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In book 1 we read that Satan is cast down and is making war on God’s people. Under the reign of the Antichrist, this translates into the persecution and killing of many millions of Christians. This period is known as the Great Tribulation period. The Antichrist also institutes a “voluntary” individual identifier known as the Mark of the Beast that is somehow permanently imbued on the person both physically and spiritually. It ties him to the Antichrist and his world. No one will be able to function economically in the world without the mark. Therefore, the pressure to take the mark is severe. Note that there are those who do not take the mark and yet are not Christians who, if caught, will also be persecuted and possibly put to death. The Great Tribulation and the Antichrist’s rule start at the midpoint and last 3 ½ years.
Book 2 describes the beginning of God’s Wrath on the Antichrist and his world. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 bring 2/3 of God’s woes on the world and those who have allied with the Antichrist and have received his mark. The Great Tribulation and this portion of God’s wrath happen virtually simultaneously. While God’s people are suffering under rule of the Antichrist, so those who follow the Antichrist are suffering from God’s wrath.
Chapter 11 introduces the two witnesses who are untouchable by the Antichrist or his servants. They are in place for the period that the Antichrist is in power. They will preach repentance and are most likely be the medium through which God’s wrath is introduced.
Unlike other events, the length of God’s Wrath is not expressly given in chapters 8-11. Since we equate it with the presence of the two witnesses, it is most likely about as long as the Great Tribulation.
The events in chapters 8, 9, and 10 start from the midpoint of Daniel’s Seventieth Week and proceed from there. Chapter 11 then backtracks to the midpoint and introduces the two witnesses. It then covers the time from then to the end of chapter 10.
Book 2 describes the beginning of God’s Wrath on the Antichrist and his world. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 bring 2/3 of God’s woes on the world and those who have allied with the Antichrist and have received his mark. The Great Tribulation and this portion of God’s wrath happen virtually simultaneously. While God’s people are suffering under rule of the Antichrist, so those who follow the Antichrist are suffering from God’s wrath.
Chapter 11 introduces the two witnesses who are untouchable by the Antichrist or his servants. They are in place for the period that the Antichrist is in power. They will preach repentance and are most likely be the medium through which God’s wrath is introduced.
Unlike other events, the length of God’s Wrath is not expressly given in chapters 8-11. Since we equate it with the presence of the two witnesses, it is most likely about as long as the Great Tribulation.
The events in chapters 8, 9, and 10 start from the midpoint of Daniel’s Seventieth Week and proceed from there. Chapter 11 then backtracks to the midpoint and introduces the two witnesses. It then covers the time from then to the end of chapter 10.
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Chapter 8Chapter 8 begins with the opening of the seventh and final seal. These are seals on a scroll, possibly the deed to the earth. With the opening of the final seal, we might expect the scroll itself to be opened now. It is possible that is exactly what happens and that the remainder of Revelation shows the contents of the scroll. More likely, however, is that the seventh seal contains the remainder of the judgments which are to come, but not the contents of the scroll.
As we remember from the Olivet Discourse[1], the disciples asked Christ what would be the sign of his coming. If the Olivet Discourse could be considered a synopsis of the events prior to His return, then Revelation Chapters 4-22 may be seen as an expansion of Christ’s reply. Then the sequence of events would be: In each of the first six seals (chapter 6) a sign is given, then in each of the first six trumpets (chapters 8-10 discussed in this book) a sign is given, followed by six plagues (chapter 15-16) with each giving a sign. To reiterate, six signs are revealed in the seals, six signs are sounded by the trumpets, and six signs are manifested by the plagues. Once this pattern of 6-6-6 is finished, the completion of the seventh plague completes the seventh trumpet which completes the seventh seal[2]. In other words, the seventh seal contains all the trumpets, and the seventh trumpet contains all the plagues. This pattern of completed signs works especially well considering that seven is the number of completion[3]. This pattern supports the hypothesis that while the sixth seal announces God’s Wrath, it does not contain it. The Wrath instead starts with the seventh seal. It should be mentioned that there is, within this period, a fourth group of seven judgments, but it, the Seven Thunders, takes place in the sixth, not the seventh trumpet. This is discussed in Chapter 10.
The final seal is now broken and even heaven holds its breath. There are, for a brief time, no songs of praise and worship, no prayers for vengeance, no voices sounding. A parallel passage from Zephaniah also shows silence before the coming of the Day of the Lord, as well as the equating of the Day of the Lord and the Wrath of God
Several other times the silence of God is seen as a precursor, sign, or companion of his wrath. Isaiah[4] cried out that God’s silence would mark his total punishment on Israel, and David viewed God’s silence as a punishment equal to death.[5] Amos[6] spoke of a time when there would be a famine of the words of the Lord. It is possible all or some of these are in view in this passage.
