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Twin Timelines

Part XIV

In our last installment of Twin Timelines, we showed how the divided spiritual power of Satan sought to enter in to the two Disciples of Christ, on the occasion when they were rejected by a Samaritan village.

"And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?" (Luke 9:52-54).

These two Spiritual factions have been identified under Scriptural metaphors such as Death and Hell, Serpents and Scorpions, Cold and Lukewarm, Thorns and Briars, Flesh and Blood, Heart and Mind, and a host of additional prophetic pairs throughout the Scriptures. The last few chapters of Twin Timelines have compared the mysterious prophetic pair with the same two impulses which characterized the Gentile Edomites, tracing all the way back to Esau.

Esau dishonoured the LORD through diminishing the importance of his birthright, which was granted by God, as before Esau was born, he could not accomplish anything good or evil to justify the LORD's election of Esau as he who would inherit the blessing from Isaac. This first stream of identification amounts to a repudiation of God's elective choices, and Esau's subsequent decisions to justify his rejection of the LORD's will, as he forged an apostate path through his marriages to Hittite women, as well as daughters of Ishmael.

This is the prime characteristic of the Spirit of the False Prophet of Revelation, which seeks to propagate doctrine that informs those who "dwell on the earth," of the False Prophet's version of the supposed will of the LORD. This Spiritual unction, emanating out of the power residing in the "False Prophet" of Revelation, results in men and women being taken captive by their deceived hearts. 

"He that leadeth into captivity goeth into captivity" (Revelation 13:11).

Captivity is obviously associated with Hell (as there is no escape), Torment (see the story of the rich man in "torments" in Hell in Luke 16:23), and Deceit throughout the Scriptures.

"The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart" (Jeremiah 14:14).

When people are deceived into refusing the truth concerning Christ, they inherit the Death intrinsic to Antichrist. The 2^nd stream of identification found in Esau relates to the Spirit of Death, a basic trait seen in the allegorical descriptions of the Antichrist beast, and this is the predictable result of the Spirit of deception inhabiting the "False Prophet" beast of Revelation. This angelic architecture may be distilled into a triune matrix, where the three parts consist of the Life of God (which the Father has decreed is exclusively found in CHRIST), the Death related to the rejection of that truth (which is manifested as ANTICHRIST), and the disputed turf which is in between those two polarities, where we multitudes of religious perspectives that may be identified as Hell. 

The Spirit of "Hell" found in the False Prophet delivers its prey to the "Death" found in Antichrist. This is how the two-phase Perdition Engine in the Spiritual realm functions – and the only way out of it is exclusively found in the election according to the grace which is embodied in the Saviour.

"Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace" (Romans 11:5).

As the Scriptures testify, the New Covenant tells us the salvation in JESUS CHRIST is not according to works, in the same way as salvation existed under the Old Covenant.

"Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt" (Jeremiah 31:32).

In the New Testament, we find Jesus intervened in the attempted Spiritual seduction of His Disciples, as the Spiritual version of the forked tongue of the wicked one sought to ensnare James and John through the rejection of Jesus by the Samaritans. Most Bible students remember that Jesus vehemently rebuked the two for thinking that, under the new covenant, God would destroy the Samaritans for their insolence, even as the disciples' assumption amounted to a serious misunderstanding of the Spirit of God with which they were endowed. 

"But [Jesus] turned and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (Luke 9:56).

With the Life found in Christ now in the world, in this enlightening episode, Death and Hell unsuccessfully sought to enter in to the two disciples; but JESUS changed the equation as He steered His sheep away from the lethal urge to seek retribution. Further, it is in this very sequence, He even identified the two malevolent spirits.

When the Apostles and the born again 70 Israelite disciples which He had sent before Him to "every city and place" (Luke 10:1-17) returned to Him (in amazement because they found that "even the devils are subject unto us through thy name"), JESUS provided us with some profoundly important information when He told the believers He had seen Satan fall from heaven as lightning.

"I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit" (Revelation 9:1).

At this juncture, we need to remind ourselves that heavenly events are beyond the limits of space and time; so when the "perdition engine" in each of us is activated in our heart and mind in response to this connection between Revelation (which is routinely thought of as describing future events) with Christ's statement two thousand years ago that He had already seen Satan fall, the truth speaks of a reality that is higher than our physical existence allows us to perceive. Relying on the faith that the Word of God is recorded for our benefit, we find adjacent statements in this encounter which give us another glimpse into eternity.

After saying He had observed Satan's fall, He further described the two fold evil which came into the world as a prophetic pair -- presumably in association with the fallen power described as lightning. This next nugget of truth was disclosed in response to the Disciple's exuberant exclamation that the devils were subject to them through Christ, as He also said that He had given the Disciples the power they need to stand against this two-fold demonic power – which is again characterized in euphemisms for what we've already noted are named Death and Hell.

