Revelation Summary 2
Revelation Summary 2
The New Heaven and the New Earth
Revelation 21:9 – 22:21
9) Then one of the seven messengers that had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, “here, I will show you the bride – the wife of The Lamb”.
10) And it did bear me in spirit upon a great and high mountain and showed me the city – the holy Jerusalem coming down from the God of the heaven
11) having her God’s glory, her radiance like a precious stone, crystal clear as a jasper stone,
12) having a great and high wall having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve messengers and names written which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel,
13) three gates to the east, three gates to the north, three gates to the south, and three gates to the west;
14) the wall of the city having twelve foundation stones, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15) The one speaking with me had a golden measuring reed to measure the city and her gates and her wall,
16) (the city is shaped square – her length the same as the breadth); and he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand stadia, her length and breadth and height being equal;
17) and he measured her wall: a hundred and forty four cubits (man’s measurement as is that of a messenger),
18) the structure of her walls jasper, and the city as pure gold, crystal clear,
19) the foundations of the wall of the city adorned with every precious stone; the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20) the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst,
21) the twelve gates twelve pearls (each of the gates were of one pearl), and the city’s street pure gold as transparent crystal.
22) I saw no temple in her, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is her temple.
23) The city has no need for the sun or the moon that they should appear in her, for the glory of God was manifest in her and her light - the Lamb;
24) the nations will walk by her light, and kings of the earth bear their glory into her
25) by day (none of her gates will in any way be closed, and there will be no night there),
26) and they will bear the glory and honor of the nations into her.
27) By no means would anyone unclean ever enter into her doing abomination or falsehood, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Chapter 22
1) And it showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and the Lamb
2) in midst of its streets, and the river flowing hence; and from there a tree of life producing twelve fruits each month, the tree rendering its fruit and its leaves into the healing of the nations;
3) and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in her, and His servants will serve Him;
4) and they will see His countenance, His name on their foreheads;
5) and there will be no night there, so they will have no need of a lamp or sunlight, for Kurios God will shine forth upon them; and they will reign into the ages of the ages.
6) Then it said to me ‘these faithful and true words Kurios God of the holy prophets sent His messenger to show His servants what is necessary to come to pass in quickness.
7) Lo, I come quickly. Blessed the one keeping the words of the prophecies of this scroll’.
8) I, John, the one hearing and seeing these things, when I heard and saw I fell down to bow before the feet of the messenger that is showing me these things;
9) and it said to me, ‘see not. I am a fellow servant of you and your brothers the prophets and of those keeping the words of this scroll. Bow to God’.
10) And it said to me, ‘you may not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, for the time is near;
11) the unrighteous be he yet unrighteous, the filthy be he yet defiled; the righteous be he yet work righteousness, the holy be he yet hallowed.
12) Lo, I come quickly, My wages with Me, to recompence each as is his work.
13) I AM the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.
14) Blessed those who wash their garments; for the tree of life will be their privilege, and they may enter the city by the gates.
15) Without…. the dogs and the sorcerers and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and all who love and practice falsehood.
16) I, Jesus, sent My messenger to testify these things to you in the Churches. I AM David’s root and offspring; the bright morning star.
17) The Spirit and the bride say ‘come’; and he who hears say ‘come’. He who thirsts let him come; he who longs, let him take to himself the water of life freely.
18) I, I testify to all who hear the words of the prophecy of this scroll: if anyone impose upon them, God will impose upon him the plagues written in this scroll;
19) and if anyone take away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and the holy city as written in this scroll.
20) He Who testifies thus, says: ‘Yea, I come quickly’. Amen, come Kurie Jesus!
21) (The grace of Kuriou Jesus with all of the holy ones.)
The history of God’s creation didn’t reach its highest point at the birth of Jesus; but, from God’s perspective, it had reached its lowest point!
According to what John was shown, and was written to the Churches in The Revelation, that’s the “core” – the “essence” – of the history of this cursed creation before the appearance of The Anointed One… Jesus, the Christ.
An inflamed and enraged creature, driven by vengeance, had sought to cut off the birth of the “Seed” for millennia!
Cursed humanity – from the garden to the birth of the Son – was a foaming, turbulent “sea of humanity”, existing in gross darkness and the shadow of death, provoked and incited by this creature to interrupt the promise and cut off the birth of the Savior of the world.
The closer it came to the end of the age and the promised “crushing of the serpents head”, the more this dark world disintegrated into anarchy and chaos.