Who are “the seven angels who stand before God”? We know from Job that all angels present themselves before God,[8] but the definite article here indicates that they are a special group. There are two possibilities for who they are. Seven angels are mentioned in Chapter 1:20, where the seven stars in the hand of Christ were equated to the seven angels of the seven churches to whom John addressed the book. Their position there, in Christ’s hand, and here, “before God” is certainly consistent. It is possible that those seven churches were chosen because they represent various kinds of churches both in John’s day and throughout church history. If their angels are the agents of God’s judgment, then that may have a tie-in to the promises made to each of the churches which will be fulfilled at the time when all the judgments have been completed.
The second possibility is more intriguing. From Biblical sources, we know that Gabriel stands before God,[9] and so he may be one of the seven. It is likely Michael is another, for he is called “one of the chief princes”[10] and an archangel,[11] and plays a prominent part in the War in Heaven.[12] Directly parallel is this section from the deuterocanonical book Tobit: “I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of the Holy One”.[13] We know the names of all seven archangels from the deuterocanonical book 1 Enoch[14] which gives the seven as Uriel, Raphael, Raguel, Michael, Saraqael, Gabriel, and Remiel.[ii] The prayers and incense are discussed in detail in connection with Revelation 5:8. They appear here at the start of the trumpet judgments for the last time, to be replaced by the plagues held in the same bowls. We see here the requests of the souls under the alter[15] being granted by God initiating His wrath, from entreaty for judgment to the judgment itself. The prayers of the saints were merely held by the elders in the initial mention. Now, for the first time we see, they are offered up to God. Since the prayers are for vengeance, it is interesting to note how fast they are answered once they are offered.[iii]
The thunder, rumblings, lightning, and earthquake are the announcement of the three seven-fold judgments[16] and the completion of the six seals. They are followed by the full implementation of the seventh seal that starts the seven trumpet judgments. The hurling of the censor is significant for two reasons. First, the same censor which offered up the saint’s prayers for vengeance is the instrument of God’s answer to those prayers and the commencement of his Wrath. Second, in each of the first three trumpet judgments something afire is hurled at the earth,[17] which may indicate that the censor holds part or all of the trumpet judgments.
The fire on the altar, implicit in the burning incense in verse 4, is made explicit when it fills the censor for judgment in verse 5. Both Isaiah[18] and Ezekiel[19] saw fire in connection with the throne of God. A seraph brings a live coal from the altar to Isaiah, presumably the same altar from which the angel here gets his. That coal brings purification to the prophet, while the coal from the fire here brings purification to the earth.[20] Ezekiel sees something even closer. A man in white linen, presumably an angel, is told to take coals from among the Cherubim and scatter them over Jerusalem as a sign of God’s judgment. In all these cases the view is one of fire as both purification and judgment, a theme found throughout Scripture.[iv]
Seven trumpets are blown only one other place in Scripture: when Joshua took Jericho.[21] On the seventh day of the siege, seven priests marched around the city seven times blowing trumpets. After the priests blew a long blast, the people all shouted, and the walls fell.
Trumpets as the precursors or announcers of the judgment of God are much more common. Joel[22] prophesied that a trumpet will announce the Day of the Lord, and Zephaniah[23] said that day is accompanied by a trumpet call. In the New Testament trumpets are repeatedly associated with Christ’s return to earth. He will return with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trumpet call of God,[24] and at the last trumpet the dead in Christ will rise and living believers put on their immortal bodies.[25] Christ himself referred to this gathering of his elect in concert with a trumpet call.[26]
The first four trumpet judgments are targeted directly at the livability of the earth and not directly at a class of people. They could hit in quick succession or be prolonged throughout the first part of the 3 ½ years of the Antichrist. Most likely the latter since the earth is still habitable but definitely unpleasant for the majority of the remaining people. As noted before, the first three are closely related, with them all being the result of something falling to earth from heaven and being directed against the earth, the sea, and the fresh waters. That grouping occurs elsewhere in Revelation, with God being given credit for creating those three expressly.[27]
Several of these judgments are clearly only partial. With trumpet 1, 1/3 of the earth, trees, and all the grass are burned up. With trumpet 2, 1/3 of the sea turns to blood, killing 1/3 of the sea creatures and destroying 1/3 of the ships on the sea. With the third trumpet, 1/3 of the fresh waters are turned bitter, killing many people. The first trumpet looks like a meteor storm, perhaps a comet that has shattered into many small pieces before approaching the earth. Meteor storms which start fires are unusual but not unheard of.[28] This will be far worse than anything Man has seen, but no worse than what the earth has seen several times in the past.[29] While the first trumpet judgment looks like a swarm of many relatively small meteors, the second looks like a single, but larger meteor which impacts the sea. The impact itself would throw up cubic miles of water and sea bottom into the air and the tidal waves would destroy much both on and under the water. It is quite possible the associated ecological disaster could trigger a red tide[30], which would kill much of the sea life in the affected areas. The third trumpet looks like more meteors. The ashes from the fires from this and the first meteor would pour tons of ash into lakes and streams, filling them with sodium hydroxide (lye), which is both poisonous and has a bitter taste. With the fourth trumpet, the sun, moon, stars, day, and night all lose 1/3 of their light. This darkens the sky, a natural consequence of the fires from trumpets one and three and the water and rock from the second trumpet. The impact that destroyed the dinosaurs darkened the sky completely for perhaps three years and eliminated most of the species then living. The results of these impacts in Revelation, as bad as they are, are milder than what the earth has already seen. Like the fifth seal[31], the fifth trumpet is preparatory, but with the sixth trumpet 1/3 of mankind dies.
