June 2020
Brit Hadashah Reflections
Brit Hadashah Reflections 36
Hebraic understanding Hebrews and Revelation
This is a part of Scripture which is avoided by many people because of its seeming complexity. It is the only book in our Bible attributed to Yeshua Ha’mashiach Himself. Written by the Apostle John late in his life during a visionary encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. At times John is prompted, even directed, by the Lord to write what he is witnessing. One can only guess at the amazing spectacle of being so directed. What he describes is sometimes very difficult to imagine. There are quite unusual events and situations, such as have never before been encountered by mankind, to be considered, evaluated, and reckoned with. But it all comes with a promise!
After the judgement of the ‘reaping’ of the ones who had ‘the mark of the beast’ engraved on their forehead or hand, another sign is shown to John. God’s wrath has not yet been fully expended. There is one more “woe” to be visited upon the earth. This was first announced just before the seventh trumpet sounded (Revelation 11:14). John saw another seven angels, each bearing a bowl, and each bowl contained a ‘plague’. These ‘plagues’ constitute the end of the wrath of God on the earth. In front of these angels was something like a sea of glass mingled with fire. Must have been a spectacular sight. Then standing on this sea of glass were myriads of martyrs, those who had prevailed against the beast by refusing his demand to be worshipped. True to their faith, they had steadfastly refused to bear his mark on their body. It cost them their life on earth, and it saved their life for eternity.
Now this raises a seriously interesting question in my mind. A classic doctrine of the ‘church’ today, as it has been for centuries, is that of a premillennial “rapture” of the saints. It is a doctrine with which I am familiar because it is what I was taught. But the doctrine goes a bit further in that it supposes that “rapture”, (a word used to describe a resurrection of the dead and a transportation of the living into the clouds) which is not a biblical word, occurs in the middle of the seven year period of the Anti-Christ. Thus it comfortingly sees the ‘church’ avoiding the ravages of the great tribulation. The question that then arises is this. If all the believers have been taken out of the tribulation world, where do those ‘faithful’, who are martyred for their faith, come from? As occasion permits, I might revisit this topic in another subsequent ‘reflection’. But there will be more to say about this when we get to Revelation 20.
So here these martyrs stand, each with a harp of gold, ready to sing praise to their redeemer. Their minds were turned to that great moment of triumph when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt on the dry seabed of the Red Sea. And now they stand before the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. At that time Moses had led the people in his famous song of praise. “I will sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously.” Now the voices of these martyrs sing in like manner. They too sing the song of Moses, and then they sing the song of the Lamb. “Great and marvellous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints. Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, for Your judgments have been manifested.”
I find it interesting that whilst we are told in Scripture that there is NO temple in the coming New Jerusalem, (the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple) there is a temple in heaven. And out of this heavenly temple came seven angels, clothed in pure white linen, with golden chest bands. They were met by one of the four living creatures, one of the four who seemed to be the worship leaders in the throne room of God, full of eyes, constantly saying “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.” To each of the seven angels he gave a golden bowl. In those bowls was filled “with the wrath of God”. This is to be the final act of God in relation to the present world age. The third and final “woe’” of which we were warned in Revelation 11.
As the seven angels take their respective bowls of wrath, ready to deliver this final judgement, the temple of heaven was filled with smoke. Doesn’t that remind us of that mighty vision given to Isaiah when he was commissioned to take his prophetic message to the world. (Isaiah 6) The smoke was from the glory of God and from His power. And now we see that in this final act of judgement on those who bore the mark of the beast on their body, no-one in heaven is able to enter the temple there because it is filled with the “smoke” of God Himself.
The descriptions of what he saw, are provided by John, as a prophetic warning. Many people, including many who teach in our churches today, dismiss these descriptions as ‘fanciful’, because such things are too painful to contemplate. The wise among us will take heed, be prepared, and receive the blessing of eternal life.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Brit Hadashah Reflections
Brit Hadashah Reflections 35
Hebraic understanding Hebrews and Revelation
This is a part of Scripture which is avoided by many people because of its seeming complexity. It is the only book in our Bible attributed to Yeshua Ha’mashiach Himself. Written by the Apostle John late in his life during a visionary encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. At times John is prompted, even directed, by the Lord to write what he is witnessing. One can only guess at the amazing spectacle of being so directed. What he describes is sometimes very difficult to imagine. There are quite unusual events and situations, such as have never before been encountered by mankind, to be considered, evaluated, and reckoned with. But it all comes with a promise!
