Tag Archives: prophecy

Revelation, chapters 20-22

“Now as soon as the 1,000 years have ended, Satan will be released from his prison, and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Maʹgog, to gather them together for the war.”
~Revelation 20:7,8

If nationalist divisions are done away with during Christ’s millennial reign, where do the nations comprising “Gog and Magog” come from? (Dan. 2:44; 7:13,14)
The “Gog and Magog” referred to in this passage is apparently different from the one in Ezekiel’s prophecy. (Eze. ch. 38 & 39)
Ezekiel’s prophecy seems to take place before Armageddon, in an attack headed by a coalition of nations otherwise known as “the wild beast” and the “false prophet.” (Rev. 16:13,14; 17:12-14)
But in John’s “Gog” prophecy, the wild beast has already been destroyed, and the one directly misleading the nations is Satan. (Rev. 20:10)
One way to explain there being nations ready to war against God at the end of Christ’s reign is to draw the conclusion that not all will accept God’s authority.
Satan, infuriated, will lure some away from God, influencing them to form new groups, like nations, that rule themselves and reject God’s heavenly king.
In this case, “Gog and Magog” is alluding to the original attack on God’s people before Armageddon, but literally refers to a second attack before a second, final war with God.
While this makes sense within the framework of our current understanding of these prophecies, it brings up another set of questions.
Why doesn’t John’s account have a more easily identifiable parallel account to that of Ezekiel’s?
What about Jeremiah’s parallel account? (Jer. 25:29-38)
Can it be referring to the first attack or the second?
Not all the prophets’ accounts about the last days cover the same details, and the details in Revelation are not in chronological order, so one can imagine the prophecies unfolding in different ways.
If I go out on an analytical limb here and imagine that both prophets’ Gog of/and Magog references occur at the end of the thousand-year reign, then I am forced to ask myself the same thing about Armageddon and the second, final war.
But at the end of chapter 19, the wild beast and false prophet are being destroyed as a result of Armageddon. (Rev. 19:15,19,20)
Satan is not destroyed then, but tied up for a thousand years, and then released. (Rev. 20:1-3)
This means that there undoubtedly is a second, final war, which lends support to the explanation that John’s “Gog and Magog” is a second attack, similar in nature to the first.

A work friend once asked me a question about what the Bible says on human suffering.
I replied, “I would need more than five minutes to explain it.”
Whenever I felt discouraged from studying or writing, I remembered that conversation and felt renewed commitment to this project.
Thank you to all my subscribers and casual readers over the last few years.
Because of you and God’s spirit I have been able to endure and strengthen my faith.
I did not intend this project to go on indefinitely.
That said, I am really looking forward to reading the newly translated Spanish New World Translation and sharing notes on that in Spanish on a future sister page.
There are parts of the Bible that beg more attention of me than others, and I hope to continue sharing insights from my personal study here on my own schedule.

Revelation, chapters 17-19

“And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who worship its image. While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulfur.” ~Revelation 19:20

How do we know the lake of fire alluded to in Revelation is symbolic?
The wild beast and the false prophet are not literal.
The wild beast represents governments in opposition to God’s heavenly kingdom, and the false prophet represents the Anglo-American world power that encourages people to place their hope in democracy. (Rev. 13:11-13; 16:13)
After this, the Devil, Death, and the Grave are also hurled into the lake of fire.
Death and the Grave are not people or literal things, and the Devil is a spirit creature immune to the physical effects of fire. (Rev. 20:10,14)
This means that the lake of fire must be entirely symbolic, used to illustrate complete destruction.

Revelation, chapters 10-12

“…When [the angel] cried out, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. Now when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice out of heaven say: ‘Seal up the things the seven thunders spoke, and do not write them down.'”
~Revelation 10:3,4


Who is represented by “the seven thunders”?
In other Bible passages, the sound of a thunderous voice is often times attributed to Jehovah. (Job 37:4,5; 40:9; Ps. 29:3; John 12:28,29)
The number seven is used figuratively to convey completeness. (Insight, “Numbers”)
So in this case, the “seven thunders” seem to allude to Jehovah speaking about the completion of his purpose.
This theory is encouraged by what the angel then declares to John: “There will be no delay any longer. But in the days when the seventh angel is about to blow his trumpet, the sacred secret that God declared as good news to his own slaves the prophets is indeed brought to a finish.” (Rev. 10:6,7)
But because John was not allowed to write down the announcement from “the seven thunders,” and then he was instructed to seal the blank scroll, one can only guess what Jehovah’s message was about.
In any case, it was not meant to be understood in our times.

Revelation, chapters 7-9

“[…] A great star burning like a lamp fell from heaven, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of waters. The name of the star is Wormwood.”
~Revelation 8:10,11

“And I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth, and the key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him.”
~Revelation 9:1

Is the star representing the same thing or spirit in both passages?
There are so many “star” references in Revelation that it comes in handy to have a list of how the word is used in other Bible passages.

Revelation continues the sequence of events by calling Jesus “Apollyon,” which means Destroyer. (Rev. 9:11)
Wormwood represents bitterness, and a message of destruction would be bitter to those about to be destroyed.
So at the risk of being completely wrong, it seems logical to me to infer that the stars in both passages refer to Jesus.
We can also take into account a parallel passage which explains that the rivers and springs became the blood of the holy ones and prophets being poured out in God’s anger. (Rev. 15:7; 16:1,4)
It is common to equate bitterness with anger.
It does not seem that God would use a demon to execute an act of justice, but rather, he would use Jesus, as he usually does.
Additionally, the passage goes on to say a third of the sun, moon and stars were darkened, that neither the day nor night might have any light in them. (Rev. 8:12)
This is obviously symbolic because a literal application would wipe out life as we know it.
But this symbolism is in stark contrast to the star that burns like a lamp in its descent.
The passage seems to compare Christ’s enlightened message denouncing those who have persecuted God’s people with the spiritual darkness that they now find themselves in.

