Our text tonight is Psalm 1:1-3. 'Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD; and in His Law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a Tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth His fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper'.
When David got into the Spirit, he saw this Tree. It was the first thing he wrote about. There were two symbolical trees in the garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of carnal Knowledge of good and evil -- the Tree of intellectual reasoning. Man was to find his way to eternal Life through fellowship with the Tree of Life. But the woman followed the counsel of the ungodly Tree of Knowledge rather than delighting in the Word of God, and EVERY Word.
In Eden there was one river or water which divided into four heads. In Psalm 1 the same water of Life or Holy Spirit is divided into several streams. The Tree of Life is living on this eternal resource, bringing forth God's fruit in Its season -- the Word for the age.
Trees shed their leaves in winter when the sap or life goes down into the roots. But when spring heralds the coming summer, the life returns to the branches and puts forth new leaves as an evidence of this renewal of life. Jesus said of the fig tree: 'When his branch is yet tender, and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh'. It's a promise of resurrection. Like a tree planted by a permanent source of fresh water, the life or 'leaf' of a righteous man cannot wither because he is drawing his Life from the Holy Spirit. He's predestinated, and he cannot die.
This Tree David saw is the Lord Jesus Christ. Its fruit is His seed made manifest in His elect or predestinated. This Tree was cut down at Calvary, but on the day of Pentecost It began to reproduce Itself in a Bride Tree. Joel 2:25 types the rider of the four horses of Revelation 6 to the four stages in the cycle of one insect that attacks the Tree. The locust, the cankerworm, the caterpillar and the palmerworm, signify Satan building and incarnating his false church. Joel foretold how they would devour Christ's Bride Tree to the stump and how God would restore It (Joel 2:25; Malachi 4:5-6 and Matthew 17:11). It cannot die, for the Life is in the roots.
All trees born of the woman -- by sex -- die. The Bride Tree is born of the Man -- not through sexual desire, but by the spoken Word of God.
There's the two trees -- Christ the Word, and Satan whose reasoning adds to and takes from the Word. One brings forth Life by the Man. The other brought death by the woman.
This One David saw was carefully planted like Israel, the cultivated olive tree of Romans 11. It wasn't self-sown like the Gentile wild olive tree, It was predestinated.
This-afternoon, when going over these notes, it occurred to me how our declining civilization was once established on principles in the heart of our citizens. It was cultivated by the Gospel and our laws did not require external police enforcement. Our nation was cultivated, deliberately planted like that Tree David saw. Nowadays, a high percentage of our population are born by happenstance. Fornication, adultery, polygamy and miscegenation with the heathen 'as it was in the days of Noah'. Rotten fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Many of today's professing Christians, even ministers, are so far from the knowledge of God, they know no better than to appease these heathen. Like Balaam they say, 'We're all God's children', not knowing that God placed enmity between us. And that knowledge of the mixed tree is cursing and physical and spiritual death.
In Deuteronomy 27 Moses divided the twelve tribes, standing half of them against Mount Ebal which represented the curse of disobedience, and half against Mount Gerizim which represented the blessing of obedience to the Words of God.
The punishment for idolatry was that the name of the guilty tribe, not the individual, would be blotted out of the Covenant -- ON EARTH -- not from the Book of Life IN heaven. Deuteronomy 29:20, 'The LORD will not spare him, but the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from UNDER HEAVEN'.
This followed I Kings 12:25-30, 'Then Jeroboam built Shechem in mount Ephraim, and dwelt therein; and went out from thence, and built Penuel. And Jeroboam said in his heart, "Now shall the kingdom return to the house of David: If this people go up to do sacrifice in the house of the LORD at Jerusalem, then shall the heart of this people turn again unto their lord, even unto Rehoboam king of Judah, and they shall kill me, and go again to Rehoboam king of Judah".
Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt". And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan'.
Hosea 4:17, 'Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone'.
From that time, Dan and Ephraim were missing from the tribes. Now Israel is back in the Land and soon 144,000 will be sealed. But Dan and Ephraim will be missing. Revelation 7:4-8, 'And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel. Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand'.
