Revelation 15: 1-8
We are looking at all the stuff that has been going on while the seals have been opened and the trumpets have been sounded. It looks like everything has been going on at the same time, like a 5-ring circus!
Now we're going back to seeing what's going on in Heaven while God prepares to complete His justice on all the evil people who have done so much damage already.
(1) Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
These angels are great and marvelous because they are God's warriors who are preparing to win God's war with these rebels against good.
(2) And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
(3) And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
These are martyrs who have stood their ground against the edicts of the Antichrist's government decreeing immorality and idolatry and all kinds of depraved degeneration. The harps of God are probably organic, so they could be the vocal chords of these saints. This is their song:
"Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
(4) "Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your Name?
For You alone are holy;
For all the nations will come and worship before You,
For Your righteous acts have been revealed."
They are singing His praises for showing everyone His power and righteousness and holiness; and every being everywhere will be compelled to accede to God's divinity and authority as the only God over all.
(5) After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened,
(6) and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes.
These seven angels all came out of the Heavenly Temple all together, dressed in magnificent and marvelous clothing, beyond any royal clothes any king ever wore on Earth.
(7) Then 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 bowls or vials full of God's wrath were all given to all seven angels at the same time.
(8) And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.
God in His Temple is now exerting His power and might to energize the wrath that is "in" these bowls, to accomplish every drop of justice and vengeance on every person for every thought and intention and action of rebellion against God by attacking His people and His ways.
Tomorrow we will look at what these bowls of wrath will do when they are poured out on the Earth.
O my Father, thank You for telling us what is coming. If it scares people, then let it scare them into Your comforting arms. No matter how hard it gets, we know that You will continue to be faithful to take care of us, and to fight on our behalf to give us the victory, even when we give our lives. Jesus told Martha that, "... he who believes in me will live even if he dies ..." (John 11: 25), so, even the martyrs gain the victory in giving their lives.
And many of us will be called upon to give our lives. We as Your children, Father, must all be willing to give our lives, even if we never get to that point. Teach us to value You above our mortal lives, to realize that they are just temporary, and the life You give us is forever.
And help us, my Father, to spread Your Good News, to broadcast Your great love, to every living person in the world! Please give everyone a clear understanding, so that each one will be able to make an informed and honest decision to choose to accept Your gracious gift, or to reject Your goodness and allow themselves to be deceived by the liar.
In either case, every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign king over all Creation, to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come very soon, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, May 31, 2020
Saturday, May 30, 2020
More Happening At The End
Revelation 14: 1-20
(1) Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Name and the Name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Mount Zion literally is where Solomon built the temple, but throughout Scripture it describes the rule of the Lord God as King on the Earth. These are the Israelites who believe that Jesus is their Messiah.
(2) And I heard a voice from Heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.
(3) And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the Earth.
This choir of 144,000 have vocal chords like harps, and they are singing in a heavenly voice in resurrected bodies.
(4) These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
(5) And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
These are the first Israelites who are saved in this time. The rest of Israel will be saved in a day, when they see Jesus come down through the clouds.
(6) And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the Earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
(7) And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the Earth and sea and springs of waters."
This first angel gives everyone one last chance to recognize God.
(8) And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality."
The second angel proclaims the destruction of Babylon, the details of which we will read about later, in chapters 17 and 18.
(9) Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
(10) "he also will drink of the wine of he wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
(11) "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
Here is the finality of those who take this mark. Evidently this mark will prevent anyone who receives it from being able to understand how wonderful God is and will believe all the lies of the Antichrist.
(12) Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
As children of God, born into His family, we are to persevere in our faith and in our trust of God, regardless of what is going on around us. Even if it means we may die.
(13) And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."
There will be more martyrs during this time than during any other time in history. Already today there are more martyrs than ever before, but during this time of the second three and a half years there will be exponentially more.
(14) Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a Son of Man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.
This looks like Christ, the Son of Man who has the crown of authority.
(15) And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the Earth is ripe."
I don't think an angel would be commanding his Creator, so this angel must be relaying to the Son that the Father has given the command that "it is time."
(16) Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the Earth, and the Earth was reaped.
The sickle in His hand is symbolic because He is calling out His people from the Earth, the event that theologians call "The Rapture."
(17) And another angel came out of the temple which is in Heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
(18) Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the Earth, because her grapes are ripe."
This is what Jesus said in Matthew 13: 39 when He said, "the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels."
(19) So the angel swung his sickle to the Earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the Earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.
(20) And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.
This is the Battle of Armageddon, when will flow the blood of all the armies in the world who are attacking Israel, who find themselves fighting King Jesus, and He cuts them to ribbons with the Sword that proceeds out of His mouth, His Words!
These are horrifying times. All the evil in the world has been let loose; and combined with the wrath of God poured out on the Earth, there would be no life at all that could survive, had not God limited it to this short time.
God will allow this to show us just how wicked and destructive evil is, even as Satan disguises it as fun and freedom.
We are seeing things, not in the order that they will occur, but I doubt that anyone yet has been able to deduce God's entire timeline. He's given us all the pieces in different places among His prophets, and I think He's given John the most pieces in this book of Revelation: the final prophesies--that helps us put all the rest of them in place.
O my Father, please help us to be ready to face everything that is ahead of us in Your timeline. Strengthen us to withstand all the barrages of the enemy, and show us how to understand what You have told us.
My Father, without Your Holy Spirit as our Teacher, we would not be able to make sense of any of this whole fantastic scenario; but You have told us, because this is what You will do. You are God, and You do supernatural things that puny human minds cannot fathom. They seem to be impossible to our thinking, but all things are possible for You. Because all of Creation is Your imagination. And You can imagine anything!
Father, send out Your children to share with every living being how much You love us all, and sent Your own Son to be the personal Sacrifice for each one of us, so we could be washed clean, fit to be in Your presence as Your own family.
Please let them all understand enough to make an informed decision to turn to You or to get the damning mark and be lost forever.
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
(1) Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Name and the Name of His Father written on their foreheads.
Mount Zion literally is where Solomon built the temple, but throughout Scripture it describes the rule of the Lord God as King on the Earth. These are the Israelites who believe that Jesus is their Messiah.
(2) And I heard a voice from Heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps.
(3) And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand who had been purchased from the Earth.
This choir of 144,000 have vocal chords like harps, and they are singing in a heavenly voice in resurrected bodies.
(4) These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb.
(5) And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.
These are the first Israelites who are saved in this time. The rest of Israel will be saved in a day, when they see Jesus come down through the clouds.
(6) And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the Earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people;
(7) And he said with a loud voice, "Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the Earth and sea and springs of waters."
This first angel gives everyone one last chance to recognize God.
(8) And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality."
The second angel proclaims the destruction of Babylon, the details of which we will read about later, in chapters 17 and 18.
(9) Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
(10) "he also will drink of the wine of he wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
(11) "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name."
Here is the finality of those who take this mark. Evidently this mark will prevent anyone who receives it from being able to understand how wonderful God is and will believe all the lies of the Antichrist.
(12) Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.
As children of God, born into His family, we are to persevere in our faith and in our trust of God, regardless of what is going on around us. Even if it means we may die.
(13) And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, "Write, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!'" "Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them."
There will be more martyrs during this time than during any other time in history. Already today there are more martyrs than ever before, but during this time of the second three and a half years there will be exponentially more.
(14) Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a Son of Man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.
This looks like Christ, the Son of Man who has the crown of authority.
(15) And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the Earth is ripe."
I don't think an angel would be commanding his Creator, so this angel must be relaying to the Son that the Father has given the command that "it is time."
(16) Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the Earth, and the Earth was reaped.
The sickle in His hand is symbolic because He is calling out His people from the Earth, the event that theologians call "The Rapture."
(17) And another angel came out of the temple which is in Heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.
(18) Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the Earth, because her grapes are ripe."
This is what Jesus said in Matthew 13: 39 when He said, "the harvest is the end of the world, and the reapers are the angels."
(19) So the angel swung his sickle to the Earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the Earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God.
(20) And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.
This is the Battle of Armageddon, when will flow the blood of all the armies in the world who are attacking Israel, who find themselves fighting King Jesus, and He cuts them to ribbons with the Sword that proceeds out of His mouth, His Words!
These are horrifying times. All the evil in the world has been let loose; and combined with the wrath of God poured out on the Earth, there would be no life at all that could survive, had not God limited it to this short time.
God will allow this to show us just how wicked and destructive evil is, even as Satan disguises it as fun and freedom.
We are seeing things, not in the order that they will occur, but I doubt that anyone yet has been able to deduce God's entire timeline. He's given us all the pieces in different places among His prophets, and I think He's given John the most pieces in this book of Revelation: the final prophesies--that helps us put all the rest of them in place.
O my Father, please help us to be ready to face everything that is ahead of us in Your timeline. Strengthen us to withstand all the barrages of the enemy, and show us how to understand what You have told us.
