Diligent students of Bible Prophecy, especially Seventh-day Adventist, are apt at recognizing that the message of Bible prophecies are predominantly couched in symbols, especially the book of Revelation. Many of these symbols have been rightly identified and interpreted according to the clues provided in the other, and/or alluded to, parts of the Bible, However several of these symbols have not been interpreted and are rather effectively dismissed as mere, empty statements. Yet, careful theological/bible study shows that this is far from the actual case and the key to unlock the rest of this symbology is to also take into full consideration that God is indeed the God of Creation.
Indeed while SDAs have been foremost in Christian Prophetic interpretation in properly de-signifying the various symbols used in Prophecy, mainly through the means of using the Bible to interpret itself, there is self-evidently still another level of Prophetic symbology that God has also used to signifying and veil His Prophetic messages. As the God of all Creation, a title and right of God that very well may be His most significant when it comes to the Worshipping allegiance that He thus rightly demand from His created beings (Exod 20:8-11; Rev 4:11; cf. 14:7), God has quite manifestly also used the natural interworkings in His handiwork of Nature/Creation (cf. DA 101.3) to veil many prophecies of especially, the book of Revelation. Interestingly enough, the statement of Paul’s statement in Rom 1:20 which says that ‘man can even know God through Nature/Creation’ (cf. Job 12:7-9; Psa 19:1-6), can also be applied to a Biblical Knowledge of God as man can also use its knowledge of merely (scientifically viewed) Nature to also understand many key elements in the Apocalyptic Prophecies. Thus also there, they are without excuse. (Interestingly enough, where a “natural” correlating understanding would not be readily seen from Nature, God has already given the intended understanding, e.g., waters = “peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues” (Rev 17:15)).
Also seen in God’s symbols are inclusive meanings for a literal/natural application as well as more symbolic religious and temporal ones. I.e., a symbol can have a literal fulfillment in a “here and now” application, then a religious one in the historical fulfilments, and then a temporal one in the eschatological fulfilments. The “witness” (Deut 17:6) of there 2-3 potential applications and fulfilments are in line with how God plans to demonstrate to the world the superiority of His power, will and ways, namely affecting natural creation, the moral/religious societal world, and also the temporal aspects of life. It is along these lines that He first attempted to establish the prominently temporal witness of Israel under the Old Covenant and then the more Religious witness of His continuing Israel under the New Covenant. These Two Witnessing aspects are to be once again prominently revived as a “complete (national) testimony” to the world before the end (Matt 24:14); just as God had planned with His Israel from its establishment.So the following is a growing/working listing of some of the Nature/Creation Symbols used in Revelation. For the sake of space and time here, the full explanation for their understandings is not given here, however these are indeed backed by literally years of validated interpretive application. Only a brief statement of understanding is given. (The verse references for these terms are also not given as they can readily be found by anyone with a simple concordance and/or a Computerized Bible.) This list does not claim to be final/definitive as much can be learned from nature, so improving and/or correcting comments are welcomed when factually/Biblically valid.
Nonetheless a brief, but more detailed, exemplifying exposition of how the understanding of these symbols have been arrived at is given here for the related symbols of “Thunder and Lightning”. Of course the key to validating these understandings for these symbols is to apply them by uniformly plugging them in the reading/interpretation of symbolic Biblical Prophecy.
Thunder and/vs. Lightning
In the Bible, when God made a tangible appearance to earth, His presence was accompanied by lightning and thunder (Exo 19:16; 20:18). However many time when solely His voice was heard on earth from heaven, it was described as being thunder (Exo 19:19; John 12:29; cf. 2 Sam 22:14; Job 26:14; Job 37:2-5; 40:9; Psa 18:13; 81:7) and that by those who did not perceive/understand the voice and the message stated (John 12:29). It therefore became clear to me that thunder as a symbol was a representation of such a spoken message of God, however, one that is only understood by some. Such speaking of God from heaven occurs sparingly and thus has great significance. Also in the same way that in nature, thunder is the resulting sound of lightning having displaced air on its bolting journey through the atmosphere, lightning, which, in the Bible, produces an unambiguous effect, as oppose to thunder, came to be seen as a symbol for a visibly effectuated pronouncement (i.e., judgement) of God, whereas thunder was only the sound of that (non so visibly effectuated) pronouncement, with this pronouncement/judgement only perceived and understood by some, mainly those who are in tune with the Spirit of God. (See the circumstances in John 12:27-31; cf. EW 50.3). Also just like ‘there is no thunder without lightning’ in nature, in a corresponding similar way there is no decided pronouncement by God without a judgement having taking place, at any varying levels of strength, even if its effect (i.e., the lightning strike) has not been visibly seen.[1]
It is significant to note that lightning occurs when there comes to be a potential charge difference between two interacting specific entities, whether cloud-cloud or cloud-ground. Thus by symbolism application, when there is a major opposing matter in an interacting group, whether in heaven (cf. Luke 10:18), or between heaven and earth.The mention of “thunder” occurs several times in the book of Revelation (10X). In fact, what shows that it is not to be dismissed as inconsequential mention is that a prophetic series of “Seven” in the book is, though not explained, based upon it, namely the Seven Peals of Thunder in Rev 10.[2]
Listing of Other Symbols
*Waters = groupings of peoples (Rev 17:15; Isa 17:12-13a)[3]
-*Sea = political groupings of peoples
-*River = religious groupings of peoples (Ezek 47:1-5; cf. John 7:38-39). As the only major body of water provide Freshwater, it is the most conducive and supportive to thriving Human Life. (Indeed one could die of thirst while floating in the Seas/Oceans.) That is why many past and recent settlements and communities, some which even turned into large metropolis today, (e.g., Babylon (Euphrates), London (Thames), Paris (Seine), Montreal (St. Lawrence)), are located where they are because of this nearness and ready access to a River. This key “Human Life Support” reason is another reason why the Nile was worshipped in Ancient Egypt.
An excellent attestation of this symbol is seen in Rev 12:15-16 where it is depicted that the crafty “serpent”, the Devil, tried to literally drown out God’s faithful people through a flooding “river”. This is representative of the ecclesiastical opposition, and even physical persecution that these faithful ones were subject to during the most part of the period of 1260 years (538-1798 A.D.). Indeed the most threatening enemies of God’s faithful people then came from within the Catholic Church, and not from pagan peoples. And the only way in which the then formal Protestant Believers were able to escape this persecution was when they began to sail across the ocean to the newly discovered land of North America s starting in the ca. mid 17th century.
*Horns (Dan 7:24; 8:20; Rev 17:12)
= kings/kingdoms
*Earth - place to live (Gen 1:9-10; cf. Luke 11:24)
*Wind = caused by differences in temperature mainly between land and sea.
= strife, conflict war
*Woman = Church/Ecclesiastical Assembly (2 Cor 11:2; indeed a normative symbolism in the NT Church - Eph 5:22-32; 2 John 1:1, 5, 13; 1 Pet 5:13a; Dan 7:25|Rev 12:6, 13-14)
*Man = (Through the sequitur association to a Woman/Wife) = Church Ministry (cf. Eph 5:23)
*Woman = Church/Ecclesiastical Assembly (2 Cor 11:2; indeed a normative symbolism in the NT Church - Eph 5:22-32; 2 John 1:1, 5, 13; 1 Pet 5:13a; Dan 7:25|Rev 12:6, 13-14)
*Man = (Through the sequitur association to a Woman/Wife) = Church Ministry (cf. Eph 5:23)
Astronomy
*Sun - Most Valuable Life Enabling/facilitating sustainer (i.e., through its provisions of Light, Heat, Energy, Nutrients, etc)
= Religious context - Spiritual Life Righteousness resulting in Eternal Life (Mal 4:2)
= Temporal context - Livelihood Economy resulting in Earthly Life
*Burn/Extreme Heat = (e.g., Rev 7:16) the adverse effects from a (damaged) Sun/Nature
*Moon - Reflects the light of the Sun for light during the dark part of the day
= Religious Economy (cf. DA 464.4)[4]
*Stars - Have their own light. Help Moon light. Help light up the night; scattered throughout dark universe. In fact/indeed our Sun is actually a Star, and thus, conversely, Stars are simply other suns, though without orbiting habitable places, i.e., planets. So at best, such detached Sun/Stars primarily serve to avoid “nights”, or light it up if/when it occurs (cf. Rev 21:23, 25), however they technically could become a “Solar System” in themselves. Both Angels and (natural) Stars are referred to as “hosts”.
Symbolic understanding - Give biblical direction (Dan 12:3 "lead to righteousness", thus intrinsically related to Mal 4:2)
= Heavenly Beings (Angels), thus Messengers (bearing Divine messages), sent from God - Rev 1:20 (cf. Matt 2:2, 9|DA 60.1).
= (Temporally) = The Twelve Tribes (Gen 37:9 replaced by the 12 Apostles -‘sent ones from God’) - Rev 12:1
= Ministers, Church Leaders (LDE 178=PK188 - cf. Rev 2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14)
e.g., --Falling of Stars = fig tree's unripe fruit falling = Rev 6:13 DA ch.64
-reason = LDE 178-179 - Departure from Christ's (their (Lighting) Leader (cf. Mal 4:2)) principles (13 MR 379, 381). (cf. Satan transforming Himself into an angel of light, i.e., a Messenger of God with a Divine/Biblical message). Symbolically speaking, in his rebellion, Satan, God’s “Morning Star” (Isa 14:12) (see in here) sought to become a “Solar System”, even (wishful-thinkingly) a Universe (Isa 14:13-14), in himself (perhaps just as God was going to promote him to the chief of the Created worlds/humans; -cf. Rev 2:26-28 [which indeed involves Isa 14:12-14 and also Psa 2:8-9]).
