John rhetorically 'maps' the two "times" of the Gentiles, our Church 'Trib', then the official 'Jewish' Tribulation, then Millennium; and finally, Eternity.  So there are TWO Tribulational 'legs'.  Just notice WHO Is The Audience!  People who misread salvation into non-salvation passages like Heb5:11-6:6, Phili 2:12-13, don't notice audience identity (believers).  Same mistake is made with Revelation, misreading which audience and which stage is in a 'scene'.  John is so clear, people can't understand him!  For the book is mapped chronologically, as is any play, with flashbacks and flash-forwards.   My pastor spent 4 years exegeting Revelation and all the associated Bible verses: suggest you get his 1981 Revelation exegesis lessons at http://www.rbthieme.org because I can't find such in-depth auditable coverage, anywhere else.

 

It's really very straightforward, and meant to be.  Passover Week was about His First Coming and the denouement.  So Trib, the mirror of Passover both in the Hebrew calendar and in design (reimbursing Passover aka Passion week), will depict His Second Coming.  After all, that's its purpose.  So Satan will FAKE this 2nd Coming as happening SEVEN YEARS EARLY.  Thus the Rapture gets sidelined.  Now you know why Matt24, reads as it does.

 

Outline of this Greek Drama Quadrilogy, by Play #:

 

1.      Revelation 1-4:1, Church's 'time'.  Rev 1:9 makes it clear that Church is characterized by the 'tribulational' characteristics of Daniel 9:26.  Revelation 4:1 is the Rapture event.  Chapter 4-5 ceremony imagery ties to changes in the role of the Equites within the Roman Imperial Household (96-98AD), hence the escutcheon-shaping by angels to depict the Lord's Third Royal Patent, Victory over Satan. Imagery is also rife in OT.

 

2.      Revelation Chaps 4-19 depict the official Seven-Year Tribulation, but in split-screen, with action scenes occurring in Heaven then down on Earth, with us Church WATCHING the on-Earth 'scenes':  Church, being represented by John's location in the vision.

 

a.   As you'll see below, the seventh seal (Rev 8:1) is the official opening sequence for the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation, which is next 'played' by trumpet.   The key to this period is to know Satan's pulling a FAKE SECOND ADVENT.  Since Satan knows the true chronology and has been very successful in masking Christian understanding of it, he can boldly pull off the Rapture as if it were a 2nd Coming.  Think over all the information Revelation provides in context with the OT verses, and you will likely be able to prove this interpretation quickly.  Every other interpretation leaves out some of the prophetical facts, so far as I can tell;  moreover, every other interpretation doesn't compare the 'fit' of the Tribulation to all of the Bible's historical wrapup (i.e., the fact that Passover Week is reimbursed by the Trib week).

 

b.   So the One Slain and Alive again is a faked Messiah.  Roman world at the time of Christ, then -- which was its widest extent --  divided up into ten subpolities as His 'kingdom', makes sense -- along with Jerusalem, of course.  After all, isn't Church supposed to return and rule?  So they (the demons) come 'down' to rule, first absent their compatriots in the Abyss and under Tigris/Euphrates, and finally with them (Rev 9).  All this, to mask the Rapture, whether it be flashy or not.  Same ploy as today (skip over, rap the Rapture) -- but then, pitched as realized.

 

c.   So the pitch will then be, "Peace, Peace!" and everyone will be enjoined to jump on the fake Messiah's bandwagon -- or be ostracised.  666.  Bear in mind, this is the one scenario Christendom has never envisioned, someone claiming to be Christ Returned -- so of course the world will quickly fall in line.

 

d.   Gist: Satan knows this first half is marked by the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11, he knows that he'll succeed before the Rapture occurs in rebuilding a FAKE Temple, so he knows he can get the Jews to flock to Jerusalem in very large numbers, so as to kill them.  That has been his strategy since 70AD;  he nearly succeeded, several times.  So that's why he needs a Fake Messiah and a Fake Church, to mimic the Millennium's long promised 'peace in our time'; so the sacrifices begin again, everyone mistaking the period for the Millennium.  Think of it as mimicking Isaiah 61.

 

e.   But the Two Witnesses keep on testifying that it's all fake. At first the Witnesses can be 'spun' or 'packaged', for they are at the Temple, but Satan&Co. via the humans, control the Kotel.  

o   Everyone expects Elijah and Moses, but these Witnesses do not have the same characteristics.

o   Moses was never in sackcloth,

o   both were assigned to political Israel,

o   both appear with Christ at His 2nd Coming, etc.,

o   Christ said John the Baptist was the last herald, as did Malachi -- for after all, Christ is the Last King.

o   Nor are the Witnesses enough like the Zechariah 4 description (which had one lampstand, not two); and

o   "lampstands" was already defined as a generic messenger role in Revelation 1-3. 

o   So at first, people will not think these Witnesses are the Rev 11 pair.  Too much misinformation, precedes them.

 

f.     However, the first six trumpets underscore their Witness.  It looks like the Witnesses keep everyone away from the Holy of Holies, and the 'worship' goes on outside, as it would have done under the OT.  But the Witnesses become odious to the world, since the fake high priests can't enter the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement.  So whatever 'spin' had been done to obscure their message, eventually won't work, especially since the so-called 'Messiah' can't get rid of them.

 

g.   The seventh trumpet opens the last 3.5 years, Rev 11:15 is the midpoint -- but then follows Heaven's dramatic (but not time) intermission with tableaus reviewing the first half, and providing a foretaste of the last half's themes, until Rev15:1.  So Rev11:1-14, then the tableaus of Rev Chaps 12-14, explain what went before, with Chaps 12-14 also characterizing the last 3.5 years.  So then the sacrifices must be stopped at midpoint, for oh now the REAL Messiah really came, this time! evidenced by killing the Witnesses, the talking statue, etc. --  now mimicking Isaiah 63.  Hence the pogroms.  (See if 'Messiah' is on earth, no more sacrifices are needed, theme in Book of Hebrews; so it will be easy to use that, to stop the sacrifices and justify killing the Jews who made them.)

 

h.   The seven 'vial judgments' are thus 'played' during the last 3.5 years, beginning at Rev15:1 until 19:12, with explanatory tableau in Rev17 and Heavenly reaction in19:1-12.

 

3.      Revelation 19:13-20:10 covers the Millennium.  It actually spans 1050 years, the last 50 being the (i.e., Gog and MaGog) revolution of Rev 20:7-9.  You can't know that unless you know God's Orchestration of Time (explained at length and Bible-documented, in Mirroring.htm ).  The Great White Throne Judgment occurs at the end, Rev 20:11-15.

