There is some dispute as to whether the Balustrade was a true court or not - it was the innermost of two collonaded areas that surrounded the whole temmple complex, a line which Gentiles could not cross, where Israelite men and women freely mingled. Indeed archaeologists have found a stone inscription from the area in Latin and Greek forbidding Gentiles to go any further. Yah'shua (Jesus) and the apostles frequently taught in these two areas. Israelite men - Levites and non-Levites - had to pass through the Women's Court to get to their own 'Court of Israel' and thereafter only the Levites could pass into the priestly area represented by an Outer or Priest's Court (containing an altar of sacrifice, brass laver or 'sea' and two pillars at the entrance - the pillars of Jachim and Boaz) and Temple building-proper with its two sacred rooms - the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies.

The point is this - and it's a critically important point to our proper understanding of chapter 11: John, when he measured the 'temple', would have been measuring the Holy Place together with the Outer Priests' Court because the two are essentially linked together as one temple-complex - you cannot divide off the Priest's Court from the Holy Place and still have a functioning Temple! The whole priests'-only area is therefore the 'temple'. This constitutes the 'Temple proper' marked in blue on the diagram. Had the Gentiles actually been trampling the Priest's Court (what we have hitherto wrongly called the 'Outer Court') they would have effectively brought Temple- (and therefore Yahweh-) worship to an end. They would have gained access to Divine Space as happened in my vision of our home leading to the ripping down of the signs on the outside entrance way of the building here. Because I had carelessly let the enemy in to the courtyard of our home, falsely thinking such was inevitable based on my faulty understanding of Scripture, he both gained access to our 'outer court' and ripped down the signs on the outside to convince me he somehow had 'de-sanctified' the inside too...when, in fact, he had failed to get in, as the vision showed. So may this be a warning to all of us to do careful research and informed Scripture study, for none of us are immune to error. As it is written:

"For," as Yah'shua (Jesus) said, "false messiahs (christs) and false nevi'im (prophets) will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect" (Matt.24:24-25, NKJV; Mk.13:22).

We all of us have to be so careful. Mistakes will be made, yes - that's unavoidable because we're fallible - but we must be sufficiently alert and humble enough to admit those mistakes when we discover them, repent, and quickly fix them. And that is what I am aiming to do today. As a teacher, the greater burden of responsibility falls upon me to get this right, so I hope you will forgive me and accept that I am setting the right example today. We cannot afford to let pride get in the way and so perpetuate error. We're still going to redecicate everything next year though I have already reclaimed our 'courtyard' and cleansed it.

With this critically important piece of historical information now in our hands, then, we can now be certain that when John measured the 'Outer Court' which in John's prophecy was given over to the Gentiles to trample for 3½ years, he was specifically measuring the outermost 'Court of the Gentiles' of the Herodian Temple, not Moses' Tabernacle nor, indeed, David's or Solomon's - the court that was trampled (the name 'Gentiles' is the glaring clue here), leaving unpolluted the Temple-proper. It makes perfect sense that John's illustrative Temple reference would have been to the Herodian Temple which he had grown up with and intimately knew (or had known 20 or so years before he penned the Book of Revelation after AD 90), along with most of his older readers and listeners having the same exposure just as when we speak of Coventry Cathedral in England today it is the moden one and not the older one destroyed in the Blitz which was before my time.

Now, as I said, I am going to leave unchanged, save for a clarifying footnote, my error about the Outer Court, as an object lesson on how critically important our assumptions are because I can't underline this enough. If any part of our 'temple' is compromised, then it is our own sinning or negligence that has caused it. We cannot blame the 'Gentiles' or the world as a whole, because sinning gives the Enemy legal rights to begin 'trampling' us - first our 'outer' or 'priestly court' (our first layer of protection where we do our cleansing) and then, if we do not repent but allow sin to have its continuing hold, our 'Holy Place' (leading to our stopping to worship and pray) and finally - if we are foolish enough to let it go even beyond that - our 'Holy of Holies' too which symbolically amounts to abandoning Elohim (God) altogether and embracing, first, agnosticism, and then atheism. This, then, is a picture of apostacy which starts with being careless and then progressing to more and more rebellion until we can no longer feel Yahweh's presence anymore - rebellion that causes forgetfulness and thence to false reasoning based upon more and more false assumptions about reality, itself leading to the false conclusion that there is no God because we can't feel Him now. This is what postmodernists call 'deconstruction' only they go about this process deliberately and not subconsciously.

