A New World

Chapter 26 - Future

With much anticipation and a few questions remaining to be answered, Hayato flipped to Revelation twenty and read verses one to ten, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while."

"If I remember correctly, parts of what you just read is similar to what sis told me you saw in your dream," Emilie said.

She was spot on and in a sense voiced his own thoughts before he did. If he hadn't known better, it would've seemed as if what he had just read was actually a carbon copy of what he dreamt. He paused to once again recollect the dream he had two weeks ago about the dragon sealed in the abyss, just as the previous verses clearly detailed.

As he focused his attention on the next passage, Rouge came to his right side to get a better look and reread the beginning of it to herself.

Shayo had already hinted to her that what would be read next contained answers to the second vision she had at Mori Forest. She gently moved her finger over to "that serpent of old", stopping to ponder on its relation to her vision.

"You think this has to do with your vision?" Hayato asked, his question snapping her back to reality.

"Uh?...oh, sorry. I lost myself in thought. I think so. When we were looking at chapter twelve earlier, Shayo mentioned that the dragon, or serpent there is Satan. It mentions the same names here in chapter twenty. This makes me think that the serpent in my vision is most likely the same being. For now it could be a bit early to be confident in this interpretation, but since it's worth noting I'll keep it in mind for later. Sorry, continue," she said, taking her hand off of the page.

Hayato nodded in response and continued where he had left off, "And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years."

"Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them."

"Wait! Can you read that last sentence again?" Rouge asked.

"Sure. 'And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.'"

Hayato could almost see the light bulb that had gone off in Rouge's mind as her countenance quickly changed after he repeated the sentence to her. The joyful gleam that danced across her eyes at times such as this was unmistakable.

"That's just like what I saw in my second vision! Remember the fire I saw that came from the sky and wiped out the left over plants from the harvest? This is similar to that in some ways. Now I get it...that must've been a symbolic picture for judgment. Kind of like how your previous dream had similar symbolism to what's in this chapter. And if that's the case, the wheat and the other plant must represent people?"