Godmindbody Part 3, Chapter 10: Revelation, Part 1

The Siege of Jerusalem AD 70

Godmindbody: The Bible, Prophecy, Miracles and TMS Healing Explained

By Robert Ensor

Copyright © 2025 Robert Ensor

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.The author’s moral rights have been asserted.First Published September 2025.

All Bible quotations, unless otherwise stated or referenced, are taken from the online World English Bible, which is in the public domain. It is available at the following link: https://ebible.org/eng-web/index.htm. English language Bibles are translated from Hebrew and Greek manuscripts. I am no linguist, and I don’t know any linguists, so I have had to rely on others’ translations and romanizations of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Occasionally, I have examined the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek of the Bible, zeroing in on key words where the received English translation is debatable or misses the full meaning of the original.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or a therapist – merely a concerned layperson (!) – and nothing in this book should be considered medical advice. Nor should it be considered a substitute for diagnoses, prescriptions and treatments from qualified doctors. If you have symptoms, I recommend that you see a doctor to rule out anything serious and get proper care.

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Chapter 10: Revelation

The words of Jesus on the Mount of Olives were borne in mind by John when he wrote his Revelation, which is in many ways an elaboration of the Olivet Discourse and the End Times prophecies of Daniel and Isaiah, though all ultimately stem from the same source. It is the Revelation to John, from Jesus, the Revelator. In this book John, like the earlier prophets, is effectively a medium for God.

Revelation is frequently misunderstood and infrequently taught in church. The main reason for the confusion is that Revelation is a text intended to be understood at the end of the age by a specific group of people who are relatively few in number and gifted with advanced spiritual hearing (in the millennium, more will understand). It is avoided because it is perceived as controversial, difficult and scary; even most Christians and priests don’t know what to do with it, so many tend to ignore it. The core salvific message of the gospels is central, so I am not saying that anyone who disagrees with my interpretation of Revelation isn’t a true Christian. But you do need to understand certain key points from the text, especially the nature of the ‘beast’ (Revelation 13), his mark, the Parousia and the timing of the rapture, or your confusion may lead you to take actions that cause you to cease being a true Christian as events unfold in time. A proper comprehension of Revelation is also essential to understand where salvation ultimately leads us, and what exactly is entailed by ‘eternal life.’ Thus no outline of Christianity is complete without a detailed discussion of Revelation.

In the late 1^st century AD, John, Jesus’ ‘beloved disciple’, was thrown into a vat of boiling oil in the Coliseum. He emerged miraculously unharmed, and his sentence was commuted to exile on Patmos so that he could write the Revelation, and possibly also his gospel, if that had not already been written.[i] Such is the importance placed upon Revelation by God. Revelation and the other End Times prophecies are riddles that have been hanging over our culture for centuries. John makes it plain that the answers given – or not given – to these riddles and the actions proceeding therefrom will determine the fate of the soul for those who are alive during the tribulation. Eternal life or eternal destruction.

One of the main interpretive frameworks of Revelation is the Preterist one, which sees the prophecies as mostly fulfilled in AD 70 with the Sack of Jerusalem. Preterists typically date the work to before AD 70, but the historical consensus is that it was authored by John in the ‘90s AD. This latter dating is worth investigating. If correct, given the obviously future oriented content of most of the book, it undermines a solely Preterist reading of Revelation by default, though a post-AD 70 dating does not by itself refute the idea that John’s book was Janus-faced; that is, looking backwards to recent history as a guide to the distant future. John himself stated that he was sent to Patmos for preaching the gospel (Revelation 1:9), and this exile is traditionally held to be during Domitian’s reign. This is credible for several reasons: the 2^nd century church father Tertullian recounted the aforementioned story of John surviving execution as occurring during the time of Domitian, Tertullian was much nearer the events concerned than we are now, Domitian persecuted Christians during his reign, banishment was a common punishment for prophecy, John’s prophecy had political implications, and Patmos was an island for political exiles. Domitian reigned as emperor from 81 AD until 96 AD. Irenaeus wrote that John beheld the revelatory vision during Domitian’s reign, which was corroborated by other church fathers, including Jerome and Eusebius.[ii] The persecutions John described among the churches of Asia further suggest that the book was written during Domitian’s reign, or a time during which he had influence, since Domitian was the second emperor after Nero to actively persecute Christians (however, Christians were persecuted locally within the empire even when the emperor didn’t have it in for them).[iii] Therefore, Preterism can only be partially correct regarding Revelation, and in the past tense – not as a prophecy – even at the time John wrote the book. Accordingly, events in Roman era Jerusalem, though horrific and terrible, were typological of the End Times prophetic fulfilment, the crescendo of God’s symphony that will play the present age out.

‘Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him.’ (Revelation 1:7). This verse references Daniel 7:13: ‘there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man’ and Zechariah 12:10, whilst also evoking Jesus’ description of his return on a day of darkness in Matthew 24. Nothing like this cloud-coming has happened yet, meaning that the Second Advent still lies in the future. The Preterist Kenneth Gentry Junior limited the applicability of this verse to the Jews of Jerusalem during the first Roman-Jewish war,[iv] but the Romans are the ones who technically pierced Jesus, and neither Romans nor Jews saw Jesus coming with the clouds in the 1^st century. The point here is that when he does come, everyone on earth will see him, including the descendants of the Romans who pierced him, because the Parousia will be visible worldwide.

In the Book of Revelation, John wrote ‘the time is near’ (Revelation 1:3) and through him Jesus said that he is coming ‘soon’ (Revelation 22:12; 22:20). Preterists have used these words to justify their pre-AD 70 dating of the text, assuming that the ‘coming’ in view was divine judgement in the form of the Roman Siege of Jerusalem, not a literal reappearance of Jesus. This interpretation neglects the fact that due to rising rates of literacy and an increasing world population, most of the book’s readers came to the text in the last 150 years (a time period considerably closer to the Second Coming than the 1^st century AD), and many more will read it in the future, as the tribulation events begin to unfold. Jesus exists outside of our ordinary conception of time, so to him, a thousand years is ‘as a day’ (2 Peter 3:8). Moreover, the Preterist reading neglects the esoteric meaning of Jesus’ imminent arrival within the soul and body of readers of all eras, including many of John’s 1^st century readers, since Revelation is also an initiatic text, as is made plain through numerous allusions to salvific experience such as being ‘in the spirit’ (Revelation 1:10), eating the ‘hidden mana’ (Revelation 2:17), holding onto the ‘crown’ (Revelation 3:11) and receiving the ‘white stone’ (Revelation 2:17), a term later used in alchemy.

Preterists also cite Jesus’ promise in Mark 9:1 that some of his listeners won’t ‘taste death’ before witnessing ‘God’s kingdom come with power’ to justify their idea that AD 70 was somehow Jesus’ coming in judgement, not in person. In reality, Mark 9:1 is in one sense a reference to the apostles and Jesus’ other followers entering the Kingdom of Heaven during the experience of spiritual rebirth and crossing over from death to life. There was also a secondary meaning: that some of those who were listening to Jesus in 1^st century Judea would reincarnate in the last days, and in that final incarnation, they would not die, but be given immortal flesh bodies as part of the rapture, shortly after the ‘first resurrection’ of the dead in Christ. Likewise, although the text reads ‘there are some standing here’ a tertiary meaning may be that Jesus foresaw that some of his readers in the last days would survive the tribulation, participate in the rapture and therefore escape death. When Jesus spoke, he was not only speaking to those within earshot, he was speaking to posterity, for he knew his words would echo throughout eternity; ‘heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.’ (Matthew 24:25).

In the early chapters of the Book of Revelation, John was ‘in the spirit on the Lord’s day’ (Revelation 1:10) – that is, he was out of his body on Sunday – and had a vision. At the behest of ‘one like a son of man’ (Revelation 1:13) who ‘was dead’ but is ‘alive forever and ever’ (Revelation 1:18) from whose mouth a ‘sharp two-edged sword’ emerged (Revelation 1:16), John wrote letters to the seven assembles or churches in Asia. The one who was dead and is alive forever is clearly the resurrected Christ. The sword in the mouth of Jesus is the power of God. When Jesus speaks, it happens; hence the power of God is in his mouth, in his words. The two edges of the sword are life and death, for by his word as judge, souls are given eternal life or condemned to eternal death.[v] On a practical level, sending the Book of Revelation to the seven churches of Asia was a dissemination tactic intended to spread the message as efficiently as possible.[vi] These letters are not especially noteworthy for their eschatological content, but are more concerned with reprimanding and encouraging the churches of Asia at that time. The messages to the seven churches have a certain timeless resonance with various failings that Christian churches past, present and future are vulnerable to, but such ecclesiastical nuances are largely beyond the scope of the current work. John’s address to the seven churches does however contain some insights that are relevant to the time of the end, the nature of Revelation, salvation and the relationship between heaven and earth, which I will extract.

Jesus instructs John to ‘write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter.’ (Revelation 1:19). On a literal level, it means that John was to write what he had already seen in the vision, what he currently saw, and the subsequent vision of the End Times. On a deeper level, Revelation 1:19 is an interpretive key to the text as a whole: it is about the recent past (‘the things you have seen’), especially the Roman sack of Jerusalem in AD 70, which was a pattern of future events; the present (the persecution and exile of believers like John under Domitian, a beast prototype who became obsessed with demanding worship as ‘Lord and God’, from whom Christians were no longer protected after their legal separation from the Jewish community in the Roman Empire);[vii] and the future (the events of the last days, to take place many centuries later). This makes it very plain that the vision John was about to see, set down in the Book of Revelation, is at least partly concerned with the future at the time of composition, which has been dated to 95 AD, though I believe it was actually written circa 80 AD.

During Jesus’ address via John to the angel of the church of Philadelphia, he said, ‘because you kept my command to endure, I also will keep you from the hour of testing which is to come on the whole world, to test those who dwell on earth.’ (Revelation 3:10). The ‘whole world’ here is a translation from the Greek oikoumenes,[viii] which can mean the entire inhabited earth or the inhabited world that was familiar to the ancient Greeks and Romans, where Hellenic culture had spread.[ix] Thus the tribulation will probably be a global test. Revelation 3:10 does not mean, as pretribulation rapturists hold, that Christians will be raptured before the tribulation begins. It implies that the tribulation and the Second Coming are in the future, and the Philadelphians will die well beforehand and be spared reincarnation at that time, since by enduring persecution in their Philadelphian incarnations they already passed the test. Indeed, the Philadelphian Christians who lived in the late 1^st century AD obviously died many centuries before the tribulation period.