4.      Rev 21:1-22:5 is Eternity, End of Time, end of the 'play' of history. Rev22:6-21 is the typical Greek Epilogue telling you the moral of the quadrilogy.  To the CURRENT AUDIENCE, which means us:  Church.

 

So Revelation 'maps' as follows:

 

Play #1, Church	Play #2, Tribulation	Play #3, Millennium	Play #4, Eternity
Rev 1-3, Church on Earth	Church "in Heaven" scenes:   ¨    Rev 4-6:7, 9-11 (ties to Heb 11:39-40); ¨    8:1-6, ¨    Chap 10, ¨    11:1-2b, :14-19 ¨    Chap 12, ¨    14:1-5, 14-19; ¨    15:1-16:1, ¨    Chap 17, ¨    19:1-12 (Trib ends)	Church Returns to Earth, Rev 19:13 through end Chap 20.	Church in Eternity, Rev Chaps 21-22:5; Epilogue is Rev 22:6-21.
Rev 4-19, Church in Heaven	Trib "on Earth", Rev 6-19:12, excluding the 'Church in Heaven' scenes, above.	Mill on Earth, Rev 19:13 thru end Chap 20	Earth in Eternity, Rev 21:1-22:5

 

 

Use the rhetoric below, to track Revelation's text.  Bible writers use keywords to enable the reader to follow sequences, for parallelism is the main rhetorical style of the Bible.  Weaving.  God's Prophecy Message is always dual, so presented in parallels.  First, the near-prophecy, then the far-prophecy parallel. No prophecy is EVER a single event.  Preterism forgets this, and that's why it mistakenly deems prophecy fulfilled.  No, only one SIDE has been fulfilled.  The other side has yet to play.

 

God has John use His dual prophecy disclosure convention, to finish off its weaving, which began in Genesis.  Hence Revelation is not hard to read; but rather, one tires from so much deftly-provided data.  Ergo our 'Christian' ancestors tired; they didn't pass on these 1st-century-meanings.  Shortly after 96AD when Revelation was written, people stopped believing in the Rapture;  for God didn't 'obey' the old Jewish schedule of Messiah's Return circa Rosh HaShanah, 94AD. 

 

So God instead had John write why the Rapture hadn't happened yet, and what the revised schedule was.  For, as the NT kept on saying, Church Maturation was the new requirement for the completion of the Trial and the Lord's Return.  But people became bored, waiting.  So now, we must recover the Revelation imagery, by studying that time, and the OT images which Revelation deliberately employs.  Thankfully, the Greeks and Romans left prolific records and literature, so we can recover these meanings.

 

¨    'Action Sequence' narrative shows stage action by actors, depending on what stage you're viewing.  There are two stages:  one in Heaven, and one on Earth.  Think of it as watching split-screen TV, with the 'Heaven' stage at top, and the 'Earth' stage at bottom.  In either case, the action sequences are literal, even if stylized with symbolic props or language.  So throughout Revelation you see split-screen action on two stages:  one in Heaven, one on Earth; and they alternate, since a narrator can't speak both sequences at the same time;  so he must pick one at a time, to describe.  Since John is IN HEAVEN from 4:1 until Rev 19:14, you know Church is not on Earth during the official Tribulation.

 

¨    "After this" and "after these things", Greek preposition meta +houtos (touto or tauta in the text): this phrase divides the 'times' for you, in Revelation.  (John does the same thing in 1John and his Gospel, often truncated to "by this" in 1Jn.) Track the phrase.  Makes it real easy to know when John pulls a flash-forward to finish the parallels between something 'now' and something AFTER 'now'.  For example, you'll see two "meta tauta" clauses in Revelation 4:1, which IS the event of the Rapture, depicted by John as Representative Church, leaving the Earth.  Notice also Revelation 21:10, pattern of Ezekiel 40.

 

Rev. 1:19; 4:1 (twice); 7:1, 9; 9:12; 15:5; 18:1; 19:1; 20:3 are the time changes to track.

 

¨    Baldric and full-length Robe, Rev 1:13.  Royal Attire, fully-kitted out.  It's not a "sash" but a baldric, which extends from the upper right shoulder down to the left hip, usually has many medals and jewels, engraved/emblazoned with titles. Also serves as a kind of holster for a weapon, like a sword.  Ties to "tola" in Psalm 22, & Isa52:13, 53:12.

 

¨    "Beast" metaphor is a threading term for kingdoms.  So synonyms are the prophetical kings, heads, horns, depicted in the OT.  Every OT book has references to them, not only Daniel.  Daniel, by the way, is an update on Isaiah, so you'd better be familiar with Isaiah's prophecies.  Ezekiel is between the two. Ezekiel's "living creatures" are in Rev 4.

 

The 'beasts' in Rev 4, are angels, maybe translated "living creature"; they rule KINGDOMS of other angels.  That's why you see them cast down their crowns.  So notice that the metaphorical range of "beast" still means "kingdom" or "polity", but doesn't always have a negative connotation.  "King" is used to stress the headship, "head" is used to stress the seat of power, and "horn" is used to stress power, and particularly its glory, honor, fame.  But all the terms are synonyms.  So as you can see, every OT book makes some reference to the prophetical kingdoms in the Tribulation, and there are many verses to analyse. 

 

Here's a partial list of salient, synonymal verses which John incorporates by reference in Revelation.  To make the list, I used English to capture parallel weavings.  Many of the listed verses do not have direct bearing on Revelation;  they serve rather as backdrop for how Bible uses the concepts BEHIND the metaphorical keys.  The list will be revised as I have time to go through the verses in greater depth.  Generally speaking, the historical books use the terms literally or sometimes figuratively;  but the poetic and prophetic books focus on symbolic, prophetic meaning, even when no specific prophecy is in view.  Ergo you need many verses per term.

 

 

 

¨    "Bronze" is metaphorically used to denote tensile strength and brightness.  It was vital to the economy and to military use.  Look up "bronze" in NIV to see how Bible uses the term, especially in Temple construction, since the Lord is the Person the Temple depicts.  Then you'll see why John calls His Feet (walking, living), blazing bronze, in Rev 1:15.

 

¨    "Clouds" or "Cloud" -- used in Rev 1:7, both plural and singular refer to believers. Isaiah 14:14, Daniel 7:13, Matt24:30, 26:64, Mk14:62,  (which quote Dan7:13 in LXX),  Mark 13:26, 1 Thess 4:17, Jude 12.  Metaphor's origin is probably the cloud pillar by day, when God the Holy Spirit led the Israelites out from Egypt, see Isaiah 63:10-14, and Exodus.

 

¨    Epilogue.  In every Greek play, there is a moral, something the audience is supposed to learn from the play, and apply to life.  So when the play (or as here, the quadrilogy) ends, an Epilogue is given.  Here, that Epilogue is in Revelation 22:6-21, and it's to Church.