My Father, without Your Holy Spirit as our Teacher, we would not be able to make sense of any of this whole fantastic scenario; but You have told us, because this is what You will do. You are God, and You do supernatural things that puny human minds cannot fathom. They seem to be impossible to our thinking, but all things are possible for You. Because all of Creation is Your imagination. And You can imagine anything!
Father, send out Your children to share with every living being how much You love us all, and sent Your own Son to be the personal Sacrifice for each one of us, so we could be washed clean, fit to be in Your presence as Your own family.
Please let them all understand enough to make an informed decision to turn to You or to get the damning mark and be lost forever.
Every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, our Savior and Redeemer, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Friday, May 29, 2020
The Second Beast
Revelation 13: 11-18
We've seen the first beast, who is commonly called The Antichrist. Now we will see the second beast, who is called The False Prophet.
(11) Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;
This is a different kind of beast, not from the sea, but from the Earth.
and he had two horns like a lamb
Lambs don't have horns until they grow up to be rams. These horns must signify power.
and he spoke as a dragon.
He talked like Lucifer!
(12) He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.
This person aligns himself with the Antichrist. These two horns could be the political power and the demon spiritual power.
And he makes the Earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
He must be a spiritual leader who wields political power, like a Pope. The Roman Catholic Pope is the spiritual leader of all the Catholics in the world, and he is also the Governor of Vatican City, and as such he speaks to other world leaders.
(13) He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of Heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
This looks like when Elijah called the fire down on the Lord's sacrifice after the priests of Baal, the fire god, could not on their altar (see I Kings 18: 19-40 for the story). Satan is imitating what God does again, fraudulently.
(14) And he deceives those who dwell on the Earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast,
This religious leader is convincing the people that he is telling them God's message, when he is leading them into idolatry by these supernatural signs he is performing.
telling those who dwell on the Earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
He instructs them to make a statue, like you see of the saints in Catholic churches, of this political leader who has apparently been raised from the dead. Another fraudulent copy of God's works, of raising Jesus from the grave.
By this time, the Antichrist has acquired the governorship over all the nations of the world during the first three and a half years of the seven.
(15) And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
Not only does this False Prophet preach to the people, but this statue also is given the ability to do the same. Whether this is a biological or an electronic feat, the effect is that people everywhere will be lighting candles and praying to this statue and the man it represents.
(16) And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
(17) and he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This mark can be figurative or literal. It could be an implant or a vaccination or some kind of debit card that is marked or implanted on one's body.
There is already a chip that has been implanted on people's hands that allows the person to wave his hand over a reader, and the transaction will take place to deduct the payment for the item being purchased. These chips can hold more than financial information, but also personal histories, health info, all kinds of sensitive information, and even substances that that will leach into the person's body to influence their thinking processes and emotions.
And this Antichrist will put all this technology into use to force the masses to turn to himself.
(18) Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Wisdom is more than adding up a bare number. This whole issue is much deeper, and needs God's wisdom to discern. This is a whole lifestyle and mindset issue.
This Antichrist, with the help of the False Prophet, in the power of Lucifer, will force everyone in the world to worship him instead of God with tight economic controls that intends to starve out every dissident.
And this will last for at least three and a half years, along with all of the environmental upheavals that God will be bringing upon the Earth in His wrath upon the evil and wickedness.
God's people at this time will need to come together to help one another. To do that we need to know one another, and be able to contact each other.
O my Father, please help us to be able to acquaint ourselves with one another, and allow others to get hold of us when they have needs that we can help with as brothers and sisters in Christ. Teach us how to love one another as You have loved us, and to go out to the rest of the world to share Your love with them, too. Let everyone in the world hear of Your wonderful plan to save us from ourselves, and from the sin that seeks to enslave us.
My Father, please send us out now, give us the sense of urgency to spread Your Good News everywhere, before the Bad News comes. Let every living person hear and understand sufficiently to make a fully informed choice to accept or reject Your generous and gracious offer, before their clarity of mind is clouded.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation' to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
We've seen the first beast, who is commonly called The Antichrist. Now we will see the second beast, who is called The False Prophet.
(11) Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth;
This is a different kind of beast, not from the sea, but from the Earth.
and he had two horns like a lamb
Lambs don't have horns until they grow up to be rams. These horns must signify power.
and he spoke as a dragon.
He talked like Lucifer!
(12) He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence.
This person aligns himself with the Antichrist. These two horns could be the political power and the demon spiritual power.
And he makes the Earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
He must be a spiritual leader who wields political power, like a Pope. The Roman Catholic Pope is the spiritual leader of all the Catholics in the world, and he is also the Governor of Vatican City, and as such he speaks to other world leaders.
(13) He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of Heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
This looks like when Elijah called the fire down on the Lord's sacrifice after the priests of Baal, the fire god, could not on their altar (see I Kings 18: 19-40 for the story). Satan is imitating what God does again, fraudulently.
(14) And he deceives those who dwell on the Earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast,
This religious leader is convincing the people that he is telling them God's message, when he is leading them into idolatry by these supernatural signs he is performing.
telling those who dwell on the Earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
He instructs them to make a statue, like you see of the saints in Catholic churches, of this political leader who has apparently been raised from the dead. Another fraudulent copy of God's works, of raising Jesus from the grave.
By this time, the Antichrist has acquired the governorship over all the nations of the world during the first three and a half years of the seven.
(15) And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
Not only does this False Prophet preach to the people, but this statue also is given the ability to do the same. Whether this is a biological or an electronic feat, the effect is that people everywhere will be lighting candles and praying to this statue and the man it represents.
(16) And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
(17) and he provides that no one will be able to buy or sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
This mark can be figurative or literal. It could be an implant or a vaccination or some kind of debit card that is marked or implanted on one's body.
There is already a chip that has been implanted on people's hands that allows the person to wave his hand over a reader, and the transaction will take place to deduct the payment for the item being purchased. These chips can hold more than financial information, but also personal histories, health info, all kinds of sensitive information, and even substances that that will leach into the person's body to influence their thinking processes and emotions.
And this Antichrist will put all this technology into use to force the masses to turn to himself.
(18) Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Wisdom is more than adding up a bare number. This whole issue is much deeper, and needs God's wisdom to discern. This is a whole lifestyle and mindset issue.
This Antichrist, with the help of the False Prophet, in the power of Lucifer, will force everyone in the world to worship him instead of God with tight economic controls that intends to starve out every dissident.
And this will last for at least three and a half years, along with all of the environmental upheavals that God will be bringing upon the Earth in His wrath upon the evil and wickedness.
God's people at this time will need to come together to help one another. To do that we need to know one another, and be able to contact each other.
O my Father, please help us to be able to acquaint ourselves with one another, and allow others to get hold of us when they have needs that we can help with as brothers and sisters in Christ. Teach us how to love one another as You have loved us, and to go out to the rest of the world to share Your love with them, too. Let everyone in the world hear of Your wonderful plan to save us from ourselves, and from the sin that seeks to enslave us.
My Father, please send us out now, give us the sense of urgency to spread Your Good News everywhere, before the Bad News comes. Let every living person hear and understand sufficiently to make a fully informed choice to accept or reject Your generous and gracious offer, before their clarity of mind is clouded.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation' to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, May 28, 2020
The Beast
Revelation 13: 1-10
(1) And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
This is the dragon that was thrown out of Heaven.
Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea,
This could be a sea of nations, or a nation on the other side of the sea.
having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems,
This looks like a confederation of nations, horns signifying political powers.
and on his heads were blasphemous names.
The heads of this government are all evil people who have agreed to govern in a dictatorial manner, believing that the common people are not capable of managing their own affairs, but need a strong government to cede their rights to and make all the personal decisions for them. (This is exactly what Barak Obama said in a speech that I saw online.)
(2) And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.
This government is very strong and scary, and gets its power from Lucifer. He has wanted to be worshiped ever since he sinned, and now he will force all mankind to worship him, instead of God.
(3) I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
This is Satan's imitation of Christ's Resurrection. He wants to be god so he mocks God by imitating Him. Just like Jannes and Jambres imitated the miracles Moses did before Pharaoh, Paul writes in II Timothy 3: 8 that this is the same attitude men will adopt in the last days, resisting the truth, having corrupt minds and reprobate.
(4) they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?"
These are all the people of the world who are deceived by the devil, and they see no choice but to worship this powerful government and the power behind it, because they hold all military power and make all the rules and laws, and there's no way to go against them successfully.
(5) There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.
This beast may appear at the beginning of the seven years, but for this limited time of three and a half years, it will be given unlimited authority to do whatever it wants.
(6) And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His Name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in Heaven.
It slanders and tears down God and His beings and people to build itself up.
(7) It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
This is unimaginable, that this evil power would be able to overcome God's people. God is giving Satan a long rope to hang himself with.
