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The Great Exchange

Part XLV

In the last couple of chapters, the Great Exchange has treated on the subject of the Image of the Beast. As we've examined how the Image is actually the body of Antichrist, certain questions have emerged. For example, in the passage that says "all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him" (Revelation 13:8), the text requires clarification.

As we've repeatedly noted, the Image of the Beast is a mystical way of alluding to the totality of the earth bound population that is, in effect, the body of Antichrist.

In this context, it's useful to consider just what the body of Christ actually is, and then seek to perceive its opposite. The Body of Christ speaks of the creation that is redeemed before God the Father, as it is indwelled by the Spirit of the LORD. When our finite existence comes to a logistical end at some point, the body of Christ is the ongoing body of believers that are inhabited by the Spirit of Life that is God.

Conversely, the body of Antichrist is the human creation that has refused to enter into the righteousness that is only available to mankind, through the sacrifice and resurrection of JESUS CHRIST.

To phrase this thought another way, the Spirit of Life is Christ, and the Spirit of Death is Antichrist.

In between the twin polarities of Life and Death is the middle ground, which can be equivocated with the Spirit of Hell, or the Spirit of the Lord that leads the chosen of the LORD to Christ – who is "the way, the truth, and the Life" (John 14:6).

Thus, the Spirit of the LORD resides in the same arena as the Spirit of Hell, which leads to Death. To restate that thought, the Spirit of the LORD leads those who respond to God's leading to the Life in Jesus Christ, and the Spirit of Hell (also seen as "the Spirit of the world" in the text) leads those whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of Life to the Death inherent in the entity the Scriptures identify as Antichrist.

"Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (I Corinthians 2:12).

This aspect of the heavenly architecture is so important that it should be reiterated. The New Testament speaks of "the Spirit of truth" (John 15:26), who is characterized by Christ as associated with the comforter. Because the Spirit of Hell, which leads to Death, is the inverse of the Holy Spirit, and the Scripture tells us the Holy Spirit of the Lord leads us to truth, it is self evident the middle ground – what the Old Testament called the Valley of Decision – is the crucial venue for Spiritual survival.

"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come" (John 16:13).

In the present work, we've repeatedly presented Scriptural data which indicates the Spirit of Hell (or "the world") leads to the Spirit of Death.

Recognizing that sin and a multitude of similarly iniquitous Scriptural terms are euphemisms for Hell, it's hardly a stretch to assert that Sin leads to Death.

"For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).

Indeed, multiple chapters illustrating this progression have been offered in the present study, in which Biblical accounts show the various type of sin – especially Envy -- leads to Death. The primary example is, of course, the original murder wherein Cain, initially envious of his brother Abel, is so consumed by the hatred the envy engenders, eventually sees the Spirit within him drive him to Death in the killing of his brother.

"And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect….and it came to pass, when they were in the field [read dwelled on the earth] that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (Genesis 4:4, 5, 8).

Thus, the New Testament admonition against hatred comes further into focus.

"He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer" (I John 2:9; 3:15).

There are many other examples of envy/hatred (or other similitudes of the Spirit of Hell), which seeks to invoke the Spirit of Death. The case of King Saul's envy of David, which motivated him to try to kill him, comes to mind.

"And the women answered one another as they played, and said, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands. And Saul sought to smite David to the wall with the Javelin" (I Samuel 18:7, 19:10)

The story of Esau's envy of Jacob, as Jacob found himself in the coveted role in which he received the birthright of the firstborn, is even more on point than the other examples.

"And Esau hated Jacob wherewith his father blessed him: and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then will I slay my brother Jacob" (Genesis 27:41).

Thus, it is the middle ground, where "Hell" exists in the "Valley of Decision," that lies between Life and Death.

"Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision" (Joel 3:14).

Notice how the text is characterized by that Twicespeak phenomenon, wherein the term "multitude" is repeated, as is the phrase "the valley of decision" – whereas the singular "day" of the LORD is also present.

This supernatural nomenclature has been repeatedly articulated in various works, and is routinely identified in these quarters as the Triuniverse. Once again, the structure is triune, consisting of Life, Death, and the hotly contested middle ground where the Spiritual war is waging, right up to the present moment.  

In pursuit of understanding the way the Spiritual realm is perceived, we have previously dubbed various aspects of this reality with terminology that helps us to more quickly refer to that particular aspect of what is an enormous subject.

For instance, in the Triuniverse, the Scriptures utilize the imagery of the Image of the Beast. Unfortunately, the residual impact of the avalanche of false prophecy throughout the Christian era has taken its toll, and we find it difficult to characterize the "Image" in ways that supersede the physical picture of some sort of inanimate construct, that is magically brought to life by the equally distorted figure of the False Prophet.

Thus, I have previously referred to the body of Antichrist – which is the Image of the Beast – as The Collective. This "Collective" consists of all "them who dwell on the earth," whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of Life.

Recognizing the fact that the nature of the Triuniverse includes the two powers of Death and Hell (think Antichrist and False Prophet), we note the Image (as well as our term for it, the Collective) is populated by those inhabited by both Spiritual entities.  

In my previous work on this subject entitled The Collective, I noted that it might be easier to convey this concept if we made reference to such a thing as the Dragon's book of Death (as the opposite of the Lamb's Book of Life in Revelation 20:15), but the LORD saw fit to emphasize the pre-eminence of Life in this complex subject in His Word.

For now, suffice it to say The Collective is comprised of everyone who has not passed from Death to Life through Jesus Christ.

"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death" (I John 3:14).

It's instructive to highlight the fact the above verse speaks of passing from death into life, and this sequence is consistent with New Testament doctrine which we covered in the last installment of The Great Exchange, Part XLIV (and other chapters as well), which pointed out the default position for all mankind is Death.

This is obviously related to the concept of original sin, in which every man and woman is under the curse of Death which we inherited, because of the fall from the Garden so long ago. Thus, we don't need to allegorically have our names written in the mythical Dragon's Book of Death, as it was written there before we were born. 

The New Testament regularly refers to how the redeemed have been delivered from death.

"But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: Who delivered us from so great a death" (II Corinthians 1:9,10).