23. Placing Revelation 13

It is my hope, through the next four letters, to set before our eyes both a visual representation and some meaningful explanations of the huge mess that John’s vision is in its layout and application. Out from the religious intellects of people who hold to their own image of a far-away and limited “God the Son,” the book of Revelation has done more damage to the testimony of Christ through history than any other.

One researcher of its impact on sixteenth century English society commented that, in his opinion, it would have been better if the book had never been written. Inside his reference points, I would agree fully.

Then, believers in the present day who receive a revelation of the grace and love of God towards the view of the redemption of all, as the Bible says, then read Revelation, and what they read depresses them so horrifically that they throw it out of the Bible. There are two reasons why they do that. The first reason is that they are still locked inside the Nicene theology framework, seeing our knowledge of Salvation coming only after our deaths, rather than as Christ through His Church in all present reality. For that reason, they are not looking for Christ in this vision of the revelation of Christ. It is not surprising, then, that they do not find either the Jesus of their hearts or His revelation in John’s murky statements.

The second reason is that parts of Revelation are depressing. By the time I had finished the rough draft translation of the last chapters, I was feeling pretty low myself. Then I finished 1 Peter and my confidence in “all that God speaks,” dropped even lower.

Yet it was then that God spoke to me, “Son, do not be concerned by the letter of the word.” You see, Jesus’ disciples were also pretty depressed when He told them to eat the meat from His bones and the blood pouring out of His veins. They had no idea what He was talking about.

And that’s half of the point. Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing {that is, your present mental understanding of what you think I said means nothing}, the words that I speak to you are Spirit and they are life” (John 6:63).

Here is how I approach everything in the book of Revelation, then. First, I am looking for one thing only, and that is a greater knowledge of this glorious Person who lives inside my heart and who is my only life, and especially regarding what on earth He is doing right now inside of and through me in the times in which we live. Second, I walk into John’s visions inside the limitation and by the direction of two strong harnesses, first the ruling verses of Paul’s gospel confirmed by John, and second, the primary patterns of God regarding Scripture, and that is, the patterns of the reproduction of life, the tabernacle of Moses, and the Feasts of Israel.

As I do that, I find wondrous things in Revelation; I find the glorious revelation of Jesus Christ inside the revelation of Jesus Christ. And if I find a passage or a line that just does not fit the patterns or the Jesus of my heart, then I make the same boast with Agur, “Surely I am more stupid than any man, and do not have the understanding of a man,” and happily skip over it and continue on my way.

That brings us to the definition of Bible prophecy. Peter defines all Bible prophecy for us and how we are to use it in Acts 2. First, he quotes a prophetic word spoken by Joel; then he says, “This {that you see right now happening in your present moment} is that {a word spoken centuries ago by Joel.} – This is that. –

In other words, God did not give a single prophetic line in Scripture so that silly and ignorant humans could run around claiming that they have predicted the future by “deciphering” the prophecy. Why on earth would God do that? It is something void of purpose.

Every prophetic line in the Bible is given to us so that we might understand our present reality. BUT – if the Spirit of God is not using that line to cause us to understand the world in which we presently live, to see how Christ is revealed through us into these circumstances, then the Spirit of God is not using that line for us right now. For that reason, we skip over it with all joy of innocent ignorance and continue with the Spirit.

Now, as we go through the fulfillment of what God actually means by what He says, through the fullness of times in which we presently find ourselves, and we see what God means by what He says happening all around us, then, because we have planted His word into our hearts, even when we did not understand it, even when it depressed us, suddenly, that word of prophetic Scripture written upon our hearts will arise out from Jesus alive in us and we will see and understand and be strengthened in might to stand against all that opposes.

Prophecy is one thing only, the calling forth of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ into the present human experience. And regardless of what any prophetic word might mean five or ten years from now, we also know this. God speaks His word for us here and now.

The beast has ruled upon this earth since God closed off the tree of life to mankind. “Your husband shall rule over you.” As Nebuchadnezzar pointed out in his part of the book of Daniel, it seems that the worst humans, the last ones anyone would pick, are the violent crooks who climb to the top and who dominate everyone else, the basest of humans. That was an imperfect law in the past, because once in a while a good ruler would come along, and the people would prosper in peace. Democratic elections solved that problem, however, for only the most sycophantic liars ever make it into public awareness in modern political government.

The beast is all human political government; and all government, including inside the church, is political, for everyone is maneuvering for control over the purse and the gun.

The beast is the enforcer of the curse, as Paul said, “He [the civil authority] does not bear the sword in vain; for he is God’s minister, an avenger to execute wrath on him who practices evil” (Romans 13:4).