(8) All who dwell on the Earth will worship him, everyone whose name is not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Only those who have been born into God's family and have His Spirit of Truth in them will be able to see past all the deception, and not succumb to the seductions of this world government.
(9) If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
This is for everyone who is willing to listen to truth, even if it isn't what they want to hear.
(10) If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.
This is where the saying comes from, "He who lives by the sword will die by the sword." During the last three and a half years of the seven prophesied, it will seem that everything is set in stone, and cannot be changed. People will be deprived of choice and forced to accept whatever the world government decides for them.
There will be many martyrs, and God's people will have to go into hiding and cooperate with each other to survive, like Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins propose in their Left Behind series of books.
This is the end of the End Days. There's not much time left. Satan knows his time is short, so he is forcing Mankind into the worst most horrible times the Earth has ever known since its creation. There has never been anything like it before, and if God hadn't limited it, there would be no flesh left (see Matthew 24: 22 and Mark 13: 20).
This is not all that we are to expect before the Lord returns, there's a lot more!
O my Father, please give us clarity on what is ahead. Help us to put together all these happenings so we will be able to recognize when we are experiencing them. Teach us to trust in You and to lean on You in these times coming soon when we will each be required to give our testimony in the face of opposition and danger.
Strengthen us, Father, to maintain our faith in Your almighty power over our enemy, to not waver or collapse, but to fight with the spiritual weapons You have provided us, and to wear the appropriate armor that You have designed.
O Father, send out Your children now, while there is still time, to preach Your Good News to the world, before the Bad News takes over. There is not very much time left for us to do this, Father, please give us Your strength and wisdom to accomplish Your will in this time we are in right now.
And grant us perseverance to endure all that is coming.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, and no other, He is our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
(1) And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
This is the dragon that was thrown out of Heaven.
Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea,
This could be a sea of nations, or a nation on the other side of the sea.
having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems,
This looks like a confederation of nations, horns signifying political powers.
and on his heads were blasphemous names.
The heads of this government are all evil people who have agreed to govern in a dictatorial manner, believing that the common people are not capable of managing their own affairs, but need a strong government to cede their rights to and make all the personal decisions for them. (This is exactly what Barak Obama said in a speech that I saw online.)
(2) And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.
This government is very strong and scary, and gets its power from Lucifer. He has wanted to be worshiped ever since he sinned, and now he will force all mankind to worship him, instead of God.
(3) I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast;
This is Satan's imitation of Christ's Resurrection. He wants to be god so he mocks God by imitating Him. Just like Jannes and Jambres imitated the miracles Moses did before Pharaoh, Paul writes in II Timothy 3: 8 that this is the same attitude men will adopt in the last days, resisting the truth, having corrupt minds and reprobate.
(4) they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?"
These are all the people of the world who are deceived by the devil, and they see no choice but to worship this powerful government and the power behind it, because they hold all military power and make all the rules and laws, and there's no way to go against them successfully.
(5) There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.
This beast may appear at the beginning of the seven years, but for this limited time of three and a half years, it will be given unlimited authority to do whatever it wants.
(6) And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His Name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in Heaven.
It slanders and tears down God and His beings and people to build itself up.
(7) It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him.
This is unimaginable, that this evil power would be able to overcome God's people. God is giving Satan a long rope to hang himself with.
(8) All who dwell on the Earth will worship him, everyone whose name is not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.
Only those who have been born into God's family and have His Spirit of Truth in them will be able to see past all the deception, and not succumb to the seductions of this world government.
(9) If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
This is for everyone who is willing to listen to truth, even if it isn't what they want to hear.
(10) If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.
This is where the saying comes from, "He who lives by the sword will die by the sword." During the last three and a half years of the seven prophesied, it will seem that everything is set in stone, and cannot be changed. People will be deprived of choice and forced to accept whatever the world government decides for them.
There will be many martyrs, and God's people will have to go into hiding and cooperate with each other to survive, like Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins propose in their Left Behind series of books.
This is the end of the End Days. There's not much time left. Satan knows his time is short, so he is forcing Mankind into the worst most horrible times the Earth has ever known since its creation. There has never been anything like it before, and if God hadn't limited it, there would be no flesh left (see Matthew 24: 22 and Mark 13: 20).
This is not all that we are to expect before the Lord returns, there's a lot more!
O my Father, please give us clarity on what is ahead. Help us to put together all these happenings so we will be able to recognize when we are experiencing them. Teach us to trust in You and to lean on You in these times coming soon when we will each be required to give our testimony in the face of opposition and danger.
Strengthen us, Father, to maintain our faith in Your almighty power over our enemy, to not waver or collapse, but to fight with the spiritual weapons You have provided us, and to wear the appropriate armor that You have designed.
O Father, send out Your children now, while there is still time, to preach Your Good News to the world, before the Bad News takes over. There is not very much time left for us to do this, Father, please give us Your strength and wisdom to accomplish Your will in this time we are in right now.
And grant us perseverance to endure all that is coming.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, and no other, He is our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
Spiritual Insight Into Our History
Revelation 12: 1-17
(1) A great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
(2) And she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
This is a sign, so it is not an individual person. This woman must be the nation Israel, who is called God's wife, for example, in Ezekiel 16: 32. Israel produced the Messiah, through the tribe of Judah. Israel was in great pain under the Roman dominance at the time of the birth of Jesus. This shows that everything is done in Heaven as it happens on the Earth.
(3) Then another sign appeared in Heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
This is another sign. This describes our enemy, as having great authority and power and standing and rank.
(4) And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the Earth.
When Lucifer abandoned his duties of protecting God's holiness and directing all worship to God, instead receiving the worship to himself, he had such beauty and brightness and authority and standing that a third of the other angels were deceived into giving him their worship, and they also fell from their positions of honor with God.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
This enemy was directing Herod the Great who was king over Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' birth, and the Wise Men from the East came to inquire. That is why he tried to eliminate Him by killing all the male infants in the Bethlehem district to get rid of Him.
(5) And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
This is obviously talking about Jesus, our Lord, and our King who is coming again, to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and He was Risen and is now in Heaven sitting in His Father's throne with Him.
(6) Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The wilderness heralds back to the Exodus when Israel fled Egypt and was given manna in the wilderness for forty years. This time, it will be for three and a half years: the second half of the 7 years, the Great Tribulation.
(7) And there was war in Heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,
(8) and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in Heaven.
The war is always a spiritual reality before we experience its working out on the Earth and in the world. But God's forces are stronger than the evil forces of the dragon. Michael, Israel's protector, has at least twice as many warriors than the dragon can muster. Our God is Almighty God.
(9) And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world; he was thrown down to the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Defeated, he is thrown out! This battle was probably fought as Jesus was suffering on the cross. Satan probably thought he had finally won, but Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave victorious!
(10) Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven, saying,
"Now the salvation, and the power, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
This song is sung by the martyred saints (our brethren), who are rejoicing in Christ's victory, because this Satan, accuser, will have no more permission to come before our Judge with accusations of us who still are on the Earth. All the wrath of God that we deserve has already been poured out on our Savior, who fought our battle on His altar of sacrifice, and His blood washes us clean, pristine, without fault before our God.
(11) "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
And we as His saints still overcome him by the blood of the Lamb which has made us pure for God to place His Holy Spirit into our spirit, being born spiritually into God's family right now as we live and testify, telling others that God has done all of this for us, even when faced with death.
(12) For this reason, rejoice O Heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the Earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."
Those in Heaven no longer have to listen to this accuser's accusations. But we on Earth will now be subject to this powerful enemy's wrath, which will now be directed toward us.
God has chosen Mankind to be His own children, a position above angels, and we take Lucifer's place as directing worship to Him.
God has also given us a second chance, that Lucifer never got, because he was created to live forever, not subject to death. Mankind was only made subject to death after his creation, because he chose to rebel, so that a Redeemer could die in his place to save him.
Lucifer has probably complained that this isn't fair! He has to bear his sin and suffer for all eternity! There's no second chance for him!
(13) And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the Earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
Israel has, through the passage of time, been hated, chased, persecuted, thrown into gulags and concentration camps, been accused of causing all the ills of the world, and been subject to attempts of genocide.
(14) But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman,
This hearkens back to Exodus 19: 4, where God is talking to Moses, to tell the nation of Israel, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.
so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
This repeats verse 6, that will take place during the Great Tribulation, the last three and a half years of the seven. It looks like God will "hide" the nation Israel from the antichrist to preserve them for the coming of their Messiah.
(15) And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.
(16) But the Earth helped the woman, and the Earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.
This reminds me of when Hitler tried to wipe out the Jews, and after the war the world was horrified at the pictures from the camps; and the world's attitude toward them changed, allowing them to come back to their Promised Land and be again a Nation Israel among the nations of the world.
