THE RAPTURE IS NOT BIBLICAL · 2021. 2. 4. · the rapture is not biblical: the doctrine of the...
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THE RAPTURE IS NOT BIBLICAL: THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECRET RAPTURE EMERGED DURING THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY THROUGH THE TEACHINGS OF JOHN NELSON DARBY. DARBY WAS ONE OF THE EARLY LEADERS OF THE PLYMOUTH BRETHREN MOVEMENT, AND HIS TEACHINGS BECAME KNOWN AS “DISPENSATIONALISM.” FURTHERMORE, THE ANALOGY OF NOAH AND THE FLOOD SUGGESTS THAT THOSE “TAKEN” ARE ACTUALLY THE ONES SWEPT AWAY IN JUDGMENT! YESHUA HAS RETURNED! MATTHEW 24 POINTS TO CHRIST'S RETURN AND THE GREAT TRIBULATION TO ACCURE AROUND 70 AD (THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE)- AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. YESHUA RETURNED IN THE FORM OF THE ROMAN ARMY, WHO CAME AS A THIEF- KILLING ONE IN THE FIELD WHILE LEAVING ONE STANDING, AND KILLING ONE GRINDING AT THE MILL WHILE LETTING ONE LIVE. THOSE WHO WERE TAKEN WERE TAKEN AWAY IN JUDGMENT. HE CAME AND JUDGED JERUSALEM (THE BEAST OF THE EARTH) JUST AS HE CAME THROUGH MOSES AND JUDGED EGYPT. EXODUS 12:12 IF THE RAPTURE WERE TRULY A BIBLICAL DOCTRINE, IT WOULD MESH WITH ALL OTHER SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES TO CHRIST'S COMING.
THE RAPTURE IS NOT BIBLICAL · 2021. 2. 4. · the rapture is not biblical: the doctrine of the secret rapture emerged during the early 19th century through the teachings of john
THE RAPTURE IS NOT BIBLICAL: THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECRET RAPTURE
EMERGED DURING THE EARLY 19TH CENTURY THROUGH THE TEACHINGS OF JOHN
NELSON DARBY.
DARBY WAS ONE OF THE EARLY LEADERS OF THE PLYMOUTH BRETHREN
MOVEMENT, AND HIS TEACHINGS BECAME KNOWN AS “DISPENSATIONALISM.”
FURTHERMORE, THE ANALOGY OF NOAH AND THE FLOOD SUGGESTS THAT THOSE
“TAKEN” ARE ACTUALLY THE ONES SWEPT AWAY IN JUDGMENT! YESHUA HAS
RETURNED! MATTHEW 24 POINTS TO CHRIST'S RETURN AND THE GREAT
TRIBULATION TO ACCURE AROUND 70 AD (THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE)-
AND THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. YESHUA RETURNED IN THE FORM OF THE ROMAN
ARMY, WHO CAME AS A THIEF- KILLING ONE IN THE FIELD WHILE LEAVING
ONE STANDING, AND KILLING ONE GRINDING AT THE MILL WHILE LETTING
ONE LIVE. THOSE WHO WERE TAKEN WERE TAKEN AWAY IN JUDGMENT. HE CAME
AND JUDGED JERUSALEM (THE BEAST OF THE EARTH) JUST AS HE CAME
THROUGH MOSES AND JUDGED EGYPT. EXODUS 12:12 IF THE RAPTURE WERE
TRULY A BIBLICAL DOCTRINE, IT WOULD MESH WITH ALL OTHER SCRIPTURAL
REFERENCES TO CHRIST'S COMING.
BUT IT DOES NOT STAND UP TO THAT TEST. BOTH DARBY AND SCOFIELD
CLAIMED THAT THE "DAY OF CHRIST" REFERS TO THE RAPTURE AND THAT
"THE DAY OF THE LORD" REFERS TO THE ACTUAL SECOND COMING SEVERAL
YEARS AFTER THE RAPTURE. IN FACT, "THE DAY OF THE LORD" AND "THE
DAY OF CHRIST" BOTH REFER TO CHRIST'S RETURN TO THE EARTH
THROUGHOUT THE BIBLE. THE HEART OF THE CASE OFFERED BY DARBY,
SCOFIELD AND THEIR MODERN COUNTERPARTS IS BASED UPON THE ENGLISH
WORDS "CAUGHT UP" IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4:17. 1 THESSALONIANS 4:17
MEANS THAT THE SAINTS ARE CAUGHT AWAY TO HEAVEN. THIS IS REFERING
TO THE RESURRECTION WHICH HAPPENED SPIRITUALLY IN 70 AD. THE DEAD
SAINTS WERE CAUGHT UP TO HEAVEN, THEN US WHO WERE STILL ALIVE WOULD
BE CAUGHT UP ALSO- WHEN WE DIE. PAUL WROTE THAT THEY SHOULD NOT
GRIEVE OVER THIS: "FOR IF WE BELIEVE THAT YESHUA DIED AND ROSE
AGAIN, EVEN SO GOD WILL BRING WITH HIM THOSE WHO SLEEP IN YESHUA
[BELIEVERS WHO HAD DIED]." WAS HE RESPONDING TO A WORRY ABOUT
WHETHER CHRIST WOULD RESCUE BELIEVERS FROM THE GREAT TRIBULATION?
NO, NOTHING IS SAID OF THIS. NOR IS THERE ANYTHING IN THESE VERSES
THAT INTIMATES CHRIST MAKING A SWOOPING PASS BY THE EARTH TO SNATCH
OFF A FEW PEOPLE TO TAKE THEM TO HEAVEN. THESE VERSES REFER ONLY TO
THE DOCTRINE OF THE SECOND COMING, WHICH HAPPENED IN 70 AD. WE WHO
ARE ALIVE AND REMAIN UNTIL THE COMING OF THE LORD WILL BY NO MEANS
PRECEDE THOSE WHO ARE ASLEEP. GOD WOULD REUNITE BELIEVERS WHO
REMAIN ALIVE WITH BELIEVERS WHO HAD DIED. THE DEAD WON'T BE BEHIND
IN ANY WAY!
TODAY'S TEACHERS OF THE RAPTURE WEAVE NUMEROUS BIBLICAL REFERENCES
INTO THEIR NARRATIVES. PAUL WAS COMFORTING MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH OF
GOD IN THESSALONICA WHO WERE GRIEVING OVER BELIEVERS WHO HAD DIED.
THE SURVIVORS FEARED THAT THEIR LOVED ONES WOULD LOSE OUT ON
PARTICIPATING IN GOD'S GLORIOUS KINGDOM. CHRIST INSPIRED PAUL TO
PUT IN PLAIN WORDS THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER. THOSE WHO DIED DIDN'T
GO TO HEAVEN. THEY WERE IN THEIR GRAVES. BUT THAT DIDN'T MEAN THEY
WOULD LOSE OUT ON THE MARVELOUS KINGDOM OF GOD OR THAT THE
BELIEVERS STILL LIVING WOULD HAVE ANY ADVANTAGE. THE BIBLICAL TERM
FOR RISING FROM THE DEAD IS RESURRECTION. A PARALLEL REFERENCE IS 1
CORINTHIANS 15:51-53, WHICH PLAINLY TELLS US THAT GOD RESURRECTS
DECEASED BELIEVERS TO SPIRIT AT "THE LAST TRUMPET," THE SAME
"TRUMPET OF GOD" MENTIONED IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4:16. THIS LAST
TRUMPET HAPPENED DURING THE WAR OF 70 AD. ACCORDING TO NUMBERS
CHAPTER 10, ISRAEL LEARNED THE MEANING OF THE USE OF THE TRUMPETS
THROUGH THE INSTRUCTION OF MOSES. SPECIFIC DETAILS FOR THE
GATHERING OF THE ASSEMBLY, ADVANCING, GOING TO WAR AND IN THE
ACCOMPANIMENT WITH THE APPOINTED FEASTS WERE ASSIGNED TO THE
BLOWING OF TRUMPETS. FOUR BLESSINGS OF ISRAEL’S LAST DAYS ARE
MENTIONED: -THE ESCHATOLOGICAL FEAST -THE REMOVING OF THE VEIL CAST
OVER THE NATIONS -THE SWALLOWING UP OF DEATH -REJOICING IN THE
SALVATION OF GOD ALL BLESSINGS FULFILLED IN THE MESSAGE OF
REVELATION IN REVELATION WE HAVE EACH OF THESE BLESSINGS MENTIONED
ABOVE FULFILLED. THE FEAST IS THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE
LAMB.
IT OCCURS AFTER THE FALL OF THE GREAT CITY MYSTERY BABYLON AT THE
TIME OF THE WEDDING OF THE LAMB, (REVELATION 19:7–9). MYSTERY
BABYLON, IDENTIFIED AS JERUSALEM IN REVELATION FALLS IN 70 AD. THE
RAPTURE THEORY SAYS CHRIST TAKES THE SAINTS TO HEAVEN TO SPARE THEM
FROM THE GREAT TRIBULATION. BUT ACCORDING TO YESHUA IN MATTHEW 24,
THE GREAT TRIBULATION HAPPENED WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.
IN MATTHEW 24, CHRIST COMES IN THE CLOUDS WITH THE SOUNDING OF THE
TRUMPET TO CONSUMMATE THE TIME OF THE END. THIS CORRESPONDS WITH
THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS IN REVELATION. AS A
RESURRECTION TEXT, MATTHEW 24:31, DRAWS FROM DANIEL 12:1–4,
CONNECTING THE TIME OF THE END, THE GREAT TRIBULATION AND THE
COMING OF THE SON OF MAN IN THE CLOUDS, (DANIEL 7:13–14), LEAVING
NO DOUBT THAT ALL EVENTS OCCURRED IN AD 70. MATTHEW 24:31, ALSO
PARALLELS THE COMING OF THE LORD WITH A TRUMPET SOUND IN 1
THESSALONIANS 4:17, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51. ALL TEXTS LIMIT THE EVENTS
TO THE FIRST CENTURY GENERATION. SCRIPTURE DOESN'T ALLOW FOR A
RAPTURE OF THE SAINTS TO HEAVEN FOR AN INTERIM OF SEVERAL YEARS!
ZECHARIAH 14:1-4 BEHOLD, THE DAY OF THE LORD IS COMING…FOR I WILL
GATHER ALL THE NATIONS TO BATTLE AGAINST JERUSALEM; THE CITY SHALL
BE TAKEN, THE HOUSES RIFLED, AND THE WOMEN RAVISHED. HALF OF THE
CITY SHALL GO INTO CAPTIVITY, BUT THE REMNANT OF THE PEOPLE SHALL
NOT BE CUT OFF FROM THE CITY. THEN THE LORD WILL GO FORTH AND FIGHT
AGAINST THOSE NATIONS, AS HE FIGHTS IN THE DAY OF BATTLE. AND IN
THAT DAY HIS FEET WILL STAND ON THE MOUNT OF OLIVES. BELIEVERS
AREN'T TAKEN OFF THE EARTH DURING THE GREAT TRIBULATION. BUT GOD
WILL PROTECT BELIEVERS DURING THIS TIME OF STRESS.
WHY WOULD THE SAINTS RISE TO MEET CHRIST IN THE AIR, WHEN HE IS ON
HIS WAY TO THE EARTH TO DEFEAT EVIL AND TO ESTABLISH THE KINGDOM OF
GOD HERE? WHY NOT SIMPLY WAIT FOR HIM TO ARRIVE? THOSE WHO TEACH
THE RAPTURE MAKE MUCH OF THIS ISSUE, CLAIMING THAT IT BUTTRESSES
THEIR THEORY. IN FACT, THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER ACTUALLY FURTHER
DISCREDITS THEIR ERRONEOUS TEACHING. IN NO WAY DOES IT CONVEY THAT
CHRIST ONLY ENTERS THE ATMOSPHERE AND THEN REVERSES COURSE, AS HE
SNATCHES BELIEVERS AWAY TO HEAVEN. ALL THE SAINTS WILL FORM A
WELCOMING PARTY THAT RISES TO MEET CHRIST AND ESCORT HIM BACK TO
EARTH; ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IS SAID OR IMPLIED ABOUT GOING TO HEAVEN.
THERE IS NO RAPTURE. THERE IS/WAS A RESURRECTION AT THE SECOND
COMING OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR, YESHUA HAMASHIACH. IN THE MOVIE
TRAILER FOR LEFT BEHIND, ONE READS, IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, THE
BIBLICAL RAPTURE STRIKES THE WORLD. MILLIONS OF PEOPLE DISAPPEAR
WITHOUT A TRACE. ALL THAT REMAINS ARE THEIR CLOTHES AND BELONGINGS,
AND IN AN INSTANT, TERROR AND CHAOS SPREAD AROUND THE WORLD. THE
VANISHINGS CAUSE UNMANNED VEHICLES TO CRASH AND BURN. PLANES FALL
FROM THE SKY. EMERGENCY FORCES EVERYWHERE ARE DEVASTATED. GRIDLOCK,
RIOTS AND LOOTING OVERRUN THE CITIES. THERE IS NO ONE TO HELP OR
PROVIDE ANSWERS. IN A MOMENT, THE ENTIRE PLANET IS PLUNGED INTO
DARKNESS. BUT THE QUESTION WE MUST ASK IS—IS THAT TRUE? THE
TEACHING OF A SECRET RAPTURE FIRST BEGAN TO BE TAUGHT IN CHURCHES
IN THE MID-1800’S. SUCH TEACHING HAD NEVER BEEN TAUGHT IN OR
BELIEVED BY ANYONE IN THE CHURCH PRIOR TO THE 1800’S.
MONTE JUDAH, LIKE SO MANY OTHERS HAVE FALSELY INTERPRETED THE 70TH
WEEK OF DANIEL TO BE A FUTURE EVENT WITH 7 YEARS OF TRIBULATION; IN
WHICH THE CHURCH IS RAPTURED AFTER 3 ½ YEARS. THIS FALSE CLAIM IS
BASED ON DANIEL 9:27 DANIEL 9:27 AND HE SHALL CONFIRM THE COVENANT
WITH MANY FOR ONE WEEK: AND IN THE MIDST OF THE WEEK HE SHALL CAUSE
THE SACRIFICE AND THE OBLATION TO CEASE, AND FOR THE OVERSPREADING
OF ABOMINATIONS HE SHALL MAKE IT DESOLATE, EVEN UNTIL THE
CONSUMMATION, AND THAT DETERMINED SHALL BE POURED UPON THE
DESOLATE. DANIEL IS NOT TALKING ABOUT AN ANTICHRIST ENTERING THE
3RD TEMPLE AND STOPPING THE SACRIFICES… IT’S SPEAKING OF THE 2ND
TEMPLE… AND THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION WAS THE ROMAN ARMY… THE
69TH WEEK (483 YEARS) AFTER THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE AND
ONE WEEK (7 YEARS) BEFORE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE, AN
ANOINTED ONE IS CUT OFF. THEANOINTED ONE CAN REFER TO THE LAST HIGH
PRIEST (PRIESTS ARE ANOINTED AS SEEN IN LEVITICUS 4) AND THE
SACRIFICES (INDICATED IN LEVITICUS 8:10-11). ALL WERE CONSIDERED
ANOINTED AND WERE CUT OFF DURING THE FINAL WEEK BEFORE THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE 2ND TEMPLE. HISTORICALLY DURING THE YEARS BEFORE
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND TEMPLE THE ROMANS SET UP IDOLATRY IN
THE TEMPLE FULFILLING THE FINAL VERSE IN DANIEL 9 THAT SAYS, “UPON
WINGS OF ABOMINATION SHALL COME ONE WHO MAKE DESOLATE UNTIL THE
DECREED DESTRUCTION IS POURED OUT DESOLATOR” DANIEL 9:27 MOST OF
THE WARNINGS IN YESHUA OLIVET DISCOURSE WERE FULFILLED IN 70 A.D.,
NOT IN THE END TIMES.
