I believe the New Jerusalem is after the millennium and after Satan is loosed for a season. After the Gog Magog War (I don't believe that war is presently but in roughly 1000 years) And after Satan and the Angels are judged.
During the millennium Christ is setting up God's Kingdom; the New Jerusalem is when God the Father comes and earth becomes the New Heaven. Where everyone is converted into Saints. God the Father cannot come to Earth until all evil is put away. So the kings of the earth at the time of New Jerusalem are simply kings over nations on earth. It says the righteous shall inherit the earth, not heaven. (Psalm 37:29) Heaven is coming here. And that is the New Jerusalem.
A just critique. And after thinking about it more Kings of the Earth is most likely
any king/dom which dealt with Babylon economically and politically. I always thought this included the ten kings, but you've made a solid point which I now need to reevaluate from my previous assumptions.
Jeremiah 50 and 51 it appears (according to
my understanding) that the Medes a.k.a Russia and Slavic allies (The Kings of the East) invade Rome. I highly recommend reading both chapters because there's too much worth quoting.
My gut feeling is that Babylon gets nuked. When you read about how her desolation occurs in 1 hour--which 'hour' can actually mean in a moment, if you look it up in Strong's--and the smoke of her burning, which sounds like it could be hinting at the iconic mushroom cloud. But anyway, just like when Americans bombed Hiroshima, pilot Robert Lewis was quoted as to have said or at least thought "My God, what have we done".
God puts it in the hearts of the kings and beast to burn her with fire. So, yes, you make a valid argument that it's contradictory and maybe the ten kings will have no remorse about it and the kings of the earth who are bewailing are are
not the ten.
I'm going to bring that subject up with my Dad later and get his input. He's more well-versed than I am.
Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you, destroyer, you who have not been destroyed! Woe to you, betrayer, you who have not been betrayed! When you stop destroying, you will be destroyed; when you stop betraying,
you will be betrayed. [NIV]
The New Living Translation identifies the destroyer as Assyrian, and the Book of Nahum identifies the Beast as Assyrian so it appears the Beast Power ends up betrayed. So we have in prophesy 1.) Russia invading Rome 2.) The Assyrian Betrayed 3.) Rome Burning With Fire. (Maybe not in that order and according to my best understanding, obviously that's up for debate among various groups)
The question is: does the Pope make an agreement with Eastern Empires, i.e: Russia and China, similar to when the Vatican made a deal with Japan when Catholic populations fell under their control during WW2.
A little over four months after Pearl Harbor, the Holy See established diplomatic relations with Japan. The U.S. State Department as well Great Britain criticized the Vatican’s acceptance of diplomatic relations with Japan. With Pearl Harbor fresh in the minds of Americans, even Catholic Americans supported the State Department’s view that such an alliance was ‘deplorable’.
So I've wondered if the Pope will make similar agreements with Russia and China during end-times.
The Catholic Church is both a political and religious entity. Her allegiance remains with the Beast Power for a time. But if Catholics are being absorbed by the Chinese and/or Russians, for the sake of ‘her children’ and ‘pursuing peace’, will the Vatican make a backdoor deal, as with what happened with Japan? /speculation not fact
The League of Cognac is yet another instance in which a pope made back-door dealings. With a French defeat in the Italian War of 1521 and the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, growing in power, Pope Clement VII perceived that Charles V wished to dominate the Catholic Church and Italy.
The Pope, behind the Emperor’s back, formed an alliance with Charles V’s arch-enemy: King Francis I of France (as well as the Republic of Venice, Florence and Duchy of Milan) in order to resist the Habsburg Dynasty in Italy. This betrayal led to the Sacking of Rome in 1527 by Charles V mutinous troops.
I don't know the how's and what-nots, but what I do know is that the Medes/Russia invades Rome/Babylon; at some point it appears that the Beast Power is betrayed; and Rome/Babylon gets nuked. Could the Russians lay siege and take control of Rome? If the Beast loses the Vatican, does this prompt the kings and beast to just nuke it? Do they hate the harlot for making back door deals; do they hate the harlot because Russians are there? I don't know.
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In regards to
Revelation 19:19, God isn't saving the whole world yet. I always viewed this as we're in the middle of WW3; all countries are against each other, all kings of the earth and their armies are involved in the world war and then Jesus Christ returns. And what is he going to preach? He's going to say, "The kingdoms of men have become the Kingdoms of Christ".
How many people believe in aliens? How many people will think that Jesus Christ and His Saints are alien invaders and here they're saying they've come to take over the world! All the nations of the world are now unified to stop this alien invasion. China wants to rule the world; but so does Russia, but so does Germany and who's this alien invader trying to usurp our kingdoms? And there will be an incentive to form a truce to deal with the "alien", and Christ of course destroys them.
The kings and armies of the world will be brought up in the second resurrection and at that time will have their chance to be saved. But as of right now God is only saving a few, and if we go be Revelation, only 144,000--the first-fruits who have been redeemed from the world. That's it. The rest will be saved during the final harvest.
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I feel like I might be way off topic. So I'm sorry if I'm not following the flow of the thread. Just ignore me if that's the case.
