Revelation 12
The Woman and the Dragon
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; 2
and she was with child; and she
*cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.
The
Red Dragon, Satan
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.
The
Male Child, Christ
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.
(JAS Comments – Start)
VERSE 01 - 02
Is the woman the Church of God? “….clothed with the Sun” could that indicate
Christ? The Church of God put on Christ, has their being in Christ, and appears
like Christ. “…crown of twelve stars on her head.” Could
this be the 12 leaders of the tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles. The
revelation of God’s Word, Christ, comes through these men thus the crown on the
head, the place where knowledge is stored.
VERSE 03
The dragon is
Satan. See verse 8 Could the seven heads and seven crowns indicate
false knowledge and a counterfeit of the seven spirits of God? We
can go to the previous comments re. Seraphim to understand the “dragon” in this
passage. Satan was a
Seraphim. In this case Satan (the dragon) looked like the real thing, seduced
and deluded one-third of the angels.
VERSE 04
Satan led a
third of the angels astray to rebel against God. The angels lost their place in
Heaven and were cast out with Satan (Luke 10:18).
VERSE 05
Jesus the Christ. Satan was waiting to kill
Jesus when He was born but did not succeed. God hid Jesus in Egypt. When Satan finally managed to kill Jesus (or so
he thought) Jesus was taken back to the throne of God after His
resurrection. (JAS Comments - End)
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.
VERSE 06
Again 3.5 years Not the woman (church) fled where God told
her to go, into the
wilderness, a place people do not usually go.
After His baptism Christ was led into the
wilderness where He fought, resisted and totally defeated Satan. As a side note it is interesting God had
Jesus hidden in Egypt, a place we would not expect since Egypt was an enemy of
Israel. I wonder what that says about our hiding place. In this case the woman (church?) fled into the
wilderness where God had prepared a place for her to be safe. This is a place God had prepared for her,
much like His telling Joseph to flee to Egypt to hide and protect Jesus. She was nourished here. I believe her
nourishment is both physical and spiritual. The woman was not in the wilderness
to fight Satan, Christ had already done that, but was kept safe from Satan. Finally, the woman was kept safe in the
wilderness for 1,260 days, again 3.5 years. I wonder how this 3.5 years work with the 3.5
years of the 2 witnesses. Could they be concurrent?
The
Angel, Michael
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. 10
Then I heard a
loud voice in heaven, saying,
(JAS Comments – Start)
VERSE 07 – 08
Satan
evidently thought he could fight against God and win. He was wrong. God’s
angels fought against Satan and won. Satan could not defeat God’s heavenly
creation nor, because of Christ, can Satan defeat God’s earthly creation. Once
again, we can go to the previous comments, re. Seraphim, to understand the
“dragon” in this passage. The dragon refers to Satan who was a Seraphim before
his fall. See
Luke 10:18 As
Satan was defeated in heaven so he shall be defeated on Earth.
VERSE 09
See Luke 10:18 (JAS Comments - End)
“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. 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.”
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.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. (Rev.
17:15 jas) 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. 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.
(JAS
Comments – Start)
VERSE 10 - 11
The time for
the authority of the Messiah and the power and kingdom of God to happen. Satan loses
his privilege of accusing believers before God for their shortcomings. It is important to note that the human
believers triumphed over Satan, but only by the blood of Christ. In verse 8 above Satan was defeated by the
angels. Here Satan is defeated again by the believers in Christ through the
blood of Christ. It is also very important to note they
triumphed over Satan ONLY through the blood of Christ, not through their own
efforts.
VERSE 12
The rejoicing
is twofold. Salvation and
God’s power and kingdom have come. Satan is
hurled to the Earth and is out of Heaven.
VERSE 13
The woman is
the Church of God, the Bride of Christ? After the
resurrection of Christ, the Church of God became the Bride of Christ His
beloved (see Song of Solomon).
