It's Time to Gain a Heavenly Perspective

 

Things are not always how they appear. Having the right perspective is how we view those in heaven will see spiritual things that we are studying in Revelation 12 in the war between Michael and his angels and Satan and his fallen angels. The Bible is silent however on whether or not we, who are in heaven, will be able to see things going on in the earth. What is interesting is that if we, in heaven, are giving God's perspective on things, we would not see things happening below to our loved ones as sad. We would know why there are happening and thus not be sad.

Daniel 10:12-13 ~ "Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the King of Persia."

In a nutshell, the prayer Daniel prayed, was possibly in the process of perhaps being answered by Gabriel and he was dispatched from heaven the day Daniel prayed it. However, because he (Gabriel?) was delayed by a fallen angel identified as the prince of the Persian kingdom, it took Michael coming to help him before he could deliver the answer to prayer to Daniel. He was being held up in the spiritual realm. If you want an idea of what goes on in the spiritual realm and our own physical world, read Piercing the Darkness from Frank Peretti! Too often we fail to recognize and forget that there are demonic influences happening in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Matthew 25:41 ~ "Then he will say to those on his left, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."

Hell wasn't created for humans, it was created for Satan and his angels. Humans wind up there on their own choices to reject God and do what they want.

Isaiah 24:21 ~ "In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below."

We need to remember that our most effective weapon we weld as a Christian is prayer, We need to pray and pray again in those desperate hours in our lives.

Ephesians 6:12 ~ "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."

This is where our battle is, not with the people we encounter. Pray and pray always in all things.

Ephesians 6:18 ~ "And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."

We need to enforce the fact that means "apply the Bible through prayer/" This is the only way to affect the spiritual realm. This is how Christians weld weapons.

Daniel 12:1 ~"At this time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. But at that time your people - everyone whose name is found in the book - will be delivered."

"At this time" is the time referred to in Revelation 12:7 with the war in heaven between Michael and Satan. Michael stands up to act and to defend. Fighting the right battle, wins us the victory, there is a victory that is fully guaranteed us.

Revelation 12:8 ~ "But he was not strong enough (Satan), and they lose their place in heaven."

Jesus took his disciples to a place in Caseara Phillipi where it was not a place for Christians to go. In fact, during that time, it was the biggest place of Satanic worship and demon activity. It was a place carved out of rock where places were that you could worship your god of choice, declare allegiance to them and then sacrifice your child by throwing them into the river below. The place still exists today and you'd be surprised at what it is called, "The Gates of Hell." (See pictures contained in this post). We pick up the story and see how this changes our perspective in what we have read all along now.

Matthew 16:18 ~ "And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not over come it."

This was one of the darkest places on the planet. Pan was worshiped here. It was known as Pan - Ick. Worship of Pan, declare their name, worship him and then sacrifice your children to him." These rocks in Casarea Philippi are called the Gates of Hell. This is the reason that Jesus told Peter and his disciples in that location, that the gates of Hell will not prevail against His church, no matter what happens in the world. No matter how dark or evil it might look.

John 10:27-29 ~ "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's Hand."

Jesus gives eternal life for free, it is not something any of us can attempt to earn. Once we have it, we need to rest in that assurance that we belong to Jesus and nothing that happens to us in this life will ever take away the promise of eternal life He have given to those who call Him Lord and Savior.

Philippians 1:6 ~ "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

Psalm 138:8 ~ "The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; you love, O LORD, endures forever - do not abandon the works of your hands."

Jude 1:24 ~ "To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy."

John 16:11 ~ "and in regards to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned."

Hebrews 2:14-15 ~ "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humility so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death -  that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death."

Satan either wants you to fear death or simply never to think about it. There is a victory that is absolutely final.

Revelation 12:8 ~ "But he was not strong enough (Satan), and they lost their place in heaven."

Luke 22:31-32 ~ "Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."

Isn't it interesting what Simon might have been thinking when Jesus posed this to Simon. I'm sure he was probably saying, "Why didn't you just tell Satan, No and then we'd would move forward without anything happening to me. I mean prayer is fine and all that, but really?"

When Satan asks to "sift you as wheat," that is not a good thing. People masquerade all the time in their faith, carrying their Bible, attending church, but they'd rather enjoy the pleasures of this world over what Jesus has promised and are not true followers of the faith. Why would anyone want to follow them?

The world right now belongs to Satan and his followers but as we have studied in Revelation 12, that will not always be the case. Jesus is coming back and that will soon change. 

Satan Is Expelled From Heaven

 

As we have been continuing our study into the Book of Revelation it is important to understand that this is for a 7 year duration period once the church is removed from the earth in Revelation 4:1. What we need to understand is that the final 3 1/2 years is known as the Great Tribulation period, one filled with atmospheric disturbances, wars, plagues and geological events. The believers we find scattered through these chapters are simply Tribulation Saints, ones that responded to the message in faith after the rapture of the church. Church Age Saints or Believers have been in heaven up to this point.

From Revelation 12 to Revelation 19, the Bible takes the reader into the microscopic details of the events we see coming to the earth during the final 3 1/2 years of the Tribulation period. As we studied in previous posts we learned that the nation of Israel and the Jewish remnant will flee to the wildness and we have deciphered that this is located in Jordan, and we believe it will be in the city of Petra. During the Tribulation period, the Antichrist will have Jordan as their enemy and thus he will not be able to touch them.

Daniel 11:41 ~ "He (the Antichrist) will also invade the Beautiful Land (Jerusalem). Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his hand."

Right now the European Union has been stockpiling food supplies and resources in Jordan in an undisclosed location but reportedly not far from Petra in the event of a global war that would impact Europe or the Middle East. It is slated to contain enough food for 2 million people. If you attempt to search for this, you will not find any information on the Internet but those who are involved in the process can't comment on what is happening or where the supply location is. This would be perfect to align up with Revelation 12:6 ~"The woman (Israel) fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days (or 3 1/2 years)." This means that Jordan will supply the food to enable this to happen. 

Revelation 12:7-12 ~ "And there was a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down - that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: "Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury because he knows that his time is short."

This details the eviction of Satan out of his access from heaven. Remember that this is a detailed look at what is going on during the Tribulation period in a behind the scenes kind of way. This is during those final 3 1/2 years known as the Great Tribulation.

Matthew 24:21 ~ "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never to be equaled again."

Fighting the battle, wins us the victory. There is a victory that can only come from war despite how we may feel. No one wants war, but if you want to stop your enemies from attacking you on your own soil, you have to attach them on their own soil. You can't wait for them to get here. We all want peace, but in order to achieve it, sometimes war is necessary. Think about what happened if the US had opted to stay out of the war when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor or when Germany invaded Europe. The world would be a drastically different place.

Behind earthly wars, there are first spiritual powers at play. The Bible tells us there are nations that are stirred up by demonic and heavenly warfare. Salvation is the absolute victory and purpose of God and Satan wants to do anything he can to prevent that from happening.

