Feast of Trumpets message: Revelation 11-13 and the universal battle of truth vs. lies
Chiastically undergirded.
I: a feast of answers to unearth
Today is 2025’s Feast of Trumpets (shofars), the fifth out of Jehovah’s seven annual feasts listed in Leviticus 23:1
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, an holy convocation. Ye shall do no servile work therein: but ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.
As I explained of this direct and also related topics in a few, brief previous postings…
…obviously type has transferred to antitype as a result of the Lord Jesus Christ’s crucifixion and universal atonement for human sin on the cross, the corollary being that the Mosaic Law remains intact2 in its God-ordained character yet is changed due to the priesthood shift from the typical Levites to antitypical Messiah,3 a.k.a. its exact implications for keeping its ordinances undergo what you can more or less deem for analogically explanatory purposes a “version update,” if that makes sense.
Let’s briefly look at the divinely ordained criteria for the Feast of Trumpets as recorded in that brief Leviticus passage:
sabbath rest and holy convocation—same baseline orientation as the weekly 7th-day Sabbath4—biblical teachings are relatively straightforward5
blowing of trumpets (shofars)
offering an offering made by fire unto Yahweh
The meaning of trumpets
The second and third components need a bit of dissection, because obviously the literal blowing of shofars in the Mosaic Old Testament type served as a shadow6 for the better,7 completed fulfillment. Is there any value in merely blowing a trumpet for sake of producing a loud noise if there is no substantive purpose to it? Obviously not! Blowing a trumpet is intended to sound an alarm and evoke alertness for a reason. In antitype, to blow a trumpet means proclaiming a truth-grounded message of warning to the inhabitants of the planet preaching what is to come, exhorting listeners to take heed and prepare accordingly. This connection was already hinted in the Old Testament—for instance, the Book of Jeremiah:8
O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction.
And in the condemnation of Babylon:9
Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. And they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate for ever, saith the LORD. Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet among the nations, prepare the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashchenaz; appoint a captain against her; cause the horses to come up as the rough caterpillers. Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion. And the land shall tremble and sorrow: for every purpose of the LORD shall be performed against Babylon, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without an inhabitant.
Ezekiel the Prophet also relayed the commandment of the God of Hosts—the providentially appointed watchman who possesses the responsibility to blow the trumpet when a sword is brought upon the land will be held responsible for the loss of lives if anyone perished as a result of no trumpet being blown to warn them, but will not be held responsible for loss of life if he blew the trumpet to sound the alarm and the individual who heard the sounding deliberately chose to shirk all heed.10
The trumpet is not the end but merely the means: the fundamental biblical purpose therefore of the Feast of Trumpets is to annually commemorate the side of God’s just dealings with humanity emphasizing judgment.
Fire-produced offerings
According to the Epistle to the Hebrews, quoting a passage from Deuteronomy, “our God is a consuming fire.”11 In the second half of Malachi (yes, it comprises the second at-large chiasm of the book12), the beginning pericope states:
Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of Hosts.
But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Then shall the **offering** of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of Hosts.
Did you pay attention? I emboldened the anchoring points for you! The two defining “proprietary” features of the Feast of Trumpets—1) sounding a trumpet (associated with judgments and condemnations of the planet’s sin) and 2) offerings—are hinted in this Malachi passage. An offering made by fire is one that is the fruit of God’s work, because Jesus is the vine and the branches13—representing Christ’s followers—can only bear the fruit of God if empowered by the salvation of God.14
In the sacrificial context, literal offerings were fulfilled at Calvary and thereby ended permanently in the application of necessitated human action.15 That said, in the broader antitypically specified application of sacrifices, Paul the Apostle said:16
By [Jesus] therefore let us **offer** the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
II: Rev. 11-13—cosmic controversies
A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, he will plead with all flesh; he will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD.17
Here is a highly simplified overview of the at-large chiasm of the Book of Revelation spanning the entire letter18:
A (1): the “alpha” (beginning) section
B (2-3): seven promises to the seven churches
C (4-11): sevenfold manifestations of God’s actions, historical
D (12): God’s salvation redeeming His people from Satan’s grips
C (13-19): sevenfold manifestations of God’s actions, eschatological
B’ (20:1-22:5): fulfillment of the seven promises
A’ (22:6-21): the “omega” (concluding) section
Let’s zoom in closely a little bit!