VERSE14
We are not
told how the Church of God will be taken to the hiding place. In Exodus 19:4
God says He brought Israel out of Egypt on the wings of an eagle. They walked
behind Moses for forty years. Because of this and other verses I am very
reluctant to say how God will bring His people to the hiding place. Here we are
told the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle and escaped the beast
(Satan). We are not given details and any addition I would make would just be
conjecture d not scriptural. 3.5 years
VERSE 16 - 17
Quite often
waters denote peoples. This seems to indicate Satan will use the many, many
unbelievers to destroy the church. There seems to be three groups here. One group
is the people following Satan who try to destroy the woman (church), the woman,
the last is the rest of her offspring. Who are the rest of her offspring? There
is a mystery here.
Revelation 13
The Beast out of the Sea
And
the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.
The
dragon, Satan, was not the beast but the beast serves Satan. The ten horns
could be a counterfeit of the five gifts of ministry for the two nations,
Israel and Gentile. The seven heads could be a visual counterfeit of the Seven
Spirits of God. The ten crowns could be both a counterfeit sign of kingship and
a counterfeit sign of knowledge and wisdom. The beast
is a person.
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. 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. 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?” 5
There was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant
words and blasphemies, and authority to act for forty-two
months was given to him.6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemies
against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that
is, those who dwell in heaven.
VERSE 02-03
The power, position and authority of the beast
comes directly from Satan.
VERSE 04
People worship Satan and his representative.
People may not think they are worshipping Satan but worshipping the things of
Satan they are worshipping Satan. In this case there seems to be a specific
representative of Satan. A representative Satan put in place and the people
worshipped both Satan and Satan’s representative. People looked at appearances and Satan and
the beast appear to be all powerful. They are not.
VERSE 05-06
3.5 years the
beast boasted of itself and blasphemed God and slandered His name. This is not
a hidden blaspheme and slander. This is in the open and much of the world will
not resist. They also slandered God’s dwelling place, Israel and Jerusalem, and
God’s angels and the believers who are in Heaven. The time of the beast’s
ability to do this was limited.
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. 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.
VERSE 07
The beast was
given power over the entire earth and to wage war on God’s people and to
conquer God’s people for a time. This is confusing. Why would the beast be
allowed to conquer God’s people? Could it be to separate the true from the
false believers?
VERSE 08
Implies there
are those present who will have their names in the Book of Life. This is
important! There is a doctrine that all Christians will be whisked away and
only non-Christians will be left to go through this time. This verse disagrees
with the idea that there will be no Christians who are not taken away. There is
always the possibility that these Christians accepted Christ after the others
were already taken away.
VERSE 9-10
God’s people may not understand all that is
happening but must continue to have faith and persevere. God’s people are to persevere to the end.
Appearances must not keep the believer from believing. Jeremiah 15:2
The Beast out of the Earth
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.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. 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. 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. 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
VERSE 11
Looks like the
Lamb [Christ] but is not. The beast’s words give it away. They are not in
accordance with the Word of God. Again, a person.
VERSE 12-13
Here is a mystery. This person is able to make
(notice the word “make” in the original Greek is “causes”) the earth and its
inhabitants worship the beast. There is
a big difference between the words ‘make” and “cause”. To make someone do a
thing is to use coercion of some kind. To cause someone to do a thing does not
necessarily imply the use of coercion. It could be a reward, potential for
problems, or other means. The person who is caused to do something has a
choice, they weighed their options and decided to do what, in this case, the
second beast tells them to do. It is a choice. In verse 13 we see the beast is able to do what
appear to be wondrous signs. This includes fire coming down from heaven (the
sky) in the presence of men. Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22 and John 4:48 all
document Jesus telling people to beware of signs, Satan will use them to
deceive people who put their faith in signs and wonders and not in Christ.
VERSE 14-15
The second
beast deceived the people by the apparent miracles it performed. This goes back
to Matthew 12:38-42 and Mark 8:11-12. In these cases (and many others) people
kept looking for a sign and Jesus kept pointing them to the prophets and the
Word of God. By emphasizing
signs instead of the Word of God the people were setting themselves up to be
deceived.
