D.
Notes on the Book of Revelation
D1. Abstract on the Book of Revelation
June 1, 2002
The Book of Revelation is a coded message for those living in the End Times. It was given by God directly to one who spent a great deal of time following the Human Image of God, Jesus Christ, when He was on this Earth. As such it was presented the way God usually does when He wants a message to be given to everyone. We could call this “ex cathedra” in that it was directly transmitted via God’s spokesperson on Earth. In order to preserve it until the End Times, when its message is going to be critical, God had it recorded in symbols. Once the code is broken, then the messages will be clear. Until that time, the Church has not needed these messages. It was fine for believers to read this book and get the idea that either it was already fulfilled, or too obscure to worry about, or that the final outcome where, “Good will eventually triumph over Evil” is all that we need to know. Because the symbols obscure the real meanings as did the Parables of Christ, no one ever needed to change the text, even though they could have. Religious powers in teaching as doctrine their own commandments, found this obscure book useful as their basis of authority – believing that only they were privileged enough to read and understand its true meanings.
And so, the Book of Revelation has survived almost two millennia with its messages fully intact. This story has been paraphrased by Hollywood countless times in sci-fi dramas. Yet only God the Creator/Thinker, Who knows what He will think of next, could possibly have written this account of the End Times from the beginning. God has always known the basic pattern of events and the eventual outcomes as we play out this sin drama on Earth, even though He is not controlling the decisions made by His free-willed beings. Perhaps He has just seen this drama play out countless times before on other angelic worlds and by observation He knows that sin will lead to self-destruction eventually. Now His latest universe of angelic beings will have a chance to learn the details of that scenario by observation and not by doing evil themselves. Indeed His plan of salvation for the angelic beings has already worked. But what about us?
Now as we approach 2000 years after John the Apostle penned this book, Knowledge indeed abounds. Perhaps now that we understand many of the symbols used in the Bible, we can apply the correct interpretation to this Book. Indeed, as we do that we see that so many key historic events have happened as the symbols predicted. We seem to have broken the code, which could only mean that we are in those End Times. To have broken it prematurely would have been to risk the destruction of the book itself by those it incriminates. Now, however, perhaps there are too many copies readily available to people everywhere (The gospel message contained in the Bible has almost spread throughout the world at this time, because almost anyone can get it on the Internet.).
The fact that this coded book can now be shown to make perfect sense in terms of the key historical events it recounts, would make those remaining predictions extremely credible. Imagine how incredible it would have been centuries ago to have understood what this book predicted was to come in your time. Now imagine that we are indeed living very close to the End Times that God’s Plan of Salvation has been leading up to all these centuries. Would that be something to be worried about? – something to prepare for? What if all this really is part of a master plan as we have been suggesting, where God needs this Sin Drama to play out on Earth as a prerequisite for any of His created thinking beings to live happily ever after? We would be onto something that would be the most important thing in our lives. We need to be absolutely certain that we are understanding the Truth and not being deceived into believing something that would cause us to miss out on the real meaning of our lives.
I see that in the End Times the truth will be thrown to the ground. Even the elect could be deceived by the situations unfolding around them, because the deception will be so pervasive. Is there some way to know the truth when everyone around you is believing a lie? Here is my suggestion. Talk to God all the time now and get to know Him. Then in those difficult times you will know Him also. In particular, talk to God when you’re under grave temptations to do things you really want to do, which you know are not good for you. In these times, when you fight those highly desirable temptations, tailor made for you, you ask God to not give you what you really want. The real God will then intervene and change your situation. That is how you will know it is Him and not an agent of the devil. Now is the time to talk to God, when you’re good or bad, happy or sad. This way you will develop a relationship with Him and you will know Him even when everything else around you is deceptive. In those End Times that same God will be with you to guide you through as He has been doing for you now, whenever you have asked for His help.
michael.comberiate@gsfc.nasa.gov or nasamike@nasamike.com
D2. Revelation 12 – May 25, 2002 michael.comberiate@gsfc.nasa.gov or nasamike@nasamike.com
Scope: This chapter outlines the attacks of the Devil against Christ and His Church throughout the Christian Era.
