Bringing Tongues Of Fire From The Sparks Of Faith…
LESSON 28
BOOK OF REVELATION 2
By Rev. G. Evan Newmyer
INTRODUCTION TO LESSON 28
By now we’re getting the idea, when the Woman feeds the poor, takes care of the widows, as the 144,000 show mercy to the world, she rules as a holy city, but when she attempts to rule the people, she becomes Babylon. Some of us think being a “king” means we can sit high on a chair barking out orders like some junkyard dog, not so, Jesus is our example, a King of Mercy, Grace, Longsuffering, not imputing the sins on the people, rather working to help the people be free of sin.
As we begin this last lesson we want to keep in mind we’re still studying the Book of Revelation, in reference to what John saw, as he reports it to us. The letters to the seven churches are done, the Record in heaven written, the seals opened, we’ve just entered chapter 11, so let’s move on with the Revelation of Jesus, the very revealing of the Lord of Glory.
THE BOOK OF REVELATION – Part 2
We begin where we left off, where was it? Oh yeah, Rev. – Chapter 11….
Rev 11:3-7
If we simply look at the Two Witnesses as intended, rather than making them some mystic reincarnation, we will find this entire chapter easier to understand. The Two Witnesses of the Law and Prophets are assigned to the last two candlesticks, not all seven, dividing the times and Seasons. In our Season we have the Witness of the Water, Blood and Spirit, but the Two Witnesses being the Law and Prophets draws a direct line between the Day and Night. Both the Law and Prophets are a testimony, they contain more than enough evidence for one to repent. On one side we have the Witness unto Salvation, on the other the Two Witnesses have the testimony unto Judgment. It doesn’t take long to see the Law and Prophets Witness against the people, the New Testament Testifies for us.
Some of this we viewed in our studies of the Prophets, we recall Zechariah told us about the Seven Lamps, equating to the Menorah Jesus is seen in the Midst of. It’s not simply seven lamps, but “His seven lamps” (Zech 4:2). However, the Two Olive Trees are next to the Lamp, as they stand next to the Lord of the whole earth, they are not part of the Lamp, the Light from the Lamp, or the Branch of the Lamp. They are Olive Trees, they are not Fig Trees, the Remnant are the leaves of the Fig Tree, but the Two Witnesses speak of the Mercy of God, not the Grace of God. The anointing of the Two Witnesses is based in the knowledge of God’s Mercy, but they also warn of what happens when those called of God refuse to grant Mercy. Would taking the nations by trick be Mercy related? Of course not, yet the Woman takes those nations on the advise of the false prophet.
The Two Witnesses are dressed in sackclothe as they make the call is to repent continually, a sign of God’s Mercy. They do not have white robes, they don’t promise white robes, their function is found in the sackcloth. Since honoring the Law and Prophets will keep the Time of Comfort as Comfort we can see when they are tossed into the Street, or made ineffective, it also removes the Mercy of God from the people (Zech 4:3).
If the Gentile Court is left out, if this is a matter of Measurement, then we have a division of importance taking place. The Two Witnesses bring one to repentance, they are suppose to, but they also judge the person, they are suppose to. Therefore, if we hold to the Law of Moses we will judged by the Law. However, if we hold to the Law of the Spirit, we are Free of judgment, making us free of the wrath of God. God never intended for the Law of the Spirit to hold any Wrath, thus we walk in Peace, not Wrath.
These Two Witnesses of the Law and Prophets did Prophesy during the Day, but only in their principality, not in the kingdom. We are sent to be Witnesses of Jesus, thus the Law and Prophets continue to judge the world, the Holy Ghost reproves the world, yet we are free of the world. This is the Day of Salvation, let us Rejoice and be Glad in it, for the Night comes when no man can work.
This is still talking about the Three Woes, this is the Second Woe (vs. 11:14), thus the First came with the Fifth Angel who opened the Pit, then the Sixth Angel who has the Sickle (vs. 14:18), making the Third Woe the Judgment. This second Woe displays why it came, the temple was there, it has been re-built, there are no Gentiles, just those who worship inside, yet it begins to change rapidly.
In Zechariah we notice something strange: the angel talking to the prophet is surprised Zechariah doesn’t know about the Two Olive Trees, Why? (Zech 4:5). This is the same question asked of John in reference to those who came out of the Tribulation (vs. 7:14). Just as John should know those who made it through the Door by the Spirit, Zechariah should know the Two Olive Trees refer to the Law and Prophets. Since those through the Door include John, those subject to the Two Olive Trees include Zechariah, a prophet of Old. The Two olive trees have strange positions, one is on the left, one on the right; therefore, these two Olive Trees were seen one on the left and one on the right of Jesus as they talked about the type of decease Jesus would accomplish (Luke 9:31). This wasn’t the decease of Jesus, but what He would cause to be deceased, the Law and Commandments are nailed to the cross. Nonetheless it’s the Cross, not the realm we are seeing here. These Two Witnesses point to the Everlasting Gospel of Judgment, not the Gospel of Peace unto Salvation. They have a Power unto Judgment, yet the Gospel of Peace is the Power of God unto Salvation, there is a vast difference between the two Gospels. Today if anyone tells us the Everlasting Gospel is the Gospel of Peace they have introduced the wrong Gospel to our Season, let them be accursed.
John makes a clear separation, the Two Witnesses are only assigned to Two of the Candlesticks, if we get nothing else from this Chapter, we must get this. If the Law and Prophets were assigned to all Seven, there would be no division between the Day and Night, but it’s not the case. There is a clear division taking place, one showing the Rock and Church are gone at this time, Zion (metaphorically known as the Moon) and the Sun (Israel) are in their Season, their Witnesses are not the Water, Blood and Spirit but the Law and Prophets.
These Two Olive Trees, or anointed ones stood by the Lord of the whole earth on the mount of Transfiguration, they will stand for the Lord in the Time of Comfort (Zech 4:14). Peter, James and John saw these Two Witnesses on the Mount of Transfiguration when they heard the Father say, “Hear ye Him”, not hear ye them (Matt 17:1-9). We now find the people being told to Hear ye them, Why? It can’t be hypocrisy, the same Holy Ghost is the Author, anytime we assume there is hypocrisy in the Scriptures, we are in fact calling the Holy Ghost a Hypocrite, hardly the position for a Believer to be caught in. The answer is simple, the ability to Hear Ye Him is gone in the Rapture, clearly the Two Witnesses on the Mount were the Law and Prophets. These Two Witnesses bring torment to the sinner, as they point out sin, condemn it, then find the person guilty, yet because the person exists it also shows the Mercy of God. If the concept of “go and sin no more” is violated, these Two Witnesses are designed to point it out.
This also shows where the anointing is, for us it’s on and in us, but here it’s on the Law and Prophets, not the people. Jesus does Mark the 144,000, but it’s not the Anointing, it’s ownership. We are “Sealed” by the Holy Spirit, but we can also grieve the Holy Spirit by Whom we are Sealed. Here we find only the Two Witnesses are anointed, thus those who join to them would be like those who joined to Moses, they will be covered by the same anointing. It’s for this reason we find the false prophet in sin, simply by claiming to be a prophet, since the only prophets will be recorded in the words of the Prophets. The false prophet sets up as the only prophet, then claming the Law is dead, it no longer has any effect. Therefore in our Season they are Anti-Christ, in the next they are Anti the Law and Prophets.
Envy is a terrible foe, it will cause us to do all sorts of evil, yet claim our acts as Godly, but the source is still the spirit lusting to envy. The Pharisees delivered Jesus based on their envy, here in the last days we find the same “working of Satan” coming from the Wicked. They made the choice to sit in the seat of the Satan, they lust to envy regardless of the Season. The False Prophet is envious of the Woman, although the False Prophet claims to be the friend of the Woman, it’s the False Prophet who entices her into the bed of adultery, as the abomination is established in the place it should not be. It’s bad enough to make it a den of thieves, but a house the abomination?
The Law and Prophets don’t testify for the people, as the Law of the Spirit does for us, rather they call for repentance, not salvation, they have power to bring all sorts of harm to those who reject the call, whereas, we are in the Age of Salvation. Often people bring their own woes upon themselves, Paul told us not to give place to the devil, thus if the devil is beating our brains out, we gave him place, don’t blame him, defeat him, by defeating his works in our own hearts. Drive out the spirit of man, by joining to the Spirit of Truth.
The wording “To Shut” in verse 6 is the Greek Kleio meaning No Rain, it was used in Luke 4:25 when Jesus talked about the Rain being held back in the days of Elijah. Jesus showed there were many widows in the land, but only one received, since God only sent the prophet to one person. The same context is used here, if they Receive the Testimony, they will receive the blessing, twist the words it will cause the blessing to be twisted into a curse, thus God sent the Two Witnesses to the last two candlesticks alone. This goes right back to 9:20-21 showing how they repented not, but it also shows there is no excuse, none of them will be able to say, “Gee we didn’t know it was You Lord”. In the days of Elijah the Rain came when the people destroyed the idols and killed the priests of Baal, the same call will go out in the latter days; however, John will show instead of killing the priests of Baal, they kill the Law and Prophets with all those who hold to the Law and Prophets, then they worship the Image of the Beast calling the City their God and Deliverer.
The reference to the Latter Rain is found in Seven Old Testament scriptures. The Hebrew word is Malqowsh meaning Spring rain, it’s not the Hebrew Acharown meaning Last or Latter, as in Latter days. In order to grasp the view of the Latter Rain one must recall the Former or the First rain, which was the Rain in the days of Noah, yet we know the rainbow was a promise not to destroy the earth with rain again, thereby giving the promise of the Latter Rain being good. There are two types of rain, the seasonal rains to bring growth, and the Rains relating to the events here. The First Rain destroyed the rebellious people of the earth, the token was a rainbow, the same one we found with the angel who stood on the sea and earth. The Latter Rain in this case will not be water, it will be brimstone, and the purpose will be the same.
Deuteronomy 11:14 is the first place where the Latter Rain is noted, relating to following the Commandments given by Moses (not the Law, but the Commandments). Accordingly it refers to being blessed as a result, but how can anyone follow the Commandments? They are wrapped up into two things, Love the Lord you’re God with all your heart, and Love your neighbor as yourself. The 144,000 will care for the entire world (what’s left of it), making sure everyone has there own fig tree, meaning all will look to Jerusalem as the only place of religion on the earth. Therefore, they will have the Temple, yet even the Synagogue of Satan will come and worship at their feet, proving the point. There will be no “Dome of the Rock Mosque”, and no other places to worship. It will begin as Peace and Safety, but then there will be those who think the blessing is a result of their personal goodness, causing it all to come falling down.
When they love the Lord and serve Him with all their heart and soul, then the Corn, Wine and Oil will be given. This Latter Rain is conditional, in Proverbs 16:15 we find the Light is the Life, the king’s favor is as a cloud of the Latter Rain showing the Clouds as types and shadows of Witnesses. In Jeremiah we find, “Therefore the showers have been withheld, there has been no latter rain; and you have a whore’s forehead, you refuse to be ashamed (seek repentance)” (Jere 3:3). Here it shows the Latter Rain was held back because of a lack of repentance, of course they refused to be ashamed for their wicked deeds, again showing the Latter Rain has to do with blessing. Hosea 6:3 says, “Then shall we know, if we Follow on to know the Lord: His going forth is prepared as the morning; and He shall come unto us as the rain, as the Latter and former rain unto the earth”. In this case it shows rain as seasonal, the former or first rain brought the Growth to the planted seed, but the latter allows the seed to grow, the metaphoric correlation shows the former rain for us is the Mercy of God when the Seed is planted, but the Latter Rain is when we apply Mercy and Rivers of living water flowing from our bellies. We are the result of the Latter Rain, John told us one of the riders were not allowed to touch the Oil and Wine, making us the First Fruits of the Spirit, the result of the latter rain.
Joel 2:23-24 says, Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He has given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month; and the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. Metaphorically, and prophetically we can see the use of the word Wheat points to the New Testament, couple it with the Oil and Wine, showing we are the latter rain of the Day. The former rain was Moderate, it began with 3,000 coming to the Lord on Pentecost, but the Latter Rain will be greater, it will come just before the Wheat is Harvested. All this in Joel connects to the prophecy of the Spirit being poured out, which we know Peter said was upon the people when Pentecost opened. The Latter Rain of Blessing then connects directly to the Body of Christ, not the Remnant, or the Tares. The tares won’t be harvested until the Reaper comes, but the wheat is different, it’s time to enter the House is at the Rapture. The prophecy goes on to talk about the vats being overflowing with Wine and Oil, which we know metaphorically is a reference to Grace by the Blood of Jesus, coupled with the Mercy of God by the Oil.
There is a connection to the Time of Comfort found in Joel chapter 2 verses 25 and 26 connecting to the Day of the Lord. However those verses have nothing to do with us, they point to the Time of Comfort for Israel of the earth.
Zechariah 10:1-2 says, “Ask you the Lord for rain in the time of the latter rain; so the Lord shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field. For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain; therefore, they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd”. The metaphoric content shows “clouds”, which is more than one, when we find clouds it points to the Gentile Age, the first cloud of witnesses taken captive by Jesus, the other cloud of witnesses started when Stephen was killed. This prophecy speaks of grass in the field, the purpose of the rain is bring forth more grass, giving us increase, yet we know the Night is when no man can work. We also know the 144,000 are not increase, but decreased, the only group who increases is the Body.
We have the Wine and Oil, but in the Night it’s the Two Witnesses who bring the Word. Ahh, another mystery, instead of the Two Witnesses, the people hear and obey the two Beasts. In our Season we have the promise of the Latter Rain coupled with promise of the Living Waters flowing our bellies as Rivers. We are the Rain of God sent forth into the earth as a Latter Rain, noted by the out pouring of the Living Water to give the people one more chance before the Night comes. It stands if God went through all this to seek repentance from these people in the very end, He will do more during the Day, but instead of plagues, it will be the Glory of the Lord coming from His Born Again Saints.
There is a type of Latter Rain for these people, but it’s not a rain of water, it’s a raining of brimstone. From the Two Witnesses comes Fire, representative of the lake of fire, the Jews are judged by the Books, the Books are the first five Books of the Bible known as the Law. When the Remnant are all overcome by being killed or having to hide in caves, the latter rain will fall. The latter rain has nothing to do with us, we are a people who overcome, not a people overcome. The Two Witnesses have power to devour their enemies, those who kill by the Sword, must die by the Sword, the devouring begins when the people reject the words of the Law and Prophets, it finishes at the Judgment when those same people have to face the books. Those assigned to the Law, or who have assigned themselves to the Law, are judged by the Law in the end.
Since the Two Witnesses are in sackclothe, their call is to repentance, not Salvation (Jonah 3:5), thus the latter rain is dependent on the repentance of the people. We also read, Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts (vs. 9:21). The call is there, they simply rejected it, causing the latter rain of brimstone to fall, as they bring about their own destruction, it’s the point. By your words you are condemned, or by your words you are justified, from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
The use of the word “Mouth” in reference to the Two Witnesses points to the Words written, thus it’s what these Two Witnesses Have Said, the Testimony of Jesus is still written in the Law and Prophets. The phrase, “If Any Hurt Them” is the warning, the word Hurt is the Greek Adikeo meaning To act unjustly, or Do wrong, which shows a rejection of the words spoken by the Law and Prophets by the Unjust. Who would it be? The Just live by faith, but if any man draw back, God’s soul shall have no pleasure in him, but we are not of them who draw back to the perdition, but of them who believe unto the saving of the soul (Heb 10:38-39). The people reject the words of the Prophets and Law, based on the words of the False Prophet. Rather than run to God, they run to the Image of Jealousy, the Image of Jealousy is what they were worshipping in the Temple with it was measured.
Twisting the Law and Prophets to make some nation God, or some image Christ, is a great Harm committed against the Two Witnesses, thus we find the false prophet, the beast, and the dragon all use their mouths as well. During the Day it is permissible to say, “Christ in me”, or “I see Christ in you”, but after the Rapture the ability to be Christ like in any fashion will be gone, thus anyone who says, “here is Christ” or “there is Christ” lies.
When the sixth angel sounds, the River Euphrates opens then we find the horsemen coming forth, these are not the four horsemen we saw prior, rather we find these horsemen use their mouths (words), causing Wormwood, fire, smoke and brimstone to kill one third of men (8:11 & 9:17). We just saw one-third slain, now another one-third, the last one-third would be the Third Woe.
On the same note the Power and Authority in the Law and Prophets are far greater. How powerful? At the Judgment they must pass by the “Books”; therefore, those same words will be speaking at then as well. However, the words of the false will fall to the ground as they hear, “Depart from Me, you workers of iniquity”. Those words are torment to those who harm the Law and Prophets by their unjust acts. They are left with two possibilities, repent, or destroy any trace of the Law and Prophets, including those who stand with the Law and Prophets.
Verse 7 gives us some clues, the Beast who ascends out to the pit shall make war against the Law and Prophets. Take this to Revelation 17:11 where we find the Beast is the Eighth, or false prophet from perdition. The one who was antichrist in our Season, was not during the Time of Comfort, but then at the very last, we find he is of the seven, as he associates to Perdition. There is only one group fitting the description, the sons of perdition as the false prophet.
Verse 8 shows the “dead bodies”, this has two meanings, the first is those who held to the Law and Prophets, at the judgment they shall be raised by the resurrection unto life. Then the “holy city” becomes known as Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified (vs. 8). It has to tell us where this city is, it also shows why it is a “holy city”, albeit for a short time.
The people who held to the Law and Prophets shall lay in the Street, the place between places, they shall not be in hell, but neither can they get to heaven; until the Judgment produces the resurrection unto Life.
Verse 9 shows “three days and a half”, of course metaphorically, it means a short time, at this time the people will not put the bodies in graves, rather they will rejoice over their supposed victory. The two Witnesses of the Law and Prophets tormented the people, they called for repentance, but when it was completely rejected, they served their purpose. However, the word Graves doesn’t mean a hole in the ground, it’s the Greek Mnema meaning A memorial, or Monument intended to preserve the memory of someone or something. This refers to the Memory or Honor of the Law and Prophets being destroyed by the False Prophet, causing them to be put out of sight, but they will be remembered by God. Even today if man puts the Ten Commandments out of view, it doesn’t negate the responsibility.
Verse 11 speaks of the resurrection unto life, not the First Resurrection. The First Resurrection is for those who have the Spirit to begin with. This is after they are dead, not before. The voice “come up hither” is when the Bride calls for Her bridesmaids, this would be the very end (Rev 22:17). Verse 13 shows the last earthquake, when the earth turns inside out, leading to the Third Woe as the Judgment. At this time they shall look upon Him they have pierced, the rest of the people will be slain, including any who escaped the city to hide in caves.
The number 7,000 takes us I Kings 19:18, where Elijah found God had reserved 7,000 prophets in caves who had not bowed to Baal (taken the mark, name or number of the Beast). The use of the number 7,000 shows those who stood with the Prophets in the days of Elijah, here the connection is how small a number stood with God, as they held to the “little strength”, yet they were the ones who obeyed “Come out of her My people”, as they ran to the caves. For their sake, as well as the sake of the others who belong to the Little Flock, God brings an end to this as the earth turns inside out to become the Lake of Fire. We then find a Tenth part of the city, then we see the 7,000 as the remnant, only in this cast the remnant means all the remaining people.
Verse 14 shows the Second Woe has passed, behold the Third comes quickly, which would be the third part of the question asked by the disciples. Then the Seventh angel sounds, and the twenty four elders worship God, saying, “We give thanks O Lord God Almighty, which are, was and are to come”, this is Jesus back on the throne, at the time when it’s Done.
Verses 17 and 18 define the judgment, “time of the dead”, “should be judged”, “give a reward to the servants”, “destroy them which destroyed the earth”, all elements of the judgment, including Lucifer being judged for destroying his own land.
Verse 19 would be the last time the Temple would be seen in heaven, then the wrath of God is poured out, defined later.
There are some additional areas of evidence, we find the River Euphrates involved in the last war, which must have a metaphoric content. First the border for the Promised Land to Abraham was the Euphrates (Gen 15:18), but going back further we find it listed as the fourth river from the Garden (Gen 2:14), later God promised the land to the Jews from the Euphrates to the sea (Deut 11:24). The word Euphrates in the Greek means To break forth, but in the Hebrew it means Fruitfulness, thus it depends on which side of the river you are on. The river divides Jew from Gentile, as it protects the Jew from the Gentile. The angels in the River keep the Gentiles from invading the Promised Land, remove the angels, the Gentiles can spill forth like a flood. There were four rivers related to the Garden, with the Euphrates being the last, there are four angels in the Euphrates, there must be a connection. The Euphrates is like a Wall of Separation, but remove the foundation the wall falls.
However, in our case we find Jesus built the Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail. Jesus also gave us power to tread on serpents, scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). Wait, Tread on? Footstool? Ahh, the darkness is already subject to us, we must be kings reigning with Christ. No need to look up to find the serpents, scorpions or works of the enemy, they are our footstool. Which simply means they are subject to us, but Jesus said don’t rejoice in the things subject to us, rejoice over our names being written in heaven, now we know why.
The Law and Prophets, if followed, will continue the Time of Comfort by stopping the plagues based on the repentance of the people. If the people don’t listen, then Fire and Brimstone fall as the Last Rain. Yet, the false prophet will use tricks, words, and deception to convince the Woman she is a Queen, her Nation is God, then the Woman says, “I Am”, but the prophet Zephaniah said, “This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, who said in her heart, I Am, and there is none beside Me: how is she become a desolation, a place for Beasts to lie down (adultery) in!” (Zeph 2:15). Woe to her who is filthy and polluted, to the Oppressing city! She obeyed not the Voice, she received not Correction; she trusted not in the Lord; she drew not near to her God (Zeph 3:1-2). Her princes within her are “roaring lions”; her judges are “evening wolves”; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow, her prophets are light (consider God unimportant) and treacherous persons, her priests have polluted the sanctuary (allowed the Image of Jealousy), they have “done violence (violently taken away) the Law” (Zeph 3:3-4).
In Ezekiel we find Jerusalem’s father was a Amorite, and her mother a Hittite, but God saw her, then washed her as He took pity on her, making her the “city of David” a holy city because God said so, yet the people change the course of the city (Ezek 16:1-34). In Isaiah God said, “The show of their countenance does witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not” (Isa 3:9). Rather than repent, they were bragging in their sin. Egypt was a place of captivity, a place where the people of God were in bondage under the hand of the ungodly, but Sodom sinned and didn’t care, they didn’t even care who knew, they paraded their sin. The correlation shows the people have no shame, they reject the call to repent coming from the Law and Prophets, they laugh at the prospect of Judgment, they parade their sin and idol worship like some honor, they have idols in the Temple, thinking their own hand has caused them to be blessed. They have Gain, but they don’t have Prosperity.
This brings in the saying from Malachi, as the people say, “It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it, for we have kept His ordinance, and have walked mournfully before the Lord of Hosts? And now we call the proud happy; yea, they who work wickedness are set up; yea, they who tempt God are even delivered” (Mal 3:14-15). If they can see the gain, why do it? No love, their love has waxed cold, they seek only what pleases them, rather than seeking to please God.
Also in verse 18 we find the word Wrath, it would appear as if God just had it; however, the word Wrathful is the Greek Orgizo meaning To make angry, the word Wrath in the Greek means To be angry. The Wicked produced the Wrath, when they see those they killed, persecuted and mocked moving past the Judgment seat of the Lord into Glory, they will know their folly, their deception will be open, they will know their reward will be the resurrection unto damnation.
In verse 19 we find the word Temple, yet in 21:22 we find there is No Temple, but in 21:3 the Tabernacle is with men, how can all this be? The use of the word Temple still connects to Judgment, the Tabernacle connects to the Bride in heaven. This is still the Second Woe, the Third is yet to come. The Ark contained the Manna, the rod of Aaron appeared dead, but then had life, the tablets of the Commandments, yet the Mercy Seat has been rejected, it was time for the Commandments, then the Rod as a symbol for the last resurrection.
Rev 12:1-12
John talks about two great wonders, the wonder in heaven is a Sign, but it’s a sign God has seen before it happens. All this is no surprise to God, it was known before the foundation of the world, the plan of Salvation includes the plan of separation. In Genesis 1:5 God called the Light the Day and the Darkness the Night, then in Genesis 1:16 God set the Greater Light to rule the Day and the Lesser Light to rule the Night, thus there is a Lesser Light to rule the Night, yet the Night will be a time of darkness. Therefore, when they remove the Lesser Light, it becomes a time of gross darkness. We can determine the method in which one Rules by looking at the Light they project, if any. If one rules as Jesus did, they are the Greater Light, if they rule as Moses, they are the Lesser Light. The only problem left? The Lesser Light is overcome, the Greater Light becomes the Overcomers.
The determining factor in ruling is the result, not the event. In Genesis 1:17 the word Set is the Hebrew Nathan, although it has many applications the context points to the meaning of Appointment, thus showing God calling things as a not to man, as a were to Him. These events are yet future tense, the Woes have many years before they come to pass, but they will come to pass.
We begin this area viewing the Woman as God intended, but between here and chapter 17 something happens to change the Desire of the Woman into becoming the Whore and Babylon. The word Wonder in verses 1 and 3 is the Greek Semeion meaning A sign with a spiritual end and purpose; it’s the same Greek word used in verse 3 as well; therefore, even the devil has a purpose. This clue will help us understand why the City is Spiritually known as Sodom and Egypt. In Acts 2:19 the Greek Semeion is translated as Sign, the Greek Teras is translated as Wonder. The Greek word Teras is the root word for the Greek Teres meaning To Watch. Here the Holy Ghost is telling us to take notice of this Sign, to Watch it, as we learn something to help us.
Here we find two signs in heaven, but were there others? God also places Lights (plural) in the heavens to Divide the Day from the Night, these Lights were set to become Signs, Seasons, Days and Years (Gen 1:14). Why doesn’t John talk about the Greater Light in this area? John sees the Woman before the Man Child (Jesus) is born, then later he sees the same Woman in the Wilderness. This area will show us Jesus, but the context is the City with the events surrounding the City.
Jesus was clothed with White, the Church is clothed in White, but the Woman is clothed with the Sun, the Moon under her feet, and upon her head is a Crown with twelve stars, this Woman is a City, not the nation Israel. When we break these down we find the City was founded on Zion, thus the nation is the Sun, Zion the Moon as the mother of the City, the Twelve Stars are the tribes of Israel. Instead of the Woman being the Sun, she is wearing it, thus the glory of the Sun is her covering, it’s not her, but the covering which projects the glory. This is made so clear in 18:10 where we read “Alas, alas great Babylon, the mighty city”. Ahh, Mighty City, not a Holy City, a mystery opened. Then the true Holy City is New Jerusalem, the Mighty City will point to Jerusalem of the earth, yet Jerusalem of the earth was classed as a holy city by the events taking place in her when Jesus walked her streets.
We know the nation of Babylonia had a city by the name of Babylon, thus the Woman is not the nation, but the City, she will be known as the “Daughter of Babylon”. she has the glory of the Sun on her, the 12 tribes as stars in her crown, the Moon as her foundation. When she makes the Moon her footstool, then things begin to unravel quickly.
The connecting metaphors are found in the very first usage of the Sun, Moon and a certain number of the stars in Genesis 37:9-13, there is no earlier combination of the Hebrew words for Stars, Moon or Sun prior to the verses in Genesis 37, any attempt to pull the metaphors further back would extend them producing a fable. It’s important to notice the Woman isn’t the Moon, the Sun or the Stars, she is either clothed in them, standing on them, or wearing them as her crown. Jesus cried over Jerusalem just prior to teaching on the End Times (Matt 23:37-24:2). It was Jerusalem who killed the prophets, and stoned those which were sent, equating to the parable of the Fig Tree (Matt 23:37). The temple was, and will be in Jerusalem, thus the nation is the divorced wife, the city the wicked child. Thank God we have the Seed of God, through obedience and submission we are being trained in the way we should go.
The glory of the Sun is her covering, but she is of the Night, her crown gives us the division between the types of stars. We know God gave the Greater and Lesser Light, but then in Genesis 1:16 we find “He made the stars also”, thus there are types of Stars. For us the metaphor shows we become Heavenly Stars directly through Jesus, but the Crown on the Woman points to stars located just above the earth, but not in the heavens. They are on her head, thus the Tribes give her the right (authority) to her throne on the earth, but they also hold a Promise of heavenly positions. From those stars come the 144,000, but at this time in history we find the Remnant of her Seed is yet future tense, but the Promise is seen in her crown.
Prior John listed the Twelve Tribes (7:4-8), he also saw those of the Day before the Throne of God (7:9). When John listed the Twelve Tribes, he also showed 12,000 taken from each, and 12 times 12 is 144, thus the 144,000 are on Zion, which puts them at the feet of the Woman, yet the Synagogue of Satan will worship at the feet of the Sixth church, guess where they are? Under the Moon.
The Sun, Moon, Crown, and the Woman explain the phrases from Romans, wherein Paul said “Though the number be as the Sand of the Sea, a Remnant shall be saved” (Rom 9:27), and “all Israel shall be saved” (Rom 11:26), with “For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel” (Rom 9:6). The Crown, Sun, Moon and Woman give us the inclusion of the nation, but only the Moon holds those who are Israel, thus the rest would fit the phrase “are not all Israel”. These Stars on the Crown are not the Church, rather they are explained when we find 12,000 taken from each Star. Nonetheless there is a Glory of the Sun and Moon, just as the Glory of the Stars differs. The Glory for these Stars differs greatly from the Glory of the Stars of the Day. If we run after the Night or the glory of the Night, we lack the Glory of the Day.
If God divorced the nation, how is the Woman able to gave birth to the Man Child? The Woman is not the Nation, but the City; therefore, there is the Nation, then those who are truly Israel (of Covenant). When Jesus manifested as the Word made flesh, the Father had already given Israel the nation her divorce papers, thus the divorce didn’t effect the Daughter, her time comes in the Time of Comfort. Jerusalem was a virgin, she was not betrothed, or married to any other city, she is the daughter of the nation.
The Remnant are the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. Wait, they are not the Seed, they are the Remnant of the Seed, yet the Woman doesn’t have a Seed, a mystery to be explained in reference to the Man Child (Jere 3:8-11, 2:3, & Isa 48:1). The word for Crown in verse 1 is the Greek Stephanos, it’s the same word used for Crown of Life, but here it has twelve stars, thus her Purpose is found in the Twelve Tribes, but wait there were really thirteen, ahh, the promise, this crown points directly to the Time of Comfort, thus even before Jesus came as the Man Child the course was written. When she kills her own Crown, forces Zion to be her footstool, twists her covering by usurping authority, she destroys any chance she has for the Crown of Life. She causes the Moon to lose her Light, as she causes the Sun to be filled with Darkness. This also shows the purpose of the Sun, Moon and Stars is the Woman, since she is the one wearing them. Jesus talked about how the children treated the parents, as the Pharisees allowed it (Matt 15:3-7). Children are a gift, but so are the parents, we will find the City will honor her parents, then she thinks she is the only gift, as she begins to use her parents in a self-serving manner.
This is another example of what happens when we elevate something of God higher than God has. The city was called “holy”, but it was never called “God”. The purpose of the city was not to save mankind, but to be the place of the Man Child, to produce the 144,000, yet the city becomes the center of attention, she ends thinking she is God. At lease the people in the city call her “god”. The blessing was from God, but it was not God. Some of us worship the things of God, more than we worship God.
This Crown was based on God telling her “I will never leave you nor forsake you”, her promise was granted through Abraham, her purpose through the Prophets, her failure comes when she leaves God. This Woman thinks she is a Queen and no Widow, yet she is responsible for killing her own Crown. Isaiah 26:17-18 tells us “Like as a woman with child, drawing near the time of her delivery, is in pain, and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in Your sight O Lord. We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen”. This shows the Woman giving birth to the Man Child is Jerusalem, but it doesn’t mean Jesus was born in Jerusalem, rather it points to purpose. The city of David, when David was king, was Jerusalem, but David wasn’t born in Jerusalem, thus we find three cities for David, one for his birth, one as king, and another called Zion.
The Scriptures are plain, Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea (Matt 2:1), but Jesus was circumcised and dedicated in the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:22-38). This shows the Covenant place is the City, the Birth is for our benefit, the dedication in the Temple according to the Law for the nation of Israel. Since the dedication involved the “redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38), the inclusion of the City became the issue. Therefore we have New Jerusalem in heaven, not New Israel. If God divorced the City as well as the Nation, then Jesus would be legitimate; however, if the Woman is the City of Jerusalem, then the birth was proper and in order, brought by a Virgin. The Remnant are the Virgin Daughter of Zion, this city is also a Virgin when the Man Child is born, but loses the role in the bed of adultery.
What about after the Cross? Not one jot or tittle shall in any way be destroyed until all is fulfilled, the Law came from God to Moses, thus as long as the Law is intact, God is still involved in Israel, yet not all who call themselves Israel are of Israel. Isaiah also said, “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child” (Isa 66:7). This would sound strange in conjunction with Isaiah 26:17-18; however, Isaiah explains who this Woman is, or better at what point in time this Woman appears by saying, “Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? saith the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? saith your God. Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her” (Isa 66:8-10). Here we find several elements, first we find the phrase, “for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children (plural)”, but then we also see, “she delivered of a Man Child (singular)”. Two completely different elements, one showing Jesus as the Man child, the other showing the Remnant as the children, thus the Remnant are of the Seed of the Woman. Then it’s Rejoice with Jerusalem, rather then Rejoice In Jerusalem. We also find two areas, those who Joy with Jerusalem, and those who Mourn for her, thus we find two Jerusalems, not one. We know the Remnant will mourn for the abominations done in Jerusalem; we also know Jesus said to Jerusalem of the earth, “I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not” (Matt 23:37). If it’s the case, then Jerusalem of the earth didn’t Rejoice, but rejected her own Man Child, thus the Jerusalem who Rejoices is New Jerusalem, in a few verses John will tell those of the Heavens to Rejoice confirming the premise.
Clearly God brought forth the Child, later He will bring the Remnant of her Seed, thus we find Christ reigns on earth now by His Body, but the Father will make the enemies of Jesus His Footstool in the Night, thus Jesus will reign as the Son of man through the Two Witnesses in the latter days as well, the Father will reign through the Remnant.
The metaphor and context shows she was called and chosen to bring forth the Man Child, but something happens to her, the something begins in our Season. Since David’s city was built on Zion, we find the 144,000 marked on Zion, but the Woman as the City, thus the position of the Moon under her would be correct, but she is suppose to subject to the Moon, not attempt to control it. When she makes the Moon her footstool, she also makes Herself the footstool of Jesus. Judge not, lest you be judged, those who lead into captivity, shall go into captivity. This paradox is the complete opposite of the Rock and Church, the Rock is subject to the Church.
Before the Woman gives birth another wonder appears in heaven, both of these are in heaven indicating a Record. The Woman’s Image is New Jerusalem, yet the dragon was once there, but the dragon left his first estate, as the Woman went back to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The word Crowns in verse 3 is not the same Greek word we found in verse 1, this word is the Greek Diadems or Diadema from Dia (around) with Deo (to bind), it’s not a metal crown, or one made of flowers, rather it’s made of a filament of silk tied around the head as a symbol of royal dignity, whether appointed, or self-appointed. This Greek word is used here, it’s also used in 13:1 and 19:12, in 19:12 it’s Jesus who has many of these crowns, thus we find a mystery, how could the devil have a crown of royal dignity? And why doesn’t Jesus come with the Crowns of Life? Jesus gives to everyone their reward, but the reward may not be what they expected. A Diadema is a Binding, not a Loosing, it’s reflective of the crowns the devil gives to the Beast, it is not reflective of the Crown given by the Holy Ghost, don’t forget when Jesus returns it’s for Judgment, not Salvation.
The Head of the Body of Christ is Jesus, the Body of Christ is Christ centered, but here the heads of the devil are nations guided by the spirit lusting to envy, yet God uses them to bring about His Will. Whether we understand the plan or not isn’t the question, whether we agree with it or not isn’t the question, whether we Submit to it or not is.
These verses show God saw the Woman with Child, before the devil came on the scene, yet we know the devil became the devil many years before Joseph had his dream, many years before Abraham was given the promise, and many years before the Jews took the Promised Land, or before David took the city. The prophecy of the Woman was in the Garden when God said “I will put enmity between your seed and her Seed; it shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Gen 3:15). This is Judgment, not Salvation, yet it nonetheless shows the Virgin Birth, and the Remnant, thus we find Jesus referred to as a Man Child, rather than an Adult, but why not the Lamb? The Lamb was crucified for the Woman, but wait, we will find Jesus was crucified Outside the city, not in the city, yet John just said it was in the City (vs. 11:8). The City and the actual place of the Cross are different, but the trials took place in the City, without them there would be no Cross, thus John shows how the City is still responsible, although the act was not done within her Walls. It’s very interesting, since some of the Wicked use civil authorities to carry out their evil plans, then sit back thinking their hands are clean. The Pharisees felt the same way, yet they did the lusts of their father the devil.
In all this we ask, Which comes first? The ten horns (power) or the seven heads (authorities)? From the ten horns (power) come the seven heads (authorities), just the opposite of the manner in which Jesus operates. Jesus gave us Authority, then told us to Tarry for the Power from on high. The dragon being the dragon produced the Power, then granted the Authority, making his entire premise illegal and lawless. When the Woman removes three of those horns, there will be Seven, but the premise of the Seven came after the promise to the Woman, well before the time she enters the Wilderness. We will see the crowns change positions, the crown represents the seat of Satan, some nations used Power, some used Authority, nonetheless we will find the prince of the power of the air is centered in disobedience, all disobedience is unbelief, the parents of unbelief are the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. The dragon is the not the Beast of the Sea, or the Beast of the earth, yet the dragon did give the Beast of the Sea his power, authority and seat of Satan, making the Beast of the Sea the spirit of the world: but the Beast of the Earth uses the authority of the Beast of the Sea, making the Beast of the Earth the “he in the world”, yet both obtained from the dragon, a counterfeiter, when Jesus gave us authority and power, the dragon gave the Beast of the Sea his, yet it’s all wrapped up in the seven headed dragon, and written in the Record.
The Beast of the Earth is neither the Sea or the Sand of the Sea, or the Heavens, yet it uses the Authority (power) of the Beast of the Sea, making it Gentile, making them the “synagogue of Satan”. This connects to the Eighth who comes from Perdition, the same place the “unjust” drew back to (Heb 10:38-39), which is the same group Judas started as the original son of perdition. This helps us define this Eighth as connected to both Sevens by association, yet separated as independent. We find the synagogue of Satan in both Seasons, John said they came from us, but were not of us, making association, yet also showing the separation. This Eighth is directly connected to perdition, there is only one group associated with perdition who has authority, the sons of perdition. Perhaps the easiest verse in the Book of Revelation to define is the one speaking of the Eighth, all the clues are there, leaving one conclusion (Rev 17:11). When they draw back to perdition, they reject the Name of Jesus for the Name of the dragon.
This also tells us the plan was in motion before the devil, or the Woman knew there was a plan. Although the devil assumes he runs his own show, he does nothing unless it’s known by God, as the devil makes his plans, they were still known by God from the foundation of the world. We know God is able to guide us through, or around any event. God doesn’t allow any evil to come, unless He has first provided a means for the faithful to escape. If nothing else is clear in this Book, we know God will not destroy the Righteous with the Wicked, yet we have the Righteousness and Holiness of God within, we are not appointed to the wrath of God.
The metaphor Head points to an authority, the metaphor Horn to power, the metaphor Crown to a monarchy seat, thus the authority, seat and power are all seen here, but don’t think these horns and heads are growing out of the dragon, as some mystic creature. Rather, they are possessive, these are areas under the control of the devil, but granted to mankind. The “prince of the power of the air” isn’t the prince of the air, the air, or the god of the air, or the king of the air, rather he is prince of the power (authority) of the natural air producing thoughts in the natural realm. The devil still uses suggestions looking for the lusts in mankind in order to entice mankind to do for the devil, what the devil is unable to do.
When Jesus was tempted of the devil the evil plan was to entice Jesus to use an ungodly power to accomplish what appeared to be a Godly endeavor. Did Jesus come to turn the Rocks into Bread? Yes, even Peter who was a piece of the Rock who became the Bread, as did we all, but not by the power of the devil. Did Jesus have power over the Temple? Yes, He cleaned it out twice, but not by the power of the devil. Is Jesus King of kings? Yes, but not by the power of the devil. The Wicked bring the suggestion, the means seems like it would serve a Godly endeavor, but it’s the wrong authority. Instead of coming boldly to the throne of God, they find they have placed themselves in the seat of Satan.
The dragon gives his power, seat and authority to the Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth uses the same authority, causing all to worship the first Beast (Beast of the Sea). It’s interesting how the dragon gave his entire kingdom to the Beast of the Sea, yet the Beast of the Earth only uses the authority. Paul said the false apostles came with Satan in their heart, but with a mask of righteousness. They didn’t have the “seat” of Satan, rather it was Satan the mark or authority of the dragon. Each of the three areas of the dragon can be found from the fall to the end. There are times in history when the world used only the power, or only the authority, in each case the crown would transfer to an element being used. Often the nations would use their power one against the other, or their authority one against the other. However, we know wars and rumors of wars are a product of the Rider of the Red Horse. The Rider of Red Horse “takes Peace”, then the nations use the power or authority of the dragon to bring the wars and rumors of wars. God doesn’t cause the wars, but He does send the Rider on the Red Horse to take Peace.
Isaiah already told us who the ten are, as who the seven are after the three are removed, as well as who does the removing (Isa 11:11-14), there is no need to guess at it, the prophet already wrote it, let us not become as the Woman, attempting to change prophecy to fit our self-desires, it’s written, it’s purposed, it will come to pass. The Ten and Seven are the places where the devil exercises his authority and power in the “Sea” (Gentile world). Prior we found the Woman in the nation, here it’s the Gentile world. Until the Cross there were only two Bible recognized peoples, Jew and Gentile, after the Cross came those who were neither Jew or Gentile as a group on the earth, but not of the world. The Ten and Seven noted here are not the Sand of the Sea, neither are they the Heavenlies, they are in the Sea, the place of “disobedience”. We were all the children of disobedience, as we were under the hand of the dragon, but things changed for us at the Cross, now we are children of the Day, behold All things are New, a powerful statement any of us who are Born Again can make. When the enemy tells us we were disobedient, or we took of the Mark, or we have no right to the First Resurrection, we look to the Promise, knowing Behold all things are New, we believe God Is. We are being renewed day by day, as a Promise for the Children of the Day (II Cor 4:16 & Col 3:10).
Later we will see the Woman sitting on the beast who has seven heads and ten horns, then the Beast is without crowns, there will be three stages of change with this Beast, each denotes a change in Seasons (vs. 17:3). Here it’s obvious there are Two Wonders, the Woman and the dragon, later they attempt to become one in the bed of adultery through the acts of the Wicked, but here in the beginning they are yet separated. At this time two things are evident, the devil is not defeated, the position of the son of perdition is not opened.