 

¨    Pay close attention to the Key audience phrase "in Heaven" and "on Earth".  Revelation is told from the viewpoint of John's LOCATION.  For John is the narrator of the play, and thus represents Church, Rev 1:9.  He's on Patmos until Revelation 4:1, when ordered to Come Up To Heaven.  Then he comes back down again, at the Millennium.  You know all this, by the "in Heaven" and "on Earth" phrases he uses, and notice: when he says "on Earth", he himself is NOT on Earth again until Revelation 19:14 (see Rev 5:10).

 

¨    Interjections.  This is a dramatic device used when a narrator or actor STOPS the play in order to make a DIRECT statement to the AUDIENCE.  Right after the statement, the play resumes.  This is one way of knowing Church is NOT in the Tribulation.  If you're audience, you're not an actor on stage.

 

¨    OT terms "lampstand", "oil" reference the idea of God using designated humans to be the light of the world.  Be sure to know what a lampstand represented, in the Temple, or the Revelation imagery will confuse you.  Now, perhaps the wittiest of these lampstand references are in Zechariah, especially Zechariah 4, when tied to Haggai 2:18-23.  The Light is always Messiah, so in Zechariah 4 the wit is, Light will be born from Zeru-Babel (=Seed of Babylon, lol), who is therefore the Foundation (get the pun) of the Temple, which represents the future Living Messiah.  That's why Zerubbabel was used to build the Temple foundation -- see the deft, witty, parallelism and threading?  So are you surprised to see him called a "lampstand" in Zechariah 4?  So are you surprised to see the Lord talk about lampstands in Revelation 1 (Church), and Revelation 11 (the Two Witnesses, who are likely Jews from the royal house of Judah and from Aaron's house in Levi, given the punning in Zech 4)?  So trace those terms.  Worth a goldmine!

 

¨    Seals begin at the official Tribulation, Rev 4:1ff; but the first five recap what also applied during Church, ordering a continuation in that same Daniel 9:26 historical-trend theme.  Rev 4-6 constitutes an ordination ceremony of Christ as the Ruler of Earth, now that Church completes;  each 'seal' is an encumbrance to the Ownership, depicted by the seals being ON the Scroll, which represents the Inheritance of Christ .  The seals don't open UNTIL the Tribulation, as Church had to first complete, Heb11:39-40 tieback.  Furthermore, the seal openings all occur IN HEAVEN.  Where we are.  So it's not even possible to posit Church in the official Tribulation.

 

¨    Seven spirits is a metaphor of complete perspicacity.  Term is used exclusively in Revelation 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6.  It wittily ties back to Isaiah 11:2, which is a prophecy of Christ Himself (see context), so He's Filled with the Spirit, and thus has six abilities of the Spirit.  What's so unendingly witty about this is that the Spirit has Seven Ministries with respect to fallen believers (for we are all sinners), the first of which is to baptise us INTO Christ, theme of Romans 6.  So obviously only six, for Him Who was baptised instead with our sins (ibid).  Who ever said Bible was boring?  See how John interweaves prior Divine Writ with such deft wit?

 

¨    Tableaus show what also characterized Church.  Tableaus are symbolic.  Example: tableau of the four horsemen are symbolic of literally four historical trends: a) conquering, b) warfare, c) famine/scarcity, and d) death. Tableaus and mime as drama experienced a revival in Domitian's day, played by small troupes of actors in patrician homes or in the streets.  They were often lewd, and made fun of Christians.  (My Encyclopedia Britannica of 1985 says so in its "Drama" article; I just found a similar statement from it online:  Click Here, then search on "Domitian". )  Both John and Josephus were alive under Domitian, so compare the Greek and drama usage in both writers.

 

 So now God replies in kind. Hence whenever you see a tableau in Revelation, know that it also depicts characteristics which pertain during CHURCH. Since Rapture can occur at any time, the Tribulational gambits are used by Satan pre-Trib, as he doesn't know when Rapture will occur, either.  So he plays a pre-emptive game.   In short, tableaus are also used to depict Satan's goals.

 

Every tableau depicts a parenthesis, explanation, or recap for the audience.  In Revelation, they explain Daniel 9:26-27, and Rev 1:9.  So we needn't be confused by Satan's wiles, thinking we're in the Tribulation;  so Trib folks needn't be confused by Satan's wiles, and think they are in the Millennium.  Yet both we and they misread Revelation now, despite God's disclosure, Rom 3:4.

 

There are five principal tableaus, pre-Millennium.  They are presented together with their Tribulational parallels, to show that DURING the Tribulation, Satan achieves his goals.  During Church, Satan TRIES to achieve these same goals,

1) in order to get Church recalled to heaven at the WRONG TIME (before maturation) and thus win a Mistrial;  or,

2) failing that, to best position himself for when the Tribulation actually begins. 

So the these tableaus are: 

a.    Chap 6, Historical Trends (four horsemen); 

b.    Chap 11, Fake Temple;

c.    Chap 12, Annihilate-the-Jews;

d.    Chap 13, World Government;

e.    Chap 17, Church-as-Harlot-Playing-Politics.

 

¨    "Tachú" clauses.  Say "takh-OO". This is a major Rapture term, for the Rapture is precedented on the Exodus HASTE, and the HASTE of the Lord's seven trials during Passion Week.  Tachú occurs 44 times in Bible and is often mistranslated.  It really means "suddenly", "next-in-sequence without prior warning", and is often a military term of surprise action or attack.  It is usually mistranslated "quickly" or "soon", so an English reader wrongly surmises Rapture as near in time.  Here are all the VERSES (searched in BibleWorks): Gen. 27:20; Exod. 32:8; Deut. 9:12; 11:17; Jdg. 2:17; 9:54; 2 Sam. 17:16; Ezr. 7:6; Ps. 36:2; 68:18; 78:8; 101:3; 137:3; 142:7; Prov. 12:19; 20:25; 29:20; Eccl. 8:11; Nah. 1:14; Zeph. 1:14; Mal. 3:5; Isa. 5:26; 8:23; 13:22; 32:4; 49:17; 51:5; 58:8; Jer. 30:13; 31:16; Matt. 5:25; 28:7f; Mk. 9:39; Lk. 15:22; Jn. 11:29; Jas. 1:19; Rev. 2:5, 2:16; 3:11; 11:14; 22:7, 12, 20.

 

Related terms:

o   "taxzis", meaning "ranks" (i.e., for battle).  VERSES:  Num. 1:52; 1 Ki. 7:23; Ps. 109:4; Prov. 31:25; Job 16:3; 28:3; 36:28; 38:12; Hab. 3:11; Lk. 1:8; 1 Co. 14:40; Col. 2:5; Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:11, 17.

