The Wandering Shepherd

Ah, the sounds of summer! I remember the sounds of “kick the can” in my old neighborhood – a child with closed eyes counting loudly down from 100 to 0. We had what seemed like a massive number of kids growing up together on Billings Avenue, a prolific Italian Catholic neighborhood in South Jersey. Summer meant FUN! Yet, one of my most profound memories was not of the sunny days, but rather the stifling heat as the sun set outside the bedroom I shared with my older brother growing up. On those hot and muggy summer nights, life seemed long and uncomfortable. Central air conditioning was not yet popular, and certainly not yet affordable for the Smith family. Long and sometimes loud times of talking, laughing, joking and getting into trouble between bedtime and midnight were standard fare for the Smith boys. “If you two don’t knock it off, I am coming up there with the belt!” That was the familiar sound of my dad, who was sounded certain that we were going to need more than talk to get us in line. Why did he delay? Because he wanted us to listen, change our behavior, and receive grace in spite of our earlier bad behavior. Why did he eventually come up with the belt? Because it was the only way we would ever learn. This was the scenario for early discipline in my life. Dad says that I recall it as being more harsh than it actually was – but no matter. Our relationship has not only survived, but thrived in adulthood.

Now, let me change the story from a memory to a hypothetical – this time an entirely different scenario. In this scene, my brother Russ and I are still in our bunk beds on that hot, summer evening – but we are not alone. Seeing the open window, an evil man climbed up the low back roof to our old home, and got into the upstairs of the house. How should my dad respond? Should dad deal graciously with him, as he would to instruct a wayward son – or should he come forcefully and stand in strength of right – to remove him from the house by whatever means necessary? Most of us have no problem understanding defense of home and family – standing up for what is right. My father’s impulse to discipline his children is not the same as his deliberate and forceful stand to secure what is right – nor should it be. Most of us would do it, but many of us seem to be less clear when our Heavenly Father reveals that He plans to do exactly that.

Let me explain. The Bible says that God made the world, and God made man. Man rebelled against God, and decided that he would be the master of his own life. In doing so, man abandoned the place of blessing as a son and took up a rebel position against God – actively abandoning His rightful rule and helping God’s enemy. The Bible describes lost man as being “at enmity with God”. Lest someone be deceived – no one is ambivalent to God. Either you are surrendered to His leading, or you are resisting it. Either you want to know and follow God, or you want to run your own life. Even passive resistance is a choice to be un-surrendered. Our forgetfulness of God and His longing to walk daily with us, is a type of passive rebellion.

Remember, in the Bible, there are two kinds of people – those who know God and those who need to know Him. The first group is called in the Bible “God’s children” – the second group is called “lost”. The process of adoption – going from “lost” to a “child of God” is an open door, but costs our deliberate intent to surrender of our will to our Loving Master for entrance. He paid the price to settle our sin debts, but insists that we surrender our future to Him. Let me be clear: There is no Biblical plan that assures Heaven to the self-willed and self-led man or woman. Grace is no blanket for arrogance and self-reliance, despite the number of voices that try to theologically justify life-long disobedience as an option of permanent carnality among the children of God.

Among God’s children, there are two kinds of people – those who are surrendered and those who need to stop walking as disobedient children. It is possible to be a child and be disobedient – but doing so removes our sense of security concerning our salvation. We forget that we have been saved from our sins, and walk about unsure of the relationship – a God induced state to draw us back to Him (2 Peter 1). Thus, as God’s children we are disciplined – the process of pain that is designed in order to mature us to be yielded. At the same time, the Bible clearly and graphically says the lost are not disciplined – but in the end they are punished. They are like the man who broke in to my house – set for evil and repulsed by force. The sin and rebellion of their lives, and the failure to ask the Redeemer to pay the penalty for them, makes punishment inevitable. God’s purpose in that punishment is not redemption, but a graphic demonstration of both His Supreme power and ultimate justice. (In the Bible, hell is NOT a prison for re-training, but unending separation and destruction).

In the Biblical story, we are coming to the end of the lost – the wrath and punishment – and that is our story as we open to Revelation 16-19 in the next few lessons. It is a heavy passage, and careful preparation is essential. We must be sure we understand what God revealed He will do – adding nothing and subtracting nothing. Pastor Sid Litke offered some excellent words concerning the final disposition of men and women. He noted the Bible teaches three truths concerning life after death:

(1)   Everyone will exist eternally either in heaven or hell.

The prophet Daniel heard about the afterlife from an angel: Daniel 12:2 “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt. 3“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.”

Jesus spoke to Jerusalem aristocracy about the afterlife in real terms: John 5:25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26“For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; 27and He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. 28“Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, 29and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.”

Revelation 20:14 “Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

(2)   Everyone has only one life in which to determine their destiny.

The writer to the Hebrews reminded of Christ’s second coming in 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment, 28 so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”

(3)   Heaven or hell is determined by whether a person puts their trust in Christ alone to save them.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life”…and later in verse 36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

With that in mind, let’s examine the final story of wrath in the next several lessons. In Revelation 16, some key truths are unfolded… These truths are not speculations, for they are gleaned from His Word. At the same time, these truths are under steady and heavy attack – both in the world and now increasingly within the church!

Key Principle: God told us the story of final judgment against the rebellious earthly system of men because He wanted us to know and face important truths.

First, a brief walk through the details of the story…

The End Begins:

Revelation 16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”

Angels don’t hunger to pour out punishment, but they don’t hesitate, either. They have to be COMMANDED loudly, and that command comes from the very holy place of God’s Heavenly Temple. The call to judgment is the call from the Creator. The power behind the judgment is the pent up sense that wrong must be righted.

Seven Bowls Spilled Out:

The text released in rapid succession each of the first six judgments, and then offered a pause – just as it did in the case of the seals in chapter 6 and the trumpets in chapters 8 and 9. The first two had no commentary added, just the judgment angel and his effect:

• Revelation 16:2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image.

It appears that those who took the physical mark of the beast and the number of the name of the man and system were stricken with a terrible malady, manifesting itself in sores. It was directed against them specifically, and may have been a byproduct of the taking of the mark itself – some kind of severe infection or reaction to the process of the marking. There simply is little detail about what will be obvious in that time.

• Revelation 16:3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living thing in the sea died.

On the heels of the pouring out of the sores came a second calamity – the fouling of the sea. It is impossible to know if the sea referred to is only the Mediterranean – called “Mare Nostrum” or “our sea” by the Romans of John’s day. It may refer to all seas, but it surely, at least, referred to that one, so familiar to any first century Roman.

By the third “wrath pourer” – we have a bit of commentary from Heaven and earth about the judgments. From here, the formula appears to be “judgment delivered” followed by comments either from other beings, or by the author himself, about the weight, significance and justice involved in the judgment.

• Revelation 16:4 Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of waters; and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying, “Righteous are You, who are and who were, O Holy One, because You judged these things; 6 for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.” 7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”

The third wrath bearer was sent to foul fresh water rivers and springs – making the polluted and of no use. The commentary suggests that this was in response to the bloodshed of martyrdom in the final age. The angel reaffirmed the righteousness of God in the judgment – a point we will return to later – because even the church today finds it hard to do. We emphasize God’s love and grace, and hesitate to annunciate the equal eternal truths of God’s power and justice. The God of the modern church often sounds more a passive paternal Santa Claus – not an absolute Sovereign and Righteous judge.

• Revelation 16:8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire. 9 Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory.

The fourth angel was directed toward daylight with its intensive sunshine. The searing heat pressed upon man – and his response was to hurl insults to God, as though He had no Divine right to inflict them. Lost man, at his core, believes God (if He exists) – certainly possesses no special right over him, for he has been educated past both Creation and a Creator – and feels no responsibility to recognize rights of God. Further, in his political ideals of democracy and inherent disdain for slavery, he has been “enlightened” to the point that he can no longer be called upon to please an owner. Modern man has liberated himself from God – the only trouble of such a state of self-made position is this: It is not true to reality. Believers need to be careful not to adopt these attitudes… God has rights. Through most ages of western history, this case would not have had to be reminded.

• Revelation 16:10 Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain, 11 and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores; and they did not repent of their deeds.

Yet another angel was directed to pour out wrath- this time against the place of the evil one that caused the mark on man. The response of people was to “gnaw on their tongues” because of the pain. The term for PAIN (ponos) is the word for distress. The darkness was not painful, it was disconcerting and distressing. The bit upon their tongues; but did not do so long enough to cease wagging them in front of God. They did not change. They would not change. They felt wronged when the Master of Creation insisted that they were not His equal, nor His judge. They argued like the sound of the violator when caught by the policeman. In guilt, there is often a good reason – or so the perpetrator argues.

• Revelation 16:12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.

The sixth angel folded back the waters of the rivers that had defined civilization since the end of the Neolithic age – Mesopotamia. The basins of the two rivers – Tigris and Euphrates – yielded the Sumerians, the Akkadians, the Babylonians and Persians. Some of man’s greatest early achievements were founded in them. The base sixty system found on the face of our modern watch has its foundation in Babylon. The angel caused the river system to stall, offering passage from the east to the Holy Land without land obstacle. From this, the author offers three observations:

The first observation was the enemy’s response to the removal of the obstacle – to incite war against God and His people. The enemy drew man’s national forces together. They were not one world government – but rather separate nation states that were drawn by one authority to fight. Some demonic arm twisting was offered to persuade men around the globe that the fight was in their own self-interest.

Revelation 16:13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; 14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.

The second observation was an added remark that seems to have been the collaborating Savior’s quote. He was one of the writers noted in Revelation 1, and He interjected this: Get ready, because the time is very short. I suggest this was directed to any who are alive in that moment – that they should see the days as nearly over.

Revelation 16:15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”)

Finally, there was a marker to reveal the nature of the final struggle and its locale – a war in the Near East. Let me be clear: the end of all rebellion will be fought on Near Eastern soil. For this, many of my Muslim friends and I agree. The end is in fire, and the place of the war is in that part of the world.

Revelation 16:16 And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.

• Revelation 16:17 Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl upon the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, “It is done.”18 And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since man came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. 21 And huge hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because its plague was extremely severe.

