The Gospel Preached unto all Kingdoms, and Revelation 14

Matthew 24:14 at the end of describing the Pre-Abominaiton persecution says.

"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come."

On it's own sounds like it's foretelling The Church spreading The Gospel.  Completing the Great Commission finally in the End Times.

Both Chuck Missler (Pre-Trib) and Chris White (Pre-Wrath) see a correlation to Revelation 14:6.

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people".

It's funny first because it actually doesn't fit either of their Rapture models to have a Pre-Rapture event in Revelation 14.

Going back to what I argued before, about the Resurrection and The Rapture actually possibly being separated by 10 days (Trumpets to Yom Kippur).  I said there I was inclined to see Revelation 14 as during this period.

Remembering that "angel" simply means messenger.  It could be the angels here are resurrected Church Believers.

I want to say something about Revelation 14:8 that Post-Tirbbers might use to back up their non-chronological view of Revelation.

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."

I could see someone trying to argue this proved Babylon already fell even though it's Fall is described latter.  God (and his Prophets) often uses past tense language in reference to future events(commonly known as “prophetic perfect”; example, Isaiah 53; 21:1-10).

The full context and intent here is clearly that this "Angel" is giving a Prophecy of Babylon's coming Fall.  Not simply telling everyone what they already know because they just saw it happen.

Daniel 12 on The Ressurection

Daniel 11 seems to end with the death of The Antichrist.  Daniel 12 begins with "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people:" Which I feel clearly corresponds to the War in Heaven and Satan's Fall in Revelation 12.  Then it says "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time:" Which is how Jesus describes the time immediately after The Abomination of Desolation.

Then we read "and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."  There are a few Heavenly Books.  I feel like this probably is not the Lamb's Book of Life.  Perry Stone, while Pre-Trib if I recall correctly, has a study on the Book of Remembrance from Malachi and how he feels that backs up connecting The Rapture to the feast of Trumpets.

That verse 2 says "many" rather then "all" of the dead are raised makes me feel like, following what's before, this is a Rapture reference and not a general statement of the entire Resurrection.  But the Problem with that theory is some of the Damned are raised here too.

But I think back to my argument that The Beast and False Prophet being cast alive into the Lake of Fire in Revelation 19 means their both early partakers of the Second Resurrection.  I believe The Antichrist will have both a Death and Resurrection that the End Times world will witnesses.  And The False Prophet will be Judas.

Chris White argues based on the Strong Delusion from 2 Thessalonians 2 that The Anitchrist's resurrection is something God himself makes happen.

Given that Judas is kind of defined as part of The Church even though he wasn't Saved, which is why Matthias had to take his office.  With what I argued in my Four Horsemen study, it could work to maybe speculate that the person who turns out to be The Antichrist could be a similar situation.

All that could well mean it'd make sense to see their resurrections as happening at the same time as or very close to The Resurrection of The Church.

All of this strongly backs up that a Mid-Seventieth Week Rapture model is what Daniel 12 points to.

I'm a Dispensationalist, but a different kind

I agree that not all saved are part of The Church, and The Church age is from Pentecost to The Rapture.  I agree the Church is a distinct Covenant from Israel, but not as completely separate a people often say.  Their destinies are linked.

I agree The Church is distinct from the Mosaic Covenant, and the Circumcision Covenant of Genesis 17.  Most Dipsensaitonlists agree that Abraham's Genesis 12 makes all of the Saved the spiritual Seed of Abraham (including those not part of either Israel or The Church).

However I do believe The Church is derived from the Genesis 15 Covenant just as much as the Mosaic one is.  And Jesus' promise to the 12 to rule the 12 Tribes of Israel makes The Church linked to the Davidic Covenant.

