I Saw Another Angel

As chapter 14 opens, John sees the Lamb of God standing on Mount Zion.  He is surrounded by the 144,000 who have been sealed up to the Father, being men of virtue and honesty.  As they stand there, they hear voices from heaven singing a new song.   Among those singing are the twenty-four elders and the four beasts.

 

Then John begins to write about more angels, messengers from God.  I count five different angels in this chapter alone, each having a particular message; each having a particular mission. John writes of the first of these angels, beginning in verse 6: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters."

 

Latter-day Saints believe that this angel has already been sent.  He is a resurrected being.  During his life on earth, he was a great prophet, the final prophet of a group of Israelites who had left Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian conquest.  These people flourished for 1000 years in a promised land to which the Lord had led them.  They had seen the resurrected Christ following his ascension into heaven.  They had lived as a Zion society for over 200 hundred years.  And then they rebelled against God and were ultimately destroyed as a people from off the face of the land.  This prophet, whose name is Moroni, had to flee for his life, carrying with him the records of his people - records of great glory and great wickedness.  He wrote the following about his experiences:

Now I, Moroni . . . make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.  For behold, their wars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their hatred they put to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ. And I, Moroni, will not deny the Christ; wherefore, I wander whithersoever I can for the safety of mine own life. (Moroni 1: 1-3)

 

After thirty years of wandering, Moroni hid up the records in the earth.  Before doing so, he issued a clarion call to come unto Jesus Christ.  He knew the tragedy that awaits individuals and civilizations that won't do so:

 

Yea, come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness; and if ye shall deny yourselves of all ungodliness, and love God with all your might, mind and strength, then is his grace sufficient for you, that by his grace ye may be perfect in Christ; and if by the grace of God ye are perfect in Christ, ye can in nowise deny the power of God.  And again, if ye by the grace of God are perfect in Christ, and deny not his power, then are ye sanctified in Christ by the grace of God, through the shedding of the blood of Christ, which is in the covenant of the Father unto the remission of your sins, that ye become holy, without spot.  And now I bid unto all, farewell. I soon go to rest in the paradise of God, until my spirit and body shall again reunite, and I am brought forth triumphant through the air, to meet you before the pleasing bar of the great Jehovah, the Eternal Judge of both quick and dead. Amen.  (Moroni 10: 32-34).

 

On September 21, 1823, a remarkable event occurred.  This Moroni, now a resurrected being, appeared to a young man in upstate New York.  This is how Joseph described this experience:

 

I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had one.  While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor.  He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. . .  Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.  He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; . . .  He said there was a ^abook deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants. . .  (Joseph Smith History 1: 29-34)

 

Is it any wonder that the Latter-day Saints believe this Moroni to be the angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach unto the ends of the earth?  Each year over 30,000 young missionaries take the gospel message of Jesus Christ to countries all over the world.  Last October, the missionary age was reduced from age 19 to age 18, with an influx of over 3,000 new missionary applications the first week.  In addition, thousands of senior couples and senior sisters serve full time missions.  The LDS Church has announced the opening of 58 new missions to accommodate the increasing numbers, from Angolo to Washington.  Add to this television, radio, and the Internet, and it is a powerful delivery method for a powerful message - the greatest the world has ever known, even the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ!

 

Truly this message is being carried to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people!

 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of Christ on the Mountain from www.restoredtraditions.com

Picture of the Angel Moroni statue from www.lds.org

 

 

 

The Interludes of John

I am loving my sister's book by Draper!  I am learning a lot.  One thing I read last night was that John alternated chapters on the destruction of the wicked with chapters on the salvation of those who come unto Him.  It is that parallel development of the building up of Christ's Church and the malignant growth of Satan's kingdom.  Tomorrow I will blog about that in the discussion of the angels from chapter 14.