We know in reading the Bible that there are 3 levels or types of heaven. We have the (1) heaven which consists of ground zero to where our atmosphere ends and space begins. Then the (2) heaven is from all the space and beyond to include all the planets and stars, suns and galaxies as far as it exists. The (3) heaven is the very abode of God. When we read that there was a war in heaven, this is all three heavens rolled into one.

During the Tribulation Period, Satan is expelled from heaven and the Throne Room of God where he has been accusing believers since the creation. Why does God even allow him access? Satan likes to pick fights, he's been doing it all along and even through the Tribulation period because he knows his time is limited. We see in our study today that a war is breaking out in heaven between Michael and his angels and Lucifer (Satan) and his angels.

This is an incredible sight to fathom because when we consider angels, they are not the cute chubby cheek cherubs. Whenever they have appeared throughout the Bible, people are afraid when they show up, and are often sick for days. Here we see Michael versus Satan. Jesus does not have an equal opponent. This is a battle in the spiritual realm of heaven and one we will look at in greater detail tomorrow.

Is Antisemitism Part of Satan's Ultimate Plan?

 

As we have been studying in the Book of Revelation we have learned at this point in our study in chapter 12, that we are breaking down Satan's plan to destroy Israel, the Jews and belief in anything pertaining to Jesus before his time runs out. If he can do any of this, the Messiah can not return and in his mind he will have won the war against God and Jesus.

The connection between Jesus and Israel is and will remain unbroken. From Genesis 3, God has promised that the Messiah would come and destroy Satan and that Satan has been planning on ways to destroy the genetic line of the Messiah for centuries. Look back on Biblical history and we can see how Pharoah and Herod both tried to wipe out the lineage of Jewish born babies. Satan has been trying to kill the Jews, and they have been the most persecuted race throughout all of history. Why? Because Satan is trying to destroy God's plan of redemption for the world.

That is why Jesus, Jews and Israel is so hated. Antisemitism is rising and all of it is demonically inspired. Revelation 12 is the key to understand Bible Prophecy and it contains a lot of Old Testament references. This is mid point in the Tribulation period and is the advent of Satan's agenda.

Genesis 37:5-11 ~ "Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my shelf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind."

Now let's look at Revelation 12:1-6 to unveil the clues given to us from the Old Testament.

Revelation 12:1-6 ~ "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven" An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a male child, who will rule the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days."

The woman is Israel and the twelve stars are the tribes or sons of Israel.

Romans 9:30-33 ~ "What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the 'stumbling stone.' As it is written: "See I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

Israel is still God's chosen people and nation but there is a veil over their eyes. This is Israel's unbelief. The Gentile gathering has been happening since the church age began at Pentecost and will continue until the Rapture of the church.

If you ever have taken notice that Arab maps don't list Israel on their maps. Why is that? It goes against the Koran because it says that Allah can't not exist as long as Israel does. It lists the land of Israel as Palestine instead. It is not great wonder why the sudden push for Palestine to become a state or recognized nation. The nation of Israel has become a thorn in their flesh since it became a nation on May 14, 1948. This is the very reason Satan has been trying to eradicate the line of the Messiah from the beginning. Satan's mission is to destroy the church.

John 1:1-3,14 ~"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

This is the message of the New Testament Church! Satan is desperately fighting for total control. A desire to control human government.

Revelation 12:3 ~ "An enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads."

Satan is represented as a dragon has been a symbol for quite some time. The 7 heads, 10 horns and 7 crowns or diadems, all apply to earthly global powers or politics. We know that throughout the Bible there are references that specific nations, regions or lands are controlled by specific demons for example Persia is referred to in Daniel 7, who has a demonic ruler on control of the land. We need to understand that there is a spiritual battle at play when it comes to politics. We need to ensure we are praying and voting in every election. People would argue that religion and politics should remain separate but this is not the foundations our founding fathers of this nation would agree with. There should be no separation of religion and politics and in fact should go hand in hand with one another.

If you were to ever look at the the very top of the Washington Memorial, it states if you could see it. "Laus Deo or Praise be to God in Latin. "

Satan knows that if he can corrupt the decision makers over a city, a country, or a nation = he can directly influence and effect millions or even billions of people. In the end, Satan and his powers will be condemned. We see that since Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14, Satan is a victim of his own lies and he keeps on trying to find loopholes that will allow his plan to succeed. 

There Will Be No Place to Hide

 

So many people will wonder just why they don't understand the Book of Revelation and it's simply because in order to know what is being said, you have to have knowledge of the things from the Old Testament to make sense of what you are reading first. Once you do that, you will gain clarity to what you are reading. That is one definite way to tell who has read the Old Testament and who hasn't.

Don't self determine what Revelation says, this is the language of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit reveals the mysteries of God to those who are willing to be open to what He says and have the Spirit living within them. All around the Dome of the Rock mosque, their is engravings in Arabic that say, God does not have a son. We know from the Bible this is clearly false doctrine and thus the reason that Christians don't serve the same God as Muslims do.

Proverbs 30:4 ~ "Who has gone up to heaven and come down? Who has gathered up the wind in the hollow of his hands? Who has wrapped up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and the name of his son? Tell me if you know!"

Isaiah 66:7-11 ~ " Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring the moment of birth and not give delivery? says the LORD. Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery? says your God. Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance."

Isaiah 9:6 ~ "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Psalm 2:7-9 ~ "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."

Psalms 2:12 ~ "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

Psalms 2 reveals that this is Jesus. Jewish people will argue that this is not Jesus, but then ask them who is it then?

Acts 13:32-33 ~ "We will tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: "You are my Son; today I have become your Father."

John 1:1-3,14 ~ "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have 
seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

The existence of Israel and the Son of God is what Satan's battle plan is. He is trying hard to get people to buy into the fact that Israel is not God's chosen nation and that Jesus is NOT the Son of God.

John 1:18 (NIV) ~ "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."

Satan's goal is against Israel and against the ministry of Jesus during the Tribulation period as well as an ongoing battle since the creation of the world. As of May 14, 1948, Israel exists for a second time in history as a nation. This is why God's chosen nation has undergone the horrors and atrocities because they have repeatedly disobeyed God. Look back at Israel's history. Each time they obey God, He blesses them immensely, but then a king will come along and cause Israel to go against the very God they were worshiping and thus God will send them a prophet to warn them to come back to God. When they don't, He uses enemy nations to discipline them, and when they turn back, God forgives them and the blessings return.

Look back at the world today and see if there are any traces of the Ammonites or Edomite people's? No, because God has wiped them from the face of the earth. Israel's enemies are wiped off the face of the earth, yet Israel still stands. This prophecy from the prophet Isaiah warns against the people of Israel that if they do not turn back to God, he will scatter their possessions and scatter them to the four corners of the earth. This happened just prior to the Holocaust. Israel rejects their God again and again and leaves God no choice but to administer discipline.

If you want a commentary on Revelation 12, read Matthew 24:15-21.

Matthew 24:15-21 ~ "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation' spoken of through the prophet Daniel - let the reader understand - then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let no one on the roof of his house go down to take anything out of the house. Let no one in the field go back to get his cloak. How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now - and never equaled again."

