Revelation 11, verses 11 to 13, part 2, and the remnant were affrighted

 

Now the trouble starts again with an earthquake and the survivors give glory to God. This must give us pause as when the sixth trumpet blew in 9:13 those who were not slain did not repent of their sins nor did they stop doing them.

9:20  And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: 21  Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

Remember how when the sixth trumpet  in 6:12 sounded every man wanted refuge from the wrath of Christ, so they knew who was causing their trouble.

Revelation 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; 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: 17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

So, does this mean that repentance from fear is not acceptable? If you prayed a prayer to get saved just because you were afraid of Hell were you actually saved? After the terrorist attack on 9/11 there was a big and temporary boost in church attendance. Did that mean anything at all? Judgment is continuing on this earth at this time without stopping simply because people know who is delivering it and are afraid. I have questioned persons who prayed a prayer at a preacher’s insistence and they did not necessarily believe that Christ rose from the dead or was God or even gave it much consideration. They simply wanted a better life because their choices had led them down a bad road or they had grown to be terrified of going to Hell. Were they really saved or had some preacher done them a great disservice?

Is this remnant in Jerusalem saved because they gave glory to God? Let’s remember the Philistine kings who acknowledged that it was the God of the Hebrews who was responsible for their suffering and returned the Ark of the Covenant to the Israelities.

1Samuel 6:1 ¶  And the ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2  And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying, What shall we do to the ark of

the LORD? tell us wherewith we shall send it to his place. 3  And they said, If ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty; but in any wise return him a trespass offering: then ye shall be healed, and it shall be known to you why his hand is not removed from you. 4  Then said they, What shall be the trespass offering which we shall return to him? They answered, Five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords. 5  Wherefore ye shall make images of your emerods, and images of your mice that mar the land; and ye shall give glory unto the God of Israel: peradventure he will lighten his hand from off you, and from off your gods, and from off your land.

 

When they did what their priests and diviners told them to do they were delivered from their sicknesses but you can’t imagine their acknowledgment of who their tormentor was saved them in eternity can you?

 

Several times opponents of Israel acknowledged the power of Israel’s God. For instance, read over 1Kings 20:23 and context or 2Kings 17. Did this acknowledgement save them from an eternity of agony? I don’t believe that is salvation.

Genesis 9, verses 1 to 7, by man shall his blood be shed

 

Genesis 9:1 ¶  And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2  And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. 3  Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things. 4  But flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat. 5  And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man’s brother will I require the life of man. 6  Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. 7  And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.

The command that was given to Adam and Eve at the beginning is repeated here.

Genesis 1:28a  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth…

The task is now placed on Noah and his sons to populate the earth. This is truly a population bottleneck if there ever was one. Modern scientists postulate several of these at various times.

The assumption is made here that pre-Flood humankind was a vegetarian because in the beginning of Genesis he is given plants and fruits to eat. Now, mankind is permitted to kill and eat animals. Also, previous to this, animals were not afraid of humans as many of the more intelligent ones are now. Man is warned not to drink blood. This admonition is here before the Law given to Moses, within that Law for the Hebrews (Leviticus 3:17), and after that Law for the Gentile church (Acts 15:20).

Capital punishment is allowed and required for murder and the killing of man by both beast and man. This command is further defined and refined in every culture of mankind’s on the planet but murder is nowhere generally allowed although for reasons of corruption, status and rank, and oppression it has been permitted at certain times by certain people and groups of people. But murder is forbidden here and is punishable by death.

Clearly, then, biological and legal conditions were quite different on this cleansed earth than on the pre-Flood earth. Flesh is allowed to be eaten but not blood. Animals generally fear mankind. The murderer and the beast that kills a man must forfeit their own lives rather than be exiled like Cain or get away with bragging about it like Lamech. As we know from reading God’s speech to Job in that book God’s hand is found in every aspect of reality as it continues from moment to moment, including animals obtaining their prey as being from God’s hand directly. So, this is not something that just happens and God is standing back watching, but He is intimately involved in these new conditions of the continuing judgment against mankind’s rebellious nature. Prey and predator, man’s concept of justice, and dietary changes that required a change in our physiology like your lust and need for flesh, perhaps, were all part of God’s unfolding plan that pointed toward Christ, God Himself coming to bear man’s punishment and to pardon him from his ‘just deserts.’

