Sometimes in the midst of daily struggles we get
distracted from the core meaning of life. It is the question every human has
and the one thing we all wrestle with until we find it. We can’t see the
meaning of life from the inside of a hurricane, all we see is a mess around us.
But from above, we can see more clearly what is going on around our own
personal hurricane. All of life revolves around one thing, Jesus Christ.
Everything from the beginning of creation to the present day centers around one
question, do we accept or reject Jesus as our Lord. It doesn’t matter what else
goes on during our lives, our future eternity is determined by our relationship
with Jesus, and all of the future tribulation funnels all of humanity to that
point; to accept or reject Jesus. Since that is the summation of humanity, some
people will make the decision to follow Jesus early on. Life on earth with
Jesus is far better than without, and that is the point of the tribulation. There
are two kingdoms contending for your soul and spirit, one has present day
struggles but gives eternal life, and one gives present day pleasure and
eternal damnation.
Let’s review. If one died rejecting the messiah before
Jesus came to earth, that individual was sent to a part of hades where there
was torture and heat, like the rich man Jesus told us about. If one believed in
the coming Messiah, that individual went to a place that was separated from the
heat and torment of hades called Abraham’s bay or creek. Abraham’s bay or creek
(aka Abraham’s bosom) was the place the righteous went at death. Jesus came to
set the captives free. Technically the devil should not have held the righteous
dead, but instead they should have been allowed to go to paradise. Jesus had to
rescue the righteous dead, this was the first part of the mission he had to
accomplish. The second part of Jesus’ mission was to take back the keys to hell
and death so that the righteous dead would go to paradise upon earthly death.
Then, once the number of people who choose Jesus as Lord is fulfilled, Jesus
comes in the air to meet the dead in Christ who rise first and those who are
alive on earth in Christ join them. Those people are the body of Christ, and
they then are seen singing praises about being redeemed in the upper heavens.
The people who are redeemed on the day of redemption have a heavenly mission of
intercession for those left on the earth. Every eye on earth saw the gathering
of the saints and Jesus in the air to meet them, every eye. This is a time when
many of the people on earth believe Jesus is Lord. Once the first seal is
opened, the peace keeping mission of the four angelic beings on horses’ changes
and peace leaves the earth. Many people who profess Jesus as Lord will be
martyred. By the time of the sixth seal being opened, everyone on earth sees
the Father sitting on the throne and the wrath of the Lamb. Everyone sees and
everyone is scared. Again more people will believe on Jesus. The devil is
thrown out of the upper heaven and more people will be martyred.
All of these events; seals, trumpets, bowls, and turmoil
on earth, all force humanity to either accept Jesus as Lord or remain in the
devil’s kingdom. The devil is the god of this world, the prince of this world,
the prince of the power of the air, but he is not the God of the Universe nor
the Savior of mankind. When we look at the end of this age, and then track
backward six thousand years or so to the time of Adam, we see that everything
pertaining to human life is about Jesus as Savior and Lord. One cannot see it
by rejecting Jesus, one can only see it after accepting Jesus. Therefore we
have to understand blindness, especially of the Jews, which is due to the
nations coming to Jesus. Blindness will diminish for some during the
tribulation. The tribulation will help to break blindness and the hardness of
people’s hearts. Some will continue to be deceived into believing that the
beast and the false prophet are their savior and that is what we want to
understand at this point in Revelation. Let’s look at Revelation 13 and observe
the names and characters during the second half of the tribulation.
John gave us some details of what happens when the devil
is cast down to earth. The devil goes out to make war with those who keep the
commandments of God and those who have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Remember,
we saw from God’s perspective that there are those who either believe in Jesus,
or do not believe in Jesus, and those who are the 144,000. In chapter 11 of
Revelation, we see Jesus’ coronation ceremony, and his rewarding the prophets
and saints. While that is taking place, the devil attempts to go after the
144,000 who are hidden on earth, but is unsuccessful. That’s the first thing
the devil does once he is cast out of the upper heaven. Remember the angels
already marked the 144,000 with a seal.
We see a wild beast coming out of the sea, this is not a
physical creature but a spiritual being who has other beings under him both
spiritual and human. The dragon, the devil, gives the beast power on the earth.
