“I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days…And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.
And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city…where also our Lord was crucified…And after three days and an half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. And they [the observers] heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them [the two risen men], Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them…and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Revelation 11:3-13)
Nowadays “remnant” generally applies to the last little bit of fabric left after the rest of the large amount on the bolt has been cut off. It’s not considered worth much, and sold at a discount.
In a biblical context, “remnant” also refers to “the last little bit remaining.”
“And the remnant that remaineth of the [10] curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remaineth [1/20th of the total]… (Exodus 26:1,12)
When applied to humans, it still means what’s left of what has been cut off, not worth bothering much about.
- “Ishmael…smote Gedaliah…whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land. Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah…
- Then Johanan…went to fight with Ishmael…took…the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael…to go to enter into Egypt…for we are left but a few of many. (Jeremiah 41-42)
Likewise, the remnant in Jerusalem who give glory to God are the very few remaining individuals of a larger group that has been killed, not only by invading foreigners, but also by apostate politico-religious leaders in league with foreigners, like the remnant recovered from Ishmael.
In the future scenario in Jerusalem, despite witnessing the fact that that resurrection from the dead,
- as detailed only in the Bible
- and legally proven by the Son of God
- and offered to all who will align themselves with him
- has – once again, as with YHVH’s Savior – been personally witnessed by the Adversary’s soldiers,
only a remnant repents – rethinks – their alliance. The majority of the people continue to ally with the Adversary.
This is understandable, because the Antichrist also comes from the heavens and has also proven that he has power over death for his followers – with the added bonus of not having to stop sinning.
But like the amount of uranium in a nuclear bomb, just a little bit – a remnant – is all it takes to release the power of the universe.
The reaction of the remnant – “affrighted” ἔμφοβος, is only used to describe unearthly terror at the sight of God’s hyper dimensional glory.
“they [the women followers of Yeshua] came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and..behold!, [especially calls attention to what follows ] two men stood by them in shining garments…And…they were afraid” (Luke 24:1-5)
“as they [the men followers of Yeshua] thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them…But they were terrified / panic-stricken and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.” (Luke 24:37)
We need to understand that the remnant know exactly what to expect next.
It is God’s glory, as in “Mine eyes have seen the coming of the glory of the Lord, he is stamping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored!”
“thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged!
- and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great;
- and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.” (Revelation 11:18)
This warning has been given by multiple prophets over thousands of years.
“I said, “Look at ME! Look at ME! Pay attention to ME NOT him/her/zir!” unto a nation that was NOT called by my name.
A nation that was NOT called by YHVH’s name is not Isra-El, but applies to Christianity.
- “I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
- A people that provoketh me to anger continually to my face;
- that [literally or figuratively] sacrificeth in gardens,
- and burneth incense upon altars of brick;
- Which remain among the graves, and lodge in the monuments,
- which eat swine’s flesh, and broth of abominable things is in their vessels;
- Which say, Stand by thyself, come not near to me; for I am holier than thou.
- These are a smoke in my nose / major irritation, a fire that burneth all the day /”it’s killing me!”.
Behold, it is written before me [ergo, it WILL happen]:
I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recompense into their bosom, Your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together, saith the LORD…
- I will bring forth
- a seed out of Jacob [Hebrews / Gentiles]
- AND out of Judah [Jews] an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there…
- But [NOT] ye…that forsake the LORD…that prepare a table for that troop / Gad / heathen god of good fortune, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number / a heathen god of fate.
- Therefore will I number you to the sword,
- and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter:
- because when I called,
- ye did not answer;
- when I spake,
- ye did not hear / respond;
- but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not…
- ye shall leave your name / Christ-ian for a curse unto my chosen / Messiah of Isra-El:
- for the LORD God shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:” (Isaiah 65)
- Therefore will I number you to the sword,
“The second woe is past; and behold / pay attention! the third woe cometh quickly ταχύ as in tachycardia [not immediately, but that when it happens, it occurs in a moment, in a twinkling of an eye].” (Revelation 11:14)
“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven,” (Revelation 14:6)
It is difficult to document multiple situations occurring simultaneously in any kind of order that matches with their synchronicity. Every other sentence? Every other paragraph? Usually we report one coherently and then the other(s), like an investigator taking witness statements. So in order to track the angelic announcements, we have to skip over documentation of concurrent events by other players.
The reference to “another angel” in chapter 14 only makes sense in a sequence of events if we go back to the last angel described before this one. That would be back to the ascension of the two witnesses.
“And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.” (Revelation 11:12)
This “other angel” picks up from the two witnesses through the events of Revelation 12-14. All around the world there are those lined up to drink the Kool-Aid who might be prevented at the last possible second.
