My Thoughts

Revelation 12

Cicely, Alaska or Roslyn, Washington?

Revelation 12 was very difficult and very confusing to me. I read, reread, prayed, and read several commentaries, thought about it, and I still wonder what’s going on. One commentary says this, another says that, and I’m thinking, “If these really smart people can’t figure out what’s going, how am I suppose to?” I would remind you as I have many things before, to please remember I am not a theologian, nor am I trained in this in ant way. I am I mechanic.

One of the questions I have is when did happen? The commentaries are divided on this. So far everything in Revelation happened in chronological order. But in Revelation 12:9 says: This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. Jesus said in Luke 10:18 He saw Satan fall from Heaven.

When I read Luke 10 in the past I always thought that Jesus saw Satan fall at that time. After all He is Son of God. Of course He could have seen Satan fall back in Genesis. Or, what if He saw Satan fall in the future. After reading it again I now believe that this is still in the future.

Another question is, who is the woman in Revelation 12:1-2? After thinking and praying about it, I wonder if it has to do with the bride of Christ. But not the Christian Gentile bride, but instead Christian Jew plus the Christian Gentile. Or maybe only the Jewish believers.

The moon under her feet; I still don’t understand. The twelve stars on her head are either the twelve disciples, which I doubt, or the twelve tribes of Israel. I believe it’s the twelve tribes because the Jews are God’s chosen people. Leviticus 20:26 You must be holy because I, the Lord, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own. However only those who believe in the Lord Jesus will be saved, and because of this, many Jews, and Gentiles (like me) are grafted into God’s family.

Revelation 12:3-4 brings up more questions. Everyone will agree that the dragon is the devil, but many will disagree on the seven heads and crowns and the ten horns. Some say it’s Rome, some say it’s the European Union. However one commentary said it was written to make it sound scary. Like a spooky story told around campfires to scare children. I believe this last one is stupid and wrong. One thing I have learned, everything has a meaning even if we don’t understand it.

And then what about the stars the dragon threw down to earth? Some say they are demons. But there are two problems with that. One is if Satan wants to be in control and worshiped; why would he turn against his own angels? Also Revelation12:7-9 says there was a war in Heaven and him (the devil) and his angels were forced out.

About Revelation 12:5, many will say it’s Jesus Himself however others will say it’s the church in general because of Revelation 2:26-27 To all who are victorious, who obey me to the very end,
To them I will give authority over all the nations.
They will rule the nations with an iron rod
and smash them like clay pots.

If the woman is the church after God’s people have been snatched up, it might make sense if you consider new believers coming and God protecting them for 3-1/2 years. (1260 days)

So now in Revelation 12:7-9 there is a war in Heaven and Satan and his angels are booted out of Heaven and casted down to Earth.

In Revelation 12:10-12 some one in Heaven spoke with a loud voice. Scripture doesn’t say this; but I wonder if the one speaking is human. After all he said “For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth” He also said the devil and his angels were defeated by the blood of the Lamb I must add that back in the Old Testament the blood of lambs were used for the forgiveness of sins. However since an animal is temporary, here today and gone tomorrow, the shedding of animal blood is only a temporary fix at best. But Jesus, the Son of God, is eternal. So when he shed His own blood, making Himself the Lamb of God; then whoever believes in Him will be forgiven for eternity. So there is absolute power in the blood of Jesus, or as said here, blood of the Lamb. The one who spoke also prophesied that there will be terror on earth because the dragon is angry.

Revelation12:13 said the dragon will pursue the woman who gave birth to the male child. I believe this is Satan and his followers pursuing the Jewish believers in Israel. The male child, I believe, is Christ. If this is so, then Revelation 12:14 would make sense and may go along with what Jesus said in Matthew 24:15-17

Godzilla coming to shore – Google

I don’t understand Revelation 12:15-16. In Revelation 12:17 I am sure the dragon is at war with the rest of God people, both the Christian Jew and the Christian Gentile.

Finally he stands on the shore by the sea.

Again please check everything I say. Because after all, I have had no training in this at all.

Many of you are wondering what the photo at the top has to do with Revelation 12. Well to be honest, nothing. Many of you may recognize it as Cicely, Alaska, from the old TV show Northern Exposure. The show was filmed in Roslyn, Washington. I took the photo last week.

Revelation 11

Flag of Israel

Revelation 11 is centered in Jerusalem. By now the new Temple of God has been built. I believe it would be at the present Temple Mount or near there. Which means there is also at least a temporary peace between Israel and the Palestine. Jerusalem will be trampled by different nations. How many, I don’t know. But I’m guessing that it could be an international event building this temple. Also at this temple there will be two witnesses who will prophesy for 1260 days which is 42 months or 3-1/2 years.

