Title: Final Gathering, Attack, and Collapse (Rev. 19-20)
Topic: Second Coming
Summary: Final Gathering, Attack, and Collapse (Rev. 19-20)
Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.
References:
Revelation 19; 20:1-14; 6:9
Hebrews 9:27
Exodus 15:6, 8-10
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Ezekiel 38:8-13, 20-23; 39:1, 4-7, 17-29
034 - Final Gathering, Attack, and Collapse (Rev. 19-20)
By Jonathan S. Rose
Spirit and Life Bible Study broadcast from 3/30/2011. The complete series is available at: www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com
Ezekiel 39:17-29
17
And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come; gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and drink blood.
18
Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan.
19
And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you.
20
Thus ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
21
And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.
22
So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.
23
And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.
24
According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.
25
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;
26
After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.
27
When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies' lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;
28
Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which cause them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.
29
Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord GOD.
True Christian Religion # 706
706. The reason why the Lord's blood means His Divine truth and that of the Word is that His flesh means in the spiritual sense the Divine good of love, and these two are made one in the Lord. It is well known that the Lord is the Word; and there are two things to which everything in the Word has reference, Divine good and Divine truth. If therefore the Word is substituted for the Lord, it is plain that it is these two which are meant by His flesh and blood. It is established from many passages that blood means the Divine truth of the Lord or of the Word; for instance, from blood being called the blood of the covenant, since a covenant is a link, and linking is effected by the Lord by means of His Divine truth. Also in Zechariah:
By the blood of your covenant I shall release the captives from the pit, Zechariah 9:11.
And in the works of Moses:
After Moses had read the book of the law for the people to hear 1 , he sprinkled half the blood upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you upon all these words, Exodus 24:3-8.
Also:
Jesus taking the cup gave it to them, saying, This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, Matthew 26:27-28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20.
[2] The blood of the new covenant or testament cannot mean anything but the Word, which is called an old and a new covenant or testament, and so the Divine truth it contains. It is because blood has this meaning that the Lord gave them wine, saying, 'This is my blood'; and wine stands for Divine truth. For this reason it is also called 'the blood of grapes' (Genesis 49:11; Deuteronomy 32:14). This is plainer still from the Lord's words:
Truly, truly, I tell you: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me and I in him, John 6:50-58.
It is perfectly obvious that blood here means the Divine truth of the Word, because it is said that he who drinks it has life in himself, and remains in the Lord, and the Lord remains in him. It ought to be well known in the church that this is the effect of Divine truth and living in accordance with it, and that the Holy Supper strengthens this effect.
[3] It is because blood stands for the Lord's Divine truth, which is also the Divine truth of the Word, and because this is what the old and new covenants and testaments are, that blood was the holiest representative of the church among the Children of Israel. In that church every detail was a correspondence of something natural with something spiritual. For instance, they were to take some of the blood of the Passover and put it on the door-posts and lintels of their houses, to ensure the plague would not come upon them (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22).
The blood of the burnt offering was to be sprinkled over the altar, right to its foundations, and over Aaron, his sons and their clothes (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:25, 30, 34; 8:15, 24; 17:6; Numbers 18:17 2 ; Deuteronomy 12:27). Also over the veil above the Ark, over the mercy-seat there, and over the horns of the incense altar (Leviticus 4:6-7, 17-18; 16:12-15). The blood of the Lamb stands for something similar in Revelation:
These have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 7:14.
Also in these words from the same book:
War broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and they defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their 3 witness, Revelation 12:7, 11.
[4] It is impossible to think that Michael and his angels defeated the dragon by anything but the Lord's Divine truth in the Word. For angels in heaven cannot think about any blood, nor do they think about the Lord's passion; but they think of Divine truth and His resurrection. When therefore a person thinks about the Lord's blood, the angels perceive the Divine truth of His Word. When he thinks about the Lord's passion, they perceive His glorification, and then only His resurrection. I have been allowed to know by long experience that this is so.
[5] It is also plain from this passage in the Psalms of David that blood stands for Divine truth:
God will save the souls of the needy. Their blood will be precious in His eyes, and they will live and He will give them of the gold of Sheba, Psalms 72:13-16.
Blood being precious in God's eyes stands for Divine truth being with them; the gold of Sheba is wisdom coming from this. Also in Ezekiel:
Gather for the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood; you will drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and you will drink blood until you are drunk. Thus shall I set my glory among the nations, Ezekiel 39:17-21.
This deals with the church which the Lord is to found among the gentiles. Blood cannot here mean blood, but the truth from the Word they possess; see just above.
სქოლიოები:
1. Literally: in the ears of the people.
2. Corrected from (Lev.) Ezekiel 8:1.
3. The Latin has 'his witness'.
