Shabbat shalom kol beit Yisrael and Mishpachah, welcome to Part LXXI (71) of our study of the Book of Revelation and to the second half of chapter 20.

Last week's study seems to have garnered quite a bit of interest as I introduced what for most was a new idea for those of us who are special creationists who do not accept the occult doctrine of evolution but who nevertheless challenge the assumption that the earth is only 6,000 years old. I demonstrated for you that there was an æon or age gap between the first two verses of Genesis 1 of unknown length and suggested that whilst Adam was undoubtedly the very first human being on this planet about 6,000 years ago that the plants and creatures that made up the early biosphere of this world - the plant and animal life, including ourselves - were not the first inhabitants earth has hosted, making this potentially a very old planet indeed.

You were also given a chart showing the very clear biblical chiasm that divides earth's history, from Genesis to Revelation, into 16 steps, 8 of which describe its ruination caused by Satan's First Rebellion that began in the Genesis 1:1 era when earth was a malak (angel) planet with its own special biosphere suited to its first ruling inhabitants that Yahweh destroyed, leaving the earth the empty and desolate planet we find described in Genesis 1:2. I proved to you that the the first steps of 'creation' involving the inanimate heavenly bodies were't actually a de novo, ex nihilo creation that we have been led to believe by our teachers and ministers; rather what is described is their unveiling or 'unhiding' from the vantage point of an observer standing on the earth's surface, and that the first fresh 'creating' didn't start until verse 11 when Yahweh said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation..." (Gen.1:11, ESV) culminating in Adam in verse 26. So what this does for us is gives a time and location for Satan's original rebellion which the fallen archangel repeated in the first part of chapter 20, completing the chiasm with his defeat, capture and relocation to the Lake of Fire.

We also looked at the way Father Yahweh carefully planned out earth's history to ensure everything turned out the way He wanted, choreographing it, as it were, by incorporating the myriad choices made by human beings. A repeating motif we have learned throughout this course is the activity of the Roman Imperial system, at least since New Testament times over the past 2,000 years where we have seen the Roman Empire split into two parts - Western and Eastern - that have been waging war against each other ever since in various mutated forms as a kind of archetypal good cop/bad cop system. The iconic picture of a Soviet flag being hoisted over the Reichstag in 1945 by a Russian soldier could therefore just as easily be viewed prophectially as the hauling up of the flag of the Eastern Roman Empire led by Russia over the Western Roman Empire which up iuntil then had been led by nazi Germany, both of whom had the object, as we know, of creating an early version of the European Union or a reunified Roman Empire. The current war in the Ukraine, now drawing to a close, was a similar botched attempt by the Western Alliance (America and EU) to conquer the modern Eastern Roman Empire in its current manifestation as the Russian Federation.

With these things in mind, let us once more return to our Book of Revelation text. Satan has been removed from the story leaving the second half of chapter 20 to deal with the judgment of the rest of mankind. There is really only one translation issue with today's segment in both the KJV and NKJV in verse 12 where 'Elohim' or 'God' should read 'throne'.

This seems a good opportunity therefore to alert King James Version (KJV) fans to be especially careful when it comes to the Book of Revelation because the translation committee did not have a complete set of published manuscripts available for this book. As a result, they hastily reverse-translated the later, third-hand (Hebrew > Greek > Latin > English) Catholic Latin Vulgate of Jerome to fill in the missing gaps they had, making the Textus Receptus a little dodgy in places for the purposes of accurate Book of Revelation translation work [1]. This is one of the reasons I include a detailed reproduction of many translations of each week's segment so that you can see what the correct and/or best rendition should be. Most of these discrepancies do not affect doctrine in any way such as between the more old fashioned 'brimstone' and the modern 'sulphur/sulfur' (v.10). However, we must continually strive for accuracy since this is the Davar Elohim or Word of God. Here, then, is the corrected and messianised [2] version of today's text in the NKJV with a wide variety of alternatives made possible by the richness and diversity of the English language, noting also the difficulties posed by such words as shammayim which we can translate as either 'heaven' (the spirit world) or 'sky' (the atmosphere) (v.11):

