Chapter 10

via Genesis 6:1-4

We have completed the study of the ninth chapter of the book of Revelation. We have seen in this chapter two unprecedented attacks in all of human history. Demons today fall into two categories: those who have bodies and those who are disembodied spirits. The attacks that we have studied are from demons who have bodies. Today demons with bodies do not operate on this earth. They are either under the earth in barracks or they are in the second heaven. In the future, as we have noted, there will be an attack from demons with bodies. The target is only the believer and unbeliever inside the cosmic system.

We have noted that there are five great demon attacks on the human race. First of all there is the genetic attack in the antediluvian civilisation, an attack by demons with bodies. The second attack is demon possession, the third is demon influence which belongs to believer and unbeliever who live in the cosmic system.

In the field of arrogance in the cosmic system there is the arrogance of achievement. Achievement belongs to God; happiness belongs to the believer. When the believer makes the decision to live in the cosmic system he becomes preoccupied with success, he is bitten by that bug called inordinate ambition and inordinate competition. Instead of being occupied with Christ he is more concerned about the opinions of his contemporaries. Arrogance motivates him to strive for success, to outdo his contemporaries, and hence all decisions are made from a position of weakness. The idea of a day-by-day happiness based on the faithfulness of God, the provision of logistical grace, is exchanged for decisions to compromise in order to get ahead. His arrogant desire for success destroys his true scale of values, obliterates his sense of destiny from perception of doctrine and, as a matter of fact, his perception of doctrine evaporates. The retention area of the perception of doctrine is gone. The arrogant desire to achieve and attain greater success than his contemporaries takes him down the bumpy road to fame and great unhappiness. Doctrine is neglected, virtue is ignored, ambition is in the saddle and driven by arrogance. Yet, through the function of humility inside the divine dynasphere and doing one’s job as unto the Lord the believer not only possesses great happiness on a basis of the perception of doctrine, he has great happiness on a daily basis and leaves achievement in the hands of the Lord. Achievement often comes his way under the principle that God has promoted him. As a matter of fact, if God doesn’t promote you, you are not promoted.

The fourth attack is the physical attack in the middle and end of the Tribulation, the physical attack of demon armies. There will be in Revelation chapter twelve, verses seven through seventeen, the story of the third attack, the third demon assault army led personally by Satan.

Satan’s greatest attack in all of history was against our Lord Jesus Christ — against His incarnation, His true humanity. This antediluvian attack and the Tribulational attacks involve demons who are visible, who have bodies.

We begin in Genesis chapter six with the genetic attack in the antediluvian civilisation. The object of this demon attack was to frustrate the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ, to prevent His true humanity from coming to the earth in hypostatic union and to hinder His going to the cross to become our saviour. Satan tried many times to destroy the line of Christ and therefore the true humanity of Christ. In addition to the attack we note here that he made many attacks of a different nature on people after the flood. The great dividing line is the flood which divides the antediluvian civilisation from the post-diluvian civilisation. The genetic attack occurred in the antediluvian civilisation, it was an attack made by demons with bodies. The many attacks after the flood were made by demons who are disembodied spirits, so the attacks therefore are different in nature.

We note the passage in Genesis 6:1-3. “Now it came to pass, when mankind had begun to become numerous on the surface of planet earth, that daughters were born to them,” it was the ladies again who attracted Satan in a great thrust against the incarnation.

Verse 2 — “Now the sons of God.” This particular translation is challenged for several reasons. Notice the word in the Hebrew: beni ha Elohim — “beni ha” means “sons of the”; Elohim is generally used for God when more than one person of the Trinity is involved, but it can also be used for the polytheistic expression of many gods, false gods. That is the way we will translate Elohim here. The “im” is plural in the Hebrew. It should be translated “the sons of the gods.” This is a very unique expression which is only found in this passage and in three verses in Job [1:6; 2:1; 38:7], and once in Daniel 3:25. In all of these passages it only refers to angels, it does not refer to human beings. The Son of God refers to our Lord in hypostatic union; children of God, or “you become the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus” in Galatians 3, refers to believers. But this is a Hebrew word and it only occurs a few times and always it refers to angels.

Who are the sons of the gods? The answer is demons, demons which would include the Titans of mythology plus the progeny of the Titans.

Genesis 3:15, “I will put hostility [the hostility of the angelic conflict] between you [Adam or Satan] and the woman [the woman is the true humanity and the source of Christ], between your seed [Satan and his demons] and her seed [Christ in hypostatic union]; He will crush your head [the defeat of Satan at the second advent], and you [Satan] shall crush His heal [the bearing of our sins at the cross].”

The son of the gods are the sons of the Titans and, as such, they are a special core of demons that have the ability to reproduce.

Now in Genesis 6:2, “the sons of the gods [demons with bodies] saw the daughters of mankind, that they were beautiful; so they took to themselves women whomever they selected.”

Verse 3, “Then Jehovah said, ‘My spirit [referring to God the Holy Spirit in the function of common grace, revealing the gospel to the unbeliever] will not contend with man forever in his going astray [his fornication with the demons]; he is flesh [true humanity], therefore his days will be one hundred and twenty years.” From the time this was said there would be 120 years to the flood and the destruction of the human race. By that time the human race was half human and half angelic and called the super race. They would all be destroyed and then again we would start with a new civilisation, Noah and his family. From Noah and his family all of us are descended today. So the time would come when the Lord would shut down the human race and destroy the opportunity for the exercise of volition.

Verse 4, The corrupted humanity is described in verse 4 by one Hebrew word, ha [definite article] Nephilim. Nephilim means the fallen ones literally, hence it is a reference to fallen angels, the demons involved in the genetic attack on the human race. They are easy to describe since we have so much tradition from mythology. Mythology is not false information; mythology is merely the traditions on which ethnic organisations are developed. “Fallen ones” is a perfect description for all demons; they fell with Satan, they made their choice. Hence, they were not disembodied spirits like demons today.

“The Nephilim [fallen angels, demons] were on the earth in those days [in the antediluvian civilisation], therefore also afterward, when the sons of the gods went in [had sex, the demonic sexual invasion of the human race] with the daughters of men [females of the human race], and had children by them [sons were born to them, literally]. These [children] were heroes who from ancient history were famous men.”

If corrupted humanity had reached the entire human race there would be no cross because there would be no Christ in the flesh. Without Christ coming in the flesh there is no way that salvation can exist. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree, and this is the reason for the attack of Satan.

That brings us now to verse five which says: “Then the Lord observed that the evil of mankind was great on the earth, and every motive of the thoughts of his right lobe was only evil all the time.” As a result of demons operating on the earth in bodies, as a result of the genetic invasion, as a result of the destruction of true humanity, except in one family, the civilisation was brought to an end, only one family was preserved. From Noah came our Lord Jesus Christ through his son, Shem. From Shem came the entire line of Christ and, therefore, our Christmas and everything related to it.

Genesis 6:5-13. We are dealing with the development of a very technical concept: demon attacks on the human race. We are in the process of studying the genetic attack of the antediluvian civilisation.

By way of definition, we should be very careful about this in view of what we are studying at the present time:

“A Fable,” according to Dr Charles Mills Galey, formerly the Professor of English at the university of California, “is a story, like the Fox and the Grapes, in which the characters and the plot neither pretend reality nor demand credence. They are fabrications used as a vehicle of a moral or a didactic instruction. Myths, on the other hand, are stories of anonymous origin of some ethnic events prevalent among primitive peoples, and by them accepted as truth. They usually give the origin of some ethnic group, like the Romans or the Greeks or the Norse or the Germanic peoples. They concern supernatural beings and events, or natural beings and events being influenced by supernatural agencies.”

We have seen in Genesis 6:2 that the translation “sons of God” is incorrect. it should be “sons of the gods.” In the Hebrew it is beni ha Elohim, and beni refers not to any human being. In fact there isn’t a passage in the Word of God where it does. This is a Hebrew word, it is a technical word, and this refers to the sons and the grandsons of the Titans and those that preceded their sons. This has to do with demonology and it has to do with the Greek explanation of demonology. The Titans here are the gods and these are the sons and the grandsons of the Titans which is the basis for all English and western European culture. It is all based on the story of the Titans and the children of the Titans, the gods of Mount Olympus. This is all the basis for explaining many of the things of the ancient world. In fact, it is the human extra-biblical explanation for Genesis chapter six.

Verse 5, human sacrifice was one of the things that resulted from this demon invasion. Human sacrifice and the function of the phallic cult produced international degeneration. One other factor must be added to it because this one factor is the basis for a great deal of demon influence and demon possession — drug addiction. The genetic destruction of true humanity was highly contagious and was spreading throughout the entire world. The half-angelic, half-human creatures possessed super intellect, super strength, so that violence and arrogance were unrestrained — high IQs in strong bodies. The story of the gods of Mount Olympus or the gods of the Canaanites and Phoenicians are filled with every category of evil and this is only a small picture of what is meant by this verse. Not only was true humanity jeopardised by this demon invasion but the saturation of evil on the earth was self-destructive to the human race. Both evil and genetics were destroying the very purpose for which God created the human race.

Verse 7, “Then the Lord decreed, ‘I will blot out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land [the surface of the earth], from man to animals, to reptiles, to birds of the sky; for I have changed my mind that I have made them.”

Verse 8, “But Noah acquired grace in the eyes of the Lord,” which means that Noah was born again and Noah was still true humanity.

Verse 9, “Noah was a justified man,” a believer and had received the imputation of divine righteousness. The next phrase is very important as far as our salvation is concerned. Christ had to come as true humanity into the world: “[Noah was] uncontaminated in his genealogy.” From Adam to Noah, through Seth, there was a line of true humanity uncontaminated by the genetic attack of demons. Furthermore, “Noah walked with God,” a positive believer advancing to maturity through perception of doctrine as it was given to him in those days. The importance of the perpetuation of the line of true humanity in the post-diluvian civilisation is something we have noted.

Verse 10, “Noah sired three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.”

Verse 11, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God [the effect of the demon genetic attack], furthermore the earth was saturated with violence.”

Matthew 24:37-41 gives us a story of the same thing. The same antediluvian civilisation and what happened when this infiltration occurred, but it gives it from a slightly different standpoint, the standpoint of culture.

Verse 37, “For the coming of the Son of Man [the second advent of Christ] will be like the days of Noah.” The genetic attack in the time of Noah is compared to the violent assaults of the three demon armies at the end of the Tribulation.

Verse 38, “For in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking,” normal functions. The next phrase says, “they were marrying and giving in marriage.” There is nothing wrong with getting married but here that isn’t the point. The demons were marrying and being given in marriage to the women of the human race, “until the day that Noah entered the ark.” This passage can only be understood in the light of Genesis chapter six. It is the social life with the demons that is involved at this point. It was the social life of the demons which had to be cut off by the universal flood which destroyed the entire population of the world, minus eight believers.

Verse 39, “And they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away,” they didn’t understand the jeopardy in which the human race was involved, “and so shall it be in the coming of the Son of Man.” It will be exactly the same way at the end of the Tribulation, as we have noted from Revelation chapter nine. It will be noted that there was no effective client nation to God in the time of Noah, therefore the absence of the laws of divine establishment meant unrestrained demon activity. The social life with demons inevitably led to sexual life. It is always and interesting thing that except in the case of criminality, all fornication, all sex of any kind, always begins on a social basis. The social basis is the concept of human consent. In the days of Noah there was no client nation to restrain demon activity.

Verse 40, “Two men shall be in the field [before the second advent]; one shall be taken, one shall be left.” The one who is taken is the unbeliever destroyed by the baptism of fire at the second advent.

Verse 41, “Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken, one shall be left.” This is the antithesis of the Rapture. The people who stay on the earth go into the Millennium; the people who are taken off are judged in exactly the same way as the super race of Nephilim were judged at the time of the flood.

Genesis 6:12, “Consequently God looked at the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.” This is the effectiveness of the genetic attack by demons on the antediluvian civilisation. True humanity was almost extinct. If true humanity had been totally destroyed then Satan would have won the angelic conflict, there would have been no salvation; Jesus Christ would have not gone to the cross and been judged for the sins of the world, there would have been no way that He could come into the world as true humanity. The line of Christ must be true humanity all the way back to Adam. Hence, the necessity of destroying the hybrid race, the half-human, half-angelic creatures.

Verse 13, “Then God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before me [meaning: I’m thinking about destroying the whole human race]; for the earth has become saturated with violence because of their presence [because of the demon sexual infiltration and evil function of their progeny]; and behold, I am about to destroy them [corrupt humanity] with planet earth’.” Corrupted humanity from fallen angels were to be removed from planet earth: the corrupted humanity to torments in Hades waiting for the great white throne judgment; the demon Nephilim were to be incarcerated in Tartarus.

In 2 Peter 2:4 we have a reference to this judgment of the demons, the fallen angels involved in the infiltration, the genetic attack on the human race: “For if God did not spare the angels [demons called sons of the gods] when they sinned, but incarcerated them in pits of darkness, and delivered them to be constantly guarded for future judgment.” This is just a brief explanation but used as an analogy, which means that in explanation of Genesis chapter six there is no question about the fact that the angels made the infiltration. Jude 6 is another passage making a brief reference to Genesis chapter six: “And the angels [demons] who had not kept their status quo, but abandoned their proper residence [angels socialising with angels], he has guarded them in eternal chains under thick darkness for the judgment of the great day.”

By way of summary of this genetic attack, the demons involved in that attack are now imprisoned in Tartarus of Hades until the judgment of fallen angels at the end of the Millennium. The corrupted part of the human race was destroyed by the flood [those who were alive]. They are in torments of Hades waiting for their trial and the judgment of the great white throne. The demons who at present function on planet earth under Satan’s command have no bodies. No demons are permitted to function on planet earth with bodies any longer. The genetic attack is over, there is no way that a demon as a disembodied spirit can have sex with anyone of the human race or can physically attack anyone in the human race. He has to possess another member of the human race or he has to influence another member of the human race to do that. Demons who at present, then, function on planet earth under Satan’s command are disembodied spirits, which means their sexual capabilities, their ability for violence, has been taken from them. Furthermore, they are now invisible to mankind. Disembodied demons seek to invade the soul of mankind through demon influence and the body of mankind through demon possession. Present day invasions of demons do not include either sex with the human race or any personal attacks of violence. Hence never again, until the end of the Tribulation, will the human race be genetically attacked or physically attacked by demons with bodies. All demon sex must be accomplished either through demon possession [the phallic cult] or demon influence where a believer or unbeliever is involved in this religious activity of Satanism and they use the body of someone else. Demons no longer and never again will have sexual contact with the human race. demons will, at the end of the Tribulation, attack the human race with physical violence. However, demons do get into the sexual act by de on-possessing the body of an unbeliever involved in the phallic cult. When they do, the result is fornication, which looks quite normal compared to the acts of bestiality, homosexuality, pederasty, and other things that are involved. The genetic attack on the human race has been defeated and will never again be repeated. This means, of course, the inevitable and eternal victory of our Lord Jesus Christ in coming through the virgin pregnancy and birth, and then the fact that he went to the cross.

The inevitable victory of the cross is described very briefly in 1 Peter 2:24, “Christ bore our sins in his own body on the tree.” When our Lord Jesus Christ died physically on the cross His spirit went into the presence of the Father; His body went into the tomb; His soul went to Hades [Paradise]; but while He was there He went down from Paradise, through torments to Tartarus to tell the fallen angels that they had not succeeded in the genetic attack, 1 Peter 3:18-22. The humanity of Jesus Christ is now at the right hand of the Father. The content of His message to the fallen angels in Tartarus is found in Hebrews 2:9-16. The genetic attack did not succeed. It was the first and most dramatic and unusual attack ever made by fallen angels on the human race. As a result of it there were some changes in the rules for the post-diluvian civilisation. You can’t see demons in the first place because those who operate on the earth are disembodied spirits. Nevertheless their attacks are much more insidious because they are invisible. Furthermore, no demon can attack a member of the human race as a disembodied spirit apart from human consent. You have something in your soul called volition; it is a fantastic power. You can say no to the cosmic system and that stops the whole thing.

Luke 4:32-36a

We now move on to the second demon attack. The first attack was made by demons with bodies. There are two kinds of demons, those who still possess bodies and those who do not. We now consider the attack of demon possession. Demon possession is defined as the demon invasion of the body of an unbeliever. The believer cannot be demon-possessed, his body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. It is contrasted with demon influence which is demon invasion of the soul and the personality of those who are in the cosmic system. All demon activity, then, is related to man’s free will, human consent. Most of that human consent comes from a position of weakness to enter the cosmic system. All demons are fallen angels under the command of Satan. All demons recognised our Lord’s authority during the incarnation, and that takes us to Luke 4:32ff.

Verse 32, “And they were continually amazed at his teaching, for his doctrine carried authority.” This is the people who listened to our Lord in and about the area of Palestine.

Verse 33, “And there was a person in the synagogue.” The very fact that he was in the synagogue indicates that he had positive volition to be released from this terrible condition; “possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon [fallen angel], and he screamed out with a very loud voice.”

Verse 34, and what came out of the vocal cords was either Ho or Ha. And what came next? “What do we have to do with you [a Greek idiom for, What do you want with us?], Jesus of Nazareth?” It is obvious that the demon-possessed man was not doing any talking. He is throwing up positive signals but his vocal cords were controlled by the demons. “Have you come to destroy us? [Not the man who is demon-possessed, but the demons]. In other words, they had a question: Is the first advent when the demons are going to be destroyed? Of course, the answer to that is no. “I know who you are [says one of the leaders who is possessing the body of this man], the Holy One of God!”

Verse 35, Our Lord doesn’t do any explaining. He doesn’t teach demons, He doesn’t teach negative volition. These are locked-in negative volition types whose eternity has already begun. They had made their decisions in eternity past in the prehistoric angelic conflict. “And Jesus reprimanded him, saying, ‘Be quiet and come out of him!’ And when the demon had thrown him down in their presence [the demon left in a pout!], he came out without injuring him.”

Verse 36, “And all the people were amazed, and began discussing the incident with each other, saying, ‘What is this doctrine?’ They heard the dialogue between demons and our Lord and they were trying to figure out what the doctrine was, ‘For with authority and power he gives orders to demons [evil spirits], and they come out’.”