People get confused by what Paul says about The Church being a Mystery (Mysterion in Greek) in Ephesians 1:9 and 3:3-9, and other passages.  It does not mean The Church is completely absent from The Hebrew Bible, or not originally part of God's Plan.  Mysterion means that which was hidden.  Pieces of The Church doctrine are all over the Hebrew Bible, from the Pentecost Holy Day itself, to The Rapture allusions in Isaiah 26 and Joel 2:15-16, to the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31, And Joel 2:28-32 foretelling the out pouring of The Holy Ghost.  And of Course the Brides who are types of The Church like Rebecca and Ruth.

In II Samuel 7 David is told his Son not him will build The Temple.  This is viewed as a double fulfillment Prophecy, Solomon and his Temple as the first, and The Messiah Ben-David and the Messianic Temple described in Ezekiel 40-47 as the true final fulfillment.

1 Kings 5:3 tells us the reason David couldn't build The Temple was because he fought Wars.  Solomon's name is derived from Shalom, the Hebrew word for Peace.  The Temple has to be built by The Prince of Peace.  It occurs to me a potential problem exists with The Christian view of Messianic Prophecy that I'm surprised I haven't seen Jewish critics point out.  Jesus fulfills the roles of David and Solomon both.  How can that be possible?

I think the way Jesus gets around this is He builds His Temple first, then fights The Wars.  And I think that's part of the reason for the gap between the Two Advents.  The last thing he does at the First Advent is lay the foundation for The Temple.  The first thing he'll do at the Second Advent is remove his Temple to a safe place before His Wrath is poured out.

That The Church is The Temple of God is an important part of New Testament theology.  But because of the errors made by most Dispensationalists, they fail to see the Messianic Temple foretold in The Hebrew Bible as that same Temple.  But I have argued elsewhere that Ezekiel 40-48 corresponds to Revelation 21-22 not 20.

I can add to that the question of who resides in Jerusalem in Ezekiel?  It's not part of what's allotted to any of the 12 Tribes.  And even the portions of The Holy District given to the Priests, Levites and The Prince (probably David based on Ezekiel 33-36) are distinct from Jerusalem.  The simple answer might be that as The Capitol it has people of every Tribe.  Well that agrees with my belief that it is The Church, The Church has people from all of The Tribes as well as many Gentiles.

We are grafted into Israel as Romans 11 says, but not into one of the already existing Tribes, we're like a 14th Tribe.

None of that contradicts there being a literal structure with the design Ezekiel saw.  But that Tabernacle is the Heavenly One having descended to Earth (I believe it'll be on or near Mt Gezrim).  And has always existed, Moses saw it in The Wilderness, John saw it on Patmos.  And I suspect it had been on Earth once before, in The Garden of Eden before The Fall.  So it's construction isn't part of Prophecy.

As for how this effects the Rapture timing debate.  I agree with Chuck Missler that The Church is a unique entity.  I disagree that God can't or won't deal with Israel (and thus begin the 70th Week) while The Church is still here.  He dealt with Israel in 70 AD and and has again in 1948 and 1967.

He is correct based on Romans 11:25 that Israel's National Spiritual Blindness won't be lifted until The Fullness of The Gentiles has come in.  But that Blindness is only partial and does no contradict the 144,000 being Church Age believers.  When the Abomination of Desolation happens is when the blindness begins to be lifted, when they see that what Jesus foretold was correct and flee as he warned them to.

Chuck Missler is correct that up to verse 24 Luke 21 is about 70 AD.  Where Preterists stumble is in verse 24, after describing the captivity and diaspora.  "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." and then The Second Coming begins in the following verses, verse 27 makes clear he comes on a Cloud not a White Horse, so it's The Rapture.  Preterists want to make that "trodden under foot" period end with the Fall of Jerusalem even though Jesus clearly says that's where it begins.

The Rapture connection makes it very logical to see this "times of the gentiles" as corresponding to Paul's "fullness of the gentiles".  Luke is often defined as the most Paulian of The Gospels.

Revelation 11 describes the end of this period.  It makes clear that during the first half of the 70th Week while The Temple will be standing the Outer Court will still be Trodden under the foot of The Gentiles.  This is also clearly contemporary with the ministry of The Two Witnesses.  And after this 3.5 year period is the 7th Trumpet.

