22.2 Revelation – Hero Worship

I grew up in the transitioning time between when the press and everyday people looked up to and promoted the positives in “great” men and women and when the mode of the day became to look for the dirt to tear them down.

I’m not arguing for one side or the other.  There are men and women who have great and admirable characteristics and achievements.  There are men and women who have dedicated their time and energies to working hard and being the best at their game.  There are men and women who have helped lead and usher in great advancements in medicine, commerce, politics, sport.  There are public figures who shine the light of Jesus boldly and for the benefit of all mankind.

Those same men and women all also have faults, sins, things they hide, shame, baggage.  They, like you and I, are human, fallen, sinful.

But the viewpoint and emphasis of our culture changed somewhere along the way.  At one point it was a great story to build someone up, to make them larger than life.  At that time there was collusion to gloss over or cover up their shortcomings.  That was the time of childhood heroes, of astronauts and explorers, of great generals and world leaders.

Maybe it was Watergate.  Maybe something earlier, but that changed.  Our times are all about digging for the dirt.  Finding the faults and lies and exposing them.  It has not gone to the degree that, for the purpose of fame and 15 minutes of celebrity status, men and women now create their own dirt to expose.  Sex-Tapes.  Trans-Gender Interviews.  “Leaked” emails and snap chats and text messages.  Wardrobe malfunctions.  The more outlandish and sensational the dirt, the bigger the coverage, the more press, the more exposure, the more fame.

Public figures lie.  Public figures are self-serving.  Public figures are sinful, petty, immoral.  That has always been the case for some, if not most public figures.  The difference is now that exposure of that doesn’t bring shame and repentance, it brings self-righteousness and fame.

So, who do you look up to?  Who is your teacher?

Jesus is the clear answer.  Second, the attributes of Jesus we see in others.  I admire the way my BSF co-leader is dedicated to praying for every child in our group.  I admire the way my pastor is passionate about going word-by-word through the bible, even the really difficult and uncomfortable parts.  I admire the way a policeman puts himself in harms way rushing in to a building where there is an armed homicidal man.  I admire the way a new immigrant enlists in the armed services as a show of honor and dedication for the country that adopted him.  I admire the recovered alcoholic woman who devotes her life and meager inheritance to buying a house to help other women get off the street, living with them, feeding them and forming the home (centered around Christ) that they never had before.

The person does not appeal to me, but the Holy Spirit at work and evident in the person shakes my soul.  I think the Holy Spirit in each of us is completely interconnected.  When we see and hear and witness the Spirit alive and working in others, our hearts cry out for communion and joy to be united in the oneness that is God.

My Answers:

3.
a.
The punishment of the great prostitute who sits by many waters

b.
The kings of the earth (committed adultery), inhabitants of earth (intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries)

4.
Adultery is to violate a sacred relationship covenant (normally a marital covenant) by participating in behavior or activities reserved to only be shared within the relationship (e.g., extra-marital affairs/sexual immorality).  In this case, the sacred covenant relationship was between mankind and God and the adultery was idolatry and self-worship

5.
a.
N/A

b.
those of the senses, sights and smells, sounds and feelings, but mostly taste – eating not only for nourishment sake

21.5 Revelation – God’s justice and mercy under the new covenant

God’s justice and mercy under the new covenant

Yesterday we talked about how sin broke our perfect holy relationship with God, the same way a child breaks a window.  We discussed that while justice and mercy were consistent in the old testament as well as in the new, since there is only one God and He is unchanging, the “fix” under the old testament was insufficient.  A patch was put in place, but it wasn’t a fix.  We simply did not have the means to pay the price of the fix.

You see, the price of the repair was one perfect life, lived, and laid down in perfect, full, and holy obedience.  Only one man has ever lived such a life, and He is who starts the New Testament and the New Covenant.

By Jesus’ work, through His entire life, to deny temptation, to resist sin, culminating first in His sacrificial death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, Jesus fully paid the price to restore the perfect holy relationship between God and mankind.

By accepting the sacrifice of Jesus as the offering made for you, and agreeing to come under Him as your savior, you are not held responsible for the broken relationship, no payment is required and the relationship is restored.  Jesus perfectly repairs the broken glass on both sides of the window (God’s side and Man’s side).

