Revelation 20 - Jesus reigns with His Bride

Revelation 20 is about Christ’s reign with His Bride. The Harlot Church has been destroyed and a new age begins. It is an time wherein the earth is protected from the Dragon,(satan), and the Bride of Christ is perfected as a witness to the world. During this time the first resurrection takes place and the righteous dead are raised back to life. The martyrs and all who suffered on the earth, who were God’s true believers, find that the purpose of their lives was not just to endure their trials; it was to represent the Lord in His government. As the cross of Christ was the door by which His overcoming lead to His throne, so too do the saints that overcome have thrones to sit in and priestly offices in which to serve Him.


Jesus came in the flesh and was perfected by those things he suffered, having learned obedience to His Father (Heb 5:8-9). As He was, so are we in this life. As the body of Christ, the Bride learns obedience and is perfected through her trials. God’s purpose is to show Himself once more to a dying world in form of His Son perfected in His Body: the Bride of Christ.

The martyrs and all who overcome are raised in the first resurrection (Rev 2:11). This is the wedding feast of the Lord, of which those who attend are called “Blessed” (Rev 19:9). Those who were not ready to go in with the Bridegroom, who did not have the wedding garment on, who did not overcome, are without. The overcomers are included in the reign with Christ. Those who died as overcomers and martyrs are the righteous ones whose spirits have been made perfect, yet God “had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” (Heb 11:40 & 12:23). We are “surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses” (Heb 12:21) so that, together with them, we would reign as God’s Bride, the final witness to the world. Those who partake of the first resurrection are “blessed and holy” for they have obeyed God’s Holy Spirit and not chosen to follow the Beast.

The number one thousand represents perfected maturity and indicates the passage of the allotted amount of time in which to accomplish this. At the end of this time period, satan will be unbound once more to deceive all those who listen to him. God’s people live in a camp, representing a temporary home and not the eternal abode of the New Jerusalem. The deceived will gather against the godly, only to meet their fiery doom. At this time satan is thrown into the lake of fire to join the Beast and the False Prophet.

This is the time spoken of by Peter; “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. . . . But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.” (2 Pet 3:10 & 13). It is the time when the Ancient of Days sits on the great white throne and men are judged according to what they have done. All whose names that are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will partake of the second death; the lake of fire.

Man has not realized that as severe as the second death is, so also is the hot intensity of God’s love for Mankind. He sacrificed His own Son as a witness to His love and provision for our salvation, if men would just follow and obey. During the reign of Christ with His Bride those whose lives were a sacrifice on the altar of this earth are perfected as a holy witness to the world. It is not without their pain and suffering that God speaks to the unsaved, for those in darkness resist those who walk in the Light. Yet God is just and will not judge men as wicked until He has given them the stark contrast to their evil ways; holiness embodied in the lives of men and women.

Revelation 19 - the Bride and Groom

It’s hard to imagine that the judgment of the great prostitute would bring such a roar from heaven and earth, as it did. It took Babylon’s judgment to separate the wheat from the weeds, and after the fires of judgment burnt the weeds, the glorious harvest of wheat was available. Salvation is of God, and not of men, nor men’s programs in churches. And all those who are saved will praise the Lord after the weeds are separated out.


It is not only for the judgment of the great prostitute that men praise God. It is because now the wedding between the Bride and the Lamb will take place. She has made herself ready and wears fine linen; the righteous deeds of the saints. These deeds were possible when true Christians left the harlot and used their talents for God. Just as the unrighteous were symbolized by the woman called Babylon, the Harlot, and the great prostitute, so the righteous are symbolized as the Bride of Christ.

The angel tells John “blessed are those who invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” The significance of these words is found in Jesus’ parable wherein we learn about the king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son (Mt 22:1-14). Though his servants compelled both good and bad to come to the feast, only the good could stay, “for many are invited, but few are chosen.” Those who did not have wedding garments on, the fine linen of the saints, were cast out “into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Those who leave their talents in the Harlot’s possession will not have righteous deeds.

We see the groom, riding on a white horse, coming down from heaven. His name is “Faithful and True” and He has justice on His heart. He has many crowns, signifying his many victories. Paul writes that Christ “must reign until He puts all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor 15:25-26) Jesus is about His Father’s business, destroying His enemies. Those that follow him from heaven have overcome their enemies, and wear fine linen. They are the Bride of Christ.