An amazing revelation opens our ‘reflection’ today. Firstly though, we need to understand that the chapter and verse divisions appeared only in the mid 16th century C.E.. The flow of the revelation of events to John was uninterrupted by these divisions, and so the narrative jumps directly from the mystery of the number of the name of Anti-Christ, to the vision of the one hundred and forty four thousand Jewish martyrs, complete with the name of YHWH Elohim on their foreheads. They stand there on Mount Zion with the triumphant Yeshua Ha’Mashaich, ready to serve with Him when He returns to this earth to commence His millenial reign. They were singing to the accompaniment of the music of harpists and the voice from heaven. But there is more. We now discover more detail about these Jewish martyrs. The song they were singing was a new song that no-one else could learn. Furthermore, they were virginal men. Unmarried. No commitment outside of Yeshua. Dedicated men, who had committed themselves completely to His service. They were of the first fruits of Messianic believers. Redeemed by the Lamb. Names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Righteous in His sight because their sin was forgiven. Ready to rule with Him on earth in His new Kingdom.
The sequence of events which follow is not easy to discern. The reason being that there are other passages of Scripture, notably Ezekiel 38 and 39, Daniel 9 and 12, and Zechariah 12 to 14, which make reference to the battles which occur in the last days of this age. I am of the view that there is no disharmony in the Scriptures, and I do not see any, but there is some lack of discernment in my understanding at times! In John’s vision, at this point, there are a number of angels seen flying through heaven, each with a different, but complementary, message. The first angel has the gospel message to proclaim to those left on the earth. To “to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people.” It seems like a ‘one last chance’ message. “Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of judgement has come; and worship Him who made the heaven and the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” It is not difficult to imagine the fear, the terror even, which people would feel. It must be palpable. But fear of whom? The “beast” who demands their obeisance and worship? Probably so. Then a second angel follows. His message is one of hope. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city.” In the Scriptures “Babylon” is invariably equated to evil. Jeremiah 51 has something to say about that. So the message of this angel is that ‘Evil has been defeated, you need have no fear if that again.’ In paraphrase here the message is “You are right to be afraid, but not of the one who takes your life, but of Him who can GIVE you life, eternal life. The Creator of heaven and earth.” To complement that message, a third angel proclaims in a loud voice so that all can hear. “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wrath of God etc.” This is followed by a voice from heaven. John seems dumbstruck at this point because he has to be prompted to write the message. “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” Why? Because they too will join the band of martyrs who will reign with Him upon His return.
Then the scene takes another turn. There, on a white cloud, “One like the Son of Man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.” Almost, as if discerning His unwillingness, a hesitancy to use the sharp sickle, delaying until he last possible moment, providing yet another moment of decision, another angel appears and said with a loud voice, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So He did. And we are able to see, in that act of reaping, the fulfilment of the prophetic utterances of Isaiah 63 and Joel 3. But it is not pretty is it? It is an act of judgement in Scripture. The time of giving account. The rest of the text today deals with the great scope of that sad harvest.
It is not possible to leave this account without ‘reflecting’ on the available alternative for mankind. This whole vision, given to John, was not merely to gloat over the grizzly end for those who fall under the spell of the Anti-Christ, the beast. Countless millions will be in that category. The purpose of this revelation is to serve as a gracious, loving, warning. Yeshua, the One who opened the scroll, unlocking the ‘seals’ that we might see these future events, and all that horror, was able to do so because He gave His life in order to provide the warning. It is clearly written in Revelation 13:8. The beast has NO authority over those who have their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Make sure that your name is written in that Book.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Brit Hadashah Reflections
Brit Hadashah Reflections 34
Hebraic understanding Hebrews and Revelation
This is a part of Scripture which is avoided by many people because of its seeming complexity. It is the only book in our Bible attributed to Yeshua Ha’mashiach Himself. Written by the Apostle John late in his life during a visionary encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. At times John is prompted, even directed, by the Lord to write what he is witnessing. One can only guess at the amazing spectacle of being so directed. What he describes is sometimes very difficult to imagine. There are quite unusual events and situations, such as have never before been encountered by mankind, to be considered, evaluated, and reckoned with. But it all comes with a promise!
