insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8276','1','66','17','6','6','<p>17:6 <i>And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wondered with a great wonder</i>- Hab. 2:16 describes how Babylon is punished at the Lord\'s return because of her drunkenness. Rev. 17:6 defines this as being &quot;with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus&quot;, as if to imply that it is the Babylon/ beast\'s mad, drunken persecution of the saints in the last days that results in the Lord\'s return in judgment. The &quot;saints&quot; may refer to natural Israel as in Dan. 7:25 and the &quot;martyrs of Jesus&quot; to the witnesses for Him who are killed by the beast, as in chapter 11. Drunkenness is a process; the wine refers to the teaching of Babylon, but it is here the blood of Israel, natural and spiritual. There is the development of a progressive blood lust, the teaching is to kill Israel, and this is exactly the teaching of Jihadism. Once blood is tasted, it becomes the more addictive. Note how after all he has already seen, John marvels at this awful system he now sees portrayed. Although :7 could suggest that the marvelling is a reference to incomprehension.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8277','1','66','17','7','7','<p>17:7 <i>But the angel said to me: Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her</i>- John himself wrote: &quot;Marvel not if the world hate you&quot; (1 Jn. 3:13). Perhaps this is why he is gently rebuked for marvelling s.w. when he now sees the real dimensions of the world\'s hatred for the believers; for it is those who then dwell on the earth / land who will &quot;marvel&quot; whereas the Lord\'s people, armed with the book of Revelation, will not (:8). John &quot;wondered with great admiration&quot; at the scarlet beast (:6), just as the world had wondered after the sea beast (Rev. 13:3). And yet we can read John\'s &quot;marvel&quot; or wonder more positively. The fear or awe of the Lord, our wonder at Him, is the beginning of wisdom. Wonder isn\'t a kind of intellectual resignation, giving up on the study of God and retreating into numb feelings. Quite the opposite. True wonder leads to a more earnest seeking after wisdom. The Angel told John that John had \'wondered\' in amazement at the visions so that God could now reveal the mystery to him (:6,7). In our wonder we sense we are at the beginning of things of infinite significance, we feel we are starting to grasp something ultimate. And we wish to go further. We will glory in the understanding and knowledge of God which that wonder stimulates us to search out (Jer. 9:22,23)</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8278','1','66','17','8','8','<p>17:8 <i>The beast you saw was and is not, and is about to come up</i>- The allusion is to the Yahweh Name, He who was, is and is to come. The Name of blasphemy on Babylon is therefore a take on His holy Name. Babylon will think: &quot;I am, and there is none else beside me&quot; (Is. 47:8). She appropriates to herself the Name &quot;I am&quot; and characteristics of Yahweh; this is her blasphemy.</p><p><i>Out of the abyss, and to go into destruction-</i> This beast which arises out of the bottomless pit is therefore connected with the same beast from the bottomless pit as in Rev. 11:7. The three beasts sea beast of 13:1, earth beast of 13:11 and now this scarlet beast are all in the spirit and power of the dragon of chapter 12. I suggest the visions may be revealing different aspects of the same entity; or we may have the idea that the beasts will each be judged by God, or damaged by Israeli or Western attacks upon them, but regroup and reform into another incarnation of the same Jihadist principles. This kind of thing is quite imaginable given the geopolitics of the earth / land promised to Abraham.</p><p><i>And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, they whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast, how that he was and is not, and shall come</i>- As noted on :7, those armed with the book of Revelation will not &quot;wonder&quot; at the beast as they will understand it. Perhaps only that generation will fully understand what we read here; because the purpose of prophecy is so that when it fulfils, then we perceive the meaning of the original prophecy. The idea is not that prophecy enables us to work out a timeline of events ahead of time. 13:3,12 explain that the world here called the earth dwellers, those within the earth / land shall wonder after the beast because it recovers from a deadly wound; a wound which led to death. Here we read that the beast was, is not the deadly wound, and yet has revived. That deadly wound is upon one of the heads (13:3), which is identified with the beast; just as the little horn of Daniel 7 and 8 is spoken of as the whole beast. That little horn takes a stand against the Prince of princes and then is destroyed &ldquo;but not by human power&rdquo; (Dan. 8:25), i.e. he will be destroyed by the stone Jesus cut out without human hands. So the deadly wound could refer to Western or Israeli victory against the beast, but it likely is the result of direct Divine intervention and judgment.</p><p>Like the Lamb, who was killed and then raised up (5:6), the Beast seems to disappear and then return to life. This passage may be a reference to some definite event, such as the murder of Caesar and the healing of the empire under Augustus, the legend of <i>Nero </i>redivivus, whereby Nero was believed to have returned from the dead. The marvellous cure of the Beast excites admiration and leads to the adoration of the dragon and the Beast (17:8). This is an allusion to the rapid progress of the emperor cult and to the ready acceptance of the immoral example of the emperors. Thus Caesar is set up as the very antithesis of the one true Lord and Master, Jesus. The latter day application is likewise to a specific individual, the equivalent of Nero in the very last days.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8279','1','66','17','9','9','<p>17:9 <i>Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are the seven mountains on which the woman sits</i>- As discussed on :3, the city with seven hills may have in its time referred to Rome, and also to Jerusalem, the seat of the Jewish satan which so persecuted the early church before AD70. But the latter day reference is to the &quot;great city&quot; where Babylon shall be enthroned; and I have argued on 16:19 that this is literal Jerusalem. But the seven mountains may refer also to a system of seven supporting elements within the beast system which are to be found within the beast headquarters in Jerusalem.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8280','1','66','17','10','10','<p>17:10 <i>And they are seven kings. The five are fallen, the one is, the other is yet to come; and when he comes, he must continue a little while</i>- The seven mountains refer to seven leaders within the beast system, headquartered in Jerusalem, the city of seven hills. They may refer to a sequence of seven kings, or to a group of seven rulers gathered within Jerusalem. But they are photographed, as it were, at the point of the sixth king. The one yet to come provides the connection with how the beast was, is not, and yet is to come. The deadly wounded head will revive in the form of a seventh head. He continues &quot;a little while&quot;, the same Greek used in 12:12 for how the dethroned devil / dragon furiously persecutes God\'s people, knowing that he has but &quot;a little while&quot;. His dethronement would correlate with the head receiving a deadly wound in 13:12, the beast \'not being\' due to Divine judgment, and then reviving. The judgment and yet revival of Babylon is for a reason; and I suggest that the God who in judgment always remembers mercy does it this way because He seeks even Babylon\'s repentance. And that is why in the midst of the prophecies of Babylon\'s judgment, we read that God &quot;would have healed Babylon&quot;, of her &quot;deadly wound&quot;, but she would not; she refuses the ointment offered (Jer. 51:8,9).</p><p>A pre-AD70 date for Revelation has been well argued by J.A.T. Robinson, H.A. Whittaker and Paul Wyns. John would\'ve been pretty old if it was indeed given in AD96 as claimed by some. The many connections between Revelation and the Olivet prophecy and 2 Peter 3 all suggest that it too is a prophecy of AD70. The historical connections are too great to ignore, and seem of little value if the book is simply alluding at a later date to what happened in AD70. Rev. 17:10 speaks of the leadership of the Roman empire, speaking of &ldquo;five that are fallen&rdquo;- clearly referring to: <br />1. Julius Caesar the first Roman Emperor (44 BC-26 BC).<br />2. Augustus (27 BC &ndash; AD 14).<br />3. Tiberius (AD 14 &ndash; 37).<br />4. Gaius (AD 37 &ndash; 41).<br />5. Claudius (AD 41 &ndash; 51)<br />The leader who &quot;is&quot; would therefore refer to Nero (AD54-68), and the context of persecution would then be that of his reign. The sixth, Nero, was alive when John was given the Revelation; and the seventh was Galba who reigned only 7 months (June 68 - Jan 69). This order of the Caesars is that taken from standard works: Suetonius (<i>Lives of the Twelve Caesars</i>); Dio Cassius (<i>Roman History</i> 5); Josephus (<i>Antiquities</i> 19.1.11 cp. 18.2.2; 18.6.10). The beast\'s war with the saints for 42 months (13:5-7) would then refer to the Neronian persecution. Note how 13:12,14 interchanges the head with the whole beast. Mosheim confirms this: &quot;The dreadful persecution which took place by order of this tyrant, commenced at Rome about the middle of November in the year of our Lord 64&hellip; this dreadful persecution ceased but with the death of Nero&hellip; in the year 68 June, when he put an end to his own life&quot; L. von Mosheim, <i>Historical Commentaries</i> vol. 1, tr. Robert Vidal (NY: Converse, 1854) pp 138,139. In the same way as the first century believers could not have accurately predicted how all this would come about, but would have been wonderfully encouraged as they saw it all happening, and perceived then the interpretation- so we will see the Revelation come true, rather than be able to predict its precise fulfilment, in our final &quot;last days&quot;.</p><p>The problem with the application to Roman Caesars is that the five kings &quot;fall&quot;, the same word soon to be used about the fall of Babylon (18:2). The word doesn\'t mean to die, but to fall from power to destruction. The idea is that five kings will be killed, either together or in quick succession. Any application to the deaths of a succession of Roman Caesars is only a very shadowy fulfilment of the clearer, fuller reality which will be seen in the last days.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8281','1','66','17','11','11','<p>17:11 <i>And the beast that was and is not, is himself also an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes into destruction</i>- We have noted several times the identity between the horns and the beast. The \'seventh which is the eighth\' may mean that the final incarnation of the beast is in its seventh horn\' as the horns were, are and shall be (:10), so with the beast itself. The apparent confusion between seventh an eighth in Hebrew thought is found in Lk. 9:28, where &quot;an eight days&quot; means seven days, a week. The idea may be that he is the seventh, and even the eighth, reckoning inclusively, because after this \'seventh\' there shall be no \'eighth\' to follow. Going away into destruction is the same idea as in Mt. 25:46, where the rejected one-time believers &quot;go away into everlasting punishment&quot;. Their destruction will be along with the beast; those who in their deepest heart identify with the world shall share the world\'s judgment.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8282','1','66','17','12','12','<p>17:12 <i>And the ten horns you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast, for one hour</i>- These ten kings would correspond with the ten toes of Daniel\'s image which stand upon the earth / land promised to Abraham just before the &quot;little stone&quot; of the returning Lord Jesus destroys them; the ten nations of the latter day confederacies of Psalm 83 and Ez. 38, the ten Canaanite nations which had to be driven out of the land / earth. The focus here is on the leadership; these ten kings may be located in Jerusalem along with the beast. Their actual possession of power over the land is very brief- just &quot;one hour&quot;. And it is in &quot;one hour&quot; that Babylon is destroyed (18:10,17,19).</p><p>Radical Islam has a lot to say about the land promised to Abraham- what the Bible prophecies refer to as the <i>eretz</i> or land / earth. The Islamic State and al-Nusra Front speak much about it; their definition of the Levant or Sham is pretty much that of the land promised to Abraham. &lsquo;Nusra&rsquo; is an acronym standing for the Front for the Defence of the Levant. They claim to be fighting to prepare the way for the coming of the Mahdi to establish God&rsquo;s Kingdom worldwide; they call the land promised to Abraham &ldquo;Land of <i>Malahim</i>,&rdquo; or &ldquo;epic battles&rdquo;, and they expect there to be the <i>al-Malhamah al-Kubra</i>, the &ldquo;Great Battle of the last hour&rdquo;, at Jerusalem. This is what the Bible calls Armageddon. When the true Jesus appears in Jerusalem, all nations in the earth / land will be gathered together to battle at Jerusalem. And the jihadist theology is preparing them for this. They consciously speak of their caliphate as being extended over the land promised to Abraham, and they are urging people to leave their native lands as Abraham left his, and journey to live in the caliphate, comprised as they wish it to be, of the territory promised to Abraham. They call their caliph or leader &lsquo;Caliph Ibrahim / Abraham&rsquo;, and urge migration or <i>hijrah</i> to the land promised to him. The pieces are all falling into place to fulfil the Biblical pictures of the last days. Jihadist theology makes much of &lsquo;signs of the times&rsquo;, leading up to the coming of the Mahdi and the final battle against the antiChrist. These &lsquo;signs of the times&rsquo; they look for are often the same signs which are to be found in the Bible, e.g. the re-establishment of Israel as a nation before Armageddon. So as they apparently come true, Islamists are the more convinced that antiChrist who they call <i>Dajjal </i>and understand to be a Jew is about to appear in Jerusalem, and they must fight him in the last great battle, in order to enable the Mahdi to return. Who they consider to be the antichrist will in fact be the true Christ. They will rush to fight Him, believing Him to be the antichrist they are expecting. Their destruction by Him will presage the establishment of God&rsquo;s <i>true</i> Kingdom on earth, the revived and restored kingdom of Israel. This would explain why many Biblical terms used about the very last days are also found in Jihadist theology. They speak of the events of the very last days before the Mahdi returns as being &ldquo;the hour&rdquo;; and yet Revelation speaks of how the kings of the earth / land will have power for &ldquo;one hour&rdquo; and be destroyed likewise in &ldquo;one hour&rdquo; (Rev. 17:12; 18:10,17,19). These similarities are unsurprising because Mohammed clearly plagiarized the Bible and Judaism for his teachings.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8283','1','66','17','13','13','<p>17:13<i> These are of one mind; and they give their power and authority to the beast</i>- Their &quot;one mind&quot; is another point of connection and contrast with the believers, who are of &quot;one mind&quot; with each other and their Lord, giving Him all power and authority in their lives. This is very much the language of John\'s other writings, and 4:11 and 5:12 speak of how believers will have given power and authority to Him. The beast is a veritable antiChrist, a fake Kingdom of God. Their unity is based upon their common acceptance of the Jihadist doctrine of destruction of Israel and Christianity within the earth / land. When that is achieved, they then start to squabble amongst themselves, just as the iron and clay elements of the 10 toes of Daniel 2 do not otherwise get along with each other.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8284','1','66','17','14','14','<p>17:14 <i>These shall war against the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with him, called and chosen and faithful, these also shall overcome</i>- Overcoming is a major theme of the opening letters of Revelation. Those who overcame in their lives will now have been resurrected and will along with the Lord now overcome this final manifestation of sin. The &quot;war&quot; or (Gk.) battle is that for which the jihadist locusts of 9:7,9 are prepared- by the propaganda from the three sources of 16:13. This is the final battle against the Jews and Christians in the land spoken of in 11:7; 12:17 and 13:7, a kind of &quot;final solution&quot;. But it is effectively a gathering together to battle against the returned Lord Jesus (19:19; 20:8). The same word for war / battle is used in all these references.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8285','1','66','17','15','15','<p>17:15 <i>And he said to me: The waters which you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and crowds and nations and tongues</i>- Babylon &quot;sits&quot; upon the kings of the earth / land; these are the ones she makes drunk with her teaching. The peoples and nations therefore primarily refer to those within the land promised to Abraham and the &quot;sea&quot;, the \'waters\' immediately surrounding that land, over which the beat has dominion. It is out of these very peoples that there will arise some genuine Christian converts during the tribulation; see on 5:9; 7:9; 11:9 and 14:6.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8286','1','66','17','16','16','<p>17:16<i> And the ten horns which you saw: they and the beast, these shall hate the prostitute and shall make her desolate and naked- </i>According to the prototype of the Old Testament invasions of Israel, their enemies turn against each other. We are to expect this in the last days, so that, e.g., Ethiopia will turn against Assyria as happened historically at the time of the Assyrian attack upon Jerusalem. This may be part of the process whereby the horns &quot;hate the whore&quot; of Babylon/Assyria during the final stage of their persecution of God\'s people (Rev. 17:16 cp. Hab. 2:8).&nbsp;Nah. 3:9 points out that the real strength of Assyria against Israel was on account of the support she received from the smaller surrounding powers.&nbsp;Likewise the &lsquo;Romans&rsquo; who destroyed the temple in AD70 were largely Arab and Persian mercenaries. Similarly no one nation presently has any likelihood of dominating the Middle East in terms of military power.&nbsp;Iran and Iraq (geographical \'Assyria\') will need the assistance of the other surrounding nations to realistically invade Israel. &quot;<i>Tidings</i> out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him&quot; (Dan. 11:44) uses the same word translated &quot;rumour&quot; in 2 Kings 19:7, concerning the \'rumour\' Sennacherib heard of his Ethiopian allies turning against him.&nbsp;These \'tidings\' can be interpreted in a last-days context as referring to news reaching \'Assyria\' of her smaller allies turning against her - the horns hating the whore.</p><p>Historical Babylon was not destroyed simply by &quot;the Medes&quot; but by her own former allies turning against her. In the same way as God puts this idea into the hearts of the ten kings (:17), so Jer. 50:9 says of Babylon\'s destruction: &quot;I will stir up and cause to come up against Babylon a company of great nations from the north country&quot;.&nbsp; Babylon has just been pictured as sitting upon many waters, the nations within the land promised to Abraham (:15). But these waters are to be dried up from her, and those very waters come upon her in destruction. Thus Jer. 50:38,42: &quot;A drought is on her waters, and they shall be dried up... The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of its waves&quot;. The nations who destroy her were from the borders of the earth / land promised to Abraham: &quot;Many kings shall be stirred up from the uttermost parts of the earth (Jer. 50:41).&nbsp; These are the ten kings of Rev. 17 who hate the whore and destroy her, the &quot;nations&quot; of &quot;all the earth / land&quot; whom Babylon had made drunk (Jer. 51:7). Her destroyers are likened to locusts (Jer. 51:14), a figure for the jihadist invaders in Rev. 9 who were once supportive of her. There is large emphasis in Jer. 51 that these destroyers of Babylon will have been &quot;prepared&quot; by God, raised up by Him; just as we read in :17 that God puts this idea into their hearts: &quot;<i>Prepare </i>the nations against her, call together against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz... <i>Prepare </i>against her the nations&quot; (Jer. 51:27,28).</p><p><i>And shall eat her flesh and shall burn her completely with fire</i>- Eating the flesh of a victim is a Hebraism for total hatred. But within John\'s thought, the connection is with his record of the Lord\'s teaching that His followers are to eat His flesh (Jn. 6). The idea may be that although they hate her, yet they are participants in her, as we are in the Lord, and they shall therefore not be saved on account of this but rather judged. Judgment by fire is very much the language of Divine judgment, but we see here how this judgment will actually be brought about by the infighting within the beast system. Under the law, prostitutes were to be burnt to death. So the idea seems to be that indeed Babylon refers to a charismatic individual who leads or rides the beast. As Babylon burnt Jerusalem with fire, so she must be burnt (Jer. 21:10; 51:58).</p><p>The animals and birds were even under Babylon\'s control according to Dan. 2:38. But it is the beasts and birds of the sky who later are prophesied as feasting upon Babylon (Rev. 19:17). This is the equivalent of the horns on the beast hating the whore of Babylon who rides it; the destruction of the Babylon system will ultimately be more by Muslim infighting than direct bolts of destruction from God. Indeed, this was historically God\'s preferred method of destroying Israel\'s invaders in Old Testament times.<br />&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8287','1','66','17','17','17','<p>17:17&nbsp;<i>For God did put it in their hearts to do his mind and to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished</i>- We see here clear evidence that God can act directly upon the hearts of people to make them be of one mind and do His mind. How much more is He willing to do so through the gift of the Spirit to His own people who wish to do His will. We noted on :16 that the nations under Babylon turn against her because God gives them a mind to do so- just as He initially gave them a mind to be supportive of her. We note that they gave their kingdoms to the beast, but the beast does not give them a kingdom until the final &quot;one hour&quot;, which is the &quot;one hour&quot; of their destruction; see on :12. Perhaps it is an argument about power sharing and reward, how to carve up the earth / land promised to Abraham, which leads to their bitter hatred of Babylon.</p><p>God will make the various nations under Babylon&rsquo;s rule to &ldquo;agree&rdquo; (Rev. 17:17)- there will be an unprecedented unity amongst those nations located within the land promised to Abraham. Pan-Arabism will triumph in the end. This union will lead to economic prosperity for the region (Rev. 18:3)- easy to imagine, given the huge oil wealth of these areas. Babylon will become a fake Kingdom of God; hence she is described in terms elsewhere applied to the people and land of Israel (Rev. 18:22,23). Babylon is arrayed in fine linen (Rev. 18:16) as a pseudo-bride of Christ.</p><p>The final &quot;day of the Lord&quot; will contain elements of all the previous \'days\' of God\'s manifestation in the affairs of men.&nbsp;It will be the time when &quot;the words of God are fulfilled&quot; (Rev. 17:17), when &quot;all is fulfilled&quot; (Lk. 21:22,32) - presumably referring to the prophetic word.&nbsp;It is therefore fitting that there are many Old Testament historical backgrounds to the prophecies which relate to the Lord\'s return; those events were types of the final last day.&nbsp;See on Mt. 24:15. The last days will be the time when <i>every</i> prophecy has its ultimate fulfilment (Lk. 21:22; Rev. 17:17); the ultimate climax of prophecy. Therefore we are justified in seeing every prophecy concerning Israel and her neighbours as having at least some latter day application.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8288','1','66','17','18','18','<p>17:18- see on Rev. 14:6-9.</p><p><i>And the woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth</i>- &quot;Which reigns&quot; returns us to the immediate reality which John is watching, and the reality of the moment experienced by God\'s people under Gentile domination at all times. That great city is now reigning; but we have just seen how she shall come to an end. As noted on 16:19, the &quot;great city&quot; in its latter day sense is Babylon enthroned in Jerusalem.</p><p>As in Hezekiah&rsquo;s time the Assyrians likened captivity in their land to the wonders of being in God\'s Kingdom, so too Babylon is likewise depicted as a fake Kingdom of God. All the&nbsp;nations flowed together unto her (Jer. 51:44), as they will to the true Kingdom of God (Is. 2:2). She is called &quot;that great city, which <i>reigns</i> (Gk. \'<i>basilia</i>\') over the kings of the earth&quot; (17:18). \'Basilia\' is normally used about God\'s Kingdom. When Jesus described His Kingdom as a tree &quot;greater than all herbs&quot; with &quot;great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it&quot; (Mk.4:32), He was actually quoting from the description of the kingdom of Babylon in Dan. 4. By doing so, He was pointing out that Nebuchadnezzar\'s kingdom, legendary as it might be, was but a fake replica of His.</p><p>When the mountains flee in Rev. 16:10, Babylon loses the support base of the coalition she leads. These kings are described in Rev. 17:18 as the kings of the land- that promised to Abraham. And within the boundaries of that land we find seven such nations- Palestine, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Iraq and Iran. The appeal in Rev. 14:6-8 and Rev. 18:4 for Christian believers to &ldquo;come out of her&rdquo; would imply that there are believers within those nations and that there will be a major witness made to her- and it is surely highly significant that there has been a great growth in conversions in those areas in recent times This is a sure sign that we are approaching the time of the end. Sadly Rev. 18:24 implies that believers will be murdered in these areas in the final tribulation- and already the persecution and murder of Christian converts is in full swing there. The description of Babylon sitting upon various peoples, nations and tongues is to be connected with the same use of the phrase in Rev. 5:9 and 7:9 to describe the world from which Christian believers are drawn out. And significantly, the same phrase is very commonly used in Daniel to describe the area ruled over by historical Babylon (Dan. 3:4,29; 4:1; 5:19; 6:25; 7:14).</p><p>Issue number 3 of the Islamic State magazine <i>Dabiq</i> frequently talks of the call to follow Ibrahim Abraham in making <i>hijrah</i> migration to the land promised to him: &ldquo;Islam in the end of times will be more manifest in Sham... So the best of the people on the earth in the end of times will be those who keep to the land of Ibrahim&rsquo;s hijrah, which is Sham&rdquo; Majmu&rsquo;ul-Fatawa. Ibn Taymiyyah (rahimahullah) also said, &ldquo;So he informed that the best of the people on the earth are those who keep to the land of Ibrahim&rsquo;s hijrah, in contrast to those who pass through it or leave it. The land that Ibrahim made hijrah to is Sham... the land of Ibrahim&rsquo;s hijrah... And the land of Ibrahim&rsquo;s hijrah, has been made for us equal to the land of our Prophet&rsquo;s hijrah. The best people on earth will be those who keep to the land of Ibrahim&rsquo;s hijrah&rdquo;. Note how the theology of these jihadists effectively replaces the land of Saudi Arabia and the city of Mecca with that of the Levant, the territory promised to Abraham; and Mecca is replaced in their focus by Jerusalem. With Saudi Arabia now supporting the Western coalition against the jihadists, such a shift in emphasis isn&rsquo;t surprising. But it means that all is being prepared for the last days- for the Bible prophecies focus upon the domination of the land of Israel and Jerusalem in particular. It&rsquo;s significant that the Caliph of the Islamic State Caliphate is referred to by his followers as Caliph Ibrahim / Abraham; the idea is that the faithful will follow him in migrating from their homelands to the land promised to him- which is the very same <i>eretz</i> which is the focus of the Bible&rsquo;s latter day prophecies, and which is to be dominated by an antiChrist figure and his beast.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8289','1','66','18','1','1','<p>18:1 <i>After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was lit with his glory</i>- Perhaps representing the Lord Jesus. The scene of the land lightened with glory recalls Ez. 43:2, a prophecy of how the Kingdom could have been established at the return from exile. The essence of that prophecy will be fulfilled at the Lord\'s return, although it seems not the details. The visions of Revelation are not chronological; here we revert to how the destruction of Babylon spoken of in chapter 17 comes about, and the implications for believers. John indeed sees &quot;another angel&quot;, but this is not to say that the Angel represents someone different to what Angels represented.