- It introduces the protagonists: Christ , His Church/doctrine, the alternative
- It extrapolates historical facts into the Colonial Timeframe showing the persistent attack on the remnant
The symbols:
- The woman clothed in light = the believing Messianic community, from Abraham to Christ’s living followers
- The “seed” of that woman = the followers of Christ that remain (remnant) throughout time after Christ’s ascension
- The Red Dragon = Lucifer/Satan, who has a following of a third of the angelic beings
o It is also the beast with the 7 heads and 7 crowns, ie a universal angelic power (7 is God’s number for completeness)
o 7 heads & 7 crowns = This angelic power (7’s) has secular authority (Crowns) on Earth.
o 10 horns = This angelic power is pervasive, influencing all the kingdoms mentioned in the Bible = Pagan Rome
- The Male Child, Who will rule all the nations = Jesus Christ
- Devour = Kill / crucify
- Snatched up to heaven = Christ’s ascension as Michael the Archangel, now with holes in His hands
- Desert = Any location on Earth off the main stream, outside the focus of the Biblical accounts
- 1260 days = 1260 years (538AD to 1798 AD) = time, times and half a time
- War in Heaven = The long-standing conflict among the angelic beings due to the question of Free Will.
o What will happen if we play out this drama on Earth with humans while the angelic beings watch?
o Satan has had the opportunity to play out his case on Earth and to demonstrate something
o The demonstration has culminated in humans killing the Image of their Creator in their world
- Hurled to Earth = Left with only the humans to influence
- Wings of an eagle = Able to move quickly and decisively
- Out of the serpent’s reach = beyond the influence of the Pagan Roman empire and the Papal Roman empire
- Serpent spewed water out of his mouth to overtake the woman = persecuting legislation & hunters of remnant
- Earth swallows the river = The persecution cannot stop the saints from keeping the Church alive somewhere
- Satan wars against the remnant = promotes a bogus theology (a mixture of truth & error) that sounds good.
- Stood on the shore of the sea = Satan is in control of the entire Roman empire
V1 It begins with the Messianic community prior to Christ’s birth, essentially the Israelites and any seed of Abraham
V3,4 Satan has been influencing events and he is currently behind the scenes of the Roman Church-State empire
- Reference to him sweeping a third of the stars (angels) from heaven is descriptive, but not chronological.
- This is intended to inform the reader who the red Dragon is by what he has done in the distant past.
V 2, 5 Christ is born as the human Image of God and those under Satan’s influence kill Him.
V5 God raises His Image up to life again demonstrating His plan of salvation for humans
- The Image of God ascends into heaven, ie where the angelic beings have always been.
V6 Satan pursues those, who continue to follow Christ’s teachings
V7, 10-12 The undecided angelic hosts rejoice because they now understand God’s plan of salvation for them.
- They see that Lucifer’s way does not work. It leads to self-destruction even to where followers would kill their Creator
o No longer will any of the remaining “unfallen angelic beings” consider following Lucifer
- Having learned about “evil” without doing evil, the angelic world is now able to live happily ever after.
V 8,9, 12 Lucifer/Satan is left with only the humans to influence; therefore, Woe to the Earth!
- Satan has devolved to where his every intention is now only evil deeds for their own sake.
o Originally, he had some altruistic motives that many angelic beings could identify with.
- The drama on Earth is not over yet. Some might say humans would resolve their problems given more time.
- Now humans must play out the rest of the drama with Satan gone berserk. He has nothing to gain and his time is short.
V 13-17 The pagan roman empire morphs into the papal roman empire and continues persecuting the remnant of Christians
o This is symbolized by Satan standing in command of the entire roman empire and calling out the papal beast (V 13:1)
- The saints hide in the places where the empire cannot find them easily.
- Persecution lasts from 538 to 1798. The New World is the wilderness that finally preserves the remnant
- Book of Revelation has prophesied key world events and situations related to God’s Master Plan for angelic beings and for humans, from Patmos to the End of this Sin Drama on Earth. The book was written in Code (ie Symbols) so that it would be preserved even when controlled by evil powers.
- In the End Times the Code will be revealed and the messages will provide the necessary detail for those believers to handle the End Time situations
D3. Revelation 13a – June 1, 2002 michael.comberiate@gsfc.nasa.gov or nasamike@nasamike.com
Scope: This first section of Chapter 13 deals with the composite Beast of the Sea. It identifies this beast and its role over the period of persecution and even to the End Times.
