The Return of the Only King


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUaxVQPohlU

We need the return of love in the flesh. The return of the origin of all love, in every version we have felt or hoped to feel.  But will his return be what we like to think it is?


Isaiah 64:1-2
If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence, as fire kindles the brushwood and causes the water to boil, to make Your name known to Your enemies, so that nations will tremble at Your presence!

Ezekiel 11:23
And the glory of the LORD rose up from within the city and stood over the mountain east of the city.

Ezekiel 38:20
The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that crawls upon the ground, and all mankind on the face of the earth will tremble at My presence. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground.

Ezekiel 47:1
Then the man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar.

Micah 1:3
For behold, the LORD comes forth out of His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

Micah 1:4
The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water cascading down a slope.

Habakkuk 3:6
He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains were scattered; the perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting.

Zechariah 4:7
What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. Then he will bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"

Zechariah 14:8
And on that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea, in summer and winter alike.


And his feet shall stand in that day on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall split in the middle thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHX4u0TIdto&index=4&list=RD6reiR-kvSVo

The Mount of Olives.  Some details.
 




Jerusalem


The Mount of Olives, one of three hills on a long ridge to the east of Jerusalem, is the location of many biblical events. Rising to more than 800 metres, it offers an unrivalled vista of the Old City and its environs.

The hill, also called Mount Olivet, takes its name from the fact that it was once covered with olive trees.

In the Old Testament, King David fled over the Mount of Olives to escape when his son Absalom rebelled (2 Samuel 15:30).

After King Solomon turned away from God, he built pagan temples there for the gods of his foreign wives (1 Kings 11:7-8).

Ezekiel had a vision of “the glory of the Lord” ascending from the city and stopping on the Mount of Olives (Ezekiel 11:23).

Zechariah prophesied that in the final victory of the forces of good over the forces of evil, the Lord of hosts would “stand on the Mount of Olives” and the mount would be “split in two from east to west” (Zechariah 14:3-4).



Jesus knew it well

In the New Testament, Jesus often travelled over the Mount of Olives on the 40-minute walk from the Temple to Bethany. He also went there to pray or to rest.

He went down the mount on his triumphal entry to Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, on the way weeping over the city’s future destruction (Luke 19:29-44).

In a major address to his disciples on the mount, he foretold his Second Coming (Matthew 24:27-31).

He prayed there with his disciples the night before he was arrested (Matthew 26:30-56). And he ascended into heaven from there (Acts 1:1-12).



Until the destruction of the Temple, the Mount of Olives was a place where many Jews would sleep out, under the olive trees, during times of pilgrimage.

During the Siege of Jerusalem which led to the destruction of the city in AD 70, Roman soldiers from the 10th Legion camped on the mount.

In Jewish tradition, the Messiah will descend the Mount of Olives on Judgement Day and enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate (the blocked-up double gate in the centre of the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, also known as the Gate of Mercy, or the Beautiful Gate).

For this reason, Jews have always sought to be buried on the slopes of the mount. The area serves as one of Jerusalem’s main cemeteries, with an estimated 150,000 graves.

Among them is a complex of catacombs called the Tombs of the Prophets. It is said to contain the graves of the prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, who lived in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, but the style of tombs belongs to a later time.

From Byzantine times the mount became a place of church-building. By the 6th century it had 24 churches, surrounded by monasteries containing large numbers of monks and nuns.


The Mount of Olives is the location of several major sites for pilgrims. They include:

• Church of All Nations (Basilica of the Agony): A sombre church at Gethsemane, built over the rock on which Jesus is believed to have prayed in agony the night before he was crucified.

• Church of St Mary Magdalene: A Russian Orthodox church whose seven gilded onion domes, each topped by a tall cross, make it one of Jerusalem’s most picturesque sights.

• Church of Dominus Flevit: A church in the shape of a teardrop, commemorating the Gospel incident in which Jesus wept over the future fate of Jerusalem.

• Church of Pater Noster: Recalling Christ’s teaching of the Lord’s Prayer, this church features translations of the prayer in 140 languages, inscribed on colourful ceramic plaques.

• Dome of the Ascension: A small shrine, now a mosque marking the place where Jesus is believed to have ascended to heaven.

• The garden and grotto of Gethsemane: The ancient olive grove identified as the place where Jesus went to pray the night before he was crucified, and the cave where his disciples are believed to have slept.

• Tomb of Mary: A dimly-lit, below-ground church where a Christian tradition says the Mother of Jesus was buried.

                                                                                                                                                                   

http://bibleatlas.org/mount_of_olives.htm

Mount of Olives and surrounding area

                                                                                                                                                               


The touch down has power beyond our total understanding.  I'm trying to grasp all that it means because it means something special or it wouldn't be in the Scriptures so many times.  I suspect all that current information has as much to do with it as the history of the Gospels.



Zec 14:4 And in that day his feet will be on the Mount of Olives, which is opposite Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be parted in the middle to the east and to the west, forming a very great valley; and half the mountain will be moved to the north and half of it to the south.
 5 And the valley will be stopped...and you will go in flight as you went in flight from the earth-shock in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah: and the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.
 6 And in that day there will be no heat or cold or ice;
 7 And it will be unbroken day, such as the Lord has knowledge of, without change of day and night, and even at nightfall it will be light.
 8 And on that day living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them flowing to the sea on the east and half to the sea on the west: in summer and in winter it will be so.
 9 And the Lord will be King over all the earth: in that day there will be one Lord and his name one.
 (BBE)



The Bible says the valley spilt will go to the sea on each side.  See that blue way over on the right?  The split of His arrival will hit that. The sea to the east may be the Dead Sea.  The split would allow for the flight of the captives of Antichrist's in Jerusalem  (v.5) but it will do a lot more.

1) It will split the mountain and move it to the north and the south.  You have seen the varied churches and mosques on the mountain today.  First, the Temple alone will be the place of worship during the Millennium and so none of them will have a place there. Second, many of them are for idolatry and would have no place in God's kingdom anyway.  This one act would drive home the singularity of God's purpose and worship of Jesus only.

2) It would provide a protective chasm to defend against land attack and an escape route in the case of the future rebellion led by Satan a thousand years later.

3) For those who have been fed the idea that Mother Nature was behind all those quakes and volcanoes and not God, God gives the example of Jesus' foot causing the quake in full view of all the available witnesses.  God is simply saying, "Yes, it was me."


4) All of the above but I think that the most important message is that the world is still broken by sin.  Yes, Jesus has arrived to rule.  Yes, people are still alive that made it through the Tribulation. But the universe is still plagued by sin, overcome by it.  The crack seems to symbolize that the world is torn in two by that sin.

Perhaps it also touches on what is named after it in Revelation 20, the Ressurection:

Re 20:4 And I saw high seats, and they were seated on them, and the right of judging was given to them: and I saw the souls of those who were put to death for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and those who did not give worship to the beast, or to his image, and had not his mark on their brows or on their hands; and they were living and ruling with Christ a thousand years.
 5 The rest of the dead did not come to life again till the thousand years were ended. This is the first coming back from the dead.
 6 Happy and holy is he who has a part in this first coming: over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will be ruling with him a thousand years.
 (BBE)



Answer: Daniel 12:2 summarizes the two very different fates facing mankind: “Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” Everyone will be raised from the dead, but not everyone will share the same destiny. The New Testament reveals the further detail of separate resurrections for the just and the unjust.

