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!
Tuesday, May 26, 2020
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!
Friday, May 22, 2020
The Final Earthly Kingdom
Joel 3: 17-21
We've seen how God judged all the evil in the world at the Battle of Armageddon, now we will see how he will begin to set up His Kingdom on this Earth.
(17) Then you will know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be holy,
And strangers will pass through it no more.
His throne will be in Jerusalem, the spot He chose way back in Abraham's day (Genesis 22: 2), where He had Solomon build the Temple (II Chronicles 3: 1). That is the center of the land masses of the Earth, geographically, and God chose to "set His Name" there, to be His center of operations.
(18) And in that Day
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
And the hills will flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;
The climate of the land of Israel will bring about a paradise with the rains and seasons growing all the crops, and feeding all the animals, and all the rivers, streams and wadis flowing abundantly; giving great wealth and abundance to the inhabitants.
And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord
To water the valley of Shittim.
This spring will be flowing out of where the throne sits, and will fill the Dead Sea with fresh water to make it alive. We know from Zechariah 14: 8 that this fountain of "living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea [the Mediterranean Sea] and the other half toward the western sea [the Salt Sea]; it will be in summer as well as in winter." This river will not ever dry up as other streams and wadis would, but will flow dependably all the time.
(19) Egypt will become a waste,
And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,
Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah,
In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
Those areas where the enemies of Israel lived will experience devastation, showing how evil the people were, who died in the Battle of Armageddon and the reaping of the angels.
(20) But Judah will be inhabited forever
And Jerusalem for all generations.
Judah and Jerusalem will prosper and be the Royal City where the Lord God, King Jesus sits and reigns. And He will rule the whole world as King, with His viceroys (His resurrected saints) ruling all the areas of the Earth where people live.
(21) And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,
For the Lord dwells in Zion.
The Lord will settle all accounts as He rules, and whatever hadn't been taken care of before, will be done. He will not leave any strings hanging, He will tie them all up.
And He will rule and reign for a thousand years on this Earth. His generosity will be known by everyone everywhere, and His justice will be instant and complete to everyone who decides to rebel. We will need no locks on our doors, because if anyone decides to enter to rob, they will be stopped by our Lord King before they have a chance to carry out their plan.
We as human people cannot know the thoughts of another, like our Lord God can, so human rule must depend on the actual actions of the ne'er-do-wells. Any kind of "thought-crime" is foreign to human rule, and those who try to enforce these laws are trying to be god. These people think they're gods, who can do whatever they want without accountability, and are not subject to the same laws and rules they set down for the rest of us. Pay attention to who these people are, and respond accordingly: Do not re-elect them; call them to account for their crimes; and pray for them, because they have been deceived.
Joel is looking only at Israel and writing to those who are Hebrews, and ends his book here. He only mentions other nations as they touch on Israel, and is not concerned with the rest of the world and the end of the Time Line for this Earth and our Universe. We must go to other prophets who wrote other parts of our story as God told them.
O my Father, thank You for all the people You spoke to, to record Your words in the messages You want us to hear. You want us to know who we are, and who You are, and how You have dealt with all the problems we have made!
Father, You knew before You ever made anything in this Creation we live in, what would happen, and how You would use everything to further Your plans for us, to enact Your whole Plan of the Ages.
We are not Your puppets, my Father, because You have given us the power of choice, that we call "free will." But our will is only free within the parameters You have set; and You use everything we choose, good or bad, to work out Your plan for each of us, and for all of us.
O Father, when we choose to harm ourselves and one another, when we see no way out of the negative consequences, then You show up. At the last minute, when we think it's too late, is when our Hero enters the scene and miraculously rescues us from the jaws of destruction!
My Father, You want only what is best for us! You take the worst circumstances, the most evil and wicked, and You bring the most good from them for us! The worst thing that ever happened, the most evil and wicked, is when men executed our King of Glory as a criminal! But from that, Father, You drew the most magnificent, most glorious, most miraculous result--You save us from the power of sin and wash us pristine clean; and cause us to be born into Your own family, as Your Royal children, when You place Your Holy Spirit in us.