Symbols:
V1 Beast with 10 horns with 10 crowns & 7 heads with blasphemous name on each, and the dragon gave him his power and authority
- 7 heads with blasphemous names = an angelic (7s) power opposing God
- 10 horns and 10 crowns = pervasive Earthly secular ruling power
- Dragon gave it power and authority = An image of the Red Dragon = Roman Empire John’s time
V2 The Beast resembled a leopard = pagan Greece; feet of a bear = Persia; Mouth of Lion = Babylon
- Mentioned in reverse order from Rome to Babylon, as a flashback to connect them all to the dragon
- Each was a church-state empire teaching as doctrine the commandments of men
- This beast represents Satan’s influence on these empires from Babylon to the End Times
V3 One of the heads had a fatal wound that was healed = One of the previous empires ended then restarted
- Angel identifies this head in Rev 17:8-11, when John sees something in the “desert” (Rev 17:3)
- Rev 17:8 indicates that there was no one Satanic empire (the beast was not) at the time John is viewing him (after1798), but it will rise again (1929).
The whole astonished world followed that beast = Worldwide respect the authority of this beast throughout time
V4 Men worshipped the dragon and the beast
- They are following Satan and not realizing it
- Who can make war against this beast = It is your own empire and only a remnant recognize it as evil
V5 The Beast uttered proud words and had full authority for 42 months = the manifestation of the beast we call, “Papal Rome” 538 – 1798
- The proud words = blasphemy = claiming to have God’s authority on Earth.
- Blasphemy indicates “In place of God”, not “Against God”
- Pope claims to speak infallibly, ie “ex Cathedra” on matters of faith & morals
*V6 This beast blasphemed God (accepts worship of humans or worshiping idols as God), His dwelling place (mediates divine grace& forgives sins, in place of the mediatorial work Christ is doing in the heavenly sanctuary – see Dan 8), those in heaven (claims the power to decide who goes to heaven and who does not so that people can pray to their ancestors in place of God.)
- These things uniquely characterized the empire with the wounded head
V7 This beast was given authority over all the earth = In one form or another Satan is influencing all world governments
- He makes war against the saints = the few true believers are being persecuted in general throughout time
V8 Humans everywhere will worship the beast = people everywhere are deceived and do not understand the “truth”.
These are those who’s names are not written in the, “Book of Life” (symbolic of the elect who “know” the real God) = those who choose Death.
The Lamb, Who was slain from the creation of the world = God had His plan of salvation for humans before He created our universe. He would think Himself into our world as Christ and be killed for our transgressions.
V9 He who has an ear, let him hear = What follows is extremely important. Listen
V10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. = Those that have led others into captivity, will eventually be led into captivity themselves. Those who have persecuted and killed will eventually be persecuted and killed themselves.
Here is the patience and faith of the saints = Those who know the true God and trust His Plan must wait on Him
Any group that opposes God and attacks His people in the End Times takes on the characteristic of the Beast.
- We must be alert to recognize this, but in the End Times, the truth will be very obscured as we can see it happening all around us now. The goal of the evil one is to obscure the truth so that many will believe lies. This is why Christ made such a big deal about His word being the truth. Now that we have most of the keys to understanding the code book, we can use it to know the truth even when our own senses are deceiving us (Matt 24:24).
- This Book first reveals how Satan has been behind all the Church-State empires since Babylon. John the Apostle never saw those beyond the Pagan Roman empire, but we have seen the line of empires all the way to our own USA, the beast of Revelation 13:11.
- Knowing this as history, we can now believe with confidence in what this book advises us will be coming next. In the not too distant future our own altruistic USA will become an agent of Satan, obscuring the truth, mandating morality, and persecuting those who follow the true Creator. Yet I believe it will still retain its altruistic character, believing sincerely that it is doing good in this process. Because our country will fall so far from our Creator, it will lose its ability to discern truth from error and end up using its awesome powers in support of the evil forces and not the true Creator-God.
Revelation 13b – June 8, 2002 michael.comberiate@gsfc.nasa.gov
or “nasamike@nasamike.com”
V11 Then I saw another beast, coming out of
the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon.
