Tag Archives: White Robes

Zechariah 3

In the first two chapters of Zechariah, we have learned about the last generation, and we’ve learned about the beginning of the Millennium. In this chapter, let’s look at what else Zechariah has to say about the end times.

(Zec 3:1) And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

The story of Joshua, in the history of the Israelites, was intended by God to be a parallel to what Jesus would do here on earth after the tribulation. Just as Joshua led God’s people into the Holy Land, Jesus will lead God’s people, after antichrist is defeated, into the Holy Land as well.

The name, Joshua, is actually the Anglicization of Jesus’ name in Hebrew. Joshua, in Hebrew, is Yeshua, as the Hebrew letter, yod, is often given a hard J sound when transliterated to English. The name, Yeshua, in Greek is Iesous–the Y, in Yeshua, is changed to an I, as that has the same sound in Greek, and Greek names generally end in as, es, or us. So, the ua ending, in Yeshua, is changed to ous. Thus, we have Yeshua changing to Iesous, when going from Hebrew to Greek. When the Greek name, Iesous, is changed to English, the I sound is also changed to a hard J, and the ous ending is changed simply to a us ending, and thus, we get the name Jesus.

You may hear lots of stories about how the name Jesus came about, but truly, the names were changed in each language because they didn’t have the ability either to pronounce the name or spell the name in the other languages (because the alphabets are different in each language), and therefore, they had to change, or be transliterated, to accommodate the speakers of different languages.

So, the story of Joshua was actually prophecy of Jesus Christ Himself, and He is our High Priest, after the order of Melchizedek, and He is standing in front of the angel of the Lord (which is the Lord Himself) to remind us of this parallel. And satan, as he always does, is opposing Him.

(Zec 3:2) And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

God is chastising satan and, as we know, He chose Jerusalem as His city surrounding His favorite place on earth. This is mentioned just in case there is any question which God we are reading about here–it is the one and only true God.

Joshua is being referred to as a brand plucked out of the fire, which means he is one of God’s elect, as His elect are persecuted on earth, and they withstand the fire of this persecution and the tribulation itself, just to prod satan in the process.

(Zec 3:3) Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

These filthy garments used to clothe Joshua in this vision represent the sins of true Christians, which Jesus willingly bears. As He bears our sins, we are clothed in white linen robes that are washed clean with His blood. He will be wearing white linen robes too but, for the purposes of this vision, the fact that He bears our sins is being pointed out.

(Zec 3:4) And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

Now just as we have our sins taken from us, as Christians, and are given pure white robes, this is happening to Joshua, but also, Jesus will be wearing gleaming white clothing. So this sin, or iniquity, is being taken away as if it had never happened.

(Zec 3:5) And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.

A mitre is a head dress. In the Gospel Armor, given to us in Ephesians 6, the helmet is salvation through Jesus Christ. Salvation is not only represented by a helmet, but hair, or any other headwear. In this verse, it is called a mitre. So, Joshua receives this head dress or crown of salvation, and his pure white linens washed clean of sin.

(Zec 3:6) And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,

(Zec 3:7) Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.

We know the Lord sits on the Great White Throne of Judgment, at the end of the Millennium, but His elect are also given the role of judges during the Millennium, and they will live with Him in His inner sanctuary.

For more information, check out Ezekiel 44.

(Zec 3:8) Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

The world will be in awe over Jesus and His elect, during the Millennium, but that is what Jesus intended to provoke everyone else to be jealous and want to correct their ways. Those who are true and faithful to Him will be branches on His olive tree, so to speak, and those who have not been faithful will either be broken off, or will have never been branches at all (Romans 11).

(Zec 3:9) For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

The stone with seven eyes, before Joshua, represents Jesus’ 7000 watchmen, who are here on earth during the last generation, through the tribulation. And when Jesus returns, He will consume all sin and all that offends Him, immediately, with His consuming fire. It will all be burned up (2 Peter 3).

(Zec 3:10) In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.

On the Day of the Lord, we will be entering a new age, and everyone will be either in the presence of the Lord, with Him as His closest confidants, or they will be striving to earn that place for a thousand years. There will be one main purpose on earth and everyone will be living for the Lord, or they will perish in the lake of fire after the Great White Throne Judgment.

Do you want to be a good fig or a bad fig? Anyone can be a branch on Jesus’ olive tree, but you better make that choice very soon.

God bless!