This whole experience has actually quite shocked me and initiated a deeper repentance in my life and led to some big changes internally already. We haven't actually been rejected as a ministry but we (but principally myself) have compromised somewhat and sinned that has let the Enemy in beyond our first line of defence which in turn has led to further compromises. That I am going out of my way to redress in my future teachings, so expect to be jolted more than usual!

Which leads me to an even more interesting question: What was a 'Court of the Gentiles' doing in Herod's Temple in the first place? There is no revelation anywhere in the Torah commanding all these extra courts to be built, not by Moses or any later nevi'im (prophets), and whilst David's Court of Israel does not contradict divine tavnith (pattern) in any way and is a logical progression from Moses' revelation by David, these other 'courts' were never commanded by Yahweh at any time. They are the invention of men. That David was inspired in adding a Court of Israel is actually confirmed by Ezekiel's Vision which includes such an area which he calls the 'Outer Court' (see diagram below):

So what was this Herodian 'Court of the Gentiles'? Who was it for, and why? Once we know the answer to these questions we can then probe its spiritual meaning and significance in Chapter 11. Without any a priori historical knowledge about its purpose, two possibilities spring to the uninformed mind (which oen which may be correct...or not):

• 1. It formed part of the Pharisee apartheid system of keeping Gentile converts separate from Judahites/Israelites by putting them, essentially, in an inferior, servant- or second-class position to remind them, according to their false system, that Gentiles remained inferior after conversion to Israelites, though this was never the case anciently in Israel; or

• 2. It was introduced by the Pharisees and their Edomite, pro-Roman and compromising patron King Herod, as a sort of ecumenical act on his part...or something like that...for you will recall Herod's elaborate expansion of the Temple occurred under the watch of Israel's new master, the Roman Empire, whose boots he licked and on whom he was dependent for his position. The proximity of the Antonia Fortress containing the Roman garrison, looking down into the Temple compound, illustrates this careful surveillance by the occupying force to ensure Roman interests and security were being maintained, with which Herod had to cooperate.

Either of these two would then explain why this 'final Jerusalem' in chapter 11 is closely identified (symbolically) by John with Rome, and why the Gentiles are able to trample the whole of the end-time earthly Jerusalem...minus the threefold temple-complex. For an unholy, even blasphemous, extra court round the temple would, in effect, cut off the rest of the city from the Temple-proper and therefore from divine protection, rendering the city beyond the Temple 'unholy'. But which, if either, of these two possible explanations is true? Might there be other possible historical reasons for this biblically unscanctioned court's existence? As a matter of curiosity, let me have a show of hands - how many think it was a court for gentile converts? ... (none) How many for unbelievers as a kind of ecumenical gathering place? ... (none) How many think it might be something else? ... How many don't know? .... OK.

OK, so here are the facts that we have now established. There was no 'Court of the Gentiles' or 'Court of the Women' in Solomon's temple designed by David, nor in Ezekiel's vision of an aborted Temple. Both of these 'new' courts were creations by pretender king Herod. Unlike Moses' Tabernacle, though, in Solomon's there was a Court of Israel for non-Levites, men and women (so no segregating of the women as in orthodox Jewish synagogues) which Ezekiel calls an 'outward court' (Ezek.40:17; 46:21; 2 Chr.7:3; 4:9). In his vision, there were several gates to this 'Outward Court' - the people who came in one gate could not leave by the same gate but only by the gate immediately opposite the one they entered (Ezek.46:9). So if they entered by the north gate, they had to leave by the south one. This court was, by the inspiration of David who designed it, to allow the people to partake of the Temple complex for thanksgiving and praise close to, and in view of, the Temple-proper relatively close-up. Uncircumcised people could not enter the Court of Israel, circumcision being the mark of identity in the Old Covenant of Yahweh's set-apart people.

