God's people and the beloved city, are surrounded. Revelation 20:9-15.

 The defeat of Satan.

I would guess that many of you thought this would never happen; well, it will. Our confidence concerning this comes from the scriptures, all of which have proven that God is faithful to His word; and we happen to be looking at an aspect of that Word.

For the followers of Christ - those actively waiting for Him, the catching away of the church will happen any day now; at that point in time, Satan will no longer be an issue. That fallen angel, with his annoying ways, will no longer give those of us in Christ any more trouble.

On the other hand, if you are one of those who have to try and live through the seven years of God's wrath, “they,” will, within a short period of time, be coming for you to kill you.

I can hear some of you saying, Hey, I have sat in church on occasions and I am confident that I deserve to be called a Christian. Because of that, I am sure that I will be gathered up with the church when the rapture comes. If you don't want to believe this can happen, then look at this.

"Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. (2) "Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. (3) "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, (4) but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. (5) "Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. (6) "But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.' (7) "Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. (8) "The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps, are going out.' (9) "But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.' (10) "And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. (11) "Later the other virgins also came, saying, 'Lord, lord, open up for us.' (12) "But he answered, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.' (13) "Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” Matthew 25:1-13 NASB

If you paid attention, then you would have noticed that they were all virgins, and yet 50% did not get into the party.

• As an analogy, you might think that this conveys that they were good Jewish girls and pure of heart. Apparently, that is not the case.

  The term virgins also expresses that this is a young woman who has never had sexual relations with a man, and therefore marriageable in the Jewish community. While this tells us that she obeyed her father's rules, it does not tell us about the quality of the heart.

• Verse 2 tells us that five of them were foolish. This is explained in verses three and four.

  “"For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, (4) but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.”

  Foolish is the Gk word mo-ros' and means dull or stupid.

  Prudent is the Greek word phronimos. It means to be intelligent, wise, prudent, i.e. mindful of one’s interests.

• From verse five. “...while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.”

  God does not see this as a negative; but while five were mindful to take extra oil with them, five were lazy and did not care anymore.

• If you think they were such precious young ladies, then pay attention to what verse eight conveys from the Contemporary English Version.

  “The foolish ones said to the others, "Let us have some of your oil! Our lamps are going out."

  All of a sudden they are demanding oil, as though the world owes them something.

Who can I equate this to?

Those who, like an acquaintance of mine, was inclined to tell me, that I was wasting my time and others by saying that Jesus was coming back soon.

Many of us see the ten virgins as an analogy of the church.

If that is correct, then we are looking at fifty percent of the “so-called” church, acting like that brother in Christ who chooses to berate anybody who is a proponent for the soon coming of Christ for His bride. (This concept could be mine alone; but what if I am right? Are you looking for Jesus or are you being dull and stupid? )

My advice to you, in whatever dire strait you find yourself in, is to hold tightly to Jesus Christ for He is your faith and hope for a future with the Father.

The reality is that we are NOT going back to normal, whatever that looks like for you. Those who gather at the World Economic Forum have done their damage and created the atmosphere to bring about their openly stated New World Order. Ukraine, Lebanon, and others are already having serious food shortages. It will not be long until people will be coming after the Christians, to kill them, partially because many of us have stood against these foolish global dominance efforts. So in effect, the end, as far as your life among the heathen, will come quickly for many.

In the last post, we covered Revelation 20, verses seven and eight.

Let's pick up from there and move forward.

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. (Revelation 20:7-8 NASB)

These people – the nations, will have heard and chosen to ignore, the same message that brought many of us to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

He will fool the countries of Gog and Magog, which are at the far ends of the earth, and their people will follow him into battle. They will have as many followers as there are grains of sand along the beach, (Revelation 20:8 CEV)

Immediately my mind says here are some familiar names, so what is the relationship to the Old Testament?

In looking at the children of Israel (Jacob), there is an allusion to Reuben, but the allusion ends almost as quickly as it comes, and the father of Gog, we are told, is Joel.

Suddenly, I am aware that I have never paid attention to this Joel and have no idea who he is.

Alright, who fathered Joel?

The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary gives us this.

“Now the sons of Reuben — In proceeding to give this genealogy, the sacred historian states, in a parenthesis (1Ch_5:1, 1Ch_5:2), the reason why it was not placed first, as Reuben was the oldest son of Jacob. The birthright, which by a foul crime he had forfeited, implied not only dominion, but a double portion (Deu_21:17); and both of these were transferred to Joseph,”

"That foul crime," as JFB, side steps, was to take one of his father's concubines to bed.

What if Joel was the product of that indiscretion?

The answer lies in pure speculation, so we will leave that hanging there.

