The Disciple's Road

The Bowl Judgments

Posted on February 3, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #16)

Our studies in prophecy have now brought us to the last half of the tribulation period. Satan and his fellow rebellious angels have lost a second war in heaven. The Antichrist has either literally arisen from the dead after an assassination attempt or at least duped the world into believing that he has risen from the dead. Either way he is now possessed by a powerful demon. He has broken his treaty with Israel. He has taken over the Jewish temple. The world is worshiping him as a messianic figure. His False Prophet has erected an image to him in the Jewish temple. The False Prophet has also instituted a system of buying and selling that requires a special mark. Anyone who refuses to take this mark will either be put to death or be forced to live in hiding and survive as best he can. Okay, so where do things go from here? Let’s find out.

In Revelation 14:1-5, John says, “Then I looked, and behold a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him, one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads.” We know who these 144,000 are because we met them in Revelation 7:1-8. They are the 144,000 Jewish evangelists who will take the gospel into all the world and win millions to Christ during the first half of the tribulation period. But here now, at the opening of chapter 14, their ministry is finished and they are standing with Jesus on what John calls “Mount Zion.” While it’s true that the earthly city of Jerusalem is referred to as Zion (2 Samuel 5:7, Psalm 87:2-3, etc.), Hebrews 12:22-24 leaves no doubt that there is also a heavenly Mount Zion. And it’s this heavenly Mount Zion where John sees the 144,000 standing.

How do we know this? We know it because the entire chapter describes a heavenly scene. John hears “a voice from heaven” (Revelation 14:2). He hears “the sound of harpists playing their harps” (Revelation 14:2). He hears the 144,000 singing a new song as they stand before the throne of God (Revelation 14:3). The four living creatures (some type of angels) are there (Revelation 14:3). The 24 elders (a group that represents the entirety of the raptured church) are there (Revelation 14:3). John sees an angel come out of the temple in heaven (Revelation 14:17). He sees another one come out from the altar in heaven (Revelation 14:18). Even Jesus Himself moves from standing beside the 144,00 in verse 1 to sitting on a cloud in verses 14-16.

The question, then, is not, “Where are the 144,000 at this point in the tribulation period?” Clearly, they are in heaven. The question is, “How did they get there?” Unfortunately, that’s an answer that we simply aren’t given. This leaves us with two possibilities. Option 1: They were miraculously transported alive to heaven in a type of specialized event similar to the Rapture. Option 2: Once the time of their ministry on earth was finished, God dropped the protective seal (Revelation 7:1-4) they had enjoyed for the first half of the tribulation period and the Antichrist put them to death not long afterward.

No one can say for sure which of these options is correct, and any attempt to do so is mere speculation. That’s why I won’t even make an attempt. What I will do is draw your attention to the fact that, with the earthly departure of the 144,000, the evangelistic good the tribulation period produces will for the most part end.

I say “for the most part” because John does inform us that God will dispatch three angels from heaven to fly through the earth’s sky sometime during the last half of the tribulation period. The first angel will preach the gospel (Revelation 14:6-7). This is actually the only time in the entire Bible where an angel is commissioned to preach the gospel. The second angel will pronounce the soon-coming judgment upon “Babylon” (Revelation 14:8). (I’ll explain that in a later post.) The third angel will remind the earth’s inhabitants that anyone who takes the mark of the beast or worships the beast’s image will surely experience the eternal wrath of God (Revelation 14:9-11). I’ve heard these three angels described as God’s “mop up operation” to make sure that every last person in the closing half of the tribulation period has a chance to believe in Jesus as Savior and shun the lie that is the Antichrist.

Really, though, as amazing as these “preaching” angels will be, there won’t be many people saved after the midway point of the tribulation period. As a matter of fact, there is no record in The Revelation of anyone becoming a Christian after that midway point. It’s just not that kind of season for the earth and its inhabitants. Instead, it’s a season of God’s wrath.

As evidence of this, we should pay close attention to what Jesus is holding as John sees Him sitting upon that cloud in Revelation 14:14-16. He is holding a sickle. What’s He going to do with that sickle? John watches as He figuratively swings it over the earth and harvests the earth. You see, this is a heavenly scene that figuratively depicts what is about to happen upon the earth in the last three-and-a-half-years of the tribulation period. God’s sickle of judgment is about to be swung.

Jesus swinging the sickle in verses 14-16 typifies how grain was harvested in ancient times. Thus, there is no mention of anything flowing from the effect of the blade. In verses 17-20, however, yet another angel gets involved. This angel comes out of heaven’s temple holding his own sickle, and when he swings it over the earth it typifies how grapes were harvested. We know this because John talks about how the angel’s sickle “gathered the grapes from earth’s vineyard” (Holman Christian Standard translation) and “threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath.” Some commentators believe these two different harvests speak of the two different groups who will be alive on the earth at Christ’s second coming. The Christians (the “wheat”) will be harvested in the sense of being rescued and welcomed into Christ’s 1,000 year kingdom on earth, and the lost (the “grapes”) will be harvested in the sense of being put to death and their souls banished to hell.

Like the juice that flows when clusters of grapes are thrown into a winepress and crushed, much blood will flow from the inhabitants of the earth as a result of God’s wrath (Revelation 14:17-19). This blood will flow especially high “outside the city (Jerusalem)” (Revelation 14:20). John describes a river of blood “up to the horses’ bridles” that runs for “one thousand six hundred furlongs.” That’s over four feet high and 200 miles long. This is surely a reference to the blood that will flow in and around the area of Jerusalem as a part of the lead up to and culmination of the battle of Armageddon. Perhaps the language is exaggerated. Then again, perhaps it isn’t. One thing is for sure: MUCH blood will be shed during the last days of the tribulation period.

The fact is, though, that even before the world gets to all that bloodshed, it will have to endure one final wave of seven judgments as the last half of the period opens. The old King James translation refers to these as the “vial judgments” but modern translations call them the Bowl Judgments. This name comes from the fact that each judgment involves an angel pouring out the contents of a bowl of judgment. John describes these seven judgments as “the seven last plagues, for in them the wrath of God is complete” (Revelation 15:1). I’ll use the remainder of this post to examine the first four of these judgments.

Bowl Judgment #1 (Revelation 16:1-2): A Terrible Sore

John watched as the first angel poured out his bowl upon the earth, and “a foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image” (Revelation 16:2). This sore is what we might think of as an ulcer on the skin. It is a running boil that oozes pus. Since it is “foul” it must give off a bad odor as well. In similar fashion, the sixth plague with which God struck Egypt was a plague of boils that broke out on people and animals (Exodus 9:9-11).

Any and all who have taken the mark of the beast will be afflicted with this sore. It’s possible that the sore will pop up in the location of the mark, either on the right hand or on the forehead. These sores will last for a while too. Revelation 16:11 indicates that people will still have them well into the fifth bowl judgment. And let’s not underestimate the irritation and pain of a sore. I get cranky when I get a fever blister on my lip!

Bowl Judgment #2 (Revelation 16:3): The Sea Turned To Blood

The second angel poured out his bowl upon the sea, and “it became blood as of a dead man; and every living creature in the sea died” (Revelation 16:3). We’ve seen this kind of thing before in The Revelation. As we studied the second trumpet judgment, we read about a great mountain burning with fire being thrown into the sea (Revelation 8:8). This mountain causes one-third of the sea to become “blood,” one-third of the sea’s living creatures to die, and one-third of the sea’s ships to be destroyed (Revelation 8:9). Here now with this second bowl judgment we have the entirety of the sea becoming like blood and every living creature in it dying.

I’ve always found it interesting that both these judgments affect the “sea” (singular) as opposed to the “seas” (plural). What should we make of this? One explanation is that John is speaking exclusively of the Mediterranean Sea. Remember that he was in exile on the island of Patmos, which is in the Aegean Sea, which is a part of the larger Mediterranean. A second explanation is that God’s perspective from heaven is that the earth’s various oceans total up to one big “sea” that covers 70% of the planet. A third explanation, one that sounds more provocative, is that by the time of the tribulation period the earth’s seas will have risen to a point high enough to flood over enough areas to actually merge and become one sea. But please don’t run off too far with that last explanation. I only included it to offer a bit of “outside the box” thinking.

As was the case with that second trumpet judgment, the question everyone wants answered is, “Is John talking about literal blood?” In my comments on that trumpet judgment, I mentioned that there is a phenomenon called a “red tide” in which billions of microorganisms die in a body of water and turn the water red. Another term for this natural occurrence is an “algae bloom.”

So, could this be what John saw? Maybe, but it seems doubtful. First, no “red tide” has ever covered an entire ocean. Second, John seems to make a point of emphasizing that he’s talking about literal blood when he says the blood is “as of a dead man” (Revelation 16:3). Regardless of whether or not the blood in the water is literal blood, the primary thing to understand about the second bowl judgment is that its scope and magnitude are far worse than the second trumpet judgment. We aren’t dealing with one-third of the salt waters and sea creatures this time; we’re dealing with all of them.

Bowl Judgment #3 (Revelation 16:4-7): The Fresh Waters Turned To Blood

The third angel poured out his bowl “on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood” (Revelation 16:4). Here again we’ve seen this kind of thing before in our walk through The Revelation. The third trumpet judgment gives us a great star that falls from heaven and makes one-third of the rivers and springs of water bitter. The difference in the third bowl judgment is that all of the rivers and springs of water become blood.

Again, is John describing literal blood? A straightforward reading does seem to point in that direction. In verses 5 and 6, the angel who poured out the third bowl explains that God has now judged those who shed the blood of saints and prophets in that He has given them blood to drink as their just due. Those martyred saints and prophets certainly didn’t shed algae blooms, did they?

Bowl Judgment #4 (Revelation 16:8-9): An Intensified Sun

The fourth angel poured out his bowl “on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire” (Revelation 16:8). During the fourth trumpet judgment a third of the sun, moon, and stars is darkened. The reverse happens, though, concerning the sun in the fourth bowl judgment. This is more evidence that the last half of the tribulation period will be much worse than the first half.

Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a world in which the sun’s rays scorched people? Forget about vacationing at the beach or at the lake. Then again, apparently all those waters would be blood anyway. I suppose the people alive on the earth during this time will be forced to remain indoors during the day. And what about all the grass, trees, flowers, and herbs? Evidently, all that greenery will be burned up.

I’m old enough to remember the 1970s and 1980s and the dire warnings about how the spray from aerosol cans was depleting the ozone layer that protects the earth’s atmosphere from the harmful rays of the sun. This led to the worldwide phasing out of those types of products, a phasing out that is now almost complete. It just could be, though, that in the last half of the tribulation period the ozone layer will be weakened somehow, which will result in an intensified sun. On the other hand, the ozone layer could remain the same but the sun could start spewing out solar flares, go supernova altogether, or something like that.

Whatever the exact details will be, we might assume that all these ecological disasters will cause the earth’s inhabitants to turn to God and cry out to Him for help. But that assumption would be wrong. John says, “And men scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give him glory” (Revelation 16:9).

The reality of the situation will be that once a person takes the mark of the beast, there won’t be any turning back spiritually. No matter what befalls that person, he/she will have lost the ability to turn to God. The only time these people will speak of Him will be when they curse Him, blaspheme His name, or blame Him for all their troubles. This is a rock-bottom state in which to exist, but it’s how the majority of the earth’s inhabitants in the tribulation period will live.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged a red tide, a sore on the right hand or forehead, an algae bloom, an angel preaching the gospel, blood flowing four feet high for 200 miles, Jesus holding a sickle, the 144000 standing on Mount Zion, the bowl judgments, the earth having one sea, the fresh waters turned to blood, the ozone layer depleted, the sea turned to blood, the sun intensified, the winepress of God's wrath | Leave a comment

The False Prophet

Posted on February 1, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #15)

The Holy Trinity is God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. In the tribulation period, the unholy trinity will be Satan, the Antichrist, and the False Prophet. Satan will play the role of God the Father as the grand planner. The Antichrist will play the role of Jesus as the one who will carry out the plan upon the earth. The False Prophet will play the role of the Holy Spirit as the one who will point the world to the one who will carry out the plan. Since I haven’t really said much about the False Prophet in this series, I’d like to devote this entire post to him before we launch forth next time into the record of the third and last wave of tribulation-period judgments.

In the symbolic language of The Revelation, the False Prophet is similar to the Antichrist in that he too is described as a “beast.” However, whereas the Antichrist is depicted as having seven heads with a blasphemous name upon each head and ten horns with a crown upon each horn (Revelation 13:1), the False Prophet is depicted as having “two horns like a lamb” (Revelation 13:11). Whatever else might be said about the differences in these two descriptions, we can at least understand that the Antichrist will be more powerful than the False Prophet. In Bible prophecy, horns indicate power, and ten horns beats two horns any day. Even more than that, ten horns with crowns definitely outdo two horns with no crowns. What all this means is that even though the False Prophet will be granted enough power to do the things he needs to do, he will exist to serve the Antichrist.

But you don’t have to be an expert in sheep to know that a lamb doesn’t have horns. What’s the significance, then, of the False Prophet’s imagery including “two horns like a lamb”? Since The Revelation also portrays Jesus as a lamb (Revelation 5:6-8), the implication is that the False Prophet will specialize in spiritual matters and religion. He is called, after all, the False Prophet (Revelation 16:13, 19:20). Also, a lamb seems to be a harmless, innocent, even pleasant thing. No one would expect a lamb to do any damage. I take this to mean that people will underestimate the deviousness of the False Prophet until they have been caught in his snare.