Again the command is made to populate the earth, as it brackets this passage.

Revelation 11, verses 11 to 13, part 1, and their enemies beheld them

 

11:11  And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. 12  And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them. 13  And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

God’s Spirit revives them. Many preachers insist they are beheaded but the text doesn’t say that so we should not take that too dogmatically. Of course, the picture of them standing up and picking up their heads and carrying them is dramatic but may not be true. They were overcome by the beast, killed, and then rose again from the dead.

The is the third time that the phrase, “Come up hither,” is used in the Bible.

Proverbs 25:7  For better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither; than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince whom thine eyes have seen.

Revelation 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

Is this three translations or raptures; one of Old Testament saints in;

Matthew 27:52  And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, 53  And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

New Testament Jew and Gentile Christians in;

1Thessalonians 4:13 ¶  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. 15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

And then, here, with these two witnesses? There are questions with this theory of interpretation. Are there three translations or raptures or are these last two referring to one event and are we forcing the Bible to fit into our preferred interpretations. A translation is a type of resurrection and there is a question of what happened to the saints of Matthew 27. Did they ascend in a cloud like Christ? We are not told there but here we are told in regard to Christ.

Acts 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

What I think is, is that the resurrection of the Old Testament saints in Matthew, the translation of the church, and the ascension of the two witnesses are three completely separate events. While some insist that the ascension of the two witnesses represents in symbol a third, Jewish rapture I believe that takes a bit of twisting the text.

Genesis 8, verses 13 to 22, part 2, human beings are not basically good

 

God agreed to this in spite of the fact that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.

 There is an ideal that comes directly from the philosophers of the so-called Enlightenment which influence in some part resulted in racial slavery, one justification for imperial conquest, and the massive genocides of the 20^th century that says that man is basically good and can be perfected. This concept ran all through the American religious impulse of the nineteenth century (1800s), the age of great revivals and social movements. The belief in a man-created millennium of peace, prosperity, knowledge, and the fulfillment of man’s promise as a noble creature was one driving force of both religious and secular thought. Paternalism resulted in believing that one culture and race or ideology and religion must lead all of the others and the others had no choice but to follow them into this glorious era of man’s perfection.  This idea infected America’s Founding Fathers as it infects political policy today in dealing with international diplomacy, welfare, law and order, education, and medicine among other areas of civic life, even parenting. However, the Bible makes it clear that this belief is simply wrong and much woe would have been avoided had the Bible been believed by our leaders and the people who follow them in blind obedience. The Bible says;

Jeremiah 10:23  O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps.

Jeremiah 17:9  The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

And Jesus, speaking to His own disciples, said;

Matthew 7:11  If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

God’s people are admonished;

Proverbs 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. 6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

Along with understanding God’s sovereignty over all creation, even over all reality as underscored in the Book of Job, the understanding of mankind’s inherent shortcoming as a moral

agent will keep one from much confusion and heartache.

As long as the earth exists there will be seasons and day and night, as the rhythm of existence continues unabated. We do, however, await a new heavens and a new earth.

Isaiah 65:17  For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

Isaiah 66:22  For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

2Peter 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Revelation 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Psalm 117 comments, Praise ye the LORD

 

Psalm 117:1 ¶  O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. 2  For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.

 

This simple and short Psalm of praise, praising God’s merciful kindness and the eternal nature of His truths is a command to all the nations of the earth. Nations in the Biblical context are not modern-day nation states, a political concept that came about particularly in the last 500 years or so. Nations in the Bible are ethnic groups and peoples, usually referring to the Gentile nations or kingdoms around Israel but it can easily be applied to our modern concept of a country.

 

We, as Christians, should celebrate God’s merciful kindness toward us as this Psalmist celebrates God’s merciful kindness to Israel.

 

Psalm 66:1 ¶  «To the chief Musician, A Song or Psalm.» Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands: 2  Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious. 3  Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. 4  All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name. Selah.

 

Psalm 67:3  Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

 

Psalm 86:9  All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name.

 

To balance this thought out let us consider the following verse as well.

 

Psalm 9:17  The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.

 

Let us also consider Benjamin Franklin’s speech to a deadlocked Constitutional Convention in 1787 at the founding of our republic;

 

“I've lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing Proofs I see of this Truth — That God governs in the Affairs of Men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his Notice, is it probable that an Empire can rise without his Aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that except the Lord build the House they labor in vain who build it. I firmly believe this, — and I also believe that without his concurring Aid, we shall succeed in this political Building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our Projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a Reproach and Bye word down to future Ages.”

