Seals, trumpet, bowls, and now this. Part 1- Migrating our way into Revelation 16

Posted on 01/16/2016 by remso

Revelation 15 ended surprisingly quick, so now it is time to move on to Revelation 16. As I looked at verse one, I was immediately confronted with the confusion I encounter almost every time I try to progress through this book.

While most of Revelation is clear to me, all this wrath gets a little confusing. I suppose as a follower of Christ I should not be concerned, especially since I consider myself to be a believer in a Pre-Tribulation rapture. I always feel the need to clarify this title “tribulation”. First, tribulation is a guaranteed way of life for the believer. It comes in many forms and from many venues; much of will come from the various religious zealots that you will encounter as you walk through life. Becoming a masterful apologist, like Ravi Zacharias, may help put those people in their place, but the Apostle Paul, a man who essentially had his doctorate in the Torah and Tenach, in effect had a contract out on his life, ordered by religious zealots who withstood him.

So, what we are dealing with here is not so much a time of tribulation as it is a time of God’s wrath being poured out on the earth. Thinking this way tends to eliminate some confusion, as you attempt to understand the arguments of those who angrily proclaim that followers of Christ can only be caught away as a mid-tribulation, or a post-tribulation church.

There are also those who think all we are doing is looking for a way to escape the everyday pains of life. Get serious, we here in America do not yet know what tribulation feels like. We have yet to experience being trapped inside our churches only to have the doors sealed as we inside are fire bombed, merely because we are of a differing religion.

Since I am more of a visual learner, I need to build pictures in my mind. If I can visualize it the concept will stay with me for a long time.

A scroll sealed with seven seals. I got it. I can almost see the Lamb striding up and taking the scrolls. He pauses, looks around and nods his acknowledgment that it is time and pops the first one open.

Sealed-Scroll

With each seal, something new hits the earth. Let’s see if we can break this down and make it clearer.

The events associated with the seals begins in Revelation chapter six, verse 1, and continues through Revelation 8:1.

The First seal:

Then I saw the Lamb break open the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice that sounded like thunder, “Come!” (Revelation 6:1 GNB)

This unleashes riders upon colored horses, and with them comes great grief.

“And I looked, and saw there a white horse whose rider carried a bow. And a crown was given him, and he rode forth conquering and to conquer.” (Revelation 6:2 AMP)

watts-white-horse

This particular rider is understood by many to represent false peace. He wears a crown which indicates some authority or leadership.

As with most everything we see in Revelation, the Jewish believers would have an immediate recognition of these colored horses. Predominantly found in Zechariah 1:8, and Zechariah 6:1-3.

I have my opinions and I believe that this rider is Islamic. Islam proclaims itself to be the religion of peace. Sadly, that only works if you belong to the sect of the moment.

The Second Seal:

When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” (4) And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. (Revelation 6:3-4 ESV)

horse-red-2-picsay

“Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another,” How much more violence does it take for us to understand that this is happening. Have you been watching the less than mainstream news? You should, because the government controlled, mainstream news won’t talk about how Muslims staged a fairly coordinated attack upon property and women, in multiple large cities across Europe on New Years eve. Doesn’t that seem convenient; the streets filled with people and targets, in this case, women, and many were raped.

Set all that aside for a moment. What about the rising violence against anyone outside of Islam in Northern Africa? Or, let’s bring it home. What in the world is happening to the streets of America? Have we lost our minds?

These are the kind of things that make me believe that we are operating under, at least, the first two seals of Revelation 6.

Yeah, I know, that freaks many of you out; me too, and here is why.

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

The time we are reading about is the time of wrath. It will only get worse and that is what Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:21.

The Third Seal:

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!” (Revelation 6:5-6 ESV)

the black horse of Revelation

A pair of scales in his hand? There was a time that money was based upon weight. A balanced scale indicated that you had paid enough. Somehow, I do not think things have been equitable for some time now. The Amplified bible says, a quart of wheat for a days wages. Are we there yet? Not quite, but it will only take one calamity and we will be.

You are probably aware that January of 2016 North Korea announced that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. While the experts say no, some are saying that what they may have tested was a successful EMP blast. That would do it.

Note that it says, do not harm the oil and wine. Have you ever wondered why? Maybe it is because people will have the need to numb themselves and therefore still have the need for some two-buck chuck.

The Fourth Seal:

So far the seals do not seem so bad, and, as I noted, we may be embroiled in it already and not even realize it.

When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6:7-8 ESV)

This is where life on earth starts to get very intense. I tend to believe this is more toward the midpoint of this time period because of the carnage we see here.

Stop for a moment and think. Since what we are primarily considering is God’s wrath being poured out, can we eliminate the violence man is capable of? The answer is no. Therefore, it is possible that what is being described here is God unleashing man’s fury as well. If that concept bothers you; it bothered me too, but if you will consider things like Israel being taken into captivity. You know, the same captivity that brings Daniel the prophet to the forefront. In reality God: preserved his people; fulfilled his prophetic word; handled punishment for disobedience; established men like Daniel, and apparently, because of Daniel, established a school of wise men trained to ascertain the signs in the heavens, whom, because they were willing to compare those heavenly events with scripture, came to Bethlehem in search of the young child Jesus – something the religious leaders of Israel would not do. (Without reading a bible, you will not understand all the ramifications of the wise men’s actions. We know from history that there was a large number of them, including entourage. When Herod became aware he was alarmed, as was all Israel. Isn’t that odd? Herod questioned the chief priests and elders as to what might be going on, and they told him. They knew that the scriptures told of Jesus being born in Bethlehem, and apparently they had all seen the sign in the heavens. So, what I say is valid.)

“ And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts”

Who is the “they” in this scenario? My strongest assumption is fallen, angels. Balaam met an angel in the road as he traveled and it had a sword in his hand. So, it is possible. Again, we cannot eliminate the acts of man, and the religion of the sword is Islam.

One fourth of the earth’s population is killed in this barrage. Don’t expect this to happen overnight.

The Fifth Seal:

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. (Revelation 6:9-11 ESV)

How appropriate. Consider that we have just witnessed, in a sense, the death of one-fourth of the earth’s population, and now John is shown a large quantity of the martyred before the throne in heaven.

Note that they are saying, how long before you avenge our blood? Doesn’t that tend to indicate that at least some of the previous violence was dealt out at the hand of man?

In an effort to get people thinking differently out about this time we are dealing with, I tell them to stop calling it the tribulation. Using the term that way, tends to make it sound like a problem coming against people from an external source – an enemy, when it is not. This grief is coming from God as punishment for unbelief, and, it is God’s vengeance for man’s cruelty. It is wrath. Spend enough time driving a Southern California freeway and you will think that is tribulation. In a sarcastic moment, I will point out that having to replace a broken propeller on your speed boat does not even come close to tribulation. Living under the constant threat of death, or the potential of having your young daughter taken at gunpoint to be raped or sold as a sex slave tends to define tribulations more accurately.

I say we, but cringe, when I say it, for many, have already died, and they had hope for the rapture to come and get them out of harms way, but that did not happen. It may not happen for us either. If that is the case, how will you handle it?

We have many examples of God sparing his people from the wrath that was to come. Two come quickly to mind:

  • Lot – The angels said, we can do nothing until we get you out of here. So they grabbed him and his family, escorted them outside of the city and allowed them to escape to the town of Zoar. When the angels knew that Lot’s family were safe the wrath from God rained down on those cities.

  • Noah – Built an ark as he spoke to those who would listen about a wrath from God coming upon the whole earth. On that day, God himself put Noah and his family in the ark and closed the door. Nobody believed Noah and only the believers were spared from the wrath.

Note the response to their plea for vengeance: “ Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been”. Rest a little longer until the rest are killed. It only gets worse. There is no need to separate whether they die by God’s hand or man’s, for it is God’s purpose that is being served.

You may struggle to see this, but the Revelation also demonstrates God’s mercy. Everything you see was intended to drive men toward him. Even if they come by meeting a brutal end, the result is the same, you get restored to live, oppression will cease, and you get to spend eternity with your Father. Scripture tells us that even the rocks cry out to be released from this destruction; what makes you think you are so different?

The Sixth Seal:

Revelation 6:12-17 ESV When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, (13) and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. (14) The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (15) Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, (16) calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, (17) for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

I want to show you something.

  • “The sun became black as sackcloth.”
China must broadcast videos of the sun because the smog is so bad

China must broadcast videos of the sun because the smog is so bad

Is it possible that it can get worse? Absolutely.

  • The Moon will turn to blood.

    eclipse_total_espanek_10-27-2004-e1358526755212

    This has become rather common place due to the smog. Perhaps it will get worse.

    There was a great earthquake

The Northridge California earthquake of 1994 was a 6.6. What is coming will be much greater.

  • “the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.”

    I cannot even imagine what that will look like.

  • “The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up”

    This moves into science fiction imagery. Try to imagine the sky being rolled back like a carpet.

“every mountain and island was removed from its place.”

This is something we may have an easier time visualizing because we have memories and video of things like Mount Saint Helens in Washington state.

“Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (Revelation 6:15-17 ESV)

I do not know about where you live, but there are not any caves around here to hide in. This opens the door to speculation. What if the caves are man-made?

Looks like the VIP entrance to a posh hotel, doesn't it?

Looks like the VIP entrance to a posh hotel, doesn’t it?

This underground bunker/city, has not only a 25-ton blast door but is well equipped with private apartments and food.

This underground bunker/city has not only a 25-ton blast door but is well equipped with private apartments and food.

The reality is that everyone is suffering during this time. The rich may have been able to escape some of man’s violence by hiding in these bunkers, but then, why are they crying out for the mountains and rocks to fall on them to hide them from the face of God. Don’t they realize that God is trying to drive them to him?

All this calamity and yet We are still only under the sixth seal.

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” (Revelation 7:1-3 ESV)

“After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.”

A commentary by Joseph S. Exell, M.A., titled, The Biblical Illustrator, states that the explanation of the four winds comes down to two things:

1. Divine judgments. Wars, famine, pestilence, the overthrow of kingdoms, and the universal wreck of all earthly things. The particular judgments to which these winds refer are, I think, those mentioned in the sixth seal, at the close of the sixth chapter, and whose fearful operations are represented by the seven trumpets in the eighth chapter.

2. All events and influences unfavorable to the cause of Christ. The wind of persecution; the wind of false doctrine; the wind of delusion and wild fanaticism; the wind of temptation; the wind of infidelity; the wind of open profanity and blasphemy; the winds of affliction, adversity, and distress; by all of which the Church is frequently assailed. These things are called “winds,” because they produce agitation and commotion—breaking the branches, blasting the fruits, and uprooting the trees of God’s spiritual vineyard. They are called “four” winds, to show their universality, their wide-spreading desolation. They are called winds of the “earth,” because the earth is the scene of their operation—they are forever excluded from heaven; they are coming from the four cardinal points at once shows their violence, rage, and fury.

What if there is a third explanation: natural weather events. In a sense, the wind the pushes global events around. It also cools the earth. Withholding the wind will cause the surface temperature of the earth to raise.

“ Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads”

This terminology might be one of the main reasons authoritative speakers try to convince you that the 144,000 are entirely symbolic of the church. This idea does not seem feasible for several reasons:

First: The servants are explained in the next verses as being from the tribes of Israel, therefore making them Jews, but it does not close the door to them being what we consider to be believers.

Second: People from every nation, tribe and tongue will continue to come to the Lord. What do you think he will call them? Depending upon the translation, names like servant comes to mind.

The next scenario almost feels like a victory to me.

“After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.” Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”” (Revelation 7:9-17 ESV)

This is different from what we saw in Revelation chapter six, for in chapter six they were crying out for vengeance and it was a countable number. With a scene in which one would assume that God is done, why not end it here? I do not have the answer to that, nor is it clear in my mind as yet. God is keenly aware of how many are going to come into the kingdom, just as he was aware of how many others would hear the message and get onto the ark that Noah was building. Regardless, he offers salvation to all who will listen.

Do you see the mercy? I realize that it is difficult when you are on the receiving end of wrath to comprehend it as an act of mercy, just as children may not realize what you are doing as you explosively snatch them out of the path of an oncoming car that does not see them. Yes, this destructive period is really a time of mercy, for everything is meant to point men to God. Do they listen? No, but some do, and it is more than we imagined.

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There are obviously those that make it through the tribulation

Posted on 01/11/2016 by remso

I have something I need to talk about. Hopefully, I can keep it short. This has more to do with a question I have been asked repeatedly. I try to answer the question, but, because of tradition, bad teaching, or a lack of desire to pursue the answers, the question keeps coming up.

The question goes something like this,

“There are obviously those that make it through the tribulation. Are they saved?”

I thought about it for a second and then I responded with, what does it mean to be saved? He answered back with,

“You know, saved!”

No, I don’t know. However, if you are trying to say that these survivors, based merely on the merit of making it through to the end of the “tribulation”, are comparable to finding salvation in Christ, then the answer is NO. If you think of salvation in terms of pulling someone out of a fire, then, YES, I think they are. How do I equate making it through the hell of the tribulation years to getting pulled out of a fire? It’s easy, they will both kill you.