This is all according to Your Plan that You planned out before You created anything! And Your Son, Our Lord, agreed to this plan, and was willing to go through the exquisite suffering both physical and spiritual, and emotional too, so that we could be made fit to live with You where You live, without being destroyed.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim 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 how God judged all the evil in the world at the Battle of Armageddon, now we will see how he will begin to set up His Kingdom on this Earth.
(17) Then you will know that I am the Lord your God,
Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain.
So Jerusalem will be holy,
And strangers will pass through it no more.
His throne will be in Jerusalem, the spot He chose way back in Abraham's day (Genesis 22: 2), where He had Solomon build the Temple (II Chronicles 3: 1). That is the center of the land masses of the Earth, geographically, and God chose to "set His Name" there, to be His center of operations.
(18) And in that Day
The mountains will drip with sweet wine,
And the hills will flow with milk,
And all the brooks of Judah will flow with water;
The climate of the land of Israel will bring about a paradise with the rains and seasons growing all the crops, and feeding all the animals, and all the rivers, streams and wadis flowing abundantly; giving great wealth and abundance to the inhabitants.
And a spring will go out from the house of the Lord
To water the valley of Shittim.
This spring will be flowing out of where the throne sits, and will fill the Dead Sea with fresh water to make it alive. We know from Zechariah 14: 8 that this fountain of "living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea [the Mediterranean Sea] and the other half toward the western sea [the Salt Sea]; it will be in summer as well as in winter." This river will not ever dry up as other streams and wadis would, but will flow dependably all the time.
(19) Egypt will become a waste,
And Edom will become a desolate wilderness,
Because of the violence done to the sons of Judah,
In whose land they have shed innocent blood.
Those areas where the enemies of Israel lived will experience devastation, showing how evil the people were, who died in the Battle of Armageddon and the reaping of the angels.
(20) But Judah will be inhabited forever
And Jerusalem for all generations.
Judah and Jerusalem will prosper and be the Royal City where the Lord God, King Jesus sits and reigns. And He will rule the whole world as King, with His viceroys (His resurrected saints) ruling all the areas of the Earth where people live.
(21) And I will avenge their blood which I have not avenged,
For the Lord dwells in Zion.
The Lord will settle all accounts as He rules, and whatever hadn't been taken care of before, will be done. He will not leave any strings hanging, He will tie them all up.
And He will rule and reign for a thousand years on this Earth. His generosity will be known by everyone everywhere, and His justice will be instant and complete to everyone who decides to rebel. We will need no locks on our doors, because if anyone decides to enter to rob, they will be stopped by our Lord King before they have a chance to carry out their plan.
We as human people cannot know the thoughts of another, like our Lord God can, so human rule must depend on the actual actions of the ne'er-do-wells. Any kind of "thought-crime" is foreign to human rule, and those who try to enforce these laws are trying to be god. These people think they're gods, who can do whatever they want without accountability, and are not subject to the same laws and rules they set down for the rest of us. Pay attention to who these people are, and respond accordingly: Do not re-elect them; call them to account for their crimes; and pray for them, because they have been deceived.
Joel is looking only at Israel and writing to those who are Hebrews, and ends his book here. He only mentions other nations as they touch on Israel, and is not concerned with the rest of the world and the end of the Time Line for this Earth and our Universe. We must go to other prophets who wrote other parts of our story as God told them.
O my Father, thank You for all the people You spoke to, to record Your words in the messages You want us to hear. You want us to know who we are, and who You are, and how You have dealt with all the problems we have made!
Father, You knew before You ever made anything in this Creation we live in, what would happen, and how You would use everything to further Your plans for us, to enact Your whole Plan of the Ages.
We are not Your puppets, my Father, because You have given us the power of choice, that we call "free will." But our will is only free within the parameters You have set; and You use everything we choose, good or bad, to work out Your plan for each of us, and for all of us.
O Father, when we choose to harm ourselves and one another, when we see no way out of the negative consequences, then You show up. At the last minute, when we think it's too late, is when our Hero enters the scene and miraculously rescues us from the jaws of destruction!