The word Tail as in the tail of the dragon comes from the Greek word Oura meaning Tail of an animal, but more important to us is the phrase “you are the Head, not the tail”. This doesn’t mean we are the Head of the Body, or one of the Seven Heads, it means we are no longer subject to the sting of the dragon’s tail. Wait, didn’t we see something like this prior? Yes, when the people are filled with devils their “tails” will be like scorpions, their torment will be as the torment of scorpion, when he strikes a man (vs. 9:10 & 9:5). Since their weapons are words, and since the sting of the scorpion comes from nowhere, it stands their words are “backward”, or deceptive lies. The only power the devil has against us, is what we give him, give no place to the devil, resist him and he will flee from you, humble yourself under the Mighty hand of God. We will find even this woman has a protection from the dragon, a place designed for her.
The word Cast is the Greek Ballo meaning To cast off, or To throw, this is a past tense issue (did cast them), but how did dragon accuse before God day and night? The Satan nature is the accuser, the devil uses the same method he did at the tree; take of his fruit, speak his mind for him, ending being accused. Paul said corrupt communication is how one grieves the Holy Spirit, what then does the same communication do for the devil?
The separation is clear, the dragon stood before the Woman, the Woman was not riding the dragon, thus we find the dragon gave his power, authority and seat to the Beast of the Sea, yet the Woman will be seen sitting on the Beast, not the dragon. The dragon will be bound then, but the Heads and Horns will not. The Mountain of the Lord was suppose to sit on the mountains of the world, but the Woman is not the Mountain, she is the city, the Moon (Zion) is the Mountain of the Lord. Ahh, the Woman thinks she is the Mountain, indicating she will believe a lie. The Body is not the Head, and the Woman is not the Mount.
God divided three areas, the Day from the Night, the Light from the Darkness and the Heavens from the Earth. The Light is never Darkness, it’s separated, thus when we find the Sun in darkness it has to refer to the Sun of the Night, as the House of Jacob. On the same note, we are children of the Day, not children of the Night, or children of the Darkness. There was darkness before Jesus came, regardless of how much faith some of the Old Testament saints held (Jn 1:1-5), then came the Day of Salvation, then comes the Night of judgment. God purposed the Day before the Night, the darkness before the Light
The area in verse 4 talks about the Woman being ready to Deliver connects to Isaiah chapter 66, before one talks about the Woman in travail, they must define the purpose. Isaiah says, “A voice of Noise from the City, a Voice from the Temple, a Voice of the Lord rendering recompense to His enemies” (Isa 66:6). Here we find three Voices, each relates to a Woe, the Hebrew word in each case is Quwm meaning Sound or Thunder. The location is defined as the City (Woman), and Temple within the city. This is not the Tabernacle, but the Temple.
This shows the Seven Thunders are not something good, they are sent to the Wicked exposing their folly, each Thunder relates to the evil done to each of the seven churches, showing the thunders are directed to the synagogue of Satan.
Isaiah 66:7 talks about the Woman bringing forth the Man Child; Isaiah 66:8 talks about the Earth and the Nation; the Earth is still a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven, then we see Zion must bring forth “children”, not “child”. The Woman did bring forth the Man Child, Zion will bring forth the 144,000 (children). Isaiah 66:10 isn’t speaking of Jerusalem as the Woman seen in Revelation 17, but as Jerusalem when Jesus came as the Word made flesh, but extends to the time of the Sixth church, the time when the Gentile no longer treads the city under foot (Isa 66:13).
Between the Wonder in heaven, and Revelation 17 many things take place. The Woman (city) is in comfort, but the city is fashioned by the people in her. When the 144,000 are showing the Mercy of God as the Sixth church as they spread the knowledge of God, the Comfort remains, and the City is at Peace. However, then comes the Lukewarm ones, coupling to the Wicked, to bring it all to an end. Then the City turns corrupt, and becomes “the Whore”.
However, long before then, the City brings forth the Man Child. The word Child in verse 4 is the Greek Teknon meaning A male or female, but then we find “It” was born, rather than “He” was born. What? Yes, when Jesus came, the promise of having the Body of Christ also came, thus the Body of Christ is an “It” as neither male or female, the wording here shows Christ in total, the Head as the “Man Child”, the Body as the “It”.
The devil knew there would come a Second Adam, but he had no idea who this Second Adam was, or what would happen. Paul pointed it out by saying, “which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory” (I Cor 2:8).
All this is a little clearer from the Greek Text, where verse 1 reads, “on her head a crown with twelve stars, and having in her womb, she cries, being in travail, and having been distressed to bear”, showing the Woman had the Man Child in her Womb, yet it was a Virgin Birth, thus the Seed, not the Egg is the issue. Her goal to bring the Man Child before she had a chance to do good or evil. Mary became the product God would use to show the allegory to the City, thus the City was never to be married, she was to remain a Virgin, even after the Birth of Jesus. When she seeks lovers, she leaves her calling behind.
The Seed was pure from the beginning, regardless of what the Woman did. The devil set his mind on killing the Second Adam in the same manner as he caused death to fall on the first, through temptations. The devil thinks he knows all things, yet knows nothing, he didn’t figure on this Second Adam being more than he could handle. After the Man Child came the devil began to plant Tares in the kingdom of heaven, but his goal was to destroy the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. Why? The Remnant will make him with those who follow him the footstool. The devil knows he will be bound, even the devils asked Jesus if He was going to bind them. This is the Season for him to plant his tares, then he is gone, or bound in the pit the tares surface as the Beast of the Earth. In all this, God knew, thus God’s plan shows we win in the end.
Verse five gives us the Birth and Accession, the word Man is the Greek Arsen meaning Male, the word Child could also read Son, it’s the Greek Huios meaning A male offspring, the complete opposite of the Greek Nothos meaning an Illegitimate son. However, this shows a young son, we know Jesus was a male adult; could this be a clue to the Seed of the Woman? This also shows Jesus is legitimate, born the Prince of Peace, to be ruler over God’s City of Peace, as He rules all nations with a Rod of Iron.
The word Rule is the Greek Poimanion meaning Shepherd, it’s the same word used in the phrase Bishop and Shepherd of your souls. The word Rod or Staff is the Greek Rhabdos meaning A staff for chastising and scourging, thus we find Two areas, the Great Shepherd, and the Correction, but we can’t forget this is to “nations”, not “kingdoms”, thus we have the Staff of Guidance, the world the Rod of Correction, giving us Two Seasons.
The wording “Caught Up” is another hope of the Rapture, pointing to the First Resurrection is a Catching Up. This is the same word Paul used in reference to the Catching Away, it’s used in other places as well referring to the same thing (Acts 8:39, II Cor 12:2, I Thess 4:17, and here in vs. 5). The Resurrection of Jesus is the First Resurrection, yet it’s not complete until we are seen as New Jerusalem before the Throne of God. The Man Child is of course Jesus, we are parts of His Body, we are not the same as the Man Child, although we are partakers of His Resurrection, yet the title Man Child indicates a youth, not an adult, thus pointing to Jesus as the Son of man. However at the Ascension He is the Son of God (Rom 4:3-4), as the Word made flesh He is still a Son.
The Woman never considered her Man Child, she never accepted Him, yet the Remnant of her Seed will look upon Him, asking where He got the marks.
We recall from Daniel the two meanings of Times, here in verse 6 we find the phrase “a thousand two thousand and three score days”, but didn’t we see this exact term prior? Yes, back in 11:3 we saw the Two Witnesses would Prophesy for the length of time in sackclothe, but here we find something different, it will help explain the “they” found in this verse. Here it’s not Prophecy, but To Feed, the word Feed is the Greek Trepho meaning To nourish, or Nurture. The use of the days points to the Time of Comfort, this is confirmed when John is shown this same Woman is in the wilderness (vs. 17:3). This is the progression, the gap between verses 5 and 6 would be the Day.
Back in Chapter 11 we found a gap between verses 2 and 3, the city will be trodden under foot for “forty two months”, but the Two Witnesses who are assigned the last two churches will be clothed in sackclothe for a thousand two hundred and three score days. The same is true here, the Woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a “place”, but in just a few verses we will find she was given two wings of a great eagle, ahh, two wings, two witnesses, Law and Prophets, it all connects (vs. 12:14).
This is also interesting since the children were in the wilderness to test their love for God, all wilderness experiences are based on the premise. After the Man Child ascends, then the Woman is seen in the wilderness, it has to have a great point of importance we can’t miss. The actual city was in the Promised Land, but John says she is in the wilderness. Although the actual city is in the land, the people in the city will be in the wilderness, the place before their true Promised Land.
When the “Man Child” is caught up what is it? The Accession? Yes, but what else? The First Resurrection, yet it’s not complete until the Partakers enter therein. The Holy Ghost gave us an entire Season in a few words, showing we are not assigned to be partakers of the Night, we are assigned to be partakers of the First Resurrection.
What would the war be in verse 7? The devil being bound? Maybe, Jesus saw Satan fall from heaven, but it was the authority of the devil. However, we see an entire war going on, this is the time when the devil gives his authority, power and seat of Satan to the Beast of the Earth. Who would be the “angels” of the devil? Paul said, “and no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light”, connecting to, “for such are false apostles deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ”, with, “whose end will be according to their works” (II Cor 11:13-15). This war happened at the Cross, the effects got to the lake of fire, showing how the Cross of Jesus made the devil ineffective (destroyed in KJV – Heb 2:14). The metaphor Earth is the kingdom of heaven (not the Kingdom of God), the devil is the tare planter, after the devil is bound in the “pit” the Beast of the Earth comes with the working of Satan.
Two words are used for heaven in the Book of Revelation; in verse 8:13 and 14:6-7 when the angel gives the everlasting Gospel it’s the “mid-sky”, which is not God’s heaven, thus the angel gives a Gospel to those who are unable to enter heaven. However, the other word for heaven, which is used several times, including here in verse 7 has many meanings. Not only does it mean God’s heaven, but it means Happiness and Power, it’s the issue. The devil lost the ability to present his accusing ways before God, this changes the Job experience in our case. This war is connected to the Voice from heaven saying, Now is come Salvation. However, Michael is connected to the Jews, but the first disciples were Jews, the first to receive the Gift were Jews.
Some of the other words used here show the devil lost place, the word Place is the Greek Topos meaning As occupied, as in Give place to the devil, which is to give the devil some opportunity he can’t obtain on his own. The word Old in the phrase “old serpent” is the Greek Archaios meaning What was from the beginning of something, it doesn’t mean Old as in age (Greek Palaios), rather it refers to a principality, or the beginning of something which would be the beginning of the spirit lusting to envy. In all this we are assured the devil hasn’t changed methods, he lost his effectiveness and knew it, the first place he was sent was the Sea, there he gave the Beast of the Sea his power, authority and seat, then the comes the Earth, where he made entry into the earth by the Tares who use his authority.
The word Serpent is the Greek Ophis meaning Maliciousness, or one who holds Malice, and Malice is the intent to cause harm, or injury to another. Malice is the intent behind Slander, yet Slander is the meaning of the name Satan. The working of Satan begin with Maliciousness toward people; malice is the use of the information, it doesn’t matter if the information is fact or not, if it’s used to cause harm, it’s slander. The wording “Cast Onto The Earth” has the idea of a motion, showing the devil was cast onto the earth, the Earth is the place where the “he in the world” does his wickedness. The devil no longer has the ability to accuse us, we accuse ourselves with our own unbelief. Jesus doesn’t rebuke us with the devil, rather He upbraids us with our own unbelief.
Later we find the devil who deceived them being cast into the lake of fire, where the Beast and False Prophet are (vs. 20:10). This war has to be at the Cross, since verse 10 begins with “Now is come Salvation”, pointing directly to the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus. Verse 11 adds to this, giving us more information; from Now is come salvation, to strength, the Kingdom of God, Power of His Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down (present tense), to “they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their Testimony, and loved not their lives unto the death”, a past tense saying which can only be attributed to those who are Christ Like (vs. 10-11).
The three elements of the Blood, Word of their testimony and loved not their lives to the death all point to the Witness. The Witness is the Water, Blood and Spirit, they fit, the Blood is easy, but the Word of their testimony is not what they say about Jesus, or their selves, it’s what others say about them, pointing to the Water, or Mercy of the Father. The ability to “not love our souls (lives) unto the death” is only possible by the Spirit. All the attributes mentioned in verse 10 point to the abilities found in being Born Again, we have the Kingdom of God within, the New Man is the Power of Christ from on High. The purpose of our faith is the salvation of our souls, we don’t have a little strength, we have Strength. The word Strength is the Greek Dunamis which is dependent on the place it’s delivered from, or to the purpose it’s to be used. Even the devil, Sea and false prophet have limited natural dunamis, but we are Born Again with Power from on High, much different. Dumamis is predicated by the authority, the ability in our case we is coupled to the Power (Authority) of Christ, in the Kingdom of God, which means it will accomplish all things pertaining to the Kingdom of God. In the case of the false prophet it’s very limited to deception, in the case of the devil it’s the same, deception.
SALVATION:
Strength (Dunamis)
Kingdom of God
Authority of His Christ
DAMNATION:
Power(Dunamis) of the dragon
Seat of Satan
Authoirty of the dragon
Another way to see this is:
SALVATION:
Kingdom of God
Strength (Power)
Power (authority) of His Christ
PRINCE OF THE POWER OF THE AIR:
Seat of Satan
Power (evil dunamis)
Authority of dragonWe’re going to be looking at the chain of events again, the seals give us periods of time, the angels don’t give us periods of time, but they do show their appearance is well after we are taken.
CHART SHOWING SIMPLE CHAIN OF EVENTS
First Seal – Spirit given (Day of Pentecost)
Second Seal – Wars rumors of wars
Third Seal – Famine
Fourth Seal – Pestilence
Fifth Seal – Rapture of Church, Day ends, devil bound
Sixth Seal – Time of Comfort, Night begins
Seventh Seal – Short time begins, brings 7 Angels
First Angel – Everlasting Gospel
Second Angel – Mountain cast into the Sea
Third Angel – Wormwood cast into the Sea
Fourth Angel – Nation of Israel loses 1/3
Fifth Angel – Opens pit, devil released
Sixth Angel – Finish of great war
Seventh Angel – Judgment begins
GROUPS:
First group judged – Jews, must pass books, and find name in Book of Life.
Second group – Those who sleep in Jesus
Third group – Rest of dead
End of time as man knows it.
Final Separation – New earth as lake of fire.
New Jerusalem for Heavenly citizens.
We then find Rejoice you heavens, but Woe to the inhabitants of the Earth of the Sea, this refers to the time of Woes, not the Day. The Earth after the Rapture is the place for the Beast of the Earth, the Sea of course for the Beast of the Sea. This is after we read how we “overcame”, rather than being overcome. This area points to the “Great Wrath”, it hardly fits with “Now is come Salvation”, unless it’s the division of Seasons. All this covers the seals, giving us a look at some history leading up to who the City was, what she is, and what she will be, then we will find why she is judged.
What did we find here? We have Strength, the Kingdom of God, and the Authority of His Christ, all of which comes with Grace unto Salvation. What does the opposite sound like? Ahh, the power, seat and authority of the dragon. However, is the power, seat and authority of the dragon unto Salvation? Or Damnation? If we put these areas side by side we find the clues, we have so much going for us, the New Birth is more than a religious idea, or concept, it’s the very Nature of the Overcomer.
Rev 12:13-17
The devil had no idea he would be cast into the earth, as soon as he hit the Earth, he started his evil plans. The devil knows the only way he can do a thing to us, is if we allow it, thus he changed his focus. His planting of tares is people holding to the spirit lusting to envy, making the invasion into the Body, the devil doesn’t come into the kingdom, he sends his tares.
The Woman brought forth the Man Child, it was the devil’s downfall, so knowing he can do nothing to the Man Child, or those belonging to the Man Child, he set out to get the Woman (vs. 13). Much of what we see today proves this verse, if nothing else. However, God gave the Woman a place prepared for her, plus an “eagle” with Two great wings, one wing as the Law of Moses, the other as the Prophets, she will be nourished for a time, and times and half a time, meaning during the Day. We are in the time, and times, and half a time, as we saw in Daniel, these refer to Passover, Pentecost, and half of the Feast of Trumpets.
The devil finding he can’t fight the Law of Prophets, had to figure some other means, all this shows he is making up plans as he goes. The most frustrated entity on the face of this planet is the devil. The devil having turned over his power, authority and seat to the Beast of the Sea, sent the flood from the Beast for one purpose, to cause the Woman to be carried away, thus wipe out the Remnant of her Seed, thus stop the Night, stopping the devil from being bound, then stop the judgment, which would halt the lake of fire. However, his plans were know, they will fail, but being so self-deceived he continues to fight the Truth, attempting to make his lies come to pass.
Verse 15 shows the serpent used his mouth, the malicious thoughts in the air, the accusations against the Jews. History is full of examples, including the events we see today. No secret, here is the Scripture, out there is the proof, but nonetheless those Great Wings prevail. It may seem redundant, but we must see how perfect the Kingdom is. There are many things going on in the world, some us have to work in the environment, but we can also be assured, this is the Day the Lord has made, we are not appointed to the wrath of God, we live in an age where repentance gains Immediate results.
Verse 16 is a progression, the word Earth is the same Greek word used prior, only we found the devil was cast into the earth, but here it looks like the same thing, but it’s not. The earth swallowed up the Flood, not the devil, this shows over the years there have been many “floods”, in each case the earth has swallowed them, which is not a good sign to those who join to the floods. A flood is a body of water leaving it’s banks to venture into an area where it has no right in order to bring destruction.
Verse 15 said the Serpent sent the flood, verse 17 shows the dragon was wroth with the Woman. Things changed, verse 17 shows the purpose is not to destroy the Woman, but to make war with the Remnant of her Seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the Testimony (Old Testament, or Law and Prophets) of Jesus. It’s the key here, separating this group from the one in verses 10 & 11.
Chart showing differences between verses:
Rev – 12:11
Blood of the Lamb
Word of Their Testimony
Loved not their souls unto the death
Rev – 12:17
Keep the commandments of God
Have the Testimony of Jesus
The Testimony of Jesus is the Law and Prophets, thus we have a division of Seasons, verses 10 and 11 point to those of the Day, verse 17 to the Night. The devil was wroth, the word Wroth means Provoked to anger, verse 17 is the only place in the Book of Revelation we find the word Wroth.
Did the dragon persecute the Body of Christ, or the Woman? The devil came after the Woman, he sent the tares to the Body of Christ. The devil attempts to attack the Women by various means, placement of religions to halt the Temple, sending nations with the heads or horns of the dragon against the Woman, thus if he can stop the Woman, he destroys the Remnant of her Seed. Nonetheless we find we have so power over the devil and his works they amount to less than zero in our lives.
Rev 13:1-10
The Wicked who entered the kingdom of heaven during our Season had their sins forgiven, but they continued to use the ways of darkness, as they committed the sin against the Holy Ghost which was the result of their iniquity, thus they enter the Night with the sin hanging over their heads, as they use the working of Satan in the Night. The Tares are planted in our Season, when the devil is bound those same Tares emerge as the Beast of the Earth, thus the devil was cast into the earth.
All other people through the efforts of the Remnant have their sins atoned on earth, but join to the Wicked in the end, in so doing, join to the sin which can’t be forgiven, thus we are still seeing why they failed to repent after they are subjected to the plagues.
John is standing on the Sand of the Sea, but he is looking to the Sea, thus this connects to the Woe on the Sea, explaining how the dragon used the Flood. The devil was cast into the earth as the tares, but he gave his power, authority and seat to the Beast of the Sea, thus the first Woes are on the Earth and Sea.
The word “stood” is the Greek Histemi meaning A set place, or Established, John was a converted Jew, because he moved by faith to a place higher than the Sand of the Sea, thus his position here is one of the Heavens. Since he is of the Heavens, he has gained clarity. The Beast of the Sea has seven heads and ten horns, the metaphor Head points to authority, the metaphor Horn to power, but which authority and which power becomes the issue. The word Beast here is different from the one used in reference to the four beasts, the four beasts had Life, this word is the Greek Therion meaning A wild beast, denoting A venomous animal, such as a viper, or serpent.
We’ve seen all this prior, but there is yet more for us to gain. We can see now the power, seat and authority are venomous in nature, thus the purpose of the dragon is to destroy. We also keep the metaphors in line, horn is power, head is authority, the authority of the dragon is used against the Woman, thus showing the importance of Authority. Before we gained Power, we first gain Authority, thus the Great Faith of the Centurion was based on his knowledge and use of Authority.
We also want to keep in mind how the dragon gave his authority, power and seat to the Beast of the Sea, thus the Beast of the Sea is not the devil, but devilish. Also not all in the Sea are connected to the Beast of the Sea, there are many who are not. The Beast of the Sea will send one nation after another, those free of the Beast are used to tame the nation sent by the Beast. These heads and horns appear three times in the Book of Revelation, prior it was 12:3, then in 13:1 again in 17:3, but in each case there is a change:
12:3 – seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns on the heads
13:1 – seven heads, ten horns, and ten crowns on the horns, with the name of blasphemy on the heads.
17:3 – seven heads, ten horns, and “full” of the names of blasphemy.
In 12:3 the crowns are seven in nature, located on the heads (authority), but in 13:1 those crowns change to the horns (power) becoming ten, but the crown only means which area is being used at the time, thus in 17:3 there are no crowns. In 12:3 there is no mention of blasphemy, but in 13:1 we find the blasphemy on the heads, but in 17:1 the Beast is full of blasphemy. The progression shows a compromise by the people coupled to the Beast, in the compromise the Beast grows in blasphemy. Since the Blasphemy is related to the Head (Authority), it stands the Beast of the Earth who uses the Authority is also guilty of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, perhaps the primary violator.
Jumping ahead to verses 5 and 6 we find the evil Mouth, from the Mouth comes the Words of Blasphemy (vs. 5-6), these verses follow the progression of the Flood from our Season into the Next, this is the First Beast of the Sea. Prior the angel stood on the Sea and Earth, but here John isn’t standing on the Earth or the Sea, rather he is on the Sand of the Sea, the Woman is part of the Sand of the Sea, since the Sand of the Sea refers to the Jewish people, the Fig Tree to their religious order. Later the Woman will be seen sitting on the Beast, but then we won’t find the Sun, Moon or Crown of Stars. We will find her covered with the things of the world, but she is holding a cup full of abominations. Therefore, we will see a progression of downfall for the City. Where is the Beast she rides? In the Sea, the Beast didn’t invade the Sand of the Sea, the Sand of the Sea joined to the Beast as a mountain falling into the sea. The “name, number and mark” of the Beast all relate to the world, showing how the Woman compromised her position and condition, as she joined her heart to the Beast, instead of God and her being “One”, she made the decision to be one with the Beast.
In this chapter we find the danger of operating from a position of revenge, even a revenge against the devil. One of the most used tricks of the devil is revenge, he really doesn’t care if it’s revenge against man, God or him, as long as man holds the intent of slander in the doing. God said Vengeance is His, to take it from God, means one has to usurp the authority of God.
The devil gave his three elements of his plan of destruction, to steal, kill and destroy; however, we have God’s ability to give, bring life, to have it more abundantly unto the saving of our souls, so we can have God’s Salvation.
Steal, Kill and Destroy? Power, Authority and Seat? Lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life? Cares of this world, deceitfulness of riches and the lusts for other things? Ahh, they all relate, they are the Wiles of the enemy, we come against them by having Life by the Spirit, as we refuse to use the wiles of the devil.
There are two things we have to understand before jumping into this Chapter. The word Blasphemy with the Parable of the Tares. The word Blasphemy is used in 8 verses in the Book of Revelation, defining the Character of these two Beasts. Here the use of blasphemy is singular, but in v 17:3 we find the Woman is found with the names (plural) of blasphemy, but this is much later, the metaphor Name means authority, showing how she joins to the false prophet and the Beast of the Sea by the authority.
Some translations show the “names” of blasphemy in this verse; however, this is based on verse 5, which says, “speaking great things and blasphemies”, but the Greek text shows this as, “speaking great things and blasphemy”, thus the blasphemies come from the authority of the dragon. The “great things” are the high things coming against the knowledge of God.
In our Season this Beast is still of the Sea, but earthly in thinking and wisdom, thus John (representing the Church), is standing on the Sand of the Sea looking to the Earth and Sea, he is not of the Sea, nor of the Earth at this time. If this is the Night he is already removed, but this is his vision as well, thus he is above the sand of the sea. All this is very interesting, since we are fishers of men, we came from the Sea or the Sand of the Sea, thus we find the day we made the decision to receive the Cross of Jesus the dragon, the Beast of the Sea, the power, authority of seat of Satan couldn’t stop us, we left the dominion by entering the kingdom of heaven. As awful as all this sounds regarding the Beast of the Sea, or the Beast of the Earth, the truth remains, we were able to leave the realm, surely they have no power over us now.
This chapter is still talking about the Woe to the Sea and Earth, but it also expands our conceptional thinking on the kingdom of heaven. The Kingdom of God is within, in order to reach the Kingdom of God in heaven, one must have the Kingdom of God within. However, the kingdom of heaven is for the potential inhabitants of the Kingdom of God, thus the kingdom of heaven has kings, the Kingdom of God has kings and priests. It stands when we leave the kingdom of heaven remains, the Remnant will fill in, but there will still be the Tares, as independent rocks. However, we have to keep in mind Chapter 13 is still speaking of the Woes, the Woe to the Sea is being defined here, soon the Woe to the Earth, then the third Woe will be found on the Woman. Each Woe leads to the Judgment, which is the conclusion of the Woes.
John sees the combination of the beasts Daniel saw, this is the Image in the dream, the image of a “man”, measuring six by six, when it ends in the Temple it will be six, six, and six. Only one of the heads was wounded, the head was joined to the Beast of the Sea, thus it relates to an authority of a nation, which nation was Babylon with it’s idols, yet prophetically it points to Assyria. However, the Beast of the Earth will use the means of this head who suffered the head wound. We know it’s idol worship, yet it was God Who wounded the head (Hab 3:13). No need to look for someone with an axe in his head, the wound pertains to idol worship.
John uses the leopard, bear and lion, but instead of the dragon leading the pack, we find the dragon gave his Power, Authority and Seat to the Beast, we see these as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. The Second Beast is like unto the first by sharing the same authority. The First Beast (of the Sea) uses the acts and ways of the dragon, the Second uses the ways, but authority used without the power ends in witchcraft. Fro this reason we judge the Ways, not the Acts, in Matthew 7:21-23, it’s exactly what Jesus is doing, judging the Ways, but the people being judged were trusting in the Acts. They presumed Acts were works, they failed to see Ways are works.
Daniel used a different order, he said the lion came first, then the bear, then the leopard (Dan 7:4-6). Daniel saw the Beast going toward the Time of Comfort, John sees it coming into the Time of Comfort. Daniel saw three separate beasts, then one large one; whereas, John sees it as the combined Beast, the Lion with wings is Babylon, the same symbol was used in Daniel’s day, thus he had to know what it meant, as did John. The Bear was one side, or out of balance, the three ribs are the three nations, thus showing this Bear is near the Promise, much like Ishmael, but still leading toward the Sea. The Leopard had four wings and four heads, each representing a nation, becoming the four kings who come from the east.
The Leopard and Bear give us seven nations, three with the Bear, and four with the Leopard, but the driving force is still a Babylonian thought process. Since we have the Lion, Bear and Leopard we can also make a correlation between the Power, Authority and Seat of the dragon. The Lion represents the Authority, the Bear the Power, the Leopard the Seat; therefore, we find the Head Wound points to Babylon as idol worshipping, plus the image of the king. The symbol of Babylon is the Lion with a man’s head.
The “they” who worshipped the dragon would be the world, but do they know it? No, did we? Not hardly, so how is this? By using the wiles of the enemy, anger, pride, manipulation, the pride of life, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, or any other elements of darkness. The name Michael is a question, it means “who is like God?”, the people will say, “Who is like unto the Beast”. They consider the works of man’s hand the wonders, they are impressed with the ways of the world. Lucifer is a merchandiser, to him it’s just business, no matter who suffers, the way of the world.
Verse 4 shows the “they” who worship the dragon, the proof is what they say about the Beast who has the power, authority and seat of Satan. Once we entered the Kingdom of God we entered a training period, the division is between, “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. All in the world is defined as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world” (I Jn 2:15-16): and “Greater is He who is in you, than he who is in the world” (I Jn 4:1-4). Yes we will partake of the bad water, not because we want to, but we do slip, yet repentance in the day is the power of reconciliation.
Verses 5 and 6 show “a mouth” not mouths as many, this one speaks great things and blasphemies, here we find this Beast is around today as the, “forty and two months” (vs. 5). The blasphemy against God, is against the Father’s Mercy, against His Tabernacle against the Church, against His Name, moreover against the spiritual ways of God. How do they do it? Taking the glory, man giving man the glory for the efforts of man. If it’s good, it came from God, give God the glory.
Verse 7 changes times, showing the Beast of the Sea will overcome the saints in the Night, only this is a “he”, not a “them”. The Authority will be held over all kindreds, tongues and nations, referring to the Gentiles, defining the metaphor Sea.
Verse 8 combines the Earth with the Sea, but it also has a very important separation, “whose names are not written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the world”. This is vital, it shows those who walk in Mercy have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life; however, those who do not would be the vessels of dishonor.
At times we have thoughts, or think we have committed the most horrid of all things, we lost Grace, it’s over, we’re cooked. Not so, we are learning, as we are being Justified, if we are completely Justified, then we would not slip, we would not need to be trained, or guided, if we try to operate in Mercy and Grace, our names are written in the Book of Life.
Verses 9 and 10 connect to the letters to the churches, if any man have an ear, let him hear. Those who lead others into captivity, shall go into captivity, those who kill with the sword, must be killed with the sword, here is the patience and faith of the saints.
If it’s death unto death, captivity unto captivity, sword unto the sword, then it all relates to verses 8 and 10. We find one head (power) of the Beast is like unto Babylon, in the end the Woman is called Babylon, in fact she is called, 1) Mystery, 2) Babylon the great, 3) the mother of harlots, and 4) abominations of the earth (vs. 17:5). Not to jump ahead, but we can see a counterfeit in the making. Didn’t John tell us “Now is come 1) Salvation, 2) Strength, 3) the Kingdom of God, and 4) the Power of His Christ (vs. 12:10)? Yes, we find the Second Beast uses the authority of the First then counterfeits the course of Salvation, thus bringing about the Judgment. If we placed these side by side we can gain a hint to why we submit to the New Man to form us into the Image of God’s Son, and how the counterfeit of the Wicked forming the Woman into the Image of the devil.
Rev 12:10 –
Salvation
Strength
Kingdom of God
Power of His Christ
Rev 17:5 –
Mystery
Babylon the great
Mother of harlots
Abominations of the earth
The last area gives us the division in the kingdom of heaven. Our goal is to walk in the Power of His Christ, the Wicked cause the abomination in the temple, but it begins when they bring the abomination into the temple. We begin to see why it’s, Woe to the Earth and Sea, rather than Woe to the Sand of the Sea, or Woe to the Brethren who have Overcome. This also explains the phrases “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth”, with “Here is the patience and faith of the saints”, with “Here is the patience of the saints (both groups): here are they who keep the commandments of God (Remnant), and the Faith of Jesus (Christian Church)”. This latter statement combines the Two Seasons in reference to these Beasts, later we will see we are Raptured before the 1,000 years, yet we didn’t take of the number of the Beast. If the Beast doesn’t appear until after the seventh seal, yet we are Raptured at the fifth, surely the mark of the Beast is around today.
One of the aspects of Patience is endure something, without attempting to force a change, thus Patience knows the Sea has a Beast, we can’t tame it, we lack the power and authority to engage in the activity, but we do have the power and authority to call the called from the Beast before it’s too late.
The word “Leading” is the Greek Sunago meaning To assemble or One who holds something or someone, much like the term The Synagogue of Satan holding people captive. We find John is talking about two beasts, one beast holds people captive under the spirit of disobedience, the other will kill with the sword, both are later found in the lake of fire. The Patience of the Saints is to stay the course, don’t take people captive and don’t kill the Just.
Rev 13:11-18
John sees another Beast coming out of the earth, the very place the devil was cast down to. This is the area where the saying, “What if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction (perdition): and He might make known the riches of His Glory on the vessels of Mercy, which he had afore prepared Unto Glory” (Rom 9:22-23). Makes sense, two vessels, both of Clay, one lacks Mercy, the other has it, but both had the same opportunity to do the Will of the Father by walking in Mercy. Since one element rejected the call during the Day, we find them coming up as the Beast of the Earth in the Night, thus it’s not God denying them repentance for their iniquity, rather they refuse to walk in Mercy, this also explains why they are again moved by envy. The Remnant walk in Mercy, it will be the offense to those who don’t.
This will also tell us why Jesus told us to pray “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil”. We can add to this request with words such as “Lord never allow me to be self-deceived, keep me from the Night, please Lord if I left the Sheepfold without Your permission, guide me back, I submit to Your Spirit”. This Chapter is a warning of a clear and present danger.
We know these are the Tares, the Wicked, the Lawless, the workers of iniquity, but we do gain some interesting knowledge. Matthew told us the Tares do Offend and do Iniquity (Matt 13:41), Jesus said He would cut off the Offending hand, and pluck out the Offending eye, they will lose their right to the kingdom, simply because they accepted the wrong authority. Jesus also said “Not every one says unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in the day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your Name? and in Your Name have cast out devils? and in Your Name done many wonderful things? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you who work iniquity” (Matt 7:21-23). The word “into” in the phrase “into the kingdom”, means A completion of purpose, rather than simple entrance. It points to the purpose, which is to accept the Kingdom of God.
This Beast has two horns like a lamb, but spoke as a dragon, thus the authority came from the Beast of the Sea, but the Beast of the Sea obtained it from the dragon. Since when do lambs have horns? Horn is a sign of power, this Beast used the authority of the Beast of the Sea, but mixed it with the power of the lamb, very dangerous and costly. In Verse 12 the world Power refers to Authority (Greek Exousia), he will cause the “earth” and them which dwell therein to worship the First Beast (Beast of the Sea), whose deadly wound was healed (vs. 11-12), referring to entering idol worship. We found it was only one head to suffer the wound, not the entire dragon. The Beast of the Sea has those within who worship the dragon, but here we find this Beast won’t worship the Beast of the Sea, rather he will make those in the Earth do so. It would include the Laodiceans, who think they are rich and in need of nothing. This goes right back to John measuring the temple as he saw those who “worship” therein, connecting to a Woe.
Each horn represents a Season, Daniel told us one horn was larger than the other, from the chart we can see the Larger is the Day, the Smaller the Night. This also shows the Saints referred to in verse 7 are the Remnant, they will have a Little Strength, rather than the Strength from the Greater Light of Salvation.
CHART SHOWING THE ELEMENTS OF THE TWO HORNS
LARGER HORN + SMALLER HORN
1- Fearful + Dogs
2- Unbelieving + Sorcerers
3- Abominable + Whoremongers
4- Murderers + Murderers
5- Whoremongers + Idolaters
6- Sorcerers + Whosoever loves or Makes a lie
7- Idolaters
8- Liars
There must some text in this study showing the two horns: we find the Larger Horn is Fearful, Unbelieving, Abominable, Murderers, Whoremongers, Sorcerers, Idolaters and Liars (vs. 21:8), the Second smaller Horn contains Dogs, Sorcerers, Whoremongers, Murderers, Idolaters, and whosoever loves and makes a Lie (vs. 22:15). There are differences between these two lists showing the character in one Season as the spirit of antichrist, in the Next it’s the false prophet, yet both are Wicked. The first lists shows a character, the second shows all the working of Satan.
The first list has eight items, pointing to the Eighth, but the second list has six pointing to man. The areas found in both lists are; Sorcerers, Whoremongers, Murderers, Idolaters and the Lie, each shows something about the Character of the Second Beast. The Sorcerer aspect points to witchcraft, indicting the type of “miracles” they do, they will use mystic mind power through deception, the heart witchcraft. They lie in wait to deceive, they always have some “game a foot”, their mind games are to trap and snare those they hold envy against.
The Whoremonger shows how they trick us into the bed of adultery through the Jezebel mindset. The Murderer was defined in James, they Kill the Just by bringing doctrines of devils, or teach traditions of men as doctrine. The Idolater aspect includes self-worship, mentor worship, or worshipping the Beast; they also worship their own souls, as they sit in the temple of God, proclaiming their souls as God. The Lie they hold to, is saying they want to be Christ Like, but they use the spirit of antichrist, they are false christs in this Season, false prophets in the Next. They say they walk in the Light, but they hate (slander) their brethren, thus they are in darkness even now.
The Second list holds those who loved the Lie, as well as those who made the Lie, it also shows they are Dogs, since they use the “rope of the Dog”. The rope of the Dog is the rope of Judas, they presume they are hanging us, but in truth they are hanging themselves. This shows they marched around the Cross, but in their hearts they were mocking the Cross by not submitting to it (Ps 22:16 & 22:20). They use the Cross, the Body, the Name of Jesus, simply because they are in the Body, it will work as Matthew 7:21-23 shows, thus when the Rock is broken the Name won’t work for them, they run to the feet of the Sixth church to be involved, for their sake, not the Lord’s. In this season they wanted to feel superior over the rest of the Body; in the next it’s the same, only in the Night it’s to be superior over the Woman.
This Beast only deceives those of the Earth, the word Dwell or Dwelling for those of the earth is not Tabernacle, but the Greek Katoikeo meaning A certain fixed place to reside, thus showing their home is not heaven as they would assume, rather they are Bound to the earth. Those who follow after these Beast are earthly, not of heaven. It’s very important, giving us Hope, these sons of perdition, for the most part have no idea what they are doing, they are sent by the enemy to destroy ministries, people, or shipwreck faith, but in their minds they think they are doing God a service, yet they are natural thinkers, they depend on natural reasoning. The evidence is clear, not only did Paul tell us the princes of this world had no idea what they were doing, we find Judas had no idea what he was doing, as he presumed when Jesus said, “what you do, do quickly” was permission, rather than a warning. However, there are signs of what they are doing, envy, nastiness, slander, hate, deception, they lie in wait to deceive, they trust in the arm of man, they hold the words of man above the Bible.
Daniel also saw the lion stand as man, thus the lion is the one who suffered the head wound, this is seen as One of the heads, not seven, nine or ten, thus not all the Beast suffered a head wound. We know this wound relates to Authority, not an actual physical head wound. This Horn is like unto a man, the number of the Beast is the number of “a man” not Men as many, this is a head wound, not a body wound, or a foot wound. The nation who suffered the wound was Babylonia, the city Babylon was located in the nation, thus the Woman is known as Babylon, not Babylonia.
The house with the head wound, received the wound from God (Hab 3:13, Isa 10:24, 10:33 & Jere 50:18), but in order to see the Head we have to go back to Daniel where we view the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. The Image’s head was of find gold, Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar “you are this head of gold”; however, Nebuchadnezzar wanted it all, thus he made an image of himself of Gold. The number of his image was 6×6, with the head wound being healed it ends being 666 (Dan 2:32, 2:38 & 3:1). It’s still making an Image of the world, then worshipping the ways of the world, rather than God who created the world. Paul said it was worshipping the creation, rather than the Creator.
In Jeremiah 50:18 God says, “I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria”. This connects Assyria with Babylon, although they were two different countries, they were to the north of Israel, and connected by their forms of idol worship.
In Isaiah 10:12 we read “when the Lord has performed His Whole Work upon mount Zion, and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks”. Therefore, there is a glory in pride, demonic, but nonetheless a type of glory. In the end all glory is taken from the earth, there is nothing left but deep darkness. Habakkuk 3:13 says, “You have wounded the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck.” This shows us the False Prophet is akin to Assyria, who will use the methods of Babylon, causing the Woman to become Babylon.
Babylon was first a city after the Flood in the Days of Noah, then it became the nation Babylonia (Gen 11:1-9), it was the Principality of Nimrod, who was a hunter of men (Gen 10:8-9). The head wasn’t the discernment, it was discovering the foundation of the neck, or the part joining the head to the Body which produced discernment. Here we see the neck was attached to the dragon, the dragon to the Beast of the Sea. In the end it won’t be worshipping one nation, but the entire Beast of the Sea.
A view of history shows the Tigris-Euphrates Valley usurped control from the native Sumerians, who survived almost two thousand years under the leadership of Babylon and Assyria. Assyria had a religion of idol worship which used certain copies of the nation of Israel, many worldly scholars assume the creation account in the Bible was taken by the Jews from the Assyrians, instead of seeing it the other way around, thus today the Beast still hates the Woman, and still makes war with her, as it blasphemes God.
The name Assyria was taken from Ashur, the Greek meaning is “land of the god Ashur”. Ashur was the capital of Assyria around the third millennium BC, thus they worshipped the City. The Assyria political history has been of importance to the world since the sixth century BC, also the borders of Assyria were Mountains.
Babylon has been considered “one of the most famous cities of antiquity”, part of the antiquity is the famed Rampant Goat, who stood behind a tree with eight branches with buds on three of the branches. This Goat had two horns, it was clothed with feathers, it’s height was two cubits. Other Goats have been found from the culture as well, such as the Copper Goat, which had a mark between the horns on the forehead which appears to be a wound or a Mark.
The famed Iamassu is the winged human headed bull, which developed from the earlier lion, became a man with wings, the symbol of Babylon. Other items show the lion at war with the Horse, all these symbols point to the prophecy, as the heathen is completing prophecy, yet they don’t know it.
This Beast of the Earth was talked about in the Old Testament as well, Ezekiel said the prince of Tyrus, “they shall bring you down to the pit, and you shall die the deaths of them who are slain in the midst of the Seas. Will you yet say before him who slays you, I am God? but you shall be a man, and no God, in the hand of him who slays you” (Ezek 28:8-9). This warning shows the Ways of the Beast, not the Ways of God. From all this we know God Is, it’s the point. Before the Cross this Beast still had seven heads and ten horns, but it was run by the Red dragon, but after the Cross the devil was defeated and destroyed. The devil knew he couldn’t face the people of God, thus he gave his power, seat and authority to the Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth left the realm but retained the authority becoming the Tares in the field of the kingdom of heaven. The Beast of the Sea was given three evil elements, but the Beast of the Earth has the choice to be free of them, yet desired to retain the authority, thus they found they could control the spirit lusting to envy, they could use it to make them feel superior over the rest of the Body, when in truth they were forming themselves into the footstool of the Lord.
Those of the Sea are victims of demonic oppression; they are under disobedience, as we all were, thus we all used the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We all took of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, striving for self-awareness, or self-confidence. However, we left the old realm by entering a realm wherein we are Free indeed, if we receive it.
We know this Beast comes out of perdition, making it the son of perdition, but we also know the title is a New Testament concept, since the word Perdition has no Hebrew equivalent. The word Perdition means Ruin or A Loss of something, it’s the Greek Apolia, translated as Destruction (in Matt 7:13, Rom 9:22, Ph’l 3:19, II Pet 2:1 and 3:16), as Waste (in Matt 26:8 and Mark 14:4), and as Perdition (in John 17:12, Ph’l 1:28, II Thess 2:3, Heb 10:39). In Romans 9:22 we find the reference to the vessels of dishonor; in II Peter 2:1 it’s translated as Damnable, thus II Peter uses the word more than any other book. It’s in II Peter where we find who they are, and how they operate. They are those who come among us proclaiming to be of us, yet holding private conclusions of Prophecy, they quote verses, but out of context, some can quote verses faster than we can look them up. Ahh, a trick, if we can’t look them up, they can change words here and there, making up their own conclusions, or worse they quote them, but use them out of context. It’s the deception, the same trick the Beast of the Earth will use on the Woman.