…
C.i (4-6): benediction to Yahweh and seven seals
C.ii (7-9): 144,000 and blowing of trumpets
C.iii (10-11): 42-month tribulation
D.a (12:1-2): the woman19 pregnant with her child
D.b (12:3-6): 1,260 (prophetic) days
D.c (12:7-9): dragon cast from heaven to earth
D.d (12:10-12): message of universal salvation
D.c’ (12:13): dragon cast to the earth
D.b’ (12:14-16): time, times, and half a time20
D.a’ (12:17): the remnant of the woman’s seed keeps God’s law
C’.iii’ (13): 42-month tribulation
C’.ii’ (14-16): 144,000 and pouring of plagues
C’.i’ (17-19): benediction to Yahweh and Second Coming
…
Since our primary focus in Revelation today is on ch. 11-13, let’s magnify the lens.
Pt. I: at-large χίασμα (‘chiasma’)/menorah shaft—exposition of ch. 12
The centrality of the Book of Revelation—what is designated “chapter 12”—shines the raison d’être for all of God’s dealings with His creation: on a planet riddled with the corruption of sin all around and about and where each individual cognitively matured person makes a personal decision who and what they will obey, there is manifested a Savior offering a way out of the abyss of perdition for everyone, and the faithful perseverance of God’s righteous people are highlighted.
D.a: the opening vision
It begins with this “great wonder in heaven”:21
…a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.
What do these symbols mean? Here is a rough overview:
sun = sun of righteousness,22 a.k.a. Jesus Christ, the brightness of God the Father’s glory23
moon = lesser light24—just as the literal moon can only reflect the light from the physical sun, so too all the light shown by the spiritual moon is merely a reflection of the light emanating from the spiritual sun; the light of the world is Jesus Christ25; in at least a loose analogical sense, think of the relationship between sun and moon as akin to husband and wife26
12 stars = 12 angels—this is defined previously in Revelation27; angels are simply messengers, which means the 12 stars are 12 messengers; it is likely in reference to the 12 Apostles28
child (in this specific vision) = the Messiah, a.k.a. Jesus Christ29
pained to be delivered = tumult in God’s people preceding the fulfillment30
D.b: introduction of the adversary
Another wonder appears in heaven:31
…and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.
The identification of the dragon is made known just a few verses later. To go over the symbolic rest of this passage:
seven heads and ten horns = attributes of the first beast—just as Jesus is the image of the Father’s person, so too the Antichrist power a structural reflection of its father the devil
stars of heaven = the angels of heaven
rod of iron = God’s authority32
1,260 days = 1,260 literal years (because in prophetic symbolism, a prophetic day is fulfilled in a literal year33), fulfilled from 538-1798 A.D.
D.c: heavenly war
The focal point once again shifts:34
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.
As you just read, the great dragon is the same entity as the old serpent, both symbols for the notorious individual known as Satan. Note that this pericope concludes with the following: “he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” The angels cast out here are the same 1/3 stars of heaven cast to the earth as mentioned in the previous subsection.
Who is Michael?
First off, let’s find the parallel mentions of this mysterious being: in the Book of Daniel, the angel Gabriel tells the prophet:35
But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.
And in the penultimate concluding message to Daniel:36
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
We pick up here an important clue: Michael is the great prince. Let’s continue searching. In Jude’s epistle, the apostle states:37
Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
Aha, an important second clue here! Michael is listed as the archangel, and someone who speaks with the authority of the Lord. The term archangel does not simply mean someone who is an angel in the same category as the angels of heaven who were created beings, but rather the head or captain of the angels. When Joshua was by Jericho, he worshiped the captain of the host of Jehovah:38
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Yes, the same command given to Moses at the burning bush, where the Angel of Yahweh spoke with the full authority of Yahweh as none other than God Himself.39 In Revelation, John the Apostle twice falls down mistaken to worship an angelic being apart from God, and is promptly rebuked, being told to worship God only.40
Why was not Joshua instantly rebuked for worshiping the captain of the host? Because the captain of the host is none other than God Himself! That individual is the same being as the archangel, because the host of heaven is the angelic host. The official title of God is The LORD of Hosts.41 The archangel is the head of the angels, and therefore is the captain of the host of heaven.
Still need some slam-dunk proof? Here it is!
