The End is Near [part 3]; a complete desolation of hearts ...

What do you fear the most?  Would the sudden and permanent rejection of your love top the list?  There is a reason for the expression “broken hearts”.  There is even a physiological condition that can pair with that expression so extremely it can actually kill you.  It is said that Jesus died of a broken heart while on the cross.  The separation from His Father was so intense while He bore the sin of the world, it killed Him.  And this fear of rejected love is something our God understands very well.  For it is God who suffers a rejection of His love from His creations, despite how passionately He feels about us.  When we tell Him no.  When we keep pushing Him away, until finally our time expires and the sleep of death cements the longevity of our rejection.  This is a fate for His children that our Father never wants to see, and our enemy simply revels in.  Satan is able to wound the heart of God by seducing His children away from His love to pursue happiness another way, a self-centered way.  These wounds may always be in the heart of our God who is incapable of forgetting the child He loved so much, but was unable to bring back to His side forever.  And the central tenant that underlies an eternity of life, or death, is love.

For those who embrace submission of the heart to Jesus Christ, maintaining that submission is all that matters.  As Jesus re-creates who you are, how you love becomes job one.  Shifting your love away from self to others, and then deepening it beyond all reason, and you will begin to see what harmony with God looks like.  Anything that might interfere with that life altering love, that transformation that only Jesus can bring, must be considered the enemy of souls, more specifically of your soul.  So when Jesus looks at world events, from the time of His disciples, until the end of all things – He is not worried about “when” the end will be.  He is worried that we might turn our hearts away from Him as time ticks by.  He is worried about the loss of even one child who decides there is a substitute for Jesus, another way to get to Nirvana, a different path to God – that all may sound good, but as they lead away from Jesus, they cut us off from the only transformation we are ever offered that works.  Jesus works.  His transformation will re-create you from who you are today, into who Jesus can envision you can become.  The “other” paths are distraction that lead nowhere, but to pain, and eventually death.

An eye that can see all of time in an instant, sees only the loss of His precious children, and seeks to take that loss down to zero.  The disciples asked for signs in the gospel of Matthew chapter 24.  But Jesus seeks to keep hearts in a path that will lead to His Father.  Anything that would distract from that, are the conditions, the prophetic warnings, He must relay to us – in hopes that by telling us what is happening, and what will happen, we will be warned against the distractions and keep our eyes ever on Jesus alone.  He picks up relaying a series of events that span our world’s history but share a common theme.  It begins in verse 15 saying … “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) [verse 16] Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:”  Matthew when he writes this gospel already sees signs in the exploding Christian Church of problems that were not apparent when Jesus spoke these words.

The “abomination of desolation” has meaning even in the days of Matthew.  For it will precede the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem.  But it is not, as his contemporaries will reason, the desecration of the Temple by Roman actions.  Nor is it, as we might reason, the condemnation of Jesus by the Temple priests and leadership.  It is a more insidious thing, a more cancerous virus, that spares not men, nor women, nor children.  It is an abomination of hearts.  It is the seeking of power over love, of hierarchy instead of one-on-one leadership by Jesus to every believer.  It is the attempt at making salvation personal, by taking personal control over it, wresting it away from the hands of Jesus, and placing it in our own.  Making statements that “we” must do “our part” before God will do His.  It is the ceding of a pure gospel of 100% dependence upon Jesus, with the insertion of self into every facet of the gospel.  We put self on the throne and bump Jesus into the “co-pilot” chair.  It is stone hearts that understand a lust for wealth, and are mystified at those who would give every penny they have for another in need. 

The abomination of desolation puts man ahead of God, and it comes in a variety of forms.  From the audacious who believes he is the “vicar” of Christ; to the Islamist who venerates Jesus as “great” but not God.  It happens in modern protestant churches as we proclaim our responsibility for ending sin, instead of looking for that from Jesus alone who is able to see it done.  That phrase, that fear of God, had meaning to Matthew, but it had meaning during the dark ages, and it still has meaning today.  It remains a desolation of hearts that should strike fear into us all.  For we are its target, and may well already be under its spell, looking away from Jesus for the things that only Jesus could ever see accomplished. 

Jesus begins with an answer to the original question the disciples asked, the destruction of the temple as He continues in verse 17 saying … “him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: [verse 18] Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. [verse 19] And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! [verse 20] But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:”  These words reflect a sudden desolation.  The destruction of the Temple foretold by Christ would come with devastating effect.   The Romans would march angry over continued Jewish attempts at rebellion, looking to forever crush the residents of the Holy Land.  They would kill everything they touched.  They were not there for mercy, they were there in an angry state of revenge.  No amount of blood would be enough.  So it is in that context that Jesus warns His believers not to prize belongings over their very existence.  Take what you have on you.  Trust me.  And flee for your lives.  He offers sympathy to those nursing mothers, and asks us to pray that it does not come in winter, or on Sabbath.

