Tag Archives: Beast

The Three – Coming to Rest

25 Monday Aug 2014

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We’ve come to the end of this series. Thank for taking this journey with me. After this post we’ll go on to other things.

The Bible letter, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is God’s last message to a dying planet. In Revelation 14:6-12, three angels shout a warning to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

Revelation 14:11 states that those who have completely aligned themselves with the Beast, becoming beast-like themselves, “have no rest day or night…” Why is that?

There is a contentment and peace that comes from resting in God’s love and grace. It’s about no longer striving to prove yourself to others and to God. Those who dwell on the earth do not have a sense of love and belonging with God.

Instead, they are driven to prove their value; to prove their worth and by extension they must prove their salvation. Exhaustion is a status symbol because it proves they are productive and therefore valuable; being tired is a source of pride. Value is found in grades, awards, promotions and raises; on things like homes and cars, even in their children. Those who dwell on the earth wake up saying, “I didn’t get enough sleep.” They go to bed saying, “I didn’t get enough done.” And all day long they were saying, “I’m not enough.”

You see, those who dwell on the earth are prone to worshipping the beast because the beast plays their song. The beast’s message, the maddening wine of Babylon, tastes good to the inner being because it’s all about self – self-worth, self-salvation, self-worship.

Are you willing to accept Jesus’ invitation when he says to you: “Come to me, my weary and burdened child, and I will give you rest.”? Do you know God’s rest today?

The Three – Forever Smoke

18 Monday Aug 2014

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The Bible letter, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is God’s last message to a dying planet. In Revelation 14:6-12, three angels shout a warning to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

A year ago, we went to Florida. It was a nice trip but wherever we went we were waiting forever and ever. We would go to the Golden Corral for supper and we had to stand in a line waiting forever and ever. We went to Universal Studios and just to get in we had to wait forever and ever. After we were in the park, guess what – we were in more lines waiting forever and ever.

So let me ask you a question: if we were waiting forever and ever – how can can I be back home and writing this blog today?

In Revelation 14:11 we read that those who have aligned mind and body with the Beast will come to an end “And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever…” How long? Forever and ever.

Take a look at Isaiah 34:8-10. From what we can tell, John lifted this phrase about the smoke ascending forever and from Isaiah and used it to describe what he was seeing in God-given vision. In this case, the place being discussed is Edom, modern Jordan. If you were to go there would you find places still burning? No.

In my last post, I asked you to consider Genesis 19, the destruction of Sodom by fire and sulphur. In verse 28, Abraham sees smoke rising up from where Sodom was. What does this tell him? That the destruction has happened. Sodom isn’t burning or smoking today. It only burned as long as it took to consume it (see verse 15).

Remember that in the Bible, fire is never intended to preserve, prolong or maintain something; it’s always to cleanse and consume. Smoke is the sign that the consuming fire has completed it’s task.

Forever and ever is expression that we don’t take literally; we say it for things that might even just be seconds or minutes. In a sense, what we are talking about is the quality of the experience rather than actual time.

How does that perspective impact how you see God?

The Three – Fire and Brimstone

11 Monday Aug 2014

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The Bible letter, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is God’s last message to a dying planet. In Revelation 14:6-12, three angels shout a warning to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

In Revelation 14:10 we read that those who have aligned mind and body with the Beast will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the Lamb. Why fire and brimstone?

What’s brimstone? It’s sulphur. When I was about 12 years old, I went though an explosives phase – rocket engines, gunpowder, etc. It was winter, I was bored, and I had some extra sulphur. Obviously, I had to see what happens when sulphur burns. A snowbank on my parents driveway was my laboratory. It made perfect sense at the time.

Have you ever put your finger in melted wax? Well, there in the snow I had a little puddle of melted sulphur. Kind of the same, right? The thing about sulphur is it burns hot and it sticks. (Cue video of boy running around screaming and then jamming hand into snowbank.)

In Genesis 19, concerning the destruction of Sodom through fire and sulphur, verse 15 says, “When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.””

Do you catch the word “consumed”? In the Bible, fire is never intended to preserve, prolong or maintain something; it’s always to cleanse and consume.

In Revelation 14, God’s last message to those who dwell on the earth, those who have given themselves completely to the Beast and by extension the Dragon, those who are intent on doing evil against others and are opposed to love and life: their path is leading to self-destruction; turn back lest they be consumed. This is a loving last call to repentance.

For those who will feel like the Beast is unstoppable, who will be the target of hatred and violence, this is a message of deliverance. No matter how bad it gets, no matter the circumstances, they will be rescued from this terrible evil.

The Three – Tormented 3

04 Monday Aug 2014

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The Bible letter, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is God’s last message to a dying planet. In Revelation 14:6-12, three angels shout a warning to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

In Revelation 14:10 we read that those who have aligned mind and body with the Beast will be tormented in the presence of the Lamb. Why would they experience torment in the presence of the One who is love, compassion, forgiveness, acceptance?

