(extracts and comments from Chapters 11 to 14, www.revelationsmessage.co.uk)
Revelation Chp. 11
And the Nations have been full of wrath, (b)now your wrath is come, and the time of the (c)dead to be judged, and to give the (d)recompense to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to those that fear Thy name, small and great; and to (e)destroy those that destroy the Earth.
(e) "Destroy those that destroy the Earth"; this, and many other hard and firm statements in Scripture are not easily accepted by Christendom currently, because of the many false teachings around the world propagating the "gentle Jesus", myth. There is no doubt that our Lord is the most gentle Saviour, but Christ (The Anointed of Jehovah) has to deal with the evil of which most people are unaware, and in the timing of Jehovah (Rev. 6), that dealing leading to the ultimate conquering of Satan is underway. In that context, Satan expected the victory when Christ died on the accursed tree, but instead Christ gained victory over death, and became the first fruit of propitiation (the saved) to the Father, (Jehovah God). In this knowledge, Satan, who knows The Word, laid plans, and has the freedom to attempt to eliminate Israel. If this attempt succeeds he has the victory. Satan's strategy is:-
1) To obtain the knowledge of creation (Jer. 31:35-37), (this has been sought avidly by science since approx. AD 1850).
2) To destroy the Earth by degradation of all means. (This has accelerated since the start of the Industrial revolution).
3) To destroy Israel. (This has increased in intensity since the 2nd. world war).
4) To destroy faith in God/ Christ. (Satan has permit to do his best/worst, to kill or prevent belief, faith, or love in Christ)!
It has been recognised since the 1800s that one of the most effective tools for Satan's propaganda is the Pulpit. In modern times read leaders, pastors, etc., who preach a false message. One of the most powerful at this date 2014, is in the Charismatic movement advocating the same powers as was manifest in the Acts period for the benefit of the Jews. It is undoubtedly the case that the fastest growing Group in Christendom are the Charismatics, and their leaders when challenged re. their miraculous powers usually respond by attacking the questioner, to the effect that they are of Satan!
A further very suspicious and dubious grouping are under the joint heading of the "Ecumenical Movement". This grouping is discreetly led by Rome, and has the purpose of drawing large groups of Christian Dominations together. That in itself is a worthy object, however, as the criterion is not to concentrate on the differences in theology, the distinct stipulation of Salvation in Christ only (Acts 4:12) is neglected or eliminated!
Other erroneous groups, such as The Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons, Unitarians and New Age; all have aberrations in their teachings, usually ref. the Deity of Jesus Christ. See: "New Age" Religion:
(It is not the intention in this comment to imply or state that the people involved are not Christians. That is a question only the Lord Himself knows, as only He knows the heart of every person. What is intended, is to throw suspicion on the motives of the leadership of these groupings).
It is the opinion of the writers that these powerful groupings will be used by the Beast/Anti-Christ for his purposes on a world-wide scale.
All of these are in progress at present, and in V.18 all the destroying agencies, people, demons and methods are destroyed, (Zech. 13:2). This must take place, together with Satan's binding, prior to the regeneration of the Earth by Jehovah Zebaoth, and the 1000 year reign of Jehovah / Christ.
Revelation Chp. 12
12:4
And his tail dragged the (a)third part of the stars of Heaven, and cast them to the Earth: and the dragon (b)is standing before the woman which is about to bring forth, in order to eat up her (c)child as soon as it was born.
(a) Satan, since his original fall, has persuaded to his cause many angelic creation which are numbered in Scripture (see V.9) as a third of all the angels of Heaven, which have done and are doing his bidding. The exact timing of his fall was certainly when Satan as a son (created) of God rebelled against his Creator, and claimed equality, (Ezk. 28:12-19).
Satan is a well kept secret. Although known of from Scripture he is not taken seriously by people, and is even regarded as a sort of joke, or figure of Halloween imagery. Almost all of the world's misery is attributable to him, even though Almighty God usually gets the blame. Almost everybody at some time has blamed The Almighty for some misfortune, which in fact should be laid at the door of Satan, or human fallen nature, or both. There is no more powerful entity on Earth at the present time than Satan, (except for the Holy Spirit).