We see the Lamb dressed in a robe dipped in blood. Our Lord’s robe was dipped in blood in the vision from Is 63:1-6. The Lord had come to work vengeance and redemption then, but because no one helped or supported Him, His worked was accomplished through wrath. He tells us that He was “appalled that no one gave support.” God does not choose to work alone, and therefore He gave us His Spirit. By the Holy Spirit we participate with Him by the support of our prayers, and we help by speaking His words and doing His righteous works. God’s Holy Spirit within us is forming a people that are compatible with His nature, a Bride that loves the ways of her Lord. This time when God’s Son comes His faithful servants will be by His side.

And His name is the Word of God. Only God’s word is a worthy weapon to wage war with. Those who have the spirit of prophecy hear God’s word and will stand with Jesus, waging war alongside Him. The Bride of Christ will not be a welcoming hand that beckons all into the Church. She will, like Christ, rule with a rod of iron because the Bride is a body of believers who have overcome (Rev 2:26-27). The rod of iron indicates that the rod which measures Mankind is inflexible and will not compromise. The sharp sword in the Lamb’s mouth “divides the soul and spirit, joints and marrow: it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.” (Heb 4:12-13).

Babylon part 2

In the previous lesson I wrote about the judgment of the Harlot Church, Babylon.  The Harlot Church is not the Lord’s entire body of believers, yet those believers who have taken the mark of the Beast reside in her. She has beguiled those she loved, the worldly, and entered into business with them. She also incorporated the ways of the world into the running of God’s Church, defiling it and usurping the Head, Jesus, from His lordship.

In running the Church as the world would run a business, Babylon has taken talents from Christians to make herself wealthy. She glitters with gold, precious stones and pearls, the materials God entrusts to men to build His kingdom. Because she seeks fame and wealth for herself, she does not use the talents of men to build any kingdom but her own. She does not bear the fruit of a Christian body because the talents and skills of her members are used only for her benefit. She looks like the Bride of Christ, in her fine linen, purple and scarlet. But she seeks after the world and therefore is His in name only.

Those who trade with Babylon cry when she is destroyed. She was their link to the members of the Church. They did not care about her fate; as false lovers, they only cared about meeting their own needs. She excluded and abused God’s true saints, apostles and prophets for her lovers, and in the end, the lovers cannot rescue her. Indeed, God is judging the Harlot Church for her treatment of His true servants and leaving her without any lovers at all.

So sudden and violent will be her destruction that the Harlot Church will never rise again. Those who worship will not be found there, neither any man who was a workman of the trades; no man will build for the kingdom. The sound of the millstone, which prepares grain for baking into bread, will not be heard any more there. This means that the preparation of the Bread of Life to be imparted to others during the worship service will cease. The light of the lamp will not be in her because she has no Light of the Holy Spirit anymore. And sadly, there will be no marriage for she is rejected by her betrothed, Jesus. Yet the remnant of Christians who have not taken the mark of the beast or his number will be His Bride.

The Harlot Church, Babylon the Great, has ridden the Beast that from the beginning has worked against God and His people. This Beast has caused men to be slain for their testimony. Therefore, because the Church had the Light of God’s Spirit and chose to ride the Beast and practice his persecution of God’s people, she is held accountable for all the saints slain on the earth. It is fitting that, after showing us the judgment of Babylon, God then shows us His true Bride. We will read about her in Revelation 19.

Revelation 18 - Babylon's judgment

Revelation 18 tells us about the judgment of the Harlot Church, Babylon. God charges her with the sin of committing adultery with the world, and then leading the world into a false sense of sharing in God’s blessings. Indeed, the priests of the Lord have the right to bless, however, they are also charged to be holy, and God is holy. Babylon has not only given her blessings to the unclean, but has bonded with them by allowing the nations to make a profit from her.