VERSE 16-18
The beast coerced
everyone to receive a mark showing they belonged to the beast,
Social position, connections, insolvency, hardship, etc. religious conviction
mean nothing. If no mark then no food, shelter, clothes, job, etc. There have
been many ideas put forth concerning the number 666 and what it means but no
one knows for certain. Perhaps (and
only perhaps) it is once again showing the antichrist as a counterfeit. Seven
is the number of perfection and 6 is the closest integer to 7 without being 7.
There are 3 sixes, Perhaps an unholy trinity, once again Satan trying to make
himself look like God to those who are not saved by the blood of Christ and do
not have the Holy Spirit in their lives.
This is only a personal conjecture and must
not been seen as doctrine from the Bible.
Revelation 14
The Lamb and the 144,000
Then I looked, and behold, the
Lamb was standing
on Mount
Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His
name and the name of His Father written on
their foreheads. 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 * 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 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.
(JAS
Comments – Start)
VERSE 01
Christ is on Mount Zion, the Holy Mountain of
God. With Christ were 144,000 with both the name of Christ
and the name of God written on their foreheads. The name written on their foreheads indicates
they clearly followed and belonged to God. They did not hide the fact they were
totally God’s but wore God’s name where EVERYONE could see them and their actions
and know they were God’s. It also indicates their thinking, philosophy,
paradigms and complete being/actions were God-led and belong to God. Based on description this 144,000 appears to be
a group separate from the other 144,000 mentioned.
VERSE 02-03
In verses 02
and 03 John expands on verse 01. John says he
hears a voice that sounds like many waters. Waters in the Bible often denotes
people. Hear John seems the be hearing the voice of many people, all saying or
singing the same thing. They are in perfect unison, so they sound as one voice. Once again,
the voice is likened to loud thunder. We see the same thing in John 12:29 when
Jesus was on the cross. 28Father,
glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both
glorified it, and will glorify it again.” 29So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it
were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to
Him.” God’s voice is
like thunder and those who have ears to hear, hear God’s voice, those who do
not have ears to hear think it is only thunder. Isaiah 42:10-12 The new song was sung before the throne, the
four living creatures and the 24 elders. This and the fact only the 144,000 could learn
the song indicates something special about the group.
VERSE 04 - 05
The question
here is: What is meant by the term “…who did not defile themselves with
women.”? Is this speaking about physical or spiritual defilement? Is God
talking about not having sex with any woman, a woman other than a man’s wife,
or is it spiritual. That is, having relations with churches other than the
Church of God, the Bride of Christ. Since no indication of gender is provided,
I tend to think it is spiritual defilement. These were true to God and do not
run after false beliefs. They do not lie, they do not claim one thing and do
another. Their words were true and without dissimilation. They always stand for
and with Christ. They are blameless in the sight of God.
VERSE 06-07
·
Here we have another mystery, what does “I saw another
angel flying in mid heaven” mean. Angels are messengers so this does not
necessarily mean a heavenly angel, it can be any messenger of God.
The Three Angels
6
And I saw another angel flying in mid
heaven, 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.”
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.”
VERSE 06-07
Here we have another mystery, what does “I saw
another angel flying in mid heaven” mean. Angels are messengers so this does
not necessarily mean a heavenly angel, it can be any messenger of God. The word for mid heaven is μεσουράνημα, the sun is said μεσουράνειν to be in
mid-heaven, when it has reached the meridian), mid-heaven, the highest point in the heavens, which
the sun occupies at noon. where what is done can be seen and heard by all.
(Emphasis JAS) (STRONGS NT 3321) The message is one everyone can hear and is a
call to glorify God. It is important to note that the message is the eternal
gospel, that is, has always been, will always be and never changes.
Verse 08
The message of the second angel is that
Babylon is fallen. That is, the seat of confusion and ungodliness is fallen, destroyed. Babylon is where the Jews were taken in
exile. This message tells us that no longer will
the world be confused by the godless nor will God’s people be in exile from
what God promised. Babylon, Satan, sin will no longer rule the world.
Doom
for Worshipers of the Beast
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.” 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.”
Once again, a group of three.