Herod, in effect, added an 'extra court' for the uncircumcised, unbelieving, pagan non-Judahites. They were not converts. In fact, a circumcised Gentile convert was still regarded as a proper Israelite in those days and could worship in the Court of Israel with the literal descendants of Jacob. So no apartheid system can be blamed on Herod who was himself not Judahite by blood but a decendant of Esau with a cloud of royal illegitmacy hanging over his head. This means that in Old Covenant terms, Herod blasphemously made the temple partly accessible to foreigners and all those considered impure and unholy - unbelievers, thereby dessicrating it, something that aroused the fury of Yah'shua (Jesus). For what purpose did he do that? The answer: COMMERCE...MONEY FOR PROFIT...FILTHY LUCRE.

He created this space so temple worshippers could mill about, exchange money, and buy animals for sacrifices from - greedy, unspiritual merchants and money-changers, many of them pagans. IT WAS A MARKET AND BANKING AREA which had never existed before. And it was from this blasphemous Court of mixing - and remember, Yahweh hates the mixing of the holy with the profane (e.g. Lk.13:1), that Yah'shua (Jesus), on two separate occasions (Jn.2:11-12; Mt.21:17-23), drove out the money-changers and angrily declared to them, citing two prophecies they were fulfilling by the navi (prophet) Isaiah (Is.56:7) and another by the navi (prophet) Jeremiah (Jer.7:11):

"It is written, 'My bayit (house, temple) shall be called a house of prayer' but you are making it a den of robbers" (Mt.21:13, NRSV),

Herod was guilty of many heinous sins but this one in particular was the commercialisation of the true religion, which Yahweh also hates...the blending of the sacred with the profane. As I've mentioned to you before in a famous saying: "the Greeks turned the Besorah (Gospel, Good News) into a philosophy; the Romans into an organisation; and the Americans into a business." Indeed, the disgusting Prosperity Gospel is now global, the epitome of Herod's blasphemy and of Babylon itself. And most of the other churches and assemblies are organisations, most of them fossilised institutions, with a great many groups who have turned religion into philosophy - a mere set of mental propositions. Mormonism is a perfect modern example of this, a semi-Christianised version of gnostic-type Freemasonry, whose founder taught that "a man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge (gnosis)" (LDS Doctrine & Covenants/D&C 130:18-19).

We need to be careful not to take these observations too far, though, in our enthusiasm to expose error. Every congregation and household needs a sound financial basis. That's what the laws of tithing and stewardship are for. But money is very secondary indeed to the whole Gospel message. Every home and congregation needs to be organised according to divine tavnith (pattern) with the proper officers and accountability structures, yet organisation is very secondary indeed to the whole Gospel message. And the Besorah (Gospel, Good News) has a philosophical matrix for the simple reason it isn't mindless or a matter of blind faith - the Wisdom Literature in our Scriptures demonstrate that much, since philosophy deals with knowledge, mentioned over 130 times in the Bible:

"But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Master (Lord) and Deliverer Yah'shua the Messiah (Savior Jesus Christ)" (2 Peter 3:18, NIV).

Philosophy is concerned with the search for 'ultimate reality' (which is what Yahweh's Name means) with the most general causes and principlies of Creation - in other words, for the divine system of 'tavnith'. All of these things are necessary and valid provided we do not seek to be 'saved' by them, whether by knowledge (Gnosticism) or something else. They're all secondary to salvation and a life in the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit). So the Greeks did nothing wrong per se - they just took it too far and as a result were hijacked by the philosophers, allowing the Gospel to be mutated into only a system of thought. The same with the Romans, who made the rapid spread of the Gospel possible - and with the Americans who did the same. So be careful of those who go to the opposite extreme and falsely make out money, organisation and/or philosophy to in some way be sinful or devilish - I have met these very narrow-minded, ignorant, fundamentalist types whose discernment is, as a result, poor. These things are a necessary part of life here on earth.

