As he came riding up the hill with his servants, he approached the dusty place and saw the landlord beating the sheaves of the wheat harvest. After loosening the grain from the husks, the sheaves were tossed up in the air with a winnowing fork. The slight summer breeze would then carry the chaff away, “that no place was found for it”. It was a toilsome and laborious process, but it had to be done. Was it not the only way of separating and purifying the precious grain, which would then be collected and stored in the barn?

The king stepped down from his mount, most probably a donkey rather than sightly horse, for he came in a peaceful mission, and horses were typically deployed in military campaigns ¹ “No, I don’t want it for free. I’d like to pay the full price for it”. He made it clear that he did not want to worship God on a lot which did not even belong to him. The current owner of this desirable piece of real estate, a threshing floor, was a man named Araunah, and he was a Jebusite. The Jebusites were the previous rulers of Jerusalem, before it had been taken by the incumbent king, David, the son of Jesse.

King David had been instructed by the Lord to set up an altar in the threshing floor of Araunah (or Ornan), suppos-edly a former king of the Hittites (or Jebusites). Araunah’s threshing floor was located on Mount Moriah, the very place where Abraham was instructed to sacrifice his son, centuries earlier. This same place would later become the location of Solomon’s magnificent temple, the earthly sanctuary of the Creator God, the house of the visible presence of the Lord. Abraham built an altar for the Lord, and now it was David’s turn to erect a place of worship for Yahweh. Mount Moriah has as such been the place where God meets man. What has threshing wheat have do to with the presence of God? Why did David have to buy a threshing floor anyway? After all, David had already repented (2. Sam 24:10) from his ambitious endeavor to number the people of Israel. God had ordered the destroying angel to stop the plague that was going to wipe out David’s “sheep” (Verse 16). Didn’t this case of the king’s transgression have to be closed here?

The Book of Revelation, in its grand overarching message to God’s church expressed via a unique chiastic structure, conveys to us that God’s word, the logos, Jesus Christ, is trustworthy (Part 1 of this series). Jesus is also faithful, for He that is the first begotten of the dead, is the faithful witness, who keeps His promises for sure (Part 2). If we want to know why the Lord permitted Abraham’s Holy ground to become a lowly threshing floor before David was to build an altar on it again, we need to find out about the distinct message of the third chiastic ring of the Book of Revelation. The upper portion of this ring starts with Revelation Chapter 4 and closes with Chapter 9:21; the corresponding image starts with Chapter 15 and ends with chapter 20, verse 15.

THE DIVINE COURT OF LAW

Revelation 3:22 transitions to Revelation 4:1 from Jesus’ letter dictation to John’s next vision. In this vision, John be-holds God the Father is on His throne, and He is worshipped by His heavenly church, the 24 elders and some of His highest angels (compare Ezekiel 1:5-10). This chiastic ring opens with a view into the heavenly throne room, and it ends with a similar throne scene (Revelation 20:11-15). The latter throne scene exhibits strong resemblance to the judgment scene in Daniel 7:9-10. If the throne room is also the judgment hall or the heavenly courtroom, who is the judge, where is the prosecutor, who is the defense counsel, and where do we find the defendants?

Let’s remind ourselves of the nature of chiasm and look for mirror images: in this third chiastic layer, Revelation 20:11-15 and Revelation 4 - 6 seem to be related; in fact, Revelation 20: 11-15 seems to be a brief summary of chapters 4 - 6:11. If that applies, then it is clear that Jesus is the Judge, the only judge in the universe who is capable of executing righteous judgment, and the book with seven seals (Revelation 5:1) is, consequently, equal to the book of life (Revelation 20:12). In Chapter 5:7, Jesus takes the book out of the Father’s right hand:

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son. John 5:22

But Revelation 20:12 mentions other “books” that “were opened”, and these books seem to contain the information on the works of the dead. These other books comprise - in legal language- the bill of indictment and do thus take the position of a prosecuting entity (compare to the “scroll of lamentation”, Ezekiel 2:9.10.). These indictments are the formal charges of transgression of God’s eternal law. Where do we find the defendants in God’s court of law? When Jesus opens the first four seals of the Book of life, horses and horsemen are introduced. In Zechariah 1:8, 6:1-8, horses and horsemen represent groups of people ² (horses) and their leaders (horsemen). Remember, horses were used when leaders rode to war 1.

