Things none of ya'll have ever read about Revelation.
- Eschatology - Endtimes & Prophecy Forum
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Are you ready to understand the mysteries of the book of Revelation chapters 6-19? The four horseman, the seven seals, trumpets and vials? These are very real events that were prophesied using highly illustrative language. To be able to do this do this you have to understand and accept the Bibles own interpretation of its own prophecies in the Old and New Testaments. If you refuse this or don't know to, then it is humanly impossible to understand the book of Revelation's prophecies. Yes, that means the four-hundred thousand books written on these prophecies and the six-hundred and fifty-million commentaries along with billion times some person said the Holy Spirit revealed to me..... are all wrong. This is why nothing anyone ever says regarding it comes to pass either. Sorry I can't make this easy reading for Social Media readers. This time you have to break out multiple windows of the Bible and history sites.
Daniel chapter 2 & 7 are prophecies of an age of universal oppression for all believers measured by four empires. The first one in Daniel chapter 2 is named as Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. The second and third empires are named in Daniel 8 as Medo\Perisan and Greek. Rome's conquest of the Syrian and Egyptian quarters of the Greek Empire is prophesied in Daniel 11; and Rome is named all over the NT. The dates this age of universal oppression of the saints starts is 597 BC when Nebuchadnezzar conquers Judea and ends in 1453 AD when what had been the capitol of the Roman empire since 333 AD, Constantinople was conquered by the Turks. These prophecies actually gave us the date of the end of that age which you can see in my article- The Times and Seasons of the Bibles Prophecy.
After the end of the Roman Empire the Bible said this is what would take place: Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Two things clarify the exact meaning of that. One is dozens of chapters of the Bibles prophecy like Isaiah 54, 60, 61, 62, 65:17-25, Psalm 72. etc. The other is what happened historically. The Bible began illegally making its way into the hands of the general public right when the Roman Empire ended. Those Bible reading people won and pioneered this growing free world and now billions are coming to Christ.
Revelation 6-19 contain two parallel prophesies of the same events with different details. I'll be listing them appropriately.
Revelation chapter 6:1-8's first four seals and four horseman are the four empires spoken about in the second paragraph of this article.
The reason this is evident is that this prophecy in Rev. chapters 6-11 is repeated in Rev. chapters 13-18. with the same seven judgments as Rev. chapters 6-11. Only instead of four horsemen. The four animals that are used in Rev. chap. 13 are the same ones in Daniel 7 which has already been interpreted for us by the Bible as the four empires. Now some might ask then; what is the lamb like animal in Rev. 13? All the end time prophecy relating to the end of the old covenant age and the end of the age of oppression of all the saints everywhere measured by these four empires starting with Daniel chap. 2 are simply expansions, meaning added details of that original prophecy. That is what the prophecy of of the lamb with two horns is. An added detail of things that will transpire in the Roman Empire. It's a prophecy of Roman empires split into an eastern and western branch. The two horns illustrate the split. The fact that it is a lamb like animal is the empires claims of Christianity that occurred at the same time the capitol was moved to Constantinople. It speaking the words of the dragon is self explanatory. The number 666 is the number of years between the beginning of the age of these four gentile empires when Nebuchadnezzar first conquered Judea in 597 BC and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. There is no year -0- making it 666 years. Buying and selling? Rome had already enrolled the peoples of its empire to be taxed right at the beginning of the Gospels as that was the reason Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to be enrolled.
Revelation 6:9-7:8 & Rev. 14:1-5, the fifth and sixth seals are a prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.
It starts in chapter 6 citing the murder of the old testament saints, many at the hands of their countrymen and telling them the judgment will not come until the same ill treatment NT saints in Israel has reached its zenith. The 144,000 illustrate the followers of the messiah in Ancient Israel that escaped the destruction of the city by listening to Jesus's many prophecies about it. Most notably in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. Now the attention of the prophecy turns to the Roman Empire.
Revelation 7:9-17 & Rev. 14:6- 20 though still part of sixth seal is a prophecy of the great harvest of souls in the Roman Empire.
While Rev. 7:9-17 emphasizes the tribulation Rome will put the saints through along with a prophecy of what would occur when that tribulation ends; both in this life or in the next life. Rev. 14:6-20 adds to that the pronouncements of Rome's doom for its murder of the saints.
