For a Text-to-Speech rendition of this webpage, see the audio player below:
Click here for a one-page Excel Tribulation Chronology 'map'. You will find it useful. Click here for RevMap.doc. It is a comprehensive companion outline of Revelation, and of this webpage. RevMap's contents are updated versus this RevPlay.htm, as I'm still editing RevMap.doc.
Eventually, the contents of both the doc and this webpage, will fully mesh. Right now, you might find apparent or real inconsistencies, pending further edit of this webpage to 'match'. Meanwhile, you can read both, to get your brain around how Revelation is constructed and what it says. Be sure to breathe 1Jn1:9 often as you read, for above all Satan doesn't want us understanding the Book of Revelation. It's not important whether you and I agree on interpretation. Rather, the goal is to give your spiritual perspicacity a workout. You won't agree with your former ideas, a year from now. Neither do I agree with all of what I've written or said, in the past! Learning is a process of constant revisiting, and refining. We don't 'get it right', immediately. Takes re-examination, constant. So what follows is designed for brainstorming, and is not a sales pitch.
Synopsis: Revelation is a straightforward book which you interpret as a Greek Drama quadrilogy, a common format of communication at the time Revelation was written. Using well-known language mechanisms, John divides the times to show how the End of History occurs, and how Eternity begins. Thus Revelation is blatantly meant to be God's Last Word, and Canon is closed. There is nothing hidden, no secret codes, in its language. It uses well-known metaphors elsewhere in Bible and in Greek literature to communicate. Bluntly.
The webpage is structured in 40 numbered bullets, following the same verse order as the Book of Revelation, so you'll have to first be familiar with the outline of Revelation, on your own; so use the color-coded left column of RevMap.doc to help you follow this page. For, you'll need to be following along IN Revelation, as you read. Else it will be frustrating to read the bulleted commentary below.
Answer: "Because the Bible itself says so." Today we moderns pick beginnings and endings with headings like "Introduction", and "Final Chapter" and "FINIS" and "End" (the latter two, for movies). But the ancients preferred other ways of communicating such demarcation. Wordplay was usually the sole form of entertainment in the ancient world which everyone, rich or poor, could 'own'. So it was popular. So wordplay using metaphors rich in multilayered nuances, was popular. You see an enormous amount of wordplay in the Bible spoken by poor people. In short, they knew language better than we do. We of the modern age demand soundbyte answers. Well, people in the ancient world, didn't like soundbyte answers, they preferred pithy language you could play with while you walked, spun flax or shoed horses. Economic life was labor-intensive, so people crowded together and were constantly talking in terms of their literature. Made the time spent, pleasant. So the Bible is written cleverly. So if you'll use 1Jn1:9 as you read Bible in the original-language texts, you'll begin to see what the ancients saw, both rich and poor alike. 1Jn1:9 turns on the authorization for God to illuminate you -- whether rich or poor. Human abilities do squat for learning Bible.
Genesis is the first book of the Bible, and it linguistically proves itself to be the first book, by the fact that all Bible Doctrines begin in it. All other Bible books quote from it, use its teachings, keywords, etc. Bible is very densely-knit together, as a result; and the primary tool of communication, is wordplay: Gotta think like a thesaurus. No translation, therefore, is but adjunctively useful. ["Literal" translations are helpful in that the error they always make, is to narrowly translate each word the same way. So you can more easily search on a literal translation, once you know how it translates the keyword you're researching. However, if you want to read for sense, then you need a more idiomatic translation. Problem with these, is they go overboard with their idiom, and forget that Bible writing style deliberately uses keywords in wordplay. Good example of the overboard-idiom is to screw up ho logos in 1Cor1:5 -- it's wordplay on Christ's Title as Word, and if you don't know that, the whole book will remain a "mystery", heh. Same kind of mistake, for logikos in Rom12:1.)
Another favorite is double-edged, the Word as Sword. Rev 2:16 (in context) and the many OT LXX passages it references, together constitute a set of metaphors which basically add up to, if you don't get the machaira (Heb4:12, Roman double-edged 'knife' sword=Word) in you, the romphaia (Gentile broadsword) will ekporeuomai adversely OVER you. That latter verb is usually mistranslated "proceed", but it's more accurately rendered "pour", or "flood": it refers often to a pouring of troops, a 'flood' of calamity, like in the LXX of Dan9:25-26. So when you see a refrain like His Voice is like the sound of many WATERS.. yikes! Swim in the Word, or the flood will DROWN you! [No-extra-charge corollary: all those idiotic "proceed" debates among Protestants are based on a mistranslation, no one even bothering to look up the many uses of ekporeuomai in the original-language texts! There must be two hundred uses of the verb in the LXX and NT. Dingdongs obviously don't like the FLOODING connotation, and tried to make the verb more 'stately', by sometimes translating it "proceed", as if God would be undignified if He POURED. But in the original-language texts, no way can you mistake Bible meaning: Holy Spirit POURS HIS POWER, 'flooding' you, so you can get the WATERS of Scripture. Or, you get God's PUNISHMENT pouring over you, drink the cup of judgement. And why that metaphor? Because the Holy Spirit RESTORED THE EARTH from its own primordial flood (search "Pangea", on the internet), Genesis 1:2. See the visual pun? You can learn more about that in my "Genesis" videos: click here.]
See? God's Word is really really Him talking. Translations are a bad telephone line; like two cans bored at the bottom with string knotted between them. You can get a better connection, than that!
It was part of their lives, much like movies are very much part of our cultures, now. Bible was used that way, as well: in the OT, everything revolved around wordings in Bible, and in the Hebrew, you can tell from the etymology alone how intertwined Bible teaching was, in the very language. So anyone studying Revelation who calls himself a scholar or teacher, should look for Drama Greek in it. After all, this is the most dramatic of themes, and we've oodles of evidence about how Greek drama is structured. Revelation is a straightforward Greek play of the Ending of History. Very common theme, in Greek Drama. John uses stock formulas to make meaning clear. For of course what he's talking about, couldn't be more epic-dramatic!
Part IV explains in (maybe excruciating!) detail what kind of "end times" we are in. There are four types, not one.
So you are to interpret Revelation as dual-meaninged (again, depicting the Hypostatic Purpose of History, the Revelation of Jesus the Christ). First, as TRENDS (explained in threaded fashion throughout Part IV); second, as ACTUAL EVENTS occurring in the last seven years that 'belong' to Israel, Daniel 9:27 thus fulfilled. Because there are two sets of promises due to Israel's rejection of Messiah: the unconditional covenants long since promised to Abram et. seq., must yet be fulfilled, but also the Body of Christ must be FIRST built (Heb11:39-40 is a crescendo passage on this topic). Meanwhile, the 490's provably continue through today (1990 being the ending of the latest 490). [CLICK HERE for a sidetrip-sketch of the historical characteristics. It's real significant, that the Book of Hebrews explained in advance how these twin promises' fulfillments were to function. But almost no one understands that book. I can't find anyone except my pastor, who does. He begins to cover that Book circa lesson 800 (et.seq., several hundred lessons following) of Series 376, 92 Spiritual Dynamics. The full exegesis of Book of Hebrews is best gone through after those lessons. His exegesis series is labelled "1972 Hebrews". When you see the Greek, you will get the meaning. Can't get it from translation. Very elegant, very deft Bible wording. People don't take Bible seriously, so always treat it shallowly. Big mistake, especially here. Billions of dollars are wasted on prophecy books and lectures which could be saved if someone would just Study Bible Itself, for a change!]
Move on instead to what matters, which is WHY all this is to happen.
People who want the lie, hate the truth. So they have no common sense. Neither then, nor now. Nor, in the future Tribulation. So they are deceived, whether believers or not. This is true of all of us. Trick is, to keep ASKING GOD, using 1Jn1:9 -- asking God to make clear the lie believed, so that the truth can replace it. Congenital defect in Adam, which only the Thinking of the Last Adam can solve, Rom5:12-Rom12:1-3, 1Cor15:22.
So when you see all those many titillating books sold about Revelation or prophecy; so when you see all those TV programs sold which allegedly diagnose today's history as yes, we must be in the last days, brother! Just send in your love gift and we'll send you the latest book/tract/video so you will be prepared! Or when you see all those many oh-so-intellectual documentaries allegedly proving why Armaggedon can't be fought, logistically (right, dummy -- which tells you DEMONS HERD HUMANS into doing what makes no sense!); that Revelation is allegorical, or symbolic of something else; or, that the Rapture is mid-Trib, post-Trib; that well John wrote in 70AD (what a crock) -- you're looking at the real cause of the Tribulation: believer apostacy. Evidenced by, bad scholarship, people asking the wrong questions of Bible. We want the gory details, not the WHY. So the poor folks in the Trib will have all this misinformation, and it will be venerable, then. And since they can't get any blessing except through Church's growing up beforehand (Part IV explains this fact in great detail) -- titillated folk NOW are gonna be mighty regretful at the Bema.
Here's a brief on the nature of Greek plays. Following this section, Revelation itself is outlined to show its Greek-Play Structure, so you can see it for yourself. [If allowed, I'll later elaborate Revelation's keywords: they are fabulous choices, those keywords! Meanwhile, I'm sure the Holy Spirit will alert you to any errors of mine, if you're using 1Jn1:9 as you read.)] [If you are seriously interested in learning Revelation, I suggest that you get my pastor's 4-year daily exegesis of it on audiotape: titled, "1981 Revelation". Yes, four years, seven lessons per week. That's how long it should take, to really get how Bible fits Revelation together into one seamless whole. My pastor's site link is on my home page. That place never asks you for money, never mails you insipid letters, etc. Your anonymity remains protected, too. Oh: there's a limit on how many lessons per month you can get, depending on what format you want (MP3, audio, video). You'll have to find out what the current limit is.]
There's a lot of argument over the origin of drama. Folks seem agreed that it comes from religious rites, which makes sense: we like to look up, to feel part of something bigger, so we'd want to dramatise what we think the 'something bigger', is. Even today in the so-called primitive cultures you see a great deal of drama in the dances, hunting rituals, etc. Lots of storytelling. Every village in any epoch however primitive had a witchdoctor, shaman or other individual whose chief job was to tell the stories of the gods who protected his people.
Egypt, even as early as 1800BC (some say 2300, but there's debate) was putting on plays. So Moses would have known of it. (Asian drama goes back farther, but I forget the details.) Allegedly Greek drama was founded by "Thespis" (from which we get "thespian"), who (allegedly, but I dispute it) drew his ideas from the Dionysus/Bacchus spring rites, and became the first producer/ writer/ actor in a play.
Originally there was only ONE actor saying all the lines of all the characters, supplemented with a chorus. (Which is a version of the Indian narrator/storyteller, so the origin of Greek drama may come from India via Persia, but I digress.) About 30 years later, changes were made, adding actors, changing the roles of the chorus, etc. So, although the techniques for Greek drama changed a lot over time, Greek drama remained every bit as important as the Olympics, or war. Major awards were given for best play. So, there were rules for competing: you had to write your play a certain way, to qualify to compete. For example, you had to begin the play with a background explanation, the setup/CAUSE for the actual event the play would cover. For this, there was usually a chorus, or an actor with a monologue.
