Unsealing Revelation

It's about time.

Let’s dig into the book of Revelation, the source text of a vision that describes the unseen realm. I was seen and recorded by the disciple John and let's give it a shot to unseal what we can see about its Biblical connections.

It seems so unusual and complex and because of that, other than Leviticus, it’s the one book most people shy away from thinking it's too bizarre and full of scary end-times predictions including beasts, dragons, kings and global disasters that only a pastor or a theologian can explain.

But, what if that's not supposed to be the case?

While it seems to stand alone like an outcast that barely made in to the back of the Bible, the Revelation reality is that the account provides deeply interconnected ties back to Genesis and to the messages of key prophets in the rest of the Bible.

The fact is Revelation brings them full circle, declaring the end from the beginning with this wisdom... it's time to repent!! 

Its true, Revelation reads like a cryptic, end time mystery novel, but it's no tall tell. 

Fundamentally, it’s deeply rooted connecting the jots and tittles of the Hebrew Bible, the book most tend to call the Old Testament, but the better term is Tanakh.

The Tanakh connects Revelation to the jot and tittles of the words declared by the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. 

The Old Testament label is a revelation paradox. Think about it, if Revelation is about the end times, why is it so inter-connected to a book called an "Old Testament" that some believe is done away with?

That wouldn't make sense and it's not reality, there's no Old Testament, it's not old, its not done away with, nor hung on the cross either. If you think that it's old, you will never see or hear the Revelation message as the blessing it's intended to be:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3 

The reality of Revelation is that it draws from the foundation of the Tanakh, the same Hebrew Bible that Luke tells us Jesus read and taught every Sabbath as was His custom revealing unending covenant promises of restitution and restoration found in the Torah, Nevi'im aka the Prophets and Ketuvim aka the Writings. 

Revelation is about the things that must take place to restore the planet to Eden as it was intended to be from the beginning. 

That fact proves the Old Testament is not old or done away with, and it reveals God has a plan declared to the prophets and the restoration plan will be fulfilled by Messiah. Not only that, the tree of life remains with a purpose revealed in Revelation 22 that was intended in the garden. 

Throughout the Revelation narrative, we need to keep in mind these words from Amos 3:7: 

"For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets" because they're embedded in Revelation 10:7:

"In the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets."

In the original Hebrew of Amos 3:7, the word for "secret" is Sod סודו and the meaning of "Sod" can refer to a "council," "assembly," or "confidential talk." There's more on that later...

Throughout the Hebrew Bible, there are strategic discussions and visions and that's one reason Revelation closely echoes Daniel's visions of apocalyptic beasts, the ancient of days and Isaiah's new heaven and earth while pointing toward Ezekiel's temple imagery that can be seen in Revelation's holy city, called New Jerusalem.

If you’ve missed the prophetic source imagery of the Tanakh embedded in Revelation you're not alone.

On reason is that many sermons say it gives a description of a second coming at any moment. It does speak of the return, but believe it or not, the source context of the visions John recorded zero in on fulfilling the Fall Feasts of the LORD, not an escape hatch or an any minute sudden return in glory. 

Now. let's check out the setting for the vision as it was intended.

Revelation starts in the Outer Court of the Tabernacle.

John is on Patmos island and he hears a voice is shouting like a shofar. As he turns and looks he sees into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle of God and lays his eyes on the Menorah lighting the room.

Many miss the Menorah, because the King James Bible mentions seven candlesticks, but for crying out loud, we all need to know there are no candles in the Holy Place despite this Shakespeare styled wording of the King James Bible.

The Bible basic reference for the Holy Place is the Menorah lamp stand that sits in God's Tabernacle that's fueled by pure, beaten olive oil, not the wax of some medieval candles.

Now, that we have our Greek eyes adjusted to John Hebrew view in the Revelation scene, before we peer in further to the backstage, lets pause and take a quick detour to the book of Acts and consider what happened as this man named John approached the Temple one day with his friend Peter.

Acts chapter three describes a miracle event as Peter and John were walking up to the Temple for the afternoon evening prayers at the ninth hour, aka 3PM. That day has an embedded link to what John would see on the island of Patmos many years later. 

Yes, you read that correctly, these two disciples continued to ascend the steps to the Temple after the cross, because they never thought that the afternoon prayers or the voice of God's Torah was done away with at the cross. 

They still believed the forever message in Psalms 55:17, and they continued to pray daily like Daniel did as described in Daniel 6:10. After the account described in Acts 3, Peter is seen again in afternoon prayer time in Acts 10:9. And in case you missed it, Paul -- the Jew from Tarsus, encouraged faithful brothers in Messiah at Colossae to continue in steadfast prayer in Colossians 4:1-6. Now you know what he was talking about, because context is critical to our understanding.

My best guess is that John's vision setting in Revelation 1:9-15 started at this same afternoon prayer time on a Sabbath day, and please remember the Sabbath, because in the beginning as in John's day, just like today, the LORD's Sabbath isn't Sunday.

I pray I did't lose you there, so let's get back to the the Acts storyline... 

One afternoon in Jerusalem, long after the day these two men witnessed the cross, while ascending up to the Temple Mount the two Jewish disciples, Peter and John walked by a man that had been crippled since birth. 

That man was often seen in the area begging for gifts, but the important thing is the account says he wasn't begging for himself, he was seeking gifts for the needy at the Yafeh Gate that we now call the Jaffa Gate.

Let that sink in, the cripple since birth beggar was at the Jaffa Gate begging for gifts to give to others in need, not himself!!

Instead of giving the beggar some cash, Peter and John stopped and commanded that he be healed, rise up and walk.

He was healed on the spot and he stood up and he walked with them up to the steps to Solomon's porch, but that's not all, there's more. 

What's not stated in the account is something we should consider. 

The afternoon prayers, known as Mincha include standing prayers. 

Now, can you imagine the three of them standing at Solomons' porch praying?

Standing during prayer, particularly the Amidah prayer portion, has deep spiritual and Biblically historic significance that represents reverence and respect for Almighty God because:

Standing in prayer symbolizes readiness and attentiveness to hear what God has to say. 

This tradition of standing to pray comes from several key Scriptural references including:

• Abraham standing before God in Genesis 18:22, when he intercedes for Sodom
• Moses standing before God at the burning bush (Exodus 3:4-6), where God instructs him to remove his sandals as he is on holy ground
• Priests standing in the Tabernacle during service, as described in Exodus 28:43
• Prophets standing, awaiting divine insight, such as Elijah standing before God on Mount Horeb in 1 Kings 19:11-13
• Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 1:26, where she stands while praying intensely
• Solomon standing before the altar of the Lord during the Temple dedication in 1 Kings 8:22

The crowds that knew the cripple from the Yafeh Gate were absolutely astonished, he was standing and perhaps praying. 

Whether praying or not, that man's healing reveals a greater gift than we might imagine.

The "sod" side or deeper meaning behind the healing is the man would no longer be a disabled beggar, but restored and refreshed to strength to help others in need instead of relying on others by begging.

Peter told the crowd that witnessed the miracle:

"Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Messiah Yeshua, who was ordained for you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God spoke long ago by the mouth of his holy prophets." Acts 3:19-21 HNV

I think that miracle can set the Sabbath stage for Revelation's restoration of all things message, after all it is about the good news gospel of God's restitution of God's Kingdom on Earth as it is in Heaven. 

Because of that, Revelation is chocked full of imagery directly from the Torah, the Prophets and the writings about the times of refreshing and the restoration of all things to be fulfilled by Yeshua.

There's a hint about that in the Sermon on the Mount:

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them."

Did you realize the prophet's messages are all about repentance, refreshing and restoration, not the end of the world?

Back to Revelation, it might "seem" that John saw something new in the vivid descriptions including the two beasts, four living creatures, and the plagues, but for a first-century Bible believer, reading Revelation would have felt like connecting the jots and tittles from Daniel, Isaiah, Zechariah and Ezekiel, all with their foundation in the Torah. 

With Revelation - the Prophets declarations come together. It’s an unsealing. 

Revelation unseals prophecies given centuries before that were not understood and that fact brings us right to the name of the book.

We choose to call it Revelation, but the Hebrew word can give us more understanding. 

In Hebrew, Revelation is known as “Hitgalut,” often translated as a vision or unveiling that describes a process of understanding divine truths by experiencing awareness of the reality of Almighty God's realm. 

Think of it like someone slowly pulling back a curtain before the big show starts and the main characters enter the scene. With the curtain call, at first you see a hint of what's behind the curtain, then you see more of the setting, gradually the view of the stage and the characters are all eventually revealed. 

John hears something, and he has to respond—and by extension, the reader does too: 

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:3

Just like the Torah, Revelation demands participation, that's what keep means.

It’s like any commandment, any mitzvah: Almighty God speaks, He commands, and that requires an response that brings a blessing or if ignored with no action or rejected, we bring a curse on ourselves. 

If you just hear and believe, but don’t do anything about it, well, the revelation of Almighty God's voice hasn’t really hit home, has it? 

The mitzvah isn’t complete it's broken. 

Revelation grounds John's visions into something very personal: “OK, you saw this, now what?” 

Keep what is written.

Deep Dive Audio Summary on this Post - 39 min.

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The book of Revelation is structured in a systematic pattern of sevens just like Genesis 1-2. 

It’s also reveals the gospel message of hearing and seeing truth and then choosing action God's way as the righteous response: repentance, obedience, alignment, relationship which is missed by many but front and center in the covenant at Mount Sinai.

Exodus 24:7 is likely the most famous response, known in Hebrew as Na’aseh v’Nishma when Moses reads the Book of the Covenant to the people at Mount Sinai and everyone responds: 

"All that the LORD has spoken we will do and we will hear."

Notice their response puts "doing" before "hearing." In Jewish tradition, this is seen as a supreme act of faith—committing to obey in action before even hearing the details. There's a "sod" connection to the response repeated in Deuteronomy 5:1 but it is "reversed" as Moses prepares the second generation to enter the Promised Land, when he summons everyone and commands:

"Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments... that you may learn them, and keep, and do them."

Did you see the nuance? 

Here, Moses establishes the same order found in Revelation: Hear,  Learn,  Keep and Do. 

It is the basic Bible roadmap for how a nation of God's children maintain their identity over all generations.

Next, in Deuteronomy 5:27, Moses repeats what happened after everyone experienced hearing God's voice at Sinai, everyone was afraid they'd die, so they begged Moses to be their "intermediary" saying:

"Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says... and we will hear it and do it."

That's a revelation in Revelation many of us miss. 

The description is seen in Revelation 14:12 stating that "here is the patience of the saints, that they keep the commandments of God..." 

That's preceded by Revelation 12:17: This verse indicates that the dragon goes to make war with those who keep the commandments of God and those that hold to the testimony of Jesus.

Surely, you know who that describes.

Who wars to destroy both Jew and Christian?

