Revelation 14
9
Another angel, a third,
followed them, saying with a great voice,
"If anyone worships the beast
and his image,
and receives a mark
on his forehead, or on his hand, 10
he also will drink
of the wine
of the wrath of God,
which is prepared unmixed
in the cup of his anger.
He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy
angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.
saying
with a great voice
I was in the Spirit on
the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice,
like a trumpet saying, "What you see, write in a book and
send..." (Revelation 1:10-11)
If
anyone worships the
beast
and his image
All who dwell on the
earth will worship him, everyone whose name has
not been written from the foundation of the world in the
book of life of the Lamb who has been killed. (Revelation 13:8)
He exercises all the
authority of the first beast in his presence. He makes the
earth and those who dwell in it to worship the
first beast, whose fatal wound was healed. (Revelation
13:12)
It was given to him to
give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the
beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn't
worship the image of the beast to be killed.
(Revelation 13:15)
As we unpacked previously,
worship is all about where we acquire our sense of worth
and who we authorize to assign to us our identity. Worship
involves who we come to reflect in the way we relate to both
our own perceptions about who we are as well as how to treat those
around us. These warnings are addressed to all who admire and become
like the beast and its image and reflect their disposition.
receives
a mark
on his forehead, or on his hand
He causes all,
the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the
slave, to be given marks on their right hands,
or on their foreheads; and that no one would be able to buy
or to sell, unless he has that mark,
the name of the beast or the number of
his name. (Revelation 13:16-17)
The first went, and
poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil
sore on the people who had the mark of the
beast, and who worshiped his image.
(Revelation 16:2)
The beast was taken, and
with him the false prophet who worked the signs in his sight, with
which he deceived those who had received the mark
of the beast and those who worshiped his image.
These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with
sulfur. (Revelation 19:20)
It is important to keep in
mind here what this mark actually represents. First, this is
not an outward mark that can be seen physically but rather
a disposition shaped by the source relied on from which
one gets their identity and learns how to act like
themselves. Because we are reflectors by design, whatever
opinions and beliefs we receive and retain in our perception
of what our God is like and how He relates to us and
those around us, determines the reflection or image of who we
become like. This is the likeness aspect of our creation
design, for we take on the likeness, disposition, attitude and
characteristics of whomever we worship, as that is what
worship actually means.
Let me be even more plain
here. Many people have been carefully taught various ideas
about the composition, meaning and implications of this mark
as well as the composition of the seal of God. In my heritage
it was deeply engrained into me that the mark of the beast was
primarily about compliance to laws requiring observance of Sunday
as the right day to worship God. In contrast, the seal of
God was taught to mean keeping the right day of worship, the
seventh-day Sabbath. This was bolstered by select texts
and logical explanations to prove this as truth, and these
instructions were cemented into my psyche with generous doses
of fear in ensure that I never forget which supernatural
entity had the most power to punish those who resisted
compliance to their demands.
I am not at all
suggesting that the issue of which day is right to worship
God and rest from our labors will not be a key element
involved in the showdown involving the mark of the beast and his
image. But what is becoming increasingly clear to me is that when
I simply allow Scripture to define these symbols through the
context of the teachings and disposition of Jesus, I see far
more evidence convicting me that the mark of the beast
has much more to do with becoming infected by the disposition of
the beast who relies on fear, force, intimidation,
compulsion and law enforcement to compel compliance to its
demands more than anything else.
I have little doubt that
enforced Sunday rest will be a central aspect of
Satan's efforts to take total control over all who dwell on
the earth, and he is even now working through human agents
bent on acquiring supremacy by any means possible. Yet even though
Sunday observance will likely will play a pivotal role in the
final showdown between Christ and Satan, simply resisting Sunday
rest and clinging tenaciously to the practice of seventh-day
Sabbath observance may actually be discovered to be one of
the most seductive deceptions the enemy has contrived to
deceive us into believing we are staunchly standing for
truth when in our heart we have failed to be
transformed by the power of God's love for us personally,
setting us free to love our enemies as Jesus commanded and
demonstrated so clearly by His teachings and example.
