50. We Defeat the Beast

I saw as if a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those conquering out from the beast and out from its image, and out from the number of its name, standing firm upon the glass sea, having harps of God. And they sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying: “Great and wonderful are Your works, Lord God, the All-Carrying One! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the ethnic families. Who should not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are Devoted. All the ethnic families will come and will worship inside of Your presence, because Your just actions have been made visible and clear.”

Chapter 15. Only now am I looking closely at the text of Chapter 15. I see that the Spirit of God first introduces the seven angels carrying the resolution of God’s anger. Then, our text for this lesson, verses 2-4, follows right after as a parenthesis, before a return to the seven angels.

We could also include verse 8 in this lesson, but the remainder of Chapter 15 is part of the next lesson, “Resolving the Age of Folly.” And the temple was filled with smoke out from the glory of God and out from His power; and no one was able to enter into the temple until the seven striking blows of the seven angels were finished.

Our Layout. I am satisfied, now, with my translation, for it is true to the Greek words as well as to God’s meaning. I intend to go through our four verses point by point, though I might change their order. We are back to having an entire Jesus Secret page to fill out in one lesson.

For this specific lesson, I intend to place all the Jesus Secret boxes together near the end. Those boxes will be, “Upon Firm We Stand,” “The Song We Sing,” “The Greatest Act of Love” and “Conquering out From.” There will likely be the confessions of faith for Revelation 15 placed before the boxes.

The Sea of Glass. We begin with the sea of glass mixed with fire upon which those conquering firmly stand. Let me reiterate that God has NO interest in giving partly-believing Christians fancy ideas about a future “heaven,” but He has every interest in giving His sons what they need as Jesus proves God true through them. This, then, is the only way we see all these metaphors.

This sea of glass is slightly different than the sea of glass in Chapter 4, in that it is mixed with fire. What does it mean? Where we stand is of supreme importance, for this is the seventh ruling verse, our confidence, upon firm we stand, and the second, rooted and grounded in love.

Upon Blood. Through Jesus also we possess the entrance through faith into this grace in which we stand; and we boast upon hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:2). We stand upon the Covenant; we stand upon Blood. We sit upon the Mercy Seat; we sit upon Blood. “Upon Blood” MEANS, upon the absolute certainty of the love of Jesus for us, inside of us. – To know even more the surpassing, beyond-all knowledge of the love of Christ…

The sea of glass represents our Covenant connection with God and with one another, and the Fire represents God Himself filling that Connection. – …that you (plural) might be filled with all the fulness of God. – This is Grace.

The Singing of God. I want to place “conquering out from” later in this lesson, but I want to end the lesson with the meaning of God’s “just actions made visible and clear.”

“They have harps of God.” This certainly does not mean that life “in heaven” consists of sitting on clouds strumming harps forever and ever. It means that they bear in their hearts the very singing that is God. A harp is an active producer of music. They do not just reflect God’s singing; they are God’s singing.

They sing the Song of Moses – and the Song of the Lamb. Moses and Jesus both sang the same heart song.


In the Most Desperate Moment. When I wrote Through Eyes of Fire, I still imagined that “the Song of Moses” was the song of cursing. I think that way NO more. One’s “song” is what one sings in the most desperate of places, the bottom line, the “do or die” moment, when the stakes could not be greater.

That moment came for Moses just after forty days without food or water upon the mountain receiving wondrous glory from God to give to the people of Israel. He came with that glory to the people and saw they had turned their backs on God to worship evil. He then broke the law upon the mountain, signifying that the law cannot give life.

The Song of Moses. In his overwhelming distress, Moses went back up the mountain for a second forty days without food or water. There, and only there, we find the SONG inside of Moses, the real center of his being. – And it was NOT the law.

If the song of Moses were the law, then he would have agreed with God to destroy the people of Israel. Here, instead, is the first part of Moses’ bottom line, combining Exodus 32 with Deuteronomy 9, condensed. – And I fell down before the Lord – Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. – The Lord listened to me – and I prayed for Aaron also.