Dan and Ephraim are not named among the 144,000 elect Israelites.
Let's turn to Daniel 10, remembering that all Scripture has a compound meaning. It was the time of the Passover and feast of Unleavened Bread, a memorial of Israel's deliverance from Egypt in prepared haste, so that they did not have time to leaven their bread. Daniel had been praying and fasting for twenty-one days, and on the twenty-fourth day, God answered His prayer with a vision of Michael the great Archangel we know as our Lord Jesus Christ. His loins were girt to the waist with a golden girdle, and He was interceding as High Priest THROUGH His New Testament saints in the days of man. Who else had the Light of the hour?
Now listen to me carefully, the vision is a symbol of Christ incarnating Himself into His Church. It is not set in the time of Daniel, who lived under the first and into the second Gentile empires of the visions -- Babylon and Medo-Persia. Gabriel (Daniel 11:1) explains that the vision of the One clothed in linen, is set in the 'latter days', after the Persian and Greek empires. That is, under the Roman empire when Christ is mediating during the Church Ages.
Daniel 8:20-26, 'The ram which thou sawest having two horns is the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough goat is the king of Grecia: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king (Alexander). Now that being broken, whereas four stood up for it, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, (Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt) but not in his power. And in the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors (i.e. these four divisions of Alexander's empire) are come to the full, a king of fierce countenance, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up. (This speaks of Antiochus IV Epiphanies of Syria who was a type of the beast, and in the compound, of the beast himself).
And his power shall be mighty but his strength shall be Satanic: and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper, and practise, and shall destroy the mighty and the holy people. And through his POLICY also he shall cause CRAFT to prosper in his hand (Brother Branham said, 'manufacturing'. This is the time of 'Jacob's trouble', the tribulation when Rome and the Jews have an agreement to finance the NWO); and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by PEACE shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the PRINCE of princes; but he shall be broken WITHOUT hand. And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut up the vision; for it shall be for MANY days'. (But in the days of the Voice of the seventh angel ...).
These 'latter days' are the end of the fourth Gentile empire under Papal Rome, when the IMAGE of Christ incarnates His Church for the manifestation of the Sons of God, and the IMAGE of Nebuchadnezzar's dream is incarnate of Satan after his final heavenly encounter with Michael (Daniel 2:28; 10:6, 14; Revelation 12:7-9).
Can you see it? The angel told Daniel, 'I am come to make you understand what shall befall THY PEOPLE (Israel) in the LATTER (or end of) DAYS . . .' This is, AFTER the END of the Gentile dispensation, when God restores the elect 144,000 to fellowship and establishes the Kingdom of Israel, which is the Millennium.
The angel (Gabriel) told Daniel he had come to make him understand what would befall Israel at the end of days (verse 14). In Chapters 11 and 12 he foretells the history of the remaining three Gentile empires, and what will happen in the day of the Lord which follows. The speaker is not the vision; he is the angel expounding the vision, whose monologue extends from Daniel 10:20-12:13.
In Revelation 1:12-16 John saw a vision of this One transformed into His elect Church drawn from all seven Ages, stand as JUDGE in the DAY OF THE LORD, 'clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle'. 'The saints shall judge the earth'.In Ezekiel 40:3 and Revelation 11:1, Christ's Bride is symbolized holding a flaxen line for judging long dimensions, and a measuring reed for short dimensions.
In both visions, the Voice of the Lord was the testimony of His saints. "The voice of many waters; a great multitude which no man could number of all nations and kindreds and people and tongues" is the 'rod of iron' or measuring reed of the Absolute of God's Word.
Daniel alone saw the vision. Those with Him saw nothing, but sensing the Presence of the Lord, fled and hid themselves for fear. And Daniel, like John, 'fell at His feet as dead'. Daniel says to the angel, 'O my lord, by the vision my sorrows are turned upon me (as the pains of a woman in travail), and I have retained no strength' (verse 16). This is the language of extreme desperation; the language God applies to the great and dreadful day of the Lord (AFTER the Gentile dispensation), and Israel's Day of Atonement.
