Matthew 24:29–35 The Coming of the Son of Man

[Study Aired November 3, 2025]

Our study today highlights the coming of the Lord. As indicated in the previous study, our focus is on the spiritual application or the inward application of these words of the Lord. This does not mean that there is no outward application of the Lord’s discourse with His disciples about His coming. The study today of the Lord’s coming is centered on His coming into our lives with the spirit of His mouth and His brightness. 

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

In the second part of this study today, the Lord used the parable of the fig tree to show us that by the things that are made, we are able to understand  the invisible things of Him. 

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 

The coming of summer does not take us by surprise. This is because the coming of summer is preceded by branches of figs becoming tender and putting forth leaves. In the study today, we shall show the spiritual meaning of the coming of summer and how it applies to us, His elect. 

The Coming of the Son of Man

Mat 24:29  Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 

The use of “after” in verse 29 seems to suggest that it is after we have gone through tribulation that the sun becomes darkened and the moon gives not her light. However, a closer look at the Greek word “meta” which primarily is used as “after” can also mean “in the midst or “among” as shown in the following instances, where the word was translated as “among”:

Luk 22:37  For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.  

Joh 6:43  Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. 

What this implies is that it is while we are going through tribulation or the Lord’s judgment that the sun becomes darkened and the moon does not give her light. The sun refers to Jesus Christ who is our father as shown in the following verse:

Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?   

Isa 9:6  For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 

When we are going through the Lord’s fiery trials or tribulation, it is as if the sun is darkened. That is to say that it seems as if the Lord has abandoned us. Remember that when Jesus was going through the process of crucifixion, it was as if God, His father (the sun) had abandoned Him. 

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? 

The same thing happened to Paul when he was travelling by sea to Rome to present his case to Caesar. Paul, together with all those travelling with him in the ship did not see the sun for fourteen days when there was a storm at sea.

Act 27:20  And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.  

During these times of tribulation or our fiery trials, our sun seems to be  darkened and this experience is what it is described in the Book of Isaiah as the Lord forsaking us for a small moment. 

Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. 
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.  

As indicated in verse 29, it is not only the sun that is darkened during our time of tribulation, the moon also does not give her light. The moon refers to our mother, who is the church system of this world or Babylon as shown below:

Gen 37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

The moon not giving her light therefore means that during our fiery trials, we come to see that the church system of this world or Babylon which we were part of when Christ came to us with His judgment, does not have the word of truth. The stars falling from heaven signifies the fact that we shall see the messengers parading in the church system of this world or Babylon as messengers of Satan as we go through these fiery trials marked out for us.  

2Co 11:13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. 
2Co 11:14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.  

In verse 29, we are told that the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. This implies that the fire of His words shall destroy everything within our hearts and minds that can be shaken. The flesh and its false doctrines in our hearts and minds represent that which can be shaken within us. 

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: 
Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. 
Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. 
Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: 
Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire. 

Mat 24:30  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 

It is as we go through this fiery trial of the Lord that we see the appearance of the sign of the Son of man in our heaven. That is to say that in our hearts and minds, we begin to witness the dwelling of Christ within us. These are the signs or indicators that Christ has come to dwell in our hearts and minds (heaven):

Sin becomes less attractive when Christ resides in our hearts and minds.

Rom 8:10  And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 

We come to see that we do not have the strength or power to please the Lord and that our ability to please the Lord is through the excellency of the Lord’s power within our mortal bodies. 

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 
2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.  

A third indicator of the son of Man in our heavens is that our understanding is enlightened as Christ is revealed progressively in us through His word.

Gal 1:15  But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,
Gal 1:16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: 

A fourth sign of Christ’s presence within our hearts and minds is that we begin to walk by faith as we do away with the law of Moses which we were under during our time in Babylon. 

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 

The fifth sign of Christ’s presence in our hearts and minds is that we have a renewed hope.

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

As we indicated in the previous study, nations are within us. The tribes of the earth refers to people and therefore represents our flesh. The mourning of the tribes of the earth means that our flesh laments over its death through the Lord’s judgment. In other words, our fiery trials are a painful experience for our flesh. This mourning experience is what characterizes our walk. That is why the two witnesses, who represent the Lord’s elect, are clothed in sackcloth signifying their mourning status in this life.

Job 14:22  But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.

Rev 11:3  And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.  

However, as shown in verse 30, it is through this bitter mourning experience that we come to see our Lord Jesus Christ coming to establish His kingdom within us with power and great glory. 

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

The Lord in every generation is sending forth His angels with a great sound of a trumpet. Spiritually, the sounding of a trumpet is the proclamation of the word of the Lord. 

Isa 58:1  Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. 

The angels being sent by the Lord are His elect in every generation who are proclaiming the word of the Lord. It is also instructive to note that in the Old Testament time, the sounding of a trumpet was either to call the people of Israel together or to sound an alarm of an impending war.  

Jer 4:5  Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities. 

Eze 33:2  Son of man, speak to the children of thy people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if the people of the land take a man of their coasts, and set him for their watchman: 
Eze 33:3  If when he seeth the sword come upon the land, he blow the trumpet, and warn the people;
Eze 33:4  Then whosoever heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning; if the sword come, and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head.
Eze 33:5  He heard the sound of the trumpet, and took not warning; his blood shall be upon him. But he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. 
Eze 33:6 But if the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and the people be not warned; if the sword come, and take any person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at the watchman’s hand. 

In these verses of Ezekiel above, the watchman represents the Lord’s elect who are to make the Lord’s people aware of this fiery trial or war that we are going through. Through the message of the Lord’s elect, the Lord is gathering His people all over the world (the four winds) together. For example, our assembling today is what the Lord is doing in this age and the essence of this gathering is to equip us to withstand the fiery trials that we are going through and to have the confidence that the Lord is establishing His kingdom within us. In the fullness of time, this kingdom will become outward.  

Luk 17:20  And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. 

Signs that summer is arriving for a fig tree include fresh leaves appearing, the branches becoming tender, and the development of the “breba” crop—an early harvest of figs. If we are to understand what the Lord is saying to us in verse 32, then we need to know what summer represents spiritually. In the Bible, the summer is the time of the harvest as shown in the following verses:

Jer 8:20  The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.   

Pro 6:8  Provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest. 

Pro 10:5  He that gathereth in summer is a wise son: but he that sleepeth in harvest is a son that causeth shame. 

The time of the harvest represents the reward of our labor and therefore spiritually, the coming of summer is when our labor in the Lord shall be rewarded. That is the time of our salvation. This is what the Lord has to say about what we must do as we see summer or our salvation approaching:

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. 
Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light. 
Rom 13:13  Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying. 
Rom 13:14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof.

1Pe 1:13  Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 
1Pe 1:14  As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: 
1Pe 1:15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
1Pe 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.  

2Pe 3:14  Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless. 
2Pe 3:15  And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; 
2Pe 3:16  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 
2Pe 3:17  Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness. 
2Pe 3:18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen. 

In verse 33, the Lord is telling us that when we come to see all these things, then we must be aware that our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The question is, “What are all these things that Jesus is referring to?” “These things” refers to all that He has said earlier in this discourse in Matthew chapter 24, especially verses 29 -31, about what is going to happen to us, His elect. If we are privileged to be experiencing what He is talking about in these verses, then we must know that the time of our salvation is drawing closer!! In other words, we must know that we are going through the Lord’s judgment in this age, that our understanding is being enlightened to know more of Jesus through His words, that the kingdom of heaven is being established within us with Christ on the throne in our hearts and mind and finally, the Lord through His elect, is gathering us together from the four corners of the earth. If you see these things, then it means the summer is near or our salvation is closer than when we first believed.    

The story of how Elijah was taken up to heaven illustrates the point being made about how we are to know that the time of our salvation is drawing very close. 

2Ki 2:9  And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me. 
2Ki 2:10  And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so. 
2Ki 2:11  And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. 
2Ki 2:12  And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. 
2Ki 2:13  He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; 
2Ki 2:14 And he took the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and smote the waters, and said, Where is the LORD God of Elijah? and when he also had smitten the waters, they parted hither and thither: and Elisha went over.  

In this episode, we can say that Elijah represents our Lord Jesus and Elisha signifies the elect. In order for the Lord’s elect (Elisha) to be rewarded at the summer which is the time of the harvest (first resurrection), he must see Christ or Elijah taken up. That is to say that we must see Jesus in the light of His suffering and His glorification. As we can see, Elisha saw a chariot of fire and horses of fire. We know that chariot of fire represents Christ’s suffering and the horses of fire signify the suffering He endured as a result of the war in His heavens during His time here on earth. As a result, Jesus (Elijah) was transformed in glory. 

As He is, so are we. We must come to know that this is the time of war in our heavens as we ride this chariot of our suffering. When we come to realize this, then we must know that the summer or the first resurrection is near!! That was how the disciples before us lived as they recognized that the time was at hand. If during the time of the disciples, the time was at hand, then what shall we say of the times in which we are living?

2Ti 4:6  For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:10  And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

It is instructive to note that in 2 Kings 2:11 that Elijah went up by a whirlwind. The word “whirlwind” also means flash of lightning. This is what Paul said about this period of the harvest or summer:

1Co 15:52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 
1Co 15:53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
1Co 15:54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.     

Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. 

The statement, “This generation shall not pass, till all these things are fulfilled” is another way of saying that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of the Lord. In this age, it is the Lord’s elect of every generation who must fulfill or live by every word of the Lord. In the age of the lake of fire, all humanity shall fulfill the word of the Lord. 

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 

Luk 4:4  And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 

In summary, we can say that all things shall come alike to all human beings with the elect being first to experience all things.

Ecc 9:2  All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.  

Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. 

The heaven and earth in verse 35 refers to the impermanence of the things that we see. Therefore, Jesus is warning us to prioritize spiritual and eternal matters over temporary, earthly concerns and to build one’s life on the enduring foundation of His word. 

Isa 40:8  The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever. 

Isa 55:11  So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. 

1Pe 1:24  For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: 
1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. 

The statement in verse 35 is therefore a call to urge us to invest our lives in things that will last, such as faith and righteousness, rather than in temporary earthly pursuits. The lives of the men of faith show us how we are to live as we see the day of the Lord approaching.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 
Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. 

We thank the Lord for how far He has brought us. Our confidence is in the fact that He who has started this good work in us, will see to its completion. Amen!!

The Book of Joel – Chapter 3:7 – 16

[Study Aired October 12^th 24]

We left last week’s Study hanging on the Lord’s question in Joel 3:4, “Will ye render me a recompence? and if ye recompence me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompence upon your own head”?

Christ, the Lord of the Old Covenant, confronted Israel for their Sodom, Greco-Tyrian-Epicurean pursuit of neighbouring ideologies and doctrines that promised endless pleasure without pain instead of embracing the eternal life offered by Christ’s word. Of course, we know in hindsight that the yet-to-come enigmatic holy spirit and Christ’s faith would conclusively solve that sorry condition.

“Epicureanism is a system of philosophy founded around 307 BCE based upon the teachings of Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher. Epicurus was an atomist and materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to religious scepticism and a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Epicureanism was originally a challenge to Platonism, and its main opponent later became Stoicism. It is a form of hedonism insofar as it declares pleasure to be its sole intrinsic goal. However, the concept that the absence of pain and fear constitutes the greatest pleasure, and its advocacy of a simple life, make it very different from hedonism as colloquially understood.

Hedonism refers to the prioritisation of pleasure in one’s lifestyle, actions, or thoughts. The term can include a number of theories or practices across philosophy, art, and psychology, encompassing both sensory pleasure and more intellectual or personal pursuits, but can also be used in everyday parlance as a pejorative for the egoistic pursuit of short-term gratification at the expense of others.” – Wikipedia.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

And so, God rhetorically demands of Israel and us how our Epicurean doctrines of substitutionary death that today’s Babylonian Christians likewise subscribe to will advance us when Israel, ever since being in Egypt, failed miserably while pursuing those very same Epicurian lusts!?

The Israelites entered the promised land under Joshua forty years later, in 1406 BC. The northern tribes called Israel, were deported by the Assyrians in 721 BC . The southern tribes, called Judah, were exiled by the Babylonians; the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and left it desolate in 586 BC. Apparently, and from that account, Israel resided in the Promise Land for 820 years. The number 8 + 2 classically for Israel represents judgement and is the process of going through the eight to become circumcised of the spirit and the new beginnings, the New Man in Christ’s commands and not in our fabled Epicurian Hedonistic ways focusing on our will rather than Christ’s.

“And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition” – Rev 17:11 . That is us, the Beast, sitting on God’s throne claiming unwittingly and consciously that we are God! We thus go into perdition, and it is the best thing that could happen to us. We are not perfected in the flesh; we are to “die daily” (1Co 15:31).

The following verses, outwardly to the non-spiritual man, don’t sound too Epicurian-Hedonistic to me, promising an easy life without chastisement.

1Co 15:19  If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
1Co 15:20  But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
1Co 15:21  For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. 
1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. 
1Co 15:26  The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
1Co 15:27  For he hath put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
1Co 15:28  And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
1Co 15:29  Else what shall they do which are baptised for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptised for the dead?
1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 
1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Of course, Israel and Judah’s excile potently represents our spiritual progression from our Old Man to the New Man in Christ. Hence, our Lord begins to answer his question where he charges us of selling our birthright to Greco/Sodom-like sensualities.

Rom 8:4  That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 
Rom 8:5  For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 
Rom 8:6  For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.