 

God has not only been merciful and kind to us but His truth will last for eternity.

 

Psalm 85:10  Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

 

Psalm 89:1 ¶  «Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite.» I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

 

Let’s bring it down to our level, for an individual application. All the peoples of the earth should be praising God. Today, consider the good things God has placed in your life. When things are rough it can be hard to think of those good things but they are there. We should be praising God continually for His mercy, not only in our salvation but in our daily and moment by moment lives on earth. Praise Him!

 

 

 

Revelation 11, verses 7 to 10, the beast overcomes the witnesses

 

11:7  And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. 8  And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

The beast that ascended out of Hell will overcome these witnesses and kill them. This will not happen until the witnesses have finished their work. This gives us a hint of the identity of the angel that is the king over the bottomless pit.

Revelation 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.

Remember, he is the destroyer. No other beast, a term that elsewhere in the Revelation refers to an animal-like creature like the cherubim or living creatures around the throne of God, of evil has appeared yet other than the one from the bottomless pit.

The city referred to, the locus of the witnesses’ activities, is Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 23:14  I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.

Or, is this the city on seven hills that is coming up in Revelation 17? We will discuss that more when we get there but Jerusalem has also been identified as existing on seven hills as Rome has.[1] The question is, will the last world kingdom of significance in these events be centered in Rome, as in the Vatican, or in Jerusalem, as in a powerful Middle Eastern entity, even secular Israel today, which is the most powerful nation in the region? Any attack on Israel today by united Islamic nations surrounding it would be like a bunch of midgets attacking a giant. I have read, but cannot cite, that Israel has an extensive nuclear weapons stockpile. Wherever the antichrist of Revelation would rule from, Rome or Jerusalem would work, but which will work better we will discuss later.

11:9  And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. 10  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 tormented them that dwelt on the earth.

Social media or some future version of that technology will show their bodies to the world. People are refusing to bury them, probably even to touch them for fear. It will be a time of rejoicing. My thinking is that they will have caused a great many catastrophes we will read about next and a lost world will be so relieved when they are “gone.”

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[1] Ernest L. Martin, “The Seven Hills of Jerusalem,” on Associates for Scriptural Knowledge, http://askelm.com/prophecy/p000201.htm. (updated February 1, 2000).

 

Genesis 8, verses 13 to 22, the face of the ground was dry

 

Genesis 8:13 ¶  And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14  And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.

Genesis 8: 15 ¶  And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16  Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 17  Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. 18  And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19  Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.

Genesis 8:20 ¶  And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. 21  And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Verse 13 contains a cross-reference to chapter 7, verse 11, where these events are linked to Noah’s age. As mentioned previously the earth is still drying out in one way or another.

God gives a command to Noah to leave the ark so there is no possibility of this small group of people trying to stay with the boat. They could use the material the ark was built from to make shelter, carrying what they could with them, and returning to get what they could not carry but they did have quite a few animals that could be used to carry burdens of material and whatever supplies were left.

Noah honors God with sacrifices of burnt offerings. Sacrificed animals represent God’s own sacrifice when He comes in the flesh as the Lord Jesus Christ. Animals, unlike human beings, do God’s will as part of their nature and act as agents of God’s plans throughout the Bible.

God responds to Noah’s sacrifices and makes a covenant with Himself, not dependent upon man’s participation or agreement, that considering that mankind is inherently evil He will, in any event, agree not to do two things First, he will no more curse the ground. The Bible says I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake and God says neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. So, there are two things He says He will not do. He will no longer curse the ground and He will no longer destroy all life, or almost all life, as He had just done.

This brings to mind the curse of Genesis 3:17. Does this mean that the curse God laid on Adam for the difficult work that he would have in making the earth give up its bounty was now removed? It is more likely now that the curse on the ground is no blanket curse on the whole earth as farming is difficult to varying degrees with some places giving up their bounty rather easily and others being hard to make productive. Only about 10% of the world’s land area is suitable for agriculture.

God also promised not to destroy all life on earth. In stating this He made it necessary that the judgment at the end of the world must be curtailed so that He could keep this covenant with Himself.

Matthew 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

God agreed to this in spite of the fact that the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth.