Category Archives: End of this universe

Which Jerusalem? Part III of III

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I think it is fair to say that most of the references in Scripture to Jerusalem are about Jerusalem of this present earth. That is to say,

“Jerusalem that exists now,” Gal 4:25 WEB

But when you read prophecy you must ask,
“Of which Jerusalem does
the prophet speak?”

Some are obvious, while others are not as clear.

It is true that there are some incredible things yet to happen with Jerusalem that now exists. Zechariah prophesied during the first return from exile (around 520 BC, Zech 1:1), in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Seemingly speaking of what Paul calls “Jerusalem that now exists,” Zechariah sees a day when,

““… ‘Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’””
Zech 1:17 WEB

In context he seems to speak of present Jerusalem. He speaks of it as an abundantly prosperous city, Zech 2:4, and a city faithful to God,

“I will strengthen them in Yahweh;
And they will walk up and down in his name,” says Yahweh.”
Zech 10:12 WEB

That clearly has not happened YET! Zechariah clearly pictures ALL the families of Israel (Zech 12:14) being converted to “ to me whom they have pierced;” Zech 12:10 WEB, and in Zechariah 13. This is spoken in Scripture as bringing a world revolution of righteousness (something Mystery Babylon deeply dreads). Paul says of those times.

“Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? ”
Rom 11:12 WEB

So some incredible good things are yet to happen with present Jerusalem.

But Peter says this present universe will vanish.

“… the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth … will be burned up.”
2Pe 3:10

He goes on to say “we look for new heavens and a new earth in which dwells righteousness.” 2Pe 3:13 WEB.

So when it says in Isaiah 65,

“17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. 18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.”
Isa 65:17-18 WEB

… in context, the “Jerusalem” in Isa 65:17 is part of that “Jerusalem that is above” of Gal 4:26, and part of the new universe, the “new heavens and a new earth” of 2Pe 3:13.

The “never again”/ “no more” / “neither … any more,” and
all the “forever” sort of passages

are all about “Jerusalem” above, and what we call “heaven.”

So when the prophet David says of Jerusalem, “I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they … be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as at the first,”
2Sam 7:10 WEB

The prophet really speaks of heaven here. Only heaven is “forever.”

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Which Earth is This About? Part III of III

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Some passages of course will not allow us to be dogmatic, or they may allow for a double meaning in the passage. When one person, place, thing, or event in a passage is symbolic of another person, place, thing, or event; then the text may go back and forth between the two subjects will no clear line of division.

A good example is 2Sam 7:12-16, a clear double
meaning in prophecy.

This passages speaks of both Solomon according to 2Kgs 8:17-20, and also it speaks of Jesus according Heb 1:5. Parts of this passage apply only to Solomon, and parts apply only to Jesus, and much of the prophecy applies to both, but in different ways. Similarly, Matthew 24 talks about both the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, and the end of the world, and Jesus goes back and forth talking about both subjects! See a fuller discussion of both subjects in Prophecy Principles.

Sometimes it is harder to be dogmatic.

Prophecy Principles deals in detail with both 1Sam 7:12-16 and Matthew 24.

So lets just take part of Psalm 21 as an exercise in interpretation. It is a short psalm of only 13 verses. According to the preamble it is by David and is about “The King” verse 1. I take it be about the Great King, Jesus the Christ. It talks about some who hate “the King.”

“Your hand will find out all of your enemies.
Your right hand will find out those who hate you.”
Psa 21:8 WEB

Let us note particularly “the earth” in verse 10.

“You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
Their posterity from among the children of men.”
Psa 21:10 WEB

It easily could be taken to be speaking of this present earth. Many nations have completely disappeared from this present earth, and I am not just talking about Sodom and Gomorrah. Thus it could be talking about those things where God raises up nations and then because of their sins, puts them down.

But look at the context.

The previous verse talks about how he will destroy their descendants

“You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger.
Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath.
The fire shall devour them.”
Psa 21:9 WEB

What does that sound like? You might try to call this a great deal of hyperbole (as many liberals might), or it seems to describe final judgement when Jesus comes in flaming fire (2Thes 2:9-11)!

So what is the “earth” from which their
descendants are destroyed?

On a basis of what we have examined I think it would easy to make the case for their descendants never to live in “the new earth” to come. That would fit the context as we have examined it, especially if we apply this psalm to the Messiah, the Great King.