The root word to Apolia is Apollumi, translated as Destroy, or Perish; however, it also shows the person destroys their self, another interpretation shows a type of “tossing away” the very thing God gave them to be saved. They are earthly, but they are also free of the Sea and the Sand of the Sea. Instead of dwelling in the heavens, they made the decision to dwell in the Earth, they obtained the Clay nature, then mixed it with the Iron, as they use the Ten Toes to their advantage, thus causing the Ten Toes to be mixed clay and iron.
Clearly we are seeing the Tares, in the Parable of the Tares we found the Wheat are the children of the kingdom, but the Tares are the children of the Wicked. The word Wicked is the Greek Poneros meaning One who corrupts others with malicious or mischievous means, this is not the same Greek word Paul used in II Thessalonians 2:8 in reference to the Wicked, but it is the same word he used in Ephesians 5:16, 6:13 and 6:16 regarding the elements we war against. The word Paul used in II Thessalonians 2:8 is the Greek Anomos meaning A transgressor, thus the Greek word Poneros tells us what they do, the Greek word Anomos tells us who they are in the Night. Why didn’t Paul tell us to war against the Anomos? We don’t war against flesh and blood, but against the Wiles (methods or works) of the devil, which would be the Poneros. Both the Anomos and Poneros point to the Ways, not the Acts, thus the hidden agenda of the Wicked is to get us to enter the ways of the Wicked as our means of defense.
A close Hebrew equivalent is found in Ezekiel 18:24, which shows a Righteous person can turn from their Righteousness, the wording “Turn Away From” could equate to the word Perdition. The verse shows they will do “according to all the abominations the wicked man does”, the word Wicked here has about the same meaning as the Greek Poneros. This doesn’t mean all who are carnal are sons of perdition, if it were the case all of us would be lost, Babes in Christ are carnal, they have the Spirit, but they are in the process, thus we all began carnal, then we Grew up in Jesus, thus we find the “son of the morning” never grew up, rather he obtained Mercy, refused to grant it, since he retained the spirit lusting to envy, the heart of the self-nature.
Verse 13 would almost seem as if this Beast of the Earth is Elijah, who comes to prepare the way of the Lord, but the Beast doesn’t “call” fire down, rather we see he “makes” fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. The word Make is the Greek Poieo, meaning to Cause, or be the Author of, thus the false prophet is the cause for the fire to come from heaven to devour the earth, as the prayers of the saints are mixed with the coals from the altar. The connection does take us to Elijah, since the king of land sent his soldiers to inquire of “Baal-zebub the god of Ekron” (II Kings 1:3). Therefore, the False Prophet caused fire to fall based on the abomination being setup in the place it should not be.
The Greek Poieo is the same word used in reference to “causes the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the First Beast”, with “causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond to receive a mark” (vs. 13:12 & 13:16). It doesn’t mean forced, it means presented or made, or prepared, make ready, to provide, but not forced. This will made clearer when we find the 144,000 came from the same “earth”, yet they didn’t worship the Beast, or take the Mark.
We see Power in verse 12, Wonders in verse 13, Miracles in verse 14 by the power noted in verse 12, these three give us clues to the attitude and intent of this Second Beast. The word Power means Authority, the dragon gave his Authority to the First Beast, and the Second Beast uses the same Authority. Why would it use the Authority of Beast, with the Authority of God at hand? The devil gave his authority for man to use, as man wills, since the devil knew anything to do with him ends evil, regardless of the intent of man. The authority of the dragon is set to Waste, no matter what “good” man does, another man will figure someway to make Waste.
An aspect of our Faith is knowing we have a higher Authority, but are under Authority. The Wicked have authority, but refuse to be under authority. It’s this hidden intent of envy causing the Second Beast to surface, then seek to control the Woman. This Beast begins the Night at the feet of the Sixth church, but when the Seventh church surfaces, it sees the opportunity for another take over.
The word Wonders means Signs which includes the concept of Mark or the Token, but in this case it’s signs and wonders to deceive. This Second Beast is a Deceiver, thus it deceives those who Dwell on the earth, not those who Dwell in heaven.
If we keep this in order we find the Beast of the Sea has the authority, power and seat of Satan, then the Second Beast brings forth the Mark, Name and Number of the Beast, don’t you think those relate? Yes, we know Name refers to Authority, the Mark shows association, or ownership, then Number is counted among something, then comes the Image. This preparing is to lie in wait to deceive, the Second Beast doesn’t enter one day, then set up the abomination the next, it’s a series of deceptive acts preparing the people to embrace the abomination. Once they are accept the Authority, Power and Seat, bowing to the Image would be the next logical step.
This is important since we will find the purpose is to “buy and sell”, connecting to the love of money, the same we see today. Clearly this has to do with doing business in the world, as it relates to the “love of money is the root of all evil”. There are three ways the world uses money, when the supply and demand is such they can charge more, they do, calling it “good business”, but it’s still robbing the people, showing money is used as an Power. When they want more, they use a person’s Wealth, relating to Authority. When someone uses their money to gain favors, they are buying honor, or using money as a means to gain honor. When someone uses the position they obtained from their wealth to gain favor, it’s a seat. All three relate to the “buying and selling”, yet it has nothing to do with working in the world, or even doing business, it has to do with doing business the way the dragon desires it. Deception has to be the clue, using secrets and deception to make money, is using whatever means seems “legal” at the time, no matter who it hurts.
John is telling us, If we think we can play mind games with God in this Season, then repent in the next, we’re sadly mistaken. If we presume we can keep the old man, yet claim the New Man, we have mistaken the Truth for a Lie. Today while it is yet today is the Day of Salvation. This is not given to scare us, it’s given as incentive to endure those hardships, or events produced by the Wicked in their attempts to make us fall.
In our Season we are the Very Elect, in the next it’s the Elect, yet we know they cry over the abominations done in the city, thus they are not fooled by the Beast of the Earth, they become part of the conviction. They will refuse to bow to the image, or take the Mark, they will stand, yet be overcome, or it would seem.
It was just after the Garden Prayer when Judas appeared on the scene as the “prince of this world”, with the religious leaders (Matt 26:45-47). Jesus prayed for our clarity, as He prayed on a Rock, not The Rock, but a Rock, thus this Beast assumes it is the Rock, but it remains independent. It’s so self-deceived it will be convinced God has exalted it by allowing it to raise out of the Earth. Pride, ego and arrogance are still the three pillars to the Wicked, they still use the workings of Satan. They will assume God’s wrath came in the Rapture. They will mistakenly assume God destroyed the Wicked, and left them as the Pillars, but the truth is, God delivered the Just to bring about the Judgment.
Religious Conceit is a product of envy, the Beast is driven by envy, which produces religious conceit, thinking they can do it better than the 144,000. Their envy sees the Law and Prophets as hindrances, but they also see the Woman is the prize. They twist the concept of reconciliation, bringing the Woman and the Beast of the Sea together, yet the kings end hating the Whore.
In all this, what are we seeing? In Revelation 17 we will see why the Woman is judged, here we’re seeing why the world and Wicked will be judged. “Well, gee, it doesn’t seem fair, after all the dragon made them do it”. It would seem so, except, God has provided the escape, He has done so for nearly two thousand years. The Night being 1,000 years, yet Salvation has been here for nearly two thousand should be a hint regarding how God desires for all mankind to partake of the Grace of the Lord. It’s also obvious God will not force the plan on anyone.
We can get confused since this Beast begins in our Season and ends in the Next. In our Season they are false christs, in the next they are the Law Less Ones (false prophets), thus during our Season they are “anti Christ”, since the Spirit of Christ is here, but in the next they are against the Law and Prophets making them “false prophets”, yet it’s the same position using the spirit lusting to envy as their guide and teacher.
During the Time of Comfort they will use the working of Satan, but it’s still supernatural in nature, not spiritual. They will use deception to gain the land for the Woman by taking Edom, Moab and the children of Ammon, which will appear to be a Miracle. After all doesn’t the Bible say the land goes to the River Euphrates (Gen 15:18)? Doesn’t the Woman have a right to the land? Why not take it? It’s written, let it be done.
Ahh, they use the Old Testament, yet twist it by the authority of Satan. The Wicked will say, “if you are the City of God, cause this land to be yours”, “if you have the temple of God show the world your glory”, then “if you join with me, I will give you all the kingdoms of the world”. The same three temptations, only this time the Wicked gain entry into the wilderness where the Woman is found. However, the Woman will be open for the trap, she will become lukewarm, thinking she is “the I Am” (Zeph 2:15). How did she become Lukewarm? She trusted not in God, she failed to draw near to God, yet she had the glory of the Sun and Moon, even the windows of heaven were opened to her, in her was the Temple, the Temple was the Storehouse (Zeph 3:1-2). She becomes the filthy City, and partakes of the Woe from the Earth, and the Woe from the Sea; she becomes the Third Woe. The Second Beast joins the Woman to the First Beast by the Image, the bed of adultery is filled to the brim, ready to burn.
In our Season their envy brings strife, or slanderous attacks, in the next it will be Great Swelling words of falterings, but nonetheless the weapons of their warfare are still words. If the benefit suits them, they use words of flattery, if not, they slander. In no way can we assume because they have Acts in our Season, their Acts are wrong. We are not told to judge the Acts, or the person, we are told to judge the Fruit (Ways). We can still receive the Precious, yet reject the vile.
First comes the deception, then the Image “to the Beast” which then becomes the Image “of the Beast”. The word Image is the Greek Eikon meaning A representation or Likeness, it holds the concept of a Prototype. It’s the same word used in the phrase “Image of His Son”, it was used to describe Jesus as the Prototype of the Father. This is the most interesting, if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father, here we find the Image will be represented as “the Christ”.
In our Season they trick us into thinking the Image of the Beast is the Image of Jesus, in the next it will be the Image of the Beast as the Image of Christ. Jesus said, “if they say here is Christ, or there is Christ”, but more important is Matthew 24:26, if they say “in the desert”, which makes reference to the Wilderness, or if they say in “secret chambers” pointing to the Temple, believe them not. Why? In the Night the ability to be Christ like will be gone. The Image of the Beast is two fold, it’s by a Beast to represent a Beast, but it will be the image of a man. It won’t be of the Woman, she thinks she is God, it will associate to her, but still be a man. They will be looking for the Messiah, the False Prophet will only fill the need with his own view of the Messiah, the same mistake Judas made.
The Wicked twist Scripture to their own destruction, they will use Scripture to convince the Woman, she is God. In our Season it’s not an Image made of stone, metal or wood, it’s a mental image. As an example the quest to be Adam Like is forming an Image of the Beast in the minds of the deceived. In the next Season it will be the Image of Jealousy. In verse 15 we find the words Power and Life, the word Life is the Greek Pneuma translated as Spirit, or Ghost, but here it’s correctly translated as Life. It’s the Life promised by the Spirit, but as Jude points out, they were unable to hold to the Spirit, since they gave their life to the Seat of Satan. They bartered their opportunity for life, for the authority of the Beast, thus they “give life” to the Beast, but it doesn’t mean the Image walks around, it means they gave up their opportunity for life by retaining the wrong authority.
The word Power is the Greek Didomi meaning To give of one’s own accord, this one word alone shows it won’t be someone with a computer chip, rather it takes one’s own will to give up their promise to worship the Image. This bartering is one of self-decision, a desire to have and control power, it’s the same lust which trapped Judas. Judas traded Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, in the process he traded his position, office, and hope for his own agenda, based on the love of money.
God gave us the Gift, what we do with it determines the result. Jude tells us they turn the Grace of our God into lasciviousness (Jude 4). He also shows they have Roots, but they are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts (Jude 12 & 16). They speak evil of things they know nothing about, they speak evil of dignities, yet they have an outward appearance of righteousness (Jude 7, 10 & II Cor 11:13-15).
All this shows they return to Perdition, in order to return, they had to be delivered from Perdition. This is not some “I’ve had it, I give up”, one moment decision, rather it’s “I want what I want, and I will use any means to get it” attitude. They Draw back to Perdition, showing they once left it, the wording Draw Back is the Greek Hupostole meaning they retreated because of their fear of being found out.
Daniel called the image: the Abomination making desolation (Dan 9:27), Ezekiel called it the Image of Jealousy (Ezek 8:3), Jesus said it would stand in the holy place (sitting in a position, as an idol), not walking around (Matt 24:15); therefore, we find in this part of the chapter we find the Eighth as the Wicked, the false prophet who retains the spirit lusting to envy.
Both Beasts begin in our Season, but move into the Next, it’s John’s point. Explaining the Time, Time and half a Time, as our Season, then the Next Time and a Dividing of Time for the blowing of Trumpets, with half a time for the short space, all in order according to the Record.
The wording Buy or Sell could cause us to run to the caves, but really it’s not the purpose, the concept was noted by Paul as “forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats” (I Tim 4:3). This is seen in his phrase “speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron”. The word Buy is the Greek Agorazo meaning The value of something, it was also used to show we are “Bought with a price”, it’s not simply doing business in the world, after all Lydia was a seller of purple, yet Paul stayed in her house (Acts 16:14-15). This word goes much further, showing ownership, meaning a person does business in the same manner as the Beast of the Sea, thus they trust in the ways of the Beast, indicating they belong to the Beast by association. The word Sell is the Greek Poleo meaning To trade or Barter. We find the explanation of this in Joel 3:3, which reads “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, so they might drink”. It’s the method of business, not business alone.
This could relate to taking captive, which is what some business endeavors do, make people captive. This can also relate to taking over the people of God by use of tricks and devises through a type of barter system, our using a lust against someone, rather than helping them to be free. Don’t forget at this point in time everyone had their need taken care of through Jerusalem, no one had to worry about a thing. But along comes this salesman with a “better” idea, one where they can allow their lusts to run wild, yet still be considered “Godly”. The idea is wicked, the means deadly, the result frightening. Yet, with all their history, and the conviction from the Law and Prophets, the people give of themselves to the Beast, and do so in fear of being killed, or in fear of not having (vs. 15). Like Nebuchadnezzar and the Image he made, we find the Wicked stand behind the Image causing all to fall down and worship the Image, which to them is the same as worshipping them (Dan 3:1-5). Their minds think they are God, they have set themselves up in the Temple of God, as the people bow to the Image they set up, then consider themselves the god of the Image. Nebuchadnezzar made the image of himself, here we find it’s of the Beast, but at least Nebuchadnezzar didn’t take it to Jerusalem.
The mark, name and number of the Beast is not the mark, name or number of the Image. Each of the three elements relate to each other, the combination of accepting all three leads to the Image. This doesn’t mean someone will grab us, then place some chip under our skin, or in our brain, the reference to the Right Hand has to do with power, the forehead with the thought process, or ways, or better the authority used, the number is placing the power, authority and seat in the same place, thus the mind of man will to do the bidding of the Beast willingly to get what man wants. This relates to Isaiah 55:7-9: the Ways of the Wicked, and the Thoughts of the Unrighteous are not the Ways and Thoughts of God, they are the Ways and Thoughts of the Beast. They give their hand to the effort of evil by placing their minds on the things of the world, they know not the Ways of God, neither do they seek to know them.
Jude told us on some have compassion making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire: hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 22-23). When they take the “he of the world” over the “Greater He” as their lord and prince, they also take of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life, three elements equating to the name, number and mark of the Beast. Each 6 in the number 666 is representative of man being formed of the earth. We find this in verses 17 and 18, in verse 17 we read, “or the number of his name”, but then in 18 we read, “for it is a number of a man”, well, which is it? Number of his name, or number of a man? The number is the number of “a man”, we figure it must be one person, then we presume there is no way a person can come from the Body, so we pick the world. However, this is number is narrowed down to the premise of looking for the characteristics of man. In the Image found in Daniel chapter 3 the measurements are threescore by six, or “6-6”, add one more “6”, and you have the number. What man? Going back to Genesis 46:8-26 we find “the man”, Jacob brought 66 of his family into Egypt, but wait didn’t we also find there were other numbers involved? Yes, Stephen said 75 souls, Exodus 1:5 says 70, so what gives? We know how each is arrived at, but the point being it wasn’t Israel who brought 66 into Egypt, it was Jacob. Jacob did many things, but he never made an image of himself, but if someone in the future did as some representation of the nation, they would be a dreamer of dreams, and a prophet, if the sign they gave came to pass, yet they not only told them to go after other gods, they made an Image of a man calling it God, would they go? (Deut 13:1-3). They are warned not to in the Law, but they will also cause the Law to lay in the street. James says everyone is drawn away by their own lusts, this will be the proof of the pudding.
Later we will see those who make the Rapture, or better who make it when the First Resurrection is complete, they did not associate with the Name, Mark or Number of the Beast. If we project the Name, Mark and Number to some future time, say past the Time of Comfort to Jacob’s Trouble, we have a major problem. Those who complete the First Resurrection go before the 1,000 years, not after. Today we wonder what these things will be, but it shows we better know what they are Now. The entire acceptance of the Beast is based on one thing, the old man. Retaining the old man is the center of it all, allowing him to guide us, instruct us. The use of the Mark in order to buy and sale is yet future, yet the shadow is seen today. When money is the complete motivation for our religious zeal, we’re in trouble. People will vote for a person who is morally corrupt, because the person seems to benefit them financially. When we are motivated to use Godly principles in an ungodly way just for personal benefit, we’re in trouble. We may bring millions to the Lord, yet not make the Rapture. However, it’s not easy to retain the old man, especially if you have tasted of the Gift. It takes someone who loves the feelings of darkness, who enjoys the authority of the Beast of the Sea, someone who is so self-willed, they will say they love God, but they love the pleasure of darkness more.
Is there Hope? Oh yes, this shows there must be a lust in us before the enemy has any chance whatsoever. Unless we take the trick presented by the sons of perdition, or use the power, authority, or sit in the seat of Satan we have not joined them. If it was easy surely James would not tell us to rejoice if we fall. The Word in is being engrafted on a daily basis, we are gaining, it may not seem so, but we are.
The word Seat in the phrase Seat of Satan has the same context as a throne and footstool; however, when the Wicked attempt to move their throne into the kingdom they become the footstool to bruise the heel of the Lord. The Wicked attempt to make the child of God captive to them, yet in the end they are captive. They sit in the throne of Satan, claiming we are their footstool, thus when the devil heard “the footstool of Jesus”, he brought his counterfeit.
The Wicked are at the foot of the Cross, but assume it’s the Head, they have turned the Cross upside down, the Footstool of Jesus holds His enemies, indicting they are not of the Body after the Rapture. James told us about the Perfect Law of Liberty to reverse the process. Instead of Captivity, we obtain Freedom, this is the Day of Salvation.
We have access to Peace and Freedom, rather than an evil mind killing the Just. Our mistakes are mistakes, it’s our heart determining the difference between a mistake and Wickedness. We overcame the World (First Beast) by the Mercy of God; we overcome the Second Beast by the Faith of Jesus through the Blood of the Lamb of God. The separation is this, Do we seek the saving of the soul? Or do we seek to find fault in others in order to destroy them? Are we speaking to hinder by unbelief? Or are we speaking Faith, Hope and Love? Do we bring Mercy? Or do we go about slandering? Do we bring Peace? Or do we war against the brethren? What is our motive? What is our intent? Only the Word in us can detect and discern these matters, thus we must have Ears Hearing what the Spirit in us is saying (James 1:21).
In our Season it’s the temptation to use our will, or use the kingdom for self-benefit, in the next it will be an Image made of stone and wood, but what man could bring the number threescore and six, yet equate to Israel? None, other than Jacob, the Sun, with the combination of the Image of king Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 3:1). What was about the Woman? The Sun. Is the Woman Israel or the City? She is the City. She is also known as Babylon? Yes, even Peter called her Babylon, thus the three evils of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life overtake the Woman, yet she has the Sun, Moon, and Twelve Stars. Ahh, another mystery, the Sun, Moon and Twelve Stars, yet she takes the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. She had a choice, but allowed her pride to make it. The Wicked speak from a lust, looking for one. The Woman thinks she is rich and in need of nothing, she sits Herself up and thinks she is a Queen, and her own lusts trap her. The Wicked won’t tell her she is servant, the only reason she is in power is based on her covering, rather she will be convinced she is the covering, instead of submitting to Zion, she will make Zion her footstool, when she does, she becomes the Seat of Satan, as the Wicked set up the Abomination in her.
First is the Mark, then the Name, lastly the Number (vs. 17-18). The word Mark is the Greek Karagma, meaning a graven image, or a badge denoting whom one serves, thus it begins with a loyalty to the Beast. John said “if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (I Jn 2:15). This doesn’t mean Acts won’t happen, rather it refers to the Ways of a person. Running from the Acts simply because the Wicked do them, is foolish, Jesus did them as well, but Jesus held the Ways of God, the Wicked don’t. Some run from the Acts presuming they are saving themselves from the mark of the Beast, but they are running from God, the Acts never produce the problem.
The world is generated by the spirit of fear, the news wouldn’t even be on the air if they didn’t promote fear. Fear makes one captive, it grows in the mind of the holder, until they seek some escape, yet they run to the world for protection. The causes of mankind are centered on personal interest to benefit the person, not the people, regardless of the spoken words, it’s the intent we seek to know. Laws are made to please the masses, whatever man presumes is Right, is good in his own eyes. When someone in the world takes up a Cause, it’s based in some self-benefit. They want to be seen by man, some get involved to feel “right” about themselves, yet it’s still self-based. The intent of the Beast of the Sea is to “Save the world, thereby Saving me”.
We in the Kingdom live by our Ways, but we do Acts, yet we don’t look for signs, they follow us. Acts are given for others, the Ways show who we are, it’s who we make the difference in the end. Jesus judges the intent of the person, there will be those who say, “when did we give You drink?”, it would seem on the surface to be an Act, but their intent is being judged, thus they did a Way, which produced an Act. Jesus will say, “If you did it for the least”, thus showing the ways of the person was to give, regardless of the position or the person they gave to. The Ways of a person do produce acts, the ways of the false prophet produce acts as well, it’s exactly what we see here, telling us why we judge the ways of a person.
The word Name is the Greek word Onoma, it’s the same Greek word used in the phrase “Name of Jesus”, thus relating to authority, yet we know the Wicked use the Name of Jesus in our Season (Matt 7:21-23), but they also do for self-importance. The Authority is the given right to perform an act, by one who has the right to grant the authority. The false prophet does use the power of the dragon, only the authority, making it witchcraft. Power is the ability to carry out the authority, thus the false prophet uses the Woman to carry out the nefarious deeds.
The word Number is the Greek Arithmos, which is a root word, from this word we get our English word Arithmetic, or a process of adding, thus it refers to adding people to the Beast, or the Beast being added to the person by similar likes or feelings. The number gives us three areas of the Six, each relates to the three areas of the world, the lust of the flesh, good for food; the lust of the eye, looks pleasant: and the pride of life, one to make one wise; connecting to the power, seat and authority of the dragon. This goes to “while they promise them Liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption (death)”, showing their Master is Corruption (II Pet 2:19-22). They say “I have life”, but in truth they are full of envy and strife, attempting to take our life from us. They are in competition with the Spirit, they seek the self, the Spirit seeks the Kingdom. They are like the serpent who bites at the heels of the horse to cause the Rider to fall backward. In this case we are the rider, the horse is the Holy Spirit, or Another Comforter.
Some things are evident, the number Six has to do with man, not the dragon, not the Beast, not the earth, not the serpent, man and man alone. We have to Count the Number, the Number has three 6’s, or 666. Even the world plays with the number, some are deceived enough to have it marked on them as some game. The word Count is the most interesting, considering the events in Acts chapter one. It’s the Greek Psephizo meaning to calculate, or better to vote upon. However, this word is not the same one used in Acts chapter 1, rather the only other place it’s used is in Acts 26:10 when Paul was talking about his days as Saul the Christian hunter, only there it’s translated as “voice”, meaning “cast my pebble of voting”, which is giving ones voice to the vote. This doesn’t mean voting in elections is wrong, rather it means one joins the Beast by association, they case the same vote.
To continue in Acts we find When Paul was Saul he used a vote gaining authority to punish Christians, or to compel them to blaspheme, he was so mad at them he persecuted them in various cities (Acts 10:11). It gives us the attitude, however, Saul was of the Sand of the Sea, not the Sea. The Beast became existent at the Fall, thus we have one six for the authority, one for the power, and one for the seat, when we use all three then joining to the Image is next. By this we recall how the crowns were on the heads, or the horns, but never on the horns and heads at the same time. No matter what history holds, no matter what evil the dragon did, there was never a time in history where the power, authority and seat came together at one time. At times the power held the crown, at times the authority did, yet, it’s what we see happening when the Beast of the Earth sets up the abomination.
What do we have here? First was the dragon, who gave his power, authority and seat to the First Beast of the Sea, then the Second Beast of the Earth, who is a natural beast, one who is earthly in nature, who began as the son of the morning, held the old nature while sitting at our table, yet both Beasts are dead and don’t know it. The Beast of the Earth uses the authority of the First Beast to produce an Image to cause the children of God to stumble, as did the teaching of Balaam. They barter their live away for the old nature, becoming envious of the 144,000 to the point of using the working of Satan to over throw the Woman, so they can set up their own Image, to control the people. All this takes a direct, firm decision to cast away the promise of the salvation of our souls, to exalt the self. It’s a refusal to take the old nature to the Cross, a fear of letting go of the old, a fear of exposure, a fear of being found out, a fear of losing control over the spirit lusting to envy. They put on a mask of righteousness to play religion in our Season, they use the same self-deception in the next to excuse their behavior. This is the Beast of the Earth, the self-exalted one, the one who causes the entire thing to fall apart, although they think they are above everyone, they end as the footstool of the Lord.
Do we have examples of this division between the intent of seeking God, or the intent of using the self? Yes, Peter and Judas; Peter is a type and shadow of one who sought after God, yet made mistakes. Peter wanted to do something for Jesus, but failed. Judas on the other hand is a type and shadow of one who barters away his calling, in essence he took the authority of the Beast (Satan) attempting to do something To Jesus in order to get what he wanted. When Judas allowed his own lust to deceive him, the door to his heart was opened, then the devil put Satan in the heart of Judas, when it happened the Image of the Beast took seat in the heart of Judas, as Judas became known as a son of perdition. It’s where the Image will remain until the time of Jacob’s Trouble, then they produce the actual Image, the same Image opposing and exalting himself above all called of God, or is worshipped, so he as God sits is the temple of God, showing himself as God (II Thess 2:4).
Whereas, Peter made a mistake in the misconception of his ability, he was converted to become an Apostle of God. Why did Jesus give Peter three chances, yet Judas only one? Or was it one? Didn’t Jesus teach both men in many parables? Yes, Judas had more than one chance to change his course of action. Peter didn’t run to the obvious enemy to get help, he went out and wept bitterly. Judas saw the religious rulers come against Jesus as they set themselves to find fault, so they could accuse Jesus, yet Judas used the works and lusts in the hearts of the Pharisees to his advantage. This should have warned Judas he was moving in the wrong direction.
Peter was faced with his own soul, Judas rejected the exposure. We know Jesus looked Peter right in the eye and said “get you behind Me Satan”, but when Satan entered the heart of Judas, Jesus said “what you do, do quickly”. This didn’t mean for Judas to do his evil quickly, rather it means whatever he was going to do, he better act quickly. Judas could have turned against his self desire as quickly as he used it. Jesus called Judas a devil, He didn’t say Judas was possessed, nor did He say Judas was of the devil, nor did He attempt to cast the devil out of Judas, rather He said “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil” (Jn 6:70). What did it mean? Judas held to his lust so tight he not only attempted to hide it, but he used it by seeking those who were opposed to Jesus to help him in his cause. Yet, Judas was a member of the twelve, he was ordained by Jesus, sent out to do Acts, held the bag, a position granted him by Jesus.
When Peter denied the Lord, what do we suppose he thought? “I’m the one, I’ve lost it”, but Peter made a mistake, one the Lord allowed to bring Peter past his ego into a servant role. Was it the end of the mistakes of Peter? Hardly, he had to answer for eating with the Gentiles when he was rebuked by Paul, he made other mistakes, but he knew his heart loved Jesus, more than it loved Peter. Judas on the other hand, loved his desire more than he loved Jesus, as evidenced by his acts.
Unless we take of these evil elements and use them we can’t Toss Away Grace, this is still the Day. A great sign is the root of bitterness springing up: if we notice bitterness in our heart, it’s a warning, time to be recovered by the Spirit. All this shows it’s not easy to toss it away, it takes more than a one minute fit, more than a few words, it takes a concentrated effort over a span of time.
The spirit of antichrist proves one thing, greater is He in you than he who is still worldly. The “he in the world” is run by the spirit of antichrist, thus if we are Sealed by the Holy Spirit we’re in a win situation.
Rev 14:1-5
This would almost see as a chapter seven being played out again, but it’s not. There is much more, this is really a continuation from the last chapter. The first thing is “a Lamb”, interesting it’s not “The Lamb”. This representation is the Sacrifice, but the mark is the “Name of His Father”, relating to Mercy. The counterfeit was associated with the Beast, yet we find the Mark of the Father, the Seal of the Holy Spirit, the Authority of Jesus, our throne is heaven based. Although there is no Grace in the Night, we know God’s Mercy endures forever. This time it’s written In their foreheads, or better Mercy becomes a part of their nature, just as Grace becomes our New nature.
Ezekiel says this figure is as an angel (Ezek 9:4), we find the angel stands in the Place of Jesus, not saying Jesus is an angel, thus we find “a Lamb” yet the writing is a direct involvement of the hand of Jesus, but what is written relates to the Father. This takes us back to Acts 1:6-8, Jesus holds the Cup, but the Father holds the times and power regarding making the enemies of Jesus His footstool.
Verse 3 tells us these 144,000 were “redeemed from the earth”, going back we found the dragon was cast to the earth, the Beast of the Earth comes from the earth, causing the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the First Beast. The people are deceived, but they allowed it to happen. The 144,000 are males and females, but if it’s the case, how could these 144,000 be Virgins? By the Mercy granted they were able to resist the temptation of the false prophet. It’s really good news, if they can resist, what about us who have the Spirit?
The word Cause doesn’t mean forced, the evidence of the False Prophet not being able to force the mark on people is found in how the 144,000 were redeemed from the earth, yet they didn’t take the Mark, nor were they deceived, since they will weep over the abomination done in the city, rather than fall down before it.
A seal is placed On or In someone denoting they possess an authenticity to do something, but a Mark means they are associated with someone or something, displaying ownership. We have the Seal of the Spirit because we gave our souls to Jesus when we imputed the old nature dead. In the case of the 144,000 they lack the Cross, but they do receive and walk in the Mercy of the Father.
This is clearer when we see the word “Redeemed” in verses 14:3-4 is the Greek Aghorazo meaning a Purchased property, thus we are the Treasure redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, the 144,000 are the Pearl of Great Price in the Field purchased by the Father; therefore, we are Redeemed from the Rock, but the 144,000 from “the earth”, two areas of Redemption, for two different purposes.
The Remnant are not the Firstfruits of Christ or the Firstfruits of the Spirit, they are the Firstfruits Unto God, then to the Lamb at the Judgment; whereas, we are the Firstfruits of the Spirit and Christ before the Judgment (I Cor 15:20 & 15:23). This shows the connection, we know no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, but here we find the reverse. The Remnant hold to the Mercy of the Father to see Jesus at the end in order to be resurrected unto Life to be with the Father. Their function is to complete the will of the Father by making the enemies of Jesus His Footstool. The Remnant are motivated by a Phileo Love for God, rather than a hate toward the abomination, there is no guile in them, thus they are not deceived.
This is the second New Song, the First New Song was sung by the Church in heaven. This New Song couldn’t be sung until we sang ours in front of the throne (vs. 5:9-10), this is explained by who signs our New Song, Revelation 5:9-10 tells us they are from “every kindred, tongue, people and nation”, but this New Song is only for the 144,000, thus the First New Song is for the Firstfruits of Christ, the Second New Song is for those who come after. Each song is New, or a sign for the changing of Seasons, the Beginning of something New.
In chapter 7 it was an angel who said, “until we have sealed” (vs. 7:3); here we find the promise, although the angel sealed them, we find it was the Lamb who stood with them, and did so by the Law and Prophets, who spoke of the suffering Messiah. This shows the Law and Prophets talking to Jesus on the Mount, yet we are told Hear Ye Him. This is confirmed in the next verse, the “voice of many waters” comes from heaven, back in Revelation 1:15 it was an attribute of Jesus. The thunder was also heard, but so was the harpers, as they sung “as it were” a New Song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders, which no man could learn except for the hundred and forty and four thousand, “which were redeemed from the earth” (vs. 3). This is a past tense statement, showing the promise is written in the Record, they are still on the earth, no one can leave the earth until the Judgment, but in verse it’s before the Throne, showing why the phrase “redeemed from the earth” is past tense.
This is not the sound of a great thunder, but the voice of great thunder, indicting a change in seasons, the voice of many waters is attributed to Jesus (v. 1:5), the voice of thunder to the Father. The four beasts being in this shows one Season is done, a New Season has begun. The metaphors help us see this is part of the vision, they will not defile themselves with the Woman, or the Women of the past, it has nothing to do with them being all males, it has to do with metaphors pointing to idol worship, or be defiled by the Woman when the abomination is placed in the temple. (vs. 4). They will follow the Lamb, as they return with the Lamb after the Judgment, but we follow the Resurrected Jesus. The Lamb was seen prior as “as it had been slain” not as if He had been resurrected, this is still talking about Jesus as the Son of man. This explains why they will ask where He got the Marks, they are still looking for the coming Messiah.
Back in Chapter 3, Jesus said “I will write upon him the Name of My God”, then “the Name of the City of My God, which is New Jerusalem”, then “I will write upon him My New Name”, three areas of writing, not one, each with a time and timing. From this we can see how John sees the Cause, Ezekiel sees the action (vs. 3:12). This shows the Remnant are not spiritual, the Mark relates to the Father, or Mercy, it’s in their foreheads, not their hearts, neither is it the Seal of the Holy Spirit. We are Sealed by the Holy Spirit to present the Gospel of Peace, this Mark of God on the Remnant allows them to project Mercy and Testify from the Two Witnesses. This connects to Acts 1:6-8, the times and Seasons moved to the Father, the purpose is making the enemies of Jesus His footstool, it’s not the Season of the Spirit unto Salvation, it’s the time of Judgment.
The “virgin” aspect shows the Remnant are of the Virgin Daughter of Zion: the evil woman Israel and her wicked sister Judah did commit adultery and defile the marriage bed, thus there appears Three Wicked Women, one of Judah, one of Israel, and later one of Jerusalem, with wicked Jerusalem of the earth being enticed by the lukewarm lust (Jere 3:6-11). Therefore the Remnant are promised a place in New Jerusalem, rather than Jerusalem of the earth. In the end the Second Beast joins to the Woman, then the Wicked Woman will justify herself more than her evil sister Judah, yet we are suppose to be the House of Judah? We are the Tents, but we are not the “sister”, or physical land.
The references to the House of Judah makes it clear, an evil group from the House of Judah will remain on the earth, becoming the Beast of the Earth after the Rapture, but the Good from the House of Judah are Transfigured into the Tents (Tabernacles) of Judah, as they go to meet their Lord in the Air. Those who held to the Mercy of the Father in our Season, but for one reason or another, not their fault, never obtained the Spirit become among those who Sleep in Jesus through the Night. Those who Sleep in Jesus are termed those who “soul sleep” by some. If God will reward the Remnant for holding to His Mercy in the face of affliction, He will also reward those who did the Law of Faith, without knowing it. However, the clue is “without knowing it”, one can’t “know it”, reject it, then assume they fit the “without knowing it” group.
There is a difference between the Women and the Houses, in the end the House of Judah will walk with the House of Israel, but not with the House of David. When the Door to the House of David is opened there will be at Peace in the land (Jere 3:18). Then God shall open the Windows of heaven (since the Door to heaven will be closed), then they will have Comfort (Jere 3:19). However, the house of Israel departed from her husband, and did so treacherously (Jere 3:10). God will bless the Remnant, yet the Wicked will benefit, but the blessing is not for their benefit, rather it’s for the benefit of the Remnant, a Quail Hunt is still a Quail Hunt. God will test His people to determine whether they Love Him, or love the riches. The Seventh church is the result of the testing, they equated the blessing as product of their goodness. The same mistake any of us can make, if we equate God’s blessing based on our giving, or our faith, or something else, yet we forget God gave us the seed to sow, the faith to use, everything else including the breath of life. If we didn’t have the seed to sow, we wouldn’t be able to sow, if God had not granted us the measure of faith, we wouldn’t have the faith, if God had not given us evidence to believe in, we would lack the God Is thinking to enter faith. The glory always goes to God, not mankind.
Babylon was a wicked city, Babylonia was a wicked nation, yet both had a purpose, even Pharaoh was raised for a purpose, both the Pharaoh and Babylon minds twist the thinking, assuming they are the reason for the purpose. The Strange Woman is in high places, or raised above something, but the Virtuous Woman is in the Highest Place. The one in high places forms high things coming against the knowledge of God, but the Virtuous Woman submits to her Husband. The Strange Woman is still above something, much like a “little horn”, but the Strange Woman has lips raising up against the Most High (Lam 3:62 & Dan 7:25). Spiritual wickedness is found in high places, not the highest place (Eph 6:12). High places have idols (Lev 26:30), we also find the Lord did lead him, where there was no strange god, He made him to ride on the high places of the earth, so He might eat of the increase of the fields, He made him to suck honey out of the rock, but then we find the “he” waxed fat, and forsook God, the provider, then provoked God to jealousy with strange gods (Deut 32:12-17). Sound like the Sixth church? Yes, the preview was written in the Two Witnesses.
The word Wickedness in the phrase spiritual wickedness is the Greek Poneria meaning Iniquity, or being unbalanced, or having the Spirit, but refusing to be spiritual. The context of high places shows the unbalanced, or unequal position will cause one to fall into idol worship. How do we war against it? By allowing the New Man to bring us into a spiritual position.
All this helps to explain why Paul is the only one denoting the Broken Body of Jesus in the Communion Service, he equates the cause to the failure, or iniquity of Judas. Why? Wasn’t Corinth carnal, acting as “men”? Was there not strife, envy and division among them? The perfect bunch to warn about discerning their ways. Judas is the beginning or Principality of the son of perdition, the Body of Jesus will be Broken at the Rapture, thus part of our Discerning of the Body is to have the Spirit to detect any thoughts contrary to the Mercy or Grace of God. Do we use slander, strife, or envy? Do we lack Wisdom and Mercy in dealing with the events, or the members of the Body? Are we hindering the work of the Spirit in our lives? If so, the table is the place to be clean and restored.
It’s simple, if there are no Christ Like people on the face of the Earth, there can be no antichrist, thus the Wicked change to the Lawless Ones in the Night, as they oppose the Law of Moses. They make the change in the progression of evil, from iniquity to sin. There are those of this group today, they are around, but not of us. They have a different “spirit”, centered in the he in the world, the spirit lusting to envy. All of us were governed by the spirit of disobedience at one time, but we were governed, we didn’t use it to our advantage. We found the Cross, or better the Holy Ghost found us, then we gained the Greater He, Another Comforter, the Stronger One, One who is fully able to get us through this. It’s the New Man who will Confess Jesus through us of a truth, for the Remnant it will be the Mercy of the Father. However, as the world reacts to Grace, they will also react to Mercy. The False Prophet being a vessel of dishonor, will be affronted by the appearance of Mercy. In our Season they are affronted by the appearance of the Greater He. It’s the same envy, only directed in a different direction.
The attribute of being a virgin in respect to the Remnant also explains what they will be doing in heaven, and why the Bride descends to get them, rather than the Lord taking them at the Rapture. They will be virgin bridesmaids, those who care for the Bride, while the Bride cares for her Husband, yet we will find the Lord also has Servants who will be raised on the last day, as they find their names in the Book of Life. Yes, we find more than one Reward, as we find more than one group. This goes to the concept of the Betrothal, as the Body of Christ we are in the Espousal Period, but according to custom, the Bride to be is then taken into the House of the Groom for a period of time, which we know as the 1,000 years, where She makes Herself ready, as She applies the finishing touches, so to speak, then comes the Wedding, with the Feast, then the Bridesmaids join the Bride, the Groom’s servants join Him, the Wedding Party is set.
Verse 5 confirms these are “sons of men”, back in John’s account Nathanael was sitting under the fig tree and heard, “We have found Him, of whom Moses in the Law and the Prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (Jn 1:44-45). John the Baptist during the same time called Jesus, “the Lamb of God” (Jn 1:36). Here is the connection to those events, the earthly ministry spoke of Grace, but operated in Mercy. Nathanael heard Jesus say, “Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile” (Jn 1:47). Guile is deceit, the false prophet will use deceit, the 144,000 will not. These are all elements of having the Mercy of God, they will not have the Spirit, or be Born Again, but they will nonetheless show the power of Mercy is a little strength, but enough to withstand the Wicked.
This area also joins with Romans 9:21-23, showing the vessels of dishonor. The teaching applies to both Seasons, simply because God’s Mercy endures forever. Has not the Potter power (authority) over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? (Rom 9:21). This is one lump, but two vessels? Since it’s an allegory we can learn much, the vessel can being as one unto dishonor, repent in our Season, have the Water applied, then be formed into one of honor. God will make some of honor, and some of dishonor, the determining factor is water (mercy), the more water the pliable the clay. This is not some hyper predestination where the person has no choice, rather it’s predicated on the person’s choices. Acceptance and application of Mercy is a choice, we made the choice to receive, we also make the choice to apply. “What if God, willing to Show His Wrath” (Rom 9:22), this has to be a clue to the Night. Romans 9:21 points to our Season, but the reasoning is found here in chapter 14. Continuing in Romans, “To make His Power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of dishonor of wrath fitted to destruction (perdition), thus He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of Mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory” (Rom 9:23). Then Paul makes the clarification, “even us”; “whom He has called” (Rom 9:24). If the Us fits, why say, “even us”? The application is still correct, the Season changed. Paul’s teaching, with these events show us the Mark on the 144,000 relates to Mercy, not Grace. It’s vital, we are in the Season of Grace, there is no need to bind the devil in the pit as long as we are around, thus our presence keeps him bound under in darkness. However, when we’re gone it’s the Season of a little strength, he must be bound.
So, then, if the earthly ministry was Mercy based, why did the disciples cast out devils, yet the 144,000 can’t? The anointing and ordaining by Jesus, here we find the Mercy of the Father, no where are the 144,000 told to heal the sick, raise the dead, or cast out devils. They will follow the Lamb, but do so by the Two Witnesses, the Law of Moses lacks any provision for casting out devils. This shows the voice of Many Waters was still in heaven, the Lamb was represented by the angel, thus the 144,000 are assigned a task, to make the enemies of Jesus His Footstool.