This beast appears after the time that John has been carried off into
the “desert” (Rev 17:3). The desert is
where the woman was protected in Rev 12:6&14-16. It was also after the fatal wound had been healed in Rev
13:3. This puts it after the Papacy was
restored (1929 by Mussolini), since this “head” of Satan’s Church –State
governments throughout time, had been dismantled in 1798 by Napoleon. So, it was in the New World, between 1798 and
1929. The empire, which arises on the
scene after Napoleon and before WWII as the major empire of its time, is the
USA. When Verse 11 says that, “He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like
a dragon”, it refers to the character of the USA. It was conceived to follow the principles of Christ, eg brotherly
love. Yet, it has morphed into another
arm of Satan. The messages we spread
across the world today are quite Godless, as typified by Hollywood, even though
our intentions appear to be good. The two
horns, then are Church and State. With
God they are separate (Give to God what is God’s and to Caesar what is Caesar’s
– Matt 22:21), but with Satan they are combined (teaching as doctrine the
commandments of men- Matt 15:9; 16:3).
V12 He exercised all the authority of the
first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the
first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. This beast from the desert acts like a false priest
pointing humanity towards following the Church-State doctrines of morality and
thus pulling humanity away from any relationship with their Creator.
V13 And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. Here the USA beast acts as a prophet. The prophets of old did miracles to establish their credentials, their God-given authority. Moses and Elijah each did great miracles, and they called fire down from heaven. So this prophet must call fire from heaven. Paul tells us that the devil has the power to do miracles too. Thus we must not trust every miracle as though it were done by God. It may be the work of the enemy, the Evil One. In modern terms, this symbolic fire from heaven could be nuclear missiles, which threaten the entire world, but it certainly refers to an awesome and globally recognized power associated with a Church-State empire of the End Times.
V14 Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast, who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. V15 He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. V16 He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, V17 so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. The techniques of the false prophet beast are analogous to world powers, which are currently trying to organize belief as well as behavior, and when belief is organized it always produces deceit. There is nothing more deceitful than false religion. These are the weapons of Satan: He either intimidates or deceives. He has only two weapons, force and fantasy, lying and brutality, one or the other, or a mixture of both. We can see this situation developing around us now, for altruistic reasons. EG: To protect societies from terrorists, we create a new police state that ends up legislating morality as well.
V18 This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666. Regarding the number 666, here is the clue: "It is man's number." Not a man's number. It is the number associated with man. It is not an individual in view here at all. It reveals the character of the one who is talking and acting and living. If you see someone acting like God, claiming unusual powers, and teaching people that man is in charge of all things, that he can do anything, you are listening to a man, and his thinking reflects the number of man, 666. It is man's number. In the language of numbers, 666 is a triple failure to be a 777, the three-times perfect, whole, divine number. So we see that John is showing us how the devil works. He attempts to organize behavior and from that always comes violence. When any government turns totalitarian and seeks to control every deed, every act, of its citizens, it produces a violent reaction. Turn on your television sets and you will see it in every news broadcast today. What this text is saying is that when you see Satan’s influence over world powers has made them violent, then wait, endure, be patient! God will work this all out. His rules will never be set aside. Sooner or later Satan's instrument will hang himself, as Judas did; he will be caught up in his own web. And when he lies, "Think," God says, "be critical, evaluate!" When anyone acts godlike, makes pretentious claims, claims supernatural gifts and demands obedience, that is not God talking. He is not from God. It is just a man, that is all, thinking and acting like a fallen man. It is not the real Lamb -- it is only a fake lamb, so laugh at him and refuse to follow him. But be prepared to hold out even unto death! That is the message of this chapter.
Conclusion: Seek the truth by talking to God yourself. As we said in the abstract, you must begin talking to God now, especially when you are being tempted to sin, because fighting those temptations will bring you closer to the real Creator God. If you have developed a strong relationship with the Creator now, then in times when the truth has been cast down, you can know Him, and trust in Him to show you the truth. Talk to God now, when you are good or bad, happy or sad.
