The Signs of the Zodiac, No. 7
RO140-01

The Bible

The Signs of the Zodiac

The story of the stars is told in three books – three books that each cover four of the zodiacal signs.

Book 1 – The Redeemer

1. Virgo

   Book one, we indicated, begins here with Virgo the virgin portraying the nature of the humanity of Jesus Christ – sinless.

2. Libra

   Then it includes secondly in book one on the Redeemer, Libra the scales, which indicate the lack of absolute righteousness on the part of man facing a holy God.

3. Scorpio

   The third was Scorpio the scorpion, indicating the attempts of Satan to destroy the ministry of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer, and thus to prevent redemption.

4. Sagittarius

   The fourth was Sagittarius the archer, portraying Jesus Christ finishing off Satan, and completely devastating him upon the cross.

Book 2 – The Redeemed

1. Capricorn

   First, Capricorn is the sea goat, portraying the death of Christ, but the resulting life of others through that death.

2. Aquarius

   Number two was Aquarius the water bearer, portraying the living quarters of life, which the gospel is to those who believe it.

3. Pisces

   Number three was Pisces the fishes, representing the vast multitude of human beings who do believe the gospel message.

4. Aries

   Number four was Aries the ram, representing Jesus Christ, now no longer as the dying Lamb of God, but as the conqueror of Satan, and as the one who has established through His redemption that salvation that God is portraying here in the skies.

Book 3 – Redemption

1. It begins with Taurus the Bull, which portrays the judgment of God, and the wrath of God, upon those who are unbelievers.

2. Gemini

   Then there was Gemini, the twins, representing the close relationship between Jesus Christ and His special people, the church.

3. Cancer

   Number three in book three on redemption is Cancer the crab, which dealt with the security of the believer in the grasp of Jesus Christ once one has been born again.

4. Leo – The Savior's Final Triumph

   We come now to the final constellation in book three on redemption, and the final sign of the zodiac in our study. And that is Leo the lion. The title of chapter four in book three is "The Savior's Final Triumph." That is illustrated for us in Revelation 5:5 where, we read, "And one of the elders said unto me, 'Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The root of David has prevailed to open the scroll, and to loose its seven seals." Here John is weeping because there is none found suited to open the scroll to reveal God's final plan for the tribulation era. One of the elders says to him, "Don't cry because there is somebody, Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah is qualified to break those seals." And, of course, Leo the lion, in the constellations, portrays Jesus Christ in that specific way.

   One night on our camp out to the Big Bend National Park, Mr. Short and I went out, after we had everybody bedded down, with our star chart. And we were tracing some of the constellations, and we found Leo overhead. It was kind of easy to see him because he has this big question mark type of arrangement of stars. And there he was – directly overhead, standing there, ready to pounce on Hydra, the serpent. He was in a position ready to go. The sign in the larger constellation shows Leo with his paws out here, and he's about to stomp on Hydra, the serpent, so that he is in a very challenging mode there.

   The Hebrew name of this sign is "Aryeh," which is the word for a lion in the act of hunting down his prey. This is interesting that the Jews used this word, because there are several words for "lion" in the Hebrew language, but they picked the one of a lion who is in a combat position, about ready to pounce upon a prey.

   The star names in this sign are also significant. The brightest star is located about where the heart of the lion is. It's a first magnitude star, and it is called "Regulus." And "Regulus" means "treading underfoot." The second brightest star, which is also a first magnitude star, out in his tail is a star which has been named "Denebola." And Denebola means "the judge" or "the Lord who comes." Both of these names of these two prominent stars certainly speak of Jesus Christ as the Judge Who is coming, and the One who is going to tread underfoot Satan and those who follow him.

   A star up in the lion's mane is called "AlGiebha." This is an Arabic name, and it means" the exaltation," which again, very fittingly describes the nature of Jesus Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

   The star names in the image of the lion indicate that this sign certainly points to Jesus Christ as the lion of the tribe of Judah, as we saw in Revelation 5:5. Furthermore, in Genesis 49:8-9, you may remember from our Revelation study, of the sons of Jacob. As Jacob was dying, he made a prophetic utterance concerning each of his sons. And when he came to Judah, he described Judah as the one who would be the lion of the tribe, and through whom the royalty of the promised Savior would come. And, of course, that's exactly what happened to the tribe of Judah in which Jesus was born.