We will study this section in more detail in further studies but this has to be a journey that is taken by foot that will take a day and a half to complete. "Judea flee to the mountains."  In reference to the Sabbath, Jews would be fleeing with a conscience on their mind to not go past 12 furlongs in a day. The reference to winter, means that it does snow in Jerusalem and you can't get out of town when it does. With regard to being pregnant and nursing, just means that it is hard to get anywhere on foot in a hurry if you are pregnant or nursing without great difficulty not saying for people to not have babies.

The Bible has continually promised that the Messiah would come through Israel. The fact that the reference is made in Revelation 12 in regards to the dragon waiting to devour the child from the woman has been Satan's plan all along. He has always wanted to prevent the Messiah's coming since God's proclamation in the garden in Genesis 3, that He would send forth a child to destroy him. He wants to destroy the Messiah at any chance because to do so would mean that His plan would succeed to rule the world. From Pharoah's plan to kill all the Hebrew babies to Herod's declaration to kill all babies, Satan has been trying to destroy the line of the Messiah throughout the ages. This is the reason that Joseph and Mary went to Egypt instead while Herod has issued a decree to kill all newborn babies.

Jesus was born from Mary in the line of David in Bethlehem in Israel exactly as the Bible had predicted it to happen. Jesus warned that in the future, after Israel has rebuilt its long awaited temple, that a horrific time would come. This is the abomination of desolation spoken about in Matthew 24:15.

When Jesus came, He came to Israel first (birth in Bethlehem) and will be returning to Israel in His Second Coming. This is why Satan is trying so hard to destroy Israel so that Jesus has no place to come back to. This is the very reason Satan has been trying to destroy the Jewish people as well. Ezekiel promises that Jesus will return to come through the Eastern Gate, which is currently walled up and the bodies of people lie below the area. It goes against Jewish beliefs to walk over the land where dead bodies are laid and are buried. More proof that Satan's plan continues!

Why is Israel So Important to God?

 

Replacement theology is something as Christians we have to look out for. It is when people will take what the Bible says and turn it around to mean something it quite clearly does not. In the book of Revelation 12, we have already discovered that this portion of scripture is filled with symbols, wonders, and signs and there are those that would try and convince you that the woman referred to in this chapter is the church, the twelve stars represent the 12 apostles, she brings forth the child which is Jesus which we do whenever we preach, this is ludicrous. The woman represents Israel and the 12 stars represent the 12 tribes, Jesus came born in Bethlehem, that is in Israel, His first coming was to Israel and His Second Coming will be to Israel. He will sit on the physical throne of His physical father David in Israel. The woman is Israel and she is the one being attacked by the fiery dragon whom we know to be Satan, and thus the reason for the identity of the woman is so vital. You need to understand this. To learn more about this visit John Walvoord's website. A great dependable scholar that will help you understand who the woman is.

Satan is locked into a battle with God's chosen people.

Revelation 12:1 ~ "A great and wondrous sign appeared in the heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head."

This is not an actual woman but a representation of something and in this case it is the nation of Israel. The Catholic church believes this is the representation of Mary. It can't be Mary because she is pregnant in heaven, and Jesus is already enthroned in heaven. Who is she pregnant with and by whom? 

Genesis 37:5-9 ~ "Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan,. This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. Joseph has a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us? And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brother. "Listen, he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

We know that Joseph had 11 brothers and with himself added made for 12 sons of Jacob.

Genesis 37:10-11 ~ "When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you? His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind."

Out of the life of Jacob came the 12 sons. Out of the 12 sons of Jacob was formed the nation of Israel. Over and over in the Bible, God says that He is the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob. What is Jacob's name when God changed it to Israel. Joseph's life by the way, one of Jacob's sons, was sold due to the envy of his brothers into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. When Jesus was betrayed he was sold by Judas for 30 pieces of silver which would have been the equivalent based on currency value at that time. There are quite the parallels between the life of Jesus and the life of Joseph. Both were falsely imprisoned and rejected by their own people. They were both led away into the world, where for Joseph, Egypt would have been that other world at that time. They were both wrongfully accused and imprisoned, but due to God's grace, He rescued Joseph from prison to rescue all of Israel including his own family. All of Joseph's parents and brothers bowed down before him not recognizing his rise in status in Egypt or knowing who he was.

There is no doubt then to who the woman is, it is Israel who would bring forth a son.

Romans 9:1-5 ~ "I speak the truth in Christ - I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit - I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel. Theirs in the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen!"

Satan is not just fighting against a single enemy but against the nation of Israel and her people. Did you know that Satan has hated Israel. That is why they have gone through so much throughout history. Satan is fighting against a divine mission.

Revelation 12:2 ~ "She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth."

In the future, Satan will launch an even bigger attack against the nation of Israel, and has been against Israel for these last 2000 years, has been against Israel since its inception, through our father Abraham.

Isaiah 26:17 ~ "As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD."

Isaiah 9:6-7 ~ "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.

Isaiah 66:7-11 ~ "Before she goes into labor, she gives birth; before the pains come upon her, she delivers a son. Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring the moment of birth and not give deliver? says the LORD. Do I close up the womb when I bring delivery? Says your God. Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance." 

Zion is another name for Israel. We need to stand with Israel because God says so. God commands us to do so, even though we don't agree with all of their politics. God blessed Abraham that all nations would come from Israel. There will be a rise in antisemitism in the last days because the Bible has says so. This is the reason churches are exempt from taxes so they can bear the burden of those in need did you know that? This is one of the main reasons I believe that America has been so blessed in the past.

Psalm 2:7-9, 12 ~ "I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son, today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

More missionaries came from America than ever before. America is in place to bring forth the second birth of Israel since May 14, 1948 and I believe that America has served its purpose. America has rejected God since the removal from the courts, prayer in schools. We fail to trust in God anymore and instead turn to money and what we can get for ourselves. So do we simply give up? Not at all, we need to be actively working as if God isn't going to come back at anytime and stay busy doing the things He has called us to do, working for the betterment of things in our city, our government and doing all we can so one day we can stand accountable to God for what we did with our time while we were waiting for God to arrive.

An Act of War Has Been Declared Upon Us!

 

As we begin Chapter 12 into our study of Revelation, we can clearly see a new stage is being set. A war is being waged in heaven and that will manifest itself on earth. There is an epic battle between Satan and God's plan. It deals with the nation of Israel, the birth of the Messiah, His resurrection and ascension into heaven, it deals with Satan and his antics that he is going to perpetrate upon the world. Chapter 12 opens as if two book ends spanning several millennia, and where this study shifts in the scene is this is God's view of what is going on behind the scenes as it were spiritually as we have been previously studying the ministry, judgment and wrath of God during the Tribulation period up to this point. God is pulling back at this point to show us the spiritual battle that is taking place in the spiritual realm that manifests itself in the physical realm. This is God's view and His perspective on the events that have been unfolding and are unfolding.

