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Part 4 of End Time Revelation Saints of God, our testimony of Jesus Christ throughout the world will have come to an end at this point. The Antichrist and the nations of the world (people, kindreds, tongues) who categorically hate God and His Saints as well, at the command of the Antichrist Political and Religious Leaders, will come full-force against us.
The Woman – The Two Witnesses On The Run Satan, that Great Red Dragon, is the persecutor of The Woman/Spiritual Israel (Olive Trees and Candlesticks) that brought forth the Man Child (Covenant people in full obedience to God).
Flood waters is unmistakably persecution. IT WILL BE ALL OUT WAR AGAINST THE HOLY PEOPLE. "Forasmuch as the people refuseth the waters of Shiloah [Epithet of Messiah – rest; peace] that go softly,…Now therefore, behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria [war against Israel]…" (Isaiah 8:6-7). Without a doubt, those strong waters was the Assyrians warring against Israel because they refused the "waters of Shiloah" – peace/rest which comes with obedience to God. Waters here symbolizes persecution that will be inflicted verbally and physically (war upon the Two Witnesses), by way of Satan, with God’s permission. Let us take a look at more Scriptural examples of waters being symbolic of persecution.
The waters here was men wrathfully rising up against Israel.
Flood waters don’t have hoofs of horses with chariots that have wheels attached. This is war/attack – persecution. In that instance, Pharaoh was the FLOOD WATERS used by God to crush the Philistines. True, waters is also symbolic of nations and people, but in this case, it stands for persecution. Satan will work against the Holy People/Saints of the earth. He will bring persecution upon the them for the purpose of causing them to be "carried away of the flood" or so overwhelmed by a river of persecution that they will want to, and some will, curse God. It might be said that this wave of persecution will be partially for the benefit of the Saints so that they come to completely trust in God for everything. During the last 3-1/2-year period of the Beast’s reign of terror, not only will he blaspheme God and His tabernacle in heaven, but it will be that:
To "wear out the Saints" means to afflict as defined in the Hebrew word ra’a (breaking in pieces or bodily harm). This affliction will be beyond small-time verbal persecution or the taking away of some human rights. For Satan to make war against the Saints of God, his justification will be that they would not worship his image (Revelation 13:15). Who else but the Saints/Holy People will not worship the image of the beast, which will certainly provoke the wicked to cause their deaths. Yes, there will be death in the camps of the Saints of God, and Revelation 12:11 tells us that "they loved not their lives unto the death."
The key word to interpreting that Scripture is "spiritually." In this instance, spiritually in the Word of God is a "type" of something, and here that something happens to be sin. Spiritually where our Lord was crucified immediately brings to mind, Jerusalem. Jerusalem is spiritually the same as Sodom and Egypt – unclean and will not be made clean again until Messiah comes to reign. As of this present day, Jerusalem IS NOT a holy city; it is anything but God’s holy city. Jerusalem is not a holy city because first of all God Himself does not and has not dwelt there for hundreds and hundreds of years; and second of all, God cannot dwell there with all of the "religious" factions that have made Jerusalem their habitation. (e.g., Islam and its god, Allah, who is not the God of Israel; the Roman Catholic Church and its paganism; Mormonism and all of its gods; and Judaism without their Messiah and temple sacrifices.) Saints, Jerusalem is unclean! Desolate! The desolate is the flesh, the unsaved - those not in covenant with God – the wicked people of the nations. The term desolate depict ungodly people of the flesh, and the flesh persecutes. The flesh is the world – those without God. The flesh/world will persecute "us", the Church, that walk in the Spirit. That great city, Jerusalem, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt represents those ungodly people of the flesh that do persecute. THIS IS SPIRITUAL SODOMY – "wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly" (Genesis 13:13). The "street of that great city" where the dead bodies shall lie is another way of saying "affliction" brought on by the wicked and rebellious sodomites as in Isaiah:
