We have been noticing that revelation in the Greek is apokalupsis which simply means to uncover. This is what the book of Revelation is about, uncovering. And it goes without saying, there are marvelous wonders of Jesus Christ being uncovered in that book of signs and symbols. For that matter this applies to all scripture. There are mysteries to be uncovered and known in every verse of scripture. This uncovering, this apocalypse, is what takes place when the substance of a thing is exposed that had been hidden inside a menial form, such as words written upon stone, parchment, or paper. For instance, As Eugene Peterson (author of The Message Bible) wrote: "Imagine a pot of stew on a stove. A person enters the house and becomes aware of rich aromas coming from the kitchen. The smells are inviting. He guesses at some of the ingredients. He asks others in the house what is in the pot and gets different opinions. The cook doesn’t seem to be anywhere around. Finally, everyone troops into the kitchen. One of the company takes the lid from the pot; they all crowd close and peer into it. Uncovered, the stew with all its ingredients is exposed to the eye: Apocalypse! What was guessed at is now known in detail and becomes food for a hearty meal." (Reversed Thunder, Pg. 19).

This has been the same with all scripture, especially with the book of Revelation. However, a genuine apocalypse hasn’t been the norm. People over the ages have entered the household of religion, and upon reading or hearing searing sermons on this concluding pot of stew of the Bible, various and sundry smells, speculations, and imaginations have been instilled into the minds of millions. Some have smelled frightful aromas of the four horsemen, the mark of the Beast, the false prophet, Babylon the great, Armageddon, stars falling from the heavens, massive hailstones, locusts with the stings of scorpions, plagues, a bottomless pit, a lake of fire, writhing bodies in eternal torment, ad infinitum. That which many smell from this apocalyptic pot of stew is the invidious fumes of burning flesh and molten sulfur. These odors and projected images of terror and calamity have greatly influenced the thinking of Christians throughout the ages, causing the book of Revelation to be grossly misunderstood, misinterpreted, and terribly misrepresented.

Others have been called to greater enlightenment, and they discern this is a hearty pot of stew. They smell something much differently than most of the world. To them it has a delectable, very savory aroma, and as they read the verses of the prophecy of this book, the lid is lifted from where the aroma is coming. The reality of what has been simmering for centuries is discovered. It is revealed to those who smell the sweet fragrance of Life rather than pungent odors of death.

Now that there has been an apocalypse of the contents of the vessel(s), Jesus Christ, He can be eaten. By eating His substance, of course, we become one with Him in a new and living way. It is then that we are able to not only reveal the substance by the spoken and written word, but we become the manifested word to the world.

The ages are full of instances when anointed words lost their substance. They once resounded as thunder from on high; but after being written they often suffered the same fate of death as Adam and Eve after they were written in the earth as a man and a woman.

The Jews knew the scriptures, especially the leaders; but they didn’t hear the voice of God flowing from them. They memorized them. They tied them to their foreheads and arms (phylacteries). They revered the scriptures. They also found them to be useful tools to control every detail of everyone’s life. The words were read, memorized, and studied, but not heard. The scriptures had become a book of the dead to be used rather than a means by which to hear the voice of God. When it came time to see, touch, feel, and hear the Word to whom the scriptures testified, the leaders refused Him; for their eyes were holden (restrained) from seeing who He was (Luke 24:16). In their religious zeal, they separated the written word from the spirit of the word, and in their blindness became twice dead and plucked up. Someone said, "Ink became their embalming fluid," and it has continued to this day.

Instead of being able to lift the lid from the scriptures’ pot of stew, men saw only the letter of the word by man’s religious mind. This surface perception presents a problem with Biblical teachings. Things are taken too literal rather than seeing them in the light of the Spirit. In order to know anything as we ought, there has to be an apocalypse.

Tradition has been a major factor on how the scriptures are read and perceived. During the dark-ages the religious leaders were extremely traditional, and their doctrines played well with the people who were fearful, superstitious, and believed all kinds of fables and fairy tales. A prime example of one of those fables is the devil of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy Inferno (Dante’s Inferno). And much of what that disgruntled poet wrote was carried over from the dark-ages and kept intact until now. Most Bible teachers have not had an apocalypse of the scriptures, or at least not to a large degree, and especially not in the area of the devil, judgment, hell, and the lake of fire. Therefore, rather than seeing as those things are, the veil remains and they continue having images that will someday have to be cast down.

I truly believe that although the soul of every child of God has been quickened by His Spirit, the mind of the immature understands but only a small amount of the things that pertain to the vast and marvelous realm of the Spirit in which we were born. Even with ourselves, we had been like Israel when reading the Scriptures. A dark veil had been over our spiritual eyes at times, and we were limited to that which our carnal minds could interpret rather than seeing things as He sees them.