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8290','1','66','18','2','2','<p>18:2 <i>And he cried with a mighty voice, saying: Fallen Fallen is Babylon the great, and has become a habitation of demons, a refuge of every unclean spirit, and a refuge of every unclean and hateful bird</i>- The Babylon section in Revelation is full of allusion to the Old Testament. &quot;Babylon&quot; can be understood as referring to Judaism, to Israel, to the oppressors of God\'s people under the Roman Empire, and to a latter day Babylon which is the capital of the beast system, and which I suggest refers to radical Islam dominating the earth / land promised to Abraham. The commentary seeks to bring out these various applications. Babylon has not yet &quot;fallen&quot; because those within her are urged to come out from within her (:4); her fall is announced in order that she might repent, according to Jer. 51:8: &quot;Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: wail for her; take her balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed&quot;. But from God\'s perspective, she had already fallen. The later call to quit Babylon (:4) is made because she refuses this amazingly gracious invitation to repent: &quot;We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: therefore forsake her&quot; (Jer. 51:9). &quot;Great Babylon&quot; refers specifically to the city of Babylon, which I suggested on 16:19 refers to Jerusalem as the capital of the beast, and place of leadership of the woman known as Babylon, the charismatic leader of the beast system, antiChrist.</p><p>There is the assumption by many that all the O.T. prophecies about &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo; were fulfilled in the overrunning of Babylon by the Medes. However, there are many details of those prophecies which didn&rsquo;t have a total fulfilment. It could be argued from this that there must be a literal rebuilding of Babylon and the complete fulfilment of the judgment prophecies against her. However, there are plenty of connections between Babylon and Jerusalem (see on 16:19), and this is the &quot;great city&quot; which shall be judged, where also our Lord was crucified.</p><p>The Old Testament judgments upon Babylon were that she would become inhabited by wild, unclean animals: &quot;Therefore the wild animals of the desert with the wolves shall dwell there, and the ostriches shall dwell therein...&nbsp; a dwelling place for jackals&quot; (Jer. 50:39; 51:37). These animals were thought to be connected with unclean spirits and demons. Because Babylon had become a cage and &quot;hold&quot; AV or prison for demons and unclean spirits and birds, so she would be punished by being inhabited by wild animals thought to be demon possessed. The Greek terms translated &quot;refuge&quot; in NEV carry the ideas of a prison and cage. Babylon will not let its people out once they are in; and that is what has happened in many cities overrun by the jihadists. A similar idea is used of how the latter day antiChrist, Gog, the chief prince, will be a &quot;guard&quot; s.w. &quot;prison&quot; to a group of ten nations who seek to attack and desolate Israel (Ez. 38:7). This is just what Babylon does.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8291','1','66','18','3','3','<p>18:3- see on Rev. 17:18.</p><p><i>For by the wine of the anger of her fornication all the nations are fallen- </i>The &quot;anger&quot; in view is surely the anger of the judgment wrath of God against her &quot;fornication&quot;. The &quot;all nations&quot; are the kings of the earth / land associated with the Babylon confederacy have already at this point begun to drink of that cup which was given to Babylon earlier. Their identity with her (for &quot;he that is joined to a harlot is one flesh&quot; with her) means that Babylon\'s &quot;fall&quot; is their fall.</p><p>Note that being given a cup of wine to drink is a double symbol- of condemnation and also &quot;the cup of blessing&quot;. Hence at the breaking of bread we are to review the two possible outcomes of our being given that cup- blessing or condemnation. </p><p><i>For the kings of the earth had committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich by the power of her greed-&nbsp; </i>The &quot;all nations&quot; are here defined as the kings of the earth / land promised to Abraham. Not every nation on planet earth will be part of \'Babylon\'. They grew rich by her prostitution for Babylon is a whore presumably in that wealth was given to her for her services, and her greed and love of opulence means that the commercial sector within the earth / land becomes rich. We are therefore to imagine this latter day entity as being immensely wealthy. Such a situation would probably require the financial collapse of the West and some Middle Eastern Islamic entity becoming fantastically wealthy as a result.</p><p>The first century applications would refer to the extreme wealth of the Jewish system based in Jerusalem. The Pharisees &quot;were covetous&quot; (Lk. 16:14), as Babylon was greedy. And Rome likewise. It would have seemed that Rome was invincible, economically and politically unshakeable, admired by the whole world. And yet it was to be brought down by Divine judgment.&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8292','1','66','18','4','4','<p>18:4 <i>And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: Come out of her My people</i>- A final appeal to those living within the territory of this latter day entity. According to previous teaching in Revelation, this group would likely be Israeli Christians, Jews who have turned to Christ in the very last days. They would be under great pressure from the Islamic state governing them to convert to Islam, and they are being urged not to. &quot;Come out&quot; would therefore refer to a spiritual separation, as geographically they would have no place to run to. However it could be that those who respond to this call to &quot;come out&quot; will have a miraculous way of literal exit opened to them, perhaps by the Lord snatching away those who in their hearts say &quot;Yes&quot; to this invitation. This would be the moment of 1 Thess. 4, where those who are alive at the Lord\'s coming are literally snatched away to meet Him at His coming.</p><p>The first century application would be to the Christians fleeing out of the surrounded Jerusalem, in accordance with the Lord\'s command to flee to the mountains (Mt. 24:16). This would further suggest that the &quot;Babylon&quot; in view here in Jerusalem. See on 16:19.</p><p><i>Lest you take part in her sins, and partake of her plagues</i>- Here &quot;sins&quot; is put for \'judgment for sins\'. Sin is its own judgment. We cannot sin and psychologically assume that in the future, somehow that sin will not be judged. Sin is its judgment right now. Lot\'s witness completed, he was told to leave Sodom &quot;lest you be consumed in the iniquity of the city&quot; (Gen. 19:15- alluded to here in Rev. 18:4). Babylon is directly equated with Sodom in Is. 13:19 and Jer. 50:40. Babylon geographically and culturally represents the jihadist neighbours of Israel in our last days- and therefore it is not surprising that related neighbouring nations like Edom, Moab and Ammon are also paralleled with Sodom (Jer. 49:18; Zeph. 2:9). This continues a long-standing Biblical theme that the curses on apostate Israel are the same as those on her enemies- thus Sodom is representative of both Jews and the beast coalition.&nbsp;Jerusalem is the city which is spiritually called Sodom (11:8). The language of Sodom is clearly applied to Jerusalem in the Old Testament (Dt. 29:23; 32:32; Is. 1:10; 3:9; Jer. 23:14). Latter day Babylon is to be punished as Sodom (Is. 13:19; Jer. 50:40). And so we can understand why at this point in Revelation, the judgment of Babylon is framed in terms of Sodom, because Babylon is to be enthroned in Jerusalem (see on 16:19). And will meet a similar destruction.</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><b>Babylon (in Rev.)</b></p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><b>Sodom</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;I will shew unto you the judgment of the   great whore&quot; (Babylon); 17:2</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Cp. God showing Abraham the judgment of Sodom.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>The beast supporting Babylon &quot;was and is not   and shall ascend&quot; 17:8&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Sodom and surrounding cities were strong, then   overrun by Abraham, then revived.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Her sins have reached unto Heaven,&nbsp;God   has remembered her iniquities&quot;&nbsp;18:5</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The cry of Sodom... is great because their   sin is very grievous&nbsp;...the cry of it is come unto me&quot; (Gen.   18:20,21)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;She has glorified herself, and   lived&nbsp;deliciously&quot;18:7</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Pride... fullness of bread&quot; (Ez.   16:49)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Utterly burned with fire&quot; 18:8</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>\'Sodom\' = \'burning\'.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Her plagues... death... and famine&quot;   18:8</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;He overthrew all the inhabitants of the   cities, and that which grew upon the ground&quot; (cp. &quot;famine&quot;   Gen. 19:25).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The great city... great Babylon&quot;   16:19</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>The city of Sodom. <br />            &nbsp;</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;There fell upon men a great hail   out&nbsp;&nbsp; of heaven&quot;   (16:21)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;The Lord rained upon Sodom...&nbsp;   brimstone and fire from the Lord&nbsp;out of heaven&quot; (Gen. 19:24).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;They shall see the smoke of her burning,   standing afar off for the fear of her torment&rdquo; (18:9,10)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Abraham standing far away and seeing the smoke of   Sodom&rsquo;s&nbsp;burning indicates that the surrounding kings did likewise (Gen.   19:28).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Merchants suffered through&nbsp;Babylon&rsquo;s fall   (18:11-19)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Sodom was a trading centre (Lk. 17:28)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot; ...a great millstone cast into the sea&nbsp;...thus   with violence shall... Babylon.. be found no more at all&quot; (18:21)</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>Sodom now appears to be submerged in the Dead   Sea, to be found no more.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Her smoke rose up&quot; (19:3)</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>&quot;Sodom... the land of the plain... the smoke   of the country went up&rdquo;&nbsp;(19:28)</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>As the Jews were called to leave literal Babylon (Zech. 2:6,7) and Lot was called out of Sodom, so Jews and true believers will be encouraged to come out from Babylon of the last days. The prosperity of Sodom and Babylon made God\'s people disinclined to leave them. And the opulence of Babylon, and the way she is as a cage (see on :2), will make it all the more difficult for the latter day believers to come out of the Babylon system.</p><p>And so the apostate amongst God\'s people will share in Babylon\'s judgment. And for all of us, if we are not separate from this world now, we will not be separated from them when the judgments fall. Those who don\'t come out from Babylon will share her judgments. There are strong parallels between Babylon and Jerusalem; and they are deeper than simply because the beast / Babylon will capture Jerusalem and enthrone themselves there. Jerusalem is judged as Babylon because in spiritual essence, they were no different. Zion lost her children and also her husband whilst still a young woman (Is. 49:21; 54:6), just as Babylon would (Is. 47:9). Each street of Jerusalem was named after an idol, just as was the case in Babylon (Jer. 11:13)- and thus Jerusalem shared Babylon&rsquo;s judgment. Apostate Israel were always treated like the surrounding Gentile world in the time of their judgments (Jer. 4:7). Israel worshipped the Babylonian gods, and so they were sent along with Bel their idol to Babylon, where their hearts were. And so they were&nbsp;&ldquo;Condemned with the world...&rdquo;. Likewise in the &lsquo;judgment day&rsquo; of AD70, the &lsquo;rejected&rsquo; Jews were sent back into Egypt as slaves. Their condemnation was expressed in terms of an undoing of the redemption from the world which they once experienced.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8293','1','66','18','5','5','<p>18:5 <i>For her sins have reached even to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities</i>- The language of the Amalekites, the tower of Babel and Sodom. All these are used as historical foretastes of the last days, and they all involve who are now the Islamic peoples of the Middle East. Jerusalem will become the capital of the beast within the earth / land. Perhaps they will seek to build some mosque complex there, the abomination that brings desolation to the temple mount, just as the tower of Babel was built. But like the Amalekites, who were also dwellers in the earth / land promised to Abraham, this gross iniquity will reach a measure beyond which God will dramatically intervene. They were allowed to dwell in the earth / land until a point when their sin was &quot;full&quot; and then God would drive them out of the land and let Israel dwell there again once their tribulation ended (Gen. 15:16).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8294','1','66','18','6','6','<p>18:6 <i>Give to her even as she gave, and repay her double according to her deeds. In the cup in which she mixed, mix for her a double portion</i>- This appears a stronger judgment than for historical Babylon: &quot;As she has done, do unto her&quot; (Jer. 50:15).&nbsp;This is to be doubled. Earlier the cup was to be given to her but not diluted (14:10); now it is to be double filled. This increase in the judgments upon Babylon is because she repeatedly ignored repeated offers of healing and forgiveness. As noted on 17:4, the cup of fornication Babylon drunk and offered to others was in fact&nbsp;the cup of her condemnation. She was quite literally drinking condemnation to herself, just as the rejected within the household do (1 Cor. 11:29). If we enquire to whom this command is addressed, we return to the address to &quot;My people&quot; of :4, who are asked to not only come out of Babylon, but to participate in judging her. The prophecies about the fall of Babylon in Jer. 50 and 51 repeatedly state that it is a revived, repentant Judah which shall judge Babylon. This has yet to be fulfilled, as they were disobedient to God\'s intended program for them at the time of the restoration.</p><p>And yet as explained on 17:16, the destruction of Babylon is at the hands of her ten kings.</p><p>It would appear from this that there must be two stages in Babylon\'s judgment: - <br />1)&nbsp;The jihadist armies attacking her in Jerusalem.&nbsp;They are themselves largely destroyed whilst doing this. <br />2)&nbsp; The saints and Jews complete the judgment, possibly directing some of the repentant Islamist peoples, giving some of the spoils to them.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8295','1','66','18','7','7','<p>18:7 <i>As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says: I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see</i>- The image of &quot;luxury&quot; continues the allusions&nbsp;to Sodom in :5 and :9. This all suggests that the latter day Babylon will achieve a striking level of opulence. It\'s debatable whether Israel\'s Islamic neighbours have reached such a state at the present time.</p><p>The chief sin of all pagan empires consists in their assertion that their power and their authority derive exclusively from themselves, that they are their own masters, recognizing no superior law. Old Testament prophecies about the sudden destruction of literal Babylon are the basis for the words of Revelation about latter day Babylon. Yet they were never literally fulfilled to completion. They will come finally true in the judgments upon the Babylon system of the beast. Consider:</p><div align=center><table border=1 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>            &ldquo;You who are given to pleasures, that dwells carelessly, that says in your   heart, I am, and none else beside me: I shall not sit a widow, neither shall   I know the loss of children&rdquo; (Is. 47:8)</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;How much she has glorified herself, and lived   deliciously&hellip; for she has said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow,   and shall see no sorrow&rdquo; (Rev. 18:7).</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;But these two things shall come to you in a   moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood&rdquo; (Is. 47:9)</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;Therefore shall her plagues come in one day,   death and mourning&rdquo; (Rev. 18:8)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the   monthly prognosticators, stand up&rdquo; (Is. 47:13)</p>            </td>            <td width=369 valign=top>            <p>&ldquo;For by your sorceries&hellip;&rdquo; (Rev. 18:23)</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>Therefore we conclude that the Babylon of Revelation is presented as the reincarnation of the Babylon of Jeremiah and Isaiah, literal Babylon, which awaits her full punishment. This conclusion is strengthened once it is appreciated how the harlot Babylon of Rev. 17, loud, gaudy, decked with jewellery and painted face, is replete with reference to Semiramis, the goddess / mother of Nimrod, and one of the patron gods of literal Babylon.</p><p>Her refusal to accept she is a widow speaks of someone in denial. The dragon is cast down from \'heaven\' by direct Divine intervention in chapter 12, and yet goes into the wilderness to furiously persecute the woman. It seems there will be direct judgment from God against Babylon, in order to appeal for her to repent, in the spirit of &quot;take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed&quot; (Jer. 51:8). Truly God does not willingly afflict, but in judgment remembers mercy, and His ultimate aim of achieving His glory. Thus a tenth part of the city falls first (11:13) before Babylon completely falls (18:4). She is given the chance of repentance, but instead goes into denial about her loss and real status. This is the idea behind her insistence that she has not been widowed, and is a queen- when she has fallen from power.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8296','1','66','18','8','8','<p>18:8 <i>Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death and mourning and famine- </i>The Philistines, clearly typical of Israel\'s present Arab neighbours, will also die from severe famine in the last days (Is. 14:30). This may well be due to the weaponry used to inflict this upon Israel&nbsp;being used by the Islamists against themselves.&nbsp;Babylon\'s famine coming &quot;in one day&quot; would suggest something along these lines - how else can a famine be suddenly created in a day? Famine coming in a day also speaks of modern \'just in time\' supply networks and transport, which once interrupted can bring an area to food bankruptcy very suddenly. Earlier than our own age, this would have been impossible. But we can also understand this strange language of famine in a day by proposing that the meaning of time is collapsed around the Lord\'s return. This would enable all the latter day prophecies to come true, but not in real time as we know it. Babylon is to be punished with famine in one day; yet famine is a process (Rev. 18:8). In one day her judgments come, and yet also in one hour (18:10). Surely&nbsp;the lesson is that time is compressed. The events around Christ\'s return were prefigured by those at the time of Joshua\'s conquest of the land. Some of the records of his campaigns require a huge amount to have been achieved by his soldiers within around 36 hours. The comment that so much was achieved &quot;at one time&quot; (Josh. 10:42) may hint at a compression of time to enable it. &quot;The sun stood still&quot; may well be intended to teach that the meaning of time was collapsed by God, rather than that the sun literally stood still (Josh. 10:12,13). And the sun standing still over Gibeon is mentioned in Is. 28:21 as typical of the time when Yahweh will do &quot;His strange work, and bring to pass his act, his strange act&quot; in the last days. The same may be true when the shadow went back for Hezekiah. The movement of the planets need not have been altered; the meaning of time was simply suspended. Rev. 8:12, also speaking of the last days, says that &ldquo;the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise&rdquo;. Could this mean that one day and one night last only two thirds of their usual length, whilst the judgments of the fourth Angel are poured out upon the land? I would suggest that the Lord had in mind the suspension of time when he asked that &quot;the hour might pass from him&quot; in Gethsemane (Mk. 14:35); rather than asking to escape the cross in this request, he was perhaps asking for it all to happen in only a moment of real time.</p><p><i>And she shall be completely burned with fire. For strong is the Lord God who judges her</i>- This is the judgment for whores. Babylon is literal Jerusalem where she is enthroned (see on 16:19). The punishment by fire in Jerusalem would then make good sense of the Lord\'s idea that Gehenna- the always burning fire near Jerusalem- is to be used to destroy all God\'s enemies of all ages. They will share in the condemnation of the world they so loved in their lives. The burning was Sodom\'s judgment; and we have seen on :4 that Babylon is Sodom is Jerusalem.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8297','1','66','18','9','9','<p>18:9 <i>And the kings of the earth, who committed fornication and lived wantonly with her, shall weep and wail over her, when they look upon the smoke of her burning</i>- Alluding to Abraham watching the smoke of Sodom\'s burning (see on :5 and :7). These kings of the land are those who also played a part in her judgment, who hated the whore (see on 17:16). But their hearts are still with her, lamenting with the grief of those who wistfully keep thinking of what could have been. But as noted on :10, the reference may not be to the actual &quot;kings&quot;, the horns of the beast; but to the commercial leaders of the surrounding world who are associated with the princes of the earth (:23).</p><p>Is. 34 describes the judgments of &quot;all nations&quot; around Israel, notably &quot;upon Idumea&quot;, in language which is clearly alluded to in the later prophecies of Babylon\'s doom in Revelation (Is. 34:9,10 = Rev. 14:11; 17:16; 18:9; v.11=Is. 14:23). Indeed, all God\'s prophecies against Israel\'s enemies have marked points of contact with each other. Thus the prophecies against Tyre in Is. 23 are shot through with links with those against Babylon in Revelation; and &quot;as at the report (prophecy) concerning Egypt, so shall they be sorely pained at the report of Tyre&quot;(Is. 23:5). Is. 14:3 says that Babylon treated Israel like the Egyptians did; they too gave them &quot;sorrow... fear, and... hard bondage wherein (Israel) wast made to serve&rdquo;. Because of these similarities in how they treated and will treat God\'s people, their judgments will be similar. Yet a number of these nations, notably Egypt and Tyre, are described as being judged and destroyed by Babylon (e.g. Ez. 26:7). However, there is good reason to think that Babylon\'s own judgment will be at the hands of nations like these, who come under her umbrella during their invasion of Israel. The resolution of this apparent contradiction lies in the prophecies concerning the Islamist powers destroying each other in the final conflict, thus fulfilling all these prophecies concerning their judging of each other.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8298','1','66','18','10','10','<p>18:10 <i>Standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying: Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city For in one hour does your judgment come</i>- Their deep grief stands in contradistinction from the Heavenly rejoicing at Babylon\'s fall (:20). They are her sympathizers and are not brought to repentance by her fall. They fear that her torment shall come upon them. They retreat from her, just as the animals and birds scuttle away from under the falling tree of Babylon. They praise Babylon\'s strength and glory after she has fallen. They are not themselves in Babylon, but have benefitted from her through commerce, as the rest of the chapter makes clear. They would therefore refer to the commercial leaders of the \'sea\' around the \'earth\'; the Gentile nations who became enriched by Babylon\'s wealth and demand for delicacies. Surely Western commercial leaders are within this group. They are stunned by how quickly the whole system fell apart, in one hour. Her &quot;torment&quot; however has been going on throughout the three and a half years of the tribulation; for the two witnesses tormented those who dwelt in the land (11:10 s.w.), leading to such rejoicing when they are killed at the end of the tribulation. That torment was a foretaste of the final torment of condemnation spoken of so often (14:10; 20:10 etc.). Again we can perceive that the torment was in order to give Babylon and the beast a chance of repentance by showing them ahead of time what Divine judgment would look like for them unless they repented.</p><p>The destruction of the city is a sudden thing. The phrase &ldquo;in one hour&rdquo; occurs three times in Rev. 18. This destruction is like that of Sodom and Gomorrah- in a moment, by Divine intervention through fire, sulphur etc. This is not how Rome came to an end, indeed Rome as a city did not really come to an end; and literal Babylon was not physically destroyed &ldquo;in one hour&rdquo; in 536 BC. The predicted fall of Babylon must therefore be in our last days, referring to the destruction in a moment of the city which has become the capital of the beast- Jerusalem.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8299','1','66','18','11','11','<p>18:11 <i>Standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying: Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city For in one hour does your judgment come</i>- See on :10. Their fear of sharing in her torment is a major theme.</p><p>The apostate religious system called &quot;Babylon&quot; in Revelation is evidently presented in the language of Solomon - at the time his kingdom was apparently flourishing:&nbsp; <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <b>1 Kings&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Revelation</b><br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:14&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:17,18<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:23&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:11,12,15<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 11:1,2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;17:1,2&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:22&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:17,19<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:23&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:3,17<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:21,22&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:12<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;10:11&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:12<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:22&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:12<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:10,25&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:13<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:23&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;18:3,9<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10:28&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:12<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;9:22&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 18:13<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 11:1,5 (Solomon influenced&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2:20 cp. 1 Kings 16:31<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;by Zidonian idolatry)<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2 Chron. 9:15 (666)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 13:18</p><p>This serves to cement the connection between Babylon and Jerusalem, especially the Jerusalem temple. In the first century, it was Judaism which was the great satan / adversary and devil / false accuser of the Christians. The temptation was always to give in to the Judaist campaign and return to Judaism. Paul, Peter and John are full of this theme in their letters. But here that system is described in the worst possible terms.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8300','1','66','18','12','12','<p>18:12 <i>Merchandise of gold and silver and precious stone and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet and all kinds of scented wood, and every vessel of ivory and every vessel made of most precious wood and of brass and iron and marble</i>- These are the materials associated with Solomon\'s kingdom and temple, and the materials of the tabernacle and temple cult. We see too a reference to how the High Priest Caiaphas was dressed, also with &quot;purple&quot; (Lk. 16:19), likewise in vain appearance. It was the religious clothing of Israel in Ez. 16:10. Throughout these descriptions we see allusions to the Jewish high priesthood. The whole verse clearly alludes to the glory of Tyre in Ez. 27. These various layers of allusion serve to build up the overall picture- an appearance of Judaistic religiosity which is thoroughly carnal and pagan. Judaism was indeed the first century Babylon; see on :11.</p><p>The latter day Babylon will therefore seek to quickly build a kingdom and worship system which apes that of Israel and the temple cult- hence the gross blasphemy and abomination on the temple mount which calls for desolation.