Matthew Poole's commentary claims that Joel was the son of Hanoch, Reuben's first-born, or Carmi. Again, we have NO scriptural evidence. It is possible that the answer lies in Jewish history, but some would call that extra-biblical information and disregard it immediately.

What is evident, is that Joel, NOT the prophet, was of the lineage through Reuben and that he was the father of Shemaiah, Gog, and Shimei.

The one that catches our attention is Gog.

Why do I point out that Gog is a descendant of Reuben? We, of a religious bent, tend to think that Jacob was a Pentecostal. I am being facetious to make a point. There were NO Jews as yet, and certainly NO organized religion that we can associate with Jacob.

In fairness, Jacob was a descendant of Abraham, a man with whom God spoke and made a covenant. And yet, no one should be able to declare that Abraham lived under the tenants of organized religion. Abraham and any of his descendants that followed in his path became aware of 'ĕlôhı̂ym, the Supreme God and the plural of 'ĕlôahh. So Abraham, and every descendant he could speak to, was introduced to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit through this plural God, ĕlôhı̂ym.

We can't call them Jews at this point in the study, as the name Jew, a derivative of Judah, did not get attributed to them until long after the exit from Egypt, and that is still to come. Since most people of this time period primarily passed along their culture and history through oral tradition, then it is safe to assume that Jacob would have known of ĕlôhı̂ym and the covenant this Supreme God made with Abraham.

What we struggle to see, is how this knowledge changed Jacob's life or anyone else's. If I based my inclinations as to how they were directed, on the family of Jacob, then his sons lose me, as they tried to kill their brother Joseph; murdered an entire community over how their king's son treated their sister, Dinah; they lied repeatedly; and, Reuben apparently chose to ignore familial boundaries and had sex with one of his father's concubine.

So, if I am considering a descendant named Gog, and trying to sort out what motivates this man's eventual actions, then how much of Abraham's moral fiber and character can still be attributed to this Gog character?

Not much and following this family's patterns demonstrate that.

Is this Gog, the son of Joel, the same Gog that we see in Revelation 20?

I want to say, get real. There is no way this is physically the same person, but the spirit may be.

One last look at Revelation 20:8.

He will go out to trick the nations in all the earth, the nations known as Gog and Magog. Satan will gather the people for battle. There will be more people than anyone can count, like sand on the seashore. (Revelation 20:8 ERV)

• “He” is Satan.

• “Will go out to trick the nations in all the earth”

  Deceive or trick, it does not matter. It is the Greek word planaō and means to roam from safety or truth. It also means to go astray, or wander in your mind.

  This statement implies that these people are at least aware of the truth. If it is true that Satan wants you to wander in your mind, then how do you fight that?

  You get your spirit firmly planted in the Word of God.

• “ the nations known as Gog and Magog.”

  We are talking about the descendants of Gog and Magog. One of the confusing things for us, in this modern age, is that we are familiar with Magog as a region. Ah, but all these nations, primarily North of Turkey, began as a person, a descendant of Noah's sons then became a people group, and, in time, enemies of Israel. (As an interesting side note, Magog sits in a region that was known as the Scythians. To describe these people makes me think of Genghis Khan or the Vikings, as they were nothing short of feared and vicious horsemen. Fortunately, God won't allow us to revert back to being brutal savages, as we are dealing with a time in which there will be peace.)

  The way science and industry are going you might think Star Trek could be a reality. That thought process quickly comes to a halt when you consider all the damage that God does to the earth during the seven-year period. Add to that the fact that the Bible indicates He will burn up the earth and the heavens with fire and start over. Since humans (let's spice this up and call them mortals,) will be living on the earth, right up to the great white throne, then this burning would toast them all and prematurely end the story; so I am not clear when that refurbishing takes place. (Just in case you think I relish the mistaken idea that everyone that stands before the great white throne goes to hell, Matthew 25 plainly indicates that some, called sheep, gain entrance into the eternal kingdom. If this is true and it is, then our sadistic theology is broken, and there is no logical reason to have such a throne, as God could merely just throw away those He seemingly hates.) What is clear to me, is that what we consider technological advancement does not fit into God's plan.

An uncountable number of people have now come against God.

Revelation 20:9 NASB And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

Image that, the camaraderie, the strange smiles of agreement, and that I really don't know why I am here kind of look. Israel fronts the sea on one side, so as best they can, they have surrounded the city of God, the city of Gold. You might think that there would be an immediate sense of futility. Then the question, is everybody here? Oh, good. And fire comes down from heaven and devours them. Devour is the Greek word katesthiō and means to eat down.