In this context of Rev 13, we are getting some additional info on the workings of the various manifestations of Satan's counterfeit church-state organizations throughout time. I see in this chapter several clear predictions, which have now been fulfilled. In particular, we have now seen one manifestation of the counterfeit church that persecuted the saints on earth for 1260 years, while claiming blasphemous authorities unique to God. We’ve seen this power (Papal Rome) abolished as an independent state (1798) and then resurrected again (1929) to where it is now represented in the United Nations! These now clarify that we have moved through much of the history predicted and we are on the verge of seeing a time when the USA will actually support the doctrines of the counterfeit church, whatever manifestation it appears in. This certainly includes the New Age Spiritualism that has arisen as a major force in our lifetime. More than blaspheming God, this force directs people to believe they are God and it abandons morality and any form of accountability. It would have been an abomination for most Christians in previous generations, but because we have been slowly accepting a mixture of truth and error, we can no longer know the truth and we tolerate lies.
I'm watching for the USA to altruistically endorse the basic philosophy of Papal Rome and of the apostate Protestants and of the New Age Spiritualists, much the same as we are now seeing in the movies of Hollywood. We've seen signs of this with Reagan and his wife's connections to spiritualism. I don't think the USA is going to become another Nazi regime. It's just going to endorse a new world order that altruistically intends to prevent world terrorism etc. However, in that process, the truth will be cast to the ground and those who believe in the true Creator will be outcasts. Witness the loss of the 10 commandments in public places and the growth of evolutionary thinking. We are accepting the doctrines of men in place of the commandments of God.
What this means is that we are believing lies and missing out on the truth. Hence, when we die and/or when mankind's time is over at Christ's second coming we will be counted with the tares in Matt 13:25-40 (Those who's names are not written in the Book of Life). "If you are lukewarm I will spit you out" (Rev 3:16) tells us that many will not care so they are numbered with the tares. Also, Matt 7:22,23 indicates that many will be confused into thinking they're doing good, but they really do not know God and are following something they think is good, which has pulled them away from the real Creator.
* Notes:
Blasphemy is not cursing. When you hear someone rip off a round oath that is not blasphemy. It is cursing. Blasphemy is to claim godlike powers, to claim to be
God, or to identify God with lesser persons or objects. Idolatry, for instance, is blasphemy. That is what this individual becomes guilty of. He blasphemes God by
claiming to have the powers of God, as we have seen. What did they mean when they accused Christ of blasphemy? Surely it was not cursing God. Wasn't it that they heard Him say He was equal to God? (See John 5:18; Matt 26:65; Mark 14:63-65; John 10:33-36) Also the term is used when someone usurps the unique powers of the Creator God as in saying they can forgive sins (see Luke 5:21). Both of these examples apply to the fundamental doctrine of the Catholic Church.
"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.”
Bible scholars sometimes talk about a revived Roman Empire to be made up of 10 nations who will give their authority to a single individual. This satanically
controlled man will rule in the geographic area of the old Roman Empire. That is why many people have been watching what is happening in Europe today, not only
the ferment and upheavals of Eastern Europe, but also the changes in Western Europe, the site of the old Roman Empire. There, nations are softening their
nationalistic passions and seeking to unite together in a United States of Europe. Some commentators have sought to identify this ten-kingdomed coalition with the
European Common Market, or the European Economic Community (EEC). For awhile that organization did have ten members, but it has now increased to twelve
or thirteen, so it is evident that it is not the actual revived empire, but it may be a predecessor. What is clear is that the direction of movement is toward the very
thing we read of here. There will come a coalition of nations in Western Europe.
No other nation has done so much to spread traditional" Christianity (looks like the Lamb), which incorporates Sunday worship, in direct contradiction to the fourth commandment. At the same time, no other nation has so corrupted the earth with iniquity (speaks like the Dragon), in everything from the elevation of materialism to the spread of degrading films and the spread of violence on television, radio, and movies throughout the world (Satan is god of the air, ie communications/media).
In the New Testament, fire comes down from heaven on two occasions: at Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), when the Holy Spirit/Thoughts of God manifested Itself as tongues of fire; and with Elijah and the prophets of Baal on Mt Carmel (1 Kings 18:20-39), when only the real God could bring down fire from heaven to destroy the sacrifice. In more modern times, "Fire has come down from heaven" in the Fatima incident of the Catholic church. Fire has come down from heaven temporarily, in the form of the Atom Bomb. The Atom bomb was made by the beast with the horns of the lamb, and it causes miracles all over the earth. At the same time, out of her, comes the pentecostal and miracle working "Christians", who are rapidly evangelizing the world. These all have "fire" from heaven. Another reference in the Bible to fire descending from heaven is in 2 Thess 1:7-8, “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire”. Here fire is symbolic of Christ’s Second Coming. In order for Satan to impersonate Christ’s return he too must somehow bring down fire from heaven.