Also, the plot had to be epic-scale, very colorful, and exaggerated (by our modern standards). The language sounds like a soap opera, everyone woe-ing all over the place, or overjoying, taking ninety years to complete a sentence. But for the Greeks (and most others whose cultures aren't British-based, even today), this was respectable, for somewhere in the back of each play was an honoring-the-gods-and-State purpose. Can't use too many nice words to honor that theme! So, we get the word "hypocrite", for example, from the huge masks actors had to wear in the earlier dramas -- which had exaggerated expressions on them -- so folks sitting too far away could still "get" the plot (analogous to believers, today).
Thus, Greek drama always played on at least two levels, to be considered good: first, it had to deal with some historical or god-related event; second, it had to represent timeless truths on epic scale: the tragic flaw, the Hero, virtuous war, Divine Judgement/Opinion/Involvement, triumph over evil, etc. If it was a comedy , the plot could be fictitious, but the underlying meaning was some satyr->satire or commentary on: government; burning political issues of the day; or other persons well-known to the audience. (Attendance was compulsory, apparently. If you were too poor to pay the entrance fee, some charity gave it to you.)
Wordplay was vital, in Greek Drama. The more metaphors, and the more levels of meaning in a line of script, the better the script was deemed to be. This was especially important since one human actor played multiple roles. So the precision of language helped one separate the different dramatic characters portrayed by the same guy. In Greek drama there was little movement: no acting out of a fight, etc. People just stood on stage and talked loudly. So the wording itself, and the way words were used by the actors, constituted the entertainment genius of the play.
Moreover, dramatic narrative in Greek is in the present tense: most English Bibles caveat in their prefaces that they freely disregarded the Greek dramatic present, where English tends to use the past tense. Christians this often misconstrue sequences, not only in Revelation, but pan-Bible. [Example: in Bible, faith precedes regeneration, not the other way around, but if you don't know Greek tense pairings and shifts, you miss that. Another example: John talks of being SIRED in 1Jn, a progressive tense in English, so "born of God" is misleading to the English reader.]
PRINCIPLE: all these language devices, written in extremely dense metaphor -- replete with every nickname of gods, people, past wars (Ida=Troy, for example) -- were considered 'good script'. So you must TRACK these devices when you read Revelation (and Bible). Else, you'll misunderstand what it says.
Furthermore, there had to be a MORAL in the play. This moral would run throughout; finally there had to be a short Epilogue after the play ended, in which the moral is memorably summed up. For, Greek drama was designed to wring one out emotionally (katharsis) and buck one up morally. (Augustus had Virgil write the Aeneid for a similar reason.)
Finally, Greek plays were usually submitted in 'fours': three tragedies (the term originated from goat-offerings), plus one comedy or farce (aka 'satyr', from which we get the word "satire"). They didn't have to be 3-to-1; could be 2-and-2. But there was always at least one comedy, where the ending is happy.
In all events, these plays were deliberately interrelated, akin to what we would call a "mini-series" in today's movies. If you look at the way Revelation is divided, you'll see the 'four': our NOW, Trib, Mill, Eternal State. Because, there are The Four: Three Gods, plus One Human (the latter, of course, being God as well); thus, a BRIDGE to another 'four': God, angels, man, eternity. Full-spectrum synergy forever. So, "Complete": totally filled up (plerow), totally fulfilled-to-the-finish (teleiow). So, END (teleios, telos) of story, play, conflict, labor pains (see Rom8:18-end). Eternity is finally BORN!
'Especially, if you know this four-thingy about Greek drama. So all those fancy hermits who wrote beautiful-but-non-canonical things the Greek Orthodox so praise; so the Talmud, so the Jewish pseudipigrapha, Apochrypha, Christian and gnostic apochrypha and pseudipigrapha; so also post-Rev dreams, visions, etc. -- all these are bogus, coming only from Satan&Co. They may contain insight, are maybe helpful, and should not be abhorred: but they are not God's Canon. To think otherwise is to incur all the curses, as the end of Rev warns.
If you like pain, call some book "of God".. which isn't. Frankly, it's not hard to tell the difference between what God writes and what demons or people claim He writes. For in the latter cases, God is always ridiculed. You don't have to be a Bible scholar to know what book comes from God, or not. So the liability is real. So the soul-scarring results, are real. Worst thing one can do, is to claim something Divine.. which isn't.
The apostle John, ever the lover of marital "oneness", fellowship, home, and (perhaps consequently these themes in) Greek drama rhetoric, is cast in the classical role of a narrator in Revelation. Which, he really was: heh. Important: the narrator is always OUTSIDE the play.
John writes out his God-given vision in the form of an epic Greek play within four smaller plays, centering around what in the OT is often called the "Day of the Lord" (which is what the book's title really means, lit. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ"), with flashbacks and flashforwards. From what I can tell, John must have been very familiar with Greek drama, because he sometimes uses techniques and devices outside the "classics" (Aeschylus, etc, 500-400BC), e.g., moving tableaus. These date at least from Plato's time, and are really the base for a lot of the world's drama: for example Noh plays, and ancient Chinese drama (forget what it's called), are essentially moving tableaus. On the other hand, mime was extremely popular in John's day, especially given the 'action' and even quasi-sexual nature of the depictions; so Revelation displays a combination of tableau and mime. It's even more ironic, since pantomimes in that day were often about the uniting of god and human! (Hella S. Haase, Threshold of Fire is a great fictional novel on Emperor Honorius' Rome which centers on this topic; shows how enduring is drama mime/tableau.)
At the very time John wrote (Domitian's Rome), the most popular form of Roman play among the lower classes, were mimes burlesqueing CHRISTIANS. So Revelation is a kind of 'reply' to those plays, as well.
Now that you know you should read Revelation like a Greek drama PLAY, see how simple it is to "get" Revelation in what follows...
TACHOS and its related terms and many synonymal concepts are used by John in wordplay throughout Revelation, mostly spoken by the Lord (just like He used it in the Gospels -- as a kind of signature, like Ani, Adonai in the OT). This is a very common word in Bible, with noun forms, adjectival and adverbial forms, verb forms. No way to miss what it really means, but as a noun or adverb, it gives translators no end of trouble. Here's why. TACHOS is a noun for a Brief! period of time. Like, that second! you first heard the planes hit the Twin Towers, that thwack! when your car was hit, that moment! you got a flash of insight, that instant! you will remember the rest of your life! So, see? the amount of time before or after "tachos" is not in view, but rather, the BREVITY of the time "tachos" itself represents. Morover, "tachos" DIVIDES all the time before it occurred, and all the time after it occurred. Watershed: in an instant, changing forever past and future; changing forever, how you SEE your past and future. So in English, we'd have to use more than one word to translate it, but stupid Bible translation rules invented by humans, won't allow that! So when you see "soon" or "quickly", replace the single word with, "in an INSTANT!" or, if you will, "Suddenly!" Be sure to keep the exclamation point in the meaning. The adverbial form of tachos is tachús; term is used six times in Revelation. Tachos itself is used twice, but written as "en tachei", which is really interesting, because "en" is an encompassingness preposition. So, the English equivalent "in an instant!" is even more stressed. As a verb (there are many forms), it means HOW FAST you do the activity itself. Root meaning here is militaristic, frankly. Related to Greek noun "taxzis", meaning being in formation, organized, pursuing an objective. See, you do a thing en taxzei en tachei. Heh. Remember that the first meaning of the term is next in sequence, with a connotation of suddenness, surprise. So all words which 'tie' to that idea, will be used in wordplay. Awesome! What a way to stress the nearness of the Rapture! |
So, let's look at one of them. What's next in sequence, is next to the thing it follows, right? So then...heh.. when Rev1:3 says "the time (age) is NEAR", it first means an Age Of Nearness, get it? Spatial nearness is stressed, in the Greek. Since "time" is used as an EPOCH marker for a covenantal period (or other appointment period) in Bible, it is also 'near' in the sense that the next Time (Age) is the Tribulation. But that tells you nothing about the length of years between "now" and "later". Frankly, "near" is a wordplay term: if you want to be near God, get with the spiritual life, which will get you home faster, and get us all home faster, so we can all be near Him sooner because the Rapture will be Nearer In Time.
That's why there are seven seals, and until the seventh one is opened, the seven trumpets can't begin; until the seventh trumpet sounds, the seven bowl ("vial", in KJV) judgements can't begin. All dependent on Church. Can't miss this. Until John goes up in Rev4:1 (the Rapture verse), the rest of the play, doesn't continue. Can't make it plainer.
In short, when Bible talks of sevens, it's talking of REAL THINGS. Promises to be literally fulfilled. Not nice words, and definitely not some bleeping code, for crying out loud. Creeps me out how 'scholars' don't do their homework on what BIBLE says are its own meanings.
Ooooohhh, tachos wordplay again: contingency represents next-in-sequence! Cause and effect is nearness! He causes us so we are caused to cause Him, another circle like the subjective and objective genitive, 2Cor5! I love that verse in David, "Because you caused me"! (Hebrew, Bible translations are awful, think it's Ps139:14, niphal plural.) Oh, and BODY? What can be nearer, than that? IN HIM? Well, you decide what that wordplay means...
The "seven spirits of God" (Rev 1:4, 3:1, 4:5, 5:6) means the Seven Kinds Of Spiritual Ability He Gives You, the implication being that if you aren't getting it from Him, you don't have it. See Isa11:2, Zech 3:9, 4:2-10 for the definition. Isaiah 11 is a prophecy of Christ Himself (see context), so He's Filled with the Spirit, and thus has six abilities of the Spirit. So here in Rev we see that we are extensions of Him, by use of "seven spirits". My pastor somewhere taught that a better translation would be "Sevenfold Spirit of God", by which we'd know categories of spiritual power/ability were being referenced. (You'll also find the term in Talmud, Mishnah, but I can't remember where right now, and I only have a paper copy.) Heh: seven ways to breathe properly, Promise! First, Him Himself, plus the six abilities He provides, as Isaiah 11:2 lists.
Ooohhhh, stress on ruach/pneuma, BREATH, Wind, Spirit! And what is more sudden than that, when excited? Hebrew word for nostrils, also means anger/excitement, feh, feh, feh! What is nearer, than 'breathing' the Filling of the Spirit and the Word, "the Word is near your heart and and in your mouth", Deut 30:11ff. Ohhh, sevening promise, nearness, sequence, cause-and-effect, all tachos... The sudden insight due to Filling and pondering a doctrine; the intimate knowledge of Scripture which is Promised... oh, the tachos wordplay never ends.