If we pull the curtain back on the unseen realm, we must know this is interpreted as haSatan.

Let's rewind for a minute and look back at the Hebrew language becuase there’s a connection between “Hitgalut” (the unveiling) and the Hebrew word for exile, “Galut.” 

How does that work? 

Well, think about John for a minute—where was he when he received this vision? 

In exile. 

He’s in exile away from Jerusalem and the Promised Land on the Isle of Patmos.

But take note, the book itself is not about John's exile. it about the Messiah King, and where is He?

Yeshua is in heaven, waiting for the appointed time to return and establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven as it was in Eden, just as it's declared in the Lord's Prayer instruction declared in Matthew 6:9-10 "Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come,

your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven."

Bottomline, in Revelation we see the exiled King returns and ends the end of exile from Eden for His people, who often feel the world is a place they don't belong. Revelation is a gift, a graphic communication about the restoration reunion of the whole family of God. 

It's about the end of exile, a bride restored in relationship on earth, NOT the end of time with an escape hatch to hide before the Day of the LORD.

Think about this too...

When the Israelites departed Egypt, they organized in twelve tribes or as we say today family trees and they resembled an army camped around the Tabernacle of the LORD God of Israel. 

Here's the thing though, not everyone that left Egypt to follow the LORD was born into Jacob's family, some were sojourners that chose to go with them after witnessing the ten plagues of judgment of Almighty God.

Everyone, native born or not transformed from slavery to freedom overnight on Passover as long as the door of their house was covered in the blood of the lamb. 

Jacob's descendants also included the adopted families of Joseph's sons and the sojourners with them that followed God's instruction delivered by Moses. They all walked through sea of baptism and 50 days after Passover they had arrived at the mountain of God. They all received the "I do" betrothal vow of the Ten Commandment "ketubah" to turn away from the ways of the world to live in the ways, the image of the LORD.

That vow was spoken on the 50th day, Pentecost, aka Shavuot.

That's the good news, but the bad news is the bride broke her vow before 40 days had passed with the Golden Calf sin front and center at Mount Sinai while the mountain above was still ablaze as the meeting place of Moses and El Shaddai, Almighty God.

Fast forward some 480 years later to 1 Kings 6:1 and you'll see that ten families split up from Judah, Benjamin and the Levites in and around Jerusalem. The ten tribes of Israel were collectively called Ephraim or Israel and the southern tribes were collectively called Judah.

The group called Ephraim were led by Jeroboam who broke the ketubah vow again and repeated the same crime against the first of the Ten Commandments. 

This time the sin was doubled and it was within the borders of the Promised Land establishing idol worship with not one but two golden calves at Bethel and Dan in northern Israel.

Almighty God used his prophets to warn them, but they ignored God's voice, so they brought a curse on themselves and were tossed out by the Assyrians around 721BC. 

Yet, all is not lost, the Book of Hosea offers significant insight regarding the restoration of the scattered ten tribes of northern Israel and John's vision on the island of Patmos provides great promise of the family reunion for the lost scatter tribes. You may have missed it but the Newer Testament does the same. John writes in John 11:49-54:

"But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all. Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples."

Take note, the prophet Hosea is particularly focused on certain themes seen throughout the Bible including marriage, unfaithfulness, divorce and Almighty God's love and forgiveness despite our transgressions that started with a harlot's Golden Calf idolatry. 

In Hosea 2:14-16, Almighty God expresses intentions to lure His children, the lost sheep of Israel back into restoration of the ketubah relationship, much like marriage reconciliation after divorce. Importantly, Hosea portrays divorce not only as an act of judgment but also as a metaphor for the broken covenant between Almighty God and Israel. 

Hosea's narrative balances the themes of divine justice with compassion, offering hope for restoration even after profound unfaithfulness. 

The good news is Yeshua’s blood at the cross atones and covers sin as the lamb of God for those that choose to repent and follow in faith. The gospel of God reason for Yeshua's death though is almost impossible to follow unless you understand the reason that the Torah in Deuteronomy 24:1-4 describes a prohibition against a woman remarrying while her husband is still alive.

This Torah teaching emphasizes the sanctity of the marriage covenant at Sinai and the concept of idolatry with the revelation that once a bride has been unfaithful and broken the the ketubah vow, she cannot go back to her first husband , yet Yeshua's death fulfills the requirement because of the power of resurrection. 

There's more...

Yeshua's resurrection annuls the death penalty Adam and Eve brought on mankind, it annuls the deed of dominion over the earth Adam gave to haSatan and in the end, we must see the big stories of the Torah and the Prophets are a prophetic picture of the book of Revelation which in the end promises eternal life in resurrection.

This leads us right into a core concept in prophetic thought: if you want to understand the end, where do you have to look? 

According to the Bible, go back to the beginning (see Isaiah 46:10) and while you are at it forget everything you may have heard in sermons about the division of church and synagogue, Christian and Jew.  By the way, that's Pauls message, not mine, I'm just repeating it from Galatians 3:28.

In the end, there's only God's way or the highway to hell, the lake of fire.

The book of Revelation is not some heavenly riddle to frustrate us; our Creator God wants us all to find and discover His goal to live on earth as He did in the beginning with us as the children of God. That's why our Creator God embedded the gospel of God restoration plan for humanity into the fabric of the Torah, the Prophets and the Writings. 

Consider the book of Numbers —its Hebrew name  “Bemidbar” means “in the wilderness,” which is much more evocative than just “Numbers,” and that name itself holds many clues. “Bemidbar” is like a deep well. When you start looking at the Hebrew root of the word, you find the last three letters are “davar” דָּבָר —word. Wilderness is “midbar,” and there's also the letter “dalet” in the ancient pictographs. 

What does “dalet” look like? An entrance or door. 

And what does “bar” mean? Bar means son. 

So put it together: the name “Bemidbar” (in the wilderness) contains the door, and the son. 

In our wilderness experiences, if we look we can find the Son of God coming through the door. That’s the staggering insight hiding right there in “Bemidbar” and that name for the wilderness journey tells us where to find the Messiah.

That’s incredible and so think about it: if you really want to have a relationship with Almighty God, if you want to hear His “davar,” His word, clearly, where do you need to go to do that? 

Into the wilderness with your Bible, away from the chaos in quiet time, away from the noise. 

You have to separate yourself, get away from the chaos and in the end away from all the religious static, the light pollution and the distractions of the traditions of men that block the voice of Almighty God we all need to hear and do. 

Revelation says:

Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Revelation 2:5  

Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy." Revelation 22:11 

Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14 KJV

Seeing and hearing requires intentional separation—quiet time, standing in prayer.

Sticking with the restoration theme of Revelation, let’s talk about the main character: Yeshua whom claims a title. It is seen in the text as the Greek “Alpha and Omega,” but there's more, the Hebrew equivalent of the first and the last, is the "Aleph and Tav." 

That’s a direct claim and it’s radical, utterly uncompromising and believe it or not, the Aleph Tav sign of Messiah is seen in the first verse of the Bible. 

In Revelation, Yeshua’s quoting Isaiah 44:6, where God says, “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no God, king, the Redeemer.”

 

So when Yeshua owns that, He is making an explicit claim, I am in unity, one with the Father. 

There’s no wiggle room. 

But it goes even deeper when you look at the ancient Hebrew pictographs for Aleph-Tav. This is where it gets visually stunning. In the ancient pictographic Hebrew script that Moses used, the “Aleph” picture is an ox head, symbolizing God’s strength and power, but crucially, forgiveness displayed in mercy and grace. 

The ox was the primary working animal for thousands of years—the strong servant. 

The ancient paleo Hebrew “Tav” pictograph was drawn as crossed sticks—just like a cross, or a mark, a sign, a covenant symbol. 

First letter, “Aleph” last letter “Tav” —literally, visually, “Aleph-Tav” את paints a picture of strength on a covenant cross. 

Incredibly, the Hebrew alphabet frames the Messiah: from divine strength and origin to sacrificial servanthood on the cross and it’s embedded in the very first and last Hebrew letters.

That’s a fundamental gospel truth built right into the Hebrew language and it's revealed in the first verse of the Hebrew Bible between heaven and earth.

So how did we lose sight of "the word" why isn’t this common Alpha Omega knowledge?

The gospel of God involves the very beginning and the end of Satan inspired chaos with one hidden Hebrew word, “Aleph-Tav.” I, verse one chapter one of Genesis it appears as the Hebrew word את “et.” 

Grammatically, it's said to function as a marker pointing to the direct object of a verb, but it's much, much more as Revelation reveals. It's the herald of Messiah and it appears over 7,000 times in the Hebrew Bible, yet hidden in English Bible translations other than the occasional word "the."

Wow... if we go back to the very first verse of the Bible in Genesis 1:1 we find it just like it's unsealing in Revelation:

בְּרֵאשִׁית בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים אֵת הַשָּׁמַיִם וְאֵת הָאָרֶץ

“Bereshit bara Elohim”—in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." 

The את “et” appears "before" the heavens and before the earth and that points to John1:1-2:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God."

So what happened in most English translations? Like's God's name, disguised as the LORD, “Aleph-Tav” has been left it out, translated as “the,” essentially ignored as a Hebrew grammatical pointer with no deeper meaning. 

But the Revelation insight is that this "Aleph-Tav” את “et”—is the sign of the first and the last—like John 1:1-5 says, the "word" was not comprehended yet "Aleph-Tav” את marks Yeshua ever since creation. So, by missing the “Aleph-Tav” את essentially we've removed the witness to Messiah in Genesis 1:1 and I think John knew that so he started the book of John with the info we need to connect the end—Revelation from— the beginning. 

That’s why Yeshua declares Himself the Aleph and the Tav—from the very beginning, where His את Messiah sign is front and center in the first verse of the Bible as it is written. It's not just the Aleph-Tav that's found in the beginning—the entire gospel of God plan is packed into the first six Hebrew letters בּראשׁית Bereshit, tracing creation to a cornerstone prophecy from Isaiah 28. 

It’s a stunning example of the divine fingerprint of God in the Hebrew language. 

Let's take some time to break down בּראשׁית “Bereshit.” 

The בּראשׁית  picture is God’s plan from the beginning. It's about building a home for a wife and a family, a dwelling place for Almighty God and His children in the garden. Next, within the word, you can see “bar,” the word for son—aka Yeshua, the son. Next, you have the letters that spell “esh”—fire. And “el-shin-tav” can point towards foundation, just like Isaiah 28:16: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation.” 

The son is the foundation stone and Yeshua was literally laid in stone in Zion for three days and nights.

How’s the son the foundation? 

Check out the Hebrew, you have “resh,” meaning head—chief, beginning. Connect that to the suffering Messiah—what’s was put on Yeshua’s head? The crown of thorns. Now consider the Hebrew letters “yud” and “tav”—the “yud” is the hand, the “tav,” is the cross where His hands were nailed to the cross. And there’s one more layer: the root letters also form “reshit,” which means first fruits—as in first fruits of the resurrection after three days.