Nature/Geology
*Earthquake - Shaking (Greek: “seismo”)
-caused by an underlying and unseen uncircumventible fault
-Hag 2:6, 7, 21 = Heb 12:26, 27 Shaking so that created things are removed
- a way to reveal what is solidly built vs. the spurious and flimsily built
*Mountain - symbol of strength, security
=refuge (Caleb) (= place to live; )
-caused by opposing compressions of earth’s crust
= earthly opposing strivings to occupy the same space
-seen in industrial/commercial competition. This is currently quite tangibly seen in the fact that most skyscrapers are symbolically built and owned by prosperous mega-industries and corporations.
*Island - By comparative decipheration from what is correctly and specifically understood earlier about (1) the general/generic/basic symbolic meaning of “waters” (=“peoples” Rev 17:15); and (2) how then each distinct type of body of waters (sea, river) have their own specific meaning, it then can sequiturly be seen that an island, which is a piece of, typically (initially) vacant, land naturally found in the midst of a body of water, represents, like the land/earth ‘comparatively’ did for Rev 12:16; 13:11: ‘a refuge/‘oasis’ from whatever body of water it is located in’. So if an island in the sea, =the common occurrence, then it is a ‘national-political refuge’. If it is an island in a river, then it pointedly is a religious refuge. (It thus is most pointedly telling that in Rev 12:16-17, it is a ‘continental land/earth’ which provides a refuge from a ‘flooding river’ as this pointedly represents a ‘larger land area’ providing refuge from a ‘warring (see Dan 9:26b) religious pursuing/persecuting’ (cf. Nah 1:8).
So the meanings in Rev 6:14 & Rev 16:20 which (inherently, also can) symbologically involve “islands” can be (Spiritually) understood to mean that:
-Rev 6:14b (Sixth Seal) - ‘the existing political refuges (e.g., where people today find freedom from worldly influence, as also provided by State-provided Religious Liberty/Freedom) will be moved out of their (present) places.’ (And in a more physical understanding than mere Religious Liberty Rights, this is fulfilled by what the NJK Project will tangibly be (correspondingly) ‘Religio-politically’ providing for its citizens/residents by literalistically having “moved” such plagues-escaping (Rev 15) “isles”of refuge (=Isa 24:15-16ff) to the “midst of the seas” (=Dan 11:45a) ~ Mar 270.3-4).
-Rev 16:20a (Seventh Plague) - ‘such (prior) political refuges/refuging will be made to “flee” away from unrighteous people’ (cf. EW 44.2).
-Rev 16:20a (Seventh Plague) - ‘such (prior) political refuges/refuging will be made to “flee” away from unrighteous people’ (cf. EW 44.2).
*Trees[5] - not absolutely vital to e.g., nutrition, can get it from land produce
-though also man-cultivated, more cultivation-free, thus easier to provide food
-provides sun shading comfort, food, building materials, energy, decoration, emergency protection, etc. (cf. e.g., Deut 20:19-20)
= (Temporally) basic/supplementing industries (See Dan 4:10-14, 20-22)
*Cloud - When not a rain cloud (cf. Jud 1:12), a cloud tangibly serves in the Bible as a means of transporting humans, who cannot fly, into the sky/heavens. (E.g., Rev 11:12; cf. Isa 60:8). Even the resurrected Jesus, who had eternal taken on His incarnate human form, needed a cloud to ascend into heaven (Acts 1:9) just as He will return on a cloud (e.g., Luke 21:27; Rev 1:7; 14:14) and take up the redeemed of the earth upon it (1 Thess 4:17; EW 16.2a). If filled with water, a cloud is a promissory/indicative symbol of a soon rainfall, which normatively, unless overabundant, is always beneficial for the earth and all life on earth.
*Rainbow - In Gen 9:8-17, following the flood, God set up an everlasting covenant between him and the Earth and all living things on the Earth, that he would never again destroy them nor the earth through a flood. So “when this rainbow is in the cloud” God would look upon it and remember his promise, and proceed to limit the rainfalls. Ezek 1:28 shows that the rainbow can be made to represent a ‘likeness of the “glory” of God,’ which the episode in Exod 33:18-23 revealed then comes to also include certain character traits of God such as His sovereign goodness, compassion and mercy. However God’s actual “glory” is distinctly , visibly/tangibly/“naturally” seen through, e.g., the all-consuming element of fire, particularly when He has been upset (Exod 16:6-12ff; cf. Deu 4:24; 9:3; Heb 12:28-29). (Indeed, as stated in this discussion forum post, contrary to what is commonly assumed, God’s glory is actually a distinct entity and not “synonymous with these expressed character traits and actions of His, which he additionally revealed/related to Moses.
An illustration that may help to demonstrate this key distinctness is the difference that exists between light (=God’s glory) and the light bulb which produces that light (=God’s character) when it is energized. In fact the illustration can be expanded to sequiturly include the socket/fixture which houses the light bulb (=God’s Bodily Person (cf. EW 54.2)); the electrical power which empowers the designed-to-function light bulb (=God’s psyche (a.k.a. soul)); and the electrical energy which sustains this end result of ‘gloriously emanating light’ (=God’s love). And, furthermore, if someone standing in a dark room was to ask you to ‘give them some light’, you would not hand them either a bulb, socket, electric shock, nor a battery to fulfill that request as only the combination of all of those elements perfectly functioning/working in themselves and also together would produce that light. Similarly the ‘light of a glorious character’ (cf. Ed 225.3 & COL 67.2-69.2) is never produced if any of those elements are either missing or dysfunctional!) It is interesting to note that the word “bow” in the OT is also used to speak of the common archery weapon of war, used to impersonally kill enemies at a distance, perhaps it is solely the similar shape of the two that provide this common lexical usage, however it is significant to see that God’s pleasingly colourful “rainbow” does effectively, conversely reflect that He would not use rain as a weapon to wholly (and impersonally(?) - i.e., without a provided opportunity for individualized redemption(?)) destroy all human life and living things.
An illustration that may help to demonstrate this key distinctness is the difference that exists between light (=God’s glory) and the light bulb which produces that light (=God’s character) when it is energized. In fact the illustration can be expanded to sequiturly include the socket/fixture which houses the light bulb (=God’s Bodily Person (cf. EW 54.2)); the electrical power which empowers the designed-to-function light bulb (=God’s psyche (a.k.a. soul)); and the electrical energy which sustains this end result of ‘gloriously emanating light’ (=God’s love). And, furthermore, if someone standing in a dark room was to ask you to ‘give them some light’, you would not hand them either a bulb, socket, electric shock, nor a battery to fulfill that request as only the combination of all of those elements perfectly functioning/working in themselves and also together would produce that light. Similarly the ‘light of a glorious character’ (cf. Ed 225.3 & COL 67.2-69.2) is never produced if any of those elements are either missing or dysfunctional!) It is interesting to note that the word “bow” in the OT is also used to speak of the common archery weapon of war, used to impersonally kill enemies at a distance, perhaps it is solely the similar shape of the two that provide this common lexical usage, however it is significant to see that God’s pleasingly colourful “rainbow” does effectively, conversely reflect that He would not use rain as a weapon to wholly (and impersonally(?) - i.e., without a provided opportunity for individualized redemption(?)) destroy all human life and living things.
Ellen White states in Ed 115.1-3 that:
The rainbow spanning the heavens with its arch of light is a token of "the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature." Genesis 9:16. And the rainbow encircling the throne on high is also a token to God's children of His covenant of peace.
As the bow in the cloud results from the union of sunshine and shower, so the bow above God's throne represents the union of His mercy and His justice. To the sinful but repentant soul God says, Live thou; "I have found a ransom." Job 33:24.
"As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Isaiah 54:9-10.
It is noteworthy to see that in nature, the rainbow appears “whenever there are water drops in the air and sunlight shining from behind at a low altitude angle. The most spectacular rainbow displays happen when half the sky is still dark with raining clouds and the observer is at a spot with clear sky in the direction of the sun. The result is a luminous rainbow that contrasts with the darkened background.”
Sunshine, which is a the root of fire, is indeed a fitting symbol for God’s justice however
when it is made to appear in less than all of its glory/strength (i.e., “at a low altitude angle”) vs. a high-noon position and strength, shining through rain showers or shortly after the end of it, and that from a rear, thus “background” vs. forefront, position, it instead is indicative the “glorious” compassionate mercy of God (cf. Isa 58:8c) to only allow the rainfall to do good to the earth, evidently despite the present reasons to justifiably let it once again do its cataclysmic damage.
Animal World
*Beast - (Greek therion) A wild, land animal vs. the normative ktenos a domesticated, burden bearing animal. As a wild, freely roaming land animal, a “beast” is an independent power in itself, and a “terrorizing” one at that. As such it has a distinct power on the land, even over humans, and thus is symbolically used to represent a earthly power, whether political or religio-political. (Which is why the symbol in Revelation 17 of ‘a woman riding a beast’ is a most striking one; i.e,. ‘a church having gained control in the political sphere.’ = the Catholic Church’s rise to the complete control of the powerful Roman Empire).
*Bird - (From the Greek orneon = free bird vs. the normative peteimos a controlled/domesticated bird (etymological root for our English word “pet”)). As opposed to a “beast” above, a bird, though an animal, has no earthly power of itself, mainly due to their relative smallness and lack of strength as opposed to a wild, land beast. However a bird makes up for this lack of earthly power with its unmatcheable capability to fly, and thus to move swiftly. As such it can escape the power and rule of any earthly beast and can roam freely about any earthly territory, even those “staked” by earthly beasts. In our modern world, this power of birds is tangibly seen in the various capabilities that technology has come to have in virtually all aspects of life. Most straightly, when man was able to achieve the ability to fly (starting in the early 1900's) and then communicate via the air (radio, TV, satellite) many walls, powers and limits imposed by earthly powers were rendered completely powerless as well as new ones formed especially by those who can dominate in these technological aspects. So before, whereas it was impossible to conquer, spy on, or tangibly and significantly infiltrate an opposing/international jurisdiction, through technologies such as used in air forces, satellites and telecommunications, among other technologies, it became possible to overpass these boundaries at will. Therefore, -(as seen from this ‘eagle attacks’ compilation video), a bird is seen as a power that, though small and not physically strong in itself, has and projects a matching power to land “beasts” and can even overwhelm a very large beast if multiple birds band together and effectuate a concerted attack on a land target, including a human being. (Thematically related, the “face” of war was drastically changed when airplanes, and then the derived missile technology, came into picture, where now even more (relatively) destructive, swift and timely force can be effectuated by such airborne weaponry on both remote territories and land forces.).
