interpreter said:
yeshuasavedme,
When John said the Revelation would start unfolding "shortly" and "soon," there is no way he was talking about our day or some 2000 years later. Look at the opening of the first two seals (Rev. 6:1-4). Conquerors no longer conquer with a bow, or make war with a great sword. IMO, it was Constantine who was the first Christian conqueor, who rode a white horse and conquered with a bow.
312AD is soon, not 2005.
Barry
About a thousand years BC, nearly three thousand years ago, the Holy Spirit promised through David that "
soon" -the wicked will be cut off from the earth and the righteous would inherit the earth and delight themselves in the abundance of Peace -the Sabbath of Rest for earth's thousands.
The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked
A Psalm of David.
Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
The context of Psalm 37 is about the same time that John delineates, that comes when Jesus Christ takes His great power and reigns in person from restored, delivered Jerusalem, over the entire earth for a thousand year Sabbath rest for this present Creation.
His Day was seen by John, and that Day is a thousand years, and that Day begins with the darkness of black night in which there is no brightness, as Amos 5:20 says,
"[Shall] not the day of the LORD [be] darkness, and not light? even very dark, and
no brightness in it"?; and that day begins with the brightness absent because the Church has been taken out of the way (which is the dwelling of the 'brightness' of God on earth, since Pentecost),
and then the man of sin can be/will be revealed and have his 'hour' of power, before He is destroyed by the Brightness of the coming of the LORD Jesus Christ to reign on this earth for the Sabbath of a thousand years of Peace.
2 Thessalonians 2:8; "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming":
Jesus promises that He will send His angels and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, when he comes like lightning on His throne of glory to reign over His purchased kingdom.
The Tares remaining who were not destroyed in the battle over Jerusalem at His coming (because they were not in the army of the man of sin), will be gathered together, by angels, from all the Gentile nations, and judged before Him on His throne of glory -and sent into the everlasting fire.
The earth will be utterly cleansed of all the wicked generation of the devil who remain alive on earth at His coming.
That is His promise.
Soon, the wicked generation shall be no more, and the righteous generation that keeps peace shall inherit the earth. John saw it all, in the book of Revelation:
PSALM 37
The Heritage of the Righteous and the Calamity of the Wicked
A Psalm of David.
Do not fret because of evildoers,
Nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
2 For they shall soon be cut down like the grass,
And wither as the green herb.
...
7 Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him;
Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way,
Because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass.
8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath;
Do not fret--
it only
causes harm.
9 For evildoers shall be cut off;
But those who wait on the Lord,
They shall inherit the earth.
10 For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more;
Indeed, you will look carefully for his place,
But it shall be no more.
11 But the meek shall inherit the earth,
And shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.
12 The wicked plots against the just,
And gnashes at him with his teeth.
13 The Lord laughs at him,
For He sees that his day is coming. (the day of destruction and darkness)
14 The wicked have drawn the sword
And have bent their bow,
To cast down the poor and needy,
To slay those who are of upright conduct.
15 Their sword shall enter their own heart,
And their bows shall be broken.
...18 The Lord knows the days of the upright,
And their inheritance shall be forever.
19 They shall not be ashamed in the evil time,
And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
20 But the wicked shall perish;
And the enemies of the Lord,
Like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish.
Into smoke they shall vanish away.
...
22 For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth,
But those cursed by Him shall be cut off.
27 Depart from evil, and do good;
And dwell forevermore.
28 For the Lord loves justice,
And does not forsake His saints;
They are preserved forever,
But the descendants of the wicked shall be cut off.
29 The righteous shall inherit the land,
And dwell in it forever.
...
32 The wicked watches the righteous,
And seeks to slay him.
33 The Lord will not leave him in his hand,
Nor condemn him when he is judged.
34 Wait on the Lord,
And keep His way,
And He shall exalt you to inherit the land;
When the wicked are cut off, you shall see
it.
35 I have seen the wicked in great power,
And spreading himself like a native green tree.
36 Yet *he passed away, and behold, he
was no
more;
Indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.
37 Mark the blameless
man, and observe the upright;
For the future of
that man
is peace.
38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together;
The future of the wicked shall be cut off.
Those remaining alive at the coming of the LORD to reign on earth, who are His by coming into the New covenant in His blood will be called "the Blessed of the LORD", for they shall inherit the kingdom the Father prepared for them "from the foundation of the earth" (for His human sons, in Adam, at Creation the earth was "the kingdom prepared" -Adam lost it; the Last Adam redeemed it and His adopted sons will inherit it in Him, the New and only human Firstborn).