A great multitude in heaven, saying. Rev 19:3-5.

One of the things we talked about in the last post is that God's judgments are true and righteous. You need to settle this in your mind – no matter what the judgments look like in your own life, God's judgments are always appropriate and righteous; this of course applies to Israel and the nations.

If you were, to be honest when you read about the judgments that are coming against Israel and the nations, many of you have entertained the thought that God is out of control and just angry.

How do I know that?

Because this is what Satan does, and we saw it in the Garden when he said to Eve, did He really say that? The question/challenge to Eve might as well have accused Adam of lying about what God said, and, it challenged the veracity of God. This scenario with Eve only makes sense because, when God gave the instructions about the tree of knowledge, Eve had NOT been made. Somewhere down the road, Eve is made from Adam's rib. She was cloned. The typical process of cloning has to allow for “natural” growth. Mind you, God does not have to operate on the normal time frame, because, He is God.

Adam had been given dominion of the earth.

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (Genesis 1:26-28 KJV)

Dominion, according to Strong's concordance, is the Hebrew word râdâh. It is a primitive root that means to tread down, that is, subjugate; specifically to crumble off: - (come to, make to) have dominion, prevail against, reign, (bear, make to) rule, (-r, over), take.

For me, the two words that stand out and make sense is to reign and rule. It does not take much of a stretch to comprehend that Adam's role was to inform Eve of the rules and there was only one – don't touch that particular tree. So, when Satan approached Eve with that lousy play on words, he challenged both Adam's honesty and God's wisdom and “law” giving.

Question?

Remember I said that Eve was not present, and yet, here in Genesis 1:26 it appears that both Adam and Eve have been created.

How do you explain that?

Perhaps the best way to understand what transpired, is that the spiritual entities called 'âdâm, that is, a human being, mankind have been set into motion. Neither the man or the woman, have been created as yet.

Note what Genesis 1:27 tells us.

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27 KJV)

Do we have a definition of what God is?

Yes, we do.

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
(John 4:24 KJV)

So everything created in Genesis 1:27 looks like God, a Spirit.

• We do not have a physical man, made from the earth, until Genesis 2:7.

• The explanation of the Garden and the plants in it, particularly the tree of knowledge, are not made known to us until Genesis 2:9.

• And, we are not introduced to the woman, Eve, until Genesis 2:21-23.

If man had dominion, then why and how did someone else gain that control?

Awe, now that is the million-dollar question, and it falls back on Adam and God's righteous plan to regain humanity and to have Christ rule over the earth once again.

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." (Revelation 19:2 NASB)

God, nor I, can say “He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her,” unless we can see that the seven-years of wrath have been God's judgment.

Once again, who is the her in this sentence?

Chapter 18 of Revelation called her Babylon, that great city. But we learned that Babylon was, like Damascus, to be destroyed and useless; so we are NOT talking about the physical kingdom of Babylon. We are, however, talking Jerusalem, and by extension Israel.

And thus we continue with Revelation 19, starting at verse three.

Revelation 19:3 NASB “And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.”

Who is the “they” we see in Revelation 19:3?

It was something like the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. If I tried to base my assumption that these were the previously martyred saints, on Revelation 19:1 alone, I could incorrect and misleading, therefore need more information.

“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;”
Revelation 19:1 NASB

Previously, in Revelation 7 there is a reference to One of the elders asking John, who this great multitude were. The response was,

“Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are clothed in the white robes, who are they, and where have they come from?" I said to him, "My lord, you know." And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  (Revelation 7:13-14 NASB)

One more witness. Revelation 12 tells us,

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (12:10 KJV)

This is almost word for word what we see in Revelation 19:1. The safe proclamation then is that it is the martyred saints that are cheering as salvation and the end of God's wrath has finally come. Even if I get this declaration wrong and it turns out to be the angels shouting out the praises of God, it is not a life-altering mistake.

Consider what the voices say.

And a second time they shouted, “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever!” (Revelation 19:3 TLV)

I can find NO reference to the first time they shout like this and with the same terminology.

So, again I ask you, what kind of mentality rejoices over such destruction?

Perhaps, these in heaven can see what has been happening here on earth and know that Israel will sustain two major attacks. Wait a minute, I thought that our entrance into heaven required a change, which for the church is associated with the Bema seat. As I sit here, unchanged, I know that I am a broken human being (thanks to Adam,) and that my brokenness often longs to revel in the destruction of the wicked. So, the logic doesn't work.

