Before diving in to this study, I want to discuss a bit of the history surrounding this work by John. First of all, I'm going to say that the date of composition, had to have been before 75 AD. I don't say this because of futurism, my view of this book works just as well if it was written later. I say this because John leaves out key things that happened from 70 AD to 95 AD.
Where's the death of Peter, the rock of the body of Christ? Don't you think such a crucial thing would be mentioned as revelatory of the coming of the Messiah?
Where's the death of Paul?
Where's the death of James the brother of Jesus?
To think that John would leave these important events out? I just don't see that happening. These were key figures (and others that died) who died to bear the witness of Messiah, and John just leaves it out?
This leads me to discuss the three primary interpretations of Revelation:
Let's first look at the history of the Church - when did these views start?
1) Before Jesuit Priest Luis de Alcasar, not one Catholic, Protestant or early Christian professed this belief. This is PARTICULARLY important regarding the post Jerusalem destruction. NONE of the apostlic leaders, after Paul, John, Peter professed an interpretation of Revelation that the destruction of Jerusalem fulfilled the interpretation of the book.
We also have a warning from Paul for the FULL Preterist, which I do consider HERESY ->
{2Ti 2:16-18 HNV} But shun empty chatter, for they will proceed further in ungodliness, and their word will consume like gangrene, of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; men who have erred concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, and overthrowing the faith of some.
The prophecy in Revelation, the rest of the New and Old Testament all points to the FINAL day, the DAY OF THE LORD (important for understanding Revelation) This is the day the resurrection from the dead is going to happen, and if Jerusalem being overthrown fulfills ALL the passages prophesying of His return? Then we MISSED the resurrection. It is promised to Israel, and we are grafted in to that promise.
You'll see some online argue, "If a Jesuit starting this interpretation is a reason to reject it, then we should also reject futurism which was also started by a Jesuit."
I agree with this conclusion whole-heartedly. The reason these interpretations of scripture exist is to mask the true beast of Scripture that was UNDERSTOOD even before they took over.
As R.C. Sproul states of full preterist Max R. King, of Ohio; "For this schema to work, the traditional idea of resurrection must be replaced with a metaphorical idea of resurrection".
{Matt 24:29-31 LITV} And immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give her light, and the stars will fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in the heavens. And then all the tribes of the land will wail. And they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and much glory. (Dan. 7:13) And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the heavens to their ends.
{Dan 7:13 LITV} I was looking in the night visions. And behold! One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of the heavens. And He came to the Ancient of Days. And they brought Him near before Him.
{Acts 1:10-11 LITV} And as they were intently looking into the heaven, He having gone, even behold, two men in white clothing stood by them, who also said, Men, Galileans, why do you stand looking up to the heaven? This Jesus, the One being taken from you into the heaven, will come in the way you saw Him going into the heaven.
in 70 AD, in order to fulfill the prophecy either partially (which is not how Bible Prophecy works) or fully - Jesus would have to come to judge the world, this is the day of the Lord, the day of resurrection from the dead. The day She'ol gives birth to the damned and the just. Not only does 70 AD NOT meet that requirement, it's clear from ALL the post apostlic writings that NO ONE taught this, after 70 AD happened.
Did they all miss that 70 AD was the fulfilled prophecy?
That the Lord had returned to Jerusalem to only judge them?
Was 70AD the WORST tribulation to befall any of mankind? look back to the 1940's and the holocaust. That was MUCH worse than what Rome did.
{Matt 24:21 LITV} For there will be great affliction, such as has not happened from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be.
The coming affliction (Tribulation) will be SO GREAT that it has not happened this way from the BEGINNING OF THE WORLD UNTIL NOW (When Yeshua spoke this) and the important addition:
NOR WILL EVER BE - this is a statement of finality, that there is no more affliction after this. It's after this, that he tells us; "After the affliction of those days, I will send my angels to the four corners of the world to gather my elect."
If this actually happened, we are believers without a promise - just as Paul warned of Hymenaeus and Philetus..
2) Futurism, as stated was also started in the counter-Reformation era, by Jesuit Priest Francisco Ribera. Futurism did not exist prior to this Jesuit Priest, just like Preterism. Again, research the early Christians - I'm not saying they are as authoritative as scripture. They aren't - However they give us perspective of scripture, and interpretation from the era shortly after the writings of the Bible were completed. This is important, because there is a WHOLE LOT OF LEAVEN in the body of Messiah.
Futurism has it's own set of problems, that has led to TERRIBLE theological schools of God's secret resurrection, (rapture of believers before times get really hard) and Dispensationalism - which is essentially a repackaged version of the heresy of Marcionism and/or Open Theism. The fundamental foundation of which is dual covenant theology, a separate covenant for Israel and the "Church age" (this is not in your Bible, read it) along with God allowing the people of Israel who just suffered one of the greatest atrocities in history through the Holocaust to go through even more trouble, while the grafted in Church skips town.
Know this as your foundation of ANY scriptural exegesis.
{Mal 3:6 HNV} "For I, the LORD, don't change; therefore you, sons of Ya`akov, are not consumed.