   So, this constellation, Leo the lion, portrays the Lord Jesus Christ in His Second Coming to rule over the whole earth – that time when he will rule for 1,000 years as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Bible is very explicit about that. It describes that in Revelation 19:11-16. And this is the kind of an explanation that is quite obviously referring to something that has never happened in the experience of the human race as yet – that it is something future. John gets a preview. Revelation 19:11: "And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse, and He that sat upon him was called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. And He had a name written that no man knew but He Himself. And He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. And His name is called the Word of God." John calls Him the "Logos," which is the Greek term for "word," referring here to Jesus Christ.

   So, here you have the picture of Jesus Christ coming as Judge at the end of the tribulation, where the nations of the world have all ganged up together now, to finish Him off, and Jesus Christ comes charging in, and He slaughters them left and right by the millions. And that's why He is described here as having a garment which is dipped in blood.

   Verse 14 says, "And the armies that were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the winepress with the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God." You cannot apply this passage to heaven by any stretch of the imagination. It is clearly talking about an earthly scene. It is clearly talking about Jesus Christ as a ruler here on this earth. It is clearly talking about absolute authority. He will rule with a rod of iron. He will be a beneficent dictator. Everything He does will be perfect and good for mankind. But He will be the last word. There will be no appeal from Him because he will be God Almighty ruling upon this earth.

   Verse 16 says, "He has on His vesture and on His thigh a name written" King of Kings and Lord of Lords." And that's why He can be Leo the supreme lion.

   So, this consolation pictures. Jesus Christ is a victorious conqueror, in contrast to the image that we have of Him at His first advent, which was that of a lowly meek Lamb of God, sacrificed in death for the sins of the world. The apostles had been taught these two pictures of Jesus Christ. Where had they been taught that? In the Old Testament. The Old Testament is constantly talking about the coming Messiah Savior as a Lamb to be slaughtered. And it is constantly talking about Him as a royal, conquering lion.

   When the writers of Scripture in the New Testament thought this through, they said, "There's something really strange here. Those are contradictory pictures. You can't come as a meek Lamb to be slaughtered, and come as a conquering lion. The two don't fit together. Aha, but what they didn't realize was that they were going to be two advents of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus Christ was going to come the first time as the Lamb, and then the second time He was going to come as the lion. When they looked out into the future, they saw these two roles of Lamb and Lion as one. It was only as they approached the church age, when they discovered that God was interrupting the program for Israel, and that there was going to be at least a 2,000-year break between the Lamb and Lion roles – that they realized: "Aha, that's the explanation. He's going to have a First Coming, which is going to be as a Lamb. Then He will have a Second Coming. That will be as the Lion. At the Second Coming, He comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

   1 Peter 1:10-11 describe that confusion for us: "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you." The prophets of the Old Testament said that God was going to save people and bring them to heaven. The Jews were going to get salvation. So, as the prophets who wrote these things inquired about the salvation that was going to come through this Messiah, they had a problem, because the salvation said that it was going to come through a lamb-like character and a lion-like character. Those are contradictory. Is there a mistake in the Bible? Has God given us some false information?

   Verse 11 says, "Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ, Who is in them, did signify when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ (the lamb character) and the glory that should follow (the lion character)." The First Advent was in suffering as a Lamb. The Second Advent, as the Lion, was the glory time. How do you bring them together? The Old Testament prophets did not understand.

   Peter comes along and says, "We know the answer. The Lord has revealed to us the connection. God sent His Son the first time as the sacrificial Lamb. He has taken Him back to heaven. A new body of believers is being put together – the church. They have nothing to do with Israel, or the Judaism, or the theocracy, or anything that pertains to that. They have their own set of divine directives. But when God is through putting together the church, and the last Christian has been born into the body of Christ, then they will be taken out of this world, caught up to meet the Lord. God will give them seven more years on this earth to finish off Satan's reign during the Tribulation era. And then Jesus Christ is going to return with the church as the conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will come then as the Supreme Lord of Lords and King of Kings.