Revelation 7

Now we have arrived at the final sealing of God’s elect. In the previous chapter, we were given the first 6 seals on the book given to the Lamb to open sequentially. Each of these seals was a bit of knowledge that the servants of our God are to possess before the arrival of Antichrist. Though the 7000 predestinated elect would be born in this final generation to receive and teach this knowledge, the 144,000, about whom we will read in this chapter, have also shown themselves faithful enough, in the flesh, to be given this understanding and make a stand against Antichrist, during the Tribulation. After this Seal of God is placed in God’s elect, they are protected from receiving the Mark of the Beast because they will not be able to be deceived into worshiping Antichrist. Aside from the 144,000, who belong to the tribes of Israel all over the earth, there are also elect that God has put into the other races of the world, called kings of the ethnos. Anyone who has not been sealed will worship Antichrist and the beast system, and they will receive the Mark of the Beast.

(Rev 7:1) And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

These four angels holding back the four winds are the four archangels, who are basically the generals of God’s army of His elect in Heaven. They are holding back the four winds (or spirits), the chief angels of satan, about which we will read in Revelation 9:14-15.

On another level, on the flip side, this verse may additionally be telling us that, by the time Antichrist arrives, all of the souls in Heaven will have been born in the flesh. The wind here often represents the breath of life, while the sea represents the people of the earth, and trees represent people as well. Each soul receives one chance to live and die on earth, as we are told in Hebrews 9:27 (including those who have died in the womb), and this chance is to see what that person will do with their flesh life, choose God or satan, by default.

The hypothesis is that, because when Antichrist is on earth, the world will expect a dawning of a new age because they will think that the Messiah has returned, and so they will not think it strange for there to be no more pregnancies. And for most of those of us who know better, it would make sense that all souls would be born by then because those who are not sealed by the time Antichrist arrives are too late to be sealed anyway, and therefore, they would not have a chance to be sealed or to hear the Gospel in their lives. In the second half of the Tribulation, the half in which Antichrist is here, there will be a famine for hearing the Word of God, according to Amos 8–the world shall seek it, but not be able to find it and be fed this Bread of Life.

(Rev 7:2) And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,

(Rev 7:3) Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.

These four chief demons of satan are told to wait until God’s servants are sealed for protection before they torment those on earth. They are allowed only to torment those who have the Mark of the Beast, as we are told in Revelation 9.

(Rev 7:4) And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

At this point, since these four winds are being held back, the sealing will now take place. And as far as the sealing of the 144,000, there will be an equal share of those from each tribe, 12,000. However, you will notice that there is no mention of Dan because they were removed from this inheritance, in this earth age, due to idolatry. In Dan’s place, Joseph’s inheritance was split in two with his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. In these verses, Ephraim is listed as Joseph, while Manasseh was listed separately. Dan will once again be returned to its position and blessing during the Millennium, as we read in Ezekiel 48.

(Rev 7:5) Of the tribe of Juda were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

(Rev 7:6) Of the tribe of Aser were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Nepthalim were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasses were sealed twelve thousand.

(Rev 7:7) Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.

(Rev 7:8) Of the tribe of Zabulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

This was the sealing of the 12 tribes of Israel who have been scattered all over the earth and, along with the 7000, are the most faithful Christians on earth.

(Rev 7:9) After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

After the sealing, John saw a vision, that took place after the Tribulation, in which there was a great magnitude of people surrounding the throne of Christ, and they were all wearing white robes and had palms in their hands. The white robes of these saints are made up of the righteous works of each person (Revelation 19:7-8), while the palms are fronds from the date palm tree, or phoinix in the Greek. The date palm represents eternal life, as these trees can be used for a great multitude of life-sustaining purposes, and are very important throughout the Bible.

(Rev 7:10) And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

(Rev 7:11) And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,

(Rev 7:12) Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

These most faithful saints are completely content in praising the Lord by the seven spirits, blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power and might, about which we learned in Revelation 5.

(Rev 7:13) And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

(Rev 7:14) And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

This angel told John that these 144,000, along with the rest of the saints, are those who went through the Great Tribulation, and by the blood of Christ, they washed their robes, or righteous acts clean.

(Rev 7:15) Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

(Rev 7:16) They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.

They will never be hungry for the Lord, the Word of God, because, from the beginning of the Millennium on, they will serve Him personally serve Him in His temple, and they will never suffer any trials or tribulation again.

(Rev 7:17) For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

They will receive eternal spiritual, incorruptible bodies at the time Jesus returns, after the Tribulation, and they will drink from the Living Water that flows from Jesus, which ensures they will never suffer again.

How badly would you like to be in this position of the 144,000? Well, no matter who you are, if you are counted among His most faithful, and are this sealed by God, you will receive these blessings and be with Jesus from the time He returns and forever.

God bless.