Revelation Chapter 15 Pre Wrath Prep

John sees a scene in heaven of what is taking place right before the seven bowls of wrath are poured out on the earth.  Destroying the worlds armies in the Valley of Har- Magedon is not the wrath of God, it occurs right before the seven bowls of God's wrath are poured out that complete the wrath of God.  The battle in the Valley was to preserve the remnant of Israel that Jesus had just brought back to Jerusalem.  This is what John saw taking place just prior to the pouring out of the seven bowls of wrath in verses 1 and 2 ;

              (1)"And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had
              seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God in finished."
              (2) And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had come
              victorious from the beast and from his image and from the number of his name,
              standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God."

This is how those who were victorious over the beast won their victory.  In Chapter 14, verse 12, it says ;

              "Here is the perseverance of the saints who keep the comandments of God and
               their faith (trust) in Jesus."

Also in Chapter 12, verse 11, it says;

                "And they overcame the him (Satan) because of the blood of the Lamb and because
                because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death."

In other words, it was more important for the saints to maintain confessing what they knew to be true, then to deny it to save their lives.  They knew what real life was and though they loose this outer man to death, they gain life that is really life.  Life that is eternal.  And because of this John saw this in Chapter 15, verses 3 and 4;

               (3)" And they sang the song of Moses the bond-servant of God and the song of
               the Lamb, saying;
                              
                             Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God, the Almighty;
                             Righteous and true are Your ways, Thou King of the nations.
                             (4) Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Thy name?  For Thou
                             alone are Holy; For all the nations will come and worship before
                             Thee, For Thy righteous acts have been revealed."

Here we are seeing what the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the Phillipians in the 2nd Chapter, verses 1-11.  Here it desribes what Jesus's righteous act or acts were.  This is one of the most revealing passages of scripture descibing the whole plan of salvation and why God came to earth, in the person of Jesus, when it says;

                "If therefore there is any encouragement  in Christ, if there is any consolation of love,
                if there is any fellowship in the spirit, if any affection or compassion, make my joy
                complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit,
                intent on one purpose.  Do nothing out of selfishness or emptie deceit, but with
                humility of mind let each of you reguard one another as more important than himself;
                do not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also for the interest of
                others.  Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,

                              who, although He existed in the form of God, did not requard
                              equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself,
                              taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
                              of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, humbled
                              Himself by coming obedient to the point of death, even death on
                              a cross.  Therefore God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on
                              Him the the name above every name, that at the name of Jesus
                              every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the
                              earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess
                              that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

This is what we see taken place in Revelation Chapter 15, verse 4.  There is going to come a day when everyone, whether a person came to believe or not, will bow to to Jesus and confess that He is Lord.  God earn that right for Himself, when He came to earth and bore on Himself all the sins of the world and putting them to death on the cross by shedding His holy and and blameless blood for the forgiveness of them.  When Jesus was here He stated that, "he who would be the least among you, would be the greatest in the kingdom of God."  In coming to the earth and become the least, Jesus earned the name above all names, the greaest in the kingdom of God, worthy of being worshiped.  His righteous act lead to the creation of many who would receive eternal life through His shed blood and resurrection.  This is why He came, to offer the gift of eternal life and create a new creation.

John finishes Chapter 15 with this in verses 5-8;

                  "After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony
                  in heaven was opened, and the seven angels who had the seven plagues came
                  out of the temple, clcothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded around their
                  breasts with golden girdles.  and one of the four living creatures gave to the
                  seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever
                  and ever.  And the temple was filled with smoke from the Glory of God and
                  from His power; and no one was able to enter the temple until the seven plagues
                  of the seven angels were finished."

This corresponds with Relelation Chapter 8, verse 1, when the seventh seal is broken there was silence in heaven for about an hour and a half before the the first of seven trumpets would sound that call bring forth events that would corresponds with the seven bowls of wrath.  There is silence because there is possibly no one in heaven because they are all participating in the wrath of God.  After the wrath is finished everyone who has ever lived will be gathered together were all of them will bow and confess that Jesus is Lord.  Since all of those who would not believe are not allowed in the temple, this would have to take place outside the temple.

 This event was even foretold as far back as the prophet Isaiah, where God speaks this in the 45th Chapter, verses 21-23;

                   "And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior, there
                   is none except me.  Turn to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I
                   am God, and there is no other.  I have sworn by Myself, the word has gone forth
                   from My mouth in righeousness and will not turn back, that to Me every knee
                   will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance."

Jesus (Yeshua) means, The Lord Our Salvation
                  


May Jesus peace be with you.