I Thessalonians 5:2-3, 'For yourselves know perfectly that the DAY OF THE LORD so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, PEACE and SAFETY; then sudden DESTRUCTION comes upon them, as TRAVAIL UPON A WOMAN WITH CHILD; and they shall NOT escape'.
Isaiah 13:6-10, 'Howl ye; for the DAY OF THE LORD is at hand; it shall come as a DESTRUCTION from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man's heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in PAIN AS A WOMAN THAT TRAVAILETH: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine'.
In other words, the Gentile denominations end in apostasy. The stars are ministers who should be 'angels of Light'. The sun represents Christ, the source of all Light, and the moon types the church which shines the Light in the absence of the Son.
The times of the Gentiles, God's future dealings with Israel, and the Messianic Kingdom have already been revealed to Daniel in symbols. Now the angel asks, 'Do you know why I have come to you? I am come to reveal to you what has been prophesied in the Scripture. (For instance, Daniel 8 and 9). Then when I depart I must fight the prince of Persia, and after him, the prince of Greece. Only Michael your Prince will be there to help me' (Daniel 10:20-21).
As we said, all Scripture has a compound meaning, and Daniel 11 applies to Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and to the Maccabees, a family of heroic Jews, who for a time successfully defeated Israel's oppressors. Gabriel says, 'It was I who was sent to strengthen and help Darius the Mede in the first year of his reign'. And three more kings shall stand up in Persia -- Cambyses, Smerdis, and Darius, and a fourth, Xerxes, who will be richer than they all and will unsuccessfully attempt to invade Greece. About three hundred years later, Alexander the Great will lead Greece to succeed the Persians in world domination and 'do according to his will'. But at the height of his power he will die and his kingdom will be divided according to the four points of the compass between his generals into Greece, Turkey, Syria and Egypt. He proceeds to foretell attempts by the kingdom of the South (Egypt) to come into league with the kingdom of the north (Syria) through marriage. (As America and Russia have tried to find an accommodation). And how the king of Syria puts away his wife Laodice, to marry Bernice, the daughter of the king of Egypt, of the murders that follow, and the wars between their successors, until Antioch IV Epiphanes of the northern kingdom gains supremacy. However our concern is with ANOTHER king, the antichrist, who becomes incarnate as the beast, and of whom Antiochus IV Epiphanes was but a type.
Reading from Daniel 11:35-36, 'And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, (the Fifth Seal Jews) even to the time of the END: because it is yet for a time appointed. And the king shall do according to his will'. (See verse 21).
(He claims to be ruler over heaven, earth and purgatory. In the sense in which we are considering this prophecy, this 'king' is the Pope of Rome, ruling over the CHURCH kingdoms. In the Revelation of the Seven Seals (162:3-173:3; 504:Q28), Brother Branham describes how Satan established his FALSE church, takes control of the apostate Protestant churches. And because the world is bankrupt, makes an agreement with the self-styled Jews, thus fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah 28:14-29 and Daniel 9:27. "And after the church is taken away, Rome and the Jews will make a covenant with one another. The Bible said they would . . . This nation is going to be busted, and the rest of the world that's on the gold standard is busted . . . we are living off of taxes, due bills for forty years from now . . . There is only one thing can happen. That is to call in the currency and pay off the bonds, and we can't do it. Wall Street owns them, and Wall Street is controlled by the Jews; the rest of it is in the Vatican, and the Jews has got the rest of it in Wall Street with the commerce of the world."
This king is the ruler of the whore which controls the scarlet colored beast with seven heads and ten horns, the last Gentile world empire of Revelation 17. 'And the king shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods' (Daniel 7:8, 25; 2:47). Paul foresaw this in II Thessalonians 2:3-4, 'Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God'. Also Revelation 13:3-10, 15 '. . . and all the world REVERENCED the beast. And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His Name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear. He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints . . . as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed').
