And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
(The Revelation, 19:17-18)
Anyone familiar with the Bible knows that wild beasts, along with arrows, horses, and swords, are employed to describe events both past, and those coming in the future. Because of their static existence and universal recognition, prophets used various animals to denote succeeding world kingdoms, and older weapons, still in use, to describe warfare and wars. As technology has made possible what could not even be imagined 100 years ago, new speculations about the primitive symbols used in the futuristic Book of prophecy The Revelation have arisen. Â
With machines becoming more and more interdependent for data transfers and information sharing to operate, any significant breakdown in the global network could render many of them obsolete. Take for example military hardware that now depends on global positioning satellites (GPS) to deliver their munitions. The American military and intelligence services operate over 125 satellites upon which many of our modern weapons systems are now completely reliant,[1] and the number is growing to eventually replace all older systems. Even the transportation and delivery of fuel to run the weapons depends on GPS.
This is why China’s successful military operation this week of destroying an orbiting satellite with a ballistic missile has got military strategists all over the world burning the midnight oil: this changes everything.[2] If these satellites can be taken out, soldiers could be plunged back into having to use what today seem like primitive weapons. Could this be another reason for the resurgence of the guillotine to behead (Rev.20:4) those who will refuse to take the mark of the beast during the last half of the time of Jacob’s trouble? (Jer. 30: 4-7). Perhaps it’s not so much symbolism as it seems to measure the blood spelled by the armies of the world, who will break off their final attack on Jerusalem to fight against the returning King of Kings, in the depth of horses’ bridles and in the length of 1600 horses’ furlongs (Rev 14:20).
Notes:
[1] “Why did China Smack the Sat,” DefenseTech.org, Jan 20, 2007. http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003193.html
[2] Richard Spencer, “Chinese missile destroys satellite in space,” Telegraph.co.uk, January 19, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/
news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/19/wchina19.xml
Yes, what they did is reprehensible. However, this kind of cosmic killjoy (excuse the pun) could come back to haunt them. What if they need that technology? That could come back to bite them in a place that is most vulnerable to them.
Reminds me of the move Independence Day, where they had to resort to primitive communications to beat the invaders at their own game.
Jason, I had forgot about that movie, good connection.