The destruction of the Temple would happen many years after His death.  And yet Jesus is still asking us to pray that the flight from it would not happen on Sabbath.  Clearly, Jesus still cared about His Holy day.  It was not nailed to a cross as some have conveniently tried to argue.  And all of the activities one would have to do while fleeing for their lives would prevent them from enjoying the Sabbath as it was intended with their God.  So if flight happened another day, it would be better.  Not happening in winter allows for the fact that the person in the field was to simply drop everything and run.  No time to get extra coats or clothing.  True believers in Jesus Christ have always faced persecution, and have generally always run from it.  The running has the side effect of spreading the gospel to new places and so in that sense not a horrible thing.  But Jesus tells us that persecution because we love is something we are going to face, it is the way of things.

Jesus then seems to look across time from that time to this and sees a common tragedy as He continues in verse 21 saying … “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. [verse 22] And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.”  There was great persecution in the days of Rome, enough to turn the color representing the church from white to red in John’s prophecies.  It would continue and get worse during the dark ages.  And if the world had not opened up by the discovery of the Americas it might have extinguished those who look only to Jesus all together.  So do these days of persecution still lie ahead of us, maybe.  But there is certainly enough of it behind us to hope it is now in our past until He comes.  One thing is certain though, the devil will not go quietly, so as time moves closer to the end, you can expect his fury to grow to match the fire of people truly beginning to rediscover what it means to encounter Jesus personally.

Jesus then goes back to His earlier warnings, that even while He looked over a wide span of time were still ever present.  He continues in verse 23 saying … “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. [verse 24] For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. [verse 25] Behold, I have told you before. [verse 26] Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. [verse 27] For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [verse 28] For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.”

One of the biggest remaining fears for Jesus across all time, is our tendency to put man in the place of God.  From false folks who claim directly to be Christ, to false prophets powered by the dark side of the supernatural world.  Their signs and wonders are great, but their message similar, a distraction from Jesus.  For those who value a “show me” mentality looking for supernatural proof of God, these false leaders will have great appeal.  But it is not the great acts that change the thinking, or create passionate love where there was none before.  Those are responses to a still small voice that changes the heart of each of us as we submit ourselves to Jesus alone.  Humans are only distraction to that, especially humans we begin to follow in place of Jesus (or in partnership with Jesus).  At some point the vultures will gather over the corpses created by looking away from Jesus.  A fate Jesus wants every one of us to avoid.

It is the desolation of our hearts that comes from putting man between us and God.  Our pastors should be admired and supported in the work they do – but not as a supplement or replacement of Jesus Christ.  We should not look to our pastors for an example.  We should look to Jesus for transformation of “our” hearts.  It is our heart that is important.  Not a collective reference to the hearts of men, but our particular heart that is important to our God.  Yes He feels this passionate for each of us.  But that does not diminish how He feels about me, or you, or the loved ones around us.  Each one extremely important to Him.  Each one, a child He wants back.  A child He desperately does not want to lose.  Because He loves us just that much.  As we look through the lens of Jesus across time we see Him desperately fighting for His children.  To keep each of us locked on Him, and safe because of it.  Looking anywhere else is a surefire recipe for disaster.

But His counsel was not over yet …

 

A Human Pillar of Fire ...

How could you miss that?  The signs were all around you.  Everything was right there in front of your eyes.  And still you missed it.  It would seem humanity has perhaps the unique ability to ignore everything and proceed on a course of doomed destination.  Ask anyone who has ever been in a car accident and they can affirm it for you.  The driver at fault, had to have seen so-and-so pulling out in front, or was making a horrible decision to do something ill-advised.  Trees suddenly appear “out of nowhere”, as do parked cars.  And in general, the first response of the driver at fault in an accident is to attempt to find blame elsewhere.  It is almost like clock-work.  And for all the drivers who were victims, not accomplices, or perpetrators, having to argue blame that is clearly assigned in the wrong direction is never fun.  And in the few instances where the victim becomes the perpetrator through mechanisms of faulty insurance investigation, or lying participants, it can get expensive too.  You are left wondering, how could they have missed all those signs and warnings, and proceeded on a course of doom?

At least in a car accident, if no injuries result, you can get on with your life.  Cars can be fixed or replaced.  License points removed through Drivers-Ed, or new insurance rates paid from an ever-shrinking budget.  But imagine when the problem is not tied to an incident that you may be lucky enough to eventually forget.  Imagine if the incident impacted your spiritual life.  Imagine coming face-to-face with God, and then arguing about His existence.  Or worse, rebelling against His directions WHILE you remain in His presence.  Modern Christians have the “luxury” of not sitting in front of Jesus, while they do the stupid things they do – or at least not in His tangible physical presence anyway.  But this was not always so.  And when the people who preceded us, did the stupid things they did, they did them right in the face of God.  It was like shooting the finger at God, while God is there staring at you to see what you did.

