A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

Chapter 11 contains a vision of God’s two witnesses having power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and an account of what followed thereon, and war both in heaven and on the earth.

The timeline for this Prophecy could run inside any of these time frameworks A) Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline; B) The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South! and C) A Psalm 83 Prophecy in the Sequence of Keystone Prophecies till the End; whose prophecies are written mainly in the Old Testament, and are concerning mainly the children of Israel in the last days; in contrast to what is written in Revelation by John, which is in the New Testament, and which concern the whole world.

Revelation 11

¹ And there was given me a reed like unto a rod; and the angel stood, saying, “Rise, and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein. — and there was given me a reed, a measuring-stick, like unto a rod; a measuring reed was six cubits long, Ezekiel 40:5; ten feet long.

— measuring the servants of God is equivalent to trying them out and judging their performance, and if qualified, to seal them for official duties; these are called, chosen and are found to be faithful, Revelation 17:14;

² But the court which is outside the temple, leave out, and measure it not, for it is given unto the nations; and the Holy City shall they tread under foot for forty and two months. — for the time being, the majority people of the nations are not given the calling, nor judged yet, that’s why the court is left out and measure not;

— the reason of this is that this court was given to the Gentiles, sometimes called the “court of the Gentiles,” the outer court of the Temple to which the Gentiles had access, and within which they were not permitted to go; that its time will come; perhaps starting with the ‘times of the Gentiles’? Luke 21:24 (for more, see What is the Times of the Gentiles?)

³ And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.” — clothed in sackcloth; black cloth commonly for mourning garments; here, they could indicate or affirm what the little book is, in chapter 10;

— my two witnesses” that is, they, like Zerubbabel and Joshua, (Zechariah 4) are the two great witnesses of God; that they would give utterance the judgements of God as he reveals them for a thousand two hundred and threescore days; 1260 days is the same as three and half years.

⁴ These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth. — and the two candlesticks; which hold forth the light of the Word of God;

— these are the two olive trees; or represented by the two olive tree; reminding us of Moses and Elijah who called for fire upon their adversaries; or in Zechariah 4:3, Joshua and Zerubbabel after the Babylonish captivity, who in laying out themselves, in rebuilding and finishing the temple, were types of these witnesses.

⁵ And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth and devoureth their enemies; and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed. — fire proceedeth out of their mouth; it is, of course, necessary that this should be taken literally;

— the fire devouring their foes seems to allude to II Kings 1:10; like Elijah, they can close the heaven (1 Kings 17:1); like Moses, they can turn water into blood and summon down every plague (Exodus 7:20); thus the spirit and power of Moses and Elias; the meaning is, that they would have the power of destroying their enemies as fire should proceed out of their mouth and destroyed their lives; that is, their words would be like burning coals or flames;

⁶ These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy, and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. — like Moses and Elijah, these have power to shut up the sky, that no rain map fall during the days of their prophecy, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with all manner of plagues as often as they choose;

— and if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed; this is repeated, partly to show the certainty of this destruction; and partly to point out the manner of it, which will be not by the use of carnal weapons: these enemies of the witnesses will not be killed by the sword, or any other weapon, but by the word of God, by the pronouncement of God’s judgements on them, by fire, proceeding out of their mouths.

⁷ And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. — the beast’s coming is after the working and influence of Satan: perhaps the papacy is meant; he is raised up, influenced, and supported by him; he is a creature of his, and has his power, seat, and authority from him, the great dragon, the old serpent, called the devil and Satan.

⁸ And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. — that “the great city” is none other than Jerusalem, where even pride parade could take place;

— Sodom was the essence of abominations, and Egypt was the country where their forefathers had been kept in shameful slavery; both names therefore stood for the lowest and meanest on earth;

— and men of the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will see their corpses three days and one half, and will not permit their corpses to be placed into sepulchers; and they that dwell upon the earth will rejoice over them and be very glad.

⁹ And they of the people and kindreds, and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and a half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. — in this world of satellite technologies, their dead bodies could be seen all round the world;

¹⁰ And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another, because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. — and kings, people and kindreds will send one another presents, because these two prophets have tormented them that lived sinfully or rebelliously upon the earth;

¹¹ But after three days and a half, the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. — the enemies of the Lord rejoiced too soon as in many cases; and after the three and one-half days the Spirit of Life from God came into them, and they stood upon their feet;

— and great fear fell upon them which saw them; in this posture; either on their enemies, who may fear that they should be tormented with them again; that the things which they had foretold concerning their ruin are now coming upon them;

¹² And they heard a great voice from Heaven, saying unto them, “Come up hither!” And they ascended up to Heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld them. — the resurrection of the witnesses is followed by their ascension unto heaven in a cloud; and their enemies trembled in fear as they beheld them;

¹³ And that same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth part of the city fell; and in the earthquake were slain seven thousand men, and the remnant were seized with fear, and gave glory to the God of Heaven. — and as they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them; and in that hour there happened a great earthquake;

— and the tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand souls, and the rest became terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second woe is past; and behold, the third woe cometh quickly. — the second woe is past; the meaning is, that the second woe trumpet, which is the sixth, will now have done sounding, when the four angels, bound in the river Euphrates, shall have been loosed,

— and they, with their horsemen, shall have done what they were designed to do; when the two witnesses shall have been slain, and are raised again, and ascended to heaven; and the things attending or following thereon as the earthquake, and slaughter and the conversions of men are accomplished;

— behold the third woe cometh quickly; immediately, upon the passing of the other; namely, the sounding of the seventh trumpet, as follows.

¹⁵ And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in Heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever!”

— and the seventh angel sounded; the sounding of this angel, the third woe commences, brought on the inhabitants of the earth to ruin and downfall of any rebellion and then, and not till then, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and Christ;

— and that include all the remaining nations are to be taken into the account, and everyone of the Papacy, riding on a white horse with a bow; and of Mahometans, the army of locusts of 200,000,000, will “become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ.”

¹⁶ And the four and twenty elders, who sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces and worshiped God, — the twenty four elders represent the Church of God in all ages; these Saints sit with Christ in heavenly places,

¹⁷ saying, “We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and wast, and art to come, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast reigned. — which art, and wast, and art to come; the same as “the Eternal”; the “Everlasting”; ‘I am,’ ‘I was,’ ‘I’ll be.’

— these descriptions of the Lord are not to be mistaken as a name of the Lord, whose name is Yehovah (the letter J didn’t appear in the English language until the sixteenth century the earliest, so Jehovah as the Lord’s name is a recent invention).

¹⁸ And the nations were angry; and Thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldest give reward unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints and them that fear Thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them that destroy the earth.”

— and there are still nations that are angry; see Psalms 99:1, these could be the remaining nations that are harder to convert, having thicker skulls, which the Septuagint render, the “Lord reigns, let the nations be angry.”

¹⁹ And the temple of God was opened in Heaven; and there was seen in His temple the ark of His testament, and there were lightnings and voices, and thunderings and an earthquake, and great hail. — and the Temple of God was opened in heaven; this Temple would be the Ezekiel Temple that were designed in heaven but now built at Jerusalem;

— to which the allusion is, was the place of public worship for all nations; the pure worship of God will be restored; the Temple with the Court of the Gentiles utilized to the full, will be open to all; here everyone may come and sing and worship without fear.

Revelation 12

Chapter 12 appears as an insert chapter, sort of a flashback.

¹ And there appeared a great wonder in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. — and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; “stars” could be the 12 stars that Joseph saw in his dream, the 12 tribes which Christ holds in his right hand;

— each star represents an apostle; having the respect for the twelve original apostles; and the “crown” being rewarded to each of them, which are also composed of stars.

² And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth and in pain to be delivered. — and a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon beneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and being pregnant, she cried in the pains of birth and was in torment to give birth. This woman symbolizes the Daughter of Zion, the Church, the saints;

— and the moon under her feet; the church is sometimes compared to the moon herself, because, as the moon receives its light from the sun, so she receives her light from Christ.

³ And there appeared another wonder in heaven: behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. — so Pharaoh king of Egypt were also called dragons in Scripture, Ezekiel 29:3; Isaiah 27:1;

— all which places the Targum interprets of מלכא, “a king”, and particularly of Pharaoh king of Egypt; who is like to a great and mighty dragon: and the Roman empire, as under the influence of Satan, the missing “Holy Ghost” who wanted to be like the Most High, is fitly compared to a “dragon”;

— having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads; the “seven heads” of the Roman empire either design the seven mountains, or hills, on which Rome was built, as the seven heads of the beast on which the woman drunk with the blood of the saints sat, are explained in Revelation 17:9.

⁴ And his tail drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered to devour her child as soon as it was born. — the devil’s tail dragged a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth;

— and the dragon stood before Israel (especially Judah the Sceptre holder) which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born; just as the dragon Pharaoh lay in the midst of his rivers, in the river Nile, Ezekiel 29:3; to slay the male children of Israel as soon as born; and as the dragon Herod sought to take away the life of Jesus quickly after his birth.

⁵ And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and to His throne. — the house of Judah gave birth to a man-child, the Messiah, who was intended to rule all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.

⁶ And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. — and the woman, of the house of Judah, now especially the Nazarenes, fled into the wilderness, where a place has been prepared for her by God, that they should nourish her there twelve hundred and sixty days (more at the end).

⁷ And there was war in Heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

⁸ and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven. — not only the dragon and his angels could not prevail, but he could no longer maintain his place in heaven: he was conquered and cast out like lightning from heaven.

⁹ And the great dragon was cast out — that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out onto the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

— Michael is an archangel, Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1 summoned the hosts of heaven and gave battle so successfully that the dragon, or Satan, called the old serpent and the devil because his constant endeavor is to bring ignominy and shame on all men, was cast out of heaven with his host.

¹⁰ And I heard a loud voice saying in Heaven, “Now have come salvation and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accused them before our God day and night.

¹¹ And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

¹² Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” — for this reason rejoice, heavens, and those that dwell in them;

— Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has come down to you having a great rage, knowing that he has little time. And they, the believers themselves, won the victory over Satan; they are winners in the fight against him through the power of Christ, through the fact that his blood was shed for their redemption.

¹³ And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the manchild. — the dragon persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child: the devil was enraged at the house of Judah that put forth the Sceptre, now the church, the Nazarenes, and pursued her with great wrath.

¹⁴ And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent. — two wings of a great eagle; as God said to the children of Israel (Exodus 19:4), “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings.”

— “a time and times and half a time” is one time, plus two times, plus half a time which total 3 and a half times, and since one time is 360 days, the total is 1260 years; one day for a year.

¹⁵ And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

— as the Lord holds his protecting hand over his Church, the scattered members continued to exist in spite of all persecutions, even though it be only in secret places and hidden from the eyes of men, and was protected by divine means in the wilderness for 1260 years from the serpent.

¹⁶ And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. — this is a scenario of the flood of trials and tribulations which Satan time and again poured forth against the Church;

— it is a time of great persecutions against the scattered brethren of numerous Inquisitions, to note in what manner the devil makes fanatics of men against the preaching of the truth;

— the wilderness is a desolate place, and full of serpents and scorpions, uncomfortable and destitute of provisions; yet a place of safety as well as where one might be alone.

