Jackals, ostriches, wild beasts, wild goats, night creatures, arrow snakes, hawks.

Isaiah 34:13-17

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“And thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It will be a habitation of jackals, a courtyard for ostriches.” Isaiah 34:13

 “…thorns will come up in its palaces, nettles and brambles in its fortresses…” sets the tone for the verses of this post. The global culture becomes, as we see it becoming today, a place of thorns and brambles They are in the governing places and the strong places of the culture of the beast. Thorns and brambles represent the condition of the spirit, mind, and soul, being filled with conflict from person to person. Brambles even produce small white flowers and even fruit that look like blackberries, but within a very thorny bush. That is like having a form of Godliness but not living in the Light of Jesus Christ who brings peace in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The world becomes a habitation of jackals and a courtyard for ostriches. They keep Jesus buried within the tomb of their soul and post guards to prevent His resurrection from happening within the spirit. Ostriches were considered unclean within the Old Testament laws. Jackals preyed on the eggs of Ostriches and their chicks. That describes a chaotic social environment where those who are spiritually corrupt are having their children preyed upon by lawless opportunistic hunters. That is not referring to an environment where we who live in the Light of Jesus Christ are being preyed upon but referring to one spiritually corrupt person or group preying upon another spiritually corrupt person or group. That is what is described in the following verse, “And it will come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the Lord will be among them; and they will lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.” Zachariah 14:13

“The wild beasts of the desert will also meet with the jackals, and the wild goat will bleat to its companion; Also the night creature will rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.” Isaiah 34:14

Some translations say “hyenas” instead of jackals”, but jackal is more accurate. Wild beasts would be those that prey on huge animals, and jackals do not try to eat wild beasts nor try to steal prey from them. Jackals are scavengers that will clean up whatever is left after the wild beasts eat. The wild beasts of the desert and jackals do meet from time to time. That is symbolic for the social climate around the Day of the Lord. The strong and mighty lawless ones by this world’s standards will meet together with the lawless ones who are looking to profit from “table scraps”. While those two form a bond of spiritual darkness, the wild goat will be bleating to its companions.

Wild goats thrive in harsh, remote environments while trying to avoid predators. In the lawlessness of this world, there are many who are living in the darkness of their sin and striving to survive in a world where love has gone cold and many stronger lawless ones seek to prey on them to enrich themselves. The “wild goats” are not living in the Light of Jesus Christ and are just as lawless as the strong and mighty of the lawless world. The weakest of the lawless world will be communicating to their companions of the danger lurking nearby. That describes a very harsh world where people are seeking to survive through carnal strength, lawless alliances, and the ability to stay one step ahead, to hide from a stronger person or group of people.

The “night creature will rest there” refers to a population of people finding rest within the darkness of sin, within a lawless world where the meek and gentle presence of the Holy Spirit is considered weakness and someone hunted by predators. In the context of the verses of this post, the night creature is among those preying on one another, those feeling comfortable in a lawless world, a place of “comfort” for them.

We live in a world today where people are grouped and paired up according to the beast that gives people what to say, do, think, and feel. People identify with others according to sharing similar thoughts, similar feelings, similar ways of behaving, and similar ways of expressing themselves. By what the beast gives people to say and do, they are paired up and groomed to a specific person or a group of people, or they are loners and become everyone’s prey. Each pair or each social grouping established by the beast is based on denial of God as the Creator, the rejection of Jesus Christ, and not wanting the Holy Spirit to be part of who they are. That is the breeding ground of a world where love has gone cold, where there is conflict and predator behavior on other people and other groups, and where everyone is in an animalistic state of survival.

The picture below, to the left, is that of a jackal, an opportunistic predator of small game, or a scavenger of leftovers, or feasting on eggs left unguarded in a nest. The picture to the right is of a hyena, fiercely confronting a lion.

