The prophecies of the first six Seals are the point where the Apocalypse meets with the eschatological prophecies of the Gospels. The prophecy of the 7th Seal in the Apocalypse is the point where the Apocalypse “meets” Genesis, given that the plagues mentioned in there relate to the first two chapters of Creation.

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1. The first six Seals

The Holy Bible must be understood as a unity. It cannot be divided into segments that are not relevant to each other. In each corner, one can see references to other points of the Divine Revelation.

Thus, the six Seals mentioned in the 6^th chapter of the Apocalypse refer to the things that Christ had prophesied in the 24^th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel:   First, the Advent of Christ, then famine, wars, death, persecutions and the upheaval of the heavenly powers after the Great Tribulation.  These are the things that the Lord Jesus Christ had said would take place before His Second Coming, and they are also events that are taking place during the present era – that is, the era of the Last Days.

However, in its mention of the 7^th Seal, the Apocalypse makes one more correlation: the events of the 7th Seal with the first 2 chapters of Genesis!

 

2. The land, the sea and the trees

When beginning to unfold the prophecy of the 7^th Seal, the Apocalypse – from the beginning of its 7^th chapter – makes a brief reference to elements mentioned in the 1^st chapter of Genesis.  It informs us that the “land”, the “sea” and the “trees” will be “wronged” immediately after the 144.000 Christian Israelites have been sealed. Furthermore, we have already indicated in another article what the “land and the sea” symbolize when they are mentioned together in prophecies. And it is likewise known that the “trees” in the Holy Bible symbolize nations (Isaiah14:6-12, Luke 21:29-31). But, beyond these symbolisms, there is already a first hint here of what is to follow, after the first chapter of Genesis, because during the first Creative “days”, Genesis deals with the land, the sea and the trees. (Genesis 1:9-12). And as we shall see further along, there is a parallel, between the characteristics of the Creative “days” and the events of the 7^th Seal.

 

3. The 4 angels and the 4 Creative Days

A reminder here, that Genesis speaks in its first chapter of the “lights” (the sun, the moon and the stars), and also speaks of the land and the sea, as well as the plants and the waters. Well, the 6^th and 7^th Seals in the 6^th and the 7^th chapters of the Apocalypse speak of the exact same things. Could this be a pure coincidence?

In the 8^th chapter of the Apocalypse, the 7^th Seal is opened, and the 7 angels begin to sound their trumpets, during which time, the following events take place:

“And the first angel sounded; and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and they fell upon the land; and the third of the trees were incinerated, and all the tender vegetation was incinerated. And the second angel sounded; and something like a huge mountain burning with fire fell into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood.  And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. Then the third angel sounded; and a huge star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell upon a third of the rivers and the springs of water. And the name of the star is Absinth (Wormwood).  A third of the waters turned into Absinth, and many of the people died from the waters, because they had become bitter. And the fourth angel sounded; and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them became darkened, and a third of the day did not appear, and the night likewise”. (Revelation 8:7-12)

Here we have in more detail the events that the 7^th chapter of the Apocalypse had previously informed us of:  plagues that would befall the land, the sea and the trees – although references regarding plagues against the celestial bodies had been made previously, in the 6^th chapter, by the 6^th Seal!

Land, sea, trees and lights: these are the four elements prophesied in the Apocalypse, which are seen mentioned in Genesis during the first four Creative “days” (up to v.19); and they are the same four elements that are battered by the plagues of the Apocalypse, up until the 4^th angel that sounded its trumpet!  Could this also be a coincidence – the 4^th angel and the 4^th Creative Day?

The continuation is startlingly revealing...

 

4. The first of the three “woes”

Further along:  the last verse of the 8^th chapter of the Apocalypse informs us that three “woes” are to follow, which are correspondent to the remaining three of the seven angels that remain to sound their trumpets.  What is also impressive is that these “final” angels are seven – as are the seven “days” of the “beginning” of Creation mentioned in Genesis!

And, just as there are three more “days” in Genesis – after the fourth “day” with the lights – similarly in the Apocalypse that we are examining, there remain three angels until the fulfilment of God’s judgment.