Now let us back up and consider that - in the Old Testament sacrificial service- removal of sin was achieved in two steps: (1) sin was first transferred from the sinner to the sanctuary via the lamb that was sacrificed; ² on the Day of Atonement, the accumulated sin of Israel was removed via scapegoat transference. In the antitypical system, sin is transferred to the Heavenly Sanctuary through the acceptance of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, and after the closing of the 2300 years (Daniel 8:14), Jesus the High Priest commenced His ministry of atonement to remove the sins of all who called upon Him for forgiveness. In fact, when Jesus received the book from the Father, His ministry of investigative judgement began. This happened in 1844. Now that Jesus the High Priest conducts the investigative judgment, first the names of the dead (Rev 20:12), who sometime during their lives accepted the sacrifice of the Lamb, are either retained in or removed from the book of life.

THE FOUR CAVALRYMEN

All people who ever lived can be divided into five groups:

1. Those that accepted Jesus as their Savior and Lord. They dedicated their lives to the advancement of the gospel and were led by the Holy Spirit to develop a Christ-like character.

2. There are those that called Jesus “Lord, Lord” (Matthew 7:22), but failed to respond to the Holy Spirit for char-acter development. Unfortunately, they eventually fell for Satan’s deception and -unknowingly- worked for the cause of Satan.

3. This is an interesting group: those that probably never knew Jesus by name, but would still respond to the Holy Spirit who talked to them through their consciousness (Romans 2:14.15).

4. Those that -at one point in their lives- knew the Lord but went openly apostate and intentionally worked against God. An example of this kind is Lucifer himself (Isaiah 14)

5. Others, and this may even be the majority of mankind, never knew God and never made any decision to accept salvation. Since people of this group were never touched by the Holy Spirit nor accepted the sacrifice of the Lamb, their names don’t show up in the book of life in the first place. Consequently, the Judge does not have to adjudicate, i.e, does not have to legally deal with, these cases.

In John’s vision, four cavalrymen on their warhorses enter the battlefield of the spiritual war between light and darkness. As we will see, two of the riders represent the King of Light, the Conqueror and Judge, and two the Prince of Darkness, the liar and murderer. No question, the “Conqueror” on the white horse (verse 2) is the Lord Jesus, and the horse he rides represent the true believers. The chiastic mirror image (Revelation 19:11-16) confirms this assumption, and it is obvious that defendant class (1) is represented by the white horse. Surely, their names are written in the book of life. A unique arrangement of the heavenly court is the fact that the Judge is also present as Counsel! This “conflict of interest” is due to the promise (see part 2 of this series) of Jesus that:

He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. Revelation 3:5

During the investigative judgment, Jesus confesses the names of the overcomers on the white horse before his Fa-ther, the presiding Chief Justice of the universe, the Ancient of Days, and their names will remain written in the book of life. The blueprints of their characters remain in the records of the heavenly temple.

FIGURE: In order to understand the message of the Book of Revelation better, we need to recognize that this book is arranged in a chiasm of five segments.

And another horse “went out” that was red. We find a parallel reference to a red horse in Zechariah 1:8, where the rider was indeed sent by the Lord to patrol the earth and get back with a report. This rider says “behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.” Here the horseman on the red horse seems to respond to God’s call and report peace, but this was a false report, because in Ez 13:3,10, we learn that “there was no peace”. How does the red rider act in Revelation 6:4? “And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.”

To John, who certainly was familiar with Zechariah’s prophecy, the red horse that was required to serve as God’s watchman, must have appeared as an apostate messenger. Talking peace in the original prophecy, although there was no peace, and then acting war in Revelation: what does this tell us about the character of this horseman and his followers who were sent out by the Lord as messengers? Hypocrisy. Living a lie. These were the “Christians” who talked gentleness but acted violence. These were the ones who instigated wars in the name of the Lord, bullied their families and were the source of dissent and strife in their churches. The red horse will claim work for the Lord, but they will be found unworthy:

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Matthew 7:23.

Next, John sees a black horse, and the horseman has a pair of balances in his hand, which signifies fair judgment. We remember that the Babylonian king Belshazzar was weighed in a balance and found wanting (Daniel 5:27). We can assume that the third horseman is Jesus the Judge who “doth judge in righteousness” (Revelation 19:11). He carefully weighs the precious produce the “black horse” people brought forth during their lives, although they may never have had a chance to meet Jesus. Why are their names worthy to remain in the Book of Life?