What, then, does this trampling of the 'Outer Court of the Gentiles', spoken of by John, actually mean spiritually? It means that all those worldly elements that have been 'added' to the Gospel (including pagan traditions) - which Scripture says is to invoke a divine curse - and over-emphasising certain aspects of the Gospel making it unbalanced and ultimately idolatrous, gives the Enemy legal grounds to attack and eventually overwhelm if not cut short quickly upon discovery. The believers who inhabit this 'Court of the Gentiles', spiritully-speaking, are therefore compromised believers - those who have mixed in paganism, commercialism, gnosticism, and confused the love of Mammon (money - Mt.6:24; Lk.16:9,11,13) with sacred worship. And by, in particular, commercialising the Gospel, what believers then do is, in effect, allow the Messianic Community to mutate into BABYLON THE GREAT, which is scheduled to fall (Rev.14:8; 16:19; 17:5; 18:2) as we shall be studying later on in this course.

By these means, the Messianic Community (Church) becomes leavened by secular society - the 'system' - and is made progressively more lawless or Torahless until it is fully annexed by, and absorbed into, the satanic globalist empire and one world religion. Clearly what is being referenced here by John's description of the Court of the Gentiles being 'trampled' by the Gentiles, is a description of the fate of all compromised believers - those who adhere to, and love, FALSE DOCTRINES, PRACTICES and TRADITIONS which are not biblical and may likewise be found in PAGANISM, but which they find any number of excuses to continue in - the same excuses made by Israel in the wilderness when they built and worshipped the Golden Calf. Do you remember what their excuse was for doing that? That it was OK because they were doing it 'in honour of Yahweh' (Ex.32:4) and that, they claimed, was what really matters...not the outward forms even if blatantly pagan. In other words, they made their subjective hearts or feelings the deciding factor, not the objective truth of the Davar (Word).

This kind of reasoning is used, for example, to justify worshipping on the sabbath on whatever day they like (usually a Sunday or Saturday); reasoning from that illogic, they say it is sufficient to have a 'day of rest' once every seven days whenever you like. I wonder what would have happened had the Israelites in Egypt decided to follow this reasoning, and said they could observe the first Passover whenever they liked? Did the exact day matter? Apparently the destroying malak (angel) thought differently. What if the same logic had been applied to the first Christians assembling at Pentecost to receive the outpouring of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit)? What if some had decided it didn't matter day they met so long as they had 'a' Pentecost? They would have missed the most important event in the start-up of the Messianic Community (Church) after the Ascension! That's one reason you don't mess with Yahweh's mitzvot (commandments) and change them for personal convenience - you just do them...unless you're a fool.

This should then be a potent reminder that that's exactly what Christians say about Christmas and Messianics about Hanukkah and then justify these by saying it's a great time for 'family togetherness', to enjoy pretty lights...and to exchange presents, or whatever it is they enjoy the most about these festivals. Do you remember who else 'exchanged presents' in the Book of Revelation?... we only recently read about this, remember? You've got it - the folks who celebrated the murder of the Two Witnesses:

"For three and a half days men from every people, tribe, language and nation will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial. The inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts (presents), because these two nevi'im (prophets) had tormented those who live on the earth" (Rev.11:8-10, NIV).

Now this wouldn'd be an issue were it not for the fact that persons exchanging gifts with each other is a very unusual practice in any culture. Clearly there's obviously nothing wrong in giving gifts to celebrate certain non-religious events but I remember as a boy being puzzled by the notion that people should exchange gifts at Christmas with each other? 'Shouldn't we have been giving our gifts to Christ?' I reasoned, as it was supposedly His birthday. It made no sense to me. Birthday gifts I understood. Gifts to loved ones as spontaneous expressions of love I understood. So under what circumstances that you are aware of do people actually give each other gifts? I can only think of Christmas and Hanukkah, modern Jews essentially borrowing this tradition from orthodox Christians so that their children don't feel left out or disadvantaged during the December holiday season since the two festivals are at nearly the same time of the year. And I remember my first wife telling me how she and her sister bought vinyl records (LPs) for each other at Christmas - identical copies, identical labels - because each wanted the same thing - they knew what their 'presents' were in advance. That's crazy. I remember how, to economise, my mother would save presents that she didn't want and so give them to others the following Christmas. Others did the same thing. Sometimes we used to get our own presents back that we had given folks the year before. It was meaningless and not a little embarrassing at times.