There are a lot of thoughts about the two prophets. First at the temple they will stand before the Lord. According to Ezekiel 44:1-3, Ezekiel 46:1-3, and Ezekiel 46:12, I believe they will be at the east gate, since this is to be used for the Priests and seems to be holier than the other gates.

But who are they? Some say one of them may be a pre-flood man name Enoch because he never died. And they say the other may be Elijah because he never died either. Others say it’s Moses and Elijah. Moses because he changed the rivers to blood and Elijah because he stopped the rain from falling.

After the 42 months are up Satan will have them killed and their bodies will be thrown on a main road. Then all the people of the world will see these two dead bodies on their television, computers, i-pads and what ever else they have; and gloat. Revelation 11:7-10

Aerial View of Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Israel – Google Maps

Since the two prophets will be prophesying on the east side of the Temple, (I believe), then the closest main road they would be left on would be Highway 417. This road snakes all through Jerusalem.

So now with these two laying on the main road for 3-1/2 days, and with different TV cameras from around the world pointed at them, they come to life again and rose up into Heaven. I don’t know if Moses will be one of the two or not. But if he is, I wonder what his thoughts would be knowing that first he died, was resurrected by God only to be murdered and resurrected again by God.

While all this is going on there will be an earthquake and 1/10th of Jerusalem will be destroyed and 7,000 people die. Revelation 11:13 People will then give glory to God. Though I believe it won’t last for long for many of them.

Now after all seven seals have been opened; finally the seventh, and the last trumpet, is blown.

Revelation 11:15 “The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”

Now things get very confusing for me. From here to the end of the chapter it sounds like Christ’s kingdom is now here and those who were against him are being destroyed. But we still have eleven more chapters left in Revelation. When I read chapter 12 the number one word that comes to mine is, “huh?”

As I read farther, I wonder, is this still in chronological order, or is it repeating things? I do know that I need lots of prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit to get this right. Lord please don’t let me get this wrong.

Revelation 10

Pacific Ocean off Washington State Coast

Before I start I would like to say my wife and I saw the movie Heaven Is For Real. It was a good movie, but it brought up a question. In the movie Colton said his sister, the one who was stillborn did not have a name in Heaven, because her parents never named her. In Genesis 2:19 God let Adam name everything, and we have been doing it ever since. So, here is my question. If Colton’s parents were to name the unborn child now, after all these years, would the child have the name in Heaven? I don’t know. I’m just asking.

Now for Revelation 10. This is one of those times when I wish I had a Jewish Rabbi sitting next to me explaining all of this. For those who don’t know, I am not a pastor or a priest. I have had no training in any of this. I am a mechanic. I have worked on cars, trucks, (both military and civilian) small engines and other things. It would be very wise to test everything I say.

In the first part of Revelation 10 an angel stood with one foot on the sea and the other foot on land. I read in Matthew Henry Commentaries that says this is to show that he had power and dominion over the land and sea. In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” In Hebrew 2:7 it said we were made a little lower than the angels. So it seems reasonable to me that if us have dominion over the earth, and we are a little lower than the angel, then the angels also would have dominion over the earth.

Often times in the Old Testament a cloud is the sign of the glory of God. The rainbow is used as a sign of God’s covenant that He would not destroy the whole world with a flood anymore, as in Genesis 9:12-17 Is the angel there with the cloud and the rainbow, to remind God of His covenant?

When the angel shouted it sounded like a lion. Then the seven thunders answered. Who were the seven thunders? I don’t know and I have not been able to find out. Maybe you’ll have better luck. And why was John not allowed to write what the seven thunders said? Prophecies are difficult and sometimes impossible to understand. What if what the seven thunders said was so difficult that no one in this life could understand it? What if it was so difficult and so confusing to understand, that it would lead us to the wrong conclusion?

Anyway this angel swore that when the seventh trumpet is blown God’s mysterious plan will be fulfilled.

Pacific Ocean off Washington State Coast

Then a voice from Heaven told John to take the scroll from the angel. But when he did the angel told him to eat it, saying it would taste sweet. What’s interesting is Ezekiel 3:1-3. Ezekiel also ate a scroll and it too tasted sweet. My first thought was God’s words are sweet, then I found Psalm 119:103; How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey.

But while Revelation 10:10 said the scroll turned the stomach sour, it didn’t say that in Ezekiel. However the people that Ezekiel were talking to were not going to be happy. They did not like God’s word and even rebelled against it. Ezekiel 3:7-9

Then again bitterness in the stomach could be the terrors that are still to come. By the way the seventh trumpet still won’t be blown for another 3-1/2 years.