Revelation 20:10 NLT  Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

All those that attacked the city; the freshly dead, they just seem to lie there quietly with no thought. Meanwhile, Satan is grabbed without any fanfare and thrown into the lake of fire. There he joins the false prophet and the antichrist character, which is called the beast, for an eternal bath in fiery torment; and yes, it says “they” implying that Satan is also tormented, forever.

The NASB entitles this next section,

Judgment Before the Great White Throne

Revelation 20:11 NASB Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

Hold on for a second, something just changed and I cannot remember anyone talking about this. Ignore the great white throne for a minute, because earth and heaven just fled away from the presence of Him who is sitting upon it.

• “Him who sat upon it,”

  Our immediate response, if anybody were to ask, is that it is God. That is, in part correct, but in spite of the fact that Scripture repeatedly points out that ALL judgment has been handed over to the Son, we rarely ever say IT'S JESUS.

• “from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.”

  The Moffatt translation finishes this sentence by saying, “no more to be found.”

  We assumed that this great white throne would sit on the plains of Megiddo or on some high hill so that everyone could see. Now, I think it is sitting in the sky and is large enough for everyone to see. To be honest, I can see how this should be nightmarish for some.

  But we have one more problem, and it is one that seems to solve many others, as the sky, as we know it, along with the earth, disappear.

  • Where did all the dead go?

  • Where did all the people, we thought were going to be standing before the great throne, get off to?

  • Where did He put Holy City?

  • And, how do you make the sky disappear?

I have, for some time, been trying to explain that almost everything in scripture is the polar opposite of what you were taught. Only the dead come before the throne, and so these “dead” are souls that are alive. God can do anything so having these souls stand before Him, while the earth is gone, is nothing. The quantity of dead or the era in which they died means nothing. Having been bypassed in the rapture of the church, all those years earlier, you would think there was no hope for them. But Matthew's account demonstrates that JESUS looked in those books to see if any did good works, and He found some. Bizarre as it seems, those He found all had their names written in the book of life, and they were granted life in the eternal kingdom. Were they changed, so that they don't bring their damaged life in with them? Of course, they were; and scripture tells us so.

Revelation 20:12 GW  I saw the dead, both important and unimportant people, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened, including the Book of Life. The dead were judged on the basis of what they had done, as recorded in the books.

Almost every translation says something similar, “ The dead were judged on the basis of what they had done, as recorded in the books.” This is NOT what they teach you in Sunday school.

The dead came from everywhere. We, only moments ago, talked about the uncountable number that Satan deceived, but of those, who under radio silence, had their war vessel shot out from under them during WW11. Survivors had to jump into the sea and then had to watch as the sharks picked off many of the survivors. Those sharks scattered their remains across the seafloor where the currents move their cells across thousands of miles. You should get my point, God only needs one cell to rebuild a body if He needs it.

Revelation 20:13 GW  The sea gave up its dead. Death and hell gave up their dead. People were judged based on what they had done.

Dead from everywhere are gathered, and judged based upon what they had done. Some will ask, what do I have to do? Well, Jesus explained that when He told them,

'For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' (Matthew 25:35-36 NASB)

And finally, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. What does that mean? It means that the fear of death and hades were also eliminated, quite possibly to never be spoken of again. That would be nice.

Revelation 20:14 NASB Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

What is the first death?

Perhaps this is it.

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17 NASB)

They could not see it, but it happened, and death happened all around them. It was in some ways a slow death, in other ways, like in the spirit of the couple, it was instantaneous and they knew it, as the ease of communication with the Father ended abruptly.

This last verse of Revelation 20 is almost always read with an ominous tone.

Revelation 20:15 NASB And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

No followers of Christ were there, even those who wanted to spectate. This crowd only consists of the dead. Most, and understandably so, would assume that they were the dead in spirit, not having a relationship with Jesus. The problem is we cannot see the heart, where God looks; and, there is one other thing, we constantly forget that the law of God is written upon every heart. It is that law that motivates to do good. We can label it deeds or works, but God sees the motive that we seem to miss.

To the degree that she glorified herself. Revelation 18:6-20.

We ended our last look into Revelation 18 on verse five. So what does verse five say?

For her iniquities (her crimes and transgressions) are piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness and [her] crimes [and calls them up for settlement].
[Jeremiah. 51:9.] (Revelation 18:5 AMP)

If you are unfamiliar with the Amplified Bible’s logic, things in brackets [ ] are meant to give you deeper insights into the verse at hand. Not that the brackets are inappropriate but occasionally, I struggle to understand the point they are trying to make. The other thing that affects my understanding is that Revelation 18:5 is NOT a standalone verse, as the context is lacking. The context begins in verse two and immediately begins referring to Babylon. As I said in my previous post, Babylon is little more than a ghost town, much like an old, forgotten mining community that you find in our American deserts. I realize that what I am telling you is in opposition to Dr. Andy Woods, but Babylon, the physical city, will never rise again.  If what I am saying is valid, then Babylon represents something else.

