The STRONG DELUSION—PART 2
A Synopsis of
the Revelation as a Historical Prophecy
5-16-2019
5-16-2019
Revelation Misunderstanding
– The Third Layer
The
misunderstanding that the Revelation written by John is actually a blueprint of
the events that will occur during the tribulation period. Fomented by the Scofield Study Bible the understanding
by the Church Fathers was changed to a literal interpretation of real events
that will occur during a future seven year tribulation period.
The
Revelation was originally understood as a prophetic history of the Church age,
from the beginning of the teachings of Jesus to the Millennial Kingdom of
God. For centuries the Roman Church
withheld the Bible from ordinary people who only know what little they were
told.
The
Protestant Reformation, beginning with Luther, did not regain the early Church
fathers knowledge of the purpose of the Revelation because it had long ago
vanished.
At
what point the Revelation was viewed as a literal chronology of tribulation
period events is unknown to a certain point.
It occurred after Darby’s dispensational theory was employed within
Scofield’s note filled study Bible, but the exact timeline of a literal
Revelation, the misinterpretation of the 70 weeks, and the misunderstanding of
the state of Israel as a fulfillment of all Bible prophecy is not certain.
The following
snippets of Revelation commentary were extracted from the series of
commentaries written by Dr. Stephen Jones.
The Seals
The
first four seals in Revelation 6 symbolize four riders that represent different
stages of government in the history of the Roman Empire.
1st Seal – The
White Horse
The
rider of the white horse is not Jesus Christ. The white horse represents Rome
at its height of glory, which began in 31 B.C. when it defeated Egypt in the
battle of Actium.
Roman
emperors and conquering generals rode white horses in their victory parades.
The rider was given a crown.
The
height of Rome’s power lasted from 27 B.C. until 180 A.D. The Roman Empire enjoyed great peace and
prosperity for more than 200 years during this time of the “white horse.”
2nd Seal – The
Red Horse
The
second seal brings forth the red horse of war, and so we find Rome in turmoil,
having to fight many wars to put down revolts across the empire. The second
seal covers the time after 193 AD, that is, beginning with Emperor Commodus,
whose debauchery and unjust rule caused a major shift in Roman politics.
3rd Seal – The
Black Horse
The
third seal brings forth the black horse of famine, and we see severe famines
from 250-300 A.D.
Rev.
6: 5, 6 says,
5 And when He broke the third
seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” And I looked, and
behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6
And I heard as it were a voice in the center of the four living creatures
saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a
denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
This
speaks primarily of famine caused by war and other serious disruptions. In the
midst of this chaos comes a voice from the midst of the four living creatures:
“A choenix [almost a quart] of wheat for a denarius, and three choenices of
barley for a denarius.” Normally, the cost would be one-eighth of a denarius. A
denarius was a day’s wage for a common laborer. In other words, a man would
have to work eight days to purchase a measure of grain sufficient to make a
loaf of bread.
The
book of Revelation attributes this famine to the opening of the third seal, in
which God set loose the Black Horse and its rider. The Black Horse of famine
was particularly devastating from 150-165 A.D., and close to half of the people
in the Empire died either from war or starvation.
In
Rev. 6: 5 the rider of the Black Horse was seen holding “a pair of scales in
his hand,” a universal symbol of justice employed to this day. These were
divine judgments loosed upon the Roman Empire for the depravity of the people
and their despotic rulers. The government of God requires equal and impartial
justice for all (Lev. 19: 15; James 2: 1-4).
When
men usurp the authority of Christ and thus deify themselves, the resulting
tyranny eventually brings military rule— that is, rule by force and by fear.
Then basic principles of justice are violated as farming is disrupted and food
shortages bring about widespread theft and chaos. Even military rule is
insufficient to prevent chaos in the face of widespread famine. Such was the
condition of the Roman Empire that was revealed by the broken seals in
Revelation 6.