The Body of Christ began with the twelve, thus Jesus said “upon this Rock”, present tense, but then said, “I will build” future tense (Matt 16:18). The purposes are much different, the Night is not to judge the devil, it’s to test the vessels of clay. Some will mix with iron, some with water.
The wording “without fault” in verse 5 is the Greek Amomos it’s not the same as Justified before the God, it means blameless regarding the events at hand. Since they wept, rather than bow, they are blameless. Since they were of the earth, yet refused the Mark, they are blameless. They may be blamed by the False Prophet, but it’s not the issue is it? They are without fault “before the Throne of God”, therein is the issue.
When the False Prophet and Woman tell the people to follow them, the Remnant will remember Deuteronomy 13:1-3, which reads: “If there arise among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and gives you a sign or a wonder. And the sign or wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto you, saying Let us go after other gods, which you have not known, and let us serve them; you shall not hearken unto the words of the prophet, or the dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proves you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”. The connection to the Wicked is found in the phrase “dreamer of dreams”, as Jude pointed out (Jude 8). They were filthy dreamers in our Season, their hearts don’t change in the next. “Oh wow, dreams are evil”, not so, this doesn’t mean dreams are evil, it shows they have desires of the Night, while it is yet Day. It was once said, “what about the Christians in the next Season?”, the answer is “What Christians?”. They will either go in the Rapture, or sleep in Jesus through the Night.
Jesus told the Sixth church “you have kept the Word of My Patience”, rather than telling them they kept The Faith; the Tribulation is to test or try those on the earth, not to try the Faith of the saints (vs. 3:10). The Sixth church has not denied the Name of Jesus, yet to them it’s Mercy, the foundation for the Son of man as Jehovah, thus they are the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman, they don’t have the Seed of God, thus the Seed of God is for Salvation, the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman toward Judgment.
This also explains why Jesus told the Sixth church He would write upon them the name of His God, then said He would give them a New Name, which Name still pertains to Mercy (v 3:12). The correlation showing the Sixth church as the 144,000 is clearer from the verses, showing the change in Seasons. They will receive the Name of the Father before the last resurrection, showing Jesus or Jehovah will not be the Mediator, rather the Two Witnesses will be the course of Mediation. This also connects to Matthew 25 showing the sheep are blessed of the Father, the goats are rejected. Also we know the Church is built on the Rock, Paul said the Rock is Christ, but this group is marked on Zion, the foundation for Jerusalem of the earth. Paul also said “every man is his own order: Christ the Firstfruits; afterward they who are Christ’s at His coming” (I Cor 10:4 & 15:23). This gives us the Order, those who are the Firstfruits have already become Partakers of the First Resurrection, now it’s the Season of the Night for those who belong to Christ, they promise is still in the Record, but they have to wait for His coming.
The Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth, and the Woman will all find fault in the Remnant, but there is no fault found in them before the Throne of God. They will sing a “New Song”, showing their Season is the Night, thus we have a New Song as well, one pointing to Salvation, not Judgment; therefore, there is a New Song for the Day, and one for the Night.
Ezekiel shows the angels came from The Way, from the Higher Gate, the use of the word Gate points to the Remnant. The angel goes through the midst of the city Jerusalem marking only those who sigh and cry for the Abominations done in the midst thereof, this is before the plagues, thus the protection of the Mark comes before the plagues, the Everlasting Gospel comes with the angels. The 144,000 will be marked On their foreheads, the Authority (Name) will be written in their foreheads (Ezek 9:4). Then the Glory of the God of Israel has Gone Up, but the glory of the Moon and Sun remains, bringing the knowledge of the Lord (Ezek 9:3). The Remnant will follow the Lamb, which means they will hold to the Testimony written in the Law and Prophets, in the end they will hear “Come up hither”.
The precious “sons of Zion” are comparable to fine gold, they are earthen vessels, not heavenly, but the daughter of God’s people is cruel, like the ostriches “in the wilderness” (Lam 4:2-3). It would be better to be slain by the Sword than die of hunger (absence of the Scriptures – Lam 4:9). They respected not the persons of the priests (offices), they favored not the elders, their end has come, but the sons of Zion shall be saved (Lam 4:16-18). The sons of Zion are the 144,000, here is one of the few places we see them referred to as “sons”. The purpose is to divide them from the Strange Woman, indicating they are Virgins. The Woman has given her hand to the Egyptians, but the Assyrians are waiting for their gain, thus the lust was there, where the bait is, so is the hook (Lam 5:6).
The idol worship of the Wicked does reach an end, only not as they suppose, the joy in their heart has ceased (Lam 5:15). The promised crown has fallen from their heads (Lam 5:16). The Woman and the Wicked of Judah have invaded the holy place with the Image of Jealousy, but the Remnant have remained virgins. They refused to be married to the evil, they remain disassociated from the Woman, nor do they connect to the false prophet (Second Beast). Their reward awaits, the resurrection unto Life.
Rev 14:6-13
Verse 6 begins by telling us “I saw another angel” which might make it seem as if there was one prior, but then in verse 8 we read, “there followed another angel”, then in verse 9 it’s “the third angel”, making this one the first. What gives? The angel who stood with the 144,000 was not counted among the Seven, rather the Woes are not directed to the 144,000, they are directed to the Sea, Earth and Woman. This is the same angel we found back in 8:7 who sounded, then hail followed the fire directed at the earth. After the third part is destroyed, then comes the Saying, the warning is clear, if they receive it. This will be the same angel we will see in Revelation 19:2 pouring out the Vial causing the noisome and grievous sore. Going back to the three part question we find the Saying equates to “what shall be the sign of Your coming?” (Matt 24:3). A Saying then is a Sign, the Sign in this case is “the hour of His judgment is come” (vs. 7).
Here we find the difference between Chapters 7 and 14, in Chapter 7 when the 144,000 were picked from the tribes it was at the Fifth Seal, but in Chapter 14 it’s just before the first angel, which would be after the Seventh Seal is opened. Chapter 14 is the end of the Test, Chapter 7 the beginning of the Test. In Chapter 7 they were Sealed, in Chapter 14 we find the Father’s Name (authority) impeded. They refused to receive the Mark of the Beast, after they obtained the Mercy of the Father. This is akin to us, we are Sealed with the Holy Spirit of Promise, but it doesn’t mean we can’t turn and grieve the same Holy Spirit with corrupt communication, but it also means we are in a Process, the end thereof is far greater than any testing we go through.
This second Angel brings the Warning in the Everlasting Gospel, but if Gospel means Good News, what is so Good about, “for the hour of His Judgment is come”? Much when we add the call for repentance. The Good News is there was a route of escape, this is after the 144,000 are promised to be redeemed, this has to be near the very end. The angels enter at Jacob’s Trouble, the very short time, making it near the end.
The word Everlasting is the Greek Aionios meaning Without beginning or end, or Since the world began, indicating the work done in Genesis chapter 1. This Gospel is specific in nature, both in content and location as note, “dwell on the earth”. Going back to 13:14 we again find if the False Prophet forced all those who “dwell on the earth” to make and worship the image, why even present the Everlasting Gospel? Even if they did partake, here we find God is presenting an escape, whether they take it or not is still up to them. Even to the point where it’s appointed unto all men to die once, then comes the judgment we find man has moral free choice. They can accept the call of the Everlasting Gospel, or blaspheme heaven.
We also find from verses 1-5 the context is the 144,000, but in verse 6 it’s “every nation, kindred, tongue and people”, pointing to the Sea and Earth, so what about the rest of the House of Israel? By this time they fit “every nation”.
The phrase “midst of heaven” is used three times in the Book of Revelation, back in 8:13 it was an angel saying, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth”, this angel came after the fourth angel (vs. 8:12). Here in Chapter 14 is the second use, then in 19:17 it’s an angel standing in the “Sun” who cries to the fowls. The phrase doesn’t mean the highest heaven, rather it points to the area just above the earth (Deut 4:11).
The angel carrying the everlasting Gospel is not the same as the one who cries “Woe, woe, woe”, rather we find this angel comes before the Third (vs. 9), making this angel the second one.
Also at this time we don’t see these Angels blowing their trumpets (sound), or pouring out the vials, this area gives us the Sayings of the angels. The Saying, the Sound and the Vial all point to the three part question and answer. What is the difference between a Sound and a Saying? The Sound comes from the trumpets, the Saying from the Angel. Therefore, we are looking at the Sayings, this angel is the one who brings the Everlasting Gospel, which reads, “Fear God, and give Glory to Him; for the hour of His Judgment is come: and worship Him who made Heavens, and Earth, and the Sea and the Fountains of Waters” (vs. 6). No where in this Gospel do we find Jesus, the Cross, the Resurrection, the Accession, Pentecost, the Spirit, Grace, Salvation, or any of the aspects of the Gospel of Peace unto Salvation. Did the angel miss it? Wait, this angel simply hasn’t read Romans, right? Hardly, the Everlasting Gospel points to Judgment, the Gospel of Peace is not Everlasting on the earth, it has an end at the opening of the Fifth and Sixth Seals. We are not to preach the Everlasting Gospel, we preach the Gospel of Peace, as the Power unto Salvation, this is the Day of Salvation, not the Night of Judgment. However, the Everlasting Gospel does point to Mercy, the escape is “give glory to Him” up to this point the only ones who did were the 144,000.
This explains why Paul said, If any preach another Gospel let them be accursed. The other Gospel isn’t wrong in content, it’s wrong for the Season. Preaching the Everlasting Gospel out of Season would be akin to preaching the Gospel of Peace in the Night. Why would it be wrong in the Night? It would the attempt to crucify the Son of God Twice.
It’s clear the Beast of the Earth is carrying out the devil’s plan, which was to destroy the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. Like the events at the tree, the surface would appear as if he is successful, but the arrogant rascal has no idea he is headed right to the lake of fire. If nothing else is clear it’s the arrogance of the devil, here we see the Record laid out for us, the Season of Grace, the Rapture, those who Sleep in Jesus, the 144,000 resisting the Mark as the receive the Mercy of the Father, the promise of being redeemed, then the Judgment, then either the resurrection unto Life, or the one unto damnation. Then the greatest News, New Jerusalem in heaven. Yet, the devil sets his goal to change it so he can have his agenda become the result. This same arrogance is seen in his children, they presume they can change events, or even force change on people so they can make their personal agendas come to pass. Who does it sound like? Judas? Yes, the nature of the son of perdition is complete independence, so much so their personal agenda is more important to them than the Calling of God.
Although the devil had a plan, it nonetheless fits the Will of God, but it doesn’t mean the devil is in the Will of God, rather God has it all in hand, it is written in the Report, the purpose is the finish of the race. Why is it so important to hold a “fear of God”? God has given us a purpose in fearing Him, although we know our fear is based in missing God, or interfering in His plan, it’s nonetheless a fear. If the Wicked can get us to fear the Beast, fear the mark of the Beast or fear what is to come, we fall subject to what we fear. If we fear God, we become subject to Him. This was made clear by Job who said, “the thing I fear the most has come upon me”. If we fear God, then He comes to us, if we fear the Beast, guess who shows up for dinner?
There are various types of fear, the fear of the Wicked, and having a fear of God are completely different. Our fear of God is based in a respect for who God Is, our faith begins with our belief of “God Is” making our holy fear of God a part of our belief and faith. But a fear of God beating our brains out is not the same as a respect for God. God is holy and just, thus God is not partial. He will not wave the rules because we go to the right church, or join the right denomination, or reject all denominations. The methods for each of us are the same, deny the self, pick up our cross and follow Jesus. The Remnant are to stand in mercy in order to follow the Lamb.
This shows how much God is in control, even if man does something evil, God has penned it in the plan. Most of our problems come when something doesn’t go the way we think it should, then we blame someone for stopping the plan of God, a carnal reaction lacking belief and faith in God. It ends giving God no credit for knowing All Things from the beginning. Even if it doesn’t go the way we want, it’s going the way God knows it will, it’s far better to submit and give the Glory to the God in heaven, then curse man. It stands if God saw it, He knows about it, even if man puts up walls, or barriers, God has made a way through or around them, thus instead of cursing the darkness, find the Precious.
All the sounds, sayings and vials, plus seeing one-third, all show the longsuffering of God, and the removal of “excuses”. “Ah, Gee if You would have made it plain and clear”, “I didn’t understand all those parables, allegories and metaphors”, “I thought it was those preachers you gave me causing all this”, “if you would have bound the false prophet with the devil, then I wouldn’t have worshipped the beast”. Genesis 3:10-13 display the excuses of man, the man said it was the woman God gave him, was it the woman? Yes, she gave also to her husband with her; and he did eat (Gen 3:6). Did God give the woman to the man? Yes, the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, then God took the female from Adam bringing forth the woman (Gen 2:21-23). Eve said “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat” (Gen 3:13). The word Beguiled is the Hebrew Nasha meaning To lead astray; did the serpent lead her astray? Yes, he was more subtle than any “beast of the field”, the metaphor Beast of the Field points to the Second Beast, or the sons of perdition. The serpent remained silent in the face of God, yet even silence isn’t an excuse. All three give us the excuses of man, blame God, blame people, blame the devil, or remain silent, yet none of these moved God to compassion. Did God know what would happen at the Tree? Yes, He created Adam perfect for the purpose, but in the creation we find a warning to anyone who have their sins forgiven. Adam began without sin, thus he is a type and shadow of one who has their sins forgiven, but still desires to test the Commandment, or to see their own agenda played out regardless of who it hurts. Was the Commandment plain enough? Yes, if you eat, in dying you shall die. Paul said the woman was deceived, the man knew what was happening. In the End the Woman will be deceived, the “man” (Beast of the field) will know what is going on, because he caused it. However the same Woman has the Law and Prophets as Witnesses; no excuse.
We will find Six of these angels (14:6, 14:8, 14:9, 14:7 & 14:18), corresponding to the six men found in Ezekiel. This adds to the concept of the three questions and answers. We found the Sound of the Angel, now the Saying of the Angel, next will be the Angels pouring out the vials. Now wait, wasn’t there Seven Angels? Yes, but the Seventh isn’t at issue here, since there will be no human physically alive on the earth to Hear his saying, but he will pour his vial into the Air, not on the earth.
The end of the earth points to Genesis 2:1 where we recall how the wording “Were Finished” comes from the Hebrew Kalah meaning Ready to be destroyed. God produced the separation between those who truly love Him, from those who don’t. The choices are presented, the result is still in God’s hand, control is found in who has the last word. Yet, the Word here is to Repent, give God the glory, avoid what is coming quickly. God is doing what He has always done, reaching to save man from himself.
Paul said “who knowing the judgment of God, they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them who do them” (Rom 1:32). We know sin lays at the door, if any man says he has no sin, he is a liar. We know as long as we have the flesh the spirit of man lusting to envy may be ineffective but laying in wait; however, we do have the Greater He, giving us the advantage.
Everyone who enters the kingdom of heaven has to make a decision to become Born Again to have the Living Waters, or reject the entire premise for the old man. Not one of us hasn’t tasted of Pride, Religious Conceit or Emotions running our lives, yet the Vessels of Honor hold to Mercy as part of their Faith toward God. Yes, we missed it from time to time, yes we are weak at times, but when we were weak the Greater He in us is strong, we pray our prayer of faith, Jesus will raise us, again we gain in the process.
The progress here shows the Tabernacles in heaven were promised before the foundation of the world, the End was in hand before the Beginning, then came the Sea and Earth, then the Fountain of Waters, where can we find this? In Genesis 1:1 we see the Heaven and Earth, but in 1:2 we find the Earth is without Form (wrong Image), Darkness on the face of the deep, then the Spirit of God moves over, not in, the Face of the Waters, all this shows the plan in hand before man. The Fountain of Waters is not the Living Waters, it’s not the River of Life, but it is Mercy based.
After the Everlasting Gospel is preached then comes the Second angle, but if we add all this to the “Days of Noah”, we find the people rejected the concept of Judgment. Thus the next premise seeking for them to repent as when the Second angel says “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, the Great City, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (vs. 14:8). Psalm 137:8 says: “O daughter of Babylon, who are to be destroyed; happy shall He be, who rewards you as you have served us”. Isaiah 13:1-3 says, “The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz did see. Lift up a banner upon the High Mountain, exalt the Voice unto them, shake the hand, so they may go into the gates of the nobles. I have commanded My sanctified ones, I have also called My mighty ones for My anger, even them who rejoice in My highness. The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the LORD of hosts mustered the host of the battle”. Isaiah 21:9 says, “And, behold, here comes a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he has broken unto the ground”. Jeremiah 50:40 says, “As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein”. Jeremiah 51:7-9 says, “Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, who made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her; take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed. We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed”, indicating the seven church invaded by the Wicked.
It becomes obvious this Babylon is a she, who is a Cup in the Lord’s hand, but the Cup in the Woman’s hand is not the same as the Cup in the Lord’s hand. This shows the Woman has a cup, but she herself is also a Cup, the Cup of God’s wrath. It’s obvious God is in control. The Woman is not the ancient city of Babylon, rather the False Prophet used the means of the wounded head to bring idol worship, as the Woman received it she became Babylon. Therefore, the Woman entered the bed of adultery, God can’t tell one from the other, the two became one in their own destruction.
This Angel has a Sound of the Great Mountain burning with fire being cast into the Sea, this Angel has a Vial which is poured onto the Sea, it all relates and ties in. It’s not a Mystery any longer, we have a Choice in this Season, walk in the Spirit, or walk in the flesh. This Mountain is Zion, thus the Lord will save those of Zion when the Woman brings Zion into the Sea, this goes back to Isaiah when he was told “because the daughters of Zion are haughty” (Isa 3:16), with “Zion shall be redeemed with Judgment” (Isa 1:27). From this we find we are redeemed by Grace, but the Remnant through Judgment. This ties in with 14:3 showing they are redeemed from the earth.
The Mountain of the Lord shall cast Herself into the Sea, but it’s when the Mountain is taken over by the City and False Prophet. Even if the Remnant are still connected to Zion, they know God can redeem them no matter where they are. The Remnant know the power of submission when it’s connected to Mercy, instead of fighting the Woman, they present the Everlasting Gospel as they submit.
The Woman joins with the First Beast of the Sea as the Mountain joins the Sea, but she does so based on the words of the Second Beast, but the Remnant In Zion shall be saved at the last resurrection. In this we don’t pray “I thank you O God, for I am not a son of perdition”, rather we pray “O God keep me from the evil, purge me, clean me, wash me in the Blood, never let me be deceived”.
The Third Angel follows, all those who did worship the Beast, his image or receive the mark shall drink of the Wrath of the Wine of God. This is a direct correlation to the Strange Woman, coupled with the Beast of the Earth. This Wine is not the Wine as the Blood of Jesus, this is the Winepress, or the Fourth Cup of the Wrath of God.
This angel has a sound, as the Star falls from heaven. Those run by the antichrist spirit in our Season, become among the False Prophet in the next were lost forever at the Rapture, but here we find those who failed to repent after hearing the Everlasting Gospel or seeing the Mountain of the Lord fall into the Sea, are also lost. Babylon has fallen, the Star has fallen, Zion is being mixed with the Beast of the Sea. The Rivers and Fountains of Waters are killed. The Star becomes Wormwood which is Bitterness, if we fall from Grace, the Root Of Bitterness will spring up in the latter days, which Root has defiled many. This Angel also has a vial which turns the Rivers and Fountains of Water into blood, the Angel of the Waters watched as the fountains of waters and rivers were removed (vs. 9-10). It’s done, not all the efforts, but at this point in time the Law and Prophets have been made ineffective by the Beast of the Earth and the Woman, now they begin to kill the Remnant, removing Mercy from the earth. The Woman and False Prophet form their plan to kill the saints, the Smoke of their torment is already seen. They used the Authority of the First Beast, they sat in the Seat of Satan, claiming to be like God, they used the power of Satan, yet the pit isn’t opened yet, this is all based on the choices of man. They refused to let God’s people go, they preached Liberty in our Season, yet they were in bondage to the flesh, now bondage is their means applied others. The Second Beast is judged wanton, the purposed Star has fallen, just as Babylon has fallen, fallen.
Ezekiel 38:22 says “And I will plea against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will Rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people who are with him, and overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone”. Looking for the latter rain? Here it is.
It’s also important to keep the parties in their proper positions, we don’t want to make the error of saying the “Woman” is Jezebel, true both are noted as female, true both are spoken about, but Jezebel was not a city, rather Jezebel, the doctrines of Balaam, and the doctrines of the Nicolaitanes were all within, the Woman is a City, the 144,000 are marked on the Mount, not in the City. The “space” for the children of Jezebel to repent is being presented, God’s longsuffering is amazing, we should praise Him for it. When Paul said, “we who are alive and remain”, it’s what he meant. He felt the Rapture could happen at any second, he saw nothing undone, yet God and His longsuffering saw you and I, as He waited. Praise ye the Lord, this is the Day the Lord has made, let us Rejoice and be Glad in it!
Verse 14 is perhaps one of the more important verses, helping us define and understand Revelation 20:4. If Paul was right and we meet the Lord in the Air, there we will forever remain with Him, and if these verses relate to Judgment, then why do we see the mark, name and number in Revelation 20:4, yet it’s before the 1,000 years? Revelation 20:4 begins with “I saw thrones and they sat upon them, and judgment”, not Salvation. Also he sees “souls”, not people in white robes, yet they were “beheaded for the Witness of Jesus”, not physically beheaded, rather this is for the Witness of Jesus, the Witness is the Water, Blood and Spirit based in the New Covenant. The 144,000 have the Testimony of Jesus in the Law and Prophets, we have the Witness if we are Born Again. Then we find “and for the word of God”, the Word is Jesus, but the Word became the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Then we read, “which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received the mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”. It doesn’t take long to see there are many mysteries here, why “neither”? Why is Lived and Reigned different? Why say Jesus, then Christ? Could all this related to both Seasons indicating something here in Chapter 14? Yes, the word Lived is the Greek Zao meaning To have true Life, it was associated with the Kingdom of God. The word Reigned is the Greek Basileuo meaning to be a king, or to reign. The Sixth church has the synagogue of Satan worship at their feet, the Sixth are pillars in the Temple. Taking this back here to 14:11 we find the smoke of torment, just prior was the outpouring of the wrath of God. Those who “worship the beast and his image”, AND “whosever received the mark of his name”. The conjunction divides this, it’s not just the “mark”, but the “mark of his name”, or the mark of his authority. If we put them side by side we may gain something:
Rev-20:4
Worshipped the beast
Neither his image
Neither received his mark on foreheads or hands
Rev – 11:4
Worshipped the beast and his image
Received the mark of his name
There are differences, in 11:4 it’s worship the beast and his image, which is present tense, but in 20:4 it’s worshiped the beast, past tense, the word Worship is the same Greek word in both cases. The word Mark is the Greek Charagma it was used to show ownership, not mere association. In classic Greek it was used when someone put a mark on an animal to prove ownership. We just read where the Father’s Name was written on the foreheads of the 144,000, they promised to be redeemed. In our case we are Sealed by the Holy Spirit as a sign of God’s ownership of our souls. If we skip down to verse 14:13 we find those who die in the Lord, then “saith the Spirit”. It has to point to the Day, we look at these things as way ahead in the future, but they are still in the world today. The promise here is we have entered the Rest of God, we Believed, thus we are viewing all those who make to New Jerusalem. It doesn’t take a real genius to see the premise; however, there is a combination of things to take place prior.
In Revelation 20:4 we find a progression beginning with worshiping the beast, then the image, then receiving the mark of ownership. This has to be a clue, when we came to Jesus did the devil own us? No, if so we couldn’t leave his domain. The prince of the power of air is the spirit of disobedience, but nonetheless we heard the call of the Cross, then moved from one realm to another, there wasn’t a thing the devil could do about it. What makes ownership? The house? This relates to those who draw back to perdition, as they give their life away, by accepting the Ownership of the Beast of the Sea. The Beast of the Sea is not the entire Sea, just as the Beast of the earth is not the entire earth, it’s clear in Revelation 13:14 & 14:3. It’s when one comes to the Cross, then goes back to perdition making them a son of perdition. Peter says, they return like a dog to its vomit, yet they were saved from the world (II Pet 2:19-22). These are not backsliders, backsliders walk away, rather these people stay in the Body, but separated, while they promise liberty, they themselves are “servants” of corruption (II Pet 2:19). They are spots in our feasts of love, when they feast with us, they are feeding themselves on fear, as they draw back to perdition (Jude 12 & Heb 10:38-39). This is not someone jumping in the middle of our chest and planting a computer chip in our eyebrow, this is someone who was saved, yet turned back to join to the Beast of the Sea by using the same authority. The danger is in both Seasons, the “Image” is the same Greek word used in the Book of Revelation, which is the Greek Eikon meaning a likeness or representation, it was used in reference to the stamp of a monarch on a coin, the Eikon image always assumes a prototype, not merely represents, but what it was drawn from. The impression on a coin is the monarch, it looks like them, showing who caused the coin to be made. The mark of the beast is not being in the world, it’s remaining worldly by using the he in the world, rather than obtaining the Greater He (I Jn 4:1-4).
Verse 12 connects to this showing both Seasons, with the last first, and the first last, here is our Patience, the ability to stay the course, both for the 144,000 who keep the Commandments of God, and for us who have the Faith of Jesus. It’s a division, yet containing some very Good News. The Faith of Jesus is victorious, it has blazed the path of Righteousness, He is our forerunner, thus we are told to Follow Jesus.
Back in Chapter 12 we found a like division in verse 11, as “they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb, and by the Word of their Testimony”, which is connected to, “loved not their souls unto the death”, these are acts of faith; but in verse 17 it was the Remnant of her Seed who keep the Commandments of God, and have the Testimony of Jesus. We find a like division here, one group keeps the Commandments of God, which group are the 144,000, or Remnant, or Small Flock, whichever one prefers. The second group are those who have the Faith of Jesus, which means us in this Season. This verse covers all Seven churches, the last shall be first here, both have the Faith. The word Patience applied to the Remnant refer to them keeping the Commandments of God, they shall be last, the other five have the call to hold to the Faith of Jesus, they shall be first, yet both groups face the First and Second Beasts. In our Season the Beast of the Earth has the larger horn, in the next the smaller, thus we must have the Faith of Jesus in the Season. Now we know why it’s so important to keep the possession of the words intact when we translate. If we mistake this for our measure of faith, we lose, it will look ahead, but sees nothing. Our Hope is what Jesus has done by His Faith, thus we are of The Faith.
Verse 13 tells us there was a Voice from heaven, but wasn’t John taken through the Door? Yes, but he also measured the Temple on earth. The phrase “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord” has two words for dead and die. The word for dead is the Greek Nekros meaning a corpse or dead person, but it was also used in the phrase Dead in Christ (I Thess 4:16). The word for Die is the Greek Apothesko meaning to die off, this is a stronger word it was used in reference to “die to sin”, or to be “dead to the Law”, or to have no more dependence on righteousness or justification as a dead man would. This is not the Greek Teleutao (to end ones life), or the Greek Apollumi (to be destroyed), or even the Greek Thnesko meaning to physically die. The term “henceforth” relates back to “Write these things”, showing it was then when John was on the Island, indicating he was in a place before the 1,000 years, since the Rapture hasn’t happened yet, it’s still the Day.
The added confirmation is “they may rest from their labors”, in the Book of Hebrews we read how there remains a Rest to the people of God, for he who has entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His (Heb 4:9-10). The wording Has Ceased in Hebrews 4:10 is the Greek Katapauo meaning to make to cease, or bring an end to.
All this is just before the next verse, which is Judgment related. Verses 11-13 are to us, then he tells us there are cups many, we are not assigned the Forth Cup of God’s wrath, or the Golden Cup of Babylon, but we do have the Third Cup with the Blood of Jesus as the New Covenant. These verses are hope for both Seasons, they tell us there is a reward for staying the course, whether it’s those of the Faith, or the Remnant.
Rev 14:14-20
Clearly this points to Judgment, the time when it’s appointed unto all men to die once is near complete. We see Jesus as He is “sitting” on one Cloud, but doesn’t He come back on a white horse? Here He is above a Cloud of Witnesses, showing He is the voice of many waters back in 14:2. This Cloud is noted in 10:1, as the Cloud of Witnesses made up of the 144,000, prior the angel was clothed with the Cloud, here Jesus is over the Cloud, just as He stands on Zion when the 144,000 are marked. When He again sits then it’s over, done, these are the ones He will take back with Him to the Father.
In verse 15 we find the Temple, crying to Him who sat on the cloud, which we know is Jesus (vs. 14). This angel tells Jesus to Trust in Your sickle and reap: for the time is for You to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Okay, we just saw the one sitting on the Cloud was like unto the Son of man, the same description John gave us back in Chapter 1, yet we have this angel barking orders, who does he think he is, anyhow? He is bringing a message from the Father, the Night is in the Father’s power. This is still Jesus as the Son of man, not the Son of God, or God the Son.
This Crown is very important, it’s different from the many crowns Jesus brings with Him. This is a Crown of Life, the crowns He returns with are not the Greek Stephanos as we see here, rather they are the Greek Diadema. When Jesus returns, the Clouds follow, here Jesus is Above the Cloud. This is different than Paul’s comments, the Dead in Christ in the Clouds, Jesus in the Air, those of us who remain are caught up to them. Jesus promised Smyrna a Crown, He told Philadelphia to hold fast as they watch, so no man take their Crown (vs. 3:11). Who would take their crown? The Beast of the Earth. At this point in time the angel is calling for the Harvest, yet there is more angels to come. This would be at the time the fourth angel sounds. It would also be at the time a Third of the Sun, Moon and Stars are smitten.
This is a promise, the Remnant have their Crown in hand, they held fast, no man took it, yet they were overcome. At the same time we find another mystery. Going back 8:12 we can obtain a better view of the “one-third”. In 8:12 we have one-third of the Sun, one-third of the Moon, and one-third of the Stars, then One-third was darkened, making four-thirds. If a third is taken from the Nation, and a Third from Zion, and a Third from the Tribes, we have a mystery, these are the same items metaphorically seen about the Woman. The Sun is her covering, the Moon at her feet, the Twelve Stars as her crown. The 144,000 come from the Twelve Stars, both the 144,000 and the Twelve Stars are from the Sun (nation). This is the division of Three’s, the part darkened are those left when the pit opens as the Sun is covered with darkness, then the Moon will lose her light, since those with the Lesser Light would be killed.
The Sickle is in the hand of Jesus, yet we know from Hebrews the Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of His Kingdom, what happened? When the Rapture takes place a Change takes place, a Change so great it will move the world from Salvation to Judgment. Most of this is defined by the title, “like unto the Son of man”, going back to the figure of Jesus John saw in verses 1:12-16, thus this Cloud is the 144,000, Jesus is Above them, He is not on the earth with them. This can’t be the Rapture since it happened before the Angels came forth, in fact it happened before the Sixth Seal was broken. This one Cloud refers to those who stood with the Two Witnesses, this is the Report seen prior in 14:3-4, thus the Cloud is their promised position. Jesus being above the 144,000 shows He is not on the planet at then; but He is approaching quickly.
The Fourth Angel comes forth, telling Jesus it’s time to Thrust in His Sickle, He does, yet we find another angel will Thrust in his sickle as well (vs. 15-16 & 19). When Jesus Thrusts in His Sickle it’s to take the Remnant out of the picture to shorten the time for the elects sake. Those who failed to pray about the Hour will find the Second Sickle is far more painful than the first.
The fifth angel comes out of the temple having a sharp sickle, but this is also the angel who opens the pit (vs. 9:1). The Fifth Seal bound the devil, here the Fifth angel releases the devil, but it was the people’s attitude toward God causing the devil to be loosed. They failed to bind the strongman, causing the darkness of the devil to be loosed. Herein we find those who are darkened are demon possessed.
The sixth angel comes from the altar, which had the power of fire, this is the same angel whose voice is heard from the golden altar (vs. 9:13), as the same angel who turns Loose the four angels of the Euphrates (vs. 9:14). Now why the Euphrates? Oh, it’s the border to the land. What is the importance? The border is gone, the Promised Land has now mixed with the kings of the earth, and the kings of the world, the bed of adultery is full to the brim. The very purpose was to separate them from the world, yet here in the end they join to the world. The Mountain is in the Sea, the Sun is darkened, the Wicked are mixed into the whole mess, they are all shaking their fists at God.
Rev 15:1-8
John will show us a Sign, not just any Sign, but one Great and Marvelous, when he sees this Sign the Seven Angels are in heaven. What is this Sign? The seven angels, and the same Greek word used here for “sign” is also used for Wonder, and for Miracles (vs. 12:1, 12;3, 13:13-14, 16:14 & 19;20). We also find this Greek word used for the “miracles” of the false prophet, the first time we find this Greek word in the New Testament, it comes from the Pharisees who wanted a Sign from Jesus (Matt 12:38). A mystery? Perhaps, but we find the false prophet will give a sign, but Jesus wouldn’t, thus showing the Wicked speak of Jesus, but they never use Jesus as their role model. They talk about Warfare, but the methods they use are not found in the Bible, their methods were not done by the disciples, nor by Jesus. They talk a good fight, but fight it foolishly. In this case it shows something was missing before.
However, rather than see four beasts, John now sees the seven angels, they have the seven last plagues, all relating to the Wrath of God (vs. 1). Since the angels have yet to go out, this would be after the Sixth Seal, but before the 144,000 are seen on Mount Zion in 14:1. This could get real confusing, except it’s the Report, yet going back to the Report we found before the Throne was a “sea of glass like unto a crystal” (vs. 4:6). However here we find some added elements, some of them relate to the “sign”, or something promised, or an addition discovered in the Report after the seals were opened. New Jerusalem is seen as clear as Crystal (Rev 21:11), we came from the Sea, thus the metaphors point to us. The addition of fire is interesting, we are baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire. Yet, John sees a them who “had gotten” the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass? How dare they? Get off man, you’re standing on my head! No, this shows they will come later, they are not mingled into the Sea of glass, they came last. They will sing the “Song of Moses” and the “Song of the Lamb”, the latter being their New Song. Back in Chapter 5 in the Report we had a hint of this, first the Song showing God has redeemed us out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation, relating to Gentile, this is after He has made us kings and priests, which only fits the Body and Church (vs. 5:10 & 1:6). However, the hint is found in 5:11, the two groups of ten thousand times ten thousand, with the thousands of (from) thousands. It’s what we are seeing here.
The Greek word for Sea is Thalassa meaning The sea as it relates to the shore, thus showing this group came from the Sea, and the Sand of the Sea. This group has One Cloud of those taken Captive by Jesus, another Cloud for the Dead in Christ, another for the Remnant, which we just saw Jesus standing above.
The Greek Pelagos is also used for Sea, it means An uninterrupted expanse of water, thus it depends on which side of the Shore one is on. John was standing on the Sand of the Sea, or the Shore, which placed the Sea of the world on one side, the Earth on the other. This Sea of Glass represents a people taken from the Sea who have been washed clean in the Blood.
We have Three Songs, one from the Great Cloud of Witnesses who were taken captive, now are waiting under the Altar with the rest of the Dead in Christ for us. The other is the Song of the Lamb for those washed in the Blood, of which we are a part. Then the Song of Moses, which came before the Law, not After. The song of Moses was sung by Moses just after crossing the Sea, just after coming out of Egypt, just after taking the Passover, but just Before entering the Wilderness (Ex 15:1-19). This song shows the Remnant are not in the Wilderness with the Woman, they are on Zion as the Promised Land, thus the City is located in the nation, but metaphorically she is nonetheless in the wilderness.
Verse 3 is one part of the song, if no one knows, how come we do? The no one are those who follow the Beast, they come against the Remnant, they don’t sing this song. The first line tells the story, as we read “Who shall not Fear You”; Jude tells us the false ones have no Fear (Jude 12), since they slander, lie and do all sorts of manipulation, this one Issue will make the difference in the End. Then in verse 4, “for Your judgments are made manifest”, pointing directly to the Judgment. The wording Made Manifest is the Greek Phaneroo meaning something made visible which was not before. Surely they knew about Judgment? Oh, it’s right as the Days of Noah, it also points back to “every eye shall see Him” (vs. 1:7), if He is the invisible made manifest, then He wasn’t on the earth during the 1,000 years.
The word “Just” in verse 3 is the Greek Dikaiokrisis meaning A Just or Righteous sentence. This would seem strange in light of the saying, “the just shall live by faith”; however, we live by faith to be Justified in order to avoid the Judgment. The word Judgments in verse 4 is the Greek Dikaioma meaning A Decision of law based in some Righteousness or Judgment, neither means Justified by Grace, or holding a Righteous position, in fact they point to the refusal to enter the Justification, or the rejection of God’s Righteousness for self-righteousness.
Also the phrase, “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your Name”, goes right back to the First Angel and the Everlasting Gospel (vs. 14:7). This shows the progression, it went from the Sea of Glass in heaven, to the 144,000 on earth, to the seven angels going forth, to the Report showing the Smaller Flock will make it.
We also see a connection between the Fear of God, and the ability to Glorify His Name (vs. 4). How can we truly Glorify His Name unless we hold a Fear of God as well? We can’t, the fear of missing God, or interfering in His order keeps in the area where we can Glorify His Name.
Afterward, John looks and sees, of all things, the temple of the tabernacle, what is it? At no time was the Temple and Tabernacle joined, is the man out of his mind! The word Temple is the Greek Naos it was used for the Temple in Jerusalem, but only for the holy place and holy of holies. Another interesting point is the Testimony we find the Testimony in the Tabernacle (Ex 30:26), the ark of the testimony (Ex 31:7), the Vail of the testimony (Lev 24:3), but then in Numbers 1:50 we find the Levities were in charge of the “testimony of the tabernacle”. The Tabernacle was the protection for the Testimony therein, the Testimony was the Mercy Seat, and all it contained. Prior in Chapter 1 John turned and saw one like the Son of man in the midst of the Menorah, which would have been in the holy place. Here he sees the Tabernacle of the Testimony in heaven opened. It makes no sense; how can the Tabernacle be in the Testimony? Oh, it’s the Tabernacle of the Testimony, much different. The use of the word Temple here still points to Judgment. The Mercy Seat is open, it would seem just the opposite, but God’s Judgment is based in Mercy. Man will not be judged on Grace, but on Mercy, thus Jesus returns as the Son of man, not the Son of God.
Verse 6 shows the angels all coming forth, this would be at the beginning of Jacob’s Trouble. The angels are dressed for judgment, the time for the last resurrection is near at hand. The temple is filled with the Smoke from the Glory of God, no man can enter till the seven plagues were fulfilled (vs. 7-8).
The Nations will come and worship at His footstool, which shows the synagogue of Satan as the Footstool, thus the Sixth and Seventh churches will be used of the Father to expose the enemies of Jesus, yet He will nonetheless give them their last chance. Then every eye will see Him, as He will come with the Clouds, but the Clouds had to be with Him, before they could come back, Amen?
This also shows the end result, although the Wicked will be in the lake of fire, they will still bow and confess Jesus is Lord, but it will be too late. They finally get the idea, but too late.
If we take this back to the Ascension we can see why the two angels said, “Ye men of Galilee, why stand you gazing up into the heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Was the Spirit on earth when Jesus Ascended? No, the Spirit didn’t come until after Jesus Ascended, thus the Spirit will be taken before the end. Did the cloud come to the earth to receive Jesus? No, the cloud received Him above the earth (Acts 1:9). How many “men” appeared before the disciples? Seven? No, two, representing the last two churches on earth as we Ascend to meet Jesus in the Air. In the end the Clouds will not touch the earth, they will be above it. We find some cultist assume New Jerusalem will be a city of stone above the earth, when we are told New Jerusalem is the Bride (Rev 21:2 & 21:9-10).
Rev 16:1-21
We went through the Sound, then the Saying, now we enter the Vials stage, this will answer “and the end of the world” (Matt 24:3). A Great Voice is heard, this Voice is the Father commanding the angels to bring the Judgment. As soon as the angels leave, the temple fills with Smoke from the Glory of God, we are the Glory (v 7:9 & 19:7-9). This separates the types of Glory, there is a Glory in us to be revealed when we become the Glory filling the temple, but at the same time the Glory of the Sun and Moon will be on earth. The silence in heaven is for the last half of the hour, no one can enter therein from the time the Door is closed until all is Done, thus the Law and Prophets, and those who stood with them must lay in the Street until they hear Come up hither after they receive the resurrection unto Life at the Judgment. Here are all Seven of the Angels, not just the Six who are seen by Ezekiel.
In viewing these Seven we will put the Sound, Saying and Vials together to see the total effect, we must keep in mind the Three elements of “Fire, Smoke and Brimstone” are a result of the Mouth of the dragon, the Mouth of the Beast (First Beast) and the Mouth of the false prophet (Second Beast). Again we find the three elements, as the power, authority and seat of Satan all end in death, regardless of how much “good” they presumed they did on the earth. Since we have three evil elements we can also see the mark, name and number of the Beast. The mouth of the dragon projects the mark, the mouth of the Beast the name, but the mouth of the false prophet the number, thus the false prophet brings the image from his working of Satan causing it all to end in fire at the end.
The Blasphemies came from their confession, bringing the Condemnation (Matt 12:37). Instead of Mercy, they produce Judgment and Condemnation, it’s about to come back “good measure, pressed down, and shaken together” (Luke 6:36-38). What we are about to see is God bringing about “Whatsoever I have heard from you, it’s what I do unto you”, and “you shall have what you say”. Their mouths produce the judgment, God merely gives them the product of their mouths.
The Events of the Vials relate to the Everlasting Gospel, the call was to Worship Him who made Heaven, Earth, the Sea and the Fountains of Waters. The Plagues and Vials come from Heaven, but the first place they are poured out on is the Earth, then the Sea, then the Rivers and Fountains of Waters, then the Sun and Moon join the Beast of the Earth, meaning they are next, leaving the end of the Great War, then comes the Voice of the Archangel. Wait, doesn’t the judgment begin in the house of God? It did, and we can’t forget by this time the Woman, Beast of the Sea, and the Beast of the Earth are all in The City, either in or near the Temple.
In reference to the Great War we find it has a beginning, a time where it’s stayed, then a time when it ends. Ezekiel shows a Great War beginning, then the plagues (Ezek 38:10-22). Ezekiel then shows God putting a hook in Gog bringing Magog back to finish the war. If this refers to the same time, it would be confusing, but if we place the 1,000 years between the events, it would explain why John only sees Gog and Magog at the end. The Great War will begin, then comes a great earthquake at the Fifth Seal, then a stay of time where they beat their weapons into plowshares, as they know the ways of war no more. Then comes the Time of Comfort, then the Seventh lukewarm church, then the Beast of the Earth, then comes the three frogs to teach them war in a different manner, then they beat their plowshares into weapons to bring about the end. Before the end of the War the plagues go out to bring man to repentance. Will man listen? They didn’t when the Spirit was here, why do we think they will later? Nonetheless, God removes excuses, He doesn’t provide them. All this still goes back to Revelation 9:20-21, showing us why they refused to repent, and why they make War with the Lamb, which is them making war against the Remnant who follow the Lamb.
