The Revelation of Yahshua (Jesus) Christ - 2022


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Buy this book in softcover at Christogenea ChristReich: A Commentary on the Revelation of Yahshua Christ

For our old 2011 Revelation Commentary click here.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 1: An Introduction

Background Introduction on the Revelation

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 1: An Introduction

Here, after eleven years, we shall revisit our commentary on the Revelation of Yahshua Christ with a new presentation, and of course it shall be based on the text as it is presented in the Christogenea New Testament. Our first version of this commentary was originally presented in fourteen podcasts from December of 2010 through April of 2011. While there are several reasons for wanting to replace our old commentary, here I will only state that I hope to expand some portions of the original while also offering some clarifications, rewriting or further expounding on some of our explanations. I also hope to more thoroughly cross-reference portions of parallel prophecies which are found in the books of the prophets, especially in Ezekiel, Daniel, Obadiah, Zechariah and Malachi.

Later that same year I first published Christreich, which is the title of a book which had encapsulated the original podcast commentary. While we hope this new commentary will be more comprehensive, I do not foresee adding much to the interpretations themselves. But while I cannot yet rule that out completely, I do not think that this new version will invalidate anything I had written there, except for one note which must be corrected at Revelation chapter 20, verse 5, which I shall discuss further below. This commentary, and even this introduction, shall be founded on the edited text of Christreich rather than the notes for the original podcasts. For that reason, I was tempted to title this series “Christreich 2.0” or something similar, but I decided to stay with our more traditional scheme. That title may be appropriate if Yahweh God permits me to publish a second edition of the book, something which I certainly hope to achieve.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 2: The Revelation of Christ as God

Revelation 1:1-20

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 2: The Revelation of Christ as God

In our opening presentation in this series, we offered a description of the antiquity of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Revelation, and also sought to establish the approximate time and place of the authorship of the work, including the fact that it was written by the apostle John, the son of Zebedee, who also wrote the Gospel bearing his name, and the epistles which have been attributed to him from the earliest times. Doing that, we cited Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Hippolytus of Rome, Victorinus of Pettau, and the Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John. Our purpose was to exhibit the fact that from these eight ancient second and third-century Christian sources, a rather consistent narrative is presented in which it may be determined that the apostle John wrote his Gospel account, was imprisoned in exile on Patmos at an undetermined time in the reign of the emperor Domitian, and upon the death of Domitian he returned to Ephesus, where he penned the Revelation of Yahshua Christ. It is not certain when he may have written his three surviving epistles.

While doing that we also presented and discussed the arguments of one of the earliest skeptics of John’s authorship of the Revelation, Dionysius of Alexandria. So we hope to have also convincingly explained how the arguments of Dionysius are all faulty or without merit, and after the faults are elucidated he really has no arguments remaining to provide a substantial basis for his doubt.

Furthermore, there are some tales found in the early Christian writers of which we ourselves must be skeptical. Presenting our witnesses, one tale that we encountered from Tertullian described John’s having been boiled in oil without injury before his exile to Patmos. In the Acts of the Holy Apostle and Evangelist John, a work which is esteemed to predate Tertullian by at least several decades, although John’s exile is recorded no such story of his having been boiled in oil is found. Rather, in that record it is attested that John was banished to Patmos instead of being executed on account of a miracle where he had raised a dead woman to life. Outside of the Book of Acts, I do not necessarily credit the writings which purport to record the acts of the apostles, but this does indicate that not all accounts found in the so-called “Church Fathers” are trustworthy or even consistent.

However when there are eight ancient witnesses to a particular historical narrative, such as the exile of John and his writing of the Revelation after his exile had ended, then the records are difficult to simply brush aside. Then, as we shall see, when the text of the Revelation itself supports that same narrative, then we must accept it as relative truth.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 3: What is a Nicolaitan?

What is a Nicolaitan?

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 3: What is a Nicolaitan?

In our last presentation we discussed Revelation chapter 1 and the nature of Yahshua Christ as He revealed it through the apostle John. While there are numerous indications in the words of the ancient prophets that Christ is Yahweh God incarnate, and while Christ Himself had made similar professions in several different ways in the accounts in the Gospels, and especially in the Gospel of John, here in Revelation chapter 1 He made several explicit statements as well as several allegories which reveal that He is God. This is found in the underlying meaning of epithets such as “He who is and who was and who is coming” and “First Born from the dead”, but it is explicit in verses 7 and 8 where we read: “7 Behold! He comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even whoever had pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn before Him. Yeah, truly! 8 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, says Yahweh God, He who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.’”

In verse 4 we also see a reference to Christ as “He who is and who was and who is coming”, but here in verse 8 we see those words attributed to Yahweh God, yet they are referring to Yahshua Christ. There is a difficulty in the King James Version in verse 8, where it has only “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord”, yet the New American Standard Version has the complete verse to read: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” All of the Greek manuscripts have the phrase κύριος ὁ θεός, or “the Lord God” in verse 8, and the King James Version chose to ignore the word for God. That same phrase, κύριος ὁ θεός, was employed in the Septuagint wherever the Hebrew words for Yahweh Elohim, or Yahweh God, appear in the Hebrew of the Old Testament. For that reason we render κύριος ὁ θεός as “Yahweh God” throughout our translation of the New Testament, as it should be. So the terminology employed in these verses explicitly reveals the true nature of Christ as God, and Yahweh had also described Himself as the Shadday or Almighty throughout the Old Testament, yet here we also see that epithet applied to Christ.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 4: The Churches at Ephesus and Smyrna

Revelation 2:1-11

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 4: The Churches at Ephesus and Smyrna

In our last presentation we took a long digression in order to elucidate the mistakes which the early Christian writers had made where they attempted to explain the references which Yahshua Christ had made in Revelation chapter 2 to a certain group, or class, of men whom He had called Nicolaitans. The earliest of those writers, Ignatius of Antioch, had acknowledged the existence of a group called Nicolaitans, but without explanation he referred to them as being “falsely so-called” Nicolaitans, and if they did not deserve the label then even if an actual sect existed which called themselves by that name, it could not have been the same as those to whom Christ had referred here.

