Intelligence, Reconnaissance, and Your Need to Know [part two] ...

Our study resumes trying to answer the question of “why” God would reveal such specific details to us about our future city home well ahead of the final battle to take that same city by the forces of darkness and evil.  Of course the outcome of that battle is not in doubt, but the reason behind the revelation must have meaning to us in the here and now, or otherwise why offer it.  There is method, and reason, and love behind every revelation of Jesus Christ, what follows is no different.  Our Lord’s character is to be revealed in the details He provides through His servant John.  It is up to us, to study it, find it, and bathe in the truth of His love.  So we resume in Chapter 21 of the book of Revelations.

John continues in verse 14 … “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”  What struck me first about this text, was a prior misunderstanding I had in reading it.  I mistakenly thought this text referred to the foundations of the city of heaven, it does not.  It refers to the foundations of the wall itself.  You will recall John has just recorded that this wall is both great and high.  It is entirely possible, the foundations of this wall are above ground and visible even after the city reaches its placement upon the earth.  There is no mention made of the thickness of each layer of this foundation of the wall, or whether it is planted in the earth and how far, but given there are names applied to each foundation, it is more likely the construction of the wall is layered upon this stack of 12 layers of precious stones, where the names of each apostle is in plain view of those who take a walk around the city.

Here our Lord reveals that while things evolve based on our decisions and choices, He is able to reach both backwards into our history as well as forwards.  The names of the 12 tribes of Israel have been inscribed on the gates, now also the names of the 12 Apostles on the wall foundations.  The church, both in history, and going forward, is forever memorialized in the new city of heaven.  Keep in mind this city is not one that will ever perish or be altered in the future.  Perhaps John sees inscribed here in one of the layers of this foundation of the wall, of the mechanism by which access is gained into the city, and the city is protected, his own name by the mercy of God.  For Israel gave birth the hope of the world in the Messiah, and the Apostles then took the gospel of the Messiah the lengths of the world.  Had it not been for the faithful choices of both to follow God, you could not be reading the precious Bible presented to you.

But this passage poses an interesting question.  Could the name of Judas be inscribed in one of those layers?  The natural assumption is that Matthias who is later chosen to replace Judas would have his name there instead.  Or perhaps Paul would have his name there having been chosen directly by Christ on the road to persecute the faithful.  But why not Judas; because he betrayed our Lord?  Have we done anything worse?  Did Peter?  Peter denied Christ three times when He perhaps needed the support of His disciples the most.  Yet Peter is forgiven.  It is not the magnitude of our sins, but whether we will humble ourselves and yet seek forgiveness for them that matters.  The very soldier who pierced the side of Christ, and drove the nails into His hands, is not beyond the realm of the forgiveness of our Lord. 

Judas may have betrayed Him.  The Roman may have killed Him.  But you and I stand equally guilty of both crimes every time we choose to embrace the love of self, and sin against God.  We demand the cost of His sacrifice yet again for the actions we take.  And what is more, we know better.  We have the insight of history and scripture to record what had to be done to pay our cost.  Yet with this knowledge, we have the audacity to require it yet again.  If we are not beyond forgiveness and redemption, can we be so quick to assume Judas was not either?  Can we be so quick to assume his last prayer was not one of a penitent sinner for forgiveness because he could not live, knowing the magnitude of the sin he had committed?  Imagine what the name of Judas there on a foundation of the wall of heaven itself, says about the character of God, about His willingness to forgive, about the intensity of His love for even one like Judas, or you, or me.  Whether his name is there or not, will be determined by how he spent what time he had left before he ended his life, only he and God know that.

John continues in verse 15 … “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. [verse 16] And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.”  So here we go again, why is John now revealing yet more precious intelligence and reconnaissance about the nature of heaven ahead of the final battle, why do you need to know?  In this passage we learn the city of heaven is in the shape of a square.  Or at least, the base of the city is in this shape.  This means the walls that surround the city are approximately 1500 miles long each.  A wall that long easily displays the need for multiple gates for access to and from the city.  3 gates along each side of the wall, if spread equidistant from each other, one might guess they are positioned 300 miles from each other and 300 miles from the corners of the wall.  

But even 300 miles is no short distance.  Try walking from Orlando to Miami sometime to get a feel for it.  In today’s age, or in the age of John, one might reasonably attempt to walk 15 miles a day with some effort.  It might also depend on the conditions of the pathway, whether hilly terrain, or difficult surfaces. The short story being, it would take significantly longer to get from one gate to another than a single 24 hour day at current walking speeds.  If a horse could ride 30 miles a day, that still leaves 10 of them.  In a car driving 60 miles per hour it would still take 5 hours to get there.  Even in a plane that takes an hour’s flight.  This is just to move from one gate to another.  To get from one corner of the wall to the next on foot given today’s rates is 100 days, or 50 days on horseback, 25 hours in a car, or 2.5 hours by plane.  This is NO small city. 

But then comes perhaps the most interesting detail of this passage, the city is as tall as it is long.  This means it extends 1500 miles up as well.  The length and width are hardly comprehensible at these measurements, but to be this tall as well is breathtaking.  It then brings up some interesting architectural ideas.  If the throne of God is at the city center, and is also the highest point in the city, then it stands to reason that all the surrounding structures would begin to descend in height, where the buildings closest to God’s throne would be the tallest, and those closest to the wall would be the lowest.  This would give the city the appearance of an ancient Egyptian pyramid from a distance.  This may have been a design Satan inspired the Egyptians to build to mock God by imitation here on earth bathed in a false religion that believes in the immortality of the soul.  A different architectural idea might have been that all structures within the city are equally tall, thus the city might have resembled a Borg cube from the Star Trek series where again resistance is futile (to the power of love that is). 