Yes, the beast is set over the willful eating of death by all mankind as God’s enforcer of the curse, but that does not mean we are to worship the beast or to pledge our hearts in allegiance to its battle flags. We give honor to the beast only in what is proper and only for the sake of peace.

I give a full layout of how I see the meaning of the lines in Revelation Chapter 13, as they confirm what we see in our present world, in my book, Through Eyes of Fire, Chapter 5. The Image of the Beast. I recommend that you read through that chapter again; my present understanding of these things is unchanged, including how desperately important it is for us NOT to watch television news, especially Fox news.

Instead, I want to go in the direction of the things presented in this video – https://youtu.be/_nXhiaJ39Ww?t=54 – regarding the technological realities coming rapidly upon the lives of all humans on this earth. If you have not yet watched it, I urge you to do so. You will not escape these things, and if you do not understand them, you will not know what on earth is happening to your world.

Let me recount briefly my understanding of what is already fully developed and is being implemented at full speed throughout the entire world.

I have thought for some time that the power of the beast in the fullness of times is found at the connection of your cell phone, your bank card, and the required vaccinations. Your cell phone operates by microwaves. Your brain operates by microwaves. There is a big push to install what is called “5G” microwaves everywhere. That is an energy field many times greater than your “4G” phone at present.

Amazon is putting more than 3,000 5G satellites into the upper atmosphere. Coupled with small ground microwave emitters scattered through every neighborhood on earth, this will create a bath not unlike a low-grade microwave oven through which total control can pass.

Then, add to that reality the forced vaccination of everyone, using the threat of a “world-wide pandemic,” a vaccine filled with thousands of tiny microwave chips that go right into your bloodstream to become part of your own blood and life. You are now hooked up to the grid.

Combine that with the fully developed technology connecting the human brain directly to the computer and the world wide web, and we will all be living in a “brave new world,” a world in which the thoughts of your mind are fully controlled by the microwaves. This technology has been known and developed for years. The use of microwaves to direct the thoughts of a person’s mind has been publicly announced by research universities.

Then, Amazon is also pioneering a no-checkout grocery store. You walk into the store, grab what you want, and walk out. That’s it. A scanner reads the merchandise in your pocket, reads your debit card from your ID, and deducts the cost directly from your bank account.

It’s really quite convenient. No one likes standing in the check-out line.

But, add to that the “social credit” system being implemented in China by the government and in the US by the big tech companies, and your “score” of agreement with the beast will determine your access to your bank account.

When this 5G system is fully in place, all it will take is some bureaucrat in some dim office somewhere, punching a key on his keyboard, and in that instant, you are no longer able to “buy or sell,” that is, you have no cell phone, no license to drive, your car will not start, your appliances will not run, your passport is worthless. You will have no medical assistance, no access to public transport, and no means of purchasing anything from stores.

And when the men or women in the white coats backed up by government thugs with guns show up at your door and say, “We WILL inject you with this vaccine, or else you are a danger and threat to all the rest of humanity,” how will you refuse?

As you watch this video, you will see that none of this layout is coming from Revelation 13, all of it is coming out of science and technology news and is already part of our world.

Here is what prophecy is for. We look at what is going on around us, then we look at the prophetic word in Revelation 13, and the Spirit of God through us confirms, “This is that.”

BUT!!! Because Revelation 13 is the setting inside of which Revelation 12 is come to full completion, we know also that the picture as presented in the video is NOT the whole story.

I’ve already written a good bit of the next few chapters in which I look at all the back and forth pieces of John’s vision. Then, as I read back through my letter, “Placing Revelation 12,” I saw this. “And they overcame him,” that is, the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, is clearly not the ending of this dark age or the beginning of the Age of Tabernacles.

There are clearly some years in-between the deliverance of the Church and the final destruction of human government on this earth.

You see, Revelation 12:10-11 is the ruling verse of the whole book and one of the ten ruling verses of the Bible. That means that we place Revelation 13 only as the setting inside of which that ruling verse is found in the fulness of times, that is, inside of which “Now is come the kingdom” is already the full reality of millions of Spirit-filled believers all across the earth.

This is NOT “the rapture,” rather, it’s opposite. It is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement, NO MORE limitation of Jesus or of His one Sacrifice for sins forever.

And so we see the entirety of Revelation 13 as nothing more than an expansion of these words – And when the dragon perceived that he had been thrown down into the earth, he persecuted the woman who had brought forth the male child… And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a torrent, so that he might cause her to be carried away by a flood (Revelation 12:13 & 15).