Let me try and put that all together from the very first word of the Bible that was lost in translation—God’s plan centered on the son in the beginning, the son is the foundation, upon whose head is a crown of thorns, whose hand is nailed to the cross, and who arose from death as the first fruit of life eternal to restore the bride. 

Now you know what you didn’t know from the first verse of the Bible. The entire gospel message is revealed there, signed and sealed right there in the beginning, waiting for Revelation, the time of the “Hitgalut”—the unveiling.

Revelation reveals Yeshua’s “Aleph-Tav” identity seen in the beginning. 

But, what about our identity in Messiah as disciples, what's our calling, what's God's will for our lives?

If you don't know, don't worry your assignment is one of the promised blessings of Revelation. 

Revelation calls all Bible believers to be priests to the lost, see Revelation 1:6. 

That’s a return call, a restoration assignment straight from Exodus 19:6.  

Nothing has changed, nothing is old, Almighty God’s original intention for all the family God calls Israel was, is and will continue to be a holy nation, a kingdom of priests to spread the good news gospel of God across the planet and do God's work to unwind evil's grip over lost humanity in all nations. 

We have to remember what happened after the end of the first exile in Egypt. 

The sin with the golden calf, idolatry, we have to own it. After that crime scene, the covenant assignment to be a priest was broken with the firstborn so it was given to the Levites and kingship eventually went to the tribe of Judah after the priesthood went to the tribe of Levi. 

But what about the lost sheep, aka the broken branches among the nations, they dropped the ball.

The good news is Yeshua repeated the assignment and in the end, He brings all believers across the planet together in Revelation and get this, that restoration fact was foretold in Zechariah 6:12-13. 

It’s an amazing prophecy that talks about the man who's called “the Branch,” who will build the temple of the LORD. He will rule on His throne and at the same time He will be a priest—with rule and intercession together in one person. The prophecy explicitly says the two offices—king and priest—which have been separated for centuries, will be restored in the Messiah. 

So, when John tells believers Yeshua has made us kings and priests, he’s confirming that through our reunion with Yeshua, we get participate in that assignment from Mount Sinai just as God said and Moses wrote. 

Are you prepared to operate under the King’s authority with priestly intercession for others that do not follow the God of Israel? 

Revelation reveals Yeshua has restored this responsibility that began with the king-priest identity given to Adam in the beginning with God-given dominion over creation, so we need to know what Yeshua has to say to instruct the priesthood in their role.

To discover that takes us right into Revelation 2-3 —where we find the instruction to the seven assemblies and the warnings there too which aren’t new postcards. Not at all—the instruction is much like the phrase you've heard... “history repeats,” and it’s true, there’s nothing new under the sun. 

Yes, the seven letters John was told to deliver were for actual physical congregations in that day in what’s now known as the nation state of Turkey, yet nothing has changed, they still apply. 

Back in the day, those congregations had some very real religious problems: false teachers, complacency, mixing in with a culture that does not follow God’s instruction —things we still see front and center today. 

The specific letters John was told to write down and deliver address recurring patterns of not following the "I do" of the Ten Commandments, so the warnings are valid for every generation past, present or future.

That's one reason we all need to remember, the central focus in this part of John’s vision is the Menorah that's in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, so forget about the seven sets of candlesticks. 

Remember, there's no bee's wax candle stick in John's vision.

John sees Yeshua standing among the seven lampstands of the menorah and that image is absolutely key. It represents the seven assemblies, but it also connects back to Zechariah’s vision and 2 Chronicles 16:9: 

“The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” 

The eyes of the LORD are represented by the Menorah lamps we are meant to be. The menorah holds the light, and Biblically, what provides the light? 

Proverbs 6:3 give us the answer: “The commandment is a lamp and the Torah is light.” 

Carry the light folks.

The Proverb teaching is the olive oil light is God’s voice— His Torah and it removes darkness and the Revelation lampstands echo Zechariah's Menorah, symbolizing God's presence in those He's called to shine His light out and share it with the world. That's what a priest does,

You may have never noticed it, but Yeshua is doing the daily duty of the High Priest in Revelation. 

He is walking among the Menorah lights, inspecting them, trimming and tending them, seeing if they’re burning brightly or just sputtering out from the lack of the oil of the Holy Spirit—bottomline He’s checking the quality of their light in those seven letters to the congregations.

The question is how's your light burning?

The duty to tend the menorah (golden lampstand) was first given to all Israel back in Exodus and Leviticus. The key passages are plain as day and they are not old, they still apply as long as you can read or hear the book of Revelation:

Exodus 27:20–21 — "Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil... to keep the lamps burning continually." The duty is to keep the oil in the lamps in the tent of meeting burning brightly.

Fast forward from the Exodus to Revelation chapter two and three. There are seven churches, but check the Greek, actually they are assemblies or congregations represented by the seven lamps, and each letter written to them pulls from wisdom of Proverbs and Jeremiah's call to repentance, urging faithfulness amid trials. 

I mentioned the Greek language tells us these are not churches, they are called out assemblies.

The church word is εκκλησία pronounced "ekklesía" and Yeshua sees the problems of syncretism and lawlessness in the called-out assemblies located in Ephesus, Pergamum and Thyatira. 

Let’s look at the specific problems because they are recurring issues that remain today. 

First up, Ephesus: they get praised for hating the works of the Nicolaitans. 

What exactly was that? 

It’s generally understood but based on the name the works of the Nicolaitans represent lawlessness—meaning, basically Torah-less-ness. Did you know that?

The Nicolaitan concepts follow the idea that because we have grace, God’s Torah instructions, His teaching is done away with including: the Sabbath, the Feasts of the LORD or even the food we eat doesn’t matter anymore because we are saved by grace and God's definition of food is tossed in the garbage can. 

All grace, no faithful obedience to God's unchanging, forever word needed, but is that what Almighty God's voice says? 

No. Thankfully no, or we could all just run around abusing our wives, killing babies, forgetting prayer and simply outlaw the Ten Commandments.

So, Ephesus rightly rejected that Nicolaitan notion—they had good works, good doctrine, so what was their problem? 

They had lost their first love. I think they rejected the priesthood assignment.

Their works were diligent, their doctrine was sound, but their heart—their motivation, their passion of love for Jesus-Yeshua that started it all—had cooled, so they were no longer disciples spreading the light to the world. 

The engine was running, but the spark plugs were misfiring. they were no longer spreading the word about their first love, they were keeping it for themselves in song and worship and forgot the duty of a priest.

Next, Yeshua says Pergamum lives where haSatan’s throne is and there’s some very serious problems there. 

There’s a specific failure in Pergamum that's found in the Torah, from the doctrine of Balaam. 

Nothing new in that as Revelation takes us on trip back to Balaam’s story in the book of Numbers. It’s a prophetic critical warning about something insidious called syncretism. 

Syncretism is a deliberate blending, mixing deception with truth, good and evil that links us to what the low life serpent asked Eve... did God really say?

It's time to rethink Balaam. 

Scripture tells us he was the hired hand of Balak, the son of Zippor the king of Moab at that time with a plan to curse Israel, but Almighty God wouldn’t allow Balaam to any word or sorcery or divination because the God of Israel had blessed them as His children. 

So Balaam took a different strategy—Plan B. It was like the serpent's scheme, he couldn’t curse them directly, so Balaam taught Balak how to make them curse themselves by putting a stumbling block in front of them, specifically enticing the Israelite men to participate in pagan feasts, eating food sacrificed to idols, and committing sexual immorality with Moabite women.

Behind the scenes, Plan B was much like a rerun of Genesis 6:1-7 where the Bible tells us something we tend to ignore about the ben elōhîm. More on them later because Revelation does not forget them.

Balaam's plan was for lust to compromise their blessing with forbidden relationships while mixing in  pagan worship opposing God’s ways—that’s the doctrine of Balaam straight from the serpent. So, the doctrine of Balaam is not just about listening to a false prophet; it’s about harlotry aka adopting pagan practice, diluting your faith. It’s spiritual adultery. It’s allowing the surrounding culture’s low life practices to infiltrate and corrupt the purity of set apart devotion to God’s ways, to live life His way, in His image. 

Pause and think about the Greco-Roman world of John’s day, it relied on a huge influence of Greek philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle. They were Greek thinkers that worshipped Jupiter, Venus and Mars as well as Zeus, Diana and Apollo. 

Some early church thinkers like the philosophers wanted to morph the Hebrew Bible into their culture and mindset. They became time shifters with the Biblical calendar, the Sabbath and and turned their backs on the Feasts of the LORD, cursing them by calling them Jewish.

The truth is not easy but it is important, many of them were antisemitic Jew haters despite the fact Jesus is Jewish, not Roman Catholic. 

And in doing so, many Biblically Hebraic concepts faded including God's calendar, the cyclical understanding of prophecy and the foundational importance of Torah as the constitution of God's Kingdom— these got diluted in the church pew. That blending is called synchronism, and it is a manifestation of the doctrine of Balaam that revelation is one that John is still warning us about today. 

Next is Thyatira—you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. She calls herself a prophetess, yes, and she’s actively teaching and seducing God’s servants to do the exact same thing as Balaam. 

It’s the same sin, whether the compromise comes from external accommodation or internal corruption, the result is the same: spiritual adultery, impurities, an unfaithful divided heart within the assembly that destroys.

Why were all these churches told to deal with these issues in those letters? 

Yeshua gave us the stark warnings because payday is coming. He quotes Jeremiah 17:7: “The mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.” 

True, grace is free; salvation is a gift, good works don't "earn" salvation because all have sinned, but the Sermon on the Mount reveals rewards and good standing in heaven on earth are tied to good deeds and the reason behind doing good works is not to help ourselves but to help others. By the way, the sermon references are many including:

"For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:18-19 

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:48 

"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12 

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matthew 7:21

Are good works done in loving obedience, flowing from God's Spirit, or are works done out of self defense, ambition, cultural pressure, or just going through religious motions vs. love? 

Almighty God knows the difference. Accountability is real in the end.

Think about it, without good works there's no charity, no helping others in need, we're just a bunch of scrooges holding on to our cash, ignoring others in pain, allowing them to suffer when we could do something to lend a helping hand.

If you call yourself a Bible believer and doubt this, it’s easy to unwind if you follow Jesus. 

Consider Jesus, the ultimate servant leader. 

What if Jesus was like Plato or Socrates and just said what he thought about, wrote a book and never did any thing about His faith? What if Jesus never healed a leper or a cripple, what if Jesus never gave sight to a blind man, never healed the sick, never raised Lazarus from the dead, never cast out demons or suffered to cover the sins of mankind on the cross and wipe out the death penalty of willful sin?

What if He never rose from the dead displaying the work of Almighty God who has authority of life over death, could you ever consider Jesus as the Messiah or just a philosopher on a podium?