My Father, You want only what is best for us! You take the worst circumstances, the most evil and wicked, and You bring the most good from them for us! The worst thing that ever happened, the most evil and wicked, is when men executed our King of Glory as a criminal! But from that, Father, You drew the most magnificent, most glorious, most miraculous result--You save us from the power of sin and wash us pristine clean; and cause us to be born into Your own family, as Your Royal children, when You place Your Holy Spirit in us.
This is all according to Your Plan that You planned out before You created anything! And Your Son, Our Lord, agreed to this plan, and was willing to go through the exquisite suffering both physical and spiritual, and emotional too, so that we could be made fit to live with You where You live, without being destroyed.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, every tongue will proclaim 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 21, 2020
Judgment Of The Nations
Joel 3: 9-16
Joel is continuing to tell how the Lord's coming will look to Israel and her surrounding nations. This gives us a little more information to add to what Jesus said in Matthew 24 and what He told John in Revelation 14: 9-20 and 19: 11-21.
(9) Proclaim this among the nations:
This is to the nations who surround the nation of Israel, who hate her.
Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
The Lord says to prepare the armies, gather all the soldiers for battle.
(10) Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears;
They are to put their economies onto a war footing, and re-calibrate their machine-making from agricultural to military implements.
Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."
Let every able-bodied person enlist, even if they physically aren't quite up to military standards.
(11) Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there.
God will gather all the armies of all the nations who oppose Israel.
Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones.
Our Lord God will gather all the earthly armies, then He will break through the clouds into the atmosphere of our Earth with all His holy ones, His angels and saints.
(12) Let the nations be aroused
And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to judge
All the surrounding nations.
This valley of Jehoshaphat is not a word that signifies a geographical location, but we know from other scriptures that it will be the Valley of Armageddon.
King Jesus will battle them; the word Joel uses for "sit" to judge, is a primitive root word, yashab, which refers to every kind of settling down or setting up; so He will "sit in judgment" on them by slaughtering them with His Word (the "sword that comes out of His mouth"! (Revelation 19: 15).
(13) Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
This is referenced in Matthew 13: 36-43 in Jesus' explanation to His disciples of the parable of the Sower and the Seed. He said, "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (vs. 41-42).
Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Here is another picture of the judgment upon the wicked, that they are the grapes in the Lord's wine press, to pour out the blood "up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles" (Revelation 14: 19-20).
(14) Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
Yes, it will be thousands upon thousands of soldiers from all over the world that have gathered against God's people and find themselves facing the Lord God Almighty! And He will judge them all with true judgment, immediate and complete.
(15) For the sun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
It is at this time that the sun and moon will stop, to make that Day like no other day in the history of the Earth, when Zechariah 14: 4-7 says that:
(16) The Lord roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the Earth tremble.
All this happening will cause earthquakes and the whole Universe that we can see to tremble and shake. Nothing like this has ever happened before.
But the Lord is a refuge for His people
And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
All this destruction and violence will be happening all over the world, but God's people who are still on the Earth will be spared and protected, because this is the wrath of God falling on everything that is not perfect. The people of God are His because His blood shed at Calvary has washed us perfectly clean, and because Jesus took upon Himself the wrath that is due us.
These are the people who will enter into His Kingdom on Earth in their flesh, to repopulate the Earth as He reigns as the sovereign King of the World.
When I look at the End Times and the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation, and the Rapture and the Second Coming of the Lord, and all that will transpire, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with the immensity of the information God has given us, and the seriousness and intensity of God's love and justice.
O my Father, You are so good, and You love us so much. You want us to know what will happen, very soon now, and You want us to know and be prepared to face it. And to trust You to carry us through whatever we will have to face, wherever we find ourselves on Your timeline.
My Father, You have told us what looks like a complete account of everything that will take place until the end of this Earth itself, but I know that You really haven't told us everything. But we can know a tremendous amount of what to expect, so we should be able to recognize when it comes to pass. Please open our eyes to see and to recognize when these End Time events come. Then we will lift up our eyes, for our Salvation is at hand!
O Father, until then, send out Your children into all the world, so that every living person will hear and understand clearly enough to make a fully informed choice to accept or reject Your most gracious and generous gift.