"11 Then I saw ('perceived' - CLNT) a great white throne (Rev.4:2) and Him ('the One' - JB, JNT, NEB, NRSV, Amp.V; 'someone' - Barclay) who sat on ['top of' - HRV] 8; ('upon' - RSV) it ('thereon' - Moff.), from whose face ('presence' - NASB, NLT, JB, NEB, JBP, Barclay, Amp.V, ESV, AENT) ['and from the the sight of Whose face' - Amp.V] the earth and the heaven ('sky' - NLT, JB, Moff., JBP, Amp.V, ESV, NIV = atmosphere) fled away ('vanished [away] [, leaving no trace'] - RSV, NEB, JB) ['from His presence' - NRSV, Moff., NIV] (Rev.6:4). And there was found no place for them ('no more to be found' - Moff.; 'not a trace of them remained' - JBP). 12 And I ['also' - Amp.V] saw ('perceived' - CLNT) the dead, small and great ('high and low' - Moff.) (Rev.19:5), standing before ('in front of' - JNT, Barclay) Elohim (God) ('the throne' - NASB, JNT, NEB, NRSV), and ['other' - JB; 'the record' - Barclay] books ('scrolls' - HRV, CLNT) were opened. And another book ('scroll' - HRV, CLNT) was opened ('brought' - Barclay) (Dan.7:10), which is ('including' - NLT) the Book ('Scroll' - CLNT) of Life ('roll/register of the living' - NEB, Barclay; '[the one] of judgment' - HRV) (Ex.32:32; Dt.29:20; Dan.12:1; Mal.3:16; Lk.10:20; Rev.3:5; 21:27). And the dead were judged ('sentenced' - Amp.V) (Rev.11:18) according to ('on the basis of' - Barclay) their works ('deeds' - NASB, AENT; '[the record of] ['concerning' - RSV] what they had done' - JB, NLT, JNT, Moff., RSV, Amp.V, ESV) ['(their whole way of feeling and acting, their aims and endeavours)' - Amp.V] (Jer.17:10; Mt.16:27), by ('in accord[ance] with' - CLNT, Amp.V) the things which were written ('recorded' - Amp.V) in the books ('scrolls' - CLNT). 13 The sea gave up ['all' - JB] the dead who were in it ('its corpses' - Moff.), and Death and Hades ('Sh[e]'ol' - JNT, HRV, ISRV, AENT; 'the grave' - JBP; 'the unseen' - CLNT) ['(the state of death or disembodied existence)'] (Rev.1:18; 6:8) delivered ('gave [up]' - NASB, Barclay) up ('surrendered' - Amp.V) the dead (Is.26:19) who were in them (1 Enoch 51:1). And they were judged, each one according to his works ('deeds' - NASB, AENT; 'the way he had lived' - JB; 'what he/they had done' - JNT/RSV/NRSV, Moff., JBP, ESV, NIV; 'the record of his deeds' - NEB, Barclay; 'according to their motives, aims and works' - Amp.V) (Ps.62:13; Prov.24:12; Mt.16:27). [new § - JBP]

"14 Then Death and Hades ('Sh[e]'ol' - JNT, HRV, ISRV, AENT; 'the grave' - JBP) (1 Cor.15:26) were cast ('thrown' - NASB, NLT, Amp.V, ISRV, ESV, NIV; 'hurled' - JNT; 'flung' - NEB, Moff.) into the lake of fire ('burning lake' - JB) (Rev.19:20). This is the second death [', the/namely this lake of fire' - NRSV, AENT] (Rev.2:11). 15 And ['if' - NASB] anyone ('whose name was' - JNT) not found written ('inscribed' - NRV; 'enrolled' - Moff., AENT; 'recorded' - Amp.V) in the Book ('Scroll' - CLNT) of Life ('roll of the living' - NEB) (Dan.12:1) was cast ('thrown' - NASB, JB, RSV, ISRV, ESV, NIV; 'hurled' - JNT, Barclay, Amp.V; 'flung' - Moff.) into the lake of fire ('burning lake')" (Rev.20:11-15, NKJV).

Today, then, we are called to be advance witnesses of earth's final judgment scene. We are forever done with Satan, demons, Antichrist and the False Prophet, and the object of our attention is once more human beings from all of earth's historical æons or ages. An important question we need to have answered by the time we finish today is whether this is a general description of all human beings or all human beings minus the elect Remnant and their faithful descendants who were permitted to live justified and enjoying their rewards earlier than all the rest of mankind in the thousand year-long Millennium. Or are they somehow included in this 'Grand Summary' or 'Overview'? My own opinion is that the White Throne Judgment scene at the end of the Millennium does not necessarily include the children of the First Resurrection, whom Paul compares in glory to the brightness of the sun, but all the rest (1 Cor.15:41): the children of the Second Resurrection who are divided up into two main groups:

• 1. The Torah- or commandment-disobedient believers who had to wait as disembodied spirits in heaven or the paradise part of She'ol (the place of the dead) for 1,000 years before getting their physical bodies back to inherit a lesser glory that is compared in brightness or glory to that of the moon by Paul; and

