Greetings.
In my last post I laid out the skeleton of some aspects of the woman, the child in her womb, the falling away, and the Dragon of Revelation Chapter 12.
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To understand the book of Revelation, the sequence of events, etc., it is critical to understand Chapter 12.
Chapter 12 binds the book of Revelation together.
If Chapter 12 is misunderstood, timelines, events, symbolism, and people groups are misinterpreted and confused.
Only the revelation of Christ, who he is and what he’s about, can bring meaning to the Scriptures. He is the New Testament in flesh, it all starts with him and his journey.
And out of his pioneering work, the promises of God he apprehended for himself, and for you and me, the story of God unfolds in how those promises can be fulfilled in your life and mine in the time allotted.
To know our story we must know Christ’s. We, like he, are to be fathered by God into the fullness of his promises – the revelation of Christ in grace.
I’ve covered some of Christ’s journey and ours, in the A Peculiar People series.
To understand the mysteries of God the revelation of the Lord is absolutely essential.
As Paul described for the Christians at Corinth, and for you and me:
“No, we declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:7)
“However, as it is written: ‘What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived’– the things God has prepared for those who love him – these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:9 – 10)
“What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2:12)
The birth of Pentecost in the early 1900s and the moves of God to follow ushered in renewed interest and understanding of the end times and the book of Revelation.
We are commissioned to understand the marvelous masterpiece of God’s artwork embodied in the Scriptures, and, in particular, those Scriptures relevant to the age we live in.
Out of his great grace and love for man he has hidden the mysteries of his word behind the veil of his Spirit for discovery by the hungry.
One of the basic principles of Bible interpretation is interpreting Scripture with Scripture.
The Word is to be understood from the perspective of the Lord – since it all comes from him – it’s designed to interpret itself with his counsel.
You can look at the Scriptures like a garment, repeating certain patterns over and over again, knit together in a design reflecting the image and likeness of the designer.
“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” (NIV, 1 Corinthians 2: 14)
The great commentators of the past did not have the light of revelation offered so freely today – it was not necessary for the work God was doing in their lives at the time.
God has been taking the Church one step at a time out of the dark ages and the teachings birthed in that era.
Too much revelation beyond what we need is risky for a lot of reasons.
Maybe that’s one reason why John received “Revelation” while on the island of Patmos.
To have the understanding we have today of the last days indicates it is likely Christ has placed it within our reach, or within the reach of those soon to follow after us.
The glory cloud of God continues to unfold and reveal deeper truths in his Word as he takes the church deeper in him.
The heart of the gospel is for you and me to be made in the likeness of Christ, a new creation – new wine in new bottles – “… May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (NIV, 1 Thessalonians 5:23)
In the literal, it’s “in” the coming of the Lord – his personal coming to you and me to reveal his nature to us in grace. (NIV, 1 Peter 1:13)
Out of the revelation of what God desires to do in you and me flows the hand of God in preparing men and women to be the bride of Christ.
And out of the preparation comes the timing, events, and people groups, God orchestrates in the fullness of time to make a bride for his Son, ushering in righteousness and an end to sin.
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Immersed in Christ
Only Jesus can take you and me on our individual personal journeys to be made into the likeness of Christ.
You might say it’s the final part of our journey after being birthed from the womb of the church.
I’ve written a lot about the “coming” (appearing, taking, revealing, etc.) of Christ to you and me for a deep work in the A Peculiar People series.
It is described in the Scriptures as the baptism of Christ, the baptism he pioneered, to die to sin to walk in newness of life.
It is the path we must follow to have the fullness of Christ. There is no other path.
Jesus wants a bride.
The second Adam wants his second Eve. This is the battle we find ourselves in – who will we be married to for all eternity – light or darkness?
The Church era is the period where Christ is physically away, fulfilling the type of the first Adam, where he was asleep while God formed Eve for his bride.
Of course, Jesus is involved in our being made into his likeness, but hopefully, you get the picture of what I’m trying to convey – Christ is physically absent as the work of the Spirit forms a bride for the Son.