¹⁷ And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

— the Church were dispersed, no more functioning as a single body as was the Jerusalem church, and now her seed are scattered, dispersed throughout the hills and valleys of Asia and Europe, some later migrated to the Americas.

~~~

The Church fled to the wilderness for 1260 days (Revelation 12:6; for more see the Pergamos Era)

Again, it must be emphasized that the only sign God has given mankind being classified as his true Church is the Sabbath; it is a sign between God and man (Exodus 31:13) that keepers of the Sabbath are being sanctified to be God’s elect.

The period for the Church to flee to the wilderness (mentioned in Revelation 12:6) is 1,260 days, which in this place prophetically refers to 1,260 years according to the “day for a year” principle found in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:5.

The Church in this text flees into the “wilderness,” a solitary, lonely, desert place. Here is what happened historically: the Church was severely persecuted during the reigns of both Emperor Diocletian and Emperor Galerius from 303 to 313 AD, especially in the eastern provinces (see Revelation 2:10 “and ye shall have tribulation ten days”).

In 325 Constantine convened the Council of Nicaea and Catholicism became the state religion. In order for the Nazarenes to fully obey God and put into practice their beliefs, they had to “flee” from the centers of influence and into the less-populated areas.

In the early period of this “exile” the true Christians were most numerous in what today is eastern Turkey. In later centuries they were found in scattered areas of Europe, especially in and around high mountains and valleys, usually away from major population centers.

Around 1585, some 1,260 years later, Catholic domination of the throne in England ended. This brought to a close the period when the Church had to carry on in the wilderness, lonely areas of Europe and Asia Minor, instead of the greater population centers where Catholic and later even Protestant churches flourished.

It was not until about 1650 that there were again enough Sabbath keepers to establish local congregations. They often called themselves the Church of God, but the world termed them “Sabbatarians” and Sabbatarian Baptists.

From England the remnant Sabbath-keeping Church spread to America. In 1664, Stephen Mumford, sent to Newport, Rhode Island, raised up a small church mainly from Baptist converts. One by one new churches were established through continued help of the Seventh-day Baptists in England.

Posted in Revelation

Chapter 9 continues with the ending of chapter 8 “Woe, Woe, Woe” three times to the inhabitants of the earth; incorporating all peoples, with heavy calamities; answerable to the three trumpets soon to be blown; and which are therefore called the woe trumpets.

On the timeline of this Prophecy, Swamp of locusts out of the the earth could run parallel with A) Ezekiel 4 – 390/40 Years Timeline; B) The Flaming Sword and Fire from the South! and especially C) A Psalm 83 Prophecy in the Sequence of Keystone Prophecies till the End; whose prophecies are written mainly in the Old Testament, and are concerning mainly the children of Israel in the last days; in contrast to what is written in Revelation by John, which is in the New Testament, and which concern the whole world.

Revelation 9

¹ And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. — speaking of Satan as falling like lightning from heaven:

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, you destroyer of the nations! Isaiah 14:12

² And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. — the fifth angel blows his trumpet, and a star falls; the key of the bottomless pit is given to him, which being opened by it,

— out of it comes smoke to the darkening of the sun and the air were darkened; and out of the smoke locusts, who have power like scorpions; of the east, first the Ishmaelites, the Arabian, then the Mohammedans or Saracens, where they morph as a swarm of latter-day and endtime jihadists, are compared to grasshoppers, or locusts: Judges 7:12; “all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts.”

³ And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. — and there came out of the smoke locusts the earth; not literally, for these locusts might not meddle with the grass, nor any green thing, or tree, as locusts do, only men, Revelation 9:4; and had a king over them, Revelation 9:11; which locusts have not.

⁴ And it was commanded to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads. — and you shall mark a sign: you shall mark a sign on the foreheads of the righteous men in order to show the destroyers those men whom they should not strike;

— it is a Rabbinic thought quoted by Gill that Gabriel had orders to write the letter ת (tav; the last letter of the alphabet) in ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, which signified תחיה, “thou shall live.” And for the wicked the same letter ת were written in blood upon the foreheads, but it signified תמות, “thou shall die.”

— sealing on their foreheads; this could be a parallel in Ezekiel of those sealed and protected:

and the Lord said unto him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof” Ezekiel 9:4

⁵ And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months; and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. — should be tortured five months; the allocated period for this jihadist locust plague is five months:

— it was granted to them (are they the same as the “six men” or six destroyers in Ezekiel 9:2 that they should not kill them (the people still living on earth), but should torture them five months; with excruciating pain, and their torture is as the torture of a scorpion when it strikes a man;

— “four angels” of Rev 7:2 as some medieval commentators thought of to fight the four names of Saracens, Turks, Tartars, and Arabians, as all are Mohammedans of medieval times; but these are for our days, the last days; so could they be revived as jihadists or some resurrected versions?

— and for more from another perspective, watch a lecture of Jay Smith: this lecture is excellent; why? Because it exposes that (1) Quran (2) Mohammed (3) Mecca; all didn’t exist during the seventh century as believed. These claims all came hundreds of years later but their sacred writings were fabricated and inserted back into the life of a Mohammed, if there is one, to around AD 630s, to make everything more authentic:

⁶ And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. — the scorpion signified a vicious and dangerous opponent, whose attacks are worse than death; it signifies how troublesome and afflictive those locusts were;

⁷ And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle; and on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. — the heads of locusts are very much like swarm of armies riding on horses; and below here they indicates where they are from:

— it was the east wind which brought the locusts on Egypt Exodus 10:13, and they must therefore have come from some area of Arabia – for Arabia is the land that lies over Egypt in the east.

And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the Lord brought an east wind upon the land all that day and all that night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts, Exodus 10:13

Gill: and it is a remarkable coincidence that Muslim tradition speaks of locusts having dropped into the hands of Mahomet, bearing on their wings this inscription –

“we are the army of the most high God; we are the ninety and nine eggs, and if the hundred should be made perfect, we should consume the whole world, and whatever is in it.”

Gill described “Mahomet the king of the locusts.”

Mahomet were referred to as:

(a) Mohammed, the founder of Islam; and who gave birth to over a billion of Muslims today;

(b) Mehmed II, at the age of 21, the General of the Ottomans Turks who conquered Constantinople in 1453 after 53 days of siege. After the conquest Mehmed claimed the title “Caesar” of the Roman Empire based on the fact that Constantinople had been the seat and capital of the surviving Eastern Roman Empire since its consecration in 330 AD by Emperor Constantine.

⁸ And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. — faces of men and hair of women, teeth like those of lions: weird descriptions, could these vile men be using chemical or germ warfare like those Unit 731 or those flying planes spraying Orange Agents?

⁹ And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots with many horses running to battle. — the hardness of hearts, their thick skulls for protection; the whirring noise made by them when in flight; these sound like war-like machines, or helicopters.

¹⁰ And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stingers in their tails; and their power was to hurt men five months. — this should be the same five months as in verse 5;

— these tails and stings, as of scorpions, were designed to express that these modern version of Mahometans should spread the poison of error and delusion where they came, or only to signify the great pain and uneasiness of their conquest and invasion;

¹¹ And they had a king over them, the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue his name is Apollyon. — Barnes: Abaddon in Hebrew it means literally “destruction,” and is the same as Apollyon in Greek; that is, the destroyer;

— Mede imagines that this is some allusion to the name of Obodas, the common name of the kings of that part of Arabia from whence Mohammed came, as Pharaoh was the common name of the kings of Egypt, and Cesar of the emperors of Rome; and such allusions are not unusual in the style of Scripture;

— and it is a remarkable coincidence that Muslim tradition speaks of locusts having dropped into the hands of Muhammed, bearing on their wings this inscription – ‘We are the army of the Great God,’

— and they had a king over them…. the ‘locusts’ has a king, a “destroyer” over them, who can he be? An Antichrist? A Mahdi? Many commentators believed Abaddon to be the Antichrist.

¹² One woe is past; and behold, there come two more woes hereafter. — first woe is past; that of the swamp of locusts; and behold there two woes to come; under the blowing of the sixth and seventh trumpets.

¹³ And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which stands before God, — a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God; in the language used here there is an allusion to the temple, but the scene is evidently laid in heaven.

~~ Second Woe released to slay a third of mankind: 2-3 billions ~~

¹⁴ saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.” — Second Woe to ~let loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates; perhaps different from the four angels in Revelation 7:1; they stood upon the four corners of the earth; these were around or at the river Euphrates; they held the four winds, that they should not blow.

¹⁵ And the four angels were loosed, who had been prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year, to slay a third part of men. — for to slay the third part of men; which may in general denote their readiness, vigilance, and quick dispatch: they lay for a good while hovering over the banks of the river Euphrates, as if they were waiting for an order;

— that would be 2 to 3 billion people, since the world has around 8 billions; killed! these seem to be of the locusts, of the Arabic (Revelation 9:7 above), rather than that of the army of Gog and Magog;

¹⁶ And the number of the army of horsemen was two hundred thousand thousand, and I heard the number of them. — the army of horsemen of two hundred thousand thousand; or “two myriads of myriads” or two hundred millions;

— many commentators, like Gill, Benson, Kretzmann, etc, mentioned the Turk attack the Roman Empire in the year 1453 when Turkish Mahomet took Constantinople, “filled the hearts of the Mohammedan hordes, fire and smoke and sulfur issuing out of their mouths (Kretzmann);”

— Benson: when Mohammed the Second besieged Constantinople, he had about four hundred thousand men in his army, besides a powerful fleet of thirty larger and two hundred lesser ships;

— could a parallel occurs again? Good to watch Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey, which could come up with a significant number of warriors much higher than 200,000,000.

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared, Revelation 16:12;

— this swamp of 200, 000 warriors coming from beyond the river Euphrates might overlap or run parallel to A Psalm 83 Prophecy (they come from beyond the river Euphrates aiding those ten nations in Psalm 83 living within the Promised Land bound between the Nile and Euphrates) in the Sequence of Keystone Prophecies till the End.

¹⁷ And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and they that sat on them had breastplates of fire and of jacinth and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone.

— we are reminded of somewhat similar features in the Chaldean armies spoken of by Habakkuk:

“I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation: they are terrible and dreadful: their horses also are swifter than leopards,” Habakkuk 1:6-10.

¹⁸ By these three was a third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths. — under these dreadful judgements: fire, smoke and brimstone; a third part of mankind would be from two to three billions dead, of around eight billions in total; that’s a great amount!

¹⁹ For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails were like unto serpents and had heads, and with them they cause hurt. — the tails of their bites; that is, the power of a scorpion; or like that of a wasp that may be said to be in their tails;

²⁰ And the rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold and silver, and brass and stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk;

— the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues; the two-thirds of men that should be left, these are deeply ingrained with the devils; yet they repented not of their idolatry and false doctrines: Easters, Christmas; and their unholy Trinity.

²¹ neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. — and the rest of men, that were not killed in these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, not to worship demons and idols of gold and of silver; and they repented not of their murders nor of their magic arts, or witchcrafts, nor of their fornications nor of their thefts;

— even as Pharaoh hardened his heart in spite of the many evidences of God’s power performed in his sight, even as the children of Israel in the wilderness refused again and again to turn to the Lord in true repentance, in spite of the many sorceries by which he sought to influence them, thus it has ever been in the history of the world;

— the Lord may send ever so many plagues, wars, pestilences, famines and yet as soon as he withdraws his chastening hand, men harden their hearts once more and refuse to repent of the works of their idolatry. This is a description of the abyss of human depravity, such a picture as we see but rarely in its entirety, although glimpses are seen often enough in these last days before the coming of the Lord.

Revelation 10 – What is that Little Book of Revelation 10?

¹ And I saw another mighty angel (angelon ἄγγελον) come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud; and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. — note “mighty angel”

— a mighty angel (angelon ἄγγελον here compare to angelou ἀγγέλου; or angelous ἄγγελος as in verse 5) ushers in the following incidents; he is probably another angel as distinguished from the sixth angel (Revelation 9:13); further, this mighty angel seems to be the seventh angel; although it wasn’t explicitly stated;

— a parallel scene in the wilderness, descended on Mount Sinai, but by God, dwelt in the tabernacle and later in the Temple; then even later left the Temple and ascended to heaven.

² And he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, — βιβλαριδιον, a little book (or a little scroll) in this chapter, nowhere else mentioned in the NT; different from the βιβλιον, mentioned in Revelation;

— the book was open, that is, all men might freely read to study it. It could (or maybe not) be an appendix or a supplement to the larger book, and comes along with the sixth trumpet;

— and this mighty angel set his right foot upon the sea, and his left on the earth; to show the extent of his power and commission; this angel set his right foot on the sea toward the west, his left on the land toward the east, so that he looked southward;

— southward, that is, toward the great continent of Africa, but bits of Asia; or this angel might be given authority over land and sea?

— but the Q remains, what is the content of this little book? We are told it is open and that all men could read it freely, not sealed. So what is its message?

— perhaps since it is “open” as the seals were unloosed, and the things in it revealed, perhaps it represents the numerous books and booklets of Christian literatures we are flooded with, every men can study these literatures on our own time and space?

— of course that would include online Bibles of different versions, Septuagint, Targum, Talmud, various rabbis and theology experts from the last many hundred years; now internet excess for easy study. So what exactly is this little book?

³ and cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth. And when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. — thunders are usually judgements of God; Psalm 18:13 says, “The Lord thundered from heaven;” (more at the end)

⁴ And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from Heaven saying unto me, “Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.” — the content of the little book differs from what the seven thunders were; and were not written;

— John heard the voice, was going to put it down in writing, but he was forbidden to write them down;

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

— “In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

— so the contents of the seven thunders remain sealed; kept secret from mankind at least for the time being; but would they be revealed later (more at the end)

⁵ And the angel (ἄγγελος), whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven. — this angel is angelos (ἄγγελος); the difference could only be explained if they of two different angels;

— this angel is probably the same as the sixth angel who had the trumpet in Revelation 9:13; the Second Woe: “Loose the four angels who are bound in the great river Euphrates.”

⁶ And he swore by Him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are therein, and the earth and the things that are therein, and the sea and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer, — that is, that there shall be no more delay;

⁷ but that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel (ἀγγέλου), when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets. — this seventh angel is also the mighty angel (ἀγγέλου); and he sounded that there should be no more delay;

— that God’s dates and time would be up, and the events affixed to them be accomplished when the seventh angel should begin to sound his trumpet: the same divisions of time are made in Revelation 12:14.

⁸ And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again and said, “Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel (ἀγγέλου) who standeth upon the sea and upon the earth.” — the message of the little book is the mystery of God and comes from the Father, but delivers by a mighty angel;

⁹ And I went unto the angel (ἄγγελον) and said unto him, “Give me the little book.” And he said unto me, “Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey.” — from the seventh angel, a mighty angel (ἀγγέλου);

— the message from the little book has a sweet and bitter message:

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” Amos 3:2

— of course the taste of the little book start with the mouth first, which is sweet as honey, then when eaten, it goes down to the belly, and it is bitter; meaning, the message may first appear pleasant to the ears; but upon reflection, it is depressing, despondent, or disheartening;

— or expressing it in another way: the knowledge of future things was, at first, pleasant, but the sad contents of the little book afterward filled his soul with sorrow;

— Ezekiel was directed to go to the house of Israel and deliver a divine message, whether they would hear or forbear; and in order that he might understand what message to deliver, there was shown to him a roll of a book, written within and outside;

— the roll Ezekiel that was commanded to eat, he similarly found it to be “in his mouth as honey for sweetness,” Ezekiel 3:1-3; or Ezekiel (Ch 3-4); but Ezekiel’s ending part of his message was, although not explicitly stated, one of depressing, despondent and disheartening forewarning:

¹⁰ And I took the little book out of the angel’s (ἀγγέλου) hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.

— perhaps it goes like this: the message of salvation from the Gospel that mankind could be saved, which is sweet, but that before attaining it, mankind has to go through lots of trials and tribulations, many even being martyred, which is bitter, to get into the kingdom:

And when they had preached the Gospel to that city and had taught many, they returned again to Lystra and to Iconium and Antioch,

confirming the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God. Acts 14:21-22

¹¹ And he said unto me, “Thou must prophesy again before many peoples and nations, and tongues and kings.” — if the prophecy begin here again anew, the prophecy be resumed from the beginning, and all that follows be contained in the little book, then the little book may contain more matter than the original book;

— the little book, the supplement includes, perhaps, the numerous literatures that we have, will go to the nations, preached and re-preached; our knowledge increases day by day; or perhaps it would contain a new and unpleasant message, as when the seven thunders are written and revealed (Revelation 10:3-4).