Our Lord Himself acknowledged Satan as the prince of this world (John 12:31), (John 14:30) & (John 16:11). The Apostle Paul writing under the influence of the Holy Spirit, called Satan, "the prince of the power of the air", (Eph. 2:2). These and many other Bible references show the power that is at present Satan's, and people will find to their cost that he is real, and behind all of the evil events, trends and control of humans that Paul wrote about so vividly and accurately to Timothy 2000 years ago, (2Tim. 3).
Therefore (a)rejoice ye Heavens, and ye that dwell in them. (b)Woe to the ones dwelling on the Earth, and in the sea, because the devil is come down to you having (c)great anger, knowing he has only a little time.
(a) The inhabitants of Heaven, exhorted to rejoice. Clearly Satan had for many Ages caused great trouble, strife, conflict and much turmoil, beyond our ability to understand, whilst allowed to retain a "place", in Heaven. It is also clear that his success persuaded a third of all angels to follow him, which underlines the fact of "free-will" of the angels!
His presence is a constant source of pernicious, on-going divisive action in Heaven. Even though Heaven's creation know who their Creator is, Satan still has much success in converting angelic creation to his side. One of the many major differences between mankind and angels, is humans will deny the existence of God Almighty, and also Satan. It is implicit that one element is common to both Earthly and Heavenly creation, free-will! It is therefore easy to understand that Heavenly creation rejoices at the expulsion of such an adversary, after so long in their midst, and also in the knowledge that Satan's efforts will be short on Earth.
The question often asked by many over the years, is how could Almighty God allow Satan to exist after such rebellion, and even to be in His presence, to have place in Heaven; and patrol Earth (Job 1 and 2). The answer undoubtedly lies in The Perfect Plan of Redemption, that only God could conceive, wherein the Perfect Love of God would allow Satan to perform to his vile worst in Heaven as well as Earth after the overthrow, all of which is observed by Heavenly creation (Eph. 3:10).
Some argue that such a protracted process is wasteful, painful, and suffers great loss of life and environment. That is to miss the main point. It is of course easily possible for Almighty God to eliminate Satan. To do so however prematurely would not allow creation to see the depth of sin that Satan will eventually stoop to.
Conversely, the Almighty will be seen by all creation to take the burden and result on Himself, in the form of Christ Jesus (Col. 1:20). It is thereafter the response to Christ's death and suffering (in the place of all accepting humankind) which is the key to every individual's eternal destiny, on Earth and also in Heaven, in this Age, and eternity!
The main thrust for Satan's pernicious attention had been Heaven's occupants and the tribes of Israel. Abraham was chosen by God. He was called "the friend of God", Ex. 33:11, 2Chr. 20:7, Isa. 41:8 & Jms. 2:23, because his heart was against the idolatry of his father, and the Nation Ur, which derived from Babylon!
After Paul's declaration (Acts 28:25-28), all the world's Nations became the subject of Satan's attention; which showed in the Wisdom of Jehovah Zebaoth, that the failure of Satan at The Cross and the failure of Israel to accept Christ (Acts 28:26-28), increased the eventual harvest for Christ / Jehovah.
Most people on Earth are fixated with their flesh life, which is natural enough. However, because of the events of Eden, see: Eve and Adam they are not content, and can only find rest, peace and understanding in Him, albeit in simple sincere trust, which people find hard to give, unless they encounter Christ, personally!
Because all the efforts of Satan are eventually self-defeating, and will be seen as such by Heavenly and Earthly creation, the Almighty in Christ will vanquish Satan, but not until Heaven and Earth have been reminded that Satan stands for deceit, destruction, suffering and death, (Rev.20:3, 20:7-10), as opposed to the Love, Peace, Justice and Righteousness of Jehovah/Christ. After that reminder, Satan and his followers will be consigned to doom (Rev. 20:10). All that remains for individuals at the present time (i.e. this Age) is to trust in God's work, in Christ Jesus. The timing of the above is in the hands of the Father only (Matt. 24:36), and His timing is perfect (Matt. 5:48). The perfect timing of God the Father means that Satan is defeated by perfect Love (a concept totally alien to mankind); which means that Satan is defeated by Love, which is God (1 John 4:8-16)!
