The Religious city of Babylon is Vatican in Rome. This politico-religious church of Rome will fall and will become a desolated place right after the rapture takes place. It will be desolated by the ten kings who will hate the harlot and destroy her (Rev 17:12, 16). Note the Bible calls this politico-religious body as “The Mystery, Babylon the Great…..” and this is also described as “…The Mother of Harlots [Note the plurality of the language] and of the Abominations [Here also note the plurality of the language used] of the Earth.” (Rev 17:5). The harlot mother is described as the same source of all other politico- religious paganistic abominations of all the earth. This woman is directly referred to as “that great city which reigns [When? Two thousand years ago] over the kings of the earth” (Rev 17:18). Rome was that city that the angel described to John in a present continuous tense approximately during A.D 100, when John was imprisoned in the island of Patmos. Rome was undeniably reigning over the kings of the earth during that period of time. This mother of harlots has spread her influence in all the nations through trading within them. It has always enticed the merchants and influential people to give money for its cause and trade through its influence luxuriously (Rev 18:3).
The ten kings will receive authority with the anti-christ for one hour [i.e. appointed time- approx 31/2 years up to the rapture and a little beyond]. These ten people even though are described as kings, they receive no kingdom even up to the time they give all their power and authority to anti-christ. In other words, this one world government will have no national boundary but a boundary divided on division of zones based on economic viability and prosperity of the world system (Rev 17:12-13). This is the deceitful way in which anti-christ will influence with his false-charisma and will take the whole world in to his authority with an iron grip.
The seven heads are seven
mountains on which the woman sits. Rome has always been called as the city built on seven hills. Actually the Romans dedicated each mountain to a paganistic god, each having been given unique characteristics over which they honored this mother goddess [harlot] who ruled over all (Romans 1:21-25). Even to this day this immoral spirit disguises itself with the name of Mary and shows itself as though having a little child in her arm. Satan has always deceived people with a religious overtone and wearing a religious attire but denying its power (2 Cor 11:2-4, 13-15; 2 Tim 3:5, 13). The ten horns are ten kings or ten leaders of the one world government that will arise at
the end time. Because this one world government is a revived entity of the Roman Empire, it will have authority to distribute to these ten leaders who will be selected from 10 different zones of the Revived Empire as in the days when Roman Empire ruled the world by appointing governors under one head [i.e. Caesar] who was considered as Lord and God of all. As the Bible says the ten kings or leaders did not receive a kingdom first and then act in authority as any other king normally. But they received authority first equal to that of a king and then they reign as kings along with the beast [i.e. this beast is the beast of Greece which will empower anti-christ at that time of the Revived Roman Empire for one Hour (i.e. Specified set time or appointed time of three and half years which is pre-designed by God (Rev 3:10;18:17;Dan 7:25))] (Rev 17:12). The world and all other kings will marvel when this beast which will operate in anti-christ and will show itself to the world as when it showed itself to the world when Alexander the great conquered nearly the whole world with in a shortest period of time, the result of which the world marveled at it (Rev 17:13). This one world government will be set up before anti-christ comes and makes the deceitful covenant of peace with the nation of Israel. When this one world leader anti-christ emerges out of this one-world government, then he will pursue his goal to fight against God and His armies directly (Rev 17:14; 19:19; Dan 11:36-45; 7:19-27). The anti-christ who will arise out of the Revived Roman Empire will subdue [i.e. defeat and will bring them in to subjection] three kings. He shall be different from the first ones because out of this Revived Roman Empire he will arise, but empowered by a different spirit [i.e. prince of Greece] (Dan 7:23-25; Rev 13:1-10). The anti-christ will arise by the charisma of this different spirit and will make a league with all the other kings and will deceitfully come up and become strong (Dan 11:21-24). But the beast from the earth in Rev 13:11-18 is the false prophet who will be doing miracles by the unclean spirit’s which will co-ordinate the three of them [i.e. satan, anti-christ and the false prophet] (Rev 16:13). These unclean spirits [i.e. spirits of demons (Rev 16:13-14)] will co-ordinate and achieve the highest or fullness of wickedness by their deceptive signs, which is helping satan to act as an incarnated individual in a statue by making it to speak, so that the people of the whole world will directly worship satan as their god who has all the powers of the whole universe (Rev 16:13-14; 13:4, 14-15, 16-18). Satan just like he deceived Eve by speaking through the Serpent, he will deceive the people at the end time by making the image of the beast [statue] to speak, thus making people to worship Satan himself directly (Gen 3:1-7; Rev 13:14-15).
