The Book of Revelation, what a prodigious mystery.
It's full of unimaginable images and symbols.
Therein are blessings for us who read, hear and keep its words.
Revelation is The Lord’s ‘battle plan’, that is what I see,
To re-assert His authority Adam gave to devils.
Heads-up:
It accents four ages of history, after the third!
Friends, its seals, trumpets and bowls judgments’ are best understood,
Within the broadest, strategic context possible.
Let’s perceive why The Lord, Who loves us soooo deeply,
Will be soooo wrathful against us, with harsh judgments assured,
Making life all across planet Earth soooo abysmal.
‘Why Revelation?’ Let us review that briefly.
Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden, transferred to satan,
‘Planetary Godship authority’ The Lord gave to him.
The transfer was time-limited, not permanent.
Of the 7 ages The Lord pre-determined for humans,
It’s only in 5 of them, satan would wear this diadem.
Revelation concludes with the two …abeyant.
These two are The Millennial Reign age, and eternity.
The Lord personally reserved these two ages for Himself,
So He'll be known the world over as, ‘The Lord God, Creator!’
Since the Millennial Reign age is the 5th in history,
There‘s a strategic need to put satan’s kingdom ‘on the shelf’,
To be restored for 'a little while' - he whom humans favor. 1
Just like any great and wise conqueror,
The Lord’s conquest of Godship authority,
Will be highly strategic, and well-targeted.
It comprises a focus on ‘key Earth factors’:
(1) Folks who will defect and join His great army;
(2) Earth’s environment; and (3) folks satan out-smarted.
Revelation carefully un-cloaks this strategy.
The Lord’s Church is the initial focus.
It then segues to environmental degradation,
By warfare and its cascading results, acutely.
Next are invasion tactics, audacious!
After His reign, satan is released, all life to cheapen.
The Book then transitions to the dispensation eternal,
Featuring new heavens, and a new Earth, with a scar --
The eternal lake of fire, burning with sulfur.
There, devils, sinners, death, and hades will be cast, terminal
While the righteous live forever, shining like the stars. 2
The contrasts can’t be more stark, though some folks demur. (Do you?)
The Lord promises unspecified blessings,
To us who read, hear and keep what’s written in this book. 3
Just knowing The Lord’s plans for us in this life and afterwards,
Helps us to avoid the trap of blind guessing,
And to recognize trends on which the world becomes hooked.
It helps us to avoid sin, and look forward to His rewards!
Key Judgment Events:
-The 4th seal represents the last days of the 3rd age of history (Church age), which is NoW;
-The 5th seal represents Heaven waiting for 4th age (tribulation) converts whom the anti-Christ will martyr;
-The 6th seal represents the 2nd coming of Jesus with His saints and angels to end the Ezekiel 38, 5-nation attack on Israel, which I refer to as the 1st War of Gog and Magog;
-The 7 trumpets judgments and the first 6 bowl judgments represent Jesus beginning His conquest of Earth; and
-The 7th bowl represents Jesus completing His conquest of Earth, and starting His Millennial Reign.
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1 See: Revelation 20:1-3
2 All devils and humans in the lake of eternal fire will be forever ALIVE and SENTIENT. I imagine all devils might also be in human form, joining their cohorts who, before the global flood, became humans and married women, per. Genesis 6:1-2, and who were locked away pending their final judgment in the eternal lake of fire, per 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6. An angel confirmed to Daniel that we, the righteous in Christ, 'will shine like the stars forever and ever'. John confirmed when we see Jesus, 'we shall be like Him', Him Who shone before 3 disciples on the mount of transfiguration! Are you ready for that??
3 See The Lord’s promises to those who read and keep the prophecies of this book.
(As an introductory summary, this poem is referenced
in my 3 series on Revelation)