The Infamous 666

A lot has been made of the infamous 666 of Revelation 13.  Most prominent is the Hebrew practice of gamatria wherein the letters of a person's name have a numerical equivalent.  For example, Nero's name has the numerical equivalent of 666.  But Nero had been dead for over 20 years before John was sentenced to the penal colony on the Isle of Patmos, so I hardly think it was of Nero John wrote.  Perhaps when the anti-Christ is revealed, his name will add up according to this system, but we'd go crazy looking for it.  I think it is deeper than this.  I looked to my old stand-by website on the meaning of numbers in Hebrew and began looking at the number 6, then the number 666.  This is what I found:

Six represents the worship of man, and is the number of man, signifying his rebellion . . .  i.e., man's coming short of spiritual perfection. In any case, therefore, it has to do with man; it is the number of imperfection; the human number; the number of MAN as destitute of God, without God, without Christ. [Man's] imperfection, works, and disobedience.

If six is the number of human imperfection, then 66 is a more emphatic expression of the same fact, and 666 is the concentrated expression of it; six hundred sixty-six is therefore the triple of human imperfection; the perfection of imperfection; the culmination of human pride in independence of God and opposition to His Christ.*

That makes some sense to me.  Just last night, I found Dr. Richard Draper's book, Opening the Seven Seals, among some of my sister's books.  I asked her if I could borrow it.  When I looked up gamatria in the index, I was led to a discussion of this chapter.  Draper wrote:

But a specific historical entity may not be what John had in mind.  It may be that he was portraying a spiritual condition. . . The three [sixes] could thus represent a trinity of imperfection:  the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. (p. 151)

There have been many anti-Christs throughout history.  The New Testament mentions four by name.  The Book of Mormon names 3 more.  In our days we have had men like Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin.  I think the answer then lies, not in the numbers, but in the words and behaviors of individual men and women in positions of power.  The Savior taught: "Wherefore, by their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20)  Anyone who is against Jesus Christ or seeks to lead men away from Him can be anti-Christ.  If we walk with Jesus each day, we will know anti-Christ when we see him. 

* http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

Richard Draper quote from Opening the Seven Seals: The Visions of John the Revelator. Deseret Book Company, SLC. 1991

Picture of 666 from multiple source on the web

War in Heaven ~ Change of Venue

Since I have been studying - and blogging - the Book of Revelation, including the War in Heaven, I was intrigued by an email I received a couple of days ago.  It is a copy of an editorial by free-lance journalist, Mike Jensen.  I found it to be apropos to the discussion of how the message of Revelation can be meaningful to me today.  See if you agree.

Smart Mormons  by Mike Jensen ( Bio and Archives )  Tuesday, January 22, 2013

With his usual perpetual wisdom, Alec Baldwin, proclaimed that if Barack Obama were not black, his vote total would have been 20 percent higher.  People of real intelligence realize that the opposite was probably true: if he had been white, his vote total would have been 20 percent lower.  The African-American voting bloc combined with enough whites suffering from liberal guilt guaranteed a higher vote total for Obama.  The truth of the matter is, if Mitt Romney had not been a Mormon, his vote total might very well have been significantly higher.  In fact, according to a Gallup poll released in June of last year, while 4 percent of people said they would not vote for a black president, a full 22 percent said they would not vote for a Mormon.  In fact, only atheists and gays ranked higher.  So Baldwin probably had it backwards, which he usually does, so that comes as no surprise.  What did come as a surprise to me is why people would have such negative views of Mormons.  I have known lots of them in my life, and in most cases they have been hard-working, kind, generous, family-oriented people—just the kind of people this country used to value (and maybe that’s the problem right there.)

Mormons have intrigued me ever since Mike Huckabee back in 2007 claimed that Mormons believe that Jesus   and Satan are brothers.  With the recent election over, I decided to check out Mormons a bit more.  My hope in doing this was to explain to readers who Mormons are and whether or not 22 percent of the people were justified in opposing having a Mormon president.  But instead I’m going to share an intriguing bit of Mormon theology I learned that I think makes them perhaps the most politically wise human beings on the planet.  Ironically, this story stems from that Huckabee quote about the relationship between Jesus and the devil, but the lesson to be learned is one that, regardless of our political or religious views, we would all be wise to consider.