So the essential question that needs definition is, what does salvation mean? But that is not what you are asking me is it. You already have this crazy notion of what things look like and want me to validate it. Well, that is not going to happen. I am going to try to get you to look at the truth, which I deem to be the word of God.

Sadly, even using the Word of God as the source of truth creates a problem. The problem is that the answers to your question are not neatly packaged in one place, so this forces both of us to do our homework, and, we have to have open minds about the answers we find. Lacking that, you are no better off than a rock.

Often, when I try to respond with an answer, most remove logic from the equation and dismiss scripture as the foundation of truth. Having attempted an answer I referred the person asking to Matthew 25. I did this because he opted to change biblical history by putting the great white throne judgment immediately before the 1000 year reign. He quickly opened the bible program on his cell phone and read Matthew’s account back to me.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats”.

An interesting representation of the throne.

An interesting representation of the throne.

“So there it is. He gathers the nations before him and judges them.”

Yep, it says that. However, it does not tell you when that takes place. It does not explain that this throne is the same throne that we see in Revelation 20, and, there is nothing to indicate that these are souls that have died from at least Christ’s resurrection forward; Neither does it make any clarification as to who they are or how they got there; Besides all that, and contrary to popular belief, not all are sent to an eternal punishment.

I want you to understand what I perceive the original question to be:

“ those that make it through the tribulation, are they saved?”

Because I told this person to look at Matthew 25, I want you to look there also.  Before you jump into Matthew 25 you need to understand that there is a context to what Jesus said.

  1. What we see in Matthew 25 is a continuation of a response that started in Matthew 24:1.

  2. The things that motivated the disciples question really began in Matthew 21 as they placed him upon the colt. Ask yourself why that would be significant.

  3. So what happened between them placing him on the colt, leading him into town in Matthew 21, and the end of Matthew 23 that would prompt them to say, when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming as the Messiah we anticipated (My version.)

In Matthew 21, at his direction, the disciples went and took the donkey and it’s colt. This was finally it. Jesus was going to step up as the Messiah they anticipated for every king triumphantly rode into town like this, but that did not happen. After all the fanfare and adulation Jesus sees the money changers in the outer court of the temple (this was a weekly occurrence, but today it pushes him over the edge), so he makes a whip of cords and drives them out. This, of course, brought the wrath of the Chief priests and elders upon him, and he battled with them verbally for two days. We seem to forget that the disciples were right there; they had no place else to go (we assume).

Jesus finally says to the disciples, let’s go to the mount. It was his favorite place to rest and recover when he was in Jerusalem, and it is only a short distance away from the temple.

The disciples, discouraged, disillusioned, fatigued by the intercourse are now grateful to get out of harms way. Trudging along behind him they try to lighten the mood by pointing out how great the temple was, and at this point, they were making comments about it’s massive stones. Sadly, Jesus, the true temple, was standing right there and they did not yet realize it. I happen to think this understanding plays a role in how Jesus responds. Thus begins a rather long discourse and the answers to some very Jewish questions.

Matthew 25:31-46 is an aspect of Jesus response, and is to be taken in context. In the context timing is everything and the timing has everything to do with, when will you come back as the Messiah we were hoping for?

Matthew 25:31-46 ESV “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

While I did not quote the verse in rebuttal, there is no doubt that it says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations,”. If all you ever read was this, you could build a variety of themes around it, and be rather convincing.

Here is one of the aspects of this verse that give people trouble: “Before him will be gathered all the nations,” 

Do you understand that there are only three people groups (as far as God is concerned) in the bible narrative? They are:

  • The Jews – Israel

  • The nations – Also called the gentiles. This is literally anyone outside of Christ – those who refuse to follow him.

  • And, the church. The church is the followers of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. He is not a gentile god, He is God and he is Jewish. Those of us who have accepted that he paid a price for us have been adopted in; we Gentile believers were at that point grafted into the root stock – Israel. Paul explained that having accepted him, he accepted us and made us be in Him.

So, God calls all those outside of a relationship with Jesus the nations.

Note: in the Revelation all that happens there is a revealing of Jesus, and therefore, substantiates that Jesus is God.

I told the person asking me the question, that Revelation 20 is the same story as we see in Matthew 25. There will be some obvious differences, but I will attempt to explain.

Revelation 20:1-3 ESV Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. (2) And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, (3) and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.

When does this take place? After the tribulations of the seven years (it may not be a precise seven-year period.) Read Revelation 19: 17-21. There you will see Jesus coming back with a mighty army and all those who choose to fight against God will be slain. In Ezekiel, we find that the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven and the martyred reign with Christ during the thousand years. Are they holding judgment over the nations as we see in Matthew’s account? No. With Satan bound for a thousand years, any evil done is purely the creation of man’s desire, and that will continue to happen. I believe that they will keep rein over that kind of nonsense. Keep in mind, all oppression shall cease.

Revelation 20:4 ESV Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Since we already saw these in heaven (Revelation 6:9) why are they identified here as having come back to life? The assumption, and I think it is a pretty good one, is that the souls are reunited with the body. Consider that after his death Jesus cooked some fish for the boys and ate with them. So that same body that can eat fish and apparently enjoy it can still walk through walls.

So let’s address the major point of contention. The argument started with the idea that at the beginning of the millennial reign is where Jesus sets up the great white throne, judges all survivors, and sends them all off to hell.

Is that what we see here in Revelation 20:4? No, instead of one throne there are many, and instead of one person, as in Jesus, all the martyred take part in the judgment.

  • Instead of one throne, there are many.

  • Instead of Jesus doing the judging, the martyred take part.

You will not see the multiple thrones or the martyred judging with Jesus in Matthew’s account, and, if you only look for the final judgment, you will not find these extra thrones or the martyred in Revelation 20:11-15 either. You have to piece the puzzle together in it’s context.

“Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:11-15 ESV)

Here are a few more points to consider as you contrast and attempt to grasp the context of the final judgment and where it is placed in time.

  • In Matthew, we find a glorious throne (a place of dignity and glory) instead of the great one (indicating it’s size or prominence) we see in Revelation 20. 

  • Matthew 25:32 “Before him will be gathered all the nations.” Now look at how John describes those standing before him in Revelation 20, “and I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened”. In both instances, no one is left out.

  • In Revelation 20 the crowd is separated according to their deeds found in the books. Matthew 25 shows the Son of Man separating them into sheep and goats. We must assume that the sheep are those whose names are found in the books.

This recurrent event is very intentional and meant to register quickly in the mind of the Jewish reader/hearer. Why? Because repetition is the accepted pattern for prophecy to the Jews, and this book we call the bible is a very Jewish book.

In Revelation 20:12 we see books opened, and the book of life.

Revelation 20:12 ESV And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.

Catch the distinction here. In Revelation 20, the dead are judged out the books based upon what was written in them, according to what they had done. However, in Matthew’s account, there is no mention of any books. Question: Does a difference in the stories make them invalid when we try to use them to corroborate these events? Not at all. Revelation always seems to be read from the viewpoint of an angry God, while Matthew is portrayed as the gentle shepherd.

Is there a comparable result? Yes.

Revelation 20:15 ESV And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

While in Matthew’s account we find:

Matthew 25:41 ESV  “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Jesus, the shepherd, explains to them how they did no good works and what that looked like. What amazes me is the simplicity involved in these works. It all boils down to this, step outside of your selfishness and show some kindness.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
(Matthew 25:35-36 ESV)

Perhaps all of this will be easier to understand if we can see it in a timeline format. Note: This is only attempting to show a short window of time from the moment Jesus physically returns to the earth, and the beginning of the 1000 year reign.

Timeline as we enter the 1000 year reign.

Timeline as we enter the 1000 year reign.

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Revelation 15:5-8 seven angels with the seven plagues

Posted on 01/05/2016 by remso

Since our last look at Revelation, I have side tripped on several things. As I thought about what to say I remembered that one of those topics was my having to deal with depression.

  1. I don’t know about you, but I survived Christmas. Many, like the song, believe that it is the most wondrous time of the year. I admit, I love Christmas lights. There is a little town near me that has lights (white ones) in the trees lining the street all year-long. I love that street, but Christmas is not just lights. There is the prepping we do, all while babysitting the grandchildren – several of which are more than willing to tear apart anything you put up, like a tree with ornaments. Then, there are the family members that have fractured the emotional relationships with most, and this year their mother-in-law pushed her way into the trip. Do you want to know how I dealt with it all? As one of my friends said, “I suit up, show up, and shut up.” I was not aware of this phrase prior, but this is what I was doing.

Hang around  the church for any length of time and someone will tell you that you just need to put on the armor of God! I suppose then all your problems will go away, but that does not always happen; in most cases, it never happens. What happens is that you look at things differently, and perhaps if your lucky, deal with them differently, even if this, in its simplicity, is what you do, suit up, show up, and shut up.

[As a side note: I hate having people tell me that I need to put on the armor of God. You might as well tell me that you do not care about me and that I need to go away. That happens enough by your turning your back to me, as you find someone more interesting to talk to. Besides all that, God has placed this armor in our repertoire, but most of us do not even realize it is there. I happen to believe that it is on me all the time; it was placed there the day I placed myself into Christ care. I think it might be easier to visualize this if you can picture yourself being brought into the kingdom as a knight. Knighted, dressed and assigned to function on behalf of the king and the kingdom. Can I take off my armor to at least bathe? Well certainly. Since what we are dealing with here is emotional and internal, are you really taking it off? Having set aside your armor then, do not forget to redress yourself. Hence, suit up, show up, and do the appropriate thing suitable for the situation.]

Well, shutting up is primarily what I did, and I guessed it worked. There is always the possibility that God had been working from the other end of this nightmare and calmed the problem child down. All the craziness fell into the category of not my circus and not my monkeys. Fortunately, I do not have to train them or discipline them. Now, in reality, you spill too much of that crazy on me, and I will be struggling immensely to not react. So when people asked me, how was my Christmas season, I said, good. No one got to me, and I did not get to them.

I imagine some of you reading this started screaming that Christmas is all about remembering Jesus birth, and we do that; we remember that our Messiah was born in a manger, having chosen to come as a man; chosen to set aside what he had with the Father, just so he could ransom, rescue and restore. Jesus is the reason for this hope that Paul preached throughout the New Testament, and, it is one of the reasons that many of us come to Jesus. Having lost our hope, someone showed us that Jesus can bring and restore hope once again, and, therefore, we follow him.

This takes me back to where I wanted to be, the book of Revelation. Isn’t that odd, I speak about having hope and restoration in the same breath as the book of Revelation. That is because the book is the revealing of Jesus Christ. If you hold that one concept in your mind as you read it will help keep you centered on one thing: Jesus paid the price for all, but will not tolerate those who intentionally fight against him. This battle we see is for the heavyweight title belt, and we already know who wins.

Having said all that, open your bibles to Revelation chapter 15.

We ended last time at verse four.

Bear with me as I recap.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels, with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished. And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire–and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Revelation 15:1-4 ESV)

It has just gone from ugly to bad, to worse, but what is this?

“ And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire–and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass..”

This sea of glass mingled with fire is before the throne, and what a sight it must have been.

But these are not angels standing here, these are the multitudes “who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name”. The time of wrath still continues, and Christ, as the Messiah, has yet to come; however, here, they are represented as conquerors.

How did they come to be conquerors?

  1. By accepting that, the Messiah/Jesus Christ is their life.

  2. By refusing to: worship the beast; it’s image, and not taking on themselves whatever mark it is that represents its name.

While some may fight and be moderately successful, we are told that those who fight with the sword will die by the sword. Do you see that described in Revelation 15: 1-4? Not at all. Putting this scenario in context you become aware that the first image of these before the throne, given by John, has them calling out, “how long until you avenge our blood?” The implications are clear, they died as martyrs.

Do people, in general, go to a violent death willingly? No! Does everyone that is martyred profess a relationship with Jesus Christ? No, many are merely non-compliant with the beliefs of their assailant. What is the primary religion that is killing others because they are “non-believers”? Islam. I am aware that other belief systems have died in conflicts over religion.

Seeing some of the horrific pictures that come out of the Middle East, carrying descriptions of people that have been slaughtered because their faith was in something other than Islam; you get the impression that some of them had no chance to make a blatant refusal of Allah.

Others, after some thought, decided that this Jesus is for real, and that what those crazy Christians were saying was true. But some apparently, do not put all that much thought into this decision, to refuse one god over another. Overrun by radical Islamists’, some have, in those moments before their death, merely chosen not to worship Allah, nor pay the Jizyah tax, and in their death it seems that God deems many of them to have chosen Him (If I err, I chose to err on the side of mercy).

Logically think about that process of choosing whom you will serve for a moment. If you refuse to serve some god, in this case, Allah, are you not accepting some other? Yes, I get it, there are other possibilities in this scenario, and we see the result of this in the Great White throne judgment.