Later so-called Church Fathers attributed to the Nicolaitans certain sins for which Christ had explicitly condemned Balaam and a woman whom He called Jezebel in this chapter, but Christ Himself never attributed those sins to the Nicolaitans, so the attribution cannot stand. Several others went so far as to connect these Nicolaitans to the Nicolaus of Antioch mentioned in Acts chapter 6, which is basically a slander of that particular Nicolaus. The events of Acts chapter 6 date to as early as 34 AD, and certainly happened long before 41 AD where the death of Herod Agrippa I is recorded in Acts chapter 12. We may think that if a man who was described by Luke as having been one of the early saints and leaders of the church in Judaea had broken away and began some heretical sect supposedly known to all of those early Christian writers, that Luke, as well as Peter, James and Paul along with him, most of whom must have known Nicolaus personally, would have mentioned his heresy somewhere in their writings, as they all lived and wrote for at least another 28 years. James and Paul each died about 62 AD, in different places and under different circumstances, and that is when Luke ended the records of the Book of Acts. Therefore it is highly unlikely that the Nicolaus of Acts chapter 6 had founded any heresy worthy enough to be mentioned, and even hated, by Christ here in Revelation chapter 2. Yahshua Christ must have been referring to something else.

So in rejecting the false assumptions and unsupported conclusions of the so-called Church Fathers in reference to the Nicolaitans, and examining the history of the early Church from the writings of the apostles who authored our New Testament scriptures, in my opinion a much more accurate interpretation of the references to Nicolaitans mentioned here in Revelation chapter 2 may be attained. The word nicolaitan means prevailing over the people, and seeing the Judaizers with whom the apostles had struggled, who sought to rule over the people in the dispensation of rituals, later called sacraments, we can determine that a Nicolaitan is one of that particular class of priest, whether Judaic or Pagan, who sought to control the people by withholding mysteries and dispensing sacraments, or rituals.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 5: The Churches at Pergamos and Thyatira

Revelation 2:12-29

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 5: The Churches at Pergamos and Thyatira

Presenting the first part of Revelation chapter 2 and the messages to the assemblies at Ephesus and Smyrna, we had encountered and discussed several concepts that are contained in those messages which we believe are necessary to understand not only in relation to the Revelation, but also to the entire Bible as well as to our lives as Christians today. First, although we are not told what sin it was that they had been committing, because the Ephesians had left their first love, as it was described, they then began to accept or to commit some sin from which they were commanded to repent. Then Christ had threatened that if they did not repent, they would be punished. So it is evident that even Christians who profess Christ and endure in His Name, who reject false apostles and Nicolaitans, which we interpret as those professional priests who with pretense would rule over the people, and who are also even commended for not bearing evil, must nevertheless seek to maintain complete obedience to the Gospel of Christ or face the consequences of punishment from God. This is absolutely contrary to the general belief of most Christians today, who basically claim that all one has to do is to believe in Jesus and perform some rituals in order to be saved. Having rejected false apostles, the Ephesians clearly believed the Gospel as it was taught them by true apostles, so they must have believed in Jesus, as today’s denominational Christians would also claim to do. Yet Christ Himself had warned them that they would be punished if they did not repent of their sin, that their lampstand would be removed from its place.

Another thing which we have not yet discussed is an aspect of the words of Christ in regard to the works of the Nicolaitans which He had professed that “I also hate.” This situation also betrays the professions of denominational Christians who often claim that God is Love, that Jesus is Love, and that He is incapable of hate. There certainly are things which Jesus hates, deeds which Jesus hates, and even people which Jesus hates, as we shall see again later in this 2nd chapter of the Revelation.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 6: The Churches at Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea

Revelation 3:1-22

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 6: The Churches at Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea

In our last presentation, having concluded our commentary on Revelation chapter 2 we discussed the messages to the assemblies at Pergamos and Thyatira. In those messages, each of these assemblies were criticized by Yahshua Christ for having accepted men and women who were advocating the same sin, but in a somewhat different manner. The assembly at Pergamos had evidently had at least several unnamed members who upheld what Christ had described as the “teaching of Balaam, who had taught Balak to put a trap before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit fornication.”

Consulting the Old Testament Scriptures in order to find what the teaching of Balaam had been, in Numbers chapter 25 we find that the Moabites had instructed their women to seduce the men of Israel into engaging in illicit acts of sexual intercourse. There we read, in part, “1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.” Then a little further on: “3 And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.” But it is not until this incident is mentioned again later, in Numbers chapter 31, that we find that it was indeed Balaam who had taught this, where we read that it was done “through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.” So Balaam, who was hired to curse Israel, could not curse them as Yahweh had caused only blessings to emanate from his mouth. Therefore, perceiving that if the men of Israel could be coaxed into such a sin that they would lose the favor of their God, he instructed Balak to do that very thing.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 7: Visions of the Throne of God

Revelation 4:1-11

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 7: Visions of the Throne of God

Having presented the messages of Yahshua Christ to the seven churches in Roman Asia which are found in Revelation chapters 2 and 3, we noticed that five of those churches, which were those in Ephesus, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis and Laodicea, had all been guilty of one sin or another from which they were commanded to repent. But the only sins which had been specifically mentioned to any of them were the sins of fornication and idolatry, or the eating of things sacrificed unto idols. These sins were specified in the messages to the churches of Pergamos and Thyatira, and in order to describe them Christ had evoked the Old Testament accounts of Balaam and Jezebel.