The Father has allotted a certain amount of time to complete and fulfill the era of the Church.
And there will be one final uniting of the Son with his bride, birthing sons and daughters in the final outreach of the Church era.
But first, the last day bride must be prepared.
Preparation
After Noah completed his journey, preaching to the lost and building an Ark for he and his family, revealing his faith in his obedience, God’s rains lifted Noah to a new place in God and to a new era, saved some of the disobedient in the flood, and cleansed the earth of darkness for a season. (1 Peter 3:19 – 20; Hebrews 11:7)
Note:
Many believe the “disobedient” referred to in 1 Peter 3:20, were those at the time of the flood who repented and gave their lives to God, as the ones Jesus went and revealed himself to as their Savior, and the person they were supposed to be a type of, like Noah was, but failed to do.
Noah is a type of the Philadelphians, and the disobedient who are saved in the flood are a type of the Laodiceans saved in the first part of the Tribulation. This pattern is repeated in other Bible stories as well.
After Moses spent 40 years in the wilderness, God used him to free the Hebrews from bondage and usher in a new era, the Church in the wilderness – fulfilling covenant promises made centuries before – connecting God and man in writing as well as in spirit, and launching Israel toward its Savior. (Acts 7:30)
After David spent his time in the wilderness, hounded and chased by King Saul while learning the ways of God, he ushered the nation of Israel into deeper relationship with the Lord and the promise from God his offspring would sit on the throne of Israel forever. (2 Samuel 6:12 – 15; 2 Samuel 7:12 – 16)
After Elijah completed his wilderness sojourn during the time of famine and drought, he presented himself to Ahab, ushering in the Spirit of God and revival on Mount Carmel, bringing a deathblow to darkness, the prophets of Baal, and rain, to a thirsty nation. (1 Kings Chapters 17 and 18)
After Daniel held fast to God’s ways in the land of Babylon, walking with God in the land of darkness, his time of wilderness, he brought the revelation of God to the King, was exalted to the courts of the King, eventually interpreting the words of God leading to the demise of one kingdom and the establishment of another. (Daniel 2:45 – 48; Chapter 5)
After Samuel grew in likeness of his Lord, he brought the revelation of God to the land of Israel, anointed two Kings, establishing the line of the Messiah. (1 Samuel 2:26; 3:19 – 4:1)
After Hadassah (Esther) completed her time of preparation, she was favored and became Queen, intervening at the risk of her own life to save the children of God, revealing the demise of darkness bent on their destruction. (Esther 4:15 – 17)
After John the Baptist completed his wilderness training, God used him to prepare the people for Christ.
After Christ was fathered by God for 30 years, completing his pioneering work, he presented himself to John to be water baptized, and having endured and persevered through 40 days of wilderness commissioning, ushered in the New Covenant, saving all those who died in relationship with God before his day, and offering life to untold billions in the millennium’s to follow.
When Peter was taken by the Lord on a path he would not naturally choose, he became one of the first in Christ to be taken by the Lord into the baptism of Christ, becoming one of the pillars of the new church. (John 21:18)
When Paul spent his time in the wilderness, God used him to apostle new believers to Christ, eventually writing much of what we hold as sacred writ. (Galatians 1:15 – 2:1)
Paul’s writings provide the deepest understanding of the Lord’s personal journey, (especially, if he authored Hebrews) and the one we are to follow.
And when Luther had his defining moments in the Word with the Lord, God used him to unshackle man from darkness and usher in the Reformation – which we bear the fruits today.
And what to say of all the hundreds and hundreds of men and women who have taken the gospel, in the various moves of God in the last 500 years, increasing revelation, understanding, and depth in Jesus.
When the last day bride, men and women, in the closing season of the Church era, the Philadelphia church age, have completed their journey of healing and restoration, enduring patiently setbacks, tests, trials, and persecutions – receiving from Christ the names of his God, the city of his God and Christ’s new name – the Lord will use his bride, one last time, to awaken those who thought Jesus had forsaken them and to offer life and light to those captured in the clutches of the evil one.
