Peace and grace in the love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 13:5-6
13:5. And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
13:6. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
Verse 5 is about the Antichrist who speaks lies and blasphemies. He has the power in words to boast about himself, and tout the physical thing to attract the sympathy. He also lies, slanders, and blasphemes from now on until he reigns over the world for three and a half years.
Who is being blasphemed? We have learned that the Antichrist blasphemes God's tabernacle.
Now we learn that the Antichrist blasphemes God.
The meanings of blaspheming God are as follows:
The disease is cured. The decay is changed into fragrance. The thing that has been destroyed or broken can be good. Sadness becomes happiness. All impossible problems are finished by God's merciful hand.
It continues until Jesus comes a second time that we are changed to become as perfect as He is and enter the New Jerusalem forever.
The two times seven sprinkles of blood in the Most Holy Place, namely the seven sprinkles for Jesus, and seven sprinkles for the congregation, refer to the last chance to become gentle. Let us fall down at Jesus' feet and become gentle!
God blesses us.
Revelation 13:5-6
13:5. And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.
13:6. Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven.
Verse 5 is about the Antichrist who speaks lies and blasphemies. He has the power in words to boast about himself, and tout the physical thing to attract the sympathy. He also lies, slanders, and blasphemes from now on until he reigns over the world for three and a half years.
Who is being blasphemed? We have learned that the Antichrist blasphemes God's tabernacle.
Now we learn that the Antichrist blasphemes God.
The meanings of blaspheming God are as follows:
- In the Old Testament, namely Eli the priest and his sons blasphemed God.
1 Samuel 3:13
3:13. "For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them.- Eli the priest refers to the servant of God who blasphemesGod.
It means as follows:- Eli the priest sat on a seat by the wayside. It refers to the shepherd who is not shepherded but walking about. He does not hold fast to the true teaching Word or the true vine.
1 Samuel 4:13
4:13. Now when he came, there was Eli, sitting on a seat by the waysidewatching, for his heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city and told it, all the city cried out.
Sitting also refers to rest. It means that one does not do his duty as the shepherd, namely giving food for the congregation. - Blaspheming God is the same as fattening himself with the possession of God which is trusted to him.
1 Samuel 4:18
4:18. Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
1 Samuel 2:29
2:29. 'Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?'
The shepherd falsely uses God's trust, namely the tithe and special offerings. He uses it just for self-interest.
On the contrary, the shepherd is not trusted God's anymore because it is stolen by the elders and congregation.
In the past time, Judas Iscariot stole God's, so he was destroyed.
But, if the trust is stolen, the shepherd and congregation will be destroyed.
- The eyes are so dim. It means not receiving or being unable to see the revelation of the Word, so there is no spiritual food. The shepherd and congregation experience spiritual famine and dryness. They do not experience the satisfaction, so they grumble, gossip, and blaspheme God or the true teaching Word.
1 Samuel 4:15,18
4:15. Eli was ninety-eight years old, and his eyes were so dim that he could not see.
4:18. Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was brokenand he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
The consequence of the famine is falling and one will rise no more. - The neck is broken. It is the same as having no relationship between the body and the Head. It means that the shepherd cannot worship God anymore, so there is no intercession prayer for the physical and spiritual salvations of the congregation.
Without the Word, the shepherd will not be able to worship God, so the congregation does not have the curtains of protection of God.
Consequently, the congregation experiences Satan's attacks to destroy the marriage including the physical and spiritual life until they lose the salvation and perish.
Losing the salvation is the same as many people's denying God.
If the shepherd cannot feed the congregation, he will not be able to guarantee the salvation of the congregation because there is no intercession prayer for them.
- Eli the priest sat on a seat by the wayside. It refers to the shepherd who is not shepherded but walking about. He does not hold fast to the true teaching Word or the true vine.
- Hophni and Phinehas. They refer to the priests and the congregation that blaspheme God.
1 Samuel 2:12-13,15
2:12. Now the sons of Eli were corrupt; they did not know the LORD.
2:13. And the priests' custom with the people was that when any man offered a sacrifice, the priest's servant would come with a three-pronged fleshhook in his hand while the meat was boiling.
2:15. Also, before they burned the fat, the priest's servant would come and say to the man who sacrificed, "Give meat for roasting to the priest, for he will not take boiled meat from you, but raw."