~~~

But the contents of the seven thunders remain sealed (verse 4); it is been kept as a secret from mankind, at least for the time being; would they be revealed soon? We can be sure they will be revealed. The Question is when will that be.

The Greek word translated “thunder” means “to roar.” Thunder is often a mark of judgement as in I Samuel 2:10, II Samuel 22:14, and in Revelation 8:5, 11:19, 16:18, so these seven powerful voices are crying out for God’s judgement upon the whole earth. The thunder represents the voice of God. Psalm 18:13 says, “The LORD thundered from heaven; and the Most High uttered His voice with hail stones and coals of fire.”

Further evidence of the seven thunders being the voice of God is in Revelation 4:5: From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunders; as in Mount Sinai before the children of Israel. There are seven spirits of God with seven lamps all blazing before the throne.

Again the voice of God is depicted as thunderous rumblings that display the power, majesty and glory of our mighty Lord to give the whole world an unique Mount Sinai experience. In this verse, John saw a bitter preview of the divine wrath to be poured out on the earth as described in full from Revelation chapters 16 to 19.

The seven thunders are the only words in Revelation that are still sealed and yet to be revealed. Perhaps these seven thunders would be revealed by the two witnesses in chapter 11. Perhaps these seven thunders would be revealed in our lifetime?

“The anger of the Lord shall not return, until He has executed and till He has performed the thoughts of His heart; in the latter days ye shall understand it perfectly” Jeremiah 23:20;

— “In latter days you will understand it fully,” that is, it means as a whole, we wouldn’t fully understand these prophecies until we’re living in the latter days; after God had executed his judgement in anger and performed the thoughts of his heart!

Posted in Revelation

Chapter 6 ended with “For the great Day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?” And now John was to be prepared for the events “the great Day of His wrath” which is also the “Lord’s Day,” or “the Day of the Lord,” and which were to follow after the opening of the sixth seal.

For more, see, What is the Day of the LORD?

But the seventh seal were not opened until chapter 8 below! Thus chapter 7 is an insert chapter! This being the case because the recruitment of the 144,000 and the great multitude could have occurred way before the NT times; thus a sort of a flashback.

Though a bit late, would the Third Being, the Holy Spirit, if he ever exist, finally turn up? No, as an individual Being, he never show up; in fact he is only a ghost, a phantom.

Remember, these series of Events in Revelation run parallel to those of the Old Testament, primarily of the book of Ezekiel.

Revelation 7

¹ And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. — and after these things; after the opening of six of the seals of the sealed book, and these four angels parallel the four spirits of heavens, in Zechariah 6:5;

— these four angels could be four cherubim; as was in the case when Ezekiel saw them in Ezekiel 1?

² And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, — this mighty angel from the east seems to have more authority of the four because he gave command to the others; and the angel of the east would be those of Judah, Jerusalem; from Zion, with a face of a Lion;

— to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea: they had a commission from God to let loose the winds, or to bring on wars, devastations, calamities and plagues of various sorts, upon the earth, not only on the continent, but upon the islands, even all the nations, tongues of all peoples.

³ saying, “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” — as in Ezekiel 9:4; here, this mighty angel issues commands to the other three angels: “Hurt not the earth, neither the sea nor the trees,”

— sealing on the forehead; this could be a parallel in Ezekiel 9:4; and the Lord said unto him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof,”

— and you shall mark a sign: you shall mark a sign on the foreheads of the righteous men in order to show the destroyers those men whom they should not strike;

— it is a Rabbinic thought that Gabriel had orders to write the letter ת (tav; the last letter of the alphabet) in ink upon the foreheads of the righteous, which signified תחיה, “thou shall live.” And for the wicked the same letter ת were written in blood upon the foreheads, but it signified תמות, “thou shall die.” The letter ת in the original paleo Hebrew looks like an x sign.

⁴ And I heard the number of them that were sealed: there were sealed a hundred and fortyfour thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. — the context in verses 2 and 3 indicate that these 144,000 are first marked with the letter ת (tav) in ink; and then sealed on earth, not in heaven.

⁵ Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand;

⁶ of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand;

⁷ of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand;

⁸ of the tribe of Zebulun were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand; of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. — that the tribe of Dan is here left out, and Ephraim is not named, though included in Joseph. 

⁹ After this I beheld, and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and with palms in their hands.

— “a great multitude:” now we have the picture of a countless throng. Who are these? Are they the same as the one hundred and forty-four thousand, or are they others? ~ these are from the nations, from among the Gentiles, the goyim; it pictures of the sealing of a multitude which could only be numbered by God: these are clothed in white robes, too;

— the answer must be that this vision gives the climax of the previous one; as is the immediate prelude to the opening of the seventh seals: these are also marked with the letter ת (tav) in ink; and as if these were mentioned in one breath! for they are also sealed by God, but which no man could number them;

¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb!” — God the Father and the Son are always around, but if the Holy Spirit is a Being then where is he?

— the Holy Spirit seems absent all the time; maybe he has been travelling? Weird! We’re in the seventh chapter and we have yet to see how John would describe the Holy Spirit if he appears, but he hasn’t yet . . . maybe he has caught a flu and has gone to sleep?

¹¹ And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four living beings, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, — see, the angels are around, so are the 24 elders and even the four beasts;

¹² saying, “Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen!”

¹³ And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, “Who are these that are arrayed in white robes, and from whence have they come?” — these 144,000; and “a great multitude” those multitudes from the nations, the goyim; they seem to be in heaven; all “arrayed in white robes” in the presence of God; so they must be resurrected?

¹⁴ And I said unto him, “Sir, thou knowest.” And he said to me, “These are they that came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. — the way to heaven is through many tribulations; note the particle “the” is missing from (the) great tribulation;

— “they that came out of great tribulation” everyone who have to overcome, struggle against the forces of evil, that in every case is a trial and tribulation; for example, speaking of the church in Smyrna, and ye shall have tribulation ten days Revelation 2:10 and they were faithful unto death;

— these 144,000 and “a great multitude” are those that came out of great tribulation, and these would include Moses? Daniel? Elijah? Job? to name a few?

¹⁵ Therefore, “they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. — see, these must be in heaven, before the throne, and had been resurrected; and only one temple is in heaven, a reflection of one on earth;

¹⁶ They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

¹⁷ For the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” — if those redeemed are spirit beings then they are not subjected to physical needs or limitations;

— when the praise of God is sung, the angels couldn’t remain silent; and all the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living beings, and fell down before the throne upon their faces and worshiped God, saying, Amen,

— praise and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever, Amen. As are in earlier chapters, the angels are pictured as surrounding the throne and the elders and the cherubs, a great cloud of witnesses of the heavenly bliss. But the Holy Ghost remains missing! Nar, the Holy Spirit as the Third Being to be part of a Trinity is fake!

Revelation 8

¹ And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in Heaven about the space of half an hour. — the whole scene of the vision is laid in heaven as witnessed by John, and there was silence in heaven;

² And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. — and to them were given seven trumpets: every angel has one; which were an emblem of wars, and desolations, and calamities, which would come upon the whole world, at the blowing of each of them; the trumpet being an alarm, preparing for war:

— Jeremiah 4:19 “the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.” The trumpets; these are said to be given them; either by the Father that sat on the throne; or by the Lamb that opened the seal.

³ And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which was before the throne. — the prayers of the saints, rightly performed, are themselves compared to incense, being very grateful and acceptable to God, Psalms 141:2.

⁴ And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. — so the prayers of all saints ended up upon the golden altar, before the throne of God.

⁵ And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire from the altar, and cast it onto the earth; and there were voices and thunderings and lightnings, and an earthquake. — and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake; which may be understood either of the nature, use, and effects of listening to God:

— such as having a Godly experience, speaking to the hearts of men by the sons of thunder, enlightening their minds, and shaking through our thick skulls; the like were at the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, Exodus 19:16.

Or,

“The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” Isaiah 24:20

⁶ And the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. — these seven angels who had the seven trumpets; each angel has one trumpet;

⁷ The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth; and a third part of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up. — and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood; somewhat like one of the plagues of Egypt, Exodus 9:23; in which was hail mingled with fire, only no blood, but what was caused by its fall on man and beast.