Refusing the Law. Then here is the second part of Moses’ bottom line, which I quoted in the last lesson, from Exodus 33. – If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us?

Let’s think of this whole picture inside the heart of Moses. Just as Adam saw his wife having turned wicked, so Moses saw the people of Israel turned wicked. But Moses’ response was the opposite of Adam’s. Instead of using the law to control them, he shattered the law, knowing what Paul knew in 2 Corinthians 3, that the law is only death. That is exactly what happened next.

For the Sake of His People. In response to the evil, the Levites gathered with Moses and then began killing their fellow Israelites. Seeing this onslaught of death by the law tore Moses to pieces.
And so Moses went back up the mountain determined to get something else from God, something that did not kill.

What was it that Moses required of God to replace the law which he had broken? The Scriptures are clear; it was Grace, God with us, God as our life and as all our connections together. And to receive that Grace that is God, Moses offered himself to God for the sake of his people.

Jesus Did the Same. We have seen that Jesus did this exact same thing for us, receiving God as “with Me” even in His greatest opposition of jeopardy, and receiving us into His heart as well, that we might live with God inside of Him. This is the Song of Moses and of the Lamb – “Father, You share all with me, and we together turn our circumstances into goodness and life for the sake of Your people.”

I know that Jesus has taught you as well, just how much you are a part of this same explosive reality of Jesus proven faithful and true in the midst of all opposition. We have been taught and prepared of the Father.

An Inherent Sacrifice. Here is another definition of the Cross. – Synergeoing with God, making all things good (Romans 8:28). There is an inherent sacrifice to God for others in this way of living and being, in full reciprocity with God. And it is out from this heart, this way of thinking, this Song being sung in the dark and lonely places, in times of great opposition and distress, when everything seems lost, that proceeds the greatest demonstration of Love this world will ever witness – God’s just actions made visible and clear.

By this we have known Love, in that Jesus set forth His soul for us, AND WE ALSO are committed to setting forth our souls for the sake of our brothers and sisters.

What Salvation Is Not. John’s vision, the Apocalypse, is nothing other than 1 John 3:16, revealed in power in the heavens and made visible and known to all.

To lay a foundation for the remainder of this lesson and the next, I want to iterate again the meaning of Salvation. Salvation has three arenas of meaning. But first, we must state what Salvation is NOT. Salvation is not a geographical place. That is, if you find yourself in a place called “heaven,” you are perfect inside forever. Thus perdition and destruction means that if you find yourself in a place called “hell,” you are evil inside forever. The power of inward reality comes from geography.

A Change of Mind. This definition of “salvation” then makes it to be something for tomorrow, a day that never actually exists. The only day of Salvation is today, right now, this moment.

All the darkness of death is one thing only, and that is a mind, a way of thinking, that interprets everything falsely. Reality is real and absolute inside and out, but the carnal mind does not see reality, but rather, what it wants to see, a false definition of self, of God, and of every circumstance. There is no “change of the world,” nor a geographical destination, but only a change of mind, to see what is, instead of seeing what ain’t. That is, gospel repentance.

Just Like Jesus. The first arena of Salvation is inside the human soul, the salvation of the soul. The salvation of the soul must come first before the others can be. Jesus must become the only life acknowledged inside, and His words must become the only story told or song sung inside the inward meaning of self.

This is metamorphosis; it happens by spending time in His presence, calling Him to be all, from glory to glory by the Spirit. It happens by putting the Lord Jesus Christ upon all that one is, spirit, soul, and body, past, present, and future. The immediate result of this Salvation is the recognition and practice of being just like Jesus towards God and others.

Reciprocal Love. There most certainly is an outward expression of Salvation, two, in fact, but neither is living “in heaven.” The second arena of Salvation is the gathering together of the Church, the expression of reciprocal Love inside life together. Love one another is the proof of Christ.