VERSE 09-11
Now a third angel comes with a warning about
taking the mark of the beast. There is no doubt or equivocation about the
results of taking the beast’s mark. Anyone who does will drink, experience,
God’s wrath. Those who take the mark will be consigned to
fire and brimstone forever.
VERSE 12-13
Again, it
appears some believers in Christ are still alive and will be killed (There
seems to be a timeline here. First, we have the emphasis on the 3.5 years and
3.5 days (the two witnesses are one example and then a second period of 3.5.}
If we go back to the church of Philadelphia {Rev. 3:10} we see they are told
those who “kept the Word
of My patience, I also will keep you out of the hour of trial which is going to
come on all the habitable world in order to try those dwelling on the earth.” As we have
seen there are a number of verses that show two 3.5 year
periods. We have also seen that there will be those with the Seal of God during
at least part of the seven years. It seems there
will be believers alive through the first 3.5 years {the time of tribulation}
but not the second 3.5 years the time of {indignation}. This view makes sense
of the various scriptures that talk about Christ finding faith when He returns
as well as taking believers to a hiding place. (JAS Comments
- End)
Harvesting the Earth and
Trampling the Winepress
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. 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.
Verse 14 – 16
17 And
another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. 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.
Now we have another angel
coming out of the temple and this angel also has a sharp sickle.
VERSE 18
“the grapes are fully
ripe” Sin has reached its fullness. Mankind will not turn to God and it is time
for man to reap the harvest of their sins. The number of people
killed is almost unfathomable. These people are killed because they refuse to
leave their sin and accept God’s salvation through Christ.
VERSE 20
Here we are given some idea
of the wickedness of the earth. A horses bridle would be
approximately three feet high. 1 furlong = 660.001
ft. 1,600 furlongs = 200 miles
(A note on Seraphs (or
Seraphim.
The English word Seraph comes from the Hebrew word שׂרף which is Saraph: fiery,
fiery serpent. (Strongs 8314) In Brown Driver Briggs we see it
means burn. (BDB page 976, # 8313) We see Seraphim mentioned
in Isaiah chapter 6 where a Seraph takes a coal from the altar and touches
Isaiah’s lips to enable him to prophesy. In Luke 10:18 Jesus said, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning.” Lightning is five times hotter than the surface of the
sun. This would seem to verify Satan was a Seraph, a fiery one, who was cast
out of heaven. Finally, God is very, very clear that Satan and his
followers will be consigned to Hell, a place of fire and brimstone. In
Matthew 25:41, Mark 9:43 and many other places Christ is quite clear hell is a
place of everlasting fire. This would seem to fit into Satan’s place as
a seraphim, a burning one. (Just my thoughts.)
Mark of the beast.
Last study a question was asked about the mark of the
beast. At the end of the notes for Chapter 13 I did give some thoughts
concerning it and they are as far as I can go. This has been discussed by many
theologians and others over the centuries with no real idea or
consensus. I believe there will be a physical mark, but I have
no idea what it actually may be or what it will look like. When
the time comes the Holy Spirit will reveal it to His people. God’s
people will trust Him and not be fooled. )
Revelation
15
Seven
Angels With Seven Plagues
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.
(JAS Comments – Start)
Chapter 15 serves as an introduction to chapter
16. The angels are introduced to us here and their work commences in chapter
16.
VERSE 01
In verse one we see a tremendous sign in heaven
that sets the stage for the seven last plagues and God’s final wrath and
judgement on the antichrist and those who chose to follow him.
VERSE 02
The “sea” here can be referenced back to the
bonze sea in Solomon’s temple and even earlier to the Tabernacle God told Moses
to build. The “sea” (or laver) was used for the priests
to wash themselves and the sacrifice so they might not die. They are
consecrated for service to YHWH. (Exodus 30:17-21) The “sea” here is made of something that looked
like glass mixed with fire. As the sea in the temple was used to consecrate
the priests. Here the fire mixed in with the substance that looked like glass
indicates those standing on it had come the beast and his image (through the
fire) and were consecrated to God’s work. The harps (lyres) were instruments used to sing
psalms and other songs praising YHWH.