            



 

         

Revelation Chapter 14 (Part 4) The Two Harvests

Chapter 14 concludes with two harvests being reaped.  The first one is the reaping of the saints and the second is the reaping of those who refused to believe the truth of Jesus as to be saved and participate in the first reaping.  Verse 14 says this;

              "And I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like
              the son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand."

We know that the one who is sitting on the white cloud is Jesus because His is capitalized, which always makes reference to God.  Verse 15 says this;

               "And another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to
               Him who sat on the cloud.  'Put in your sickle and reap, because the hour to
               reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.' And He who sat on the
               cloud swung His sickle over the earth; and the earth was reaped."

What we see taking place here is the resurrection of all who have made Jesus their Lord by receiving what Jesus did for them on the cross, shedding His Blood for the forgiveness of their sins.  When they invited Jesus to come into their soul and make them born of above, they received eternal life.  They became a New Creation, waiting for the resurrection, that would allow them to be caught up to meet Jesus in the air, receiving their new glorified heavenly bodies.  Jesus told of this in Matthew's 24th Chapter, verses 29-31;

               "But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened,
               and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the
               powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will
               appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will
               see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.
               And he will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather
               together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other."

Paul writes of this event in his first letter to the Thessalonians in the 4th Chapter, verses 16 and 17;

               "'For the Lord Himself will desend from heaven with a shout, with the voice
               of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise
               first.  Then those who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
               in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord."

Jesus spoke of this in the gospel of John Chapter 14, verses 1-3:

                "Let not your heart be trouble: believe in God, believe also in Me.  In My
                Fathers house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;
                for I go to prepare a place for you.  And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will
                come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, you might be also."

Then in Revelation verse 17, we see this;

                "And another angel came out of the temple that is in heaven, and he also had
                a sharp sickle."

The difference we see between the two sickle holders, is that Jesus was the first sickle holder who did the reaping of His believers and the second sickle holder is an angel who will do the reaping of those who remain.  Jesus will gather His havest of the saints unto Himself.  The angel will gather his haverst into the wine press of the wrath of God.  For it says this in verse 18-20;

                  "And another angel, the one who has the power over fire, came out from the
                  altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying,
                  'Put in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth,
                  because her grapes are ripe.'  And the angel swung his sickle to the earth, and
                  gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, and through them into the great
                  wine press of the wrath of God.  And the wine press was trodden outside the city,
                  and blood came up to the horses bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles."

We are going to see, in Chapter 16, that this wine press will be in a valley in Israel, called Har-Magedon, known more as Armageddon.  This is a valley north of Jerusalem, that is 200 miles long.  In Chapter 16, verses 13-16;

                  "And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon(Satan) and out of the mouth            
                  of beast(anti-christ) and out of the mouth of the false prophet(the religious leader
                  that has people worship the beast), three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are
                  spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world,
                  to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty."

This is what is know as, The Day of The Lord.  John is descibing what he is seeing and he says that the demons that come out of the three look like frogs.  Remember, Satan and his demons will be cast down to the earth in the middle of the seven year covenant that the anti-christ will break.  We know that Satan and his demons have access now to the earth, but they also have access to the spiritual realm.  With  3 1/2 years to go before the Day of The Lord, they will be kicked out of heaven and down to the earth.  Like I have said before, I am not sure what kind of manifestation this will be.  If it is phisical, then you have to consider what John is seeing when he says, "like frog".  Satan knows that this is going to occur, he can't say that he is Satan and the others are demons, so he has to prepare mankind for this event.  All I can say is look at all the disciptions that have been given by people who have seen extraterestrials..Although they have people believing that they are from other planets, could they be from another realm.  Could it be that Satan's deception is that he will say that he and his demons are from somewhere in space.  Or possible, since he is going to claim to be God, could he say that the demons are his angels.  We will have to see.

When the angel puts in his sickle to gather the clusters of the earth to the wine press of God, these three will get the kings of the the earth to gather all the armies of the world to this valley.  They will arrogantly try to war against the Almighty God who will look at them and laugh.

John continues in Chapter 16 verse 15;

                  ("Behold I am coming like a thief.  Blessed is the one who stays awake and
                  keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and men see his shame.")

Jesus is saying that prior to this event in Armageddon, He will put in His sickle and call His faithul ones to Himself.  Those who persevere until the end.

John concludes in Chapter 15 verse 16;

                  "And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called
                   Har-Magedon."

In this valley the blood of the slain there will be so much that it will be as high as the horses bridle.

Jesus grace and peace be with you.