So here’s what I learned: Mormons, unlike most other Christian sects, believe that all humans lived a life before mortality.  They call this the pre-existence or pre-earth life.  At birth a veil is placed over our minds so that we don’t remember it (you’ll see why in a minute).  In this pre-earth life, we were all in the presence of God as His spirit children.  Jesus was there—the first-born of God’s spirit children, and a leader in the councils in Heaven.  Lucifer was also there, and was another leader among the children of God.  He was called a “son of the morning.”  At some point in this existence, the Father called all of His children together to explain how things worked.  All of His children would have to leave His presence and come to earth for a period of testing.  The goal was to see if we would live a righteous life even when we had to live by faith, as we would no longer be able to remember God or heaven (that’s the reason for the veil).  If we would live a righteous life, we would be given the opportunity to return and live with God forever. Otherwise we would forfeit that chance, because no unclean thing can live in God’s presence.

However, God knew that we would all make mistakes, so he would provide a Savior for the world.  This Savior would live a sinless life, and because of that, he would qualify to pay for the sins of the world through what would be called the “Atonement.”  If people would sincerely repent of their sins, then the Atonement would essentially erase their sins, and they could still return and live with God.  The Father called for volunteers to be this savior, and two stepped forward: Jesus and Lucifer.  Lucifer said that he would be the savior and he would force everybody to live righteously, thus guaranteeing that all of God’s spirit children would return to Him in heaven.  Jesus said that He would follow the Father’s plan and allow God’s children their free agency.  They could choose for themselves whether to live righteously and take advantage of the Atonement or whether to live in sin and forfeit the opportunity to return and live with God.

God rejected Lucifer’s plan, causing Lucifer to rebel and declare war on God.  One-third of God’s spirit children joined Lucifer in this rebellion.  In the end, the rebellion failed and Lucifer and his followers were cast out of heaven.  They came to earth without bodies and now, continuing the war they started in heaven, they tempt men to do evil to one another and lose out on the chance to return to God. 

PAY ATTENTION HERE; THIS IS THE GOOD PART

Now, any traditional Christians reading this will see similarities to their own belief system.  Most traditional Christians believe that Lucifer lived in heaven as an angel, but then declared war on God and was cast out.  However, the causes for that war are not necessarily clear in traditional Christian theology.  That is where Mormon theology is so intriguing.  For Mormons, the greatest of all battles, the war in heaven, was fought over LIBERTY—or as they call it, “free agency.”  Lucifer wanted to take it away, while God demanded that humans have it.

Although a Mormon might balk at my making comparisons between their religious beliefs and modern politics (and as I said earlier, every Mormon I’ve ever known was a very good person, so I apologize to any I offend), I see a direct correlation here.  For a Mormon, the battle for liberty is not unique to this life; it is the core battle of the ages.

Lucifer lost the war in heaven (he really thought he could beat God?), but the war continues on earth.  So seeing the government become more and more tyrannical is not just a political concern; it’s a fundamental, eternal concern.  I’m inspired by this Mormon theological idea: God intended for humans to be free to make our own choices and live with the consequences of those choices.  The Founding Fathers of this country said essentially the same thing in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

My study of Mormonism has not only given me new found respect for this people and their religion; it has also made me evaluate my own attitude towards the liberty that seems to be slipping through all of our fingers.  Is this just something that is nice to have, and for which I thank the Founding Fathers?  Or is it really something that is endowed by God, and that He expects me to fight for. According to Mormon theology, I already fought for this once.  The fact that I’m here says that I was on God’s side in the war in heaven, and fought for liberty.  A Mormon might ask, why should any of us be less willing to fight for it here than we were there?

Mike Jensen is a freelance writer living in Colorado. He received his M.A. in Professional Writing from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, where he wrote his first book, Alaska’s Wilderness Highway.  He has since published Skier’s Guide to Utah along with humor, travel, and political articles for various magazines and newspapers. He is married with five sons, and spends his free time at a remote cabin in the Colorado Rockies.

This is the Day the Lord Hath Made

Today is the Sabbath, literally the Lord's Day.  It represents the 7th day of Creation when the Lord saw that His work was good and He rested.  We should use this day of rest, which God has graciously given us, to renew our physical strength through rest and our spiritual strength through worship.  "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy," He told the Children of Israel.  "Six days shall you labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work." (Exodus 5: 13-14)  I have always believed that if God is kind enough to give me a day off to rest and refill my spiritual well, I ought to have enough sense to use it as He intended.