Before God judges Babylon, the Harlot Church, He sends this message; “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.” (Rev 18:4-5). Remaining in the polluted and compromised church would pollute one’s faith, and cause compromise with the world and sin. John admonishes us “Do not love the world or anything of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and all its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” (1 Jn:15-17)

Babylon has found a way to use her position as the Lord’s betrothed to market herself to the world; she does not address the nations’ sins nor offend them with the gospel of salvation, but instead accepts and practices their ways. This takes the stigma of sin away, and the dividing wall between saint and sinner is gone. Then, Babylon agrees to enter into financial contracts with the world, which puts her in the market place, benefiting those she buys from. Not only do these things pollute the Harlot Church, but further, she adopts the ways of the world to run the Church as a business.

In speaking of those with the spirit of the anti-Christ, John writes “You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.” (1 Jn 4:4-6). It is clear that satan is using the temptations of the world to entice Christians to walk in their flesh, defile themselves with worldly ways, and eventually, to sin. All this will cause many Christians to side with the Beast and take his mark, and to side against the Lamb and His faithful ones, who are holy and unspotted from the world.

Jude gives us this advice; “Be merciful to those who doubt, snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear – hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.”(Jude :23) Babylon does the opposite, causing those who have stained their clothing to feel at ease, despising the fear of the Lord and forbidding correction of those who are playing with fire. Therefore God condemns her, for she works against Him, and the sacrifice of the Lamb is made null and void in her. Though she feels she is above reproach and will suffer no harm, God will make an end of the Harlot Church, Babylon.

Babylon has become the “home for demons and a haunt of every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.” Those who compromise with the world do so at the risk of being influenced by satan. His plan was to pollute God’s Church and make her ineffective on this earth. However, while satan is perfecting his evil, the Lord is perfecting holiness in those who have godly fear. They are the overcomers and will rule and reign with Him. While the Harlot Church grows rich in worldly wealth, the overcomers grow rich in spiritual wealth.

Babylon’s cup is filled with glory and wealth. Her corruption from the world brought the world’s ways into the midst of her. This is seen in the Church marketing their ministers for fame, selling their truthes for money, and promoting through worldly means anything she can profit by. She inhibits the growth of her people so as to make them dependent on what she can sell to them, and furthers those who will in turn add members to her. In this way Babylon’s wares include the souls and bodies of men.

The Harlot Church made herself such a comfortable place that it will be difficult for Christians to leave her system of acceptance of their sinful ways for a life of holiness.  Those who remain in her, therefore, will partake of her judgments as well.  The very reason Jesus sent His Holy Spirit into the hearts of believers was that the Holy Spirit makes men holy. God’s judgment will separate true believers from the marketplace mentality embraced by the Harlot Church, Babylon.  God’s judgment of Babylon also causes the line to be drawn between the Harlot Church and the world. Her destruction is evidence that she does not have God’s favor, nor could she stand in His stead and bless their evil ways; she did not have God’s blessings to give away. Therefore when the unholy union between the Church and the world is broken those that benefited from her will weep.  

Revelation 17, part 2 - the Manifestation of Satan's purposes and God's purposes

By revealing the Harlot Church the Lord manifests satan’s intentions, and His own purposes. The Harlot Church is supported by the same sea of people as those which formed the sea from which the Beast emerged, and she rides the Beast in her position as the church of unfaithful believers.  The seven heads of the Beast are seven hills on which the harlot sits. Those spiritual authorities which embody the mind of satan are completed in the number seven and become the foundation for the harlot church. We read that they are also seven kings who reign in succession, five having fallen, one who reigned during John’s time, and one that is to come for a brief reign. The Beast is like these kings and is the eighth.

The ten horns are the mouth pieces for the Beast, and are kings that physically reign on this earth. They have kingdoms under their influence which serve their purposes for “one hour”, or at one time. The ten kings purpose to give their authority and power to the Beast, bringing their subservients under the influence of false Christianity. However, they unwittingly fulfill God’s purposes instead, giving the Beast the power to manifest as the arch enemy of God.

All the insidious work satan has done of polluting Christianity will be brought to the light in one powerful collection of falsehood and impurity at this time: the harlot church led by the ten kings. Satan’s purpose is to turn men against the Lord Jesus Christ. He influences the ten kings to war against Christ, yet he is unsuccessful. “The Lamb will overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings – and with Him will be His called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Rev 17:14) We see that the war is a battle for authority. Jesus has been given rightful authority, and His true believers stand with Him against those who are false.

