The Great City
Posted by Jeffrey K Radt ("JRed") | Posted in Bible Study , Israel And Middle East , Prophecy Basics , Spiritual Growth | Posted on Wednesday, January 13, 2010
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I spent part of this past holiday break trying to catch up on emails that have been sitting in my mailbox for months. I'm embarrassed to admit that it's been that long for some of them.
While I was working my way through I came across something that I felt led to share here for some reason. I believe it came from a Daily Devotional type of email (from The Berean I think). It has to do with the Two Witnesses.
Jesus Christ was plainly, absolutely-for-certain as recorded in the Holy Scriptures, and by His own testimony, crucified in Jerusalem. Anyone who denies that fact denies that Jesus of Nazareth was, and is, the true and only Messiah:
Matthew 20:17-19 (KJV) And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
We therefore know with certainty that Christ's true Two Witnesses will also be killed in Jerusalem:
Revelation 11:8 (KJV) And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
In Revelation 11:8, Jerusalem is referred to as "the great city". At first thought, Jerusalem is not a great city as New York City is great; it does not occupy as much territory nor does it have the population base. It is not of that sort of magnitude.
However, we must not forget that Jerusalem, as a capital city, represents the entire nation of Israel and its greatness lies in what was given to it and what was expected of it considering those gifts.
The apostle John writes in Revelation 14:8, "And another angel followed, saying, 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." He adds in Revelation 16:19, "Now the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath."
Babylon is great too. When "great" is so used in this kind of context, it is not complimentary. "Great" is megálee in Greek, and it literally means big. It can mean big or great in size, magnitude, and intensity or rank in a good or bad sense. How it is to be understood depends on what is being compared.
When God symbolically dwelt in the Holy of Holies, Jerusalem was known by its citizens as "the holy city". Tradition tells us that God departed His residence in the Temple shortly before AD 70. Jerusalem's title as "the holy city" does not come back into the story flow until Revelation 21:2, when "New Jerusalem" comes down from God out of Heaven -- long after the time covered in these prophecies.
Revelation 21:3 specifically says that God again dwells there. Yet, at the time of the prophecies in Revelation 14 and 16, Revelation calls both Jerusalem and Babylon "great" so we might want to take a closer look.
This is not a positive comparison. Israel is great as Babylon is great, and at that time, neither of them is great in holiness.
Babylon is great in its anti-God, sinful influence, and in economic, political, and military power, but it is most certainly not great in righteousness.
Israel's conduct places it next to Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon in great defiance of God, His message, and His servants, and thus it loses its identification as "the holy city".
Speaking of revelations and 2witness's and the capitol city with a named 'spirit' of egypt like sodom....
It reminds me of Washington,DC which represents the capital of this country usa...in the midst of the named physical city of Jerusalem. (The physical comes before the spiritual.)"Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual." 1 Cor 15
Washington is the place of a man who sits on the throne on the capitol dome with a cloud and a rainbow who has been 'revealed' as the son of perdition to those who will look at the evidence like a judge or a king who is really looking for the Truth of a matter.
Mystery Babylon the great is the counterfeit truth having been cast down where it practices and prospers...for a time.
Ref Ezekiel 1 - the testimony of the living creatures and the appearance of the glory....
Ref Rev 4-.."like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald."
Rev 10:"I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open.."..."in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of YHWH should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."
The mystery is revealed...that is the reason and when everyone stops looking only at the physical they will maybe start seeing with the Spiritual eyes of understanding the manifestation of the 2 witness's...
JRed in another post you said, "Hebrews 1:1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe...So, putting this together we see that "in these last days" the Lord has spoken to us by the Word of God, which is an equivalent statement to saying in these last days "he has spoken to us by his Son." So if you want to know what God is saying to men today, open the Word of God and start reading. The Lord will speak to you through his Son, which is the same thing as saying through his Word...
Then here is a quote:
OLIVE TREES: The Church is irradiated by the light of the TWO TESTAMENTS, and ever waits upon the commands of the Lord. So also the prophet Zechariah saw one candlestick with seven branches, and these TWO OLIVE-TREES, that is, TESTAMENTS, pouring oil into the candlestick. This is the Church with its oil, which never fails, which makes it shine for the light of the world.
http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/CapstoneProphecies.asp
...World Warrior states:
It reminds me of Washington,DC which represents the capital of this country usa ...
I attest this is NOT Jerusalem as it appears, but either New York or Washington DC (originally called Rome). The term "spiritually" could be the key. Just last night in prayer I asked the Lord for the deeper meaning of this because I do not believe it says what everybody believes it says.
Revelation TELLS US that the seven ("two") lampstands are the CHURCHES. I believe the two olive trees are the Old and New Testaments.
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China and Russia put the blame on some screwed up experiments of US for the earthquake that happened in Haiti.
Chinese and Russian Military scientists, these reports say, are concurring with Canadian researcher, and former Asia-Pacific Bureau Chief of Forbes Magazine, Benjamin Fulford, who in a very disturbing video released from his Japanese offices to the American public, details how the United States attacked China by the firing of a 90 Million Volt Shockwave from the Americans High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) facilities in Alaska
If we can recollect a previous news when US blamed Russia for the earthquake in Georgio. What do you guys think? Is it really possible to create an earthquake by humans?
I came across this [url=http://universalages.com/hot-news/what-happened-in-haiti-is-it-related-to-haarp/]article about Haiti Earthquake[/url] in some blog it seems very interesting, but conspiracy theories have always been there.
I kinda have been expecting this in a way...
But I reali dun think da world is going to end...start a new era maybe but the world is not ending.
That's not gonna happen till a thousand years later! Ok, I'm not sure bout that either but that's not the point! The world's not gonna end! Full stop!
[url=http://2012earth.net/switch_to_consciousness_2012.html
]2012 end of world
[/url] - some truth about 2012
Hi, as you can see this is my first post here.
I will be glad to get any help at the beginning.
Thanks and good luck everyone! ;)
Certainly. I agree with told all above. We can communicate on this theme.
Hmm that's amazing but to be honest i have a hard time understanding it... I'm wondering what others have to say....
I am reading this article second time today, you have to be more careful with content leakers. If I will fount it again I will send you a link
How you find ideas for articles, I am always lack of new ideas for articles. Some tips would be great
My name is Tim. I am a conservative/Libertarian from Tennessee. I look forward to chatting with some of you guys and gals.