The first angel pours his vial On The Earth, this is the first place we find the Sound and Saying as well; Judgment begins in the House of God, the Earth is still a metaphor for the kingdom of heaven. Those who heard and obeyed the warnings to the Seven churches, or better who Heard what the Spirit said through the angels of the churches, are free of this judgment, but for those who made the decision to become the Second Beast, or use the mark of the Beast, this is not good at all, while it is yet Today, seek Salvation.
This shows us the very reason and purpose for the Book of Revelation. When we are face to face with some son of perdition, then it’s time to apply Mercy and Grace. Overcome by the weapons of our warfare which are mighty through God. “Well brother I did it, and the church split, then fell apart”, good, let it die, then wait for the Holy Ghost to bring a Resurrection implanting a New breath, one spiritual in nature.
Verse 8:7 shows the Sound comes as hail followed by fire mingled with blood upon the earth and a third part of the Trees, and all Green Grass is burned up. We found the Trees and Green Grass are people; in verse 14:6 the Saying of this angel is the Everlasting Gospel, thus the Saying is to repent, the Judgment of God is in hand. The Everlasting Gospel is directed at the Earth, Sea and Fountains of Waters. Here we find the Judgment on the Earth, where the Second Beast comes from, not only is the place where we find the son of Perdition, but it’s still the kingdom of heaven with the Wheat (fountain of waters, or the 144,000 operating in mercy), as the Tares and Wheat in the same field.
Good reason to apply mercy now, for the end gives the result (vs. 8:7 & 14:6-7). The people of Old worshipped idols under “green trees”, metaphorically it means they hid under the mercy of God, or used the temple as protection while they worshipped their idols. Here we find a different story, it’s not those under the trees, but the Green Grass, or the first Third must go, the color Green shows those who stood with the Two Witnesses, as Green grass retains water (mercy) and soil to be green. We saw the fire connected with this angel (8:7), yet the fire mingled with Glass before the Throne, all leading clues showing God will not judge the Righteous with the Wicked. This indicates the two Seasons, the mingling is the fire, not the Wicked, the fire is poured out on the Earth.
The Judgment has begun, but it begins with the call for repentance. This angel is the same one whose Sound was the Everlasting Gospel, it wouldn’t make any sense at all if we thought he just burned up a third of the physical grass and trees. Will the Wicked take the hint? Will they cast aside their evil, and repent? Peter said, “But the heavens and the earth which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men” (II Pet 3:7). He also said, “if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear” (I Pet 4:18). These two references give us the term Ungodly referring to the sons of perdition, or those who knew the Judgment of God, but were lovers of self-pleasure more than lovers of God, who having a form of Godliness, denied the power thereof (II Tim 3:1-5). Then the Sinner, who followed the sons of perdition as they committed the sin unto death. The sound was the trumpet, we found a third here and there, but now we see the total. The Sound came, then the Saying, they rejected the Sound, but face the Vial. Perhaps the chart on the angels Sounds, Sayings, and Vials will help us more.
CHART SHOWING THE SEVEN ANGELS, SOUND, SAYING & VIAL
No. 1:
Sound – Hail & fire mingled with blood (8:7) (14:6)
Saying – Everlasting Gospel
Vial – Noisome & grievious sores on those with the mark of beast (16:2)
Where – Earth
No. 2:
Sound – Great mountain cast into sea; one third die (8:8)
Saying – Babylon has fallen (14:8)
Vial – On sea, become as Blood, living souls die (16:3)
Where – Sea
No. 3 –
Sound – Great star falls, third of rivers, fountains of waters die (8:10
Saying – Those who worship beast must drink of wrath of God (14:9-10)
Vial – Rivers, fountains of waters become as blood (16:4)
Where – Waters
No. 4 –
Sound – Sun, smitten, third of moon, stars into darkness (8:12 & 17:9)
Saying – Tells Jesus to thrust in sickle, time to reap (14:9-10)
Vial – Sun is scorched & becoming lake of fire (16:8)
Where – Sun & Moon remaining
No. 5 –
Sound – Opens pit (9:1)
Saying – Sharp sickle, from Temple in heaven (14:17)
Vial – Seat of beast, kingdom of sun turns into darkness (16:10)
Where – Sun
No. 6 –
Sound – Releases the four angels from the Euphrates (9:14)
Saying – Power over fire, sickle thrusts in Great Winepress (14:18)
Vial – River Euphrates dragon, beast & false prophet (16:12)
Where – Euphrates
No. 7 –
Sound – Kingdom complete, wrath of God has come (11:15)
Saying – Silence, no physical human left to hear
Vial – In air, then comes, “it is done” (16:17)
Where – Air
The sounds, sayings and vials are not done all at once, each has a time, giving the people many warnings regarding the words of the Everlasting Gospel. Therefore, we can see the trump went first, then the saying, then the vial.
The wording here shows this Noisome and Grievous sore is a real Bad Sore, but looking at these words in the Greek, we find the word Grievous is the Greek Kakos meaning Worthless, Bad, Evil, Wicked, it means One who is evil in himself. The word Sore is the Greek Helicos meaning An ulcer, going back to Exodus 9:9 where one of the plagues of Egypt was “a boil breaking forth with blains upon man”. This is different from the Sound, here we find those directly involved are those who had the mark of the Beast, as they worshipped the Image. The plagues are similar to those God places on Egypt, the clue has to be these are the result of God, being placed on a people who worshipped idols, or held His people captive.
The Sound removed one-third of the covering, here we find out why. As long as Mercy is the covering remained they were under the “Green Tree”, but if the Green Tree is removed, they have no protection. Once the Rock is gone, so is the Unction, causing the Independent rocks to run to the one place on earth where any sign of God remains, at the feet of the Sixth church. For 1,000 years they had health in abundance, now sickness falls, the thing they feared the most will come on them. However, these self-deceived people will not see this is God induced, they will assume the true prophets of God caused it. Why? The nature of man, back at the fall it was the same thing, blaming others for their own faults is a sign of the self-centered nature of man. “We didn’t do anything wrong, you’re the reason this is happening”. “This sore couldn’t be of God, it must be those so-called saints”. They spent years in our Season blaming the devil, yet Paul said the devil couldn’t do a thing to us unless we give the devil place (Eph 4:27). However, we know by reading this, these plagues are of God, we know the purpose is to draw them to repentance. They have the past written in the Law and Prophets, they knew it was God who brought the plagues on Egypt, could they not see they were like Egypt? Soon to be as Sodom?
It’s one thing to know “By His stripes I am healed”, it’s another to lace it with pride, ego and self-based delusions, changing it to, “by His stripes I can’t get sick”. James shows if we can be sick, if so we call for the elders, if sickness wasn’t in the cards, why the Stripes? Why call the elders? Sickness comes, yet there is a means and a way to be Healed. However, healed or not we find a lesson here, give God the glory, regardless. The nature of man gives man the glory when healing comes, or if someone who remains sick “copes”, they give man the glory, but we are to give God the glory of All Things, in so doing we will find as our souls Prosper, so do we.
Our faith in God sustains us, but the Wicked used mind power in our Season, we can see they will do it again in the Next, yet claim it’s faith. When the plagues begin the mind games will be exposed, but whether exposed or not, will they see the obvious? Their pride ran their life in one Season, it’s seen in the end as well, they will have puss ridden sores, yet blaspheme God. In reference to this plague Jeremiah says, “Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt; in vain shall you use many medicines, for you shall not be cured”. This reference is to the Virgin Daughter of Egypt, not the Virgin Daughter of Zion, this refers to the those who joined to the Woman when she became knows spiritually as Egypt (Jere 30:13 & 46:11).
Now the second angel in verse 3 goes out to the Sea, as the Sea becomes as Blood, not the Blood of Jesus, but the blood of people. Every living soul died, the sound was the warning, then one-third died, now after the Saying, we find the vial is changing the Sea into “blood”. In reality the actual sea has “living souls” in the whales, but we also find those who had the promise of “life” yet to come bartered it away to the Beast, they are as good as dead. Going back to Revelation 8:8 we found the Sound causes the Great Mountain to be cast into the Sea, thus this is a combination of the Mountain and the Sea joined in the bed of adultery. The Great Mountain is the Mountain of the Lord, it is now mixing with the Sea, becoming as blood. This also shows the Woman riding the Beast, since the Mountain of the Lord has been joined to the Beast.
The Mercy of God is being removed from the earth, the only ones left with any hope are those with the Mark of God; however, it also makes them stand out, the same wicked envy and strife begins to build in the hearts of the foolish, as they form their plan, they lay in wait to deceive, soon to figure a way to kill and destroy.
The Saying tells us Babylon has fallen, she joined the Sea (world) by giving her foundation to the Beast. Now she is included with the First Beast by the words of the Second Beast (vs. 14:8). Ezekiel chapter 8 tells us the Abomination was already set up at this time. The First angel with the inkhorn already marked the Remnant, they were sighing and crying over the abomination in Jerusalem (Ezek 9:4). However, prior to the marking, Ezekiel came to the Wall where he found a Door, this Door was closed, relating to the warning of Jesus in Revelation 3:20. Verse 3:8 shows no man can open or close the Door, yet in Revelation 3:20 we find Jesus knocking, then asking for us to open the Door; it’s two different Doors. The Door in 3:8 is to the House of David, the Door in 3:20 is for the Day, it’s the one Ezekiel sees closed, thus the Door Ezekiel sees is connected to the Wall, yet since it’s closed the silence in heaven has begun. Since it’s a Door, rather than a Gate, we find the Door was closed at the Rapture, no man can enter until all the plagues are complete. This shows there is silence in heaven during the Time of Comfort, any assumption of the Time of Comfort being better than Grace is foolishness.
Ezekiel finds the people made images to living creatures of the earth, every man in the chambers of his imagery was saying “the Lord sees us not; the Lord has forsaken the earth” (Ezek 8:10-12). Malachi shows they will say “it is vain to serve God: what profit is it?” (Mal 3:14). The same attitude of “if I can’t get something from it, why do it?” will be the call. They will have Peace and Safety assuming the material blessing is all one needs, they will be rich, thinking they are in need of nothing. Then the Woman rides the Beast when the Great Mountain falls into the Sea. They seek the pleasure, refusing to serve God unless there is some profit in it for them. They have left their first love far behind, as their love grew cold.
Since this is the Great Mountain, the truth of the Judgment beginning in the House of God continues. This is the same Mountain which sat on the mountains of the world, the same began the Time of Comfort bringing the knowledge of the Lord, yet it turned and thought it was rich, in need of nothing, not even God.
The third angel pours out his vial on the Rivers and Fountains of Waters, still within the confines of the warning in the Everlasting Gospel. These are not fountains of Living water, they are Fountains of water. Psalm 114:8 tells us about the Rock and the Flint which produced the fountain of waters. The word Flint is the Hebrew Challamiysh meaning Hardness, it comes from the Hebrew Chalam meaning To dream, or Cause to dream. However, here we are looking at Fountains being fed by a spring of water, water relating to Mercy shows this is “sweet water”, the dream aspect in this case is related to the Night in it’s proper sense, meaning the Fountains of Waters related to the 144,000. However, on the other side of the scale we recall there are fountains of bitter water, yet can a fountain of sweet water bring forth bitter? Can a bitter fountain bring forth sweet water (James 3:11). There are dreamers who dream their own dreams, in Deuteronomy 13:1-3 we found even if the thing they say comes to pass, we follow them not. Here the Fountains of waters are no giving prophecy, they hold to the Law and Prophets, but the fountains of bitter water lack mercy, they are false prophets. It was the Second Beast who deceived those of the earth by means of miracles which he had the power to do (vs. 13:14). What miracles? Healing the sick? There were no sick? The most evil of all, making the people worship the beast, or his image, then receive the mark in their forehead (thoughts) or hand (vs. 14:9-10). This shows those who worshipped the Beast, also worshipped the image of the Beast, they minds were centered on idol worship, their hands were to evil, they are world seekers, not God seekers.
Going back to the Sound we found a great star fell from heaven, which became Wormwood. The word Wormwood is only used twice in the Book of Revelation, both times here. In fact, the only place in the New Testament the word appears is in the Book of Revelation, thus this word points to the Woman in some manner. In Deuteronomy 29:18 we read, “lest there should be among you man or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away this day from the Lord our God, to go and serve other gods of these nations; lest there should be among you a root bearing gall and wormwood”, relating to the curse (Deut 29:19). Further we read, “but her end is bitter, as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword” (Prov 5:4). “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood and give them water of gall to drink” (Jere 9:15). The word Gall is the Hebrew Rosh meaning Venom or Poison.
So far the wormwood was appointed to the nation, but is there more? “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into the land” (Jere 23:15). The word Profaneness is the Hebrew Chanuphah meaning godlessness. This is directed at the prophets in Jerusalem, yet in the Night the only prophets (other than the written Prophets) will be the false prophet. Since they have taken the position, they are self-appointed, as was Jezebel, but they are the only ones seen as “prophets”, showing they too will drink gall.
In Amos 5:2 we read, “the virgin of Israel has fallen, she shall no more rise”, then in Amos 5:7 we read, “you who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth”. This is joined to “Seek Him who makes the seven stars”. Verses 4 and 5 of Revelation 16 connect to a Star falling. This takes us back to, “and the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches” (vs. 1:20). These verses then point to the Laodiceans, they are being Spewed out of the mouth of Jesus (vs. 3:16). The metaphor Water points to Mercy, they have turned the Mercy of God into wormwood by rejecting the words of the 144,000, as they rejected the words of the Law and Prophets. They should have been the fountains, as was the Sixth church, but the water became poison, they mixed with idols, becoming lukewarm. Zion now becomes bitter, at this time the Remnant are either dead, or being killed, or being sought for the purpose of killing them, as the Moon is losing her light.
When this Star falls, the Waters become Bitter, thus the sweet water of Mercy is being removed for the bitter water of the false prophet. The Saying of this angel points to those who worshipped the Beast, telling the wormwood people shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God (vs. 14:9).
The Earth, Sea, Rivers and Fountains of Water are all people who took, or received the mark, as they worshipped the Image of the Beast, or allowed it, yet they had to receive those elements from the Second Beast, thus they made the decision to partake of the Beast, becoming lukewarm, the result of compromise. What is Lukewarm? It’s neither cold or not, thus the same practice of worshipping idols then worshipping God was taking place. They were rich, what did they need? God.
it’s true the Beast of the Earth said, “if you don’t take the mark the Woman won’t give you a thing”, but it still leaves choice, the Remnant, like the three Hebrew children take the “If” clause by rejecting the Woman’s basket.
The Wicked use the Power of man, the Authority of the Beast of the Sea, as they introduce the Woman to the seat of Satan. This helps us understand the word Image, an Image is a reproduction of something, it’s not the exactness, but like unto, thus we are being formed into the Image of God’s Son, as sons of God, but we are not The Son of God. The Spirit of Christ in us is forming us into a Christ like nature, as our souls are formed into a Spiritual nature by the Spirit. Although we are not the complete exactness of Jesus, we are called the Body of Christ to be Christ Like.
The image of the beast is like unto the Beast of the Sea, the image is then the he in the world, the same nature uses the working of Satan. In the Season to come it will be a reproduction of a man, not any man, but the man Jacob, it won’t look like him, but it doesn’t matter, an idol by any other name is still an idol. Once the people give honor to the actual idol, they are in fact receiving what is behind it, the deep darkness of perdition.
John explained how the he of the world was a counterfeit to the Nature of Christ, as the Strange Woman is a counterfeit to the Bride. Paul told us about Hagar, which is a type and shadow of the Woman, but the Strange Woman is akin to the Beast of the Earth after the Rapture, thus the Bride of Christ will be in heaven with her Espoused Husband.
Is there an angel of the Waters? Yes, this angel watched for years as the Rivers and Fountains of Waters had their blood shed as the saints and prophets, later we will see the Woman with a cup full of the blood of the saints and prophets (vs. 17:6). Also in 18:24 we find “in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, of all who were slain upon the Earth”, although she didn’t do all the killing, she was nonetheless in charge, making her responsible. When the Image is placed in the temple the truth of the Woman usurping the authority of the Temple will be seen.
This should begin to make some sense, the first angel poured his vial on those of the earth who accepted the Image, or who received and used the Mark of the Beast. The second angel poured his vial on the Sea or Gentiles, the third, fourth and fifth on the Woman, who is clothed with the Sun, Moon with the crown of 12 stars. She traded the glory of the Moon for the mark, the glory of the Sun for the name, the crown of 12 stars for the Image. This brings to pass “I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2).
Bringing the fourth angel who pours his vial upon the Sun, power was given unto “him” to scorch men with fire. The Sound of this angel causes a third part of the Sun, a third part of the Moon and a third part of the Stars to be smitten, then a third to be darkened (8:12). The Saying shows he came out of the Temple (not the tabernacle), saying to Him on the Cloud “Thrust in Your Sickle and Reap”, in this we find the Fire coming to Scorch men is seen as the power of the Two Witnesses, if any man hurt the Two Witnesses “fire proceeds out of their mouth” (vs. 11:5), here we find how it will happen. This shows the Mouth of the Two Witnesses is the Voice of the Lord from heaven, the Lord is not the Two Witnesses, rather the words written in the Two Witnesses testify of the Lord, as the Holy Ghost authored the words in the Two Witnesses. Like the blood of Abel, the blood of the saints speaks from the ground.
Now the fifth angel comes with his vial, it’s poured out on the Seat of the Beast, the Saying of this angel is one of action, he is seen with a Sickle, not the same Sickle as He who sits on the cloud, but a different one, for a different purpose (vs. 14:17). The Sound of this angel is a product of the Star falling prior, this is the angel who opens the bottomless pit. At the Fifth Seal the devil was bound, when the fifth angel comes, the devil is loosed. This is the binding and loosing of devils, thus in our Season the purpose for binding and loosing is based in Mercy and Forgiveness, as we bind the strongman, so we can have heaven loosed on us.
When the devils told Jesus “have you come to torment us before our time”, it referred to the time when they would be bound at the fifth seal. These devils shall not hurt the Trees, Grass or those with the Seal of God (vs.9:1-4). In the Greek this shows Only the Green Grass and the Green Trees will not be hurt, indicating some of the 144,000 are left. Rather than ask, “why are you not tormented”, they will say, “you are the reason we are tormented”.
Now the sixth angel who pours his vial on the river Euphrates, the border of the promised land, as the mouths of the dragon, beast and false prophet all speak words of war, at this time the pit is already opened. When this happens many will run to the mountains (the seven nations) to hide, yet Gog will turn and attack to finish the great war as Gog turns to come against the City. Sound the alarm! The City is under siege.
The Saying of this angel points toward the fifth angel, telling him to Thrust in his Sickle, which produces the Great Winepress of God. The Sound of this angel turns loose the Four angels of the Euphrates, these are four angels, not four winds (vs. 7:1). This produces the ways of war not known to these people, they forgot the ways of war, thus the mouths of the dragon, beast and false prophet slander the City, causing a great war against the city, yet all this was being held back by four angels, until the Sixth angel appears on the scene. Ezekiel prophesied to the four winds, then about the great war, thus he shows why he had to prophesy to the winds, there won’t be any prophets alive during the time of the great war (Ezek 37:6-9).
Ezekiel shows Gog is a person, a prince, not a king over the land of Magog, Magog contains Meshech and Tubal (Ezek 38:1-3). Therefore, we find Gog as a beginner of something, the joining of these nations under Gog, thus Magog is one nation, the others are (2) Persia, (3) Ethiopia, (4) Libya, (5) Gomer, (6) Togarmah (7) Tarshish (with Sheba and Dedan – Ezek 38:4-13). These seven are the Seven Mountains upon whom the Woman sits, although Isaiah used different names, his reference points to the Ten from which three were removed.
Verse 15 shows Jesus coming as a Thief in the Night, but Blessed is he who Watches, and “keeps his garments”. This is not talking to the Remnant, but to us, going back to the church of Sardis, who was told to be Watchful, it was told, “you have a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments” (vs. 3:2-4). After seeing the end, the call goes to the many in Sardis, come join the Few.
This Sixth Angel is bringing all nations together, but for the final war, the one turning the earth inside out, making it New in purpose, as it becomes the lake of fire.
Gog will begin this battle before the Time of Comfort, he will lose five-sixths of his force, then there shall be a Great Shaking in the land of Israel (Ezek 38:19). This Shaking is not the one turning the earth inside out, rather the word is akin to shaking a person. This Shaking would come at the Fifth Seal, it will stay all war until this time when Gog is taught the ways of war, but in his case it will not be great planes, or tanks, or bombs, they will beat their farming tools into crude weapons, ready for hand to hand combat against a people who have no idea what war is.
Then God will send a fire on Magog then we hear “It Is Done” (Ezek 39:8). At this time Magog will have attacked the city, the entire matter becomes the Sea, the Fire is like the fire on Sodom. The phrase It Is Finished means A required part of the overall plan is complete, the phrase It Is Done means the entire plan is complete. When the Seventh angel comes forth there will be no physical people on earth, thereby showing why Ezekiel didn’t see this seventh angel. Ezekiel was a prophet of old, but he didn’t have Life. This event brings to pass the Scripture, It’s appointed unto all men to die once, then comes the Judgment (vs. 9:20-21).
One thing must be obvious by all this, if the Holy Ghost guides us into truth, as He reproves the world of sin, or if the Spirit is still on the earth at this time, He blew it completely. The Spirit left at the Rapture, the Two Witnesses take over, none of these people have the Spirit. Therefore, we find there will be no Salvation during the Night, since it takes the Holy Ghost to bring anyone to the Cross, rather the last two candlesticks will have the Two Witnesses who Testify against the People. Like Jesus said, “Do not think I will accuse you to the Father: there is one who accuses you, even Moses in whom you trust” (Jn 5:45), also indicating the Law will be the Books used to judge the Jews at the Judgment, yet the rest will be judged according to their works of mercy.
The Seventh angel pours his vial in the Air, not the heavens, but the Air, the devil as the prince of the power of the Air (natural) is found in the lake of fire at this time, it is truly Done (vs. 17). This angel has no Saying, since there won’t be any humans with physical bodies to hear him, but he does have a Sound, his Sound shows the Kingdom is complete, the Judgment is ready (vs. 11:15). This shows the only things left are the souls of man, thus every eye will see him, regardless of when they lived on the earth. The only exception at this time would be those who are Partakers in the First Resurrection, who are with the Lord. Even those who Sleep in Jesus will wake and see Him, thus Every Eye means every eye. “Wait, you said the exception”, the exception is only an exception since they are the Sea of Glass before the throne, thus they saw the Lord as He was High and Lifted up, thus they are ones who return with the Lord, thus they too will see Him, but from a different perspective.
The Great Earthquake comes with the Seventh Angel, it’s the one turning the earth inside out. The false prophet and beast are already in the lake of fire when Jesus comes, thus the lake of fire will be in effect at the Judgment. The Eyes are stood up before Jesus, all the sons of perdition will come out of the lake of fire and face Jesus, and hear “depart from Me you workers of iniquity”. They will say, “Lord, Lord didn’t we…”, but the time of excuses has passed. They are coming out of the lake as souls, then being resurrected unto damnation, they will forever without time being a factor melt, come back, melt come back, all without any attribute of God around them. All of us are told, while it is yet Today seek the fullness of Grace. Does it mean we have to walk on water? No, it means we set ourselves to walk in the Spirit, as we are open to exposure, training, healing as we do the opportunities granted by the Holy Ghost.
Before the Judgment they were in the lake of fire as souls, but after the Judgment they will have resurrected bodies unto damnation, a body which can’t cease to exist without end. They will have a resurrected body, but unto damnation, not life, thus as their body malts over and over again, they will be stuck with one memory, “depart from Me”. They will know the end of their folly, yet during their folly they assumed they are the great and wonderful ones. They could force people to do as they wished, they caused an entire City to join to the Beast of the Sea. Yet, it all ends in the lake of fire. We always judge the Ways, not only theirs, but ours as well. If our Ways are not Mercy, Love, Faith, Patience and Hope, we repent while it is yet Today.
In the end every knee will bow, and every tongue confess Jesus is Lord, in fact, they will do it for eternity, but those whose names are not written in the Book of Life will do it from the lake of fire. “Oh my, do we have to hear it?”, no there is no remembrance of the dead in heaven, no tears, no sadness, and no memory of those who didn’t make it. God is good, do we think for one second we would have a memory of a loved one who didn’t make it? No, those in the lake of fire will have earthly memories, but we are the Family will have Family thoughts. Eternity is without time, it’s always Now. Heaven is not like earth, heaven is not set to Time as man knows it, each second is an exciting time, a time when Love, Joy, Peace, Happiness and Life happen at the very Now, without end.
Going back we find the first earthquake in verse 6:12 brought the earth to a place like it was in the days of Noah, the people assumed it was the wrath of God, as they called out for the Mountains to cover them. Here they say nothing, this earthquake is not like anything any man has ever seen, the inside of the earth opens as hell widens her borders.
At the Judgment the city is divided into three parts, this is when they will look upon Him they have pierced (Zech 13:8-9). Going back we saw a third of the Sun, Moon and Stars were darkened (vs. 8:10). The division began then, but a third will also pass the Books finding their names in the Book of Life (vs. 20:12).
The Cup of God’s Wrath is poured out, without measure, there were stones of fire by the weight of one hundred pounds (a talent), as the Millstone. This is the end of this area, but if we need more incentive, there is more to come.
“Look here in verse 20, you said we are the Islands”. Correct, there are no Islands, the wording “fled away” is the Greek Pheugo meaning To escape. Don’t forget those who sleep in Jesus were islands as well, they will Escape, we will not hinder their reward. This is clearer when we find the mountains “were not found”, this is different from “fled away”, here the phrase “were not found” comes from the Greek Ov (not) which expresses full or direct negation, the Greek Heurisko (found) meaning unable to locate by searching, it was used in reference to Enoch’s translation (Heb 11:5), but in his case he was translated and could not be found, here the mountains simply can’t be found, no more governments, really who needs a government in the lake of fire?
The chapter ends with great talents of hail falling from heaven, men blaspheming God because of the plague of hail, thus we find they don’t “thank God for all things”, in fact, they seldom thanked God at all. Jesus said the phrase “shall be saved” was predicated on our continual belief, yet faith says we must believe God Is before our faith has a foundation. Jesus also asked if there would be Faith when He returned, good question. Faith diligently seeks God, here the people were blaspheming God.
Their lack of belief was like the children, only in there case it was “how dare God judge us”. Without a firm belief, we have no foundation for Godly faith. We will put our faith in the words of man, just as these people did. If the event doesn’t please them, they yell into the darkness, or curse everything from mom to the dog, to the devil. They failed to see the events were of God, like most carnal minded, they failed to get past the flesh to see the Truth.
Rev 17:1-2
Like Revelation 9:20-21 we ended at the judgment, now move to see why the Woman is being judged. All this is showing Why the judgment comes, in each case we find it’s the wickedness of the people, not the choice of God. John is now told Come Hither, not Come up hither, thus he is told to move to a place where he can discern an event. Prior he stood on the Sand of the Sea looking at the Sea and Earth, now he moves to a different place to look upon the Sand of the Sea. This would be like unto Paul’s saying, “Isaiah also cried concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved: for He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness; because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Rom 9:27-28). Except for the Remnant the entire earth would be as Sodom and Gomorrah, but the Remnant by this time are gone, the result? Sodom and Gomorrah (Rom 9:29).
John can’t stand on the Sand of the Sea to see the judgment of the Woman, surely he isn’t going to stand on the Sea and Earth to see the judgment, no, he has to move, but he is now above the Sea, the Earth and the Sand of the Sea. We find this when he says the city is known spiritually as Egypt and Sodom, indicating he is looking from his position as a star.
John is going to look at the Woman, the City which is connected to the Sand of the Sea. Prior we found a nation is known by the capital, the same seems to be so here. John will also discover the Why regarding her judgment. This Woman is the Great Whore who sits on many waters, clearly this is Judgment not Salvation, yet this she is the result of the First Wonder in heaven we saw back in 12:1. She is called of God, gave birth to the Man Child, protected in the wilderness, had the windows of heaven open to her, she was given the Lesser Light of the Night, she is wearing the Glory for the Sun and Moon, but she allowed a Beast out of the Earth to nourish her in pride, she heard “This nation is of God, and this City is God”, the tricks of divination trapped her. God told this Woman “You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2). This Woman didn’t start out as the Whore, or Babylon, but as it was in the Days of Noah, she was given in the wrong type of marriage. She was the blessed, the Time of Comfort brought riches, peace and good health, they will be eating and drinking without any fear of God, they will tell others to abstain from meat, to follow the Law, which for them would be correct, but then they use the Law as a weapon or a means for self-exaltation, forgetting the Lord God as their Maker.
This is the same Woman the Flood came after, but now we see she conquered the Flood, then put it into captivity (Matt 24:38-39). Jacob had two wives (Leah and Rachel) they had two handmaidens (Bilhah and Zilpah – Gen 29:32-30:9), yet God said the Moon was One Woman, not four, thus the Moon is Zion of the earth, which is suppose to be the foundation for the City, as the City has the nation Israel as her covering. Israel came from Jacob, thus Jacob entered the wilderness, but Israel came out of the wilderness to possess the Promised land. The wilderness was the place of training, yet training takes exposure. Their unbelief was exposed, it became the sin so easily besetting us. Jude tells us God destroyed those who believed not (Jude 5). So it is in the end, the Woman (City) holds her trust and pride in her crown, yet the Crown of twelve stars is a product of the man; although ordained by God, the twelve tribes comprised of humans, not divine Spirits.
We know this Woman gave birth to the Man Child, think of it, she brought forth the Savior, within her walls the Savior was dedicated, had prophecy given over Him, yet she is found being punished by God. She was a wonder in heaven, the one with the promised light, she was suppose to serve the Lord, as the handmaiden to the Sun and Moon, but we find the Moon under her feet. It would seem this Woman didn’t bring forth the Man Child since Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea (Matt 2:1), but the City was known as David’s City, Jesus as the Son of David was first seen teaching at the age of Twelve in Jerusalem (Matt 2:4 & Luke 2:41-50). The Woman was the City Jesus cried over, the place where He was put on trial, yet He was crucified Outside the Gate.
In reference to her bringing forth the Man Child, Isaiah said, “for unto us a child is born” (Isa 9:6), he didn’t say unto some woman in the future, but “to us” as a nation. Isaiah 66:7 says, “Before she travailed, she brought forth, before her pain came, she delivered of a Man Child”, here it’s not Us, but her. Then we find the Remnant, before Zion travailed, she will bring forth “her children” (Isa 66:8), John says the Remnant are the seed of the Woman (vs. 12:17).
At this point it’s important to make the separation between the Seed of the Woman, and the Remnant of her Seed. When we find the Seed of the Woman, it refers to the Lamb, but the Remnant are not the entire Seed, rather we find they are the Remnant of the Seed, or the part to complete the Remaining work, which is Judgment, as outlined in Genesis 3:15. In Genesis 3:14 God didn’t say, “the Remnant of the Seed”, but He did say “her Seed”, referring to Jesus, but the Remaining aspect of the Seed is the Little Flock. This separates the intent and cause, the Seed of the Woman is clearly the Man Child, referring to Jesus as the Son of Man, thus Paul shows Jesus was Made (not created) of the seed of David, but declared to be the Son of God with Power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the Resurrection (Rom 1:3-4). The Man Child, and “Lamb” refer to Jesus as the Son of man, thus the Lamb was slain on the Cross as the Son of Man, but raised as the Son of God, then gave the eternal Sacrifice in heaven, declared God the Son by the Father.
The Remnant will face Jesus, the Son of man, not Jesus, the Son of God, yet we are sons of God by the Spirit. The phrase “Remnant of her Seed” meaning the remaining aspect, or what must be done to complete the effort, as well as meaning a portion taken from her seed, shows they follow the Lamb, as they walk in Mercy.
We know the Church is ten thousand times ten thousand, but the Remnant are thousands taken from the thousands, thus the thousands the Remnant are taken from are the twelve stars as the crown of the Woman. We are not the Woman, nor the Moon, nor the Sun, nor the crown, those are specific to the nation Israel, assigned to the Sand of the Sea. We have our heavenly Zion, we have our New Jerusalem, we must never mix ours of the Day into those of the Night.
John sees this “great whore”, we find the “kings of the earth have committed fornication” with her (vs. 2). She wasn’t raped, she allowed, instead of the Beast of the Earth coming into her house, she ventured into the Beast’s realm. Also the concept of “sitting” has two values, first is she in control? Or is the Beast? It simply says she is sitting, the word for Sit is the Greek Kathemai meaning To dwell, or sit as in a place occupied, the concept is she left her first love by venturing into the realm of the Beast, allowing the Beast to teach her his ways and methods.
She didn’t merely venture into the Sea, she took of the Beast of the Sea. We know this is the Beast of the Sea, from the seven heads and horns, but where are the crowns? The Woman becomes the crown, showing she isn’t simply out taking ride, she is controlling this Beast. She became so involved with the ways of the Beast, you couldn’t tell her from the Beast. There are some today who think the “church”, fits the concept. The Church never will, but we can’t forget the Day is the training area for the sons of perdition, they are associated to the Body, not the Church (Jude 22-23 & 17-19). Yes we see these things in the Body, but the Body is not the city of the earth, or the heavenly city of New Jerusalem. The Body must be broken, but woe to them who cause it.
The gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, but they will against the City. Lastly the obvious, if the Woman is sitting, what is she sitting on? She said she was a Queen, and not a Widow. She gave up Zion as her throne, and sat herself down in the throne of Satan, claiming to be the queen of the Beast of the Sea, making the Beast of the Earth her prophet and teacher.
Rev 17:3-6
This Woman is the same one John saw in Chapter 12. We recall how he saw this she in the wilderness, thus this is not the Church, but the Woman who gave birth to the Man Child, the one with the Moon, Sun and Stars. It alone separates this Woman from the Body and the Church. The Church didn’t give birth to Jesus, rather the Holy Ghost came on Pentecost as Jesus is building the Church.
This Woman belongs to the Sand of Sea, she is the One upon whom John stood when he saw the Woe of the Sea and Earth. Going back to verse 3 we find the Beast of the Sea is full of names of blasphemy, meaning more than one Authority. Going back even further to we saw the Beast of the Sea with “the name of Blasphemy” (vs. 13:1). Before the Time of Comfort it was “name” one authority at a time, thus throughout the ages this Beast blasphemed God, it trampled the City under foot, but when we find the plural (names) it means an addition has been made, the Beast of the Earth adding more blasphemy. Now the same City trodden under foot in the Day is then seen riding the Beast. They become so enjoined John now sees her “full of the names” (plural) of blasphemy (vs. 4 & 5). We recall how Peter called the City Babylon in his time (I Pet 5:13), as the Great Mountain falls into the Sea and the Angel says, “Babylon is fallen”, thus we are going to see how she ended in the position of Babylon.
This Woman gives us the Third Woe, Jeremiah shows this Woman committed adultery with idols of stones and wood (Jere 3:9-11). She traded her foundation of Zion, for the back of the Beast, thus there is one Woe on the Sea, one on the Earth, one on the Woman, none on the Heavens. We begin to see the importance of the saving of the soul, as it becomes the center aspect of our faith. If we entered the kingdom to be saved, yet deny the saving of the soul, we lied.
Since there are only three Woes, they are appointed to the Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth, and the Woman in her final state, we also see simply coming from the Sea is not the issue. Jude made this clear, we toss the Net, we gather into the Rock, knowing on some we have compassion since it will make a vast difference, yet on others we save (Sozo) with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh (Jude 22-23). The world is already termed “the fire”, it’s just a matter of time and timing. Nonetheless we find two types in the Net, we know there are two types in the field, we are seeing the End of time, not the End of our Season. We can become extremely paranoid over these issues, but there is no need to. It is harder to cast it away Grace, then hold to it; thus it’s not “iniquity”, but the “workers” of iniquity. This Book was not given for us to fear the End, but to avoid it. If the New Man is not able to save our souls, then we’re all lost; however, the New Man is fully able, he is the Greater He, by far Greater then the he in the world (I Jn 4:1-4).
The Woman riding the Beast shows how the person becomes what they connect their self to. If we connect ourselves to the Spirit, we find the truth of why our souls are being formed by the Spirit. We are Separated from the Sea, thus we are far from the Beast of the Sea. The Beast of the Earth is yet to surface, in our Season they are still run by the “he in the world”, yet the Greater He in us is far greater.
In reference to the Woman, Isaiah says she provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, because she went backward (Isa 1:4). Going Backward in her case was back to being a Hittite and Amorite, her roots, thus she listened to the False Prophet then used the means of the house of the wicked who suffered the head wound. Ezekiel told us how God looked on the City seeing her mother was a Hittite, her father was an Amorite (Ezek 16:3). The Hittites came from Heth, the son of Canaan (Gen 10:15), the Hittites were in the land before the Children of Israel took it (Gen 15:20 & Ex 23:28). The Amorites were enemies of Israel, as idol worshipers, they were doers of iniquity (Joshua 24:15 & Judges 6:10). Both the old mother and father of the City were not chosen, but God picked this City by adopting it, thus the City is like unto the Wicked, who entered the kingdom, were called to be adopted by God, yet held to their old family roots of the he in the world.
Ezekiel was sent to the rebellious House of Israel (Ezek 2:3 & 3:5), Ezekiel’s prophecy was in his mouth sweetness, since it called for repentance, but John’s prophecy became bitter because of the rejection of repentance (vs. 10:10). This same Woman killed many of the saints who held the Testimony of Jesus, as she killed the prophets before Jesus, and many after who held the Word of God. She rejected her sign of the Resurrection of Jesus (Matt 5:11-12 & Rev 17:6), she joined to the Second Beast who held various blasphemies contained in religious conceit or the doctrines of men and devils. She listened to the words from the mind of Jezebel, the voice of Balaam, thus she has many names. She rejected Jehovah, the Law and Prophets. Then she and the Second Beast rejected the very elements calling for them to repent, thus she followed the Second Beast, while the Remnant held to the Testimony of Jesus as they sought to follow the Lamb.
She was all decked out in the Abrahamic Covenant, but she was attempting to gain entry through the Window. Yet, it was the Two Witnesses who had the Power to Shut heaven, or hold the Rain back, as long as the people wore sackclothe and walked in Mercy the Rain of blessing would flow, but as soon as they attacked the Law and Prophets, or rejected repentance, as they killed their Mercy, then the Rain would be brimstone and fire.
She assumed the Blessing from the Window was a sign of her holiness, very wrong, very wrong indeed (Deut 8:17-18, 31:29, Rev 3:17, 18:8-13 & Joel 2:9). It doesn’t mean the blessing is evil, rather she began to Nourish herself in the Blessing, as she failed to give God the Glory, rather she took the glory, the love of money is the root of all evil. It’s not the money alone, since God gave the blessing, but the love of the money causing the problem. The love takes our eyes off the source, producing a deadly element called greed. The love of money is the mindset of the money being ours to do with as we please, thus taking our eyes of the source, or making us the source, it’s what the Woman did. “Well, if it’s the case, it seems God set her up”, not so, God completed the promise to Abraham, the evidence of success or failure were written from the foundation of the world, but it doesn’t mean God caused it, it means God saw it. Nonetheless the evidence shows He is faithful to His promise, even one made many thousand years prior. If it were not the case, then we have no confidence in the promises made us many hundred of years ago. This alone proves God is faithful, James told us the gift is good, it came from God, but the lust in the person can take the same good gift and make it evil. It was proven at the Tree, the Tree was good, what they did with it was not. God provides Choice, we make the decision, which decision we make determines which side of the plan we’re on. However, God makes things clear, we know to give Him the glory, because we see what happens when people don’t.
The Woman looked at the Blessing as a sign her standing, forgetting the Ways of God: the same mistake the Second Beast made in our Season. This helps explain the last two churches, the Sixth is seen in the Temple area, which would be in the City, but are marked on Zion, which is the foundation of the City. The Seventh is lukewarm, thinks it’s rich and need of nothing, yet it really doesn’t have a local, thus it’s a people in a place it should not be, wit the attitude matching this Woman. A change takes place, a change opening the gates of the city to the Wicked, as the Wicked bring the gates of hell. She becomes the evidence of everyone being drawn away by their own lust, and enticed. This Woman didn’t need the devil running around, she held the lust, the Wicked came with the workings of Satan, then introduced the Woman to the bed of adultery with the Beast of the Sea.
She held the “cup of trembling” (poison – Zech 12:2), God said, Israel took of the Cup of Samaria, full of astonishment and desolation (Ezek 23:33), this Daughter is like unto her Mother. God then said, “Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyed all the earth”. Therefore, we find the false prophet as a type of Samaria, the principality of idol worship, the Woman as the city, the Destroying Mountain a result of the bed of idol worship. This doesn’t mean the Lord destroyed the earth, it means the Destroying Mountain did. The Destroying Mountain had help, Lucifer the son of the morning, both are self-deceived because they love the ways of darkness.
Also in Jeremiah we read, “the Sea is come up upon Babylon: she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof” (Jere 51:42). She became Babylon, the Mystery (idol worship), the Mother of all Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth (false prophet – Jere 51:33). The Sea came on her? The Waves? Ahh, the Wicked are “raging waves of the Sea” (Jude 13). The “wall of Babylon shall fall” (51:44), God’s people will hear the call “Come out of her” (Jere 51:45 & vs. 18:4). Whether they obey the call or not is a different story.
Babylon “has been” a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, she made all the earth drunken (Jere 51:7). Where did the cup come from? There are those who sleep through the night, but there are also the Drunken who go into the Night. This is not anti-Jewish, it’s a result of the spirit of antichrist in our Season coming as the Wicked in the Next to cause the Woman to fall. It would be “anti-Jewish” if it were not for the Sea and Earth, but we find the invasion of the Wicked caused the downfall, the Woman is only one part of the trio. This is a warning and incentive for us, if we reject the saving of the soul, or continue to play with the authority of the Beast, we will be responsible for the Woman’s downfall. Yes, she has a lust, but it’s still at the hands of the Second Beast causing the destruction. There must be two things present, a lust in the one being enticed, plus a lust in the one doing the enticing. James told us to count it all a joy when we fall into divers temptations, the opportunity to be cleaned of the lust is at hand. Will it go in one cleaning? Perhaps, then perhaps not, at times we find the fruit, the branch, the trunk and the root. Some of us think, “here I go again, same old thing, over and over”, but it’s not so, it just appears so. In truth we lost the fruit a the first cleaning, then the branch, then the trunk, then the root of the lust. Here we find the Wicked feared the exposure, they attempted to hide the fruit, thus when God exposed they became angry, or they wore a mask of righteousness. The mask served them, because they felt they were the mask. As many times as God attempted to expose the mask, they ran in fear of the exposure, making the mask stronger. Here we find the result, yet we take Joy for the chastening of the Lord, the exposure, the cleaning, the process of Justification for the Just still live by faith. The very second we are exposed, and know it, we are assured the Blood of Jesus is cleaning us from all aspects of any unrighteousness.
