishmael and Abraham. While at a recent bible study the teacher said just that. The statement elicited some negativity from the argumentative old man in the back of the room. (He fancies himself the wealth of all knowledge.) His response, to make it short, was, “no it’s not!” He ranted loudly as he attempted to dominate the teacher, but he offered nothing for evidence. Allow me to expose some evidence by taking you to Daniel’s prophecies.

In Daniel chapter two, we find Daniel, not only telling the king what the dream was but explaining it as well. In his explanation we find this:

Daniel 2:41-44 Darby “And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potter’s clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. (42) And as the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. (43) And whereas thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron doth not mingle with clay. (44) And in the days of these kings shall the God of the heavens set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the sovereignty thereof shall not be left to another people: it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ever.”

I want you to notice the word mixed. It is the Hebrew word ‛ărab. Do you really think a Jew reading about the Gentiles trampling on the outer court has any doubt in their mind about what that means? Its primary interpretation lends itself to the Arab/Muslim world.

How long does this trampling go on? Forty-two months, or 1260 days. One might also say, three and one – half years. Does this sound familiar? It should, it coincides with the amount of time that the so-called treaty remains intact, and, one other aspect, the two witnesses.

Let’s move on.

Revelation 11:3-6 ESV “And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.” (4) These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth. (5) And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed. (6) They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.

When do these two witnesses show up?

We cannot be positive, but we can make some logical assumptions. Since they are only here for a short time, 1260 days, then God needs to make good use of them doesn’t he? It would make sense for them to be witnesses to new believers seeing how the church as we know it will be gone. A peculiarity that helps us to understand those left on earth is that Matthew 25 opens with a parable about 10 virgins – all going to the same wedding. Sadly, fifty percent are unprepared and do not make it in. This is extremely symbolic of the church and tells me that the fifty percent will be here to struggle through the time of wrath, just as the nations will.

Would I ask you to follow the lead of those who could not lead themselves? Not likely, so, it makes sense, to me anyway, that God would send these two to show the world what he meant for us live in all along.

Revelation 11:7 ESV And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them,

I cannot be only one that sees the correlation between their being done, and this beast that rises from the bottomless pit. Do not go looking for some creature, it is a man, empowered by either Satan himself or a fallen angel/demon.

Daniel 7:25 ESV He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.

When we read Daniel 7:25 do we see a man speaking or a demon?

Let me show you something from the Acts of the Apostles that demonstrates a demon acting out through a man.

“When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?” (Acts 13:6-10 ESV)

I believe Paul began by addressing the man, but his efforts take a quick turn when he calls Elymas the “enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?” How could this man fulfill all those roles? He couldn’t unless Paul is addressing the activity of a demon in a man.

Doesn’t what we see here sound like what we saw in Daniel 7:25 where it says, “he will speak words against the most high.”?

What do they do? They function as witnesses, but of what? This is not a good time to lean on religious traditional answers. A witness attests to what they know or has seen. This can be done through words or through visual demonstration. So, these are testifying to Jesus, as the Messiah; God, as the supreme ruler of the universe (in contrast to say, Allah.)

They protect themselves. How? “ if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.”

They have control over the weather. “They have the power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying,”

And, as they desire, “they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague,” This opens the door to the slightest of irritations.

As you probably ascertained, the two witnesses can also be seen as deadly. Who or what is their wrath directed at? The nations. I realize that spectrum seems a little broad a for two men, but they do shut down the rain and send plagues of every variety upon the earth, as they will.

So why they are here? They are here to:

      • Show that God is in control, not the robber barons that think they run the earth.

      • Draw attention to God by their actions and words.

      • Demonstrate to people continuing to come to Jesus, how to walk in the power God intended.

      • And, because of where they stand upon the earth and the violent attempts against them, it may be that they also serve as protection for those building the temple and wishing to use it.

        No, we believers, prior to the rapture, do not have the freedom to call fire down from heaven upon our enemies, but, we are instructed to love them. One of those directives comes from Jesus himself:

        Matthew 10:16 ESV “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

         

Ponder their actions for a moment.

Revelation 11:5 ESV “And if anyone would harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes. If anyone would harm them, this is how he is doomed to be killed.”

Do you, like most of us, assume that they just stand in one spot, doing Jewish-oriented, religious things? Not hardly. Here is where the problem lies, we consistently put God in a box. As I have thought about these two, it does not make sense to merely have them stand there. In contrast, what kind of witness could they be if they were proactive? Very lively and visual ones for sure.

A few examples of proactive lives would be Peter and Paul:

Peter, now filled with the Holy Spirit and with the fire of God, stood on the day of Pentecost, in front of the large crowd that had gathered because the noise coming from the disciples (this included Mary and many others) was loud enough and so unusual that many heard them speaking in foreign languages, magnifying God. While Peter may have been brash at times, was there anything he did that demonstrated him acting boldly like this? No, if anything Peter fled, gave up the ministry, and went back to fishing. Later, we see Peter running one of the first home churches. It was on his watch that the couple who lied to God came separately to the home, bringing their “gift.” Peter said, why have you lied, you did not have to; and, independently they both dropped dead. Read Acts 5:1-15 and John 21.

Paul, knowing that he would have to leave a particular town, preached long into the night. A boy grew tired as he sat in the upper window where Paul was preaching and while sleeping fell out to his death. Paul, rushed down, prayed over him, raised him back to life and continued preaching.

The eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews tells us of people, who through faith fought against whole countries and won. They did what was right and received what God had promised. They shut the mouths of lions, put out fierce fires, escaped being killed by the sword. They were weak, but became strong; they were mighty in battle and defeated the armies of foreigners. Through faith, women received their dead relatives raised back to life. Read Acts 20.

But then, as some will say, these are old stories. That is why we have testimonies. Yes, most come out of third world nations, but they sound much like this description in Hebrews. I suppose the ideal thing would to be for you to read your bible. Elisha, a man of God, made an ax head to float because he understood how much trouble the young man would be in. The object here is not so much our ability to do unusual stuff as it is to know the one who gives us the power. We are not called during this time of grace to call fire down from heaven, but the day is coming when some will stop marauding forces from finding them or hurting them by using the name of Jesus. I suggest you read 2 Kings 6.

Know this, even though things look bleak God will preserve some. Others will die, just as they are today.

“But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them. And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations. And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:9-13 ESV)

I am going to venture a guess that most have figured out that I write to those left behind. Isn’t it funny though how we religious folk can sit back and say, that won’t be me. Don’t you think that our Christian brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Africa, China, and North Korea were hoping that as well. They had hope and still the worst case scenario consumed them, and now they are dead. Suppose worse yet, are those being tortured for their faith like Richard Wurmbrand was.

Since anything less than a relationship with Jesus is not a viable option, what will you do? Who will you put your trust in? I strongly suggest Jesus, and before the wrath comes.

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