In the events of which we are informed by Scripture that the counsel of Balaam had precipitated, which are described in Numbers chapter 25, the children of Israel had “began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab”, as it is explicitly stated. We have already discussed at length and with historical references the sexual activities leading to race-mixing and other forms of fornication which were practiced by worshippers of Baal. In the account of this incident, the idol Baalpeor is mentioned, and it is evident that the Moabites had practiced those same perversions. That is how the sons of Israel had committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and not merely with the idols of Moab. In the events surrounding the life of Jezebel, she had actively promoted the worship of Baal in Israel, and the prophets of Baal and the prophets of the groves “which eat at Jezebel's table” were all confronted by the prophet Elijah whereupon they were all destroyed. Both Ahab and his wife Jezebel had died around 850 BC, and a hundred years later there is an account of the sins of Israel in the words of the prophet Hosea.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 8: The Lamb of God

Revelation 5:1-14

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 8: The Lamb of God

Presenting our commentary on Revelation chapter 4 we had discussed Visions of the Throne of God, where in part we had compared John’s vision here with the similar earlier visions of both Isaiah and Ezekiel. In chapter 6 of Isaiah, the prophet had said rather explicitly that he saw “the Lord sitting upon a throne”, while in the opening chapter of his book Ezekiel only said that “upon the likeness of the throne was the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it”, and described the man as having the appearance of fire. But towards the end of the chapter, Ezekiel said “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD.” Then as he opened chapter 2, he described things which the man had said to him. While Ezekiel attested that what he saw was merely a vision, and used a word which means likeness quite often in its description, Isaiah did not use those terms. But what Isaiah saw also must have been only a vision, or the burning coal which the seraph creature had set upon his mouth would certainly have caused him harm.

Now here in Revelation chapter 5, John is still describing what he had seen and not only do we see a vision of a man upon the throne of Yahweh, whom from His Own words had professed to be Christ, but we also shall see a vision of a Lamb, and the Lamb also represents Christ. Many Roman Catholics and other Trinitarians may imagine that this supports their Trinity doctrine, but that is not true, as these are only visions and in a vision Yahweh God may represent Himself in any way and as many times as He desires. Leading the Israelites out of Egypt, He was the pillar of a Cloud in the day and He was also the pillar of Fire at night, however both images represented one and the same God. Furthermore, He was the Rock in the Desert at that same time, and that was still the same God. It was Paul of Tarsus who exclaimed that Christ was the rock in the desert, in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, but He never really said that Christ was a literal rock. Paul only referred to a Spiritual Rock, and writing that, he was equating Christ with Yahweh in that chapter. Yahweh God was the Burning in the bush, He was the Spirit in the Cloud, the Spirit in the Fire, and the Spiritual Rock, and Christ is also an aspect of Him – the substance of His person and the fullness of the Divinity bodily, as Paul also described Him in the opening verses of his epistle to the Hebrews and in Colossians chapter 2. The term bodily is what is meant by the word incarnate, which means in the flesh.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 9: The Pattern of Empires

Revelation 6:1-17

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 9: The Pattern of Empires

There are three methods of interpreting prophecy which are prevalent among Church commentators today, which are usually labeled as historicism, preterism and futurism. The preterist view generally upholds some variation of the belief that all Biblical prophecy was fulfilled by 70 AD with the destruction of Herod’s temple in Jerusalem. This view fails miserably not only here in the Revelation, but also in the words of the Old Testament prophets, and especially in Daniel and Obadiah. The futurist view generally upholds the belief that prophecy has more or less been put on hold for some period far into the future, when the descriptions of world events found in the Revelation and other prophets will play out like some sort of Hollywood science fiction movie. This view also fails miserably when it is compared to the actual words of the Revelation and the prophets. While we will not offer a detailed refutation of these views here and now, we have already endeavored to do that in the past, and here we would assert that the content of this commentary on the Revelation, when it is completed, will in itself provide a sufficient refutation of all opposing views.

The method of interpretation which we espouse is the historicist view of prophecy, which upholds an understanding that the words of both the prophets and the Revelation would gradually be fulfilled over time, and are still being fulfilled in the present day. It can be established that the prophet Jonah is the earliest of our Biblical prophets after David and Solomon, whose prophecies are recorded in his own separate book. Now it has now been approximately 2,850 years since the prophecy of Jonah was recorded, 2,530 years since Daniel, at least 2,450 years since Malachi, perhaps 1,924 years since John published the Revelation, and all of the other books of the Biblical prophets were recorded somewhere in between Jonah and Malachi. Therefore when examining the prophets, we would assert that the sensible method of interpretation is to estimate the historical context of each particular prophecy, and the circumstances in which the prophecy was written, and once the background history is understood, as well as the history of the subjects of the prophecy, then when the words of the prophecy are interpreted it may be determined both whether and when that prophecy was fulfilled. Very often, the background history is recorded in Scripture, and the fulfillment is much easier to determine. But after the Revelation there is no later Scripture, so a thorough understanding of secular history is necessary if one is to understand the fulfillment of any of its prophecies.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 10: The Assurance of God

Revelation 7:1-17

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 10: The Assurance of God

Discussing the so-called Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in relation to The Pattern of Empires in Revelation chapter 6, we sought to reconcile them to the apparent stages of the rise and fall of the Roman empire, since even though other empires certainly seem to have followed the same general pattern, Rome is the primary subject of the prophecy in these chapters of the Revelation. Now before we commence with our commentary on the Revelation itself, we shall take a moment to review Daniel chapter 2, as it is directly relevant to Revelation chapters 6 and 8. As we had also cited in that last presentation, this same observation was made by the 2nd century Christian bishop Irenaeus.

But first we must offer another digression. In our observance of the pattern of empires we noted that the various stages actually overlap one another. Rome’s White Horse stage began to take form when the city warred against the other tribes of the Italian peninsula and subjected them to itself. Then it turned to the nations abroad and began to subject them as well. Initially this expansion of the empire was conducted under the pretense of good intentions, especially as the bickering Greek states invited Rome to settle their disputes with one another. This White Horse seems to parallel the original expansion of the United States, when the contiguous territory on the North American continent was subjected up through the mid-19th century.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 11: The Fall of an Empire

Revelation 8:1-13

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 11: The Fall of an Empire

Describing the sealing of the hundred and forty four thousand unsoiled saints of the tribes of Israel as The Assurance of God in Revelation chapter 7, we also saw that there was a much greater assurance, that an innumerable multitude “from all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues” would also be preserved, although they would first wash their garments in the blood of the Lamb, in what was described as a great tribulation. It is this latter group which is depicted as having made the exclamation that “Salvation is with our God sitting upon the throne and with the Lamb”, and therefore although they may not have been assigned the same special status as the hundred and forty four thousand who were sealed, they are nevertheless saved, in the eternal sense of the word as it is used in Scripture.