There is a war ongoing against the Word of God, against His Son Jesus Christ, the ministry of Jesus and it is just getting more hostile to those willing to take a stand for Jesus in the world today. There are two very different wars, the one on earth and the one in heaven throughout Revelation 12. We can never know the literal interpretation of Revelation without first understanding the Old Testament. We can't begin to understand the signs, symbols, types, visions, and wonders because they are first represented in the Old Testament. What is in the Old concealed, is in the New revealed!

Revelation 12:1-6 ~ " A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that he might devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will rule all nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the desert to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1,260 days." 

We have an enemy that wages war and is always planning surprise attacks against us even at this very hour. There are satanic powers that exist and are at work according to the Bible, and he is the personification and manifestation of evil, and according to the Bible, he was the first one to sin and fall from heaven and has his own collation of demonic allies comprised of demons and fallen angels. They are plotting against our demise as Christians and as a church. Even though the offices of Homeland Security, CIA and FBI have announced that the enemy is among us, they believe that there are strong cells of terrorists operating even within our own borders and states. They have for years been making their way up from Central America and Mexico with gang member ties specifically to the drug cartels of Al Qaeda and other terrorists groups.

However when you consider the church, the enemy has been among us for quite some times when you consider things on the spiritual level. The enemy has been in our midst even on September 10, 2001 obviously but in the spiritual sense the enemy has always been with us. The enemy has always been attacking us. Revelation 12, tells us about the specific attacks of Satan against God, against God's interests, the things that surround God's mission and His will, against God's nation Israel, His chosen people, the church and all of us that stand together believing and doing the work of God and to bring about God's will upon the earth. As Christians, we need to understand that we are always under attack.

Satan's first plan of attack is to get people to not believe in him. This is exactly what he did to Eve in the Garden of Eden. He begins to sow seeds of doubt in her mind. He begins to interpret God's Word into his own persuasions, didn't he say, "Well don't you know why God doesn't want you to touch the fruit of the tree of good and evil? It's because he knows that the day that you touch it and eat of it, you will be just like Him. You will become a God." This doctrine of heresy has never left the planet since that fateful day in the garden. There are doctrines throughout the world that you can become a god or gods. Satan's job is to infiltrate and he does it by surprise attack.

If you look at three specific cases on US soil including the 1990 bombing of the World Trade Center, were these not surprise attacks? Was not September 11th a surprise attack? Was not December 7, 1941, a surprise attack? Apparently God is trying to teach America in the physical sense. This just shows us how vulnerable we are to surprise attacks because often times America is asleep at the wheel. We will not have massive church attendance or massive prayer meetings, or turn stadiums into prayer vigils until some surprise attack happens again. The government has even been warning us that more surprise attacks are coming, which should not make them surprise attacks if you are ready. Satan is launching surprise attacks against you and I all the time and he is doing it even now. It can't be a surprise attack however if we are on guard, watching and waiting. If we know the strategy that Satan has against us, we should not be caught off guard.

As Christians, we know that things are coming to the world, to nations, that frankly the CIA and the FBI ought to be interviewing us. They should talk to us about what is coming. The minute you mention what the Bible has to say about future events, they don't want to hear anything about it. An act of war has been declared against us. If we are walking in the Spirit, they won't come as a surprise. If we understand that Satan is against us, without us praying for our families, marriages and children, they are vulnerable. Satan has engineered things in this world to pull Christian families apart. He hates you and your entire family and has set out to destroy you more than anybody else on the block. Because your a Christian, he stays awake all night and day trying to figure out your demise. We don't need to panic, because if we are in the Spirit, warring in the Spirit, praying for our families, without our prayer coverage and interceding for them daily, naming by name and encouraging them with our own words, they are under attack daily.

We will see truths in the opening verses of this chapter that are eternal. We will see historical facts in these opening verses that have actually happened. As a foot soldier during WWI, J.R.R. Tolkien believed that behind each of the nations, there were powers both heavenly and demonically at work in the war. In the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote his interpretations of the demonic powers and the powers of light behind the empires of the world. He saw these epic battles being spawned by spiritual activity. Satan is locked in an epic battle. He cannot get out of this battle. In Revelation 12, we see a war on earth with a war in heaven at the conclusion of this chapter. What we see happening in the spiritual realms in heaven, manifests itself in the physical realm on the earth. This is true in every aspect of life and what we are going through. They all have spiritual meanings behind them. The kingdoms of light and darkness are at war.

Satan is locked into an epic battle with a very specific enemy with us being some of those enemies. The battle he is in is with a chosen people. What John is seeing in verse 1 is a manifestation of truth given by symbols or signs. The Old King James says "wonders." You can make a note in your Bible that what you are reading here is conveyed in symbols and signs. John is saying, "I saw this sign..." What is it?

Revelation 12:1 ~ "A great and wondrous sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head."

When it speaks of a woman, it doesn't speak of a physical woman, because the Greek interpretation calls for it to be a representation of something, not an actual woman. That is important!!!

Tolkien saw that the atrocities of war, that they were demonically inspired. The movies are pretty graphic to what we are dealing with in the spiritual realm. The powers that are invisible in the world around me. Tolkien was brilliant. Revelation 12 let's us into the spiritual realm and the movies gives you insight into what is really going on in the spiritual realm. You might just want to rewatch it while studying this section and see it with spiritual eyes.

Welcome to the Digital Age! Are You Ready to Receive Your Mark?

 

Perhaps the hardest question any Christian has been asked is "Why does God allow bad things to happen?" While we rest in the knowledge knowing that nothing that happens in this world passes without God's knowledge, we understand that this is now a sin-filled world ruled by Satan for a limited period of time and his purpose is to steal, kill and destroy. So while it may feel fine to blame God, the real person or created being is Satan for why bad things happen in the world. We need to remember that Satan is alive and is real and the blame needs to be placed on him. The biggest lie we fall for is that he doesn't exist and that God is somehow responsible for what is happening. We buy into his deception when we believe that.

The Bible is the only book that promises that all that it contains, all the promises and prophecies will come true in 100% certainty and detail. God has promised that one day evil will have run its course and He will place judgment upon those who have followed in the ways of Satan and rejected Christ, along with the Antichrist, Satan and all his demonic followers. The Bible promises that in the last days in Revelation 13 beginning in verse 11, those who are left on the earth will need to pledge an alliegance to the European Ruler through the taking of a mark on his right hand or forehead. Notice it doesn't say left hand? If the mark is unable to placed on the right hand, it will be placed on the forehead and it will be the same prefix for everyone, even though their numbers will vary. That prefix will be 666. Its like those of us that live in a certain area, all of us have the same area code that identify those of us that live in specific places.