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.” —John 5:25
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” —I Thessalonians 4:16-17
Both passages refer to the same future resurrection of all the righteous, where the voice of Jesus Christ will awaken them unto eternal life. In his earthly dialogue with the Jews (Judeans), Jesus said that He as the Son of God will sound the cry unto life, while Paul the Apostle in his first letter to the church of Thessalonica said that Christ shall shout with the voice of the archangel. Yes, the voice of Michael the Archangel.
The name Michael in the Biblical Hebrew bluntly means “who is like God?” So then: could it not be more self-evident—per biblical parallelism—that Michael was the name ascribed to Jesus pertaining to His preincarnate nature?
D.d: universal hope unto redemption
This passage is truly the very center of Revelation:42
And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.
Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.
The sea is of course a symbol for the nations—the account of creation in Genesis describes the sea as the collection of the waters in literal terms, and waters symbolically are defined in Revelation itself as an imagery alluding to peoples, nations, multitudes, and tongues.43 We have in addition this striking parallel between Daniel and Revelation:
“And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel: then I lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like in colour to polished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.” —Daniel 10:4-6
“And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; and his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.” —Revelation 1:13-15
It is very plain from the parallel descriptions that both visions refer to the same individual—you can probably guess who. The Daniel description concludes that the voice of that person’s words are like the voice of a multitude while John in Revelation says it’s as the sound of many waters. IOWs, “waters” as a biblical symbol is synonymous with literal multitudes.
D.c’: the heavenly war spills over
The verse reads:44
And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.
Very straightforward: once Satan was cast onto the earth, where he walks to and fro traversing up and down in,45 he directed his wrath against God’s covenant people. The faithful adherents in the ancient Jewish nation, whose Judahite lineage brought forth the Messiah, and their 1st-century disciples in the early Christian church moving onwards, were targeted by the devil all along into this day.
D.b’: God delivers His people from the devil
Per the passage:46
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
The reference to a great eagle hearkens back to the Exodus and its memory:47
And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
“Time, times, and half a time” refers to the same span of 1,260 days. Cf. footnote #20.
What does a flood symbolically refer to? Well, you read above (you are reading all of this, aren’t you?) that waters represent multitudes, and therefore a flood of waters represents the rushing of nations and multitudes in a violent conflict. During the 1,260 years of papal persecution (in addition to a certain extent—albeit not to the same brutal level—of hegemonic repression of apostolic-reformist dissenters in the eastern Russian Orthodox realm, because both legs of statue are of iron48), God’s faithful people within a corrupted church found safe haven-refuge in a number of countries all over the world.
The earth of course is God’s footstool;49 therefore it does what God uses it for.
D.a’: faithfulness of God’s remnant people
Herein is the conclusion of the chiasm’s menorah shaft:50
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Very straightforward to comprehend so long as you understood the aforementioned symbolic expositions in this chapter.
Lexically piecing the central pericopal chiasm together
D.a (12:1-2): “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: and she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.”
D.b (12:3-6): “And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born. And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.”
D.c (12:7-9): “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.”
D.d (12:10-12): “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.”
D.c’ (12:13): “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.”
D.b’ (12:14-16): “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.”
D.a’ (12:17): “And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Pt. II: parallelism between ch. 11 and 13
Let’s now shift the focus onto the immediate surrounding chapters. I intend on explaining this analysis in greater detail sometime in the near future (as much as I enjoy typing Bible studies, this posting is already lengthily comprehensive), and so this section simply covers a more surface-level basic overview.
Ch. 11—exposing the empire’s ‘left’ face
To summarize:
11:1-2: John is given a reed like unto a rod to measure a certain temple (not a literal temple building, but rather God’s people, because the Temple is Jesus’s body and God’s people become part of that spiritual Temple51), which will be trampled by “the Gentiles”52 (referring to all those not following God, not to “literally ethnic” non-Jews) for a symbolic 42 months (yes, 1,260 days)
11:3-4: God will empower two witnesses, which are two candlesticks and two olive trees—the two candlesticks are two churches,53 and the oil from the olive trees represent fueling regeneration of the everlasting fire heralded by the two menorahs
11:5-6: the two witnesses possess the power to (symbolically) unleash fire (which, remember represents God—it is therefore the preaching of God’s oracles, both gospel and judgment) from their mouths devouring their enemies, and shut heaven to prevent rain in that span of 1,260 days/42 months a.k.a. a symbolic 3½ years, just as Elijah the Tishbite announced a pause of rain for a literal 3½ years in what biblically typified the 1,260 years54
11:8-10: following the conclusion of the two witnesses’ testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will murder them, their dead bodies lying on the street of the great city—spiritually called Sodom and Egypt—while the planet’s multitudes are celebrating
11:11-14: the spirit of life from God resurrects the two witnesses after 3½ days as the multitudes are bewildered and abased, and in the same hour there is a great earthquake as the second out of three woes is over
Here, on the left side of the at-large chiasm (since it is situated before the centrality of the book, ch. 12), we find the left-facing description the antichrist power: the beast is listed as ascending out of the bottomless pit, emerging as the fruit of chaos, anarchy, and disorder. Its spiritual connotation is Sodom and Egypt, representing libertine aptitudes for licentiousness and hyper-individualistically determined moral standards (really, the lack thereof).