Rev1:8's Alpha and Omega and 1:17's First and Last both reference Christ as God-man. Alpha begins the Greek alphabet, Omega ends it. So He's the First and Last Word on Everything. Rev 1:14's "white like wool" references His Payment on the Cross. My pastor always stressed that the shock of bearing our sins must have turned His hair white, so perhaps the reference is literal as well as symbolic of Him being the Lamb. Daniel 7:9 uses the same term. Rev 1:15's "bronze" is used to denote tensile strength and brightness. Look up "bronze" in NIV to get a sense of 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. See also Ezekiel 1:7, 40:3, Dan 10:6, showing that angels of His Entourage had part of the 'uniform' also. "Many waters" depicts the Word as a flood. Probably as a play on Genesis 1:2's RESTORATION of the earth, the Holy Spirit is said to "flood" you. Flooding also has a military invasion connotation, i.e., in Daniel 9:26, Isaiah 8:8, 10:22, 28:2, etc. Greek verb for this is often ekporeuomai, usually mistranslated "proceed" in English Bibles (i.e., John 15:26), causing centuries of Christian bloodshed and confusion to this day. You are flooded with understanding, or with judgment. So the SOUND of many waters means He's the Word, full of Divine Perspicacity. It's an OT metaphor carried over into the NT, and is repeated thesauretically combined with that other Word of Word, "sword", in Rev 1:16, 4:5, (negatively, of demons) 9:17-18 & 16:14, 11:5, 19:15, (which ties back to 1:16) and 22:1 (which ties back to 1:15). Thus Revelation demonstrates the span of negative and positive flooding/pouring/issuing forth. Rev 1:16's sword and stars depict the Word, from His Mouth into ours. It would be better to translate aggelos as "messengers", as the persons referenced are the seven PASTORS of the representative local churches which receive Review during Chapters 1-3. Which should be obvious: nowhere in Bible, does a human write to an angel, lol. See Rev1:20, which tells you that.
META TAUTA is a major time divider in Revelation. "Meta" conveys "in the midst of", as a preposition or prefix. When meta is used w/genitive case, it's "with" or "against" (with-someone-in-antagonism); with the accusative, meta becomes SEPARATIST, so means "beyond" or "behind", "after", next. The object of the preposition 'receives' this action. So meta comes to mean CHANGE. Change due to Association With something or Someone Else, get it? The NEARNESS changes you: changes your location, changes your outlook, changes your action, changes your soul. [Since time only goes forward, and you can never go back in time, meta never means before some time event. That's an important distinction. Each preposition has its "boundaries", and if you know what they are, you will better understand God's Word.] The word "tauta" is accusative neuter plural and comes from "houtos", a Greek demonstrative pronoun with a very interesting etymological history. So sometimes in Revelation, "meta touto" is used: "after this". Bible Greek often, but not always, uses "this" the way modern Americans do, sweepingly, but since Greek has case endings, we know what "this" is meant in the original languages only. (English "this" is ambiguous, as are most all English words, because English was deliberately developed to BE vague. England needed all the diplomatic friendliness she could get, to stay sovereign!] All the NT writers use houtos constructions to help the reader track the 'flow' of what they are saying. You can't understand Bible until you get the flow, and "this" or "these things" in English really won't help you. So when you have trouble getting the flow of a passage, i.e. when something in a verse 'jars' you (Spirit is nudging you to investigate it!); or when your eyes glaze over; or when you think you are reading the same thing in the following verse as you just saw -- crack out the original language text! John, especially, uses houtos to track the reader in 1Jn. That's why no one understands what he means, dismissing the letter as a lot of love-talk. So now add to your watch-John's-wordplay list: all words and concepts which 'tie' thesauretically to meta tauta, will also be used in wordplay, throughout Revelation. Awesome! What genius! What a way to stress the nearness of the SUDDEN Rapture: this phrase, its own synonymal concepts, and the many which belong "with" (pun intended), tachos! Um, notice how together they form an appositional shout: meTAH TAOtah, TACHahss! Meta tauta, tachos! Tachos, meta tauta! Suddenly, after these things! After these things, Suddenly! After these things, suddenly-next in sequence! Next! After these things! Sudden Changeover! Next Change! Contingent, cause-and-effect, Promised, near, in-a-breath-second, IN your own life... Yikes! Is there NO limit to God's Genius use of His Word? How is it every word He causes to be written has soooo much wordplay? We're talking about an adjective/adverb (tachos/tachu), a preposition/prefix (meta), and a demonstrative pronoun (houtos)? Three menial words! Unpresentable parts, reproducing all this meaning! Fractals, never ending! "And so shall we ever be with the Lord"... Oh boy, I think I've tachos died and gone to be WITH the Lord, meta tauta! Ok, let's state this Greek-techie rule on "meta tauta" in a boring way, so it will be respected by those who think a rule must be boring to be correct: whenever you see "meta tauta" in Revelation, God is telling you that what went BEFORE the phrase, belongs to a different "time", covenant/covenantal period. Whatever is AFTER the phrase "meta tauta", belongs to the NEXT covenant/covenantal period. Next in sequence, tachos. And what's next, after Church? The Tribulation. |
Hence John isn't IN the play until Rev4:1, when he's told to "come up here" (see also Rev11, where the Two Witnesses are given the same command). John thus becomes an eyewitness FROM HEAVEN, and is never an actor in the play taking place on earth. Hint Hint.
So too, in the Tribulation, we're not even ON the earth; the Ambassadors Have Been Recalled (see DueDisclosure.htm's "Brief" in this connection). We come TO the stage in Heaven via that Door in Rev4:1, but.. we have no lines, there is no activity recorded of us, the only believers rostered in Revelation after Chapter 3 are Jews (the 144K plus the Two Witnesses). All else, is Fake Religion, war, lots of hurting people. No mention of Church. Sign of Jonah, silence. The Protagonist is silent toward a world which is silent towards Him. So too, His Bride. Even as it was, ever since He was First Seated.
In Chaps 8-18, notice how both the stage and the only actors in "The Great Tribulation" are on earth. Angels are the chorus, and a chorus goes off-stage (to heaven), or onstage to explain (like those three angels flying at noon in Rev14) to the actors. This structure is kinda complex to our modern eyes, but not to Greek multilevel ironic drama, in which the audience was considered a participant and beneficiary. But of course, just as Col1:16-18 notes, along with Ps110:1 and its repetitions, The Lord Is The Key To History. So He's at once the Chief Audience, Chief Beneficiary of the Play, the Purpose for the Play. It's all FOR Him, Ps110:1. So He's NOT on earth. So Church is not on earth, either. Couldn't be plainer.
Roman Custom of Haughty Silence: The Lord is silent toward everyone on earth; only angels talk as messengers! Roman concept of no one else is worth talking to. No Roman noble or royal would ever talk to you directly. The Lord Himself used such dismissive language (separate sheep from goats, slay him before me, etc.) to communicate this. Not talking directly to the recipient, but to an intermediary, within the recipient's hearing.
The actors get the silent treatment from Heaven, coupled with 'war': Divine Exodus-style disasters, for they won't hear God's Word. Reject the Machaira, you get the Romphaia, is the theme of Revelation. (See Heb 4:12, Rev 6:4, 13:10, 13:14, 1:16, 2:16, 6:8, 19:15, 19:21.) We hear the Word, so we get the Word about what all that disaster, means. They won't hear the Word, so they get the disaster; both machaira and romphaia turn AGAINST them. Could God make it plainer?
So this is tantamount to saying the real stage is NOW, the 'play' is but a result of NOW, all future history hinges on how and if the Body of Christ COMPLETES. [Doesn't matter that we know in advance God will win, what about our team: our current generation? Do we want to be ashamed at the horror we inflicted on those of our generation and after, by not finishing the course?] Church is the End of the Play, and all else is but epilogue. Many startling verses tie in: 1Cor10:11 (bald Greek that we are the Completion of all ages); Eph1:15-23, 3:15-19, coupled with Eph 1:10's "with reference to the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times"; 1Jn4:17, Heb10:12-14, end of each Heb Chaps 10, 11, 12, Paul's Eph3:21 lexeme "Age over the Ages", just to name a few climactic passages on our NOW. (BTW: chronos, kairos, aiwn are Greek words used for "Age", though they have other meanings. Paul's lexeme in Eph3:21 uses aiwnos in double genitive, since the first genitive goes with genea.)
Yet another interesting rhetorical device of aloofness: "a voice from Heaven". The VOICE is not identified. Yeah, those ON EARTH don't know the One speaking. Remember the Lord saying "My sheep hear My Voice?" and that refrain, "he who has an ear", which suddenly disappears from Revelation after Chapter 3? It's only used one more time, in Revelation 13:9, and that in context of the intermission. "Churches" is conspicuously absent, though the term was only used with "churches" in Revelation, SEVEN TIMES in Chapters 2-3. Yeah, because Church is in Heaven during Rev 13, and is at that point, BRIDE.
Because We've Already Been Awarded Our Kingships, there's nothing to say. Bema has already occurred: see Rev5:10's "made..kings". 'Just as promised, the Eph1:10 "summing up of all things". 1Jn4:17 and 1Cor3 are parallels. Greek theatre stage was called a bemata. Just read Revelation 4-5, notice how it's all a celebration of something which just happened. The only thing which could have just happened is the Bema, for the Lamb ceremony begins AFTER a celebration, then the same celebration punctuates the Lamb-Worthy ceremony. These facts become clearer with each re-reading.
Shorter way to get this point: see Rev6:11 in Greek. English always sticks in a number-of-bodies idea, which is not altogether wrong, but Greek really isn't saying that. There is a superceding criteria which is clearer in the Greek: Fullness, Pleroma. It's a qualitative, not quantitative criterion. Every NT writer uses it, because "Fullness" is a moniker of Christ (i.e., "full of Grace and Truth"), we are His Body, so We Gotta Get Full, Too. In Rev6:11, it's the OT believers who are talking, since they don't get their promises until the 2nd Advent, and this verse is technically about completing them. But it's the same criterion, of a Corporate Completion. Which, is qualitative. Like a house, there are a certain number of rooms to be built, but the Whole House depends on the Quality of the Building.
These Seals are Criteria For The Completion Of History, and we are NOW informed of them via Revelation, since we are NOW in the world -- clearly, since there is no other reason to tell us NOW. The Title Deed To Earth the Lamb holds in the ceremony, is not unencumbered until all seven seals, complete. So it's an overview of the criteria, since Israel became a nation. So we Church are part of the Encumbrance, now (fifth seal). Until we finish, the rest of the seals cannot be opened. So, for US, the first four seals (shown below), play, even as they have played, since Israel became a nation. For the first Bride was supposed to be, Israel. She is to be rescued now, via Church ("Dan9:26c" section of PartIVa).
The first four seals in Rev 6, are of Jewish Origin: again, Israel's historical trends stamp Church, for Church is to make history, not prophecies, Part IVc. The four horsemen are taken from Zechariah (start reading in Chap1): notice the allusion to Esther.
So when the Second Temple is to be rebuilt, Zerubby baby has some problems getting motivated, because everyone around the returning exiles is against them, they can't build the Temple to the old standards, etc. So in Haggai, the prophet conveys God's beautiful nagging To Rebuild My House. So in Zechariah, a contemporary, God sends a different message: I'm here protecting you, no one can stop the Building of My House. So, God uses TEMPLE words, like lampstand and olive tree (depicting how the Holy Spirit enlightens a person who eats the Bread of the Presence, His Word), calling Zerubabel those things, to show Protection. But note -- among the MYRTLES is the Lord with the four horsemen. Meaning, among the EXILES. Sooo awesome, are God's Words!