Revelation, chapters 3-6

“[…] I saw underneath the altar the souls of those slaughtered […]. A white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little while longer, until the number was filled of their fellow slaves and their brothers who were about to be killed as they had been.”
~Revelation 6:9,11

After the four horsemen account, this passage says there are “souls” shouting out for justice. (Rev. 6:10)
God’s Word explains that someone’s soul, or person, is in their blood. (Lev. 17:11)
The imagery of a person’s blood calling for justice is not new. (Gen. 4:10)
And Christians who died before Christ’s second coming were actually dead and not lingering in some sort of afterlife. (1 Thess. 4:15,16)
If the “souls” shouting out for justice are representative of Christians’ shed blood, in what sense are they given white robes?
This chapter begins by dynamically describing Christ’s coronation and subsequent catastrophic events on earth. (Rev. 6:2-8)
Between then and the ‘number of fellow slaves being filled,’ there was a moment in which dead Christians who were meant to rule with Christ in heaven were raised and each granted a white robe.
They have been resurrected to immortality and the white robes symbolize their righteous acts. (Rev. 3:5; 19:8)
They “rest” in the sense that they must patiently wait for God’s judgment day before being allowed to avenge their deaths. (Rev. 7:3,4; Rev. 17:14)
So while initially the word “souls” represents the shed blood of loyal Christians, halfway through the passage it is referring to their resurrected selves.

Hebrews, chapters 1-3

“Look! I and the young children, whom Jehovah gave me.”
~Hebrews 2:13

This passage is a quote from the book of Isaiah, in which the prophet and his children were to serve as “signs” to the people of Judah. (Is. 8:18)
But the prophet foreshadowed Christ’s role as a means to salvation from death. (Heb. 2:14,15)
His “children” are the annointed members of the Christian congregation who are to rule in heaven with him. (Gal. 3:29; Heb. 2:16)
They serve as signs to us when they proclaim God’s kingdom message of justice. (Luke 4:18,19)
The tenderness with which Jesus views his brothers and sisters upon calling them “children” inspires one to draw closer to his congregation.

Mark, chapters 15 & 16

“And the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom.”
~Mark 15:38

Jehovah’s spiritual temple arrangement to replace the physical temple of animal sacrifices began upon Jesus’ anointing during his baptism three and a half years before his death. (Heb. 5:5; 10:5)
At that time, the heavenly “Holy of Holies” was set up for Jesus to later enter and present himself before Jehovah’s throne as high priest. (Da. 9:24; Heb. 6:20; 8:2; 9:24)
But Jesus could not enter in the flesh. (1 Cor. 15:50)
Therefore, the literal curtain being torn illustrates how the barrier holding Jesus back from entering the heavenly Holy of Holies was removed upon the death of his fleshy body.
The removal of that barrier also opened the way for others who were later anointed to be able to enter heaven. (Acts 2:33; Heb. 4:14-16)

Matthew, chapters 27 & 28

“Again Jesus called out with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.”
~Matthew 27:50

Jesus struggled to stay alive until all prophecies relating to his earthly life had been fulfilled, including the one in which he would be given vinegar during distress. (Ps. 69:21; John 19:30)
By yielding up his spirit, he willingly let himself expire.
He carried out his commission thoroughly even during the most painful and humiliating moment of his life, until it was time to let go of it.
Sometimes we may want to give up on life when our bodies still have a decent amount of living in them.
Jesus’ example shows me that it’s important to see things through to completion, not losing focus of God’s purpose, even on darker days.

Matthew, chapter 24

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away.”
~Matthew 24:35

Are Jesus’ words to be taken literally?
The Bible teaches God made the earth to last forever. (Ps. 37:29; Is. 45:18)
In a previous similar statement, Jesus said: “It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to go unfulfilled.” (Luke 16:17)
Jesus was not alluding to a future destruction of the physical universe.
Rather, he was making reference to the opposite.
He was using the permanent nature of the physical world to illustrate how certain the fulfillment of his prophecies is.
In other passages, the phrase “heaven and earth” actually refers to government and mankind. (2 Pet. 3:13)
Jesus was speaking in the context of a coming judgment day, like the one that came through the deluge in the times of Noah. (Matt. 24:37)
Since his kingdom is going to thereafter rule over humans deemed righteous, the current heaven and earth will have come to pass in a symbolic sense. (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:19-21)

Zechariah, chapters 1-8

“Here is the man whose name is Sprout. […] He is the one who will build the temple of Jehovah, and he is the one who will assume the majesty. He will sit down on his throne and rule, and he will also be a priest on his throne […].”
~Zechariah 6:12,13

In most forms of government, it makes more sense to have a separation of church and state.
Otherwise it becomes too easy for those who hold power to commit crass abuse.
But Bible prophecies point toward a Messiah who would rule both as king and high priest.
In the history of Israel, no leader ever carried out both functions.
The only person apt for such weighty duties is Christ. (Ge. 14:18; Ps. 110:1,4; Heb. 7:11-25)
Jesus is the only being who has the necessary experience, wisdom and power to reconcile us with God and rule in justice.