In either architectural construct, or ones we have yet to imagine, consider what the ramifications are for a building that is constructed that is only one mile tall (5280 feet).  Using the measure of 10 feet per story level of a building, this means just a single mile tall structure would be 528 floors.  Let’s assume we need 30 feet per story now to accommodate high ceilings and much taller people or inhabitants, that still means a single mile high building would be around 140 stories tall.  Imagine walking up the stair case on that one.  Good thing fire dangers are a thing of the past.  Good thing earthquake building codes are no longer a worry.  Good thing tornadoes, zoning, flooding, and shoddy construction is a thing of the past.  But even with speedy elevators going up 140 stories is no small feat.  Now imagine any given building instead of being 140 stories tall (using 30 feet per story and one mile in height) is now 100 miles tall.  At that point you have 14,000 stories tall.  Taking the 100 mile high building up by 15 to make it 1500 miles tall and you have 210,000 stories tall.  Anything above a 100 story “skyscraper” we can see in New York City, or Dubai, or Hong Kong begins to boggle our brains.  The idea of a mile high building begins to threaten the safety of our air travel.

But here is where physics gets interesting, what happens when the city extends 1500 miles into our atmosphere?  This is well beyond the normal air we breathe.  Our present atmosphere is composed of several layers beginning with the Troposphere which starts at sea level and extends up about 7 miles.  It is followed by the Stratosphere which heads up to about 31 miles, followed by the Mesosphere up to about 50 miles, followed by the Thermosphere up to about 440 miles, followed by the Exosphere up to about 6200 miles.  A 1500 mile structure of anything would be well into the Exosphere.  This begs the question, how do we travel at all?  How do we breathe?  What happens to gravity?  If the earth is made new, and substantially larger, would it not have a much deeper atmosphere?  But then if so, how heavy would that atmospheric pressure be on our bodies.  In addition, a significantly larger planet would bring with it a significantly larger gravitational pull, requiring significantly stronger muscles just to be able to walk around at all. 

But let’s get back to the core question, why give us this information?  Perhaps it is to challenge our human wisdom once again with the realities of our God, where nothing is impossible.  Perhaps it is to tell us that the city of heaven will be much larger than anything we can imagine with more than enough room to house every person ever born from Adam until now.  Perhaps it is to give us a hint that travel in heaven will not be as constricted by human limitations as it is today.  Perhaps it is to alter our ideas of a mansion from one of country estate to one of city penthouse.  Perhaps it is to inspire us to dream about what it might be like, and the infinite possibilities we will be exploring just to see all of it from one end to the other might take centuries.

Why do we need to know now?  After all, our minds can hardly comprehend what we are hearing anyway?  What does this show us about the character of Jesus Christ?  I believe it shows us that our very limited thinking, and very limited scale, even in the world of today, are nothing next to how our God thinks about things.  I cannot fathom a city of this size.  I could not possibly guess at the extent of its population ability.  But that our God created this city and modified it so that we could live with Him tells me that 1500 miles in height or length or width is not too far for His light or presence to reach.  For there is no dark corner in heaven.  There is no alley way or hidden space, where the light and presence of our God does not reach.  From end to end, and height to basement, nowhere in this city is absent the presence and light and love of our God.  His bride is meant for our Lord.  We are the treasure that is to be in this city.

John continues his descriptions in verse 17 … “And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.”  John now reveals the height of the wall to be 144 cubits or about 216 feet.  Compared to a city that is 1500 miles high, a 216 foot high wall is hardly significant.  But to reveal this information to the enemy ahead of the battle seems really like revealing the worst secret of your city’s defenses.  You just told them how high to build the ladders to scale the wall.  You just gave them an indication of how thick the walls might be in order that proper battering rams or explosive devices would need to be to take down the wall and grant access to the city inside.  Why give this data away?  Perhaps it is to remind us that war itself is to be a thing of the past.  God does not doubt His victory in the coming battle.  And this wall will be standing to prevent future entry and exit, only like a fence to remind us, that we are ever surrounded by the protection of our God.  A fence He is choosing to decorate in a most ornate manner.  This might be God’s idea of a traditional “white picket fence” so to speak.

John continues in verse 18 … “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. [verse 19] And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; [verse 20] The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. [verse 21] And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”  With a city that is 1500 miles high, and an equal distance square, John keeps his attention focused largely on the wall.  He reveals to us that each gate in the wall is a single pearl (must have been some oyster).  He reveals that the bricks of the wall are of the same stones that is reflected in the light of God, and in the appearance of God the Father, a Jasper stone (likely green in color).  Has God perhaps put a part of Himself into the construction of this wall? 

The foundations of this wall, presumably the ones where the names of the Apostles are written, are described in detail.  They represent a variety of colors and textures.  And lastly the streets of heaven are made of the concrete of purest gold, such that they are nearly translucent.  One thing that immediately comes to mind when considering the construction of this wall, and of the streets of the city, is the value of the treasures we value here on earth.  Pearls, sapphires, emeralds, and gold are not done away with in heaven.  But they do represent only building materials.  What we choose to wear around our necks, our fingers, our wrists, and our heads are nothing more than the concrete of heaven.  Pearls are of value because they are rare, as is any precious stone, but in heaven they are as plentiful as the wall itself.  If you define the value of your jewelry because it is ornate and rare and perhaps large, you have not seen the half of it yet.  God has much more jewels than you can possibly imagine.  He had so many, he used them as construction materials; perhaps that was ALL they were ever intended to be used for.

