Issued: 12/22/20 Updated: 6/19/21 Revised: 11/12/23

   All bracketed material may be authorial comments, attempts at proper syntax, or minimal rewordings of Scripture for the sake of clarity and continuity.  These emendations will not be italicized.

   The “/” will be used to signify “and/or.”  The symbol “↔” is used to connect verses corroborating each other and so establishing doctrinal truths (Matthew 18:16↔2Corinthians 13:1).

   In differentiating between Yahweh Son [Jesus] and Yahweh Father [the Most High God], lower case letters have been used when discussing the former; upper case letters are reserved for the Only and Most High God.  Since Jesus was at pains to differentiate himself from Father, we have followed his lead here.

   The term neo-Christians will be used to differentiate between false Christians and Jesus’ true followers.

Before starting, let us remark on a suggestive detail rarely heard in modern ‘Christianity.’ We know the old Creation started on a ‘Sunday’ ¹ and ended with a ‘Saturday’ or Sabbath of rest. We also know that Jesus died on a Friday afternoon; hence his hasty burial (Luke 23:50-56; John 19:40-42) on occasion of the Sabbath’s start. Jesus was resurrected [by Father and not by himself (Acts 2:24, 13:30; Romans 8:11)] in the wee hours of Sunday morning (Luke 24:1; John 20:1); so that Jesus’ creation as an immortal, physical body (Luke 24:39; Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5), was substance to his creation as Yahweh Son Angel proxy God in Genesis 1:3 (John 1:9-10, 8:12; Colossians 1:15; Revelation 3:14).

In terms of Armageddon, this battle will take place after the Millennium [Sabbath] of rest [substance to the shadow of Genesis 2:2-3], when Father‘s plan of redemption will be completed and a new, eternal [but not necessarily timeless (Isaiah 66:2↔Leviticus 23:31)] order of things will emerge (Hebrews 4:3-4; Revelation 20:7-10, 21:1-2,9-10). Thus following the incineration of all evildoers, we can conceptualize this new beginning as a ‘Sunday,’ or ‘Day One’; when “Light,” as in Genesis 1:3, will be applicable both to Father and Jesus (Revelation 21:23, 22:5↔Isaiah 60:19).

ARMAGEDDON:  PRECEDENT

   As mentioned previously, Father‘s ways may be inscrutable but not His agenda:  He forewarns men in order they be forearmed (Deuteronomy 29:29; Isaiah 46:10; Amos 3:7).  This is why the Bible is essentially a corpus juris of human transgressions and divine judgments, using historical narratives allegorizing future events.  Whatever these retributions were in response to particular transgressions are the ‘precedents’ guiding sentencing at the Last Judgment; as for example, the punishment [shadow] inflicted against “Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after unnatural lust, [were] set forth for an example [for future generations—i.e., substance (Luke 17:28-30)], suffering the vengeance of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7↔2Peter 2:6). 

This in turn links us to events at Armageddon:  ^“As in the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and [its neighboring cities]…Behold, he [Satan] shall come up like a lion (1Peter 5:8; Revelation 12:12) from the swelling of Jordan against the habitation of the strong [the Heavenly Jerusalem] (Jeremiah 49:18-19).  “They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city He loves.  But fire came down from heaven and devoured them” (Revelation 20:9). Thus, it is fair that prior to their execution at Armageddon, the unrighteous have been told—at the Last Judgment—the reasons for this sentence (Mark 4:22; 1Timothy 5:24), finally realizing who deceived and damned them (↔Isaiah 14:10; Ezekiel 32:30-32).  But Satan being who he is will instigate further rebellion against Father even if facing extinction; thus after the unrighteous are revived after the Millennium (Revelation 20:5), he dupes them into a final insurrection and leads them to their doom (Revelation 20:7-8).

