Posted by Elana Janson on July 09, 2015 at 05:52:23:
Theology and science are coming together, and as rain makes the dry and arid desert come to life so God resurrects perished man.
With the insight given me I have always understood Rev 11:1 “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.” to be one of the verses of Revelation that gives great insight into the interpretation of the entire Revelation. The reason for this being the words “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod”; “measure the temple of God”; “and the altar” and “them that worship therein”.
“”And there was given me a reed like unto a rod”
In the Bible “reed” is associated with the writing reed. A “rod” sometimes in the Bible refers to the staff of a shepherd. Therefore the meaning of “rod’ includes the caring of Jesus Christ and God, the Father (symbolically the Shepherd) for Christians (the flock). Therefore these words mean that the person who will understand the book Revelation will write down (reed), how God directed and preserved his Church (rod) from the time of the coming of the Christ until the time of the Return.
“Measure the temple of God”
The “temple” of God in Revelation includes all Christians that followed through the course of the past two thousand years and follow today the teachings of Jesus Christ. We can now understand the words of Jesus Christ in John 2:19 - 21 “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, forty and six years was this temple in building and wilt thou raise it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body.” These words relate to the Death and Resurrection, but in the total understanding of Revelation it relates to the rise of the Christian Church in the measure of “three days” in the millennium after the Resurrection.
“And the altar”
According to my understanding of Revelation, because we are presently seeing Christians dying because of their Christian faith we have reached the time of the measurement of “altar”.
“them that worship therein”
We also have to measure “them that worship therein”. These words mean that it should be taken into account how many Christians actually totally follow the teachings of Jesus Christ in the twenty-first century. Those that live their lives according to Christian teachings, believe that Jesus Christ died for sins and through the act of taking Holy Communion confirm this promise of forgiveness. The accent here must fall on the word ”totally”.
We are at the present time confronted by the two extremes Revelation mentions in the end time, namely, on the one hand the martyrs and those that followed the teachings of Christ (the Lamb) and on the other hand those that have been misled and worship the beast and his image.
Revelation says quite plainly what the outcome is.
The martyrs
Rev 6:11 And white robes were given unto every one of them.
Who else will receive the white robe? Those who have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and made them white.
Revelation 7:9-17New International Version (NIV)
The Great Multitude in White Robes
9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:
“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”
11 All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying:
“Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!”
13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
14 I answered, “Sir, you know.”
And he said, “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore,
“they are before the throne of God
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne
will shelter them with his presence.
16 ‘Never again will they hunger;
never again will they thirst.
The sun will not beat down on them,
nor any scorching heat.
17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne
will be their shepherd;
‘he will lead them to springs of living water.
‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
On the other hand are those who worship the beast and his image
Revelation 14:9-11New International Version (NIV)
9 A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, 10 they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment will rise for ever and ever. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
Time to realise the power of the beast!
I believe that I was instructed to make known that the book Revelation can be understood and that in the near future Jesus Christ is going to return to earth as is promised in the Bible. I am sure the readers will agree that Revelation is a book not written quietly but a book full of vivid images and stern warnings to those living the last days. What does this tell us? It tells us that God is making us fully aware of the power of the beast in the final time!
Despite this man of the twenty-first century has become casual about theology and likely the message of this website is brushed aside. Man of the twenty-first century so worships the findings of science that can be proved that he is actually prepared to allow all that has been written in Scripture to be put a back burner and does no longer see the necessity to teach those of the next generation to become familiar concerning that that has been written in the Bible.
The earth is entering a new period of extinction.
Recently is was reported in the international media that the Earth has entered a new period of extinction, a study led by three US universities, Stanford, Princeton and Berkeley has concluded, and humans could be among the first casualties.
The report said vertebrates – animals with backbones - were disappearing at a rate 114 times faster than normal.
One of the new study's writers said: "We are now entering the sixth great mass extinction event." The last such event was 65 million years ago, when dinosaurs were wiped out, in all likelihood by a large meteor hitting Earth. "If it is allowed to continue, life would take many millions of years to recover and our species itself would likely disappear early on," said the lead author, Gerardo Ceballos.
The scientists looked at historic rates of extinction for vertebrates - animals with backbones - by assessing fossil records. They found that the current extinction rate was more than 100 times higher than in periods when Earth was not going through a mass extinction event.
Since 1900, the report says, more than 400 more vertebrates had disappeared. Such a loss would normally be seen over a period of up to 10,000 years, the scientists say. The study - published in the Science Advances journal - cites causes such as climate change, pollution and deforestation.
The findings are similar to those in a report published by Duke University last year.
Last year, a report by Stuart Pimm, a biologist and extinction expert at Duke University in North Carolina, also warned mankind was entering a sixth mass extinction event.
But Mr Pimm's report said the current rate of extinction was more than 1,000 times faster than in the past, not 114, as the new report claims.
Through Revelation God has made known this new period of extinction
When God made it known to me in 1996 that we are near the end time, he was actually already enlightening mankind concerning the new period of extinction because he linked the words of Revelation to the present time.
Revelation has predicted that this is going to happen and those who are destroying the earth must perish.
“for destroying those that destroy the earth”
Revelation 11:17-19New International Version (NIV)
17 saying: “We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,
the One who is and who was,
because you have taken your great power
and have begun to reign.
18 The nations were angry,
and your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
and for rewarding your servants the prophets
and your people who revere your name,
both great and small—
and for destroying those who destroy the earth.”
19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant. And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake and a severe hailstorm.
Revelation 8:9New International Version (NIV)
9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died,
It seems that God is not going to allow another period of extinction as man might be foreseeing in his future scientific models. It seems that man in his current form is going to be removed from earth. Those that through their adherence to the will and laws of God will in a new ‘body’ live in the New Jerusalem – probably on earth. In Revelation the New Jerusalem is coming down from heaven to earth:
Revelation 21:1-3New International Version (NIV)
A New Heaven and a New Earth
21 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth”, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Psalm 37:9-11New International Version (NIV)
9 For those who are evil will be destroyed,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy peace and prosperity.
Note here how even in Psalms it is said that the Return will be after “a little while” - that is “the little season” also mentioned in Revelation!!
The heavenly body develops from God and the Spirit.
We have been so misled into thinking that we ourselves must prove that something can be done, that man can only believe that which he can understand with his own expertise that we forget that there are things beyond our understanding that can happen. As we to-day know how a seed germinates and becomes a large plant or tree what we do not know is how God transforms our perished bodies into a heavenly being.
Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians explains the attainment of the ‘new’ body for the righteous after death.
1 Corinthians 15:34-58New International Version (NIV)
34 Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.