And some prophecies talk of good things yet
to come in this world,

and in the world to come. Misunderstandings here have caused some to take prophecies of heaven (“the new heavens and the new earth”), and apply them to this present earth, and so come up with a heaven on earth which will never be!

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Which Earth is This About? Part II of III

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In a passage in which we might not even suspect what the intention of the author really is, the author of Hebrews, says,

“For he didn’t subject the world to come, whereof we speak, to angels.”
Heb 2:5 WEB

The word world here is a word for the inhabited world (oikomen?). Of course most of the references to “earth” are of this present earth, with absolutely no doubt as to its meaning.

“God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, …”
Gen 1:24 WEB

Or many other passages.

On others usages we might have to think a while.

Jesus says,

“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? …”
Mtt 5:13 WEB

It does seem to speak of this present earth. Also in the very next verse He says,
“You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill can’t be hidden.”
Mtt 5:14 WEB

Again it seems to speak of our present world. But then let’s look at an earlier verse.

“Blessed are the gentle,
For they shall inherit the earth.”
Mtt 5:5 WEB

Now of which earth is Jesus speaking? In one sense it seems to apply to this present world, and passages like,

“For such as are blessed by him shall inherit the land. Those who are cursed by him shall be cut off.”
Psa 37:22 WEB

This indicates the wicked have a tendency to die off, and those God favors end up living on. All of which is true in a general sense, however there are many senses in this world when the gentle do NOT seem to inherit everything. And Jesus clearly asserts that this present universe will pass away.

“For most assuredly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished.”
Mtt 5:18 WEB

So when you have prophecies of the “earth”
you may have questions to ask.

Often times the context will clearly give the answer. We clearly know, if we are attuned to Scripture at all, that this present earth will NOT last forever.

“10 And,
“You, Lord, in the beginning, laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the works of your hands.
11 They will perish, but you continue.
They all will grow old like a garment does.
12 As a mantle you will roll them up,
And they will be changed;
But you are the same.
Your years will not fail.””
Heb 1:10-12 WEB

So when we have a long passage like Isaiah 24 which talks of the earth being laid waste Isa 24:1, and being polluted Isa 24:5, and then it says,

“The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and … shall fall, and not rise again.”
Isa 24:20 WEB

Well then we can be pretty sure is speaking the final end of this present earth.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The World in Prophecy: A World to Come

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The word ai?n of age is also used of the age to come, the world to come, forever.

Ai?n is often used in the sense of forever

“ … For yours is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’”
Mtt 6:13 WEB

Or again when Jesus warns of speaking evil of the Holy Spirit of God, He says,

“but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”
MK 3:29 WEB

That is to say, that is a sin that lasts into the age of the ages. Similarly, of Jesus it was said.

“and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his kingdom.”
Lk 1:33 WEB

There will be an End to this Present Age

That was described the last post on “The World in Prophecy: This World will Pass Away.” In the parable of the tares/weeds in Matthew 13, Jesus says,

“The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.”
Mtt 13:39 WEB

So also He says.

“As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.”
Mtt 13:40 KJV

Matthew 24 is among other things, in part about the end of this world, this age of wickedness.

“ … the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?””
Mtt 24:3 WEB

And there is a world to come

“Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.”
Mtt 12:32 WEB

When in Hebrews chapter one the author describes man finally achieving rulership over ALL things, says,

“For he didn’t subject the world to come, whereof we speak, to angels.”
Heb 2:5 WEB

No, it is to be subject to forgiven and saved and glorified mankind. There is an age to come. If you loose something here because of serving Christ, do not worry about it.

“but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.”
Mk 10:30 WEB

That is to says, age unending life. This is commonly called “Heaven.”

A key to reading many prophecies

Is that a prophecy about this present earth? Or is that a prophecy about “… new heavens and a new earth, in which dwells righteousness.” 2Pe 3:13 WEB

Many confuse prophecies of the new heavens and the new earth, with this present earth, and come up with a heaven on earth which will never be.

And Jesus will be with His own all the way.

“ … “Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”
Mtt 28:20 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The World in Prophecy: This World will Pass Away

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Entropy, described in the previous post on “The World in Prophecy: Ruined by Rebellion,” assures that this will finally happen.

Peter says it will happen this way

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.”
2Pe 3:10 WEB

Man’s situation will be in the end intolerable, and Jesus will intervene.

“7 … when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, 8 giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus,”
2Thes 1:7-9

Isaiah gives us more details

No one will be able to escape, unless God is with him.