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 swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Joel is continuing to tell how the Lord's coming will look to Israel and her surrounding nations. This gives us a little more information to add to what Jesus said in Matthew 24 and what He told John in Revelation 14: 9-20 and 19: 11-21.
(9) Proclaim this among the nations:
This is to the nations who surround the nation of Israel, who hate her.
Prepare a war; rouse the mighty men!
Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
The Lord says to prepare the armies, gather all the soldiers for battle.
(10) Beat your plowshares into swords
and your pruning hooks into spears;
They are to put their economies onto a war footing, and re-calibrate their machine-making from agricultural to military implements.
Let the weak say, "I am a mighty man."
Let every able-bodied person enlist, even if they physically aren't quite up to military standards.
(11) Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations,
And gather yourselves there.
God will gather all the armies of all the nations who oppose Israel.
Bring down, O Lord, Your mighty ones.
Our Lord God will gather all the earthly armies, then He will break through the clouds into the atmosphere of our Earth with all His holy ones, His angels and saints.
(12) Let the nations be aroused
And come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat,
For there I will sit to judge
All the surrounding nations.
This valley of Jehoshaphat is not a word that signifies a geographical location, but we know from other scriptures that it will be the Valley of Armageddon.
King Jesus will battle them; the word Joel uses for "sit" to judge, is a primitive root word, yashab, which refers to every kind of settling down or setting up; so He will "sit in judgment" on them by slaughtering them with His Word (the "sword that comes out of His mouth"! (Revelation 19: 15).
(13) Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
This is referenced in Matthew 13: 36-43 in Jesus' explanation to His disciples of the parable of the Sower and the Seed. He said, "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His Kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (vs. 41-42).
Come, tread, for the wine press is full;
The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.
Here is another picture of the judgment upon the wicked, that they are the grapes in the Lord's wine press, to pour out the blood "up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles" (Revelation 14: 19-20).
(14) Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
For the Day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
Yes, it will be thousands upon thousands of soldiers from all over the world that have gathered against God's people and find themselves facing the Lord God Almighty! And He will judge them all with true judgment, immediate and complete.
(15) For the sun and moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.
It is at this time that the sun and moon will stop, to make that Day like no other day in the history of the Earth, when Zechariah 14: 4-7 says that:
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. 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 king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! In that Day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. 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.God gave the whole story, and when we look in the different places for all the different parts of it, we can put it together in a tentative time line. We won't know the exact way everything will actually work out until it happens (hind-sight is always 20-20).
(16) The Lord roars from Zion
And utters His voice from Jerusalem,
And the heavens and the Earth tremble.
All this happening will cause earthquakes and the whole Universe that we can see to tremble and shake. Nothing like this has ever happened before.
But the Lord is a refuge for His people
And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.
All this destruction and violence will be happening all over the world, but God's people who are still on the Earth will be spared and protected, because this is the wrath of God falling on everything that is not perfect. The people of God are His because His blood shed at Calvary has washed us perfectly clean, and because Jesus took upon Himself the wrath that is due us.
These are the people who will enter into His Kingdom on Earth in their flesh, to repopulate the Earth as He reigns as the sovereign King of the World.
When I look at the End Times and the Tribulation and the Great Tribulation, and the Rapture and the Second Coming of the Lord, and all that will transpire, I sometimes feel overwhelmed with the immensity of the information God has given us, and the seriousness and intensity of God's love and justice.
O my Father, You are so good, and You love us so much. You want us to know what will happen, very soon now, and You want us to know and be prepared to face it. And to trust You to carry us through whatever we will have to face, wherever we find ourselves on Your timeline.
My Father, You have told us what looks like a complete account of everything that will take place until the end of this Earth itself, but I know that You really haven't told us everything. But we can know a tremendous amount of what to expect, so we should be able to recognize when it comes to pass. Please open our eyes to see and to recognize when these End Time events come. Then we will lift up our eyes, for our Salvation is at hand!
O Father, until then, send out Your children into all the world, so that every living person will hear and understand clearly enough to make a fully informed choice to accept or reject Your most gracious and generous gift.
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 swiftly, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
How The Rescue Will Begin
Joel 3: 1-8
Joel has taken the recent locust plague that the people had just suffered through as a picture of the Assyrian attack that was coming soon, and both of these as showing how much worse the final antichrist would treat the people.