ARMAGEDDON:  PROMISE KEPT

   When it comes to payback, we should at the very least appreciate Father’s sense of justice.  For a Deity Who prides Himself in not playing favorites (Deuteronomy 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Romans 2:11), both righteous and unrighteous peoples must get their rewards/comeuppances collectively at the same time.  Contrary to pious bromides, the dead in Jesus are not playing heavenly harps or interceding ‘up there’ on behalf of living, loved ones (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6):  They are asleep awaiting the First Resurrection (1Thessalonians 4:13-17↔Isaiah 26:19).  From Jesus to every last single one of them, all will enter the Heavenly Jerusalem as a group (Isaiah 49:21-22, 54:1, 11-12; Micah 2:13; Galatians 4:26-27; Revelation 21:18-21).  As to the unrighteous—from Satan, his angels, and every single human being “second-resurrected” (Revelation 20:5), they will burn at Armageddon en masse.

   Armageddon is the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 32:35, Psalm 110:1, and Isaiah 42:14-15, 17: Father’s belated vengeance against His enemies. Contrary to what doomsayers, mistaken evangelists, and Doomsday Clock ‘setters’ argue, Armageddon has nothing to do with nuclear warfare.  The “fire from heaven” alluded to in Revelation 20:9 has a pre-atomic-era pedigree in Scripture:  It fell on Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24); it incinerated transgressors (Exodus 9:23; Leviticus 10:1-2; Numbers 11:1; 2Kings 1:10,12); it consumed holocausts acceptable to Father (Leviticus 9:24; Judges 6:21; 1Kings 18:38; 1Chronicles 21:26). Let us remember that Satan was once allowed to deploy such awesome power (Job 1:16). However, whatever the “fire from heaven” alluded to in Revelation 13:13 entails is at present unknowable; though it is possible that some military alliance between two superpowers [two-horned beast (Revelation 13:11)] channeling Satan (Revelation 13:2,11-12) may deploy technological weaponry [from orbiting satellites] against nations on earth. Notwithstanding all of this, Armageddon itself is a non-nuclear event.

THE THEATER OF WAR

   But where is Armageddon’s battlefield?  The term “Armageddon” connotes either the site or time of the final and conclusive battle against the forces of evil.  Revelation 16:16 speaks of it as a Hebrew word denoting a place, but the word ‘Armageddon’ does not appear in the Old Testament.  It has been conjectured that Har-Magedon may be implied, where “Har” is Hebrew for “hill” or some topographical prominence smaller than a mountain; and “Magedon” a reference to Megiddo, a modestly elevated, ancient royal city overlooking the Jezreel Valley and a distant Mount Tabor,² in whose surrounding plains many decisive Biblical battles were fought.

Dispensing with scholarly logorrhea, let us focus on the relationship of city to plain.  In earlier installments, we suggested a ‘reconfiguration’ of the world as we know it following the historically unprecedented earthquake that will expose the “foundations of the world” (2Samuel 22:14-16; Psalm 18:15; Revelation 16:18).  Daniel 2:35 speaks of a metaphorical stone which becomes a great mountain filling the whole earth, allegorizing the Mount Zion upon which the Heavenly Jerusalem will descend (Revelation 21:10↔Isaiah 11:9, 56:7).

   But Zechariah 14:3-15, which we have edited and rearranged here for greater clarity, gives the whole show away:  “For I [Father] will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle [by allowing Satan to do so (Revelation 20:7-8)]…Then Yahweh [Jesus, commander of Father‘s armies] will [symbolically but not factually] go out and fight against those nations as he fights on a day of battle (Revelation 19:11-21). On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south… On that day there will be neither sunlight nor cold, frosty darkness [Amos’ dark day of Yahweh (Amos 5:18, 8:9)]. It will be a unique day—a day known only to Yahweh [Father (Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7)]—with no distinction between day and night.  When evening comes, there will be light [see Joshua 10:13 for shadow counterpart]…On that day people will be stricken by Yahweh with great panic.  They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another” [see Judges 7:22; 1Samuel 14:20 for shadow counterparts].

