After these things comes salvation. Revelation 19:1-2.

 Finally, the tide turns and we are now looking at Revelation 19 and Jesus, returning to earth as the Warrior Messiah.

First, I just want to be honest, trying to grasp chapter 18 and its usage of the name Babylon, was tough. I struggled for days and had to walk away from what I desired to share with you, several times.

Many years ago I took on an attitude in which I would make myself vulnerable when it came to God's Word, my relationship with the Father, and how I talk to God. Some, do not see me as being open, but weak and permanently broken. Guess what, I am and I know it. I can do nothing outside of God's grace and mercy. I think I came to this understanding when I put myself in recovery all those years ago.

My approach to teaching allows me to comprehend things in the Word, that most do not or will not. The underlying rule to understanding is to throw away tradition because tradition paints David, the King to be, as a ridiculously small child; and, it buys into the lie that Jonah lived within the belly of that great fish. If you believe that, then you have watched Walt Disney's Pinocchio too many times.

Since I just offended many of you, allow me to silence your arguments, in this case, about Jonah.

Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was brought to Jesus. He healed the man so that he could both speak and see. (Matthew 12:22 NLT)

Matthew 12 is the primary place where blasphemy is clearly defined. The Pharisees and a few others, having witnessed a miracle in which Jesus cast out demon(s), began to attribute what He had just done to the power of Satan (Beelzebub if you wish).

Don't let your traditions cause an argument to rage inside your head about how many demons were cast out, or if there were any at all. I have encountered so-called “Christian” people who deny the activity of demons.

Notice the word healed. How does one heal a person whose ailment originates from the action of fallen angels?

The word that almost every translation deemed healed, is the Greek word therapeuō. Wow, that has a familiar ring to it; the primary definition of therapeuō is to serve or do service. It also means to cure or restore to health.

So the obvious thing happening in Matthew 12:22 is that Jesus restored the man to health by doing service to and for him. Many see service as some form of work, like building a home in Mexico; it is not and you see this in Jesus' actions. He frequently responded to the requests of “will you” with a yes and an associated, life-changing response.

Jesus responded to their blasphemous statements by calling them a brood of vipers and trees with rotten fruit.

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten; for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you who are evil say anything good? For from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matthew 12:33-34 TLV)

These things made them uncomfortable, and so they come back with this,

Then some of the Torah scholars and Pharisees answered Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.” (Matthew 12:38 TLV)

What do you think you just saw?

It's a rhetorical question and you don't have to answer. They did not understand what happened when he delivered the man from the demons, because there is no doubt that someone being freed from possession was uncommon at best.

Now, here is where Jonah comes into the conversation.

But He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation craves for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for just as JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE BELLY OF THE SEA MONSTER, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:39-40 NASB)

If any of these naysayers were skillful with the Word of God (the Old Testament) then they would have been immediately familiar with the fascinating story of Jonah and this massive fish.

In the Mediterranean sea, there is really only one that comes close to being able to inhale a human. The basking shark (Cetorhinus maximus) is the second-largest living shark and fish,[4] after the whale shark, and one of three plankton-eating shark species, along with the whale shark and megamouth shark. Adults typically reach 7.9 m (26 ft) in length. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basking_shark

It would have been highly capable of inhaling a human.

This is not about Jonah, it is about our traditions and how they move us away from the truth.

Jesus compared His upcoming DEATH to Jonah, who had already spent three days and nights in the belly of a great fish.

Why is three days and nights significant?

Because the Jews believed that the soul stayed in the body for three days. It was only after this time frame that you are officially dead in their minds. This bizarre thinking is one of the reasons He did not go rushing to Lazarus. He wanted to prove to them that He could raise someone from the dead.

Besides all that, what would be the point of telling this bunch of skeptics that what happened to Jonah would happen to Him, unless Jonah had died?

I have intentionally left out a voluminous amount of information in order to stay on point, and in so doing left the door open for more foolish arguments; it is, however, interesting that God effectively slammed the door on stupidity by telling us this.

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. (Jonah 1:17 NASB)

As ridiculous as this might seem, God appointed a fish capable of swallowing a human, and there you have it.

And with that, we open Revelation chapter 19.

Revelation 19:1 NASB After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;

“After these things,” where have we heard this phrase before?

If you guessed Revelation 4:1 you would be correct.

Now, what had God just finished defining in Revelation chapters one through three as they establish the context for chapter four?