Moving on to Sardis, this the social church. It looks good on the outside. Oh yeah, Sardis has a name reputation; they are known for being alive and active, doing good things. But Yeshua says their works are not perfect or complete before Almighty God. They are busy, yes, but something is missing. 

They are more concerned with maintaining their religious reputation, their name, than with truly honoring God’s name. So, activity doesn’t equal spiritual vitality. 

Their works may be impressive to men, but they aren’t flowing from a pure heart aligned with God’s will. It is self-centered self-effort, works spotted by the flesh, as Jude 1:23 puts it.  

The warning, “If you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief”—Yeshua's return will be a surprise for everyone who isn’t watching, someone asleep at the wheel, unprepared, ignoring the gospel of God message outlined in the Feasts of the LORD. 

Yeshua won’t come back as a thief to His watchful, waiting, prepared bride; He only comes as a thief in the night to the unsuspecting, the complacent, those—represented by Sardis, who look alive but are asleep at the wheel. It’s about suddenness for the unprepared that don't see that the trumpet day of the LORD starts with Yom Teruah, Trumpet's Day.

Next, the infamous lukewarm church—Laodicea. 

Their problem isn’t really false doctrine or even bad works, necessarily; it is their attitude, their self-perception. Totally material, wealthy, known for Laodicea’s fine wool and medical school producing eye salve, it seems. So they say, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” Material prosperity and complacency about the unseen spiritual reality, which Yeshua describes as “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked”—the complete opposite of how they saw and see themselves. 

Their self-sufficiency had crowded out their need for intimacy in relationship with God.

This leads to that incredibly poignant image many have missed. Yeshua is standing outside Laodicea's church door, knocking. It is often pictured like a polite soft tap, waiting to be invited in to a house that does not really know him, but if you ask me, it carries the sense of pounding down the door with urgency given their dire spiritual state—poor, blind, naked, yet they are thinking they’re just fine—the context tells us Yeshua is banging down the door. Can you hear it?

The pounding is like someone knocking down the door of a sleeping person whose house is on fire: “Wake up, you’re in danger!” That door is a church door, let me in to save you!

Comfort and wealth have locked Yeshua out; we often think we have everything we need. 

After addressing the letters to the earthly assemblies, the Revelation vision shifts dramatically from the Holy Place of the Tabernacle which contains the seven branch Menorah fueled by olive oil to the Most Holy Place of the Throne. 

In Revelation 4 and 5—John is caught up and he sees a door open up in heaven. He moves from the Menorah room—the Holy Place through the opening into the Holy of Holies, the throne room of the Most Holy and there we see the elders many don't understand, so we'll address them later. 

John sees the unseen:

"Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads."

This marks a dramatic shift in perspective. No longer is the focus on earthly assemblies and their spiritual condition; now, John is invited to witness the heavenly reality, the very center of almighty divine authority, the throne room and the unseen:

"And around the throne, on each side of the throne, are four living creatures..."

The four living creatures parallel the cherubim described in Ezekiel 1.

Revelation moves to heaven's throne with an echo back to the Tabernacle design and Ezekiel's chariot vision, with elders and creatures praising God just like those we see in Psalm 103 described as mighty ones who do his word, obeying the voice of his word, all His hosts that bless the LORD, his heavenly ministers, who do his will! 

In Revelation chapters 4 and 5, John describes being “caught up” as he enters the throne room, the Most Holy Place and he's immediately confronted with awe-inspiring sights: the throne of God surrounded by those twenty-four elders, four living creatures, and countless angels. 

The Most Holy scene is filled with vibrant colors, thunder, lightning, and the continual worship of God. The four living creatures, each with unique faces and wings, proclaim God’s holiness day and night, while the elders cast their crowns before the throne, acknowledging Almighty God’s sovereignty above all else.

A scroll appears in Revelation 5. 

It is sealed with seven seals that recalls Deuteronomy 31:24-26 when Moses told the Levites: "Take this Book of the Torah and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God" and Ezekiel's sealed book representing God's ownership, the title deed, the dominion scroll of the authority once given to Adam that's now handed over to the lamb of God. 

At the center stage of this heavenly throne is the Passover lamb of God—Yeshua, the Messiah—who alone is worthy to open the sealed scroll and reveal its contents. This moment is pivotal because the lamb of God's authority is rooted in perfect, sinless Torah life, sacrificial death and resurrection.

In this we see Yeshua alone fulfills the messianic prophecies of the first purpose of Messiah as suffering servant to pay the price for mankind's sin and that in resurrection, Yeshua's full authority as both King and Priest over the planet to take it's dominion back that haSatan stole from Adam and Eve with deception that resulted in the curse of death. 

It's the redemption of the authority Adam unwittingly gave away in the Garden of Eden. 

In the beginning, Adam was given the dominion deed over earth and every living thing on it. You'll find that in Genesis 1:26-31. 

Fast forward to Revelation and we see that the worship in heaven intensifies as every creature previously unseen joins in praise, declaring the lamb’s authority over death to receive the eternal deed to power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and blessing from Almighty God to rule heaven on earth as King and High Priest as it was intended from the beginning.

This heavenly behind the scenes vision sets the stage for the Bible's final big redemption and it helps us unseal the rest of the Revelation restoration promise. 

Take note, the focus shifts from earthly warnings to the drama of redemption that must include God's judgment on all evil, both the seen and unseen that includes the restoration of planet earth as it was intended from the beginning without sin and death. 

The throne room scene emphasizes the purpose of the Most Holy Place of the Tabernacle and everything which follows—the opening of the seals, the sounding of the trumpets, and the pouring out of the bowls—flows from God’s sovereign plan for the Lamb’s victory over evil.

John’s journey from the Menorah in the Holy Place to the most holy throne in the Holy of Holies mirrors the promised journey of believers that are restored as they move from earthly service and witness to intimate relationship restored with Almighty God, participating in and understanding the fullness of God’s redemption plan in Messiah that includes the ultimate judgment. 

The gospel of God message is clear—true revelation comes not just from seeing earthly but unseen realities as well.

Repentance opens the door to enter into redemption and God’s presence, beholding His glory, and responding in worship and obedience on earth as it is in heaven.

What John sees in the heavenly throne room confirms that the earthly Tabernacle—the one Moses built with the Cherubim sewn into the curtains—was not the original, but a reflection, a copy of the unseen heavenly reality including the the Cherubim. 

Moses was granted the revelation vision just like John... John's vision is a rerun.

1. How else would Moses known the blueprint for the Tabernacle unless he saw it?

2. Moses warnings are a prophetic reflection of the warnings given in the seven letters.

3. The curses Moses warned of are a picture of the tribulation distress culminating in the book Revelation.

While Moses' warnings are numerous, they generally fall into two categories: amnesia or forgetting who Almighty God is and ethical decay forgetting who you are to be and how we are to treat others in God's image.

All you have to do is remember the critical warning regarding "adding or subtracting" from the Torah, which was Moses' way of protecting the integrity of the Torah's message to live in God's image.

Compare the following to the Revelation warnings to Moses last sermon:

1. The Warning Against Intellectual Arrogance - Success can lead to an "I deserved this" mindset, which blinds a person to their own flaws and the grace they've received so Moses cautioned the people against believing that they earned their success through their own merit or righteousness. The Verse: "Do not say in your heart... 'Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land'" (Deuteronomy 9:4).

2. The Warning Against Materialistic Amnesia - Prosperity often leads to the delusion of self-sufficiency so Moses warned that physical comfort—full stomachs and beautiful homes—is the greatest threat to a person’s memory of the Divine. The Verse: "Beware that you do not forget the Lord... lest, when you have eaten and are full... your heart be lifted up" (Deuteronomy 8:11–14).

3. The Warning Against Theological "Addition and Subtraction" - Altering the message to fit current trends eventually dilutes the truth until it is unrecognizable so Moses was adamant that the Covenant must remain pure. He warned against human "innovation" that changes the fundamental nature of God's commands. The Verse: "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it" (Deuteronomy 4:2).

4. The Warning Against Exploiting the Vulnerable - A nation is judged by how it treats those who cannot defend themselves so Moses warned that mistreating the a sojourner or the "Ger" would bring divine judgment. The Verse: "You shall not pervert the justice due to the stranger or the fatherless... remember that you were a slave in Egypt" (Deuteronomy 24:17–18).

5. The Warning Against Cultural Assimilation, the "Snare" - f you copy the methods of a corrupt culture, you will eventually share their fate and since Israel would be surrounded by pagan cultures, Moses warned that Israel must not adopt the dark spiritual or evil practices of the surrounding people, specifically their "detestable" rites like child sacrifice or human exploitation. The Verse: "Take heed to yourself that you are not ensnared to follow them... saying, 'How did these nations serve their gods?'" (Deuteronomy 12:30).

6. The Warning of Inevitable Consequences - You cannot choose the deliberate action (disobedience) without also choosing the result (destruction) so Moses warned that the world is governed by moral decay cause and effect. He set before them a binary choice: Life or Death. The Verse: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Some 1,500 years after Mount Sinai, John glimpsed at things that Moses and the elders atop Mount Sinai witnessed first hand, such as the pavement under Almighty God’s throne, crystal clear, and the rainbow around the throne, shining like an emerald. That rainbow is a symbol of God’s enduring light, His covenant faithfulness and His mercy warnings of impending judgment.

While at Patmos, John saw the living creatures surrounding the throne straight out of Ezekiel’s vision in Ezekiel 1 which are described like a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. This isn’t random imagery. Ezekiel chapter one and Revelation chapter four both describe the attributes of God reflected in creation and the realm over which humanity was meant to have dominion over but failed to do until Yeshua arrived on the planet to defeat haSatan and his minions. 

The lion is king of the jungle and represents royalty, boldness, and fierceness—like God’s judgment described in Hosea and about the Lion of the tribe of Judah from Genesis 49:9-10, which notes Judah as a lion and premises that the scepter will not depart from him. The ox is king of domesticated animals, standing for strength, endurance, patient service, and humility—think of Yeshua taking the form of a servant, as described in Philippians 2. The eagle is the king of the birds, represents soaring vision, transcendence, and the ability to see from afar—past, present, and future—like God watching over Israel and carrying them on eagles’ wings in Deuteronomy 32. Finally, the man represents humanity itself, created to live in God’s image with compassion, intelligence, relationship, and the fullness of perfected humanity as lived out by Yeshua the Son of Man.

The four faces capture the appearance of the Cherubim, so much for little chummy children with wings. Not only that, the Cherubim surrounding God's throne provide a composite picture of the Messiah: the ruling lion and the servant ox, the the all-seeing eagle and the compassionate man living in the fullness of God’s image.

His purpose expressed in creation, and the Cherubim set the stage for the next scene—the scroll that no one in heaven or on earth had been found worthy to open. Remember in Daniel 12, the angel tells him to shut up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. In Revelation, the scroll appears and it remains sealed. 