The woman who is the harlot will have control over all the earth and it will reign behind the scene over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:15,18). The ten kings will hate this religious control of the harlot woman over their dominion. Hence these kings will hate the harlot woman of politico-religious Vatican church. In exchange for the destruction of this harlot woman of the end-time religious body, these kings will finally make a pact with the anti-christ and give him their authority for the destruction of this harlot religious body. This will be put in to their hearts for the purpose of God to be fulfilled which is the destruction of the mother of Harlots which is the great city of Rome (Rev 17:16-18). This will exactly happen after the rapture of the Church takes place because until then people [i.e. believers and unbelievers] will be mixed up with in the same world system [i.e. believers will be in the world system, not of the world system (John 17:11,16)] (Rev 18:4; Matt 13:36-43). Just like Pharaoh got furious when Israelites crossed the red sea to escape his clutches of evil oppression, even so satan will become furious when the Church will be raptured out of the world (Exodus 14:5-31; Rev 12:15-17).
This Babylonian religion was used as a means by people to fulfill their own desire. Those who were in the politico-religious church used the church to trade and conduct business with one another which the Bible describes as “….the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.” (Rev 18:3). It is also obvious that all nations have a part in it, but here we see the judgment not on all nations but only specifically on the politico-religious Babylonian church. Everyone who traded with her will sit at the sidelines [i.e. these are the ones that got benefitted by trading with this Harlot Woman] and will exclaim their surprise by seeing its destruction all over the world by satellite technologies [i.e. global network under one world government]. This Babylonian church will have acted exactly as those priests, scribes, Pharisees and Sadducees used the Jerusalem temple to conduct business and politics. For this reason only it finally got destroyed by the wrath of the Lord. Like in the same way this Babylonian politico-religious church will also be destroyed (Rev 18:3; 18:15-20; Luke 11:49; Mark 11:15-17; Matt 21:12-13; Mark 13:1-2).
In the past two millenniums, the real Body of Christ got persecuted not mostly by a paganistic religious body, but by this false Babylonian church (Rev 18:4, 6, 20, 24; 19:2). If we take the history and see it, this false politico-religious church has claimed for itself the honor of a true universal Church by calling itself ‘The Catholic Church’. Catholic means universal. Yet without knowing, they themselves have called their church as not just Catholic but ‘Roman Catholic’, which identifies this church with its politico-religious hidden nature of this Babylonian church, indicating it is the Mother of Harlots. This is a mystery which has been hidden to their own eyes because of their blindness, as in the days of Jesus when most of the religious Pharisees and Priests in the temple were blinded by this kind of harlotorous spirit (Rev 17:5; John 9:39-41; Matt 15:1-20).
This church can easily be compared to lukewarm Church which will appear when a lull will happen inside the Body of Christ because of a deceitful prosperity and safety that will be achieved by the one world government of the end time. This is when the falling away will happen inside the Church before the rapture take place (Rev 3:14-22; 2 Thess 2:3; 1 Thess 5:1-3). This Babylonian church is not indicated as many having many cities or nations, but a single city with a stunning exclamation made by people as “…What is like this great city?”(Rev 18:17). As we have seen earlier it is indicated that at the appointed time after the rapture [i.e. in one hour which is a very short period of time] that great city [Which city was called as great for millenniums? Rome (Rev 18:16)] will be burnt to ashes by fire (Rev 18:10, 17-19). Even today we use the age old proverb which says, ‘All roads leads to Rome and Rome was not built in a day’, indicating the awesomeness of that great old city which includes Vatican.
This great city of Babylon is the religious Mother of Harlots which have used sorcery to deceive all nations. Sorcery means using magic and evil spirits help to influence peoples mind and make them accept the one who uses sorcery. This politico-religious church has highly used evil spirits to influence people’s mind in various nations (Rev 18:23). It has influenced them [i.e. various nations of the world] with their demonic doctrines of abstaining from marriage and related issues to increase their trade and wealth (1 Tim 4:1-3; Rev 18:3). Because of this hidden agenda of trading and wealth acquisition for itself and others who wanted that luxury, indirectly satan has used this Mother of Harlots [i.e. head quarters of false religion and belief] to merchandise for itself “…of [the] bodies and souls of men” (Rev 18:12-13). This woman in essence is one demonic spirit which has shown itself to be the woman with a child to many people to deceive them. It has always boasted itself as a queen even during the Old Testament days of Babel tower. This same spirit has been used by satan to blind people even from the days of the tower of Babel which was built in rebellion against God (Rev 18:7; Isaiah 47; Gen 11:1-9). When this spirit first instigated its influence over man, man began to pursue building for himself “…a city…a tower….to make a name for [themselves]…” (Gen 11:4). Men started to build a city and a tower by having one aim, which is to make a name for themselves which is utter idolatry and rebellion against God.
This woma
n which is identified as an evil spirit searched for a base to establish itself for a few millenniums and finally it landed itself in a comfortable place by finding the city of Rome and operating from it as its base for its operation in to all nations (Zech 5:5-11; Rev 18:7). When a powerful demonic principality sits at a place and makes it as a base for dwelling, the other lesser demonic and foul spirits of lower hierarchies will not be able to occupy that place until it is dislodged. This is what will happen to it when God will dislodge this particular spirit during the destruction of this city, after its dislodgement, all the other lesser demonic foul spirits will come and occupy this place which has been controlled by this particular woman spirit principality for nearly more than two millenniums (Rev 18:2; Matt 12:29,43-45; Eph 6:11-12; Col 2:15-23). Here the woman spirit means, the spirit has adopted and has characterized itself in the image of a woman. Judgmental, critical and condemnatory attitude has been the tool by which this wicked spirit has controlled people who opposed her deceit in the past and intimidation against those who tried and who still try to expose her as in the days of Elijah when he tried to expose this deceitful spirit which immediately intimidated the prophet through the queen Jezebel who was possessed by this wicked spirit (Rev 2:18-29; 1 Kings 16:31; 21:25; Exodus 34:15-17). (ii) The sound of mill stone [abundant provision of food all the time] (Rev 18:22).
