Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 4-8.

Once again I come to a passage where I am unsure what all I am going to write.  I will start by noting that The Lion of the Tribe of Judah is The Lamb.  I want to note that John writes that no one on earth, or in heaven, or under the earth was found worthy to open the scroll, but then the Lion of the tribe of Judah triumphed and was able to do so.  He triumphed as the Lion, but opened the scroll as the Lamb.  Jesus went to His victory as a dominating king of beasts, a Lion, but obtained His victory as a sacrifice, as a Lamb.  This represents one of the most important points about Christianity: God’s power is expressed in weakness.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 1-3.

Usually when I read this passage I write something about what John writes to each of the seven Churches to which this letter is addressed.  Today I was struck by what John writes about God, and about Jesus.  John refers to God the Father as “Him who is, and who was , and who is to come.”  A few verses later he quotes God as saying that He is “the Alpha and the Omega who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”  Then when Jesus speaks to John in his vision, He says, “I am the First and the Last.  I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!”  The phrase, “who is, and who was, and who is to come,” strikes me so powerfully.

• God is!  There may be those who say that God is dead, that He does not matter, that mankind no longer needs God, but they are mistaken.  God is, and mankind desperately needs Him now.
• God was!  There are those who say that  we cannot trust what the Bible says because it happened so long ago, but God was there.
• God is to come!  There are those who say that we do not know what the future holds, and they are correct.  But we know that God is already there waiting for us.

God was there at the beginning and He is there at the end.  Jesus was dead and now He is alive because death could not hold Him.  And that means that death will be unable to hold those who put their faith in Him.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 20-22.

I can never quite figure out how the thousand year reign described here fits with the other prophecies about Jesus’ Second Coming in other New Testament books (that does not mean I think it is in contradiction with them, just that I cannot understand how they fit together).  However, one part makes sense to me: the resurrection of those who were martyred for their faith in Christ.  These were those who had not worshiped the beast or received its mark.  The passage says that they will be blessed above and beyond those who are also faithful but do not suffer death for their faith.  Then John writes about the second resurrection when all of the remaining dead shall rise in order to come before God for judgement.  On that day the books which record the deeds of everyone will be opened and all will be judged based on what they have done, except those whose names appear in the book of life.  Ultimately, those whose names are not written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire, along with devil, and suffer the second death.

Then God will create a new universe, one which will not experience any of the flaws which the current universe has as a result of sin.  The new universe will have no death, nor mourning, nor pain of any sort.  Those who have truly given themselves to God will live in this new universe in the presence of God, walking with God as Adam and Eve walked with Him before they disobeyed.  On the last day of 2022 it is time to remember that the last day of this earth will come soon.  Let us serve God here while we still have the opportunity to do so.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 17-19.

I struggle with putting together a blog on today’s passage.  The passage speaks of the woman who sits on a scarlet beast.  The woman is described as both a prostitute and as ruling over the kings (governments) of the earth.  The woman abuses those who follow Christ (drinks their blood).  The beast existed in the past, did not (does not?) exist for a time, then exists once again.  The heads and horns of the beast are kings (governments) who give their power to the beast.  Together the kings and the beast make war on Christ and His followers, but Christ will be victorious over them.  Despite sharing an animosity towards the Christians with her, the beast and its kings will hate the woman and seek her destruction.  The beast will succeed in destroying the woman, to the dismay of the kings who gave their support to the beast in her destruction.

I can see this prophecy reflected in the world today, although I am unsure that it is being fulfilled now.  As a side note, I believe that God intends for each generation to perceive aspects of the prophecies contained in the Book of Revelation as coming to fulfillment in the events they witness.  So, how could this prophecy apply today?  The woman would be the United States government.  The beast would be the various international organizations supported by world governments (if you look at these organizations, most of them share common goals and have overlapping governing boards).  These organizations all seem to hate the United States, yet all of the world would suffer badly if the United States was destroyed.  These organizations, and the U.S. government, are hostile to those who faithfully follow Christ.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 9-12.

John writes that when the fifth trumpet is blown a star will fall from the sky to earth and be given the keys to the Abyss.  When the star opens the Abyss, smoke will rise out of it and darken the sky.  Locusts, which look like horses, will emerge and torture those who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads.  The angel of the Abyss, also known as The Destroyer (Abaddon in Hebrew, and Apollyon in Greek) , was king over these locusts with the sting of a scorpion.  Tradition holds that Abaddon is one of Satan’s fallen angels, but there is reason to connect Abaddon with the angel who killed the first-born of Egypt, and the angel who spread the plague over Israel after King David’s census.  If those other angels were serving God in bringing destruction, perhaps Abaddon is also.  In fact we have four more angels who carried forth destruction at God’s command after the sixth trumpet is blown.