None of this doesn’t mean God encouraged the Woman to commit fornication, rather it shows He will not leave her, nor forsake her until the end of time. The devil won’t judge her, God will, then comes the end of the world, as the lake of fire is set for those who fail to find their names in the Book of life are consumed forever, time and again (Jere 51:47-50). The Woman and the Beast of the Sea were never betrothed, they are not married, thus they commit fornication, yet the false prophet pronounced them married, thus the Woman said she was not longer a widow, but a queen. However, the false prophet lacks the authority, meaning it’s fornication, but the bed is one of adultery.
The Gates to the City belong to the Remnant, the gates of hell to the Wicked. However, the Wall of Babylon comes after the Wall of New Jerusalem is established in heaven. The same Strange Woman counterfeits the Wall, putting the evil wall around the Woman as a false protection, but when the River is gone, so is the Woman’s protection, she will be invaded by Gog and Magog, then the trumpet will blow in Zion.
Jesus marked the 144,000 with the Father’s Name, here we find the Woman is marked with the name of the Beast, “Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth”. There are four areas noted here, each tells us a story about this Woman. The word Mystery is a New Testament word, it’s not found in the Old, it’s the Greek Musterion meaning To learn a secret. The Greek Mueo is the root word for Musterion meaning To initiate, thus Paul told us about the Mystery of Iniquity which was at work in his day, is at work in ours, is then found invading the Woman in the latter days. Paul’s reference is to the Wicked, or the Tares whom Jesus called children of the Wicked, as they invade the Woman, since she is a city, she is what her inhabitants are. The mystery of the Woman will be explained in just a few verses.
Babylon was a product of Babel, going back to Genesis we find a type and shadow of Confusion (Babel). The people were of one language, just as they will be in the latter days, they will again attempt to build a Tower, only the Tower will be the Image of the Beast, as they exalt the Woman, she will begin to think she is God, but then the roots are discovered, they will find it’s like unto Nimrod, the hunter of men, as it was in the Day’s of Noah. Not only is she a Harlot, she is the Mother of Harlots, like Jezebel who had children the harlot also has children. This doesn’t mean prostitutes come from her, it means God picked this Woman to represent Him, and she becomes the greatest Harlot of all, the one who prostituted herself to the Wicked: therefore, He will punish her for all her iniquities (Amos 3:2).
She committed fornication with the kings of the Earth, not the kings of the Sea. It was the association to the kings of the earth producing the association to the Beast of the Sea. However, we are made kings and priests unto God, after the Rapture we change to become the Bride. After we’re gone there remains the wicked kings of the earth, but they will be as princes. There will also be ten kings of the First Beast of the Sea. The Wicked kings of the Earth move into the realm of the Woman, after either killing, or chasing off the good Wheat or good kings. Then the Woman is then seen in bed with the children of Jezebel joining to the Beast of the Sea.
The word Abomination is the Greek Bdelugma meaning Impure, especially Impure worship; the phrase Abomination making desolate is the Greek wording Bdelugma Tes Eremoseos meaning To cause to empty out, or To cause to make desolate, it’s the removal of Mercy caused by placing the Image of Jealousy in the place it should not be, placed there by a people who should know better, causing them to attack those who stand with God, making the planet desolate of Mercy.
Prior in history the heathens have defiled the temple, but a Jew? Not until this Woman thinks she is rich and in need of nothing. In fact her riches have nothing to do with her, it has to do with finishing the promise to Abraham, she merely became the source to distribute the blessing. Some of us presume our wealth is a product of our great faith, but we were picked to distribute, whether we do or not is up to us.
The Woman is Drunk with the power, yet she is responsible for the blood of the Saints and Martyrs. Wait, are not the Wicked those who are drunken who go into the Night? Yes, showing how they used it to become “drunk with pride and power” to entice the Woman. When John wrote this, the evidence was already in, the Jews killed many Christians, perhaps as many as the Romans killed. This takes us back to Pergamos who was told “I know your works and where you dwell, even where Satan’s Seat is: and you hold fast My Name, and have not denied My Faith, even in those days wherein Antipas (Of The Father) was My faithful Martyr” (vs. 2:13). We just saw the Fifth Angel pour his vial on the Seat of Satan, yet the Seat related to the Sun (Israel), not the Beast of the Sea. We also saw how the same Angel releases the devils out of the Pit, the place where Perdition is. Antipas is a type and shadow of All the martyrs for the sake of the Father, or Mercy. They held Mercy to the end, forgiving the Woman, weeping over the abominations done in her. The evidence was written in the Book of Acts when Stephen forgave his killers as the stones were coming through the air. It’s still up to us to hold Mercy unto the End, this information is not for us to shake our fingers at, it shows the Law of Moses is good, but not good enough to overcome the Wicked One. We must have the Armor of God, the Faith of Jesus by the New Man in order to stand in the evil day.
Like Daniel, John sees this Woman then wonders with great admiration, but this doesn’t mean John admired the Woman, rather it shows he wondered, how could she? Daniel saw the vision and was troubled, but the angel assured him, the saints shall take the Kingdom in the end, but prior the beasts must roam the earth. When Daniel sees the little horn make war with the saints he became more then troubled (Dan 7:15, 7:21 & 7:28). How could this Woman, called of God, promised many great and wonderful things, end in such a state? How could she join with this False One knowing her own history? On the same note, how can any of us join the False Ones knowing their future? This last question is the point made in the Book of Revelation.
The angel talking with John will show the Mystery of the Beast carrying her, this Beast is the one with Seven Heads and Ten Horns. John is taken “in the Spirit into the wilderness” (vs. 3), this is important linking to Revelation 1:10, showing The Day of the Lord. If John was in the Spirit, then it shows he had the faith of a grain of mustard seed then applied it by saying unto the Mountain “be gone”, as it went back to the Sea. “Wow, does it mean we get to curse Israel?”, not hardly, it means we disassociate ourselves from the Sea and the Sand of the Sea, thus we don’t build on the Sand, but on the Rock. Since the Law of Moses is associated to the Sand of the Sea, and since the Law of Moses is based in self-righteousness, we can see how the Rock demands faith void of self-righteousness. Build on the Rock, it’s far better.
Rev 17:7-18
We recall how there were Two Beasts, not one, there are some waiting for one man to come as some Antichrist, here in these verses we see the Two Beasts have many members. The Woman is sitting on One Beast, the Beast is made up of people. If she is sitting on this Beast, showing she joined with its methods. Thus we found her with the Sun as her covering, the twelve Tribes as her Crown, the Moon as her foundation, then she made the Moon her footstool, is now seen as on the Beast because the Great Mountain is in the Sea. We must make a separation between the two Beasts or we will miss the entire point of this Prophecy.
We see the Beast with Seven heads and Ten horns in verse 3, but where are the crowns? Did this beast give them up, or give them over? It started with the crowns on the heads, then on the horns, now the crowns are gone (vs. 12:3, 13:1 & 17:3). The Woman became the crown, she is the trophy for the Beast of the Earth, the dragon did sent the Tares, but it was in the plan long before there was a field.
One Beast Was and Is Not, the other Was, Is Not, Yet Is, two different Beasts, but we recall how the Second used the Authority of the First, thereby joining itself to the First yet remaining as the “he in the world”. The Woman rides one Beast, yet joins to the Second Beast making an ungodly trio. This Beast, like the Woman is not one person, it’s several people making the Ungodly One. The First Beast Was because it had crowns, but is now a Not since it lost it crowns. The Second Beast Was in our Season, Is not during the time of the Sixth church (since it will worship at the feet of the Sixth church), but Is (hasn’t changed) as it Will be during the Seventh church. This clue shows this Second Beast is the Eighth, coming with all the working of Satan when the Seventh church is active.
The Seven Heads show nations with Authority, the Ten Horns show nations with Power, the crowns switch depending on the manner in which the nation operates. Some change dramatically, one nation will use Power, then it falls, yet comes another using Authority, then others with Authority, or it switches to one with Power again. The Wicked don’t use the Power, they use the Authority, or the permission granted to do something, the something is to guide the flood toward the Woman.
By the time the Woman rides the Beast three of the ten horns are removed, only Seven crownless Nations remain, thus Edom, Moab and Ammon have been removed at this time (vs. 9). However, the Ten Horns are ten kings which have received no kingdom, thus one can be a king, but void of a kingdom. This separates these kings from the kings promised a kingdom; however, these kings did receive the Power, Authority and Seat of Satan to become the Floods. Nations for years have attacked the Woman, even today there are heads of the Beast attacking the Woman. These kings have nations, but no kingdom, there is a difference. Nations have come and gone, a kingdom lasts.
When the Second Beast retains the Authority of the First Beast, the Second Beast will use the ways of Assyria (Babylon). The First Beast will bow to the Image, yet it’s an Image of itself. The Woman accepts the Image, as the kings end giving their crowns to her, granting her the Seat upon the Beast (vs. 12-13). The Second Beast is just as deceptive in the Night as it was during the Day, it will usurp authority, stand behind the Image to be the voice and life of both. However, in all this there is the Remnant who follow the Lamb, as well as the Sea of glass before the Thorne. We are being told how and why this Woman falls, the reaction of those on the earth then. If this is why the Woman is judged, why spend so much time on the Two Beasts? The Two Beasts are the reason the Woman is being Judged. She took of the Name, Number, and Image of the Beast to gain more, becoming a Partaker of their evil. We must keep it in focus, or we will miss the greatness of how the Faith of Jesus is delivering us, has delivered us, and will deliver us from the Wicked, and the world to come.
The power, authority and seat of the Beast of the Sea is still based in the dragon, it didn’t change when the Beast entered the Night. The Beast of the Earth still uses the authority of the Beast of the Sea, which is the same as the authority of the dragon. The foundation is evil, making the deeds evil as well. By the Woman riding the Beast we find the Beast of the Earth granted her a seat, the Beast of the Sea allowed it, thus the Woman cast off her God granted authority to usurp the authority of the Beast of the Sea, meaning she gave herself to the dragon.
John is wondering, the Angel says the Mystery of the Woman will be revealed. The Beast carrying her, the word Carried (or carrieth KJV) is the Greek Batazo meaning To support, or Carry on the hands or shoulders, it also means To bear a name, thus the Woman ended on this Beast because she took the Name of the Beast, which shows she used the Authority of the Beast, the same Authority the Beast of the Earth used, thus she was enticed by the Beast of the Earth to ride the Beast of the Sea.
Then we see the Mind of Wisdom can see these Seven Heads are Seven Mountains upon which the Woman sits. The Mountain of the Lord was suppose to sit on the Mountains of the world, so why is she being judged, for doing what she is suppose to? Method, she is using the authority of the Beast, rather than ruling in Mercy, her method has changed to using force and manipulation to control the Beast, it was not the intended purpose. She was sent to give the Knowledge of the Lord, not dominate through manipulation. These Seven are not “kings”, but “mountains” or nations, but they do have kings, nonetheless it separates them from the seven churches.
John then shows Seven Kings, not ten, nor seven mountains, thus we are talking about another grouping; therefore, the prior Seven Mountains pertain to the Beast of the Sea, with the saying, “was and is not”, but here we are going to see the Beast going into Perdition, or one who “was, and is not, yet is”. John then tells us how Five are fallen, not three from ten, thus these kings are different, relating to the Seven churches. The same Greek word for Fallen has two meanings, one is to fall down prostrate before the Throne, the other means To Fall backward, both are correct here. John sees how One is, after Five are Broken (Fallen), this shows the Sixth church in operation, but the king aspect has changed in the Falling. The kings of Grace belonging to the first Five have been Raptured, the bad kings remained as the Second Beast. The Second Beast was also of the Beast of the Sea and the seven nations by using the authority. This shows the division, yet the joining of the two Beasts. Prior the Beast of the Sea was given to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, but how? The Beast of the Earth, the same principle we found with Judas. The religious leaders wanted to take Jesus time and again, but couldn’t, until Judas betrayed Jesus, thus the Beast of the Earth is like unto Judas, only in the end instead of Jesus, they betray the Woman to the Beast of the Sea, with the purpose to remove the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. Yet, by then the purpose of the Remnant will be complete.
This also shows the ungodly kings missed the Rapture becoming the Second Beast. This same Beast is seen in verse 8 as the Was in our Season, the Not during the time of the Sixth church, then Yet Is when the Seventh church comes, thus this Eighth was from us, but not a part of us. It was also not a Part of the Seven churches because it used the Authority of the Seven Heads when they held the crowns, making this Eighth the Synagogue of Satan: they sat at our table, just as Judas sat at the table, the devil put something in them, the something being Satan. Like Paul said, they have a mask or appearance of righteousness, but inside Satan reigns.
They made the choice, thus God formed them into vessels of dishonor. Therefore, this Eighth is termed “was, and is not” showing it’s the Beast of the Earth connected to the Beast of the Sea by using the same authority. Instead of having a Crown of Life, this Eighth bartered it away for the Seat of Satan, to become Lucifer, a man who will destroy his own land. Since this is the Eighth, it stands is was of the Seven, only separated itself, as Jude points out (Jude 18-19).
Isaiah chapter 11 tells us God will set His hand a second time to recover the Remnant, as “the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off” (Isa 11:13). The phrase Be Cut Off is the Hebrew word Karath, which we saw in Psalms, meaning To cut part of ones body. This shows those who War against the Lamb are not in the world, but in the kingdom of heaven, yet holding to the “he in the world”; showing one who comes into the kingdom of heaven, but retains the authority of the Beast of the Sea, instead of saying “be gone” to the destroying mountain, they build their house of evil on it.
When the devil was cast down, he gave his seat, authority and power to the First Beast (Beast of the Sea), then through the First Beast the devil started planting Tares. When those Tares came into the Body, they rejected the Cleaning of the Blood, but received the forgiveness of sins through Mercy. They became Adam Like in nature, but not Christ Like, thus they were kings, but never priests. They came from the Earth, just as Adam was formed from the Earth, like Adam they watch and partake of what they should not.
Like the Corinthians they had the Spirit, but were so carnal they couldn’t hold to the Spirit at the Rapture. In our Season they preach Christ, but out of envy, strife and division, they are the Second Beast coming out of the Earth as the “he in the world” using the authority of the First Beast, producing the mark, name and image, but it’s still the same self-transformed self-righteous thoughts of the he in the world, which produced the sin unto death. This Eighth missed the Rapture, yet the Good Fish took their glory to heaven. The Bad Fish have no Glory, rather they operated under the Glory of the Good Fish in shade of the Tree. When the Glory is taken, they will seek the glory of the Sun and Moon. Just as they used deception to rob the Glory of the Good Fish in our Season, they will use tricks to steal the glory of the Sun and Moon. The same tricks and witchcraft are associated with the “working of Satan”, those areas we battle against, now we know why.
Therefore, we find they can operate with the working of Satan, while Satan and the devil are bound. The same Earth (kingdom of heaven) is around today, but the Kingdom of God is also around today, but is Jesus Himself on the Earth? Hardly, we know He sits on the Right Hand of Majesty on High. Therefore, we find we will rule over the earth by sitting with Him in heaven during the 1,000 years, in truth we rule now, since the Beast of the Sea has no power over us. All the Old Testament verses pointing to the Millennial period talk about Jacob, Israel, the House of David and the Restoration of Israel, not the Restoration of the Church (II Sam 7:14-17, Ps 24:1-10, Isa 2:1-4, 11:5-12, 35:1-10, et al).
The Eighth is the son of perdition, the one who reject “believing unto the saving of the soul” (Heb 10:38-39). It takes our faith to be free of the First Beast, but the Faith of Jesus to be free of the second. These prideful evil kings refused to Bow, they never wanted to follow the path of the Faith of Jesus,. They preach Liberty, but they themselves are in bondage to corruption. What we see is this Eighth who separated itself from the Seven churches, because he took of the Seven heads of the devil, thereby becoming a combination of Seven. This Eighth is of the Seven, bringing the number of a man. We find John merely says “of the Seven” without telling which Seven, since it’s both.
The Ten Horns have a kingdom yet to come, but their kingdom is not one of Glory, it’s the lake of fire. Therefore, all receive the reward for their works, some hear Come up hither, some hear Depart from Me, but all have an everlasting kingdom, whether it’s the Kingdom of God becoming New Jerusalem, or the kingdom of the lake of fire.
These Ten Kings have One Mind, it’s not the mind of Christ, it’s the mind of man. They Give their Power and Strength to the Second Beast, they (Both Beasts) make war with the Lamb, as the Lamb is represented by the 144,000. The First Beast from without, the Second from within. The war is against the Two Witnesses, more so those who hold to the Two Witnesses. The Lamb shall overcome them, again referring to Jesus as the Son of man. Jesus is Lord of lords, and King of kings, but why doesn’t John say “Savior of saviors, and Priest of priests”? Jesus doesn’t return as the Son of God, but as the Son of man, the Lamb slain, not the Lord raised.
The word Lord is the Greek Kurios meaning One with power, or An owner and possessor of something. The word King is the Greek Basileus meaning Of the people. Putting both together we find Jesus rules over both Beasts, they are not fooling Him, they haven’t tricked Him, not only does He know them, He is able to work around their evil so Good is the result for those who Love God, and are called according to His purpose.
The phrase “they that are with Him” in verse 14 connects to First Thessalonians 4:17, wherein Paul said “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. Prior John said we overcome by (1) the Blood of the Lamb, (2) the word of our Testimony and (3) we loved not our lives (souls) unto the death (v 12:11). Here he shows those three items relate to (1) Called, (2) Chosen and (3) Faithful. The Just still live by Faith, the Faith they live by is the Faith of Jesus, the same One who loved us and gave Himself for us. Paul doesn’t say there will be a falling away from the Calling, or a falling away from the Chosen, rather it’s a falling away from The Faith.
Those who are Faithful hold Faith, Hope and Love, but the Wicked hold the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts for other things. This latter aspect will drift into the Woman bringing the verse “the fruits your soul lusted after”, the spirit still lusts to envy (vs. 18:14). The First Beast holds the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, these three relate to the power, authority and seat of Satan. Each of these three elements have a Six connected to them, the only thing God did on the Sixth Day was bring about the living creatures, those of the Earth (Gen 1:24-31). Man wasn’t the only living thing created on the Sixth day, rather God created “the Beast of the Earth”, the “cattle” (a metaphor for the people under bondage to the Beast), and the Creeping things (metaphor for serpents, and vipers), God formed and created man. Then on the Seventh Day, God saw the Work was finished, the Earth was ready to be destroyed. It will be the Seventh church who opens the Gate for the Eighth who brings about the end of the prophecy. Whenever someone brings the concern for the things of the Earth or World, they are speaking from the wrong spirit, but if their concern is to remove the Called from the Beast, they are of God. It’s one thing to run about attempting to tame the Beast of the Sea, another to be free of it.
The Waters are next, these are not the fountains of waters, but Waters as a flood, or the Sea, the metaphor is made clear, these Waters, or floods are peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues, which describes Gentiles. These are Waters the woman is riding, not the fountain of waters, thus Wormwood has become Bitter (James 3:11).
We don’t want to confuse the Sea Waters with the fountain of Waters. The Fountains of Waters would also be people, but since we find the addition of Fountains we go back to Zechariah and find, “there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David” (Zech 13:1). The Fountains of Waters are people who have received the Mercy, then apply it as a result of having the Mark of God, but they were also subject to “go and sin no more”. They are not Many Waters, or Living Waters, or Sea Water.
The Waters noted here in verse 15 are clearly the ones the “Whore sits” on, it was defined as the multitude to the Beast in verse 3. These comprise the flood the dragon sent forth after the Woman, the Earth will open on the last day and swallow the Flood the Woman is riding. This Flood is of the Beast of the Sea, thus showing more than one person, rather it’s all those who not only took the Mark, they worshipped the Beast, they blasphemed God, they either allowed or helped to cast down the Law and Prophets.
Verse 18 goes back to the ten horns, yet three were removed, but not at this time. The reference goes to Power, not the Authority. This shows the Second Beast and the Woman took the Authority and Crowns, but the Power remained. They will make the Woman Desolate and Naked. This has to take us back to the Laodiceans and how Jesus said they were, “wretched, miserable, poor, blind and Naked”. The word Naked is the same Greek word in both verses (vs. 3:17 & 17:16), as the Greek word Gumnos meaning without outer garments, or stripped of covering. This is the incentive the kings of the Beast will center on, “it’s the woman you gave us”, the covering will be gone, the plagues begin to fall, rather than encourage the Woman to regain the covering, they attack her.
Verse 17 tells us God has appointed leaders to punish the evildoers, even if the leader is an evildoer. We can see how God has put in their hearts to “fulfill His Will”, as they Agree by giving “their kingdom unto the beast”, not kingdoms as many, but kingdom as one. This takes us right back up to verse 12, “the ten horns which you saw are ten kings which have received no kingdom”, because they gave it to the Beast. This also shows the Kingdom is a kingdom because of Authority, thus the Centurion’s knowledge of authority was considered great faith by Jesus.
The wording “shall be fulfilled” in verse 17 is the Greek Teleo meaning among other things To perform the last act, or to bring to a completeness. Verse 18 defines the Woman as the “great city”, reigning over the kings of the “earth”.
In Genesis 1:7 God separated the Waters, one aspect below the Firmament, with one above. Then in Genesis 1:9 God brought the Waters below the Firmament together then called them Seas. The Waters above the Firmament were purposed to be Living Waters, those below are noted here. The Fountains of Waters were those appointed to remain in the atonement, the division was seen in Revelation 14:6-7. The Everlasting Gospel was sent to those who “dwell on the earth”, to “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people”, thus we find the Beast of the Earth as those who “dwell on the earth”, the Beast of the Sea as the Waters of “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people”. Then we find the additional aspect of the Fountains of Waters in verse 14:7, which points to the House of David within the Sand of the Sea. It’s after this we read, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen” (vs. 14:6-8). The Everlasting Gospel shows four areas, the Heaven, the Earth, the Sea, and the Fountains of Waters (vs. 14:7). We know the Heavens Rejoice, as they are separated from the other three, but then we find the Earth and Sea, we know the angel put one foot on the Earth, and the other on the Sea, as John was standing on the Sand of the Sea at the time; therefore, we find John is representative of the Heavens, the Fountains of Waters are representative of those who have Mercy.
John sees the Woman sitting on the Beast, but in the Greek it shows the Beast is supporting her, suggesting the Beast is giving her worship, Holding her up high, lifting her pride and ego to the point where she thinks she is God. This is the same trick the damsel attempted with Paul in Acts 16:16-19. Metaphorically we can see the damsel as a type of the Beast of the Sea, the damsel was attempting to gain entry into Paul’s mind by boasting about Paul, as she was seeking to inflate the man’s ego, but there was no target, thus Paul cast the demon out of her. Here the Woman has a target, she accepts the “wonder” hook, line and sinker.
We ask “Oh man, why didn’t God jump in and stop it?”. Verse 17 shows it’s all in the plan, God has put in the hearts of the ten horns to hate the Whore, to make her naked and eat her flesh, as they come against her. The word Hate is the same Greek word used in First John, giving us the clue. This hate comes from envy, the Pharisees delivered Jesus because of their envy, the Wicked are motivated by their envy, simply because they “hate” doesn’t mean they attack openly. They use tricks, words as they lie in wait to deceive, by taking over to take control. So, did God put the envy there? Not hardly, this is the same as Pharaoh, God allowed it to grow to bring about a purpose. The same is true with the vessels of dishonor, they have a purpose in the plan of God, the purpose is to prove Mercy on the vessels of honor. The same is true with the Woman, but instead of giving Mercy, she gives manipulation to dominate and control. When we see the phrase “eat her flesh”, it takes us to the Fowls of the Air, these Fowls are still those who rest in the shadow of the tree, they give nothing, but take all they can. What is her flesh if she is the City? How about the riches from the widows of heaven? Yes, they take and take, when the plagues come they cry over the City, but blaspheme God. They do the same today, when adverse events come, they cry over the lose of their money, but fail to see the “test of faith”. On the Fifth Day of creation God saw the Waters being filled, the Fowls being multiplied “in the earth” (Gen 1:22). Here we see the result of the multiplication.
The Judgment of the Woman comes as a result of her pride and lusts, the very targets the Wicked seek. As the Book of James points out, the lusts in the Woman were tempted by the lusts in the Beast of the Earth, as the lusts in the Beast of the Earth, were tempted by the lusts of the Beast of the Sea. The Beast of the Earth becomes the lustful match maker for the Woman, who is found with the Beast of the Sea, yet the Woman is not able to marry, thus she commits adultery, as well as fornication.
Rev 18:1-6
If this angel is saying Babylon is fallen, then it must be the Second angel, making the one in verse 17:1 the first angel. John saw the Woman who rejected the Everlasting Gospel, like the Pharisees of old, she wanted to kill the Gospel and the evidence. Verse 17:18 told us this Woman is the Great City, what Great City? It’s what chapter 18 is about.
The Woman was already sitting on the Beast before the Second Angel came, she didn’t need the Fifth Angel to release the devils to be evil, she was already that way. Just as the First and Second Beasts didn’t need to be devil possessed, since they used the authority of the devil. None of these elements are devil possessed, since the devil is still bound, they are using the spirit of man to the height of the fall nature.
The Tares (Second Beast) were planted before the devil was bound, they grew in pride, ego, and their lust. The pride of life wanted to be ruler over the religion of the world, like Judas, they use any means to gain their desired end. This is clear when we know it started when the devil was cast down, then he formed a plan to get the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. The plan began with the First Beast to bring about the Second Beast, to join them in Marriage, then have the Second Beast go into the Night to trap the Woman, then through the Woman destroy the Remnant, but the plan was seen of God, and used to bring about the Footstool of Jesus.
What about our Season? The Wicked attempt to get the Body to destroy the Church. Division, strife, carnal behavior, natural scholars attempting to define spiritual matters, having the Spirit, but refusing to be spiritual in nature, denying the premise of our souls being formed by the Spirit, or refusing to deny the self, rather they make the self religious. However, the Sea of Crystal is before the throne, the Remnant will be redeemed, the Beast of the Earth will not succeed.
This explains why we see the word Seven in verse 17:11, rather than Seven Heads, or Seven Kings. The Second Beast came from us, but was never of us. After the Second Beast retains then uses the authority of the First Beast against the Woman, the famed “he in the world” is established in the Temple. This ungodly relationship causes the Horns to give their crowns to the Woman through the Second Beast as a token of Marriage. When she takes the crowns, she loses her appointed Crown of the 12 tribes, causing the Mountain of the Lord to be cast into the Sea, then she sits on the Beast, when she does, she loses her appointed covering, making the Moon her footstool. When she does, she also attacks the Remnant in the Mountain of the Lord turning the Moon into blood, as she changes positions becoming among the enemies of Jesus.
She enters adultery with all the other adulterers and adulteresses who made friendship with the world, to be among the enemies of God (James 4:4). The First Beast claims a goodness, but uses evil means. The Second claims a Godliness, but lacks the power thereof, like the First it also uses evil means. The Woman begins the Time of Comfort by allowing the Sixth to bring the Knowledge of the Lord form within her, but then she thinks she is rich and in need of nothing. She allows the Eight to counsel and guide her, making the Eighth her prophet.
Another way to look at this is, the First Beast uses the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, the Second Beast uses the pride of life, never becoming the Tabernacle it desires to take over the Temple. This son of perdition opposes us with strife, envy and slander, while exalting himself with pride and ego, placing himself above all which is called of God, and above all who worship God, thus holding himself as the head of the Body in the Season of the Day, then as the head of the Woman in the Night.
This religiously conceited element then sits in the Temple of God proclaiming he is God, since it’s the Temple we find they are motivated by Judgment, not their own, but their pleasure is placing judgment on others (II Thess 2:3-4). They talk of love, but only love those who benefit them. Paul said God’s Love (1) suffers long, (2) is kind, (3) rejoices in the Truth, (4) bears all things, (5) believes all things, (6) hopes all things, (7) endures, and (8) never fails. The False on the other hand hold (1) envy, (2) vaults their self, (3) are puffed up, (4) behave unseemly by bringing slander, (5) seek their own, (6) are easily provoked to the point of seeking vengeance, (7) think evil by lying in wait to deceive, and (8) rejoice in the failures of others. The Eight do’s in God’s Love explain Patience with Victory, as the testing of our faith is to allow Patience to have her perfect work, thus we end with a Faith working by Love.
Another way to look at this is, the devil being cast down inserted his character, Satan into the First Beast, the Second Beast comes with all the working of Satan, thus the purpose is to produce Lucifer, the man, or better to put the “he in the world” in the Temple of God. This Second Beast came from as a Tare, yet it thinks its the head of all things. This element is fearful of their heart being exposed, they make all sorts of excuses for their pride, or unteachable attitude, but it’s the same old he in the world.
Jesus said the gates of hell shall not prevail against the Church, but He never said they won’t prevail against the City. The son of perdition had the ability to be Just, but twisted it to unjust, rather than enter the saving of the soul, he drew back to Perdition then becomes the Eighth (Heb 10:38-39). This Second Beast says he will ascend into heaven, just as Jesus, but thinks he can do it without the Spirit. Then he thinks he is the head of the Body, exalting himself above the stars. Then he thinks he will control the Jews by sitting upon the congregation of the Mount (Zion), as he uses the Woman to get there. Then he assumes he will be greater than all the Witnesses of God (above the clouds). Then his biggest lie, as he thinks he is exactly like God, thus he creates (forms) an Image, forcing the world to worship the works of his hands (Isa 14:12).
This ungodly marriage is really forbidding the Marriage to God, this element inserts itself between the Woman and the First Beast, then performs an ungodly marriage. Since the First Beast and Second Beast are married by the junction of the authority of the dragon, the Woman then becomes true Babylon, with the name, number of the name and image of the Beast all seen in the Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth and the Woman. This shows the marriage is illegal, thus she commits fornication, but she assumes she is married, thus she also commits adultery.
Once the Woman has control over the world by the will of the Wicked, she can then control the people. If they want their need taken care of, they must do as she says, thus she has them in Captivity. This is why it’s so important to know God meets our need. The people will assume the City is meeting their need, the next step is to worship the City. If we think some government meets our need, it won’t be long before we worship it.
If they refuse to worship the Image, she kills them with the Sword. We find the Great City is the habitation of devils, foul spirits, a cage of every unclean and hateful bird, but wait doesn’t our theology say devils and foul spirits are the same? What gives? The word for Habitation is the Greek Katoiketerion meaning A dwelling, it’s not Tabernacle or Temple, but it was used by Paul in Ephesians 2:22 in the phrase “in whom you also are built together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” in a good sense. The context by Paul is not where we Dwell, but where God dwells, indicating the dwelling can be in a location, but it depends on whom we allow to enter, to who dwells therein. The word for devils is the Greek Daimon, it does mean devils, but the habitation of devils relates to idols, the foul spirits relates to the spirit of man in a place it should not be.
The Woman enlarges Herself through the Beast of the Earth, taking the entire land, thus the City becomes the center of the world, yet God intended for the City to be the center of the world all along, yet not by the methods she uses. The Method changes, the City was suppose to continue to spread the knowledge of God into the world but use Mercy to be a representative of God, but she changes by sending the words of the Beast of the Earth into the world, then places the Image in her temple calling it Christ.
If God be God, then worship God, if the Self be god, you will worship Satan, thus here in Revelation it shows these evil elements have been accepted by the Woman, she has turned into Babylon. Clearly if Jesus was on the earth during this time, He would clean out the Temple again, but since He is not on the earth, the Woman and Beast are allowed to bring about the end to complete the Will of God.
We know who the Birds are, but what is really important is the number of evils we find here, the devils as one, unclean spirit (not spirits) as two, unclean and hateful birds as three, giving us the three evils again, the Beast of the Sea, the Beast of the Earth, and the Woman. The birds are motivated by hate as it shows here, but we find the devils, then Satan, then Lucifer, all three set against the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. These tares come around in our Season as the spirit of error (antichrist), in the next they come against the Woman, to get the Woman to destroy the Remnant. This was the same means regarding Judas, the devil sought to get one from within to do the dirty work. In our Season it’s the same, First John speaks of two brothers, one is in the Light, the other says they are, yet they hate their brother. It’s the Cain and Abel allegory, use one brother against another, but one has to let the sin in the door in before it takes effect.
The same self-deception we see today will overcome the Woman, thus we war against the Wiles of the devil, meaning we war we never use them, or let them use us. Today we see these Wicked as the masters of carnal abortion, they abort the babes in Christ, later they will run their religious abortion clinics in their attempt to abort the Remnant. They will assume since they killed the Remnant they removed the conviction, now they can do as they please. They will think they can rule the world; until God speaks. They fail to see they are the unrighteous, they presume the Image is just a means to carry out their agenda.
At the Rapture, they will assume God killed all those who kept “convicting them”, thus they will presume they are the victors. Their evidence? The earth will be at Peace, as well as in Safety, they will have riches coming out of their ears, but they will forget the great Quail hunt, presuming God has made them kings of the earth; in Truth it’s correct, evil kings, as the Beast of the Earth, but still kings of the earth. What they think is still deception, the Truth will be much different. In the end they will find God delivered the Just from the earth, those who sleep in Jesus, sleep through the Night, but nonetheless gain their reward. These wicked have been praying for God to kill their enemies, for God to destroy their foes, they will assume it was something God did; however, Jesus came to bring Life, not destroy it. The false have twisted Scripture to their own destruction for years, why do we think it will be any different later?
All nations and kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, both the First Beast (nations) and the Second (kings of the earth). The meek inherit the earth, the prideful birds destroy it. They all got rich, the Windows of heaven opened, all of the earth were rich beyond their wildest dreams. They needed nothing material, but during our Season it was all they were seeking anyway. Some in the Courtyard were only there to get the Things, not seek the Kingdom. This explains why Jesus said the Seventh church thought it was rich and need of nothing, but they needed an eye slave to remove the self-deception to bring clarity to its position and condition. This goes right back to Revelation 9:21, showing they presumed the riches were due them, as they refused to repent for their thefts. What thefts? Taking the blessing, without being one.
If this angel is the Second, it would also be at this time when the Mountain is cast into the Sea. Ahh, the Mountain, or Zion was cast into the Sea by the Woman, which brings about “Babylon has fallen”. The Mount is not Babylon, the City is, but the Mount is her foundation, thus by the actions of the Woman the Mount is giving over to the Sea, making the Woman Babylon. It would be when God calls out “Come out of her My people, be not partakers of her sins, nor receive not of her plagues” (vs. 4). Some will heed the call, some will not. This also connects to “I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire” (vs. 3:18). It’s not “gold tried in a fire”, but Gold tried in The Fire, which means to have something at the Judgment allowing Jesus to let them pass, thus Purity is found in mercy.
We see her sins and iniquities, God said He would punish her for her iniquities. She could cover her sins through the Law of Moses, but not her iniquities (failures), at this time she has set herself against the Law and Prophets, sinning the more. The Voice is calling for the people of God to leave Jerusalem, to flee to the mountains, they will be better off with the Mountains (nations) than with the Woman. Jesus told them to pray it’s not the sabbath, meaning they are still under the Law of Moses.
Her cup will come back double, shaken together and running over. This would be after the Angel gives the Everlasting Gospel making the warning verbal, before the plagues. When her sins reach heaven, then it’s obvious, she has sinned the more, then God remembers her iniquities (vs. 18:5). What does this show? The sins of the people were atoned for, yet they sinned again more so, all their prior sins came back, seven times more. The sin of the Wicked was the unpardonable sin, they carried it with then into the Night, thus the unpardonable sin is using the works of darkness as a matter of ones nature and character, refusing to repent for their evil, as they reject the Light. It’s not a matter of not having the Light, it’s a matter of the Light being in hand during the Day, but rather than use it, they love the works of darkness. They are Dogs, John tells us there are no Dogs in heaven.
Ezekiel 21:23 says, “And it shall be unto them as a false divination in their sight, to them who swear oaths: but He will call to remembrance the iniquity, so they may be taken. Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in your transgressions are discovered, so all your doings your sins do appear; because, I say, you are come to remembrance, you shall be taken with the hand”.
Rev 18:7-24
Isaiah shows the Lord formed Israel from the womb to be a servant, to bring Jacob again to God. Though Israel will be gathered, the 144,000 will be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, they will say God is their strength. The tribes of Jacob will be raised, but for the sake of Israel, God will give a light to the nation Israel to draw the Gentiles (ten mountains) to the Lord, but the Woman hides the Light, then loses it. Both she and the kings of the earth will lose the lesser light, it will be lost (Isa 49:5-6). Why would God do this? He is faithful, He is still the Holy One of Israel (Isa 49:7). She glorified herself, she lived Deliciously, instead of Giving Mercy, she gave Condemnation yet received Judgment.
The word Deliciously is the Greek Streniao meaning To act with wantonness from abundance. She had it all, but wanted more, for no other reason than to have it. She says in her Heart “I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow”. She received the Lucifer mindset from the Second Beast, yet the Second Beast thinks he since he is a prophet, he can speak and it will come to pass. False prophets today do the same, rather than speak the Word of the Lord, they speak assuming God will make their words come to pass. The complete opposite of a true prophet of the Lord, an oracle of God hears, then speaks. It’s the same error of thinking if we say it enough, we might believe it, but the Scripture says as we believe, so have we spoken (II Cor 4:13).
We know the term Widow is a Jewish idiom for a backslider, thus she says, I am not a backslider, I’m a Queen, but if she is a Queen, who is her king? The Beast, thus we find her sitting on the Beast. Instead of receiving the children of God, she received the children of Jezebel, she’s a Queen all right, just like Jezebel. God isn’t her King, but the fact remains, Jesus is King of kings, not King of queens, God said, “I was wroth with My people, I have polluted My inheritance, and given them into Your (Woman) hand: You (Woman) did show them no mercy; upon the ancient (Ancient of people or Remnant) have You (Woman) very heavily laid Your (Woman) yoke. And You (Woman) said, I shall be a lady forever: so You (Woman) did not lay these things to Your (Woman) heart, neither did remember the latter end of it” (Isa 47:6-7 paraphrased). We also recall the prophet saying how she dwells carelessly and said in her heart “I Am” (Isa 47:8). Zephaniah said, “This is the rejoicing city who dwells carelessly, said in her heart I Am, and there is none beside Me: how is she become a desolation, a place for Beasts (world and false prophet) to lie down in! Every one who passes by her shall hiss, and wag his head” (Zeph 2:15). The prophets of Old agree, this Woman is a City, not a nation, nor a denomination or any aspect of the Gentile Church. Isaiah said, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground (earth), which did weaken the nations (First beast – Isa 14:13-14). The Mountain is falling into the Sea, the Woman’s plagues shall come in One Day, the Day of the Lord, yet it won’t be Day, but Night, thus the Day of the Lord comes as a Thief in the Night on the thieves who failed to repent. No matter how hard they work, they will fail, for the Day is the time to work, the Night is when no man can work.
It’s also clear in these verses the motivation is the things, the shipping, the merchants, or merchandizing, it all centered around or in the City. Surely the attitude of these people explains why no man knows the hour or day of His coming. Later we will see only those in the Body of Christ, who made it to heaven, will know the Name of Him on the White Horse.
The context shows the Woman has All the wealth of the world; therefore, it stands at this point in time she has sold her soul (Moon) to the False Prophet. The world is trapped under her; both she and the Eighth have taken the Number, Name or Mark of the Beast, then delivered it to the people. The fruits her soul lusted after more, what good does it do a man to possess the entire world, and lose his soul?
The kings of the earth bewail and lament over the Woman, but they refused to repent for their own deeds. They will see “the smoke of her burning”, Peter said, “looking for and hastening unto the coming of the Day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat” (II Pet 3:12). The caution? “Wherefore, beloved, seeing you look for such things, be Diligent so you may be found of Him in Peace, without Spot, and Blameless” (II Pet 3:14). How do we do it? By submitting to the Blood, as the Word in us is engrafted, meaning the Word is fully able to save our souls (James 1:21).
The merchants were made rich by her, they now stand afar off and weep for fear of her torment; connecting to buying and selling. In One Hour her riches came to nothing, all her goods are burning, they are worth nothing. Why do they think they were made rich because of her? Because of the Mark, they took the Mark to have the riches, now they see the riches burning. Therefore, she thought she was rich in need of nothing, she failed to allow the knowledge of the Lord to continue, the people assumed she is the cause of wealth, because she made them believe it. The pride, ego, arrogance and envy causes her plagues to come in One Day, but at the end of the Hour came her judgment (v 17:4 & 18:10).
They cried over the Woman, but blasphemed God, sealing their own doom (v 13:4). All this still shows why the Wrath of God comes, it’s not because God all of sudden said, “You know what Mike? I’m sick and tired of those people, think it’s time to end it”, rather, it comes because the only ones left with physical bodies on the earth have made themselves the enemies of God. What do they expect? God to bless them? God to excuse their ways? What then would God say to us who have endured and refused the mark, name and number of the Beast?
There isn’t one thing on this earth the Woman didn’t control, all these are seen in verse 17:4 as her covering, thus her covering was not God, but the blessing from God, as she trusted in the blessing, rather than in God, a very dangerous mode of mind to be caught in (vs. 12-16, especially 16). This shows the truth of “Who knowing the judgment of God, they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them who do them” (Rom 1:32). The Woman confused the blessing from God as God.
There are several items listed in verses 12-13, but the last two draw our attention, “slaves, and souls of men”. No where does it say she had the “spirits of men”, thus the people gave their souls to the Beast, meaning they gave the “breath of life” to the image of the beast, which is giving the beast life.
The merchants see the Woman clothed in Fine Linen, Purple, Scarlet, decked with Gold, Precious stones and Pearls (vs. 16). This takes us back to 17:3 where the Woman was seen with all these elements, but the merchants didn’t talk about the Cup, or the Abominations and Filthiness of her fornication. They excuse the evil, because they sought the benefit. What happened to the Sun? Ahh, she gave up her Godly covering, for the riches, she felt God blessed her because of her, rather than seeing the Blessing of God comes to help others.
The nature of man is the same today, if the image provides, they will excuse any and all behavior, regardless just to have the blessing. In One Hour the great riches come to nothing, this goes right back to the promise to Philadelphia, as they will be spared the “the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them who dwell upon the earth” (vs. 3:10), indicating they will be dead at then, as they lay in the Street with the Law and Prophets. The temptation is on the World (Beast of the Sea), but the purpose is to try those who dwell on the earth (Beast of the Earth). It was not to Test the Woman, the purpose was for the Woman to continue based on the fountains of waters.
The merchants cry, “What city is like unto this city?” (vs. 18). The answer? None, but there is one Greater, New Jerusalem. Clearly they were concerned over the City, not the people, not God, not the Remnant, nothing more then the source of their riches. They entered false repentance, they were remorseful, but not because of the wrongs done to God or God’s people, or for the Image, rather they cry over the City, thus they worshipped the Image in the City to be blessed by the City. When they talk about the “ships in the sea” it points to the City taking over all the land, even the shipping, since the city itself is far from the coasts, it shows when the Woman takes the three nations, she widens her land to the coasts, as the City becomes the nation.
Their repentance at this time is like unto the self-repentance of Judas, it’s self-based and false, some repent when caught, but change not, others repent because something was taken from them, but they only repent to get it back, they are not sorry for what they have done to others, they are sorry something may be done unto them. All are remorseful, but none face God or seek His forgiveness.
