We are proud to announce the series Decoding Daniel and The Revelation is now available. The Secret Ciphers reveals the truth behind Daniel’s prophetic visions of the gentile kingdoms and their timing while Opening the Seals explains John’s mystic visions detailing the final days of Israel and the Church.
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Continue readingOur goal is to restore the Historical Protestant Interpretation of prophecy with special attention to the books of Daniel and The Revelation.
If you have been sitting in Church for years terrified about The Rapture, a Seven Year Tribulation, or a One-World Anti-Christ, this is your blog site. We will take the anxiety out of “end-times” prophecies. Our posts will clearly explain what the Bible actually says, and what it doesn’t say about future events.
Our Hermeneutics (rules of interpretation) adhere to the history, grammar and context of the passage as it was intended by Daniel and John.
We will not tell you what we feel. We will explain prophecies using sound logic and the tried and true rule of comparing Scripture to Scripture. It is imperative to understand correctly what is future and what has been fulfilled since the prophecies were recorded.
First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 2Pet. 1:20
All the earth is Rome! Well, at least it was to the Empire.
One must carefully consider how the words were used in the first century in Asia Minor. The Revelation is a letter written to them and not us. It was preserved for our benefit but, it is at its core someone else’s mail.
The Revelation is a continuation of the book of Daniel. In Daniel chapter 2 and chapter 7 Daniel was told that the earth would be ruled by four consecutive empires; Babylon Medo-Persia, Greece, and finally Rome. When John wrote the book of The Revelation the first three had come and gone from the stage of History all that was left was The Roman Empire. The judgments pronounced in this book are concerned with that final empire, The Roman Empire, and its final form The Roman Church.
In the English language, the words earth, world, or globe are all interchangeable — most of the time. At times, the word earth only means rocks and soil as opposed to water. Then there are odd uses as a globe can mean artichoke. The same is true in Greek, oikoumene, in the Bible refers to a sphere of influence. But we often assume that it means the whole planet.
There are several different Greek words that are translated to “world,” oikoumene, get, and kosmos.
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world (oikoumene) should be enrolled. Luke 2:1
In Luke, the Greek word is oikoumene, which can be used as the surface of the earth as opposed to the heaven above. However here it means the people who inhabit the Roman empire and specifically excludes the barbarians outside the Empire from the enrollment tax.
In the book of The Revelation, it becomes clear that once we leave the grand visions of the Throne room, where the whole of the cosmos is nothing but a footstool, the earth is the Roman Earth.
The book of The Revelation is mostly concerned with the Roman earth or Empire. Everything in the book is Roman. The animal symbol of Rome was a battle horse, the color of the Empire was scarlet, and the capital city of Rome famously sit on seven hills.
Kosmos from which we get our word cosmos, or the whole universe, is usually translated a ‘world.’ It can mean just the planet but, it can also mean all the whole of creation.
Here are some New Testament references that demonstrate the different uses of earth or world. The green indicates ge, and the red indicates kosmos.
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; Matt. 4:8
And he said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. Mark 16:15
They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of your words that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4:42
. . . and saw the heaven opened, and something descending, like a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth. Acts 10:11
Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Rev. 11:15
. . . and all who dwell on earth will worship it, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain. Rev. 13:8
The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. Rev. 17:8
When The Revelation says earth it means the Roman Earth. This book is about the judgment on the Roman Earth. All those nations were at one point part of the Roman Empire. Because we by our very natures tend to be egocentric we assume these judgments and curses are about us. Now don’t get me wrong, when Europe is ground to dust other nations will take a tremendous hit in our economies. But the judgments are not immediately directed at other parts of the earth.
When I was young and first started studying prophecy back in the year one, two very confusing teachings were making the rounds. One, the final battle would be at the valley of Megiddo and, two, the final battle would be in Bozrah. Being an avid reader of the Encyclopedia Britannica, I found out that there is no valley of Megiddo; but rather, the area is called the valley of Jezreel. I further found out that Bozrah was out in the middle of nowhere-in present day Jordan. Why would a future battle be out there?
There are also many hymns and many sermons on how it will be when our Lord returns, all different from each other. However, when all the passages that seem to be concerned with this event are put together it all seems a bit muddled. Are they all the same event? Or are we missing something? There is a natural tendency to interpret unfulfilled prophecy very literally. However, when we compare fulfilled prophecy to the fulfillment it is never very literal. Are our hermeneutics too literal? Should we perhaps look to a more symbolic interpretation?
11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself. 13 He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses. 15 From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords. Rev. 19:11-15
That does not sound very violent and is rather unremarkable.
The first thing to note here is something I learned from the Amillennialist; that is, this passage is in a book of symbols, it has among its pages many weird things; a seven-eyed Lamb, a seven-headed ten-horned sea serpent, a lamb-horned beast from the earth, and so forth. So the Faithful and True guy on the white horse must be symbolic of our Lord’s judgment. . . But maybe not the literal way he returns. The historical passages’ description of our Lord’s return said that it would be in the same manner as He left.