Had Satan been destroyed at the time of his rebellion, none of the above could have come into play and such action by the Almighty would have been seen by creation as dictatorial, and His plan of Love could not unfold to fruition. As the plan now unfolds, God will indeed be seen as Ultimate Love.
Revelation Chp. 13
13:12
And he exercised all the (a)power of the first beast before him, and caused the Earth and them that dwell therein to (b)worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
(a) Here the 2nd "beast", shows itself to be similar to the first (V.11), with the same power, but with a different emphasis.
(b) The emphasis is "worship"! The politics of the first beast brought about the attention and focus of the peoples, which is now to be turned further into "worship", (vicariously of Satan) which as stated previously is the motive force and objective of Satan from earlier Ages.
13.13
And he doeth (a)great wonders including making (a)fire descend from Heaven onto the Earth in the sight of men,
And (b)deceived them dwelling on the Earth by means of those wonders, which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the Earth, that they should make an (c)image to the beast, which had the wound of a sword, and did live.
(a) "Great wonders"; nothing impresses mankind more than demonstrations of power, especially when they lean to the mystery and charisma that only Satan can generate (i.e. towards darkness). When Elijah contended with the priests of Baal, (1Kings 18), bringing fire down from Heaven in the contest, defeating the Baal priests, slaying them and winning the day for, and by Jehovah, he was not a popular man (1Kings 19). When our Lord did the required miracles (signs) (Isa. 29:18), (Isa. 35:5-6), (Matt. 11:4-5) and (Rom. 15:8), they were derided by the Pharisees and priesthood, and rejected by them, because they adhered to the 'Wisdom Writings' of their teachers, instead of the 'Biblical Torah', given by Jehovah to Moses! This was derided by John the Baptist, Jesus and Apostle Paul! Here this beast (false prophet), (2Thess. 2:9) and (Rev. 16:13) does "great wonders", and is accepted, instantly.
(b) Deceit is Satan's main method (Rev. 20:3), and (Rev. 20:8), and with humans it started in the Garden of Eden with Eve.
(c) "Image"; Almighty God expressly forbade Israel to make any image for worship (Lev. 26:1), in that command, God states that He is their God (Jehovah). In John's Gospel (4:23-24), the mind of the Father is revealed, requiring only "worship in spirit and in truth". Stating clearly that He is "Spirit", and requiring only sincere from the heart worship, as opposed to ritual and ceremony. The Enemy therefore, through the second beast requires the opposite, i.e. image, ritual and ceremony, (reminiscent of the Roman Church), so as to maximise idolatry and worship of Satan
So that no one may (b)buy or sell, except those with the (c)mark, or the (c)name of the beast, or the (c)number representing his name.
(c) "Mark, name or number"; these terrible symbols, will denote more than just permit, (to trade etc.), but will also denote ownership! Satan will own these individuals in the same way, and to the same degree as the Heavenly beings that are his. Regarding the angels of Heaven that followed and belong to Satan, according to Rev. 5:11, the original Hebrew words mean "countless numbers", this means that as one third of Heaven's angels that followed Satan cannot be numbered (by humans), but the number almost certainly will be much larger than the human population that are marked. In the year 1999, the population of Earth reached 6,000,000,000 (6 billion), this number given by the U.N. If current projections are correct, by 2020 approx. 20 billion people may inhabit the planet (projections vary). (In 2014, the number is just under 7.5 billion).