For one’s body to lie in the street or on the ground is interpreted as affliction – persecution, but The Lord will deliver His Saints from that affliction. The dead bodies of the witnesses beheaded for Messiah, will literally remain in the streets of the cities and towns of the nations where the desolate/unsaved/ungodly dwell. These cities and towns of people are spiritually Jerusalem in bondage to the Antichrist – in sin. Remember Jerusalem that killest the prophets. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee..." (Matthew 23:37). This Jerusalem our Lord spoke of is a Jerusalem spirit that is in sin and great darkness - bondage, persecuting unto death, the prophets and the Saints that go forth with God’s Word. This Jerusalem spirit is the spirit of Sodom and Egypt, that is, the moral decadence of the people, kindreds, and tongues on planet earth. This moral decay will be reflected in their peculiar religious practices – their allegiance to Satan and 666, and their hatred of God and His righteousness and holiness. Saints of God, we are put on notice that a spirit of dangerous persecution will go throughout the earth for the last 3-1/2 years of The Great Tribulation. It will come about because the people in the earth will be in complete moral retrogression, and their allegiance will be to the Antichrist Political and Religious Leaders of the Dragon Empire/Kingdom, and not God Almighty. By reason of loyalty to Satan and straightforward hatred for God, it will mean nothing for the wicked to slaughter the Saints. We, Saints, will be as the ground, as the street for the wicked to walk-over. After the wicked have walked-over the Saints or persecuted them even unto death, the bodies, literally, will be left where they fall in the streets throughout the earth. The wicked will gain great satisfaction out of this instead of remorse. (I know, you thought Verse 8 meant that CNN would televise from Jerusalem, the death of these two individual people, and the whole world would see it. Wrong!) These wicked people, who will be bought-out and sold-out to Satan, will not at all be bothered by the stench from the decaying bodies of the Saints they will have slaughtered. Keep in mind, these people will have the mark of the Beast and will be utmost filthy as is their god, Satan and his demons. "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets [Olive Trees and Candlesticks/Covenant People] tormented them that dwelt on the earth" (Revelation 11:10). Since the wicked world will see themselves as being tormented by the Olive Trees and Candlesticks, murdering them will be viewed as ridding themselves of the "thorn in their side" that reminded them of their sin. The wicked world will be so very happy to see the Saints die, that they will openly rejoice and celebrate by sending gifts one to another - sort of like Christmas, you know! The Woman – The Two Witnesses In The Wilderness
It is this Woman, Spiritual Israel that will flee "into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days [3-1/2 years]" (Revelation 12:6). At this point (Great Tribulation), the Olive Trees and Candlesticks will have a safety net, but it will NOT BE RAPTURE TIME. "But Pharaoh shall not hearken unto you [Moses], that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth mine armies, and my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments" (Exodus 7:4). As Pharaoh did not listen to Moses then, the world will not hearken to the message the Holy People will have carried forth during the Great Revival, and nor will they even consider that GOD IS THE LORD AND HE ALONE IS GOD. However, the Holy People will have nothing to fear, for again, as the Lord said to the Hebrew children, He is saying to us, "I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments" (Exodus 6:6). God is going to take care of His Holy People - He is going to fight for us as He puts His shield of protection about us while we believe and have COMPLETE TRUST IN HIM. Vengeance is the Lord’s! God has made provision for us, His "Elect" during the last 3-1/2 years of the Tribulation. Interjection: Just who is the Elect? Some preach and teach only Israel is God’s elect, but that is not so. Through salvation we, Church, became the Elect of God because of Christ in us. With Christ in us, we are elected because we acknowledge God’s truth in godliness and we hope for eternal life, and we bear His seal. We are the "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ..." (I Peter 1:2).
