What New Jerusalem Looks Like

Revelation 21: 15-21

Now John will describe the appearance of this city, as told and demonstrated by this angel who came out of the temple in Heaven to pour out a bowl of wrath.

(15) The one who spoke with me

The angel.

had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall.

He is finished with the bowl, he now has a measuring stick, to determine the size of this city.

(16) The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as its width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and its width and its height are equal.

It is square, as long as it is wide; and it could be shaped as a cube or as a pyramid, as high as it is wide and long. A perfect cube or pyramid.

(17) And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements.

The wall around the city is 144 cubits, which is 72 yards tall, using man's measurement, which is the same as the angel's.

(18) The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.

Jasper is a beautiful mineral with captivating color patterns and formations. It is typically spotted, striped or ringed. Each jasper stone possesses a unique pattern or color scheme, making it one of the most unique gemstones. This is a most beautiful wall.

And the city itself is of a valuable gold material that is so pure that it is as clear as glass. But not fragile like glass, but strong and permanent.

(19) The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;

(20) the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacith; the twelfth, amethyst.

All of these stones he mentions are of varied and beautiful colors and qualities, making this city the most spectacular place imaginable. And John had to describe all this using the Earthly materials he was familiar with, so these must have been extraordinarily gorgeous!

(21) And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Can you imagine a pearl as big as a city gate? This is incredible! These must be new materials on this New Earth, in this city that came directly out of Heaven itself!

John was again seeing things that he would never be able to imagine, so he had to use things and materials that he knew to compare these new things with, to be able to give a description at all.

This is a New Earth in a New Heaven, so it must be completely different from the present planet we are living on now. I commend John for his imagination, to think up things he knew to illustrate somewhat what he was seeing, things never seen before.

These things are extremely extraordinary and supernatural, and God is preparing them all for us! He made this world so we could prosper here, following His ways. When He makes His New Creation, we will be in our resurrected, spiritual bodies that will be suited to live in a fantastic place such as what is described here.

When Jesus was about to die and be resurrected and ascend back to Heaven, He told the disciples at the Last Supper, that, "I go to prepare a place for you" (John 14: 2). Right now, while He is still in Heaven, before His return here, He is constructing this city, using Heavenly materials, so that it will be ready when the New Heaven (universe) and New Earth (Earth-like planet) are ready.

O my Father, You are so supremely generous and gracious to make us to be Your own children, and to wash us clean in the blood of Your Son, so that Your Spirit could come into our human spirits, making them alive. Now, when He returns to this broken Earth to wipe it clean and make it new, healing it for its Golden Age, He will also redeem us, who He has saved, to assist Him in ruling it. But this isn't all You have planned for us!

When You are finished with this creation, then You will do away with it, remaking it into a completely new creation for your pleasure and enjoyment, and I wonder if You will also make a new kind of people to form the nations there.

Father, Your imagination has no bounds! You are God, and I expect for You to continually exercise Your creativity to make more and varied worlds and universes all throughout future eternity! And, as Your royal family, we will participate with You in assisting, probably similar to how Your holy angels are assisting You now with Mankind.

Dear Father, let us go out now to the world, to broadcast Your word, Your good news of how much You have loved us, and are the Source for everything we need, both material and spiritual; temporary and eternal.

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!

New Jerusalem Comes Down

Revelation 21: 9-27

We saw that the New Heaven and the New Earth have been created and made ready for habitation, and the capital city, New Jerusalem, was not built or constructed, but came down to the planet from Heaven already finished.

Now we will begin to look at it.

(9) Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 

The angels who poured out the seven last plagues are good angels, and one of them is talking to John, showing him this new creation.

(10) And he carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, 

This city has been created, not built. It comes down already finished.

(11) having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 

John says that this city sparkles like a diamond.

(12) It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 

Great cities always had protective walls around them, and these walls surrounding New Jerusalem had gates of entry, with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on them, showing that the way into the city is through Israel.

(13) There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 

Entry to the city can be had from every direction; wherever you're coming from, there is a way in.

(14) And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The foundation under this city has the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, which shows that it is stabilized by the redeemed ones of the sacrificial Lamb, the Church.

Jesus is the Lion of Judah, from the root of Jesse; He came as the Son of Man to be one of us, as the sacrificial Lamb of God, to die in place of each of us, to cleanse us and bring us into God's own family as His children. And the twelve apostles built this Church through the whole Church Age.

