Revelation 15 is the prelude to the Seven Vials judgments, the last of the twenty one judgments. John begins Revelation 15 by saying that he saw another sign in heaven. This is the sign of seven angels having the seven last plagues. There are three signs in Revelation. Two are in chapter 12, the sign of the Radiant Woman, and the sign of the Red Dragon. The Radiant Woman symbolizes the nation of Israel, and indicates that Israel will have returned to the land of Palestine. The Red Dragon is Satan, and he has seven heads and ten horns. The heads are the seven world empires of history, the last one still to come. The ten horns are the ten kingdoms that the seventh empire will be divided into. In chapter 9 the seventh trumpet sounded, which opens the Seven Vials judgments, the last set of seven of the twenty one judgments of God in the Tribulation. The Seven Vials occurs during the Great Tribulation, which is the last three and a half years of the seven year period. Seven seven seven. One of God's favorite numbers. The vials are bowls that are fairly shallow. Vials were used to offer oblations in the temple. Are the seven plagues the same as the seven vials? I'm not sure. I think so. In verse 7 one of the four beasts gives the seven angels the seven vials, and so it might seem that they already had the seven plagues, therefore there are seven plagues in addition to the seven vials. I doubt it. I think the mention of the seven plagues at the start is to let us know that they will be the ones that will be in charge of the seven vials. In the vials is "filled up the wrath of God." This means that this is the complete total of the wrath of God. It ends with the Seven Vials judgments.
In the second verse, John sees a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those that had gotten the victory over the beast stand on the sea of glass, and have the harps of God. This sea of glass is similar to the crystal sea in the throne room of God described in Revelation 4:6. This is also the verse in which the four beasts are introduced as four heavenly beings before God's throne. By the way, the four beasts, the twenty four elders, and the 144,000 were also described as playing harps. But why is the sea of glass now "mingled with fire"? The people who are victorious over the beast will be martyred, as we saw in Revelation 13:7. "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them." Wait. It just said they "had gotten the victory over" the beast. The beast was able to martyr the saints. However, in the great scope of things martyrdom is seen as a victory, a great honor. The fire mingled in the glass represents the fact that they have been tried by persecution.
And what are "the harps of God"? Well, I didn't find a lot of wisdom about this. God loves beautiful music and it's an important part of worship. Music is inspiring. Why exactly? Good question. I've wondered about the mystery of music, and my heart knows, but my mind doesn't. I know the music from the harps of God will be exquisite. Elisha, in 2 Kings 3:15-20, called for harps to be played to help him prophesy.
Those that had gotten the victory over the beast will be singing "the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb." Two songs? It probably means they are the same song. Moses is said to have sung two songs, one in Exodus 15, and one in Deuteronomy 32, a longer one. This is probably the Deuteronomy song which was written to remind coming generations of Israel to remain faithful to God. Included in this song will be the words, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee, for thy judgments are made manifest." Who shall not fear thee means who will fail to honor and reverence God.
At his point, John beheld "the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven," and it was opened. This is the heavenly temple upon which the earthly temple was based. The tabernacle means "the tent." "Of the testimony" refers to the fact that the temple housed the Ark of the Covenant which contained the Ten Commandments.
The seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, wearing very white clothing, with golden girdles around their breasts. They are given the seven golden vials from one of the four beasts. The vials contain the Seven Vials judgments. Clearly, these are good angels, and these terrible things are coming from God. Why has God suddenly become so angry at them that dwell on the earth? Because his patience has finally worn out, and this is what happens when God decides to react. God intends to cleanse the earth, and purge it of evil, so that He can bring in the Millennium, the thousand year period in which the curse is partially lifted from the earth.
The temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God, and no one is able to enter until the seven plagues are over. In 2 Chronicles 5:13-14, as Solomon's temple was dedicated to God, the temple is recorded as filling with the cloud of the Lord. The ministers were unable to continue because the glory of the Lord filled the house. I think this is what the smoke is describing.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Revelation 15
Revelation 15 written from memory
1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that 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, having the harps of God.
3. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
5. And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.
6. And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
7. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power, and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that 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, having the harps of God.
3. And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
4. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.
5. And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.
6. And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
7. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power, and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
The Grapes of Wrath
Revelation 14 is in an intermission section of the book between the Sounding of the Sixth Trumpet in chapter 9, and the Seven Vials judgments in chapter 16. The 144,000 are mentioned again, and it's the first time it was brought to my attention that this may not be the same 144,000 mentioned in chapter 7. In chapter 7 the 144,000 were exclusively Jewish, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. This 144,000 is a special group of extra dedicated followers of Christ. I couldn't make anything of it, and didn't find any other thoughts on the subject that added much to understanding it. But, the first scene in chapter 14 is in heaven. In verse 2 John says, "And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps." Maybe this is where the idea of people playing harps all day in heaven came from.