Standing firm in resolve to not accept Jesus is to be, as my grandmother would have said, “way too big for your britches” and “your mouth is writing checks you cannot cash”.  If we deny to accept Jesus, then we tell God, we think the mud we flung up in the window is sufficient repair.  It is not only wrong, but it is insulting.  God, in mercy, holds back wrath even on these people, but only for a time.

In the final days, when Jesus comes again, He will come again to set things right.  He will wash the window of our spiritual relationship clean with the full power of God’s wrath.  All the mud and dirt will be removed and the window will once again sparkle as new.  But those who want to be judged by the dirt they produced, will no longer receive mercy and payment for sin will be required.  It is a payment that can never be fulfilled without Jesus, so they agonize forever in the debtor’s prison of Hell.

While this sounds horrible, it is what they want and choose, because the offer to accept Jesus’ payment was never rescinded.  Also, the removal of sin from the world, something that only makes sense to do along with a restriction on new sin entering, is something we who have accepted Jesus’ gift long for.

Don’t you want to see the beauty in the perfectly restored window of the perfectly restored relationship with God?  When John talks about the entire sea of glass before the throne alight with fire, this is what I think of.  No dings, not cracks, no smudges, no blurs, no imperfection of any kind, no dirt, no mud, no dust – a perfect shining brilliantly, like it is on fire, reflection of the perfectly restored relationship.

My Answers:

10.
a.
While we were sinners (i.e., did nothing to earn it), Christ died for us.  We are justified by His blood (found not-guilty) and saved from wrath through Him and reconciled to God.  On our own merits we deserve death but instead we are made alive in Christ, given a new life, a new body, a new spirit for eternity

b.
Christ bore our sins.  He, who was perfect, was not compelled to die – it was not a just sentence for Him since He was free of all transgression.  So, He did not suffer and die for His own sins, but for ours.  The fact that He paid the price is a ticket that He need not use but gives as a gift to each of us if only we accept it.

11.
humility, love, sacrifice, not conforming to the pattern of the world but being transformed to become holy, to be honest with God and ourselves, to confess our sins and truly repent (which includes change)

21.4 Revelation – God’s justice and mercy under the old covenant

God’s justice and mercy under the old covenant

Our lessons for this week on days 4 and 5 demonstrate that God has always been a God of Justice and a God a Mercy.  There is not a “God of the Old Testament” and a “God of the New Testament.”  There is one God, eternal, immutable, consistent.

But that doesn’t mean that something amazing didn’t happen with the dawning of the New Testament.  And, something else amazing awaits us at the final days when Christ returns.

To illustrate this, let’s consider an analogy of a broken window.

Imagine that you broke a window in God’s house.  That is not OK.  Every child knows this.  You can’t just run and hide.  You can’t lie about it.  You have to be responsible.  You have to say your sorry.

But, it can’t stop there.  Being sorry is important, but God still has a busted window.  That’s not right.  But, we have an even bigger problem: we do not have the means to fix the window.  Think of it as an ancient stained glass window.

Under the covenant of the old testament, when the Jews would turn to God and confess their sins, and offer a sacrifice, God would be merciful and not require payment for the broken window.  But, it was still broken.  Sure, there was a temporary patch put in place.  A little duct tape, some boards, but it wasn’t the same – it wasn’t fixed.

Justice existed:  God saw the window, God required confession and repentance, There was no denial about it being broken and who broke it.

Mercy existed: God provided forgiveness and held back collection of payment (a payment that could not be made).

But, there was still a problem – the window remained broken.  Every one of our attempts to fix it on our own, was the same as throwing mud at the window, hoping enough would stick that it would be noticeable or that we would cover up the window enough that we wouldn’t be reminded of it.

In case you haven’t already made the leap, the window represents our perfect relationship with God – the relationship that was crafted by God in the garden of Eden.  We broke it through sin.  Repentance and sacrifice are ways of confessing our sorrow, but our relationship, like the the window is still broken.  Our self-righteousness and continued sin are acts of hurling additional insult onto the broken relationship, like mud on the window.

But, stay tuned, because, while God does not change, He did have a plan.

