Live Like You Can Not Die

Satan is angry! He is mad because he can read the calendar as well as anyone else. His time is coming to an end. He takes his anger out on God by attacking the crown of His creation. He has sought to destroy life from the beginning, he is "the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan." Although our salvation was secured long ago at Calvary, the dragon is enraged by his defeat and makes war upon the saints. He stirs the hearts of and minds of man against God, and for themselves. Rebellion and unparalleled evil are the order of the day....

Counterfeit Trinity- Satan wants to be God. He wants to be worshiped. It is pride that caused him to believe he could take God on......and his "lifted up heart" that gave him the audacity to think he could get away with it. In Revelation 13, we find the counterfeit trinity that Satan has put in order: The Beast, the Dragon, and the false prophet. So, Revelation is kind of a picture of a defeated foe waging his last desperate efforts against his enemy. He makes a final attempt to escape his coming doom when he raises two beasts....one from the sea, and one from the land. The people say worship the beast and say, "Who is like the beast, who can make war against him?" He is certainly powerful. The second beast, the false prophet, performed signs and wonders for the whole world, and caused them to worship the first beast. He even appears to experience a miraculous healing from a fatal blow, mirroring the miracle of the resurrection. This beast openly blasphemes God, seeking to take power of the world through government to further prevent the spreading of the gospel, going as far as to force a mark of the beast on all of humanity to buy, sell, or trade.

A Song only the Redeemed can sing! Revelation 14 shows the Lamb of God, surrounded by 144,000 redeemed of the earth, singing a song that cannot be learned by any other. Music seems to be the language of the soul, it comes out when spoken words fail us. When I am at the end of my rope, when life and circumstances threaten to overwhelm me, I sing. Sometimes, it's a song that I've never heard before....one I make up on the spot. You know what I mean? Something tells me that the song described here in Revelation will be sung from the hearts of saints, the words driven by the lives they led!

We also learn that the eternal gospel will be preached to every last person on earth. Those who choose to worship the Beast have a horrifying future of torment from fire and brimstone, day and night, with no rest. Then, a harvest happens. It seems that the patience of saints will at last come full circle. The grapes are ripe, and are harvested to the great winepress. The thing about God, is that every event is perfectly timed and carried out. Remember when we read through the old testament, and there were countless times that God told his servants to "wait" until time had come to full measure??? He's perfect, and so is everything He does.

Exodus? It's all tied together. It's all one story. It's the history of the ages. Like, Natalie mentioned, it's His-story. There are so many parallels between events in the Bible, it's countless really. We can't possibly recognize everything. In the Beth Moore study we did on the book of Revelation, she points out the comparison of the Moses Exodus and the Final Exodus in Revelation 15. She mentions the songs of deliverance by Moses and by the Lamb. One song is sung over the Red Sea, and one over the Crystal Sea. One song is sung over Egypt, and one is over Babylon. The song of Moses is how God brought them out, the song of the Lamb is how He brings them in. One overcomes Pharoh, one overcomes the Beast. There were plagues in Egypt and there are plagues in Revelation. There the cloud filled the temple, and here the smoke fills the tabernacle. Amazing!

Destruction. Revelation 16 includes many signs and wonders, but certainly not from God. The spirits that proceed from the mouths of the beasts and dragon are preparing the armies for battle of Armageddon. The seven angels pour the bowls of wrath. The proclamation that, "It is done!" and an earthquake like no other ever before, land disappeared and mountains gave way under hail the size of boulders....and the people curse God.

And, so it has been from the beginning. There is a choice to make. You cannot serve two masters.

It's time to live like you cannot die.