So that's pretty solid proof that the first half of the 70th Week is still The Church Age.

Cosmic and Terrestrial Signs

This may well be one of this blogs most rehashed subjects, since Pre-Wrath is the Rapture view I kind of feel most compelled to refute (Pre-Trib and Post-Tribs problems are well known).  And this issue is the foundation of the Pre-Wrath argument.  While I've addressed it before it's always while dealing with other things too.  So here I shall lay things out.

Matthew 24:27-24 refers to the following Cosmic and Terrestrial Signs.

1. Lightning
2. Earthquake
3. Sun being darkened
4. Moon does not giver her light
5. Stars falling from Heaven to the Earth

3 and 4 should perhaps be grouped together as the same sign.  But why I need to separate them here will become apparent.

Pre-Wrathers correctly say 2, 3, 5 correspond to the 6th Seal events in Revelation 6.  But they ignore 1.

They insist 4 is the same as the Moon being like Blood.  It's funny because Pre-Wrathers are often the most hostile to the Blood Moon hype prompted by Mark Blitz, pointing out the very solid reasons Blood Moon references can't be referring to Lunar eclipses.  Yet will at the same time use the science behind Lunar eclipses to suggest the Moon being darkened and looking Blood Red can be the same thing.

What is said in Matthew 24:29 is the moon gives no light.  Color=Light, that's how it works.  If anything I feel like what Jesus is describing (if it should be tied to any possible natural astronomical phenomenon at all), is a Total Solar Eclipse.  The Sun is Darkened from the Earth's view because it's Blocked by the Moon, and the Moon receives no Sunlight to reflect.

While I agree a Lunar Eclipse does not explain the 6th Seal/Joel/Acts 2 lunar event.  I do feel it will likely happen during a Full Moon, that would make the reddening effect most dramatic.  That I have other independent reasons for seeing this as happening on Passover is convenient.

It is known that Volcanic Eruptions sometimes cause the Moon to look Red also.  Which verifies the Joel/Acts connection, because other Joel terminology is also seen as alluding to volcanoes.

The 7th Seal in Revelation 11 includes lightning, thunder, hail and an earthquake in the very last verse.

The Chapter Divisions and even Verse divisions are NOT in the original text.  Revelation 12 begins with the word "and" Kai (kahee);  Conjunction, Strong #: 2532.  Which is translated and, also, even, indeed, likewise and so on.  It clearly means continuing from the prior events, or simultaneous with them.  The Revelation 12 events are clearly continuing the 7th Trumpet account, which is part of my argument against the way Post-Trib garbles the Chronology of Revelation.

12:4 describes stars falling to The Earth.  That is officially 3 out of 5, just as many as Pre-Wrathers can legitimately get for the 6th Seal.  Also the early part of Revelation 12 is the one place the word Harpazo is used in Revelation.

The Sun and Moon being Darkened could have in mind the 4th or 5th Trumpet events.  Or it could be the Darkening of the Sun and Moon is implied simply by events happening in Virgo being visible in the Heavens at a time when the Sun is in Virgo, which usually can't happen.

Meanwhile Jesus in Matthew 24:29-31 does NOT refer to a Seal of a Scroll being Opened.  But he does refer to a Trumpet being sounded.  Which unlike these Cosmic and Terrestrial Signs is in both of Paul's main Rapture Passages.  And Possibly a 3rd in Hebrews.

Joel 2 begins with the 6th Trumpet, then describes the Sun and Moon being Darkened.  Then describes a Trumpet being sounded and The Rapture in verses 15-16.

The Feast of Jeroboam and Halloween

This is my 100th post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  How perfect that it's on the subject of my Birthday,  (I was born October 31st).

1 Kings 12:26-33

 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.   And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan.  And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. 