As the Lord took Israel out of Egypt and unto Himself, He, the Great Eagle, will take the Olive Trees and Candlesticks away or into hiding under His two wings. (One wing for the Olive Trees and one wing for the Candlesticks.) The hiding place will be the wilderness as abiding under the shadow of The Almighty. Just where is this wilderness place? It is not a physical place, but is a spiritual place. The natural wilderness for Israel was a shadow of the spiritual Israel for us. The wilderness is that place where we have no one to trust in but the Lord. The wilderness is that place where The Lord will nourish us, and to be nourished while in the wilderness means to be brought up excellent in God’s ways – learning trust during this certain period of our lives. "For this shall everyone that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the flood of great waters [persecution as in Revelation 12:15] they shall not come nigh unto him. Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance" (Psalm 32:6-7). The Swallowing Up Of The Flood
The earth helped the Woman! In Hebrew, earth is ‘erets, and it means wilderness. Swallowed in Hebrew is bala’, meaning to make away with, or cover as in shield or protect. Wilderness is that place prepared of the Lord for us to be with Him while fully trusting in Him to protect, defend, and provide all our needs. (Wilderness will be for us as it was when David was on the run from Saul, and God made provision for him, guided and protected him as well. It worked for David because He trusted fully in His God.) Earth, here, is a dry place – a wilderness place for hiding in The Lord through our faith in Him. This will be a time of proving for the Holy People. The proving will be to ascertain if we are obediently walking in God’s Law or not, and can faithfully endure afflictions, without murmuring. Through it, we will come to stand still and let The Lord fight for us, and we will not fear the enemy. Although we will not have the mark of the Beast for buying or selling, we will have no fear of our God not coming through for us with provisions (Jehovah Jireh). (God fed Israel manna for 40 years, how much more for us for 3-1/2 years.) The earth helping the Woman by swallowing up the flood is the Holy People hiding in The Lord – fully trusting Him in the midst of persecution. This is being off-with-the-Lord. Coming through the wilderness and having been found faithful is God giving us victory over Satan and his demons. "Thou brakest the heads of leviathan [Satan] in pieces, and gavest him to be meat [victory] to the people inhabiting the wilderness [Holy People trusting God for everything]" (Psalm 74:14). The Wilderness Place – Psalm 91 Psalm 91:1 "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Just what and where is the Secret Place? Secret in Hebrew is cithrah and it means covering, hiding place, protection, or to keep close. Where the Secret Place is, Psalm 27:5 tells us, For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavillion [Tabernacle/tent]: in the secret [hiding place/protection] of his tabernacle [habitation] shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. We now know that when God speaks of His Secret Place that it is His tabernacle - it is His habitation, IT IS HE, and where He is, nothing evil can go near. Therefore, us abiding in God and God in us, makes Him our covering – our shield – our protection in time of trouble – the Great Eagle’s wings. (God isn’t dwelling any more in a Tabernacle/Temple made of hands, but now makes His abode in us. We also know that if there is "sin in the camp" (our lives), God will remove His presence from us as He removed Himself from Israel.) We must be totally and completely trusting in the Lord to abide under His shadow. Completely trusting in God, in spite of the bad report we may receive, is abiding under the Shadow. The word shadow in Hebrew is tsel and it means defense, or having God as our defense and Him hovering over us. So, when the enemy comes in like a flood against us, whether it be against our flesh or our souls (in particular, our minds), the Word of The Lord to us is, He will "hide them [us] in the secret of thy [His] presence [Secret Place] from the pride [snares/traps] of man: thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavillion [shelter] from the strife of tongues" (Psalm 31:20). God is there for us, but we must make Him our first love by living a holy life according to His Word, and trust in Him alone. Complete trust in the Lord is what True Christianity is all about – faith/trust, and we don’t stand a chance of possessing the kingdom without it; nor do we stand a chance of coming through the Great Tribulation without it. We cannot dwell in the Secret Place without f-a-i-t-h. Trust/faith is the key to getting into the Secret Place, and staying in the Secret Place. (When speaking of God, the words trust and faith can never be overused.) Psalm 91:2 "I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust." Refuge in Hebrew is machceh meaning hope. Fortress in Hebrew is metsudah meaning stronghold or defense. God is all of that to us. He is our hope. He is our stronghold or strength, and it is He alone in whom we must trust. God is "a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear…though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof " (Psalm 46:2-3). Those waters are persecution. For The Church of now, it will be grave persecution very soon upon us, and fear will not enter our minds if we have made it a practice to dwell in the Secret Place of the Most High. This enables us to abide under His Shadow in perfect love without fear, and complete trust in Him. Trust in Hebrew is chacah and means to flee for protection; to have hope in; or to make refuge. That definition expanded is, to believe God with more than our hearts can bear to believe - to believe to the utmost. Trust is one hundred percent faith in God regarding everything, and there is just no way True Christians can ever get away from it. This is resting in The Lord. It’s everywhere in the Bible, and that is because God says and means that, "without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him" (Hebrews 11:6). Psalm 91:3 "Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence." God will deliver us from the snare of the fowler – the net of evil that will try to entangle us. He will deliver us from those perverse things that are out to destroy us, such as deadly epidemics and wicked people. He will make a way out of the traps or entanglements Satan sets for us, if we trust Him completely. The Death Angel will simply pass by our doorpost if we are found trusting completely in The Lord. Psalm 91:4 "He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler." Feathers are the principal covering of a bird and are highest in importance because he soars into the air where the temperature is many, many degrees colder than here on the ground. A bird without feathers is in trouble. God will cover us with His feathers – He will be our primary covering as the feathers are to the birds. Primary is the strongest stress of the word COVERING or PROTECTION, so God’s feathers over us is major protection, and is to be our only protection. We secure this godly protection through complete trust, and that comes by us walking in the Holy Spirit. Walking in the Holy Spirit, in faith, keeps the hedge of protection about us. Wings enable the bird to fly. They are organs of flight. We are to put ourselves under the shadow of God’s wings. The wings! Church, the wings! The psalmist David said, "my soul trusteth in thee: yea in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast" (Psalm 57:1). Refuge means shelter or protection from danger or distress; and calamities are perverse things or misery relating to misfortune. "I will abide in thy tabernacle [Secret Place] forever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings" (Psalm 61:4). The "covert of Thy wings" is a covered place or shelter. Nesting under God’s wings is our rescue from the powers of darkness. God’s wings will put us in flight from the hands of the enemy. Only God can free us out of the grip of the evil against us, but only if we fully trust in Him, alone. Shield is as in "shield of faith" – God’s Word because He cannot tell a lie. The Hebrew word for shield is meginnah which means protector. The shield and the buckler are both for protection in warfare or during times of persecution. The difference between the shield and buckler is that the shield is a broad piece of defensive armor (as of metal, wood, or leather) carried on the arm, or held in the hand by a handle, and used for the protection of the body (from spears, arrows, or sword thrusts) while in battle or individual combat. The buckler is a small shield generally round, held by a handle at arm’s length, and used not to cover the body, but to stop or deflect blows. This small round shield was carried or worn on the arm. God’s Word is truth, and for God’s truth to be a shield of protection for us, we must believe God is all that He says He is and will do all that He says He will do. This is faith – the Word of faith. Stand still, He says, and let Him fight our battle as He told Moses and the Hebrews. We must believe God can and will perform the duties of a great and mighty warrior. He is our shield as He was to Abraham in Genesis 15:1, and our hearts must trust in Him to help us (Psalm 28:7). By our trusting in His Holy Name, our hope will not bring disappointment (Psalm 33:20-21). However, the shield of faith/truth can only help us in battle when dwelling in the Secret Place. It’s God’s Word – His truth that we must hope in and hold fast to, without wavering, in order for Him to come through for us (Psalm 119:114). Saints, this should have been our walk in The Lord from day one of our salvation. God will only be a shield to them that put their trust/faith in Him – in His Word. The Lord as our shield and buckler is The Lord saying, regardless of the magnitude of the attacks against His children, they can count on Him to come through for them. Here is the scenario: "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me" (Psalm 18:4-5). As Saints, we must know that we must call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so that we can be saved from our enemies (Psalm 18:3). He hears our voice out of His Temple, and our cry of distress goes before Him, even into His ears (Psalm 18:6). What does He do? He becomes wroth – very angry, and the earth shakes and trembles – the foundations of the hills also move and shake (Psalm 18:8-15), and He delivers us from our enemies. Because God delights in us, He delivers us and rewards us according to our righteousness – our faith in His Word. "For who is God save the Lord? or who is a rock save our God" (Psalm 18:31). Psalm 91:5-6 "Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday." To be afraid in verse 5 is to dread or be reluctant to experience the terror by night. The Hebrew word for terror is pachad, and it means to be startled as by a sudden alarm, or to make shake. Terror is intense fear. Terror makes one afraid. Satan is night and night is the works of darkness - evil. Terror weighs heavy upon one, and by that, it is burdensome – difficult. "Terror by night" is to dread experiencing the intense adversity brought upon one by NIGHT/EVIL/SINFUL PEOPLE/SATAN. No, we are not to fear the intense evil that Satan and his hoards exhibit. As we see terror throughout the earth, if we continue under God’s shadow, we will not be afraid. God tells us to not be afraid of the arrow that flieth by day. The arrow that flieth by day is arrow as meaning bitter words: "Who whet their tongue