‘He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more.’ (Revelation 3:12). This is yet another coded reference to reincarnation; when the body of a saved soul dies, that soul goes to heaven, but it does not typically reincarnate – or ‘go out from’ heaven – unless, like John and Elijah, the soul has a special purpose to complete on earth at a specific juncture in history. Also note the continuity here with the reincarnation subtheme of John’s gospel, further evidence for John’s authorship of the Revelation, since few other Bible authors alluded to reincarnation.The clearest description of the salvation process in the Bible comes from the address to the assembly at Laodicea: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him, and him with me. He who overcomes, I will give him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.’ (Revelation 3:20). The house here is the physical body. The one in the house who must open up the door is the soul or mind of the believer. Opening the door is letting Christ in to live with you in your house, i.e. in your body. Dining with Jesus is consuming the bread of life, his ascended, spiritualised flesh. Letting Jesus in and dining with him are one and the same thing, namely, the reception of the Spirit of God, which was the main esoteric theme of the Gospel of John, further underlining the continuity of authorship between the two works. Then Jesus will take the one who opens the door to sit on his throne, which is in heaven, in a rebirth experience. They may also be allowed to sit on his throne at a future time in the temporary millennial kingdom, or the New Jerusalem. Or perhaps the latter dimension of these verses was meant for John alone, the son of King Christ, Ezekiel’s ‘prince’ and Zechariah’s throne-sitting ‘priest’, since ‘him’ (Greek: autos) is after all used in the singular,[x] and he was the first recipient of the Revelation.

Some have postulated that the seven churches represent the seven ages of Church history, with the apathetic Laodiceans standing for the more ‘liberal’ modern church. This is not the case for several reasons: the churches were real churches in the Roman province of Asia at that time, the proposed Ephesian age of the church (33–50 AD) was already in the past when John wrote his letter to that church, it would make no sense for Jesus to threaten a church age already past with removal,[xi] the names of the churches often don’t have the thematic meanings that some propose they do (e.g. Smyrna just means myrrh, not ‘bitter’)[xii] and the problems the churches were described as facing were real historical problems such as idolatry and Nicolaitans (Revelation 2:6) that were specific to the Church at that time. Also, the Church of Philadelphia received the most compliments from Christ, but the hypothetical Philadelphian age (the 1700’s) was actually an era of mounting Deism and atheism. That being said, the problems encountered by these churches are relevant to particular types of churches in all eras.

In Revelation 4:1, John looked (using spiritual vision – the ‘third eye’) and saw a door opened in heaven. A voice called to him, saying, ‘“Come up here, and I will show you the things that must happen after this.”’ Ergo, what John saw next is primarily concerned with the future, not as Preterists would have it the events of AD 70, which was more than nine years in the past at the time of the vision.

‘Immediately I was in the spirit’ (Revelation 4:2); again, John left his body and rose to heaven. He saw a throne in heaven, with 24 other thrones for 24 elders (Revelation 4:2–4) positioned around it. The elders wore white garments and crowns (Revelation 4:4). There were also seven spirits of God about the main throne (Revelation 4:5). In the middle of the throne, and around it ‘were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.’ (Revelation 4:6). The first was like a lion, the second like a calf, the third had the face of a man and the fourth was like a flying eagle (Revelation 4:7). Each creature has six wings and praises God night and day (Revelation 4:8). These creatures together comprise the tetramorph, also written of in Ezekiel 1 as spiritual forces that go abroad spreading God’s word. They are associated with the evangelists, each of whom presents a different dimension of Jesus: the eagle of John, the man of Luke, the lion of Mark and the cow of Matthew. John’s gospel is about Jesus the eagle, because it presents Jesus as God, and the eagle is the highest-flying creature, which is therefore associated with divinity and the heavens. John is symbolised by the eagle because the eagle is far-sighted (seeing the end), and because it is the creature that ascends high and descends, as John did more than once during the visionary experience that forms the basis of the Book of Revelation. John is concerned with rebirth in his writings, and rebirth is also represented by the eagle.

In Revelation 5:1, God sat on his throne. ‘I saw, in the right hand of him who sat on the throne, a book written inside and outside, sealed shut with seven seals.’ God has a right hand because though he is a Spirit, not a strictly biological being, he has the form of a man; hence he created us ‘in his image’ (Genesis 1:27). It is a form that can be seen by the salved eye. The book is either knowledge of the events of the last days, or the trigger for those events, and the seven seals represent specific points in time. These seals must be broken for the events to be read out or witnessed by the Lamb and thereby witnessed by John or manifested on earth.

No one was found worthy to open the book, except Jesus, ‘the Root of David’ (Revelation 5:5), who proved his worthiness by enduring sacrifice for his people. The ‘Lamb’ (Revelation 5:7), who is also the lion of Judah (Revelation 5:5), came and took the book out of the right hand of God. Jesus is pictured as a lamb here due to his First Advent as Isaiah’s (53:7) lamb to the slaughter, and as a lion of Judah, due to his conquering Second Advent, his descent from Judah, and his past life... The Lamb taking the book from God means that Jesus has been handed knowledge of the future by God, with the possible exception of the exact day and hour of his return, and that knowledge is passed on to humanity, through John. Jesus also has been given power to bring those future judgements about. The Logos was reigning in heaven with the Father from the beginning; the soul of Jesus having combined with the Word, assumed his heavenly throne because of his sacrifice on the cross and subsequent ascension. But what has happened in heaven has yet to be fully realised on earth, and must eventually be reflected on earth, since ‘as above, so below’ is a general metaphysical principle, illustrated multiple times in the Book of Revelation by angelic activity causing catastrophes in the world below.

The elders fell down before the Lamb, having ‘golden bowls of incense, which are the prayers of the saints’ (Revelation 5:8), and sang a new song to the Lamb: ‘“you are worthy to take the book and open its seals, for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every tribe, language, people, and nation, and made us kings and priests to our God; and we will reign on the earth.”’ (Revelation 5:9–10).

Who are these mysterious 24 elders? Well, our best guide as always is the Bible itself, read in the light of the Holy Spirit. The elders are commonly identified as 12 of the Old Testament patriarchs, possibly the patriarchs of each of the 12 tribes of Israel: Reuben, Dan, Levi, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Judah, Dan, Simeon, Gad, Zebulun and Benjamin[xiii], plus the 12 apostles, for Christ promised that his apostles would sit on 12 thrones and judge the 12 tribes (Matthew 19:28). But this reading is not an exact fit with the textual facts, for several reasons. John was one of the 12 apostles, and he was up there in heaven, ‘in the spirit’, distinct from the 24 elders, although it is possible, if unlikely, that he was seeing his future self. Moreover, the four living creatures are symbols of the four evangelists or at least symbols of different aspects of God illuminated by the evangelists, since the four living creatures were described in Ezekiel 1, centuries before the incarnations of the evangelists. Two of the evangelists (Matthew and John) were also apostles, and it seems unlikely that John and Matthew would be represented twice before the throne of God. Judas was also one of the 12, and he failed by his betrayal. He was ‘replaced’ by Matthias (Acts 1:26). Perhaps Judas could have redeemed himself in a later incarnation, but even so, there would probably not have been time to atone for his sin by the final quarter of the 1^st century, when Revelation was written. Some believe the elders are angels, but they’re identified as beings distinct from angels, and they praise Jesus for their salvation and crowns, clearly demonstrating that they are Christians of some kind. They wear white robes and crowns, and sit on thrones, all of which are promised to true followers of Christ in the Bible generally (e.g. James 1:12, 2 Timothy 4:8), and Revelation specifically. The elders are described prior to the book being unsealed and the great multitude of every nation who come out of ‘great suffering’ (Revelation 7:14); in other words, they are saved and in heaven before the gospel is preached throughout the whole world and the tribulation, which could make some of them early Christian saints, including most of the 12 apostles, who were dead at the time of composition. ‘Elders’ is a translation of the Greek presbyteroi,[xiv] and the early churches were informally governed by presbyteroi, which could be a clue that they are Christian elders from the Christian era, although the same word was also used of leaders in the Jewish community. The elders may be multicultural Christians, since they said they were redeemed out of every tribe, people and language, and many of the patriarchs were around at a time when peoples and tribes had yet to be defined.

Against this interpretation, and for the Old Testament patriarchs as the 24 elders, is the fact that they are elders, and not all of the early saints were old men; Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was about 29 years old when he died, and James the brother of John was in his forties at the time of his martyrdom. By contrast, Abraham was 175 years old when he died (Genesis 25:7), Isaac was 180 (Genesis 35:28), Jacob was 147 (Genesis 47:28), Reuben was 125[xv] and Isaiah, Daniel and Jeremiah were all elderly when they died. My point is, the Old Testament prophets and patriarchs were overall older than the apostles and early Christian saints. Jesus foretold that ‘there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets in God’s kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside.  They will come from the east, west, north, south, and will sit down in God’s kingdom. Behold, there are some who are last who will be first and some who are first who will be last’ (Luke 13:24–29). This means that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets will be in the earthly millennial kingdom, because those who are shut out are not killed or destroyed in the lake of fire at that time.[xvi] These verses pertain to the millennial kingdom on earth, because there will probably be no need for people to be regathered from the east, west, north and south in the New Jerusalem. Furthermore, God promised Abraham land on this current earth (Genesis 13:15; 15:18–21), with reference to geographical features like the Brook of Egypt and the Euphrates that pertain to our earth, whereas the geography of the new earth will be different; for example, it will have no sea (Revelation 21:1). Of course, it is possible that our earth will transform into the new earth. The number of all the prophets is well in excess of 24, since the Talmud records 48 male prophets and seven female ones, a fact which militates against an Old Testament-centric interpretation of the 24 elders. Although the patriarchs never received the Body of Christ while they were incarnate, because they lived before Jesus’ incarnation, there is the aforementioned theological concept of the Harrowing of Hell, which could explain how the patriarchs will be in the millennial kingdom. Alternatively, the patriarchs could have reincarnated during the church age and received salvation that way. Whether or not the 24 elders are drawn partly or exclusively from the ranks of the patriarchs, however, I can’t say for sure.

