The Idol in the New Testament
& the Resurrection of the Dead
Main references: Rv 13, Rv 20
What is the idol in the New Testament? What kind of resurrection is the resurrection of the dead? The New Testament refers to a new promise. The idol refers to something which is not of the truth. The resurrection of the dead is referring to how the dead spirit, not the dead flesh, comes back to life.
God fulfilled the promise He had established with Abraham at the time of Moses (Ex 12:37-41). God also fulfilled the promises He had made through the Old Testament prophets during the time of Jesus’ first coming (Jn 19:30). Likewise, the promises in the New Testament will also be fulfilled at the time of the second coming (Rv 21:6). This is how the Old and the New Testament promises are fulfilled.
What does an idol refer to? People think of an idol as something made of stones, wood, or iron such as the image of Buddha in a Buddhist temple. This type of idol is nothing but an image, which neither benefits nor harms people. The true meaning of an idol according to the Bible, however, is a false teacher (Hab 2:18). Daniel 2 also portrays this type of an idol. In fact, the idol was a person; it was a false pastor.
At the time of the first coming, Jesus warned people, “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees.” Just like the yeast at that time, and the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which Adam and Eve ate in their time, today there is the wine of adulteries (maddening wine) which has caused all nations to fall according to Revelation 17 and 18. This wine of adulteries is the same as the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the yeast which a false pastor gives. Those who feed people this wine of adulteries are the pastors who belong to the group of the dragon, the kingdom of demons. They are the reality of the idol in Daniel 2. They are also the idol, the beast, the dragon, and the serpent, portrayed in Revelation 13. How ignorant they must be that they are unable to understand this word!
The real understanding of worshiping an idol is for someone to believe in something else which is not God, as though it was God, and believing in a church, which is not of God’s denomination (church), as though it was God’s church. It is also believing and serving someone, who is not God’s pastor, as God’s pastor. Furthermore, believing in a different gospel or doctrine, which is not given by God, is also idol worship.
There are two types of people who are referred to as ‘the dead’: People whose flesh has died, and people whose spirit is dead. The physical realities of the dead in Ezekiel 37 were the Jews in Jerusalem during the time of Jesus. It was their spirits, not their flesh, which was dead. In the case of Lazarus and Jesus, it was their flesh which came out of the tombs. The dead, in Revelation 8 and 9, are not the people whose flesh is dead, but rather, they are the people whose spirits are dead. In addition, those who partake in the first resurrection in Revelation 20 refer to the people whose dead spirits come back to life, just like the resurrection spoken of in John 5.
In short, the idol in the book of Revelation refers to a false teacher, a false pastor. ‘Death’, in Rv 8 and 9, refers to the dead spirits of the saints. Being alive (Rv 20) refers to the resurrection of the spirits, which were once dead.
Today’s nation of Babylon (a spiritual kingdom) is like a tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Dn 4:20). Babylon’s doctrines, which are their commentaries—figuratively called the fruit of the tree of life or the wine of adulteries—have led all nations to go astray and die. What will enable the spirits who have died by eating Babylon’s fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Rv 18), to resurrect is the revelation in the New Testament given in Revelation chapter 10. This revelation is with the one who overcomes found in Shincheonji. It is through this word of revelation, which is the fruit and the leaves of the tree of life, that people come back to life again. They are brought back from death to the resurrection of life. This is the promise of the Bible, and it is the fruit of life, the word of revelation.
Whoever believes will receive eternal life and heaven as an inheritance.
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