The seventh angel is called upon to do his work – the great finishing sound that appears to yield the quake that devastates the earth. So much can be said of this event, but there is an expansion of it when we look carefully at Revelation 19, so “stay tuned”.

Step back for a moment, because the final pummeling of the earth in the wrath of God is a horrid scene for lost humanity. We cannot simply dispassionately offer a report like a newsman at the scene of a horrendous natural disaster. God has reasons for revealing the wrath end of man.

Five Truths from the Final Judgment

Let me suggest there are at least five lessons that I see in this reckoning of wrath. Each is significant, but for time economy, we will touch them lightly:

Truth #1: Wrath is not God’s desire, but it is His responsibility – so we should be understanding.

A father must both discipline and protect. A government must aid provision as well as defend right. God is BOTH a King and a Father. He has no desire to harm man, but rebellion cannot be rewarded nor overlooked. For this reason, wrath is inevitable and Hell is both eternal and irreversible to those who will not yield to His authority. The Bible is not silent on this:

• Revelation 14:11 “…the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day and night”
• Revelation 20:14 “This is the second death, the lake of fire” 15 “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”

Truth #2: Evil has an end – so we should be encouraged.

We must take heart that wrong will be righted, that injustice will be remembered. Every victim can rest assured that this life may let “the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing” – but there is coming a day when all the wrongs will be paid for entirely. I do not seek to evoke a hunger for revenge in us, but simply to acknowledge on behalf of anyone who has ever cried out to God: “It is not fair! Don’t you see that?” He did. He saw it. He will make it right. Count on it and take courage – God misses nothing.

Truth #3: Effect has a cause – and we should not be deceived.

The revelation of wrath closes a Biblical loop between cause and effect that is part of God’s Holy Plan. We have to admit to a problem. People don’t connect punishment with anything positive in modern life, but there is a benefit to knowing the punishment before the crime is committed. The knowledge of punishment is both a DETERRENT and an EDUCATION to reality – everything has consequences. Heaven’s story is incomplete without the revelation of God’s wrath. Why? Because disconnecting the penalty of judgment from the mutiny of man removes the real sense of the heinousness of sin.

• When we disconnected sex from pregnancy, people took it as a way to make wrong behavior more convenient. Birth control was not, in my view, immoral in and of itself – but it did seem to quickly have the net effect of promoting promiscuous behaviors. When pregnancy was a more likely result, more care to maintain purity seems to have been inferred – because cause and effect were connected. Now health care professionals, faced with a deluge of sexually transmitted diseases, seek to move on to eliminating other symptoms of our wrong choices. One day, perhaps, they will wake up to the fact that there are psychological and spiritual effects that cannot be passed over with a simple pill.

• When we disconnected educating our children from parents to outsourcing, many people divested themselves of the responsibility to pass on values. Again, public education is not immoral in itself, but it has contributed to the sense of the responsibility of raising a child being shifted to the state and common society – and not back onto the shoulders of nuclear families.

• When we disconnect our marriage commitment from our parental duty, we quantifiably diminished natural child bonding and balanced child rearing. People now make a proud statement that “I didn’t want to stay together just for the children.” I keep asking, “Why not?” When did our personal pleasure become more important than taking responsibility for the decision to bring children into the world and raise them in a stable home environment, providing both a father and mother – God’s obvious biological plan for the home? Why is selfishness and lack of self-control in learning to get along with your chosen spouse now a celebrated value among adults that are trying to train children not to exhibit the very same trait of selfishness? We need to admit that our children KNOW that love is a choice. If we choose to stop loving our spouse, we can choose to stop loving our children – and they already know that. Their security, in part, IS drawn from our commitment to marriage.

• When we systematically disconnect work from sustainability – that is, pay people for not working, we can easily slip from aiding the downtrodden to de-linking cause and effect. In the end, people can end up seeing greater benefit from the freedoms they feel in NOT working. The net effect is not a more energized and creative work force, but a lazier and less motivated one – that possesses even higher expectations from their society to provide for their needs. We need to reassert that WORK IS GOOD, and as Paul reminded Timothy – the “hardworking farmer is the one who benefits first and most from his labor.” (2 Tim. 2).

Truth #4: Second chances are not guaranteed – so we should be warned.

This week thousands of Americans will file for extensions for taxes. A system that was designed as a failsafe has become a regular part of American expectation – there should always be a way for me to get another chance, because my circumstances are not the same as everyone else. I am not arguing against the measure of grace afforded by the US government, nor am I suggesting an extension is a sin – only that we can slowly begin to adopt an attitude from it.

God’s absolute right as Creator to insist that all things belong solely to Him must not be diminished in the grace message of salvation through Christ alone. God is not my buddy – He is my King. He is not just my friend – He is Righteous altogether. The Bible defines what God considers His responsible duty – to stamp out all effects and power of sin and rebellion. John wasn’t embarrassed to report that is exactly what He will do. He knew and wrote of God’s absolute right to judge and crush all rebellion.

Truth #5: Warning is a blessing – so we should be changed.

Without cause and effect, Grace is indistinguishable. We can only understand the sacrifice of Jesus and our undeserved salvation BECAUSE we know what SHOULD HAVE HAPPENED to sinners like us. We rebelled and continue to live in varying shades of rebellion – and we know it. Our nature is to grow downward into the mud of self. When God acts in wrath, He openly repays rebellion. When God writes about it ahead of time – He offers GRACE and invites CHANGE!

John thought this sign was something “great and marvelous” because it ended the war introduced in the Garden of Eden. Seven angels dumped out saucers of wrath. As they were emptied – all of man’s insurrection was crushed, and God’s holy right over His wayward Creation was publicly and permanently restored. All legal requirements were satisfied. All opposition was stopped… that day is coming soon. You don’t have to face God’s wrath – He has warned you today.

Paul reminded the first century believers at Thessalonica:

1 Thessalonians 5:1 Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. 2 For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. 3 While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; 5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; 6 so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. 7 For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him.

God told us the story of final judgment against the rebellious earthly system of men because He wanted us to know and face important truths.

Perhaps you’ve seen the famous French sculpture’s work called “The Thinker.” The first cast of the statue (originally referred to as “the Poet”) from 1902 was part of Auguste Rodin’s larger work ‘The Gates of Hell” – an ornamental door for a proposed Palace of Decorative Arts. Critics believe they know what the thinker was thinking about. The nude man (probably a nude Dante), stripped of all his adornments as the day he was born – contemplated in mute amazement the end of lost man. He sat before the gates of hell –contemplating the wrath of God and an un-yielding man’s fate. Perhaps we should sit beside him for a moment, and ponder it as well.

The red light never went on before – except during the drills and tests. This time the buzzer sounded, and the red light blared in the control room. Men scrambled to stations as they looked anxiously at dials and fiddled nervously with switches and dials. The pressure valves were stuck shut, and the water behind the massive dam was now piling up. There was no relief for the pressure, and the back pressure on the wall was already well into exceeding tolerances. Transfixed, each man, on his own station – the control room quiet was shattered by the loud crackle of the Motorola handset. “Engineer six, what is your status?” the com signal echoed. “Holding, five. Pressure building. No surface fissures…. Wait…cancel that. I am seeing the beginning of cracks…Yes, five, she is losing integrity. Repeat… she is losing integrity…” The men knew it was a matter of moments from the largest disaster anyone in that room had ever seen.

There is a moment – just after the bullet is fired, but before it strikes the target. There is a moment – just after the beautiful crystal glass has slipped from your fingers – and before it shatters on the ceramic tile floor… the story of this chapter of Revelation IS that moment. This is the story of judgment and wrath hanging in the air above the physical universe. This is a glimpse into the throne room before the final rush of God’s complete and total victory over mutinous humanity. It is the moment before the dam broke above the on the feeble defenses of the arrogant. It isn’t the story of the destruction – that will come. It is the story of the moment before – the moment just before the deluge.

The glimpse into this moment is very revealing. It reveals the feeling in the room as judgment is set to fall. It reveals the swift nature of the end of rebellion and sin. It reveals something about how God feels about sin and rebellion. Most of all, it is given to the church because it uncovers a strange encouragement – God knows how hard the mutiny has been on all of us.

Key Principle: Opening Heaven’s window and pulling back the curtain on this moment before judgment is unleashed should help us understand two essential truths: First, we must accelerate sharing the message of God’s escape from wrath. The Gospel offers the way of escape. Second, seeing Heaven frozen in that moment should encourage us – God knows the effects of sin have been hard for us to navigate.

This Polaroid of Heaven exposes a moment that shows God’s judgment as holy and as necessary as the revelation of His coming rewards. Heaven’s story is incomplete without the revelation of God’s wrath. Why? Because disconnecting the penalty of judgment from the mutiny of man removes the real sense of the heinousness of sin – and diminishes God’s absolute right as Creator to insist that all things belong solely to Him. Strangely, the Bible writer doesn’t so squeamish about God’s rights and man’s mutiny. The Bible defines what God considers His responsible duty – to stamp out all effects and power of sin and rebellion. John wasn’t embarrassed to report that is exactly what He will do. He knew and wrote of God’s absolute right to judge and crush all rebellion.

Read with me the few verses that show the picture of this moment before destruction:

Revelation 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished. 2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God. 3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations! 4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.” 5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

John thought this sign was something “great and marvelous” because it ended the war introduced in the Garden of Eden. Seven angels were paraded out with saucers of wrath. It wasn’t the size of the saucer, but the fact that when they were emptied – all of man’s insurrection would be crushed, and God’s holy right over His wayward Creation will be publicly and permanently restored. All legal requirements will be satisfied. All opposition will be stopped.

Don’t rush through the passage. Take a moment and think about the picture we see. We must be careful to recall three important principles in the background – the “wall setting” of the picture we want to gaze upon:

1. The small size of the chapter is not an indication of the importance of the principle exposed in the writing – because it is by far the shortest chapter selection from this book. It is important to remember that good writing expresses the author’s thought process well – great writing does it with an economy of words and stark clarity of imagery. The Gettysburg address wasn’t long, but it was powerful enough to shape an army.