Like most effective prophets, the False Prophet will be an excellent orator. John says that he will speak “like a dragon” (Revelation 13:11). We’ve only met one dragon in The Revelation, and that was Satan (Revelation 12:3-4). So, like the Antichrist (Revelation 13:4), the False Prophet will be energized by Satan. When he speaks, Satan’s words will flow from his lips. Just imagine a religious, “beastly” man who has the character traits and abilities of not only a lamb but also a dragon. That’s a dangerous man!

In John’s account, he sees the False Prophet “coming up out of the earth” (Revelation 13:11). Perhaps you’ll remember from a previous post that John’s imagery has the Antichrist coming up “out of the sea” (Revelation 13:1). Based upon Revelation 17:15, various commentators submit that “out of the sea” means that the Antichrist will emerge from the Gentile nations of the world. If this interpretation is correct, what does it mean that the False Prophet comes up from the earth rather than the sea? Many believe “the earth” (or “the land”) refers to Israel and that the False Prophet will be a Jew. I tend to agree with this assessment, but I won’t present it as irrefutable fact. I do feel pretty strongly that one man arising from the sea and the other one arising from the earth most likely indicates a stark ethnic difference between the two.

As a part of playing his role of pointing the world to the Antichrist, the False Prophet will erect an image to the Antichrist in the Jewish temple and have anyone killed who refuses to worship the image (Revelation 13:14-15). This reminds us of that great image of gold that Babylon’s Nebuchadnezzar once had built on the plain of Dura in Babylon (Daniel 3:1-30). That image was approximately 90 feet tall and 9 feet wide, and anyone who wouldn’t fall down and worship it was thrown into the fiery furnace. We aren’t given the specifications of the image the False Prophet will erect to the Antichrist, but it will surely be an impressive site there in Jerusalem’s temple.

And where precisely will the image be located in the temple? The most blasphemous place would be inside the Holy of Holies. That’s the small room where the Jews once kept the Ark of the Covenant. However, it would take a relatively small image to fit inside a room that size. If the False Prophet chooses to go for a much larger image and a more open space that will allow for larger crowds to worship the image simultaneously, it could be located in the outer portion of the temple complex, perhaps in the area of the sacrificial altar.

The False Prophet will also institute a system of buying and selling that requires each individual to bear a specific mark in the right hand or the forehead (Revelation 13:16-17). This “mark of the beast” will be associated with the Antichrist’s name or the number of his name (Revelation 13:17-18). That number is 666, and John calls it “the number of a man.”

Some students of prophecy point out that in Biblical numerology “6” is the number of man because Adam was created on the 6th day of the creation week. Likewise, “3” is the number of God because God is a Trinity. Perhaps, then, the number 666 is simply the Bible’s way of saying that the Antichrist will be a man masquerading as God.

Others, however, start with the fact that in the languages of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, letters had numerical equivalents. From there, these people devise incredibly elaborate systems by which the names of Antichrist candidates are produced. I confess that I’m not intelligent enough in either linguistics or mathematics to follow the reasoning behind these systems, but over the centuries this process has produced such names as Caesar Nero, Gaius Caesar (Caligula), Benito Mussolini, Adolph Hitler, and basically any United States President the people doing the ciphering didn’t like. Truth be told, this whole approach to interpreting the meaning of “666” has been so laughably wrong so many times that I find it impossible to take the area of study seriously.

As for our understanding of how the mark will actually be implemented on the right hand or in the forehead, that too is constantly evolving. Clarence Larkin was a prominent Baptist preacher and teacher of prophecy in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His books on prophecy became so popular that he had to quit the pastorate to devote his time to writing. In his commentary on The Revelation, he states quite emphatically that the mark of the beast will be either branded on or burnt on.

That, of course, was a perfectly reasonable interpretation in Larkin’s day, but he’d never checked out at Walmart or his local grocery store and had them scan his items by using barcode technology. He also couldn’t have envisioned a world in which everyone’s information and wealth is stored on computers. So, in our day and age, the latest take on how the mark of the beast will be implemented involves computer chips implanted in the right hand or forehead. The idea is that these chips will do away with the need for cash as the process of buying and selling is whittled down to a scanner passing across your right hand or forehead, money thus being either deducted from or added to your computerized account. Boy, that sure sounds like a logical interpretation, doesn’t it? Sure it does, right now. But twenty years from now it might sound as outdated as being branded or burnt.

One thing that we need to come to grips with about the False Prophet is that he will be granted a certain level of supernatural power. He will “exercise all the authority” of the Antichrist (Revelation 13:12). He will perform “great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men” (Revelation 13:13). He will use these signs to deceive those who dwell on the earth (Revelation 13:14). He will be granted “power to give breath to the image of the beast (the Antichrist), that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (Revelation 13:15).

How do we explain all this? We can’t fully. The best we can do is acknowledge that Satan does have power, real power, and he is perfectly capable of imparting it to those who do his bidding. This power is contained and governed somewhat now, but in the tribulation period, especially the last half, it will be allowed to run free and virtually unencumbered.

I’ve heard a few guesses as to how the False Prophet will be able to make the Antichrist’s image breathe and talk. Perhaps it will be some sort of state-of-the-art robot or artificial intelligence machine. Perhaps it will be a sophisticated computer. Perhaps it will be the latest and greatest invention of that future day.

While I don’t completely rule out any of these possibilities, it’s hard for me to dismiss the element of supernatural power John attributes to the thing. He says the False Prophet was granted power to give breath to the image. The Holman Christian Standard translation renders it: “He was permitted to give a spirit to the image of the beast…” Also, it’s no small detail that the Greek word that John uses for the “signs” the False Prophet is able to perform is semeion. That’s the same Greek word John frequently uses in his gospel to describe the miracles that Jesus performed.

So, to sum up, the False Prophet will be the Antichrist’s vice-president, chief promoter, public relations director, advertising campaign manager, and biggest fan. He will make people feel like fools for not coming into lockstep with the Antichrist and pledging their undying allegiance to him. He will be a religious charlatan, a Satanic voice, and a truly evil man. Omitting him from the unholy trinity would be like omitting God the Holy Spirit from the Holy Trinity. That’s how important his role is in the story of the Antichrist, and that’s why I needed to devote this entire post to him.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology", The Trinity | Tagged 666, barcode technology and the mark of the beast, Clarence Larkin on the mark of the beast, the False Prophet, the image to the Antichrist, the mark of the beast, the unholy trinity, two horns like a lamb, will the false prophet be a Jew? | 1 Comment

The Midway Point of the Tribulation Period: The Antichrist Becomes a Beast

Posted on January 31, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #14)

The last three-and-a-half years of the seven-year tribulation period are sometimes referred to as “the great tribulation.” This term comes from Christ’s quote concerning the midway point of the period: “For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:21). I myself have never been too concerned with dissecting the seven-year period into the general tribulation of the first half and the great tribulation of the second half. As we’ve seen in our studies, the first half will be plenty bad! Still, though, there is no denying that those final three-and-a-half years are going to ratchet things up to a much more intense level.

In my last post, I explained that the trigger for the closing half of the tribulation period will be a second war in heaven between Satan’s angels and God’s angels (Revelation 12:7). As they did so long ago in the first war in heaven, Satan and the other rebellious angels will come up on the losing end and be cast down to the earth (Revelation 12:9). But Satan won’t land on earth, learn from his mistakes, and humbly slink away to lick his wounds and ponder his future. No, he’ll be MAD! Really MAD! He’ll come down “having great wrath” knowing that he now has but a short time – the last half of the tribulation period – to seek his revenge upon God (Revelation 12:12). He’ll achieve this revenge by persecuting God’s people. And how will he get this persecution done? He’ll do it through the Antichrist.

In Revelation 13:1, the Antichrist is called a “beast.” This description speaks of his character rather than his appearance. The verse also says that he has seven heads and ten horns. Upon each horn is a crown, and upon each head is a blasphemous name. Thankfully, in Revelation 17:9-11, an angel explains most of this symbolism:

The seven heads have a dual meaning. They represent not only seven mountains but also seven kings. The seven mountains surely speak of the city of Rome, which has long been known as the city which sits upon seven hills. The seven rulers refer to seven historical rulers of the Roman empire, with the Antichrist serving as the seventh on the list.
The ten horns are ten kings who will receive authority during the time of the Antichrist. This explains why there is a crown upon each horn. These are the ten kings of the alliance that Daniel prophesied would make up the revived Roman empire of the end times. According to Daniel, the Antichrist will rise up as an eleventh horn (a “little horn”) and take over the entire alliance by subduing (“plucking up”) three of the ten kings (Daniel 7:7-8,23-24).
The seven blasphemous names, one upon each head, evidently refer to the level of hatred the Antichrist will exhibit toward God. In scriptural numerology, the number seven frequently symbolizes completion or perfection. Therefore, the Antichrist bearing seven blasphemous names speaks to how completely and perfectly blasphemous his intentions, words, and actions will be toward God, especially in the last half of the tribulation period.

Now, one of the most perplexing prophecies concerning the Antichrist is found in Revelation 13:3 and it has major implications on the midway point of the tribulation period. John says, “And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast.” This “deadly wound” must surely be important because it is also mentioned in verse 12 and verse 14. In verse 14, John even adds in that the wound was caused “by the sword.”

One interpretation of this prophecy is that the Antichrist will experience some type of resurrection after the whole world thinks he has been assassinated. Obviously, this will be Satan’s attempt to replicate Christ’s resurrection. However, a debate rages as to exactly how we should interpret the Antichrist’s death and resurrection. Will he barely survive an assassination attempt or will he actually be killed and somehow miraculously brought back to life? It doesn’t help that even John seems to offer conflicting descriptions of the event. Let me show you what I mean.

In Revelation 13:14, we read that the Antichrist “was wounded by the sword and lived.” Okay, that wording seems to imply a wound that is life-threatening but not fatal. However, in Revelation 13:3 and 13:12 the wound is described as “deadly,” and in Revelation 13:3 the words “mortally wounded” are used. Okay, that seems to imply a wound that results in actual death.

But wait, there’s more. Even though Revelation 13:3 does use those words “mortally wounded” it precedes them by saying “as if it had been mortally wounded.” That makes it sound like the wound appeared fatal but really wasn’t. But then we get Revelation 17:8 and Revelation 17:11 where the Antichrist is described as the beast “who was, and is not.” Well, if the word “was” speaks of a time when the man was alive, then it only makes sense that the words “and is not” speak of a time when he is not alive. Right?

Those who believe that the Antichrist will literally die and literally be resurrected point to the fact that Pharaoh’s “sorcerers” (“wise men” “magicians”) were seemingly able to duplicate some of the miraculous things that Moses and Aaron did in their attempts to convince Pharaoh to free the Israelites from their bondage in ancient Egypt. First, when Aaron threw his rod to the ground so that it could become a serpent, Pharaoh’s sorcerers matched that feat by throwing their rods to the ground and causing them to become serpents (Exodus 7:8-13). Second, when Moses used the rod to strike the waters of Egypt and turn them into blood, Pharaoh’s sorcerers used their enchantments to somehow produce the same effect (Exodus 7:14-25). Third, when Moses used the rod to call forth frogs from Egypt’s waters to come upon the dry land and ruin everyday life, Pharaoh’s sorcerers copied that act by causing even more frogs to come upon the land (Exodus 8:1-7). Admittedly that’s as far into the ten plagues as those sorcerers could go in their attempts to keep up with Moses, but the fact that they could keep up that long leads some to assert that those sorcerers were performing authentic miracles via the power of Satan. And if that really is what was happening, perhaps Satan similarly has enough power to literally resurrect the literally dead Antichrist.

Others, however, scoff at the whole notion that Satan has any genuine miracle-working power. After all, 2 Thessalonians 2:9 associates the Antichrist with “all power, signs, and lying wonders.” The use of that word “lying” might be taken to mean that the wonders (including the supposed resurrection) aren’t legitimate. Also, if Pharaoh’s sorcerers were able to perform honest-to-goodness miracles wouldn’t the better course of action have been to reverse whatever Moses and Aaron were doing rather than mimic it? I mean, why turn even more water into blood and bring up even more frogs just to show your power? Isn’t that evidence that what those sorcerers actually did was perform parlor tricks rather than authentic miracles?

As you might expect, whichever camp you align with on this debate will provide you with plenty of company. Rarely do both sides of an argument offer such compelling evidences to back up their positions. But since I’m the one writing this post I’ll be brave enough to offer my opinion. Just know going in that I don’t claim any secret insight for what you’re about to read. This is just one man’s take on a controversial subject.

I tend to side with those who teach that the Antichrist will literally die and literally be resurrected, and I’ve got two main reasons for choosing this side. Reason #1 comes from the original Greek of Revelation 13:3. The Greek word translated as “wounded” in the phrase “mortally wounded” is sphazo and it literally means “to slay.” It’s actually the same Greek word that is used in Revelation 5:6 in reference to Jesus as a “slain” Lamb. That sounds like a literal death to me.

Reason #2 involves Revelation 17:9-11. Do you remember that I told you that those verses explain that the Antichrist’s seven symbolic heads represent seven historical rulers of the Roman empire? What I didn’t tell you is that the passage offers us clues as to the identities of those seven rulers. Revelation 17:10 says: “There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.”

Many scholars identify the five “fallen” kings as the Roman emperors who had ruled before John’s day. Those were Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Cladius, and Nero. Continuing with this line of thought, the “one is” king of John’s day was Domitian – the Roman emperor who had exiled John to the island of Patmos. This leaves only “the other who has not yet come.” He will be the Antichrist, the ruler of the revived Roman empire in the tribulation period. This makes the Antichrist the seventh of the seven kings.

It is important to note, though, that the prophecy says that the Antichrist (the seventh king) will only “continue a short time” before he is replaced by an eighth king. And who will this eighth ruler be? Revelation 17:11 plainly says, “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth.” You see, the way the prophecy reads, the Antichrist will be not only the seventh king but also the eighth. It’s as if he has two completely separate reigns, one in the first half of the tribulation period and another in the last half. To me, this indicates that he will have two separate existences.

