Chapter 20 Water
When water is used in prophetic symbolism, it means people. We learn this from prophecy itself where prophecy teaches us the meaning of the symbol:
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
The latter half of Rev 17 is the key to understanding many symbols in prophecy.
Let us find some other places in prophecy where water is used as a symbol: In Dan 7 we see Daniel’s vision of four beasts that come up out of the sea:
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
The four beasts of Daniel 7 are four kingdoms on Earth. Coming up from out of the sea shows us that these kingdoms are earthly kingdoms, where a monarch, or president rules over the people in his political system. We will look at these four kingdoms in a later chapter. Another text that uses water symbolically is Rev 12:15:
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
We have already quite extensively looked at Rev 12 in chapters 9, 10 and 15. God protects His 144 000 during the 3.5 years between the Latter Rain and the Close of Probation. Satan tries to get at them using people – water – but God protects them by preventing the people from getting to them. Rev 16:12 uses water as a symbol too. Here it is the waters of the Euphrates drying up:
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
When the Medes and Persians conquered ancient Babylon, their strategy was to divert the flow of the Euphrates, allowing them access into the city, because the river flowed through the city. Using the literal facts in history, the sixth Plague changes this event into symbols. Babylon is the Papacy which will rule the Earth as a religio-political power briefly. The masses are disenchanted with the global government of the Papacy and turn against it. This is symbolised by the drying up of the River Euphrates.
Finally in Rev 17 waters is used to show that the Papacy controls and governs all the people on Earth:
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
In verse 15 the waters on which the whore sits is defined.
Sea is a body of water, so when sea is used as a symbol, like with water, it means people. The usage of "sea" in the first verses of Rev 7 may be seen as symbolic. The use of "tree" confirms that these are symbols since "tree" represents people that are committed to God.
Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
There are angels commissioned to allow Satan loose so that he can cause chaos on Earth. They have been holding him back but are about to let him loose when an angel coming from God calls them to not let him loose before the 144 000 are sealed. Only after the servants of God are sealed may they let the winds of strife loose.
Rev 10 reminds us of Dan 12. In Dan 12 a man stands on a river, but in Rev 10 the angel stands with one foot on the land, and one on the ocean. This indicates dominion over both land and sea, ie all the Earth. However, sea can mean people, still giving the right context with having dominion over all people:
Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
Reference is again made to this angel in verses 5 and 8.
Rev 13 starts with a beast rising up out of the sea. This reminds us of Dan 7 where four beasts rise up from the sea. Dan 7 unlocks the meaning of Rev 13, so these passages are strongly related. We have already looked at the sea in Dan 7. Rev 13 is interpreted in exactly the same way:
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
This understanding of water in prophecy is the same as that of the Adventist pioneers. In the next chapter we will look at the meaning of Earth, or dry land when used as a symbol.
May God bless you.
When water is used in prophetic symbolism, it means people. We learn this from prophecy itself where prophecy teaches us the meaning of the symbol:
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
The latter half of Rev 17 is the key to understanding many symbols in prophecy.
Let us find some other places in prophecy where water is used as a symbol: In Dan 7 we see Daniel’s vision of four beasts that come up out of the sea:
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
The four beasts of Daniel 7 are four kingdoms on Earth. Coming up from out of the sea shows us that these kingdoms are earthly kingdoms, where a monarch, or president rules over the people in his political system. We will look at these four kingdoms in a later chapter. Another text that uses water symbolically is Rev 12:15:
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
We have already quite extensively looked at Rev 12 in chapters 9, 10 and 15. God protects His 144 000 during the 3.5 years between the Latter Rain and the Close of Probation. Satan tries to get at them using people – water – but God protects them by preventing the people from getting to them. Rev 16:12 uses water as a symbol too. Here it is the waters of the Euphrates drying up:
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
When the Medes and Persians conquered ancient Babylon, their strategy was to divert the flow of the Euphrates, allowing them access into the city, because the river flowed through the city. Using the literal facts in history, the sixth Plague changes this event into symbols. Babylon is the Papacy which will rule the Earth as a religio-political power briefly. The masses are disenchanted with the global government of the Papacy and turn against it. This is symbolised by the drying up of the River Euphrates.
Finally in Rev 17 waters is used to show that the Papacy controls and governs all the people on Earth:
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
In verse 15 the waters on which the whore sits is defined.