 

o   "tachos", meaning "haste".  VERSES: Exod. 32:7; Num. 17:11; Deut. 7:4, 22; 9:12; 28:20; Jos. 8:18f; 10:6; Jdg. 2:23; 1Sam. 23:22; 1 Ki. 22:9; 1Chr. 12:9; 2Chr.18:8; Est. 8:12; Ps. 2:12; 6:11; 147:4; Isa. 5:19; Ezek. 29:5; Dan. 9:21; Lk.18:8; Acts12:7; 22:18; 25:4; Rom16:20; 1Tim. 3:14; Rev. 1:1; 22:6.

 

o   Source verb is "tachunw" (say "takh-OO-no"), which means "to hasten", "hurry", and is pregnantly evocative of the Haste With Which Israel Left Egypt. Hebrew verb is maher. That's a precedence for Rapture;  idea of sudden deliverance.

 

VERSES: Gen. 18:7; 41:32; 45:13; Exod. 2:18; Jdg. 13:10; 1 Sam. 20:38; 2 Sam. 15:14; 19:17; Ps. 15:4; 30:3; 105:13; Eccl. 5:1.

 

o   Also related is "tassw" (say TAH-ssoh), which means to station, mobilize, assemble in ranks.  Verb also has an administrative 'mobilization' connotation. 

 

VERSES: Gen. 3:24; Exod. 8:5, 8; 29:43; 1 Sam. 20:35; 22:7; 2 Sam. 7:11; 20:5; 23:23; 1 Ki. 2:5; 2 Ki. 10:24, 27; 12:18; 1 Chr. 16:4, 7; 17:10; 2 Chr. 31:2; Est. 3:13; 8:12; Cant. 2:4; 6:4, 10; Job 14:13; 30:22; 31:24; 36:13; Hos. 2:5, 16; Mic. 4:14; Hab. 1:12; 2:9; 3:19; Zeph. 1:14; Hag. 1:5; Zech. 7:12, 14; 10:3f; Mal. 1:3; Isa. 38:1; Jer. 2:15; 3:19; 5:22; 7:30; 10:22; 11:13; 18:16; 19:8; Lam. 3:21; Ezek. 4:2; 14:4, 7; 16:14; 17:5; 19:5; 20:28; 24:7; 40:4; 44:5; Matt. 28:16; Lk. 7:8; Acts 13:48; 15:2; 22:10; 28:23; Rom. 13:1; 1 Co. 16:15.

 

o   Related term is "eggus" (say "engus"), which also means "next to, next in sequence, line, contiguity, proximity".  So the actual timespan might be long or short.

 

VERSES: Gen. 19:20; 45:10; Exod. 13:17; Deut. 2:19; 4:46; 30:14; 32:35; 34:6; Jdg. 3:20; 1 Ki. 8:46; 2 Chr. 6:36; Est. 1:14; 9:20; Ps. 21:12; 33:19; 84:10; 118:151; 144:18; Prov. 27:10; Eccl. 4:17; Job 13:18; 17:12; Joel 1:15; 2:1; 4:14; Obad. 1:15; Zeph. 1:7, 14; Isa. 13:6; 57:19; Jer. 12:2; 31:16, 24; 32:26; 42:4; Ezek. 6:12; 23:12; 30:3; Matt. 24:32f; 26:18; Mk. 13:28f; Lk. 19:11; 21:30f; Jn. 2:13; 3:23; 6:4, 19, 23; 7:2; 11:18, 54f; 19:20, 42; Acts 1:12; 9:38; 27:8; Rom. 10:8; Eph. 2:13, 17; Phil. 4:5; Heb. 6:8; 8:13; Rev. 1:3; 22:10.

 

o   Related term is "euthus". Like "eggus", euthus stresses next-in-line (of descent, of a moment in time), so comes to mean "immediately afterwards".  So again, the actual timespan might be long or short. 

 

VERSES: Gen. 15:4; 24:45; 38:29; Job 3:11; Ezek. 23:40; Matt. 3:16; 13:20f; 14:27; 21:2f; Mk. 1:10, 12, 18, 20f, 23, 28ff, 42f; 2:8, 12; 3:6; 4:5, 15ff, 29; 5:2, 29f, 42; 6:25, 27, 45, 50, 54; 7:25, 35; 8:10; 9:15, 20, 24; 10:52; 11:2f; 14:43, 45, 72; 15:1; Lk. 6:49; Jn. 13:30, 32; 19:34; 21:3; Acts 10:16.

 

¨    "Tribulation" is used in two ways, in the NT.  Greek word is "thlipsis" (say THLIP-sis), with a generic, common meaning, both personal and macro; and, a specialized meaning.  The specialized meaning is used for the seven-year official Tribulation, called the "great Tribulation".  Here are the VERSES with the term: Matt. 13:21; 24:9, 21, 29; Mk. 4:17; 13:19, 24; Jn. 16:21, 33; Acts 7:10f; 11:19; 14:22; 20:23; Rom. 2:9; 5:3; 8:35; 12:12; 1 Co. 7:28; 2 Co. 1:4, 8; 2:4; 4:17; 6:4; 7:4; 8:2, 13; Eph. 3:13; Phil. 1:17; 4:14; Col. 1:24; 1 Thess. 1:6; 3:3, 7; 2 Thess. 1:4, 6; Heb. 10:33; Jas. 1:27; Rev. 1:9; 2:9-10, 22; 7:14.  The pinked references designate the official Tribulation.  If only bolded, the term is dual-entendre for BOTH Church 'tribulation' and the official Tribulation.  Greek employs a doubled article to denote an "official" time period, as in Matt 24:29, Rev7:14.  The monadic use is in Mark 13:24.

 

¨    Trumpets 'call' the on-Earth side of the official Tribulation.  The first six trumpets are the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation;  seventh trumpet 'orders' the second 3.5 years to begin.  Trumpets are always used to signal time in the Bible, OT and New.  Think of a trumpet as a bell:  time for assembly at Temple, time for battle, time for retreat, time to go somewhere, time of day.  Each trumpet is different from all the other ones, in Bible.  So just ignore the false claim that 'last trump' in 1Thess4:16 has anything to do with any other trumpet.  It's not even blown by the same class of angel (i.e., no archangel in Revelation ever blows a trumpet).

 

¨    Vials/Goblets in Rev 16 begin the last 3.5 years of the official Tribulation.  They are seven judgments with the same characteristics as the Exodus plagues.  Thus you know God is the God of the Bible.