Revelation 20:4-6 mentions a “first resurrection” and identifies those involved as “blessed and holy.” The second death (the lake of fire, Revelation 20:14) has no power over these individuals. The first resurrection, then, is the raising of all believers. It corresponds with Jesus’ teaching of the “resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:14) and the “resurrection of life” (John 5:29).

The first resurrection takes place in various stages. Jesus Christ Himself (the “first fruits,” 1 Corinthians 15:20), paved the way for the resurrection of all who believe in Him. There was a resurrection of the Jerusalem saints (Matthew 27:52-53) which should be included in our consideration of the first resurrection. Still to come are the resurrection of “the dead in Christ” at the Lord’s return (1 Thessalonians 4:16) and the resurrection of the martyrs at the end of the Tribulation (Revelation 20:4).


We  need to see very clearly that the first resurrection is OVER at this time.  Everyone who was saved has been resurrected. This is the judgement reserved for those who have accepted Christ as their savior.  Keep that clear as we go on.  Those who believed on faith are now with Him, his elect, joined as the bride of Christ.  That is over and done with.  Faith has won out.


The Millenium which will begin with Jesus' return is another story:

https://www.gotquestions.org/thousand-year-reign-Christ.html

 The Millennium (also known as the Millennial Kingdom) is the 1,000-year reign of Jesus after the Tribulation and before all the people of the world are sent to either heaven or hell. Jesus will reign as king over Israel as well as all the nations of the world (Isaiah 2:4; 42:1).

Isa 2:2 And it will come about in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord will be placed on the retunr he tEarth of the Kiop of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills; and all nations will come to it.
 3 And the peoples will say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will give us knowledge of his ways, and we will be guided by his word; for out of Zion the law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
 4 And he will be the judge between the nations, and the peoples will be ruled by his decisions: and their swords will be turned into plough-blades, and their spears into vine-knives: no longer will the nations be turning their swords against one another, and the knowledge of war will be gone for ever.
 (BBE)

Isa 42:1 See my servant, whom I am supporting, my loved one, in whom I take delight: I have put my spirit on him; he will give the knowledge of the true God to the nations.
 2 He will make no cry, his voice will not be loud: his words will not come to men's ears in the streets.
 3 He will not let a crushed stem be quite broken, and he will not let a feebly burning light be put out: he will go on sending out the true word to the peoples.
 4 His light will not be put out, and he will not be crushed, till he has given the knowledge of the true God to the earth, and the sea-lands will be waiting for his teaching.
 (BBE)

(I include those last verses because I believe 42:1 to relate more to the first coming when the Lamb of God was with us.  But the truth of 1  could easily apply to both.  The reading of Prophecy carries the added burden that verses sometimes have a double application.  W.)

 The world will live in peace (Isaiah 11:6–9; 32:18),

Isa 11:6 And the wolf will be living with the lamb, and the leopard will take his rest with the young goat; and the lion will take grass for food like the ox; and the young lion will go with the young ones of the herd; and a little child will be their guide.
 7 And the cow and the bear will be friends while their young ones are sleeping together.
 8 And the child at the breast will be playing by the hole of the snake, and the older child will put his hand on the bright eye of the poison-snake.
 9 There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain: for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.
 (BBE)

Isa 32:18 And my people will be living in peace, in houses where there is no fear, and in quiet resting-places.
 (BBE)

 Satan will be bound (Revelation 20:1–3), and, at the beginning, everyone will worship God (Isaiah 2:2–3). The purpose of the 1,000-year reign is to fulfill promises God made to the world that cannot be fulfilled while Satan is free and humans have political authority. Some of these promises, called covenants, were given specifically to Israel. Others were given to Jesus, the nations of the world, and creation. All of these will be fulfilled during Jesus’ 1,000-year reign.

The Palestinian Covenant, also called the Land Covenant (Deuteronomy 30:1-10)
God has already fulfilled the personal aspects of the Abrahamic Covenant; Abraham did go to the Promised Land, he did have many descendants, and he is the forefather of many nations. Several hundred years after Abraham, Joshua led the Israelites to claim ownership of the Promised Land. But Israel has never possessed the specific boundaries that God promised in Genesis 15:18–20 and Numbers 34:1-12. Not even Solomon ruled over this particular area (1 Kings 4:21–24). Although he did reign from the River of Egypt to the Euphrates, he did not hold the area from Mount Hor to Hazarenan (Numbers 34:7–9)—into present-day Lebanon and Syria. In addition, the covenant God made with Abraham was that he and his descendants would have the land for eternity (Genesis 13:15; 17:8; Ezekiel 16:60). The current Israeli state may be a step in this direction, but they still do not possess the boundaries God laid out.

The Davidic Covenant (2 Samuel 7)
God’s covenant with David was that his line would never die out and that David’s heir would sit on the throne of Israel forever (2 Samuel 7:16). Biblical scholars agree that Jesus is the fulfillment of this covenant—one of the reasons His genealogy is given for both His step-father (Matthew 1:1–17) and His mother (Luke 3:23–38). The Jews understood this when they laid down palm branches and their cloaks as Jesus rode into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1–17). They expected Him to be a military/political leader that would liberate them from the Romans and make Israel a great nation again. But they didn’t understand the nature of Jesus’ work at the time was for the New Covenant, not the Davidic Covenant. The 1,000-year reign will be the beginning of Jesus’ eternal reign over Israel and the earth (Revelation 20:4, 6).

The New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34)
The work of the New Covenant—Jesus’ death and resurrection to reconcile hearts to God—has been accomplished. But we have not yet seen the complete fulfillment. Jeremiah 31:33 says, “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Ezekiel 36:28 gives more specifics: “You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” Isaiah 59:20–21 explains that this covenant is possible because of the Redeemer, and the reconciliation He provides will last forever. This covenant does not mean that every Jew will be saved. But it does mean that Israel as a nation will worship their Messiah. The Old Testament prophets who spoke of this covenant, including Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, and Ezekiel, all wrote that it will be fulfilled in the future. From their time on, Israel has yet to be an independent nation that worshiped its Messiah (Romans 9—11). They will be in the 1,000-year reign of Christ.

Other Promises
Those are the covenants God made with Israel that are to be fulfilled in Jesus’ 1,000-year reign, but the Bible lists other promises that will be fulfilled, too. God promised Jesus He will make His enemies a footstool, and that Jesus’ followers will worship Him freely (Psalm 100). God promised the nations of the world that they would live in peace with Jesus as their ruler (Daniel 7:11–14). And He promised creation that the curse would be lifted (Romans 8:18–23), animals and the earth would be restored to peace and prosperity (Isaiah 11:6–9; 32:13–15), and people would be freed from disease (Ezekiel 34:16). These, too, will be fulfilled during the 1,000-year reign.

The main purpose of Jesus’ 1,000-year reign is to fulfill the prophecies given to Israel and the promises made to Jesus, the nations, and the whole earth. God’s covenants were voluntary and one-sided. He promised He would bless Israel and restore the world in specific ways, and He will.