I agree that the first
angel's message outlines how the Sabbath of creation is a
symbol of God's authority and is a key aspect of living in harmony
with the truth. Yet just as the Jews wandered so far from God's
will because their hearts were hardened against love to the
extent they had the Author of love and life crucified for
violating their rules, so too we are in just as much danger
of following their example by putting more emphasis on keeping the
right day while failing to be transformed by the presence
of the One who is Lord of the Sabbath.
Does this lessen the
importance of the Sabbath truth? Some may see this stance as
scandalous and declare me a heretic for suggesting such an idea. Yet
I am under increasing conviction that clinging tenaciously to keeping
the 'right' day of worship may be a ploy of the enemy to
divert our attention away from the true purpose of both
the Law and especially the Sabbath. If I fail to experience genuine
heart transformation that brings me into alignment with the
disposition of the meek and humble Lamb of God, no
amount of Sabbath obedience will have any power to save
me. If I know all the right facts, have all the right
doctrines, fiercely cling to the right rituals and adhere
to all the instructions regarding what to do on what day, yet
fail to receive a disposition of unconditional love and
forgiveness for my enemies without resistance, I will discover
too late that knowing the right facts and keeping the right day holy
will prove to be a false hope, and I have inadvertently
received the real mark of the beast despite all my efforts to
avoid its outward mark of Sunday observance.
If I speak in the tongues
of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong
or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy
and can fathom all mysteries and all
knowledge, and if I have a faith that
can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
If I give all I possess to the poor and
surrender my body to the flames, but have
not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is
kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is
not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily
angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (1
Corinthians 13:1-5 NIV)
Set me as a
seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm;
for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as
cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very
flame of Yahweh. Many waters can't quench love, neither
can floods drown it. If a man would give all the wealth of his house
for love, he would be utterly scorned. (Song of Solomon 8:6-7)
He who comes from above
is above all. He who is from the Earth belongs to the Earth, and
speaks of the Earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. What he
has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one receives his
witness. He who has received his witness has set his seal
to this, that God is true. (John 3:31-33)
By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you have
love for one another. (John 13:35)
Now he who establishes
us with you in Christ, and anointed
us, is God; who also sealed us, and gave us the
down payment of the Spirit in our hearts. (2
Corinthians 1:21-22)
to the end that we should
be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in
whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of
your salvation,--in whom, having also believed, you were
sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, (Ephesians
1:12-13)
The Jews of Christ's
day were deceived by the same spirit very much alive today.
They were obsessive about protecting the sanctity of the
seventh-day Sabbath of the Lord. They were constantly
criticizing and condemning Christ for violating their Sabbath
laws intended to protect people from infringing on the Sabbath by
improper behavior on that sacred day. They misunderstood His
actions and motives and so became incensed over His seeming
careless disregard for the holiness of that day. They
argued that His Sabbath violations proved He could not possibly be
the promised Messiah, for the true Messiah would be a faithful
law-keeper, not a law-breaker. But love was not on their
priority list.
Jesus did keep the law
perfectly, but not in the way prescribed by religion that
darkens and obscures the true meaning and purpose of the Law of God.
Religion focuses on the externals rather than the condition
of the heart, and the same deception is just as present now as it
has ever been. The Law of God is merely a description
of what a person's life will look like when living in
harmony with Spirit of God who is love, light and truth. The
Sabbath will indeed be prominent in the experience of people who
genuinely appreciate the true reason for its existence as an outward
expression of their belief in the real truth about God's heart. But a
symptom without an authentic cause is a deception.
Clinging to a symbol
without experiencing a transformed heart is like pinning fruit
to a dead tree to make it look alive. The underlying issue in
the final showdown between Christ and Satan is not merely about
keeping up appearances or a profession of faith in God. Rather
it is all about heart condition and what character is shaped
through choices we make about God's disposition towards
us. The true rest of the Sabbath according to Hebrews 4:10
means abstaining from trying to change God's disposition
towards us and resting fully in the truth that He is
completely good all the time, is only light with no
darkness at all, and that His love and forgiveness are unconditional
forever. As we rest in this love and live in freedom from
fear, our lives are transformed to reflect His glory, the
same glory as witnessed in the reflection seen in the life and love
of Jesus Christ.