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8301','1','66','18','13','13','<p>18:13 <i>And cinnamon and spice and incense and ointment and frankincense and wine and oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep and horses and chariots and slaves and the souls of men- </i>As noted on :12, all these things are associated with Solomon\'s temple and Kingdom, and the materials of the tabernacle and temple cult. It would have been a great comfort to those under pressure from the Jewish satan in the first century to see God\'s perspective on that evil system. The latter day application is to an Islamist paradise, more exotic than the citadels of the Gulf states, established in Jerusalem, with distinct religious overtones. And all to be destroyed even quicker than it was established.</p><p>Slaves in the first century were seen as mere bodies owned by their masters or mistresses. Hence Rev. 18:13 describes slaves as <i>somata</i>, bodies. They were seen as both the economic and sexual property of those who owned them. It seems Paul had this in mind when he spoke of how we have one master, Christ, and our bodies are indeed not our own- but they are His, to be used according to His wishes. For many slaves, this would&rsquo;ve meant running the risk of death or flogging. And yet despite this radical demand, Christianity spread rapidly amongst the huge slave population of the first century world.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8302','1','66','18','14','14','<p>18:14 <i>And the fruits which your soul lusted after are gone from you, and all things that were dainty and sumptuous are lost to you, never to be found again</i> - The prophecy has multiple applications; to Jerusalem of the first century; to Rome; and to the restored Babylon of the last days. The reference is to Israel lusting after the fruits of Egypt, and Adam and Eve lusting for the forbidden fruit in Eden. Their sin will be enshrined and manifested in this final system of evil and lust as never before- all under the guise of the strictest possible interpretation of Islam. Just as Judaism did the same in Jerusalem in the first century, under the front of careful obedience to the Law of Moses.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8303','1','66','18','15','15','<p>18:15 <i>The merchants of these things who were made rich by her shall stand far away, for the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning- </i>This category are not consumed in her judgments; they have come out of her in response to flee Babylon <i>lest</i> they partake in &quot;her torment&quot;, just as Lot\'s wife did; and yet they are equally on her side, with her in spirit, just as materialistic, as Lot\'s wife was. Or, as suggested on :10, these merchants are those outside of the earth / land, the likes of Western European businessmen, who became wealthy by serving the huge demand for luxury goods which arises from the dominance of the beast. Perhaps the words of lament are as it were put in their mouths, so we realize the nature of Babylon\'s existence. In fact in Revelation we know little about the apocalyptic Babylon until we read the laments over her after she is destroyed. They are clearly not believers nor are they fully repentant; for their weeping over her fall contrasts with Heaven\'s rejoicing at it (:20).</p><p>We need to note that the same word for &quot;made rich&quot; is used in the opening letters for how there are some in the church of the last days who are likewise &quot;made rich&quot; and thereby turn away from Christ (3:17). Even true Christians will be caught up in the attraction of making quick bucks for the sake of a nominal acceptance of the beast system.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8304','1','66','18','16','16','<p>18:16 - see on Rev. 17:18.</p><p><i>Saying: Woe, woe, the great city She that was dressed in fine linen and purple and scarlet and decked with gold and precious stone and pearl- </i>&quot;Fine linen&quot; would be very relevant to the application of \'Babylon\' to apostate Judaism in the first century, with the precious stones referring to the High Priestly breastplate. The items in which Babylon trades are therefore presented in terms of the opulence of Solomon\'s Israelitish Kingdom. Appearance of spirituality can be deeply obnoxious to God; Isaiah had predicted that He saw Jerusalem as Sodom, the virgin of Israel as a whore (Is. 1:9). And that language is definitely used here. An appearance of&nbsp;spirituality is no guarantee of acceptance with God; it may actually be obnoxious to Him.</p><p>The image of fine linen and wealth recalls to our minds images of wealthy sheikhs walking around Islamic citadels in the Gulf states. But the entity briefly created by Babylon in Jerusalem will outstrip them all. The white linen of jihadist religious leaders is an image mixed here with that of obscene wealth, and a pretension to the Jewish high priesthood. The precious stones, scarlet etc. are all associated with the tabernacle system. This is also a false system of worship. The picture exactly fits Islamist supremacy. We note the revival of gold and precious stones as effective currency in the areas now under the control of Islamic fundamentalists in the area around Israel.</p><p>And yet pearls refer to the true believers (21:21). The believers are dressed in white linen, symbolizing righteousness (19:8). The suggestion therefore is that Babylon is quasi-religious and appears highly moral, when actually it is morally delinquent. This is exactly what we see in Jihadist Islamism. There is clear reference to the Jewish priesthood, and the description also connects with the white clothing of Islamic religious leaders. But they are a fake kingdom of God, their leaders are fake saints, and their leader is the anti-Christ.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8305','1','66','18','17','17','<p>18:17 <i>For in an hour so many great riches are laid waste. And every shipmaster and everyone that sails anywhere, and mariners, and as many as gain their living at sea, stood far away</i>- Despite having seen direct Divine intervention, throughout the three and a half years of &quot;torment&quot; upon the earth dwellers from the miracles of the two witnesses (11:9,10), and now Babylon\'s final destruction, these commercial people are so materialistic that they do not repent. All they can think about is how much they have lost, and how tragic it is that such material wealth is now &quot;laid waste&quot;. This is the power of materialism. It has destroyed so much faith in so many people, and we are to therefore be the more aware of its insidious power.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8306','1','66','18','18','18','<p>18:18 <i>And cried out as they looked upon the smoke of her burning, saying: What city is like the great city?- </i>They are connected with faithful Abraham observing Sodom\'s burning; but although the great city is no more, they speak in the present tense as though it is still existing. This is a reflection of their grief at how much has been lost, both to them and in general terms. This is how stubbornly materialistic they are. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8307','1','66','18','19','19','<p>18:19 <i>And they cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and mourning, saying: Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her expense For in one hour she is made desolate</i>- This casting of dust on the head is sometimes (as with the Ninevites), but not always, associated with repentance. It may be significant that there is no apparent record of the destruction of these merchants. Are we to hope that they repented? Perhaps the idea is that they have the possibility to do so. As noted earlier, their observing of the smoke of Babylon\'s judgment connects them with faithful Abraham, watching the judgment of Sodom. The vagueness as to whether this refers to repentance or not is perhaps because this is yet unknown- for these people have freewill, and shall make their own decision regarding repentance after Babylon\'s judgment. But their weeping contrasts with the rejoicing of the believers (:20). Their particular weeping for their now redundant fleets of ships speaks of how their economies were tied in to servicing Babylon with luxury goods; and now that was suddenly, in an hour, no more. Their whole economic structure was useless. And despite all the evidence of Divine involvement and all the evidence of His visible involvement in this earth again, they could only see the immediate and the material, what was right before their eyes. And tragically that is how the majority of people are today.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8308','1','66','18','20','20','<p>18:20- see on Jn. 7:24.</p><p><i>Rejoice over her, you heaven, and you saints, and you apostles, and you prophets. For God has judged your judgment on her</i>- All the surrounding nations did to Israel shall be done to them. This explains the links between the seals the judgments on Israel at the hands of their neighbours in the last days and the trumpets and vials, which speak of similar judgments coming upon Israel\'s enemies within the land / earth promised to Abraham. The saints may be Israel (Dan. 7:25); the prophets would be the two witnesses of chapter 11. The &quot;heaven&quot; would refer to the Heavenly, Angelic representatives of those who were killed and tormented by the beast during her three and a half year domination of the earth / land; for John had seen them in his visions of the heavenly throne room, and now he sees them rejoicing. What the beast did during his brief domination is now done to him. So the saints and Christians in view are particularly those who endured that.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8309','1','66','18','21','21','<p>18:21 <i>And a strong angel took up a stone, as it were a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: Thus with a mighty fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down, and shall never be found again</i>- Jeremiah\'s prophecies about Babylon had been cast into the Euphrates tied to a stone (Jer. 51:63). But this is the fate of Babylon. There is a parallel between the word of prophecy, and Babylon; so sure is it of fulfilment.</p><p>The same judgment is for those who make little ones stumble (Mt. 18:6). Such behaviour is the same as Babylon\'s obvious apostasy. The Lord taught that the believer who makes his brother stumble should have a millstone hung around his neck and be cast into the sea (Lk. 17:2). This is exactly Babylon\'s judgment (Rev. 18:21). The unloving in the ecclesia will be treated like the unloving world whose spirit they share. The rejected will weep and gnash their teeth (Mt. 25:30)- and be sent back into the Babylon-world, where they are also weeping and angry (Rev. 18:15,19). As the tree of Babylon will be cut down, so will the rejected be (Dan. 4:14,23 = Mt. 7:19). As Babylon is burnt with fire (Rev. 18:8), and indeed the whole \'world\' too (2 Pet. 3:10), so will the rejected be (Mt. 13:40 etc.). It seems the rejected saints will share the judgements of Satan, the beast, the antiChrist. Thus Babylon has a millstone tied around her neck and she is thrown into the sea (Rev. 18:21), just as the judgement of the rejected saints is described (Mt. 18:6). They will be ground to powder by the stone of Christ (Mt. 21:44), just as he will fall on the nations of the Babylon confederacy and grind them to powder (Dan. 2:34). The Lord will appoint his unwatchful servant a place of condemnation &quot;with the unbelievers&quot; (Lk. 12:46). This is understandable once we appreciate the idea that there are only two Kingdoms, God\'s and Satan\'s. The unworthy were effectively in Satan\'s Kingdom, therefore they will suffer the judgement that is prepared for it. Therefore we <i>must</i> separate from Babylon, Satan\'s Kingdom, or else we will receive her judgements (Rev. 18:4). Likewise the condemnation of the apostate in Israel is very often described in the language of the judgements on the surrounding kingdoms (e.g. Joel&nbsp;1:5,10-12 = Is. 16:10; Ez. 16:37-39 = Rev. 17:16; Jer. 16:9 = Rev. 18:23; Jer. 49:4 = Jer. 31:22; Jer. 51:27 = Joel 1:4; 2:1; Jer. 50:13 =&nbsp;19:8). The cup of judgement that Israel will drink will be given to the Arab nations who have afflicted her (Is. 51:23). This is all the principle of Rev. 18:6; as the latter day Babylon does to natural and spiritual Israel, so it will be done to her. Apostate Israel are often described as if they are their neighbours- they share the same judgements, because they have effectively sold their birthright. Israel &quot;sat... as the Arabian in the wilderness&quot; (Jer. 3:2). Judah would be punished along with Egypt, Moab and Ammon, the circumcised with the uncircumcised (Jer. 9:25,26). Thus Rom. 9:8 describes faithless Israel as &quot;the children of the flesh&quot;, with allusion to Arab Ishmael; and Gal. 4:23 likewise. The early chapters of Romans reason that both Jew and Gentile receive the same judgment, because both have sinned. The judgements on the nations are all described in similar language, whatever time or place they were in. Thus&nbsp;Babylon&rsquo;s judgement in Rev. 18 is based on the judgement of Egypt as recorded in Ez. 32:4-10, and Egypt\'s judgement of Ez. 29:4 is that of Gog in Ez. 38:4. The whole description of Egypt\'s judgments in Ez. 29 is also full of links with those in store for Israel. <i>They</i> will cry unto Yahweh in their affliction (Is. 19:20), just as Israel did when Egypt persecuted them (Ex. 2:23; 14:10). There are so many examples of this. Surely the point is that fundamentally, all the nations of the world, in whatever time and place, are all fundamentally the same Kingdom of Satan, and will suffer the same destruction by the Kingdom of God. Likewise the Kingdom of God to which we belong is not limited by time or geography.</p><p>When God described Nineveh as a &ldquo;great city&rdquo;, the very fact of its size elicited a desire to spare it. And of course we meet the same phrase in Revelation, where a condemned Babylon is described as a &ldquo;great city&rdquo;. This was not God gleefully preparing to destroy a huge city. He surely had Nineveh in mind when He inspired those words. This was, and will be, a God whose very heart is touched by the tragedy of sinners having to be punished, and who is open to a change of purpose if they will repent. Thus the latter day appeal to &ldquo;Come out of her&rdquo;, whether we understand &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo; as false religion, the Moslem world, the world of sinners or whoever, is rooted in God&rsquo;s spirit of passionate love towards Nineveh. As Jonah &ldquo;cried&rdquo; against Nineveh, so God &lsquo;cries&rsquo; against Babylon (Rev. 18:2). We who make that appeal in these last days should be reflecting here on earth the mind of God in Heaven; not merely pronouncing doom and gloom against &lsquo;Babylon&rsquo;, but warning them of God&rsquo;s stated intentions towards them <i>with a heart that bleeds for them and seeks their repentance.</i></p><p>The writer of Psalm 137, sitting angry and frustrated by a Babylonian riverside, with his guitar hanging on a willow branch, being jeered (&ldquo;tormented&rdquo; Ps. 137:3 RVmg.)&nbsp; by the victorious Babylonian soldiers who had led him away captive&hellip; he felt <i>so</i> angry with them. Especially when they tried to make him sing one of the temple songs (&ldquo;sing us one of the songs of Zion&rdquo;). And, as a bitter man does, his mind went from one hurt to another. He remembered how when Babylon had invaded, the Edomites hadn&rsquo;t helped their Hebrew brethren (Obadiah 11,12). They had egged on the Babylonian soldiers in ripping down the temple, shouting in a chorus? &ldquo;Raze it, raze it, even to the foundation&rdquo;. And so in anger and bitterness this Jew prays with tears, as he remembered Zion, &ldquo;O daughter of Babylon&hellip; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the rock&rdquo; (:8,9 RV). God read those angry words as a prayer, and in some sense they will have their fulfilment.&nbsp; For these words are picked up in Rev. 18:8,21 and applied to what will finally happen to Babylon. Her spiritual children will be dashed against the rock of Christ, the stone of Daniel 2:44, at His return. He will dash in pieces the Babylon-led people that oppose Him.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8310','1','66','18','22','22','<p>18:22 <i>And the voice of harpers and minstrels and flute players and trumpeters shall never be heard again in you, and no craftsman of whatever craft shall ever be found again in you, and the voice of a mill shall never be heard again in you</i>- An allusion to Solomon\'s temple, confirming the religious nature of \'Babylon\'. This fits the first century application to Judaism, and to a latter day application to Jihadist Islam, which claims to be the true Judaism. Craftsmen and creative people of all sorts will have been brought to Babylon, enthroned in Jerusalem, both to build it and continue servicing it. Mills were operated by slaves; those Jews and Christians being abused by this latter day Egypt / Babylon. But that shall be no more.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8311','1','66','18','23','23','<p>18:23 <i>The light of a lamp shall never shine again in you, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall never be heard again in you-</i> The Old Testament basis for this is not simply the judgments upon Babylon, but also those upon Jerusalem at the hand of Babylon (Jer. 7:34; 16:9). For latter day Babylon shall be built in Jerusalem; see on 16:19. So it is appropriate also that what Babylon did to Jerusalem shall be done to her. This all suggests that Babylon shall desolate and judge Jerusalem in the latter days and then in turn be judged for doing so. Jerusalem will fall to her enemies, as Zech. 14 and the Lord\'s Olivet Prophecy clearly require. </p><p>The contrast is with how the Lord Himself will be the eternal light of Jerusalem, the city of God (22:5; Is. 60:19,20). A new Jerusalem shall come down from God out of Heaven to replace the burnt ruins of the Babylon system there.</p><p><i>For your merchants were the princes of the earth; and with your sorcery were all the nations deceived</i>- All the princes of the earth / land were influenced by her wine, making them drunk with a fanaticism against Israel and true Christians. This radical jihadist propaganda was accepted by the merchants because it made them wealthy by serving the demands of Babylon. We can therefore see the West accepting her sorcery to some extent, for purely economic motives. Although the ten horns / kings of the land are to be destroyed, they are here associated with the &quot;merchants&quot;, those not within Babylon itself, but serving her. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8312','1','66','18','24','24','<p>18:24 <i>And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth</i>- No one religious system is guilty for the blood of every martyr over time. The more sensible reference is to the blood of the believers slain in the earth / land promised to Abraham, during the latter day tribulation. &quot;The nations&quot; in view are those within the earth / land of Babylon\'s dominion: &quot;At the noise of the taking of Babylon the earth trembles, and the cry is heard among the nations&quot; (Jer. 50:46). The nations in view are those of the earth / land. The deaths of all Jews and true Christians in the earth / land during the tribulation is the direct responsibility of the Babylon system.</p><p>The reference is also to Judaism and Jerusalem, in whom was found the blood of the faithful (Jer. 2:34). In the first century context, it is Jerusalem-based Judaism which is in view. But in the last days, it is Babylon-Jerusalem, in that the whore of Babylon and her beast makes its blasphemous capital in Jerusalem. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8313','1','66','19','1','1','<p>19:1 <i>After these things I heard what seemed to be a great voice of a great crowd in heaven, saying: Hallelujah Salvation and glory and power, belong to our God</i>- John is seeing the Angelic representatives of the believers in his vision of the heavenly throne room. This is the same &quot;great crowd&quot; of 7:9 (s.w.), those who had endured the tribulation of the beast\'s domination. But the lives of believers are hid with Christ in God; the Lord is in the bosom of the Father. Therefore those \'in Heaven\' don\'t refer to the departed souls of believers, but rather to the believers who are in heavenly places in Christ. This is a common NT theme. By contrast, the earth dwellers of Revelation are those who suffer the latter day judgments. The believers are here spoken of as praising God because the literal articulation of salvation in Christ is now clearly about to be revealed. It could be that the whole metaphor of believers \'in Heaven\' is used in Revelation because it is their guardian Angels who are in view, who represent them before God, individually and as collectives, of ecclesias and groups throughout history at particular points and circumstances.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8314','1','66','19','2','2','<p>19:2 <i>For true and righteous are His judgments- </i>The awful loss of life and gross destruction is recognized by them as not only necessary but righteous. For we have noted how often the Babylon system was given the chance to repent.</p><p><i>For He has judged the great prostitute, she that corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants shed by her</i>- It\'s hard to imagine any single entity corrupting literally the whole planet, right into the jungles of Amazonia and onto every island of the Pacific. The more natural interpretation is that the earth refers to the land, a more limited area of the planet\'s surface- the land promised to Abraham. The behaviours of the whore are either throughout all history, or at a more limited period of time. That period of time is more naturally, within the context of Revelation, the last days. The kings of the earth / land who were influenced by the whore would then refer to the kings of the land area promised to Abraham, influenced by the wine of her jihadist teaching.</p><p>&quot;He has avenged the blood of His servants&quot; shows that the cry of those persecuted in the last days within the land of Abraham (Rev. 6:10) has now been answered.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8315','1','66','19','3','3','<p>19:3 <i>And a second time they said: Hallelujah And her smoke goes up for ever and ever</i>- The impression is of a sacrifice being offered, although the allusion is to the rising smoke of Sodom. Even in the destruction of the wicked, God is glorified. His judgments are a way of glorifying the principles of His Name, and not the lashing out of an offended Deity. The &quot;great crowd&quot; are as it were watching this, and thus are to be connected with faithful Abraham watching the smoke of Sodom arising.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8316','1','66','19','4','4','<p>19:4 <em>And the twenty four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God that sits on the throne, saying: Amen. Hallelujah</em>- See on :1. The Angels join in with the same praise which their human charges are also making. Thus believers and Angels are presented in parallel. For the Angels in Heaven represent believers on earth. It is in this sense, in a practical, mechanical sense, if you like, that truly, man is not alone, but God is with us. But now at this juncture, Angels and believers are united together in praise by the resurrection.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8317','1','66','19','5','5','<p>19:5 <i>And a voice came from the throne, saying: Give praise to our God all you His servants, you that fear Him, the small and the great</i>- We have just read of the elders, living creatures and the &quot;great crowd in heaven&quot; doing just this. This appears therefore to be an appeal to others, on earth, to do what the Angels of Heaven are doing. This is a theme of Revelation- that those who believe are in league with the Heavenly Angels, who are fellow servants with them. Or it could be that again, Revelation is simply not chronological, but a kaleidoscope of images. We would then have explained here in :5 how the situation in :1 praising God came about.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8318','1','66','19','6','6','<p>19:6- see on Rev. 6:9.</p><p><i>And I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great crowd, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying: Hallelujah For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns- </i>This is surely the crowd of :1, referring to the believers. But their voice is mixed with the voice of waters and thunders, the voice of God, which speaks of the intensest manifestation of God through the Angels. Again the impression is given of believers and Angels united, their sounds and voices mingling together as they see the end coming which they both so earnestly desire. God of course reigns now, so their praise that &quot;He reigns&quot; is therefore a re-statement of what they already believed in their mortal lives, but with so much more power and insight. And this will be so true of much of our talking and praising in the Kingdom age.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8319','1','66','19','7','7','<p>19:7 <em>Let us rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let us give the glory to Him. For the marriage of the Lamb comes, and his wife has made herself ready</em>- The collapse of time around the Lord\'s return means that it is unwise and impossible to construct chronologies of events around His coming. But the decorum of the symbol here means that the judgment of God\'s enemies slightly precedes the marriage of the Lamb; His wife is now described as putting on her wedding clothes (:8), and the invitation of guests (:9). But some texts read &quot;Has come&quot;.</p><p>If this voice includes that of those who endured the beast\'s domination and abuse during the tribulation (see on :1), how can they refer to the Lamb\'s wife as if this is an entity separate from themselves? Perhaps they now behold the resurrection of all the faithful from history, and realize that the bride has now been fully assembled. Or again, we should just not let such chronological issues disturb us; for this is apocalyptic, a merger of various images, and not a timeline of events.</p><p>We note that the bride makes <em>herself</em> ready, but with the gift of fine linen clothes of imputed righteousness (:8). Her part in all this is to believe in the imputation of His righteousness and white garments to us in Christ.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8320','1','66','19','8','8','<p>19:8 <em>And it was given to her that she should dress herself in fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints</em>- In contrast with how Babylon likewise was dressed in &quot;fine linen&quot; (see on 18:16). The suggestion therefore is that Babylon is quasi-religious and appears highly moral, when actually it is morally delinquent. This is exactly what we see in Jihadist Islamism. There is clear reference to the Jewish priesthood, and the description also connects with the white clothing of Islamic religious leaders. The fine linen is given to her- it speaks of imputed righteousness (see on :7). The &ldquo;righteous acts&rdquo; of the saints will be publicly arrayed before all (Rev. 19:8)- by none other than the Lord. All their good &lsquo;acts&rsquo; will be revealed to all. And yet that righteousness is what they are clothed with by Christ- perhaps suggesting that their good deeds will be presented in a heightened form, as imputed righteousness, which would explain why the righteous will be shocked that the Lord could speak so highly of them (&ldquo;When saw we thee&hellip;?&rdquo;). But the work of God, the action He requires, is to believe in His imputation of righteousness (Jn. 6:29).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8321','1','66','19','9','9','<p>19:9 <i>And he said to me: Write, Blessed are they that are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb- </i>See on :7. There seems a difference in category between those destroyed by judgments, the Lamb\'s wife, and the invited guests. Presumably the guests are those who are not believers but are not destroyed in the judgments; and these are now invited to participate in the Lamb\'s wedding. And who amongst those who survive Armageddon would not attend? This may speak of the conversion of the remaining population of planet earth.</p><p><i>And he said to me: These are the true words of God</i>- This recalls how in Jn. 19:35 John struggles to get over the utter truth of the words. This is all so wonderfully true.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8322','1','66','19','10','10','<p>19:10 <em>And I fell down before his feet to worship him, and he said to me: You must not do that I am a fellow-servant with you, and with your brothers that hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy</em>- The Angels are right now serving the same Lord we do; our work for Him is done in invisible partnership with them. The preaching or testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, says Rev. 19:10. I understand this to mean that our testimony to Jesus is in the spirit of the Old Testament prophets. For Rev. 22:6 associates the God of the holy prophets a phrase referring to the Old Testament prophets in Lk. 1:70 and Acts 3:32 with the same God who is with us in our witnessing to Christ. And Rev. 18:20 speaks of those prophets rejoicing in the last day together with all preachers of the Gospel. This is why incidents from the lives and teaching of the Old Testament prophets are repeatedly alluded to in the New Testament and applied to all of us. James 5:10 puts it bluntly- the prophets are to be taken by us as our examples. Jeremiah was warned: &quot;Be not dismayed of <em>them</em>, lest I dismay <em>you</em>&quot; (Jer. 1:17 RV). This is alluded to by the Lord when He tells us that if we are ashamed of Him and His words, then He will be ashamed of us (Lk. 9:26). The connection surely indicates that the Old Testament prophets and the spirit of their commissioning is intended to apply to us today in our fulfilling of the great commission. Thus the prophets become our pattern for witness; they are our &ldquo;brethren the prophets&rdquo; (Rev.22:9). And so an understanding of them becomes programmatic for our witness today. Our audience, the world in which we live, is in essence that in which the prophets lived. Isaiah was up against the attitude that &ldquo;Let us eat and drink; for tomorrow we shall die&rdquo; (Is. 22:13)- and Paul quotes that passage as relevant for all Christians who hold the hope of resurrection amidst a world that does not (1 Cor. 15:32).