It has used lights and lamps in its ceremony to falsely identify itself with the true revelation of God and it has also falsely used the voice of the bride and bridegroom to boast itself as the true voice of the bride and bridegroom which is the real Jesus and his bride [i.e. the Church washed and cleansed by the blood of Jesus Himself through the Holy Spirit] (Rev 18:23; Galatians 1:6-8; 2 Cor 11:2-4,12-15; John 3:29; Rev 21:2; 22:17). This destruction of the apostate church of Babylon the great harlot will be destroyed completely as a judgment from God for corrupting the earth with her fornication [i.e. false doctrines and false worship] and as a result shedding the blood of His [i.e. Jesus’] servants who spoke against her false and deceitful ways (Rev 19:2). We must differentiate between the political Babylon which is based purely on the political agendas of the world fulfilled by them [i.e. world governments] with an attitude of self development in a selfish way which will be their main focus [even when it has to be done against the will of God without integrity and in rebellion] (Gen 11:1-9). This self styled purely political Babylon will have one aim “….Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” (Gen 11:4). And this will be their one and only agenda. This single minded agenda without God will be the main reason for the people’s rebellion against Christ when He will come back again to this planet earth at His Second Coming. This will be the time when anti-christ and his armies will assemble in the valley of Megiddo to fight against Christ and His armies from heaven. This is why the Book of Revelation calls this political setup of Babylon as the “great Babylon…” (Rev 16:19). And the city of Jerusalem which is the centre of the earth which will be chosen by anti-christ to be the head-quarters of the whole world is called as the “great city” (Rev 16:19). From this place anti-christ will try and establish a one world government [i.e. a name] and a city [i.e. Jerusalem as the headquarters which is called as the great city and is spiritually is called as Sodom and Egypt (Rev 11:8)] and a tower [i.e. which will be the temple tower on the temple mount] (Rev 16:18-19; 11:8, 13).
This is the same place [i.e. city of Jerusalem and its nearby mountains] which has been prophesied by the Old Testaments prophets more than once in which the final battle for the universal establishment of God’s kingdom on planet earth will take place. The final great earth quake which will happen during this battle time has been prophesied in many places (Rev 16:18-21; 11:8,13; Zech 14:1-5; Psalms 2:1-5, 12; Is 13:1-13; Joel 2:1-11, 32; Rev 16:14-16). The other Babylon as we have seen is the politico-religious harlot Babylon which is under the direct control of this religious harlot-spirit of Babylon which instigated this whole rebellion against God. This great harlot who will corrupt the earth with her fornication will be judged by God which has set its base in the great city of Rome, will be absolutely destroyed and burnt. This judgment will happen after the rapture of the Church, as an avenging of God for all the blood of His servants that has been shed by her. This politico-religious Babylon is called as “the Mystery, Babylon the Great, The mother of harlots, the abominations of the earth, the woman sitting on a scarlet beast, the great harlot who sits on many waters [nations (Rev 17:15)], the woman and the great city that reigns over the kings of the earth” (Rev 17:5,3,1,18). These are all symbolic and synonymous of the one harlot of the Politico-religious Babylon.
And it is also with the same name in the other 18th and 19th chapters of the ‘Book of Revelation’ it is called as “Babylon the great….” (Rev 18:2), “that great city…” (Rev 18:16), “…the great city Babylon…” (Rev 18:21) and “….the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication…..”(Rev 19:2). These are all one and the same. The celebration in heaven does not start with the marriage of the lamb but with the destruction of the great harlot in the earth (Rev 19:1-6). This is when Jesus Christ will start to reign directly on the earth from heaven. He will be the one who will be in control of the whole apocalyptic events of the end-time and this is the reason the Book of Revelation is called “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev 1:1) and not as 'The Revelation of the End Times Events’. From the moment he opens the first seal until the time He will defeat anti-christ and his armies with His heavenly army, He will be the one who will have sovereign control and the only one who will have the rights to release each new events in this planet earth (Rev 4:1-->6:17). Because of this reason the saints can be bold and courageous during the whole period of apocalypse and the whole of end time events (Dan 11:32).Praise the Lord!