In idolatry, and strife, and lawlessness, and warfare, and savagery, and barbarism, the whole world was boiling in its own cursed and perverted existence. The decline had been continuous. And God’s covenanted nation – Israel – was in thick darkness, demon-infested and rushing toward filling up its own sin. The whore of the nations would soon be made carrion for the vultures.
That’s the venue into which Jesus was born!
It wasn’t “silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright”! That’s the mystical, magical, mythical “Christmas” that many imagine. But it was not so!
The whole world had descended to the lowest pit of its cursed and depraved existence; and the covenant nation was the worst of it all.
And that’s where He was born.
Nobody knew Him. The whole world was in darkness and the shadow of death.
The promised King and Savior of the world was prophesied from the beginning; and when He was born nobody knew Him. His mother didn’t know Him; His brothers and sisters didn’t know Him. His disciples didn’t know Him. The ones who followed Him were those who He came to seek and to save. He knew them; but they didn’t know Him!
The darkness didn’t know Him. All mankind born after the order of Adam were defiled and cursed; and God could not abide them. They were all cursed; and their gross defilement was hidden in darkness from His glorious perfections. And He hid Himself from them over-and-behind a mighty glory-cloud.
Except for a few Gentile magi who knew of a prophecy fifteen hundred years before… regarding a bright Morning Star that would arise in this cursed and dark world, nobody even acknowledged Him. The entire creation was in thick darkness. No one in the Gentile world had ever heard of Him!
His disciples and many of His followers thought that He might be the descendant of David who would overthrow the powers that had ruled over Israel for six hundred years, and sit at the seat of David in Jerusalem, and return Israel to its Davidic and Solomonic prominence over all the world!
Just as much of today’s evangelical “hope” is a king to sit in David’s seat in Jerusalem, and that there be a renaissance and restoration of Jerusalem as the center of power in the world, the followers of Jesus at the time of His appearance hoped that He was that king. And that He would rule the cursed, dark, depraved world from that location.
Jesus was born a King! However, He was not the king that they hoped He was. And He is not the King that some of today’s evangelicals hope He is!
His followers didn’t know it yet; but they were the prophesied “Daughter of Zion”, the elect remnant of the house of Jacob, the ones God had kept for Himself from the twelve tribes of Jacob. And Jesus had come to “save” them from the wrath to come upon this nation that had been promised the seven-fold sanctions for breaking the covenant! The seven-fold sanctions, promised by Moses, were the complete – and final – destruction of Israel and the city of Jerusalem at the end of the age.
And there is an unmistakable and undeniable covenantal continuity throughout God’s written Word; for the covenantal sanctions, to come in the last days, at the end of the age, were reiterated – once, twice, many times - all through the prophetic Word!
Prophesied throughout Scripture was the birth of God’s King at the end of the age, when the whole world existed in gross darkness (the covenanted nation being the worst of them all). And He came to call His covenantally betrothed to the wedding festivities (as prophesied); the “Prince of His people” (as Daniel prophesied) was gathering His elect people to Himself… those of the tribes of Jacob who were written in the Lamb’s book of life from the beginning.
“Some”, you see… a certain number of the tribes of Jacob, all of whom were members of this defiled, depraved and cursed mankind, were preserved by God for Himself. And God the Son came to find them and save them from the wrath of God in the last days. For them… just for them, His wrath was poured out upon His Son.
And (prophesied throughout Scripture) was His crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to the Right of the Father… at which time He would be given all the nations as His inheritance; and John was shown every last one of His elect from the tribes of Jacob - with Him.
And then (and it, too, was prophesied) the sending of Holy Spirit at Pentecost (i.e. fifty days after His crucifixion), at which time men of the tribes of Jacob who were from every nation on earth were raised up from death unto life, and went back home to preach the Gospel and begin the Church of Jesus Christ in every one of those Gentile nations (as also prophesied to take place before the end of the age).
And in the midst of great pursuit and heavy persecution from judaists, during the following forty years, every last one of those lost sheep of the twelve tribes of Jacob were found and sent into the nations before the wrath of God and the Lamb was poured out in the last days. It had all been previously prophesied; and John, the last prophet, was shown all these things and wrote them down for the Churches; for the time was near!
And John saw the seven-fold sanctions of God’s covenant that would shortly be poured out… the seven bowls of wrath. And all the tribes of the earth would mourn; for the world’s harlot would cease to exist. No longer would they drink from the wine of her fornication.