*Horse - Valuable Resource for Military Conquest (provides speed and power)
= A Militant Church’s Advances
*Locust - Human livelihood destroying agents (Joel 1)
*Scorpions - Human chastising/disciplining agents (1 Kgs 12:11)
Human Body
*Hand - Means of Doing Things. It serve as the body’s main, and easiest, mean to effectuate virtually everything that the body needs to externally do.
*Right Hand - Mostly primary, most favorable, skilled, powerful side.
*Feet - Means of going places and/or means of standing established.
*Face - Most prominent and, normatively, sufficiently accurate identifying part for the entire body (which is why Photo I.D.’s do not require more than (frontal) headshots), including also the inner self through its transparent demonstrating reflection of inner thoughts and feelings.
*Eyes - Spirit of God (Rev. 5:6) = Prophetic|Theological "Views" (e.g., 1 Sam 9:9; Num 11:25; Luke 1:67; Acts 2:18) vs. 'eyes of a man' (Dan 7:8b; cf. Luke 11:34-36)
*Head - The collection of the most determinative and decision-making aspects and faculties for the entire body, (i.e., face, brain (thinking), eyes (sight), forehead (mentality gateway), ears (hearing), mouth (speech), nose (smell)). What “rules” the entire body.
*Forehead - one’s cognitive mentality. Internalized, processed view (Jer 1:8).
*Blood - The Bible is consistently clear that: “blood = life’ (e.g. Gen 9:4; Lev 17:14; Jon 1:14; cf. Psa 72:14) and “the life is in the blood’ (e.g. Lev 17:11; Deut 12:23). Cf. John 6:53.54. Therefore blood is a symbolic representation of an entities very life being vitally threatened or affected.
Some Other Symbols
*“one like unto a Son of Man” (Rev 1:13; 14:14) = an Ezekiel-type figure (who was addressed as such 93X) who anti-typologically is made to bear the sins of both “Israel” and “Judah” (as in Ezek 4:4-6) so that they may one day be restored according to God’s new and advanced plans (Ezek 40-48) after their sealing judgement (Ezek 9-11).
Comments
*Blood - The Bible is consistently clear that: “blood = life’ (e.g. Gen 9:4; Lev 17:14; Jon 1:14; cf. Psa 72:14) and “the life is in the blood’ (e.g. Lev 17:11; Deut 12:23). Cf. John 6:53.54. Therefore blood is a symbolic representation of an entities very life being vitally threatened or affected.
Blood becomes manifest when one is wounded, and then a slow dying process begins and is sure to end in if, if possible, measures are not take to “stop that bleeding”. So when one is depicted as ‘making one bleed’ in prophetic symbology, it is that the life of the victim has been affected and their slow potential dying process has started.
Making another bleed is thus a sign of a life-affecting rebellion and rejection of that person. They have first been vitally wounded, and are now bleeding out, and are so “left to die.”
Some Other Symbols
*Altar - (Rev 11) Temple/Church’s Internal Ministry (see here)
*“one like unto a Son of Man” (Rev 1:13; 14:14) = an Ezekiel-type figure (who was addressed as such 93X) who anti-typologically is made to bear the sins of both “Israel” and “Judah” (as in Ezek 4:4-6) so that they may one day be restored according to God’s new and advanced plans (Ezek 40-48) after their sealing judgement (Ezek 9-11).
Comments
As first engaged here, Stephen Bohr has the quite glibly, even slickly so, erroneous “Theological” belief that prophetic symbols can have different meanings ‘depending on the context in which they are used’. And in this presentation, he goes on to cite many such glibly understood examples. Succinctly said here, the truth about prophetic symbols is that they have single basic/root meaning/implication and then that is variously applied in different circumstances, yet all while still maintaining that basic/root meaning/implication. So to, also succinctly, samply debunk Bohr’s first cited examples; -the symbol of:
- a lion is representative of ‘the chief of something’ whether e.g., amongst a tribe (=king) (Rev 5:5) or nations (Babylonian Empire) (Dan 2:37-38)
- wine is representative of ‘a willful celebrated or overmasteringly controlling influencing agent’. E.g., the self-sacrificing and martyrdom spirit that NT believers should willingly have (Matt 26:27-28); the last gasp measure to, “through pain”, steer/influence the wicked nations (Rev 14:19-20); deluding teachings and influence (Rev 17:2, 4; 18:3); a new way of (Spiritually) thinking, thus acting (Luke 5:37-39; e.g., Matt 5-7).
- a star is a new and/or self-emanating light. E.g., angels, righteous people, (God’s original planned function and purpose for “Lucifer”)
-a leaven is a, comparatively minutely, small but pivotal catalyst agent having tremendous outcomes. (e.g., the Kingdom of Heaven (Matt 13:33 [Acts 17:6]); false teachings (Matt 16:5-12; Gal 5:7-9 [Matt 23]); sin (Exod 12:15; Lev 2;11; 1 Cor 5:6, 8 [Gen 3:11, 6:5ff]). -See 16MR 216.3 where EGW, in the same sentence, uses it both in terms of ‘sinful behavior’ and for “the grace of Christ.”)
- the “King of the North” is, (as presented here), the rulership seat of God’s Israel during its divided kingdom days, with that Northern territory being for the 10 Northern tribes, and which was supposed to extend right to the Euphrates River borders next to Babylon. As primarily stated in Isa 14:4, 13, the King of Babylon, incited by Satan in his grand GC scheme to annul God’s Israel plans, wanted to extend his kingdom into Israel’s territory and effectively managed to do so in that divided Kingdom era. Isa 14:13 does not say nor mean that ‘God Himself has His throne in the North’ as commonly claimed. The King of Babylon was here merely reflecting Satan’s own aspirations to try to usurp God’s rule from Heaven and also have a share in His temporal Israel, in that Northern Kingdom. Also, as discussed in here at Rev 16:16, the “mount of the assembly” was probably the prophetically significant (=Rev 16:16) wide valley of the Mountain of Meggiddo (=Mount Carmel).
Symbolic Numerology
- the “King of the North” is, (as presented here), the rulership seat of God’s Israel during its divided kingdom days, with that Northern territory being for the 10 Northern tribes, and which was supposed to extend right to the Euphrates River borders next to Babylon. As primarily stated in Isa 14:4, 13, the King of Babylon, incited by Satan in his grand GC scheme to annul God’s Israel plans, wanted to extend his kingdom into Israel’s territory and effectively managed to do so in that divided Kingdom era. Isa 14:13 does not say nor mean that ‘God Himself has His throne in the North’ as commonly claimed. The King of Babylon was here merely reflecting Satan’s own aspirations to try to usurp God’s rule from Heaven and also have a share in His temporal Israel, in that Northern Kingdom. Also, as discussed in here at Rev 16:16, the “mount of the assembly” was probably the prophetically significant (=Rev 16:16) wide valley of the Mountain of Meggiddo (=Mount Carmel).
Symbolic Numerology
Final numbers that are from sums (thus additions e.g, 12+12=24) express a quantitative meaning/significance. Those which are products (thus multiplications = 12x2=24) express a qualitative meaning/significance. And as indicated by the sample number 24 here, a symbolic number can express both a quantitative and also qualitative meaning/significance.
“Prime” Numbers
“Prime” Numbers
1 - Undivided Unity
2 - The minimal number needed to establish a matter (Two Witnesses)
3 - The optimal number needed to establish a matter (I.e., three distinct persons/entities all perfectly proclaiming the same thing (e.g., Trinity of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
4 - Representation of the four cardinal points of the earth. = Universality.
-[2x2] - A converged attempt to established a matter with 2 sets of 2 types of a minimal witnesses.
6 - Something that is just short of a perfect representation of something as done with the number
7. (E.g., Revelations series of 7 which all first have an uninterrupted series of six, however are not complete until the occurrence of the seventh element.)
-[2x3] or [3x2] - The attempt to establish a matter by the optimally produces 2 sets of 3 optimal witnesses or 3 sets of 2 minimal witnesses.
7 - A selective but perfect representation of something. Not actually “completeness” (contra AA 585.3b) as seen in the number 10.
10 - An comprehensively complete representation of something.
Factors of “Prime” Numbers
3½ - [half 1 x 7] - A divided unity to achieve a halted and/or halved part of what would be a perfect representation of something.
12 - [4x3] or [6x2] or [2x2x3]= The combination of an optimal witness of something representative of the “four corners”, thus universality, of an entity. The minimal witness provided by the harmonizing testimony of 2, though non-perfect entities. Thus a perfect symbol for the head/leadership of something though representing diverging views.
13 - [12+1] - The distinct, though substantively similar, and (supposed to be) unified, supreme head of a subordinate leadership [12] entity.
24 - [12x2] or [6x4] etc - The minimal witness provided by two “leadership” entities. The strength from an non-perfect representation due to its universal convergence.
40 - [10x4] = Universally comprehensive completeness.
42 - [7x6] = A perfect representation of non-perfect periods
49 - [7x7] = A selective perfect repetitive representation of a single perfect representation of something.
50 - [49+1] = A commemorative added, distinct, though substantively similar, subordinate period [49] to cap a perfectly represented period
70 - [10x7] = A comprehensively complete inclusion of a perfect representation of something
120 - [12x10] = A comprehensively complete leadership period/group. A main/settled/matured direction/leading. [e.g. number of years one needs to confirm their life’s choice/direction]
360 - [120x3] - Optimal witness [3] of main “leadings.”
