…

10. I came to be, in spirit, on the Day of YHWH, and I heard behind me a loud sound like [that] of a trumpet,

In spirit: i.e., in a vision, not physically, as with a time machine. Day of YHWH: a frequent theme of the prophets, referring to the seventh (Sabbath) millennium of human history, when the Messiah will be physically enthroned as king. The Greek term means "belonging to the Master", but the term for Master is the one used in the LXX as a substitute for YHWH's name, and thus has this specific sense in many cases. It is anachronistic to try to read into it, as many do, a justification for changing the day of worship to the day of the sun, later often referred to as "the Lord's Day". The only particular day of the week YHWH ever calls His holy day is the Sabbath--the seventh day. (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 58:13) Behind me: a Hebrew idiom for "after me" in time.

9. Behold, I will grant [you] out of the Synagogue of Satan those who say they are Jews and are not, but they lie--behold I will make them come and bow before your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

Behold, I will grant [you] out of the Synagogue of Satan those who say they are Jews and are not, but they lie--behold I will make them come and bow before your feet, and they will know that I have loved you.

...

21. "I will allow the one who overcomes to sit with Me on My throne, as I overcame and sat with My father on his throne.

My father: not capitalized because Luqa 1:32 reveals that the ancestor on whose throne El Elyon would let Y'shua sit is David, though David's throne is also known as YHWH's throne. (1 Chron. 28:5; 29:23)

CHAPTER 12

17. And the dragon was provoked to anger over the woman, and went off to prepare for battle with the remainder of her descendants, who keep the commandments of YHWH and hold fast to the testimony of Yahshua the Messiah.

Both are necessary. We are not even considered the seed of Israel unless we both have the testimony of Y'shua and keep the commandments. If are not doing both, the dragon does not bother about us, for we are no threat to him. If he can afford to ignore us, we are accomplishing nothing. Doing both will get him angry, but it is bait for the trap that will do him in. Remember that this is a vision, so we are not talking about a literal fire-breathing dragon with scales and wings. It represents a system made up of lawless men, whose power base we threaten when we keep the Torah, since we undercut their economic base by stopping all commerce on the Sabbath, neglecting to bolster their income at Christmas, etc. They know that when Y'shua is enthroned, they will all have to submit to Him, and they want to defer that as long as they can by getting us to neglect one or the other of these elements.

CHAPTER 13

11. And I saw another [ferocious] beast [of the same kind] coming up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon.

…

16. And it causes everyone, [both] the small and the great, [both] the rich and the poor, [both] the freemen and the slaves, to be given a brand [engraved] upon their right hand or on their foreheads,

Foreheads: literally, space between their eyes--the very place David's slung stone hit Golyath. The Hebrew equivalent means "the conspicuous place" on the brow. The servants of YHWH were marked with a seal on their foreheads before any of these plagues could take place (7:3ff; 9:4)--an allusion to Y'hezq'el 9:4, where we see judgment coming upon those of the House of Israel who wept for Tammuz (the "son who is his father" in the Babylonian myth) and worshipped facing the sunrise from within the Temple of YHWH (Y'hezq'el 8), but those who were marked on their foreheads in advance as those who grieved over the presence of such practices in YHWH's House were spared. If we trace these practices (and others mentioned in that chapter) on through history, we find that they again emerged in Lent and Easter, with its sunrise services--practices Yehudah has had little to do with, but Efrayim, the Northern Kingdom, has owned as theirs, supposedly in honor of the Messiah, and thus from "within YHWH's House". The blood of the lamb similarly marked those in Egypt to be spared from otherwise-certain death; thus this mark correlates with the practice of Passover; James Trimm points out, and we can see clearly from this context, its counterfeit therefore corresponds with the observance of Easter instead.

18. Here is the wisdom: Let the one who has understanding calculate the [fixed, definite] number of the beast, for it is the number of a human being, and its number is six hundred sixty-six.