It started back in the days of the Israelites.  When the people of Israel went through the plagues of Egypt, they were untouched.  Now get that idea into your head for a minute.  Imagine any one of them.  Imagine having frogs so thick they were everywhere, in everything.  You could not move without stepping on them, even inside your home.  They were in your water (what was left of it).  They were in your food supplies.  Frogs stacked up feet thick on every surface you encounter.  A plague brought by the God of the Universe on Egyptians, but not a frog to be found on anything where Israelites lived, farmed, or ate.  Israelites were free from work during the plague, because the bricks could not be made, no Egyptian could hardly move during them.  And this did not just happen with frogs, it happened with flies, and locusts too.  But you being Israelite, suffered nothing.  Egypt decimated, you untouched.

Now Moses marches you through a Red Sea with water shooting up on both sides of the pathway hundreds of feet into the air.  But the pathway is dry as the desert normally is.  It is dry enough to move cattle, donkeys, wagons, and the old and young.  No mud at all, dry as if it was always that way.  You can touch the water in the sides, but no water spills into the pathway you walk.  You are walking in the breath of the Lord’s nostrils.  You begin to move through the desert, and here is the piece-de-resistance.  By day a cloud covers Israelites so the desert is cool, mild, and not a single scorpion or snake emerges from its hole.  By night, a pillar of fire stands over the camp providing ample light, and warmth against the cold the desert will naturally offer.  Again no scorpions, spiders, snakes, or other bothersome creatures emerge while Israelite feet are nearby.  God has radically altered the word “desert” where you are walking, camping, and taking meals.  You might dismiss the cloud as something nature provided (through willful ignorance).  But there is no way to write-off the pillar of fire at night as anything other than God.  And even with that pillar in full view, the Israelites found a way to disobey God entirely.

Fast forward 1600 years and Jesus is here.  Now “who” Jesus was might have been up for a measure of debate, but Matthew in his gospel to the Hebrews, was about to put a nail in that coffin so to speak.  Matthew was about to identify a Human form of the pillar of fire that would light the way of Israel forever more.  It begins in his gospel in chapter fourteen picking up in verse 13 saying … “When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. [verse 14] And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick.”  The news of John the Baptist’s death was spreading far and wide across the nation.  The people were sad.  They needed a beacon of hope.  They needed a light.  They were desperate.  Jesus takes a ship across the Sea of Galilee, a distance away from civilization, and the people don’t care, they follow Him there in great numbers.

The pillar lights up.  Imagine this crowd, it contains 5000 men, PLUS women, and children.  So if the average man over 16 was married, and had 2.5 kids per family (remember no birth control, and marriage happened young).  The math on this works out easily to 15-20k people.  But here is the pillar on fire part – Jesus heals their sick.  Not just some of them.  Not just a few of them.  All of them throughout the entire crowd from babies to old men barely able to move.  From diseases none of us can see, to amputee’s with restored limbs everyone can see now.  The blind see.  The deaf hear.  It is the prophecies fulfilled in their entirety.  A day of preaching and healing such as has never been before.  The words preached on that day were not recorded for us – Oh what a loss!!  We know what He did, but nothing about what He said.  None the less the pillar was lit up.  NO ONE ever healed like He healed, or preached the way He preached, or loved the way He did.  No one, ever. 

The day could have ended right there, and definitive proof of His identity had been offered in what He had just done.  But not yet.  Matthew continues in verse 15 saying … “And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals.”  And here is where loopy logic sets in.  If it is a desert (check); and there is no food nearby naturally (check); then where will the stores be for this size crowd to shop at, and how will these imaginary stores be stocked or prepared for this size of demand?  There are no stores for this.  Sending the people away, means sending them home hungry.  Now the crowd could have taken it.  They were all just restored to perfect health that day, so a little hunger is not going to kill anyone.  But let’s be honest, there are no stores for food.  The disciples were looking to pass the responsibility for feeding this crowd back to the people themselves.  Jesus sees through that right away.

Jesus responds in verse 16 saying … “But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.”  Hey guys, you can do this.  This is the God of the Universe, stating what is possible, and giving direction to them to get it done.  The pillar is burning brightly, and the chief servants of the pillar say in verse 17 … “And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes.”  No can do boss.  Math says 15k to 20k people, our inventory says five loaves and two fishes (which they borrowed from one of the children whose mother packed him a lunch before he went to see Jesus – yay mom!).  But the kicker is not what Jesus does next, it is what the disciples failed to do first.  Jesus was offering to spread out His power through them, and their miniscule faith.  Jesus had said – feed this crowd, do not sent them away.  The pillar is burning as brightly as it can – every single person healed that day.  Their response, was no can do.  This is all we have.  Epic fail – right in the face of the human pillar of fire.  And how many times do we give Jesus the exact same answer to His calls for us to minister – no can do boss, this is all we have and it is not enough – math says no.

Jesus had to have sighed.  I would have given the eye-roll.  But then, He is way more patient than me.  So Jesus answers and says in verse 18 … “He said, Bring them hither to me. [verse 19] And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass, and took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude.”  This is a miracle tutorial 101 for those not paying attention.  He told the disciples to get this done.  And He had them serve the entire crowd, from the inventory they offered.  The strength of Christ is not to be underestimated.  The pillar burns brighter still.  And perhaps this provided more tangible proof as to who He was as math and physics could not get this done.  But a crowd of restored 20k fully healed folks should have already known that.  This event is recorded like a big deal, but the big deal were the words we missed out on.