Numbers of people will be large, but compared with Heaven's population the numbers are probably small. It is worth reiterating here the reason Satan will work so hard against Israel; his purpose is to annihilate Israel. If he were to succeed, the promises to Abraham by Jehovah would be null and void, as Jehovah has promised that Israel will never cease to be a Nation (Jer. 31:35-37) and Satan would become ruler of the Earth and will have successfully challenged Almighty God! He will use all natural and supernatural means at his disposal, including the Earth's population, of which he needs as many as he can get, as the human race is the main target after his success in Heaven! Therefore his methods are subtly tailored to try to entrap as many of the unwary as possible, to augment his success in Heaven! As seen above, Satan has under his control countless angels, and also humans who are marked and who worship him openly, to be able to live and trade during his power period on Earth! Satan's people however have been converting to him since the flood, and prior to that since Eden. His methods are varied, some easy to see such as open pagan worship in its multitude of forms. However, in these times, the methods blend into the credible, so that many so-called "christian" groups say they have the "truth", but in reality are a perverted form of "christianity". The many variations of these make listing impossible, but what they have in common is dominant leadership, which after a "honeymoon" period, demands that the individual's mind, will, actions, and often substance, come under their control! Their teachings they demand, are the ONLY ones which are true! They will not allow open questioning of their teaching, or their interpretation of the Bible, (sometimes their own version), their activities or their leadership, etc.! They demand mindless obedience. The Jehovah Witnesses are an obvious fit to the above, but also some Charismatics, Pentecostals, Roman Church, The New Age Movement, and some parts of the Ecumenical Movement, etc. In these groups and their ilk, many humans are being trapped, and they will not question their controllers for fear of loss of favour and group! If they do not, they are in danger of not having the Truth, and being deceived.
The most precious organ the Almighty gives us is our brain, it should be abdicated to nobody! Bible revering Christian groups will never demand these things, and the best will post their list of Bible beliefs in a prominent position, so that a person knows what they are subscribing to before they join! They are also Christ centred in Truth, and are not deceived by the many different "christs" that our Lord warned about (Matt. 24:24 and Mark 13:22).
Revelation Chp. 14
And I saw, lo, (a)The Lamb standing on the (b)Mount Sion, and (a)with Him an (a)hundred forty and four thousand, (c)having His name and (c)His Father's name written (c)on their foreheads.
(b) "Mount Sion"; Sion, or Zion (both spellings are used) is synonymous for or with Jerusalem, (one definition of "Zion" is "Stronghold"). There is dispute as to the actual location of Zion. In the Old Testament, it is the easternmost of the two hills of ancient Jerusalem, the site of the Jebusite city captured by David in the 10th century B.C. (2 Sam. 5:6-9). Also probably refers to "the stronghold of Zion", (2 Sam. 5:7) taken by David and established as his royal capital.
Josephus possibly mistakenly, identified Zion as the western hill (first cent. A.D.), this opinion remained until 19th/20th century, when the eastern hill was re-established (modern Ophel). It was not included in the 16th century fortifications, and is still covered in fields and vineyards (Ency. Brit. 1977).
The actual site has huge significance for the future, as is seen from this verse alone. It is the true site of the "shining forth in Glory", (HEB. YAPHA) of the promised one (Deut. 33:2) which corresponds with "Maranatha" (1 Cor. 16:22). The Law was given by God Almighty on Mt. Sinai ("HOREB"), the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled by Messiah/Christ Jesus at His return (Deut. 33:2).
The antithesis to this from Satan was/is Sion (Deut. 4:48), (Mt. Hermon) which was/is a sacred site to Satanic paganism, propagated by Canaanites (Nephilim), (Num. 21:33 & Deut. 3:1-13). The Nephilim were of large stature, 9' to 13' or more tall, and the tomb size is shown in Deut. 3:11, and testified in Deut. 3:13, "the land of the giants". The certain fact that they had spread from Babylon is shown by the tombs of the Marduk kings in Babylon, which were of the same size as Deut. 3:11. Babylon as is well known was founded by Nimrod, whose father was Cush and grandfather Ham! Nimrod was "great in rebellion against God", (Gen. 10:9), (the word "before", Str. Hebrew 6440 can be either; "the face that turns", is from the number 6437, "to turn", "to face up to", "to turn aside / away", "turn the back", "turn the face", "turn the self", or as chosen by the translators, "before". Both are prepositional, but the context of Nimrod's story gives the sense, i.e., he was a great rebel against Jehovah, and in great sin in his life in the face of Jehovah. He and his mother were founders of false "religion" in Babylon). (Nimrod's mother is reputed to have altered the "Heavenly message", and created the "Zodiac", of which there is a copy in the temple at Dendera in Egypt. She is also reputed to have treated Nimrod as her husband sexually)! Babylon became the fountainhead of Satanic opposition to Jehovah God, until its destruction, and the removal of its priests to Pergamos (Antolia).