666: Represented by three Greek letters, chi, xi, and stigma (an obsolete letter that at one time was the sixth, and continued to be used when letters were combined like this to represent numbers, much as we still see used with Roman numerals). The fact that man was created on the sixth day has led to a Hebrew tradition that six is "the number of a human being". Many have speculated about whose name might have this number in it, and most have been barking up the wrong tree. Actually the value of the numbers, individually, are 600, 60 , and 6. Based on Genesis 1:26-31, the account of mankind's creation on the sixth day, it is Hebrew tradition that six is "the number of a human being". Sixty would therefore mean "ten men", which, based on YHWH's allowing for S'dom to be spared if there were at least ten righteous there (Gen. ), is again linked in Hebrew tradition with the quorum required to constitute a congregation. It is therefore a group of ten men united in association with another man. Right here in the first verse of Revelation 13 we find a beast with ten horns. 17:7-12 tell us that these ten horns are ten kings who have authority with the beast for one hour. But this same beast with ten horns is identified in Dani'el 7:7 as the fourth beast, which the progression in history makes clear is Roma. And sure enough, in Roman history, we find a group specifically called "the ten men"--decem viri in Latin--whose influence remains today, though in their corruption they were in power for less than two years ("one hour" in the overall scale of history). Why? Because they rose up in opposition to the nobles and established the Senate, in which every man was to have a voice. I.e., they established democracy, and the Senate remained, revived in our own day. Most of the United States Constitution is based squarely on twelve letters these ten men wrote. So the middle "6" of 666 is democracy. While it may be YHWH's temporary provision for our protection in exile, it is not the way of Scripture, where authorities based on the Torah have the final say, not the people's wishes or desires. Ultimately, one Man will have the final word on what is law. The first 6 (that is, 600) would represent 100 men. One rule of Scriptural interpretation is that the first time something appears in Scripture, it sets the tone for the figurative meaning of the term throughout the remainder of Scripture. The first time the number 100 appears in Scripture (other than someone's age) is in Gen. 33:19, where it is the sum of the pieces of silver used in a purchase. Therefore, 600 would indicate "the men with the money", and indeed here in verse 17 we see this beast linked with control of the commerce system. At the beginning, when YHWH provided food right on the trees for all mankind and all animals, how could anyone be richer than anyone else? There were no price tags. Animals did not need to be corralled because we were not keeping them for food. Our only concern was to preserve what YHWH had made--an ecosystem He considered "just right". Once bloodshed began, it became about who was out front, and it thus became man against man and man against animals. And that, in a nutshell, is the story of how the world got to be how it is today. Commerce, violence, and bloodshed all go together. The beast sheds blood to keep the money and to keep control of the whole world through money. We have already seen examples of this system biting those who try to leave it and care for one another in community. One was David Koresh in Waco, Texas in the early 1990s. While we do not agree with all of his teachings, he was catching the scent of some worthwhile trails, and was destroyed for trying to buck the state's ownership of its citizens. But we are told here that someone with understanding can calculate its meaning properly, and the implication is that we can thereby overcome this "beast". Psalm 111:7-10 tells us understanding is derived from practicing YHWH's commandments and Psalm 119 repeatedly tells us it is gained by meditating on YHWH's precepts. Calculating the number of a name, for one with understanding, therefore, would involve finding words within YHWH's Torah that have the numerical value of 666. There are only two (and one of them is repeated). The first is in Lev. 25:14, and its meaning is "you [will] sell"--a clear reference to the commerce we spoke of above. The second word with the numerical value of 666 is "you shall turn aside" or "deviate". It appears in both Deuteronomy 5:29 and 17:11. And as with snake venom, the poison includes the antidote right within it, because Lev. 25:14 reads, in full, "And if you [will] sell anything to your associate, or buy anything from your associate's hand, you shall not oppress each other." If we put the Israelite community instead of self first in whatever necessary dealings with commerce we may have, we can wrest "unrighteous Mammon" from the beast and use it for eternal purposes. (Luqa 16:9) Deut. 5:29 reads, "So you must be careful to act according to what YHWH your Elohim has commanded you; you must NOT turn aside to the right or to the left." Deut. 17:11 reads, ""You must do according to the word of the instruction by which they [the Levitical priests] direct you and the decision with which they answer you; you must NOT deviate from the sentence which they make known to you, [neither] to the right not to the left." Thus we negate the "666", whereas if we reckon it the wrong way, we are part of the beast system which indeed "turns aside" from YHWH's intent that one man (without the "men" and the "money", without elections, and without merchandising) has the rule over the entire world. (Yeshayahu 11) The Torah therefore tells us how to handle these snakes when we must, and not be bitten. We get there--back to the world without violence, bloodshed, or commerce--by taking care of one another. We overcome by the innocent blood shed by the Lamb (to redeem his lost brothers), the word of our testimony, and by not loving our own lives, even to the point of death (Rev. 12:11), as Yahshua exemplified.