Matthew records the epilogue in verse 20 saying … “And they did all eat, and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve baskets full. [verse 21] And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children.”  Everyone ate, not just a little, not a ration, but a belly full.  And beyond that, 12 baskets of food left over were collected and likely sent home with the crowd to feed the poor in the cities they came from – evidence of the human pillar of fire in Jesus, who was in fact, the light of all Israel.  I ask you, who in that crowd of attendance that day, who came sick, and left healthy and fully restored; who came depressed of soul, and left restored of soul; who could argue this was not the Christ, long foretold of the prophets?  To argue against this God, was to argue in the time of Moses against the pillar of Christ that stood over them at nightfall.  It was the same God.  Matthew’s crowd saw in human form, what that pillar really looks like.  And Jesus warmed that camp for 40 years plus night after night never missing a night, never taking a vacation, never forgetting His people even when they forgot He was there right in front of them.

And what is it like in your life today?  I know that Jesus has already been a part of it, even when He is uninvited (by you), He is often invited through the prayers of others on your behalf.  Are you seriously able to tell me that you have seen no sign of Jesus in your life?  Or more likely, you have many stories in your testimony you cannot explain.  Things you have witnessed that math and physics could not have gotten done.  The pillar of fire may not hang over your home at night warming the night air for you, but the pillar of fire still looks to enter your heart, and bring you a life you can scarcely imagine.  He is just as real as the God who kept feet-thick frogs from covering your home.  He is just as real as the Jesus who cared too much to see a great crowd go home hungry, after a day of awesome ministry.  He is the Jesus who longs to see your life, become something you would want to live.  Can you ignore the signs?  Can you look away from His flame?  Call it luck, call it coincidence, call it “blessed” without any understanding of that word.  It is more.  It is a Jesus on fire for you, to see you reconciled to Himself.  Never let those signs go unnoticed, or unembraced.  That fire is coming straight for you, and it is going to light up your life in ways beyond all comprehension.  Same Jesus, different “you”.

 

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 …

 

Armageddon ...

The last war begins.  It will have 2 great battles.  The first battle begins at the second coming of Jesus Christ, as He returns to earth triumphantly to bring home those of us who have waited to see Him for so so long.  The second battle will occur more than a thousand years later, as there is one final assault of the city of heaven itself.  The 2 opposing sides were defined years ago.  The 2 opposing ideas outlined at the birth of evil into the universe.  Love-of-self versus love-of-others; it is this opposition that gives rise to conflict.  Love of self has produced evil, pain, and death.  It has proven what the opposite of God is, what the opposite of love is, what the opposite of life is.  Those who broke trust with God, and embraced the love of self, have become slaves to this sickness they chose.  They are now powerless under its insatiable grip.  The hunger that cannot be filled will not be filled, and so death must be its only outcome.  The war which began in heaven has moved to earth.  It will wage its next battle here on earth where evil is destined to lose, as it was always destined to lose.  The defeat of evil is known by all those in the supernatural realm, but it is refused to be accepted.  Instead pain and death will only be magnified and intensified before evil meets its end.  So Armageddon has arrived.

Unlike the Bruce Willis movie, where he and Ben Affleck can through sacrifice save a planet filled with the “innocent” and those in need, the time for sacrifice is ended.  There is no one left who can call themselves “innocent”.  There is no one left who might repent and seek to be saved.  There are only those bent on destruction, and those who have already put their trust in the salvation of Jesus Christ.  The former can think of nothing more, no greater cause, then to murder the latter.  The servants of Christ suffer from failing memories, and facts defined in a history of sin.  We know we have sinned and rack ourselves trying to remember one that might not have been sought for forgiveness, but can find none.  It makes no sense to us.  We know ourselves to be sinners, yet standing to wait upon His return, His work of perfection has been completed within us, and we can remember no unpardoned sin anymore.  The real fact of our former human imperfection causes us great misery as we seek a perfection that has already been provided to us.  We wrestle as Jacob wrestled, without need, without purpose, the victory having already been provided.  The fear of who we were causes us great trouble, but the reality of His salvation within us speaks only of peace, and the anticipation of His return.

The six previous plagues have all led up to this moment, to these events.  The last great war, World War 3, begins not as humans feared, as a rivalry between nations over “more” – but as a continuation of the war in heaven, between good and evil, between those who bare the mark of the third beast, and the Lord of Lords and King of Kings who dares to do, what He has always promised to do.  The great day of the Lord, of His return has come.  And the sequence of seven begins to see its fulfillment.  It occurs in the days of the seventh Laodicean church as found in the beginning of this book of Revelations of Jesus Christ that John has written.  The seventh seal is now opened.  The seventh trumpet is now sounding.  And the seventh plague must now fall.  It is the destruction of the seventh plague that will leave the evil ones of this world dead for the next thousand years.  The work of the seventh angel will be to descend and bind Satan in chains to the isolation and destruction of this abandoned earth for the next thousand years while the followers of Christ have gone home with Him, and will review the books of Judgment in heavenly courts to see why those they knew or loved are not there in paradise with them.  The sequence of seven, of wholeness, of perfection is reaching its zenith.