But how could such a thing be possible? I believe the answer is found in a demon. The Revelation doesn’t just call the Antichrist “the beast”; it calls him “the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit” (Revelation 11:7, Revelation 17:8). As we learned in a previous post, “the bottomless pit” (the abyss, the deep, Tartarus) is a place exclusively used for the incarceration of certain fallen angels (demons).

Hopefully you’ll recall that in Revelation 9:1-12 Satan is given the key to the bottomless pit as a part of the fifth trumpet judgment in the first half of the tribulation period. When he opens the pit the incarcerated demons (symbolically described by John as hideous looking locusts) are released (Revelation 9:3-10). Their “king” (leader) is a fallen angel John calls “the angel of the bottomless pit.” That fallen angel’s name is Abaddon in the Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek (Revelation 9:11). Both names mean “Destroyer.”

So, what all this means is that at some point in the tribulation period the Antichrist will become demon possessed by a demon that ascends out of the bottomless pit. We are never given the name of that demon but it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s Abaddon/Apollyon himself. I’m not presenting that as absolute fact, but it would explain why that demon’s name is the only one given. Regardless of whether or not it’s Abaddon/Apollyon, it seems to me that the demon that enters the Antichrist’s body and possesses it will provide the impetus and empowerment for the miraculous resurrection.

Did you know that in Luke 22:3 the Bible says that Satan literally entered into the body of Judas Iscariot just before Judas betrayed Jesus? What this shows us is that when Satan wants to do his biggest work he brings out his biggest guns for demon possession. The demon that possesses the Antichrist will change the Antichrist’s personality overnight. The man of peace will become the man of war. The diplomat will become the dictator. The politician will become the punisher. The mogul will become the madman. In the words of prominent pastor and denominational leader Adrian Rogers, “He will enter the grave as a human, but he will arise as a super human.”

And now I’ll close this post by providing a list of seven events that will occur immediately following the Antichrist’s death and resurrection at the midway point of the tribulation period:

The Antichrist will be granted a God-given authority to have dominion for 42 months (Revelation 13:5). These 42 months will be the last three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period. The power he wields before the midway point of the period will be minor compared to the power he wields after it.
The Antichrist will break his treaty with Israel and claim the Jewish temple as what we might think of as his personal palace. He will sit “as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:4).
The people of the world will marvel at the Antichrist’s resurrection and begin to think of him as a godlike figure (Revelation 13:4,8). Not only will they worship him, they will either knowingly or unknowing worship the devil who empowers him (Revelation 13:4).
The Antichrist will begin to publicly speak blasphemies against God and will go to war with and overcome the “saints” (Revelation 13:6-7). These “saints” will be people who have become Christians during the tribulation period. Not all of the tribulation-period Christians will end up martyred, but many of them will, and the Antichrist’s chosen method of execution will be death-by-beheading (Revelation 20:4).
The Antichrist will have a right-hand man known as “the false prophet.” (I’ll have more to say about him in the next post.) This false prophet will have the power to perform incredible “signs” that will give him the platform by which to convince the whole world to worship the Antichrist (Revelation 13:11-14).
The false prophet will erect an image to the Antichrist inside the Jewish temple. Somehow this image will be given breath and the power to speak (Revelation 13:14-15). Anyone who refuses to bow down and worship the image will be put to death (Revelation 13:15). Jesus described the erecting of this image inside the temple as “the abomination of desolation” and warned future eyewitnesses to flee the region as fast as they can (Matthew 24:15-22).
The false prophet will institute an economic program that will force individuals to take a certain mark either in the right hand or in the forehead. Without this mark they will not be able to buy or sell anything. This mark will be directly associated with the Antichrist and will somehow involve his name or the number of his name. Revelation 13:18 cites that number as 666. In the ancient world, each of the letters of the alphabets used in languages such as Hebrew or Greek corresponded to a number. This has led countless students of prophecy to spend countless hours trying to break the code of the numbers 6-6-6. The problem is that if you work hard enough at it you can manipulate the system to make the numbers 6-6-6 correspond to a long list of names. For example, the name “Ronald” has six letters, as do the names “Wilson” and “Reagan.” So there you have it, Ronald Wilson Reagan was the Antichrist. Get my point? That’s why I don’t stress out over the numbers 6-6-6. The mark itself and its ramifications are much more important than the specifics of the mark. And what are those ramifications? If you refuse to take the mark you will doom yourself to starvation, poverty, and a high chance of martyrdom. But if you take it you will doom yourself to eternal separation from God. Nice choice, huh? Welcome to the last half of the tribulation period.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology", Uncategorized | Tagged 666 the mark of the beast, Abaddon, Apollyon, can Satan perform miracles?, his deadly wound was healed, Satan entering into Judas, the abomination of desolation, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, the city that sits on seven hills, the great tribulation, the mark of the beast, the resurrection of the Antichrist | Leave a comment

The Midway Point of the Tribulation Period: War in Heaven

Posted on January 28, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #13)

Our studies in Bible prophecy have now brought us to the turning point of the coming tribulation period. This turning point will occur at the period’s midway point, three-and-a-half years into the seven years. Actually, though, the trigger for the shift occurs in heaven rather than upon the earth, and it involves angelic happenings rather than human ones.

Revelation 12:1-5 gives us a brief, symbolic overview of the war that Satan has waged against Israel and her Messiah Jesus for thousands of years. As we interpret the symbolism, we first learn that Israel is the “woman” whom John sees in heaven (Revelation 12:1). She is clothed with the sun, has the moon under her feet, and wears on her head a garland of twelve stars. This description hearkens back to a prophetic dream that Joseph once had (Genesis 37:9-11). In the dream, Joseph saw his father Jacob (whom God had previously renamed “Israel,” Genesis 35:10) represented as the sun, his mother represented as the moon, and he and his eleven brothers represented as stars. You see, at the time Joseph had that dream he and his family were the entirety of the nation of Israel.

Second, John sees that Israel has a “baby” in her womb (Revelation 12:2). This baby will be born a “male Child” who will “rule all nations with a rod of iron” (Revelation 12:5). This “baby” is Jesus, who was born a Jew, and will one day establish His 1,000 year reign over the earth. As for the birth pangs, they are the centuries of Jewish history that led up to the time when Jesus was born into this world. The fact that John says the Child “was caught up to God and His throne” is a reference to Jesus’ ascension back up to heaven following His birth, life, death, and resurrection.

Third, the “great, fiery red dragon” is Satan (Revelation 12:3). Keep in mind that this is a symbolic description of him rather than a literal one. The word “great” speaks of how powerful he is. The color “fiery red” speaks of all the bloodshed he has caused down through the course of history. Finally, him being represented as a “dragon” illustrates the fear that he induces.

The hard part in the description of Satan is trying to rightly understand the seven heads, seven diadems on his heads, and ten horns. Various interpretations have been set forth, but I think the best one ties it all in with Revelation 17:3’s description of the Antichrist as a “scarlet beast” with seven heads and ten horns. (I’ll say more about all that in a later post). This tie-in shows that Satan will be the power behind the throne for the Antichrist. Just as Jesus did God the Father’s will, the Antichrist will do Satan’s will.

Fourth, the “third of the stars of heaven” are the other fallen angels who have been banished from heaven along with Satan (Revelation 12:4). If you recall, Satan himself is described as a “star” in Revelation 9:1. But what does John mean when he says the tail of the “dragon” (Satan) “drew” them out and “threw them to the earth”? This imagery describes what happened in heaven long ago when Satan convinced one-third of all the angels to join him in a rebellious coup to attempt to overthrow God (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:11-17, Luke 10:18). When that coup failed, Satan and the other rebellious angels were cast out of heaven, were thrown down to the earth, and thus became “fallen” angels (demons).

In the wake of this humiliating and debilitating defeat, Satan and his army of fallen angels immediately went to work on earth to mess up what God was trying to do (1 Peter 5:8, Ephesians 6:10-17). There is no consensus among Bible scholars as to the exact time when Satan and his angels fell, but I tend to believe it happened between the last verse of Genesis chapter 2 and the first verse of Genesis chapter 3. Think about it: At the close of chapter 2 everything in Eden is perfect, but then chapter 3 opens up with a serpent that can talk and tempt! It seems clear to me that something big happened in that white space between those two chapters.

Ultimately, Satan’s most important goal for messing up God’s plan involved his attempt to get Jesus killed before Jesus could go to the cross and die His sacrificial death for the sins of the human race. John describes this attempt by saying, “And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born” (Revelation 12:4). If you know your New Testament, you can guess the story that matches up with these words. It’s the story of how Herod the Great tried to kill the young Jesus (Matthew 2:1-15). Of course Satan’s attempt didn’t work, and Jesus did eventually fulfill His mission by dying on the cross for the sins of the world.

Okay, now that we understand Revelation 12:1-5, let’s ask the question, “Why is John giving us this history lesson concerning the longstanding war that Satan has waged against Israel and her Messiah Jesus? The answer is: He’s doing it because this war serves as the backdrop for what is about to happen in the tribulation period. Revelation 12:6 talks about Israel fleeing into the wilderness to a God-prepared place and spending 1,260 days there. On a prophetic calendar of 360 days per year, 1,260 days equals three-and-a-half years exactly. These 1,260 days will be the last half of the tribulation period. But why will Israel need to go into hiding for the last half of the tribulation period? We’re about to find out.

Revelation 12:7 is written in a very jolting way as John bluntly says, “And war broke out in heaven.” In this war, John sees Michael (God’s archangel, Jude verse 9) and his angels fight against the dragon (Satan) and his angels. Make no mistake, what we are dealing with here is a second war in heaven as Satan and the other fallen angels make another run at the place. Perhaps Satan’s newfound boldness to try again will have something to do with the recent release of his fallen angels from the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:1-12) and the Euphrates river (Revelation 9:13-15).

You ask, “But if Satan and his cohorts were banished from heaven, how could they get back up there?” Well, it’s clear that the banishment, as bad as it is, doesn’t prevent them from visiting heaven in some limited way. I say this because in the book of Job we read about two different occasions in which Satan comes in with the unfallen angels when they present themselves before the Lord. (In the Old Testament, the term “the sons of God” refers to angels: Genesis 6:1-4, Job 1:6, Job 2:1).

And so what will be the outcome of this second war in heaven? It will be the same as the first outcome. Satan and his angels will not prevail and will be cast down to the earth again (Revelation 12:8-9). What will be different this time is that the casting down will serve as the trigger that changes things for the worse in the tribulation period. That’s why John hears a loud voice in heaven immediately afterward that says, “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” That “short time” will be the last three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period. Surely it isn’t mere coincidence that Revelation 12:9 is the exact middle verse of the book of The Revelation!

Now take a guess as to who Satan will immediately focus his wrath toward once he is cast back down to the earth. If you guessed his old enemy – the “woman” Israel – you win the prize. John says in Revelation 12:13, “Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child” (Revelation 12:13). This explains why Israel will have to go into hiding in “the wilderness” where she will be “nourished for a time and times and a half time, from the presence of the serpent” (Revelation 12:14). That phrase “a time and times and a half time” is another way of saying “three-and-a-half years.”

Let me remind you that at the beginning of the tribulation period Israel will sign a treaty with the Antichrist and his revived Roman empire (Daniel 9:27). The Jews living in and around Jerusalem at that time will also be worshiping in a temple (Revelation 11:1-2) that will be built either just prior to the Rapture of just after it. The point is, by the middle of the tribulation period they will be feeling safe in covenant alliance with the Antichrist and ecstatic over being able to worship in their beautiful temple. It is precisely at this time, though, that Satan will come after them. You’ll notice that Revelation chapter 12 doesn’t offer any specifics as to exactly how he will persecute Israel in that day, but those specifics will be given in the next chapter, and I’ll cover them in my next post.

As far as the exact “wilderness” area in which the Jews of that day will hide out and be nourished by God, many prophecy experts point to the region of ancient Edom, Moab, and Ammon. This region is located east of Israel and is now a part of the country of Jordan. But why do the experts single out this region? It’s because Daniel 11:41 says that the people of Edom, Moab, and Ammon will escape from the hand of the Antichrist when he enters into the land of Israel. If you want to try to really narrow things down, the ancient Edomite city of Petra, which is built out of rock, is often named as the singular site where the Jews will hide out during the last half of the tribulation period.

John says that Satan “spewed water out of his mouth like a flood” in his efforts to catch Israel as she fled out of Jerusalem, but “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood” (Revelation 12:16). While some commentators have attempted to explain this scene in a very literal way involving literal water, my take is that it’s just more figurative language in a chapter filled with such language. I understand it to mean that no matter what Satan tries to do to keep Israel from escaping to God’s appointed place in the wilderness, those Jews will arrive there safely.

And how will Satan respond to this missed attack on Israel? John says, “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17). That last part of the description lets us know that in this instance John is talking about Jews who have believed in Jesus as their Messiah and gotten saved during the first half of the tribulation period. This group will probably include not only the 144,000 Jewish evangelists themselves but also their Jewish converts. Unfortunately for these Jews, many of them will become martyrs in the last half of the tribulation period. If there is one thing that Satan hates worse than a Jew, it’s a Jewish Christian.