Great prostitute: Possibly an allusion to Y'hezq'el 23:11, the only Scriptural reference to one whore who outdid another. It there tells us that Yehudah's prostituting herself surpassed that of her sister, the Northern Kingdom. Though Yehudah preserved much for the whole house of Israel, today we see a large portion of her being more interested in fitting in with the rest of the world rather than being a set-apart people, and with earning money and doing the bidding of her allies even when it means breaking the Torah to do so. This in no way gets Efrayim off the hook for her many fornications (which in Scripture are often linked with idolatry). The Church is the form this prostitution took among Efrayim in its most recent instance.

3. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of slanderous names and having seven heads and ten horns.

Intimacy between a woman and a beast is punishable by death for both in Lev. 20:16.

(Still being translated)

CHAPTER 18

2. And he cried out forcefully with a loud voice, saying, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and has become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

3. 'For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

What is the Babylon referred to here? Probably not the original place, which by Yahshua's time, though many Jews still lived there, was definitely already a has-been, but has never been destroyed. It's just a ruin today, though some is rebuilt and could again become a headquarters for something big. Some have said it is New York, and we've already seen great destruction there with smoke visible from a long way off, and both of the planes that crashed into the towers did so within one hour. (v. 10) A precursor at least. Joseph Good makes a pretty tight case for it referring to the whole United States, and with U.S. troops literally occupying the throne of Babylon now, there is probably something to that. Many others say it is the Roman Church, and that works pretty well with the data also, especially when you add in all the ways it has persecuted Yosef who dwells under its shade. Babylon seems to be a shorthand for Nevukhadnetzar's whole statue, that progression of powers that cumulatively fill up the cup by how they treat Israel and how wealthy they grow at others' expense. Y'hezq'el 16:49 said S'dom's main crime was being rich and yet not helping the poor and needy. The church, whether under Tetzel with his indulgences or the traveling evangelists with their promise of a hundredfold return on donations, certainly grew wealthy on the desire of the poor to contribute to what they are persuaded is a noble cause. By this token, Babylon is big finance by any of its faces, and we have just seen a foreshadowing of its fall. And as we saw with Hizqiyahu (2 Kings 20), Babylon is whoever takes advantage of those who want to show off what YHWH has provided, by coming back to rob us of it. Throughout Scripture, Babylon is seen over and over as the antithesis of Yerushalayim and the Land of Israel, which is generous and hospitable like its father Avraham. It's the "other man" (Lev. 24:10), the unification of all who are not unifying into one man as Israel. It's not always an obvious contrast, because it is a counterfeit, so it looks beneficial: unite to end wars, end famine, save the earth, etc. "The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them and are called benefactors, (but it shall not be so for you; the one who is greatest will be your servant.)" (Luke 22:25-26) Advertisers always tell you how the things you didn't need yesterday--that didn't exist yesterday--will benefit you. But aren't they usually the ones that benefit more? (Yaaqov 2:6-7)

4. 'And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, 'Come out of her, my people, so you will not be partakers of her sins, and so you will not receive any of her plagues.