Matthew’s gospel is where we find the “great white throne” and the sheep and goat judgment. (Although it is not called that here.)

Who is handing out the judgment here, as some are deemed goats and sent off to eternal separation and punishment? You want to say, God. Everyone does; it is almost instinctive, but this is Jesus doing the judging. This is the same throne we see in Revelation 20. I told you to keep in mind that the Revelation is the revealing of Jesus. Therefore, this is Jesus we see in Revelation 20, just as it is Jesus in Matthew 25; the difference is that in Revelation we see Jesus as the vengeful God, and in Matthew we see him as a gentle shepherd. Those brought before him in Matthew’s account are the dead from among the nations.

This is where you need to sort things out.

This is especially hard for Christians as most of us were trained to be harshly judgmental. So here is a quick overview to help you understand who these are before the throne.

  • The rapture has come and gone. The dead in Christ have risen, as have those who remained.

  • The end of grace, therefore, salvation primarily comes by the showing of total commitment and more than likely death.

  • Seven years of God’s wrath, and man’s. Where multitudes have continued to die. The tribulations of this time period will get to be so bad that God has to intervene, and He will.

  • Jesus comes once again, and those who choose to fight against him will die. Thus begins a thousand years of peace. Why is there peace? Because the martyred rule and reign with Jesus during this time. Do you think they tolerate nonsense? I doubt it.

  • At the end of the thousand years comes the great white throne judgment I have been speaking of.

These dead from among the nations are those that did not go up in the rapture, and quite probably those that have died since the beginning of time. Since the martyred seem to be gathered to the Lord as they are killed we can exclude them. Out of this group of dead he calls some sheep and invites them into the kingdom. When asked he explains that it was because of their acts of kindness. Did you get that?

We could not seem to find the time or the words with which to worship God, but clearly the day will come. How could I not worship the one who rescued me, and showed me such love?

The plagues

After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished. (Revelation 15:5-8 ESV)

Angels “clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests” come striding out. Most of us have never seen an angel, but Daniel did, and he fell on his face as though dead. Balaam’s ass saw one and turned to avoid the sword in his hand. Jacob fought with the angel of the Lord and walked away a cripple because of it.

How I want an angel to look.

How I want an angel to look.

Illustration 1: While I can only conjecture, I suspect that the angels are more warlike than we like to imagine.

“ and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests”. I wanted so badly to say this sounds like Jesus, but I did a word search in Revelation and could not find him described like this. However, I did find this description of Jesus, and it is much more war-like.

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. (Revelation 19:12-13 ESV)

Other examples of angels and their appearance are similar.

  • The two Mary’s, arriving at the tomb, see two “men”, dressed in dazzling white apparel. Luke 24:1-10

  • Cornelius, the Roman Centurion had an angel appear to him. That angel was dressed in shining clothing. Acts 10:29-31

I do not know if it is worth trying to make something out of the word seven; it feels like the concept of seven has been beaten to death. We should understand that it indicates completeness, but is this the end of the wrath? No. Nor is it the beginning. The context of what is happening here is just one aspect of the wrath. It is not consummated with the actions of these angels, they are just messengers, but each scene must be completed.

Revelation 15:7 NET. Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,

One of the problems we have has been our lack of understanding of God’s character and nature. We read a sentence like this and all we seem to see is God, filled with an eternal wrath. I know this happens because I sit with guys one day a week reading then discussing the book of the month. [Currently, the John Eldredge book, Beautiful Outlaw. I suggest you read it if you have not.] Several, must have learning disabilities as I have. They read common words but twist them to the manner that their brain perceived them. Having the book in front of me I can see instantly what they did. Most of the time they too noticed their error, and attempted to correct it, and then said the same thing a second time. It is almost as if the mind, having seen a particular accepted pattern, refuses to see anything different from what it wants to see.

“ seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God who lives forever and ever,”

While there is no doubt God gets angry, his anger seems to be directed at those who abuse. It is so easy to carry on with descriptives that show God angry, I suppose the ideal thing at this point is to merely point out a couple of things that demonstrate the opposite.

    • A classic is John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that …” When you consider that he gave his son to die, for the redemption of the world, at a time when the world hated him; they still do. The point here is that God loves the world; the opposite of hatred and wrath.

    • When Saul, soon to be referred to as Paul, was confronted by God/Jesus, he was not verbally abused, but asked, why are you persecuting me? Of all the things an angry God could ask or say. Apparently God is not angry with us as we think.

    • Is God capable of being angry? No doubt. Then whom is he angry with? Israel, for its rejection of him as Messiah; in general, that has been an ongoing process. The other group receiving God’s wrath is the nations. Who are the nations? The other name they go by is the gentiles. This includes everyone outside of a relationship with the Messiah, Jesus Christ. These are generally considered those willing to fight against God. Having this in your mind is key in our understanding of his character.

      [As a side note: Wasn’t Saul, while lying on his back due to the bright flash of light from God, confronted by God, saying, why are you persecuting me? Saul was fighting against God. Does that make Saul among the nations? No, but Israel had some real problems with their desire to follow the nations and, therefore, acted like them. Therefore, the end result will be comparable lacking a repentance from the offender.]

“ and the temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and from his power.”

Revelation 15:8 NET. and the temple was filled with smoke from God’s glory and from his power. Thus no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues from the seven angels were completed.

This seems like a good stopping place, as you focus on an aspect of God’s character and nature we seem to forget. The idea of his glory eludes me. Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament words gives this as a part of their explanation: “acts of God in self-manifestation”. Since no man has ever seen God and lived, then what else do we have that explains him? Jesus told the listeners, if you have seen me, then you have seen the Father, but didn’t that sort of apply to his character and nature? God is a spirit, but that is so difficult to comprehend; that it, unless that spirit is evil and trying to kill you, like Satan’s henchmen – these are fallen angels or what we like to call demons. So what John sees is the remnant of his presence, a fog or cloud that fills the temple. The temple is the original and a pattern for the things we have seen on earth. You find this in Hebrews 8:5.

There is no doubt that God is powerful. You are standing on the earth he created with a spoken word. All that we see and know calculated, balanced, and intricately designed long before they were spoken. And isn’t it odd that it takes mankind with their electron microscopes years to find these evidence of his perfect design.

God has the power to create and to destroy. This reminds me of the saying some use on their rebellious children; I brought you into this world, and I can take you out! Since you are trying to understand the character of God, how do you interpret the mass annihilation of man from the earth in a flood? There was more going on in the background than most want to understand. But since you know that God spared one family, then you know that concealed in that destruction was mercy and love.

The Jews understood that Noah appealed to all that would listen, that they could join him in salvation. How many chose to listen? None.

and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; (2Peter 2:5 NASB)

God also made a promise to the man – Noah and signified it with a rainbow. So we know that, never again would God do a mass destruction of man from the earth. [Genesis 9: 15-17.]

So why does God not destroy all of us? Thanks to this sin nature thing embedded within us, it would seem we should be unlovable and hopeless, and that might be true if not for one thing. Jesus, the Son, gave himself as the final sacrifice; a payment in full that redeems us all from the penalty of that propensity to fight against God. It would be easy to say, he made us lovable again, but that is not the case, he loved us, and that is why he allowed his son to be the payment through a horrific death.

He loves us. He made the world for his creation, and the creation gave it away in exchange for what? So he himself, could be a god? That was Satan’s problem; amazing was simply not good enough, and humanity has been tossed about in the middle of the struggle ever since. How do you change any of this? By changing addresses; it is really that simple. In accepting that Christ paid this price for you and by believing that his promise is true – that there is a hope of life with the Father, you instantly change addresses. You are now in Christ and have a permanent home there.

Unfortunately, this all happens internally and spiritually, and much like a recovery group, you are going to need support. This is one of the reasons people want to drive you – like cattle sometimes, to church because that is where people of strength often gather. But the church can have drawbacks and sideshows. I think that many of us merely tolerate the sideshow aspect. Personally, I need real people around me; people that care about me, someone willing to sit and listen when I am in pain. If you were to be honest, your heart cries out for that as well.

The relationship with Christ is easy; finding someone you can trust and share your life with, might be a little more difficult. It is going to require your trust and you will be taking a risk. Find a Celebrate Recovery group because they will accept anyone there, then observe people. You will find someone there that you mesh with; then ask them to be an accountability partner as you walk through life.

One last thing: Learn to trust the voice inside of you; that is the Holy Spirit of God, and it is his job to lead and guide you through life.

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How can we know when we are close to the end? Chapter three.

Posted on 12/29/2015 by remso

What do we know from other examples – in scripture or life – that substantiates a definitive time frame?

Allow me to point something out; a date slipped by us quietly and got ignored, September 13, 2015. It marked not only the end of the Shemittah year, but the beginning of the Jewish New Year – Rosh Hashana. Is it possible that Elul 29 on the Jewish calendar was also the beginning of the seven-year period that culminates the Fiftieth year, the year of Jubilee – the time of restoration of all things; that will happen when the Messiah returns to earth. Coincidentally, Jesus as the Messiah, will return physically to earth at the end of the “Tribulation” to do just that – put everything right. If this is a Jubilee week, then we are in that seven-year period as we speak. Because the end of time concludes with God’s wrath being poured out, there is that possibility that we are already seeing that happen.

We have the two witnesses who stand in the streets of Jerusalem for 1260 days.

So when do the two witnesses show up? Scripture is not clear on that.

Do we have any clues? Certainly.

These two witnesses cause the rain to cease; call fire down from heaven, and cause the same plagues to come upon the earth that Moses brought upon Egypt.

Revelation 11:6 ESV 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.

At the end of their time here, God allows them to be killed. The two witnesses will then lie dead in the street for three days, but will be raised again to life, just as Jesus was.

Revelation 11:7-9 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, (8) and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that symbolically is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified. (9) For three and a half days some from the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,

The one thing that is definitive about this is the 1260 day time frame. Outside of that we have nothing that tells us when they show up except for the association with their being killed and that is related to the entrance of the false prophet.

It is the prophecies of Islam that shed a tremendous amount of light on this subject. Islam expects their own version of Jesus to show up and bring everything under the control of Sharia. To have everything under one religious leader is what Islam desires and is called a global caliphate. The resume of the false prophet begins with him being a Jew of the lineage of Aaron, and he will be a priest with access to the temple. This character/false prophet will pledge allegiance to the Mahdi (when he comes). This Mahdi seems to be the Antichrist we understand from scripture, and leader of the global Caliphate. It is rather obvious that many will be deceived, and aspects of this deception would be that he performs wonders, just as Jesus the Messiah did, and now the two witnesses have done. God’s witnesses stopped the rain, now he will make it rain.

Islam calls this man, “Isa Ibn Maryam (Arabic: عيسى بن مريم‎, translit. ʿĪsā ibn Maryām; English: Jesus, son of Mary), orJesus in the New Testament, is considered to be a Messenger of God and al-Masih (theMessiah) in Islam”,i the enforcer of Sharia.

Scripture tells us that this person – the false prophet, will cause all to worship the beast [this is probably the Mahdi, but since the beast is not clearly defined it could be the fallen angel/demon we call Allah.] Regardless, it will be the bloodiest time the earth has ever seen.

  • I already touched on this verse earlier, but it does hold a time frame within it.

Daniel 7:25-27 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. (26) But the court shall sit in judgment, and his dominion shall be taken away, to be consumed and destroyed to the end. (27) And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’

1260 days is the equivalent of = time, times, and half a time, or 3½ years. BTW: Islam has but one goal, and that is to change times to match theirs.

“and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering.”

Daniel 9:27 ESV And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

  • “He” is the Antichrist.

  • Strong or firm

    it does not matter.

  • “he will make a firm covenant with the many”

    great number, abundance

  • “ for one week”

    A numeral. It is what it is.

Daniel 9:27 LITV …And in the middle of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. …

This literally means, in the midst of two parts. Jump back to Daniel 7: 25-27 and you get what appears to be a detailed description of the second half – time, times, and half a time, or 3½ years.

Daniel 7:24-25 ESV As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise, and another shall arise after them; he shall be different from the former ones, and shall put down three kings. (25) 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.

If you were to use Daniel 7:24-25 as the limits for establishing a time frame, you still have a problem because you cannot prove who the “he” is, nor when he comes on the scene. Since we Americans have a Muslim President, which has turned his back on Israel and taken the side of those attacking Christians, it is much easier to believe that we are already in the seven-year period.

I cannot change what God has decreed, and if it is to be a precise 7 years, then so be it, but there are so many things that I read in scripture for which we do not have a definitive answer for, therefore it is possible that we are in the seven-year period we love to call the tribulation. This period is clearly laid out as the time of God’s wrath, and that has a defined distinction from tribulation, which Jesus told us is an integral aspect of the Christian life.

We, as followers of Christ are reprieved from God’s wrath because Jesus took the punishment we deserved upon himself. In addition, since we, the church, are in Him and he is no longer subject to punishment, then “we are not destined for wrath” either.