"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy" (Luke 10:19).

Unfortunately, those who view prophecy in a literal sense have robbed the Word of God of its superb message of the Spiritual similtudes which are communicated via these Prophetic Parallels.  For instance, recognizing the Twin Timelines phenomenon in which historic sequences are repeated in a later period, when the Israelites turned against the LORD and His mediator Moses (prefiguring how Israel turns against Christ and Spiritually dies), the Old Testament tells us God sent a plague of deadly serpents, which killed many people.

"And the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died" (Numbers 21:5, 6).

Christian students of Scripture will remember the episode in Egypt where the Egyptian magicians transformed their staffs into serpents, but as Moses and Aaron stood before the Pharaoh, God instructed Aaron to challenge their power by throwing his rod down, in the astonishing account where the rod was transformed into a serpent, which consumed the Egyptian serpents.

"For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods" (Exodus 7:12).

In this magnificently illustrative episode, the two Egyptian magicians (collectively representing the False Prophet) are symbolically threatening Moses (and Israel) with the power of death which they directed, but God is foreshadowing the power of Life which He had purposed to pour into Israel, and the Death represented by the serpents was to be conquered by the Life of Christ. Indeed, the Apostle Paul, writing about the glorious immortality which is available to all who are inhabited by the Spirit of the LORD in Jesus, informs us that God will consume the death in this world.

"[When] this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (I Corinthians 15:54).

Thus, when Israel was plagued by serpents in the wilderness, they realized this was indeed a judgment from the LORD; so they earnestly petitioned Moses to pray on their behalf that God would preserve them from the Death found in the judgment of the serpents. The Old Testament accounts tell us that the terrible wilderness which Israel travelled through was dangerous and dry and, in addition to the serpents, it was also inhabited by scorpions. However, God was faithful to provide water and food for the people He had called out of Egypt, even as He responded to the intercession by Moses with a supernatural protection on behalf of the people. Moses told Israel all these things occurred so that Israel did not forget the LORD who preserved them.

"Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God…who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water" (Deuteronomy 8:15).

There is yet another mystical connection with the confrontation between Moses and Aaron, and the Pharaoh and his magicians. When the rods (the staffs of the magicians) became serpents (representing the Death wielded by the Egyptian mystics) were swallowed up by the rod of Aaron, it anticipated how JESUS CHRIST would swallow up Death through His ministry. Further, the LORD Jesus Christ was referred to by the prophets as the rod of the Father.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord" (Isaiah 11:1, 2).

Jesse was, of course, the father of David, so this prophecy directly associates the "Son of David" Jesus Christ, with the rod upon which the Spirit of the LORD descends.

Further, we see allusions to this allegorical rod, as it is Christ (the head of all things), as well as His body, through which the LORD will rule all the nations:

"And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron" (Revelation 2:27).

Back in the Old Testament wilderness, where Israel encountered the serpents and scorpions which symbolized the Spiritual pair which the Christians face to this very day, Israel already knew that the pain of the scorpion sting was not lethal, but certainly they should be avoided whenever possible. Throughout the Scriptures, scorpions are associated with chastisement, as many verses testify. As a case in point, King Rehoboam (who was a particularly evil king of Israel) repeatedly vowed to chastise Israel with scorpions.

"And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions" (I Kings 12:11).

It is self evident that Hell is a place in which we are punished for our sins, even as the non-lethal chastisement associated with scorpions also connects the Spiritual entity imaged as scorpions with the Hell found in Scripture. Remember, Hell is universally described as a place of captivity where conscious torment occurs. In this regard, the two supernatural factions found in Revelation are epitomized by Serpents and Scorpions – with the latter related to Captivity, Torment, Punishment, and a host of other undesirable terms.

The reader will recall the exotic descriptions of locusts with multi-species attributes, which were given the power to sting like scorpions. The text tells us these hideous entities have the power to inflict torment, but their abilities are specifically designated to be non-lethal.

"And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man" (Revelation 9:4, 5).

Another group, separate from the "locusts" with scorpion stings, has different attributes:

"And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions…For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt" (Revelation 9:17, 19).

Not only are these grotesque images characterized by their association with serpents, they are specifically said to kill:

"By these [attributes] was the third part of men killed" (Revelation 9:18). 

Thus, the Scorpions symbolize the Spirit of "Hell" in the False Prophet, even as that faction deceives, but does not kill – whereas the Serpents symbolize the "Death" of Antichrist, as they slay those delivered unto them.

"He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword" (Revelation 13:10).

To Be Continued

-- James Lloyd