But another purpose remains to be discussed for next time.  We'll pursue that nature of the MK from another point of view, as an example of the failure of man to understand God's purposes.

                                                             The Abysmal Finish 

Two quick notes on the news:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-close-to-releasing-mideast-peace-proposal-that-palestinian-leadership-may-immediately-reject/2018/06/20/32ffa498-73f1-11e8-805c-4b67019fcfe4_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2405bc336183

President  Trump's  "team" researching a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is said to be making progress on the answer.  As we predicted, He will use his "success" with Kim as credentials to arrive at a solution, one that will put the Israelis at ease and open the door for the Russian invasion.  Be sure that, if the treaty is reached, it will favor Russia, perhaps even setting up their military or Syrian surrogates as a guard for the treaty.


http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-mideast-peace-deal-20180621-story.html

The Trump team met Tuesday with Jordan’s King Abdullah II and Wednesday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who acknowledged the talks only after the fact.

Later Thursday, the U.S. team traveled to Qatar and met with its emir, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, according to a White House statement. They discussed increasing cooperation between the two countries, ways to provide humanitarian relief to Gaza and possibilities for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

In Egypt, Thursday's meeting with the U.S. delegation also dealt with increasing Egyptian-American cooperation, the White House said without elaborating.

Egypt's presidency released a statement after the meeting saying it mainly discussed the Palestinian-Israeli peace efforts and cooperation. It said the meeting was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and the acting head of general intelligence, Abbas Kamel.

Washington gives Egypt some $1.3 billion in annual military assistance and hundreds of millions more in civilian aid that is linked to Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel, and underpins a U.S.-Egyptian security relationship that is now mostly aimed at fighting terrorism.

And:

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK (KIFI/KIDK) - After lying quiet for nearly four years, the Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park is roaring back to life. The first of 10 eruptions so far took place on March 15. The latest occurred just last Friday. This seemingly rare occurrence is actually pretty normal for the geyser.

"Steamboat is basically an enigmatic geyser," said Jeff Hungerford, a geologist with Yellowstone National Park. "And it tends to go off every, you know, a couple times every few years or so and then have these periods of heightened activity where we may get 20 eruptions during a year or so."

The eruptions have many wondering if the super volcano lying beneath Yellowstone is ready to blow. Scientists say, we won't see that happen in our lifetime. 

"If we were actually to see some kind of erupted activity here in Yellowstone, which is very very improbable, we would see increased seismicity," Hungerford said. "We would see deformation or ground swelling that's indicative. We'd also see gas emissions that are more indicative of an eruption."


The eruptions have increased the crowds around Steamboat. Some even camp out around the geyser all day, hoping for a chance to see the world's tallest geyser erupt. Steamboat's eruption goes about 200 feet higher than the park's most famous geyser, Old Faithful.

"It's a once in-a-lifetime eruption," said Wanda and Rick Likens, who are waiting at the geyser for it to erupt. "You know, this is probably the best geyser so probably our best shot at getting to see it."

Scientists can't predict exactly when Steamboat will go off, but they can get a good idea by watching other geysers and pools in the area. Lately, it has been going off about every four to seven days. That means, it could go off again any day now.

                                                                                                                                                                  

 So we have more signs of volcanoes.  Perhaps we don't need any atomic bombs on the fissure to trigger them.  God is sending signs to America and we keep saying, "No.  Can't happen in our lifetime."  Well, many of us won'tr be alive after the supervolcano goes off, so that it technically correct.  :)

Now for the abyss.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyss_(religion)

In religion, an abyss is a bottomless pit, or also a chasm that may lead to the underworld or hell.

In the Septuagint, or Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the word represents both the original unfinished creation (Genesis 1:2) and the Hebrew tehom ("a surging water-deep"), which is used also in apocalyptic and kabbalistic literature and in the New Testament for hell; the place of punishment; in the Revised version of the Bible "abyss" is generally used for this idea. Primarily in the Septuagint cosmography the word is applied both to the waters under the earth which originally covered it, and from which the springs and rivers are supplied and to the waters of the firmament which were regarded as closely connected with those below.

In the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus there is an abyss between the righteous dead and the wicked dead in Sheol.[1]


In the Book of Revelation, Abaddon is called "the angel of the abyss".[2]


                                                                                                                                                                   

As with all things Wikipedia, not quite right.



The Abyss.

https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-the-abyss.html


The word abyss simply means “a deep hole”—so deep that it seems bottomless or immeasurable. The word is often used in modern contexts to describe the sea.

In the Bible and in Jewish theology, the Abyss is often a metaphorical reference to the place of evil spirits. Sometimes the Abyss is pictured as a deep or bottomless hole in the earth. This is the background for the New Testament usage. The King James Version usually translates the Greek term abyssou as “bottomless pit” (e.g., Revelation 9:2).

In Luke 8, Jesus cast the Legion of demons out of a man, “and they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss” (verse 31). The Abyss is obviously a place that the demons fear and try to avoid.

In Revelation a number of times we see the Abyss as a place of confinement for evil spirits:

Revelation 9:1–3, 11 — “The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. . . . They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).”

Revelation 11:7 — “Now when [the two witnesses] have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the Abyss will attack them, and overpower and kill them.”

Revelation 20:1–3 — “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended.”


(Notice that Satan started this fight with God, but Jesus doesn't even dirty His hands with this chore.  And one angel, unnamed, takes Satan and drags him into the Abyss.   Once Satan contended with Michael to keep him from answering Daniel's prayers and the fight went on for days.  here it is simply over with Satan overcome by a superior force.  Perhaps it is Abaddon. W.)

In all of these instances, the Abyss is a place for the containment of evil spirits. Many Bible scholars believe that this is the same place referred to in 2 Peter 2:4 as “hell,” where some evil spirits are “in chains of darkness to be held for judgment.” The word hell here is a translation of the Greek tartarus, which can be thought of as the “deepest pit” or the “lowest part of Hades.”

It is clear from Scripture that God has ultimate power over all evil spirits. Some of the demons have been consigned to the Abyss and held captive there, while others seem to be able to move more freely upon the earth. Ultimately, all evil spirits will be consigned to the lake of fire, along with all unbelievers (see Revelation 20:10–15).


                                                                                                                                                                   
Now  the picture we have is this:  a seemingly bottomless pit with a lake of fire in it.

It seems impossible and thus it must be symbolic.  Or just another myth.

Except...have you ever heard of a black hole?

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black%20hole



Definition of black hole
1 : a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star

The theory is that the star is so heavy it literally falls out of this universe leaving a gaping hole behind it.



https://www.physicsoftheuniverse.com/topics_blackholes_singularities.html
In the centre of a black hole is a gravitational singularity, a one-dimensional point which contains a huge mass in an infinitely small space, where density and gravity become infinite and space-time curves infinitely, and where the laws of physics as we know them cease to operate. As the eminent American physicist Kip Thorne describes it, it is "the point where all laws of physics break down".

Current theory suggests that, as an object falls into a black hole and approaches the singularity at the centre, it will become stretched out or “spaghettified” due to the increasing differential in gravitational attraction on different parts of it, before presumably losing dimensionality completely and disappearing irrevocably into the singularity. An observer watching from a safe distance outside, though, would have a different view of the event. According to relativity theory, they would see the object moving slower and slower as it approaches the black hole until it comes to a complete halt at the event horizon, never actually falling into the black hole.


