End Times Prophecy 6 (b)

We started into the 2nd Woe…didn’t get too far

Still a part of sixth trumpet, 9:13

We ended with Rev 9 20 “The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,”

Clarifying an ambiguity—those who were not killed in these plagues is the better translation

Also note: the sins mentioned in 20-21 were those related to pagan practices, OT is full of references; non canonical books as well

NOW.... We continue with 10th chapter

Chapter 10

Who is this Angel?

Some make an argument that it is Christ Himself; the thought is expressed in the Geneva Bible; but not without problems—if Christ, he would have sworn by himself (v.6)

Shares imagery with Son of Man Dan. 7 13, Rev 1, Acts 1:9

“Alexander the Minorite (12th-13th cent.) identified the angels in 10:1, 8 with the emperors Justin and Justinian;” he also said that he bore the image and spirit of Elijah and of Christ

Peter Olivi, French theologian of the 13th century, identified the angel as Francis (Asisi (?))

A heritic of that time identified the angel as Olivi!

John Bale, theologian of the 16th century, identified him as “a herald of the Reformation”

He sees the angel’s feet as the OT and NT

Joachim of Fiore, also 13th cent. identified the feet as everlasting pillars

John Foxe (16th cent.) sees it as the being presenting the Scripture to the church

What Was the Scroll?

We have some imagery similar to Ezekiel 2-3, particularly the “sweeter than honey” part

As above, maybe the Scripture (Foxe); Joachim of Fiore’s opinion would be similar

Some argue that the scroll is the same as the one with the 7 seals—not convinced

If the Geneva Bible Commentary is on the right track...

“The sweet then bitter character of the book’s words signify ‘that albeit that the minister have consolation by the word of God, yet shall he have sore, & grievous enemies, which shall be troublesome unto him”

Part is certainly correct, it is the Word being fed to the ministers to study and spread it

My argument: it may be that it is the scroll laying out the details of the judgment

Sweet—knowing that it was finally happening, that evil would be repaid

Bitter—seeing the details of the destruction played out on the people and land

…and the Mystery

Not a whodunit

In Jewish and Christian understanding, something once hidden, now disclosed

e.g. revelation of dreams as in Daniel; many examples in the non-canonical writings

An Interesting Tidbit

"Adventists used Rev 10 to come to terms with the ‘great disappointment’, the failure of the eschatological events to appear as predicted in 1844

Other examples “cognitive dissonance: theory to explain abandoned beliefs, as in early church’s misunderstandings of Rev.

Millerites of early 19th cent. had to rethink their estimation of the 2nd coming in 1843 or 1844

Chapter 11

About that Temple....

A real temple? Allegorical? Spiritual?

I don’t see any room to budge off it being a literal temple; exactly what all these measurements mean—here and in Ezekiel—difficult to get any accurate opinion on

Those two Witnesses

Imagery from Zech. 4:3 “And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”” and Rev 1 12 “Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,”

“Olive trees seems to be alluding to Zechariah 4:3, and perhaps serves here as a metaphor to the anointing and official commissioning of these prophets

Lamp stands appear to symbolize the Church or churches

Lots of ink spilled on this

Two actual individuals?

An OT perspective was that there would be 2 Messiahs

One priestly—typical of Aaron

One kingly—typical of David

Of the many individuals “suspect” as the witnesses, Enoch and Elijah are likely the most frequently mentioned as both never died

Moses is another name mentioned

No consensus through the ages

The historic witness of the church?

The combined witness of the church and the remnant of the Jews?

Skipping the rest of 11 until next week; from here to

Chapter 12

Woman and the Dragon

A grand allegory—an overview of the history of the divine conflict

Even some connection to Isaiah 66 7, speaking of Zion, “Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she delivered a son.”

Back to the 3rd century, Hippolytus identified the 7 heads with different kings of history, before Christ; Victorinus saw them as Roman emperors

One 13th century scholar identified him as Pope Gregory

There are a host of other schemes; all of which seem to have fallen short with the passage of time

Lots of nuances that can be teased out—no time for that in this series

One interesting point—a commercial to dig into original languages—the crown of the woman is stephanos a victor’s crown; the diadems or crowns on the dragon, diadema, a crown of royalty

War in Heaven

Biggest question to resolve is “Why is Michael the protagonist?) Isn’t the real battle between God and Satan?

Never seems to have been consensus on that

Next major question is “WHEN?”

Origen argues for the early fall—he argues pre-creation; I would argue after day 6, before Satan’s appearance in Genesis

Others argue for a later (during the trumpet judgments) Satan now being removed from the “Heavenly Counsel—alluded to in Job and seen in Ps. 82.1 “God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:”

Or, does this bring up the thought from Luke 10 18 “And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Opens up a major quagmire: If Jehovah God is the only true God, what is this all about?