If one of those attacks was a part of Nebuchadnezzar's capture of the nations of Israel and Judah, then I have to incorrectly assume that he sacked both cities, and the smoke from those actions ascended forever. But that did not happen. Don't get me wrong, the land that is attributed to God's people, did get sacked, but it was after repeated attacks, from various Assyrian leaders. In none of those cases did the smoke go up from her forever.

I might note that nothing burns forever except for hell, and that, for most is an imperceptible concept. The “Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary” tells us that the Greek word aiōn represents a period of time of significant character; or a state of things marking an age or era. With that knowledge, I can see plainly that it burns until this time period comes to end. The in question is the end of God's wrath, which most refer to as the Great Tribulation.

As I sit here ( March of 2022) Israel seems to believe that she is in control of her destiny. Scripturally, Ezekiel 38, 39 predicts a massive and deadly attack on the nation of Israel, in which a prominent world leader titled Gog and his armies will die in the Megiddo valley. Two-thirds of Israel will be destroyed and killed, but not all by weapons, as some will die because of manufactured pharmaceuticals.

Revelation 19:4 NASB “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!”

I walked away from a church. The final straw came during a seven-week, crash course in the Revelation. When the pastor, in the third session, stood before the audience and authoritatively said, the twenty-four elders are representative of the church. He gave no explanation and moved on as though he were educated and we were not. When he did that I was done with him and I walked out. This is not the time or the place to flesh that out, but there had been a build-up of reasons and one of those had happened only weeks previous, when something this pastor said, brought many in the audience to their feet in applause. Me, I said out loud, you should be booing such a statement. Internally I was screaming, as your response demonstrates that you will fall for the lies that are coming. Sure enough, the Covid and its associated lies came, and that church shut down for a long time.

In time, I came to understand from Pastor John MacArthur, why the twenty-four elders are representative of the church, and let's just say that the answer stems from Revelation 4:4.

Around the throne were twenty-four thrones; and upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, and golden crowns on their heads. (Revelation 4:4 NASB)

Pay attention to how they are attired, as this is the description of the church after the catching away.

Revelation 19:5 NASB “And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.”

Verse five may come across as insignificant because we have seen loud exuberant accolades about God. It almost seems as if the heavens are getting ready for a great party. We, however, are directed to give Him praise, as we are included among the bond-servants and those who fear Him.

The way I was taught about God was commingled with fear and an inappropriate fear at that. It was demanded that when we say our prayers at night, we explicitly ask God to forgive us for childish sins, and apparently, by mom's standards, they were many. The premise was that if we died during the night, our failure to repent would send us to hell because we had made God mad. Can you imagine the imagery I had of God and how that might have impacted me for the rest of my life? As an adult, I had to make a decision to change that attitude, and that is how and why we found each other.

In the current world we live in, where the Marxist ideals of the BLM movement and the goals behind Critical Race Theory, nobody wants to hear the words bond-servant. I would like to say, there is no slavery, but slavery is alive; it thrives in the Muslim world, and sex trafficking, which involves the capture of young children for sexual perversion, plays into slavery.

The Apostle Paul, a Jew who could have easily, said like his Jewish brethren, that I have been the slave to no one, introduced himself in his letters, on several occasions, as a bond-servant of Jesus Christ. Bond-servants typically have no rights and yet we, as believers, have the right to walk away from the Lord, if we were so foolish. And yet, guided by the moral standards of God, that is written upon our hearts, we have overwhelming freedom and liberty; and, it is all because of this relationship with Christ.

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."

This calls for wisdom and understanding. Revelation 17:10.

 To bring you up to speed, let me take you back to Revelation 17:3.

So the angel took me in the Spirit into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. (NLT)

We are given a rather detailed description of this woman.

The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand, she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. (Revelation 17:4 NLT)

• “She wears purple and scarlet clothing.”

  This is highly symbolic and, among other things, represents the blood of the saints who will be martyred during the time of wrath.

  A friend read my last post on Revelation 17 and did what I wish most of you would do, analyze the symbolism and begin to grasp how the governing bodies, many of which seem to operate above the law, are actually doing us harm and creating the shortages that will play a role in the deaths of millions.

  So what can we ascertain of this woman?

  • It is NOT a woman but an attractive entity that feeds our lusts.

  • Purple is representative of power.