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At the heart of our story in our broken state and the fallen areas of our lives, is our rebellion from God, choosing our will over the Lords.
The heart of the gospel is to cleanse us from these “natures” in the school of God, and create within us a new nature in the likeness of Christ.
Repeatedly choosing our own path, in the face of the call of God, inevitably leads to increasing sin, wounds, and darkness, until, unless redeemed at some point, complete and final separation takes hold in an unrepentant state, a hardened heart.
There’s a tremendous battle inside all of us over the call of the gospel and the call of our lower nature, coupled with the assaults and strategies of the enemy.
For most of our lives the call of the lower nature has won more battles then it has lost.
The five foolish virgins are a testimony of the struggle of the lower nature against the moving of the Spirit of God in our lives.
Even the five wise virgins fall asleep.
The battle is whether we will allow the Lord to love and care for us and not take matters into our own hands, and though, very subtly, demand we take care of ourselves.
We see the story, the flesh against the spirit, played out in the themes of the Philadelphia and Laodicea church ages.
The Philadelphians are noted for their little strength, relying on the Word, and the provision of God for their lives.
The Laodiceans, on the other hand, are noted for being rich, dependent on themselves not needing the healing and restoration Christ offers.
This is the battle we face. It is out of the Philadelphian Church age the bride is birthed.
And it is out of the Laodicean Church age, the woman must flee for her life from the face of the Dragon and learn the provision of God in the wilderness.
Jesus won this battle. And he can win it in your life and mine under his terms in the wilderness of God, instead of, facing the Dragon, in the wilderness of life and death.
In the absence of healing and restoration, sin produces sin over and over again in an increasing measure from generation to generation.
The natural man – the unbelieving and unhealed wounds and sin in our heart and life – cannot produce God’s righteousness, it’s the law of sowing and reaping, the law of sin (Romans 6:12), the new creation is designed to set us free from.
God intervened in the generations from Adam to Noah (for example, Enoch), but corporately, men and women continued a downward spiral birthing an “increase” of sin into succeeding generations.
Eventually bloomed to such a degree men and women were on the verge of becoming so hardened to sin there could be found no repentance.
Yet God’s grace and mercy was to offer himself one last time, hoping, knowing the coming execution of judgment would turn some to him.
The pattern of birthing an “increase” of sin from generation to generation from the unhealed and unrestored areas of our life has not changed.
And, God’s grace, in increasing measures, outdistancing the marathon race with sin, is available for healing and restoring those broken and wounded places in our lives.
The Philadelphians make use of the grace of God and receive his love and care.
The Laodiceans are not awakened to the righteousness available to them and must endure and persevere through an exceptionally hard wilderness journey.
The stakes are getting higher for Christians as we approach the transition time to the Millennium.
In the natural, all of us would love to have smooth sailing ahead. But there’s some storm clouds building on the horizon and God is offering opportunity now to prepare for both the unprecedented revelation of Christ in grace and the unprecedented revelation of the seventh and eighth world kingdoms.
If you wait to “see” what God has been asking, he will honor your “see,” but, it will come at the cost of being unprepared and having to go through whatever he was trying to prepare you to avoid.
He will walk with Christians through the fire as he did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but, the outcome as described in Revelation Chapter 13 does not produce repentance in the hearts of the lawless ones, nor save God’s people from martyrdom, as was the case with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
It would be better to be prepared like Daniel, seated in the courts of God, “hidden” from darkness in the time of the “fiery furnace.”
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Jesus refers to Noah when talking about the last days.
Matthew Chapter 24 talks about those who will be “taken” and those who will be “left.”
I’ve covered this in detail in the “A Peculiar People” series. Those who are “taken” are those, like the five wise virgins, taken and prepared by Christ for the wedding feast, his bride.