God’s purpose in having one body of falsehood and false authority is so that He might show the inhabitants of the earth His justice. The harlot church will ride the Beast, which the ten kings serve and empower with their own authority, until God’s words are fulfilled. We learn about the issue God has with the false church in Revelation 18 when the harlot speaks these words; “I sit as a queen: I am not a widow and I will never mourn.” (Rev 18:7). This statement indicates that the false church believes she is married to the King and will never be cut off. Yet God has spoken against such beliefs of entitlement to the early Christians. “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, ‘Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.’ Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.” (Rom 11:17-21) It is God’s justice that He removes the arrogant harlot church from her position, leaving a pure body of believers, His Bride.  This fulfills His word and ends the time in which the ten kings give their authority to the harlot.

The harlot church feels entitled to her position, heeding not the counsel to be afraid, stand by faith, and realize that her place with God is conditional. The harlot church believes it is she who supports Christianity, and therefore she has taken authority over the gifts and callings of men, as we will see in the next chapter of Revelation.

Revelation 17 - the Great Harlot

In Revelation 16 I wrote about the seven bowls of wrath. The last bowl released an earthquake so strong that the Great City was split into three parts (Rev 16:19). As we get into Revelation 17 we see that the Great City is the harlot, or prostitute, who rules over the kings of the earth (Rev 17:18). This split, therefore, is spiritual. It is a shaking by the Lord, written about in the following scripture: “At that time his voice shook the earth, but how He has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ The words ‘Once more’ indicate the removing of what can be shaken – that is, created things – so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” (Heb 12:26-27). We see that created things, such as buildings and structures, will be shaken as well as spiritual things, such as motives and agendas (as an example). That which the Lord has built will endure to establish His kingdom.


At the beginning of Revelation 17 we meet the great prostitute who sits on many waters. She is the representation of a body of people who are unfaithful to the One they are betrothed to. God does not need to call the sinners a prostitute, for they have never promised themselves to Him. The many waters are “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.” The waters support her, and include those whose names have not been written in the book of Life. These people are in awe of her and have given the prostitute their vote of confidence over the ages. They do not notice that she is misleading the inhabitants of the earth.

Though she is not the Beast, nor the False Prophet, the prostitute’s falsehood towards her Betrothed, Jesus, has lulled Christians to sleep, making them ineffective witnesses to the inhabitants of the earth. She is the harlot church of God, and her unfaithfulness causes many Christians to be ineffective in their witness to the inhabitants of the earth. Instead of being a light on a hill for the nations, she has made them intoxicated with lies. The greatest lie is that they can remain in the world, serve the world, love their flesh, and still be accepted by the Lord. In truth, the prostitute accepts men without giving them the power to become sons of God. Those in sin seek her approval and receive it, only so that they can be received of men.

It is significant that John is carried to the desert to see the harlot church, the prostitute, for God has dried up the Holy Spirit so that men might be tested by the release of the deceiving spirits (Rev 16:12-15). The kings that are gathered to Armegeddon are the same kings the harlot deceived, and are leaders in the church who become influenced by deceiving spirits. Before this time, in His mercy, God will bring out every wrong motive, hidden agenda, and sinful act so that every leader of the Church can be cleansed. However, when the time for the releasing of the deceiving spirits comes, those who have resisted the Holy Spirit will not find His counsel. Therefore they will agree to give their authority to the harlot church until God’s words are fulfilled (Rev 17:17). Just as the False Prophet and Beast were instrumental in separating those with the mark of the Beast from those who gained victory over it, so do these kings have a role in furthering the cause of the harlot church, until they come to hate what she is, and destroy her very existence (Rev 17:16-18). As in Ezekiel’s prophecy against unfaithful Israel, the Lord will hand the unfaithful church over to her lovers for destruction (Ez 16:35-42). The hatred of the harlot church and her demise is influenced by the Beast she rides.

The harlot ignored that the Beast was covered with blasphemous teachings . . . teachings that are against God and His nature. The Scarlet Beast is the same as the Dragon, and the Beast from the Sea, with seven heads and ten horns. Scarlet has its spiritual roots as representing one being of the priesthood and performing priestly duties (Lev 14:4; Num 19:6; Heb 9:19). This color is inappropriate for the Beast and shows us that the harlot rides corruption: a mixture of holiness and the carnal ways of men. The harlot’s clothes are scarlet also, with purple, a color indicating royalty and great wealth. From her statements in the next chapter we see that she believes herself to be a queen (Rev 18:7), married into the royalty of the priesthood of believers. Because she rules the leaders of the Church, she owns their talents and labors; the gold, precious stones, and pearls. Just and unjust are within her. Good and evil works are within her. Her gold cup was given to her by the Lord to give the nations His new wine to drink. Yet she filled it with abominations and the fruits of her adulteries with the world.