Now, this letter is not about Revelation 13, but about placing Revelation 13, so that we might know how it fits.

I want to add one more thing here regarding the beast, however. A beast having seven heads is simply the best picture I know to describe the operations of control in our world today. This beast has but one body, that is, all humans and all demons in conjunction together, but out of that one body comes differing heads, seven being the number of perfect confusion. Who is in charge? Who is controlling who? A wild animal with seven heads means that the heads will be snapping at one another anytime there is no prey immediately in sight.

There does not need to be any “universal” conspiracy to make everything come together into the world described in the video. There are certainly different groups working in secret to make one part or another of these things happen. And nothing operates in this world without the prior approval of international finance. No matter how much the heads of the beast fight among one another, however, they are still the same animal serving the same end goal.

And the end goal of the beast is the victory over the Church of Christ on this earth, either through tempting her into violence and sin, or killing her. Right now, we see a church fully drawn into violence and the worship of the beast. Yet we are also seeing Christian thought or expression becoming illegal in Western societies, including the U.S., Canada, and England. Any public expression of Christianity is being classed as a white supremacist hate crime.

Being totally blocked out from the 5G technological world by the social credit system (Christianity is a hate crime, you have no points), will be a significant part of the deliverance of our brethren. As their entire world view is shattered and they are OUT, many will look to these millions of Spirit-filled believers in Jesus tucked away inside the protection of God.

You see, I have set aside all concern for “the world.” The last thing we need is a “restoration” of freedom or the constitution, or anything like that. What we need is the revelation of Jesus Christ. (I do not mean, however, that we do not show kindness and help to every individual God sends our way, regardless, even to those who oppose us.)

My entire focus and the intensity of my heart is towards this woman clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ, regardless of what state any individual who is a part of her might be right now. There are millions inside of her who are not even born again right now, and many who are not yet immersed into the Holy Spirit.

Here is the absolute rule regarding all “evangelism.” – All whom the Father gives Me will come towards Me, and the one coming towards Me, I will not cast out (John 6:37).

No evangelism will ever draw into Jesus anyone whom Father has not already given to Him, and no lack of evangelism will ever keep away anyone whom Father has already given to Jesus. Evangelism most certainly has its place in this equation, for how can they believe except they first hear? Nonetheless it is only a tool in the hands of our Savior, the One who is already very good at His job.

Let’s expand on the rest of Revelation 12.

And when the dragon perceived that he had been thrown down into the earth, he persecuted the woman who had brought forth the male child. And the two wings of a great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the desolate place, into her place where she is nourished there for a time, and times, and half a time away from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a torrent, so that he might cause her to be carried away by a flood. And the earth quickly rescued the woman and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was angry with the woman and went to make war with the rest of her seed keeping the commandments of God and possessing the testimony of Jesus.
This is an expansion of verse 6, however. – And the woman escaped into a desolate place where she has a place having been prepared by God, so that they should nourish her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.

Look at these words – a place having been prepared by God.

Here is what I read, then, out from Revelation 12, with “and they overcame him” right in the middle. Revelation 12 is showing us that there are two parts to our task right now. The first part is this great deliverance service called the Day of Atonement fulfilled. And the second part is this wall or bubble of protection, this place into which God’s people all across the earth will flee.

You see, nothing in the video you watched references anything “Biblical” or “Christian.” It is entirely natural, and entirely from the news of this world. Yet when added to the hatred against all Christians arising among the power voices, voices of total social control, along with the rise of the “social credit” system, there is no place inside of it given to any true believer in Jesus.

Either you’re in or you’re out. If you remain true to Jesus, you are not and cannot be “in.”

And this is where you and I come in as builders of the wall. That is a chapter coming up soon, “Building the Wall.” I am referring entirely to this place of protection, provided of God, into which all true believers must flee.

As Nehemiah before us, we are building that wall, with a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other.

Deliverance first; protection second. – This is our authority.

You know, this is so wonderful. No thought of providing the power to accomplish anything rests upon us. Yet we have hearts as bold as God’s, as bold as a lion, and in those hearts, God has placed His throne, the scepter of all authority. We boldly speak; we brazenly call forth. We speak the same Word that is Christ.

And God Himself wins the desire of His Heart.

A huge part of “And they shall nourish her there” is, “And they shall show her the Jesus of her heart.”

I have begun to wonder if “the wilderness” is not a reference to the dwelling in booths in the wilderness, that is, to that portion of Tabernacles called Christian Community.