    In a previous post,   I broke down a simplistic word – king. These days it leans more toward a ruling body. There are very few countries that still have a king as the ruling body, but there are many that have multi-body voting groups, that often exclude the public's opinion. Perhaps men like Putin can fill the role of a king because to cross him means that you disappear. Emanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau are apparently striving to hold those supreme positions should they become available.

    Along the lines of people who have power. Just this morning 01/07/22 I read a quote from Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada. He said, shall we tolerate those who refuse to get vaccinated. A website called the Pulse (https://thepulse.one/2022/01/03/prime-minister-justin-trudeau-calls-the-unvaccinated-misogynistic-racist-extremists/) tells us that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on a Quebec television station that “people who do not get vaccinated against COVID-19 are often racist and misogynistic extremists.” I looked up the definition of misogynistic and this is what I found. “Someone who is strongly prejudiced against women.” Where did that kind of hateful comment come from? The Pulse website added this assertion. “What type of reasoning is being used to label the unvaccinated as racist and misogynistic? This clearly has no basis in fact and simply continues what seems to be a coordinated political campaign to demonize the unvaccinated.”

  • “ and scarlet clothing”

    We are told that the scarlet clothing is covered in the blood of martyred saints.

    And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's people and the blood of those who were killed because they had been loyal to Jesus. When I saw her, I was completely amazed. (Revelation 17:6 GNB)

    How much blood does it take to soak your clothing? Revelation 7:9 answers the question.

    (NASB) “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; “

    This group is defined in Revelation seven, verses fourteen and fifteen.

    (NASB) “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; (GNB) He who sits on the throne will protect them with his presence.”

    The point here is that the woman, clothed in scarlet, is clothed in this color because she is stained with the blood of those this entity or ruling body has killed. I am not suggesting that this is a contest, and yes the majority seems to happen during the seven years after the church is gone, but many will pay for the babies we have allowed to be murdered.

• “and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls.”

  The harlot, called a woman, is an entity. We are NOT to be looking for some woman, as there are NO women listed as a world leader in end times eschatology. I will say that while all these things; jewelry made of gold, along with precious gems and pearls, tend to be associated with women's jewelry, they are representative of financial gain.

  I learned, years ago, that the Rothschild family financed both sides of virtually every “modern” war; and made serious money because of their financial decisions. We are in a war now, and for the most part, we, the general public, will be the bodies left lying in the fields. I see so many more than the Rothschild family involved in this pathetic way of life they are feeding us.

So much for an introduction. Let's move on to verse ten and beyond.

Revelation 17:9-10 GNB  "This calls for wisdom and understanding. The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings:  (10)  five of them have fallen, one still rules, and the other one has not yet come; when he comes, he must rule only a little while.

• The seven heads

  These are rulers, whether they be an individual or a tribunal.

• Are seven hills

  I have looked at commentaries and most have the same foolish assertion, that we should be looking at Rome. That is hogwash in my mind. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary answers this as I might.

  “The seven heads can hardly be at once seven kings or kingdoms (Rev_17:10), and seven geographical mountains.

  (My comments will be bracketed and italicized as I segment this JFB quotation. The hills and the heads are two different things.)

  “The true connection is, as the head is the prominent part of the body, so the mountain is prominent in the land. Like “sea” and “earth” and “waters ... peoples”” (Rev_17:15),

  (Revelation 17:15 tells us “...The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.”) (NASB)

  “so “mountains” have a symbolical meaning, namely, prominent seats of power.”

  (This assertion makes the most sense.)

  “Especially such as are prominent hindrances to the cause of God” (Psa_68:16, Psa_68:17; Isa_40:4; Isa_41:15; Isa_49:11; Eze_35:2);

  (Many interpreters speak of this process as being a hindrance to the cause of God. While I contend that followers of Jesus Christ may be targeted, this all changes when I consider this through the scope of the goals of Islam, which declares everyone who lives in America to be people of the book, where the book is thought to be the bible. They don't care if you are an atheist, there will still be a target painted on your back. Another consideration is the denial that we are forced to absorb, as speaking as I am, is considered hate speech.)

  “especially Babylon (which geographically was in a plain, but spiritually is called a destroying mountain,” Jer_51:25),

  (I get upset when bible teachers insist that physical Babylon will be rebuilt. Babylon is a spiritual entity. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown refers to Jeremiah 51:24, 25. "But I will repay Babylon ... O destroying mountain, Who destroys the whole earth," When in fact, this region is known as the plains of Shinar, the opposite of a mountain.)