   So, the line is viewed as the king of the beasts, as Jesus Christ is viewed as the Supreme King of Kings and of royalty. Leo the Lion then conveys the message of Jesus Christ exercising the righteous wrath of God against unbelievers, and that wrath will be climaxed in that seven-year tribulation era alliance.

   A lion, by nature, you may know, is an efficient and frightful hunting machine. It is not without reason that he is called the king of the beasts. He is the most fearful of the jungle, by the very fact of what he can do. There are few animals that combine the lion's strength; his speed; and, His agility. He is, after all, a large cat, and he has all those qualities in a superb dimension. He can easily kill and drag away an animal as large as a buffalo. He can crush the skull of a horse, or break the backbone of an ox with one blow of his paw. It has large teeth that are capable of crunching big bones. His claws can cut a gash four inches deep in anything that it hits. A lion presents a majestic figure as it moves through the forest. And its roar instills fear in the animal world, as well as among human beings. The lion is an efficient and frightful creature, and it is a fitting symbol of what Jesus Christ is, as He finally faces those who have chosen to cast their lot with Satan, and to rebel against God's authority.

   The whole tribulation era is described in the Bible as a time of terrifying divine judgment of suffering and of death. Tribulation humanity will certainly be left stunned and helpless in the face of the holy anger of Jesus Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah.

   So, that's the basic message behind that constellation.

   1. Hydra – The Serpent Fleeing

      We have the three sidepieces, the three decans, that further expand the message of this last sign. First of all is Hydra the serpent stretching out across the sky. This is paragraph one of the final chapter. It is entitled "The Serpent Fleeing." It portrays a long serpent which stretches one third of the way around the circle of the zodiac. The name "Hydra" means "he is abhorred," which gives you an immediate clue as to who this creature stands for. It stands for Satan.

      The brightest star at the heart of the serpent is called "AlPhard," which means "separated" or "put away," indicating the defeat of Satan by Jesus Christ. What this decan portrays is a serpent who is fleeing from the lion, who is about to pounce on him. So, it represents Satan facing the final judgment of defeat in the presence of Jesus Christ. The feet of Leo are about to pounce upon Hydra, representing Satan.

      Satan, in the form of a serpent, is a well-known figure in the Bible. This is the form in which Satan appeared in the Garden of Eden to deceive Adam and Eve into sinning against God. We're told that in Genesis 3:1 and in Revelation 12:9. Satan, as you know, was once the supreme and holy archangel over all the angels of God. It was Satan who, in that role as the supreme archangel, rebelled against God's authority, and sought to take God's place as the Supreme Being in the universe.

      Today, Satan continues to try to undermine God's supremacy by telling people that they are gods in development. And I want to remind you that that was the approach which we now know today is the prominent approach of Eastern mysticism, and has now been taken over by the New Age movement. The basic thrust of both of those satanic evils is that everybody is potentially a God – that he has deep within him that needs to be nurtured. This is the principle that was laid out to Eve. Genesis 3:4-5: "And the serpent in which Satan was disguised said unto the woman,' You shall not surely die.' She said, 'God said if we eat of that one particular tree, we'll die.' He said, 'No, you won't, for God knows that in the day you eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and you shall be as God, knowing good and evil. If you eat of that tree, you'll become just like God. So, don't worry about it. God just doesn't want you to fulfill your own divine destiny.'"

      So, today Satan controls the world, and all the institutions of mankind which he has organized, into a system of evil. When we talk about the world, we're talking about a system of organization that Satan has created of all the institutions of society, and they're all evil. And it doesn't matter what it is. Even religious institutions have been organized by Satan into an evil structure. So, Satan, through these institutions, controls the world.

      Now when the Lord Jesus returns from heaven as the conquering Lion, He will root out all of this evil structure that Satan has created in human society, and the Lord will dispose of both Satan and his system.

      In ancient mythology, Hydra here was portrayed as a terrible serpent with 100 heads. The problem with killing this creature was that, if a head were chopped off, two more would spring up in its place, unless you immediately applied fire to the wound when the head was chopped off. So, along comes Hercules, that we've learned about earlier, who represented Jesus Christ. And Hercules, in ancient mythology, is said to have destroyed Hydra, so that you have he who represents Jesus Christ destroying he who represents Satan. The way that Hercules did it was by having a hot iron in his hand. And as soon as he chopped off one head, he seared the wound so that two heads couldn't pop out of it, and finally disposed of all the heads.

