The journey of mankind is a revelation for all of creation, and it will be studied for eternity. As we see in Revelation, Jesus will forever be called “The Lamb” for what He did for mankind and the world. Our history is basically a revelation of the consequences for rebellion against God, but its higher message is how He turns all things into good for those who love Him and obey Him. The study of Revelation is a study of the human journey.  

       If we’re going on this journey, we must take some time to examine the bad—the false, what opens the door to evil—and how we can avoid it. Even more than this, we need to study it to understand how our relationship to God can be fully restored and how we can have even more than what Adam and Eve had; we can become a “new creation” that is far better than the original creation. All of this is in Revelation.

       Consider that when Satan and his hosts were cast out of heaven down to the earth, all of the evil and rebellion in creation was on earth. Earth was the “sheep” that went astray so that the Lord would leave the other ninety-nine and go after the one that was lost. A main reason evil was allowed to come to its full maturity in mankind—and be revealed through the antichrist—is that we need to fully understand what we will become like if we continue in rebellion against God.

       The antichrist is the personification of the evil that all of us become if we continue down the wrong road. The New Jerusalem is composed of those who turned from the rebellion to fully follow the Lord and overcame the evil that took over the rest of mankind. It is in this city that God will dwell on earth among men. This will make earth the capital of the universe. This makes every life here significant.

       This ultimate evil released on the earth is the antichrist that actually claimed to be Christ and be of His nature. It is the opposite, of course, but this can only be understood when we turn from the way the whole world is going to follow the true Christ. We must keep in mind that the antichrist is Satan’s attempt to be a substitute for Christ and to poison the world’s perspective of Him.

       Satan acknowledges the redemption of the cross and the authority of Jesus, which is why demons come out in His name. However, Satan contends that the cross may have redeemed the world but does not have the power to change it. When the new creation is revealed at the end of this age, and Christ the King restores mankind and the earth in the next age, Satan will never again have that boast. Those who begin to have the nature of Christ are the beginning of the testimony that God does not begin a work that He does not finish and that He will restore the whole earth so even it becomes His home. 

       So, a basic goal of every Christian should be to become like Christ and do the works that He did. As we read in 1 Corinthians 10:11, all the events that Israel went through on its journey from Egypt to the Promised Land were like a map of what we go through spiritually  on the way to our Promised Land in Christ, which is the redemption and restoration available to all who will embrace Him.

       The first challenge we face in the wilderness on the way to our Promised Land is the same that it was for Israel—the “waters of Marah.” Marah means “bitterness,” and these waters were bitter, or poisonous. Like Israel, we must learn how to heal them, turning everything bitter that has happened in our lives into sweetness. We do this just as Israel did; Moses threw a tree into the waters, and they became sweet.

       In Scripture, Jesus was crucified on a tree, which is what the cross is called in biblical prophecy. This is a message of how if we take up our cross to follow Him and apply it to every negative thing that happens to us, every negative will turn into a positive, and death will be turned into life. This is so that bitterness is turned into life, and we spread life, not death, everywhere we walk, live, and move. Where this happened, the Lord gave the people a remarkable promise: “There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. And He said, ‘If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer’” (see Exodus 15:25-26).

       Note that the Lord distinguishes between heeding His voice and keeping His commandments and statutes. We see this throughout the Old Testament. Almost every time the Lord spoke to the people about obeying His commandments, He added that they must also “heed His voice.” Even those under the Law were required to know and heed His voice. How much more is this required in the new covenant? Did the Lord not say in John 10:4 that His sheep follow Him because they know His voice?

       So, the Lord promised His people, after they had healed the bitter waters of Marah, that He would put none of the diseases on them that were on the Egyptians, and He would be their Healer. Why did He say this here? Because bitterness is an open door for disease. This is still true today; perhaps the number one reason why Christians get diseases is because of unforgiveness. As Dudley Hall once said, “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping someone else gets sick.”

       Unforgiveness is the main thing holding His people back from maturing in Him and from becoming like Him, which includes walking in His power. Forgiveness is the main thing needed for many people to be healed. Forgiveness is basic Christianity. Like Israel, this is the first thing we must learn if we’re going to mature in the new nature of the new creation.

 

© 2026 Rick Joyner. All Rights Reserved.