On earth we kill for gold, in heaven we walk on it.  This information, this intelligence, this reconnaissance about our future home was not shared with us to stoke our greed, but to kill it once and for all time.  We do not need jewelry to make us feel better about our appearance.  There is no reason to hoard gold, let alone paper money.  In effect it is the equivalent of wearing bits of gravel, wood, and dirt on our bodies.  For what we prize so highly and sacrifice so much for here in this world is nothing more than beautiful building materials in the only future that matters.  This revelation should give us pause to realize the contents of the city make it the bride of Christ, not the construction materials.  We are the prize.  We are the treasure.  We are the thing God was willing to give His only Son to die in our stead for.   He loved us, not gold, or pearls, or jewelry.  He had plenty of jewels, but treasured you so highly He was willing to die so you would not have to.  Our lives are what matters most to Christ.  He shows us the magnitude of His thinking, of His design skills, or His architectural planning, to show us that size will not be the limiting factor in our participation in heaven.  Heaven is big enough for ALL of us.  There is no limit to His invitations because He does not have enough room, He has more than enough.  The only limitation to entry to this city is because you refuse to do so.

When love of others is perfected in you, you do not value the rubies, diamonds, gold, and pearls, you value the person who wears them or cannot afford to.  The construction trinkets are of no value to the person whose heart has been transformed by Christ.  The goal is to see the person in this city, with you, with me, with Christ.  What we wear matters literally nothing at all.  No designer suit will compensate for a corrupted heart.  No finest gem will replace the loss of a loved one in the kingdom of heaven.  No amount of gold in this world, is worth even the least of these, in the next one.  To “sacrifice” our means in this world to promote the ministry of redemption is NOT a sacrifice at all, it is an investment that has a return more precious than any conceived of since the dawn of creation.  It is our priorities that must be altered by the Revelation of John to us.  It is our hearts that must be remade in order to be in harmony with the kingdom he reveals.  To treasure the rocks of this world over the people of this world, is to miss the point of the gospel entirely.  Rocks will be in no short supply, people are the only unique and truly rare and precious things that cannot be replaced.  The jewels He will place on your head, are merely a symbol of the treasure you are in His heart.

But the revelations of heaven and the messages were not over yet …

 

An Epitaph for Death [part two] ...

In the previous portion of this study, our story in Revelations chapter 20 began AFTER the second coming to reunite us with our Lord and our God had already taken place.  The final end of evil remains the part of the story still to be told.  The Bible is more than just the story of the redemption of humanity.  It also serves to tell the story of the rise and eradication of evil itself.  That final ending part of the story of evil had only just begun.  Satan was bound alone with his demonic following here in the destroyed earth for 1000 years.  During this time we, the redeemed, review the judgments of our God upon those who have steadfastly refused every opportunity to accept the gift of His perfect freedom to love others.  The wicked lost have been asleep in their graves during this millennia but now, the time for evil is nearly done.  The time to see evil end is about to be revealed.

John continues in verse 7 … “And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, [verse 8] And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.”  As mentioned earlier the minute the wicked are raised, Satan looks with singular purpose to do one thing, build an army that can defeat the angels he lost to before.  Satan raises the old argument citing history from the tower of Babel, that if mankind unites behind a single purpose, we can defeat God.  Satan does not discourage evil in his ranks, he promotes it.  But in this instance he is not looking to lose troop numbers, so there is to be no early killing of each other in the ranks of his army.  We are to save our blood lust for the meek and mild residents of the city of heaven.  Notice too, there is no rebellion in his ranks.  No one stands up and rejects his ideas of conquest and murder.  No one refuses what he offers.

Think about it.  Scripture foretells all of this.  You are reading the future history of evil and righteousness right now in great detail.  Yet despite a sure knowledge of the outcome, if you find yourself awakened to be on the side of evil, you will join this insanity willingly.  What choice do you have?  What other fate is there?  Perhaps some join with the full knowledge of their impending doom.  Perhaps some continue to perpetrate evil acts of immorality and self-pleasure as much as they can while they await the coming battle.  How else to motivate his troops but to offer them temporary pleasures they might have been too timid to partake of while there was yet hope of redemption?  Evil does not look to reform and better itself, it looks only to deepen in the course it pursues.  What level of immorality could scarcely be imagined now, is fully set loose now that only one final battle remains.  Once again, the decisions to be lost or saved are seen cemented in the continued choices and actions of those in both camps.  The righteous are racked with grief at their own inadequacy in loving the lost back to redemption.  While the wicked are steeped in nothing but hate to see those who they formerly purported to love, killed to get out of their way.

Despite everything, despite the clarity of these revelations given to John and to us, NO ONE changes their minds or pursues a different course.  It is at this point, when the wicked approach the city of New Jerusalem descended from God to our world for the final battle, that a pause occurs.  The sky will serve as the 3D HD TV Screen from which a movie will be presented.  It is the actual story of humanity, of the genesis of evil, of the mission of love to redeem.  It is the story of His sacrifice here in life and on Calvary.  And within this picture is revealed to each individual the history of the attempts by God to see each of them redeemed.  All will see what Christ did.  All will see what was done in their own lives to see them redeemed.  And the results of this panoramic picture, perhaps the greatest movie ever played will have a unified result, even in the camp of the wicked.  ALL will bow before Christ and acknowledge that only the Lamb is worthy of worship and praise.  It is an involuntary response from a heart and sentient mind created by God.  No one can help themselves from doing anything other than this, up to and including Satan himself.