  “in majestic contrast to which stands Mount Zion, “the mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isa_2:2), and the heavenly mount; Rev_21:10, “a great and high mountain ... and that great city, the holy Jerusalem.”

  (As I progressed through the Revelation I could see Satan's actions attempting to mock God. For example, God has sealed us with the Holy Spirit, and Satan sees to it that everyone must take the mark of the beast, the antichrist. God, as you can see in Jeremiah 51:25 and Revelation 21:10, that God has His mountains as well.)

• Upon which the woman sits

  We have seen that Babylon is now a spiritual entity that sucks in people and represents power. It is the killing force, and these vaccines may play a role in that killing. We have also seen that hills or in some cases, mountains, are also representative; the evidence for that comes from Babylon being called a mountain, and there is a reference to something like a burning asteroid to strike the earth and it too is called a burning mountain.

  So, the woman, which is representative of power, wealth, and lust sits somewhere. If you are going to make the false assumption that this harlot is a person, then how does she sit in multiple locations at the same time?

  The statement forces you to begin asking how can this be understood?

• They are also seven kings

  Daniel 11 tells us of the “kings of the north and the south.” More specifically the beginnings of the fourth kingdom.

  Several years ago I tried to do a study on Daniel 11 with the men I sit with. I can tell you it was tough, to say the least. Effectively, some of the players in Daniel 11 sound like the old movie Anthony and Cleopatra, as the story is filled with war, assassinations, and inter-marriage for peace.

  If you choose to read Daniel 11, keep in mind that you are reading about the fourth kingdom and that the story projects into our current time frame, but it doesn't exactly spell that out for you. This means you have to read Daniel 11 with intelligence and an open mind and considerations of Daniel's explanation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream statue, and Daniel's chapter seven and eight.

  One of the best discussions about Daniel 11 comes from the Frontier Alliance Mission and can be found here.
  https://www.faimission.org/wire/special-report-ships-of-kittim

  Portions of Daniel 11 that stand out.

  "Now in those times many will rise up against the king of the South; the violent ones among your people will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down. "Then the king of the North will come, cast up a siege ramp and capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops, for there will be no strength to make a stand. (Daniel 11:14-15 NASB)

  “Those times” are the times that we are living in. The only thing lacking is Gog (seen in Ezekiel 38) swarming upon Israel. Gog will be slaughtered on the hillsides of the Valley of Achor – Meggido.

  We are told that they, both the North and the South, will attack and capture Israel, the well-fortified city. I know very few people that can comprehend that Israel will just about be wiped out in this battle. Ezekiel 38,39 tells us God will come to Israel's aid destroy many in a firestorm.

  "He will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it. But she will not take a stand for him or be on his side. (Daniel 11:17 NASB)

  If you are a student of eschatology then you know that the antichrist/beast comes to make a peace treaty. He never says that this treaty is a treaty with Israel; that does not mean it can't happen.

  If there was an orchestrated attack on Israel, given what you can see in the news coming from the Mideast, who do you think will attack Israel? I suggest that anything with Islam attached to it will answer the question.

• five of them have fallen, one still rules,

  If John, as we assume, is aware of one of these rulers, then the last has to have a relationship, whether it be politically, nationally, or spiritually with the previous kingdoms. And, the last clue which directs our point of view is the amount of time in which he rules.

• and the other one has not yet come; when he comes, he must rule only a little while.

Forty-two months, or 1260 days.

How or why his tenure is so short is not clearly spelled out in scripture, however, it is spelled out in the prophecies of the Muslims. It is evident that the “false prophet”, or, as the Muslims call him, ʿĪsā ibn Maryam will step in as the enforcer of Sharia. This opens the door to the drastic increase in deaths that Jesus spoke of. 

Sorry, if this disappoints, as I would have liked to gotten farther in the Revelation, but I hit my limit in terms of the amount of information.

The ABC’s of Salvation

A stands for “admit.” We must admit that we are sinners and that we are therefore under God’s judgment.

B stands for “believe.” We must believe that God loves us in spite of our sin and that he has acted in Jesus Christ to remove sin and restore us to himself.

C stands for “commit.” This is an act of faith by which we give up trying to run our own life and instead place ourselves in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again.