Humans are created symmorphic first and reciprocal second, in fact reciprocity comes out from symmorphy. To be saved is to be what we are in all God intends. Everything Christians imagine to be their experience “in heaven,” God has placed for them in Church. “Going to” heaven won’t take them there, but going to Church will.

Metamorphosis. Knowing Jesus Sent into us, personal and real, as every Word God speaks, is a transformation over time, metamorphosis. In the same way, knowing one another in full reciprocity is a transformation over time. In this second arena of Salvation, we also learn of Jesus, for Jesus inside of and as our brothers and sisters is part of who and what He is.

The gathering together is Jesus Sent just as much. We do not know Him as He is until we know Him as one another, this also is living in reciprocity with God. And the gathering together of believers is, then, the dwelling place of the Father..

Salvation Revealed. The third arena of Salvation is the entrance of God through us together into all creation. Here is a most powerful statement of that entrance. – All the ethnic families will come and will worship inside of Your presence, because Your just actions have been made visible and clear.

What is it that the ethnic families see that causes them to enter into Salvation and to worship inside the presence of God? They see Christians, right here on this earth, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. They are seeing the just actions of God made visible.

One Enemy Only. All Christians belong to Jesus, spirit, soul, and body. All things are brand new, and all things are of God. The problem is that they do not think so. Death, in a Christian, is the wrong definitions in the thoughts of the mind. Yet because we are also emotional beings, our thoughts can change only slowly and only out from the personal Love of Jesus made known inside our innermost being.

We have one enemy only, our own thoughts and definitions that are NOT True. Only one thing changes our thoughts over time, and that is speaking Christ made personal as us, leading to the continual acknowledgement of sharing life with the Father.

Three Against Us. Before we look at what it means to “conquer out from,” let’s consider the three things pressing against us from Genesis 3. The first is the spirit-bath of accusation into which we were born. The second is the inward desire to control others. And third is the ruin and loss found in our circumstances.

Accusation always turned our thoughts immediately into false directions, things NOT True. Out from this sensation (without a cause) we lusted after despising and controlling others. And then, our suspicions were “confirmed” when our outward circumstances “went against” us. These things are resolved by knowing the Father through knowing Jesus Sent into us.

Out From. Those conquering out from the beast, and out from its image, and out from the number of its name. I would suggest that these three pertain to the second arena of Salvation, life together inside of Christ.

The translation, “overcoming out of,” leaves the sense of an escape. But the translation, “conquering out from,” even closer to the sense of the Greek, gives a different picture. Picture a mighty, faith-filled Church bursting off the foolish falseness of a definition of outward appearance that is untrue, yet which, in its falseness kills. “Conquering out from” MEANS the false vanishing away. The false vanishing away is the Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.

That the World Might Believe. The ethnic families will enter Salvation BECAUSE they see the just actions of a Devoted God made visible and clear. What exactly will they see? They will see the greatest demonstration of love ever made visible in human history.

Is not Jesus setting forth His soul for us in Gethsemane and on the cross the greatest demonstration of Love? It most certainly is, yet it is NOT visible to the world. The great Love with which Jesus loves us becomes visible only when we love God’s people with that same Love.

Just as You, Father, are inside of Me and I inside of You, that they also might be inside of Us, that the world might believe that You sent Me.

Repudiating the Beast. I inside of them, and You inside of Me, that they might be brought to full completion inside of one, that the world might know that You sent Me, and have loved them in just the same way that You have loved Me (John 17:21 & 23). Revelation 15 is John 17 fulfilled in the human experience.

I do not know what the outward actual circumstances will be, but I KNOW that the beast, the human lust to control, will be repudiated in the sight of the whole world as they see a corporate ministry of Christ thinking nothing of themselves, but giving all to God for the sake of His people, that they might be freed from the shackles of this world to enter into the fulness of Christ right here in human history.

