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Readings in the Book of
The Revelation
I don’t know if you noticed last week, but we passed from the 3rd angel’s message of warning about the mark of the image beast directly to the 5th angel who asked Christ to begin the resurrection when He came back to the earth and sat out in space with a sickle in His hand. But BEFORE that event can happen, there has to be a particular work done by God’s people to give a sharp edge to the sickle and this is symbolised by a fourth angel. In the last days all the inhabitants of the earth must be warned of what is happening in the world, for in keeping with the character of Satan, the movements in the controversy will be stealthy ones and not easy to discern. He will claim that his side is the right one and that those who follow God’s ways are in error or apostasy!
To understand this, we have to again bring a text forward in our reading. (In between we have three chapters detailing the experiences and understandings that God’s people must have to be able to give such a message.)
Angel #4
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Revelation 18:
1 And after these things [the first three “angels” messages] I saw another “angel” [the fourth in time] come down from heaven [where their minds and hearts are], having great power; and the [whole] earth was lightened with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, “Babylon THE GREAT [which is made up of three major divisions, Revelation 16:19, Note 1] is fallen, is fallen [twice], and is [now] become
[1] the habitation of devils, and
[2] the hold of every foul spirit, and
[3] a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 “For ALL nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication
[i.e. have partaken of her doctrines, or had drunken spiritual sex with her], and the kings of the earth have [also] committed fornication with her [i.e. the religions and states are soberly uniting for spiritual power over the masses], and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies [i.e. some people are making great profits out of religious activities, and that’s spiritual profiteering]”.
4 And I heard another Voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, My people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities”.
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But where can they go if ALL the world is following the ways of the beast?
There is only one place of safety in that world, and that is IN Christ, who is our Sanctuary. “Now be you not stiffnecked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD, and enter into His sanctuary, which He has sanctified for ever: and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you”. 2 Chronicles 30:8. In Him we will be perfectly protected no matter what is happening about us, or how long it seems to take. Proverbs 29:25. We read in Revelation 14:12, “Here is the patience of the saints”, and in Luke 18:7-8, “Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night to Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith [that can persevere like that] on the earth?”
Thus it is written:
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Psalm 91:
1 “He that dwells [by faith] in the secret place of the most High [the second room of the heavenly sanctuary] shall abide under the shadow [protection] of the Almighty.
2 [This is their prayer.] “I will say of the LORD, He is my Refuge and my Fortress: my God; in Him will I trust”.
3 [The Spirit’s answer to that trust is] Surely He shall deliver you from the snare of the fowler [the trapper], and from the noisome [painful] pestilence. 4 He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings shall you trust: His TRUTH shall be your shield and buckler. 5 You shall not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flies by day; 6 nor for the pestilence that walks in darkness; nor for the destruction that wastes at noonday.
7 A thousand [martyrs] shall fall at your side, and ten thousand [rejecters] at your right hand [for various reasons]; but it shall not come nigh you. 8 Only with your eyes shall you behold and see the reward of the wicked.
9 Because you have made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, your habitation; 10 there shall no evil befall you, neither shall any plague come nigh your dwelling. 11 For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways [which will also be the ways of God]. 12 They shall bear you up in their hands, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13 You shall tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shall you trample under feet.
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During the loud cry of the fourth angel, God’s people everywhere will learn of the heavenly sanctuary as a picture of the Son of God and will flee to Him for their protection. For more on this see:
http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/Tabernacle/tab_teachings.html
By a spiritual understanding of the earthly sanctuary’s rites and symbols they will be able to speak the language of heaven, and know what to do, AND WHEN, at His leading.
They will comprehend the three different parts of the opposition with their varied temptations, and therefore will have the three principles by which to stand against them. The Voice of God will be heard in their hearts, and many people will answer with their feet and become Sabbath-keepers. This will greatly increase the wrath of the dragon, and it is then that his systems will initiate their religious laws which culminate in death decrees. At the same time severe economic problems caused by the greed of men will add to the miseries of the physical and religious events, and the world will descend into a situation such as never has been seen before, “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation”. Daniel 12:1. (The nations began after the Flood. Genesis 10:10-11.)
There will still be a semblance of normality in the world as Jesus tells us, but in the background all are making up their minds for or against the LORD. He said, “For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark [and the door was shut], and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore: for you know not what hour your LORD does come”. Matthew 24:38-42. The end of this period is known as the close of human probation.
It is at this time that the number of the martyrs will be made up as we were told in Revelation 6:11, for there will be many who will be over-enthusiastic in their religion (on both sides).
We also read earlier that at the second advent:
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Revelation 20:
5 The rest of the dead [the rejecters] lived not again until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection: on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
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So we should be able to see that the period between the fifth and the sixth “angels” will be 1,000 years! It is after that period that the next verse applies.
Angel #6
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Revelation 14:
17 And another angel [the sixth] came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
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This “angel” represents the people of God AFTER they have lived with Christ during the second judgment. “And I saw thrones, and they [the redeemed] sat upon them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years”. Revelation 20:4.
They are depicted as coming out of the temple/sanctuary where they have seen the details of the choices made by the rejecters. At that time they will be in full harmony with the Son of God, and will be willing that the rejecters should be resurrected to receive the final results of those choices. Although it may seem incredible to us right now, and almost unbelievable to our gentle Christian natures, at that time we will know that there cannot be any other outcome to the controversy. There will not a be a spirit of vengeance, but a simple relaxation into the word of God that the rebellious ones are so by nature and desire, and in strict justice must be allowed their way.