My Answers:

8.
a.
God knew the character of the Israelites and He was just in his judgment to kill them all and start over, but He also was merciful and responded to Moses’ plea.   But there was also justice because they did not receive the handwritten tablets of God, but instead later received Moses’ scribed replicas.  The calf was destroyed, ground up and all were forced to drink the bile of their sin.  They did not receive the full blessings of God, but they did also not receive what was deserved.

b.
He accepted the plea of Moses and restrained His wrath.  Moses advocated for them, not for their merits but for God’s glory

c.
No, they lived

9.
He judged them rightly, justly, correctly.  but He held back the execution of the judgment through His mercy

21.3 Revelation – You are not the boss of me

You are not the boss of me

I think all kids go through the phase of trying to understand control and who is in charge.  All rebel.  All at some point say the words “you are not the boss of me” to a friend, sibling, or sometimes to a parent.

One of our questions today asked why people reject the concept of sin and judgment.  I think it stems from this exact same mindset.

What was the original temptation in the garden?  To be “like God.”

There are two ways we go about this today.  The first is denial of God.  We start with the premise that there is no God and then manufacture explanations for things that are clear evidence of God.  We deny creation itself.  We replace God with self will, accident, chance, or even more ridiculous things like “the universe.”  Science becomes a god.  We explain away and ridicule things we see of God such as the beauty and majesty of creation, while at the same time, worshiping the created instead of the creator.  All of this stems from the simple statement that we want to make to God, “you are not the boss of me.”

The second way we go about this same statement is to attempt to elevate ourselves (or sometimes something else) to the level of God.  If we are on the same plain as God, then He is not the boss.  We deny the uniqueness of ourselves as being made in God’s image, while simultaneously elevating ourselves to the same level as God.  We attempt to lower God to our level with statements such as, “how could a loving God…?”  We attempt to put ourselves as judge over God, “I could never believe in a God who…”  We attempt to lower God to our level by attempting to make promises and “deals” with Him, “God, I’ll do this, if you’ll just…”

But, here is the cold hard truth: God is the boss of you and me.  He did create us and everything else and He is in charge.  We would be far better off and far happier in life if, instead of rebelling and fighting this fact or living in denial of it, we embraced this fact and then thanked and worshiped God for being such a wonderful, caring, exceptional boss.  Frankly, we work for the best boss in the universe!

My Answers:

5.
a.
Man’s nature is sin and deceit, filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

b.
Judgment of God and then Death, (also Romans 6:23)

6.
All prompt it.  Even in our attempt to do good we are arrogant and self-righteous.  It is only in prayerful obedience that we receive our future holy selves for a very brief period of time.  Every one of my sins, both those through commission and omission deserve God’s full sin.

7.
They first are in denial of their own sin.  Secondly they desire to be their own god and own judge which was the original sin in the garden

21.2 Revelation – Saved not Spoiled

Saved not Spoiled

Have you been around a spoiled child?  The one who is at the grocery store with mom or dad and throwing a total temper tantrum over the most minor thing and mom or dad immediately bend to their wishes?

Most of us understand that love does not mean always getting what you want.  Sometimes the things we want are bad for us.  Sometimes we need to go through difficulty and challenges to build our muscles (physical and spiritual).  Sometimes the answer is yes, sometimes the answer is no.  Sometimes the answer would be yes, but the way we go about asking the question prompts a no.

When God adopts us as his children, that doesn’t mean we get whatever we want.  Even though God’s resources are unlimited, He understands that we need limits and boundaries.  Not a lot of them, but a few to define the path and keep us safe.

While God’s mercy has no limitations, He elects to deploy it in ways that also embody the most grace for us.  Grace as a parent who bends down to the child and firmly emphasizes, I know you want it, but the answer is still no, now let’s go on and do the other wonderful things that I have planned for your day instead of wallowing on this dirty ground.

While God is also just, we need to not fool ourselves into believing we do anything to earn God’s favor.  Like a newborn infant, we cry, we throw up, we soil our diapers and that is about it.  Our greatest talent is cooing.  God’s provision is not a reward – we are incapable of providing God with anything He does not already have – it is again like a parent of that child.