“17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are on you, O inhabitant of the earth. 18 It shall happen, that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.”
Isa 24:17-18

The earth will be moved out of its place, and torn apart in this final phase of the universe passing away.

“19 The earth is utterly broken, the earth is torn apart, the earth is shaken violently. 20 The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway back and forth like a hammock; and the disobedience of it shall be heavy on it, and it shall fall, AND NOT RISE AGAIN”
Isa 24:19-20 WEB (emphasis added)

Psalms prophetically tells us this universe will be
put away like an old coat

“25 Of old, you laid the foundation of the earth.
The heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They will perish, but you will endure.
Yes, all of them will wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a cloak, and they will be changed.”
Psa 102:25-26 WEB

“Wear out like a garment.” Yes, entropy. Then the new will come. This of course is also quoted in Hebrews 1.

The prisoners will gathered together

“21 It shall happen in that day, that Yahweh will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth on the earth. 22 They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.”
Isa 24:21-22 WEB

Jesus tells us that,

“31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ”
Mtt 25:31-32 WEB

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Why Types Can Confuse: Clear Contradictions

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There is a short but beautiful psalm about Zion in Psalm 48. Mount Zion is what I like to call capital hill in Jerusalem. On it was the temple of the Lord, and the palaces of the kings. Today it is where the Mohammedan “Dome of the Rock” sits. It is the city of the Great King in verse 2.

A psalm of a great victory.

The authors do talk about the lovingkindness of the Lord in verse 9. They say the praise of the God is to the ends of the earth in verse 10, and they say the daughters of Judah should rejoice because of God’s judgments.

And it speaks of strange reactions by some kings.

Some kings have assembled and passed by Jerusalem “together,” verse 4. It seems they have gathered together to destroy Zion, Then,

“5 They saw it, then they were amazed.
They were dismayed,
They hurried away.
6 Trembling took hold of them there,
Pain, as of a woman in travail.
7 With the east wind, you break the ships of Tarshish.”
Psa 48:5-7 WEB

This is evidently a psalm of thanks for a great victory from God. Their enemies have come in “ships of Tarshish,” which God has broken apart by a great east wind in verse 7. Mount Zion can be magnificent in many ways, and many in ancient times were impressed with strength of her fortifications. But merely seeing the city and being “amazed,” “dismayed,” and fleeing away? Since when has just seeing Zion caused coalitions of kings to run in panic?

Then look at this description of “Zion,” Psa 48:2

The KJV says it “is mount Zion, on the sides of the north.” What?? Sides of what?

The New American Standard 95 edition and others say it is Mount Zion in “the far north.” These are good translations, but physical Zion is NOT in the “far” north. The WEB says Zion is on “the north sides,” but it isn’t. It is on the east side of Jerusalem, facing the mount of Olives. It doesn’t make sense of physical Zion on earth. It contradicts reality. Further, no victory like this for “Zion” has ever happened, so far!

But we have come to heavenly Zion and Jerusalem, Heb 12:22. We have “not come to a mountain that might be touched,” Heb 12:17 WEB, at least physically

But the earthly are mere copies of the heavenly things,
Heb 9:24.

The kings of the earth will be gathered against God’s people at a final time in Rev 20:7-10 and many Old Testament passages. The heavenly Jerusalem will come down out of heaven for all to see, Revelation 21, and the kings of the earth and all opposition will flee away.

“ … from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.”
Rev 20:11 WEB

Psalm 48 then is a parallel to those passages in Revelation 20, and Zechariah and Ezekiel, and others. Physical Zion is symbolic, a type, of the heavenly throne where Jesus now sits Heb 8:1, etc.

But if you try to make Psalm 48 fit mere physical geography and history past, it makes no sense. The seeming “contradictions” are clues to a type.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Mystery Babylon the Great and Commerce

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Mystery Babylon the Great is first introduced in Rev 14:8 as “Babylon the Great has fallen.” Before she is discussed, we are told she is fallen.

She is a fount of crazy immorality

She has forced immorality on the nations. She “has made ALL the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.” Rev 14:8 WEB, emphasis added. As ancient Babylon made all of the would be brides into sexual immorality, so Mystery Babylon forces ALL nations into immorality.

As was discussed earlier, she is evidently a mystery religion, a religion that is either secret or semisecret. See the previous post, “Mystery Religions: An Overview.” Evidently Mystery Babylon is sits on a substrata of seven other religions. It has always been common for mystery religions to superimpose themselves on other public religions. Even on Christianity.