..and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Rev. 6:6)

Because they are associated (or connected) with oil and wine. Both are symbols of the Holy Spirit: 2 Cor. 1:21 (oil); Ephesians 5:8 (wine). These were the ones that were led by the Holy Spirit through their conscience as Paul mentions in Romans 2:14-16. They may have been part of the wrong system or born or thrown into unfortunate circumstances, but they will still be counted among God’s people, because they responded to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. This shows us how important the ministry of the Holy Spirit is and the power He has. It also shows us the very difficult task of the Judge to consider all evidence and circumstances to rule a truly righteous verdict in front of the unfallen worlds of the universe.

The last horseman, the one on the pale horse, is “death”. Undoubtedly, this horseman is Satan, and the people rep-resented by the pale horse were spiritually dead; they openly opposed the Christian faith and worked to destroy God’s work and His church. Even the spiritually dead, the enemies of God, once had a chance to respond to the calling of the Holy Spirit. But they rejected Him, sinned against the Holy Spirit and thereby lost the connection with God for all eternity.

We now see that the dead of all four groups of people, who ever had any connection with God during their lifetime, have come before the Judge, and they are either found worthy or wanting. When Jesus opens the fifth seal, the martyrs receive attention. Martyrs are certainly part of the “white horse” group, but because they are God’s special heroes, they are given special commemoration in the Grand Judgment Hall of God. Symbolically, they cry out for judgment, and it is important to note that this is really symbolic language; it is to express the yearning of the living, who still suffer from the oppression of sin and Satan, for final justice.

THE SEVENTH SEAL

When the dead have been judged and their names are either written in the Book of Life or blotted out from it, the investigative judgment moves on to the living on earth, shortly before the return of the Lord:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? Revelation 6:7

There will be two kinds of people: those who will not endure the physical presence of Jesus the King, and those who are found worthy in the investigative judgment. The worthy ones will be sealed so that they are able to meet Jesus in His glory. Note the stark difference in the fate of the lost (Revelation 6:16) and the saved (Revelation 7:17). But prior to the return of Jesus, far-reaching geopolitical and geo-military events will transpire. The opening of the seventh seal runs parallel with intense prayers of the saints (Revelation 8:4), and the seven angels prepare themselves to sound the trumpets. Who is responsible for the trumpet plagues? The sounding of the trumpets appears more like a warning rather than an intervention from the side of God’s government. The limited nature of the trumpet plagues (affecting one third of everything) indicates that Satan and his earthly collaborators might have something to do with the trumpet plagues. Satan has power over one third of the heavenly hosts (Revelation 12:4). Note that during the trumpet plagues, people still have the possibility of repentance (verses 20, 21), although the majority will not take advantage of it.

If Satan was planning a cataclysmic “Third World War”, what purpose does he have in mind? In the year 1871, 33rd degree Freemason Albert Pike wrote a letter to his friend Giuseppe Mazzini, in which he laid out the plot for the creation of the New World Order ³ . Three world wars were part of this plan. Two of them are already history. The third one is still outstanding:

The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the "agentur" of the "Illuminati" between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. [..] Then everywhere, the citizens, [..] will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view. [..]³

If we look up the news to see what currently is going on in the world, especially in Europe and the Middle East, does Pike’s blueprint from 1871, Satan’s final strike against God’s people, composed shortly after the Lord commenced His ministry of investigative judgment in 1844, sound like a remote possibility? If so, what is the “pure doctrine of Lucifer”? Ellen White writes (13 years after Pike’s letter, in the year 1884):

As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will attempt to personate Christ. [..] In different parts of the earth, Satan will manifest himself among men as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God given by John in the Revelation. [Revelation 1:13-15.] The glory that surrounds him is unsurpassed by anything that mortal eyes have yet beheld. The shout of triumph rings out upon the air, “Christ has come! Christ has come!” [..] In gentle, compassionate tones he presents some of the same gra-cious, heavenly truths which the Saviour uttered; he heals the diseases of the people, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, he claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday, and commands all to hallow the day which he has blessed. He declares that those who persist in keeping holy the seventh day are blaspheming his name by refusing to listen to his angels sent to them with light and truth. .. {4SP 442.1}

Satan will arrive in person (Revelation 9:1) and, in cooperation with his chief demon “Abbadon, Apollyon” (=the de-stroyer, verse 11), after slaughtering 33% of earth’s population (verse 18), Satan, the old serpent, that psychopathic monster, will impose his totalitarian New World Order on the reduced population of planet earth; he will continue with his deception and will claim that God’s law has changed. As the final implementation of the satanic rule will culminate in the introduction of universal sun worship, Satan will enforce a universal Sunday law, which Ellen White equals to “the mark of the beast” (see GC 449.1). What a comfort it is that the Righteous Judge will still be in control, and that He, even when the Sunday law is implemented, will execute justice!