This actually is an allusion to Isa 48:20: "Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans, with a voice of singing, make a proclamation! Declare this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say, YHWH has redeemed His servant Jacob." Compare Genesis 19:12-14. So how do we "come out of her"? For Lot, there was a clear time when he had to make a clean physical break with the cities. We get the impression that he never should have been there at all, but YHWH worked with him where he was, and dealt with him mercifully after he got into that mess, and how much more when we are born into the exile our ancestors already imposed on us? But there was a definite deadline to get all the way out. Maybe we're not quite there yet, but there are ways we can prepare so we'll be in a position to fully leave when that time comes. Lot wasn't so well-organized, and they had to drag him out; we should be in a place where all it takes is His whisper that it's time to put into action what we've been expecting all along. Lot tried, but his sons-in-law still thought he was joking when he told them it was time to leave. When I read the story to my boys, they asked why they thought he was kidding. I wonder, was he in the habit of joking so much that no one took him seriously, like the boy who cried "wolf"? After all, how do you deal with life in a city that would otherwise make you cry all the time, except by laughing? (Remember, Kefa said it tortured his soul.) But somehow a distinction has to be made so that "those who belong to us" will also see the need to be ready to come out. We need to take steps to disentangle ourselves from indebtedness to Babylon before the threat becomes imminent. That might be through literal reduction of debts, but certainly through disengaging from dependence on either the church or the economic system in our attitudes—thinking we owe it our allegiance or any more of our energy than is absolutely essential to earn our bread. After all, Lot already had huge flocks and herds; he didn't need anything the people of S'dom had to offer. But as he moved close to them, he started seeing their lifestyle as normal, and thought there was greater security within their walls. How many things do we think we need just because the society around us says we need them, when YHWH has given us community and fullness of life already? What securities would we not need if we hadn't been told that we needed them by someone who is in a position to benefit if we start thinking we need them? And most of all, we have to help one another get rid of such encumbrances so that we can all be equally free to leave when the call comes. Where possible, we can borrow from one another rather than from what is outside. And we can all encourage one another to be strong in heart and mind to resist the influence of Babylon so we never consider it to be our "home". Let's be like Ezra and Nehemyah, who heard the call to come out of Babylon simply because it was time, not because there was a threat of destruction, and even when conditions seemed better in Babylon than in the Homeland. Maybe we can leave our "Egypt" without having to be driven out this time.

5. 'For her sins have reached unto heaven, and Elohim has remembered her iniquities.

Compare Genesis 18:20.

6. 'Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled, fill it twice as full for her.

If even S'dom would have repented (Mat. 11:23-24), then how could Babylon's markets ever escape judgment, when they have had thousands of years of warnings and still remain selfish at their root? Avraham's unsuccessful attempts to find a loophole that would give YHWH room for mercy seem to tell us that we probably don't even need to start asking the question of whether Babylon might be salvaged. Then again, there's the story of Yonah. It would be nice if there could just be a smooth transition from this age into the Kingdom, without all the upheavals, and maybe YHWH wants us to ask for that anyway just because on one level it would seem easier on the poor, the ill, or the handicapped, who already seem to have enough troubles. But YHWH also gave us centuries of warning that we should vacate her so He has plenty of room to strike her down, so this makes its turn-around look unlikely. The world can be repaired, but Babylon, like S'dom, is actually what stands in the way of that taking place, so it probably won't be fixed. YHWH has given us open doors to counterbalance our own earlier inadvertent errors--"the sins of our youth". But how many righteous would it take to turn around a system that is unjust to its very core? In fact, verse 20 below goes on to say we should be glad to see her downfall because it represents YHWH's avenging us for all it has done to us. Babylon is behind whatever system keeps the power in the hands of the greedy, keeps those who would otherwise be generous from having anything to be generous with, and removes the outlet for righteousness, as we see in something else the Renewed Covenant says about Lot: that he was oppressed as he tried to bring about justice in that context. It especially applies in situations where someone (much like Constantine) sneaks in and usurps power in the context of returning Israel. (Compare 2 Kefa 1:21-2:10.)

7. 'As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her that much torment and sorrow: because she says in her heart, "I sit as a queen, and am no widow, and I will see no sorrow."

8. 'Therefore her plagues will come in one day--death, and mourning, and famine--and she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is YHWH Elohim who judges her.

9. 'And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived in luxury with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning,

Compare Genesis 19:28.