My Answers:

3.
a.
Justice, dispensing just payment for actions and states both positive and negative, fair, equitable, honest, doing what is right
In our world today, justice is what is right in the eyes of man and, in particular, those in power.  It is delivered cloaked and unevenly.  Those demanding tolerance are normally the least tolerant of views unlike their own.

Mercy, compassionate, lenient, forgiving, dispensing grace, charity, safe quarter
Mercy is becoming an expectation or entitlement.  “I made bad decisions so you should not hold that against me” Mortgage crisis, student debt. – But the church still responds to those in need, including widows and orphans.

b.
God is slow to anger, abounding in love, forgiving wickedness, but also just and does not leave any sin unpunished

4.
Countless times of mercy, every day I’m alive is a day wrapped in mercy
Justice in the repercussions of choices, such as arthritis and obesity

20.5 Revelation – Wake Up Call

Wake Up Call

I had a college roommate who was a sound sleeper.  A lot of it may have had to do with the hours he kept, but trying to help wake him up, particularly after he had stayed up late cramming for a test, was daunting.  As his alarm blared and his backup alarm roared, he snored.  Yelling at him escalated to turning the lights on, escalated to throwing things at him.  Finally, the only thing that would awaken him was to literally shake him out of the bed.

I was reminded of this in the earthquake that accompanies the final bowl judgment.  It is the ultimate final wake-up call.  No more gentle nudges.  No more sing-song wake-ups.  No more bird and wave sound alarms.  This is a “your house is on fire and you are going to burn up (for all eternity) wake up shake”.

We tend to focus on the power and the terribleness of these final judgments/  But isn’t it also reassuring that even up to shaking people out of the planet, with no place to hide under the covers, God pours out His desire on mankind to wake up and repent and turn to Him?

And isn’t more amazing and far more terrible that even in the grasp of God shaking them violently to wake up and repent, they still refuse?

My Answers:

12.
a.
Jesus

b.
The heavens and the skies opened and the earth quaked like nothing before in all creation – islands disappear and mountains fall

c.
personally seen was aftermath of a Tornado in Joplin.  heard of would be the Japan tsunami

d.
Terrifying – there will be no place to turn or hide – but more so terrifying is the fact that they still curse God

13.
a.
To be ready and alert.  To not follow the worlds ways and be deceived – to joyfully anticipate God

b.
Working – prepared to fulfill duties – not sleeping on the job

14.
Amazingly they still curse God rather than repent.  It is a total denial of God’s justice replaced by their own.  They want to be God.

20.4 Revelation – I would if…

I would if…

There is a guy I work with who smokes.  He knows it is bad for him and horrible for his family, particularly his young son.  He knows it is expensive.  He talks about wanting to quit.  He’s switched to alternatives, but he keeps falling back on the addiction.

One day I was listening to him and made an offer.  I said I would give him $100 if he quit smoking for 6 weeks.  If he started smoking within that time period, he would have to give me $50 which I would donate to charity.  He declined.  I increased the offer to $200 vs. $50.  Again, no.  $300? No.  $500? At this point one of our co-workers offered to take up smoking to get in on the offer.  But the smoker still declined (although he asked us not to tell his wife).  $500 doesn’t come easy to me, it is a lot of money, but I thought it worthwhile if it would be what helped this co-worker, both for him and our company.

The fact is, while he got enjoyment out of complaining about smoking and wanting others to think of him as someone who wants to quit, he didn’t.  I’m sure there is some amount of money that would have gotten him to quit for 6 weeks, but I’m equally convinced that the next day he would have picked up the habit again.

The same is true for those who deny God.  Sure, there are some who will see the light (we were all once one of those people, right?).  But for others, there is simply nothing that will change their hard hearts.  When you look at the bowl judgments of Revelation, or the plagues on Egypt, you see the fact that there are those who continue to refuse to repent.  When you look at the price Jesus paid, as a free gift; yet they refuse to repent.  When you look at the promise of eternity in full communion with our creator; yet they refuse to repent.

Sometimes we get discouraged for friends and family that we pray will turn to God.  We sometimes take it personally that maybe we are insufficient in our explanation or in our words, maybe we aren’t trying hard enough.  But, when we see the response of some even when faced with the 7 bowls of judgment – well, it clearly isn’t us stumbling over words that is standing in the way.