It means as follows:- Wickedness, namely one likes to eat raw meat.
It means demanding the right, namely the physical wages such as honor, praise, position, et ceterato vent and satisfy the lust of the flesh.
If all of us demand the right, the unhealthy competition, murmuring, politics as well as slandering, secretly inducing, and blaspheming God will happen like Korah and his friend.
The servant of God who demands the right until legalizing all ways to get his right will surely not be able to do his duty but becoming the burden for the congregation.
In the marriage, if the husband or wife demands the right, he or she will not be able to do his or her duty. - Abhorring the offering of the LORD. It means being unfaithful to the LORD.
1 Samuel 2:17
2:17. Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for men abhorred the offering of the LORD.
We, especially the Gentiles, can minister to God because of Christ's sacrifice.
Our ordination costs the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
If we abhor the ordination, we will not be able to be faithful.
It is the same as becoming the unprofitable servant. - Disobedience to the repeated true teaching Word or the shepherding one because of hearing the strange voice (false teaching from outside) and the voice of the flesh (from inside).
1 Samuel 2:25
2:25. "If one man sins against another, God will judge him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" Nevertheless they did not heed the voice of their father, because the LORD desired to kill them. - Living in the sins up to the peak, namely the sin of eating-drinking and marrying-giving in marriage, including sinful word and deed, namely smoking, getting drunk, drugs abuse, infidelity, adultery, et cetera.
Enjoying to sin means that one does not want to be set free from sin until he experiences spiritual death.
1 Samuel 2:22
2:22. Now Eli was very old; and he heard everything his sons did to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who assembled at the door of the tabernacle of meeting.
- Wickedness, namely one likes to eat raw meat.
4:21. Then she named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel!" because the ark of God had been captured and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
4:22. And she said, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."
If the shepherd and the priests blaspheme God, Ichabod will happen in the congregation, namely the glory has departed from them.
'the ark of God has been captured' means that there is no true teaching Word in the congregation.
It means being naked, just sinning up to the peak, and being ashamed, so one cannot be glorified. He lives in curse, namely labors, heavy burdens, and tears. He cannot become perfect but being left when Jesus comes a second time, so he is destroyed forever in the hell. - Eli the priest refers to the servant of God who blasphemesGod.
- In the New Testament, the chief priests, the council, and the high priest blasphemed God.
Matthew 26:63-66
26:63. But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!"
26:64. Jesus said to him, "It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."
26:65. Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!
26:66. "What do you think?" They answered and said, "He is deserving of death."
It means that they do not confess Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Jesus as the Christ is the truth. It is testified by Jesus Himself and Peter.
Messiah means the Anointed. There are three offices which are anointed in the Old Testament, namely the king, high priest and priests or servants, and prophet.
Jesus as the Son of God, Prophet (miserable man), the Priest (the servant), and the King refers to the cross.
[gambar salib]
Blaspheming God is the same as rejecting the cross.
2 Corinthians 4:16-17
4:16. Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.
4:17. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory,
The affliction because of the cross is just a while. It is light if it is compared to the eternal glory that we will receive.
The cross brings us to the renewal of life.
Rejecting the cross means not experiencing the renewal of life from fleshly men to spiritual ones like Jesus, but keeping the flesh and blood man with the eighteen characters of the flesh [2 Timothy 3:1-5]. It is the same as becoming the same as the Antichrist who blasphemes God up to being destroyed forever.
What must be changed?
Matthew 24:32
24:32. "Now learn this parable from the fig tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near.
Luke 21:29
21:29. Then He spoke to them a parable: "Look atthe fig tree, and all the trees.
We learn and look at the renewal of life, namely the hard branch that becomes the tender one.
The hard branch refers to the hard heart, failure, and not bearing the fruit, but being destroyed.
The tender branch refers to the tender heart, so it can bear the fruits.
We may increase our effort to study in the world, but all things will be in vain if we do not learn to be tender spiritually.
If we pay attention to our renewal of life to get the tender heart, God will remember and struggle for us.
From age to age, the branch keeps being hard, so it never bears the fruit but fails up to perdition.- The early age, namely the fig tree in garden Eden was leafy but had no fruit.