Ah, the next question is, what is that something else?

In the previous post covering Revelation 18:1-5, I gave examples of how Babylon references Israel. I am not going to cover all those references here but merely say that the references to Babylon are indicative of Israel.

In the passage above, there is a clarifying statement [and calls them up for settlement] that is apparently found in the words of the Prophet Jeremiah. So let's pursue Jeremiah for a moment.

We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed. Forsake her and let us each go to his own country, for her guilt and the judgment against her reach to heaven and are lifted even to the skies. [Gen. 18:20, 21.] (Jeremiah 51:9 AMP)

• “We would have healed Babylon,”

  If it’s not Babylon, to whom is the speaker referring? 

  I could say that the speaker is Jeremiah; if that is the case, then I have to assume that Jeremiah and company are the ones that attempted to heal Babylon.

  Why would they do that, as Babylon was perceived as the enemy?

  Any healing would have to be through a conversion to being Jews, and we know that wouldn't happen. The other possibility would be that Jeremiah and company would infuse thousands of dollars into Babylon so that they could see how horrible their techniques and prisons are. I am being facetious because you know that neither of those things happened. So the healing assumption doesn't work unless I apply this reasoning to Israel, and then I can see Jeremiah's heart as he hopes the words he speaks can bring about healing to Israel.

  I opened my MacArthur Study Bible to read the introduction to the prophecies of Jeremiah, and here is what I found.

  He was known as the weeping prophet because of his conflict over predictions of judgment against Israel by the invading Babylonians. For these prophecies, he was threatened, tried for his life, put in stocks, forced to flee from Jehoiakim, publicly humiliated by a false prophet, and thrown into a septic waste pit.  Once the invasion of Judah was inevitable, he pled with Jewish leaders not to resist the Babylonian conqueror to prevent Jerusalem’s destruction.

  And, he called on delegates of other nations to heed his counsel and submit to Babylon. When Babylon invaded Egypt in 568, 567 B.C., Jeremiah was taken captive to Babylon. Jeremiah was from Judah, the Southern kingdom, and the last to go into captivity. My MacArthur commentary tells me that Judah was engrossed in blatant idolatry. I bring this bit of history into the equation as it is difficult, at best, to heal an invading nation.

  I began to look through my commentaries to see what they had to say, especially since my first assumption is that “We represents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” One comment, in particular, caught my eye when it said, remove the word would.

  My immediate reaction was why, and based upon what?

  I began looking into the Strong’s concordance a short time later, and I found this.

  The word translated as “We would have healed” by most is the Hebrew word râphâ'  or  râphâh; they both mean the same thing. It is a primitive root; properly to mend, to cure, cause to heal, make whole.

  So Jeremiah 51:9 could be read like this.

  “We tried to heal Babylon, but she cannot be healed. So let us leave her and let each of us go to our own country. God in heaven will decide Babylon's punishment. He will decide what will happen to Babylon. (Jeremiah 51:9 ERV)

If I contrast Babylon with Israel, this statement, “she cannot be healed,” is immensely harsh. If you are a Bible student, then you know that the entirety of the Revelation shows us God’s punishment upon Israel for their sins and their rejection of God; and it is also a punishment against the nations for similar reasons.

So what do we see next?

Revelation 18:6 CEV  Treat her as she has treated others. Make her pay double for what she has done. Make her drink twice as much of what she mixed for others.

If this is Israel, then watch this.

Jeremiah 16:14-18 NASB "Therefore behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,' (15) but, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers. (16) "Behold, I am going to send for many fishermen," declares the LORD, "and they will fish for them; and afterwards I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks. (17) "For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. (18) "I will first doubly repay their iniquity and their sin because they have polluted My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable idols and with their abominations."

The people in the land of Israel have been brought back from the land of the North and from all the countries where He had banished them. And, He has restored them to their land.

If Revelation 18:6 is speaking about Babylon, don't you find it peculiar that Jeremiah 16:18 uses comparable language specifically against Israel?

Revelation 18:7 NASB "To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, 'I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.'

But we are not to make accusations with two or three witnesses. So how about this.

"Yet you said, 'I will be a queen forever.' These things you did not consider Nor remember the outcome of them. "Now, then, hear this, you sensual one, Who dwells securely, Who says in your heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know loss of children.' (Isaiah 47:7-8 NASB)

Does the context of Isaiah 47 cover Israel?