After this event the marriage of the lamb will take place in which all the saints who ever lived for
the past two thousand years even up to the day of rapture will be clothed with various levels of the amount of the glorious clothing of the Spirit which is described in the Bible as “And to her it [the clothing of the Spirit of glory (Rev 22:17; 1 Pet 4:14)] was granted to be arrayed in fine linen [the righteous acts of the saints (Rev 19:8)], clean and bright….” (Rev 19:8). I am telling you that this clothing is the glorious clothing of the Spirit in various measures to each individual for all the works which has been done by the saints in Jesus Name (Rev 19:8; Gen 15:1-->Gal 3:14; 1 Cor 15:40-41,43,49; John 3:34; 1 Cor 3:11-16; Matt 10::40-42; Col 3:3:17). These people who will attend the marriage of the Lamb will be in Blessed category because they will be watchful of Christ’s coming even unto the day of rapture heeding the warning’s of Christ to be watchful (Rev 19:9; Matt 24:42-44). In other words all these saints who are all essentially parts of the universal Body and the Bride of Christ would have been watchful over comers in each successive generation (Rev 2:7, 11, 17, 25-26, [29]; 3:2,5-6, 10-13). The lukewarm church which will be left behind in the rapture is only promised a granting to sit with Jesus in His throne during his millennium reign in this planet earth (Rev 3:21-22; 20:4-6). The saints of tribulation period will be left out of the Blessedness to be a part of the marriage of the Lamb in their resurrected Body, there is a chance for them to attend in their spirit if they die and go to heaven during that time. God may grant them to see it in the spirit as He took and showed Moses the Canaan Land (Deuteronomy 32:48-52; 34:1-4). These saints will be resurrected back and will be rewarded only at the time of Christ’s second coming (Rev 19:9; Matt 24:29-31; 25:31-46; 25:21,23; Matt 19:28; Luke 22:28-30; Mark 10:35-40; Rev 19:16). Our Master will visit the earth at His second coming after the Wedding of the Lamb in the heavenlies, to make the watchful servants who will be present on earth at that time to be made rulers over all that He has (Luke 12:36,37,40-44; Rev 16:14-16; 19:7-9; Matt 25:31-34, [21,23], 27,35-46; 24:45-51; Luke 18:7-8).
A true mark of a servant of God [i.e. whether angels or men], they will only worship God and they will never accept worship from anybody, will discourage it and will warn every one even if they accidently do it. When we worship God truly in our spirit and in His truth [i.e. Jesus Christ is the person of truth (John 14:6)]. We as believers will experience in our spirit the words of Jesus from the Lord Jesus Christ Himself which is described in the Bible as the “…the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Rev 19:10; John 4:23-24). This will happen only as we allow the Spirit of God to supply these words to us and take it by faith in to our soul [logical mind] (John 6:63; Rev 19:10). When Jesus opens the seventh seal we notice there is a silence in heaven for about half an hour (Rev 8:1). Silence in heaven indicates that the Great Day of the Lord’s second coming to the earth has come (Zephaniah 1:7-8). After this silence in heaven will be over, the heaven will be opened and Jesus Christ will appear to make war with the anti-christ and defeat them through His armies of saints from heaven. This battle is called often as “…the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.” (Rev 19:15; 14:17-20; 16:19; 17:14). And also this final battle is called as Armageddon (Rev 16:14, 16, 19-21; 6:14-17). This final battle is also described in the Bible as “…the Supper of the great God” once in the Old Testament and New Testament (Rev 19:17-21; Ezekiel 38-39). Here in Ezekiel and in the Book of Revelation, it indicates that in this war God will use hailstones to wage war against these armies of nation (Ezek 38:22-23; Zech 14:12-13; Rev 16:21; Gen 19:24-25, 28-29; 2 Pet 2:6-7; Joshua 10:10-15).
Ezekiel Chapter 38-39 battle is not a separate battle apart from the battle of Armageddon, but it is the same because in that day Israel will accept Jesus as their Messiah because God would have poured out His Spirit upon them. This is the reason they will mourn seeing the Messiah’s wounds in His hands (Ezek 39:26-29; Zech 12:10-11; Matt 24:30-31). As a direct result of this war, nations shall know that Jesus is Lord and the Holy one of Israel. This is only possible only at the second coming of Jesus Christ when He will sit in Israel and rule the nations with an iron rod (Ezek 39:6-7; Rev 19:15-16). In both the battle birds were invited for the sacrificial meal or the supper of the great God (Ezek 39:17; Rev 19:17). A group of nations consisting of kings were seen in both the war (Ezek 39:1,20; Rev 19:19). And the fact that the nation of Israel burns the weapons of the defeated armies for seven years shows that it is the final battle of Armageddon and not any battle that happens before or after or during the tribulation period, which is just only a part of seven year time (Ezek 39:9). And also we see that immediately after this battle, the building of the millennial temple of Messiah in Israel which again shows that the preceding Ezekiel thirty ninth chapter battle is Armageddon battle (Ezek 39, 40). We also notice that these nations come against the mountains of Israel [i.e. Jerusalem] from which the Lord will fight against them in that day of battle which again shows that it is Armageddon Battle (Ezek 39:2; Zech 14:2; Joel 2:32).