John describes the scenes of Armageddon.  He details what the first battle plan in the last great war looks like.  Satan, the dragon, and the Beasts he has raised in his alliance, have through the power of demons and the impersonation of every deity and religious icon, have gathered fallen mankind to war in a place called in the Hebrew tongue “Armageddon”.  They stand ready to greet and war against the return of our Lord, though they are unaware of who they fight for, and who they fight against.  So deep is the blindness of those who have accepted the Mark of the Beast, that they can no longer tell Satan from Christ on any level.  Confusion, chaos, the hallmarks of sin and disorder, are on display as at no other time in the history of our world.  Six plagues have already fallen exactly like the scriptures predicted.  Those who refused the Mark of the Third Beast remain untouched, and unaffected.  They are shielded from the wrath of our God, because it is only to be poured out upon evil.  Yet despite the clear word of God in these Revelations, despite the reality of what has transpired, evil does what evil always does – it refuses to accept reality and seeks to redefine it.  Still suffering from grevious sores, thirst, scorching heat, and regional darkness, what is left of mankind seeks to war, to kill, to exert power over others.

So John describes the futility of evil and the start of its demise in chapter 16 of Revelations, beginning in verse 17 saying … “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.”  This plague begins with a declaration, a definitive utterance of simplicity and finality – it is done.  Before the enemy has time to engage a single member of his troops to war, the destiny of this battle has been announced from heaven itself, from the temple, from the throne – it is done.  This will not be a contest.  This will not be an exercise that can lead to victory for the forces aligned with evil – there will be only one victor, and He is returning from the throne room of heaven to what is left of this world.  The words those who follow Christ have so longed waited to hear have been said.  There is to be time no more.  Decisions were made well ahead of this declaration, fates were sealed well ahead of this.  This is not an arbitrary end to mercy and redemption offered by our God.  It is a recognition, that no mercy is being sought.  There are none left who are undecided, or in want of salvation.  There are only those who have been saved already, and those who wish never to be saved.  So the words it is done, reflect the reality of our world.

John continues in verse 18 saying … “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.”  The passages we studied earlier in chapter 11 describing the blowing of the seventh trumpet are repeated here again.  There were voices, thunders, lightnings, and a great earthquake.  Perhaps only on that day will we know what the voices of the thunders are stating.  But this is to be no secret affair.  This is not a silent approach, where the enemy would not detect His coming.  Instead it is a very noisy affair.  In case you were able to sleep through the sights and sounds of the storm, the very ground will shake you from your slumber.  No one will be able to miss the end of all things.  No one will sleep through the end of the world, the final battle, the Armageddon of wars. 

John continues in verse 19 saying … “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. [verse 20] And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.”  Here John identifies three separate entities that are impacted discreetly by the return of our Lord.  First John identifies a “great city” which is divided into three parts.  Perhaps this refers to Jerusalem given the idea that the final battle is believed to be centered in the Middle East.  Or perhaps this refers to Rome, as the Vatican is centered there and is one of the locations of the three Beasts the dragon has created in his alliance to compel the conscience of men.  The cities of the nation’s falling then may refer to the seats of the dragon where Christ was never a part of any religion still maintained.  And finally Babylon is called into remembrance before God.  While most would like to ascribe this image of Babylon to a religious entity, it has been better identified with a governmental one, namely with the United States, where the Mark of the Third Beast began.  When examining the United States as its fulfillment, the following passage carries even more meaning – that every island is fled away, and the mountains were not found.  If we are the Babylon here referred to, we have the geography to make this passage meaningful.

John continues in verse 21 saying … “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”  Only now is the final destruction reaped upon the earth, and even now it causes none to come to repentance but rather to deepen in their blasphemy.  The last plague is to be one of hail.  Each stone is to weigh nearly one hundred pounds.  Imagine grapefruit sized hail of an incredible density, or basketball sized hail, where each stone, each drop or rain made ice, weighs nearly one hundred pounds.  Falling from an altitude of great height, perhaps mixed with fire and from a clear sky as in the days of Pharaoh of old.  The level of destruction this final plague is to reap is to be universal as well.  No one on the side of evil is to survive it.  The righteous ones, and those who sleep in Christ will have already been called forth to greet Him in the sky.  They are to leave behind this world of pain and sin.  They need not see or witness the destruction this plague will cause.  The suffering of mankind steeped in evil is to sleep for the next thousand years.

No cities would survive hail of this size and weight.  No cars, or buildings, or life will survive it.  The words “it is done” were not to be taken lightly.  Our world is to be left barren, our infrastructure completely obliterated.  All that will remain for the next thousand years will be the desolation of water turned to blood, earth scorched by the sun until all is barren, an earthquake that re-writes the geography, and a surface pounded by 100 pound rocks of hail.  It will be to this “bottomless pit” that Satan is to be bound.  He is to be locked into isolation to contemplate what his evil has wrought.  The nations will not survive these events, allowing him a further audience for his lies and deceptions.  Instead the work of the seventh plague is universal desolation, and the finality of the end of evil for next millennia. 

