The Magi, what did they want, and why were they demanding answers from Herod?

 The next thing we encounter in Matthew's gospel is,

The Visit of the Wise Men

“Now, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod, the king, magi from the east, arrived in Jerusalem, saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
(Matthew 2:1-2 NASB)

The Magi, what did they want, and why were they demanding answers from Herod?

One brother in Christ, who is very skillful in the Word of God, explained that one of the roles of the Magi was to be kingdom changers (Consider that this knowledgeable man had to look at extra-biblical information not contained within the pages of the Bible to make his valid assertion. I only point this out because a “brother in Christ” verbally lashed out at me, saying I do not believe that we should use extra-biblical texts and information to form our thoughts about God and scripture.) The Magi were the group of men that Daniel, as a young man, had been assigned to and eventually became the head of while remaining a captive in Babylon.

Seeing the size of the entourage and perceiving a threat to his power, Herod went into panic mode and called the chief priests and elders before him to tell him what they knew about this situation.

“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.”
(Matthew 2:3-4 NASB)

“When Herod the king heard this.” What did he hear?

“ Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Since when has the Middle East changed so that you can merely gather up a large, armed crowd and go rolling up to another kingdom’s gates unannounced and immediately expect an audience with a king known to live in fear?

It hasn't, and so I don't expect that was the case here, but the word was received and taken to the king. Now, what does the fearful man do? He consults the people who most likely know the corresponding answer, the Jews, as they should know the prophecy.

All prophecy, like a criminal court case, must have two or three witnesses; one of those witnesses is found in the Book of Daniel. It is not likely that Herod, being a half-Jew, would have studied Daniel chapter seven, as it plays a significant role in testifying to what the angel declared to Mary as he explained the function of the child that she carried.

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
(Luke 1:32-33 NASB)

So, no, Herod would not know these words that we see in Luke’s gospel as they were written long after Herod’s death, and that makes his fear and the lack of reaction by the elders even more peculiar.

The Magi, on the other hand, may have studied Daniel's words with intensity.

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away, And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.”
(Daniel 7:13-14 NASB)

The reply of the Jewish elders is alarming to me.

“So they told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
(Matthew 2:5-6 TLV)

They knew the answer to the question, but do we have any record that they went there and bowed before this new king?

Not at all. Herod responds to this by double-checking. Perhaps because even Herod could see that these magi were taking this king being born seriously, and he called them in to speak with them.

“Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child. And when you have found Him, bring word back to me so that I may come and worship Him as well.”
(Matthew 2:7-8 TLV)

With terminology such as “determined from them the exact time,” Herod now has a ballpark idea of how old this new king is; and nothing will happen until they come back to Herod and give him the word of exactly where to find the child. Watch what the magi do.

“After listening to the king, they went their way. And behold, the star they had seen in the east went on before them, until it came to rest over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great gladness.”
(Matthew 2:9-10 TLV)

These magi had not yet found the child, but they will. They will not go back to Herod for the child's protection. Notice where the family is now living.

“And when they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Miriam; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.”
(Matthew 2:11-12 TLV)

Never once do you see the number three. What you do see are three specific names: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A key word here is treasures, as the quantity may have been great and enough to sustain the family for several years. We, because of the age bracket that Herod orders killed, would logically assume the age of Yeshua to be about two as they take off to the safety of Egypt.

“Now when they had gone (the magi), behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in a dream (so he has had a couple of these over the last few years), saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what was spoken by Adonai through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My son.” Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became furious. And he sent and killed all boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding area, from two years old and under, according to the time he had determined from the magi.”
(Matthew 2:13-16 TLV)

Astronomy.com tells us that “On the morning of August 12 in 3 B.C ., Jupiter and Venus would’ve sat just 1/10th a degree apart in the dawn sky. That’s one-fifth the diameter of the Full Moon. (The December 2020 conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn will have an identical separation, albeit in the evening sky.) That wasn’t the end of the show, either. Venus and Jupiter continued their dance over most of the next year before finally appearing to merge into a single star in June.”

So approximately August of C.5, Christ was born. (I am still not clear. If time is based on this dramatic change called Jesus birth, all I wanted or needed was a time frame that I could start with. If this is based upon Christ, it would seem that this timeline information puts the starting point at five months. An obvious fact is that He was NOT born at six months old, we also know that the shepherds were with their flocks, and that tends to put His birth far enough into the season for shepherds to be working the flocks comfortably in the hillsides.) At the age of two, his family takes him to Egypt to protect him. History (and I must admit this is rather sketchy) records that Herod died around April 4 B.C.; therefore, it would seem that the family was only in Egypt for slightly over a year. The presumption then is that Jesus was brought back to Nazareth when He was four or five.