Revelation's Outline, By Chapter and Verse:

 

 

 

[1]  Rev 2-3 Note:   Entries here are temporary and will be greatly revised.  The task is to link the Titles the Lord invokes, the awards He mentions, with the plusses and minuses of the church mentioned.  There is a reason why He selects certain of His Titles mentioned in Revelation 1, pairing them up with not only the local church in question -- which church is also an archetype of the same kind throughout Church's "time -- and then pairing up the awards.  So there's a pairing between His Own Titles, the awards He mentions, and the kind of victory He says is needed for that particular church.  If you think over the problems in each of the churches, you realize the same problems pervade every generation, hence the archetypal meaning.  It's somewhat telling that no churches OUTSIDE Asia Minor even get mention (i.e., Rome is conspicuously absent, as is Corinth, Galatia, Macedonia, Jerusalem).

¨    Ephesus was 'correct' but growing loveless toward God (problem that GOD was no longer their First Love, play on First Commandment).  This archetype is easy to see in modern Christianity.

¨    Smyrna was in danger of caving into persecution by the Jewish legalists.  So they'd have to undergo persecution.

¨    Pergamum by contrast, had problems with the licentious crowd.

¨    Thyatira was apparently split by similar problems and let the split remain.

¨    Sardis was full of hypocrites.  Another easy modern type to spot.

¨    Philadelphia was a successful church despite the legalistic persecution like Smyrna, but still had to finish the course.  They'd be spared persecution, so were farther ahead, but until the fat lady sings...

¨    Laodicea, like Sardis, was full of self-satisfied believers thinking that they had 'arrived'. Play on their famous emetic water, which was lukewarm.  Easiest modern type to spot.  God is just a designer label.

 

Back to Outline Chap1-3.

 

[2] Rev 6 Note: Because the official Tribulation is characterized as in Daniel 9:26c, Revelation here ties back to Daniel 9.  And because the Church is INSERTED by the time of Revelation, you are to understand that these seals' trends OF the Tribulation, also characterize the 'time' of Church.  This is where preterism gets some of its oomph.  But notice that the REASON for it being true is that the 'time' is FIRST the actual Tribulation which is pre-Church in origin. So the preterists are reading it BACKWARDS.  The FUTURE Tribulation is PRECEDENCE, so our 'Church' has the same tribulational characteristics.   Mid-Tribbers and post-Tribbers also err, because our 'last trump' is  ROYAL, so not the same as the seven trumpets in Rev.  Ours is from an archangel, 1Thess 4:16.  By contrast, all the trumpets in Revelation are by regular angels, and are NOT preceded with any descent of the Lord. Still, in each case, a trumpet sounds the beginning of live action.  So our 'trump' KICKS OFF the Tribulation, live.  It's 'last', for US, but FIRST, for them.  Honestly, only poor reading (lack of 1Jn1:9) accounts for any other 'interpretation.'

 

Back to Outline Chap4-6.

 

[3] Rev 8 Note:  Nothing in Bible ever says that our disappearance at Rapture causes cataclysm.  That's a silly myth invented by people who want you to be titillated by prophecy, rather than TAUGHT by prophecy.  For what prophecy teaches you, should produce awe and respect, not emotional thrill.  So pitch any book or teaching which sells the thrill of the Rapture.  The sellers are not from God, but think they are.  Here you see proof of GOD's depiction of That Day.  He uses OLD TESTAMENT cataclysms, and for good reason:  a) Church wasn't originally supposed to exist, and b) everyone on earth, however much he hates Bible, knows about the Exodus plagues.  They became famous worldwide at the time, and so x thousands of years later, the story is well known even in the remotest locations.  Thus everyone can have The Grace To See It's From God.  So that's the loud story told, OT style;  not, the Rapture.  When Christ rose, it wasn't a public spectacle.  When we rise, it won't be one, either.  So leave behind in the trash, those who would make the Rapture into a public spectacle.  They can't read Bible.

 

If anything, the cataclysms depicted here in Revelation 8, would mask the disappearance of believers, because it would be easy to dismiss our probably-small-in-numbers disappearance, as part of the cataclysms themselves. What the world will see is the fire, etc., not our disappearance.  So whatever the effect of our disappearance, it's not being advertised.  It's a SILENCE, which is the primary message in Revelation 4 et seq., God's Silence Toward the Earth.  Disapproval.

 

Back to Outline Chap8.

 

[4] Rev 9:1-12, 13-21 Note:  That really brings up the question of how many believers there are, in light of Deut 32:8.  Not all the demons would be on Earth.  They'd be fighting the elect angels too.  Many on Earth would be deployed to fight the elect angels who are protecting humans.  So while 200 million sounds huge, it's probably a small percentage or a minority percentage of all demons, and it seems that this 200 million is a separate demon army from the other two.  My pastor taught it as three, also.

 

Back to Outline Chap9.

 

[5] Rev 11 Note:  Greek says "reed", not the measuring rod used of the Temple in the OT for any of the three Temples, first, second, or Millennial;  it's only like (homoios) a rod, which is not the same thing as being a rod.  That's how you know God is sarcastic.  Moreover, it was against the Mosaic Law for anyone to enter the Holy of Holies except the High Priest -- on penalty of death -- so God is again sarcastic to mention those who 'worship' in that area.  Obviously they don't belong there, and they don't know or don't care about the Mosaic Law.  Moreover, they built an altar, so God wasn't involved in it.  Plus, the order to "measure" is for a FOUNDATION, which means the 'temple' is treated as if it's not there -- because a foundation is laid prior to building.

 

Plus, God is asking John, who's not part of the Jewish covenant or time, to go measure it.  John, not an angel, not an OT or Millennial Jew.  So that's why the Two Witnesses arrive, wear sackcloth, and warn everyone away.  That's why they have the supernatural powers of fire and shutting down rain.  That's why they are hated.  If you don't know the sarcasm of Rev 11, Daniel 9:27 makes no sense, and neither does the appearances of the Witnesses -- who by the way, wouldn't be in sackcloth, if there were a bona fide, God-Authorized temple, standing.  So the Jews then will hate these guys, as will the rest of the world.  Now you know why they won't let them be buried, why "Apollyon" kills them.  Wow, the Millennium has arrived, these guys are gone!  See: humans just love hating God.  With miracles, without miracles, signs or no signs. 

 

BTW, Bible never says these Two Witnesses are resurrected OT prophets.  That's a common supposition without any real backup.  Zechariah 4 depicts two olive trees then rephrases them as BRANCHES (House of Judah: both the House of David and the House of Aaron through Aaron's wife, were intermingled).  However, there is only one lampstand in Zechariah 4.  Two lampstands, in Rev 11.  From Rev 1-3 we learn that a lampstand is a person or group who teaches God's Word.  From OT we also see that olive trees are said of David and Israel (just look up olive tree).  So it's not necessarily the same olive trees and single lampstand in Zechariah 4, as in Revelation 11.