2. The chapter represents a moment in time when the pressure that was pent up over thousands of years on earth was relieved by an explosion. This is a frozen frame of the moment before the break. There was a crack in the surface of the great dam of human history. The conditions were all fulfilled, and the stage was completely set for the small fissure to explode, ending in a massive flood of destruction. The just demands of God’s Holiness pushed down for all the generations since Adam will be completely satisfied in a public display. God will get to sign the end of His story by crushing evil and replacing it with His holiness.

3. Finally, this moment was recorded for seven churches, and later for believers throughout the ages. It isn’t the revelation of a theoretical time – it is the exposure of the coming day. In the next chapters we will see the undoing of every rebellious human institution: religion, economy and philanthropy. Man will fold in on himself as the wall of wrath tears through all that he built in the village below the dam of God’s pent up wrath. Why would God tell this story? Doesn’t He realize that a vengeful God will not be nearly as popular as a, “ALL TOLERANT ONE”?  He does, but He has a bigger plan… more on that later in the teaching.

Look again at Revelation 15. We are staring at the snapshot of those who have been victorious over the beast standing together in celebration of God’s character. They are singing the “Anthem of the Rescued” in the presence of God. Just as the saints stand before the temple of God, the bowls of wrath are poured out on pagan and rebellious humanity – those who follow the beast. The massive day of battle destroys the military might of man. The fall of Babylon  – the economic, political and spiritual systems are also pummeled and destroyed in an hour. Satan’s centers of control are unraveled – and this is the moment that unleashed it all. Is that not part of what the Tribulation is about? Remember the Tribulation has several purposes in the Bible:

• First, it is to get the stubborn nation of Israel to bow in trust to her estranged husband – the Father in Heaven that selected her as His own special love.

• Second, it is God’s final evangelistic run at mutinous mankind – with a team of 144,000 witnesses that will gather the last of the great harvest among the nations.

• Third, it is to dislodge and destroy the godless, pagan system at its peak – in the hands of the Antichrist and his false prophet on the way to exposing and castigating the Dragon that empowers their work.

God back to the verses, one by one. Look carefully at the words of this chapter’s opening:

Revelation 15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.

John wrote that he saw “another sign”, connecting it with the sign of the war between the dragon and the woman in Revelation 12 – the attempts by Satan to destroy Jesus, and then the Jewish people in human history. The word for sign is “SEMION” a distinguishing marker or event. This word occurs seven times in the book of Revelation – all beginning in 12:1 and ending at the end of the Tribulation in 19.. (12:1,3; 13:13,14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20). As one commentator put it: “This is verbal art”.

Revelation 15:2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.

When John wrote that he saw something like a “sea of glass”, he referred to an image building on the transparent crystal platform or pavement God’s heavenly throne sits upon, referred to in Revelation 4:6. He saw God’s magnificent throne – lest anyone would mistake where all judgments of the Tribulation initiate. God is in command of the end, and He was at the beginning.

Surrounding the throne in this snapshot are those who had victory over the beast. They fought his mark, the number of his name, and they gave all for the Kingdom of God – surrendering even their lives. It may be hard to be a believer today in a culture that is turning its back on the face of Jesus – but it will be MCUH HARDER then. They will know suffering and death. They will give all for the cause, because they love the Savior more than they love anything here on earth. Don’t forget that the WORD VICTORY is that which described those who were KILLED. Faith was the victory and death was not a failure – it was their graduation and HOPE.

Can we say that Jesus is more important than our life? Is Jesus more significant to you than fortune, fame, power and pleasure? Is the delight of Jesus bigger in your heart than the delight of your children, your spouse – your SELF? They lived that truth! The end of the verse says that the singers held harps before God. Their lives supplied the sheet music of praise in the Heavens!

15:3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!

The song of Moses is a rescue anthem – a song of thankfulness for God’s miraculous guidance, skillful and timely protection and wondrous provision for His people. Moses saw it. The Lamb knew it.

• Great and marvelous are Your works (megala kai thaumasta): huge and awe inspiring are your accomplishments – remember “No one stands over the Grand Canyon to boost their self-image!”
• Righteous and true are Your ways (dikaiai): totally just are your plans or paths.

There is no debate about what comes next. The pressure was about to break from Heaven, and the choir was well contented that it was neither hasty nor reactionary – the priestly dressed angels knew their jobs and the clock was now counting down.

15:4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy; For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU, FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

The purpose of the judgment was clearly stated – to get people to RECOGNIZE GOD AS GOD. Man should revere the name of their Creator. Whether in the university classroom or the science laboratory – the mystery of life should be tied up in HIM. He alone is distinct from all others. No man can hold that place in another man’s heart. No man can hold the throne of his own heart for himself and not be judged.

• God alone is to be honored as highest.
• God alone is to be worshiped.
• God alone will be seen in the final acts of judgment.
• Men’s strength will collapse.
• Their armies will evaporate.
• Their economic strategies will dissipate into the air.
• Their lofty arrogance and pagan slurs will vanish in the heat of God’s presence.
• The Creator will once again be the One and Only God – and that was cause for the choir to sing aloud!

15:5 After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of testimony in heaven was opened, 6 and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their chests with golden sashes.

John saw angels coming from the Most Holy Place of Heaven’s Tabernacle (the heavenly reality modeled in history by an earthly Temple and the Tabernacle before it). The seven angelic reapers of judgment stepped out of their Temple service – dressed as priests. The work of judgment is HOLY WORK. It is the work of rescue and restoration. It is the work of reconciling the universe to its Creator.

15:7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.

The bowls of judgment are a specific type – the phiales – or flat lipped bowls. These are shallow saucers that were familiar items associated with various functions of the temple worship, such as wine and blood sacrifice. The picture was of a wide plate with a rim – something that could be quickly emptied. It is the swiftness of the judgment that will shock men on earth. In one hour, Babylon will fall flat before God.

The word wrath (thumos) used here is a boiling or flaming anger. Instead of the common word orge (anger from a settled disposition). Thumos is used only 11 times, and 10 of the 11 are in Revelation. It is God’s overflowing anger towards sin contained in the bowls.

15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.

John described a moment right after the angels came out of the Temple, saying that great smoke from the power and presence of God filled Heaven’s Temple so that neither angels nor human beings could go back into worship until the completion of the judgment. No created being, for that stretch of time, will have access to the presence of God on His throne until the end of the Tribulation judgment – for God will not be dealing with people in mercy but in judgment.

When the Tabernacle (Ex. 40) and First Temple (1 Kings 6-8) were dedicated, God’s glory and presence was seen in the smoke that filled them. Now it was different. This was no mere display. Commentator William MacDonald offers: “The fact that no one can enter the temple until these seven plagues are completed may mean that no priestly intercession can now delay God’s wrath.”

That’s the story. A choir singing, a parade marching, smoke billowing…Heaven on the edge.

Earlier I asked why this moment was frozen in time and recorded for seven churches, and later for believers throughout the ages. Why show the believers of the ages the eventual overthrow of every rebellious human institution? Should we feel relieved that God finally got even? No, I don’t think that is the purpose at all.

I think we don’t understand how God feels about the destructiveness of sin, and how He longs to see the conditions that we have come to accept as NORMAL stomped out completely. He looks at us through the eyes of that child services worker that interviews the repeatedly raped child who acts like it is perfectly normal. He is enraged by our pain, and longs for the end – but He must elect to wait until the whole story unfolds showing who He is to all creation. To intrude early would undo all the work that went in to making the story clear.

God hates sin the way a child of an alcoholic hates that bottle. It destroyed everything. It took the fun out of life and the joy out of the relationship. God hates sin, and cannot wait to crush it!

He hates sin because it KILLED the joy He had walking with US, and eventually it KILLED HIS SON to supply the blood that transfused us with new life. All that keeps us hopeful is that He is ready and able to crush it. Keep your eyes on the sky – He is growing restless to pull us free from its grasp.

It seems we have not only become dulled to God’s feelings about sin in our modern world, but we have also lost our distaste for HELL. The UN has had much to say about a population explosion – but there is one place where the explosion of population should deeply concern and sicken us – the population of HELL. It was said that D.L. Moody reduced hell’s potential population by as many as two million. Billy Graham may have also done that. Yet, hell is still getting too many, and God offers this warning that wrath will come, to remind believers of the need to get busy with the Gospel. Hell is real. Wrath is coming. Judgment is not a fairy tale.

There is yet a third reason that the wrath of God is so carefully choreographed for the believer in this book –zand it is this thought that I want to finish on… It also relates to sins devastation. It is not about those who are going to hell, but for the benefit of those who have already been living in it here on earth. It is to answer the tears of God’s people that have walked through the fires of fallen humanity. It is to encourage you.

That’s right! God told the story of the moment before judgment so that you would be encouraged when things are working against you in this life:

• When you are honest and the boss fires you but keeps the liars – the fall flexes its muscle.
• When you are betrayed though you have been faithful and right – demons dance.
• When you eat right, exercise, drink proper amounts of fluids, and then get news of a disease that is beyond your control and beyond the doctor’s expertise – the weeds of the garden are taking root in your life.

Many people have tried to decide why bad things happen to good people. All of them have noticed that it is hard to face trouble when you don’t know where it is HEADING. An old Roman sailor’s proverb says, “When the pilot does not know for what port he is headed, no wind is the right wind.” In times of trouble, I can open God’s Word and see the end of the tunnel. It is a long tunnel – and many lives hang in the balance – but it is an encouragement that GOD KNOWS THE END of the story, because sin will be crushed from His holy Temple – and delivered by His holy corps of angels.

Here is the perseverance of the saints. God wins. God ends the pain of sin. God crushes its power and finally removes its pain. Separation from loved ones – gone.  Persecution from angry men – finished. Reason rallies spewing hatred toward God and His followers – silenced.

• Go to the religions of the east, and learn of an endless cycle of reincarnation – punishment and reward as we climb the ladder through thousands of lifetimes – how exhausting and entirely impersonal. It is a scenario of living life trying not offend the thousands of gods and demi-gods on my way to the next rung of the ladder. The end for us is not attaining perfection; it is falling into the arms of the Perfect One.

• My Muslim friends may answer the question of “bad things” by saying, “Allah has willed it, and you must learn to accept his will.”