As bad as things are, they are about to get worse. The eagle’s proclamation of Woe! Woe! Woe! is itself annunciatory. The judgments associated with the three Woes are the events of the fifth, sixth, and seventh trumpets.
The grouping together of the three angels with trumpets into a single announcement by the eagle is the first of two three-angel heavenly announcements, the other being in Revelation 14[32] before the plagues start. |
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Chapter 9The trumpet judgments are divided into two parts: the first four trumpet angels which seem to be the results of the announcement of the angel who hurled the censor, and the last three announced by the eagle flying in mid-heaven crying “Woe Woe Woe”. Though both sets of judgments are initiated in heaven, they are of very different kinds.
Up until now, all the events which have happened on the earth - the six seals[1] and the first four trumpets - can be explained in purely physical terms, not requiring anything obviously supernatural. Whether or not the first three trumpets are supernatural, their effects on the earth will be devastating. Chapter 9 is devoted to the fifth and sixth trumpet judgments which are the first two woes announced at the end of Chapter 8. The entire book of Joel is parallel to the three Woes and sheds significant light on them (and they on it).
Chapter 1[2] makes it clear that a star means an angel. This is the first time in the judgments when anything alive has come from heaven to earth. The intervention by God is getting more direct, and the effects are about to get more overtly supernatural.
Keys are mentioned in three other places in Scripture. Christ holds the keys to death and Hades[3] and the key of David.[4] He also holds the keys to the kingdom of heaven, which he has given to his Church.[5] Both the keys to the house of David and the keys to the kingdom of heaven come from a Messianic prophecy in Isaiah:
The other two times a key is mentioned in Revelation, it is in connection with opening the Abyss (here) and closing it up again[6] after binding Satan and imprisoning him there for the Millennium.
The Abyss, like so many other things, is mentioned seven times in Revelation[7]. The Greek word “abussos” simply means “without bottom”, or “bottomless”. It is used in three different senses in Scripture. In the Septuagint translation of Genesis 1:2 it is used to translate the Hebrew “tehom” which the NIV translates as “the deep”. The same Hebrew word in Psalm 148:7 means the ocean. The second meaning of Abyss, and the primary one in the New Testament, is the abode of demons[8]. Since “abussos” also means the bottomless pit, it is about as far as possible from the presence of God, appropriate for demons. All appearances in Revelation are in that sense, as is its use in Luke.[9] The one remaining time it appears in the New Testament, in Romans[10], it means the realm of the dead. The three senses or meanings of Abyss are: 1) The deep or ocean, 2) The adobe of demons, and 3) The realm of the dead. The overlap in these senses, both for “abussos” in Greek and “tehom” in Hebrew, may be found in Psalm 71:20 (Psalm 70:20 in LXX[11]). There, “tehom” is used for the abode of the dead. LXX translates it “abussos” (Psalm 70:20 in LXX), equates to the use in Romans as the realm of the dead. Perhaps some support for equating the Abyss with the ocean comes from Job 26:5. The NIV says, “The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.” Perhaps a better translation would be “The dead are in anguish, those who lie (or dwell) beneath the waters.” It is likely John was referring to both the realm of the dead and the abode of demons.[12] Scripture has another name for the prison where demons are kept awaiting judgment, and that is Tartaros, the Greek word for the dwelling place of the damned.
The word here translated “hell” is “Tartaros”. If the locusts[14] are demons, then it is likely Tartaros and the Abyss are the same place. This supposition is strengthened by Satan being bound in the Abyss through the Millennium, although it should be noted that he is not kept there until his judgment[15]: he will be released briefly before Judgment Day. If the locusts are demons manifested physically, this is the only place in scripture where demons have a specific physical form.
Note also there is smoke, and through the furnace, the idea of fire is associated with the Abyss. Peter, speaking at the Church’s first Pentecost, referred to this day:
It is interesting to note that this reference, a quote by Peter of the prophet Joel[16] which explicitly refers to the Day of the Lord, is the only other reference to smoke in the New Testament.
Note that the locusts have the authority only to attack those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. Three things should be pointed out about this. First, it strongly implies that there are people around who do have the seal of God. This includes the 144,000[17] and the innumerable multitude of Christians.[18] Both groups, and only those groups, have God’s seal.