   Jeremiah 7:30-34 renames the Hinnom Valley, southeast of the Jerusalem’s Old City where the sanctuary to the pagan god Tophet stood, as the Valley of Slaughter.  Hinnom was Jerusalem’s garbage dump: The city’s sewage emptied there; children were burned there in sacrifice to the gods Molech and Baal; and the bones of Temple sacrificial animals were thrown there—a veritable realm of death.  Both in Judaism and Christianity, Hinnom Valley became a metaphor for hell—Satan being the ruler of death (Hebrews 2:14); and by Jesus’ time, “Gehenna,” meaning “place of punishment,” became the Greek translation for Hinnom when referencing hell.³

   So what are we dealing with here?  Jerusalem and a surrounding valley where unclean things were disposed of, foreshadowing the exact configuration of Father’s theater of war, as prophesied by Joel 3:2-15: 

“I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.  And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of My people and My heritage Israel [the speaker must be Jesus, Father’s heir, quoting the Father verbatim]…Proclaim this among the nations:  Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men.  Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up [throwing down the gauntlet, daring the unrighteous into battle].  Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears [the exact opposite of what is expected from the righteous↔Isaiah 2:4; Micah 4:3]; let the weak say, ‘I am a warrior.’  Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there.  Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.  Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe [see Revelation 14:15-18].  Go in, tread, for the winepress is full.  The vats overflow, for their evil is great [see Revelation 14:19-20].  Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision!  For the day of Yahweh is near in the valley of decision.”

   What is the Valley of Jehoshaphat?  In modern times, the valley between Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives, through which the Kidron River flows.  It has been posited that in this area, King Jehoshaphat faced the confederate enemies of Israel marching against Jerusalem.  Though none of his party engaged in battle, a replay of Judges 7:22 and 1Samuel 14:20 took place:  “As they began to sing and praise, Yahweh set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated. The Ammonites and Moabites rose up against the men from Mount Seir to destroy and annihilate them. After they finished slaughtering the men from Seir, they helped to destroy one another” (2Chronicles 20:22-23).  It appears, then, that the splitting of the Mount of Olives defines the battlefield where Armageddon will be fought, perhaps to accommodate Satan’s vaster army ⁴ as it marches against the Heavenly City.⁵ Question: Could this self-contained area be the bed for “the lake of fire” of Revelation 20:14-15?

THE LAST DECEPTION

    Before Satan’s confederacy of evil is reduced to ashes, he manages to deceive his minions one final time, despite having been exposed as a fraud during the Last Judgment—which testifies to his overwhelming powers of deception. But as the Bible warns, men become slaves of whomever they submit to (Romans 6:16; Galatians 2:5-6; 2Peter 2:19)—be them other men or Satan himself.  Thus, as Judas’ betrayal of Jesus led to his being possessed by Satan (Luke 22:3), any persons enslaved by Satan or his minions forfeit their ability to reason/act for themselves. Once in Satan’s bag, a person’s goose is cooked:  Neither will Satan release anybody nor will Father give Satan’s cronies a second chance (Luke 9:62; Hebrews 6:4-8, 10:26-27).  This inability to escape Satan’s control is what Scripture refers to as “hardening of the heart” (Exodus 7:3; Isaiah 6:10; Matthew 13:15; Acts 28:26-27): A mindset incapable of discerning right from wrong.   And it is Father Himself Who remands transgressors to that condition (Lamentations 3:65).

   But Revelation 16:13-14 tells us more about that ultimate deception:  “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan for sure↔Ezekiel 29:3; Revelation 12:9], and out of the mouth of the beast [Roman Catholicism?↔Revelation 13:3, 7-8, 17:1-8,15,18], and out of the mouth of the false prophet [Protestantism?].  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” If we then go to Jeremiah 51:44:  “And I will punish Bel [Arameic form of Baal, meaning “lord,” tutelary deity of the Babylonians; i.e., Satan], in Babylon [the city in whose church Satan’s throne is (1Peter 5:13; Revelation 2:13, 18:2-3,13, 23-24)] and I will bring forth out of his mouth that which he has swallowed up; and the nations shall not flow together any more unto him,” we find the same general meaning:  Some metaphorical power [but not literally a frog] deceives the nations for the very last time.  In this context, an unclean thing out of Satan’s mouth [a frog] may be the symbolic antithesis of something clean out of Jesus’ mouth: A sword, Father’s word (Matthew 10:34; Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16, 19:15).