• My Jewish friends may echo Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book entitled, Why Do Bad Things Happen to Good People? It became a NYT best-seller. His answer was that “God is limited in His power, and therefore He is not a participant in our lives. Instead, He is a spectator watching us with interest.” He says, “God wants to see good things happen to His people, but He is not always able to arrange it.“

How very sad! His conclusion is a less than able God in need of our forgiveness of Him for His shortcomings. The Rabbi says that it is our turn now to forgive God for His failures.

Our story ends differently. It ends with a powerful God that makes no apology for His Sovereignty. His choir sang the anthem of His Supremacy. His love for His fallen drove Him to action.

In Max Lucado’s book, The Applause of Heaven, the author tells about a young man, Robert Reed, who has cerebral palsy. He writes: “He can’t brush his teeth or comb his hair or bathe himself. He can’t dress himself, or button his shirt. He has to depend upon other people to do that for him. He can’t take a walk. He can’t go from one place to another by his own power. But his handicaps did not rob him of graduating from high school, & finally earning a degree from Abilene Christian College.” The writer says that Robert Reed decided that he would study to be a missionary. He taught a couple of years in a Junior College in St. Louis. and took five trips to different mission fields. Finally he settled in Lisbon, Portugal. Robert Reed found a hotel owner who would rent him a ground-floor room. He found a restaurant owner who would feed him after hours each day. He found a tutor who would teach him the language. And every day he wheeled out to the city park & passed out Christian literature to people who walked by. He spoke to them in his voice that sounded like a record player whose batteries are about to run down. He told them about the love of God through Jesus Christ. In 6 years Robert Reed won more than seventy people to Jesus. One of them was a young girl by the name of Rosa, who later became his wife. Lucado recalls, “I sat in an audience of thousands & watched as strong men grabbed his wheelchair, with him sitting in it, & lifted him to the platform so that he could speak to this vast audience of people….I watched him as he took his stiff fingers & tried to turn the pages of his Bible. And along with thousands of others, I wiped away tears of admiration. Here is one who could have complained, one who could have been bitter, one who could have asked `Why me?’ One who could have asked, `Why do bad things happen to God’s people?’” “But instead,” he said, “Robert Reed read in his drawn out way the Words of God & gave his testimony. And when he came to the end of it, he lifted up his bent hand & arm & said, `I have everything I need.’” Lucado adds, “His shirts are held together with velcro. But his life is held together with the joy of God.”

Lift up your head and see the power of God. Sin will be defeated. Death’s separation will be erased. Cancer will be a word long forgotten. Divorce will be a word from the ancient past. Rape, incest, murder, pornography, theft, cheating, lying –all will be erased from our existence – a distant memory of a war fought on far away fields long before. God hasn’t forgotten to rescue us – the pressure is building and Heaven’s dam is about to burst.

Opening Heaven’s window and pulling back the curtain on this moment just before judgment is unleashed should help us remember – God knows the effects of sin have been hard for us to navigate… and He hates sin. Don’t despair – sin is on short time as Heaven’s death row is emptied.

They were all having fun in the sun. As the small waves crashed in, they made a sound that was much bigger than was truly represented by their size. Some of the now reddened sunbathers were enjoying the lazy pursuits of sand castle making, while others were strewn out along the beach, lying out on towels like the resting seals on an island of the Galapagos. Just a few feet into the water there were literally dozens of tube-laden swimmers. Some were riding waves, but most were just bobbing up and down to the rhythm of the sea’s movements. Above them on the shore sat a lifeguard slumped back in his seat, scanning across the surface of the water. The smell of salt air mixed with coconut oil from the Coppertone sunscreen together with the light glistening on the water had a mesmerizing effect – even on the lifeguard. In fact, watching the dancing rays of the sun against the moving water threatened to hypnotize him. Suddenly, the light flashed as it caught a brief point of deflection that snapped the lifeguard from his stupor. It was a fin – and the lifeguard knew what was beneath the water where that fin was exposed – a shark. He stood up on the step that was joined to the front of his seat and looked through his binoculars. As he gauged the danger, he began to blow his whistle. When people were moving too slowly, he raised his hand to his mouth and called out the word that motivated all of them… “Shark! Shark!” People began to flee to the beach. The lifeguard knew an important truth…The power and danger of the shark lay beneath the surface.

It is a lesson worth remembering: It is often not what we SEE that shows the real power – it is only the tip of the power that is exposed. That is true for all that God’s enemy does – but it is also true of God Himself.

Key Principle: What earth sees is a mere shadow of reality. The real world is the SPIRITUAL WORLD that is beneath the surface of the physical universe’s mask. This world perishes – that one preceded it and will be there when this one is finished.

Paul knew this truth. He said: 2 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. 17 For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

As John introduced this critical truth that will help guide Tribulation believers through troubles in the way it had helped Paul through persecution – John, under Divine inspiration, opened the door to helping the believer see the powers of darkness beneath their extreme earthly troubles. Let me remind you of our story and the “dark team” that was exposed in the last few chapters of Revelation that we have been studying together. They were the “beneath the surface” evil team – an unholy trinity – that was revealed in Revelation 12 and 13:

• The “father figure” was a dragon that was clearly identified as Satan – who was bested in Heaven and was tossed to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9), ending the whining and droning against the people of God in Heaven’s corridors

• His fall to earth coincided with the appearance of the “son figure” of this unholy trinity – the Antichrist. Called the “man of sin” and various other names – he burst on the scene as a startling new political force after being mortally wounded and then miraculously raised. His initial legislation purposed to offer bold peace initiatives, all the while stockpiling weaponry and trading power around the earth. A rising confederation of earth’s powers formed an axis of evil at the Antichrist’s command. His confederation acted as ONE, but was swift, powerful and transformative.

• Eventually, the dragon pulled in a second ally in the Tribulation – a “spirit figure” in the unholy trinity. This beast was described as LIKE THE FIRST and a HARLOT (Revelation 17) that attempted to spiritually satisfy men’s need for relationship outside the God given boundaries of intimacy with HIM. This was both a false religious beast, and a sign oriented magnet pull of popularity. It had a propaganda ability and pointed to the Antichrist. This one was all about spreading the Antichrist’s BRAND.

That team that was built to wound believers and destroy the coming Kingdom was exposed to ENCOURAGE SUFFERING BELIEVERS. It was exposed to bring confidence to the flagging heart. By Revelation 14, it became important for John to make clear that God wasn’t sitting on the sidelines. The Creator had a team prepared also – and His team was accomplishing His desires in stark contrast to what it appeared on earth. Things looked BAD on earth, but they weren’t bad- they were following the long scripted plan of the Most High.

On first inspection you see that both Heaven and Earth are coordinated spiritually in the message and judgment delivered to the earth. God has a bigger team just “beneath the surface” of the physical world. He is not holding back because He cannot marshal His forces – patience alone delays His coming!  God inserted the information about what HE was doing in a PARENTHETICAL statement – the fifth of seven such parentheses in the book according to the old commentator Dake. This one begins: “AND I LOOKED…”

What John described were seven people or events that caught his attention:

• The 144,000 witnesses that followed the Lamb (14:1-5)
• Angel #1: The Gospel of the Tribulation Period (14:6-7)
• Angel #2: The Indictment of Babylon (14:8)
• Angel #3: Call to both the Marked and the Martyrs (14:9-14)
• Angel #4: Call to Commence Judgment (14:15-16)
• Angel #5: Judgment Reaping Begins (14:17)
• Angel #6: Grapes of Wrath Harvest (14:18-20)

Even a quick glance at the list reveals that six of the seven beings that caught John’s eye were angels that related to judgment. In the Bible, angels have been ascribed the primary role in executing judgment. One such clear example is in the teaching of the seven step parable in Matthew 13, where Jesus clearly enunciated this role for angels:

Matthew 13:24 “…The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 “But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26 “But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27 “The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 28 “And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29 “But he said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 ‘Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”…36 “… His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” 37 And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. 40 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, 42 and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

In an important way, the record of Revelation 14 is the fulfillment of that incredible promise.

Essentially, the words of Jesus are the outline for Revelation 14: The Son of Man sends the angels to reap. The passage, therefore opens with position of the Lamb and His people, and then moves to the reaping call of the angels:

The Lamb and His 144,000 workers (14:1-5)

Revelation 14:1 Then I looked, and behold, the Lamb was standing on Mount Zion…

Some may wonder why we don’t begin with the Lamb and His movements – instead of the 144,000 – in light of the fact that the Lamb is clearly mentioned first in the passage. Let me say something that some will find hard to grasp, but if you keep reading and keep studying, it may offer more help than confusion. Taking the text literally doesn’t imply that we don’t understand that even literal speech has common metaphor. When we read that “all the world” went out to hear John the Baptizer – we don’t picture the Chinese of the Han Dynasty on the bank of the Jordan River. We understand there are common ways to say things. When Jesus spoke of the “two or three gathered together” in the context of judgment – He promised to be “in the midst of them”. This was to be a comfort as they judged difficult things… not an implication that He would materialize and “beam down” when they got together. Normal metaphor doesn’t collide with literal understanding, but we must be careful to judge where it appears and where it does not. I mention this because the passage we are in now has a “tricky” part to it – it is not clear where the players are in 14:1-5. It opens with the Lamb on “Mt. Zion”, and it looks to some like Jesus left Heaven and relocated to Jerusalem. Others move Mt. Zion to Heaven and see it as the “Heavenly Zion” (cp. Hebrews 12:22-13), a perfectly reasonable way to see the mentioning of a city in a metaphor (though I do not think that is what he is doing in Revelation 14).

Hebrews 12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, 23 to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

That Revelation 14 is set in Heaven is one of a series of possibilities, but not what I believe is going on in the passage. If you follow the rest of the description of the 144,000 in the coming verses, they appear to be ON THE EARTH, making decisions that would not be made in Heaven – like not defiling themselves sexually. Since they are WITH the Lamb, it seems more proper that the use is a metaphor. I believe John is trying to indicate that God’s witnesses were on earth, remaining undefiled and offering the truth – and that Jesus was their center – they followed Him. I believe he meant it the way I mean it at a wedding, when I tell a couple to FOLLOW JESUS and KEEP HIM IN THE CENTER OF YOUR HOME. I mean metaphorically – not strictly literally – and everyone in the room knows that.