      So, it's an apt picture of evil in the world which man, with a human viewpoint principles, is trying to cut down. Make no mistake about the fact that politicians and religious leaders and educators want to cut down evil in this world. But like the Hydra of ancient mythology, as soon as they cut the head off of one evil, two spring up in its place. It is no secret that government is the mortal enemy of personal human freedom. Government is always the mortal enemy. Thank God that we had founding fathers who understood that government is always the mortal enemy of freedom, and therefore, it must be chained as much as possible, and not permitted to have a life of its own.

      The ancient world found that it could not kill the Hydra. As they cut one evil off, two spring up in its place. So, evil government today tries to cut out an evil. Sincere men, often in government, try to cut off an evil. And what they do is create more evils than they cut off, because they won't go back to the Bible. They won't go back to operating the way God said human government should operate, which is that it should be practically invisible and non-existent in terms of its power, and of its authority. The evil in Satan's world cannot be restrained by human beings. But every generation brings up a new group of religious, educational and political leaders and social scientists, and they say, "Listen, we can solve this."

      Well, the Word of God says, "Only Jesus Christ is going to get it fixed right." And this particular creature, Hydra, out in mythology, interestingly enough, portrays that desperate attempt on the part of mankind to cut down evil apart from the principles of the Word of God. If only the leaders of society would say, "Let's go back to the Bible. Let's apply the principles of Scripture, and we'll be able to cut down the evil heads of the Hydra. If we'll do that, we'll make it." But unfortunately, the technique of Satan and those who run this world is to operate on a basis that violates the principles of doctrine.

      So, that's the first sidepiece. Satan, in the form of Hydra, is about ready to be disposed of by Leo the lion.

   2. The Crater – The Bowl of Wrath upon Him

      The second is called the "Crater," or the "Cup." The title of this paragraph is "The Bowl of Wrath upon Him." This portrays a cup which is filled with the wrath of God, which is attached to the body of Hydra the serpent. Actually, the bottom two stars that make up the cup are also part of the body of Hydra. So, it is symbolic that, when the people looked up in the sky and they described this, they would say, "Do you see this serpent? Do you see that cup? It's on his back. He can't get away from it. That cup is filled with his doom, and it's attached to him so that no matter how he wiggles, he cannot escape it." God's wrath in the cup is being poured out in punishment upon Satan, and upon the humanity that has followed him in rebellion against God. Revelation 20:10 says, "And the devil that deceived them (mankind) was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone (hell), where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever."

      We find the false prophet and the antichrist thrown into the lake of fire at the start of the millennium. 1,000 years later, they're still there, screaming and kicking. That demonstrates to us that you don't get wiped out in hell. You don't go into oblivion. You don't get burned up. The pain continues forever. This is clearly stated concerning Satan. When he gets in there, he'll suffer forever and ever.

      So, the cup of God's wrath is there, attached to Satan, ready to be poured out upon him. So, the unbelievers who have followed Satan in his rejection of God's authority – they too may count on the fact that they will follow the cup of wrath. We still have human beings who think that they will escape the cutting down by the wrath of God eventually. Psalm 11:6 says, "Upon the wicked, He shall reign snares, fire, and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall be the portion of their cup." That is fascinating. This is the portion of their cup – the very thing that you see here attached to Hydra. It is the cup of God's judgment. Make no mistake. When God gets mad, He really gets mad. When He has finally run out of His patience, it's over.

      Psalm 75:8 says this: "For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup. And the wine is red. It is fully mixed. And He pours out of the same. But the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth, shall drain them and drink them." That's an interesting analogy. It says that God is finally holding out a cup. It looks very attractive, because it looks like it's filled with sweet wine. But when the unbeliever drinks it, he gets to the dregs at the bottom, and he realizes that it's a cup of poison. It's a cup of eternal doom and punishment.

      In Revelation 14:9, this sobering picture of the cup is presented in this way: "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb." This cup, before there was written Scripture, and people looked up in the sky and saw it, and described it as attached to the serpent, representing the evil one is trying to destroy the virgin's Son, they talked about the wrath and the poison and the judgment that was in that cup – the same thing that now we have recorded in Scripture. Verse 11 says, "And the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever. And they have no rest, day nor night – who worship the beast and his image. And whoever receives the mark of his name."