When the first seal was opened and it was summoned by one of the four living creatures, a white horse appeared. He who sat on it wore a crown and came out to conquer (Revelation 6:2). This is the first of the famous four horsemen of the apocalypse, and the first of a series of judgements sent by God known as the seal judgements, although it is unclear whether this first rider is catastrophic.

Later in the text (Revelation 19:13) the one sat on the white horse is ‘the Word of God’. The first seal horseman who is crowned and conquers, then, has been regarded by some as King Jesus – or the Holy Spirit sent by the Lamb in heaven,[xvii] in an instance of filioque[xviii] – conquering the earth through the spread of the gospel. This would corroborate Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 24:14 that the end would not come until the gospel had been preached throughout the whole world. Others interpret the rider of the white horse to be the Antichrist, the little horn who makes a ‘covenant with many’ to mark the start of Daniel’s 70^th week, but the rider is never explicitly identified as such. The Antichrist comes from the sea much later in the text and is described in very different terms: as a seven-headed, ten horned beast ridden by a prostitute (Revelation 17), not a crowned rider. These riders are spiritual entities, not flesh and blood physical beings, but they have real earthly consequences, since the spiritual determines the physical in the order of causation. To be perfectly honest, I don’t know which of these two interpretations of the first rider is correct, if any, and have no strong intuitions on the subject.

The second seal was opened and, summoned by another living creature, a red horse came out (Revelation 6:3). ‘To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another.’ (Revelation 6:4). ‘The earth’ here is a translation of the Greek tes ges.[xix] Ges doesn’t necessarily mean the entire earth, but can mean region, land or country.[xx] This rider of the red horse is commonly considered to be War – a figurative representation of war, or the spirit of war – one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The fact the second rider takes peace from the land implies that the first horseman’s conquests were bloodless, and therefore either diplomatic or spiritual in nature. It may also imply that the ‘covenant with many’ at the outset of Daniel’s final week is indeed a peace treaty that will be broken by the second horseman.

Preterists consider the conquering first horseman to represent the victorious Roman army’s march towards Jerusalem in AD 67, and the rider of the red horse who ‘takes peace from the earth’ an allusion to the disruption of the Pax Romana during the Jewish wars and the Roman civil war following the death of Nero in AD 68, an upheaval so severe it nearly toppled the empire.[xxi] Again, the events of the ‘60s AD weren’t the seal judgements, but they did anticipate them. Futurists commonly regard the second seal war as identical to the war of the little horn in Daniel 7:8 who uproots three other horns to become preeminent in a ten-king alliance. I am inclined to agree with this interpretation, because we know the Antichrist will uproot three states in such a conflict, and I cannot find a better place to situate this war in the narrative of Revelation.

The third seal was opened. And behold, a black horse with a balance in the hand of the rider (Revelation 6:5). A voice in the middle of the four creatures said, ‘“a choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and wine!”’ (Revelation 6:6). In the context of the many harvest metaphors in the New Testament (e.g. Matthew 3:12), it is clear that the wheat is the crop of true Christians whose lives are paid for by Jesus’ sacrifice. The oil is the spiritual oil that Christ was anointed with, and the wine is his ascended blood, which mustn’t be damaged or lost by the saved during this time of hardship and temptation to sin, particularly when it comes to stealing.

Preterists may take the ‘denarius’ as a reference to the Roman war with Judea, since the denarius was the official currency of the Roman Empire at that time, and there was famine and inflation associated with that conflict, which were chronicled by the primary source Flavius Josephus, and the Roman historians Tacitus and Suetonius. Indeed, Revelation tells of a ‘balance’ (scales, Revelation 6:5) being used to measure portions, and weight scales were used for rationing in the besieged Jerusalem. We mustn’t make too much of this, however, since rationing was common in cities under siege. In the early Roman Empire, a denarius was a typical wage for a day’s labour,[xxii] and a choenix was 1.1 litres;[xxiii] the inflation, as you can expect, will be very bad under conditions of war and natural catastrophes, at least in some areas, during the tribulation conflicts. Indeed, any war brings scarcity, famine and inflation.

The fourth seal was opened, and death rode out on a pale horse, followed by Hades. ‘Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.’ (Revelation 6:8). Because of the ambiguity of the Greek ges, this rider could affect one quarter of the Land of Israel, or the Middle East, which I believe is more probable than ¼ of the entire planet being afflicted by this judgement. But even if we interpret ges as meaning the globe, it does not necessarily mean that one quarter of all the people on earth will die at that time, it could mean that one fourth of the landmass of the planet will be affected by war, famine and wild animals. Death here is death, the state, which of course is attendant upon war and famine.

According to Preterists, the pale horse represents all the death caused by the Roman-Jewish wars.[xxiv] Josephus listed the dead from the First Roman-Jewish war as over 1 million,[xxv] which may be an exaggeration, but even 100,000 would have been considered a tremendous amount of wartime casualties at the time.

Zechariah 6 also contains chariots of black, white, red and dappled horses described by an angel as the four winds of the sky, ‘which go out from’ ‘the Lord of all the earth’ (Zechariah 6:5) heading to the north and south (Zechariah 6:6). All we can glean from this intertextual reference is that the four horsemen’s devastations will be international, and affect lands to the north and south of Jerusalem, the location of Zechariah.

When the fifth seal was opened, underneath the altar of God John saw the souls of those martyred for the Word of God (Revelation 6:9). They were given long white robes and asked Jesus how long until they will be avenged by his judgement of the earth (Revelation 6:11). The white robes here are a token of the soul’s salvation. This may mean that during the wars of the seal judgements, Christians will be martyred, which is likely to be the case, but I believe that the broader point here is that the souls beneath God’s altar are the souls of all martyred Christians, including those killed in the eschatological future. ‘They were told that they should rest for a while, until their fellow servants and brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.’ (Revelation 6:11). The souls of the martyrs will then return to bodies which are glorified during the resurrection. The vindication of Christian martyrs and Old Testament prophets were listed by Jesus as reasons for the judgement of Jerusalem in Matthew 23 and 24.

The sixth seal was opened and there was a great earthquake (Revelation 6:12). The seal judgements period is what Jesus was referring to in the Olivet Discourse when he spoke of ‘earthquakes’, ‘wars’ and ‘famines’ as the beginning of ‘birth pains’, the start of the tribulation period that will culminate in his return to earth.

‘The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.’ (Revelation 6:12). This sounds dramatic, and reminiscent of the ‘day of darkness’ associated with the coming of the Lord in Zechariah (14:7) and the Olivet Discourse, but it could well be something as simple as a temporary solar eclipse and a blood moon. In any case, the blood moon, and the bloody seas and waters that come later, are meant to represent the blood of the martyrs seen in seal five, and a portent of the bloodshed to come, like the intensely red aurora borealis visible over the skies of Europe in 1938.

‘The stars of the sky fell to earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.’ (Revelation 6:12). This part is more alarming; stars falling to earth probably denotes meteor, comet or asteroid impacts. The mention of the fig tree may link these impacts with Jesus’ fig tree parable. ‘Every island and mountain was moved from its place.’ (Revelation 6:14). These seismic changes could result from asteroid hits and massive earthquakes; indeed, asteroid strikes can cause huge earthquakes.

‘The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person hid themselves in the rocks of the mountains.’ (Revelation 6:15). These people said that ‘the great day of his wrath is come’ (Revelation 6:17); the ‘day of his wrath’ in this context is probably more than a 24-hour day, but a broader period of the End Times, for Christ does not actually come until significantly later in the narrative. This usage has provided exegetical ammunition to pretribulation rapturists, who argue that because Christians aren’t appointed to God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 5:9), they won’t be around for any of the tribulation judgements. It is a good argument, contradicted by the many aforementioned instances when the Day of the Lord, ‘that day’ and ‘wrath’ are instead used in the context of the specific 24-hour period of Jesus’ reappearance. Another possibility is that the desperate people cowering from the Lord’s anger will simply be wrong about the day of Christ’s return; that in their panic they will jump the gun, so to speak. We can also glean from 6:15 that most people will recognise the seal judgements as divine punishments, precisely because the events will be the obvious fulfilments of the prophecies made in Revelation and elsewhere.

Josephus recorded that the Jerusalemites hid from the Roman army in underground caverns during the siege;[xxvi] Preterists use this fact to suggest that the sixth seal occurred during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem.[xxvii] Josephus also mentioned that there was an earthquake in Jerusalem in 68 AD, during the Roman-Jewish war.[xxviii] This fits typologically with the Olivet Discourse and the sixth seal of Revelation, although there is an outside chance it may have simply been a metaphorical description of a storm.

Returning to Revelation 6:16, the sinful people called on the mountains and rocks to ‘“Fall on us!’’. While he was carrying the cross, Jesus said, ‘“For behold, the days are coming in which they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed!’’ Then they will begin to tell the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and tell the hills, ‘Cover us!’’ (Luke 23:29). The above passage was meant as a description of the events of AD 70, as well as tribulation era Jerusalem, but it was also an allusion to Sarah,  the infertile wife of Abraham, associated with the Christians by Paul (Galatians 4); this may mean that predominantly Christian countries will not be afflicted by some seal judgments, or that they will not receive the brunt of the seals, as the Israelites were spared the worst of the 10 plagues of Egypt, and the Christian Jerusalemites escaped the city in advance of the Roman siege. On a more literal level, Josephus recounted that some nursing mothers were so hungry that they ate their own babies during the Siege of Jerusalem.[xxix] Progressive dispensationalists regard these prophecies as in one sense previously fulfilled with the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, but awaiting the future aspect of Christ’s return.[xxx] But it’s better to see the horrors of the Roman Sack of Jerusalem as more of a type of the events prophesied in Revelation 6 (and not the only one), than their direct fulfilment. Indeed, Jesus did not come in AD 70 and the events surrounding the Messiah’s arrival – the mass resurrection, the rapture, the defeat of the Antichrist, the end of persecution and the foundation of the millennium kingdom – categorically did not come to pass. The Roman Empire continued in power for centuries, and continued to periodically persecute Christians and Jews, notably in the Bar Kokhba revolt of 132–135 AD.

