Let's just jump right in and I'll put parenthesis throughout:
Revelation 14:6-20 "I saw an angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, )“Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come." (An angel talking in a loud voice in midair... perhaps a natural disaster from heaven, announcing that the tribulation has started. Or started or not, now it's getting serious.) "Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” A second angel followed and said, “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great,’ which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries.” (I mentioned in my last post that I believe Mystery Babylon is Saudi Arabia.) (See that post for my reasoning.) (So Saudi Arabia falls after the Tribulation has started but before the next angel.) 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 (The mark of the beast is in the final 3 1/2 years of the tribulation) 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. (This says "will" (a future tense); We know from Revelation 19:20 that the day they are thrown into the lake of sulfur is the day of Christ's second coming.) 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.” This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. (Patient endurance by Christian's during the tribulation.) Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (What a great promise and encouragement for us as we endure the tribulation.) I looked, and there before me was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man (Jesus) with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, “Take your sickle and reap, because the time to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” So he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was harvested. (This is the rapture of the Church when we meet Christ in the air). Another angel (not Christ) came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. Still another angel, who had charge of the fire, came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, (called with fire from Heaven) “Take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth’s vine, because its grapes are ripe.” (Grape harvest is in the Fall.) The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. (In Ezekiel 9:4-7 the angel of death is told to start the killing in the middle of Jerusalem.)
So we see the order of things. #1 and #2: disaster from heaven, and the beginning of the "hour of judgment" #3: the fall of Saudi Arabia, #4: the mark of the beast, #5: saints patiently enduring the Great Tribulation, #6: the rapture, and #7: Wrath, starting in Jerusalem and spreading from there effecting all of those who do not repent following the rapture.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
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