Our question is: What is this doctrine? Demons are found in the Old Testament. There is a noun in the Hebrew “shed.” In the plural shedim is used for demons, Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 106:37. There is another noun called sair, which means hairy, shaggy, rough, and is used for both a goat and for a certain category of demon called “sater,” Leviticus 17:7. This particular category was definitely a category that had been disembodied. In the destruction of Babylon prophesied by Isaiah there is a desolation passage, Isaiah 13:21, “And Sater demons will frolic there.” The same concept is found in Isaiah 34:14.

In the Greek we have four words. We have the word daimwn from which we get demon. it refers to a disembodied spirit almost always, as in Matthew 8:31; Mark 5:12; Luke 8:29; Revelation 16:14. There is also the word daimonion referring to a specific category of demons as opposed to all other demons and in the context always tells us what the category is. Then there is an adjective, daimoniwdhj, and that means demonic, as in James 3:15. Then there is a verb for being demonised, daimonizw, and it generally means to be demon-possessed but it can also be translated to “be tormented” by demons.

This is merely to establish the fact that we are dealing with a biblical subject. The distinction between demon possession and demon influence is very important. We note some of the means by which demon-possession is accomplished. How does an unbeliever get to have demons indwelling his body? Some of the demons carry disease, some of the demons control the vocal cords, they do weird things. Abnormal strength comes to the body with demons. How does this happen? First of all, anything that gets an unbeliever in the cosmic system, any decision that a person makes to get in the cosmic system. All sin puts the individual inside the cosmic system and therefore vulnerable to demon possession. Once in the cosmic system there are many approaches, like the Satan mass which is designed to use your volition to worship Satan in the same way that believers use their volition at the communion table to worship the Lord.

There is a Greek word, farmakeia, which means drug addiction. If a person of his own free will gets involved with drugs of any kind it is inevitable, if he is a believer, that he will come under demon influence; and if an unbeliever he will become demon possessed. if he is anti-authoritarian, antiestablishment, like the hippies of California, he may well become demon possessed and become involved in human sacrifice and live on drugs. Even men having long hair like women is a part of giving tacit consent to allow demons to have control or have possession of the faculties. Any dabbling in the occult, sensitivity to mediums, the function of necromancy, Isaiah 8:19, and the function of the phallic cult. There are certain total abandoned concepts of sex which eventually involve demon influence for believers and demon possession for unbelievers, Luke 8:2. The function of the phallic cult, the emotional revolt of the soul in which emotion blocks out thought and self-determination, and abandons itself to outside forces. For this reason sacrifices to demons were prohibited in Leviticus 17:17, “They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demon with which they play the harlot [the function of the phallic cult].” Deuteronomy 32:17, “They sacrificed to demons, not to God; to those they have not known from doctrine, new things, demons who come lately, whom your ancestors did not know [or fear].” Psalm 96:5, “For all the gods of the people are idols [or demons]: but the Lord made the heavens.”

Demon possession was the basis for capital punishment in Israel, Leviticus 20:27. “A man or a woman who is demon-possessed, a medium, a spiritist among them, emphatically they shall be put to death.” This indicates the fact that once demon possession starts in a certain place it spreads through the numerous systems of either cosmic involvement, the Satan mass, the involvement with drugs, the phallic cult; any of these things will do it; “they will be stoned with stones: their guilt will be upon themselves.” No one ever gets involved with demons apart from his own consent.

The firstborn judgment against Egypt at the time of Moses and the exodus included a judgment against demons, Exodus 12:12, “I will go through the land of Egypt in the night, and I will strike down all the firstborn of the land of Egypt, both man and beast; also against the demons of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.” Here is a fascinating thing. One of the things that was keeping Israel in slavery was demonism, and in all of the demonology involved in the slavery of the Jews these demons were to be judged.

It is fascinating to note that in Isaiah 19:3 that demons are powerless to change the course of history. We have noted in the past that certain human beings, like Adolf Hitler, were demon possessed, yet they could not change the course of history. “Then the demons of Egypt will become demoralised within them [i.e. indwelling the Egyptians]; and to the mediums and the spiritists [demon-possessed counsellors].” Even though they resorted to every form of demonism they simply could not stop the course of history or change it.

It is obvious then that demonism is one of the reasons that client nations are judged. Deuteronomy 18:9-12, “When you enter the land which the Lord your God has given you, you shall learn to avoid [not to imitate] the abominable practices [demonism] of the nations who were before you. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire [a demon sacrifice], nor anyone who uses divination [practised by demon-possessed persons], nor anyone who practices witchcraft, nor anyone who interprets omens, nor any sorcerer, nor anyone who casts a spell, nor a medium, nor a spiritist, nor anyone who calls up the dead [necromancy]. For whoever does these things s detestable to the Lord: furthermore because of these things the Lord your God will drive them out before you.”

The practice of necromancy was the basis for the judgment of Saul and his death. He died as a believer the sin unto death, 1 Chronicles 10:13,14. Saul rejected doctrine and that, of course, put him into the cosmic system; not under demon possession but under demon influence.

In the reign of King Manasseh evil is associated with demonism in 2 Kings 21:2-16. Demonism helped to bring about the fifth cycle of discipline in Isaiah 29:4. Satan and demons are often used by God in the administration of the sin unto death, as in 1 Corinthians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:19,20. Satan is used as a warning for discipline in 1 Timothy 3;6,7, “Do not be an immature believer lest having received blind arrogance you might fall into condemnation of the devil. he must also be having an honourable reputation from those outside the local church in order that he might not fall into the disgrace [under the influence of evil] and the snare of the devil [the cosmic system where all demonism exists].”

Satan, as the ruler of all demons, has certain powers. he can blind people through religion. He can shorten life, according to Psalm 109:8. He can also remove people from authority under certain conditions, says Psalm 109:8. Verse 9 says he can kill; he can persecute children, verse 10; he can remove wealth, verse 11; he can turn everyone against you, verse 12; he can cut off posterity to the second generation, verse 13. These are all under certain conditions where cosmic involvement exists. Satan as a killer has the power of death, 1 John 3:8; Hebrews 2:14,15. Satan killed the children of Job, Job 1:12,18,19. He motivated Cain to murder Abel, John 8:44; 1 John 3:12. He is given opportunity to execute believers under the sin unto death principle, therefore. Satan produced illness in Job, according to Job 2:6-8. Satan used demons to produce disease in human beings as, for example, in Matthew 12:22; Luke 13:16; Acts 10:38. Certain types of diagnosed diseases are not physiologically induced, they are not even psychosomatic, they are simply cases of demon-induced illness, the dumbness in Mark 9:17 or Luke 11:14 was caused by demon possession, dumbness and deafness in Mark 9:25, dumbness and blindness in Matthew 12:22, epilepsy in Mark 1:26; 9:20; Luke 4:35. Satan is also the source of abnormal behaviour through demon possession: convulsions, Mark 1:26; abnormal violence, Matthew 8:28; abnormal strength, Mark 5:4; self-mutilation, Mark 5:5; foaming at the mouth, Mark 9:20; sometimes take off their clothes in a public place, Luke 8:27; they live among corpses, Mark 5:3; a certain type of grinding of the teeth, Mark 9:18; occasionally attempt suicide, Matthew 17:15.

1. Demon possession never occurs apart from some form of human consent.

2. Some form of decision made from a position of weakness [bad decision] which results from demon invasion of the human body of the unbeliever.

3. These decisions are related to cosmic involvement. First of all the decision to get into the cosmic system, then the decisions once made, you are in the cosmic system: decisions which relate to idolatry, certain categories of religious activity, dabbling in the occult, consulting mediums, the function of necromancy, drug addiction.

4. The phallic cult which uses both human sacrifice and idolatry and unrestrained sexual lust, as in Luke 8:2 where Mary Magdalene had been released from seven demons of this category.

5. Idolatry is a basic system for demon possession, Luke 17:7; Deuteronomy 32:17; Psalm 96:5 in the Hebrew; Psalm 106:37-39.

6. Passive submission to demons is accomplished through, therefore, drug addiction, idolatry, the function of the phallic cult, and the deliberate development of emotional revolt of the soul. Also, the Satanic mass and any prolonged involvement in the cosmic system.

7. Active submission to demon possession can be both violent and painful — Luke 13:11-16.

Because demon possession involves human sacrifice, which is murder, it was the basis for capital punishment under the laws of divine establishment, Leviticus 20:27. In control of the historical trends of history our Lord Jesus Christ often judges demon activity as we noted in Exodus 12:13 where He judged the demons of Egypt. Demons are powerless, therefore, to control history, Isaiah 19:9. Demon activity, both demon possession and demon influence, results in the administration of the fifth cycle of discipline. The great Canaanitish nation was destroyed because of demonism. Deuteronomy 18:9-12 tells us that story. Demons are often used by God for the administration of the sin unto death and, furthermore, demonisation of a nation results in the destruction of that nation, Isaiah chapter 47; Jeremiah 27:6-10.

Ministers who faithfully teach the Word of God are targets for demon influence, 1 Timothy 3:6,7, “the condemnation of the devil” is demon influence. Demon-possessed illness, of course, leads to an abnormal form of behaviour. All is related to the demon controlling the body. Satan uses certain demons to produce disease, Matthew 12:22; Luke 13:16; Acts 10:23. Certain types of diagnosed diseases are neither psychological nor psychosomatic.

Operation mole

Let’s take the illustration of so-called divine healing, a miraculous case of healing. There was a gift of healing given to the apostles to establish the credibility. The gift of healing was a temporary spiritual gift. Once the apostles’ authority was established it was removed immediately. it was not to alleviate suffering, it was to establish the credibility of the apostle. This spiritual gift has not been perpetuated into the post-canon Church Age; no one has the power or the gift of healing. There is a legitimate practice of medicine and that, of course, is not instant healing.

A pseudo gift has been devised under the sponsorship of one of the princes of demons, Beelzebub. The apostle Paul, for example, had the spiritual gift of healing to give credibility to his ministry. This was demonstrated in Acts 19:11,12, but once Paul was recognised as an apostle the gift was withdrawn so that Paul could not heal his closest friends, Epaphroditus in Philippians 2:27; Trophimus in 2 Timothy 4:20. All Paul could do was pray for them, he could not heal them. Occasionally God will perform a sovereign act of healing, but not generally.

Since certain demons have the power of disease when they invade the body of a person they produce disease in that person. When Beelzebub gives the order to leave the victim he is instantly healed. And there is always someone standing around with hocus pocus who pronounces his incantations, Beelzebub commands the demon to get out, the person is instantly “healed” because the source is removed, and it looks like a case of divine healing, but it is not. It is a pseudo act of healing. The demon enters for the purpose of setting up the illness; the demon leaves in order that credit might be given to some false teacher. The victim is instantly healed and this gimmick is used to give credibility to Satan’s human servants who allege to be healers. Through demon possession the gift of healing, then, is counterfeited, as it was in Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 16:14.

Demon possession is also a source of both extra natural and supernatural power. It explains certain cases, not only of miraculous healing and speaking in tongues, but also contact with the dead. Occult phenomena includes demon possession as well as, in some cases, demon influence. The rise of certain world leaders like Hitler and Stalin are directly related to demon possession. Anti-Semitism is motivated either by demon possession or demon influence.

The Doctrine of Cosmic One

We are in the process of studying the demon attacks on the human race and are now ready for the third attack on the human race: the concept of the attack of demon influence. By way of anticipation and introduction demon influence is related to individual involvement in the cosmic system of Satan. The cosmic system is composed of two dynaspheres and is the means by which Satan administers the rulership of this world as well as providing thought transference. Not all demon influence is thought transference, however. Some of demon influence is non-thought transference in the form of emotional activity. For example, emotional revolt of the soul.

In our study of demon influence we will have to review the doctrine of the cosmic system. Cosmic one is composed of twelve interlocking gates of arrogance.

1. Attitude arrogance.

2. The arrogance of negative volition (results from preoccupation with self).

3. Authority arrogance.

4. Self-righteous arrogance.

5. Sexual arrogance.

6. Criminal arrogance.

7. Psychopathic arrogance.

8. The arrogance of unhappiness (preoccupation with self).

9. Iconoclastic arrogance (preoccupation with others).

10. Rational and irrational arrogance.

11. The arrogance of achievement.

12. Client nation arrogance.

We will also note in cosmic two which is Satan’s interlocking system of antagonism toward God that it is composed of nine gates.

1. The old sin nature gate.

2. The negative volition gate (direct antagonism toward doctrine).

3. The cosmic degeneration gate.

4. The antiestablishment gate.

5. The demonism gate.

6. The gate of cosmic panaceas.

7. Religion.

8. The anthropocentric and academic speculation gate.

9. The gate of evil.

The four are four mandates from the Word of God directed to the Church Age believer, members of the royal family of God. These four mandates are related to the third person of the Trinity, God the Holy Spirit. Two of the mandates are positive and refer to God’s game plan for the Church Age, God’s plan for your life and mine. They are related to the divine dynasphere.

The first relates to gate one. The command is very simple: “Be filled with the Spirit.” That, of course, is entrance into the divine dynasphere.

There are seven other gates involved in the divine dynasphere and are covered by the mandate of Galatians 5:16 — “Walk by means of the Spirit.” That is the second mandate.

The third mandate has to do with cosmic one and its twelve gates of interlocking systems of arrogance. It is the command, “Grieve not the Spirit” — Ephesians 4:30. In other words, the believer in cosmic one is grieving the Holy Spirit.

The fourth and final mandate is related to cosmic two with its nine gates of interlocking systems of antagonism: “Quench not the Spirit” — 1 Thessalonians 5:19. The believer who is residing in cosmic two is quenching the Spirit.

This immediately divides all born-again believers. The believer who has entered the divine dynasphere at the point of salvation [faith in Christ] or at the point of rebound [he has recovered to the divine dynasphere] is again filled with the Spirit. The believer under the filling of the Spirit who functions at the other seven gates, or any of the other seven gates, is walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit is relative. An immature believer walking in the Spirit does not have the same function at these gates as a mature believer walking in the Spirit. Nevertheless, he is fulfilling this mandate up to his capacity.

Then there is, of course, the believer living in cosmic one who is grieving the Holy Spirit. God the Holy Spirit still indwells his body, which means that he cannot be demon-possessed, but there are certain conditions of demon influence that are even worse than demon-possession. So he is grieving the Holy Spirit and in cosmic two he is quenching the Holy Spirit. The one who is quenching the Holy Spirit and grieving the Holy Spirit is under demon influence as a believer.

This doesn’t cover the unbeliever. The unbeliever can be in the divine dynasphere on a limited basis related to the laws of divine establishment, especially gate three which is the gate of humility, and gate six which is the gate of right man-right woman. However, the unbeliever who gets into cosmic one or cosmic two is immediately vulnerable to either demon-possession or demon influence, or both. Generally it starts with demon influence in cosmic one which is related to arrogant thinking and all of the facets of arrogant thinking. On the other hand, the unbeliever getting into cosmic two is definitely under demon-possession.

Staying out of the cosmic system involves using your volition: using your volition to resist temptation; using your volition in connection with what you know. Your volition is no good to you unless you have some cognisance of life. The more you understand life the better you can use your volition. You have greater options through knowledge. To that extent, then, knowledge is power. And, of course, knowledge of Bible doctrine is great power because it opens up the tremendous options in the use of your volition. Probably the most powerful instrument in your soul is your volition. Its proper use when related to knowledge becomes fantastic; its use when related in erroneous ways — to emotion — makes it very disastrous. Emotion is a very wonderful thing and a part of our happiness but when emotion overcomes cognisance, overcomes the mentality of the soul, then it is a disaster situation, and it becomes either an active or a passive system for the unbeliever to be demon-possessed and for the believer to be under demon influence. So staying out of the cosmic system always involves the use of volition. Getting out of the cosmic system also involves the use of volition: volition in rebound.

Cosmic one emphasises arrogance: preoccupation with self; cosmic two emphasises hatred or antagonism toward the person of God, the plan of God, and the Word of God. The target of arrogance in cosmic one is self, and the target of antagonism in cosmic two is the Word of God. So that each one of these cosmic dynaspheres is different. There will be some apparent overlap. Cosmic one emphasises self in contrast to God; cosmic two emphasises human viewpoint in contrast to divine viewpoint. Cosmic one reflects Satanic attitudes at the time of Satan’s fall; cosmic two emphasises Satan’s attitudes at the time of man’s fall. Cosmic one represents the philosophy of Satan in the prehistoric angelic conflict; cosmic two represents the philosophy of Satan in the historical extension of the angelic conflict. Through entrance into cosmic one the believer becomes inculcated with the attitude of Satan before man was created; through entrance into cosmic two the believer becomes inculcated with the attitude of Satan after the fall of man. Cosmic one reflects Satan’s philosophy as the leader of fallen angels; cosmic two reflects Satan’s philosophy as the ruler of this world. Man’s involvement in cosmic one makes him a slave to self; man’s involvement in cosmic two makes him a slave to Satan. Cosmic involvement means vulnerability to the two categories of demonism.

Life in the cosmic system makes the believer a loser in time; life in the divine dynasphere makes the believer a winner in time.

1 John 2:15-18, “Stop loving the cosmic system, or anything in the cosmic system. If anyone keeps loving the cosmic system, the love of the Father is not in him.” How can the love for God the Father be in the believer in the cosmic system when he is under demon influence? “Because all that is in the cosmic system, the lust of the flesh, the lust from the eyes, and the arrogant pattern of life [the function of cosmic one], is not from the Father, but is from the cosmic system. In fact the cosmic system and its lust will pass away: but anyone who performs the will of God [life in the divine dynasphere] keeps residing forever,” residence in the divine dynasphere in time is the means of glorifying God in the angelic conflict, while residence in the divine dynasphere in eternity is a memorial to the grace of God forever; “Students [children, believers at the point of reception of doctrine], it is the last favourable time to use the divine dynasphere: and just as you have heard that antichrist will come [the eschatology of the Tribulation], even now [in the Church Age] there are many antichrists [believers and unbelievers involved in the cosmic system, the demonised part of the human race]; therefore we have come to realise that it is the last favourable time [for glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ through the divine dynasphere].”

That brings us to cosmic one. The mandate is “Grieve not the Spirit,” Ephesians 4:30. This is Satan’s interlocking system of arrogance, his philosophy before the fall of man. It is a dynasphere, a power system or sphere.