Look at verse one again. It may look to you (as it does to me) that the opening description of the Lamb’s presence is mentioned to assure the reader the 144,000 are following the Messiah, and they are following the Law – since they are Jewish believers. There are many today who really do not understand Messianic believers. They ostracize them, or make them feel really strange. We should keep in mind that if Revelation 14 is to be understood literally, as I believe it should, MESSIANISM will carry the Gospel to the world in the Tribulation Period. They will have no better reputation in the world then they do now – but God will use them as His primary vehicle to reach the world! This doesn’t mean that everything they do is correct today, but it does mean they will carry a very significant role in the coming days.

The Dedication of the 144,000 (14:1)

They are believers that follow BOTH a dedication to the words of the Father (from the estranged Jewish bride of the Father) and follow the Lamb – they are Messianic Jews. Their placement on Zion is another clue to their identity. Zion is used in Scripture as both a Heavenly ideal – and the eternal city at the end of Revelation – and an earthly city of Promise with Messiah the King (Psalm 2, 48, Isaiah 2, 24, Joel 2:32, etc).

14:1b “…and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.

Before we go on with the description of these Tribulation believers, can I ask you a question? What MARKS your head? Are you embracing the world’s system in your thinking so fully that your life is patterned by the way they think. I am not going all fuzzy on the mark of the beast here – I am simply using the pattern of Scripture.  You see, long before, God told Jewish fathers to teach their children the Scriptures in Deuteronomy 6:7:  “You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 “You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 “You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Orthodox Jews have taught their disciples to put a Mezuzah on their doorposts. They were instructed to bind phylacteries on their arms and forehead. We don’t do it in a PHYSICAL way as I was shown in my education in Jerusalem – we take it as a common metaphor, that God wanted fathers to BIND THE LAW on their children by making it relevant to them in everyday life – and illustrating how God worked daily in their home. It isn’t WRONG to buy a phylactery and bind the Law to a child, but a box with little written scrolls stuck to their head won’t draw their allegiance to God any more than sleeping on my Math textbook would naturally cause me to understand Mathematics. The binding must be about TEACHING VALUES or the box binding won’t help.

In the same way, I need to ask: What values are bound on your head? Is morality determined in your mind by what a majority of people SAY about things? Did you choose your life path by what would give you the best INCOME, or rather by seeking God for direction? Is right and wrong in your heart determined by People Magazine or God’s eternal truth? Listen to these prophetic words of Al Mohler:  In a day of rampant moral relativism and social experimentation, Americans have been engaged in a free-for-all exercise in cultural revolution. But when the experiment is directed at marriage, the fallout is sure to be uniquely tragic. The legalization and cultural acceptance of same-sex marriage will mean, ultimately, the destruction of marriage itself. Without a coherent vision of marriage, the entire society will eventually find itself completely unable to regulate sexual behavior or personal relationships. What happens when the next “sexual lifestyle” gains civil rights status? Those who charge that even raising such a question is scare-mongering, must face the simple fact that the question is unavoidable. Intellectual honesty demands that we recognize the fact that acceptance of same-sex marriage implies–to anyone who has even the slightest commitment to intellectual integrity–the acceptance of any adult consensual sexual lifestyle as legitimate and ultimately deserving of legalized status. (Albert Mohler, Jr. is president of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.) So I ask again, Who is setting the bar for the definitions of your heart, and your actions. Do we really believe that soon the church will not be standing alone in the message of sexual purity? If we do, are you prepared to put your life up as an example of it? Who is marking your decision making patterns – whose mark do you carry on your head?

The Direction of the 144,000 (14:2-3a)

Dropped into the middle of their description is a voice and choir from Heaven that gives them direction. They got the cues of their message from Heaven, and truths revealed to them that no one appears to have accessed. Revelation 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder, and the voice which I heard was like the sound of harpists playing on their harps. 3 And they (in Heaven) sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one could learn the song except the one hundred and forty-four thousand…”

The Description of the 144,000 (14:3b-5)

Look at the description of these 144,000 witnesses and then ask this question: When the church is removed, how many people will think that sexual purity is even a concern. How many care about it even NOW? Watching what is happening in our country in our time, we must see the stark difference between these witnesses and the sweeping European and American remaking of moral codes: Revelation 14:3b “…who had been purchased from the earth. 4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to the Lamb. 5 And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

• They were PURCHASED out of the earth – they are not like them.
• They were not drawn into sensual practices – they worked at chastity and abstinence.
• They followed the LAMB – when everyone else followed the DRAGON.
• They told the TRUTH – when their world was so deceived it did not believe that TRUTH could even be known.

Sadly, this could be said of Christians in a local high school in many school districts. It could be said of college students that desired to have a testimony on their college campus. The dark standards of our world are permeating our times so very quickly that these description points can already be seen as a HIGH CONTRAST to the prevailing world view of our times!

Now, in a swift pass over the text, let’s see six angels swoop into the scene:

Angel #1: The Gospel of the Tribulation Period (14:6-7)

Revelation 14:6 And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, having an eternal gospel to preach to those who live on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people; 7 and he said with a loud voice, “Fear God, and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come; worship Him who made the heaven and the earth and sea and springs of waters.”

The first angels brings a message of the eternal Gospel (that salvation in every age was always by grace through faith and in no other way). The angel pushed out the message to be sure that all men on earth had the opportunity to know God, though few thought it worth listening to. He also brought the additional part of the Gospel that we don’t preach in the technical giving of the message today: That the church is gone and the last days of judgment had come. The call to worship God is interesting formed around the CREATION MESSAGE that had probably been long removed from society by lab coated men and women of the sciences. Clinging to the message of Creation was part of the final stage of reaching out in response to the truth of God.

Angel #2: The Indictment of Babylon (14:8)

Revelation 14:8 And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.”

The second angel pointed out that the system of men was morally bankrupt, and that was a central truth of the message of the witnesses. It is quickly becoming the central truth to our ministries in these latter days as well.

Angel #3: Call to both the Marked and the Martyrs (14:9-14)

The third angel offered a message to two people groups of the earth. First, he warned people who were making the decision to follow the beast that it had dire consequences that were absolutely eternal. As churches move away from a message of hell, it is easy to hear how collared clergy will line up against such a message: Revelation  14: 9 Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, 10 he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

That same angel seemed to signal that martyrdom was becoming the order of the day. In my view, the 144,000 get their protection removed at this point, and they begin to be culled from the earth by evil men, which brings a step up in the tempo of Heaven’s judgment against earth’s mutineers: Revelation 14:12 Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. 13 And I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on!’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow with them.” 14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head and a sharp sickle in His hand.

Angel #4: Call to Commence Judgment (14:15-16)

The tempo of judgment continues with one judgment following another – for the time had come: Revelation  14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.” 16 Then He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

Angel #5: Judgment Reaping Begins (14:17)

Still another of God’s army lashed out in threshing the earth… Revelation  14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle.

Angel #6: Grapes of Wrath Harvest (14:18-20)

The final grape harvest – a wine of blood of men – was now on the horizon: Revelation  14:18 Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. 20 And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.

Things looked VERY BAD on earth. It appeared that God was LOSING as the earth’s witnesses were being destroyed. In fact, God’s team was accomplishing His long-before scripted plan. I take great COMFORT in that truth. Why? Because it forces me to admit once again that I am not qualified to know when God is losing!

• When the country ebbs into sin-sickness in our school system – I cry out to God and complain, “Why don’t you DO SOMETHING Lord?” – because I think I can tell who is winning by what is happening – but I cannot.

• When the political frame of the country seems to be reeling and no candidate seems to be able to identify Biblical values wholly and model them – I wonder why God doesn’t raise up someone different – but I do not know His plan.

• When the economic values of our homes are decreased and our currency loses its value around the globe I complain to the Lord that mission dollars to not go far anymore – but I must humble myself and recognize that God is working His plan.

• When our historic foundations are eroded to the point that the influence of Christ and the Gospel in the formation of the country is out rightly denied while damaging beliefs and religious groups gain a more solid foothold of rights in our government than we have – I weep, but God is on His path to victory, and all things are happening as he would have them.

• When this generation of unborn American children are slaughtered out of a perverse desire for selfish convenience I cry out to Him repeatedly – “God, where are You? Why don’t you stop this terrible nightmare.” He says, “Just do your part, for I know where I am taking your nation.”

When I cry God answers! He shows me the truth. I see only the fin of power. The real power is beneath the wave.

I am no ample judge of the Almighty’s plan. I do not see what the enemy is really doing – nor do I understand how God will take evil and overturn it into GOOD. I see the FIN, but not the FISH. I see the PROBLEMS but not the PLAN.

In the moments I become most angry, I show the most ungodly ego. When I complain about what God is allowing, I am masking the real complaint – what God is DOING. His patience with evil is a constant sore point to me – because I believe I understand the plan.

Israel weeps in darkness and blindness as God has focus His holy attention on the many of us from another nation, people, kindred and tongue. To US this is a marvelous plan… we love being the object of God’s affection. Consider the words of Paul to the Romans 9:22:

“What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make know the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even US, whom He also called, not from among the Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”

Those words are set in a context that says that God turned His face away from Israel for a time to BLESS the other people of the world, like me – to allow the Gospel to go to the ends of the earth through the temporary, mutual rejection between Israel and God. From my standpoint that is GREAT – because God opened a door for my access. If I were looking from Israel’s standpoint – I would not be nearly so enthusiastic. The salvation of the world sounds great, but I wouldn’t want the darkness to fall on my own family. In the final analysis, if I were Israel, I would have to admit that this is the way God chose to tell His story – and His way is always best. Can we say less about our own times?

Can I not admit that when I am disgusted by the world’s sin sickness – it is BOTH a reminder of man’s mutiny and of God’s patience? That should quiet my heart. It MUST quiet my soul. The fact is that what the earth sees – and what I can see now apart from the discerning light of the Word of God – is a mere shadow of reality. Beneath the surface lurks the SPIRITUAL WORLD operating but masked by the physical universe. The real is hidden, the temporal is seen… and mature believers learn the difference between the two – and which to rely upon.

