Revelation Fulfillment: A War Manual [WIP]

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Revelation Is Not Literal

First, it is important to understand that Revelation should not be interpreted literally.

It clearly says that these things must shortly come to pass, right at the very beginning of the book:

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:

And again, the time is at hand:

3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Where are the horsemen? Where is the battle of Armageddon? Where is the self-healing war beast?

Revelation is not meant to be taken literally. It uses symbols defined in Old Testament prophecies to point to a literal fulfillment, telling us what has happened, what is happening and what will happen, warning us and preparing us in advance. It is a war manual. In it, Christ tells us the steps evil must take, and strengthens us.

John wrote Revelation in the first century AD. It simply doesn't make sense that all these prophecies are only about the last 7 years and that the book has NOTHING to say about the last 1900 years.


The Four Layers of Revelation

Jesus calls Himself the Alpha and Omega four times - Revelation 1:8, 1:11, 22:6, 22:13. I don't think this is a coincidence. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet and Christ calls Himself the first and the last, the beginning and the end. I believe this testifies to the fact that Revelation is made out of four separate chronological layers, each spanning from the time John wrote it, to the Second Coming of our Lord.

Layer One

Chapters 2 and 3 describe the seven churches in Asia, which I argue (later in the text) should be understood as seven church eras spanning from the time of writing until the end of the world. The believers in Christ in these different eras had different duties and had to deal with different things, and Jesus speaks to them through the letters to their respective church eras.

Layer Two

Chapters 12 and 13 describe the three phases of the Roman Empire and its leaders (the pagan Emperors -> the popes -> the Jesuit Superior Generals) who fight against the Christians.

Layer Three

The third layer describes the seal, trumpet and vial judgments, in chapters 6, 8, 9, 15 and 16.

These judgments are, as I mentioned, chronologically ordered, and they use symbols to convey the message about a literal fulfillment.

Layer Four

The fourth layer, chapters 17 and 18, describes the harlot church of Rome, led by the pope.

It gives many details about it so that it is unmistakable that John is talking about the Roman Catholic church.


The Seven Churches

These are the seven churches (along with the isle of Patmos where John received the prophecy, Revelation 1:9) in Asia that Christ speaks of. As you can see, they're relatively close to one another and they seem arbitrarily chosen:

Seven churches in Asia spoken of in Revelation

There were other places, like Corinth, Thessalonica, Philippi etc. with much bigger churches - how come Christ chose these relatively small churches and not the prominent ones?

I propose that we shouldn't be taking them as literal churches, but as chronologically ordered church eras.
Jesus chose these particular churches because their names refer to their respective eras.

Ephesus

The word Ephesus comes from Greek Ephesos, meaning desirable (according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia), and this is reflected in Jesus' message to the church:

Revelation 2

2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.

During the first era, era of Ephesus, the believers laboured, preaching the Gospel and spreading the faith throughout the Roman Empire and establishing new churches, which required patience. Many were persecuted and killed, but they have not fainted, they stood fast to their testimony of Christ. In fact, all of the apostles except John were killed for their faith.

4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.

When Jesus didn’t return after Jerusalem's destruction, as they thought He would, they lost their first love for good works.

The era of Ephesus lasted from the time Jesus established the church until 100 AD, when Smyrna began.

Smyrna

The word Smyrna comes from myrrh, a preservative used in burial. It was a symbol of death.

Christians in the age of Smyrna were persecuted by the Roman Emperors. The most difficult persecution period was under the Emperor Diocletian - the Great Persecution or Diocletianic Persecution of 303-313 AD.

10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

The ten days of tribulation were the 10 years (303-313), using the day = year form which is common in Bible prophecy.

The era of Smyrna lasted throughout 100-313 AD, ending with the Edict of Milan, when the practice of Christianity was legalized.

Pergamos

Written using the work of David Wilcoxson, https://www.revelationtimelinedecoded.com/

You can find all my texts here: https://rentry.co/All_my_texts

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Pub: 15 Jul 2022 15:02 UTC
Edit: 21 Aug 2022 21:46 UTC
Views: 104