• 2. The unbelievers who also had to wait as disembodied spirits for 1,000 years in the prison part of She'ol before getting their physical bodies back to eventually inherit an even lesser glory (compared by Paul in brightness to that of the stars as viewed in earth's night sky) once they have completed their punishment and rehabilitation after a very, very long stint in hell that will seem to them to last for eternity. All this I explained last week. I'd like to remind you that one translator, in verse 10, interestingly uses the word 'crucible' instead of 'lake of fire' and 'interrogated' instead of 'tortured'. I certainly think these nuances are included in the original sense of the Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek words but I don't think they can replace 'lake of fire' and 'tortured' because this lengthy incarceration of the wicked is both a punishment (because of the demands of Justice) and a system of rehabilitation so that in the end Father Yahweh's undeserved loving-kindness may have its final word and He be reconciled with the whole of His Creation.

May I here take the opportunity to remind you of something I have brought up before, namely, that there are those who believe Christ does not return until after the Millennium (post-millennialism) as opposed to the rest of us (minus the Preterists) who believe He returns at the beginning of the Millennium (pre-millennialism), something we'll resolve in next week's promised study, Yah willing, as we take an overview of different beliefs about the Millennium itself. In the meantime I want to make a radical suggestion to you at least as far as today's text is concerned, namely, that verses 11-15 aren't talking about either pre- or post-millennialism because something different is in view.

One of the great problems with Protestantism is its attempt to reconcile salvation-by-faith-alone (which is not taught in the New Testament) with the very clear teaching of the Book of Revelation that agrees wholeheartedly with the apostle James' statement, which Martin Luther hated so passionately, namely:

"What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds (works)? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action (works, deeds), is dead. But someone will say, 'You have faith; I have deeds.' Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one Elohim (God). Good! Even the demons believe that - and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless?" (James 2:14-21, NIV).

Protestants 'wriggle' out of this dilemma caused by their 'faith-alone' doctrines by saying that we are indeed saved or 'justified' by faith or trusting alone but that the evidence of this salvation-by-faith-alone is our works, deeds or actions. May I say right away that this explanation is not untrue. That is indeed the case and I wholeheartedly agree with it because we can never earn our salvation by what we do but only by means of the One (Christ) we are trusting in. But the issue is more than demonstrating to others that we are saved by what we do for, as Anglican historian and theologian N.T.Wright deftly points out, this is not the whole picture...and the Book of Revelation proves it.

Paul is the great exponent of the doctrine of 'justification (being legally declared righteous) by faith' which he articulates at great length. This upsets a lot of messianis who think he is anti-Torah when he absolutely is not. Protestants fear that this Great White Throne Room Judgment somehow does away with 'justification by faith' altogether because it, along with the rest of the Book of Revelation (and indeed all of John's writings) makes it clear that our deeds, works, actions or behaviours taken as a whole in our life are included in final judgment, determining what kind of glory or reward a believer inherits. There is no way to wriggle out of that one, and especially not for Calvinists (like Moslems) who claim we have no free agency at all...that everything is pre-determined by divine fate!

Here is the 'reconciliation' (if any, in truth, actually be needed...the problem is with the tinted lenses that Protestants see the Gospel through that came to be adopted because of the understandable abuse of 'works' by the catholicism whose excesses they were reacting or 'protesting' against...like the sale of Indulgences) - the 'reconciliation' is very simple and basically this: When Paul speaks of 'justification by faith', he is talking about the present reality according to which all those who believe in Yah'shua (Jesus) as the risen Master or Lord are already assured of the divine verdict - they are already assured (in the here-and-now) that they are 'in the right' (i.e. 'righteous'), and are thereby assured that this same verdict will be issued on the last day that is being described in today's segment provided they remain in true saving faith, i.e. in the active faith that saves rather than the armchair faith that does not. They have indeed proved their salvation, in the here-and-now, by their works, deeds, behaviour and actions, and 'now' - that is today, in the day of Revelation 20:11-15, their deeds are being actually accounted for and recognised. 'Yes,' Yahweh is saying, 'your righteous deeds do indeed prove you are saved and that you therefore fall outside the demands of justice because you are justified.

So, to put this another way so everyone is clear about this critically important doctrine: the way in which the verdict of the last day corresponds to the verdict issued in the present, on the basis of authentic, proactive 'faith alone' (not the false inactive kind of armchair 'faith' which says we don't have to respond in deeds at all but which dangerously and falsely claims a lukewarm 'once saved, always saved' counterfeit sort of 'faith' that goes on to say it doesn't matter what you do subsequent to conversion so long as you initially believed) - on the basis of this pro-active faith that leads to Torah-compliance, this same verdict will be issued on the last day, at the White Throne Room judgment.