THE BATTLE

 “They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever.”

Revelation 14:10-11

   If correspondences between the Armageddon of Revelation and Jehoshaphat’s confrontation are exact, we would wager than the war-like imagery of Revelation 19:11-21 is just that:  Imagery.  For one thing, Revelation 19:20-21 tells us that the beast and the false prophet are cast “alive” into a lake of burning fire, but that everybody else is “slain” by the sword emerging from Jesus’ mouth.  This sounds more like metaphor than actual deed:  What ultimately destroys evildoers is the fire from Heaven deployed by Father, though most had already been spiritually slain by Jesus’ sword.  Since vengeance is Father‘s alone, neither Jesus, nor his angels, nor the redeemed witnessing the battle from the Holy City’s ramparts can be active participants in it.  Having been dressed with the white linen of righteous deeds (Revelation 7:13-14 19:8), we cannot imagine Jesus and the redeemed staining their garments with the gore of carnage.

Righteous beings, both divine and human, never ever employ violence against anyone; only evil ones do (Matthew 26:52; Revelation 13:10).  And those of divine origin like Satan and his angelic cohorts can only do so when permitted or handed down instruments of destruction, as in Exodus 12:23; 1Samuel 16:15; 1Kings 22:20-22, Job 1:12, 2:6-7; Revelation 6:2,4,8; 9:3, 14-15.  Only Father is exempt to do as He sees fit (Psalms 135:6; Ecclesiastes 8:4; Isaiah 45:7).

   Thus, as in Jehoshaphat’s case, Jesus, his angels, and the redeemed may sing in praise while Father makes short shrift of the opposition; as indeed is fair and proper: “Let those who delight in My vindication be jubilant and rejoice; and let them say without ceasing, ‘Yahweh be magnified, Who delights in the peace of His servant’” (Psalm 35:27); and, “The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked; so that men shall say, ‘Verily there is a reward for the righteous; verily there is a God that judges in the earth’” (Psalm 58:10-11). 

  So Satan and all his minions march against the Heavenly Jerusalem not yet on earth [to avoid the contamination of evil], since the celestial and the terrestrial cannot coexist on the same plane (1Corinthians 15:46-50).  Now that the cosmos of Genesis 1:7-8 has been removed—the “veil” that covered all nations (Isaiah 25:7), the Heavenly City will be visible hovering overhead; but with an unsurpassable chasm between it and the battlefield below.  This chasm has been obliquely referred to in Scripture in Genesis 1:2 and 8:2 as “the deep.”  But the most graphic example occurs in Luke 16:26:  “Besides all this, a wide chasm has been fixed between us, so that those who want to cross from this side to you cannot do so, nor can they cross from your side to us.”

In this parable, Abraham and the leper are looking upon rich man burning below.  This “looking down” is akin to what Isaiah 14:15-17 refers to:  The redeemed in Heaven looking down on Satan’s imprisonment on earth.  That the Heavenly realm is not beyond the Oort Cloud but within human sight is intimated in “Jacob’s ladder” dream (Genesis 28:12-13) and Stephen’s vision during his stoning (Acts 7:56).  At Armageddon the heavens no longer need to ‘open’:  They are gone.  Thus, as Satan and his innumerable army congregate in Zechariah’s Yahweh-made valley, Jesus and the redeemed are on the walls of the Heavenly Jerusalem looking down at them.  God then rains fire and brimstone, resulting in that “lake of fire” which neo-Christians perennially misconstrued as Satan’s subterranean hell.