What this angel warns us
about is the extreme danger of refusing a love of this truth
and failing to avail ourselves of its healing power to restore
us to reflect His likeness. Those who demand that God must
resort to force to maintain the integrity of His Law,
who insist that God relates to His subjects with hierarchical
authority like the beast and the image does, are assimilating
the disposition of the dragon through worship of his
surrogates. This third angel is simply describing the unavoidable
consequences in the lives of all who cling to such beliefs that
transforms their life to reflect the disposition of the beast rather
than the Lamb. This is the crux of what this angel's message
is all about, for to spurn the Lamb's version of God in favor
of worshipping a god of force and compulsion in order to keep
law and order in society, such ones give their authority to
the dragon, and the result is what is described in this message we
are continuing to explore further.
he
also will drink
of the wine
of the wrath of God
Is this drinking of the wine
forced on these individuals, or is this simply describing
what happens? It makes a great deal of difference how we think
God is related to these causes and effects.
Another, a second angel,
followed, saying, "Babylon the great has
fallen, which has made all the nations to drink
of the wine of
the wrath of
her sexual immorality." (Revelation 14:8)
The angel thrust his
sickle into the earth, and gathered the vintage
of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of
the wrath of God. (Revelation 14:19)
The great city was
divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon
the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to
her the cup of the wine of
the fierceness of his wrath. (Revelation 16:19)
Let's review the meaning
of the wrath of God in contrast to alternative versions of
wrath.
There are two Greek words
usually translated into the English as wrath. In Romans 1 we find the
classic definition of the true meaning of God's kind of wrath,
and the word used there is orge which means intense desire,
excitement of the mind.
For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
(Romans 1:18)
This word is about intensity
of emotion but is not
locked to negative emotion but rather has to do with intensity
of feeling; it is simply an amplifier of whatever emotion
is present. In Romans 1 the subsequent verses explain what God
does when His wrath is being revealed – He releases or
hands people over to the natural consequences of their own
choices despite His good desires for them. This is what
happened in the case of Moses arguing with God at the burning
bush, the very first mention of God's anger or wrath in the
Bible. When we insist on having our own way and doing our own
thing in resistance to His will for us, we deny His loving
will and desire to bless us and He is compelled to let us go
the way we have chosen for ourselves in contradiction to what is best
for us.
We need a better
understanding of the intense feelings aroused in God's heart
related to our freedom of choice when we turn our hearts away
from the true Source of love, life, peace and joy found in His
presence. When we rebel against the principles of life, love
and truth, and throw ourselves into indulging in evil that defaces
His image in our soul, moving us towards self-destruction, God
does sit by complacently while we ruin our purpose to be
recipients and expressions of His agape love. Yet
without freedom to choose for ourselves who will define us
and how to act like ourselves, we have no capacity to respond
positively to love. This is why God will not violate our freedom
by forcing us to live in harmony with the principles of life
in which we are designed to thrive.
The second Greek word used
here in Revelation is thumos. This is fierce passion.
It means hard breathing, blowing, even smoking. Its root word conveys
ideas of sacrifice and immolation. This word is far more negative
than orge, yet when applied to God it must still align
completely with the revelation of His heart and ways solely based on
the kind of God revealed by His only designated representative
for Him – Jesus who is the only true Christ, both for us and
on behalf of God.
Interestingly at the end
of this sentence we find the other word for wrath – orge
– only here it is translated as indignation or in some
versions as anger. In this sentence we find both these words
which helps give us a better perspective as to how to interpret them
relying on the lens of how Jesus demonstrates the truth about His
Father's disposition.
Why is wine mentioned
here in connection with God's wrath? I believe this may be something
to explore more closely. What kind of wine is connected with God, and
how might such wine bring about such intense negative effects given
what we understand about God's disposition in the Lamb? We will look
at this more when we move to the next part of this verse.
But thus says Yahweh,
Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of
the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who
contends with you, and I will save your children. I will feed
those who oppress you with their
own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their
own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know
that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of
Jacob. (Isaiah 49:25-26)
Awake, awake, stand up,
Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of
his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup
of staggering, and drained it. There is none to guide her
among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any
who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you?
Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I
comfort you? Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head
of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they
are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.
Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but now with
wine: Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads
the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of your
hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my
wrath; you shall no more drink it again: and I will put it
into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul,
Bow down, that we may go over; and you have laid your back as the
ground, and as the street, to those who go over. (Isaiah
51:17-23)
For thus says Yahweh, the
God of Israel, to me: take this cup of the wine of wrath at
my hand, and cause all the nations,
to whom I send you, to drink it. They shall drink,
and reel back and forth, and be mad,
because of the sword that I will send among them. (Jeremiah
25:15-16)
I believe it is necessary we
clarify in our own thinking as much as possible how we
perceive the emotions and feelings of God and his actual
disposition when described as being angry or full of
wrath. Taking into account that we have been given capacity to
appreciate God's feelings as we are designed in His image, it
is possible to understand what these words mean when
describing God's kind of wrath and anger. But keep in mind it is not
our usual version of wrath and anger.
So, then, my beloved
brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to
anger; for the anger of man doesn't produce the
righteousness of God. Therefore, putting away all
filthiness and overflowing of wickedness, receive with
humility the implanted word, which is able to save your
souls. (James 1:19-21)
Seek you Yahweh while he
may be found; call you on him while he is near: let the wicked
forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him
return to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for
he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, says Yahweh. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are
my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts. (Isaiah 55:6-9)
In no way am I suggesting
that God does not get angry. Rather, His anger is for very
different reasons than most of our anger, and even more
importantly, when God is angry, the way He acts like Himself
is almost always nearly opposite of how we typically act when
we get angry.
therefore thus says the
Lord Yahweh: Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against
the residue of the nations, and against all Edom, that have appointed
my land to themselves for a possession with the joy of all their
heart, with despite of soul, to cast it out for a prey. Therefore
prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and tell the mountains and to
the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Thus says the Lord
Yahweh: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my
wrath, because you have borne the shame of the nations:
(Ezekiel 36:5-6)
If we have any capacity
to care and long for the best for our own children and for those
we love dearly, then we have a point of reference to be aware of what
these intense words mean in regards to how God must feel when
He is forced to release His protective power and agencies
around those He longs to rescue and restore to health and life in His
presence. The key factor we must pay attention to here to get
proper perspective, is the core principle of freedom. Unless
we appreciate the centrality of freedom of choice (meaning no
hint of threat of force or punishment involved) in the way God
designed for us to relate to Him and with each other, it will be
impossible to properly understand how His wrath aligns with the
foundational truths that God is light with no darkness at all
in Him, and He is love that never relies on fear to elicit
compliance to His will.
Wrath here involves both
Greek words in the same sentence and describes the intense
conflict of emotions that tears God's heart open. It was
evidenced most clearly in the ripping apart of the literal heart
of Jesus causing His death on the cross. The opposing passions
that were allowed to contradict each other in the emotions and
nervous system of Jesus' body during the last hours of his earthly
ministry, demonstrate in the physical realm what God
experiences in the spirit realm relating to the very same issues
that brought about the death of our Savior. For it was not the
beatings or the physical abuse suffered at the hands of
evil men that killed Jesus, but rather the conflicting emotions
that ruptured His literal heart and tore Him up emotionally so
intently that it cost Him His physical life.
What we find here in
Revelation is not different in some way from what Jesus demonstrated
while living among us here on earth as a human. Away with the sick
notion that the example of Jesus while on earth was only a
partial revelation of what God is like, but when He comes again
the second time His true colors will be manifest when He
resorts to using His power to impose violent punishments and
inflict severe harm on all who resist obeying His will. This
is the doctrine of demons that has infiltrated every religion
on earth but is not of God. Our own safety is to filter
every idea, every interpretation, every understanding of who God
is and how He acts like Himself only through the lens of the Jesus
of Galilee who described Himself as meek and lowly and humble.
prepared
unmixed
in the cup of his anger
The word here translated as
anger comes from the Greek word orge which
elsewhere is translated as wrath such as in Romans 1:18. Here
we find it coupled with the other word for wrath, thumos
and now described as being unmixed or undiluted. The question
then is, why is it unmixed? When or how was it mixed
previously, and with what was it mixed before that is no
longer present? This is important to appreciate in light of
interpreting these symbols in light of the Lamb version of God.