Revelation 8:1-5 & Rev. 15 is the seventh seal. The prayers, cries and praise of the saints during the time of their tribulation and heavens answer.
We are now close to the third century. Passed the time of the ten Roman emperors spoken of as ten toes in Daniel 2 and ten horns in Daniel 7, Rev. 12, 13 and 17. The ten after Titus who destroyed Jerusalem. Starting with Domitian and included historically 5 "good emperors" ending with Didius Julianus. During the time period the saints multiplied exceedingly, partially due to the lack of imperial persecutions. This basically sealed the fate of the Babylonian system of state imposed idolatry in the empire. This system was part of the Roman government as people like Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were the Head Pontiff's of this state imposed religion. After Octavian became Rome's first emperor all titles were now placed upon the emperor. This called for action as past persecutions or just leaving the Christians alone did not work. That action came in the form of Septimius Severus in 193 AD. The 11th (little horn) of Daniel 7 who started the war on the saints that over came them for 1260 years until the end of the empire. He passed the worlds first blasphemy law. The death penalty for becoming a Christian. The end of the Severun dynasty was when the first of the seven trumpets or plagues came upon the empire.
Revelation 8:7 & Rev. 16:2. The first trumpet, plague or vial was Cyprians plague. 249-262 AD. From here on the acronym TPV will be used for Trumpet, plague or vial.
The plague is described in chapter 16:2 and the results in chapter 8:7. Perhaps up to 5000 people a day were dying in Rome. By the historical descriptions it is easy to imagine a third of the empire perishing from the plague and resulting famines. This resulted in the destruction of a third of the crops in the empire simply because there was no one to tend to or harvest them.
Revelation 8:8-9 & Rev.16:3. The second TPV lists more results of Cyprian's plague on the empire.
The sea here illustrates the nations and a third of the peoples of the Roman empire dying. The mention of the ships is because during this time period by the end of the third century Rome's infrastructure was destroyed. The system that was able to deliver goods empire wide in a matter of weeks was gone. Great cities emptied out since they could no longer be sustained. Money failed. The people turned to barter and sustenance farming. Later imperial decrees created the serf system that tied the people to lands as slaves to landholders. This is the reason Rev. 16:3 uses the illustrative language it does about every living soul dying in the sea- the empire. That is an illustration about the height and the glories of the Roman Empire of the last few centuries perishing at this point, never to return again. The world would not see and international infrastructure like this being built until a few hundred years ago. One might call this the beginning of the dark ages and be correct, but we still have 5 calamities to go.
Revelation 8:10-11 & Rev. 16:4-7. The third TPV was a breakup of a third of the empire, the entire eastern part.
Remember the sea and waters are being used illustratively to speak of the empire and the peoples. Interesting enough the area of the breakaway state is where the wormwood plant pretty much exclusively grows. This breakaway state called the Palmyrene Empire was also where the fountains of the great rivers of Asia minor, the Middle East and Egypt arise from. All the blood letting due to this episode is what is being emphasized by these prophecies.
Revelation 8:12-13 & Rev. 16:8-9 The fourth TPV signals what would transpire that would destroy a third of the luminaries which are the leaders, the stars, the celebrity of the empire.
This was the beginning of a great 300 year long drying period in the empire that would turn a lot of fertile land that fed it into desert. This fourth TVP as a pronouncement of the next three of the seven TVP's which also prophesied the three woes. Those three woes turned out to be the three times the city of Rome was conquered by foreign armies during this period to come.
Revelation 9:1-12 & Rev. 16:10-11 The fifth TVP is because the drying period drives Huns and the Alans west in a great migration into Eastern Europe over the next century.
This in turn drives the Germanic tribes, the Visigoths south, eventually into Italy where they conquered the city of Rome, the seat of the beast, which was the first woe.
Revelation 9:13-21 & Rev 16:12-15 The sixth TVP is the full blown invasion into Europe by the Huns and Alans.
Chapter 9 illustrations describe the Huns and Alans quite well. I do not know the significance of using the valley of Megiddo in Chapter 16 as illustration in this prophecy.
See the first comment for the next half