Now, let’s observe the next Apocalypse – Genesis analogy, as regards the fifth Creative “day” with the first of the “woes”: 

In Genesis: 

“And God said, “Let the waters bring forth living reptilian beings and birds flying above the land, across the firmament of the skies. And God made the large sea monsters and every living thing that creeps, which the waters had brought forth according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.  And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply upon the earth.” And it became evening and it became morning, on the fifth day.” (Genesis 1:20-23)

In the Apocalypse:

And the fifth angel sounded; and I saw a star fallen from the sky upon the land; and to him was given the key to the abyss (bottomless pit), and he unlocked the well of the abyss, and smoke arose out of the abyss like the smoke of a burning furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the abyss. And out of the smoke came locusts upon the land, and authority was given to them, the kind of power that the scorpions of the land have power. And they were told to not wrong the grass of the earth, nor any tender vegetation or any tree, except only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.   And it was given to them to not kill them, but to torment them for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a person.  In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.  And the likenesses of the locusts were as those of horses prepared for battle, and upon their heads were crowns similar to gold, and their faces were like the faces of people. And they had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had chests like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle. They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had the power to wrong the people for five months.  And they had as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, while in Greek he has the name Apollyon  (the eliminator). One woe has passed; behold, two more woes are coming after these things.”   (Revelation 9:1-12)

Now notice the parallels:

In Genesis, on the fifth day the waters brought forth flying creatures that fly above the face of the earth. Correspondingly in the Apocalypse, flying creatures (resembling locusts) come forth from within the smoke that rises from the abyss; they too fly across the face of the earth, with the mission to attack those who have not received the Seal of Holy Chrism.

We are not examining here what each and every detail symbolizes, or what might take place on the land of Israel with all these “flying armies”.  We are only comparing the similarities between Genesis and Apocalypse, so that we might hopefully attain an understanding of the respective prophecies with the “keys” that these parallels have provided.

We can therefore see a persistence with the number five that corresponds to the 5^th “day” of Creation in Genesis, but also the context of both the Abyss and the Waters, given that in Genesis, the “waters” are also referred to as “abyss”. (Genesis 1:2)

 

5. The contradistinctions between Genesis and Apocalypse

What is evident in these parallels however, is that they do NOT direct us to similarities, but to DIFFERENCES!!!

The differences are:  that the “waters” in Genesis are described as the genitors of good things (the living creatures brought forth by the seas), whereas the “abyss” (the bottomless pit) in the Apocalypse is the genitor of evil (the deadly “locusts”); also the birds of flight in Genesis fly across the pristine air above the land, whereas the “locusts” in the Apocalypse appear in a smoke that darkens the air!

Similarly, in the aforementioned the first 4 Creative “days” in Genesis and the aforementioned “parallel” of 4 angelic trumpets sounding in the Apocalypse, we note that in Genesis we have the Creative energy that brought forth the “lights” and the vegetation, and the Spirit of God hovering above the “waters”, whereas in the Apocalypse we have the obscuring of the “lights”, the extermination of vegetation, and blood, death and poison in the “waters” (Revel.8:7-12)

It is obvious that the message the Apocalypse intends to convey here is the reversal of God’s Creative energy; that is, whatever God had created during the “days” of His Creation is destroyed (= God’s withdrawal of His Creative Providence), during the Last Days of the Apocalypse, on account of mankind’s impenitence.

But note here:  of great importance is the detail that the plague inflicted on mankind by the locusts does NOT harm those who are anointed in the Holy Spirit! (Revel.7:3-9, 9:4)! The Grace of God is still present in the world, but only for the sake of those who seek it and accept it!

 

6. The sixth angel’s trumpet compared to the sixth Creative Day

With the sounding of the 6^th angelic trumpet (which is the second “woe” of the Apocalypse), we have the following “parallel”:

In Genesis, we have the creation of the land animals:

“And God said: Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to each kind: quadrupeds and reptiles and beasts of the land according to each kind; and it became so.  And God made the beasts of the land according to their kind, and the cattle according to their kind, and all the reptiles of the land according to their kind. And God saw that it was good. And God said, “Let Us (the Holy Trinity) make man according to Our image** and according to Our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle and the entire earth, and over all the reptiles that crawl upon the earth. And God created man – in accordance with God’s image** He made him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, saying:  “Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and be the lords*** over it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all of the reptiles that crawl upon the land.” (Genesis 1:24-28)

The basic characteristic of this Genesis excerpt is its reference to the ANIMALS and man’s dominance over them, as the lord over all of God’s Creation.  But what do we have in the Apocalypse during the 6th Angel’s trumpet blast?