So the foundation under the city is the Redemption, and the way in is through His Chosen People Israel.

O my Father, Your Plan of the Ages for this world begins before You made it, and marches right through all the millennia of the race of Man all the way into the re-creation of our planet, based on what has been accomplished here.

My dear Father, You have loved us so much, more than my human brain can comprehend. You used all of our human choices and decisions and you used all of the resources of this Earth, to both bless us with bounty when we obey You, and to pour out Your wrath to punish and destroy those who rebel against You.

Your wisdom is so deep and true and complete. All You have desired to do with what You have designed for your pleasure will have been done and finished. And You will receive all the glory and honor and credit for having done it all.

Please let us reach out to every living person, to tell them how much You have loved us, and have already met all of our needs. Please let them all gain enough understanding to be able to make a clear choice to follow You, seek Your face, and receive Your gracious, generous gift! Please, before it all hits the fan, and there is so much confusion.

O Father, draw all of Your children to Yourself, bring every embryonic child to the birth into Your family, to grow Your Kingdom to uncountable numbers.

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 swiftly, Lord Jesus!

Brand New Universe And Planet

Revelation 21: 1-8

Now that the World has had it's Golden Age, and the Earth has exploded and the universe has imploded back to the dot that will be re-created in another Big Bang; while God is re-formatting everything, He has judged every living being who ever lived, and now the new universe with an Earth-like planet is ready. 

(1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new Earth; for the first heaven and the first Earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 

This new creation is not the same as the first; there are similarities, but most of the description consists of what is not there. Like there is no sea. The whole basis for this creation is different from the old, something we've never seen before. 

(2) And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 

This beautiful capital city doesn't need to be built, it is already finished, and comes into this new world all complete. 

(3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 

A tabernacle is the house where a god lives. Our God will make His home here on this new planet He has just made, to have His people live with Him, and He will live with them, all together as a family. 

(4) "and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away." 

All these negative and sorrowful and painful things we experience in this world are the consequences of sin, and now that sin and death have been dealt with, they will never again be a problem. 

(5) And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." 

Nothing will be the same. He will make everything over, completely new and different and better than ever! 

And He said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." 

God Himself told John to write these things down, so that we would know how wonderful and powerful and compassionate our God is to us and for us, to encourage us. 

(6) Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. 

Four times in this book, the Lord Jesus tells John that He is the be-all and end-all of all created things. Alpha is the first letter in the Greek alphabet, and Omega is the last letter. He is everything from A to Z. He created, He provided, He taught, He came to be one of us, He was the Sacrifice to save and rescue us, He judged every act, and now He has renewed everything to be perfect! 

I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. 

The new economy on this new planet will not need a monetary unit of exchange. We won't need money, as we'll already own it all, having inherited it. 

(7) "He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 

All sentient beings who have chosen to submit to God as God will be rewarded, because God made us to lavish His love upon us. We can receive all He wants only when we recognize His order and His ways. Then we become His intimate family, and inherit from Him all He wants us to own. 

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

Everyone who refuses to recognize God as Lord over them, and chooses instead to turn to anything else, will also experience the consequences of their decisions, in forfeiting everything that is good and pleasant and beneficial, leaving only suffering and torment. 

The first death is the separation of the soul and spirit from the corporal body. The second death is the permanent separation of the being from the Source of life, resulting in perpetual and persistent death. This is what they have chosen for themselves. 

O my Father God, Your plans for us have always been to benefit us, to reward us and for us to inherit all the good that You are, all to Your glory. 

My Father, thank You for telling us what to expect, both the bad and the good. Prepare us to face all the opposition and persecution that is coming, and strengthen us to withstand all the pressure to conform to the world. Help us to stand firm on Your standards and ways and to show the world how much You love each one of us. 

Send us out now, Father, while there is still time to make a free choice. Let us reach everyone who is looking for You, even if they think they are just looking for Truth or Justice or Beauty; because that is who You are. 

O Father, draw to yourself every person who is hurting, who is lonely, who is suffering in any way, to relieve their sorrows and sicknesses and losses. Father, this world is broken and in pain! Let Your children show them how gracious and compassionate You are, and how generous to shower upon them all that they need to heal and to prosper. 

Break through all the lies and deceptions that have seduced them into destructive ways. Let Your children have the ability to convince them of who You are and how much You want to hold them in Your gentle arms. 

