March 5, 2006

• If you have been following the discussions on Revelation on my site, you will see that there are differing viewpoints on Revelation. I am currently allowing those discussions to stay as long as the discussions stay sweet. It is a good object lesson about how people are trained in a particular point of view and will stay in that view, very sure that theirs is right. Truth be told, we really will not know the total truth until the events of Revelation 22 have occurred. I think that sometimes God allows us to not know for sure because that allows us to learn how to work together even with different points of view.

  
  

  I told Pastor Don that sometimes it is very painful being a living stone in the Temple of God, for when we rub against each other it hurts. Yet I know that that is God’s way of preparing us for being in His kingdom forever.

  
  

  Perhaps it is because I came to God so late in life that I did not spend most of my life in a particular denomination, so I look at things with no pre-conceived notions. I am not going to pretend that I have the one right and only truth, I have what I have been learning in my studies and make no claim to have perfect understanding. But one thing I do have is a firm belief that if I am in error the Holy Spirit will direct my studies to help me sort things out.

  
  

  So that my position is clear, I am just sharing what I am learning, how I am perceiving what I am reading from the Bible and the Kay Arthur study I have been taking. I am excited about what I have been learning and am sharing from that Point of View. Some have decided that the errors I am sharing need to be countered – so they are educating you readers. My feeling is that somewhere in the midst of all the points of view is the truth. And God will reveal that to us in His own Time. For now, I still plan to share what I have learned, if it is a blessing that is great, if it isn’t you don’t have to read them. I do challenge those with differing points of view to put up their Revelation studies on THEIR sites for all to share. I will gladly let people know that they are there for the reading. That way people can read and learn even more.

  
  

  Right now we had been discussing the 144,000 which God says are from the 12 tribes of Israel, to me that says Israel. Now I know that God keeps his promises, and will not change his mind. These 144,000 are most probably Messianic Jews, for they will have accepted Christ, and shared the Gospel with others. When I said that God has not given up on Jerusalem, He hasn’t, He can’t for He made promises. But part of the promise is that they will know the Messiah, so God will help them to do that. Yes there was one provisional covenant but others God cut covenant Himself, not involving man at all, like the covenant with Abraham where Abraham went to sleep and then God cut covenant. But in many of the still to be fulfilled prophesies in the Old Testament He has promised that the Jews would be given a tender heart and they would be saved, at least a remnant. Can these 144,000 not be a remnant? From what I have read, the church is in Heaven, raptured, and a combination of Jews and Gentiles are on the earth from many tribes, and tongues and nations. God will not abandon them, he will keep trying to reach them, not wanting any to perish. But if they choose not to obey, that is their choice. Just like with Pharaoh, at some point they will have chosen one too many times to reject God’s offer, then God will accept their rejection.

  
  

  I know that at the end there is the Great White Throne Judgement, and God will judge all those on earth, living and dead. I have to trust that God’s judgement is sovereign, and that it will be perfectly just. This is one of those mysteries that we have to trust God for. He will make all things right in the end.

  
  

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  Revelation 7:13-17

  
  

  I love this part of Revelation for it is a good model of what the elders of our church should be like. They should be ever ready to share their knowledge, and if necessary ask questions to institute conversation that will edify. (But at the same time, in the quest to edify, it should never be to show how much more knowledge they have over another person, but rather to share knowledge and help all to grow- there is a fine line in that).

  
  

  One of the elders comes up to John and asks who are those arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?

  
  

  John did not have the answer, so the elder answered. “These are the ones who came out of the great tribulation and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”

  
  

  Can this be the church? no, for we are not destined to go through the wrath of God, we were not to be in the great tribulation, this has to be those who are converted during the time of the tribulation, those who will be martyred for their faith. And those who suffered for holding fast to the truth of the Lord.

  
  

  The elder continues “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

  
  

  Just looking at this as it is written, if they are not to hunger or thirst anymore – it sounds like famine and drought – things that happen during the judgements on earth. The water will be turned to wormwood, grass burned up, seas and fresh water into blood, etc. Remember that the sun at one of the judgements will burn the people. And they will be tormented by antichrist, his minions and the people on the earth for their beliefs. Yet God will bring them through and they will be comforted.

  
  

  Sometimes in Revelation God gives us a brief overview of what He will later go into more detail about. We will begin to see this more and more in Revelation. For when the antichrist comes into the picture we will see the kinds of torment these martyrs will have faced. (and I know that even today there are antichrists – by definition one who does not claim that Jesus is God and man, but there will be one antichrist who will step forward and make a provisional peace for seven years. We haven’t seen that yet, he hasn’t been revealed).

  
  

  In my studies we had to make 10 parallel lines about an inch apart. and at the start of the line we wrote the following scriptures:

  
  

  Revelation 12
  Revelation 11
  Revelation 6-16
  Revelation 13, 17, 19-21
  Daniel 7
  Daniel 9
  Daniel 12
  Matthew 24-25
  Luke 21
  II Thessalonians 2
  Ezekiel 36-37

  
  

  Then we had to write out the events mentioned in those books in order and leave enough space between the events.

  
  

  For Example in Revelation 12 the events The dragon and stars thrown down from heaven to earth (which would be beginning of time), Birth of Christ (which was a given), then the dragon tries to devour the child (Herod), the crucifixion (again that was given already on the chart), the child caught up to God.   then we moved over to the 7 years of tribulation where there was a war in heaven, the dragon persecutes the woman(Israel) for time, times and 1/2 time, and then the child (Jesus) rules with a rod of Iron.

  
  

  If you take all the events of those passages you find that they line up perfectly, and the combination of the passages gives a more complete picture of the events of Revelation.

  
  

  What blew my mind away was how much all was prophesied earlier on and how well all dove-tails together. Sure increased my faith. Maybe that exercise would be a blessing to you.

  
  

  Hope you have a great Sunday. I will keep posting what I have been learning about Revelation, but a part of me wants to stop. But I will complete what I started.

  
  

  Heather

  
  

   

  • 6:36 pm
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