Second, since the seven trumpet judgments, like the seven plagues, are part of God’s Wrath and since Christians are not appointed unto wrath[19], the locusts do not afflict God’s people. Third, the passages from Acts and Joel may give a clue to the purpose of these locusts. It is, at least in part, to drive those who are on the fence, who are as of yet neither God’s nor Satan’s, to make up their minds. It is getting increasingly difficult to be a fence-straddler. There is still time for people to choose God, but the time is growing very short. Still, here at the beginning of God’s Wrath, there is yet time. There are three groups of people at this point: those who are sealed by Satan; those who are sealed by God; and those who rejected being sealed by Satan but have not accepted Christ. Those who have God’s seal have no need for repentance; those with Satan’s seal have no ability to repent. The third group, the fence-sitters, can still choose. But they are running out of time.
Note how cautious John is in describing what he sees. The locusts “looked like” horses, they wore “something like” gold crowns, their faces “resembled” human faces. When John writes this way, it is often a sign he is describing something supernatural.[21] These are, of course, most unusual locusts. Most likely, they are demons, released from the Abyss to torment those not sealed with God’s seal. They will do so for five months, establishing how long the first Woe lasts.[22]
The closest parallel to this is from Joel, also in a prophecy about the Day of the Lord:
The locusts[23] in both passages look like war horses, sound like chariots in motion, have lions’ teeth,[24] and have as one of their purposes the bringing of repentance from those still willing to turn to God. There are two crucial differences, however. First, as verse 11 in this chapter makes clear (see below), the army of locusts from the Abyss is commanded by Abaddon, almost certainly a demon despite being called an angel. In contrast, God leads the army in Joel. Second, the army in Joel lays waste the land,[25] while those in Revelation are specifically prohibited from destroying any green growing thing.[26]
It is likely that Joel sees as a single event what John is shown as three different events. There are vast armies assembled in each of the three Woes: the locusts from the Abyss from the fifth trumpet, the army of 200 million from the sixth, and those who gather at Armageddon from the seventh.[27]
If their appearance were not enough, their having a king establishes they are not actual locusts, for Scripture teaches that locusts have no king.[28] Abaddon appears seven times in Scripture, here in the New Testament and six in the old where Abaddon is Destruction personified.[29] In all but one of these[30] Abaddon is linked to the dead or Hell in some form, either as Sheol,[31] Death,[32] or the grave.[33] Abaddon comes from the Hebrew “abad” whose meaning includes being lost, perishing, and destroying. Hardly a name for one of God’s angels. Apollyon appears only here. It is from Greek “apoleia”, which means “destruction”. “Apoleia” appears twice in Revelation,[34] both in the context of the Beast who comes from the Abyss and goes to “destruction”.
The first Woe is now competed. The second Woe has a third of the population dying and it contains the 7 thunders.
The river Euphrates is mentioned twice in Revelation: here and in 16 when it is dried up to make way for the kings of the East. This is the second group of four angels mentioned in Revelation. The previous group were restraining the winds (God’s judgments)[35] until the 144,000 could be sealed. These are not restraining anything. They themselves have been bound for this day, and they are now released. The killing of unrepentant mankind begins in earnest now.
The only other places angels are bound are in Revelation[36] (where Satan is bound during the Millenium) and in Jude:
It is possibly some of these angels who are released, but that is hard to say.
200 million is the largest number mentioned in Scripture, and it is directly told to John. It is possible this is supposed to be the size of an actual army. If so, it is another example of John looking forward in time, for it is unlikely there were 200 million people on the earth when he wrote.
Notice that, on the heels of death being stopped for 5 months, death and dying have resumed on a grand scale.
It is tempting to say that the 1/3 of mankind that is going to be killed is the natural consequence of the first four trumpets where a 1/3 of the earth is destroyed. That may be the case that the deaths are a result of natural disasters. It could be that after 1/3 of the world’s resources are gone that war breaks out and these bizarre images that John is describing are his interpretation of modern mechanisms of war. It is also true that “natural” disasters such as large volcanic eruptions could be the reason for fire, sulfur (brimstone), and smoke. Several of the Earth’s past extinction level events were caused by volcanic activity. More likely, however, like with the first Woe, John is most likely describing something that is primarily supernatural. Another argument for it being obviously supernatural is that it is a counter to the Antichrist’s demonstration of supernatural powers. The final and maybe the most compelling argument for the Woe being an obvious supernatural event is that those with God’s seal are not among the casualties: only those who didn’t have God’s seal were killed by the demons. Remember God’s people are not appointed unto Wrath[37]. The horses and riders here appear to be as demonic as the locusts in the first Woe, only grander. Locusts, though small, travel in swarms. The same is true here. The horses convey a large size and are numbered at over 200 million. Instead of locusts that had bodies that look like horses and faces that appear human, here we have horses that have heads that appear like lions. The locust has a king controlling them. Here each horse has a rider. These riders have a breastplate of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow. It is interesting that fire is red, smoke dark blue, sulfur is yellow. This sounds a great deal like gunpowder, described in a day long before gunpowder was invented. The power of the locusts is the sting in their tail. The power of the horses is through their tails as well as their mouths which spew the three plagues: fire, smoke and brimstone. All these plagues are associated with our view of Hell. It may be the foretaste for those on earth of what Hell is like.