      Here again, we have indicated very clearly to us that the Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong. Those who are unbelievers do not get wiped out of existence after they die, but they continue forever experiencing the suffering that God has designed in this cup of wrath for those who have rebelled against Him.

   3. Corvus – The Carcass Devoured

      The final decan, and the close of our study is Corvus the raven. Paragraph three of this chapter is entitled "The Carcass Devoured." Here, the stars portrayed a raven, which is grasping the Hydra in its claws. The serpent is being torn to pieces by the claws, and with the beak of the raven. And as the ancients described this little bird, hanging onto the serpent up there in the sky, they would talk about this bird digging its claws into the serpent Hydra, and its beak tearing them to shreds.

      The brightest star is in the eye of the raven, and it is called "AlChiba." That means "the curse inflicted." Of course, it is speaking about the curse inflicted on Satan. Another star is "MinchiralGorab." And that means "the raven tearing to pieces." Now, that's amazing – that the name of the star actually means "the raven tearing to pieces." The ancient world viewed Corvus as a sign of treachery, which is being punished. Whenever they looked up at the raven, they said, "That's a sign of a symbol of the gods – of somebody who has been treacherous, and who is now being punished."

      This decan, of course, portrays God's final destruction of Satan's power, and of his influence over mankind. The Bible itself is full of illustrations where birds are associated with the divine judgment of God upon evil. And some of them, indeed, are very sobering comparisons. Notice, for example, 1 Samuel 17:46: "This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand." Here's little David speaking to Goliath: "And I will smite you, and take your head from you. And I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fouls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth, and all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel." Here, on the occasion of David killing the giant Goliath, David says, "When I cut your head off, I'm going to leave all of you out there on the field for the birds to eat up as a sign of divine judgment upon you." Birds in the Bible are a symbol of God's judgment.

      Proverbs 30:17 says, "The eye that mocks at his father, and despises to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it." Here in Proverbs is a point of wisdom. It says that the young person who makes fun of his father, and who despises the directions of his mother, and refuses to obey, may expect to have the experience (and then, here's an analogy) of having your eyes plucked out of your head, and for the young eagles (the birds) to eat it," which is God's poetic way of saying, "If you mistreat your parents, and if you make fun of your parents' instruction in godliness, and if you refuse to obey the directions of your mother, you may expect that God is going to judge you. You will be denied the blessings that you seek. You'll be denied the blessings that God is ready to grant to you."

      Birds in the Bible are agents of divine judgment. The very last book of the Bible makes that same picture (that same analogy) very clear in Revelation 19:17-18: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls (to all the birds) that fly in the midst of heaven, 'The great battles of Armageddon are over. The battlefields are strewn with the dead who have rebelled against God. The angel stands up, and he cries to all the birds flying in heaven: 'Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the Great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and enslaved, both small and great.''"

      Now it is the dumbest thing in the world to try to take a passage like that, as the amillennialists do, and say, "This is representing a historical event. This happened in the Roman period. This happened in the era of the Middle Ages. This happened here on this occasion with the Battle of Hastings," or something like that. It is clearly something that has never taken place in this way of such a major proportion upon a command from an angel of God that all the world could hear. Birds are associated with divine judgment against evil. Satan, from the beginning of the human race, has been trying to rob God of His rightful glory, and to obliterate God's Word from the mind of men. That's what the devil wants to do. He wants to not only keep you from knowing the Word of God, but He works every day to try to help you forget what you did learn.

      Satan has to do his evil work against Jesus Christ, of course (don't forget), through human beings. He has to function as an angelic being through human beings. That's what makes the evil that is in our world so horrendous today. It is evil produced at the hands of human beings against other human beings. Satan has to do his evil work against Jesus Christ through human beings, and often these wicked human beings are religious characters themselves.

      In John 11:47, we read, "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, 'What shall we do? For this man (Jesus Christ) does many miracles. If we let Him thus alone, all men will believe on Him, and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation."