Significations:

Joe 3:7  Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither ye have sold them, and will return your recompence upon your own head: 

The obvious question that springs to mind is, who is the “them” in Joel 3:7? Remember the shocking realisation that scriptures are overwhelmingly for the Bride of Christ alone and not for greater Israel in the north of her inheritance. Consequently, in verse 6, the scripture identifies the “them” as greater Israel whom the Priests of God represented by “Judah and the children of Jerusalem“ in the south, sold to their enemies, the Assyrians! It is the Priests of God in Judah and Jerusalem who have dealt treacherously with her sisters in the north. Because the Priests pillaged the Lord of his silver and gold and sexually/spiritually perverted the Lord’s word by not righteously judging Israel in the north, Israel was exiled to Assyria. The Lord’s act of “raising them [Greater Israel] out of the place whither ye have sold them [to Grecian/Epicurean idologies], and will return your recompence upon your own head” means that a remnant will return “recompence” upon the Priest’s heads because they used the Lord’s power and commandments for their lusted Epicurian wealth that pleased the nation far more than her Lord’s word. Consequently, the “recompense”, ‘the bountiful dealing, the fulness of God’s wrath’ is upon the Priests of God, even to this day with his Bride, which she is learning to receive joyously (Luke 8:13-15).

A shocking outward parallel is increasingly happening this very day since the U.S. Federal Reserve in the early 1900s was privately confiscated by the same symbolic Jews underhandedly claiming the God of the Old Covenant’s name via the British Empire, to which the USA and the West remain subservient ~ “She” is becoming increasingly “hated” and by all accounts it seems it won’t be long before she is “burnt with fire” (Rev 17:6-16).

It is the treacherous Priests of Judah, represented as Jerusalem, who sold themselves to every Grecian doctrine by turning a blind eye to greater Israel’s sins, thus corrupting and leavening the entire nation. The Priests took their Lord’s silver and gold into ‘their temples’ and fastened their idols to their hearts, which condemned the entire nation of Israel to exile. Hence, the Lord returns the Priest’s “recompense” H1576 – meaning, ‘dealing, benefit’ upon themselves. For not faithfully teaching the Lord’s commandments, Joel 3:8 says that all of Israel’s coming exile is on Judah and Jerusalem’s heads that we see today is upon our heads of the Bride, the Heavenly Jerusalem, anytime we similarly steal the Lord’s silver and gold.

Joe 3:8  And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD hath spoken it. 

It is our Lord, via his created lying servant, Satan (Job 26:13), whom he gives power to our former Babylonian selves, the crooked priests we were, to sell our children to Jewish traditions in Babylonian Christianity. Our children and anyone who suffered to hear our false rhetoric twisting our Lord’s silver and gold into idols of our hearts they sequentially sold to the Christian world of greasy grace, the Sabeans, in every corner of the Earth collectively called Babylon the Great (Rev 17:5).

Definition: Sabeans H7615 = drunkard or he who is coming 1. the people of the nation of Sheba. H7614 – Sheba = seven or an oath n pr m 1. son of Joktan and a descendant of Seth 2. son of Raamah, grandson of Cush, and a descendant of Ham 3. son of Jokshan, the son of Abraham by Keturah n pr loc 

4. a nation in southern Arabia.

Any scriptural reference to Sheba overwhelming represents the ‘complete’ (Number 7) satiation of wealth attained through the trade of the world’s rich material wealth as represented by Tyre in all of Ezekiel 27:1-36 mirroring the fullness of our spiritual hedonistic ways.

Eze 27:21-27  Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants.
Eze 27:22  The merchants of Sheba and Raamah, they were thy merchants: they occupied in thy fairs with chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold. 
Eze 27:23  Haran, and Canneh, and Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy merchants.
Eze 27:24  These were thy merchants in all sorts of things, in blue clothes, and broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel, bound with cords, and made of cedar, among thy merchandise.
Eze 27:25  The ships of Tarshish did sing of thee in thy market: and thou wast replenished, and made very glorious in the midst of the seas. 
Eze 27:26  Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters: the east wind hath broken thee in the midst of the seas.
Eze 27:27  Thy riches, and thy fairs, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and the occupiers of thy merchandise, and all thy men of war, that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the midst of the seas in the day of thy ruin.

Those verses mirror us spiritually by Babylon the Great, the Great Whore in Revelations 18:1-24 and are highly recommended to read.

Continuing…

Joe 3:9  Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: 

It is the Priests of God today, his Elect, who prepare for war to proclaim the seven plagues and vials of God’s wrath upon themselves, as seen in Revelations chapters 15 and 16. They came into the Temple, the very Bride of Christ herself, to give and receive within herself the meanings of these plagues and vials.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

For a thorough understanding of Revelations, please, as you are spiritually led, begin in Revelations chapter 1 in the following link with access to all other studies in Revelations:

https://www.iswasandwillbe.com/revelation-11-2-read-hear-and-keep-these-words/

These events in the chapters of Revelation 15-16 about Babylon the Great and the Great Whore parallel what Joel 3:10 begins to prefigure with the 1,000-year rule under the ‘rod of iron’. Since Isaiah 2 speaks about the ‘last days’ when the ‘mountain of the Lord is established’, it is speaking about the Resurrection to Judgement, the Lake of Fire, when the entire world will be saved.

Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

However, the 1,000-year rule is a type and shadow of the Resurrection to Judgement, where there will not be any more war physically or spiritually since nobody is converted or judged but ruled unyieldingly, as does a spiritually inflexible rod of iron. Yet, at the end of the One Thousand Year rule under the rod of iron, Satan is released from prison, and Babylon the Great symbolised as Gog and Magog, resurfaces to make war with the Saints for the very last time ever!

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

War is a God-designed mechanism of the flesh common to highly varying degrees of ferocity in all beasts of the field and no more violently expressed than by the machinations of man’s vile evil spirit of intent. Subsequently, the purpose of war for the righteous spirit should be war equally as ferocious upon all doctrines opposing the word of God within his chosen Elect.

Joel Chapter 3 primarily points to judgement and then the Resurrection of the Elect, the First Fruits of God, and covertly then the reverse order of Resurrection and judgement for the Gog and Magog of humanity since Adam in the Lake of Fire.

Ecc 3:18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Rev 13:4 And they [Mankind, the Beasts] worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

2Pe 2:12 But these, [Mankind, the Beasts] as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast [the same Beast] rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.

For those given to see that they are but beasts in transition to being the very spiritual sons of God, they make war within and beat those guileful instruments of war opposing God’s word into ministries, bringing forth the fruit of our Lord’s Kingdom within.

Isa 2:3  And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Isa 2:4  And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isa 2:5  O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.

Here is a paradoxical statement opposing physical war and advancing spiritual warfare in Luke 22:35-38:

Luk 22:35  And he said unto them, When I sent you without purse, and scrip [bag of food provisions], and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing. 
Luk 22:36  Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse [Money, his own righteousness in decline], let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one. 
Luk 22:37  For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.
Luk 22:38  And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them, It is enough.

For the warfare of the New Covenant, we are armed with the Lord’s food and wine of his spirit, teaching and feeding us spiritual righteousness that directly corresponds to the physical warfare and symbolised ideologies represented by each instrument of war. As we well know, we now fight with the spiritual sword of the Lord’s word with every aspect of the physical mechanisms of war, spiritually.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might (Eph 4:6).
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, [practice committing to all the Lord’s commandments] to stand. 
Eph 6:14  Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 
Eph 6:15  And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God:

That verse answers the incongruous statement in Luke 22:36, he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one, meaning to sell all your previously held Babylonian doctrinal lies and by the Lord’s word, sell it not and now fight fairly in spirit and truth with the sword of His word in prayerful supplications day and night (Eph 6:18).

Eph 6:18  Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Eph 6:19  And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,
Eph 6:20  For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Joe 3:10  Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. 
Joe 3:11  Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O LORD. 
Joe 3:12  Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about. 

There is one event to all of mankind, although in his order of salvation. All of Israel, meaning Babylonian Christianity, inclusive of the embryonic Elect of God, has been in bed with the hedonistic heathen, not necessarily using physical implements of war, but their evil spiritual equivalence in our dastardly dealings with each other having twisted the Lord’s word to suit a more Epicurean and pain-free life. It all happens not in the dusty literal Valley of Jehoshaphat, full of dry bones, but in our whitewashed tombs within, heavy with the stench of decay.

Mat 23:25  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. 
Mat 23:26  Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. 
Mat 23:27  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 
Mat 23:28  Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
Mat 23:29  Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
Mat 23:30  And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
Mat 23:31  Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. 
Mat 23:32  Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33  Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? [Age-lasting Gehenna fire].
Mat 23:34  Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
Mat 23:35  That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
Mat 23:36  Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 

And that “this generation” spoken of in the last verse is the Elect of God filling up behind the afflictions of Christ within themselves, the first fruits who foundationally believed in Christ.

Being at war in Christ’s spirit against our lusts of the flesh and mind is our judgement of ourselves by his commandments. It brings forth a personal harvest in each joint comprising the Bride of Christ, thus building up the Body, the Temple she is.

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

Consequently, and for the Bride, she is being judged today in preparation for the hope of being in the First Resurrection as her Lord’s Wife. Since she and all people are appointed to die once, the Lord’s budding wife will not suffer judgment in the Resurrection to Judgement, the Lake of Fire. The Lake of Fire is where the heathen in Joel 3:12, meaning all of mankind since Adam is then “wakened” from their ‘sleep’ of death in the valley of Jehoshaphat to be judged.

The following verses contain a little more baffling mystery regarding the negative and spiritual aspects of spiritual warfare that land each person in his designated order of salvation.

Joe 3:13  Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
Joe 3:14  Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 

The Lord’s Bride is depicted as the first of the first fruit, and Christ is that very first fruit with which she subsequently is his harvest and inheritance, and he is hers.

Jer 8:20  The [First fruit] harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we [Babylon/the world] are not saved. 
Jer 8:21  For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me.
Jer 8:22  Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?

The Bride of Christ is reflecting upon her not being chosen by her will but by her Lord’s will. She thus looks back at her sisters, astonished at her election since she, symbolically as the five wise virgins, fully consume the balm of Gilead, her Lord’s spiritual understanding, in the way she walks in harmony with and in him. Consequently, the ‘health of the daughter of her elder sisters in Babylon’, are not in their order of being “recovered” until the Resurrection to Judgement.

Pro 3:9  Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

Jas 1:17  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we [the Bride] should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures [all mankind].

The main wheat harvest in Palestine was subject to the much more general and assured rainfall, spiritually meaning that its harvest is for Gog and Magog that will overflow the barns and vats of wickedness for judgement in the Lake of Fire, the “valley of decision” where every sole ever to be conceived will assuredly ‘make a decision’ to acknowledge their sins before Christ and his Christs. For Babylonian Christians, inclusive of all religions and ideologies of every man and woman, it will be a day of thick darkness and gloom since everyone’s conscience will condemn them, thus blackening their self-assumed brightness of Epicurean, Grecian and Sodom-like academia. This is represented as the Last Great Day, the Eight Day of the Feast of Tabernacles.

Joe 3:15  The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. 
Joe 3:16  The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.  

Particularly for those Jews who believe in Christ, which is Babylonian Christianity, the Book of Joel causes them immense elation since their focus is on their unconscious self-righteousness, believing that they are the Elect of God who will be saved in their fabled one and only Resurrection. Accordingly, and because of their sun, another Jesus, and the Moon, their harlot churches they will realise too late are darkened, and their multitude, being the stars of heaven as numerous as the sand of the sea, are blackened of understanding. To their horror, the Lord will appear with a great roar as he reveals the Heavenly Jerusalem in his Bride, now his Wife, coming in the heavens in great power and might.

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
2Pe 3:11  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
2Pe 3:12  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?

(Rev 11:18  And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged [to give their imaginary “recompense”], and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.)

2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we [The Elect of God], according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

And so, if we refuse to soberly see the significance of the dry bones in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, they will become the bones of his chosen Elect alongside her elder sisters, if we turn back from progressing toward perfection in Christ and become the “very Elect” (Mat 24:24). Hence, it is impossible for the “very Elect” in any way to render Christ “recompense” (benefit, ‘bountiful fruit’) for his service to advance the Kingdom within by not following his every commandment. Ironically and most miserably, those in the Lake of Fire will render a “recompense”, meaning a harrowing acknowledgement of their sins before Christ and his Christs.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should [will] bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Php 2:11  And that every tongue should [will] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Lord, hurry the consummation!

Rev 8:12-13 – Part 1, The Fourth Trumpet

[Study Aired July 26, 2024]

Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Introduction

The symbols of this fourth trumpet are 1) the third part, 2) the sun, 3) the moon, 4) the stars, 5) the day, and finally 6) the night. If any one of these six items are not symbols, then there is no way in the world for us to “keep the things which are written therein”, simply because we cannot “keep” the literal sun, moon and stars. On the other hand, if the sun and the moon were both somehow “kept” and experienced on the day of Pentecost, then maybe we, too, will now be able to “live by these words proceeding out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4).

So let’s look at the darkening of the sun and moon at that time, and see how Peter and those present at that time kept those words.

Act 2:14  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all [ye] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Act 2:15  For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is [but] the third hour of the day.
Act 2:16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

According to the apostle Peter, the “Sun had been turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before” this day of Pentecost had arrived. If Christ is “the light of the world” and the “Sun of righteousness” and if he had been killed, then the ‘Sun’ had certainly been “turned into darkness” as he lay in the grave:

Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.
Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

If the ‘moon’ really is the “lesser light” which of itself “has no glory at all”, then all of those who rejected our Lord and wanted to maintain the fading light of Moses’s face and had killed and denied their own Messiah, as we all have, then “the moon [had] been turned into blood” just before “that great and notable day of the Lord” which began on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up and announced that “the last days had begun… and judgment was now on the house of God.”

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.