FALSE DOGMAS

   This has given rise to the morally repugnant, Roman Catholic version of Hell, where evil men are punished while Satan and all fallen angels are having a blast tormenting them.  But having been the cause of men’s downfall, who punishes them?  In similar fashion, the dogma of Purgatory as some spiritual rehab center to make belated amends for non-mortal sins, contradicts the evidence of Scripture:  “It is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment”  (Hebrews 9:27).  Men can only make good while alive; their second-resurrected bodies/souls end up as ashes.

   But we see, do we not, that Satan and his demons are also burned? For them, no everlasting fun barbequing the souls of the damned:  “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever…And death [Satan↔Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 6:8] and hell [Hades,⁶ his angelic minions who along with him were cast out of heaven and chained in darkness until the judgment of the great day↔Jude 6; Revelation 6:8, 12:4] were cast into the lake of fire.  This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:14-15).

DECONTAMINATION

   What are the widespread effects of that fire?  Psalms 68:2 tell us that “as wax melts in the presence of fire, so the wicked die in the presence of God.”  Zechariah 14:12 adds, “This will be the plague with which Yahweh will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.”  From Proverbs 5:11:  “You will cry out in anguish when your end comes, when your flesh and body are consumed.”

   The fire that kills also melts the surrounding terrain and beyond.  “The mountains melt like wax at the presence of Yahweh, at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth” (Psalms 97:5).  “The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place” (Micah 1:4).  “For the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt” (Amos 9:5). 

   What is being purged here is the world superimposed on the preexistent foundation of Genesis 1:2, which will be re-exposed during the unprecedented earthquake of Revelation 16:18-20 [↔Isaiah 13:13].  Psalms 104:5-9 had explained this stratification:  “He set the earth on its foundations; it can never be moved.  You covered it with the watery depths as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains.”  And yet again, “Then Yahweh [of hosts] thundered in the heavens, and the Most High sounded aloud, calling for hail stones and flashes of fire…Then the channels of the sea could be seen, and the foundations of the earth were uncovered.” (Psalm 18:13,15).

Why is all of this necessary?  Because our world is contaminated by sin; and if Father is to dwell amongst men, it has to be destroyed and made anew.  This is why there must be a new earth (Isaiah 61:17; Revelation 21:1); a new cosmos with brighter sun and moon (Isaiah 30:26); and new constellations resembling…what?

ENIGMAS

   Consider the following:  “The devil…the beast and the false prophet…shall be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).  This absolutely is out of character with a merciful God.  One might argue that the torment inflicted by God’s fire may feel unending; yet that the time period between kindling and consummation, between awareness of pain and oblivion, may be short-lived.  Jesus’ parable in Luke 16:23-26 gives us limited help:  It addresses agony while burning.  On the other hand, an eternal bonfire outside the Heavenly Jerusalem would put a damper on any joyfulness within.

   The “smoke that rises forever and ever” resulting from that burning (Revelation 14:10-11) is thematically linked to the one in Genesis 19:28. After all, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah prefigures the destruction of our sinful world (2Peter 2:6↔Jeremiah 49:18); yet we see no everlasting column of smoke rising from their presumed locations.  In Isaiah 34:10 this ever rising smoke memorializes God’s judgment against all nations, along with vanishing skies, topography consumed by burning pitch and sulfur, and dead galore.  Just as we have monuments and grounds memorializing historical events, perhaps the everlasting column of smoke serves a similar purpose.

   But remembrance of past events when forgetfulness of “the first things” is prophesied?  (Ecclesiastes 1:11, 2:16; Isaiah 65:16-17; Jeremiah 3:16-17).  Why is forgetfulness necessary?  Because the redeemed will witness the destruction of once-loved ones at Armageddon.  It is a cherished evangelical bromide that families which pray together stays together; and that come Jesus, all will be eligible for relocation to Heaven.  But Jesus has told us this would not not be the case:  Because of him families would be be divided; some members chosen for salvation while some left behind for condemnation (Matthew 10:34-39; Luke 12:52-53, 17:34-36).