The unsealing represents judgment, redemption, and the title deed to the earth and eternal life which Adam forfeited. 

Now, the Lamb of God is found worthy to reclaim the earth and mankind, so the act of breaking the seals begins and there’s a connection to Jewish tradition here that's missing in some church sermons— it's the theme of the Fall Feast of Trumpets, the time associated with announcing the arrival of the king in judgment and the beginning of the ten days of awe leading up to heavenly courtroom scene at Yom Kippur.

Revelation 6 breaks the seals and we see events mirroring the plagues of Exodus and Joel's day of judgment-war, famine, death, all rooted in Tanakh's covenant curses we bring on ourselves if we oppose our Creator God. 

The martyrs of faith are crying for justice and that echos Psalm 79 and Habakkuk's pleas. 

The unsealing of the scroll initiates a sequence as the first four seals release the four horsemen—conquest, war, famine, economic collapse, and torture arising from the pit of hell. Things escalate quickly; each open seal unleashes another wave of judgment, building in intensity and conflict with the antagonists.

Revelation 7 pauses to reveal a census of 144,000 sealed Israelites, a nod to Ezekiel's marked remnant and Jeremiah's restoration promises. There's also a great multitude hinting at Isaiah's promise of salvation offered for mankind. Revelation highlights a specific quality of the 144,000 of the 12 tribes who stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion. 

To see it, fast forward to Revelation 14:5 where it says, “In their mouth was found no guile or no lie.” 

This points to Zephaniah 3:13 which says the final remnant of Israel will do no wrong and speak no lies, nor shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouths. No guile, no deceit—purity of speech looks to be the ultimate outward mark of inward righteousness.

The trumpets heard in Revelation 8 and 9 ramp up judgment, drawing images from the Exodus locusts and hail as well as the locusts from the prophet Joel's apocalyptic swarm while the abyss imagery ties to Job's Leviathan as well as Isaiah's chaos monster. 

Revelation 10 reveals the little scroll, sweet then bitter, mirroring Ezekiel's scroll, which is a prophetic call to proclaim truth despite pain. Next up, Revelation 11 reveals two witnesses, killed and then raised to life. Imagine that, after all the Torah requires at least two witnesses as required in Deuteronomy 19:15.

They reflect Moses and Elijah, with a definitive witness focused on the Torah and the Prophets. Their power and signs will serve as a "line of demarcation" with the goal to wake up nominal believers and proclaim judgment on those that reject the voice of Almighty God. 

The planet is affected by the judgment and the earthquake ties to Zechariah's final big quake. 

Revelation 12 then shows a woman and a dragon pulled straight from Genesis where we see the promise that the 'seed' of the woman (Messiah) will crush the serpent despite the dragon's war on her offspring reflecting haSatan's attacks that are noted in Job and Zechariah and many other parts of the Bible. 

Revelation 13 reintroduces two ancient figures in opposition to Almighty God. There's the beast from the sea and the beast from the land. One beast has a false prophet with a hint at Islam and the scene amplifies Daniel's fourth beast and horns, blending political dominion with religious deception, like the false prophets in Jeremiah and those today that want to wipe Israel off the map. 

The first beast rises from the sea, which Biblically often represents the sea of nations aka the Gentiles in churning chaos, tossed about like waves in fake religions led astray like lost sheep with wolves in sheep's clothing at the helm. This beast is a composite creature—a hybrid mixed like a as part leopard, part bear, part lion— a Chimera creature symbolizing chaos imagery from Daniel’s visions  representing various Gentile empires unwittingly ruled by unseen powers. 

This beast gets its power from the dragon, the serpent aka haSatan himself—driving the final conflict but in the end he loses because God's victory is life over death.

The second beast reeks of the imagery of a religious propaganda power, coming from within established religious spheres on dry land. It has two horns like a lamb, looking deceptively harmless, but speaks like a dragon—its voice betrays the true source of its evil power. Its main tactic is visual deception through signs and wonders, performing great miracles that make people marvel, just like the magician's snakes in Pharaoh's court described in Exodus 7:11-12. 

This beast uses counterfeit miracles to legitimize his anti-christ system of deception and commands people to worship the image of the beast—it’s the ultimate test like the one in the Garden of Eden, believe and do what God says or fall for the deception, did God really say?

This is why the Torah provides the ultimate safeguard in Revelation when times get tough and they will get tough beyond belief.

When that happens, remember Deuteronomy 13: “if a prophet or dreamer arises and gives a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder comes true, but then says, ‘Let us go after other [elōhîm] gods,’ you are not to listen or follow.” False miracles are a test of loyalty—to see whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and soul or chose to follow the fallen. 

The test is whether the Pharaoh’s snakes lead you to adultery like a harlot or if you chose to worship the one true Supreme God according to His commandments for like in His Kingdom, or if you want to fall into in adultery in with disobedience like the fallen ones.

Deception is powerful; people will follow spectacle instead of truth, the wide road instead of the narrow. 

If you aks me, the mark of the beast is not just about a number —after all the Greek word for “mark” in Revelation is charagma χάραγμα which can refer to a brand, a stamp or a badge of loyalty to the beast system. A stark contrast is presented: you either receive the mark of the beast, or you have the Father’s name written on your forehead—a mind and heart dedicated to the God of Israel versus selling one's soul to the beast that wants to destroy you. 

We are not meant to be marked or branded like cattle herded to slaughter, but to bear God’s Abba Father name in His image.

Let's back track for a minute from Revelation chapter 13 because there’s a massive 200-million-man army mentioned in Revelation 9. It's noted to show us the cosmic scale of opposition to God's ways. And there’s a crucial Torah point: the evidence is in the text, just like Pharaoh during the Exodus, it confirms that many hard hearted rebellious people curse God and His chosen, and theres' a big problem with that in the end but its not a flood of water but fire.

Thank God repentance leads to goodness, kindness, the patience of God.

The judgment of the great city Babylon noted in Revelation and the establishment of God's Kingdom go all the way back to the origins of organized human rebellion and the result was confusion of languages into nations at the tower of Babel and that mss confusion remains with us today. Just look at the nations, what's your language?

In Revelation, Babylon is seen as a harlot that represents the pinnacle of worldly and unworldly systems—that are have political, economic, and fallen pagan domains—in opposition to God's ways. The harlot's judgment is sudden, catastrophic, and complete, described as repayment and vengeance for her sins, echoing the language used against historical Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and Jeremiah 51.

The focus of Babylon’s sin in the end is detailed in Revelation 18, where the merchants of the earth weep because their debt ridden global financial markets have collapsed. After all, their money is a false idol.

Check the headlines of your local paper or business journal and what stories do you find? 

The headlines say the globe is awash and drowning in debt. The United States alone is upside down to the deficit tune of about $37.6 trillion as of this writing. You'll also find the "World Bank" today carries a total global debt figure of just over $300 trillion.

So, ask yourself a simple question,. Does Revelation 18 hit home on the debt monster—which includes debt from households, corporations and governments?

Question number two is more difficult for most, to whom or what is all that debt owed?

To put all that systematic debt into perspective, this amount is nearly 235% of the entire world's GDP production. Simply put we own more than what we have.

Written long ago before paper money or bonds, the Revelation debt cargo lists commodities—gold, silver, jewels, fine linens, spices, chariots, slaves, and chillingly, at the end, “souls of men.” That may well point toward illicit human trafficking which is in the headlines on page two. 

According to ourrescue.com: “A $172.6 billion industry thrives in the shadows of our global economy, profiting from human suffering  according to the International Labour Organization [ILO], Global Estimates Report, 2023. Human trafficking generates profits that rival some of the world’s largest corporations, representing not just a horrific moral crisis but a complex economic phenomenon that challenges our understanding. This fact reveals the disturbing economics of human trafficking and its far-reaching implications for global commerce and human rights.

The “souls of men” humanity crisis continues to intensify across the planet. After all, the illegal industry generates billions from forced commercial sexual exploitation annually (ILO, 2024). Current estimates show traffickers hold 49.6 million people in modern sex slavery worldwide, including 12 million children (ILO and United Nations, 2024.)

In the end, the "beast" of the Babylon "system" is judged not just for idolatry, but adultery, prostitution and for getting rich on the oppressed and for funding war on babies by abortion calling it "family planning" in America or "sexual heath" in the UK. 

Thank God, for now abortion funding in the U.S is collapsing, but in the UK, sexual health clinics and family planning services are still killing and the are primarily funded through the National Health Service (NHS) brand, calling abortion reproductive health.

Don't fall for that ancient Molech deception. HaSatan's goal is death, even for the unborn.

Ultimately, just as Revelation 18:24 says, “in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.” The corrupt side of our global system's of evil are built on greed, rebellion and oppression and they must fall back into the darkness from which they came as the true Kingdom of life comes to light; because you cannot build new Jerusalem on the foundations of Babylon the Great.

Chapter seventeen's Babylon the Great pulls from Isaiah's and Jeremiah's harlot cities, judged for idolatry, with her fall echoing Egypt's collapse. Chapter eighteen's lament over Babylon uses Ezekiel's Tyre dirge, mourning economic greed. 

In stark contrast to fallen Babylon as a harlot, thank God the focus of Revelation dramatically shifts to Jerusalem and a bride. The fact is Jerusalem—an earthly city today with the Temple Mount front and center is still in ruins, but Jerusalem will be resurrected in glory and in the end New Jerusalem will remain. 

Jerusalem is the vortex, the undisputed center of final events and judgment against evil and if you read the headlines today, you can easily see that the pressure cooker is building in and all around Israel. 

That would have been impossible prior to 1948, so ask yourself, are you a part of the last generation before the day of the LORD?

Revelation 14 shows harvest and grape treading that echo's Joel's judgment and Isaiah's winepress, while the purity of those 144,000 in the final census recalls Leviticus' holiness code. Chapter fifteen's sea of glass and the song of Moses that reappear in Exodus ties to the Exodus' Red Sea victory, praising God's triumph over evil. Chapter sixteen's bowls of wrath are a final Exodus-style plague cycle, with Armageddon's roots in Zechariah's Megiddo battle. 

The final battle culminates in the valley of Jehoshaphat near Jerusalem described in Zechariah 14. The nations gather against Jerusalem, the city is captured, but then Yeshua intervenes to save—His feet stand on the Mount of Olives, which splits in two. This coincides with the great earthquake mentioned elsewhere in Revelation. His re-entry vortex point is Jerusalem, and the city itself gets a new status and name when Judah calls out in distress.

Jeremiah 3:17 says that in that day, Jerusalem will be called the throne of the LORD. Ezekiel 43 calls it “the place of the soles of my feet,” where Almighty God will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel forever. So it's time to repent and thank God for adoption.