Open their eyes to see that Your order brings peace and healing into our society and culture. And Your ways bring prosperity to every nation that recognizes You. 

And You reward so lavishly upon Your people who become Your own royal family! You are going to judge everything that rails against Your good ways, and re-build all to be perfect and whole and permanent. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will acknowledge that Jesus is our Christ, our Redeemer and 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! 

The Last Judgment Of All

Revelation 20: 11-15

We have seen how Jesus's rule for a thousand years on this planet has been such a healthful and prosperous time that the population of the world has increased to an uncountable number. 

When Satan is released for a little while from his prison, then he convinces all the people who have never experienced any life other than this perfect paradise that they're missing something and they follow him in rebellion. 

And the whole Earth explodes, and the universe around it implodes, and everything is burned up and reduced to the original tiny dot of super-heavy matter; for God to create again. 

This is when the final judgment takes place, and God's perfect justice is completely satisfied. 

(11) Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence the Earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. 

This Great White Throne is the final judgment bench to tie up all the loose ends and finish all the stories and complete all the mysteries. 

(12) And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; 

What books are these that are opened? The 66 books of the Bible? The life journals that were compiled in the Heavenly library as we lived our lives? (Just my idea, no Scripture for that!) 

and another book was opened, which is the book of life; 

The Book of Life is the list of the names of the chosen, the saved, the redeemed. This was written before the creation of the world. God has always known who are His and who are not, but He made us all anyway, so that everyone would have a chance to turn to Him. Those who don't will have no excuse. 

and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 

This is a reminder that God takes everything we do into consideration, whether we are His or not. Even people who refuse the salvation He offers still should pay attention to their attitudes and actions, as their forever will be determined by them. God is perfectly just, and He is also fair to attribute to everyone the results and consequences of all of our choices and decisions. 

(13) And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 

It doesn't matter what happened to the body after death: whether it was buried, cremated, or buried at sea; every person will be raised in their body to be judged and dispatched to the proper location to spend eternity. 

(14) Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 

Death itself is our enemy, and it will be confined to this eternal place. And Hell itself, the holding place of the damned, will be cast into this inferno, also. 

(15) And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 

The Book of Life is the record of those who have been given eternal, spiritual life, and take part in the first resurrection. All the rest of everyone who ever lived will take part in this second resurrection, and since their names are double-checked to not be in this Book of Life, then they receive bodies that will withstand the inferno of the Lake of Fire forever. Fire does not "burn away" any kind of sin or damaged DNA or defectiveness or evil. All it does is torment. 

This is a most sorry situation, that so many would choose to refuse our good God's offer of rescue from this damnation, and now they have no more choice. 

O my Father, please send us out, as Your children, Your messengers, Your missionaries. Enable us to travel, or to otherwise reach out to those who are searching for You! Let us connect with all those who have no other recourse. 

Father, You are not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (II Peter 3: 9). Please let every person know and understand clearly what the choice is: To be rescued, or to be condemned! 

My Father, You have loved all of us so much, because You made the human race to be Your children, and You sent Your own Son to take our death, our paycheck for sin, in our place, so that we won't have to die, or suffer the second death; but receive life from You, eternal live, to live with You forever! 

O Father, as our Source and our Provider, You have given us all everything we need for both this life here and eternal life with You! Open our eyes to see Your provision whenever we experience a need. You have already given us what we need, no matter what the situation is. Let us use what You have given us to help one another and to promote Your Kingdom. Don't let us squander Your bounty on ourselves, but to share and to help our neighbor before we even consider ourselves. Teach us how to love others as You have loved us. 

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! 

The Final End

Revelation 20: 7-10

We've seen that King Jesus has returned to this planet just as He said He would, and how He first allowed all the evil to run rampant; then He cleansed the whole Earth and rebuilt cities and nations all over the world to rule and reign through a thousand years of the Golden Age for humanity. 

There is not much written about this thousand years, because nothing will happen that is newsworthy for an historical record. Whenever anyone even contemplates doing something that would mar the paradise, Lord Jesus our King will take care of it before any harm is done. So, we won't even need to lock our doors!

(7) When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 

Most of the people living at that time will have known no other government than the perfect, righteous paradise they have. So they really don't have a choice whether they want to receive this goodness.

(8) and will come out to deceive the nations 

Because all the nations of people have known no other world, they don't appreciate the paradise they've had, and want to believe there's something better.  

which are in the four corners of the Earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore.