When the merchants and kings of the earth wail because of the City, we are told to Rejoice over her, for God has avenged her, then we have a Right to rejoice, yet we find God is avenging the City? It’s the City causing this, or is it? The City was invaded by the Second Beast, all the saints who were killed in the City will now be avenged it’s time to make the enemies of Jesus the footstool (vs. 18:20).
Verse 21 shows the Mighty Angel taking the Great Millstone casting it into the Sea. It would be better if a millstone were tied around the Second Beast, but here we see the Great Mountain being cast into the Sea. It would be at this time when the Woman loses her light. Then we read, “the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you” (vs. 23). Light of the candle? Wait, there are only Seven Candles, each is a church, what gives? It doesn’t say her candle, but the light of a candle. Jesus warned Ephesus and said, “I will come onto you Quickly, and will remove your candlestick out of his place, except you repent” (vs. 2:5); therefore, it’s possible to lose the light of the candle, it’s what’s happening here, the lesser light on the seventh position is being removed, as the Seventh church is being spewed out of the mouth of Jesus.
The “sorceries” deceived all nations, showing the Wonder, going back to Revelation 9:21 where they refused to repent for their Murders (killing the Remnant), and their Sorceries, and their Fornication, and their Thefts.
In her was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints, and of all Slain upon the earth, taking us back to Revelation 17:6 where the Woman is seen Drunken with the blood of the saints, thus showing the metaphor Drunken means they have killed the just in one way or another, thus the Wicked are classed as Drunken. They held their mental abortion clinics by killing the Babes in Christ, they came with their slander and killed the Just, how they must pay for the blood. This doesn’t mean they took physical lives in our Season, it shows they shipwrecked the faith of many, by using fables, strongholds, envy and slander as their weapons. The same thought process grew in the Night, they did cause the physical death of the Remnant, really everything else as well.
When the fifth angel opens the pit the Sun will become blackened, here we find “the moon shall not give her light” (Matt 24:29). This angel opens the pit, this is not the fifth seal when the devil was placed in the pit. Verses 6:12-17 show the earthquake at the Rapture, then binding of the devil, not at the end of the 1,000 years, but the beginning. It’s at the Fifth Seal where the Sun entered repentance, yet the Moon still has blood on her, but the blood is not caused by the Moon, rather it’s the blood of the prophets and saints who died for God, becoming prophetic in nature, the end was seen before the Time opened.
The Sun and Moon point to the Sixth and Seventh churches, the Remnant are taken from the Crown of Twelve Stars, then marked on Zion (Moon), with the Seventh showing not all called Israel, are of Israel, yet they are the ones told to leave the Woman, so they won’t be partakers of her sins. What are the 144,000 doing? Crying over the abominations done in Jerusalem.
The Woman failed to discern the history of her people, nor did she take advantage of the Knowledge of God. The “two witnesses” displayed what happens when the people of God become idol worshipers, but the Woman didn’t believe God would, or could touch her with Judgment. When the Bitterness (Wormwood) hits, there is no more music or joy heard any more in her, she has lost her light. The voice of the Bridegroom is removed, she lost all Joy, because her joy was the 144,000. Her lovers, the merchants and sorceries, will reside with her in hell forever.
Rev 19:1-21
It was After These Things when John saw “much people” in heaven saying Salvation, Glory, Honor and Power unto the Lord (Jehovah) our God, the word Much is the Greek Ochlos meaning The greater part of, this is not the little flock, nor is it full, thus this is at the Judgment, just before New Jerusalem descends to receive the Remnant. Wait a minute; Salvation? I thought we were looking at the Judgment? This takes us back to the time when the Twenty Four elders fall down before the Throne and say, “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power” (vs. 4:11), back to “Now is come Salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the Power of His Christ” (vs. 12:10). This is at the Rapture, the time when we receive our white robes, showing the First Resurrection, thus it is Salvation for us. At the same time the 144,000 are sealed on earth, thus we are the Great Multitude seen in heaven then (vs. 7:9). However, the Remnant are promised to be redeemed, there are those who sleep in Jesus as well.
Clearly this group is in heaven, not on the earth, they are the ones who reigned with Christ on the earth before the 1,000 years, thus they continue to reign with Christ in heaven during the 1,000 years. They hold Salvation, the race reached the finish, white robes are given to them. The four elements are 1) Salvation, 2) Glory, 3) Honor and 4) Power. Going back to Revelation 12:10 we find 1) Salvation, 2) Strength, 3) Kingdom of our God, and 4) The Power of His Christ; therefore, this group is the Sea of Glass, the Raptured Church, proving the gates of hell did not prevail, we made it, praise be the Name of the Lord.
Peter describes two events, both of which are important here. Peter shows the heavens shall pass away with a Great Noise (Great Trump by the Seventh Angel), as the elements shall melt with fervent heat (II Pet 3:10), then later he shows the heavens shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent heat (II Pet 3:12). These two events show how the Beast, false prophet and the devil can be cast into the lake of fire, yet the false prophet and Beast have to stand in judgment a short time thereafter (vs. 20:10 & 20:13).
The Seventh angel pours his vial into the Air, then comes the judgment afterward. The earth will turn into the lake of fire before the Judgment, thus the Feet of Jesus appear as If they burned in a furnace. His feet will reflect the Judgment and Fire, and His eyes will reflect the fire from the earth, yet the Judgment is before the Second Death. His enemies are His footstool, yet His footstool is the earth. Some equate these two periods to the dates in Daniel, we know prophecy has depth in the meaning, but it’s nonetheless in Part, thus we viewed these dates as they relate to 12 and 12,000, but they could also point to the two time periods. One period would be 1,290 days from the time the Woman places the Image in the temple until the beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, the 1,335 days would be the time until the last resurrection, this would account for the beast and false prophet being in the lake of fire before the devil is cast in with them, all three end in the lake before the Judgment (vs. 20:10-15).
Then we find four beasts in heaven, they equate to the First Five churches, not all Seven (vs. 4). The four Beasts pointed out the four Horsemen, when the Horsemen finish their course, then comes the Time of Comfort. When the Time of Comfort comes, we’re out of here. These verses show us Salvation is seen in heaven, the Judgment on earth, it’s far better to be in the Salvation part.
We see the elders are worshipping God who sits on the throne, but then a voice comes out of the throne saying “Praise Our God”. How many God’s are there? One, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, One God all in all (I Jn 5:7).
Now John hears a Great Multitude, but prior at the Fifth Seal he saw another Great Multitude, but there are two different Greek words used for Multitude and two different words for Great. In 7:9 the usage means a great multitude in number, here the Word Great is connected to the Pearl of Great Price, meaning Of value, rather than number, pointing directly to the Remnant. The word Multitude in 7:9 means a group one can’t count, but one can see the end of the crowd, but here it means they can neither be counted, nor can the end be seen. This would be when the thousands from the thousands added to the ten thousand times ten thousand. With the added Greek words for Great and Multitude used here we find the Remnant are added as well as those who sleep in Jesus. At this point the context shows Jesus “has judged” not will judge or is judging the Whore, thus the judgment is as good as done, the smoke of the Whore with all those who joined her from the time God said “Light Be” will raise up forever and ever (ages upon ages). Everlasting hell is a fact, not a fable, these verses prove it, hell will be cast into the lake of fire, the lake of fire never ends.
This connects to the point in the Doctrine of Christ relating to “eternal judgment” (Heb 6:2). By the way if the rudiments of the Doctrine of Christ are; 1) repentance from dead works, 2) faith toward God, 3) the doctrine of baptisms, 4) laying on of hands, 5) resurrection of the dead, and 6) eternal judgment, where is “Salvation by Grace”? Where is “Must believe”? We know these are rudiments or basics, they are not all the Doctrine of Christ entails. We also know Jesus said we Must be Born Again, He warned us about allowing the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts for other things to enter in. Here we find out why. It becomes obvious from this book why “Everlasting Judgment” is a rudiment in the Doctrine of Christ. If there is Everlasting Judgment, surely there is Everlasting Salvation.
If the smoke goes up from the Woman, yet the Woman is the City, it shows she was spared at the Rapture, but not at the Judgment. Since it’s a city, it’s connected to the earth, thus the earth becomes New, as the lake of fire. Meaning the smoke comes from the lake of fire, as it goes on forever and ever, but praise God, there is no remembrance of the dead in heaven (vs. 3). Wait, is there a mystery here? Yes, Jerusalem is known as the center of the earth, when the earthquake comes for the Rapture Jerusalem will be spared, but here at the Judgment it also becomes the center of hell. Nothing against the City, but Paul said it was in bondage even until now. We know God is not anti-Jewish, since all this was to save the Remnant, thus God is Pro-Jewish, Anti-Wicked, when the people join to the Wicked city, they join to the enemies of God. God’s judgment was previewed with Korah and Moses, those who came to Moses were speared, those who stuck with Korah saw the earth open and swallow them. Whoever the person attaches their self to, they are judged with. Jesus will separate the sheep from the goats, far better to be a sheep.
We see the Voice of Many Waters, going back to Revelation 1:15 and 14:2, as the “voice of many waters” is the Voice of Jesus, thus when Jesus comes He will speak the words of the saints as a product of the Waters, or those who held to the Mercy of God, even in the face of adversity. This is not the “Voice of Living Waters”, or the “Voice of Bitter Waters”, this is the voice of Waters, relating to Mercy. Truly Jesus returns as the Son of man, the basis of judgment will be the “will of the Father”, or Mercy.
Then the Voice of mighty thunderings is joined with the Many Waters, this would be the completed effort when the Remnant join New Jerusalem (vs. 6). Wait a minute, I thought we were married to the Lamb at the Rapture, what gives? An answer, the Bride was taken Home to Rest as she Prepared for the Wedding, but she waited until All was complete, then the Marriage could take place. We can’t get married without our virgin bridesmaids, you know. The Bride makes Herself Ready in her Rest, since she was Prepared to be the Bride during the Day. The Lamb’s Bride has Her Bridesmaids, she is given “linen, clean and white” for the fine lined is The Righteousness of the saints, the Righteousness of the saints is the Righteousness of God by the seed of God, the Righteousness is the Righteousness of Jesus (Eph 4:24 & Heb 1:8). Some might say “Big Deal, a bridesmaid”, but Blessed are they who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, but Blessed and Holy are those who are Partakers of the First Resurrection.
John falls at the feet of angel speaking to him, to find this angel we go back to 17:1 where one of the seven angels “talked with” John: John is simply overwhelmed, the Bride, Her Bridesmaids, the wedding were all too much. Even the angels don’t have the Witness of Jesus, but they do have the testimony of Jesus since Jesus is the “spirit of prophecy”; therefore, in order to grasp the Book of Revelation, which is a Book of Prophecy we need the entire Testimony of Jesus, plus the Witness of the Spirit, not sixteen verses and fifty copies of some secular magazine. We tend to think Jesus is the “spirit of prophecy”, but here we find it’s the Testimony containing the spirit of prophecy which is still written in the Law and Prophets.
The Supper and Wedding are about to take Place, the Time is here, the Hope is in hand. This is the Judgment Jesus, the White Horse is the sign of the Church (Clouds), His destroying army is not His Bride, it’s silly to think a husband would use his bride as a warrior, what man hates his own flesh? If we consider an Army one of violence, but if we know the Army of the Lord from heaven is one of Peace, Love, Mercy and Grace, then we can see this army as the Bride. We can also see the Seven angels are also His Army, who were dressed in white linen (vs. 15:6).
The Lord has another army of the earth as well, this army is Gog and Magog who will bring about the will of the Lord in the end (vs. 17:17). Jesus returns as the Word of God, thus the Word was God, as the Word returns as the Son of man to judge man, as the Father has made the enemies of Jesus His Footstool. The Cup of the wrath of God is being poured out, something Jesus hates to do, but do it, He must.
In this we find “He had a name written, which no man knew, but He Himself”, yet in the next verse it says “and His Name is called The Word of God” (vs. 12-13). Matthew 7:21-23 explains this, they used the Name of Jesus in our Season, but they didn’t know it, since they were not Known of Him. This is only respective to the earth, thus they will look upon Him asking, “where did you get those marks?”. We can see the reference is toward those being judged, connecting to verse 1:7, where we found every eye will see Him, those who pierced Him, and those who wail because of Him, we don’t fit either group. This also explains how Jesus was not on the earth prior to the judgment, to assume He will remain thereafter is not according to the Scriptures either. The phrase “no man” doesn’t include the Bride, who was taken in a twinkling of an eye well before the Judgment.
Now comes the rod of iron, as the correction of God, the ruling element of God’s justice. The Greek word for “shall rule” is The Greek Poimaino it’s the same word from which we get the word Pastor (vs. 19:15). The rest of the verse defines this, as He is ready to tread out the Winepress of Fierceness as the Wrath of Almighty God. The word Tread (or Treadeth KJV) is the Greek Pateo meaning to Tread down, or Crush with feet. This is the Footstool, being crushed beneath the feet of Jesus, yet we saw how those feet were like fine brass (Judgment) as if they burned in a furnace. The word Winepress takes us back to the Garden, the title Gethsemane means winepress, or to tread out the wine. This is the Cup taken in the Garden.
Jesus went to the Cross as the King of the Jews, He returns as the King of all kings, and the Lord of any and all lords. The last angel has prepared the feast, the Bride’s supper is not a prime rib feast, it’s the blood and carnage of the earth from the death of all of the enemies of Jesus, they are now His footstool. The Father completed His promise, all Israel is saved, and all those with White Robes are saved, all those who find their names in the Book of Life will be saved; therefore, they called on the Name of the Lord, rather than the name of the Beast.
Verse 16 connects back to verse 17:14, we find the kings of the earth (sons of perdition) did make war with the Lamb, in fact, they made war with the Lamb in our Season as well, but Jesus is still King of kings, He will judge the kings of the earth, as Lord of lords, He will judge the lords (kings from the Beast of the Sea) as well. This is also seen in verse 11 where Jesus returns to “judge and make war”. It’s one thing to be judge, but have Jesus return ready to do War! What kind of war? The Judgment, the finish of the War. John sees the Eyes of Jesus as a “flame of fire”, pointing to the War, the “many crowns” pointing to judgment, as the word Crowns here is not the same as the Greek word for “Crown of Life”, rather this is the Greek Diadema, it’s the same word used in reference to the crowns on the ten horns and seven heads of the Beast, thus these crowns are not for the Conquerors (Greek Stephanos), but the Reward for doing evil. They will receive a kingdom, but it’s not what they expected.
Then we find an “angel standing in the Sun”, standing in the Sun? (vs. 17). Prior it was an angel standing on the Sea and Earth, but this is On, this is In, the Sun points to the nation Israel. Could it be this is the clue to “all Israel will be saved”? Could this angel be the metaphoric concept of those who lay in the Street? Could be, since this angel is In the Sun, rather than On it, or Near it.
The metaphor “fowls” refers to devils, here we find the Bride doesn’t eat of the meal, the fowls of the air do, showing those who miss it will be subject to devils forever and ever without end.
Verses 20 and 21could be confusing if we separate them, but they are connected by the conjunction “And”, we will keep them connected as well. First the Beast (First), and the False Prophet are cast into the lake of fire, this is made clear by the word “both”, showing two elements not one. This would seem as if the entire Sea was cast into the lake of fire, but it’s not the case. One can be of the Sea, but not of the Beast of the Sea. They are nonetheless under the spirit of disobedience, but they do the Law without knowing it.
The Beast of the earth is One Beast with two horns, both horns are found in the worse condition Peter talked about, we recall how Peter said their end is worse than the beginning (II Pet 2:19-22). Verse 20 also shows the Beast of the Earth made a change, from being run by the spirit of antichrist in the Day, to being the false prophet in the Night.
Verse 21 begins by saying “and the remnant”, which would seem as if Jesus will slay The Remnant, but it’s not the case either. Placing this with verse 21 we find it’s the remnant of those left over from verse 21, not The Remnant of the Seed of the Woman. It would seem strange for God to put His hand a second time to recover the Remnant, then kill them allowing the fowls to eat their flesh. This verse shows none escaped the end, it’s was still appointed for all to die once, then comes the judgment.
Those in the lake of fire allowed their tongues to project evil, James told us no man can tame the tongue. Yikes no hope! Not so, we can have a new source, which changes the ability of the tongue. James put this with, for we bless God, and curse man, thus if we have a New source we can speak a New Tongue, one of Mercy. We can also pray for God to put a bit in our mouth, but there remains another question? Who is the Jockey? Is it God, or the Self? After the bit is in place, we need a Watchman over our mouth, One Stronger (the Spirit, New Man) to warn us of the effect of our words before they are spoken by us, as well as expose the intent before it ship wrecks someone.
Habakkuk 2:1 tells us of the Watchman, as we Wait to hear from God before we answer, the Watchman can tell us the effect of words before we speak, and before we receive, the Watchman Stands giving warnings in the camp and without, but it’s still up to us to either receive the warning of the Watchman. Here at the Judgment their words are condemning them, only a few, will find their names in the Book of Life.
A Watchman helps with our Patience, but if the Watchman says Rebuke, do so as an oracle of God, but if our soul says “rebuke”, dismiss it, wrong source. The one thing any son of perdition hopes for, is for us to react to the attack in the same manner as the attack, the second we do, we can hear the trap spring shut on our tongue.
The Woman sought control, the Wicked sought control, the First Beast sought control, the Biggest Battle for any of us, bar none, is the war against Control. The one factor most of us know nothing about, the desire to control God, control people, control events, or control all sorts of things, including ourselves, or our salvation. We want to know what will happen before we act, a sign of control, lacking a trust in God. Control is a cruel master, we can’t have two masters in the same house. When the saving of the soul moves to the area of emotions, control will be exposed. It must be defeated, or we will never be able to minister effectively. Each aspect of control points to some element of the world, the Woman sought control over the blessing (lust of the eye), the First Beast over the things of the world (lust of the flesh), but the Wicked, wanted mental control over the people (pride of life).
In all these groups we can see how Paul said he may or may not be a Partaker in the First Resurrection, but surely he would make it the resurrection unto Life in the end. Yet, he would not be accounted among the children of the Night, or the children of Darkness. What then was he saying? He would either make it in the Rapture, or sleep in Jesus until the 1,000 years is over, but in any case he knew he would not go into the Night. He also knew his reward was confident in Jesus, his desire was to be in the First Resurrection, but he also knew those who were sleeping in Jesus would also make it. From this we can be assured he did not partake of the number, name, or mark of the beast, yet he lived in an era where it was running wild. What then was Saul? Dead, hanging on the Cross of Jesus, Paul being a New Man was renewed daily.
This ends the judgment, chapter 20 begins what we could call a Summary of the events, or better a quick look at the End of the Race. We recall the fig tree had no fruit, but the Tree of Life does; the fig tree had leaves for a covering, but the leaves on the Tree of Life bring healing. The Tree of Life is the connection between the Spirit of Life in us and the Holy Ghost. We will find the Tree of Life has two places, on either side, or here and there, how can it be? We will see.
Often in Prophecy we find the summary at the end or in the middle, such is the case here. The Summary of the events will be given in Chapters 20 and 21, with Chapter 22 giving us the Hope in all this.
Rev 20:1-3
Some of us have been trained not to believe in the Rapture, but in order to do it we must fall into unbelief. The only way to say there is no Rapture is to ignore or discredit verses, there is nothing Scriptural to take their place. It would be one thing to say “Salvation is a Gift”, when there are no verses to back it up, but to say there is no Catching Away when there are plain verses telling us there is a Catching Away, is the mother of unbelief with the father of heresy.
Part of the problem we have with these verses is attempting to place the mark, name and image of the Beast far into the future. When we draw them down to the Second Beast, which began with Judas, we can see how these elements have been around, are around, and will be around in the minds of the Wicked.
When we define the word Liar, we can see how the mark, name and image have been around for some time. How can we not read of Simon of Samaria, who was baptized, believed in the Acts, then became the father of all heretics, yet not see the seeds of the Second Beast. These elements show us the First Horn, the word Liar means to tell a Lie, the Lie we find with Simon is being Water Baptized, making the Vow to Believe, yet falling into unbelief. The lie is calling themselves Christian, when they are not Christ Like, rather they are false christs, run by the spirit of antichrist in this Season, but use the working of Satan as the False Prophet in the next. Another problem one can have, is assuming God had no idea we would be so smart by having all these fine machines and intellect. However, God saw the End before the Beginning, there is nothing new under the Sun. All these things are in the Plan, the first aspect of our Faith is Understanding God framed the worlds (ages). All things are well on course, God is in Control, not man.
How can we read “little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard the antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know it is the last time. They went out from us, but they were not of us”, yet assume for a minute the some famed Antichrist is yet to appear? (I Jn 2:18-19). The iniquity was at work in Paul’s day, thus the seeds to produce the Second Beast have been around, are around, and will remain when we’re gone.
We begin Chapter 20 with the devil being bound, is the devil bound now? No, is he cast down? Yes, two different things. The Fifth Seal will bind the devil in the pit, but the old serpent (from the Garden) who is also known as the devil and Satan are bound for the 1,000 years, clearly showing a change in Seasons (vs. 2). Wait, Satan is bound? How can the Wicked be as Satan? They come with the working of Satan, thus the Image is a likeness of a man, not a devil. This only shows the devil and all his nature can be bound, yet there are those who love the ways of darkness so much they will use something powerless, to make it appear as if it has power.
We need to look again at verse 2, it doesn’t say, “he is bound”, nor does it say “they are bound”, nor does it say “who is”, it says “which is”. The devil is a “which”? Ahh, when one lacks power and authority they are a which, not a who. When we find the “it” showing the devil is ineffective, less than zero, thus when these people take of the Mark, it’s not forced on them, they chase after it like a dog chasing a car. All this shows the devil is real, but God considers the devil less than zero, without force or effect on the people of God, unless they give the devil place.
When the devil is bound all sin on earth will be forgiven, yet with it comes the proviso, “go and sin no more”, thus we find why the Wrath of God is so great in the latter days, not only did they sin the more, but they killed all those who held Mercy, then they blasphemed God, honored the False Prophet, turned Zion of the earth (moon) into a footstool, defiled the glory of the Sun, caused the pit to be opened, caused the Light to be removed from the candlestick. Therefore, God doesn’t merely open the pit because He feels like it, it’s opened because the people on earth caused it, truly in the end there is no excuses, none whatsoever.
It’s for this reason Jude said the Wicked were twice dead, they received the forgiveness of sins in this Season by rejecting the purpose of the Blood, then entered the Night with the same unsaved condition. They failed to give their souls to Jesus, in fact, they loved their souls so much, they refused to die for Jesus, thus they took, and took, and took, then mocked the Name of Jesus by their slander, envy, strife, hate, and foolish, carnal thinking; therefore, the “unpardonable sin” is speaking against the works of the Holy Ghost in this Season, but carrying the hidden sin into the Night, where it manifests as the Beast of the Earth.
They are like unto Judas, who had his sins forgiven on earth, but was not known in heaven. It’s this act of the forgiveness of sins binding the devil, when it happens the earth goes back to a condition as it was in the days of Noah, the Prophets of Old called it “like the Garden”. It only shows the spirit lusting to envy is the fallen nature of man, even with the devil bound it operates, showing why God told Cain “sin was at the door”, thus the False Prophet comes with the working of Satan, yet the devil and Satan are bound.
It’s not the devil who brings the Wrath of God, it’s the Wicked who cause it, along with the others who willfully join the Wicked. Yet, God reaches for repentance.
Are we the only ones to know this? Hardly, Jeremiah the prophet said the Lord will redeem Jacob, and ransom him from the hand of one stronger than he (Jere 31:11). Then comes Comfort (Jere 31:13), but then A Woman shall compass a man (Jere 31:22). The prophet Malachi told Israel to put the tithes and offering in The Storehouse, not many storehouses, but The Storehouse in the Temple in Jerusalem. Then God will Rebuke or Bind the Devourer (Mal 3:8-11). This Rebuking is when God forgives the sins of all on the earth based on the repentance of the Sun at the opening of the Sixth Seal. As long as Mercy is maintained, so is the Time of Comfort. There will be peace on the earth, with no sickness, disease, or war. Do they have their Temple now? Hardly, until the tithes go into the Storehouse the devil will not be bound. Paul also told us the Holy Ghost now lets, until the he is taken out of the way; taken out of what Way? The Holy Ghost still allows the Gospel of Peace to be preached, until then when He takes us out of here, the devil is not bound in the pit.
The very next thing we see is the devil will not be released until the 1,000 years are done, yet we know the False Prophet comes with the working of Satan before the time, is this accounted for here? Yes, as we will see. Also, since the devil is bound for the 1,000 years, is there something else happening before the 1,000 years? Yes, those who are partakers in the First Resurrection (Rapture) are removed before the 1,000 years begins (vs. 20:5-6). We found when the First Seal is broken we Reign on Earth with Christ (Body and Head), here it’s reigning With Christ in heaven. The “rest of the dead” won’t stand until after the 1.000 years, what “rest of the dead”? Those who sleep in Jesus through the Night.
We also know the Fifth Angel will release the devil, yet before it happens Four other angels will be active. Before the First Angel goes out all the Seals are broken; this is vital to us, if we leave at the Fifth Seal, yet the First Angel doesn’t appear until after the Seventh Seal is broken, we are not in danger of judgment. What are we in danger of? Missing the Rapture, a concern of Paul and others. They were not concerned about Judgment falling on them, they were seeking to be partakers of the First Resurrection.
The Remnant are a very small flock, their test will come, but they will stand in Mercy, but this is the Day, not the Night, we have a much Better Promise. In all this we can’t forget John said we are kings and priests, thus during our Season there are Good kings of the earth, of which we are.
Rev 20:4-6
With the understanding of the name, mark and image of the Beast we can see how verses 1 through 6 correlate to the Fifth and Sixth Seals, the devil is bound at the same time we are taken out of here, verse 4 matches Revelation 6:9 where the Souls were seen under the Altar.
Just prior to the Sixth Seal we saw the souls under the Altar, but here the souls are seen before the Throne, Judgment is given them in the form of their prayers being poured out, thus the time of Judgment has come, the time of Salvation is now in hand. This connects to Revelation 7:9 where we find a Great Multitude before the Throne, as well as to 7:14 where they are again seen before the Throne. The only other places we find the plural for Thrones relating to heaven (or Seats, same Greek word) is in reference to the Twenty-Four Elders, thus this defines the seats, showing we will judge the world, but we do it from heaven (vs. 4:4 & 11:16). Those who sit on the Thrones refused the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, they remained in the Blood of Jesus, they allowed the Blood to wash them from all unrighteousness. It’s how we judge, the Wicked have the same opportunity, as well as the same benefit handed them, but they rejected it for the pleasure darkness. The Remnant judge because they held Mercy, the first cloud of witnesses judge because they held to their measure of faith. When we are in heaven we have reached the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls. We can gain a real insight here, the Image is not around today, really the temple isn’t either, so how can we bow to the Image? By keeping the strongman unbound, by allowing the spirit lusting to envy to guide us. The actual Image is an idol, but in our Season it’s the mental image.
However, we also see two groups, those who were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, rather than beheaded for the Testimony, or beheaded for their testimony, thus this is the Witness, explaining the “Word”, as the source of our Testimony. If this was having ones physical head removed by man, as Paul did, or John the Baptist the Greek word used would have been Apolephalizo, but we find the Greek Pelekizo which only appears in this verse, it means To cut off, or Separate; whereas, Apolephalizo means to sever the head from the body. This gives us the two phases, we are Beheaded for Jesus when we take His Head (Authority), thus the Wicked take the authority of the Beast of the Sea, they are not beheaded for Jesus.
The Second group are those who stood for the Word of God, if we go back to Revelation 6:9 we find those slain for the Word of God listed first, then those who held (maintained) the testimony listed second, this connects those Jesus took captivity captive along with the rest of the Dead in Christ. Don’t forget in the Beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, when Jesus returns we find His Name is “The Word Of God” (vs. 19:13). The Dead in Christ under the altar includes those Jesus took captive from Abraham’s Bosom as noted in Psalm 22 as a Cloud, as well as all those who joined them since Pentecost as another Cloud, giving us Clouds. This also explains we become beheaded for Jesus when we are crucified with Christ, as we no longer live, thus we are Dead in Christ, as we live by the Faith of the Son of God who gave Himself for us (Gal 2:20). Holy and True is the Lord, He was just as True to the Cloud of Witnesses in Hebrews 11, as He was Holy to those after Pentecost, thereby giving us Clouds.
This helps us understand how the Lightnings represent the Father, the Thunderings the Word, the Voices the Holy Ghost, all projecting the Record from heaven. The Clouds followed the Light, Word and Voice of the Lord, they found their joy in heaven.
This area connects to Revelation 7:9 where we read, “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number. of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, Stood Before The Throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands”. Palm branches stand for victory in peace, these people had Peace. This shows the separation between the Good kings who bring their Glory, and the bad kings who lose theirs.
Once the bad kings lose their glory, they run to the Sixth church to worship at their feet, but then they make the same envy based decision they did prior, they want to be the head of the Sixth church, they still don’t want to pay the price, thus when their envy comes again, they invade the Seventh church. Later the evidence of how they were never “headless” is when the mark of the Beast ends on their foreheads, thus they stayed on the earth as the Earthly, but the Good kings reign with Christ during the 1,000 years. Why the forehead? “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”, the mind, they used natural intellect, they had a knowledge of God, but they didn’t have the knowledge from God. They used the wisdom of the earth, not the Wisdom of God. They trained the he of the world to look religious, but rejected the Greater He.
God has given us the evidence of our escape, along with many verses to show it’s true, we will be taken, or sleep in Jesus before the 1,000 years begins. How can anyone look at the events of the plagues, the devils invading everyone but a few, then assume it’s a Joy? Some Good News? Paul summed it up this way, “then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air: and so shall we Ever be with the Lord” (I Thess 4:17). However, we also see, “the voice of the archangel”, rather than the Shout, John will also show us when the Shout takes place. We will find two different subjects saying, “I come quickly”, giving two areas, one is a Voice, the last produces the Shout. The angel tells John “I come quickly”, then Jesus says “I come quickly”, it’s far better to hear the Voice say “Come up hither”, than face the Prince.
The rest of the Dead lived not again until the 1,000 years was over, no one on earth will gain Life during the 1,000 years; therefore, we work out our salvation during the Day, for the Night comes when no man can work out their salvation. The Night is a time of Testing and Judgment, not a Day of Salvation, thus there’s Silence in heaven during the Last Half of the Hour.
Clearly the Partakers in the First Resurrection are before the 1,000 years, not after, or mid. As we saw, the “rest of the dead” refers to those who sleep in Jesus. If one considers the Tribulation began on Pentecost with the division is between the Day and Night, then the Rapture would be Mid-Tribulation. If one considers the Tribulation won’t really begin until the Night comes, then the Rapture would be Pre-Great Tribulation. If one assumes the last resurrection is the only resurrection, then they would consider the Rapture and the last resurrection the same, thus hold to a Post-Rapture thought, but it negates the First Resurrection. Peter said “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel, and it shall come to pass in the last days” (Acts 2:16-17); therefore, the Tribulation began on Pentecost, thus the Rapture is Mid-Tribulation. Toward the end of the Night comes Jacob’s Trouble, but the Night is nonetheless the Day of the Lord for Judgment, as Amos said, “Woe unto you who Desire the Day of the Lord! to what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light” (Amos 5:18).
As we know the First Resurrection is one by inward Power, not a standing up by an outward power, the First Resurrection is the Resurrection of Jesus, yet His Resurrection isn’t complete until the Bodies of the Saints are seen in the Holy City in heaven, it doesn’t take place until this Age is done, when the Two Times of Festival (Passover and Pentecost) with the One Half of the other Festival (Trumpets) are complete. These are not only Blessed, but Holy, how did they get Holy? By the New Man, they became headless for Jesus, they held the Mind of Christ by the Seal of the Holy Spirit.
We will find other groups who are Blessed as well, but this is the only group known as Blessed and Holy. There may be times when it doesn’t appear as if we’re blessed, perhaps times when Holiness doesn’t fit us either, but we can’t equate our position to what we are, we must equate to what we will be. We are blessed, because God has made us a Blessing, thus why we are told time and again to Bless and curse not. We will be changed in a twinkling of an eye, the entire premise begins when we seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His Righteousness. We may not have it all, but as long as we’re seeking it, we’re in good shape.
When we leave here we take our Glory with us, it will be revealed (Rom 8:18). If the Glory is in us now, what makes us sit around looking up and wondering if God will bring the Glory down? Some are waiting for the “glory to fall”, when we should be allowing the Glory in us to come forth. Romans 8:18 says we wait for the Glory in us to be revealed, showing the Glory is the power of the First Resurrection in us now. It’s not the glory of the moon, or the sun, it’s the Glory of Jesus, the Greater He, the New Man, the Seed of God which was given us in the New Birth.
In the priest role it’s our prayers determining the result, we don’t pray against the sons of perdition, or people we consider enemies, rather we pray for those who persecute us. Our prayers or Mercy mixed with the fire of God fall on those who have no Mercy, producing their sores of great pain. In order for one to Judge anything, they must be in a position of authority, thus we will sit on the thrones and “judge the 12 tribes of Israel”, but none of us are ever allowed to judge the Church. The judging we do will be based on our prayers of Mercy and Grace, when mixed with Fire they become so holy the evil on earth reacts like the plagues in Egypt, they cause their own pain.
Verses 1 through 6 tell us why the devil is bound, as well as noted how the Rapture is real. If we are gone, the devil must be bound, a little strength isn’t going to make it, thus it’s true, it’s real, we do have a Hope and a goal, believe it, reach for it.
The only place we find the English word Throne in the Book of Revelation is in heaven (vs. 1:4, 3:21, 4:2, 4:3, 4:5, 4:6, 4:10, 5:1, 5:6, 5:7, 5:11, 5:13, 6:16, 7:9, 7:10, 7:11, 7:15, 7:17, 8:3, 12:5, 14:3, 14:5, 16:17, 19:4, 19:5, 20:11, 21:5, 22:1 & 22:3), in fact Revelation 20:4 is the only place we find the plural for thrones in the Book of Revelation, we are promised to sit with Jesus in His Throne. The Judgment Seat is on earth, but our Throne is in heaven. We do find the same Greek word for “thrones” translated as “seats” in reference to the twenty-four elders, as well as the same Greek word for Throne translated as “seat” for the Beast, but the Holy Ghost moved on the translators to give us the hope of our calling, showing us God’s Throne is were we’re going, when we get there we will have thrones (mansions). This all shows Godly thrones are in heaven, the counterfeit is the seat of Satan on the earth.
The Two Resurrections can be divided into two categories, the First Resurrection is for those who already have Life, the second for those who hope to obtain Life, or for those who are resurrected unto Damnation. The First doesn’t include the resurrection unto damnation, but it does Separate the Body of Christ. The bad fish are somewhat involved in the First Resurrection, at least to the point of missing it, yet they are still part of the Broken Body who are Cut Off. They become subject to the last resurrection unto damnation, thus they are found in the Lake of Fire at the Judgment.
The First Resurrection is for those with the firm evidence of Jesus in them by the Spirit, those who gave their souls to Jesus, those who asked in faith for the Wisdom of God. Do they always act like it? Not hardly, do they seek it? Yes, in it’s fullness. Do they always mind the Spirit? No, do they desire to? Yes. Do they always walk in the Spirit? No, do they seek to? Yes.
The last resurrection sees the people stood up, judged, then the final aspect of Life or damnation; whereas, in the First Resurrection there is no judgment, the blessed were able to judge their self, as they are Partakers of Life before the fact. We found two words for Resurrection, but there is a Third, it’s only used once in Matthew 27:53, it’s the Greek Egersis, from the Greek noun Egeiro, we know Egeiro is a reference to the First Resurrection, yet Egersis is only used one time, in Matthew 27:53 it’s used for the Resurrection of Jesus. The term “Resurrection of the Just” only refers to those who lived by faith, it only refers to the First Resurrection, thus the Just still live by Faith, they are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe unto the saving of the soul (Heb 10:38-39). The context in Matthew explains the Power of the Resurrection of Jesus is transferable, it’s the Better Resurrection noted in Hebrews 11:35. The First Resurrection is began with Jesus being Resurrected, but it finishes with us in the Rapture, thus we call it the Rapture, not a different Resurrection.
Haggai puts the Rapture in simple enough terms, As long as the Spirit remains with us, there is no cause for fear, Yet once, in a little while, the Lord will shake the heavens, and the Earth (second beast), the Sea (world) and the dry land (Sand of the Sea), He will shake all (people in all) nations, the Desire of all (many in the nations, but not all in the nations, thus it’s limited to those who can’t be shaken) shall come (be Raptured): then He will fill His House (in heaven) with the Glory (we are the Glory – Haggai 2:5-7). John saw this as the Smoke filling the Temple, the Glory is in us now, we have the Glory, don’t look about for it, submit to it. The old man keeps us looking for things on this mountain, or in the assembly, just to keep us from knowing we have all it takes in the New Man. Don’t look there for Christ, look within.
Rev 20:7-15
Now the fifth angel lets Satan out of the Pit, but wait, wasn’t the devil bound? I thought the Wicked come with the working of Satan? Hold the phone, what gives? No body move. Ahh, Satan, the demons, the devil, Lucifer, all one, acting as one, seeking to bring destruction. When Satan is Loosed the three unclean spirits as frogs come out of the mouths of the Dragon, Beast and False Prophet (vs. 16:13). The power, authority and seat of the dragon, are seen in the mouth of the dragon, mouth of the beast, mouth of the false prophet. When the devils are loosed into the people, then the working of Satan used by the Wicked will be joined by Satan, this goes right back to Judas. John 13:2 says, “and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him”. Then in John 13:27 we read, “And after the sop Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, do quickly”. The supper and the sop are different, the sop came before the Bread and Cup, but was part of the Passover Meal. The devil wasn’t in Judas, the devil put something in the heart of Judas, yet in order for it to take place there had to be something in Judas to allow it. The devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, not who he wills to devour. The same premise is seen here, the Wicked come with the working of Satan, the tricks, laying in wait to deceive, the mind power, false masks of personality, and other aspects of the hidden nature, then when the devil is loosed on the people, Satan enters the hearts of the Wicked, thus Satan working attracts Satan. The same element goes about with Words of unbelief and destruction, yet in the end we find the devil cast into the lake of fire, but we don’t see the word Satan (vs. 10). Why? Satan is found in the False Prophet, thus Paul told us the self-transformed come with the outward appearance of righteousness, but inside Satan reigns.
Satan means Accuser or Slanderer, explaining the mouth of the sons of perdition. They talk of love until someone speaks Truth, then watch out, here comes the slander with the personal attacks. This also shows the only weapon the enemy has is words, words, and words, nothing else, words of deception, words of unbelief, words of pride, words of ego, words of strife, words of slander, words of envy, words of anger, words of control, but nonetheless words, thus darts are words, but words are sent to entice, or pull us into using the Wiles of the devil. However, we have the Armor of God, the very element protecting us from the evil workings of the Tares. Keep the helmet of Salvation tight, then the Words won’t hurt, the Shield of Faith is still able to Quench the fiery darts, the Sword (Rhema) of the Spirit spoken by us is able to stop any enticing.
We are overcome when the words of the false hit a target, it’s not the physical abuse, but the mental realm, thus the wisdom of man is earthly in nature, soulish in intent ending devilish. Someone can say something to bring us disappointment in a second. A Dart, all the darts have the same source, the old man, who hears from the prince of the power of the air.
On the same note there is no reason to receive a Dart, above all we don’t allow any corrupt communication come out of your mouth because of some dart. We pray, we discern, we respond. However here we find the war is over, we won, we’re in heaven with the Lord, where we reign, while the Woman (Sand of the Sea), the Sea and the Earth are on earth, remember the purpose of this Prophecy is to show us what will be, to give us the incentive to endure what is.
Then comes the Sixth angel for the finish of the Great War, there are only Four Quarters in a whole, thus all those of the earth are involved, which shows why the Wrath of God is over the entire earth. The people of the earth join to the Woman, the Woman joined to the False Prophet, we find the Sea and Sand of the Sea join the Beast of the Earth, then the Wrath of God falls. In the Old Testament God dealt with Israel, but when the Gospel was presented to the entire world, Jew and Gentile, or better all mankind became the subject. God cannot present Salvation to the entire world, without also presenting Judgment to the same world.
This war isn’t one, two or three countries, it’s the entire world coming against Jerusalem of the earth. John used Gog to show leaders, and Magog the nations, but we found the leaders gave their crowns up, what gives? Bitterness, the three mouths of the First Beast, the False Prophet (Second Beast) and the dragon, the First Beast is the world, the False Prophet the Beast of the Earth, the dragon is the devil released from the pit. The three elements of the power, authority and seat give us the Name, Mark and Image of the Beast. The fire of these evil elements leads to destruction; brimstone is the millstone of unbelief, the smoke is the deception they entered into, thus in heaven the Smoke is our glory, on earth they turned their glory into evil. Who do they fight? Envy. This takes us back to Revelation 17:17, we recall how God has put in their hearts to fulfill His will, just as He hardened the heart of Pharaoh.
The False Prophet doesn’t call fire down, he causes it, here we find the Fire comes from God, the fire from within the earth turns the earth into the lake of fire. This is before the Judgment, we find the wording “Day and Night” forever, how could they have Day? This opens the time element before the Night to include the Day, explaining how the Beast of the Sea, and the tares becoming the Beast of the Earth are around in our Season. Therefore, we find the devil, and the sons of perdition already in the Fire. It’s the sons of perdition who come forth to say “Lord, Lord haven’t we”, but they will find their latter end much worse (vs. 10). They made war with the Lamb, but the Lamb wins. They are the ones who used the “signs” to deceive the people, their signs were the mark of the Beast, number of the name of the Beast, and the Image, the three elements of the power, authority and seat of the dragon.
The Great war includes Gog and Magog, they come against the “Sand of the Sea” (vs. 8). They will compass the “beloved city”, Beloved, isn’t she the Whore? (vs. 9). Yes, but nonetheless beloved since it was the same place 144,000 were found, God is real funny about things He has blessed. The city was blessed, but turned into a curse, God views those who caused the city to be cursed very unfavorable light.
Satan goes out to deceive the nations, we found the Beast and False Prophet deceived the people, thus the connection is clear, the Wicked come with the working of Satan, their hearts as just as much Satan as the devil, like Judas one could say they were a devil, yet the devil will be bound.
The Judgment Seat is in order, the first group are those who pierced Him. They must pass the books of the Law of Moses, showing us if we do anything out of the Law of Moses to gain God’s favor, we must still pass the books. Of course those assigned the Two Witnesses, who caused them to lay in the street will have some major problems at this junction.
The next groups don’t have to pass “the books” (Law of Moses), but they are judged according to their works (ways of Mercy), like those who passed the Books they must also find their names in the Book of Life. Ahh, works, we finally get our reward for doing all the good things, right? Yes and no, depending on our Ways. This would be the time when the undefiled religion becomes a factor, one aspect of our religion is to “remain unspotted from the world” (James 1:27), which means they didn’t take the mark of the Beast, meaning they were not owned by the world, or the authority of the dragon.