Did you know that in Hebrew the number 6, is represented as man and that 666 is man declaring himself to be god. Just like in Hebrew the number 777 is the complete rule and reign of God of Heaven. 666 is the attempt of man to become like God. The book of Revelation warns us about this. Did you know that in Mexico under the leadership of Vincente Fox, because his key cabinet members are often used to gain access into secure facilities, he wanted to ensure that they were able to be tracked by receiving a mark in the right hand painlessly. This is the brain child of a company called Digital Applied Solutions which has been marketing this product under the name "Digital Angel" and is using the issues of medical illnesses and the premise for making this a product it believes consumers will use. It is the same "Verichip" technology that is being used by vets to scan all those run away pets but as of right now does not have government approval for use in the US at this time. They also lack the tools needed to track location of people must like GPS does but they are working on incorporating the use of RFID to help in the process.

It's amazing when you consider how the Bible is thousands of years old and yet predicts this type of technology would be available to be used in the future and we are watching it unfold before our very eyes. If you are a skeptic, what more do you need? The Lord is coming back. Jesus is coming back and if He said it, you'd better believe it. Jesus must come back unless He is the wrong one.

Matthew 6:9-10 ~ " This, then is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. "

You ever prayed that prayer before? You know what you are asking for? For God to establish His kingdom on earth. When you pray that prayer you are asking for the return of Jesus Christ to take place. Next time you pray it, pray it and mean it.

Isaiah 9:6-7 ~ "For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this."

Where is the throne of David? It's in Jerusalem but it hasn't been established yet. It will be when Jesus comes. If Jesus does not sit for 1000 years on the throne of David in Jerusalem in a literal sense, He is not the Christ. The Bible teaches that He must come back.

Psalm 93:1-2 ~ "The LORD reigns; he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed in majesty and is armed with strength. The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Your throne was established long ago; you are from all eternity."

How long will the LORD reign? Forever and ever! When we say Praise the Lord, we ought to really mean it. We should be thanking God in all things. Jesus is coming one day soon and we need to be thanking Him both now and forever. We know however at this time, that Satan is in control of the earth and what happens here only through God however, and we know that the current state of our world is growing darker wouldn't you agree? Why is that true?

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 ~ "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

Put blame where blame is due. It is Satan who has blinded the minds of those living in this world who does not believe. Don't blame God when people are starving around the world, God is not sending the earthquakes that destroy people lives or sending horrific storms that are killing people. God is not sending those things. This is a world that is repeatedly sold into the hands of Satan. 

John 12:31 ~ "Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the price of this world will be driven out."

John 14:30 ~ "I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me."

John 16:11 ~ "and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stand condemned."

Matthew 12:25-26 ~ "Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?" Satan is behind the destructive forces that kill and destroy. Not God.

In the end, it will be the Lord who is worshiped. He is worshiped because He alone is the Savoir.

Revelation 11:16-17 ~ "And the twenty four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign."

This makes sense when you read it backward. Because you have begun to reign and have taken your great power, (this is something that the world has longed for), the fact that You are the One who is, who was and is to come, You have absolute authority and there is no doubt about it. You are the One and we give thanks to You because you are the Lord God Almighty. The twenty four elders and seated and secure in heaven. We know in prior studies that then 24 elders are none other than a representation of the church age believers from the day of Pentecost to the day of rapture. They are introduced to us in Revelation 4 and are never seen again on earth. In Revelation 19, we see Christ coming back in the Second Coming with His church. How did they get there? Revelation 4:1.

Why the number 24? Study previously what we have gone through but quickly, there were 24 order of priests dedicated and commanded by God in the Old Testament. They were to live before the Lord, doing the work of the Lord. What does the Bible say we are as Christians? We are a kingdom of priests. These 24 elders represent the entire body of church believers from the Day of Pentecost to the Day of the Rapture. The only way you get to heaven, is through faith in Jesus Christ alone not a religious affiliation. It is the same for anyone who calls on the name of Jesus. It is hell without Him literally. Remember this is a future event.

It is the Lord who is worshiped because He alone is Almighty. Who is this in verse 17? He is the Lord, Almighty.

Revelation 1:8 ~ " I am the Alpha and the Omega, says the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."

Revelation 1:17 ~ "When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: "Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last."

Revelation 1:18 ~ "I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades."

Revelation 4:8 ~ "Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stopped saying: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is and is to come."

Revelation 2:8 ~ "To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the word of him who is the First and the Last, who died and came to life again."

Titus 2:13 ~ "while we wait for the blessed hope - the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,"

Titus 2:10 ~ "and not steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive."

Isaiah 42:8 ~ "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols."

Hosea 13:4 ~ "But I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall have no other God but me, no Savior except me."

Phil 3:20 ~ "For our citizenship is in heaven, for which we also eagerly await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ."

 It is a great time to really know who Jesus is! If you are not a Christian, what in the world are you doing? Why don't you know Jesus? What is keeping you from being a Christian because Jesus is everything! There are no second changes when your life ends. There are no do overs. No mulligans. If you are really smart, you will give your life to Jesus today!

Let Us Put the Blame of Evil Things Happening in The World Where It Belongs!

 

Did you know that the Book of Revelation references all the books of the Bible over any other book in the Bible? You will never understand the Book of Revelation without having knowledge of the Old Testament. When Christians tell you that they don't understand the Book of Revelation, they are announcing to you that they have never read the Old Testament or have an understanding of what they have read in regards to studying the Old Testament. What is concealed in the Old is revealed in the New!

Revelation 11:18 ~ "The nations were angry and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth."

This is a portion of Psalm 2 which is fulfilled by the time we get to Revelation 11:18 and was written over 3000 years ago.

Psalm 2:1-3 ~ "Why do the nations conspire and the people plot in vain? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD and against his Anointed One. "Let us break their chains," they say, "and throw off their fetters." 

This part of the prophecy has already been fulfilled when they crucified and mocked Jesus, and continues even to this day against Christians and those that speak the truth found in God's Word.

Psalm 2:4-9 ~ "The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath saying, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, "You are my Son; today I have become your Father. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery."  

This portion of prophecy is coming and will be fulfilled during the Tribulation period when the wrath of God is unleashed upon a Christ-rejecting world and when Jesus returns to earth in the Second Coming to establish His kingdom once and for all.

We have just finished studying from Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:14 what is known as a parenthetical pause in the chronological events in the story to provide some much need information to the reader of the book and from Revelation 11:15-19 we continue in the events of the Tribulation Period with John again.

Revelation 11:15-19 ~ "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said: "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying: "We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. The nations were angry; and your wrath has come. The time has come for judging the dead, and for rewarding your servants the prophets and your saints and those who reverence your name, both small and great - and for destroying those who destroy the earth." Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of the covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm"

This portion of scripture introduces us to the coming kingdom of Christ. We are living in the time of the church age believers right now.

Acts 1:9-11 ~ "After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seem him go into heaven."

They watched Jesus ascend into the glory of heaven and we told to go forth and preach the Word of the gospel into the whole world. On the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and the church was born. Jesus said that He would be coming back and coming again. We wait for Jesus to return just as the Bible predicts because if He doesn't, He wasn't the Messiah and the faith we have in Him is nothing. But we know that Jesus has fulfilled all the Bible prophecy's up to this point regarding His birth, His death and His resurrection. Sandwiched between His first coming, that is His birth as a baby in Bethlehem to His Second Coming in Revelation 19 as King and Redeemer coming with the saints and the church with Him to earth. In between this time is the Church Age, that is what you and I are a part of and at some point in that time frame, that age will end, and from the day of Pentecost to the Rapture, the church will conclude.