Why is this information important?

First, this has never been clear in my head, and that may be because no one ever talked about it. Secondly, questions occasionally arise about Jesus from toddler to maturity, which in the Jewish culture seems to be about age 13, a time when the sons are required to step up and learn their fathers' trade. Three, I made the mistake of reading Kahlil Gibran's book Jesus, the son of Man. The title alone should tell you something about the lack of understanding and possible disrespect the man had for Jesus. A point that Mr. Gibran tried to make was that Jesus may have been a malicious brat, as he allegedly injured animals and then healed them. Sorry, but that did not sound right then, nor does it sound right now.

After the incident where the family, while in Jerusalem, had to go looking for Jesus, a 12-year-old child, they found Him in the temple where He had been for two days, with the Jewish leaders, discussing the scriptures. Remember, all they had were the law and the prophets, and they were precious and expensive scrolls that only the richest of synagogues had copies. So learning was almost exclusively through repetitious hearing.

A problem with this entire process. If your child had a disability, would you focus on that, merely enabling that they lean upon that disability, or would you focus on their ability? In Jesus' case, He, by those who knew about His birth, would have been called a mumzer – an illegitimate child and those same people had a long history, based on the law, that allowed them to treat a child like this poorly. 

As far as I can see, Jesus, had He been known, would have been violently expelled from the temple. An answer to this lies in the outer courts of the temple, as these were accessible to even the gentiles.

The final thought on this tells us that after His parents found Him, and I am sure they expressed their displeasure at Him being lost, is that Jesus submitted Himself wholly to their wishes until He was old enough, able to take care of Himself and act on His own accord. I am thinking now of Mary. As the eldest son, Jesus would have probably been the one to care for her after Joseph died. Keep in mind that Mary continued to have other children, and several of them, including sisters, may have taken that role.

We don't see support from the other family members, nor do we hear anything about siblings until the day that they came to restrain Him – so to speak.

“When His family heard about this, they went out to take hold of Him; for they were saying, “He’s out of His mind!”
(Mark 3:21 TLV)

He conflicted with the 600+ added-on Jewish laws, but He was amazingly kind to the down and out while excoriating the scribes and the Pharisees.

“Then His mother and brothers come. Standing outside, they sent word to Him, summoning Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they tell Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Looking at those sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.”
(Mark 3:31-35 TLV)

If Mary (Miriam) had not been the surrogate mother of Jesus, we would probably never hear of her either.

I decided to post this, even though it is not, in my mind, done. I do not elaborate on this merely to convince you to think negatively about Jesus; just the opposite is true. If you happen to be one that thinks that every God aspect was little more than some high-speed download, I think that is illogical and works in opposition to His mission here on earth. Remember, He came as man and defeated Satan as a human.

We have learned that Joseph, "his father," was a righteous man. Some translations refer to Joseph as a good man. To be deemed a righteous man indicates that he was known among the synagogue crowd as one that took notes (just kidding) and paid attention. Because of this, he fastidiously practiced the scriptures with Jesus. 

So, how did Jesus become so knowledgeable? 

Joseph, his foster father. Let that sink in. 

If you do not know my Jesus, He is as close as your breath. Merely submit yourself to the greater power and ask Him into your life, then watch the changes begin to happen because the Holy Spirit has now entered, permanently, and will begin teaching you all things and showing you things to come. 

If the rapture has come, there will be no denying when that happened. (Yes, I know that the government has put it off on aliens taking the "bad" Christians off the earth.) 

If the church is gone, all hell will begin to break loose. 

• Constant rioting in the streets and death will come from multiple directions. 
• Those you thought would be on your side and protect you will be trying to kill you. 
• Injections will be mandated that are intended to kill you. 
• Efforts to monitor your every move will be demanded. 
• The earth and the water supplies will be poisoned. The oceans will be filled with death. 
• Commerce will come to a halt. 
• The economies will become digital and tightly controlled, but will all, in a matter of time, collapse. 
• This time on earth, as seen in Revelation six and beyond, will include God's anger against unbelieving humanity and the Jews who rejected God. 

Within days of the Church being removed, the antichrist persona will come to the forefront. If you have access to a Bible (it will be a forbidden book,) you can read about the emergence of the antichrist.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and (then) that that man of sin be disclosed, even the son of perdition,"                 (2 Thessalonians 2:3 Geneva)

Yes, I Americanized the old 15th-century wording, and yes, most translations use the phrase falling away. Just this morning, 3/11/23, I saw that the Church of England is now teaching four-year-old children, in their Sunday school class, about transitioning and perverted sex education. Try to convince me that we, the church, have not fallen over the cliff already. 