THE CONTEXT OF “THOSE WHO ARE IN JUDEA” CONFIRMS THAT PROPHECY
APPLIED TO THE TIME OF JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION IN 70 A.D., NOT THE
END TIMES. HE WAS WARNING HIS DISCIPLES WHO WERE IN JUDEA. DANIEL
9:26-27 TELLS US THAT THERE IS A DETERMINED PERIOD OF TIME THAT THE
ROMAN ARMY (GENTILES) WILL DESOLATE THE JEWS. DANIEL 12 GIVES US
MORE DETAILS ABOUT THE “TIME OF THE GENTILES.” IT SAYS THAT IT WILL
BE FOR A TOTAL OF 1,335 DAYS, WHICH WAS FULFILLED AS THE ROMAN ARMY
SURROUNDED THE CITY IN 66 A.D. AND THEN COMPLETED THEIR SIEGE IN 70
A.D. THE 7 YEAR TRIBULATION IS INVALID THE ‘PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE‘
IN DANIEL 9:26 WAS THE ROMAN ARMY, WHO POURED INTO THE CITY AS A
FLOOD IN 70 A.D. SO THE ‘PRINCE‘ IN THE 70TH WEEK OF DANIEL IS NOT
AN END-TIMES ANTICHRIST, AND SINCE IT DOES NOT APPLY TO AN END-TIME
ANTICHRIST, THE FOUNDATION FOR THE 7-YEAR TRIBULATION IS INVALID.
BECAUSE OF THE JEWS ABOMINATIONS AGAINST GOD, HE MADE THEM
DESOLATE. THE OLIVET DISCOURSE IN THE OLIVET DISCOURSE (MATTHEW
24), YESHUA IS SPEAKING TO HIS DISCIPLES. HE NEVER CHANGES HIS
AUDIENCE FROM HIS FOLLOWERS OF THAT TIME TO MODERN DAY CHRISTIANS.
THEY ARE HIS AUDIENCE. IT IS CLEAR THAT HE IS SPEAKING ABOUT ONE
THING: THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE. IN A.D. 70 THE ROMANS
DESTROYED THE TEMPLE LITERALLY LEAVING NO STONE ON ANOTHER. THE
WAILING WALL WHICH MANY THINK IS THE REMAINS OF THE TEMPLE IS
REALLY THE REMAINS OF FORT ANTONIA.
MATTHEW 24:3 TELL US, WHEN WILL THESE THINGS BE, AND WHAT WILL BE
THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING AND OF THE END OF THE AGE? THE END OF THE
AGE IS NOT THE END OF THE AGE OF THE LAW AS MANY CHRISTIANS THINK.
THIS PHRASE PROBABLY REFERS TO THE END OF THE PRESENT WORLD ORDER.
“WORLD” IS AION IN THE GREEK, MEANING THE “AGE” OF TIME AND SPACE
IN WHICH PEOPLE NOW LIVE, AND HAVE LIVED SINCE THE WORLD WAS
DRASTICALLY CHANGED BY THE FLOOD IN THE DAYS OF NOAH. MATTHEW
24:5-8 FOR MANY WILL COME IN MY NAME, CLAIMING, ‘I AM THE MESSIAH,’
AND WILL DECEIVE MANY. YOU WILL HEAR OF WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS,
BUT SEE TO IT THAT YOU ARE NOT ALARMED. SUCH THINGS MUST HAPPEN,
BUT THE END IS STILL TO COME. NATION WILL RISE AGAINST NATION, AND
KINGDOM AGAINST KINGDOM. THERE WILL BE FAMINES AND EARTHQUAKES IN
VARIOUS PLACES. ALL THESE ARE THE BEGINNING OF BIRTH PAINS. ONE
EXAMPLE OF THE EARTHQUAKES MENTIONED IS THE EARTHQUAKE THAT STRUCK
LAODICEA SOMETIME BETWEEN A.D. 60 AND A.D. 64 DURING THE REIGN OF
NERO. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT ONE OF THE CHURCHES ADDRESSED
BY JOHN IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION WAS A CHURCH IN THIS CITY
(REVELATION 3:14-22). PRIOR TO A.D. 70 THERE WERE ALSO EARTHQUAKES
IN CRETE, SMYRNA, MILETUS, CHIOS, SAMOS, HIERAPOLIS, COLOSSAE,
CAMPANIA, ROME AND JUDEA. MATTHEW 24:9 THEN YOU WILL BE HANDED OVER
TO BE PERSECUTED AND PUT TO DEATH, AND YOU WILL BE HATED BY ALL
NATIONS BECAUSE OF ME. CHRISTIANS WERE PERSECUTED AND KILLED IN
JERUSALEM AFTER YESHUA'S CRUCIFIXION. STEPHEN WAS STONED TO DEATH;
THEN JAMES THE SON OF ZEBEDEE, AND THE BROTHER OF JOHN WAS
BEHEADED.
ROME ALSO KILLED CHRISTIANS IN A.D. 64. THESE CHRISTIANS WERE
BETRAYED BY OTHER CHRISTIANS. MATTHEW 24:11-12 AND MANY FALSE
PROPHETS WILL APPEAR AND DECEIVE MANY PEOPLE. BECAUSE OF THE
INCREASE OF WICKEDNESS, THE LOVE OF MOST WILL GROW COLD… MANY
PEOPLE WERE BRIBED TO ACT AS PROPHETS DECLARING VICTORY TO THE JEWS
DURING THE JEWISH WAR. IN MATTHEW 12:39, YESHUA CALLS HIS
CONTEMPORARIES “A WICKED AND ADULTEROUS GENERATION.” MATTHEW 24:14
AND THIS GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM WILL BE PREACHED IN THE WHOLE WORLD
AS A TESTIMONY TO ALL NATIONS, AND THEN THE END WILL COME. IN
COLOSSIANS 1:23, PAUL ALLUDES TO THE FULFILLMENT OF THIS PREDICTION
BY SAYING, “THIS IS THE GOSPEL THAT YOU HEARD AND THAT HAS BEEN
PROCLAIMED TO EVERY CREATURE UNDER HEAVEN.” APPROXIMATELY SIX YEARS
AFTER PAUL’S DEATH, THE END HAD COME. COLOSSIANS 1:5-6 THE FAITH
AND LOVE THAT SPRING FROM THE HOPE STORED UP FOR YOU IN HEAVEN AND
ABOUT WHICH YOU HAVE ALREADY HEARD IN THE TRUE MESSAGE OF THE
GOSPEL THAT HAS COME TO YOU. IN THE SAME WAY, THE GOSPEL IS BEARING
FRUIT AND IS GROWING THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE WORLD—JUST AS IT HAS BEEN
DOING AMONG YOU SINCE THE DAY YOU HEARD IT AND TRULY UNDERSTOOD
GOD’S GRACE. “ALL THE WORLD” OR “ALL THE NATIONS” REFERS TO THE
KNOWN INHABITED WORLD AND NOT EVERY NATION WITHOUT EXCEPTION.
THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION MATTHEW 24:15-16 WHEN YOU SEE
STANDING IN THE HOLY PLACE ‘THE ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES
DESOLATION,’SPOKEN OF THROUGH THE PROPHET DANIEL, LET THE READER
UNDERSTAND— THEN LET THOSE WHO ARE IN JUDEA FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS.
FALSE PROPHETS, SUCH AS MONTE JUDAH TAKE MATTHEW 24:16 TO MEAN THAT
A 3RD TEMPLE WILL BE BUILT AND AN ANTI MESSIAH WILL ENTER, STOP THE
SACRIFICES- (THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION)- AND THEN WE ARE TO
FLEE TO THE LAST PLACE WE HAD SUKKOT… I’M NOT SURE WHAT VERSE
SUPPORTS SUCH A CLAIM. HOWEVER, THIS IS WHAT IS BEING TAUGHT TODAY.
DANIEL 12:11 SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL THE PROPHET, STANDING IN THE HOLY
PLACE, (WHOEVER READS, LET HIM UNDERSTAND), THEN LET THOSE WHO ARE
IN JUDEA FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS. LUKE 21:20-21 CLARIFIES WHAT THE
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION WAS. “BUT WHEN YOU SEE JERUSALEM
SURROUNDED BY ARMIES, THEN KNOW THAT ITS DESOLATION IS NEAR. THEN
LET THOSE WHO ARE IN JUDEA FLEE TO THE MOUNTAINS, LET THOSE WHO ARE
IN THE MIDST OF HER DEPART, AND LET NOT THOSE WHO ARE IN THE
COUNTRY ENTER HER.” THE ABOMINATION WAS THE DETESTABLE ENEMIES OF
THE JEWS, THE ROMANS; WHO WOULD SURROUND JERUSALEM, AND STAND IN
THE HOLY LAND TO MAKE THE PLACE A ‘DESOLATION‘. WHEN MATTHEW
RECORDED THE WORDS “AND WHAT WILL BE THE SIGN OF YOUR COMING, AND
OF THE END OF THE AGE?” IN MATTHEW 24:3, HE NO DOUBT UNDERSTOOD
“YESHUA COMING” AS MEANING HIS COMING IN VENGEANCE AGAINST THE
JEWS, THROUGH THE ROMANS, TO END THE “LATTER DAYS” AGE OF THE
JEWISH KINGDOM.
THE “LATTER DAYS” REFERS TO THE TIME PERIOD THAT OCCURRED WHEN THE
JEWS WERE RELEASED FROM BABYLON IN 457 B.C. TO 70 A.D WHEN THE
CITY, TEMPLE AND PEOPLE WERE DESOLATED. MATTHEW 24:22 IF THOSE DAYS
HAD NOT BEEN CUT SHORT, NO ONE WOULD SURVIVE, BUT FOR THE SAKE OF
THE ELECT THOSE DAYS WILL BE SHORTENED. THE GREAT DISTRESS OF
MATTHEW 24:21 MAY REFER TO THE JEWISH WAR ITSELF. THE ARRIVAL OF
FLORUS’ ARMY OUTSIDE OF JERUSALEM IN IYYAR OF A.D. 66 SERVED AS A
SIGN FOR CHRISTIANS IN JERUSALEM TO FLEE THE CITY AT THAT TIME. AND
FLORUS’ ASSAULT WAS CUT SHORT AT THIS TIME FOR THE SAKE OF THE
ELECT SO THAT THE SAINTS WOULD NOT MEET THE SAME FATE AS THEIR
PERSECUTORS. MATTHEW 24:24 FOR FALSE MESSIAHS AND FALSE PROPHETS
WILL APPEAR AND PERFORM GREAT SIGNS AND WONDERS TO DECEIVE, EVEN
THE ELECT. THE WORDS "IF POSSIBLE" ARE NOT IN THE ACTUAL TEXT.
DURING THE FIRST HALF OF THE FIRST CENTURY THERE WERE MANY FALSE
PROPHETS WHO HAD ARISEN IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE CLAIMING TO HAVE THE
AUTHORITY TO PERFORM ASTONISHING ACTS BY DIVINE POWER. MATTHEW
24:27-28 FOR AS LIGHTNING THAT COMES FROM THE EAST IS VISIBLE EVEN
IN THE WEST, SO WILL BE THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN. WHEREVER
THERE IS A CARCASS, THERE THE VULTURES WILL GATHER. WHEN GOD CAME
ON THE CLOUDS IN JUDGMENT IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE SPIRIT OF THE
LORD WAS PICTURED RIDING DARK STORM CLOUDS ACCOMPANIED BY RUMBLINGS
OF THE EARTH, THUNDER AND LIGHTNING.
THE FACT THAT YESHUA LIKENS HIS RETURN TO “LIGHTNING THAT COMES
FROM THE EAST” ILLUSTRATES THE FACT THAT WHEN CHRIST WAS EXPECTED
TO COME ON THE CLOUDS IN JUDGMENT HE WAS TO DO SO AS THE LORD HAD
DONE IN THE PAST–RIDING ON DARK STORM CLOUDS ACCOMPANIED BY
LIGHTNING. INTERESTINGLY, THE WORD TRANSLATED VULTURE IN THIS VERSE
ALSO MEANS EAGLE–THE NATIONAL SYMBOL OF ROME. WHEN THE ROMANS
SEIZED THE TEMPLE IN A.D. 70, THEY CARRIED THEIR ENSIGNS INTO THE
TEMPLE COURTS. AS STATED ABOVE, ROME’S MAIN ENSIGN WAS THE AQUILA,
AN EAGLE. THE ROMAN ARMY OFFERED SACRIFICES TO THESE EAGLE IMAGES
REPRESENTING ROME ON THE 9TH OF AV ALL WHILE THE TEMPLE WAS IN
FLAMES. WITH THESE LITERAL AND SYMBOLIC INTERPRETATIONS, ONE CAN
APPRECIATE THE RICHNESS OF WHAT YESHUA MEANT WHEN HE SAID,
“WHEREVER THERE IS A CARCASS, THERE THE VULTURES [EAGLES] WILL
GATHER.” MATTHEW 24:29 THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL
NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT; THE STARS WILL FALL FROM THE SKY, AND THE
HEAVENLY BODIES WILL BE SHAKEN. ACCORDING TO THE MIDRASH, THE SUN
REPRESENTS THE KING, THE MOON REPRESENTS THE SANHEDRIN AND THE
STARS REPRESENT RABBIS. THESE ASTRAL OMENS ARE VERY SIMILAR TO THE
HEAVENLY SIGNS SAID TO ACCOMPANY THE FALL OF JUDAH IN THE SIXTH
CENTURY B.C. VARIOUS HEAVENLY OMENS MARKED A GREAT SLAUGHTER AT THE
FALL OF JUDAH, EGYPT, BABYLON AND EDOM IN THE SIXTH CENTURY B.C.,
THE SAME THING IS EXPECTED TO OCCUR AT THE FALL OF JERUSALEM AND
ISRAEL AT THE END OF THE AGE. THE FACT THAT IN V. 29 THE SUN
DARKENS, THE MOON TURNS TO BLOOD AND THE STARS FALL FROM THE SKY
ARE ALL SIGNS OF THE DESTRUCTION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH PREDICTED IN 2
PETER 3.
MATTHEW 24:30 THEN WILL APPEAR THE SIGN OF THE SON OF MAN IN
HEAVEN. AND THEN ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH WILL MOURN WHEN THEY
SEE THE SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN, WITH POWER AND
GREAT GLORY. “ALL THE PEOPLES OF THE EARTH” IS MORE ACCURATELY
TRANSLATED “ALL THE TRIBES OF THE LAND.” AT HIS ARREST, YESHUA
WARNED: MATTHEW 26:52 ALL WHO DRAW THE SWORD WILL DIE BY THE SWORD.
THIS MAXIM PROVED TRUE. THE JEWISH ZEALOTS WHO HAD TAKEN-UP ARMS
AGAINST THE ROMANS HAD, FOR THE MOST PART, DIED AS THEY LIVED.
BENEATH THE SURFACE OF THIS MESSAGE MAY BE A SYMBOLIC DOUBLE
MEANING… SWORDS ARE OFTEN USED IN THE BIBLE TO REPRESENT THE WORD
OF GOD (ISAIAH 49:2, HEBREWS 4:12, REVELATION 1:16). YESHUA IS
CALLED THE WORD OF GOD IN JOHN 1, AND HE PERSISTENTLY WARNED THE
ISRAELITES OF AN IMPENDING WAR. IN A.D. 66 A SWORD-SHAPED STAR
HOVERED OVER JERUSALEM IMMEDIATELY PRIOR TO THE WAR WITH ROME. THIS
HEAVENLY SIGN IN THE SKY COULD REPRESENTS YESHUA, HIMSELF WHO IS
THE WORD OF GOD. COULD THIS SWORD-SHAPED STAR BE THE SIGN OF THE
SON OF MAN MENTIONED IN V. 30? IF SO THEN THIS WOULD NOT BE THE
FIRST TIME THAT A STAR SERVED AS A SIGN OF THE COMING OF THE
MESSIAH. MATTHEW 24:31 AND HE WILL SEND OUT HIS ANGELS WITH A LOUD
TRUMPET CALL, AND THEY WILL GATHER HIS ELECT FROM THE FOUR WINDS,
FROM ONE END OF THE HEAVENS TO THE OTHER.
THIS VERSE CALLS TO MIND 1 THESS. 4:16-17 AND 1 CORINTHIANS 15:52.