The church age. You should not be surprised to learn that we are living in the age of the final church, the Laodicean church.

'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 'So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. (Revelation 3:15-16 NASB)

We are neither hot nor cold and such worthy of nothing less than to be spit out on the ground in disgust.

So, as in the beginnings of chapter four, something has come to a crashing halt and that is what Revelation 18 calls Babylon. I have twice, in recent posts, explained that Babylon is representative of Israel; and, Babylon is symbolic of the godlessness and lust that motivates the globalists and their agenda to dominate this world.

“Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God;”

Since virtually everything in the Revelation is a witness of the prophetic that we find in the Old Testament, then we should be able to find parallel pieces of evidence.

And the ransomed of the LORD will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:10 NASB)

If I did not know and understand God, then I might think that God should have wrapped me up in His gladness and joy, but, much like in Ukraine, sorrow and sighing have not fled away. It is the people that have needed to flee. As I stand here today, it is difficult at best to see a statement such as “Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,” belonging to the here and now.

Statements such as,

"I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, And they will become drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine; And all flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior And your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." (Isaiah 49:26 NASB)

For example, the current leader of Russia has been bullying people and nations around for years. Aside from the pushback he has received from the global community, here at the end of February 2022, no one has stood up to this crazed dictator. And yet, God says, in time, I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh.

Words like what we see in Isaiah 60 seem farcical.

"Violence will not be heard again in your land, Nor devastation or destruction within your borders, But you will call your walls salvation, and your gates praise.
(Isaiah 60:18 NASB)

Well, Revelation 19 is where we finally see this happening.

(Revelation 19:2 NASB) “BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.”

“ for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality,”

The harlot is integrated into the Babylon system and is also referred to as a beast. And, though it is analogous to Israel the harlot stands apart from Israel and wants Israel destroyed.

In the NASB translation of Revelation 19:2, the harlot is associated with the idea that there is a long-term corruption of Israel and the populace of the earth taking place, while the majority of translations tell us that the harlot corrupted. So, in trying to grasp who the harlot is and what is her role, we have to ascertain whether the damage done by the harlot has already taken place or is an ongoing process.

The Greek term for corrupt is phtheirō. The explanatory terms derived from this word are varied.

The Word Study Dictionary tells us it is to waste, pine. To corrupt, destroy. Trans. to destroy, punish with destruction, bring to a worse state (1Corinthians_3:17). To corrupt, spoil, vitiate, in a moral or spiritual sense (1Corinthians_15:33; Ephesians_4:22; Judges_1:10; Revelation_19:2). To corrupt, with the meaning of to subvert or corrupt opinions (2Corinthians_7:2; 2Corinthians_11:3.

You probably noticed that it says that the great harlot has already been judged.

Wouldn't that imply the end result would have been imposed as well?

Think about our current justice system.

Don't we have thousands sitting on death row, awaiting the judgment imposed upon them?

We do, but even they continue to have rights. Since our worldly legal system is thought to be based upon God's moral values, then it makes sense that these, associated with the harlot, have a potential chance at mercy; and here is why.

"The LORD possessed me at the beginning of His way, Before His works of old. (Proverbs 8:22 NASB)

At the beginning is in reference to God's work in the creation of the heavens and humanity. Knowing full well that the man would take a destructive path God had a plan, with the purpose of purging Satan and his army of fallen angels, along with the method of redeeming those He has chosen before any of this cataclysmic damage took place.

Possessed is the Hebrew word qānāh and it means to purchase, to acquire, to possess. It is used with God as its subject to mean His buying back His people, redeeming them.

While it is true that forgiveness was purchased on the cross. So, everyone has been freed to follow Jesus, the Son of the Father, without regard for the punishment associated with following Satan.

But, do we do that?

Well, since we have free will, most choose to follow many other things besides God.

Now, as for judgment. All judgment will be given to the Son.

John 9:39 tells us distinctly that He came into this world to judge.

And Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind." (John 9:39 NASB)

But it is not the man Jesus that does the judging right now, it is His word that judges us. If I understand this to be true, and it is, then it would obviously be confusing to hear this next statement.

"For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. (John 3:17 NASB)

Jesus had more to say about the Word being the judge.

"If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day. (John 12:47-48 NASB)

Ah, it is the Word, in the last day, that will judge those that do not keep His Word.

But we do see judgment happening in scripture.

One of those moments is in Revelation 19.