The spiritual climate in the last days is not unlike the time of Noah, which Christ made plain.
Nothing new is under the sun when it comes to sin.
Sin breeds sin and it will eventually come to the full, requiring one last intervention by the Lord to redeem those who will fall on the rock, instead of the rock falling on them.
God has promised his Son a millennial reign.
And the enemy is going to do everything in his power to see it does not happen by setting up a world kingdom he believes will thwart God and his promise.
The Church has had the gospel for not quite two millenniums.
Two thousand years ago Jesus was in his 20s.
And from everything I’ve read and come to understand in the Scriptures, the Lord has allotted two millenniums for the Church.
This is not an exact science and the Lord takes matters far beyond our comprehension to adjust his allotted time – but there is an allotted time and a lot of things are set in motion clearly indicating we are in the last seasons of the Church.
Samuel said to Saul, ‘“… Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry…” (NIV, 1 Samuel 15:22 – 23)
The natural man, the Saul within our members, is bent on disobedience – it cannot learn obedience outside of a new king, David, i.e., Christ.
Only a new king can put to death our lowly body to birth the righteousness of obedience, faith, and love in us.
Defiance has been a spiritual battle in my life.
An orphaned heart knows really nothing other than disobedience and defiance.
And at some level, all of us are “orphans” needing to be taken where we would not naturally go, to be loved and cared for by the Father, receiving the discipline of correction by the great Shepherd of our soul. (Psalm 23 and Hebrews Chapter 12)
New wine must be put in new bottles, else all is lost.
Jonah was bent on disobedience to God’s call to preach to Nineveh.
It took three days in a whale’s stomach to cry out to God in repentance and become obedient to the call of God in his life.
God cleansed Jonah of disobedience so he, Jonah, could preach righteousness to Nineveh out of righteousness and not out of disobedience.
To preach righteousness one has to be made righteousness. To be like Christ one has to be “made” to be like Christ.
The woman of Revelation Chapter 12, for whatever reason, has not gone through the journey with Christ to be made into his likeness.
And some of those in positions of influence, her crowning stars, are deceived and fall away in the apostasy.
It is translated rebellion in the New International Version (2 Thessalonians 2:3), and these are Christians, not the unsaved.
Note:
Before the end time revival three different people groups are being prepared to meet face-to-face, the bride, the church, and the seventh world kingdom.
Concurrent with the formation of the bride in the midst of the church is the falling away, the great apostasy.
And, concurrent with the formation of the bride, is the seventh world kingdom having come to its fullness, the seventh head having been crowned, active and functioning.
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In 2 Peter Chapter 3, Peter uses strong language about scoffers in the last days.
Peter has walked with Jesus a long time, experiencing the revelation of Christ in his life – healing and restoration – a path, in grace, the natural man balks at.
He knows what it’s like for Christ to come and take him personally on a journey in the Lord.
He knows what it’s like to have the secret and hidden areas of his heart exposed before God and in grace to receive love and care by the father.
He knows what it’s like to fight for his healing and restoration and the consequences of not doing so and the rewards of being obedient.
He does not respond lightly to scoffers who ask where is the promise of Christ’s coming, because, he knows they’re not ready for his literal second coming, their vessels have not been prepared by the Lord for his dwelling and use now.
And though Peter refers to the literal wrap up of all things at the end of the age, his point stresses the need to be found blameless before that time.
And that can only be fruitful under the Lords personal care, the heart of the gospel, to have Jesus take us unto himself and clean us up.
(See: Matthew 24:38 – 41; 25:10; (Luke 13:8 & John 10:3, these stories are not about the general call to salvation, but the deep, intimate, and healing care of the Lord), John 21:18; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Corinthians 15:20 – 23; 2 Corinthians 5:10 and 5:15 “note Jesus being raised ‘again’”; Galatians 1:15 – 16; Philippians “day of Christ” 1:6; 1:10; 2:16; Colossians 3:4; 1 Thessalonians 5:23, see an interlinear; Hebrews 9:28; 1 Peter 1:13)
Jesus is here, now, ready to take you on a personal journey in him.