The scene which John now saw in his vision, returns us to the future. The beast which he witnessed rising out of the sea is quite symbolic. He describes a horrible multi-headed creature with seven heads, on which are a blasphemous name. The picture is symbolic of the person we identify as Anti-Christ. He suddenly appears. In quite recent days, and for a number of years past, many have attached that title to well-known persons, usually with strong political connections. But, just like the creature in John’s vision, we are unlikely to have such a warning of his appearance on earth. He comes from the very pit of hell. Note carefully that John said that he would operate with complete authority from the Dragon, Satan himself. How was he wounded I ask myself? Well I speculate that would have occurred when he was ejected out of his heavenly place when he challenged the authority of God. But somehow, the deadly wound was healed. And as he exercised his authority, the people who were deceived by him (we don’t have to look very far today to see that a majority worship him, and not the living God) worshipped him. Even quite religious people, yes, people who regularly attend churches, worship him due to the deception which pervades our society. Many times under the banner of “fairness” and “equality” and other high sounding imperatives. It seems as though the ground work has already been done!
His deceptive actions, which we know from other Scriptures, also involve making a seven year peace treaty (Daniel 9:27) with Israel. In our visionary explanation today we see that he has free reign for the first half of that time, 42 months. I suspect that he will be treated with immense respect and honour, but then he will start to “ride a horse of a different colour”. We have already been acquainted of this as the seven ‘seals’ were opened. By this time he will exercise immense power and control over the world’s population. We can barely comprehend the scope of this person’s influence. He is given authority over every tribe, tongue, and nation. Absolutely incredible. John is shown that everyone will be taken in by him, EXCEPT those who have their names inscribed in the Lamb’s Book of Life. They, because they have read the book, and know the end from the beginning, because they have taken heed to the unblemished word of Almighty God, because they have taken the trouble to understand this prophetic vision of John in Revelation, will reject the demand to worship this “man of peace”. They will be martyred for their faith and will reign with Yeshua on this earth for one thousand years.
And then an accomplice appears. He looks like a lamb, and acts like a dragon. Ruthless. He is referred to later in Revelation as “the false prophet”. He is gifted with miraculous powers. Impressive. Irresistible. Persuasive. Demanding. Fearful and fearless. He commands an image to be made of the “man of peace”. In an awesome feat of powerful magic he causes that statue to speak. It is absolutely beyond human understanding. Try to imagine if you can, the spectacle confronting the people who stand in front of that statue. (I recall some years ago visiting Disneyland, going into a theatre there and seeing a statue of Abraham Lincoln, his lips moved, and the Gettysburg Address came from his image. But that was ‘smoke and mirrors stuff!! And everyone knew it.) I am firmly of the opinion that we are not in ‘smoke and mirrors’ territory with this ‘man of peace’. This will be the deceptive, destructive, power of Satan at work. I do not say that in reverence of him, but in recognition that he is a powerful adversary, not to be treated lightly.
And then, from this awe-inspiring display of power will come the demand that he be worshipped in the temple, on threat of death. Can you imagine any Jew acquiescing to that? I can’t. And so countless numbers of them will lose their lives, and from them, I believe, will come the 144,000 who will also reign with Yeshua in the millennial kingdom.
The final act will be to require everyone to bear his mark on their body. Hand or forehead. Without that mark it will not be possible to purchase food. A cashless society for which the world has been preparing for decades. More martyrs will be made in this period. It is called “enduring to the end.”
The last verse contains a mystery. The number of his name, 666. Every Hebrew letter has a numeric value. The first ten letters 1 to 10. The next ten letters 20, 30 40 etc. and the remainder 200, 300, 400. When you have worked it out, please let me know the answer.