And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, He judges and wages war. (Revelation 19:11 NASB)

Here we see Him judging through waging war. War, of course, to Jesus, happens rather quickly.

From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. (Revelation 19:15 NASB)

Some assume there will be a complete annihilation of every person deemed the nations at this point, but that is not true. He only strikes down those who choose to fight against Him.

Ask yourself a question.

Did Russia send every breathing human to fight against Ukraine?

Of course not, but just because they are not on the front lines, does that mean the entrenched hatred of the foreigner does not burn in their hearts? Don't be foolish, prejudice is learned and may stay with you as long as you breathe and are a broken human. Thankfully, all that will be fixed in the twinkling of an eye.

The second judgment happens at the Bema seat of Christ. When this takes place, seems to be associated with the catching away of the church, just moments before the seven years of wrath begins. I see no fear associated with this judgment as it is primarily a time of rewards for God's saints.

And finally, the final judgment at the great white throne. For many, this will be final and complete separation from God. However, for others, whose names are found in the books of life. Matthew 25 spells this out plainly, but it is evidenced in Revelation 20.

“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”(Revelation 20:12 NASB)

The assumption is that the Book of Life is only there to give those watching a chance to mock and laugh at those being sent off to the lake of fire for a permanent separation from God. Honestly, that is NOT funny, but abnormally cruel if you can think in this manner.

If you invested some time reading about the sheep and goat judgment that you find in Matthew 25, then you will know that God spent

time fervently looking to see if there was any reason to show them mercy. It is because of these actions that He is able to separate the crowd into what He deems sheep and goats, based upon their works. Those works boil down to the simplest of acts; bringing someone that is thirsty a drink of water; visiting Jesus in prison, even when it did not look like Jesus; and, feeding someone who was down on their luck. The reality of this is that you acted as God hoped you would if confronted by someone whose life was destroyed by circumstances beyond their control.

I have never been a good gambler so I have to go with the sure thing, God. God, through His Son, has proven Himself to me to be the sure thing. Because of those toward me I have given my life to Him and thrown myself upon His mercy.

I realize that this next little aspect will come across as facetious, I am telling you this because I did it, as Pastors and evangelists repeatedly chastened us to do so.

Having spent most of my life in the church, and, after repeatedly asking God to forgive me for my sins, I thought about some of the things I had heard in church, such as Jesus died once for all (sins.) Well, I decided to dive into my bible, set aside the traditional things I had shoved down my throat, and learn what the Bible had to say, for myself. I learned that God is NOT angry, that Jesus, His Son, demonstrated who God is and that once having given myself over to Him, there is no more reason to ask Jesus to forgive me. Recovery, all those years later, taught me the reality of what the Apostle Paul later trying to convey when he said, confess your sins to one another. 1. That other person has to be safe or this confession process will bring out the religious zealots and they will destroy you. 2. By confession, you are being open and honest about your own brokenness. This brokenness is a common trait among all of us, however, most will not admit they are messed up. 3. Confessing our sins to one another has nothing to do with your relationship with God; the relationship begins with handing your life over to Him.

Consider the thief on the cross. It would seem that he only had a few seconds of Jesus' time before they would both be dead, and yet in those few seconds, that guy gave his life to Jesus. The ABCs I have included is a path to this relationship with Jesus, and, security knowing that you are now His and have the guarantee of a permanent home with the Father.

A - Admit you're a sinner.

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

B - Believe Jesus is Lord.

John 14:6 Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

C - Call upon His name.

Romans 10:13 "Whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Where the whore is. Revelation 17:15-18.

 In the previous post, I tried to give you a commentary on Revelation 17:12-14 based upon logic, scripture associations, historical evidence, and a bit of influence from other commentaries. I ended on Revelation 17:14. This is what verse 14 says.

"These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful." (Revelation 17:14 NASB)

The “these” is referring to kings that rise up – use that term kings lightly as it also refers to rulers and ruling bodies.

Waging war is in this case, limited to the time when Jesus comes back to earth as the warring Messiah that Israel has longed for. Verse 14 says “and those who are with Him are the called, the chosen, and the faithful.”

The word called is the Greek word klētos and means the invited or appointed.

Called, this word works, especially if you picture God looking over the earth and all who have been born or unborn and called them all to come back to Him. Not only were we all invited, but God takes it one step further, in that we have been appointed.