 

In another sense, everyday is God's day in that He gives me breath and life.  Each morning when I wake up, I ask for the wisdom to recognize His will for me that day and the courage and faith to do His will, and the serenity and peace of mind to let the rest go. 

 

 This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118: 24)

 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Poster downloaded from Facebook

Just Sayin' Saturday ~ Changes

 

As it says in Ecclesiastes 3: 1:  "To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven."  So why is change so difficult?  Even when it is good change, it is stressful.

I think we are creatures of habit.  I think that's why so many people hang on to lifestyles and relationships long after they have become counterproductive at best and completely self-destructive at worst.  But we cling to them because they represent the known.

One of the blessings of growing older is that you learn the lesson of Ecclesiastes.  You know life has seasons.  You expect them.  And you figure out how to roll with the flow.  You also learn that life is too short to continue to live with self-destructive and stagnant behaviors and situations.  And if you are wise enough and strong enough, you walk out into that unknown.  You take a deep breath, give yourself time, and trust in God enough that He will not lead you astray if your new path includes Him in your walk.

And if you do it with wisdom and prudence and strength and faith, life gets better.

Just sayin'.

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of Tree of Life Necklace from www.flickr.com

Of Dragons and Beasts

Whenever I meet a dragon or a serpent in the scriptures, I know that it is symbolic for Satan.  I also know that Satan is not literally a dragon or a serpent, but that he is represented as such because of his characteristics.  He is dangerous and can be lethal.  He is frightful. He uses terror as a modus operandi.  He seeks to destroy and devour.

In Revelation chapter 12, we are introduced to a red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and the text tells us that it represents Satan.  I went back to my source* on the significance of numbers in the Bible.  I already knew that the number 7 represents completeness, but whereas earlier it was used to represent the completeness of Christ - His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence - here it is used to represent the complete evil of Satan.

The number 10 is also a representation of completeness in the Bible, but here it has another connotation.  I did a cross reference to Daniel 2 where the 10 toes of the great image represent the final kingdoms of the world prior to the coming of Christ's kingdom.  The 10 horns (horns representing power) signify Satan's complete control over the the earthly kingdoms of the world.

Earlier in Revelation, we met four beasts who represented celestialized members of the animal kingdom worshipping at God's throne.  In Revelation 13, we also meet beasts, but these beasts represent degenerate earthly kingdoms controlled by Satan (Revelation 13: Headnote KJV, LDS Church). 

The first beast which comes out of the sea has 7 heads and 10 horns just like the dragon.  This is because these earthly kingdoms receive their power to rule from the dragon and are under his constant influence.

The second beast is a lamb with two horns.  This, I believe, is the anti-Christ.  He masquerades as a lamb, but speaks with the voice of the beast.  His 2 horns are interesting and I went back to my source on number meanings, and I quote:

"We now come to the spiritual importance of two. We have seen that One excludes all difference, and denotes that which is sovereign. But Two affirms that there is a difference - there is another; while One affirms that there is not another!
 

"This difference may be for good or for evil. A thing may differ from evil, and be good; or it may differ from good, and be evil. Hence, it takes a Two-fold coloring, according to the context."  **

In this context, the number 2 represents a difference from good (the Lamb of God) to evil (the anti-Lamb, as it were.)   It receives it's political power from the first beast (the degenerate earthly kingdoms) and it's inspiration from the dragon (Satan) whose words he speaks).

John didn't identify specific kingdoms and people so I am not about to do so here.  John's advice was the read between the lines and listen to the Holy Spirit as you look at the political condition of the world.  What he wrote was:  If any man have an ear, let him hear. (Revelation 13: 9)  That is good advice. 

