Our Great Work Is About to Begin!

“After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. He told them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road.

When you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace to this house’. If someone who promotes peace is there, your peace will rest on them; if not, it will return to you. Stay there, eating and drinking whatever they give you, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

When you enter a town and are welcomed, eat what is offered to you. Heal the sick who are there and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ But when you enter a town and are not welcomed, go into its streets and say, ‘Even the dust of your town we wipe from our feet as a warning to you. Yet be sure of this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to the heavens? No, you will go down to Hades.

Whoever listens to you listens to me; whoever rejects you rejects me; but whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.’

The seventy-two returned with joy and said, ‘Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name.’

He replied, ‘I saw Satan fall like lightening from heaven. I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.’

At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, ‘I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.

All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.’

Then he turned to his disciples and said privately, ‘Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but not hear it.’” (Luke 10: 1-24)

The symbolism within the prior passage is something engrained in many of our minds. We see and understand that the Apostles were blessed to see and understand many things that others cannot. We also are shown the manner that the word of Jesus’s coming to the land was spread by the seventy-two. The seventy-two were granted authority that forced demonic spirits to bow down to them and they were given proclamations to be given where they were sent.

When they return to Christ is when the scene changes. Those seventy-two were excited about their triumph, while the Messiah was proclaiming he witnessed the falling of Satan. When this event occurred, Jesus proclaimed authority upon his chosen. Either the fall of Lucifer had just happened in real time, or Jesus was prophesying about a future event. We understand that Jesus’s vision was of a future event, when we compare to the writings of John.

“A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant and cried out in pain as she was about to give birth. Then another sign appeared in heaven: an enormous red dragon with seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on its heads. Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born. She gave birth to a son, a male child, who ‘will rule all the nations with an iron scepter. And her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. The woman fled into the wilderness to a place prepared for her by God, where she might be taken care of for 1260 days.

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The dragon was hurled down – that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to earth, and his angels with him.

Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: ‘Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives to much as to shrink from death. Therefore rejoice, you heavens and you who dwell in them! But woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short.’

When the dragon saw that he had been hurled to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. The woman was given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to a place prepared for her in the wilderness, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a times, out of the serpent’s reach. Then from his mouth the serpent spewed water like a river, to overtake the woman and sweep her away with the torrent. But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring – those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.” (Revelation 12: 1-17)

(There is a lot to unpack in Revelation 12 and for those interested I recommend reviewing “Blood Moons and the Solar Eclipse of 2017, Are Prophetic Signs in the Heaven Indicating the Revealing of God’s Mystery?, The Lord’s Sign: Are Signs in the Sun, Moon and Stars Indicating the Return of Our Savior, and America in Bible Prophecy: Wealth and Prosperity vs Heavenly Abundance.)

The symbolism depicted within Revelation 12 is spellbound and hard to decipher. Many different interpretations have been present though the centuries, but the recent understanding about the symbols that appeared in the sky in 2017 match the imagery given within Revelation 12, have changed modern interpretations. The sign in heaven occurred and many believe the second sign also materialized with the constellation of Draco’s actions during the same year. The one event that cannot be mistaken is the fall of Satan and his angels. This actual event does not appear to have happened, yet, at least in the physical world.

We can also see the importance of the authority given during this time to those who He has chosen. To survive the actual fall of Lucifer to earth would require supernatural protection and abilities.

Combining this supernatural phenomenon with war in heaven and our human minds cannot comprehend what this could possibly entail. War in heaven could only be compared to all out nuclear war here on earth. As the tensions on our world worsen, many believe that the same is present in heaven:

“This, then, is how you should pray:

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.’” (Matthew 6: 9-13)

If heaven and earth are indeed linked, like many have interpreted this verse, then both heaven and earth appear on the verge of massive war. This combined with the “signs in heaven” and we can conclude that the time the prophets of old warned us about, it about to become reality.

Our work is only beginning. As our world descends into chaos, and our lives become uprooted, will we be one of the seventy-two who were sent out to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God or will be hide, allowing our materialistic and self-absorbed society overtake our influence? The choice is all ours and we may be required to make our decision very soon!

“Jesus went on to say, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me.’ At this, some of his disciples said to one another, ‘What does he mean by saying, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going to the Father’? They kept asking, ‘What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he is saying.’

Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, ‘Are you asking one another what I meant when I said, ‘In a little while you will see me no more, and then after a little while you will see me’? Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy. A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. So, with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy. In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father. In that day you will ask in my name. I am saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I come from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.’

Then Jesus’s disciples said, ‘Now you are speaking clearly and without figures of speech. Now we can see that you know all things and that you do not even need to have anyone ask you questions. This makes us believe that you came from God.’

‘Do you now believe?’ Jesus replied. ‘A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

I have told you these things, so that in me you will have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.’” (John 16: 16-33)

Clinton Kowach

04/16/2020