Facing us today is a wave of spiritual power such as has seldom been seen in the history of man. Marian visions, visions of the dead, those who have "come back to life", those who claim special mystical experiences. Beyond the plethora of paranormal UFO sightings and crop circles we have elephant statues that recently wept milk all over the world. Statues of saints have wept blood, and strange signs have been seen by many in many faiths. The world is drenched in such dogmas and witnesses. No device has been more effective in bringing together diverse elements of Christendom than a common interest in spiritual manifestations.
At the same time, rising with it, is the tide of rationalistic dogmas. Men believe nothing, and there is nothing sacred, and there is no confirmation of any spiritual truth under the sun. We call this fundamental attitude, “New Age”, but it is merely another form of the ageless occult identified throughout the Bible. Though the spheres bear witness of His presence, and though the history of man screams of past ages of Biblical witness, yet it cannot be, and therefore it is ignored or cast in derision.
What America appears to be, and extol, is what the world has come to accept, and to replicate. Yet, the degree of corruption attended with that is enormous. How much time is spent in learning the Bible, or the precepts of God's commandments, as opposed to the study of the stars of soap opera on television? The fruit of spiritual progress among men has always come in direct connection with the study of that word. If that study is abandoned, or "substituted", then woe to the wayward. In the Time of the End, the USA need not become as blatant as the Nazi regime to fulfill the prophecies of Revelation. Even with its altruistic intentions, it will make an image to the beast of Rev 13:1-10 and cause the whole world to worship it. The key to dealing with this is found in Matt 24:23-31, with emphasis on the fact that you need to know the real God now, so you will know Him in those incredibly deceptive times.
D5.
Overall Conclusions from Revelation 12 & 13:
These two chapters in this coded book of Revelation identify the way in which Satan has and will manifest his strategies in human affairs. They link these strategies to his activities from John’s time when Christ first came as a human to what we have called the end times, prior to His Second Coming. These two chapters themselves seem to stop at that point, but they depict trends and philosophies that we can watch for - both in our past and in our future. We can interpret the symbols used here in a way, which paints a clear picture of the overall sin drama on Earth and what Satan is up to regarding our human condition. The symbols show that he is up to no good. He is out to destroy and if that is not directly possible, then to deceive us so that we will self-destruct over time. He is relentless, appearing throughout our history in various manifestations. He can manipulate governments and communications media. These chapters do not explain his motives. We need to go elsewhere in the Bible for that, but we know he is really serious (Rev 12:!2). He works without and within, in various manifestations and forms, but, always toward corruption of the commandments of God, and always toward a profanation of anything held sacred and holy in heaven.
These chapters tell us that Satan was behind the
Roman Empire that John could relate to as current events. John would also have
recognized the previous church-state empires of Greece, Medo-Persia, and
Babylon, which form the composite beast, so he probably would have deduced that
this beast from the sea in Rev 12 was linked to them. He probably knew that all those current and past empires were
somehow under the evil influence of Satan because they had always persecuted
the Israelites. However, that composite
beast had seven heads not four. Perhaps
he would count the four heads of the leopard spoken of in the book of Daniel,
which were accessible in his time. Then
he could consider this beast to represent all the past and present empires he
knew of, between Daniel’s time and his own.
Personally I don’t think these heads are to be taken literally. Instead, I suggest that they are symbolic of
the attempt of this Satanic power to pervade all the empires in human
history. I believe that we need to go
to Rev 17&18 to hear God’s explanation of the Satanic empires/kingdoms that
we need to watch for (see Rev 17:7-18). Even so, the new beast that came from
the Earth in Rev 13: 11-17, would have been a total mystery to John, with no
previous analog. This lamb-like beast would have been a mystery to him and to
many of those who followed him through time, because it was clearly futuristic
to them.
