SECTION LI: The Challenge (Rev 10)

While the war events that are documented are occurring, we can be certain that people all over the world are praying fervently for salvation, and prophets true and false are urging their followers to take certain actions.

 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven…And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his 1) right foot upon the sea, 2) and his left foot on the earth,” (Revelation 10:1-2)

Failing any other identification of this “little” book in the hand of the angel from which the two holy witnesses warn mankind, we must consider this to the be the Readers Digest condensed version of the same book identified earlier in Revelation as God’s plan for the end of time. Sure enough, that’s the topic of the day.

“And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth…that there should be time no longer: But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” (Revelation 10:3-7)

Anticipated triumph – before it will happen!

“and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.” (Revelation 10:3)

Challenging!

“I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.” “Revelation 10:4)

Because unlike the responses of the Adversary to the first six trumpets, this won’t happen. This is it. The End is nigh.

“And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth…and eat it up…and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter…THOU must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” (Revelation 10:1-11)

Previous exchanges between God and his prophets guide us to anticipating an identical repetition of subsequent events.

“Son of man, eat…this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel…and it was in my mouth as honey for sweetness… and I went in bitterness…I have made thee a watchman…give them warning from me.” (Ezekiel 3)

“I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days – 3 1/2 years.” (Revelation 11:3)

This is the same time frame given earlier to the prophet Daniel for the last days, where “a week” = 7 years.

“Know therefore and understand, that

  1. from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. This has been fulfilled.
  2. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. This has been fulfilled.
  3. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, This has been fulfilled by the Christ’s 3 1/2 yr ministry and sacrificial death on the cross.
  4. and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. This is the last 3 1/2 yrs which has come to pass but is still waiting to be fulfilled.” (Daniel 9:25-27)

“Abominations” is diagnostic criteria for human-hyperdimensional hybridization after the release of the  Apollo at the 5th trumpet detailed in Revelation 9. “Overspreading” is another link to the Flood era in Genesis 9:19 “the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.”.

In other words, the whole world is due to become utterly covered with hybrid monsters.

Daniel’s prophecies makes it clear that the highest tier world rulers are controlled by hyper dimensional spirit beings.

 “Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold,

  1. the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.
  2. And four great beasts rose up from the sea” (Daniel 7:2-3)

Daniel gives two of the winds of heaven the names of Gabriel and Michael. so we deduce that all four winds / spirits are God’s messengers, and Ezekiel confirms this.

Thus saith the LORD God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live…and the breath came into them, and they lived. (Ezekiel 37:9-11)

Christians are accustomed to identifying the successive manifestations of the four beasts seen by Daniel as having the same spirit described by Paul as “the mystery / secret knowledge of iniquity” (II Thessalonians 2:7)

  1. The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings. (Babylon / Middle East)
  2. a second, like to a bear. (Persia / Far East)
  3. another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. (Greece / Europe)
  4. a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth…and it had ten horns.” (Rome / United States) (Daniel 7)

But God’s spirit is also evidently working through them. Stay with me, I can prove this from scripture.

I) Babylon ~605-560 BC was a wicked nation, but nonetheless it was God’s change agent, chastening for correction forewarned to his people.

  1. all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And the LORD God of their fathers sent to them by his messengers…
  2. But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets. “Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence…Therefore will I also deal in fury.” (Ezekiel 8)
  3. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees…he gave them all into his hand…And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: (II Chronicles 36)

More importantly, Nebuchadnezzar knowingly spread the knowledge of the One True God throughout his realm. And that wasn’t just the territory he personally governed. The trade routes were the communications highways of the ancient world. 

Nebuchadnezzar the king, unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I thought it good to shew the signs and wonders that the high God hath wrought toward me. How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.” (Daniel 4:1-3)

The prophet Ezekiel relays a promise of restoration of Israel as God’s Chosen Nation with the requisite temple for the priests..

In the five and twentieth year of our captivity…In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain…behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass…and in the man’s hand a measuring reed…” (Ezekiel 40)

And it goes on in minute detail for chapters on end, exactly like the instructions given to Moses for the Tabernacle.

This doesn’t happen right away. Not until God’s chosen priests from the tribe of Levi step up to their assigned positions.

Nebuchadnezzar’s successor was deposed when he didn’t acknowledge the true Ruler of the World.