But NOW, the Church upgrade: Israel played Vashti by refusing Her Groom at the First Advent, even though once she WAS Esther, and thus Returned to the Land. So, like the decree for the historical Esther, Christ orders riders out to the highways and byways to find a Replacement Bride Among The Gentiles (Matt21-24). For, notice Zech1's theme: Return to Me, and I will Return you from exile; so the horsemen among the myrtles, are Protection -- or, adminstrators of discipline, if the Lord is not wanted.
So that is why you see the same vision in Revelation 1, but upgraded to the Lord standing amidst the LAMPSTANDS, not myrtles. And He alone standing, no horsemen with Him, for those belong to ISRAEL. Oh, how vastly superior and clearer the explanation, when you have changes in metaphors!
Look: the most important metaphors in the Jewish vision are concatenated in the Church one, Depicting The Completion Of The Hypostatic Union. Kinda like the root meaning of YHWH as hayah+hawah, the One Who Was, and Is, and Is to [be]Come. Yahweh: always was, hayah, God; will become (First Advent), hawah; now WILL COME (2nd Advent).. because He BECAME. Cool wordplay, in Revelation, to call Him by this "One Who Was.." title! Note the double-entendre and next-ness: He will come for US, Rapture; which justifies He will COME, at 2nd Advent.
So, what do we know? Well, via this vision in concatenated metaphor, we know a LOT, but here's just an off-the-top sampling of basic stuff: 1) He's gonna use Church to deliver Israel, so clearly Church is not Israel herself. So the covenant to Israel is not operating during the time the LAMPSTANDS are on earth, get it? Israel's lampstands had to be in the TEMPLE, but there IS no Temple. So our bodies are temples (1Cor6,12), so we individually are temples, so our churches are lampstands. So if the time for the myrtle must resume, then.. the lampstands must first EXIT. 2) A lampstand is not a myrtle, but a lampstand can be used to Find And Protect A Myrtle (see Luke15:8). So any myrtle now who believes in Christ, becomes a lampstand (see Rom11). 3) Lampstands can be removed (like He warns the Ephesian church), but they don't become something else -- can't lose your salvation. 4) Lampstands can be refueled (1Jn1:9) or extinguished (1Jn1:8,10).
So, 20 years after hearing all that heraldry stuff, and (now) doing the research for these sites, guess what? I stumbled across an amazing historical fact: about 98AD, Caesar began or had just finished, changing the role of the "Equites" ("Knights"). They were his Personal Imperial Household, an honorable term meaning those who governed Caesar's private ownership of countries, goods, etc. Caesar owned most of what was called the Roman Empire, so this was an extremely sought-after goal, to become a member of His Imperial Household. So at that very time, Caesar's hiring criteria changed to wholly over to merit, not blue-bloodness or money (well, the money requirement was much reduced). As a result, all manner of what we today view as chivalric organizations, began. They distinguished themselves by badges, pennants, clothing, etc.
So God uses all that Equites heraldry, to Communicate His Own Imperial Policy With Respect To His Household. It's sheer genius. (We miss so much when we don't know the isagogics of Bible.) So, one at a time, each Heraldic Quarter (worn as a 'mantle' by each seraph, as my pastor described the scene), 'orders' a 'horse'; thus you know WHY those horsemen ride. Lion=conquer; Ox=war (when men treat each other like cattle); Man=grain/staples famine (because not feeding on the Bread of Life); Flying Eagle=Death, swooping down on everyone, not protecting them under His Pinions (Deut32:11), but attacking. See how important, the use of specific metaphors? They Attest God's Talking; You Have In Writing From Him What Is Playing Out Live Before Your Very Eyes.
It just has to be the God of the Bible, when The Bible's Judgements Play As Written. Here, because the horsemen alike represent judgement, and the Escutcheon, because this OT metaphor of Him being the Protector of ISRAEL is evoked, any Jew then alive should identify his "time". But of course, they and the goyim, largely won't. So why talk to the world, when the world won't read what is written and playing before their very eyes? Revelation is written now: it's tying to the OT, and those 'seals' really play. We see them even NOW. But we don't read or listen, either. So they won't, then, even as we don't, NOW.
Of course, we don't recognize that since the Dome Of The Rock is in Jerusalem instead of the Temple, "Messiah" can only BE Jesus Christ (see PartIVa's "Dan9:26c" section); so they won't hear God's obvious testimony, either. We learn from Bible that we learn nothing from Bible. No wonder God let it stay largely hidden until the mid 1800's. No wonder people got bored with its languages, as soon as He brought it out! [I'll never get over hearing my pastor explain that when he was in seminary in the 1930's, they chucked the requirement that students write their exam answers in Latin/Greek. For centuries every student learned those languages, because manuscripts were extant, and because a whole lot of non-Biblical material was in those languages. Bible manuscript books were in pieces; among them all you could cobble together a full set. So an effort was undertaken in the 1800's to collect, collate, and correct scribal errors in what MSS we could find. Well.. God had Tischendorf rescue an almost complete MSS, now known as (if I remember) Codex Aleph, Sinaiticus. Within a few years, Tregelles' prodigous collection efforts and memory would force the Vatican to release its long-secreted MSS, the Beth, aka Codex Vaticanus.]
People who don't want to know the Bible in the original-language texts GOD WROTE are just snubbing their noses at God. No kind way to state that fact.
Sixth seal is spectacular disaster as 'wakeup call'. Idea to get people to recognize as Warning that this is coming from God. We can see they will recognize the Author, but .. not change their minds. Notice the differences: first four seals are blatant advertisement of BIBLE being of God, via the trends which are deliberately tied to Israel and post-Cross, to Church -- but still bearing Israel's historical-trend stamp. By contrast, Seal #5 is the trend of people growing up to Pleroma fullness, justifying the continuance of time, as has been true also since Adam. So those not learning from the first five 'seals' get Seal #6, spectacular disaster.
So the first six seals run from Adam onward. Who learns from them? Nearly no one. Till yet, most people barely know how to spell "God", let alone have any fluent understanding of Him. This world's preoccupations they know well; religion, they know well; works, they know well. But "God"? They don't know Him at all. Now you know why those seals are encumbrances: we are all tied up in them.
Seventh Seal 'opens' the Tribulation itself. So if we don't complete, they won't, the Earth's title deed stays encumbered, Christ will not be revealed, all the promises in the OT will not be delivered. ["Encumbrance" is a legal concept as old as Adam; idea that ownership claims over the same property encumber the property from delivery until the rightful owner can be proved, found, 'completed' (if there are conditions to delivery, as is true in the Trial).]
Greek drama themes were always stated at the beginning of the play, usually by someone not in the cast, especially if the play itself centered on the activities of the gods. (For example Hermes explains the theme of Euripedes' play, "Ion" at the opening.) So, what is the Epilogue of Play A, is also what opens Play B, because the opening of Play B depends on the closing of Play A. Again, Church must complete for history to continue, for Christ to be revealed.
So, the Seventh Seal Remains To Be Opened, when Chapter 7 begins; for, with the opening of the seventh seal, the Trib sequences trumpet out. Again, our friend "meta touto" DIVIDES OFF what happens in 7:1 onward, from Play A. This keyphrase thus ties right back to its sibling "meta tauta" which ended Rev4:1, so you know that 7:1 is happening at the same time as 4:1; but, on Earth. Like watching two cable channels at once. Of course, we humans have to read sequentially, so Chapter 4-6 are like an explanation behind the commencement of Play B, in Rev7:1. In short, a parenthesis. Just as the Church is a historical parenthesis, just as everyone treats Christ as but an asterisk of history, so also what happens in Heaven, is disconnected from Earth, uncared-about BY earth, so unseen by earth. What a dramatic way to show the impact, of Church!
Next, why use the metaphor of Trumpets. Well, the Jewish Year is marked by Trumpets, which announce the times of certain festivals, etc. Jewish history's macro structure, is patterned on these Trumpets, as well. So also, special years like the Jubilee year. Trumpets sound peace, rest, war, royal processions. But in all cases, Trumpets mean Royal Command. So too, here. Hebrew word "moedth" is real important to investigate. (Greek LXX counterpart words vary depending on what meaning of "moedth" is used in the Hebrew.) The word "moedth", like all other Hebrew words, has a variety of connected meanings, and ALL of them depict Doctrine, especially due to the way these seemingly-disparate meanings, hook up. For, "moedth" means Meeting, Time-of-Meeting, Meeting Attendees, Appointment, Meeting Place (Tabernacle, in Moses' day, later the Temple). You always had an appointment with God. God would always "seven" -- keep his Promise. "Seven" was always the Meeting/Appointment/Time word, then, for Assembly. I can't explain "moedth" better -- research how it is used in Bible, i.e., in those famous Daniel passages on "time times, half a time". Real important, to do this...
Greek plays, like modern ones, needed intermissions so folks could use the restroom, get food, etc. So here we have an intermission, to see how the mission has gone thus far. To see why what will happen in the 2nd half of the Tribulation, is Ordained by Holy, Loving God. It's a question which alike answers NOW, all the bad stuff God allows to happen. For, man is disposed in Adam to blame: blame others, blame things, blame God. By the Trib midpoint, man is so in love with blaming, drastic action has to be taken to rescue him. So a huge explanatory pause, must precede.
Due to the released demons, Trib pattern intensifies from here on out. So, there is a pause to a) review why, and b) unveil the plot themes of the 2nd half of Trib.
As a result, Ezekiel is to go to the exiles (note parallel to situation of Jews in Rev10) and tell them the contents of the prophecy; plus, Ezekiel is to put himself in a very uncomfortable situation and during it stage a horrific (and humorous) mock seige, lasting 13 months (one per tribe, looks like) plus 40 days -- in all, 430 days, the same number as were their years in Egypt (Gen 12 prophecy to Abram, see also Exodus 12:40-41). [Nerd note: 400 of the 430 years were slavery. Joseph was still vizier when they arrived, so for the first 30 years, they were not enslaved. So the kant about Bible contradicting itself, is the insanity of the accuser, nothing more. Yes, 13 tribes. Joseph got a double portion. If you look at the Rev7 roster, you'll find that double portion listed as "Joseph" and "Manasseh", but Dan is missing. Because, no one in Dan will be among the Jewish evangelists. The anti-christ prophet in the Trib will be from Dan, too. It's true that in Mill only 12 foundation stones representing the tribes will be laid, so apparently one of the tribes is either assimilated under another (i.e., maybe one stone for Joseph's double portion), or some other explanation. It's kinda off-the-point, to be concerned about this, imo. God has His Reasons.
Note that it is still "every tribe" of Israel per Rev7:4: every tribe which has responders, duh. See also Romans 9, 11. God never coerces volition, He just tells us in advance how volitions will respond to Him. Moreover, there aren't since who-knows-how-long, any 'pure' tribes remaining. Intermarriage among the tribes, and among the Gentiles, for centuries, probably means that most of humanity has some Jewish blood in them! After all, God DID promise Abram he'd make him, AbraHAM. Look up the etymology of his new name (Gen17:5) in HALOT or Kittle or other lexicon which spends time on name origins. The wordplay is soo incredible! Words like amen (believer!), Ammon, Haman, roar, uproar, victory shout, so many words are related to "HAM": multitude of Word, multitude of nations, no kidding!]