Jesus explained this judgment in Matthew, as the sheep will be Blessed of the Father, showing they did the will of the Father, pertaining to Mercy (Matt 25:31-34). Some will be told they gave food, help and drink, but they won’t be saying, “Lord, Lord didn’t we give you water” (Matt 25:35-37). These are termed “the righteous”, not “the just”, they are the sheep, the little flock, the ones who operated out of Mercy, as they did the Law of faith without knowing it. The goats on the other hand will go away “into everlasting punishment”, which is the resurrection unto damnation, but the righteous will be resurrected unto Life (Matt 25:46).
These groups from the Sea, Death and Hell are those who wail because of Him, but within these groups we also find the Gentiles (Sea), those who sleep in Jesus (Dead), and those who rejected Jesus (Hell). Those who sleep in Jesus, sleep through the Night, but they are nonetheless judged according to their works of Mercy, which is also their Ways. No matter if it’s the Law of Moses or works, one still has to find their name in the Book of Life before they hear the Bride say, “Come up Hither”.
By this time the entire earth will be a ball of fire, in order to be free one must hear “Come up Hither”. For this reason we will see both the Spirit and Bride say “Come”, the Spirit to us, the Bride to those who pass the fire. These groups hold the only ones judged by their works (ways), but remember Jezebel had works as well, evil works, but works. There are those who did the Law of faith without knowing it, yet there are those who do things to impress God or man. The former are the blessed, but it doesn’t say they are Holy, thus the First Resurrection contains Blessed and Holy, not merely Blessed (Matt 25:31-40).
Those who are partakers of the First Resurrection are Blessed of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the group at the latter end are Blessed of the Father, they become Brethren of the Lord, not Friends, there is a difference. The Good News is they make it, they will be the Servants to the Lord in heaven when they hear “Come up Hither”. They are not the Bride or the Bridesmaids, they fit the area of Servants (22:3). When Jesus says “pass-by”, the Bride will receive Her bridesmaids, as Her bridesmaids are the Remnant, but the Servants of the Lord are all those from the Sea, Death and Hell who found their names in the Book of Life at the Judgment. Wait, Hell? Yes, Jesus has the keys to death and hell, here He opens those areas, but don’t forget some of Smyrna were “cast into prison”, which is a metaphor for hell.
Paul didn’t tell the carnal church their “works” would get them through the fire, rather he said “the fire shall try every man’s work (singular) of what sort it is” (I Cor 3:13), what sort? Is it the Work of the Lord? Or the work of Satan saying it’s the work of the Lord? Did we walk in Mercy? Or did we slander the brethren?
But we can’t forget the Corinthians were also called Carnal, they were unable to understand spiritual matters. They are a type of those who Sleep in Jesus, they were Brethren, they did many things, but Paul warned them of the danger of trusting in works to get us through the fire. It’s one thing to be deceived to the Truth when one is seeking it, another to ignore it.
Smyrna had some, not all who were cast into the prison (hell) by the devil, but their hearts were still seeking Jesus, they will get their reward, the Crown of life (vs. 2:8-11). It’s important to keep in mind, they were kept from the Truth, they didn’t ignore it, it wasn’t their fault, rather the Wicked set gates before them, they loved the Lord, they walked in Mercy, but they were ignorant of the Truth based on the fables presented them by the Wicked.
Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law, “For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, yet they do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves”; they will be judged according to their works (Rom 3:27 & 2:11-14). Works based in ways, not acts will be judged, but for those who are Partakers of the First Resurrection? They entered the Rest of God as they ceased from their works. We would be amazed at how many acts of Mercy we have done over the years, rather than sit around thinking of some “good work”, we did by nature what God considers good. Does Mercy include a rebuke? When it’s based on being an oracle of God, yes. Isn’t it better to warn someone, then allow them to continue in their unbelief?
When the people chased after Jesus to get more food He told them “Verily, verily, I say unto you, You seek Me, not because you saw the miracles, but because you did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labor not for the meat which perishes, but for the Meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for Him has God the Father sealed” (Jn 6:26-27). As the Son of man Jesus gave the ability to walk in Mercy, to do the least of the Commandments.
The first warning we have as a Christian pertains to the useless effort of dead works. Part of our Doctrine in Christ relates to not laying again the foundation of repentance for dead works (Heb 6:1). Once those works are repented of, let them go, cast the acts of self-righteousness aside, allow the New Man to guide us into good works.
There is a great benefit in having our faith worked. When the people asked how they might do the works of God, Jesus said, This is the work of God, for you to believe on Him whom He has sent (Jn 6:29), if one doesn’t think holding unto belief is a Work, try it sometime. This would also show unbelief is an evil work, our call is to continue to Believe.
In our Season finding the will of the Lord is easy enough, be ye filled with the Spirit, giving thanks for All Things to God and the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:17-20). How can we know the will of the Father? Believe in His Son Jesus Christ, by being merciful as our Father is merciful.
Verses 14 and 15 give us more than one group, the first shows death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, anyone whose name wasn’t written in the Book of Life is also cast into the Lake of Fire, regardless of their works. This is the fire Paul talked to the Corinthians about, it’s far better to submit to the Holy Ghost by allowing the Baptism of Fire to burn away the wood, hay and stubble now. Those who found their names in the Book of Life entered the resurrection unto Life, to hear, “come up hither”, sweet sounds indeed under the circumstances.
Our foundation is Christ, but every man builds on the foundation, gold and silver for some, wood and hay for others; some mix gold with wood, or silver with hay, they will sleep in Jesus, some reject the gold and silver, using all wood, hay and stubble, they are the Wicked. Others hear, obey and build with the purity of the Wisdom of God (gold), with the redemption found in the Blood of Jesus (silver), with all the precious attributes of the Spirit (jewels).
Jesus has the keys of hell and death, but here it’s death and hell, the first reference gives us hell before death, but the second points to the Second Death which is the resurrection unto damnation. Hell is the temporary element now, but when it’s cast into the lake of fire it will forever remain there. The devil doesn’t have the power of death, neither did he have it from the Cross forward (Heb 2:14). For us we find the power of death and life are in the tongue, the tongue can Confess Jesus by the Spirit, or remain self-based and untamed.
The phrase “second death” is found four times in the entire Bible, all four are here in the Book of Revelation (vs. 2:11, 20:6, 20:14 & 21:8). If there is a second death, there must be a first, thus it’s appointed unto all men once to die, but not for all to die twice. Which brings up the question, if hell is tossed into the lake of fire, how can it be hell everlasting? In truth it shows hell does not cease, rather the Judgment is eternal, or without end (Heb 6:1-2). As sad as it seems, it’s also a hope, if judgment is temporary, then life is also temporary, leaving us with no hope even in heaven. However, if judgment is eternal, without end, then Life is eternal without end. If we are Born Again we have the Life of Christ within, the Seal of the Holy Spirit is our assurance of Jesus in us the hope of Glory.
The Lake of fire correlates to the second death, thus we find two fires, one when the earth turns inside out, just before the Judgment, then the Lake of Fire without end after the Judgment. For this reason Paul hoped the works of the Corinthians would get them through the first fire, so they would not have to face the everlasting one. Of course, those who are Partakers of the First Resurrection are free of the second death. We already know the difference between Immortal and Eternal, there are some who define them as having an end, but if it’s the case, then God has an end, meaning we’re all domed. Not so, the concepts of a hell without end are firm, it’s tossed into the lake of fire, it’s not a week-ender, it’s without end.
Rev 21:1-6
The New heaven and New earth doesn’t mean Good for both, rather the word New is the Greek word Kaivos meaning New under aspect of time or Of a different character or Type. The New earth is hell with her borders widened, as the lake of fire, something it never was before. It was void, in darkness, had the Garden, was destroyed by water, was green, had man and animals, but here it’s New like it never was before.
The New heaven is also widened to accept the countless numbers of those who are Partakers of the First Resurrection, all those who found their names in the Book of Life; however, after the judgment it’s closed for all time, only those who are Tabernacles remain therein. There is no more Sea, no more Gentile, just those who Rejoice as the dwellers of heaven, or those who have a different kingdom.
John now explains how this New earth and New heaven came about. Verse 2 is one of many verses showing the Bride is New Jerusalem, New Jerusalem is not some city, it’s a people, this is after the Judgment, thus She follows Her Husband, as She is Adorned (Greek Kosmeo, with a root word meaning In Order, or as we know it The unity of the Faith and Spirit). The Tabernacle of God is the Bride, the word Dwell in the phrase “He will dwell with them”, is Tabernacles, not Temples, thus God Tabernacles with the Tabernacle, as the Tabernacle is With God, there is no Temple after the Judgment.
Here we find the difference between “holy city” of the earth and Holy City of heaven, the difference is the type of Holiness. Those in New Jerusalem had the True Holiness of God, not the courtyard holiness of judgment. This takes us back to Matthew 27:52-53, showing when the “saints” went into the “Holy City” the Resurrection of Jesus was complete, just another reference to the Rapture.
Once we reach our goal, we know there will be no more Death, it has been cast into the lake of fire, the former things are gone, at this time one can say “it’s passed away”. All things are New, in the Greek this reads “said He who sits on the Throne, Lo, New all things I make”, then He said, “It Is Done”, adding “I Am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end”, taking us right back to verses 1:8 and 1:11, where we find this Alpha and Omega is the Lord. At this point He has finished all three of the questions asked by the disciples, now we know these areas point to the Word made flesh before the Cross (was), the Greater He in us (is), and the Son of man coming to judge (is to come). Jesus is the Almighty, our Savior, our Lord, our Hope, our Faith, and our Friend. Prior it was Beginning and Ending, showing the Ending was a process, but now it’s Done for all time.
John was told at the very beginning, “I Am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and What you see, write in a book” (vs. 1:11). It has now ended, John is told again to Write: for these words are True and Faithful: prior Jesus told the Laodiceans, “These things saith the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness” (vs. 3:14); thereby bringing it all together, showing Jesus is called Faithful and True, He will Judge in Righteousness, for He is the Word of God (vs. 19:11).
We also see “I will give unto him who is athirst”, which shows Jesus is calling these matters Done, it’s not a matter of “perhaps” this will happen, rather it’s done, written in the Record. The warning shows us why we work out our salvation by fear and trembling. Why we war to enter, yet continue warring to remain spiritual in nature, we have a soul, we will have a new resurrected body,. If we are Born Again our souls will be Spirit. The Spirit is a product of the Holy Ghost, thus this reaches further than the Spirit in us, it shows the Spirit in us makes us Spirit. Therefore, we mind the Spirit, we think on heavenly things, since it’s where we will spend forever, and ever.
When we see the words “It is Done”, we have to go back to verse 16:17 where the Seventh angel poured his vial into the Air, then a Great Voice out of the Temple (Judgment), and out of the Throne (Tabernacle) said “It Is Done”. The angel didn’t say It is Done, the Voice out of heaven did, if the Voice is in heaven, it shows Jesus is in heaven at the time, thus it’s appointed unto All men to die once, then comes the Judgment. By now we know the difference between, “it is done”, and “it is finished”, but in case we forgot, the phrase “it is finished” refers to something within the plan being accomplished to the point it need not be done again, yet there are other things yet to be done. The phrase “it is done” means all the facets of the plan are complete.
The Fountain of The Water of Life is different from the fountains of water we found on the earth prior, don’t mix then up. Here we have the separation from Genesis showing one type of Water above the Firmament, and one below, this Water is Living Mercy, connecting the Spirit to the Mercy. Jesus taught on the “living waters” by saying, “out of his belly (inner most part) shall flow rivers of living water” (Jn 7:37-38). The we read, “but this spoke He of the Spirit (New Man), which they who believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given (or has not yet given); because Jesus was not yet glorified (Resurrected)” (Jn 7:39). The Glory in us is a direct result of having the Spirit, the Mercy is the Water, making the Spirit the Living, join them together and we give Living Water from within.
Rev 21:7-27
Is this Jesus or the Father? We recall John telling us, Beloved, now are we the sons of God, it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know when He shall appear, we shall be Like Him; for we shall see Him as He is (I Jn 3:2). Verse 7 is us, this is the point where we are promised to be Glorified. “Whosoever believes (continues to believe) Jesus is the Christ (has Christ witnessed in them) is Born of God: and every one who loves Him is Born of Him, loves him also is begotten of Him” (I Jn 5:1). “Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes Jesus is the Son of God” (I Jn 5:5). “For whosoever is Born of God overcomes the world: and this is the Victory overcoming the world, even our Faith” (I Jn 5:4).
How are we going to do this, it seems we are the Bride, and a Son at the same time? No, this divides the times, here we are noted as sons of God, the context is still “overcoming”. Paul said the Spirit bears witness with our Spirit saying we are sons of God, this pertains to us here on earth, verses 7 and 8 of Revelation 21 divide the Body, the sons of God as the Good, the sons of perdition as the bad.
Verse 8 begins with “fearful”, which is the cause for sons of perdition to “draw back” to perdition. Then the unbelieving, the second noted failure; all in the lake then are subject to the second death. The first death is Expsuche, or the soul from the flesh it goes, the second is a complete absence of any attribute of God whatsoever. These areas show the large horn of the two, the power they used was deceptive in nature. We looked at fearful and unbelieving, but there is also abominable (worshipping idols of the mind), murderers (killing of the faith of the just), whoremongers (taking the mark of the Beast), sorcerers (using witchcraft, yet calling it “of God”), idolaters (worshipping the self, or the Image), and All liars (those who said they would accept the Covenant, yet broke it). Judge their ways, these are ways. All these are the result of holding to the old man while refusing to seek the New Man to be changed. Paul tells us to put off the old man and his deeds, here is a list of the deeds. This list pertains to their ways in this Season, whereas the ones noted in 22:15 pertain to the next as the ways of the false prophet, but it’s still a Beast. Therefore, we have another place pointing to the Rapture, this shows the false christs before the Rapture, then in 22:15 we find the Wicked after the Rapture. The sons of God are sons of God because they are Born Again, no one is going to be a “son of God”, without the Spirit (I Jn 3:6-9, Rom 8:14 & I Cor 2:12).
In verse 9 we find one of the seven angels, he now begins to speak, and will do so until Revelation 22:11, but then we read, “Behold I come quickly” (vs. 22:7). We tend to equate this to Jesus, but this angel comes first, this is the time and timing relating to Paul’s comments about the Voice of the angel, thus this angel begins the Rapture, when Jesus confesses us to the Father. This angel knows about the Bride, and the Bridesmaids, this angel is the Archangel Gabriel. Paul never said Jesus would call us up, rather Jesus will confess us to the Father, as the Last Trump blows, those of us who are alive and remain will be caught up to meet the Dead in Christ under the Altar of God, then we all we go into the Air to meet Jesus, where we will forever remain with Him, including being with Him in heaven during the 1,000 years.
The wording “Come Hither” is not the same as “Come Up Hither”, this is more like Come over here, rather than Come up here. John is told he will see the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. He went to a Great and high mountain, this isn’t Zion of the earth, this is Zion of heaven, the Rock, not “rocks” as little independent pieces. We have a type and shadow of this Mount in the Mount of Transfiguration, this is clear by the Transfiguration between New Jerusalem and the Bride, they are one in the same. This shows Zion of the Heavenly is the Mount of Transfiguration, the Rock, those who are Christ on this Earth, not the independent rocks, left behind.
Clearly the Bride is descending, not ascending, going right back to 21:2 where John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven. This comes after the separation is noted in verses 7 and 8, showing the Voice out of the Throne as the Bride comes from heaven after the 1,000 years, thus we are in heaven during the 1,000 years. By this time the Bride has made herself ready, she is dressed in White, she is Spirit and Spiritual, a citizen of heaven.
The Bride has, and is the Glory of God, like a Stone most precious, a treasure in a field, when the man saw it, he bought the entire field just to have the one treasure. She is as Clear as a Crystal, the same Crystal sitting before the Throne (vs. 4:6, 21:11 & 21:18). If we take one second to look at our flesh we would have to say “no way”; but remember, God began this, faith says He can finish it. He started it with the precious Seed of God in us, it doesn’t appear what we shall be, but faith sees it, Hope knows it, we believe God Is, our faith knows He is a Rewarder of those who Diligently Seek Him. We are Changed in a twinkling of an eye, the Change is more than flesh, it entails many things. If we are holding to the New Man, any aspect of flesh is left behind, what we fought is defeated, death where is thy sting? It began when we imputed death of the old on the Cross, the Rapture pays the debt, as we are welcomed into the House. We made the confession of being Crucified with Christ, we obtained God’s Wisdom, our souls are being saved by the New Man, it all comes together when we’re out of here. We will be known as we are known, what is perfect will be perfect in all respects, what we hope for, will come to pass.
Verse 21:10 defines the Rock and Church, we find the Great and High Mountain as the Rock, then “the Great City” as the Church, thus there are churches many in the Body, but only One Church on the Rock, which becomes the Bride.
The wall has gates, but the gates can’t come until the wall is finished, does this mean the Apostles didn’t make it to become the Bride? They’re the Walls, not the City, oh my John, Peter, Paul what happened? Nothing, the Wall has to be built, the Watchmen still stand on the Wall until the gates are completed, the Apostles still delivered commandment beginning this on Pentecost. We also find New Jerusalem encompasses the entire area, then She obtains Her Bridesmaids, as the Lord gets His Servants. After the Judgment the Lord will bring those who sleep in Jesus back with Him to New Jerusalem, thus Paul told us we will not hinder their reward, rather we better put on minds on ours, seek to be a child of the Day. If the Remnant are the Gates to New Jerusalem, what then are the “gates of hell”? Division, methods to change direction, but they are placed by the Wicked. Every wind of doctrine is a gate, getting us to change the fringe elements, while ignoring the important issues becomes a gate of hell, traditions taught as doctrine are gates of hell.
The foundation to the wall has the “names” of the twelve apostles, but does it mean the name of Judas is there? Hardly, the reference to Names goes right back to Authority of the 12 office positions. There can be more than 12 people in those positions, just as Paul and Barnabas made at least 14 (Acts 13:2). In Acts chapter one Peter was attempting to replace the man, but in Acts 13:1-3 the Holy Ghost was appointing positions, two different things.
The foundation of the walls has the names of the people, but we find the 12 Gates has the names of the tribes, does it mean each Gate has 144,000 people jammed in it? No, it means the positions for the 12, thus when John saw 24 Elders he didn’t see himself, he saw the Positions. The Promise is secure in the Record in Heaven, we follow the same purpose the Apostles sought, not the purpose for the 144,000. If one understands the Prophecy in This Book, they are not of the 144,000 nor do they slumber, nor are they blinded by the veil of the Law of Moses, they are appointed to be sons of God by the Spirit.
Like Daniel we are given some numbers, we found these numbers give us the 144,000, but we also see the City and Gates were measured, but not with a Rod as was the Temple, this is a Golden Reed. One never measures a Tabernacle with a Rod of Iron, they use a Golden Reed. The Rod is set for the nations and disobedient, not the Saints. The Rod used by a Shepherd, this Rod are much different, the Rod used by a Shepherd is for correction, but it’s also a guide, the Rod Jesus uses on the nations is one of Iron, it’s used to break, not guide, or measure.
The city is Foursquare or like the Holy of Holies, thus the Wall is around the Holy of Holies making it the very close indeed; however the holy of holies in the Tabernacle didn’t have windows, nor a door, it had a curtain. The view is a combination of the holy of holies with the site of New Jerusalem to give us a view we can understand. The Gates are on all sides, the veil is gone, the Courtyard is not found here. The city is 12,000, the wall is 144, the two give us the purpose for the 144,000 and the 12,000, thus this Wall is akin to the Wall around the Holy of Holies. This is clear when we find it’s foursquare, thus we find metaphorically we as the Bride are the Holiest of All. This is very interesting since there is no Holy Place, the Holy Place was twice as long as wide, this area is just the Holiest of All.
Since the gates are for the Remnant, it doesn’t mean only the Jews get in, rather it shows the building process must include the Remnant, or we are missing a Truth. Also the Church began with a bunch of Jews in an upper room, remember?
Each precious stone means something in the Roma-Greek language; 1) Jasper, Wisdom and Courage; 2) Sapphire, Frees us from enchantments; 3) Chalcedony, Drives away sadness; 4) Emerald, Discovers false friends, insures love; 5) Sardonyx, Married happiness; 6) Sardis, A Priest; 7) Chrysolyte, Frees us from evil passions; 8) Beryl, everlasting youth and happiness; 9) Topaz, Fidelity and friendship; 10) Chrysoprasus, The apple of His eye; 11) Jacinth, Red as the Blood; 12) Amethyst, Preventive against violent persons: all of these are promises, showing we are the treasure in the field. Also we know about the breastplate of the priest as it was a protection, here we find our breastplate is the New Man, our protection is still Jesus in us the hope of glory.
The gates are Pearl, giving us the Pearl of Great Price, which relates back to the last aspect of the Great Multitude, showing the Remnant are the Pearl (one stone – Matt 13:44-46). If those other stones mean something; what about the Pearl? The Pearl signifies purity and innocence, fitting for the 144,000. The Stars for the Remnant are based in the Tribes, not in the people themselves, but the Stars of the many stones are separate, indicating how we as stars differ from one another, yet we’re sons of God.
There will be no more Temple in heaven, for the Lamb, and Lord God Almighty have taken care of all judgment, there will be no fear of any kind in haven, especially a fear of judgment. We will be completely free of sin, pain, anger, plus all tares and darts, and the hindrance of the flesh. The promise is now complete, there are no promises left to complete. Showing we will be with the Lord, there will be no Moon, or Sun, just millions of Stars, thus there is no more Sea either, the Glory of God is still the Light of Lights, thus there will be no Greater Light, or Lesser Light, just those of The Light, but here we also find “Lighten it, and Light thereof” (vs. 23). This gives us the Greater Light and Lesser Light joined into the Light. The type and shadow is seen as those who have the Lamp and Oil.
The nations must be Saved to walk in the Light, the metaphor Foundations of water, is much different from the Fountains of living water, just as Rivers are different from the Rivers of life. The difference? Life and Living. The metaphors fountains of water points to Mercy, the rivers help explain why God formed and created the Waters. A fountain of water is still mercy based, but when we add the word “Life” we also add the Spirit. The Remnant are noted as fountains of water, we have the Living Water from within.
Verse 24 has two elements the nations which “are saved” showing a present tense position, then the kings of the earth who brought their Glory. The first is last, and the last is first, the nations points to 144,000 the thousands of thousands, the kings to us the ten thousand times ten thousand. The Good kings brought their Glory at Rapture, the bad kings had no glory of their own, they remained as the rocks.
The Gates refer to the Remnant (vs. 21:12-13), then we find the word Day, since there will be no Night or Darkness in heaven, thus by adding the Day we find it’s Eternal Salvation (vs. 25). This also shows those of the Night who were saved joined those of the Day, thus there is no judgment, it’s eternal salvation for the people in heaven.
There is a glory of the Sun and a glory of the Moon, and the Remnant bringing their Glory with them, it will not remain on the earth; it will join to the Glory of God, thus the Moon loses her light on the earth, but the Remnant bring the Glory of Mercy with them when they hear “Come up hither”. Then they are joined to the Day, with One Glory. For us this is when the Glory within us is revealed (Rom 8:18), perhaps the one issue of faith which is the hardest for us is the thought there is something beyond this flesh we now, it’s working on our souls on a minute to minute basis to bring us from the flesh to being Spiritual. It is difficult to be in the natural physical flesh, yet think of a body so pure, holy, spiritual in nature, without fault, or flaw waiting to join our saved souls as we are Glorified.
The Wicked assume they can steal our glory now, but it goes with us at the Rapture. Then they assume the can steal the glory of the Sun and Moon, but it goes with the Remnant, the Wicked lose in the end as they remain bound to the earth. All Glory will be back with God, no glory whatsoever will remain on the earth. God shares His glory with no man, but He does share it with His sons. The earth began in darkness and void, it will end in complete darkness becoming void, yet New, since it will be full of lost souls as a great ball of fire.
Only those who are written in the Book of Life enter heaven, this goes back to verse 20:15. Even If one does what they assume are Works, they still have to find their name in the Book of Life. We find there will be those who reject the Call to Open the Door, they go about doing what they assume are good works, only to find they are corrupt. On the other hand we will find those who did works (ways) from their measure of faith, they may not have heard of Jesus or the Spirit, yet their names will be recorded. It doesn’t take long to connect some of these, the Book of Life, the River of Life, the Tree of Life, the Living Waters, Life so we might have it more abundantly, all these things God freely gives us If we desire to walk in them.
Those who won’t be able to find their names, are like unto the guest who was caught with a defiled garment: he didn’t have an excuse either. They knew better than to play mind games with God, yet they did it anyway, they took of the abomination, made a lie, enjoyed the mark, name and image of the beast, they wanted all they could get from God, but refused to give Him anything, even respect. They will not enter, this pertains to those in our Season as well as the Next.
We found the plural usage of Abominations back in chapter 17, they had to do with the Woman (vs. 17:4-5). Going back we find the Cup she holds is full of Abominations, but she is known as the Abominations of the earth. Here John uses the singular (abomination), this is the only place in the Book of Revelation we find the singular, yet Jesus said, “When you see the Abomination of Desolation” (Matt 24:15 & Mark 13:14); therefore, it would seem if we are to “see” this abomination, John should have said something about it. Perhaps he did, perhaps this shows how the Woman takes the Cup from the hand of the Wicked, in so doing she becomes what she allows. In reference to Abominations Jesus said, “You are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knows your hearts: for what is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15). The New Testament shows Jesus used the term Abomination twice, but in the one reference to the Abomination making Desolate in two places (Matt 24:15 & Mark 13:14), another time in Luke showing the heart of man, as lost holds things of man in high regard, higher than then they hold the God. The Book of Revelation also has the Woman with the Abominations twice, once in reference to those who “work abomination” (vs. 17:4-5 & 21:27).
Does all this tell us something about the Abomination? Yes, the Greek word for Abomination is Bdelugma meaning To turn away, or to emit a foul odor, it comes from the Greek Bdelusso meaning to Render foul. This Foul Odor is before God, perhaps the most defining area about the term Abomination can be found in Proverbs. “Oh, I know, in Proverbs 6:16 it’s written, God hates six things, and when we add the seventh it becomes an abomination”. Right, There are six things God hates, since there are Six it relates to the number of the name of the Beast. The Six are 1) a proud look, 2) a lying tongue, 3) hands shedding innocent blood, 4) a heart devising wicked imaginations, 5) feet swift in running to mischief, and 6) a false witness speaking lies. Then we add the seventh, which is “he who sows discord among the brethren” (Prov 6:16-19). In Proverbs 3:32 we find the Forward are an abomination to the Lord, the word Forward is the Hebrew Iuwz which is a compound word meaning, To twine, or Bind, it also shows “to continue through the night”, in this case Forward means one who Binds through the night. Interesting.
In Proverbs 11:20 we find They who are of a Forward Heart are abomination to the Lord, in this case the word Forward is the Hebrew Iqqesh, rather than Iuwz, and Iqqesh means Distorted, or To make crooked. Lying lips are an abomination (Prov 12:22), the Way of the Wicked is abomination (Prov 15:9), the Thoughts of the Wicked are an abomination (Prov 15:26), a proud heart is an abomination (Prov 16:5), the Scorner is an abomination (Prov 21:27), turning ones ear from the Law (Law of the Spirit) makes their prayers an abomination (Prov 28:9). Unbalanced scales, or weights are an abomination, pointing to a double-mind, or a hypocrite, or Iniquity (Prov 11:1, 20:10 & 20:23). Another area to consider, if one justifies the Wicked, or condemns the Just, they become an abomination (Prov 17:15). If the sacrifice of the Wicked is an abomination, then how much more are the Wicked, who brought it with a Wicked heart (Prov 21:27). Do lips lie, or the person with them? Do feet run, or the person with them? God hates things, but we find when a person uses, or attaches themselves to the things, they join the things God hates.
This shows the one who brought the wicked sacrifice is more of an abomination than the sacrifice. What about the Wicked? It is an abomination to the kings to commit wickedness: for the Throne is established by righteousness (Prov 16:12). This shows us the Unpardonable sin, and why Jesus said, “whosoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come” (Matt 12:32). Showing two Seasons, thus the Wicked carry their iniquity into the Night making a it a sin by their actions, yet it’s based when they refuse to have the Spot cleaned in the Day. Therefore, they never ask forgiveness in the Day, since they are so self-deceived, they consider their Ways a blessing to God, they will use the working of Satan in the Night. Even if they use the blanket phrase “forgive me of all my sins”, if they continually use the same methods of the old man, they show they are not sincere, or honest, thus they made the lie and love it.
The unjust (unjustified, when opportunity to be justified is in hand) man is an abomination to the Just; he who is upright in the way is abomination to the Wicked (Prov 29:27). The Wicked are run by the spirit of antichrist in our Season, their envy sees those who stand in the Righteousness of Jesus as an abomination unto them. Peter told us the Wicked are like a dog returning to his vomit; Proverbs says the same thing (II Pet 2:22 & Prov 26:11). Since Peter used Proverbs 26:11, there must be some clue to bring all this together for us. The fire of the lips goes about building fires, causing strife among the brethren (Prov 26:23). The deceit is within, but the evidence is on the lips (Prov 26:24). Then we find a strange saying at best, “When he speaks fair, believe him not” (Prov 26:25). Why is this strange? The word Fair is the Hebrew Chanan meaning Kindness, Gracious, or words appearing to be Mercy, go figure? This shows what they say, not their intent, thus they may speak nice, but inside they are setting the plot, they lie in wait to deceive. The Wicked take it one step to far, they use words of flattery, smooth sayings, but inside they are figuring someway to be ruler and dominate. So, how does this fit with “by your words you are justified, or by your words you are condemned”? The words connect to the Intent, it’s the case here, the words in and of themselves must be connected to motive and intent, thus in order to discern the source one must be Born Again. In the Night they will not have the benefit, but they will still weep over the abominations done in the city.
The Wicked dig pits, set traps, as their “flattering mouth works ruin” (Prov 26:28). They have “seven abominations in” their heart, pointing to the Eighth, who came from the Seven, but held Seven Abominations in his heart. This is very important, indicating they love the lie, they play with the works of darkness, if we have to tell someone fifty times a day their nose in on upside down, it stands they like. If we have to keep telling someone how they use the works of darkness, it stands they love the darkness, more than the Light.
Rev 22:1-21
John now takes us to the Throne showing us the River of Life, which is “clear as crystal” coming from the Throne of God. The metaphor Crystal points to the Bride (Rev 21:10-11). The Twelve manner of fruits (not twenty-four), belong to the Tree of Life, yet we just found the Leaves are for Healing the Nations. Ahh, the word Fruit, points to the Fruit of the Spirit, the Twelve to the Apostle Age, or Day, not the Remnant Age, thus we work while it is yet Day, for the Night comes when no man can work. What nations? The nation of Israel? Yes and no, since this is “nations” it indicates both Jew and Gentile can be healed by receiving the Gospel of Peace plus the fullness of the Doctrine of Baptisms. The Tree Yields Her fruit every month, or continually, it’s always a Festive time, since the metaphor Month points to a festival.
We have to follow this River, since it comes from the Throne of God and the Lamb, showing us this is the Record in heaven. The Street in verse 2 tells us this River goes from place to another. On either side of the River is the Tree of Life, representing the Holy Ghost on one end, the Spirit in us on the other. In the TR this could read, “here and there”, showing the Street for us has a Door, but proceeding from the Door is the Record, as the River of Life connects the Witness to the Record, meaning the Tree of Life is in us, as well as in the Record. It’s through the Door by the River wherein we gain entry, life to Life, Tree to Tree. This shows the Tree change in us is moving from the old tree which was corrupt (old man), to the Tree of Life based in blessing (New Man). Therefore, this Tree is in us, the River flows from the Throne to our hearts, assuring us we may not see what we will be, but this we know as Jesus is now, so are we, God is Love. Going right back to the promise given to the church of Ephesus, as Jesus will give the Overcomer to “eat of the tree of life”, meaning they will be healed as they become spiritual in nature (vs. 2:7).
In the Garden when Adam took of the wrong fruit his change was so dramatic, the absence of it made the Adam, God knew no longer existent. God had to call out, “Adam where are you?”. Death had already taken its toil, yet with us we have the Tree Of Life within, so what does it make us? Sons of God? Yes, but what else? We are of Authority, since the Authority works we know Jesus reigns. In our case we have the advantage over the enemy, we know where the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is, thus we don’t venture out to find it, rather we remain in our “kingdom” enjoying the things of the Lord, including the Tree of Life in us.
Verse 3 has to be taken in context with the subject, we find there shall be “no more curse”, thus we Bless and curse not, yet then we find “servants”, what happened, did we lose our priestly order? Not hardly, we find those who pass the Book of Life from the Sea, Death and Hell will be the Servants, or better the guests of the Wedding, they are not the Bride or the Bridesmaids. There are groupings of people, just as there are various aspects of angels, it’s far better to be the Bride, as a Partaker of the First Resurrection, but to whom much is given, much is required.
Again we find there shall be no more Night, but the Day is not noted here, thus this is the redemption of the Remnant noted prior, thus God gives them Light, yet prior it was the Glory of God producing the Light (lighten it), with the Lamb as the Light, thus this is another separation to show the Seasons. This goes back to Revelation 21:23, where there will be no Need for the Sun (nation of Israel), or the Moon (Zion of the earth) to shine. The “Glory of the Lord” will lighten New Jerusalem. The Light is Clear as Crystal? Ahh, yes, the same Glory is in us now will be revealed. “Well, I tell you what, Bless God, I don’t see it”, do you have to see to believe? Perhaps we need to put our eyes on the Purpose and not the present.
Verse 6 shows “the holy prophets”, not the “holy prophets and apostles”, thus this is something written, then given to John, it’s not some mystic fairy tale, it’s the words of the prophets made clear by the angel, thus the vision answered the three part question but much of the question was answered in the words of the Prophets.
The text is asking us, Do we really want the Time of Comfort knowing the end thereof? It’s for a set group, of which we are separated from, as they are separated from us, we are the Greater Light, children of the Day, they are the Lesser Light, children of the Night, their purpose is Judgment, ours is Salvation, thus both have means and purposes, but are separated by the means and purposes. Our means is the Spirit, our purpose is Salvation, their means are the Two Witnesses, their purpose, to make the enemies of Jesus the Footstool through Judgment.
In verse 7, it’s the angel talking, not Jesus, yet the angel speaks for Jesus giving us of the call of the Rapture, this is the sound of the archangel with the Last Trump, not the Seventh Angel with the Shout or the Great Trump. The connection is seen in the phrase “Blessed is he who keeps”, taking us back to Revelation 1:3 where we find Blessed is he who reads, if we got this far we read it, then we continue with “hear the Words”, which points to “hear what the Spirit says”, then “to keep”. This pertains to those who have the ability to read and keep the words of the prophecy.
When the event turns upside down, don’t turn upside with it. This letter is not written to the Remnant, it written about them, showing they will be taken from the tribes, we have the opportunity to be added to the Bride. This letter is incentive, when things get tough, we think of the Night, then we turn to the New Man, as we continue to believe as we add Patience to our faith to reach the Hope set before us.
Verses 8 and 9 clearly show this is an angel, the same one who showed John the Bride in verse 21:9. John was told “keep”, then we find he “saw” and “heard”, but then he fell before the angel. Ahh, a mystery, this is really a warning, and nothing against John, rather we find if we fail to Keep, we will end Bowing when we should Stand, or Stand when we should Bow.
This goes back to Revelation 19:10, when John fell at “his feet”, it would be the First Time, relating to those called to Marriage Supper of the Lamb. John hears the words pertaining to the Jew, then falls, but he should be Standing on the Sea, not bowing in it.
Verse 10 shows the Book is not sealed, the Holy Ghost guides us through this maze to see the blessing we have in hand. Verse 11 shows after the angel Calls (the Rapture), it’s impossible for the wicked to change on their own, just as it was for us. They fear change, but when the Rapture comes Salvation will be taken, if they are unjust (without faith), and filthy (spotted garment), they will remain so, but if they have the Seed of God created after His Righteousness and Holiness, they are Righteous and Holy, they will remain more so in heaven based on the Rapture. This is another verse showing the Broken Body of Jesus, but Blessed and Holy are they who have part in the First Resurrection. This puts to rest the thought of “oh well, if it’s true, I’ll wait and change after the Rapture”.
This also shows the Wicked received the forgiveness of their sins in this Season when they accepted the Cross, as they “escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (II Pet 2:20); however, they are again entangled therein, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning” (II Pet 2:20). Then entered, received forgiveness of sins, but never reached the Justification process, or the remission of sins. They presumed the Cross accomplished it all in one second, there was no Process, no Way to follow, they accepted the spirit of the world, making it appear religious, their envy produced the foundation for the unpardonable sin, as they carry it into the Night. Therefore, if wasn’t forgiven in this Season, it can’t be in the Next, since it would be an attempt to Crucify the Son of God in place of the Son of man. We find their sins on earth are forgiven, but the unpardonable sin is a spoken sin against the Holy Ghost, meaning against the works of the Holy Ghost. Paul said spiritual matters are foolishness to the natural mind, the disciples before the Cross were not allowed to speak of the Cross and Resurrection based on their lack of position. The Wicked remain natural, they are afraid to have their hearts exposed, they love the ways of darkness, they separate themselves (Jude 19). This entire letter speaks to the subject, this is the Day, the Day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it, we asked for the Spirit, received the Spirit, put our minds on the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, or try daily, we will find the Door open before us in a twinkling of the eye.
After the warning where we find if one enters the Night unjust, or with a spotted garment, they remain in their condition, yet we find Jesus says, “Behold I come quickly” showing the Day of the Lord (vs. 12-13). The two Come quickly statements show us two events, not one, the first is the Rapture, the second is when Jesus comes for the Judgment. This is clear in verse 14 in reference to Blessed is he who does the Commandments, a direct reference to the Remnant, rather than Blessed and Holy is he who holds the Faith of Jesus.
Prior there was a group who had the Tree of Life in hand, but here we find this group is looking at the Street, as they “may have a right” to the Tree of Life, very different. It’s even clearer when we see they make entry through the Gates, not the Door (vs. 14). The metaphor Gates points to the Remnant, thus the time when they may have a right will be at the end, whereas during our time it’s Now within us, thus for us the Tree of Life is in hand.
The Second horn for the Second Beast is smaller, they are the Dogs, Sorcerers, Whoremongers, Murderers, Idolaters and whosoever Loves (follows) or Makes a Lie. We find these are different from the elements in 21:8, giving us a division of horns on the same goat of the Earth, thus the name, mark and image are in both Seasons, in our Season it’s in their hearts and souls, in the next they make a physical image, thus in our season it’s their witchcraft attempting to counterfeit the spiritual, in the next they bring an actual image as the ultimate counterfeit.
The elements in 21:8 pertain to the antichrist attitude, here they pertain to the false prophet, two horns, one larger than the other. Why the smaller in the Night? The Sixth has a little strength, we have the “working of His mighty power” (Eph 1:19). Showing the larger is during the Season where we have the Power of His Christ, the smaller for the Season when the Remnant have a little strength, thus in the Night there are no Christ Like people on earth. No matter how large their horn, God has given us something Greater, it’s called “Greater is He in you, than he of the world”. This divides the premise of “unjust and filthy” from “righteous and holy”. It also explains Hebrews 10:38-39, those who sneak back to Perdition made their Just into Unjust, because they retained the spotted garment of the flesh. However, the Just live by Faith, they have the Tree of Life within, they know the purpose is the saving of their souls.
Verse 16 also points to the Remnant by the phrase “offspring of David” as Jesus is the “Root of David”, then to us as the “Bright and Morning Star”, thus the first shall be last, and the last first. Jesus told Thyatira, “I will give him the morning star” (v 2:28). Peter told us of the process by saying, “take heed, as unto a light shines in a dark place, until the Day Dawn, and the Day Star (New Man) arise in your hearts” (II Pet 1:19).
However, we know the son of the morning is Lucifer, does this mean Jesus is going to give them Lucifer? Hardly, this Morning Star is the New Man, Peter told us, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, so you may grow thereby; if so you have tasted the Lord finding He is gracious” (I Pet 2:2-3). The word “word” here means the Logos spoken, pertaining to the words of the anointed saints, thus we receive based on knowing the Lord is Gracious. A New Born Babe is one who has the morning star, they are not classed as “a son of the mourning”, rather they have the Star, much different (II Pet 1:19).
Prior Jesus was seen as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Root of David, with the Sixth church as the House of David. The metaphor Lion points to Judgment, but here we find Bright and Morning Star, so when do we see the Morning Star? At dawn, as Dawn begins the Day, it doesn’t end it. This shows we Grow thereby because we have the Star, although it’s morning, it’s a far cry form the “son of the morning”.
Now the Spirit and Bride say “Come”, not “Come up hither”, rather this is a call to join while it is still the Day. This join the Bride by having the Spirit, as Jesus builds from the Rock. This is a call to whosoever, not the Jew alone, or Gentile alone, but whosoever wants to take of the Water of Life from the River of Life, this is still the Day, God is no Respecter of persons, Jew or Gentile, Rich or Poor, Come, the use of the word “Come” shows a request, connecting to the “Behold, I stand at the Door and knock”, thus we make the Request for others to Come to and sup with the Lord while it is yet Day.
The Holy Ghost gave us the Call, here we find the connection between the Spirit and Bride, no one is going to be a member of the Bride without the Spirit. This shows forgiveness of sins is important, but so is the washing of the Blood of Jesus, as is our continual belief and faith in His faithfulness, as is keeping our vows by giving our souls to Jesus.
The main call and purpose of this letter is seen here, to save a soul from the sin of death, it’s a call to the Wicked in this Season, a call for them to change their ways, a call showing their future is written, it can’t be changed, it’s they who must make the change by allowing the Spirit to change them. God is Equal, if they turn from their wicked ways and receive the Righteousness of Jesus, then God will look upon them as Righteous.
We find two phrases, “unto every man who Hears the words (Logos) of the Prophecy of this Book” (vs. 18), then “if any man shall take away from the words (Logos) of the book of this prophecy” (vs. 19). These are two different statements, first is was “words of the Prophecy of this Book”, then “the words of the book of this prophecy”. If any one adds to the Book of Revelation, God will add the plagues to them, but if any one takes away from the Bible, God will take away their Name from the Book of Life. An example? How about saying the Wicked will have a chance to be forgiven in the Night? Or, saying this Book is just a metaphoric nightmare of John, or it has passed? How about using slander to take away someone’s hope? How about saying there is no Faith of Jesus? The Bible is still the Rule Book, change it to satisfy a wanton theology, and pay the price. The Lamp of the Righteous rejoices, but the lamp of the Wicked shall be put out (Prov 13:9). Our mouth shall speak the Truth, as Wickedness is an abomination to our lips (Prov 8:7).
John’s last words point to the return of Jesus, although his faith and knowledge know it’s the Lord’s desire for all be saved, and none be lost, he still desires for the Lord to come and take him home. We must vacate ourselves of the things of the world. We must be a people of Faith; this is still a Covenant, and any Covenant relationship has duties on both sides. Selah.
By Rev. G. E. Newmyer – s.b.i.les28rev7/ © 2003