VERSE 03 - 04
The people standing on the sea sang the Song of
Moses, the willing slave of God, and the Song of the Lamb, both are praises to
God and His Messiah. For the Song of Moses, we must go to Exodus chapter
16. The Song of Moses is a song of joy, celebration
and praises to God for deliverance from Egypt. The people on the sea sing the same song of
joy, celebration and praises to God for their deliverance from the beast and
the beast’s image. The people on the sea also sing the Song of the
Lamb. Some think this is simply the Song of Moses updated to reflect their
deliverance from the beast. Others think it is Psalm 86:6-13. John does give some specifics about the Song of
the Lamb. “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.” We
can see these same words in Psa_86:9-12. Isa_66:15, Isa_66:16,
Isa_66:23. Zep_2:11. Zec_14:16 and Zec_14:17. Again, God is saying and doing
what He said and did in the past. We know the end from the beginning. There is a definite correlation between the
deliverance of Israel from Egypt and the deliverance of God’s people from the
beast and his image.
VERSE 05 – 08
The temple of the tabernacle of testimony was
opened. To gain an understanding of this we must go to Exodus starting at
chapter 36. God called the commandments and Aaron’s staff the testimony and
they were to be kept in the Ark of the covenant. A testimony is when a person is placed under oath to tell, attest to, or
give witness to his or her personal knowledge or experience to something. In this case the staff, commandments and ark all
testify to God working for and with His people to deliver them and keep them from
the evil one. The bright linen and golden bands denote purity
of life and heart. Now the seven angels are each given their
golden bowl Each bowl is filled with the wrath of God
against evil and sin. The bowls are made of gold. This indicates the wrath of
God is pure and holy. His wrath is not capricious but comes only after much
longsuffering trying to get people to turn to Him. Verse 8 reminds us of Exodus 19:18 and Exodus 40:34-38.
When the cloud was on the tabernacle the Israelites could not travel from the
place they were at until the cloud was taken away. We are not told why God had
His presence remain on the tabernacle or why He decided the Israelites could
travel when they did. God had His reasons. In verse 08 we are told that the smoke is God’s
power and glory and no was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues of
the seven angels was finished. This reflects back to Exodus 19:18 where God’s
glory was on the mountain and no one, except Moses, could set foot on the
mountain or they would die.
Revelation 16
The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
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.” 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. 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.
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.”
(JAS Comments – Start)
This chapter indicates that the plagues seem to come via nature, or
natural means. This is typical of how God works throughout the ages. Except for
a very few occurrences (i.e.) God always uses what He created to help, lead and
discipline us, also His creation. We can certainly see this in the plagues of
Egypt. One of the problems people have with the plagues is they can be
explained, to a certain extent, by natural means and occurrences. What cannot
be explained is the timing, circumstances and the fact God said they would
happen and they did.
In the plagues people attribute the cause to nature but, while denying
God, blame and curse God for what is happening to them. Blaming God while
denying God shows the people truly do not believe, intellectually, that God
exists but also know unequivocally, in their deepest person, that God does
exist and we are guilty of sin. This dichotomy causes a deep, deep, tension in
our lives. It also causes us to miss the calling of God to repent and the
lessons He is trying to teach us through the plagues.
Many of the
plagues mentioned are the same that happened to Egypt, and for similar reasons.
While people say they no longer worship the false gods of Egypt they still do,
just under other names. Nothing has changed. Ecclesiastes 3:15
Proverbs 1:20-33; Proverbs 11:4; Isaiah
2:10-17,19,21; Isaiah 59:18
VERSE 01
Seven
in the Bible always denotes perfection. That seems odd in this context. I
wonder if it is indicating God’s perfect wrath?
VERSE 02
Implies there were those who did not take the
mark. Believers?
VERSE 03
Different than from a live person? The different
order of blood between a live person and a dead one would be the lack of oxygen
in the blood. It becomes stagnate like a pool that doesn't flow. This means the
sea became stagnate, thick, without oxygen which is required for life.
VERSE 04-06
Takes us back to the plagues in Egypt with
Moses.