Then, an angel cried, ‘“Don’t harm the earth, the sea, the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!”’ (Revelation 7:3). 144,000 elect were sealed ‘out of every tribe of Israel’ (Revelation 7:4) before the trumpets of the seven angels began to sound in heaven, signalling an escalation of the Great Tribulation. The book lists 12,000 elect from each of the twelve tribes, with Levi and Manasseh included, and Dan excluded. Some Christians have seen this as a punishment for Dan’s historical idolatry (1 Kings 12:29), but even if this be so, the tribe of Dan is not disinherited altogether, because they are given an allotment in the Promised Land (Ezekiel 48). 12,000 of the elect will be from Levi because Levi were the tribe of priests, and the elect are effectively priests, spreading God’s word.

The seal on the foreheads of the 144,000 is the Holy Spirit. Paul wrote that his recipients in Ephesus ‘were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit’ (Ephesians 1:13). The oil of anointing and the living water of the true baptism falls on the head. Again, the elect (Greek eklektos)[xxxi] simply means God’s chosen. But the prophecies in Isaiah and Zechariah make it plain that the Israeli remnant and Jerusalemites are also to be saved immediately prior to the reappearance of the Lord, not in the first half of the tribulation period. So there will only be 144,000 saved after the seal judgements, but more Jews and Gentiles will be saved through their ministry as the tribulation progresses, for salvation spreads, and it is in the nature of the saved to evangelise. Salvation, however, is not glorification, and while the elect will be glorified at the Second Coming, the remnant and other saved souls will have to wait until the general resurrection to receive their glorified bodies. The 24 elders are also scheduled to rule with Christ ‘on earth’, which means the millennial kingdom, since the New Jerusalem is on the new earth. Therefore, the elect are not the only group to participate in the first resurrection and reign with Jesus. The somewhat broader category of all raptured souls is called ‘the saints.’

Why do the trumpet judgements of chapter 8 not begin until the 144,000 are sealed? To ensure the elect have suitable conditions for their spiritual development – which is stimulated by suffering, but difficult to pursue in a state of total emergency – before the Great Tribulation really escalates. The elect also have to be alive in order to be saved, and staying alive during the trumpet judgements may not be easy. Christians do not like to think that only 144,000 people will be saved at any point in time. Preterists and amillenials tend to see that as a ‘symbolic number’, but as has been made plain in Part 2, salvation is not as easy as some Christians think it is; it involves physically receiving the Spirit of God, and doing his work, not merely believing in him or attending church. The number 144,000 is not somehow symbolic of a larger number. It is not known for its symbolism elsewhere in the Bible. After all, Paul wrote of the last days: ‘men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, fierce, not lovers of good, traitors, headstrong, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding the form of godliness but having denied its power.’ (2 Timothy 3:2–5). Sound familiar? Under such conditions, is it surprising that only 144,000 will be chosen?

Although some believe Israel is code for the Church and that the 144,000 are or include non-Jewish Christians, the Church is not explicitly called Israel anywhere in the Bible. Whilst it is true that the early Christians called the church Israel, this was only from the mid second century onwards, after Revelation was written. As previously mentioned, Paul argued that all who are Christ’s are heirs to Abraham (Galatians 3:29), which is true, but the elect are specifically identified as being from the twelve tribes of national Israel; Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, meaning that 132,000 of the 144,000 cannot only be heirs of Abraham via Jesus. One of the tribulation’s main purposes is for the Messiah to save the Israeli remnant at their request in fulfilment of the old covenants, especially the Mosaic Covenant, which included a prophecy about Israel’s repentance and regathering to the land.

The elect being drawn from the 12 tribes of Israel does not mean they will all be considered or consider themselves to be Jewish, though some will obviously be Jewish, and their primary mission is presumably to evangelise the Jewish people during the tribulation, because as soon as the remnant turn to God for help, Jesus will appear to deliver them and usher in paradise on earth. The word ‘Jew’ is derived from Judah, and most people who today identify as Jewish are believed to be descended from the tribe of Judah, which was only one of the 12 tribes of Israel (although people from beyond that tribe intermarried with Judeans and converted to Judaism, and the tribe of Benjamin also lived in the southern Kingdom of Judea). The tribes were scattered across the world beginning with the Assyrian invasion in the 8^th century BC, which saw Jerusalem the capital of Judah preserved by divine providence, while the people of the northern kingdom of Israel, comprised of the other (now mostly lost) ten tribes of Israel, were taken into captivity by the Assyrians and dispersed throughout their empire and the region; for that reason, many of the elect are Middle Eastern.[xxxii] My point is that Jewish DNA is to be found in many peoples throughout the world, not only those who identify as Jewish. For example, the King of Sparta Areus I considered his people to be children of Abraham, as recorded in a letter to the Jewish leader Onias in the 3^rd century BC.[xxxiii] There are over 100,000 Jews of Ethiopian descent. And following the Roman destruction of Jerusalem almost 2,000 years ago, Jewish people increasingly spread throughout the world and intermarried with local peoples almost everywhere. Moreover, some of the elect are souls who previously incarnated in Jewish bodies and are still considered by the angels to spiritually belong to the house of Israel. The vast and possibly unprecedented current world population of around 8 billion, indicates that our time and the future is and will continue to be a period of mass reincarnation, which would make sense of all the warnings about the Day of the Lord given by Paul and other Bible authors to their flocks, many centuries ago, and Jesus’ statement that some who were with him would not taste death until the Son of Man comes (Matthew 16:28).

Therefore, one must not fall into the devil’s snare of thinking that you are probably not one of the elect, because they are relatively few in number. The fact you are reading this book suggests otherwise. Many with distant Jewish ancestry and past lives as Jews have no idea about their heritage. The elect are simply ‘the ones that follow the lamb, wherever he goes’ (Revelation 14:4) amidst a decaying age.

The idea that 144,000 is a symbolic number and the elect are simply all the good Christians is further contradicted by the next verse, which distinguishes the elect as a separate category from: ‘a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.’ (Revelation 7:9). They are described as ‘those who came out of great suffering.’ (Revelation 7:14).[xxxiv] You could interpret the multitude as the souls of every dead person, which would indeed be a countless number, but dead sinners do not go to God’s throne in heaven; they go to the underworld, whether that be called Sheol, Hell or Hades. The best interpretation, therefore, is that the ‘multitude’ are the souls of saved Christians from all eras and races who died and will die, prior to the sealing of all the elect and the trumpet judgements. Some of them will probably perish in the earlier seal judgements. They are distinguished by John from the souls of the martyrs, the 24 elders and the elect: there are different categories of saved people.

The seventh seal was opened, and there was silence in heaven (Revelation 8:1). Then the angels began sounding trumpets, inaugurating the trumpet judgements (Revelation 8:2). Hail and fire mixed with blood were thrown to the earth. ‘One third of the earth was burned up, and one third of the trees were burned up.’ (Revelation 8:7). Again, earth here could be translated as ‘land’, or ‘region’. Josephus recorded the Romans cutting down many trees and burning Jerusalem, its suburbs and Galilee, prefiguring the eschatological fulfilment.[xxxv]

Then ‘something like a great burning mountain was thrown into the sea. One third of the sea became blood, and one third of the living creatures in the sea died. One third of the ships were destroyed.’ (Revelation 8:8–9).  An asteroid burning up in the earth’s atmosphere would fit the description of a great burning mountain. Why all the space rocks in the seal judgements? Well, the asteroid called a mountain will be symbolic of Jesus the stone ‘cut out without hands’ (Daniel 2:34) smashing into the empire(s) represented by the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. And note that by ‘the sea’ John may not have meant all the seas and oceans on earth, but the Mediterranean Sea, the only one that he and most of his contemporaries knew directly (the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea are lakes, and the Dead Sea doesn’t have macroscopic ‘living creatures’ in it). In the past tense, however, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea were full of dead bodies during the Roman-Jewish conflict and piracy in the Mediterranean at that time left the sea ‘bloody a long way and the maritime parts were full of dead bodies.’[xxxvi]

Then the third angel sounded his trumpet and ‘a great star fell from the sky’ falling on one third of the rivers and the springs, making the water bitter (Revelation 8:10). This corresponds to the descriptions of the waters of Egypt being fouled in Isaiah 18:5; if not, then that will be the similar event in Revelation, chapter 16. In Jeremiah 8, the waters have also been ‘poisoned’.

‘The fourth angel sounded and one third of the sun was struck, and one third of the moon and one third of the stars, so that one third of them would be darkened, and the day wouldn’t shine for one third of it and the night in the same way’ (Revelation 8:12–13). This last part sounds especially dire and may denote the formation of a soot cloud following a significant asteroid hit (such as that which is thought to have killed the dinosaurs) but it could be something relatively innocuous like a partial solar and lunar eclipse. An ash cloud proceeding from a volcanic eruption is another possibility, as it is regarding the next trumpet judgement.

Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, opened the pit of the abyss, ‘and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace.’ (Revelation 9:1–2). The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit (Revelation 9:2). Then out of the smoke came a plague of locusts that are given power, as scorpions have power (Revelation 9:3). These locusts are forbidden from hurting the grass or the trees but are instructed specifically to torment those who have not been sealed by God: the non-elect, the unsaved (Revelation 9:4). ‘They were given power, not to kill them, but to torment them for five months.’ (Revelation 9:5). This absolutely evokes Exodus 10; one of the 10 plagues of Egypt was the plague of locusts. But the main difference is that the judgements of Revelation are worldwide, not concentrated exclusively on Egypt.[xxxvii] In Revelation 9, the invisible seal of Christ’s blood replaces the visible blood of the first Passover lambs smeared on the door posts and lintels (forming a cross) of the Israelites’ homes, as a means of protection from God’s wrath (Exodus 12). Christ the Lamb is a motif shared by John’s gospel and Revelation, constituting further evidence of common authorship.

But these were some odd locusts. On their heads ‘were something like golden crowns’ (Revelation 9:7), they had people’s faces, and they sounded like ‘many chariots rushing to war.’ (Revelation 9:9). Preterists interpret this as the Roman war chariots invading 1^st century Judea. Idealist and Preterist scholars have regarded the locusts as demons infecting the people with madness. In Joel 1:4, the locusts are an invading army, human or demonic, during the eschatological era.

