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)
Написано Jonathan S. Rose
Spirit and Life Bible Study broadcast from 3/30/2011. The complete series is available at: www.spiritandlifebiblestudy.com
Revelation 19
1
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3
And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18
That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Apocalypse Revealed # 8
8. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it. (1:3) This symbolizes their communion with angels in heaven who live according to the doctrine of the New Jerusalem.
"Blessed is he" here means someone who in respect to his spirit is in heaven, thus someone who, while living in the world, is in communion with angels in heaven, inasmuch as he is in heaven in respect to his spirit.
"The words of this prophecy" mean nothing else than the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, for in an abstract sense a prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, thus here the doctrine of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. The same is meant by prophecy. To read, hear and keep those things which are written in it means, symbolically, to wish to know it, to pay attention to the things written in it, and to do the things that are found in it - in sum, to live according to it. It is apparent that people are not blessed if they simply read, hear and keep or preserve in memory the things seen by John (see below, no. 944).
[2] A prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and the same is meant by a prophecy, because the Word was written by prophets, and in heaven a person is regarded in relation to something pertaining to his occupation or function. So, too, every person, spirit and angel mentioned in the Word. Because it was a prophet's function to write and teach the Word, therefore when a prophet is mentioned, the Word in relation to doctrine is meant, or doctrine drawn from the Word.
It is for this reason that the Lord, being the embodiment of the Word, was called a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-20, 1 Matthew 13:57, 2 21:11, 3 Luke 13:33 4 ).
To show that a prophet means the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, we will cite several passages from which this may be concluded. In Matthew:
(At the end of the age) many false prophets will rise up and lead many astray... ...false christs and false prophets will rise... and lead astray, if possible, ...the elect. (Matthew 24:11, 24)
The end of the age is the final period of the church, which is the one that exists now, when there are not false prophets but doctrinal falsities.
[3] In the same gospel:
Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. (Matthew 10:41)
To receive a prophet in the name of a prophet is to accept doctrinal truth because it is true; to receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man is to accept goodness because of its goodness; and to receive a reward is to be saved in accordance with that acceptance. Obviously no one receives a reward or is saved because he received a prophet or righteous man in the name of such.
Without a concept of what a prophet and righteous man mean, no one could understand these words, or those that follow:
Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple..., shall by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)
A disciple means charity and at the same time faith from the Lord.
[4] In Joel:
...I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, so that your sons and your daughters prophesy... (Joel 2:28)
This is said of the church about to be established by the Lord, in which they did not prophesy but received doctrine, which is "to prophesy."
In Matthew:
(Jesus said,) "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name...?' But then I will confess to them, 'I have not known you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!'" (Matthew 7:22-23)
Who does not see that they are not going to say they have prophesied, but that they have known the doctrine of the church and taught it?
In Revelation:
...the time has come to judge the dead and give the reward to... the prophets... (Revelation 11:18)
In another place:
Rejoice..., O heaven, ...you holy apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you... (Revelation 18:20)
It is plain that a reward is not to be given solely to prophets when the Last Judgment is about to take place, or that only apostles and prophets are going to rejoice, but that all will be rewarded and rejoice who have accepted doctrinal truths and lived according to them. These, therefore, are meant by apostles and prophets.
[5] In Exodus:
Jehovah said to Moses: ."..I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet." (Exodus 7:1)
"A god" means Divine truth in its reception from the Lord, and in this sense angels, too, are called gods; and a prophet means one who teaches and gives voice to that truth. It is because of this that Aaron is there termed a prophet.
A prophet has the same symbolic meaning elsewhere, as in the following:
...the law shall not perish from the priest..., nor the Word from the prophet. (Jeremiah 18:18)
...from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy has gone out into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:15-16)
...the prophets will become wind, and the Word will not be in them. (Jeremiah 5:13)
The priest and the prophet err through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine..., they stumble in judgment. (Isaiah 28:7)
The sun is going down on the prophets, and the day is becoming dark upon them. (Micah 3:6)
From the prophet even to the priest, everyone works a falsehood. (Jeremiah 8:10)
[6] In these passages prophets and priests mean, in the spiritual sense, not prophets and priests but the entire church - prophets the church in respect to doctrinal truth, and priests the church in respect to goodness of life, both of which had been lost. These statements are so understood by angels in heaven when people read them in the world according to their literal sense.
To be shown that prophets represented the state of the church in respect to doctrine, and that the Lord represented it in respect to the Word itself, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 15-17.
Сноски:
1. The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, "Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die." And the LORD said to me: "What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die."
2. So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house."
3. So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."
4. Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.