The temple on the dome of the rock would no longer be. The great city on the mountain of God would no longer be. By pestilence; and by sword; and by fire, all remaining in Israel would no longer be. And the land would be a wilderness fit only for the vultures; for it was the last days… the last days for Israel and all those remaining.
As Luke wrote in his Gospel, these were “days of vengeance” in order that all things written might be fulfilled.
As John watches and hears the things that are shortly to come to pass, he is shown the covenanted sanctions, promised through Moses, about to be poured out upon Israel.
The nation, from its birth out of Egypt, was a prophecy of the coming Kingdom of Jesus Christ. And from her beginning, having been born of Adam in a dark, cursed and depraved world, (from her beginning) she had broken God’s covenant. But the One promised, despite the vengeance of the serpent, and despite the sea of cursed humanity, (the One promised) had been born of her.
John saw all of these things; and he heard Jesus say, “yes, I come quickly”. And Israel would suffer the covenantal consequences of having broken God’s covenant… her final brazen insolence being the crucifixion of the Son of God and the pursuit and persecution of the remnant who He came to seek and to save. And for that (Jesus said), this generation would suffer the blood of the prophets and all who God had kept for Himself throughout history.
Jesus appeared to John in all His glory while John was on the island of Patmos there in the Aegean Sea. And He told John of His imminent Parousia and the fullness of all things written. And John was to write to the Churches all that was said to him and shown him.
And as with former prophets, John was shown the tabernacle of God in the heaven! And He saw and heard God’s will and intent all the way from the garden to the completion of our Lord’s work as Savior of the world. It was a magnificent Revelation… the “capstone” of all prophecy. It had all been previously prophesied. And it was all from God’s perspective and in His same language.
And in all that was imminent, the Churches were to be strengthened in the Word of prophecy that was faithful and true; for it was the Word of God that had not – and did not – change. And they were to hold the testimony of Jesus, and keep His Commandments, and anticipate all that was shortly to take place.
The elect remnant of Jacob’s tribes were the firstfruits of our Lord’s resurrection; and they were scattered into every nation to assemble in the Churches that were formed from Pentecost… all of which were to anticipate the imminent Parousia of the Savior of the world.
Jesus told John that He was coming quickly. It would be the great “day of the Lord” at which time all things would be made new! And the scroll that John wrote would have reached – from the original seven Churches – to every last one.
The time was near; and when every one of His lost sheep were removed from Israel before the coming “abomination of desolation”, the end would come. And the promise to Abraham of a “seed” from the Gentile nations – a multitude rivaling the numbers of stars in the sky and the sands on the seashore – would be fulfilled; for the “Light” would destroy the darkness. And a river of the water of life would flow – ever deeper and ever wider – into every nation, tribe and tongue on earth! And a tree of life would grow by the waters for the feeding and healing and restoration of the nations… and the earth itself.
Once all of the Father’s elect were out of Israel, everything was about to be changed!
And right here, before we come to the Revelation of the new heaven and the new earth, we have to make an adjustment to the limited insight of one of our favorite mentors – John Calvin, who didn’t address the text of The Revelation of Jesus Christ.
The detractors of Calvin’s soteriology vehemently disagreed with his notion of limited atonement (along with almost everything else Calvin said). And we must say that they were right to criticize it! However, they were right for the wrong reasons. Their own positions regarding the atonement were much more limiting than were Calvin’s; for, in their opinions, the atonement made by Jesus Christ was frighteningly limited by dead and depraved and cursed humanity being able to choose to be made alive! And no condemnation of that heresy is too stringent!
However, we, too, must take issue with the “reformer”… not to criticize, but to make an adjustment to his insight; for the last four chapters of The Revelation clearly reveal an unlimited atonement.
You see, the first Adam sinned against God, and he died and was defiled and depraved and cursed of God and in gross darkness; and the entire earth was cursed with him; and the shadow of death was over it all; and all mankind thereafter was conceived and born in the same condition.
But the Second Adam – the sinless One – received unto Himself the curse of God upon mankind and the creation; and He became sin; and He was struck by The Father with all the wrath of Almighty God. And thereby the LAMB OF GOD made atonement for the sin of the world. The curse was paid for; darkness decreated; humankind would be raised up from death unto life… every one – all of them – who are written in the Lamb’s Book of life. And the earth itself would be healed and restored – becoming, once again, a paradise to the glory of The Father!
The atonement made by Jesus Christ was “infinite”! It not only separated out those meant for destruction in the lake of fire; but it made manifest all who belonged to Him from the beginning. And not only that, but it was sufficient for the restoration of all of the creation itself – a paradise never again to be lost!