THESE THREE VERSES COLLECTIVELY DESCRIBE THE RESURRECTION AT THE
LAST TRUMPET. IT IS OFTEN SUPPOSED THAT YESHUA'S RESURRECTION BODY
WAS TO BE A MODEL OF THE RESURRECTION BODIES OF THE SAINTS. THIS
BELIEF IS DERIVED LARGELY FROM: PHILIPPIANS 3:20-21 BUT OUR
CITIZENSHIP IS IN HEAVEN. AND WE EAGERLY AWAIT A SAVIOR FROM THERE,
YESHUA THE MESSIAH, WHO, BY THE POWER THAT ENABLES HIM TO BRING
EVERYTHING UNDER HIS CONTROL, WILL TRANSFORM OUR LOWLY BODIES SO
THAT THEY WILL BE LIKE HIS [CHRIST’S] GLORIOUS BODY. IMMEDIATELY
AFTER HIS RESURRECTION, YESHUA'S RESURRECTION BODY CLOSELY
RESEMBLED HIS PHYSICAL BODY THOUGH HE COULD PASS THROUGH WALLS AND
APPEAR AND DISAPPEAR AT WILL. YESHUA'S BODY WAS FURTHER GLORIFIED
AFTER HIS ASCENSION ACCORDING TO ACTS 9:3-6 AND REVELATION 1:13-16
SUCH THAT IT TOOK ON A FORM LIKE THAT OF THE FATHER. AFTER
RESURRECTING AND ASCENDING INTO HEAVEN, THE BODIES OF THE SAINTS
ARE EXPECTED TO EXPERIENCE A SIMILAR TRANSFORMATION ACCORDING TO: 1
CORINTHIANS 15:49 AND JUST AS WE HAVE BORNE THE IMAGE OF THE
EARTHLY MAN, SO SHALL WE BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY MAN.
MATTHEW 13:43 AND DANIEL 12:2-3 CONFIRM 1 CORINTHIANS 15:49.
MATTHEW 13:43 READS THEN THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE LIKE THE SUN IN
THE KINGDOM OF THEIR FATHER.
DANIEL 12:2-3 ECHOES MATTHEW 13:43: MULTITUDES WHO SLEEP IN THE
DUST OF THE EARTH WILL AWAKE: SOME TO EVERLASTING LIFE, OTHERS TO
SHAME AND EVERLASTING CONTEMPT. THOSE WHO ARE WISE WILL SHINE LIKE
THE BRIGHTNESS OF THE HEAVENS, AND THOSE WHO LEAD MANY TO
RIGHTEOUSNESS, LIKE THE STARS FOREVER AND EVER. THIS IDEA IS ALSO
FOUND IN PHILIPPIANS 2:14-15: DO EVERYTHING WITHOUT GRUMBLING OR
ARGUING, SO THAT YOU MAY BECOME BLAMELESS AND PURE, ‘CHILDREN OF
GOD WITHOUT FAULT IN A WARPED AND CROOKED GENERATION.’ THEN YOU
WILL SHINE AMONG THEM [BOTH CHRIST AND THE FATHER IN HEAVEN (VS.
9-11)] LIKE STARS IN THE SKY. YESHUA'S EARTHLY RESURRECTION PRIOR
TO HIS ASCENSION SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN MORE OF A SIGN THAT ASSURED THE
SAINTS OF THEIR OWN IMMINENT RESURRECTION, RATHER THAN A PERFECTED
OR IDEALIZED MODEL OF THE RESURRECTION BODIES OF THE SAINTS. JAMES
2:26 STATES, AS THE BODY WITHOUT THE SPIRIT IS DEAD, SO FAITH
WITHOUT DEEDS IS DEAD. THE WORD FOR SPIRIT USED IN THESE TWO VERSES
IS PNEUMA. AS STATED ABOVE, PNEUMA MEANS WIND OR BREATH. THIS TERM
CONNOTES AN IMMATERIAL SUBSTANCE. HOWEVER, AT THE RESURRECTION, THE
SPIRIT IS NOT SIMPLY RELEASED IN ORDER TO ENTER HEAVEN IN ITS PURE,
INTANGIBLE AND NAKED FORM. AT THE RESURRECTION, THE SPIRIT IS
PRESUMABLY AGAIN CLOTHED WITH A BODY, A NEW GLORIFIED BODY. THIS
FACT IS STATED IN: 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-49 BUT SOMEONE WILL ASK,
“HOW ARE THE DEAD RAISED? WITH WHAT KIND OF BODY WILL THEY COME?”
HOW FOOLISH! WHAT YOU SOW DOES NOT COME TO LIFE UNLESS IT
DIES.
WHEN YOU SOW, YOU DO NOT PLANT THE BODY THAT WILL BE, BUT JUST A
SEED, PERHAPS OF WHEAT OR OF SOMETHING ELSE. BUT GOD GIVES IT A
BODY AS HE HAS DETERMINED, AND TO EACH KIND OF SEED HE GIVES ITS
OWN BODY. NOT ALL FLESH IS THE SAME: PEOPLE HAVE ONE KIND OF FLESH,
ANIMALS HAVE ANOTHER, BIRDS ANOTHER AND FISH ANOTHER. THERE ARE
ALSO HEAVENLY BODIES AND THERE ARE EARTHLY BODIES; BUT THE SPLENDOR
OF THE HEAVENLY BODIES IS ONE KIND, AND THE SPLENDOR OF THE EARTHLY
BODIES IS ANOTHER. THE SUN HAS ONE KIND OF SPLENDOR, THE MOON
ANOTHER AND THE STARS ANOTHER; AND STAR DIFFERS FROM STAR IN
SPLENDOR. SO WILL IT BE WITH THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. THE BODY
THAT IS SOWN IS PERISHABLE, IT IS RAISED IMPERISHABLE; IT IS SOWN
IN DISHONOR, IT IS RAISED IN GLORY; IT IS SOWN IN WEAKNESS, IT IS
RAISED IN POWER; IT IS SOWN A NATURAL BODY, IT IS RAISED A
SPIRITUAL BODY… IF THERE IS A NATURAL BODY, THERE IS ALSO A
SPIRITUAL BODY. SO IT IS WRITTEN: “THE FIRST MAN ADAM BECAME A
LIVING BEING”; THE LAST ADAM, A LIFE-GIVING SPIRIT. THE SPIRITUAL
DID NOT COME FIRST, BUT THE NATURAL, AND AFTER THAT THE SPIRITUAL.
THE FIRST MAN WAS OF THE DUST OF THE EARTH; THE SECOND MAN IS OF
[THE SUBSTANCE OR MATTER OF] HEAVEN. AS WAS THE EARTHLY MAN, SO ARE
THOSE WHO ARE OF THE EARTH; AND AS IS THE HEAVENLY MAN, SO ALSO ARE
THOSE WHO ARE OF HEAVEN. AND JUST AS WE HAVE BORNE THE IMAGE OF THE
EARTHLY MAN, SO SHALL WE BEAR THE IMAGE OF THE HEAVENLY MAN. HERE
ONE CAN SEE THAT 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-49 IMPLIES THAT AT THE
RESURRECTION OF THE RIGHTEOUS TO HEAVEN, THE SPIRITS OF THE SAINTS
ARE CLOTHED WITH NEW BODIES MADE UP OF THE SUBSTANCE OR MATTER OF
HEAVEN. IN OTHER WORDS, THE SPIRITUAL BODY RECEIVED AT THE
RESURRECTION MENTIONED ABOVE IS NOT A NAKED, INTANGIBLE SPIRIT. THE
FACT THAT THE SAINTS RECEIVE NEW GLORIFIED BODIES IN HEAVEN AS
EXPLICITLY STATED IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-49 IS ALSO STRONGLY
IMPLIED IN:
2 CORINTHIANS 5:1 FOR WE KNOW THAT IF THE EARTHLY TENT WE LIVE IN
IS DESTROYED, WE HAVE A BUILDING FROM GOD, AN ETERNAL HOUSE IN
HEAVEN, NOT BUILT BY HUMAN HANDS. OF COURSE THE EARTHLY TENT IN
THIS VERSE IS THE EARTHLY, MORTAL BODY. IF THE EARTHLY TENT IS THE
EARTHLY BODY, THEN IT LOGICALLY FOLLOWS THAT THE “BUILDING FROM
GOD” OR THE “ETERNAL HOUSE IN HEAVEN” WOULD, THEREFORE, BE THE
HEAVENLY BODY THAT CLOTHES THE SPIRIT WHILE IN HEAVEN AFTER DEATH
AS THE EARTHLY BODY CLOTHES THE SPIRIT WHILE ON EARTH. THE NOTION
THAT THE DEAD ARE RAISED AS PERFECTED EARTHLY BODIES IS DISPELLED
BY 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-50. 1 CORINTHIANS 15:50 FLESH AND BLOOD
CANNOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD… IN FUTURIST AND PARTIAL
PRETERIST CIRCLES IT IS OFTEN EXPECTED THAT THE RESURRECTION WILL
BE AN EARTHLY PHENOMENON IN WHICH THE DEAD WILL BE RAISED AS
INCORRUPTIBLE EARTHLY BODIES. AS SHOWN ABOVE, THE NOTION THAT THE
RESURRECTION IS AN EARTHLY PHENOMENON IN WHICH THE DEAD ARE RAISED
AS PERFECTED EARTHLY BODIES IS DISPELLED BY 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-50.
IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-50, PAUL CLARIFIES THE FACT THAT DURING THE
RESURRECTION, THE SAINTS WERE TO ASCEND INTO HEAVEN TO RECEIVE
GLORIFIED HEAVENLY BODIES, NOT REMAIN ON EARTH WITH INCORRUPTIBLE
CORPORAL BODIES AS IS OFTEN MISTAKENLY SUPPOSED. WHAT ABOUT THE
RESURRECTION OF MATTHEW 27:52-53?
IN SUPPORT OF THE IDEA THAT AT THE RESURRECTION THE SAINTS ARE TO
RECEIVE IMPERISHABLE EARTHLY BODIES SOME QUOTE: MATTHEW 27:52-53
THE TOMBS WERE OPENED, AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS WHO HAD FALLEN
ASLEEP WERE RAISED; AND COMING OUT OF THE TOMBS AFTER HIS
RESURRECTION. THEY ENTERED THE HOLY CITY AND APPEARED TO MANY. WHAT
HAPPENED HERE WAS THAT DO TO THE EARTHQUAKE, THE TOMBS WERE BROKE
OPEN- AND THE BODIES OF THE DEAD EXPOSED. THIS BEING THE CASE, THEY
WOULD BE SEEN BY MANY. THIS IS NOT A RESURRECTION, NOR A ZOMBIA
APOCALYPSE. IT CAN ALSO BE REASONABLY IMPLIED THAT THESE PARTICULAR
GRAVES WERE ROCKY TOMBS, HOLES CARVED INTO THE ROCK WHOSE ENTRANCES
WERE SEALED BY LARGE STONES ROLLED IN FRONT OF THEM. WE CAN INFER
THIS BECAUSE OF THE OBVIOUS CONNECTION BETWEEN THE TWO STATEMENTS
“THE ROCKS SPLIT” AND “THE TOMBS BROKE OPEN.” THIS RECORD OF THE
EARTHQUAKE, THE ROCKS BEING SPLIT, THE GRAVES BEING OPENED, AND THE
DEAD BEING RAISED OCCURS ONLY IN MATTHEW, AND IT CONTAINS SOME
APPARENT INCONSISTENCIES. IN SPITE OF THE TEXTUAL EVIDENCE FOR
MATTHEW 27:52 AND 53, THERE ARE SOME VERY DISTURBING THINGS ABOUT
THESE VERSES. FIRST AND FOREMOST IS THAT IF “MANY” OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT SAINTS AROSE AND WENT TO JERUSALEM, WHY ARE THEY NOT
MENTIONED ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT? IN FACT, THE ENTIRE
EVENT IS NOT MENTIONED ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE BIBLE. SCRIPTURE IS
VERY CLEAR THAT YESHUA IS THE “FIRSTFRUITS FROM THE DEAD,” MEANING,
YESHUA WAS THE FIRST PERSON RAISED TO EVERLASTING LIFE; AND JOHN
3:13 AFFIRMS THAT WHEN THE BOOK OF JOHN WAS WRITTEN (PERHAPS 80-90
AD), NO ONE WAS IN HEAVEN BUT YESHUA.
IT SEEMS IMPOSSIBLE THAT “MANY” OLD TESTAMENT SAINTS HAD BEEN
RAISED FOR THREE DAYS AND HAD BEGUN TO ENTER THE CITY OF JERUSALEM
AND THIS WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN REPORTED. THE “SAINTS” WERE DEAD, NOT
ALIVE. THERE IS NOTHING IN THE RECORD THAT SAYS THAT THEY WERE
ALIVE IN ANY WAY, OR THAT THEIR “SOULS” WERE RETURNED TO THEM FROM
HEAVEN. IT SIMPLY SAYS THAT THEIR BODIES WERE RAISED. BODIES WERE
MOVED AND CONSEQUENTLY EMERGED FROM THE OPEN TOMBS. IN OTHER WORDS,
GRAVES WERE BROKEN OPEN & CORPSES EMERGED. "THOSE WHO ENTERED
THE HOLY CITY" DOES NOT REFER TO THE BODIES OF THE REPOSING SAINTS
BUT TO THE MANY TO WHOM THIS WAS MADE KNOWN. MATTHEW 24:34 TRULY I
TELL YOU, THIS GENERATION WILL CERTAINLY NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL
THESE THINGS HAVE HAPPENED. THIS FIRST CENTURY GENERATION DID NOT
PASS UNTIL ALL THE PROPHECIES OF THIS CHAPTER LITERALLY OCCURRED.
MATTHEW 24:36-37 BUT ABOUT THAT DAY OR HOUR NO ONE KNOWS, NOT EVEN
THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN, NOR THE SON, BUT ONLY THE FATHER. AS IT WAS
IN THE DAYS OF NOAH, SO IT WILL BE AT THE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN.
IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION EARTH IS USED AS A METAPHOR FOR THE LAND
OF ISRAEL AND SEA REPRESENTS GENTILE ROME. THIS IMAGERY IS NOT
UNIQUE TO REVELATION, EARTH IS OFTEN USED TO DENOTE A SPECIFIC
NATION-STATE WHILE WATER IMAGERY LIKE SEA, WATERS AND FLOOD OFTEN
POETICALLY SYMBOLIZE FOREIGN ARMIES. MATTHEW 24:40-41 TWO MEN WILL
BE IN THE FIELD; ONE WILL BE TAKEN AND THE OTHER LEFT. TWO WOMEN
WILL BE GRINDING WITH A HAND MILL; ONE WILL BE TAKEN AND THE OTHER
LEFT.
THIS VERSE IS OFTEN MISTAKENLY CITED AS EVIDENCE OF THE RAPTURE.
RAPTURE THEORISTS IDENTIFY THOSE WHO ARE TAKEN IN VERSE 40 AS THE
RIGHTEOUS WHO ARE RAPTURED. DURING TIMES OF WAR, THE YOUNG MEN IN
THE FIELD AND THE YOUNG WOMEN GRINDING AT THE MILL WOULD HAVE BEEN
TAKEN (AND KILLED), LEAVING THE OLD MEN AND WOMAN BEHIND. SO THOSE
WHO ARE TAKEN ARE DESTROYED- NOT THE ONES LEFT BEHIND. IN THE
CONTEXT OF THIS VERSE THOSE WHO ARE TAKEN IN VERSE 40 ARE THE
WICKED, NOT THE RIGHTEOUS, SINCE IT WAS THE UNRIGHTEOUS WHO WERE
TAKEN AWAY BY NOAH’S FLOOD. MATTHEW 24:51 HE WILL CUT HIM TO PIECES
AND ASSIGN HIM A PLACE WITH THE HYPOCRITES, WHERE THERE WILL BE
WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH. WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH IS
BETTER UNDERSTOOD AS BEING CONSUMED WITH TEARS AND ANGER. THE GREEK
PHRASE FOR “GNASHING OF TEETH” LITERALLY MEANS “GRINDING ONE’S
TEETH TOGETHER.” MATTHEW 25:31-33 WHEN THE SON OF MAN COMES IN HIS
GLORY, AND ALL THE ANGELS WITH HIM, THEN HE WILL SIT ON HIS
GLORIOUS THRONE. BEFORE HIM WILL BE GATHERED ALL THE NATIONS, AND
HE WILL SEPARATE PEOPLE ONE FROM ANOTHER AS A SHEPHERD SEPARATES
THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS. AND HE WILL PLACE THE SHEEP ON HIS RIGHT,
BUT THE GOATS ON THE LEFT. THIS SEPERATING SEEMS TO COME AT THE
RESURRECTION WHEN THE RIGHTEOUS GOING TO HEAVEN AND THE WICKED
GOING TO DESTRUCTION. LUKE 11:15 BUT SOME OF THEM SAID, “IT IS BY
BEELZEBUL, THE PRINCE OF THE DEMONS, THAT HE DRIVES OUT DEMONS.”