. . . and said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” Acts 1:11
1 Who is this that comes from Edom, in crimsoned garments from Bozrah, he that is glorious in his apparel, marching in the greatness of his strength? “It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save.” 2 Why is thy apparel red, and thy garments like his that treads in the wine press? 3 “I have trodden the wine press alone, and from the peoples no one was with me; I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have stained all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and my year of redemption has come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath upheld me. 6 I trod down the peoples in my anger, I made them drunk in my wrath, and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.” Is. 63:1-6
Here we have the same robs dipped in blood. The difference is that here He is alone. There is no army on white horses. When there is this kind of problem we must fall back on the historical-grammatical contexts of the passage.
So was there ever a time when Bozrah was destroyed? Why yes, there was, when the Babylonians took the area about the same time they took Judea and Jerusalem. Before that, Bozrah was the capital city of Edom; i.e., the homeland of Jacob’s twin brother Esau. The nation of Edom disappeared during the Babylonian invasion of the area in the 6th century BC, they reappeared as the Idumeans under the Greeks. They were then forcibly converted by the Hasmoneans and later incorporated into the Roman province of Judea. (King Herod was an Idumeanian.) Today Bozrah is a small isolated town out in the middle of the nation of Jordan, just east of present-day Israel. The population in 2015 was 25,245.
The historical interpretation of this passage is that the battle refers to the Babylonian destruction. But there are many interpreters who feel it may be a type of the Revelation 19:11-19., the white horse passage.
When looking at “types,” the grammar becomes paramount. Bozrah means “sheepfold,” a place where there was water for the sheep, and it’s not the only passage that is about destroying Edom.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom, upon thepeople I have doomed. 6 The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood, it is gorged with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah, a great slaughter in the land of Edom. 7 Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their soil made rich with fat. Is. 34:5-7
The prophets Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah predicted Bozrah’s destruction:
12 For thus says the LORD: “If those who did not deserve to drink the cup must drink it, will you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, but you must drink. 13 For I have sworn by myself, says the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a horror, a taunt, a waste, and a curse; and all her cities shall be perpetual wastes.” 14 I have heard tidings from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Gather yourselves together and come against her, and rise up for battle!” 15 For behold, I will make you small among the nations, despised among men. 16 The horror you inspire has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who live in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill. Though you make your nest as high as the eagles, I will bring you down from there, says the LORD. Jer. 49:-16
11 Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever. 12 So I will send a fire upon Teman, and it shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah.” Amos 1:11-12
12 I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men. 13 He who opens the breach will go up before them; they will break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass on before them, the LORD at their head. Mic. 2:12—13
Then there is Micah 2: 12-13 where Jacob will be assembled. However, there are no distinctions in Hebrew between nouns and proper nouns, so the sheepfold here may just be a sheepfold and not the town of Bozrah. When Bozrah the town is meant, it is always mentioned that it is in Edom. That clarification is not here.
12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. 13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them. Mic. 2:12-13 KJV
The Standard Historical Interpretation of the Micah passage is that the Jewish nation will be brought back into the sheepfold by Messiah Himself.
What Day is it?
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet Rev. 1:10
The phrase, “Lord’s Day” has raised questions as to whether this was the Sabbath or Sunday. The Sunday worshipers claim that Sabbath worship was replaced with Sunday worship. The Sabbath-keepers are equally sure that this is a reference to Sabbath or Saturday.
However, on careful consideration, we would like to offer a different opinion. Throughout the Revelation we see everyone wearing white. And the twenty-four elders have golden crowns and censors. These twenty-four elders or in Greek, presbuteros, (from where we get the word presbyters) are meant to represent the twenty-four courses of priests that served in the temple. [I Chron 24:7-18] It should be noted that the only time priests wore white was on Yom Kippur. [Lev. 16:4, 32]
Since the remainder of the book’s imagery is represented as happening on the Day of Atonement, it seems only natural that this “Lord’s Day” is the holiest day of the Biblical feast days, Yom Kippur.
What marks Yom Kippur out? It was the only day on which one could seek forgiveness for intentional sin. Every other day or sacrifice was for sins of omission or not knowing what the right thing to do was. But, for intentional sins, or sins of commission one had to wait till Yom Kippur to make things right before God.
The point of The Revelation is that it is ALWAYS the Day of Atonement before the Throne. On this one day, we can always repent and become righteous. On this one day, we can always make things right. On this one day, we can always seek forgiveness. Then the day ends, and the Book of Life is opened and one is either found in it or not. It will be too late to seek repentance and forgiveness for it is no longer available. Then the Day of Atonement that we live in, will be over.