490 - [70x7] or [49x10] = The perfectly representational repetition of an already comprehensively complete perfect representation. or: An comprehensively complete representation of a selective perfect repetitive representation of a single perfect representation of something.
666 - A manufactured attempt to make a non-perfect representation of something [6] seem to be a substantively optimal witness of something, namely a convoluted and shallow attempt to “substitutively match” the perfect representation in the number 7.
1000 - [10x10x10] - The optimal (witnessing) depiction of a comprehensively complete entity.
1260 - [3½ x 360] - The haltedly halved, depiction of the optimal witness of main and settled leadings.
10,000 - [1000x10] - A now universally [10x10x10x10] depicted complete comprehensiveness.
144,000 - [12x12x1000] - The product of two leadership entities working in “productive” combination with each other, thus magnifying their leadership capabilities beyond merely the minimal witness of two leadership entities (i.e., 2x12) and backed up by a optimally witnessing comprehensively complete entity. (E.g., A Kingdom-powerful/capable entity).[6] See much more on the 144,000 in this post.
dragon (=“Leviathan”/sea-monster) - Priorly I had eventually merely, “logically”, given as the manifest reason for this common symbol (and an NT term used 12X only) in Revelation (Strongs #1404= 7X in Rev 12; 3X in Rev 13; 16:13; 20:2), -which does clearly and consistently represents “the Devil/Satan” (Rev 12:9; 20:2), as, -and with a “dragon” (transliterated from the Greek “drakon”), simply a “mythical creature”. And with “beasts” in the Bible being used to represent kingdoms in cryptic prophecy, then I here “logically” saw that, as there was not really a dragon creature/beast, this was used to represent Satan’s concocted, post-War in Heaven (Rev 12:7, 9) efforts to have a (quasi-)tangible world power/kingdom of his own to directly inspire and control (Rev 12:3), and thus use at his will and whim pointedly against the affairs of God and His faithful people on Earth, as indeed are the patent actions of this dragon. (e.g. Rev 12:4, 13, 17). But the best that Satan has been able, or more likely, allowed by God to do, was then to exert and effectuate such influence and power “from the air” (Rev 12:3; cf. Eph 2:2), and not on the ground/Earth.
dragon (=“Leviathan”/sea-monster) - Priorly I had eventually merely, “logically”, given as the manifest reason for this common symbol (and an NT term used 12X only) in Revelation (Strongs #1404= 7X in Rev 12; 3X in Rev 13; 16:13; 20:2), -which does clearly and consistently represents “the Devil/Satan” (Rev 12:9; 20:2), as, -and with a “dragon” (transliterated from the Greek “drakon”), simply a “mythical creature”. And with “beasts” in the Bible being used to represent kingdoms in cryptic prophecy, then I here “logically” saw that, as there was not really a dragon creature/beast, this was used to represent Satan’s concocted, post-War in Heaven (Rev 12:7, 9) efforts to have a (quasi-)tangible world power/kingdom of his own to directly inspire and control (Rev 12:3), and thus use at his will and whim pointedly against the affairs of God and His faithful people on Earth, as indeed are the patent actions of this dragon. (e.g. Rev 12:4, 13, 17). But the best that Satan has been able, or more likely, allowed by God to do, was then to exert and effectuate such influence and power “from the air” (Rev 12:3; cf. Eph 2:2), and not on the ground/Earth.
Satan manifestly “resumed” (i.e., picking up from his last “punctuatedly” failed by God terrestrial effort in Isa 14:4, 14-23; with his first, also ‘“punctuatedly” failed by GOd’, one being with Babel (Gen 11:1-9)), this continued, but restricted, opposition indeed right upon Jesus’ incarnational arrival on this Earth to ‘establish the (Zionistic) Kingdom of God’ (Rev 12:1-2ff; Mark 1:14-15), and, (as also discussed here about Rev 12:4), tried to do this through the greatest world power then, Rome (=“Babylon” 1 Pet 5:13). But that too was lastingly thwarted (John 12:31; 16:11). It is thus not surprising that since then, over Church History, -indeed as prophetically spoken about throughout Rev 12-13 (discussed in this post), Satan has then successively switched this ‘wishful, influential, “dragon” (=Babylonian) rule, to next: Papal Rome/the Holy Roman Empire (Rev 13:1-3ff); then, to the United States of America (Rev 13:11ff), and finally to a Global quasi-Religio-Economic alliance led by these two powers (=Rev 13:15-18; Rev 17:11-14).
So all this to prefacingly say that there was indeed satisfactory reason to look at the “mythological” beast./creature symbol of a “dragon” as ‘Satan’s entirely-invented/concocted world-influencing/ruler power’. (=The Fourth ‘completely different’ Beast/King-dom of Dan 7:7, 19, 23). However upon hearing the quasi-philosophical interpretive explanation made here [01:39ff] by professor Andrew Rillera of/for (Francis Chan’s) Eternity Bible College, and the linking made to the OT “Leviathan”, with that Greek word “drakon” indeed used in the LXX to speak of creature, I decided to probe more into this exegetically-evident OT background for that Revelation symbol, and the following is a succinct summary of what I most intriguingly discovered. And it is key to start off with the concluding understanding, which will be explained, that the Leviathan was evidently not at all a “mystical” creature as commonly claimed/assumed. It was rather a real, most powerful creature, that Satan manifestly did try to make nefarious use of, hence the actual, Biblical reason for its usage as a symbol in Revelation!!
Origin of Leviathan - First of all, that the ‘dragon called “Leviathan”’ was actually a “great” sea creature created by God Himself is seen in Gen 1:21, with Isa 27:1 associating Leviathan with both this “sea monster” (Hebrew “tannin” #08577) and also one of serpent-like form. And it is most striking in Job 41 that actually God Himself give a most detailed and chapter long, proud extolling of this great sea monster, and all to give Job the most emblematic illustration of how His own power is unmatchable as ‘it can even control at will the great Leviathan’. And quite reflective of this manifest well-known fact about the “unmatchably” great strength and power of this quite evidently real Leviathan Creature, when really winds up his ‘bitter complaining’ (Job 7:11)m he begins his quasi-diatribe against God asking Him if the reason why God is evidently trying to subdue him is because he, Job, is “somehow” has inherently threatening/dangerous as this ‘unstoppable/untameable’ (Job 41:26-29, 33-34; cf. 41:3-6) Leviathan Sea-Monster (Job 7:12; -which, therefore, should not be “roused” (Job 3:8)); -and with the only synonymously dangerousness-comparable thing in Nature to that Sea Monster being the sea (Job 38:8-11; Psa 104:9; Pro 8:29; Jer 5:22), particularly with its (non-wind-generated) (“monstrous”) sea storms (Heb: “rahab” [#07293] derived from the word meaning “stormily” [#07292]; -manifestly how they termed “tsunamis” =Isa 51:9; Psa 89:9-10; Job 9:13; 26:12; cf. Psa 74:13-14), pointedly because these could, like an out of control Leviathan, make most destructive landfalls. Indeed, as discussed later about Job 41:25; it was probably then (factually) known, (or merely thought) that it was Leviathan acting up in the sea which caused (coastal land-reaching) tsunami waves (=Isa 30:7)
In fact, and this will be most significant for later/further understanding, this extolling of God actually starts back in Job 40:15-24 concerning a creature called “Behemoth”. Some have dismissively claimed that “Behemoth” was merely a hippopotamus, and that “Leviathan”, pointedly with its scales like body (Job 41:15) was really a crocodile, but the many descriptive points in Job 40:15-41:34 just do not fit these two known animals, such as: a hippopotamus not being the largest land animal as an elephant is larger, and a crocodile not dwelling in rivers and not in the sea (Job 41:31; cf. Psa 148:7). And Even EGW makes matter-of-fact mention of it in PP 50.3 & Ed 21.3 adding that Adam also “held (informative) converse” with it. (Manifestly these huge creatures were not the “confused” species (i.e. dinosaurs) resulting from the sinful “amalgamations” of/amongst animals by evil-minded men which God did not allow to survive the flood. (1SP 78.2))
So I here decided to instead go by my foundational Bible study approach of defaultly giving God/The Bible, the benefit of the doubt, and thus here going with the thesis that the creatures described here were indeed unique and unmatchedly colossal and formidable...and as usual, the end results have, surprisingly, been most cogently enlightening, and advancing of understandings.
Foundational Material - The descriptions given by God in Job 40:15-41:34 are indeed most interesting, so they should be first read through to give the validating Biblical background of what is next summarily stated. So, for reasons of particularly time, succinctly, here is what this Bible information has led to in regards to these “Sea-Monsters”: -And from this study, it was significantly, also “wisely” (=16MR 34.3) deemed that the “apocryphal” account given in the Pseudepigraphical work: the Book of Noah, -as extantly found in its quoting in the OT Apocryphal Book of Enoch (i.e., here 1 Enoch 50:7-10), is a, more than less, substantively valid/genuine accounting, and indeed probably by Noah himself. So the pertinent passage in that text should also be foundationally read here.
Function/Purpose of Leviathan - It is most manifest that God created the “sea-monster”, (and that chiefly/first (cf. Gen 1:21; cf. Job 40:19)), of all creatures, and, as discussed here, with God having a concrete reason for everything He does/create, it incredible size was because it had the task of keeping the Sea/Ocean waters clean and fresh (as in not salty). So these now brackish waters were evidently created and intended by God to be of the same potable quality, as, and even better than, freshwater sources today, such as rivers. And to do this, God had built in a sort of water boiling (Job 41:31a) purification (Job 41:32a) and rejuvenation (=re-freshing) (Job 41:32b) system, -which kept it from having the now well known brackish stench (Job 41:31b), within this colossal beast, which would thus be able to efficiently process large amounts of water at a time. So that is why, as God Himself states, this beast had all of these fire-breathing qualities/capabilities (Job 41:18-21), which evidently is the source of all of the (thus not so “mythological”) statements about “dragons”!! It moreover, to help, time-wise, in this water-boiling process, was equipped/designed with air-tight locking jaws (Job 41:14-17) and sealed, hardened body (Job 41:22-24) which thus allowed it to function as a high pressure cooker (=Job 41:20)!!! So it manifestly would intake water, then, through in inner built energy source, boil it to high temperature and sustainedly under high pressure, and thus be able to remove all impurities, mainly sodium chloride, from the water.