   Consider, then, whether the redeemed who watched loved ones die at Armageddon can ever be truly happy watching an unending reminder of their loss?  It is a human—and animal—condition to grieve for dead loved ones, oftentimes inconsolably for long periods of time. Samuel, for example, bemoaned Saul’s fate because he loved Saul; yet Yahweh Son proxy God chided Samuel for crying over what could not be helped (1Samuel 15:11,35, 16:1): The Father had rejected Saul; so it was time to accept Saul’s fate and move on—which does not mean Samuel managed to forget during his lifetime.

But if Father’s stated purpose in future is to ‘‘wipe every tear from their eyes…[so that there] will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away” (Revelation 21:4), there is no purpose in reminding the redeemed of past transgressions, for Father Himself intends to forget the past (Isaiah 43:25). Thus while the everlasting, rising column of smoke endures in immortal memory as proof of the destruction of those who rebelled against Father, none of the distressing details from the “old order of things” will come to mind.

And that the redeemed will be made to forget is implicit in Scriptures like Jeremiah 32:40 and Ezekiel 36:26-28, where the point being made is that free will will be rescinded, not heavy-handedly, but as a result of having freely accepted Father‘s conditions in one’s lifetime. Honestly, folks, human beings cannot be given another chance to mess things up again after what they put mankind through. Imagine the faithful as sick individuals unable to cure themselves, but accepting divine intervention to terminate the illness preventing them from becoming the creatures Father always meant them to be. Once the cure is effected and cannot possibly be overturned, what has gone before is the proverbial water under the bridge.

We must interpret the ‘eternal torment’ of the unrighteous (Revelation 20:10) in the same light. A merciful, compassionate Father cannot possibly condone the hell of human imagination. From Father‘s perspective, purification by fire is an unavoidable necessity; but true punishment is being excluded eternally from His presence (2Thessalonians 1:9), unable to enjoy the boons He plans to bestow on the obedient (Jeremiah 29:11; 1Corinthians 2:9). Fire from Heaven, though lasting for a short while, may feel eternal in its agonizing qualities (Luke 16:24); but as the column of smoke attests, it will extinguish itself once Father‘s enemies are incinerated. Time will tell if our interpretation is correct.

THE WEDDING OF THE LAMB

   One last outcome resulting from Armageddon. We know that after Satan and his confederacy are gone, the Heavenly Jerusalem, Jesus’ “Bride,” will descend upon the new earth (Revelation 20:9, 21:10).  To recap: Human beings will exist as immortal flesh; there will be plant life (Matthew 26:29; Revelation 22:2);⁷ new heavens and a new earth (2Peter 3:13); no sea (Revelation 21:1); brand new sun and moon (Isaiah 30:26). The Heavenly City will be illuminated by Father‘s glory [one of His attributes↔1Timothy 6:16; James 1:17; 1John 1:5] and by Jesus’ shining, guiding example (Psalm 119:105; John 1:1, 8:12; Revelation 21:22, 22:5,16).

But will animals from the old order be re-created in the new? Yes (Isaiah 11:6-10):

“The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
         and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. Also the cow and the bear will graze, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain [where the Holy City stands], for the earth will be full of the knowledge of [Father↔Jeremiah 31:34] as the waters cover the sea. Then in that day the nations will resort to the root of Jesse [Jesus↔Revelation 22:16], who will stand as a signal [lamp?↔Revelation 21:23] for the peoples; and his [as well as Father‘s] resting place will be glorious.”

What does this sound like? Genesis 1:29-30; since the ‘new’ creation is in fact the implementation of what Father stated back then, so that the Kingdom of God is the true Eden where Jesus [Man] and his Church [Woman] will live in harmony with animals.