(17) So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
If the world will protect the Nation Israel, then the target will be with the rest of her children, who are all those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. This is the Church. This is all those, both Jew and Gentile, who have acknowledged Christ Jesus as Messiah and Savior. We are both, Jews and Christians, "people of the Book."
Paul wrote that, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants (Romans 9: 8). It is all of us, no matter where we live or what our genealogy would show, if we accept His promise, we are also counted as children of Israel and children of God.
This chapter has given us more insight into the spiritual side of our history, of how all the major political events have been in response to the Heavenly battles that are being fought on our behalf.
O my Father, thank You for telling John to write this mysterious book, that looks like a nightmare. But it is Your warning, because You want us to not be caught unawares when all these things come to pass.
O Father, grant that we may understand what You are telling us. Help us to see Your Truth in what John and the other prophets wrote, so that we will be able to discern Your timeline in all of this, and to realize where we are in it when we find ourselves in the midst of these shocking developments in the natural and political world we live in.
My Father, help Your children to realize how little time we have left, before all this hits the fan, to go out into all the world to share with every living being how much You love us, and want everyone to come to realize the gracious and generous gift You are offering each one of us. Let every person understand well enough to be able to make a fully informed decision to accept or reject Your undeserved offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come very soon, Lord Jesus!
(1) A great sign appeared in Heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;
(2) And she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
This is a sign, so it is not an individual person. This woman must be the nation Israel, who is called God's wife, for example, in Ezekiel 16: 32. Israel produced the Messiah, through the tribe of Judah. Israel was in great pain under the Roman dominance at the time of the birth of Jesus. This shows that everything is done in Heaven as it happens on the Earth.
(3) Then another sign appeared in Heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems.
This is another sign. This describes our enemy, as having great authority and power and standing and rank.
(4) And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the Earth.
When Lucifer abandoned his duties of protecting God's holiness and directing all worship to God, instead receiving the worship to himself, he had such beauty and brightness and authority and standing that a third of the other angels were deceived into giving him their worship, and they also fell from their positions of honor with God.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.
This enemy was directing Herod the Great who was king over Jerusalem at the time of Jesus' birth, and the Wise Men from the East came to inquire. That is why he tried to eliminate Him by killing all the male infants in the Bethlehem district to get rid of Him.
(5) And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
This is obviously talking about Jesus, our Lord, and our King who is coming again, to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, and He was Risen and is now in Heaven sitting in His Father's throne with Him.
(6) Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
The wilderness heralds back to the Exodus when Israel fled Egypt and was given manna in the wilderness for forty years. This time, it will be for three and a half years: the second half of the 7 years, the Great Tribulation.
(7) And there was war in Heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war,
(8) and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in Heaven.
The war is always a spiritual reality before we experience its working out on the Earth and in the world. But God's forces are stronger than the evil forces of the dragon. Michael, Israel's protector, has at least twice as many warriors than the dragon can muster. Our God is Almighty God.
(9) And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceived the whole world; he was thrown down to the Earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Defeated, he is thrown out! This battle was probably fought as Jesus was suffering on the cross. Satan probably thought he had finally won, but Jesus conquered death and rose from the grave victorious!
(10) Then I heard a loud voice in Heaven, saying,
"Now the salvation, and the power, and the Kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.
This song is sung by the martyred saints (our brethren), who are rejoicing in Christ's victory, because this Satan, accuser, will have no more permission to come before our Judge with accusations of us who still are on the Earth. All the wrath of God that we deserve has already been poured out on our Savior, who fought our battle on His altar of sacrifice, and His blood washes us clean, pristine, without fault before our God.
(11) "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
And we as His saints still overcome him by the blood of the Lamb which has made us pure for God to place His Holy Spirit into our spirit, being born spiritually into God's family right now as we live and testify, telling others that God has done all of this for us, even when faced with death.
(12) For this reason, rejoice O Heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the Earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time."
Those in Heaven no longer have to listen to this accuser's accusations. But we on Earth will now be subject to this powerful enemy's wrath, which will now be directed toward us.
God has chosen Mankind to be His own children, a position above angels, and we take Lucifer's place as directing worship to Him.
God has also given us a second chance, that Lucifer never got, because he was created to live forever, not subject to death. Mankind was only made subject to death after his creation, because he chose to rebel, so that a Redeemer could die in his place to save him.
Lucifer has probably complained that this isn't fair! He has to bear his sin and suffer for all eternity! There's no second chance for him!
(13) And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the Earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child.
Israel has, through the passage of time, been hated, chased, persecuted, thrown into gulags and concentration camps, been accused of causing all the ills of the world, and been subject to attempts of genocide.
(14) But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman,
This hearkens back to Exodus 19: 4, where God is talking to Moses, to tell the nation of Israel, You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.
so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.
This repeats verse 6, that will take place during the Great Tribulation, the last three and a half years of the seven. It looks like God will "hide" the nation Israel from the antichrist to preserve them for the coming of their Messiah.
(15) And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood.
(16) But the Earth helped the woman, and the Earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.
This reminds me of when Hitler tried to wipe out the Jews, and after the war the world was horrified at the pictures from the camps; and the world's attitude toward them changed, allowing them to come back to their Promised Land and be again a Nation Israel among the nations of the world.
(17) So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
If the world will protect the Nation Israel, then the target will be with the rest of her children, who are all those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. This is the Church. This is all those, both Jew and Gentile, who have acknowledged Christ Jesus as Messiah and Savior. We are both, Jews and Christians, "people of the Book."
Paul wrote that, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants (Romans 9: 8). It is all of us, no matter where we live or what our genealogy would show, if we accept His promise, we are also counted as children of Israel and children of God.
This chapter has given us more insight into the spiritual side of our history, of how all the major political events have been in response to the Heavenly battles that are being fought on our behalf.
O my Father, thank You for telling John to write this mysterious book, that looks like a nightmare. But it is Your warning, because You want us to not be caught unawares when all these things come to pass.
O Father, grant that we may understand what You are telling us. Help us to see Your Truth in what John and the other prophets wrote, so that we will be able to discern Your timeline in all of this, and to realize where we are in it when we find ourselves in the midst of these shocking developments in the natural and political world we live in.
My Father, help Your children to realize how little time we have left, before all this hits the fan, to go out into all the world to share with every living being how much You love us, and want everyone to come to realize the gracious and generous gift You are offering each one of us. Let every person understand well enough to be able to make a fully informed decision to accept or reject Your undeserved offer.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come very soon, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
The Coming Of Our King!
Revelation 11: 15-19
This is the third woe that is coming quickly after the two witnesses are resurrected and raptured up into the clouds.
(15) Then the seventh angel sounded;
This is the only series of trumpet blasts in the whole Bible. I believe that this seventh Trumpet is the "last trumpet" that Paul says will sound when "the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15: 52).
And Paul says that, "the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thessalonians 4: 16-17).
This looks to me that the two witnesses are among those who are "dead in Christ" who will "rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up [raptured] together with them [who had died] in the clouds."
and there were loud voices in Heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."
This is when we, who have come together with the Lord in the clouds, will follow Him when He bursts through the clouds for everyone on Earth to see Him coming, and His feet will land on the Mount of Olives to split it in half for those in Jerusalem to escape the armies surrounding them (Zechariah 14: 4-5).
This will begin His setting up His Kingdom on this Earth, to rule the world for a thousand years.
(16) And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
(17) saying, "We give You thinks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
And all the heavenly beings are praising and worshiping both the Father and the Son for designing and planning out the whole story, and bringing it about to be fulfilled. And they have done everything they said they would do, just as they had written for us to put it all together and expect Him.
(18) "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your Name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the Earth."
Now, when all the nations of the world are venting their rage upon God's people, King Jesus returns: it is the time for all judgment to be enacted, and all rewards to be allotted and everyone will receive the consequences for what they have done in this life, whether good or bad.
(19) And the temple of God which is in Heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple,
And the real Temple, the "pattern" that God showed Moses for constructing the Tabernacle, and the earthly temples, is now totally opened, and the "curtain" between the "holy place" and the "most holy place" has been removed; because the throne of our Lord King will be occupied here, on Earth, totally exposed, among us in the world, to rule and to reign over this world-system for a thousand years.
and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
This seems to be the same day as described in the sixth seal that was opened, and also the seventh bowl or vial that we will look at when we come to that part.
There are more chapters, and a lot more going on that we need to be aware of, in addition to these seals, trumpets, and bowls or vials, that have been happening during this time. If John had recorded everything in strict chronological order as it will all happen, it would have looked like total chaos; so John put the 7s in order, and added the rest in, in between.
So as we look at the rest of this book, let us keep in mind that God has put the order into His Creation, and our enemy, the devil, and his demons and their human minions, are the ones who have been released to remove some of God's order resulting in all the chaos we will experience during the time that God has limited to only 7 years, so that "all flesh" would not perish.