 *   http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/10.html
** Ibid/2.html

Text copyright Gebara Education Februrary 2013

 

Picture of the dragon controlling the world from www.sodahead.com

Picture of the image from Daniel 2 from www.pastorkj.wordpress.com

 

There Was War in Heaven

And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. (Revelation 12: 7-9, JST)

 

And he became Satan, yea, even the devil, the father of all lies, to deceive and to blind men, and to lead them captive at his will, even as many as would not hearken unto my voice. (Moses 4:4)
 
Many Christians believe that the war in heaven is yet to be fought.  Latter-day Saints affirm that it was fought before the world was and that it continues to this day here upon the earth.  The chronology becomes confusing if we approach it from a worldly perspective of finite time with beginnings and middles and ends.  God's perspective is one of an eternal present.  That is difficult for me to wrap my mind around, but I know it to be true.  What John is describing in the story of Lucifer, Son of the Morning, who rebelled against God before the world was.  Willful and prideful, he wanted to be the god of this world and ascend to the throne of the Father and to take His glory and power.  In open rebellion against the Father and the Son, Lucifer was persuasive and charismatic so much so that one third of Father's children followed him. (See Revelation 12:4)  He was cast out of heaven and became Satan, the Accuser and Adversary of Christ and His people.  Those who had taken his side were cast out with him.
 
Isaiah also saw and reported on the fall of Lucifer: 

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
For thou has said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation . . .
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be the most High.
Yet thou shalt be be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14: 12-15)

The war in heaven wasn't a war of swords as it is usually pictured, but a war of faith and of testimony.  Those of us who sided with Christ had the faith that He would keep His promise and perform the atonement which would allow us to be forgiven of our sins and would bring us home again to the Father.  Essentially, the war was fought over agency.  The Father's plan was that we would have the right to choose to follow Jesus Christ or Lucifer.  That agency was fully in effect in the heavenly preexistence is manifest by the fact that two thirds of the Father's children chose to follow Christ and to be born upon the earth and one third chose Lucifer and were cast out, never to have that privilege.

 

The war that began in heaven is still being fought today.  Satan and his followers were cast out of heaven into the earth, and here they still are.  They still fight against Christ and His Church. (See Revelation 12: 2-4)  He wants to make all men as miserable as he is:

 

And because he had fallen from heaven, and had become miserable forever, he sought also the misery of all mankind. . . .
Wherefore, men are free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which are expedient unto man. And they are free to choose liberty and eternal life, through the great Mediator of all men, or to choose captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto himself. (2 Nephi 2: 18, 27)

We are still free to choose.  We chose liberty and eternal life through Jesus Christ in heaven when the war began.  As the war continues on earth, it is expedient that we continue to make that choice by coming unto Christ with full purpose of heart.  Each day we should worship and praise Him, striving every day to live our lives in such a way that, were we to be called home, He would say: Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. (Matthew 25: 23)

 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of Michael and Satan from www.churchofthecosmos.wordpress.com

Picture of the council in heaven from www.fatherthywillbedone.com

 

Testaments and Covenants

Some years ago, I was asked to teach an adult Sunday School class.  The text for the six-week class was Isaiah.  I remember surrounding myself with the scriptures, reference books, institute manuals, and anything in print relating to one of the most difficult books of scripture in all of the cannon.  I had a king-sized bed and I spread everything out on it and literally slept with this topic.  I tried charting it out and making a timeline.  My left brain was in high gear, with the end result that I almost went crazy!  As I prayed about my frustrations, I felt a calming peace and an understanding that Isaiah was not written as a chronological history and that the symbolic and poetic language was not meant for the left brain.  Once I understood that and put my right brain in gear, the meaning of many verses leaped out at me with a clarity that to this day, I have been unable to recreate.  But in that instance I understood.

 

I have been using my right brain a lot as I have been studying Revelation and it helps so much.  As I read the flow of John's text, certain things capture my attention, things that I believe I need to understand in the moment.  When I don't try to make "sense" of it in a left-brained way or to figure out the chronology (and I don't know that there is one), then I benefit.  This is what I try to share.

 

The resurrection of the two prophets seems to trigger great earthquakes and the first judgment- the judgment of the righteous. (See Revelation 11: 13-18)  Then, in the final verse of that chapter, John revisits the temple image, this time the temple in heaven.  One of the things John sees is "the ark of his testament." (verse 19)  This is, of course, the Ark of the Covenant.  I found it interesting that the words testament and covenant are synonymous in this context.