Still, given the promise that “things which an eye did not see…an ear did not hear [and men never imagined], these God has prepared for those who love Him” (1Corinthians 2:9), let us put conjecture aside and leave room for a sense of expectation and wonder to be overwhelmed all over again by the beauty, majesty and sublimity of His creations.  Where Father is concerned, longing for past things is never good policy (Ecclesiastes 7:10; Philippians 3:13).  The point in Hebrews 11:13-15,39 is looking towards the future and not looking back; in point of fact, sorrow for worldly things leads to spiritual death (2Corinthians 7:10). Lot’s wife looked back despite being told not to do so and she was turned into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:17,26). Abraham left Ur without knowing where Yahweh was taking him and secured immortality for his progeny (Hebrews 12:8).  “The wind blows where it wants to. You hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. That’s the way it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). We must answer Father’s call in the full expectation that He will fulfill what He has promised, and fully convinced that “He rewards those who diligently search for Him” (Hebrews 11:6).

   As to the Wedding of the Lamb, we know it to be the final objective of Father’s plan:  To unite Lamb and Holy City, husband and Church, Jesus and the redeemed, into one priestly nation (Isaiah 61:10, 62:5; Matthew 9:14-15; John 3:29; Ephesians 4:4-6, 5:22-23; 1Peter 2:9; Revelation 5:9-10).  The Heavenly City has no physical Temple (Revelation 21:22):  Jesus and his redeemed are the place of habitation for a Deity Whose presence cannot be contained in human edifices (1Kings 8:27; Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; Acts 4:10-12, 17:24; Ephesians 2:20-22; Hebrews 3:6; 1Peter 2:4-5).  He had to build a City suitable for His divine needs.

   As in all weddings, there will be a banquet with Jesus waiting on the faithful (Luke 12:37).  We know the strictly vegetarian menu: “In this mountain, Yahweh of hosts will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines” (Isaiah 25:6)—’fat’ and ‘marrow’ are not words necessarily denoting animal products.  Nor should we imitate the ancient Israelite way craving for meat (Numbers 11:4-5), knowing full well what that cost them (Numbers 11:33).

There is nothing wrong with righteous people enjoying their food; during his ministry, Jesus drank wine (Matthew 11:9) and looked forward to drinking it again in the Kingdom of God (Mark 14:25). But the joy of the Wedding Feast lies not in the meal itself but in the fact that we will finally be amongst our true, faithful kin; all of them, in one way or another, having sacrificed something in life to make that reunion possible. As Paul put it in Romans 14:17, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

From that wedding on, to turn the old adage on its head, the rest will not be history.

 

  
¹ Creation ‘Days’ ran from “sunset to morning;” yet as each subsequent ‘Day’ was reckoned to begin on sunset, each ‘Day’ literally lasted from sunset to sunset. This is why in Mosaic teaching, holy days ran from sunset to sunset (Leviticus 23:32); and why Sabbath observance in the Bible pointed to seventh-day ‘Friday’ sunset as their starting point, when no work was allowed (Leviticus 23:31; Nehemiah 13:19).

² In relation to battles, Megiddo is identified by name in Judges 5:6 and 2 Kings 23:29.  In Hebrew, “Jezreel” can be rendered as ‘God sows’ or ‘God scatters’; and many heroes of faith are associated with it: Gideon, Elisha, Jethro, and Josiah, to name a few.  Mount Tabor is the traditional site for Jesus’ transfiguration, but like all ‘holy’ sites in Israel, this may be just pious, wishful thinking.  What matters is the religious significance of these sites.

³ A preference still exhibited by some translations of Luke 12:5, as for example, the World English Bible, “But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him”; and the Arameic Bible in Plain English, “But I will show you whom you should fear: that one who after he kills is authorized to cast into Gehenna; yes I say to you, be afraid of this one.”

⁴ Physically impossible?  Think of Noah’s Ark.  For Father all things are possible (Matthew 19:36).

⁵ The Heavenly City will be hovering above the battlefield within sight of enemy forces. It will only touch ground after the ground is purged by fire of evil contaminants (Amos 9:5; Micah 1:4; Zephaniah 1:2-3), and then descend upon a creation made new from scratch (Isaiah 66:22; Revelation 21:2,10)

⁶ Primarily a joyless place of darkness for the ‘living’ dead—which fallen angels therein imprisoned spiritually are.

⁷ “On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop for each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations“ (Revelation 22:2). Boosters for immortality?