The title written on the harlot’s forehead begins with the word “mystery”. This tells us that her name is a spiritual name, not a physical name. The next part of the name, “Babylon”, is symbolic, and derives its origin from the town of Babel, or “confusion”. The harlot has mixed her priorities as God’s intended Bride by making allegiances with the world and polluting them by her compromise. None can look at her for a clear message of the will of God, nor His nature. It is confused within the corruption of the false service she offers to God. Because of her pollutions, she begets spiritual prostitutes like herself, and abominations. Indeed, she causes those who are true to God to be slain, for it is satan himself that pursues those with the testimony of Jesus by using the harlot to execute his purposes.

Revelation 16 - the Bowls of Wrath

In the lesson on Revelation 15 I wrote about the legality of the battle between satan and God’s people. The judgment on satan will affect all his people, and is retribution for satan’s persecution and oppression of God’s people. Of these times, Daniel wrote that there will come one who “will speak against the Most High and oppress His saints and try to change the set times, and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.” (Dan 7:25) Satan’s emissary will be “waging war against the saints and defeating them, until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom.” (Dan 7:21-22).


The Kingdom of our Lord on this earth will not be fully His to reign in with His saints until judgment is pronounced for us. There is a great trial of testing before us all, and it is the outcome of our trials that determine God’s judgment for or against us. Therefore we read in Daniel’s later prophecy “Blessed is the one who waits for and reaches the end of the 1,335 days,” (Dan 12:12) which is the 3 ½ years of war between satan and the saints. We will be blessed, and reign with our Lord, after the 3 ½ year trial is over.

The first 3 bowls of wrath pour out literal judgments on the land (people break out in sores), the sea (blood like dead men, killing every living creature in the seas), and on the rivers and springs (blood to drink). When the angels praise God, saying He is just and true to give men blood to drink, they make a reference to the martyred saints and prophets, whose blood men have shed. Once again there is a reference to God’s justice. He sees the lives and the blood of His saints as precious, and is giving blood to the inhabitants of the earth to drink in retribution for the death of His saints.

The fourth bowl causes men to be scorched, which brings cursings from them instead of repentance. The firth bowl brings darkness to their hearts, for their works, thoughts and companions are void of the Light of Life which lives in God’s people. It is the fourth and fifth bowls, therefore, which give men a taste of what it would be like to live eternity outside of God’s presence: in scorching heat and darkness. Yet this taste of hell brings cursings instead of repentance, for men have already chosen this world and the image of men perfected in their flesh (the number of the Beast), and they have forsaken the image of God in His Holy Son.

We find that God’s people are separated from those who have the mark of the Beast. This is the doing of the Beast, for all those who would not take his mark on their right hand or in their foreheads were persecuted (Rev 13:16-17). So those who gained victory over his number are separated out from those who worshipped the Beast. As in the times of Moses, God’s people will not partake of all the judgments sent to those who rejected God.

The Great River Euphrates is the Life-giving Holy Spirit. In order for men to be tested by satan’s deceiving spirits, the Holy Spirit is dried up to prepare their way. Instead of seeing greater revivals in our churches, we will see a time of dryness, and of testing the motivation behind the works of God’s people. Deceiving spirits will cause men’s works to come from themselves, or to be inspired by the evil spirits who are influencing them. Eventually, satan will turn all who are not with the Lord against Him. The purpose of the bowls of wrath is to position men according to the side they have chosen. There is no longer a straddling of the fence; those who curse God because of His wrath will side with the Beast. Those who praise God for His justice will stand with Jesus. The time for repentance is over; the time for the last stand has come.