SEPARATING THE WHEAT FROM THE CHAFF

Satan will not succeed in the destruction of God’s people. The seven angels who were given the seven trumpets (Revelation 8:2) to issue the warnings sound are now given seven bowls to execute the judgments on those who have the mark of the beast:

And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image. Revelation 16:2

As it was with the plagues of Egypt, God’s wrath will be poured out on the supporters of the last totalitarian world-wide police state in order to halt the oppression of God’s people. Satan will grow even more furious and will engage his deceptive propaganda forces (Revelation 16:13, 14) to instigate a final military strike against God’s Sabbath keeping people. For those that keep their garments (verse 15) and have the victory over the beast and his image (Revelation 15:2), there is nothing to fear. The final battle between God and His people and Satan and his followers will be fought in ”a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”(Verse 16). Let us now set aside what popular Christian theology or the Hollywood movies would like us to believe, the word “Armageddon” is made up of three Hebrew words presented below ⁴

1. Aremah – [Strong’s H6194]: a heap, a pile, a heap of sheaves.

2. Gayê – [H1516]: a valley, a steep valley, a narrow gorge.

3. Don – from diyn [H1777 or den H1778]: meaning to judge, contend, plead, judgment.

“Don” is essentially the same word as shâphaṭ [H8199], as in Jeho-shaphat (Yahweh Judges). When all these elements are combined, the word is found to mean: “A heap of sheaves in a valley for judgment.” John is the only one who uses this peculiar Hebraistic term. It is informative to see how he uses it elsewhere in his writings: John 5:2; John 19:13; John 19:17, John 19:20; John 20:16; Revelation 9:11. John chose a Hebrew “non-word” to express God’s judgment in symbolic fashion as a threshing harvest ⁵.

How did John the Baptist announce the ministry of Jesus (Matthew 3:12)? As the one who will clean His threshing floor, and will gather wheat into the barn and burn up the chaff. Important facts are mentioned at least twice in Scripture: Luke 3:17. Jesus Himself is the one who will take the winnowing fan (or fork) and separate the wheat from the chaff on the threshing floor in the valley of judgment (Armageddon).

After this act of true justice, God the Father on His throne will announce: It is done (Revelation 16:17). What follows is a detailed narrative of the judgement of end-time Babylon, which is an alliance of the beast, the false prophet, and the dragon: the unholy trinity (Revelation 16:19 - 20:10). Revelation 19:1 and 2 is the response to the yearning for justice that was symbolically uttered by the martyrs in Revelation 6:10: Finally, justice is served.

DAVID’S HIDDEN AGENDA

King David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for his threshing floor. David had commanded the people to be numbered. For this sin God required of David that he “should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.” (1 Chronicles 21:18). Why was it a sin to count the people? Satan is called out as the source 1 of this counting idea himself (Verse 1). In the Old Testament, Satan is mentioned as a source of evil in exactly three instances: (1) in the book of Job, (2) in the book of Zechariah, and then here in 1 Chr 21:1. God must have been very angry about David’s decision of a census; and we ask ourselves the questions: it was just a head count, what’s wrong with that?