The four corners of the Earth would include the whole world. Gog represents the human leaders of the nations, and Magog is the lands where the nations are. The number of people that they gather in their army, like the sand of the seashore, shows how fruitful and prosperous and healthy the population of the world is after a thousand years of perfect government.

(9) And they came up on the broad plain of the Earth 

Remember that the whole-earth earthquake has leveled all the mountains, and the only raised ground is Jerusalem, the seat of government.  

and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, 

They are so deceived that they think that they can overcome the Lord God, Creator of all that exists! Their innumerable numbers have completely surrounded the city of King Jesus, thinking to sack it.  

and fire came down from Heaven and devoured them. 

And this "fire" is the exploding of the whole planet Earth, as described by Peter when he writes that, 

By His word the present heavens and Earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. 

For the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the Earth and its works will be burned up (II Peter 3: 7, 10).

So the Earth will explode, the Universe will implode, all the way back to the infinitesimal point of super-heavy matter, to undergo the "Big Bang" for a second time (if that's how God did it before, and if it is a second or a second thousandth time), to form the New Heaven (universe) and New Earth (planet).  

(10) And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; 

This Lake of Fire is apparently the final state of all that is imperfect, damaged, evil, sinful. Everything that is not able to withstand the intense, pure holiness of our God. And the beast and the false prophet were cast into it a thousand years ago, and they are still there, in the present tense.  

and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 

Beings who refuse the good will always suffer, because they have turned away from what could heal them. The only thing left for them is torment, at their own choice. 

O my Father, please send out Your children into all the world, so that every living person will be exposed to Your love, and have the opportunity to choose to accept Your most gracious and generous gift of salvation and rescue and full redemption through Your Son. 

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! 




 

The Day The Lord Comes

Zechariah 14: 1-21

This is what God told Zechariah about the Day of the Lord, to fill in some interesting details. 
 
As the Day progresses, the Antichrist will extend his rule during the first 3 1/2 years, and then he will take over the world and God will let him have power to murder the Jews and Christians during the second 3 1/2 years.

(1) Behold, a Day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. 

He says that whatever goods have been stolen from Israel by other nations conquering them, they will retrieve and get it all back again.

(2) For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, 

This is at the end of the 7 years, the end of the second 3 1/2 years of Great Tribulation, when the whole world has been deceived by the Antichrist and his False Prophet, and they are going to take care of the "final problem" of the existence of Israel. 

and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half the city exiled, 

God will allow them to get so far toward victory over Jerusalem, that they will think that they have won! 

but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. 

This is the remnant of the Jews who are trapped in the city, being surrounded by all the military units from every other nation in the world.

(3) Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle.

Just like the hero who takes the stage at the last minute, when we think it's too late! But right in the nick of time Jesus will appear, and the world will go from fighting Israel to fighting the Lord God Almighty, Himself! 

And Isaiah gives another detail: And every blow of the rod of punishment, which the Lord will lay on him, will be with the music of tambourines and lyres; and in battles, brandishing weapons, He will fight them (Isaiah 30: 32). No one, not even Hollywood, can out-dramatize our God!

(4) In that Day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. 

When the clouds roll up like a scroll (Revelation 6: 14, the sixth Seal), King Jesus will come riding through on His white horse, followed by His heavenly army on white horses; and when He lands on the Earth, His feet will stand on this mount and it will split in half. 

This is probably at the end of the world-wide great earthquake that shatters every square inch of this whole planet.

(5) You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah the king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! 

This will give the escape route to God's remnant of Jerusalem, as the Lord appears with all the holy ones with Him, which includes not only His resurrected saints, but also all the angels and other heavenly beings. This is why the seventh Seal is that there is silence in Heaven for about a half an hour (Revelation 8: 1), because they all came with the Son for the Battle of Armageddon.

(6) In that Day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 
(7) For it will be a unique Day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. 

This has never happened before. This is probably connected to all the anomalies in the sun, moon and stars when the fourth Trumpet blasts, and especially to the breaking of the sixth Seal, when the sun became as black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood; and the stars of the sky fell to the Earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind (Revelation 6: 12-13). 

(8) And in that Day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea; it will be in summer as well as in winter. 

While Jesus is reigning over the whole world, this river will be running to the Mediterranean Sea, and the Dead Sea to bring it to life, too. 