</p><p>The Angel had made prophecies, and John felt that this was something so wonderful that it separated him from the Angel. But John like us was bearing &ldquo;the testimony of Jesus&rdquo; (Rev. 1:9). The same essential spirit which was in the prophets is in all those who in <em>their</em> spirit or attitude bear the witness of Jesus. Hence the prophesying Angel encourages John not to worship him, but rather to recognize that he is John&rsquo;s &ldquo;fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book&rdquo;, i.e. all believers (Rev. 22:9). And again, this was radical stuff for the initial audience of the Apocalypse. They were being told that they had the prophets as their brethren, and on account of their spirit / attitude of bearing the testimony of Jesus, the same spirit which was in the prophets was in them. The very act of bearing witness to Jesus in our spirit / disposition is in fact to have the same spirit in us which was in the prophets and was the basis of their prophetic witness. This makes the prophets our &ldquo;brethren&rdquo;, not distant white faced &lsquo;saints&rsquo;.&nbsp;See on Mt. 8:22.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8323','1','66','19','11','11','<p>19:11 <em>And I saw the heaven open- </em>This introduces the seven final visions. One of the keys to understanding Revelation is to realize that it is structured as a series of visions based around the number seven. It must also be understood that as with many Old Testament prophecies, the book of Revelation is not strictly chronological in its fulfilment. Sometimes we read something which is actually the final picture, and then we read how this situation came about. At other times, we find a series of visions give us as it were \'snapshots\' of different aspects of the same process. The seven final visions are introduced by the rubric &quot;And I saw...&quot;. It is my suggestion that they each show different aspects of the process of setting up the Kingdom. All references are to Revelation unless otherwise stated. The thoughtful student of the final chapters of Revelation will realize that there are difficulties in \'fitting in\' the usual view of the Millennium as a thousand year reign with the information presented there. The suggestion is made in these notes on chapter 20 that the &quot;thousand years&quot; simply means \'a very long time\', and refers to eternity. This solves the problem that a rebellion at the end of the \'Millennium\' would contradict Is. 9:7; 60:18; Jer. 3:17 and other passages which teach that &quot;they shall learn war no more&quot; after the Kingdom is established. The wrath of God is finished when the seven <em>last</em> plagues are poured out (Rev. 15:1 RV), at the Lord\'s return, i.e. at the <em>beginning</em> of the \'Millennium\'. At the coming of Christ, the powers represented by the dragon and beast are defeated and chained up. The dead are raised and judged. The rejected join the dragon in the \'bottomless pit\', an area on the borders of the land of promise, i.e. the initial geographical extent of the Kingdom.&nbsp; Here they are restrained, but once the Kingdom is established, perhaps after a period of 7 years or so, they \'attack\' the land of Israel, where the Kingdom of God has been established. They are then destroyed. The Kingdom then continues eternally. The descriptions of a judgment seat in these final chapters are all related to the same judgment seat, i.e. that when Christ returns. The OT prophecies of a \'Millennium\' with mortal people in it either apply to the setting up period of the Kingdom, or they are to be read in a more figurative way.</p><p><em>And beheld a white horse, and he that sat thereon was called Faithful and True</em>- A clear reference to the Lord Jesus, who will now bring about the true, faithful fulfilment of God\'s promises (Rev. 3:14). He was &quot;the faithful witness / martyr&quot; (Rev. 1:5) in that He suffered at the hands of a beast system, and can thus especially identify with those believers slain by the beast in the final tribulation. John has been allowed a peek into the heavenly throne room. But now heaven itself opens, and the Lord Jesus emerges from there to return to earth.</p><p><em>And in righteousness he judges and makes war</em>- The same presentation of the Lord Jesus as both a warrior and a bridegroom are found in Ps. 45:3-6. There He is pictured as going forth to make war in all His glory for the sake of &quot;truth, humility and righteousness&quot; (Ps. 45:4). There is a powerful juxtaposition of ideas here- He goes forth in glory on behalf of humility. It is the humble believers who will have been persecuted and slain, and now the Lord of humility goes forth in all His glory for their sakes.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8324','1','66','19','12','12','<p>19:12 <em>And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems- </em>The seemingly invincible beast with his seven diadems now seems so puny compared to the Lord.</p><p><em>And he has a name written which no one knows but him</em>- We likewise will have a unique name known / appreciated only by us (2:17). No-one can enter into the Lord\'s personal sense of resurrection and reward; there will always be an unreachable, untouchable element in Him throughout eternity. Surely this makes our relationship with Him the more appealing.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8325','1','66','19','13','13','<p>19:13- see on Heb. 12:24.</p><p><em>And he is dressed in a garment sprinkled with blood- </em>This alludes to Joseph&rsquo;s blood drenched coat and Is. 63:2; the basis upon which the Lord executes judgment is that He died for us, and His garments were literally blood sprinkled at the crucifixion. He Himself said that His qualification as judge is because He is &quot;son of man&quot;.</p><p><em>And his name is called The Word of God</em>- John reminds us of this title for the Lord because in His actions at the time of judgment and establishment of the Kingdom on earth, He will be the full manifestation of God\'s word, a word which shall then come to its final climax. Note that &quot;the word <em>logos</em> of God&quot; is a title of the Lord Jesus. So many misunderstand Jn. 1:1-3 by failing to realize this. That word is God, etc.; but it is a <em>title</em> of the Lord, His &quot;Name&quot;, rather than he Himself personally.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8326','1','66','19','14','14','<p>19:14- see on Mt. 24:28.</p><p><i>And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses</i>- Remember that the Lord returns to earth with the Angels, and not alone. However the armies in Heaven also refer to the faithful, who are presented as with God, their lives hid with Christ in Him who is in the bosom of the Father. John has seen them represented by Angels in his visions of the heavenly court room.</p><p><em>Clothed in fine linen, white and pure</em>- In contradistinction to the white clothes of the jihadist sheikhs of 18:16, whose white linen was not pure but mixed with all the trappings of materialism.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8327','1','66','19','15','15','<p>19:15 <em>And out of his mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it he should strike down the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron</em>- The language of the Lord Jesus at His return (Ps. 2:9); and yet it has already been quoted in Revelation about how we shall do the same (2:27). See on 12:5. All that is true of the Lord Jesus personally shall be true of us who are in and with Him.</p><p><i>And He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the anger of God</i>- Anyone doing this would have red clothes, spattered with red grape juice. The connection is with His appearance at the crucifixion; see on :13. The cross was &quot;the judgment of this world&quot;, and now that judgment is articulated. He judges because He went through the tribulation of the cross. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8328','1','66','19','16','16','<p>19:16<em> And he has on his garment and on his thigh a name written</em>- A reference to His sword, through which He has become Lord of all human lords and kings (Ps. 45:3)? The allusion is to the way in which names were inscribed on the hilts of swords. His thigh is therefore put for the sword which is on His thigh. For He is presented here as a horseman.</p><p><em>King of kings and Lord of lords</em>- As with many aspects of teaching and language, it is often difficult for us to appreciate how radically revolutionary they were in the first century context; and in essence they should lose none of their radicalness with us. David Bosch observes: &quot;Christians confessed Jesus as Lord of all lords- the most revolutionary political demonstration imaginable in the Roman Empire&quot;. Philip Yancey likewise: &quot;As the church spread throughout the Roman empire, its followers took up the slogan &quot;Christ is Lord&quot;, a direct affront to Roman authorities who required all citizens to take the oath \'Caesar the state is Lord\'&quot;. It hurt, it cost, to recognize Him as Lord. And so it should with us. Men and women died for this; and we likewise give our lives in response to that very same knowledge. There is a tendency, which the Lord Himself brought to our attention, of calling Him Lord but not doing what He says. To know Him as Lord in truth is axiomatically to be obedient to Him (Lk. 6:46). The reality of the Lordship of Jesus is used in Revelation (19:12, 16) to encourage the brethren to continue fearless in their witness despite persecution. Jesus is Lord of the kings of the earth; He has control over the world; therefore, no human power can harm us without His express permission and purpose. The exhortation of Ps. 110 is powerful: because Jesus is now seated at the Father\'s right hand, His people offer themselves as freewill offerings in this, the day of His power. They are arrayed in &ldquo;holy attire&quot; because <em>He</em> has been made the Priest after the order of Melchizedek- they share in the work which His exaltation has enabled (Ps. 110:1,3,4 RVmg.).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8329','1','66','19','17','17','<p>19:17 <i>And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying- </i>The Angel represents someone or some body of persons standing within the sun of the Lord Jesus, the sun of righteousness which has now arisen. The appeal is made on His behalf by some others- maybe us, or natural Israel, appealing to the nations who have survived Armageddon.</p><p><i>To all the birds that fly in mid heaven</i>- I have suggested on :9 that the guests invited to the marriage are not the same as the Lamb\'s wife, and these guests refer to the unbelievers in the world who are not destroyed in the judgments upon the world. They are here described as in mid heaven, between earth and heaven. The &quot;earth&quot; dwellers are judged; those &quot;in Heaven&quot; are the believers, their lives hid with Christ in Him who is in the bosom of the Father. Those in between these groups would then appropriately refer to unbelievers who have not heard the Gospel and who are spared the latter day judgments upon the earth. But now they are invited to take their place at the Lord\'s table.</p><p><em>Come, be gathered together</em>- I have suggested above that the birds could refer to the Gentile nations now invited to the marriage supper as guests. But birds of prey being gathered together is the language of Ez. 39:17-20, where they are invited to assist in the destruction of the ten nations led by Gog who come up against Israel.</p><p><i>To the great supper of God</i>- This Messianic banquet is prefigured in the breaking of bread. We should invite unbelievers there, just as unbelievers are invited to the ultimate banquet (see on :9 and :17). To exclude people from it is serious indeed. It is a means of witness and invitation to participation.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8330','1','66','19','18','18','<p>19:18 <i>Eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of those that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bondservant and small and great</i>- &quot;Small and great&quot; is the same language used about those who accepted the mark of the latter day beast in Rev. 13:16. The allusion is clearly to the similar scene in Ez. 39, where the victims in view are the Islamic host of Israel\'s neighbours led by &quot;Gog&quot;. These are the same group who are pictured in Revelation as the kings of the land promised to Abraham, who come forth to dominate God\'s people and land in the last days. The emphasis upon &quot;flesh&quot; suggests this is to be viewed as a sacrifice- the great sacrifice which Yahweh has in the Muslim territories of &quot;Edom&quot; (Is. 34:6). The connection with the marriage supper of the lamb (:9) is perhaps in that the believers have their supper, as the Lamb\'s wife, and those who are not judged to destruction are invited to theirs as wedding guests but not as the bride; or it could be that these are in fact aspects of the same supper. The Messianic banquet is therefore an open table to those not yet believers, in order for them to come to faith. The Lord\'s table should be used in the same way today, for it is a foretaste of the Messianic banquet of the last day.</p><p>The kings refer to the kings of the earth / land who have given their allegiance to the beast / Babylon. Those invited to eat their flesh are clearly a different category to those who have been slain, and I suggest they refer to the unbelievers left on planet earth who have not yet sided with Christ and yet are not part of the Babylon system.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8331','1','66','19','19','19','<p>19:19 <em>And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army</em>- We have already had several visions of the total destruction of the beast; this may be another one, going back to explain how the blessed situation spoken of earlier in this chapter has been achieved. Or it could be that Babylon has been destroyed, but the beast apparently still exists; just as the dragon loses power in chapter 12 but re-emerges in the form of the other beasts. It could be that her capital city is destroyed but the wider system still exists. Or it could be that such a reading is still too much within space-time constructs, and it seems these dimensions will be somewhat collapsed in the events around the Lord\'s coming, making chronological sequences of events worthless to predict.</p><p>The horns on the beast are &ldquo;the kings of the earth&rdquo;, but these kings and the beast arise out of the earth and the sea the nations around the earth; and in line with Daniel 7, this is the land promised to Abraham. The connection with 2 Chron. 20 and the other references to Israel\'s neighbouring enemies \'gathering together\' invites us to see the beast as a primarily Arab organization.&nbsp;If there is a detailed allusion here to the 2 Chron. 20 scenario, Jehoshaphat (against whom the opposing kings initially gathered together) would represent Jesus, and Jehoshaphat\'s army would tally with the resurrected saints.&nbsp;&nbsp; In this case, the final onslaught will be after the return of Jesus. We saw this in chapters 11 and 12; the dragon is cast out of political power, but with just a short time left, goes forth to make war with the woman. In passing, note the differentiation between the leaders in this conflict and their armies:&nbsp; &quot;The kings of the earth, and their armies... him that sat on the horse (Jesus) and against his army&quot;. This would suggest a specific hatred of the Lord Jesus which is separate from, although in addition to, their antipathy towards Israel and the Christian believers.&nbsp;It may also be possible to see in the separation between &quot;the kings of the earth, and their armies&quot; a certain degree of coercion, or difference of motivation, between leaders and people.</p><p>Christ goes out to make war (:11), and the Beast and his armies go out to make war against Him- head on conflict. We have gone back in time, as it were, to have another vision of the final conflict, although this has been presented in various ways in earlier visions. This is war with Christ- He is already crowned, 19:12. Likewise the invasion of Ez. 38/9 is after Christ\'s return, when Israel dwell safely, and we have the Psalm 2 scenario of the Lord enthroned in Jerusalem being attacked by armies. Perhaps the revived beast wants to recapture Babylon-Jerusalem from Him after it has been destroyed (see on 16:19). In this case, we see the limited value of visible miracles; they will have seen plenty of them, but are so blinded by materialism that they wish to still defy the Divine and attempt to recapture Jerusalem.</p><p>The beast, the kings of the earth and their armies \'gather together\' to fight against Christ. This may be the gathering of 16:13,14; they are gathered together by the power of the false miracles despite all the evidence of true miracles before their eyes. Thus v. 20 mentions how &quot;the false prophet that wrought miracles before the beast&quot; is captured with the beast- the scene of 16:14.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8332','1','66','19','20','20','<p>19:20- see on :19 and Rev. 13:17.</p><p><em>And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulphur</em>- There are many connections between Revelation and John\'s Gospel. These miracles are imitations of the miracles of Christ, for which John uses the same phrase (Jn. 2:11,18; 3:2; 4:54; 6:2,14,30; 7:31; 9:16; 10:41; 11:47; 12:18,37; 20:30). Thus the false prophet is an anti-Christ, a fake Christ with fake power and fake validation. Despite the presence of Divine miracles at the time, as there have been for three and a half years from the two witnesses of chapter 11, people believe what they want to believe. Visible miracles are not conclusive nor bound to elicit true faith; as our Pentecostal friends need to take note.</p><p>The destruction of the beast by fire is Babylon\'s destruction too by the same method; it is that spoken of in Dan. 7:11; Is. 30:30,33. The beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire. This is the lake of 20:14,15; 21:8- where the unworthy one time believers are thrown. Thus the punishment of the rejected and that of the world is the same; and therefore there must be a separation <em>now</em>, lest we be &quot;condemned with the world&quot; (1 Cor. 11:29).&nbsp;&quot;Burning with brimstone&quot; / sulphur recalls Sodom- where the unworthy believers shared the same fate as the \'world\' around them. Lot\'s wife was turned into salt, as was the surrounding country (Lk. 17:29). &quot;The lake of fire&quot; will be in the presence of Christ (14:10)- not underground. &quot;Cast alive&quot; suggests torture; cp. 14:10 &quot;tormented&quot;. Others are simply killed outright by Christ\'s word of command (20:21). This would suggest that even among the unresponsible there are degrees of punishment. Casting into a pit and fire as punishment compares with Babylon\'s persecution of Daniel and his friends. What Babylon does to others shall be done to it. Note too how the Assyrian is described in Is. 30:31-33 as being thrown into a lake of fire- just as the future beast will be (Rev. 19:20). See on 2 Thess. 2:8.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8333','1','66','19','21','21','<p>19:21 <i>Slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse</i>- The Lord\'s destructive power will involve words of command rather than He literally, personally slaying the wicked. We need not therefore imagine us personally killing the members of the beast system. And we have noted several times that their destruction is largely at the hands of each other. Even the coming down of fire and sulphur may be due to their own nuclear weaponry backfiring upon them. The &quot;all men&quot; whose flesh is to be eaten by those in mid-heaven, the Gentile world, are the remaining followers of the beast and false prophet. This eating by fowls is equated with burning in the lake of fire, or Gehenna (Rev. 19:20,21). Several passages in Jeremiah associate the mauling of carcases by fowls with destruction in Gehenna. This creates the image of the beast being ravaged by the \'fowls\' of either natural Israel (as they represented in David\'s speech to Goliath) or the nations once confederate with \'Babylon\', as they seem to represent in Daniel.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8334','1','66','20','1','1','<p>20:1 <i>I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand- </i>If Scripture interprets Scripture, then this has to have connection with the Angel who descends and opens the bottomless pit in Revelation 9. This Angel unleashes locusts who bring terrible destruction upon the earth / land for five months, and the Angel morphs into a leader called Abaddon. The Angel may therefore refer to a literal Angel of Heaven who represents an individual upon earth; for all upon earth, good and bad, have Angelic representation in the court of Heaven. The same scene is before us here in chapter 20; an Angel binds and then releases the dragon for &quot;a little time&quot; (20:3), the &quot;five months&quot; of Rev. 9. In my notes on Revelation 9, I have tried to demonstrate that the situation envisaged there suggests an Islamic outpouring of fury upon the earth / land in the very last days. Revelation is not strictly chronological; it is apocalyptic, not a chronological timeline progressing from beginning to end. Our European, linear thinking minds yearn for such tidy chronological progression and we tend to seek to force prophecy into such a structure. But we are dealing with Hebrew, Semitic thought- and moreover, the apocalyptic genre. The various visions refer back to each other, explaining in more detail how the various earlier pictures are arrived at. The events of Revelation 9 refer clearly enough to the events of the last days, at the Lord\'s second coming; and not to events at the end of a Millennium. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8335','1','66','20','2','2','<p>20:2 <i>And he laid hold of the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan- </i>This description is found only in Rev. 12:9, where this entity is cast out of \'Heaven\', i.e. a place of power and rulership, at the time of the establishment of God\'s Kingdom on earth at Christ\'s second coming (Rev. 12:10). This is precisely the picture here- that when the thousand years the Kingdom is established AV &quot;fulfilled&quot;, then the dragon is bound and then released for a short time. At the time of the second coming of Christ, this dragon / serpent / evil / satan entity has &quot;but a short time&quot; (Rev. 12:12). This is the &quot;little time&quot; which the dragon is released for in 20:3. Revelation 12 has left us with the dragon deposed from power but about to get madly furious for a little time. Now Revelation 20 is explaining the details; that final mad fury of the dragon is in fact precisely under Angelic control. And that will be a great comfort to those who live through that period of the dragon\'s madness; things are not at all out of control, he has been bound and now briefly released by the Angels of Heaven. If we ask <i>why</i> it has to be this way- perhaps we are to conclude that the releasing was in order&nbsp;to give the dragon an opportunity to repent. Because throughout Revelation, we encounter this amazing hallmark of Divine activity with even the most desperately evil of men and systems: He wishes to give them every chance of repentance. But in this case, the dragon abuses it, and meets his rightful end in total destruction.<br /><i><br />And bound him</i>- The chaining of the devil/ dragon/ serpent in 20:2 probably refers more to the binding of the manifestation of sin in the political devil/ dragon/ beast/ serpent of 12:7 than to abstract sin. Revelation is a message from the Lord Jesus. He had earlier spoken of binding and burning the sons of the Devil at His return (Mt. 13:38,39). He uses the same words here- the Devil will be bound and burned. But that binding and burning envisaged in Mt. 13 clearly speaks of events at His return, and not at the end of a Millennium. The Lord uses the same figure of &lsquo;binding&rsquo; to describe how the condemned <i>people</i> at the final judgment will be &lsquo;bound hand and foot&rsquo; by the Angels and then destroyed (Mt. 22:13)- at His return, not at the end of a Millennium. Notice that Satan&rsquo;s deceit of the nations and all of his powers were totally in control of God (Rev. 20:2,3,7). Satan is not a free agent to act as he wishes, without regard for God. Rev. 20:1&ndash;3 is surely based upon Is. 24:21,22, which prophesied that the kings of the earth / land will be gathered together, imprisoned in a pit and punished. It is these very human &ldquo;kings of the earth&rdquo; who are described in the more figurative language of Revelation as &ldquo;Satan&rdquo;. Isaiah 24 is talking about the time of the Lord\'s return to earth, and not any scene at the end of a Millennium.</p><p>The idea of shutting up in the abyss is taken from Is. 24:22,23: &ldquo;And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days, they shall be visited. Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the Lord of Hosts shall reign in mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.&rdquo; The context refers to the events of the Lord\'s coming, and not 1,000 years after it.</p><p><i>For a thousand years</i>- Most numbers in Revelation are symbolic, so it seems unwise to think that this number is literal. I have earlier, elsewhere argued for a literal Millennium, but closer reflection on Revelation 20 has led me to question that view. Because the allusions to other parts of Revelation and other Scripture all speak of these events happening at the Lord\'s return to earth, not to anything at the end of a 1,000 year period. Further, the Bible was written <i>for </i>us and not directly <i>to</i> us; it was written <i>to </i>its primary audience and in their language. The Jewish audience first receiving this message would have understood the &quot;thousand years&quot; as a reference to the eternal Kingdom of God on earth, and not to a limited Millennial reign of Messiah for 1,000 years. See too my comments on :5 <i>The first resurrection</i>, which happens when the &quot;thousand years&quot; are &quot;ended&quot;, or as the Greek better means, \'established\'. This is a stubborn problem of interpretation for those who hold the traditional Millennial reign view. The figure of 1,000 may be connected with the size of the Most Holy Place, 10 x 10 x 10 cubits, which is alluded to in the description of the new Jerusalem: &ldquo;The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal&rdquo; (21:16).</p><p>I suggest that here again we have an example of Scripture alluding to contemporary incorrect ideas and deconstructing them. The Jews until about 150 B.C. believed that Messiah would return and establish His Kingdom on earth. But influenced by their humiliation under the Romans, they came to believe that the world was too evil for Messiah to return to, and that it required a 1000 year period of purification by the Jews before Messiah could return. Slavonic Enoch 22&ndash;23, which has been dated at around 50 A.D., stated this specifically. Revelation was therefore written with this idea current in the surrounding Jewish world. I suggest that this incorrect view is being alluded to and deconstructed, by stating that Messiah will come at the <i>beginning</i> of the 1000 years and &lsquo;purify&rsquo; the earth forcibly by figuratively &lsquo;chaining&rsquo; Satan. Thus Messiah is to come and purify the earth Himself, rather than the Jews having to purify the earth for 1000 years before Messiah could come.</p><p>The following difficulties with the classical view of a Millennial reign are taken from Harry Whittaker:</p><p>(a)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The prophecies of lasting peace in the kingdom of Christ are quite explicit: &ldquo;they shall learn war no more&rdquo;.<br />(b)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Also, there is to be lasting godliness: &ldquo;At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart&rdquo; (Jeremiah 3: 17). &ldquo;Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders&rdquo; (Isaiah 60:18). &ldquo;Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end&rdquo; (Isaiah 9:7).<br />(c)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Rebellion against immortals is so palpably silly. By comparison modern nuclear armament, which every Bible reader can see to be a lunatic policy, has calm reason on its side. For, armed with the big bombs, there is always a thin chance that you will devastate the other half of the world before it does the same to you. But for nations, who have had a thousand years&rsquo; experience of divine power and immortality, to calculate that their puny strength can win against God presupposes a mental deterioration to kindergarten level during the millennium.<br />(d)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The practical problem insists on obtruding itself - where will these rebel nations get their weapons from? Swords will have all been turned into ploughshares.<br />(e)&nbsp;&nbsp; &ldquo;He must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet&rdquo; (1 Corinthians 15: 25). The words imply a steady progress towards complete godliness. The idea of a great boil-up of rebellion at the end is surely most difficult to reconcile with this.<br />(f)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A massive rebellion at the end of a thousand years would stamp the reign of Christ as a failure. To think that the end of all his efforts in teaching, guidance, personal influence and benign rule (to say nothing of the immortal aid of men like Moses and Paul) is to be &ldquo;We will not have this man to reign over us&rdquo; - this is just incredible to any who settle down to consider it seriously. Jesus accomplished his work as Prophet, Sacrifice and High Priest perfectly. Can anyone be happy that his work as king is to end in failure? - for can a long, long reign which ends in turbulent rebellion be reckoned as a success?