— the ancient world was called to mind the Israelites experience of their Egyptian plagues, now the whole world is been given a similar experience, to learn from their “Egyptian” experience.

⁸ And the second angel sounded and, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and a third part of the sea became blood; — this catastrophe includes, as in the first Egyptian plague, the turning of water into blood and the destruction of marine animals; from Egypt, now it becomes worldwide!

⁹ and a third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died, and a third part of the ships were destroyed. — and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea; the fishes; by whom men are meant, the inhabitants of the earth;

— and had life, died; were put to death by these savage and barbarous people, who killed all they met with, men, women, and children, young and old, rich and poor, high and low; see Ezekiel 29:4, where by fish the Targum understands mighty princes and governors:

¹⁰ And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as if it were a lamp, and it fell upon a third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters; — and there fell a great star from heaven; a star is a natural emblem of a prince, as a type of one in an exalted position, a ruler, of one distinguished by rank or by talent;

¹¹ and the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died from the waters, because they were made bitter. — wormwood (apsinthos) is used to represent troubles and calamities, as in Jeremiah 9:15;

— Wormwood, an Ukrainian word for Chernobyl, lit. ’black herb’), many have referred to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986, referring to a ‘star falling down and turning the waters bitter’ are interpreted as the radioactive fallout from the disaster poisoning the environment around Chernobyl, leaving it uninhabitable;

— and the third part of the waters became wormwood; that is, the inhabitants of the countrysides and cities were afflicted with grievous and bitter afflictions and calamities; so great distresses are called wormwood, and waters of gall given to drink, Jeremiah 9:15.

¹² And the fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened; and a third of the day shone not, and the night likewise. — and the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten; a fit representation to express the last desolation of God’s judgement to all earthly power and authority;

— darkening, smiting, or the setting of the sun, moon, and stars are for the setting of a kingdom; and when darkness is opposed to light, as light is a symbol of joy and safety, so darkness is a symbol of misery and adversity; according to the style of Jeremiah 13:16.

¹³ And I beheld, and heard an angel flying (not “angel,” as in English version, critics say; but one eagle flying in Greek 105 [e] aetou) through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the other voices of the trumpets of the three other angels, which are yet to sound!”

— one flying eagle (105 [e] aetou, critics say; a solitary eagle flying could be one of the four living creatures in Revelation 4; but an eagle flying round the earth could be as the harbinger, a symbol of an angel flying likewise;

— Woe, woe, woe; three times, to the inhabitants of the earth; all peoples, without exception: heavy calamities coming to all; answerable to the three trumpets yet to be blown; and which are therefore called the woe trumpets: and these woes are denounced.

~~~

More about the missing Holy Ghost; indeed he’s real and around; he was created full of wisdom and beauty, his head swelled up so much that he wanted to be like the Most High:

These clues are giving in the book of Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14;

Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

“Son of man, take up a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say unto him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: “‘Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering: the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold; the workmanship of thy taborets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth, and I have set thee so; thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee” (Ezekiel 28:11-15)

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer (H1966 hêlēl), son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, who didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’ (Isaiah 14:12-14)

That’s why the “Holy Ghost” was missing all the while; cast down from heaven, and those around the throne has no place for him! Such doctrine was invented by the Great Whore of Babylon, and shared widely by her numerous harlotry daughters; better known as of the Synagogue of Satan!

Posted in Revelation

John is back in vision, his second vision and presents the majesty of God on His throne. A new encounter is experienced, a scroll: And I saw on the right hand of Him that was sitting on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

Revelation 5

¹ And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals. — and this may be truly said to be at the right hand of God, and from thence taken by the Lamb of the tribe of Judah;

— a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals: this book was very much like Ezekiel’s roll, Ezekiel 2:9; which was written “within” and “without” ~ in front and behind, implying fullness and completeness, and indeed it was in the form of a roll;

— sealed with seven seals, as seven is a number for perfection, it may mean that the book was so sealed that the seals could neither be counterfeited nor broken; the matter of the book was so obscure and the work it enjoined and the facts it predicted so difficult and stupendous, that they could neither be known nor performed by any human.

² And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?” — who is worthy to open the book, or to loose the seals, suggesting, that if there is any such person, he would be a person of greatness and worth, to take a book, this book of Revelation, out of his right hand;

— and as it was sealed, to unseal it and explain it to others, as it afterwards was in the following scenes and visions, and gave a view of all that is contained in it; and how to accomplish all the prophecies in it; and who can or is worthy to do all this, but he that sits at the right hand of God?

³ And no man in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. — and no man in heaven; whether angels, nor any of the four beasts, nor any of the twenty-four saints;

— nor on earth: among all the men on earth, even those of the greatest sagacity and penetration, the wise, the prudent.

⁴ And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. — the Ethiopian version reads, “and many wept,” many of those that were about the throne, as well as John.

⁵ And one of the elders said unto me, “Weep not! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof.”

— weep not; cease sorrowing, do not be cast down; behold the lion of the tribe of Judah; by whom is meant Christ, who, according to the flesh, was to come out of the tribe of Judah.

⁶ And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and the four living beings, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.

— the Scriptures tell us what the seven horns and seven eyes are: these are the seven spirits of God; here the seven spirits of God have some descriptions each, each with an eye and even a horn; nevertheless since the Spirit is inherently holy, there would be seven holy spirits, or seven Holy Spirits;

— and we would add Jesus the Son and God the Father, resulting in nine Personage. Nine in the Godhead; we should have a Polygon or a Nonagon; it might be more realistic to believe in the Polyty or a Nonaty, nine heads, that would be more like the Hindu goddess, Kali, with numerous heads, legs and hands but certainly wouldn’t be a Trinity; (for more, see endnote to this chapter; and What Is the Holy Spirit?)

— the root of David; Christ called the root of Jesse in Isaiah 11:10; and the meaning either is, that he is a branch that springs out of the roots of Jesse and David, is David’s son and offspring, according to his human nature; see Revelation 22:16;

⁷ And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne. — and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne; as in Revelation 1:1; and the authority to open it, and make it manifest to others, and to accomplish many events, over several eras of time.

⁸ And when He had taken the book, the four living beings and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints.

— here “the prayers of saints” it is hinting who the twenty-four elders are, every one of them with harps and golden vials full of incense; the prayers of the 24 elders are that of saints, not angels.

⁹ And they sang a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, from every kindred and tongue, and people and nation,

— these 24 elders are singing, praising God, “for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us”; only humans are redeemed “redeem us” ~ angels are not known to be redeemed.

¹⁰ and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth.” — a parallel Scripture in Exodus being fulfilled: “And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation;’

— these are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel,” Exodus 19:6; some versions have “kings and priests.” ‘And ye shall be unto me kings and priests and a holy nation.’

¹¹ And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living beings and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,

— and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; an innumerable multitude; and yet these are but a part of the holy angels; afterward, (Revelation 7:11).

¹² saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength, and honor and glory and blessing!”

— worthy is the Lamb that was slain; they address him as the Lamb and their Lord; and speak of him as having been slain, and celebrate the virtue and efficacy of his sufferings and death, and ascribe his worthiness to receive such glory and honour.

¹³ And I heard every creature which is in heaven and on the earth, and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, saying, “Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever!”

— the hymn of praise is taken up by a larger circle of angels and saints, in a sacred concert with such magnificent singing around the throne of God: And I saw, and I heard as the voice of many angels round about the throne and the living beings and the elders;

— with eyes and ears that mere held open by the inexpressible wonder of it all John took notice of the countless celestial beings as they circled round the throne and the cherubs and the elders, their voices rising in such anthems of glory as pertain to the realms of eternal joy.

¹⁴ And the four living beings said, “Amen.” And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped Him that liveth for ever and ever.

~~~

The seven spirits of God, having seven horns and seven eyes, which mean each spirit has a horn and an eye, but what does this mean? In Zechariah 3:9 and Zechariah 4:10, they mention what is made of the seven eyes of the Lord, which go forth over all the earth.

“For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof,’ saith the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day” Zechariah 3:9

“For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth” Zechariah 4:10

A horn represents power and strength, like bull’s horn, and an eye represents all seeing and all knowing; both the horns and the eyes are the seven Spirits or seven Angels of God sent forth into all the earth; therefore having seven horns and seven eyes represent God’s omnipotence and God’s omniscience that operate everywhere in the universe.

And that through this effectual working of the seven spirit or seven angels of God (there are no capital letters in Hebrew), which goes throughout the whole creation: and both in the natural as well as spiritual world, it demonstrates the magnificence, elegance and augustness of God’s Omnipotence and Omniscience!

Yet the spirit is not “might” nor “power” as in Zechariah 4:6, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ saith the Lord of hosts. Hence the spirits of God is not an impersonal force like electrical current, neither is it another personage.

Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” And Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had said. Exodus 8:19

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, doubt not the Kingdom of God is come upon you. Luke 11:20

A finger, like an eye of God, is not a separate person but an extension of ones being, yet sometimes, it seems like it is capable of acting on its own. So the mystery remains beyond our human comprehension for this time, but could be revealed further at a latter time; or our mind, perhaps, could be better enhanced at a latter time to capture its full meaning.

Revelation 6

Chapter 6 opens with the vision of the opening six of the seals of the sealed book, by the Lamb, and of the events that follows.

¹ And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder, one of the four living beings saying, “Come and see!”

— the preparation to the vision of the first seal; the Lamb opens it, John heard a noise like thunder, and one of the living creatures bids him come and see; upon which he saw a horse, of a white colour, and a rider on it, who is described by a bow and crown given him, and by the victory he obtained;

— one of the four living creatures speaking, the first of the four living creatures? But what does that mean? (more at the end of this chapter)

² And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer. — what is this white horse? It is a symbol, a symbol of a church; and it must be very prominent for it to be listed as riding on the first horse, so what is it?

— and this had been identified as a major Church come riding with a bow; but Christ come riding with “a sharp sword” (Revelation 19:14-15), so this subtle difference; and this Church with a bow is the Roman Church, set on conquering and to conquer;

— but Christ the Son was the Revelator, and in Matthew 24:11 Christ revealed very first condition of the times is that of false preachers, misleading and deceiving, not the few, but the many; this was the rise of the Rome Papacy. And this Papacy was proven to be the Great Whore of Babylon of whom many of her doctrines were later adopted by her numerous protesting harlot daughters.

³ And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second living being say, “Come and see!”

⁴ And there went out another horse that was red; and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another; and there was given unto him a great sword. — red, the color of blood; and this horseman, as Jesus Himself reveals, is WAR;

— there were wars in those days, but wars have not stopped; they have grown progressively worse and worse, more and more horrible and destructive, until today, we face the question of whether human life can survive the next atomic and nuclear bomb types of war!

— one of the living creatures, but this is the second one; what does this mean? “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth—blood and fire and columns (or pillars) of smoke” Joel 2:30

⁵ And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third living being say, “Come and see!” And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. — four living creatures, but this is the third. A black horse!

⁶ And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living beings say, “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine!” — but this is the third; a black horse; the famine of bread is a terrible judgement; famine! pestilence!

⁷ And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living being say, “Come and see!” — I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, come and see; this living creature was that which was like an eagle, and was on the north side of the throne, answerable to the standard of Dan, which was on the north of the camp of Israel, and had the figure of an eagle upon it;

— one of the living creatures, but this is the fourth. Famine generally follows the sword; or sword following famine.

⁸ And I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over a fourth part of the earth to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

— the fourth horse was a pale horse; pestilences, like Covid-19 epidemics of coronal virus which we’re experiencing today; or something worst; famines, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth;

— God’s four judgements, which goes about with the sword, famine, pestilence and destruction by wild beasts; of Ezekiel 14:21 “the sword and the famine and the noisome beast and the pestilence.”