      Verse 53: "Then from that day forward, they took counsel together to put Him to death." What was it that precipitated this dramatic decision to finally murder Jesus Christ? It was because He had raised Lazarus from the dead. And they said, "This has gone too far. If we let him go around doing miracles like this, then the people are going to start believing Him, and they're not going to pay attention to us – we who are their preachers and their religious leaders." Enlightenment will have come to the people. And sooner or later, God exposes the religious who are doing their wicked evil. He brings them short. Sooner or later, He enables people who have been played for fools, and who have chosen to be fools, because they did not pay attention to Word of God – He shows them the evil that has existed, and that has cost them so much relative to their eternity. But Satan always has to do his work through evil human beings – not directly.

      So, what this raven portrays for us is this attack of God against human beings who are the agents of that wickedness. Satan's leadership and doctrine have filled the world today with misery; with disease; with emotional instability; and, with death. This was a lot nicer world to live in before people abandoned the Bible, and started to listen to the devil's doctrines. The promoters of spiritual deception in the New Age movement today will one day be torn to pieces by Jesus Christ, and cast into hell forever.

      So, under the claws of Corvus the raven, you may see all the propagators of the evil of our day; all the New Age leaders; and, all the liberal mentalities who are violating the principles of Scripture under some guise of bringing about some human betterment – sooner or later, the birds of God's judgment are going to tear them to shreds. Evil men can corrupt the Word of God, and they can deceive gullible people. But their doom in the lake of fire is sealed.

      Satan, of course, cannot win in his attempt to replace God in the universe, and his followers are nevertheless trying to do the same to this day. But they will all share the common fate of the lake of fire. Satan cannot win. His followers cannot win, but they are going to keep trying. Therefore, Christians who know better must resist these evil people, even when we know that ultimately we will be removed, and God will say, "OK, go ahead. Have the kind of a world that you want to put together."

      Revelation 20:10 says again: "The devil that deceived them is cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, tormented forever and ever."

      Revelation 20:15 says, "That whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." So, both Satan and his followers are losers. They can't win.

      The Lord Jesus Christ is going to return to this earth, then, as the royal line of the family of David. He is going to remove the divine curse from the earth. He's going to let nature become what it once was before the curse was placed upon it. And He's going to open great vistas of blessing to mankind. And For the first time in the human race, there will be peace and prosperity upon this earth. There'll be no more war. There'll be no more teaching of wars. There'll be no more exploitation. There'll be no more prominent people riding high on evil. It's all going to be brought to an end when Jesus Christ returns.

We close today, in our study of the zodiac, with Revelation 21:1-8, which describe that dramatic return and transformation of the Lord Jesus Christ as Corvus the raven, plucking and destroying all that Satan has created, and putting in its place that restored heaven and earth. John says, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall do well with them, and they shall be His people. And God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow; nor crying; neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away."

All those things in verse 4 were brought about by Satan. All these things in verse 4 are maintained in this world by Satan's agents – the human beings that keep following Satan's principles for human society: violating human government; violating the institutions of education; and, violating the social relationships and the moral relationships. We need all of those things, with Christian orientation, more than ever before. But don't forget that the tears; the sorrow; the death; the crying; and, the pain has been created by those who are following Satan's leadership. They themselves, very often, would be classified as respectable, good people, but they're off targets in their orientation.

Verse 5 says, "And He that set upon the throne said, 'Behold, I make all things new.' And He said unto me, write. For these words are true and faithful.' And He (that is, Jesus Christ) said to me, 'It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely (the image of Aquarius, the water bearer). And he that overcomes shall inherit all things. And I will be His God, and he shall be My Son. But the fearful (that is, the cowardly – that's what the word 'fearful' means – but the cowardly), and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

All those who are characterized by these evils, who have never found those evils forgiven through Jesus Christ, will suffer the second death, which is an eternity in the lake of fire. Those verses amply declare for us what Leo the lion is going to accomplish in the final judgments upon humanity. And for those who choose to join Satan's forces and follow his leads, there is no escape. That is the end of the line. How much better to have followed the story around the zodiac from the virgin through all those wonderful descriptions of her Son, and what He's going to do, and the multiplied illustrations, we've had of His conquest of the attempts of Satan to undermine and to destroy. When we get to Leo, Jesus Christ, the little virgin's boy is going to be the winner. You who have chosen to join forces with Him are going to find yourself on the winning team.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1988

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