Adam and Eve (the marriage) sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3:11-13
3:11. And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?"
3:12. Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."
3:13. And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."
The fig leaves refer to the self-truth, namely covering sin by blaming at others, God, and Satan.
Consequently, one cannot repent. He can neither blame at himself nor do the introspection in his life.
They lost the atmosphere of Paradise or heavenly bliss. They started laboring and being heavy laden. They were sad deeply. They lived in curse and tears until they experienced the atmosphere of the hell since in the world.
There is no happiness more than a holy and one marriage. We feel the atmosphere of Paradise.
But there is no suffering more than the one caused by broken marriage. We feel the atmosphere of the hell.
Job 32:1-2
32:1. So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
32:2. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God.
The example is Job. He is the image of father or man.
Job had self-truth, so he was in failure and destroyed condition.
Job 42:5-6
42:5. "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.
42:6. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes."
Job became tender, namely he confessed that he was just mortar. He abhorred himself. He revoked the false words, namely evil speaking, et cetera.
For us, we confess our weakness and infirmity, so we just totally surrender to God. God will remember and care for one who becomes tender to restore him doubly.
Do not look at the destruction first, but be gentle! God will restore all things. - The middle age, namely the fig tree by the road. It refers to one who is not shepherded, so he becomes disobedient and arrogant. Further, he provokes, slanders, and blasphemes.
The example is Absalom. He is the image of an arrogant young man.
2 Samuel 14:25-26
14:25. Now in all Israel there was no one who was praised as much as Absalom for his good looks. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him.
14:26. And when he cut the hair of his head--at the end of every year he cut it because it was heavy on him--when he cut it, he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels according to the king's standard.
2 Samuel 18:9
18:9. Then Absalom met the servants of David. Absalom rode on a mule. The mule went under the thick boughs of a great terebinth tree, and his head caught in the terebinth; so he was left hanging between heaven and earth. And the mule which was under him went on.
Do not be proud of anything in the world! All things in the world will hang our life.
A young man is often arrogant and proud of something in the world more than God, so he becomes disobedient.
Something which we are proud of will make us left hanging.
Consequently, we fall into sins up to perdition forever.
The sheepfold is the place where we can become gentle.
1 Peter 5:5-6
5:5. Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble."
5:6. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
Becoming gentle in the shepherding means that we submit and become obedient to the advice of the true shepherd and parents, so God struggles to lift us up in His time.
God will use us in the revival at the last rain, the one of the white horse, or the building of the perfect body of Christ.
Being arrogant is the same as riding on a mule.
Being humble is the same as riding on a white horse.
Jesus becomes humble and obedient, so He is willingly hanged on the cross.
Let us become humble and obedient! God will lift us up in His time. - The last days. It is the last chance for the fig tree to become gentle through the sprinkle of blood, the cross, or suffering in flesh because of Jesus, not sin.
The example is Mary. She is the image of woman, including the widow.
John 11:5,31-32
11:5. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
11:31. Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."
11:32. Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died."
Mary loved God and was loved by Him. She had become obedient and faithful but Lazarus died.
Do not blame at God! We are being increased to enter the Most Holy Place or perfection.
Lazarus was sick and dead four days. It refers to disease, impossibility, sins up to the peak, destruction of economy and marriage, and sadness.
There are two attitudes as follows:- Being hard-hearted or weeping. It means blaming at others and God.
- Falling down at Jesus' feet. It means doing introspection in our life, blaming at ourselves, and asking for God's mercy. We confess that we are just mortar. We look at God's mercy.
We totally surrender and worship God, so He remembers, cares, and raises Lazarus.
- Being hard-hearted or weeping. It means blaming at others and God.
- The early age, namely the fig tree in garden Eden was leafy but had no fruit.
The disease is cured. The decay is changed into fragrance. The thing that has been destroyed or broken can be good. Sadness becomes happiness. All impossible problems are finished by God's merciful hand.
It continues until Jesus comes a second time that we are changed to become as perfect as He is and enter the New Jerusalem forever.
The two times seven sprinkles of blood in the Most Holy Place, namely the seven sprinkles for Jesus, and seven sprinkles for the congregation, refer to the last chance to become gentle. Let us fall down at Jesus' feet and become gentle!
God blesses us.