Mystery Babylon is a business entity: religio-commercial

There is more about Mystery Babylon in Revealing the Christian Age, and what she might look like when we see her.

The language of the book of Revelation concerning Mystery Babylon seems to come from two primary sources. Old Testament prophecies concerning ancient Babylon and her wealth and power, and the Old Testament prophecies concerning ancient Tyre and Sidon. These were Phoenician trade cities which dominated east-west trade in the ancient world for many centuries. Also they were worshipers of the ancient Baal and Asherah cults. It was the Phoenicians who established Carthage, Rome’s final contender for domination of the ancient world.

The images that we see from the Old Testament are those of wealth and power and large scale business enterprises which span both many nations and continents.

She is the ruler of the kings of the earth, Rev 17:18

Actually it is common for the business face of society to direct the government face of society. Commerce and agriculture and mining produce the wealth of nations. Kings depend on that wealth.

Babylon makes OTHERS rich

“For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality, the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from the abundance of her luxury.”
Rev 18:3 WEB

She does not conquer the kings of the earth. She seduces and uses them.

Babylon is the seller of all manner of wickedness

Demons work in her (1Tim 4:1), and “ … she has become a habitation of demons, a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird!” Rev 18:2 WEB.

Wealth and prosperity falls when Babylon falls

Like Tyre of old, she is not all of international commerce, but she seems to be the one who makes it work. So when Mystery Babylon falls, and it does fall WITHIN history, it speaks as if it is end of all prosperity.

“The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise any more; ”
Rev 18:11

Thus we are looking at things which will reach their conclusion just before the end of this present universe.

First, because of sin, the church falls/is “overcome.” Then Mystery Babylon falls. Lastly the man of lawlessness and the mystery of Lawlessness fall at the Second Coming of Christ.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

MOST Secular History and MOST Prophecy is NOT Rigidly Chronological

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And we should NOT expect them to be.

Scripture often comes in with a great deal of criticism for the perceived lack of chronological order in the discussion of future events. An oriental trait we are told. Much of this very unfair criticism. Actually, very little secular history is rigidly chronological.

Take for instance Will Durant.

Will Durant is a very popular, and very readable, historian of the mid twentieth century. Copies of his series “The Story of Civilization,” extends from pre-Christian times to the story of Napoleon in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Used copies are available all over the place, yet all eleven of the thick large format volumes are still in print.

Will Durant is generally chronological.

The first volume is Our Oriental Heritage, and the last volume is The Age of Napoleon.

But Durant is not strictly chronological.

In between though are many volumes which overlap each other. For instance, volumes like The Renaissance, and The Reformation, and The Age of Reason Begins.

Take for instance Volume V, The Renaissance. It generally covers from 1304 to 1576. But if you look inside, what Durant calls Book II covers “The Florentine Renaissance” from 1378-1534. Then, much as if Florence were not in Italy, Book III covers “Italian Pageant,”1378-1534. Then Book IV covers “The Roman Renaissance, 1378-1521! (But isn’t Rome also in Italy?)

And there are many internal chronological inconsistencies, for instance when he goes into detail about this or that trend in art. Generally chronological? Yes! Strictly chronological? No!

If you look around, most histories are the same way.

The Bible is generally chronological.

It starts with the creation of our present universe, and ends with the yet to come end of this present universe, and the creation of a new universe where sin and death and decay and entropy are not operating principles.

But Scripture is not strictly chronological.

For instance, the books of Kings and Chronicles are different accounts of generally the same period of time. And really the books of the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi are generally sprinkled in time through out the period of the books of the Kings and Chronicles!

Isaiah is not strictly chronological.

Yes Revelation talks about the end of this present universe. But the end of the universe is also discussed in last part of Isaiah chapter 2. Also it is discussed in middle of Isaiah 13. Then it is discussed in some detail in Isaiah 24.

Isaiah is putting the events of his day, and of our day, into the larger context of where history, and this universe, is headed.

Often we should think of prophecy as a Father’s conversations
with His children about the future.

And if you want to follow the conversation, you have pay attention to the conversation, and note shifts in mood, or subject or time. It is much like a movie where there are no signs which say, “The next day back at the ranch,” we sense, or should sense, the change of time or location.

The Wilderness Wanderings as a Type: Part III of III

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If the wilderness represents the Christian life after being separated from this world …

What corresponds to this present world?