I believe that this 7-year period is about to begin very soon. God is gracious and generous, and wants no one to be fooled or deceived, so He has given us a heads-up as to what is coming so that we will be prepared.
Fasten your seat-belt for the rest of this story!
O my Father, thank You so much for Your goodness and greatness and generosity. Thank You for Your wisdom and You cleverness in planning and plotting out the whole story of Mankind on this beautiful Earth You made for us.
Thank You, Father, for Your patience in giving us so many thousands of years to multiply and fill the Earth with so many billions of souls. You wanted Your family to be huge! You will grow Your own family into such immensity that its number will be uncountable!
And, my Father, Your justice and Your mercy will be on display for all eternity for all of Your future creations to admire and praise You for ever an ever more.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
This is the third woe that is coming quickly after the two witnesses are resurrected and raptured up into the clouds.
(15) Then the seventh angel sounded;
This is the only series of trumpet blasts in the whole Bible. I believe that this seventh Trumpet is the "last trumpet" that Paul says will sound when "the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed" (I Corinthians 15: 52).
And Paul says that, "the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air" (I Thessalonians 4: 16-17).
This looks to me that the two witnesses are among those who are "dead in Christ" who will "rise first, and then we who are alive and remain will be caught up [raptured] together with them [who had died] in the clouds."
and there were loud voices in Heaven, saying, "The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever."
This is when we, who have come together with the Lord in the clouds, will follow Him when He bursts through the clouds for everyone on Earth to see Him coming, and His feet will land on the Mount of Olives to split it in half for those in Jerusalem to escape the armies surrounding them (Zechariah 14: 4-5).
This will begin His setting up His Kingdom on this Earth, to rule the world for a thousand years.
(16) And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God,
(17) saying, "We give You thinks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who are and who were, because You have taken Your great power and have begun to reign.
And all the heavenly beings are praising and worshiping both the Father and the Son for designing and planning out the whole story, and bringing it about to be fulfilled. And they have done everything they said they would do, just as they had written for us to put it all together and expect Him.
(18) "And the nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bond-servants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your Name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the Earth."
Now, when all the nations of the world are venting their rage upon God's people, King Jesus returns: it is the time for all judgment to be enacted, and all rewards to be allotted and everyone will receive the consequences for what they have done in this life, whether good or bad.
(19) And the temple of God which is in Heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple,
And the real Temple, the "pattern" that God showed Moses for constructing the Tabernacle, and the earthly temples, is now totally opened, and the "curtain" between the "holy place" and the "most holy place" has been removed; because the throne of our Lord King will be occupied here, on Earth, totally exposed, among us in the world, to rule and to reign over this world-system for a thousand years.
and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder and an earthquake and a great hailstorm.
This seems to be the same day as described in the sixth seal that was opened, and also the seventh bowl or vial that we will look at when we come to that part.
There are more chapters, and a lot more going on that we need to be aware of, in addition to these seals, trumpets, and bowls or vials, that have been happening during this time. If John had recorded everything in strict chronological order as it will all happen, it would have looked like total chaos; so John put the 7s in order, and added the rest in, in between.
So as we look at the rest of this book, let us keep in mind that God has put the order into His Creation, and our enemy, the devil, and his demons and their human minions, are the ones who have been released to remove some of God's order resulting in all the chaos we will experience during the time that God has limited to only 7 years, so that "all flesh" would not perish.
I believe that this 7-year period is about to begin very soon. God is gracious and generous, and wants no one to be fooled or deceived, so He has given us a heads-up as to what is coming so that we will be prepared.
Fasten your seat-belt for the rest of this story!
O my Father, thank You so much for Your goodness and greatness and generosity. Thank You for Your wisdom and You cleverness in planning and plotting out the whole story of Mankind on this beautiful Earth You made for us.
Thank You, Father, for Your patience in giving us so many thousands of years to multiply and fill the Earth with so many billions of souls. You wanted Your family to be huge! You will grow Your own family into such immensity that its number will be uncountable!
And, my Father, Your justice and Your mercy will be on display for all eternity for all of Your future creations to admire and praise You for ever an ever more.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Monday, May 25, 2020
The Second Woe
Revelation 9: 12-21
(12) The first woe is past, behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
This was the opening of the bottomless pit that released the unspeakable evil that had been locked away from humanity. Now there will be two more.
(13) Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
(14) one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great River Euphrates."
Since these angels were tied up, they must be very powerful demons.
(15) And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of Mankind.
God had prepared these demons for this particular time, when they would be released to attack Mankind. And they murdered a third of all the people who were alive at that time, all over the world.
(16) The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
They had gathered larger armies than have ever been mustered before. The three largest armies in human history added together only numbered 12 million.
(17) And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone;
These are the three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. There are currently nine nations who use these colors: Andorra, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Columbia, Venesuela, Ecuador and Mongolia.
and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
If these are human armies, I would suspect that they would be war machines, like tanks, that John would have no idea how to describe. He only knew of animals that would move on their own.
(18) A third of Mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceed out of their mouths.
(19) For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.
Tanks can fire from both the front and the back, and gunpowder and ammunition were both foreign to John.
(20) The rest of Mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;
(21) and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
Even though there had been so much carnage, the survivors still would not acknowledge God, but just continued even more passionately in their evil wickedness. They had no respect for life or morality or human rights, just their own lusts and demon worship.
God has finished trying to entice humans, and is now dispensing with the carrot and using the stick.
The next chapter describes another conversation John had with another angel, who told him, "that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets" (10: 6-7).
A mystery is something that has not yet been revealed; now the mystery will be "finished" so that everything promised will then be fulfilled, when the seventh angel sounds his Trumpet.
Then chapter 11 starts with the two witnesses, who are preaching in Jerusalem for 42 months, three and a half years. This is the time of the Great Tribulation, the second half of the 7 years. They may have been preaching during the devastation of the Trumpets that have sounded so far. When they're killed, their bodies lie open in the street for three and a half days, then they are resurrected, and called up into the clouds. It looks like they're raptured.
Now, "the third woe is coming quickly" (11: 14).
We will look at that tomorrow.
O my Father, please help us understand how You have ordered Your timeline for Mankind. You have given parts of it here, and other parts to other prophets, and You are getting ready to finish Your Plan for us. Show us how to discern how everything is unfolding as we are in the midst of it. Even when we're in the middle of the chaos, help us to understand that it is just as You have revealed it.
My Father, continue to hold us in Your hand, secure and protected through all the troubles and cares of this life, growing us more mature in You, and learning to love one another unconditionally, as You have loved us. Let our love for each other show the world who You are, that You have sent Your Son to be our Savior, and that You have graciously and generously offered Your unimaginable gift to each one of us all. Let everyone alive hear and understand Your gift, and bring all Your embryonic children to the birth into Your own family.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
(12) The first woe is past, behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
This was the opening of the bottomless pit that released the unspeakable evil that had been locked away from humanity. Now there will be two more.
(13) Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
(14) one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great River Euphrates."
Since these angels were tied up, they must be very powerful demons.
(15) And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of Mankind.
God had prepared these demons for this particular time, when they would be released to attack Mankind. And they murdered a third of all the people who were alive at that time, all over the world.
(16) The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
They had gathered larger armies than have ever been mustered before. The three largest armies in human history added together only numbered 12 million.
(17) And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the color of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone;
These are the three primary colors: red, blue and yellow. There are currently nine nations who use these colors: Andorra, Chad, Moldova, Romania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Columbia, Venesuela, Ecuador and Mongolia.
and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
If these are human armies, I would suspect that they would be war machines, like tanks, that John would have no idea how to describe. He only knew of animals that would move on their own.
(18) A third of Mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceed out of their mouths.
(19) For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm.
Tanks can fire from both the front and the back, and gunpowder and ammunition were both foreign to John.
(20) The rest of Mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;
(21) and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.
Even though there had been so much carnage, the survivors still would not acknowledge God, but just continued even more passionately in their evil wickedness. They had no respect for life or morality or human rights, just their own lusts and demon worship.
God has finished trying to entice humans, and is now dispensing with the carrot and using the stick.
The next chapter describes another conversation John had with another angel, who told him, "that there will be delay no longer, but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as He preached to His servants the prophets" (10: 6-7).
A mystery is something that has not yet been revealed; now the mystery will be "finished" so that everything promised will then be fulfilled, when the seventh angel sounds his Trumpet.
Then chapter 11 starts with the two witnesses, who are preaching in Jerusalem for 42 months, three and a half years. This is the time of the Great Tribulation, the second half of the 7 years. They may have been preaching during the devastation of the Trumpets that have sounded so far. When they're killed, their bodies lie open in the street for three and a half days, then they are resurrected, and called up into the clouds. It looks like they're raptured.
Now, "the third woe is coming quickly" (11: 14).