God allowed the demons loose on the world and they tormented the people of the world. Not only did the sixth trumpet give them a taste of Hell with fire, brimstone, and smoke, it gave them a foretaste of what it will be like to be tormented by the demons of Hell through the first two Woes. Yet they don’t repent and are still worshipping demons and idols, as well as practicing lifestyles counter to God’s plan.
So why does God use demons to carry out his wrath? God of course can use anything he pleases. It is ironic that since the people of earth have been effectively worshipping Satan, prince of demons, since the middle of the Seventieth Week, God is merely giving them what they asked for. It is, perhaps, instructive that this time, mankind does not repent. |
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Chapter 10We are currently in the period of the Second Woe, which is the sixth trumpet. Chapter 10 describes events that occur just prior to the sounding of the seventh trumpet.
Three “mighty angels” appear in Revelation. The first asks who is worthy to open the scroll,[1] the second is here, and the third announces the destruction of Babylon[2]. The first is there for the start of the judgments, the second gives John[3] the little scroll detailing the thunder judgments, and the third proclaims the final judgment on the earth.
This scroll is not the same as the one opened by the Lamb in Chapter 6 (see endnote on verse 2). It bears far closer resemblance to the little scroll of Ezekiel (see below). The “seven thunders” are possibly the wrath of the Spirit, though remembering what happens to those who add to the prophecies of this book, we are not going to speculate. It is no more fruitful than trying to decide what Christ wrote on the ground[4] when presented to the woman taken in adultery.
This is the only thing in Revelation which is sealed up. Note also that this is during the sixth trumpet - the seventh trumpet does not sound until Chapter 11:15. In addition this records the seven thunders, but they are not included in the seventh of the previous series as stipulated at the beginning of chapter 8. As it is, we can say nothing further about it. That doesn’t mean the seven thunders are unimportant; it merely means that we know nothing about them or their associated events
The key idea from this scripture is to emphasize once again that there is no more delay in God’s execution of His Wrath.
What is the “mystery of God”? It is possibly those things revealed in prophecy - “to seal up vision and prophecy” as it said in Daniel[5]. Notice, however, that the mystery of God will be accomplished before the seventh trumpet sounds. So far as we can tell, the “mystery of God” remains mysterious. It may well concern the events of the seven thunders.
If it does not refer to the events of the seven thunders, it may relate to other mysteries given in scripture. The preponderance of those concern the nature of Christ and the nature of the Church. In Romans we have:
Similarly, in Ephesians:
Both of these indicate that the mystery they are referring to is that Gentiles are to be incorporated into the church. Notice that Romans 16:26 says that the mystery is made known through the prophetic writings while Revelation 10:7 says that the mystery of God would be accomplished as was told to the prophets, which is essentially the same thing.
Much hangs on the word “accomplished”. If it means “done in its entirety”, then it is difficult to tie it to any particular thing. If, on the other hand, it means “completed”, then it may refer to the salvation of the last of the Gentiles who will be saved. This is somewhat supported by the next chapter which makes it clear that this takes place in the time of the trampling of Israel by the Gentiles. It is possible that no other Gentiles will be saved henceforward. That other Jews will be, we know from Zechariah:
This will take place when Christ appears in the heavens.
Elsewhere we have pointed out that the Pretribulational view of the end times requires that many things be duplicated. Among those things is the “last trumpet”. First Corinthians 15[6] says that the Rapture takes place “at the last trumpet”. As we read scripture, this is the last trumpet because it is, well, last. The seven trumpets of Revelation do not come after it. If they did, it would not be the “last” trumpet. The last trumpet must be either the seventh trumpet here or one later still. The latter seems far more likely. The seventh trumpet is the Wrath of God and covers a significant amount of time before Christ returns at the “last” trumpet. Since the last trumpet, the return of Christ, and the Rapture all take place at the same time after the Wrath is over, we believe the “last” trumpet is blown after the seven trumpets of Revelation.
This is directly parallel to a passage from Ezekiel:
A major difference, of course, is that Ezekiel goes to speak to the house of Israel,[7] while John is to speak to many nations.