⁹ And when He had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. — the fifth seal, of the seven seals of the sealed book; here is no beast speaking here, nor horse and rider presented to view;

— the position of the martyrs, “under the altar” there were in the temple at Jerusalem two altars; the altar of burnt sacrifices, and the altar of incense; and these were the souls of such as “were slain” their bodies were dead, and that they may live after their resurrection in a spiritual state;

¹⁰ And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” — and they “them that were slain” cried with a loud voice as making an appeal to the injured justice of God. This cry began way back under the first Roman persecution;

— they knew their blood would be avenged, but they cried out “how long and execute judgement?”

¹¹ And white robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants and also their brethren, who were to be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. — white robes were given unto every one of them as a token of their justification, and favorable acceptance with God; of their victory and triumph over death, their joy and glory.

¹² And I beheld when He had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; — and a great earthquake happened, and the sun became black as sackcloth, and the full moon became like blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig-tree casts her figs when shaken by a mighty wind;

— with the opening of the sixth seal by the Lamb the special signs which should usher in the last day were enacted before John; there was a great and terrible earthquake; the shaking extends to heaven as well as earth, as spoken of by Haggai: shake not the earth only, but also the heavens that are shaken, Haggai 2:6;

— and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon all became as blood, and the stars of the heaven fell to the earth, Joel 2:30-31

¹³ and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken by a mighty wind. — and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth; all the other deities of wood and stones lost their esteem, worship and honor;

— for the idol temples being now opened, the idols and statues were exposed to the common people, and were found to be stuffed with hay and straw, which brought them into great contempt.

¹⁴ And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places. — every mountain and island were moved out of their places;

— by “every mountain” may be meant the places of idolatrous worship, which were usually upon mountains; see Jeremiah 3:6; which were now shut up, or demolished, or used for Christian worship; and “every island” being moved also may show, that Paganism was not only rooted out of the provinces of the empire upon the continent, but out of the islands also;

— a parallel Scripture in Isaiah: “The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again” Isaiah 24:19-20

¹⁵ And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

— and all the kings of the earth and all the mighty ones and their princes and the wealthy and the strong ones and every slave and freeman hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains;

— and said to the mountains and the rocks, Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand? Here the terror and despair of the enemies of the Lord, of which he himself has prophesied.

¹⁶ and they said to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb! — and they all, filled with unspeakable dread, will cower in abject terror and fly to the crags and caves of the mountains;

— all vainly hoping to find a spot where the angry glances of God will not strike them, where the wrath of the Lamb will not find them. That is what the breaking of the sixth seal uncovered: the terrors of the godless world on the day of the Judgement by God.

¹⁷ For the great Day of His wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?” — “the great Day of His wrath” is expressed elsewhere Revelation 1:10 as the Lord’s Day, or a Day of Judgement; and who shall be able to stand? against either of them, or in their presence, and so as to bear their wrath and displeasure; all which expresses guilt, shame, fear, and despair. The details of God’s wrath are to be revealed in the next chapter.

~~~

The four living creatures, or four beasts could be the same as what Ezekiel saw of a Cherub in opening chapter of Ezekiel:

“As for the likeness of their faces, all four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side, and all four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle,” Ezekiel 1:10.

The face of a man could also be that of a cherub. But the question is, are these faces as it appeared in Revelation 6 the same as in Ezekiel 1?

Posted in Revelation

The Churches mentioned in Revelation chapters 2-3 must be real; and that their spiritual state is literally in danger of decays; but they could also have reference to the state of the Church in later stages of its history, each with its flaws pointed out.

God knows all their strengths and flaws. The messenger or the angel could well be giving the Churches certain warnings pertaining to each and every era of the Churches so as to address and correct those issues concern.

Again, it should be emphasized that the only sign God has given mankind being classified as his true Church is the Sabbaths; it is a sign between God and man (Exodus 31:13) that keepers of the Sabbaths are his elect:

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you,” Exodus 31:13.

“To sanctify” means to make holy; Sabbath-keepers are to be made holy before God! Hence all Sunday-keeping churches, without exception, disqualify themselves as being God’s church! Going through the same ritual every Sunday, they are not worthy of mention, but at best, they are just pretenders, or they could be better known biblically as that of the Synagogue of Satan!

Revelation 3

In Chapter 2, we went through the Ephesian era, the Smyrnian era, the Pergamenian era, and the Thyatira Era; here the last three Church eras continue . . .

For more in-depth readings, see A History of the True Church by Dr Hoeh; Dugger&Dodd

(5) The Sardis Era

¹ “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘These things saith He that hath the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know thy works, and that thou hast a name that thou livest, but thou art dead. — here were seven Spirits of God, and since the Spirit is inherently holy, there would be seven Holy Spirits; which they call a “Ghost.” Seven Ghosts!

— and we would add Jesus the Son and God the Father, resulting in Nine Personage. Nine in the Godhead; we should have a Polygon or a Nonagon; it might be more realistic to believe in the Polyty or a Nonaty, but certainly wouldn’t be a Trinity;

² Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found thy works perfect before God.

— “ready to die” one of the characteristics of this church, namely the Church of God, Seventh Day, is that they believe there is no new truth; which means there no nothing more to be revealed; nothing else to be learned, and therefore it is deemed “ready to die” a dead church: “that thou hast a name that thou livest, but thou art dead, (verse1).”

The Church of God, Seventh Day, represents a line of Sabbatarian Adventists that rejected the visions and teachings of Ellen G White before the formation of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1863. Robert Coulter, ex-president and official historian of the General Conference of the Church of God, Seventh Day, in his book, The Journey, says:

A History of the Church of God (Seventh Day) (2014) credits Gilbert Cranmer of Michigan as being the founder of the church. Cranmer was a Christian Connection minister and a biblical Unitarian. He was introduced to Sabbath keeping in 1852 by Joseph Bates, known as the founder and developer of Sabbatarian Adventism.

In 1858, five years before the founding of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a group led by Cranmer separated from the Adventists who supported James Springer White and Ellen G White. Another independent Sabbatarian Adventist body formed in Iowa in 1860, and joined with the Church of God, Seventh Day, in 1863.

³ Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard; and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

⁴ Thou hast a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. — Christology has been a long debated issue in the Churches of God (7th Day); a position paper written by the Jerusalem Conference states the following:

“The Amen, the faithful and the true witness is no one else but Jesus Christ and speaking of himself he said, he is “the beginning of the creation of God” that is, the very first manifested act of YHWH was the creation of his son Yehoshua (Jesus).

Do other scriptures support this? Col 1:15 “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.” A creature is life which has been created, whether terrestrial or celestial: Colossians supports Revelation, it says of Christ he is “the firstborn of every creature.”

⁵ He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life, but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

— more on “but thou art dead” ~ the Church of God, Seventh Day, or CoG7 has a good name; showing “that thou livest” but it is a dead church actually. This dead church is like a behemoth being swept up upon a beach at night and all who came into contact with it in the morning wonders whether it is dead or still alive. To revive such a behemoth would require some herculean efforts if it still has any chance of revival.

Besides the Thyatira church one condition lies in the Sardis exist side by side with the Philadelphian and the Laodicean eras at the “end time” groups that may or may not be accounted worthy to escape the tribulation.

They were refusing to repent and allow the spirit to work through them to establish the truth that was ready to perish!

⁶ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches!’

Within this Church of God, Seventh Day, or CoG7, an ambitious man grew among the brethren; and not long after his ordination in 1931, and when certain leading ministers demanded that no more new truth be preached to the brethren, he broke off and started his own branch; he was Herbert W Armstrong.

(6) The Philadelphia Era

Most of the congregations of the CoG7 succumbed to spiritual growth; dying, but the age of this Sardis continues, limping along. Elsewhere, the era of Philadelphia had began.

Paul was chosen, who was highly train in Judaism, for spreading the gospel to the Gentiles. He later raised up Peter Waldo, a successful businessman, to keep His truth alive during the Middle Ages. In later days when the Gospel must go around the world, a man trained in advertising was tasked to shoulder the mission, Herbert W Armstrong;

⁷ “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: ‘These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth:

⁸ I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My name. — here is a church with little strength, few in numbers, but which has kept the word of God; here is a church which would preach the gospel with power before it an open door;

Paul was struck down; in like manner Herbert Armstrong’s business went bankrupt in order that he might come to understand the truth;

Shortly before this event, God had opened the mind of Mrs Armstrong to understand the Sabbath truth from an elderly Church of God woman. After six months of study, unsupervised, in a persistent effort to prove Sabbath-keeping unscriptural, Armstrong accepted the Sabbath.

⁹ Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie — Satan’s collections are generally known as the Synagogue (G4864 assembly or gathering) of Satan;

— behold, I will make them, assemblies or gatherings, to come and worship at thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

¹⁰ Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth.

¹¹ Behold, I come quickly; hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. — from this moment forward, Mr and Mrs Armstrong came to understand further truths. The brethren with whom they associated became interested that Herbert soon found himself speaking at their insistence; then preaching to small groups in Oregon!

¹² Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more; and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name.

¹³ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches!’

During Herbert Armstrong’s reign, the church grew rapidly, claimed of up to 30 percent year on year for some 30 years. But as the organization grew in wealth, so did its membership; pride went into his head and claiming his is the one and only true Church, Herbert became a tyrant like any other tyrants one could be found in the African continent.

And when enriching himself for self importance, he flew in a corporate Grumman Gulfstream II, pursuing a political agenda while meeting with dictators from many countries, including the Middle East (Egypt, Jordan and Israel), India, the Philippines, Thailand and Japan; and his apostate treasures of plates and cutleries would of no less eminence than that of the Czars.

A few unauthorized biographies could give more details of his wretched life:

(a) Herbert Armstrong’s Tangled Web, An Insider’s View of the Worldwide Church of God, by David Robinson, 1980

(b) The Truth Shall Make You Free, Herbert Armstrong’s Empire Exposed, by John Tuit, 1981

When Herbert Armstrong died in January 16, 1986, the mantle passed on to Joseph W Tkach (Sr), but the same dictatorial and totalitarian structure managed under the Armstrong regime continued. By 1991 some members were able to detect changes within the organization. For the most part, little change, if any, spilled over to the membership until 1993.

At that time, a new recruiting and marketing strategy was launched in an effort to train members to recruit through evangelism techniques. The World Tomorrow television program did not result in new recruiting and the Plain Truth lost renewals and subscribers and the church went into rapid decline. And then it collapsed and suddenly disappeared.

In him covering up feelings of inferiority with an inflated ego was the next era started, the Laodicean:

(7) The Laodicean Era

But spiritually Herbert Armstrong and the church become blind, stiffnecked, unable to see that Passover is a composite festival celebrated from the fourteenth to the twenty-first of Nisan:

“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten,” (Ezekiel 45:21); and Pentecost, he followed the Samaritan version of always having it on a Sunday.

¹⁴ “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: ‘These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God:

¹⁵ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot.

¹⁶ So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of My mouth.

The Targum is another source of the Bible, much like the Masoretic Text and the Septuagint; and to dismiss it as another testimony for spiritual inspiration and understanding, as virtually all the endtime Churches do, is an absolute disgrace.

The Targum was started by Ezra for those returning from the Babylon exile and for these returnees they could only understand the Scriptures in Aramaic. That is, the Targum is as if Ezra is speaking to us today from the Hebrew Bible quoted.

Hence, for ignoring the Targum as an authority for Understanding and Truth, the endtime Churches of God is being described as wretches, blind and naked; and would be thus justifiably destined to be spewed out of God’s mouth!

¹⁷ Because thou sayest, “I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing,” and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked,

After Herbert Armstrong’s death in 1986, many splinters broke off; made up of individuals who are spiritually lukewarm! each saying to the other: “I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing.”

His college, Ambassador College, was built on sands, and within a few years of his death, students enrollment collapsed, faulty dismissed or sacked and the land and properties of the college sold.

¹⁸ I counsel thee to buy from Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear, and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.

¹⁹ As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Gradually, the assets (airplanes, land, convention centers, Pasadena headquarters, etc) of the Worldwide Church of God organization were sold. Some holdings were transferred to the “extension” churches. In March 2003 they sold the copyrights of Herbert Armstrong’s literature to an offshoot, Philadelphia Church of God, for $3 million in July 2004 auctioned off many valuable items which PCG purchased.

The multimillion-dollar empire has simultaneously downsized its lucrative holdings, creating factions within the membership. The WCG offered no accountability for its financial dealings. They claimed it was audited by a reputable firm, but refuses to publish financial reports openly.

Splinter groups resulted; the Philadelphia Church of God (founded by Gerald Flurry); the United Church of God (by David Hulme); Living Church of God (Roderick Meredith); the Restored Church of God (David Pack); and many others; all collectively described as “wretched and miserable, and poor and blind and naked.”

²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.

²¹ To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with Me on My throne, even as I also overcame and am set down with My Father on His throne.

— instead of overcoming, some of these smaller splinters succumbed to the whims of the devil; without any evidence, they charge a man of God, Ezra, (one who “had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord,” Ezra 7:10), of tempering the Scriptures, making it a forgery:

“Whatever I command you, observe to do it. Thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it (Deuteronomy 12:32). Vandalizing the Bible is a serious charge, risking eternal life; as warned in Revelation:

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book,” Revelation 22:18-19.

But on the other hand, if Ezra isn’t guilty of vandalizing, then his accusers would be in danger of death.

Fred R Coulter, in his book, “The Christian Passover,” says:

Although Deuteronomy 16 contains instructions for the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the two other holy days seasons, the fact that the word “Passover” appears in Verse 1 has caused great confusion in the minds of many Bible students and scholars. They are not aware that these verses were edited by Ezra long after the book of Deuteronomy was originally written, and that in Ezra’s time the entire eight-day observance of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread was called “Passover.” When we understand that the term “Passover” was used for the Feast of Unleavened bread, the seeming discrepancy between Deuteronomy 16 and other Scriptural passages is eliminated. (Passover, pg 165)

Fred Coulter’s charge isn’t alone. He has two other comrades who share his view; namely Frank Nelte and John Ritenbaugh.

From Frank W Nelte, referring to Deuteronomy 16:1, 2, 4, 5, 6

These verses, he wrote, claiming of a forgery by Ezra, give the impression that the Passover is being spoken about. But the word “Passover” was deviously inserted into these verses by some dishonest scribe. The motivation for these devious changes was to justify the Jewish custom of referring to the Seven Days of Unleavened Bread as “Passover.”

The evidence for the fraudulent changes in this section of Scripture is not found in preserved manuscripts but in the pages of the Bible itself. We are dealing with a passage that is absolutely vital to upholding a Jewish belief, which belief is clearly unbiblical according to all the other Scriptures in the entire Old Testament. And these fraudulent changes have been accepted in every preserved manuscript, because they endorse a specific Jewish custom.

In addition, there is also a mistranslation in verse 6.

The only evidence for these alterations consists of exposing incompatible, contradictory and illogical statements in the changed text, when compared to other biblical passages. The person who altered this text overlooked some things which expose his fraudulent tampering.

Here are the changes that were made:

In these verses some scribe REMOVED the expression “the Feast of Unleavened Bread” from verse 1, and then REPLACED IT with the word “Passover.” In addition, this scribe also simply INSERTED the word “Passover” into the text of verses 2, 5 and 6. (SOME SCRIBES CHANGE THE TEXT OF DEUTERONOMY 16:1-6).

From John W Ritenbaugh:

In the context of Deuteronomy 16, the word “Passover” is beginning to look clearly out of place. As we continue to look further, we are going to see that verses 1-8 have nothing to do at all with instructions for the Passover lamb, but rather for Unleavened Bread, and specifically the Night To Be Much Observed, which is of course the first night after the Passover, not the same night as the Passover.

How did the name “Passover” get in there? God certainly did not inspire it to be in there. It had to have been edited into Deuteronomy 16 at a much later time (when the entire eight days of the spring festival were commonly called Passover) than from when it was originally written. You will see this very clearly in the New Testament that the entire spring feast was commonly called Passover by the Jews. Somebody, in copying, must have deliberately removed the name “Unleavened Bread” and placed the name “Passover” into Deuteronomy 16 in order to give support to a 15th Passover—to a Temple-centered 15th Passover (Passover transcript, Part 9). 

“Who would have the authority to make such a change from Unleavened Bread to Passover in Deuteronomy 16? The finger of history points to someone during or after the time of Ezra. Ezra came along in the period roughly between 530 BC and about 515 BC. When Ezra came on the scene, the Jews, who had just come out of captivity, were again starting down the same path that originally took them into captivity” (Passover transcript, Part 10).

Tampering and forging God’s Word are serious charges, whose penalty is death (Revelation 22:18-19):

“For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book: If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City, and from the things which are written in this book,” Revelation 22:18-19.

And to conclude this, maybe this need to be repeated: “if Ezra isn’t guilty of vandalizing, or forging a forgery; then his accusers would be in danger of death,” all three of them, each guilty of his own account of such a hideous crime in making such a ghastly accusation!

²² He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches!’” — now notice the warning to the last era, at the close of this age, the Laodicea: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot:… I will spew you out of my mouth (Revelation 3:15-16);

— at the time of the end when prophecies hidden for ages are being revealed, knowledge increased; truth restored, but knowledge brings responsibility; it becomes dangerous if not handled rightly;

— notice Jesus’ admonition for today in Luke 21:36. “Watch ye therefore and Pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape ALL these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

There seems to be a parallel warning from the Book of Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 9:

⁴ and the Lord said unto him, “Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men who sigh and who cry because of all the abominations that are done in the midst thereof.”
⁵ And to the others He said in mine hearing, “Go ye after him through the city and smite. Let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity.
⁶ Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” Then they began with the elder men who were before the house. Ezekiel 9:4-6

A Slaughtering is to begin at “My sanctuary” and of course, even in God’s Churches; the message and warning from Ezekiel were primarily aimed at the house of Israel, sometimes call the house of Ephraim; and his churches, even the Churches of God that bear his name!

And broadly, in the NT time, God’s people are collectively known as the Churches of God (1Corinthians 11:16, 1Thessalonians 2:14, IIThessalonians 1:4), their strengths and problems are named and spelt out with some amazing details in Revelation 2-3; whereas Satan’s collections are generally known as of the Synagogue of Satan.

Finally, a Question for all Sunday keepers: with all the Scriptures and other resources available in your hand, and if you still couldn’t be trusted in figuring out a simple issue as to when the Sabbath is, how could you be raised as kings, who need to judge far more complex issues; or as a priests, who would be teaching others during the Millennium what the Sabbaths laws are among others?

Revelation 4

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

— Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter; here is a case of John the Apostle who, in vision, were called up into heaven, to be around the throne, and to witness what is, and what is to come;

— and later (in chapter 7:14), the 144,000 of the 12 tribes of Israel; these were redeemed and “that came out of great tribulation” from the earth.

² And immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the throne.

³ And He that sat thereon was to look upon like a jasper and a sardius stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in appearance like unto an emerald.

⁴ And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. — who are the 24 elders; are they angels or humans?

— note that these twenty-four elders “clothed in white raiment” each has a crown; and angels are never known to have any crown, hence these 24 are humans; they’re resurrected saints, (more at the end).

⁵ And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God; — “seven Spirits” again, if these Spirits are Beings or each an independent Personage; there would be seven Holy Spirits;

— and with these we would add Jesus Christ the Son, and God the Father, then there would be nine Personage; we should have a Polygon or a Nonagon; so surely the Godhead would be a Polyty or a Nonaty; nine heads, that would be more like an Indian goddess more than a Trinity? (for more, see What Is the Holy Spirit?)

⁶ and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living beings full of eyes in front and behind.

⁷ And the first being was like a lion, and the second being like a calf, and the third being had the face of a man, and the fourth being was like a flying eagle.

— this is very similar, yet different from, to what Ezekiel saw in his vision (Ezekiel 1); similar: the Cherub had four faces; the face of a MAN (REUBEN) on the South; of a LION (JUDAH) on the East; the face of an OX (EPHRAIM) on the West and an EAGLE (DAN) on the North. But here in Revelation 4, the four creatures EACH has a distinct face.

⁸ And each of the four living beings had six wings about him, and they were full of eyes within; and they rested not day and night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come!”

— in Ezekiel 1 the four cherubim each has four wings; same as in Ezekiel 10; but here they each has 6 wings. Why the difference? Probably they are different sets of cherubim?

⁹ And when those living beings give glory and honor and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

¹⁰ the four and twenty elders fall down before Him that sits on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, — the 24 elders fall down and worship God the Father;

¹¹ “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are, and were created.”