John sees three angels fly across heaven with messages for humanity. The first one has the everlasting gospel and calls on mankind to worship God. This isn't a message of doom, because the word gospel means "good news." The second angel's message is, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Who is Babylon? Uhhh..."that great city." I've heard two schools of thoughts on this. One is the idea that the ancient city of Babylon is literally rebuilt, and then obliterated. Well, I suppose. I've heard that there was a project to rebuild Babylon as a tourist attraction. It seemed like an interesting idea. The reason some feel that Babylon must be rebuilt is that Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold the destruction of Babylon, and really, most people don't feel that can be said to have ever happened. I think the river it was built around moved, and eventually the city fell into abandonment. Therefore, Babylon must be rebuilt and become the center of world commerce again, so it can be destroyed! This I'm not convinced of, but never say never. It has a dramatic flair.
The other thought is that this is the "spiritual" Babylon. One must realize that at the time John wrote about the "fall of Babylon," Babylon the city had already ceased to exist. This Babylon was a false world religion, built around the worship of Satan, instead of the worship of God. John has said things like this before, calling Jerusalem "Sodom," and "Egypt" in chapter 11, meaning generally evil. Ancient Babylon, in addition to being a government, was the seat of idolatrous religion. All of the empires seem to be more about false religions than governments. The "false world religion" Babylon is the idea that seems to me to make the most sense.
Then the third angel brings a message of doom for those who worshipped the Beast, and his Image, and received his Mark. "If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation." v. 9-10. I thought this was an eloquent way of venting. Besides that, they will be tormented with fire and brimstone forever. I've heard of "fire and brimstone" preaching, but it isn't mentioned very much in the Bible. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed with fire and brimstone.
Then John sees a white cloud, and one sitting on the cloud like unto the Son of man, wearing a golden crown and holding a sharp sickle. An angel appears and tells the one of the cloud to reap the harvest of the earth. Another angel appears who also has a sickle, and then another angel after that, who tells the angel with the sickle, "Thrust in thy sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe." I felt this was very eloquent also. The angel gathered the vine of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
Verse 20, "And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs."
This is not a winepress, is it? What is it? A battle? I think I may have said that I have heard in the past that the Battle of Armageddon would result in a bloodbath that reached up to the level of horses bridles, but I hadn't found that in Revelation. Well, if I haven't found it, I found out where they got that idea. But for this to be the Battle of Armageddon, you would have to tie several verses together from very different parts of Revelation and connect the dots. How far does this go on? A thousand and six hundred furlongs would be about 184 miles. The Jordan Valley would be the only one that would qualify. Chapter 9 mentioned the Euphrates River and an army of 200 million. Then chapter 16 mentions the drying up of the Euphrates to open the way for the kings of the east. These different parts of Revelation aren't connected up logically at all, as far as the order they're presented, or what relationship they have with each other. But apparently others have just gone ahead and tied it all together into THE battle.
That's all I know about chapter 14, and I'm glad to be done with it.
PS How many gallons of water would it take to fill a valley 184 miles long, 1 mile wide to a depth of 5 feet? If a swimming pool 15'x5' five feet deep hold 28132.5 gallons, it would take, I think, about 19.4 billion gallons. If a human has about 8 pints of blood, that would be 16 cups, or about one gallon. Therefore it should take 19,400,000,000 people to have enough blood to fill the valley to five feet. But the world population in 2012 was 7.046 billion. I'll check my numbers.
Revelation 14
Revelation 14 written from memory
1. And I looked and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
2. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.
3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders, and no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth.
4. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These were they which followed the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God, and to the Lamb.
5. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they were without fault before the throne of God.
6. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
7. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand,
10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.
14. And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle,
18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.
19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
1. And I looked and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads.
2. And I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder, and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.
3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders, and no man could learn that song, but the hundred and forty and four thousand which were redeemed from the earth.
4. These are they which were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These were they which followed the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God, and to the Lamb.
5. And in their mouth was found no guile, for they were without fault before the throne of God.
6. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.
7. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come, and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9. And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand,
10. The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
11. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
12. Here is the patience of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.
14. And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.
17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle,
18. And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.
19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.
Saturday, May 3, 2014
Six Hundred Threescore and Six
Have I beaten Revelation 13 to bits yet? Not quite. I have something to say about the Mark of the Beast, which is the number 666 - "six hundred threescore and six" in King James English.