4rd Seal – The
Green or Ashen Horse
This
“ashen” (or green) horse was revealed by the fourth living creature. Death is the inevitable result of the famine
that was revealed by the third living creature. This was a time of famine,
death, and decay of the Empire. At least one-fourth of the population of the
Roman Empire perished during this time from famine or famine-related causes,
such as disease. Gibbon estimates that close to half of the population of the
Roman Empire died of starvation in just a 15-year period!
And
so we date the Pale Horse era at the same time as the famine, particularly from
250-265 A.D. The fourth seal not only brought death to numerous individuals in
the Empire, but it also brought death to the Empire itself.
Comparison of the Four Seals
to Matthew 24
The first seal, displaying a counterfeit
conqueror on a white horse, was described in Matt. 24: 4, 5,
4 And Jesus answered and
said to them, “See to it that no one misleads you. 5 for many will come in My
name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will mislead many.”
The
Roman emperors, who wore the laurel wreaths (stephanos) and rode white horses,
were deified as gods— false messiahs.
The second seal, portraying war on a red
horse, was described next in Matt. 24: 6, 7, 6 And you will be hearing of wars
and rumors of wars; see that you are not frightened, for those things must take
place, but that is not yet the end. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom… The Roman Empire began to experience revolts and wars
from the death of Commodus in 193, resulting in the famines of the next phase
of Roman history.
The third seal, portraying famine on a
black horse, was described next in Matt. 24: 7, 8,
7 … and in various places
there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the
beginning of birth pangs.
The
famines from 250-265 A.D. killed about half the population of the Roman Empire,
setting the stage for the death (dissolution) of the Empire itself.
The fourth seal, portrays death, not only by
famine, sword, and pestilence, but also “by the wild beasts of the earth” (Rev.
6: 8). While the first three forms of death came universally upon the Empire,
the last was reserved primarily for the Christians in the arenas to provide
amusement for the non-Christian crowds.
So
Jesus said in Matt. 24: 9, 10, 13,
9 Then they will deliver you
to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations on
account of My name. 10 And at that time many will fall away and will deliver up
one another and hate one another…. 13 But the one who endures to the end, he
shall be saved.
These
four signs are patterns that are not necessarily limited to the decline and
fall of Rome. Nonetheless, we see these patterns emerge at “the end of the
age,” that is, the end of the fourth beast’s dominion. The iron beast of Rome,
described in Dan. 7: 7, was essentially broken up in 285 A.D., politically
speaking, by Emperor Diocletian and further subdivided seven years later in
292.
When
the first four seals were broken, the four living creatures around the throne
were empowered to show John things to come. These four living creatures were
pictured on the flags of the four leading tribes of Israel that were encamped
around the Ark of the Covenant (God’s throne on earth). The seals were broken
counterclockwise beginning with the seal on Reuben (Man) on the south side,
then moving to Judah (Lion) on the east, Dan (Eagle) on the north, and finally
Ephraim (Bull) on the west side.
5th Seal – The
Souls Under the Altar
The
fifth seal, which reveals the souls under the altar. Rev. 6: 9 says,
9 And when He broke the
fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain
because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had
maintained.
These
are the overcomers who, as we will see later, are called to reign with Christ
(Rev. 20: 4). They bear witness (“testimony”) of Christ. That is, they are the
Amen people who, as a body, are Christ’s double witness in the earth.
Christ’s
witnesses are not described as spirits, but as “souls,” because “the soul
[nephesh] of the flesh is in the blood” (Lev. 17: 11). The blood of sacrifices
was to be poured out under the altar (Lev. 8: 15). Hence, we see the “souls”
residing in the blood under the altar.
Paul
says in Rom. 8: 35, 36, 37:
35 Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or
famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Thy
sake we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be
slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him
who loved us.
Those
who hate God’s elect are like Cain, who killed his brother (1 John 3: 12). Such
hatred characterizes the world, but not God’s elect, for “He who does not love
abides in death” (1 John 3: 14). Of the elect, we read in 1 John 3: 16,
16 We know love by this,
that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the
brethren.