Jerusalem becomes what its always been, God’s permanent earthly capital, a garden of Eden restored as Revelation describes it, the new Jerusalem descending from heaven in Revelation 21:2 — but that a metaphor it’s the bride of the Lamb: 

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 

So, this magnificent golden city is likely not exactly what some of us think, after all John saw a vision and a city is not a city without it's citizens. Not only that, where's the location? Heaven on earth just like the Lord's Prayer reveals.

New Jerusalem represents the redeemed children of God, described in architectural terms made of living stones. Its foundations have the names of the twelve apostles, the Jewish disciples. The gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel— and hold onto your pew, shockingly there’s no Gentile church Gate. 

What do you do with that fact?

This shows name of God’s people, His children throughout history and eternity and that family surname is Israel. 

The New Jerusalem city wall is described as 144 cubits—that's 12 times 12—representing the fullness of God’s redeemed community, the lighthouse to the world God intended all Israel to be from the beginning whether native born or sojourner, a light to the world.

Turn the pages to Revelation19 and we see the rider on the white horse merges with Zechariah's returning king and Isaiah's righteous warrior, celebrating victory over evil. 

This sets the stage after the millennial Kingdom—the thousand-year reign of Messiah on earth, ruling with a rod of iron from Jerusalem. 

One of the most surprising and sobering details of Revelation is what happens after the thousand years are over.

HaSatan and his minions are released for a short time. After a millennium day of righteous rule by King Yeshua —a day with no deception, no injustice, haSatan still has his locusts and still finds recruits as  willing followers that reject God. He gathers a massive army from the four corners of the earth to rebel against God’s Kingdom King in Jerusalem. It's mind bending, like Eve in the garden of Eden listening to the serpent instead of remembering the Creator's warning about death.

Even after living under a thousand years of perfect rule, the rebellion is unbelievable, but it shows the enduring nature of the fall and not just that of mankind. It's like a rinse and repeat of the story of Noah's day. 

This underscores the depth of evil and the human heart problem that choses to be deceived.

Chapter 20 unseals a thousand years and the final judgment draw from Daniel's thrones and Psalm 110's reign, with the book of life tied to the Exodus' names in God's book. The Gog and Magog battle AFTER the 1,000 years echoes Ezekiel's final war to defeat evil and it opens the door to chapter twenty-one's new heaven and earth fulfilling Isaiah's promise of a renewed creation, with the new Jerusalem with God's presence, like it was for Moses in the tent of meeting. 

Chapter twenty-two's river and tree of life shouts back to Eden in Genesis and Ezekiel's life-giving water, with the curse lifted per Genesis 3, sealing the Tanakh's redemption plan from the beginning.

One thing you need to know, the Revelation timing of latter day events connects back to God’s mo'adim appointment calendar with mankind that's outlined in Leviticus 24—the Feasts of the Lord, the divine appointments, and the prophetic redemption timetable is not a religious remnant that's been done away with. 

Revelation’s vision aligns in sync with the Fall Feasts of the LORD that include: Yom Teruah Trumpets Day, Yom Kippur's judgment day and Sukkot, the week long Tabernacles celebration that you need to understand includes the eighth day known as Shemini Atzeret, that reveals the perfect picture of restoration eternity. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:3-4

The imagery of the great winepress of the wrath of God in Revelation 14 is significant—after all, grapes are harvested and pressed in the Autumn Fall. The final judgment and in-gathering harvest happens according to creation and it's seasons connects to God’s Fall Feast appointment schedule that was outlined at Mount Sinai. 

The winepress imagery, spanning 1,600 furlongs (about 184 miles), pictures the totality of judgment and it echos Isaiah 63, where the Lord treads the winepress alone, His garments stained red—the fierce, righteous wrath of God against thousands of years of accumulated evil, sin and rebellion in heaven and on earth for those that refuse to repent.

For those who enter the Kingdom age, there is a specific command regarding the Feasts of the LORD that must not be forgotten. 

Zechariah 14 says that all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will be required to go up year by year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. If they do not, there will be no rain or they will receive plague. This shows that God’s appointed times are not old and done away with or just for Jews alone—they are eternal appointments of worship for all nations and that reveals God’s character and unchanging plan. As in days of old, they will be front and center to everyday life in the Kingdom of God.

Before we begin to bring this snapshot of unsealing Revelation as best we can to a close, let’s circle back to the people of God—the remnant, the overcomers. 

What’s their defining characteristic beyond faithfulness and endurance? 

A lesson application comes down to watching our mouths—because it is what comes out of our hearts, for out of the abundance of the heart, whether good or bad —the mouth speaks. The Hebrew term is "לשון הרע" (lashon ha-ra), literally "evil tongue" — meaning harmful speech about someone behind their back is a problem.

Remember Miriam, Moses’ own sister—when she spoke against Moses, God’s anointed spokesman, she was struck with leprosy, judged for her speech. It’s a powerful warning: if we want to be part of that remnant aligned with the King and His Kingdom, we have to guard our hearts and consequently, our words. What we say is important, Almighty God hears every word and knows.

We need to stand guard not onlyy over our heart and mind, but what we say.

Are we speaking words of faith, truth, encouragement, light and life backed by God's book of life to others, or are we speaking dark words of criticism, deceit, or rumor that echoes of the ultimate lashon ha-ra deceiver in Eden that tricked Eve, did God really say?

Looking at Revelation through the Hebraic lens of the Tanakh transforms the vision.

It’s not meant to be cryptic or confusing, when we study and beleive the word of God, its not such a strange or chaotic book anymore. It becomes unsealed as the capstone of the foundation connecting the threads woven through the Torah and the Prophets. 

The patterns, the graphics all align with context of justice in a redemptive rhythm to identify the King as he comes into focus, and that means it's time to be like the disciples that rested in the study of the Scriptures that Jesus read and taught every Sabbath just as it's recorded in Luke 4:14-16, Mark 6:1-2 and Acts 13:27; 15:21; 18:24.

The book of Revelation, like the rest of the Bible promises a blessing to those who read, hear, and keep what is written. It’s meant to produce alignment with Almighty God's voice, will and plan of hope and blessing to all nations as it was promised to Abraham.

That blessing is why Yeshua said do not think...

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." Matthew 5:17

 What does this all mean? 

It's time to repent and return to God's voice, return to hear and do His words, speak them, keep them and walk in the faith of His Kingdom path so that you can ready your lamp for your assignment to show others the way of life and light. 

Revelation reveals the gospel of God Jesus spoke of.

Many sermons end by saying we are sinners and Jesus died on the cross to save you if you believe that and ask Him into your heart. 

Indeed, that is good news, and we need to know:

Jesus' sermons declared the Kingdom of God is at hand, so repent return to God's voice and believe the gospel of the Kingdom.

His sermons were spoken long before anyone, including the disciples knew a thing about the Passover crucifixion cross or the resurrection from the grave three days later on the day of Firstfruits.

So what was Jesus talking about in Mark 1:14 when He proclaimed the gospel of God?

What did Peter mean when he wrote to those who are elect exiles of the diaspora in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia according to the foreknowledge of God the Father:

For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1Peter 4:17 

It's unsealed, revealed in Revelation.

The Messiah's first task was as Messiah ben Joseph to suffer and begin the process to restore mankind. Adam became mortal with sin, and like him we all die. Adam brought a curse on the Earth and his sin handed over th title deed of dominion over earth to haSatan.

Jesus or rather Yeshua as the disciple John knew Him, came to start the gospel of God process to restore the made in the image of God blessing and He preached of the Kingdom of God to come.

Revelation reveals Yeshua's good news gospel role of Messiah ben David is that the beast must be overcome just like David took out Goliath and God's Kingdom restoration will come and circle back to the good beginning of life. 

Heaven and Earth will be restored and our image throught ressurection will be put back to the glorious way it was before sin's curse put entropy and death into action. To understand what Earth would be like without sin, we might look at what entropy actually does and if you ask me, the laws of physics can help explain the gospel of God good news about the restoration of all things. 

Entropy can be seen as a picture taken at the fall of mankind, after all it is the reason for corruption, the reason that things decay and people die, and it's the reason time has a direction. It's also the reason for rain. Have you ever noticed that rain did not show up until Noah's day when the Earth and its inhabitant's became so corrupt, the flood broke out?

Before the flood, Genesis 2:6 paints the perfect picture as there was not rain: "But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."

Ever since the flood, Earth’s weather is full of storms, they can become violent and destructive driven by the movement of heat from the Sun warming air air at equator and spreading it in direct conflict with the cold poles of the planet. It's a classic entropic process.

On a renewed Earth without entropy, the world would be a place of perfect efficiency, eternal preservation and paradoxical stillness or shalom. The laws of physics shows us without entropy the result is the reign of peace and eternal life, the sting of death is swallowed up.

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. Revelation 12:16

And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Revelation 20:14

Aging and loss of life is essentially the accumulation of entropic "errors" and "damage" and its seen in DNA within cellular structures as they decline, the reality is the opposite of evolutionary theory. It's why cells decay over time, they don't improve, but God has the answer. 

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4 

Without entropy, your body would never "wear out." Without the effect of entropy, the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that the total entropy of an isolated system can only increase would effectively be "turned off." 

Perhaps, that's why we see the Sun effectively turned off in Revelation 22:3-5:

"And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever."

But before that day, we need to know tribulation will come and the shofar trumpet will sound. 

The Trumpets Day warnings are found throughout Revelation as is Yom Kippur and the Feast of Tabernacles. 

We can know the season but not the hour, so it's time to repent:

Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. Jeremiah 26:13

Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn [yourselves] from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations. Ezekiel 14:6

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn [yourselves] from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Ezekiel 18:30

From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Matthew 4:17

And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent, and believe the gospel. Mark 1:15 

Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Revelation 2:5 

Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Revelation 3:3

Revelation sums up the Bible's restoration promises.

As we've noted, check out the city called New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and take notice, there's no church gate.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 

It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Wait, why no church gate?

The book of Revelation is difficult to understand because it rejects the idea of separate people in the end called "Christians" and "Jews" with a dividng wall between them. Revelation dismantles the theological religious barriers between the "church" and the "synagogue" merging them into a single, unified people under the one family identity of Israel, led by guess who, the promised Messiah of Israel. 

The family name is just like Paul's letter to the Romans, wild branch followers of Yeshua are grafted into one Biblical family called the Israel of God. 

This perspective reinterprets so-called end-times pulpit prophecy, suggesting instead of a "Church" escaping tribulation and leaving the Jewish people behind to suffer again, the tribulation before God's wrath is a period of refinement for the bride rather than a rapture ride to leave others behind to suffer while escaping to a cloud in Heaven. 

Revelation reveals the end times as a battle where the unseen powers of darkness.

In the end, they refuse to give up control of the planet, and Messiah the rock of salvation arrives like David to take down Goliath in battle to reestablish God's Kingdom on Earth as it was intended from the beginning in Eden. 

Believers are not removed to avoid conflict but are left in the "kingdom of darkness" to serve as warriors and lamp bearers to bring "light" and represent the King before the final regathering.

