Homer Kizer Ministries

May 4, 2009 ©Homer Kizer
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Commentary — From the Margins

The Endurance Part Five

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And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven and swore by him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay, but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he announced to his servants the prophets.

Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (Rev 10:5–11 emphasis added)

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5.

The mystery of God was given to the prophets for them to announce it to the world. The prophet Amos records, “‘For the Lord God does nothing / without revealing his secret / to his servants the prophets’” (3:7). But Daniel’s visions were sealed and kept secret until the time of the end (Dan 12:4, 9; 8:17, 26). They were given but not revealed; they were as utterances of a man speaking in the tongues Paul references (1 Cor chap 14) in that they did not build up the Church; they did not edify the Elect; they were intelligible inscription until the time of the end—and the time of the end did not begin in the 2nd-Century BCE, or in 1st-Century CE, or in the 20th-Century. Rather, the time of the end began when the silver-colored king of Persia stirred up the bronze-colored king of Greece (Dan 11:2; 8:7), with the visible colors of the metals disclosing demonic mindsets. And this stirring up occurred in this world in the first days and months of the 21st-Century.

Common bronze (90% copper, 10% tin) is the color of 14 carat gold-copper alloy, and polished iron is the color of silver; so the little horn on the head of the Death will cause this King of the North to appear as a scale model of Babylon itself, the presently reigning hierarchy of the Adversary and the name of the humanoid image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision, the name taken from its head.

The Book of Revelation has not been understood even though John received the vision a little more than 1,900 years ago … as the visions of Daniel were sealed and not understandable until the time of the end, John’s vision has not been understandable until the time of the end; for comprehending John’s vision has required the unsealing of Daniel’s visions. Thus, explication of Revelation seems needlessly technical when in reality, it is needfully technical. Understanding Revelation is difficult, though, only because the vision has not been previously understood, for the vision is fairly straightforward: it is the narrative account of the 1260 day long Tribulation, the beginning of the unending Kingdom, the 1260 day long Endurance, followed by when lawlessness again appears in the Kingdom and when the reality of the Kingdom comes to earth. So the narrative structure of Revelation is the Tribulation and Kingdom forming the chiral image [non-symmetrical mirror image] of the Endurance and Kingdom.

Because the Tribulation and the Endurance are mirror images of each other, certain claims can be asserted even when there is not much Scripture to support the claims; e.g., the wrath of the Lamb, seen when the sixth seal is removed (Rev 6:12–17), is the shadow and copy of the wrath of God when the earth is harvested (Rev 14:17–20). The ministry of the two witnesses to Israel in the Tribulation will form the shadow and copy of the ministry of the Lamb to the 144,000 (Rev 14:1–5) and of the ministry of the Remnant (Rev 12:17) to the third part of humankind (Zech 13:9) in the Endurance. But taking chirality farther, the 144,000 that follow the Lamb wherever He goes in the Endurance forms the shadow and copy of human beings, when few in number (from Isa chap 24), entering into the millennial reign of Christ Jesus in the Kingdom. Thus, the resurrection of saints when judgments are revealed at the end of the Endurance forms the shadow and copy of the Kingdom’s great White Throne Judgment that occurs after the thousand years and after Satan is loosed for a short while.

If the disciple can comprehend the chiral relationship between the Tribulation/Kingdom and the Endurance/Kingdom, then only one of the reflected images needs to appear in Scripture for both to be known; e.g., what happens on day 1260 of the Endurance is reflective of what happens on day 1260 of the Tribulation, but whereas the Tribulation begins with its day 1, the Endurance ends with its day 1, meaning that day 1260 of the Tribulation butts against day 1260 of the Endurance to form a doubled day 1260 that will see dominion taken from the four kings (Dan 7:11–12) when Michael and his angels make war in heaven on Satan and his angels (Rev 12:7); will see the armies of the man of perdition swallowed by the closing of the split Mount of Olives (Zech 14:3–4; Rev 12:16; Ex 15:12; Dan 9:26); will see Satan as the present prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2–3) cast from heaven (Rev 12:9–10) and come to earth as the Antichrist (Rev 13:11), claiming to be the Messiah; will see the world baptized in spirit (Joel 2:28; Matt 3:11) as the “vacuum” formed when Satan no longer broadcasts his nature to living creatures is filled by Christ Jesus giving to living creatures His mind and nature, thereby changing even the animal natures of the great predators (Isa 11:6–9); will see the kingdom of this world given to the Son of Man (Rev 12:15–18; Dan 7:9–14, 26–27; 2:44–45; 8:25); will see the three beasts whose lives were extended for a season and a time, plus the fourth beast who was dealt a mortal wound, appear on earth as the first beast of Revelation chapter 13.

Much happens on day 1260 as the taking of the kingdom of this world from Satan and his angels at the end of the Tribulation and the giving of this single kingdom to the Son of Man at the beginning of the Endurance form one doubled day 1260, this day analogous to Joshua’s doubled day.