Jesus told the disciples, numbering in the thousands at this point, that he will come again and receive them to himself, minus the wrath part. This is the rapture/Harpazo that we long for.

How then could we be in the seven-year period, a time of wrath, expecting Him to rescue us, while all this other stuff is going on? Part of the answer lies in Jesus response to the disciples, and we find that in Matthew 24. The question asked was really very specific: When will the temple be destroyed and when will you come back as the Messiah we have looked for.

Because Jesus arrival as the Messiah comes at the end of the time of wrath, then it is proper to respond to his disciples in a way that describes the events surrounding his return. With that in mind, what did he say, because we will use his responses as potential markers indicating that we are either in that period or closer than we thought.

  • Matthew 24:4,5 ESV And Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray. (AMP) For many will come in (on the strength of) My name [appropriating the name which belongs to Me], saying, I am the Christ (the Messiah), and they will lead many astray.

    The implications are that Jesus takes this very serious, and therefore we should as well. Are people being deceived today? Absolutely. Is there the potential that the deception could be greater? Absolutely. Because it says that the elect will deceived we are talking about Jews.
    Most versions say, “For many will come in my name”. We tend to interpret this to mean that people will be passing themselves off as Jesus. Fortunately we have translations like the Amplified which tells us that they will come in the strength of the Messiah’s name, Jesus. I have told you that Islam is looking for a Jesus as well. This will not be his name, they call him Isa bin Mariam (Jesus the son of Mary – they can handle that but not god, for god to them is Allah and Allah would never have touched a woman). This person may try to represent himself in this way, but the most convincing aspect will be the signs he performs. Jesus of the bible performed his fair share of miracles, and many of the crowds that gathered around him came only because of the miracles. It will not be any different in the last days.

  • Matthew 24:6 ESV And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.

    Fighting in the streets of Paris.

    Fighting in the streets of Paris.

    Constant warfare in the Muslim impacted nations, rioting in the streets, police being assassinated, oh, and don’t forget the mass murders and terrorist acts that seem to be a daily event on the news.

  • Matthew 24:7 ESV For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

    All these things are happening as you read this. Oklahoma, a state which though very familiar with tornadoes, had rarely experienced an earthquake, but is now the leader in earthquakes for the nation.

Since these are a description of times associated with Jesus return as the Messiah, is it possible that we are within that period? I believe the answer is yes. Most will argue from the terminology of tribulation that we are not and cannot be, simply because God is supposed to save us tribulation. I told you that tribulation is the hallmark of our relationship with Christ, however, wrath, coming from God, is not, so you have to make a distinction.

As you try to define the oddities you find in the Revelation and other apocalyptic books, what do you use as the basis for your answers? I ask because it does not seem as though anyone seems to know. Oh sure, plenty of people have answers, but when you read their answer it does not make sense.

Surely you have heard that, scripture interprets scripture; so then, it is possible that the answers are right there in the Word of God.

Good, and free resources are out there. If you have a computer you can download a program called E-sword. It comes with enough information to do what any college graduate can do – research. Lacking a computer, but having a bible and nothing else, then you are going to have to do what Daniel did and read. Read Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Isaiah. You should be getting the picture because they are all interrelated. The Apostle John wrote to Jewish Christians – believers that understood the importance and symbolism he spoke of. Whether you have a computer of not, you are going to need do word searches (at least pay attention to trigger words such beast and day of the Lord), and don’t be afraid to look up even the simplest of words in the Strong’s concordance. Why? Because the simplest of words can have the deepest of meanings in the Hebrew or Greek (something we, in the western world miss). It will alarm you to find that the translators severely weakened an act or statement by choosing one phrase over the other.

Have you ever sat in church and heard the speaker say, this word in Hebrew means precisely this. Well I have, and I have a problem with that, because when you look the word up for yourself, you find out that the word has variability to it. Does that make God look bad? Not at all. It merely shows that God has the ability to deliver life changing freedom to us, even if it is garbage. It also shows that God has the ability to adjust to the circumstances; evidence of that is found in the story of Jonah and his calling to Nineveh. Truth be known, Jonah hated the Assyrians – I wonder why, and desperately wanted God to obliterate them. However they repented at Jonah’s message. (It is quite possible that his appearance played a big role in their reactions.) So God’s choice to be variable allowed him to relent. Note that word relent. It is not repent, as though God made a bad decision, nor does it mean that they are off the hook. It merely meant that because they backed away from their violent ways for the time, that God backed away from his choice to destroy them. In time they went back to their old habits and God brought judgment against them. Remnants of Nineveh were found in the mounds outside of Mosul Iraq not that long ago. So God did bring the judgment declared.

So what is my bottom line on this seven-year period? It may well be exactly as we presume, but God is running the clock and all creation will come into compliance with that. I do know that a time of punishment from God is coming upon this earth, and it will exceed the evil that men will continue to do. However, Jesus taught us that we have a hope, and that hope is that followers of Christ will rule and reign in eternity with him. There is a day coming when all this grief and pain will end, and I can that assurance now by making Him/Jesus the Lord of my life.

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How can we know when we are close to the end? Chapter two.

Posted on 12/22/2015 by remso

Does God have a seven-year period, or is this just man’s idea?

God has given us a multitude of examples that prove that He is deeply invested in the number seven. Creation happened within six yoms of time, and then God rested on the seventh, why God would be exhausted, especially if He was merely speaking things into existence, but none-the-less, he rested.

The word rested is shabath. We also find it spelled shabbath, and sabbath. It also carries the meanings to cease and desist. Therefore we could just as easily say, that on the seventh day, God ceased from creating. I suppose it is much like an artist, who at some point looks at what they have painted and says, it is good, and therefore stops the creative process.

I inserted the Hebrew word Yom instead of days, because the word that we choose to define as a day can actually mean: a space of time defined by an associated term, it is often used adverbially as age. Oh sure, there were other words used prompting our choice to limit God to a twenty-four hour period of time, like heat, cold, and lights to govern the day and night, but this idea of God only working because it is daylight, tends to fall apart if you are holding to a precise chronology in the creation of earth. You see, the Sun is not made, nor placed in the sky until the fourth day, after these conversations about lights to govern the day, and heat and cold.

This idea of time is one of those where you scratch your head as you: try to date the earth; attempt to figure out how the dinosaurs fit into creation, or wonder how long Adam walked this earth alone. And though it is not directly time related, there are those who bravely ask, where did Cain get his wife. Obviously, there are things in scripture that can keep you up at night.

I cannot find a single decree in the New Testament where God has stated that there would be seven years of wrath coming upon the earth.

Oh, don’t get me wrong wrath is coming, but I cannot say it holds to a definite time frame.

Do a word search for wrath, and you will find that a time frame is not specified, however, if you do a search for the word seven you will find 326 verses in the Old Testament alone. The number seven is significant because we, by association, can find allusions to end time eschatology in stories such as the one in which Joseph interprets the dream for Pharaoh, where he saw the fat and skinny cows.

Genesis 41:30 ESV “but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land,”

The symbology in this could easily parallel what we see in end times eschatology. While I will not exclude famine from God’s scenario, the unequaled death and destruction might be analogous to the famine that consumes the land in a seven-year period.

We do have something rather definitive in terminology, when we come to this person we see in Daniel 9, as “he makes a strong covenant with many for one week.” With some help from scripture and commentaries, we find out that “one week” represents a seven-year period.

Daniel 9:27 ESV And he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate, until the decreed end is poured out on the desolator.”

The covenant or treaty, is made by this person, and it is broken by him. We are making a huge assumption if we think that God has to honor the time period described in Daniel 9:27. While the time period, and the person setting it up, play well into God’s scheme of things, it seems to come out of the man’s mouth.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Proverbs 16:9 GNB You may make your plans, but God directs your actions.

Who is this “he”?

“He” has many names.

    • “The son of perdition”. (2 Thessalonians 2:3, John 17:12)

      This phrase is only used twice in scripture. Once when Jesus was speaking of Judas Iscariot, and the other was when Paul describes the man of sin that is to be revealed.

    • “the prince that is to come” as the King James bible calls him. (Daniel 9:26)

      The Hebrew word for prince is nâgid. It is the same word used to describe Jesus when he rode into Jerusalem. In this case Jesus was called the Messiah nâgid. The word nâgid means commander, leader, or noble. A ruling authority.

Robertson’s Word Pictures helps to define what we see in Matthew 21:9, and tells us that in declaring: “Hosanna to the Son of David (Hosanna tōi huiōi Daueid). “They were now proclaiming Jesus as the Messiah and he let them do it.”

    • “the little horn” as seen in Daniel 8:9-12.

      You see this again in Daniel 7:8. Daniel goes on to describe in chapter 7 verses 20,21: “the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. As I looked, this horn made war with the saints and prevailed over them,” 

      Daniel 7:25 gives us tremendous insight if we will look outside the box of religion, for Islam has the intent of changing the times and the laws of the land to suite their needs. One of those would be the mandatory times of prayer.

      (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.”

      1260 days = time, times, and half a time = 3½ years.

    • “the beast” – Revelation 13:5 tells us that “the beast” was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.”

      Because of this, we also call him the beast, however that may not be appropriate. Note the forty-two months. That equals 1260 days, or three and one half years.

    • “the king that does what he wills” Daniel 11:36

    • “the lawless one” 2Thessalonians 2:3.

      This sounds very much like our American president. He too is a Muslim.

    • “The bloody and deceitful man”. Psalm 5:6.

    • “desolator” which is how the ESV bible translates it. Daniel 9:27.

“he shall make a strong covenant with many for one week,”

We make the assumption that this treaty is made with Israel, however this says nothing about Israel. It does say many. While it would be nice if Israel was included, there is nothing here that implies that.

Do we have a guarantee that this period of time is purely chronological? Not necessarily.

God certainly has a time frame, but He is the one that is keeping the clock. We find an example of this in Daniel 9:24. It seems that all of time has been put on hold, and now we are stuck between the 69th and 70th week, for over 2000 years.

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.

What many of us do not comprehend it that this book we read, the Bible, is a Jewish book. It was written with a Middle Eastern mindset, therefore the phrase seventy weeks would have an immediate recognition to the Jewish readers. It carries the significance of the shemitah, a seven-year period which finishes with a time of releasing Jewish debtors from their debts. It is quite possible that we are in what is known as the Jubilee year; the period of time which is considered the grandest of them all, when all things are made right, and their land is restored to them again. Seventy weeks then, is really 70×7, or 490 years.

490 years have come and gone, and yet the most telling aspects of this prophecy over Jerusalem are the aspects about anointing a most holy place, and the destruction of the city and the temple. If the holy place is the rebuilt third temple in Jerusalem, has that happened yet?

[Many would argue that the prophecy about the temple was fulfilled when, as most will say, Titus Vespasian destroyed the temple in 70 A.D. Since he was the Roman emperor over Jerusalem, then the troops who destroyed the temple would be Roman troops, or as some presume, Italians. This presumption has caused us to look to Europe to bring forth not only the Antichrist, but the people who will destroy the last temple and Jerusalem. The problem with that thinking is that we ignore recorded history, for both Josephus and Tacitus recorded that the greater percentage of troops, fighting under the Roman banner, were conscripts from nearby conquered nations, in this case Assyrian. The Assyrians had an aggressive hatred of the Jews, and openly expressed their desire to destroy Israel and it’s people. It was then the Assyrians who sacked the temple, ignoring direct orders from Titus to cease. Having this information, it is much easier to see that the people of the prince will be Assyrian, or Middle Eastern, and an event that is yet to come.]

I will present you the evidence available and let you decide for yourselves.

And yes, I have looked up the occurrences of the words: wrath; week, and weeks; 1260; combinations of 42 months; seven, and tribulation, and I find nothing in the New Testament that shows me God specifying that He will pour out his wrath for this period of time.

  • Revelation 11:3 ISV I will give my two witnesses who wear sackcloth the authority to prophesy for 1,260 days.”

    It is what you do not know that hinders your understanding. You do not know when then these two show up. There are some extremely logical clues, and my opinion is that they show up almost immediately after the rapture, partly to serve as an example to those who come to knowledge of Jesus Christ.

     

  • Revelation 12:5-6 ESV 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, (6) 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.

    She is Israel, and the male child is Jesus Christ. He did not come initially as the ruler of the nations, but he will. He was caught up to God and to his throne. Obviously a portion of this verse has been fulfilled. Here we have Israel fleeing into the wilderness; when will that happen? Several clues come out of Ezekiel’s prophecies. Look at chapters 38, 39, where it describes of a multi-fronted attack against Israel. It also sounds as though there are nuclear weapons involved.

     

  • 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.

    Can you legitimately tell me that there is a definitive starting point for any of these time frames?

     

  • Revelation 13:5 ESV And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.

    42 months = 31/2 years = 1260 days = time, and times, and half a time.