Appointed, according to Webster's dictionary means fixed; set; established; decreed; ordained; constituted; allotted. 2. Furnished; equipped with things necessary; as a ship or an army is well appointed.

Try this on for size.

You have been decreed and ordained, before you were ever thought of, to be equipped with the things necessary, to function as an emissary for and to God.

For those who wish to argue.

"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I separated you for myself..." (Jeremiah 1:5a CJB)

Chosen is the Greek word eklektos. Other, more dominant usage options are select; and by implication favorite.

And the final word used to designate those who will be with Him is faithful.

Faithful is the Greek word pistos. Pistos also means a trusty person who shows themselves faithful in - the transaction of business, the execution of commands, or the discharge of official duties.

It also applies to:
- One who kept his plighted faith;

Plighted ranges between pledged and difficult. Some, after some missionary comes back and gives the entire church their field report, may decide to make a faith pledge that they will never keep. On the other hand, it seems this life of faith we live is filled with difficulties.

- One who is worthy of trust.
- And, those that can be relied on.

The first two terms (called and chosen,) can easily be seen as characteristics of a believer in Jesus Christ, as these terms are frequently applied to a Christian; this does not mean that the “Christian” will follow after or walk in their calling. The last term, faithful, can apply to a wide variety of people, and many of them are not in your church body. Consider Matthew 25 and the sheep and goats.

As we saw in the last post scripture interprets itself.

Revelation 17:15 CJB  Then he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the whore is sitting, are peoples, crowds, nations, and languages.

As I talk with people in church few understand what the nations are. Perhaps this will help your understanding. There are only three people groups in the Bible.

• The Jews

  This is also deemed to be Israel.

• The nations

  The Jews call anyone outside of Judaism, the Gentiles. We, believers, are considered Gentiles, but we are NOT.

• And the church.

  To the Jews, the church is nonexistent, however, to the believer in Christ we are the church, and the church is in Christ Jesus. If a Jew comes to Christ then they are a part of the body and can also be a Jew. And, in a sense, we were all from the nations but are now in Christ. Very soon the church will be caught up to be with Jesus in the air, at that point there will only be two people groups on earth.

“The waters that you saw, where the whore is sitting, are peoples, crowds, nations and languages.”

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, (Revelation 17:1 NASB)

So the whore of Babylon is truly dealing with the nations – the Gentiles. Remember, if you are NOT a Jew, you are a Gentile; this includes the Ishmaelites - the Islamic nations, and all other third world nations.

If the whore represents the filthy rich, then how and why would they have anything to do with the downtrodden, the poor, the dirty, and the enslaved, you should be getting the idea?

Revelation 17:16 NASB "And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.

• “ And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast,”

  These are two different entities, although they worked toward what we consider a common goal. Remember, the horns represent kingdoms or empires; this applies to both physical and financial empires.

  This is why God is causing them to go astray so that they will believe the Lie.
  (2 Thessalonians 2:11 CJB)

  Context, Paul wrote this letter to a Jewish community of Christ-followers. So when Paul says “them”, he is including the Jews in this group of people that can and will go astray and believe “the lie.”

  What is the lie?

  Paul does not define it, and yet, like in the movie “The Matrix,” the lie is all around you. I hear this in my spirit, many will read this statement and say, you stupid conspiracy theorist. Let me show you something.

  Do not love the world or the things of the world. If someone loves the world, then love for the Father is not in him; because all the things of the world—the desires of the old nature, the desires of the eyes, and the pretensions of life—are not from the Father but from the world. And the world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God's will remains forever. (1 John 2:15-17 CJB)

  There, in 1 John 2, is the Matrix analogy.

  It is the drive to dominate, the lust for money, and the power they think it brings. It is intertwined throughout our governing bodies. It is an intricate aspect of “the swamp” that former President Trump described. And worse yet, for the beast, which will, in the last minutes of time will be a man, it will be the false belief that through his deceit and power grab, he believes his ideologies will overthrow God.

  The beast, while playing the game, will seem to have the same goal, global domination, but with an Islamic background, one that claims to abide by the Quran, his goal will be to make everyone a follower of Allah or they die. For the horns, the goal is global domination where they are treated in the manner in which they have become accustomed. Add this to the drive to bring the population down to a manageable level of about 400 million. Just for the fun of it, there are approximately 7.7 billion people on the earth today. Consider food for a moment, here in America it has become quite obvious that food shortages (an event that the Bible tells us will happen,) are man-made.