I remember, in the year 1987, the West German Federal Government ordered an exhaustive federal census in Germany. It turned out to be a rather controversial action; people protested and some even refused to comply, and were fined. Opponents argued that this intrusive census was just a tool of a police state. Ellen White gives us some clues as to David’s hidden agenda in the census:

With a view to extending his conquests among foreign nations, David determined to increase his army by requir-ing military service from all who were of proper age. To effect this, it became necessary to take a census of the population. EGW (PP 747)

Back in the times when military service was still compulsory in Germany, every young man had to go through a census when he turned 18 of age. One received a letter from the local government to update any personal information, and that information was forwarded to the armed forces administration. Later, one was summoned for a physical exam. After that, the registered male citizen was placed under what was called “defense surveillance”, under which everyone -by law- was required to notify the government of any status change in the personal life. One had to formally file for approval whenever a foreign trip was planned. Failure to report anything in a timely manner was punishable with a steep fine. Compulsory military census means restriction in personal freedom, and that is contrary to the principle of the government of God:

Though the people of Israel were proud of their national greatness, they did not look with favor upon David's plan for so greatly extending the military service. The proposed enrollment caused much dissatisfaction; consequently it was thought necessary to employ the military officers in place of the priests and magistrates, who had formerly taken the census. The object of the undertaking was directly contrary to the principles of a theocracy. (PP 747)

Here we see where David’s plan was going: the people were dissatisfied, and they had to be policed and intimidated in order to squelch a possible riot. The government had to be changed from a theocracy into a military administration; into an administration of force:

The desire for self-exaltation had brought strife into the heavenly courts. Lucifer desired God’s power, but not His character. He sought the highest place, and every being actuated by his spirit will do the same. The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of force; every individual regards every other as an obstacle in the way of his own advancement, or a steppingstone on which to climb to a higher place DA 435.2

Whenever surveillance (registration, census) and force are introduced, any government will assume the character of Satan. God’s judgment had the form of a pestilence that was sent to Israel. After David’s repentance, he asked the Lord a question that seemingly remained unanswered: “Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? (2 Samuel 24:17)” Were they really innocent victims of God’s wrath?

The taking of the census had caused disaffection among the people; yet they had themselves cherished the same sins that prompted David's action. As the Lord through Absalom's sin visited judgment upon David, so through David's error He punished the sins of Israel. PP 748.3

The “sword of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 21) is a type for the seven last plagues. God’s seven bowls of judgment are a response to Satan’s totalitarian dictatorship, which climaxes in the introduction of the “mark of the beast”. Like it was the case during David’s transgression of the census, the “sheep” that follow the apostate political leaders of end-time Babylon will not be held guiltless. Satan will stir the worshippers of the image of the beast against God’s people, and then comes “Armageddon”, the universal threshing floor, “A heap of sheaves in the valley of judgment.” (Dan 2:35). “Threshing” represents the separation of good and evil; final judgment occurs upon the heap of sheaves in the valley after the good grain is separated out. Armageddon is an ultimate event of God’s judgment and final justice. In this sense, David represented a dual type during the “census” transgression: on one hand he was the type of a political leader deceived and led by Satan 6 (1 Chronicles 21:1). On the other hand, David was a type of all those people who can approach the destroying angel at the threshing floor “Armageddon” in confidence, because they repented and are clothed with the righteousness of Christ (Revelation 16:15).

The holy ground, where Abraham was about to offer his son was a type for planet earth: It was on planet earth where God’s son was sacrificed. After the sacrifice of the lamb, the earth will turn into a place of universal justice, Armageddon. God’s threshing floor, where the king has to execute the toilsome task of separating the wheat from the chaff, like Araunah the Jebusite in the type. In the type, the threshing floor would later become the location of the temple. When universal justice has been done, the earth will likewise be filled with God’s presence, where God will dwell with men (Revelation 21:3).

ULTIMATE JUSTICE

The third chiastic layer gives us a deep insight into the work of the Justice Center of the universe. God is Justice. Jesus is Justice (Fig.), and David expressed the wish to be judged by God and not by man (2 Samuel 24:14). Let us follow David’s choice, and let the Righteous Judge be our judge, because He has offered to be our legal Counsel before the Father, too. In this world, we suffer injustice and unfairness; but how small, how insignificant is the injustice of men if we consider the justice that Jesus has been working for us in the Heavenly Sanctuary, and the Jus-tice that He will bring back to earth when He returns. That is the kind of Justice that brought peace of mind and heart to the Psalmist:

Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches. Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning. If I say, I will speak thus; behold, I should offend against the generation of thy children. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Psalm 73:12-17

To be continued in part 4...

Michael E Fassbender, Ph.D., is a nuclear scientist. Originally from Germany, he spent a three-year stint in South Africa. He now works for the U.S. Government and lives with his wife and two daughters in New Mexico, USA. Michael and his wife are members of the Texico Conference of Seventh-Day-Adventists