Then he encouraged them with the news that the Lord God Himself will come to rescue His people, to fulfill all His promises and restore everything they had lost.
Now he will show them how the rescue will begin.
(1) "For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
He is setting the stage here.
(2) "I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
This valley of Jehoshaphat is not named here as a geographical place, but a scene of judgment and decision. The Lord will gather all the nations who have fought against His people. We know from other scriptures, that this will be in the Armageddon valley.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
This is the charge that they will be accused of:
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
(3) "They have also cast lots for My people,
Traded a boy for a harlot
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
They have dominated the people and taken them out of their own land, scattering them into all the other parts of the world to deprive them of their nationality, trying to blend them into all the other cultures, erasing their own.
They have divided up the land into parcels that have been given to their enemies to occupy and defile.
They have devalued the people, reducing them to cheap property, paying for a night with a harlot with a boy, and a flask of wine for a girl.
(4) "Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head.
These areas are the well-known ancient centers of the slave-trade. God says that because they have a grudge against His people Israel, to want to exact revenge on them in order to attack the Lord God; then God will turn the tables on them and do to them what they do to His people.
(5) "Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples,
They have robbed the people of all their wealth when they were prosperous, and robbed the Lord's temple of everything valuable to use in worship of their idols.
(6) "And sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them from their territory,
They sold the Jews, not just for monetary profit, but to erase them from the world as Jews, making them part of the other worldly cultures. This is an effort to nullify the promises God made to Israel, to make it impossible for Him.
(7) "behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.
God knows who His people are, and He will allow them to maintain their identity as Jews and bring them back to their land. God will show that revenge belongs to Him, and He will give them back what they gave His people, trying to attack their Lord God.
(8) "Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the Lord has spoken.
The Sabeans are the nation that derived from Sheba, the grandson of Noah, and they settled most likely in Africa. God uses them as an example of a far-away foreign place where He will have His people send the children of those who sold the children of Israel.
We never need to think that we should get even with anyone for anything. This is revenge, and we cannot handle it, it destroys us. We are to trust that our God will handle the situation, and forgive, which releases us from all the power they have over us.
God's enemies who worship idols and demons are the devil's minions, who are deceived by him. They attack God's people because they can't get to God to harm Him in any way.
Our Lord God is going to settle every score, pay off every debt, level every playing field. Our Lord God is perfectly just and fair, and He will see to it that everyone gets exactly what is due him, whether that be judgment, or whether that be reward for obedience.
O my Father, thank You for being God! You are so good, so compassionate, so gentle; and You are also just and powerful and mighty. You will make sure that everything is done and finished. You gave to Your Son to be our Lord, to move along the progress of Your Plan of the Ages, to dispatch the spiritual help to combat the spiritual forces that war against You by attacking Your people.
My Father, You are protecting Your sons and daughters from the machinations of the enemy. You are taking everything he means for evil, and bringing tremendous good out of it for Your people. You are showing Yourself powerful against his increasing fury, because he knows his time is short.
O Father, strengthen Your children against our enemies. Let Your love in us demonstrate Your positive strength against the negativity and attacks of the enemy. Help us to overcome the evil with good. Hold us up in Your mighty hand in the fight, and after all is done, we will stand.
Even though we may stumble, we will not fall. We can be troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We can be perplexed, but we'll not be without help. We can even be persecuted, but we won't be forsaken; and cast down, but not destroyed (II Corinthians 4: 8-9). Father, You have provided everything we will ever need, in every area of living and thinking and thriving.
And even when we don't see how it could ever work out, You already have done the rescuing and reviving and redeeming. You have already finished everything, and told us how it will go, as we live through it. When things aren't going right, that's when we'll look up, for our redemption draweth nigh!
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!
Joel has taken the recent locust plague that the people had just suffered through as a picture of the Assyrian attack that was coming soon, and both of these as showing how much worse the final antichrist would treat the people.
Then he encouraged them with the news that the Lord God Himself will come to rescue His people, to fulfill all His promises and restore everything they had lost.
Now he will show them how the rescue will begin.