What happens next however is the reaction and distinction between good and evil.  The righteous once again have prostrated themselves before the Lamb, throwing their crowns to the ground at the thought of their own unworthiness.  They rise only as He comforts them and assures them once again of His so great love for them.  They think only to serve this God of Love in any way they can, according to His great purpose.  They carry no weapons.  They intend no blood shed.  They are not there to fight.  They are armed with only a love and gratitude to Christ that cannot be comprehended by us now, or by those who lay before them at that time.  They, like God, long for a different outcome.  They wish only that those who are lost, who at least now have seen the worthiness of Christ would seek one more time a chance at redemption.  Perhaps even now it is not too late.  But alas, one moment of clarity in the lives of evil, does not result in any desire to change.

And so it begins.  The evil ones rise from their acknowledgement of the love of Christ, with only one thought on their collective minds, to kill Christ.  They realize that so great a love exists, and since they cannot be a part of it, they must kill it to have peace.  But like at His second coming, this battle will end before it begins.  John continues in verse 9 saying … “And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. [verse 10] And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”

Notice first that the attacking troops are “devoured” by the fires of God.  The devil is thrown into a lake of fire and will die last, in order that he suffer the longest and be punished for the magnitude of his deceptions and evil and pain he has caused.  John continues in verse 11 … “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. [verse 12] And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.”  He who longed to be their savior, stands now to impose the sentences of those who have been judged in the courts of heaven.  There is no escape for any who have refused to embrace redemption.  All men and women, both small and great are to have sentences passed.  They will burn and suffer in proportion to the pain they have caused. 

John continues in verse 13 … “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.”  There is no form of death that a wicked person could have experienced in this life that does not give way to these series of events.  Whether lost in a drowning in the depths of the sea, or obliterated in the blast of an atomic weapon, all the lost have been raised, all have seen the judgment of Christ, and all are to now experience the lake of fire in direct proportion to the pain they have caused.  Those who have caused little pain for others will be consumed fully and quickly.  Those who have caused much pain for others will be consumed slower, and will die only over a period of time, receiving in direct proportion to what they have caused, the pain they have wrought.

The effects of this punishment are to be eternal, just as the choice while they lived to embrace evil would not be altered even after seeing the great love of Christ in attempting to redeem them.  There will be no further chances at redemption, nor any further resurrections to look forward to.  Whatever the length of lifeline they have lived to date, it is to be their last.  Immortality is NOT on the menu.  A permanent existence even in torture is NOT to be their fate.  They are to burn, and die, and be no more.  Satan and his demonic hoard will die last, but die they will.  The universe is to be cleansed of all evil, not have it exist forever, even in a tortured state.  Justice demands the death of evil, not its continual preservation. 

Imagine the alternative for a moment.  If traditional views of hell were correct, then Satan is obviously not impacted by the flames, or otherwise how is he able to continue to deceive mankind for the last 6000 years while hell was going on, presumably starting with Cain.  After some period of time humans will adapt to a pain that does not kill them.  It is in our nature to do this.  So either God would have to constantly continue to invent new ways to cause us pain, or whatever the fires do, would eventually become commonplace to us.  Then too, even if punishment could be eternally causing pain, at what point would our sentence be served and the demands of justice met?  Even Hitler, should have atoned for his murders at some point.  It might take 6 million years to atone, or perhaps 6 billion, but at some point doesn’t Hitler have the right to state that his debt is paid?  Eternal torture perpetuates evil forever, instead of eliminating it as God has promised.  And can you imagine the acts of evil that would continue even in a venue like hell, if hell were a place that lasts forever.  Lastly, how could any of us, the redeemed who think of nothing but to love others, find happiness while those who we loved, continue to exist in a state of perpetual torture.  None of this makes sense.  It is a misrepresentation of the character of God, as told to us by His enemy, and with attempts at using scripture to prove it.

Our traditional teachings of an eternally burning hell are the doctrines of the enemy, designed to perpetuate a myth of an unfair God who desires pain and not redemption.  But to punctuate this fact, and undo any lingering doubts in our minds, John continues and concludes this epitaph in verse 14 … “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. [verse15] And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”  The final thing to be consumed by the fires sent by God are “death” and “hell”.  Death itself is to be put to an end.  Once Satan has died, once there are no more alive who have chosen to embrace evil, death will NO longer be relevant or needed in our universe ever again.  Its purpose will be ended with no future victims of its concepts.  Evil will now be in a state of non-existence.  Only good will remain.  The fires will go out.  They will do their eternal job, in inflicting an eternal punishment, but then when the job is completed, they will be needed no more.  There is to be no more hell.  There is to be no more death.  They are both to be ended.  This revelation is to be their epitaph.

There is no balance between good and evil, as these are mutually exclusive concepts where only one can rule.  Should evil win, life itself would cease to exist for all the roads of evil lead to death, the death of others, and eventually the death of self to escape what we become.  Balance, has never been needed.  Balance, is the mantra of the enemy.  Good does not need evil to survive or find identity.  Good is love, and it will on this day, overcome evil forever more.  In the battle between good and evil, good was always destined to win, as existence itself was the prize in question.  Evil is destined to die, to be extinguished forever in every form. 

From this point forward, even death will be gone forever.  The cycle of life is all we have ever known.  We witness in the leaves of the trees, the cycle of birth, growth, decline, decay, and rebirth.  But once death is gone, perhaps the leaves will be ever green.  Perhaps there is no decay anymore, perhaps to pluck a rose from a bush is to begin a new plant as a result.  We have no idea what it means to live life without the reminders of our own mortality.  We live now treasuring every moment because of the brevity of our lives, but then perhaps we will live treasuring every moment because every moment will have no end.

