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 20:1-14
1
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
7
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Apocalypse Explained # 786
786. And the stroke of his death was healed, signifies the discordance apparently cleared away by means of devised conjunctions of works with faith. This is evident from the signification of "the stroke of death," as being discordance with the Word; for "stroke of death" has a like signification here as "the head wounded to death" just above. That "strokes" signify in the Word such things as destroy the church and the spiritual life of man may be seen above n. 584; and as doctrine from the Word constitutes the church, so when doctrine disagrees with the Word there is no longer a church, but only a religion that counterfeits the church. The above is evident also from the signification of "being healed," that is, of the "stroke," as being that this discordance was apparently cleared away by devised conjunctions of works with faith. That this is the signification of "being healed," when "the stroke of death" signifies disagreement with the Word, can be seen without further argument. Nevertheless, that this stroke was not healed, but only apparently cleared away, will be seen in what follows. In the first place something shall be said in passing about the conjunctions of good works with faith that are devised by those who have believed themselves to be keener and more sagacious than all others, and at the same time to be endowed with such gifts of genius as to be able by reasonings from fallacies to induce upon any falsity whatever an appearance of truth. But in order that this may be investigated, presented to the comprehension, and afterwards unfolded, I will here speak of those conjunctions of good works with faith, by means of which the disagreement with the Word is apparently cleared away, some of which are believed by the simple, and some devised by the learned.
[2] 1. The very simple know no otherwise than that faith alone consists in believing those things that are in the Word, and that are taught therefrom by the doctrine of the church.
2. The less simple do not know what faith alone is; they merely know that faith is to believe what must be done; and few of them make any distinction between believing and doing.
3. Others, however, suppose that faith produces good works, but do not consider how it produces them.
4. Others think that faith must always precede, and that goods are brought forth from it, or spring from it as fruit does from a tree.
5. Some believe that this is done by man's co-operation, others that it is done without his cooperation.
6. But as the doctrine declares that faith alone without good works is what saves, therefore some make no account of good works, saying in their heart that everything they do is good in God's sight, and that evils are not seen by God.
7. But as deeds and works, and doing and working, are so frequently mentioned in the Word, from the necessity of reconciling the Word with that dogma, they devise various modes of conjunctions that are not consistent, and yet are such that faith is kept by itself, and works by themselves, to the end that salvation may be in faith, and nothing of it in works.
8. Some conjoin faith with the endeavor to do good with those who have attained to the last stage of justification, yet with an endeavor that derives nothing from the voluntary part of man, but only from influx or inspiration, since the good that is from the voluntary part of man is in itself not good.
9. Some conjoin faith with the Lord's merit, saying that this works all things pertaining to man's life, while man does not know it.
10. Some conjoin faith with moral good and with civil good, which are goods that are to be done for the sake of life in the world, not for the sake of eternal life; and they contend that these are the goods that are meant by the "deeds" and "works," and "doing" and "working," mentioned in the Word; and that for the sake of the uses there, good works must be taught and preached before the laity, because they have no knowledge of the arcana respecting the conjunction of faith and works, and some cannot comprehend them.
11. Many of the learned suppose that in faith alone all are conjoined, that is, that love to God, charity towards the neighbor, the good of life, works, the Lord's merit, and God, are all included in faith alone, except that man thinks, wills, and does something from himself respecting these.
12. It is to be known that many other modes of conjunction have been devised, and that still more are devised by the same persons in the spiritual world; for spiritual thought can spread forth into innumerable things that natural thought cannot reach. I have seen a certain person in the spiritual world who had thought out hundreds of modes of conjunction, and in every one there was a progress in the train of thought from a beginning through means to an end; but when he had reached the end, and believed that he now saw the conjunction, he was enlightened and perceived that the more interiorly he thought upon the subject the more he separated faith from good works instead of conjoining them. From this it can be seen what the modes of conjunction are that have been devised especially by the learned, by which the disagreement of this dogma with the Word may appear like an agreement, which is what is meant by "the stroke of death of the beast was healed."
