The 4 war fronts (Part 3)
First posted: November 27, 2006
This is the third in a series of articles in which we study the 4 different types of spiritual fronts that God's remnant believers will be called to fight on, often concurrently. These 4 fronts (mentioned by God in Revelation 10:11) are made manifest as you progress in your spiritual walk in God.
Index
The old man and the sea
As we saw in the previous article, Revelation 10:2-3 lists 4 actions performed by the mighty angel beheld by John:
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Holding a little book open in his hand
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Setting his right foot upon the sea
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Setting his left foot on the earth
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Crying out with a loud voice, as when a lion roars
As we studied in the previous article, the first action points to the white horse of the Apocalypse. In order to understand the other 3 actions, we must first consider the spiritual meaning of the "sea" and the "earth". In this context, the earth represents "safety", whilst the sea represents "peril". In various passages, Scripture portrays those who reach land as those who have been redeemed from the purposelessness of that water-filled abyss called the "sea" (Luke 5:1-11). However, when taken in a negative context, the "earth" becomes the place where the religious complacent gather to rot in cautious mediocrity; the "sea" then becomes the place of prophetic purpose where the truly faithful gather. Those who walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7) are those who are willing to step out of the boat of religious conformity and walk in the waters of the Spirit (Matthew 14:22-32). In that sense, therefore, we can say that God rescues us from the sea of purposelessness and takes us to "salvation earth", which is to serve as a launching pad for us to go back out to sea, but, this time, it is the sea of prophetic purpose. Those who overstay in "salvation earth" are like fish out of water, and, as we all know, fish out of water turn into "odiferous" little creatures.
Whenever a place becomes filled with "land-bound fish", it becomes the "territory of Cain". As we have studied before, the spirit of Cain is a spirit of proud stubbornness that emphasises tradition over prophetic purpose. It is a spirit that certifies "spiritual legitimacy" based on visible, external parameters of "religious rank". Cain, therefore, turns believers into prisoners of visible human structures and methodologies, prisoners who are gripped by guilt at the mere thought of escaping those structures in order to venture out into the sea of direct-relationship faith with God.
"Earthy clay" can be moulded into "clear-cut" and "stable" structures. By contrast, the sea is "liquid"; it is "variable" and "unstable" to the natural eye. The sea is "inherently unstructured", and Cain is quick to seize on this to condemn any "seafaring" as the actions of a rebellious madman who "thinks more highly of himself than he ought to". Because of this, most believers who follow "Citizen Cain" begin to "age" spiritually, deteriorating in Girgashite stagnation.
As we have studied before, the red horse of the Apocalypse comes to defy the spirit of Cain by challenging the long-held Girgashite-Jebusite teachings espoused by Cain. Through His "pestilent" red-horse riders, God teaches His people that there is no "inherent unrighteousness" in living outside the established religious structures of man. God's red horse comes to remove the sense of "separation guilt" promoted by Cain, revealing that the sense of guilt should really lie in those who choose to stay within the unrighteous religious structures of man. Through His red-horse teachings, God exposes man's structures as "much external fluff with no inherent substance", as "pomp and circumstance marches" that go nowhere fast, as drawn-out and purposeless sacrifices that irritate the eyes and ears of God (Isaiah 1:10-14, Proverbs 10:26, Proverbs 28:9, Proverbs 28:11).
Thus, when the mighty angel set his right foot on the sea (Revelation 10:2), it was a figure of how the red horse comes to establish that there is "righteousness in the sea", meaning that those who want to be right with God must step out of the seemingly righteous land of Cain, for the righteous shall live by faith, and there is no faith in staying a "denizen of Cain" (Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:38). You reach "level 1" of righteousness when you are drawn from the "sea" of purposelessness and into the "land" of salvation, but you can only reach "level 2" of righteousness by returning to the lonely and sometimes turbulent "sea" of black-horse impartation. The lonely wilderness, therefore, is the bridge that allows you to cross over into the green Promised land of God. The "land of salvation" is the red "way", the "sea of impartation" is the black "truth", and the "Promised land" is the green "life" (John 14:6).
As indicated on definition.org, the word "denizen" is used to describe a foreigner who is granted rights of residence and sometimes of citizenship. Those who do not realise that they are "foreigners" in the "red land of salvation" shall not fulfil their calling. Those who are too "at home" as "citizens of Cain" (and who do not realise that their life is for rent) shall grow spiritually weary and old. The "denizens of Cain" who do not dream of "returning to the sea" shall turn into old men and women rotting away like dry fish. Gripped by a false understanding of God's righteousness, the "old man" is unable to see that God has set His right foot on the sea.