My point being that there is something perverse about 'exchanging' presents, a perversion that has survived into Christmas and has in the last century been passed on to Hanukkah too. And in Revelation 11:8-10 we are shown its spirit. I give this as but one illustration, since we're about to enter the seasons of Hanukkah (in 3 days' time) and Christmas (in in 12 days' time), both of which which are forbidden because Yahweh had banned the celebration of old pagan traditions that honour false gods however re-dressed; and in the case of Christmas, it is the notorious, incestuous antiChrist, Nimrod, whose birthday 25 December originally was...with reincarnation story in the mix too. And I don't care if this upsets anyone who loves this tradition - I just know what Yahweh has told us in the Olive Branch, in Sections 28 and 198, to be exact. All our people ought to be familiar with them. They are the rule of this fellowship so please read them again if you are in any doubt. For Messianic Evangelicals there is no debate. Confronting Christmas and Easter marked the beginning of my exit from the traditions of Christendom. It was a big step at the time but a necessary and important one. Had I not done so, I doubt this ministry would even exist.

Let take this opportunity to warn everyone what the apostle John himself taught:

"Do not love the world [system] or anything in the world [system]. If anyone loves the world [system], the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world [system] - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world [system]. The world [system] and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of Elohim (God) lives forever" (1 John 2:15-17, NIV).

Hanukkah is not commanded in the Tanakh (Old Testament) either, Yah'shua (Jesus) wasn't born on 25 December (or 5 January if you're Eastern Orthodox) and we are not required to celebrate His birth. And if we choose to do so privately, as some of us do, then it should be at the right time, at least, in the spring and not (as most messianics believe) in the autumn (fall) either. And that's all I want to say about these two apostate festivals this year.

Christendom and Messianism are awash with false doctrines and practices. The Body is veritably flooded with them making it hard to see the light amidst all the darkness. Believers enjoy the mart that is the 'Court of the Gentiles' far too much - they shouldn't have anything to do with it. Now I have been warning folks about false doctrines and practices for decades so that we can be a clean people enjoying the face of Elohim (God) in our lives. These include:

• 1. Progressive, Postmodernist, Deconstructivist Christianity;
• 2. Liberal Christianity, Naturalism, Deism, Egalitarianism, etc.;
• 3. Talmudic-influenced Messianism, false Sabbatarianism, false festivals (Hanukkah, Purim, Lag B'Omer, etc.), Arianism (which denies the deity of Messiah), etc. (Messianic heresies);
• 4. Anti-Torah Christianity (hyper-grace, antinomianism, false festivals - e.g. Christmas, Easter);
• 5. All forms of Legalistic religion (Gnosticism, salvation by works, etc.);
• 6. False Tongues (gibberish, etc.);
• 7. Perverted Gender Rôles (feminism, matriarchy, abusive macho-patriarchy, forced celibacy, monogamy-onlyism, etc.);
• 10. Prosperity Gospel, 'name it, and claim it', etc.;
• 11. Calvinism, Eternal Punishment & Annihilationism;
• 12. Unitarianism, etc., etc..

This is a shocking revelation but it is the truth and we have all fallen into this Herodian trap that is the Court of the Gentiles at some time or another - and remember that King Herod was eaten alive by worms for his blasphemy when he refused to deny that he was a god (Ac.12:21-13). So I think we all need to don sackcloth...and fast because the current Penultimate Judgment, which is foreshadowing for the last time what the Book of Revelation speaks of, is reaching a climax! The worst is yet to come.