like to a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words" (Psalm 64:3). Further proof that arrow is bitter words: "But God shall shoot at them with an arrow; suddenly shall they be wounded. So they shall make their own tongue to fall upon themselves..." (Psalm 64:7-8). Arrow is bitter words from the tongue, from the tongue of the wicked people of the world and in particular, the false church that will be against the Saints of God in the very, very dark days of the Great Tribulation. The tongue behind the words/arrows going forth from it persecutes painfully. Jesus told us we’d be persecuted (verbally and physically). They lied on Him and they’ll lie on us – that arrow that flieth by day. "the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none. For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together" (Mark 14:55-56). It was the arrow – those bitter, lying words from so-called people of God (Pharisees and Sadducees) who spoke against our Lord and Savior. "A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow" (Proverb 25:18). To maul is to handle fiercely by a rough beating – slashing, ripping apart, and bruising, WITH THE TONGUE, of course. "Their tongue is as an arrow [bitter words] shot out; it speaketh deceit..." (Jeremiah 9:8). The wicked of the world will chew us up and spit us out – slash us as with a sword; nip at us; and pierce us through-and-through with their poisonous words even unto death. Fear not, though! Continue to abide under the Shadow of The Almighty. "He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver [case for arrows] to enter into my reins [the mind]. I was a derision [object of ridicule – laughing stock] to all my people; and their song all the day" (Lamentations 3:12-14). That was Jeremiah. Remember how much Israel despised him because through him, God sent them words of warning about their ungodliness. Ungodly Israel was in great sin. As the ungodly came against Jeremiah, so shall they come against the Olive Trees and the Candlesticks. The attacks will come in large part from those claiming to be of the "day" – religious people. God says, be not afraid of their verbal and physical attacks. God says, WE MUST NOT FRET. If we’ve been dwelling in the SECRET PLACE – communing with God, digesting and obeying His Word, and trusting in Him, what have we to fear? The cruelty, death, and destruction that will be all around us will not touch us, God’s true children. No, it’s not luck. Luck is chance and that’s from the Devil (that is why gambling or playing the lottery is sin). It’s faith – the "shield of faith" in God’s Word – all of His Word. We must keep in our hearts,
Psalm 91:7-8 "A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked." The "thousand at your side and ten thousand at your right hand" are wicked and sinful people – people we tend to think are "getting away with bloody murder." Saints, we don’t have to worry about them because God says, "To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense..." (Deuteronomy 32:35). Vengeance is punishment brought upon one in retaliation for disobedience toward God, and cruel treatment toward His Holy People. It’s recompense – it’s payback, and we will see the reward of the wicked. "Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity" (Psalm 94:16)? The answer to that, and assuredly so is God. Psalm 91:9-12 "Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." The Most High is our habitation – He in us and us in Him. We must forever live off His Word, for it is our daily bread. We must forever commune with Him, daily, because He is our refuge – our habitation. Church, when we are secure in The Lord – not giving Him lip service, but our hearts, no evil will befall us. The plague will not come near our dwelling place (our temple/physical dwelling) because of the blood of Jesus that is on the doorpost of our hearts as we walk in FAITH. We don’t have to fight, for The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name (Exodus 15:3). Did you hear me? We don’t have to fight, for "The Lord shall fight for you [us], and ye [we] shall hold your [our] peace"(Exodus 14:14). I don’t think you heard me. You don’t have to fight with guns and knives, for "thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy" (Exodus 15:6). The battle has already been fought and won by God even before it begins in our lives. WHO IS LIKE YOU, O LORD, AMONG THE GODS (Exodus 15:11). God’s angels having charge over us is His hedge of protection about us – His Holy Ghost. It is these angels of God that bear us up in their hands so that we will not dash our foot against a stone. Psalm 91:13 "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet." With the power of God in us, we will put down harshly the enemy (young lion and adder/Satan). With the Word of God both in us and coming forth from us, we will crush the Devil, who seeks to devour us (I Peter 5:8). We will trample on both the lion and the adder with the "shield of faith" and the "keys to the kingdom." In the end, we will triumph. We will rule possess the kingdom as Jesus rules and reigns. Psalm 91:14-16 "Because he [we] hath set his [our] love upon me [God], therefore will I deliver him [us]: I [God] will set him [us] on high, because he [we] hath known my [God’s] name. He [we] shall call upon me [God], and I [He] will answer him [us]: I [He] will be with him [us] in trouble; I [He] will deliver him [us], and honour him [us]. With long life [eternal life in our case] will I [He] satisfy him [us], and shew him [us] my [His] salvation." A long life satisfied and God’s salvation is eternal life with Him – victory over the dark days ahead, victory over death, and possessing the kingdom. There is no victory without faith/righteousness and holiness exhibited in our lives, without which we cannot dwell in The Secret Place. Amen.