One common practice of many so-called pastors or theologians is to take a small portion of a prophecy, remove it from its original context, and apply it in some manner which suits themselves. Often by doing so they build entire sects around their own sick delusions. So there have been many fabulous theories proposed concerning the hundred and forty four thousand of the tribes of Israel who are sealed in Revelation chapter 7, and anyone who has ever promoted any of them should never be taken seriously about anything else which they may say about Scripture. This is because rather frequently men would prefer to write their own bible rather than seek to understand the Bible as it was written. When they do that, through their wild interpretations of Scripture they are actually announcing a Gospel which is contrary to the Gospel of Christ.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 12: The Condemnation of Roman and Byzantine Churches

Revelation 9:1-21

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 12: The Condemnation of Roman and Byzantine Churches

As we proceed with our commentary on the Revelation, we shall hopefully be able to even more clearly elucidate the fact that its prophesies have foretold many of the most notable events of the history of these past two thousand years. But these are not singular events. Rather, most of them take place over several or even many centuries, so they really describe historical processes instead. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse describe four processes and sets of circumstances in the course of the history of the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, which from the time that it began extending overseas to the time of the fall of the western portion of the empire, which includes Rome itself, had lasted over seven hundred years. During the last three centuries of that process, the Germanic tribes were contending with the empire with increasing frequency until they were finally able to overrun it completely.

We may call these events processes because, as it is defined in common sources, a process is “a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.” Once men ever realize that Yahshua Christ and the prophets of Yahweh in the Old Testament have described these historical processes long before they actually began to unfold, then we must admit that the particular end of them which has been achieved is indeed the will of God, that He is true and He has set the course of the history of men to accomplish His purposes. Men must then admit that whether they submit to Him or not, they have no choice but to do His will, whether it be for their own good or for their own destruction, which is also something that He has already determined.

The entire process of the rise and fall of the Roman empire, as we have already discussed at length, was also prophesied by Daniel, in chapter 2 of the Book of Daniel in our Bibles. When we realize that Revelation chapters 6 through 8 parallel Daniel chapter 2 then the identification of these prophecies with the fall of Rome is irrefutable. However now we must digress to discuss another vision in Daniel which also describes the rise and fall of Rome, which is found in Daniel chapter 7. We had previously promised this discussion in relation to Revelation chapter 13, and we will reserve the greatest part of it for that time. But there are certain elements of it which we must comment upon here, because it foretells of historical events and circumstances leading up to things which we shall see prophesied here in Revelation chapter 9.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 13: The Little Book and the Reformation

Revelation 10:1-11

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 13: The Little Book and the Reformation

Here we shall proceed with our commentary on the Revelation of Yahshua Christ while urging our listeners, or readers, to bear in mind our assertion that these visions related by John each describe certain historical processes which become evident in the most significant events of history since the time when John had received them, at the end of the first century. For nearly as soon as the people of Yahweh God had overrun the Roman Empire, as it is described in Daniel chapter 2 and in Revelation chapters 6 through 8, two little horns came up which would make war against the Body of Christ, as it is described in Daniel chapters 7 and 8, and each of those horns are described as falling, or fallen, stars in Revelation chapters 8 and 9.

Hopefully, according to our last presentation here it is fully apparent that Revelation chapter 9 is a prophecy of the Mohammedan invasions of Christian Europe first by the Arabs, and then by the Turks. Once that is accepted, perhaps then it should also become evident that Christ Himself had dehumanized both Arabs and Turks in His Own description of their attacks on the body of His people, which is also His Body. The Arabs and Turks are not described as people gone astray who may be considered as candidates for conversion to Christianity, but as locusts and destroying plagues who would torment His people for their sins.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 14: The Two Witnesses

Revelation 11:1-19

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 14: The Two Witnesses

Presenting Revelation chapter 10 and the vision of the angel with the little book which was opened, we made the assertion that this prophecy had begun to be fulfilled with the Protestant Reformation. It certainly describes some of the circumstances which had set the foundation for and which ultimately led to the Reformation, and that is the next significant development of European history in the wake of the Arab and Turkic invasions of Europe which were described in the prophetic visions of Revelation chapter 9.

History is never merely black-and-white, and once one begins to study it earnestly, one should rather quickly discover that there are ever-increasing degrees of complexity in the layers of circumstances and conditions which underlie and precipitate significant world events. So while the many visions of the Revelation describe future history and historical circumstances in broad strokes, we also have tried to avoid becoming mired in historical details as we endeavor to explain their fulfillment. But as we have already explained, an understanding of history is necessary in order to comprehend their fulfillment.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 15: The Birth of a New World Order

Revelation 12:1-9

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 15: The Birth of a New World Order

In our last presentation in this commentary, discussing Revelation chapter 11 and The Two Witnesses, we saw in the period of the Reformation two significant events, each which had lasted for three-and-a-half days, or prophetic years in prophecy. These two witnesses represent those men who sought to keep the Word of God, but having seemingly been defeated they appeared to lie dead in the streets for that length of time. However they were revived, they recovered, and they were caught up into heaven, which we interpret to indicate that they would rise up and prevail so that they would assume a position of governance over the people in the place of those who slew them. In the ancient world, the seats of power and authority were esteemed to represent heaven on earth, and the architecture of palaces and temples reflected that belief. The very concept of kingship was said to have descended from heaven, ordained by the gods, and the kings were declared to be the sun on earth, the light of the world, and often they were even considered to be gods themselves. This is a complex subject, and an academic paper which discusses it at great length is titled Heaven On Earth, Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World, from a seminar held at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.