2Co 3:7  But if the ministration of death, written [and] engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which [glory] was to be done away:
2Co 3:8  How shall not the ministration of the spirit be rather glorious?
2Co 3:9  For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory [Wonders in heaven above].
2Co 3:10  For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.

“Blood, fire, and vapor of smoke” [Act 2:19] signify the Word of God in the mouths of the Lord’s elect:

Jer 5:14  Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Psa 18:6  In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
Psa 18:7  Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
Psa 18:8  There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
Psa 18:9  He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
Psa 18:10  And he rode upon a cherub [His elect (Rev 5:8-10)], and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
Psa 18:11  He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Psa 18:12  At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
Psa 18:13  The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

As we will be seeing throughout this revelation of Jesus Christ the “fire and blood” are both mentioned in the first trumpet.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The prophet, Joel, and the apostle, Peter, are both giving us part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is in this book of Revelation, given to us by Christ himself where Joel 2, Matthew 24, Acts 2, and all the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament, are brought together into one cohesive “revelation of Jesus Christ” and revealing how He is being formed within each of us. It is the things written in this prophecy which show us clearly that all these symbols signify an inward work, and are to be read, heard and kept all within (Rev 1:3).

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

The emphasis at both the beginning and the end of this prophecy is on the fact that the time to keep the things written therein is right now. That was also stated in Matthew 24, but it is being drummed into us with a warning here in this prophecy.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [is] nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [even] at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

No other prophecy makes clear the present application of the things written therein is right now as clearly as does this “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It opens and it closes with that clear instruction… “for the time is at hand.” It also closes with a warning which makes it super clear that we must never think that there is any part of this revelation that is not for each of us to read, hear, and keep.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass [NOT 2,000 years down the road]; and he sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Since Christ is the Word, the oft repeated phrases, “It is near, even at the door… the time is at hand… the time is come… Behold I come quickly… Surely I come quickly” all must therefore refer to the fulfillment and keeping of the words of this prophecy in the lives of those who are looking for the revelation of Jesus Christ in their lives as being “at hand… near, even at the door.”

Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Christ’s second coming, like the resurrection itself, is a present truth in “earnest” for those who are given to understand that we are to “fill up what is behind of His afflictions, be crucified with Him, be resurrected with Him and walk in newness of life with Him” because “the time is at hand” to do so.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

It is with the desire to “fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, that we approach the words of this prophecy, knowing “the time is at hand” to “keep the things written therein.”

Let’s take these symbols one by one and see what the scriptures say they represent in our lives.

What is the third part?

1) The third part. This first symbol is one we have covered in each and every one of our discussions of the first three trumpets.

The third part is mentioned in the first trumpet in verse seven.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The third part is mentioned again in the second trumpet is in verses eight and nine.

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

It is mentioned again in the third trumpet in verses 10 and 11.

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

In each of these trumpets we saw that “the third part” symbolizes the “little by little” process of the work of judgment that is being accomplish by the Word of God in these seven trumpets.

Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.

Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.

Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Peter informed us in Acts 2 that this is the last days for those who are “the house of God.”

Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:

1Pe 4:17  For the time [is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [it] first [begin] at us, what shall the end [be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?

In the first trumpet, the third part of our trees is burned up by God’s fiery Word. In the second trumpet, the third part of the seas become blood, killing a third part of the creatures in the sea, and destroying a third part of the ships in the sea, when the fiery word of God is cast into the fleshly seas of our lives. In the third trumpet the third part of our own rivers and fountains of water are made bitter by the word of God “burning as a lamp,” just as they are made bitter in our stomach in these verses.

Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

Our waters are made bitter by the words of this prophecy, as its words begin to destroy and kill our old man within us. We saw the verses in Ezekiel 31 that likened the king of Tyre to Pharaoh whose “root was by great waters.”

Eze 31:7  Thus was he fair in his [Pharaoh’s] greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

The king of Tyre and Pharaoh are both planted by God Himself. They are both types of us prospering by God’s own decree, in our own “great waters” even as we live our lives contrary to the words and laws of our God.

Jer 12:2  Thou [Lord] hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

Where are the heavens and the earth which are mentioned in all these trumpets?

Psa 50:4  He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

God’s people are in both the heavens and the earth. It is there that He is judging His people. That judgment is taking place within the heavens and the earth which are both within us, where our God dwells.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

God is not judging or addressing His “rebellious children” in the physical bodies of the physical heavens. That is not the heavens in which He or His children dwell. He dwells in the heavenly realm within His people.

Eph 2:5  he embraced us. He took our sin-dead lives and made us alive in Christ. He did all this on his own, with no help from us!
Eph 2:6  Then he picked us up and set us down in highest heaven in company with Jesus, our Messiah.

God “puts His words in our mouths” for the purpose of “planting the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth in His people.” That is what is being done as we read His words concerning His works in the heavens and in the earth in these seven trumpets.

What is the sun?

2) What is the sun and what does “a third part of the sun was smitten” mean?

A darkened sun is signifies “another Jesus and another gospel” with which we replace the True Christ and the true gospel.

2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

As is always true with every word of God, the sun, the moon and the stars all have a negative application when they are worshiped as Gods in their physical form, instead of being seen as spiritual types of spiritual realities. We do that today when we worship this planet, and believe that the life of this planet comes from the physical sun. Believing that life on earth depends upon the sun is like believing that the milk and eggs comes from a store. They do not originate at a store. The store is just the channel for getting the milk and eggs to the public. Milk comes from cows, and eggs come from chickens, and the sun and stars come from God (Gen 1).

Jer 8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.

Eze 8:16  And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.

It is the inclination of the natural man to worship the lesser light that rules the night. Yes, they think they are worshiping the Sun who is the greater light, but the sun they worship is in reality the light of “the lesser light.” Until this very day many churches in the Atlanta, Georgia area congregate on top of Stone Mountain, a seven hundred feet high rock east of Atlanta, to observe an “Easter Sunrise Service” thinking they are serving Christ while doing the exact opposite of what He tells us to do:

Deu 12:29  When the LORD thy God shall cut off the nations from before thee, whither thou goest to possess them, and thou succeedest them, and dwellest in their land;
Deu 12:30  Take heed to thyself that thou be not snared by following them, after that they be destroyed from before thee; and that thou enquire not after their gods, saying, How did these nations serve their gods? even so will I do likewise.
Deu 12:31  Thou shalt not do so unto the LORD thy God: for every abomination to the LORD, which he hateth, have they done unto their gods; for even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32  What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.

Christ “broke the sabbath” and did not go up to the feast at the appointed time:

Joh 5:18  Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Joh 7:8  Go ye up unto this feast: I go not up yet unto this feast; for my time is not yet full come.
Joh 7:9  When he had said these words unto them, he abode still in Galilee.

Besides all of the very clear commandments and examples we have these words of the apostle Paul to the Galatians:

Gal 4:8  Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
Gal 4:9  But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
Gal 4:10  Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
Gal 4:11  I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

If we observe an Easter Sunrise service, or any other “day, month, time or year” Paul concludes that all his labors on our behalf are “in vain”, and we are willingly demonstrating that we fear men, families, friends, and the society in which we live, more than we fear the Lord:

Luk 12:4  And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
Luk 12:5  But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.

What is the positive spiritual reality of the sun? Here it is again:

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Christ is God’s “Sun of Righteousness who arises on, and gives light to the just and the unjust.” We must realize that He does send His sun to rise on the evil and the good before we can understand the meaning of “a third part of the sun was smitten.” We first have to understand that the light that shines on us as carnal babes is the same sun, the same word, but with only the light and understanding that is given to Babylon. It is the beginning of the darkening of even that light which is “the third part of [our] sun [which] is smitten.” The three trumpets yet to sound will gradually blot out the light of our Sun completely and we will “gnaw [our] tongues for pain”:

Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

In the third trumpet, a third of our ships were destroyed. The great evangelical spiritual leaders we looked up to begin to be revealed as being more afraid of men than they are of God. As we see our ‘ships of the sea’ being destroyed and these great men being unmasked, we begin to realize that we ourselves have been in darkness as we are slowly but surely “brought to our wits’ end.” It all leads to our salvation, but we must first “keep the things which are written therein”.

Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

There is no way to short cut this revelation of Jesus Christ in our lives. Each of us must read, hear, and keep the seven seals, seven trumpets, and the seven last plagues of the Lord’s wrath upon the kingdom of our old man. It is not a pleasant experience. It is rather “an experience of evil” (Ecc 1:13, CLV). If we are given to remain faithful to the end, the reward will be much more than worth all the pain:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Rom 8:29  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Our salvation at the first resurrection will be “the manifestation of the sons of God” who will rule this earth for a thousand years with our Lord, and then we will be honored to become “saviors upon Mount Zion to judge the house of Esau in the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death.

The Book of Joshua – Part 11, Joshua 10:1-15 ‘I know that You hear Me always…’

“And I know that You hear Me always, but because of the people who stand by I said it, so that they may believe that You have sent Me.” – John 11:42

[Study Aired May 6, 2023]

Central to this Study in Joshua 10 is the mind-boggling impossibility against all laws of physics by the sun and the moon standing still in the heavens.

Jos 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stood still, until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? And the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and did not hasten to go down about a whole day.

If the sun instantly stood still in the heavens, it means that the Earth instantly stood still since the revolution of the Earth gives the appearance that the sun rotates around it. The Earth rotates in one day at the rate of 1,037 km/h, and if the Earth suddenly stops, everything, tall buildings, homes, trees, all living things and the scoured ground, loose boulders and the oceans, would chaotically detach instantly at a little lower than 1,037 km/h (644 mph) to the east. Our near neighbour, Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere, only travels at a bit over half that speed.

I’ve belaboured the point thus far in the study of Joshua that the Lord is graphically etching in young Israel’s heart and soul that the successful outcome of all wars and tribulations is by His power alone. Of course, the Body of Christ immutably knows that Israel, without the holy spirit, is a fruitful and bright understanding for the Elect’s sake and a fruitless experience for old Israel until the resurrection to judgment. Yet, some dedicated souls like Moses, Joshua and Job, to name a very few, did their fleshly best, learning to keep the laws of the Commandments by the Lord’s power’ roughly perfectly’ (false negative). Through Israel’s tumultuous journey, God was ramming home to our spirit that our works are utterly useless without him, and Israel was our patsy (Rom 9:20-21).

Joh 6:63 The spirit is the life giver; the flesh is of no value: the words which I have said to you are spirit and they are life. (BBE)

Yet, no number of outrageous miracles to titillate our senses without His spirit ever changed Israel or us. The sun and the moon stopping in the heavens is as excessive as a miracle can get. It is like God saying, “Is your power frustrating you yet?”

Job 38:1 And the Lord made answer to Job out of the storm-wind, and said,
Job 38:2 Who is this who makes the purpose of God dark by words without knowledge? 
Job 38:3 Get your strength together like a man of war; I will put questions to you, and you will give me the answers. (BBE)

So, let the Moon (New Jerusalem above)  stand still in the glory of the Sun (Christ) and be strengthened by the holy spirit for us to be that man of war, mighty confident in lockstep with Christ and learn from Israel’s endless frustrations.

Jos 10:1 And it happened, when Adoni-zedek (Phonetic: ad-o”-nee-tseh’-dek) king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it (as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king) and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, 
Jos 10:2 they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all of its men were mighty.
Jos 10:3 And Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, and to Piram king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying,
Jos 10:4 Come up to me, and help me, so that we may strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.
Jos 10:5 And the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves. And they went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon, and made war against it.
Jos 10:6 And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Do not withhold your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered against us. 
Jos 10:7  So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of war.
Jos 10:8 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hands. There shall not a man of them stand before you.
Jos 10:9 And Joshua came to them suddenly, coming up from Gilgal all night.
Jos 10:10 And Jehovah troubled them before Israel, and killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon, and struck them to Azekah, and to Makkedah.
Jos 10:11 And it happened, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the descent of Bethhoron, Jehovah cast down great stones from the heavens on them to Azekah, and they died. The many who died from hailstones were more than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.
Jos 10:12 Then Joshua spoke to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun! Stand still on Gibeon! And, moon, stand still in the valley of Aijalon!
Jos 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stood still, until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? And the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and did not hasten to go down about a whole day. 
Jos 10:14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah listened to the voice of a man. For Jehovah fought for Israel.
Jos 10:15 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp to Gilgal.

Study Exposition:

Jos 10:1 And it happened, when Adoni-zedek [ Phonetic: aw-done’– Definition: 1. firm, strong, Lord, master] king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it (as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king) and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them,
Jos 10:2 they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all of its men were mighty.

Just as the Lord endlessly drives home the same message to old Israel in the wilderness, today our belief and faith are empowered to believe that our Lord will kill our enemies without an outward miracle.

Before being dragged to the Lord, we sat in our temple as King of Old Jerusalem, garnering support for our false doctrines from striking hands in oaths against our Lord from our leering friends. If the Lord ever got frustrated with us, it is because of disbelief that He is good on His word against us being god, and we sit masterly and resolutely in the temple of God.

Mat 17:17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I suffer you? Bring him here [boy with a demon] to Me. 
Mat 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and he departed out of him. And the child was cured from that very hour. 
Mat 17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus apart, and said, Why could we not cast him out? 
Mat 17:20 And Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief. For truly I say to you, If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, Move from here to there. And it shall move. And nothing shall be impossible to you.

All of our enemies fear Christ, Who goes before us to fight our battles, just as the demons of the two demon-possessed ones in the country of the Gergesenes feared Christ. Likewise, these five kings infesting the Promised Land were stricken with dread for the same God of Israel. A Gergesene means H1086 – ‘a stranger drawing near’, and its people are Girgasites, the very same “clayey soil” enemies Israel fights.