Daniel 11:36, 'And shall prosper (in his wicked undertakings) till the indignation be accomplished (and the sixfold purpose of Gabriel's visit to Daniel fulfilled, Daniel 9:24): for all that is determined shall be done'. (Revelation 6:11, 'until their fellowservants also (the prophets of Revelation 11) and their brethren (the 144,000 elect Israelites) that should be killed as they (the Fifth Seal Israelites) were, should be fulfilled'). This comes to pass in the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week.
Daniel 11:37-38 'Neither shall he regard the gods of his church FATHERS, nor the desire of women, nor regard ANY god: for he shall magnify HIMSELF above ALL. But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things'.
The 'god of fortresses' was the Capitoline Jupiter. The Capitol was the seat of the Roman Empire. There at the temple, the generals sacrificed and paid their vows, and when they returned victorious, were taken thither in triumph. This clearly shows Rome's power is Satan, the god of forces and dominion, whom the beast will honor instead of the gods of his fathers, setting aside the pleadings of humanity as if they were the weaknesses of women, and depending solely upon force. Revelation 13:17, 'And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name' shows she will gain absolute control of the commerce of the earth, for no man can buy or sell apart from her. Revelation 18:9-17 proves this. Rome's association with kings, princes and merchants is connected with commercial power, and in Revelation 13:14, the beast spreads his influence through her Protestant image.
The United States of America is the image unto Rome in the natural as the Protestants are her image in the spiritual. The District of Columbia was named "Rome" in 1663 property records; and the branch of the Potomac River that bordered "Rome" on the south, was called the "Tiber" (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1902; Article "Daniel Carrol"). The statue on Washington's Capitol Dome is the Goddess Persephone, or Minerva, the Mediatrix, who like Mary, is said to have been immaculately conceived. Abducted by Hades, son of Saturn, she ruled the dead and all else within the earth, namely the minerals and precious stones. Constantino Brumidi, the artist whose commission to paint the frescoes on the interior of the Dome was cunningly arranged by Jesuit Superior General John Roothaan and Roman Catholic Archbishop John Hughes of New York, was an associate of Jesuit Guiseppe Mazzini, leader of the Illuminati's World revolutionary Movement.
Brumidi crowned the ceiling of America's legislative center with a glorious, panoramic vissualization of Book VI of Vigil's Aenid, where Aeneas' blind father, Anchises, explains NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM:
"Here is Caesar, and all the line of Julius, all who shall one day pass under the dome of the great sky. This is the man, this one, of whom so often you have heard the promise, Caesar Augustus, son of the deified, who shall bring once again an Age of Gold to Latium, the land where Saturn reigned in early times. He will extend his power beyond the Garamants [Africans] and Indians, over far territories north and south of the zodiacal stars, the solar way . . ."
The epicenter of "Apotheosis of Washington" is a solar orb, the Sun-God into which Augustus Caesar was said to have been absorbed when his body died. From the Capitol's highest interior point Augustus radiates his golden light outward and downward to the next in the "line of Julius," the deified George Washington. The god Washington occupies the judgment seat of heaven, sword of Justice firmly clasped in his left hand. Basking in the light of Augustus -- Pontifex Maximus -- he rules "over far territories north and south of the zodiacal stars, the solar way."
On the right hand of the Father sits Minerva, holding the emblem of Roman totalitarianism, the fasces. Minerva, we recall, was the virgin goddess of the Sacred Heart -- it was she who rescued the heart of the Son of God, and placed it with Jupiter in heaven. She was called "Minerva" when praised for her justice and wisdom. When praised for her beauty and love, Minerva was known as Venus, the Queen of Heaven. She and Venus were often identified with each other, just as statues of both were reconsecrated "Mary" through Roman Catholic missionary adaptation. Minerva's most persistent role in ancient paganism was Dea Benigna, "The Mediatrix." She heard the prayers of sinful mortals and passed them on to Jupiter, in the same way the Roman Mary is believed to pass Catholic prayers on to Christ.
Completing the circular composition around the solarized Augustus are thirteen nubile goddesses. These are the original States. They dance weightlessly in space, supporting a white banner inscribed with the soul of the Bacchic Gospel, "E PLURIBUS UNUM." Above the head of each State-goddess floats a magical white pentagram. (Tupper Saussy, Rulers of Evil, Ospray Bookmakers, p.256).