Sea is a body of water, so when sea is used as a symbol, like with water, it means people. The usage of "sea" in the first verses of Rev 7 may be seen as symbolic. The use of "tree" confirms that these are symbols since "tree" represents people that are committed to God.
Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
There are angels commissioned to allow Satan loose so that he can cause chaos on Earth. They have been holding him back but are about to let him loose when an angel coming from God calls them to not let him loose before the 144 000 are sealed. Only after the servants of God are sealed may they let the winds of strife loose.
Rev 10 reminds us of Dan 12. In Dan 12 a man stands on a river, but in Rev 10 the angel stands with one foot on the land, and one on the ocean. This indicates dominion over both land and sea, ie all the Earth. However, sea can mean people, still giving the right context with having dominion over all people:
Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
Reference is again made to this angel in verses 5 and 8.
Rev 13 starts with a beast rising up out of the sea. This reminds us of Dan 7 where four beasts rise up from the sea. Dan 7 unlocks the meaning of Rev 13, so these passages are strongly related. We have already looked at the sea in Dan 7. Rev 13 is interpreted in exactly the same way:
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
This understanding of water in prophecy is the same as that of the Adventist pioneers. In the next chapter we will look at the meaning of Earth, or dry land when used as a symbol.
May God bless you.
Chapter 20 Water
When water is used in prophetic symbolism, it means people. We learn this from prophecy itself where prophecy teaches us the meaning of the symbol:
Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
The latter half of Rev 17 is the key to understanding many symbols in prophecy.
Let us find some other places in prophecy where water is used as a symbol: In Dan 7 we see Daniel’s vision of four beasts that come up out of the sea:
3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.
The four beasts of Daniel 7 are four kingdoms on Earth. Coming up from out of the sea shows us that these kingdoms are earthly kingdoms, where a monarch, or president rules over the people in his political system. We will look at these four kingdoms in a later chapter. Another text that uses water symbolically is Rev 12:15:
15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.
16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
We have already quite extensively looked at Rev 12 in chapters 9, 10 and 15. God protects His 144 000 during the 3.5 years between the Latter Rain and the Close of Probation. Satan tries to get at them using people – water – but God protects them by preventing the people from getting to them. Rev 16:12 uses water as a symbol too. Here it is the waters of the Euphrates drying up:
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
When the Medes and Persians conquered ancient Babylon, their strategy was to divert the flow of the Euphrates, allowing them access into the city, because the river flowed through the city. Using the literal facts in history, the sixth Plague changes this event into symbols. Babylon is the Papacy which will rule the Earth as a religio-political power briefly. The masses are disenchanted with the global government of the Papacy and turn against it. This is symbolised by the drying up of the River Euphrates.
Finally in Rev 17 waters is used to show that the Papacy controls and governs all the people on Earth:
1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
In verse 15 the waters on which the whore sits is defined.
Sea is a body of water, so when sea is used as a symbol, like with water, it means people. The usage of "sea" in the first verses of Rev 7 may be seen as symbolic. The use of "tree" confirms that these are symbols since "tree" represents people that are committed to God.
Rev 7:1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.
There are angels commissioned to allow Satan loose so that he can cause chaos on Earth. They have been holding him back but are about to let him loose when an angel coming from God calls them to not let him loose before the 144 000 are sealed. Only after the servants of God are sealed may they let the winds of strife loose.
Rev 10 reminds us of Dan 12. In Dan 12 a man stands on a river, but in Rev 10 the angel stands with one foot on the land, and one on the ocean. This indicates dominion over both land and sea, ie all the Earth. However, sea can mean people, still giving the right context with having dominion over all people:
Rev 10:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
Reference is again made to this angel in verses 5 and 8.
Rev 13 starts with a beast rising up out of the sea. This reminds us of Dan 7 where four beasts rise up from the sea. Dan 7 unlocks the meaning of Rev 13, so these passages are strongly related. We have already looked at the sea in Dan 7. Rev 13 is interpreted in exactly the same way:
Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
This understanding of water in prophecy is the same as that of the Adventist pioneers. In the next chapter we will look at the meaning of Earth, or dry land when used as a symbol.
May God bless you.
0 Comments
0 Shares
13 Views
Arabic
French
Spanish
Portuguese
Deutsch
Turkish
Dutch
Italiano
Russian
Romaian
Portuguese (Brazil)
Greek
हिन्दी