Now here in Revelation chapter 12, we shall encounter this ancient view of heaven once again, and we shall see that it is indeed expressed in the allegories of the Revelation. But Paul of Tarsus had also used similar allegories, where he wrote in Ephesians chapter 6 urging his readers to: “11 Put on the full armor of Yahweh, for you to be able to stand against the methods of the False Accuser, 12 because for us the struggle is not against blood and flesh, but against realms, against authorities, against the rulers of the order of this darkness, against the spiritual things of wickedness among the heavenly places.” Paul was not describing a battle with invisible demons, but a battle for the hearts and minds of men who would hear the Gospel of Christ. Earlier in that epistle, in chapter 3, he expressed the purpose of his own ministry and said: “8 To me, the least of all saints, has been given this favor, to announce the good message to the Nations - the unsearchable riches of the Anointed, 9 and to enlighten all concerning the management of the household of the mystery which was concealed from the ages by Yahweh, by whom all things are being established. 10 In order that the exceedingly intricate wisdom of Yahweh would now become known to the realms and to the authorities in heavenly places through the assembly, 11 in accordance with the purpose of the ages, which He has done in Yahshua Christ our Prince.” Of course, the household of the mystery is the nations of the children of Israel who were no longer aware of their heritage, but Paul was announcing it to them.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 16: The Nature of the Devil and Satan

Revelation 12:7-18

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 16: The Nature of the Devil and Satan

In our last presentation, discussing the opening portion of Revelation chapter 12, we set forth the proposition that not only does the chapter describe the birth of Christ Himself, as well as other events of the remote past, but it also prophecies of the birth of a nation, or actually, of a kingdom under the dominion of Christ. The declaration was already made towards the end of chapter 11, which we interpret as a prophecy of the Reformation, that “15… The Kingdom of the Society of our Prince and of His Anointed has come, and He shall rule for the eternal ages!” We would cross-reference this passage with Daniel chapters 2 and 7 and the prophecy of a kingdom which belongs to the saints of the Most High. But here once again it is evident that an ongoing process is being described, and not a singular event, since a very similar declaration is made in this chapter, in a verse which we have not yet discussed, where we read “10… Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God has come.” As we had also asserted, the interpretations of this chapter are manifold, and each aspect deserves our full attention.

So now we shall continue our discussion with another aspect of this prophecy in Revelation chapter 12, as it reveals for us the nature and the origin of the Devil and Satan, who is also called the Serpent and the Great Dragon. We have already seen that it was the Great Dragon who had sought to kill the Christ child as soon as He was born, and in that instance this dragon must have been manifest in the person of Herod, the Edomite king of Judaea. But as it is described here later in this chapter, the same Dragon would go on to persecute the seed of the woman, so the Dragon cannot represent Herod alone, since Herod was dead by the time that the woman had received the testimony of Christ. So although Herod represented the Dragon, the Dragon is described as continuing long after Herod is gone, where it is evident that the Dragon, the Devil and Satan must all be terms which represent a collective entity rather than any mere individual. Here we see that the same entity is also referred to as the Serpent, and as “that Serpent of old,” long after that Serpent of old must also be dead, so once again we would assert that all of these terms represent a collective entity, even if they also describe individuals of that collection, or of that race, who had lived at any given time.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 17: Of Beasts and Tyrants

Revelation 13:1-10

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 17: Of Beasts and Tyrants

The proof of our Christian faith is manifest in the fact that we can document our beliefs, and in doing so we can also explain them clearly from ancient documents, while at the same time we can measure them against the history of peoples and nations, and in that same study we can also see that those beliefs cohesively explain the circumstances of our world today. But while Moses did not explain everything in the remote past, he laid a foundation for Yahshua Christ, and through Him the inspiration of Moses is also fully revealed. As Paul of Tarsus had explained in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Moses cannot be understood without Christ. So just as Matthew had attested, Paul must have also believed that Christ had come to reveal things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

According to our interpretation, the prophecies in Revelation chapter 12 presage events in history which we associate with the aftermath of the Reformation and what we call the Age of Liberty. But they also explain events which had happened in the remote past, not only at the birth of Christ but also at what we may refer to as the birth of Adam. Through these explanations, not only may we perceive the nature of those who had been in opposition to God at the birth of Christ, but also of those who had been in opposition to Adam and to his entire race in the earliest accounts in Genesis. Revelation chapter 12 elucidates the fact that the enemies of Yahweh God are what we may call people, a race or even ultimately races of people, who were here in this world before the Creation of Adam, as they came of the Nephilim or fallen angels, and as they can be traced through history and the Scriptures well enough to identify their descendants both in the world of the Scriptures, and in the world of today.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 18: The Papal Beast

Revelation 13:11-18

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 18: The Papal Beast

In the opening presentation of our commentary on Revelation chapter 13, titled Of Beasts and Tyrants, we saw John describe a great beast which arose out of the sea, and among other attributes it was described as having seven heads and ten horns, and had the characteristics of a leopard, a bear and a lion. Then along with these it also shared many of the attributes with which the four beasts of Daniel chapter 7 were described. Both the beast here and the beast in Daniel had arose out of the sea, which we interpret as being the mass of the world’s people. Therefore, since the four beasts of Daniel’s vision also had ten horns, and had the features of a leopard, a bear and a lion, we should certainly understand that there is a connection between them, that they are prophesying the same phenomenon. This is further affirmed where in Daniel chapter 7 we read that “17 These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth” and further on in the Revelation, in chapter 17, we read: “9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. 10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.” The woman representing the children of Israel collectively, which is clear in our interpretation of Revelation chapter 12, it becomes quite certain that the beasts and its seven heads represent kings and kingdoms with which the woman was associated throughout history.