They told the mountains
and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us
from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his
wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"
(Revelation 6:16-17)
What is lost in the
thinking of those who view the passion of the Lamb of God
as fierce anger rather than passionate love, is the truth
about God's heart. They have rejected God's mercy in favor
of belief in a god who enforces his laws with retribution
against all who disobey or offend him. They view God in primarily
a legal way, imagining that He is more interested in
conformity to rules rather than longing for reconciliation
of an intimate relationship with His estranged children.
By clinging to such dark
views despite all God has done to repair their thinking about
Him, they have a permanent set in their character that cannot
be altered so that no amount of truth or revelation of love has any
power to heal their hearts. From this perspective we see how the true
meaning of God's wrath fits here, for when one has given
themselves over completely to evil until their character and
heart is impossible to repair, the only option left is
for God to respect their determined choice to believe The Lie
and to release them to experience the natural outcome of those
choices, which is living in a false reality shaped and
filtered by the dark, fear-based assertions of the enemy of truth.
The greatest danger for any
of us is clinging to lies that feel true but only lead to
death. God's judgment simply describes how when we encounter the
truth that God is love and light with no darkness in Him, we
react based on the interpretation that fits our settled
choice of what we believe God's disposition is towards us.
This is worship – choosing one side or the other as to what
God is like which in turn determines our beliefs about our own
identity as His reflectors. Unless we embrace the version of
God as displayed by the slaughtered Lamb as the only accurate
version, and allow the Spirit of the Lamb to transform our
hearts, minds and disposition to reflect that version, then when we
are confronted by exposure to the vivid revelation of the
real truth by the up close encounter in the presence of
the Lamb and the holy angels, our opinion and gut reaction to
this intense revelation of the power of love will only feel like
He is bringing punishment to us. This is the unavoidable
result for every person whose perception of God has remained
trapped in the lies of the dragon rather than transformed by
the principles of love and life as experienced by those who follow
the Lamb.
What can we learn from
tracing the history of the cup as related to God and to the
Lamb?
But Jesus answered, "You
don't know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the
cup that I am about to drink, and be
baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They said to
him, "We are able." (Matthew 20:22)
He took the cup, gave
thanks, and gave to them, saying, "All of you drink
it, for this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is poured out for many for the remission
of sins. But I tell you that I will not drink of this
fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew
with you in my Father's Kingdom." (Matthew 26:27-29)
He went forward a little,
fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if
it is possible, let this cup pass away from me;
nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire."
(Matthew 26:39)
In the same way he
also took the cup, after supper, saying, "This
cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as
you drink, in memory of me." For as often as you eat this bread
and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
Therefore whoever eats
this bread or drinks the Lord's cup in a manner unworthy of
the Lord will be guilty of the body
and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself,
and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup. For he who
eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and
drinks judgment to himself, if he doesn't
discern the Lord's body. For this cause many among you are
weak and sickly, and not a few sleep. For if we discerned
ourselves, we wouldn't be judged. But when we are judged,
we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the
world. Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait
one for another. But if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest
your coming together be for judgment.... (1
Corinthians 11:25-34)
The cup of fellowship
shared by those whose hearts have been softened by the
tenderness, kindness, compassion and love of our Lord and Savior, is
experienced as just the opposite as experienced through the
mindset of the enemy that makes them afraid of closeness to
God, not attracted. They interpret the blood of the Lamb to
mean God will seek revenge and severely punish all who refuse
to comply with His demands, despite the fact this is opposite
to the actual truth. They interpret the blood of the Lamb that
represents Jesus' covenant of love with His children, to be a threat
of vengeance and bloodshed against all who dare oppose His
will. They view the wine of the covenant of Jesus with His
disciples the same as the intoxicating obsession with power in
the wine used by the great harlot.
In other words, when we
perceive God through the mindset of the beast and his
image, the original meanings of all the symbols get
perverted to fit how they are used based on the ways of
this world instead of according to the Spirit. Fear interprets
love as wrath, and blood infers death rather than life.