We will look at that tomorrow.
O my Father, please help us understand how You have ordered Your timeline for Mankind. You have given parts of it here, and other parts to other prophets, and You are getting ready to finish Your Plan for us. Show us how to discern how everything is unfolding as we are in the midst of it. Even when we're in the middle of the chaos, help us to understand that it is just as You have revealed it.
My Father, continue to hold us in Your hand, secure and protected through all the troubles and cares of this life, growing us more mature in You, and learning to love one another unconditionally, as You have loved us. Let our love for each other show the world who You are, that You have sent Your Son to be our Savior, and that You have graciously and generously offered Your unimaginable gift to each one of us all. Let everyone alive hear and understand Your gift, and bring all Your embryonic children to the birth into Your own family.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Sunday, May 24, 2020
The Trumpets
We are continuing to investigate how God's timeline will go during these End Times and final days.
Yesterday we looked at the opening of the Seals, today we will examine the Trumpets and how they may fit in to this timeline.
Revelation 8: 6-7
And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
This says that all seven angels prepared to sound the seven Trumpets all at the same time together, and John will tell us about them one by one.
When the first Trumpet sounded, there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the Earth; and a third of the Earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
This is a violent imposition of devastation that is thrown down upon the Earth to disrupt the world we live in. Its effects will cause a third of all trees in the world to be destroyed. This alone is enough to decrease the production of the oxygen we need to breathe to dangerous levels. And the fruit trees we need for food.
And all the green grass is destroyed: this is all of our crops, the grains and cereals that both men and animals need to survive--all gone.
And a third of the Earth is destroyed. Whether this refers to one contiguous area of the globe, or if all the separate areas are added up to a third, this will still affect the economies of all the nations of the world.
This first Trumpet blast ushers in tremendous stresses on all of the world's economic and environmental and life-sustaining abilities God put into this Earth for us. Mankind's kicking God out of public and private life has allowed evil to run rampant, and result in all this devastation.
When will this happen? Where is this in God's timeline?
8: 8-9
The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The second Trumpet blast announced a violent disruption of the salt waters on the face of the Earth, that resulted in a third of all sea life being killed by the (pollution?) degrading of so much of their environment; and it even caused the destruction of all the seafaring vessels that are exposed to this "blood."
8: 10-11
The third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
This star fell from the Universe where our Earth resides, the "second heaven" that contains the stars we see; not the "third Heaven" where God lives. And the result of this event so polluted all the fresh waters in the Earth that a third of them became poison, unexpectedly, so that a lot of people who normally could drink their local water safely found that they got sick from it and died.
Nothing like any of these three has ever happened since the Flood, as God has protected our environment with His promise that seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8: 22) that God told Noah as he came off the Ark at the end of the Deluge, and signified with His own Rainbow, the bow that surrounds His own Throne in Heaven (Ezekiel 1: 28).
With these events despoiling our beautiful planet, making it into a hostile environment that cannot sustain our life, it must signify that the End is already on the doorstep, ready to step in!
So I'm surmising that these trumpet blasts will happen during the second three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, when the antichrist has full political and military power over the whole world.
8: 12
The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
I have no idea how this will look, but I'm sure that after it's happened, we'll be able to say, "Yes, that's exactly what happened!" It will certainly be something that we've never seen before, and it may have a connection to another "sign" we will discuss later.
When I charted all of these "7s" I was able to see a lot of connections relating them together, especially between the Trumpets and the Vials or Bowls.
John was then given a warning at this point in his vision, about the last three Trumpet blasts, setting them apart from the rest.
8: 13
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the Earth, because of the remaining blasts of the Trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"
So this "eagle" must be an angel that looks like a massive bird, flying in the sky between the ground and the clouds. He pronounces that these last Trumpet blasts will cause more turmoil and confusion and suffering than has ever been in the world! Let's see what these are.
9: 1-12
(1) Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the Earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.
This "star" is a "him." He is given a key to unlock a "bottomless pit."
(2) He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
This is opening some supernatural evil that has heretofore been locked away from the Earth. Now this Star is given the key to unleash this horrible wickedness upon Mankind! And the smoke is making everything so dark, with a darkness you can feel! Creepy!
(3) Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the Earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the Earth have power.
(4) They were told not to hurt the grass of the Earth, nor any green thing, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Previously (in chapter 7) God had sent one of His angels to put His seal upon the foreheads of one hundred forty-four thousand people, twelve thousand from each of the final twelve tribes of Israel who were saved, bond-servants of God. But these are not the only ones who are saved out of the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation, because there is a great multitude which no one could count that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
John mentioned these before he put together the seven Trumpets after he enumerated the seven Seals. So this could happen sometime during the time these Trumpets are sounding, or even while the Seals were being broken open. John put a little order into the chaotic happenings that will be overlapping one another in time.
These uncountable multitudes are told that they will hunger no more (some may have starved to death), nor thirst any more (probably caught in the bitter water situation), nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat (wait for the fourth Bowl or Vial). Remember, this book is not written in a chronological order, but more of a logical order.
These "locust/scorpions" are not to bother anyone with God's seal on their foreheads.
(5) And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
(6) And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
These who they have permission to attack will be tormented, probably because they had unmercifully persecuted God's people. I can imagine how someone would want to die if he had to suffer burning and searing fire flowing through his veins constantly for five months! But God won't let them die, He has more in store for them.
(7) The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
(8) They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.
(9) They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.
(10) They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.
This is what they look like. John has never seen anything like these before, his only references are what he has seen. So he describes them in great detail, all as "like" something else. He calls them locusts, so they may be small like the insects. Locusts have often been likened to horses, many times in many places in many manuscripts in many languages in history. So this is to be expected.
He goes on and says that they appear to have "gold crowns" on their "heads," and "faces" like men. What this refers to, I have no idea, so I will leave it to your imagination, dear reader!
Then he says they have long "hair" like women, so I would suppose this is some kind of fringe or something. And locusts don't even have teeth, but these did. And their shells were like body-armor, and they sounded like a huge army in war-chariots drawn by countless war-horses.
And their "tails" had the scorpion stings in them.
Now we're going to look at something really interesting:
(11) They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
Both of these names means "Destroyer," so I'm thinking that the "star" that was given the key, must be some high-ranking demon. But, if you notice, they are all under the authority of God, who sets the limits.
I see this "king" over them as like the person who would control a bevy of drones. But I don't think God would create machines, that's what Mankind makes. They must all be demons, too.
9: 12
The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
This horrible plague of scorpion-like stings is something I would not wish on my worst enemy! But God will not allow His children to be afflicted with anything to do with His wrath, because He already poured out the wrath we deserve on His own Son, Jesus, as He took our death in substitutionary sacrifice.
This was only the first of three woes. Boy, when God says "Woe!" He really means it!
Tomorrow we will look at the other two woes.
God has spent two millennia trying to sweet-talk us into turning to Him, so now He'll turn the other cheek and try using the stick instead of the carrot! While He's doing this for the seven years (two three-and-a-half year periods), an uncountable number of people will turn to Him, away from the open evil that will be let loose during this time.
Even right now, during this Covid house-arrest, there are thousands more people attending church on Sundays online than ever darkened the doorway of a church building! And a lot of them are finding Salvation! Praise God! He is growing His Kingdom!
And He will continue to do everything possible and even impossible to draw people to Himself and wash them clean in the blood of the Lamb!
O my Father, thank You for having Your Son show John what is coming. Even though John didn't know what he was seeing, You knew that he would come up with similes to be able to write, so we could have an idea of what is coming.
O Father, when we are going through all these chaotic times that John tried to put a little order to, help us to recognize what we are going through and that we are being protected by You through it all. Even though a thousand will fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us. This is Your promise. And You always keep Your word.
Father, send out Your children now, before all this hits the fan. Before they must decide if they will take that "mark" to seal their fate apart from You. Let every living person in the whole world hear about how much You love them! Allow each of them to understand clearly enough to have a clear and free choice to either choose to turn toward You or away to their own.
Bring all of Your uncountable children to the birth into Your own family, Father, and fill your great house. Surround Your grand Banquet Table with Your immense family, to continually feast and fellowship together with You and one another, for ever!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Son of the Father, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Yesterday we looked at the opening of the Seals, today we will examine the Trumpets and how they may fit in to this timeline.
Revelation 8: 6-7
And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound them.
This says that all seven angels prepared to sound the seven Trumpets all at the same time together, and John will tell us about them one by one.
When the first Trumpet sounded, there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the Earth; and a third of the Earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
This is a violent imposition of devastation that is thrown down upon the Earth to disrupt the world we live in. Its effects will cause a third of all trees in the world to be destroyed. This alone is enough to decrease the production of the oxygen we need to breathe to dangerous levels. And the fruit trees we need for food.