These are the “times” Daniel spoke of when he said that satan’s emissary would try to change the “set times”. Those who are deceived will think it is a time of great blessing being poured out on God’s people. The leaders will not prepare the saints to stand in times of trial. Prayer meetings will focus on bringing revival, when in reality, people need to be ministered to for strengthening in the inner man. Spiritual warfare will not be a style of prayer anymore in the churches, for men who are deceived will teach that we already have the kingdom, and all the power is ours, if we just believe. Satan’s lies employ scripture, so the simple-minded will follow him. But those who have known Jesus as the Word of God will have discernment, and will overcome. Though the Holy Spirit be dried up in the churches, God’s true people will have His Spirit within, ruling and reigning on the thrones of their hearts.

The evil spirits that come from the Beast, the Dragon, and the False Prophet will work miracles and deceive those who are not grounded in the Word of God. All who rule in the churches without Jesus will be gathered to stand with those who love their flesh, for they will be offended at the requirement of holiness brought by Jesus’ Holy Spirit. This is the battle of Armegedon and is described in Revelation 19:17-21. Jesus warned men that He would come as a thief. “Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” (Rev 16:15). It is not the worldly men who need their clothes, for indeed, they do not have the robes of righteousness that come by faith in God. It is the people of God whom the Lord is addressing, admonishing us to live a life that proceeds from our faith in God.

In the outpouring of the seventh bowl we hear the message “It is done.” God’s final wrath is poured out on the cities of men, so severe that it changes the geography of the earth. Great hailstones fall on men, and again, they curse God. Yet God is reserving a special judgment for those who failed to be a witness to this dying earth, but who instead polluted the ungodly and did not bring them to repentance. We see these people illustrated as the Great Harlot, Babylon. In the next two chapters God will show us her sin, and her judgment.

Revelation 15 - the Legalities of the Battle with Satan

Revelation 15 begins with the second great or wondrous sign, the seven angels with the bowls of wrath.  God’s wrath comes at the time of the culmination of evil, seven being the number of completion. The angels come from the Temple of the Tabernacle, where God’s Spirit dwells.  The picture we see of what takes place before the throne is like a loop which circles back to touch upon themes in Revelation 12. In Revelation 12 God’s counterpart, the Dragon, came from the pit. We see the overcomers, those who gained victory over the Beast’s number, standing beside the sea of glass; the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. In contrast, the Dragon stands beside the sea which holds the beast (Rev 13:1). The first sea is knowledge collected in men who know God; the second sea is the knowledge which furthers error and sin upon the earth. The first sea reflects the Son in all His glory, for His life glorified the Father; there are no reflective properties written about the second sea.


The first sign, that of the woman being attacked by the dragon as she bore the Man Child (Rev 12), illustrated the war in heaven coming to earth. The second sign illustrates which super power will win this war: God. It is important for us to see that, when satan was cast out of heaven, he pursued God’s people. Though satan oppresses God’s people and tries to destroy them, God will destroy satan and all who follow him.
From the beginning satan has accused God of being the wrongful power over heaven and earth. After satan lost his place in the heavens as an angel, he became the devil who lies, steals, kills, and destroys. His purpose has been to destroy intimately the creation of God’s hands, Man, and to turn the hearts of men towards worshipping himself. This struggle isn’t just between God and satan, though. Mankind is involved, for it is we who choose whom to serve.

In Job we see that satan operated by accusing Job to God, and accusing God’s fairness. He said “Have you not put a hedge around Job and his household and everything that he has?” Satan accused God of blessing Job and protecting him from harm. While we see this as a good thing, Satan twisted it into the basis of his accusation against God; he thought the only reason Job was faithful to God was because God blessed and protected him. “Stretch out your hand and strike everything he has and he will surely curse you to your face.” (Job 1:9-11) Though Job passed this test and all he lost was restored, there is a bigger picture here, one in which we see that God’s creation has free will to choose whom they will worship. Those that choose to worship God provide the evidence that closes the legal case Satan brought up in the heavens against God.

Satan wants men to worship and follow him. When he is cast down to the earth he is bent on destroying all those who oppose him. But, just as Jesus gained victory over Satan when He rose from the dead, so do God’s people gain victory over Satan as well. Those who stand next to the sea of glass are a living Testimony on earth that God has people who love and follow Him. It is the people of God, those dressed in white who follow the Lamb, who stand with Him in the final victory over Satan and his own. The verdict, then, is that God has a people who love and follow Him, even if there is great tribulation on the earth. They will serve Him, even if Satan slays them. Like Job, God’s people say “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (Job 13:15).