<br />(g)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A rebellion such as is described in Revelation 20 does not arise in five minutes. Even a triviality like the Suez episode in 1957 called for weeks of detailed organization, which could not be kept secret from the rest of the world. Nevertheless one is asked to believe that Christ and his immortals will know nothing at all of this mighty Gog-Magog uprising until it bursts upon the world. The only alternative seems to be that, knowing all that is being secretly concocted, they will pretend to ignore it, so that the rebels may be lured to their own destruction. Would any reader be happy about the morality of such a proceeding?<br />(h)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; It is sometimes postulated that if the visible authority of Christ were to be withdrawn for a time, then - human nature being what it is - rebellion would be almost certain to ensue within a short while. But does Scripture speak of any such withdrawal of the Messiah&rsquo;s authority? This seems to have been invented specially to cope with a big difficulty. On the other hand, Isaiah is explicit that &ldquo;thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light&rdquo; (60:20).<br />(i)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The coincidence of the names Gog and Magog in Revelation 20 with that of the leader of the great confederacy of Ezekiel 38 does not seem to have been given its proper weight. With any other Bible problem such a coincidence would shout for the two to be equated with each other. Then may it not be said that any interpretation which does line up these two prophecies as having the same fulfilment has a much stronger claim to acceptance than one which severs all connection between them and instead inserts a gap of a thousand years? or is &ldquo;Interpret Scripture by Scripture&rdquo; to stand as a sound principle everywhere except in Revelation 20?<br />(j)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Revelation 15:1 R.V. The Vials are described as &ldquo;the seven plagues which are the last, for in them is finished the wrath of God.&rdquo; The logical conclusion from these words is that the judgement of the Gog-Magog rebellion takes place before the outpouring of the Vials is concluded.<br />(k) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Has the difficulty ever been properly faced that this amazing rising against all that is good and beneficent is spoken of in Scripture in one place only? Are Christadelphians to copy Mormons, &ldquo;Jehovah&rsquo;s Witnesses&rdquo; and such, in their disreputable habit of confidently basing major beliefs on one passage of Scripture? Have we, the people of the Book, not yet learned the elementary lesson of mistrust in our own powers of Bible interpretation? We believe what we believe about our &ldquo;First Principles&rdquo; not because of one text of Scripture but because of the massive over-all testimony of many passages. Shall we then go back on this thoroughly sound attitude here, and this, concerning verses in the Book of Revelation, of all places, the book about the interpretation of which there is less room for dogmatism than any other in the Bible?</p><p>To these I would add the fact that 21:4 says that death shall be no more. The passage in Rev. 21 is full of reference to descriptions of the establishment of the Kingdom at Christ\'s return, when the bridge meets the bridegroom (21:2). If death itself ends when the bride and groom meet at the Lord\'s return, then this settles the issue. There will be no more concept of death after that. It cannot be that there will be no more death if a mortal population still exists. Death is ended by death being thrown into the lake of fire here in chapter 20. This is the same as death being no more.</p><p>As to what Revelation 20:4 does not mean, in terms of those who wrest it to support the idea of a cosmic satan literally existing; see my comments in <i>The Real Devil</i>.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8336','1','66','20','3','3','<p>20:3 <i>And threw him into the abyss- </i>The same word as in Lk. 8:31,33, where the demons ask Christ not to send them into the abyss; the parallel record says that they asked not to be sent out of the land of Israel (Mk. 5:10). Also Rom. 10:7 uses the abyss as a term for the lands beyond Israel (it is referring to Dt. 30:13). The beast that comes out of the abyss comes out of the sea (11:7; 13:1). It seems that the geographical area outside Israel from where the beast comes (i.e. the Arab world?) is where it is returned to for punishment. I have suggested in commentary on chapter 9 that the abyss may refer to a distinct geographical area in or on the edge of the earth / land promised to Abraham.</p><p><i>And shut it</i>- The same word is used of how the door is shut around the faithful believers with whom Christ rejoices at His return (Mt. 25:10). There is a brief, appropriate period of intimacy between Christ and His people, during which the dragon cannot do anything.</p><p><i>And sealed it over him</i>- The same word is used about how the final seven thunders of calamity upon the earth / land are &quot;sealed&quot; (Rev. 10:4). This seems to refer to a brief period in between the Lord\'s return and when He resumes dealing with the dragon system.</p><p><i>That he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years should be finished</i>- Loosed a little season once eternity (the &quot;1000 years&quot;) is established. The same word translated &quot;finished&quot; is translated to accomplish; to establish, build up (Lk. 22:37; Gal. 5:16; James 2:8; LXX: Ruth 3:18; Is. 55:11; Dan. 4:30). Consider the usage of the word elsewhere:</p><p>-&nbsp; Luke 22:37: &ldquo;This that is written must yet be accomplished in me.&rdquo;</p><p>- Galatians 5:16: &ldquo;Walk ye in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.&rdquo;</p><p>- James 2:8: &ldquo;If ye fulfil the royal law ... Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye shall do well.&rdquo;</p><p>- Romans 2:27: &ldquo;And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee who ... dost transgress the law?&rdquo;</p><p>- Ruth 3:18: &ldquo;the man (Boaz) will not be in rest until he have finished (i.e. accomplished, achieved) the thing this day.&rdquo;</p><p>- Isaiah 55:11: &ldquo;My word ... shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please.&rdquo;</p><p>- Daniel 4:30: &ldquo;Is not this great Babylon, that I have built&rdquo;.</p><p><i>After this he must be released for a little time- </i>Gk. &quot;loosed&quot; (AV), which connects with the theme throughout Revelation of the loosing of the seals and various judgments which are required before the scroll of the book of life is fully unsealed / loosed (Rev. 5:5; 9:14,15). This loosing is required for the scroll of life to be fully opened; it refers to the time of the Lord\'s return and not the end of a Millennium after His return.</p><p>The Lord spoke in parables so that Israel would be deceived and therefore would not come to salvation (Mk. 4:12; Lk. 8:10 cp. Acts 28:26). This fact is hard to get round for those who feel God isn\'t responsible for deception. Isaiah spoke likewise (Is. 6:9,10; 29:10,11). The Angels will work in such a way as to allow the world to be deceived at this time (Rev. 20:3,8).</p><p>The &quot;little time&quot; is that of 6:11 and 12:12- the time of persecution just before the Lord\'s return at the end of the three and a half year tribulation.&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8337','1','66','20','4','4','<p>20:4 <i>I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed</i>- Surely this must be connected with the promise made to the disciples in identical language- about their reigning at the beginning of God\'s Kingdom on earth (Mt. 19:28; Lk. 22:30), at &quot;the regeneration&quot;, when the Son of Man likewise takes His throne in glory in Jerusalem, &quot;in my Kingdom&quot;.</p><p><i>Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands</i>- This is replete with reference to earlier descriptions in Revelation of those persecuted and slain during the great tribulation just prior to the Lord\'s return. </p><p><i>They came to life</i>- The group in view, the disciples and those who perished during the great tribulation, are resurrected separately. We have seen this implied in notes on 11:12 and 12:5.<br />&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8338','1','66','20','4','4','<p>20:4 <i>Then I saw thrones- </i>Saints sitting on thrones is Dan. 7:22; the throne of the beast is cast down, and judgment thrones given to the faithful.</p><p><i>And seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed</i>- &ldquo;And judgement was given unto them&quot; (AV). This is Dan. 7:22: &ldquo;And judgement was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom&rdquo;. This is clearly at the start of the Kingdom, at Christ\'s return, when the beast enemy of Israel is destroyed. This would also be the time of Ps. 122:5-8: &ldquo;For there (in Jerusalem) are set thrones of judgement, the thrones of the house of David ... Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces. For my brothers and companions&rsquo; sakes, I will now say, Peace be within you&rdquo;.</p><p><i>Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years- </i>The jihadist State will be a strictly religious entity, keen to take the predictions and commands of the Koran and Hadith as literally as possible. Their crucifixions of their enemies are in strict obedience to passages like Sura 5.36: &ldquo;The only reward of those who make war upon Allah and His messenger and strive after corruption in the land will be that they will be killed or crucified&hellip; Such will be their degradation in the world, and in the Hereafter theirs will be an awful doom&rdquo;. And the jihadists likewise are careful to obey the commands to behead enemies: &ldquo;When you encounter the unbelievers on the battlefield, strike off their heads until you have crushed them completely; then bind the prisoners tightly,&rdquo; (Sura 47). The UK <i>Daily Mail </i>reported of ISIS: &ldquo;They lined the streets with the decapitated heads of police and soldiers&rdquo;.&nbsp;Beheading is now a well-known method used by the jihadists, popularized by their videos of beheading Western hostages. We note that it is the fate of those who do not worship the beast or accept his mark in Rev. 20:4. Apologists claim that the Koran doesn&rsquo;t support these beheadings; but it does. &nbsp;<i>Sura</i> 8:12 says that beheading can be used in order to psychologically terrify the non-Moslems: &quot;I will cast dread into the hearts of the unbelievers. Strike off their heads, then, and strike off all of their fingertips<i>&rdquo;. Sura</i> 47:3 is similar: &quot;When you encounter the unbelievers on the battlefield, strike off their heads&rdquo;. Beheading is justified in some of the hadith on the basis that Muhammad ordered the beheading of 700 Jews in Medina for allegedly plotting against him. It is therefore to be used specifically against God&rsquo;s people. Until recently, it seemed impossible that such a method of death would be literally used- but it is now becoming known worldwide that it is indeed being practiced and gloried in within the entity that is taking over the land promised to Abraham. It must be noted that Islam is the only major world religion today that legitimizes beheadings.</p><p>Rev. 20:4 says that there will be a special blessing for those who were beheaded for the sake of Jesus, and this involved them in not worshipping the beast or receiving his mark. The short term fulfilment of this was in the beast as the Roman empire. But the Roman Empire only beheaded <i>citizens</i> (e.g. Paul); non-citizens were killed in other ways, e.g. by crucifixion, throwing to wild beasts. Mentioning beheading was therefore purposeful. The text could more easily have said &lsquo;martyred&rsquo; or &lsquo;killed&rsquo;. The blessing in view, in the first century application, was therefore particularly for Roman citizens who refused to accept the faith of their own empire, for the sake of Christ. The climax of all Bible prophecy, however, is not in history; it is in the literal coming of Christ to earth. In the last days, therefore, Rev. 20:4 must have its final and ultimate fulfilment. But the incipient fulfilment in the days of Rome guides us towards understanding that final fulfilment. I suggest therefore that this class of latter day martyrs refers specifically to those who are citizens within the area controlled by the latter day entity known as the beast. Those who do not submit to its rulership will be beheaded. And we are already seeing that happening in the area, with roads lined with heads. And we see the jihadists forcing Christians and Yezidis to convert to Islam, or to face the sword- quite literally, in beheading. They stated themselves in July 2014: &ldquo;We offer them three choices: Islam; the <i>dhimma</i> contract&mdash;involving payment of <i>jizya</i>; if they refuse this they will have nothing but the sword&rdquo;. The blessing of Rev. 20:4 is for those who endure this for the sake of Christ and witnessing His word in Christ to them. &quot;The word of God&quot; refers to the preaching of the word; the word is designed by its very nature to be preached.</p><p>It could be that it is those who perished during the tribulation who now sit on thrones of judgment to judge those who persecuted them, some of whom died during the tribulation, but are now raised to face judgment and the second death.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8339','1','66','20','5','5','<p>20:5 <i>The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended</i>- This could refer to the rest of the believers throughout history; or, as suggested on :4 and :13, to the members of the beast system who died during the tribulation who are now raised to be judged by those whom they slew. We must note that all of Revelation is specifically about events in the earth / land promised to Abraham, and much of it is specifically about those who live and die during the three and a half year tribulation there.</p><p>They are raised when the Kingdom, &quot;the thousand years&quot;, is \'established\' or as the word is translated misleadingly, in most versions, &quot;ended&quot;. The Kingdom is &quot;ended&quot; in the sense that it is established. I have shown on :3 above that this Greek word certainly bears the translation &quot;established&quot; or &quot;set up&quot;. When the Kingdom is established, the dead are raised; and there will be a period in which the Lord is with them, whilst the dragon is restrained in the abyss.</p><p><i>This is the first resurrection</i>- The resurrection of the dead, specifically those killed during the tribulation, is when the thousand years are established &quot;ended&quot; is the first resurrection. This is a decided difficulty for those holding the traditional view that there are two resurrections, one at the start and one at the end of the Millennium. For here it is stated clearly that the first resurrection is when the 1,000 years are &quot;ended&quot;. I suggest there is little option but to recognize that &quot;ended&quot; is an unhelpful translation, and the sense is rather &quot;established, set up&quot; rather than &quot;ended&quot;. The text never speaks of a \'second resurrection\'. <i>Protos</i>, &quot;first&quot;, admittedly <i>sometimes</i> implies the first of a series, but it can also mean \'the one big and essential thing\'; as in &quot;seek <i>first</i> the Kingdom&quot;. It could even be argued that the usage of <i>protos</i> suggests there is no other resurrection to be thought of at all The only other Bible verse which speaks of two resurrections is in Jn. 5:29, where the Lord speaks of a resurrection to life- perhaps the &quot;first resurrection&quot; and a resurrection <i>at that same time</i> of the unworthy &quot;to death&quot;, spoken of here in Revelation as &quot;the second death&quot;.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8340','1','66','20','6','6','<p>20:6 <i>Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no power</i>- The &quot;second death&quot; could refer to those who die in this life responsible to God, having not responded to Him; are resurrected and judged at Christ\'s return; and then are punished with death, the second death they will have experienced. But the specific reference here is to the members of the beast system who die during the tribulation and are raised to judgment by those whom they killed, judging on the Lord\'s behalf. The &quot;first resurrection&quot; is that which happens when the 1,000 years are &quot;ended&quot; or, as I suggest it should be translated, &quot;established&quot;. The promise not to be hurt by the second death is made to believers of our age (Rev. 2:11)- it occurs at the judgment when Christ returns, not at the end of a Millennium. The second death is symbolized as a lake of fire, into which the dragon is also cast and thus destroyed permanently (Rev. 20:14; 21:8). This second death will in fact be the destruction of death itself, as there shall be no more death after death itself is destroyed (20:14). Yet the second death is threatened to those of this age who do not respond to the Gospel after hearing it (Rev. 2:11). This second death will happen at Christ\'s return, for that is when we shall be judged, and not at the end of a 1,000 year period. The rejected go away into figurative fire and destruction- at the Lord\'s return. Not at some point 1,000 years after that. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8341','1','66','20','7','7','<p>20:7 <i>And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be released from his prison</i>-&nbsp; He was &quot;captured&quot; (19:20) and imprisoned, just as Babylon had been a cage or hold / prison for others (see on 18:2). Again, &quot;finished&quot; should be translated &quot;established&quot;. Satan is released from the abyss as outlined in Revelation 9- which clearly refers to the events of the second coming. See on 20:1 and 20:2.</p><p>This overall sequence of judgment on the kings of the earth, gathering them into a pit, shutting them up, then their revival and final destruction and then the unchallenged, eternal reign of Christ is the same sequence as in Is. 24:20-23. Very significantly, Psalm 2 has a similar picture, of Christ ruling amidst his enemies, &quot;the kings of the earth / land&quot; (cp. Rev. 19:19), who then decide to cast away the cords with which Christ has bound them (Ps. 2:3). This is exactly the scene of Rev. 20; the enchained remnants of the first invasion, along with the rejected saints, being loosed from their chains and surrounding Jerusalem. Interestingly, Psalm 2 describes them throwing off their chains, whilst Rev. 20 says that their chains of condemnation are loosed. Presumably this means that they try a rebellion against the Lord Jesus which he \'lets\' succeed. The language of Rev. 19:15-18 combines allusions to both Psalm 2 and also Ezekiel 38- as if to imply that they both prophecy of the same invasion, i.e. that after Christ has returned.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8342','1','66','20','8','8','<p>20:8 <i>And shall come to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog-</i> The similarities with Ez. 38/9 are so strong; an unsuccessful invasion of God\'s land when His people are in &quot;peace and safety&quot; (a phrase elsewhere used about the Kingdom), and destruction by fire. According to the usual view of Rev. 20, this similarity means absolutely nothing. This cannot be correct exposition. There must be a connection; surely this must refer to the same invasion? It would be the scenario of Psalm 2, where the nations of the land come against the Lord and His people in Jerusalem, after the type of the Assyrians surrounding Hezekiah in Jerusalem. Gog in Ezekiel 38 refers to an individual, not a nation. Is this man Gog to lead an attack against Jerusalem at the beginning <i>and </i>end of a 1,000 year reign?</p><p><i>&quot;</i>Shall come to&quot; should be as AV: &quot;Shall go out&quot;- implying the bottomless pit is a geographical area? Satan deceives the &quot;nations&quot; but 21:1 says that when the Kingdom is established, there will be no more sea, no more nations. Therefore this must be appropriate to the beginning of the Kingdom. During the setting up period, the nations come up to worship Christ, as often prophesied in the O.T.;&nbsp;however, they are described as entering into the city (21:24-27), i.e. attaining immortality through their faith and obedience. The dragon &quot;will come out to deceive the nations which are at the four corners of the earth/ land&quot; (RSV). The Gog / Magog invasion comes from those dwelling in the &quot;isles&quot; (Ez. 39:6); but this Greek phrase often means Gentile areas on the borders of the land (Is. 41:5; Jer. 47:4; and &quot;the isles&quot; in Ezekiel refer to lands bordering the land of promise). Abraham was from the sides of the land of Israel (Is. 41:8,9), the margins of the land of promise- from where the final invasion will come. There is triple emphasis on his deception (:3,8,10). He continues the work of the false prophet, after the false prophet is put into the lake of fire. The dragon carries on his work; the false prophet is Babylon (19:20), who also deceived (18:23). The bottomless pit, where the rebellion comes from, is therefore at the borders of the land. The Kingdom of God is fundamentally based upon the land of Israel.</p><p>The dragon was a deceiver back in 12:9, and still is, as Jezebel in the early church deceived (2:20). The dragon of chapter 12 is cast down at Christ\'s return; the description of the dragon being cast into the pit is an amplification of this. When the dragon is thrown down in chapter 12, he persecutes those of the land (natural Israel?) and the sea (the nations?) for &quot;a short time&quot; (12:12)- the &quot;little season&quot; of 20:3? The dragon is cast out of heaven in 12:9- meaning that he is thrown out of the \'heavens\' of the land of Israel (or the temple specifically), into the earth / world.&nbsp;</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p><b>Rev. 12</b></p>            </td>            <td width=96 valign=top>            <p><b>Rev. 20</b></p>            </td>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p><b>Comment</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>The dragon persecutes the woman for 3&frac12; years</p>            </td>            <td width=96 valign=top>                        </td>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>The tribulation before Christ\'s coming</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>Thrown out of the temple / land of Israel   (heaven) to the earth / rest of the world</p>            </td>            <td width=96 valign=top>            <p>Dragon cast to the abyss</p>            </td>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>Christ comes to throw the man of sin out of his   place in \'heaven\' (2 Thess. 2)</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>There for a while until he realizes he has a   short time</p>            </td>            <td width=96 valign=top>            <p>Chained</p>            </td>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>Setting up of the Kingdom</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>Makes war with the saints for another 3&frac12; years,   replicating the holocaust, also involving suffering for the sea (nations) and   the land-dwellers (natural Israel?)</p>            </td>            <td width=96 valign=top>            <p>Makes war with the saints; aims&nbsp;for   Jerusalem.</p>            </td>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>Rebellion; the invasion of Ez. 38 and maybe Joel   3; the desire for the temple in Joel 3 would then be another similarity   between the rebellion and the invasion prior to Christ\'s return.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=231 valign=top>                        </td>            <td width=96 valign=top>            <p>Destroyed by fire</p>            </td>            <td width=231 valign=top>            <p>The Ez. 38/39 invasion is destroyed in two   stages; five sixths are destroyed first, then the final sixth- by fire.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p><i>To gather them together to the war. The number of them is as the sand of the sea</i>- They are gathered to &quot;<i>the</i> battle&quot; (RV)- the final battle which the OT prophets so often mention. They are a false seed of Abraham, as the sand of the sea. Jihadists claim to be the true seed of Abraham, and Jews and Christians are the false seed.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8343','1','66','20','9','9','<p>20:9 <i>And they went over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, and fire came down out of heaven and devoured them</i>- They compass Jerusalem- s.w. Lk. 21:20. As they did during the invasion of the earth / land promised to Abraham prior to Christ\'s coming, so they will do in this re-enactment of it. The rejected saints and defeated jihadist armies will make the rebellion of 20:9. This will connect with the rebellion of Korah and his company of rejects against the encampment of God and His faithful people- which was also destroyed by fire. The lake of fire / bottomless pit / second death all seem to be parallel. This final, futile attack is spoken of briefly in 12:17; see note there about the parallels between Revelation 12 and 20. This is the scenario of Psalm 2, where the Lord is enthroned in Zion and then attacked; and of Ezekiel 38, where Gog comes down in an unsuccessful invasion against an Israel already enjoying the Kingdom conditions of dwelling without bars and gates and at peace.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8344','1','66','20','10','10','<p>20:10 <i>And the Devil that deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulphur, where are also the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night forever and ever</i>- The dragon is in the abyss and deceives the nations which are there. The devil will deceive during the rebellion as it did in the period of the tribulation before the Lord\'s return (12:9; 13:14; 18;23; 19:20). The devil is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet already <i>are</i>. This suggests that their punishment lasts until the Kingdom is established, and until the &quot;little season&quot; of the rebellion is finished; the &quot;short time&quot; of desperate persecution of the woman after the dragon has been cast out of heaven / power in 12:12. Thus it would seem that the punishment of the wicked and rebels is to exist for some time into the Kingdom age. A number of passages tend to agree with this. The righteous will go forth from the borders of the promised land and look at their carcasses (Is. 66). The rejected saints go to the same place (20:15), condemned with the world (1 Cor. 11). The devil and beast will be cast to the lake of fire (Rev. 19:20; 20:10), as will all the rejected (Rev. 20:15); they will go to the same place. As Satan is bound (Rev. 20:2), so will the rejected be (Mt. 13:30; 22:13). This will be the antitype of Zedekiah being bound in condemnation (Jer. 52:11).</p><p>The beast and false prophet have a specific destruction promised them- the lake of fire which is the second death (:14). If death is their destruction, then they cannot be consciously tormented for ever. &quot;Torment&quot; translates a Greek word which simply means &quot;pain&quot;, and does not of itself imply eternal torment. Their destruction will be in &quot;the lake of fire&quot;, which is a specific geographic location upon earth, probably Gehenna just outside the Jerusalem which they have tried to recapture. But all the earth shall be filled with God\'s glory throughout the Kingdom\'s eternity, so it is inconceivable that this is a literal description. The &quot;forever and ever&quot; translates <i>aion</i> which can mean a period of limited duration, an \'age\' which has an end. That age would then refer to the age in existence until the Kingdom of God is fully established on earth. God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked and so He will not be tormenting people for ever; note that the word &quot;hell&quot; doesn\'t occur here. &quot;Day and night&quot; invites comparison with the fact that there shall be no night in the Kingdom of God (Rev. 22:5); perhaps this is mentioned as if to say: \'Their torment will indeed be painful and constant, every day and night of the old age / <i>aion</i>, until the Kingdom of God is fully established on earth and there shall be no more night\'.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8345','1','66','20','11','11','<p>20:11- see on Heb. 2:3.</p><p><i>And I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them</i>- 20:11 is amplified / repeated in 21:1. This is about the judgment at the second coming, not the end of the \'Millennium\'. Earth and heaven fleeing away (cp. 6:14) refers to the passing of the old human system. &quot;There was no place found for them&quot; alludes to Dan. 2:35 about the beast system being destroyed at Christ\'s second coming, not the end of the \'Millennium\'. This is surely the new heaven and earth of 21:1; that of Is. 65:17 and 2 Pet. 3:13, which will be established at Christ\'s return.</p><p>The fleeing away refers to how along with the beast\'s remnants, the rejected believers will slink away from the Lord\'s presence (1 Jn. 2:24 Gk.). The whole heaven and earth of this present world will likewise flee away from the face of the enthroned Christ (Rev. 20:11; Is. 2:21). Fleeing away is a characteristic of both the unworthy and also the world which they loved. In some sense the world will come before the judgment seat of Christ to be rejected (Dan. 7:9-14).</p><p>The great white throne judgment must refer to a judgment at the end of the 1,000 years if we follow the classical Millennial reign view. But Harry Whittaker points out some of the serious problems with this:</p><p>&nbsp;&nbsp; 1.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The earlier visions in this set of seven certainly concern events at the beginning of the Millennium. It would be strange if this series is so broken up that a gap of a thousand years is to be read between the fulfilment of some and of the rest.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 2.