It was inevitable that the Nephilim/giants would resist the children of Israel (Jacob), when they started their conquest of "the Promised Land". By that time the Nephilim had blended into other tribes and peoples, and a thorough mix had been established. For that reason Jehovah forbad Israel any inter-marriage with the Canaanite tribes (Canaan was the son of Ham and uncle to Nimrod Gen. 10:6), which would have thwarted the Messiah line from Genesis.
Nephilim are the fruit of "the sons of God", (ha-Elohim = the Creator), or fallen angels (Gen. 6:4) & (Rev. 12:4 & 9) which have mated with "the daughters of men", (Gen. 6:2), and had they succeeded in spreading their seed totally in men/Israel, the promise of Messiah (Gen. 3:15) could not have happened, and Satan would have had the victory. (There is much debate and varied opinion, as to whether the resultant Nephilim/giants are of "sons of God", or fallen angels. The Interlinear Hebrew uses the word "God", in the delegated sense [Str. 430], which should be spelt with a small g (god), which can mean an "authority", lower than Elohim [God], which brings in to play; angel, created being, etc. The Interlinear Hebrew for "the son", (Str. 1121) (BEN) is the word "family builder", which implies just that possibility in these "sons of God")! See: Babylon.
However, the result is evil. Therefore is not of the will of Almighty God, but does show the fact of the free-will of the created being, whether "sons" or angels. In the view of the writers the Hebrew Interlinear "son", which is followed by most of the translations, except Moffatt (James) is certainly correct; as they were not led by the Holy Spirit in their act of procreation but by the spirit of the Enemy of God, Satan! That is in contrast to Rom. 8:14, which confirms that those led by the Holy Spirit ("Spirit of God)", are "the sons of God"; so that God in Christ has created a pathway contrary to that of the fallen sons of Gen. 6!, which allows fallen human beings to become "sons of God", by their own will, in the acceptance of Christ, as Saviour, (Jn. 1:12) ,(Rom. 8:4 & 19), (Phil. 2:15) & (1Jn. 3:1 & 2).
Genesis 6:4 shows clearly that after the flood destroyed all the Nephilim infiltrated humans, leaving Noah and his family only; there was at a later date a further eruption of Nephilim “and also after the flood”. These are described in detail in Num. 13:33, and in the book of Joshua.
It is notable that on a number of occasions the Divinely ordered task of annihilating the Nephilim was not completed i.e. Josh. 11:22, 13:13, 16:10 & 17:12 and elsewhere. That the task was probably never completed is implicit in the renewed warning to Israel regarding the forbidding of intermarriage with the local tribes, Josh. 23. It is almost certain that both King Saul and King David also did not eradicate Nephilim, as both failed to obey the commands of Jehovah. Although David’s heart was directed correctly, as Scripture records as he slew Goliath (a Nephilim), which is probably symbolic and prophetic regarding The Son of David’s action when He (Christ) returns to Earth.
Whether or not physical Nephilim survive until this day in smaller form is unknown, and probably impossible to determine at the present time. However, when we recognise that the Nephilim purpose was to thwart Jehovah’s plan of Salvation for Israel and the world, the fact that “great David’s greater Son", "the second Adam”, Christ has appeared, died the death of the cross (Gal. 3:13), and risen, shows the utter failure of the physical Nephilim.
We know now that in this Age (of Grace), the battle is spiritual (Eph. 6:1). Those who truly wish to embrace God and Redemption can only do so through Christ (Acts 4:12) and that through faith only (Gal. 2:20) & (Gal. 3).