~~~

Who are the 24 Elders in Revelation?

Who are the Twenty four Elders in Revelation? Whenever I heard conversation on this topic, my heart jumps onto my throat.

Revelation 4:

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

² And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne.

³ And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.

⁴ And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

Q. Who are these Twenty four Elders set around a throne in heaven? Would they be:

(a) Angelic beings, not humans. Jesus said only He had down from heaven John 3:13 And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, so the twenty four elders could not be humans as identified in Revelation 4:4. During the first resurrection, when Christ return, the saints will rise first, Satan bound (Revelation 20:1-4).

They will meet Christ in the air, and when Christ set his feet in Jerusalem, the saints will be with Christ forever (1 Thess 4:16-17). Further, among the restored 18 vital truths to the True Church since 1933 (Mystery of the Ages, Dodd & Mead, 1985, p290), Herbert W Armstrong came in the spirit of Elijah (Malachi 4:5), to establish the foundation of the True Church, and to restore all things (Matt 17:11, Mark 9:12, Acts 3:21).

“Rain” and soon a storm appeared; “Drought” and the land suffered three and a half years of constipation! When you look at the preceding two or three verses in Acts 3:19-20, this restitution of all things by Elijah is in the context of Christ returning back to this earth. Hence these truths are solidified and sealed.

(b) Saints, not angelic beings. First, search the Scriptures, the word or title “elder” is nowhere applied to angels, but only to humans, or once humans. Second, in Rev 5:9, these 24 elders were redeemed by the Lamb’s blood.

The exact phase “and hast redeemed us (Strong’s G2248: hémas; our, us, we).” Only humans, not angels, were to be redeemed to God by Christ’s blood out of every kindred, tongue and nation. And in Rev 5:10 And hast made us (G2248) unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth (Those versions that translated as them for us and they for we are erroneous).

Again, only humans were promised to be kings and priests to reign on earth, not angels. Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? 1 Corinthians 6:2. Finally, only members of God’s family, or members of Elohim (not angelic beings) are given crowns in heaven (Satan might have a crown too but he’s restricted on this earth).

The Greek word for crown in Rev 4:4 (Strong’s G4735 as in Rev 2:10) is stephanos which is crown, a garland wreath as awarded to overcomers or winners as in Greek games.

So the overwhelming evidence is that these 24 elders are most likely humans; they’re resurrected saints and not angelic beings.

Posted in Revelation

John was an eyewitness of the Logos, the Word of God, and who bore a faithful record of him as such, as he did in his discipleship, in a very remarkable manner from this writer’s being in the isle of Patmos when he wrote and bore witness.

The book of Revelation was written by John is clear not only from the expressed mention of his name, but also from his office as a student and servant of Jesus Christ.

The timing of the book of Revelation could most likely be running parallel with some major Keystone events in the Old Testament, especially those recorded by Ezekiel; for a detailed study, see, Sequence of Keystone Prophecies till the End

¹ The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass. And He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John, — the Revelation of Jesus Christ, not John; it was Christ who bids John to write to the seven churches: “What thou seest, write in a book;”

— hence John is a witness but he is not the Revelator! This is a revelation of Jesus Christ which the Father gave unto His Son to show unto an earthly servant, John, things which must shortly come to pass.

² who bore record of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. — who bore record of the word of God; of the eternal Word of God, of the Father and his only Son; as John the apostle did in his Gospel, and in his epistles, and also in this book.

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

— and they that hear the words of this prophecy; that listen attentively to the reading and exposition of this book, and have ears to hear, so as to understand the prophecies contained in it: but some versions read it as either, “blessed is he that readeth and heareth” or “blessed are they that read and they that hear.”