As one wise commentator (whose name escapes me for the moment) put it, paraphrasing, "we may not be saved by works but we won't get into heaven without them either" and what he meant by that was, I believe, as follows: The way in which the verdict of the last day corresponds to the verdict issued in the present, on the basis of faith alone, is by the word of the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) acting as Guarantor. What does the Ruach (Spirit) do? The Ruach (Spirit) produces, in the invidividual Christian or Messianic, that overall tenor of life in the continuing present (and remember Paul never supposes that Christians are incapable of sinning) which is "seeking for glory, honour and immortality" (Rom.2:7), which 'tenor' is the Torah-obedient life.

In short, as the navi (prophet) Jeremiah taught (Jer.31:31-33) that in the New Covenant the Torah would become supernatursally written on the heart, so living it would 'come naturally' and not have to be imposed externally. If Torah deeds don't manifest in the saved life, then that salvation is shown not to be complete - full surrender to Elohim (God) has not occurred, and that is why there are two resurrections for believers - for those fully surrendered and for those not, respectively - for those who have overcome the flesh and live for, and by, the Ruach (Spirit) and for those who have not and are carnal. Those who don't even bother to overcome, or who have given up the attempt, judge themselves as fit only to be the Second Resurrection qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) and therefore worthy only of a lesser glory and inheritance in eternity, their disobedience proving their lack of faith by which they would have been justified or declared finally righteous on the Last Day.

Remember as you read the Book of Revelation, and particularly now in today's segment, that there are several 'books' or 'scrolls' but that the most important book is the Book of Life - the Sepher haChayyim. It's not the only Book (there are those that record our deeds too) but it's the most important one reserved for Yahweh's 'final determination' (v.12)! John has already mentioned this several times before (Rev.3:3; 13:8; 17:8) where it is described as the Lamb's Book of Life, and to have been written before the foundation of the world. How is that possible? Not because of some calvinistic pre-election of souls but because of Yahweh's omniscience or foreknowledge since He both exists outside time as well as in time. So unlike us, He not only 'sees' everything in advance but orchestrates or choreographs everything in advance to accommodate the execise of our free will in the choices we make (see Molinism).

The word chayyim or 'life' as in the 'Book of Life' is a rather special word and means more than simply the seven characteristics of biological life that we were all taught about at school - order, sensitivity, reproduction, growth & development, regulation, homeostasis and energy-processing - it describes many things but most importantly, spiritual life describes what one might call the 'colour', 'flavour', 'texture' or 'quality' of the Divine Life as opposed to the merely 'fleshy' or 'carnal' life itself. In short, this Divine Life is Eternal Life whereas the seven characteristics I just related describe temporary, mortal physical life.

And here is where a distinction must be made between the Torah lived outside this divine quality and the Torah lived inside this life because the difference is enormous. It is the difference between merely legalistically living Torah outwardly by human fiat or willpower (in order to 'get' something) and living Torah inwardly through the New Creation life received supernaturally in the New Birth through repentance, surrender and trusting. You will find Christians and Messianics of both sorts, one of which is fleshy and the other spiritual (because we've already 'got' what every human being is looking for - the security that comes from peace of mind in Elohim/God). I can force myself to be chaste by being 'moral' but if I am still lusting inwardly such that there is a conflict between inner drives and forced outer behaviours, then I have a civil war going on inside me that must be resolved one way or another at some point in time because we will be forced to choose - it is not possible to live the double-minded life because such leads to great inner instability and chaos. Only Christ can resolve that disjunction. It's the difference between saved and unsaved. One of the key themes of the Olive Branch, our collection of modern-day revelations is making this distinction visible and clear.

This if the Messianic Community's (Church's) biggest problem: you see, it is possible to outwardly live the Torah while lacking its true substance and moving power, which is the ahavah, chesed or agapé love imparted by the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) to those who are born again. By contrast, self-seeking 'love' is not true love but control and manipulation unlike sacrificial love (true love). Both Evangelicals and Messianics can so easily fall into the trap of the carnal version and deceive themselves into thinking they are 'spiritual'. Those that do are often very intolerant, rude, arrogant and prideful, thinking they know better because they have 'more knowledge', the old Gnostic heresy which anciently, as today, comes in many guises many of which are outwardly warring against each other. It's Satan's 'perfect storm' because it utterly blinds even those who have a tremendous knowledge of the Bible. I meet these obnoxious people all the time.