     

    Again we are lacking information, but as before, we have good clues. Daniel chapter 9 tells us that “he” makes a treaty with many for 7 years. However he breaks that treaty after 31/2 years. Question; when does one make treaties? Typically during or right after warfare.

     

  • Revelation 11:2 ISV But don’t measure the courtyard outside the Temple. Leave that out, because it is given to the nations, and they will trample the Holy City for 42 months.

    The intriguing aspect of Revelation 11:2 is that there is now no temple. This means the temple would have to be rebuilt. Ask yourself, where is the courtyard given to the nations? It is the majority of the area deemed to be the temple mount, and for the most part it is given to the Muslims (the nations).

    A computer representation of the third temple.

    A computer representation of the third temple.

    In this representation,almost everything left of the Temple would be considered the court of the Gentiles. What a coincidence.

    I used to think of this period of 42 months as happening after “he” breaks the treaty, and the false prophet defiles the temple once again. It seems logical that this is when this would happen, especially if there is no protection left in Israel.

     

Chronologically this is what we have:

 There is one other possibility we need to entertain.

We are told by the writer of Hebrews that Jesus, as a high priest, entered the holy place in heaven, the pattern for things down here on earth, and splashed his blood – the blood of a sacrificial lamb on the heavenly altar and utensils, anointing them. You can see this in Hebrews 9:11-24.

Ephesians 1:7 ISV In union with him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God’s grace

This alone should have been the end of transgression, however, every human on the earth does things outside of God’s will, continually. It almost seems as though the sin is built into us.

As you read Daniel 9:24 you see transgression finished, an end of sin. Look around you; has that happened? Not in the physical world. Violence is increasing, as is the coldness of men’s hearts. So he is either telling us about a spiritual event, or a future event.

The passage goes on to speak about an everlasting righteousness. I could argue that everlasting righteousness came through the cross, that was spelled out by the writer of Hebrews, therefore I, and you, have been made righteous by the blood of the sacrifice of Christ. Again, this tends to be more spiritual, and does guarantee you a life with the Father; that comes through your acceptance, but it does impact how God looks at us. We will not be judged for sin, by Him, but we will be judged based upon what we did with His Son.

Ask yourselves, if an everlasting righteousness came through the cross, then why is it not automatic?

How God looks at us is much like the artist that decides the work is done, however there is that idea that no one comes to the Father but through the Son. So here we have a forgiveness of our inherent sin that exude constantly to the surface, and yet still must accept the Son, Jesus, as the door into the kingdom. Strangely, I see this pattern throughout the time of judgment upon the earth. Salvation is still available by acknowledging the Son and not some other, even if shoved down your throat at the edge of a sword.

Perhaps I over simplify when I say things like: the earth is one big adoption agency and we are all in it, but the concept works for me.

At some point God, in the form of the Son, comes to earth, pays the fee to adopt us all, signs the paperwork, and then tells everyone to hop in truck. (The cool thing is that here in America, we used to be able to just hop in the bed of the truck.) Some come readily while others hesitate. The guy playing video games with the spiked, multi-colored hair finally decides to jump in the truck, but bellows out – I don’t take out trash. God accepts him anyway, just as He accepted all of us with our quirks. Eventually we all come into line and do our part. Initially, all I have to do is accept Jesus into my life.

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How can we know when we are close to the end? Chapter one.

Posted on 12/09/2015 by remso

If I was trying to assess what I knew for sure about the seven week period we call the Tribulation. It only seems reasonable that I would try to find things in scripture that speak of this period. For example:

  • Do we know about when this seven-year period will take place.

    Because there are always skeptics, can we know at all?

    The short answer is yes

  • Does God have a seven-year period?

  • Does God have to stick to man’s plan?

  • If it is a man’s plan, then who is this guy?

Do we know about when this Antichrist will show up, or when God will pour out his wrath?

The skeptics will quote, improperly and out of context, that no man knows the day or the hour. So what does scripture say to the believer?

1 Thessalonians 5:2-5 ESV (2) For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (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.

Jesus told the disciples –

Matthew 13:11 And he answered them, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.”

So apparently not everyone has a security clearance, or the ability to know, and yet we all have the same clues.

What then are the clues that indicate we are close to the end?

Although Matthew 24 is filled with these clues, lets focus on something that we might be able to relate to. Matthew 24:32 begins a parable of a fig tree. Israel is that fig tree.

Matthew 24:32-33 KJV Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: (33) So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.

a fig tree beginning to bud

a fig tree beginning to bud

Israel became a nation in 1948, and it is the general assessment that this was the tender branch. All these years later, she has put forth leaves, summer is nigh, and the time to pick the fruit has come. While all these aspects may be telling, it is this part of the statement that draws our attention: “when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.” Once again the things we were to look for:

  • The branch putting forth leaves

  • Summer and the time of harvest. (This is not a literal time, but could be.)

  • “know that it is near, even at the doors.” What is the “it”? The Day of the Lord.

While the next verse has many interpretations, there is something very plainly stated in it:

Matthew 24:34 KJV Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

Remember, we are looking for clues, therefore the general idea is that when Israel became a nation the limb budded, and it is understood that: that generation that would not pass away without all these things being fulfilled, and that includes the coming of the Day of the Lord. However, many feel that Israel did not become the nation God intended until the six-day war of 1967 (I suppose that ignores the fact that the United Nations pressured Israel into giving back much of the captured lands. A person born in 1948 would today be 67, but the person born in 1967 would today be 48. Both of these ages lay outside of a commonly understood time frame, which I discuss in the next paragraph. I suppose the hardest part of this equation is to decide what determines a generation.

Genesis 6:3 tells us that God changed the time frame for man, giving him only 120 years, but it is rare that someone lives that long. Why is that important? What if man, living to be hundreds of years old, as they did in Noah’s day, did not mature or have an interest in starting a family, therefore a new generation, until they had lived at least one hundred years? Ancestry.com writer, Donn Devine, says, “As a matter of common knowledge, we know that a generation averages about 25 years—from the birth of a parent to the birth of a child—although it varies case by case”. Our western mindset gets in the way of understanding this eastern mentality book we call the bible, therefore the possibility exists that a generation could have been as short as fourteen to sixteen years. All this merely creates confusion, because as we read statements like Matthew 24:34, or possibilities like this we immediately attempt to constrain God into a box of our own proportions and making. Then, because God does not fit into our box, we consider his actions and intent impossible to understand, and everything about him a mystery.

Even though we think we understand the meaning of a simple word like generation, we, because we are astute students of the Bible, look the word up so as to not let anything escape us. The problems we create for ourselves is that we, without further training, do not understand the nuances of the Greek word γενεά / genea, the basis for our word in question. Genea was also translated as nation and age. If I apply either of those words to Matthew 24:34 it opens the door to a rather large and variable time frame.

This (age or nation) shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.

With that in mind, this idea of generation does not even apply to us, but to Israel. Therefore what Jesus was saying in Matthew 24, really was Israel (his people specific.)

While we did not pin God down to a specific time, we do have the evidence that He is near, even at the door.

I have for a while now been telling people that we are no longer looking for His return in terms of years, but that we are in the last minutes or seconds of time. Now consider that I have been saying that for a couple of years now. Does that change my enthusiasm about the eminent status of His coming for his church and beginning the final countdown prior to His return as the conquering Messiah that Israel longed for? Not at all, for He created time and passes in and out of it, putting it on hold, even if meant bringing you (that one person) back into the kingdom.

If you can not honestly say you know you are a part of God’s kingdom, then all you really have to do is to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord. Allow him to rule your life; you have not been doing all that great of a job ruling it yourself. He will come into your life and make you his. No, he is not going to strip your will and decision-making abilities out of your life, but you will find that things go so much better when you turn those things over to him. He loves you and intercedes for you before the Father.

We have a promised life in eternity, free from the pains of this life, if we will do this. He loves you very much. Now how would I know that, because I have experienced this love for myself, and I now know that it is his character, and the nature of the Father’s.

God bless and have a blessed Christmas.

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And those who had conquered the beast. Revelation 15:2-4

Posted on 11/21/2015 by remso

The Apostle John described what he saw – good news mixed with bad; bad only in the regard that those on the earth at this time will have to endure more tortuous wrath.

Question: What do you believe? If you are “non-religious” – meaning you refuse to take part in any religion, as you are a religion unto yourself, then you either have no idea what to believe; or, you merely refuse anything that conflicts with you personal moral standard. You noted that I said you are a religion unto yourself, that is because you have a moral standard upon which your personal religious system is based. To prove you have a moral standard consider a few examples and ask yourself how you would honestly react:

  • To someone raping your wife or little daughter?

  • If someone stole your drugs or personal belongings?

  • To someone trying to kill you?

Why would it matter to you? It matters because you have a moral standard and there are some things that are just not right, even to you.

The next, and obvious question is, upon whom or what do you base your moral standard, because all standards have some baseline of good. Think about a particular food you like to eat; have you had some that causes you to think back on it with fondness? Of course you have. It then becomes the standard upon which you decide if something called by the same name is good or not, because you have a baseline upon which you judge something.

Since you have a moral standard, then do you declare that standard to others? If you contrived your own standard for living, it may sound something like this, touch my stuff and I will kill you. Admittedly, there is no attractive draw to your religion, but it is a common mantra among those who also include the idea that what is yours is mine, and not surprisingly, you are found in scripture:

2 Timothy 3:1-5 ESV But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. (2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, (3) heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, (4) treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, (5) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. ..”

(I wanted to sound like Norm Geisler: normangeisler.net, or Ravi Zacharias: RZIM.org, giving you a clear, profound definition, but I did not have time, nor do I have the enthusiasm to do so. I kept thinking about man left to his own inclinations, because that seems to the theme without God. Most believe that they are making the decision to be or do good on their own, however scripture does not tells us that.)

Gen 6:5-7 LITV And Jehovah saw that the evil of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the day long. (6) And Jehovah repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved to His heart. (7) And Jehovah said, I will wipe off man whom I have created from the face of the earth, from man to beast, to the creeping thing and to the birds of the heavens; for I repent that I made them.

Genesis chapter 6 describes man making his own decisions, and it was not good. Sure there were exceptions, like Methuselah, Enoch, and Noah’s family. But do you realize that the entire time Noah worked on that ark he was telling people about the character of God and what was coming. They all had the option of joining him. How many followed Noah and God? NONE.

The obvious point I am making here, is that God is the moral standard, and if you were honest, you would admit that you know that. I know you know that because an aspect of the original sin was to know good and evil. Since God is good, then you do know Him and are going to be held responsible for that knowledge. Doesn’t that just suck!

God did an amazing thing for the people who walk upon this earth; since they choose to ignore his moral standard, something he knew they would do, he sent his own son to die in our place, on a cross, at the hands of the Jewish high priest, just as prophecy said he would. God had to do that because Adam, the first man, chose to flex his own moral standard and apparently tweaked our DNA in the process. From that moment forward we have all had a preference toward doing our own thing, some just take it farther than the others and in time they are killed or caught.

So this amazing, unselfish act by God, bought us out from under the penalty of that brokenness we have within us. We no longer have to pay the penalty of death for our sins (as far as God is concerned), but we now have to make a decision, what will we do with the Son who died on our behalf. We have to either accept this Jesus, as the Son, the Sacrifice, and the Savior, OR, we reject him.

And this brings me back to my question, what do you believe?

If you believe that Jesus Christ is your salvation, that is a good thing; that makes you a follower. As a follower, we have the promise that he will come again (soon) and extract those that are his out of here before God pours out his wrath upon those that have rejected Him. The bad news is that Jesus himself said that those who choose to follow him will have tribulations in this world. There is no escape from the evil that people will commit, and much of that will be in the name of their religion. And there is little relief, for most, from the pains of scratching out an existence. Yeah, I know, there are always exceptions, but the filthy rich will have their day of judgment as well – I see them described in my bible as well.

This seven years of wrath is filled not only God’s judgment being poured out on earth, but the extreme violence that man can and will perform upon their fellow-man.

In my last post I focused on verse one of Revelation 15, (NIV) “I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues–last, because with them God’s wrath is completed.” I noted that this does not give the reader any precise time frame, but if we are to read chronologically, this is a continuation of the wrath, but when it is done there will be a glorious end.

Inserted into this pain and destruction are three verses that exude God’s magnificence.

Reflection of fire in glass

Reflection of fire in glass

Rev 15:2-4 ESV And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire–and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. (3) And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and amazing are your deeds, O Lord God the Almighty! Just and true are your ways, O King of the nations! (4) Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”

This sea of glass mingled with fire might be the same as Rev 4:6 AMP And in front of the throne there was also what looked like a transparent glassy sea, as if of crystal..” However, they are clearly different in description.

“and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands.”

Who do we see standing beside the sea of glass?

“Those who had conquered the beast the and its image and the number of its name”

We need to stop and ponder this a moment. What is one of the first things prominent within this sentence?

“Those who had conquered the beast”

Why should this demand any special consideration?

  1. As followers of Christ, just as the disciples were, what is our method of operation? To answer that you need to consider what James and John were willing to do.