This then is where we’ll leave off the story for now. In the next post, we’ll jump right back into the fray and pick things up from here. We’ll read about the Antichrist surviving an assassination attempt on his life. We’ll read about him turning bad. We’ll read about the work he does with his false prophet. We’ll read about the image he has erected to himself. And we’ll read about his “mark of the beast.” Believe me, The Revelation doesn’t call this guy “the beast” for nothing, and in our next study he’s going to start acting downright beastly.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged a woman clothed with the sun, does Satan still have access to heaven?, Israel as a woman, Israel in hiding for 1260 days, Israel in hiding in Petra, Satan as a dragon, Satan's tail drawing a third of the stars out of heaven, the first war in heaven, the second war in heaven, when did Satan fall? | 3 Comments

One Mighty Angel and Two Incredible Witnesses

Posted on January 26, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #12)

In my last post, I finished up the study of the seven Trumpet Judgments that will take place after the seven Seal Judgments in the first half of the tribulation period. However, in order to work in that seventh trumpet judgment and include it with the post, I had to cheat a little bit by jumping from Revelation 9:13-21 (the sixth trumpet judgment) to Revelation 11:15-19 (the seventh trumpet judgment).

This jump makes chapters 10 and 11 each what commentators call a “parenthesis chapter.” That means the chapters veer from the book’s straightforward timeline slightly in order to add in some additional details and important information. We saw this same kind of thing when we studied the seal judgments. The sixth seal judgment comes at the end of chapter 6 and the seventh seal judgment comes at the beginning of chapter 8. This makes chapter 7 a “parenthesis chapter.” In that instance, the parenthesis is used to introduce the 144,000 Jewish evangelists and their martyred tribulation-period converts. Here now, in this second parenthesis, we are introduced to a mighty angel and two prophets whom God calls “my two witnesses.”

We meet the mighty angel in Revelation 10:1-7 as he descends down from heaven to the earth and comes to rest with one foot on the sea and the other one on the land. Having one foot on each represents the claim he is making concerning both sea and land. This angel is impressive enough in appearance for some commentators and prophecy teachers to contend that he is none other than Jesus. To back up this interpretation, they point to the Old Testament instances where Jesus makes preincarnate appearances upon the earth as “The Angel (capital A) of the Lord” (Genesis 16:7-12, Exodus 3:2, Judges 2:1-4, etc.). They also note that this angel is holding an opened book in his hand (Revelation 10:2). Presumably, this “book” would be the now unsealed and opened scroll that Jesus took from God the Father’s hand in Revelation 5:1-7. So, could this actually be Jesus? And could this “book” be that scroll?

My answers are, “No” and “No.” You can count me in with all the commentators and prophecy teachers who interpret this angel to be simply that: an angel. There are three good reasons for choosing this side of the debate. First, from the gospel of Matthew to the epistle of Jude there isn’t a single passage where Jesus appears in angelic form. Because of this it seems likely that Him appearing as an angel ceased forever when He took upon Himself human flesh. Second, if this angel is Jesus it means that Jesus will step foot upon the earth again before His actual second coming at the end of the tribulation period. That, of course, just doesn’t fit with the totality of prophecy. Third, the angel raises his hand and swears (takes a vow) by the God who created all things (Revelation 10:5-6). Since Jesus is that God (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:1-2), He could simply swear by Himself if He wanted to take a vow, and He certainly wouldn’t have to speak in third-person to do it. So, as I see it, this angel isn’t Jesus, and any similarity he bears to Jesus can be explained by the close proximity he probably enjoys to Jesus in heaven, just as Moses’ face shown with the glory of the Lord after he spent 40 days and 40 nights with the Lord on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:27-35).

As for the book the angel holds, the Greek word for it is biblaridion, which specifically refers to a small book. This is different from the Greek word for the scroll of Revelation 5:1-7. That word is biblion, which refers to a large book. Furthermore, if the scroll of Revelation 5:1-7 is the title deed to the earth – as most commentators suggest – it seems very odd that John would hear a voice from heaven that tells him to go take the book from the angel’s hand and eat the book (Revelation 10:8-10).

By the way, the idea of eating the word of God symbolizes that the word has become an integral part of your life. The word doesn’t just get inside your ears or your mind; it goes deep down inside you. We find this same kind of language in the prophetic ministries of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 15:16) and Ezekiel (Ezekiel 2:7-10, 3:1-3).

But if this book this angel holds isn’t the scroll from Revelation 5:1-7, what is it? It seems to be the record of the events that will play out from that time (Revelation 10:1-7) forward in the tribulation period. You see, at the time this angel descends to the earth, the earth will be right on the cusp of the seventh trumpet judgment, and it is in the days of that trumpet judgment that the “mystery of God” will be “finished” (Revelation 10:7).

Perhaps you’ll recall that I said in my previous post that the seventh trumpet judgment includes everything from the blowing of the trumpet in Revelation 11:15-19 up through Christ’s second coming at the end of the tribulation period in Revelation 19:1-21. In light of this, the role this angel with this book plays is one of descending down to the earth right before the beginning of that seventh judgment and loudly proclaiming that there will be no more delay to the beginning of the events written in the book he holds. Those events will involve the sea and the land, and they will culminate in Christ’s second coming. Think of it this way: With the appearance of this angel and this book, the end game of the tribulation period is now in sight and God is eager for it to happen.

John, for his part, is going to serve as not only a front-row eyewitness but also a court recorder to it all. For one thing, he will see Christ’s magnificent return to establish His kingdom upon the earth. This explains why the little book tasted “as sweet as honey” when he ate it (Revelation 10:10). Before that second coming, though, John will see all the horrific events that will play out in the last three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period. This explains why the little book became “bitter” in his stomach (Revelation 10:10).

But now, with this mighty angel explained, let me get to those two important figures whom God calls “my two witnesses” (Revelation 11:3). I’ll start by giving a list of the ten descriptive facts The Revelation gives us about these men. Then I’ll close this post by offering my opinion as to the actual identities of the men.

Fact #1: The two witnesses will prophecy for 1,260 days in the tribulation period (Revelation 11:3). 1,260 days is three-and-a-half years. Remember that the Jewish calendar, which is the calendar God uses in prophecy, marks years in terms of 360 days, not the 365 we Gentiles know so well. I explained all this in post #4 of this series. So, we know that the two witnesses will have a ministry that lasts three-and-a-half years.

The disagreements start when the question is asked, “When will these three-and-a-half years begin and end?” Many prophecy experts believe the two witnesses will minister during the first half of the tribulation period. Renowned prophecy teacher David Jeremiah even suggests they might be the ones who win the 144,000 Jewish evangelists to Christ at the very beginning of the period.

On the other hand, other prophecy experts place the ministry of the witnesses in the last half of the tribulation period. John Walvoord, who some would consider the 20th century’s most influential teacher of prophecy, argued that it must be the last half because the witnesses need divine protection from the Antichrist lest they be killed by him before their ministry is complete. The Antichrist, you’ll recall, won’t reveal his true colors until the midway point of the period.

As for my take on all this, I side with Walvoord and the others who favor the last half of the period as the answer. Getting even more specific, I believe the two witnesses will begin their ministry just prior to the midway point of the tribulation period and finish it just prior to the end of the period. I base this upon the fact that The Revelation introduces these two men in chapter 11, not chapter 12. That’s significant because virtually everyone agrees that chapter 12 marks the beginning of the last three-and-a-half years of the period.

Fact #2: The two witnesses will be clothed in sackcloth (Revelation 11:3). Sackcloth is rough, coarse cloth that is made from goat or camel hair. Wearing clothing made from it has served as a visible object lesson of humility, suffering, somberness, grief, and mourning for thousands of years (Genesis 37:34). This clothing will set these two witnesses apart as being wildly different from the rest of the world. You don’t get any more “old school” than to do your witnessing and prophesying while wearing sackcloth.

Fact #3: The two witnesses are described as “two olive trees” and “two lampstands” (Revelation 11:4). In the ancient world, lampstands provided light, and the oil from olive trees was used to fuel lampstands. Symbolically speaking, the two witnesses will be lampstands in the sense that they will shine God’s spiritual light into a spiritually dark world. Likewise, the oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit who will empower them to minister. Oil is often used in the Bible to symbolize or typify the Holy Spirit (1 Samuel 16:13, Isaiah 61:1, Acts 10:38, 1 John 2:27, etc.). Lastly, the symbols of olive trees and lampstands undoubtedly relate back to a certain prophecy found in Zechariah 4:1-14.

Fact #4: The two witnesses will be invulnerable until their ministry is completed (Revelation 11:5). These men will have the ability to project some kind of “fire” from their mouths to devour anyone who tries to harm them. It’s hard to say whether or not this “fire” will be literal. In Jeremiah 5:14, God says to Jeremiah, “I will make My words in your mouth fire and this people wood, and it shall devour them.” Obviously, God’s words in Jeremiah’s mouth weren’t literal fire. So, perhaps the same will be true of the two witnesses. However, I’m not dismissing the possibility that the “fire” will be literal.

Fact #5: The two witnesses will have the power to produce drought, turn waters into blood, and strike the earth with plagues (Revelation 11:6). I can’t come up with any legitimate way to explain all this other than to take it all literally. The Bible tells us that prophets of old such as Moses, Elijah, and Elisha could perform deeds that were astounding or even downright miraculous. In each instance it was actually God who was accomplishing the deed, but that doesn’t completely minimize the fact that He was doing it through the man. Clearly these two witnesses will be prophets in that same vein.

Fact #6: When the two witnesses have finished their testimony, the Antichrist will kill them (Revelation 11:7). Since the Greek word for “witness” is martus, from which we get the word “martyr,” these two men will indeed live up to their title. Their deaths will not occur, however, until their ministry is thoroughly completed. No matter how much they are despised and hated, the Antichrist won’t be able to stop them until day 1,261 of their ministry. And will he kill them himself or merely order others to kill them? We aren’t told, but if he kills them himself that would bolster his reputation enormously as he would become the man who personally killed two prophets no one else had been able to kill.

Fact #7: The dead bodies of the two witnesses will lie unburied in the street of Jerusalem for three-and-half days (Revelation 11:8-9). The Antichrist will loathe the two witnesses so much that he will enjoy seeing their bodies dishonored even in death. Other lost people will despise them as well and thus have no incentive to bury the bodies. That will only leave tribulation-period believers to do the burying, and they won’t dare try such a thing for fear of being killed themselves by the Antichrist.

Fact #8: People from all tribes, tongues, and nations will not only see the dead bodies in the street but also send gifts to one another in celebration over the deaths (Revelation 11:10). When John first penned this bizarre portion of this prophecy, there was no way imaginable for all tribes, tongues, and nations to witness a singular event in Jerusalem. Now, however, with satellite television and the internet such a thing is easy. But why the worldwide celebration over the deaths of the two witnesses? It’s because the two men had “tormented those who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 11:10). How had they tormented them? Well, if nothing else, causing it not to rain for three-and-a-half years (Revelation 11:6) won’t win you any popularity contests.

Fact #9: After the three-and-a-half days are finished, God will resurrect the two witnesses and call them up to heaven (Revelation 11:11-12). At the end of the three-and-a-half days, “the breath of life from God” will enter into the two corpses and they will stand up on their feet. As you can imagine, these resurrections will throw terror into all those who see them. The two witnesses will then hear a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here,” after which they will ascend up to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watch.

Fact #10: The resurrection and ascension of the two witnesses will be followed by a great earthquake that strikes Jerusalem (Revelation 11:13). The damage from the quake will leave 7,000 people dead and one-tenth of the city lying in ruins. This earthquake seems to be God’s way of taking revenge upon the city for allowing the bodies of His two witnesses to lie unattended on the street for three-and-a-half days. However, there will be some good that comes out of the catastrophe as the survivors will be struck with great fear and give “glory to the God of heaven.”

Okay, so now that we understand the pertinent facts about the two witnesses, we come to the question, “Who will these men be?” Well, our best interpretation is that they will be two characters from the Old Testament who come back upon the scene to minister again. I won’t say this is the only interpretation concerning their identities, but it is without doubt the most commonly held one. But what two Old Testament characters are we dealing with?

One prime candidate is the prophet Elijah. He had the God-given ability to keep the rain from falling for three-and-a-half years (1 Kings 17:1) and to call fire down from heaven (1 Kings 18:20-38). And have you heard that he never actually died? Instead of dying, he was snatched up one day and taken up into heaven by means of a chariot of fire that was pulled by horses of fire (2 Kings 2:1-11). Then, as if all that isn’t enough, centuries later God spoke to the Jews through the prophet Malachi and said, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord” (Malachi 4:5). That term “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” is a reference to the second coming of Christ. Therefore, in view of all this evidence, I agree with those who think that Elijah will be one of the two witnesses.

But what about the other witness? Admittedly, his identification is more disputed. For the most part, though, there are two candidates: Moses and Enoch. Allow me to present the arguments for each man.

Just as the two witnesses will have the power to turn waters into blood, Moses performed that same miracle for the first of the ten plagues in Egypt (Exodus 7:14-25). Likewise, just as the two witnesses will have the power to strike the earth with plagues, Moses certainly leveled Egypt with a whole assortment of them (Exodus chapters 7 through 12). Lastly, when Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him to the top of the so-called Mount of Transfiguration, those three men saw Jesus talking to none other than Elijah and Moses (Matthew 17:1-3, Mark 9:2-6, Luke 9:28-31).

Okay, so all this seems to make an open-and-shut case for Moses as the other witness, doesn’t it? But wait, there’s a flaw with this line of thinking. The flaw is that, unlike Elijah, Moses literally died upon the earth (Deuteronomy 34:1-8). Even though there is an odd little statement in Jude verse 9 about Satan contending with the archangel Michael over the body of Moses, there is no disputing that Moses did in fact die. And why is this such a big deal? It’s a big deal because the Antichrist will kill both of the witnesses, and Hebrews 9:27 says that it is appointed for men to die once. You see, if Moses is indeed one of the two witnesses, he will have to die twice.