 

If anything, the reference to olive trees and lampstands in Rev 11:4, invoking Zechariah 4:3-14, might indicate two then- living Jews, one from the House of David (compare Psalm 52:8) and one from the House of Aaron, as representatives of The Real Messiah. For the king and the priest were "anointed".  Idea that, just as so often prophesied in the OT, both houses would continue to remain alive (i.e., look up "House of David" in Zechariah 14, and also "Zadok" in Eze Chaps 40ff).  I mean, these guys will be on TV, plenty of time to check their origins. 

 

Which would explain why they're such a political problem. Wouldn't be a political problem if they were nobodies.  People would just ignore them.  Wouldn't be a problem if they were resurrected OT prophets, who would know what they looked like?  So it's far more likely these are two well-known living Jews; one from David's dynasty, and one from Aaron.  Jews keep records like that, so the records can be traced and vetted.  Would be important politically to Israel, and would cause a huge problem.  That would explain another reason why these guys even last for 3.5 years.

 

Back to Outline Chap11.

 

[6] Rev 12 Note.  The phrase "time times, and half a time" is repeated in Daniel 7:25, 12:7, and Rev 12:14.  It has routinely been interpreted as three and one-half years, but there's another interpretation which better fits Scripture:  "age, ages, half an age".  Substitute "epoch" if you like, but this latter interpretation better fits what the Lord Himself said in Luke 21:24, using the Greek equivalent of the Daniel (and later Revelation) terminology. 

 

So it becomes a matter of interpreting how God divides the "ages" or "epoch". Look at how kairos is used in the NT, and compare it to the LXX of the foregoing Daniel verses, to support the idea that "time, times, and half a time" isn't exclusively 3.5 years. So:

a.    In Daniel's day, "time" could be rendered as the remaining period of the Jewish covenant.  For, that period was well-known.  It was supposed to terminate in what we would call 37AD, and then upgrade to the Millennium New Covenant.  That 37AD terminus math is based on the 1000th anniversary of David's death per 1Kings 6:1 (which scholars misread), is the terminus given in Daniel 9:26, and is explained in Mirroring.htm .

b.    Then "times" could refer to a sum of Christ with Church embedded in that "time" (Church not being stated because legally it might not have happened, but it was provided for).

c.    Or, "times" as the sum of the two "times of the Gentiles". Aramaic "iddanin" isn't really "two", but a mere plural -- again Church could be embedded there, since the Mosaic Law already forecast two times, the 7 years of Trib (reimbursing Passion week) plus the harvesting of the Gentiles, depicted by Jubilee.  So, 57 years, two 'times' (now a lot longer, of course).

d.    Or, both b and c.

e.    And, if it also means 3.5 years, that's a dual-entendre, with the semantic range of iddan being fully addressed. In short, the addition of the "half" would give you the dual-entendre meaning, since the "age" of the Tribulation, is seven years!  Clever, huh. 

Prophecy's always rife with wit:

here we see but sum of it.

 

Reminds me of the angel's wit in Luke 1:36 (compare to the doubled definite articles in Luke 1:26). So Mary gets the Annunciation in Adar, which was also Elizabeth's six month of pregnancy.  See also Haggai 2:18-23 and Zech 4:6-7, lololol!  Who said Bible was boring? :)

 

Back to Outline Chap12.

 

[7] Rev 13 Note.  Here's what we know about 'the beast'.

 

¨    Essentially, God has John pull together all the hanging 'Babylon beast' threads in Daniel 7, 8, 10-12, Isaiah, Joel, Zechariah, etc.,  to show the identity of this final, fourth beast, aka "king of the west" in theology.  (That term isn't in Bible, but it's properly descriptive of what Daniel is given.)  Remember that Babylon was the kickoff for the 'beast' empire metaphor.  Witty, since "Babel" is the Hebrew for "Babylon".  Remember the Ziggurat of Babel, post-Flood, and in "Shinar" (another name for Babylon)?  So the point is the CONTINUITY of this trend, and how it ends up.  All one picture, one historical trend, serially depicted pan-Bible.  When God gives someone new Scripture to write, all previous Divine Writ must be THREADED through the new book to establish its Divine Authenticity.  Here's a sample of how John does that, with respect to Rev 13's "beast":

 

[Put Thread Chart here once it's finished.]

 

¨    Yet another possible layer -- the seven mountains aka seven kings of Rev 17:9-10 as a total number of 'beasts' in the prophetic accounting from Genesis forward:  Babylon, Media-Persia, Alexander's Greece, then the four that split up from his -- eventually taken over by Rome.  Notice that Rome ends up on net displacing three, due to taking over the fourth, meaning Egypt, as a result of Egypt's wanting Rome's help in the Ptolemaic-Seleucid warring.  In this sense, Rome would be the seventh and 'slain' head that is revived, at the end (hence becomes the 8th in Rev17:11, but also an "8th" in chronological sequence historically). 

 

¨    This accounting also balances to the composite in Revelation 13:2ff, parallelling Daniel 7's four beasts, as Rome ended up replacing all of them.  So John is BALANCING TO Daniel 7 in many ways, not just a few.  The point of showing that the final beast is a composite, is to make clear WHERE the beast comes from historically, geographically, culturally, etc.  For obviously if it happens again, then it's prophecy fulfilled, rather than coincidence.  We need some way to prove we're not hallucinating a connection.  Ergo those metaphors are for accurate ACCOUNTING, not titillation.

 

¨    Just as, God balances Time all the way back to Adam's Fall and all the way forward to the end of time in His (not a human king's) Decree of Daniel 9 (which repeats the same timeline as Isaiah 53's Hebrew meter).  For, the accounting rule is suntelew, the consummative verb in Daniel 9:24.  This prophecy is a balance sheet, essentially.

 

¨    Now, the 10 nations which come FROM the fourth beast (Daniel 7:24 uses Hebrew birthing preposition min), with the "little horn" replacing three of them, leaving seven, also balances to the "8th" in Rev 17:11. So it's not necessarily true that the five past kings are all Roman.  Could be that only the current Roman Emperor then (either Domitian or Nerva) qualified as "one is" in Rev 17:10's accounting.

 

¨    Following that same convention, 17:11's "is not" means a configuration which didn't exist at the time John gets the prophecy. Yeah, it wouldn't:  Rome hadn't died yet, so there were no 10 kingdoms to be born from her.

 

¨    Notice this is yet another complementary layer atop the typical theological conclusion of a yet-future-after-Church 10-nation confederacy of some kind (usually posited as European).  Again, mirroring, balancing.  10 in the past, relative to us, become again (the same?) 10 in the future, maybe.