There is only one hope; it is Jesus, and if nothing else, make your life with Him personal. 

Trust me, once He touches your heart, you will want to tell someone about Him.

Gathering all the chief priests and elders he inquired about this king of the Jews. Matthew 2: 1-12.

 If you were hoping for a continued foray into the book of Romans, I must apologize because I am an obsessive multitasker. I had been feeling like I needed to do as I started almost twenty years ago, to read through the New Testament slowly while writing down my thoughts and questions as I went. I really did not want to disrupt your lives if you should be meticulously following me, but since everything in scripture is connected, just as the “New Testament” could NOT exist without the supporting words found in the Old. To my Jewish friends (I wish,) the Torah and Tenach. So it should all be good.

I also know that what I write includes so much of my heart and a strong disgust for religious zealots who add to the law, distort it, and impose their traditional teachings, merely because that is the way we have always taught some portion of scripture. Sadly, this is how I was taught and why I write, so that you and I can hopefully see the truth. 

On a humorous note, there is an old story where on a particular family holiday, one of the younger daughters, helping in the kitchen, asked the great-grandmother why they cut the ends off the roast before putting it in the oven? The reply changed everything that day as great-grandmother replied, I did it because my oven was too small. I will leave you to think about that.

 The next thing we encounter in Matthew’s gospel is,

The Visit of the Wise Men

“Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”
(Matthew 2:1-2 NASB)

Magi, what did they want and why were they demanding answers from Herod?

One brother in Christ, who is very skillful in the Word of God, explained that one of the roles of the Magi was to be kingdom changers, (Consider that this knowledgeable man had to look at other information, not contained within the pages of the Bible to make his valid assertion. I only point this out because a “brother in Christ” verbally lashed out at me, saying I do not believe that we should use extra-biblical texts and information to form our thoughts about God and scripture.) The Magi were the group of men that Daniel, as a young man, had been assigned to and eventually became the head of, while remaining a captive in Babylon.

Seeing the size of the entourage and perceiving a threat to his power, Herod went into panic mode and called the chief priests and elders before him to tell him what they knew about this situation.

“When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.”
(Matthew 2:3-4 NASB)

“When Herod the king heard this.”

What did he hear?

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.”

Since when has the Middle East changed so that you can merely gather up a large, armed crowd and go rolling up to another kingdom’s gates unannounced and immediately expect an audience with a king known to live in fear? It hasn’t, and so I don’t expect that was the case here, but the word was received and taken to the king. 

Now, what does the fearful man, Herod, do? 

He consults the people who most likely know the answer, the Jews, as they should know the prophecy.

All prophecy, like a criminal court case, must have two or three witnesses, one of those witnesses is found in the Book of Daniel. It is not likely that Herod, being a half-Jew, would have studied Daniel chapter seven, as it plays a significant role in testifying to what the angel declared to Mary as he explained the function of the child that she carried.

"He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have” no end.”
(Luke 1:32-33 NASB)

So, no, Herod would not know these words that we see in Luke’s gospel, as they were written long after Herod’s death, and that makes his fear and the lack of reaction by the elders even more peculiar.

The Magi, on the other hand, may have read Daniel's words with intensity.

“I kept looking in the night visions, And behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, And He came up to the Ancient of Days And was presented before Him. "And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away, And His kingdom is one Which will not be” destroyed.”
(Daniel 7:13-14 NASB)

The reply of the elders is alarming to me.

“So they, “told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it has been written by the prophet: ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a ruler who will shepherd My people Israel.’”
(Matthew 2:5-6 TLV)

They knew the answer to the question, but do we have any record that they went there and bowed before this new king?

Not at all. Herod responds to this by double-checking. Perhaps because even Herod could see that these magi are taking this king being born seriously and he calls them in to speak with them.

“Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star had appeared. And he sent them to Bethlehem “and said, “Go and search carefully for the Child. And when you have found Him, bring word back to me so that I may come and worship Him” as well.”
(Matthew 2:7-8 TLV)

With terminology such as “determined from them the exact time,” Herod now has a ballpark idea of how old this new king is; and nothing will happen until they come back to Herod and give him the word of exactly where to find the child. Watch what the magi do.

“After listening to the king, they went their way. And behold, the star they had seen in the east went on before them, until it came to rest over the place where the Child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with” great gladness.”
(Matthew 2:9-10 TLV)

These magi had not yet found the child but they will. They will not go back for the child's protection. Notice where the family is now living.