There is a repellant spirit about them, something dysfunctional, unkind, unloving, condemning, ungenerous, immature - stale, arid and deathly. The Torah cannot be supernaturally written on the heart if the heart is closed or shut-down! Instead, it becomes a mere mental proposition, a set of ideas and mechanically executed externalities or observances. It becomes dead religion, as it became in ancient Israel. That doesn't mean that the Torah itself is dead but rather its recipient and executive. There is nothing quite as bad as a religious zealot whose heart lacks that Chayyim that is the substance of the Sepher Chayyim or Book of Life. If your name is in the Book of Life it isn't because Christ or His Torah are mere intellectual propositions to you but because both are alive in you and producing the fruits of righteousness, foremost of which is love - Christ-shaped, Torah-shaped love - love of Elohim (God) and love of people. This love is not weaponised - it is not used to threaten, cajole or control, but to attract people by example. When Torah becomes worshipped in and for itself, the grievous sin of idolatry has been committed. We are to love Torah, yes, but first we must love Yahweh and love people - there must be an authentic heart-love quicked by the Ruach (Spirit) even for our enemies!

So I don't differentiate Christians and Messianics the way these spiritually dead messianics do but first and foremost on the way they treat others - on the basis of love, as the Saviour taught and made it the definition of what being perfect means:

"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt.5:43-48, NIV).

Without this understanding, the Book of Revelation will remain a sealed book, as it was to John Calvin the Reubenite who was unable to write a commentary on it because it made no sense to him because of his twisted theology. It makes no sense to the OSAS (Once Saved, Always Saved) people in general, which is why they say the Book of Revelation has nothing to do with Christians but is for the 'left-behinder' Jews who get converted after they themselves (because they believe themselves to be so pure and holy by faith-alone) have all been supposedly raptured to heaven. Sorry, it doesn't work like that, as Revelation, chapter 20 alone should make abundantly clear. The 'Life' Evangelical Christians readily and correctly speak about is, of course, key, but there's more than the Book of Life involved here, central though it is. The deeds of the qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) are tied inseparably into their names written to that Book of Life. You can't divide the two.

They are, as the Book of Revelation testifies to the annoyance of the 'faith-onlyers', those who "obey Elohim's (God's) mitzvot (commandments = Torah) and hold to the testimony of Yah'shua (Jesus)" (Rev.12:17, NIV) and those who refuse to, there's no escaping that! There are Christians who follow the Yah'shua (Jesus) of love and disobey the Torah and there are messianics who obey the Torah but who do not know the New Testament Yah'shua (Jesus) of love and who have invented their own 'Messiah' who, instead of being "the Davar / Word / Logos" of John 1:1 make Him out to be the Torah itself. And so one terrible, false messianic translation mutilates the original idea:

"Beresheeth (in the beginning) was the Torah, and the Torah was with YHWH, and the Torah was YHWH" (Yochanan/John 1:1, RSTNE).

So, yes, our final salvation is significantly coloured by our obedience to Torah or not because salvation isn't a single event - the moment we choose Yah'shua (Jesus) - but it is a continuous series of choosings. Salvation for each of us has a beginning (now in the past for most of us), a present, and a future: "he who stands firm to the end will BE saved" (Matt.10:22, NIV), that is to say, finally saved, finally vindicated, a future event with choosings to be made inbetween, because that final salvation hasn't happened yet; therefore he who does not stand firm, won't be saved at the end of his life. No 'once saved, always saved' doctrine here.

It is on this basis of 'standing firm' that we are chosen in the final sense:

"You did not choose Me, but I (Christ) chose you" (Jn.15:16, KNT)

"...many are called, but few are chosen" (Mt.22:14, NKJV).

Calling and choosing are not the same thing. You call someone to a task, assess them, and then choose or don't choose them based on their performance. I called many tutors to interviews when I was running a tutorial college in Oxford. I assessed the tutors and then chose some but not others based on a series of criteria I had established. The "royal priesthood" are "chosen" (1 Pet.2:9) only after they have been assessed, interrogated and judged. That is what the Book of Revelation is all about. Likewise, as the Book of Revelation testifies, we are Christ's "called, chosen and faithful followers" (Rev.17:14, NIV), 'called' and 'chosen' occurring sequentially with a period of time inbetween for assessment. This ought to be common sense but when man-made doctrines like Calvinism are superimposed on such texts, they start to get distorted and appear to be saying something completely different to what the author was actually saying. The Bible was written plainly and should be interpreted plainly, not strained through denominational sieves. That is why I keep on insisting that we read the Book of Revelation in the same way the first century believers did otherwise I guarantee we are going to misintepret it. That is why I insist on a critical realist method of interpretation - that which is observed and real.