Absolutely, and yet the impulsive translation writers titled this chapter “the humiliation of Babylon;” and yet, look at this verse.

"Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; Sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans! For you shall no longer be called tender and delicate. (Isaiah 47:1 NASB)

It appears that God is talking to the virgin daughter of Babylon. Now, I have to figure out who might fill this role.

Babylon had no virgin daughter, although some might argue that the conquering nations, such as the Medo-Persian empire, could have filled that function, or perhaps the Chaldeans were entitled to carry that name. If that is your belief or understanding, then prove it by your Biblical witnesses. There aren't any. So the characterization of the virgin daughter of Babylon falls upon Israel. (Consider that I use that term lightly as they were NOT the unified nation of Israel when they went into captivity – the kingdom was split into the Northern kingdom of Israel and the Southern kingdom of Judah. Judah is where we found King David, and then even that was not without struggle.)

Consider what Jeremiah 14 tells us.

“The people also to whom they are prophesying will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to bury them--neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters--for I will pour out their own wickedness on them. "You will say this word to them, 'Let my eyes flow down with tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound.”
(Jeremiah 14:16-17 NASB)

Consider how the captives of Babylon - those of the faith camp, had false prophets telling them, God will deliver us quickly from this vile place. In opposition to those claims was Jeremiah the prophet, who told the captives, which included himself, to build houses, plant gardens and eat the fruit, and take wives for your sons and daughters because we will be here for a long time. (Read Jeremiah 29 in your spare time.)

Is it possible that this seventy-year span is where Israel became the daughter of Babylon?

Perhaps, but there was to be an end to the captivity. The daughter would then be freed to marry herself to whoever; this seems like a redundant statement considering how Israel had married themselves to many nations and their gods. So why should their time in Babylon be any different?

'Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. (Jeremiah 25:12 NASB)

Consider that Daniel chapter 9 tells us that Daniel ascertained by books that the seventy years had been completed.

In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans--in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely, seventy years. (Daniel 9:1-2 NASB)

That means that Israel's freedom from Babylon's captivity; and the eventual, everlasting desolation of Babylon was only a short time away.

And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It will never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds make their flocks lie down there. But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and shaggy goats will frolic there. Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious palaces. Her fateful time also will soon come, and her days will not be prolonged. (Isaiah 13:19-22 NASB)

In 2022, many of us are focused on Damascus, as this city has a drastic prophecy declared against it; yet there it stands, receiving air shipments of weapons for usage against Israel. Hmm.

Revelation 18:8 NASB "For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.

As I read through the Revelation and Daniel’s prophecies, it seems that so much of the damage that Israel is to sustain can quickly come in an hour, but do we talk about it? No, for it is too uncomfortable and challenges previous false teachings. One of the dramatic moments in time that gets spoken of frequently is Revelation 18:9-20. This monumental passage speaks of Babylon being destroyed in an hour.

Verse eight above tells us that Babylon is destroyed in a day, and yet here, in verses 9-20, it is destroyed in an hour. I am not sure the amount of time matters, as devastating loss is still a loss.

"And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, 'woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour, your judgment has come.' "And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargoes any more--cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, and every kind of citron wood and every article of ivory and every article made from very costly wood and bronze and iron and marble, and cinnamon and spice and incense and perfume and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and cargoes of horses and chariots and slaves and human lives. "The fruit you long for has gone from you, and all things that were luxurious and splendid have passed away from you, and men will no longer find them. "The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, she who was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls; for in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!' And every ship-master and every passenger and sailor, and as many as make their living by the sea, stood at a distance, and were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, 'What city is like the great city?' "And they threw dust on their heads and were crying out, weeping and mourning, saying, 'Woe, woe, the great city, in which all who had ships at sea became rich by her wealth, for in one hour she has been laid waste!' "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her." (Revelation 18:9-20 NASB)

I have introduced several things for you to think about, so what did Revelation 18:7 say?

“To the degree that she [Israel] glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, 'I SIT as A QUEEN AND I AM NOT A WIDOW, and will never see mourning.”

Since we have a comprehension that Revelation 18 is also referring to Israel as well as a "spiritual" Babylon, you may not be aware that many Jews, to this very day, will say we have NEVER been in captivity or slaves to anyone.

Are you serious? What about Egypt, and what about Babylon? Perhaps Israel should have tried repentance and mourning. Now, here comes perspective. Though an analogy of Israel, Babylon is speaking about an empire, perceived as a beast and shown to be a harlot that motivates the current financial greed, idol worship, and blatant adultery against God.