Gate one of cosmic one is attitude arrogance, a system of thinking. Attitude arrogance includes pride, jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity, the guilt syndrome, operation over-think, and revenge motivation. All of these involve a system of thought and in this system of thought self is predominant. Self is predominant in pride, in jealousy, bitterness or implacability, self-pity, the guilt syndrome, etc. Arrogant persons are always satisfied with themselves but never satisfied with others. Pride, vanity and conceit is the basis for mental attitude sins of the creature. This originated with Satan but is transferred from the thinking of Satan to us through residence in the cosmic system, Isaiah 14:12-14; Ezekiel 28:14-17. Pride is not only exaggerated self-respect and conceit but is a total preoccupation with self which divorces the individual from the realities of life. In any state of arrogance the individual is divorced from reality.

Arrogance is a real or imagined sense of superiority which distorts life and the true perspective of human frailty, resulting in a presumptuous self-righteousness and a false sense of destiny. E.g. crusaders have a false sense of destiny. Distinction should be made, of course, between arrogance and ego. Arrogance is sinful; ego is normal and simply the function of the self-consciousness of the soul. Arrogance is not ego but egocentricity, which is self-centred, preoccupied with self, and subjective in its thinking. Egotism is the practice of arrogance in contrast to humility.

Proverbs 16:18 gives us a slant on gate one. “Pride precedes destruction, and before a fall arrogance of life.” Demonism is destruction. If you are demonised as a believer, demon influence, you are destroyed, though you still have your volition to break out.

Psalm 25:8,9, “Good and honourable is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. In divine integrity he guides the humble, consequently he teaches the humble his way [emphasising gate three: humility and teachability].

James 4:6, “He gives greater grace,” grace after salvation: logistical grace for all believers; supergrace for the mature believers, “That is why the scripture says, God makes war on the arrogant but he gives grace to the humble.” God makes war on us as believers when we are demonised by cosmic one, for the believer in cosmic one is arrogant and it is impossible for him to grow in grace, it is impossible to fulfil the plan of God, it is impossible to make any decisions from a position of strength, it is impossible to have any sense of personal destiny, in a state of arrogance.

1 Peter 5:5,6, “In the same way, comparative novices, be under the command and authority of elder pastors. All of you in the congregation fasten yourselves to each other [interrelate or relate] with grace symptoms: because God makes war against the arrogant, but he gives grace to the humble. Therefore become grace oriented under the authority of the ruling hand of God, that he may promote you at the proper time”.

If God doesn’t promote you, you are not promote you. Hence, the problem of arrogance of achievement. Achievement belongs to God; happiness belongs to the believer. True achievement is in the hands of God. There is pseudo-achievement which is not achievement at all.

When a believer makes the decision to live in the cosmic system he takes on the arrogance of gate one. He becomes preoccupied with his success, if he has any, and consequently he is bitten by that bug called inordinate ambition and competition. Instead of occupation with Christ from life in the divine dynasphere he is more concerned about the opinions of his contemporaries; he susceptible to the flattery of others, arrogance becomes his motivation. Arrogance motivates him to strive for success instead of to achieve under God. He competes with his friends, he excels and surpasses his contemporaries. All of his decisions, as a result, are made from a position of weakness; he has become involved in achievement arrogance, also a part of gate one.

The biblical concept of daily happiness based on a personal sense of destiny from life in the divine dynasphere, and the faithfulness of God in providing logistical grace is exchanged for the decisions of the cosmic system. These decisions include the philosophies to transcend, to outdo, to surpass, to gain the ascendancy over one’s contemporaries, to achieve in cosmic living. The believer’s arrogant lust for ascendancy and success destroys his true scale of values as they relate to Bible doctrine. His desire to outdo his contemporaries also destroys his sense of destiny from the perception of Bible doctrine. The arrogant desire to achieve and to attain greater success than his contemporaries becomes the bumpy road to uncertain things filled with the potholes of unhappiness. When arrogant ambition is in the saddle doctrine is neglected, virtue is ignored, and happiness becomes evanescent.

On the other hand, through the function of humility inside the divine dynasphere, the believer not only does his job as unto the Lord but he possesses fantastic daily happiness by doing a tough job under difficult circumstances. He leaves achievement to the Lord and he does his job as unto the Lord, not to get ahead, not to ingratiate himself with his boss or others, but to glorify the Lord in what he does. Therefore he operates under the principle: If God doesn’t promote you, you are not promoted.

Proverbs 11:2, “When arrogance comes, then comes dishonour.” Arrogance is involvement in cosmic one, gate one.

Proverbs 16:18, “Arrogance precedes destruction, therefore before a fall, arrogance of life.”

Proverbs 29:23, “A person’s arrogance will bring him low, but a spirit of humility will attain honour.”
The speech of Elihu in Job 33:16,17, “Then he opens the ears of men [the function of GAP at reception], and seals their instruction [the function of retention, gnwsij becomes e)pignwsij], that he may turn aside from his discipline [the function of recall], and protect man from arrogance,” reception, retention, recall, related to doctrine protects man from arrogance.

Isaiah 13:11, “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity [cosmic involvement]; I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud.” Why? Because the arrogance of the proud is just another way of saying human beings who are demonised; “and I will humble the pride of ruthlessness [or tyranny].”

1 Timothy 6:3,4, “If anyone teaches a different doctrine, and does not concur with sound doctrine, those doctrines from the source of our Lord Jesus Christ, even doctrine pertaining to godliness [life in the divine dynasphere]; he has received arrogance, understanding nothing, furthermore he has a morbid obsession about controversies and verbal conflicts, from which originate jealousy, discord, and eventually evil speculation.”

Arrogance is the most basic sin. It is the foundation for all evil and all human good in the field of hamartiology. Arrogance was the original sin of Satan, and what Satan thought at the time of his fall is transferred to the believer who enters into gate one of the cosmic system. This becomes demonisation, the demon influence of the believer. Arrogance, then, was the original motivator of Satan in his fall and the motivator in the first revolt against God by our first parents and all revolutions in human history. Arrogance not only rejects doctrine but becomes a distracter to the plan of God, the provision of God. It distorts life’s true scale of values so that all decisions are made from a position of weakness. Arrogance is opposed to perception of doctrine, to spiritual momentum. But you have to be very wary about arrogance, it is not negative toward doctrine. Far from it. It is only in cosmic two that the believer becomes antagonistic toward doctrine.

Arrogance is opposed to perception of doctrine and spiritual momentum, and the human mind, regardless of how high the IQ, becomes totally helpless without doctrine. That state of helplessness is a vacuum that sucks in to the human mind demon thinking (demon influence). Influence is the transference of thought from one philosophical thought in the mind to another mind that is helpless and has no knowledge, no thought. The demonisation of born-again believers is today reaching an all-time high. Helplessness and uselessness is the state of the mind without Bible doctrine, without truth in three categories. The human personality cannot cope with life apart from Bible doctrine in all three categories. Category one: the laws of divine establishment. Some believers will listen to Bible doctrine but will not accept establishment truth, and they become demonised, not because they are neglecting Bible doctrine but because they do not accept the authority of establishment.

Perception cannot exist apart from positive volition. Arrogance blinds the mind so that truth is rejected. It is possible to come to Bible class every night demonised, and therefore to get nothing in the field of perception, and having received no blessing or benefit in the field of reception there is no retention. If there is no retention there is no application; therefore, what you hear in Bible class is distorted. This distortion comes from the fact that they come in a demonised state; they cannot take in what is taught, they cannot see it objectively. Therefore there is no retention and there is no application, and they take gnwsij and distort it into something ghastly.

Arrogance divorces the believer, then, from personal as well historical reality in life. Arrogance rejects human authority as well as divine authority so that the Word of God is resisted and the communicator of doctrine is rejected. Arrogance destroys capacity for life, capacity for love, capacity for happiness, capacity for blessing, capacity for generosity. Arrogance in thinking leads to irrationality, for arrogance destroys personal capability and resents capability in others. Arrogance motivates inconsistent modus operandi, the wide swing from self-pity under pressure of adversity to self-righteousness in time of prosperity. Arrogance lives on flattery and, of course, believes the lie. Arrogance hears truth to distort it, to ridicule it, to reject it.

So arrogance, then, becomes the distorter of Bible doctrine and anything that distorts Bible doctrine means that you cannot learn doctrine. If you can’t learn doctrine you can’t grow in grace — “Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ.”

There are three areas where doctrine can be distorted then: at the point of reception; the point of retention, the ability to remember afterward what was taught, gnwsij in the left lobe transferred into e)pignwsij in the right lobe; and the point of retrieval, the point of recall of Bible doctrine, the application factor. Spiritual growth comes in two ways. First of all, from what is retained; secondly, what is recalled or retrieved at a given moment when you need it. Direct growth comes from retention. Recall also is a way of growth because when you pass a momentum test through recall of doctrine, retrieving for application, then that gives accelerated growth.

Arrogance distorts what is heard in the gnwsij state due to lack of concentration, lack of objectivity. Subjectivity bends what is taught to suit one’s purpose. Arrogance attacks the e)pignwsij stage by making doctrine your servant instead of your master, and arrogance attacks in the application stage by relating it to personality self-righteousness or using it for personal self-justification.

The philosophy of arrogance always gives a false perspective of life. For example, the arrogant believer who rejects the doctrine of eternal security. Of all of the areas of arrogance, anyone who does not believe in eternal security is involved in the cosmic system. The reason for this is the system of arrogance. Any person who assumes that he can commit a sin, that he can enter into a system of evil that is greater than the work of God, is arrogant. It is the worst form of arrogance: “My sins are greater than the work of Christ on the cross,” is what this says. That is arrogance. When our Lord died on the cross He was judged for all sins. He provided perfect salvation. When the individual assumes that his sins are greater than the plan of God that arrogance creates a vacuum which becomes a system for demonic telepathy which we call demon influence, demon penetration of the soul.

The believer is arrogant who succumbs to the pressure of adversity or injustice. Life is filled with injustice. When one is the victim of prejudice or injustice then this is a great temptation for arrogance. To assume that one’s sufferings are greater than the plan of God when the victim of injustice or prejudice, is arrogance. Many a person becomes filled with self-pity because he assumes that his sufferings are greater than the plan of God. This is merely the manifestation of being demonised, transference of demonic false doctrine to the soul of the individual who practices self-pity in time of injustice or prejudice.

The believer is arrogant when he depends on emotional activity for spiritual blessing. This would be the tongues movement which is a demonised movement. Believers in the tongues movement are under demon influence; unbelievers in the tongues movement are under demon-possession. But there are other emotional activities: dedication ceremonies, the faggot on the fire type of thing; inspirational speakers; singing “Do Lord” until you are blue in the face; receiving personal attention from counsellors, “concerned” Christians, and so on. The person finally comes to the erroneous conclusion that his feelings and experiences are greater than Bible doctrine. Once he reaches that point he is under demon influence.

The believer is arrogant when he listens to the teaching of Bible doctrine with preconceived notions, distorting the acquisition and perception of doctrine.

The believer is arrogant when he uses e)pignwsij doctrine which he has retained to serve him rather than to lead him.

The believer is arrogant when he applies doctrine to justify himself or to establish himself in a system of self-righteousness.

We have noted that all demon influence is related to Satan’s cosmic system. The divine dynasphere which is God’s game plan for the Church Age finds the believer under a certain system of mandates. The first: “Be filled with the Spirit.” That is entrance into the divine dynasphere which occurs at the moment of salvation and thereafter at the moment of rebound. Gate number two: the beginning of virtue, emphasis on the doctrine of impersonal love toward man and personal love toward God in worship. Gate three: enforced and genuine humility. These three gates interlock to form the momentum of the spiritual life which is perception and application of Bible doctrine.

Some distinctions should be made between cosmic one and cosmic two. Cosmic one emphasises arrogance, preoccupation with self; cosmic two emphasises hatred, antagonism toward the person of God, the plan of God and the Word of God on the part of the believer or unbeliever. The target of arrogance in cosmic one is self; the target of antagonism in cosmic two is the Word of God. Cosmic one emphasises self in contrast to God; cosmic two emphasises human viewpoint in contrast to divine viewpoint. Cosmic one reflects Satan’s attitude at the time of his fall, whereas cosmic two emphasises Satan’s attitude at the time of man’s fall. Cosmic one represents the philosophy of Satan in the prehistoric angelic conflict; cosmic two represents the philosophy of Satan in the historical extension of the angelic conflict. Through entrance into cosmic one the believer becomes inculcated with the attitude of Satan, the philosophy of Satan before man was created. Through entrance into cosmic two the believer becomes inculcated with the attitude of Satan, the philosophy of Satan after the fall of man. Cosmic one, therefore, reflects Satan’s philosophy as the leader of fallen angels, whereas cosmic two reflects Satan’s philosophy as the ruler of this world. As the ruler of this world Satan administers through the cosmic system. Man’s involvement in cosmic one makes him the slave to self; man’s involvement in cosmic two makes him the slave of Satan.

Cosmic involvement means vulnerability to two categories of demonism: demon-possession, which is the demon invasion of the body. Only unbelievers can be demon-possessed, and only with their consent; demon influence, which is the demon invasion of the human soul and personality. It is open to both believers and unbelievers and in many ways it is far worse than demon-possession. Demon influence is by far the most effective Satanic weapon. Thought transference from demons to mankind is the great issue in demon influence.

The cosmic system is the policy of Satan plus the vehicle of Satan for his administration of the rulership of this world. Life in the cosmic system makes the believer a loser in time; life in the divine dynasphere produces the winner for both time and eternity.

The mandate with regard to the cosmic system is given in 1 John 2:15-18. “Stop loving the cosmic system, or anything in the cosmic system. If anyone keeps loving the cosmic system the love of the Father [motivating virtue of personal love for God] is not in him. Because all that is in the cosmic system, the lust of the flesh [the old sin nature], the lust from the eyes [the mental function from cosmic two, demon influence], and the arrogant pattern of life [the function of the believer in cosmic one], is not from the Father, but is from the cosmic system. In fact the cosmic system and its lusts will pass away: but anyone who performs the will of God [life in the divine dynasphere] keeps residing forever. Students, it is the last favourable time [to use the divine dynasphere]: and just as you have heard that antichrist will come [the eschatology of the Tribulation], even now many antichrists exist on earth [believers and unbelievers in the cosmic system]; therefore we have come to know that it is the last favourable time [for glorifying God in the divine dynasphere].”

We now move over to gate two of cosmic one: arrogant negative volition. The interlocking relationship with gate one results in either the rejection of the content of doctrine or the rejection of the communicator of doctrine. When anyone is preoccupied with self to any degree, when any believer is living in cosmic one, gate one, and he comes to church, the point of reception of Bible doctrine, he goes negative to doctrine unless something please him very much. Unless some illustration captures his attention at the point of reception he is preoccupied with self and he has therefore only subjective thinking through transference in demon influence and is therefore incapable of understanding what is being taught. Both the message and the messenger of doctrine are rejected when one lives in gate one of cosmic one. Defined then as the rejection of doctrine and the resistance of truth based on preoccupation with self this is the function of subjectivity in life. This subjectivity is demon influence, transference of thought. The negative volition at gate two of cosmic one is not the same as the negative volition we will study later on in cosmic two, gate two. Cosmic one has gate two, negative volition. Cosmic two also has a negative volition but the two categories of negative volition are entirely different. The negative volition of gate two, cosmic one, and negative volition of gate two are entirely different. For example, negative volition in cosmic one is related to preoccupation with self, therefore it hinges around subjective negative volition. But negative volition in cosmic two is related to antagonism toward doctrine, antagonism toward truth, and therefore it is objective, aggressive antagonistic negative volition toward the truth. Negative volition toward doctrine intensifies the arrogance in the life and results in both the blackout of the soul and scar tissue of the soul. Blackout of the soul is the first stage in which demon transference of thought under the principle of demon influence occurs. Furthermore, negative volition toward doctrine results in countless decisions made from a position of weakness plus the loss of any personal sense of destiny. Furthermore, negative volition results in slavery to the circumstances of life which means that prosperity produces self-righteous arrogance while adversity produces self-pity arrogance. Self-righteousness plus self-pity produce the guilt complex, and the wide swing between self-pity and self-righteousness under varying circumstances of life is the system of slavery in gate two of cosmic one.

Negative volition includes the arrogance of ignorance, defined as failure to make the transition from ignorance to cognisance in life. The transition must exist in the temporal realm as well as the spiritual realm. Human maturity requires making the transition from authority in the home to freedom in life. The home was designed by God for mankind in the formative years of his life. The home is organisational humility and the parents are the authority in the home. This authority is the basis for inculcation, normal teaching, training, developing certain things, e.g. poise, which is thinking under pressure just as courage is thinking under pressure. The person who has poise in normal circumstances will automatically have courage in abnormal circumstances. That should all be developed in the home; it is the responsibility of the parents and the function of the volition of the individual. The parent may be unfair, unjust, periodically or all the time, but response to parental authority is the whole basis for life as a human being. Rejection of authority in the home brings a person out of the home who is immature, an adult body with an immature mind. It is generally the adult body of a believer under demon influence, or an unbeliever under demon influence for the same reason, because all organisation in life which brings us to the point of freedom is guaranteed by authority in life. If you destroy authority you have no freedom, they stand or fall together. The response to mankind en masse to authority establishes freedom as a principle. It establishes privacy as a principle of freedom, it establishes property and the sacredness of human life. The whole structure of society collapses under the principle of the arrogance of ignorance. Arrogance rejects all authority and this produces about everything in social degeneration: criminality, homosexuality, drug addiction, etc.

Each transition in life requires virtue. Genuine humility is necessary to make the transition from authority in youth to freedom as an adult. Perception of doctrine in the divine dynasphere is necessary to make the transition from ignorance at salvation to cognisance as a believer inside of the divine dynasphere. The arrogance of ignorance is failure to make the transition from the ignorance of doctrine to the cognisance of doctrine, just as the child in the home rejects authority in the home or by-passes authority in the home and then comes into society. That person will never make the transition. He is disoriented to life in general and this is a system of arrogance, this is demon influence. The most difficult transition is to go from home to life. The other one is after salvation: to go from ignorance of doctrine at salvation to cognisance of doctrine, which requires of course, residence and function inside the divine dynasphere.

God has a plan for your life but that purpose will never be realised or understood apart from perception of Bible doctrine. You have to remember that achievement belongs to God; happiness belongs to you. But the happiness that belongs to you, your heritage as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, will never become a reality unless you personally make your daily decision for the perception of Bible doctrine, for rebound when necessary, for all of the mechanics that result in residence and function inside the of the divine dynasphere.