“O thou king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father a kingdom, and majesty, and glory, and honour…whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he set up; and whom he would he put down…But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven…In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain. And Darius the Median took the kingdom.” (Daniel 5:18-31)

Note, “the kingdom” is not the Babylonian kingdom, but God’s kingdom on earth.

II) Persia ~ 550 BC

“King Darius wrote unto all people, nations, and languages, that dwell in all the earth; Peace be multiplied unto you. I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end…So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” (Daniel 6:25-28)

The historic account of rebuilding God’s temple is key to recognizing the recurring pattern of events in the future occurrence of rebuilding the temple.

“Now these are the children of [Babylon’s] province [of Judah] that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away…and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah…

    1. with Zerubbabel [reinstated heir of the deposed king, ruling as governor in the Persian hierarchy],  
    2. Jeshua [the High Priest],
    3. Nehemiah [the treasurer]“(Ezra 2:1-2)

Notice how God doesn’t work anything single-handedly. After Cyrus completed his assigned task of enabling the rebuilding of the temple, Zerubbabel and Joshua pick up the reins of leadership to ensure the completion of the project, which naturally encounters opposition.

A start was made in the time of Shesh-bazzar [governor after 538 B.C.E.], but the disturbances made continuation of the work impossible.

Opposition to the rebuilding of the Temple came especially from the nobles who had taken control of Judea after the exile. They were probably closely related to the aristocracy of Samaria.

“Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God.

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (II Corinthians 6:14-18)

Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, And hired counsellors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until…the days of Artaxerxes…king of Persia…”(Ezra 4)

Under the exhortation of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. despite continued harassment by their neighbors, the Judeans persevered in the work.

In the second year of Darius the king [successor to Cyrus] came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel…governor of Judah, and to Joshua…the high priest, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts…Consider your ways. Ye looked for much, and, lo it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.

Then Zerubbabel…and Joshua…the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet...and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” (Haggai 1)

And he shewed me Joshua / Yeshua / Jesus  [the human High Priest] standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.” (Zachariah 3:1)

III) Greece ~330 BC

The Greek city, known as the polis, was the vehicle for the assimilation and Hellenization of the indigenous peoples of the Near East. Newly founded Greek cities, populated mostly by local people, were the cultural melting‑pots of the East where the institutions of the Greek way of life were opened to all who wished to participate. The Greek language was rapidly adopted as a sign of Hellenization, citizenship in the polis brought exemption from certain customs and duties and permission to participate in local government.  The Greek empha­sis on physical culture and on beauty became the new norm, and the religion of the Greeks was fused with that of the natives in many different forms and local cults including several varieties of Hellenistic Judaism.

Antiochus Epiphanes’ cruelty towards the Jews is memorialized in the books of Maccabees and the Works of Josephus. What is frequently overlooked is how this triggered a defiant commitment to Torah Judaism, reversing the trend towards secularization.

IV) Enter the Romans

In complete accord with the gods’ strategy of degenerating God’s people through “the lusts of the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and the pride of life” (I John 2:16), otherwise known as civilization (see the post The Way of Cain), Herod endowed his realm with splendid cities,

  • At Herodium Herod built a great palace…
  • In Jerusalem he built the fortress of Antonia, portions of which may still be seen…
  • and a magnificent palace (of which part survives in the citadel).
  • His most grandiose creation was the Temple, which he wholly rebuilt. The great outer court, 35 acres (14 hectares) in extent, is still visible as Al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf.
  • He also embellished foreign cities—Beirut, Damascus, Antioch, Rhodes—and many towns.
  • Herod patronized the Olympic Games, whose president he became.
  • In his own kingdom he could not give full rein to his love of magnificence, for fear of offending the Pharisees, the leading faction of Judaism, with whom he was always in conflict because they regarded him as a foreigner.

Herod undoubtedly saw himself…as the protector of Jewry outside of Palestine, whose Gentile hosts he did all in his power to conciliate.

This is a huge clue to the successor in this role during current events.

“And when they [the two witnesses at the temple in Jerusalem] 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.” (Revelation 11:3,7)

Again, an internal clue that the events occurring in Revelation 9 when the beast ascends from the bottomless pit overlap in time with the witnessing against falling away to the beast reported in Revelation 11 and the activities of the Whore of Babylon whose judgment is reported in Revelation 17.

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