So do we, the called, choose ourselves as so many do when they appoint themselves to this or that office or claim this or that imagined 'anointing', or do we let Christ do the choosing and anointing and allow the people to see for themselves whether our claims are vacuous or real? Self-appointment is vanity, a part of the pride of life. Our works demonstrate whether we are chosen for the tasks we were originally chosen for or not. The chosen bring forth chayyim (life), those who are not bring forth psyche instead of spirit, lifelessness, vaccuousness, mere shadows and imitations of the real thing. You're either loving or you're not. You have grace or you don't. You are a person of justice and fairness or you aren't. Our works tell who we truly are.

In short, if we're the real thing, we become reflections of Yahweh's Thrones. What do I mean by that? Today's segment introduces us to a Throne previously unseen - the Great White Throne. It is 'great' in distinction from the other thrones mentioned in this book and of that specifically described in chapter 4, verses 2 to 6. Notice the difference: that one was set in heaven but this one is seen on earth, as were also the thrones in the 4th verse. The White Throne is not only 'Great', to indicate the greatness of the occasion and of its power and authority, but 'White' to indicate its purity, holiness and righteousness. Notice that there are no threatenings here. Notice that there are no thunderings and lightenings and no voices. There is nothing 'around' this Throne and there is nothing 'before' this Throne - no Creatures, no 24 Elders, etc.. There is only one thing - the Judge who was sitting on it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. No Name is given. No form is described. Only an awful, mysterious presence.

Why is that? Because this is, perhaps, that dramatic moment described by the apostle Peter when in his second epistle he said:

"But the day of Yahweh will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live qadosh (holy, set-apart) and godly lives as you look forward to the Day of Elohim (God) and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness" (2 Peter 3:10-13, NIV).

It is the 'Day of Elohim (God)' (or the Day of the LORD in capital letters in English translations) as distinct from the 'Day of Christ' (Phil.1:6; 2:16) the 'Day of Yahweh (the Lord in small letters)'. This is why I hate the way English translations fail to use the Divine Names because distinctions between the Father and the Son are lost. Why is this particularly important now? Because the beginning of the Millennium is the Day of the Son ('Lord') and this the first day after the Millennium is the Day of the Father ('LORD')...different events and different Thrones. We can describe those things of the Son because He is human like us, being the Elohim- or God-Man, but how can we describe the things of the Father who is not human like us? We can't. That is why this particular Throne needs no human description or human interpretation.

And so in Paul's day the heretics claimed that the resurrection had already happened, the apostle saying:

"Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly. Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have wandered away from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some" (2 Tim.2:16-18, NIV).

This is our Father's pure, post-Millennial resurrection world we're being shown now, a world where Christ has already returned all authority to the Father, a world where we have already cast our crowns before Him because He Alone is now King of the Universe - no other 'kings' are needed, the way it was in the beginning only now He has a universe populated by beings who live and love as He lives and loves. This is the Great Consummation and because it is great, a Great Throne - a triple Throne of Glory, Justice and Grace - is needed to indicate the Authority behind it - the authority of Elohim (God) the Father, YAHWEH our Heavenly Father. Why triple? Because if you leave any one of them out, you end up with the heresies of legalism (salvation without grace), antinomianism (lawlessness) and neonomianism (a 'new [imaginary] law' that replaces Yahweh's Torah such as we find in many forms of orthodox Christianity today). Only when all three are present do you have that true, joyful obedience of proactive faith...the faith that leads to Torah-deeds.

So let us dispense with all human assertions and opinions because they are nothing, and let us rather listen to the solemn and weighty words which tell us of this very last of judgment scene. No wonder everything metaphorically-speaking flees before this Throne, including the imperfect heaven and earth themselves because this Throne cannot be placed on a world of separation - where heaven and earth are separate things - but only on a world of total, complete Unity, Oneness or Echadness. 'All is in all' now, and that All is Yahweh the Father-Creator of All (1 Cor.15:28).

So what we are seeing here is indeed the judgment of 'all the rest' - the lawless, antinomian believers who had the presumption and arrogance to decide which of the Father's mitzvot (commandments) they would obey and which they would not, and the unbelievers who decided they would have none of them at all, along with no Elohim (God) and no Christ, but with their own private set of rules for the governance of thir lives (neonomianism). Now it is their turn to be dealt with, and what a fearful time is shall be for these rebellious souls! All of these, as the text tells us, are those who were not physically raised from the dead - not physically resurrected - until the thousand years had been completed as stated in verse 5. This judgment, then, is different from all the others. It differs from the first in chapter 19, verse 11, because that was a judicial act of summary retributionn. And it differs from the others in that it is a deliberate session - it is a formal process for deciding according to the evidence produced. And that evidence, brethren and sisters, is man's works, deeds or actions throughout his lifetime on earth, be it long or short, as recorded in the Books or Scrolls.