What does verse 8 tell us? Not only will the “governmental and economic” system collapse in a day, but so will Israel. Ezekiel tells us that only a third will survive what is coming. Ezekiel 5:12 is the passage that tells me that only one-third of Israel survives, and quite possibly makes it into the millennial kingdom.

'One-third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. (Ezekiel 5:12 NASB)

Merely because the verse says that one-third will die by plague does not mean this will happen in a day. In contrast to what we think it means, an interesting aspect of the word plague is that it is the Hebrew word deber and means pestilence - in the sense of destroying. In a sense, our first introduction to plagues was those placed upon Egypt to force Pharaoh to let God’s people go. 

Webster’s dictionary describes plagues as acute, malignant, and contagious diseases. The black plague was associated with filth and rats in the dark ages. The plagues upon Egypt included boils, gnats, and frogs, among other things.

Since our word deber originated from another word, dâbar, perhaps we need to include this definition to clarify our understanding. The Hebrew word dâbar is assumed to properly mean arrange, but this does not make sense in the context of plague or pestilence. One of the other meanings is to subdue. If you use the word subdue in conjunction with contagious diseases, you should be able to make the connection between the C19 injections and this unprecedented population reduction program, that eventually, for Israel, kills off one-third of its population.

I need to talk about death for a moment.

On Sunday, February 10 of 2019, my mother went home to be with Jesus.

Only a few days have passed since she died and I find myself talking about her death with a smile on my face. How can I do that? To answer that I have to back up a couple of months.

When we learned there was a probability of mom having pancreatic cancer, it was mid-December. The primary piece of evidence for this diagnosis was a blood test. Normal readings on her pancreas should have been 13; hers were 1100, but, from what I understand, the Doctor could not decisively say he was dealing with pancreatic cancer because he did not have a biopsy (The Doctor also felt it was foolish to put mom through a biopsy surgery, at this point.)
I have known people who obtained a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and died painful deaths within months.

Some will doubt this, but I heard the Holy Spirit say, “she only has two months to live.” I knew that this information, with no definitive evidence, would not be received well, and it was not. I told the family member who shared the vague information from the doctor with me, no good will come of this. I did not say this to be negative, I listen to the Holy Spirit, and that is what I heard. Oh, there is always the possibility of some good, as I serve a God who is never without a plan. At 82, mom had few realistic options, especially since the last surgery she had, a hip surgery, was very hard on her and she fought, prematurely, to leave the hospital. I told you all that to say; I feel the Lord was preparing some of us, for her departure.

Another reason I can smile is that I know where she went. She went home to be with Jesus. I have looked into this phrase before, and spoken about it in my blog; however, I will admit that the scripture reference is just a little thin. We say: “To be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord.” But here is what Paul said,

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 NASB (6) Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord-- (7) for we walk by faith, not by sight-- (8) we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord.

Let's logically attack this for a moment.

• knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord.”

If being at home in my body, makes me absent from the Lord, then the inverse must be true. Therefore, if I am absent from my body, then I must be present with the Lord. Of course, I left out a minor detail, as this is all contingent upon a relationship with Jesus Christ.

A simple explanation goes like this – when Jesus was asked what must a person do to be saved, Jesus responded with, "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the one sent by the Father." Well, that is what my mother did, as mom had a long term relationship with Jesus Christ and longed to be with Him. I too have this kind of relationship with Jesus. The Apostle Paul went on to say that the preferred condition would be, “to be absent from the body and be home with the Lord.”
So, I had time to say goodbye, and to tell mom that she could go home if she wanted to. And, I have the knowledge that she is at peace, rejoicing in heaven with Jesus, just as she longed to do.

Is there emotional pains, certainly, and some are much more trouble than others; and, there was an abundance of family drama. One of the ways I have learned to deal with the drama is a simple phrase, it is not my circus, and they are not my monkeys. While that works to some degree, it is often difficult to keep the monkeys from throwing their food and debris at you, and that makes life difficult at times.

A friend of mine insists that we, as the church, are destined to go through the seven years of God's wrath. I have tried, in several ways, through scripture, to show him how wrong he is. On my last chance to spend time with my mother, I was lying near her, holding her hand, and watching Charles Stanley on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, the night before she died. On this night my friend sent me a message explaining how he had challenged some Christians about their belief in a pre-tribulation rapture. Sadly, we, as the church, seem to think that we get to escape ALL tribulation and discomfort. My response to this belief that we get to escape discomfort is, we are fortunate to have been born in the United States. How do you, who think discomfort means you are not a believer, explain the horrendous torment followers of Christ in the Middle East, African nations, and China, for example, go through? When did I respond to his message I told him that I was lying next to my mom, who was dying of pancreatic cancer and did he not think that this was a fiery trial? It was and continues to be for some.