It is here important to relatedly understand, that as scientifically explained here and here, the most contributive reason why the sea/ocean waters are salty, is because of various global mineral injection into these ocean reservoirs from land, through rainfall, including (atmospheric-borne) ~“acidic” rain, as also from the spew of overland volcanoes, likewise from volcanic hydrothermal vents (cf. this clip) at the bottom of the oceans. But what is more significant here, -indeed in regards to an objection that even a large and/or many, so functioning sea creature just could not work fast enough to keep sea/ocean waters fresh (i.e. as fresh as rivers), is that all none of these great mineral contaminations of the ocean waters would be occurring before the Flood of Noah since it neither did not rain (Gen 2:5), thus not land eroding runoffs, and also there were no burst-open hydrothermal vents (= “fountains of the deep”) on the sea floors (Gen 7:11; 8:2; PP 99.1). So with those two major sources of contamination none exist, the Leviathan sea creature could easily fulfill this fresh sea-water maintaining task.
Size/Length of Leviathan - Some Jewish legends have derivedly (i.e., manifestly from the Biblical and Pseudepigraphical accounts), claimed various things about the Leviathan. Most interestingly was that it was over 300 miles long and could swallow the entire Jordan River (=Job 40:23) which is (156 mile longs). As there are also mentioned of leviathan spottings (cf. Psa 104:26), including, relatedly, “relatively” modern time maritime claims, (-which themselves could merely be false attributions of merely large whales and other sea creatures appearing on the surface of the oceans), given that God states in Job 41:25 when it raises itself up, it produces great fear because of the crashing it causes, manifestly when it falls back down onto the surface of the water; -which, as discussed earlier, probably also produced land-reaching tsunami waves, it would imply to me that, with this creature indeed being of a serpent form, it, like a serpent can, was capable of raising its head while part of its body was still lying on the sea-floor, and was long enough to significantly surpass the surface of the water. Just going by the (current) average (and not extreme, i.e., Mariana Trench) depths of the oceans being ca.12,080 ft (=2.29) (cf. here), it is not implausible that God could, like large whales, likewise create such a long, snake-like creature, as it was relegated to live in the seas. So it probably was not over 300 miles long, with that length claim probably being based on beliefs then that this was the depth of the ocean and/or that since it could easily swallow the entire Jordan River, but was not as wide as it was, then it was ca. 2X its, (probably then actually measured) length of 156 miles.
Corroboratingly the statement by God in Job 41:34 which seems to mean that the Leviathan was (side-by-side) as tall, or taller, than anything, (and with the highest known (today) point/place on Earth being the mountain peak of being Everest at 29,029 ft (=5.5 mi) (above sea level), could indicate that Leviathan was indeed that long, over even longer (cf. Job 40:20). And interestingly enough, in the Hebrew Bible, that statement of ‘great height’ in Job 41:34 is instead (re-)located in Job 41:26, right after the ‘head/body raising and crashing’ statement in Job 41:25.
And, manifestly the reason that it was designed to be able to raise itself like that and that high was so that it could discharge on the surface the volume of sea water it had just purified. So, given the (present) various depth of the ocean, some of which may have been increased by the event of the Flood, with the deepest point being the Mariana Trench 36,200 ft (6.9 mi), if that depth existed since Creation (cf. Gen 1:2), before the Flood, then it could be that God had matchingly created Leviathan of that length, so that, upon completing its desalination function in that area, rather than moving/swimming about to another shallower location to do this release, if it then could actually move, (much like a snake which has just eaten usually cannot move until it has done its digestion), the Leviathan could easily raise itself up right where it stood and reach well above the surface of the waters to do its freshwater discharge. So it could at least have been “extremely” as long as the “Mariana Trench” itself is deep.
Eyes and Limbs of Leviathan - A couple of points about the bodily function of the Leviathan: Based on Job 41:18, it was said to have eyes like [“flash”]lights. This was probably to enable it to see in the darkness of the deeps (Gen 1:2) in order to spot areas where it needed to do its purifying work, which manifestly also included ingesting biological waste, and/or simply to see where it is going.
It also is said to have limbs (Job 41:12a), thus implying that it could also walk. And these probably aided it, strengthening wise, when it did its Ocean surface discharge-raisings, -(just like the stabilizing and force-countering hydraulic footings for a crane).
What is relatedly interesting is that, it is said to be able to slither on the sea floor like a serpent, but there, it had strong scales with which it threshed the sea floor. (Job 41:30). So manifestly the purpose of that function was to also assist in its “grand clean up” work/function, as this sea floor threshing would serve to “sift” the sea floor sands and thus dislodge waste biological matter and particles that may have settle in it and become buried. All in order to prevent these organisms from releasing salts and other contaminating minerals in the water as they was, and when they had finished, decomposing.
Energy/Fuel + Waste Product of Leviathan - Of course, at this point in all of these Biblical, Textual, Scientific, Logical discoveries of mine about Leviathan, pointedly in regards to this evident water desalination function/purpose, I had to ask the logical question of “what then do it do with all of the salts that it is removing from the water. It surely cannot be re-releasing them back into the water as this would then nullify of the work it had done. Well I can up with the following to, even joint, plausible probabilities, which indeed make perfect sense to me.
First of all, in researching a potential explanation about “burning salt” (i.e., to eliminate it), I came across several related links about the following discovery in regards to using saltwater as a source of fuel/energy. Through a process which uses Radio Frequencies, the chemical composition of saltwater can be cause to be unstable, and end up producing energy from the released hydrogen atoms. To me, the Leviathan could be designed to naturally be able to do this with/from seawater and thus be able to renewable produce this great heat that it uses to boil water, thus also desalinating it in the process. The only issue here would be in regards to being able to produce the need Radio Frequency, but as prominently seen with “bio-sonar” emitted by bats and dolphins, which was electro-mechanically copied/produced by navy for submarine navigation, this is something similar that God could have “naturally” done in the Leviathan. Indeed animals have various key God-created natural features which humans have sought to artificially reproduce, as even seen in bird flight. The electro-chemical human brain is another example here, as seen from its comparative artificial reproduction in a computer. So all this to show/say, that it is probably not hard at all for God to have equipped the Leviathan with a natural “Radio-Frequency generator” which thus enable it to make use of brackish seawater as a fuel and high heat energy source.
Another ‘salt elimination’ possibility that I thought of would be that the Leviathan was capable of occasionally emptying its collected salts/mineral storage onto land, harmlessly/non-threateningly, in an ideal world, where it could be used by man (just as most of the salts that humans consume today come from sea water),
But a third possibility would be that the Leviathan digestive/waste system was designed to transform and trap its collected salts into undecomposable rocks, and it would occasionally excrete this waste onto the sea floor, and could then also use its body-threshing outfit (Job 41:30) to dredge furrows in the sea floor in order to bury its own waste, thus (doubly) ensuring that it would not decompose back into dissolved salts and mineral.
So through any, and/or jointly all, of these means, the Leviathan could sustain the resuls of its purification work.
Male and Female Sea-Monster - Now a most intriguing, almost fantastical, claim is made in relation to Leviathan in the Book of Noah account. It is there said that Leviathan was actually the female mate of the Behemoth, and that they originally both lived together in the seas until God separated, (actually “parted”) them, and that around the time leading up to the flood “judgement”. The female Leviathan was made to live in the seas, “over the fountains of waters” and the Behemoth was made to live on land. While that in itself is surfacely plausible, because of the evident deeper meaning in regards to the “mysterious/hidden” ‘procedural’ “parting” of them, implying some sort of, out of the ordinary, physical/surgical separation of them, the fact that similar indications are made in the Bible shows that these statements in the Book of Noah were furthering a “Biblical”/Truthful reality/development. This is seen in Job 40:15, when God first begins this “extolling” by mentioning how He had made Behemoth become like a man, by making it eat grass like an ox. And evidently that redesigning transformation was (of course) so well done by God, that it didn’t cause the Behemoth to lose anything in its remarkable strength and features (Job 40:16-18). (Evidently the now land-restricted (male) Behemoth would not have the need saltwater to be able to activate and make use of its various fire making/.breathing capabilities and features. So it also thus was not a fire hazard threat to land animals and humans.).
The female “sea-monster”, Leviathan was restricted to the sea, and (probably subsequently) that: “over the fountains of waters”, which evidently meant/were the (post-Flood) volcanic hydrothermal vents. And that would indeed make perfect sense as these vents were great sources of ocean water salt contamination, so why not indeed efficiently “camp out” around these vents and do its purification work there, -right at the source of the problem.
-Either, when they were both sea dwelling, these creatures were simply called “Leviathan” and then when one was limited to the land it was renamed “Behemoth”, or as with other animals which have distinct names for it male or female gender (e.g., deer & doe), these sea-creatures always had distinct gender-names.
(The manifest reason for this separation is discussed below.)