“having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice,
- “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come:
- and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea / outer space and the bottomless pit, and the fountains / sources of waters / destructive forces.” (Revelation 14:7)
This clues us in that the events reported in Revelation 11:15-19, i.e. at the last trump, do not occur immediately in sequence, but are only bullet pointed here, then set aside during the recap of history.
- Chapter 12 – The Seed of The Woman is promised and prevails against Satan, who is cast out of heaven upon the Chosen Heir’s ascension after victory over sin and death.
- Chapter 13 – The return of the gods and their monster hybrids. They can’t destroy humanity directly so their strategy is to bring down God’s wrath as happened in the days of Noah.
- Chapter 14 – As happened in the days of Noah, great tribulation against God’s worshippers comes close to wiping out any last human having dominion over the earth – leaving Lucifer’s cloned crew some degree of scoring a win.
“And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads…These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins.” (Revelation 14:1-4)
This supports the expected logical trajectory of our current society, which has rapidly gone
- from tolerating
- to empowering rampant pagan practices of homosexuality, bestiality, and pedophilia,
- to credibly imposing sexual activity on its citizens in the near future
exactly as was the case in earlier times and predicted by secular authors.
Events since the victory of gay marriage give us reason to worry. When society became more accepting of homosexual desires and behavior, often even celebrating gays’ legal triumphs, it didn’t merely allow a tiny, fixed percentage of the population to live openly. The share of Americans identifying as non-heterosexual drastically increased, driven by young women. As a father, I have no interest in re-running this experiment with pedophilia…Some…already report a belief that consensual relationships between adults and children are possible…
A Long, Dark Shadow gives us a look at a population we should want to understand. It also gives us a look at the worldview of its author, which we should find terrifying.
Western European countries assume that “sexual expression is a healthy and happy part of growing up”; thus Levine argues that sex is not necessarily bad for minors, and that puritanical attitudes often backfire. (Still, her call for common sense on pedophilia is marred by an inadequate acknowledgment of the extent of online child porn, as documented in Philip Jenkins’s recent Beyond Tolerance.) At one point, Levine cogently contends that the term “normal” is “subjective and protean”; she prefers “normative,” which means “what most people do.”
There is much more than sensual distractions from healthy growth, development and socially responsible pursuits going on here. “Defiled” includes the spiritual corruption by evil spirits.
“What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But [contrasting with the pagan practice of incorporating for empowerment the spirit of a god passed on by its religious prostitute] he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. he that committeth fornication sinneth against [contrasting with promise of pagan blessing] his own body.” (I Corinthians 6:16-18)
In contrast to what most people are doing at this point in history:
- These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth – to death.
- These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits [to be resurrected] unto God and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:1-5)
“And there followed another [second in this series beginning with verse 6] angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Revelation 14:8)
This is another example of bullet points providing some sequence prior to later detailed description of the event in chapter 18. We can sync the timing in Revelation 14 with Revelation 18 by this angel. One circumstance that stands out is that God’s people are still on earth. The resurrection of the death and transformation of the still-living at the last trump has not yet happened.
“And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven…And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,..And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment [of their human captives by the devils], saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.”
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. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities…and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.” (Revelation 18)
The King Stands Alone! No more consort.
And the third angel [counting from the first in this series at verse 6] followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, (Revelation 14:9)
This establishes that time on earth is still crawling towards the finish line in last desperate gasps.
“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
And another [fourth in this series] angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.” (Revelation 14:14-16)
FINALLY! Here is where the account syncs with Revelation 11:15 “And the seventh angel sounded” as well as the previous announcements of the timing of this event by a number of reliable witnesses.
“with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer…as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee.” (Isaiah 54:7-9)
- “Immediately after the tribulation of those days…
- shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven…[which is] the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
- And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet,
- and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31)
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:” (I Thessalonians 4:15-17)
“And I saw them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying…all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” (Revelation 15:2-4)
“And another [fifth in this series] angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.” (Revelation 14:18-20
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand…when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?…I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. but he that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you [plural, speaking to a crowd not an individual] with
-
- the Holy Ghost
- and / or with fire:
Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge / utterly clear his floor, and
-
- gather his wheat into the garner; [those of you with the Holy Ghost]
- but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire [those of you without].” (Matthew 3:11-12)
The earlier scriptural report of this event is obviously a responsive reading by a congregation more enthusiastic than the typical Christian church.
- “Who is this that…is glorious in his apparel, travelling in the greatness of his strength?
- I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save!
- Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?
- I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come!
- And I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold:
- therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; and my fury, it upheld me. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth.
- I will mention the lovingkindnesses of the LORD, and the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD hath bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies…For he said,
- Surely they are my people…so he was their Saviour. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them…
- Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?
- Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: [clearly referencing Gentile believers] thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting...
- Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
- Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down…to make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!…
For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.” (Isaiah 63:1-64:4)
Kingdom Come 