 

My Answers:

9.
a.
1st: on land – festering sores on those with MoB.
plague of boils over Egypt

2nd: On sea, turned to blood, every living sea creature died
Plague of blood – Nile turned to blood, fish died, stunk

3rd: On rivers and springs – became blood – they shed blood, blood to drink
second trumpet – star called wormwood, 1/3 bitter, many died

4th: on sun, scorch people with fire, intense heat
judgement against sinners in deut (wasting plague, fever, blight, scorching heat), fire reserved for final judgmet

5th: on throne of the beast – darkness, gnawed tongues in agony pain sores
Darkness over Egypt at plagues before Exodus

6th: on river Euphrates – dried up, 3 impure frog spirits
Nile teeming with frogs in plagues before exodus

b.
These are all events classified as “acts of God”, they are far outside mans’ power – only the creator could manifest such wrath

10.
a.
They refuse to repent

b.
A failure to change = a failure to truly repent.  words and heart confess but my sinful actions continue – fasting helps reset

11.
A failure to change = a failure to truly repent.  words and heart confess but my sinful actions continue – fasting helps reset

20.3 Revelation – God is Real and Really Wants Us

God is real.  He is tangible.  He fills space.  He exists within a time.  He can be seen, felt, experienced.  He can be addressed and He responds.  He has a home, a temple, a tabernacle.  He enters into and keeps covenants.  In these ways and more God is a person, greater and mightier than any human person, but with all the attributes of a person and more.  Each person of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) is equally a person.  No part of God is less than a person.

I know that it is impossible to not see that throughout scripture, but, for some reason, it is not always acknowledge and believed.  We shout up a plea when we are in trouble, but we don’t address it to the person of God, we just shout.  Our actions and thoughts betray our worship of created things, in denial of the pain this causes to a jealous creator.

John witnesses the physical presence of God in heaven.  His presence completely fills the tabernacle – so much so that no one (man or angel) can enter – there simply is not room, it is so filled.

This is the same desire we should have for our interaction with God.  Not only acknowledging that He is real and present, but asking, directly asking Him, to not only be present in our lives but to totally fill our life.

I look at the lives of the apostles and every moment of every day became filled with God.  No matter what torture or imprisonment, not matter what persecution or threat, nothing could enter them because they were fully filled.

Do you seek the same relationship with God?  Are you more comfortable with a God that is fully filling you or one that is just “out there somewhere”, not too near, not too distant?  Are you more comfortable with a God whose “got your back” but doesn’t interfere in the way you want to live?

God desires a relationship with you like no other.  He desires to fully fill you with His spirit, His power, His might, His love.  But He wants all those things to much that He doesn’t force any of them.  Welcome Him and He will do amazing things – keep Him at arms reach and, He is there, but you miss out.

God is eternal.  He isn’t going anywhere.  It is the rest of us that have a limited time to open ourselves to Him – just ask and He will do the rest.  Our bodies are to be temples.

My Answers:

6.
the temple, the tabernacle of the covenant law – and it was opened.  The 7 angels with 7 plagues came out of the temple dressed in clean shining linen with golden sashes – they received 7 bowls of wrath from the 4 living creatures

7.
it is real and tangible, visible, fills (like a cloud/smoke).  So filling and powerful that men (or angels) could not enter the temple

8.
God is above and beyond.  By being eternal He is subservient to no one or no thing.  He predated and goes on for eternity.

I look forward anxiously to joining Him in perfect unity (perfect community.

20.2 Revelation – Knowing God

A motivational book I’ve been reading called “18 Minutes” presented an interesting point.  We are often coached to make goals.  These are often “I will” statements.  This year “I will” lose weight.  “I will” go to the gym.  “I will” complete my BSF lesson each day.  But the author of the book pointed out that these seldom work because they are set in the future.  They are prone to excuses of our future self compared to our present circumstances.  They are noble and create great amounts of guilt and angst, but they don’t work.

Instead, the author recommends addressing your own impression of how you see yourself: your own attributes.  I am a person who eats healthy.  I am a person who exercises every day.  I am a person who spends time in the word of God every day.

God is the great “I am”.  To be the Christians we want to be, that we are called and commissioned to be, we must start with the “I am’s” of God.