Revelation chapter 10:1 to chapter 11:14 is parenthetical and deals almost extensively with angels. Therefore it is necessary to understand once again the order of the angelic college of heralds, an order that belongs to elect angels.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is called an angel, the angel of the Lord, and as such He is the Commander-in-Chief of the angelic college of heralds under the title of the angel of the Lord. This, of course, is a theophany, a manifestation of our Lord in Old Testament times before the first advent when He appeared quite frequently as an angel. Therefore, He is classified as the ruler of the angelic college of heralds. The fact that Jesus Christ is called the angel of the Lord is a separate study.

For actual angels, the highest ranking elect angels in the universe are called seraphim (the “im” is a Hebrew plural). When we transliterate it we should transliterate it “seraphs”. This is an order of rank that was created as a decoration, like the order of the morning star for believers who advance to maturity and have maximum glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most angels do not have wings, wings are a badge of rank — so when angels do have wings they function as the highest insignia of rank. As we have noted before, seraphs have six wings and are the highest rank ever to exist, a rank that was created as a reward for angels who achieved maximum glorification of Christ during the prehistoric angelic conflict. There were no seraphs before the fall of Satan. Before the fall of Satan the highest ranking angel was a cherub, having four wings. Satan himself was one of the highest ranking angels before the angelic conflict began, but at the conclusion of the prehistoric angelic conflict a new rank was created as a reward for the greatest of the elect angels during that phase of the angelic conflict. The reward is related to the fact that part of the escutcheon of the seraph is the uniform of wisdom: they are said to be full of eyes within and without. “Full of eyes” is a title for maximum perception of doctrine during the prehistoric angelic conflict.

The description of the seraph in Isaiah 6:2, “Seraphs stood above him, each having six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.”

The pair of wings which cover the face is analogous to the integrity and humility of the seraphs. In eternity past the issue was the same as it is among members of the human race: who is arrogant and who isn’t. The first sin of any creature in all of history was the sin of arrogance. The sin of arrogance spawned all of the problems and the antithesis of arrogance is genuine humility. And so as with human beings it is in the angelic realm: arrogance versus humility continues to be the great issue. The various forms of arrogance, some are more subtle than others, are so fantastic that Satan actually developed a system out of it which we have studied as cosmic one, the twelve gates of interlocking systems of arrogance.

The pair of wings which cover the feet refer to seraph respect for divine authority. There are two things that we must have in life if we are ever going to go anywhere as far as spiritual things are concerned and as far as life in general. One is genuine humility which is the basis for all integrity, all character, all capacity for life and happiness; the other is respect for authority. Obviously, respect for authority is enforced humility whereas the basis for all integrity in life is genuine humility. So the pair of wings which cover the feet of the seraph indicate his respect for divine authority.

The principle behind all of this: the highest ranking type is always the servant of all, whether angelic or human. The highest ranking type is the seraph. They are the ones who serve the Lord the best of all.

The pair of wings with which the seraphs fly indicate their modus operandi which is the communication of divine policy at the highest level. In the case of Isaiah a seraph provided information which gave him a sense of destiny and led to his dedication to serve the Lord in Isaiah 6:6-8. There is no question about the fact that we as believers must have a personal sense of destiny from our perception of Bible doctrine; we must have control of our own lives through the application of doctrine in the faith-rest drill. You can face the greatest of disasters and have all kinds of horrible things happen to you, as inevitably do to believers in time of historical disaster: economic historical disaster, social historical disaster, or the obvious military disaster in warfare. So the seraph which provided the information is very important because it related Isaiah to his personal sense of destiny. He understood the plan of God for his life, it gave him the basis for getting control of his life, and then the follow-through which is making decisions from a position of strength. There seems to be a relationship in eternity past with those who make it in time. The seraph is connected with Isaiah because the seraph did it in the prehistoric angelic conflict, just as Isaiah made it in human history.

There are three ranks among the seraphim who are in the angelic college of heralds. The highest ranking seraph in the college of heralds is called the King of Arms, which follows the concept of the college of heralds in human history, and this King of Arms is the one we are about to study. He is the mighty angel in Revelation 10:1. We have already studied one King of Arms in Revelation 5:2. At a critical point in history the angelic college of heralds comes into the picture to reveal the modus operandi of God in that terrible period of the Tribulation. The highest ranking of all angelic creatures is used to conduct this activity, for out of the three ranks of the seraphs the King of Arms is the highest.

Second in rank in the angelic college of heralds is called the Officer of Arms, an angel with great authority. We will meet one in Revelation 18:1, or the angel with the key to the abyss in Revelation chapter 20:1-3.

The third in the rank is called the herald. This is the full title of herald, not the function of herald. In Revelation 4:6-8 we have the four living creatures who are full heralds. They were “full of eyes,” the uniform of wisdom for perception of maximum doctrine during the prehistoric angelic conflict, “both inside and outside.” It takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline, of decision from a position of strength, of understanding the plan of God for your life and how it relates to your life and takes control of your life, and it takes a personal sense of destiny to be consistent in the perception of Bible doctrine. And it is true in the prehistoric angelic conflict just as it is true in human history as the extension and conclusion of the angelic conflict. It all ties in together. Once more, in Revelation 10 as in Revelation 18 and chapter 20 we are going to learn from angels. It is very difficult for believers to be consistent. It is almost impossible for many simply because they have established, one way or another, too many distractions in their life so that they no longer have control of their lives, they no longer have a personal sense of destiny. And, of course, they are constantly making decisions from a position of weakness.

So it says in Revelation 4:8, “… Furthermore, day and night they never stopped saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God, the almighty one, who was [Christ as eternal God, His first royal patent and title Son of God] and who is [the glorified Christ in His hypostatic union with two more royal patents, one at the birth where He was called son of David, one at the ascension where He was called King of kings] and who is coming [the Lord Jesus Christ at the second advent].”

It is interesting that in Revelation 4:8 where these three aspects of our Lord are presented — Jesus Christ as eternal God; Jesus Christ as true humanity; Jesus Christ as the one who controls history and who will return. When all of these things are brought together it is the seraphs who are there to appreciate it. Why? Because they have the capacity to do so. We miss a lot of things in life and a lot of blessing because we simply do not have capacity, and capacity is a matter of your own personal decisions. All of us are the products of our own decisions. Our capacity for happiness, for life, for blessing, is related to our ability to make decisions and to stick with the plan no matter how many distractions and pressures and difficulties come along. Our failure to do so does not mean that God punishes us, which does occur at a certain stage, but we punish ourselves.

In the next area, the lower aristocracy, we have the cherubim. It must gall Satan to realise that God created a much higher echelon, just as it galls a lot of human beings when someone whom they regard with disdain is actually elevated by the grace of God. And so we have the cherubim heralds. The cherubs rank lower than seraphs, having four wings as their badge of rank. However, in eternity past and prior to the fall of Satan the cherub was the highest ranking angel in that category of creation. For the King of Arms, Officer of Arms, we have pur sui vant as the key word. At this point the cherubs fall into the category of pur sui vant. Pur sui vant was originally an old French word. It came into England as a borrowed word and it meant a follower. It is simply a designation for the lower order of aristocracy.

The pur sui vant as a badge of office wore the coat of arms of their Lord. In the system of aristocracy there are higher categories and lower categories. In England, for example, the royal officers of arms were made a corporation by Richard the third, and at present the members of this corporation are known as the college of arms or college of heralds. While pur sui vant originally meant an attendant it became technical for the functionary aristocracy, ranking below a herald but ranking higher than the rest of the people.

There are four systems of aristocracy under pur sui vant. First of all there is the red cross; secondly the blue mantle; thirdly the herald of the castle; fourthly the red dragon. Each one of these is related to a medieval system. In our analogy pur sui vant officers are simply cherubs, the angels with four wings, and are pur sui vant officers who are described in Ezekiel chapter one, verses four through six.

In Revelation chapter 10 we are going to encounter several categories from the college of heralds. The fact that teaching angels go back to Moses and Mount Sinai, the Jews were taught by angels; and the ones who taught, this was a privilege given to them because of their fantastic history in the prehistoric angelic conflict. It was a decoration or a reward.

The fourth category of the college of heralds is the wingless heralds. These are generally messengers of judgment. They would follow the same principle in the English college of heralds under the title of pur sui vant messengers. There are quite a number of pur sui vant messengers in the Word of God. There are at least nine different categories. For example, category #1: the angelic messengers who spent the night with Lot and destroyed Sodom the next day, Genesis 19:13; category #2: the destroying angel of 2 Samuel 24:16 is a pur sui vant messenger; category #3: the destroying angels of Psalm 78:49; category #4: the executioners of the city (Jerusalem), Ezekiel 9:1ff; category #5: the man clothed in linen who acted as the messenger for the chariot of fire in Ezekiel 10:6; category #6: the four angelic creatures who restrain the weather cells of the weather machine, Revelation 7:1; category #7: the angels with the seven trumpets; category #8: the seven angels with the seven plagues of Revelation 15:1, the same angels who have the vials and libation bowls in Revelation 16; category #9: the seven thunders are pur sui vant heralds who accompany the King of Arms in Revelation 10:3,4.

There are also human heralds for each advent as well as angelic. A the first advent of Christ we have the angelic heralds in Luke 2:9-15, but we also have the human herald in John the Baptist in John 3:28-31. In the second advent of Christ we have the angelic herald who is a seraph, the King of arms, the mighty angel of Revelation 10:1. We are also going to meet in Revelation 11:3-12 the human heralds of the second advent: Moses and Elijah brought back for a special ministry at the end of the Tribulation.

In the meantime we are looking at a parenthesis. It begins at Revelation 10:1 and concludes in the middle of chapter 11, verse 14. The outline of this parenthesis is very simple: The angelic herald of the second advent, Revelation 10:1-11; the human heralds of the second advent, Revelation 11:1-14.

One point of application: These heralds function as the highest form of aristocracy. They are aristocracy in the angelic realm from the prehistoric angelic conflict and they are aristocracy in the human realm from their function in human history. The whole principle of aristocracy is not titles handed down from father to elder son, it is not some system of primogeniture. Aristocracy is related to the key to happiness and blessing in life — integrity. That is why we spend so much time studying the system behind the divine dynasphere, because the system behind the plan is integrity. Our point of contact with God is through His integrity, not through His sovereignty as per hyper-Calvinism and not through His love, as per emotional fundamentalism. We deal with the integrity of God. We deal with the justice of God as the originating point for His integrity; we deal with the righteousness of God as the recipient of His integrity. When the justice of God the Father imputed all of our sins to Christ on the cross that established a principle: the justice of the Father set aside His eternal love for the Son in order to accomplish our so great salvation. The justice of God the Father imputed our sins to Christ on the cross, the justice of God the Father judged those sins. Therefore, the justice of God the Father is our point of contact with God, and has been since the fall of man. The justice of God condemned man at the fall; the justice of God provides salvation for man at the cross. The justice of God imputes the other half of divine holiness to every one of us at the point of salvation so that a grace pipeline is established between the justice of God and the righteousness of God. And every blessing that you will ever have from God in this life comes from His justice and is imputed directly to the indwelling righteousness of God which you possess. This is to keep you from falling into the pattern of Satan in the prehistoric angelic conflict. The pattern of Satan was arrogance, “I will be like the most high God.” The most destructive thing that can ever happen to you is what can happen to the soul under the principle of arrogance. Arrogance destroys everything that is meaningful or wonderful or marvellous in this life. Arrogance is a destroyer of every part of us and as a result of arrogance you can have and develop in your life the most excruciating forms of misery. And it isn’t discipline from God, it is the natural and logical result of your own bad decisions.

The believer who recognises that he is dealing with the integrity of God and that the integrity of God has set up a grace system, then gets into a way by which he can develop integrity which glorifies God. Integrity is the means by which we glorify God. Serving the Lord in “Christian service” is merely a by-product of integrity.

So, here in Revelation 10:1 we have the angelic herald of the second advent, the triumph of integrity in eternity past, the triumph of integrity in the prehistoric angelic conflict. We meet in verse 1 the King of Arms from the college of heralds. Chapter ten begins a parenthetical section for the purpose of introducing the heralds of the second advent, the human and the angelic.

The parenthesis begins with this kai. The conjunction kai has at least 25 different uses and this one’s primary function is to start a parenthesis. The parenthesis means that we stop our study of the Tribulation as such, the sequence of events, the chronology of events. We have to be filled in on certain things before we can get to the seventh trumpet which starts in Revelation 11:15. We are now developing an honours list, one angel and two human beings who stand high in their relationship with God both in time and in eternity.

The next word after kai which introduces our parenthesis is the aorist active indicative of the verb o(raw, “Then I saw.” Inside of the parenthesis we are going to see something. Instead of continuing the sequence of events with the seventh trumpet John interrupts the vision and he presents the heralds of the second advent. With this we have the actual scene which is a constative aorist that contemplates chapter 10:1 through chapter 11:14 in its entirety. It pulls it all together in the constative aorist of o(raw. This is what he saw, it does not advance the chronology but fills us in on certain principles that are necessary. The active voice: the apostle John produces the action. The indicative mood is indicative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality.

Next we have the accusative singular direct object, made up of three words. First is the adjective a)lloj. This adjective is used in the sense of different from the sixth angelic trumpeter who is a pur sui vant messenger but the same in that he is also an elect angel. So we are not seeing another trumpeter at this time. This is an angel but different from the previously-mentioned ones who blew the first six trumpets. With this we also have a noun, a)ggeloj and it means an angel. And with this the accusative singular direct object from i)sxuroj, meaning powerful, mighty, strong. This is the accusative of apposition and so we are going to translate it “the powerful one.” Actually, it is the same angel as in Revelation 5:2, the King of Arms, the highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds. When the King of Arms becomes involved in anything it becomes extremely important to understand. His power comes not from his muscle but from his integrity. He is pictured in the present active participle of katabainw, he is descending, coming down. This, of course, is not a reference to Christ who does not come down to the earth in the middle of the Tribulation or near the end of the Tribulation, and this word katabainw cannot be used for Christ until the second advent. This is not the second advent.

Then we have the preposition e)k plus the ablative of o)uranoj, “from heaven.” The King of Arms, then, comes from the throne room and he comes for a purpose. He is going to claim planet earth for the Lord before the Lord returns.

Next we see the escutcheon of the King of Arms. There are four parts to his escutcheon. We begin by noting the cloud, then we will see the feet, and then a couple of analogies; and all these four will form the escutcheon of the King of Arms. The perfect passive participle of the verb periballw is where we resume. It means to be clothed. We will translate it in the passive voice: “And he was wearing.” The intensive perfect tense is one in which special attention is directed toward the results of the completed action of the verb. It is the emphatic way in the Greek of presenting a fact. He is wearing a cloud. The passive voice: the King of Arms receives the action of the verb as a part of his escutcheon which is a circumstantial participle designed to function as a finite verb and be preceded by the conjunction “and.” The accusative singular direct object from the noun nefelh is in the singular here, he was just wearing one cloud. The cloud represents the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ and becomes the first fourth of his escutcheon.

Clouds have many meanings as we have studied before and here it has a special meaning, the glory of the Lord. At the mount of transfiguration in Matthew 17:5 the bright cloud overshadowing them was representing the glory of the Lord. The cloud represents the presence of God and the King of Arms comes directly from heaven and is therefore the representative of God on a very special eschatological mission. The cloud also represents the glory of Christ in His strategic victory of the first advent and which is noted in the ascension in Acts 1:9, “a cloud received him out of their sight.” Clouds also represent the power and wisdom of God, as in Psalm 135:6,7; 147:8; Proverbs 8:28.

The cloud here represents the power and wisdom of God in dealing with human history plus the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ in His strategic victory at the first advent.

The second part of the escutcheon is a rainbow. We have a connective conjunction meaning that we are continuing the story of the escutcheon of this particular angel, kai. Next is the nominative singular subject i)rij, the Greek word for rainbow. With it is a prepositional phrase, e)pi plus the accusative of kefalh, “head.” With that the possessive genitive of a)utoj used as a third person personal pronoun and correctly translated, “and a rainbow over his head.”

The rainbow is the visible sign of the integrity of God in permitting, of course, the continuation of human history to resolve the angelic conflict. The integrity of God was seen in the antediluvian civilisation when, as a result of the demon genetic attack on the human race, God protected the only line of true humanity. That line belonged to Noah and his family. So to perpetuate human history God in His perfect integrity [His justice] destroyed all the contaminated part of the human race with a general flood, a disaster which devastated the earth. Afterward the rainbow was given as a sign that God would never again destroy the earth by such an historical disaster — Genesis 9:12-16. Therefore, the rainbow is used here as a visible sign of God’s perfect integrity which is man’s point of contact with God in the historical phase of the angelic conflict. By integrity we mean the holiness of God, His justice and His righteousness. The key to everything is how the justice of God superseded the love of God at the cross. God the Father loved God the Son with an eternal love but at the cross He set aside His love, and justice made the contact. Justice imputed all the sins of the world to Christ on the cross and then the justice of the Father judged them. That is the saving work of Christ. And then to anyone who believes in Christ then the other half of divine holiness is imputed — divine righteousness. Every believer has divine righteousness, establishing the grace policy down the pipeline between the justice of God and the righteousness of God. Our point of contact is always the justice of God and man’s point of contact has been the justice of God since man’s fall in the garden. And because we possess God’s righteousness God loves us but that is still not the point of contact. Therefore the integrity of God is always man’s point of contact.

This angel, the King of Arms, the highest representative of the angelic college of heralds, comes down to the earth carrying, as a part of his escutcheon, the principle of the integrity of God. The rainbow was the visible sign of the integrity of God related to historical disaster. The earth is never again to be overtaken by any such form of catastrophe. In other words, the integrity of God guarantees that God will never destroy or permit the destruction of planet earth during human history. Human history is to be perpetuated. The earth will not be destroyed until human history has been terminated, which means at the end of the Millennium when the angelic conflict will be permanently resolved. That is the major issue at this point. This part of the escutcheon of the King of Arms has a tremendous implication, such as the sophisticated weapons of man in this nuclear age will never destroy the earth or its population. The greatest destruction of mankind will not even come through nuclear activity, it will come in the Tribulation. Warfare and economic disaster are going to be the great population destroyers, not nuclear weapons.

The implications are tremendous. History will be perpetuated, the guarantee is the integrity of God, the sign is the rainbow. The rainbow also connotes the fact that the human race is protected from self-destruction. Given any kind of an opportunity the human race would destroy itself long before it could invent any destructive weapons. Man will continue to live on planet earth until the end of the Millennium, the end of human history. God does not permit any destruction to interfere with the use of history as the extension of the angelic conflict. God does permit man-made disaster and God does continue to judge certain segments of the human race from time to time; but God will not destroy the human race nor planet earth until the end of the Millennium. That is the subject of 2 Peter 3:5-15.