The year was 1945. The place was central Europe. The last days of power in the Third Reich (Drittes Reich) that began in 1933 were now becoming clear. Though the forces led by Adolph Hitler were clearly facing defeat from Allied powers, the army was ordered to continue destroying without long term rationale or real cause. Though soon to be defeated, these were some of the bloodiest days of the war. Two thirds of European Jewry was already destroyed. Cities across the continent lay in piles of ruins. Priceless artwork was reduced to ash, and architecture of generations was now a blackened cinder hull of its once former glory… Why go on? It seemed like madness – but threatened power is the least rational kind of power.

 One particularly disturbing trend that can be observed if one looks carefully at the waning years of the Reich was this: some people were still joining the war. New recruits had slowed, but the fact that there were ANY is quite disturbing. Why would they do this? The answer may be simple: Many believed the deception of the propaganda they were fed. They didn’t KNOW the end was near, though careful observation should have indicated a problem. The age of recruits was unbelievably low. The weapons handed to them were old and in disrepair.

How did the Reich pull off such a deception? It took three things that revived in a unique way the ancient Roman pallet – SPECTACLE, TEAM WORK and PLANNING. There was a popular process, a political process, and there was a propoganda process. There were sports teams, camps for the young and long standing traditions were co-opted for political and ethical reconstruction. In the end, the team that formed around deception became very proficient at the mass deception game. The description of the end times in Revelation 13 is just like that moment all over again…

Pause… because that should help us understand how such a thing could easily become a reality again, even in our modern world.

To mold a generations values into one (in this case a deception), the long standing differences seeded by religious and ethical thinking must be systematically eroded into accept few (or ideally no) specific underlying fixed truths. The masses must be lulled into political submission by expediency while having their emotional needs met by unifying and satisfying spectacles. Pairing religious deception with political power will produce zealous followers. Believers need to be attuned to the way deception is fed through both channels as the end approaches. Regardless of your political persuasion, is it not now painfully obvious that:

• We can be persuaded that a nation has harmful weaponry by intelligence reports that may or may not be accurate. In response, we can be persuaded to bankrupt our coffers and borrow extraordinary amounts of money to fight a war that is costly in both human and fiscal terms.

• We can be led into battle by pundits that assure us there is no other alternative – and we will follow. Our most reliable people can be carted out on TV and change the policy and personality of the nation. It is not hard to imagine.

Don’t miss my point. This isn’t a commentary about mistakes in our recent national past – because I don’t claim to KNOW what the right thing to do is – and I am a community leader. I don’t know the facts well enough to judge – that is my honest admission. The point is that we can be moved extremely quickly to get behind an idea based on political punditry. I believe if you look clearly at our current day, you will see that we are in a world that is utterly prepared for the unfolding of the end time. Add to that the fact that our national religious life has become a soup of contradictions that seem hard to grasp just a generation ago – and the pot is on the stove set for boil.

Key Principle: The stage seems very well set for the last hours to come quickly – but that isn’t a BAD THING. It is a challenge to the believer of today to work with the sound of a ticking watch in the background. Time is running out and we must pay attention.

Believers are being convinced, more and more, that the literal view of the end is not real. The deception has already eroded our resistance to changes that will bring it all about – even within the community of believers. God’s Word told us it would happen… and those who study it should see its work clearly. Let’s take a look.

When we open this passage, we step into a story already in progress. In our last time together we introduced two essential prophetic texts that appeared to be like small streams coming together, growing into a larger river – one from Daniel 11 and another from Revelation 12. The confluence of events mentioned show both Heaven and earth, as the world barrels toward its end. I want to tell the story of these events, but will tell them in a past tense – as completed – to insert us in the story in proper sequence…

First, the great dragon, Satan, was bested in Heaven and was tossed to the earth (Revelation 12:7-9). His long droning against the people of God was halted, and his access key to Heaven’s corridors was revoked – showing him that his time to deceive and destroy was coming to a close. In human terms, his appearance was seen by his startling empowering of a new political force – a rising star from among men that captivated the world with his political abilities. This new hero quickly pulled such powers to himself as to become a despot (Daniel 11:36). He reversed the direction of his fathers in terms of their historic gods of worship and even boldly magnified himself with a brazenness that was unusual – even for a politician.

Next, that newly empowered ruler offered bold peace initiatives, all the while stockpiling weaponry – buying and trading power and positions as a child would trade baseball cards on a sand lot (Daniel 11:39-40). Once again on earth, a rising confederation of earth’s powers formed an axis of evil that was a mere mask for the demonic underworld’s blood lust. The new leader’s egregious behaviors took him into the heart of the Near East and into Israel – with every action he exalted himself.

From Heaven, it appeared as though God stood back and allowed His estranged bride to be led to the slaughter, but purposed to step in at intervals to keep the dragon from crushing her. Great struggles were eased by only small releases from Heaven. Satan was doing what he does best… He was called a murderer by Jesus, a destroyer by the Apostle John, and blinder by the Apostle Paul. He is the crouching lion according to the Apostle Peter. He appears as light –  Paul told the Corinthians, but is actually the “Lord of the Flies” from the mouth of the Savior. His work was nearing its end – and the Word revealed that he knew it (Revelation 12:12). God made a promise. He told His people that His enemy would face defeat with powerful words like God will soon CRUSH him under your feet (Romans 16:20) – and the time of that delay in fulfillment was waning.

As Heaven was relieved at the loss of the adversary’s voice, they looked on with horror at the impact of the enemy’s thrashing of earth. The great enemy turned his attention first to crush Israel – the estranged wife of the Father in Heaven – but the Creator created a way of escape at each point of destruction. The enemy poured out a river on the dry land to sweep the woman away (Revelation 12:15) but God summoned the land to open and swallow the water. Even the long fallen world responded to its Creator when he summoned action. Frustrated, the great enemy contented himself with destroying earth’s other believers – not a part of the people of Israel around the earth.

We open Revelation 13 with the dragon thrashing against the earth’s followers of their Creator. It is a simple two part story – He has an earthly political structure (13:1-10), and drew in a religious structure as his spokesman as well (13:11-18). Both of these are wrapped in political theater of spectacle – something that will soothe the emotions of those who pass through the events:

The Political Leadership of the Tribulation (Revelation 13:1-10)

Revelation 13:1 seems to suggest that the dragon used a political system that was made of ten nations and ten leaders – seven of which had some elevated status over the others.

• This confederation of rulers was obviously pagan in orientation – a fellowship of fists raised against the power and plan of God in every way. The dragon came from the abyss, and slid his powers into that pagan system like a hand in a puppet. Look at the description:

Revelation 13:1 And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns were ten diadems, and on his heads were blasphemous names.

• The confederation of nations appeared as ONE BEAST – there was a unity to these nations (Revelation 13:2a).

Revelation 13:2a “And the beast which I saw was…”

• The confederation of nations was swift in moving people (a leopard) but its footprint in the lives of people was profound (a bear) and its ability to back up its judgments with fierce authority was unprecedented – all because of the empowering by Satan – the adversary of God.

Revelation 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and his feet were like those of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority.

By now, you may be asking yourself an incredibly logical question… How could this guy get so powerful so quickly? How could someone rise from obscurity to become such a political force… can something like this really happen in the day of modern media? Keep looking at the description. Something FANTASTIC and beyond explanation unfolds that makes him a “household wonder”!

• The RULER of this new confederation of nations was apparently mortally wounded  and then “miraculously” raised up. I do not wish to challenge the enemy above my place, but I simply must offer this observation: I respectfully submit that the plagiarized spectacle of a resurrection was the best the enemy could come up with after more than two thousand years of planning! Further reading will indicate that the ANTICHRIST was the very one wounded, and that it came as the wound of a sword – perhaps in battle (Revelation 13:14).

Revelation 13:3 I saw one of his heads as if it had been slain, and his fatal wound was healed. And the whole earth was amazed and followed after the beast; 4 they worshiped the dragon because he gave his authority to the beast; and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

Before you read this as HOCUS POCUS in a bizarre way, think of it this way: What if this rising star came from a medical background? What if he had unlocked something in the human genome in a lab that had never been seen before? What if his company controlled the proprietary information that could stop a plague, heal a world wide pandemic, or heal resuscitate a popular leader? What if he controlled both the release of a pandemic and the cure? Can you hear the end of verse 4, as people quietly said in Washington, Brussels, Beijing and Tokyo: “Who is like the beast, and who is able to wage war with him?”

Take it another way. What if this ruler was cornered and his power was absolutely destroyed. What if the wound was political – and he was utterly disgraced in some way? What if he “came back from the dead” politically to be uncontested and stronger than ever? Wouldn’t this evoke the same awe?

The rest of verses five through ten offer an over-arching retrospective on the leader’s rise and the creation of the confederation:

• The leader was boisterous, arrogant and blasphemous – because he had appeared to overcome “death”: Revelation 13:5 There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies…

• The system developed quickly around the time the church was removed from the scene as a resistance point, and the first half of the Tribulation was characterized by the rising power and confederation agreements: Revelation 13:5b “…and authority to act for forty-two months was given to him.

• The ruler and his confederation were anti-God, and openly hostile to those who sought God – no matter what corner of the earth they were from. People seemed willing to submit to worship and veneration of the new power – except for the few that were reached with the Gospel and had God’s Word to guide them: Revelation 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven. 7 It was also given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. 8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain.

You cannot escape the religious overtone to the words of the political machine we have been reading about. It may come because of a great military victory (some scholars believe the defeat of Near Eastern opponents from the north of Israel described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 may be the catalyst). It may come from a simple propaganda machine backed up by the spectacular resuscitation of the fallen leader. One thing is certain, the other passages that refer to this “man of sin” and his system confirm over and over again that he speaks POMPOUS WORDS (Daniel 7:8) and that he uses them in a RELIGIOUS TONE (2 Thess. 2:4).

Were the people of God forgotten? No, not at all. They were first introduced to God in Messiah through the protected witnesses of Revelation 7 and they had His Word to explain His temporary inaction for their defense. They trusted Him to come through in the way He said He would. He said:  Revelation 13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear. 10 If anyone is destined for captivity, to captivity he goes; if anyone kills with the sword, with the sword he must be killed. Here is the perseverance and the faith of the saints.