VERSE 06
Those
who refuse to believe or accept Christ are getting what they have shown they
wanted by their actions. Sort of like physics, for every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction. Isaiah 59:18
VERSE 07
Those
under the altar?
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. 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. 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.
VERSE 08-11
Indicates they still had the opportunity to
repent. Here
we see almost opposites with the sun scorching people then deep complete
darkness. First people are burned then must dwell in darkness. This seems to be
a physical manifestation of what is inside those who reject God. They are
burned, scorched by their rejection of God {1 Timothy 4:2} and also dwell in
complete darkness without God. Without God there is no light nor any love. The
physical and spiritual darkness are complete. We see the ongoing theme here of
people refusing to repent of their sins and accept Christ. Instead of repenting
they curse God for all the things that are happening. They refuse to believe in
God or that He is bringing this about but they will curse Him.
VERSE 12
Here we see almost opposites with the sun
scorching people then deep complete darkness. First people are burned then must
dwell in darkness. This seems to be a physical manifestation of what is inside
those who reject God. They are burned, scorched by their rejection of God {1
Timothy 4:2} and also dwell in complete darkness without God. Without God there
is no light nor any love. The physical and spiritual darkness are complete. We
see the ongoing theme here of people refusing to repent of their sins and
accept Christ. Instead of repenting they curse God for all the things that are
happening. They refuse to believe in God or that He is bringing this about but
they will curse Him.
Armageddon
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. 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.”) 16 And
they gathered
them together to the place which in
Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
VERSE 13
Does this relate to Hekt the goddess deity in Egypt represented by a
frog? See Exodus 8:1
VERSE 14
John tells us
exactly who these frogs are, they are demons whose job it is to perform signs
that will cause the rulers of the earth to gather together against God. As we will see later
they are attacking Israel but, by doing so, are actually attacking God.
VERSE 15
Here again we can
see that there will be those who serve the Lord and not the beast and his
minions. Matt. 16:3-4, 24:36-44;
Luke 12:39; 1 Thess. 5:2-4; 2 Peter 3:10; Matthew 25:1-13
VERSE 16
The word Armageddon comes from the Hebrew word Har Magedon which
means Mountain of Megiddo. (As always God
prepares things and gives people ample opportunity to turn to Him and accept
Him through Jesus the Christ.)
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.
VERSE 17
Now
the announcement that it is done. What is done? God’s plan from the beginning
is done, nothing will stop God accomplishing His will and eradicating sin.
VERSE 18
Here God has the very earth rising up against
the sins of mankind. We tend to forget sin affects everything in the
world. We see this from the very beginning with Adam and Eve as well as Cain
and Able. With Cain even the ground cried out to God because of the sin.
VERSE 19
We are told Babylon the great but are not given
specifics as to the actual city. What is important is what happened and why.
The great city split into 3 parts. I am not sure why the three parts but I am
guessing it has to do with the trinity. In addition, all the cities of the
nations collapsed. The destruction was not limited to one place but was global.
Finally, we are not told what kind of collapse. Was it physical, financial,
infrastructure, cultural or all of these plus more?
VERSE 20
I do
not have a good understanding of this verse. Perhaps it is referring to the
earthquakes mentioned earlier and their effect on the earth. Perhaps it is
speaking of something completely different.
VERSE 21
Once again
we are reminded of the plague of hailstones in Egypt. Again people who say they
do not even believe in God curse God for what is happening to them. The people
do not repent, they curse. The plague of hail can be taken back to the plague
on Egypt. Hail showed God not only has power over the atmosphere but man’s
ability to predict or (to some small extent) control the atmosphere is
meaningless. The
plagues are the same or similar to the ones in Egypt because the thinking and
philosophies of the people are the same as those in Egypt. While people may say
there is no God and/or they do not believe in or worship pagan deities their
practice shows they do. There may
not be physical idols but there are mental idols that are very similar to those
in Egypt. See Exodus
9:18 It is very
important to note that, once again, people blamed and cursed God for the
hailstones and did not recognize their sins as the cause. It is also very possible other people
will see the hailstones as a “natural” occurrence and deny God and their own
sinfulness.
JAS Comments –
End
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