Do I think King James English is the way God would write the Bible? Is it a better translation? Does it make sense to read Scripture in a dead language? I've heard that King James English was already archaic when it was used to translate the Bible. It's just that I've committed a lot of Scripture to memory, and I decided to memorize the King James version because of the beautiful language. Sorry, the new translations aren't as pretty. Sometimes I struggle with the language, but not much. An example is "threescore." What's wrong with "sixty"? Oh, nothing, but threescore is prettier. How long does it takes to figure out what threescore means? Three seconds? Uhm....three times 20.
The translators did all sorts of odd things, which you would notice if you tried to memorize it. Things that weren't due to the confines of King James English. I can only speculate that they rearranged the words to give it more literary flair, and I feel that they succeeded. So I just like this translation. I have heard that the accuracy to the original is good, also.
Revelation 13:16-18
16. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads,
17. And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
18. Here is wisdom, let him that hath understanding count the number of his name, for it is the number of a man, and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.
In these few words are all the description in the Bible of the Mark of the Beast. Yet it is a very well known idea. I don't remember ever hearing of it until I was 19 though. Not a word. Did either of my parents know about it, or anyone in my family? If they did, they didn't tell me. That was all saved to unload on me the moment I got saved. Suddenly people I didn't know were prancing up to me and either asking me or telling me about every strange inexplicable verse in the Bible. And I was a person that didn't know the Ten Commandments or the Twenty third Psalm. I was given a Bible at a Bible study, my first Bible in my life, and it was in King James English. OK, I'll admit. I couldn't read it. But it wasn't very long until I figured out that I was a rare person. EVERYONE else knew. Whaaaaat???
What's wrong with this picture?
The "M" is made of the Hebrew letter Vav, also used for the number 6. Note: there are three of them, hence the number 666 on the Monster drink cans.
Have you ever heard of Holy Joe? Holy Joe gave me my first New Testament. He used to go every Sunday afternoon to Miami Beach and preach to teenagers. One Sunday when I was about 14, he appeared, and he caused a sensation immediately. The whole beach jumped up and ran over to him, and I overheard people saying, "Look! It's Holy Joe." What did he have to say? I don't quite remember. He had a box of New Testaments that he would give to anyone who would promise to read it, and I did. I still have it, signed by Holy Joe.
The Mark of the Beast - the number 666. Why would the Beast have a number? Well, why would the Beast do a lot of things? The number is explained to be what his name would be if a number were assigned to each letter of the alphabet, and then the letters of his name were added up. But which alphabet? Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Cyrillic? Well, one of them I guess. I've often heard people say that so and so's name adds up to 666 by some way of figuring. The President. The Pope. BTW supposedly according to legendary Saint Malachi, the current pope is the evil pope. What do I think about that? Well, so what if he were? I'm not Catholic.
One dark day Mr. 666 and his friend the False Prophet appear almost out of nowhere and panic people into making an idol to represent Mr. 666, and then, in a show of allegiance, to take Mr. 666's name in the form of a "mark." What sort of mark? A tattoo? People used to think that. Probably a microchip with an RF transmitter. In the original language the mark was the word "incision," which would suggest an implant.
Oh, this is marvelous! We all are required by "world law" to have a microchip implanted, or otherwise we aren't allowed to buy or sell. I've heard lots of people speculate on what they would do then. Oh, they would hide. Maybe in Oz. Maybe underground. They would have a lot of food stored up...which is already illegal to do here. Why make a law that it's illegal to have more than six months of food stored? How does that hurt anyone? They would have an alias. One friend of mine told me that her husband had agreed to take the Mark of the Beast to be able to supply the rest of the family. I really imagine that will be the solution of some. It seems like a cruel idea to me. I'd rather eat tree bark. Chipmunks. And that's a solution I've heard other people suggest. How to peel off tree bark. How to catch rabbits. Using gold or silver for money. Bartering. Oh, lots of ideas. I heard one person say, "We could eat the dog." How would I handle it? Probably put a chip in the dog and wave that around whenever I needed to run it over a card reader. But then, I remember the way we were tracked down in the last census. I went to let the dog out and to my surprise there was a census taker at the door! I was so startled I screamed and slammed the door. One day we were sitting outside, and they sent another one. This one had an attitude. We weren't especially trying not to comply either. Just not paying much attention. This one was telling me that the government had come to the point with us that if we would just answer certain parts of the form which were required by the Constitution they would be satisfied. OK OK. And how bizarre will the next census get?
It might seem to some that having a microchip implanted would be great. It would solve so many problems. No more disappearances. No more missing persons. Or missing jumbo jets. Grieving family not knowing what became of their child. Rescues. Apprehensions of criminals. Ease of doing transactions and keeping records. Protection from theft.
In reality, the world would be one big prison. We would all be effectively tied up and put in handcuffs. Many of these handcuffed people would probably sing songs about "freedom" also.
And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. John 8:32
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