Mat 8:28 And when He had come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, two demon-possessed ones met Him, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that no one might pass by that way.
Mat 8:29 And behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with You, Jesus, Son of God? Have You come here to torment us before the time? [Lake of Fire]

As we discovered in Part 10 of Joshua, the Girgasites were part of “seven nations stronger than you (Israel)” (Deu 7:1. Jos 3:10. Jos 24:11), symbolised as being cast into the resurrection to judgment. These kings and their peoples are symbolised as legions of evil spirits whom Israel tormented by fear and death before their typified time in the Lake of Fire.

Jos 10:3 And Adonizedek [‘aw-done’] king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, and to Piram king of Jarmuth, and to Japhia king of Lachish, and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, 
Jos 10:4 Come up to me, and help me, so that we may strike Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel. 
Jos 10:5 And the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem [‘aw-done’], the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, the king of Eglon, gathered themselves. And they went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon, and made war against it [against Gibeon!].

The definitions of the other four kings:

Hoham king of Hebron – Definition: Hoham = whom Jehovah impels. Origin H2267 – Hebron, association; company; magician; charmer.

Piram king of Jarmuth – Definition: Hebron. [Location only] Origin H2267 association; company; magician; charmer. Jarmuth – Phon’ ‘yar-mooth’ – def’ ‘heights; to rise up; to be set on high; exault’.

Japhia king of Lachish – Phonetic: yaw-fee’-ah. 1. a town on the border of Zebulun and Issachar. Origin: H3313 1. to shine, shine forth or out, cause to shine, send out beams.

Debir king of Eglon – Debir – ‘deb-eer’ means ‘sanctuary’; the holy of holies; temple; an oracle-god. Eglon – ‘eg-lawn’ – calf-like; bull calf.

From that aggregate of meanings for the Kings and their locations for our spiritual understanding, we see our God-given broad company of 44,000 odd Babylonian Christian doctrines within ourselves. While in Babylon, we were unwitting magicians charming the laity with falsehoods from the traditions of ‘godly’ fellow Christians, exalting ourselves while preaching another Jesus (2Co 11:4). We were giddy with the delusion that we were saved by ‘greasy grace’, and unwittingly reflected the light of the first “moon” so that we were blinding ourselves by our brightness. Little did we know we were ‘holy cow’ worshippers, Canaanites. The five kings all have the same spirit of mind for our glorious chastisement (Rev 3:19) to be given faith by grace. They all are represented by their principal king Adonizedek [‘aw-done’], of the (first) desolate Jerusalem that much later developed into more of a “city of peace”, as projected for our understanding.

The armies of all five kings fought their countrymen of Gibeon, which we remember, ironically means the city of Benjamin. We see within the same pattern that happened much later with Ammon and Moab.

2Ch 20:23 For the sons of Ammon and Moab stood up against the people of mount Seir to completely kill and destroy. And when they had made an end of the people of Seir, everyone helped to destroy another.

Pro 16:7 When a man’s ways please Jehovah, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Since Gibeon (the Hivites) is Israel’s city through Benjamin, they are typified as our Babylonian Christian brothers and sisters. Typically, they are interested in a different Jesus with only enough fear to believe that the Lord, and in this case, Israel, will save their hides, yet, they can be us if we haven’t been given to go the distance to keep all the Lord’s Commandments.

Jos 10:6 And the men of Gibeon [symbolic of our Babylonian Christian near kin, Benjamin] sent to Joshua to the camp to Gilgal, saying, Do not withhold your hand from your servants. Come up to us quickly, and save us, and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered against us.

Mat 7:21 Not everyone who says to Me, Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in Heaven.
Mat 7:22 Many will say to Me in that day, Lord! Lord! Did we not prophesy in Your name, and through Your name throw out demons, and through Your name do many wonderful works? 
Mat 7:23 And then I will say to them I never knew you! Depart from Me, those working lawlessness! 

The Hivites (from the land of Gibeon) are our Gentile Christian kin of the world with whom we rub shoulders every day. They are not too dissimilar in appearance to Israel and blend in with Israel’s inherent affability (when Israel should have generally been more circumspect for the Lord’s commands). While the Lord’s focus was Israel, all these heathen nations of the ‘world’, including the Hivites, helped sculpt Israel for our immense spiritual benefit.

Joh 17:9 I pray for them [the Elect of God]. I do not pray for the world, but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
Joh 17:10 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am in the world no longer, but these are in the world, and I come to You, Holy Father. Keep them in Your name, those whom You have given Me, so that they may be one as We are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those that You have given Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition [us, if we go back to being a worldly Hivite] that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 
Joh 17:13 And now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world that they might have My joy fulfilled in them.
Joh 17:14 I have given them Your Word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15  I do not pray for You to take them out of the world, [away from the subtle lies and bombastic ruling of the laity of our Babylonian kin] but for You to keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They [the Lord’s people ~ aliens Lev 19:34; 1Pet 2:11] are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through Your truth. Your Word is truth.

Jos 10:7 So Joshua [Christ and his Christs] went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of war. 
Jos 10:8 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hands. There shall not a man of them stand before you.

For those verses and the longstanding Saints’ awareness, it seems banal to state the obvious (and we will), that our ravished hearts for the Lord’s word is demonstratively Shulamite; there is always a hidden gem hidden for our finding and child-like joy when a Body member reveals the discovery of a sapphire or nugget. And, so…

We don’t half-step into battle. “All the people of war” are the Lord’s Elect and are “mighty men of war” ~ how?

Eph 6:10 Finally, my brothers, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the world’s rulers, of the darkness of this age, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
Eph 6:13 Therefore take to yourselves the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Eph 6:14 Therefore stand, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness 
Eph 6:15 and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Eph 6:16 Above all, take the shield of faith, with which you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 
Eph 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, 
Eph 6:18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. 
Eph 6:19 And pray for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 
Eph 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in bonds; so that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Jos 10:9 And Joshua came to them suddenly, coming up from Gilgal all night.

The Lord’s people are given to see perfectly at night since Christ is their pillar of fire (Exo 13:21), who came suddenly in our long spiritual darkness, rousing us from our sleep while drunk on Babylonian wine (another Jesus).

Israel is a witness to their Gibeonite kin so that in the Resurrection to Judgment, humanity, particularly ‘Christian Gibeonites’, will remember that the Lord’s Elect was powerfully among them in the one-thousand year reign when judged on the eighth day. However, for the moment, the lukewarm Benjaminites of Gibeon are prophetically reminded of their inherent nature.

Gen 49:26 The blessings of your father are above the blessings of my ancestors [for this parallel, Benjamin], to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him, the ruler, the leader of his brothers.
Gen 49:27 Benjamin is a wolf that tears in pieces. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Jos 10:10 And Jehovah troubled them [the Five Kings and their armies] before Israel, and killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and chased them along the way that goes up to Beth-horon, and struck them to Azekah, and to Makkedah. 
Jos 10:11 And it happened, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the descent of Bethhoron, Jehovah cast down great stones from the heavens on them to Azekah, and they died. The many who died from hailstones were more than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

The hail that is the fiery word of God smashes all lies, culminating in the resurrection to judgment when all people therein will be reminded of their deliberate and unwittingly believed lies from their former flesh. For the marginally astute sons of God, that hailstone event is synonymous with the one-thousand year reign with a rod of iron. The many who died from those hailstones will be the entirety of humanity since Adam, who are not counted in the First Resurrection.

Eze 38:22 And I will judge him [Gog and Magog now, within], with a plague and with blood [I die daily]. And I will rain on him, and on his bands, and on the many peoples with him, an overflowing shower, and great hailstones, fire and brimstone.
Eze 38:23 So I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself. And I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am Jehovah. 

Rev 16:19 And the great city [you and I] came to be into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the anger of His wrath. 
Rev 16:20 And every island fled away, and mountains were not found [including the Kings within (us), Joshua prefigured as fighting].
Rev 16:21 And a great hail, as the size of a talent, came down out of the heaven on men. And men blasphemed God [The Elect steeply decreasing blasphemy, but all nations blaspheming now, but more so at the end of the OTY rod of iron reign] because of the plague of the hail; for the plague of it was exceedingly great.

Isa 28:14 Therefore hear the Word of Jehovah, scornful men who rule this people in Jerusalem [Babylon today and within]. 
Isa 28:15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and we have made a vision with hell; when the overwhelming rod shall pass through, it shall not come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood, [… For she says in her heart, “I sit as a queen, and I am not a widow…” (Rev 18:7)]
Isa 28:16 therefore so says the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I place in Zion a Stone for a foundation, a tried Stone, a precious Cornerstone [Christ], a sure Foundation; he [the Christs] who believes shall not hurry [why hurry; patience is a virtue; Christ is creating the pot at his leisure] 
Isa 28:17 Also I will lay judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet; and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.

Jos 10:12 Then Joshua spoke to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun! Stand still on Gibeon! And, moon, stand still in the valley of Aijalon! 

The sun and the moon effectively stand still today for the Elect of God as they are given to slaughter every enemy king and child within until all their brothers and sisters are done being killed.

Rev 6:10 And they [Elect] cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season [while the sun (Christ) stands still for the Moon, the Church], until their fellowservants [Moon…] also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. 

Jos 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stood still, until the people had avenged themselves on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? [Contemporary alleged works of Jasher are spurious; its word doesn’t correspond to the Lord’s spirit in the rest of the Bible] And the sun stood still in the midst of the heavens, and did not hasten to go down about a whole day.

Christ, our sun, shines with increasing brightness on His Bride, the Moon. He is standing still for us today while we are given time to kill a great slaughter of the lies within. (Incidentally, I remember harvesting wheat at 2 am one night in Queensland many years ago. The moonlight was so bright that I easily read newsprint). 

Christ says vengeance is His, and since the Elect of God are Christs (plural), vengeance is theirs, like Joseph was to his brothers and the Elect to humanity in the Resurrection to Judgement.

Deu 32:31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges [Job 15:6  ‘… I will judge you out of your own mouth, wicked servant!’ Luk 19:22]
Deu 32:32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah. Their grapes are grapes of gall. Their clusters are bitter.
Deu 32:33 Their wine [twisted word of God] is the poison of serpents, and the cruel venom of asps. [As opposed to the words on the roof of the Lord’s mouth the Shulamite deems better than wine Son 7:9-10]
Deu 32:34 Is not this laid up in store with Me and sealed up among My treasures?
Deu 32:35 Vengeance and retribution belong to Me. Their [the world] foot shall slide in time [order of salvation], for the day of their calamity [fiery judgement] is at hand, and the things that shall come on them make haste. 
Deu 32:36 For Jehovah will bring His people justice; and He shall have compassion on His servants, for He sees that their power is gone, and only the imprisoned and abandoned remain.

Jos 10:14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that Jehovah listened to the voice of a man [in that age of old Israel]. For Jehovah fought for Israel.
Jos 10:15 And Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp to Gilgal.

The Father listens to the man, Jesus, our Lord and God, who stands still for a little moment while His Moon gathers His brightness to soon receive the full complement of His spirit in dazzling white linen robes.

Isa 54:7 For a little moment I have left you; but with great mercies I will gather you.
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid My face from you for a moment; but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you, says Jehovah your Redeemer.

Joh 11:41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
Joh 11:42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
Joh 11:44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Our Joshua is Christ who speaks to the Father “in the day” to whom the Father listens, just as the Father listens to His Elect who are washed by their Husband’s words.

Joh 9:4 I must work the works of Him who sent Me, while it is day. Night comes when no man can work.
Joh 9:5 As long as I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.

Soon, we who are hopeful for the resurrection to life will hear the loud voice of the Archangel and a trumpet call when the physically dead in Christ will rise, followed soon after by those who are alive.

1Th 4:16 For the Lord Himself shall descend from Heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. 
1Th 4:17 Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. 
1Th 4:18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Mike,

I was wondering if you know what God did exactly in Isaiah 38:8.  Did he actually turn back time or just change the earth’s rotation – which is no small feat of course.  And what is the spiritual signification of that event?

Please take your time in responding.

Thanks,
J____

Hi J____,

Thank you for your question.

God caused the earth to rotate backwards ten degrees. He did not need to involve the rest of the solar system in what He did, though if He had needed to do so, it would have been no great task for Him. That is the spiritual significance for us. Nothing is too hard for God, including our salvation. Just as he caused the earth to stand still until Joshua and Israel had destroyed their enemies, He made the earth to return on its axis ten degrees as a sign to Hezekiah that He was capable of healing Hezekiah of his deadly affliction:

Jos 10:13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.

This is written from our perspective just as every weatherman on television to this very day tells us when the sun will rise and when the sun will set even though its rising and setting is merely an illusion caused by the earth’s rotation.

The earth stood still and all the catastrophes associated with such an action were suspended by God just because He can!

That is the spiritual lesson in those things for us. There is nothing too hard for God to do. If He can “raise up of of these stones children unto Abraham” then He can also cause the earth to stand still and even cause it to reverse its rotation ten degrees on the sundial.

Mat 3:9  And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. 