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 20:11: &ldquo;I saw ... him that sat on the throne, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.&rdquo; The heaven and earth, which flee away, must be the old human order (compare Revelation 6:14). Is there much point in such a description if this judgement takes place a thousand years after the earth and heaven fled away?<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 3.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &ldquo;&hellip;and there was no place found for them&rdquo; is a phrase quarried out of Nebuchadnezzar&rsquo;s dream (Daniel 2:35). Again the words suggest the work of Messiah in destroying the kingdoms of men. There is little relevance to the end of Messiah&rsquo;s kingdom.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 4.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 21:1: &ldquo;And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.&rdquo; Isaiah 65:17and 2 Peter 3:13 are equally emphatic that this is the setting up of the kingdom of Christ.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 5.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The allusions in ch. 21: 2, 9 to &ldquo;the bride, the Lamb&rsquo;s wife&rdquo; are difficult to harmonize with a time when all are redeemed. It is impossible to believe that the Bride waits a thousand years for union with her Lord. This new Jerusalem is &ldquo;prepared as a bride adorned for her husband&rdquo;. The symbolism requires reference to &ldquo;the marriage supper of the Lamb&rdquo; at the time of his coming. The context of Revelation 19:7-9 puts this conclusion beyond argument.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 6.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 20:12: &ldquo;and the books were opened: and another book ... which is the book of life.&rdquo; These are unmistakable allusions to Daniel 7:10 and 12:1. Would anyone argue for an application of these passages to the end of the Millennium?<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 7.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 21:3: &ldquo;Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.&rdquo; This is a very slightly modified quotation of Ezekiel 37:26b, 27, the time of reference of which is again unmistakable.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 8.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The description of the New Jerusalem includes this: &ldquo;the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it ... they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it&rdquo; (21: 24, 26). Will there be &ldquo;nations&rdquo; and &ldquo;kings of the earth&rdquo; when Christ&rsquo;s reign has been concluded?<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 9.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The same passage has a long series of undeniable allusions to Isaiah 60: &ldquo;The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it ... And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there&rdquo; - these are two examples but the whole of ch. 21 :22-27 should be studied. Again, the question has an easy answer: What epoch does Isaiah&rsquo;s prophecy describe? Then what does Revelation 21: 22-27 refer to?<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 10.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; A similar argument can be based on Isaiah 65. Without direct quotation, no less than eight points of contact can be traced between the second half of that chapter and the first eight verses of Revelation 21. So it is reasonable to assume that the two Scriptures are about the same thing. What is Isaiah 65 about?<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 11.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Ch. 22:2: &ldquo;And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.&rdquo; So at the time spoken of there will be nations to be healed</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8346','1','66','20','12','12','<p>20:12 <i>And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works</i>- The opening of the books is that of Dan. 7:10; 12:1, which concern the start of the Kingdom age, not the end of some \'Millennium\'.</p><p><i>Another book was opened, which is the book of life- </i>The scroll of life is only opened once all the seals are loosed. These seals all refer to events leading up to the Lord\'s return. The book does not remain sealed until 1,000 years after His return. The reference is to the judgment seat at the Lord\'s return.</p><p><i>Judged out of the things which were written in the books</i>- When Christ opens the books of His people (Rev. 20:12; as if each saint has a book written about him recording his life), He does this through discussing with our guardian the details of our life. Perhaps the Angels with have literal books with them; we pointed out earlier that the Angels do seem to use their facility for reading and writing.</p><p>The judgment seat is described as if literal books are written each day we live, and these will be opened and considered by God at the last day, in order to decide whether to give us the reward of the Kingdom or not. When we survey the total of God&rsquo;s revelation, it is evident that this is not to be taken literally. There will be a judgment, the result of which will be proportionate to the way we have lived our daily lives. But God (through the Lord Jesus) will not need to weigh up evidence. The books were written before the world began in the sense that God knew then who would be in His Kingdom. It is almost impossible to suggest that there will be literal scrolls unrolled. The idea of scrolls was no doubt used because it would have been understandable by those who were first inspired with God&rsquo;s word. Yet this is how God reveals the judgment to us; in human terms which we are capable of understanding. We are not explicitly told that there will not be literal scrolls, or that God will not need to weigh up evidence to decide whether we will be in the Kingdom. Moses (Ex. 32:32) and Nehemiah (Neh. 13:14) perhaps saw the judgment in this literal sense, but this does not mean that there will be actual scrolls unrolled.</p><p>But there is another possibility. As suggested on :4 and :13,14, the resurrection and judgment here may refer to the beast\'s members who died during the tribulation. They are judged against what they did to those whose names are in the book of life; and it is those whom they killed, whose names are in that book and who are now alive, who judge them, according to what is written in the other book concerning what they did during the tribulation.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8347','1','66','20','13','13','<p>20:13 <i>And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and every man was judged according to their works</i>- But 21:1 says that in the new heaven and earth, there is no more sea. If 20:13 refers to the end of the Millennium, then 21:1 must likewise. But the coming of a new heaven and earth is a figure repeatedly used about the establishment of the Kingdom at the Lord\'s return. And 21:2 says that this is the time when the bride meets her husband, the Lord Jesus. This is at the Lord\'s return, and not 1,000 years later.</p><p>The sea giving up the dead doesn\'t refer to dead bodies floating upwards; the sea refers to the nations under the beast\'s dominion (17:5), which gave power to the beast and upon which it sat (see on 13:1). The sea in this sense won\'t exist after the Kingdom is established (21:1); therefore this refers to the judgment at Christ\'s return and not at the end of a thousand year period. Is the bottomless pit to be equated with the lake of fire? A place of punishment? The rebels are punished and then those who survive (i.e. those deserving more punishment) are sent back to this area, where they are punished for a long time, day and night for ever (20:10). But there will be no day and night as such in the Kingdom (21:25; 22:5). Therefore we must take this description of their punishment figuratively.</p><p>It could be that this giving up of the dead by &quot;the sea&quot; refers to how those who participated in the abuse of Israel and the believers during the tribulation will not escape final judgment; they will be resurrected and judged for what they did, and destroyed with the second death. This would explain why this is a judgment for &quot;works&quot;, when works in that sense are irrelevant to those saved by grace. This group will be raised to answer for their evil works during the tribulation, and then be punished with the second death.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8348','1','66','20','14','14','<p>20:14 <i>And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire</i>- The destruction of death is paralleled with the second death, which occurs at the judgment (21:8), when Christ comes. The second death can\'t happen twice, at the&nbsp;start <i>and</i> end of the \'Millennium\'. What is in view here is events at the Lord\'s return and the establishment of the Kingdom, not at the end of some 1000 year period. Death, sorrow etc. (21:4) are destroyed for <i>us</i>, the believers; this is believer-centric language. Likewise &quot;men&quot; in 21:3 refers to the believers, not all human beings then alive (some will still be enduring punishment).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8349','1','66','20','15','15','<p>20:15 <i>And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire</i>- The idea of being found written in a book is common in the narratives of the restoration, which looked forward to the final restoration of the Kingdom. Only those &quot;found written&quot; in the genealogies could be Levites in the re-established Kingdom (Neh. 7:5); those corrupted by their time in Babylon were excluded. And specifically it is those Jews who spiritually survive the final tribulation, the time of trouble in Israel such as never was, who are found written in the book and delivered (Dan. 12:1). It is those written in that book who will not have worshipped the beast during the final three and a half year tribulation (13:8; 17:8). Some will tragically have had their names removed from that book (3:5). Again, the purview of the teaching in this chapter is specifically about the believers and unbelievers in the earth / land promised to Abraham during the tribulation period.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8350','1','66','21','1','1','<p>21:1 <i>And I saw a new heaven and a new earth</i>. <i>For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away</i>- This is the situation presented in 2 Peter 3. The present system &quot;heaven and earth&quot; passes away at the Lord\'s return, and is replaced by the new one of the Kingdom age. I emphasize this because Rev. 21 is about the situation at the time of the Lord\'s return- and not some point 1,000 years after it. This means that the statement that &quot;death shall be no more&quot; (:4) is true at this point- of the Lord\'s return to earth and establishment of the Kingdom. If death is truly &quot;no more&quot; in the new system &quot;heaven and earth&quot;, then there can be no \'mortal population\' during the next 1,000 years. In other words, the theory of a Millennial reign needs to be radically re-thought, because as it popularly stands it is simply contrary to the text of Scripture.</p><p><i>And the sea was no more</i>- &quot;The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest&quot; (Is. 57:20). The sea refers to nations in 17:15, and as noted on 13:1, to the nations immediately surrounding the earth / land promised to Abraham who gave power to the beast and Babylon system. We read later in chapter 21 of how the nations enter into the new Jerusalem- the unbelieving, ignorant world at the time of the Lord\'s return are given the opportunity to come enter into the city of God, where there is only a new Israel, and no national differences. So this would be explaining how the situation where there is &quot;no more sea&quot; / nations came about. However it may be that the point of contrast is with the fact that in the Kingdom age, the source of water will not be the sea and its role in the water cycle, but rather the water which emerges from Zion (Rev. 22:1). The book of Revelation also seeks to subtly undermine the commonly accepted views of evil, by showing that all the beasts, dragons, demons imaginable are in fact not radical, free-ranging evil as many imagined both then and now, but rather under God\'s very tight control; they are playing their role within His purpose, all leading towards the final end when sin and evil will be no more on earth. &quot;The sea&quot; was feared by the first century world, as being the source of monsters and evil. Rather than trying to argue that actually, that\'s nonsense- Revelation 21:1 instead teaches that whatever our beliefs are about &quot;the sea&quot;, it will ultimately be no more when Christ returns.</p><p>The language of this whole section in 21:1-8 connects with Is. 65, concerning the establishment of the Kingdom, not after the Millennium. Heaven and earth pass away, the former (Gk. <i>proton</i>) things pass (:4)- the things that were once first place now pass. In 20:13, the sea gives up the dead; and this is applied to the \'end of the Millennium\' by those who believe in a Millennial reign. But here in 21:1, &quot;the sea&quot; no longer exists at the start of the Lord\'s reign- for it is at this time that the bride meets the groom, and the Kingdom is established. Hence 20:13 must be interpreted as referring to some time around Christ\'s return; see my notes on chapter 20.</p><p>Revelation of the situation after the Millennium would surely be inappropriate, if not impossible, for us to receive in this dispensation.&nbsp;The context of Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 is set in chapter 20. The earth and heaven flee away when Christ sits on the throne, &quot;and there was found no place for them&quot; (20:11). This is almost quoting Dan. 2:35 concerning the establishment of the Kingdom, not the end of a 1000 year period. In place of this heaven and earth, a new heaven and earth appear in Revelation 21:1. This is the language of Is. 65:17 and 2 Pet. 3:13 concerning the second coming.&nbsp;In this context, John sees &quot;the bride, the Lamb\'s wife&quot; (Revelation 21:2,9).&nbsp;The church is only a bride at the time of the second coming, seeing she marries Christ at the marriage supper.&nbsp;At this time, &quot;God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death&quot;, sorrow etc. (Revelation 21:4).&nbsp;&nbsp; The church will not be afflicted by these things during the Millennium; this must refer to Christ\'s return. Likewise the gift of the water of life (Revelation 21:6) is at the judgment at the second coming.&nbsp;The idea of former things (e.g. death, tears) passing away in 21:4 is one of many connections in Revelation 21 and Revelation 22 with Isaiah\'s prophecies of the second coming (Revelation 21:4 = Is. 60:20; 65:19; Revelation 21:25 = Is. 60:11,20).&nbsp;Revelation 21:7 speaks of the time when the faithful believer will receive his inheritance.&nbsp;This surely refers to the judgment at the second coming (Mt. 25:34).&nbsp;Revelation 22 has a number of connections with Revelation 21 which would indicate that we are to see Revelation 22 as also referring to the start, rather than the end, of the Millennium (e.g. Revelation 22:14, 21:27; 2:7).&nbsp;&quot;The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations&quot; (Revelation 22:2) is another obvious example.&nbsp; &quot;They shall reign for ever and ever&quot; (Revelation 22:5) is the language of Dan. 7:18,27 concerning the judgment at Christ\'s return.&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8351','1','66','21','2','2','<p>21:2 <i>And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God</i>- see on 1 Thess. 4:14. The whole prophetic metanarrative of the Bible is in many ways a tale of two cities- Babylon and Jerusalem. There are times when Babylon masquerades as Zion- a false city of God with a false Messiah leading her. Babylon / Babel was a city built to reach <i>unto</i> Heaven, in contrast to the true city of God which <i>comes down </i>from Heaven (Gen. 11:4 cp. Rev. 21:2). And there are times when Zion in her apostasy has appeared as Babylon. But in the final conflict of the last days, these two cities will be literally pitted against each other. Natural Jerusalem will be where Babylon makes her throne (see on 16:19) and will be destroyed by fire and sulphur; but then the new Jerusalem comes down upon her ruins. It was in Babylon where Nimrod first built the tower of Babel, the first organized rebellion against God; and it was there that God first entered into open judgment of flesh and humanity <i>en masse</i>. And it is here likewise that His purpose with sin and His true people will likewise be fulfilled. Babylon was also called Su-anna, &ldquo;the holy city&rdquo;. Yet &ldquo;the holy city&rdquo; is Jerusalem, thus making Babylon a fake Zion, although she is briefly built on the site of Zion. Herodotus says the city was square, just as new Jerusalem. We have shown elsewhere that the events of the Babylonian invasion are typical of the last days. That invasion was &ldquo;the time of Israel&rsquo;s trouble&rdquo; (Jer. 11:12), clearly typical of Jacob&rsquo;s latter day &ldquo;time of trouble&rdquo;.</p><p><i>Made ready as a bride- </i>&quot;The bride&quot; is married at the marriage supper (19:7-9)- not at the end of the Millennium. Therefore this is about the setting up of the Kingdom at Christ\'s return. The marriage supper of the lamb is at the Lord\'s return, not 1,000 years after it. The same words are used in Rev. 19:7 about the preparation of the bride. Therefore this vision, during which it is declared that death has ended (:4), is at the Lord\'s return. The destruction of death is spoken of in chapter 20 as being when the 1,000 years are established mistranslated with the sense of &quot;expired&quot;. Yet here in chapter 21, death ends at the time of the marriage of the lamb. There is thus no place for any theories of a \'mortal population\' in the Kingdom of God. In the 1st century application, John&nbsp;the Baptists attempted to prepare s.w. &quot;made ready&quot; the bride, but this failed in that Israel crucified her Messiah (Lk. 1:17 s.w.). The marriage supper, the Kingdom, has been &quot;prepared&quot; from the beginning of the world (Mt. 22:4; 25:34;) and through the Lord\'s death (Jn. 14:2,3). It is the bride who is not ready. The implication is surely that once the bride is &quot;prepared / made ready&quot;, then the marriage supper begins. The preparation of the bride is through the baptism of the last converts, and the spiritual preparation of those who are baptized.</p><p>The adornment or making read is surely of good works and spiritual fruits, by which we adorn the teaching of the Gospel (Tit. 2:10; 1 Pet. 3:5). In this we see the significance of works. The Lord will marry us because we are His beloved, of His sovereign choice. But in response, we adorn ourselves as best we can for Him who has so loved us. And yet the greatest adornment is the white garments of imputed righteousness which are given to us (see on 19:8).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8352','1','66','21','3','3','<p>21:3- see on Jn. 1:14.</p><p><i>And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and God Himself shall be with them</i>- This is stating the same wondrous truth three times. God shall indeed live with us on earth. Heaven shall come to earth. This is all an allusion to Ez. 37:26,27, concerning the time of Christ\'s return. If God lives with us at Christ\'s return, how will He be shielded from the \'mortal\' population? This problem disappears if the 1000 years is seen as a description of the Kingdom itself. Seeing God\'s face was what motivated Job, and John seems to allude to it as the final consolation in 1 Jn. 4.</p><p>&quot;The tabernacle of God&quot;, being God\'s people;&nbsp;He being our God; God living and walking with us, is all evidently alluding to Lev. 26:11,12 and Ex. 29:45,46 concerning the ultimate blessings of the covenant after Israel\'s final repentance. The shadowy fulfilment they have had in the past through God\'s manifestation in an Angel doesn\'t mean that these promises can and must only be fulfilled by some form of God manifestation.&nbsp;Surely Revelation 21:3 is saying that at the second coming the principle of God manifestation will change in that God will personally be with His people. Because we have so far lived under the paradigm of God manifestation, let\'s not think that it\'s not possible for God to personally be with us.&nbsp;Let\'s really try to be broad-minded enough to take this on board.&nbsp;</p><p>The other references to &quot;God himself&quot; are to Yahweh personally, rather than to Christ:&nbsp; Is. 45:18; Jn. 5:37; 16:27; 2 Cor. 5:18,19; Eph. 1:5.&nbsp; Indeed, those N.T. references seem to point a difference between &quot;God himself&quot; and Christ.&nbsp;So isn\'t it lack of spiritual vision- perhaps even of faith - that makes us wriggle against the idea of God Himself, in person, living with us?&nbsp;The idea of God Himself dwelling with men in the tabernacle (temple) of the new city of Jerusalem is a clear reference to Ez. 48:35, which says that the name of Jerusalem in the Millennium will be &quot;Yahweh is there&quot;. These ideas doubtless also have reference to Yahweh\'s promise to David to build an eternal house for Yahweh\'s Name.&nbsp;This verse seems to teach that God Himself, in person, will descend to earth with Christ.&nbsp;This might sound altogether too incredible.&nbsp; But think about the idea.&nbsp;The King Himself (= God) comes to see the guests at the wedding of His Son (= Jesus; Mt. 22:11). &quot;God himself&quot; here either means God Himself or God manifest in Christ.&nbsp;&quot;God himself shall be with them&quot; seems to me an odd way of describing Christ\'s second coming. God will &quot;be their God&rdquo;. I would just about be willing to concede that this might apply to God manifest in Christ - but for one significant fact:&nbsp;this Revelation 21:3 is packed with O.T. allusions which explicitly refer to God the Father.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>And be their God- </i>God promised Abraham that through Christ, His seed, blessing would come on people from all nations, with the result that God would be the God of Abraham\'s multitudinous seed: &quot;To be a God unto... your seed... I will be their God&quot; (Gen. 17:7,8).&nbsp;The seed is Christ, and the &quot;God&quot; is Yahweh.&nbsp;Let\'s not confuse them.&nbsp;Now in Revelation 21:3 this fundamental promise is alluded to; God Himself will be our God then; we will see Him and have a personal relationship with Him.&nbsp;This would mean that this idea of personally being with God is a fundamental part of the Gospel preached to Abraham.&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8353','1','66','21','4','4','<p>21:4- see on Mt. 25:37-40; Rev. 20:14.</p><p><i>And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes- </i>The same word is used in Acts 3:19 concerning sin being blotted out at Christ\'s return. The tears are for our sins (sorrow likewise is connected with sin in Is. 53). Will we have an emotional breakdown straight after the judgment? The accepted will feel so certain of this that they will almost argue with the Lord Jesus at the day of judgment that he hasn\'t made the right decision concerning them (Mt. 25:37-40). It\'s only a highly convicted man who would dare do that. Thus the Father will have to comfort the faithful in the aftermath of the judgment, wiping away the tears which will <i>then</i> (see context) be in our eyes, and give us special help to realize that our sinful past has now finally been overcome. We will be like the labourers in the parable who walk away from judgment clutching their penny, thinking &quot;I really shouldn\'t have this. I didn\'t work for a day, and this is a day\'s pay&quot;. Therefore if we honestly, genuinely feel that we won\'t be in the Kingdom, well, this is how in some ways the faithful will all feel.</p><p>The tears that will be wiped from our eyes are those associated with &quot;the former things&quot; of this life, and also the emotion associated with our acceptance. But it can\'t be that it means we will never have the emotion of sadness ever again. For God is made sad, grieved at His heart, even now. And we are to share <i>His</i> nature. Consider for a moment the <i>emotion</i> which we will feel after being granted Divine nature. Malachi says we will be like stalled animals, who are fed, fattened, kept in small dark pens to be killed&hellip; who then suddenly break out into the daylight, and go prancing away through the meadows. This will be our leap of joy and taste of true freedom. Yet the Father will have to comfort the faithful in the aftermath of the judgment, wiping away the tears which will <i>then</i> (see context) be in our eyes, and give us special help to realize that our sinful past has now finally been overcome.</p><p><i>And death shall be no more</i>- The end of death is portrayed in Revelation 20 as death being thrown into the lake of fire, which is also the second death. The second death is for those rejected at the judgment at Christ\'s return. Their punishment with death is therefore the end of death; there will be no more death after that because the curse of death upon Adam\'s race will be ended. There is no possibility therefore for a \'mortal population\' after these things. If there is to be no more crying or pain after the Lord\'s return, we are scarcely to imagine that there will be exactly these things at some supposed \'second judgment\' and \'second condemnation\' 1,000 years later.</p><p>1 Cor. 15:54,55 likewise speak of the end of death: &quot;But when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall come to fulfilment the saying that is written: Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?&quot;. The quotation is from Is. 25:8, which concerns events at Christ\'s return- not at the end of the 1,000 years. The end of death will therefore come at the resurrection- when Christ returns. And that is what is being taught here in Rev. 20 and 21.</p><p><i>Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more-</i> The Greek for &quot;pain&quot; specifically refers to labour pains. This is all the language of the curse on Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. It fits into a theme of paradise being restored. But labour pains are also used with regard to the experience of the believers during the tribulation. As ever in Revelation, there is especial relevance to the believers who are persecuted and die during the final tribulation in the earth / land promised to Abraham. It is they who have experienced death, sorrow and labour pains.</p><p><i>The first things are passed away</i>- The parallel is with the passing away of the first heaven and earth (:1). The \'heaven and earth\' is therefore a figure for &quot;the former things&quot;. <i>Former things</i>... &nbsp;Defined in Is. 48:3,4,5 as God\'s prediction &quot;from the beginning&quot; that Israel would sin and be judged by Him with exile. When we read that the &quot;former things&quot; will no longer be remembered, and that both God and man will &quot;remember not the former things&quot; (Is. 43:18), perhaps the same reference is in view. Rev. 21:4 predicts that in the Kingdom age, there will be no more tears because &quot;the former things are passed away&quot;, literally, \'they are behind\'. That may appear obvious, a needless statement of a truism- that past things are past. But the suggestion is that then we will totally realize that our sins are behind us, as God has cast them behind His back. The connection between tears, sorrow and &quot;former things&quot; is a powerful psychological insight into the human condition- sorrow, tears, depression etc. are all connected with our awareness (however subconscious) of human sin, both our own and of others. When we finally grasp that all sin is indeed behind us, then there is the basis for a life without tears. And that is at least theoretically possible even now, if only we will see our sins and perceive them as God does- as past. But we must of course deal with the sins of others in that same way. God\'s emphasis in Isaiah is that He has &quot;declared&quot; the former things from the start. All our sins in one sense were known to God from the beginning, and He knew how to deal with them.</p><p>God (this is important) made Joseph forget all his &quot;toil&quot;, his mental sufferings (Gen. 42:51). This was a miracle; no amount of steel-willed suppression of his past could have made Joseph paper over all the pain. But God did a psychological miracle upon him. Has God done the same to Christ now in His glory, as He will to us one day soon (Rev. 21:4)? Yet the Lord will be factually aware of His sacrifice and the associated pain. God presumably did not obliterate Joseph\'s memory cells, but He made him &quot;forget&quot; the pain. This is surely what God has done to Christ, and what He will do to us: take away the pain on a psychological level whilst still leaving a factual awareness. Is it too much to suggest that even now, God is ready and willing to do something like this?</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8354','1','66','21','5','5','<p>21:5 <i>And he that sits on the throne said: Behold I make all things new. And he said: Write For these words are faithful and true- </i>All things will be made new at the Lord&rsquo;s coming, and yet those in whom the new creation is worked out already have all things made new in their spiritual experience (2 Cor. 5:17,18).&nbsp;</p><p>The utter literality of all this was emphasized to John, when he was told:&nbsp;&quot;Write For these words are true and faithful&quot;. The almost fantastical description of God Himself wiping away all the tears that are in (Gk.) the eyes of men... this really is true and faithful.&nbsp;It could be that the wonder of the idea of meeting God in person... boggled John\'s mind to the point he wondered whether he really was intended to write this down, doubting whether all this could be really true. And he exactly represents our feelings.