Jesus told us, that in this world we would have tribulations. Welcome to the world, and welcome to this life we have in Christ. It is real, and there nothing you can do to avoid the discomforts of the world.

Where do we go when we die? A spin-off of our home group.

A couple of times a month, a brother in Christ opens his home, and a few of us gather for a home church meeting. This brother-in-Christ does the teaching/preaching and recently attempted to cover the question – where do we go when we die?

He had a well-drawn graphic which showed what many call the upper level and the lower level of hell. While he had some additional terminology essentially what we saw, according to our teacher that night, is representative of hell.

A typical representation of hell.

In theory, all this conjecture about multiple layers of hell is based on the “story” about the rich man and the poor beggar Lazarus. As you may remember, Lazarus was now comforted in Abraham's bosom, while the rich man was now in torment, separated by a great gulf. As the evening progressed, all of what we saw in the graphic was interpreted as spiritual places. I had to question that concept because the rich man was in torment, and his condition sounded very physical to me.

He opened by asking the group this question, do you believe you would be in the Lord's presence when you die?
I was unclear what he was trying to accomplish, and so I asked him if he wanted an answer from the group. He replied, yes. While a few others raised their hands, I was, in those few seconds, the only one that added because to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. I said nothing more to clarify my statement as most every follower of Christ has heard this passage at some point.

2 Corinthians 5:8 NLT  Yes, we are fully confident, and we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord.

Apparently, our leader had not heard anything like this, and though he said nothing as a challenge, his utterances indicated disbelief. Several minutes later, another brother-in-Christ interjected with the passage, to which the leader replied, oh, that is in the Bible.

The next question/statement went like this: then is it true that the dead know nothing and merely lay in the ground until some day of judgment? Again I replied, yes, both statements are true. The man leading the group would not acknowledge or look at me. No, it is not all about me, but some form of recognition that you heard what I said would be nice.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 NLT  The living at least know they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, nor are they remembered.

Ever since I read this passage years ago, I have understood nothing less than the dead, lying in the ground, in some form of sleep, until they are awakened and brought before the great white for final judgment. Now, I could be wrong. For one, there are those stories of people that have died and spent time in hell, and they describe it as pure torment. Something doesn't make sense. I suppose this is one of the primary reasons I stay away from this topic.

Let me show you what I might use to substantiate what I understand about the dead.
Matthew 25:31-34 NASB "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. (32) "All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; (33) and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. (34) "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

The struggle most people seem to have with this is that they see these, from the nations, as alive. Alright, how do we understand this then?

First, this is the same scenario that we see in Revelation 20. Make a note of the thrones:

• In the Revelation account, we only comprehend those before the throne to be dead while Matthew's rendition presents them as alive. Keep in mind that death is a relative term as we never really die. Jesus, on the cross, cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me. We understand from that He experienced a total and complete separation, and that friends is death.

• In the Revelation account, we see the book of life; however, all we see is the result of those not being found in the book of life. In contrast, Matthew's account shows us no books in the event, and yet many receive mercy.

The assumption most make is that there is no one found worthy of salvation and all are thrown into the lake of fire, henceforth hell. But an honest inquiry into this verse will show you that Revelation 20:12 speaks of books; the implication is that God is desperately looking for those to which He can show mercy. To see this any other way, is nothing less than a cruel and morbid joke on God's part, for He knew whether He would find their names in those books, and is therefore merely having fun at the expense of those standing there. Anyone who understands God's nature knows that this scenario would never happen.

Consider this. God so loved this world so much, that even while they spit in His face, He gave His only Son, Jesus, so that through the horrors of death He could redeem the world and then they could love Him freely if they chose.

• In contrast to the Revelation account, Matthew tells us that He already knows the answer to what His eyes were searching for in those books, and therefore, separates the crowd into sheep and goats. He gives those He deems sheep entrance into the kingdom of peace.

Puzzled, knowing that they did not measure up by religious standards, they ask, what did we do to deserve entrance into the kingdom of Heaven?
What did they do that gained their entrance into the kingdom? They acted in the nature and character of God.

So back to the problems with the graphics before us and the multilayered hell.

While it is clear that there was something like this during Jesus time on earth, we have nothing beyond the resurrection, primarily Paul's writings, that would enforce a multi-layered hell.

If Paul did not preach it, then why should I, and know this, I would not.

Paul, wrote about the dead in Christ, in an attempt to address such misconceptions.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 NASB (16) For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. (17) Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord.