The last great World War 3, code name Armageddon has begun, and the first battle has ended without contest as was foretold.  What John will reveal next in the aftermath, is an epilogue of sorts, a post script on the fate of a church who would not be true, and a nation who would not either.  There were a few more Revelations yet to be revealed …

 

The Past is Prologue ...

The Revelations of Jesus Christ to his servant, the prophet John continue with events so close to the return of our Lord, they can nearly be seen already.  To say these events occur in the last days would seem obvious.  But when trying to pinpoint a more precise timeframe, one need only look at the sequence of events in terms of what has been completed already, and what is still left unfulfilled.  The sequence of seven that is the method of these revelations since the start of this book is once again to be employed as the last plagues of God’s judgments are poured out upon the evil in this world.  But to gauge where we are today consider the previous sequence’s.  The messages to the seven churches show you and I to be living in the days of Laodicea the last church before He returns.  The sixth seal has been opened.  The sixth trumpet has been sounded.  The history of the great disappointment, and work of the two witnesses is in our past now.  The plan of the enemy in raising three beasts to war against the lamb has seen us witness the rise of the third beast.  The ability to conduct commerce to be tied to the compulsion of conscience on a worldwide basis is something only our country has the power to implement.  And we are fast on our way to seeing it done.  Our direction in that regard has already been set; all that remains is to see our direction achieved.  Whether by those atheists, or believers of other religions who deny Christ altogether; or by those zealous fundamentalists Christians who believe only their version of doctrine is correct; the compulsion of conscience and attacks of our identity as followers of Jesus Christ is certain to be seen in our near future.

What remains undone to place us along the timeline of events that John has revealed to us is … the completion of the latter rain in the harvest described by the work of the Lamb and the fourth angel in the prior chapter.  The fulfillment of His work within us in the sealing of the 144,000 first fruits who have a special mission in the last days of our world’s history (likely tied closely to the work of the fourth angel).  The worldwide implementation of the Mark of the Third Beast which will restrict commerce unless we forfeit our identity as individual followers of Jesus Christ.  After which follows the seven last plagues which fall upon the evil in this world about to be described, as well as the work of the fifth and sixth angels who see a harvest of blood reaped among the wicked through these events.  These sequences conclude with the “seventh” church, or seal, or trumpet, or angels mission, or plague all being the culmination of His return and the beginning of our reunion with our Lord and our God. 

We, you and I, live perilously close to the end of all things.  While for believers to have thought that the last days have been with us for hundreds of years prior to now is also true.  In no other time has our country been in the position it is in today financially and with its ability to influence the financial systems of the entire world economy.  Our worldwide network of computer systems are now the backbone of immediate controls of wealth from every nation on the planet, and no nation can survive financially without participation in these systems.  In no other time has our nation had such a tremendous momentum to tie politics to fundamentalist beliefs in the right wing of the Republican party, or such fervor to see religion denied altogether from far left wing of the Democratic party.  Regardless of which political power triumphs, the ultimate compulsion of the conscience and attack on our identity as followers of Jesus Christ alone is imminent.  People today have more of a desire to look to men to find salvation than to submit to Jesus Christ.  Believers of all religions are more willing to follow their human leaders, than to seek Christ with a submissive heart and allow His transformation to be completed within them.  Instead we would rather follow the Pope, or Joel Osteen, or the Dali Lama, or a Cleric, or Rabbi, cult leader, or local pastor – most of all the man in the mirror; than to trust in ONLY Jesus Christ to save us from ourselves.

So while the delay in His return and the messages of warning cries about its nearness have persisted so long we have become hardened to them; the events needed to transpire to see the end emerge have crept up upon us like a thief in the night.  We sit now on the edge, on the precipice of the end of all things, and yet go about our lives with no sense of urgency or even joyous anticipation.  We marry and divorce with no thought other than to find what pleases our hearts as they are.  We attend our churches and try to find food in our sermons, but we tire of the idea of living as if tomorrow may be our last day, and today our last opportunity to see love reflected through us, inspire another to find Jesus and their salvation.  We have come to a point where prophecy is only decried by extremists wearing sandwich boards on the streets and in electronic forums predicting nothing but doom and fear as the reasons to seek God before it is too late.  But these revelations were not given to us to inspire fear; or as an attempt to use fear to bring us back to God.  In fact, quite the opposite.  The revelations were provided so that as events unfold they would NOT surprise us, or cause us fear.  We can be prepared for them both mentally, and spiritually.  We can take heart knowing that while danger and attacks are employed by the enemy of souls, the ultimate triumph of the Lamb is foretold in the same passages – both within us, and external to us.