“There the arrow snake will make her nest and lay eggs and hatch, and gather them under her shadow; There also will the hawks be gathered, every one with her mate.” Isaiah 34:15

Arrow snakes are mildly venomous, and to this day they make their nest, lay and hatch their eggs, and gathers them under her shadow…similar to how chickens lay and hatch eggs and gather the young chicks under her wings. Arrow snakes grow to be about 36 inches. They have a darting, springing, and leaping movement like a rattlesnake. At the same time, that is where the hawks gather, with their mates, which preys on arrow snakes.

After mating, the two arow snakes part ways, not forming a “family unit”. In contrast, hawks may stay together with one mate for several years and even a lifetime, forming a “family unit”. We live in a world today where the “family unit” has lost its sacredness and value as God intended the family to be. Many children are born within “single parent families” or where children experience changes in who their custodial parents are quite frequently. With that, some partners stay together for a long time, even for a lifetime. Even then, around the time of the Day of the Lord, whether single-parent families or long-term family units, they both will be lawless…venomous, vindictive, and predatory. Some “mating” occurs just to raise children who are “snakes”, “venomous”, and a threat to those around them. Some children are raised to seek out the “snakes” to prey on them.

The relationship between hawks and arrow snakes is describing the lawless world around the Day of the Lord. There are many people in the lawless world of today to make us aware how venomous one lawless person can be to another lawless person. Especially when those “arrow snakes” have eggs to hatch and young “snakes” to guard and raise. Today, children are not raised to see the Cross of Jesus Christ and to walk in the Light of His Gospel. They are raised to sink their venom into any threat that confronts them, not to live by the Gospel of peace to turn the other cheek to aggressive behavior. Even so, the venomous lawless ones have their predators as well, and those predators gather around those “snakes” like a hungry persons gathered around an “all-you-can-eat” buffet. “Hawks” do not try to attack “wild beasts” or “jackals”, but they stay above any danger coming from them.

Today, those “hawks” are the lawless ones that are able to stay out of the reach of the lawless predators on the grassroots level. That would be similar to some type of overseers that has the ability to easily swoop down and devour the “snakes” of the lawless global culture.

“Search from the book of the Lord, and read: Not one of these will fail; Not one will lack her mate. For My mouth has commanded it, and His Spirit has gathered them.” Isaiah 34:16

“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’ She has become a dwelling for demons and a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.” Revelations 18:2

“He has cast the lot for them, and His hand has divided it among them with a measuring line. They will possess it forever; From generation to generation they will dwell in it.” Isaiah 34:17

Jesus says, “…this is your hour, and the power of darkness.” Luke 22:53

From generation to generation can refer to family generations as we see through “family trees”. Or can refer to the “Baby Boomer” generation, then the next generation, then next, and so on. Or can refer to century from century. Those generations “will possess it forever”, refers to possessing the government of the beast as members of its global culture. They will possess it “forever”, for as long as what the reign of the beast remains on this earth, and then they will possess eternal Hell.

Satan has been working in this world since he was cast down to earth, and his work was recorded in the book of Genesis when he deceived Eve and subsequently Adam to disobey the word of God. In recent times, Satan has found a way to work through human physiology through his beast that has power over physiology to be able to give people what to speak, do, think, and feel. The reign of that beast will be on this earth for “42 months” or “1260 days”. Click for a post from Revelations 13:5-6 on the beginning and end of the beast’s reign on this earth. The sole purpose of the beast is to give breath/life to the image of the beast to speak by speaking and living through people. People are conformed to the mark, name, number of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

In the Bible, to cast lots for something was a way of deciding an outcome of something. For example, casting lots was a way to decide which territory of land would belong to each group of a population. That would be like drawing straws, where one straw would represent one parcel of land and another straw represent another and so on. The Lord cast lots for those of the global culture of the beast, meaning He has already decided the way they would distribute their territory. For example, in the post on Revelations 17, it is revealed that the global government of the beast will be divided into ten kingdoms on seven continents. The global culture will be divided among that global territory. The measuring line is what the Lord used to measure the boundaries of each territory, and to measure the boundaries of the seven continents.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11