In
the end, the four living creatures around the throne represent all the tribes
of Israel and, indeed, all of creation.
6th Seal – Divine
Judgment
We
now come to the sixth seal, which speaks of divine judgment upon the Roman
Empire, which began in 310 A.D. when Constantine became Emperor. Rev. 6: 12
says,
12 And I looked when He
broke the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; and the sun became
black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood;
This
seal opens with “a great earthquake,” which, in prophecy, can represent either
a literal quake or an event which emotionally or politically shakes the people
and nations. Natural disasters, when they occur, may also foreshadow great
political changes.
The
sun represents the king, and the moon the political establishment who “reflect”
(or carry out) the decrees of the king. After the change in government from
Diocletian to Constantine, the moon represented (or included) church leaders
who reflected the will of the new emperor.
The
blackened sun describes a solar eclipse. The red moon becoming “like blood”
describes a lunar eclipse. Certainly, this is how any reader in John’s day
would have understood his metaphor.
This
change in the political order of Rome also brought about a change in the
church. This is reflected in the change from the persecuted "Smyrna"
church to the church of Pergamum which in turn runs parallel to the Old
Testament "Balaam" church.
Constantine
aggressively forced his fellow Caesars to adopt a spirit of tolerance. First
the Edict of Toleration (311 A.D.) and then the Edict of Milan (313 A.D.)
granted religious freedom especially to Christians.
In
the great shaking that took place in the early fourth century, the Empire
itself did not disintegrate; rather, the new Emperor (Constantine) changed it
into a different sort of Empire. For a few years Christianity and other
religions were given relative freedom of religion. But the sun of paganism was
setting, and it would only be a matter of time before the Christian emperors
would restrict and finally abolish the practice of paganism. They closed the
pagan temples and converted them into Christian temples. Their pagan statues
were renamed in honor of Christian saints.
The
sun being darkened depicts Constantine’s conquest of the Roman Empire and the
beginning of the end of the pagan gods, particularly the god of the sun.
Constantine
threw out the heathen standards of the Roman army and substituted the Cross in
their place. Pagan temples were closed and heathen sacrifices banned. The great
“earthquake” hit the entire political structure of the Roman Empire, and the
pagan rulers fell from their positions of authority and were replaced by
Christians. This was an unprecedented revolution in Roman history.
The
moon became as blood. An eclipse blots out the sun or moon for a short time,
but afterward they emerge as seemingly new entities. Hence, eclipses were
viewed as omens of change. Kings, nations, or powers were in danger of being
overthrown and replaced by new ones. In this case, the church bishops emerged
as the new power brokers of New Rome.
The
moon is a symbol of the Church. This phase of prophecy began in 325 A.D. when
the Church held its first Council at Nicea. The Emperor himself called for this
Council in order to establish unity in the Church and in the empire itself
after the controversy erupted over the nature of God and the trinity.
The
Church came to be ruled by religious politics, and the Church Councils
established “traditions of men” in the same way that the Jews had done in
previous centuries. And so the year 325 A.D. and the Council of Nicea marks the
beginning of the time where the moon (Church) would begin to turn to blood. The
light of revelation in the Church dimmed with each new tradition of men that
they established with the sword and the bribe.
The Stars of Heaven
Revelation
6: 13 says,
13 and the stars of the sky
[ouranou, “heaven”] fell to the earth, as a fig tree casts its unripe figs when
shaken by a great wind. The stars were called metaphorically “the sons of God” (Job 38: 7).
Many
religions taught that the stars were literally the gods or great men and women
who took their place among the stars in the afterlife. Today we know that stars
are not literal people, yet they represent the saints, or overcomers. John saw
that the stars “fell to the earth.” Among the casualties of the newly-empowered
Church religion were the overcomers. These were men and women who, like Christ,
had no personal ambitions and did not value wealth. Overcomers seldom, if ever,
became bishops, because it required too much political ambition to hold such a
position.