Luke 9:52-56 ESV And he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. (53) But the people did not receive him, because his face was set toward Jerusalem. (54) And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” (55) KJV But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. (56) For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

(Take note: Infiltration and the watering down of something to the point that you no longer hold that belief tightly, but merely accept what you hear as truth, is subtle. An example of this just presented itself to me as I was looking at translations, trying to find one that clearly conveyed the destructive nature of James and John’s question, while demonstrating the character of God that Jesus was living out in front of them. If you paid attention, you noticed in the verse above that I switched translations when I got to verse fifty-five. Why do that? Because in the ESV, which I use with frequency, it merely says: “But he turned and rebuked them. (56) And they went on to another village.” Why, it might as well tell us that they stopped to pick daisies along the way. The ESV stripped the power right out of the moment, and it eliminated your ability to see the true nature of not only God, but our mission here on earth.)

A second verse to take note of comes from Matthew’s gospel.

Matthew 10:16 AMP Behold, I am sending you out like sheep in the midst of wolves; be wary and wise as serpents, and be innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.

Jesus never told us to be mindless, spineless sheep. However, we do have the admonition to be wary, and strangely, wise like a serpent. Since we really only have the one serpent for an example – Satan in the garden, his actions prove that he listened and thought through some of God’s reasons for the express purpose of watering them down with some twisted logic.

(The Greek word for wise, as used by Matthew, also means thoughtful, or discreet.)

How do I apply that to my life as a believer?

Paul had something to say about that.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 KJV (4) (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds😉 (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

So you are to analyze what is being said. Not only what the “world” dishes out, but anything the “Church” tosses out as truth, as well. Things sometimes sound logical. As I pointed out, this twisting of the truth worked for Satan.

(Since the church is really the people who form it, then the admonition is to pay attention to everything thrown at you. Your ability to judge quickly is in proportion to your understanding of God’s Word, and that only comes through your thoughtful reading of scripture.)

Look at what Paul says in his letter to the church in Corinth once again: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God”

  • Casting down – is the Greek word kathaireo, and it gives us two levels of approach “to lower (or with violence) demolish”. Some things just need to be pushed down and out-of-the-way, but some ideas and teachings need to be destroyed and demolished. (This applies to the voices in your head as well.) Keep in mind that we are using God’s word as the basis for assessment, not our opinion.

  • Imaginations means to reason. No one is asking you to stop thinking. Just stop thinking on things that destroy God’s character and diminish his love for you, because God will never stop loving you, and you certainly can’t destroy his character. You take in enough garbage and you might destroy how you think about God, and your own good will toward him.

  • Every high thing – are the things man has lifted up. At least once a week I hear about a “pastor” or a collection of them, exalting some new governmental atrocity, as though God had changed His heart and we are to now accept it as normal.

  • That exalts itself against the knowledge of God – This seems to imply that it is raising itself up. The Greek word also defines the word as exalt self. Any thinking person can take this two ways, and neither are good in the context of this verse.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 goes on to tell us to be “innocent (harmless, guileless, and without falsity) as doves.” Doves seem to do little else besides eat and make cooing sounds. The question really is, how do I blend all these attributes in one package: Wary; wise, and harmless in appearance? My answer to that question is, just allow God to deal with that in us. That is why we have His Word and the Holy Spirit – remember: the Holy Spirit will lead you and guide you into all truth.

John 16:13 KJV Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

  1. Again, our passage in Revelation 15:2 says, “Those who had conquered the beast the and its image and the number of its name”.

    Of the thousands in the Middle East who have been tortured and lost their lives, how many were victorious or conquered the beast? It is hard to perceive of any, unless of course standing their ground, and not denying the name of the Lord is really what we are talking about here.

    The problem is, the human mind does not perceive conquering in that way; it sees the beast as done away with and gone. Where is the problem with that? The problem in seeing this as a destruction of the beast lies in the fact that the beast is only truly dispatched when Jesus returns to earth and physically casts the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire.

    What then does it mean to conquer?

    Since conquer is the Greek word nikaō / nik-ah’-o, and means to subdue (literally or figuratively): – conquer, overcome, prevail, get the victory.

    “they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony”

    It becomes a little easier to see that we do something to that effect when we apply some faith to our lives.

  2. One last thing on Revelation 15:2. It speaks of conquering not just the beast, but the image, and the number of its name.

    The beast/Antichrist does not even present itself until the church is removed from the earth. Okay, fine, I will show you.

2 Thessalonians 2:7-8 ESV (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. (8) And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.

[The word restrain was also translated as let or letteth. Let is old English for hinder, prevent. In Greek it is katecho and means to hold down (fast). Much like a policeman might.]

How does one conquer what they cannot see?

Let me explain. In Revelation 13 we get a tremendous amount of information, however, it is rather cryptic, and like the decoder rings we used to get as children, you have to decipher the code by going back through scripture, comparing terminology.

By the time we get to Revelation 13:11 we have already seen a multi-headed beast arise from the sea. While this aspect of the sea throws some people, by doing our homework we can figure that it merely means a vast quantity of people spread over a wide area. Verse 11 presents us with another beast, but it rises out of the earth. Again it is coming out of a people group, but the reference to earth tells us that it is from a locale. While all these things play a role, the important aspect for people living during this time period (the seven years of God’s wrath and judgment), is what it does.

Revelation 13:11-18 ESV (11) Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. (12) It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. (13) It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, (14) and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. (15) And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. (16) Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, (17) so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. (18) This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

If I only consider the imagery of the first and second beasts I have no way of visualizing what I am looking for outside of some bizarre mythical characterization. I will give you some clues to understand this mess.

  • Beast number one – Revelation 13:1-2 GNB “… 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. (2) The beast looked like a leopard, with feet like a bear’s feet and a mouth like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his own power, his throne, and his vast authority.” The prophet Daniel had problems with this as well, and he asked for an explanation. What he got was that it was empires, and the Babylonian empire was the first. So, in this form, it is ruling bodies or governments. Can a Caliphate fit the description of a ruling body or government? Certainly.

  • In Revelation 13:3, one of its heads sustains what the world perceives as a mortal wound. In other words the world thinks this ruling body is dead. Why would the “world” care, unless it affected their economy, or was a threat to their safety. Well there was an entity like this. It started around 640 A.D., and continued being a thorn in the world’s flesh until 1924. This was the succession of Islamic caliphates; the last being the Ottoman empire.

  • Out of this particular empire – No, scripture does not specifically label the empire, but we have some great clues – comes a spokesman, (a mouth.) This is the Antichrist we see in scripture. (A common description of this spokesman says that he makes a seven-year peace treaty with Israel, and we anticipate someone doing that. But that is not what scripture tells us. It says he makes a seven-year treaty with many. We just assumed that Israel would be included. The things that have alerted the Christian community is the fact that America leadership has turned its back on Israel, while making treaties with the sworn enemy of Israel – Iran. Someone is making treaties, for something we never thought we would see is Russia and China inserting themselves in Syria.) Some have speculated that the American President is the Antichrist. I do not think so, but the White House posted a picture on their twitter account showing Obama holding a crown, and there is a bow lying on the floor in front of his feet. This is symbology that we see in Revelation 6:2. Those that republished the photo say that it is Photoshop’ed but note that the White House may be trying to say something by publishing it.

  • The second beast – another man who quickly represents all that the beast is and wants – rises up from the earth. If we are talking about the Muslim world, then I suspect this person will come out of one of those nations.

    Numbers 24:14-23 ESV And now, behold, I am going to my people. Come, I will let you know what this people will do to your people in the latter days.” (15) And he took up his discourse and said, “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, (16) the oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with his eyes uncovered: (17) I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near: a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth. (18) Edom shall be dispossessed; Seir also, his enemies, shall be dispossessed. Israel is doing valiantly. (19) And one from Jacob shall exercise dominion and destroy the survivors of cities!” (20) Then he looked on Amalek and took up his discourse and said, “Amalek was the first among the nations, but its end is utter destruction.” (21) And he looked on the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said, “Enduring is your dwelling place, and your nest is set in the rock. (22) Nevertheless, Kain shall be burned when Asshur takes you away captive.” (23) And he took up his discourse and said, “Alas, who shall live when God does this?

     

    Moab, Edom and Sheth (people of the east). Interesting isn’t it? The prophet Isaiah also mentions Moab’s utter destruction.

    Isaiah 25:9-10 ESV 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.” (10) For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.

     

    So in a sense the beast out of the earth represents someone more local for the Muslim community. Therefore I expect this man coming out of the Middle East.

  • This second beast – Islam calls him Jesus, just as we do – shows up around the 1260 day mark within the time of God’s wrath. Because of the signs he performs, he is believed by many, and he causes many to convert to Islam. He will also create an image of the beast. Remember how the beast is introduced to us as a seven headed monstrosity. Since these multiple empires have a common theme, that theme may be Allah. Allah was a creation of Muhammad, therefore no one knows what he looks. Nonetheless, this “beast” makes an image, animates it, and causes everyone to worship it. Those refusing to worship the beast, and the image of the beast, and take its mark, are killed. (Pay attention to this, there are three parts to it, not just the taking of an “rfid” chip.)

Jewish high priest wearing a hoshen, and Levit...

Jewish high priest wearing a hoshen, and Levites in ancient Judah. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

So I am overcoming a beast, which I am not even sure what it looks like, and, its image and number of its name.

Because of the chronology and the known entrance of the second beast, I can guarantee that these who are portrayed as standing around the sea of glass mixed with fire, were well aware of who each of these enemies are. Since I kinda covered the image aspect in the bullet-ed overview section, I want to talk about something I noticed, and it is this phrase – the number of its name.

Our first encounter with this cryptic description is found in Revelation 13. I want you to see the typical representation first and then the Amplified because in a strange way, the Amplified may shed a little light. However I cannot explain either of these adequately, and this playing with numbers is Gematria and confusing at best.

Revelation 13:18 ESV This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

Revelation 13:18 AMP Here is [room for] discernment [a call for the wisdom of interpretation]. Let anyone who has intelligence (penetration and insight enough) calculate the number of the beast, for it is a human number [the number of a certain man]; his number is 666.

As I pondered this phrase: “those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name,” it occurs to me that this could convey the number, in total, of those who march under the orders or name of this entity/beast. Since this verse 15:2 makes no directive to interpret “the number of its name” I felt compelled to look up the Greek words.

number – G706 – arithmos/ar-ith-mos’ – From G142; a number (as reckoned up): – number.

of his name – G3686 – onoma/on’-om-ah – From a presumed derivative of the base of G1097 (compare G3685); a ?name? (literally or figuratively), (authority, character): – called, (+ sur-) name (-d).

If the central core of the multi-headed beast we see in Revelation 13 is Islam, then the name may well be Allah and the rules of engagement come from the Qur’an. The number, and as we can see from the Greek, is a calculated quantity. The implication of that is an overwhelming quantity. Is this starting to make sense to anyone? An overwhelming quantity of people, submitted to Allah, running around the world, killing anyone who does not submit.

Wow, that sounds like Islam to me.

Ask yourself why any of this is important. If, you are a believer, and not just the person who says, “I go to church”, but you have an active exuberance for Christ. That means you personally know, the one who died on the cross and rose again, fulfilling God’s promises so that you might have an abundant life. It also means you have a lively hope in his return which is specifically to catch his church away. That catching away is intentional so that those who are part of that church, and still alive here on earth at that time would not have to go through the wrath that is coming.

If by some chance, the rapture has come and you are reading this, then know this – His love and arms are still extended to you. The Holy Spirit of God is in the earth drawing you to him. Accept his love for you, turn your life over to him, and you will be received into the kingdom. That’s the good news. The bad news is that some crazed group of people will probably kill you for taking a stance for Christ instead of the god they are pushing. Stand your ground and shortly you will find yourself standing before the one who has loved you since the beginning of time.

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What are some of the signs that tell us we are in the last days?

Posted on 11/17/2015 by remso

English: Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey

English: Jesus entering Jerusalem on a donkey (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Monday morning “bible” study initiated with the topic: “What are some of the signs that tell us we are in the last days?” I love introductions like this, because they can be filled with hope. However that was not the case this day. Immediately we were presented with the following scriptures: Matthew 24:14; Matthew 24:33, and Matthew 24:42-44.

Let’s start where they started.

Matthew 24:14 EMTV And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed in all the world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.

Try to imagine where your thoughts go, when you have this verse thrown in your face by some legalistic “brother”, trying to prove that Jesus cannot come back because we know with certainty that there are 114 people groups that do not have bibles in their language. That is what I heard about a year ago. Fascinating how Iran made the bible illegal probably since 1979, and yet Jesus himself still shows up at people’s doors or in their dreams, and they know who he is. In the case of one man, Jesus showed up over the course of eight years. That man, finally getting his family out of Iran and into Rome, was handed a bible in the Persian language. The first thing he read when he opened it was Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and I am knocking. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come into him and I will dine with him, and he with Me.” That man told me, that this is exactly what Jesus had done all those years and I would not receive him because I was a Muslim. He did come to know this Jesus and is an on-fire evangelist for God now. It was not the bible that spoke to him, it only served as a witness. It was Jesus himself doing the evangelism.