And all the green grass is destroyed: this is all of our crops, the grains and cereals that both men and animals need to survive--all gone.
And a third of the Earth is destroyed. Whether this refers to one contiguous area of the globe, or if all the separate areas are added up to a third, this will still affect the economies of all the nations of the world.
This first Trumpet blast ushers in tremendous stresses on all of the world's economic and environmental and life-sustaining abilities God put into this Earth for us. Mankind's kicking God out of public and private life has allowed evil to run rampant, and result in all this devastation.
When will this happen? Where is this in God's timeline?
8: 8-9
The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.
The second Trumpet blast announced a violent disruption of the salt waters on the face of the Earth, that resulted in a third of all sea life being killed by the (pollution?) degrading of so much of their environment; and it even caused the destruction of all the seafaring vessels that are exposed to this "blood."
8: 10-11
The third angel sounded and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
This star fell from the Universe where our Earth resides, the "second heaven" that contains the stars we see; not the "third Heaven" where God lives. And the result of this event so polluted all the fresh waters in the Earth that a third of them became poison, unexpectedly, so that a lot of people who normally could drink their local water safely found that they got sick from it and died.
Nothing like any of these three has ever happened since the Flood, as God has protected our environment with His promise that seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8: 22) that God told Noah as he came off the Ark at the end of the Deluge, and signified with His own Rainbow, the bow that surrounds His own Throne in Heaven (Ezekiel 1: 28).
With these events despoiling our beautiful planet, making it into a hostile environment that cannot sustain our life, it must signify that the End is already on the doorstep, ready to step in!
So I'm surmising that these trumpet blasts will happen during the second three and a half years of the Great Tribulation, when the antichrist has full political and military power over the whole world.
8: 12
The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.
I have no idea how this will look, but I'm sure that after it's happened, we'll be able to say, "Yes, that's exactly what happened!" It will certainly be something that we've never seen before, and it may have a connection to another "sign" we will discuss later.
When I charted all of these "7s" I was able to see a lot of connections relating them together, especially between the Trumpets and the Vials or Bowls.
John was then given a warning at this point in his vision, about the last three Trumpet blasts, setting them apart from the rest.
8: 13
Then I looked, and I heard an eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the Earth, because of the remaining blasts of the Trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!"
So this "eagle" must be an angel that looks like a massive bird, flying in the sky between the ground and the clouds. He pronounces that these last Trumpet blasts will cause more turmoil and confusion and suffering than has ever been in the world! Let's see what these are.
9: 1-12
(1) Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the Earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.
This "star" is a "him." He is given a key to unlock a "bottomless pit."
(2) He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.
This is opening some supernatural evil that has heretofore been locked away from the Earth. Now this Star is given the key to unleash this horrible wickedness upon Mankind! And the smoke is making everything so dark, with a darkness you can feel! Creepy!
(3) Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the Earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the Earth have power.
(4) They were told not to hurt the grass of the Earth, nor any green thing, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Previously (in chapter 7) God had sent one of His angels to put His seal upon the foreheads of one hundred forty-four thousand people, twelve thousand from each of the final twelve tribes of Israel who were saved, bond-servants of God. But these are not the only ones who are saved out of the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation, because there is a great multitude which no one could count that have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
John mentioned these before he put together the seven Trumpets after he enumerated the seven Seals. So this could happen sometime during the time these Trumpets are sounding, or even while the Seals were being broken open. John put a little order into the chaotic happenings that will be overlapping one another in time.
These uncountable multitudes are told that they will hunger no more (some may have starved to death), nor thirst any more (probably caught in the bitter water situation), nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat (wait for the fourth Bowl or Vial). Remember, this book is not written in a chronological order, but more of a logical order.
These "locust/scorpions" are not to bother anyone with God's seal on their foreheads.
(5) And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
(6) And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.
These who they have permission to attack will be tormented, probably because they had unmercifully persecuted God's people. I can imagine how someone would want to die if he had to suffer burning and searing fire flowing through his veins constantly for five months! But God won't let them die, He has more in store for them.
(7) The appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle; and on their heads appeared to be crowns like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
(8) They had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions.
(9) They had breastplates like breastplates of iron; and the sound was like the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to battle.
(10) They have tails like scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months.
This is what they look like. John has never seen anything like these before, his only references are what he has seen. So he describes them in great detail, all as "like" something else. He calls them locusts, so they may be small like the insects. Locusts have often been likened to horses, many times in many places in many manuscripts in many languages in history. So this is to be expected.
He goes on and says that they appear to have "gold crowns" on their "heads," and "faces" like men. What this refers to, I have no idea, so I will leave it to your imagination, dear reader!
Then he says they have long "hair" like women, so I would suppose this is some kind of fringe or something. And locusts don't even have teeth, but these did. And their shells were like body-armor, and they sounded like a huge army in war-chariots drawn by countless war-horses.
And their "tails" had the scorpion stings in them.
Now we're going to look at something really interesting:
(11) They have as king over them, the angel of the abyss; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he has the name Apollyon.
Both of these names means "Destroyer," so I'm thinking that the "star" that was given the key, must be some high-ranking demon. But, if you notice, they are all under the authority of God, who sets the limits.
I see this "king" over them as like the person who would control a bevy of drones. But I don't think God would create machines, that's what Mankind makes. They must all be demons, too.
9: 12
The first woe is past; behold, two woes are still coming after these things.
This horrible plague of scorpion-like stings is something I would not wish on my worst enemy! But God will not allow His children to be afflicted with anything to do with His wrath, because He already poured out the wrath we deserve on His own Son, Jesus, as He took our death in substitutionary sacrifice.
This was only the first of three woes. Boy, when God says "Woe!" He really means it!
Tomorrow we will look at the other two woes.
God has spent two millennia trying to sweet-talk us into turning to Him, so now He'll turn the other cheek and try using the stick instead of the carrot! While He's doing this for the seven years (two three-and-a-half year periods), an uncountable number of people will turn to Him, away from the open evil that will be let loose during this time.
Even right now, during this Covid house-arrest, there are thousands more people attending church on Sundays online than ever darkened the doorway of a church building! And a lot of them are finding Salvation! Praise God! He is growing His Kingdom!
And He will continue to do everything possible and even impossible to draw people to Himself and wash them clean in the blood of the Lamb!
O my Father, thank You for having Your Son show John what is coming. Even though John didn't know what he was seeing, You knew that he would come up with similes to be able to write, so we could have an idea of what is coming.
O Father, when we are going through all these chaotic times that John tried to put a little order to, help us to recognize what we are going through and that we are being protected by You through it all. Even though a thousand will fall at our side, and ten thousand at our right hand, it will not touch us. This is Your promise. And You always keep Your word.
Father, send out Your children now, before all this hits the fan. Before they must decide if they will take that "mark" to seal their fate apart from You. Let every living person in the whole world hear about how much You love them! Allow each of them to understand clearly enough to have a clear and free choice to either choose to turn toward You or away to their own.
Bring all of Your uncountable children to the birth into Your own family, Father, and fill your great house. Surround Your grand Banquet Table with Your immense family, to continually feast and fellowship together with You and one another, for ever!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Son of the Father, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, May 23, 2020
God's Timeline
Revelation 2: 1- 8: 1
Let's begin to see if we can discern God's timeline of how and when He's told us all these end-time events will roll out.
When we look at the Book of Revelation, we can see the things that will happen, and the other prophets and Jesus can fill in a lot of the details of how it will all look.
John's writing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is not strictly chronological. Many of these things can overlap and happen in a very chaotic manner, so I see John putting a little order into the message by arranging all the seals in order, all the trumpets in order and all the bowls or vials in order. But the happenings they reveal could all be going on at overlapping times.
The letters to the churches come first. These are actual congregations in real geographical places that were all concurrent in John's time, for him to write to them. And they were also prophetic (2: 1- 3: 22).
This Church Age is almost finished, and we can look back at history to see that all the same characteristics that were in those congregations in John's day would also display in the Church throughout the Church Age. There is no specific demarcation line ending one church personality before the next is evident, as all the characteristics have overlapped in different times and in different places through these centuries.
We can look at the rest of this Book of Revelation the same way.
Toward the end of the Church Age, John was called up into Heaven to witness the opening of the Scroll, which was in Heaven. But the events written in the Scroll will take place both in Heaven and on Earth (4: 1).
John describes the scene in heaven, and it looks like all these angels and elders and living beasts are all heavenly beings (4: 2- 5: 14). They are worshiping and praising the Lamb who was slain and purchased men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and "they" (the men, not "we") will be a kingdom of priests and reign upon the Earth (5: 8-10).
Then the seals were broken and the Scroll was read.
The first four Seals are the "Four Horses." This looks to me like the heads of governments in the world, and what is happening is how the governments' actions are affecting the people of the world (6: 1-8).