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8355','1','66','21','6','6','<p>21:6 <i>And he said to me: They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life</i>- We, now, take the water of life (22:17; Jn. 4:14; Mt. 10:8). The picture surely is that at this time, we receive literal immortality. It speaks of the Lord\'s return and not the end of some point 1,000 years afterwards. It is at this time, when we receive immortality, drinking the water of life, that death itself ends. So there will be no \'mortal population\' after that. And yet as John\'s gospel stresses, we can right now drink of that water of life; we can receive the gift of the spirit, of the Lord\'s mind and thinking, of His life; so that we can begin to live now the kind of life which we shall eternally live. And the Greek tenses could imply that throughout eternity we are continually given, in an ongoing sense, to drink of this water of life. It is life as He has it, and not just the one-time gift of immortality.</p><p>The &quot;freely&quot; giving of the water of life recalls the river Pison in the garden of Eden, which means \'freely flowing\'. There are allusions galore to Eden through the final visions of Revelation- for Eden shall be restored and the curse lifted.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8356','1','66','21','7','7','<p>21:7 <i>He that overcomes shall inherit these things</i>- The letters to the churches begin Revelation by repeatedly promising that &quot;he that overcomes&quot; will be recompensed at Christ\'s return- no suggestion is made that the recompense will be 1,000 years after His return (Rev. 2:7,11,17,26; 3:5,12,21). The Greek word translated &quot;overcomes&quot; occurs nowhere else. The reference here is therefore to the time of Christ\'s return; and it is at this time that death will be ended (:4), i.e. cast into the lake of fire. If death itself is destroyed at the Lord\'s return, there cannot be any mortal population during a supposed 1000 year reign which commences at His return.</p><p><i>And I will be his God and he shall be my son</i>- An application of the promise to David about Messiah to each one of us who is in Christ. The wonder of our eternal living will be that we shall relate to the Father as the Lord Jesus did. The prospect offered to us is very much in terms of <i>relationship</i> with the Father and Son, without being disturbed by personal sin and the possibility of sinning; rather than a presentation of a literal picture of a physical, materially optimal existence.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8357','1','66','21','8','8','<p>21:8 <i>But for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur; which is the second death</i>- The language of murder, fornication, lying, sorcery and idolatry has all been used in Revelation of the beast / Babylon system and their various associated acts such as the false prophet. It is they who shall be destroyed in the second death; implying that they shall be raised to judgment even if they died during the tribulation. I have suggested in chapter 20 that the descriptions of resurrection, judgment by those who they killed, and destruction in the second death all refer specifically to this category.</p><p>These people are those of 20:15, those of 22:15 who are placed (geographically?) outside the encampment of the people of God in Jerusalem, perhaps to be literally burnt in Gehenna outside the city.</p><p>But just as apparently \'petty\' sins by secular judgment are juxtaposed alongside apparently \'major\' ones in Paul\'s writings, so here, the &quot;fearful and unbelieving&quot; are categorized alongside the abusive members of the beast system. Those who won\'t believe the good news of salvation in Jesus are in the same category as those society would characterize as serious sinners, the abusive members of the beast system. But before God, they all have the same final end. Note that the disciples, whose names are on the foundations of the new Jerusalem, were once both fearful and unbelieving (Mk. 4:40). Indeed they are described as &quot;unbelieving&quot; several times (Mt. 17:17; Jn. 20:27; Tit. 1:15). The point is that those who were once like those outside the city are in fact the foundations of the city.</p><p>And yet the language used here is also used about the behaviour of some within the church. The same words are used about believers in 1 Cor. 5:9,11; Heb. 12:16; 13:4. It means that in essence this is how God sees some in the ecclesias. I wonder how many of them will have literally done those things. Surely it is more reasonable to suppose that this is how their other deeds and attitudes were counted in God\'s sight. Or does it show that far more people than we expect will be classed as responsible to judgment? And it\'s noteworthy that those who won\'t believe are in the same category as these more \'awful\' sinners. For we are either saved or rejected, there is no third road nor category.&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8358','1','66','21','9','9','<p>21:9 <i>And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spoke with me, saying: Come here, I will show you the bride- </i>We are introduced to the idea of seven last plagues, and thus an expectation is set up that we shall now see some awful catastrophes poured out on earth. Instead, we have a vision of the bride and her Kingdom glory. I suggest this is purposeful; we are being shown that the Lord\'s focus is upon the salvation of His people. The punishment of the wicked is incidental to that, and not something He at all revels in. Perhaps the idea is that the final attack against Jerusalem is made whilst the Lord and His bride are within it. And His focus is upon enjoying the beauty of His bride rather than the necessary destruction of the invaders through those seven last plagues. Maybe the seven last plagues, like the seven thunders, are potentially prepared but do not actually happen; see on 10:4.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8359','1','66','21','10','10','<p>21:10 <i>And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high</i>- The \'height\' of the mountain likely refers more to its glory than its literal altitude. Zion and / or the mount of Olives was the great and high mountain in the Jewish thought in which Revelation is presented. And Acts 1 and Zech. 14 envisage the Lord Jesus returning to that mountain. The exact chronology of events need not concern us; not only will the meaning / experience of time likely be changed, but the chronology must to some extent be open, because the repentance of various groups will be possible. The final outworking of events will take that into account.</p><p><i>And showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God</i>- Literal Jerusalem as the capital of Babylon will be destroyed; a new Jerusalem will literally come down to replace it. But this is not a pile of new stones, but more essentially the glorified believers, who as explained on 1 Thess. 4:14 come as it were with the Lord Jesus at this stage.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8360','1','66','21','11','11','<p>21:11 <i>Having the glory of God. Her light was like a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal</i>- Jasper appears in various colours, representative of the varying individual beauties of the believers, refracting the Lord\'s light in unique and beautiful to Him ways. The Hebrew idea of \'jasper\' is \'polishing\', and it is that process which is underway in our lives at this moment.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8361','1','66','21','12','12','<p>21:12 <i>She had a wall great and high, having twelve gates; and at the gates were twelve angels, and the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel written thereon- </i>The 12 gates of the Heavenly Jerusalem are identified with 12 Angels, whereon are written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. This suggests that the tribes of Israel are reflective of the situation in Heaven, where there are Angels representing each tribe. This identity between heavenly Angels and the believers they represent on earth is a common theme in Revelation. This connection between Angels and Israel is commonly found in the Old Testament. Dan. 8:24 speaks of Israel as &ldquo;the people of the saints&rdquo; (RVmg.), although v. 13 speaks of &ldquo;the saint&rdquo; (RV &ldquo;holy one&rdquo;) as an Angel. 1 Sam. 17:45 parallels the Angelic hosts, and the hosts of Israel&rsquo;s armies; they were to follow where the host of God went, just as David&rsquo;s army had to follow the sound of the cherubim &ldquo;marching&rdquo; over the mulberry bushes (1 Chron. 14:15). And whilst we follow where we are led, we are identified with our Angels to the extent that what is done to us is done to them. To defy the armies of Israel was thus to defy the armies of Heaven (1 Sam. 17:45). Thus the four faces of the Angel cherubim were reflected in the four standards of the camp of Israel; the people were intended to &ldquo;keep in step with the Spirit&rdquo;, following where they went, as they had done in the wilderness years. They were to walk &ldquo;each one straight before him&rdquo; (Is. 57:2 RVmg.), as each of the cherubim went straight ahead (Ez. 1:12). And we too are to follow where our Angel potentially enables us to go. The Angel went in to Jericho to take the city; and the Israelites went &ldquo;straight&rdquo; ahead, following the Angel, and thus took the city (Josh. 5:13,14; 6:20).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8362','1','66','21','13','13','<p>21:13 <i>On the east were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates and on the west three gates</i>- What is the significance of this order? It is not a circular view, i.e. not clockwise nor anticlockwise. Perhaps it is in conscious difference to the order of the gates of the city as given in Ez. 48:31-34, which goes north- east- south- west, i.e. in a clockwise direction, starting from where the hands of the clock would naturally begin, i.e. at the north. The many differences highlighted with the Ezekiel temple visions seem in order to make the point that contrary to Jewish expectation, that temple would not be literally built at the Lord\'s return. The new Jerusalem will be altogether beyond such literalism.</p><p>The square nature of the city (:16) is perhaps to demonstrate that the Kingdom of God is open to all peoples from all quarters; and the unbelieving nations who were not destroyed along with Babylon will now equally be able to enter God\'s Kingdom.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8363','1','66','21','14','14','<p>21:14 <i>The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb</i>- Those men were so weak in their lifetimes, but out of such weakness were made strong. John must have been shocked to see his own name there. We can assume that the device to replace Judas with Matthias in Acts 1:26 was therefore eternally accepted. The tragedy is that the name of Judas could have been there, but it was removed, just as names can be deleted from the book of life.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8364','1','66','21','15','15','<p>21:15 <i>And he that spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city and the gates of it, and the wall of it</i>- The allusion is clearly to the measurements of the new temple given in Ezekiel 40-48. But the details and dimensions are so different, and those emphasized differences see on :13 climax in the statement that there is &quot;no temple&quot; in the new Jerusalem (:22). It all seems designed to underscore the point that the temple of Ezekiel\'s prophecy is <i>not </i>going to be built at the Lord\'s return. It was a potential, conditional prophecy of what could have been at the restoration from Babylon, which the Jews failed to actualize.</p><p>It\'s worth reflecting on the significance of how the same words for &quot;reed&quot; and &quot;measure&quot; are used in Rev. 11:1, where John is bidden measure the temple with a reed. But there is no record of him doing so. Now, an Angel does make the measurements, not just with a &quot;reed&quot; but with a &quot;golden reed&quot;, the gold maybe speaking of faith brought to completion. Perhaps John represented the lack of faith and obedience which precluded the Lord\'s Kingdom coming in the first century. Likewise it was a lack of faith which precluded the building of the temple which Ezekiel had seen measured out with a reed. Hence the difference in reeds- the one in Rev. 21:15 is a <i>golden </i>reed, speaking of faith.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8365','1','66','21','16','16','<p>21:16 <i>And the city is laid out as a square, its length is as great as its breadth, and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia</i>- This is clearly not to be taken literally. And so one wonders why the insistence on reading \'one thousand years\' as a literal measurement in this very same section of Revelation.</p><p><i>The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal</i>- As were the dimensions of the most Holy, and of Babylon, which was rebuilt briefly on the site of Jerusalem. The perfect congruence of the design reflects how in this life, each of the component parts is being brought into perfect symmetry with the others. This would be one explanation for the inter-personal friction which so many have experienced as a result of their Christian walk. In the bigger picture, this was all necessary to make us fit together so perfectly in eternity.</p><p>The square nature of the city (twice emphasized) is perhaps to demonstrate that the Kingdom of God is open to all peoples from all quarters; and the unbelieving nations who were not destroyed along with Babylon will now equally be able to enter God\'s Kingdom.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8366','1','66','21','17','17','<p>21:17 <i>And he measured the wall of it, one hundred and forty four cubits</i>- Again, numbers are not to be taken literally. The idea is clearly of 12 x 12, the foundations of Jacob\'s twelve sons mixed with those of the twelve apostles, maybe speaking of the perfect fusion of Jew and Gentile.</p><p><i>The measurement of a man, which is also an angel\'s measurement</i>- The parallel between men and Angels would suggest that now the believers have become as Angels (Lk. 20:35,36). This would suggest a reference to the time of the Lord\'s return, when there will be this change from humanity to immortality and Angelic nature. John has seen Angels representing believers in the heavenly throne room, and now they are united.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8367','1','66','21','18','18','<p>21:18 <i>And the building of the wall was of jasper</i>- Why a wall? It can hardly be for protection. Perhaps there will eternally be a sense of separation between light and darkness, saved and unsaved, which we do well to be aware of now too.</p><p><i>And the city was pure gold, like pure glass</i>- See on :21 <i>pure gold</i>. Glass was not totally transparent in John\'s day, but he saw glass as if it were transparent, and had the impression this was in fact transparent gold (:21). Yet gold by its nature cannot be transparent. In these paradoxes we have reflected the wonder of the whole thing. The city of God, the Kingdom of God, is transparent- it is <i>open</i>. The gold, the wonderful reality which by its nature is closed and dense, is also amazingly open and transparent. For a theme of these visions is that the unbelieving world those not destroyed during the last judgments are invited to come in to the Kingdom, to the community of believers, the Jerusalem which is above which has now been revealed on earth. The gates are open day and night, the wall is there- but transparent; the city itself is the ultimate image of openness. The bride and the Lord Jesus are urging the nations to come into it. No longer do the 12 tribes of Israel define membership- the symbolism of 12 x 12 gives the impression of an innumerably greater openness. The spirit of that openness is to be seen in us today.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8368','1','66','21','19','19','<p>21:19 <i>The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones</i>- The allusion is to the temple in Jerusalem, whose precious stones had made John and the other disciples so awestruck (Mk. 13:1). That was all to be replaced by a spiritual temple. Instead of the names of donors and other leading lights within Judaism engraved on the precious stones, now the names of the humble disciples are to be written. As the bride was adorned (:2), so the same figure is used here. The adornment is surely of good works and spiritual fruits, by which we adorn the teaching of the Gospel (Tit. 2:10; 1 Pet. 3:5).</p><p><i>The first foundation was jasper. The second, sapphire. The third, chalcedony. The fourth, emerald</i>- See on :20.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8369','1','66','21','20','20','<p>21:20 <i>The fifth, sardonyx. The sixth, sardius. The seventh, chrysolite. The eighth, beryl. The ninth, topaz. The tenth, chrysoprase. The eleventh, jacinth. The twelfth, amethyst</i>- The stones echo the spirit of the High Priest\'s breastplate. Within the city, therefore, is the heart of the High Priest. The thinking, spirit and heartbeat of Jesus is the all-consuming characteristic of the community within those walls, as it should be of us today.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8370','1','66','21','21','21','<p>21:21- see on Mt. 7:6.</p><p><i>And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each of the separate gates was of one pearl</i>- The gates are open constantly (:25), and even if shut, the glory passing through the pearl would have given the effect of the pearl being transparent. This fits with the otherwise strange image of transparent gold (see on :18). The gates are open; but why are there gates, therefore, and why are they effectively transparent? It is in order to teach something to the nations who witness Christ\'s return. They must recognize that there is indeed a wall and gate to be passed through, but it is effectively open and transparent to them, such is the Lord\'s will that they should enter in.</p><p><i>And the street of the city was pure gold, as if it were transparent glass- </i>Gold cannot by nature be transparent. John is struggling in words to convey what he saw and the impressions which arose. As with the language of demons, we have an example here of how the Bible uses human language and at times records things from the limited perspective of observers on earth.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8371','1','66','21','22','22','<p>21:22 <i>And I saw no temple therein. For the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it</i>- This seems almost purposefully intended to teach that the temple outlined in Ez. 40-48 will not be built at the Lord\'s return. See on :13. The dimensions of the city, measured by a reed as was used in Ezekiel\'s vision, are specifically different from those in Ezekiel\'s temple vision. I suggest Ez. 40-48 was command rather than prediction; it was what could have been if the returned exiles had built it. Revelation was given in the first century, at the time when Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed. This was no small tragedy for Jews and Judaism. Revelation\'s message is that Jerusalem and the temple are not necessary in the new order of things; there will be a new Jerusalem, comprised of the believers; and no need in any case for a temple.</p><p>In John\'s Gospel, the Lord states that He is the temple / tabernacle which was to be taken down in His death and rebuilt in His resurrection. Our abiding in Him is therefore abiding within the temple; for He has prepared for us an abiding place in that spiritual house through His death (Jn. 14:1,2).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8372','1','66','21','23','23','<p>21:23 <i>And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it</i>- The sun and moon were created partly in order to give a sense of time and seasons, not least the Jewish feasts. Grasping God\'s view of time means that we will see the Kingdom as immortality, not everlasting life. The eternity of our future existence is not the big theme of the Bible; it is &quot;God manifestation, not human salvation&quot;, in the words of John Thomas. The process of eternity, the life and Kingdom of God, is already going on now; the tree of life <i>is</i> now (not \'will be\'; Greek tenses are precise) in the midst of the paradise of God, at least from God\'s perspective (Rev. 2:7). We will have no need of the sun, for the light of God\'s glory will replace our concept of time (Rev. 21:23). Indeed, &quot;the time of the end&quot; can be read as &quot;the end of time&quot; (Dan. 12:4,9). There will be &quot;time (Gk. <i>chronos</i>, the idea of time) no longer&quot; (Rev. 10:6). The image of Dan. 2 is destroyed together by the Lord\'s return; each metal in some sense exists at his coming. Rather than meaning that each of those empires must have an end time revival, this may be teaching that the whole concept of human history and time will be ground to powder by the advent of the Kingdom. One day, when we are then with the Lord, will be like a thousand years (2 Pet. 3:8)- there will be no comparison between our present view of time and what will then be. The ploughman shall overtake the reaper (Am. 9:13)- which may refer to the collapsing of time, rather than just being a figure of fecundity. Before people pray, they will be heard (Is. 65:24- although this is our present prayer experience too, Mt. 6:8). Our focus should therefore be more on the <i>quality</i> and <i>nature</i> of the Kingdom life, rather than the mere eternity of it.</p><p><i>For the glory of God did light it, and the lamp of it is the Lamb</i>- This seems to imply their physical presence. There was no \'candlestick\' Gk.- no temple and temple furniture was necessary. This was radical reasoning for the first century Jewish audience, dominated as they were by the temple cult.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8373','1','66','21','24','24','<p>21:24 <i>And the nations shall walk by the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it</i>- Revelation 20 has described a period of time when the dragon is chained. It could be that during this period, a chance is given to the nations outside of the earth / land promised to Abraham, which is the focus of&nbsp;Revelation and Bible prophecy. And they respond by realizing that indeed their wealth and glory is nothing (:26), and come up to Jerusalem in repentance of their materialism, where they are invited to the Lord\'s table. See on 19:18. The previous kings of the earth / land had supported Babylon / the beast and were now no more. But they will be replaced by leaders who bring their glory to the Lamb rather than to Babylon.</p><p>God dwells in light (1 Tim. 6:16), and this new city will have light from God, through Christ (21:11,23;&nbsp;22:5)- because Yahweh Himself will be there.&nbsp;Perhaps some of the intensity of that light will spread out to the surrounding world, so that the nations call Jerusalem the place where Yahweh is (Ez. 48:35).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8374','1','66','21','25','25','<p>21:25 <i>The gates of it shall in no way be shut by day (for there shall be no night there)</i>- Representing the tribes of Israel (:12). They will be continually open to Gentiles entering in and joining with them. There would be no more Jewish exclusivity of the type which troubled the believing community at the time Revelation was given. There will finally be nothing and nobody untouched by the light of the Lord Jesus. And yet John\'s gospel presents the Lord as the total light of our lives now; in this sense we can live the eternal life now.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8375','1','66','21','26','26','<p>21:26 <i>And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it</i>- The idea of entering the city (:27) which represents the Kingdom of God is found in the Lord\'s teaching of the camel passing through the needle gate in order for a rich man to enter the Kingdom. There is the same message here- the wealth and glory of the world must be sacrificed in order to enter in. See on :24.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8376','1','66','21','27','27','<p>21:27 <i>There shall in no way enter into it anything unclean, or he that makes an abomination and a lie, but only they that are written in the Lamb\'s book of life</i>- As noted earlier, there is an intended contrast between the descriptions of the city in Rev. 21 and 22 seem to contradict those given in Ezekiel 40-48:</p><div align=center><table border=0 cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0>    <tbody>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><b>Revelation</b></p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p><b>Ezekiel</b></p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>21:27 Only those in the book&nbsp;of life can   enter</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p> 45:6 the city is for natural Israel (Zech.   8:5- children play in the streets). 44:11; 46:9 ordinary mortals enter it.</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>21:25 City gates never shut</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>44:1&nbsp;Gates shut at times</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>22:5; 21:23 Glory of God is the light, eclipsing   sun and&nbsp;moon</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>45:17; 46:1,3 Moon shines in the city</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>22:14 those who enter the city&nbsp;&nbsp; eat   the tree of life</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>mortal priests inside&nbsp;the city</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>21:22 no temple in the city</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>a temple in the city</p>            </td>        </tr>        <tr>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>The true temple has already&nbsp;been sprinkled   by Christ\'s blood.&nbsp;</p>            </td>            <td width=256 valign=top>            <p>45:20 This temple needs regular cleansing   (&quot;so shall ye&nbsp;reconcile the house&quot;)&nbsp;by sprinkling of   blood.</p>            </td>        </tr>    </tbody></table></div><p>These are just some of the many disparities, yet both cities are said to be built on a great mountain. The language bids us look back to Ezekiel\'s temple- and realize that it is <i>not</i> going to be built at the Lord\'s return. Such literalism will be far out of place once the Kingdom is established in all its glory.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8377','1','66','22','1','1','<p>22:1- see on Jn. 1:14.</p><p><em>And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb</em>- The throne of God and Jesus will be in Jerusalem. The river of life proceeds from there. Whilst I fail to see a doctrine of a Millennial reign taught in Revelation, it\'s clear that after Babylon is destroyed and Christ and the saints are enthroned in Jerusalem, there is a period of time during which the surviving mortals have the opportunity to identify themselves with the Kingdom and be immortalized. The water of life thus flows out to them, and they are urged to drink freely of it, thereby finding immortality. Likewise the tree of eternal life offers its fruits to them in :2; all they have to do is take it. And both the Lord Jesus and us His bride urge the peoples to come into the city of God, through the gates into the city of eternal life (:17). It may be that in order to eat of the tree of life they must first &quot;wash their robes&quot;, undergoing a kind of baptism experience (:14). There may be some literal element of fulfilment of the prophecy that a fountain will be opened in Jerusalem where sin can be cleansed (Zech. 13:1).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8378','1','66','22','2','2','<p>22:2- see on Rom. 5:12.</p><p><em>In the midst of the street thereof. And on both sides of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations</em>- The righteous man is right now like &quot;a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does (in this work of preaching?) shall prosper&quot; (Ps. 1:3). These words are quoted in Rev. 22:2 concerning our holding out of life to the mortal population at the Lord\'s return. The conclusion? If we witness now we are living the Kingdom life now, and therefore we will be perpetuated in that time.</p><p>Rev. 21 and 22 seem to describe a &quot;wood of trees of life&quot; (22:2- A.V. \'tree\' must be wrong because the \'tree\' is on either side of the river), watered by the river of life proceeding from the mountain of &quot;the throne of God and of the Lamb&quot;. There was a mountain in Eden, seeing there were four &quot;headstreams&quot; there, and it seems fitting to suggest that God\'s throne was on this same mountain before the fall. So whilst the picture is of Eden restored, there are differences- there will be a whole forest of trees of life, and no liar will be within the restored paradise, i.e. there will be no serpent, no possibility of sinning. Which means paradise indeed.</p><p>&quot;The healing of the nations&quot; suggests a process of time after the Lord\'s return during which the nations are healed, perhaps physically from the effects of the judgments, and spiritually.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8379','1','66','22','3','3','<p>22:3- see on Rev. 21:27.</p><p><em>And there shall be no curse any more, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein, and his servants shall serve him- </em>The final chapters of Revelation so often parallel God and &ldquo;the lamb&quot; (e.g. Rev. 22:3). The Father was so deeply united with the Son in His time of sacrificial offering. See on Jn. 19:19. The descriptions of the new city of Jerusalem in the prophets and Revelation can be better understood once it is appreciated that Eden will literally be restored in that area. Zech. 14:8-11 lays the basis for the descriptions of the city in Revelation, and includes the main elements of Eden- &quot;living waters&quot; (\'Hiddekel\') going out from&nbsp;a &quot;Lifted up&quot; mountain in Jerusalem, with &quot;no more curse&quot; there, v.11 (the phrase &quot;no more utter destruction&quot; is translated like this when it is quoted in Rev. 22:3).