We might have thought the story of our redemption ended when once we were reunited with Christ.  And perhaps our redemption story was over at that point.  But scripture did not end then, nor did the revelations of Jesus Christ given to John.  The disposition of evil in finality had yet to be given, the ending of death itself was an important point that must be relayed.  This revelation helps us understand what love means, and what justice means.  This revelation dictates the end of evil forever and ever.  It amplifies the finality of the choices we make.  Should we elect to be redeemed, it will be so by the power and love of Jesus Christ.  But should we elect to place our salvation in ourselves, our self-deception will be our undoing.  The evil within us MUST be removed.  For ALL evil will one day meet its end.  If it is still a part of us on that day, our fate will be that of evil.  If we trust to Jesus Christ, our fate will be that of love that remains.

But even now, scripture was not to be at an end.  There is yet more to be revealed.  There is yet more to this story …

 

The Contrast of Finality [part two] ...

The scene in heaven is one of overwhelming joy at the impending return of Jesus Christ to our world.  Praises are exclaimed by the first fruits, by the 24 elders, by the four beasts, and by the sentient life across the universe.  But where joy is at its pinnacle, it has an equal contrast in the sin sick world below.  The contrast stands as dark as the light which is its opposite.  The finality of what is about to transpire will set a mark in the history of evil that cannot be undone.  Where heaven rejoices, the world below prepares for a war.  Where love seeks to bring life, renewal, and reconciliation for the redeemed; darkness seeks death, compulsion, and the conquering of any who dissent.  Those who follow Jesus Christ have long awaited His return to take us to our real home – wherever He is.  But for as much anticipation as true Christians hold within them, those who are not destined to be made free from self-love loathe the idea of an early end to their dark desires.  For them, the time to commit sin, to acquire more, to indulge themselves is nearly over.  It is as infinite a darkness they continue to descend into, as is the light we aspire to achieve.

But if there is to be another war, forced by the dark depths of evil itself, then a warrior will they meet.  It is in triumph our Lord is to return to us.  His meek and humble demeanor was ever present to bring us to Himself.  But now, His enemies will see, that love forever rejected is not powerless, it is not weak, it is not so easily defeated on the field of battle.  John reveals the picture of Christ returning to our world as we continue in chapter 19 and verse 11 saying … “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.”  If there are four horsemen who represent the decay of the church who bore His name, there is now a fifth horsemen who intends to reclaim it, both His name, and His people.  Jesus Christ is called Faithful and True.  He is faithful in that our salvation has been wrought in us, despite our lack of knowledge as to “how” this has occurred.  We cannot understand how our evil desires have been replaced by good ones, because we did not accomplish this transformation. HE did!  His word is made True within us, as all of the promises of redemption have resulted in a transformation of who we are, from slaves to self, to freedom to love others.

John points out, that evil is not to be allowed to run free and make all the decisions of what will happen next.  It is our God who judges.  It is the opinions and decisions of our God that are final.  What evil desires and wishes is to be made of no account.  If there is war to happen, our Lord will not shy away.  It is He who will bring war to evil, such as evil has not considered possible up to now.  Bathed in self-deception, evil has convinced itself, it can win based of the sheer force of will.  It is wrong.  John continues to describe the scene in verse 12 saying … “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.”  Evil cannot stand in the presence of love, for love consumes it entirely.  The eyes of our Lord appear as a flame of fire, for to look into them is to see the infinite love of God.  Evil sees this love as a consuming fire from which it cannot escape.  It is why Moses was only allowed to see the back of God, not His face.  Had the Lord revealed Himself and His infinite love directly and unfiltered to Moses, it would have consumed Him for its magnitude.  Moses while still clinging to the sins he cherished could not have stared into those eyes without revealing the evil he still had within himself, and thus being consumed by love.

On the head of our Lord is not a single crown to imply an ordinary kingship, rather there are “many” crowns, to signify He is not just a King, but a King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  No matter how great any king in this world has risen to prominence, no matter how high we believe ourselves to have ascended, we are reminded here there is One who is FAR greater than any of us.  Neither David, nor Solomon, nor Nebuchnezzar, nor Alexander the Great, nor any since will be able to compare in the slightest to the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings.  In the days of John, a king was a well understood concept.  His authority was absolute in the region in which he ruled.  There were no democracies, there was no place to appeal beyond the authority of the king.  So the imagery presented to John is something he fully understands and grasps, it is our Lord who is the real King, and the greatest King to have ever existed.

John also reminds us that He bears a name which no man knows except He Himself.  We do not really know the name of the Father God.  The closest name we ascribe to Him is YAHWEH, based on the systemic substitution of the letters YHWH wherever His true name existed in scripture.  This was a precaution taken by Jewish scribes to insure we never took His real name in vain.  Hard to do that when we do not truly know what it is.  But in this scene of His returning, Jesus bears the name of our God, which we have lost and do not know.  His identity, His name, will be revealed to us at that time, even John is not granted insight for his revelations to show it to us now.  We must wait to see it, to read it, to have Him tell it to us. 

John continues in verse 13 … “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”  The Lord’s method for saving us, was to take upon Himself, the punishment we deserved.  It is by His blood, that our own can be preserved.  Thus he returns in a vesture, whether this is his entire clothing, or perhaps a breastplate, or vest, it is dipped in the Blood He shed for our redemption.  John again refers to Jesus Christ as the “Word of God”.  Keep in mind this is how the gospel of John begins, that the Word was God.  He continues in verse 14 … “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.”  The host of the redeemed first fruits, perhaps the angels who have supported their Lord before in battle, perhaps other sentient life who rally to the command of their Lord, all stand arrayed to witness the triumph of the power of love over evil, even evil which will not relent.  The garments of the redeemed first fruits are white and clean, this is only possible because the garment of our Lord is soaked in His own blood.  It is His blood that has made us righteous.