The principle from this second part of the escutcheon is the fact that divine integrity is not only the point of contact for mankind but divine holiness or integrity has total intrinsic value. This means that man has three things as a result: a personal relationship with the integrity of God and proper relationship with the integrity of God. First of all, from the doctrine he learns which establishes this relationship he has a personal sense of destiny. Secondly, the believer has control of his life through cognisance and execution of the plan of God. Thirdly, the believer makes decisions from a position of strength rather than from a position of weakness.

The rainbow also has another connotation

1. The rainbow, in addition to the connotation just noted [the integrity of God], is a reminder of the believer’s eternal and temporal security.

2. Every believer at the moment of salvation is in the plan of God in time as well as in eternity. The plan of God has two aspects for you: time and eternity.

3. Therefore, no matter how great the historical disaster the plan of God and temporal security for the believer [in the divine dynasphere] continues.

4. The only exception to the temporal security of the believer is either self-perpetuating misery in the cosmic system or divine discipline terminating in the sin unto death.

5. No matter what personal testing may come your way God has a purpose for your life and He will provide under the principle of logistical grace.

6. The pattern of the integrity of God is seen in the logistical grace provision for the believer, for all blessing of logistical grace flows from the justice of God, one half of divine holiness, to the indwelling righteousness of God, the other half of divine holiness.

7. Therefore, whether you know it or not you have it. If you know it you have a sense of security. If you don’t know that you have temporal security then you are not aware of it and you are anxious and worried and full of fears. Therefore the believer’s sense of security must originate from cognisance of divine integrity — that is the rainbow — plus the mechanics of logistical grace provision.

8. This is part of the essence of God rationale used in the second stage of the faith-rest drill, designed to accelerate your spiritual growth. The thing that delivers a nation is spiritual growth, and this includes adversity as well as prosperity testing.

9. The use of the second stage of the faith-rest drill, then, becomes the means of awareness of temporal security. No matter what happens to you, you are still in the plan of God in time.

10. The more the believer knows about the integrity of God the greater his personal sense of destiny. The rainbow as the second part of the escutcheon of the King of Arms is a reminder of the integrity and the faithfulness of God.

The third part of the escutcheon is the face analogy. It begins with the consecutive conjunction kai, translated “and,” and the nominative singular subject from the noun prospwpon plus the possessive genitive of a)utoj, “and his face.” We have an ellipsis here, we insert e)imi, “and his face was.” Then we have the comparative conjunction o(j, and it is translated “was like.” Finally, we have the appellative nominative e(lioj, “and his face was like the sun.”

The King of Arms as the highest seraph in the college of heralds wears the escutcheon of our Lord Jesus Christ. In that sense our Lord is the sun King. Beginning at salvation and continuing into every facet of life Jesus Christ is the source of blessing. He is the source of our energy, our enlightenment and, as it were, here we bask in the warmth of His encouragement. Were it not for the sun, of course, the world would be enshrouded in darkness as it was before the creation of man. Christ means that our life has purpose, definition and meaning. This is represented by the face analogy. The only way to escape the kingdom of darkness [the cosmic system] is to first believe in Christ and then to live in His plan, the divine dynasphere. When we do we have the principle, “He who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all things?” Whether personal or collective adversity comes our way only the warmth of divine blessing, the warmth of logistical grace, can penetrate the darkness of historical disaster.

The fourth part of the escutcheon is the feet analogy. We have the connective kai introducing this fourth pat. We have the nominative plural from pouj, and with it the intensive pronoun a)utoj, “and his feet.” Again, because of ellipsis, we insert the verb to be, “were,” and then “like,” the same comparative conjunction o)j. Then we have the nominative plural of stuloj, correctly translated “pillars.” It also means columns. With it we have the descriptive genitive singular from the noun pur, which means fire. Translation: “and his feet were like columns of fire.” Those columns of fire represent the divine protection of the positive believer in time of historical disaster, whether it is historical disaster right now or whether it is the historical disaster of this context, the Tribulation. It refers, therefore, to the wall of fire — “columns of fire” — the divine protection of the positive believer in time of either personal or historical disaster. The wall of fire in the Church Age is the divine dynasphere and only believers living in the divine dynasphere are protected. While there is no divine dynasphere in the Tribulation, the point of context, the believers of the Tribulation are protected by the plan of God and their association with it. This means that believers in the cosmic system are never protected by the wall of fire, they are subject to the sin unto death. So God has provided the wall of fire for every believer in fellowship with God throughout human history and only believers living in the cosmic system are excluded from this wall of fire during historical disaster. In fact historical disaster is used by God to execute believers with the sin unto death.

Translation of verse one: “Then I saw another elect angel, the powerful one, coming down from heaven: and he was wearing a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head, and his face was like the sun, and his feet were like columns of fire.”

There is one other principle, that of freedom and security. People are all too often, in time of historical disaster, willing to exchange freedom in a trade-out for security. They are often willing to surrender their national freedom to a national government if that national government will provide them temporal security. So the exchange of freedom for security is to sell one’s soul for a mess of pottage and destroy the very purpose of human history as the extension of the angelic conflict. Today socialism, the welfare state, social security, redistribution of wealth, are very popular concepts. That is because in this time of economic disaster they offer security rather than freedom. The principle: Freedom is necessary to glorify God; security is not.

In glorifying God security isn’t even an issue; freedom is. Nevertheless, God’s grace policy from His integrity has provided both eternal and temporal security for every believer. Eternal security is settled at the very moment that we believe in Christ. We are born again, we are entered into union with Christ, we can never lose our salvation. But also there is temporal security. This is settled as a result of faith in Christ, the imputation of divine righteousness, one half of divine integrity, to every believer. The point is, the believer cannot work for, earn, or deserve eternal security; he cannot earn, work for, or deserve, temporal security. The grace policy of the integrity of God excludes working for the security He provides. The escutcheon of the King of Arms reminds us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that God is perfect, therefore His plan is perfect. His perfect plan includes temporal as well as eternal security. Man separates freedom from security by greed, arrogance, inordinate ambition, worry, fear, anxiety, and therefore he sacrifices one for the sake of the other. But God in His perfect wisdom and in His plan has provided both freedom and security as the extension of His integrity and grace policy. And He reveals it in the escutcheon of the King of Arms.

There are many things that happen in life whereby we are able to interpret the historical trends through the doctrine of the Word of God, inasmuch as historical trends is a subject of the Word and especially in this dispensation of the Church; for this is the dispensation of no prophecy, and since prophecy is not used to interpret historical trends we have to go to the doctrines which are involved. We have studied these doctrines in the past. For example, we are the products of our own decisions individually and collectively rather than the products of our environment.

In Revelation 10:1 we are meeting for the first time the angelic herald of the second advent. Once the second advent occurs Satan will be superseded by our Lord Jesus Christ who will rule forever. The rainbow over the angel’s head indicates the fact that this herald of the second advent, the King of Arms, is declaring to us that the world will survive all disasters and that there will always be people on planet earth, and that these people with their volition, positive or negative, will continue to fulfil the principle of the angelic conflict. The angelic conflict will be resolved by the volition of mankind.

The third part of the escutcheon of the King of Arms: “his face was like the sun,” the provision of logistical grace in times of historical disaster, “and his feet were like columns of fire,” a reference to the wall of fire, the divine protection of the positive believer in time of either personal or historical disaster.

Logistical grace is defined as the divine provision and support of the believer on planet earth. This includes historical disaster. The background for logistical grace is found in 2 Corinthians 9:8, “God is able to make all grace abound toward you.” This means that in time of historical disaster, in time of economic disaster, God is able to make all grace abound toward you, “that always having sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed.” God’s plan has a system of logistics. God is perfect, His plan is perfect. That means that His logistical system is also perfect. We have to understand that as long as we are in the plan of God in any possible way we are logistically sustained. Even the many believers who have eternal life and are outside of the plan of God in the cosmic system are being sustained by logistical grace.

Ephesians 1:3, “Worthy of praise and glorification the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one having provided us benefits by every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.”

If God has a plan for your life, as He does, it is God’s responsibility to sustain that, to provide whatever is necessary whereby you can continue in this life to fulfil His plan. It is true that some believers are removed by the sin unto death because they have spent too much time in the cosmic system and the system of demonisation in it. And, of course, some believers are under divine discipline, but by and large the majority of believers are not even under divine discipline when they have disaster; they are simply the products of their own decisions, they have brought on themselves the disasters they face. Nevertheless, there is an overriding principle and that is the fact that for believers in the cosmic system who have failed they are still alive, even though hurting and facing some form of disaster. That is logistical grace. There are believers who are suffering for blessing; they are under logistical grace. There are believers who have succeeded and are doing very well in the divine dynasphere. There are believers who have failed. All of these believers have one thing in common: they are being kept alive by the grace of God. We are kept alive for a purpose, and that is to get into the plan of God and grow by means of grace, logistical grace, and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Logistical grace must come before knowledge; before you can learn Bible doctrine you have to be alive.

Logistical grace keeps alive the worst of believers and the best of believers. Sometimes logistical grace simply keeps alive the worst of believers so that the best of believers will have people testing, and pass it and move on to greater things. But the whole concept is that God supports and sustains in this life those who are personally believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Logistical grace is based upon the integrity of God. It is based, therefore, upon His faithfulness. Therefore, we as believers facing historical disaster need to understand this principle, Lamentations 3:20-25.

All believers living in God’s plan live inside the dynasphere. Believers living inside of the divine dynasphere are aware of the fact that there are three things that they will have in historical prosperity or in historical disaster. They will have a personal sense of destiny, they will have the control of their lives, and they will generally make decisions from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness. As a result of these three things they will orient to any disaster through the rationale of logistical grace.

Worry is a malfunction of the faith-rest drill, it intensifies your problems. Worry causes you to approach life emotionally rather than rationally. Worry is cowardice whereas courage is the ability to think under pressure. Poise is courage under normal circumstances.

Matthew 5:25, “Stop worrying about what you shall eat and what you shall drink; nor for your body as to what you shall wear. Is not the fact that you are alive more than food? And is not the fact that you have a body more than clothing?” The Lord says, in effect, “You are alive, you are a believer. God has a purpose for your life. Why are you worrying?” Worrying compounds the problem. The amazing thing is that God provides logistical grace for people who worry, even though worry is their unbelief and their rejection of the whole principle of logistical grace. Logistical grace works whether you deserve it or not.

Matthew 5:26, “Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow, neither do they reap,” they are not functioning under the laws of free enterprise. We sow and reap under the principle of economy; “neither do they gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of greater value than they?”

Verse 27, “Which of you by worrying can add eighteen inches to your height?” You cannot solve your problems by worry, fear, anxiety. This is cowardice, this is facing reality and becoming coward.

Verses 28, 29, “Why are you worried about your clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not work, neither do they spin [manufacture cloth]: in fact, I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these.” We need clothing. We do not have to be the best dressed person in history. But above all the problem is not clothing in itself, it is worry about clothing.

Verse 30, “In fact if God keeps clothing the common grass of the field … will he not do much more for you, O believer with very little faith-rest?” In other words, this was written to people who were worried, people who were not using the faith-rest drill. If God provides clothing for grass, it follows a fortiori, that He will not withhold clothing from the believer.

Verse 31, “Therefore, do not worry, thinking, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? With what shall we clothe ourselves?” Those are questions that come readily to mind when you have lost your job, when you are in some form of economic disaster. And, by the way, it might even be your fault but that is not even the issue. The issue is not whose fault it is, the issue is the reality of it. So it no longer becomes a matter of blaming yourself or blaming someone else. Of course, again, we are all the products of our own decisions. That is not the issue, the issue is reality: I do not have a job, I do not have the means of bringing any money into the household whereby I can survive.

Verse 32, “(In fact the Gentiles eagerly search for all of these things:) furthermore, your heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.” Now we are getting back to the basic and fundamental concept of the first stage of the faith-rest drill: the application of omniscience to the situation. You do not even have to tell Him.

Verse 33, “Consequently.” Look, now you are in trouble, now you are in a jamb. Now you have real problems and you are facing reality: it looks like you are going to starve to death, or go naked through the streets, or you are going to wind up living in a gutter or under a bridge somewhere. Now, where are you going to start? “seek first the kingdom [salvation through faith in Christ], and his integrity.” How do I seek it? With doctrine. Start with doctrine; “and all these things [logistical grace support] shall be provided for you.” Our meaning in life as believers must be related to Bible doctrine. We have no other purpose for being here except to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and saviour, Jesus Christ. There is only one way we grow in grace and that is through the perception of Bible doctrine, so that is the place to start.

Verse 34, “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow: for tomorrow will take care of itself.” How? Through logistical grace. If God lets me live until tomorrow He will provide for tomorrow. “Each day has enough evil of its own.” By evil He means things with which you have to contend through the faith-rest drill. So why are you trying to project faith-rest out there to tomorrow when you haven’t even handled today? Once you get into the habit of worrying about today you will worry about tomorrow, and worry cuts you off at the pass.

So the issue of logistical grace is found at gate two in the faith-rest drill. The issue is that God keeps the reversionist alive under logistical grace just as much as He does the believer in the divine dynasphere. Through logistical grace God maintains a cadre of reversionistic types in order to function under the principle of people testing.

Basically, what are the provisions of logistical grace? The first is the perpetuation of human life in time. God sustains the life of the believer in spite of the opposition of Satan and his genius policy of evil. No believer can continue in life apart from logistical grace support for Satan has the power of death, according to Ephesians 2:14,15. But God delivers from death, Job 5:20; Psalm 33:19; 56:13. Death, then, is a matter of the sovereign decision of God, the plan of God based on prior knowledge of all the facts. And again the principle: When God decides to take you home nothing can keep you here; when God decides to keep you here nothing can take you home to heaven.

Secondly, there is the formation and the preservation of the canon; thirdly, there is the logistical support of the laws of divine establishment which provides both authority and freedom in correct balance in order that we might have the opportunity of making decisions that resolve the angelic conflict. For freedom is the heritage of birth plus the resulting imputation of life as the target or the home of the human soul. Freedom is the extension of the function of our soul: the volition, the mentality, the function of our conscience, even our emotions. Freedom exists therefore for the purpose of resolving the angelic conflict and freedom belongs to us, even options in time of disaster. Divine authorisation of the local church: God has provided certain local churches where doctrine may be learned. The provision of a right pastor is a part of logistical grace, and the provision of the royal priesthood of the believer for perception of Bible doctrine plus the ministry of God the Holy Spirit provided for every one of us. Logistical grace, therefore, has every category of provision we need to meet the historical crisis of the present time.

We are all in a war called the angelic conflict. All of us are going to face adversity and prosperity. These are antithetical tests but we are to pass them both. One is more subtle than the other. On is an obvious pressure situation and one is an abstruse pressure situation but we have to pass both tests to glorify the Lord. God has a plan for our lives. We are the products of our own decisions and it is also true that to fulfil the plan of God we must make decisions from a position of strength rather than a position of weakness. We must have, from our study of the plan of God, a personal sense of destiny and we must be in control of our lives. That means that we are going to be tested to see if we can pass and grow in grace or flunk and fail miserably. Interestingly, when we fail we simply make ourselves miserable from our failures. Our failure merely intensifies our unhappiness, our disorientation and our misery. So to fail is to guarantee misery as a Christian. As a believer you are going to have moments of great unhappiness as long your own volition is functioning in your own soul, and what often passes for divine discipline is really divine discipline at all, it is simply making a bad decision.

God has created man as an extension of the prehistoric angelic conflict and that is why, prior to the second advent, there are both angelic and human heralds. Right now we are studying the angelic heralds of the second advent and are dealing with the closing days of the Tribulation.

Verse 2, the King of Arms has a ministry on this earth which begins in the verse with the title deed of planet earth. He has come down as the herald of the Lord Jesus Christ to make an announcement that our Lord is going to take over the earth, that in effect He has purchased it on the cross and has allowed history to run its course but that He will come to superseded Satan at the second advent.

We begin verse 2 with the conjunction kai, which is this case is a translational conjunction and it correctly translated “and.” The present active participle e)xw follows, and the present tense is the aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The active voice: the King of Arms of the angelic college of heralds produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial, therefore translated like a finite verb, “And he had.”

Then we have the prepositional phrase, “in his hand,” followed by the accusative singular direct object from biblaridion, which means a little book, a little scroll. It actually refers to the title deed of planet earth. With this we have the ascriptive use of the perfect passive participle of the verb a)noigw to tell us the condition of the book. It means it is open, “a little book open.”

Because of our Lord’s strategic victory at the cross He has the right to rule planet earth. The earth belongs to the Lord and will be claimed by Him at the second advent. The earth is a very small part of our Lord’s creative work. He owns the earth on the basis of the fact that He created it but He never makes that the basis for His claim. The basis for His claim is the first advent and His work on the cross. He is going to regain the rulership of the earth as the last Adam. Since the earth belongs to the Lord the unbelievers at the second advent are going to be removed under the baptism of fire. So the small book opened, or the title deed of planet earth, describes our Lord’s purchase of the human race at the cross. The book or the title deed is open for the plan of salvation is the basis for that purchase. As a matter of fact the book has been open since the fall of man and the cross is the purchasing price. So when our Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross He actually went for the entire human race. That is why the book is open. No personal sins were ever imputed to us for condemnation. Instead they were imputed to Christ on the cross and they were judged. In effect, that opens the book for the entire human race. The sins of every person who has ever lived — past, present and future — were imputed to Christ on the cross and judged. Therefore it is an open book, it means that any member of the human race can share in the eternal rule of Christ and the Millennial reign of Christ.

Then we have the sequential use of the conjunction kai, translated “then,” followed by the aorist active indicative of the verb tiqemi, which means here to place, “then he placed.” We have the constative aorist tense which contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice: the King of Arms produces the action, and the indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the significance of putting his right foot on the sea and the left one on the land.

This gives us our translation: “And he had a small open book in his hand: and he placed his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the land.”