(The hidden hand of Rome's enemy is apparent throughout this symbolism. As Vatican bankers and confidants, the Rothschild's are familiar with Papal plans for world hegemony and incorporated them into their own military blueprint prepared by Albert Pike whereby once she has established her New World Order, a final world revolution will topple Rome and destroy all religions. Then they will reign supreme, establishing the pure Luciferian worship).
Daniel 11:39, 'Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain'.
Claiming he is God's representative performing His immutable will on earth, the Pope will glorify his trinity, Maryolatry and worship of the dead, (in reality, Satan, the god of forces), and magnify himself, forcing the mark of the beast; ruthlessly slaughtering dissenters while bestowing honor upon those who acknowledge him (Revelation 13:4-15). The most powerful member states of the UN will impose his edicts, and he shall given them dominion through the UN.
Historically, this 'king of the north' was Syria. But in the Spiritual, it is mystery Babylon the great or Rome, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. But Satan made himself a great kingdom in the north and that's Communist Russia, the kingdom of the Edomite Jews under the Red Flag of the House of Rothschild with the Yellow Star or pentagram of Solomon, and the hammer and sickle to forge and cut the world into submission. According to Daniel 11:45 and Revelation 17:16-18:20, Rome's European allies will eventually turn on her and become communist. Hence, the 'king of the north' will ultimately be Russia. Ezekiel 38 and 39 is precisely the story we are reading here in Daniel 11.
Daniel 11:40, 'And at the time of the END (that is, after California sinks, marking the close of the Gentile dispensation), shall the king of the south push at him:
(Historically the 'king of the south' was Egypt. Here he is Ishmael's people. And Islam is the instigator of this conflict. His attack will be precipitated by an earthquake in Judea coincidental with one in California, and which shall destroy the Mosque of Omar that stands on the Temple site at Jerusalem. Moslem Egypt and her Arab 'brothers' will rise up to preserve their claim to the Temple Mount, Islam's second most holy site.
Zechariah 14:1-5, 'Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. (This is what we read in Daniel 11:39, 'and shall divide the land for gain'). For I will gather ALL nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north (Roman Catholicism) and half of it toward the south (Islam). And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee').
Daniel 11:40-43, 'and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land (Israel), and many tens of thousands shall be slain: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps'.
(The Western nations, and certainly the nominally Christian groups, will place the Pope in charge of the NWO through the UN, in order to stop the Communist invasion of a crippled USA. And to preserve the value of their investments (usury) in a capitalistic framework, the International Jews will covenant with Rome and the USA. Thus a new 'king of the north' will swiftly counterattack the Moslem hordes of the king of the south. He will enter the Promised Land, and many tens of thousands shall be killed (Daniel 11:12). But Edom, Moab and the Ammonites, that's the Kingdom of Jordan, Israel's kin and most treacherous enemy will escape his power. But he shall seize the old kingdom of the Ptolomies including Libya to the West, and Cush (to the South) which shall become submissive to the king of the north.
Now in covenant with Israel, Rome will move to consolidate her power and her wealth. The two prophets to Israel will be ministering the trumpet mysteries, God confirming the words of their lips. And a new house of worship will be erected on the Temple site. In the midst of the week the Pope will force the mark of the beast at the consecration of the Temple, and Rome will break her agreement with the self-styled Jews, killing the two prophets and placing a price on the heads of the 144,000).
Daniel 11:44-45, 'But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him'.
(Three and a half years after her victory, Rome is ruling from Jerusalem. Alarming intelligence comes from the East and the North, and with great fury, the incarnate 'ruler of heaven, earth and purgatory' goes forth to utterly destroy the 'kings of the East' and Communist Russia. Whatever you might understand from the news, Communism is not dead. Communism is a vessel God has raised up to destroy the false church. At this time, 'the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God has put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which you saw is that great city, which reigns over the kings of the earth' (Revelation 17:16-18).
(Rome's European allies will end their agreement and bomb Vatican City off the face of this earth (Revelation 18:17-19). The USA will be annihilated, and Armageddon set in).