We see these throughout the song of Moses and the Lamb.  God is Lord.  God is Almight.  God is great and does marvelous deeds.  God is King, etc., etc. etc.

When our attention turns to these, our full attention not just our future self, then it prompts us to desire to praise God for these attributes and tell others about Him.  If you are a person who fully believes that God alone is Holy, that He is perfectly perfect and nothing else is, how can you not stand in awe of that?  How can you stand idle while friends and family sing praises of anyone or anything that isn’t God as if they are?

It is not just saying the words, that is simply wrote repetition.  When you take the attributes to heart and fully believe them, they prompt transformation and maturity.  You grow when you allow your heart to see more of God.

 

My Answers:

3.
another great and marvelous sign: 7 angels with the 7 last plagues.  A sea of glass glowing with fire, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast, they held harps given them by God and sang Moses’ song

4.
1. God is Lord, Almighty with great and marvelous deeds – All powerful God does amazingly wonderful things
2. God is King of the Nations, Just and True – Our leader/king of heaven and earth is honest, fair and consistent
3. God’s name is glory, worthy of fear by all, Lord – Glorious God is master of all and deserving of all respect
4. God alone is holy – God stands alone as being perfectly perfect, no other gods, no other person compares
5.God’s righteous acts are now known and all worship Him – The veil is lifted and the full nature of the creator has been revealed to everyone.  The veil disguised God to allow those who wished to select to deny Him could.  If not for the veil, it would be impossible for mankind to make that choice when faced with His fully revealed holiness

5.
Praise Him for opening my eyes and heart.  Praise Him for His mercy to all – that none are expressly prohibited from coming to Him, they need only see through the veil and accept the gift into their hearts.  He gives everyone a just and fair opportunity to make this choice.

19.5 Revelation – Tabernacles

Tabernacles

As I read the passage regarding the harvest, I was reminded of the seasons of harvest.

There is the front end of harvest.  On the Jewish calendar this is in the springtime, designated as a holiday starting 3 days after passover, the day of first fruits, the day Jesus arose from the grave, and continuing for 49 days hence to Pentecost, comprising the time known as the Festival of Weeks.  Deuteronomy discussed it as, “Count off seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God by giving a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you.”  This also is the day the Holy Spirit came to Jesus’ disciples and Peter preached in the streets.

But there is also the back end of the harvest, the time to bring in the final elements of the crops in the fall.  Deuteronomy 16:13 tells of it this way, “Celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles for seven days after you have gathered the produce of your threshing floor and your winepress.  Be joyful at your festival—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levites, the foreigners, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns.  For seven days celebrate the festival to the Lord your God at the place the Lord will choose. For the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be complete.

Three times a year all your men must appear before the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks and the Festival of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the Lord empty-handed: Each of you must bring a gift in proportion to the way the Lord your God has blessed you.”

This was the time the people of God would move out of their homes and live in tents for a period of time.  It was a time of remembering the season in the wilderness before God brought them into the promised land.  It was a time closing out the season of harvest and moving into winter.

To those of us in the north, we think of winter as dark and cold and dreary.  But, as noted by Hebrew4Christians.com, the winter holidays on the Jewish calendar “remember special times when God acted on behalf of His people so that they would triumph over their enemies and therefore they prophetically picture the final victory in the world to come.”

So, as you read the passages of the harvest and the “trampling of the vintage”, have joy.  This is a final gathering of the threshing floor and the winepress, this is a clear sign that victory is right around the corner.  It is a time to look forward to, moving out of bondage but not yet reaching the promised land.  It is a time when we prepare to stand before our God, just as we connected to Christ in the Festival of unleavened bread and the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, so too, will we meet the Father Creator God.

My Answers:

11.
One like a son of man – harvest the earth and trample the winepress – take sickle and reap because the time to reap has come and the harvest of the earth is ripe – blood flowed as high as the horses’ bridles for 1600 stadia

12.
a.
Weeds – those who have falsely penetrated the ranks of the true believers

b.
to harvest the weeds and wheat – separate the two
To thresh the harvest.  To remove the wine from the fruit

13.
Confidence that evil ends – there is a time of final harvest not continued frustration.  Concern because there is a point in time after which no one further is saved.  Question how God would choose the end for the harvest – no further planning.