“And when they came into the house, they saw the Child with His mother Miriam; and they fell down and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their own country by another way.”
(Matthew 2:11-12 TLV)

Never once do you see the number three, what you do see are three specific names: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. A key word here is treasures, as the quantity may have been great and enough to sustain the family for several years. We, because of the age bracket that Herod ordered killed, would logically assume the age of Yeshua to be about two as they take off to the safety of Egypt.

“Now when they had gone (the magi), behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in a dream (so he has had a couple of these over the last few years), saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of Adonai appears to Joseph in“a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the Child, to kill Him.” So he got up, took the Child and His mother during the night, and went to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death. This was to fulfill what was spoken by Adonai through the“prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My son.” Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became furious. And he sent and killed all boys in Bethlehem and in all its surrounding area, from two years old and under, according to the time he had determined from the magi.”

(Matthew 2:13-16 TLV)

Astronomy.com tells us that “On the morning of August 12 in 3 B.C ., Jupiter and Venus would’ve sat just 1/10th a degree apart in the dawn sky. That’s one-fifth the diameter of the Full Moon. (The December 2020 conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn will have an identical separation, albeit in the evening sky.) That wasn’t the end of the show, either. Venus and Jupiter continued their dance over most of the next year before finally appearing to merge into a single star in June.”

So approximately August of C.5 Christ was born.? (I am still not clear. If time is based on this dramatic change called Jesus birth, all I wanted or needed was a solid time frame that I could start with. If this is based upon Christ, it would seem that this timeline information puts the starting point at five months. An obvious fact is that He was NOT born at six months old, we also know that the shepherds were with their flocks, and that tends to put His birth far enough into the season for shepherds to be working the flocks comfortably in the hillsides.) At the age of two, his family takes him to Egypt to protect him. History, (and I must admit this is rather sketchy), records that Herod died around April 4 B.C., therefore it would seem that the family was only in Egypt for slightly over a year. The presumption then is that Jesus was brought back to Nazareth when He was four or five.

Why is this information important?

First, this has never been clear in my head, and that may be because no one ever talked about it. Secondly, questions occasionally arise about Jesus from toddler to maturity, which in the Jewish culture seems to be about age 13, a time when the sons are required to step up and learn their father's trade. Three, I made the mistake of reading Kahlil Gibran's book Jesus the son of Man. The title alone should tell you something about the lack of understanding and possible disrespect the man had for Jesus. A point that Mr. Gibran tried to make was that Jesus may have been a malicious brat, as he allegedly injured animals and then healed them. Sorry, but that did not sound right then nor does it sound right now. 

After the incident where the family, while in Jerusalem, had to go looking for Jesus, a 12-year-old child, they found Him in the temple where He had been for two days discussing with the Jewish leaders the scriptures. Remember, all they had were the law and the prophets, and they were precious and expensive scrolls, that only the richest of synagogues had copies. So learning the scriptures was almost exclusively through repetitious hearing.

A problem with this entire process. If your child had a disability would you focus on that, merely enabling that they lean upon that disability, or would you focus on their ability? In Jesus' case, He, by those who knew about His birth, would have been called a mumzer – an illegitimate child; and those same people had a long history, based on the law, that allowed them to treat a child like this poorly. As far as I can see, Jesus, had He been known, would have been violently expelled from the temple. An answer to this lies in the outer courts of the temple, as these were accessible to even the gentiles.

The final thought on this tells us that after His parents found Him, and I am sure expressed their displeasure at Him being lost, is that Jesus submitted Himself wholly to their wishes until He was old enough, able to take care of Himself and act on His own accord. I am thinking now of Mary. As the eldest son Jesus would have probably been the one to care for her after Joseph died. Keep in mind that Mary continued to have other children and several of them, including sisters, may have taken that role.

We, don't see support from the other family members, nor do we hear anything about siblings until the day that they came to restrain Him – so to speak.

“When His family heard about this, they went out to take hold of Him; for they were saying, “He’s out of His mind!” 

(Mark 3:21 TLV)

He conflicted with the 600+, additional Jewish laws, but He was amazingly kind to the down and out while excoriating the scribes and the“Pharisees.

“Then His mother and brothers come. Standing outside, they sent word to Him, summoning Him. A crowd was sitting around Him, and they tell Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” Answering them, He said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” Looking at those sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” 

(Mark 3:31-35 TLV)

If Mary (Miriam) had not been the surrogate mother of Jesus we would probably never hear of her either.

I decided to post this, even though it is not, in my mind, done. 