So what are these locusts? Well, given that they are called locusts and are likened to scorpions, an invasion force with people’s faces and one of the plagues of Egypt, and considering their inability to kill people (unlike a regular human army), descriptions that furnish conflicting evidence, I am forced to hedge that they could be an invading human army, locusts or demons. But the fact their king is ‘an angel of the abyss’ (Revelation 9:11) and their inability to harm any ‘green thing’ (Revelation 9:4), unlike literal locusts, makes a demonic army the most likely candidate.

Then John heard a voice from the golden altar before the throne of God commanding the four angels bound at the river Euphrates to be freed (Revelation 9:13–14). These angels have been prepared ‘so that they might kill one third of humanity.’ (Revelation 9:15). ‘Of humanity’ here is a translation from the original Greek word anthrōpōn,[xxxviii] meaning ‘of humans’ or ‘of humanity’ and is the genitive plural form of anthropos, that can be used to denote humanity collectively, or just multiple people.[xxxix] So it appears the WEB translation is correct. The fact the angels are at the river Euphrates is further evidence that the Babylon of Revelation is in the territory now called Iraq.

Then ‘the number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million…out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke and sulphur.’ (Revelation 9:16). It is unclear if these horsemen are the same as the ‘locusts’; they sound similarly demonic. Alternatively, it could be an instance of misunderstood technology: to a 1^st century person like John, a modern tank or armoured personnel carrier may be described as a horseman or chariot with fire and smoke coming out of its mouth. The 200 million number is a translation from Greek words literally meaning, ‘two ten thousands of tens of thousands’[xl] that may simply signify a really big army, rather than one that is exactly 200 million strong. But if we take it literally, and I do, the 200 million figure makes it unlikely, but not impossible, that the armies are human. The rest of humanity who were not killed by these plagues remained unrepentant. (Revelation 9:20).

Then John saw a mighty angel with a little book standing with one foot on land and the other in the sea (Revelation 10:2). The angel swore by God that in ‘the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, then the mystery of God is finished, as he declared to his servants the prophets’ (Revelation 10:7). The angel did not sound his trumpet immediately after the sixth trumpet judgement; rather, the seventh trumpet is deferred until Revelation 11:15 and it is identical with the trumpet mentioned in Zephaniah 1:16, the trumpet and the shout of the archangel described by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 1 Corinthians 15:52, and the trumpet call in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24:31), that announces the arrival of Jesus, the resurrection of the dead saints, the rapture and the gathering of the chosen ones. This is highly significant because, properly understood, it is strong evidence that the rapture will occur at the end or very near the end of the tribulation period, coterminous with Jesus’ Second Coming, since that is when the last trumpet sounds in some of the texts cited above.

John took the little book from the angel and ate it, as he was instructed by a voice from heaven, and it was sweet in his mouth but bitter in his stomach (Revelation 10:9). This is a reference to Ezekiel 3:1, in which the prophet Ezekiel ate a scroll that was also bittersweet. The scroll represents the divine messages that Ezekiel and John were entrusted with; the role of God’s messenger is both sweet and bitter. Ezekiel was tasked with prophesying the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, because of the sins of its inhabitants in those days. That was the bitter part of his message, which aroused plenty of anger among a populace that didn’t want to hear of their sins or their imminent destruction. But Ezekiel also prophesied that after the Judeans’ chastisement, God would come to dwell in a new temple in an idyllic future Jerusalem, and indeed the little book John ate ­– The Book of Revelation – culminates in a wonderful vision of the thousand-year reign of God and the New Jerusalem. That is the sweet part of the prophetic experience. After eating the little book, John is told, ‘“you must prophesy again over many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”’ (Revelation 10:11). The angel straddling land and sea means that the prophecies contained in the Revelation affect Israel and the Middle East (the land), as well as the Gentile nations across the sea, which is reinforced by John prophesying over many peoples, nations and languages. Since it was an integral part of the gospel, John had already prophesied the Second Coming before being sent to Patmos – indeed, Caesars like Domitian didn’t take too kindly to non-sycophantic prophecies – and by writing the Revelation, he was prophesying ‘again’. But 10:11 is also hinting at John’s reincarnation during the End Times, and the purpose of that incarnation: to prophesy, again.

Then, in Revelation 11:1, a reed like a rod was given to John and he was instructed to rise and ‘measure God’s temple, and the altar, and those who worship in it’. This verse refers back to Ezekiel, who had a vision of a man with a measuring reed. This bronze man measured the new temple, that remains unbuilt. Indeed, Revelation is the last book of the Bible for good reason. It uses the symbolism of the earlier books and the code cannot be completely cracked without a knowledge of what came before.

Why is John told to measure the temple? What does this mean? Well, it is a prophecy of John’s End Times incarnation measuring a future rebuilt temple, and to assess the priestly ordinances and methods of worship in that temple, to see if they fit with the dimensions and regulations given by Ezekiel for the temple that God (Jesus) would come to live in. Accordingly, the man with the measuring reed in Ezekiel’s (40:3) vision was the future John, since he is the one with the measuring reed in Revelation 11, and the reincarnation of Solomon, who built and measured the First Temple (1 Kings 6). John may have to measure the rebuilt temple, because there will be a suspicion that it could be the unsanctioned temple (Isaiah 66) in which the abomination is to take place; checking whether a temple fits the dimensions of Ezekiel’s final temple, that God is prophesied to dwell in, is therefore a way of discerning the true Messiah from the false, and the Third Temple from the Fourth Temple.

Preterists believe Revelation 11:1 means that the temple was still standing when John first wrote the book, i.e. Revelation was written before AD 70, but this hypothetical dating has already been refuted, and John wrote about a future temple. Idealists believe that the ‘temple’ here actually refers to the Church.[xli] John used the word ekklesia earlier in the text and churches existed during his time, but in Revelation 11:1 he used the word naon, meaning temple.[xlii] John also referred to an outer court (11:2), which churches do not generally have, but the outer court was a feature of the First and Second Temples of Jerusalem, and Ezekiel’s (40:17;42:1) as yet unbuilt temple.

Indeed, John was instructed not to measure the outer court, ‘for it has been given to the nations. They will tread the Holy City underfoot for forty-two months.’ (Revelation 11:2). The ‘Holy City’ is obviously Jerusalem. Moreover, Jerusalem is the home of the temple, since that is where the First and Second Temples were located. The 42 months in which the nations will tread the city underfoot corresponds with the 42 months of the Antichrist’s ‘authority’, given later in the text (Revelation 13:5), implying that the Antichrist and his ‘nations’ – the kingdoms of his alliance – will conquer and occupy Jerusalem.

Looking to history for clues to the future, in approximately spring of 67 AD Vespasian was sent to Judea by the Emperor Nero to put down the Jewish revolt, and by August of 70 AD the Romans had burned the city. The Roman Empire was therefore officially at war against Jerusalem for about 42 months. Now, famine, pestilence, inflation and death, including maritime corpses, are generally attendant upon any large-scale war, so are not particularly persuasive evidence for the ‘70 AD as a model of the End Times’ theory. But the fit of the seal judgements of Revelation with the First Roman-Jewish war combined with the roughly 42 month duration of the Roman engagement against Jerusalem, and the obvious dual prophecy of the earlier Olivet Discourse, forces me to conclude that allusions to the Roman Siege of Jerusalem are encoded within the text of Revelation as a (not to scale) model of what to expect in the last days. Namely, an invasion of Israel, and the siege, famine and conquest of Jerusalem by the Antichrist, as well as the abomination of desolation.

Then the ‘two witnesses’ appear in sackcloth, prophesy for 1260 days and burn anyone who ‘desires to harm them’ (Revelation 11:3–5). They are described as ‘two olive trees and two lampstands’ (Revelation 11:4). They also have authority to stop the rains, turn waters into blood, ‘and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.’ (Revelation 11:6).

Who are these two witnesses? They are commonly interpreted by Christians as Moses and Elijah, since Moses had the God-given power to turn water into blood during the plagues of Egypt (Exodus 7), and Elijah was able to create drought (1 Kings 17). These will thus be descensions from heaven or reincarnations of the prophets, since the witnesses will have to return to earth in some kind of physical body, in order to prophesy, die and be resurrected. Indeed, it makes sense for God to bring out his star players for the final match of the season: Moses, Elijah, and the best of all, Jesus, to secure the victory. Moses and Elijah both escaped martyrdom; the latter was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind (1 Kings 2:11). Neither had the chance to consume Jesus’ ascended body and spread his gospel, at least on earth, due to the date of their incarnations. Their latter-day return as the two witnesses would give them that opportunity. As previously outlined, the prophet Malachi (4:6) foretold that God will send Elijah before the Day of the Lord. The reappearance of Elijah also makes sense of Jesus’ allusion to John the Baptist as ‘Elijah, who is to come.’ Again, John the Baptist, the herald of the Messiah’s first coming, was himself Elijah reincarnated, and he will return again, to prophesy the Second Coming. The fact Elijah was reincarnated as John, makes reincarnation the most likely means for him to return as one of the witnesses. John the Baptist and Elijah both wore camel’s hair and leather belts (Matthew 3:4;2 Kings 1:8), another clue that they were the same soul, and a humble ensemble comparable to the ‘sackcloth’ that will be worn by the two witnesses (Revelation 11:3). Elijah was selected to preach the Word of Christ in Jerusalem and to warn people against worshipping the Antichrist because of his earlier, typological defiance of Jezebel’s idolatry.

Elijah and Moses have already been identified as the two ‘olive trees’ who stand by the Lord in Zechariah’s (4:14) prophecy, due to the transfiguration in Mark 9. John the Baptist had been executed before the transfiguration, rendering his appearance in soul form alongside Jesus possible at that time. Moses symbolises the law, and Elijah the prophets. Their appearing next to Christ signified that Jesus is the consummation of the law and the prophets, demonstrated the legitimacy of Jesus as the Messiah, and foreshadowed the return of Moses and Elijah to Jerusalem in the End Times as witnesses of Christ (though they may have different names, as is normal in cases of reincarnation). How do I know that the city of the witnesses is Jerusalem? To explain that, we must return to the narrative of Revelation…

The two witnesses made a lot of enemies. When they finished their testimony, the beast killed them (Revelation 11:7). ‘Their dead bodies will be in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.’ (Revelation 11:8). This city is of course Jerusalem, likened to Sodom in the Bible (Jeremiah 23:14), and Jesus was crucified in Golgotha, Jerusalem. In Revelation 11:9–10, people look at the dead bodies of the witnesses for ‘three and a half days’ and celebrate their deaths.