(1) "For behold, in those days and at that time,
When I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
He is setting the stage here.
(2) "I will gather all the nations
And bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.
This valley of Jehoshaphat is not named here as a geographical place, but a scene of judgment and decision. The Lord will gather all the nations who have fought against His people. We know from other scriptures, that this will be in the Armageddon valley.
Then I will enter into judgment with them there
On behalf of My people and My inheritance, Israel,
This is the charge that they will be accused of:
Whom they have scattered among the nations;
And they have divided up My land.
(3) "They have also cast lots for My people,
Traded a boy for a harlot
And sold a girl for wine that they may drink.
They have dominated the people and taken them out of their own land, scattering them into all the other parts of the world to deprive them of their nationality, trying to blend them into all the other cultures, erasing their own.
They have divided up the land into parcels that have been given to their enemies to occupy and defile.
They have devalued the people, reducing them to cheap property, paying for a night with a harlot with a boy, and a flask of wine for a girl.
(4) "Moreover, what are you to Me, O Tyre, Sidon and all the regions of Philistia? Are you rendering Me a recompense? But if you do recompense Me, swiftly and speedily I will return your recompense on your head.
These areas are the well-known ancient centers of the slave-trade. God says that because they have a grudge against His people Israel, to want to exact revenge on them in order to attack the Lord God; then God will turn the tables on them and do to them what they do to His people.
(5) "Since you have taken My silver and My gold, brought My precious treasures to your temples,
They have robbed the people of all their wealth when they were prosperous, and robbed the Lord's temple of everything valuable to use in worship of their idols.
(6) "And sold the sons of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks in order to remove them from their territory,
They sold the Jews, not just for monetary profit, but to erase them from the world as Jews, making them part of the other worldly cultures. This is an effort to nullify the promises God made to Israel, to make it impossible for Him.
(7) "behold, I am going to arouse them from the place where you have sold them, and return your recompense on your head.
God knows who His people are, and He will allow them to maintain their identity as Jews and bring them back to their land. God will show that revenge belongs to Him, and He will give them back what they gave His people, trying to attack their Lord God.
(8) "Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the Lord has spoken.
The Sabeans are the nation that derived from Sheba, the grandson of Noah, and they settled most likely in Africa. God uses them as an example of a far-away foreign place where He will have His people send the children of those who sold the children of Israel.
We never need to think that we should get even with anyone for anything. This is revenge, and we cannot handle it, it destroys us. We are to trust that our God will handle the situation, and forgive, which releases us from all the power they have over us.
God's enemies who worship idols and demons are the devil's minions, who are deceived by him. They attack God's people because they can't get to God to harm Him in any way.
Our Lord God is going to settle every score, pay off every debt, level every playing field. Our Lord God is perfectly just and fair, and He will see to it that everyone gets exactly what is due him, whether that be judgment, or whether that be reward for obedience.
O my Father, thank You for being God! You are so good, so compassionate, so gentle; and You are also just and powerful and mighty. You will make sure that everything is done and finished. You gave to Your Son to be our Lord, to move along the progress of Your Plan of the Ages, to dispatch the spiritual help to combat the spiritual forces that war against You by attacking Your people.
My Father, You are protecting Your sons and daughters from the machinations of the enemy. You are taking everything he means for evil, and bringing tremendous good out of it for Your people. You are showing Yourself powerful against his increasing fury, because he knows his time is short.
O Father, strengthen Your children against our enemies. Let Your love in us demonstrate Your positive strength against the negativity and attacks of the enemy. Help us to overcome the evil with good. Hold us up in Your mighty hand in the fight, and after all is done, we will stand.
Even though we may stumble, we will not fall. We can be troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We can be perplexed, but we'll not be without help. We can even be persecuted, but we won't be forsaken; and cast down, but not destroyed (II Corinthians 4: 8-9). Father, You have provided everything we will ever need, in every area of living and thinking and thriving.
And even when we don't see how it could ever work out, You already have done the rescuing and reviving and redeeming. You have already finished everything, and told us how it will go, as we live through it. When things aren't going right, that's when we'll look up, for our redemption draweth nigh!
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!
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