I do not elaborate like this merely to convince you to think negatively about Jesus, just the opposite is true. If you happen to be one that thinks that every God aspect was little more than some high-speed download, I think that is illogical and works in opposition to His mission here on earth. Remember, He came as man and defeated Satan, as a human.

We have learned that Joseph, "his father," was a righteous man, some translations refer to Joseph as a good man. To be deemed a righteous man indicates that he was known among the synagogue crowd, as one that took notes (just kidding) and paid attention. Because of this he fastidiously practiced the scriptures with Jesus. 

So, how did Jesus become so knowledgeable? 

Joseph, his foster father. Let that sink in. 

If you do not know my Jesus He is as close as your breath. Merely submit yourself to the greater power and ask Him into your life, then watch the changes begin to happen because the Holy Spirit has now entered, permanently, and will begin teaching you all things and showing you things to come. 

If the rapture has come, there is no denying when that happened. (Yes, I know that the government has put it off on aliens taking the "bad" Christians off the earth.) 

If the church is gone all hell will begin to break loose. 

Constant rioting in the streets and death will come from multiple directions. Those you thought would be on your side and protect you, will be trying to kill you. Injections will be mandated that are intended to kill you. Efforts to monitor your every move will be demanded. The earth and the water supplies will be poisoned. The oceans will be filled with death. Commerce will come to a halt. The economies will become digital and tightly controlled, but will all, in a matter of time, will collapse. This time on earth, as seen in Revelation six and beyond, will include God's anger against unbelieving humanity and the Jews who rejected God. 

Within days of the Church being removed the antichrist persona will come to the forefront. If you have access to a Bible (it will be a forbidden book,) you can read about the emergence of the antichrist.

"Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a departing first, and (then) that that man of sin be disclosed, even the son of perdition,"                     (2 Thessalonians 2:3 Geneva)

Yes, I Americanized the old 15th-century wording, and yes, most translations use the phrase falling away. Just this morning, 3/11/23, I saw that the Church of England is now teaching four-year-old children, in their Sunday school class, about transitioning and perverted sex education. Try to convince me that we, the church, have not fallen over the cliff already. 

There is only one hope; it is Jesus, and if nothing else, make your life with Him personal. 

Trust me, once He touches your heart you will want to tell someone about Him.

To witness and to give you assurance of these things. Revelation 22:16.

 Why did Jesus have to remind John that His words are meant to give assurance of these things?

Because, He knew, somewhere down the road, that the enemy and those that follow the voice of the enemy will play into the enemy's hand and do their best to disenchant and distract you; and you will stagger at God's promise, our hope of heaven and a life with Christ.

Hear what Jesus said.

Revelation 22:16 AMP “I, Jesus, have sent My messenger (angel) to you to witness and to give you assurance of these things for the churches (assemblies). I am the Root (the Source) and the Offspring of David, the radiant and brilliant Morning Star.” [Isa. 11:1, 10.]

Since the Revelation spent a tremendous amount of time spelling out the horrors. The Prophet Isaiah also spends a good deal of time, but in this case, it spells out the beauty and the benefits.

“And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; And a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, Their young will lie down together, And the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, And the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea. Then in that day The nations will resort to the root of Jesse, Who will stand as a signal for the peoples; And His resting place will be glorious.”
(Isaiah 11:6-10 NASB)

Allow me to ask you a few questions.

Does the wolf dwell with the lamb, or does the leopard lie down with the young goat? How about the little boy leading them all?

Not a chance, as yet, but it will happen when the millennium begins. Isaiah tells us that “they will not hurt or destroy in My holy mountain,” and although there are references to Jerusalem being God's holy mountain, during the millennial reign His mountain will be in the center of it all.

Why?

Because the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. This statement just as easily could say, “The End,” but it doesn't; it prompts us to visualize the vastness of the ocean by saying, “as the waters cover the sea.” Try to imagine this, in all the areas in which the waters make up the sea, are there any holes through which you could look through and see the sea bed? That borders on the impossible. Well, this is how God sees the knowledge of who He is, His nature, and His character.

Full seems like such a simple word. If I filled a pitcher with water, it would be assumed that you could not, reasonably, put any more liquid in the pitcher. If you look the word up in Hebrew you will find that there is more to it than that. There are two possible spellings of mâlê', maw-lay' and mâlâ', maw-law' but the meanings do not change. The Word Study Dictionary only focuses on mâlê. While full is typically first on the list there is also fulfill, to finish, and to satisfy.

So if I changed one word in the sentence “For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea,” A simple word can change the impact and meaning of the sentence, and, since we are aware that there are known issues with many of the Bible translations, it could be that God wanted us to open our eyes and read it in the alternative form, “For the earth will be satisfied with the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” Currently, there is no way you could say that.