Then the witnesses are resurrected and ascend to heaven (Revelation 11:11–12). This is the glorification of the witnesses, preceding even the elect, because they are Elijah and Moses. It will be hard not to heed people who are resurrected and taken up to heaven, an event in the midst of a populous city that is sure to be recorded by multiple eyewitnesses, which will convince many Jerusalemites, Jews and Gentiles of the two witnesses’ message and provenance. The miracle of the witnesses’ resurrection is God making salvation easier for people and denying any excuse to unbelievers. ‘In that day there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell’, killing 7,000 people (Revelation 11:13). This is a pretty specific prediction of a devastating earthquake in Jerusalem. Indeed, Jerusalem has been racked by earthquakes before, including one in 1546 that opened up the passageway to the Western Wall. I hope it doesn’t, but the Jerusalem earthquake claiming 7,000 lives may cause yet another ‘desolation’ on the Temple Mount, as foretold by the prophet Daniel, who also wrote that his prophecy of 70 weeks, desolations (plural) and the abomination was concerned with ‘the holy city’ (Daniel 9:24). This earthquake or the later Olivet earthquake (Zechariah 14:4–5) will unseal the Golden Gate, facilitating Ezekiel’s prophecy (43:4) that Yahweh would enter by the east gate to come to pass a second time. 7,000 people killed in an earthquake, with the rest of the Holy City repenting (Revelation 11:13), is a reversal of the time Elijah and 7,000 others held faith with God and refused to kneel to Baal, when the rest of the nation capitulated (1 Kings 19:18).[xliii] Many of those inspired by the witnesses will be part of the remnant that flees to western Jordan (indeed, the witnesses’ ministry will include a reiteration of Jesus’ injunction to flee to the mountains). Other Jerusalemite and Judean followers of the witnesses will rebel against the Antichrist’s corrupt rule, provoking his vengeful Sack of Jerusalem during the Campaign of Armageddon. There is a historical pattern for Jerusalem to be defeated by a foreign power – Babylon, the Seleucids – only to revolt and be punished by means of a devastating sack.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and great voices in heaven followed, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. He will reign forever and ever!’ (Revelation 11:15). This is the sounding of the trumpet that marks the Second Coming. Revelation however is not strictly linear, which can cause confusion.

Lightning, hail and an earthquake followed (Revelation 11:19). This hail and lightning during the divine judgements of the tribulation was anticipated by the hail and lightning that came down on Egypt in Exodus 9:23–25.

John saw a ‘great sign in heaven’ of a woman ‘clothed with the sun and the moon was under her feet and upon her head was a crown of twelve stars’ (Revelation 12:1). The woman gave birth to a male child (Revelation 12:2). A great red dragon wanted to devour the woman’s child (Revelation 12:4). The dragon was identified as ‘the old serpent, he who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.’ (Revelation 12:9). The child was born, ‘a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.’ (Revelation 12:5).

The male child, then, is Jesus, whom the demonically influenced Herod tried to kill during the massacre of the innocents (Matthew 2:16), who was caught up to heaven and God’s throne during the ascent, and who is to rule the earth following the Second Coming. Therefore, the child’s mother is in one sense Mary. Indeed, Jesus is currently by his Father’s throne in heaven. ‘Yahweh says to my Lord, “sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool’ (Psalm 110:1): Christ the Word of God is he whom David, a king without earthly superior, called ‘my Lord’ in this passage, which constitutes Old Testament evidence for the Son of God as a figure distinct enough from the Father to be in dialogue with him, yet one with him in spirit and purpose. The Father’s words to the Son in Psalm 110 occurred after Jesus’ ascension, and prior to the Second Coming; the psalm has the Messianic context of the Lord judging the nations and crushing kings in the day of his wrath.

The woman fled into the wilderness, where she will be ‘nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days’ (Revelation 12:6). There was a war in the heavens (Revelation 12:7); the archangel Michael defeated Satan, who was cast down to earth (Revelation 12:9), where he attempted to ‘persecute’ the woman (Revelation 12:13). The earth swallowed up a flood conjured by the dragon against the woman (Revelation 12:16), which is reminiscent of God parting the Red Sea to aid the flight of the Israelites in Exodus, chapter 14. Frustrated, the dragon ‘went away’ to make war on the rest of her ‘offspring, who keep God’s commandments and hold Jesus’ testimony.’ (Revelation 12:17).

The woman is explicitly a sign, that is, a symbol. Mary successfully fled to Egypt during Herod’s massacre and the holy family spent several years hiding in Egypt (Matthew 2). But Mary will not be on earth during the End Times. She won’t need refuge from the beast. So there is a dual meaning here.

We know from Daniel that the persecution of the saints will be for time, times and half a time or three and a half years. According to the prophetic calendar that is 1260 days exactly, which matches the woman’s time of exile in the wilderness. The woman, then, will be given a place of refuge during the persecutions of the Antichrist.

In Genesis 37:9–10, Joseph dreamed that the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him, a prophecy of his becoming second in command of Egypt (Genesis 41:41). In the dream, the eleven stars were the eleven sons of Jacob, with Joseph himself as the twelfth, who together were the progenitors of the tribes of Israel (although there is some aforementioned complexity surrounding Joseph’s status as a tribe). The moon was his mother Rachel, and the sun was Jacob.[xliv] Moreover, Israel is pictured as a pregnant woman numerous times in the Old Testament. Jesus was a child of Israel as well as the Son of God.

But the part about the devil making war on the woman’s ‘offspring, who keep God’s commandments and hold Jesus’ testimony’ has led some to believe the woman is the Church, whose offspring are the good Christians of the End Times. Again, the best argument for the Church as Israel is that Gentile Christians are heirs of Abraham via Jesus’ blood (Galatians 3:29). However, Jesus was descended from Judah, and the twelve stars above the woman’s head represent the twelve tribes of the whole house of Israel, of which Judah was only one. The fact the children are described as holding Jesus’ testimony, while their mother is not, implies that their mother is not Christian – to begin with.

The woman, therefore, represents the Israeli remnant that will ‘flee to the mountains’ of Bozrah (Petra) to avoid the beast’s persecutions, in another iteration of the Exodus pattern. But the woman’s children who hold Jesus’ testimony are obviously Christians. Since they are Christian children of a woman representing Israel, the offspring are likely to be exclusively or largely Jewish Christians, including at least some of the elect, the ‘saints’ of Daniel 7:21 that the little horn ‘made war’ against. The Antichrist will be able to target some of these Christians because, unlike the Israeli remnant scheduled to flee outside his jurisdiction to Edom, they will still be in Israel and the other lands of his empire.

In chapter 13:1 the beast arises ‘out of the sea’. Indeed, the woman fleeing the dragon is the flight of the remnant, prophesied by Jesus to swiftly follow the abomination in the temple, which we know will be committed by the Antichrist. But the beast – the Antichrist – is introduced after the woman clothed in the sun. So the narrative of Revelation is mostly but not strictly chronological.

The ‘beast’ (Revelation 13:1) from the sea is literally described in Revelation as some form of earthly power, since ‘authority over every people, tribe and language’ (Revelation 13:7) was bestowed upon him by the dragon. The beast is given power for ‘forty-two months’ (Revelation 13:5). This is the ‘time, times and half a time’ Daniel’s (7:25) little horn will continue and possibly the woman’s 1260 days exile (12:6), which counts in favour of the prophetic calendar. The beast had ten horns and seven heads and spoke blasphemies against God and those who live in heaven (Revelation 13:6). ‘All who dwell on the earth’, except for those whose names were written in the book of life, will worship the beast (Revelation 13:8). That means everyone in ‘the earth’ who refuses the mark will at some point receive eternal life. The beast made war on the saints and overcame them (Revelation 13:7).

The ten horns of John’s beast evoke Daniel’s ten horns of the fourth beast, representing kings who ‘arise out of’ the fourth kingdom, identified as Rome. The beast from the sea also corresponds to the little horn of Daniel, who spoke ‘arrogantly’ and made war on the saints. The little horn had man-like features, while the beasts of Daniel were all empires, which means that the beast from the sea is a dictator at the head of an empire and the empire or alliance under his control, comprised of 10 kings and associated with seven ‘mountains’ (Revelation 17:9). The beast resembled a leopard, with a bear’s feet and a lion’s mouth (Revelation 13:2), implying that the beast will combine characteristics and territories of the Greek, Medo-Persian and Babylonian empires referenced in the Book of Daniel, chapter 7. The beast from the sea is a backward and a forward-looking typological symbol, covering all of the animals and kingdoms of Daniel, especially the Roman Empire, in addition to a final empire or alliance during the end days, that will emerge out of a divided post-Roman world order. One of the beast’s heads looked as if it was wounded fatally but was miraculously healed, causing the world to marvel at the beast (Revelation 13:3). This event is later described as a ‘fatal wound’ of the sea beast, that was healed (Revelation 13:12).

What are we to make of the beast having authority over every tribe, people and language? And all those who dwell on the earth, except those in the book of life, coming to worship him? Well, clearly the ‘beast coming up out of the sea’ (Revelation 13:1) will be the False Messiah, the Antichrist, and in a literal reading of the English translation he will rule all the peoples on the entire planet. But the Greek word ges used in 13:8[xlv] can mean land, soil, the whole earth or a region thereof.[xlvi] And the ancient concept of the whole world didn’t extend much beyond the Roman Empire. The Antichrist’s empire is comprised of only ten kings, and their kingdoms, but there are about 200 nation states in the world today. So it is not immediately clear whether the Antichrist will rule the entire planet or if he is to be a merely regional power, but the latter is linguistically possible and seems more likely. This question will be addressed at greater length in the next chapter.