Herein is the real cruelty of those who would teach the Bible’s prophecy is not to be understood literally. If the story is metaphoric, what comfort can come from its pages in the midst of the trouble. It is no mystery that those who take the Bible literally see a future for the Jewish people. It is also no mystery that most of the Jewish believers today take the Bible’s promises literally. In the midst of the Tribulation – it is the one hope believers will have – that God will do EXACTLY what He said He would do! Consider this:

• When God promised a Messiah to be a man, born of a woman – He delivered literally.
• When God promised Messiah would be born of a Jewess in Bethlehem of Judea – He delivered literally.
• When God said that Messiah would come 173,880 days after the command to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 BCE (Daniel 9:26ff) – He delivered literally.
• When God said that Messiah would be “cut off” and then the city of Jerusalem would fall – He delivered literally.
• When God said that Messiah would suffer as a servant of His people and be nailed to a tree – God delivered literally.

What justifies in our minds making an allegory out of God’s re-gathering of Israel, His restoration and total salvation so completely described by Paul in Romans 11 as a FUTURE EVENT to the church age? The church that turns the future prophetic teaching into uncertainty flies in the face of the past and its literal fulfillment.

The Religious Leadership of the Tribulation (Revelation 13:11-18)

The dragon pulled in a second ally in the Tribulation – in addition to political partners. There is no zealot like a religious convert – and the dragon is good at religion building. He has worked at the craft since the Fall in the Garden.

This second beast is LIKE THE FIRST (as indicated by the use of allos as “another” of the same kind). She is empowered by the enemy, and she lives to make a mockery of the MARRIAGE of both the Father to Israel and the Son to His Church. She is a HARLOT (Revelation 17) and satisfies man’s need for relationship outside the God given boundaries of intimacy with HIM. Look at her description:

• The religious character, cloak and symbolism is undeniable – it is pictured as a sacrificial lamb. I suspect the picture shows the public persona to be peace-loving and gentle – while the reality is the very opposite: Revelation 13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.

• His operation is within the confines of the power of the political beast, causing honor and veneration to fall upon the political leadership. Revelation 13:12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.

• His religious work is found in the performing of signs like that of Elijah – the control of lightning. With each passing year I marvel at how the church is setting up a generation of “sign crazed” people – who think you can tell what is right by what is popular and what appears powerful: Revelation 13:13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men. 14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.

• His work included the propaganda machine that gave BREATH to the message of the beast. Could this be a media giant? Revelation 13:15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

• His work also includes BRANDING and positioning of the BRAND. This could be a citizen identification mark that allows people to operate within the financial system – that wouldn’t even be hard to imagine. The mark itself identifies one as BELONGING TO THE SYSTEM, just as the witnesses of Revelation 7 were sealed on their forehead or the believers of Revelation 14 have their Heavenly Father’s name on their heads. The great counterfeiter of the ages duplicates the identity mark to THE MAN who rules. People will take a side – belonging to HIM or following at great peril to themselves, the real King of the ages. Revelation 13:16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, 17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

Pairing religious deception with political power will produce zealous followers. Believers need to be attuned to the way deception is fed through both channels as the end approaches. As an American, we see a change going on in front of our eyes, and it is much deeper than a simple political one… it is aimed at people of faith from all corners of our own government:

• When in February of 2009 – the US government officially announced plans to revoke “conscience protection” for health workers who refused to participate in medical activities that go against their beliefs, (fully implemented later in the plan in February 2011) – and some Christians wondered aloud if this was directed at them – because of their open opposition to abortion.

• Two months later, others were concerned to learn that the US administration officials in would only allow the President to speak at Georgetown University, if the monogram symbolizing Jesus’ name covered during his speech. When Christians cried out about historic foundations, “Reactionary!” cried the press about the Christians.

• In April of 2010, the US Pentagon dis invited Rev. Franklin Graham from their National Day of Prayer event because of complaints from those who saw his overt evangelism as “offensive”.

• Last year, the US government eliminated federal grants to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops for their extensive programs that aid victims of human trafficking because the Catholic Church is anti-abortion, according to the Washington Post.

• Later, in one month, the Air Force Academy both rescinded support for Operation Christmas Child, that sends holiday gifts to impoverished children across the world, because the program is run by a Christian charity, and paid $80,000 to add a Stonehenge-like worship center for pagans, druids, witches and Wicca. (source: David Barton and Wallbuilders).

This slide began long before the current administration, but I think we can make the case that many who are running our country are coming out of the closet and believe that Jesus and His church are no longer a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps they are right in the political realm – but they are DEAD WRONG in the spiritual realm. The clouds may be coming… but we aren’t DONE YET.

• Today, I have the freedom to talk to my next door neighbor about how much Jesus loves them, and why He died for them – and today I won’t go to jail… but will I do it or hope some else takes the call more seriously?

• Today, I have the right to open, study and learn God’s Word without any fear of retaliation from the authorities – but will I avail myself of the opportunity or find more pressing personal issues to attend to?

• Today, I have the privilege of praying for those who are in authority over me without the fear of Daniel’s lion’s den – but will I bow my knees or hope that someone else will bring them before the Lord?

• Today, I can engage my public officials, and question policies that appear to shift away from America’s historic foundations of faith – but will I engage them or hope that some organization will do it for me?

• Today, I can teach a child about the faithfulness of the Lord, and tell them what He can do in and through them if they will live for Him – but will I work at it or will I hope that they get that from a Sunday school teacher or friend?

• Today, I can show my community how a godly man or woman should respond when their values and their Savior are attacked – but will I offer any positive response, or just quietly hope it goes away.

Believers need to be attuned to the way deception is fed through both channels as the end approaches. The stage seems very well set for the last hours to come quickly – but that isn’t a BAD THING. It is a challenge to the believer of today to work with the sound of a ticking watch in the background. Time is running out and we must pay attention!

She was alone and she knew it. The sound of a man stepping on a small piece of glass in the dark parking garage caught her attention. Fear shot through her… The kind of quick stinging fear that feels like bumping a nerve. Just knowing someone else was in that place pushed her mind down a slope and panic set in. “Where is my car? Where are my keys?” She thumbed through her purse nervously. Just as she lay her hands on the keys, another startling sound erupted… The window on her car went down! Through the space of the window in complete darkness, she saw her smiling husband. A tear welled up in her eye, because she knew she was safe. He came to surprise her, but she knew the truth… He was her rescuing angel.

Key Principle: The enemy KEEPS aiming his sights on God estranged bride, but God won’t let her slip away into his hand. Attacks are NOT a surprise to the Creator. God knows how to protect His people – and He never neglects His duty!

Last time we looked into Revelation 12, we saw that a series of signs were flashed across Heaven to inform John of Satan’s war with God. We noted that these signs were actually a CAST OF CHARACTERS THAT WERE RECORDED to tell us of what is ahead. Though not a pretty picture for many, understanding the vision will help us navigate in the present, and have real implications for what we do in modern life. We saw that the signs tell the story – but we have to learn to look at them and understand both the blessing of their warning and the truth of their message!

The first part of the passage is about the CAST – Three Persons that form the story (Revelation 12:1-6)

Remember, the first part of the passage told us about three people, and how they showed the story of God and His great enemy. The three persons were:

1: There is a Woman at the center of the story.

Revelation 12:1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars…5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations ….6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

She was formed in Heaven, and not the creation of some political movement in the past of the present. She was neither a contrived ancient robber nation that disposed the Canaanites of old, nor some modern Zionist plot to dispossess modern Arabs of their land.

She was a woman beloved and wedded by God as Hosea 2:16 and Isaiah 54:5 call Israel. She had the description that aligned her with the nation and its people, that had become hostile to her former husband – the Living One of Heaven. God wrote Israel a certificate of divorce. As evidence to her continual hostility to her former husband, God wrote in Romans 11:28 and her enmity at the time before her eventual restoration: Romans 11:28 “From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” Israel was depicted in the Epistles of the Christian Scriptures as the divorced wife of God that is awaiting her restoration to Him in a future time that will come about because of a terrible Tribulation. The fact is that she was put away only after they had a son together – and He constitutes the second sign.

2: The Child of the woman is set for great things.

Revelation 12:2 “and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth… 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

First, He was ruler appointed by God. (As God specific promises to David through Nathan the prophet in 2 Samuel 7). Second, He would come FROM Israel, but RULE ALL THE NATIONS one day. This seems in keeping with what we saw in Revelation 11:15 … “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” The rod of iron with which He would rule is identical in wording to Revelation 19:15 …and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and …on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” Third, He would be caught up to God’s throne room. Did not the book begin with a vision of the Risen Christ in the throne room of God in chapter 1? Did not Acts 1 show Jesus being “taken up to Heaven”?

3: The dragon wants to kill both the woman and the Son.

12:3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. 4 And his tail swept away a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

A third person comes into view. He is the great red dragon. Ha-satan occurs 13 times in the Masoretic Text, in two books of the Hebrew Bible, including Job 1–2 (10x) and in Zechariah 3:1–2 (3x). Biblically, he was behind the attempts at Israel’s destruction in Haman’s plot, and his fingerprints were on Herod’s killing spree of the babies of Bethlehem.

He took a third of the stars and threw them to the earth. When Satan rebelled, something changed about his characteristic lodging in heaven, because we read: “How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!” (Isaiah 14:12). Jesus made a glancing reference to it when He said: “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” (Luke 10:18). It could even be that the STAR that fell to earth in Revelation 9:1 was that of Satan himself – though that is not certain. We are told that an “innumerable company of angels” was created by God (Hebrews 12:22), and here one third of them chose to rebel with him.

The dragon was not only spiritual, but seen in the political realm – one with seven heads and ten horns. If you follow the pattern of Daniel’s visions, like that of Daniel 7, a head was a national kingdom, and a horn was a ruler of that kingdom. Satan built a national coalition through human surrogates – but it is nevertheless HIM behind it all! Satan stood before the woman to devour the child. A good reference point could be simply Matthew 2:13, where God thwarted the attempt of Herod to kill the baby Jesus.