SOME PHARISEEZS BELIEVED IN BEELZEBUL (AKA: LORD OF THE FLIES), AND
IF THEY ATE WITH DIRTY HANDS, THEN THEY COULD BECOME POSSESSED AND
THAT DEMON WOULD CAUSE THEM TO FOLLY OR SIN.
ECCLESIASTES 10:1 SAYS THAT A DEAD FLY CAUSES PERFUME TO STINK-
THUS A WISE MAN COULD RUIN HIS REPUTATION BECAUSE OF ONE FOLLY.
THEREFORE, THE LORD OF THE FLIES- WAS THE LORD OF FOLLY, WHO CAUSES
THE WISE TO SIN; OR RUIN THEIR REPUTATION. THIS IS WHY THE
PHARISEES HAD A TRADITION OF RITUAL HAND WASHING. ACTS 17:31
BECAUSE HE HAS FIXED A DAY ON WHICH HE WILL JUDGE THE WORLD IN
RIGHTEOUSNESS BY A MAN WHOM HE HAS APPOINTED; AND OF THIS HE HAS
GIVEN ASSURANCE TO ALL BY RAISING HIM FROM THE DEAD. 1
THESSALONIANS 4:16-17 FOR THE LORD HIMSELF WILL DESCEND FROM HEAVEN
WITH A CRY OF COMMAND, WITH THE VOICE OF AN ARCHANGEL, AND WITH THE
SOUND OF THE TRUMPET OF GOD. AND THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE
FIRST. THEN WE WHO ARE ALIVE, WHO ARE LEFT, WILL BE CAUGHT UP
TOGETHER WITH THEM IN THE CLOUDS TO MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR, AND
SO WE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH THE LORD. THE RAPTURE IS A RELATIVELY NEW
CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE MADE POPULAR ESPECIALLY IN AMERICAN EVANGELICAL
CIRCLES. MOST CHRISTIANS LIVING IN A CULTURE WHERE THE RAPTURE IS
DEEPLY ENGRAVED IN CHURCH TEACHING MIGHT SEE THESE VERSES AS
IRREFUTABLE PROOF OF THIS DOCTRINE. HOWEVER, FOR ALMOST TWO
THOUSAND YEARS MOST CHRISTIANS UNDERSTOOD THAT THESE VERSES
REFERRED TO THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD. DESPITE BEING LESS THAN
TWO HUNDRED YEARS OLD, THE DOCTRINE OF THE PRE-TRIBULATION RAPTURE
HAS GROWN IN POPULARITY SO QUICKLY THAT MANY MODERN CHRISTIANS
ASSUME ITS VALIDITY ALMOST AXIOMATICALLY. PART OF THE REASON THIS
TEACHING HAS SPREAD SO QUICKLY IS BECAUSE OF AN EXCERPT FROM
ANOTHER ONE OF PAUL’S LETTERS.
HOWEVER, 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-52 AND 1 THESSALONIANS 4:15-18 IMPLY
THAT THE SAINTS WHO HAVE OUTLIVED THE RESURRECTION WILL BE RAISED
TO HEAVEN AFTER DEATH WITHOUT A LENGTHY IMPRISONMENT IN SHEOL WHILE
THOSE STILL IN SHEOL AT THE RESURRECTION WILL RISE TO HEAVEN FIRST.
THESE VERSES SUGGEST THAT DURING AND AFTER THE RESURRECTION AT THE
LAST TRUMPET, MANY PEOPLE WILL NO LONGER BE IMPRISONED IN DEATH OR
THE SLEEPY REALM OF SHEOL BEFORE RESURRECTING FROM THE DEAD. THESE
PEOPLE WILL BE “CHANGED” MEANING THAT THEY WILL BE GIVEN THEIR
RESURRECTION BODIES IMMEDIATELY AFTER DEATH PRESUMABLY WITHOUT
BEING TRAPPED IN SHEOL FIRST. IN LIGHT OF THIS UNDERSTANDING, 1
THESSALONIANS 4:15-17 NOW SEEMS TO ECHO THIS POINT. THE REASON WHY
THE “THE DEAD IN CHRIST WILL RISE FIRST” IS BECAUSE THOSE “WHO ARE
LEFT UNTIL THE COMING OF THE LORD” MUST WAIT UNTIL THEIR INDIVIDUAL
TIME OF DEATH SOMETIME AFTER THE LAST TRUMPET BEFORE THEY ARE
“CHANGED” INTO THEIR RESURRECTION BODIES… THUS I BELIEVE THE
“CHANGE” MENTIONED IN 1 CORINTHIANS 15:51-52 BEGINS AT THE LAST
TRUMPET AND CONTINUES THEREAFTER IMMEDIATELY AT THE TIME OF
PHYSICAL DEATH. IN THE VERSE SAYING WE WILL "MEET THE LORD IN THE
AIR", THE GREEK WORD FOR AIR IN THIS VERSE IS INTERCHANGEABLE WITH
SKY OR HEAVEN, THE AFTERLIFE REALM. THE CLOUDS IN 1 THESSALONIANS
4:17 UPON WHICH THE SAINTS MEET THE LORD IS THE GLORY CLOUD, THE
QUINTESSENTIAL BIBLICAL SIGN OF THE SPIRITUAL PRESENCE OF GOD. IT
ALSO REPRESENTS GOD'S GLORY. IN LIGHT OF 2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-4, THE
WORD “CAUGHT UP” IN 1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE
SAINTS ARE RAPTURED OR RAISED TO HEAVEN CORPORALLY.
1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 SAYS THAT THE SAINTS WILL BE “CAUGHT UP” TO
MEET THE LORD IN THE AIR. “THE WORDS ‘CAUGHT UP’ ARE [FROM] THE
GREEK WORD HARAPAZO, IT MEANS: ‘TO SNATCH AWAY.’ INTERESTINGLY
HARAPAZO OR “CAUGHT UP” IS ALSO FOUND IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-4 AND
REVELATION 12:5: 2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-4 I KNOW A MAN IN CHRIST WHO
FOURTEEN YEARS AGO—WHETHER IN THE BODY I DO NOT KNOW, OR OUT OF THE
BODY I DO NOT KNOW, GOD KNOWS—SUCH A MAN WAS CAUGHT UP [HARAPAZO]
TO THE THIRD HEAVEN. AND I KNOW HOW SUCH A MAN—WHETHER IN THE BODY
OR APART FROM THE BODY I DO NOT KNOW, GOD KNOWS—WAS CAUGHT UP
[HARAPAZO] INTO PARADISE AND HEARD INEXPRESSIBLE WORDS, WHICH A MAN
IS NOT PERMITTED TO SPEAK… REVELATION 12:5 AND SHE GAVE BIRTH TO A
SON, A MALE CHILD, WHO IS TO RULE ALL THE NATIONS WITH A ROD OF
IRON; AND HER CHILD WAS CAUGHT UP, [HARAPAZO] TO GOD AND TO HIS
THRONE. NOTICE THAT IN 2 CORINTHIANS 12:2-4 AND REVELATION 12:5
HARAPAZO OR “CAUGHT UP” IS APPLIED TO THOSE TAKEN TO HEAVEN, NOT
THE LITERAL SKY. THIS IS ALSO WHAT APPEARS TO BE IMPLIED IN 1
THESSALONIANS 4:17 SINCE 1 THESSALONIANS 4:17 SAYS THAT IT IS HERE,
PRESUMABLY IN THE AIR- (HEAVEN), THAT THE SAINTS REMAIN WITH CHRIST
FOREVER.' 1 CORINTHIANS 15:52 SAYS THAT THE RESURRECTION WAS TO
OCCUR AT THE LAST TRUMPET. MANY PRETERISTS BELIEVE THAT THE LAST
TRUMPET IS THE SEVENTH TRUMPET OF REVELATION 11:15. A LITERAL
TRUMPET WOULD HAVE LIKELY BEEN BLOWN BY THE ROMAN ARMY AT THE START
OF THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM. PERHAPS THE SEVENTH TRUMPET OF
REVELATION WAS BLOWN AT THIS TIME.
1 THESSALONIANS 5:2-4 FOR YOU YOURSELVES ARE FULLY AWARE THAT THE
DAY OF THE LORD WILL COME LIKE A THIEF IN THE NIGHT. WHILE PEOPLE
ARE SAYING, “THERE IS PEACE AND SECURITY,” THEN SUDDEN DESTRUCTION
WILL COME UPON THEM AS LABOR PAINS COME UPON A PREGNANT WOMAN, AND
THEY WILL NOT ESCAPE. BUT YOU ARE NOT IN DARKNESS, BROTHERS, FOR
THAT DAY TO SURPRISE YOU LIKE A THIEF. MANY USE THIS VERSE TO
SUPPORT A SECRET RAPTURE- HOWEVER, IT IS NOT SECRET (AS A THIEF IN
THE NIGHT) TO THOSE WHO ARE WATCHING. AGAIN, WE SEE THE WORDING OF
LABOR PAINS AS IN REVELATION 12. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:9 FOR GOD HAS
NOT DESTINED US FOR WRATH, BUT TO OBTAIN SALVATION THROUGH YESHUA
THE MESSIAH. FOR GOD HAS NOT DESTINED US FOR WRATH, BUT FOR
OBTAINING SALVATION. THIS DOES NOT MEAN WE WILL AVOID TRIBULATIONS.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:8 AND THEN THE LAWLESS ONE WILL BE REVEALED, WHOM
YESHUA WILL KILL WITH THE BREATH OF HIS MOUTH AND BRING TO NOTHING
BY THE APPEARANCE OF HIS COMING. 2 THESSALONIANS 2:8 IS MORE
ACCURATELY TRANSLATED: AND THEN THE LAWLESS ONE WILL BE REVEALED,
WHOM THE LORD WILL TAKE AWAY WITH THE BREATH OF HIS MOUTH AND DO
AWAY WITH BY THE SPLENDOR OF HIS COMING. THEREFORE, THE FACT THAT
TITUS AND VESPASIAN WERE NOT OVERTHROWN IN A POLITICAL SENSE OR
KILLED IN A PHYSICAL MANNER IN A.D. 70 OR AMIDST THE JEWISH WAR
DOES NOT CONTRADICT 2 THESSALONIANS 2:8. BUT HOW WERE TITUS AND
VESPASIAN TAKEN AWAY AND THUS REDUCED TO INACTIVITY IN A.D. 70 OR
AMIDST THE JEWISH WAR? THERE WERE TWO DIFFERENT OCCASIONS IN WHICH
TITUS AND VESPASIAN WERE TAKEN AWAY AND THUS REDUCED TO INACTIVITY
AROUND THE TIME OF THE JEWISH WAR.
THE FIRST OCCASION WAS SHORTLY AFTER THE DEATH OF NERO IN A.D. 68.
UPON HEARING OF THE DEATH OF NERO, THE ROMAN ASSAULT CEASED AND
TITUS AND VESPASIAN LEFT JUDAEA TO AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS. THUS
SHORTLY AFTER THE DEATH OF NERO WE HAVE ONE OCCASION IN WHICH THE
LAWLESS ONE WAS TAKEN AWAY AND REDUCED TO INACTIVITY. THE NEXT
OCCASION IN WHICH THE LAWLESS ONE WAS TAKEN AWAY AND REDUCED TO
INACTIVITY WAS AFTER THE FALL OF JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70. AFTER
USURPING THE THRONE AND BECOMING CAESAR IN A.D. 69, VESPASIAN
DISPATCHED TITUS BACK TO JUDAEA WITH AN OVERWHELMING MILITARY FORCE
IN ORDER TO PUT AN END TO THE JEWISH REVOLT BY BESIEGING JERUSALEM.
THE CITY FELL AFTER A FIVE-MONTH SIEGE AND TITUS THEN LEFT ISRAEL
FOR ROME TO CELEBRATE A TRIUMPH WITH HIS FATHER, VESPASIAN. 2
THESSALONIANS 2:9 READS, THE COMING OF THE LAWLESS ONE WILL BE IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE WORKS OF SATAN DISPLAYED IN ALL KINDS OF
COUNTERFEIT MIRACLES, SIGNS AND WONDERS . . . IMMEDIATELY BEFORE
ENTERING ROME TO CLAIM THE CROWN, CAESAR VESPASIAN, THE FORMER
ROMAN GENERAL OF THE JEWISH-ROMAN WAR, WAS IN ALEXANDRIA WHEN AND
WHERE A BLIND MAN AND A MAN WITH A WITHERED HAND FELL BEFORE HIM
BEGGING TO BE HEALED: WITH A SMILING EXPRESSION AND SURROUNDED BY
AN EXPECTANT CROWD OF BYSTANDERS, HE [VESPASIAN] DID WHAT WAS
ASKED. INSTANTLY THE CRIPPLE RECOVERED THE USE OF HIS HAND AND THE
LIGHT OF DAY DAWNED AGAIN UPON HIS BLIND COMPANION. BOTH THESE
INCIDENTS ARE STILL VOUCHED FOR BY EYE-WITNESSES, THOUGH THERE IS
NOW NOTHING TO BE GAINED BY LYING.
2 PETER 3:5-7 FOR THIS THEY WILLINGLY ARE IGNORANT OF, THAT BY THE
WORD OF GOD THE HEAVENS WERE OF OLD, AND THE EARTH STANDING OUT OF
THE WATER AND IN THE WATER: WHEREBY THE WORLD THAT THEN WAS, BEING
OVERFLOWED WITH WATER, PERISHED: BUT THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH,
WHICH ARE NOW, BY THE SAME WORD ARE KEPT IN STORE, RESERVED UNTO
FIRE AGAINST THE DAY OF JUDGMENT AND PERDITION OF UNGODLY MEN. IF
ONE BELIEVES THAT THE WATERS AND FLOOD OF NOAH’S TIME WAS A LITERAL
FLOOD WHICH LITERALLY DESTROYED THE EARTH WHETHER IN A LOCAL OR
GLOBAL SENSE, ONE IS ALSO COMPELLED TO BELIEVE THAT THE FIRE THAT
DESTROYS THE EARTH IN 2 PETER 3:7 MUST ALSO BE LITERAL. YOU CANNOT
HAVE LITERAL WATERS IN 2 PETER 3:6 WITHOUT ALSO HAVING LITERAL FIRE
IN 2 PETER 3:7-13. WAS THE FIRE OF 2 PETER 3:7-13 LITERAL? YES. AS
PART OF THE ROMAN SCORCHED-EARTH POLICY, JOSEPHUS RECORDS THE FACT
THAT THE ROMANS LITERALLY DESTROYED THE CITIES AND MUCH OF THE
COUNTRYSIDE OF ISRAEL, THE EARTH, BY FIRE DURING THE JEWISH WAR.
BECAUSE OF THE "ABOMINATIONS" OF THE PHARISEES, YESHUA TOLD THEM,
"SEE! YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT TO YOU DESOLATE" (MATTHEW 23:38). THUS
DANIEL'S STATEMENT IN DANIEL 9:27 ABOUT JERUSALEM BECOMING
"DESOLATE" WAS FULFILLED IN A.D. 70, NOT TO BE FULFILLED IN THE
FUTURE. THIS IS EVIDENCE WHICH IS OVERWHELMING AGAINST TODAY'S LEFT
BEHIND THEORIES. POINT BY POINT THE EVENTS OF DANIEL'S 70TH WEEK
HAVE BEEN FULFILLED IN THE PAST. THE ENTIRE "SEVEN-YEAR PERIOD OF
TRIBULATION" THEORY IS AN END TIME DELUSION, A MASSIVE MEGA-MYTH.
IT MAY EVEN GO DOWN IN HISTORY AS THE "GREATEST EVANGELICAL
MISINTERPRETATION OF ALL TIME." IT'S A FACT THAT THERE IS NO TEXT
IN THE BIBLE WHICH TEACHES A "SEVEN-YEAR TRIBULATION."