John continues in verse 15 … “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. [verse 16] And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”  The words of our Lord cleave those they encounter.  For those who submit themselves to Him, we are cleaved of our sin, and left remade in His righteousness.  For those who refuse to submit, they too are cleaved and smited and overcome, their decision to refuse respected, but their lives of evil cut short as a result.  There is no disputing His word, there is only accepting it, or accepting the consequences of sin and death instead.  The rod of iron which He is to rule with, stands as the immutable principles of loving others, and not loving self.  This is a non-negotiable item for our God, and His government.  Satan’s attempts at balance, at bringing in the ideas of self-love even if only in small quantities are to be no more, they are defeated.  There will be only one kind of love in the kingdom of our Lord, a love of others, not self.

John reminds us again of the imagery of treading the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.  Love does not enjoy the pain that selfishness brings.  Love for others hates what love of self brings.  The sympathy and frustration and patience of trying so hard to see pain and death redeemed now gives way to an anger with the suffering that love of self has caused.  Evil has made its choice.  That choice will be respected.  And now it will see how much the Lord hates pain, hates death, hates suffering that evil causes – the anger is to be poured out without mixture, without dilution, without shelter upon those who have embraced the course of evil.  Those who have chosen to love self above all else, and refused the redemption and transformation gifted by our Lord, are to now experience what that choice means.  They are to have their own suffering revealed to them, returned to them.  What they have wrought upon others in a quest to please self, is about to come home to themselves, they will now see what it means to suffer personally, not just to remain in apathy as their victims suffered.

John again makes it clear that the name on His thigh is a final declaration of His authority in all matters.  Our God is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords.  His authority will be unquestioned, undisputed, and the steeped in a finality that cannot be undone.  What is about to transpire is a final mark in the history of evil that will never be undone.  Evil wanted a battle, so a battle is coming.  Evil deceived itself into thinking a victory was possible, that self-deception is about to be undone, and truth revealed.  John continues in verse 17 saying … “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; [verse 18] That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.”

The angel standing in the sun calls to the birds of the air to gather themselves together as they will be on clean-up-duty for the battle about to transpire.  There is not even a question about who will be losing this battle and who will be winning it.  It is not the humble, selfless, servants of God who will be consumed by the fowls of the air, it is the proud men of the earth.  Both those who think themselves as great, and those who know they are not.  It is those who seek to war against what is coming, rather than submit to a power that could have freed them.  The hold of the beast over those who bear his mark is complete.  They are fully self-deceived.  They fully believe the false prophet and imposter of all the known deities is indeed the only god they need serve.  Who else could come to disrupt what their god tells them?  Who else could bring disruption to the order their god demands?  The ideas of the Bible, the culmination of the return of our Lord, does not so much as enter their heads.  This must be some sort of alien invasion, like in the multitude of science fiction movies they have seen.  How could it be otherwise, if god is already here?

John continues in verse 19 … “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.”  Armageddon has arrived.  Despite the clarity, despite the finality, despite the contrast of an army dressed in white, led by a God who will surely be undefeatable, the war will go on.  They see Him coming as He promised, yet vow to fight on.  They know in the deep recesses of their minds, that He who is returning is the Truth, the Way, and the Life.  They know it is Jesus Christ who descends now with His angelic throng, yet despite the certainty of truth, there is nothing left to do, but to war on.  Even now, the stubbornness of evil is revealed.  Even now, there is no change of heart or mind, there is only a deepening in the course of sin they have embraced.  Instead of surrendering and pleading for mercy though the time for this has past, they will even now, refuse the mercy or love they might have otherwise already gained access to.  The decisions are final.  The contrasts of finality have been set, there is no going back, there is no vacillation, there is only to move forward into war.

John continues in verse 20 … “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.”  There is a special fate reserved for those who have led this deception, and who have sought to lead the genocide of the followers of Jesus Christ alone.  The beast, the dragon, the second beast, and the third – Satan and all those who have led the quest to compel the conscience of others, the leaders of these ideas, from papal supremists, to Islamic facists, to atheistic proponents, to fundamentalist protestant militants – the leadership of this war against Christ are to be cast alive into a lake of fire.  This will consume the earthly participants, and push the supernatural ones into a state of punishment.  The leadership is dealt with in a special way at the outset of the battle evil has chosen to pursue.

John then continues in verse 21 saying … “And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”  Those who remain of the evil in this world; the followers, the passive aggressives, the apathetic, the self-denialists, those who would still attempt to rationalize their way out of this dilemma - are to be slain by the word of God.  A simple command from the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings, ends the lives of those who would have sought to end His once again.  The battle does not last, it does not involve casualties on both sides, but only on one.  It is not a battle that can be ended by retreat, to live to fight another day.  It is over.  It is ended, with the leadership consumed in a lake of fire, and the rabble evil hoard fallen by the words of Christ.  It is quick and decisive with zero survivors.  The saved have already been caught up in the clouds to greet Him in the air.  His foot has never even had to touch the ground to fight this war or to win it.  It was won while he yet approached.  The dead in Christ have already been awakened by the sound of the trumpet, they have already been called from their graves to meet Him in the air.  The scene John describes is about the contrast of the saved with those who are not.