Here’s a quick overview starting in Genesis 2:25. The Bible says, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Unfortunately, this didn’t last and because of their choices they became separated from God. They began to blame each other and God for what happened and they were ashamed.

Shame is toxic. If you dig into our stories you will find that shame is behind much of the pain the in the world. Thankfully, Jesus is the shame remover. At least three times, the writers of the new testament tell us that the one who believes on Jesus will by no means be put to shame (for example 1 Peter 2:5-7).

Even the author of Revelation, the apostle John, wrote in 1 John 2:28, “And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming.” Deliverance from shame is an important part of our relationship with God and in meeting him face to face at the great reunion.

Sadly, even though Jesus is the shame remover, there are those who hang on or remain in their shame. Paul writes in Philippians 3:18-19, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.”

When we are close to God our glory is his righteousness – his character in us. Not so for those who worship the beast. What is their glory? Shame.

Shameful experiences are very traumatic. When it happens it really is a full on physical torment: our stomach churns, we get tunnel vision, our heart pounds and our face burns.

Those who will not release their shame to Jesus get to keep it all. And in the presence of the Lamb; the slain Lamb; the Lamb of glory, and grace and love; those who worship the beast are in shame to an infinite level. It will be a horrific torment.

My favourite author puts it this way:
”Like Israel of old the wicked destroy themselves; they fall by their iniquity. By a life of sin, they have placed themselves so out of harmony with God, their natures have become so debased with evil, that the manifestation of His glory is to them a consuming fire.” White, Great Controversy

This is key: Nobody is “put” in this position. God destroys no one. Those who are destroyed have done it to themselves by a life of consistent choices – choices that lead the to deliverance from shame or immersed in it.

What choice are you making today?

The Three – Tormented 2

31 Thursday Jul 2014

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The Bible letter, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is God’s last message to a dying planet. In Revelation 14:6-12, three angels shout a warning to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

Please consider the second half of Revelation 14:10: “He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

In my last post, I wanted note that it doesn’t say that the person with the mark of the beast is being tormented by the lamb. Rather, for this person who was given themselves completely to the Dragon and the Beast, simply being in Jesus presence is torment.

I suspect you have experienced a small taste of this at least once in your life.

When I was a student at Canadian University College there came a point when I was overwhelmed. I had taken on too many tasks. I was Yearbook editor. Hebrew class was killing me. In my English Literature class, I was late completing the last assignment. I even skipped a couple classes before the weekend trying to get caught up. That Sabbath I was happy to be worshiping with my church family and not having to think about school when I came to face with… My English Lit instructor.
Being in her presence was torment.

Now she wasn’t mean to me; she didn’t scream at me or hit me. So what was going on?

The Three – Given Up

03 Tuesday Jun 2014

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The Bible letter, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, is God’s last message to a dying planet. In Revelation 14:6-12, three angels shout a warning to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

Revelation 14:10 tells us that there will come a time when “those who dwell on the earth” will completely align themselves with the Beast (a symbol of a Christian looking politcal-religious institutional power on earth) and thus become beast-like; they manifest it’s character or in other words, receive it’s mark.

What can God do with with someone who stands violently, satanically, opposed to the kingdom of light, love, and life?  I mean the Bible makes it clear that for the sake of all creation, this sin war must come to an end. There has to be an end to starving children, rape, greed that poisons everything it touches, and the parasitic-like consumption that fuels humanity.  Eden will be restored and the heartbeat of the universe will be tuned once again to other-centered love. If they were still alive, “those that dwell on the earth” will hate it and continue to war against it. This cannot be. What’s God to do?

He pours out his wrath on them.  What does that mean?

I’ve already mentioned that all of us read those words through a lens of who we think God to be. Consider how in the beginning when God said to Adam and Eve, if you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall die. Did he mean: If you break my rules I will have to punish you with execution? Many think so however, many also see him saying something else: Eating from that tree will break our relationship so horribly that death and destruction will rule the world.  In the first scenario, God offers salvation, in a sense, to save us from his just punishment.  In the second, God desires to save us, not from himself but from the horror of sin and death.  The scenario that you lean towards will be a filter through which you understand God’s poured out wrath.

To me, an interesting picture is revealed when we look closely at Romans 1 and see that the wrath of God is placed within the context of God giving people up because they want to be given up on. Despite everything he has done to win them back to light, love, and life, they have chosen to opt out. God gives them up – to their heart’s desire; to the full, unfiltered consequences of sin.

In the end, could it be that God’s wrath is the most loving thing he can offer those who are determined to die?