Let’s now check the other side of the coin.
Ch. 13—Universal Janus’s ‘right’ face, also exposed
The first half of Revelation 13 is structured as a—yes!—chiasm:
a (13:1-2): And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.”
b (13:3-4): “And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?”
c.I (13:5a): “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies;”
c.II (13:5b): “and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.”
d (13:6): “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.”
c’.I (13:7a): “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them:”
c’.II (13:7b): “and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”
b’ (13:8): “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
a’ (13:9-10): “If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.”
Here we find a description of the beast as a right-wing authoritarian and hierarchical power bestowed a prowess-enforced façade of legitimacy. It is here described as ascending out of the sea, and its physical attributes are articulated in tremendous detail, paralleling the descriptions found in Daniel 7.
Parallelism—left and right sides of the same coin
Some commonly fall for the fallacious assumption that Revelation 11’s beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit is a completely different exact entity/manifestation than the beast in Rev. 13. That assumption is false—the parallelism proves my point:
11:1-2 ↔ 13:1-6 (a-d): 42 (prophetic) months of harrowing persecution (anchor points in 11:2b and 13:5b)
11:3-8 ↔ 13:7a (c’.I): making war against and overcoming God’s people (anchor point on the left side is 11:7)
11:9 ↔ 13:7b (c’.II): kindreds, tongues, and nations
11:10 ↔ 13:8 (b’): they that dwell on the earth
11:11-14 ↔ 13:9-10 (a’): divine punishment (thematic parallel implied)
If you paid attention closely, it was evident that the parallelism’s division of Rev. 13:1-10 neatly divided the text into lining up perfectly with the specified nested-chiastic divisions of that pericope.
The takeaway is very simple: in earthly conflicts, there is no such thing as a “‘pure’ left vs. right battle”—it’s just the left and right faces of a brazenly singular Universal Janus beast conglomerate hounding down and slaughtering the righteous over and over.
Conclusion
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.55
The first beast of Revelation 13 is the empirical power structure of Rome, and the mark of the beast is the mark of man-centered Roman authority. Rome has claimed, “Sunday is our mark of authority”—the mark of the beast therefore is a culminating International Sunday Imposition Law/Statute mandated on every person. This is connected to the empirical purposes of genocidal Zionism related to the False Prophet, and I hinted the full connection over here:
Now, what is the mark/seal of God? The Torah provides a clear answer:56
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a ***sign*** between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.
Ezekiel the Prophet relayed the words of Yahweh:57
And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them.
I am the LORD your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them; and hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God.
The “sabbaths” mentioned here is plural: it refers to both the weekly sabbath and the annual sabbath days (feast days), mentioned in their fullness in Leviticus 23. To love God is to keep His commandments,58 and God’s people in Revelation are sealed. What is that seal exactly? Paul in his final letter provides an answer:59
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
You either acknowledge the supreme eternal dominion of the living God by keeping His ordained sabbath days to acknowledge the seal of His authority and the grasped fulfillment of His providentially ordained salvation for all of mankind through His Son Jesus Christ, or you subscribe to the false deity of man-made idolatry (a.k.a. an abomination) by following the dictates of the New World Order’s agenda and keeping the false Sunday “sabbath.” There is no fenceriding utopian third alternative—once the NWO fully manifests, you will—if still alive—either pick one or the other.
For the love of money is the root of **all evil**: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.60
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and money.61
Which master will you serve, the Father of Lights62 and the Son at His right hand,63 or the father of lies64 (a.k.a. the god of this world65) and his son of perdition66?
As my old middle school principal would say, the choice is yours.
Lev. 23:23-25.