Job’s story is a legal case initiated by Satan against God’s intentions towards Man. The accusations have never stopped, nor will God’s victories through His people come to an end. We will see later that God has the final say after this legal case is settled. God’s people sing the song of Moses, wherein are the words “All the nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Rev 15:4) These nations sing “Just and true are Your ways, King of the Ages.” (vs 3) because justice and truth bring the resolution of the conflict between them and their enemy, Satan.

After the seven angels with the seven bowls of God’s wrath leave the Tabernacle of the Testimony, only God’s glory remains inside and none may enter. There is no one who can influence God’s decisions, for the end of the matter has been decided. We see God’s wrath depicted after the second harvest of Revelation 14 wherein grapes were cast into the winepress of God’s wrath. Though we think of those who abide in the vine as being God’s people, not all grapes represent those who love and follow Him. The Lord speaks to Israel about being a people who “have forgotten God your Savior” (Is 17:10). He likens them to a people who “set out the finest plants and plant imported vines, though on the day you set them out, you make them grow, and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud, yet the harvest will be as nothing in the day of disease and incurable pain.” (vs 10-11). So all who do not bear the fruit of being a Christian will be cut off and suffer the fate of unbelievers; God’s wrath (Jn 15:6). God has given us everything we need to bear the fruit of righteousness andto be gathered in the first harvest of overcomers. (see 2 Peter 1:3-4)

Because of Satan’s influence on Mankind, the earth will grow increasingly evil. Indeed, Jesus tells us that “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.” (Mt 24:22). And so we will read about God’s judgments on all who serve His enemy, Satan, who is the Dragon.

Revelation 14 - The Two Harvests

The second half of Revelation 14 is about the fulfillment of God’s purposes on the earth, represented by two harvests. Just as pregnancy represents the passage of time until God’s purposes are birthed, so a harvest represents the passage of time until God’s purposes have accomplished what they were intended to do.

God often speaks of the beginning of His purposes as being a seed.  Jesus tells us in the parable of the sower and the seed that the seed is God’s Word (Lk 8:11).  The seed goes through a process of being watered, receiving sun shine, and being nurtured in the soil of our hearts to produce a final harvest.   The yield of the seed is more seed that can be planted for the next season, and “bread” or food for the present season (Is 55:10-11). God has put the message of salvation in the earth like a seed sown in the hearts of men and is looking for the yield of His efforts.

The passage of time from when God sows His seed until the harvest takes place represents individual lives in which seed is growing. There is a maturing process for the seed. Jesus said that first a stalk appears, then the head, and then the kernel in the head (Mk 4:28-29). Individually, believers mature at different rates and have differing yields in their “head”. We learn in the book of Hebrews that the Lord disciplines us so that we will produce a harvest of righteousness and peace (Heb 12:11). God’s purpose in sending His word to us is that we become righteous, and filled with peace.  Part of the nurturing which produce growth is His discipline.

God plants His word in us and then it is we who allow it to mature. We sow into our own lives thoughts, words, and deeds that will either yield a harvest of righteousness or a harvest of destruction (Gal 6:8-9). It takes patience to know what sort of harvest each man will be, and so the Lord waits patiently over His harvest (Jms 5:7). He sends the sun and rain so that His word has every chance to grow inside the hearts and minds of men. And yet, there is an appointed time to reap the harvest.

Jesus told a parable about a man who sowed good seed in his field (Mt 13:24-30). “While everyone was sleeping his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away.” When the servants wanted to pull up the weeds the master told them no, “because while you are pulling the weeds, you may root up the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned: then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.” Jesus explained to His disciples that “The One who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the sons of the Kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil.” (Mt 13:37-39). This parable gives us a clear picture of the two harvests and who plants each kind of seed. Both harvests take place at the time in which the collective righteousness and wickedness of men have come to full maturity.

The first harvest is the harvest of righteousness. God will have a people from all that He has sown in the earth. The second harvest is the harvest of those who are appointed to God’s wrath. He has held back His wrath until the time of the appointed end in order to give the seed time to mature. The lives of the wicked will be destroyed “outside the city”, indicating that its inhabitants are left out of the judgment of His wrath.