The last verse we will examine this-evening is Daniel 12:1. 'And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of THY PEOPLE (Israel): and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one who is be found written in the Book'.
This speaks of the midst of Daniel's Seventieth Week. The two prophets have completed their ministry, and the 144,000 are about to be delivered by the baptism of the Holy Ghost or new birth (then martyred). According to Revelation 7, only twelve thousand Israelites from each tribe will be found written in the Lamb's Book of Life. From the time Dan and Ephraim joined themselves to idols, they died, and those tribes have no more recognition under heaven. Dan and Ephraim are not named among the assembled 144,000 (Revelation 7:4-8).
But after the Tribulation, during the Millennium, we see the tribes once more in Divine order. Ezekiel 48:1-8, 22-29, 'Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the coast of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazarenan, the border of Damascus northward, to the coast of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan. And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Asher. And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Naphtali. And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Manasseh. And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Ephraim. And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, a portion for Reuben. And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, a portion for Judah. And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it. Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince. As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion. And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon shall have a portion. And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar a portion. And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun a portion. And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad a portion. And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar unto the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river toward the great sea. This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord GOD'.
The names of the individuals guilty of idolatry were blotted out from under heaven. We Gentiles, like INDIVIDUAL Jews, are removed from the Book of Life.
Now let's reconnect with Psalms 1:1-6. 'Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD; and in His Law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a Tree planted by the rivers of water'.
(The Bible is about redemption not replacement. This is a chosen Tree, and the word planted means transplanted or purposely placed by irrigation canals for cultivation) 'that bringeth forth his fruit in his season' (His elect is the fruit or produce of the seed Word of Christ, the Tree of Life); his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper.
This is the same river symbolized in Ezekiel 40-48, flowing from under the Throne, bringing new life, restoring and subduing the earth (Genesis 1:28). Ezekiel's temple does not belong to the new heavens and new earth, for in Revelation 21:22 there is no temple. And whereas this land is bound by sea and desert there will be neither in the new earth.
Ezekiel 47:12, 'And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine'.
These trees grew by the water from the sanctuary which is the water of Life or Holy Spirit. They symbolize Christ reproduced in the Old Testament and New Testament saints who are the fruit of the 24 courses of ministry of the twenty-four elders -- the twelve Old Testament Patriarchs and the twelve apostles. They constitute God's temple, His holy dwelling place. (Note there is no unapproachable Holy of Holies in this sanctuary).
Matthew 7:15-20, 'Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their FRUITS. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every GOOD TREE bringeth forth good FRUIT; but a CORRUPT TREE brings forth evil FRUIT. (These Words of Jesus take us back to the two spiritual trees in the garden of Eden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of good and evil). A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their FRUITS you shall know them'.
The LEAVES of the tree represent its virility or life. In Autumn the sap goes down to the roots and the leaves die and fall to the ground but in Springtime it revives and puts forth leaves (Matthew 24:32). The leaves from the trees in Ezekiel 47 are for medicine or healing. Like the Lord's Supper, they are a symbol, and memorial of the Spiritual healing and eternal Life imparted by the twenty-four courses of ministry.
Revelation 22:2, 'In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations'. When the kings of the earth bring the tithe of their produce, they'll take a leaf from the Tree of Life -- the same Tree Adam and Eve should have partaken in the garden of Eden. This is a symbol of peace and restoration to life like the olive leaf the dove brought back to Noah after the waters of the Flood began to recede.
Jeremiah 17:5-8, 'Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from the LORD. (Or who walks in the counsel of the ungodly, stands in the way of sinners, or sits in the seat of the scornful). For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good comes; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. (Heath is a stunted shrub. The Hebrew word means stripped and destitute and is the root of the word 'heathen', [which according to the dictionary, is an unenlightened person like a Chinese] in contrast to the Tree of Life). Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not notice when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit'. (The heath is mean and inward-looking, concerned for its own welfare whereas the tree planted by waters has a permanent Life resource and is willing to share its life with 'whosoever will').
Psalms 1:4-6, 'The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish'. bb960605.htm
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