The true meaning and
purpose of the blood of Christ is to cleanse our heart of
distrust of God's heart. The intoxicating harlot's wine
filled with lies and slander against heaven will cause us to react
in terror and torment in the presence of the Lamb with the
angels instead of ecstasy. The blood of the covenant is
mistaken as the opposite of what the Lamb came to accomplish.
Without a corrected appreciation of the real truth of mercy
and the kindness of God that alone can lead us to genuine
repentance, our final condition will be hopeless as there is no
capacity to return to the sweetness of love we have spurned. The
wine is unmixed with the truth of God's mercy, and without
this key ingredient our reaction to drinking it turns
tragic instead of producing healing and restoration to joy.
Therefore thus says the
Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a
tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who
believes shall not act hastily. I will make justice the measuring
line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep
away the refuge of lies, and the waters will
overflow the hiding place. Your covenant with
death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol
shall not stand.
When the overflowing
scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by
it. As often as it passes through, it will seize you;
for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and
it will be nothing but terror to understand the
message." For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the
blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in. (Isaiah 28:16-20)
For in the hand of Yahweh
there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices.
He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and
drink it to its very dregs. (Psalms 75:8)
The sinners in
Zion are afraid. Trembling has seized
the godless ones. Who among us can live with the
devouring fire? Who among us can live with everlasting burning?
(Isaiah 33:14)
Behold, they cried out,
saying, "What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have
you come here to torment us before the time?"
(Matthew 8:29)
When we consider carefully
these passages relating to the cup and wine associated with God
rather than the harlot of Babylon, and we understand that the missing
ingredient in the wine that causes the wicked to live in madness and
terror is belief in God's mercy, the question then becomes, why is
this wine without mercy? Is it because God has ceased to be merciful,
or because mercy is rejected?
It happened, when the
priests were come out of the holy place, (for all the priests who
were present had sanctified themselves, and did not keep their
divisions; also the Levites who were the singers, all of them, even
Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, and their sons and their brothers, arrayed in
fine linen, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps, stood at
the east end of the altar, and with them one hundred twenty priests
sounding with trumpets;) it happened, when the trumpeters
and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising
and thanking Yahweh; and when they lifted up
their voice with the trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music,
and praised Yahweh, saying, For he is good; for his
loving kindness [mercy] endures forever; that then
the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of
Yahweh, so that the priests could not stand to minister by
reason of the cloud: for the glory of Yahweh
filled the house of God. (2 Chronicles 5:11-14)
I count 40 times in
Scripture that this phrase recurs emphasizing the truth that God's
mercy endures forever. Yet there comes a time when the wicked, those
who worship the false representation of God and receive the mark of
the beast and its image, will drink the wine of wrath from the cup of
God that here is said to be unmixed, undiluted. The conclusion has to
be, since God's mercy does endure for all eternity, that the only
reason it is missing is due to their intransigent unbelief in this
reality, leaving them to perceive the passion of God as being just
like their passion which puts them into terror instead of awe of
God's true glory.
Therefore you have no
excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for
in that which you judge another, you condemn
yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And
we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who
practice such things.
But do you
suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who
practice such things and do the same yourself, that you
will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think
lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance
and patience, not knowing
that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart
you are storing up wrath for [in] yourself in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment
of God, who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS
DEEDS: to those who by perseverance in doing
good seek for glory and honor
and immortality, eternal life;
but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do
not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness,
wrath and indignation.
There will be tribulation
and distress for every soul of man who does
evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory
and honor and peace to everyone who does good,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no
partiality with God. (Romans 2:1-11 NAS95)
What becomes clear here for
those with discernment from the Spirit of truth, is that judgment as
Jesus defined it in John 3:19-21 is what happens in reaction to
exposure to the light of glory. The light of God's true heart does
not change in relation to one side or the other, for the fact is that
God is never partial, something important to keep in mind. Thus we
must conclude that the contents of cup of wrath that wicked drink is
the same as the cup Christ drank during the last hours of His life
here on earth, and what caused the death of Christ was the weight of
guilt, condemnation and shame laid on His psyche internally resulting
from all the sin of every human being from all of history from
beginning to end.