What is the significance of this act? It is very much like explorers who, travelling about the world a few centuries ago, encountered some land that appeared to belong to no one and would claim it for their sovereign ruler. They usually had one foot on the land and one foot on the sea by which they approached the land when they would utter their words: “In the name of [their sovereign] I claim this land for ...” This is what the angelic herald was doing. He had his right foot in the sea and his left foot on the land. There are several reasons for this but the one that perhaps is most interesting as far as present application is the fact that a few decades ago the Russian communists discovered that the secret to strategically controlling land is to control the sea. There is much more sea than there is land and the key to controlling continents is to control the sea. When the Russians realised this they began to build their navy. Today the Russians have the most modern and the largest fleet in the world today (1982) and the reason is that they understand a point of strategy: You must control the sea to control a continent.

It is not surprising then that the right foot is in the sea. This means that strategic control of all continents. But then he put his left foot on land to indicate the control of every land mass in the world. When our Lord Jesus Christ comes back He will have complete control of planet earth, both the sea and the land masses. So we have the principle. He is holding an open book, the title deed, and this is the announcement that our Lord Jesus Christ is returning to take over the world at the proper point in history. This gesture confirms the fact that Christ will supersede Satan as the ruler of this world. The concept of the title deed is nowhere recorded — we will see why — but the meaning is obvious: Jesus Christ will set aside Satan as the ruler of this world. Jesus Christ has the right to supersede Satan through His work on the cross where He provided eternal salvation for all mankind. Satan took over the rulership of this world through man’s sin. Adam lost to Satan. But our Lord takes over the rulership of this world through being judged for man’s sin. The basis, of course, of Satan’s coup det tat in the Garden of Eden is set aside by our Lord’s saving work on the cross. Satan gained the rulership of the world through Adam’s sin but our Lord regained the rulership of the world through bearing all the sins of the human race on the cross. Christ is the winner in the angelic conflict.

Now the question arises in the application of this verse: Will you, as a believer and member of the royal family of God, be able to share in any way in that victory? That will be determined at the judgment seat of Christ but it has been determined by how we handle life right now. Inasmuch as believers of the Church Age are royal family of God those who meet and pass the eight momentum tests are going to rule segments of the earth. At the present time such believers are anonymous. The winners are anonymous and they appear to have no influence on history while they form the pivot that makes the difference between whether we survive or not as a client nation to God. But in the future the believers who are anonymous and not found in the history books are going to make history for 1000 years. They are those believers who pass these tests and advance to maturity through their daily perception and application of Bible doctrine. They are going to rule for 1000 years.

Verse 3 begins with the aorist active indicative of the verb krazw which means here to shout. He shouted with a loud voice just as a lion roars. The aorist tense is a constative aorist contemplating the action of the verb in its entirety. The entirety includes the announcement of the King of Arms that Jesus Christ is the legitimate ruler of the world and that He actually purchased the world on the cross. The active voice: the King of Arms produces the action of the verb. Just like a herald of old he shouts his proclamation. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the declaration of the King of Arms as the herald of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The analogy “just as a lion roars,” the present middle indicative of the verb nukaomia. When a lion roars it is a very chilling type of sound. The pictorial present picks that up with the middle voice. The lion produces the action of the verb, a sound which can be heard at great distance. Hence, the indirect middle emphasises the agent as producing the action of the verb. When a lion roars it always has a note of confidence; when the herald gives his announcement it has tremendous confidence. The declarative indicative mood is for the reality of the analogy. “Then he shouted with a loud voice, just as a lion roars.”

The proclamation which follows is called the proclamation of the seven thunders. We have the connective conjunction kai plus the temporal adverb o(ti, translated “and when he had shouted.” Then we have a subject, the seven thunders are now mentioned. The seven thunders are not actual thunders, they are angels, pur sui vant messengers who accompany the King of Arms and, in effect, they rebroadcast the proclamation of the herald throughout the world. The aorist active indicative is the relaying of their proclamation: the aorist active indicative of the verb lalew, which simply means here to relay the proclamation. The culminative aorist views the proclamation in its entirety but regards it from the standpoint of existing results: the entire universe knows of the coming of Christ and the proclamation made by the King of Arms. The active voice: the King of Arms produces the action by claiming rulership of the world for our Lord Jesus Christ. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the proclamation.

The accusative plural direct object of the noun fwnh is used for voice. It means sound as well as voice. With it we have the possessive genitive plural from the reflexive pronoun h( a)utou used as a reciprocal pronoun and “their own.” “He [the King of Arms] shouted with a loud voice, just as a lion roars: and when he [the King of Arms] had shouted the seven thunders [pur sui vant messengers] relayed the message with their own voices.”

The meaning of this has to be taken with the next verse as well where we have the censorship of what is said. Whatever the content of the proclamation John understood exactly what was being said when it was relayed by the seven thunders. The apostle assumed that the information should go into the Word of God and he was about to write it when he was interrupted. First of all the content of the proclamation was not to be recorded in the Word of God. Both here and in verse eight the voice from heaven is God the Holy Spirit acting as the censor, indicating what is to go into the Word of God and be recorded and what is not to be recorded. This fulfils the principle of the doctrine of inspiration.

Verse 4 — the temporal conjunction o(te starts this out with kai, “And when.” In other words, once this has taken place, once the King of Arms has made the proclamation and it has been relayed by the seven thunders then something strange happens that is unexpected. John is permitted to record what happened but he has to cut off the message.

“Now when the seven thunders [the pur sui vant messengers of the angelic college of heralds] relayed their proclamation.”

John then says: “I was about to write.” The imperfect active indicative means he was already taking notes, the imperfect active indicative of the verb mellw followed by the present active infinitive of graqw. The present tense of graqw means that he already had sketched out notes and he was now about to make it a part of the Word of God. He is about to write what he had heard, and that is the major issue — he concentrated on the message, he got the message. Here is an interesting place where John listens very carefully to the proclamation, first of all as the King of Arms gives it, and secondly as it is repeated by the seven thunders. And he understands it clearly because he concentrated, the aorist active indicative of a)kouw emphasises his concentration. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety.

When this herald put one foot on the land and one on the sea, and opened the book and made his proclamation, John listened very carefully. That is concentration. He not only had concentration but at the same time he was filled with the Spirit and he was already making notes, getting ready to make this a part of the canon of scripture, a part of the book of Revelation. Now, all of a sudden he gets a command to censor it. The important thing is the message and the message is censored. It is not only given, it is repeated. When something is repeated it is to be learned. Once it is learned it is to be applied. But here is a case of where he is learning the message, he knows it, and now he is told to scratch it; once you understand it, forget it. The aorist active imperative of the verb sqragizw, “seal it up [cancel it out, forget it].” The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. This is a prohibition in the aorist tense, meaning a mandate against doing something which he has not yet begun to do, he has not yet entered it into the Word of God. The active voice: John, who is writing the book of Revelation, is commanded by God the Holy Spirit: “Do not write what the seven thunders said.” The imperative is the imperative of prohibition.

Next we have the nominative neuter plural from the relative pronoun o(j which in the neuter means “what things [content].” The command is the aorist active subjunctive [not the imperative] of grafw plus the negative mh, which is tantamount to a prohibition. It means you understand it, you can write it down very easily, but don’t write it, “do not begin to write.” The ingressive aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb at its beginning. The active voice: the apostle John is prohibited from entering this message into the Word of God. The subjunctive mood plus the negative mh is a subjunctive of very strong prohibition.

Translation: “Now when the seven thunders [pur sui vant messengers] relayed the proclamation, I [John] was about to write it down: but I heard a voice [God the Holy Spirit] from heaven saying, Seal up [close down] what the seven thunders have communicated, and do not write it down.”

Why?

1. God is not responsible for any bad decisions made by any member of the human race. When we make bad decisions we make them, God doesn’t make them.

2. The message of the seven thunders was a message of victory. It was a victory bulletin but this victory bulletin does not comply with the rules of human volition in the angelic conflict. The one thing which you and I possess as members of the human race which resolves the angelic conflict is human volition or free will, the ability to make decisions good or bad. This is one of those messages, a victory bulletin, which is incompatible with the rules of human volition. Apparently the content of the message was of such a nature than anyone upon hearing the message and understanding it exegetically in the Word of God would sit down and say, “Okay, that’s it.” And that would be the end of it. In other words, everyone would be sitting on their hands. The whole concept is that people would say, “I have no part in this victory, I am not a participant, I am a spectator.” But you are really not, you are a gladiator. You are supposed to be on the playing field and the playing field is the divine dynasphere. The content of this announcement which will be made just before the second advent is of such a nature that to allow them to understand it as a part of eschatology would mean that you would no longer be participating in the angelic conflict. You would say in effect that the decisions are already made.

This message will be given in the future. The one danger of certain areas of eschatology is that people distort it into a system whereby they no longer live the Christian life.

3. Divine censorship acts so that man will not hear those things which would prejudice his thinking and destroy his objectivity. There is nothing in the Word of God to give you a prejudiced viewpoint of anything, and there is nothing in the Word f God to destroy your objectivity. Therefore, when you are prejudiced and when you lose your objectivity and it gives way to subjectivity you manage to do that on your own, totally apart from Bible doctrine.

4. In addition man must take the responsibility for his own decisions and through hearing the content of the victory bulletin man would shift the responsibility of his personal decisions to the sovereignty of God, and that is blasphemy.

5. Furthermore, the content of announcement of the seven thunders would violate the principle of 2 Corinthians 5:7, “We walk by faith and not by sight.”

In verses 5-7 we have the modus operandi of the King of Arms. If he won’t speak to us maybe he can show us something by his actions.

Verse 5, the spectacular gesture of the King of Arms. The subject is a)ggeloj, it refers again to the King of Arms, “Then the angel.” We have the demonstrative pronoun o(j in the accusative, translated “whom,” and then the aorist active indicative of o(raw. We are still talking about the King of Arms, John is still seeing him, “I saw.” He can’t report what he said but he is still watching him because the message from this paragraph comes from what the angel does rather than what he says, the reverse of what we usually have, “Then the angel whom I had seen.” The constative aorist tense contemplates the action in its entirety. John produces the action as the human author of Revelation. The declarative indicative represents the action of the verb from the viewpoint of reality. And then what he had seen to identify him again, the perfect active indicative of i(stemi, he is till standing in an attitude of claiming planet earth for our Lord. The King of Arms as the angelic herald of the second advent is till in his posture, is still claiming planet earth for our Lord Jesus Christ at the point of the second advent.

Now he does something: the aorist active indicative of a)irw, he raised his hand. The accusative singular direct object of xeir for hand. It is his hand, not someone else’s. One word is found in the Greek which is not found in the King James version, the word decioj for right. The King of Arms is right-handed. He raised his right hand, and then two more words forming a prepositional phrase: e)ij plus o)uranoj, “toward heaven.”

Translation: “Then the angel whom I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven.”

This is the motion of a salute. We are not going to get the message but we are going to get the action. He is directing a salute toward the one who is coming, the Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven is the direction of the salute because heaven is where our Lord Jesus Christ now resides on His glorified state of the hypostatic union. And the salute is directed toward heaven, toward our Lord Jesus Christ who won the victory. The content of the message we are not going to get but the salute we are going to understand. Our Lord has a right to rule the earth, He is about to supersede Satan as the ruler of the world, and He is saluted.

The salute has to be recognised. The Bible has to be interpreted in the time in which it was written. The raising of the right hand has to do with a military salute. The Romans had two salutes at this time. One was for when they were in the presence of the emperor or some high-ranking officer. They simply brought up their fist doubled and moved it across their armour. The other salute had to do with visors and came into prominence after this was written and thereafter for a thousand years. The Greeks started building helmets with visors and you would lift the visor in order to see. The raising of the visor was a sign of recognition. When the visor was down you were going into battle, you were going to fight; but when you raised that visor it meant it was a friend and you recognised him. And by raising the visor they eventually brought it up to a salute. That was the concept. The salute is the best way of greeting and has been for several thousand years. It became a form of greeting among knights and nobility, and the salute finally came to mean not just a friend or a recognition of rank but something more important. During the days of the baronage in medieval times it was a recognition of a system of integrity. The salute indicated the fact that the knight involved was a part of a system of integrity and that the system of integrity was greater than the individual knight, no matter how high his rank in the baronage happened to be. That, of course, is the connotation here: the recognition that our Lord regained the earth through a system of integrity. We are a part of that system today.

This salute recognises both the sovereignty of Jesus Christ as God and the third royal patent of the humanity of Christ gained by His work on the cross. While we are not privileged to understand the content of the announcement of the seven thunders we do understand the angelic herald looking toward heaven and saluting. He is recognising the uniqueness of the person of Christ: eternal God and true humanity in one person forever. The salute also recognises the right and the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ to rule the earth, a right He possesses now but will not take now because He wants to give the royal family a chance to function in the plan and to demonstrate to all fallen angels that we can make decisions for the Lord where they made decisions against. So the salute recognises that Satan has been conquered at the cross, and when our Lord returns to the earth [second advent] He will claim what already belongs to Him, the rulership of the world.

Again, in the human race, the salute was used by men of honour to recognise men of honour. In effect, this angelic category of royalty, the college of heralds, is expressing his royalty in the only way that is permitted for us to understand at this time, and it is a reminder that we as believers in Jesus Christ are members of the royal family of God, and today we have the opportunity of expressing our royalty. And in that expression of our royalty, residence and function in the divine dynasphere, we are fulfilling in this Church Age exactly what that angelic herald is fulfilling in a future dispensation.

Verse 6, This brings us to the proclamation of the king of Arms, what he is permitted to tell us. This is the only part of the message that we are allowed to hear. Since we are in time and this does not apply directly to us the reason it is given is to show us that the time will come when all of these things will take place. Prophecy deals with future things, there is no prophecy in the Church Age.

The authority of the King of Arms comes out in the first verb of this verse, the aorist active indicative of o)mnumi. The word means to swear, to affirm, to confirm by an oath, to make a proclamation by the power or in the authority of someone else. He made an oath, a solemn proclamation. He makes a proclamation in the authority of Jesus Christ, even though he is the highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds and had great authority of his own. There is a higher authority and that is the secret to this angel’s greatness — humility. Even though he holds the highest authority in the world he recognises a higher authority. This is the difference between a great ruler and a dictator. A dictator recognises no higher authority. A great ruler possessing absolute authority in a kingdom recognises the higher authority of God and conducts himself accordingly. He becomes a great ruler.

Principle: No matter how high we go in life there is always a higher authority around, and it is not degrading for us to recognise that authority. It is necessary to keep order in life. Humility is never upset by the fact that it encounters an authority higher than its own. Humility, therefore, is oriented to life whereas arrogance never is. All dictators are arrogant; all great rulers with equivalent authority are humble. The difference in any form of life between happiness and orientation to life, objectivity, and the subjectivity of misery is the ability to identify, recognise and function under an authority higher than your own.

The herald took a solemn oath, he produces the action of the verb. But it says he took a solemn oath or made a solemn proclamation “by Him who lives forever.” He didn’t do it on his own, he did this in the power of recognising the authority of someone else.

“And he [the King of Arms] made a solemn proclamation by him who lives forever and ever.”

That is the secret, that is the basis for everything that is important. He did not take this stand on the basis of his own power, even though he had more authority than Satan himself, he was a seraph. He had the highest authority in the angelic college of heralds, his humility is what made the difference. And by whom does he make this solemn oath? By the one who “created both heaven, and the things in it.” When it says “who created” this is the aorist active indicative of ktizw and refers to a much higher authority. This is the highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds but he recognises a higher authority.

Note: No matter how high you go in this life your life will only stay in perspective if you remember to stay within the bounds of authority.

The principle of authority orientation

Authority orientation is life orientation, it is honour and humility. The greater the authority over people the greater the responsibility to people. The more authority you have in life the greater is your responsibility.

1. This is the principle of the salute toward heaven from the King of Arms. The King of Arms is a seraph, he is the highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds; and even though he is higher in authority than millions and millions of elect angels the King of Arms recognises higher the authority in heaven, and he does so by means of a salute.

2. The principle: No matter how high we go in life or what rank and authority we attain there is always the higher authority which must be recognised to permit and perpetuate humility. Humility is orientation to life. Only arrogance rejects higher authority; only criminals reject all authority.

3. Humility not only orients to life but to authority. That is the basis for freedom and order in life. Freedom and order means civilisation.

4. The difference between a dictator and a great ruler is the fact that the great ruler recognises authority and the dictator does not.

5. No matter how high we go in life or what success we attain there is always some system of authority higher than we are, always some system of authority that controls us and, as a matter of fact, protects others from the evil use of our power. The fact that people have power is a potential for evil, not an evil in itself. Authority protects from the potential evil in the use of our power.

6. Only Satan does not recognise any authority beyond his own, and only Satan does not recognise divine authority and how it has been delegated through the laws of divine establishment, through the structure and order of life.

The highest-ranking herald in the college of heralds, having achieved this authority as the King of arms, demonstrates his tremendous integrity, his virtue, his honour by recognising a higher authority. The King of Arms is saluting heaven expresses, therefore, the honour, the integrity, the humility, the grace orientation which made him one of the great leaders in the prehistoric angelic conflict. It is important for all of us, therefore, to remember that no matter how much authority we achieve in life, or no matter how high we go in life, there is always a superior authority to be recognised and to restrain our power and add to our sense of responsibility. The higher we go in life the greater our responsibility to all. Achievement with integrity demands greater responsibility.

Verse 6, “He [the King of Arms] made a solemn proclamation by him who lives forever and ever.” Then it goes on to say: “who created,” and the word for created is the aorist active indicative of the verb ktizw. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety and it recognises that everything that we are or ever will be, everything that ever exists in our periphery and environment, everyone with whom we have contact, all of it together has been produced and created and made possible by the Lord Jesus Christ. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb as the creator. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine that our Lord Jesus Christ is both the creator and the sustainer of the universe. The baby in the cradle on the first Christmas day was at the same time sustaining the universe.

“who created the heaven, and the things in it, and the earth, and the things in it, and the sea, and the things in it.” Speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ, John 1:3 says, “All things came into being through him, and apart from him nothing came into being that has come into being.” Colossians 1:16,17, “For by him all things were created, in the heavens and on the earth, both the visible things and the invisible things, whether thrones or powers, or rulers, or systems of authority: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things [above all human authority], and by him all things hold together.” Hebrews 1:10, “In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth; and the heavens are the work of your hands.”

The authority of the King of Arms and the one he represents is our Lord Jesus Christ. And although the King of Arms has the highest possible authority his humility, his integrity, his honour, keeps him from ever being carried away by all of that authority. He is responsible to our Lord Jesus Christ. And, of course, as far as we are concerned, apart from His saving work on the cross our Lord had prior claim to rulership of the earth as creator, and the arrogance of Satan resulted in that revolt against God whereby angelic creatures in heaven followed Satan, a creature revolt against the creator. The revolt spread to the earth where human creatures joined angelic creatures in the Satanic revolution, the creatures against the creator, the infidel against the only way of eternal salvation.

