In the book of Revelation, there are two female stars that show up on the End Time Stage:
One is the woman clothed with the sun. She is pregnant and in child-birth.
You could say this is a symbol of the Virgin Mary and also disciples of Christ. If you notice, Mary also became a disciple of Jesus. She was in the upper room with the other disciples, waiting for the outpouring of the Holy Ghost. She not only gave birth to Christ but she became one of his devoted followers. So, she is also a part of the bride.
This woman clothed with the sun gave birth to Christ.
Revelation 12:5 And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God and to His throne.
We are not to worship Mary nor pray to Mary. She is not any part of the Godhead. She was only human and the human part used by God to bring forth His Son. I'm sure that she would be unhappy if anyone tried to fall down and worship her, just as the angels and messengers of God refuse to be worshiped.
Verse 6 says: "And the woman fled into the wilderness where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and three-score days."
This is the 3 1/2 year period during the Great Tribulation. The great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns is trying to devour her child. Having been unsuccessful, he then goes after the "remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ."
So, the Devil or dragon persecutes the other believers in Christ. This "remnant" is not particularly talking about Jews. It's talking about believers in Christ. There apparently will be a remnant of Jews saved during the Tribulation period as well.
The nice thing to know is that there will be a place prepared of God during the Tribulation period, a safe haven for some of God's children. That makes a lot of sense because, otherwise, WHO is going to be left to be raised in the Rapture at the end of the Tribulation? Some of us have to survive. Some of us will be winning souls to the Lord, leading new Christians in their new-found faith and teaching others how to pray and hear from God!
Daniel 11:33 says, "And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days."
So, yes, some of us will fall by the sword. Maybe it would be more appropriate to say, "Some of us are already falling by the sword." But, I do not believe that the Tribulation has begun yet! WE WILL KNOW. God will make sure that his children know what's going on. If we're paying attention, we will know when the Tribulation begins.
We will also know that we should NOT take the Mark of the Beast under ANY circumstances.
Now, some people are a bit sensitive that perhaps Christians are "jumping to conclusions" that the Mark of the Beast is the RFID chip that is being promoted in the U.S. by President Obama.
Amos 3:7 says: "Surely the Lord god will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets."
Why couldn't the Mark of the Beast be something very similar to if not the RFID? It seems logical that since we are living in the latter days, the Mark of the Beast is going to show up on the world's stage very soon. The technology exists now that will enable the Antichrist to keep track of every person's financial and personal information in one enormous database. Isn't that what would be required in order for the Mark of the Beast to function?
Remember, this "Mark" will control people to the point of killing those who refuse to worship the Beast.
Speaking of worship, for some reason, it makes me very angry when I see a group of Muslims kneeling and bowing on the ground to worship Allah. I think that's a very natural reaction for a Christian. As Christians, we are advised by our Messiah and King that we should not make a display of our worship publicly. Jesus told us to go into our closet to pray between ourselves and God only.
So, to me this public Islamic worship is a horrific display of stinking self-righteousness. It's not righteousness. There's nothing godly or righteous about it at all.
Ok, a little off topic here, but the Antichrist will worship himself as God and tell himself that he is God and demand that everyone else worships him, too. I used to wonder how that could ever possibly happen that anyone would get people to bow down and physically worship them. How could people become so duped and stupid?
Well, the Muslims are already doing it. They're already bowing down to a false god. They even bump their foreheads on the floor to prostrate themselves. And they feel so "humble" and "righteous" by doing so. That's because they didn't read Daniel chapter 3!
So, who is the second star in the book of Revelation? Who is that mysterious woman?
Well, sorry to have to say, she is a WHORE.
She is a whore that sits on many waters (or people) and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her. She rides on the back of the Antichrist. Now, this woman is drunk with blood. She is arrayed in purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand.
This description sounds very familiar biblically and if we turn to the Old Testament and read about King Solomon, we'll discover that Solomon's temple was also decked with gold, silver and precious stones and pearls.
Did you know that the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold? That's 66,600 pounds of gold. That was just in one year.
Read I Kings chapter 10. You may be convinced after reading it that Babylon the Whore is Jerusalem.
I Kings 10:27 says: "And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance."
Compare the previous chapter of I Kings with Revelation 18:12 - 19. The treasures are listed exactly the same. And, why wouldn't they be? When the Jews rebuild their temple, no expense will be spared. Of course they are going to try to fulfill the requirements for the temple to the inth degree and probably (after waiting for over 2,000 years) they will want to knock it out of the park. They have been buying gold (even discovering gold hidden in Jerusalem) and hiring craftsmen to make all the specified vessels of the temple. All that's left are the walls! As soon as those walls go up, the daily sacrifice will begin!
We do not know exactly how long the "daily sacrifice" will go on but what we do know is that the Beast (Antichrist) will stop it in the midst of the week (or seven years) and then shall the Tribulation begin.
Daniel 12:11 "And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days."
In other words, the abomination of desolation will be placed in the temple at the same time that the daily sacrifice is stopped.
Jesus warns us in Matthew 24:16: "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes..."
This is what a voice said in Revelation 18:4 "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."
I think we should understand one thing very clearly and that is that the "daily sacrifice" is NOT a good thing. Far from it. It will be an insult to God making Him furious enough to allow the ten horns of Revelation 17:12 - 16 to judge the Whore and burn her with fire. They will make Jerusalem desolate.
BUT, God will avenge Jerusalem on her enemies and that's called the Battle of Armageddon!
Ezekiel 37:28 "And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sancify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore."
For evermore is a long time. And the forevermore temple that Christ will reign in is going to come down from God out of Heaven, a temple NOT made by human hands. (See Revelation chapters 21 and 22.)
Hopefully you, the reader are checking out the verses that I'm giving you here because I'm not just pulling this stuff out of a hat. It's all in the Word and it all fits together perfectly if one reads the Word in the Spirit of God. Our God is an awesome God! He reigns!
No comments:
Post a Comment