The existence of a singularity is often taken as proof that the theory of general relativity has broken down, which is perhaps not unexpected as it occurs in conditions where quantum effects should become important. It is conceivable that some future combined theory of quantum gravity (such as current research into superstrings) may be able to describe black holes without the need for singularities, but such a theory is still many years away.

According to the "cosmic censorship" hypothesis, a black hole's singularity remains hidden behind its event horizon, in that it is always surrounded by an area which does not allow light to escape, and therefore cannot be directly observed. The only exception the hypothesis allows (known as a “naked” singularity) is the initial Big Bang itself.

(Notice how the Big Bang MUST exist in that mythology and, therefore, there are exceptions to rules to allow that creation myth to exist.  W)


It seems likely, then, that, by its very nature, we will never be able to fully describe or even understand the singularity at the centre of a black hole. Although an observer can send signals into a black hole, nothing inside the black hole can ever communicate with anything outside it, so its secrets would seem to be safe forever.




I include the below article to show the power that a black hole can exert.




https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/black-hole-eat-star-image-space-astronomers-eruption-a8399266.html 

Scientists have seen the vast blast thrown out by a black hole eating a star for the first ever time.

Researchers have finally watched the formation and expansion of the fast-moving jet of material that is thrown out when a supermassive black hole's gravity grabs a star and tears it apart.

Scientists watched the dramatic event using highly specialised telescopes, which are trained on a pair of colliding galaxies called Arp 299, nearly 150 million light-years from Earth. At the centre of one of those galaxies, a star twice the size of the Sun came too close to a black hole that is more than 20 million times big as our Sun – and was shredded apart, throwing a blast across the universe.


It was that blast that scientists were able to see happen for the first time ever. Theorists have long thought the events were common – speculating that material torn from the star makes a rotating disk around the black hole, emitting intense X-rays and visible light, and also pushes jets of material outward from the poles of the disk at nearly the speed of light – but have been yet to see it actually happen.

"Never before have we been able to directly observe the formation and evolution of a jet from one of these events," said Miguel Perez-Torres, of the Astrophysical Institute of Andalusia in Granada, Spain.


Most galaxies have supermassive black holes, which can pull matter into them and form a huge disc around their outsides as they do. But for the most part, those black holes stay quiet, not devouring anything.

That means that the violent events that scientists have finally seen can be a unparalleled insight into what actually happens around a black hole.

"Much of the time, however, supermassive black holes are not actively devouring anything, so they are in a quiet state," Perez-Torres said. "Tidal disruption events can provide us with a unique opportunity to advance our understanding of the formation and evolution of jets in the vicinities of these powerful objects," he added.


Researchers had initially turned their sights towards the doomed star as part of a search for supernova explosions in such colliding pairs of galaxies. They had initially thought that they were seeing was one such a supernova explosion – but it kept expanding, confirming that it was in fact a jet being spewed out as the star was torn apart.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Black holes convert matter to energy.  Fire amounts to the conversion of matter, wood, cloths, paper, into energy: heat and light.  Black holes produce certain energy signatures that indicate matter going into them is converted to energy.  At least, they radiate energy seemingly produced  by some actions inside.

 And the phenomena have interesting power.  If a black hole the size of a coin were to be placed in the center of the Earth:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/quora/2014/02/10/if_a_coin_sized_black_hole_were_placed_at_earth_s_center_what_would_happen.html


The Earth would be destroyed, but the whole planet would not be swallowed up by the black hole. A black hole with a Schwarzschild radius of about a centimeter, which would make it about the size of a coin, would have about the same mass as the Earth. The reason the Earth will be destroyed but not simply swallowed up is because the Earth will be resisting the black hole in at least two ways

First of all, not all of the Earth would simply be sucked into the black hole. When the matter near the black hole begins to fall into the black hole, it will be compressed to a very high density that will cause it to be heated to very high temperatures. These high temperatures will cause gamma rays, X-rays, and other radiation to heat up the other matter falling in to the black hole. The net effect will be that there will be a strong outward pressure on the outer layers of the Earth that will first slow down their fall and will eventually ionize and push the outer layers away from the black hole. So some inner portion of the core will fall into the black hole, but the outer layers, including the crust and all of us, would be vaporized to a high temperature plasma and blown into space.


Secondly, the Earth is rotating, so by conservation of angular momentum, when a significant amount of mass has started to fall into the black hole, the mass will also begin rotating at a higher and higher rate. (Imagine the ice skater pulling in her arms to rotate faster.) This angular momentum will tend to slow down the fall into the black hole and will eventually result in something like an accretion disc around the black hole. This will also limit the fraction of the Earth that will fall into the black hole and will greatly increase the time it takes for the black hole to consume whatever fraction of the mass of the Earth it will consume. The reason for the delay is that the accretion disc has to use friction to transfer angular momentum from the innermost portion of the disc to the outer edge of the disc, where it will cause material to be ejected from the vicinity of the disc—carrying away angular momentum. The lower angular momentum near the center will allow that innermost material to fall into the black hole.

In fact, even though the Earth only rotates once per day, the angular momentum of the Earth is huge. There are limits to how much angular momentum a black hole can have—roughly the maximum angular momentum is where the "surface" of the black hole (if it had a surface) would approach the speed of light. Trying to make a small (two Earth mass) black hole with all of the Earth's angular momentum would mean that the surface would have to travel at about 109 times the speed of light. So most of the mass of the Earth would have to be used to carry away almost all of the original angular momentum of the Earth in order to keep the black hole below its angular momentum limit.
                                                                                                                                                                   

Utter destruction by one the size of a quarter.  They seem to be the glue of the universe holding the matter of galaxies together from the beginning:



https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/supermassive-black-hole-at-the-centre-of-the-galaxy-may-be-a-wormhole-in-disguise-say-astronomers-bb5ae64fa4fa

The presence of a wormhole would actually solve a major problem of galaxy formation. In recent years, astronomers have observed what appear to be supermassive black holes at the centre of many galaxies. Indeed, many believe that supermassive black holes are necessary for galaxies to form in the first place— they provide the gravitational pull to hold galaxies together in their early stages.

But if that’s true, how do supermassive black holes become so massive so quickly? After all, the one at the centre of our galaxy must have been in place about 100 million years after the Big Bang. That doesn’t leave much time to grow.

A wormhole, on the other hand, is a primordial object formed in the blink of an eye after creation. So if wormholes did form in this way, they would be present in the early universe to trigger the formation of the first galaxies.

That’s why telling one from the other is so significant— the difference provides important clues about the nature of the early universe.


                                                                                                                                                                   

And the researcher goes: Again with creation and a link with it and wormholes and black holes and, oh, yeah, if those are massive black holes that suddenly popped up then the universe is really too old for our theories and if those are wormholes that could have popped up immediately on creation than the universe could be really a lot younger than our human theory and that old can of worm(hole)s about Christians being correct because the place isn't really all that old, just, you know, lived in. And how can they get away with using the C-word?  Isn't that word "creation" the Christian word for it? Did you ever notice Christian is capitalized and scientist is not unless it is at the beginning of the sentence? Oh, well, back to my point.