THE ENTIRE PROPHECY OF DANIEL 9:24-27 COVERS A PERIOD OF "SEVENTY
WEEKS." LOGIC REQUIRES THAT "SEVENTY WEEKS" REFERS TO ONE
CONSECUTIVE BLOCK OF TIME, IN OTHER WORDS, TO SEVENTY STRAIGHT
SEQUENTIAL WEEKS. LOGIC ALSO REQUIRES THAT THE 70TH WEEK FOLLOW
IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE 69TH WEEK. THE 70 WEEKS DANIEL 9:24 SEVENTY
WEEKS ARE DETERMINED UPON THY PEOPLE AND UPON THY HOLY CITY, TO
FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION, AND TO MAKE AN END OF SINS, AND TO MAKE
RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY, AND TO BRING IN EVERLASTING
RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND TO SEAL UP THE VISION AND PROPHECY, AND TO
ANOINT THE MOST HOLY. THE 490 YEARS (70 WEEKS) REFER TO THE ENTIRE
TIME PERIOD FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE UNTIL THE
DESTRUCTION OF THE SECOND. GABRIEL OUTLINED THIS ENTIRE PERIOD TO
DANIEL. DANIEL ALSO STATES THAT THIS MESSIAH WILL BE CUT OFF “AND
THERE WILL NOT BE TO HIM” (“V’AIN LO”). IT IS A CRYPTIC TERM, BUT
SEEMS TO SAY THAT HE WILL HAVE NOTHING LEFT OR THERE WILL BE
NOTHING LEFT OF HIM. CHRISTIANS INTERPRET THIS EXPRESSION AS
MEANING “HE WILL DIE BUT NOT FOR HIS OWN SAKE” – NAMELY, THE
MESSIAH WILL DIE FOR OUR SINS. BUT THAT IS SIMPLY NOT WHAT THE
HEBREW MEANS. CHRISTIANS BELIEVE THAT THE MESSIAH WAS TO BE CUT OFF
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FINAL 7 YEARS (THE FINAL “WEEK” OF V. 27) AND
AT THE END OF THAT WEEK THE TEMPLE WAS DESTINED TO BE DESTROYED.
BUT ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN TRADITION, YESHUA WAS CRUCIFIED IN THE
EARLY 30’S C.E. WHICH WAS WELL OVER THE HALF WEEK (24.5 YEARS)
BEFORE THE TEMPLE’S DESTRUCTION IN THE YEAR 70. IT IS ALSO
DIFFICULT TO UNDERSTAND WHEN TO BEGIN THE COUNT OF 490 YEARS
ACCORDING TO CHRISTIAN IDEAOLOGY.
THIS IS HOW DANIEL 9:24-26 SHOULD BE CORRECTLY TRANSLATED AND
UNDERSTOOD: SEVENTY WEEKS (490 YEARS) ARE DETERMINED UPON YOUR
PEOPLE AND UPON YOUR HOLY CITY, TO FINISH THE TRANSGRESSION, AND TO
MAKE AN END OF SINS, AND TO MAKE RECONCILIATION FOR INIQUITY, AND
TO BRING IN EVERLASTING RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND TO SEAL UP THE VISION
AND PROPHECY, AND TO ANOINT THE HOLY OF HOLIES. KNOW THEREFORE AND
DISCERN THAT FROM THE ISSUING OF A WORD TO RESTORE AND REBUILD
JERUSALEM (STARTING FROM ITS DESTRUCTION) UNTIL AN ANOINTED PRINCE
(CYRUS) WILL BE SEVEN WEEKS (49 YEARS) AND THEN FOR SIXTY-TWO WEEKS
(434 YEARS) IT WILL BE BUILT AGAIN WITH PLAZA AND MOAT BUT IN
TROUBLED TIMES… (PERSIAN, GREEK AND ROMAN DOMINATION) THEN AFTER
THE SIXTY- TWO WEEKS (483 YEARS FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST
TEMPLE) AN ANOINTED ONE (SACRIFICES, LAST JEWISH PRIEST AND KING)
WILL BE CUT OFF AND WILL BE NO MORE, AND THE PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE
(ROMANS) WHO IS TO COME WILL DESTROY THE CITY AND THE SANCTUARY (IN
THE 70TH WEEK 490 YEARS FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE)…
AN “ANOINTED ONE” WILL BE CUT OFF EITHER REFERS TO THE HIGH PRIEST
AT THAT TIME, OR THE NOTION OF THE PRIESTHOOD IN GENERAL. THE
TEMPLE WILL BE UTTERLY DESTROYED BY THE ROMAN LEGIONS OF VESPASIAN
AND TITUS. (“THE PEOPLE OF THE PRINCE”). THE ROMANS, WHO ARE OFTEN
SYMBOLIZED BY THE EAGLE WINGS RESTING ON THEIR STANDARDS, WOULD
DESECRATE THE TEMPLE WITH IDOLATRY. DANIEL IS PROFOUNDLY WORRIED
ABOUT THE PROPHECY OF JEREMIAH. JEREMIAH FORETOLD THAT JERUSALEM’S
DESTRUCTION WOULD LAST 70 YEARS (SEE JEREMIAH 25:12 AND 29:10). HE
THOUGHT THE 70 YEARS HAD COME TO AN END ALREADY, AND IN FACT THE
BABYLONIAN EMPIRE HAD RECENTLY BEEN OVERTAKEN BY THE PERSIANS, YET
THE RETURN TO JERUSALEM HAD NOT OCCURRED.
HE FEARED THAT THEY WERE NOT WORTHY OF THE PROPHESIED REDEMPTION
AND THAT IT WAS GOING TO BE DELAYED. HE BEGAN FASTING AND PRAYING,
BESEECHING GOD FOR HIS FORGIVENESS, UNTIL “THE ANGEL” GABRIEL CAME
TO HIM AND CLARIFIED THE FUTURE EVENTS WHEN THE 2ND TEMPLE WOULD BE
REBUILT AND HOW LONG IT WOULD STAND. VERSE 27 ADDS SOME INTERESTING
DETAILS OF THOSE FINAL YEARS AND BEYOND. THE ROMANS WILL MAKE A
COVENANT OF PEACE WITH THE “GREAT ONES” OF ISRAEL FOR THE FINAL
SEVEN YEARS. HOWEVER, THEY WILL NOT ABIDE BY THEIR COVENANT BUT FOR
THE FINAL HALF A WEEK BEFORE THE TEMPLE’S DESTRUCTION THEY WILL
ABOLISH THE OFFERING OF SACRIFICES. ALSO, AN IDOLATROUS TEMPLE WITH
MUTE ABOMINATIONS WOULD LATER BE BUILT ON THE HIGH PLACE OF THE
TEMPLE (BY HADRIAN) – UNTIL DESTRUCTION WILL BE POURED OUT UPON ALL
SUCH ABOMINATIONS IN THE END OF DAYS. DANIEL 12:2 AND MANY OF THOSE
WHO SLEEP IN THE DUST OF THE EARTH SHALL AWAKE, SOME TO EVERLASTING
LIFE, SOME TO SHAME AND EVERLASTING CONTEMPT. ACCORDING TO 1
CORINTHIANS 15:52 THERE WAS TO BE A MASS RESURRECTION AT THE LAST
TRUMPET. THE FINAL TRUMPET MENTIONED IN THIS VERSE APPEARS TO BE
THE SEVENTH TRUMPET DESCRIBED IN REVELATION 11:14. THE SOUNDING OF
THIS TRUMPET CORRESPONDS PRECISELY WITH THE SOUNDING OF THE ROMAN
TRUMPETS SIGNALING THE START OF THE ROMAN ATTACK ON JERUSALEM ON
PASSOVER OF A.D. 70. DANIEL 12:11 AND FROM THE TIME THAT THE DAILY
SACRIFICE IS TAKEN AWAY, AND THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION IS SET
UP, THERE SHALL BE 1290 DAYS. BLESSED IS HE WHO WAITS, AND COMES TO
THE 1335DAYS.
IT SEEMS TO BE THAT THERE TRULY WERE 1290 DAYS FROM THE TIME THAT
THE DAILY SACRIFICE [TO CAESAR WAS] ABOLISHED [IN A.D. 66] AND THE
ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES DESOLATION [WAS] SET UP [IN A.D. 70]. THE
ROMAN ARMY WITH THEIR IDOLS TO ZEUS, CAESAR AND ROME IS THE
ABOMINATION THAT CAUSES DESOLATION. 1335 DAYS ARE ROUGHLY THREE AND
A HALF YEARS (3.66 YEARS). RECALL THAT DANIEL 9:27 SAYS THAT THE
PRINCE TO COME WILL “CONFIRM A COVENANT WITH MANY FOR ONE
‘SEVEN,AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ‘SEVEN’ HE WILL PUT AN END TO
SACRIFICE AND OFFERING.” THESE “SEVENS” ARE SEVEN-YEAR INTERVALS.
DANIEL 9:27 WAS FULFILLED IN THE FACT THAT THE SIEGE OF JERUSALEM
DIVIDED THE JEWISH WAR INTO TWO THREE AND A HALF YEAR INTERVALS.
THERE WERE EXACTLY 1,335 DAYS FROM THE ABOLITION OF THE DAILY
SACRIFICE TO CAESAR IN AV OF A.D. 66 UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF THE
SIEGE OF JERUSALEM ON PASSOVER OF A.D. 70. THERE WERE ALSO EXACTLY
1,335 DAYS FROM THE 9TH OF AV OF A.D. 70 WHEN THE ROMAN ARMY
WORSHIPED IDOLS OF ZEUS, ROME AND CAESAR ON THE EASTERN GATE OF THE
TEMPLE UNTIL THE FIRST DAY OF PEACE AT THE END OF THE JEWISH WAR ON
THE 16TH OF NISAN IN A.D. 74. THE 16TH OF NISAN, WAS THE FIRST
OFFICIAL DAY OF PEACE. THE 16TH OF NISAN OF A.D. 74 IS EXACTLY 1335
DAYS AFTER THE NINTH DAY OF AV IN A.D. 70 WHEN THE ROMAN ARMY BROKE
INTO THE TEMPLE, SET IT ON FIRE AND SACRIFICED A PIG TO THE ENSIGNS
ON THE EASTERN GATE. IN MATTHEW 16:27-28, YESHUA DECLARES, “THE SON
OF MAN IS GOING TO COME IN HIS FATHER’S GLORY WITH HIS ANGELS. . .
. SOME OF YOU STANDING HERE WILL NOT TASTE DEATH BEFORE THEY SEE
THE SON OF MAN COMING IN HIS KINGDOM.” THESE VERSES ARE FULFILLED
LITERALLY IN THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD.
AFTER YESHUA CONQUERED DEATH, THE DEPARTED ARE PRESUMABLY
IMMEDIATELY RAISED TO LIFE WITHOUT BEING CONFINED TO THE SPIRITUAL
REALM OF DEATH CALLED SHEOL FIRST. WE READ IN REVELATION 17:12 THAT
THE 10 HORNS HAD “RECEIVED NO KINGDOM AS YET.” THIS WAS TRUE AT THE
TIME WHEN JOHN WROTE REVELATION. BEFORE THE WINTER OF 66-67 AD
THESE GENERALS DIDN’T OVERSEE JERUSALEM, IDUMAEA, JERICHO, PEREA,
ETC. THEY RECEIVED THESE KINGDOMS AND THIS AUTHORITY AROUND THE
BEGINNING OF 67 AD AFTER THE DEFEAT OF CESTIUS GALLUS. REVELATION
13:1 AND I STOOD UPON THE SAND OF THE SEA, AND SAW A BEAST RISE UP
OUT OF THE SEA, HAVING SEVEN HEADS AND TEN HORNS, AND UPON HIS
HORNS TEN CROWNS, AND UPON HIS HEADS THE NAME OF BLASPHEMY.
THE 10 APPOINTED JEWISH GENERALS OF REVELATION 13:1 1. JOSEPH, THE
SON OF GORION (GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM) 2. ANANUS, THE HIGH PRIEST
(GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM) 3. JESUS, THE SON OF SAPPHIAS, ONE OF THE
HIGH PRIESTS (IDUMAEA) 4. ELEAZAR, THE SON OF ANANIAS, THE HIGH
PRIEST (IDUMAEA) 5. NIGER, THE THEN GOVERNOR OF IDUMEA (IDUMAEA) 6.
JOSEPH, THE SON OF SIMON (JERICHO) 7. MANASSEH (PEREA) 8. JOHN, THE
ESSCUE (TOPARCHY OF THAMNA; “LYDDA, JOPPA, AND EMMAUS”) 9. JOHN,
THE SON OF MATTHIAS (TOPARCHIES OF GOPHNITICA, ACRABATTENE) 10.
JOSEPHUS, THE SON OF MATTHIAS (BOTH THE GALILEES)
IN REVELATION 17:14 WE READ, “THESE WILL MAKE WAR WITH THE LAMB,
AND THE LAMB WILL OVERCOME THEM, FOR HE IS LORD OR LORDS AND KING
OF KINGS; AND THOSE WHO ARE WITH HIM ARE CALLED, CHOSEN, AND
FAITHFUL.” YESHUA MADE WAR AGAINST THE HARLOT/GREAT CITY AND HE
USED THE ROMAN ARMY AS HIS INSTRUMENT. THE 144,000 APPEAR TO BE THE
BODY OF FIRST CENTURY BELIEVERS THAT SURVIVED ISRAEL’S FIRST
CENTURY WAR WITH ROME. IN REVELATION 7 JOHN LISTS TWELVE THOUSAND
MEN FROM EACH OF THE TWELVE TRIBES OF ISRAEL TO BE SEALED AND
PROTECTED FROM THE COMING JUDGMENT. IF THE TWELVE TRIBES ARE
SYMBOLIC OF COURSE THE EXACT NUMBER OF INDIVIDUALS FROM EACH TRIBE
IS PROBABLY ALSO NOT LITERAL. REVELATION 7:9-14 TELLS OF “A GREAT
MULTITUDE FROM EVERY NATION, TRIBE, PEOPLE AND LANGUAGE” THAT “HAVE
COME OUT OF THE GREAT TRIBULATION.” THE SAME TRIBULATION THE WOMAN
AND 144,000 APPEAR TO AVOID. AFTER THE WOMAN ESCAPES THE DRAGON,
THE DRAGON WENT OFF TO WAGE WAR AGAINST THE REST OF HER
OFFSPRING—THOSE WHO KEEP GOD’S COMMANDMENTS. THESE JEWISH CHRISTIAN
SURVIVORS APPEAR TO BE THE 144,000 AND THE WOMAN OF REVELATION
12.
ARMAGEDDON REVELATION 16:16 THEN THEY GATHERED THE KINGS TOGETHER
TO THE PLACE THAT IN HEBREW IS CALLED ARMAGEDDON. THE WORD
ARMAGEDDON, HAR-MAGEDDON, IS COMMONLY SUPPOSED TO REPRESENT THE
MOUNTAIN OF MEGIDDO BETTER KNOWN AS MT. CARMEL. THE ROMAN KINGS,
GENERALS AND THEIR ARMIES GATHERED IN THE COASTAL CITY OF CAESAREA
IMMEDIATELY BEFORE MARCHING SOUTH TO ATTACK JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70.35
CAESAREA IS ABOUT EIGHT MILES EAST OF MT. CARMEL, AND MT. CARMEL IS
CLEARLY VISIBLE FROM CAEAREA. THROUGH THIS REGION RAN A HIGHWAY
WHERE GOODS WERE TRADED BETWEEN EGYPT, ASIA MINOR AND THE MIDDLE
EAST. THIS HIGHWAY PASSED NEAR CAESAREA AND CONTINUED NORTHEAST
ALONG THE EDGE OF MT. CARMEL THROUGH THE VALLEY OF JEZREEL. GIVEN
THE CLOSE PROXIMITY OF THE CITY OF CAESAREA AND THE VALLEY OF
MEGIDDO, PERHAPS THE MOUNTAIN OF MEGIDDO IS THE CITY OF CAESAREA
ITSELF? AFTER ALL MOUNTAINS OFTEN DENOTE CITIES IN THE BIBLE. IT IS
INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT JEZREEL VALLEY WHERE MT. MEGIDDO IS
LOCATED AND THE ROMAN ARMY MET BEFORE BEGINNING THEIR SIEGE OF
JERUSALEM IN A.D. 70 WAS CALLED “THE GREAT PLAIN OF LEGIO (MEANING
LEGION)” AFTER THE SECOND JEWISH REVOLT (A.D. 132-35).” THIS VERSE
INDICATES THAT THE KINGS WOULD MEET AT ARMAGEDDON THOUGH IT IS
IMPORTANT TO NOTICE THAT NO EXPLICIT MENTION IS MADE IN THIS VERSE
OR ELSEWHERE OF A BATTLE AT MT. MEGIDDO ITSELF. THEREFORE, THE
POPULAR NOTION OF THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON AT MT. MEGIDDO IS A
TEACHING WITHOUT MEANINGFUL BIBLICAL SUPPORT.
