Revelations 12 – 17
Interpreting Revelations can be tricky at times. Throughout history we have been able to apply bits and pieces to determine the end times are here. I know for 2000 years Christians have been looking at these writings to determine if the time is now. Verse 12:5 is difficult to figure out:
She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,
I read this and wonder if it’s the antichrist or the one to rule God’s people, Jesus. He is to rule with a “rod of iron”, but was “caught up to God”. What does that mean? Many interpret this as Christ with the woman as Mary, it makes sense except for the rod of iron comment that ties back to Micah 5:2 when he talks about the rod of iron. If so is this the first coming or the second? Is Jesus to be born back into the world or appear from heaven?
Verse 13:17 talks about the mark of the beast:
so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name.
Now today we have a growing problem of personal security with more and more people losing everything from identity theft. There have been ideas of using “biometrics” (a unique identifier of one’s body, finger print, eye, etc.) or having us “chipped”. The fervor over chipping people has become the latest mark of the best commotion. This one is the most viable one in history, we now have the systems in place to ensure that people could not fake this easily and would provide safety from fraud.
If we suddenly have the banks offering a bio-security option soon, I will pass.
Verse 14:8 is some critical imagery we need to be aware of in this world today:
Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”
Babylon has been mentioned throughout the Bible, well after it was wiped off the face of the earth. So why does God feel it necessary to keep bringing it up? This is really a critical point to understand and you will need to do a bunch of research about it for clarity. Babylon first came on the scene in Genesis with Nimrod and the tower of Babel. This was the first real time Satan revealed himself to the world. And this has been the root of everything evil since.
Nimrod was trying to become a god and therefore control everything around him. Satan portrayed as a serpent in the garden did now work, so “Lucifer” the sun god came to being. The “shiny one” that attracts the unenlightened entered this world through Babylon. Part of the key to becoming a god is one can live for yourself fully. “Do as thou wilt” is the “motto” for Satanist. Many who claim they do not worship or believe in any god or Satan, but it’s all for “self”.
I got sucked into two books I feel are potentially dangerous yet benign on the surface. One is “The Secret” and the other is “The Isaiah Effect”. Both put us in this world as a spiritual being with the ability to have our energy interact with the universe. While this may be true, we tend to get sucked into evil when we focus too much on “self”, especially from “The Secret”. While Gregg Braden’s book has many spiritual undertones it too tries to have use become like God. As nice has having what you visualized may seem, it will remove your focus off God.
If your meditation time is on a Ferrari and not the Word, you will quickly separate from God. Soon “the shiny one” will have more to offer than the one who asks us to follow a narrow path. Do you think that narrow path is lined with fancy sports cars? Or has this path been shown to us by the disciples who were martyred or jailed? I know it’s easier to attract people into a Ferrari than a donkey, but we should show how the donkey is the true way!!