God calls this day in which He will fight against the enemies of His as ‘The day of His Wrath or Fury ‘ in all other scriptures which shows that this war in Ezekiel 38-39 is the war of Armageddon (Ezek 38:18; Rev 16:19; 19:15). There is a great quake which is described in this day of battle in Ezekiel 38:19-21, and also it says that at the Messiah’s presence all men who are on the face of the earth will shake in that day which again shows that this war is the war of Armageddon as it is described exactly the same way in the other references of the Scriptures (Zech 14:3-5; Amos 1:1; Rev 16:18-19; 6:14-17; Zephaniah 1:14).
The battle is predicted to take place after the ingathering of all the Jewish people from all the nations which again clearly points to the day of Armageddon Battle (Ezek 38:12, 8). This war in Ezekiel is declared to happen in the latter days or times which again points that the battle is the Armageddon battle (Ezek 38:16; Dan 10:14; 1 Tim 4:1; 2 Thess 2:3; Matt 24:4,23-26). Again variety of nations take part in the battle against Israel with Gog of the land of Magog as its head which can truly be said as the coalition of nations of the world, hence pointing this war to the final war of Armageddon (Ezek 38:1-10; Ps 83; Joel 3:1-2; Micah 5:5-6; Zech 12:3; 14:2-3;Rev 16:12-14).
As the army of anti-christ will be with the banner of one world government, Gog will be playing a major role in that army. The Gog of the land of Magog [i.e. Russia] with the prince of Rosh [Aquila the chief prince of Meshech] and its army will spearhead the cause of anti-christ exactly at the time of the battle of Armageddon. These [King of the North which is Gog of the land of Magog] who will be the enemies of the anti-christ will be subdued by him through fighting against them with great fury and thus annihilating many by force, thus these who were the enemies of anti-christ before will suddenly become friends for the purpose of God to be fulfilled in the battle of Armageddon (Ezek 38:1-7; Dan 11:40-45; Luke 23:12). Persia the real Babylon is seen as an ally of Russian army of Ezekiel 38-39. And as it is seen in other passages of the Bible that the Anti-christ will be an Assyrian, who will come from Assyria which was situated in the olden days Persian belt which is called as Iraq in our times (Ezekiel 38:2,5; Isaiah 10:5-6, 20-25; 28:14-20, 21-22; 30:27-33; Daniel 9:27; Micah 5:5-6). This again points to this battle as the final battle of Armageddon.
The other Hebrew word used here for ‘safely’ is ‘betach’ which can be translated as ‘security, safety, securely’. This word can also be translated as ‘ safely , safety , carelessly , careless , safe , securely , assurance , boldly , care , confidence , hope , secure , surely’. The word ‘carelessly’ exactly fits the context of the scripture because it is a war situation where the people of Israel will have carelessly trusted anti-christ as their messiah already, through a careless covenant agreement of peace for seven years (Dan 9:27). This word is used three times in other places to point to the same meaning of a lethargic attitude towards God and His ways (Isaiah 47:8; Ezek 39:6; Zephaniah 2:15).
As we have seen, this word exactly fits the context because of the false covenant agreement that the anti-christ will make to bring safety to the nation of Israel and then exactly at the half of the seven year time he will break it. The word ‘carelessly’ in this context is used in Ezekiel chapter 38 verses 8, 11, 14. In other words, the Israelites who will be inhabiting the cities of Israel before the battle of Armageddon take place, the time during which they will live carelessly [i.e. without their absolute knowledge of the God (Jehovah) who protects them] and thus ignorant of the God of their fathers who brought them in to the land of Israel to be a nation after millenniums of living in exile in various nations (Isaiah 11:12; Jeremiah 33:24-26; Ezek 36:24).
Many hypocritical Jews will worship anti-christ even when he will break the covenant with Israel and also even after he begins to boast himself as God thus directing all the peoples of the earth to worship satan openly (Rev 13:8). These hypocritical Jews will be deceived in to thinking that their messiah is anti-christ even up to the battle of Armageddon in which the true remnant will be saved from the clutches of Israel’s enemies (John 5:43; 1 Thess 2:11; Rev 13:8,13-18; 16:2,8-11). It will be only on the day of Armageddon battle, many of the Israelites will come to know that the anti-christ is not their messiah, but is actually their enemy who has planned to destroy and completely wipe them out of the planet earth (Rev 19:19-21). Until then the anti-christ will act as though he is the real Saviour of the nation of Israel and many Jews will be deceived during this time of the end (Rev 3:9-10).
After this false safety will go bust just before the battle of Armageddon, then these same Israelites will mourn for the true Messiah to appear and rescue them to safety, at this point of time He will return to rescue Israel and inhabit in it forever Then in true safety they will dwell in their land (Jer 23:6; 32:37; 33:16; Ezek 28:26; 34:25, 28; Zech 14:11).