Not only that, the vision reemphasizes the fact that the Torah serves as a marriage contract, and the letters given to John to deliver from the Holy Place establish the conditions for living in alignment with the King as a bride before the resurrection promised in Revelation 20:5-6 unfolds. 

That born again resurrection is the day of salvation.

To understand the vision we have to go back to Mount Sinai that highlights the importance of the Biblical Hebrew calendar, the Tabernacle and the Feasts of the LORD urging all Bible believers to live as a pure hearted bride.

The Revelation theme points to restoration of tow sticks as one in the Kingdom of God. To understand that requires we go all the way back to the historical split between the House of Judah (the Southern Kingdom) and the House of Israel called Ephraim (the Northern Kingdom). 

Long ago, God "divorced" the Northern Kingdom and scattered the ten tribes into the nations, where they were "swallowed up" and became indistinguishable from the Gentiles of the nations. But, Yeshua said that He came to call them back like lost sheep.

The Romans destroyed the City of David, the Temple and Jerusalem as they cast out Judah 2,000 years ago among the nations, but the Jews of Judea never lost their identity and they were called back to the Promised Land in 1948 after Hitler's grave tribulation.

Historically, after the days of Solomon, the united kingdom was split into two rival kingdoms (Israel and Judah) and for almost 2,000 years, the split has been known as Christian and Jew.  Yet, Ezekiel's prophecy promises a future where God would heal that division and gather them back into one nation. 

The passage continues by saying they will have "one king" and "one shepherd," which is the Messianic prophecy pointing toward Yeshua ben David (the "Son of David"). 

Immediately following the imagery of two sticks, God explains that this reunion represents the restoration of His people. Check out the "One Shepherd" passage found in Ezekiel 37:24–28:

"My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees. They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your ancestors lived. They and their children and their children’s children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever."

That restoration is in process and the gospel plan of God is to regather Ephraim the lost sheep "outcasts of Israel" and the "other sheep" with them from the nations and reunite them with the "dispersed of Judah." This gospel fact will fulfill the prophecy in Isaiah 11, which promises that the envy and harassment between these two sticks (branches of God's family) will cease, allowing them to function as one people again as one people in the hand of The LORD as declared in Ezekiel 37.

Verse 19 says: "This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am going to take the stick of Joseph—which is in Ephraim’s hand—and of the Israelite tribes associated with him, and join it to Judah’s stick. I will make them into a single stick of wood, and they will become one in my hand."

Rather than a schizophrenic view of the "Church" as a New Testament Sunday church group replacing not only the Sabbath of the LORD but the so-called Old Testament family tribes. That's the sermon of a wolf in sheep's clothing because the 12-gate restoration vision in Revelation unseals the ancient restoration promise of one nation under God. 

It reveals that believers from the nations, aka "former Gentiles" as Paul puts it in Ephesians 2:11–12 are "grafted back into" the family called the Israel of God. I know it's a mind blower, but the revelation of Revelation is that replacement theology is fake news, a lie and there's nothing new about God's children called the "Commonwealth of Israel." 

After all, Ruth (the Moabite), Rahab (the Canaanite), Uriah (the Hittite) and the Ger (גֵּר) "Mixed Multitude" that left Egypt with Israel are proof that God loves adoption and His plan to restore the beginning since day one.

The covenant truth is that when a Gentile comes to faith, they do not take on a "Gentile church box" identity. The revelation is the former Gentile believer is no longer a stranger to the covenants of promise first revealed and given to Abraham Issac and Jacob.

The Revelation gates reveal believers are grafted into the "Israel of God". 

The book everyone ignores is Revelation, yet it removes the divide of a dispensational church age, it destroys replacement theology and reveals the "one new man" family Paul wrote about where God fearing believers are royal citizens of the restored and reunited household family of God.

Under the Kingdom of God restoration, there are no "second-class citizens" because everyone shares their identity as the family of God. This family is described as a bride and is visually represented as the New Jerusalem which has gates named after the twelve tribes of Israel, implying that entry into the city is in unity with the God family of Israel gospel plan under one Shepherd King rather than a separate new religion church replacement that wants to escape the Day of the LORD when evil, both seen and unseen is cast of of Eden.

Since Revelation teaches with visions, here's a simple graphic to reconsider the big picture of the "restoration of all things." 

Click to Enlarge

For other studies on the big picture vision of one family, one nation under God revealed in Revelation consider:

Don't Be a Victim of Identity Theft or The Lost Sheep Scriptures.

But, there's more to Revelation and it's another reason its so hard to understand.

John provides an unusual clue in John 1:12-13: "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."

There's a reason Revelation 12 depicts "war in heaven" linked to the birth of the Messiah, and the dragon's fall with the arrival of the Messiah on the planet. 

Revelation reveals the unseen war and it's more than most of us imagine.

Like rebellious people, fallen elōhîm and their offspring will enter judgment and defeat, and it's described as plain as day in Revelation 9. As many know, Newer Testament passages show how Jesus deals with the reality of the spiritual dark side.

Yet its often ignored or skipped over. 

In Matthew 16:18 at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus stands at the "Gates of Hell" in the Mount Hermon region and declares war on the powers of darkness. It's missed by most, but that what the Holy Spirit revealed behind the scene to Peter.

The Messiah has a role bigger than you may have thought.

You need to know Peter wrote about it in Peter 3:19-22 as well as 2 Peter 2:4 and Jude 6 also references the "angels who sinned" and were cast into Tartarus. Both Peter and Jude link Jesus' resurrection to a proclamation of victory over the crime scene in the days of Noah.

Paul does it too as a third witness. 

He uses Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:9-10 as he describes Jesus... in saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.

In Ephesians 6:12 Paul wraps up the description of the spiritual forces of evil using the same language of geographic dominion that found in the book of Daniel admonishing everyone to put on the whole armor to stand with righteousness, after all, in the end we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Even if you don't know this, the demons know, that's why the one possessing that man living in the tombs of the country of the Gadarenes said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me."

They knew what was coming.

Abraham's covenant includes promises of land, descendants, protection, and ultimate redemption of the nations of the planet scattered at Babel. 

The time is now, choose to believe, repent and follow in the footsteps of Yeshua. Revelation gives us the word "patience" for a reason right after it describes if anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God.

Other than waiting, why patience? 

Because the behind the scene conflict is very ancient... 

"Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."

Remember Job?

Job 38:7 tells us that the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said the "sons of elōhîm" shouted for joy when He laid the foundations of the earth, proving the hidden hosts of the God of Hosts existed before humanity.

Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 provide the backstory of a throne guardian (cherub) who wanted to be "like the Most High" and was cast down to the earth. 

Genesis 6:1-4 describes another rebellion when the "sons of Elōhîm transgressed boundaries with women, producing the Nephilim of which Goliath of Gath was a descendant. 

1 Samuel 28:13 reveals the story of the medium at Endor, she supposedly calls on the spirit of the deceased Samuel. But the English disguises. The woman said I saw an elōhîm ascend. 

Scripture passages reveal fallen ones preside over assigned geographic areas and this is presented as fact in Daniel 7. Four are described as beasts and called kings or princes and they all oppose Israel because the LORD of Hosts chose them as His own portion and gave them His inheritance on earth, the Promised Land. 

Daniel 7:9-10 says, “As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames; its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him; a thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him; the court sat in judgment, and the books were opened."

Daniel looked toward Revelation 5-10 and the account includes both the seen and the unseen.

Revelation 10:11 gives John an assignment... And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” 

Nations and languages seems simple enough, but what those "kings"? Is this a pointer to the "kings" Daniel was shown in another vision, the ones he described as looking like beasts?

Daniel 8 identifies a goat and a ram and the prince of the host is mentioned. The livestock are described as the kings over Media and Persia. The male goat is literally the king of Greece, not the "kingdom" territory many English Bibles declare. By the way, both goats and rams have a social hierarchy within their herd, with dominant individuals asserting their authority over subordinates.

So much for the Alexander's generals theory fulfilling the prophecies of Daniel.

Daniel 10 tells of a great war, and the one that came to Daniel and touched his shoulder said this:

"The prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 

Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come."

Fast forward to the geography of ancient Media and Persia today, and consider the vicious life threatening hatred against Israel and the Jewish people that have returned. 

We are seeing a time yet to come right now unfolding in wicked Iran (aka Persia). 

Ask yourself, are the mullahs following a false prophet by the name of Mohammed or are they literally influenced by the fallen prince of Persia who inspired Haman?

Are they acting alone in hatred or influenced by and unseen realm of evil devoid of the Spirit of the God of Israel? 

Not only that, Iran has raging demon-like subordinates, we know their names include Hamas, Hezbollah and Houthis, they are seen in the headlines all the time -- but what dark force rulers over these nations take counsel together and influence them behind the curtain?

Sound like a crazy question?

How about this question... Psalm 2:1-12: Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.” 

He who sits in the heavens laughs; the LORD holds them in derision. 

Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. 

You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” 

Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him."

Next, follow the theme track over to Psalm 82 and consider what's there.

Almighty God Elōhîm of hosts presides in the great assembly and He renders judgment among the “elōhîm elders that ask:

“How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked?

Incredibly, Asaph's psalm reveals there are in fact unclean, other worldly unseen beings fallen "elōhîm" and they are still subject to the judgment of the Most High Elyôn and its a death sentence. 

Psalm 89:6-7 pronounces judgment: 

"You are elōhîm, sons of the Most High Elyôn, all of you nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince. Arise, O Elōhîm, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!" 

This points straight to Daniel 7:9-10 and reveals evil elōhîm have geography, and they hate the land covenant given to Abraham, with a promise to make him a great nation, bless him and all nations abundantly, make his name great.

The fallen spirits hate the fact that Almighty God will have His way and make Abraham a blessing to "all families of the earth" and most importantly they hate that because the son of God, the Messiah descendant of Abraham is the King of Israel that will overcome, rule the whole planet and execute the Psalm 89 sentence. 

Most have heard the creation account and remember, but to understand Revelation, we can't forget Genesis 6 and the ben elōhîm that chose to break the unseen barrier to corrupt humanity.

 

We think we know what happened after the flood, but do we? 

The covenant sign displays the visible light spectrum with a rainbow in the cloud and the covenant is with Noah, his descendants, and don't forget every living creature that left the ark. So why the Deuteronomy 32 condemnation for the fallen elōhîm that opposed the Most High Elyôn Yod Hey Vav Hey... 

Did the unseen drown? 

How about those hybrids, the chimeras the Bible describes as giants in many passages and under names such as Nephilim, Rephaim, Anakim, and the Philistine head honcho Goliath?

Before David took him out there was Og the king of Bashan, a remnant of the Rephaim. Og, like Goliath is a significant figure in the Biblical narrative, known for his death at the direction of Moses as well and Og's whole army.

Scripture consistently depicts them as physically imposing, giant adversaries all opposing God's covenant people. Numbers 13:33 brings them to focus: "And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

Back to the Elōhîm of Deuteronomy 32...