The finality of this battle cannot be understated.  The contrast is stark and eternal.  Fates have been forever sealed when once the decision to compel the conscience of men was embraced.  Now the results of that decision are to be seen.  It is death that was chosen.  Like the Pharaoh of old who sought to kill the Israelites, and instead found his firstborn slain; so the wicked who sought to kill those who dissented from their majority view point now find it is them who are to be slain.  The choice to pursue blood, has been respected, but the result was to find it is their own blood that is spilled.  The outcome was not expected, but it was chosen.  If evil had its way, the righteous of the earth, the humble, gentle, followers of Jesus Christ who are guilty of nothing but loving others, would be completely dead and gone from the earth.  This was the plan of the enemy.  He sought to kill every living thing that follows Christ, and kill the God of our universe, once again.  His plan was foiled.  His choice altered by an outcome he did not wish.  There are slain to feed the birds as the angel predicted only moments ago.  But as predicted, the slain are those steeped in the evil of self-love.

The most longed for event in human history, is also the most destructive and hated event in human history.  The contrast of life and death has never been so apparent as now.  Those who love others experience an infinite joy, that overwhelms them entirely.  Those who love self, experience pain and an early demise, to be cut short of all their evil intentions, goals, and desires.  Those who love self, HATE what has come.  They hate His return.  They hate His followers.  They hate that gentle demeanor, that speaks and acts of nothing but love for others.  The contrasts of finality have long been set.  How this event in the history of our world is perceived is defined by the construct of the character you retain when it occurs.  Will you stand with the redeemed of Jesus Christ, who have allowed His transforming love to free you from your slavery to serving self?  Or will you take your place with the demonic hoard who look for no greater glory than to indulge self just one more time before it ends?

This battle is over before it begins.  It was always going to be so.  This revelation however has a much deeper significance.  Because this revelation is given to you today, BEFORE, these things occur, BEFORE your decisions are final.  You have the luxury of time in the here and now, to determine which side of this conflict you intend to be identified with.  These truths are sure and certain, but they also remain in the future as of today.  Our nation has not yet implemented the universal call to take on the mark of the third beast.  Our churches have not yet abandoned Christ and called for the killing of any who will dissent with the majority view.  We are on the road to these things, but they remain as yet, incomplete.   There is still time.  Time is the gift you are given today.  You can read this revelation in a time that is not yet advanced as far as the scriptures surely foretell.

That is the point of these revelations.  They are NOT a history book, offering no hope for the reader.  They are a prediction of what is to come.  In the day of John, nearly everything was set in a current or future tense.  In our own day, six of the series of seven things, have come to pass.  The seventh is still ahead of us.  While we do not look as did John, with a wealth of future time to see ourselves embrace the salvation of Jesus Christ; it is still not too late yet.  But the highway we travel towards these events will not be deterred or delayed much longer.  These revelations, like the remainder of the gospel, stand as a love letter from your true God.  They remain an invitation to start the process of transformation to perfection in the here and now.  They offer a surety that your salvation will be witnessed by you through the power of Jesus Christ alone.  This is NOT about fear tactics.  Only the wicked have reason to be afraid.  Those who would be free, have reason to rejoice, because freedom stands ready to be embraced.

The contrast of how you view these events, and these sure predictions, is an indication of where you stand with Christ today.  If what is written, strikes fear in your heart, then pray to submit yourself to Christ, and let His peace, replace your fear.  If what is written appears to you as a message of hope and love, then pray a prayer of thanksgiving that your salvation has already begun; pray that your submission can be full and complete and immediate, so that your joy can only grow in the here and now.  This battle, though still in the future, and marked by a contrast that cannot be undone, was not to be the final battle.  There was to be one more.  There was to be an epitaph of death itself still to be witnessed …

 

Epilogue of our Nation [part two] ...

In the previous section, we reviewed the fate of the counterfeit ideas that have infected the churches of our nation.  Indeed the message of warning has been given, that Babylon has fallen, has fallen.  It is not with joy that the angel of heaven must relay his warning, it is with heavy heart.  But the message must go out, and the self-deception must be revealed.  The plagues will fall.  The consequences of our sins will be felt in full measure, no longer shielded from us by a loving God.  Our decisions to remain slave to self and self-love are to be honored forever now, as is our decision to find salvation from Jesus Christ alone.  In either event, our choices are made permanent.  Those who remain in the chains of self-reliance will no longer seek any other course.  Those who have found their freedom in the salvation of Jesus Christ alone will have come to know, there is no other source for it.  When the plagues are finally poured out, and all the self-deception is wiped away, it will be a cause of great lament.  But notice in the passages that follow, the lament of the wicked is not about the pain his actions cause, it is about the lack of wealth he is going to experience.  No one weeps for the burden of the poor in increasing the wealth of others.  They only weep at the thought that now their own wealth will be impacted.

John resumes his revelation in chapter 18 continuing in verse 9 … “And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, [verse 10] Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”  The leadership of evil must stand rebuked.  The destruction of our nation, and of the churches who are the daughters of harlotry and have corrupted the pure reliance on Jesus Christ for salvation, are an example to the world of the fate and judgments of God upon these ideas.  Our punishment is so great the kings of the earth stand “afar off”.  They do not desire close proximity to our pain and punishment, for fear it might be visited upon them as well.  Here again, selfishness is revealed.  Christ left heaven, and became one of us, in order that He might be with us in our misery, and bring us relief from it.  Those kings who have only enjoyed the pleasures of a whore, are not at all interested in seeing her relieved in her suffering.  They only lament the end of a lavish life they too once enjoyed.