Paul used the word nekrós, which means corpse when he spoke of the dead in 1 Thessalonians. I have thought about the whys of needing our corpses, and I suspect God could merely make another body for us if we needed it, but then, Jesus did not just leave His lying around, did He. Imagine if Peter and John had come running back to the tomb and found His body lying there; nothing about the resurrection works in this scenario. And, when Jesus did show himself to the 120 in the upper room, where He showed them that same physical body, along with its wounds. It was a proof of His rising from the dead, as He said; and, it validated His previous statements.

I suspect that we have more than a couple of significant players in our misconceptions about hell.

1. Dante Alighieri and his book The Inferno. The book is known to have been a method to confront what he perceived as religious: persecution, error, disagreement, and graft. Dante placed real people in various levels of his creation, each level having its own nasty punishment. Dante showed some mercy by implying that his victims could earn their way out, although none ever made it out.
2. It would seem that the Catholic church adopted the concepts within Dante's book. One of those concepts is purgatory. From what I understand if you comply with some monetary demand, you can buy your way out. It did not happen to any of Dante's characters, and it has not happened here on earth.
3. The last and scripturally the most damaging is the story of the poor beggar Lazarus and the wealthy Jewish man. So let's pursue this for a moment.

The passage in Luke is detailed and lengthy, so I am not going to put the entire thing in here. Suffice it to say; the rich man is still attempting to order Lazarus around; and, the rich man is in torment, while Lazarus is not.

Luke 16:19-31 NASB ... "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. (23) "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. (24) "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me,... (25) "But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. (26) 'And besides all this, between you and us there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' ...

• “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom.”

There are no mystery words in this sentence. Bosom means just that, and if Jesus told us that the angels carried this dearly departed Jewish man to Abraham, then that is believably what happened.

What is the difference between the event that Jesus described and how we should perceive this today? The resurrection.

Here, in Luke's gospel, Jesus is talking to Jews who have little to no comprehension of grace, nor of the catching away of the Church. The Jews do, however, understand that the soul seems to lie in a state of waiting, in Ecclesiastes, we learn that.

Ecclesiastes 9:5 KJV  For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not any thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them is forgotten.

Another source of Jewish understanding comes from King David.
Psalms 31:17 KJV  Let me not be ashamed, O LORD; for I have called upon thee: let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave.

Again, the general idea is that the dead lie in silence, until called
In looking at the word paradise, which comes up in the conversation between Jesus and the thief on the cross, we see Jesus saying,

"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43b NIV

In the Jewish understanding, the word paradisos is an oriental word which the Greeks borrowed from the Persians, among whom it meant a garden, park, or enclosure full of all the vegetable products of the earth. ...The original Eastern word pardes occurs in Neh_2:8; Ecc_2:5; Son_4:13. In Sanskrit, paradésha and paradisha meant a land elevated and cultivated. In Armenian, pardes means a garden around the house planted with grass, herbs, and trees for food and ornament. The Sept. uses it to refer to the Garden of Eden (Gen_2:8). In later Jewish usage and in the NT, parádeisos is used for the abode of the blessed after death. Paradise, before Christ's resurrection, has been thought to be the region of the blessed in Hades although it was not specifically called by that name (Luk_16:23). [From the Word Study Dictionary]

And finally, the early church deemed paradise to be an upper level of heaven where the dead would wait.

It does not matter how eloquently you deliver the evidence that backs your thesis, or arguments against some false or skewed teaching, someone will have a comeback. The mere fact that the rich man was in torment, and there is the possibility that he could see the beggar Lazarus in Abraham's bosom, only fuels their fire. This is again, one of those places where looking up the simplest of words, such as “saw,” where you can gain some additional understanding.

• “and the rich man also died and was buried. (23) "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment,”

Torment is the Greek word basanos and also means torture. The NASB tells us that he saw Lazarus. This word saw is the Greek word horaō and means to stare at, (by implication) to discern clearly (physically or mentally.)

So, none of us can prove that the man could even see Lazarus, and therefore it would be just as easy to assume that the rich man was allowed to discern mentally that Abraham now held Lazarus peacefully and securely.

If there is a point to this, it is this, refrain from preaching and teaching things you do not have an accurate understanding about, unless you are willing to humble yourself and tell the people that you really don't know, that this is your opinion and that your audience should search the scriptures to gain a clearer picture.


We were also told by this brother-in-Christ that he did not have full confidence in his relationship, and would not, until that day when we are called home. This is not what Paul and others taught. Jesus and this word give us every confidence to know that we are loved, wanted; and, since we have accepted Jesus Christ as our sacrifice, then we can understand that we, NO MATTER WHAT, have a home with Him in glory.