It is God who decides who you are, and it is God who decides who I am, and if He says I am a child of Abraham, then that is who I am:

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

I hope this answers your question. If not just let me know.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

Greetings to you all,

I found your site and started reading a good article. I have a question about the Lord making a Solar System.
I grew up in paganism and the public school system. We learned about the solar system with the earth rotating on an axis and planets and everything revolving around the sun.
Then I was born again, studying the Word and giving up my doctrines and philosophies, etc.
I found out what I learned in school was science falsely so- called and theories of men. I learned throughout the bible that the sun rises and sets. God made the earth first, then sun, moon and stars to serve the earth. The sun and moon revolve around the earth, not the other way around. The bible doesn’t say the word planets anywhere.
I haven’t found where it says the earth spins on an axis and revolves around the sun. I found many places where the sun and moon rise and set. In Joshua he commanded the sun to ” stand still” and the Moon to “stand still”. And the Lord hearkened and did it.
Joshua didn’t tell the earth to stop moving, but the sun and the moon, and they obeyed. Joshua didn’t command the earth to stop spinning or to stop revolving around the sun.
So I came to the Word of God and learned I was taught lies, theories and philosophies.
Now I read this article that says the Lord did create our solar system.
I’m not sure what to think of that. The teachers, text books and scientists, etc. don’t have the Holy Spirit to lead them into all truth, so I’m thinking most likely they are wrong.
Do you have info on this I can be directed to?
Thanks,

H____
Hi H____,

Thank you for your question.
To this day, you can look in your local paper or listen to the local weather on radio or television, and you will see and hear the phrase ‘Sunrise will be at 6:30 A. M. and sunset will be at 6:30 P. M’.
How else can we communicate what appears to be happening from our earthly perspective? The sun appears to rise in the east and set in the west.
But the scriptures certainly do not teach that Christ, “the Sun of Righteousness”, revolves around the earth. What the scriptures do teach is that we as this ‘earth’ revolve around “the Sun of Righteousness”, and we are specifically told that “of Him, through Him, and to Him are all things.”

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

It is ‘the earth’ which needs the sun. It is not vise- versa. Without the earth, the sun would still shine, but without the sun, there would be no life on this earth. So the Truth is that the earth, which in scripture is the life upon the earth which life is supposed to “hear the word of the Lord”, exists because of the sun. So we are told:

Jer 22:29 O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
Col 1:15 Who [ the Sun of Righteousness] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Col 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Col 1:19 For it pleased the Father that in him [ the Sun of Righteousness] should all fulness dwell;

It was the church which for many centuries had people killed for acknowledging the scriptural fact that we revolve around Christ, and Christ does not revolve around a Pope or around any of us. So while there are many things that fall under the label of “science falsely so called”, the recognition that the earth revolves around the sun is not one of those false doctrines.
Evolution is such a doctrine, but the fact that we have a solar system with planets revolving around the sun is nothing less than the truth of this verse:

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

I do pray these verses of scripture will give you a more Biblical perspective of what the scriptures mean when they say ‘the sun moved back’ or ‘the sun stood still in the heavens’.
It is the ‘sun’ which is preeminent in scripture, it is not the earth. Notice:

Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Your brother in Christ,
Mike

Video Links

Rev 16:4  And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7  And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous [ are] thy judgments.
Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

Introduction

There are two things we want to keep in mind as we continue our study the seven last plagues of the seven angels. First we want to remember that the mystery of God cannot be finished and we cannot enter into the temple of God until the seven plagues of these seven angels are fulfilled.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

That is just how critical to the revelation of Jesus Christ within us these seven plagues are which “fill up the wrath of God” within us. That “mystery of God” is “Christ in you the hope of glory”:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

We must be cleansed by the fire that is mingled with the sea of glass. Christ will not dwell in a defiled temple:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

We have all “defiled the temple of God” as the “man of sin” who is the beastly first Adam within us all, and that “man of sin” within us all must be destroyed by the brightness of the coming of Christ. That work is described in these verses as being “scorched with heat from the Sun”. It take all of these seven plagues to cleanse our heavens and make us fit to stand on that “sea of glass mingled with fire” and to make us fit for our Savior to sit together with us in our heavens.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised [ us] up together, and made us sit together in heavenly [ places] in Christ Jesus:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come [ the days of the voice of the seventh angel], except there come a falling away firs t, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5  Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
Rev 15:2  And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gottenthe victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, [ and] over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

It is these seven plagues which “reveal the man of sin… sitting in the temple of God… in his time”. That is why we are told that these seven plagues “fill up the wrath of God”. God’s wrath simply must accomplish it’ judging and chastening purpose before Christ will “destroy our man of sin with the brightness of His coming” thus seating Himself in “the temple of God, which temple we are”.
That is the function of these seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness within us, and that is why these seven last plagues are called a “great and marvelous” event within our lives.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

So while the phrase “Here is the patience of the saints” is not in this sixteen chapter, we are told in the previous chapter that those who overcome the name, number and image of the beast, stand on a “sea of glass mingled with fire, having the harps of God, and singing the song of Moses. So it is clear that  those who stand on that sea of glass are those who have been cleansed by the purging judgment of these seven last plagues which fill up the wrath of God against our ungodliness and unrighteousness in which we have lived while knowing and holding the truth.

Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [ the beast, the man of sin, our selves], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 14:9  And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive [ his] mark in his forehead, or in his hand,
Rev 14:10  The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
Rev 14:11  And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
Rev 14:12  Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

Because we all fail to realize that all of our names are blotted out of God’s “book of life”, we are led to believe that there are those who will not worship the beast. This is the lie that will rob so many of experiencing “the patience and faith of the saints”. Both Rev 13 and 14 tell us that our worship of our beast is part of that patience building. All men’s names are first blotted out of the book of life before they are reinstated simply because we have “all sinned against God”.
All of this, by way of remembrance, brings us to the second point we must not forget as we study the purpose and function of these seven last plagues which we are to “read, hear, and keep” (Rev 1:3) as “the patience and faith of the saints. That second point is that these plagues parallel and are an integral part of both the seven trumpets and the seven seals. They are so integral that this book cannot possible be opened until these seven plagues of these seven angels has been fulfilled in our lives. We demonstrated why that is and showed that the seven trumpets are the seven seals, and the seven last plagues are the seventh trumpet. What this means is that this book is still completely sealed and cannot be “read, heard, or kept… until the seven plagues of the seven angels has been fulfilled” in our lives.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

So before we get back to seeing just how interwoven these plagues with the trumpets and seals are, let us take heart in knowing that all of this is, was and will be true for all men of all time, and that “He which has begun a work in all of us will perform that work until the day of Christ”, and all of this, “things present and things to come” are simply part of that work being performed within us.

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Exo 32:33  And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The third plague and how it parallels the third trumpet in our lives

Rev 16:4  And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
Rev 16:5  And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.
Rev 16:6  For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
Rev 16:7  And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments.

This vial is poured out “upon the rivers and fountains of waters” of our lives. What was the concern of the third trumpet?

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

The rivers and fountains of waters in our lives are God’s Word, which ought to be in our hearts and minds by this time in our walk. Instead we are in need of being taught the most basic doctrines of loving our enemies, and dying daily to the pulls of our flesh. We are, at this point, “Yet carnal… babes in Christ”, who “hold truth in unrighteousness”.

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk [ is] unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.
Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
Heb 6:1  Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Heb 6:2  Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2  I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able [ to bear it], neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3  For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4  For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
Rom 1:18  For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

When we “hold the Truth in unrighteousness” we “blaspheme the name of God among the heathen”. These seven plagues are the fulfilling of these verses of scripture concerning these same judgments of God in this part of our walk:

Rom 2:5  But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Rom 2:8  But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,
Rom 2:9  Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

If we are the true Jews of the 28th verse of this very same chapter, then these judgments must begin at “the Jew first”.

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise [ is] not of men, but of God.
1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

“He is not a Jew which is one outwardly… but he is a Jew which is one inwardly” is one of “the first principles of the oracles of God” which we “hold in unrighteousness” while these seven plagues are being poured out upon us. This is what turns “the rivers and fountains of waters” of God’s Word into blood. That blood we are given to drink is the blood of Christ which is now on our own hands, even as we profess to serve him.

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

Like Saul of Tarsus, we are those who “kill you thinking we do God’s service”, before we become Paul the apostle who truly does service to God by “dying daily” to the things of this age.
It is very instructive that several of these trumpets are said to affect “the third part”, whereas there is no such language in the description of the seven last plagues which “fill up the wrath of God”. So the trumpets describe this ongoing process of judgment, while the seven last plagues describe the filling up in our lives of these judgments of God.
In the third trumpet the rivers and fountains of water become bitter and many men die, but in the third vial we are “judged thus” to have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and we are given blood to drink, and again we  are told “true and righteous are your judgments”.
The bitterness of the star which makes the rivers and fountains of waters wormwood, is the same perversion of God’s Word which we drink as blood in the third vial which is also dealing with our rivers and fountains of waters of God’s Word which we hold at this time in our walk “in unrighteousness”.
These plagues are God’s chastening judgments upon our own “ungodliness and unrighteousness” (Rom 1:18).
It behooves us to “read, hear, and keep the things written herein” because we are told:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

So those who teach that these seven plagues are not God’s chastening judgments, but are designed simply to harden hearts for destruction in the lake of fire, will be judged out of their own mouths, and will find themselves in that very position because they refuse to acknowledge that “all things are ours”, and that we “must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, especially the “great and marvelous” words of this 16th chapter of Revelation.

Mat 4:4  But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
1Co 3:21  Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22  Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

These seven last plagues come straight out of the mouth of God:

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [ it] by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

… and Yes, “the time is [ always] at hand [ for us] to keep… these seven last plagues… which are written in this book”, generation by generation. This is part of the “one event which is to all men” (Ecc 9:2), as is the fourth vial also.

The fourth plague and the fourth trumpet in our lives

Rev 16:8  And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
Rev 16:9  And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.

At this point the fourth vial or bowl is poured out upon the sun. With what is the fourth trumpet concerned?

Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Again we see that the trumpets involve “the third part” whereas the vials “fill up the wrath of God” upon our sins and rebellions while we blaspheme the name of God. While we just naturally assume those who blaspheme the name of God do so knowingly, the scriptures actually reveal that we do so un knowingly.

Joh 16:2  They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service.

So how do the scriptures reveal that we will all blaspheme the name of God within our lives? Here is how we all blaspheme the name of God, before we come to even know we are doing so:

om 2:17  Behold, thou art called a [ spiritual] Jew, and restest in the law, and makest thy boast of God,
Rom 2:18  And knowest his will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law;
Rom 2:19  And art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness,
Rom 2:20  An instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, which hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.
Rom 2:21  Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
Rom 2:22  Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?
Rom 2:23  Thou that makest thy boast of the law, through breaking the law dishonourest thou God?
Rom 2:24  For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

Romans two is addressed to Gentile Romans converts who Paul considers to be his spiritual “brethren”. This epistle is not written to people who don’t even know God and His Son. This book is addressed to those in Rome who claim to know Christ:

Rom 1:13  Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles.

Paul is not accusing Caesar or his subjects of blaspheming the name of God. He is speaking to those who consider themselves to be God’s own people, who teach others not to steal, commit adultery and commit sacrilege, while they are doing the very things they have condemn in the lives of others. In other words, these words are all addressed to you and to me. We have blasphemed the name of God among the Gentiles, and we continue to do so even as God judges us for all of our rebellious hypocrisy.
But when the seven plagues of the seven angels are fulfilled in our walk, we will repent of our blasphemous lives. We will have read, heard, and kept all these things written in this book, and then we will be cleansed in the sea of glass mingled with fire. Only the priests of God can stand on that sea with the harps of God, and through the fire mingled with that glass, they are given to enter into the temple of God which temple is us in Christ and Christ within us. In that day we will understand the meaning of this verse:

Joh 14:20  At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

That too, is the mystery of God declared to us by His servants the prophets. It simply adds to our understanding of the same mystery spoken of by Paul in Col 1:

Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Col 1:28  Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

What John calls seals, trumpets, and vials, Paul simply refers to as “much tribulation”.

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

This statement is made immediately after telling us that Paul had been stoned and left for dead, but he had been raised up to continue his testimony. This is an example of what is meant by the “sea of glass mingled with fire”. Those who are granted to stand on that sea, with the harps of God, have already endured the seven last plagues. Christ has entered in to His temple and has taken the dominion of their hearts and minds, and they will not be deterred by a mere stoning to death.

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel [ the seven last plagues] , when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.

Summary
In this study we have seen that it is the pouring out of the seven last plagues of the seven angels which is essential to bring us to see our need for being cleansed in the sea of glass mingled with fire.  The fire that is mingled with that glass is the judgments of the Word of God upon all the blasphemous sins that are within us, even as we claim to be doing God a service. That fire brings on us the fulfilling in our lives of the seven plagues of the seven angels. They must be fulfilled before we can be cleansed and stand on the sea of glass mingled with fire and before we can enter into the temple of God.
We also saw that the destruction of the man of sin of 2Th 2, “with the brightness of the coming of Christ”, is the same event as the pouring out of these seven plagues. Both result in the same thing, ” the mystery of God should be finished”. That mystery is “Christ in you”, and we saw that “the mystery of God… as He has declared to His servants the prophets, commences where “the mystery of iniquity… the man of sin” holding the dominion in my body, ends.
We have seen that these seven vials are God’s judgments upon our ungodliness and unrighteousness, which fill up the wrath of God, while the seven trumpets, which perfectly parallel the seven vials, are characterized by the phrase “the third part”, signifying the process of judgment is ongoing and God’s wrath is not “filled up” in the trumpets as it is in the vials.
We have seen how we have perverted the truths of God’s “rivers and fountains of waters”, His own word, the lies which have been used to kill the prophets of God who have been sent to us with that truth. In this way we have been made to drink the blood of our own Savior and His Christ, thus being guilty of that blood.

Mar 10:38  But Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can ye drink of the cup that I drink of? and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?
Mar 10:39  And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said unto them, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized:
Mat 26:27  And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

We have seen that we have all blasphemed the name of God among the Gentiles for the plague of heat which as “the Sun” of the fiery Truth of God’s Word, is poured out upon  our old man and his doctrines. We saw that we do this by holding Truth in unrighteousness, even as we think we were serving God
We have seen that the mystery of God within us actually begins in the opening of the seals and should be finished in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he begins to sound. In other words, “He that has begun a good work in us, will perform it until the day of Christ.