The Gentiles entered the Court of the Gentiles not to worship Yahweh - that pretense has now been dropped - but to trample it, in chapter 11. And no wonder, then, that a Third Woe remains to come for such rebellion and blasphemy! But while there, these pagans will encounter two extraordinary persons, as we do too, as it were, when confronted by the nevi'im (prophets) and the Law (Torah) of Elohim (God). The words of the nevi'im (prophets) burn as with fire! Those in the Court of the Gentiles will hear the preaching of Yahweh's avadim (servants), both of whom they despise, but can do nothing about silencing them, because Yahweh is with His ministers.

The result, in practical terms, will be death for false preachers and their eager hearers and imitators alike. Do you remember the recent vision I shared with you of the preacher being hurled from his pulpit into the air to preach no more? That's what this means. The two witnesses will have miraculous power, to stop the rain (like Elijah - 1 Ki.17.1; Jas.5:17) and to bring fire upon their enemies (like Moses - Lev.10:1-3). But they will finally be killed when their testimony is concluded, like the nevi'im (prophets) and apostles of old. John, of the original Twelve Apostles, escaped martyrdom through they did try to kill him by boiling him alive in oil, according to one tradition. Like I said last week, persecution and martyrdom are components of true discipleship - persecution that Christ and the apostles guarantee (Mt.5:10,12; 10:23; 24:9; Jn.15:20; 2 Tim.3.12; 1 Thes.3:4; 1 Cor.4.12; 2 Cor.4:9; Heb.11:37), with martyrdom always a possibility.

So let's continue summarising chapters 10 and 11 to end today's message that comes to a climax in the martyrdom of the Two Witnesses. To the horror of those exchanginig gifts, in Christmas-fashion (almost a picture of modern virtue-signalling to show compliance with the state's mandates, come to think about it), to celebrate their death, the witnesses are raised from the dead by the Chayim- (Life-) giving Breath of Elohim (God), and we must assume that they were instantaneously resurrected though it is possible they were temporarily thumaturgised or restored as mortals, like Lazarus, until the First Resurrection of the Bride gets underway. It makes more sense, I think, to conclude they are raised immortal as this is about the time of the First Resurrection anyway - that's more in line wirth the divine economy. The moment the ascension of the Two Witnesses takes place, reminding us of Yah'shua's (Jesus') own Ascension (Ac.1:11), the second severe earthquake occurs with a tenth of the city of Jerusalem's buildings and/or 7,000 of its population being destroyed.

It would be remiss of me not to dwell for a moment on the similarity of the fate of the Two Witnesses and that of Christ. In reading this it would have been impossible for those first believers to not recall the crucifixion, resurrection on the third day (not after three 24-hour periods or three days) in this very same city. Indeed, John is at pains to remind us that this was the city where the Master was likewise killed and raised. Moreover, you will recall, an earthquake coincided with Yah'shua's (Jesus') own death (Mt.27:51). Also, neither His resurrection nor ascension were witnessed by the general public but only by believers. Here it's the opposite - everyone (or at least a large number of adversaries) witness the Two Witness' resurrection and ascension which is to their condemnation as they are then marked as murderers and know it. When this latter-day event actually happens, everyone will recall the parallel with Yah'shua's (Jesus') own murder, resurrection and ascension, and thereby be made aware that they are unsaved and in serious, serious trouble.

Last of all, we were confronted with the triple mathematical connundrum of 1,260 days, or 42 months, or 3½ years. We are going to encounter these figures in succeeding chapters where they are linked to the duration of the 'Great Tribulation' or 'Great Trouble', another area of great controversy as many link it with the 'half week' predicted by the navi Daniel (Dan.9:27) with the precise meaning being obscured by our translations. And as far as I have been able to discover, only the New International Version (NIV) has got the translation correct when it says that "[the Anointed One] will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven' (not 'one week'). In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him" (Dan.9:27, NIV). But we'll examine that more closely when we come to it - I just wanted those students of prophecy among ypu to make a mental note of that. This is an extremely complicated prophecy because it operates on many levels. More anon.

At any rate, the 3½ years the Two Witnesses prophesy, and the 3½ days they lie dead on a street in Jerusalem, are very brief periods of time and recall's Yah'shua's (Jesus') own prediction that nightmare the non-raptured (that's everyone) qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) would be kept short when He said:

"If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened" (Mt.24:22, NIV).