What Will Not Be Found In The Wilderness Place First of all, there will be no "strange gods" with any of us. The Lord God will not tolerate that. "As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: So the Lord alone did lead him [us], and there was no strange god with him [us]" (Deuteronomy 32:11-12). While we are in the Wilderness Place, WE will make sacrifices of joy and song unto Him (Exodus. 3:18). We will hold a feast unto Him (Exodus 5:1). We will serve Him and Him only, because there will be nothing falsely worshipped nesting in our hearts (Exodus 7:16). "And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord" (Psalm 27:6). We will be trusting in Him - what or whom should we fear? While we are there, HE will (1) provide spiritual manna and natural manna (Exodus 16:14); (2) show His glory and miracles (Numbers 14:22); (3) lead us about and instruct us (Deuteronomy 32:10); (4) mercifully not forsake us (Nehemiah 9:19); and (5) sustain us (Nehemiah 9:21). RESULT of our being there, doubt and unbelief in our hearts will die there (Numbers 14:35-37), and we will come to fully trust in Him. Interjection: Today’s Church thinks that she has faith in God, but she doesn’t. We know she doesn’t by the simple fact that denominations/differing doctrines supposedly make up the Body of Christ. This fragmented Church is not of God, and is therefore not the True Church of Jesus Christ. Dearly beloved, for the above reasons, The Church must go through The Tribulation so that she can be in one accord – all having one heart, and marching to the same drum beat. Jesus! Going off into the Wilderness is the final prep for His coming. It’s that place where we will be created into Bride material – pure, spotless, and without wrinkle! "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:7). While alone with God in the Wilderness, nothing will happen to us, and that is a promise – that’s His Word. Nothing will happen to us if we are COMPLETELY TRUSTING IN HIM. Should any of us stop trusting in Him, this will result in fear, and ultimately loss of lives (spiritually and naturally). It is while there in the Wilderness (condition) that we will, without doubt, here the voice of the Lord as He speaks to us in the solitary place. Some In The Wilderness Will Not Trust Our faith will be tried to show if we truly trust completely in the Lord our God. The test to know if The Lord is our hiding place will be in the Wilderness. Afterwards, "some" of us will say, "Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy word" (Psalm 119:114). However, there will be many in the Wilderness who will not be able to say that, or those who will not fully trust in God. They will be as the Hebrew children of old, who will have seen God’s glory during the great revival, and will have seen His miracles as in Numbers 14:22, but will yet not hearken to His voice. They will not trust in Him and know that He is all that He says He is, and will do all that He says He will do. As with the Hebrew children of old, so shall it be with those who continue in doubt and unbelief – those Olive Trees and Candlesticks that don’t make the grade. "Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it..." (Numbers 14:23). The land then was the promise land. The land now will be possessing the kingdom as Jesus reigns. Just who will see the land? It will be the Calebs. "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it" (Numbers 14:24). In summary, the Wilderness Place will be the determinant of who "hath followed Me fully" – the Calebs. How God Feels About The Wicked, And Their Reward Everyday, God is angry at the wicked (Psalm 7:11) ~ The wicked and all the nations that forget God will go to hell (Psalm 9:17) ~ God hates the wicked and all that love violence (Psalm 11:5) ~ God will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest upon the wicked as the portion of their cup (Psalm 11:6) ~ The wicked will receive many sorrows/affliction (Psalm 32:10) ~ The wicked will get back what they dish out (Psalm 34:21) ~ The wicked’s arms (strength) will be broken (Psalm 37:17) ~ The wicked’s seed (posterity) will be cut off (Psalm 37:28) ~ The wicked’s horns (power) will be cut off (Psalm 75:10) ~ God will turn upside down the wicked’s ways (Psalm 146:9) ~ The wicked will be punished (Proverb 11:21) ~ The wicked’s lamp (light/life) will be put out (Proverb 13:9) ~ The wicked will be overthrown for their wickedness (Proverbs 12:7; 14:11; 21:12). Now we can understand why God, through the Seals, Trumpets, and Vials, is pouring out His wrath upon the inhabitants of the earth. Saints, God says, don’t be envious of the wicked, nor fear them: "For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out" (Proverbs 24:20). Being wiped out will be his just due. Vengeance Is The Lord’s Jeremiah the prophet speaking against the Babylonians who held the Jews captive for 70 years said, "Thou art my battle ax and weapons of war: for with thee will I break in pieces the nations, and with thee will I destroy kingdoms....And I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight, saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 51:20-24). As the Jews were God’s battle ax for bringing down the Babylonian Kingdom, so shall we be His battle ax for bringing down the One World Government’s Dragon Kingdom. It is now time for the world to be treaded down for its sins against God. For centuries the world has turned its back on God’s instructions in righteousness and holiness, and killed the prophets and servants of God. Now, God is taking vengeance. As the Lord said to Babylon, He will say to the leaders of the Dragon Kingdom.