The ‘un walled villages, prosperous people, dwelling safely, all of them dwelling without walls and having neither bars nor gates’ are all the words the boastful anti-christ will use to make the Israelites [i.e. Jews] feel safe throughout the whole false peace covenant period (Ezek 38:11,14; 1 Thess 5:3). Thus absolutely indicating that the war which has been foretold in Ezekiel 38th and 39th chapter is the same Armageddon war described in the Book of Revelation (Rev 16:12-14; 19:17-21).
After all these events take place, the human rebellion will be subdued by Jesus and His heavenly army on the day of the battle of Armageddon. And then satan and his evil cohorts will be thrown [i.e. not all but only those in frontline rebellion just as in the case of humans] in to the bottomless pit for a thousand year of glorious reign of the true Messiah [Jesus Christ] for a thousand years in this planet earth. But not all the demons will be thrown in to the bottomless pit. As in the days of Noah when many demons which directly possessed people by illegally breaking God’s law were thrown in to the bottomless pit, so also will be at this time (Rev 20:1-3; Jude 6-8). This is the reason the demons which possessed the man who met Jesus in the country of Gadarenes cried and begged to Jesus to not send them in to the abyss immediately. They knew that possessing people by breaking God’s law will make them to be eligible to be thrown in to the bottomless pit any time (Luke 8:31).
A question may come to your mind here, why should God release Satan out of the bottomless pit for a little while after the glorious millennium will be over?
What we should understand here is, God always wants to remind people that the heart condition of man never changes, for it is absolutely wicked and have no possibility of repair. This heart that God speaks about is the soulish heart which is not under the control of God and in fact it cannot be (Jer 13:10; 7:24; 17:9-10; Gal 5:17; Rom 7:17-18, 23-24, 5). This must give us a good understanding of who we are without God in our own. Without Him [i.e. Jesus Christ] we will be in rebellion to God and His ways. Without Him we cannot do anything (Rev 20:1-3; John 15:5; 5:30). After this event of satan thrown in to the bottomless pit, thrones will be put on earth for Jesus and His saints to rule the world for a thousand years (Daniel 7:14, 27; Rev 20:4). We see the same thing described in the Book of Daniel where it says that the sound of pompous words of the anti-christ was heard until the thrones were put in place and Christ started to judge the nations based on how they treated His brethrens who were in Christ [i.e. all the messianic Jews and the saints who were martyred in all of history even up to the time of His reigning ] (Dan 7:11,9-10,26; Matt 25:31-46; Rev 20:4-6). The moment the throne of Christ is put up in this planet earth [i.e. the throne of Christ will be put up anytime once His feet touches the Mount of Olives], anti-christ will be slain in the succeeding battle of Armageddon and his body will be destroyed and will be given to the burning flame (Dan 7:11; Rev 19:20-21).
The Book of Daniel Chapter 7 Verse 12 also explains about the beasts [Note: not beast (anti-christ) which is singular] whose dominion will be taken away during this time when Christ starts to reign in this earth. In other words, the other political kings or governmental authorities who have not directly participated in the war of Armageddon against Christ and His heavenly army of saints, their dominion will be taken away but their lives will be prolonged for a season and a time. Here we see Christ giving a chance to these people to follow Him. O what a mercy! This also indicates that some kings will try to resist anti-christ’s tyranny of a one world governance and these kings will have a peculiar spirit influence which will be different from that of anti-christ (Dan 7:12; 11). To all martyrs who ever lived during all of the various ages in the past, right from the day of creation to this time [i.e. the kingdom establishment] just before the millennial rule is established, these will be resurrected along with the martyrs of the tribulation period. This is also called as the first resurrection. This is called the first resurrection because right from the day of creation up to that day of the first resurrection these saints have been waiting and have nearly missed two previous resurrections of the saints [i.e. 1) Resurrection of saints along with Jesus 2) Rapture]. Thus for them this is the first resurrection in which they will be resurrected with their glorious bodies which will happen at Christ’s Second Coming to this planet earth (Rev 20:5-6).
These resurrected people are compared with the other non-resurrected people because these precious martyr saints have missed all the previous resurrections just like the unbelievers [i.e. these unbelievers will be resurrected only at the white throne judgment] have missed, until Jesus comes to this earth and resurrects them because they were placed in a Special Blessed martyrs category to be qualified as priests of God and of Christ for a thousand years (Rev 20:6; 6:9-11; 7:9-17). But the unbelievers will be resurrected only at the end [i.e. at the white throne judgment] and the intensity of punishment for each unbeliever will be different according to their works and how much they have neglected the voice of God when God tried to reach out to them. This is known as the second death (Rev 20:5-6, 11-15; Matt 11:20-24; Luke 10:10-16). The Book of life will be opened to show to the unbelievers the importance of it and their neglect of it during their earthly life. This is also opened to check the names of the millennium saints for their entry in to the eternal city and in to the new heaven and new earth (Rev 20:15). This also shows that there will be sinners who will rebel against the authority of the Messiah even during the Millennium, but the Messiah will subdue them all under Him (Isaiah 11:4; 9:7; 32:1; 65:18-20; Zech 14:16-19; Eccl 8:12-13). This is also the reason the Book of Life will be used during the white throne judgment to check and separate the sinners who died during the millennium from the saints who lived very long and died during the Millennium (Rev 20:11-12, 15). Praise the Lord!