So, is this an automatic deal-breaker for Moses as the other witness? Maybe, but maybe not. Truth be told, there have been some people who died twice. That list includes anyone who was ever resurrected back to earthly life. Lazarus is on that list (John 11:1-44). So is Jairus’ daughter (Matthew 9:18-25). So is Tabitha (Acts 9:36-43). So is the son of the widow at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:17-24). So are a few others. It is probably significant, though, that Moses would be different from the others on the list in that there would be thousands of years between his first death and his resurrection and second death.

And with that we come to Enoch. Like Elijah, Enoch never actually died. Instead, there came a day when God “took him” (Genesis 5:21-24). Furthermore, even though there is no Bible record of Enoch ever performing any miracles, Jude verses 14 and 15 mention a prophecy that he once gave concerning the second coming of Jesus. Isn’t that interesting?

Someone might ask, “But doesn’t the other witness have to be Enoch because, according to Hebrews 9:25, he (like Elijah) owes God a death?” Not necessarily. We shouldn’t forget that at the moment of the Rapture millions of believers will leave this earth and go to heaven without dying (1 Corinthians 15:51-55, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). As a matter of fact, Enoch – an Old Testament believer – is often cited as being a “type” or a “foreshadowing” of the New Testament Christian who is alive on the earth at the moment of the Rapture and gets snatched up to heaven without dying. This means that the theory that Enoch, like Elijah, absolutely has to be one of the two witnesses because he can’t cheat death doesn’t hold water.

Finally, now, with all this information presented, I’ll give you my humble opinion on this question. My best educated guess is that the two witnesses will be Elijah and Enoch. Years ago, when I first started preaching prophecy, I preached the Elijah-and-Moses interpretation. As I’ve gotten older, though, and studied the matter more and more, I’ve now come to believe that it will be Enoch instead of Moses. For me, the crucial piece of evidence is that Moses would become the only person in history to die, wait thousands of years for his resurrection, and then eventually die again. It’s those eons of time between Moses’ two lives that gnaws at me and causes me to side with Enoch. Could I be wrong? Certainly. But at least you have to give me credit for examining the argument from all sides before offering my opinion.

Really, though, I hope you understand that God’s prophetic word doesn’t rise or fall on the identification of the two witnesses. Even if they aren’t Elijah, Enoch, or Moses, it doesn’t change the astounding ministry the two witnesses will have in the tribulation period. How great will their impact be upon the world? All you have to know is that their deaths will create a worldwide celebration in which the lost people will rejoice and send gifts to one another because these two men who “tormented” them are now dead (Revelation 11:10). Trust me, any servants of God who are a big enough thorn in the side of lost people to be considered tormentors and a big enough threat to the Antichrist to have him kill them must make an incalculable impact on the world. Needless to say, we Christians should be excited about getting to meet these men in eternity, whoever they happen to be.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged David Jeremiah, Elijah and Enoch as the two witnesses, Elijah and Moses as the two witnesses, is the angel of Revelation 10:1-7 Jesus?, John Walvoord, parenthesis chapters in Revelation, the two witnesses in the tribulation period | Leave a comment

Finishing up the Trumpet Judgments

Posted on January 24, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #11)

In the previous post from this series, we covered the first four of the seven Trumpet Judgments that will take place toward the end of the first half of the tribulation period. In this post, we’ll cover the remaining three. These three judgments will bring the world right up to the doorstep of the midway point of the period.

Trumpet Judgment #5 (Revelation 9:1-12): An Invasion of Demons

When the angel blows the trumpet to begin the 5th trumpet judgment, John says, “And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:1). The fact that John refers to this “star” as “him” shows that we aren’t dealing with a literal star. This is a being, one “fallen from heaven to earth.” And so who is this “star”? It’s Satan.

If by nothing else, Satan’s identity is given away by the fact that he is glad to get the key to the “bottomless pit.” The Greek word that is translated as “bottomless pit” is abussos, and it’s the word that gives us the English word “abyss.” In the King James translation, abussos is also sometimes translated as “the deep” (Luke 8:31, Romans 10:7). By piecing certain scriptures together, we learn that abussos (the abyss, the deep) is only the description of the place. Its actual name in the Greek is Tartarus (2 Peter 2:4), which unfortunately gets translated as “hell” in the King James translation. Summing it all up, abussos, Tartarus, the abyss, the deep, and the bottomless pit are all different ways of describing the same place.

Now, the all-important thing to remember about this place is this: It is a place exclusively for the imprisonment of fallen angels. No human – alive or dead, saved or lost – ever has anything to do with this site. Fallen angels (demons) are the only beings that ever need worry about “the bottomless pit,” and they are terrified of it. This explains why a group of them once begged Jesus not to send them there (Luke 8:31).

Okay, so why does Satan want the key to this bottomless pit? It’s because some of his most powerful fallen angels are imprisoned in there. 1 Peter 3:18-20, 2 Peter 2:4, and Jude verse 6 all talk about a group of angels (“spirits”) that sinned and were cast down to the “prison” of Tartarus (the bottomless pit) where they are currently kept in “chains of darkness.” These twice-fallen angels were disobedient in “the days of Noah” (1 Peter 3:20). All this only fits one group of fallen angels: the infamous “sons of God” from Genesis 6:1-4. These are the ones who somehow married human women and fathered children through them in the days leading up to the flood of Noah. That sin was so heinous in God’s eyes that He imprisoned this group of demons in the bottomless pit.

Sometime just before the midway point of the tribulation period, Satan will be granted the key to the bottomless pit and he will immediately free his long-imprisoned demons. As John watched Satan open the pit, smoke like the smoke of a great furnace rose up into the air and temporarily cloaked the sun in darkness (Revelation 9:2). This shows us that the bottomless pit is located somewhere deep within the bowels of planet earth. This isn’t some mystical place that exists way out there in the far reaches of space. And Satan knows just exactly where its entrance is.

But how can the pit be “bottomless”? One possible answer is that the center of the earth, like deep space, is void of gravity. Obviously no one knows for sure what exactly is going on at the center of the earth, but the idea of no gravity makes some sense and would explain the description “bottomless.”

Once the smoke rises up, out of it come all the demons, however many there are, that have been incarcerated in that prison for so long. John figuratively calls them “locusts” (Revelation 9:3), but his description of them makes it clear that he’s not talking about actual locusts. He even says they have a king over them, and this king is “the angel of the bottomless pit” (Revelation 9:11). In other words, this is the chief fallen angel (demon) who leads the whole group. In the Hebrew language, this angel’s name is Abaddon. In the Greek, it is Apollyon. Both names mean the same thing: Destroyer.

As for the description of these demons, John says that even though they “were given power” (Revelation 9:3) they were commanded not to harm any of the earth’s vegetation or any of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists (Revelation 9:4). They also couldn’t actually kill anyone. All they could do was torment the people of the earth for five months. This torment will be like the pain of a scorpion sting (Revelation 9:5). The pain inflicted by these demons will be so great that John says, “In those days, men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them” (Revelation 9:6).

Continuing on with the description, John says the demons had the shape of “horses prepared for battle” and wore on their heads “crowns of something like gold” (Revelation 9:7). The phrase “horses prepared for battle” seems to convey the picture that these demons will emerge from that pit primed and ready for battle, like war horses snorting and pawing at the ground as they impatiently stand on the outskirts of a battle. Perhaps the crowns the demons wear symbolically speak of the high ranking the demons hold in Satan’s army.

John then says that the demons had faces “like the faces of men,” “hair like women’s hair,” and teeth “like lions’ teeth” (Revelation 9:7-8). Frankly, there’s just no way of telling when John is speaking literally and when he is speaking symbolically. I will say that if the demons literally have faces like men, that could explain how they fooled those human women into marrying them back in Genesis chapter 6. Likewise, if they literally have hair like women’s hair, that could simply mean that they have long, flowing hair. And what about those teeth like lions’ teeth? I suppose that could merely mean that their teeth are very strong.

But John isn’t finished. He continues on by saying that the demons “had breastplates like breastplates of iron” (Revelation 9:9). A breastplate is a protective covering that protects the chest. The demons had wings too, and when they flew it sounded like “chariots with many horses running into battle” (Revelation 9:9). This shouldn’t surprise us. After all, angels do have wings, right? For example, a seraph angel has six wings (Isaiah 6:2).

Lastly, John says the demons had “tails like scorpions” and there were “stings in their tails” (Revelation 9:10). Are these tails literal? I have no idea. If the face, hair, teeth, and wings are literal, I suppose the tails could be too, even though we don’t normally think of angels – fallen or unfallen – as having tails. If the tails aren’t literal, then the symbolism speaks to the demons’ power to inflict pain upon people. Noted commentator William MacDonald suggests that these demons will inflict all this pain upon people by entering into their bodies and possessing them. That’s possible. Again, it’s hard to interpret every last detail with any kind of certainty.

Trumpet Judgment #6 (Revelation 9:13-21): 4 More Demons & An Army of 200 Million

When the sixth angel blows his trumpet, four fallen angels (demons) are released from their imprisonment in the Euphrates River (Revelation 9:13-14). Unlike the demons released from the bottomless pit, these demons are released “to kill a third of mankind” (Revelation 9:15). These demons “had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year” (Revelation 9:15). At face value, this phrase can be taken to mean the demons will reek their havoc for a little over 13 months. While this does fit neatly into the months just prior to the midway point of the tribulation period, it might be significant that John says the demons are prepared for “the hour and day and month and year.” That might show that the phrase, rather than being literal, simply means that God has a divinely appointed schedule for these demons to do their damage. I myself lean toward the literal interpretation of 13 months.

Of course, the whole subject of these four demons raises some valid questions. Who are these demons? Why are they imprisoned in the Euphrates river? When were they imprisoned there? Unfortunately, John doesn’t lay out any pat answers to these questions.

Our best guess (and that’s all it is) as to the identity of these demons takes us to the pages of the book of Daniel. That book is built around prophecies concerning four great empires: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Interestingly, Daniel chapter 10 uses the word “princes” to refer to mighty angels, either unfallen or fallen. God’s archangel Michael, for example, is called “one of the chief princes” (Daniel 10:13). Mention is also made of “the prince of the kingdom of Persia” (Daniel 10:13) and “the prince of the kingdom of Greece” (Daniel 10:20). It seems logical, then, to assume that there is also a “prince” of the kingdom of Babylon and a “prince” of the kingdom of Rome. These “princes” would be four mighty angels who are the powers behind the thrones of these kingdoms. They are also our best guess as to who these four angels from the sixth trumpet judgment are. As for why, when, and how they were imprisoned in the Euphrates river, it’s hard to even venture a guess.

What we do know is that historically speaking the Euphrates river is probably the most important river in the world. According to Genesis 2:14, the singular river that flowed through the garden of Eden became the heads of four other rivers once it exited the garden. One of those four rivers was the Euphrates. The Euphrates was also the river that flowed right through the heart of ancient Babylon. Later on it served as the eastern border to the Roman empire. Traditionally, the Euphrates has played the role of the unofficial boundary between the West and the East.

But how will these four demons kill off one-third of the world’s population? Well, John doesn’t tell us, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that right after talking about these four demons he launches into his description of an army of 200 million (Revelation 9:16). Did you know that there isn’t a single Bible passage in which a fallen angel – even Satan – actually kills a human being? Jesus Himself called Satan “a murderer from the beginning” (John 8:44), but Satan has never personally killed anyone. What he does instead is use human beings to get his killing done. If you think about it, that’s how he got Jesus killed. And in the coming days of the first half of the tribulation period, four powerful demons will be unleashed from their imprisonment in the Euphrates river and will work through an army of 200 millions soldiers to kill off one-third of the world’s entire population.

It boggles the mind to realize that when John wrote this portion of prophecy there weren’t even 200 million people on the earth! So, is there a nation now that could produce such a staggering number of soldiers? Yes, there is. China could do it. In the May 21, 1965, edition of Time magazine, China boasted that it could field an army of 200 million soldiers. Clearly, if China could put that many soldiers on the field back then, they can put even more on the field now. This is to say nothing, of course, of the sheer numbers of soldiers that could be produced by an alliance between China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Indonesia, India, etc. Along these lines, Revelation 16:12 talks about the “kings (plural) from the east” bringing their troops to the battle of Armageddon at the close of the tribulation period. So, I believe that the four demons from the Euphrates river will inspire and energize this army of 200 million soldiers from the East to slay one-third of earth’s population by means of war in the tribulation period.

And now let’s get to John’s account of the army. He begins by talking about “horses” with riders who had multicolored breastplates of red, blue, and yellow (Revelation 9:17). However, like the “locusts” earlier in the chapter, these “horses” aren’t actual horses. We know this because their heads “were like the heads of lions” and “out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone” (Revelation 9:17). (Brimstone is a yellowish, sulfuric rock that when heated melts and produces a suffocating gas.) It is by the fire, smoke, and brimstone that a third of the world’s inhabitants die (Revelation 9:18). The fact that the percentage of one-third is used here just like it was in regards to the number of deaths attributed to the four angels proves that the angels do their killing through this army of 200 million.

But if these “horses” aren’t to be taken literally, how should we interpret them. Well, I agree with all the prophecy experts who feel that this particular passage is John’s way of describing some of our modern weapons of warfare. Think about tanks. If a first-century man saw such vehicles being driven by soldiers, would it be a stretch for him to classify them as some type of incredible horses? If he saw the tanks, because of their rotational guns, appearing to fire out of their fronts and backs, wouldn’t he describe that as the horses having “power in their mouth and in their tail” (Revelation 9:19)? And when he says the soldiers wore breastplates of red, blue, and yellow, couldn’t he be describing the colors of their uniforms or their battle gear?

I am not one of these preachers who sees 21st century weaponry on every page of The Revelation, but I would be lying if I said these so-called “horses” the army of 200 million sit upon don’t sound a lot like our modern tanks. Could this be a wrong interpretation? Sure. If it is, though, the correct one might be even more bizarre.