Some details from Revelation 22:16, and to do that I will put the verse before our eyes once again.

“I, Jesus, have sent My messenger (angel) to you to witness and to give you assurance of these things for the churches (assemblies). I am the Root (the Source) and the Offspring of David, the radiant and brilliant Morning Star.”

• Who is doing the talking?

  Both Jesus and an angel messenger.

• Why are they talking?

  To bring a witness.

  Ah, but a witness of what? A witness is often an eyewitness of an event or substantiation of something overheard. In either case, you should be able to understand why God emphasized two or more witnesses.

  Since the prophetic, to the Jew, and this includes the Apostle John, is a repeated pattern. Why is this repeated pattern so important? Because the prophecies given by say, Daniel, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, just to mention a few, are now being repeated in Revelation. The law said that NO single witness is capable of bringing about a conviction of a crime; there had to be two or three, and we have, in many cases, three witnesses.

  And to give you assurance of these things …

  Give me a moment, and I will finish the sentence, but first I want to point something out. We are bombarded, mostly by the mouths of religious zealots, although they don't see themselves that way; who will say to you, why do you persist in talking about these things; this, in their minds, is important because some of us, have been preaching the soon return of Jesus for over two thousand years. I suppose their statement implies that we are wasting our time. Do you find any assurance in attacks like that? No, I don't, either. A worship song has the line in it, I remind myself of all that He's done. Why would I repeatedly remind myself of all that He has done? Because we forget after time; because people will try to verbally beat the sound word out of you.

  What does the word assurance mean? The reality is that most of us reading this have an idea of what assurance means. Many might say this tells me that I can trust the person or witness standing before me. Webster's dictionary defines assurance as:

  1. The act of assuring, or of making a declaration in terms that furnish ground of confidence; as, I trusted to his assurances; or the act of furnishing any ground of full confidence. 2. Firm persuasion; full confidence or trust; freedom from doubt; certain expectation; the utmost certainty. 3. Firmness of mind; undoubting steadiness;

  The dictionaries definitions exude confidence. Now, internally, take a poll.

  How many of those people in your mental poll have a confident hope and assurance of what God has in store for them? Not very many were there.

  For the believer, the fulfillment of this hope and this life with the Father begins with the catching away of the church. For those who come into a relationship with Jesus during the time of wrath, it begins with their death during the seven years. millennial reign.

Why do you suppose (assuming that many of these heard the message of hope) they could not grasp the hope and make it theirs? 

Do you think it is merely the cares of this world, or has Satan blinded their eyes so that they cannot perceive the hope afforded to the believer in Jesus?

Maybe it is the faulty teachings that remind us that we are sinners and, therefore, not worthy of the Father's love.

All these questions are irrelevant if you have a tongue that can speak, eyes that can see, or a hand that can express the character and nature of the loving God that waits for us.

I wrote out a portion of verse sixteen and said, give me a moment, and I will finish the verse. That moment is here.

“ to give you assurance of these things for the churches.”

The messenger, even if it is me or the Word of God which you may have stumbled upon, is giving witness to and testifying that these things spoken about Jesus, the Father, heaven, our salvation from the wrath that is to shortly come, are our hope and promise. Our directive is to share this information, as best you can, with the church. I have thought about these things (as I remind myself of all that He has done,) and I am confident that you should also. These things are the evidence we have where Jesus fulfilled His promises about rising from the dead and that He would come back and collect His bride and take that bride back to the Father.

If you are in relationship with Him, then you too are His bride.

Locusts came out of the pit and stung like scorpions. Rev 9:1-6.

 

Assuming that you just stumbled onto this blog, we are studying the Revelation.

Why?

Because a great majority of the church has no idea what is in this book; and, even if you did manage to read it, do you have any idea who is the rider on the white horse, that we see in Revelation 6? We have already covered the answer to that question in a previous post, and it is fairly well identified so that you can go back and study that subject.

If you choose to understand, not only the Revelation, but any book of the Bible, you would do well to understand that the Bible is a Jewish-centered book. In the case of the Revelation, you can see evidence of that in Revelation 2:9 and again in Revelation 3:9. In both of those cases, the church bodies are referred to as the synagogue of Satan. I, in reading one day, noticed this and thought, most, among the nations (as a Gentile – non-Jew,) may not have a clue as to what a synagogue is, however, the Jewish reader has an immediate understanding. Inferences to God's chosen people, the Jewish people, and the nation of Israel are in virtually every book in the Bible. If this bothers you, then you better repent of your racism quickly and get used to change.