There will be no church in the Tribulation period. There will be the Tribulation saints or the believers who are born again during that Tribulation period. If you are a Christian right now, you will not experience the events we have been studying about that will happen in the Tribulation period. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior even while reading this post, God has promised to deliver you from the wrath that has yet to come. The words "wrath to come" does not mean hell. The "wrath to come" is the Tribulation period, when God pours out His judgment and vengeance upon the earth. Today you want to make sure you are a Christian and that you know God personally! Make sure your relationship with God is not a religious position where you think just because you attend church on Sunday and that is it for the rest of the week. You might be able to say that you know God, but can you say with boldness that God knows You?

We are going to look at three major points of why we need to know Jesus today. When Christ comes, the Lord will reign on earth. God will reign on earth.

Revelation 11:15 ~ "The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven which said: "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever."

Man's attempt to reign as president, as ruler, as king, is coming to an end. Yes, God has established earthly governments in fact in Romans 13, it states the governments in power have been established by God. That is true, whether you believe in that government or not. As Christians, we get a citizenship change or a passport change, as Paul taught in Philippians that our citizenship is now in heaven.

When we tell the world that the end is near, they will not believe that. Because it implies the end of man and the beginning of Christ in the world. The Bible makes it clear. We are running low on angels now. We are down to the seventh angel and he is the last one. There were seven of them, and this is the last one to blow his trumpet. From Revelation 12 to 19, we will cover a brief period of time, in those long section of Scriptures. The attempt of man to reign is nearly over.

Genesis 6:3 ~ "Then the LORD said, "My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years."

That word was given to Noah and his generation and when Noah proclaimed those words it was exactly 120 years until the flood came. You might not believe the flood happened, but God and history says it has happened. Archaeology says it happened. A great flood happened and turned our world upside down. The word strive or contend in Hebrew means to sail a straight course. God will not always sail a straight course into man's heart. He will not always be speaking to you directly and trying to convince you to come to know Him.

Right now Jesus is enthroned in heaven and He supervises all that is going on in the earth. However there are things going on in the earth that He does not approve of. The time for judgment has not yet come. All of the evil that we see and experience and look at, think of all the horrible events taking place in the world today, we need to put blame where blame is due. That blame is due primarily on man's neck.

James 4:1 ~ "What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight."

It all begins in the heart. How is it that someone would pepetrate evil against someone else? It comes from the heart. The Bible also tells us that Satan is the god of this age. Little "g". He is not God. He is the upsurper of authority of this age. You want to know why Satan has so much destructive power in the world? It's because man keeps leaving the door open. There are people wondering why their marriages are falling apart and when they back up and realize that they were flirting with someone else who wasn't their husband or wife all this time and now they can see why their marriage is falling apart. There are those who are wondering why their kids are rebelling within their family and they look back and say, "Well we didn't want to ram God down their throats, we wanted them to make their own choices." So they grew up not knowing God and haven't learned anything from the Bible on how to act. When a man leaves his home or family unattended, it goes to mischief. This earth has gone to mischief.

If there is an earthquake today or someone gets murdered today, we can't blame God, this is a world where the evil thereof needs to be directed toward Satan. Jesus says I have come to give you life, and that more abundantly. But the thief, (not a thief but "THE" thief) has come to rob, kill and destroy. Which refers to Satan. Satan loves when you are having a bad day. We know man's reign is about to end and the Lord's reign is about to come upon the earth.

Notice that the camera angle has changed and we are seeing through John's eyes what is happening in heaven. This is what He hears.

Revelation 11:15 ~ "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever."

Some versions of the Bible have dropped the "s" on the word 'kingdoms' and it simply says kingdom. That is an unfortunate translation. If you go back to the Old King James Version, it is as how I have written this portion of Scripture of the Bible. There are a lot of kingdoms in this world. Notice how they will all become the kingdom, dropping the "s". When Jesus comes in His Second Coming, He is going to establish His rule. But some things have to happen first before He returns.

The first was laughable when people read it until it came to pass on May 14, 1948 when Israel became a nation in one day. Now people have zipped their lips. The Bible said before Jesus came back, Israel would have to become a nation again. That happened on May 14, 1948. Not only that the Bible said that God would call all His people back home that had been scattered across the world and bring them back to Israel in unbelief. Not believing in God. When you look at the nation of Israel is is predominately secular and an unbelief in God.

If you keep on going, there will be an unification of Europe. That the European Empire would be resurrected and that is happening today. It is called the E.U. or the U.S.E. the United States of Europe. All these things are coming together. If that is not enough and there are more than 300 scriptures that have already been fulfilled in the most amazing detail that need to take place before the Second Coming of Christ, and in Revelation 13, there will come a time in technology that man will issue a decree to those belonging to the One World Government, of a One World Religion, of a One World Church (which is not really a church at all), will have to pledge alliegance to a European ruler and to a global church and receive a number on their right hand or forehead.

If anyone has ever been to Buckingham Palace in England, there are massive pillars that are out in front of the palace, one for example will be labeled New Zealand, one will be labeled Australia, or India and all of these pillar will label a kingdom, where the crown of England presided over, so one crown sat over the kingdoms where it had authority, so on a very human small scale, think of that and you will be able to better understand that portion of Scripture. Under the crown of Christ, remember He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords, His kingdom will swallow up all the other kingdoms. A singular kingdom will consume plural kingdoms. Human kingdoms even though they have been presided over by God, the human kingdoms will be swallowed up by Christ. 

The Greatest Party of Hell on Earth is Coming!

Imagine turning to BBC or CNN or even Fox News and seeing a group of people dancing around the bodies of two men lying dead in the street. These people are more than overjoyed that these two men are dead. They are throwing things at them and having a great time. Sound far fetched that we could ever see something like this today? I might imagine that it wouldn't surprise us to see this on the news tonight. We see things like this happening all the time all over the world. The reason the people are so happy that these two men are dead is they believe they have silenced their message from God in heaven. I believe that if evil thinks that they can shut Christians up and killing us, they too would start dancing.

We see this spirit of zero tolerance happening during the Tribulation period coming to these two men. I believe we are moving toward that level of volatility where men will go nuts because they hate the things that God loves. They will rise up against them. It exposes man's hatred against the truth.

Revelation 11:9-11 ~ "For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts, because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth. But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them."

This is quite literally Christmas in hell. There is a great hatred that the world will have for God and God's witnesses. That is true even today. There is a hatred toward the Lord, a hatred towards His message. What surprises me is that this is a future event and the world is still talking about tolerance today. Everybody is told to tolerate every group of people except for one and that is Christians. You can outlaw them, get rid of them, anything to get them out of here because they drive the world crazy. Nothing is going to change in the future, in fact it will only intensify. It's a world of tolerance until it comes to these two men who are teaching the Word of God.