The Seventh Trumpet Judgment (Revelation 11:15-19): All the Events of the Last Half of the Tribulation Period

To find the seventh trumpet judgment, we have to jump ahead in the chronological timeline of The Revelation just a touch and find Revelation 11:15-19. (In the next post, I’ll cover the information we are jumping over). This jumping ahead allows us to learn that when the seventh angel blows the trumpet for the last of the trumpet judgments, John hears loud voices in heaven saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

The strange thing about this pronouncement is that immediately following it the kingdoms of the world do not become the kingdoms of God the Father and God the Son. And Jesus certainly doesn’t begin to reign upon the earth, either. As a matter of fact, the promise of the pronouncement won’t be fulfilled until Christ’s second coming at the very end of the tribulation period. What this means, then, is that the seventh trumpet judgment actually encompasses everything beginning with Revelation 11:15 and concluding with Revelation 19:21. In other words, it includes everything that makes up the last three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period.

And would you believe that among those events are seven more judgments? These judgments are known as the Bowl Judgments and they are recorded in Revelation chapter 16. You see, just as the seventh seal judgment held within it the seven trumpet judgments (Revelation 8:1-6), the seventh trumpet judgment holds within it, among many other things, the seven bowl judgments.

We’ll soon get to our study of these judgments as well as all the other events that take place at the midway point of the tribulation period and beyond. Before we begin all that, though, we’ve got one more study to do to complete the first half of the tribulation period. That will be the post next time. So, until then, keep studying prophecy and keep looking for the Rapture!

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology", Uncategorized | Tagged a star fallen from heaven, an army of 200 million, angels mating with women, four demons in the Euphrates, modern weaponry in Revelation, tartarus, the "sons of God", the angel of the bottomless pit, the key to the bottomless pit, the trumpet judgments | 1 Comment

The Trumpet Judgments

Posted on January 20, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #10)

The trumpet judgments are the second wave of judgments that will occur during the first three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period. They gain their name from the fact that an angel blows a trumpet to begin each one. This post will deal with the first four of these seven judgments.

As we work our way through these four judgments, we are going to find that each of them involves some kind of catastrophe that is possibly natural. This raises an interpretative question. Are these occurrences natural or supernatural? My answer is that if they are natural they are, at the very least, amped up on God’s steroids, which makes them supernatural. In my opinion, though, these judgments cannot be rightly understood through a purely naturalistic lens. It’s more likely that they are unique, specialized, miraculous events that God cooks up and sends down to the earth to suit His purposes.

Another interesting aspect of these four judgments is that each one produces an environmental disaster of epic proportions. We should keep this in mind whenever we are confronted with the subject of environmentalism. Slogans such as “save the planet” and “remember your mother (earth)” have become popular nowadays, and the environmentalist movement has made some real dents in the way big business conducts itself. I think this is good to a certain degree. I’m all for a healthy planet, and the only way we can have it is to be good stewards of the environment. The problem arises when people lose perspective and try to replace “Father God” with “mother earth.” Rather than nature being God, God uses nature in His plans. And the first four trumpet judgments prove that in the tribulation period He will do more damage to the environment than mankind ever dreamed of doing.

Trumpet Judgment #1 (Revelation 8:7): Hail and Fire Mingled With Blood

When the first angel sounds his trumpet, hail and fire, mingled with blood, are thrown down to the earth. The devastation from this event is so great that it results in one-third of the earth’s trees and all of the earth’s green grass being burned up. Wow.

If we want to consider the naturalistic interpretation of this judgment, this event might be produced by something that happens just before the first angel blows his trumpet. According to Revelation 8:5, before the trumpet judgments officially begin, the earth experiences noises, thunderings, lightnings, and an earthquake (a different earthquake from the one mentioned in Revelation 6:12). So, could this earthquake be large enough to produce massive volcanic eruptions all around the planet? And could these eruptions account for all the devastation? For example, could the steam and water blown into the sky by the eruptions condense into hail that falls back down to the earth? And could the fire that falls be explained by all the fiery lava that blows out of the volcanoes? Well, I wouldn’t completely discount this theory, but it’s hard for me to imagine volcanic eruptions and their aftermath doing the extent of damage described. Even if such eruptions could burn up one-third of the planet’s trees, I don’t see how they could burn up all the green grass.

Continuing on with the naturalistic approach, some have suggested that this event could involve a massive storm system that produces electrical storms complete with hail across a large swath of the planet. The reasoning here is that God once hit Egypt with a hailstorm the likes of which had never been seen (Exodus 9:22-25), and that storm featured hail mixed with fire (the same Hebrew word that is used to describe the fire of Moses’ burning bush). Furthermore, the hail and fire from that storm in Egypt had an effect similar to the first trumpet judgment in that they struck every herb of the field and broke every tree. Again, though, the problem we run into is that it seems highly unlikely that any storm system, no matter how impressive, could destroy all of the green grass. I mean, if “all” really means all, we’re talking about WORLDWIDE devastation.

And then there is the matter of the blood. What kind of volcanic eruption or storm could produce blood? None. Someone says, “But the blood shouldn’t be understood as literal blood.” Tell that to the prophet Joel, who quoted God as saying in reference to the days of the tribulation period, “And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth: Blood and fire and pillars of smoke” (Joel 2:30). This is why I conclude that it seems best to understand the first trumpet judgment as a supernatural event that cannot be categorized as volcanic eruptions, electrical storms, or anything else the earth has ever seen.

Trumpet Judgment #2 (Revelation 8:8-9): A Great Mountain Burning With Fire

When the second angel blows his trumpet, John reports that something like a great mountain burning with fire is thrown into the sea. The result is that one-third of the sea becomes blood, one-third of the sea creatures die, and one-third of the ships are destroyed. As for which sea (singular) John has in mind, I suppose our best guess is the Mediterranean. I say this because John was exiled on the island of Patmos, and Patmos is in the Aegean Sea, which is a part of the Mediterranean.

One possible interpretation for this “great mountain burning with fire” is that it’s the blown off cone of an island volcano. Under this interpretation, the volcano’s lava, debris, and windblown dust have a deadly effect upon a wide section of ocean waters. First, the lava could perhaps give the surrounding ocean the look of “blood.” Second, the lava, debris, and dust could cause the deaths of the sea-creatures. Third, the tsunami created by the blast could race across the ocean and strike heavily populated sea ports, which could account for the loss of one-third of the ships.

The problem with this interpretation is that John doesn’t actually call the triggering force a mountain, let alone a volcano. He calls it “something like a great mountain.” This has led many to speculate that what John is really describing is an asteroid that comes in from space, hits the earth’s atmosphere, ignites, and crashes into the ocean. The impact into the ocean subsequently creates the tsunami that reaches the busy shipping ports and thus destroys one-third of the world’s ships.

While this interpretation makes some sense, my issue with understanding trumpet judgment #2 as an asteroid strike is that trumpet judgment #3, which we’ll look at next, sounds even more like an asteroid strike. Therefore, since I don’t believe that two of the four trumpet judgments are the same type of deal, I tend to dismiss the idea of the “great burning mountain” being an asteroid.

I would like to mention that, in my mind, the most important question to be asked about not only this second judgment but also the first one is: When John uses the term “blood” is he talking about literal blood? If he’s describing hail and fire mingled with literal blood, and one-third of the sea becoming literal blood, that rules out anything that could be produced by either nature or the cosmos. If, however, he’s only talking about the sea taking on the appearance of blood, that might bring into play a well known phenomenon called “red tides.” A “red tide” is produced when billions of microorganisms die in a large body of water and turn the water’s color red. Obviously, either a volcanic eruption or an asteroid crashing into the ocean could cause the deaths of billions of microorganisms.

Trumpet Judgment #3 (Revelation 8:10-11): The “Star” Called Wormwood

When the third angel blows his trumpet, a great “star” falls from heaven. As it falls it burns like a torch. The Greek word that is translated as “star” is aster. Now you see why I feel safe in calling this “great star” an asteroid that comes into earth’s atmosphere flaming hot and crash lands somewhere on the earth.

As I said earlier, though, even if this is an asteroid it’s one that is amped up on God’s steroids. How amped up is it? It’s amped up enough to poison one-third of the earth’s rivers and springs and cause many people who drink from those rivers and springs to die. This accounts for the name “Wormwood.” Wormwood is a species of plant that grows in the Middle East. All of its varieties have a strong, bitter taste (Proverbs 5:4, Lamentations 3:19). These plants aren’t poisonous, but John is only using the name as a way of expressing that the “star” turns the water’s taste bitter.

But could an asteroid really have such an effect upon the world’s water? Maybe it could if it crashed with enough force to imbed itself deep at the headwaters of some major rivers or the underground water sources of some major springs. Here again, though, a normal asteroid wouldn’t behave this way. Clearly this “star” (whatever exactly it is) has God’s customized design all over it.

Trumpet Judgment #4: (Revelation 8:12-13): A Darkened Sun, Moon, and Stars

When the fourth angel blows his trumpet, the sun, the moon, and the stars are all darkened by one-third. This can be interpreted in two different ways. First, it could mean that the actual radiating power and luminance of these celestial bodies is reduced by 33.3%. Second, it could mean that their radiating power and luminance remain exactly the same but they are covered over by clouds, dust, smoke, an eclipse, or something else for eight hours each day so that people cannot see them during those hours. The favorable interpretation seems to be that their radiating power and luminance will be reduced. This fits best with John’s words about them being “struck.” No explanation is given for how this reduction takes place. Evidently it’s just something that God handles personally.

Surely this judgment will have unnamed effects. For example, a 33.3% drop in the warmth of the sun will certainly create a colder planet. I should point out, though, that later on in the tribulation period the sun’s heat will actually be intensified to a dangerous level (Revelation 16:8-9). So, whatever effects the fourth trumpet judgment has, those effects appear to be temporary. One thing is for sure about this judgment: It will be a scary thing to look up in the sky and find a lessened sun, moon, and stars!

Something else that is certain is that even after these four judgments have occurred, three more trumpet judgments are to come. John reminds us of this by giving us Revelation 8:13, and it is with those words that I’ll conclude this post:

And I looked, and I heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet of the three angels who are about to sound!”

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged a hailstorm in Egypt, a mountain burning with fire, all the green grass burned up, an asteroid strikes the earth, hail mixed with blood, one third of the trees burned up, red tide in the bible, the Christian and environmentalism, the moon darkened, the stars darkened, the sun darkened, the trumpet judgments, the Wormwood star | 2 Comments

Martyrs, Cataclysms, and More

Posted on January 18, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #9)

Seal #5 (Revelation 6:9-11): The Martyrs Under the Altar

When Jesus breaks the fifth seal on the seven-sealed scroll that serves as the title deed to the earth, the reader is introduced to martyrs under heaven’s altar who are crying out to God to avenge their deaths (Revelation 6:9-11). These martyrs cannot be martyrs from the church age because they are described as disembodied “souls.” If they were martyrs from the church age, their souls would have been reunited with their resurrected and glorified bodies at the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:14). So, who are these martyrs? There are two plausible interpretations.

Interpretation #1: They are the souls of all the martyrs from the Old Testament era. Abel was the Old Testament’s first martyr (Genesis 4:1-8) but he certainly wasn’t the only one. And since the Old Testament believers have no part in the Rapture, the Old Testament martyrs would be existing in heaven as disembodied souls at the time of Revelation 6:9-11. (Their bodies won’t be resurrected, glorified, and reunited with the souls that once inhabited them until Christ’s second coming: Daniel 12:1-2, Job 19:25.) Furthermore, the fact that the passage talks about an altar and blood reminds us of the imagery of the Old Testament blood sacrifices and how the sacrificial blood was poured beside the base of the altar in the tabernacle/temple (Exodus 29:12, Leviticus 4:7). Lastly, John doesn’t serve as an eyewitness to the deaths of these martyrs because their deaths apparently have already occurred sometime in the past. All John sees is the aftermath of what has previously happened.

Interpretation #2: These are the souls of all the martyrs who are slain in the early part of the tribulation period. With this interpretation, the order goes as follows:

the Rapture occurs
the 144,000 Jewish evangelists begin their ministry and immediately win multitudes to Christ
many of these new Christians are put to death as they take their stand for God and His word in the midst of the rise of the Antichrist (seal #1), the warfare (seal #2), the famine (seal #3), and the pestilence (seal #4)
the deaths of these martyrs become a part of the death toll of one-fourth of the world’s population (Revelation 6:8)

Even though both interpretations make sense, it’s the second one that is favored by virtually all modern commentators, and I myself think it’s the better option. As I see it, there are three good reasons for identifying these martyrs as martyrs from the early part of the tribulation period. Those reasons are:

The martyrs want to know when God will judge and avenge their blood “on those who dwell (not dwelt) on the earth.” That wording makes it sound like their murderers are still alive on the earth at the time of the 5th seal.
If the martyrs are the Old Testament martyrs, why do they wait until this particular time in the tribulation period to begin crying out for their murders to be avenged? Abel, for example, would have been waiting for approximately 6,000 years for God to avenge his murder. Shouldn’t he be able to hold out for another few years until the close of the tribulation period and the second coming of Christ?
Rather than be granted immediate approval for their request, the martyrs each receive a white robe and are told their avenging must wait for more martyrs to fall. The matter of the white robe begs the question, “Wouldn’t all the martyrs from the Old Testament already have such a robe?”