(9) And the Lord will be King over all the Earth; in that Day the Lord will be the only one, and His Name the only one. 

Jesus is our only Lord God, because God the Father put Him in charge of all creation before He created it. The Son probably volunteered so the Father let Him have charge of it all, and when everything is finished and cleansed and renewed, He will give it back to the Father.

(10) All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin's Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses. 

This is from the world-wide earthquake just before His return. And Jerusalem will be raised, as the seat of His government.

(11) People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security. 

King Jesus is our Lord God, and as such, He will immediately know whenever anyone even starts to think about doing something that would be harmful or destructive, and He will take care of that person before any negative action can be taken. So we won't even need to lock our doors.

(12) Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. 

The Indiana Jones movie "Raiders of the Lost Ark" showed the Nazis opening the sacred relic, and it caused their eyes to melt, their skin to melt, their bodies to rot away in a horrific mess. George Lucas and Philip Kaufman wrote the story that was adapted by Lawrence Kasdan for the movie, and at least one of them must have read this verse! 
 
This will probably happen during the Battle of Armageddon, when He slices them up with the sharp, double-edged sword that comes out of His mouth--His Word!

(13) It will come about in that Day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another's hand, and the hand of one will be lifted up against the hand of another. 

God will also cause them great confusion to slaughter one another.

(14) Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; 

The Judeans also will be fighting even as they are escaping. But the King will prevail, and win the battle.

and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. 

Then He will let the Jerusalemites gather all the valuables from the battlefield and the camps.

(15) So also like this plague will be the plague upon the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps. 

The plague of rotting on their feet will also be laid on their animals that served them.

(16) Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 

Anyone who is left in all the nations of the world who were attacking Israel must submit to the conquering hero who won the war over them, and acknowledge that He is their Lord God, Creator and King.

(17) And it will be that whichever of the families of the Earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, there will be no rain on them. 

If there is any nation who has surviving citizens who are still rebellious against our Lord King, then He will not let their crops be watered and grow.

(18) If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, then no rain will fall on them; it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 

For example, if Egypt refuses to worship Him, their crops won't grow. Any nation that refuses to accede to His Lordship will be treated the same. 

The Feast of Booths was originally given to Israel to remember how they lived in tents in the desert after God rescued them out of slavery in Egypt. Now that Jesus is reigning as King, they are to honor and worship Him as the one who rescued the world from the slavery of sin.

(19) This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. 

This will be the consequence for every nation who will not give Him His due. 

(20) In that Day there will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, "Holy to the Lord." And the cooking pots in the Lord's house will be like the bowls before the altar. 
(21) Every cooking pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the Lord of Hosts; and all who sacrifice will come and take of them and boil in them. And there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts in that Day. 

There will no longer be any delineation between "holy" and "secular." It all belongs to our Creator, so it will all be holy. All of this material world. The Canaanites were the idol worshipers when Israel entered the Promised Land. This tells us that there will be no one in the land who will even mention any other supposed deity or idol; the Lord will be the only one worshiped. 

O my Father God, thank You for all the details You have given us concerning Your plan for this planet. You have loved us more than we could ever imagine, but so many have let the enemy deceive them that You had to make sure they would be judged righteously and not interfere with the paradise Your Son will bring to our world. 

Father, send out Your children to share with every living being how much You love us all, and give them understanding so that everyone will have an informed and clear choice, to accept Your gracious and generous gift or to let themselves be seduced by the enemy's deceptions. 

And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, 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, Lord Jesus! 

1000 Years Golden Age

Revelation 20: 1-6

After the Battle of Armageddon and at the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ Jesus, the first detail that had to be taken care of was this enemy.

(1) Then I saw an angel coming down from Heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. 

The abyss is the supernatural hole that the heavenly star that had fallen to the Earth had opened at the blast of the fifth Trumpet, releasing the infernal locusts to torment people. And the red beast that the woman Mystery Babylon was riding on also came out of the abyss.

(2) And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 

This high-ranking angel tied up Satan securely in the great chain he brought with him.

(3) and he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, 

This angel general cast him violently into this supernatural place of torment and locked it up tight.  

so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; 

God will not permit Satan to have access to Mankind any more for the whole thousand years of the reign of King Jesus; to give Mankind the best chance, and not let that old serpent mess with the Golden Age He will be giving this planet. 

after these things he must be released for a short time. 