THE HEBREW FOR ARMAGEDDON LITERALLY MEANS “MOUNTAIN OF [GATHERING]
TROOPS.” SINCE “MOUNTAINS” SIGNIFY KINGDOMS IN THE BIBLE, THIS
“MOUNTAIN” APPEARS TO BE SPIRITUAL BABYLON (JERUSALEM).
MANY CHRISTIAN SCHOLARS HAVE NOW DISMISSED THE NOTION OF A BATTLE
AT MT. MEGIDDO IN FAVOR OF A BATTLE AT JERUSALEM. THE FACT THAT
JERUSALEM, CALLED MANY THINGS THROUGHOUT THIS PROPHETIC SERIES OF
VISIONS, IS GIVEN THIS TITLE IS NOT SURPRISING SINCE IT IS AT
JERUSALEM THAT THE ROMAN ARMY AND THE REMAINING JEWISH REBELS
CONVERGED TO FACE ONE ANOTHER DURING THE CLIMAX OF THE JEWISH WAR.
PERHAPS THIS TERM HAS AN INTENTIONALLY AMBIGUOUS ETYMOLOGY IN ORDER
TO ALLUDE TO BOTH THE VICINITY OF MEGIDDO, WHERE THE ROMANS MET
BEFORE THEIR ATTACK ON JERUSALEM, AND JERUSALEM ITSELF. YESHUA IN
MATTHEW 24:15-20 AND LUKE 21:20-24 CONNECTS “THE WAR” OF DANIEL 9
AND 12 AND THE SURROUNDING OF THE IDUMEAN AND ROMAN ARMIES TO A
SPECIFIC SIGN OF HIS COMING AND “THE END” OR “THE END OF THE AGE”
IN THE YEARS BETWEEN AD 66 – AD 70. THE 2 WITNESSES REVELATION
11:4-14 THESE ARE THE TWO OLIVE TREES, AND THE TWO CANDLESTICKS
STANDING BEFORE THE GOD OF THE EARTH.
THESE TWO OLIVE TREES ARE NOT INDIVIDUALS- BUT RATHER TWO GROUPS OF
PEOPLE.
THIS OLIVE BRANCH REPRESENTS THE JEWISH PEOPLE- THE NATURAL
BRANCHES.
BECAUSE OF UNBELIEF, THESE NATURTAL BRANCHES ARE BROKEN OFF. THOSE
GRAFTED IN AMOUNG THE NATURAL BRANCHES ARE GENTILES. ROMANS 11:21
FOR IF GOD SPARED NOT THE NATURAL BRANCHES, TAKE HEED LEST HE ALSO
SPARE NOT THEE. YESHUA IS TELLING THE GENTILES HERE (THROUGH PAUL),
DO NOT BECOME ARROGANT. JUST BECAUSE GOD HAS CALLED YOU- DOES NOT
MEAN HE HAS ABANDONED THE JEWISH PEOPLE. REMEMBER, IT IS THE ROOT
THAT SUPPORTS YOU. THEREFORE, DO NOT BE ARROGANT. BUT TREMBLE! THE
GOD SAYS SOMETHING ABOUT THE JEWS THAT WERE CUT OFF IN ORDER THAT
YOU, GENTILES, COULD BE GRAFTED IN: ROMANS 11:23 AND THEY ALSO, IF
THEY ABIDE NOT STILL IN UNBELIEF, SHALL BE GRAFTED IN: FOR GOD IS
ABLE TO GRAFT THEM IN AGAIN. GOD’S PEOPLE ARE THE TWO OLIVE TREES.
REVELATION 11:2-3 BUT THE COURT WHICH IS WITHOUT THE TEMPLE LEAVE
OUT, AND MEASURE IT NOT; FOR IT IS GIVEN UNTO THE GENTILES: AND THE
HOLY CITY SHALL THEY TREAD UNDER FOOT FORTY AND TWO MONTHS. AND I
WILL GIVE POWER UNTO MY TWO WITNESSES, AND THEY SHALL PROPHESY A
THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND THREESCORE DAYS, CLOTHED IN SACKCLOTH.
BEING CLOTHES IN SACKCLOTH MEANS THEY WERE PROPHESYING BAD THINGS.
NOTE THAT THE WITNESSES ARE PROPHESYING WHILE THE CITY STILL
STANDS. THE NATIONS GET ANGRY WITH THE WITNESSES, THEN THE
WITNESSES DIE, AND THEN THE WRATH OF GOD COMES AGAINST
JERUSALEM…
THE 2 WITNESSES EMBODY THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS/THE WORD OF GOD.
THESE 2 WITNESSES REPRESENT THE TWO-FOLD OATH WHICH GOD HIMSELF
SWORE. GOD SWORE TO DAVID THAT HE WOULD SEAT ONE OF HIS DESCENDANTS
UPON HIS THRONE (ACTS 2:29-31, 2SAMUEL 7:8-17) AND GOD ALSO SWORE
TO THAT DESCENDANT (CHRIST) "YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER ACCORDING TO
THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK." (HEBREWS 7:21-22, PSALMS 110:4) THE
OATHS GOD SWORE DECLARE THAT CHRIST AS HEAD OF THE CHURCH IS BOTH
KING AND HIGH PRIEST. THE TWO WITNESSES IN JOHN’S VISION AND THE
TWO OLIVE TREES IN ZECHARIAH'S VISION SIGNIFY THIS PROMISE OF THE
DOUBLE ANOINTING OF YESHUA. THE TWO WITNESSES WERE TO WEAR
SACKCLOTH (REVELATION 11:3). SACKCLOTH IS WHAT THE NAME SUGGESTS —A
ROUGH CLOTH FOR THE MAKING OF SACKS. IT WAS WORN AS A SIGN OF
REPROACH AND SORROW FOR SIN, IF NOT FOR ONE'S OWN SIN, THEN FOR THE
SINS OF OTHERS. IN THIS VISION, SACKCLOTH REPRESENTS THE REPROACH
OF CHRIST — HE BORE THE SINS OF THE WORLD (PSALMS 69:7-21). THE
LAMPSTANDS SIGNIFY THE LIGHT WHICH THESE TWO DIVINE OATHS, AND THE
PERSON ABOUT WHOM THE OATHS WERE MADE, SHED UPON A DARK WORLD.
YESHUA, OUR GREAT HIGH PRIEST AND KING OF KINGS, IS LORD OF THE
EARTH AND LIGHT OF THE WORLD (JOHN 1:1-5). THE TWO WITNESSES HAVE
POWER TO KILL THEIR ENEMIES WITH PLAGUES (REVELATION 11:5-6). THIS
SIGNIFIES THE FACT THAT THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST (OUR HIGHPRIEST AND
KING) TORMENTS THE ENEMIES OF GOD AND OVERPOWERS THEM. THE FACT
THAT THE TWO WITNESSES ARE DEPICTED AS TWO LAMPSTANDS AND TWO OLIVE
TREES ALSO POINTS TO CHRIST WHO IS THE SOLE EMBODIMENT OF THE
CHURCH, THE BODY OF CHRIST.
THE DEADLY WOUND THE ROMAN BEAST WITH ITS SEVEN HEADS REPRESENTS
SEVEN CAESARS THIS CHAPTER OPENS WITH THE DEVIL STANDING ON THE
SHORE OF THE SEA–A METAPHOR FOR ROME THROUGHOUT THE BOOK OF
REVELATION. THIS SYMBOLISM IS MOST EXPLICIT IN: REVELATION 17:15
THE WATERS WHICH YOU SAW WHERE THE HARLOT SITS, ARE PEOPLES AND
MULTITUDES AND NATIONS AND TONGUES. SEE IN THE BIBLE “EARTH”
SIGNIFIES THE SPECIFIC LAND ADDRESSED WHILE “SEA” SYMBOLIZES
FOREIGN NATIONS. THIS SEVEN-HEADED SEA MONSTER REPRESENTS ROME. THE
PROPHETS ISAIAH, DANIEL AND EZEKIEL ALSO USED MYTHICAL SEA MONSTERS
TO SYMBOLIZE OPPRESSIVE GENTILE EMPIRES (DANIEL 7; ISAIAH 27:1,
30:7, 51:9-10; AND EZEKIEL 32:2-9). FOLLOWING THE PRECEDENCE SET IN
EZEKIEL 32:2-9, THE AUTHOR OF REVELATION USES THIS SEA BEAST
IMAGERY TO SIGNIFY BOTH AN EMPIRE AND ITS LEADERS. THUS THE BEAST
IS BOTH A KING AND HIS KINGDOM. ILLUSTRATING THIS ANCIENT
CONCEPTION, KENNETH GENTRY QUOTES THE ROMAN POET OVID (43 B.C.-A.D.
18) AS SAYING, “THE STATE IS CAESAR.” THE SEVEN HEADS OF THE SEA
MONSTER REPRESENT THE SEVEN CAESARS OF ROME AND ITS BODY REPRESENTS
THE ROMAN CITIZENRY. IS THE SEVEN-HEADED BEAST OF REVELATION 13 THE
KINGS OF ISRAEL? THIS INTERPRETATION IS CONFIRMED IN REVELATION
17:10. HERE IT IS SAID THAT THE SEVEN HEADS OF THE BEAST ARE SEVEN
KINGS. SIMILAR IMAGERY IS FOUND IN: COLOSSIANS 1:18 AND HE [CHRIST]
IS THE HEAD OF THE BODY, THE CHURCH. . . .
HEAD IS A BIBLICAL METAPHOR FOR A KING OR LEADER. LIKEWISE, BODY
REPRESENTS A KINGDOM OR COHESIVE GROUP OF PEOPLE. SIMILARLY, THIS
BEAST, WITH ITS MANY HEADS, SIGNIFIES BOTH CAESAR AND HIS EMPIRE.
THE NUMBER SEVEN POINTS TO ROME IN TWO COMPLIMENTARY WAYS: “THE
SEVEN HEADS ARE SEVEN HILLS ON WHICH THE WOMAN SITS. THEY ARE ALSO
SEVEN KINGS.” (REVELATION 17:9-10) ROME WAS FOUNDED ON EXACTLY
SEVEN HILLS BY EXACTLY SEVEN KINGS. AUNE WRITES, “[A]CCORDING TO
TRADITION, ROME DID HAVE SEVEN KINGS, NO MORE AND NO LESS. THESE
BELONGED TO THE ROMAN MONARCHY BEGINNING WITH ROMULUS
(TRADITIONALLY 753 B.C.) AND ENDING WITH THE EXPULSION OF THE
SEVENTH KING, TARQUINIUS SUPERBUS, IN 508 B.C.” ROMANS SUFFERED
GREATLY DURING THE REIGN OF THESE SEVEN KINGS CAUSING ROME TO
BECOME A REPUBLIC IN 509 B.C. IT MUST BE EMPHASIZED, HOWEVER, THAT
THE SEVEN HEADS/KINGS OF REVELATION ARE NOT ROME’S SEVEN FOUNDING
KINGS, AFTER ALL REVELATION MENTIONS AT LEAST EIGHT KINGS
(REVELATION 17:11). RATHER, THE FACT THAT THE BEAST OF REVELATION
13 IS SAID TO HAVE SEVEN HEADS/KINGS IMPLIES A KIND OF SPIRITUAL OR
SYMBOLIC RETURN OF THE SEVEN FOUNDING KINGS OF ROME OR MORE
PRECISELY A RETURN TO THE AUTOCRACY AND TYRANNY OF THESE KINGS. THE
SEVEN-HEADED BEAST IN REVELATION SYMBOLIZES ROME, THE CITY OF SEVEN
HILLS, AND ITS RETURN TO AUTOCRACY AND THE EVIL THAT SEEMED
DESTINED TO FOLLOW WHEN HISTORY REPEATED ITSELF AS ROME REGRESSED
BACK TO ITS TYRANNICAL ROOTS WITH JULIUS CAESAR IN 44 B.C. WHEN HE
DECLARED HIMSELF EMPEROR FOR LIFE AND WAS ASSASSINATED SOON AFTER.
ANTICHRIST IS A TERM USED IN 1 AND 2 JOHN TO REFER TO THE SPIRIT OF
HERESY, NOT A WORLD-WIDE RULER WHO BLASPHEMES GOD AND PERSECUTES
THE SAINTS.
THE PROPHECIES OF REVELATION 13 HIGHLIGHT THE REIGNS AND ACTIONS OF
THREE OF THESE HEADS OR CAESARS—CAESAR NERO, CAESAR VESPASIAN AND
CAESAR TITUS. THE HEADS OF THE SEA BEAST ARE THE HEADS OF THE ROMAN
EMPIRE, THE CAESARS. BUT THE HEADS OF THE BEAST ARE NOT JUST THE
EMPERORS OF ROME. THE HEADS OF THE BEAST ARE THOSE EMPERORS WHO
REIGNED IN THE TWO DYNASTIES THAT RULED ROME IN THE FIRST CENTURY,
THE CAESAR FAMILY DYNASTY AND THE FLAVIAN FAMILY DYNASTY. THE FIRST
SIX HEADS ARE THE SIX EMPERORS OF THE CAESAR FAMILY DYNASTY
BEGINNING WITH THE VERY FIRST, JULIUS CAESAR. THUS THE FIRST SIX
HEADS ARE THE FIRST SIX CAESARS: 1) JULIUS CAESAR 2) AUGUSTUS
CAESAR 3) TIBERIUS CAESAR 4) GAIUS CAESAR 5) CLAUDIUS CAESAR 6)
NERO CAESAR. IN REVELATION 13:3 THE BEAST IS SAID TO HAVE A FATALLY
WOUNDED HEAD. THIS HEAD IS THE SIXTH HEAD, NERO CAESAR, WHO
COMMITTED SUICIDE IN A.D. 68. NERO WAS THE LAST RULER OF THE CAESAR
FAMILY DYNASTY. AND SINCE NERO HAD NOT NAMED HIS SUCCESSOR, THERE
WAS A SUCCESSION STRUGGLE RESULTING IN CIVIL WAR FOLLOWING NERO’S
SUICIDE. WITH NERO’S DEATH, THE END OF THE CAESAR FAMILY DYNASTY,
AND THE RESULTING CIVIL WAR WHICH THREATENED TO COLLAPSE THE EMPIRE
AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS POWER, THE BEAST SEEMS TO HAVE A FATAL WOUND
IN REVELATION 13:3. THUS WITH THE SIXTH HEAD SEVERED THIS BEAST
APPEARS TO BE DEAD WITH NERO. AS WILL BE EXPLAINED SHORTLY, THE
SEVEN-HEADED SEA MONSTER OF THIS CHAPTER WAS CERTAINLY NOT MADE-UP
BY JOHN.
THE AMERICAN OBSESSION WITH THE SECOND COMING OF YESHUA —
ESPECIALLY WITH DISTORTED INTERPRETATIONS OF IT — CONTINUES
UNABATED.
2 THESSALONIANS 2:7 FOR THE SECRET POWER OF LAWLESSNESS IS ALREADY
AT WORK; BUT THE ONE WHO NOW HOLDS IT BACK WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO
TILL HE IS TAKEN OUT OF THE WAY. IN YESHUA’S TIME, THE POWER OF
LAWLESSNESS OR (ANTI-CHRIST) WAS ALREADY AT WORK IN THE WORLD. THE
SON OF PERDITION IS A MAN OR A FALSE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM DESIGNED BY
MAN. FALSE RELIGION AND FALSE RELIGIOUS LEADERS HAVE BEEN AROUND
SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME BUT THE REVEALING OF THESE INSTITUTIONS
HAS BEEN TAKING PLACE FOR CENTURIES. THE SON OF PERDITION IS A MAN
WHO IS THE DECEIVER OF MEN AND THAT SYSTEM OF DECEPTION WITH FALSE
DOCTRINES AND HERETICAL IDEAS COMES FROM A SON OF PERDITION. SOME
BELIEVE THE SON OF PERDITION IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2:3 IS THE SINGLE
PERSON SPOKEN OF WHO CAUSES BELIEVERS TO FALL AWAY FROM GOD AND
OFTEN IDENTIFY THIS INDIVIDUAL AS THE FAMOUS ANTI-CHRIST. AGAIN,
THE SON OF PERDITION IS NOT “SATAN” AS SOME BELIEVE. THIS ONE
PASSAGE SUPPORTS THE BIBLICAL VIEW THAT HE IS A HUMAN MAN JUST AS
THE TEXT CLEARLY INDICATES. “LET NO MAN DECEIVE YOU.” WITH ALL THE
VARIED INTERPRETATIONS OF WHO THE SON OF PERDITION IS, IT MAY BE
HELPFUL TO SIMPLY SEE THE MOST APPARENT VIEW. THIS IS A MAN OR A
FALSE RELIGIOUS SYSTEM DESIGNED BY MAN. DURING YESHUA’S TIME, MANY
WERE ALREADY AT WORK TEACHING AGAINST TORAH. THERE WAS A RELIGIOUS
SYSTEM OF LAWLESSNESS (ANTI-TORAH) BEING TAUGHT EVEN IN YESHUA’S
TIME. THIS SYSTEM PRODUCES SIGNS AND WONDERS THAT SERVE THE LIE.