Revelation 9

Revelation 9 is about the fifth and sixth trumpets blowing after the seventh seal is opened. When the fifth trumpet was blown, a star that had fallen to earth was given a key to the bottomless pit. So now for the first question. Was this star the same star that was mentioned in Revelation 8:10? If so, then that would mean the star is a person and not a meteor as I thought in my Revelation 8 post. I know I’m missing something, but what?

Anyway the pit is opened and thick smoke comes out along with these nasty locusts.

I know many people believe the Revelation 9:7-11 are helicopters used in warfare. I don’t believe it. I believe these are real creatures.

Blackhawk Helicopter – U.S. Army

Many quote Revelation 9:7-11 and use it to describe a helicopter with the pilot wearing a helmet with gold colored stuff coming off of it and a machine gun as a stinger. However in verses 4 through 6 it says they will not harm those with the seal of God on them. And they will not kill anyone, only torture. Also people will not die even though they may want to.

The last time I checked (OK I didn’t really check) helicopters used in warfare are not meant to torture, but instead meant to kill and destroy.

Another thing to think about is, if the world is against God and His people; why would attack helicopters attack everyone but God’s people? Who would be flying these things? To me this doesn’t make sense. Remember these locusts came from the smoke that came from the bottomless pit.

The people will be tormented to the point of wanting death, but not allowed to have it. Imagine being driven to the point to where you finally jump off a tall building or bridge. But instead of dieing, you live. Now you’re not only in great pain from the fall; but the locusts are still stinging you.

Anyway the name of the king of the locust is Destroyer.

M1 Abram Tank – U.S. Army

In Revelation 9:13-14 the sixth angel blew his trumpet and then a voice came from the gold alter that stands in the presence of God. There is an altar made in Exodus 30:1-4 which I believe is a replica of the one in Heaven. The voice said to release the four angels that held back the Euphrates River. These four are to kill 1/3 of people of the earth.

Revelation 9:16-19 is a bit curious to me. I see nothing to suggest that this army of 200,000,000 is anything but human. Some people say that this army is Chinese since they have so many people. Maybe. The army could also be made up of several nations. Also “heads like lions, and fire and smoke and burning sulfur billowed from their mouths” sounds like a large gun or cannon. I wonder if this could be a tank. But if it is a tank, why didn’t John say something like a horseless chariot? Could the tails be machine guns?

20 and 21 says people never repented. When people go through hardships, they usually pray. They are also usually more open to hearing the Gospel and sometimes they will even turn to God. The more hardships there are, the more people will turn to the Lord. I believe that when God’s people are removed and things start getting bad, a few more people will turn to God. However these days people hearts are becoming more and more hard against the Lord. So life will get more and more difficult for for them. Many people will never repent. Ever.

There will be more things happening before the seventh trumpet is blown. I really hope I am correct in thinking that Jesus will call us up first.

Revelation 8

Revelation 8 is the beginning of the opening of the 7th seal. And I believe that by this time God’s people will be gone. I hope and pray that I am correct.

A few days ago I was approach by a couple of young women who were Mormons. They were very nice and polite and we talked a bit. One of the women said she prays and she believes in Jesus. I said that’s good, but what about the Bible? The Bible and the Book of Mormon do not agree with each other. She said they did and she knows it because she prays about it. I told her that’s good, but the Bible says you must test everything. Even what I say. She said she would not do that. We talked a little more before we parted ways. This saddens me.

Everyone has sinned and has fallen from God’s grace. Everyone. Because of this we do not deserve God’s grace. Not even the very nice young woman who spoke with me. Also it is absolutely impossible for us to earn our way into God’s good graces. But because of the grace of God, He made it possible for us to enter His Kingdom by sending us His son Jesus. So that who ever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. Believing in Jesus not only means believing that Jesus died for us, but also that He rose physically from the dead. Even though Mormons celebrate Easter, they do not believe Jesus rose with His own body from the grave. They believe He rose only in spirit. (I know sometimes they will say they He rose physically, but I have found they sometimes will say anything to get you to go to their church.) They don’t seem to understand that Jesus paid our way with His blood. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into God’s Kingdom. Jesus did it all for us.

Revelation 8:1-2 says there will be seven angels with seven trumpets and there will be silence in Heaven for one-half hour. Someone told me that this is because of what happens will be so terrible, so horrifying, that everyone will be at awe.

Revelation 8:3-5 talks about prayers of God’s people being mixed with incense by an angel, and smoke of the two rises up to God. After that the angel fills the incense burner with fire and throws it down to earth, where terrible things happens.