⁴ John, To the seven churches in Asia: Grace be unto you and peace from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits which are before His throne; — John introducing himself similarly as others in the OT, and as an example: “The word of the Lord came unto Ezekiel, the priest;

— and from “the seven spirits” which are before his throne; before the throne of God the Father; are meant the angels that stand before the throne of God, and are ready to do his will: this is also mentioned with reference to the seven angels of the churches;

— very often at other times, the hand of God is also the spirit of God; as in Ezekiel 3:14, “in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me; hence the spirit is the hand of the Lord and is not a person;

— hence the spirit of God could either be (a) an angel of God; or (b) a hand of God; (more at the end).

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first-begotten of the dead, and the prince over the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

— and the prince of the kings of the earth: which is to be understood figuratively of the saints, who have power over the world, through Christ, and of whom he is the Prince; above whom there is a King, where the Prince asked us to address as the Father.

⁶ and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

— reference seems to be headed to Exodus 19:6: “and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests”; which the Jonathan Targum renders, “And before Me you shall be crowned kings, and sanctified priests,”

— parallel Scriptures in Chapter 5:

⁹ And they sang a new song, saying, “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof; for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood, from every kindred and tongue, and people and nation,

¹⁰ and hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth,” Revelation 5:9-10

⁷ Behold, He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they also who pierced Him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so. Amen.

— every eye shall see him, and they (they were who = “whosoever”) also which pierced him; here again is a reference to the incident of the piercing of Christ’s side (John 19:34), recorded only by John.

— and also a reference to Zechariah 12:10; “and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son.”

⁸ “I Am Alpha And Omega, the Beginning and the Ending,” saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

— this is the Son, the Alpha and Omega; the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet; One who was pierced, referenced earlier in verse 7; he is also the beginning and the ending; that is, as aleph is the beginning of the Hebrew alphabet; and cause of all things; as tau is the last.

⁹ I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. — early Christian writers said John “was banished to Patmos” by Domitian emperor of Rome, in about 94 AD;

¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet,

— I was in the Spirit; in a prophetic vision; this has many parallels in Ezekiel, “And the Spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me, and set me upon my feet, so that I heard Him who spoke unto me,” Ezekiel 2:2;

— also, “Then the Spirit entered into me and set me upon my feet, and spoke with me and said unto me, “Go, shut thyself within thine house,” Ezekiel 3:24;

— any person reading the book of Ezekiel would not say that was another person talking to Ezekiel, but why would Catholics and Protestants invent that this spirit is a person in Revelation 1:10?; and if so, there (in verse 4 above) were seven spirits?

— on “the Lord’s Day” is actually the Day of God’s judgement; “the day of Judgement” (Encyclopedia Biblica, article “Lord’s Day”); in later years, when the Roman Church became getting more prominent this was reinterpreted to mean the day of Christ’s resurrection, Sunday; hence nowadays, “the Lord’s Day” has become a commemorative day for Sunday.

¹¹ saying, “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last,” and, “What thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia: unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.”

— “I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last,” this has the same expression as in verse 8 earlier: the “I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending.”

¹² And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;

— and I turned; for he had heard the voice behind him; this Being who spoke, from this verse alone, could either be the Father, or it could also be the Son to see the person from whom the voice came from.

¹³ and in the midst of the seven candlesticks One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the breast with a golden girdle. — like unto the Son of man; this is similar to Daniel 7:13;

— John now describes what he saw: And having turned around, I saw seven golden lamp-stands, and in the midst of the lamp-stands one similar to a Son of Man clothed in a long robe and girded across his breast with a golden belt. The prophet saw, not a single candlestick, but seven candlesticks with seven lamps, Exodus 25:37;

¹⁴ His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were as a flame of fire; — and his eyes were as a flame of fire: see Daniel 10:6; which is the omniscience of the Son of God;

— and (a) his presence, like flames of fire, melts their souls into a true and genuine repentance for sin: or else, (b) his eyes of wrath and vengeance, as set upon his enemies are meant: will be fierce and furious and bring swift and sudden destruction on them.

¹⁵ and His feet like unto fine brass, as though they burned in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters. — the sound of many waters; of a waterfall; or of a cataract; or as the roar of the ocean dashing upon a rock or the shore;

— this description “the sound of many waters” is found in Ezekiel 43:2, “the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.”

¹⁶ And He had in His right hand seven stars, and out of His mouth went a sharp two edged sword, and His countenance shone as the sun shineth in his strength.

— in his right hand seven stars; the stars are representing the seven angels, messengers, or the seven churches; their presence in the right hand of Christ shows that they are under his special care and protection;

— and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword; which designs the word of God; this comes out of the mouth of Christ, it is the word of God; and is a sharp sword, contains sharp reproofs for sin, severe threats of punishment against any disobedience;

¹⁷ And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, “Fear not; I am the First and the Last. — when John saw him, he fell at his feet as dead; the appearance of the glory of the Lord had the same effect upon Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1:28.

¹⁸ I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death. — I am he that liveth, and was dead; I am Christ the Savior, who had died for mankind; and being raised from the dead, has the keys of life and death; to destroy the living or raise the dead.

¹⁹ Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter. — write the things which thou hast seen; these visions are for general instruction, and therefore every circumstance must be faithfully recorded. What John had seen was to be written; and what he was to see afterwards, must also be recorded.