Which brings me to something that I want to pull out for extra attention.  After the sixth trumpet is blown, the four angels are released and kill one third of all mankind by plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur.  Yet, those who survived refused to repent of their sin and idolatry.  They did not turn from their murders, thefts, sexual immorality, or magic arts.  It strikes me as how true this is to human nature.  There have been several times in my lifetime when the actions of people led to suffering for many of those who performed those actions, yet others refused to stop taking the actions which increased the likelihood of suffering the same fate.  Likewise, we should remember this prophecy when trying to bring the Gospel to those around us: many of them will refuse to turn from their sin, even in the face of great suffering.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 4-8.

Yesterday I wrote that it is important that we pay attention to the symbolism in the Book of Revelation.  Today, my first thought was, “Why are there 24 elders?”  I tried to do an Internet search to see what others had thought and all I found were people discussing WHO those elders were.  While I can understand some people wondering who they were, I don’t think that who they are is important (if it was, John would have given us more information about that).  So, I then looked up what significance the number twenty-four has elsewhere in the Bible.  I found that David had divided those responsible for music in the Temple into twenty-four divisions and that the priesthood had also been divided into twenty-four divisions.  It also occurred to me that twenty-four is twice twelve.  Twelve being the number of tribes of Israel and the number of Apostles whom Jesus called while He was on earth.  Which leads me to conclude that the twenty-four elders appeared in this vision to remind us of the importance of worshiping God (the twenty-four divisions of musicians and twenty-four divisions of priests led the people of Israel in worship).

Then we have the scroll sealed with seven seals.  Now seven is the number of divine perfection.  Which explains why only the Lamb was worthy to open the scroll, because only the Lamb shared in divine perfection. Seven also carries the idea of completion.  The Children of Israel marched around Jericho for six days, then on the seventh day they marched around Jericho seven times with priests blowing on seven trumpets.  So, when the seventh seal was opened, revealing the completion of God’s plans for this world, seven trumpets were blown.  When the seventh trumpet was blown it indicated the completion of God’s perfect plan (although we do not get to that point in today’s passage).

So, let us worship God as His perfect plan moves to its perfect completion.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 1-3.

It is important when we read the Book of Revelation to pay attention to the symbolism.  So, I want to note that seven churches in Asia Minor were chosen as the recipients for this letter because seven is the number of divine perfection.  Yet, these churches were not perfect.  I want to spend a little time looking at what was written to these seven churches.  John was given nothing negative to write about two of them, and nothing positive to say about two more.  Let’s look at what he wrote about the two churches about which John wrote only good things.  About one of those churches, the church in Smyrna, he writes that they are poor, but rich.  About the other, the church in Philadelphia, he writes that they are weak, but that God has opened a door for them that no one will be able to close.  In both cases, the message is that if we dedicate ourselves to serving God, we will succeed even though by the standards of this world we do not have the strength or resources to accomplish that for which we strive.  Now, let us look at the two churches about which he has nothing positive to write.  At the first of those, the church in Sardis, he writes that they have a reputation for being alive, but aren’t.  And about the church in Laodicea, he writes that they are neither hot nor cold, they are just indifferent.  Further, he says they are the opposite of the church in Smyrna…they think they are rich, when in fact they are poor.  In both cases the church had lost its first love for God and they were merely going through the motions.  John writes that it would be better to make no profession of faith than the half-hearted one they currently had, it would be better to be one of the three churches about which John writes both good and bad.  The churches about which John had nothing good to write had avoided the failings of the three churches about whom John gave mixed reviews. but they also failed to do any of those things for which he praised those churches.  We will be better off being enthusiastic disciples of Christ who fail in some areas, than lackadaisical ones who do nothing particularly wrong, but also nothing particularly right.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 20-22.

Today is perhaps the first time I realized how utterly appropriate this passage is for the last day of the year.