In light of the advances in technology, how does the whole world rejoice over the death of two men in Jerusalem? Satellite TV, CNN, and every one is going to see it and rejoice. They will be sending one another gifts all over the world to celebrate what has happened. Do you think this is too far for us to consider something like this happening in the world today? Have you taken a look at the news lately in the Middle East when something happens they rejoice over? Have you seen dead bodies dragged behind the back of a Jeep? Do they not stomp and burn bodies and rejoice over it while it is being televised? Are you not watching that? Or have you not seen that?

We need to wake up as a church. Here we are today reading a book that is 2000 years old and it seems as if we are turning on the news today and seeing how relevant this is in our culture today. We we see a body of a man being dragged in the streets in the Middle East behind a truck, burned on fire, beaten and hung over a bridge. That would never happen right, while the people who did it are rejoicing and claiming victory over the event? It is happening and it will happen all the more the closer we get to this future event. You don't have to use much of an imagination to see that happening in the world today. The earth dwellers will rejoice over this event!

This will be the biggest party in all of the world on earth and remember that even though it appears that Satan has the victory or the enemies of God, their victory once again is short lived. They will only be rejoicing for 3 1/2 days. The world hates God, even though they will be gathering together all the religions of the world except those that have to do with God. The world views the messengers and their message as evil. They refuse to tolerate others. What do you think these two prophets were prophesying about the return of Elvis? No it was the truth of God's Word. People today are so weak and fragile that they whine and whimper and have a breakdown of the slightest things.

They will allow these men's bodies simply sit in the streets right where they were killed for 3 1/2 days. The burial practices of the Middle East - that day! Our technology today is where this prophecy of the Bible foretells is today. This is a real time, worldwide event that will be seen by everyone, in every language of the world. Isn't it amazing how wonderful and true the Bible is even though this was written about 2000 years ago? The exposing of man's hatred against the truth, is a hatred that cannot be curbed.  Remember back in the year 2000 when people thought the world was going to end and they all celebrated and partied. We are not too far from these types of events being celebrated and heralded. It's a hatred that they can't not see.

While most of the time the Lord isn't seen as a person to put an end to a party, He does after 3 1/2 days. When the breath of God enters these two men and they come back to life, imagine the horror and terror that will come over those that believed they were dead. Millions of people will see this happen.

Revelation 11:11 ~ "But after three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and terror struck those who saw them."

This great fear that will come upon those that witness and see this event will be the kind that cause mass hysteria, causes panic and immobilize those that see it.

God's final witness to the world will be a powerful testimony of grace and judgment. These two are exclusive. You can not reconcile these two, they are both true and false at the same time. God who is holy and righteous, has to be just. But God is also a God of grace and mercy. The more we learn about God the more we can come to terms with just how we chose to live our lives and how responsible we are. You and I are the only ones responsible for the decisions we make. We can often look back in our life often before we were Christians and realize how stupid some of those decisions are. However, when we became Christians we made less stupid decisions.

As we grow older, often times when faced with making a decision, the one in our minds is often times the one God doesn't want us to take. Since He is such a God in whom knows how it will all play out in the end, who knows the decision we need to make, and how often we get into trouble when we act in our own minds instead of waiting on Him, we should pray for patience to be willing to wait for the time in which God will give us the answer to what we need to do and to be willing not to jump ahead until He does. Now that is wisdom. Sometimes God wants us to find the answer ourselves so we can learn how to do this in our own lives personal through seeking Him. Don't take someone's else opinion on what you should do, even if it is a pastors. If he is worth his weight in salt, he will instruct you to prayer and to seek God's truth in the Bible.

Revelation 11:12-14 ~ "Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, "Come up here." And they went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies looked on. At that very hour there was 
 a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon."

When it says that the two men ascended or went up to heaven, this was not a quick disappearance. This was a slow process and the same one used when Jesus ascended from the apostles for the last time. So much they as the apostles were watching, their mouths hung open so long, two angels appeared to them to ask what they were doing looking up so long.  In grace, the Lord will not leave anyone behind.  Regarding the justice of God, He will never leave justice undone. This is something we need so much in our world today.

Revelation 11:13-14 ~ "At that very hour there was a severe earthquake and a tenth of the city collapsed. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the survivors were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe has passed, the third woe is coming soon."

This means that a tenth of the city of Jerusalem fell down. What is truly interesting is that in the King James Version is says that 7000 men were killed, it doesn't say how many total number of people at that point were killed only the number of men killed in the earthquake. No one knows the exact number. None of us rejoice in judgment and neither does God. However when something horrific happens, do you not want to see justice done? We all want it so long as it doesn't affect us.

When we make a huge mistake you know what we want most from the judge? Mercy! The problem is that we live in a system now where the whole system is corrupt. If you have money, you will get off. There are older people who should be retiring or not working, that have to return back to work. They worked hard all their lives and invested money and because of white collar crime, their retirements have been stolen from them. There will come a day when God will exercise perfect judgment. The Bible says in Genesis by Abraham, "Shall not the Lord of all the earth, do right?" He knows every motive to every crime.

The final portion of today's study offers a bit of confusion and begs us to answer the question, who are the people who gave glory to God, while the rest were afraid? One scholar might argue it doesn't matter they simply were so afraid, they didn't know what they were doing and gave credit to anyone. But it was short lived. They didn't really know what they were saying. Others will say, if you look at the chronology of the events and this being a parenthetical pause, this event brought about the sealing of the 144,000 saints. No one knows for sure.

Do you have Jesus Christ in your life? No, more matter what you have in your life today, it is nothing compared to what He offers! No money, no possessions, no position or job. Only Jesus can offer you what the world can't. It's not how you start, it's how you finish. We need to make sure our faith in Jesus is real.

Why is Jerusalem the Most Sought After Piece of Real Estate in the World?

 

The city of Jerusalem belongs to God. It does not belong to the Palestinians, the U.N., the E.U or the United States and technically it doesn't even belong to Israel! God says that it is His city, He has set His name upon that city. When you listen to Rabbi's speak about how God spoke creation into existence, not only did the land form beneath His feet but also the Temple Mount. He takes the city of Jerusalem seriously and here in Revelation, we hear God comparing them to Sodom and Egypt. When God has issues with you, He brings them to your attention. Doesn't mean He doesn't love you any less, but He does have to address what is displeasing to Him that you are doing. Remember that God has already done this in the letters to the seven churches earlier in our studies. It is a way of bringing these things to focus and help us to get right with God again.

If you have ever visited the city of Jerusalem, as you are walking around the city, you can get a sense that this is not how God intended it to be. It's like that in almost any city you walk around in, yet the one big difference in Jerusalem compared to anywhere else is that God is not done with Jerusalem yet. He has eternal plans for Jerusalem! Like those amazing renovations shows, Jesus when He returns will be doing the ultimate restoration on this city and what a city it will be!

Revelation 11:8 ~ "Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified."