All of the revelations described in this book, were intended to be of a redemptive nature.  Even what follows of the plagues in this chapter is to give comfort to those who accept His redemption and refuse this final mark against our identity as followers of Jesus Christ alone, that all is not lost.  The judgments of God against evil and the pain it has so long caused, are NOT poured out upon His servants in these last days.  For God is not indiscriminant in pouring out the cup of His wrath, His wrath is reserved against evil alone, and is reserved only for those whose choice He must respect to remain apart from the salvation He offers.  Unlike His enemy, God does NOT compel the conscience of men.  He offers them salvation, through the power of His love, but He does not force them to take it.  If we choose to remain true to our love of self, we will ultimately be allowed to make this choice, and remain aligned with the ranks of His enemy.  It is for those who make this choice, who the following passages will inspire fear.  Those who have elected to be saved from the love of self, will see only His protective hand in the final sequence of events in this world’s history.  Like Noah before them, they will find grace and protection from the Lord during the destruction that lies all around them.

So John begins in verse one saying … “And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.”  John does not specify if the voice who begins these plagues is that of God, or of the Lamb, or of an Angel, or one of the 4 beasts in front of the throne.  We assume it is the voice of God, because no human was allowed entry into the temple while the plagues are to be poured out as we learned in the previous passages.  John continues in verse 2 … “And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.”  What is past is prologue.  Egypt, due the hardness of the heart of the Pharaoh, suffered plagues and judgments from God because Pharaoh thought of himself as god, instead of submitting to the power of the only true God.  So now after the Mark of the Third Beast has been universally implemented which places the time of these plagues very close to when we live, the first vial of His wrath contains noisome and grievous sores to be poured out on those who have accepted this mark.  The men of our day accept no god greater than themselves.  They would rather worship self, or other men, than to worship Christ alone.  They would rather declare against Jesus and remain able to conduct commerce and live, than to risk starvation, persecution, and death by the majority who bare the mark of the beast.

Pharaoh refused to accept the supremacy of a god greater than himself.  He and his nation bore the consequences.  Now, the men of our day, will refuse once again to accept toleration of the voices of dissent among them.  They will choose to compel the conscience of others, and in so doing raise themselves to the level of “god”.  They will force a choice to deny personal and individual worship of Jesus Christ alone, and instead demand we follow the edicts of mankind.  In so doing they mimic the Pharaoh of old and share in his fate.  What is past is prologue.  When Satan came to tempt Christ, he came in the disguise of angel of light.  When men propose the choice to submit to their edicts, or follow conscience to serve Jesus Christ, they will also take on a disguise.  They will carry with them the wisdom of the majority in matters of doctrines and beliefs.  They will use scripture to “prove” their doctrinal positions are the only correct ones to take. 

Islamists often quote the Bible today to attempt to show they are not completely unaligned with the history of other “prophets” of God.  However, they do not accept the divinity of Christ, as that would prove the undoing of their entire religion.  The Jewish faith of today, still adheres to the scriptures of the Old Testament, but they cannot accept that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.  Catholics still believe the Pope has equality to God upon this world, and thus has authority to dictate practices he believes are scripturally based.  Protestants believe in a scriptural morality that would see those who dissent die, rather than to pollute the faith.  And atheists do not accept any god greater than the man who stands in the mirror.  To find any of these groups, or all of them united in purpose to see individual worship of Jesus Christ ended can be no surprise.  All of these groups can present excellent arguments and facts to support their various positions.  All of them tell elements of truth, and can cite our own scriptures, in an attempt to dissuade us from our various and personal beliefs.  But for all the strength of their arguments, their goal remains the same, to attack our individual identity as followers of Jesus Christ alone.  Whether we share some basis of belief or doctrines with any of these groups or ideas, it cannot excuse a wholesale denial of allowing ourselves to follow anyone other than Jesus Christ alone.  It is not the Protestant doctrines that save me, it is Jesus Christ alone.  It is not the Pope, or a cleric, or Rabbi, or a local pastor, or the majority opinion of any group, it is Jesus Christ alone.

Should we find ourselves in sympathy with those who would seek to compel the conscience of others, we have found ourselves on the side of the Beast and the enemy of souls.  For compulsion is not the way of Jesus Christ.  No matter how devout our faith in a given doctrine of scripture, there is never a reason it needs to be advanced at the point of a sword.  The punishment of the wicked must be left to God, not to us.  We are commanded only to love them, to love specifically those who hate us and would seek to kill us.  We do not show love, when we inflict persecution, and death, in order for their “greater good”.  That is not love.  That is the tool of the enemy.  It is not love we show when we kill our enemies “in order to defend ourselves, or our faith”.  It is what it is.  It is pain and death, and a vain attempt to advance scripture at the point of a sword.  It is blasphemy to think ourselves and our ideas as equal to God, to believe we can take life or allow it to persist based on an acceptance of our ideology.  It is the devout thinking of the Pharisees that took this idea and used it to crucify Jesus Christ.  Lest we think we are different, we are not.  What is past is prologue.  We should learn from history, that compulsion of morality can never be achieved.