So magnificent was the payment, so glorious was the satisfaction, that it was sufficient for the salvation of the world, and the “fullness” of The Father’s will and intent for all that was made.
All that being said, it then must be said once again, that the atonement made by Jesus (the “full” satisfaction required by The Father), was not, in the least, limited. And I hope pastor Calvin will laugh with us at the resurrection.
Now… in the last chapters of The Revelation, Jesus declares His imminent Parousia seven times (in order that all things written might be fulfilled). The letter to the Churches begins with it (the first three verses of chapter one), and it ends with the seven-fold declaration from our Lord Himself, the last being, “yes, I come quickly”.
The “active Presence” of the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Kurie Jesus – Almighty God and Master of His domain. John is shown the coming Parousia of the Christ; and he hears the shouts of joy from the creatures in God’s tabernacle; and he wrote it all for the Churches. And they were to anticipate all that was about to happen.
It was the prophesied end of the age when the whole world was in thick darkness and was disintegrating into total chaos. And, at His Parousia, as had been prophesied for fifteen hundred years, the harlot nation of the world would meet its terminal end as the seven bowls of the wrath of God would be poured out on the land (chapter nineteen)… the finality of which (prophesied by Moses) was to be exhibited when our Lord sent in the vultures to clean up the mess; for there would be no one left to bury the dead. And the fire, worse than Sodom, would rain down from the lake of fire and brimstone. And the city and the temple on the dome of the rock would cease to exist.
The very next thing that John is shown at the Parousia of Jesus Christ (chapter twenty) is a messenger sent from Jesus to bind the serpent of old (the satan) and cast it into the abyss and seal it for all the years of our Lord’s reign and rule, so that there be no more deception and incitement of the Gentile nations!
At the completion of all the years, this creature will be loosed from the abyss – its full intent being to come out and do the gog and magog thing again (as it had done with the second beast of history six hundred and fifty years previous). But, instead, having been loosed, it would then be cast into the lake of fire with the fourth beast and the false prophet Israel.
At this time John was also shown the hundred and forty four thousands of the elect of the tribes of Jacob, the firstfruit of the resurrection, who would reign with Jesus and judge with Him throughout all the years of the Kingdom, at the end of which would be the resurrection of the dead…. And all those not written in the Lamb’s book of life would be judged according to their works and cast into the lake of fire.
At the beginning of chapter twenty-one, John is also shown a new heaven and a new earth which appears to him at the coming Parousia of the Christ. (And this, too, was prophesied throughout the older Scripture.) The first heaven and the first earth would pass away at the glorious appearance of Jesus Christ Who had been given all authority in the heaven and on the earth.
And John heard Him say, “Lo, I make everything new”!
And herein is the Biblical “benchmark” – the prototype – of the lavish love and grace of God for His people and for His creation; for, at Jesus’ Parousia, and by the satisfaction that He made on the cross for sin and the curse, there would be LIGHT!
After millennia of darkness and ever-increasing death and chaos and collapse of the created order, there would be light. As John had said earlier in His Gospel, Jesus is Light and Life!
The progressive “entropy” of the creation that had occurred over thousands of years would come to an end at the appearance of the “Bright Morning Star”. “First Light” would appear in the dark and cursed world at His Parousia. And from that time, all thing previous would be progressively reversed! And over the course of His reign and rule, the darkness would be decreated; and all things created would come into the full Light of the Christ.
It was, indeed, the end of the age and the end of the first heaven and the first earth; for God the Son – the newly crowned King of Kings and Lord of Lords, would appear with the remnant of the tribes of Jacob. And all things would be made new!
The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End had paid the price for it all on the cross! And the satisfaction made was infinitely sufficient; for there would be no more curse!
Rather than darkness and death and disintegration, there would be light and life and restoration – increasingly – through all the years to come… a complete reversal of all that came before in the first heaven and the first earth!
And because there would be no more curse, God would tabernacle with man in the new – and holy – Jerusalem!
The first Jerusalem, in the first heaven and the first earth, was so abhorrent to God, so covered in thick darkness, that it had been called worse than Sodom - and the greater Babylon. But God would make His abode, with man, in the new Jerusalem – the “holy” one!
At His appearance, the New Jerusalem’s occupants would be all who Jesus came to seek and to save from the twelve tribes of Jacob. She was the “daughter of Zion” – the betrothed of God from the beginning. And John heard that she was the “bride” of Christ.