IMAGINE THE LAWLESSNESS OF CHRISTIANITY- AND ALL THE SIGNS AND
WONDERS WHICH SERVE THAT RELIGIOUS SYSTEM. BECAUSE THEY TEACH
AGAINST TRUTH- WHICH IS THE TORAH AND THE TRUE CHARACTER OF YESHUA,
THEY ARE GIVEN OVER TO A LIE… A GREAT DELUSION.
LEVIATHAN & BEHEMOTH THE BEAST FROM THE SEA: LEVIATHAN ROME THE
FIRST BEAST FROM THE SEA REPRESENTS THE IMPERIAL POWER AND VIOLENCE
OF ROME. IT RISES FROM THE SEA - ROME IS A COASTAL CITY. ITS TEN
HEADS REPRESENT CLIENT KINGS, ITS SEVEN HEADS THE CAESARS AND HILLS
OF ROME, AS REVEALED IN CHAPTER 17. THE SEA BEAST IS UNDOUBTEDLY
THE LEVIATHAN. ACCORDING TO PSALM 104:25-26 AND PSALM 74:13-14, THE
LEVIATHAN WAS A MANY-HEADED SEA MONSTER. THE WHOLE EARTH FOLLOWS
AND WORSHIPS THIS BEAST – THE ROMAN EMPIRE. THE ROMAN EMPIRE WAS
CONSIDERED TO SPAN THE ENTIRETY OF THE KNOWN WORLD WHERE CAESAR IS
REVEALED, NOT AS A BENEFICENT RULER OR DEITY, BUT AS A BEAST THAT
MURDERS THOSE FAITHFUL TO THE TRUE GOD. THE BEAST OF THE LAND :
BEHEMOTH IS JERUSALEM THE BEAST FROM THE LAND IS THE NEW FORM OF
ISRAEL THAT EMERGED IN AD 70 AD AND AFTER. THE HEAD OF THE BEAST IS
A POLITICAL RULER, HEROD AGRIPPA II, WHOM I WILL JUST REFER TO AS
AGRIPPA FOR SHORT. AND JUST AS THE HORNS OF THE FIRST BEAST WERE
MEN CONTROLLING LEADERS IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE, THE TWO HORNS OF THIS
LAND BEAST ARE TWO MEN- VESPASIAN AND TITUS, THE TWO MEN, WHO “ROSE
OUT OF THE EARTH” (ISRAEL) TO BECOME THE FINAL HEADS OF THE BEAST
WHO USED THEIR VICTORY IN ISRAEL (THE EARTH) TO LEGITIMIZE THEIR
REIGN. REVELATION 17:9-12 THE SEVEN HEADS ARE SEVEN MOUNTAINS, ON
WHICH THE WOMAN SITTETH. AND THERE ARE SEVEN KINGS: FIVE ARE
FALLEN, AND ONE IS, AND THE OTHER IS NOT YET COME; AND WHEN HE
COMETH, HE MUST CONTINUE A SHORT SPACE. AND THE BEAST THAT WAS, AND
IS NOT, EVEN HE IS THE EIGHTH, AND IS OF THE SEVEN, AND GOETH INTO
PERDITION. AND THE TEN HORNS WHICH THOU SAWEST ARE TEN KINGS, WHICH
HAVE RECEIVED NO KINGDOM AS YET; BUT RECEIVE POWER AS KINGS ONE
HOUR WITH THE BEAST.
THE WOMAN THAT SIT UPON THE 7 HEADS IS ISRAEL. IT IS BEST TO
UNDERSTAND “MOUNTAINS” AS A SYMBOL FOR THE KINGDOMS THAT CORRESPOND
TO THE KINGS. BEASTS ARE USED TO REPRESENT KINGS AND THEIR
KINGDOMS. THE 7 KINGS IN REVELATION 17:9-10 1. AUGUSTUS, 2.
TIBERIUS, 3. GAIUS CALIGULA, 4. CLAUDIUS, 5. NERO, 6. GALBA, 7.
VESPASIAN THE FIRST FIVE HAVE FALLEN: AUGUSTUS, TIBERIUS, GAIUS,
CLAUDIUS AND NERO. THE ONE WHO HAS NOT YET COME AND MUST REMAIN A
LITTLE WHILE IS TITUS, WHO REIGNED VERY BRIEFLY. THE EIGHTH KING IS
DOMITIAN. THE WHORE OF BABYLON (JERUSALEM) IS SEATED ON SEVEN HEADS
(REV 17:9). THIS IS ALSO WHERE THE 10 HORNS ARE (REV 13:1) IMPLYING
THAT THE TEN HORNS ARE JEWISH (THE 10 ZEALOT LEADERS). I BELIEVE
THAT THE 10 HORNS ARE ALSO THE 10 TOES OF THE STATUE OF DANIEL 2
WHICH IS A MIXTURE OF IRON (ROME) AND CLAY (ISRAEL). BELOW IS A
CHART LISTING THE 7 HILLS OF ROME:
THE ZEALOTS CONTINUALLY ROBBED, KILLED AND “HATED” THE RICH OF
JERUSALEM (THE WHORE OF BABYLON) BECAUSE OF THEIR LOYALTY TO ROME.
THE ZEALOTS ALSO BURNED PARTS OF THE CITY DUE TO INFIGHTING.
JOSEPHUS REFERS TO THE ZEALOTS’ ASSAULT ON THEIR OWN CITY AS A
BEAST “EATING ITS OWN FLESH.” AFTER LOSING THE WAR, ALL 10 ZEALOT
LEADERS IN SOME WAY FORCIBLY SURRENDERED THEIR AUTHORITY TO ROME.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST TWO POSSIBILITIES: WHEN JOHN WROTE THE
EPISTLE OF REVELATION TO THE SEVEN CHURCHES, HE MADE IT VERY CLEAR
– ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS – THAT THE PROPHECIES CONTAINED IN HIS
LETTER WERE TO TAKE PLACE “SOON.” THERE CAN BE LITTLE DOUBT,
THEREFORE, THAT THE FIRST CENTURY CHRISTIANS WHO RECEIVED AND READ
JOHN’S LETTER UNDERSTOOD AT LEAST ONE THING: THEY WERE READING
ABOUT EVENTS THAT WERE ABOUT TO HAPPEN SOON…
SINCE THE APOSTLE JOHN WAS WRITING THIS LETTER FROM CAPTIVITY ON
THE ISLAND OF PATMOS, HE REVERTED TO CODE WHICH HIS READERS (JEWISH
CHRISTIANS) WOULD UNDERSTAND EASILY BUT HIS CAPTORS (THE ROMANS)
WOULD NOT. NOTE ALSO THAT, AS A PRISONER OF ROME, HE WOULDN’T WANT
TO COME RIGHT OUT AND WRITE ANYTHING NEGATIVE ABOUT THE EMPEROR OR
THE GOVERNMENT THAT HELD HIM CAPTIVE – FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. THE
HEBREW SPELLING OF “NERO CAESAR” WAS NRWN QSR. SINCE HEBREW LETTERS
DOUBLED AS NUMBERS IT WAS A SIMPLE THING TO TAKE THAT NAME AND ADD
THEM TOGETHER WHICH ADDS UP EXACTLY TO 666 [EXAMPLE: N = 50 R = 200
W = 6 N =50 Q = 100 S = 60 R = 200]. ONE FASCINATING VARIANT OF
THIS SAME PASSAGE NOTES THAT “SOME MANUSCRIPTS READ: 616” RATHER
THAN 666. WHY? BECAUSE WHEN REVELATION WAS LATER COPIED INTO LATIN
THE NAME NERO CAESAR DIDN’T ADD UP TO 666, IT ADDED UP TO
616.
ROMAN CITIZENS WERE REQUIRED TO PUBLICLY CLAIM ALLEGIANCE TO CAESAR
BY BURNING INCENSE IN HIS HONOR AND PROCLAIMING THAT “CAESAR IS
LORD.” JOHN WAS WRITING IN CODES ABOUT SOMETHING THAT WAS ALREADY
KNOWN BOTH TO HIM AND TO HIS READERS. HOW COULD HIS AUDIENCE COUNT
THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST, WHICH IS ALSO THE NUMBER OF A MAN, IF THAT
MAN OR SYSTEM WAS NOT IN EXISTENCE AT THE TIME OF JOHN'S WRITING?
JOHN'S AUDIENCE COULD ONLY COMPUTE THE NUMBER OF AN EXISTING EMPIRE
OR EMPEROR... THE ROMAN EMPIRE ! ROMANS ARE CALLED IN GREEK
"LATEINOS" MEANING "LATIN MAN" OR "THE NAME OF LATIUM." LATEINOS IN
GREEK: L=30, A=1, T=300, E=5, I=10, N=50, O=70 AND S=200. IT ADDS
UP TO 666. THE NUMBER 666 IS BRANDED ON THE ROMAN EMPIRE. ON THE
FOUNDER AND FIRST KING OF THE LATINS, ON EVERY ROMAN. BRANDING IS
THE FIRST OPTION FOR THE MARK OF THE BEAST THIS MARK THAT THEY
RECEIVED WAS A TESTIMONY TO HIS OWNERSHIP OF THEM. HE COULD HAVE
ENSLAVED ALL OF THEM AND SHIPPED THEM OFF TO ROME, BUT HE
"GRACIOUSLY" ALLOWED SOME TO STAY IN THE LAND, BUT EVEN THOSE WHO
STAYED WERE CONSIDERED TO BE HIS SLAVES; HIS PROPERTY - THUS THE
BRAND. THIS WAS A VERY LITERAL MARK PLACED ON VERY LITERAL
FOREHEADS AND HANDS. THE LITERAL MEANING OF THE GREEK WORD ΧΡΑΓΜΑ,
REFERS TO EITHER A STAMP-SEAL FOR COMMERCIAL DOCUMENTS, A COIN THAT
WAS IMPRINTED WITH AN ENGRAVING OF AN IMAGE, OR THE MARK LEFT BY A
BRANDING IRON THAT HAD A SYMBOL OR WORDS ON IT. THIS CHARAGMA IS
USED OF VISIBLE CUTS, ENGRAVINGS, OR BRANDINGS. STOREKEEPERS WERE
ABLE TO RECOGNIZE THOSE WHO HAD THE MARK AND THOSE WHO DID NOT. DID
ALL JEWS RECEIVE A LITERAL MARK SOMEWHERE ON THEIR BODES? I BELIEVE
THE EVIDENCE IS OVERWHELMING THAT THEY DID.
BASED ON HOW VESPASIAN AND TITUS TREATED REBELLIONS IN OTHER PARTS
OF THE EMPIRE, AND GIVEN THE SEVERITY AND DURATION OF THIS
REBELLION AND TITUS'S MANDATE TO SECURE LOYALTY, IT IS
INCONCEIVABLE TO ME THAT THESE JEWS WOULD HAVE ESCAPED SOME KIND OF
DAILY TOKEN THAT THEY WERE INDEED IN SUBMISSION. THE COIN THEORY IS
THE OTHER OPTION… THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST IS ASSOCIATED WITH MAMMON…
(FROM GREEK “MAMMONAS” MEANING TREASURE OR RICHES). THE FACE OF THE
EMPEROR WAS OFTEN PRINTED ON THE COINS. IN ADDITION, THE GREEK WORD
TRANSLATED “IMAGE” (EIKON) IS THE SAME BOTH HERE AND IN REVELATION
13. JUST AS THE IMAGE OF THE BEAST IS WORSHIPED [REV 13:5,
14:9-11], YESHUA TELLS US THAT MAMMON ITSELF CAN BE WORSHIPED:
MATTHEW 6:24 NO MAN CAN SERVE TWO MASTERS: FOR EITHER HE WILL HATE
THE ONE, AND LOVE THE OTHER; OR ELSE HE WILL HOLD TO THE ONE, AND
DESPISE THE OTHER. YE CANNOT SERVE GOD AND MAMMON. THE WORSHIP OF
MAMMON IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE WRATH OF YESHUA DURING HIS MINISTRY
ON THIS EARTH. THE JUDGMENT OF THE WHORE OF BABYLON IS ALSO
ASSOCIATED WITH THE WRATH OF GOD AND WITH MAMMON. IT IS NOT
SURPRISING THAT THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR ALONG WITH HIS VARIOUS
TITLES WERE ALWAYS PRINTED ON THE SAME COINS AROUND HIS
IMAGE…
ALTHOUGH QUITE INTRIGUING, THERE IS ONE MAJOR PROBLEM WITH THE
CONCLUSION THAT THE “IMAGE TO THE BEAST” ARE COINS BEARING THE
IMAGE OF THE CAESAR. THE CRUX OF THIS PROBLEM IS FOUND IN A SUBTLE
CHRONOLOGICAL STATEMENT CONCERNING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS
“IMAGE.” THE JEWS WHO WERE CONQUERED IN 70AD WERE THE ONES WHO HAD
RECEIVED THE MARK OF THE BEAST. DURING THIS TIME PERIOD, THOUGH,
NOT ONLY ARE THE JEWS IN REBELLION AGAINST ROME, THE BEAST, BUT THE
JEWS STRUCK THEIR OWN COINS CELEBRATING THEIR NEW FOUND FREEDOM.
FOLLOWING JEWISH LAW, THE COIN BORE NEITHER THE NAME NOR IMAGE OF
ANY CAESAR. A CHALICE WAS IMPRINTED ON ONE SIDE OF THE COIN, AND ON
THE REVERSE A BRANCH WITH THREE POMEGRANATES.
THE JEWISH REVOLT COIN
THEREFORE, THERE ARE THREE SIGNIFICANT ISSUES WITH THIS THEORY THAT
THE MARK OF THE BEAST REPRESENTED COINS WITH NERO’S IMAGE AND NAME
ON THEM: 1) IMPERIAL COINS WERE ALREADY IN ABUNDANCE AND DID NOT
HAVE TO BE MADE (THE IMAGE WAS MADE BY THE FALSE PROPHET AFTER THE
RESURRECTION OF THE BEAST). 2) THE JEWS, AFTER THE “DEADLY WOUND”
OF THE BEAST, ISSUED FREEDOM COINS WHICH BORE NEITHER THE NAME NOR
IMAGE OF A CAESAR, THE BEAST. 3) THOSE WITH THE MARK OF THE BEAST
ARE JUDGED AT THE CULMINATION OF REVELATION FOR THEIR WORSHIP OF
THE BEAST. IF THOSE WITH THE MARK ARE JEWS, THEIR REBELLION AGAINST
ROME (THE BEAST) AND THEIR MINTING OF FREEDOM COINS SEEMS TO
INDICATE THAT THEY DID NOT WORSHIP THE BEAST OR RECEIVE HIS
MARK.
IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE FREEDOM COIN ITSELF WAS THE IMAGE AND MARK
OF THE BEAST, AND THE JEWS WERE SOMEHOW UNDER THE DECEPTION OF THE
FALSE PROPHET? IDENTIFYING THE GREAT HARLOT THE DRESS OF THE HIGH
PRIEST AS DESCRIBED IN THE OT IS ALMOST IDENTICAL TO THE CLOTHING
OF THE HARLOT: EXODUS 28:2 AND THOU SHALT MAKE HOLY GARMENTS FOR
AARON THY BROTHER FOR GLORY AND FOR BEAUTY. EXODUS 28:6 AND THEY
SHALL MAKE THE EPHOD OF GOLD, OF BLUE, AND OF PURPLE, OF SCARLET,
AND FINE TWINED LINEN, WITH CUNNING WORK. EXODUS 28:17 AND THOU
SHALT SET IN IT SETTINGS OF STONES… THESE FREEDOM COINS AND THE
BEAST IS FOUND BY COMPARING THE ATTIRE OF THE GREAT HARLOT, WHO
RIDES ON THE BEAST (REV 17:3), WITH THAT OF THE HIGH PRIEST.