Of course, there is no debate as to the identity of the future martyrs for which these first martyrs must wait. They can’t be anyone other than more people who get saved under the evangelizing of the 144,000 and get martyred for their faith sometime later. In Revelation 7:9-17, John sees a great multitude in heaven standing before God’s throne. Each individual from this multitude is clothed with a white robe and holds a palm branch in hand. John is told, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation…” (Revelation 7:14). And how will so many tribulation believers end up martyred? The answer is, the Antichrist. Later on in The Revelation, John writes, “Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or in their hands” (Revelation 20:4). These are the martyrs for which the martyrs from the fifth must wait.

Seal #6 (Revelation 6:12-17): Cataclysms Upon the Earth

Following the fifth seal, Jesus breaks the scroll’s sixth seal, and when He does the earth is hit with “a great earthquake.” Either simultaneous with this earthquake or in the aftermath of it, the sun becomes “black as sackcloth of hair” and the moon becomes “like blood.” Also, as if all this isn’t enough, stars begin to fall from the sky, the sky recedes like “a scroll when it is rolled up,” and every mountain and island is “moved out of its place.” You talk about terrifying, cataclysmic events! It’s all bad enough that the inhabitants of the earth, no matter of how rich and mighty they are, try to hide themselves “in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.”

Entire books have been written to explain exactly how all of these astounding events could come to pass. For example, some have theorized that volcanic eruptions could turn the sun black and the moon blood red. Likewise, the “stars” falling from the sky could be either the rocks blown out by the volcanic eruptions or meteors/asteroids striking the earth.

Then again, some have presented the possibility that all this could be John doing his best to describe the effects of the dust, ash, and debris that is blown into the atmosphere during a nuclear detonation. For that matter, maybe the blast itself is what causes the great earthquake. Such a detonation could account for the receding of the sky as well. Studies have shown that a nuclear blast has a strange effect upon the sky in that it causes a temporary vacuum in the atmosphere until the air comes rushing back into the vacuum. Perhaps this could be described as the sky “receding.”

While I certainly find the nuclear detonation theory intriguing, I can’t fully embrace it because of the quote that is given from some of the eyewitnesses to these cataclysms. As these eyewitnesses seek shelter in the caves and rocks of the mountains, they say to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?” (Revelation 6:16-17). I find it interesting that these people don’t attribute these cataclysms to the armies of the world or nuclear war. They don’t say, “Oh no, someone has dropped a bomb on us!” Instead, they immediately start talking about God and the wrath of Jesus. Evidently they have previously heard some preaching on Bible prophecy either before the Rapture or after it but refused to believe in Jesus as their Savior.

Seal #7 (Revelation 8:1-6): The Trumpet Judgments

As we come to Christ breaking the scroll’s last seal we are immediately confronted with something different. John writes, “When He opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour” (Revelation 8:1). It’s the only time of silence mentioned in The Revelation. As for what brings about the need for this silence, we can only speculate. Perhaps it’s the fact that the scroll is now completely open and unrolled. Or, perhaps it’s the sheer awe and magnitude of what the seventh seal contains. If that’s the case, it’s an eerie silence before a colossal storm.

And what does that seal contain? It contains seven more judgments that will play themselves out in the first half of the tribulation period. These judgments are called the Trumpet Judgments because each one is introduced by a certain angel blowing a certain trumpet. As hard as it is to believe, these judgments will be even worse in intensity than the Seal Judgments.

And that’s where we will pick up the story next time. Keep in mind that we are still in the first three-and-a-half years of the seven-year tribulation period. Even though we’ve already read about 25% of the world’s population dying off, things are about to get even worse as the midway point of the period approaches. Also keep in mind that it’s the Lord who is in charge of this whole operation. He is the one sending down these judgments. Revelation 6:16 uses the phrase “the wrath of the Lamb.” That’s not a Jesus with whom the world is familiar, is it? But it’s a role He will surely play sometime in the future, and that’s why it’s so important to know Him as Savior now.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged martyrs in the tribulation period, nuclear war in Revelation?, silence in heaven, the martyrs under heaven's altar, the seal judgments, the souls under heaven's altar, the trumpet judgments, the wrath of the Lamb | Leave a comment

The 144,000

Posted on January 16, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #8)

When last we left our studies in Bible prophecy, Jesus had broken four of the seven seals on a scroll that serves as the title deed to the earth. The breaking of these four seals had produced the first four of the so-called Seal Judgments that will strike the earth in the opening half of the tribulation period. In these first four judgments, we were introduced to four symbolic riders on horses, riders known as “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.” These riders had brought the Antichrist, warfare, famine, and death to the earth, and in their wake had left one-fourth of the world’s entire population dead.

Simple reasoning, then, tells us there are still three seals left on that scroll, and Jesus isn’t about to leave those unbroken. However, before I move on to the opening of those remaining three seals, I need to devote a post to a group of men known as “The 144,000.” This has to be done because the events of the fifth seal simply cannot be understood apart from this group.

The question is often asked, “Will people get saved during the tribulation period?” The Bible’s answer is a clear and emphatic, YES. As a matter of fact, multiplied millions of people will accept Christ as their Savior during the tribulation period, enough so that the period is often described as the greatest time of revival the world will ever know.

But how will all of these people hear about Jesus? I mean, if the true church is gone because every Christian has been raptured away, who will preach the gospel following the Rapture? I’ll tell you who. It will be 144,000 specially chosen Jews – 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These Jewish evangelists have been called “144,000 apostle Pauls.”

It’s a shame that the Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and some other religious groups have laid claim to being the 144,000 evangelists of Revelation chapter 7. While the Bible does teach that, in a sense, Abraham is the (spiritual) father of “all those who believe” (Romans 4:9-12, Galatians 3:6-9), this in no way gives anyone the right to spiritualize the meaning of Revelation 7:1-8 and thus do away with its distinctly Jewish flavor. To do so is to imply that God has completely written off literal Israel for all time, an assertion that simply cannot be supported by scripture. To the contrary, Romans 11:1-36 explains that Israel’s current rejection of Jesus is not final and that God isn’t finished with Israel. So, as Harry Ironside says in his commentary notes on Revelation 7:1-8: “Whenever I meet people who tell me they belong to the 144,000, I always ask them, ‘Which tribe, please?’ They are invariably confused for lack of an answer.”

One of the best ways to understand how God gets His evangelistic work done in the world is to analogize Jews and Gentiles as two trains. Throughout the centuries of Genesis chapters 1-11, God got His evangelistic work done by means of the Gentile train as He worked through Gentiles such as Adam, Enoch, and Noah to teach others about Himself. The Jews, after all, weren’t even in existence yet during those centuries.

Things changed, though, in Genesis chapter 12 as God called the Gentile Abram (Abraham) to leave his home in Ur and head out to a land that God would show him. Not only did God promise to grant Abram (Abraham) and his wife Sarai (Sarah) a son, He promised to make Abraham into a great nation through which the entire world would be blessed. That calling was the beginning of the Jewish people – the Jewish train we might say – as Abraham became the first Jew and the father of the Jewish nation.

Beginning with Abraham, then, and going all the way up through Christ’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, God primarily worked through the Jewish train to get His evangelistic work done in the world. The Jews had God’s mark of circumcision upon their males. The Jews had God’s law. The Jews had God’s chosen land of Canaan. The Jews had God’s prophets, priests, and kings. The Jews had God’s tabernacle and temple. The Jews had God’s sacrificial system. The Jews had God’s holy scriptures. The Jews had God’s promise of a Messiah who was to come. You talk about a well-equipped train! And God wanted the Jews to take all of those spiritual advantages and blessings and use them to be a spiritual light unto the world and to teach the Gentiles about Him.

By in large, though, the Jewish nation failed at the task assigned to them, and that failure reached its climax when the nation’s religious leaders rejected Jesus as the promised Messiah and got Him crucified instead. Therefore, in the aftermath of that rejection, there came a time when God, to use our analogy, pulled the Jewish train off onto a sidetrack and began working primarily through the Gentile train to get His evangelism done. The beginning of this change is found in Acts chapter 9 as God called Saul of Tarus, who would become better known as the apostle Paul, to bear His name before Gentiles (Acts 9:15). The change then continued as Peter evangelized a group of Gentiles led by a man named Cornelius (Acts 10:1-48), and Paul and Barnabas headed out on their first missionary journey to Gentiles (Acts 13:1-3). What was happening? God was easing the Jewish train over onto a sidetrack so that the Gentile train could become His primary means of getting His evangelistic work done in the world.

Nowadays, the Gentile train continues to roll on as God’s primary vessel for evangelism. The vast majority of Christians are Gentile. The vast majority of churches are Gentile. The vast majority of preachers, pastors, and Bible teachers are Gentile. The vast majority of missionaries are Gentile.

As for the unsaved Jews, they exist as a spiritually blinded people (Romans 11:1-7) whom God simply cannot use for His work of saving souls. This is a sad but true reality, and this status quo will continue until the moment of the Rapture. Immediately following the Rapture, however, it’s the Gentile train that gets pulled over onto the sidetrack as the Jewish train begins to roll once again as God’s main means of evangelizing the world. And who will be the ones conducting that Jewish train? The 144,000 Jewish evangelists.

As for the description of these Jews, first we’re told they are “redeemed from the earth” and “follow the Lamb wherever He goes” (Revelation 14:3-4). This means that these Jews will place their belief in Jesus Christ as Savior and thus become Christians (Galatians 3:13, Ephesians 1:7, Titus 2:14). Since they miss out on the Rapture, their salvation experiences must occur immediately following it in the earliest days of the tribulation period.

Second, these Jews are called “servants” of God (Revelation 7:3). The Greek word used for “servants” is doulos, which is a word that Paul and others used to describe the most dedicated relationship with Jesus. Some translations translate the word as “bond-servants.” Others go with “slaves.” As you can tell, these 144,000 Jewish evangelists will be far from “casual Christians.”

Third, these Jews will be “virgins” “who were not defiled with women” (Revelation 14:4). While marriage is God’s plan for most lives, and God certainly uses married people in His service, both Jesus (Matthew 19:12) and Paul (1 Corinthians 7:32-34) spoke words of praise for individuals who, in God’s will, remain unmarried so they can devote themselves completely to the things of the Lord. The world is saturated with illicit sex now, and we can only assume this saturation will grow worse as human history marches forward. We can imagine, then, how bad it will be in the tribulation period after the world’s Christians have been raptured away. In spite of it all, though, these 144,000 will remain virgins and keep themselves from defilement. This will prove them as worthy candidates for their divine calling.

Fourth, these Jews will be “firstfruits to God and to the Lamb” (Revelation 14:4). This phrase can be understood in various ways. It can mean these 144,000 will literally be the first people to get saved in the tribulation period. Or, it can mean they will be the first of the remnant of Jews who will accept Christ as their Messiah in the tribulation period. Then again, it can also mean that, like the Old Testament law’s firstfruits offerings, they will be set apart especially for God (Leviticus 23:9-14, Deuteronomy 26:1-11).

Fifth, these Jews will carry “the seal of the living God” upon their foreheads (Revelation 7:1-4). Will this seal be a visible mark? It’s possible. Historically speaking, God’s mark upon Jewish males was circumcision, and that was certainly a visible mark (Genesis 17:1-27). But, on the other hand, it’s also possible that this special seal won’t be visible. The New Testament teaches that the indwelling Holy Spirit serves as the seal for each Christian (Ephesians 4:30), but others can’t see this seal.

About all we can say for sure about the seal the 144,000 Jews will carry is that it will be a seal of protection. We know this because we’re told that in the tribulation period no harm will be allowed to come to the sea or the trees of planet earth until each of the 144,000 receives his seal (Revelation 7:1-3). This means that no matter what happens upon the earth during the events of the tribulation period, these 144,000 Jews will be protected from harm until they have fulfilled their ministry.

And how long will that ministry be? It will last for the first three-and-a-half years of the tribulation period. But that will be long enough for them to evangelize the entire world. Have you ever heard Christ’s words from Matthew 24:14? Jesus said, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” If you’ve heard those words do you know the specific context in which Jesus spoke them? He spoke them as a part of The Olivet Discourse, His greatest teaching on the tribulation period.

You see, the ultimate fulfillment of Christ’s promise about the gospel being preached in all the world and the end coming has nothing to do with current internet sites or the satellite ministries of televangelists, as helpful in evangelistic work as these might be. No, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise will take place in the tribulation period after the Rapture, and it will happen by way of the 144,000 sealed and protected Jewish evangelists who take the gospel into the whole world of human civilization.

And how many people will these Jews win to Christ? The Bible doesn’t give us an exact number, but it does describe the group as “a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues” (Revelation 7:9, 13-14). Prophecy expert David Reagan tells the story of how he once called Zola Levitt, a Jewish Christian, and asked his thoughts on the ministry of the 144,000. Levitt told him, “Before the tribulation is over, we (Jews) are going to convert more people to Jesus than you Gentiles have done in the past 2,000 years.” He’s probably right.

Still, on this subject, there is one last thing that I should probably mention. Many students of prophecy take 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 to mean that no one who hears a clear presentation of the gospel and has a chance to get saved before the Rapture will get saved after the Rapture. According to the popular interpretation of the passage, because these people “did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved” God will “send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie (the Antichrist),” and that delusion will keep them from believing in Jesus as Savior.

Even if this popular interpretation is accurate (and I tend to believe it is), it still leaves open the matter of just how much pre-Rapture rejection it will take to condemn a person. As noted prophecy teacher Charles Ryrie writes, “Is listening to a gospel message in church or on the radio or TV and not receiving the message sufficient?” Ryrie then goes on to point out that indifference to the gospel might not be the same as outright hardness in rejecting it.

In the end, Ryrie admits that the question is a very difficult one to answer, and I agree with him. That’s why I would strongly encourage anyone who hears the gospel in this pre-Rapture time to act upon it and believe in Jesus as Savior. Counting on one of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists to win you to Christ in the tribulation period is way too dicey. You just never know what kind of state you will be in during those strange days, and it might just be that the message that will sound more appealing to you at that time will be the message (the lie) of the Antichrist rather than the message of Jesus Christ.