 

To most Christians, the cannon is closed and fixed and total with the Bible.  Latter-day Saints believe the Bible to be the word of God, although we recognize that after thousands of years and multiple translation, there can be errors in translation and interpretation.  We reverence and study the Bible.  But we believe that God loves and speaks to His children in all ages.  We believe He does so today.  For us, the cannon is open, and that "surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." (Amos 3:7)  Here are four of the books found in the cannon of scripture we recognize.  Note the words testament and covenant:

• The Old Testament - God's dealings with, laws, prophecies,and covenants with His people anciently, particularly His relationship with ancient Israel.  It takes place in what we now call the Middle East.
• The New Testament - The life and teachings of Jesus Christ, including four testimonies; one history book, multiple letters of correction and encouragement, and John's great apocalyptic book.
• The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ - This is a book of God's dealings with, prophecies,and covenants with a branch of ancient Israel who were led out of Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian conquest.  They ultimately settled in a small area in what is now Central America and southern Mexico.  It covers 1000 years of history from 600 B.C. to 400 A.D.  It is named after the ancient prophet, Mormon, who compiled the records of his people. (There also is a small book-within-a-book called the Book of Ether, but that is a topic for another dicussion!)
• The Doctrine and Covenants - This is record of  God's dealings with, laws, prophecies,and covenants with His Church in this, the final dispensation of time before His second coming. The earliest revelation was given in 1823 and the latest in 1978.

I loved making the connection between the two words, testament and covenant, in Revelation 11: 19.  It never ceases to amaze me the direction my daily scripture study will take me.  Your study may take you somewhere else.  That is the beauty of the Holy Spirit.  He teaches each of us what we need to know in that moment in time.  I don't fully understand it, but I am grateful for it!

 

Text copyright February 2013

 

Picture of lamb and lion from www.lds.org

Picture of Ark of the Covenant from www.forhisname.com

 

Olive Trees, Candlesticks, and Witnesses

A noted Protestant Biblical scholar once said: "The Book of Revelation either finds a man mad or leaves him that way!"  Anyone who has ever read the book - or even attempted to read it - can give a nod of recognition to that statement.

In chapter 11, we are introduced to the somewhat enigmatic figures of two witnesses who prophecy for three and a half years.  That they hold the priesthood keys of Elijah is manifest by the fact that they can seal the heavens so that it won't rain.  Like Moses, they can turn rivers to blood and bring plagues upon the land.  Any man who tries to molest them is destroyed by the "fire" from their mouths.  I personally don't think this is a literal fire, but rather the word of God and His priesthood power which they obviously hold.

John again sees a temple setting and is told by the angel to measure the temple, leaving out the Court of the Gentiles.  Zachariah saw a similar vision and his account gives us a few more details about the temple setting of this part of the vision:

Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?
And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord  earth  (Zachariah 4: 11-14)

After these prophets have completed their mission, Satan and his earthly minions are finally allowed to kill them.  Their bodies lie in the streets of Jerusalem for three and a half days - a day for every year they preached.  The people, for the most part, rejoice that they are gone.  People caught up in sin do not like to be told that they are sinning.  Such a denunciation of sin isn't "politically correct!"  At the end of those three and half days, the two prophets are resurrected and taken into heaven.  Now that gets every one's attention!  Some of those who witness it actually turn to the Lord because of such an undeniable sign.

 

I came across an interesting side-note during my study this morning.  In 1832, the Prophet Joseph was reading Revelation and he asked the Lord in prayer the meanings of many of the symbols.  This was the answer given to him about the identity of the two witnesses:

Q. What is to be understood by the two witnesses, in the eleventh chapter of Revelation?
A. They are two prophets that are to be raised up to the Jewish nation in the last days, at the time of the restoration, and to prophesy to the Jews after they are gathered and have built the city of Jerusalem in the land of their fathers. (D&C 77:15)

Most non-Latter-day Saints do not believe that Joseph Smith was a prophet.  Some think he was a charlatan; some a liar; some a crazy man; some see him as bright and charismatic, but a false prophet nonetheless.  Most simply don't think about him at all.  But if he was not a prophet (and I, by the way have a testimony that he was), then he was surely a good guesser!  His writings and the scripture he brought forth are full of such "good guesses."  In 1832, he wrote confidently of the gathering of the Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of Jerusalem as their capitol city (last year's democrat platform not withstanding.)  If you'd have asked almost anyone in those days if there would ever really be a Jewish nation again, they'd have thought you were crazy.