All the unbelievers will be judged according to the works because they were not covered by the perfect work done on their behalf which is the blood of the lamb, but the believer’s [i.e. the millennium saints] will be rewarded with a eternal bliss of all new city, heaven and earth. The crux of the matter is either they will be qualified by the 100% perfectness of their faith in the blood of Jesus to enter in to eternity with God or without that perfectness to enter in to eternal fire based on their imperfect works which is compared to a filthy rag in Isaiah 64:6.
After the 1000 years will be over, satan will be released out of his prison, but the surprising thing that we see here is satan’s nature has not changed even a little bit and in fact it cannot be changed (Rev 20:7; 1 John 3:8; Eccl 1:15). Once again satan will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth and will gather a huge human army from across the world to come against the city of the saints with Gog and Magog as the armies spearheading this final war against God and His Christ, just as in the days of anti-christ when he brought an army against Israel and Jerusalem to attack, capture and destroy it from the face of this planet earth. The capacity or the number of men in this army will be innumerable as the sand of the sea (Rev 20:7-8).
Satan when he is released out of the bottomless pit for a while will deceive and make the people to think that they are invincible. Hence when these people come up against the saints and surround the camp of the saints [i.e. saints of the Most High will camp and rule from various nations and places] and the beloved city [i.e. Jerusalem in which the Headquarters of the all the camp of the saints will be], this time the judgment of the Lord God Almighty will come swiftly by God sending fire from heaven by which all of them will be destroyed (Rev 20:9-10).
The new heaven and the new earth will be a completely brand new one that will have been created and have been already prepared by God. That is why nothing was said about the creation of the new heaven or new earth. The moment John saw this new heaven and the new earth; he saw a complete and a whole picture of it, not a quarter or half of it. This is the same new heaven and new earth that Jesus promised every believer by saying, “….I go to prepare a place for you [i.e. all believers].” (John 14:2). In other words Jesus was promising all the believers that the reason he will stay in heaven until the Millennium is to prepare a new heaven and a new earth to accommodate every one of us. Again this is the reason Apostle Peter encouraged all believer’s to look forward to the new heaven and the new earth and not just the Millennium of reigning in this present earth with Jesus as the king of kings (Rev 20:4-6; 2 Peter 3:13). The believer’s will also reign during the millennium as a part of the Lord’s army which will subdue the earth under Jesus, which was the first original purpose of the creation of man [i.e. in a reigning with in a dominion sense] (Rev 19:11-16; 1 John 3:2; Daniel 7:27; Gen 1:26-28, 29-31; 1 Cor 15:20-28; Acts 3:21).
This old heaven and old earth will be melted away and will be burnt by fire, just like in the days of Noah the earth was destroyed by flood. When flood comes at least the remains of the earth will be found. But when the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat [i.e. both the earth and the work that are in it will be burned up]; nothing of the remains can be found because at that high degree of temperature, everything will be melted to gas and ashes (2 Peter 3:7, 10-12).
Here in the Book of Second Peter 3:10, because of the shortness of the millennium compared to eternity (2 Peter 3:8), Apostle Peter is referring to the day of the Lord in a reverse manner in which he says that the elements of the earth will melt away with fervent heat and both the works that are in it will be burned up. In this verse, when he says ‘the day of the Lord’, he is referring to the end of the day of the Lord because it will soon be over just as a day with morning and evening passes by (2 Peter3:8). In other words, Apostle Peter was pointing to the fact that as fast as the Millennium comes so fast will the Millennium be over, but for all the believers there is a greater eternity of reigning and ruling with Jesus in the new heaven and the new earth which will start when the Millennium will be over. But unlike the Millennium reign of Jesus, God’s eternal new heaven and the new earth will be inhabited only by those saints and saved believers as its occupants (Rev 21:1-8). There will be no more sea in the new heaven and new earth because it was not God’s original will for the earth to be filled with the waters of the sea, but because of a angelic rebellion that happened against God’s sovereign rule on earth, this sea came in to existence which was supposed to be under the layers of the earth to water it as in the garden of Eden before man was created (Rev 21:1; Gen 1:1-2; 2:4-7).