God has an ultimate plan for both the believers of the church age and the people of Israel. God’s future for Israel does not guarantee that all they do in their current unregenerate state is acceptable behavior, but we must wise up to the rise of an increasing wave of ANTI ISRAEL thinking that is putting even churches in opposition to any future for that people. Replacement theology – that the church is the new Israel – is reaching into churches and denominations and moving them to enmity with Israel and any future plan of God specifically for them.

Before I read another verse, let me be as clear as I am able to be in words:

• The future of Israel is not in the hands of the Netanyahu government – for though they have elected him their Prime Minister – he cannot protect her from an attack that has been perpetrated upon her with Satan’s backing.

• The future of Israel is not dependent upon her by the so-called “Quartet” government peace initiatives. Each of these governments has their own interests and agenda – and they cannot guarantee Israel’s safety.

• The future of Israel is not in the hands of President Obama or our Congress. They can pledge to stand at her back, but we are borrowing just to stay afloat in our own economy, and with a rising number of American Muslims in our national scene – that dependable source of friendship has deep limitations.

• The future of Israel is not in the hands of the UN. If one is to look past the veneer of the surface you will discover a deep and abiding disrespect (read: hatred) of Israel by many nations that have little to do with the Arab cause or any direct insult that Israel may have made to them.

The future of Israel is UP TO GOD. Let me show you by looking at the balance of Revelation 12, with what Paul Harvey would say is … the rest of the story.

The second part of the chapter is about the CLASH – Six Events that unfold between Satan and the Woman and Child (Revelation 12:7-9)

Event One: Satan is tossed from Heaven

Revelation 12:7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Long before this passage was written, Daniel prophesied the day was coming for the Heavenly wrestling match that would end in Satan’s tossing from Heaven.

Daniel 11 offers the description of some earthly events. A ruler will arise, according to 11:36, and he will be a despot. He will do whatever he pleases, even magnifying himself to be like a god in the eyes of other men. Daniel 11:37 says he won’t have regard for the god of his own father, but will be a stockpiler of weapons and will create a federation of states by buying off powerful people. Daniel 11:40 argues that some will be unhappy and attack him, finally coming into Israel and even gaining control of many Near Eastern countries. He will establish himself in Israel, but will eventually himself be taken out of power, with no friends to help him remain. At that time, Daniel 12:1 says: “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.”

Remember that the Tribulation on earth is about the Jewish people, for the Jewish people. It is to get the estranged wife of the Father to see the truth about the world and its empty gods and worthless promises. Satan’s arrival after the war in Heaven steps up an already virulent hatred against the Jewish people world wide.

The dragon is clearly called Satan in 12:9. In other places in Scripture he is called “The murderer from the beginning” by Jesus. He is called a “destroyer” in Revelation 9:11, and shown to have a deep connection to ruling people and blinding them to truth in this age in 2 Cor. 4:3-4:

2 Cor. 4:3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

At the same time, the battle between Michael and Satan is not new. Jude 1:9 showed this battle went on in the past:

Jude 1:9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you!”

For a time, God allowed the enemy to keep up his attack and accusation against the brethren day and night. Heaven had to be tired of Satan’s constant harassing voice of the deciever. Now might be a good time to recall that SATAN IS A DEFEATED ENEMY!

Paul ended the treatise to the Romans with these encouraging words: Romans 16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

John knew it would happen as well: 1 John 4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

The whole defeat was a DONE DEAL when Jesus died on the Cross at Calvary: John 12:31 “Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

Don’t go on… stop! Look at what we have just read! Jesus said that HIS DEATH would defeat the enemy. He said that what was given to us as His followers was stronger than what the enemy has to hold us back. He said He will soon CRUSH the enemy. The heel bruiser is about to get stomped on! What an exciting promise.

The great thief of the heavens is about to get jailed. The great murderer of thousands is about to get the electric chair. The rapist, the vile abuser, the kidnapper – he is about to be cut off from ever harming or maming again. His work – the destruction of men and women, the slow and painfulkilling of cells and planets is about to be reversed – and Jesus will bring it all about. We will not mourn his passing – for the Creator of all will crush him once and for all.

Event Two: Striking up Heaven’s Band

12:10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night.

The other night I sat in a Jerusalem restaurant with the fire alarm going off the whole time. It was a high pitched squeal, and it was clearly out of order. The whole meal was Aaron and I having a conversation with a screeching behind us…..I about went nuts.

I cannot help but think that some of the rejoicing in Heaven is nothing more than Heaven throwing a party over the fact that the slithering, whining, irksome voice of the enemy has been silenced. Like the voice of a foul mouth co-worker that just grinds on you – he is finally barred from the office – and Heaven breaks into praise. The screeching of the baby has ended. The screaming voice of the emo band has gone silent – suddenly a sign comes up from the choir of the Heavenly host!

NOW we are finally going to see an end to this harassing of Heaven. Now we are rescued from his mouth. Now the kingdom is set to move ahead. Now the authority of the Savior is becoming seen in all Heaven and earth. The problem is that what is good for HEAVEN is bad for EARTH….

Event Three: Earth Warriors Helps Heaven’s Angels

Heaven quieted down, but earth got that much more perilous. Satan’s entry permit to Heaven was cancelled. Heaven prevailed. The shocking part is that EARTH appeared to play a role in the victory. Look at the verses:

Revelaiton 12:11 “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death. 12 “For this reason, rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them. Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only a short time.”

We are so accustomed to the pagan notion that earth is subject to Heaven, that we forget that this is not the Bible’s position. Heaven is affected by earth as well. In 1 Corinthians, Paul argued that rebellion among women was a danger to the angels in Heaven.

1 Cor. 11:8 For man does not originate from woman, but woman from man; 9 for indeed man was not created for the woman’s sake, but woman for the man’s sake. 10 Therefore the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

Here in Revelation, the work of the witness of the believers who had lives on earth that were able to be lost because of their testimony aided Heaven’s victory. The stone of Messiah crushed the work of the enemy as Daniel 2:44-45 showed in the vision. His reign is established in the hearts of believers on the way to being established in all the earth! The martyrs and witnesses helped overthrow the wicked one’s case from Heaven’s court when they finished the job the JOB began at the time of the Patriarchs long ago!

Look at the power a believer surrendered has to affect Heavenly things! They overcame the enemy by speaking the truth and living the truth. They gave the enemy a punishing blow when  they lived in integrity. They shamed him when there was no hidden areas in their lives he could use against them… they – and we – can defeat the devil because he doesn’t have anything to accuse us with. If all he can do is make things up – his power diminishes over us!

Recently I heard Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, “wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble.” Then he asked them to use single words to describe Christians, they said, “critical, exclusive, self righteous, narrow and repressive.””There is a difference between knowing the good news and being the good news, Zander said. “We are the evidence! How we live our lives are the evidence. Everything counts–all the time.” “With previous generations, a strong preacher could give a good message, even if the church was hypocritical and critical and people would still get saved,” Zander continued, “but not any more. I’m seeing a change in what seekers are looking for. Not something they can relate to. They are looking for a transcendent God. They don’t want to be entertained they want to be transformed.” (sermon central).

We have an enemy that is facing defeat, a Savior that has been proclaimed victor, and Spirit that empowers us and provides a way of escape. Why not start living like we actually ARE on victory’s side?

Event Four: Tribulation Persecutions Against Israel

Now on earth and seeing the end in sight, the enemy has but one ploy up his sleeve. He did not stop the King by death – for the King rose again. He did not corrupt the world by impregnanting the women (Genesis 5). What was left?

Revelation 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. 14 But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.

Satan put a full court press into the persecution of Israel. What else was there? If you cannot kill the King, try to nuke the Kingdom. It would stop the future plan – and that is his end game. It has always been his end game… try to show he can defeat the Creator. Just as he tried, God provided a special and unpredicted wing of escape for the Jewish people.

Event Five: God’s Blockers Come Through

One need only be in the desert during a delue to know how dangerous water can be to a desert landscape. Satan poured our a river:

Revelation 12:15 And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

It seems that God has more answers than Satan has questions. A problem seems to arise, and one of God’s many tools, seldom used in the past, is employed to aid His people. Not since the swalowing of men in the Genesis account was such a method used by God’s hand and recorded in Scripture.

When I was young, I recall reading about how Heaven helped the earth’s missionaries: I read of a Norwegian missionary, Marie Monsen, who served in China in the 1950s. She testified to the intervention of angels when Christians were in great danger. They had taken refuge in the mission compound only to be surrounded by looting soldiers and they were astonished to find that they were left in peace. A few days later the hostile men explained that they were ready to break down the flimsy wall when they noticed tall soldiers with shining faces on a high roof in the compound. Marie Monsen wrote, “The heathen saw them, it was a testimony to them, but they were invisible to us. (sermong central illustrations).

God isn’t limited to the size of the team we can see. His heavens will respond to His command. His earth will eat up the flood waters. He is able to wipe the place clean – but has decided to be patient with men.

Event Six: International Believers Get Pressed

Unsuccessful at annihilating Israel, the enemy moves to other believers around the world, to martyr them and torment them:

Revelation 12:17 So the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.

His rage is placed against them. The “offspring of Israel by faith” as Paul called the believers among the Gebtiles in Galatians 3:6-9, share the wrath of the enemy once reserved for the Jewish people. When the enemy can’t get what he wants, he goes after someone he doesn’t – just to wound, mame, destroy… it is his way.

The enemy KEEPS aiming his sights on God estranged bride, but God won’t let her slip away into his hand. Attacks are NOT a surprise to the Creator. God knows how to protect His people – and He never neglects His duty!

Oh, dear ones… we should see the day approaching. The clouds are gathering. It is not Iran we should fear. It is not an election that should raise our hackles. It is not the plethora of causes that should make us feel as though we are drowning… it is simply this.

We serve a risen Savior that desires us to lift high His holy name. We serve a Savior that longs for His own people to believe in His ability to conquer temptation, His power to completely clean the inner prison of self guilt, to conquer death’s sting and provide peace, power and purpose. We can follow Him, and the enemy’s ability to wound us firther will be blocked by His good hand. Can we not learn to trust Him?