The dragon is that old serpent the devil as John told us in chapter 12, and he
gives power, dunamis, which is
miracle working power, and authority, exousia
which is jurisdiction, to the beast. The devil can’t give what he doesn’t have,
therefore he has the ability to give power and authority when he wants to. An
interesting word to note from chapter 12 is the word earth in verse 9 which means “soil”. The devil loses his
inter-dimensional ability and is bound to solid earth. The beast comes out of
the underworld, and works for the devil on solid ground. The name for dragon, drakon, is a celestial name for the
constellation of draco the dragon who is thrown down. Each of the twelve
constellations are divided into three “books”, four constellations in each
which tell the story of redemption and salvation. In each of the three books,
the conclusion is that the devil is defeated. Book one starts with the virgin,
Virgo and its last chapter shows Sagittarius throwing Draco out of heaven. The
second book which starts with Capricorn and its last chapter ends with Aires as
the sacrifice which causes Cetus the sea monster to be bound. The third book
starts with Taurus and last chapter shows Leo destroying Hydra the serpent. Let’s
look back at that picture for a moment. The virgin (Virgo) is spoken of in
Revelation 12, the lamb or ram (Aries) is spoken of in chapter 4, and the lion
(Leo) is spoken of in chapter 5. We are starting to build a picture of the
heavenly story that has been told since the time of Adam and Genesis 3:15. The
celestial story is very deep and complex as we have studied previously. The
pole star was in Draco but has moved and presently resides in Ursa Minor the
sheepfold and the flock. Soon it will be in Cepheus, the King, the redeemer
coming to rule. Do you see a picture starting to emerge? A king redeemer
subdues and destroys the enemy and saves the sheep and flocks. The dragon is
cast out of heaven with one third of the stars and thrown to the solid soil.
If the subject of the entire Bible from Genesis 3:15 to
Revelation 22:21 is Jesus, and Jesus is the meaning of life and this has been
written in the stars, we have to wonder about any being, human or spiritual,
that intentionally follows the devil. For what gain or profit would one wish to
follow someone who will himself end up in the lake of fire? The spiritual
beings know the story better than we do. Nevertheless, there are spiritual
beings who have been bound that are now being released from their prisons and
are now influencing people on the earth here in chapter 13 during the
tribulation. Are these spiritual beings bound to be in subjection to the devil
if they once chose his allegiance? That is the problem for humans isn’t it?
Those who choose the devil’s allegiance end up in the lake of fire. Chapter 13
tells us that one of the beast’s heads was mortally wounded. Only mortals can
be mortally wounded therefore we know that the heads of the beast are mortals
as compared to spiritual beings. The whole world sees the wounded one and
because of the miracle working power the devil gave the beast, the wounded one
is healed. At this point humans all worship the beast and the dragon. They take
what they see as truth, but those of us who know Jesus have done the opposite,
we have believed without seeing. That is one of the tenets of 2 Ezra, God would
turn the kingdom over to those who believe without seeing, as compared to the
Jews who saw many signs, miracles, and wonders. Let’s keep in mind however that
there are still those at this time who are dying for their faith in Jesus
Christ.
The beast is allowed to make war for 42 months, that is
three and one half years; the second half of the tribulation. Now the campaign of
the beast is to start to blaspheme God, his name, his temple, and those who
dwell in heaven. The devil is stuck on solid ground, but the redeemed saints,
prophets, and martyrs are not bound to earth anymore. Those left on earth at
this time are going to have to choose between the beast and the dragon, or
Jesus Christ. Those who choose Jesus at this time will be killed as the beast
is allowed to overcome them.
Another beast comes out of the earth. This beast inspires
a spiritual leader to rise up and worship the head that was mortally wounded.
In other words another demonic spiritual being leads the religious faction,
while the first beast leads the military faction. The spiritual being
influences a human who then encourages people to worship the military leader who
was healed, and then makes an image of him that can talk. This is not out of
the reach of our technology today as we all recently witnessed an image of
Michael Jackson, who has been dead for five years, dance along with living people.
It was not a hologram, so we can see that this beast, or image that can speak,
won’t be using old technology. In any event, if one wishes to buy and sell, one
will have to worship the image and receive a mark. If people refuse to worship
this image, they will be killed.
While this is all taking place, chapter 14 tells us that
Jesus comes back for the 144,000. The seal they were sealed with was the
Father’s name. This is the second gathering and the second group of redeemed
from the earth. The first gathering was a pre-tribulation gathering, the second
is a mid-tribulation gathering but specifically for only 144,000 virgin males.
After Jesus appears on Mt Zion, an angel preaches the gospel to the earth. Every
eye saw the pre-tribulation gathering. Then every human saw God on the throne
and the wrath of the Lamb. Next, everyone saw the two witnesses killed,
remember they celebrated by giving each other presents. Now everyone sees the
image of the military leader who was mortally wounded and brought back to life.
And everyone hears an angel preaching and witnessing to the people of earth.
Another angel then declares Babylon has fallen, while a third angel warns every
human not to take the mark of the beast or else they will suffer the wrath of
God. There are more supernatural events taking place during this point in time
than ever before.
When Jesus was baptized, everyone heard a voice from
heaven. On the mount of transfiguration, Peter, James, and John all saw and
heard Moses and Elijah. When Paul was knocked off his camel, he alone heard the
voice of Jesus, while his companions heard thunder and ran. The same thing
happened with Daniel. Hearing angels making three separate declarations from
heaven is not unlikely. It has happened before. Again, all of these things are
happening to give humans enough time to repent and make Jesus Lord. God does
not want anyone to perish, which is why there are so many supernatural events
taking place. We know by this time the Jews have realized that the man who
enforced the treaty, and rebuilt the temple, allowing Jews to start sacrificing
again, was a deceiver. They will recognize this when they see him sit in the
Holy of Holies claiming to be God as 2 Thessalonians tells us. When that
happens, people who were still on the fence regarding Jesus being the Messiah
will make a decision to follow Jesus as Messiah because they will recognize
that the man they thought was helping them is now exalting himself above God
the Creator. Unfortunately, now they have to be martyred for their faith if
they want eternal life with the Father and Son.
Rev 14:13 Then I heard further [perceiving the distinct
words of] a voice from heaven, saying, Write this: Blessed (happy, to be
envied) are the dead from now on who die in the Lord! Yes, blessed (happy, to
be envied indeed), says the Spirit, [in] that they may rest from their labors,
for their works (deeds) do follow (attend, accompany) them! AMP
Jesus is seen sitting in the clouds, crowned, and he
commissions the reaping of the earth’s harvest. This will be a bloody time with
blood reaching up to horses’ bridles, for nearly two hundred miles. What is
happening? This is the time of the fall of Babylon, remember the angel
announced the fall of Babylon, Revelation 14:8, the beast goes out to make war
on Babylon and anyone who refuses the mark of the beast. There are seven
plagues poured out, and a whole bunch of martyred saints who have victory over
the beast in chapter 15. It seems like a trick to make people think that the
beast is their only salvation, when in fact those who are killed by the beast
are victorious over the beast. As the bowls are being poured out, there is all
kinds of drama on the earth. By the time we get to the sixth bowl judgment, the
beast is rallying humans to make war with the Lamb. Seriously, will people be
that stupid to think they can make war with Jesus and win?
John is confused by all of this (as well as most of us
today) so an angel has to give him some of the details of what he just saw.
Chapters 17 & 18 are the detail of what was explained in chapters 15 &
16. Babylon is not as much a religion as a world system, however the woman
indicates that the religion has a woman that is put ahead of Jesus. The beast
has a world system (remember the mark of allegiance) but the religion (worshipping
the beast’s image) puts a man before Jesus. If we take the 6 mile high view,
what do we see on earth today? Two predominant religions, one puts a woman
before Jesus and one puts a man before Jesus. Both are a world system and a
religion, but interestingly, God says:
Rev 18:4 I then
heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out from her, my people, so that
you may not share in her sins, neither participate in her plagues. [Isa 48:20;
Jer 50:8.] AMP
Babylon is the system of merchandising people that exists
today. And today there is a small sub-group within the religious aspect of Babylon
that directs world events. This group lures God’s people to participate in its
system of marketing and financial gain. This small secret group is not new, in fact
they have gone by many names and morphed into several organizations. They
control monetary systems, governments, and corporations. At this time of the
tribulation, God says come out of her my
people. Who is left on earth? The Jews. The beast kills the whore of Babylon
which alludes to the fact that the beast and his followers are not partaking in
these schemes and world systems. Religious men under the beast make war against
Babylon, what does our 6 mile high view show us? Recognize this, if the rapture
happens in the next few years, this is what we will see. If the rapture happens
in the next two hundred years, we might be seeing a totally different picture
as far as predominant religions. This is a point in time where we have two
strong opposing religions that fit these characteristics once we gather up the
called out of Christ. One religious group uses people so that the select few
can enjoy domination and luxury, and the other group violently kills those who
oppose or don’t follow their religious persuasions. And as far as the devil
knows the rapture can take place at any time, so the devil has to have his
players in the wings. An anti-Christ has to be on earth, ready to rise up as a
leader to enforce the covenant for the Jews since the only prerequisite for the
gathering is a certain number of people who have made Jesus Lord.