‘If anyone is to go into captivity, he must go into captivity. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, he must be killed. Here is the endurance and faith of the saints.’ (Revelation 13:10). The WEB’s translation seems to suggest a philosophical attitude to martyrdom and death, in the face of the antichrist’s persecutions. But this verse has also been translated in a way that implies the one who sends into captivity will be taken captive and he who kills with the sword will be killed, very much like ‘all those who take the sword will die by the sword’ (Matthew 26:52). The latter reading may be taken as an exhortation not to retaliate, and an assurance from Jesus that what goes around will come around on the heads of the persecutors.

The beast from the earth, also known as the ‘false prophet’ (Revelation 16:13), makes ‘the earth’ (Revelation 13:11) worship the first beast and his image. This False Prophet performs signs, making ‘fire come down from the sky’ (Revelation 13:13). ‘He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived.’ (Revelation 13:14). By ‘my own people who dwell on the earth’, John meant that the beast from the earth will deceive some of the Jewish people (John was a Jewish Christian) into worshipping the Antichrist, by pretending to be a prophet. This may be a further clue that ‘the earth’ in Revelation usually means ‘the land’ of Israel. The beast’s deception of John’s people doesn’t preclude the deception of Gentiles, too. Indeed, the earth beast looks like a ‘lamb’ but speaks like a ‘dragon’ (Revelation 13:11), meaning that he may pose as Jesus, or a Messianic figure, but he will actually be possessed by the devil. Jesus himself warned of ‘false Christs’ in the Olivet Discourse.

The beast from the earth said to those who dwell on the earth (which again, could also mean ‘land’ or region) that they should make an image of the sea beast (Revelation 13:14). The False Prophet was able to ‘give breath’ to this image, and make it ‘speak’, and ‘cause as many as wouldn’t worship the image of the beast to be killed.’ (Revelation 13:15). Thus the problem of idolatry, familiar from the Old Testament, shall rear its head once again, but in a new and unfamiliar form, for the above verses about a living, speaking, killing image (or statue) sound very much like an ancient person’s description of an armed robot,[xlvii] which is exactly what it will be. The beasts’ use of technology will be elaborated upon in the following chapter.

‘He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands or on their foreheads; and that no one would be able to buy or to sell unless he has that mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.’ (Revelation 13:16–17). The number of the beast is the number of a man: ‘six-hundred sixty-six.’ (Revelation 13:18).

Historicists, including Protestant reformers such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, thought the papacy was the beast; there is a form of gematria[xlviii] whereby Vicarius Fili Dei, a Latin title applied to Popes, adds up to 666. But the current Pope certainly does not appear to be the Antichrist, and no past Pope was either; they did not fulfil other parts of the prophecy, such as forcing people to adopt the mark of the beast, being vanquished in Jesus’ cloud-coming and thrown into a lake of fire.

The Emperor Nero demanded that people worship him as a god, and the transliteration of his Greek name and title into Hebrew – ‘Nrwn Qsr’ – adds up to 666, which Preterists interpret as evidence that the decadent Caesar was the beast. The early Oxyrhynchus Papyrus 115 of Revelation incorrectly gives the number of the beast as 616 and Nero’s Latin name transliterated into Hebrew computes as 616.[xlix] He is the only historical ‘beast’ candidate whose name fits both numbers, though only 666, found in the preponderance of manuscripts, is the true number. Indeed, the period in which the beast makes war on the saints is generally reckoned at around 3.5 years; Nero persecuted Christians from November AD 64 until his death in June 68 AD, which was almost exactly 42 months, 3.5 years or ‘times, time and half a time’. Preterists believe the beast is described as arising from the sea because Rome was across the Mediterranean from Israel, and Patmos. The beast’s seven mountains fit with Rome as the city of seven hills, though Jerusalem also has seven mountains, and as I will explain, mountains in this context actually means the future towers of Babylon. One of the beast’s heads being miraculously healed from a fatal wound, is seen by Preterists as Rome’s recovery after the Year of Four Emperors, a time of intense civil war that almost saw the empire perish.[l] General Vespasian seized power and restored stability in AD 69. Then his attention returned to Judea. So the Preterist case for the beast is not a bad one.

In several other ways, however, Nero does not fit. Notably because Jesus didn’t return to kill him directly, he didn’t cause an abomination in the temple and he didn’t rule jointly with 10 kings; these are descriptions that pertain exclusively to the End Times beast from the sea, who is yet to appear. But that doesn’t mean that the future beast will not be the reincarnation of Nero… As previously mentioned, the biggest problem with Preterism as it pertains to the last book of the Bible is that the main thrust of Revelation is clearly future-oriented – at least part of it is concerned with ‘the things which must happen soon’ (Revelation 1:1) and ‘shall be’ (Revelation 17:8) – and yet, Nero’s death in 68 AD and the destruction of the temple in 70 AD had already come to pass by the time John was exiled to Patmos, where he wrote the Revelation (Revelation 1:9). There has been no temple and no regular burnt offering now for almost 2,000 years, not the 1290 days given by Daniel. Therefore, the prophecies – especially those contained in Revelation – were not only referring to Nero’s persecution of Christians, Antiochus Epiphanes’ desecration and the Roman destruction of the temple. We are again looking at multiple types occurring at different times, with the main fulfilment currently unrealised. History repeats itself, after all. There were two Gaius Caesars, two Napoleons, two world wars – why not multiple beasts, with the main one yet to come? ‘That which has been is that which shall be, and that which has been done is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:9).

Furthermore, the Ancient Romans did not make it impossible for the world to ‘buy or to sell’ without some type of insignia on the hand or the forehead, which is how the ‘mark of the beast’ is described in Revelation. Although Caesar’s head and name (including Nero’s) were imprinted on the Roman coinage in use throughout the empire, and those who worshipped Emperor Domitian received a charagma (the same word John used in 13:16), [li] a certificate of imperial validation,[lii] without which one was liable to accusations of treason and punishment. And under the Emperor Decius, people without a certificate proving they had sacrificed to Caesar also faced punishment.[liii] But these are better regarded as instances of beast-prefiguring, since Romans didn’t go around with the emperor’s name, coins or their certificate of worship on their foreheads. A global or regional mark tied to finance would be more easily accomplished by modern digital technology. Also, many of the cataclysmic events described in Revelation are on a scale unknown to history and our present world. Therefore, Nero, like Antiochus and the events of AD 70, represents an imprecise typological foretaste of what is to come. It is not a good taste.

The tribulation, like suffering in general, is partly intended to push people, including the nation of Israel, to turn to the true God in their suffering, and recognise the unfolding of Bible prophecy, before it is too late. It is also meant to sort the sheep from the goats, and to make the distinction official by means of a mark. The invisible, spiritual sealing of the elect is the opposite of the visible, material mark of the beast on the heads and hands of the Antichrist’s followers.

Idealists regard the beast as the tempting power of the sinful world, and the forces of persecution arising from the world and the state as abstract entities, rather than particular regimes.[liv] Indeed, Christians must resist the pull of the present age of the world, its temptations and hysteria, if they are to find and keep salvation. Idealists also see the struggle against the beast and the dragon as representing spiritual warfare between God and the devil in the heavens. Undoubtedly, this is what occurred when the dragon was cast out of heaven by Michael (Revelation 12:7–9), but there are clearly earthly consequences of this spiritual war. The dragon is the deceiver described in the first two parts of this book, an invisible force for evil in this world, who will act through a particular individual. Thus, contra Idealism, we have both the spiritual and physical levels of the conflict already described in the text of Revelation.

The beast from earth, also known as the False Prophet, is interpreted by Idealists as false religion in any form during the church age. Of course, as Christ said, there are and have been many false prophets, and yet, Revelation is talking about a particular individual who is worse than all the rest, who performs deceitful miracles and makes people worship one man towards the end of the age. John summarised the situation in his letter: ‘and as you have heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have arisen’ (1 John 2:18), which distinguishes between the less significant Antichrists – and more broadly, an Antichristian spirit, the deceiver – that can crop up anywhere at any time since the First Advent, and the particular Antichrist that is coming. The number 666 does have numerological connotations of coming just short of the perfect seven[lv] and the divine 8 (the number of Jesus’ name in Greek is 888),[lvi] but it is also a real number associated with a real man; hence John wrote ‘it is the number of a man.’

The beast can also be regarded as a symbol for animal darkness within the soul, whose dominion can only be overcome by Christ, typically after great personal tribulation or suffering. Thus the individual Christian is a microcosm of the fate of the whole world. These symbolic ideas have merit, but they are by no means the only valid interpretations, and they are not the primary meaning intended by the source of the prophecy, Jesus Christ. Indeed, there are many examples of literally fulfilled prophecies, some of which are given in this book. Even the parables, which obviously have esoteric meanings, are literally true as well. The Bible does not set out to deceive. Every eschatological approach other than post-tribulation (or thereabouts) premillennialism requires that you disregard the literal words of the Bible and believe that those words do not mean what they mean.

Then Jesus and the 144,000 were stood on Mount Zion with the name of Christ and his Father written on their foreheads (Revelation 14:1). John heard a sound from heaven like the sound of many waters and the sound of great thunder (Revelation 14:2). In heaven, harpists sang a new song before the elders, the four creatures and the throne of God that only the 144,000 could learn (Revelation 14:3). The waters are living water (spirit) and John was dubbed one of the ‘Sons of Thunder’ (Mark 3:17) by Jesus. The ‘new song’ is therefore the returned John’s prophecy, his new message to the elect, who are the ones who have ears to hear all of it prior to the millennium. The 144,000 elect were called ‘those who have been redeemed out of the earth’ (Revelation 14:3). They are redeemed out of the earth because of their rebirth sojourns to heaven, their eventual participation in the rapture and the fact some of them will be martyred, with their souls going to heaven to await the first resurrection. Indeed, the 144,000 elect are the main group involved in the rapture. The Greek word translated as chosen ones in Matthew 24:31 is eklektou.[lvii] But although they left the earth for the sky, these verses make it plain that the elect have returned at the time of the Revelation 14:1 vision, since they are stood on Zion with Jesus. As previously mentioned, Revelation is not strictly chronological. The presence of Christ on Mount Zion in this scene means that John skipped ahead to the Second Coming and the end of the Campaign of Armageddon. This time lapse has led some to posit that the elect were raptured out of the earth before anything bad happened, or at least before the Antichrist arose and began his persecution of Christians, in a mid-tribulation rapture. These pre and mid-tribulation rapture interpretations of 14:1 are belied by the fact that the saints who were killed for not capitulating to the Antichrist were involved in the ‘first resurrection’ and reigned with Christ for a thousand years (Revelation 20). Clearly, the elect are the saints, since the 144,000 elect are called ‘first fruits to God and to the Lamb’ (Revelation 14:4). The first fruits are the first and best parts of the harvest, which means that the 144,000 elect are to be involved in the first resurrection and the accompanying rapture. Hence they were ‘redeemed by Jesus from among men’ (Revelation 14:4), i.e. before the rapture they were morally and spiritually redeemed by Christ, during the rapture they were picked out from among humanity and after the rapture, the elect will no longer be really human in the traditional sense, but glorified.