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

— the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; that is, the seven stars which John saw in Christ’s right hand, represent the angels, or the seven churches of Asia, and in them all their pastors and ministers of the churches in all the periods of time until Christ’s second coming.

~~~~

Sometimes, the “hand of God” verses the “spirit of God” could be read interchangeably; and this is true in the following instance:

The word of the Lord came expressly unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the River Chebar; and the hand of the Lord was there upon him. Ezekiel 1:3

So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. Ezekiel 3:14

And the hand of the Lord was there upon me; and He said unto me, “Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will there talk with thee.” Ezekiel 3:22

And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in mine house and the elders of Judah sat before me, that the hand of the Lord God fell there upon me. Ezekiel 8:1

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, Ezekiel 37:1

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, on the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither. Ezekiel 40:1

In that day shall Egypt be like unto women; and it shall be afraid and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He shaketh over it. Isaiah 19:16

Lord, when Thy hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of Thine enemies shall devour them. Isaiah 26:11

I have made the earth and created man upon it; I, even My hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded. Isaiah 45:12

And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb; and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward His servants, and His indignation toward His enemies. Isaiah 66:14

The “angel of God” verses the “spirit of God” could be read interchangeably; and spirits, as angels can speak too; this is true in the following instance:

Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! Isaiah 37:36.

My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths; and they haven’t harmed me, for I was found innocent before him. And also before you, Your Majesty, I have not done harm,” Daniel 6:22.

I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are,” Zechariah 1:9.

Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him, Zechariah 3:1

If the Spirit is a Being or an independent Personage by itself/himself; there would be seven Spirits (Revelation 3:1) before the heavenly Throne; and since the Spirit is inherently Holy, there should be seven Holy Spirits, as John saw them;

and with these John would add Jesus Christ the Son, and God the Father, then there would be nine Personage; this is just simple arithmetic. Therefore there couldn’t be a Trinity since there are Nine in the Godhead; we should have a Polygon (a nine sided shape) or a Nonagon (nine straight sides that meet at nine corners); so surely the Godhead would be a Polyty or a Nonaty, but certainly couldn’t be a Trinity?

Revelation 2

It’s important to note that beside the Churches as seen as historical may have metaphorical or allegorical meaning to these Churches, in term of eras, otherwise why took the time and trouble to write them down.

The Churches must be real; and that their spiritual state is pointed out; but they must have reference to the state of the Church in later stages of its history; and that the notion of what has been termed the Ephesian state, the Smyrnian state, the Pergamenian state . . . the Laodicean state, should be studied, analyzed and such expositions should be internalized by anyone who wishes to arrive at a sober and rational knowledge and understanding of Scriptures.

The messenger, or the angel could well be giving the Church certain warnings pertaining to the era of their Church so as to teach and edify those concern.

It must be emphasized that the only sign God has given mankind being classified as his true Church is the Sabbath; it is a sign between God and man (Exodus 31:13) that keepers of the Sabbath are being sanctified to be God’s elect:

“Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘Verily My Sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord who doth sanctify you,” Exodus 31:13.

Hence all Sunday-keeping churches, without exception, disqualify themselves as being God’s church! They are out of the ring! And thus, they could not be identified among the seven churches of Revelation 2 to 3.

(1) The Ephesus Era

¹ “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write: ‘These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks:

— the church at Ephesus, started on the day of Pentecost and being the original apostolic church; known originally as Nazarenes (Acts 24:5), a church whose records had been documented in the Acts of the Apostles, which patiently labored to spread the Gospel to the nations; and were met with many obstacles but remained steadfast to the truth;

² I know thy works and thy labor and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them that are evil; and how thou hast tried them that say they are apostles and are not, and hast found them liars;

— I know thy works; for the eyes of the Lord are throughout the earth, being omnipresent, beholding the evil and the good; and all things are continually open and naked before him;

— “apostles and are not, and hast found them liars” they’re false apostles, and they could be found right from the start, Simon Magus, from the Samaritans (Acts 8:9-25), who were famed for their worship of the Sun; but went on masquerading itself as a true shepherd and establishing the first mega church that ever existed;

³ and hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name’s sake hast labored and hast not fainted. — and hast not fainted; and hast persevered so as thou hast neither been seduced to other doctrine by false teachers, nor lost any integrity nor thy character.

⁴ Nevertheless, I have something against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. — I have against thee that thou hast left thy first love, namely, the zeal and fervor of it,

⁵ Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the works as at first; or else I will come unto thee quickly and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, unless thou repent.

— remember therefore from whence thou art fallen; the eminence which you once occupied; this is a call to remembrance the state in which you once were.

⁶ But this thou hast: that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. — reference in Revelation 2:14-15 that is, corrupters of the people, the existence of a sect called Nicolaitanes in the second century “which I also hate.”

The effect and doctrine of Balaam quoted by Gill:

The Samaritan Chronicle says (k) that this counsel [of Balaam] pleased the king, and he sent into the camp of Israel, on a sabbath day, twenty four thousand young women, by whom the Israelites were so seduced, that they did everything they desired them, which was just the number of those that were slain, Numbers 25:9. (k) Apud Hottinger. Exercit. Antimorin. p 109

⁷ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’ — any man, whoever can hear at all, ought carefully to hear this;

— this Ephesus Church, headquartered at Jerusalem, fled to Pella in around 69 AD before the Romans razed the city and the Temple to the ground; until probably the time of Emperor Constantine:

Pella Wikipedia: First Christians: the “flight to Pella”

In what is known as the “flight to Pella,” sometime before the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, tradition holds that a Jewish-Christian sect of Nazoreans made their way to Pella and settled in the city which became a Jewish Christian hub during the early days of Christianity. According to Epiphanius, the disciples had been miraculously told by Christ to abandon Jerusalem because of the siege it was about to undergo.

— Paul, Barnabas; and later such men as Polycarp and Polycrates, they were called “Quartodecimani” because they kept the true Passover celebration the Jewish way on the fourteenth instead of Easter on a Sunday.

(2) The Smyrna Era

⁸ “And unto the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead and is alive: — and unto the angel of the church in Smyrna; “Smyrna was the nearest city to Ephesus, and probably for that reason was addressed in the second place.

⁹ I know thy works and tribulation and poverty (but thou art rich), and I know the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. — they called themselves Jews but from God’s point of view they are of the assembly of Satan; this is a serious charge!

What happened was an attempt by the Catholics through the Council of Nicaea to stamp out the true scattered Church from the world those who observed the true Passover?

Let the Catholic historian Eusebius, who lived in the time of Constantine, narrate how Easter began:

“But before this time another most virulent disorder had existed, and long afflicted the Church; I mean the difference respecting… Easter. For while one party asserted that the Jewish custom (as to time) should be adhered to, the other (did not).

“Accordingly, the people being thus in every place divided in this respect… no one appeared who was capable of devising a remedy…. Constantine appeared to be the only one on earth capable… He convoked a general council…”

After the Nicaean Council closed, Emperor Constantine sent the following letter to all the churches: “At this meeting the question concerning… Easter was discussed… First of all, it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this… feast we should follow the practice of the Jews…

Let us then have nothing in common with the Jews… It has been determined by the common judgement of all, that the… feast of Easter should be kept on one and the same day.” The Council of Nicea decided, under his authority, that Easter MUST be celebrated on Sunday and that the Passover must be forbidden!

— but are “the synagogue of Satan;” deserve rather to be called the synagogue of Satan? The synagogue (G4864 assembly or gathering) was a Jewish place of worship, but the word originally denoted “the assembly” or “the congregation.” Perhaps “the assembly of Satan” could be a better expression that should be used.

¹⁰ Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of Life.

— second, for the majority, on pain of death, they were to be faithful to the papacy:

“Christians shall not Judaize and be idle on Saturday, but shall work on that day; but the Lord’s day they shall especially honor, and, as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaizing, they shall be shut out from Christ” (Canon 29 AD 360)

¹¹ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death.’ — the second death; this phrase is a new one in Bible language. It points to a death which is other than that of the body; one that stands in contrast to the crown of life.

(3) The Pergamos Era

¹² “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write: ‘These things saith He that hath the sharp sword with two edges:

— as a result of the Council of Nicaea (325 AD), the great false Church commenced 1260 years of persecution (Revelation 12:6) with full force. The true Church fled into the valleys and mountains in Asia Minor and Europe.

It was the close of the twelfth century. In Lyons, France, lived an astonishingly successful and wealthy merchant, Peter Waldo (1140-1205). “One day, while in the company of some of the leading citizens, one of his friends fell lifeless at his side. Terrified by the event, he said to himself: If death had stricken me, what would have become of my soul?”

Being a Catholic, Waldo asked one of these theologians what is the PERFECT way. ‘Ah!’ answered the theologian… ‘here is Christ’s precept’: ‘”If thou wilt be perfect, go, sell that thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up thy cross and follow me.”‘” (Comba, “History of the Waldenses,” p 21).

Waldo disposed of his property by distributing to the poor. But from his wealth he also had a translation of the Scriptures made. In this translation he noticed the command to the apostles to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of God. His mind began to understand the Scriptures.

Comba stated that “he brought to the study of the Scriptures that practical common sense which had guided him in his business transactions… The word of Christ was clear enough, for Waldo it was simply a question of furnishing a literal translation” (“History” p 243).

The humble remnant of the Church of God listened to him. Soon many new disciples were coming to repentance. “His disciples became almost as many co-workers for him” (“History” p 26). The world called them Waldenses.

But in 1315 AD, long before the crusade against the Waldenses occurred, the truth of God was carried to England by a German Waldensian preacher, Walter Lollard. It took deep root for a while until the Protestant Reformation.

Through the preaching of Lollard and other helpers, hundreds were repenting. Thousands were learning for the first time that baptism means immersion — that the world’s religious holidays came from paganism and that Sunday was not the Sabbath.

It was not until about 1650 that there were again enough Sabbath keepers to establish local congregations. They often called themselves the Church of God, but the world termed them “Sabbatarians” and Sabbatarian Baptists.

From England the remnant Sabbath-keeping Church spread to America. In 1664, Stephen Mumford, sent to Newport, Rhode Island, raised up a small church mainly from Baptist converts. One by one new churches were established through continued help from the Seventh-day Baptists in England.

¹³ I know thy works and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat is; and that thou holdest fast My name and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.

— “Under the guise of Christianity, the Papal Church committed more enormities than ever disgraced the annals of paganism. Disregarding the maxims and the spirit of the Gospel, the papal Church, arming herself with the power of the sword, vexed the Church of God and wasted it for several centuries, a period most appropriately termed in history, the ‘dark ages’. “The kings of the earth, gave their power to the Beast.”

— 1209 – The Albigensian Crusades in southern France. Roman Catholic crusaders slaughter approximately 20,000 citizens of Beziers, France on July 22, 1209. Both Albigensian Christians and Catholics were slain. By the time the Roman Catholic armies finished their crusade, almost the entire population of southern France (mostly Albigensian Christians) has been exterminated; (for more, click here)

¹⁴ But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.

— the instruction Balaam gave to Balak, which is a doctrine, was that Balak should get some beautiful women in his kingdom to ply the men of Israel, and draw them into sins and impurity and so to idolatry;

— in today’s world, the pull of ecumenism is extremely strong; it is to be accepted by the world as a recognized religion, hence ecumenism as it is now commonly used refers to interdenominational cooperation between different Christian churches. These initiatives can range from local churches of different denominations operating a soup kitchen for the poor;

— hosting an ecumenical Bible study with participants from different Christian traditions, inviting all baptized Christians to partake in a Lovefeast when churches celebrate them, to holding an ecumenical Stations of the Cross service on Fridays during the Christian liturgical season of Lent with the service being held at a different local church each Friday. Many of these churches have, as a result of ecumenical dialogue, established full or partial communion agreements, so as to be considered to be within the realm of orthodox Christianity.

¹⁵ So thou also hast them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. — the natural meaning seems to suppose that the Nicolaitanes taught the same things which Balaam did; to wit, that they led the people into corrupt and licentious practices.

They called themselves by adopting the name “Seventh-day Baptists.” But as always happens, after several generations their children take truth for granted and slowly lost surrendering their wills and lives to God and soon they began teaching the false Trinity doctrine! In less than one hundred and fifty years, the English churches almost disappeared. 

Members of the Seventh-day Baptists migrated to America and the number of churches increased as the gospel was spread from state to state. But so nearly dead were these congregations that in 1802 many began to organize themselves together into a General Conference. At this serious juncture, most of the local churches joined together to form the Seventh-day Baptist General Conference where they still held these meetings today. 

¹⁶ Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. — with the Sword of my mouth; and fight against them by his Word; whose true and doctrines shall be like a Sword to devour and to destroy all false ones.

¹⁷ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it.’

— a sign and testimony of newness of life in righteousness by putting on the new name, a fresh revelation of God’s name and nature whom no one inwardly knows, but only those who have received it can comprehend its full significance.

(4) The Thyatira Era

¹⁸ “And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write: ‘These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet are like fine brass:

— during the 1800s various form of revivals were initiated, both in the Jewish world (witness Abraham Geiger in Germany who started Reform Judaism); and the Christian world under various personalities but mainly located in the United States.

— during this time William Miller also arrived, starting the advent movement among Sunday-observing churches. In 1843 several followers of Miller in Washington, New Hampshire, became reacquainted with the Sabbath as a sign between God and man (Exodus 31:13). It was not until after their miserable Great Disappointment of 1844 that the general body of Adventists had the Sabbath question called to their attention.

¹⁹ I know thy works, and charity and service, and faith and thy patience, and thy works, and the last to be more than the first. — a small number accepted the Sabbath and teamed up with the few others who refused to be affiliated with the Seventh-day Baptist Conference.

— they called themselves the “Church of God” and began publishing “The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald.” Their first songbook was dedicated to “The Church of God scattered abroad.”

²⁰ Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce My servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.

— that woman Jezebel; the daughter of Ithobaal I of Tyre and the wife of Ahab, King of Israel, 1 Kings 16:31;

— Jezebel, a Phoenician princess who defiled Israel with her idolatrous practices, now calleth herself a prophetess; no other church group has a better fit than one among the Seventh-day Adventists, a Ellen G White, who fulfills this prophecy exactly to a T;

— with each passing year, new and different doctrines were being introduced by prophetess Ellen G White to explain away the Adventist disappointment of October 22, 1844. The original church members resisted initially but eventually went along with her fornication, with her “inspired testimony” from her Phoenician goddess, now established as Sister Ellen G White;

— and finally, a meeting was held by some of the members in Battle Creek, Michigan, September 28 through October 1, 1860. And that is how the Seventh-Day Adventist began to regard her officially as a prophetess, and who was responsible for naming their organization and the birth of her dreams;

Ellen G White, wrote of rays of lights from the throne in one of her “inspired” visions, or in one of her dreams, of “her revelation” about volcanoes, earthquakes and how the Flood was formed:

“At this time immense forests were buried. These have since been changed to coal, forming the extensive coal beds that now exist, and also yielding large quantities of oil. The coal and oil frequently ignite and burn beneath the surface of the earth. Thus rocks are heated, limestone is burned, and iron ore melted.

The action of the water upon the lime adds fury to the intense heat, and causes earthquakes, volcanoes, and fiery issues. As the fire and water come in contact with ledges of rock and ore, there are heavy explosions underground, which sound like muffled thunder.

The air is hot and suffocating. Volcanic eruptions follow; and these often fail to give sufficient vent to the heated elements, the earth itself is convulsed, the ground heaves and swells like the waves of the sea, great fissures appear, and sometimes cities, villages, and burning mountains are swallowed up.

These wonderful manifestations will be more and more frequent and terrible just before the second coming of Christ and the end of the world, as signs of its speedy destruction.” (Patriarchs and Prophets, Pacific Press, 1958, pg 108-109).

²¹ And I gave her space to repent of her fornication, but she repented not.

— in fact, instead of the true Passover and feast days and prophecies of the Old Testament, especially of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, their ministers taught a “third angel’s message,” which they had accepted from Ellen G White; so much emphasis that it is as if it’s more important than the Word of God itself.

²² Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. — the Adventist movement didn’t regard themselves separate from the mainstream Protestants, but rather as one of them, and in doing so, took in Trinity in their false teachings along with their annual Christmas jinglebells celebrations.

²³ And I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

— “I will kill her children with death” sounds extremely serious, and this warning is from God to those “within his church,” who emphasizes his judgement ‘kill’ and ‘death,’ confirming there must be some serious abominations within his church, serious abominations within their practices and doctrines;

— all the churches shall know; implying that these addresses are designed for the whole associated churches especially at the endtime; so shall God’s hand be seen in the judgement on Thyatira, that the whole churches shall recognize it as God’s doing.

²⁴ But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine and who have not known the depths of Satan (as they say) I will put upon you no other burden.

— there are great rewards for those who are judged faithful and true, avoiding false doctrines; yet penalties are great, too, for those who harbour many Jezebelian doctrines and teachings within.

²⁵ But that which ye have already, hold fast till I come. — the weekly Sabbath and the food law are what they have, so hold fast to what they already have, but others need lots of work to do;

²⁶ And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations,

— Jezebel and her Phoenician idolatries, he that overcometh; means he that could tell the truth from their fallacies which they have so much ingrained into their doctrines; and only then could they qualify to have authority to rule the nations;

²⁷ and “he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers,” even as I have received from My Father. — and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; there is an allusion in Psalm 2:9; “Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 

²⁸ And I will give him the morning star. — the morning star; that is, Christ will give unto him personally, who am “the morning star” (Revelation 22:16); thus reflecting Christ’s perfect brightness;

²⁹ He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches!’

~~~~

One thing which is a serious charge is that Adventists put Ellen G White’s writings ahead of Moses and the Prophets, ahead of God’s Word in actual fact; hence they stubbornly insist wine is grape juice; and Passover is observe quarterly, on every thirteenth sabbath, and not annually on the fourteenth of Nisan as the Scriptures say.

And even during the Millennium, Passover will be observed the same way as before:

“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days. Unleavened bread shall be eaten,” Ezekiel 45:21

“Behold, I will cast . . . them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent” ~ unfortunately a great tribulation await them (Revelation 2:22):

“And I will kill her children with death (Revelation 2:23)” perhaps this great tribulation should be tied in with a similar vision the prophet Ezekiel had: “Slay utterly old and young, both maids and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.” Then they began with the elder men who were before the house, Ezekiel 9:6. “Begin at My sanctuary” means his own righteous deserve to be offered as a sacrifice;

These same righteous to be slain together with the wicked could be better understood when tied in with Ezekiel 21:3, the Sword from the South! “and say to the land of Israel, ‘Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth My Sword out of his sheath and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.”

Posted in Revelation