After all these things we see the real woman [i.e. the bride, the lamb’s wife] which is the Holy City [i.e. the real great city of God which is the heavenly Jerusalem] descending out of heaven from God having the glory of God [i.e. filled to God’s fullness with the Holy Spirit]. As we notice that those carried away in the Spirit’s fullness can only experience such vision of the heavenly Jerusalem which is real. The earthly has been patterned by God according to the order of the Heavenly Jerusalem which is called the city of God. The earthly Jerusalem for example is in the centre point of the earth, so also the Heavenly Jerusalem will be at the central point of the universe in heaven. This earthly Jerusalem is called the city of God on earth which God has chosen to dwell, even so with the heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is the logical head quarters of God’s rule on earth, even so with the heavenly Jerusalem in heaven (Rev 21:9-11; Heb 12:22-29). Abraham in the Old Testament had the faith to be carried away by the Spirit to see a glimpse of the vision of the city of God. This encounter with God gave Abraham a longing and an intense desire to look forward to the day when he will depart from these earthly cities of pilgrimage to be settled in this heavenly city of God forever. For this reason Jesus Himself said about Abraham that he waited in expectation in Sheol to see the redemption day when Jesus Himself will come to Sheol and take them back with the resurrected body to the city of God after His death and resurrection (Acts 7:5;Prov 11:31;Heb 11:8-16; John 8:56-59; Matt 27:52-54). In the Old Testament time the Bible says that Abraham waited for the city whose builder and maker is God (Heb 11:8-10). But by the time the writer of the Hebrews was writing it he said, “But now…..He has prepared a city for them [Note the past tense]” (Heb 11:16).
Here according to the context we see a literal city filled with God’s glory, which will be inhabited by the saints who had eagerly expected to dwell in it. The Holy Jerusalem represents each individual member saints like as houses grouped together and formed will be considered a city. Thus both the glory of God covering the saints and also the literal material city is described as the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:9-21). This city according to Apostle Peter, God has been building these houses [i.e. Physical bodies of saints for the Spirit to dwell] which are grouped together [in various resurrections] to become a city for the eternal Millenniums ahead and will continue until the White throne judgment take place when the building of God’s magnificent buildings with human stops and the present earth will be no more present. This will be the end of the building of the Eternal City of God (1 Peter 2:4-12; 2 Peter 3:10-13).
The saints who are in the heavenly city of Jerusalem will now be brought down from the elevated place where God has created and kept for the saints [i.e. the new heaven and the new earth] right through the millenniums for its inauguration and inhabitation will finally be fulfilled on that glorious day! Hallelujah! Here again as the city represented the saints on earth, so the temple of God always represented God on earth. Now that the fulfillment of the real thing has happened in heaven of which the earth contains and showed only its shadows, the city had no temple but God Himself was that temple (Rev 21:22).
The Holy Spirit of God not only filled the saints but the whole city with His beautiful illuminating presence which will connect God to the saints in an intimate manner. The Lamb of God [i.e. Jesus Himself] will be the object of relationship and revelation for eternity (Rev 21:23). The saints and angels of God will be settled in the new heaven and the new earth, which is God’s original purpose for which He created the heavens and the earth in the Book of Genesis. Thus from this time forth and for evermore “God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, and all the saints will be connected to God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit in them. God will live among His people for eternity to enjoy with His people. Hallelujah! (Matt 22:29-30; 6:10). Just like we have nations now, then also we will have nations and leaders who will represent their nations to bring honor and glory of nations to Jesus in the city of God, whose gates will not be closed at all.
The new heaven and the new earth will be the fulfillment of God’s original intent for mankind. What we have lost
in the first few chapters of God’s creation is seen completely restored with the last few chapters of Revelation. Here in the last chapter of Revelation, we see “the water of life….from the throne of God and of the Lamb” and the “tree of life” which will be the legal rights of all those who will have the submissive heart to serve Him (Rev 22:1-2; Gen 2:8-10). It is still the will of God that every man should happily live in God’s garden of this planet earth in a blessed loving relationship with Him and with each other (Luke 10:25-37). God said to Moses that no man can see the face of God and live, because in the natural state we will die the moment we see Him in His glory. But the glory covered saints will be just like Jesus, hence they will be able to see the face of God (Exodus 33:20; 1 John 3:2; Rev 22:4). The other original intent of God’s creation is to reign in this earth through connecting with God and using His authority to rule the earth with His righteousness. This will also be fulfilled completely through saints in the new heaven and the new earth. This is where the present life that we live for God will give us the position of reigning that we will hold in the new heaven and the new earth forever and ever (Rev 22:5; Matt 25:14-30). There will be no more curses because God Himself will dwell in the midst of the new earth, thus supplying His blessing and His presence for every one forever and ever. Thus out of an obedient and heart and gratefulness, His servants shall serve Him (Rev 22:3). This direct presence of God for the sustenance of man is indirectly referred to as “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Rev 22:2). We see here that a angel bringing from God the visions of God for the Apostle John to experience and to see and tell it to others (Rev 22:16). But John missed God by being overwhelmed by the vessel through which the message of God came. Every true servant of God will point only to worship God, and will not accept worship from anybody (Rev 22:8-9; Acts 14:11-18; Acts 3:11-16).
The “water of life” is symbolically represented by the voice of the Spirit and the bride (Rev 22:17; John 4:7-26). It is more important to obey God and keep His commandments to have the right to the tree of life and to enter the city through the gates (Rev 22:14). The prophecy of the Book of the Revelation is the truth of God; hence those who add words to this book will be afflicted with the plagues by God. In other words, when we alter the truth of God it will become a lie which will mislead many in to destruction. This is the reason God will add plagues to these kinds of people (Rev 22:18-19). Praise the Lord!
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