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Chapter 11By showing John the events surrounding Christ's return, God spoke to John in a symbolic language which he could understand (being fluent in the Old Testament and other Jewish teachings of his day), and which was sufficiently rich to convey his meaning to us in a very different day. The symbols encapsulated the events into a series of complex, but finite images. By doing so, God was able to show John the detailed events of several years in a relatively small number of visions. Though the symbols are strange to our minds, they were an efficient way for God to speak to John. John could be shown events in a form which he could comprehend and transmit, while visions of the literal events would have been incomprehensible to him, and hence uncommunicable. There are two reasons for that. First, for the visions from heaven, limited human minds cannot comprehend or assimilate the infinite unless it is intentionally filtered for us. This is, after all, one reason God became a man - to become something we could understand. In the same way, the visions John sees of events in heaven translate the infinite into something his human mind can both comprehend and communicate.
Second, the visions of earth, while finite, may not have been comprehensible to John either, had they been presented literally. A man riding forth on a white horse and dressed in weapons of war conveys the idea of conquest in a language all ages can understand. If, instead, John had been shown literal images of twentieth-century tank and aerial warfare - or twenty-first century battles fought with space-based lasers and computer algorithms in cyberspace - he could not have communicated them. He could not even have seen them, for you cannot even see what your brain cannot comprehend. One disadvantage to showing John the events rather than telling them to him is that it takes multiple visions to show different things taking place at the same time. One of the more difficult things about Revelation is understanding when a vision refers back to something which has already been seen in another guise. In Chapter 7 we see, from a heavenly perspective, the great multitude who were martyred in the Great Tribulation. The perspective is from heaven, and we see them symbolically in ways that communicate how they look to God. The same events - their martyrdom - forms part of Chapter 13 where we see it this time from an earthly perspective where it is part of the depredations of the Antichrist and False Prophet. The murders occur on earth, their victims are in heaven and two visions are required to communicate this. Chapters 8 and 9 reveal both the heavenly perspective and the earthly manifestation of those heavenly events. Chapter 10 describes the seven thunders from a heavenly perspective, but any earthly manifestations are sealed from view. Chapter 11 shows God’s Wrath from an earthly perspective. These events begin at the midpoint of the Seventieth Week with the trampling of the holy city and the introduction of the two witnesses.
In Revelation, a total period of time of 1003 1/2 years is specifically delineated, the thousand-year Millennium and a three and one half year period preceding it. Periods of three and one half years are delineated five times in Revelation. Here, John is told Jerusalem will be trampled on for 42 months. Immediately afterwards, God’s two witnesses testify for 1,260 days. In the following chapter, the woman crowned with stars flees to the desert to escape the dragon. There she will be taken care of for 1,260 days[1] and for “a time, times, and half a time”[2]. In Chapter 13,[3] the beast who rises from the sea exercises his authority for 42 months. It is very likely these time periods are identical to the same of equal duration in Daniel.[4]
Ezekiel 40-42 has a lengthy passage measuring the Last Days temple, but in none of them does the man with a measuring rod measure the outer court.
This description is closer than the one given in Zechariah 2 where the city of Jerusalem is measured in connection with the restoration of the city, not with its time of exile.
For a period of 42 months, the outer court of the temple will be trampled by the Gentiles. As Chapter 12 explains, this is because believing Israel will be driven into exile for that period.
If you read the Olivet Discourse[5] in Matthew 24 and compare it with the parallel passages in Luke 21, one major difference strikes you. The general flavor of Matthew 24 concerns events of the end times, primarily during the period of Daniel’s Seventieth Week. Luke, on the other hand, up to verse 25, sounds more like a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. In reality, both the destruction by the Romans and the end-times occupation are probably in view. The trampling of Jerusalem[6] and the corresponding “Times of the Gentiles” thus have two fulfillments in view. The first fulfillment was the control of Jerusalem by non-Jews from 70 A.D. to 1967 when the city was recaptured during the Six Day War. The second will be an occupation of the city by the forces of the Antichrist which will last for three and one half years and will end with the return of Christ.
Zechariah saw the beginning of the exile, and the driving into exile of half the city:
And Malachi foresaw its end:
The close proximity of the 42 months during which Jerusalem will be under Gentile control and the 1,260 days of the witnesses’ testimony make it very likely the two times are coterminous or very nearly so. The two witnesses are killed[7] by the Antichrist[8], which, since they are killed in Jerusalem,[9] strongly implies the Antichrist controls Jerusalem, so the two times at least overlap. Since the time of the two witnesses is mentioned later than the Gentile occupation, it seems contrary to a normal reading of Scripture to have the witnesses preaching significantly earlier than the start of the 42 months of occupation.
Who these two are has never been answered completely. There are three approaches to determining their identity. The first starts with the closely parallel scripture in Zechariah:
Zechariah first asks concerning the two olive trees in 4:4. A few verses earlier,[10] Joshua the high priest is prophesied about, while Zerubbabel the governor is the subject of a prophecy immediately[11] afterwards. This coincidence of position, and the great importance of these two in rebuilding the temple, makes it tempting to equate them with the two olive trees. Their being linked in Haggai,[12] whose entire prophecy was concerning the two of them, gives some further support to this interpretation.