Casting Off the Image. The “image” teaches all to worship the beast. This is a turning from inward worship towards the exaltation of the “achievements” of one’s particular group. It is taking the corporate nature of present human society and making it a place in which to dwell in opposition to dwelling together as believers and as the dwelling place of God.

As the world watches more than 100 million believers choose LIFE TOGETHER where they might love one another out from God, they will mock first, yes. But their mockery will turn to amazement when they see that all the power of the world CANNOT touch these people, for the fake image of the beast has been cast off.

We Also Do the Same. But how does the world know that God loves us in just the same way that He loves Jesus? How does such a just action of Devotion become visible and clear?

“The number of its name” is the press of this world, all the voices screaming, normally answered inside by “what will they think about me.” You and I are beginning to know that God loves us in exactly the same way that He loves Jesus. And that statement is larger than we can comprehend. Jesus walked through the screaming press, KNOWING that the Father loved Him. We also do the same.

Our One Concern. You see, much of that press of the world came against Jesus from those whom He was saving, especially from His own disciples. We have no regard for the screams of the unregenerate or for the violent threats of political power.

Our one and ONLY concern is our bride, the Church of Jesus Christ, millions of fellow believers in Jesus, that each little one might enter into all the life of Christ. Yet they also are screaming against us, not believing the words that we speak, and so we walk as Jesus walked, giving ourselves to the Father for their sake.

By This We Have Known Love. We cannot know exactly what the world will see outwardly that will convince all the ethnic families that God sent Jesus into us, but we do know exactly what is happening inside us.

By this we have KNOWN Love – by Gethsemane, a willing heart that received us into Himself in spite of all our pain, by a Man stumbling under a cross He could not carry, carrying us, carried by Father, by a Man at the precipice, refusing to separate Himself from God, but rather, drawing both the Father and us into Himself, into His own soul, that we might be joined together with God inside of Him.

This is Love, the Love we have KNOWN. And this same Love is now revealed to all through us for our brethren.

Life for Our Brethren. But it is back to the garden that must give us our picture, for it is Adam’s lust we are bursting out from, and Adam’s actions which we are casting off.

We see our bride, all our fellow Christians, we see the golden cup of mixture they have always offered us. We care for none of that. Instead, we turn our backs on all “power over,” all desire to “fix” them, and we turn to LIFE, to share with Him who is the Tree of Life, to share His same giving of Himself. We climb up into its branches, pierced by the thorns. We receive from that Tree, Jesus, LIFE from God, and we GIVE that Life to all whom God has given us.

Yet the world will see, and they will believe.

Our Confessions of Faith. For the last while, I am writing the confessions of faith after I have written the lesson in order to know God’s meaning.

We stand upon the Covenant, upon the Blood of the Lamb and upon the Fire of God connecting us together. We conquer out from the beast. We conquer out from the image of the beast. We conquer out from the number of its name. We sing with the singing of God. We sing the Song of Moses and of the Lamb. We give our lives to the Devoted Father for the sake of His people. The just actions of God are made visible to all, the greatest act of Love, now made known through us. We are safe inside of God during the time of resolution and the ending of folly.

Upon Firm We Stand. The sea of glass mixed with fire is a picture of where we stand. We stand inside of Grace; we are rooted and grounded inside of Love. The crystalline structure of glass portrays the vast extent of our connections together, the Blood of the Covenant, knowing the love of Jesus for us together, a love beyond all knowing. The fire is God Himself, filled with all the fulness of God, God as all our connections together. This is our foundation, the certainty and confidence that we are part of Christ and of the revelation of God. The sea of glass mixed with fire is Ephesians 3:17-19 and Hebrews 3:7 & 14, set in power in the heavens.