Imagine in  this little sidebar post that the abyss really is a giant black hole designed to hold the evil spirits and the physical bodies of beings like angels and humans as well. If space and time slow there than the angels must be able to move through them as they do through then air or water, as if this current Earth was something no more to them than us wading in a shallow pool of water.  And one can bind another angel there with some sort of spiritual chains.  Bind that angel so he is stuck where time doesn't move and space doesn't exist as we know it.  The POWER of angels is assume if they can walk into a place that eats suns and come back again unscathed.

But we humans look at it from this distance of time and megamiles and see our future fate.  God will place the ones who have opposed him there.   Set  in a place where there is no time or space as we know it.  They  won't be able to leave.  Apart from the remade universe that is to come.  Because sin has no place in God's Kingdom, in Jesus' Kingdom. Matter placed there being destroyed instantly and yet never being destroyed because there is no time.  Recall the movie Jurassic Park we mentioned many posts ago.   In the beginning,  miners are digging furiously and they find this grand discovery, one we think must be gold but then the camera zooms in and we see they have discovered a mosquito trapped in amber.  A mosquito from supposed millenia ago who has the blood of dinosaurs in him and the scientists leading the expedition rouse with the joy of triumph.  They can use that blood for the DNA to recreate dinos. Now see every unsaved sinner trapped in the eternal amber of a black hole and no one coming after them.  No one wants to reconstruct the dinosaur of sin, the reptile that the dragon Satan created.  Even as the fear of him and the memory of his power fuels our going to those dinosaur movies and our fascination with them as our destroyers.

But, you say, why would God do this to the sinners?  They made their choice. God offered them eternity with Him and they refused.  They wanted their own way and it led to their misery or prosperity on Earth in the temporary instead of into the eternal. Even those who never heard of  Jesus were testified to by the Creation around them.   They tortured and mistreated Christians in their lives.  They rejected God in rejecting them.  They wanted everything now, to be like God now, right away. And God honored their choice.  With tears in His Jesus eyes.  He wanted to gather them to Himself like the chicks.  Like Jesus said He wanted to gather Jerusalem to Himself.

God knew what was coming when He foresaw Jesus dying o  the cross for all sin. Humans would all be resurrected. See that clearly.  Humans will ALL be resurrected.  Every last one of us.  We are all coming back BECAUSE He died,  On the cross the process became inescapable reality.  No eternal nothingness.  We return in our new, Final Flesh.  This disagrees with most commentaries.  Most of them belief the flesh of the newly resurrected sinner will be like our current flesh, but the judgement will be held in heaven and our current flesh cannot enter Heaven.


1Co 15:49 And in the same way as we have taken on us the image of the man from the earth, so we will take on us the image of the one from heaven.
 50 Now I say this, my brothers, that it is not possible for flesh and blood to have a part in the kingdom of God; and death may not have a part in life.
 51 See, I am giving you the revelation of a secret: we will not all come to the sleep of death, but we will all be changed.
 52 In a second, in the shutting of an eye, at the sound of the last horn: for at that sound the dead will come again, free for ever from the power of death, and we will be changed.
 (BBE)

The assumption made here by commentators is that Paul means all the Christians will be changed since he is talking to them, but I suspect all of humanity will enter changed into perfect flesh, into our Final Flesh and this as much as anything is what dooms the lost.  Since they are now eternal beings they cannot simply be put down like mad dogs.  Eternal beings need an eternal prison as Satan and the demons have already proven.  And Sheol is cast into the pit with us.  It was meant for the ones awaiting judgement, not for the judged.  It was a part of the old universe. We may think there is a way out of the pit, that humans can find a way to earn their salvation afterward,  How can we do any deed of salvation if we cannot even move in the amber of timelessness?  How can we repent if we can't even speak?

I awoke from a dream to write this.  In the dream I and some friends were discussing End Times, and we parked the car and walked a bit,  and saying we must find a church. I was with several men. One was Jamie, a sandy haired smiling guy with bushy hair.  We had to find a place to worship.  We sat on the park bench to discuss it.  I saw Jamie as a young man when we sat down.  I looked up again and he was an old man and we were still sitting on that park bench.  We hadn't moved the whole time and we were still talking about finding a place of safety to worship.  So many of us, so many churches themselves are like that.  I know of small churches in rural communities that never adapted to the growth around them, to the fact that the children of the generations that had grown up there to farm over the centuries, their children  had left for jobs in cities and the churches had shrunk down to just a few, sometimes to just the remains of one family, and they were sitting on their park bench pews seeing this shrunken place sometimes with only their parents as ministers as safety while the world that needed saving was untouched by them. they stay due to pride.  Or the ones in large churches, hiding, worshipping to themselves among a mass of  humanity, untouched by others.  I know folks on the internet who have churches nearby that they could join in worship, that they could reach out to and become united for Christ.  They don't due to pride.   We all have moments, even decades where we sit, listening to old Christian worship songs, hearing someone talking on the radio, seeing that one TV preacher we know has the truth, sitting on our park benches, following that Simon and Garfunkel song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YpK-qrGQrg


And our old man is our constant companion, trapping us in the amber of immobility, the saved suffering from the future Abyss fate now that  they never have to face.  An America harking back to a time of the wild west, a TV time of James West and Artemis Gordon solving Secret Service problems with James Bond doodads, voting in an old man President with old man dreams of one final glory for the flesh of this Earth.  The only glory that flesh will ever know. That past traps us on the park bench as time actually does pass here.  Satan has them in the hell on Earth, feeling alone when they belong to Christ and to each other.  To each other.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

There is no one to do unto if you are sitting on an isolated park bench with only your old buddies and the amber of the past, listening to '60's  Rock songs like they are hymns or to hymns like they are '60's rock songs. 

Understand,  a giant ME, TOO flows in all this.  I fail like this so often.  but we have this secret, every Christian has this secret.  It isn't truly a secret, so much as a fact of our life, but we so often keep it secret.  We can move any time.  We are not trapped in amber except by our own making.  When we move, the amber magically  melts away.  Unlike our unsaved friends, we are not the victims of our past,  of our refusal to see reality.  If we are not careful, the precious days of our lives, given to serve outside the ember, slip away and we are indeed trapped by the daily grind of living and even of worshipping by rote.  We unlearn how to think, to love  and act as Him and fall back into the being who is doomed to be trapped in the amber. 

We are not off in a place beyond here, trapped forever, suffering the fate of every cell in a perfect body being destroyed in an instant that lasts forever.  We are here serving forever,  not sit on the park bench watching time go by ans not noticing it is taking us with it. 

I publish this early and without any other thoughts on other texts though I said I would,  This just strikes me as essential to get out there.  I don't know why.  God bless you all.  

                                          THE RETURN OF THE KING:PART 2


Luke 21:25-28 ESV 
“And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”



https://billygraham.org/answer/is-jesus-christ-going-to-return-again-to-this-earth-some-day/


It is very clear in Scripture that Jesus Christ will bodily and visibly return to this earth. In the Old Testament there are prophecies which can be fulfilled only by our Lord’s return. In the New Testament there are over 300 references to Christ’s second coming. Christ Himself emphasized that He would come again. On one occasion He said, “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3).