Matt. 5:17-18—the (first) heaven (Rev. 21:1) don’t pass away and depart as a scroll (Rev. 6:14) until at the Second Coming (II Pet. 3:8), proving the Mosaic Law is until then fully intact in binding relevance upon God’s people of the New Covenant.
Heb. 7:12.
Lev. 23:3.
Isa. 58:13-14; Mk. 2:23-28.
Cf. Col. 2:16-17; Heb. 8:4-5, 10:1-4.
Cf. Heb. 7:19-22, 8:6-13, 9:23-28, 11:32-40, 12:22-24.
Jer. 6:1.
Jer. 51:25-29.
Ezek. 33:1-20; cf. 3:16-21, 18:23-32.
Heb. 12:29; cf. Deut. 4:24, 9:3.
Are you reading these footnotes and letting the additional kernels of shared truth edify and increase your spiritual stature? If so, extra awesome for you, and continue the high-quality diligence—here’s a peak at the second chiasm of the Book of Malachi:
A.i (3:1): Yahweh will send His messenger
A.ii (3:2-4): fiery refining unto spiritual purity
A.iii (3:5-6): judgment against the godless wicked
B (3:7): divine exhortation to return to the LORD of Hosts
C (3:8-9): [human inquiry followed by divine answer]
D (3:10-12): central exhortation unto redemptive promise
C’ (3:13-15): [human inquiry followed by divine answer]
B’ (3:16-18): returning and discerning righteousness from wickedness
A’.iii’ (4:1-3): punishment of the godless wicked
A’.ii’ (4:4): command to remember the Mosaic Law
A’.i’ (4:5-6): Yahweh will send Elijah the Prophet
Cf. Rom. 11.
Jn. 15:1-8; cf. Matt. 7:15-20; Mk. 11:12-14; Lk. 13:6-9; Jn. 12:24; Rom. 6:20-22, 7:4-5; Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 5:9; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:10; Heb. 12:6-11; Jas. 3:17-18.
Heb. 10:5-10.
Heb. 13:15-16.
Jer. 25:31.
Yes, the “Book” of Revelation is technically a letter—it was compiled by John the Apostle on the island of Patmos, cir. 95-96 A.D. while in Roman-ordered exile, and directly addressed as a unified message at the time to the seven churches of Asia Minor.
What is a woman? Cf. Eph. 5:22-33.
Cf. Dan. 7:25; time = year, times = 2 years, and “dividing of time” = 1/2 year—therefore, “time, times, and half a time” = 3½ years, and from the biblical standpoint that a year is 360 days, 360 × 3½ = 1,260.
Rev. 12:1-2.
Mal. 4:2.
Heb. 1:1-4.
Cf. Gen. 1:16.
Jn. 8:12.
Cf. Gen. 37:9-10; I Cor. 11:7.
Rev. 1:20.
Cf. Rev. 21:14.
Cf. Gen. 3:15.
Cf. Jer. 6:24; Mic. 4:8-10; Jn. 16:19-22; Gal. 4:19-20.
Rev. 12:3-6.
Ps. 2:9; Rev. 19:15.
Num. 14:34; Ezek. 4:6b.
Rev. 12:7-9.
Dan. 10:21.
Dan. 12:1-3.
Jud. 8-10.
Josh. 5:13-15.
Ex. 3.
Rev. 19:10, 22:8-9.
Jer. 50:34.
Rev. 12:10-12.
Rev. 17:15.
Rev. 12:13.
Job 1:6-7, 2:1-2.
Rev. 12:14-16.
Ex. 19:3-4.
Cf. Dan. 2:33.
Isa. 66:1; Matt. 5:34-35.
Rev. 12:17.
Jn. 2:21; cf. Zech. 6:9-15.
Cf. Lk. 21:24.
Cf. Rev. 1:20.
Jas. 5:17-18.
Ecc. 12:13-14.
Ex. 31:12-14.
Ezek. 20:11-12, 19-20.
Jn. 14:15; I Jn. 2:3-4.
II Tim. 2:19.
I Tim. 6:10.
Lk. 6:13; cf. Matt. 6:24.
Jas. 1:17.
Mk. 14:62; Matt. 26:64; Lk. 22:69; Acts 7:56.
Jn. 8:44; cf. I Jn. 3:8.
Cf. II Cor. 4:4.
II Thess. 2:3.
Though I'm not religiously inclined, this was a good examination!
🤣