Therefore, those things that immediately precede the beginning of the Tribulation form the shadow and copy of those things that immediately precede the beginning of the Endurance, but because these things are outside of the Tribulation, they reflect an image outside of the Endurance—and what is specifically being addressed is the second Passover liberation of Israel, when a third of humankind, all firstborns who should have been redeemed, will be slain by death angels forming the shadow and copy of the sixth Trumpet Plague when a third of humankind, all designated firstborns of God, will be slain by the four death angels bound at the river Euphrates.  … The second Passover liberation of Israel occurs before the Tribulation begins; thus, this slaying of uncovered firstborns does not appear in John’s vision even though it is seen throughout Scripture. What is seen in John’s vision is the reflected image (the sixth Trumpet Plague) of this slaying of firstborns at a time when all of humankind will soon be the liberated firstborn son of God (Rev 18:4). Plus, Israel’s rebellion against God—referenced by Paul in his second epistle to the Thessalonians—is seen in John’s vision from God’s perspective in the opening of the fifth seal, and this rebellion is the shadow and copy of the rebellion that will occur when Satan, claiming to be the Messiah, requires all of humanity to take the mark of the cross (as proof of their fidelity to him). Thus, because disciples can precisely date Israel’s rebellion to day 220 of the Tribulation, disciples can likewise date when Satan makes the image of the cross-shaped beast speak so that it “might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain” (Rev 13:15). And because Daniel reveals how long Satan’s deception lasts before he is no longer believed (the 1290 days from the Rebellion of day 220), and when the saints who have endured will be blessed (1335 days after day 220), what happens in Revelation chapter 14, verses 9 through 13 can be dated as to when they occur in the Endurance, which makes the three angels’ messages the chiral image of the four horsemen, with the second horseman (the king of the bottomless pit) absent from this world as Christ Jesus is absent [present but absent], thereby establishing the relationship that the second horseman with his sword, used to slay the two witnesses, is analogous to Christ Jesus coming with sword to make war on those bearing the mark of death (Rev 19:11–15).

After the Rebellion occurs in the Tribulation on day 220 and Cain kills his righteous brother and the world experiences the wrath of the Lamb for the martyrdom of firstborn sons of God who were to be killed in the 21st-Century as their 1st-Century brothers were killed, there is (in the Tribulation) a starting over again period that sees the trumpet plagues used to separate who is or will be of God from who is of Babylon and its fractal image, Assyria, the ancient representation of Death. Although not the same in number, the shadow of the trumpet plagues were the plagues in Egypt. Both sets of plagues made a distinction between the firstborn son of God and the world: the outpouring of heavenly signs and wrath of the first four trumpet plagues makes the removal of the sixth seal barely distinguishable from these plagues—if a person hides in holes in the ground to escape the wrath of the Lamb (Rev 6:15–17), the person has willingly “buried” him or herself as the person willingly martyred righteous disciples and buried them. The dead shall indeed bury the dead; for the dead shall make war against the dead until the end.

Today, the world doesn’t care about war occurring in high places; its concerns are about why the Pharaoh spends so much money, about monetizing national debt, about a shrinking global market, about Iran developing nuclear weapons and the Taliban capturing Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal. But these earthly happenings have at their ideological core the war presently being fought between the demonic kings of Persia and Greece, a war that the king of Greece will win, with his victory setting the stage for the second Passover liberation of Israel, now a nation circumcised of heart … it took Alexander a decade to defeat Darius and the Persians. It is unlikely that it will take the demonic king of Greece longer to win his war against the king of Persia.

Jesus told His disciples, “‘And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet’” (Matt 24:6) … the wars and rumors of wars that occur in this endtime period must take place, but Jesus’ disciples are not alarmed by them for His disciples know that the war of consequence is occurring in the heavenly realm, where the king of Greece as the he-goat that flies out of the west is presently trampling the king of Persia, the silver colored ram that has given to the world the Christianity of the cross.

Today, most Christians are Trinitarians, who label non-Trinitarians as heretics when it is they who are heretics, believing a 5th-Century CE lie about the mystery of God. They are the active bondservants of Sin, the King of the South, the four-headed leopard to whom dominion has been given. And when mortal disciples are liberated from indwelling sin, Sin and Death separate, with both claiming to be “Christian,” but with each labeling the other as heretics. And so that there is no mistaking the players.

1.      Sin, the third beast and third horseman, is the King of the South who today reigns over Trinitarian Christendom.

2.     Death, the fourth beast and fourth horseman, is the King of the North who today reigns over Arian Christendom.

3.     Trinitarians and Arians are presently connected through the cross, but following the second Passover, they will separate with Arians eventually controlling the image of the cross as the Seleucid Empire eventually defeated the Ptolemaic Empire and exercised temporary control of Jerusalem.