For I will proclaim the name of the LORD: Ascribe greatness to our elōhîm. They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to elōhîm they did not know... He will say: ‘Where are their elōhîm the rock in which they sought refuge? Now see that I, even I, am He, And there is no elōhîm besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; Nor is there any who can deliver from My hand.

There's no Elōhîm besides Me who can deliver.

The song says, "They have corrupted themselves; [They are] not His children, Because of their blemish: a perverse and crooked generation.

Next, Deuteronomy 32:7-8 states something we have to consider. 

When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel.

Babel is the separation location and was in the land of Shinar. We also need to know it was the place that the sons of Adam were led astray by king Nimrod. It's where he became a mighty one in the earth and he ruled the cities of Erech, and Accad, and Calneh. 

Babel is a rerun of an unseen conflict, the mutiny in heaven that fell to earth and Revelation describes what evolved as Babylon the great.

Babel and Revelation are interconnected.

Babel is where the LORD disinherited the nations on earth because they attempted to rise above, reach the unseen realm and if you ask me bring the fallen ones to earth. So consider, did the LORD assign them to territories taken by fallen spirits just like the situation described in Daniel? 

In Babel, the Almighty God of Israel, the LORD confused languages as He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the children of Israel. 

But think about this, the thing is at Babel, the sons of Israel did not yet exist, Jacob had no children, he wasn't even born yet, so why did Moses write that? 

The answer is the omnipotent Almighty One, the God of Israel told him to.

This we can know, the God of Israel has His eye on his own portion, His children which is why He is called the God of Israel and He started to reverse the judgment under heaven at Babel against the nations and He chose Jerusalem as the place to do that. 

The account that describes it is in Acts 2 and there's more to speaking in tongues than what many may assume, and believe it or not, there's a Almighty God reason the geographic areas surrounding Israel are named in Acts. 

Interestingly, no mention of Shinar.

Is that a hint? I think so, here's the account:

"And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 

And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? 

Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” 

And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 

Most of the time we take the unseen for granted or choose to ignore what we can't see, perhaps not understanding even the first commandment. The bylaws if you will, the outline of the Constitution of Heaven were repeated for mankind at Sinai and those Ten Commandments have never changed since theres words were spoken:

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."  Genesis 1:26

The first commandment for life on earth and heaven is:

“I am the LORD your Elōhîm... You shall have no other elōhîm before me.”

Exodus 20:3 is worth repeating, You shall have no other elōhîm before me. I'm no Hebrew scholar, yet when we look closely, the Hebrew appears to literally say... 

None has been before, other elōhîm above my presence. 

לא יהיה־לך אלהים אחרים על־פּני

Gives a message you may not connect to the beast of Revelation... no elōhîm besides Me is in charge.

The word Elōhîm appears about 2,600 times including the creation context and the priestly portions but is most often found referencing the ultimate conflict in heaven is it on earth, good vs. evil which are the sons of light vs. the sons of darkness.

This is described in a scroll found at the caves of Qumran by the Dead Sea in 1947. 

That old dusty scroll is called the "War Scroll," "War Rule," "Rule of War" its also known as "The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness."

Get this it starts with territories, so think of the book of Daniel and the bizarre account of God's messenger saying he was held up by the prince of Persia as you read what they found:

"For the In[structor, the Rule of] the War. The first attack of the Sons of Light shall be undertaken against the forces of the Sons of Darkness, the army of Belial: the troops of Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the [Amalekites], Philistia, and the troops of the Kittim of Asshur. Supporting them are those who have violated the covenant. The sons of Levi, the sons of Judah, and the sons of Benjamin, those exiled to the wilderness, shall fight against them with [...] against all their troops, when the exiles of the Sons of Light return from the Wilderness of the Peoples to camp in the Wilderness of Jerusalem. Then after the battle they shall go up from that place a[nd tile king of; the Kittim [shall enter] into Egypt. In his time he shall go forth with great wrath to do battle against the kings of the north, and in his anger he shall set out to destroy and eliminate the strength of I[srael. Then the]re shall be a time of salvation for the People of God, and a time of dominion for all the men of His forces, and eternal annihilation for all the forces of Belial. There shall be g[reat] panic [among] the sons of Japheth, Assyria shall fall with no one to come to his aid, and the supremacy of the Kittim shall cease that wickedness be overcome without a remnant. There shall be no survivors of [all the Sons of] Darkness."

It's mind bending that there are good and evil sons of darkness, the same goes for people. The battle in the end will include both.

One challenge to our Elōhîm understanding is that in many places, the Bible combines Yod Hey Vav Hey יהוה with Elōhîm translated as "LORD God". So we tend to think the only Elōhîm is the LORD God, but the Bible reveals the LORD has others beyond the dimensional limits of the spacetime that we perceive. Revelation's elders, the 24 proves it.

"LORD God" is affirming that the unseen God of Israel is the supreme One, the all knowing, Most High Elyôn and the first commandment declares the "LORD God" is not one of the elōhîm sons. The Most High Elōhîm is the unseen One who rules as sovereign over the hosts that are unseen whether the sons of light or the fallen sons of darkness that will meet their end in the Day of the LORD.

Revelation reveals that not only the humanity that rejects our Creator has a problem, but Revelation reveals fallen elōhîm and their demons will meet their end.

Think of elōhîm as transcendent beyond the ordinary range of human perception, that surpass dependence on the visible universe as well as time, space, and material, the elōhîm exist in a dimension outside the physical boundaries governing humanity and like dark matter they are described first in Genesis and finally in Revelation.

Another analogy for the unseen reality is light. 

The spectrum of visible light is tiny. Our eyes can only detect visible light in the wavelength of 400 nm to 700 nanometers. For reference, one nanometer is one billionth of a meter. Yet, the unseen invisible low-energy long radio wave length we use everyday with our mobile phones is within the unseen spectrum at a wavelength of 1,000,000,000 nanometers and the short high-energy gamma rays are often down to 10⁻¹² nanometer or smaller.

Because we can't see radio waves, are they not there?  

Now, think of the book of Job again. 

Job 1 shifts "scene" from earth (Job's blameless life, Uz land—maybe Edom) to heaven's council room. It's a hayyom—appointed session, and the cabinet convenes. YHWH presides over the meeting, He rules.

"One day the sons of God (bene ha'Elōhîm) came to present themselves before the LORD, and ha'Satan also came among them. The LORD said to ha'Satan, 'Where have you come from?' ha'Satan answered... 'From roaming throughout the earth.' 

Did you notice the one day? The phrase implies a recurring meeting of bene ha'Elōhîm (“sons of God”). The scene also shows God’s heavenly council where the sovereign LORD consults with (or at least allows input from) His heavenly court. 

Think back to the elders noted in Revelation.

As with the crowns cast down in John's vision, Job's text is very clear that:

The LORD remains completely sovereign.

"And the LORD said to ha'Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”

Job 2 describes a followup briefing. 

It's a repeat agenda, ha'Satan reports Job still blesses God. An escalation request is granted (bad health), but the standing order is to spare Job's life. The meeting puts a heavenly bet on human endurance, aka the patience of saints, with a Revelation 14:12 nod. 

The session ends with ha'Satan departing. This frames Job's suffering as divine decision, not random. Only Almighty God knows outcome in transcendent omniscience and so He allows choice as a faith proof.

We know how the Job story ends, but what's its purpose?

Job foreshadows Messiah, the one true faithful, sinless Son of Man (Daniel 7) who crushes ha'Satan as noted in Genesis 3:15; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 20:3: 

"Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while."

The pinnacle of Job's story is: "In all this Job sinned not." 

Job the persecuted, paints the picture of Yeshua's suffering (divine decision) at the hand of Pilate, like "the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God."

This vivid picture sets up the entire drama of the Bible, the question of whether human righteousness can survive unexplained suffering — a question that begins and ends in the courtroom of heaven itself described in Revelation.

The Bible does not give many more details about the outcome of an Elōhîm meeting like that described in the book of Job until Revelation describes the "elders" in Heaven and we see 24 that chose to not rebel as noted in Revelation chapters 4, 5, 7, 11, 14 and 19.

Is elōhîm אלהים the word we think of as only Almighty God or as we've seen, does it mean something else that we have not been taught about the Bible, aka the Revelation elders, God's heavenly council?

There are many Bible passages that reference elōhîm and there is a BIG difference between Yod Hey Vav Hey יהוה the personal proper name rendered as "the LORD" in our English Bibles to respect the Jewish tradition of not pronouncing it aloud. 

Hashem, the name is unique, specific and no other unseen being has "the name" except of the God of Israel.

The Hebrew letters for elōhîm אֱלֹהִים are Aleph Lamed Heu Yod Mem.

Aleph = Strength, Lamed = Authority, Hey = Behold, Hey = Hand.

Strength, Authority, Behold, Hand... Elōhîm

So, in Scripture, elōhîm can represent "divine beings or council,"  "judges," or "mighty ones" behind the scenes or if you will, in another dimension not subject to the laws of physics known so far, at least as we understand them. 

Elōhîm elders exist, but in an unseen reality that we need to try to understand, after all, can we see the air all around us that we breathe? Can we see our thoughts, feelings? Time?

I think of the unseen world like another spectrum beyond our visual 4-D world not subject to length, depth, height and time which combine into what physicists call our "spacetime" a unified four-dimensional fabric where space and time are interwoven into visible creation.

Creation gave us four coordinates on Earth, three for position in heaven space and one for when things on Earth happen. This is why we say we live in a four-dimensional universe, but the Bible mysteriously reveals there's more to the Universe than what we can see unless a vision is granted by our Creator. 

As noted, Deuteronomy 32:7-8 states something we have to consider to understand Revelation.

When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. 

It means our mission on earth today is to find people living as commoners in chaos, teach the Scriptures,  its covenants and the gospel of God revealed and remind everyone they can be part of the royal family of the God of Israel no longer separated, believing in and following in the footsteps of Messiah Yeshua so they are ready like a bride when the King returns to remove evil and tabernacle with us.

After all, there will be a wedding celebration, its called Sukkot so its time to rehearse and prep for Revelation 21:3:

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

That's the epilogue of the “Great Multitude” that will celebrate the grand finale of Sukkot, the Feast of Tabernacles. 

Just as it was described at Sinai, there will be palm branches again as noted in Revelation 7:9 “…with palm branches in their hands” that will fulfill Leviticus 23:40: “And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook..” There will be rejoicing as described in Revelation 7:10 “and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” that will fulfill Leviticus 23:40: “you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days.”

In that day, Revelation reveals all generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

As God delivered His people from Egypt in the past, He will repeat the pattern and deliver the “Great Multitude” written in the book of life from the nations of fallen Babylon the great fulfilling Jeremiah 16:14-15.

"And he called out with a mighty voice, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast." Revelation 18:2