John 14:3 And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come back again and will take you to be with me, so that you may be where I am.
 (BBE)

 On another occasion Jesus said, “You will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven” (Mark 14:62; see also Mark 13:26, Matthew 24:30 and Luke 21:27).

Mr 14:60 And the high priest got up in the middle of them, and said to Jesus, Do you say nothing in answer? what is it which these say against you?
 61 But he kept quiet and said nothing. Again the high priest questioning him said, Are you the Christ, the son of the Holy One?
 62 And Jesus said, I am: and you will see the Son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.
 (BBE)

Mr 13:26 And then they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
 27 And then he will send out the angels, and will get together his saints from the four winds, from the farthest part of the earth to the farthest part of heaven.
 (BBE)

Mt 24:30 And then the sign of the Son of man will be seen in heaven: and then all the nations of the earth will have sorrow, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
 (BBE)

Lu 21:26 Men's strength will go from them in fear and in waiting for the things which are coming on the earth; for the powers of the heavens will be moved.
 27 And then they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud, with power and great glory.

 (BBE)


The Apostles continued the emphasis on Jesus’ return. In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Paul said, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.” Revelation 1:7 says, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him.” The bodily, visible return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is the Christian’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).

                                                                                                                                                                   

 Signs of the times moments:


https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/06/07/national/nankai-trough-megaquake-cause-1410-trillion-damage-japan-dent-economy-20-years-report/#.WxvY6dVKjIU

A massive earthquake predicted to occur in Japan within the next 30 years could cause ¥1.4 quadrillion ($12.8 trillion) in damage to the economy, much more than a government estimate, a construction industry body said Thursday.


The estimate is based on an analysis of a magnitude 8 to 9 quake, followed by tsunami, along the Nankai Trough that extends southwest from the Pacific coast of central Japan.

And then the President began:

https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/10/17445976/trump-trudeau-g7-communique

Just hours after leaving the G7 (Group of Seven) summit in Quebec on Saturday, President Donald Trump abruptly retracted US support for a joint statement signed by every nation in the group and blasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “meek and mild.”

Firing off tweets aboard Air Force One, Trump said he was reversing the US position in response to Trudeau’s comments at a press conference at the end of the summit. Trudeau had pledged to impose tariffs on the US in response to Trump’s recent steel and aluminum tariffs against Canada.

“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, ‘US Tariffs were kind of insulting’ and he ‘will not be pushed around,’” Trump tweeted. “Very dishonest & weak.”

Trump’s confrontational moves capped off two days of tense negotiations between the US and some of its most treasured allies. The annual meeting is typically marked by near consensus on issues like free trade.


This move means Europe will accelerate its building of its armed forces and will perceive the  need of a  strong man "Face of the Franchise" to stand against the Russian War Machine.   Trump has succeeded in giving them a common enemy, the USA, and in weakening, perhaps forever, the set of alliances  needed to bring Russia and China down.    Putin relishes seeing a rich Europe without its NATO  bodyguard.

Trump followed that act with a grand gesture of making North Korea a "player"  on the world stage.  Kim got validation by giving up the visible portion of his nuclear testing program. Maybe since it was just a piece of paper.  Plus he got China to smile at Trump's promised removal of US forces from the region. Something China had lobbied him for and clearly had negotiated with Trump for ahead of time. The President may have paved the way for China to continue to undermine Asian governments this time with no US armed forces strategically placed for a timely intervention.  The rise of the 200 million man army goes higher still.

The strategies suggest something:  if the Democrats win significant victories in the election this year and they may be able to with no ballot fixing, I suspect they will be the last free elections in the country and may even be countermanded for "national security.  The Supreme Court has already paved the way for ballot fixing ahead of time with their Ohio ruling:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN7fnrTyG9w

It may be a good idea for every democrat and independent  in the country to make certain they are recorded as voters.


All news agencies would become Fox affiliates.  Blogs like this would disappear along with their writers.  And the other world powers would have to decide if they could stomach an indefinite Trump reign.

I only suggest it because that fits where the world is headed with the AC about to appear.  In the US, we have been protected and the church has been allowed to grow, but it has carried a cost in that the safety for growth has become the safety for the growth of "variations" and sects.  The tares have also flourished.  Many Christians have risen to levels of power in the government.  Trump's arrival gave them all manner of opportunity to speak out about his misinterpretation of the Bible and of Christianity.  Insead, most seem to have jumped on the bandwagon and ignored both the Word and their "family values" labels. Like the Pharisees of Jesus time, they now have too much to lose to want the boat rocked.  And so they are turning their backs on their religion for earthly rewards.

I understand that action.  In the past, I have done it for a good deal less or to keep friends rather than rock the boat of my own simple life.  But sometimes we forget that getting thrown from the boat was what God planned for Jonah's success.  And we act like Jonah when God's will is done however unwilling we are for it to come.  Right now, doing this blog, I have become a bit like a reversed Jonah, in that I don't want Jesus to come because of those I know who will be lost.  I keep hoping He holds off until they come to Him or are back in the fold.    I'd like to see their familiar faces again in forever.

But it is time to say enough with the current events and more with the Bible.  If those who don't see the End Times blossoming haven't seen it by now they either never will or it will take something besides me placing letters on a page to help sway them.  Trump was put in place to usher in the reduction of the US and the end of our world influence.  Our USA world is falling as the AC rises as it must for the Word to reach completion.   A lot of this is beginning to sound like "I told you so."  It should sound like "Come to Christ!" 

Pray for Trump and for the nation, for the world, for evangelization everywhere.

                                                                                                                                                                   

Now we harp on prophecy because it has been given by God and is one hundred per cent accurate.  The prophecy we refer to in End Times has to do with promises to Israel and to the nations.  To the Jew and the gentile.

The Tribulation is the boiling point of sin to which man will either turn his back on the heat and return to God or do the Frog analogy, sit in the gradually heating water until he is boiled to death.  As it ends, things begin to fall into place.

In Revelation  18 we see that "God remembered Babylon."  This can be contrasted to Noah way back in Genesis, when God "remembered" him and his family in the ark.  God never forgot either the family then of the city here.  I mentioned it was likely destroyed by man when the harlot lost her spiritual power to the False Prophet sometime around the middle Tribulation.  But in 18, people still mourn the city, some form of commerce still goes on, but it has fallen to hard times.  Man did not totally destroy it.  Now God takes his turn.

I want you to try to understand the difference from human destruction and Godly destruction.  For centuries, the story of the Trojan war in the Iliad was thought to be a complete fabrication of Homer.  A myth and nothing more.  Then in the late 1800's archeologists and a conman or two discovered the ruins of that great city, the dig showed the place had been conquered at least ten times, razed and rebuilt over and over.  The city that became myth actually had a much more colorful history.  There are cities like that throughout the ancient world.  In the Americas the Aztecs and Toltecs and Inca left their ruins as monuments to failed civilizations.