 

¨    Daniel 8's dictator is dual-entendre, like all Bible prophecy.  Near-term fulfillment was Antiochus IV Epiphanes, playing from 167-164BC, resulting in Chanukah, which is the Lord's Birthday.  2300 days was the time of that ruler's control of the Land. (Since the Temple was still down at the time the vision was given Daniel, Chapter 8 prefaced the promise that the Temple would be rebuilt, which of course was already known per Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10, which Daniel was reading in Daniel 9:2, maybe as a consequence of the vision in Daniel 8).

 

¨     So it's fully past, but the far-term fulfillment on the same model is yet future, Matt24.  That of course, ties back to all the relevant sections in Daniel.

 

¨    In Daniel Chapters 11-12, you're presented with a sweeping panorama of kingdom wars until the end of time.  The only kingdoms mentioned are those taking over the Promised Land, so forget putting the US in prophecy.  The pattern is the Roman Empire, which got into the deal owing to the breakup of Alexander's empire.  So that's how the westward-seat of kingship, morphed.

 

Always notice the audience.  The audience is Daniel.  His people.  The Jews.  So history connected with the Jews is what matters.  So: if you read Daniel as a whole, you start with Babylon, and end with Rome, which becomes the King of the West, taking over from Greece, who replaced Persia.  So then Rome defeats the king of the south, Egypt.  All this we now know from history.  What is left future, is the identity of the last beast, who apparently here in Daniel 9 (and in Zechariah) is a king of the west, patterned after Rome, in both mindset and geography.  So there is some king.   Does Satan indwell this guy and then use him to pretend he's the Messiah?  But Messiah has to be Jewish. So maybe the Western king is separate.

 

¨    Of course Satan invents the beast, Rev 13:1, at Trib mid-point or prior (13:5).  Yeah, he's always trying to reinvent it.  That's his counterfeit, a nice powerful world which needs no God. Satan is thus worshipped via this 'beast', Rev 13:4.

 

¨    Which has to mean Satan pretends to be Christ, in Rev 13.  So the Revelation 13:1ff Trib mid-point, is when he stages a faked Second Coming, whether or not the fourth beast was built, prior.

 

¨    For the one head slain (Rev 13:3) MUST be a claim of Resurrected Christ itself, given the amazement of the earth.  They would not be amazed if some past empire reconstituted itself.  They would be amazed if the centuries-old claim of Messiah's Return, seemed to come true.  Christ was the Head of Israel, and was slain.  So was Israel.  Technically, Christ "was", and on earth "is not", and is "yet to come".  Bible even uses the corrected version of this title of Himself in Rev 1:4, 1:8, 1:18 (notice HE holds all the keys, not Peter), 4:8, 11:17.  See also 5:6,9, 12.  Verse 9 is most telling, would explain yet another reason why Satan needs a Fake Church.

 

So Rev 13:3 and 17:11 advertise someone who is not Christ, pretending in the future to BE Christ, so the nations which are subsumed in the composite will be like the landmass at the time Christ was here -- so would be Rome's territories, including Israel.  This we already know from Daniel.  

 

So you have Fake Temple, Fake Christ, Fake Church all united in an unholy 666.  Very easy to see this.  It's just a question of what 7-8 nation composite and what 10-nation group of federated allies, you want to pick.  SPQR had (depending on how you want to count it) up to maybe 52 territorial divisions, look up its maps on the web or in scholarly tomes.

 

All the end-times people would be suckers for a Fake Christ.  Just look at the goofball preoccupation with the idea on Youtube.  Satan has to kill all believers, too, so this is his best option.  Believers by the millions today have no clue what Bible says, so they won't then, either.  So they'll all flock to Jerusalem, get the mark, etc., all thinking, "Oh, this isn't anything like Revelation 13, this is the Real Messiah, must have been a typographical error about 666!"  Jews, too will flock.  Think about it: there's nothing that can unite the planet of Jews and Christians except the Return of Messiah.  Nothing that can so excite war, as that idea.  Been true for centuries, will be true then.  So that's the identity of the head slain but now alive again, huh.

 

Back to Outline Chap13.

 

[8] Rev 17 Note.  So if Satan claims to be Christ, then whether or not he indwells the Daniel Chapter 11-12 king, Rev 17:8's language is wittily evocative of that claim of False Christ. 

¨    For again Christ "was", but the beast is a pretense of Christ's KINGDOM, so "was" (as pretense). 

¨    Therefore "is not" is true at the time the angel speaks to John, whether you treat that time as the historical prophecy in 96AD (for Israel was in Diaspora), or if you say the 'time' represents the Tribulation itself.  For prophecy is always meant to be witty, so you'll remember it.  There's no mystery about it, but rather wordplay.  So you have to ASK what's the intended wordplay, here. 

¨    So obviously, since the beast is FAKE, it's coming up out of the Abyss and is going to destruction.  Clever wording.

¨    "Coming" is played on (Fake Second Coming, get it?); and

¨    "Abyss" of course means those Rev 9+13 demons who foster the last World War. 

¨    I mean, the ONLY way you can pull off this kind of sham is to MAKE it into a 2nd Coming.  That way people will ignore or more likely reinterpret the messages from the three angels daily flying at noon.  Lots of miracles from God, countered by lots of miracles by the demons, the false prophet, and of course Satan.  The overload of obviously BIBLE miracles requires it BE pitched as a Second Coming.  Else, people will believe in the Real Christ.

 

¨    Again, what about this seven kings, seven mountains, 10 kings business, 17:9-10 (see also Rev12:3)? Well, another layer of meaning is that they represent Political Rome at some point in its past, depending on how you divide up that territory.  Clever play on the 'seven hills' moniker for Rome then famous -- and, her territorial divisions -- all with the same metaphor.  Look:  1) Britain, 2) Europe, 3) Northern Africa, 4) Italy, 5) Greece, 6) Asia Minor and 7) portions of the Middle East.

 

During some of that time, Babylon was included.  "Babylon" is the term stressed in Bible, i.e.,  Rev 17:18's "great city".  Isaiah 47 is referenced in Rev18's "widow" verse. Babylon, like Rome, was built on trade, polytheism, etc. Babylon being literally "Babel" in the OT, is an archetype as well as a real place. Scholars routinely take Babylon to mean Rome for that reason.  Truly, you can trace the cultural contiguity from ancient Babylon to Rome.  Yeah, because Satan always plays to the same proclivities in man, which results in similar cultural constructions: paganism's emphasis on power, sex, politics, commerce -- all to make man feel himself god.  Nothing's changed, has it...