Php 1:3  I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Php 1:4  Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy,
Php 1:5  For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now;
Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: [ The finishing of the mystery of God].

Nest week, Lord willing, we will see that the bottomless pit and “the seat of the beast are one and the same within us.

Rev 16:10  And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
Rev 16:11  And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
Rev 16:12  And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
Rev 16:13  And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs [ come] out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
Rev 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, [ which] go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Rev 16:15  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed [ is] he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

Mike,

It is always a pleasure getting to bounce ideas around with you and reading your site. I appreciate your attitude toward the scriptures and the way you speak with love and peace. I had a question regarding the moon in Gen 1:16. I know the moon symbolizes the Old Testament generally but since there is a positive and negative side of each symbol could it also be a symbol for Satan? I was brought to this by the testimony of:

1Th 5:5 you are all children of the light, and children of the day. We don’t belong to the night, nor to the darkness.
1Th 5:6 so then let’s not sleep, as the rest do, but let’s watch and be sober.

So we are told we do not belong to the night because of:

Eph 5:8 for you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
Eph 5:9 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth
Eph 5:10 proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.
Eph 5:11 have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness but rather even reprove them.
Eph 5:12 for the things which are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.
Eph 5:13 but all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light.

So there are wicked things wrought in the darkness. There is a ruler of this darkness that was created by God. That is why I think in Genesis we see that God appointed a lesser light, the moon, (which bears no light but masquerades as a messenger of light) to rule the night. Also in verses 17 and 18 it reads:

God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light to the earth and to rule over the day and the night and to divide the light from darkness (fig. ignorance).

I know some see the moon as a type of the church but then I read in Revelation where the moon is under the woman (the church’s feet), and I know it can mean the old testament, but also it could mean we have and are placing the enemy under our feet.  I guess I see Jesus as the Sun since he is called the Sun of Righteousness so I look at the opposite since the sun is an active and light bearing signal in the sky while the moon is barren and a wasteland that tries to imitate that light and deceives many.

As you can see, my thoughts are varied, and if you could shed any light (no pun intended), I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, Mike.

L____

Hi L____,

Thank you for your words of encouragement, for sharing with me your insights, and thank you for your question. If you have been given to see that every word of scripture, like the cloud at the Red Sea, has both a bright and a dark side to it, then you have been given an insight into Christ and His Words which is given to very few.

Your understanding that the moon, of itself has no light at all is very true. You say:

I know some see the moon as a type of the church but then I read in Revelation where the moon is under the woman (the church’s feet), and I know it can mean the old testament, but also it could mean we have and are placing the enemy under our feet. I guess I see Jesus as the Sun since he is called the Sun of Righteousness so I look at the opposite since the sun is an active and light bearing signal in the sky while the moon is barren and a wasteland that tries to imitate that light and deceives many.

Everything you say here is true, but in the case of Revelation 12, you need to remember what you admit to seeing in the way you pose your question.

You ask:

I know the moon symbolizes the Old Testament generally but since there is a positive and negative side of each symbol could it also be a symbol for Satan?

You are exactly right. Satan is directly linked with darkness throughout the Word of God.

Act 26:18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

Darkness here is equated with “the power of Satan”. All the verses you list make this point very well. The moon is said to “rule over the night” and darkness. Here is the progression of the creation as it pertains to light and darkness.

Gen 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
Gen 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
Gen 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Gen 1:17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,
Gen 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

If, as Act 26:18 indicates, darkness is equated with “the power of Satan”, and if “the lesser light rules the night”, then it is clear that Satan is the ruler of darkness and of the night.

But notice that the moon is not called darkness. Rather it is called “the lesser light to rule the night”. The sun is the greater light that rules the day, and together they are “two great lights… the stars also”. Above all we need to remember who it is that creates both the light and the darkness.

Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that [there is] none beside me. I [am] the LORD, and [there is] none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

It is God who has set both the greater light and the lesser light “in the firmament of the heavens. In other words, the moon rules over all who are under it, just as the law is the schoolmaster over all who are under the law.

Gal 3:19 Wherefore then [serveth] the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; [and it was] ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
Gal 3:20 Now a mediator is not [ a mediator] of one, but God is one.
Gal 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
Gal 3:23 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
Gal 3:24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

“Is the law against the promises of God?” We could just as easily ask if the first Adam and sin are against the promises of God, and the answer would be the same, because Christ came into this world to save sinners, not the righteous.

Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

How many people do you know who think in terms of God’s use of sin as the first step towards life and knowing Him and His Son? How many people are grateful for coming to see themselves as a sinner? Yet that is exactly what God Himself tells us right from the beginning.

Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

“The man is become as one of us…” How was that accomplished? How did “man become as one of us, to know good and evil”? He ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Only then could man distinguish good from evil. What does all of this symbolize? It symbolizes the law of Moses, and all other “carnal laws… for the lawless”.

Heb 7:16 Who [Christ] is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.
Heb 7:17 For he testifieth, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 7:18 For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.

1Ti 1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers,

How do we know that tree of the knowledge of good and evil symbolizes the law of Moses? Here is how we know that:

Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

But the spirit of the law [the lesser light] is not the spirit of Christ, and when Christ saw that spirit of the law of Moses in His disciples, this is what He said to them.

Luk 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem,
Luk 9:52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him.
Luk 9:53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem.
Luk 9:54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
Luk 9:55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
Luk 9:56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

The law had in it no mercy. It simply was not allowed.

Heb 10:28 He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:

But the “greater light” shows mercy over judgment.

Jas 2:13 For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy [ the law of Moses, the “lesser light”]; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment [“the law of Christ… the greater light”].

To this very day, it is few who are given to understand that “darkness” and “night” are the realm of a “lesser light” and so they cannot discern when Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light, or when the ministers of Satan are transformed into ministers of righteousness. Darkness is not utter depravity. Darkness includes self righteousness and is called “the lesser light” over which the moon rules.

2Co 11:13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
2Co 11:14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
2Co 11:15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

So you are right. The moon can be, and is, a symbol for Satan, but in the scriptures the moon also represents our ‘mother’, the harlot church out of which we all come. This is the ‘mother’ who will one day bow at our feet, if and when we are in Christ.

Gen 37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10 And he told [it] to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What [is] this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

This is Jacob asking this question of his son, Joseph. What had Jacob’s mother taught him to do? She taught him to deceive his father and to steal his brother’s blessing.

Gen 27:11 And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother [is] a hairy man, and I [am] a smooth man:
Gen 27:12 My father peradventure will feel me, and I shall seem to him as a deceiver; and I shall bring a curse upon me, and not a blessing.
Gen 27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my voice, and go fetch me [them].
Gen 27:14  And he went, and fetched, and brought [them] to his mother: and his mother made savoury meat, such as his father loved.

Yes, of course it is all of God, but Jacob, like all of us, reaped what he had sown when later his father-in-law deceived him and extorted seven extra years of service from Jacob with the sale of his two daughters to become Jacob’s wives.

Rebekah, Jacob’s mother, truly acted as “the moon” in telling her son to lie to and deceive his father.

As for the woman of Rev 12 having “the moon under her feet”, that was true of Israel when she came up out of Egypt, and God had the earth to open its mouth and swallow the flood the dragon had cast out of his mouth to “carry her away”.

Rev 12:15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
Rev 12:16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

This “flood” comes “out of the mouth of the serpent” for a very good reason. Lies and deceit come out of the mouth of the serpent.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of [ your] father the devil [“that old serpent the devil, and Satan”], and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Each lie is another false spirit that must be tried to see whether it is of God.

1Jn 4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

“False prophets” bring false doctrines, lying “spirits” which are not of God, except in the sense that “all things are of God… even the wicked for the day of evil” (Pro 16:4 and 1Co 8:6).

One such lie is that this woman in Rev 12 is any different than the woman who says “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing” in Rev 3:14.

Rev 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Rev 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
Rev 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Rev 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and [ that] the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

After all, she was clothed by God Himself with His gold and His silver and His precious stones. Here is what Christ has to say to the church in Rev 2-3, Rev 12 and Rev 17-18.

Eze 16:10 I clothed thee also with broidered work, and shod thee with badgers’ skin, and I girded thee about with fine linen, and I covered thee with silk.
Eze 16:11 I decked thee also with ornaments, and I put bracelets upon thy hands, and a chain on thy neck.
Eze 16:12 And I put a jewel on thy forehead, and earrings in thine ears, and a beautiful crown upon thine head.
Eze 16:13 Thus wast thou decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment [was of] fine linen, and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, and honey, and oil: and thou wast exceeding beautiful, and thou didst prosper into a kingdom.
Eze 16:14 And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 16:15 But thou didst trust in thine own beauty, and playedst the harlot because of thy renown, and pouredst out thy fornications on every one that passed by; his it was.
Eze 16:16 And of thy garments thou didst take, and deckedst thy high places with divers colours, and playedst the harlot thereupon: the like things shall not come, neither shall it be [so].
Eze 16:17 Thou hast also taken thy fair jewels of my gold and of my silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of men, and didst commit whoredom with them,
Eze 16:18 And tookest thy broidered garments, and coveredst them: and thou hast set mine oil and mine incense before them.
Eze 16:19 My meat also which I gave thee, fine flour, and oil, and honey, [wherewith] I fed thee, thou hast even set it before them for a sweet savour: and [ thus] it was, saith the Lord GOD.

“And thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty: for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I had put upon thee, saith the Lord GOD” (verse 14). Yes, she really was “clothed with the sun, and the moon really was under her feet, and she really did have a crown of twelve stars, but she could not ascend to heaven and to the throne of God, and the ‘sun and moon’ and stars’ will all bow down to the Joseph of the New Testament who will, in the end, save both Israel and Egypt.

The failure to see all of this comes from not understanding that “there is one event to all… the good and the evil… [that] man[ kind] must live by every word of God… [that] all things present and things to come are ours… and that it is we who will, at our own appointed time “keep the things that are written in this book” (Ecc 9:2, Mat 4:4, 1Co 3:21-22, Rev 1:3).

Here is what this woman who is taken to the wilderness says of herself.

Rev 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

This is that woman in chapter twelve who “brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. Again, from where did this “man child” come? From where do all of God’s people come? Here is where they are all conceived:

Psa 51:5 Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Who is first “my mother” and your mother? Out of whom does this man child, who ascends to God and His throne while his mother flees to the wilderness, come?

Rev 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

So there it is. I hope you can see that the glowing words about this woman in chapter twelve, do not qualify her to be “caught up to God and to his throne, and instead they do qualify her to be afraid of the dragon and his army and side with the dragon against “the remnant of her [own] seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” In other words, the “man child.” The dragon may be “wroth with the woman”, but his main concern is the man- child. Pharaoh would no doubt have liked to get Israel back to himself, but what he really wanted was to destroy Moses, and “the woman” was on the same page as the dragon and his son the Pharaoh.

Exo 14:10 And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.
Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because [there were] no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.

These are the verses that give the symbols of Revelation their power and their force.

Your brother in Christ,

Mike

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Rev 8:12  And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Introduction

The symbols of this fourth trumpet are 1) the third part, 2) the sun, 3) the moon, 4) the stars, 5) the day, and finally 6) the night. If any one of these six items are not symbols, then there is no way in the world for us to “keep the things which are written therein”, simply because we cannot “keep” the literal sun, moon and stars. On the other hand, if the sun and the moon were both somehow “kept” and experienced on the day of Pentecost, then maybe we too, will now be able to “live by these words proceeding out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4).
So let’s look at the darkening of the of the sun and moon at that time, and see how Peter and those present at that time, kept those words.

Act 2:14  But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all [ ye] that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
Act 2:15  For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is [ but] the third hour of the day.
Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
Act 2:18  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
Act 2:19  And I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke:
Act 2:20  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come:
Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

According to the apostle Peter, the “Sun had been turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before” this day of Pentecost had arrived. If Christ is the “Sun of righteousness” and he had been killed, then the Sun had certainly been “turned into darkness” as he lay in the grave. If the moon really is the “lesser light” of those who wanted to maintain the fading light of Moses’s face and who had killed and denied their own Messiah, as we all have, then “the moon [ had] been turned into blood” just before “that great and notable day of the Lord” which began on the day of Pentecost when Peter stood up and announced that “the last days had begun… and judgment was now on the house of God.”

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [ he made] the stars also.
2Co 3:7  But if the ministration of death, written [ and] engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which [ glory] was to be done away:

“Blood, fire, and vapor of smoke” are the very symbols we are, and will be seeing throughout this revelation of Jesus Christ. The “fire and blood” are both mentioned in the first trumpet.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

Joel and Peter are both giving us part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is in this book of Revelation, given to us by Christ himself, where Joe 2, Mat 24, Act 2 and all the prophecies of the Old Testament and the New Testament, are brought together into one cohesive “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It is the things written in this prophecy which show us clearly that all of these symbols are within, and are to be read, heard and kept all within. The emphasis at both the beginning and the end of this prophecy is on the fact that the time to keep the things written therein is right now. That was also stated in Mat 24, but it is being drummed into us with a warning here in this prophecy.

Mat 24:32  Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer [ is] nigh:
Mat 24:33  So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, [ even] at the doors.
Mat 24:34  Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35  Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

No other prophecy makes clear that the present application of the things written therein is right now as clearly as does this “revelation of Jesus Christ.” It opens and it closes with that clear instruction. But it also closes with a warning which makes it super clear that we must never think that there is any part of this revelation that is not for each of us to read, hear, and keep.