Now consider Sodom.  No one knows where it is but there is this:

Seeking to answer the question “Where is Sodom?” and using the Biblical geography of Genesis 13 as a guide, Collins decided to excavate Tall el-Hammam, an extensive and heavily fortified site located in modern Jordan at the eastern edge of the kikkar. First inhabited during the Chalcolithic period (4600–3600 B.C.E.), the site attained its maximum size during the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000–1600 B.C.E.) and became one of the largest cities in Canaan. But unlike other Canaanite cities that continued to flourish in the Late Bronze Age (1550-1200 B.C.E.), Tall el-Hammam was destroyed by fire at the end of the Middle Bronze Age and remained uninhabited for centuries.


Across Tall el-Hammam, archaeologists found widespread evidence of an intense conflagration that left the Middle Bronze Age city in ruins. They found scorched foundations and floors buried under nearly 3 feet of dark grey ash, as well as dozens of pottery sherds covered with a frothy, “melted” surface; the glassy appearance indicates that they were briefly exposed to temperatures well in excess of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the approximate heat of volcanic magma. Such evidence suggests the city and its environs were catastrophically destroyed in a sudden and extreme conflagration.

                                                                                                                                                                   

But this is not Sodom  but another city in that area.  It seems many cities were destroyed then.  Oh, volcanoes don't seem to be anywhere around there.


When men destroy there is still a spot to rebuild after a time.  And the marks of war remain.

When God destroys, the marks of His power remain.

It is essential that Babylon be destroyed before Jesus return.  I represents the entire world system.  It is the example of the Fallen Flesh epitomized in a city.  The system of kings and serfs is gone.  The system of capitalism dies with it.  The system of communism fades away.  Humanity's competition to do better than each other.  Magic, demonic, pointless, futile dies with her.  And God allows and angel to write her epitaph:

Re 18:21 And one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, So on an impulse the great city, Babylon, will be thrown down and not at all will be found any more.
 22 And the voice of harpers, and of musicians. and flutists, and of trumpeters will be heard no more at all in you. And every craftsman of any craft will not be found any more in you. And the sound of a mill will never more be heard at all in you.
 23 And the light of a lamp will never more shine at all in you. And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will never more be heard at all in you. For your merchants were the great ones of the earth; for by your sorceries all nations were deceived.
 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all those who were slain on the earth.
 (MKJV)

Now the city becomes nothing.  No one will every live there again.  No humans will be allowed to deceive humanity as ever again with the lust for power and riches and glory, all of which can't survive the grave.

God allowed her to exist to fulfill His goal of hardening hearts that would never receive Him anyway.  Now He has purged her excesses from the world and paved the way for His Son's arrival.


Re 19:1 And after these things I heard a great sound of a numerous crowd in Heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and honor and the power of the Lord our God!
 2 For true and righteous are His judgments. For He has judged the great harlot who defiled the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants out of her hand.

Recall those calling for God to act way back before the middle of the Tribulation.  Now they are satisfied that He has kept His word and I am amazed at his patience with us all.

 3 And secondly they said, Hallelujah! And her smoke rose up forever and ever.
 4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God sitting on the throne, saying, Amen! Hallelujah!
 5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all His servants, and the ones fearing Him, the small and great.
 6 And I heard as the sound of a great multitude, and as the sound of many waters, and as the sound of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns!

And we have that famed "foretaste of glory divine".  Once we are married, joined to Him by the Holy Spirit in an eternal relationship. we emerge into our Final Flesh.  Our old bodies were thrown off and the new became ours at the Rapture, but now.. now we are complete in our union and our flesh becomes like His.  Notice:

 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and we will give glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has prepared herself.

We have prepared ourselves.  As the Hebrew bride-to-be, we have studied the ways of our new family before we wed.  We have learned the customs, the rules of the family and the way the patriarch behaves.  Like the new Duchess in England, we are now entering into the things of our new family, our new life, guided by the female relative that trained us while we were in waiting, betrothed, while our beloved built us a place in his Father's land.

 8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.
 9 And he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God.

Th angel gives guidance and then we learn that this angel is not the Angel of the Lord whom we read about in Genesis, the one who accepted worship.  He is a fellow servant.  This is an interesting way of putting it.  He serves as we serve.  I wonder of this is someone from the future, a Christian leader, perhaps even John himself, come back to tell John what to say, to open his eyes to all this.  Or are the angels now considering us their equals and, if we have the Spirit of God in us, do they as well?  Or do they merely see us as servants as they are because the Spirit allows that? 

 10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, Stop! I am your fellow servant, and of your brothers who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Now consider that: the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.  If we have the testimony of Jesus we have the spirit of prophecy IN us.  IN US!  This is why prophecy speaks to us.  Why we read the Word and are stirred.  This is essential to understand.  If prophecy is speaking the Word of God and speaking it with understanding, we can all understand that: we can in fact all have that gift of prophecy Paul wished for us.  To understand the Word.  Our relationship with Jesus lets us understand His Word as a gift.  IF we choose to recognize it as the Word of God and if we choose to be walking in His Spirit over the worldly things of making a show of ourselves.  That last part is very hard to do.  Our Final Flesh calls and our Fallen Flesh translates and, yes, something gets lost in the translation, so we need to learn to speak the language ourselves over the lure of "our old man."



 11 And I saw Heaven opened. And behold, a white horse! And He sitting on him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness He judges and makes war.
 12 And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head many crowns. And He had a name written, one that no one knew except Himself.
 13 And He had been clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God.

This isn't the Jesus we expected.  No more "Lamb of God".   This is the Lion of Judah:


https://www.gotquestions.org/lion-tribe-Judah.html

lion of the tribe of Judah Question: "Who/what is the Lion of the tribe of Judah?"

Answer: The Lion of the tribe of Judah is a symbol found in Genesis and Revelation. In Genesis, Jacob blesses his son Judah, referring to him and his future tribe as a lion’s cub and a lion (Genesis 49:9). In Revelation, this symbol is seen again when the Lion of the tribe of Judah is declared to have triumphed and is worthy to open the scroll and its seven seals (Revelation 5:5). Jesus is the One who is worthy to open the scroll (see John 5:22). Therefore, Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

In Genesis, as Jacob blesses his children, he promises Judah that his brothers will praise him and that they will bow down to him. Jacob also tells Judah, “You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?” (Genesis 49:9). Jacob says that in the future the scepter and ruler’s staff will not depart from Judah “until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be His” (Genesis 49:10). This messianic prophecy points forward to the second coming of the Lord Jesus, the descendant of Judah who will rule the earth (Revelation 19:11–16).

Based on Jacob’s blessing, the lion is a symbol of the tribe of Judah, which is known as the kingly tribe (King David was of the tribe of Judah). Lions symbolize power, fierceness, and majesty. Lions are the king of the beasts, and the Lion of the tribe of Judah is the king of everything. In the Old Testament, God is sometimes described as being like a lion. In Isaiah 31:4, just “as a lion growls, a great lion over its prey—and though a whole band of shepherds is called together against it, it is not frightened by their shouts . . . so the LORD Almighty will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.” The Lord is not afraid of His enemies. He protects His people and does not allow them to be conquered. In Hosea, God is angry at Israel because they became proud and forgot Him. God says, “I will be like a lion to them. . . . like a lion I will devour them. . . . You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me, against your helper” (Hosea 13:7–8). It is better to experience the help and protection of the Lion than to deny His kingship and face His fierceness.