At this point the unbeliever's soul is shrunken, with respect to God; soooo small, that all these horrible catastrophic events must ensue to awaken him. Particularly, for the Jew. These will be the worst 3.5 years of pogroms in the history of the world. Hence the Rev10 reference to Ezekiel.
Notice well: the evil people are RELIGIOUS. They are being kept AWAY from the Temple they built which God forbade. So they are happy when the Two Witnesses are killed. Religious types are always bloodthirsty, and even pride themselves on how holy they are, for it. So too here. Funny how mainstream Christianity treats the rebuilding of the Temple as a good thing. It's NOT. It's a satanic thing. Satan invented religion, so the religious think religious things are holy. So too, here.
Rev11:1 ties to Daniel 9:27, which is in stark contrast to Dan9:26, which says that the Temple will NOT be rebuilt. We already know from a bizillion promises in OT that God and God Alone will regather Israel, restore the people, restore the land, and rebuild the Temple. So any regathering, etc. attempts before Christ is Visibly Back at the 2nd Advent, are all satanic ploys. Look: everything in Ezekiel after Chapter 39 (the 2nd Advent) is wholly dedicated to Temple rebuilding. Parallel passage is in Isa 59:18ff. We all know and gag over the huge amount of detail given to this topic; for it takes a lot of work to figure out what all those measurements mean, the articles mean, etc. Notice God spends much time on Temple structure and building.
When you tie Daniel 7, 8, 9:27 and 12 to Revelation 11, a kind of chronology emerges. Rapture occurs, and these Two Witnesses appear. (It's not said that they are recussitated Moses and Elijah, but could be instead just two new Jewish believers.) These two start on the first day of the Tribulation and last until the 3.5-year midpoint. At the same time, someone in the West claims to be Christ, Dan9:27, and some Danite then in religio-political power in Israel, backs the claim. But these Two Witnesses are OBSTRUCTING. At mid-'week', they are killed, and the claimant sets up a statue of himself in the Temple instead, looks like within 30 days of the death and rising of the Two Witnesses. Which seems to mean that the claim PRECEDES the Tribulation, since the number of days from 1335 in Daniel 12:12 exceeds 3.5 years (the 1335th day is the 2nd Advent, so it's the ending period being depicted, as the context shows when compared to Daniel 9:27).
Of course, in every generation there's always someone claiming to be Christ. The current obsession over whether Christ had kids (i.e., that silly Da Vinci Code nonsense) is enough of an example to prove plausibility. So again, you can't predict Rapture from that -- but you can see how historically valid, the Revelation chronology.
Of course, Satan's been trying to occupy us with Temple Rebuilding ever since it was destroyed in 70AD, since we are NOT supposed to do that. Part IVa's "Stone Witnesses" link shows some of the historical attempts, all of them happening in years pivotal to some new 490-year time grant, completing. So the fact that he ultimately succeeds in getting the Temple rebuilt before the Tribulation begins, is here depicted. Plausible -- again, given the history we have already.
So how strange, here in Rev11:1ff. Yeah, strange as in "strange fire", "strange god", foreign 'gods'! First, notice that although John is given a command to measure the Temple, he never does it. Compare to Chapter 10, where he's given a book to eat and then says he ate it (10:10), but there's no counterpart reply here. Nor is anything done. Nothing. Moreover, no matter what parallel Bible passage you look at (where the same command is given), the recipient is an angel -- never, a human being. [Many angelic appearances are called "a man" or "men" but you can tell from the context that they are angels.] So the reader should go on red alert: God doesn't want the Temple Rebuilt. So, He must be sarcastic.
As if God is rebelling: like in Jer14:12, Isa59:1-17, Isa1:11. How apt: the Rev11:1-2 command itself is rebellion-like, truncated, compared to other OT commands, and the Speaker isn't even identified; and what John's given to use, is a REED (meaning no faith, no strength) for a 'staff' (meaning, it won't work).. and, it has no measuring length specified. Why? Well the 'staff' is the same word for the ROD OF REBELLION, get it (LXX, Rabdo, Num17)? Because not until the 2nd Advent is there to BE a Temple. See Ezekiel Chaps 39 and following, through the end of the book. The detail on the measuring rod and what is done with it, is huge. Similar pattern in all the other verses where this activity is enumerated.
But not, here in Revelation 11! Instead, you see a truncated, sarcastic command, making one think of Matt7:1-2, where the measure which you measure shall be measured back to you: God takes measure of who will really worship Him; but, principle of Isa59:16a, finds no one, so HE solves the problem (Isa59:16b). Here, sends the Two Witnesses. So Rev11:1-2 must be sanctified sarcasm about measuring: Come on, TRY to measure what shouldn't have been built; they tried to make a Temple here when I, even I told them I, even I would Alone regather them -- by means of My prophets Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and all My other bond-servants! Yet back then, when I, even I told them to build, and twice! they were always a rebellious people! So now John, measure by PEN [wordplay on reed], what you ate in Chapter 10, the bitter faithlessness of this people. Oh? You are silent, John? Silent, because you cannot find a just defense for them? Very true! Then I'll measure it..
Notice how the sequence between Chapters 10 and 11, suddenly make more sense, given this sarcasm. Ezekiel's prophecy is SEIGE. It's horrible, it's panoramic of Israel's history, and it's also specifically limited in time. The entire reason for it is laid out, bare and ugly. Ezekiel did a mime of the seige, and he had to lay on his side for 390 days, then on the other side for more 40 days, while he played with bricks and hair and iron to depict what was going to happen. Because, the people wouldn't hear his words. People who were IN exile. Just as, the Jews are now, and at the time Rev11 actually takes place. Doesn't matter if they themselves assemble themselves and call themselves, Israel -- God Didn't Regather Them, God Didn't Authorize This Temple. So, it will be beseiged. God will protect the Rock, and that's it. Their vain sacrifices don't count, since Christ is risen (read Book of Hebrews); so they don't get to sprinkle blood on the Holy of Holies -- the Witnesses will prevent that, and do whatever other plagues they are given by God, to make plain what's wrong. And, they will do this for the first 3.5 years of the Tribulation. So no one can pretend to not know.
We in modern times can readily understand how televised this will be. It's a big deal to rebuild the Temple, Satan wants that badly (on his timing, of course), so he can gather the Jews; so since he already knows what God will do about it, he's working history to get the best advantage out from this situation. So count on the Two Witnesses being promoted via every publicity device which then exists. Count on the Temple Rebuilding being promoted -- even as it has been, since Constantine's Day. Promote and fight, to kill everyone on both sides. Then, when needed, make one side win (Islam, for example), to keep the fire-to-rebuild, alive. Then, when needed, 'give in' a little, like in Balfour Declaration (authorizing Jews to rebuild in the Land) -- and then reinforce that sop with huge pogroms (i.e., WWI and WWII), so Jews will FLOCK there in the name of protection. Ahhh, cornered now. Beseiged. Satan's not stupid!
So, vv4-6, God gives them certain authentication which He has historically done for all His real prophets (as distinct from the many false ones, even today): they can shut the sky, blow fire, etc. These two have all the powers of plagues -- way more than even Moses was given. At will. So notice: the people blame the Two Witnesses for all the calamities, rather than wake up and realize God is 'behind' them. Or, realize God is 'behind' them, and hate Him for ordering these things. People hate God like that now, even when lesser calamities strike. Not too hard to imagine a deeper hatred, when the shallower one is soooo prevalent.
So it's no surprise that even before the Tribulation begins, two ongoing trends -- that of someone claiming to be Christ and Temple Rebuilding -- are 'bought' by the billions among the world's populace. So you can't use those indices to date the Rapture, either. All you know is, Satan succeeds in getting the world to buy the claims, by the time the Trib actually begins. [Side notes: 1) I can find no justification for the supposition that the Two Witnesses 'return' from the grave. Looks like they are new believers due to Trib, just like the 144,000 -- and maybe, among that number. In short, their first death is at the hands of 'Abbadon' (11:7). 2) It's not clear whether 'Abbadon' is named after Satan, and was locked up with the other Abussos demons; or whether 'Abbadon' is Satan (who was never locked up), given how his name/identity is expressed in Rev9:11, and other OT passages which use that name (not always transliterated, which is a pity). Primarily because Satan's not one to get his 'hands' dirty; partly given the way Rev13 distinguishes between dragon (who IS Satan, no doubt) and beast, yet the one enabling the beast to kill the witnesses came up from the Abyss (11:7, again); and a lot due to the description of the beast being possessed by the one who comes UP from the abyss (Rev17:8+9+11), I bet 'Abbadon' is a separate person who was head of those locked up in Abussos. Trib scenario in SatSpin.htm (link at pagetop) thus assumes that Abbadon has been trapped, waiting for his buddy Satan to get him out. This doesn't have to be a right answer for the rest of what is said to remain valid. It just makes more sense , right now.]
This link between the Fifth Trumpet, the Two Witnesses, and the reply of the Sixth Trumpet, tells a chilling tale. Let's review: Trumpets #1-#4 are Exodus-style Cecille B. DeMille displays by God, telling the pharaonic human race to let go of their disbelief; for, Bible has lots of verses post-Exodus on how these disasters are ordered for anyone who acts like Pharaoh did. Moreover, these Revelation 8 Trumpets have "third" components, which Ezekiel's beseiging mime portrayed (i.e., Eze3ff). Other prophets use the same "third" language, so to see 1/3rd effects, will plainly point to these prophecies, and thus, to the Real God. So for sure we're not talking about natural phenomena, but someone deliberately doing it. Of course, during these Trumpets, the Two Witnesses are nice and handy to blame for everything. Especially, since while these things occur, they will be explaining them. Which also accounts for why they individually have all plague powers, so to show it IS deliberate, IS of the Same Source; applied at selected times on selected individual targets. So even if you know no prophecy, you can watch television...
So, people aren't responding to God by the appointed end of Trumpet #4 (assuming #1-#4 don't run co-terminous).. why? Well, look at Trumpet #3; it emphasizes the bitterness of the water, to mimic both human negative attitude toward the Water of the Word, like the folks at Meribah; to mimic Satan's own bitterness and self-poison. Since Scripture is multilayer, the first meaning of Wormwood (a name for Satan) could be intended to convey he comes down, deus ex machina-like; especially since Greek word piptw is in the active voice (it's not happening to him); whether or not the other demons join him, I don't know. But clearly this is something he wants to do, is not forced (you can't tell that in the English). It's not the same thing as happens in Rev12, where he is then thrown down (Greek word is ballw, and he does get it done to him). In fact, this Third Trumpet is how we 'go from point A to point B'.. the sequence of how Rev12's angelic battle, can occur.
So maybe Satan clamors for the key in the Trial; so, at the Third Trumpet, and he thus DELIBERATELY 'falls' down in order to prove to God he should get that key. 'Rich idea, that; now he can get empathy from selected humans, lulling them into thinking he's less powerful than he is -- same ploy he's made since veiling himself via the serpent, in Gen3. So between that time and the endpoint of the 4th Trumpet, he organizes the 10 horns, etc. (metaphors for political and religious federation, the 'beast' of Daniel and Rev13, 17). Because, another layer of meaning in the Third Trumpet, is that 1/3rd of the people accept him, so they get God's 'wormwood' reply of bitter water. That doesn't wake them up, so they got the Fourth Trumpet, the 1/3rd darkening, to show them they are darkened. But they still don't respond. Remember, all this time, since Day One of the Tribulation, the Two Witnesses have been protecting the Holy of Holies, and are publically known...