Hebrews 10:29-31
Just think how much worse the punishment will be for those who have trampled on the Son of God, and have treated the blood of the covenant, which made us holy, as if it were common and unholy, and have insulted and disdained the Holy Spirit who brings God’s mercy to us. For we know the one who said,
“I will take revenge.
I will pay them back.”
He also said,
“The Lord will judge his own people.”
It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Is Revelation 8:3-5 the beginning of God’s punishment? His revenge?

In Revelation 8:7 the first trumpet is blown and fire is thrown down to earth. I have nothing to back this up with but I wonder if this will be a meteor shower. Not one that passes by the earth, but one that is aimed at us.

Revelation 8:8-9 is the second trumpet, and a mountain of fire is thrown down and 1/3 of the of the sea creatures and a 1/3 of the ships are destroyed. I believe this is one big meteorite hitting either the Pacific or Atlantic Ocean. Thinking about the blood mentioned here, I notice Revelation 16:3-6 seems to be related. If I am correct, this explains the blood. Also I thought of one of the plagues, when God had Moses turn the water into blood in Egypt. Could the Egyptians been so brutal to the Hebrew slaves that God though “If you like blood so much, drink this!”? I wonder.

When the third trumpet blows in Revelation 8:10-11 a great star burning like a torch fell from the sky turning a third of the springs and river bitter causing many people to die. I’m guessing and only guessing that maybe this could be a meteor made of sulfur or some combination of elements that burns brightly. However if sulfur does fall and as it burns and mixes with water, it could turn into something like battery acid.

I remember a story of a volcano erupting in Alaska and a man was caught in his cabin. He ran outside not knowing what was going on. He ran bare footed into what he thought was snow, but it burned his feet. It was hot volcanic ash. His throat dry and scratchy, so he ran to the creek with his feet still burning. He drank the water and it burned his throat because the sulfur in the ash and the water turned to acid. He thought he died and was in Hell. He lived and soon turned he life over to Christ. I don’t know if this story is true, but it’s interesting.

The fourth trumpet in Revelation 8:12 is also clearly supernatural. A third of the day and a third of the night becoming dark is 8 hours of total darkness. Is this for one day, or for now on? If God can stop the sun in Joshua 10:12-14 He can easily do this.

After all this, things will get worse. And what saddens me about that nice Mormon I told you about earlier, is that even though she knows the truth about Jesus, she refuses to believe it. Instead she chooses to believe the Book of Mormon. She may be one of the ones that will go though the woes of Revelation. John 3:16-21 says her and other nice people will be judged.

We should tell more people the good news of Jesus so that they may believe and have eternal life.

Revelation 7

Believe it or not Revelation 7 is still part of the sixth seal which we covered in Revelation 6. In chapter 7 there are four angels that will stop the wind from blowing around the world for awhile. In Revelation 7:2 has an angel coming in the morning from the east. I’m going to assume, the sun will be in the true east which I’m guessing will be in the late spring or early summer. Now this angel told the four other angels who were holding back the winds, not to harm the earth, sea, or trees. (I wonder about the other plants.) Anyway no harm is to come to them, until God’s seal is placed on His servants.

Now about the 144,000 Israelis or Israelites. Of course we all know they will be 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes. To most people this is enough information. But I wonder where in time did they come from? I know this is an odd question, so I’ll explain.

Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead four days after he died and had started to decay. As we get towards the end of Revelation we see that many people will be very much alive and well even though they may have died many centuries ago, and more.

Many places in the Old Testament talks about Jesus coming. If you look through what I have written about prophecy, you will see much of it was written by prophets in the Old Testament. Could these prophecies by BC Christians? (Before-Christ Christians)

John 3:14-17
And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life. “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

I have to believe that the Old Testament prophets who prophesied about Jesus must have had trusted God enough to believe in the coming messiah, in Jesus. Therefore is it proper to say that at least some of these people were Before-Christ Christians? My wife says they’re more like Before-Christ Believers. I like that term. BCB – Before-Christ Believers or BC Believers.

So here are more thoughts about the 144,000. Even though these people were God fearing and were righteous in God’s eyes, King David is not one of them. Neither is Issac or Jacob. Why would I say that? Revelation 14:4-5 said these men were virgins. David, Issac and Jacob all fathered kids. I also wonder, could these 144,000 be from through time. In other words, could some be from long ago as while as being from this time period? I don’t know. Does it really matter? Maybe not.

Revelation 7:9-12 says there is a great number of people from everywhere, every language, and every people; which means even from nations and tribes that are now extinct. And they will all be around the throne worshiping God. Will we be part of this? These people will be wearing white robes. Will they be the same ones that are mentioned in Revelation 6:9-11, the fifth seal? What I’m asking is, will this vast crowd, too great to count be people who were martyred, or will this be all of God’s people including those of us who will be taken by Jesus?