This is all violence perpetrated against God’s people. To be made as an empty vessel is the same as getting rid of someone. The Hebrew word for empty is riyq and it means worthless things or in vain; or to no purpose. The Hebrew word for vessel is keliy from kalah, and it means to cleanse; to be finished; or make clean riddance. To swallow one up like a dragon is the same as destroying one. The Hebrew word for swallowed is bala and it means to destroy; to cover; or be at end. The phrase "swallowed me up like a dragon" means brought to an end because the Dragon has consumed His (God’s) people. Just what is meant by filling one’s belly with God’s delicates? It isn’t fine food. Here, God’s delicates are His Holy People. God’s delight is in His people who are called by His Name, who are pleasing to Him, and are His pleasure – Covenant People. It is they who will fill the belly of the Dragon/Satan. God is speaking on our behalf when He says to the Beast and his followers: Enough is enough! What you have done to My people, My Two Olive Trees and Two Candlesticks, you have done to Me. You have crushed My people; you have crushed Me. You have troubled My people greatly. You have persecuted them to the point where they run and hide for their lives and cannot openly preach and share about My goodness – about My Word. You have made them worthless before the world, and an end ordered to them. You have made them an empty vessel. You have done this to Me! The Dragon that you are, you have swallowed My people up – broken them in pieces. You have filled your belly with My delicates – with My Holy People in whom I delight; in whom I Am well pleased. God says, "I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee... (Jeremiah 51:36). He further says to the world, And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, and astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant" (Jeremiah 51:37). As God did to the Babylon of old, He is going to do to the Babylon of new. He will destroy her who has rebelled against Him and who slays His Holy People. (The next message will cover just what the Babylonian Whore is and her demise.) The First Woe – 7th Seal And Trumpets 1 Through 5 At this point, the last 3-1/2 years of the Great Tribulation is winding down. Because the people of the earth have sinned against God over the centuries by trespassing grievously – committing whoredom, God is about to pour out His last judgments upon them. Judgment is the fire of God’s wrath, or God purging the land or earth by inflicting His four sore (exceeding great) judgments (sword, famine, noisome beast, and pestilence) upon the land. It is the day of The Lord! The day of The Lord is darkness, and not light. It is very dark with no brightness. Pain! And more pain! God is so good to mankind, that He will not do anything in the way of judgment before announcing what will be done. The Trumpets announce to the world to repent before final judgment comes down on them like running water. Out of the Seventh Seal will come the Seven Trumpets of God’s wrath – raining upon the inhabitants.