 

¨    Trajan took Babylon in 114+ AD, according to my Encyclopedia Britannica hardback set (volume 9, page 845, "Invasion of Trajan" section).  Click here and scroll down for a Wikipedia map.  So maybe Revelation17's use of Babylon to mean Rome, is also near-term prophetic.  Surely those getting Revelation within the next generation after John's writing would have cause to remember, since to them Babylon was part of Rome.  Moreover, both Rome and Parthia were at each other's throats for centuries, that land often changing hands until 630 AD.

 

¨    The conventionally-assigned meaning for the seven kings is to call them all Roman: five had ended, one existed, and the other was yet to come.  Okay, but Rome had more than six kings when Revelation was written.  Babylon also had more than six kings. Rome was still extant;  Babylon, was not.

 

The preterists read Nero as the 5th 'king'; but by 70AD, there were nine emperors.  You had the Julio-Claudians, up through Nero;  then, Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian, who founded the Flavians. 

 

Yet if as Suetonius does, we measure by house, you'd have five houses: Domitian belonged to the Flavian house.  So the one who "is", might be Domitian.  Yet he was the downfall of the Flavians in the same year as John writes.  So, maybe Nerva is referenced, and Domitian is accounted gone, so the Flavian house is accounted as past.  That accounting would fit five past "kings", better.

 

In my Revelation live class notes dated 1-24-84, my pastor identified the seven as those kingdoms who dominated Israel: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Graeco-Macedonia, SPQR, and finally the RRE of the prophecy.  So he's reading "Babylon" as an historical archetype, which indeed Bible has always depicted it, especially in Isaiah, with Daniel being an upgrade on Isaiah.

 

¨     There's a new trend in theology now to claim that Babylon itself will be revived IN the original location of Babylon, as a new center of world power.  Even if so, then the actual head of that power has to be Rome, for Rome will be the source of the prince who takes over Jerusalem in Daniel 9:27.  Since "Babylon" is also used as a term of condemnation for other locations including Jerusalem, it's clear God is talking about the ARCHETYPE of cultural humanism, ecumenical religion, etc.  Whether that will also literally include the territory of Babylon during the Tribulation, is anyone's guess, but it MUST include the Archetype, for it to be true that "all the kings of the earth" have drunk and benefitted from her (Rev18:2ff).

 

In short, the new trend in theology is playing into Satan's hands, if it RESTRICTS the interpretation of Revelation 17 to the literal place of Babylon.   Since these same people tend to argue that there is a 'gap' between Rapture and the beginning of the Tribulation -- which is nowhere supported in Scripture, see how God carefully accounts time sequentially in Mirroring.htm -- those arguing the gap also play into Satan's hands.  Unwittingly, of course.  So notice: if the Archetype is revived but the location is not, then people alive during the Tribulation will discount Revelation 17 as not being true. And will suffer, as a result.

 

¨    Finally, the 'harlot' deceives the entire world; "sits on many waters" means the extent of her dominion. So get this possible added layer of meaning:  the 'seven mountains' might be the entire globe, for there are seven tectonic plates which 'hold' all the nations of the world (i.e., see the diagram in Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Plates_tect2_en.svg ).  In the ancient world, only three landmasses were severally accounted, however, and I can't prove whether "mountain" is used of "continent" in the Bible.  It's certainly never translated that way.  Still, "the whole inhabited world" as Scripture keeps saying, is literally that -- even when you account it by the plates.  So that too could be a witty parallel embedded (pun intended) in the "seven mountains" analogy.

 

At a later time I'll have to write up a webpage on the many specifics in Revelation 17, to demonstrate the identity of the harlot.  But for now, you can see that it cannot be merely one place, but must first have the same characteristics as Babel which became Babylon which became Rome, all had -- World Government Backed By Ecumenical Religion -- this time, of 'Christian' flavor to create a FAKE 'second coming'.  That's the one amalgamated characteristic every 'Babylon' has had from the initial one in Genesis 11, to Revelation 17.  Greek "musterion" is a witty way of saying Fake Church.  Satan's unholy trinity of Fake 2nd Coming, so Fake Temple, so Fake Church all together blend, realizing his objective since he first tried it, in Genesis 11.

 

¨    As for the yet-future 10-nation aliance, pick among the clients of Rome.  People accuse Bible of being vague, but that's really not true.  Until the actuality occurs, you can't tell who the prophecy fits: prophecy is primarily intended as a teaching device for everyone but the generations to whom it applies.

 

¨    For those generations, THEY have enough info about identities -- like, the group who saw Antiochus Epiphanes needed to know and did know to count to 2300 -- to know how long to stay hidden.  So too, in the future the Trib people will need to count to 1290 and 1335.  Days, not years.  Days that they need to count to SURVIVE.  (It should be obvious that no one can count 1290 years during his lifetime.  Bible wouldn't give you a specific number TO LIVE ON that is greater than your own lifetime, duh.  So these are days, not years.)

 

Of course, John balances that number of days in Revelation 12, where the life of the Jews, depends on it.  1260 days is the time they flee, first half;  1260, the time they fight, if still in Jerusalem the 2nd half (Zechariah 12-14).  There's a 75-day overlap during which they can flee: 1260+30 is the deadline for the abomination to be set up, from the time the Trib begins.  Hence I bet (so far) that the 1335 in Daniel 12, references those who get out at the beginning of the overlap. Just like God said, there would be earthquakes to protect them: at Trib mid-point, Revelation 11's end;  and at the end of the Tribulation, Zechariah 14.  So notice that hiatus is accounted for, in Daniel 12.  Gotta take at least a month, to recover and rebuild from the Revelation 11 earthquake, we can see the problems in our own day, despite our technology.  So God buys the Jews time.

 

¨    For us Church, it's a learning-lesson thing, this prophecy (Epilogue in 22:6-21, and the "thief" and "suddenly" dramatic interjections).  Moreover, there's the added complication of the Rapture being unpredictable, so the TRENDS toward these goals have to be stated as well.  So we can avoid getting mixed up in them.  Yet we prove that we can't read too well, for we mistake 1948 as being a good thing, and we'll probably help Israel rebuild that Temple which will be her death knell.  But God will deliver her, just the same. DESPITE us.

 

So the seemingly vague terms in Daniel 7, 11, 12, and here in Revelation 13 + 17, allow for free will to operate.  For in any generation of Church, these trends exist;  so any combination can become the actuality.  All it takes, is sufficient human negative volition plus demon action.  Can happen overnight, no problem.  If a whole Sanhedrin can be herded to do what it initially determined NOT to do -- arrest the Lord on Passover -- then anything can happen.  If thousands of Muslims can suddenly appear in the streets to trash embassies over cartoons, then sure -- demons can herd anyone. We've already seen it many times in history.

 

Back to Outline Chap17.