 “And the number of the army of horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.  And this is how I saw the horses in the vision, and those who were sitting on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire and smoke, and brimstone.  By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed: by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone coming out of their mouths; for the power of the horses is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm. And the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, to not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see, nor hear, or walk.  And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”   (Revelation 9:16-20)

Notice the difference here:  In Genesis, God gives man authority over the animal kingdom, and makes him the absolute regent over Creation, so that he may lead it into incorruptibility.  But – contrary to God’s will – man became an idolater, having instead SUBJUGATED HIMSELF TO CREATION by deifying it and worshiping Creation instead of the Creator: 

“Professing to be wise, they became fools, and they altered the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image of corruptible man, and of birds and quadrupeds and reptiles. And this is why God left them to the desires of their hearts in uncleanliness, by dishonoring their bodies by themselves, having exchanged the truth of God within the falsehood, and venerating and worshipping Creation rather than the Creator...”.  (Romans 1:22-25)

And what is the result, when man subjugates himself to a deified Creation?  Creation CRUSHES him!  This is one of the points that the Apocalypse wants to make, by identifying the military vehicles of the war during the 6^th angel’s trumpet, with imagery of lions, horses and snakes; i.e., that Creation is no longer subservient to man, and that instead of making Creation incorruptible, man will be corrupted during those last days, by his deification of Creation!

During the 6^th Creative “day” of Genesis, God gave man the authority over Creation.  But during the 6^th trumpet blast of the Apocalypse, He gives authority over Creation to corrupt man – in the hope that man might come to his senses, refrain from idolatry and seek God.  However, “they did not repent of the works of their hands” and as a result, would necessarily have to undergo the third and final “woe” of the Apocalypse, during the 7^th and final trumpet blast.

 

7. The seventh trumpet’s blast as the antithesis and the completion of the divine κατάπαυσις.

Towards the end of the 6^th trumpet blast, the Apocalypse gives us the following significant information: 

“The angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the land drew his right hand towards the sky  and swore by Him who lives unto the ages of ages, Who built the sky and everything that is in it, and the earth and everything that is in it, and the sea and everything that is in it, that Time shall be no longer, but that in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is to sound the trumpet, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, as He had declared to His servants the prophets.”  (Revelation 10:5-7)

Notice in these words yet another “key” that will help us unlock the symbolism of the 7^th Seal – and its counterpart in Genesis:  Just as in the first chapter of Genesis the narration begins with the creation of sky, land and sea and then continues with the creation of the animals, likewise here there is a reference to the per se event of the Creation in Genesis. In fact, this excerpt of the Apocalypse is even more indicative, “crying out” that it corresponds to the three first verses of the second chapter of Genesis:

“Thus the sky and the land were completed, and all of their adornment.  And God completed on the sixth day (according to the older by 1000 years Septuagint text) the works which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He ceased all His works which God had begun to make.”  (Genesis 2:1-3)

The paralleling of the 7 Creative Days with the 7 Trumpets of the Apocalypse now continues even more intensely.  On the 7^th Creative “day”, God ceases from His works in Genesis, and similarly, upon the 7^th Trumpet blast of the Apocalypse, the “work of God is ceased”. In fact, the Apocalypse very characteristically states there that “Time shall be no more”.  This is a phrase that also befits the end of mankind’s ordeals, with the end of the 7^th Trumpet and the onset of the AGE TO COME (with Time no longer present), but it also suits the 7^th Creative “day” of Genesis, where we have analyzed in another study that this is a parallel dimension of Time, but beyond Time.  It is the AGE of the Saints, which moves in tandem with the 6^th Creative “day”, during which man was created.