Rev 1:1  The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [ it] by his angel unto his servant John:
Rev 1:2  Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Rev 22:7  Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
Rev 22:20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Since Christ is the Word, the oft repeated phrases, “It is near, even at the door… the time is at hand… the time is come… Behold I come quickly… Surely I come quickly” all must therefore refer to the fulfillment and keeping of the words of this prophecy in the lives of those who are looking for the revelation of Jesus Christ in their lives as being “at hand… near, even at the door.”

Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Christ’s second coming, like the resurrection itself, is a present truth in “earnest” for those who are given to understand that we are to “fill up what is behind of His afflictions, be crucified with Him, be resurrected with Him and walk in newness of life with Him” because “the time is at hand” to do so.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
Col 1:25  Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
Col 1:26  Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

It is with the desire to “fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ, that we approach  the words of this prophecy, knowing “the time is at hand” to “keep the things written therein.”
So let’s take these symbols one by one and see what the scriptures say they represent in our lives.

What is the third part?

1) The third part. This first symbol is one we have covered in each and every one of our discussions of the first three trumpets.

The third part is mentioned in the first trumpet in verse seven.

Rev 8:7  The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

The third part is mentioned again in the second trumpet is in verses eight and nine.

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
Rev 8:9  And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

And it is mentioned again in the third trumpet in verses 10 and 11.

Rev 8:10  And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
Rev 8:11  And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

In each of these trumpets we saw that “the third part” symbolizes the “little by little” process of the work of judgment that is being accomplish by the Word of God in these seven trumpets.

Exo 23:30  By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
Deu 7:22  And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee.
Joh 12:48  He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.

Peter informed us in Act 2, that this is the last days for those who are “the house of God.”

Act 2:16  But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
Act 2:17  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
1Pe 4:17  For the time [ is come] that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if [ it] first [ begin] at us, what shall the end [ be] of them that obey not the gospel of God?

In the first trumpet, the third part of our trees are burned up by God’s fiery Word. In the second trumpet, the third part of the seas become blood, killing a third part of the creatures in the sea, and destroying a third part of the ships in the sea, when the fiery word of God is cast into the fleshly seas of our lives. In the third trumpet the third part of our own rivers and fountains of water are made bitter by the word of God “burning as a lamp,” just as they are made bitter in our stomach in these verses.

Rev 10:9  And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.
Rev 10:10  And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

Our waters are made bitter by the words of this prophecy, as its words begin to destroy and kill our old man within us. We saw the verses in Eze 31 that likened the king of Tyre to Pharaoh whose “root was by great waters.”

Eze 31:7  Thus was he fair in his [ Pharaoh’s] greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.

The king of Tyre and Pharaoh are both planted by God Himself. They are both types of us prospering by God’s own decree, in our own “great waters” even as we live our lives contrary to the words and laws of our God.

Jer 12:2  Thou [ Lord] hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

Where are the heavens and the earth which are mentioned in all of these trumpets?

Psa 50:4  He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.

God’s people are in both the heavens and the earth. It is there that He is judging His people. That judgment is taking place within the heavens and the earth which are both within us, where our God dwells.

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
Isa 1:2  Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Isa 13:13  Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

God is not judging or addressing His “rebellious children” in the physical bodies of the physical heavens. That is not the heavens in which He or His children dwell. He dwells in the heavenly realm within His people.

Isa 40:22 It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
Isa 51:16  And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

God “puts His words in our mouths” for the purpose of  “planting the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth in His people.” That is what is being done as we read His words concerning His works in the heavens and in the earth in these seven trumpets.

What is the sun?

2) What is the sun and what does “a third part of the sun was smitten” mean?
A darkened sun is the spiritual type of “another Jesus and another gospel ” with which we replace the True Christ, and the true gospel.
As is always true with every word of God, the sun, the moon and the stars all have a negative application when they are worshiped as Gods in their physical form, instead of being seen as spiritual types of spiritual realities. We do that today when we worship the planet, and believe that the life of this planet comes from the physical sun. Believing that life on earth depends upon the sun, is like believing that the milk and egg comes from a store. They do not originate at a store. The store is just the channel for getting the milk and eggs to the public. Milk, comes from cows, and eggs come from chickens.

Jer 8:2  And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth.
Eze 8:16  And he brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house, and, behold, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, [ were] about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the LORD, and their faces toward the east; and they worshiped the sun toward the east.

It is the inclination of the natural man to worship the lesser light that rules the night. Yes, they think they are worshiping the Sun who is the greater light, but the sun they worship is in reality the light of “the lesser light.”
But what is the positive spiritual reality of the sun? Here it is again:

Mal 4:2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
Mat 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Christ is God’s “Sun of Righteousness who arises on, and gives light to the just and the unjust.” But we have to realize that He does send His sun to rise on the evil and the good before we can understand the meaning of “a third part of the sun was smitten.” We first have to understand that the light that shines on us as carnal babes is the same sun, the same word, but with only the light and understanding that is given to Babylon. It is the beginning of the darkening of even that light which is “the third part of [ our] sun is smitten.” The three trumpets yet to sound will gradually blot out the light of our Sun.
In the third trumpet, a third of our ships were destroyed. As we see our ships being destroyed. As we are brought into darkness, we are slowly but surely “brought to our wits end.” It all leads to our salvation, but we must first “keep the things written therein.

Psa 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Psa 107:23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.

What is the moon that is smitten with darkness?

3) What is the ‘moon,’ and why is it “smitten with darkness?”

We have already shown that the moon is called “the lesser light,” and it was placed in the heavens “to rule the night”.

Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [ he made] the stars also.

The moon has no light in itself. All the moon can do is reflect some of the light of the sun and “rule the night” with its much “lesser light”. At times the earth comes between the sun and the moon, and there is no light from the moon. It is then that we realize that the light of the moon is of itself nothing more than darkness.

Once again it is Babylon’s doctrines in us which give us “the lesser light that rules the night.” So the moon is our “bondwoman” mother, before we are, by the mercy of God, transformed into “the son of the freewoman.”  Once again, If our light is darkness, Christ is not in us.

Mat 6:23  But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!

We have all been in “darkness and the shadow of death,” and at “our wits end.” That is an essential part of this revelation which is these seven trumpets.

Mat 4:16  The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up.
Joh 5:33  Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.
Joh 5:34  But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.
Joh 5:35  He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
Joh 5:36  But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.
Isa 13:10  For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
Isa 24:23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.
Isa 60:19  The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.

What is “the moon [ that is] turned into blood?”

Like Joseph’s brothers, we think we are honorable men who would never steal a silver cup (Gen 44:8-9). Like Job, we all think of ourselves and men who are “eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, and a champion to the widows” (Job 29:13-15). Like all of Christ’s apostles, we all think that we would never, ever deny our Lord (Mat 26:35). But until our moon is smitten and shines not for a third part of it, we are never made aware that it was our sins that killed our Lord, and that we have denied Him with an oath. This is the sun being turned into darkness and the moon into blood before we become the house of God to begin our continuing judgment.

Joe 2:31  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
Eze 32:6  I will also water with thy blood the land wherein thou swimmest, [ even] to the mountains; and the rivers shall be full of thee.
Eze 32:7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.
Eze 32:8 All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon thy land, saith the Lord GOD.

“Man shall… live by” these words (Mat 4:4). Which of “the things written therein; the words of the book of this prophecy [ will you dare to] take away?

Rev 22:19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [ from] the things which are written in this book.

What are the stars that are smitten with darkness?

4) What are the stars? We saw in the last verse of chapter one that stars are angels. The angels of these trumpets are God’s elect who “stand before God,” and “keep the saying of this prophecy.”

Rev 8:1  And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
Rev 8:2  And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets.
Zec 4:11  Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
Zec 4:12  And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden [ oil] out of themselves?
Zec 4:13  And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these [ be]? And I said, No, my lord.
Zec 4:14  Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earthRev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him [ the angel]. And he said unto me, See [ thou do it] not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Rev 22:8  And I John saw these things, and heard [ them]. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9  Then saith he unto me, See [ thou do it] not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

We are the ones who “keep the sayings of this book,” and it is we whose stars are smitten with darkness so that they shine not for a third of them. When our stars are darkened they work against us as we fight against God.

Jdg 5:20 They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.
Eze 32:7  And when I shall put thee out, I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light.

Whether our stars are darkened or not, they are the working of our Lord.

Psa 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
Jer 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:

What is “the day?”

5) What is “the day and why is it dark for a third of the day?”
“The day,” all through scripture typifies the time we are in the light. The sun shines, and gives us light by which we see, in the ‘day.’ The ‘day’ is “the light of knowledge” (2Co 4::6). The day that is darkened by a third is the day of the process of judgment against the darkness of that ‘day.’ That is the symbolism of “one third of the day is darkened.” What we are being told is that this day is beginning and it is getting dark, as these trumpets of judgment are being blown. It is only through judgment that we learn righteousness,” and become “children of the day.”

Joe 2:1  Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Joe 2:2  A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
Zep 1:14  The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
Zep 1:15  That day [ is] a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
Zep 1:16  A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
Zep 1:17  And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
Zep 1:18  Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’S wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.
Rev 6:12  And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
Rev 6:13  And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
Rev 6:14  And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

Our God is “calling light out of darkness.” We will live by these words first. We will be darkened before we become children of the day.

Job 12:22  He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
1Pe 2:9  But ye [ are] a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

What is night?

6) What is night and why is the night darkened?
“Night,” we must remember, is called “the lesser light.”

Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and t he lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

The fact that the sun, moon, and stars are all darkened, and the day and the night shine not for a third of each, respectively, is a symbol of how thorough is this process of judging the darkness out of which we are being called..Job 12:22, 2Co 4:6, and 1Pe 2:9, all quoted above, are speaking of coming from darkness into light, and they are speaking of coming out of night into day. Night, thoughout scripture typifies, lack of knowledge, being deceived, living in darkness, ignorance and rebellion.

Joh 11:10  But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.
1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
1Th 5:7  For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the nigh t.

Christ comes to us and begins His fiery work in us while we are yet in the darkness of deception and rebellion. He comes to us “in the nght.” Christ does not come to us after we have decided to repent of our sins, as we have all been taught. It is He who comes to us “as a thief in the night,” and then He “leads us to repentance.”

Rom 2:3  And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?
Rom 2:4  Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth [ Greek, ‘ago,’ brings, or drags] thee to repentance?

How is that accomplished?

2Pe 3:10  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.

Summary

We have seen that the symbols of this fourth trumpet are:
1) the third part, which we have before demonstrated to be the symbol of the process of judgment into which this revelation takes us.
We have seen that:
2) the sun is the symbol of the greater light that rules our day and is the symbol of “the light of the knowledge of… God… in Christ.”

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

We have seen that:

3) the moon has no light in and of itself, and is the “lesser light that rules the night,” out of which we are called.

We have seen that:

4) the stars are angels, and we saw that the angels that blow these trumpets, “stand before God,” just like the two candlesticks of Zec 4 and Rev 11. We also saw again the verses in Rev 19:10 and Rev 22: 9 which reveal that these angels are us, if indeed we are those who “keep the sayings of this book.”

We saw that:

5) the day is ruled by the sun and symbolizes the time of understanding and knowledge, which is being darkened by the falsehoods and heresies into which we are all predestined to fall.

Finally we saw that

6) the night is the time of our walk which is ruled by the lesser light of the moon, and that it is out of this time of our walk that we are being called through the agency of this revelation of Jesus Christ.

Next week we will, Lord willing, begin our study of the last three trumpets of which we are warned:

Rev 8:13  And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

Here is what we are told of the first of these three trumpets after our sun, moon, and stars are “smitten with darkness so that the third part of them is darkened.” This first ‘woe’ is actually the 5th trumpet.

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2  And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3  And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4  And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5  And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment [ was] as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6  And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Rev 9:7  And the shapes of the locusts [ were] like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads [ were] as it were crowns like gold, and their faces [ were] as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8  And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [ the teeth] of lions.
Rev 9:9  And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings [ was] as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10  And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power [ was] to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11  And they had a king over them, [ which is] the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue [ is] Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath [ his] name Apollyon.

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Revelation 1:16, Part 1 – And he had in his right hand seven stars…

Updated October 11, 2023

Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance [was] as the sun shineth in his strength.

Introduction

As always we are learning about Jesus Christ as that name and title applies to us “keeping the things which are written therein.” In these studies we are not at liberty to guess about what is being signified by the symbols of the things written therein, simply because we are not at liberty to “think above what is written.” That is a critically important principle which we must keep in mind in these times when personal revelation so commonly trumps the words of scripture.

1Co 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and [to] Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think [of men] above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Lord willing, we will never “think above that which is written” and will instead give the scriptures which explain the signification of every symbol in this Revelation of Jesus Christ.

In the last study, we saw that Christ in us walks with “feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace”, and He speaks within us with a voice which is as the sound of many waters.

Rev 1:15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

We saw that Christ’s feet are as brass because “we have this treasure [Christ] in earthen vessels.” Brass [copper] signifies flesh at its most useful peak. Through Christ in us we become the “feet” or the sockets of the pillars of the door of the temple. We enter into the presence of God through sin and death, through corruptible flesh and blood which, even at its best state – that being the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ – the Truth remains that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”

1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

We saw that Christ dwells in and walks around “in this world… in us,” His body, and we saw that we are His feet as fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace, because:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

Our “walk” with our “feet” is our “work.”

1Pe 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:

1Jn 4:17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We also saw that the voice coming out of that “body, which is the church” is as the “voice of many waters.” It is the voice of Christ’s words being given to mankind “by the church.”