Wouldn't take long for him, alone or not (though I bet not alone, but heading all non-imprisoned demons), to convince the 'right people' to side with him: he's gorgeous, powerful, and obviously is allowed to display himself to mankind. Satan is self-righteous, very high-minded. Very messianic. That's why he rebelled in the first place. Power-hungry people reflect his mindset, are often very moral and big-picture oriented. In the name of good, they will align with him. Don't mistake the attraction to Satan as a lascivious feely-thing: that's just a game played upon humans in movies like "Rosemary's Baby", so we will be decoyed from the real operation, do-goodism.
Look how easy his ploy could be, for other targets: Psssst! I'm the REAL Allah/Mohammed/God-of-the-Month, come back to collect My People. But first, I need a little show of faith. Those pesky Jews and Christians have caused you trouble all these millenia, and look -- see how their "Witnesses" are really demons? That's why you have all these plagues! I LET them do it because YOU weren't responding to the threat by GATHERING YOURSELVES into a FORCE and WARRING with them. So: show Me your faith, organize, and I WILL EMPOWER YOU to defeat them [display supernatural powers here]... See? There's a sucker born every minute.
Look how easy his ploy could be, for the two targets who'll head the whole thing up, the guy who'll be the topmost head of the 'beast', and his 'prophet': Lemme be honest with you. I need your help. All we need to win against God is for everyone to either die, or vote against Him. [Explanation, here -- fast, supernatural demon-thought transference, works kinda like a vision -- and oh, how good it feels! so the hearer aches to have that much power.] Will you help me? Matt4, baby, all the kingdoms of the world. Who can resist, that? Christianity hasn't...
Pause and think about America, today: how is it the entire country can be talking about a Federal Marriage Amendment, when in third grade you learn the Bill of Rights? And our President sponsors such a thing? Do you know how that got started? The pope made a comment in reply to questions about the many European homosexual marriages, that such marriages were wrong. Someone asked President Bush his opinion: I saw this on television, think he was in Camp David at the time, but maybe not. Somewhat abstractedly, the President replied he didn't think homosexual marriages were ok, and agreed with the Pope. The President clearly had other things on his mind, and was just answering a question put to him; in other words, he didn't have any plans of furthering some cause or amendment in America. Yet suddenly, within mere weeks, wham! there is this national movement to amend the Constitution? And how piously, how self-righteously, all the independent Christian churches join together on it! Even though, such an amendment VIOLATES the Bill of Rights and -- even more importantly -- states alone have the right to make marriage laws? So never be skeptical about demon influence being so fast and powerful, that all the world will "wonder after the beast". We can just turn on our televisions any day, and see the same thing happen even among believers. Satan loves manipulating believers who are soooo bored with Word they don't learn it. Easy to see how quickly and how satanic we Fake Church all are, whatever our demon nation...
So possession, which can only occur in an unbeliever, is the lesser option. Takes more of the demon's time. So they are very selective about who they possess, and the actual possession is often invisible to outsiders (any visibility is to ridicule the object, which is not the usual purpose of possession, post-Cross). So the person thus possessed will be smart, attractive, able, etc. This, of course, affects the millions who see that person. Which seeing, all the demon thought-transference, marshalls then to even better effect. Again, just turn on your television, to see how easy it is, to marshall people around a few selected individuals or issues. Note how, if issues, they are stupid, not worth any time in discussion. But people slobber all over themselves, anyway. [Nerd note: never mind trying to figure out if those individuals are possessed, lol -- that's not the point. You won't be able to tell, and it's none of your business. Just learn the lesson God wants you to learn, not the lesson your demon-influenced hunger for titilation wants you to learn.]
What distinguishes the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets is that the demons are doing it. For, the unbelievers wouldn't listen to God, so.. ok.. demons get free reign. It's always been the rule in Bible, and here we see it writ frighteningly large. Yet notice: Rev9:20-21 shows that even all that ensuing supernatural destruction, didn't sway those who survived. Amazing: if I'd never seen such hardness in humans, if I didn't see how incredible the disbelief in Christ -- Despite the Dome of the Rock being an obvious stand-in fulfillment OF Matt24 and Dan9:26 -- I'd be hard-pressed to believe Rev9:20-21. Man blames. Man blames everyone. Man blames everything. Man blames God. It's just not possible, is it -- that people are so bad, they need this kind of wake-up call? Sheesh.
If my pastor told us once, he told us 10,000 times that the Greek text talks of demons, not humans. It's not hard to notice. So, "Three Demon Assault Armies" (my pastor's term), at least (or maybe six, since four demon generals +Abussos demons, +Satan&Co -- well, depends on their TO&E). So while it is true that well over 200 million people in China have gone through military training and are of military age, the armies of the "kings of the east" is not being depicted here, and its size is not stated in Scripture. ["Assault troops" is a better translation than horsemen, since that's what horsemen, did. John is describing what he sees, and what he sees, he calls horses, because that was the way assault armies moved quickly in his day; but what horse belches fire, smoke and sulfur? The region around the Dead Sea has deposits of flammable coal-like sulfur deposits. Fire of God, sorta. So unstable, it spontaneously ignites.]
Lots of famous Christian teachers/leaders interpret the 200 million as being the kings of the east. It's really hard to be in public life as a teacher/leader, and everything you say, you end up thinking you have to stick to, because of your position. That's how Catholicism got started, how any institution gets started, and it's a real pistol to admit a mistake. Because, we stupid underlings do lose our faith and do go on rampages of iconoclasm, forgetting that the leader is also human, and has no wiggleroom, for he is in a glass bowl. Cut them slack for being incorrect here?
Ouai! That's why the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets sound; why demons are allowed to torture and then, kill those who do not believe in Christ. See the demon ploy? It's the same today! Seduce and destroy, baby. Worked real well, to gather them in Israel, from the Balfour Declaration, forward; oh no, don't wait for God to do it, but go to Egypt, Caesar, whoever, you she-camel-in-heat Israel, Eze16-23!
So why should the demons change strategy, go to something 'new'? The tried-and-true is still the best! So, then -- Seduce the negative who hate these Two Witnesses, who hate the 144,000, and hate them because the ceremonial aspects of the Law are refused by GOD (real important, to see the many OT verses on this) -- seduce them, by destroying the Two Witnesses. Then, destroy the seduced! Who, by the way, will be mostly Jews who love observing a Law God instead fulfilled in His Son Behind The Veil; who today! love squinting at blue and white thread, rather than opening their eyes to see the Dome Satan put over Abraham's Rock! Makes you want to wail in sackcloth and ashes, to know this horrible fact. For if today's Jews can't read the Rock, they won't then read the plagues. Us, neither. We are all blind together!
First, we already saw how this "beast..sea" arose, due to the human reaction from Third Trumpet onward. Now, we're getting explanation of the politico-religious structure which had resulted. "Sea" means a sea of people, since sea is salty and people are supposed to be also. Dead sea, bituminous-salt (aka "brimstone") people, full of evil 'doctrine', now congregated into a confederacy. The head of the heads, will be the one to be worshipped, kinda like an Emperor (though who knows what nice name will be then used to disguise the fact, if any). Sponsoring him is a Jewish Danite who maybe pretends to be some past-prophet, returned (lamb with two horns). "The earth" is really HA ERETZ, the Promised Land. (LXX translates ha-eretz as "he ge"; it's a play on words even though the term is the exact equivalent of ha-eretz, since Israel was to eventually inherit the world through the Lamb of God/Messiah-to-Come.)
Now fold in Dan9:27, and a bunch of other prophecy. The 'beast' and the 'prophet' strike a deal. After all, 'the beast' has just been kind enough to rid the world of those Two Witnesses; shouldn't there be something in EXCHANGE? Not asking much -- just a little respect, homage, statue in the Holy of Holies.. and oh, by the way, all commerce and activity has to be LICENSED. No one can eat without me getting my share of tribute, because I have all these TROOPS to pay for that little campaign against those horrid Witnesses, AND THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN THEM, right? Oh.. and to show that respect, the license is needed even once I end tribute. The license, of course, is FREE! You get it simply by calling me, god, since obviously that's who I am. I am who I am, so you just ADMIT that, and eat all you like! Enjoy! I'm not getting the taxes, you know. Those are to show how much you WANT TO FUND the capture of those who foolishly BELIEVED in those demonic Witnesses. You DO want them captured, right? So now the final-layer meaning of that multi-layer prophecy in Matt24, has its ultimate desolation. Just like Nebuchanezzar did in the time of Daniel (which is why Daniel got this prophecy). Whoa. We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.
Timewise, we are at Rev11:15, just after the 7th trumpet sounds, just after the earthquake, just after the war in heaven which finally locked all demons out of heaven; just after the beast and the prophet, still breathing hard with the rest of the world over the sudden events, have concluded their peace deal to usher in the god who delivered them. Celebration! Statue set up! Does the same things as those horrid Witnesses, but against any who oppose him! Yay! Oye, oye, all mankind come worship the real god, get your license here, nice fine lambs, can't buy or trade or work or breathe or watch tv without the license; nice fine lambs, come pay homage, free license if you admit him god, come buy eat without money and without price.. but, um.. don't you want to pay tribute to help catch the evil ones who supported the Witnesses? Um, if you don't pay the tribute.. then do YOU support them?
So now, God has to reply again: bowl judgements. The most gruesome of God's judgements have always used particular OT language to denote them: drinking the wine of your own evil, down to the last drop. Hence, blood. Hence, in Rev14:6-11, the daily flying angels will be telling everyone that they will 'drink' God's wrath upon themselves if they don't wake up and smell the coffee. Hence, the Rev14:14ff ceremony about the outcome, a harvest of both believers and DEAD, with so much blood flowing in Ha-Eretz, people won't be able to live there for a long time after He even Returns.
The "bowl" is a specialized term, especially for drink offerings to the gods. So you'll find translations like the King James, use "vial". Oh, they're vile, alright. Just so you know, these are DRINKING bowls. See Rev16:1-7 on the meaning.
Beginning in the 2nd half, note how there are NO HUMAN WITNESSES. So, instead, three indestructible angels start flying around where people can hear and see them: daily. They announce what's really going on (Rev14:6ff shows their appointment and what they'll do). Time to help people notice those angels are real, not flying machines.
True, at that point of the Tribulation there's a world war going on, but.. Satan has to kill the Jews to prevent Messiah's RETURN. The prophecy of the bloodbath we saw back in Rev14:14ff (pronouncement), 19:15-19 (its fulfillment) and passages like Isa63 and Eze39 are 2nd Advent passages which make it clear it's THE LAND which gets the bloodbath. Well, the plain of Esdraelon is big enough to have enough bodies, just like Eze39 explains. See also Eze38. Treat 'Armaggedon' as misspelled, but don't treat it as mistaken or allegorical, as so many scholars do. Just because stupid people get titillated, doesn't mean the thing they oooh over, is false.