Quickly:

• Chapters 1-3 are a historic and spiritual description of the church as it has gone through the ages. Many of these churches were gone by the time John saw this vision, but in almost every way, these descriptions speak to some of us today.

• Revelation chapter four opens with these words, “After these things,” indicating an end of the church age and the migration into the time of God's judgment of Israel and the nations.

• Revelation chapter five seems as if it is going to be filled with grief, as, according to John, there is no one worthy to open the seals. Knowing what is to be revealed by the seals, it is hard to understand why anyone would be anticipating what is to come unless you have an expectancy of Christ's return for His bride. One of the elders comes to John and tells him, not to worry for the Lion of the tribe of Judah is worthy. Having that piece of information you would think that the next thing John sees would be something like Aslan of the Narnia chronicles, but what he sees is Jesus as the slaughtered lamb. Because of this disclosure chapter, five is one of the most glorious of the chapters.

• Revelation chapter six covers the beginning of God's wrath as represented by the opening of the six seals, which includes the introduction of the antichrist character.

  The seventh instrument of judgment, in this case, the sixth seal, is typically the announcement of the next phase of wrath, or, the final judgment, as we will see with the bowl judgments.

  Most importantly, you need to know that the wrath of God, was not and is not meant for those who are in Christ. That being said, it does not mean that you will not go through tribulation while you are on this alive on this earth, Jesus, so to speak, guaranteed that aspect. I will show you a verse, but first, let me say that most translated that as tribulations.

  John 16:33 NLT I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth, you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”

  How anyone survives the seal judgments is beyond me, and yet there are two more.

End of page one.

• Revelation chapter seven gives you details of what has been happening behind the scenes during the seal judgments; and, it points out that a mass slaughter of people who have come to an acceptance of Jesus as the Messiah, during this time of horror has happened. This redemption process continues throughout the time of wrath, to the point that the dead, because of their testimony, become uncountable. Praise God for that.

  We are also told, here in chapter seven, that God has the destruction stopped for a moment as they mark/seal 144,000 Jewish young men who have not been tainted by the world's desires – they are referred to as virgins. By the way, we, who have accepted Christ, have been sealed by the Holy Spirit.

  With the opening of the seventh seal, there is a half-hour of silence. One would get the impression that it has been very noisy so far, and the first shofar has yet to sound.

• Revelation chapter eight shows us the seventh seal, which portrays, the prayers of the saints, being mixed with burning incense, in one of the heavenly censers; it is then thrown to the earth. What follows is: peals of thunder, sounds, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. The seven trumpets or shofars begin to sound their judgments.

  The first shofar sounds.

  • Revelation 8:7 NASB The first angel sounded, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were thrown to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

  • Revelation 8:8-9 NASB The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, (9) and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

  • Revelation 8:10-11 NASB (10) The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. (11) The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the waters because they were made bitter.

  • Revelation 8:12 NASB The fourth angel sounded, and a third of the sun and a third of the moon and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them would be darkened and the day would not shine for a third of it, and the night in the same way.

  Revelation eight ends with an eagle, flying in mid-heaven and crying out with a loud voice, saying, woe woe woe to the inhabitants of the earth because of the trumpet blasts that are about to come.

  We ended our last post with this verse.

• Revelation 9:1 NASB Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him.

  Pay attention to the choice of words. Scripture does not, as yet, put this angel into the bottomless pit, that comes at the end of the time of wrath and the beginning of the millennial reign.

End of page two.

The fallen angel, does, however, have the keys to Sheol, another name for the bottomless pit, and it should be known that the possessor of the keys controls the fear factor associated with the pit.

So, who is this fallen angel?

Because Jesus tells us that He saw Lucifer, the day-star, thrown to earth, then we are talking about Satan.

Does Satan still have the keys?

Without question, NO!

Revelation 1:17-18 NASB (17) When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man. And He placed His right hand on me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, (18) and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

Because of that statement, we should no longer have any fear of Sheol.

With that introduction, let's continue on with the fifth shofar.

Revelation 9:1-6 NASB Then the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven which had fallen to the earth; and the key of the bottomless pit was given to him. (2) He opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke of the pit. (3) Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. (4) They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (5) And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. (6) And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.

I feel confident that this star that had fallen is Satan.

Things to make note of:

• “The key of the bottomless pit was given to him.”

  To understand this you have to grasp how much authority Adam had, and how he gave all of it over to Satan, along with the keys, one of which opened the bottomless pit.

• “He (Satan,) opened the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the pit, …; and the sun and air were darkened by the smoke of the pit.”