But as we had also sought to explain, the scope of the Revelation concerns a much broader view of the history of Israel, past and future, rather than only the future from the time of John. The visions or statements which describe past events give us the ability to better understand the visions of the future as they have been provided by John. So where in chapter 12 we saw the vision of the dragon, Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven, because Satan is also one and the same as “that serpent of old” we know that this explains some of the circumstances of the remote past, and the events of the early chapters of Genesis. Likewise, where it says in Revelation chapter 17 that five kings had already fallen, we can examine the history of Israel to identify five great kingdoms upon which the woman had sat, at one time or another. But Daniel prophesied only of the future from his own time, whereas the Revelation is of a greater scope, so we know that we should include ancient Egypt among the five. The fallen Kingdoms of Revelation chapter 17 are therefore the empires of Egypt and Assyria, which were both past by Daniel’s time, and then the Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic Greek empires. The one which is must of course be the Roman empire, which was near its peak as John wrote the Revelation, and these last four are Daniel’s four kingdoms, in chapter 2, or four beasts, in chapter 7 of his prophecy.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 19: The Harvests of God

Revelation 14:1-20

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 19: The Harvests of God

In our last two presentations in this commentary, Of Beasts and Tyrants and The Papal Beast, we hope to have demonstrated the correlations with Revelation chapter 13 and Daniel chapters 2 and 7, and especially chapter 7, and how the entire prophecy in Revelation chapter 13 encompasses and summarizes the 2,520 years, or seven times, of the punishment of the children of Israel for their sins, in their captivity. The first half of that period is found in relation to the first beast of the chapter, in the forty and two months of verse 5. Forty-two months is a period of roughly 1,260 days, which is three-and-a-half prophetic times, or 1,260 years. The latter half of that period is not dated in the Revelation, but in relation to the little horn of Daniel chapter 7, which we have identified as the emperor Justinian and his establishment of the office of the papacy, we see in verse 25 that “the saints of the most High … shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.” In that we see the second period of three-and-a-half prophetic times, or 1,260 additional years, which is very close to the period during which the popes of Rome had exercised temporal authority over the Byzantine empire, and within a short time, over all of the kings of Europe.

The number of the beast is the number of a man, and we find that number in the value of the Roman numerals represented in the title Vicarius Filii Dei, a blasphemous boast which has always been claimed as an office by those same popes. However we must also comprehend that while the pope is not the antichrist, many popes have indeed been antichrists, and as we are informed here in the Revelation, it is the Dragon, or Satan, which has historically given his power to the beast empires. So the Dragon was the ultimate source of political power behind all of the emperors and popes of history. As John had recorded in verses 2 and 4 of Revelation chapter 13, speaking of the first beast, “… the dragon had given to it his power and his throne and great authority…” and “… they worshipped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast…” Then in verses 11 and 12, speaking of the second beast: “… it had two horns like a lamb and spoke as a dragon. And all the authority of the first beast it practices in his presence.” But while these two beasts of Revelation chapter 13 had power for only a limited duration of time, later in the Revelation, in chapters 16 and 20, it is revealed that the Dragon himself is still an instrumental factor in the ongoing trials of the woman.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 20: The Song of Moses

Revelation 15:1-8

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 20: The Song of Moses

In our last presentation, The Harvests of God which discussed Revelation chapter 14, we see that three such harvests were described. But because the King James Version and most other popular Bible translations mistranslate the verb ξηραίνω, which is to be dry or parched, in those editions there only appear to be two harvests. First there is a harvest of firstfruits, which is described as the hundred and forty-four thousand that are apparently already with Christ. The verb used to describe the act of their having been redeemed is in the perfect tense, and where they are described as being virgins and as following Christ the verbs are in the present tense. So it is apparent that this harvest is already completed, which also fits the prophetic context of the earlier descriptions of the hundred and forty-four thousand who were sealed.

Then after an angel admonishes those dwelling upon the earth to praise Yahweh their God, there is an announcement of the fall of Babylon, which seems only to presage the fall of Mystery Babylon which is described later, in chapter 18 of the Revelation. Then there is a further admonishment not to worship the beast, and punishments are announced warning those who would. After that, there is an exclamation in verse 13 which proclaims: “Blessed are those dead among the number of the Prince who are dying from now on!” So this context also supports our claim that the firstfruits are already harvested, and that evidently they are already with Christ.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 21: The Seven Last Plagues

Revelation 16:1-21

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 21: The Seven Last Plagues

The most important aspect of Revelation chapter 15, where we had described the sea of fire and glass as representing the fiery trials which the children of Israel would be about to suffer in this world, as the contents and consequences of the seven vials of the last trumpet are revealed, is the fact that the overcomers of this world order would sing the Song of Moses, and that song was also described as the Song of the Lamb, which is Christ Himself. We must interpret that passage to be referring to the Song of Moses found in Deuteronomy chapter 32, a song which is explicitly attributed to Moses, and not to the song of unknown authorship which Moses and the rest of the Israelites are depicted as having sung after their deliverance from the Egyptians at the crossing of the Red Sea. Then there is also a prayer of Moses in the 90th Psalm, but that is a prayer and not a song, in English, Greek and Hebrew. Yet even the prayer relates to the message in the Song, as Moses requested the blessings of God fall upon the children of Israel.

As we hope to have fully elucidated, the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 32 is a song warning the children of Israel of their sins, the consequences that were going to come because of their sins, and their ultimate reconciliation to Yahweh their God on account of His mercy. There is no other purpose of the ministry of Christ but that which is stated in the law and the prophets, and which was also stated in the Gospel in the words of Christ Himself, which He summarized where He said, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 15, that “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel”, as it is in the King James Version. That same profession is also expressed in the Song of Moses, and the text of the Song expresses the fact that Yahweh is the God of Israel exclusively. As it says in verse 9, “For the LORD'S portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.” Therefore that same profession is also made by the overcomers at the end of this age, as they sing that same song.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 22: The Woman is the Whore

Revelation 17:1-18

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 22: The Woman is the Whore

In the early chapters of the prophecy of Jeremiah, namely in chapters 1, 3 and 16, the prophet is told to address the children of Israel, the scattered flock of Yahweh, who were already in the north country (1:13; 3:12, 18; 16:15). Then in Jeremiah chapter 16, in one of those references, there is a promise that Yahweh would send for them many fishers, a prophecy which was fulfilled in the spread of the Gospel of Christ as He had told His apostles, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 4, “19 … Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” But immediately following that promise in Jeremiah there is another, where the Word of Yahweh says “and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.” Christ had never mentioned the hunters, as it was apparently not yet their time.