REVELATION 17:4 AND THE WOMAN WAS ARRAYED IN PURPLE AND SCARLET
COLOUR, AND DECKED WITH GOLD AND PRECIOUS STONES AND PEARLS…
REVELATION 18:16 AND SAYING, ALAS, ALAS, THAT GREAT CITY, THAT WAS
CLOTHED IN FINE LINEN, AND PURPLE, AND SCARLET, AND DECKED WITH
GOLD, AND PRECIOUS STONES, AND PEARLS! THIS SUGGESTS THAT THE
PRIESTHOOD WAS A CORRUPT INSTITUTION AT THE TIME OF THE JEWISH
REVOLT AND THE EVEN THOUGH THE COINS BORE A FORMER SYMBOL OF THE
HOLINESS OF THE PRIESTHOOD, IT HAD BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO A SYMBOL
OF CORRUPTION.
ONE OF THE PRIMARY COLORS OF THE HARLOT IS SAID TO BE SCARLET,
WHICH IS ARGUABLY THE COLOR OF THE POMEGRANATE. THE IMAGERY OF THE
GREAT HARLOT MAY VERY WELL BE PATTERENED AFTER SEVERAL ANCIENT
GODDESSES. THE PRIMARY GODDESS TO WHICH THE GREAT HARLOT PARALLELS
IS ASTARTE / ASHTORETH. IN PARALLEL TO THE THEME OF REVELATION,
KING SOLOMON’S HEART WAS TURNED TO STRANGE GODS BY HIS MANY WIVES
(REVELATION 2:20) INCLUDING ASHTORETH (1 KINGS 11:4-5). KING
MANASSEH SET UP AN IMAGE OF ASHTORETH (2 KINGS 21:7) IN THE TEMPLE,
PARALLELING THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION SPOKEN OF BY DANIEL AND
CHRIST (DANIEL 8:13, 9:27; MATTHEW 24:15). NERO’S IMAGE APPEARS ON
AT LEAST ONE COIN WITH ASTARTE / ASHTORETH NERO’S NAME APPEARS IN
THE GREEK, NERON KAISER WHICH, AS DISCUSSED IN THE PREVIOUS
ARTICLE, CAN BE CONVERTED INTO THE NUMBER 666.
NERO COIN WITH ASTARTE ON REVERSE
ALTHOUGH IT IS THE FALSE PROPHET WHO IS SAID TO HAVE “TWO HORNS” AS
A LAMB, ASTARTE ALSO WAS ASSOCIATED IN ANCIENT TIMES WITH A COW OR
BULL WITH HORNS. REVELATION 13:11 AND I BEHELD ANOTHER BEAST COMING
UP OUT OF THE EARTH; AND HE HAD TWO HORNS LIKE A LAMB…
A COIN WITH ASTARTE WITH A BULL’S HEAD IS SHOWN BELOW…
ASTARTE WITH TWO HORNS
ANOTHER INTERESTING CONNECTION CAN BE MADE BETWEEN THE GREAT HARLOT
AND THE FREEDOM COIN. THE HARLOT IS LATER DESCRIBED HOLDING A
“GOLDEN CUP.” REVELATION 17:4 AND THE WOMAN WAS ARRAYED IN PURPLE
AND SCARLET COLOR… HAVING A GOLDEN CUP IN HER HAND… ON THE OBVERSE
OF THE JEWISH FREEDOM COINS APPEARS A CHALICE.
THE JEWISH REVOLT COIN WITH CHALICE ON OBVERSE
JEREMIAH 51:7 BABYLON HATH BEEN A GOLDEN CUP IN THE LORD'S HAND,
THAT MADE ALL THE EARTH DRUNKEN: THE NATIONS HAVE DRUNKEN OF HER
WINE; THEREFORE THE NATIONS ARE MAD. THIS SACRED FRUIT IN GREEK
LEGEND…WAS ALWAYS ASSOCIATED WITH THE NOTION OF FERTILITY. “SIDE”
IN GREEK GEMATRIA IS EQUAL TO 222. SINCE THERE ARE THREE
POMEGRANATES ON THE FREEDOM COIN, IT COULD BE ARGUED THAT THE TOTAL
GEMATRIA VALUE IS 666, THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST.
THE JEWISH REVOLT COIN CONNECTION TO 666
THE “NAME OF THE BEAST” IS THE EMPEROR’S TITLE. THE “MARK” IS THE
DENOMINATION. AND IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT WITHOUT COINS, THERE
CAN BE NO BUYING OR SELLING.
THE MARK OF THE BEAST IS EITHER A COIN OR ABRANDING ON THE FOREHEAD
OR HAND. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ALLAH OR ISLAM. TO THOSE WHO
CLAIM THE GREEK LETTER "XI" LOOKS LIKE "IN THE NAME OF ALLAH" OR
"BISMALLAH" IN ARABIC- THE FIRST PROBLEM WITH THIS IS THAT THE
ARABIC IS SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER. WHEN YOU GET INTO THE RELEVANT
SCRIPTS, THE COMPARISON IS EVEN HARDER TO MAKE. THE GREEK XI LOOKS
VERY LITTLE LIKE THE SCRIPT "IN THE NAME OF ALLAH." THIS IS
PARTIALLY BECAUSE GREEK WAS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN IN ALL CAPITAL
LETTERS AND LOWERCASE ONLY EMERGED LATER IN THE 9TH CENTURY.
A BEAST IN DANIEL 7:17-18 IS A KINGDOM OR A KING THAT RULES IT. AND
THEREFORE, IT REALLY IS A KINGDOM. THEREFORE THE BIBLE TEACHES THAT
666 MUST BE THE NUMBER OF A KINGDOM, OR A GOVERNMENT, OR AN EMPIRE,
AS WELL AS THE KING WHO RULES IT. "THE NAME OF ALLAH" IN ARABIC IS
NEITHER A KINGDOM, NOR A GOVERNMENT, NOR AN EMPIRE, NOR EVEN A
KING... WHEN JOHN WROTE REVELATION, THE ISLAMIC RELIGION WAS NOT
EVEN IN EXISTENCE. ISLAM DIDN'T EXIST IN THE 1ST CENTURY. BUT WHAT
DID EXIST? JOHN'S AUDIENCE COULD ONLY COMPUTE THE NUMBER OF AN
EXISTING EMPIRE OR EMPEROR... THE ROMAN EMPIRE ! BECAUSE ISRAEL AND
THOSE GRAFTED INTO ISRAEL ARE IS BOTH ON EARTH AND IN HEAVEN AND
BECAUSE ISRAEL ON EARTH IS DESTINED FOR HEAVEN, THE NEW JERUSALEM
IS THE REIGNING PEOPLE OF CHRIST DESCRIBED IN THE LIKENESS OF
HEAVEN. THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM APPEARS TO BE A SYMBOLIC MODEL OF
HEAVEN AND EARTH WITH THE INNER SANCTUARY OF THE TEMPLE BEING A
COPY AND SHADOW OF WHAT IS IN HEAVEN. THE NEW JERUSALEM IS SEEN
COMING DOWN FROM HEAVEN WHICH MEANS THAT THE NEW JERUSALEM IS A
REPRESENTATION OF HEAVEN AND EARTH AS WAS THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM.
DURING THE THOUSAND YEARS BETWEEN THE JEWISH WAR AND THE CRUSADES,
JUDEA ENJOYED RELATIVE PEACE. THIS PEACE; ONLY BRIEFLY INTERRUPTED
BY THE BAR KOKHBA REBELLION, THE SASSANID INVASION, THE FATIMID
ASSAULT (A.D. 970-1030) AND OCCASIONAL BOUTS OF ROMAN PERSECUTION
WHICH CONTINUED UNTIL A.D. 313 WHEN EMPEROR CONSTANTINE GRANTED
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY. THEREFORE, SATAN WAS BOUND FOR 1000 YEARS…THEN
IN A.D. 614, THE PERSIANS ATTACKED JERUSALEM.
IN A.D. 1071, ONE THOUSAND YEARS AFTER THE FALL OF JERUSALEM IN
A.D. 70, SATAN WAS RELEASED FROM THE ABYSS, AND THE SELJUK TURKS
TOOK CONTROL OF JUDEA MAKING TRAVEL DANGEROUS FOR CHRISTIAN
PILGRIMS. THIS ANGERED EUROPEANS AND IN 1096, EUROPE DECLARED WAR
ON JERUSALEM AND THUS BEGAN THE CRUSADES—THE BATTLE OF GOG AND
MAGOG. THE BEAST WAS CAST INTO THE ABYSS AT THE DEATH OF NERO AS
NERO WAS THE LAST OF THE CAESAR DYNASTY. THE BEAST THEN RESURRECTS
FROM THE DEAD OR RISES OUT OF THE ABYSS AT THE START OF THE FLAVIAN
DYNASTY IN A.D. 69/70. THIS IDEA IMPLIES THAT THE BEAST IS ROME
UNDER ITS TWO DYNASTIES: THE CAESAR AND FLAVIAN FAMILY DYNASTIES.
IF THE BEAST IS ROME UNDER THE CAESAR AND FLAVIAN DYNASTIES AS THE
PREPONDERANCE OF EVIDENCE SUGGESTS, THEN THIS SHEDS SOME
INTERESTING LIGHT ON WHY THE BATTLE OF GOG AND MAGOG BEGAN IN A.D.
1096. THE FLAVIAN DYNASTY ENDED IN A.D. 96 AT THE DEATH OF
DOMITIAN. THIS MEANS THAT THE BEAST WAS FINALLY CAST INTO THE ABYSS
AS PREDICTED IN REV 19:20 AND DAN 7:11 UNTIL A.D. 96. ALTHOUGH
“CHRISTIANS” MAY HAVE REIGNED GLORIOUSLY IN JUDEA THROUGHOUT MUCH
OF THE THOUSAND YEARS BETWEEN THE JEWISH WAR AND THE CRUSADES, THIS
DID NOT MEAN THAT THEY WOULD NEVER EXPERIENCE WAR OR FACE
OCCASIONAL HARDSHIP. THE BINDING OF SATAN DOES NOT MEAN THAT THERE
WILL BE A LITERAL HEAVEN ON EARTH. WHEN SATAN “FALSE IDEAS AND
FALSE GODS” REIGNED, GOD’S PLAN OF REDEMPTION WAS IMPEDED. WITH THE
DEVIL IMPRISONED, MEN NOW ENJOY GREATER FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD. BUT
THE BINDING OF SATAN DOES NOT MEAN THAT THE WORLD WOULD THEN BE
FREE OF SIN. JAMES 1:14 EACH ONE IS TEMPTED WHEN, BY HIS OWN EVIL
DESIRE, HE IS DRAGGED AWAY AND ENTICED.
ACCORDING TO THIS VERSE, IT IS HUMANITY’S OWN EVIL DESIRES, NOT
SATAN, THAT CAUSES PEOPLE TO SIN. THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN IS NOT AN
END TIME PROPHECY, RATHER IT IS THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS OF THE NEW
COVENANT, THE NEW AGE PREDICTED BY CHRIST THROUGHOUT HIS MINISTRY.
THE FACT THAT THE THOUSAND YEAR REIGN IS THE FIRST THOUSAND YEARS
OF THE NEW COVENANT IS IMPLIED BY THE FACT THAT THAT THE SAINTS
WERE TO REIGN WITH CHRIST AT THIS TIME. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE
TEMPLE IN A.D. 70, MARKED THE END OF THE OLD COVENANT AGE AND THE
BEGINNING OF YESHUA ACTING AS A PRIEST AND A KING IN THE ORDER OF
MELCHIZEDEK (PRIEST IN THE LINE OF ZADOK AND KING IN THE LINE OF
DAVID). HIS BLOOD WAS ALSO THE BLOOD THAT RENEWED THE OLD COVENANT,
MAKING IT A NEW COVENANT. THE FACT THAT THE THOUSAND-YEAR REIGN
MIGHT HAVE BEGUN IN 70 A.D. IS ALSO SUPPORTED BY THE FACT THAT THE
SELJUK TURKS CONQUERED THE HOLY LAND AND BEGAN TO MOLEST CHRISTIAN
PILGRIMS ON THEIR WAY TO JERUSALEM IN A.D. 1071— 1000 YEARS AFTER
THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE IN A.D. 70! FURTHER EVIDENCE THAT THE
1000 YEAR REIGN IN THE NEW JERUSALEM IS A LITERAL THOUSAND YEAR
PERIOD IS SUGGESTED BY THE FACT THAT THE TEMPLE SYSTEM IN OLD
COVENANT JERUSALEM LASTED ALMOST EXACTLY 1000 YEARS. SOLOMON’S
TEMPLE WAS BUILT SOMETIME BETWEEN 970 AND 931 B.C. AND THE LAST
TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED IN A.D. 70. THIS MEANS THAT THE TEMPLE OR
TEMPLE SYSTEM IN JERUSALEM LASTED ALMOST EXACTLY 1000 YEARS. IF THE
PHYSICAL TEMPLE AND THE TEMPLE SYSTEM EXISTED IN JERUSALEM FOR A
LITERAL THOUSAND YEARS, WOULD IT NOT STAND TO REASON THAT THE NEW
SPIRITUAL TEMPLE OF GOD WOULD ALSO EXIST IN JERUSALEM FOR A SIMILAR
THOUSAND YEAR PERIOD?
GOD DID NOT REJECT THE OLD COVENANT NOR HIS PEOPLE. HE ACTUALLY
RENEWED THE OLD COVENANT- MAKING IT A NEW COVENANT. GOD REJECTING
HIS PEOPLE COMES FROM HERETIC REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY. REPLACEMENT
THEOLOGY CAME ABOUT IN THE FIRST CENTURY. THE MESSIANIC/CHRISTIAN
DEBT TO HEBREW SCRIPTURE, JEWISH EXEGESIS, AND DIVINE REVELATION
WERE EVIDENT TO ALL FOLLOWERS OF THE WAY. IN FACT, JEWISH-CHRISTIAN
RELATIONS, IN SPITE OF 2ND AND 3RD CENTURY CHRISTIAN ELITIST
ASSAULTS UPON ALL THINGS JEWISH, CONTINUED WITH GOOD RHYTHM AND
SOLID RELATIONSHIP UNTIL THE MID-FOURTH CENTURY WITH THE ADVENT OF
THE FIRST COUNCIL OF NICAEA. AT THE COUNCIL OF NICAEA, UNDER
CONSTANTINE’S OVERSIGHT, THE CHURCH DISCONNECTED FROM THE JEWISH
ROOTS OF CHRISTIAN THEOLOGY AND PRACTICE BY SEPARATING THE
CELEBRATION OF EASTER FROM THE CELEBRATION OF PASSOVER. REPLACEMENT
THEOLOGY IS A FRIGHTENING TREND IN THE CHURCH. THE BELIEF THAT THE
LORD HAS WRITTEN OFF THE JEWISH NATION AND THAT THE CHURCH WILL BE
THE SOLE RECIPIENT OF GOD'S PROMISES IS BAD THEOLOGY; AND BAD
THEOLOGY RESULTS IN BAD CONSEQUENCES.
THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB IS AN
ESCHATOLOGICAL THEME, TIED TO THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST (MATTHEW
25: 1-13). WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS IMAGERY AND WHEN WAS IT
FULFILLED?
MARRIAGE IMAGERY IS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT - COVENANT WITH ISRAEL. IN
THE OLD TESTAMENT, THE IMAGERY OF MARRIAGE WAS A SYMBOL FOR THE LAW
OF MOSES AND COVENANT WITH ISRAEL. GOD ESPOUSED (BETROTHED) ISRAEL
TO HIMSELF IN THE EXODUS FROM EGYPT. THE "MARRIED" WOMAN REFERS TO
ISRAEL BEFORE THE CAPTIVITY; THE "DESOLATE" WOMAN REFERS TO ISRAEL
DURING THE CAPTIVITY. THOSE WHO RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL CALL ARE
ESPOUSED TO CHRIST AND BECOME THE CHURCH AND BRIDE. THUS, THEY
GRAFT INTO ETHNIC ISRAEL AND VOW TO OBEY THE LAW OF MOSES AS
CONDITIONS OF THE NEW OR RENEWED COVENANT.