The great city is referring to Jerusalem because it was the city in which our Lord was crucified. But why is God calling it Sodom and Egypt? How does God use these two cities to compare His own city and people with those who have deep spiritual issues? We know that the city of Jerusalem belongs to God and it makes you wonder why so many people fight over this small little pieces of land and why it is so widely contested. The most sacred piece of real estate in the world today and most sought after is the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. It is what all the wars have been about going back as far historically as we can. It's a spiritual battle and a spiritual situation.

God refers to any city when it is not walking with Him, being obedient to Him, worshiping Him as it should be, God calls it as it is. So what does God do to a city that isn't doing what it should be doing? He brings judgment to the city. That is how God disciplines even though we don't want to hear about it. Even to the own Christian, when we walk in disobedience, God brings about chastisement. This does not mean your salvation is being called into question. Your salvation is fine, just like you don't disown one of your children when they make a mistake, the same is true for God. Discipline is necessary to get you back where you need to be. The Bible says, "Whom the Lord loves, He chastens!" The Bible also says that if you are not a child of God, He will not discipline you. As a parent, you don't discipline someone else's child when they are misbehaving, each parent takes care of their own child because they have a vested interest in their child's well being. So does God. Just because you think you're getting away with stuff doesn't mean God doesn't care. You might just want to be sure you are truly a child of God's.

From the beginning of time, God has chosen the land of Israel, the city of Jerusalem and the Jews to be His people. Nothing that the world does will change that. As Christians, God has placed His seal upon us as His chosen children as well. Just because discipline comes doesn't mean God has rejected you. So when we look at the first of the two cities that God compares Jerusalem to in looking at Sodom, we need to remember what they were known for. God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah for their rebelliousness to God, and that they went after strange flesh. God has sanctioned special perimeters in regards to sexual activity. Only a male and a female in marriage! God only blesses the sexual activity between a married husband and wife ONLY! All other bets are not sanctioned or approved by God. In the Book of Hebrews, God says the marriage bed is undefiled. God is against fornication and adultery. Did you know from a scientific perspective that when a husband and wife come together as one in marriage that the exchange of bodily fluids help build each other's immunities up instead of tearing them down? God brings the biology of a husband and a wife together to strengthen them. 

If you step outside those perimeters and do things you aren't supposed to do, is it any wonder that you feel run down, get sick or fall victim to certain diseases? The Bible says if we sow to the flesh of the flesh and we will reap corruption. Have you seen how the pornographic industry is reeling from the impacts of aids and other sexually transmitted diseases? It's slowly killing them all off and then they wonder what is happening to them and why? God is saying that He is calling Jerusalem, spiritual Sodom, God is looking at spiritual diversity, paganism, or as God calls it harlotry. God calls it adultery in the spirit.

Jerusalem during this great time of Tribulation will be it a city of internationalism embracing all religions and all faiths, and most of the Jews you meet today in the city are atheistic Jews who do not believe in God while they walk in the Holy land. They refuse to believe in Scriptures, our God and simply chalk it up to being in our culture. The Bible says that God would bring Israel back into their own land in unbelief. If you go to Israel today, you will meet people who don't believe in God. We know that the Pope has even given credence that Jerusalem in the spiritual center of the world, that the top three leading religions or beliefs come together there. It will shift from Rome and Mecca and all combine in a homogenization of the religions in the city of Jerusalem, or a one world religion. Just type in one world religion and see what you come up with today. There is a great movement in the world today for us all to worship one God. They say that Christians, Jews and Muslims all believe in God and that they are all the same God. Yet let me ask these questions? If we worship the same God, then why aren't you Christians trying to build a temple to sacrifice animals for the removal of your sins? If we worship the same God, why aren't we going out and beheading our enemies? It's not that it isn't politically correct, it's that we do NOT worship the same God.

Jesus says, "You can't come to the Father, except through Him." The other thing is that the Bible says we know God's name. Adonai, is what God calls Himself. He introduces Himself as being our Father who art in Heaven. Yahweh or YHWH,  the LORD God, and He is approachable. We can pray to Him. The Bible says that there is one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus Christ. We can pray directly to the Father through Jesus Christ. You don't need to go through anyone to get prayer to God. We can pray for you, but so can you. You can pray to God yourself. We can't talk to God for you, God expects you to talk to Him yourself. That's gotta set you free no matter where you are in the world. How liberating is that!

You don't have to get a little lamb and sacrifice it to God while talking to Him while the blood runs out. You don't have to go out and perpetrate all kinds of evil against humanity to earn God's favor, and to enter some sort of paradise. The Bible says, you bow your knee or open your heart to pray to the Lord in Jesus Name. Anyone and everyone can do that. God says however that Jerusalem is a spiritual Sodom. It will become a place of paganism and spiritual adultery and fornication. God also says that Jerusalem is compared to a spiritual Egypt. We have to consider what is Egypt famous for regarding the children of Israel? Bondage, slavery. Did you know that when Israel was in the bondage and slavery of Egypt, they were completely ignorant? That is why the way Pharaoh dealt with Moses is so unique. He was saved by Pharaoh's daughter and raised up in his house, being schooled in their ways and would have been given the best the world had to offer.

In the Book of Hebrews, it says that when Moses saw his people, he put away everything he had access to at his fingertips for a moment, so he could be associated with the inflections of God's people. Moses left Egypt. Then the people of Israel through Moses also left Egypt. God led them out and they became a great nation. Egypt in Scripture, is also a reference to the world. When the Bible refers to Egypt you can also use it as a reference to the world and its system. Worldliness, flesh and the like.

Matthew 23:37-38 ~ "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets ad stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate."

It was left desolate, referring to the house which represents the Temple, because of paganism and not recognizing Him.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 ~ "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God."

God does want to be number one on a list of ten. He wants to be number one on a list of one. Idolaters are those that put anything before God. ANYTHING. Things can be idols and the things we most identify with. What we spend our money and time on. As you read this list, repent of them as you read them. Remember we don't have to do the actual act, but simply looking at another man or woman is guilty of adultery. Simply tell God you have sinned against Him and ask for His forgiveness. The Bible says if we confess our sins, God will forgive us from all unrighteousness. God doesn't make people idolaters, adulterers, fornicators, thieves or homosexuals. These are all sins of choice. The rest of the list continues with sins of choice as well. We are wanting things others want and we are willing to do whatever it takes to get there. Even paying taxes. While we may not like how our government spends our money, the Bible says we have to do what He has commanded. They will have to give an account to how they spent that money. We need to keep on doing it until God changed it now matter how much we might not like doing it.

Even though God knows all of this, He is not surprised. He is hurt and it pains Him to see how much His own creation rejects Him, those are human emotions and He wants us to know He understands it all. God announces in all the Book of the Prophets, Amos, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Isaiah and promises that He will gather together His people from all the corners of the world because they have been scattered, and He will bring them back to their own land in unbelief. They are very made at God because they want to know where He was through the Holocaust. How can you be angry at someone you don't believe exists? The Jews won't believe in God again until Ezekiel 38, where God rescues them from an impending war that is being lead by Israel's enemies from the furthest points north!