Furthermore, just as there is “peace” and “rest” in God’s κατάπαυση during the 7th “day” of κατάπαυση of the saints in Paradise, but oppositely there is a struggle for survival in the 6^th Creative “day” where Adam had been expelled to after his sin, we see the same thing in the Apocalypse:  during the 7^th trumpet blast, war and torments continue for humans still on earth, but respite for those who are already in the 7^th “day” – of κατάπαυση – that Adam had fallen from, with his disobedience.

^“And another, third angel followed them, saying in a loud voice:  “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he too shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured undiluted from within the cup of His wrath, and he shall be tortured by fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.  And the smoke of their torture shall ascend forever and ever and they shall have no rest day or night who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints, who have kept the commandments of God and the faith in Jesus. And I heard voices from the sky, saying: “Write:  ‘Blessed are the in-the-Lord dead from now on; yes, says the Spirit, so that they can rest from their toils; and their works will follow along with them.’ ”  (Revelation 14:9-13)

Here too is a reversal that we had observed during the previous trumpets: whatever God had desired to be peaceful and blessed, mankind has converted into a cause for torture and grief.  BUT, the torture and grief are not destined for all men. There will be those who will have escaped, by having strived to reach God’s eternal κατάπαυση through their sanctity: they are the souls of the saints who will have slept in the Lord.  They will have entered the Paradise of souls – the 7^th Creative “day” – in God’s eternal κατάπαυση, from which Adam had fallen away. These people will not be tormented by the dramatic events of the 7^th Trumpet, given that – for them – “Time will no longer be”. They will have escaped from the confines of Time and have entered God’s eternal κατάπαυση .

But, contrary to them, the idolaters who have been worshipping Creation and who will have worshipped the Antichrist Beast and its image, “shall have no respite”, forever and ever – that is, even beyond Time as we know it, when it will have ceased to be. 

Just as the Saints who – albeit living in the 6^th  Creative “day” that we are currently in - are in parallel also partaking of the 7^th “day” in God’s eternal κατάπαυση, reversely, the worshippers of Creation will likewise be partaking of the AGE TO COME, but they will NOT belong in the 7^th “day” of God’s eternal κατάπαυση; the torment on account of their malice will follow them “forever and ever” – even within the 8^th “day” during which the resurrection of bodies will have taken place (known as the Coming Age of Incorruptibility)

Returning to the Genesis-Apocalypse parallels, characteristic is how the Apocalypse focuses our attention on the worshipping of the “BEAST” – that is, the Antichrist. With a more careful glance at this reference (regardless of the fulfilment of the prophecy), it is indicating that not even these references are irrelevant to Genesis!

During its apogee, the Apocalypse focuses on mankind’s worship of the “Beast” and its “image”. In other words, we again have an issue of IDOLATRY.  We have the lord of Creation – man – worshipping an animal – a beast! 

Regardless that the prophecy is fulfilled in a person (the Antichrist), the reference to “Beast” as an animal is not in the least by coincidence. It does not only intend to highlight man’s brutalization, but wants to also refer us to Genesis!

We have seen how the 7^th Trumpet corresponds to the 7^th “day” in Genesis (God’s κατάπαυση), with Adam’s presence there in Paradise, when he was made king over Creation, and the animals were subservient to him. 

But during the 7^th Trumpet, man will have become subservient to Creation, by worshipping animals!  In Paradise, God had re-fashioned the beasts, making them docile:  “and God again fashioned all the beasts of the field and all the fowl of the air” (Genesis 2:19) .

Conversely, in the Apocalypse: “... And power was given to him (death) over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.” (Apocalypse 6:8)

The mention of “beasts of the earth” is not a figure of speech, nor is it a reference to the forerunners of the Antichrist and the Antichrist himself. It LITERALLY refers to the authority of the animals over man – as opposed to God’s blessing in Genesis for man to rule over the beasts, and as opposed to God’s fashioning “again” the beasts of the earth in Paradise, for Adam’s sake.

The expression “beasts of the earth” is also not a coincidental one, nor does it only denote the governments of the Middle East.  The words “of the earth” points us to the beasts of the 6^th Creative “day”, which were fashioned “out of the earth” (Genesis 1:25); for these beasts, Genesis says “let the earth bring forth”.  Correspondingly, on the 5^th Creative “day”, Genesis speaks of the animals (which of course includes the beasts), with the words “let the waters bring forth” ....  (Genesis 1:20).