Now, however, we have the unique perspective of looking back through time and recognizing what these two beasts really represent. The composite beast represents Satan’s influence over church-state governments from Daniel to the end times. Following the pagan Roman empire there would be other such empires. One of them would rule for 1260 years (Rev 13:5) and persecute the followers of Christ (Rev 13:7) as others had done. But this one would also attempt to take the place of God on Earth (Rev 13:6), be destroyed, and then resurrected later (Rev 13:3). Nevertheless it would eventually go into captivity itself one day (Rev 13:10), even though all the world was following its lead (Rev 13:4). All this chapter 13 tells us is when that beast appears (ie after the deadly would was healed in 1929) and in the desert (away from where all previous kingdoms had originated).
Nevertheless, because of our own current events, we can finally identify the beast from the desert in Rev 13: 11-17 as our own USA. Our great country was founded on Christian principles and trusting in the Creator God. However, it has followed the Israel of the Old Testament and endorsed the doctrines of men in place of the commandments of God. We have forgotten the covenant that we will be His people and He will be our God. How did this happen? It’s still happening now. It is not that we have become a Nazi-like regime persecuting and avidly promoting evil holocausts. Instead it has been a much more subtle transition based on becoming more materialistic, more enamored with the mysterious, and more defensive. These attitudes have caused us to trust in things of this Earth more than in God. Our curiosity for the unexplainable has led us into spiritualism, just as it led our forefathers into the occult. We now trust in anything but the real Creator God and often we don’t even realize it. On one hand we pray to God all the time, saying, “God bless America”. Yet we deny fundamental aspects of His character, starting with His Creative power. How many so-called Christians believe in Evolution Theory over Biblical Creation? Our warped values associated with “Doing our own thing” have caught the attention of the whole world and cause them to also worship the beast of the sea. We never saw it coming and it’s too late to turn back now as a country. None are as blind as those self-righteous, who will not see. All we can do is to return to the Creator God as individuals and strive to be part of that remnant that holds to the commandments of God (ie all 10 commandments) and responds to what has been prophesied by Christ in His life and in this Book of Revelation (Rev 12:17 & 19:10) (ie the testimony of Jesus).
Finally, these chapters warn us that
the characteristic of Satan’s system of government is teaching the doctrines of
men in place of the commandments of God.
This is represented by the number of Man, 666. We are warned to watch for the time when the government around us
follows man-made morality in place of God’s word, even though the deceptions
will be so convincing that this government thinks it’s worship the real God.
D6. The Three Angels’ Messages – June 15, 2002
God’s Plan of Salvation for Humans includes a final call to the world to return to Him in love and loyalty. Through the three angels messages, God unmasks the plan of Satan, the dragon, to confuse truth and error and announces its defeat. It is God’s purposes to gather His remnant out of spiritual Babylon before it’s too late.
Second Angelic Message: Babylon is Fallen (read Rev 14:8)
The origin of the name, “Babylon”, indicates confusion. What is the problem with a world around us that is routinely presenting us with a mixture of truth and error?
- When we cannot tell the truth we might believe a lie.
- We could be self-destructing and not knowing it.
The forces that are behind these deceptions have always gained control via religious-political (ie church-state) alliances, where they can legislate morality and thus “truth” is cast to the ground.
- When those in authority proclaim doctrines we tend to believe them.
- People are being sent a mixture of truth and error routinely in our world (eg via the media).
- Matt 24:24 (see also Matt 24: 20-27) indicates that deception in the End Times is severe.
This message, is a warning
to beware of confusing times that obscure the truth.
Third Angelic Message: the Beast
and its Image will be totally defeated (read Rev 14:9-11)
How are they totally defeated?
- God does not intervene in our free-willed choices or they would not be our choices.
Instead, He allows us to reap the consequences of the choices we make. Consider that “sin” is the set of all those things that are self-destructive to any degree. The wages of “sin” is eventual self-destruction from the consequences of bad choices. This applies to individuals and to mankind. In God’s plan, mankind will eventually (ie on the Last Day) self-destruct.
- I see the last plagues as God allowing humanity to reap the natural consequences of a history of bad choices. This then demonstrates in great detail to all creation why sin does not work.
- Nevertheless, in God’s plan individuals can be saved, ie even though they die from sin, yet on the Last Day He will recreate them as angelic beings to live forever after with Him (ie Michael the archangel = the glorified Christ) in the kingdom of heaven with the good angels.
