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The rise of the saints, part 17

The war described in Revelation 12 shows how the dragon (or serpent) persecutes the woman in the wilderness and how the overcomers defeat the dragon over a period of time. This persecution is pictured as a flood of water, but divine assistance comes from the earth, swallowing up the water. Revelation 12:15, 16 says,

¹⁵ And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood. ¹⁶ But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened up its mouth and drank up the water which the dragon poured out of his mouth.

This was not the end of the war, however, for we then read in Revelation 12:17, and 13:1,

¹⁷ So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. ¹ And the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore…

We see here that the beast arising from the sea (a sea serpent) is connected to the flood of water coming from the mouth of the serpent. In fact, Revelation 13 speaks of two beasts, the first from the sea and the second from the earth, who are sent to “make war with the rest of her children.” I wrote about these beasts in my commentary on the book of The Revelation, Book 5.

Fortunately, John tells us the outcome of this war in Revelation 12:11,

¹¹ And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.

Because we fought this Cosmic War in December of 2012, based upon the pattern of Revelation 12, we expected to see the sign of a flood shortly after the overthrow of the Red Dragon on December 19 (Union Bank of Switzerland) and the overthrow of the Prince of Persia a week later (December 26, 27).

After the war concluded, I heard from some brethren who worked for UBS. They wrote:

“We’ve been standing in the fiery furnace, working diligently as unto the Lord, thanking Him for the provision of our families, all the while crying out to Him to deliver us from captivity and release us to full time work for the Kingdom… So your recent blogs regarding the battle against the defeat of the red dragon (symbolized by UBS in the earth) caught our attention and resonated with our Spirits. With the blog on his defeat, the Lord gave us this prayer: In the name of Jesus Christ, I release the victory over the red dragon here at UBS. We’ve prayed this every day since….

“So we wanted to ask you if there was anything we might be able to do, right here in the belly of the dragon, to continue to put on display and call to earth Christ’s victory in this.”

As we will see shortly, the phrase, “in the belly of the dragon,” suggests the story of Jonah, the prophet who was swallowed by “a great fish” (Jonah 1:17).

The Flood Sign

We were indeed given this sign right here in Minneapolis, where I live. It occurred on January 3, 2013 and the next day the news article from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune read this way:

A deluge from below: Burst water main floods downtown Mpls

A major water main break in downtown Minneapolis flooded streets and cut off water to a substantial swath of the city just before rush hour Thursday afternoon, forcing workers in businesses left without plumbing to head home early, snarling traffic and disrupting nightlife.

Crews planned to work through the night to repair the damage caused by 14 million gallons of rushing water, but Hennepin Avenue from Washington Avenue N. to NE. Main Street, which includes the Hennepin Avenue Bridge, along with nearby stretches of N. 1st and 2nd Streets, will remain closed through the morning rush hour, officials said.

The 36-inch pipe was "a main transmission line for the southern half of the city," Kotke said. Residents as far south as Lake of the Isles were affected when pressure dropped.

Everywhere, a mess

At the height of the deluge in downtown Minneapolis, a pickup truck drove across the rushing stream, water coming up over its bumper. Two hours later, as the water began to recede, an adventurous bicyclist on fat tires plowed through ankle-deep water only to wipe out on the ice-glazed sidewalk across the street.

https://www.startribune.com/a-deluge-from-below-burst-water-main-floods-downtown-mpls/185599962/?refer=y

Residents of Minneapolis saw only a flood of water, but those of us with eyes to see had been watching for a flood sign. We saw this “deluge” as a sign that the serpent was really quite stupid for trying to create another flood. After all, God had promised not to allow another flood to destroy all flesh (Genesis 9:11). He signed that scroll with His signature—a rainbow.

The drainage system under the streets of Minneapolis eventually drank up the water from the flood, fulfilling the word in Revelation 12:16. So that is how this Cosmic War concluded in January 2013. The dragon was defeated in that battle, but yet we knew that in the big picture the war would continue (Revelation 12:17).

So our attention then turned to the revelation of the Superbowl on February 3, 2013, where the Ravens beat the 49ers 34-31.

The Superbowl in 2013

The Superbowl was played in New Orleans, a city that is largely below sea level and is associated prophetically with Nineveh (“City of Fish”) and the story of Jonah. This city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At the time, President Bush referred to New Orleans as “that great city,” which is the biblical term (KJV) for Nineveh in Jonah 1:2, 3:2, and 4:11. Likewise, Mystery Babylon is referred to by the same term in Revelation 14:8 (KJV), 17:18 (KJV), and 18:16, 19, 21 (KJV).

This Superbowl was supposed to portray the city’s return to normal, since much of its population had been forced to move elsewhere after Hurricane Katrina. Most of the people never returned, for they had already settled in other cities with new jobs and school districts.

At the halftime of the Superbowl, the Baltimore Ravens were ahead 28-6, and it looked like a complete disaster for the San Francisco 49ers. No team had ever won after being down by 22 points. But the 49ers then staged one of the greatest comebacks in history.

Two minutes into the second half, the lights went out in the stadium, stopping the game for 34 minutes. Strangely enough, the Ravens were ahead by 22 points when the lights went out. The number 22 is the biblical number for the Sons of Light. The word “light” appears 22 times in the gospel of John.

Likewise, the lights were out for 34 minutes, and ultimately, the Ravens won with 34 points. Something strange was going on. The 49ers were staging a huge comeback and probably would have won the game if it had not been for an oversight from the referees. A Ravens player pulled the face mask of a 49er on one of the last plays of the game, but the referee did not see this. The 49er coach objected strenuously to the referee’s blindness, but to no avail.

This probably cost them the victory. So the 49ers ran out of time and lost 34-31.

Ravens depict evil spirits in the story of Noah (Genesis 8:7), as I explained in The Laws of the Second Coming. In that story, the raven was sent out into the earth before the doves. The doves represent prophetically the Holy Spirit being sent out in three historic occasions: at Mount Sinai, in the upper room in Jerusalem, and lastly, the greatest outpouring of the Spirit at the end of the age. Ravens are to be contrasted to the doves, and it also shows the presence of evil spirits prior to the doves being sent out.

So the victory of the Ravens told us that in 2013 that we had not yet received full victory in the Cosmic War. In a sense, we ran out of time. The war was to continue, as prophesied in Revelation 12:17. Recall also that Daniel 7:21, 22 tells us that the little horn "was waging war with the saints and overpowering them until the Ancient of Days came." The Superbowl in 2013 was a good illustration of this. In September of 2013 I learned that this time of "overpowering" would continue until 2017, when "the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom" (Daniel 7:22).

The Superbowl of 2013 showed us that we were close to the appointed time. The saints were rising, but their time had not yet fully arrived.