Clearly Egypt corresponds to this present world of sin and death. Egypt is a place where we are born in bondage in this world. If we are deceived and bound here, who is it to?

“in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.”
2Cor 4:4 WEB

Who then corresponds to the god of this world?

The Pharaoh then represents the god of this world, the beast, the monster, who holds God’s own people in bondage, and will not let them go to be separated from this present world to pursue a course that leads to the eternal promised land!

What will convince the Pharaoh to let God’s people go?

Only a series of horrible disasters will convince him as described in Exodus chapters 7 through 12. Water is turned to blood. Frogs overcome the land of Egypt. Then plagues of insects, and the death of livestock comes. Then come plagues of boils on the wicked, and a place of hail big enough to kill both men and beasts. Then comes a plague of locusts, and then darkness covers the land, day and night. Lastly comes the death of the firstborn of man and beast. And Pharaoh relents.

Then in the last days, one called a “beast,” makes “war with the saints”
and overcomes them, Rev 13:7.

The beast’s accomplice in overcoming the saints is “Mystery Babylon the Great,” represented by a great prostitute who is,

“… drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.”
Rev 17:6 WEB

What will bring the saints release?
The seven last plagues!

“the seven last plagues, for in them God’s wrath is finished.”
Rev 15:1 WEB

The seven last ever plagues of God’s wrath on an evil world begins in Revelation 15, and they are amazingly like the plagues on ancient Egypt in the book of Exodus.

The first of the last seven plagues is severe sores on all who had worshipped the beast or his image, Rev 16:2. Then the oceans are turned to blood, and all the fish die, Rev 16:3-7. Then the sun scorches the people of the earth, Rev 16:8-9. Then darkness covers the earth, Rev 16:10. And it goes on. There are hailstones that weigh about 75 pounds each, Rev 17:21.

Egypt and the Exodus are types, symbolic, of the end of this present world.

With the Pharaoh representing Satan and the beast of the last days, whom, “ALL who dwell on the earth will worship,” Rev 13:8 WEB, something that has never happened in history so far.

One more time the saints will flee into the wilderness. Then will be the grand Exodus out of this present world, to the Eternal Promised Land, 1Thes 4:16-18.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The Wilderness Wanderings as a Type: Part II of III

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Paul talks the Wilderness wanderings as typifying
our trials and sins in this life.

Paul says that those Israelites ate the same spiritual food and drink which we as Christians eat and drink. That is to say that ancient Israel drank of the Christ which was to follow, 1Cor 10:4. However with many of them God was not well pleased, and so they died in wilderness without ever entering the promised land, 1Cor 10:5.

These things are examples for us, 1Cor 10:6.

These are warnings for us. The promised land symbolizes heaven.

We should not desire evil things as they did. Neither should we be idolaters, 1Cor 10:6-7. Of course Paul tells us that covetousness, strongly desiring something, is idolatry, Col 3:5. He says that we should not commit sexual immorality as ancient Israel did and 23,000 died in one day, 1Cor 10:7-8. We should not test God as many of them did, and were destroyed by snakes, 1Cor 10:9. Neither should we complain against the Lord, as many of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer, 1Cor 10:10.

These are all easy things to fall into in any age, and Paul says,

“Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ”
1Cor 10:11

So Paul’s conclusion is,

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.”
1Cor 10:12 WEB

What a picture of our present life in this world, as a life in a desolate place with all sorts of enticements around to draw us to our own destruction!

This symbolism suggest we could enter heaven sooner.

But our weaknesses in the flesh cause us to fall short and then aimlessly wander around for years in nothing but desolation. Of course there is other imagery that many have picked up on. The last river they crossed before entering the promised land was the river Jordan. Ours is the river of death. So we have many songs in our churches picturing death as the river Jordan, a river that parts for us cross on dry ground, even as it did for ancient Israel in Joshua chapter 3, if we are those chosen to enter that wonderful land.

And there is ONE MORE TIME in the wilderness.

Revelation is talking about those things yet to come in the Christian age, and Revelation 12 pictures the church as being pursued by that old dragon Satan, trying to destroy her.

“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her …”
Rev 12:6 WEB

The woman, the church, is pictured as being protected by God in the wilderness for a critical period of “one thousand two hundred sixty days.”

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.”
Hos 2:14 KJV

There is to be one more time in the wilderness for God’s people, one more time for the ancient lessons to be pointedly relevant.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901