In 1841, Joseph sent an Apostle, Orson Hyde, to Palestine to preach and to dedicate the land for the return of the Jews.  On October 24th, he uttered this dedicatory prayer on the Mount of Olives:

"Now, O Lord! Thy servant has been obedient to the heavenly vision which Thou gavest him in his native land; and under the shadow of Thine outstretched arm, he has safely arrived in this place to dedicate and consecrate this land unto Thee, for the gathering together of Judah's scattered remnants, according to the predictions of the holy Prophets -- for the building up of Jerusalem again after it has been trodden down by the Gentiles so long, and for rearing a Temple in honor of Thy name.



The Orson Hyde Memorial Garden, Jerusalem


The first small Jewish settlements in Palestine occurred in the 1870s,  but a mass gathering of the Jews to their homeland didn't occur until after World War II.  Israel President David Ben-Gurion declared Israel to be a free and independent state in May of 1948.  To this day, there are many in the world who don't recognize Israel as a legitimate nation - many who even deny the reality of the Holocaust.  And, of course, the Jews still must rebuild their temple, which is a challenge since the Islamic mosque, the Dome of the Rock, sits on the temple mount.  But I see God's hand in all things as these final days, months, and years play out.  Those things which have been prophesied will happen in God's own time.  My challenge is to have spiritual olive oil in my lamp for the time when they do.

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of menorah and olive trees from www.dwellingintheword.wordpress.com

Picture of two witness from www.freechristianimages.com

Pictures of Orson Hyde and the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden from www.wikipedia.com

Clothed in a Cloud

As chapter ten opens, John sees yet another angel, clothed in a cloud with a rainbow upon his head.  It strikes me as significant that John sees the rainbow again.  The rainbow is the token of the covenant God made with the world in the days of Noah.  John first sees the rainbow in the temple setting where his vision begins.  I love this reference to covenants that remind us that God's promises are eternal, in heaven and on the earth. 

Two things strike me in this chapter.  The first involves the seven thunders. John is forbidden to write what these revelatory entities have told him.  He is commanded to seal those things up.  I believe that prophets of God frequently see and experience more than they are allowed to tell us.  God gives us only as much as we are able to comprehend - and to live.  To give us more knowledge than we can handle is to give us knowledge to our condemnation.  John is not the only prophet in the history of the world who is told not to write something he himself has come to know.

The second thing involves the small book or scroll which the angel with the rainbow gives to him.  This is another pattern seen before in the revelations God gives to His servants, the prophets.  Ezekiel also was given a small book and commanded to eat it, just as John was.  God puts His words into these prophets' mouths.  I think it upset John's stomach because God's word is sometimes difficult to bear, especially when he took it in completely and made it a part of him.  It is sweet in his mouth because he is being commissioned again to preach God's word, which is the word of salvation.

The Prophet, Joseph, asked about this reference to a book and this is what he was told:
  Q. What are we to understand by the little book which was eaten by John, as mentioned in the 10th chapter of Revelation? A. We are to understand that it was a mission, and an ordinance, for him to gather the tribes of Israel; behold, this is Elias, who, as it is written, must come and restore all things. (Doctrine and Covenants 77: 14).

Prophets are called to gather God's lost sheep and to preach repentance and the Good News of the Kingdom.  That they do so, even when it seems to be a lost cause, is a manifestation of God's love for all of His children.  Will I heed His call in these last days?  Will you? 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of the Apostle John from www.sodahead.com

Faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ

In my personal scripture study this morning, I've been reading about faith.  I love the above quote.  It emphasizes that true faith is deep enough that we can embrace the truth of it, even when there is no visible evidence.

It is easy to have faith when the sun is shining and life is good.  it is easy to think about God's love when our spirits are high and all is going well.  The true test of faith is when life is full of challenges and our spirits are down.  That is when the truly faithful stand out before God.