I do not fully understand the meaning of the first part of today’s passage.  It seems to predict that there will be a thousand year period, before Judgement Day, where there will be no sin on earth, followed by a short period where sin returns and the nations of earth unite to make war against God.  That is inconsistent with what I understand other parts of the Bible to say about sin on this earth.  However, my understanding of those other parts could be flawed (and probably is), and the wording here is ambiguous enough that its proper interpretation is probably different than that straightforward understanding.  Fortunately, the next part is unambiguous and entirely consistent with what other parts of the Bible have to say about the end of the world.  In due time, all will stand before God to be judged.  Everyone will be judged according to what they have done.  Those who have not accepted reconciliation with God will suffer for the evil they have done.  Then the original heaven and earth will pass away (or perhaps it will pass away before the judgement, the time sequence is not particularly important here) and God will create a new heaven and earth, a heaven and earth without the imprint of sin.  There will be no mourning, or crying, or pain in this new earth.  Those who are impure, deceitful, or do that which is shameful will not be able to enter there.  This day will be coming soon, so let us cleanse ourselves so that we may enter into that glorious place.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 17-19.

Today’s passage is intentionally obfuscated, not because the writer did not want people to understand, but because people would jump to the wrong conclusions if it was written clearly.  Of course, people did so anyway.  The first thing to understand is that the woman and the beast in today’s passage is not the same as the woman or the beasts mentioned previously.  Perhaps the most confusing part of today’s passage is that the woman and the beast represent both different aspects of the same thing and completely different things.  The beast and the woman ruled (will rule?) the world together, but the beast hates the woman and will bring about her destruction.  Yet, more important to the beast will be its animosity towards those who worship God.  I take a couple of messages out of this passage.  First, despite the harsh treatment the “woman” gives to God’s people they will still find it easy to get caught up in her sins and adulteries.  We must diligently work to avoid doing so.  Second, despite the “kings of the earth” working with together and with the beast to bring about the destruction of the “woman”, they will regret and mourn when she falls.  Finally, when the “beast” believes that it has won domination over the entire earth and all who live on it, it will face defeat at the hands of God.  The last message is one we are meant to apply to events in our lives, whether we live in the time of Christ’s return or not.  Throughout history powers have arisen which think they are preeminent and can force all people to worship them in place of God (I want to note that these powers are not necessarily aware that that is what they are attempting to do).  These powers have failed, and will fail, because nothing can usurp God'[s throne.  For example, today there are those in Big Tech who believe that if they just get their algorithms right they can manipulate people to believe what they want them to believe.  They believe they can establish control over what people think by controlling the information to which they have access, all for our best interests of course.  They are not wrong.  Their mistake is in thinking that they can control enough of the information to which people have access in order to maintain their control.  God has created the world in such a way that, while they may have success in the short term, ultimately they will fail.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Revelation 13-16.

I am not sure, but we have something which might be another dream-like scene shift.  At the end of yesterday’s passage, the dragon made war on “the woman” and her offspring.  Today’s passage starts with the dragon standing on the shore of the sea and a beast coming out of the sea.  Then a short bit later a second beast rose out of the earth.   We know from yesterday’s passage where John came right out and told us that the dragon is Satan.  A little thought about how the writing style of this book was influenced by Daniel and Ezekiel reveals that the two beasts represent empires/governments/nations. The first beast derives its power from the dragon and the second beast derives its power from the first beast.  While I am convinced that people will recognize the relationship between the beasts, I also believe that John implies that people will pretend to not see the relationship between the beasts and the dragon, Satan.   Actually, as I am reading this today, I wonder if the second beast, instead of being a government or nation, is actually big corporations working together to do the will of the government, which would be the first beast.  Whatever the beasts are, John tells us that people worship them in place of God.  To be precise, those who have not fully given their lives to Christ will worship the first beast.  The second beast will use its power to direct worship to the first beast.  And I think the best warning we can have is the Mark of the Beast.  The Mark of the Beast is something without which you cannot buy or sell anything.  There were those who feared that one’s Social Security number would be the Mark of the Beast.  They were wrong, but they were not being silly (and it is not impossible for it to turn out that they were right, just highly unlikely).  The Mark of the Beast is something which will allow complete strangers to know that you are appropriately subservient to the beast.  Anyone who recognizes anything as a higher authority than the beast will lose their ability to do business with others.  You can see what I believe are precursors to the Mark of the Beast in the way in which banks and credit card companies shut off certain people who express unacceptable, but legal, thoughts and ideas.  Does that mean that I think banks and/or credit card companies are one of the beasts? Not really, I am merely pointing out that their actions, and that of other large corporations, are preparing the ground for the rise of the beast(s).

This did not end up coming out the way I expected, and reads much more “conspiracy theorist” than I would like.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.