Rev 17:16-18 The ten horns and the beast you saw will
hate the prostitute. They will leave her abandoned and naked. They will eat her
flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has placed within them a desire to
carry out his purpose by uniting to give their kingdom to the beast until God’s
words are fulfilled. 18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the
kings of the earth.” ISV
Those empowered by the beast kill the prostitute,
Babylon. That is why the blood runs for two hundred miles and as high as a
horse’s bridal. Think about what must be used to cause that kind of bloodshed
on the earth. It cannot be atomic weaponry, but instead something causing
instant bloodshed, not prolonged sickness but immediate death. Location wise,
Babylon is a habitable city today, it always has been inhabited. However, once
the beast kills off the people, the city will be desolate.
Rev 18:21-24 Then
a powerful angel picked up a stone that was like a large millstone and threw it
into the sea, saying, “The great city Babylon will be thrown down violently—
and will never be found again. 22 The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists,
and trumpeters will never be heard within you again. No artisan of any trade
will ever be found within you again. The sound of a millstone will never be
heard within you again. 23 The light from a lamp will never shine within you
again. The voice of a bridegroom and bride will never be heard within you again.
For your merchants were the important people of the world, and all the nations
were deceived by your witchcraft. 24 The blood of the world’s prophets, saints,
and all who had been murdered was found within her.” ISV
John needed a lot of explanation regarding Babylon, the
whore, and the beast. The reason he needed help understanding this is that the
world in John’s day looked much different. Most people didn’t recognize there
were so many other cultures and continents. People were not as globally minded
as they are today. Today, the earth has become more flat; people travel all over the world, and we have instant news
from around the world at our fingertips. This was not the case in John’s time.
The mid-east region was the most known, and the Greeks and Romans had become
world dominators. No one thought much about China, or the America’s, or even
India. For John to understand and write about a world system that was
controlled by “the important people of the world” hiding behind a religion that
puts a woman before Jesus, was not something they had as a dominant world view.
To add to that, the beast, and the system of killing of those who don’t convert
to one’s religion which puts a man before Jesus, didn’t exist until seven
hundred years later.
By the time we get to chapter 19 of Revelation, we
already know that the lamb and his armies overcome the beast from Revelation
17:14. John had to give us the end of the story at that time so that we would
not be dismayed. It’s a parenthetical statement. The summation is that the
beast kills off Babylon, then Jesus comes and kills off the beast. This is
called the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is not the gathering at the
pre-tribulation or the gathering at the mid-tribulation, but the day Jesus
comes with his bride, the armies of heaven to avenge his people. After those in
heaven rejoice over Babylon’s passing, the marriage of the Lamb comes. His
bride comes out of his body and she wears white garments. After the marriage
supper, Christ comes on a white horse wearing red. The armies of heaven are on
white horses wearing white. The Day of the Lord is not a day of celebration but
a day of fear. It is the day that the enemy is rounded up and thrown into the
lake of fire. Birds eat their flesh. Today, people mistakenly act giddy as if
they can’t wait for the Day of the Lord, but really this will be a very hard
time on earth, and nothing to be excited about.
The saints then reign with Christ for 1000 years. Our
entire future is determined by when or if we accept Jesus as our Lord. If people
do not choose Jesus, but instead choose the Babylonian world systems or the
beast and his system, they will then stay in hades until the thousand years are
over. Then they will be judged by their works. Unless those who have not made
Jesus Lord have been especially good, generous, and selfless, they will not be
in the book of life. Those not in the book of life are cast into the lake of
fire. This is why we have to read this to the called out. The called out will
understand that the meaning of life is becoming a Jesus follower and to help
others understand the future so that less people have to go through this harsh
time.
The future at the end of the millennial reign begins with
satan being loosed to go out and deceive the nations. Satan is successful as
his army numbers the sand of the sea. However, once they surround the camp of
the saints, fire comes down from heaven and the devil is thrown into the lake
of fire. After the dead are judged, death and hades are cast into the lake of
fire as well. A new heaven and new earth come down from heaven.
Rev 22:6-7 The Angel said to me, "These are
dependable and accurate words, every one. The God and Master of the spirits of
the prophets sent his Angel to show his servants what must take place, and
soon. 7 And tell them, 'Yes, I'm on my way!' Blessed be the one who keeps the
words of the prophecy of this book." (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in
Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)
As we can see, there is so much more to life and eternity
then what we live on earth today. The secrets to life and the meaning of our
existence is Jesus. Revelation is an unsealed book written to the body of
Christ. Blessed are we if we keep the words of this prophecy.
Rev 22:12-13 "Yes, I'm on my way! I'll be there
soon! I'm bringing my payroll with me. I'll pay all people in full for their
life's work. 13 I'm A to Z, the First and the Final, Beginning and Conclusion. (from
THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson.
All rights reserved.)