“Parting” of Sea-Monster - Now from all of the technical “mystery” being made about the “parting” of these sea-monsters, it all leads to the conclusion that this was actually a two-headed sea-creature (a “feature” which occasionally, “freakishly”, “naturally”, viably occurs in nature, also in snakes). So it would not only have two heads, but would also jointly be both male and female in the same unified body, and thus be capable of internally self-reproducing. And thus the reason for its bodily/surgical “parting” and maintained separation, would be, as many Jewish writings claim, so that they would not be able to reproduce as its great size, strength and capability, actually became a existential threat to man. This creature literally was the “atomic energy” of all the animals/creatures of God. I.e., according to one use of it, it was probably the most beneficial animal to man’s subsistence as it would keep the oceans as a ready source of freshwater. (Indeed a major concern of sustainable life on Earth today revolves around decreasing (ready) supplies of freshwater.) -The Behemoth/Leviathan functional existence also precluded rain, (which, “hydrologically”, is the main producer of Freshwater in the Earth (but also while circularly causing the oceans to continue to be salty), from having to fall. But, used wrongly, (and this is where Satan’s real life relation to this (also snaky -Gen 3:1ff)) creature seems to be), it could be just as destructive to man and life on this planet, as an atomic bomb. So there likewise was great benefit, but also risk, in creating it, and so it was probably on God’s “watch list” from especially after the Fall of Man.
So God apparently did a surgical miracle to separate the genders here, (somewhat like he had done with Adam in order to create Eve (Gen 2:21-23), and it is interesting how they have to (“mechanically”) re-become “one flesh” in order to reproduce (Gen 2:24)). So God may have specially designed Behemoth/Leviathan to be able to reproduce while permanently being one “flesh”/body.
Function of Leviathan’s Two Heads - It can actually be easily argued, that there was no need for Leviathan to have two heads, -perhaps configured as one at each end [cf. this “myth” and this depiction], even if it had one body, in order to reproduce. And that indeed is clear, since it was indeed already sexually united, but I am seeing here that it could have purposely had two heads, namely for the “purpose” of, when in the process of desalinating/purifying water, using one head as the intake “pipe”, while the other head, with its air-tight locking jaws (Job 41:14-17) serving to produce a pressure containment for the water that it is boiling. (This dual intake would be like how a human can breath, (even eat/drink) through their mouth or their nose.) But the necessitating reason that simultaneous joint/dual intake in the Leviathan would be in regards for it being able to flowingly/continuously take in the salty sea water as, as discussed earlier, its fueling/energizing of its inner water heating system all the while, while its other head and mouth provided that container seal. And the releasing of smoke through its nostrils stated by God in Job 41:18a was manifestly the occasional releasing of pressure as purified water vapors, just as the function of a pressure valve in a pressure cooker.
Manifestly even after their separation, the sea-dwelling (now only female) Leviathan itself may have continued to have two-heads, as the plural “heads” in Psa 74:13-14 seems to support, while the land dwelling Behemoth was only limited to one head.
-And if this serpent creature was indeed configured to have to heads at opposite ends of its joint/shared body, then the parting of them would merely require that they be slit in half lengthwise, and then they both, or just the land-destine Behemoth would have grown a tail, while the Leviathan would have been enable to grow another (female) head instead. Or, given that it may then no longer would be required to (impossibly) desalinate the seas, it therefore would also have merely grown back a tail.
Reason for United Sea Monster - The most likely to me reason why these sea-monsters were originally permanently one entity was in order to facilitate its, probably specially limited, reproduction, -in order to control its spread in the Earth’s waters, given its inherent great power. So whenever it would “sparingly” be that the female was able to conceive, the male was right there to fertilize her egg. And so they would not then have to frantically be searching for each other in the dark deep oceans in order to timely achieve this fertilization.
Destruction of “Behemoth” - But then, and seemingly ca. 100 years before the flood, as this is the date given from Noah’s account in that Book of Noah, God then, seeing that the use of the this Chief Sea Monster would no longer be necessary, acted to permanently separate them so that they could not longer reproduce. And by permanently placing the Behemoth on the land, and manifestly in the immediate region near the Garden of Eden*, God, who necessarily may have also retrofitted the Behemoth to never be capable of surviving under water, therefore was actually setting it up for its destruction during the coming flood. In other words, God would have seen that only the Leviathan needed to survive the Flood, especially given that the planned implements for the Flood destruction (i.e., enduring rainfall and burst fountains of the deep), would thus render the freshwater producing maintaining work and contribution of the Leviathan mootly impractical and inachievable. And so it functional existence would no longer be needed, and perhaps even before it was able of ever reproducing, God separated them and doomed the male “Behemoth” to destruction in th flood. The female, sea-going Leviathan would, like all other sea creatures during the flood, survive. But when it naturally died off, probably after hundred, if not thousands of years after the Flood, hence probably the reason it may have been occasionally sighted by people in sea going vessels for a while after that, there would be no replacement for it. So, by God doing, it thus would become extinct.
* Where apparently ‘Enoch lived and was taken up’), which indeed makes sense, given that the righteous (=descendants of Seth) originally did live separately from the unrighteous (=the wicked descendant of Cain), -until they “amalgamated” themselves together (=Gen 6:1-5), with Cain (and evidently his following after wife) having been banished away, and with the righteous probably having chosen to settle near the Garden of Eden where Adam and Eve had been expelled from, this location near Eden would be the best, i.e., safest, place to house that Behemoth as it would then be most away from the wicked people of the Earth, and also very close to the Cherubim angels which were permanently guarding the entrance into Eden (Gen 3:24); so it thus was unlikely that wicked people would then seek to nefariously “mess” with Behemoth.
Then again, if the expressions about the now land-locked Behemoth in Job 40:15-24 are contemporary ones, and not retrospective, since Job lived sometime just after the Flood, God may have not done anything to Behemoth capabilities to survive in water, and it was thus also able to survive the Flood. And so, it too, and probably much faster than the still fully operational Leviathan, went on to die off naturally.
Interestingly enough, given the SOP related view that wicked men went on to form confused species through the “amalgamation” of distinct animal species (=1 SP 78.2; - e.g., a lizard & a bat or eagle producing a “pterosaur”), the impelling reason for them to do so could have been through this reality that the righteous literally had this formidable beast/creature in their camp and thus could wipe them out. So as in a nuclear arm race, they then sought to (successfully), through reproductive amalgamation in animals, produce their own formidable creatures (=dinosaurs).
Punishment Death of Leviathan - Now despite the theory given above about a possible natural extinction of Leviathan, there is a consistent chorus of Jewish legends which claim that Leviathan was killed by God. And this all echo what is similarly said in Isa 27:1-2 which there adds a notion of “punishment” and in relation to the lead up events to Zionistic deliverance and triumph of God’s Israel. And this is where/how I see that the association of this snake-like Sea Monster/Dragon with Satan substantively comes full circle. All in the sense that, just like Satan had successfully preyed on the special beauty and features of a (flying, land) serpent to corrupt it and thus make possessing use of it to cause Man to Fall, (Gen 3:1ff|PP 50.3), it apparently is the similar case that Satan next tried, (starting) before the Flood, to also flatter the mighty Leviathan into allowing him to likewise possess it, with here plans to render the planet inhabitable/unoccupyable by Man, e.g., by convincing the Leviathan to no longer do its sea water purifying duty, thus precipitating, or even possibly entirely causing, the uncontrollable salination of ocean waters, thus restricting both the settlement movement of men, causing them to, as seen with most early civilizations (e.g., Egypt, Babylon), aggregate near bodies of freshwater such as rivers (e.g., the Nile, the Tigris/Euphrates, respectively). And thus Satan was able to continue his Babel plans (Gen 11:4) which was all contrary to God’s vitally necessary plan that man spread out throughout the earth in order to subdue it (and animals) (=Gen 1:28).
Manifestly in this possessing and controlling of Leviathan by Satan, he had managed to reduce its function in the oceans to one of merely being a ruthless nuisance as a “jackal”, which is why it common (given) name: “sea monster” [Heb. “tannin” Strongs #08577] is actually derived from that for a jackal [Heb. “tan” Strongs #08565] (cf. Job 30:29; Isa 35:7; Jer 9:11; 51:37; Lam 4:3; Mal 1:3)
And probably, also towards this God-opposing “aggregating” plan, Satan used that possessed sea-monster Leviathan to literally terrorize the seas and sea-going vessels, causing people fro centuries to avoid using/crossing it as much as possible, even to the point of postponing the discovery of the Western/American continent until much later. Hence the possible allusion in Rev 13:1 which historically would thus speak of how Satan was preventing people from escaping to the Americas while he set up his Sea-Beast Babylon, and with this Exodus to the Americas indeed being the principle way in which the righteous were preserved from being rooted out or silenced by that ruthlessly persecutive Sea-Beast (=Rev 12:15-16). In fact, with that “dragon” (=Leviathan Sea Monster) being capable (in Rev 12:15) of spewing out a whole “river” from its mouth in order to try to destroy those faithful people, it manifestly is a background allusion to what this (once possessed) Sea-Creature was literally capable of doing. (Job 40:23).
(Leviathan, Satan and the Flood) - Just like in Luke 8:30-33, (and as relatedly discussed in this post at Rev 9:1ff), show that demons (=angelic followers of Satan) are afraid of being sent/confined to the abyss (manifestly the bottom of the seas), it may be that during the Flood, when ‘Satan himself feared for his own existence as he was compelled by God to remain in the midst of the warring elements’ (PP 99.3), it could have been that if he could do otherwise, Satan would have sought to ride out this Storm by inhabiting the extremely strong Leviathan.
Dragon/Leviathan Symbol = Roman Power - As stated before, what Satan was alternatively “proxily” able to accomplish (i.e., alternative to an actual possession of the Leviathan Sea Monster to bring about great literal/physical destructions on the Earth), was to commandeer the God-allowed (Dan 2:21; -for its Law and Order); self-established and self-made to be extremely, militaristically, strong, (Pagan) Roman Empire. (=Dan 7:7, 19, 23 = Rev 12:3-4, 13). And so the symbol of the dragon/Leviathan Sea Monster is indeed the perfect symbolic background for that historically prophetic Great Controversy-furthering (=Luke 10:18; John 12:31; 16:11 = Rev 12:7-12) development.