Name that gloom
According to Revelation 10:2, the 3rd action performed by the mighty angel was to set his left foot on the earth. As we have seen before, the left side is associated with "invisible actions", i.e.- actions performed outside of public view. Therefore, the fact that the angel set his left foot on the earth is a figure of God establishing the reality of the invisible authority that Cain so arrogantly disdains. As God's remnant leave the ageing land of Cain behind and go out to the "disorderly sea", they take the true authority of God with them, an authority that is not based on visible, human parameters. God then begins to use that invisible authority to launch judgments against the "land" the remnant left behind. Since Cain and his followers deny the agents of God's authority, they become incapable of discerning the source on Earth of the judgments against them. Those judgments are invisible (just like the Godly authority upon which they are based), but their consequences are devastatingly real. Through those deadly and visible consequences, God certifies that the remnant's invisible authority is legitimate indeed, for it is an authority derived from Him and exercised in Him, even when it is not an authority approved by man. Therefore, we can say that the angel setting his left foot on the earth points to the black horse of the Apocalypse, which launches invisible judgments from the uncovered wilderness and into the religious structures the remnant left behind. As we have seen before, these structures are ruled by a Cain who has morphed into a Balaam who focuses on the use of grace for temporal purposes.
The New Testament uses two different Greek words for "left", euonomos and aristeros. The word used by the Holy Spirit in Revelation 10:3 is euonomos, which is derived from the Greek word eu, meaning "good", and onoma, meaning "name". Therefore, the word used for "left" in Revelation 10:3 literally means "of a good name" in Greek. There is a prophetic reason for this. In Scripture, "names" are spiritually related to a person's nature and authority. Thus, the Lord is saying in Revelation 10:3 that the black-horse judgments launched by the faithful remnant proceed "from a good name", i.e.- from a sound authority, even when man may declare that authority to be "bogus" or "self-attributed" (because it has not been "ordained" by him).
{You may want to read an Anglican Church posting on advent-episcopal.org, which has some thoughts on the words euonomos and aristeros mentioned above}
"1 And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. 4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Revelation 3:1-6)
Notice that God's Spirit of Sardis says to the church in Sardis, "you have a name that you live, and are dead" (v1). This is God's indictment against "red" Cain and his followers, who claim that they are connected to the living God because of the humanly recognised religious name painted on the wall outside. Cain labels those who refuse the covering of his name as "heretics" who have "died to God", without realising that he is the one who is truly dead in God's eyes. Notice how the Lord says that Sardis has a "few names" who have not "defiled their garments" (v4). This is a prophetic reference to the remnant residing in the "land of Cain", a remnant whose "name" (i.e.- spiritual authority) is certified by God, even when He has rejected the authority of their surrounding structures.
The word "defiled" in verse 4 was translated from the Greek word molyno, which is apparently derived from the word melas meaning "black"; "coincidentally", melas is the word used in the original text of Revelation 6:5 when referring to the black horse of the Apocalypse. Therefore, the Lord is establishing a "left-footed irony" in verse 4: the black-horse riders, who appear to be "defiled" or "soiled" in "blackness" on the outside are the ones who are actually "pure" and "white" on the inside. The nameless "black ones" are the ones who are truly "white" and whose names matter to God, so much so that they are considered by God to be worthy of walking with Him in white (v4), like a virgin bride alongside her bridegroom on the way to the altar.
Notice how God declares in verse 5 that He will not blot out the "name" of His faithful ones "out of the book of life" (v5). "Sardisian" Cain is unable to discern that those whom he belittles and disdain are so important to God that they are destined for "eternal life" with Him (if they are willing to abide in Him). As we have said many times before, "eternal life" in Scripture is not equivalent to "escaping hell"; instead, it means "eternal Oneness" with the God of Consuming Fire (Isaiah 33:14-17), and not all of those who are "saved from literal hell" shall enter into "eternal life" with God (for remaining in "the book of life" requires "overcoming" in Him, as is clearly indicated in verse 5 above).
Verse 5 declares that Yeshua shall "confess the names" of His faithful ones before His Father and before His angels. This is to publicly certify that the disdained "anonymous names" of God's black-horse pariahs in the desert (Numbers 24:7-9) are indeed the true names whose authority shapes the destiny of this planet. Let him who has ears hear what the Lord is saying.
The "anonymous names" of God's faithful "desert wanderers" release destructive judgments of redemption into the Earth. As the inhabitants of the Earth are exposed to these judgments of gloom, they look around, and they can only hear a "voice" (Revelation 6:6). It is the authoritative voice of those whose authority they disdained. Therefore, as God's black-horse judgments thunder across the Earth, the inhabitants of the Earth are forced to play "Name that gloom".
There is more to say regarding this subject, but we will do so in a future posting.