Note, please, that nothing is said here as to the contents of these 'books' or 'scrolls'. We are told in John 3:5, 13:8, 17:8, 20:12,15 and 21:27 that the 'Sepher Chayyim' or 'Book of Life' contains 'NAMES', so names almost certainly fill these other books too. How do we know? Because the Tanakh (Old Testament) suggests so:

"So Moses went back to Yahweh (the LORD) and said, 'Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin -- but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written" (Ex.32:31-32, NIV).

"May they be blotted out of the book of life (Sepher Chayyim) and not be listed with the righteous (tzaddiqim - the just, lawful)" (Ps.69:28, NIV).

Again, let me emphasise, that we do not need to speculate what's in these 'other books'. All we need to know is that the first resurrection is the resurrection of life and that those who are reckoned with it - who are physically alive in the Millennium - will not be reckoned with "the rest of the dead [who] did not come back to [physical] life until the thousand years were complete" (Rev.20:5, KNT). Please, please understand this: the Torah-obedient faithful in Christ will not be sharing eternity with those who were disobedient - how much plainer can Scripture be? The trouble is, there are plenty who don't want to believe that, either because they are the unrepentent disobedient or because they are obedient but don't want to be separated from loved ones who are the unrepentent disobedient, and so end up, in their own minds, recategorising them so they can be with them by mere huma n fiat. Either way if we're thinking like this, we are deceiving ourselves - living an illusion - because we are denying the Justice of Elohim (God). And that's a problem - a BIG problem. And that's a reason human justice apart from Yahwewh's Justice is always biased and fickle (changeable).

Please wake up! Be warned and warn others. So what if you or others don't like this or that mitzvah (commandment) or permission granted by Yahweh? So what if you don't like Yahweh's moral or ethical laws? So what if you don't approve of Father's moedim (appointments) such as the Feast of Tabernacles (sukkot) which as we have seen is a feature of the Millennium? So what if you don't approve of His sexual and marriage laws or of the way the ancients lived with Elohim's (God's) blessing? So what if you don't approve of patriatrchal headship or women ministers? So what if you disapprove of any 'hot potato' doctrines of the Bible that run contrary to the beliefs of our modern age? SO WHAT? Are you going to argue with the Almighty when you stand before Him? Will you disapprove of anything He has commanded? Are you going to allow your stubborn refusal to admit what Yahweh admits, and refuse to deny what Yahweh denies, at the Great White Throne Judgment? So what if you don't like the idea of two separate judgments and three classes of the dead instead of the two classes (heaven and hell) you were almost certainly taught by your ministers and teachers? So what? Are you going to dispute with the Creator of the Universe as Job tried to at first before seeing the folly of his way? Are you going to argue with reality when it finally hits you squarely in the face? TI guarantee there won't be so much as a whiff of complaint on your lips when you stand before the Judgment. Beyond any shadow of a doubt. So why not agree with Him now and stop wasting your life (which you won't get again) resisting Him?

Oh yes, I want you to be sober now as at no other time during this Bible Course or indeed at no other time during my service as a minister. Be sober now! Repent now! Surrender to Yahweh for real. I don't give a fig about your traditions or denominations or the labels you wear or the excuses you make and neither does Elohim (God). He cares - I care - about what He says is real and what He says matters. So don't mess around with the emet (truth), embrace it even if at first it hurts you because it jars against what you have falsely been taught and come to believe.

So I ask you now - so what if you believe that we are saved by 'faith alone'? That's not going to help you when you are judged out of the books recording your life's deeds or works - your actions and behaviours. It's not going to help one bit! Are you going to tell Him that they don't count because you believed in Martin Luther? Or John Calvin? Or Joseph Smith? Or Ellen White? Or Benny Hinn? As one eminent Anglican theologian of the 19th century, Henry Alford (1810-71), said with great perception, these other books are "the vouchers for the Book of Life." What's a voucher? A voucher is a document which can be exchanged for goods or services as a token of payment made or promised by the holder or someone else of that voucher. In other words, brethren and sisters, your good works, whilst they do not determine whether you are 'saved' or not, do determine what kind of resurrection and glory you will receive...or whether you receive none at all. And, please, don't come over with a case of false piety and say that you'll just 'trust' Elohim (God) to see you right at the last day whilst pretending there are no mitzvot (commandments) He expects you to obey now because, you say, you're going to solely rely on 'grace' and ignore everything else. No, no, there is a point where grace is exhausted and justice kicks in, and that's here at the Judgments. You absolutely cannot 'hope for the best' - you have to give your best here and now whilst trusting Yahweh to see you right. Your deeds - my deeds - are the vouchers containing the evidence to showcase why your name is, or isn't, written in these books. Think on that.