Those elect who are killed will be resurrected and gathered in the sky by Jesus at Bozrah, and a later gathering place on land is here identified as Mount Zion, where the new temple will be built. Indeed, ‘the perseverance of the saints’ (Revelation 14:12) is called for at this time, as it is by Jesus in the Olivet Discourse. Who are the elect, if not these saints, the saints of Daniel who the beast makes war upon, and who Daniel foresaw ruling God’s kingdom with the Son of Man? Are there saints and elect, as two distinct groupings? Did Daniel omit to mention the elect? The whole picture is much simpler if you accept that the elect are saints.

An angel announced that, ‘“Babylon the great has fallen, which has made all the nations to drink of the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality.”’ (Revelation 14:8). Then an angel warned people that, ‘“If anyone worships the beast or his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of his anger. He will be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.”’ (Revelation 9:11). Therefore, anyone who receives the mark of the beast will be judged and thrown in the lake of fire, where their souls and bodies will be destroyed. Confusingly, this angelic warning must precede the mark of the beast for it to be a warning, but the fall of Babylon is here referred to in the past tense and described in more detail after the introduction of the beast’s mark. Again, the text is not completely linear.

Then: ‘I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”’ (Revelation 14:13). This means that those who die in the Lord from that point on, unlike many of the earlier martyrs beneath the throne of God, will participate in the first resurrection, hence they are ‘blessed.’ Revelation 14:13, together with the calls for the endurance of the saints, belies pre-tribulation dispensationalist teachings that the Church of true believers will be raptured before the Great Tribulation. Why would Christians need to be prepared to die and endure persecution, in an eschatological context, unless they are to be on earth for the tribulation? Indeed, other than certain plagues – the locusts, the sores ­– that will only target those who haven’t been sealed by God, or those who have taken the mark of the beast, (which implies that the elect will be on the ground in order to be spared those judgements), the Book of Revelation and the entire Bible contain nothing direct about the Church being exempted from the tribulation in the latter days. The pre-tribulation rapture is therefore an interpretation of Scripture, not Scripture itself. The lack of references to the church from Revelation chapter 4 onwards is taken by pre-tribulation rapturists to mean that the church will be gone before the tribulation outlined in the text, but there is no mention of the Church being raptured before the tribulation in Revelation, other words for Christians are used, such as ‘elect, ‘saints’, and ‘those who keep God’s commandments’ and the focus on the Jews and Jewish Christians is probably because the Antichrist’s empire will be centred on the Middle East, the tribulation is prophesied to be a time of mass Jewish conversion, and the Jewish people are a frequent topic of discussion in the Bible. The idea of the pre-tribulation rapture is borne of wishful thinking; some Christians don’t want to believe they will be subject to tribulation. I can understand that. Writing a book about all the disasters awaiting the world has not been easy. But the danger of pre-tribulation dispensationalism is that if you believe you’ll be raptured out of the world before the trouble starts, when the beast appears and demands that you take his mark, you may not recognise him for what he is, because you will be tempted to assume that if he was the beast, you would have already been taken to heaven.[lviii]

Then John perceived ‘one like a son of man’ with a sickle, sitting on a cloud (Revelation 14:14). An angel exhorted him to reap the earth; ‘for the harvest of the earth is ripe!”’ (Revelation 14:15). This implies that the whole point of the earth was to produce a wheat-crop of true Christians, who must be gathered up to heaven. It is also a reference to the martyrdom of some of those who died ‘in the Lord’ for their beliefs. The gathering of the ‘vintage’ of the earth has the same meaning (Revelation 14:19), since Christ is symbolised earlier in the Bible as the true vine apart from whom the faithful can bear no fruit (John 15:5). ‘The wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the wine press, up to the bridles of the horses, as far as one thousand six hundred stadia.’ (Revelation 14:20). This verse has been taken by Preterists as a reference to the Roman slaughter outside Jerusalem.[lix] Again, the Preterist meaning is merely intended as a historical reference point for events at the end of the age.

Read the next part of this chapter: https://www.robertensor.com/post/revelation-part-2

[i] Tertullian. Against Heresies.

[ii] Hurd GS 2021. The Objective Evidences for a late dating of John’s Revelation, https://www.triumphofmercy.com/blog/the-objective-evidences-for-a-late-dating-of-johns-revelation-1-of-2#:~:text=11%5D,to%20the%20island%20of%20Patmos.

[iii]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Christians_in_the_Roman_Empire#:~:text=Early%20Christians%20were%20heavily%20persecuted,251%E2%80%93253).

[iv] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[v] Sidham, Pastor Bob. 2019. Interpretation of Revelation. Westbow Press.

[vi] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev3.pdf

[ix] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/oikoumene

[x]https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%CE%B1%E1%BD%90%CF%84%CF%8C%CF%82#:~:text=/%20%E2%86%92%20/af%CB%88tos/-,Pronoun,idea)%20by%20or%20in%20itself

[xi] Revelation 2-3 explained: do the 7 churches represent 7 ages of church history? Bible Explained. YouTube video.

[xii] Ibid.

[xiii] In some reckonings Levi are not counted as they were appointed no lot, and Ephraim and Manasseh the sons of Joseph had tribes named after them.

[xiv] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/presbyteros

[xv] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuben_(son_of_Jacob)

[xvi] The part about some who are last will be first and some who are first will be last also means that some of the Jewish people, who received God’s word first, will be saved last (including the remnant), and many Gentile Christians, who believed in Yahweh later than the Jews, were saved first.

[xvii] Sidham, Pastor Bob. 2019. Interpretation of Revelation. Westbow Press.

[xviii] Filioque is a Latin word meaning, ‘and from the son’, summarising the theological position that both Father and Son can send the Holy Spirit. This belief is scriptural; see John 14:16 and John 16:7 in which Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit to his disciples.

[xix] Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev6.pdf

[xx] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/ge-0#:~:text=earth%2C%20world%2C%20country%2C%20region;%20land%2C%20ground%2C%20soil

[xxi] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[xxii] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denarius

[xxiii]https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revelation_6#:~:text=Verse%206%20*%20%22measure%22%20(Greek:%20choinix%20or,three%20measures%20of%20barley%20for%20a%20penny%22

[xxiv] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[xxv] Josephus Flavius. The Jewish War.

[xxvi] Ibid.

[xxvii] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[xxviii] Josephus Flavius. The Jewish War.

[xxix] Ibid.

[xxx] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[xxxi] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/eklektos

[xxxii] Some members of the ‘lost tribes’ were not lost but fled to Judah or stayed put in the Samaria area.

[xxxiii] Eames, C. 2020. The Spartans: ‘Children of Abraham, Brothers of the Jews’. Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology. https://armstronginstitute.org/264-the-spartans-children-of-abraham-brothers-of-the-jews#:~:text=And%2C%20according%20to%20an%20early,a%20dragon%20in%20his%20claws.

[xxxiv] This verse is the origin of the terms, ‘the tribulation’ and ‘the Great Tribulation’, but most of the dead souls in heaven did not die in the seven year period that is generally considered to be the tribulation. Nonetheless, I use those words for Daniel’s 70^th week because they are partially accurate and have become the received theological nomenclature.

[xxxv] Josephus Flavius. The Jewish Wars.

[xxxvi] Ibid.

[xxxvii] Saint Irenaeus. Against Heresies.

[xxxviii] Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev9.pdf

[xxxix]https://www.billmounce.com/blog/bsg/greekwordoftheday/%E1%BC%84%CE%BD%CE%B8%CF%81%CF%89%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%82

[xl] Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev9.pdf

[xli] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[xlii] https://www.greeknewtestament.com/B66C011.htm

[xliii] Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[xliv] Ibid. Pate CM.

[xlv] Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev13.pdf

[xlvi] https://www.billmounce.com/greek-dictionary/ge-0#:~:text=earth%2C%20world%2C%20country%2C%20region;%20land%2C%20ground%2C%20soil

[xlvii] John Rich: Donald Trump, the Darkness of Eminem’s New Album and the Song Inspired by God. Tucker Carlson. YouTube Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaFNktRoTbo.

[xlviii] Gematria is the practice of assigning a number to a name, word or phrase. The letters of the Hebrew alphabet each have a numerical value.

[xlix] Nero as the Antichrist, https://penelope.uchicago.edu/encyclopaedia_romana/gladiators/nero.html

[l] Pate CM. Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[li] Scripture4All Greek Interlinear Bible, https://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/NTpdf/rev13.pdf

[lii] Pate CM. Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.

[liii] Ibid. Pate CM.

[liv] Ibid. Hastra S Jr.

[lv] Ibid.

[lvi] The Name Jesus and the Number 888. https://bible-menorah.jimdofree.com/english/888/#:~:text=The%20name%20Jesus%20(%CE%99%CE%97%CE%A3%CE%9F%CE%A5%CE%A3%20=%20%CE%99%CE%B7%CF%83%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%82,where%20there%20is%20no%20suffering.

[lvii] https://www.greeknewtestament.com/B40C024.htm#V31

[lviii] John Rich: Donald Trump, the Darkness of Eminem’s New Album and the Song Inspired by God. Tucker Carlson. YouTube Video, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaFNktRoTbo.

[lix] Pate CM. Zondervan. Pate, CM (ed), Hastra, S, Thomas, R. Gentry, K. 2010. Four Views on the Book of Revelation (Counterpoints: Bible and Theology). Zondervan Academic.