This message predicts that
our bad choices will lead us to self-destruction.
What does the First Angel’s message, to spread the eternal gospel, mean? (read Rev 14: 6-8)
1) The Eternal Gospel:
- Indicates that this gospel was around before humans, ie it pertains to the angels as well.
- Rev 13:8 supports this because the Lamb had been slain before the foundation of this world.
- Also indicates that this gospel will be pertinent even after this human universe passes away, so all created beings are affected by it throughout their existence. (Mat 24:35)
2) The Gospel Message:
- What is this universal gospel message? Is it that God loves us, 1Cor 15:3-5
- Is it that We need to trust in Christ, Jn 3:16?
- Is it the commission Christ gave to teach all to obey everything He said (Mat 28:19, 20)
- What is the “gospel of the kingdom” to be preached to all before the end comes (Mat 24:14)
- Presumably the angels already know of it.
3) Preach to all nations:
- Preceding texts in Rev 12 & 13 have been chronologically portraying the Story of Mankind
- Chapter 13 seems to go beyond today
- An angel is taking this message to all remaining humans. Is this symbolic?
- It must first be heard by all nations prior to the End Time events. Has that happened yet?
- Have some humans already died without hearing it? Is it possible that each person has had some opportunity to hear this eternal message in their own way?
4) The Hour of His Judgment has Come:
- There seems to be a dual message: for the individual and then for all Mankind
- This is a call to revisit our priorities: Worship Him, Who made the Heavens and the Earth
- It applies to each individual during their lives. Their personal End Time occurs at their death.
- It also applies to all Mankind. The human Sin Drama, which the angels are watching, is nearing completion. This human universe has all but completed its purpose and will soon be rolled up like a scroll. The Wheat and Chaff will be separated (Rev 14:14- 20)
The “Eternal Message” is
that the Creator God loves all His created, free-willed beings and He wants to
live with them happily ever after, in the perfect kingdom of heaven.
- There is a critical need for all to recognize God for His efforts to secure a situation whereby all His created beings can live happily ever after. (Rev 7: 9-12) (Rev 7: 12-17)
- Many will miss the fact that there even is a personal Creator God who loves us and has a Plan for us to live happily ever after with Him, because they never saw the logic of this Big Picture. They found other models to believe in (eg Evolution over time, New Age wisdoms, etc), which they found to be more believable. Their false gods will soon abandon them, but while they live there is still time for them to switch allegiance to the One True Creator God.
Send your comments to, nasamike@nasamike.com
Epilogue: These messages although clearly written in the Bible
verses, are a mixture of symbolic and literal information. If there is indeed an overall truth in these
messages then it would apply to some consistent “Big Picture Explanation” of
what we read and what we observe.
Paraphrasing the texts to fit incomplete explanations will lead us to
believe incomplete truths and lies, as we have witnessed through our
history. We have presented a logical
interpolation of the biblical texts, which consistently fits both the literal
and the intuitive interpretation of these texts. It shows that the gospel does apply to all of God's created,
free-willed beings (humans and angelic beings) for all time. All of them were created by a loving God,
Who wants to relate with them happily ever after in the place we call the
Kingdom of heaven. It further shows why
He could not merely do this upfront, because of the nature of free-will. The knowledge of good and evil happens to be
an essential ingredient if these created beings are to know that they are
morally free. If as the Bible says, the
wages of sin are death (eventually) and not merely a less than perfect, unhappy
heaven, then we can see why God does not want to leave it at this. In order to arrive at a perfect heaven with
intelligent beings, who know they are morally free, God must devise this
temporary human stage, for the angels to learn about evil without doing it
themselves. Yes it puts humans in an
undesirable position, so He institutes from the beginning His plan of salvation
for them. Even though they must die to
prove the points, yet He can give them everlasting life in a perfect heaven, if
they decide they want it. For them it
all hinges on our wanting a deep relationship with their Creator. Then to show
the humans that He indeed wants that as well, He must become human and die for
them - no greater love than this,,,
That kingdom of heaven is where the angelic Christ (Michael with the
holes in His hands) is now, so we too must be re-created as angelic beings to
inherit it with the good angels. I say it is all there and that it fits the big
picture presented in the Bible.
26 June 2002
For more on this and a response to any questions, please email any comments to nasamike@nasamike.com