When Jeremiah wrote those words, he was not speaking of Jews. He began his prophecy in the 13th year of Josiah, which may be estimated to around 627 BC. There were no Jews in the north at that time. But the Israelites were called Khumri in the inscriptions of the Assyrians, and that is the origin of the Greek word Kimmeroi, who in English we know as the Cimmerians, who are a historical branch of the Germanic people. Of them, the Judaean historian Flavius Josephus in Book 11 of his Antiquities of the Judaeans had explained that (Antiquities, 11:133) “there are but two tribes in Asia and Europe subject to the Romans, while the ten tribes are beyond Euphrates till now, and are an immense multitude, and not to be estimated by numbers.” As Josephus himself had explained at length beginning in Book 13 of his Antiquities, the Judaeans, the modern Jews, were an admixture of Edomites, or Idumaeans, and the small percentage of the people of Judah who had returned to Jerusalem about seventy years after the Babylonian captivity and destruction of the city in 586 BC.

Furthermore, Josephus, being a Judaean, was not aware of the origins of the Germanic people of Europe from that same group, whose migrations can be traced through the Greek and Roman Classical literature. Therefore his statement is not entirely accurate in that regard. After the passing of the Assyrians, in other languages they were called Sakae or Sakans, Scythians and Galatae or Galatians. Later, the Galatae east of the Rhine were called Germans by the Romans, while those to the west were called Gauls. But many of these, such as those called Saxons, Goths, Alans, Vandals and Huns, did not even migrate into Western Europe until after the time of Christ, and the time of Josephus.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 23: The Fall of Babylon

Revelation 18:1-24

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 23: The Fall of Babylon

Presenting our commentary for Revelation chapters 17 and 18, we hope to have adequately explained the reasons for our interpretation, that the visions related in those chapters describe the conditions of the children of Israel as the Whore of Babylon in this last time of Jacob’s trouble, the period which the Old Testament prophets as well as the New Testament apostles have described as one final trial before the ultimate salvation of the children of Israel from their enemies – which is also a promise which has been explicitly repeated in the words of both the prophets and apostles of Christ. Doing that we also hope to have adequately explained that Mystery Babylon is a name representing the secular society’s political, religious and economic system, which is grounded in secular humanism and which is directly opposed to God. The fundamental elements of this system had indeed originated in ancient Babylon, and have been perpetuated by both ancient pagans and by the enemies of Christ until they could be manifested once again under the guise of the so-called Age of Liberty, whereby those same enemies have come to rule over the children of Israel as their kingdom was given over to the beast. This is the fulfillment of the words of Isaac, who promised Jacob that he would rule over his brethren, but who later told his disenfranchised son Esau, as it is recorded in Genesis chapter 28, that he “40 … shalt serve thy brother; and it shall come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break his yoke from off thy neck.” As we had asserted, that yoke was broken upon the emancipation of the Jews in the time of Napoleon. As Martin Luther had written in his essay On the Jews and Their Lies (chapter xi), Jews of his own time were boasting that they had come into the control of Germany, and three hundred and thirty years later, in the 1870's, German journalist Wilhelm Marr had written to complain that the Jews had conquered Germany.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 24: The Wedding Supper of the Lamb

Revelation 19:1-9

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 24: The Wedding Supper of the Lamb

As we have already explained, in Revelation chapter 12 the apostle John saw a vision of a woman who had twelve stars, by which we should understand that collectively she represents the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, and she was being taken into the wilderness to be nourished for three-and-a-half times, which we had identified as the period of history during which the woman received the Gospel of Christ and then returned to Yahweh her God through Him. But then in another vision in Revelation chapter 17, John is taken back to the wilderness and sees that the woman is now a whore and that she has joined herself to the beast, which is the same beast system that had manifested itself in the various world empires by which she had been held captive during all the time of her punishment. Joining herself to the beast, the woman turned over her kingdom to the beast, as it states in that same chapter. As we also asserted, the woman was once freed from the beast, as it is described in Revelation chapter 13, but has now become a whore by joining herself to it, as she had a better opportunity to keep the Word of God in the Gospel. So for her failure, the whore must be judged, and Revelation chapters 18 and 19 briefly describe aspects of that judgment.

In the Old Testament there is presented a pattern of sin and the inevitably resulting punishment which modern man somehow supposes that he now has the ability to avoid by his own devices. The secular humanist believes that his own skill, knowledge and technology, as well as his own righteousness, can make him his own savior. So here in Revelation chapter 18, the whore was described as having had the same arrogant attitude reflected in the exclamation that “I sit a queen and I am not a widow and I have not seen grief.” For that, what happens to the woman was expressed in Proverbs chapter 16 where Solomon had written that “18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” The Word of Yahweh God, when we realize its fulfillment in history, assures us that in spite of his modern devices, man shall indeed suffer punishment for his sins.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 25: Violence of the Lambs

Revelation 19:10-21

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 25: Violence of the Lambs

As it is described in the vision of Revelation chapter 18, at the fall of Babylon the children of Israel, who are the exclusive people of Yahweh God, are called to come out of her and to separate themselves, whereupon they are told to “6 … return to her as she also had rendered, and you double twice the things according to her works. 7 As much as she had magnified herself and lived wantonly, so much you give torment and grief to her!” So it is fully evident that according to the Revelation, the children of Israel shall indeed have a role in executing the vengeance of Yahweh God upon His enemies. As we have already said in relation to this, Paul of Tarsus had also made the same expression to the Corinthians, where he had written to them in his second epistle in chapter 10: “4 For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but through Yahweh they are able to destroy strongholds, 5 destroying reasonings and every bulwark raising itself up against the knowledge of Yahweh, and taking captive every thought into the obedience of the Anointed; 6 also being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, whenever you shall have fulfilled your obedience.” Paul of Tarsus wrote that epistle perhaps 40 years before John recorded this Revelation of Yahshua Christ, and must have had his own understanding from the words of the Old Testament prophets, with whom this Revelation certainly agrees, magnifies, and augments.