Last of all, this 11th chapter makes first mention of the 'Beast' who figures so largely in the next (and final) Interlude (#III) in the ongoing story. More about him to come...

Brothers and sisters, if you're compromising with the world in any way - and that includes having a love of Christmas and Hanukkah - then you're likely still in the Courtyard of the Gentiles (if you know the truth about these pagan festivals) and refuse to quit - know, then, that you are being readied for trampling. Do you think me harsh for saying this? Maybe you should read your Bibles again with unblinkered eyes. So on that note we will end today. In a couple of weeks' time we shall return to the last (or 7th) of the Shofar's (Trumpets) and the last (or 3rd) of the Woes, Yah willing and health permitting. So until we assemble again next Sabbath, Yahweh bless you all, stay away from Hanukkah (if you're Messianic) and Christmas (if you're orthodox Christian) - make the decision to abandon Hanukkah and Christmas and align yourself instead with the rhythm, flow and pattern of Yahweh's True Festivals which all point to Christ! Amen.

Acknowledgements

[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone - The New Testament for Everyone Commentary Series, Vol.19 (SPCK, London: 2011)
[2] E.W.Bullinger*, Commentary on Revelation (Kregel Classics, Grand Rapids, Michihan: 1984)
[3] David H. Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary (JNT Publications, Clarksville, Maryland: 1992)
[4] ESV Study Bible (Crossway, Wheaton, Illinois: 2011)
[5] The NIV Study Bible (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan: 1995)
[6] Ed. J.R.Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (MacMillan, London: 1909)
[7] Kevin J. Conner, The Tabernacle of Moses: The Riches of Redemption's Story as Revealed in the Tabernacle (City Christian Publishing, Portland, Oregon: 1976)
[8] Kevin J. Conner, The Tabernacle of David: The Presence of God as Experienced in the Tabernacle (City Christian Publishing, Portland, Oregon: 1976)
[9] Kevin J. Conner, The Temple of Solomon: The Glory of God as Displayed Through the Temple (City Christian Publishing, Portland, Oregon: 1988)
*E.W.Bullinger was a brilliant Anglican clergyman and scholar whose works merit careful study by serious students of the Bible. He was, however, seriously in error in at least three main areas, namely, (1) he believed the 'Church' has been raptured before the Book of Revelation opens, (2) he believed that the 7 churches in Revelation 2-3 are 7, literal Jewish churches or assemblies yet to come, and (3) he believed in a pre-tribulation, pre-millennial rapture.

• 1. White horse - military aggression
• 2. Red horse - bloodshed
• 3. Black horse - famine
• 4. Pale Green/Blanched/Pallid/Sickly-looking horse - disease, epidemics

  ---

• 5. Persecution & prayer
• 6. Tremour & terror

  ---

  INTERLUDE I (Ch.7)
  (The 144,000 Redeemed)

  ---

• 7. Silence in heaven, listening to prayers which are then answered in a final catastrophe: a severe earthquake I

• 1. Scorched earth
• 2. Polluted sea
• 3. Contaminated water
• 4. Reduced sunlight

  ---

• 5. Insects and plague (for five months) (1st Woe)
• 6. Oriental invasion (200 million army) (2nd Woe)

  ---

  INTERLUDE II (Ch.10-11)
  (The Malak with the Little Scroll)
  (The Two Witnesses)

  ---

• 7. The Kingdom comes, the world is taken over by Yahweh & Yah'shua (Jesus) after a severe earthquake II (3rd Woe)

  ---

  INTERLUDE III (Ch.13-14)
  (The First & Second Beasts)
  (The Lamb & the 144,000)
  (The Messages of the Three Malakim)

  ---

• 1. Boils on the skin
• 2. Blood in the sea
• 3. Blood from the springs
• 4. Burning by the sun

  ---

• 5. Darkness
• 6. Armageddon

  ---

• 7. Hailstorm (OB 368:11-12) and severe earthquake III, leading to international collapse