In that Scripture, fire symbolizes judgment that will be cast into the earth so that the inhabitants will be inflicted with suffering like they’ve never experienced before. The writer believes that the time period for this will be somewhere around the sixth year of the seven-year Tribulation. Most of the wrath coming from those trumpets will be literal – not symbolic, and will be as follows: Trumpet 1: 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 (Revelation 8:7). Literal. Trumpet 2: 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; 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 (Revelation 8:8-9). Literal. Trumpet 3: 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; And the name of the star is called Wormwood [bitter]: And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter (Revelation 8:10-11). Literal. Trumpet 4: 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. 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 (Revelation 8:12-13). Literal. The word WOE means the announcement of upcoming affliction or grief – here, more of it. A woe is the visitation of The Lord. The announcement of a woe is to say to the wicked that they are about to receive a visitation from the Lord like they’ve not seen before. This visitation will come in the way of much affliction, and there will be no one to help them. The wicked will be under much distress or weariness of soul as The Lord visits them with fire and brimstone, thunder, earthquake, destruction, storm and tempest, and plagues. It will be ill with the wicked for they will have rewarded themselves with this evil because of their evil against God and His Holy People (Isaiah 3:11). Trumpet 5: 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. 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. (Revelation 9:1-2). Here, this star symbolizes a demon, and he happens to be the fallen angel (Abaddon or Apollyon) of the bottomless pit that holds the plagues of judgment. Abaddon is king over the locusts that will be used to attack the unbelieving wicked people of the earth. The locust will receive the command to hurt only those men/mankind who have not the seal of God in their foreheads (Revelation 9:4). They will also be told not to hurt any green thing like trees and grass, neither will they kill, but just torment so that the inhibitors will wish they were dead. Death, however, will flee from them. If one wanted to commit suicide, and many will want to, they will not be able to successfully carry it out. This tormenting by these locusts will go on for five months. The writer believes that these locusts are not symbolic, but literal, and an unknown at that. These locusts are a rare breed because first of all, locusts don’t have a king over them (Proverbs 30:27). Second, they will sting like scorpions. These locusts’ appearance will be as follows:
This marks the end of the First Woe. The Second Woe – Trumpet 6 And The 200,000,000 Horsemen – Symbolic? Trumpet 6: And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them (Revelation 9:13-16). To slay one-third part of men does not necessarily mean to kill them with a sword or a gun, nor a missile attack of some sort. The word "slay" is used in Scriptural phrases such as "slay her with thirst" in Hosea 2:3; "the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked" as in Isaiah 11:4, meaning other than slaying with a literal sword, knife, or gun. Revelation 9:18 tells us that this one-third of mankind that will be slain, will be by fire, smoke, and brimstone coming from the mouth of the horses, which is symbolic of plagues (Revelation 9:20). This 200,000,000 horsemen will not be China’s army or "Kings of the East" that is referenced in Revelation 16:12. Before one can conclude this is China, the rest of this chapter must be considered. Because verse 16, in particular, is so misinterpreted, we must go farther with the matter. The Greek word for horsemen is hippikon, meaning cavalry force. Cavalry troops are mounted on horseback or motor vehicles. God’s Word clearly tells us that this group will be on horseback, and this most certainly could be men, or Chinese men, but it’s not. The Word of God also tells us the makeup of this cavalry on horseback, and it is surely not describing the Chinese people. Four Angels are demons who will lead this cavalry to slay mankind. Horsemen of 200,000,000 clearly is an army, and is an army of a large body of organized, well-trained troops ready for warfare. A troop could be a group of people, a group of animals, or even a group of "things".
Fire: God’s symbol of destruction tied to the outpouring of His wrath. Brimstone: Used for punishment and destruction. Brimstone is a combustible form of sulfur "and can burst into flame when earthquakes release hot gases from the earth’s interior" (Holman Bible Dictionary, 1991). Jacinth: Reddish-orange stones (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, Volume 2, 1962). Plagues: For this Scripture, they are injurious or destructive afflictions and will be brought on, not by man, nor by animals, but by a group of "things" that are different than anything mankind knows of today – a new and deadly strain of bacterium. Snares: Something that entangles one unaware, or those not alert to danger or deception, are trapped. These horses are not your usual Clydesdales or Lipizzan. From these horses’ mouths will issue forth fire, smoke, and brimstone that will destroy. In addition to the Chinese having been "given" a lot of technical secrets, they stole a lot of them as well. My questions is this – whose technical know-how will equip the Chinese to spue out of their mouths fire, smoke, and brimstone to slay people? No human has that kind of know-how, and therefore must mean deadly plagues as God’s Word says, and not China’s warriors. What nation has ever destroyed their enemy with fire, smoke, and brimstone? Not a one! Not a one because this is of the supernatural realm, and is something humans will not be able to see with their natural eyes. After reading Verse 20, there is no getting away from the identification of the slayer being plagues and not China’s enormous army of human beings.
"The rest of the men…were not killed by these plagues" means the cavalry of 200,000,000 horsemen are themselves THE PLAGUES. Plagues afflict with disease or disaster by tormenting or "hounding" one. At the end of this, mankind will yet not repent, which means far worse judgment will fall upon them out of the seventh trumpet and the seven vials.
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