The segment ends with the good news that Death itself, along with its home base, She'ol (in Hebrew) or Hades (in Greek) or the place of the dead, is finally destroyed. It won't be needed anymore. We're now looking into the very distant future beyond the Millennium. John Donne's poem, Death, be not proud, ends with the majestic line: "And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die." Unfortunately, some writers of a liberal, lawless disposition, have tried to suggest that 'resurrection' and 'new creation' are simply a fancy way of talking about what actually happens at or after death -'thinking of death as resurrection'. One liberal even called resurrection an 'interpretation' of death. Mumbojumbo,! This is the shallow, pretentious, sophisticated language of unbelief and rebellious pride, pure and simple. John emphatically denies this as much as Paul does in 1 Corinthians 15.

Resurrection, in the first-century world, emphatically meant the undoing of death, not its 'reinterpretation'. It meant that the process of bodily corruption and decay was reversed, producing a new 'physical' body with 'immortal' properties. That's what it meant then and that's what it still means now because that is what the apostle John meant. John is nothing if not a creational theologian and He has told us from early on that Yahweh is celebrated as the Creator of the whole world, and that all creation joins in His praise. Because if creation is not gloriously reaffirmed at the last, then Elohim (God) has been finally defeated and Satan has won. If you deny physical resurrection then you're admitting the devil wins. But creation absolutely is reaffirmed, and Yahweh has not been defeated, as satanists, who have no hope, would have you believe. The 'new heaven and new earth' that we are told we will witness are that glorious reaffirmation.

So again let me ask you: why in verse 11 does John say that 'earth and heaven fled away from [Yahweh's] presence'? Because earth had been corrupted by the evil done within it, and heaven too had been the place from which Satan had conducted his initial rebellion, not to mention from the earth that had once been his and was subsequently destroyed after that first rebellion. The second earth - the first human earth - and heaven were the pilot project. Now, with all the obstacles to the ultimate goal goal having been removed, they can be dismantled, so that the final Resurrection and New Creation reality to which they were advance signposts, can at last be revealed. Satan, the demons, the Antichrist, the False Prophet and all their rebellious human followers have been destroyed, and it is now time for Yahweh-Elohim and the Lamb to be revealed, with the Ruach haQodesh (Holy Spirit) enabling the Remnant, Elect Bride of the First Resurrection to say, 'Come'. The rule of death is at an end and the rule of chayyim - life - is about to begin.

And so we close chapter 20 and all bad things. Henceforth we have, not just 'good news' but 'wonderful news' - two whole chapters of it. And remember, nobody has been 'raptured' away from all of this, and those who endured tribulation and overcome the flesh are about to inherit a glorious new reality...but not the wannabe escape artists, not the lawless ones, not the disobedient and rebellious. They will receive something lesser elsewhere. We are not now concerned about them. The rest of the Book of Revelation is only for the First Resurrection qodeshim (saints, set-apart ones) who obey the Father's mitzvot (commandments) and who love Yah'shua (Jesus).

But before we look at that, as promised, next week I will deliver the teaching on why most believers are so confused about the Millennium. So until then, please soberly reflect on all I have shared with you today and embrace the plain truth of John's words. This is my prayer in Yah'shua's / Jesus') Name. Amen.

Endnotes

[1] See, Book of Revelation in the Textus Receptus: Minority Readings in the Book of Revelation - the verses to be careful of are Revelation 1:6,8,11; 2:17,22,24; 3:11; 5:5-6,14; 6:1,3,12; 8:7,13; 11:q1,17; 14:1,5; 15:2-3; 16:5,7,14; 17:4,8M 18:20; 19:17; 20:12; 21:3,10,24; 22:19,21
[2] The terminology as it would appear in the original Hebrew, e.g. She'ol rather than the Greek Hades (vv.13-14)

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, Michigan: 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] David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible: A Unique Overview of the Whole Bible (Collins, London: 2007)

*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.

• C. The Far Future
  • C1. Chapter 19
    
    • C1.1. Yahweh's Victory Celebration (19:1-10)
    • C1.2. The Beast Defeated (19:11-21)
  • C2. Chapter 20
    
    • C2.1. The Millennial Reign (20:1-6)
    • C2.2. The Final Judgment (20:7-15)
  • C3. Chapter 21:1-21
    
    • C3.1. The New Heaven & Earth (21:1-5)
    • C3.2. The New Jerusalem (21:6-21)
  • C4. Chapter 21:22-22:21
    
    • C4.1. New Jerusalem (21:22-22:7)
    • C4.2. 'I am Coming Soon' (22:8-21)