It may sound strange, but in
truth the cup Jesus consented to drink in Gethsemane corresponded to
the laver in the sanctuary symbolism which contained the water used
to wash away the filth and blood involved in the sacrificial system
representing the sins of the people. This water increasingly filled
with the pollutants and residue of the sanctuary rituals represented
what Isaiah describes as the iniquities of us all that was laid on
our Messiah in order to reopen a way for many who would be willing to
be reconciled.
He was despised, and
rejected by men; a man of suffering, and
acquainted with disease: and as one from whom
men hide their face he was despised; and we
didn't respect him. Surely he has borne our
sickness, and carried our suffering; yet we
considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for [by] our transgressions,
he was crushed for [by] our iniquities; the
punishment that brought our peace was
on him; and by his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have
gone astray; everyone has turned to his own way; and Yahweh has laid
on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed,
yet when he was afflicted he didn't
open his mouth; as a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he didn't
open his mouth. By oppression and
judgment he was taken away; and as for his
generation, who among them considered that he was cut off
out of the land of the living for the disobedience of my people
to whom the stroke was due? They made his grave with the wicked, and
with a rich man in his death; although he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth.
Yet it pleased Yahweh to
bruise him; he has put him to grief:
when you shall make his soul an offering for sin,
he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the
pleasure of Yahweh shall prosper in his hand. He shall see
of the travail of his soul, and shall be
satisfied: by the knowledge of himself shall my righteous
servant justify many; and he shall bear their
iniquities. (Isaiah 53:3-11)
The only way to discern the
true meaning and purpose of the sacrifice of this Messiah who allowed
all the natural effects of our sins to come on Him, is to view it
apart from a legal perspective. Otherwise it distorts our perceptions
of God's disposition as being different from that of His Christ who
came to this world to reveal the heart of the Father, not to appease
Him. What this passage describes is the willing Lamb, slain from the
foundation of the world because He identified with the false identity
humanity received as soon as anyone ever sinned, and took full
responsibility for all of our sins upon Himself in order to make way
for us to identify with His innocence and right relation with God in
order to be restored back to living in harmony with heaven and thrive
once again in the presence of His passionate fire of love again. This
is what both the Father and the Son eagerly look towards as the
outcome of this amazing display of love and grace. This is the
pleasure of Yahweh that will prosper in His hand. This is the true
saving knowledge, the reinstatement of intimacy with the heart of the
Godhead that resets our thinking and spirit and perspective when we
embrace the saving truth that our sin identity does not belong to us
because our Savior purchased this identity with His own blood and let
it kill His body on the cross.
This is the mercy, the
loving kindness (in Hebrew checed), the magnetic beauty,
attractiveness, goodness that must be at the center of what we
believe God to be like. Without this core ingredient present in our
heart to properly appreciate the nature of the wine given for His
disciples to drink as our bond of covenant fellowship with the heart
of God, all that is left in our thinking is a God who sooner or later
will be compelled to use violent retribution against His enemies to
enforce the laws that have been broken, and punishment is the
opposite of mercy.
This is the choice every one
of us faces, for what we choose to believe God to be like in His
disposition towards us is the determining factor as to our reaction
when we become exposed to the intense passion of His heart and how we
interpret and experience that passion.
For concerning those who
were once enlightened and tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy
Spirit, and tasted the good word of
God, and the powers of the age to come, and then
fell away, it is impossible to renew them again
to repentance; seeing they crucify the Son
of God for themselves again, and put him to open shame. (Hebrews
6:4-6)
For if we sin
willfully after we have received the knowledge of the
truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain
fearful expectation of judgment,
and a fierceness of fire which will devour the
adversaries. A man who disregards Moses' law dies without
compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. How much
worse punishment, do you think,
will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden
under foot the Son of God, and has counted the
blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an
unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of
grace? (Hebrews 10:26-29)
But we are not of those
who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have
faith to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:39)
Now therefore fear
Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in truth;
and put away the gods which your fathers served
beyond the River, and in Egypt; and serve you Yahweh.
If it seem evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose you this day
whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers
served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in
whose land you dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve
Yahweh. The people answered, Far be it from us that we should forsake
Yahweh, to serve other gods; (Joshua 24:14-16)
"Come to
me, all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart;
and you will find rest for your souls. For my
yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)
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