Shabbat Shalom
RS
Brit Hadashah Reflections
Brit Hadashah Reflections 33
Hebraic understanding Hebrews and Revelation
This is a part of Scripture which is avoided by many people because of its seeming complexity. It is the only book in our Bible attributed to Yeshua Ha’mashiach Himself. Written by the Apostle John late in his life during a visionary encounter with the Holy Spirit of God. At times John is prompted, even directed, by the Lord to write what he is witnessing. One can only guess at the amazing spectacle of being so directed. What he describes is sometimes very difficult to imagine. There are quite unusual events and situations, such as have never before been encountered by mankind, to be considered, evaluated, and reckoned with. But it all comes with a promise!
After the seventh trumpet was sounded, and victory was being celebrated in heaven, there was another demonstration of God’s power on earth with sounds of thunder, great hail, lightenings, and an earthquake. And in heaven, a great sign appeared. It was an unusual sign. A pregnant woman, “clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. And the woman cried out in labour as she was about to give birth.”
This is one of those places in Revelation where our human understanding gets a shock! We quite naturally read the text sequentially, expecting that this is will be an event in the chronology of the future, which is what we have just been ‘reflecting’ upon. But scholars appear united in the view that this is almost certainly a ‘flash back’ to the time when Yeshua was born, and continues in a few short sentences until His triumphant return to the throne room of heaven when He was able unlock the ‘seals’ of the scroll. So it is a parallel account of the past, the present, and the future. It is an illustration of the timelines of God in comparison to our own limitations. In effect, it is a kind of ‘scene setter’, putting the context to the whole story of God’s plan for mankind.
As the story unfolds, we are given an account of the battle which took place for supremacy. “The great dragon of our text, that serpent of old, the Devil and Satan (lots of descriptive text for him), who deceives the whole world, was cast out of heaven with his angels.” This is the battle that took place in the heavenlies when it was decided that Yeshua would come to earth to rule ‘with a rod of iron’. (sound familiar?) Now we might conclude here that the time we are now living in, and all the time for centuries past, has been an interruption to God’s original plan. An interruption caused by that battle in the heavenlies which caused Satan to be thrown out of heaven. And, at the risk of being overly simplistic, in order to get that plan ‘back on track’ it was necessary for another battle to take place here on earth. Death and Hell, the domain of Satan, had to be conquered. The victory in that battle was accomplished in the life, death, and resurrection of Yeshua and His triumphant return to the throne room of heaven. And it was upon that triumphant return that He was the only one able to unlock the scroll that we might know how Satan’s role will come to an end. And that, in a proverbial ‘nutshell’ is what this Revelation vision, given to John, is really all about.
But, as we read this account of things still to take place, we see that Satan is not giving up that easily. He is putting up a strenuous fight to survive. The revelation of the events to take place to bring about his complete defeat, things which must occur to restrain him completely, are going to be utterly devastating for the earth. But then, and only then, will Yeshua return to this earth to rule for a thousand years ‘with a rod of iron’, as was the original plan. We also know that those who will rule with Him are those who continue to resist Satan to the end, those who refuse to bow down to him in worship, those who will be, and have been, martyred for their faith, together with 144,000 Jews, 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes.
We can readily recognize the events of our present day as this chapter of Scripture continues. Although there is concentration on the last three and one half years, (in our text “a time and times and half a time” quoting from the prophecy of Daniel) which we identify as the great tribulation period, there is also reference to the whole of mankind, and particularly to those who through the ages have come to put their trust in Yeshua. They are the ones who have borne, and who still bear, the brunt of Satan’s attacks. And if anyone cares to think about it, we cannot escape the fact that the people group who, through the ages, have known the greatest indescribable and most continuous persecution are those who are called by God’s name, the Jews. These are people who outwardly, overtly, obviously, wear their allegiance to YHWH Elohim as a badge of honour.
Many commentators have bravely attempted to explain the imagery and detail of the descriptive language of these visions given to John. I do not claim such insight, but as I ‘reflect’ on the words I read, I trust God to provide me with the sense of what His message is for us today. I trust God to show you the message He has for you, and to bless you, as He promised He would, as you read the words of the text.
Shabat Shalom
RS