He’s birthed wave after wave of revivals in the last 500 years, starting with Luther.
He’s birthed the latest men’s and women’s movements, the fathering movement, inner healing and listening prayer ministries, and other healing and restoration ministries – all precursors to the bride.
The story of God is coming together at another transition point in human history.
Many today are experiencing deep things in the Spirit of God, deep healing and restoration, and a deep understanding of the Word and the times we live in.
God delights in sharing himself and his story with you and me.
The story of God came to Noah’s generation, inviting men and women into repentance, desiring to lift them out of their wounds and brokenness into the rays of God’s love and life.
This was the same at the time of Christ.
Many had the opportunity to be saved by faith – without seeing – and some did.
Those among Jesus who demanded a sign, received a sign, his resurrection, so, they like Thomas, might be saved.
Jesus gave them a visible sign of death and life – it was actually a display of the life he had and led, dying to sin to walk in newness of life (Romans Chapter 6 and much of Hebrews).
And so, Christ, like Noah, gave an outward display of the “good news” being offered to the lost.
Noah displayed God’s offer by preparing an Ark and offering himself through preaching.
Christ displayed God’s offer by preparing his body and offering God to the lost in signs, wonders, and miracles.
Both displayed visibly what they said about themselves as truth.
Their lives were one final appeal before the passing away of the old and birthing of the new.
Both Noah and Christ came at the height of sin in their dispensation – where ample time had been given to embrace the gospel – where sin had come to the full and it was now or never for one last appeal of grace to offer life and light to those headed toward eternal darkness.
Judaism at the time of Christ failed to recognize the magnanimous and kindness of God to lavish healing on them, embracing them with grace, beyond what they could ask or think.
And so, it will be one more time at the end of the Church era.
Wounds and sin will be deeply rooted in the culture of the day.
The question for all of us, “how much of Jesus do we really want?”
How comfortable are we with Christ accessing the secret and hidden things in our lives, some we know about and others we don’t?
Do we really believe Jesus can save us to the uttermost?
And do we really believe God’s grace far outshines any darkness we cloak within us?
A minister spoke this over me a number of years ago, and maybe it’ll ignite something in your heart for more of Jesus:
“I have a higher path for you, a path in the sun and not in the darkness.
My rays of love are penetrating, be soaked with my love dripping with my grace and mercy.
I have a higher path for you, a path of joy and peace.
Lift up your hands and rejoice in my goodness.
I have a higher path for you.”
Jesus has a higher path for everyone who wants to go higher in him, don’t you?
The Philadelphians know there’s a lot of cleansing, restoration, and wilderness obedience work needing to be accomplished in them.
They are set to receive and gather all of Christ in the time allotted to them.
The Laodiceans are content with having Christ in a non-disruptive manner. The problem is, Jesus wants access to them but is being denied.
The offer before us today – foolish or wise virgin?
When the sin of the Canaanites had come to the full, God gave the land to Israel, who he prepared to receive the promise he had made centuries earlier to Abraham. (Genesis 15:16)
When Israel’s stewardship of God’s law came to the full, God prepared his son to inherit the fullness and promises of his law in grace, and gave him the stewardship of this creation. (Galatians 4:4)
When the last day Antichrist system comes to the fullness of sin, God will intervene once again and prepare a people group, a bride for his son, to offer life one last time.
Finally, please resist the temptation to peg yourself in a specific Christian camp.
The key, is to fight for your healing and restoration now asking the Lord to take you as far and as deep as he can in your remaining time here on earth.
I asked the Lord years ago to take me on another adventure in him before I leave this planet.
And he was faithful to do just that. And he will be faithful to you.
Because even in our unfaithfulness he is faithful.
I’m not talking about another round of works, obligations, and exhaustion.
Simply, a personal visit by Jesus to you.
More to come,
Blessings, Drake
(NIV) Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblical, Inc.™