Heavenly Revelation Closes
Revelation
6: 14 says,
14 And the sky [ouranos,
“heaven”] was split apart [“ parted asunder”] like a scroll when it is rolled
up; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
This
is not talking about literal mountains, islands, or the literal sky splitting
apart. Men used to write things on scrolls until about 360 A.D., when they
began to bind together smaller sheets as books. Heaven being rolled up as a
scroll speaks of the revelation of God being rolled up like a scroll. In other
words, it is like closing a book. This is what happens when church leaders—
like an eclipsed moon— become red like blood. When men prefer the traditions of
men to the revelation of God, the Spirit of Truth departs, and divine revelation
diminishes or ceases altogether. The word of God becomes a closed book.
And
so, as time passed, the Church stopped teaching the Bible to the average
Christians. In 663-664 Pope Vitalian of Rome mandated that the Church liturgy
itself be spoken only in Latin, depriving more and more people from
understanding anything other than to remain subservient to the Church leaders.
Any
real understanding of the Word of God dropped to a very low level for more than
a thousand years. The Bible became a closed book, and did not begin to reopen
until Gutenberg’s use of the printing press in 1452 A.D. His first project was
the Bible. This began to bring the Scriptures back to the common people. We
will have more to say about this when we study the “little book” that is opened
in Revelation 10.
Judgment upon the Rulers
The
judgment upon the kings and other great men of the earth at the end of
Revelation 6 is referring to specific events that occurred in the early fourth
century. Though the basic principle may be applicable to modern times, the
historical fulfillment of these verses took place when God judged pagan Rome.
Rev.
6: 15-17 says,
15 And the kings of the
earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and
every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of
the mountains; 16 and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us
and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath
of the Lamb; 17 for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to
stand?
This
is a graphic way of describing the fear among the wealthy and powerful pagans,
who were apprehensive about their own future under Constantine and the other
Christian Emperors who succeeded him. Constantine had a policy of toleration,
but within a century paganism itself was banned under Theodosius, who ruled
from 379-395.
Another
important consequence of this political earthquake was seen in the transfer of
the Empire’s capital to Constantinople— a new city, free of pagan temples— that
Constantine built on the Black Sea at the border of Europe and Asia. This
transfer occurred in 330 A.D. Constantine never again saw Rome. Constantinople
quickly became more important than Rome itself.
After
Constantine’s death, his policy of pagan toleration was reversed by his
sons. The son, Constantius, had adopted
Arianism, the sect banned by the Council of Nicea in 325, while his two
brothers were orthodox. The result was
that Arianism dominated the East for the next 40 years, while the Orthodox view
dominated the West.
Paganism’s Last Revival
The
sudden death of Constantius in 361 brought his nephew Julian to the
throne. His experiences he saw firsthand
caused him to reject Christianity of which he was bitterly opposed and made it
his life’s mission to reinstate the worship of the Roman gods.
Julian
called into the open a multitude of pagan priests who had gone into hiding. He
also attempted to reform paganism with many precepts of Christianity to enhance
its morality and reduce its excesses. His zealous reforms of paganism actually
caused him to lose support among many of the pagan priests. Julian discovered too late that the religion
he sought to revive was morally worse than the Christianity that he sought to
suppress.
Rome Officially Becomes a
Christian Nation (380 A.D.)
The
death of Julian ended the rule of the Constantinian family. Julian was
succeeded by Jovian, a Christian general who was chosen by the army. He ruled
just eight months, however, and was succeeded by Valentinian, who ruled until
his death in 375. Both Jovian and Valentinian adopted Constantine’s policy of
religious toleration.
The
political upheaval (earthquake) did not take place all at once, but over a
period of time from 313-395 A.D. In 395 the Emperor Theodosius died, and the
Empire was divided between his two sons. Honorius was made Emperor of the West
at the age of nine, and he set up his capital in Milan. His older brother,
Arcadius, was 17 or 18, and so he was given the Eastern portion of the Empire,
based in Constantinople, for that was considered to be the greater inheritance.
