Exit College, Enter the Working World

Working now takes most of my waking hours. Life just got that much busier. Goodbye free time, I will miss you!

Beasts & Dragons in Revelation I

Today we’ll outline the beasts and the dragon (as well as other main characters) to understand what is unique about each one. (Rev. 12-17)

What’s interesting in Revelation is the amount and depth of symbolism in John’s prophecies. Each character is symbolic of someone/something. From description surrounding them, we should be able to figure out who/what they are. This is a good book for mature believers to study, since it requires knowledge from the rest of the bible to understand.

In chapter 12, there are two main characters, the Woman, and the Dragon.

Ch. 12 – The Woman

• clothed with the sun, moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head
• pregnant, in pain and ready to give birth
• she gives birth to a son who will rule the nations with an iron scepter
• child is snatched up to God before the Dragon could devour it
• woman flees into the desert to a place prepared for her  by God, where she will be taken care of for 1,260 days

Ch. 12 – The Dragon – Satan

• enormous and red
• seven heads and ten horns
• seven crowns on each head
• his tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to earth
• stood in front of the woman to devour the child after it gave birth
• also known as the devil, ancient serpent and Satan
• loses a war in heaven against Michael and his angels and is hurled to earth along with his own forces, also angels
• pursues the woman
• spews water out of his mouth to drown the woman/sweep her away
• Dragon is enraged at the woman and goes off to make war against the rest her offspring–those who obey God and believe in Jesus

Ch. 13 – The Beast

• comes out of the sea
• ten horns and seven heads with ten crowns on his horns
• each head has a blasphemous name
• looked like a leopard, but had feet of a bear, and a mouth of a lion
• dragon gives the beast his power, throne and great authority
• one of the heads seemed to have a fatal wound, but the wound seemed to have been healed
• entire world is amazed and follows the beast
• they worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast
• beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies
• exercises his authority for 42 months
• blasphemes God and slanders his name
• given power to make war against the saints and conquer them
• given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation
• inhabitants of earth will worship the beast
• the beast’s number is 666

Ch. 13 – The Second Beast

• comes out of the earth
• two horns like a lamb, but speaks like a dragon
• exercised all the authority of the first beast
• made the earth and inhabitants worship the first beast
• performed great and miraculous signs
• deceived the inhabitants of the earth
• make them set up an image of the first beast
• given power to make the image speak
• caused everyone who didn’t worship the image to be killed
• forced everyone to receive a mark on his right hand or forehead
• no one could buy or sell without the mark (which is the name or number of the name of the beast

(continued in part II)

Tribulation, Revelation and the Saints

I was reading Revelation 13-14, and a few verses caught by eye:

“All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast–all whose names have not been written in the book o f life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.He who has ears, let him hear. If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he will go. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he will be killed. This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.“

- Revelation 13:8-10

“This calls for patient endureance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.“

- Revelation 14:12

And earlier:

“They [the saints] overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.“

- Revelation 12:11

In the back of my head, there has always been the question of whether Christians will be raptured pre-tribulation or post-tribulation (or during the tribulation). I will attempt to make sense of this for myself, and for you, good reader, leaving myself open to correction.

Of the passages that talk about the “end of times,” I know of: Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, so we’ll start there.  Before we start, why does this question matter to a believer? At the very core of the question of when the ra pture will take place is the question, “Will believers have to suffer tribulation?” The answer to that question will undoubtedly have a profound affect on how we view and live our lives.

(to be continued in part II…)

The Year of the LORD’s Favor

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn and to provide for those who grieve in Zion–to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

- Isaiah 61:1-3

It’s been about a year since my first and only post, but I was inspired to write something after reading this verse.

This is the same verse that Jesus read when he began his ministry. To break it down a bit, we see:

1. Spirit of God is on Jesus, because he has been anointed by God.

2. That anointing is to preach good news (the gospel) to the poor.

3. Jesus is sent to the brokenhearted, captives, prisoners, and to those who mourn.

Messiah (gr. Christos/Christ) is literally the “chosen one” or someone anointed for a particular task. Anointing is the process where oil is poured directly on the head of the person being anointed. In the Old Testament only kings, priests or prophets were ever anointed. Anointing signifies a “setting apart.” When Jesus came, he came as a fulfillment of not only prophecy, but the roles of priest, king, and prophet. He was all three.

What does this tell us about ourselves? We, being disciples of Christ and following in his footsteps are “sent” to the poor, the marginalized, the broken, the hurting, the outcasts of society. Notice how in Luke and Acts the types of people that are being healed, set free–the blind, lepers, demon possessed, the lame to name a few.

The gospel (good news) is for them! What’s the good news? Healing for the brokenhearted, freedom for prisoners, comfort for those that are mourning, and justice! How can the vengeance of God be good news? Because the vengeance of our God means justice for those treated unjustly, it is basically payback on the unjust. In other words, “God is going to fight for you!”

We see that we are sent as Christ’s ambassadors to bring healing and restoration. Being saved (gr. sozo) doesn’t just mean salvation, it means wholeness for the entire person. Does that include physical hurt? Yes! Does that include emotional hurt? Yes! Does that include relational hurt? Yes! Yes! Yes!

So in application to our lives…who should we be sharing the gospel with? Specifically people who are in dire need. I know everyone around us is in need, but those specifically needing God’s intervention are the ones who need to hear the good news the most! We need to listen for the “ashes” in other people’s lives and preach and demonstrate (not just talk about) the good news!

Merry Christmas!

Not every Christmas gift has to be expensive. I like to make my gifts–not because I’m cheap, but because most people I know already have everything they need. With a little creativity, a good picture and some photoshop, you can come up with something really unique (more on how to do this to come).

This one is for my roommate, Austin. Merry Christmas! DREAM BIG!

- doranmo isa