What does this say about our demand that every man gets a printed bible in their hand before the Lord can come back?

Are you not aware that an angel, or angels, will preach the gospel around the globe?

Revelation 14:6 KJV And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,

Revelation 1:7 KJV Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.

And although it does not speak about the angels spreading the gospel message, in Colossians Paul tells us this:

Colossians 1:23 KJV If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

Paul unquestionably did not go to every creature, and there had not been enough time for the disciples to reach the ends of the earth by the time this letter was written. There is the possibility of an exponential explosion in the number of salvations since the day of Pentecost, but we don’t see that. What then does this say about personal responsibility, for every man has the knowledge of good and evil. What does that mean?; does that imply that God has imprinted his life and character in every man? Certainly, it does, but sometimes it seems we are only a shade above rocks on the evolutionary scale, because – having both been made by God – we humans have the ability, with our free choice, to worship, yet we reject him, while the rock, fully understanding that man corrupted the existence God put it in, can and does cry out to God for its redemption.

Look at what we see in Romans 1:18-20:.

Romans 1:18-20 KJV For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; (19) Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. (20) For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

We hold the truth unrighteousness.

That has nothing to do with a bible, it is what we are doing with an internal truth.

Did Cain, one of Adam’s sons, have a bible?

No, and yet he had a responsibility to hold the truth in righteousness.

Did he do that?

No, and out of selfishness and jealousy killed his brother Able. So, whether you have a printed copy of the scriptures in your hand or not, you will be without excuse.

The second verse that was tossed at us was this:

Matthew 24:33 ESV So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates.

This is great, but we never touched the signs or things (although we have been allegedly looking at this for several weeks) . Let’s do a quick break down.

  • Who is the “you” Jesus was talking to?

    The disciples. He is of course also speaking to us. Remember all scripture is given for our benefit. 2 Timothy 3:16

  • And they were what?

    Jews first, disciples second.

  • What was their motive for asking the questions that prompted the answers?

    The context begins in Matthew 22 where Jesus had entered triumphantly into Jerusalem, riding on the colt. Consider that the disciples had put on that colt, so the expectation was very intense for them. The people were shouting Hosanna, and the hope was that this would be the moment in time when He would show himself as the Messiah they had longed for. However he did not do that, He made a whip of cords, and threw the vendors out the court of the gentiles; and began raging at the Chief priests and elders about how they had defiled his house. This battle lasted for two days. We don’t see where the disciples had gone. Finally, the dust has settled, and they were all leaving toward the mount of Olives. It seems the disciples were a little undone by it all. Not sure what to say, one points out the structure of the temple and the massive stones by which it was built. Thus begins Jesus’ responses.

Matthew 24:2 ESV But he answered them, “You see all these, do you not? Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

There are definite signs, and Jesus spells out almost all of them, but I will get to that later.

The third verse the leader threw out was Matthew 24: 42-44.

“Watch therefore, for you do not know in what hour your Lord is coming. (43) But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would have kept watch, and he would not have allowed his house to be broken into. (44) For this reason, you also must be ready, for at an hour that you think not, the Son of Man comes.” (EMTV)

The group leader then focused on this for a moment and asked, why does God not want us to know the exact day, time, or hour?

This kind of thinking is comparable to living in the dark ages, and we are no longer there.

  • First, the question is filled with false beliefs and assumptions.

    Assumptions, because leaders will not take the time to find out if there is something that contradicts their opinion; false beliefs, because when confronted with the truth (and I have confronted them on previous occasions) they refuse to accept the truth and try to make a workaround so that they can keep their beliefs intact.

  • Secondly, if this is really the way God feels, then the answer is:

    Most likely because we have a natural tendency to be slackers. This is probably the reason that the church cannot handle talking about the freedoms we have in Christ. Think about it. If I told you how very simple it is to have this life in Christ, and that you have already been forgiven, you might choose to live a wild life with no restraints, and perhaps even not go church. What is the problem with all that? How is religion supposed to control you?

    The mornings “discussion” even ended with a loud rant about how there is not enough preaching on sin and personal responsibility these days.

In light of this, why do we foolishly take passages like Matthew 24:36 NASB “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.” A passage that was meant to explain to the disciples what the end-time salvation of the Jews would look like, and apply it to ourselves?

There is a direct answer to this fallacy:

1 Thessalonians 5:1-5 ESV (1) Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. (2) For you, yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. (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.

darkness is the Greek word skot’-os and means shadiness, obscurity, and darkness.

So, we are capable of knowing and therefore, not in the dark. As a matter of fact, we are not even in the shadows. Jesus himself gave us two huge clues, or signs if you will, about when we might expect him.

Matthew 24:32-34 ESV “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. (33) So also, when you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates. (34) Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

Israel is that fig tree and it was transplanted in 1948 (1917 if you want to use the Balfour declaration). A generation has no firm understanding of the time frame. The dictionary states A single succession in natural descent, as the children of the same parents; hence, an age. Thus we say, the third, the fourth, or the tenth generation. But it also applies to the people of the same period or living at the same time. So a child born in 1948, would today be 67 and would not have lived out all their attributed years. However, if born in 1917 they would be 98. My girlfriend’s mother is 97. Fortunately, or not, God does not seem to be too wrapped up in precise time frames (we have lived in Daniel’s seventieth week for two thousand years). I suppose since He created time that He can do what He wants with it, including making it fit His scheme of things.

If you really want to understand Matthew 24 and 25, then you need to think context.

  • Jesus was talking directly to Jews/his disciples, but he was also speaking toward a future audience, and we are that audience.

    In talking to Jewish ears he said things that their training in a synagogue would have immediately caused them to associate with scripture. Therefore it was not a mystery as we think. We just need to adjust our thinking.

    You also need to understand that prophecy to a Jew was a pattern, and therefore Jesus told them things from the prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Jeremiah had already declared.

You, as a believer, should be aware, of what “all these things” are.

  • Matthew 24:5 False messiahs will come.

  • Matthew 24:6 Wars and rumors of wars

  • Matthew 24:7 Nations will rise against nations,

kingdom against kingdom,
earthquakes in various places,
and famines.

  • Matthew 24:9 ..they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death,

and you (the Jews and Israel) will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.

  • Matthew 24:10 And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another.

  • Matthew 24:11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.

    The term false prophet is a combination of Greek words, we end up with pseudoprophētēs it means, a spurious prophet, a pretended foreteller, or a religious impostor.

  • Matthew 24:12 … lawlessness will be increased,

    the love of many will grow cold.

This is a shortlist, but you should get the idea.

One aspect that keeps coming up, is the idea of apostasy.

It means an abandonment of what one has professed; a total desertion, or departure from one’s faith or religion. This can apply to government as well. Look around you, can you see this happening? I can.

If you have a desire to know this Jesus that I speak of, merely ask him into your life. He gave his life so that you could have a restored relationship with him again, and we have the promise that we will spend eternity with Him, in the presence of the Father forever. If you ask him, he will come into and wash you, heal you, and fill you with the power of his Holy Spirit. All you have to do is ask.

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A two year veteran of recovery, and battling depression

Posted on 11/16/2015 by remso

Angry Talk (Comic Style)

Angry Talk (Comic Style) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you have followed me for any time then you know that two years ago I humbled myself and placed myself in Celebrate Recovery. I did this because I had allowed myself to become consistently enraged. Sadly, this was not something I could keep hidden, and I lost a job due to expressing my displeasure at a manager. Fortunately a friend pointed out that I needed help. Thus began a lifelong journey. I call it a lifelong journey because I really do not know anyone who has it altogether, nor do I know anyone in recovery who believes they are permanently healed. Sure, they may act like it for moments at a time, but they are merely good actors.

Part of this journey I am on included several trips to a John Eldredge inspired Band of Brothers boot camp. The idea and hope were that the camp would be life changing; while it dug up a multitude of wounds that needed attending too, the most significant thing that happened was that God directed me to a man who eventually brought me to recovery. Almost immediately I got signed up for a twelve step group. In the group, because I was challenged by a barrage of difficult and soul-searching questions, I decided that being painfully honest in my answers would be the best course of action, and bring about the best chance of healing. To be honest, the process of getting through what I thought was the only issue, took about a year. Slowly the rage began to subside, and then something overwhelming happened, I began to see all the codependent issues in me that fed the anger (I am aware that they have been there most of my life). It took my breath away.

I am now a two-year veteran of recovery, and battling depression associated with the codependency. I believe this depression, like the anger, is the result of unresolved issues, things I am powerless over. When I describe how I feel, I often feel more lost, as most have no idea what I am going through. Those that have not experienced depression will rarely be able to understand. A friend of mine recently told me that many of the things that cause us grief, are real. While that may be, I also have what I call voices in my head. These voices sound like my dad, my mom, ex wives, religious themes and in general they berate me, telling me that I am a loser, that I screwed up again, and that I have no value. The voices typically are contrary to what I see in God’s word, and they are designed to make me feel anything other than what God’s word tells me.

Just telling you about it seems to cause one of those voices to rise up, telling me that, you, the reader, will also turn against me. As I sat last evening, trying to flesh this theme out in my head, I vocalized it to my girlfriend. In doing so I said something that is probably a desperate truth – I am not alone, and God has allowed me to go through this discomfort and sometimes despair, because He believes I can handle it, and knows that I will write about it. So I quickly realized that negativity is one of those weapons we are to guard against with this shield of faith we believers wear.

Let’s talk about this armor for a moment. Instead of mentally taking it off every night as some imply they do, why not assume that it is an aspect of your life in Christ, and like a knight of something like the round table, presume that your calling and job is for life. Your armor is custom fitted and there is no need to take it off. Besides, should you need it, there is no time to redress yourself, so merely live in it. Now should you need to remind yourself that it is still on, there is no penalty, except for loud clang as the enemies arrows bang into your breastplate. Perhaps you can take that as a wake up call.

To put some reality to the voices I will give you an example. This one was inadvertently and recently added to the repertoire. I, at one of my meetings, (I am in leadership at two recovery groups) stood up along with a lady, to give out chips marking milestones in our recovery. The chip given most often is the welcome/new comer/fresh start chip. I have several of these. My addiction is no easier to overcome than the next guys, and at one point I was going on six months without getting enraged at someone. I was so proud of myself. As I sit in meetings and watch people who have been addicted to horrible things, go up and get a chip for years of sobriety, I think to myself, I want that too. Sadly, I discovered how easy it is to simply make a choice to relapse. In other words, I allowed myself the freedom to rage once again, and had to start over. I wish I could tell you what that did to my head. I was so disappointed in myself, because taking another chip indicating that you are starting over can be a humbling and difficult moment, even when people are telling you that you are exhibiting incredible bravery and demonstrating the willingness to be a victor when you do this. I believe that if your heart is right, and you want help, then yes, you just overcame once again. Back to my female partner in passing out chips. As I stopped myself from my typical impromptu speech about our choice to pick ourselves up again and move forward, I said, “and I am taking a chip to start afresh on my journey to recovery over anger.” She immediately, in front of everyone, said, “you have quite a collection of those.” Inwardly I was crushed, but outwardly I laughed it off because I am standing there now exposed in front of the group. We have talked about this, but the voice still remains, as well as my collection of chips. And though I should be picking up another blue chip, I cannot bring myself to add another to my collection just yet. In the midst of this mess – yes, I have my moments of despair – God began to speak to me. Fortunately, I am accustomed to hearing God’s voice and I recognize it; it even speaks louder than the negative voices most of the time.

Since this is actually my attempt at screwing my head back on straight I have to integrate this with scripture, and, in a sense, a bible study. So here goes.

About 38 years ago, I was angry, depressed, and drinking a lot. One day my dad asked me if I wanted to go to a men’s retreat with him. Since I knew they had a swimming pool and they feed you well, I opted to go. I think this was the first time I heard Jerry Savelle speaking. Over the years I have backed away from Jerry and others like him, but there at camp God used Jerry to get my attention. The next time he spoke I moved up to the front row. That day he compelled us to stand, act like men, and repeat what he said. It is what he had us say, and how my heart responded to it, that changed my life.

Here is a representation of what he had us verbalize:

  • I am what the Word of God says I am.

    What does that mean if you do not know what the word of God says about you. It also impacts you, because as you find out what God says about you, you begin to understand his character. Above all else, He loves you

     

  • I have been chosen by him

    You come to find out that God had his heart set upon you before the world began. You can find multiple references for this idea. 1Thessalonians 1:4,5

     

  • Made in His image

    Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus

     

  • Because I am in him, I am holy and blameless before him.

    Colossians 1:22 ESV he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

     

  • Adopted into the family.

    Ephesians 1:5 ESV he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will,

     

  • He designed me to show his glory.

    Ephesians 1:12 ESV so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

     

  • I have been redeemed by his blood.