Revelation by the Spirit carries us beyond what the natural mind can grasp. When we read any chapter or verse in the Bible, if we understand it with our natural mind alone, then we have failed to discover/uncover/reveal the true meaning which lies hidden beneath the lid of the pot of stew. If we fail to see any truth beyond that which is obvious to the natural mind, then we have not been touched by the Spirit of revelation. If that which we understand is not a living apocalypse of truth, it is the letter that kills.

There are countless examples of understanding the scriptures by the natural mind versus understanding them by the Spirit of revelation, but we will only notice one or two at this time. Heaven is one such subject that is sorely misunderstood and is in need of being noticed. Pinned to the minds of many professing Christians reside images of a natural heaven. Their life-long pursuit is to go to that heaven ‘after they die’ and escape the fires of hell. There are various ways of trying to insure that they see this hope come to pass; namely, by faith, confession, works, belonging to the right church, believing certain doctrines. Moreover, the fear of being eternally damned is quite a motivating factor that keeps the congregation’s numbers up.

If the heavens are burned up and pass away, and you are in heaven, then you will likewise be burned up and pass away. John saw it this way: "...heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together." Revelation 6:14. With the natural concept of heaven, we can see a graphic picture: Everyone is frolicking around in a lush garden, some perhaps in or about their mansions, others are sauntering down golden streets, and they all hear a deep rumble as the ground begins to quake. They look toward the horizon and they can’t believe their eyes. It is like huge tidal wave moving toward them and rolling the entire landscape into something like a giant jelly roll. Of course, such a thought is absurd; but if these things are taken literally and carried to the end, this is an example of what could be concluded. Notwithstanding, with the heavens ablaze and being rolled up like a scroll, do you still want to go to heaven?

Those heavens that Peter wrote about which would pass away were the ones of the Jews prior to A.D. 70. Those heavens were their religious authority and power over the lives of the people, and the Jewish historian, Flavius Josephus, wrote about the signs seen over Jerusalem just prior to their demise.

"Besides these, a few days after that feast, on the one and twentieth day of the month Artemisius [Jyar], a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared: I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the temple,] as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, 'Let us remove hence.'" (The Works of Josephus: The War of the Jews, Book 6, Chapter 5, Section 3). Thus the heavens passing away with a great noise.

What was going on in the heavens was being manifested in Jerusalem’s earth. All her works, her pompous hierarchy, and her religious practices passed away. Her world, her heaven and earth, was burned up. The authority, power, and the works of Israel were destroyed that day in the heavens, and whatsoever came to pass in that realm of authority came to pass in their earth. As the heavenly host of chariots and troops destroyed the city and Temple in the heavenly realm, the city and Temple were destroyed in the earthly realm.

Jesus said something about this spiritual law to Peter, and it still applies: "And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19. Or more accurately: Whatsoever you bind on earth will have been already bound in heaven, and whatsoever you bind on earth will have been already bound in heaven." And The Amplified: "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven" with the footnote: "The perfect passive participle, here referring to a state of having been already forbidden [or permitted]."(Charles B. Williams), author of Williams New Testament.

Whether it is a loosening or a binding of powers on earth, it can’t be done unless it is first done by the power from God’s throne from where all power comes, and it is in this heaven the man child, the sons of God, are caught up and made ready for war.

"...The man *Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, Daniel 9:21 ,"...and the angel (messenger) answering said unto him, I am Gabriel (a man of God or from God), that stands in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to show thee these glad tidings." Luke 1:19, "And in the sixth month the angel (messenger) Gabriel (the man of God) was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, ²⁷To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph..." Luke 1:26. 

Have you ever stood in the presence of God? Could it be said of you that you are a man of God? And have you ever received a message from God and then sent by Him to deliver it? If the answers are ‘yes,’ you would fit the description and could be called ‘gabriel.’ This would be the same as declaring with authority from whom and from where you had been sent. It is like delivering a mandate from a king with his seal embossed upon it. Therefore, it is not so important to know the messenger’s personal name that his mom and dad gave him at birth as it is to know from whom and where he is sent. That is what gives the messenger his authority. Of course, if it is God who bestows the name, as he did in naming Jesus, it will tell those to whom he is sent the nature, character, authority, and power of the man.

This surely applies as well to those who have passed on to the other side of the veil, and if so, they are likewise sent with messages from God; therefore, those angels would be called gabriels, men of God. When the angel/messenger that was sent from God to Daniel, Mary, and Zacharias whether from this side of the veil or the other, the personal name, Gabriel, would not have been nearly as powerful as the seal of God that declared from where he came and by whose authority he spoke. So gabriel was an identifying factor of the messenger and his credentials of authority.