Though it is very likely that the two witnesses are in some way related to the two olive trees Zechariah sees, it is unlikely they are the same. For one thing, there is only a single lampstand in Zechariah, with two golden pipes,[13] while in Revelation there are two lampstands. In addition, though Joshua and Zerubbabel were very important in rebuilding the temple, and Joshua was in some respects a type of Christ,[14] there is no indication anywhere in Scripture that they will have a roll to fill beyond their normal lifetimes. The second possibility is that they are Enoch and Elijah. The book of Hebrews[15] declares that men are to die once and then be judged, and these two never died. Enoch was taken bodily to heaven[16] and Elijah was carried to heaven in a chariot of fire,[17] and so many see in them the prime candidates for the two witnesses. Various apocryphal books support this conclusion or at least show the early church was convinced the two were Enoch and Elijah. A strong one is from 2 Esdras,[vi] a deuterocanonical book, where various signs which will precede the End of the Age are given, including, “And they (the people of the earth) shall see the men who were taken up, who from their birth have not tasted death.”[18] This almost certainly refers to Enoch and Elijah. Also note that, if the two prophets are Enoch and Elijah, they did not perish in their fallen nature but were taken by God. At the same time, they could not have qualified for a resurrected body at the point they were taken since Christ has not yet died. Like the Apostles, Enoch and Elijah were still considered alive at that point in time. If the two men, who never died and were still alive at the time of Christ’s resurrection, are then killed then they would be the same as the Apostles who are awaiting their resurrection bodies. However, unlike the Apostles, the two witnesses will be resurrected at the end of the 1260 days. This puts them in the same category as those in Mathew 27:52. Both those in Mathew 27:52 and the two witnesses are now in their resurrected bodies. As we have pointed out elsewhere, one purpose of the Rapture[19] is to put all believers in the same state – in their resurrection bodies. The rest of the Saints who have died will be resurrected at the 1335-day mark. Stronger support still for the two being Enoch and Elijah is the Gospel of Nicodemus. In this passage, Christ has just led the blessed dead from Hades to Paradise.
This certainly shows that in the third or fourth century when the Gospel of Nicodemus was written, there was a strong opinion concerning who the two witnesses would be.
The theory that they are Enoch and Elijah has the added appeal that between them they represent the world before the flood and after it. As convenient as this opportunity for Enoch and Elijah to die at last is, there are some problems with it. First, not all humans die once. Lazarus[21] presumably died a second time, as did Tabitha[22] and others, while those Raptured at Christ’s Return will never taste death.[23] Thus, it is not necessary for Enoch and Elijah to come back to earth or to die at all. We can point out, however, that all the cases of someone dying more than once are miracles. And miracles disrupt the normal process of things for a particular purpose. With Lazarus and Tabitha, the miracle was their being resurrected into their mortal bodies. The miracle of Enoch and Elijah is very different: they were “taken” and there is no evidence they either died or were transformed into resurrection bodies. Another reasonable objection to Enoch as one of the two is that while details of Elijah’s first ministry match well with what the two witnesses do, nothing is said of Enoch which matches the work of the witnesses. A third possibility for the identity of the two witnesses takes note of how similar the actions and accompanying judgments that the two witnesses bring upon the earth are to those of Moses[24] and Elijah.[25] Moses and Elijah represent the Law and the Prophets, thus the whole Old Testament complete, which make them the appropriate witnesses to the Jews in their final peril. Additional support for the witnesses being Moses and Elijah comes from the way the verse actually refers to them: “The two witnesses of me”. Perhaps the best known two witnesses of Christ are Moses and Elijah who appeared with him on the Mount of Transfiguration.[26] Elijah did not die,[27] and there is some uncertainty about the death of Moses. When Moses died, having been denied entry into the Promised Land, God himself buried him.[28] As a result, no one know where his tomb is.[29] There also seems to have been a dispute concerning his body,[30] so there is some mystery about his death. As pointed out above, however, Moses having already died seems not to be an impediment to his being one of the witnesses. When John the Baptist came, the priests and Levites thought he might be one of three people:[31] The Christ, Elijah, or The Prophet. Malachi prophesied that Elijah would come before the “great and dreadful day of the Lord,”[32] which is why Elijah was expected. John denied he was Elijah,[33] but was, according to Christ,[34] at least a partial fulfillment of the prophecy. Christ himself also implied[35] that Elijah’s coming was yet future. The Prophet who was expected was to be one like Moses.[36] It is possible that Malachi meant Elijah to be the fulfillment of this prophecy since he referred to “the prophet Elijah” who is to come.[37] Nonetheless, the priests’ question in John’s Gospel indicated that they, at least, believed the Christ, the Prophet, and Elijah to be distinct. It is also possible that Malachi 4 means to imply that Elijah will both come and complete his ministry before the coming of the Day of the Lord - before God smites the land with a curse. This may, on the other hand, just mean he will finish his ministry before the fury of the wrath of God - that is, before the start of the last plagues, which certainly look like God’s curse. It is possible that these two may not be Moses restored to life and Elijah, but two who are like them, as John the Baptist was like Elijah. In any event, if one of them is not Elijah and yet Elijah must come, then it is hard to see where in Revelation he is mentioned.[vii] They might be witnesses in another sense: witnesses before God of the depredations of the Antichrist and False Prophet.[38] On several occasions God calls two witnesses[39] against mankind, and these two, whatever other prophesies are fulfilled by their coming, certainly fulfill this purpose as well. The authors believe the evidence is strongest for the two witnesses being Enoch and Elijah but will not be doctrinaire on the subject since scripture doesn’t state who the two witnesses are. In verse 7, we read about the completion of the 1260 days. In the timeline this happens just prior to the seventh trumpet.