{Heb 13:8 HNV} Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
God is perfect, God is immutable - He doesn't change from yesterday to today, and will be the SAME tomorrow. This means both dispensationalism and open theism are RANK HERESY.
Now, does this necessarily mean the new leaven of Futurism is also heresy? No, we get there through scripture.
Has God ever been SILENT? One of the fundamental claims of both futurism and preterism is that the past 2000 years, God has been silent about the coming of the Lord. The other problem with BOTH views is they try to take POETIC imagery and make it literal. For the Preterist, it only applies to Jerusalem, even though the Day of the Lord is called the day of Judgement FOR THE WORLD. (Again, how did the early Church miss the return of Yeshua??)
For the futurist, they believe a literal dragon, a literal mark, and all the other poetic language is LITERAL.
When seven heads of famine grain, ate seven healthy heads of grain - was it literal?
When Yeshua talked about eating His flesh and drinking His blood? Was He being literal? Catholicism believes so and re-crucifies the Lord every day.
When books of Prophecy speak of things, it's best to use the SAME interpretation, those books of prophecy unlock for us.
{1Co 14:37 HNV} If any man thinks himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him recognize the things which I write to you, that they are the mitzvah of the Lord.
You must have SPIRITUAL eyes, and SPIRITUAL ears.
Anything that came from the Catholic Whore? Mystery Babylon? You need to take heed.
3) Amillenialism - this has the deepest root, with writers as early as Iranaeus recognizing this interpretation to be what John was aiming for. That the book wasn't mean for one seven year timeline, but meant for the time from Christ's ascension to His return.
{Psa 84:10 HNV} For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, Than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
(this is not the only scripture that reveals this truth)
When John speaks of a "1260 day period" and Daniel speaks of "70 weeks" - both are speaking of a number of years. prophetically it was 490 years after Daniel spoke that, that Yeshua came to be Emmanuel - God with us.
Prophetically, the Pagan whore reigned over ten physical Kingdoms for EXACTLY 1260 years, when Napoleon sacked Rome. The same way the Prophetic books of the Old Testament cover the same event from multiple angles? John is doing the same thing. Again, you MUST have eyes to see and ears to understand.
Here's one example, and I'll be going over more in coming studies as I dive into Revelation.
{Rev 14:8 NKJV} And another angel followed, saying, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."
{Rev 18:2 NKJV} And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!
Did Mystery Babylon FALL TWICE or is John describing the same event twice?
Or this metaphor for entering Heaven:
{Rev 7:17 NKJV} "for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
{Rev 21:4 NKJV} "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away."
John is AGAIN describing the same event at the same time, from two different perspectives.
This is crucial to really coming out of Preterism and Futurism. Another aspect of this, is the numerics used by John that are also taken literally by Dispensationalism and other Futurists. The JW really get hung up on those 144,000 as being the only one's that get into heaven.
{1Ch 16:15 NKJV} Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded, for a thousand generations
{Psa 105:8 NKJV} He remembers His covenant forever, The word [which] He commanded, for a thousand generations,
Thousand EQUALS eternity, note the understanding here. A thousand generations, is FOREVER a thousand YEARS if a day is a year? A thousand years, is FOREVER.
Now there is some complex understandings in this, why was Satan released after what I'm saying is eternity? I will be explaining this as I believe God has revealed it to me.
Satan was already released and is currently making war on the Saints through the Corona Virus and as I prophesied, that war will rapidly increase in tenacity.
Peter was given the keys -> (not because He's the Pope, He's transferring the new Priesthood here, which Peter explains in the second chapter of his first epistle)
{Mat 16:19 NKJV} "And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
This key?
{Rev 20:1 NKJV} Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Allowed believers to BIND and LOOSE things for a THOUSAND years. (the period of time between Christ's ascension and His return) The key that unlocked this for me was repeated statements Messiah made to His disciples..
{Mat 12:26-30 NKJV} "If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? "And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast [them] out? Therefore they shall be your judges. "But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. "Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad.
Read it twice.
Notice?
The Kingdom of God has COME UPON YOU.
This is the same warning we see from John the Baptist.
{Mat 3:2 NKJV} and saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"
The Kingdom IS AT HAND.
Now, I know what many of you will say - "Morris, how can Christ's Kingdom be established here and now? This world is wicked and growing more wicked by the day."
True statement, however let's look at what Paul says.
{Rom 1:16-20 NKJV} For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith." For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown [it] to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes] are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
Why are people AFTER the cross without excuse? God's prevenient grace, His KINGDOM has been manifested. He tore the veil in two, and established His temple.
{Act 15:15-18 NKJV} "And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written: 'After this I will return And will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down; I will rebuild its ruins, And I will set it up; So that the rest of mankind may seek the LORD, Even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the LORD who does all these things.' "Known to God from eternity are all His works.
The tabernacle God promised to build, AMONG THE PEOPLE to establish His kingdom is HERE AT HAND.
This is the end of part I - next I'll start going through the book in linear order, explaining the parallel passages. I'll also try explaining the onion layers, and the dreams God has shown me to help me understand what will happen next.