With this we may understand that before Babylon falls, Christians must constrain themselves to fighting for the hearts and minds of their own people, so that they do not worship the beast. But then, being obedient to the commandments of Christ, once Babylon does fall then Christians shall indeed have a part in the execution of God’s will against His enemies. So while Revelation chapter 19 began with a description of the bride preparing herself for the marriage supper of the lamb, that preparation is evidently fulfilled as the children of Israel come out of Babylon and turn to obedience in Christ. The Word of God offers no other path to redemption other than repentance and separation from the wicked Society, but evidently Yahweh God also informs us that such a separation cannot be successful until the Society itself crumbles.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 26: The Camp of the Saints

Revelation 20:1-15

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On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 26: The Camp of the Saints

After explaining the parable of the tares of the field to His disciples, as it is recorded in Matthew chapter 13, Yahshua Christ then related to them the parable of the net, where it seems that this parable along with those of the treasure hidden in the field and the man seeking the pearl had all been meant to further elucidate the meaning of that parable of the wheat and the tares. In the manner in which Matthew recorded this, these parables were given to the disciples after they requested and received the explanation of the wheat and the tares. So we read, in the closing verses of that chapter, that “47 Again, the kingdom of the heavens is like a net having been cast into the sea and it gathers from out of every race, 48 which when it is full, bringing up upon the shore and sitting they gather the good ones into vessels, but the rotten ones they cast out. 49 Thusly it shall be at the consummation of the age, the messengers shall go out and they shall separate the wicked from the midst of the righteous 50 and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth!” Next, after they received the explanation of the wheat and tares and these other parables, we read: “51 ‘Have you understood all these things?’ [and] They say to Him: ‘Yes!’”

The word for race in verse 47 of that passage is γένος, which is a race or a kind. It is the same word which we see in the Greek scriptures of the Septuagint where it says in Genesis chapter 1 that “25 … God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.” Likewise the underlying Hebrew word, מין or miyn (4327) is defined as a kind or species according to the Brown, Driver, Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon. Yahshua Christ having used these terms in His explanations to His disciples as they are in Matthew chapter 13, the disciples would have understood words such as γένος in the parable of the net, or σπέρμα, which is seed, in that of the wheat and tares in their plain, literal meanings, and not in the manner in which the philosophical so-called “Church Fathers” defined them centuries later, which are corruptions of those meanings. Just as in the ancient prophets, Yahshua Christ had employed many parallelisms, and the use of γένος in the parable of the net helps us to more definitively understand the use of the word σπέρμα in the parable of the wheat and the tares, that what God created is good, but the corruptions of men or of angels are wicked and in the end God shall not accept them since He does not accept bastards.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 27: The City of God

Revelation 21:1-27

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John watching the City of God descend from Heaven
By Octave 444 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 27: The City of God

Before we commence with Revelation chapter 21 and the City of God, we should pause to speak about the references to the Book of Life. This Book of Life, as we had mentioned briefly in our discussion of The Camp of the Saints, is not explicitly mentioned in the Old Testament (in the podcast version I failed to say explicitly, which I later added to the notes). But there certainly does seem to be at least one reference in the Old Testament to the same Book of Life of the Revelation, and that is found in Daniel chapter 12. Other passages may arguably be interpreted as references to the Book of Life, especially if they are taken out of context, so before we discuss the reference in Daniel, these passages we shall discuss briefly.

For example, in Exodus chapter 32 we read “33 And the LORD said unto Moses, Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” This passage can indeed be interpreted in an ominous manner if it is taken by itself and cross-referenced to the verses where the Book of Life is mentioned in the Revelation. But that is not honest, and since all men sin and fall short of the glory of God, as Paul had professed in chapter 3 of his epistle to the Romans, and since in the sight of Yahweh no living man is justified, as David had professed in the 143rd Psalm, then the City of God would evidently be a very deserted place. But that interpretation, as we have also explained in our last presentation, is absolutely contrary to all of the promises of Yahweh and the parables and other statements of Yahshua Christ. To see why that verse from Exodus chapter 32 (32:33) should not be cross-referenced to the Revelation in that manner, we shall read a broader selection of passages from Exodus, to put it into its proper context.

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 28: The Living Temple

Revelation 22:1-21

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Living Stones

On the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, Part 28: The Living Temple

Before we commence with our commentary for Revelation chapter 22, which is the final chapter of the Revelation of Yahshua Christ, there are a couple of peripheral discussions which are fitting, which we have chosen to include here. The first is the vision of Ezekiel’s temple, which is interpreted in various ways. For example, many Jews see the vision as a description of a future and actual temple building in Jerusalem, whereas many Christians interpret it as some sort of allegory for the future Church and the Body of Christ. Of course, while the Jews wrongly interpret Scripture and prophecy in nearly one hundred percent of their attempts, we would reject both of those interpretations.

The second discussion is a brief explanation of the synthesis between the prophecies of Zechariah and the Revelation. During the preparation for this commentary I had thought to do so incrementally and at relevant points, but in the end I decided not to expound on Zechariah at length, since it would have required a rewrite or reproduction of large portions of our Zechariah commentary here, and I was already planning to include large portions of Daniel, for whom we do not yet have a commentary. However the parallels of Zechariah with the Revelation are certainly worthwhile of at least a summary recognition.