It was the “daughter”… from the beginning it was always the daughter. God told Moses that He “saw” her lying in the desert – naked and bleeding and ill and hungry and thirsty. And He loved her. And He promised to save her and take her unto Himself. He “betrothed” her to Himself!
And when Jesus came, it was the daughter that He came to seek and to save. And she was in that same condition when He came for her. The perverted and depraved and idolatrous priests and elders and pharisees of Israel had left her in the shadow of death – bleeding and dispossessed and sick and crooked and blind and deaf and demon possessed.
And Jesus spent much of His time reversing the effects of the evil shepherds of Israel. The “shepherds” were actually wolves in sheep’s clothing; and they preyed on God’s betrothed for their own benefits.
Jesus called her to the wedding festivities (you remember); and she came. And He dressed her in the white robes of virginity; and He took His betrothed to Himself.
And there at the beginning of chapter twenty-one, John sees the “bride” of Christ – with Him, IN HIM, at His Parousia.
The ones betrothed of God from the beginning had become “one” in Him in the first resurrection.
And there’s the paradigm – the prophetic paradigm – that we preach at wedding ceremonies; for the betrothed daughter of Zion, at her rebirth from death unto life In Him, became one flesh with Christ the Savior – the Second Adam. For it had been spoken by God: “two shall be one flesh”.
Jesus had come for her and found her and called her; and He had paid for her sin with His Own blood; and He had taken her for His Own. And He would be faithful and true to keep her. And she would be faithful to Him; for she would no longer be the flesh of Adam, but she would be one with The Christ.
As John sees her, the pain and suffering she had experienced, for centuries, under the false shepherds of Israel were reversed, and her tears wiped away; for the true Shepherd of Israel had come for her. And the sun, moon and stars and lamps of the first heaven and the first earth had done nothing whatever to deal with the gross darkness in which she had existed. But, as John is shown, at the coming Parousia of the Christ, she would be in the full light of God and the Lamb in the New – and holy – Jerusalem.
A messenger is then sent to speak to John. It is one of the seven messengers that would pour out the seven bowls of wrath upon Jerusalem and Israel in the last days.
And it shows John the new and holy Jerusalem that would come down from the heaven upon the high mountain of the Kingdom. It was the abode of God with man!
Since the King of Kings would come for His inheritance; and since the satan would be sealed in the abyss, and since there would be no more curse, and since there would be a new heaven and a new earth, God would no longer abide above His tabernacle in the heaven, but He would abide with man.
The debt having been paid, and satisfaction having been made, the betrothed of God having been found and saved by the Christ, the work of the Savior of the world would begin.
The abode of God with man would be the new Jerusalem atop the Kingdom mount of Jesus Christ. And although the first was prophetic of the new, the New Jerusalem would be SO unlike the first Jerusalem in the first heaven and the first earth.
The first Jerusalem was shrouded in pitch black darkness, and filled with every evil thing. In her were the dogs and murderers and idolators and fornicators and sorcerers and lying prophets. And she was infested with demons.
Not so the new Jerusalem!
John takes great pains to describe her in all of her glorious perfections. He had previously described the wondrous glory of the tabernacle of God in the heaven. And now he does so with the tabernacle of God with man!
Once previously, in the prophecy of Ezekiel to Israel in bondage, the new abode of God was described and measured. And now John sees that take place again… the measuring. And everything is in perfect twelves and multiples of twelve.
The length and breadth and height are all perfect multiples of twelve. There are twelve foundation stones… one each for the apostles of Jesus. There are twelve gates… one each for the sons of Jacob. And, of course, the servants of God and the Lamb are the hundred and forty-four thousands of the elect of the twelve tribes of Jacob – twelve thousands from each tribe.
The brightness and glory of the new Jerusalem and its gold and jewels are reminiscent of that of the first paradise; and the colors like that of the covenantal bow.
There would be no temple in the New Jerusalem, for God and the Lamb were in her! God would no longer be hidden behind a veil, in a separate room, in a man-made temple; He would be WITH man!
The entire sacrificial and ceremonial system had prophesied the Lamb of God, and He had made the sacrifice and satisfied The Father. And now John sees that God’s people would have free and bold access to Him in His new tabernacle; and there would be no darkness. Mankind would be in the full light of the glory of God. As Moses had once prayed, it would soon come to be: “may YAHVEH make His countenance to shine upon you, and give you peace”.
In the new – and holy – Jerusalem there would be no dogs, or murderers, or fornicators, or sorcerers or lying prophets. She would be the glorious city on the dome of the rock on the high mountain of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ; for the Light of the world is Jesus.