This
began the final break-up of the Roman Empire. In 410 Rome was overrun and
sacked by the Goths, and for the next half century, the Western half of the
Roman Empire gradually disintegrated.
Upheavals Among the Nations
Going back to the second
half of 6:14 which has previously been discussed to some extent.and adding
15-17. The first half of 6:14 recognized
the elect or overcomers as Dr. Jones refers to them, as being eliminated or
killed by the Church leaders.
14 … and every mountain and
island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth and the
great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and
free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; 16
and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from
the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; 17
for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
The
persecution and untimely death of the overcomers brings about a lack of
understanding of the word, and the result is that the kingdoms of men remain
carnal in their relationships with their fellow nations. The natural result is
war, disruption, and upheaval.
These
verses give us a quick look at the long-term results of the little horn’s “war
with the saints” (Dan. 7: 21) up to the time “when the saints took possession
of the Kingdom” (Dan. 7: 22).
Hiding in the Mountains
What
does John mean when he speaks of men hiding in caves and among the rocks in the
mountains? While John does not attempt to interpret this revelation, we know
that he drew upon the revelation set forth in Isaiah 2: 19-21,
19 And men will go into
caves of the rocks, and into holes of the ground before the terror of the Lord,
and before the splendor of His majesty, when He arises to make the earth
tremble. 20 In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats their
idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for themselves to
worship, 21 in order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the
cliffs, before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty, when He
arises to make the earth tremble.
The
second chapter of Isaiah, then, provides us with a longer explanation of
Revelation 6. Isaiah begins by setting forth “the mountain of the house of the
Lord,” which was pictured by the temple on a hill in Jerusalem. The problem, of
course, was that the temple had become corrupted by the time of Isaiah, so it
was no longer an accurate portrayal of the temple in heaven.
When
John tells us that the kings and great men, rich men, slaves and free men will
hide themselves in the caves, they are the men who love darkness rather than
light. When the light of the glory of God is manifested, those who love
darkness will flee.
When
the evil men run to the caves and hide among the rocks in the mountains, they
are not fleeing from aerial bombardment. They flee from the light of the word
which is the practical extension of the glory of God. Their idols cannot stand
in the light of divine revelation. Hence, they flee, lest their deeds should be
exposed. Jesus said in John 3:
19-21,
19 And this is the judgment,
that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than
the light; for their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone who does evil hates the
light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But
he who practices the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be manifested
as having been wrought in God.
John
says that those who flee to the mountains and caves say, “Fall on us and hide
us from the presence [prosopon, “face, presence”] of Him who sits on the
throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb [arnion, “little lambs”]” (Rev. 6: 16).
They fled from two entities, who are really one, for it is the glory of God manifesting
in His saints that cause them such fear.
This
is the topic of Paul’s discussion in 2 Thess. 1: 9, 10,
9 And these will pay the penalty
of eternal [aionian] destruction, away from the presence [prosopon, “face”] of
the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10 when He comes to be glorified in
His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed— for
our testimony to you was believed… 12 in order that the name of our Lord Jesus
may be glorified in you, and you in Him….
This
event describes more than just a King coming out of heaven to manifest His
glory to those who look upon Him. It describes the saints having the glory of
God in them.
Rev.
6: 17 concludes, “who is able to stand?” In other words, who can withstand, or
stand against, the light and glory in the face of the saints? Paul says in 2
Thess. 2: 8,
8 And then that lawless one
will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring
to an end by the appearance [epiphaneia, “brightness”] of His coming [parousia,
“presence”].
The
“lawless one” will not be able to win this war. While the saints were to be
overcome during the time allotted to the little horn, the day comes when the
saints are glorified. Then they go forth to conquer, not by physical arms, but
by the power of the glory of God.
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