Then there will dawn new heaven and a new earth.
In the Old Testament, God gave His people a look at their future through the prophets, thus providing them with guidance throughout their history.
Sometimes the prophets gave a general warning or encouragement about the nation as a whole but, occasionally the information was very specific. Prophecies began in the Garden of Eden, leading through the ages of the death and resurrection of the Messiah.
The Kingdom Age was foretold as the Kingdom being given to a people other than Israel after the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
God’s Direction for the Saints Revealed in The New Testament
Our God is immutable, meaning He does not change. The same guidance He gave to His people in the Old Testament applies in the New Testament.
There are those that believe prophecies in The Revelation are largely about a future seven years of tribulation involving great destruction. If this is true, it has left His followers with no instructions or warnings for 2000 years. However, the text itself says otherwise.
The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants what must SOON take place; and he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, Rev. 1:1
Would God not do the same for His people as He did for ancient Israel? Would He leave us with 2000 years of silence-as the Dispensationalist’s teach? Everything about The Lord’s provision for Israel would lead us to expect a fuller and more detailed foretelling. Not scantier!
And, so it is that He put it all down in one book, The Revelation. Then, added that no one should add anything to the book. The course of history is set out for all to read.
. . . and if any one takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Rev. 22:19
The book of The Revelation is that foreordained history of God’s people from 98 AD to The New Jerusalem. It is our “roadmap,” our guiding light.
However, one must put in the time and read the history books, while comparing them to the prophecy. It is also a sound practice to read the Old Testament prophets and their fulfillments in order to understand the symbolic language of prophecy. [See Also: Hermeneutics ]
The Early Church understood these principles-not with complete clarity-but beginning brush strokes were being applied to the painting of history. Followers approached prophetic events with all dread and earnestness. They understood that the Gospel would triumph and cause the fall of the Roman Empire. But, they did not look forward to that day; they knew the Lawless-One would step into the void left by the Empire’s fall.
By the time of the Reformation, the Church began to understand that the Seal Judgments were fulfilled with the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and that the Trumpet Judgments were the Dark or Middle Ages. Finally, scholars that followed the Reformers witnessed the beginning the Bowls or Vial Judgments unfolding. The great twin persecutors of God’s children; the Roman Church; and the Ottoman Empire would soon be losing their power and prestige.
As the centuries rolled by, each new generation is gifted with a greater understanding as prophecy and corresponding events match up. More light is available as more events are fulfilled. Greater and brighter is the message as each detail becomes clearer in fulfillment.
Unfortunately, the Dispensationalists have clouded people’s minds with futile speculations. They rather recently invented, contrived, and supposed themselves into believing in things that are not in the Bible at all. There is no seven-year tribulation, there is no future political antichrist, and there is no rapture. These are all creations of their own imaginations. They jump from verse to verse in vain attempts to explain things that are simply not there. At the same time they neglect serious in-depth study of what is actually written in the Bible.
At least that’s what many in today inherited churches are teaching. But is that valid?
If we are living in the End Times, what were Paul and Peter talking about?
Now these things happened to them as a warning, but they were written down for our instruction, upon whom the end of the ages has come. 1Cor. 10:11
He was destined before the foundation of the world but was made manifest at the end of the times for your sake. 1Pet. 1:20
The end of all things is at hand; therefore keep sane and sober for your prayers. 1Pet. 4:7
For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 1Pet. 4:17
If they were living in the End Times, what ended? Obviously Paul and Peter did not use this phrase to mean the end of ALL time or the end of OUR time. They were not thinking it was the end of our time, They had no concept or our time. They must have been speaking of THEIR time. In their time, the kingdom of Judea was at its end. The Messiah had told them that the Kingdom of Heaven/God was here. (See Also: The Kingdom of Heaven)
The second problem we now have is most of the inherited churches in the twenty-first century have miss understood the nature of the Kingdom and teach that the Kingdom of Heaven/God is delayed. The Kingdom was announced by both John the Baptists and Messiah Himself, therefore unless one thinks they were false prophets, there is something about the nature of the Kingdom that those teaching a delayed Kingdom have missed.
Those that teach a delayed Kingdom want a perfect world with the Messiah on a physical throne sitting in a physical temple. Just as the Pharisees had wanted the perfect Jewish Kingdom, where the Jews ruled the Gentiles, and all nations would have to come to Jerusalem to worship in a physical temple. They didn’t like a non-temple kingdom, where all are sons of Abraham.
There is a time coming for a New Jerusalem, but that is not The Kingdom John the Baptist, Messiah, Paul, or Petter were talking about.
The time of Jewish polity was ending, and the faith was going out to the Gentiles.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” Rev. 22:13
We are often accused of being anti-catholic. This is simply not true. Catholic is Latin for “universal.” We believe in the universal church although we prefer congregation. We just don’t believe that The Church of Rome is part of it. The Church of Rome’s history and teachings has been one of violence and intolerance. Like the Empire before them, they have violently put down any who said anything they didn’t want to hear.