When scholars are nervous about a topic, they hedge. It's understandable. To be an accepted scholar, you have to follow certain political rules, like.. don't act confident, unless the whole discipline is united about a thing being true. Moreover, sex topics make everyone nervous, so you can't bluntly explain what Bible says, lalalala. Most nervewracking is the blatant fact God will execute this bloodbath personally upon all those armies, with gruesome details on how they die (i.e., those verses on their flesh rotting while they are yet standing and alive, Zech14). These details don't comport with the sanitized version of God we have all been taught to pavlove. So we treat God like dog, and lick up whatever spittle is drooled out to us in His name.
So all this rot about Armaggedon being not possible because Megiddo is a hill or something, because the armies depicted would be too large for the valley, or 'whatever'.. is ridiculous. If people are under demon influence, what's sensible is not perceived. Just because they all go there, doesn't mean they should -- in fact, we know they shouldn't, and even the common sense that, hey, if everyone went there, they'd be the ones trapped! never occurs to these minds. But then, it never occurred to anyone in America during the Enron brouhaha, that trashing Arthur Andersen was wrong, either. So thousands upon thousands of jobs were lost. For awhile in the Chicago area, the sheer amount of furniture and equipment thus up for sale from that branch of Arthur Anderson, depressed prices so badly, you couldn't sell your own...
This paragraph is written in 2005, during an editing session. We in 2005 have more than ample evidence how crazy people get. Look at the Pope's funeral. Do ya get that emotional over someone you never met? Do ya travel thousands of miles when you do not have to (politicians had to), to stand in line for 24 hours, to get a five-second glimpse of a shrivelled body in a fishhat and pointy shoes? Of course, a Chicago underpass soon after had a flowing salt stain thousands considered an 'appearance' of the Virgin Mary. Would God authorize such insulting-to-Him things? God doesn't do pet tricks. God doesn't want US doing pet tricks. But the demons sure do: they gashed the guy among the tombs, they gash anyone in the human race stupid enough to want the touchy-feely harlotry they sell. So: pick any media event you like, dissect its 'sense', and you'll find there is none. We are emotional puppets, and Satan&Co. know just how to pull our strings. While the Bible goes unread in every hotel room and bedroom, everywhere it exists...
At this point, what my pastor calls the Armaggedon Campaign, is on. It is halted by the 2nd Coming, and as a result of Christ personally slaughtering everyone (outdoing his record with Sennacharib's army, way back in 701BC), the blood does run high as a horse's bridle. What, each human has how much blood, a quart? Half gallon? If the depiction is more to illustrate bodies than actual blood flow, we've seen how those bodies were stacked in mass graves.. we've got gruesome pictures taken by the murderers at the concentration camps, at Nanking.. it's not beyond man's capacity to kill or be slaughtered in large numbers. How much more, then, should the Lord kill all in the most gruesome way, those who but for that manner of death are too hard-hearted, to believe in a God they can see coming from light-years away in space. For on that day, His Coming will be the only source of light (Zech14, Eze39, Isa63, Rev19, other passages).
Look at the Grace inside the Gruesomeness: if you can See Him Coming, You Have Time To Believe. If by the time He ARRIVES you still do not believe, what else is left for Him to do? If you aren't motivated to believe, even to save your own skin, how much are you controlled by your own hatred? Survival is the strongest psychological instinct in mankind. That's why we have this urge to bear kids. That's why we are willing to go to war. That's why we sometimes do superhuman things, like lift cars when someone we love is trapped underneath them. That's why we do almost everything we do. That's why the Gospel is couched in save-yourself terms: Believe (simple), or burn (oh no, then I'll be hurting forever).
So how crazy must these people be, that when they see Him COMING, they still do not believe? So what must He do? Give them a slow death. Their flesh rots on them (leprosy-of-mind, depicted). [See Rev19:11-19, Ps110:5 (note context from v.1), Joel 3:9, Jer 16:4, Jer 41:20, Zech 14:12, Eze39:18ff, Isa34, Isa63, Matt24:28, etc., many more passages.] So they still have time, while dying, to believe. Takes but a nanosecond to believe. They see Christ Personally. So if they refuse Him even while dying, they hate Him. And they would rather be tortured forever, than believe. So, they get what they want. Can't blame God. But, they will. But, we humans do. Hatred is like that. Satan is like that. We are like that. So here, we see our real nature, exposed: we are in darkness, and we love it.
So how much are we in unwarranted darkness, now? Granted, when it comes to prophecy there is much educated guesswork -- Is it really a nuclear holocaust? Is it really a river of blood, or that high a level of stacked, rotted, dead bodies? Well, think: are these the right questions to ask? Sure, you have to plug in assumptions while vetting Bible data, but is the objective to be 'right' about whether it's Rome (i.e., due to Jer51:6-9, 25, compared to Rev17, 18:8ff), or Jerusalem (Rev11:8, Isa13:19).. or instead of musing over location, isn't it more important to be informed about what God means by all this information? [There's some kind of deliberate, double-entendre being made. I remember my pastor saying the nuclear explosion was in what we call "Rome", geographically. That makes sense, too. Babylon IS Rome, and specifically a religion (whether RCC or not, who knows) based in Rome, given Rev17-18; but those other verses with their OT cross-references make it look like Jerusalem, too. Which is true: all the nations of the earth, including all nations today, are stumbling over Israel. Israel is never out of the news, never out of conflict; every time in the past when Israel stopped being the center, Satan did something to get her back into the limelight. Satan, not God. Islam and the Zionist movement are his creations, and the poor folks in them have no clue how they are being used like cannonfodder. It's heartbreaking. When Jews bought land from the Turkish Sultan in the 1800's et seq. to rebuild Israel, that was a Satan-sponsored thing. Which the poor buyers, of course didn't know. But then they weren't reading Scripture, and were violating the many many prophecies warning them not to regather themselves, like (the aforementioned) Eze20:30-44. Kill me now!]
Obviously, what God means is the more important. So you can plug in your assumptions, be wrong or right about identities, but... learn the principle, not the petty stuff. So what does He mean by all this gruesome information? He means us to be wary of ourselves. We have an enemy who is just as interested in turning us NOW into a charnel house as they will succeed at doing, during the Tribulation. We should stop being so naive about people and ourselves. We can't stop, though, absent breathing 1Jn1:9 and sustained study under our right pastors. That's the message we need out from this horrific future which for years will be remembered with a shudder...
Bible already showed us Satan got the Temple rebuilt, in Dan9:27 and Rev11:1. That had to have happened before the Tribulation took place. Because believers associate the temple rebuilding with the Tribulation but don't understand its import, they will FLOCK by the millions to be near it, once it is rebuilt. Nice and handy for being slaughtered. Jews, of course, will be drawn like moths (muth, Hebrew=to die) to the flame. That's a true 'mothman prophecy' you can bank on. Satan sure is.
So expect the Temple to be rebuilt at any time. That's why Satan keeps making Israel the center of world history (in a negative way, of course). That's why he sponsors Islam, and that's why now he appears to be withdrawing his sponsorship of Islam. Then 'Christians' and Jews, who none of them read Matt24+Eze20:32 and understand, will triumph over the Moslems, and in their glee, will flock by the millions to live in Israel, boy oh boy -- so they will be sitting targets whenever the real Tribulation begins. Part V explained this ploy and its eventual success, in more detail. The Appendix has a table on it as well to show how it can play NOW: the "MEGA Promote to MEGA Persecute" table.
So this is a constant goal. Satan has to time it, though. We can see his timings often try to match the 490's of God. (See Mirroring.htm re the nature of the 490's and their rollout from Noah to 70AD. CLICK HERE for the roll outs after 70AD.) The ending dates have been 560AD, 1050, 1540, 1990; and we're in the fifth one since the Cross. Satan trotted out Islam just after he got Christendom to split and exhaust itself, since Julian did not rebuild the Temple (the goal didn't ever materialize).
So now in the 2nd half of the Tribulation, what are people thinking? Oh, the Temple is cleansed of those horrible Witnesses, and we can worship the real god who killed them. But what a dilemma, for the believers are the targets Satan wants. He doesn't really care about unbelieving Jews, for they will not inherit the promise. But he needs to kill them before they believe, since he has no control over whether they believe. So he needs to cater to whatever version of god they will buy. We saw him do that the first half. But in the second half, he's got so much less time, he's got to concentrate now on believers, because their being believers mean their votes count. Only way he can get them out of hiding, is to pull a switcheroo, and make this 'beast', Messiah. Genuinely.
That, of course, will polarize all those who believed against the Witnesses and with the beast on the grounds he wasn't the Bible's God. So they will be mighty upset to 'learn' that now this same guy is claiming to be the Messiah. Hence the world's armies converging toward Megiddo, makes sudden sense. Hence the warring between the political and religious factions, with the former eventually winning (Rome and Jerusalem get torched) makes sudden sense. Dunno if you've noticed, but the Revelation 17 depiction of the warring, has already happened many, many times since the Cross. Europe bled itself white during its many religious wars, and what about all those Crusades? When you stop to think about it, Jerusalem has in effect been at the center of history, since Constantine's day...
Meanwhile, the switcheroo could easily be sold to believers. The "Satan's Spin" link at pagetop offers one such scenario; doesn't have to be the actual one, does have to show the plausibility and mindgames. Key to the switchover will, as always, be some kind of feel-good supernatural display. Just 'explain' that the angels flying daily are demons, just 'explain' that the continuing calamities are demonic, just 'explain' that Christ Himself bested the beast who killed the Witnesses, and is really BACK! At the Temple! People have believed sillier things.. like God would be so sadistic as to put a soul in the womb -- so they will believe this, as well. 'Sucker born every minute.
So, it's particularly important that Satan set up in advance certain structures before the Tribulation begins:
So, while Rev 11-13,17 depict what happens in Trib, for it to HAPPEN then, it must be built.. NOW.
And, pretty much in that order of importance, since each one feeds to the next, more efficiently. Notice how it played out, when Catholicism got started -- pretty much in that order, except that the 'fake Temple', wasn't yet needed, because the pogroms were going sooo very well. (Per Gibbon, the Emperor Julian tried to rebuild the Temple, but fortunately God stopped him.) Again, note the 'coincidence' of an Islam rising to claim ground on the Holy of Holies, just when the two halves of the thoroughly-apostate Roman Empire, had exhausted themselves (Short History of the Arab Peoples by Sir John Glubb, historical introduction.) Since Rome could no longer keep its claim on the grounds (the Roman temple there being in ruins, having been constructed under Hadrian, circa 140AD), well.. someone had to pick up the baton...
Satan now delays the Rapture, by means of these structures. That's why God gave us this prophecy, NOW. Alternatively, Satan can use Rev17's apostacy to bring about the Rapture, too early. PartIV exhaustively covers all the strategy here, because believers in Church really don't seem to recognize that the sole criterion for history, is how they grow up in Christ. Satan needs desperately to deflect that recognition, because then he DELAYS his own incarceration. He already knows that the last seven years won't work -- he does know the Bible rather well -- so he's not stupid. He needs Rev17 to delay or abort God's Timing for the Rapture. Timing which is dependent on Believer Votes, even as it was depending on Christ's Voting to go to and through the Cross. Part IV has the details (especially IVa and IVb).