Thus, in harmony with Genesis where the various animals that “the waters brought forth”, but also those that “the earth brought forth”,  along the same lines during the Trumpets that will sound during God’s judgment upon our world, both the beasts of the earth, as well as those coming forth out of the Abyss, will be turning against humankind:

“And I stood on the sand of the sea and I saw a beast rising up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads [...] And I saw another beast rising up out of the earth, and it had two horns like a lamb, and it was speaking like a dragon.  And it was exercising every authority of the first beast in front of it, and was causing the earth and those dwelling in it to worship the first beast...”  (Revelation 13:1, 11-12)

Man worshipped creations, and the creations now turn against him and devour him. The Antichrist and the False Prophet – the 2 individuals of the demonic trinity (the third one is the Dragon, the Devil) – created in the image and the likeness of fallen man, carry all the savage instincts of the bestial nature that man had worshipped.

It is in fact interesting to note that when the vials of God’s wrath begin to be poured out (on the Antichrist’s world, during the 7^th Trumpet), that the 5^th vial is poured upon the throne of the Beast that “rose up out of the sea” (Revelation 16:10) – which, in Genesis had risen out of the sea on the 5^th Creative “day”! 

Again and again, the Apocalypse reminds us that it follows the Genesis story in parallel, except with a new and negative hue: with a destructive and horrific energy that counterbalances the Creative Providence of God in Genesis.

In this way, it is describing the result that idol worship of the created has inflicted on the world, in place of the worship of the Uncreated God.

Speaking of the “vials” of God’s wrath, you may have noticed that the 6th vial is poured upon the Euphrates River:  “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared.”  (Revelation 16:12)

But why, specifically, on the Euphrates?

Beyond the fulfilment of the prophecy, the Apocalypse again reminds us that it follows along the lines of Genesis:

“Now a river proceeds from Eden to water the garden; from there it parts into four riverheads.  The name of the first is Pishon; this one surrounds the entire land of Evilat, where the gold is.  And the gold of that land is good; there also is coal, and the green stone (emerald, onyx). The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which encircles all the land of Ethiopia (Africa). And the third river, Tigris, is the one that flows opposite the Assyrians; and the fourth river is the Euphrates.”    (Genesis 2:10-14)

One of the 4 rivers that irrigated the Paradise (=garden) of Eden is the Euphrates, which in Genesis was a blessing for man, as the life-giver to peaceful and idyllic Eden.  But, during the outpouring of the 6^th vial during the 7^th Trumpet of the Apocalypse, this same river dries up and thereafter becomes a catastrophe and a reason for a World War!  The Grace of God is withdrawn during that phase, from everything that God had originally blessed, and man is thereafter left to handle the situations that he himself had created by turning towards creations instead of the Creator.

However the similarities with Genesis do not stop here; they accompany the Apocalypse to its end!  And of course it is impossible to pursue them all within this article.  That is the reason we only review the most significant similarities and antitheses, as keys for further study and de-symbolizing of this extremely profound and multi-level Book.

As such, let us pause on a few similarities of the Apocalypse (together with their antitheses), that it shares with Genesis:

“And God fashioned the side (rib) which He had taken from Adam into a woman, and He led her to Adam. And Adam said: ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called woman’ [...] and they were both naked – both Adam and his woman – and they were not ashamed”   (Genesis 2:22-25)

Here, we have Eve – Adam’s woman – naked in Paradise, innocent, fashioned for Adam.  At the opposite end, in the Apocalypse, we have Babylon the Great (the Antichrist’s terrestrial Jerusalem), in a desert wasteland, dressed lavishly and a harlot – even though she too had been fashioned for Christ (the second Adam):

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven vials came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters,  with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. And he led me away in the Spirit, into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on the scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was wrapped in purple and scarlet, and gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and the filth of the earth’s fornication, and on her forehead was inscribed a name: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT,THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”  (Revelation 17:3-5 and Hosea 3:1).

Here, whereas Babylon the Great is the “mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth”, Adam’s woman – Eve – is the “mother of all living” (Genesis 3:20) – as a type of the Holy Mother of Jesus Christ.