Then after the thousand years, God will allow Mankind to have a clear choice to choose the good He has been providing, or to believe Satan's lies again.

(4) Then I saw thrones, and they that sat on them, and judgment was given to them. 

All of Jesus' deputies that have been Resurrected and will reign with Him in His throne, deciding the governmental and judicial matters in each district. 

And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; 

These are the tribulation saints who have been martyred. 

and they came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 

These tribulation saints apparently are Raptured along with the rest of the church at the last Trumpet.

(5) The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first Resurrection. 

This First Resurrection is the Rapture. There are not two "first resurrections."

(6) Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first Resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years. 

This is one "First Resurrection." We who are raptured are in our spiritual bodies that Paul described in I Corinthians 15. 

This is the time God has given to this planet Earth for its residents to experience the Golden Age of perfect government over the world for Mankind to flourish and be prosperous and enjoy all the bountiful goodness God put into the Earth for our enjoyment. 

The first thing we'll probably do is to build for ourselves temporary housing while we rebuild all the cities that have been reduced to rubble in the whole Earth earthquake (the sixth Seal, the seventh Trumpet, and the seventh Bowl or Vial) at the end of the seven years. This is when we will be celebrating the Feast of Booths, that was given to Israel to remember their rescue out of Egypt and wandering in the desert before entering into the Promised Land. 

Everything in the Law and the Prophets will now have been fulfilled, Jesus also have been living out all the six Feasts Israelites were to celebrate.

Satan will be out of this picture, and whenever anyone starts to think the kind of thoughts that would cause any kind of trouble, our Lord God who is King will know it, and He will take care of this before any action is taken to spoil the paradise. 

When I realized that the Rapture would most likely occur after the seven years of tribulation, and that everyone who trusted the Lord would be Resurrected and all the rest who decided to be deceived would be destroyed, I wondered who would be left in their mortal bodies to repopulate the world? 

I didn't dwell on this problem, and I didn't try to invent some solution, I decided to just leave it to God, because He knew what He was going to do, and everything will work out. I trusted Him. 

Then later, as I was studying some other Scriptures, I realized that He says, "they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn" (Zechariah 12: 10), when "all Israel will be saved in a day" (Romans 11: 26-27), on the Day the Lord returns, when "every eye shall see Him," and "all nations will mourn" (Revelation 1: 7), because they haven't been following His ways. Jesus of Nazareth is the Jewish Messiah, who has now come to fulfill His promises to Israel! 

The residents of Jerusalem, who found themselves surrounded by the rest of the world with no way out, will take the path through the valley that has just opened up in the Mount of Olives when it cleaves into two as the feet of Jesus land on it (Zechariah 14: 4-5. I must go through this whole passage here in Zechariah to see the details of the Lord's moment of arrival!).

And all of the rest of the world who have not succumbed to taking that mark will see Him and recognize Him. These are the people, Jews and Gentiles, who will enter this Golden Age in their mortal flesh and marry and repopulate the world, which is now perfect, for a thousand years! 

And all the promises He made to Israel will come to pass as Israel will be the head of the nations, not the tail (Deuteronomy 28: 13); and they will be the human mayors and governors under the Resurrected kings and queens over the districts. 

O my Father, You are such a benevolent and generous and faithful and truthful God! You are so powerful and wise and clever! You will leave no stone unturned and no mystery unrevealed. You will finish everything You have started, in each life, in each family, in each tribe, in each nation, and in each world You have made. All Your plans are complete and interesting and adventurous!

O Father, All that You have planned for us, You will fulfill! And this is not the end of all! You have given us a glimpse of what You are planning further for us, even beyond this world and this universe. 

Father, You are a very creative God, and You have in mind so much more for everyone You have made! For humans and for angels and for elders and for all the living creatures You have designed and made in all the worlds for your pleasure. 

My Father, please, right now, in this time, before all this program is ended and finished, let us go out to every living person in the whole world to share with them how much You love them! Send us out to broadcast Your Plan of Salvation for Mankind before all the evil is unleashed and before the Antichrist has manifested his appearance. 

Enable us to tell them, so that each person will have an accurate understanding of how You want to rescue them from all the effects of sin on their bodies and souls and spirits, their emotions and thought processes and relationships. So they can be healed and learn to trust You before all the fierce pressure comes. 

And every eye shall see, and every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, 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 on, Lord Jesus, quickly!