So, it's not surprising that historically you can see these very 'bullets' killing the human race, generation after generation. Revelation 17's fake-church harlot description began to come true only four years after Revelation was penned (rise of the so-called "Apostolic Fathers")! There's a whole lot of writing done by the founders of what became known as Catholicism, and it's worth reading, to trace the degradation of their doctrines into the same "traditions of men" that felled what became the Pharisees and modern Judaism. We learn from Bible that we learn nothing from Bible; so we learn from prophecy that we learn nothing from prophecy; so we learn from history that we learn nothing from history; we learn the hard way, that we didn't learn.
But you can search the internet: God has preserved a very healthy remnant of Jews who believe in Christ. They usually couch everything still in Judaic terms, and some still cling to the rituals, etc. -- but they are saved! God has also preserved a not-so-healthy-right-now remnant of Christians. Remember, a "Christian" is someone who at least once 'obeyed' John 3:16 -- and since no Christian channel ever gets the Gospel right from what I can tell, millions of folks who imagine themselves 'Christians', are not. That's frightening. Part V went through the problem. Such fake-believers, Jews and 'Christians' both, will be trapped by the twin ploys of fake-Church and fake-Temple. Just as they always have been, in the past.
The terms "harlot" and "Babylon" are such oft-used and multilayered OT metaphors, no Jew should conclude but that the Christ has come and gone and that the NT is a true record about Him. It's positively appalling that the Dome of the Rock sits over the Petra, an abomination of the Holy of Holies, and no Jew catches on? Talmud is chock-full of correct definitions of these terms. Yet itself, is quite blind. Awesome. So we Christians shouldn't be surprised that we too are just as blind, allowing all manner of false interpretations of Scripture, to be popular. Scary. Downright scary.
And helpful, to avoid misinterpretation. The beast and statue images are paradigmal repeats of what prompted the first Temple's destruction; prompted Daniel's capture and visions. all that meaning, so many hundreds of exact variables, are all conveyed via the simple word, "Babylon". Yet everyone guesses? There's NO guesswork here. Legwork, not fanciful imaginations...
Rev18:1 has a "meta tauta" clause, so we know this is the seventh bowl judgement of Rev16. All the woe woe woe language, of course, is common in Greek drama, as well as in Revelation. So, too, the sorta hyperbolic style of Revelation as a book -- Greek drama is very melodramatic by our modern standards. In short -- this is a deliberate writing style, not some secret code. Why, when it is obvious just by looking at Greek drama subject matter, don't scholars recognize that an ACTUAL EVENT is deliberately depicted? Classical Greek dramas aren't ever about fiction, for crying out loud! Whatever allegory/fictional format is used, it's meant to display something REAL underneath; this, coupled with the very detailed OT prophecies about the Trib and Mill should leave no sane person with any doubt that, hello -- the Lord's Return is a real event, and this is a real timeline preceding it, according to the way the Age of Israel's covenant works. Oh well.
Truth to tell, the historical record amply supports the claim that all the world has depended on Jerusalem. A dusty city. Crazy to think such a small place, named "The Foundation of Prosperity" (Jeru+salem), should be soooo important. But look how true is that statement:
So it sure looks like the One Lampstand/candelabra, the One Person Who Was Crucified In One City.. stands before the World Which Reacts To It. Witnessed by Two Stone Structures which mutely testify to the Fulfillment of that One Person's Goal, just as foretold in Dan9:25-26, Matt24; just as forecast in Rev11:1ff. And all that, even if you didn't know all the provable fulfillments of Time Being Orchestrated Around Him in 490-year segments (see Mirroring.htm).
Of course the West only formed, due to the Cross. The very existence of later Rome, Europe, Russia, US, was a response to the Cross. And an apostatized reaction, too, pretending to be 'Christian'. The US was founded mostly by Reformed people of one stripe or another, who didn't quite agree with the sterility that Calvinism became. One of my natal parents was of that group, coming over here in the 1700's, very prolific. If you read a history of the US by some famous and thinking historian like a Thomas Bailey, or William Manchester, you'll get a good sense of how important faith was, in our founding. An independent faith. Again, the Reformed movement had a lot wrong with its doctrines and still does; but one of the several fundamentals it got right, was Faith Alone In Christ Alone, permanently saves you. Today, they are almost the only denomination in Christendom, who say the Gospel correctly (the Baptists and many other 'independent' churches, have long forgotten how to read John 3:16). So it's no small wonder that the US began to flourish, and especially in the 1800's, when all those manuscripts were found by Europeans. Europeans who likewise were experiencing a resurgence of interest in the real Bible. That's the only reason the West prospered. So, yes: Jerusalem indeed has been the foundation of prosperity for the world. We are all saved, because of her. And her thanks for that will be devastation. But then, RESTORATION, SHUB at last! the proper Queen among Nations. Just as Her Rejected Husband, always promised...
So close Chapter 18. Bye, Bye, Babylon; HELLO, BRIDE!
In Mark's Gospel, practically every paragraph ends with another "suddenly" synonym, Greek word "euthus". It's usually mistranslated "immediately", which is marginally okay -- if you know the English "immediately" as right now. For, Mark's using that word to warn people that Temple Destruction was imminent, just as the Book of Hebrews (released at the same time) warned them. Flee Jerusalem, Get Out Right Now. Parallel to the imminency of the First Advent, so used in the Gospel. Parallel to the Rapture, so used in the Gospel. Parallel to the 2nd Advent, since parallel to the other two. For the 2nd Advent, while predictable kinda like the first one was, still SUDDENLY descended. And no one was paying attention. Only a few will be paying attention when the sudden inspection arrives again (Rapture, 2nd Advent).
So the "suddenly" moniker is nothing new. The First Advent was imminent, until Daniel 9, as explained throughout Part IVa; and the Second 'becomes' imminent, because the Rapture triggers the countdown. Just as they couldn't know when His First Advent would be absent Word study, so also they can't know when His Second Advent will be, absent Word study about Church (meaning, the NT). It's not hidden, and you don't have to wait for the "sign" to occur. So you wade through the Word, then you know: which is why This Word Of Revelation, is given. Hence the epilogue is worded as it is. That's what they will do, in the Trib: read this Book. That's what we all should do, always...
In short, it's a well-known drama technique, so the Lord uses it several times in Revelation, making it clear that the Church is not on earth in the play, that the play is real and to forewarn; and He uses the same "suddenly" and "like a thief" catchphrases He used while still down here, to verify HE's the one talking. Akin to signing prophecies in the OT with "thus says the Lord", "Ani, Adonai" (Hebrew) -- except He's God-Man, now. (I think Molière's "The Invalid" had some of the same technique in it, unless the version I saw in Los Angeles was 'doctored'. If I remember rightly, Aristophanes in "The Frogs" had Dionysus criticise Aeschylus for using too-long interjections, so... look up that play and re-visit Aeschyulus'.)
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For Centuries? To conclude a no-Trib/no-Mill or not-pre-Trib Rapture, requires one throw out Greek drama which in John's day was as popular as Shakespeare is to us; drama which at the very time of writing was used to satirize Christians, in Rome itself. Also, one would have to burn or trash most long-established principles of OT hermeneutics, to construe Revelation as solely allegorical, not to mention trashing all the bizillion passages in the OT which use the same metaphors for the same time period. So one must work extremely hard to chop out John's obvious narration of a dual significance to Revelation, since that is also an OT style which the Lord Himself used, as indeed all 'prophets' before Him. Moreover, John's use of Greek to communicate OT metaphors should have been a tip-off all by itself. I mean, why else use deliberate OT metaphors, if not to make a PARALLEL? Finally, the specific-timeline events depicted in Revelation did not occur by 96AD, and have not occurred until yet.
Of course, we all know by now that the politician resorts to mom-and-apple-pie stuff to get elected, and he really has to: people are always "on" him for favors. So, he takes the party line, and plays the game. So, too, the university professor must keep publishing 'research' to be well-paid. So he has no time for students, either. Hence you get a T.A. (teachers' assistant) at the 'prestigious' universities, not the professor; the T.A. gives CANNED LESSONS to the class. Yet the students each pay 20K or more annually, for the privilege! Of course, this problem has plagued all the sciences since forever. In a word, ossification.
Bible incompetencies thus lurk along, for centuries. A a slightly wrong translation yields a BIG interpretational screwup.
2nd Example: due to old comments by lexicographers, Isaiah 53:10-11 in the LXX, never gets the serious attention it deserves -- never mind, the NT writers keep on tying back to that LXX text. It's a real eye-opener (pun intended) to read how the lexicons all follow each other. For more on the Isaiah 53 problem, click here.. 3rd Example: the prolife movement read their Bibles only REVERSED translation. Click here for details. Bible translators are understandably of ascetic bent, i.e., lexicons are loathe to admit Bible's swearwords or sexually-explicit terms. So you can see why "womb" verses in Bible are reverse-translated, compared to Bible. Pattern: "the woman walked the dog" is rendered "the dog walked the woman"; or, into "the woman DIDN'T walk the dog." 4th Example: misconstruing Genesis 1 as the initial creation of the Earth. Click here for Genesis exegesis videos showing BIBLE says Earth was RESTORED, not initially created, during the six literal days. My pastor taught that fact for years (i.e., in his "Genesis" lessons), but here presentation is independently from Bible. See how destructive, the scholarly canned approach? How many millions of dollars have been wasted in misread Bible, re prolife and creationism? So what happens at the Bema? God cans your hide, 1Cor3 -- all your hard MISGUIDED efforts are so much wood, hay, stubble to be burnt! So you got canned from this life, as no 1Jn1:9 leads to 1Jn5:16, for crusading is a sin, especially on a topic that maligns and contradicts God's Word; and then, canned at the Bema. All because one insists on CANNED TRANSLATIONS (Hosea 4:6, 8:7, Gal 6:7). Ouch.
Everyone's always after the religious professional for "counsel." So, the poor guy has NO time to do what GOD wants: study and translate/teach. That's what the Bible says you do: DIDASKW. Not, run around making invocations, prayers, visiting the sick. Other spiritual gifts have those other roles. So, too, the religious professional has to deal with a lot of political garbage, with the result that he too sticks with the canned -- whatever is respected in the past, that he also follows. It's understandable, but it's really a problem when it comes to the Bible. Most people don't need complex wills; most don't need complex medical attention; most don't need complex classes, even. But we all need accurate translation and teaching of Scripture. Sadly, the good ol' boy network is even worse among religions (of any type, Christian or non-Christian). Because, it's more POLITICAL. They don't like the politicization, either. So everyone is suffering, not getting away with anything. It's heartbreaking for everyone. But the NOW Play must go on; it will terminate SUDDENLY, like-a-thief! at the Rapture. So as believers, let's do two things, since we are Crown-Prince-Priests-in-Training: a) PRAY for those involved in Bible to 'see' 1Jn1:9, lest their erudition go wasted, and b) ourselves grow up via His Brains, in God's System. |