This is symbolised by the fact that now it is the redeemed who carry the second sickle, not the Son of man, although of course, He will supply the power for the resurrection.
Angel #7
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Revelation 14:
18 And another angel [the seventh] came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are FULLY ripe”.
19 And the [sixth] 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.
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To underline the depths of this understanding regarding the choice of the rejecters, the Spirit tells us that those who were martyred for their faith and who have the same spirit as the Son of man when He was crucified, are the ones who cry for the resurrection of the rejecters, including those who were the cause of their deaths. It is they who were “under the altar”. Revelation 6:9. Those who cried, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”, now want to see their persecutors for themselves. Not for revenge, for Christians do not harbour such thoughts, but in sadness for their loss, and that they (the rejecters) might see what they have chosen.
Lateral thought:
Why are the rejecters resurrected only to die again? To be fair, and to be seen to be fair, the Son of God must treat all alike, and because the Christians have been resurrected to receive their reward, so must the others. As the Christians have shown their choice, so must the others.
To effect the martyrs’ desire, and that of all the redeemed, the Son of God assembles the angelic host and returns to the earth for the third time. He brings the city as the symbol of His kingdom, the redeemed as the inhabitants of it, and calls the rejecters from their graves for the GREAT judgment.
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Matthew 25:
31 When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: 32 and before Him shall be gathered all nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats: 33 and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
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Now we have another gap in time which is not immediately obvious, for the pronouncement of the judgment of the nations (the explaining of the investigation) cannot be done in a moment. Although the separation of “sheep” and “goats” is immediate, the proof of choice for individuals takes a while. Only when all have seen their part in the controversy and agreed with its results, will the end come. This is the time when the following words will be completely fulfilled:
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Philippians 2:
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery [a wrong thing] to be equal with God: 7 but made Himself of no reputation [without title], and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men [by birth]: 8 and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to death, even the death of the cross [He was willing to do anything to save others.].
9 Wherefore God also has [now] highly exalted Him, and given Him a name [position] which is above every name: 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
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In that great gathering there will not be one who will claim that God is wrong or unrighteous in what He has proclaimed would, did, and will happen. Even Satan will admit that his behaviour has been without cause, and that the Son of God is entitled to the honour God asked for Him. Yet ……
In an attempt to explain what will happen at that time, the LORD says, “I will rejoice in [new] Jerusalem, and joy in My people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. THERE SHALL BE NO MORE THENCE AN INFANT OF DAYS, NOR AN OLD MAN THAT HAS NOT FILLED HIS DAYS: FOR THE CHILD [rejecter] SHALL DIE A HUNDRED YEARS OLD; BUT [and] THE SINNER BEING A HUNDRED YEARS OLD SHALL BE ACCURSED [cut off]. And they [the righteous] shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them”. Isaiah 65:19-23.
Here the Son of God explains to us that every rejecter, no matter what age they were when they died, will have one hundred years from their resurrection in which to contemplate their situation. There will be no side issues to deal with, no distractions of work or play, only a direct understanding as to where they are. The sad thing is that He tells us that not one will desire to change it! The seed of rebellion is so firmly embedded in each one as a result of the constant rejection of His offer of deliverance that even now they stubbornly refuse to give up their independence (as they see it). This is the frightful “fruit” or ‘wages” of sin!
Only one more action is required; the self-destruction of the rejecters.
After their agreement with the verdict of the judgment, those who have NOT the mind of Christ will revert to their former feelings and desire to kill the Son of man and His followers. Satan will easily convince his supporters that they can attack the city and take the kingdom by force, for that has been their way of life. But when they attempt to do so, they will find that the very life of God which they have rejected will now have to leave them, and they will begin to disintegrate as we read in Zechariah 14. While this is happening they will turn upon each other, and the last sad verses of this chapter will come to pass.
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Revelation 14:
20 And the winepress was trodden without [in front of] the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even to the horse bridles [1 metre?], by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs [about 320 kilometres].
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Bye for now,
RonP
Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.
Some of these readings are available at http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/books_index.html
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Lateral thought:
We read above that GREAT Babylon has three major divisions in its makeup, and we will come across that thought again later in our readings.
In the meantime, here’s a comment from a noted historian regarding the times and activities of the reformation, about 1517.
“The History of the Reformation of the Sixteenth Century”, published in London in 1846 by J. H. Merle D' Aubigne. (The emphasis is mine.)
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Page 0001 paragraph 1
The history of one of the greatest revolutions that has ever been accomplished in human affairs - of a mighty impulse communicated to the world three centuries ago, and whose influence is still visible on every side - and not the history of a mere [religious] party, is the object of my present undertaking.
THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION IS DISTINCT FROM THAT OF PROTESTANTISM. In the former every thing bears the mark of a regeneration of the human race [an upward movement]- of a religious and social change emanating from God himself.
In the latter we too often witness a glaring degeneracy from first principles [a falling away], the struggles of parties, a sectarian [exclusive] spirit, and the traces of petty individualities.
THE HISTORY OF PROTESTANTISM MAY HAVE AN INTEREST FOR PROTESTANTS ONLY; the history of the Reformation addresses itself to all Christians, or rather to all mankind.... Back
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