And, as previously prophesied, John sees that there would be a river of the water of life flowing from the seat of God and the Lamb through the streets of the New Jerusalem. And from there it would flow – ever deeper and ever wider – into the Gentile nations and peoples and tribes and tongues of the earth.
And throughout all the years, the covenantal promise to Abraham, that he would be the father of a multitude from all the nations, would be fulfilled.
Kings of the earth would bring their glory into the new tabernacle of God; and they would bring the glory of their nations and peoples through the twelve wide-open gates of the new city… three on each side – open to the nations from every direction!
The hills and mountains would be made low; and the valleys would be raised up; and the highways would be filled with peoples of the world… streaming to the New Jerusalem.
And John is shown a tree of life growing from the river of the water of life, bearing fruit each month for the feeding of the Gentile nations – its leaves for the healing and restoration of the earth!
You see, what John is being shown here, and what He hears Jesus tell him, is exactly what has already been prophesied all through the text of the older written word. And it’s all in the same language!
Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world!
At His shortly-to-come Parousia, the old covenant-nation would meet its catastrophic end. And the first light of the Morning Star would shine in a new heaven and a new earth. The serpent would be locked and sealed in the abyss; and there would be no more curse. And our Lord would begin reversing the effects of thousands of years of darkness and death and chaos and dissipation!
From the few of the tribes of Jacob who He had come to seek and to save (now scattered into every nation on earth) would flow the water of life – the Gospel of God concerning His Son Jesus, the One given all authority in the heaven and on the earth!
And through all the years of His reign and rule, the kings and nations and tribes and tongues of the earth would come – all who were written in the Lamb’s book of life from the beginning. And they would be raised from death into life, and bear fruit from the tree of life, and have free access to the tabernacle of God and the water of life.
And there would be increasing light and length of life and justice and security and prosperity and peace with God; and the earth itself would increasingly flourish and blossom and shine to the glory of God as multitudes of Gentiles are added to the firstfruits of the resurrection – becoming the vast majority of the earth’s humanity.
And at the end of all the years, it would be a paradise better than the first one, for it would be permanent; for the Savior of the world would then sit at the seat of justice and judge all who were not written in the book of life by their works. And they would all be cast into the lake of fire with the devil and death and hades.
And all who He had rebirthed from death unto life in the first resurrection would be raised up with new bodies like unto His – to live forever with Him in eternal paradise.
Lastly…we are the children of the Daughter of Zion.
The original hundred and forty-four thousands who, Jesus said, He was sent to seek and to save, were the first to be reborn into the Second Adam – no longer to be in the line and heritage of the first Adam. They were the firstfruit of the resurrection.
These few were scattered into every nation on earth. And through them, the fourth beast of world history (the Roman Empire) was shattered into many pieces and declared Christian in only two hundred and forty years.
Today, just nineteen hundred and forty-three years after our Lord’s Parousia, we are many! The progression of our Lord’s dominion over all He has inherited is mighty! No seed of the serpent can interrupt it. And no pagan religion can keep up with the numbers and the progress of the Morning Star to bring light and life to His creation.
And everywhere the water of life flows there is reversal of the effects of the curse and the darkness. There is life and light and peace and length-of-life and restoration and plenty. That will continue through all the years until all nations, tribes and tongues acknowledge the King of Kings, and the whole earth flourishes in the light of His glory.
There have been a lot of (what are often called) “periods of decline”. We are in one of them now. But that isn’t His perspective, you see! We have to avoid getting caught up in the popular explanations (or interpretations), and believe what is promised – what is written!
The time in which we live can’t be explained as a “decline”, or a “relapse”, or a “devolution” of His Kingdom. The world is not sliding back into darkness! That’s not His perspective at all! Rather, these are times in which our Lord confirms and proves and manifests His Own… times in which the others fall away – and His Own persevere. That’s the explanation! That’s His perspective! The trouble proves that He will not lose even ONE!
And not only does He bring to light those who belong to Him, but there is a manifestation of His great power when men presume upon His Kingship; for He will have no competitors. Those who won’t “kiss” the Son (i.e. acknowledge Him) will stoke His anger; and they will perish in the way.
Like our forebears – the firstfruit of the resurrection – we are to hold the testimony of Jesus and keep His Commandments. We are to serve God and the Lamb. And we are to preach and teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and anticipate what He has promised to do; for He is the Savior of the World. He will have dominion. And when He’s done, it will all glorify the Father.