The Nephilim were/are the Satanically inspired fruit of fallen beings, who attempted to thwart the physical birth of Christ/Messiah. The current attempt of Satan is twofold;
1) To thwart the spiritual birth of the Body of Christ (Christians true), which Body must be complete prior to the Lord's return (and, in the opinion of the writers, probably during Israel’s Lo-Ammi state), which confirms that now is a spiritual warfare.
2) To thwart the promises of Jehovah Zebaoth to Israel.
To that end spiritual forces are arrayed against mankind (Eph. 6:12) (particularly Gentiles since Acts 28:28). These Satanic forces are the equivalent of the physical Nephilim, and at least as deadly. As the Nephilim were/are a mixture of human flesh and Satanic spirit, the same applies today, and are described in the Gospels and other parts of the New Testament (Matt. 10:1, Mk. 1:27, Mk. 3:11, 5:13, Mk. 6:7, Lk. 4:36, Acts 5:16, 8:7 & Rev. 16:13).
It is a sad fact that people generally speaking have high regard for wizards, mediums etc., (Acts 8:11, and Acts 8:9-24), but as the Holy Spirit shows in Acts 8:21-24, there is only one way of escape for such people, Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8:9:24) had to acknowledge his error, repent of it, and request prayer for release by his will. That was prior to Acts 28:28, and as shown below, there is a change.
Therefore, it is incumbent on Christians to be wary of all humans, to attempt to determine their condition, many people are difficult to assess as regards their true position re. our Great Enemy, whether they are his by default or decision.
The definitive text on this subject is Leviticus 19:31, "regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wizards to be defiled by them": Dr Bullinger's comments on this verse is crucial. "Familiar spirits are evil spirits personating dead humans, and attach themselves to mediums or those that give their wills to them". Once that exposure takes place, the only way of escape for the individual is:
1) acknowledgement of the fact of possession,
2) a genuine desire for release,
3) their own prayer for the power of Jesus The Christ to remove the possessing spirits. People who take these steps are often ill, disturbed, and sometimes violent, or a combination of these expressions, but the result is wonderful release.
There are groups in the world that say they can do the releasing for a person, this is certainly false, and puts the subject person into greater bondage, human and Satanic. That particular power ceased at Acts 28:28, when the Administration (Age) changed, due to the final rejection of Christ by the Jewish hierarchy.
The great danger and tragedy with young people and children, is that Satan can begin the ensnarement and possession by various means (such as Ouija Boards, drugs & people etc.), which/who are empowered by Satan. These people then go on into the world, taking their places in society, and by their own problem backgrounds create and expand the problems mentioned.
Others are cognisant agents of Satan, who can rally others when required.
The last verse of the book of Zechariah is conclusive, "there shall be no more Canaanite in the house of Jehovah Zebaoth; that at the beginning of the “Kingdom on Earth, the Millennial Kingdom”.
Also, in Zech. 13:2 idols, prophets and unclean spirits are banished (presumably to the same abyss as Satan). This takes place after the return of Christ/Jehovah, and as the Millennial kingdom is established.
It is considered (Ency. Brit. N. p. 232) that Christ the "Nazarene", is also under a Nazarene/Nazarite Vow; yet to be completed when the Canaanite is eliminated.
The Holy Spirit through John is lucid on the Anti-Christ, and particularly 1Jn. 2:18-28, see also (2Thess. 2:3-12), (1Jn. 4:2-3), (1Jn. 4:6), (1Jn. 5:19) & (2Jn. 7), where "the last time", (i.e. this last Age time) is described in detail. In both 1 and 2 John, the conditions described are recognisable now by true Christians. The spirit of Anti-Christ is in every part of human life, and its profanity is evident continually around us, in all media, communications and contact, and unfortunately in false christian teaching worldwide, in Churches, groups and Sects!
The conditions prophesied by Paul, Peter and others in the N.T. are evident all around us.
Special Note:
It is a curious fact that many Christian teachers are not aware of, or find the subject of fallen angels/Nephilim a difficult subject to discuss or teach. Scripture however must be taken as it is written, and not taught in selected sections. One can only imagine that is because of personal problems/blocks, as Scripture is clear that one third of Heaven's angels follow Satan! (Rev. 12:4-9).
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