4.     Endtime sons of light (John 12:36) will defeat [not by military means] the King of the North in a different manner than how the Maccabees defeated Antiochus Epiphanes IV, which is why the Books of the Maccabees are not canonical Scripture.

5.     The endtime sons of light that defeat the King of the North at the close of the Tribulation form the shadow and type of the third part of humankind that endures to the end in faith and is thus saved (Matt 24:13) in the Endurance.

6.     Therefore, based on chirality, it can be asserted that endtime sons of light defeat the King of the North by enduring whatever he sends against them.

Today, the largest Arian denomination is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints [the Mormons], with this denomination holding that Jesus was a created being like Michael and Lucifer before He came into this world. The largest Trinitarian denomination is the Roman Catholic Church. And there is little good will displayed one to the other; there will be even less good will displayed once the second Passover occurs, for the Mormons have been preparing to leverage food into discipleship for three-quarters of a century. So when the false prophet (the first horseman of Revelation chapter 6 and the first beast of Daniel chapter 7) comes into this world immediately after the death angels have passed over all the land, the false prophet will come to the office of “Prophet” that has been reserved for him … if the false prophet were to come to Latter Day Saints with the claim that he is the “angel Joseph Smith” (analogous to the ancient prophet-warrior Moroni, the last to write in the golden plates, being the same person as the angel Moroni who brought the golden plates to Joseph Smith’s attention), not one Latter Day Saint, on the day after the second Passover, would doubt the demon’s claim. And as Steve Young said that Muslims would be comfortable in the Mormon Church, Muslims will not have a difficult time accepting the testimony of the false prophet that the man of perdition is the 12th Imam, the Hidden Imam, who will supernaturally appear just before the Day of Judgment. Thus, as heavenly endtime signs manifest themselves, and as the false prophet points to the man of perdition, the now largest and best prepared Arian denomination will have its ranks swollen with converts throughout the Tribulation whereas Trinitarian denominations that recognize the man of perdition as a false messiah (false because he is an Arian) will fight but will not prevail against the lawless one as the Ptolemaic Empire did not prevail against the Seleucid Empire. Yet for most of the historic period that forms the concealing shadow in Daniel’s long vision, the Ptolemaic Empire reigned over Jerusalem.

From Daniel’s long prophecy’s historical shadow, disciples have a good idea about what will happen here on earth when the heavenly signs manifest themselves … the angel tells Daniel, concerning the lawless one, “‘He shall pay no attention to the gods of his fathers, or to the one beloved by women. He shall not pay attention to any other god, for he shall magnify himself above all’” (11:37), and Paul writes about the lawless one, “For that day [the day of the Lord] will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thess 2:3–4). These two are the same man of perdition, and it is about this one whom Jesus warned: “‘So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains’” (Matt 24:15).

Those who are in Judea are to flee when armies begin to surround Jerusalem; so when the lawless one proclaims himself God can be dated to the time of the woes, and more specifically to the time of the sixth Trumpet Plague when Babylon is dealt a second blow like the blow dealt at the second Passover. Once again, a third of the world’s population will be slain, but because the third part of humanity is now the firstborn son of God as Israel in Egypt was called the firstborn son of God (Ex 4:22), no distinction between man and man will be made. A random third part of the half of humanity left alive will be slain, with only Philadelphia protected from this hour of trial that comes upon the whole world.

John is told to seal up what the seven thunders said (Rev 10:4) as Daniel was told that his visions were sealed and secret until the end—and as Daniel’s visions were unsealed prior to the beginning of the Tribulation, what the seven thunders said will be unsealed prior to the beginning of the Endurance, for in prophesying again about many peoples (v. 11), the Tribulation and the Endurance’s chirality permits the disciple who hears the voice of Jesus to also hear what the seven thunders said.

So there is no doubt, the man of perdition doesn’t declare himself God early in the Tribulation, but makes this declaration as Babylon is falling. It is his last ditch effort to save Babylon and hinder God. But this Arian Christian leader cannot save a doomed hierarchy.

The king of the bottomless pit, in killing the two witnesses in retaliation for the second-time death of a third of humanity, ensures the defeat of the four kings (horsemen or beasts); for after three days, the two witnesses are resurrected from death. The world sees or knows of their resurrection, and knows that these two were truly of God. The King of the North is dealt a mortal wound. Whereas this Arian king had defeated the Trinitarian King of the South, he cannot defeat God, who liberates disciples from Sin and resurrects them from Death. And thus concludes the mysteries of God. There is no more to be said.

But alas, the Endurance now lays before the third part of humanity as the Tribulation had earlier lain before the two witnesses … the great Whore that rides the Beast is not Trinitarian; is not the Roman Church in any form; but is the sun-worshiping desert city dedicated to Death.

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The Endurance continues in Part Six.

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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."