The people in chapter 6 were souls of those who were martyrs for Christ. They were under the altar and were given white robes to wear. The people in chapter 7 are wearing the same white robes, but now there are lots and lots of them. Not only that, but now they are among the angels around the throne. I believe these people in the white robes around the throne is everybody who has believe in Jesus. And those that were under the alter are now in the group. I also believe that by this time the rapture has happened.

Another question I have is about the great tribulation in Revelation 7:14. Is it the tribulation happening only during the time of the Anti-Christ? If so then why is the Anti-Christ not mentioned until later? Here is a link to tell what tribulation is in the Greek. Is it possible that there is a difference between the tribulation we are in now and the judgment that will happen after the Christians are gone?

If the tribulation started with the opening of the seals, and if we are living through one of the seven seals now; then our time here is short. Jesus could be calling us up at anytime. Even as soon as now.

I hope I am correct in all this. Again I will remind you that I am not a theologian, I have never had any training at all. It would be very wise to test everything I say.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-22
Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. Stay away from every kind of evil.

Revelation 5

The Monster, Gamera

In Revelation 5, we will start with the Seven Seals which are the doom and gloom to come. (Or have opening of the seven seals already started?)

Everyone enjoys disaster movies and monster movies. Even the flying monster turtle called Gamera. I found out that crazy turtle can fly at the speed of Mack 3. Monster movies are fun fantasies. The seven seals however are not fun and worst yet, they’re not fantasy. And there is nothing we can do about it but to turn to God through our Lord Jesus. I read through Revelation again the other day and well, there are a lot of things I’m thinking about now. I’m not sure where to start.

I’ll start with an article I read on February 9 from The Guardian. I wasn’t looking for the article, I just stumbled across it and thought it looked interesting with all the drought we’re having on the west coast. The article said “Egypt has demanded Ethiopia stop construction of a mega-dam on the Nile, vowing to protect its historical rights to the river at “any cost”.” Of course if you read the article you’ll see there is a water shortage even without the dam.

But what I found most interesting is that it reminded me of what I wrote in my post Into The Future III on August 1, 2013, when I said: “But what about Isaiah 19:5-10 where it talks about the Nile River drying up? I have done some research on this and found that the Nile River has never failed to flood. It also has never completely dried up either. So obviously this part of the prophecies hasn’t happened yet. But I wonder; will this be because of climate change, or because somebody built a dam.”

I believe this is prophecy that is about to come to pass now! I would like to start in with what I noticed about a couple of the seals. But I’m getting way ahead of myself now.

I will now start with Revelation 5. Remember John was in the presence of God as he was witnessing all this as the Lord (the one who sat on the throne) asked who is worthy to open the scroll. No one was worthy except the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the heir to David’s throne, the Lord Jesus Himself. No surprise there.

What I notice though was what seems to be a ‘chain of command’ for the angels. Any one important, whether president or king would be surrounded by high ranking officials, then of those less important or of less authority. And they would be surrounded by even less important until you have the average citizen. So if I understand correctly; angels, since they are on the outer circle answers to the 24 elders who answers to the four beings who answers to Jesus since He is between them and God.

So what is our chain of command? Jesus answered this in John 14:6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. Why? Well you can find the answer to this in John 3:16 “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

I believe God loves us more than He loves the angels. After all Jesus didn’t die for them. He died us. We were made in His image. I don’t believe the angels ever were. God will do anything to bring us back to Him. And this is why I believe the scroll with the seven seals must be open.

In my book A Whole Mess Load Of Grace , I told how when I was on a Coast Guard ship in the Bering Sea, there was a time when we thought the ship would sink. We went to the only known active Christian to learn how we could get into Heaven when we die. What’s interesting was after the danger was over, everyone went back to their old life styles.

Years later when I was in the Army National Guard and we were playing war games (there was no war then except for the Cold War) people became interested in salvation. Me and another guy had even started a Bible study for some of the men on Sunday mornings. In those days that was perfectly OK. I have talked to many men about our Lord Jesus.

My point to all this is when things start to get difficult, some people will turn to God. When things get a little more difficult, a few more people will turn to Him. Unfortunately many people never will. When the seven seals are being opened, I believe we must help the poor, the hungry, the wounded. All through the four Gospels Jesus talked about this. And because Mark 16:15-16 says And then he told them, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone. Anyone who believes and is baptized will be saved. But anyone who refuses to believe will be condemned.” We should spread God’s word while we still can.