What would it be for 100 million Christians across this earth to be fervently studying Symmorphy IV: Covenant and Symmorphy V: Life? It would be a joy untold; it would be an ocean of tears in the deepest gratitude.

When I first heard, “And they shall nourish her there,” out from the open heavens, God speaking into me through the word being preached, coupled with the story of Joseph storing up grain for the famine, I wanted, with all my heart, somehow, to be part of that Joseph, to be, at least a part, of nourishing God’s Woman in the hour of her deepest need and of her greatest entrance into glory.

I was just a boy, and “how” such a thing could be was far beyond my ken. Nonetheless that calling from God has remained as the definition of my heart from then until now.

Here is our hope. – For we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

Let us dare to place ourselves together inside the precious Spirit of Christ, now our own Spirit as well, and to speak Christ as this wall of protection around every individual person on this planet whom God has already given to Jesus as part of this woman clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ.

“Father, we speak together as one voice, the very speaking of Christ Jesus, for the sake of our brethren, Your precious and holy Church. Father, we see the darkness assailing her, the rising hatred against every mention of Jesus’ name. We see the intentions of her enemies to burn her flesh with fire.

“Yet, Father, You say that when the enemy pours in like a flood, You raise up a standard against them. Father, You say that Your people are willing in the Day of Your Power. Father, we are that standard, we are those who are ready and willing as the expression of Your Heart over Your people.

“Just as Jesus laid down His life for us, so He now through us lays down Oour life together for the sake of our brethren, Your Church. We place ourselves in that gap, Father, not for death, but for life and for the awakening of our brethren to Christ the only life they are.

“Father, as we stand together in full agreement, we speak by faith that a barrier of protection surrounds Your people, every individual across this earth, and every gathering of people who are members of the Body of the Lord Jesus Christ as He is unveiled now as the One who redeems all.

“Father, we release Your Church to be carried by the wings of an eagle into her place, into provision, into protection, into the fulfillment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the life of the Church, into Community, into the gathering together unto Christ, into the arising of a World of Life untouched by the world of death assailing it.

“Father, we recognize that we have no need for theatrics in our standing for the sake of Your people, no need for “great faith,” no need for power of our own. We have the authority to speak, and so we speak, in full confidence that Your Holy Spirit is accomplishing in power all that we speak. We eat of Christ, we speak Christ, and a river of life flows out, bringing protection to all who belong to Jesus in this hour.

“Father we thank You that the deliverance of the Day of Atonement must lead directly into the entrance of Tabernacles, God among us. Father, we KNOW that You are present in FULL inside this wondrous gathering together that is Your Revelation to all creation.

“Let God arise, and His enemies are scattered. Let God be known, and all accusation must cease.”

~~~

I want to share an Annie vision that fits here.

GOD'S VIEW OF THE STORM
In prayer, God lifted me up into Himself and again showed me the great storm of evil and persecution that is coming upon all the earth. For the first time He showed it to me as He sees it, and not as I have seen it through my own eyes. To Him this storm was a most beautiful and glorious working out of His perfect will, which was bringing forth great blessing and not the destruction I had hitherto seen. In spite of being such a tremendous storm, nevertheless, it was not evil at all, but was filled with goodness. Seeing the storm as God sees it took away all the horror I had felt before concerning it.

Before it had appeared tragic and evil to me, and its image had haunted my natural thoughts because of its evil portents and terrible power, darkness, destruction and pain. I now saw an entirely different image: the storm as it really is - a wonderful and powerful wave of His cleansing power and grace which is bringing forth rich blessings.

Those evil forces that God had loosed into that storm went forth wearing themselves out. This continued until all save one, which was stronger than the rest, were worn out completely. This stronger one had tremendous power and rose up till it enclosed everything and everyone in its grasp. At this point in its development - the peak of its power and extent – a great disaster of tremendous magnitude took place which was not defined to me. By this great disaster, a mighty loosing of the Spirit of God was brought forth upon the earth, so that its final result was tremendous grace and blessing.

~~~

You see, God has no need for us to be “super-heroes,” striding across the earth exuding “power.” Yet God cannot do what God is inside His creation apart from us, for He has given that authority to us. Without us, God can do nothing; without God, we can do nothing.

What God intends is for us to stand in-between, with and as the Lord Jesus, and for that task we are given one thing to do – We BELIEVE in Jesus.

And that is something you and I are well able to do.

And through this bubble of believing into Jesus inside of which all believers in Him across this earth are protected as we stand in our confidence in Him, through this bubble, no enemy can penetrate. More than that, even their wicked actions against the church are turned by Father and us together into the result of unending goodness.