The Clearing Podcast - Where Eagles Fly

Vision Six. (Rev. 17-19) Subject: God’s Judgment over the World System.

In light of the inevitable destruction of the world system with all its sin industries, we should pay attention how we invest our time, carefully evaluating which works are destined to be “burned up.” The world system consists of a matrix of deceptive ideas and mind-sets, combined with a vortex of power, pulling people to their destruction. Elements portrayed: a spiritual power center, a secular government, kings, and humanly contrived religion. God’s command: “Come out from them, my people.” Trying to be well-adjusted in this world is a big mistake. Jesus warns us specifically to be on our guard against deception. We have no way of evaluating which of our thoughts are deceptive except by comparing with the word of God.

Vision Five. (Rev. 15, 16) Subject: God’s Judgment over Sin.

As in the time of the Exodus, God will provide refuge for His people as He judges the earth. He will keep His people in safe “Goshens” as He calls them to be a house of prayer for all nations. It is increasingly incumbent on the Church to reclaim its original prayer calling. A great earthquake is the last of the prophesied judgments, possibly initiated when Jesus touches His foot on the Mount of Olives. God’s people will be protected during all these painful and frightening judgments, just as the people of Israel were at Goshen.

Vision Four –  (Rev. 12-14)  Subject: Israel.

Israel is pictured as a woman, and the Christians are her offspring.  Jews will be persecuted because they are the people who produced the King.  The King returns to replace the world system (“Babylon the Great”).  The King will rule from Jerusalem.  The number three and a half is a symbolic number, drawn from the Book of Daneil, referring to a brief, limited time of intense persecution, like that which happened under Antiochus IV. Promises contained in the vision: perfect government and complete evangelism during the millennium.  Also: precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints.

Vision Three. (Rev. 8-11) Subject: The Creation.

The Creation itself will increasingly reflect the sickness of the human race in rebellion against God. The last (seventh) trumpet Represents the final victory of Christ. Between the sixth and seventh trumpet blasts, God downloads His special promises for His faithful ones. The “two witnesses” are based on the book of Exodus, where the two witnesses are Moses and Aaron, God’s royal priests who are confronting Pharaoh, the earthly ruler. The two witnesses may refer to the Jewish and Gentile believers, standing and praying together.

Vision Two. (Rev. 4-7) Subject: Human history from God’s perspective.

The Ascension of Jesus was the turning point in history, based on Daniel 7. The scroll is the title deed of the world. Jesus alone paid the price to purchase the whole world from its bondage to the deceiver. The tearing off of the seals on the scroll represents a period of time between the purchase and the fulfillment of complete ownership. Prior to the completion of the process, there will be a time of travail, to be followed by the joy of the birth of the Kingdom.

Rewards for Overcomers.

Being an overcomer means resisting worldly pressures and popular thinking, to embrace the thoughts of the King. Those who succeed in living as Kingdom citizens will receive these rewards:

Each of these promises refers to a specific blessing that God gives to overcomers.

Revelation: Vision One –  (Rev. 1-3)  Subject: The Church.

A unique community because it has at its center Yeshua the Priest-King.  The seven churches of Vision One are representative of the “whole, complete and perfect” Church; therefore the gifts and warnings Jesus gives apply to us as well as the original churches in John’s circuit.  These messages have to do with purity of doctrine and morals, which show up as Jesus’ biggest concern for us.  They also show how we are intended to interact with Jesus in advancing the Kingdom of God, right through the end of the age, and into the next age—the millennial reign of the King.

Revelation Introduction –

The Book of Revelation announces how Jesus will complete the tasks God has given Him, destroying the hostility and futility of the human race toward God.  At the end of the story, Jesus gets rid of the Deceiver “so he can deceive the world no longer.”  The Book of Revelation is not a running narrative of the end times, but a series of seven distinct visions, each showing the triumph of Jesus in a different area of concern.  The subjects are as follows:  1) The Church, 2) Human History, 3) the Creation, 4) Israel, 5) Judgment on Sin, 6) Judgment on the World System and (7) the Final Triumph of the Kingdom of God.  The number seven is a symbolic number, meaning perfection.  Every time it appears, it refers to “that which is perfect.”  Once we realize this, the visions fall into place, whereas reading them as a continuous story (linear thinking) forces them into a pattern that does not make sense.

Do We Need a Christ?

From God’s point of view, Adam’s disobedience reflects two problems in the human race: sin and satanic deception. The first coming of Jesus took care of the problem of sin. The second coming will take care of satanic deception. Both sin and deception must be dealt with if Jesus will restore Creation to God’s original intention. It is for these two purposes that Yeshua (Jesus) has been given authority and a destiny. We are appointed and anointed to help Him pursue the Kingdom of God by proclaiming the Cross and by announcing His victory over the Deceiver. This anointing give Yeshua His title, “the Christ,” the Anointed One.

Focusing on the Kingdom –

The original gospel of Jesus was “the Gospel of the Kingdom.”  Jesus understood Himself to be the fulfillment of that gospel, and so did His disciples, the Apostles of the Church.  Today, God is showing us that He has every intention of fulfilling the Gospel of the Kingdom as He originally revealed it to Christ and His Apostles.  We therefore have to sift through the changes in emphasis that Rome introduced in the fourth century, and return to the original preaching of Jesus.  The essence of the message is this: Jesus has come to “restore all things,” to “bring heaven and earth into complete unity under one head,” to reverse the effects of the sin of Adam by “liberating the Creation from its bondage to decay.  In other words, the original Gospel was a transformational Gospel.