The Song We Sing. We are the very singing of God; His Word is in our hearts and in our mouths. In their most desperate moments, Moses and Jesus both gave themselves to God, God with them, for the sake of God's people. Both connected the people with the Father inside their own hearts. Both received Grace from the Father to give Life to many. This is the Song we sing as well. We give our lives and our every moment as a living sacrifice to the Father. We synergeo with God, turning every circumstance into goodness for the sake of others. We live in full reciprocity with God, carrying our brethren with us in our hearts into the Father.

The Greatest Act of Love. By this we have known Love – by Gethsemane, a willing heart receiving us with pain into Himself, by a Man stumbling under a cross He could not carry, carrying us, carried by Father, by a Man at the precipice, drawing both the Father and us into His own soul, that we might be joined together with God inside of Him. This is Love, the Love we have known. And this same Love is now revealed to all through us for our brethren.

AND WE ALSO see our bride, all our fellow Christians, we see the golden cup of mixture they have always offered us. We care not. Instead, we turn our backs on all desire to “fix” them, and we turn to Life, to share with Jesus, to share His same giving of Himself. We climb up into the branches of Life, pierced by the thorns. We receive from that Tree, Jesus, Life from God, and we give that Life to all whom God has given us. Then the world will see, and they will believe.

The Real Victory. The Jesus Secret page thus far is the real essence of our Victory and the fulfillment of the Father’s Desire. Then we turn, and in a one-two-three knockout blow, the beast is defeated, all sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Conquering Out From. Already symmorphosed with Jesus as the revelation of the Father, we cast off the appearance of the old creation as a worn-out garment. We defeat the beast; it's evil cannot touch the Church. We cast off its image and the number of its name, all the press of the world to fashion false definitions and to manipulate and control. We burst out from all falseness as we carry our brethren with us into the Father. Nonsense and folly do not prevail. The just actions of a Devoted God, LOVE, are now made visible and clear.  

Knowing Christ First. I tell you what, bringing the simple and powerful Gospel verses into John’s vision, that we might see those wondrous things alone from within the symbols and layout, is the only God-way to know the Apocalypse. All who would say that we cannot “interpret” Revelation in this way are liars and anti-Christ, as John said, seeing not-Christ in all.

It is astonishing and overwhelming, but not surprising at all, that the ruling verses of the Gospel fit together so perfectly with everything in John’s vision. We KNOW Christ our life first, and then everything else comes into its place inside of God.

Reading for Next Time. The next lesson is a game changer, which I have now titled “Resolving the Age of Folly.” Have your ‘seat belts on’ when you come next time, for Revelation 16 is about to go in a direction you have never considered. I stalled out in doing the final JSV for this chapter because I could not handle any more seeming darkness at that time. I finish it now in joy, for I see only the GOSPEL.

In fact, read not only Chapter 16 a couple of times, but also Romans 8:18-39. In fact, I will set you on a mystery. Revelation 16 is one of these verses in Romans 8, set in power in the heavens. See if you can discover which verse.

Let’s Pray Together. “God, our Father, we rejoice inside of You with all Joy, for You are the most wonderful glory we have ever known. Your Salvation, Oh God, is beyond all comprehension, and Your invitation to us, to share with Jesus in all Love poured out, is the greatest favor in the universe.

“Father, giving ourselves to You for the sake of our brethren is entirely beyond us. We have no ability or idea of how such a thing can be. Yet we know that it is not beyond Jesus, the One whom You have Sent into us. Therefore we know, Oh God, that it is our simple and confident trust in Jesus that proves Your Love to be True.

“Father, inside of the name of Jesus, we see thousands of pastors all over the world, touched by the flame of God, convicted of the Father’s Devotion to His people. We call them forth into this same Sacrifice of Love, this same action of God made visible. Father, inside of the name of Jesus, we see millions of Christians all over the world, touched by the call of God to pass through the loss of all things that they might run with JOY into all the fulness of Christ right here on this earth, right now in this age.

“And Father, we place ourselves inside of Jesus inside of You, that we might be Your path, Your signpost, Your steady altar, that all might pass through into knowing You. We give You all thanks, oh God, for You have answered us.”