The Three – Wrath Poured Out

29 Thursday May 2014

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In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

Revelation 14:10 states, “they, too, will drink the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath.”

Have you ever asked who are “they” and when does this happen? These are the people John calls “those who dwell on the earth.” These are the people who hate God and hate those that love. They are the ones who worship (put their whole life into) the beast and receive his mark (become like the beast).

When is this happening? While “those who dwell on the earth” have existed throughout time, here we see that in response to the Beast’s final assertion of power, there are those who completely commit to their position against God such that their character has been transformed to match The Beast. By their own free choice, the image of God within them has been replaced by the enemy of life’s character: think rabid dogs or the popular depiction of zombies. What’s key is that as we follow the narrative, this is event is taking place at the time just before the last day of this earth as we know it and the re-establishment of God’s kingdom; this act is part of God’s plan of redemption.

What this means is, as we attempt to understand God’s wrath, we need to be clear that is experienced only by those who have set their course so completely in opposition to God and to those who love God that there is absolutely nothing more God can do for them.

If you had to deal with a dangerous, deadly, animal bent on destroying anything in it’s path, what would you do?

The Three – Wrath of God

20 Tuesday May 2014

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In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

In Revelation 14:10, we can read that there are those who shall “drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation.” In my last post, I noted that all of us understand what “wrath of God” means through our worldview and our worldview is tainted by an enemy that wants us to distrust, even hate, God. What’s the solution?

In that post, shared something one of my favourite authors had to say on the subject and here’s the rest of her observation:

“Jesus came to teach men of the Father, to correctly represent him before the fallen children of earth. Angels could not fully portray the character of God, but Christ, who was a living impersonation of God, could not fail to accomplish the work. The only way in which he could set and keep men right was to make himself visible and familiar to their eyes.” (White, God Made Manifest in Christ)

We are invited to swap out our lenses for a different pair of worldview glasses: To see everything through the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.

What does that mean on a practical level? It means coming to rest or trust that everything God does, including whatever his wrath is, comes from the bottomless well of his love, grace, and compassion. At the end of the day, we have to come to the point where we can say, “I don’t always understand who you are but God but I will trust you because I know that you always do the most loving thing that can be done.”

Can you do that?

The Three – Wrath

13 Tuesday May 2014

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In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

Consider Revelation 14:10 where the Bible says:
“…he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.”

As soon as you read the word “wrath” a number of pictures probably came to your mind. You may have already determined what wrath means and looks like and we haven’t even dug into it.

It’s important to note that when we read the Bible, ideally we would be utterly surrendered to the Word and Will of God; we would hear only his voice, we would set aside who we are and where we’ve been and just read the word and let it speak to us. That rarely happens because we are product of our upbringing, culture, and experiences. To that, add in the this perspective shared by one of my favourite authors:

“Satan sought to intercept every ray of light from the throne of God. He sought to cast his shadow across the earth, that men might lose the true views of God’s character, and that the knowledge of God might become extinct in the earth. He had caused truth of vital importance to be so mingled with error that it had lost its significance. The law of Jehovah was burdened with needless exactions and traditions, and God was represented as severe, exacting, revengeful, and arbitrary. He was pictured as one who could take pleasure in the sufferings of his creatures. The very attributes that belonged to the character of Satan, the evil one represented as belonging to the character of God.” (White, God Made Manifest in Christ)

Everything we are and everything the enemy of life has done to break our trust in God all impact what we think when we read, “wrath of God.” We will need to tread carefully as we consider this next part of the message of the three.

The Three – Sealed With A Name

29 Tuesday Apr 2014

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In the last letter of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ, God sends a last message of warning to a dying planet – Revelation 14:6-12. This message is given by three angels to “those who dwell on the earth;” people who hate God and hate those who love God. It’s a serious message – the consequences are life and death – but it’s a message given in great love because God is willing to go to the uttermost to reach even his most aggressive enemies.

The mark of the beast is the beast’s name and it’s in contrast to the seal of God, which is God’s name. In both cases, we end up with one or the other name written on our foreheads. Having the Father’s name means belonging and acceptance.

But if we look deeper, we see that the word name in the Bible refers to character. One of the most beautiful examples in scripture is in Exodus 33 and 34.  Chap 33:19 God says to Moses, “I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the NAME of the Lord before you. Then he tells him he has to hide moses in the cleft of the rock as a full revelation of God would be overwhelming. A few verses later in chapter 34, God appears:

“Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the NAME of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

What happens when we worship something? We become who we worship. If we choose to worship the beast, we will become like the beast, we will manifest his character; we will receive his mark.

Those that have the Father’s name written on their forehead are those that belong to God and because they belong to God they manifest or reflect his character. The father’s name – his sealing – is not something you can get or do or earn – it’s what happens when you find your being in Jesus Christ and allow God to love you into all you were created to be.