When confronted with these facts the common response is “that was then,” we’re not like that now. To which we respond “God has not forgotten one tear.”
Thou hast kept count of my tossings; put thou my tears in thy bottle! Are they not in thy book? Psa. 56:8
He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. Is. 25:8
The Crusades and INQUISITION, are solely the Church of Rome’s responsibilities. She is truly drunk with the blood of the saints and anyone else that got in her way. This is not to say that there are no true believers in her ranks, but they need to recognize her for what she is and leave.
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; Rev. 18:4
And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul and hateful bird; Rev. 18:2
Fallen is in the indicative, which is past tense in English. To be fallen is to be judged. Babylon is judged as a completed fact, it has already happened. It is not “will be judged” it is a stated fact that she “has been judged.”
This verse is a quote from Isaiah.
And, behold, here come riders, horsemen in pairs!” And he answered, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”Isaiah 21:9
In Hebrew, there is no word for emphasis like the English surely or very, so the verb is double stated. Babylon is surely fallen. It is a done deal, and remember Isaiah wrote this before Babylon was an empire.
Taken during Operation Iraqi Freedom, U.S, Navy photo by Photographer’s mate 1st Class Arlo K Abrahamson.
This is what the imperial city looks like in its fallen state. Just melted mud bricks. So what will Rome look like?
“Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; 5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her as she herself has rendered, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she mixed. Rev. 18:4-6
What does a double draught look like?
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So shall Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and shall be found no more; 22 and the sound of harpers and minstrels, of flute players and trumpeters, shall be heard in thee no more; and a craftsman of any craft shall be found in thee no more; and the sound of the millstone shall be heard in thee no more; 23 and the light of a lamp shall shine in thee no more; and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall be heard in thee no more; for thy merchants were the great men of the earth, and all nations were deceived by thy sorcery. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.” Rev. 18:21-24
There are six “no mores” her sins will no longer be tolerated. No amount of penance or indulgences will matter. The King of Kings has had enough.
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Matt. 18:6
Millstones are heavy things. There will be no coming back from purgatory. How many little ones have been led astray by Rome’s lies? God has not forgotten — even one of them, not one tear. His judgments are true and just.
The first time a Western minded person reads the book of The Revelation they are confused by the truly weird imagery it presents. The seven headed serpent beast being one of the very strangest of them all. Western paganism has long since been removed from the minds of Western peoples. Only those ideas and images that could be Christianized remain. Yet, the average teacher of prophecy makes no mention that this is pagan imagery.
Paganism is and was full of seven headed serpents. They all have slightly different meaning in different parts of the world. They usually are connected with creation, knowledge, and life and death.
They are so frequent as to make one wonder what is going on? One can be sure however that the people of the seven churches in Asia Minor were not so unaware. As they were surrounded by pagan imagery on a day to day basis. They lived among pagans. Many of them came out of paganism, and, Pergamum was the center of the Mystery Religions.
The Pilgrim Fathers were determined to follow the increasing light that God had for them This is clearly expressed in the parting counsels of their pastor, John Robinson (ca. 1575-1625), in 1620, just before they started on their long journey to the New World. He had ministered to a church near Norwich until he was suspended for his Puritan tendencies. In 1604 he ministered to church of dissenter at Scrooby. In 1608 he and his flock escaped to Amsterdam, Later in the year he went to Leyden, and there in 1611 established a church. In 1620, after his memorable sermon, he saw the set sail for America. Referring to the solemnity of the parting, and admonishing them to follow him “no further than he followed Christ,” Robinson declared himself : very confident that the Lord had more truth and light yet to break fourth out of His holy Word.” And after deploring the condition of the Reformed churches that “would goe no further than the instruments of their Reformation,” he illustrated his point thus.
“As for example, the Lutherans they could not be drawne to goe beyond what Luther saw, for whatever part of Gods will be had further imparted and revealed to Calvin, they will rather die then embrace it. And so also, saith he, you see the Calvinists, they stick where he left them: A misery much to bee lamented; For though they were precious shining lights in their times, yet God had not revealed his whole will to them: And were they now living saith hee, they would bee as ready and willing to embrace further light, as that they had received. Here also he put us in mind of our Church-covenant (at least that part of it) whereby wee promise and covenant with God and one another, to receive whatsoever light or truth shall be made known to us from his written Work: but withall exhorted us to take heed what we received for truth, and well to examine and compare, and weigh it with other Scriptures of truth before we received it; For siath he It is not possible the Christian world should come so lately our os such thick Antichristian darknesses, and that full perfection of knowledge should break fourth at once.”
The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers vol 3; Leroy Edwin Froom page 20