As it was with their Lord’s crucifixion, the two witnesses will be killed. The conjoining of these two events in John’s mind is clear from verse 8. Unlike Christ, they will lie unburied, gawked at by people from all over the earth.[viii] Their killer is the beast from the Abyss. As seen in Chapter 13, the beast from the sea and this beast from the Abyss are almost certainly the same, though with a slight difference in emphasis. The beast of Chapter 13 primarily represents the person of the Antichrist. It acts more like a person. The beast[40] of Chapter 17 primarily represents the empire of the Antichrist, and by extension, all the anti-Jewish and anti-Christian empires of history. In any event, it is the Antichrist who kills the two witnesses, either directly or through his governmental power.
Jerusalem being equated with both Egypt and Sodom occurs several places in Scripture, but the most relevant is a passage from Amos:
While Chapter 10 ended with the seven thunders, Chapter 11 continues to the resurrection of the two witnesses.
Evidently, there are still, at this late date, those in Jerusalem who still belong to God. Some have wanted to say this giving of glory to God is false, only done out of fear, but there is no evidence of this. As we discussed above, the events of the fifth trumpet[41] left room for some to still repent. Though the initial events of the sixth trumpet[42] fail to bring men to repentance, some may yet come during the sixth trumpet, although the hour is very late. Christ delays his coming until all who can be saved are saved.[43] Here, at the conclusion of the sixth trumpet, the second woe, it is perhaps still not too late. These would then be the people mentioned by Joel:
Note that the word translated “deliverance” can also mean “those who are delivered”. Some in Jerusalem will be saved, even during the Day of the Lord[44]. When the witnesses are killed and resurrected, we have come to the end of the milder part of the Wrath and are about to begin the Fury of God.
The Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah joyfully proclaims the last part of verse 15 “and he will reign for ever and ever”.
At this point the sixth trumpet is concluded. The seventh trumpet is about to sound the call for the Fury of God. The 1260 days have passed. and the time has now come for Christ to begin his reign on the earth. This is still not the last trumpet. Christ will return at the final trumpet,[45] raising the dead and translating the living. Given the prominence of the seven trumpet judgments in Revelation, it seems very unlikely that there could be a “last trumpet” before the seven blown by the seven angels. This alone should be enough to show the Rapture has not taken place yet. 2 Peter 3:9-10 indicates two things. Christ delays his coming so that all who can be saved are, and that when he comes “like a thief”, the heavens will disappear, and the earth be laid bare. There is no room in 2 Peter for a secret Rapture. The thief in the night is in exactly the same place in 2 Peter as it is in Revelation: just before Christ returns in glory.
Who the twenty-four elders are is not addressed in Revelation, though it is tempting to make them the 12 patriarchs of Israel and the 12 apostles. Which brings up the question of whether John saw himself.
The time of grace has ended; the time of judgment has come. The destruction of the despoilers of the earth and of the persecutors of God’s people will now begin. The sixth seal foresaw the coming of God’s wrath. There are two words used for wrath in the New Testament. One is “orge” which is used both at the sixth seal and at the seventh trumpet and “thumos” [ix] used for the seven bowl judgments.[46]
Once again, the lightning, rumblings, thunder, and earthquake announce the transition from one set of judgments to another. This earthquake is not the same one as in verse 13.
It is interesting to note that the last time the Holy of Holies was revealed was when Christ was crucified and the veil of the temple was torn apart.[47] Note that at that time, not only was the Holy of Holies revealed, but dead saints were raised and seen by many:
With the completion of the seven plagues, we have arrived at the time just before Christ’s return. For 2000 years Christ has been at the Holy of Holies according to Hebrews. This is consistent with where we see him by the Father’s throne as the Lamb. It is now time for him to leave the Holy of Holies and return to earth.
We are nearing the completion of the 7-7-7[48] mentioned in Chapter 8. We will see the completion in Chapters 15 and 16, which will be discussed in Book 3. |