The first is a "king" who comes to his position of authority with military power that he does not need to use, as he has a bow but no arrows. This looks like subterfuge or an election (6: 1-2).
The second Seal reveals that the governmental heads are waging war with one another, much bloodshed all over the world in different places. Wars and rumors of war (6: 3-4), (see also Matthew 24: 6).
The third Seal shows that all these governmental edicts are resulting in a famine among the people everywhere, with the price of a small meal equal to a whole day's work; but the oil and wine for the affluent will not be affected by this economic devastation. The haves and the have-nots (6: 5-6).
The fourth Seal reveals the demonic authority behind the governmental entities, which brings death to a fourth of all humanity, being exposed to warlike bloodshed, persecution, starving, disease and sickness, and even wild animals let loose (6: 7-8). (Could these be animal-derived sicknesses unleashed upon the world?)
All these events are on this Earth. The next Seal will show us what is happening in Heaven at this time.
The fifth Seal brings the scene back into Heaven, and John looks into the heavenly Temple, and hears from under the altar there the cries of the martyrs who have lost their heads in the severe persecution that has been happening during the time of all four of these government heads (6: 9-11).
They are told to be patient to wait for the rest of the martyrs that will be killed through the rest of the time allotted to the world, during the World Government takeover, which will begin the Tribulation. This power will only endure for seven years.
The sixth Seal brings us back down to Earth to witness the extraordinary and miraculous happenings when the End comes and the Lamb is appearing, breaking through the clouds into the sky (6: 12-17), (see also Matthew 24: 29-31).
This terror of the world-wide earthquake, darkening and reddening of the sun and moon, stars disappearing, the sky splitting apart, and all the mountains going flat and the tsunamis completely overflowing all the islands of the world will cause all the wicked and evil people to panic, because the wrath of the Father and the Lamb are coming down upon them as He appears.
The seventh Seal brings us back to Heaven, where there is silence for about a half an hour (8: 1). Why would Heaven be silent, if all the angels and elders and living creatures praise and worship God continuously without pause?
Could it be because King Jesus has gathered them all to bring them with him for the Battle of Armageddon? We are told, the Lord my God shall come, and all the qadowsh, (holy ones) with you (Zechariah 14: 5). Saints are "holy ones" as also are the holy angels and other residents of Heaven. So if the Lamb will bring "all the holy ones" with Him from Heaven to the Earth to reap and judge and set up His Kingdom, maybe the passing of time is different in Heaven than it is on Earth, like illustrated in The Chronicles of Narnia books. A half-hour in Heaven could be hours, or even days, or longer, here on Earth.
We have begun to look at some of the things that we should expect to be happening around us, now at the end part of the Church Age. These Seals being opened in order may give us these events in chronological order in themselves, but what else may be happening during this same time?
O my Father, please open our eyes to see what You want us to understand. Father, there have been great and godly people who have written about these things, but they all do not agree with each other on how to read them. Please help us understand according to Your Truth in order to recognize when we are in the midst of Your fulfilling these prophesies.
O Father, it's not easy to see the whole picture when we're still in the middle of it! We can only see what is in front of us, and around us. Show us how to put these pieces together properly to get a glimpse of what the puzzle is all about. That way we will be able to fill in the gaps of the pieces that are still missing.
Father, You have given us all the pieces we need, to see what we need to understand; please give us wisdom and discernment to make it all out, and be prepared to face what is next in Your Program.
Strengthen us and give us courage to stand up to the onslaught of what the enemy's minions attack us with, and fight them with the spiritual armor and weapons You have given us, and after having done all, we will stand.
And we will get the victory through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, willing to die for our King! (12: 11).
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lamb of God, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Let's begin to see if we can discern God's timeline of how and when He's told us all these end-time events will roll out.
When we look at the Book of Revelation, we can see the things that will happen, and the other prophets and Jesus can fill in a lot of the details of how it will all look.
John's writing of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is not strictly chronological. Many of these things can overlap and happen in a very chaotic manner, so I see John putting a little order into the message by arranging all the seals in order, all the trumpets in order and all the bowls or vials in order. But the happenings they reveal could all be going on at overlapping times.
The letters to the churches come first. These are actual congregations in real geographical places that were all concurrent in John's time, for him to write to them. And they were also prophetic (2: 1- 3: 22).
This Church Age is almost finished, and we can look back at history to see that all the same characteristics that were in those congregations in John's day would also display in the Church throughout the Church Age. There is no specific demarcation line ending one church personality before the next is evident, as all the characteristics have overlapped in different times and in different places through these centuries.
We can look at the rest of this Book of Revelation the same way.
Toward the end of the Church Age, John was called up into Heaven to witness the opening of the Scroll, which was in Heaven. But the events written in the Scroll will take place both in Heaven and on Earth (4: 1).
John describes the scene in heaven, and it looks like all these angels and elders and living beasts are all heavenly beings (4: 2- 5: 14). They are worshiping and praising the Lamb who was slain and purchased men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and "they" (the men, not "we") will be a kingdom of priests and reign upon the Earth (5: 8-10).
Then the seals were broken and the Scroll was read.
The first four Seals are the "Four Horses." This looks to me like the heads of governments in the world, and what is happening is how the governments' actions are affecting the people of the world (6: 1-8).
The first is a "king" who comes to his position of authority with military power that he does not need to use, as he has a bow but no arrows. This looks like subterfuge or an election (6: 1-2).
The second Seal reveals that the governmental heads are waging war with one another, much bloodshed all over the world in different places. Wars and rumors of war (6: 3-4), (see also Matthew 24: 6).
The third Seal shows that all these governmental edicts are resulting in a famine among the people everywhere, with the price of a small meal equal to a whole day's work; but the oil and wine for the affluent will not be affected by this economic devastation. The haves and the have-nots (6: 5-6).
The fourth Seal reveals the demonic authority behind the governmental entities, which brings death to a fourth of all humanity, being exposed to warlike bloodshed, persecution, starving, disease and sickness, and even wild animals let loose (6: 7-8). (Could these be animal-derived sicknesses unleashed upon the world?)
All these events are on this Earth. The next Seal will show us what is happening in Heaven at this time.
The fifth Seal brings the scene back into Heaven, and John looks into the heavenly Temple, and hears from under the altar there the cries of the martyrs who have lost their heads in the severe persecution that has been happening during the time of all four of these government heads (6: 9-11).
They are told to be patient to wait for the rest of the martyrs that will be killed through the rest of the time allotted to the world, during the World Government takeover, which will begin the Tribulation. This power will only endure for seven years.
The sixth Seal brings us back down to Earth to witness the extraordinary and miraculous happenings when the End comes and the Lamb is appearing, breaking through the clouds into the sky (6: 12-17), (see also Matthew 24: 29-31).
This terror of the world-wide earthquake, darkening and reddening of the sun and moon, stars disappearing, the sky splitting apart, and all the mountains going flat and the tsunamis completely overflowing all the islands of the world will cause all the wicked and evil people to panic, because the wrath of the Father and the Lamb are coming down upon them as He appears.
The seventh Seal brings us back to Heaven, where there is silence for about a half an hour (8: 1). Why would Heaven be silent, if all the angels and elders and living creatures praise and worship God continuously without pause?
Could it be because King Jesus has gathered them all to bring them with him for the Battle of Armageddon? We are told, the Lord my God shall come, and all the qadowsh, (holy ones) with you (Zechariah 14: 5). Saints are "holy ones" as also are the holy angels and other residents of Heaven. So if the Lamb will bring "all the holy ones" with Him from Heaven to the Earth to reap and judge and set up His Kingdom, maybe the passing of time is different in Heaven than it is on Earth, like illustrated in The Chronicles of Narnia books. A half-hour in Heaven could be hours, or even days, or longer, here on Earth.
We have begun to look at some of the things that we should expect to be happening around us, now at the end part of the Church Age. These Seals being opened in order may give us these events in chronological order in themselves, but what else may be happening during this same time?
O my Father, please open our eyes to see what You want us to understand. Father, there have been great and godly people who have written about these things, but they all do not agree with each other on how to read them. Please help us understand according to Your Truth in order to recognize when we are in the midst of Your fulfilling these prophesies.
O Father, it's not easy to see the whole picture when we're still in the middle of it! We can only see what is in front of us, and around us. Show us how to put these pieces together properly to get a glimpse of what the puzzle is all about. That way we will be able to fill in the gaps of the pieces that are still missing.
Father, You have given us all the pieces we need, to see what we need to understand; please give us wisdom and discernment to make it all out, and be prepared to face what is next in Your Program.
Strengthen us and give us courage to stand up to the onslaught of what the enemy's minions attack us with, and fight them with the spiritual armor and weapons You have given us, and after having done all, we will stand.
And we will get the victory through the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony, willing to die for our King! (12: 11).
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lamb of God, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King over all Creation; to the everlasting glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)