John continues in verse 3 … “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.”  The parallels between the second plague and the second trumpet sounding in ages past are undeniable.  Both are poured out against the sea.  The sounding of the second trumpet affects a third of life in the sea, whereas this plague appears to affect the entire sea.  It is not immediately apparent how the alteration of water into blood would result in the deaths of all those on the sea at the time.  But consider the effects of the difference in buoyancy between water and blood.  Could metal ships and submarines that use water as coolant still function if blood were introduced instead?  Could steam be produced from blood as it is from water?  The ocean life that lives in the sea, would likely also die.  On a worldwide scale this plague would certainly cause a level of devastation like none we have ever borne witness to.

John continues in verse 4 … “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. [verse 5] And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus. [verse 6] For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. [verse 7] And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.”  The third plague turns what is left of the world’s water supplies to blood.  All of the fresh water has been turned.  Egypt witnessed this plague as well.  The corollary to the winepress of the wrath of God which produces blood instead of grape juice springs to mind. The wicked are offered blood to drink, as they have seen fit to believe that the killing of saints, and prophets, were in the best interest of everyone.  The “purification” of the church has seen any who dissent give their lives violently for the cause of Christ.  In vain efforts at keeping church doctrine pure, countless saints and prophets who actually serve God were murdered.  In changing the water into blood and offering it as drink, God shows His supremacy to the men who cling to the ideas of control they have embraced.  They have none.  They never did.

It is not dissent the makes doctrine impure.  It is dissent that causes us to learn, to grow, and to either deepen in our faith and beliefs, or to alter and expand them to embrace greater truth.  Dissent is not our enemy, nor those who will not comply with our majority view.  It merely represents a different position in the journey to the perfection Christ brings about.  Over time, incorrect thinking and beliefs are altered by the power of His love and grace to the point where truth is better understood, and embraced.  This process is inevitable.  But it happens on different timelines, as each of us are unique.  He must bring it about in our lives in the ways in which each of us respond to His love.  He knows us better than we know ourselves, and MUCH better than we know each other.  We must allow Christ the freedom to change each of us, in His time, and in His manner.  To seek to accelerate the process through force is nothing but folly.  We cannot compel others to stop believing what they believe, and we need not do so.  Christ will take care of the incorrect thinking and beliefs of others.  This is the process of salvation.  Our “job” is merely to love them through the process, and to realize this process is also going on within us.  It may well be “we” who are changed in matters of belief and doctrinal persuasion over time, to believe otherwise is arrogance and pride.

John continues in verse 8 … “And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. [verse 9] And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.”  The fourth plague in our day could be easily attributable to global warming, or global climate change; but as scientists point out, these changes take place over very long periods of time.  The plagues that are falling upon the wicked are thought to happen in fairly rapid sequence and with worldwide dimensions to their scope.  This plague in particular only affirms the pattern set by Pharaoh of old, in that repentance is not sought.  Instead blasphemy occurs.  We think ourselves equal to God, and therefore deny His power in the genesis of this plague, or any other.  Despite all the miraculous events that occur during these plagues, atheists do what atheists always do, they look for a scientific explanation that negates the need of God.

But blasphemy is not the exclusive province of the atheist.  It is shared in hearts of those who prefer the wealth of this world to the humble service found in the next one.  Many who still carry the name of “Christian” will suffer under the weight of these plagues.  This will only serve to intensify their passion to weeding out and killing the voices of dissent.  They believe that until every soul who refuses to follow their majority view is killed, the plagues will continue.  They must all be found and slaughtered, offered as human sacrifice to the vengeful god they serve in order that relief is found.  The fact that those who do NOT bare the mark of the third beast, are NOT suffering from any of these plagues has been lost on them.  They believe it must be Satan protecting his own, instead of God who alone has the power to perform these plagues, protecting His own.  They like the Pharisees of old, accuse the divine protection and healing that comes from God as coming from demons.  What is past is prologue. 

Suffering does nothing to inspire the wicked to change.  This is the mistake even Christians have so long made in their evangelistic efforts.  Fear has been presented as a prime motivator to bring people to Christ.  But fear and punishment do not deter evil in the slightest.  If anything, evil is fed off of fear.  The first words of Christ to His servants all throughout time have generally been … “do not be afraid”.  Christ does not look for us to fear Him, rather to respond to His so great love.  His first concern in almost every dialogue is for us to lose our fear.  We cannot think well when we are afraid.  We do not reason well, and it is impossible to love under the threat of fear.  The reason for these revelations of great plagues upon the evil of this world, is that our fear is to be completely negated.  When all these events unfold we will be fully aware, and the peace of Christ will be our pursuit.  While the wicked carry sores upon them, our bodies will not.  While the wicked are offered only blood to drink, we will find water to sustain us.  While the sun bares down in scorching heat upon the men of this world, for only a miraculous reason, we will find none of its ill effects.  For we know that our God is God.  Like the children of Israel who awaited in eager anticipation to leave what they knew of slavery and find God in a promised land, so we too will wait eagerly knowing these plagues only mark a timeline for His imminent return to take us away, home to be with Him forever.

But three more plagues are to mark that timeline, for what is past remains prologue …