Here is one of the several scriptures I read about faith this morning:

• And again, it shall come to pass that he that hath faith in me to be healed, and is not appointed unto death, shall be healed.
• He who hath faith to see shall see.
• He who hath faith to hear shall hear.
• The lame who hath faith to leap shall leap.
• And they who have not faith to do these things, but believe in me, have power to become my sons; and inasmuch as they break not my laws thou shalt bear their infirmities. (D & C 42: 48-51)

Sometimes the Lord answers our prayer of faith through healing.  Sometimes He answers our prayer of faith through giving us the strength to bear our burdens.  Sometimes He calms the sea; sometimes He calms the sailor; sometimes He allows the sailor to swim awhile to strengthen spiritual muscles and character.  Those whose faith in Christ is true will cling to that faith in all things.

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

Picture downloaded from Facebook

Just Sayin' Saturday ~ Love to Love

Since we are ending this week when everyone has been writing and talking about love, I'd like to add a final word.  I think I may have posted this picture before, but I love the sentiment and know it to be true.  I have seen another's darkness, forgiven it, and loved the person more for it.  I have done so on more than one occasion and with more than one person.  It is a process that brings profound peace to me.  I can also bring peace to the other person depending on his or her choices.  But even when it doesn't heal him or her, it heals me.

 

Yesterday, one such person spent the entire day at my house cleaning up the yard, going to the dump, painting a cabinet, and lifting heavy things I could not lift, and anything else I asked, just to say thank you.  There was a new lightness in the step and a smile that went all the way to the eyes.  It was a wonderful day.

 

Paul tells us that love is kind, and patient; not easily provoked; unselfish; full of truth.  It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  It never fails. (see 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

 

 

To this I'd like to add that love engenders love.  Jesus Christ fills us up with His light and we can let that light shine through us to another.   And the darkness can become light through Him.

 

Just sayin'.

 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Poster from Facebook:

The Seventh Seal ~ Two Choices

The 7th Seal is the one that frightens everyone who reads Revelation.  They seem caught up in looking for meteorites, nuclear bombs, and literal, glittering scorpions.  But I think the message of the seventh seal is something broader.  We miss that meaning in struggling to somehow "paint" the images in our minds.

 

Most people think that the book is about the earth being destroyed.  But in truth, the earth will not be destroyed, but transformed and celestialized.  It is the wicked who remain on the earth that will ultimately be destroyed.  As the 6th Seal snaps shut, there is silence over all the world.  Then the angels of destruction are loosed.  If you remember in chapter 7 during the 6th seal, the angel bearing the seal of God commands the 4 angels not to harm the earth until the work of preaching the gospel and sealing up the righteous has been completed.  When God has sealed up unto Himself all who will come unto Christ, then the 6th Seal will close and the 7th Seal will open.

 

While chapters 8 and 9 detail a lot of the destruction that John sees, I don't know that it is profitable - it certainly isn't to me - to focus my energies on trying to decipher the meaning of each plague mentioned.  What is more important is that whatever God does, it will be to get the attention of those who will not repent and come unto Christ.  Who are these people?  Chapter 9 tells us, without symbolic rhetoric, but in plain and simple language:

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.  (Revelation 9: 20-21)

 

The sins listed include choosing Satan rather than God; idolatry; murder; sorcery; fornication/adultery; stealing - of the Ten Commandments, commandments 1-4 and 7-9.  (I looked up the word sorcery in the Bible Dictionary and it said that a sorcerer is one who attempts to tell the future through the casting of lots.  I think that would include things like Tarot cards, tea leaves, Ouija boards - anything other than listening to the prophets of the Lord.) 

 

There are basically two choices in the world: God or anything that is not God.  The people described in these chapters are not just sinner - for we are all sinners - but sinners who have consciously chosen not to repent despite repeated warnings. 

 

On the other hand, those who consciously choose Jesus Christ may not be spared tribulation, but they will come out of that great tribulation, having been washed clean in the blood of the Lamb; dressed in white robes and serving Him in His temple:

 

 

These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all^btears from their eyes. (Revelation 7: 14-17)

 

To which group do I want to belong?  That's a no-brainer.  The choice is mine as to how I get there.

 

Text copyright Gebara Education February 2013

 

Picture of an angel of the seventh seal from www.annointings.blogspot.com

Picture of Christ clothing a disciple in a white robe from www.blessendaniel.wordpress.com