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery [Greek: mustērion, secret], which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly [places] might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

God is “NOW” making known to the powers in the heavens the manifold wisdom of God; that “manifold wisdom” being “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and all which that entails. He is NOW making this known “by the church.” Paul is not speaking of some future time. He said, “NOW.” God is using “the church, which is His body” to bring this secret to each generation of mankind. That is the secret which has been hidden from the beginning of the world, but is now being made known to us in whom He dwells. It is through those who now know this “secret of His will” that God will, in His time, “make all men to see what is the fellowship of that mystery.” Here is verse 5 of Ephesians 3, and here is the same message in Colossians 1.

Eph 3:5 Which in other ages [Greek: genea, generations] was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

Col 1:26 Even the mystery [Greek: mustērion, secret] which hath been hid from ages [Greek: aions, ages] and from generations [Greek: genea], but now is made manifest to his saints:
Col 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory
Col 1:28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
Col 1:29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Why does Paul say “His working… works in me mightily?” That brings us to this verse we are covering today:

Rev 1:16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

The secret Paul speaks of in Ephesians 3 and Colossians 1 is Christ in us. If Christ is in us and we are in Him, where does that place us?

Mat 22:44 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Mat 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:

Mat 26:64 Jesus saith unto him [the high priest], Thou hast said [I am the Messiah]: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.

Mar 16:19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.

If Christ is in us, then we, too, are sitting with Him at God’s right hand of power “in the heavens.”

Mat 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

Eph 2:6 And He raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies [or, heavenly (realms)] in Christ Jesus, (ALT)

What good is that? What advantage is there to being seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand in the heavens? Here is what that accomplishes in us”

The body is one, and hath many members

1Co 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ.
1Co 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
1Co 12:14 For the body is not one member, but many.

This same principle applies to “one seed” with many in that one seed:

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Christ is that “one seed.” He alone can receive the promises. So where does that leave us? Same chapter:

Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Everything must be “in Jesus Christ” or it is not accepted by God. That is why we are told…

Php 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

“From Him… Unto Him…”

This is why we see Christ handing the book to His christ.

Rev 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
Rev 5:2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
Rev 5:3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
Rev 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
Rev 5:6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
Rev 5:7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Rev 5:8 And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four [and] twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
Rev 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

It is Christ who is on the throne. This is proven by comparing the last two verses of the previous chapter with Colossians 1:16.

Rev 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

By whom and for whom were all things created?

Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Look at the similarities between these two sections of scripture. Both are from Christ to Christ, and both finish by telling us that we will be kings and priests with and in Christ. In other words, these two sections of scripture are telling those who can see it that Christ identifies completely with “the church which is His body.”

Col 1:24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

The seven stars in His right hand are the book in His right hand

What are these seven stars, and why are we told they are in Christ’s right hand? What is the significance of being in Christ’s right hand?

Here is the first place in God’s word which gives us the spiritual significance of what God is telling us when He inspires the phrase “His right hand.”

Gen 48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who [are] these?
Gen 48:9 And Joseph said unto his father, They [are] my sons, whom God hath given me in this [place]. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

Israel, Joseph’s father who before was called Jacob, is about to teach us two very important spiritual principles, if we can receive them. He is about to tell us what the spiritual significance is of the younger brother and what the spiritual significance is of the right hand.

Gen 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
Gen 48:11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.
Gen 48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Gen 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.
Gen 48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
Gen 48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,
Gen 48:16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
Gen 48:17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
Gen 48:18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.
Gen 48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

This is not a history lesson even though it is a historical fact. These stories are not ministering to the principles involved at that time. “They ministered not to themselves but to us.” Jacob could not even see well enough to distinguish his grandsons. However, God had revealed to Jacob the principle involved in the birth of His uncle, Ishmael, and his brother Esau. So, for our benefit, to minister not to himself or his own physical descendants but to minister to us, he knowingly crossed his hands and blessed the younger over the elder.

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, [even] the salvation of [your] souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.
1Pe 1:13 Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

‘The younger brother shall be greater’ is not concerned with Ephraim being greater than Manasseh, even though that did become the case physically and historically. ‘The younger brother shall be greater’ is a principle which has been being revealed to us from the very beginning. Abel was greater than his older brother, Cain. Isaac was greater than his older brother, Ishmael, and Jacob was greater than his older twin, Esau. This principle is even revealed to us in Jacob’s wives. Rachel, the second wife, the mother of Joseph, was greater than Leah, Jacob’s first wife. None of these historical people are the spiritual point being given to us though. Here is the point which the holy spirit is making for those with eyes to see and ears to hear:

1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

That is the point that is being made over and over, but which is still so very little understood or believed. The inward and spiritual are always preceded by the natural, the earthy, the carnal man. This is true in every generation.

Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

God’s Word is not outward or historical or relevant only to a certain time or place. “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” and “my words shall not pass away” will be true in every generation since Christ, and those words will be true right up to and through the purging fires of the lake of fire.

Being “all things to all men”

Being at Christ’s right hand signifies that we have been made to be “all things to all men.” The significance of being in and at Christ’s right hand is that the younger, prodigal brother, who comes to work at the eleventh hour only after being a prodigal son, is the first to be given power which is not given to the older brother. This is true only because all those who are at Christ’s right hand see themselves as having been both the older son and the prodigal son. They see themselves as having been both the self-righteous Pharisee and the lowly publican. They see themselves as having been both the Jews wanting to stone the adulterous woman and the adulterous woman. Those who are at Christ’s right hand will acknowledge that it was they who have been party to the death of all the prophets (Mat 11:50, Rev 18:24) and to the death of Christ, Who we are now imitating and following:

1Pe 2:21  For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:

Being at and in Christ’s right hand necessitates that we all come to see ourselves as having been “chief of sinners…” acknowledging that “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” is in our flesh:

Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

God’s elect acknowledge that they have been guilty of both complaining about “having born the heat of the day,” and yet, through “Christ in us” we are also blessed to become those who afterward “receive their wages first” and through “being seated with Him at His Father’s right hand of power, “work mightily… more abundantly than they all.”

1Co 9:22 To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.

Paul did not become weak, but Paul knew he was in a body of weak flesh and blood, and had been weak, and he could easily identify with all who were weak. Paul could be “made all things to all men” by simply acknowledging that all sin was in his flesh. Christ is now in us, and we can now, being at His right hand, “have all power” and do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens [us].

The right hand represents the power under which we are submitted, be it for good or for evil. The right hand is the power which dominates our minds:

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

What is the spiritual significance of being in or at God’s or Christ’s right hand?  According to the scriptures, the right hand of God is the source of power, strength and righteousness.

Exo 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

Psa 48:10 According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness.

Isa 41:10 Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

What are the seven stars in Christ’s right hand?

Now let’s see how this phrase is used elsewhere here in the book of Revelation. In this same chapter we are told what these stars are:

Rev 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;

Rev 5:1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.

Christ did not lay down the seven stars so He could pick up a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. The seven stars are always in His right hand, and the book is also always in His right hand. As we have just been told, the seven stars are the seven angels to the seven churches, and those seven angels, as we are later informed, are “our fellow servants who keep the sayings of this book.”

The word ‘angel’ means ‘messenger’. The messengers to the seven churches are the messengers “which show [us] these things”:

Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These [things this angel is showing John… the judgment of the great whore of chapters 17 and 18] are the true sayings of God.
Rev 19:10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God [“the seven angels of the seven churches”].

Twice we are informed that these angels are our fellow servants, our brothers who have the testimony of Jesus Christ and of them that keep the sayings of this book.

Someone will be certain to point out that the book is taken out of the hand of the man on the throne.

Rev 4:9 And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,
Rev 4:10 The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
Rev 4:11 Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.

Verse 11 identifies the person on the throne as Christ because of what we are told about Christ in Colossians:

Col 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether [they be] thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

Who is it who takes the book out of the hand of Him that sits on the throne? It is John, and who is John? John signifies the fellowservant who is keeping the sayings of the prophecy of this book. It is John who brings this book to the seven churches. John, and you and I as his fellowservants keeping what is written therein, are the messengers to the seven churches. Where does that place us? It places us in the right hand of Him who walks in the midst of the seven churches and who sits on the throne of heaven.

It is Christ who sits on that throne, and it is Christ who holds the seven angels in His right hand. It is Christ who holds the book in His right hand, and it is Christ in us who takes the words of the sayings of the prophecy of this book to the seven churches.

The lives of all God’s elect are written on the pages of God’s book (Psa 139:16). God’s elect “keep the things which are written therein”, and live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God, as revealed in His book, which is in His right hand, which is sealed with seven seals and is opened only to those in whom that Lamb dwells.

Here is that same book as mentioned in the book of Psalms. We learn that God has predestined that we will all keep what is written in His book.

Psa 139:16 Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, The days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day. (MSG)

There is a “book of life” which contains only the names of the few who will be raised to life, but God has only one book by which all men will be tried in both the resurrection to life and the resurrection to judgment:

Joh 5:28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: krino, judgment].

Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

There is no difference between “the things written therein”, which must be kept by those who are blessed (Rev 1:3), and “the days ordained for me in thy book.” Both amount to nothing less than “every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

God’s book is like His seed. God has but one seed, and that seed is Christ and those in Him.

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

In the same way, God has only one book that must be kept, and that one book is “the revelation of Jesus Christ… sealed with seven seals… in His right hand of power.” Here is Psalm 139:16 in the ASV:

Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.

Here is what we all do with the words of that book which has written in it, “even the days that were ordained for us before there were any of them.”

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

We must all eat of both the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as well as the tree of life. If we as God’s elect are to “keep the things which are written therein”, and if mankind is to “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, and if we are all to come to see ourselves as “chief of sinners”, then this next verse should begin to make much more sense to us all:

Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

Those whose names are written in the book of life came up in “the resurrection of life” (Joh 5:29) over a thousand years before the resurrection that comes after the thousand-year reign of our Lord and His christ. They come up in “the resurrection of life” because they were the few who were judged in this present time:

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

This is what we are told of those in “the resurrection of life”:

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

“The books were opened” refers to every life of every man who has ever lived who had not been in “the first resurrection.” “Another book was opened, which is the book of life” is Christ’s spotless, sinless life, lived in sinful flesh and blood, the same as the children. “The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” is each of us seeing that we were all in Adam before we became “in Christ.”

Both the life of our spotless Savior, and our own very spotted lives, are all in Christ’s word and are therefore all in Christ. The scriptures declare this to be so again and again:

Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all [things] for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom [be] glory for ever. Amen.

Joh 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch [in me] that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Act 17:28 For in him we [Paul and you and me and the Pagan Athenians] live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Adam, and all who are in Adam, “are His offspring.”

Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

It is our spotless Savior who “makes peace and creates evil.” It is Christ who has “made the wicked [Mike Vinson] for the day of evil [within Mike Vinson]. It is our spotless Savior “of whom, through whom and to whom are all things.” It is Christ, our spotless Savior, who has “in Him branches that bear not fruit.” “In Him” we all “live and move and have our being.” It is a mind which is devoid of understanding of the sovereignty of God, and the application of that sovereignty, which cannot understand how a spotless Savior can “create evil.” It is a mind which does not know the scriptural definition of “all things are of God” (1Co 11:12, 2Co 5:18) which therefore denies that all this is “in Him.” Here is how Paul deals with this spirit:

Rom 9:19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?
Rom 9:20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour

God has only one book. That one book is “the revelation of Jesus Christ.” We are not at liberty to pick and choose which parts of the sayings of the prophecy of this book we will keep. We will all “live by every word which proceeds out of the mouth of God.” If to us any of this is ‘out there’ only in the lives of others and is not being applied within us, then we have taken that part out of the sayings of the prophecy of this book, and we will acknowledge that part in this book as being for us in the later judgment, in the lake of fire. The ‘fire’ of “the lake of fire” is the same ‘fire’ that judges us in this present time. The only difference is the timing and the rewards promised to those who are in that “blessed and holy first resurrection” (Rev 20:6). Those who are in the first resurrection, the resurrection of life, will not be hurt of the second death/lake of fire which is the great white throne judgment, and they will be given power over the nations for a thousand years with Christ:

Rev 2:11 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Rev 2:26 And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27 And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.
Rev 2:28 And I will give him the morning star [Christ (Rev 22:16)].
Rev 2:29 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches

Rev 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
Rev 22:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and [from] the things which are written in this book.

Conclusion

We have seen that the right hand of God is the source of all power, strength and righteousness. We have seen that being in Christ’s right hand, we are also at God’s right hand. We have also seen that the seven stars are the seven angels to the seven churches, and we saw that Revelation 19:10 and Revelation 22:9 tell us that the seven angels are the messengers to the seven churches who are our fellowservants who keep the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

We have seen that the days ordained for us in God’s book and the commission to “keep the things written therein” and the declaration by Christ that all men “shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” are in fact all one and the same exhortation.

We have seen that the scriptures are completely Christ-centric, and that just as the seed of Abraham is singular, so too, is God’s book by which “every man” will be judged (1Co 3:13-15). We have seen that God has only one seed, and He has only one book. That one seed and that one book are both Christ and those who are in Him:

Gal 3:16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Knowing that “all our days are written in His book” (Psa 139:16) we can paraphrase that thusly: ‘He saith not books as of many; but as of one book, and to thy book, which is ‘the revelation of Jesus Christ… every Word that proceeds out of God.’

We saw that “the books” mentioned in Revelation 20:12 are us in Christ, and “the book” against which we are judged is our sinless Savior and His doctrines and His Words.

Next study, Lord willing, we will learn what is the sharp two-edged sword which comes out of the mouth of Christ, and why we are told that He is as the sun in its strength.