</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8380','1','66','22','4','4','<p>22:4 <em>They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads- </em>The reference seems to be to God Himself. Throughout Revelation 21 and 22 there is a distinction made between God and &quot;the Lamb&quot;. This further suggests that the references to &quot;God himself&quot; are <em>not</em> to God manifestation in the Lamb, but to Yahweh Himself.&nbsp;&quot;They shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads&quot; indicates that &quot;His face&quot; and &quot;His name&quot; refer to the same being.&nbsp;The Name which will be in our foreheads will be that of Yahweh, the Father, not Christ (Rev. 3:12; 14:1).&nbsp;Therefore it is <em>His</em> face which we will see.&nbsp;Of course there is <em>some</em> reference here to \'seeing\' in the sense of understanding, which is how we see the Father now.&nbsp;&nbsp; But then our fuller mental comprehension of the Father will be reflected in our physical vision of Him.&nbsp; Is. 25:6-9 speaks of how God\'s people will enjoy a feast in Jerusalem at the Lord\'s return, the veil will be withdrawn from their eyes, all tears will be wiped away, and then &quot;It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God... this is Yahweh&quot;. There is a&nbsp;parallel between physically seeing God and having the veil of our present incomprehension removed. The fuller understanding which we will then have will be reflected in our literal seeing of God.</p><p>The seeing of God\'s face is parallel with having His Name or personality in our heads, in the centre of our minds. This is what will make the physical seeing of His face appropriate.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8381','1','66','22','5','5','<p>22:5 <em>There shall be night no more, so they do not need the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun; for the Lord God shall give them light</em>- The candle, symbol of God\'s word (Ps. 119:105) will no longer be needed by the faithful, because &quot;the Lord God shall give them light&quot;. Our personal, direct contact with God will replace the ministry of the Bible and indeed all God\'s manifestations and communications as we now have experienced them. Personally seeing God\'s face means that we need no other form of illumination.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8382','1','66','22','6','6','<p>22:6- see on Jer. 23:18,22.</p><p><em>And he said to me: These words are faithful and true</em>- It seems the Angel sensed John\'s struggle to accept the reality of it all. See on 21:5 <em>Write</em></p><p><em>And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show His servants what must soon take place</em>- Perhaps this continues the theme noted in :5; that now we shall be face to face with God, there is no need for any more manifestation of Him to us through things like His word. His Spirit was in the prophets, but now the God whose Spirit that was- is with us face to face.</p><p><em>His servants</em>- We are given the same simple title in :3. We will eternally serve Him, and so we have begun the eternal life now, in so far as we serve Him now. The present experience of the eternal life is a major theme in John\'s writings.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8383','1','66','22','7','7','<p>22:7 <em>And behold, I come quickly</em>- These words would be appropriate to the Lord Jesus, so we assume that He spoke them; or that the Angel so intensely represented the Lord that he could appropriately say them. The Lord\'s quick or soon coming could refer to the suddenness of His coming, implying the need for constant readiness for it on our part. Or the idea may indeed be that He is coming &quot;soon&quot;, in that all believers are to live as if the second coming is imminent. And the Lord could have come &quot;soon&quot; after John\'s time, had Israel repented. The Olivet prophecy and many New Testament references certainly support that possibility. But because of the unreadiness of the bride, the lack of repentance in Israel and lack of spiritual fruit in the church, that coming has been delayed to our days.</p><p><em>Blessed is he that keeps the words of the prophecy of this book</em>- The book is hardly a list of commandments, and this particular section of Revelation is a description of the awesome destiny awaiting God\'s people by grace. So the reference is not really to \'keeping\' in the sense of keeping commandments; nor can \'keep\' be twisted to mean \'keep the right interpretation of...\'. Perhaps the idea is that blessed is he who believes these wonderful things and keeps the reality of them far further than merely seeing the vision, being visually awed, and then slipping back into the humdrum of the mediocre religious life.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8384','1','66','22','8','8','<p>22:8 <em>And I John am he that heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel that showed me these things</em>- The &quot;these things&quot; don\'t therefore refer to the entire vision, but to what John saw prior to falling before the Angel. Presumably the reference is to the amazing vision of eternity in 22:1-5. Faced with these eternal realities, our natural response should be to fall down and worship.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8385','1','66','22','9','9','<p>22:9 <em>And he said to me: You must not do that I am a fellow-servant with you, and with your brothers the prophets, and with those that keep the words of this book. Worship God</em><i><br /></i>- This shows that the Angel was a prophet. This title does not only mean one who foretells future events, but in Biblical usage refers more to one who ministers the word of God under inspiration; the Angel was therefore responsible for inspiring the Bible like the prophets (Old and New Testament ones) were. Note too how the Lord describes the Angels as &ldquo;servants&rdquo; (Mt. 22:13), using the common description of the prophets as Jehovah&rsquo;s servants- as if He saw a close connection between Angels and prophets. See on 2 Cor. 3:6.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8386','1','66','22','10','10','<p>22:10 <em>Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book. For the time is at hand</em>- The implication would be that the interpretation of Revelation would be sealed until the time for fulfilment was at hand. Daniel was told the same about his prophecies (Dan. 12:9). This fits with much other Bible teaching, to the effect that prophecy will be understood at the very end of time, just before its final fulfilment in the Lord\'s return. The flagship verse concerning the opening of our eyes to latter day prophecy must be Dan. 12:4,10: &quot;Shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro (an idiom often used concerning response to God\'s word: Ps. 119:32,60; 147:15; Amos 8:11,12; Hab. 2:2; 2 Thess. 3:1 Gk.), and knowledge (of Daniel\'s prophecies) shall be increased... many shall be purified, and made white, and tried (in the tribulation); but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand&quot;. This is all in the context of the Angel rejecting Daniel\'s plea for insight into his own prophecies. All he was told was that they would be fulfilled in the far distant future, but he was comforted with the thought that the faithful at that time would understand. That the fulfilment of all the latter day prophecies will be understood fully in the very last days is implied in Jer. 23:20: &quot;In the latter days you shall understand it perfectly&quot;. The &quot;it&quot; refers to &quot;the intents of God\'s heart&quot; revealed in His prophetic word. It is no accident that the Apocalypse ends with&nbsp;words which clearly allude to the closing words of Daniel. John falls at the Angel\'s feet, as Daniel did. The Angel then says: &quot;Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of <em>this</em> book (unlike Daniel\'s, which was sealed): for the time is at hand. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still (cp. &quot;the wicked shall do wickedly&quot;)&quot;. The implication is that the book is sealed for those who are a long way from the time of fulfilment; hence John must not seal the prophecy <em>because</em> its fulfilment is near. Thus Dan. 12:4 LXX reads: &quot;Seal the book until the time of its accomplishment&quot;- <em>then</em> it will be unsealed and the meaning become apparent. The primary application of Revelation is to the events of AD70; the implication is that the righteous understood the pattern of events then because of this book. There is a repeated stress throughout the NT epistles on the need to understand and get true knowledge (1 Pet. 3:7; 2 Pet. 1:2-6,8,16; 2:20; 3:18), perhaps with special reference to Scripture like the Olivet prophecy and Revelation; likewise 1 Tim. 3:1,16; 4:1,2 encourage Bible study in the \'last days\' leading up to AD70. The need for understanding and study at that time is reflected in our last days. Paul told the Thessalonians (in the context of AD70) that he didn\'t need to tell them about the times and seasons because they already understood the prophecies so well- but they needed rather to make sure that their lifestyle was appropriate to their understanding (1 Thess. 5:1-5). The situation in AD70 is a type of the true &quot;last days&quot;. Therefore the understanding of Revelation will not be sealed just before its second and major fulfilment in the second coming of Christ. In the same way as Daniel\'s prophecies will be opened to us in the&nbsp;last days, so must the book of Revelation, because the understanding of Revelation is so bound up with the meaning of Daniel. &quot;None of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand&quot; suggests that this true understanding of prophecy motivates the faithful remnant in holding on to a righteous lifestyle. Time and again Israel are condemned because their lack of <em>understanding</em> of the prophecies led them into sinful behaviour (Dt. 32:29; Ps. 94:8; Is. 44:18).</p><p>As to the time being &quot;at hand&quot;, see on :7.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8387','1','66','22','11','11','<p>22:11 <em>He that is unrighteous, let him continue to do unrighteousness, and he that is filthy, let him remain filthy, and he that is righteous, let him continue to do righteousness, and he that is holy, let him remain holy</em>- This verse appears to be stating the obvious and axiomatic, but probably the idea is that God will confirm people in the way they wish to go. Seeing the reference is to the time of the very end (:10), the idea may also be that once the Lord comes, we cannot change our ways. Now is the time to do that. We will as it were be frozen as we are.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8388','1','66','22','12','12','<p>22:12- see on Mt. 26:70.</p><p><em>Behold, I come suddenly</em>- See on :7.</p><p><em>And my reward is with me</em>- The reward has been prepared for us in Heaven (Mt. 5:12). In this sense the new Jerusalem descends from Heaven- to us.</p><p><em>To repay everyone for what he has done- </em>Gk. \'according as his works shall be\'. It will be in our last days that Israel\'s blindness starts to be cured, thanks to a Word-based revival, led by the Elijah ministry. Solomon\'s prayer stated that when Israel properly repented, God would then &quot;render unto every man according unto all his ways&quot; (2 Chron. 6:30). Our Lord here definitely applied these words to the work of His second coming. His allusion to Solomon\'s prayer should be proof enough that the time of His full apocalypse is related to the time of Israel\'s repentance. The &quot;everyone&quot; in view is not only the believers; the phrase \'according to works\' is found in Rev. 18:6 about the judgments upon Babylon according as their works have been. We noted on 20:13 that the judgment according to works may specifically be a reference to the judgment of those who persecuted the believers during the tribulation. For the believers are not judged according to their works in that salvation is not on the basis of works, although it is also true that our works will have eternal consequence.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8389','1','66','22','13','13','<p>22:13 <em>I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end</em>- The Lord Jesus is appropriating to Himself the titles of His Father, as used in Is. 41:4; 44:6; 48:12. Those statements that God is &quot;the first and with the last&quot; are all in the context of assuring a doubting Judah that really, God has saved them. We sense from the encouragement to John to really record all this, and the repeated reminders that these words are true and faithful, that the Lord\'s people will struggle to grasp the wonderful truth of all this. Right through the process, from our foreknowledge at the beginning to the &quot;last things&quot; of our final salvation- He will have been in the process.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8390','1','66','22','14','14','<p>22:14- see on Mk. 10:25.</p><p><em>Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have the right to eat of the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city</em>- The reference may be to baptism, and belief in the efficacy of that washing. On this basis we will have the &ldquo;right&rdquo; to the tree of life (Rev. 22:14); yet our salvation is by pure grace alone. We are &quot;meet&quot; to be partakers of the inheritance, we walk worthy of the Lord Jesus unto all pleasing of him (Col. 1:10-12), the labourers receive the penny of salvation, that which is their right&nbsp;(Mt. 20:14). We are either seen as absolutely perfect, or totally wicked, due to God\'s imputation of righteousness or evil to us (Ps. 37:37). There is no third way.</p><p>This parallels the city and Eden by equating having &quot;right to the tree of life&quot; with entering &quot;in through the gates into the city&quot;. Rev. 22:3 tells us that the throne of God will be in &quot;it&quot; - i.e. the wood of life (not the river- see context), as in Eden God\'s throne was in the garden, which garden was presumably a wood of trees and little else (&quot;of every tree of the garden...&quot; -other plants are not mentioned), in the same way as the new Eden is composed solely of trees of life. The invitation &quot;of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat&quot; is mirrored in &quot;take the water&nbsp;(lit. take from the stream) of life freely&quot; - the stream being that of Eden. Rev. 21:27&nbsp;stresses&nbsp;that no serpent -&quot;whatever works abomination or makes a lie&quot;- will enter the new Eden as it did before. The midst of the new Garden will be the throne of Christ, who in every way will then be the tree of life and knowledge. This will be paradise restored, but without the possibility of sinning. Paradise indeed.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8391','1','66','22','15','15','<p>22:15 <i>Outside it</i>- We all worry as to whether we shall be left outside the Kingdom. This description of those outside is helpful in this regard. All are urged to enter, the gates are open constantly, the Spirit and bride both urging entrance, the water of eternal life can be drunk freely, a whole forest of trees of life offer their eternal fruit to all regularly, the wall around the city is transparent. Only those who don\'t want to be there will not be.</p><p><i>Are the dogs</i>- One subtext of these visions is the criticism of Judaism and legalism. &quot;Dogs&quot; are elsewhere used to represent those who teach circumcision and who return to the Jewish law (Phil. 3:2; 2 Pet. 2:22). </p><p><i>And the sorcerers</i>- Literally, poisoners. All these categories of the condemned have one thing in common- they entice others into sin and damage others, after the pattern of the serpent in Eden. The message is that paradise will be restored but with the major difference that there will no more be tempters and enticers to sin. <i>Pharmakeus</i> could perhaps dynamically be translated as \'drug pushers\'. But the reference is to how the system of the beast and Babylon is guilty of all these things, spreading her sorceries, fornication, idolatry and lies to all the peoples in the earth / land during the tribulation.</p><p><i>Idolaters</i>- Those who worship images, and Revelation has much to say about those who worship the image of the latter day beast.</p><p><i>Lovers and practisers of falsehood-&nbsp; </i>Those who love and create lies. Given all the allusions to paradise restored, this must refer to the serpent in Eden. </p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8392','1','66','22','16','16','<p>22:16 <i>I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright morning star</i>- This statement of the obvious seems to be another example of how the utter reality of these things is being emphasized. This is not fantasy or wild dreaming, there is an eternal truth to this message of the Kingdom. And the message is to be shared with &quot;the churches&quot;, initially the seven representative churches of chapters 1-3.</p><p>The Lord is both the offspring of Jesse and David, and also &quot;the root of Jesse&quot; (Is. 11:1,10). This is another way of saying that He is the alpha and omega of all things. All this wonderful plan was planned for us from the beginning and shall come to fulfilment. Barnes helpfully comments: &quot;Not the root in the sense that David sprang from him, as a tree does from a root, but in the sense that he was the &ldquo;root-shoot&rdquo; of David, or that he himself sprang from him, as a sprout starts up from a decayed and fallen tree - as of the oak, the willow, the chestnut, etc. The meaning then is, not that he was the ancestor of David, or that David sprang from him, but that he was the offspring of David, according to the promise in the Scripture, that the Messiah should be descended from him. No argument, then, can be derived from this passage in proof of the pre-existence, or the divinity of Christ&quot;.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8393','1','66','22','17','17','<p>22:17 <em>And the Spirit and the bride say: Come And he that hears, let him say: Come</em>- The whole spirit of the Lord Jesus is to invite others to come and share His salvation. He that hears will say to others &quot;Come&quot;. This refers to the redeemed community and the Lord Jesus urging the survivors of Babylon\'s judgments to come within the city of salvation. Those who \'hear\', i.e. believe, will invite others to \'come\', in the spirit of Zech. 8:21. There is a wonderful theme in these last visions of urging others to accept the great salvation presented. The water of life can be freely drunk, the gates of the city are open constantly, and the Spirit &quot;the Lord the Spirit&quot;, the Lord Jesus and us the bride urge others to enter. In the immediate context of this chapter, the reference would be to the mortal nations who survive Armageddon who are urged to enter the Kingdom which has been established in Jerusalem.</p><p><em>And he that is thirsty, let him come. Let him that desires take the water of life freely</em>- The \'free\' nature of the gift of eternal life fits into the general impression given in these visions that the community of salvation is so utterly and easily open to all, and the only qualification is that we \'desire\' to be there; that we are those who \'thirst\' for the water of eternal life. This goes back to the Lord\'s opening teaching in the Sermon on the Mount; that salvation is freely available quite simply for those who really want it. Our desire to \'be there\' should therefore be the passion of our heart, our defining emotion and wish. And we shall be satisfied.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8394','1','66','22','18','18','<p>22:18 <em>I testify to every man that hears the words of the prophecy of this book, that if anyone shall add to them, God shall add to him the plagues which are written in this book</em>- The reference is not to the whole Bible, it is specifically to the words of the prophecy of the Apocalypse. The only other time the Greek text talks about \'adding things\' is in Acts 15:28 where we read of the tendency to add things to salvation by faith alone. I have suggested that the language of the New Jerusalem and the open temple is all to be understood in the first century context in which it was given. For the admission of non-Jews to a largely Jewish Christian community was a live issue. The picture presented here is of an eternal salvation where literal Jerusalem and its temple are surpassed by the reality of the Kingdom, and the 12 tribes of Israel are no longer to be understood literally. So I suggest with that background, the idea here is that the great salvation just presented is available to all, freely. And anyone who adds conditions to that shall be excluded from it; and likewise any who detract from the vision by not believing it. For the fearful and unbelieving are listed in Revelation alongside the whores and sorcerers who shall remain outside the new Jerusalem.</p><p>Yet the plagues written in the book have specific reference to latter judgments upon the Jews and upon the supporters of the beast in the earth / land promised to Abraham during the three and a half year final tribulation. Islam adds to the prophecies through claiming that the Koran and Hadith were given after the time of Revelation; and first century Judaism added to God\'s book by elevating their laws and traditions to effectively the same status as the words of God un the Bible.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8395','1','66','22','19','19','<p>22:19 <em>And if anyone shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city, which are written of in this book</em>- That disobeying the law of God is effectively adding to it was clearly brought home to Israel: &quot;What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it&quot; (Dt. 12:32). The command to Joshua to &quot;observe to do according to all the law... turn not from it to the right hand or to the left&quot; (Josh. 1:7) is probably reiterating the command not to add (&quot;to the right&quot;) or subtract (&quot;to the left&quot;) from the law. Rev. 22:18,19 is based on these passages.</p><p>Only those once written in the book of life can have their names taken out of it. The idea of taking away therefore refers to believers who fall away. In the last days especially, as the tribulation unfolds, it will be tempting for believers to downgrade the book of Revelation, and not to accept the plain teaching about the need for separation from the beast, even if it nets death and persecution. There will be a particular temptation then to &quot;take away&quot; from this book.&nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8396','1','66','22','20','20','<p>22:20 <em>He who testifies these things says: Yes. I come quickly. Amen</em>- See on :7. This could mean that the return of the Lord was all set up and possible in the first century, but was delayed due to human failure to meet the required conditions. It could equally mean that He will come suddenly, unexpectedly for many; and the key characteristic of the faithful is that we should be ready for His coming.</p><p><em>Come Lord Jesus</em>- There is little point in praying for His coming if it is set for a date set in stone that cannot be altered. The calendar date of His coming is therefore not set; because it depends upon our prayers.</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8397','1','66','22','21','21','<p>22:21 <em>The grace of the Lord Jesus be with the saints. Amen</em>- Given the awesome eternal future prepared, it is appropriate we are reminded that this is all by absolute grace. Yet &quot;grace&quot; often carries with it the idea of the gift of the Spirit, and this is a major theme in John\'s writings. He wishes all readers to accept that gift, the presence and power of the Lord Jesus with us; which is the essence of life now just as it shall be of the life eternal. &nbsp;</p>');
insert into `nev_dcomm` (`id`, `active`, `book`, `chap`, `startverse`, `endverse`, `html`) values('8399','1','66','1','0','0','<p><b>The Nature of Revelation</b></p>\r\n<p>Revelation is full of visual images, borrowed from the Old Testament. But it presents them as a kaleidoscope of images, overlaying each other, relying upon other images for the final picture presented. As such, it simply cannot be read as a chronological prediction of historical events. The images presented of the new Jerusalem and God\'s ways are intended to deconstruct the images of Babylon and her ways. In earlier application, Christians living within the \'Babylon\' of the Roman empire were subject to her images, worldviews etc., and Revelation enabled them to re-imagine life from God\'s perspective, thinking according to His images of the world, seeing Babylon and the beast for who they are, and seeing ourselves and God\'s people for who they are. This is of supreme practical value today, as it has been in every age. But it will be of ultimate value for those living under the domination of the beast entity in the land / earth under the beast\'s domination in the brief period of tribulation before Christ\'s return. A major theme of Revelation is of martyrdom and witness. It is not God\'s pleasure to destroy the beast, and He expects His people to make His final appeal and witness to the beast, even at the cost of their lives, physically, economically and socially. The radical nature of that call comes to each of His people over history, but it will be at its most intense and acute in the last days. Another theme of Revelation is the Lordship of Jesus; exalted titles are given to Him, and things stated about God are stated about Him. This is not to say that He is God; rather the intention and necessity of this message is that as strongly as the beast insists that <i>he</i> is Lord, so we are to insist and proclaim that <i>Jesus </i>is our Lord. The image of the slain lamb, the crucified Jesus, hangs as a watermark image over the book of Revelation; and again, that makes sense. For the community of the last days, under intense physical and / or psychological oppression from the beast, will have the image ever before them of Him in His time of suffering and dying.</p>\r\n<p><b>A Futurist Approach</b><br />\r\nI submit that in the last days, all God\'s prophetic word will come true. All previous historical fulfilments of it were true and valid, but they will be seen as but incipient fulfilments of the final and ultimate fulfilling of God\'s word in the events of the last hour, and the final triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ in His return to earth to judge the enemies of His people. Rev. 1:1 opens Revelation by saying that the things revealed or apocalypsed are to &quot;shortly&quot; come to pass, and the book ends with the same statement (Rev. 22:6). The Greek can just as well mean that these things will happen quickly, suddenly- rather than requiring that the entire book had a fulfilment shortly after the time it was first given. For clearly the events described in the book did not all happen \'shortly\' after John\'s time in the first century. That is a fact, and I would argue that it leaves us little leeway in interpreting <i>tachos</i> as therefore meaning that they will happen quickly, suddenly. The ultimate thrust of their fulfilment, therefore, is not over an extended period of time from John\'s time over the two millennia to the time of Christ\'s coming. The same phrase is used by the Lord to the believers in Rev. 2:5,16 where He warns them that He will come unto them &ldquo;quickly&rdquo;- the idea is that His coming in judgment will be sudden <i>unless</i> they repent. The quickness or suddenness of His coming is related to His wrath in judgment; if they repent, then the coming will not be &lsquo;sudden&rsquo; or &lsquo;short&rsquo;. He surely doesn&rsquo;t mean &lsquo;If you don&rsquo;t repent, then I will come back soon. If you do repent, then I won&rsquo;t come back soon&rsquo;. He uses the same concept of suddenness and unexpectedness, although without using <i>tachos</i>, in Rev. 3:3: &ldquo;If you shall not watch, I will come as a thief, and you shall not know what time I will come upon you&rdquo;. <br />\r\nAttention must be paid to Revelation especially in the last days because &ldquo;the time is at hand&rdquo; (Rev. 1:3); but <i>eggos</i> means literally &lsquo;squeezed&rsquo; or &lsquo;throttled&rsquo;- creating the idea that things are going to happen very quickly at the end. The fulfilment of God&rsquo;s word in this sense will be &lsquo;hastened&rsquo; (Is. 60:22; Jer. 1:12). And the world situation we are in enables this to be the case as no other generation. The student of Revelation, therefore, will not be caught by surprise by the speed of events in the last days- that seems to be the idea.</p>\r\n<p>This is not to say that the prophecies did not have relevance to the historical experience of God\'s people. The continual theme of persecution and comfort of ultimate victory against the world was, of course, a powerful and relevant message to God\'s persecuted people throughout history. But those fulfilments were but shadow fulfilments of the final triumph and events which the book describes. These are to happen quickly, suddenly, in a short time space. This explains why each of the various visions, of seals, trumpets, bowls etc. all end with the final victory of Christ\'s coming and the establishment of God\'s Kingdom on earth. They can all be read as having specific reference to the last days- whatever historical fulfilment they may have had. To argue otherwise requires that these events had their main fulfilment at some time in the last 2000 years, and then there is a gap until their fulfilment in the coming of Christ. But the nature of the language and arguments used hardly allows for that. At best it could be that after each of those historical incidents there was the possibility of Christ\'s return, but that didn\'t happen because other preconditions weren\'t met. Therefore the prophecies were rescheduled and reapplied for their main fulfilment in the events of the last days. This would explain why some of the historical fulfilments suggested by expositors of the continuous historical school appear to \'fit\' better than others. But at best, these were only incipient fulfilments- the final reality for each of God\'s prophetic words must come in the last days, just as the image of Daniel 2 had some continuous historical application, but the image must stand erect and complete in the last days- and that is the main fulfilment of the prophecy, whatever application it may have had in history.</p>');