Posted in Evangelism, Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology", Witnessing | Tagged and this gospel will be preached in all the world, Charles Ryrie, David Reagan, God will send them strong delusion, God's means for evangelizing the world, Harry Ironside, who are the 144000?, will people get saved in the tribulation period?, Zola Levitt | Leave a comment

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Posted on January 13, 2017 by russellmckinney

Bible Prophecy in Chronology series (post #7)

If I asked one hundred people to name the Bible’s hardest book to study, my guess is the majority of people would name The Revelation. The irony of that choice is that The Revelation is probably the easiest book in the entire Bible to outline. That doesn’t mean that everything about the book is easy to interpret, but, speaking as a preacher, an easy-to-divide outline always helps. Once you get to chapter 6, the book basically becomes a chronological walk through the events of the tribulation period and beyond. Is this chronology in perfect precision order? No. Is there some overlap to the events? Absolutely. This doesn’t detract, though, from the fundamental event-by-event timeline that is presented. So, with this post, we’ll begin taking our walk through those events.

To set the stage for the walk, I need to explain Revelation chapter 5. The apostle John, who has just experienced what we might call a “Revelation rapture” (Revelation 4:1-2), watches as Jesus – symbolically depicted as “the Lamb” – takes a certain scroll from the hand of God the Father (Revelation 5:1-7). The mere transfer of this scroll from the hand of God the Father to the hand of Jesus prompts a great heavenly worship scene (Revelation 5:8-14). The ones doing the worshiping are the four living creatures (most likely cherub angels) that surround God’s throne, the 24 elders (a group that symbolically represents the entirety of the church), and many other angels. Clearly, this scroll is a big deal, and Jesus now having it is an even bigger deal.

And so what is this scroll? In the ancient world, such parchment scrolls served as the title deeds in land purchases (Jeremiah 32:6-15). Therefore, this scroll has been called the title deed to the earth. The scroll has writing not only inside it but also on its back, and it is sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5:1). In such scrolls, the writing on the back was a summary of the writing found inside the document, and the writing on the inside contained the details of the transaction. The seals all had to be broken before the entire scroll could be read.

As for the scroll that Jesus takes in hand, the way it works is simple: Whenever Jesus breaks one of the seven seals, a corresponding event takes place down on earth. These events are commonly called “the seal judgments.” At the beginning of chapter 6, Jesus starts breaking the seals, and thus begins The Revelation’s record of the tribulation period. The breaking of the first four seals produce the riders that are known as “the four horsemen of the apocalypse.” These riders will be our subject for this post.

Seal #1 (Revelation 6:1-2): The Rider on the White Horse

Christ’s breaking of the scroll’s first seal causes a rider on a white horse to ride out “conquering and to conquer.” This rider is the Antichrist. In the symbolic imagery, he carries a bow but no arrows. This shows that he will initially play the role of a man of peace. I have explained in previous posts how he will come to power by overthrowing three of the kings of an alliance of ten kings that will constitute a revived Roman empire in the end times (Daniel 7:8,24). Following that coup, the other seven kings will give their power and authority over to him (Revelation 17:12-13), which will give him complete control of the entire empire.

At some point very shortly after the Antichrist comes to power, he will sign a seven-year treaty with Israel (Daniel 9:27). These seven years will be the tribulation period, the last “week” of “The 70 Weeks Prophecy” (Daniel 9:20-27). While it can be argued that the clock on the tribulation period starts ticking at the moment of the Rapture, the better understanding is that it starts ticking the moment the Antichrist signs that treaty. What the Bible doesn’t tell us is how much time elapses between the Rapture and the signing of that treaty. Clearly, though, it can’t be long. My guess is a few days or a few weeks at the most.

Christ’s most extensive teaching on the end times is called the Olivet Discourse because He gave it while He was on the Mount of Olives. The teaching is found in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark 13:3-37, and Luke 21:5-38. It is noteworthy that Jesus opens the teaching by saying, “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many” (Matthew 24:4-5). We can easily imagine that as He spoke to His apostles in general terms about false messiahs, He had in mind the ultimate false messiah that would one day come. It isn’t a coincidence that the Antichrist is depicted as riding a white horse. In Revelation 19:11-21, we find the account of Jesus returning to this earth for His second coming, and that account puts Jesus on a white horse as well.

Seal #2 (Revelation 6:3-4): The Rider on the Red Horse

With Christ’s breaking of the scroll’s second seal, a rider on a fiery red horse heads out to “take peace from the earth.” This rider is the symbolic embodiment of war. So, at this point in the early days of the tribulation period, peace is taken from the earth and the killing begins. Jesus, in the Olivet Discourse, described it this way: “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom…” (Matthew 24:6-7)

A good question to ask, though, is, “Why does warfare break out at this particular time?” After all, if the Antichrist comes in as a man of peace, he won’t be the one stirring up this hostility. What then is the trigger that starts it? The Bible doesn’t give us that answer, but by reading between the lines a bit we can come up with a couple of possibilities.

First, the effect of millions of people suddenly vanishing off the face of the earth in the Rapture really can’t be overstated. Think about the confusion. Think about the chaos. Think about the news reports. Think about the fear. Think about the paranoia. Think about the attempted explanations. Think about the world’s leaders panicking. Think about the different nations accusing each other of being behind the disappearances. That is a setting ripe for countries to go to war. It’s also ripe for individuals to perpetrate violence on other individuals, which might also be a part of the words “that people should kill one another” (Revelation 6:4).

Second, remember that 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 teaches that a great “falling away” will accompany the revealing of the Antichrist. This makes perfect sense in the wake of the Rapture. You see, the Rapture will remove all the authentic Christians from the world’s churches. This will leave only fake Christians and spiritually lost church members to carry on the services of organized religion. And how long will it take for the attendees to realize the hollowness of the post-Rapture “churches”? Not very long. Rather than provide people with answers for the current state of things, these spiritually bereft “churches” will help escalate people’s tensions, anxieties, and fears. Think of it this way: If the world has known the warfare that it has known with Christians here playing the role of salt and light, what kind of a powder keg will it become when they are gone?

But does the Bible name any specific war that might break out in the earliest days of the tribulation period? It would seem so. Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 describe a war that will take place in the “latter days” (Ezekiel 38:16). For this war, the nation “Magog” will head a coalition force that comes into the land of Israel “like a cloud” (Ezekiel 38:16) and goes to war against Israel. “Magog” will be led by a prince identified as “Gog,” which literally means “ruler.” According to Ezekiel 38:5-6, the other countries in the coalition will be Persia (Iran, east of Israel), Ethiopia (south of Israel), Libya (southwest of Israel), Gomer (Germany, northwest of Israel), and Togarmah (Turkey, north of Israel). What’s most impressive about this coalition is that it’s far flung enough in scope for the locations of these nations to form a clockwise ring around Israel. The only gap in the ring is the Mediterranean Sea to Israel’s immediate west.

Since the leader “Gog” is described as coming from a place “far north” of Israel (Ezekiel 38:14-15, 39:1-2), most commentators identify him as the leader of that land we now call Russia. This goes along with the Jewish historian Josephus, who identified Magog as the land of the Scythians, which was located in what is now Russia. For that matter, “Magog” is the translation of the Hebrew word Rosh, and according to Wilhelm Gesenius, a famous expert in Hebrew, Rosh should actually be translated as Russia.

And how will this war go for Russia and her allies? Fatally. For starters, God will strike the land of Israel with a mighty earthquake that will throw the coalition forces into confusion (Ezekiel 38:18-20). That earthquake will then be followed by “pestilence” as well as “flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone” (Ezekiel 38:22) as God slays every last soldier of the coalition forces (Ezekiel 39:1-5). The slaughter will be so great that it will take the people of Israel seven months to bury the bodies of all the dead foreigners (Ezekiel 39:11-16). In addition to all this burying, the people of Israel will gather up the weapons from the slain armies and somehow use those weapons as fuel for their fires for seven years (Ezekiel 39:9-10).

Okay, so when will this infamous invasion of Israel take place? It will occur at a time when Israel will be dwelling in safety and peace in its own land and operating with its guard down (Ezekiel 38:10-15). I promise you that none of that applies to Israel’s current state, and so we must be dealing with a future event. And what could cause Israel to feel safe enough to uncharacteristically drop its guard this way? I would suggest that it’s that peace treaty Israel signs with the Antichrist and his revived Roman empire. If this interpretation is correct, it means that very, very shortly after the signing of that treaty, Russia’s coalition army will roll into Israel and quickly meet its doom. This would explain how the people of Israel could use that weaponry as fuel for seven years (the seven years of the tribulation period), with the number seven being only slightly rounded up and used generally. Then again, it’s also possible that Israel using those weapons as fuel for seven years might extend into the time of Christ’s Millennial Reign upon the earth, which will begin with His Second Coming at the conclusion of the tribulation period.

Seal #3 (Revelation 6:5-6): The Rider on the Black Horse

When Jesus breaks the scroll’s third seal, a rider on a black horse takes his ride. This rider is the symbolic embodiment of famine. Evidently the Russian coalition’s war against Israel will not be the only warfare that breaks out in the early days of the tribulation period. Keep in mind that Revelation 6:2 says the rider on the red horse was granted the power to take peace from the earth, not just a handful of nations. Well, history has proven that times of great warfare are often followed by food shortages because of the destruction of crops and the interruption of manufacturing. This in turn causes skyrocketing prices for the food that is available. Mix all these factors together and you come up with a time of famine. In Christ’s Olivet Discourse, the order is the same. His words, “And there will be famines” follow His words about warfare (Matthew 24:7).

In the symbolism involved with the rider on the black horse, the wildly inflated prices are vividly portrayed. First, the rider holds a set of measuring scales in his hands. The picture is that in those days food will be measured out as carefully as gold. Second, as the rider heads out carrying the scales, John, who is still experiencing heaven’s viewpoint of the events, hears a voice saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and wine.” It’s the math here that’s important. In Bible times, a denarius was the standard equivalent of one day’s pay (Matthew 20:2), and a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley were only enough to prepare one meal. This means that in the opening stages of the tribulation period, following the time of warfare, food will be so scarce and expensive that the average person will have to work a full day just to pay for one meal.

Please note, though, that I said the “average” person. Did you catch that other part about “do not harm the oil and the wine”? Even during this time of famine and incredible inflation, luxuries such as oil and wine (Psalm 104:15) will still be available to the rich. As is always the case in trying economic times, the rich will fare far better than the commoners and poor people in the tribulation period.

Seal #4 (Revelation 6:7-8): The Rider on the Pale Horse

The fourth horseman of the apocalypse rides out with Christ’s breaking of the fourth seal. This rider rides a pale horse and is the symbolic embodiment of death. Here again history points the way by showing us that times of warfare are often followed by times of famine, and those times typically produce death on a large scale. It’s a sad cycle.

And just how many people will die during the first year or two of the tribulation period? We’re told that death will be given power over one-fourth of the earth (Revelation 6:7-8). That might just mean that the death toll from one-fourth of the earth’s total land mass will be exorbitantly high during those days, but many students of prophecy favor a more literal interpretation and say that a full one fourth of the world’s population will lose their lives during this time. If that is indeed the correct interpretation, that death toll is incredible. Right now there are over 7 billion people on the earth and that number increases each year. 25% of 7 billion is almost 2 billion people!

You ask, “But how will all these people die?” Four causes of death are named in Revelation 6:8. First, people will die from the “sword.” This refers back to the various wars that will mark the beginning of the tribulation period. Second, people will die from “hunger.” This refers back to the famine that follows all that warfare. Third, people will die from “pestilence” (NASV). This matches up with the Olivet Discourse since Jesus listed “pestilences” right on the heels of “famines” (Matthew 27:7, Luke 21:11). Furthermore, it makes sense logically because poor people cannot afford proper medical care, and in that kind of a world diseases, plagues, and pestilences are allowed to flourish. Fourth, people will die “by the beasts of the earth.” The best way to interpret these beasts is to take them as literal. Just as the Rapture and the opening events of the tribulation period will bring chaos, confusion, and calamity to people, the world’s animal kingdom will be adversely affected as well as man will become the hunted rather than the hunter in many situations.

Still, though, as bad as 25% of the world’s population ending up dead is, it isn’t even the most tragic part of Christ’s breaking of the scroll’s first four seals. The most tragic part is that Death, the rider on the pale horse, won’t be riding by himself. According to Revelation 6:8, “and Hades followed with him.” I can’t take the time here to get into a thorough teaching on the Greek word Hades, but for the purposes of this post just know that it is that place we call “Hell.” The King James translation even translates Hades as “Hell.”

The point then is that the souls of all those people who die in the opening part of the tribulation period go straight to Hell, not to Heaven. You see, the fact that Hades (Hell) follows the rider on the pale horse is yet another piece of evidence that shows that every Christian will be removed from the earth by way of the Rapture before the beginning of the tribulation period. If this wasn’t the case, then Revelation 6:8 should read: “And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades and Heaven followed with him.” But that’s just not what the verse says, is it? And would you believe that at this point in the timeline that Jesus lays out in the Olivet Discourse, He actually adds in, “All these are the BEGINNING of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8)? Could things really get even worse as the tribulation period steamrolls forward? Unfortunately, the answer is, yes. For more on that, just stay tuned.

Posted in Prophecy, Series: "Bible Prophecy in Chronology" | Tagged Gog and Magog, Jesus taking the scroll, one fourth of the world's population dead, Russia's invasion of Israel, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the rider on the black horse, the rider on the pale horse, the rider on the red horse, the rider on the white horse, the title deed of the earth, wars and rumors of wars | 4 Comments

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