We can never revolt against our Lord Jesus Christ and come out winners. Satan is a loser; all who follow Satan in the angelic realm are losers; all unbelievers are losers; and those believers in time who become involved in Satan’s cosmic system are losers. One of the problems in the world and the reason we have so much trouble is because we have so many losers.

Now for the proclamation. We do not know what was in the title deed, that is forbidden and sealed up, but we know that a proclamation is now made. It begins with the conjunction o(ti, used for the content of the solemn proclamation. We translate it “that.” Then we have the future active indicative of the verb e)imi, “that there shall be.” The future tense is a deliberative future used to answer a question of uncertainty. It is an idiom. The question of uncertainty deals with the time of the second advent. The active voice: time is running out. Time produces the action of the verb in the idiom. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the fact that time is running out in the Tribulation.

Then we have a negative adverb o)uketi which is a part of the idiom, it means “no more.” Then the subject comes last, xronoj, which means a period of time and here it refers to the Tribulation. Literally, the proclamation says that time shall be no more, but it is an idiom and it should be translated, “that there shall be no more delay.”

Translation of verse 6: “And he [the King of Arms] made a solemn proclamation by him who lives forever and ever, who created both the heaven and all the things in it, and the earth and all the things in it, also the sea and the things in it, that time [the Tribulation] should no longer be delayed [time being the end of the Tribulation, the second advent].”

The Greek idiom means that there will no longer be delay before the return of Christ. This is actually a reference, then, to the termination of the Tribulation as a period of time, and it is terminated by the second advent. Hence, the King of Arms, is announcing that very shortly the Lord Jesus Christ is going to return to claim the rulership of the earth and to dispose of Satan and his angelic coup de tat. There is no more delay and that means that the seventh trumpet is about to occur. With the seventh trumpet and what comes out of it there will be the last horrible series of disasters and then the second advent. Actually this announcement by the King of Arms is related to the events of Revelation chapter nineteen. This proclamation, by the way, is amplified in Revelation 11:15-19. That means that chapters 11-18 are a detailed discussion of the events at the end of the Tribulation with their causes and results. This is the first announcement that time has run out for Satan and that his judgment is about to be executed in Revelation chapter nineteen.

Verse 7, the announcement of the termination of the Tribulation. When the whole clause is compared with part of it we are going to see something different. Whole clauses are often compared by the use of a)lla, so a)lla which is ordinarily an adversative conjunction also has other meanings. When you are comparing a clause with a clause, instead of translating it “but” it is translated “yet,” or “nevertheless”.

“Nevertheless in the days,” e)n plus the locative plural of h(mera. It refers to the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The word which is translated “voice” in the King James version can be translated “voice” [fwnh] but that isn’t its basic meaning. Its basic meaning is sound, and that is the way we will translate it. Then we have a verb which is going to be the beginning of an incomplete indefinite temporal clause, a most unusual Greek construction. The reason for it is that there are so many chapters before chapter nineteen. John is just saying that he will get back to us on this subject of the second advent, but in the meantime … That is the reason why we have what is called an incomplete indefinite temporal clause. The temporal clause is introduced by the temporal adverb o(tan, translated “when.” When you have an indefinite temporal clause you often have the verb mellw. Here we have it in the present active subjunctive. The subjunctive indicates that this is an indefinite clause, mellw means to be about to be and the subjunctive mood gives us an indefinite time. Before we get to the second advent we have a number of things to discuss, says the writer, and while this Greek idiom is a little obscure for people who are accustomed to English this is perfectly normal Greek for saying, “Look, I’ll get back to you later on this second advent that the herald announces. In the meantime I want to tell you a lot of other things.” The present tense of mellw is a tendencial present, it represents what will occur but has not yet occurred, everything is indefinite. The active voice: the seventh angel will sound his trumpet, but before he does we have some things to learn. The infinitive is the intended result infinitive which blends purpose and result, and it is translated, “when he is about to sound his trumpet.” The word for sounding the trumpet is salpizw. So mellw in the present active subjunctive plus the present active infinitive of salpizw is what we have.

Translation: “Yet in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet.”

This is a reference to the last days of the Tribulation before the second advent and the overthrow of Satan as the ruler of this world. Note that mellw does not mean to begin, as in the King James version, it means to be about to be.

With this we have the connective conjunction kai and the nominative singular subject of a new phrase. The subject is musthrion which refers to doctrine known only those who have joined the fraternity. The major mystery doctrine in the Word of God is the doctrine of the Church, but that is not the mystery we have here. For those who know their eschatology this is understandable; for those who do not, those who are not believers, they cannot discern historical trends without understanding the prophecies of the Tribulation. In other words, this is what musthrion means. In the Church Age there is no prophecy. That means that we learn historical trends through Bible doctrine apart from eschatology. Prior to the Church Age all historical trends were determined by prophecy. Once the Rapture of the Church occurs [the next prophecy] then in the Tribulation every historical trend is determined by prophecy; in the Tribulation you have to know prophecy. The second advent is prophesied, the Millennium is prophesied, we are studying the prophetical details of the Tribulation. Understanding these prophetical details means understanding historical trends. If you don’t know your prophecy of the Tribulation, for those who will be living; we won’t be there, then what is going to happen next is a mystery, you don’t know it. Only those who know their doctrine will understand what is going to happen day by day in the last half of the Tribulation. That is the use of mystery here, so that it should be translated: “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, and the mystery of God,” “of God” is the possessive genitive of qeoj, “has been accomplished.” The “mystery of God,” then, is that body of eschatology relating to the second advent and the Millennium, and what will happen prior to the second advent.

The mystery has been expressed in Revelation through the concept of Christ being Alpha and Omega, and this is the mystery to the unbelievers of the Tribulation, and that includes Jewish unbelievers. The Jewish unbelievers are going to be very confused, they are going to face the greatest holocaust of all time and their confusion will come from the fact that they do not understand eschatology, that they have never been able to distinguish between the first and the second advents. They have never yet been able to understand their own ritual uttered every Sabbath day in the synagogue, “Shamah Yisrael [Hear O Israel], Adonai Elohenu [The Lord is our God; Jesus Christ is the God of Israel], Edonai echad [Jesus Christ is unique].” They have never been able to distinguish between the first and second advents of the God of Israel. Unique means that Jesus Christ is God and true humanity, Jewish humanity, the son of David in one person forever, the hypostatic union. That is why it is called a mystery; unbelieving Jews have never understood it.

Next we have the aorist passive indicative of the verb telew. It means to be completed, to be finished, to be accomplished, “the mystery of God has been accomplished.” The accomplishment of the mystery of God is going to be the regathering of Israel, the restoration of Israel as a client nation, and for believers in Israel to recognise Adonai echad. The culminative aorist views the second advent in its entirety but regards it from the viewpoint of the Millennial reign of Christ. The passive voice: the mystery doctrine of the second advent, as distinguished from the first advent — Jesus Christ is Alpha and Omega — receives the action of the verb. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the mystery doctrine being completed. Eventually, even the unbeliever of Israel will understand when Jesus Christ returns the second time as Messiah. Messiah comes twice, not once. And they were even given a very clear sign that He would come twice: He would come by a birth, but not just an ordinary birth, a virgin birth, as per Isaiah 7:14. The sign that was given to Israel was the most obvious of all. So this verse doesn’t say that the mystery is accomplished, it means it will be accomplished, eventually with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This is an indefinite temporal clause and it relates to a contingency carrying a conditional element. Before the mystery doctrine can be cleared up for Israel the second advent will take place, but this is an indefinite temporal clause, the second advent is indefinite at this point. This indefinite temporal clause anticipates the third attack of Satan’s elite guard under the seventh trumpet, the greatest function of anti-Semitism in the history of the world. So the clause is not completed at this time.

The key is the conjunction kai, “and.” It is generally mistranslated “then” or not translated as all, as in the King James version. But here is an incompleted temporal clause which can only be completed by chapters 11 through 18. What occurs to complete the indefinite temporal clause is found in the rest of the book. Actually it is found in the book which the apostle John will eat very shortly, but all of the information we need to understand the mystery will be forthcoming in chapters 11-18.

Next we have a comparative particle o(j, translated “just as.” It is translated to bring out an analogy, “just as he” referring here to God the Holy Spirit, and the aorist active indicative of the verb e)uaggelizw which means to announce good news, “just as he announced the good news.” The constative aorist refers to an action extended over a period of time in which the Old Testament was formed. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice: God announces the good news of the second advent and the Millennial reign of Christ to the prophets. God also announced the first advent of Christ. So both advents were announced. The good news has to begin with the first advent, not the second advent. The second advent is not good news to the Jew who does not accept Christ. What makes the second advent good news is the fact that there was the first advent and the good news of the saving work of Christ on the cross. When He was judged on the cross He was judged for the sins of the entire world. The direct object in the accusative plural is composed of five words, like the generic use of the definite article, used twice; the reflexive pronoun h( a)utou, translated “his own.” It is in the possessive genitive singular. Then we have the accusative plural douloj which means slaves or servants, “his own servants.” Next is an accusative plural in apposition from the noun profhthj, “prophets.” This is a reference to the Old Testament prophecies regarding both advents. For example, we have Isaiah’s reference to the first advent in chapter 53; the prophecy of the second advent in Zechariah chapter 12; Isaiah 63:1-6. So we have these prophecies clearly presented so that the Jews would understand the last phrase of Deuteronomy 6:4.

Verse 7, “But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, and the mystery of God has been accomplished, just as he [God the Holy Spirit] proclaimed the good news to his own servants the prophets.”

Verse 8, once he recognised authority from heaven John is given another command. This command is given by God the Holy Spirit. “And the voice which I heard from heaven communicated with me again.” Then we pick up the story with the connective kai and the present active participle, legw, “and said.” This is what was communicated now. Legw introduces a second command. The command is given to John, he has be censored, he can’t write what the proclamation of the seven thunders was, and now he is going to get a second command. He has learned from the highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds the importance of authority and he is about to be tested with regard to authority.

Then we have the command, the present active imperative of the verb u(pagw. First of all his volition is going to be tested, he is given a command; u(pagw means to go. The verb connotes going in a certain direction, going in a specific direction. This is addressed to John. Note the structure of the passage. First we have the King of Arms, the highest-ranking angel is the college of heralds. Under him is a category of heralds called the officers of arms. Under them the heralds, and under them the pur sui vant officers and finally the pur sui vant messengers. Now we have the highest-ranking person alive among human beings at this time, the last of the apostles. This is John, the highest-ranking Christian left at the time of the writing of Revelation, and just like the high-ranking angel he has to recognise a higher authority than himself. And that is exactly what he does. He is tested. The present tense is a pictorial present, it presents in the mind a picture of John being commanded, being tested, with regard to his volition.

Life is a series of volitional tests. Every day you make volitional tests. You have in your soul volition and every day you make decisions from that volition. Those decisions fall into two categories: good decisions and bad decisions. Good decisions are decisions you make as a believer from a position of strength, and the position of strength is the logistical grace provision that provides doctrine; when you make decisions on the basis of doctrine, on the basis of truth, the laws of divine establishment. Bad decisions are made from a position of weakness and they fall into two categories: decisions to go into the cosmic system and decisions made from the cosmic system. So every day our volition is tested and we are making either good or bad decisions. If you are making good decisions from a position of strength you have control of your life. Control means your happiness, your virtue, your honour, your blessing, everything that makes life wonderful. You don’t even have to have good circumstances but you do have control of your life. If you make decisions from a position of weakness you lose control of your life and you become a loser. The one who has control of his life through the good decisions from a position of strength, decisions made to re-enter the divine dynasphere or decisions to function in the divine dynasphere are good decisions. If you are making good decisions daily from a position of strength you not only have control of your life but you have a personal sense of destiny, you understand God’s plan for your life and you relate to it constantly. But if you are believer making bad decisions from a position of weakness you not only lose control of your life but you have no sense of destiny at all and therefore you can be knocked over with any feather of adversity.

(Sometimes the most insignificant things are significant tests and they indicate whether you really have virtue or integrity)

So the verb means to go in a certain direction. The active voice: the apostle John, the highest-ranking Christian is given the command. The imperative mood: this is a direct command of the higher authority just recognised by the King of Arms.

“and said, Go,” go in this direction only. There is a second command, the aorist active imperative of the verb lambanw which means to take or to seize. In this case it means to take. He is going to have to go to his counterpart and he is going to have to take something from him. The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. Instant action. The active voice: John is commanded to produce the action, and it is that same imperative of command. You go in a certain direction, the direction of the king of Arms, that high-ranking angel. And what is he to take? The accusative singular direct object of biblion, “book.” It refers to the title deed of planet earth; “which has been opened,” the articular perfect passive participle of the verb a)noigw. The book has already been opened. It has been opened since the cross actually. Our Lord has a right to rule the earth and He will at the second advent. In the meantime the angelic conflict pursues its course according to plan. The definite article in the participle is used as a relative pronoun, it refers to the title deed. The dramatic perfect tense represents the existing state of the book, it has been opened in a dramatic way, it was opened at the cross where our Lord provided eternal salvation, where He was judged for our sins, where He took our place. And the fact that it is mentioned as a dramatic perfect is just another reminder that the believer’s point of contact with God is the justice of God. The justice of God the Father set aside His own personal love for the Son. Love was superseded by justice and the justice of God the Father imputed the sins of the world to Christ on the cross and then He judged them so that when we believe in Christ [the point of salvation] that same justice imputes the other half of divine holiness to us — divine righteousness, the grace pipeline. Our point of contact is always the justice of God, not the love of God and not the sovereignty of God. And so when the dramatic perfect represents the existing state of the book it is going back to the cross where the book was opened. The book was closed at the garden because man lost control of the earth to Satan; it was opened at the cross. It is open because the King of Arms has read from it the proclamation that Christ is going to return to supersede Satan as the ruler of this world. The passive voice: the title deed receives the action — open. The participle is circumstantial.

“Go, take the small book which has been opened.” In this particular context of the book of Revelation we have now seen two books. We are also going to see at the last judgment the book of works by which unbelievers are judged. We are going to see the Lamb’s book of life. But in Revelation chapters 5 and 10 we have two books. We have studied now, in part at least, the second book and we have studied the first.

In Revelation chapter five we have the book with seven seals; in Revelation chapter ten we have the title deed of planet earth showing our Lord’s rightful claim: He has a clear title to planet earth because of His work on the cross. In chapter five the book with seven seals is a book of Tribulational judgements but in chapter ten the book of our Lord’s right to rule the earth is the subject. In chapter five the book is in the hand of Christ but in chapter ten the book is in the hand of the King of Arms, the highest-ranking angel in the college of heralds. In chapter five we noted that the book was closed but in chapter ten we have an open book. In chapter five the book is gradually opened, the seals were broken by our Lord Jesus Christ, but in chapter ten the apostle is about to eat the book.

The prepositional phrase which follows is e)n plus the locative of xeir which means hand. It is literally translated “in the hand.” Then we have a possessive genitive a)ggeloj, “of the angel.” It should be translated with the verb “from the hand of the angel.” Lambanwplus the prepositional phrase means “from” rather than the usual “in” the hand of the angel.

Then we have the articular perfect active participle from the verb i(stemi which means to stand, “who has been standing.” The King of Arms is standing there under orders waiting to have the book taken from his hand. The active voice: the King of Arms produces the action. The participle is circumstantial.

Translation: “Then the voice which I heard from heaven [God the Holy Spirit] spoke with me again, and said, Take the little book [containing the title deed of planet earth] which has been opened from the hand of the angel who has been standing on the sea and on the land.”

Principle

Having recognised higher authority by his salute the angel now has been standing fast under orders. And the principle of the salute: No matter how great one’s achievement, no matter how extensive one’s power, there is always a higher authority to be recognised. The greater the authority in life the greater the integrity which must accompany it. For authority and power to be used properly there must be honour and integrity, and integrity must keep pace with achievement otherwise achievement and success is destroyed by arrogance. When the King of Arms saluted heaven it was an expression of humility and it was also the acknowledgement that he was to stand fast until John came to him and took the book.

Out of this comes the principle that greatness cannot be measured in terms of achievement unless that achievement is associated with humility, objectivity, honour, integrity, and virtue. Only virtue can assume great authority without abusing the power thereof.

Now it is John’s turn to salute higher authority. John as the apostle possess the highest spiritual authority, he is top Christian at this time in history. There is no higher authority than John possesses as an apostle. To exercise his authority the apostle John must also possess objectivity, humility, honour, integrity and virtue. This will be demonstrated. It will be demonstrated by eating a book.

Verse 9, the apostle who is writing a book stops long enough to eat a book. We need to note Jeremiah chapter 15:15, the middle of the verse, for a precedent: “Know that I bear reproach for your sake.” Jeremiah was bearing a twofold reproach for Israel. He had top authority among the prophets and in this authority he was using that responsibility and taking responsibility for the people. He was bearing the reproach from friends. The people looked down their nose at prophets. He also was bearing reproach from his right woman and his congregation. So he was carrying a load, but he wasn’t crying about it and that comes out in verse 16. So he turns now to God and he says, “I recognise your authority above all else”: “Your words [doctrines] were found [he studied] and I ate them”. When someone eats a book it always illustrates one of two things: in the normal realm that the person is psycho; but in the spiritual realm it represents perception of Bible doctrine.

“Your doctrines were found [the first stage of the doctrine of GAP, reception, gnwsij in the left lobe, giving it a hearing whether you accept it or not].” Now in the eating of the Word remember that eating is always a non-meritorious function. The whole system for assimilating food belongs to the good, the bad, and the ugly, and this illustrates grace. Jeremiah ate a book and this illustrates the retention of Bible doctrine. Hearing is the beginning, it is a stage, it is not the end. If it is understood it is comprehensive reception. It is the attitude toward it that counts. Are you going to eat it or are you going to push your plate away and ignore it? Gnwsij does not contribute to spiritual growth, the only spiritual growth is where gnwsij becomes e)pignwsij. E)pignwsij is retention. In retention gnwsij is converted to e)pignwsij, and it is e)pignwsij that causes spiritual growth.