John continues in verse 11 … “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:”  The markets will crash.  The economy will fall.  Currency will become of no more value than toilet paper.  The commerce that was thought to be the tool used to compel the conscience of men, the threat used in the Mark of the Third Beast, is to be obliterated.  An ironic punishment meted out by a loving God who stands forever rejected by the evil of men.  John then begins to list in specifics the products that will have lost their allure in the great nation of Babylon once the plagues begin to fall as follows starting in verse 12 … “The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,”  These are the currency, the jewelry, and the most expensive construction materials used in the amassing of wealth.  The raw materials of wealth supplied by the merchants of the earth are to have no more customers.

John continues in verse 13 … “And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men. [verse 14] And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.”  Next are listed the items of a more personal nature; spices, perfumes, food, and servants.  The things a whore seeks, the things our nation has sought, are to be taken from it as well.  The merchants who became rich providing these necessities of a lavish life are to once again find their customer base has gone away, completely evaporated under the outpouring the plagues upon the evil of this world.

John concludes the great lament of evil for the loss of evil beginning in verse 15 saying … “The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, [verse 16] And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! [verse 17] For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, [verse 18] And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! [verse 19] And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.”  Notice again that both the merchants and those who trade by sea remain “afar off”.  Notice too, that both “weep” and “wail” at the prospect of the loss of wealth.  For there truly is no nation like ours.  And such a contrast is presented in the nature of the laments for fallen Babylon.  Heaven laments that it has “fallen”.  The loss, or refusal to be saved, is what is lamented in heaven.  Whereas those who are enslaved to self, lament only the loss of self-pleasure that wealth is thought to bring.

The wicked are never sorry for their wickedness.  They are only sorry for the consequences of their wickedness.  They lament getting “caught”.  They lament that their path of wicked behavior has been cut short unexpectedly.  Satan desires only that he could continue committing wickedness for all of eternity, unstopped by the powerful hand of a loving God.  So it is, in the heart that has chosen to embrace self-love in any form, there is no end to it.  There is no concept of “enough”, only the desire for “more”, no matter how much has already been acquired.  The kings, merchants, and seafarers lament the loss of wealth they will now experience due to the fall of Babylon.  They care not for her misery, only in that it will now impact them as well.  This is the lament of the wicked. 

Lest we forget, the wealth of Babylon was not gathered through ethical means.  And the fervor with which she treated those who refused to abandon their identity as followers of Jesus Christ alone resulted in more than a few deaths.  The limits of depravity do not exist in those who seek first the love of self.  So John interjects in verse 20 … “Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.”  The misery of Babylon is well earned.  The punishment she reaps are from the seeds she has sown.  We are to rejoice that her reign of terror has come to an end.  No more will she continue to shed the blood of the apostles, and prophets, and saints.  Her ability to murder those who dissent is now ended.

John concludes the epilogue of our nation beginning in verse 21 saying … “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. [verse 22] And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; [verse 23] And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. [verse 24] And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”

It is with great and sudden violence that our nation is to meet its end.  In an hour are the judgments of God revealed.  And the finality of those judgments endure.  The great city of Babylon is to be torn down and found no more at all.  Music is gone from our nation.  Trade is obliterated.  Food production is at zero.  Light has vanished.  Marriage and simple pleasures are no more.  The lure of our wealth that has seduced the merchants and great men of the earth exist no more.  For it is our sorceries that deceived the nations of the earth.  We, the United States, are to be the birthplace of those final deceptive sorceries.  Some speculate the antichrist would emerge from Rome and rise to take control of the United Nations Security Council.  But if the last and final sorceries are to originate from the U.S., then perhaps the final impersonation by Satan of the coming of the Messiah and other assorted world deities is to begin in our nation instead. 

The final text penned by John stands as the indictment of our nation in annuls of time and memorial.  In “her”, or in us, was found the blood of the prophets, and of the saints, and of “all” that were slain upon the earth.  We are guilty not only of shedding the blood of those who follow Jesus Christ alone, we are guilty of indiscriminant murder as well.  All of this is the result of “blending” truth with error.  All of this comes from attempting to “balance” the love of self, with the love of others.  All of this comes from breaking trust with God, and trusting in our own wisdom and common sense.  It is the universal acceptance of the counterfeit, that by nature cannot perform to the specs of the original that leads to so much death and destruction.  The seeds of the counterfeit were planted long ago.  They require attention to detail.  The master of lies has prepared his final battle plan, but the outcome has already been decided.  Our nation was once thought to be a beacon of light and enlightenment, but from that state we are to fall.

The Catholic Church once had the opportunity to take the gospel of love to the entire world, but it became corrupted by the introduction of self-reliance and self-importance in its doctrines.  The protestant faith was founded in the ideals of a reformation to return the church of Christ back to Him alone.  But it too has become corrupted by the wish to control and compel the lives of others.  In so doing it has joined with its mother in the naked pursuit to co-opt the power of the state to enforce its edicts.  Islam would convert the entire world at the point of a sword.  Atheism would teach us there is no greater god than the man in the mirror.  Satanism offers us the allure of power over others, supplanted by forces unseen and beyond our explanation.  ALL are counterfeits that introduce self into the process of our perfection and evolution.  It is this counterfeit that is to be judged by God.  It is for the purposes of revealing these falsehoods that these revelations were given.  Only Jesus Christ can save us from ourselves.  This universal truth underscores the entire book of Revelations and is the recurring theme of each of these prophecies.  There is no other truth as fundamental and important to us in any age as this. 

In the next chapter, John will resume the telling of the story at the end of the seventh plague and the return of our Lord.  Salvation is next to be seen in person …