Additional Symbolic Background - The “legend” mention of Leviathan being used to feed (lit.) “people” (and not “creatures”) in the wilderness also has Biblical support/origin in Psa 74:14; and actually may be another thematically related background for what is prophetically said in Rev 12:13-14, thus implying/involving that: ‘God would overturningly use the very worse implement and action of Satan to save and sustain His people’, indeed “feeding them with the chief, “hijacked weapon” in Satan’s camp/arsenal”, and confirmingly enough, in Rev 12:13-14, the wings of an eagle is the prominent symbol that is used to show this ‘overturning action of God’, with, from the explaining done above in regards to the symbol of an eagle (see also in this post), today represent God using the technologies which Satan has inspired men to make materialistic or evil use of, to sustain, feed and secure His people and their work. Indeed, in our day, this “wings of an eagle” can be seen how God can, and has, allowed for the internet, which Satan has inspired men to make evil use of, to be used as a tool for aiding the work of His people, such as, being able to research, do and widely communicate/broadcast Biblical/Prophetic message to the world, as done in this “Theological Views blog” despite one not been granted to have a Church function, platform, equipment or dedicated audience as typically made use of by preaching/teaching Media Ministry (cf. this related explanation). (Relatedly, see the unclean birds which were used to feed/sustain Elijah in 1 Kgs 17:2-6)
So God would have here intervened to duly punish Leviathan for having let Satan take control of Him, in the similar manner that God held another serpent, the one in Eden, responsible for having let Satan possessed him (Gen 3:14; PP 58.2a). And that is manifestly, justly/deservingly because, as perhaps merely residually seen today in domesticated animals, and these animals in Eden were with Adam having named them, thus demonstrating his authority over them (Gen 2:19-20a); moreover with Adam being able to “converse” (PP 50.3; Ed 21.3), thus surely also “reason” with them, it was evidently quite clear to also the serpent that their master was (God, through) Adam, and that they should only listen to their voice. And just like God had warned Adam and Eve that a Fallen angel Satan was roaming about to try to also make them fall (SR 29.3-31.2|PP 53.5a), it evidently would have been just as easy for God and/or Adam to “conversingly” warn these animals of that threat.
But evidently, from his own prideful falling experience (Ezek 28:17), Satan knew that the best way to possess a creature of God was through flattery (PP 53.4), and with the garden serpent being a most beautiful and crafty creature, he used that to first achieve this, and then with the Leviathan serpent being the most powerful of all creatures, he likewise used that factual trait to get them to give in to his commandeering plans, just like he had convinced one third of the angels that he could make them become all that they could be if they allowed him to be their leader instead of God, and follow after his plans/will instead of God’s.
Other Key/Pertinent passages
Exod 7:9-12 - “serpent(s)” of Moses and Magicians - Quite interestingly, and manifestly, relatedly enough, when the, clearly Satan-empowered, two magicians of Pharaoh (cf. 2 Tim 3:8) managed to turn their rods into serpents, the Hebrew word that is used is the same one [#08577] for this snake-like sea monster. So they manifestly were able to create, as did Moses, baby representatives of that chief, Sea-Monster, of beast. So it may be perhaps only because by then that Satan had already had controlled of the Leviathan, that he was scientifically able/permitted to reproduce it.
Exod 7:9-12 - “serpent(s)” of Moses and Magicians - Quite interestingly, and manifestly, relatedly enough, when the, clearly Satan-empowered, two magicians of Pharaoh (cf. 2 Tim 3:8) managed to turn their rods into serpents, the Hebrew word that is used is the same one [#08577] for this snake-like sea monster. So they manifestly were able to create, as did Moses, baby representatives of that chief, Sea-Monster, of beast. So it may be perhaps only because by then that Satan had already had controlled of the Leviathan, that he was scientifically able/permitted to reproduce it.
Rev 12:3 - Red Dragon/Sea-Monster - Succinctly said, the fact that this “dragon” is addedly described/qualified as being “red”, is manifestly because it would mainly used by Satan to be an avengingly deadly-persecutive power. (Cf. symbolizing use of “red” in Rev 6:4 = Matt 10:34-36), -tellingly enough, as it was mindlessly claimed with all of its state/militaristic persecutive actions, right through its present manifestation today (Rev 13:11ff): ‘In the name of Pax/Peace’, indeed falsely claiming that the true followers of God were the ones who were disruptively and uncivilizedly opposed to (World) Peace. (e.g., Acts 17:6) God’s “Righteousness Peace” (e.g, Ezek 37:26) is not Man’s Sinful/Immoral/Lawless (‘non-judged’) Carefreeness (cf. Num 25:10-12)).
Additionally that Greek word “red” [#4450] comes from the word for “fire” [#4442]; with a similar corresponding “burning/fire” background in the Hebrew (i.e, “saraph” [08314a]
from “to burn” [#08313]; (cf. Seraphim)). So it can also have the understanding of “fiery red”. Quite telling that eventually the chief means of persecution used by Pagan Rome, then Papal Rome against Christians (=“spilling their blood”) was the burning of them alive at the stake. (cf.1 Pet 4:12)
Not presently sure how the following may be relatable to the Behemoth/Leviathan Sea Monster, but one species of snake that was commonly found in the wilderness was one which was said to be “fiery”, even “flying” (Isa 14:29; 30:6), serpents (Deut 8:15), -indeed the ones which bit the Israelites (Num 21:6, 8), and, interestingly enough, later became the perfect representative symbol of the damage caused by Satan which Christ had to redemptively deal with (John 3:14-15, 16); The relation may be in the fact that ‘a “flying” “fiery (red)” “serpent” representative of Satan and his worst actions’ is consolidatedly depicted in the “sign” of ‘a “red/fiery” “dragon/serpent sea-monster” appearing in the sky which has deadly persecutive intents’. (Rev 12:3-4). So these cognate symbols are jointly (e.g. Rev 12:9) used to represent ‘Satan (“duly” Rev 12:12) at his very worst’!
It is also quite ironic that God ‘preparedly’ later uses the prior abode of these serpents as a refuge for His persecuted people. (Rev 12:6, 14)
Notes
[1] A past, personal experience that, when I noticed the Biblical implication of this symbol, as it will be shown later, helped me to understand how indeed such a symbol is explicitly derived from its function in nature. It occurred in the early months when I, as a teenager, moved with my family to South Florida. Coming from Quebec, Canada, where the summers are relatively quite predictable and uneventful, the summers in Miami, were in comparison, a maelstrom of climatic adventures. Having moved there at the beginning of the summer, and having only visited Miami during the winter months in the past, it wasn’t too long before I noticed that a thunderstorm almost everyday in the afternoon was to be expected. However I did not realize the actual potential lethal power in these lightning-laden storms. Indeed I soon realized why Florida was known as the “lightning capital of the world.” One day I was honing my pitching skills at my local High School’s baseball diamond and noticed that black clouds were coming in quite rapidly from the distance. Knowing that it would rain, and in evidently a lightning and thunder storm, but seeing that it was still bright and sunny, I figured that I had a few more minutes, at least half an hour, left to practice. Was that ever a misjudgement! I soon found myself panickly scampering as fast as I could for cover, having just felt the unmistakably identifiable spine-tingling, hair-straightening, inceptive feeling of a (charging) electrical jolt. I finally made it to the open weight training gym with my heart almost pumping out of my chest. The teacher-trainer verified that I was alright and I then waited indoors for that lightning storm to pass before heading home. Now this experience made me realize the contribution of the symbolism of thunder is to the related occurrence of lightning, for following that incident I became extremely attuned to any sign of an approaching storm. I also found it reassuring to know that it was possible to determine how far a lightning storm was by counting how long it took to hear the accompanying thunder. Of course hearing the thunder at the same time the lightning flashed as it occurred many times in other storms were quite emotionally draining to endure.
[2] Indeed, with this in mind, the mentions of thunder in the book of Revelation take on a distinct and special meaning. Furthermore the series of Seven in Revelation 10 now does have a more solemn interpretation. In effect, in vss 3-5 John was going to write down what God had spoken but was told not to do so. As this passage began to find its fulfillment in the period of the Second Advent Movement of 1840+, then the 7 prophetic statements that were made in the Thunders were to begin to unfold starting from that period. They therefore can be seen as prophetic developments revolving around a Divine Judgement that only those who are truly in tune with God and His will, would perceive and understand.
[3]On a whole deeper level of understanding and accuracy, the meaning of the symbols given by God, as here with: ‘waters symbolizing peoples’, may actually not at all be arbitrary, but derived from the original meanings of Hebrew letters. E.g., It is scholarly known that to make a word plural in Hebrew a [grammatically simply said] “m” is affixed at the end of the word (similar to English using an “s” for plurals). However, as seen here, on that great website on this Hebrew Alphabet Meanings topic, the Hebrew letter “M” originally was derived from a symbol which represented waters. (That waters symbol was also used in Egyptians hieroglyphics, by the way...and Israel did come forth from that then Middle East ruling Empire of Egypt.) So, just upon a cursory look at the compounded meanings in the roots of other words used as symbols in Bible prophecy, including OT equivalents of NT Greek words, a convincing argument can probably be made for all of them for such a defining original source of their symbolic usage/representation/meaning......And they most likely may all ultimately point to the Natural fact that even pagans, here Egyptians, most “naturally” originally straightly got such common understandings from Nature, i.e., God’s Creation...thus validating the related binding Theo-logy expressed in Rom 1:18ff.