  But notice in verse 9:2 that it says it is “like the smoke of a huge furnace.” Since we can understand that there is a fire that burns forever, then there must be fire.

It is wise to either do your background homework or, not add or interject thoughts into the mix.

• “the sun was darkened, and the sky too, by the smoke from the shaft.”

  The word used for Sun is hēlios and means the rays or light. We can often understand this by relating this to an overcast day. Can we see? Mostly, but if I used the aftermath of Mount St. Helens and the ash storm that overtook the city, it turned the day into night and people had to turn on their headlights at midday.

End of page three.

Darkened is the Greek word skotóō and also means to cover with darkness. In Revelation 16:10 it is symbolic of distress, calamity, destruction.

Based upon these translations I can understand this two ways, one being a situation where the light is definitely muted but filled with distress, calamity, and destruction.

• “ out of the smoke came locusts”

  As annoying and destructive as locusts can be, these are a horror unto themselves.

• “ and power was given them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.”

  What? In what way are scorpions like locusts? Locusts are eating machines, but they limit their eating to plants. The scorpion on the other hand is a hunter; they sting victims that resist their crushing claws, paralyze and eat them. Scorpions don't eat people, they defend themselves from people with the same toxic venom; that could kill someone like me.

• “ They were told not to hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”

  Here again, is another wordplay scenario. What did we just discuss? The fact that these LOCUSTS were given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. Revelation 9:4 tells us that they are not here to eat plants, but to attack any human that DOES NOT have the seal of God on their foreheads.

  So, how many people have this seal on their foreheads?

  144,000 Jews.

  If you are a Jehovah's Witness and believe that your “prophets” are a part of this marked crowd, you will have a rude awakening, for unless these high ranking people among your cult religion have a practical, working relationship with Jesus Christ, they are, in all likelihood, going into Sheol.

  Is it possible that some would argue that the antichrist has marked people and therefore, be confused with those that God has marked and therefore, be bypassed by these hellish locusts?

  A question like this is entrenched with fear and twisted logic. Oh sure, you can argue, but you are not going to change God's plan and direction; and, you must remember that these “stinging locusts” are a part of God's wrath. (Yes, there will be a point in time, in which God will pour out His wrath, contrary to some people's opinion.)

  So ask yourself, are you a part of the family of God - one who has accepted that Jesus died for you, or, are you still conjoined with the nations/Gentiles?

  If your answer is the Gentiles, then there is the possibility that you were never a part of the church anyway and, therefore, subject to God's wrath.

  Satan has always mocked and copied aspects of God's ways. We see this with the marking that the antichrist dispenses, however, there is nothing, that I see, in scripture that indicates anything like this happens.

End of page four.

• “And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man. (6) And in those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.”

  These things have a mandate to “hurt” the people of the earth.

  Who are they hurting?

  Anyone they can sink their teeth or stinger into, this includes those who will, in time, get martyred for their testimony, and it includes those who think their money can protect them. For some reason, I can see these things crawling through cracks and door openings as they hunt you.

  They ARE NOT permitted to kill anyone. I could be killed by a bee sting simply by going into Anaphylactic shock, and yet these things will NOT kill but merely bring a dreadful torment.

  “In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them.”.

  Think about this, for five months it would appear that no one can die, merely suffer dreadfully.

Have you ever heard fools say, when it snows in hell I'll ski there too. You are either so blind, or foolish, to think that God's wrath and the ensuing hell is something to toy with; obviously, it is not.

It feels that the entirety of my reasons for trying to make the Revelation clear is to keep people from having to endure the wrath that is to come. It seems rather obvious that if you could bypass God's wrath, that you would bypass hell; and, since followers of Christ are to be caught up to heaven, then, we would be in heaven, with the Father.

An interesting parable is the one about the ten virgins. All of them got an invitation to the marriage supper, and yet, if you know how this story goes, you know that half of them did not take extra oil. I have heard the oil referred to several things, one of which would be the Holy Spirit. But there is a more practical side of this, and that would be, the callous attitude that those without sufficient oil demonstrated to the others. Those without the oil did not humble themselves, nor ask if they could follow after those who had plenty; they demanded that the other give them of what they had.

Since this life, we have in Christ, is, as so many expect, based upon the idea of what would Jesus do, we can assume that He would have had enough, or, at the least, allowed for others to follow Him. If you know the story, then you know that none of those without thought to ask that question.

What did they do?

They went about the dark community scrounging. I suspect that this did not go so well for them.

When they returned, after chasing around the village looking for oil they could buy, were they able to gain entry to the event they had been invited to? The answer is NO.

Why would you take that chance? Fill your tanks now by accepting Christ into your life.