In Revelation 5, Jesus is the long-awaited Lion of the tribe of Judah. John weeps because no one was found worthy to open the scroll of God’s judgment or even to look inside it. Then one of the elders says to John, “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:4–5). Both of the genealogies in Matthew and Luke record that Jesus is a descendant of the tribe of Judah. When Jesus is revealed as the promised Lion of the tribe of Judah, it reveals His deity. He is the true king and the One to whom belongs the long-awaited obedience of nations. Yet it is not His fierceness or the force of His power that makes Him worthy. The Lion has triumphed because He became a Lamb (Revelation 5:6–10; cf. John 1:29). Jesus Christ is worthy because He lived a perfect, sinless life and in shedding His blood defeated sin and death. His death and resurrection have resulted in a protection for His people and an eternal kingdom that will honor and worship God. Ruling this kingdom will be Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

                                                                                                                                                                   

But we do have a promise the lion will lie down with the lamb.

Notice also that John mentions Jesus' name twice.  It is the foundation of his power in relationship to
God.  names in the bible reflect the character and destiny of the person with the name.  Jesus name is The Word of God, one we have learned to treasure and carry in our hearts by memory and by "feel."  A reference to our link to Him through the Spirit.  We don't know that name yet but we will ride with Him who bears it and we have eternity to understand completely the awe which will likely consume us then. 

 14 And the armies in Heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
 15 And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, so that with it He should strike the nations. And He will shepherd them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress of the wine of the anger and of the wrath of Almighty God.
 16 And He has on His garment, and on His thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

THAT is the description of the Lion of Judah that every Jew has waited to hear.

 17 And I saw one angel standing in the sun. And he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven, Come and gather together to the supper of the great God,
 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders, and the flesh of strong ones, and the flesh of horses, and those sitting on them, and the flesh of all, both free and slave, both small and great.
 19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, being gathered to make war against Him who sat on the horse, and against His army.

Now the bad guys have also been waiting.  They just don't know it.  All those gasses and grenades and missiles and guns and all the tools of war, from the jungle spear to the atom bomb, have been man searching for the thing that will kill God.  We do it daily, thousands of times, by taking the Lord's name in vain and all the wrongs we do.  Every sin can inflict a hurt on the one on  the Cross and on his Father.  Satan wants one last shot at the Big Guy.  Satan's the underdog here.  He's been trying to distill sin into one perfect weapon of death for the source of life and love.  He will always fail but that doesn't mean anything.  He will always try.  In the eternity of every day of life on this time bound planet, he will try to develop the one thing to kill God.  Until this last moment, this time overlooking a blood choked valley with storms raging and clouds being parted by the appearance of the eternal enemy.  Until looking up at an army of purified humans galloping toward the filthy, dying world they left behind.  Until he faces the truth that he has always denied.  Until he faces the true power of the Word he has always misused.

In Tolkien's novel where I borrowed the title of this post, the king and his "fellowship" do heady battle with the evil kingdom powered by Sauron, the Satan twin villain of the piece. It lasts for a good portion of the book.  Here, we see God's true take on all the battles and wars of Man.  We were always in it for the adrenaline rush, the glory of the fatherland, the thrill of victory over the agony of defeat.  We were always trying to prove we were bigger and stronger than the other guy.  Even when God won the battles for us, we kept ignoring that it was Him.  We praised Him in words and then told everyone how great WE were.  Even when we suffered a defeat like 9/11, we first went to God then rushed out to seek our revenge, but at the wrong target.  We always pick the wrong target unless God guides us.


 20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet doing signs before it, (by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast), and those who had worshiped his image. The two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire burning with brimstone.
 21 And the rest were slain by the sword of Him who sat on the horse, it proceeding out of His mouth. And all the birds were filled from their flesh.
 (MKJV)

No mounting up the forces, no sending the privates to their death while the Kings observe battle with their Balaams.  The same as  that false prophet's fate and his king's fate, doom eternal for those who battle God.  The Antichrist and his False Prophet are the first humans to go into that fate in the Lake of Fire.  And the human army instantly falls dead becoming bird food.  Their souls await their fate in Sheol, the holding place apart from God where the torture is worse because apparently Heaven is in  full view of the accursed.

And we can hear Isaiah 's promise in the distant past come back as a shout from the grave:

Isa 35:4 Say to those of a hasty heart, Be strong, fear not; behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the full dealing of God. He will come and save you.
 5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
 6 Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness waters shall break out, and streams in the desert.
 7 And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land shall become springs of water in the home of jackals, in its lair, and a place for the reed and rush.
 8 And a highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called, The Way of Holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. But He shall be with them; the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err in it.
 9 No lion shall be there, nor any beast of prey shall go up on it; it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there.
 10 And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy on their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
 (MKJV)

Though 19 ends here, one last bit of the victory business remains:

Re 20:1 And I saw an angel come down from Heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
 2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.
 3 And he cast him into the abyss and shut him up and set a seal on him, that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years should be fulfilled. And after that he must be loosed a little time.
 (MKJV)
  

Recall when Jesus trapped demons and sent them into pigs?  Refresher:

Luke 8:26 And they sailed down to the country of the Gadarenes, which is across from Galilee.
 27 And He going out onto land, He met a certain man out of the city, who had had demons a long time, and put on no clothes, nor stayed in a house, but among the tombs.
 28 And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell down before Him and said with a loud voice, What is to me and to You, Jesus, Son of God the Most High? I beseech You, Do not torment me!
 29 (For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had seized him. And he had been kept bound in chains and in fetters, and he broke the bands and was driven into the deserted places by the demons.)
 30 And Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said, Legion; because many demons had entered into him.
 31 And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss.
 32 And there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain. And they begged Him that He would allow them to enter into them. And He allowed them.
 33 And coming out of the man, the demons entered into the pigs. And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked.
 34 And those feeding the pigs, and seeing the thing, fled. And leaving, they reported to the city and to the farms.
 35 And they went out to see what had been done. And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had departed sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
 36 Also those who saw it told them how the demon-possessed one was healed.
 37 And all the multitude of the neighborhood of the Gadarenes were seized with a great fear, and asked Him to depart from them. And entering into the boat, He returned.
 38 And the man out of whom the demons had gone out begged Him, desiring to be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
 39 Return to your own house and declare what God has done to you. And he went his way and proclaimed throughout all the city what great things Jesus had done to him.
 (MKJV)


The abyss.  The fear of that haunted the demons, haunts them to this day and will for their eternity in it.

I know I mentioned some discussion of Zechariah and Jesus arrival here, but I want to wait a bit and this is already longer than intended.  I feel like a joke my father's old friend Clarence Long once told:  "When the minister takes off his watch and lays in on the lectren before the sermon, what does it mean?"  Most people reply that it means he is keeping track of how long he has gone so he can end in his allotted time.  The punch line: "Absolutely nothing."  We do go on.

Next time I will pause a bit to discuss that abyss.  I think it is one of the most telling aspects of science and the Word no one wants to touch.  It is also essential to understanding our Final Flesh and the nature of it.  And how it all relates to the Second Death.  And THEN we will return to  the completion of the Resurrection andt Zack and the Lord landing on the planet and what follows.  the physical victory arriving even as  He long ago won the Spiritual victory. 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN0OJGb2Pjg