billy-brown 2

The following vision excerpt from John the Revelator below:

Rev. 15
1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.
2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and marvelous are Your works,
O Lord God, the Almighty;
Righteous and true are Your ways,
King of the nations!
4 “Who will not fear, O Lord, and glorify Your name?
For You alone are holy;
For ALL THE NATIONS WILL COME AND WORSHIP BEFORE YOU,
FOR YOUR RIGHTEOUS ACTS HAVE BEEN REVEALED.”

shows without doubt that there are two kingdoms in clear co-existent opposition to each other: the beast "earthly" Kingdom in this world and the "not of this world" (but "in" this world still) Kingdom of God.

How?

Well, the saints mentioned here in the vision passage of Rev. 15:2b below--

Rev. 15:2b . . . those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.

died physically at the hands of the beast--and their souls went to heaven as a result. Now why did they die?

Well, because they were not deceived to worship the beast by the false prophet:

Rev. 13
11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb and he spoke as a dragon.
12 He exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence. And he makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose fatal wound was healed.
13 He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men.
14 And he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
16 And he causes all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free men and the slaves, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
17 and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark, either the name of the beast or the number of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for the number is that of a man; and his number is six hundred and sixty-six.

In other words, because Jesus has all authority in heaven and in earth, the saints were privileged to demonstrate faithfulness to King Jesus--and they did not say this (in bold below):

John 19
14 Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!”
15 So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

Now, look carefully at this verse below:

Rev. 13
15 And it was given to him to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

Yep.

Because Jesus has all authority in heaven and in earth, the beast/dragon/false prophet cannot not force the saints to worship "the image of the beast" at all. Thus, all the "unholy trinity" has is deception to use as a tool.

That's it . . . DECEPTION.

And a "2-dollar bill cannot be counterfeited" . . . the saints KNEW that Jesus only was the REAL prophet.

(See John 10: Jesus said, My sheep hear . . . and they don't know the voice of strangers . . .)

At any rate, the saints died a witness/martyr's death at the hands of the beast because the saints dared to acknowledge in holy faith that only Jesus is the Immortal King . . .

And in martyrdom, there is sweet "victory" in a real way . . . and vindication of our Lord God.

Interesting . . .