  Do you think for a moment that those who hold the power will do without?

  Not a chance. While we eat veggie burgers, they will dine on prime rib.

• “they will hate the whore, bring her to ruin, leave her naked, eat her flesh and consume her with fire. “

  We are still on Revelation 17:16 talking about the whore that rides the beast. As you might have noticed, I gave you the Complete Jewish Bible translation, and this is the language that they have used. “They,” in context, is the beast, however, the usage of the term they certainly move this beyond a singular man as the beast.

  Look at what the “they” do to these “rich” people do.

  • They hate the whore,

  • Bring her to ruin,

  • Leave her naked,

  • Eat her flesh,

  • And, consume her with fire.

What kind of backing would it take to take down George Soros, Bill Gates, and Klaus Schwab at one time?

A massive economic collapse might do it.

Revelation 17:17 CJB  For God put it in their hearts to do what will fulfill his purpose, that is, to be of one mind and give their kingdom to the beast until God's words have accomplished their intent.

• “ For God put it in their hearts”

  “Their hearts,” is referring to the people who have already aligned, and those who will align themselves with the beast/antichrist.

• “to do what will fulfill his purpose,”

  So the question is, whose purpose? Well, the answer is both; God has a purpose, and it will be fulfilled. The beast has a purpose that will also be fulfilled but there is a catch, it is all God's purpose. Let me show you.

  In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps.
  (Proverbs 16:9 NIV)

  Another place where we see God's purpose demonstrated is in Genesis 37.

  Joseph's brothers threw him into a dry well with the apparent intent of killing him.

  Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? (Genesis 37:26 NIV)

  When a band of Ishmaelites came by the brothers opted to sell him. The Ishmaelites took him into Egypt and sold him. None of them had any idea that a massive drought was coming. Joseph rises to power and ends up serving God's purpose as he saves the entire family during the years of drought.

• “that is, to be of one mind and give their kingdom to the beast until God's words have accomplished their intent.”

  God's purpose is to cause them to be of one mind; to give their kingdom to the beast; and, for that to happen until God's words have accomplished their intent.

In finishing Revelation 17 we have this.

Revelation 17:18 NASB "The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth."

• “And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.”

  What or where is the great city?

  I strongly suggest that it is Israel. Evidence for that, and it should be scriptural, although even scripture has a historical aspect to it.

  A Song; a Psalm of the sons of Korah. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, In the city of our God, His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion in the far north, The city of the great King.
  (Psalms 48:1-2 NASB)

  Another piece of information that feeds into this great city being Israel.

  When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Revelation 11:7-8 NASB)

  • When it refers to “they” here it is talking about the two witnesses that were sent from God.

  • Finished – having been here for 1240 days, they are done speaking and God allows them to be killed. They will be resurrected but not for three days. Quite symbolic, don't you think?

  • Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

    Where does God put the two witnesses? Right in the middle of Jerusalem. The passage calls Jerusalem the great city.

    So, are the two witnesses lying in physical Babylon? NO, they are lying in the streets of Jerusalem.

    Did you notice that Jerusalem is referred to as Sodom and Egypt? This should be eye-opening, but there is a problem because it (sarcastically) says, where also their Lord was crucified.

    Where was Jesus crucified? On a hill called Golgotha, the highest point in Jerusalem.

Revelation 17 closes with “The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth.” Merely because the harlot has a name associated with Babylon through comments like “the great city” which most assume to be physical Babylon; and, the idea that this great city rules over the kings of the earth, does not mean it is Babylon. We have more evidence in scripture that tells us this is Israel. One of those examples comes from Ezekiel 16.

Everyone who makes up proverbs will say of you, ‘Like mother, like daughter.’
(Ezekiel 16:44 NLT)

Here again, most will assume this is referring to Babylon. If you chose to investigate the context of Ezekiel chapter 16, you would find that God is talking about Israel. This showing of evidence can drag out for pages, so I will leave that to you.

As I started pursuing an understanding of Revelation 17:18 I became aware that some will allow this to fire their prejudice and antisemitism, and go on rants against Israel and the Jews. I am saying this because I have heard it, and the majority has come out of the mouths of “Christian” folk. You should know that Israel is the center of God's heart and He will never forget Israel and His people. How fortunate we Gentiles are that we have been allowed to be grafted into the vine. Oh, and that Bible you are reading is a Jewish-oriented book. Maybe it's time we adjust our thinking?