[3]
P.S. Upon further revision here, I am no longer seeing a link to the Hebrew plural “m” being derived from the symbol for waters and the Bible’s symbology stipulation that “waters = peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues”. (Rev 17:15) {If I can recollect/retrace if/how? I had correctly perceived such a link, I may “republish” (= remove the strikeout) from my prior/above claim.}
[4] So in recent increasing research for this blog post I had come across another group of Christians, namely the (Davidian) Branch Davidians who also believe that OT feast/ceremonial days should be kept, I planned to comment on that belief by tersely stating that this was one of the OT institutions that Paul had said was optional, if not completely obsolete, because they were antitypically fulfilled by Christ (Col 2:16-17), however I could not shake off the probing thought of: “Why were new moons actually ever religiously celebrated in OT Israel’s Religious Economy?” Indeed it literally is a celebration for each new months! Well deeper Divinely-deferential ponderings on this (i.e., trusting that God knew what He was doing here), gradually led me to the symbological observation and understanding that, as presented in this post, the “moon” is symbolically used to represent a “religious economy”. And so a “New moon” would be pre-figuring the dawn of a “New Religious Economy” (for God’s Israel). And that is indeed what came to antitypically transpire in God’s Israel when the New Covenant introduced by Jesus Christ was instituted for, now, God’s New Israel. (Heb 8:7-13).
[5] Interestingly enough, there are two Greek words (found in the NT) that are translated (generically) as “tree” in English, namely “dendron” (Strong’s #1186) and “xulon” (Strong’s #3586), both with 18 occurrences in the NT. However the first word refers to a tree in its passive/“inert” state, while the second more specifically refers to products and (wooden) articles that come from or are made from trees (thus “clubs” (Matt 26:47, 55), “a cross” (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; 1 Pet 2:24; cf. Gal 3:13 -‘hint hint Jehovah Witnesses’), “stocks” (Acts 16:24); building wood (1 Cor 3:12; Rev 18:12 - Luke 23:31 also is meaning “work wood” as Jesus, who had been a carpenter, knew that it was much, much easier to work with wood that had been allowed to dry than wood that had just been cut and was still “green”). Thus the “Tree of Life” spoken of in the Bible (see Rev 2:7; 22:2; 14, 19; see also in the LXX Gen 2:9; 3:24, 29), being a “productive tree,” is referred to with the “producing tree” term “xulon”).
[6] In this October 22, 2010 sermon (video) (audio) [19:30-23:30], Doug Batchelor presents his customary view, which he states he got from Leslie Hardinge, that the order of the naming of the 12 tribes in Rev 7 is made, when the birthing statements of Leah and Rachel are plugged in for each name, to represent ‘a “Special Song” about the marriage of Christ to His Bride, the 144,000.’ Overlooking the arbitrary editing that Batchelor does here in his leaving out, adding, re-wording and redefining words to collate these statements into a coherent song, (indeed much more than the (patented smoke-screening) sole ‘added “and”’ that he cites), his final collage is, as a result, not surprisingly, plausible. However, after much exegetical analysis on this listing in Rev 7, compared, as exegetically due, with other tribes listings under different circumstances such as (1) the initial birth order (Gen 29, 30, 35); (2) Jacob’s National blessing (Gen 49); (3) the Military Census (Num 1); (4) the Camp’s Moving/Marching Order (Num 2); (5) God’s Ultimate Restoration (Ezek 48); also in the light of various special eschatological applications/contributions made throughout this blog involving these tribes under the uninterrupted theme of God’s Enduring Israel, it is more accurately seen that the listing of these tribes in their Rev 7 order is made to re-echo the “12 struggling/conflicting stages” that were indeed involved in the initial “birthing” of God’s Israel where both (the unloved) Leah and the (loved) Rachel strove to find favor in the eyes of their husband Jacob/Israel. So each of these names reflect that individual attempts by these women to establish a ‘populace posterity’ for Jacob in order to fulfill his God-ordained National Israel Promise. This experience is indeed one that eschatologically will be had in the endeavors to seal a Remnant Israel of God (the 144,000) from the 12 tribes of Israel today, the Global Christian Church.
And what is further interesting in this symbology, is that just as the New Moon could be reckoned by calendrical computation and also by visual observation, so did it come to be for perceiving and recognizing God’s New Covenant. OT prophecies spoke about its coming with the Seventy Week Prophecy providing a computational reckoning for it (e.g., Mark 1:14-15), but it was also to be perceived by faith in what the Messiah Jesus Christ would say and do (e.g., John 10:25, 37-38; 6:68-69). And either the computational or the observation reckonings could check/correct each other.
So a New Covenant context application of that OT New Moon feast could be with a (first Sabbath) monthly, (vs. trimesterly/quarterly, as SDA’s do) celebration of the Lord’s Supper as this was when Jesus instituted the New Covenant (Matt 26:26-29)....Then potentially would, with this increased, Biblical frequency and typology/symbolism, the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:18) of Christ’s (=God’s e.g., DA 20.1-21.3ff) Unity & Servant/Service-hood, True Religion (=Mark 9:35; e.g., COL 233.3) would finally be grasped by, here, SDA’s....
So a New Covenant context application of that OT New Moon feast could be with a (first Sabbath) monthly, (vs. trimesterly/quarterly, as SDA’s do) celebration of the Lord’s Supper as this was when Jesus instituted the New Covenant (Matt 26:26-29)....Then potentially would, with this increased, Biblical frequency and typology/symbolism, the Spirit (cf. Gal 5:18) of Christ’s (=God’s e.g., DA 20.1-21.3ff) Unity & Servant/Service-hood, True Religion (=Mark 9:35; e.g., COL 233.3) would finally be grasped by, here, SDA’s....
[5] Interestingly enough, there are two Greek words (found in the NT) that are translated (generically) as “tree” in English, namely “dendron” (Strong’s #1186) and “xulon” (Strong’s #3586), both with 18 occurrences in the NT. However the first word refers to a tree in its passive/“inert” state, while the second more specifically refers to products and (wooden) articles that come from or are made from trees (thus “clubs” (Matt 26:47, 55), “a cross” (Acts 5:30; 10:39; 13:29; 1 Pet 2:24; cf. Gal 3:13 -‘hint hint Jehovah Witnesses’), “stocks” (Acts 16:24); building wood (1 Cor 3:12; Rev 18:12 - Luke 23:31 also is meaning “work wood” as Jesus, who had been a carpenter, knew that it was much, much easier to work with wood that had been allowed to dry than wood that had just been cut and was still “green”). Thus the “Tree of Life” spoken of in the Bible (see Rev 2:7; 22:2; 14, 19; see also in the LXX Gen 2:9; 3:24, 29), being a “productive tree,” is referred to with the “producing tree” term “xulon”).
[6] In this October 22, 2010 sermon (video) (audio) [19:30-23:30], Doug Batchelor presents his customary view, which he states he got from Leslie Hardinge, that the order of the naming of the 12 tribes in Rev 7 is made, when the birthing statements of Leah and Rachel are plugged in for each name, to represent ‘a “Special Song” about the marriage of Christ to His Bride, the 144,000.’ Overlooking the arbitrary editing that Batchelor does here in his leaving out, adding, re-wording and redefining words to collate these statements into a coherent song, (indeed much more than the (patented smoke-screening) sole ‘added “and”’ that he cites), his final collage is, as a result, not surprisingly, plausible. However, after much exegetical analysis on this listing in Rev 7, compared, as exegetically due, with other tribes listings under different circumstances such as (1) the initial birth order (Gen 29, 30, 35); (2) Jacob’s National blessing (Gen 49); (3) the Military Census (Num 1); (4) the Camp’s Moving/Marching Order (Num 2); (5) God’s Ultimate Restoration (Ezek 48); also in the light of various special eschatological applications/contributions made throughout this blog involving these tribes under the uninterrupted theme of God’s Enduring Israel, it is more accurately seen that the listing of these tribes in their Rev 7 order is made to re-echo the “12 struggling/conflicting stages” that were indeed involved in the initial “birthing” of God’s Israel where both (the unloved) Leah and the (loved) Rachel strove to find favor in the eyes of their husband Jacob/Israel. So each of these names reflect that individual attempts by these women to establish a ‘populace posterity’ for Jacob in order to fulfill his God-ordained National Israel Promise. This experience is indeed one that eschatologically will be had in the endeavors to seal a Remnant Israel of God (the 144,000) from the 12 tribes of Israel today, the Global Christian Church.
The exegetical study that was done in this understanding above also revealed that the leaving out of Dan and Ephraim in the Rev 7 listing was not done, as commonly cited, because “they had apostasied into idolatry”. Indeed the naming of Dan (first) and Ephraim (fifth) in the eschatologically-applicable listing in Ezek 48 shows that they were not to be outcast for any bout of idolatry. None of the tribes were perfect, and 10 all apostasied. These two tribes are apparently rather left out in Rev 7, because of the triumphant nature inherent in there birth statements. Namely, Dan was Rachel’s first successful, though indirect, “contribution” to this Israel birthing, (Gen 30:1-6) vs. Leah’s already birthed 4 sons. Thus this claim of ‘judgement vindication’. Ephraim was named as such by Joseph to praise God for having made him fruitful in the land of his affliction (Egypt). Evidently these are two “Israel birthing” themes that do not, or, are not to, directly contributively fit in the eschatological sealing experience of the 144,000.
Hi ,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your very informative website. It has been a great blessing to me.
You’re welcome! Glad to be of help...
DeleteThis is fascinating thank you
ReplyDeleteCATHOLICS like all Christian denominations has its plus n minus...judge NOT lest ye be JUDGED...it is God who Judge n Jesus taught us to LOVE even our enemies...what are we but mere Mortals playing God??? "Think"...Discern & PRAY for those you despice and RECEIVE the Grace of Jesus CHRIST
ReplyDelete[I am not sure why you posted this comment here...Perhaps you had intended to post it in my blog post dedicated to Catholicism]
DeleteJesus actually also said to “judge a righteous judgement” (John 7:24; -which is what those that are so judged should have done so that others wouldn’t have to 1 Cor 11:31). Indeed Paul likewise exhorts believers to do judge other believers who are in the wrong. (1 Cor 5:11; 6:3).
What Roman Catholicism has done to Truth throughout their history to today is definitely something that needs to be Biblically judged, indeed End Time Prophecy revolves around this matter. And there is nothing more loving than to clearly tell someone in the wrong that they are on the wrong path. If you are a Protestant, you should be doing the same Biblical, (full) “Reformatory”, work...however unpopular...