What is the difference between gnwsij and e)pignwsij? When you understand and take the attitude, “I understand what you are teaching but I don’t believe it,” it remains gnwsij; or, “I understand what you are teaching and I believe it,” then it becomes e)pignwsij. When you say, “I understand what you are teaching and I believe it,” that’s like eating. It is analogous to eating. You eat it, you retain it, it becomes a part of you. The food that you eat becomes a part of the energy of your body, of the structure of your body, and so on. That’s eating. For the person who says, “I don’t believe it, I understand what you are teaching but I don’t believe that,” it remains gnwsij, it has no spiritual value therefore.

Verse 16, “Your words [doctrines] were found [reception] and I ate them [retention], therefore your doctrines became for me happiness [happiness comes from retention, not from reception].” Happiness is also the recall of doctrine, the third stage. Recall is the application of doctrine [e)pignwsij] to experience. From retention or e)pignwsij we have normal growth; from recall we have accelerated growth. All spiritual growth is based upon the second and the third stages in the doctrine of GAP, “and the delight of my right lobe.”

In Ezekiel chapter 2, beginning at verse 8, Ezekiel had to eat a book. So the eating of the book is not without precedent. Here again eating is analogous to the perception of doctrine, and in Ezekiel’s case, for the purpose of teaching it. The Lord said to Ezekiel: “Now you, son of man, listen to what I have communicated to you; do not be rebellious like that rebellious house [client nation Israel of verse 3]. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you. Then I looked, and behold, a hand was extended to me; and lo, a book was in it. When he spread it out before me, it was written in the front and on the back ...”

Chapter 3:1, “Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, eat what you find; eat this book, and go, speak to the house of Israel.’ So I opened my mouth, and he fed me this book. And he said to me, ‘Son of man, feed your stomach, and fill your inner parts with this book which I am giving you.’ Then I ate it, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. Then he said to me, ‘Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak to them with my doctrine’.”

So there is precedent for eating a book. We anticipate, therefore, the eating of this book in Revelation chapter ten, verse nine. “Then I went to the angel.” John obeyed the first command of God the Holy Spirit which was communicated to him, and it is given here. First of all the sequential kai, “Then,” and the aorist active indicative of a)perxomai is the obedience of the first part of the command, “he went.” The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The command was to go. The active voice: the apostle John produces the action of the verb in obedience to the first mandate from God the Holy Spirit. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality. And proj plus the accusative of a)ggeloj means “fact to face” with the angel.

The next phrase is the present active participle of legw. Legw is sometimes used for asking a question, especially if the context indicates that. Legw means to say, to speak, to communicate, to talk, and so on. “I went to the angel saying” is the way it is generally translated, but we are going to translate it, “Then I went to the angel and asked him,” the aoristic present for punctiliar action in present time. The active voice: John, again, produces the action of the verb in obedience to the first mandate from the Holy Spirit, a circumstantial participle translated like a finite verb, preceded by the conjunction “and,” “and asked him,” not “and said.”

With this we have the dative singular, indirect object, from the intensive pronoun a)utoj which is used as the personal pronoun, third person in the Koine Greek since the Attic third person was never brought over, “and asked him.” The dative of respect is involved here. He had respect for the authority of the King of Arms.

“Then he replied to me and said, Take it, and eat it”. Again we have the same connotation. Taking it is a matter of reception, receptive comprehension, perception of doctrine, the point of hearing, analogous to putting the book in the mouth.

The prediction of the King of Arms accompanies this. The King of Arms is allowed some leeway, he is permitted to make a statement, “and so it will make your stomach bitter.” He starts with the stomach and the reason for this is because the bitterness in the stomach is the eschatology of Satanic desperation, the eschatology of Satan’s modus operandi from the time he was thrown out of heaven in the middle of the Tribulation to the second advent. The last half of the Tribulation is the time of Satan’s desperation. The time is short and he knows that he is going to lose.

We have a future active indicative of the verb pikrainw. The word means to make bitter. The accusative singular direct object koilia is translated “stomach,” “it will make your stomach bitter.” The future tense is a predictive future, it anticipates the closing events of the Tribulation beginning with the sounding of the seventh trumpet which throws Satan out of heaven. The active voice: the content of the little book will be the closing events of the Tribulation: how our Lord claims the earth. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of terrible events which terminate with the second advent. This is classified as the eschatology of Satan’s desperation for bitterness begins when Satan is cast out of heaven. We have yet to feel the power of Satan’s desperation. The reason is because at the present time Satan spends most of his time in heaven. Even though he is the ruler of the earth he is in heaven constantly, he has access to heaven as do fallen angels. But the time of his desperation is when the door of heaven is closed and he is confined to the earth. Satan is extremely bitter. He has brought upon himself by a series of terrible decisions the whole thing. But typical of so many creatures who through bad decisions have brought upon themselves a desperate situation he becomes bitter and blames it all on someone else. Satan becomes bitter, he blames it on the Jew and we have the greatest holocaust of all time. The bitter period of that time, just after Satan is expelled from heaven, far exceeds any other. It will be the time of Satan’s implacability and he has the power for the greatest implacability of any creature.

We have the adversative conjunction which follows, it is translated “but,” a)lla in the Greek. The adversative conjunction sets up a contrast with the preceding clause. Then we have the future active indicative of the verb e)imi, the verb to be, “but it will be.” This is the future tense, “in your mouth.” We have e)n plus the locative of stoma. He takes the mouth last and he reverses the order of eating because he is dealing with results, “in your mouth it will be.” The predictive future anticipates the second advent of Jesus Christ, the removal of Satan from the earth. Jesus Christ takes command of the earth and at that time He will regather Israel, restore Israel, and fulfil the four unconditional covenants to Israel: the Abrahamic, Palestinian, Davidic and New covenants. The sweetness comes from the deliverance of the true Israel, those Jews who believe in Christ in the Tribulation. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of wonderful events: the eschatology of blessing which follows the eschatology of Satan’s desperation, the second advent, the incarceration of Satan, the restoration of Israel as a client nation, the coronation, the wedding supper of the Lamb, the perfect environment of the Millennium. This will be classified, then, as the eschatology of sweetness, the eschatology of our Lord’s tactical victory of the second advent, the inevitable triumph of our Lord. The word “sweet” is glukuj in the Greek.

Then we have the analogy, o(j, and then the word meli for honey, “sweet as honey.” The contrast, then, between bitterness in the stomach and the sweetness in the mouth is the difference between the eschatology of Satan’s desperation, the last half of the Tribulation, and the eschatology of our Lord’s inevitable tactical victory at the second advent. The sweetness like honey, then, is the victory gained by our Lord at the second advent.

To continue the historical trends of the future John must master the contents of the little book. Future history of mankind cannot be understood apart from eschatological doctrine from the Word of God. Therefore by his obedience to a higher authority John will finish the book of Revelation. If he had not eaten it this is as far as he would have gone in Revelation, but his obedience to higher authority, even though John is the super achiever of the first century, means that you and I have the book of Revelation.

The Jews were in Egypt for about 400 years, from the time of Joseph to the time of Moses. For four generations they were slaves to the Egyptian empire. As slaves they lost many of the concepts that are so important that go with freedom and the only possible way that they could understand that freedom demands authority was to learn it in the home. And because of the oppression of the Egyptians only a few homes actually taught respect for authority. We know from the parents of Joshua and the parents of Moses that authority was taught in those homes. But Moses had to leave his home where only Aaron and his sister remained and become almost the ruler of the Egyptian empire in order to understand the issue which is found in Revelation chapter ten, the issue of authority: that no matter how high we go and how much we achieve under freedom there is always some system of authority that we must recognise. This is a very healthy thing and a wonderful thing.

When the Jews were finally freed from slavery they immediately had some very serious problems. This became obvious for as soon as they cleared Egypt and were on the peninsula of Sinai, Moses went up Mount Sinai and received the laws of divine establishment so that the Jews would understand the true meaning of their freedom. The Jews were now free, and when people have been enslaved or oppressed in any way they are inclined to distort the meaning of freedom when they have the opportunity. The Jews did exactly that. Now that they were free they were going to do what they wanted to; they had to pay attention to no authority. The Jews who came out of slavery never had military training which often acts as a stopgap measure to train people in the importance of authority in life, and how you cannot have freedom without authority nor authority without freedom. They must go together, for freedom without authority is anarchy and authority without freedom is tyranny. The two must balance out. Therefore, Moses went up Mount Sinai to get the first instalment of the laws of divine establishment and the true meaning of freedom. In fact, that is what the ten commandments actually teach: the relationship between freedom and authority in life.

When Moses came back he found immediately that he had no “congregation.” The ex-slaves who were now free were using their freedom as a licence and they moved into idolatry, no restraint to hinder them, and into the licentious functions of the phallic cult. He immediately smashed the first tablets and had to go back up the mountain and get another set.

For one generation most of the Jews were failures though they had the truth and were now the first client nation in history. The reason they failed is that they could never appreciate and understand that for freedom to exist for everyone they must have restraints, and that no matter what you achieve in life there is always a system of authority that you must recognise. This they failed to do. Their first military attempts were pitiful and only God saved them from military disaster, for without that military victory or two in the wilderness they would have lost their freedom.

It is one thing to be manumitted from some form of slavery but it is something else to think like a free person. This is almost impossible unless people are willing to accept some form of authority — authority in government, authority in life, authority in business, authority in academics, authority in the military, authority in the home [above all, the home], authority everywhere. We are always surrounded by authority. Obviously slavery is an abuse of authority; slavery means no freedom and all authority; and so people react to slavery, as the Jews did and lost out for one generation. They were not even capable of entering the land and for forty years they wandered because they could not enter the land until they could do so to conquer it. It was God’s plan for them to use the military but they were not capable of doing so. They had no authority orientation and so one generation had to die off in the wilderness over a period of forty years because they could not learn that freedom and authority are wedded and can never be divorced without the most horrible consequences.

The apostle’s obedience to the second mandate is presented in verse ten. The aorist active indicative of the verb lambanw is the first word we encounter. It means obedience, a recognition of authority. He was ordered to take the book and he took it. The book is described by the accusative singular direct object from the noun biblaridion which means a little book, a scroll, a title deed. And he took it from the hand of the angel. So the first part of the apostle’s obedience is fulfilled.

Now the real issue: Is he going to do all of it? When authority gives a clear command, will it be obeyed en toto or will it be simply going through the motions? At this point John faces a problem. In his own hand now is a scroll but there is no way that it is going to be made palatable to John. He can take the book and discard it but he fulfils exactly what was meant by the authority. So we have the aorist active indicative of the verb katesqiw. He not only ate it, he swallowed it. We simply translate it, “and I ate it.” The constative aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety, which means he chewed and chewed and then swallowed the book. So he did exactly what he was told. Here is the humility of the top Christian in the first century at this time. Orientation to authority is absolutely necessary for greatness and there is no greatness in achievement apart from that humility, that integrity, that honour that recognises authority. The active voice: the apostle John produces the action. The indicative mood is declarative for John’s assimilation of the eschatology of the book, the eschatology of Satan’s desperation plus the Lord’s tactical victory of the second advent. With this is the accusative singular of the intensive pronoun a)utoj, used as a personal pronoun and here it is translated “it,” referring to the little book or the scroll.

Now we have the inevitable triumph of Christ recorded in the reaction. And then he adds, “Furthermore, it was.” The word kai is a sequential kai adding something to what has been given in the previous clause and the best way to translate it is “furthermore.” With this we have the imperfect active indicative of e)imi, it was just as he said, “it was in my mouth sweet.” Again we have that predicate nominative neuter singular from glukuj, “sweet,” “sweet as honey in my mouth.” This is the eschatology of our Lord’s tactical victory of the second advent. It includes our Lord’s triumph over Satan at the second advent plus the baptism of fire [which was not as sweet as honey but involves blessing for those who avoid it], the blessing for the Church Age believer who returns with Christ, the tremendous coronation, the rulership of our Lord, the appointment of nations to believers who have achieved the highest spiritual activity in life, gate eight of the divine dynasphere; and so the whole thing is a wonderful triumph at the second advent. It was as sweet as honey also to the elect angels involved in the incarceration of Satan, it was a sweet as honey to the entire cadre of born-again believers who form the basis for the Millennial population.

But there is also with this the eschatology of Satan’s desperation, brought out in the next phrase, “but,” the use of kai to set up a contrast. We translate it correctly “but,” just like the adversative conjunction because we have with it a temporal conjunction o(te, “but when,” “but when I had eaten,” and the aorist active indicative of the verb now is different from the one we have just had. This is e)sqiw, he has now eaten it. No longer is he chewing and swallowing; that’s over. The culminative aorist tense views the assimilation of the eschatology of the little book which is the last half, by the way, of the book of Revelation. The eating of it is the sign that he had dedicated himself to learn that eschatology and write it down so that we would understand the historical trends right up to the end of the world. The result is the cognisance of Satan’s desperation. Satan is going to be cast out of heaven in the middle of the Tribulation. He is going to be confined to planet earth and that is the time of his desperation and, therefore, the time of his greatest function of evil. The active voice: John masters the eschatology to the end of the Tribulation which begins with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of John’s cognisance of the eschatology of the rest of the book of Revelation.

“Then I took the little book from the hand of the angel, and I ate it; and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth: but when I had eaten it, it was bitter in my stomach.”

The aorist passive indicative of pikrainw means bitter, but when used with the Greek word for stomach (koilia) it also means to be sour. Probably we could translate that, “but my stomach was made sour.” This is the eschatology of Satan’s desperation in the Tribulation.

And then the mandate to continue the book of Revelation comes out of this obedience. No one was ever entrusted with the details of what happens in history down to the end of the world, and how the world will be destroyed at the end of history, and how a new heavens and a new earth will be created, except John. And he has just passed his test to give him an opportunity that not even the apostle Paul was ever given, though Paul alluded to parts of these things and so did Peter. Only John was given this highest of all honours.

Verse 11, we have first of all the sequential use of the conjunction kai, translated “then.” Then we have the present active indicative of the verb legw, which means here to communicate or to say. Legw is in the third person plural suffix, so for once we have to note that it says literally, not “then he said unto me,” but “then they said unto me.” That is what the Greek says. So first we must discover: Who are “they”? The plural suffix translated “they” refers to God the Holy Spirit as the voice from heaven in verses four and eight, plus the King of Arms who is holding the little book. Both had higher authority than John. The present tense is a historical present, it denotes past events with the vividness of a present occurrence. The active voice: God the Holy Spirit as the voice from heaven and the King of Arms as the ruler of the angelic college of heralds produce the action. The indicative mood is declarative representing the verbal idea from the viewpoint of reality.

“Then they [God the Holy Spirit and the King of Arms] said.” And then we have the dative singular indirect object from e)gw, “to me.” The indirect object means that whoever is involved is benefited by the action of the verb. John is benefited. This is also dative of advantage, it was to John’s advantage to spend his life slowly developing and achieving spiritually but never allowing his achievement to lead him to arrogance. From the plural suffix it is assumed that the mandate for John to continue Revelation originated from God the Holy Spirit who relayed the message to the King of Arms who in turn gave the mandate to the apostle John. Note that the mandate goes through channels. The eschatological material for the rest of the book of Revelation came from the little book which John has digested.

Basically there are three major subjects in the rest of the book of Revelation. The first is the eschatology of Satan’s desperation, chapters twelve through eighteen. Secondly, the inevitable triumph of Christ or the tactical victory of the angelic conflict, chapters nineteen and twenty. Thirdly, the termination of human history as the extension of the angelic conflict, chapters twenty-one and twenty-two.

The King of Arms who stood with one foot on the sea and one foot on the land and held the little book in his hand is the angelic herald of the second advent. And just as the King of Arms is the herald of the first advent so the King of Arms is the angelic herald of the second advent. At both advents we have both human and angelic heralds. The human herald of the first advent was John the Baptist; the human heralds of the second advent are Moses and Elijah.

Luke 2:8-15, (At the first advent the King of Arms was accompanied by an army of elect angels who passed in review and gave glory to God, but at the second advent the King of Arms has a little book and seven pur sui vant messengers) “And in the same region there were shepherds living outside in the fields, guarding their flocks at night. And the angel of the Lord [the King of Arms] stood before them and the glory of the Lord shined around them; and they were extremely frightened. And the angel said to them, ‘Stop being frightened; for behold, I bring you good news producing great happiness which shall be for all people; because today in the city of David there has been born for you a saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of burial cloth [this baby was born to go to the cross to bear our sins and take our place], and he will be lying in a feeding trough.’ And suddenly there appeared with the angel [the King of Arms] a large number of soldiers from heaven praising God, and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest place [the highest place in heaven], and on earth peace on those men whom he favours.’ And it came to pass when the angels had passed in review from them into heaven, the shepherds said to each other, ‘Let us go to Bethlehem then, and see this doctrine which has occurred [the perfect active participle of ginomai] which the Lord has made known to us.’

The content of the mandate in Revelation 10:11, the impersonal verb dei denotes compulsion of duty, therefore it is translated “must.” The accusative singular personal pronoun su is used with it, “you must.” The accusative of su means it is the accusative of general reference, it is the subject of the infinitive. However, it is easier to say that su is the subject even though it is in the accusative. Then we have the aorist active infinitive of the verb profhteuw, “you must prophesy.” The constative aorist tense refers to the action of writing the rest of the book of Revelation as a fact extended over a period of time. Regardless of how long it takes John it gathers it up now into a single whole. The active voice: John as the human author of Revelation produces the action, and this is the infinitive of intended result. Then the result is indicated as fulfilling a deliberate objective, hence the blending of purpose and result. You must purpose to write the rest of this with the result that the canon of scripture will be completed. We will translate it simply: “You must prophesy again.” The word “again” is the adverb palin.

Then we have the preposition e)pi plus the dative plural of reference. Hence it is translated, “concerning” or “about.” And then we have four categories, the objects of the preposition, all in the dative plural. The first object: laoj refers to people but here it is referring to crowds of people. Therefore we translated it: “you must prophesy again about many people,” the masses. Masses of people are going to search through the book of Revelation. The second category is the dative plural from e)qnoj, “nations.” So we are going to see many nations in the rest of the book of Revelation. The third category is the dative of glossa, which is languages. It refers to languages spoken throughout the world in the closing days of the Tribulation. Finally, we have the dative plural of basileuj, “kings.” We are going to see great dictators, kings and rulers. With this we have an adjective which is attached to these nouns in the dative plural, the adjective poluj, translated “many.”

“You must prophesy again about many peoples, both nations, and languages, and kings.” This is the mandate that is given to John to complete the book.