    Revelation 5:9 EMTV …. because You (Jesus) were slain, and You redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and language and people and nation;

     

  • I am not of this world.

    Ephesians 2: 1-6

     

  • All things are working together for my good

    Even if I cannot see it. Romans 8:28 EMTV And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

     

This went on for several minutes. By the time we got done I felt like I was a changed person on the inside. Although, in honesty, several years later, due to my codependency, and marital issues, I pulled away from God for about ten years, and no, they were not all good as some would say, but I can tell you that I was very much aware that God was right there waiting for me to turn around and run to him.

I hope you understand what I mean when I say, I have run into far too many pharisees in my life, therefore I always feel like I have to define everything (even to write this is partly a response to the voices in my head.) Do you see how the enemy works, because the voices sound very much like the negativity people have shoved in my face.

All of the words we said that morning were God’s words and you find an aspect of them in almost every letter Paul wrote. But Paul was not the first and only one to write like this; these words of encouragement are found in every book of the bible.

Psalms 139:1-4 MKJV To the Chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O Jehovah, You have searched me and have known me. (2) You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. (3) You search my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. (4) For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Jehovah, You know it altogether.

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

When you think about people you can look to as an example of life done right, who comes to mind? What is your basis for success? For me, they have to be people who are real, made mistakes, and yet God still loved them. Fortunately, the bible is filled with real people, who came out of very dysfunctional households, and yet God still loved them, moved through their lives, and called them a success. King David was one of those.

If you will take the time to study David’s life you will find it filled with human emotion and error. However, you find that David kept coming back to one thing, his relationship with Jehovah. He often poured out his heart with tears to the Lord, and sometimes those tears were in response to getting caught. Through it all God called him a man after His own heart, and those words are the ones that ring true to me. I am constantly asking and wondering, especially after seeing his failures, what was different about David. I believe he never stopped loving God, and therefore neither will I.

A heads up: The story of David really begins with an old but powerful prophet named Samuel. So I suggest you begin your reading in 1 Samuel 16.

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The Bible, Jesus Christ, and God. What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe.

Posted on 11/14/2015 by remso

What Do Jehovah’s Witnesses Believe

The first section of the pamphlet that I want to approach is:

The Bible, Jesus Christ, and God

The Jehovah’s Witness make the statement:

“We endorse completely the apostle Peter’s testimony regarding Jesus Christ: ‘There is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.’ Acts 4:12 “However, since Jesus said that he is “God’s Son” and that the “Father sent me forth,” Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God is greater than Jesus.”

They use John 10:36, and John 6:57 to back this statement up. Here is John 10:36:

John 10:36 ESV do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

        • Your first question should be, who is Jesus talking to?

        • What is he talking about?

        • Thirdly, if I only worked from this verse, what does this tell me?

“him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world”

It merely points out that God purified His Son, setting him apart for some holy work. We know that the work he was set apart for was the redemption of man.

There is a context to the verse which they choose to ignore.

John 10:22-36 ESV At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, (23) and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon. (24) So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” (25) Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, (26) but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep. (27) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. (28) I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. (29) My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. (30) I and the Father are one.” (31) The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. (32) Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” (33) The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (34) Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? (35) If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken— (36) do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

The Jews picked up stones to stone him.

The Jews then wanted to stone him.

While there are things in this passage, that some could say show that Jesus is lower than the Father, it is obvious that the Jews did not see it this way. You can see the impact of their understanding in verse 31 through 33, when they say, “you, being a man, make yourself God.” There was no denying this.

The other scripture the brochure uses to prove that Jesus was lower than God, is John 6:57, so let’s pursue that for a moment.

John 6:57 ESV As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

      • “As the living Father sent me”

Does this imply that Jesus is lower than the Father?

No, it only demonstrates the willingness of the Son to do the Father’s will.

John 6:57 ESV As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.

How would someone subservient be able to say something like this?

John 6:57, this too has a context.

John 6:42-59 ESV They said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” (43) Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves. (44) No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. (45) It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me– (46) not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. (47) Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (48) I am the bread of life. (49) Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. (50) This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. (51) I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” (52) The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” (53) So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. (54) Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (55) For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. (56) Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. (57) As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. (58) This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.” (59) Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses only choose to use verse 57, and yet that verse states that the Father sent me. Jesus told them that he lives because of the Father, and whoever feeds on him, Jesus, will also live. How could that be if Jesus was anything less than the Father.

As I said, their brochure states: “Jesus himself acknowledged: “the Father is greater than I am.” At this point they reference John 14:28; John 8:28.

John 14:28 ESV You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

If again, we are only allowed to consider one aspect of the context, it would be rather condemning, and in the favor of JW logic.

What then is the context? The context begins in the 13th chapter of John. He has told them he is going away and they are coming undone with the grief and thought of losing him.

The response is rather long, but begins with:

John 13:30-33 ESV So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. (31) When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. (32) If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. (33) Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’

Peter asked :

John 13:36 ESV .. “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”

Thomas, as one might expect, expressed his doubts:

John 14:5-7 ESV .. “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” (6) Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (7) If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.“

Philip added:

John 14:8-9 ESV .. “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” (9) Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

In Jesus responses to Thomas and Philip, he states very clearly:

  • “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

  • “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”

  • However, the phrase that seems to shoot right by everyone, comes in John 14:6 where Jesus, in response to Thomas (and not just Thomas, for he wanted all of those within earshot to hear this) says, “I AM …”

    Those two words spoke volumes. They are the same two words he said when the temple guards came to take him in the garden that night. When He spoke those words at them they all fell backwards due to the power in the words coming out of the mouth of God. I AM; the Greek words ego eimi barely mean anything to us Goyim/gentiles, but to the Jews hearing this they knew immediately what he was trying to convey. Ego means I. There is no manipulation or subservience implied, and Eimi conveyed I exist (used only when emphatic): – I am, and have been. This so called blasphemy was the motivation of the Jews, on several occasions, to attempt to stone Jesus.

If the Jehovah’s Witness had read the entirety of John 13 and 14, we would not be having this conversation.

The writer of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 1:1-10 ESV Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, (2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. (3) He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, (4) having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (5) For to which of the angels did God ever say, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”? Or again, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son”? (6) And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” (7) Of the angels he says, “He makes his angels winds, and his ministers a flame of fire.” (8) But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. (9) You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.” (10) And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands;

As you can see in verse six, “And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says, “Let all God’s angels worship him.” It is clear that there had been a shift, and for a time, Jesus had set aside who he was, but for a specific purpose.

Did Jesus put himself in a subservient position? Certainly!

Philippians 2:5-10 ESV Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, (6) who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (8) And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (9) Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, (10) so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

Jesus voluntarily set aside who he was and became obedient even to the death on the cross. All this was done to rescue mankind. Corrupted by the fall of Adam, all are and were born into sin, but Christ’s obedience to the cross covered that debt and therefore none will be judged and excluded from God’s presence because of sin. You will however be judged based upon what did with Jesus – Did you accept him or reject him. If you reject him then you might as well have put him on the cross yourself. To accept him as your life means to gain a permanent relationship with the Father once again. Hence we have the story of the prodigal son. A story that ends showing us the Father, standing, watching, and waiting for us to return to a relationship we once had. Upon the sons return there is a complete restoration, just as there will be for us. No manipulation, no threats, and no subservient roles, just full restoration of all things as the Father, who wishes nothing but peace, love and relationship for us.

Is this a New Testament, corrupted christian concept?

Not hardly, we find this in the Psalms of David, where he describes what is to come.

Psalms 40:6-8 KJV Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required. (7) Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, (8) I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

In speaking of Jesus Christ, the son that was to come – he did come by the way – the Prophet Isaiah under inspiration of the Holy Spirit of God, said this:

Isaiah 9:6-7 KJV For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (7) Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Did you catch that. His name, Jesus, will be called, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Not only is it his name, but it is His kingdom.

In trying to prove their point, the brochure continued by using John 8:28.

John 8:28 KJV Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.

One does not have to think hard or look far to debunk this passage as demonstrating Jesus as subservient, for the answers lie in the passage itself.

  • “ When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am” Once again, we have the phrase ego eimi. A dominant and emphatic declaring that he was and is the all existent one.

  • Should you wish to use “ I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me” to make your point, then consider that made himself willing and subject to the path it took to get to the cross. In so doing he showed us what willingness looks like. He, by the way, is sitting once again on the throne.

The next paragraph, and I will end here because this could go on all day, states:

“Thus we do not believe that Jesus is equal with the Father, as the Trinity doctrine says. Rather, we believe that he was created by God and that he is subordinate to Him.”

They reference: Colossians 1:15; 1 Corinthians 11:3. So let’s have a look:

Colossians 1:15 KJV Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

How do you argue by working from the middle of the paragraph? I know who this person is that is being referenced, it is Jesus.

Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Matthew 2:13-15 KJV And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. (14) When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: (15) And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

A created being, like an angel, is not, and cannot be a son. Son’s are born of the Father. If Jesus was not the Son, then why did Satan, a created being, even bother to test the concept with Jesus. The logic of the Jehovah’s Witness argument is not even sound.

Matthew 4:1-4 MKJV Then Jesus was led by the Spirit up into the wilderness, to be tempted by the Devil. (2) And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry. (3) And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. (4) But He answered and said, It is written, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Clearly demons have more sense than the Jehovah’s Witnesses, for even they recognized that Jesus was the Son of God.

Matthew 8:28-29 MKJV And when He had come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, two demon-possessed ones met Him, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one might pass by that way. (29) And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time?

I have intentionally avoided the statements Jesus made of himself, in which he called himself, the Son of man. Theologically I can think this through and see that an aspect of the statement entails his voluntarily giving himself to pay the debt for mankind; that could only happen through a sinless man. Since mankind sustained some aspect that corrupted us all, and it was passed through the seed, then we had to have God interacting with a virgin, thus bypassing the corruption passed through the seed. Because of this Jesus was fully man, without the inherited corruption, making him sinless, and at the same time, God’s Son. God’s Son walked this earth as a man; subject to every temptation, as we are.

However, this simple man, forgave sins, and even the Jews were smart enough to realize that only God could do that. What does that tell you?

Matthew 9:6 MKJV But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, then He said to the paralytic, Arise, take up your bed and go to your house.

One of my commentaries states: “Jewish teachers knew that only God could ultimately forgive (on the Day of Atonement in response to sacrifice); but they also recognized that healing ultimately came from God as well. Josephus shows us that many false prophets in Jesus’ day claimed to work miracles but actually failed to work them; some of Jesus’ critics may have placed him in this category. His act in front of these witnesses, however, should have challenged them to reconsider their case.” So, once again, Jesus made it known that he was God.

Let me reiterate that the belief of the Jehovah’s Witness is that Jesus is subordinate to God, and not a part of the trinity doctrines. The last verse they use to make this straight in our heads as they pound on our doors is:

1 Corinthians 11:3 MKJV (3) But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.

Ah, how refreshing, the head of Christ is God.

I need to make a couple of points here. Even though I used it before, it speaks clearly toward this.

Hebrews 1:1-6 MKJV God, who at many times and in many ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, (2) has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds, (3) who being the shining splendor of His glory, and the express image of His essence, and upholding all things by the word of His power, through Himself cleansing of our sins, He sat down on the right of the Majesty on high, (4) being made so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. (5) For to which of the angels did He say at any time, “You are My Son, this day I have begotten You?” And again, “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?” (6) And again, when He brings in the First-born into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”

  • Even if he is a subservient Son, God has “appointed (him) heir of all things,”
  • Through this subservient Son, “He made the worlds”. Should choose not to buy into this, then allow me to rock your boat with this – John 1:1-4 MKJV “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. (4) In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
  • Hebrews 1:3 ESV He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
  • Hebrews 1:3 ESV He (Jesus) is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,

No angel has ever made purification for sins, that was placed upon man because of his sins. Since Christ was sin free, he obviously did not do that for himself, but did it for us, and, we are told that he offered his own blood upon the altar for those sins.

    • Clearly something horrific happened. Scripture tells us that Jesus became sin. That is quite a step beyond merely acting as a high priest on our behalf. Hanging on that cross he said, my God why have you forsaken me. We are told that God cannot look upon sin, this is evidenced by priests actions under the law. Since Christ, the Son of God became sin, then something had to change, and you see this here in Hebrews when God says, You are My Son, this day I have begotten You?” And again, “I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son?” (6) And again, when He brings in the First-born into the world, He says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him.”

What we fail to grasp is that though fully man, and fully God, Jesus has continued in his willingness to be the visible representation of God in a mans body.

How do I know that? Because after the grave he came to his disciples, who in their discouragement had returned to fishing. He called to them, cooked for them, ate with them, and yet could walk through walls and appear suddenly without having walked to get there.

As for the false Trinity Doctrine. This is not Christianity’s idea, it is God’s, for his name from the beginning of time has been ‘ĕlôhı̂ym, and Elohim conveys the thought of plurality. Since we understand that the Holy Spirit is included, then the team has always been the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

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