And so, the last trumpet blast ends with the last “woe” against the harlot, Babylon the Great...

 

8. The eighth “day” restores the Paradise of Eden. 

But not everything is so bleak. With the ending of the 7^th trumpet blast, all antitheses cease, and only the similarities between the Apocalypse and Genesis remain: 

 

 

Instead of the harlot - Babylon the Great - and the terrestrial Jerusalem (who had become the consort of the Antichrist), the Lord Jesus Christ - the second Adam - will have the celestial Church (His radiant and pure Bride), as the Paradisiacal Eve had been described when she was presented to Adam: 

“And I saw a new sky and a new earth - for the first sky and the first earth had gone and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city of Jerusalem – brand new – descending out of the sky from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the sky saying, “behold, the tabernacle of God (the celestial Church) is with the people, and will remain with them; and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them” [...] “Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven vials that were filled with the seven final plagues, and it said to me: ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the woman of the Lamb.”  And it took me away in the spirit, to a mountain great and high, and it showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending out of the sky from God, having the glory of God and with a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. (Apocalypse 21:1-3, 9-11)

“And she is a bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Genesis 2:23)

“And Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the saviour of the body”  (Ephesians 5:23)

Then, in the last chapter of the Apocalypse is described the Bride of Christ (the celestial Church, the holy city),

“Then the angel showed me a river with water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of that broad path and the river there are trees on either side which produce twelve kinds of fruit, each one rendering its fruits every month, and the leaves of the trees are for healing the nations.  And every accursed thing is no longer; and the throne of God and of the Lamb are inside it (the celestial Church), and His servants shall be worshipping Him; and they shall see His face, and His name shall be upon their foreheads. And night shall be no more; nor will there be any need of lamp and sunlight, for the Lord God will illuminate them, forever and ever, and they shall reign forever and ever.”   (Revelation 22)

In its last chapter, the Apocalypse completes its parallels with Genesis, by showing that in the end, when people will be worshipping the Creator and not Creation, then, instead of the rivers that flowed forth from Eden (Genesis 2:10), Uncreated Grace will flow in the celestial city, from the throne of God.  And the broad path with the trees – the “wood of life” of Paradise (Genesis 3:22), in other words Jesus Christ – will again be available to people. Also, the “lights” that God had installed in the firmament will no longer be needed, because the Light of God will suffice for everyone.

In this New Paradise, people will once again “reign” in that Creation, the way that Adam was master in the terrestrial Paradise of Eden, because under the blessing of Christ, there will once again be images of peace between man and Creation, like those in the Paradise of Eden, and the images prophesied by Isaiah:

“And the wolf shall graze together with the lamb, and the leopard shall lay down to rest with the kid, and the calf and the bull and the lion shall graze together, and a little child shall lead them.  And the cow and bear shall graze together, and their offspring will be with them, and the lion and the cow shall eat straw together. And an infant child shall, over the cave of asps and over the den of adders’ offspring, place its hand.”  (Isaiah 11:6-8).

This is the state that will also be fulfilled in due course, when the 7^th Trumpet blast has finished and Christ has returned to the world that He had created - as King, as God and as an eternal human amongst humans (Revelation 21:3) - invited by His creatures to an eternal, joint reign of peace and love.

 

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** But how can we resemble God, if we haven’t seen Him?  Again, the answer lies in the phrasing “according to the image, and according to the likeness of God”.  It does not say “IN the image and the likeness”.  What is meant, by the expression “according to”?  Well, per the Greek syntax, it denotes “the image of the image” of God – NOT the image and the likeness of God Himself! 

So, who is the immediate “image and likeness” of God?  But of course, Jesus Christ, His Son and Logos, as clearly seen in Colossians 1:15: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation...”.

The fact that Jesus Christ had not been born as a human being at the time is not an issue; God (the Holy Trinity) Who is outside of Time, is well aware of the “future”, as Creator of Linear Time.

*** subdue = conquer, quash, overcome, whereas the greek word of the Biblical text “κατακυριεύσατε “ means “be the absolute lords over everything on earth” .

Related articles:  The Fall of the first-fashioned humans from God’s eternal “State of Rest” 

Translation:  K.N.