 And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.  And Jeroboam ordained a feast in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like unto the feast that is in Judah, and he offered upon the altar. So did he in Bethel, sacrificing unto the calves that he had made: and he placed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.  So he offered upon the altar which he had made in Bethel the fifteenth day of the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised of his own heart; and ordained a feast unto the children of Israel: and he offered upon the altar, and burnt incense.

This tells us that when Jeroboam chose to fall into idolatry he created a major Feast Day for the Northern Kingdom on the 15th of Cheshvan, a month after Tabernacles. He was clearly making his own replacement for that Biblical Holiday, but it also basically corresponded to the Pagan Mid-Autum festival season, from which Samhain and our modern Halloween derive.

It's also two days before the Anniversary of the beginning of the Flood which if you read Genesis 7 and 8 you'll see it began on the 17th.  Before Exodus 12 changed the calendar this month was the 2nd rather then 8th.  Jubilees is apocryphal so I wouldn't build doctrine on it.  But it's interesting that it says soon after the Flood Norah told his descendants to observe holy days on the New Moons of the 1st, 4th, 10th and 7th months (corresponding to the Equinoxes and Solstices), and additionally one on the 17th of the 2nd month, the anniversary of The Flood starting.  This may have been a fanciful story they made to explain the origin of Pagan holidays.

People who believe in certain Lost Tribes becoming Europeans theories sometimes see the Celtic Samhain deriving from this directly, becoming dated where it is now when they switched from a Lunar to Solar calendar. I don't believe those theories (they're mostly advanced by Anit-Semites, but Britam is an exception to that), but I do believe the Tribe of Dan had an interesting history (part of it is them being connected to the Tutha De Danann, who are also said to have brought Samhain to Ireland), one of Jeorboam's major Calfs was set up in Dan.   Bill Cooper dates the arrival of the Danann in Ireland to 701 B.C.

My interest in that theory derives in-part from the theory that the Antichrist might come from Dan (This was the nearly universal view of the Early Church Fathers). Jeroboam is also in a sense a Prototype of The Antichrist being given 10 Tribes as the Little Horn will be given 10 Kingdoms, and his Right Hand becoming "Dried up" (Zechariah 11:17).  I agree with Chris White's theory that it's likely during the first half of the 70th Week The Antichrist may claim to be (or be claimed to be) Messiah Ben Joseph.

So it might be possible this date will be important Prophetically as well.  It's also near the anniversary of The Flood, and Jesus said "As the days of Noah where, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be" A statement that I think means many things. It should also be noted that the 15th is believed to be the day Matthias father of the Maccabees died. And it's the day the Novemberpogrome happened, considered by many the start of the Holocaust.

Some have suggested a parallel between The Flood timeline and the Fifth Trumpet in Revelation 9.  That the 40 days the smoke covers The Earth correlates to the 40 days of Rain.  Which could mean it it's from the 17th of Cheshvan until during Chanukah.  And the 5 months the weird Locusts are allowed to torment mankind ends on the 17th of Nisan, same day the Ark rested which I view as the day of Jesus Resurrection on First Fruits in 30 AD.

If the 2030-2037 70th Week theory I've considered is correct, that 5 month time period could correlate closely to the Lunar Eclipses that occur in October 2032 and April 2033.  But that is a conjecture that could very likely be wrong.

1 Maccabees tells us Antiochus Epiphanes set up his Idol in The Temple on the 15th day of the 9th month.  And then did the ritual formally consecrating it on the 25th ten days latter.  Some people think that the Hebrew calendar is sometimes a month off.  The Samaritans and Karaites indeed are often observing everything a month later.  It's later then the Hasmonean time the Calender entered it's current system (attributed to Hillel The Eldar).  But the origin of this potential margin of error really is from the days of Hezekiah at the latest.  So maybe the original Abominaiton of Desolation was set up on the Feast of Jeroboam?

I still however do not doubt the 9th month is the when The Temple was rededicated 3 years latter.  Chris White's Daniel 8 study on the 2300 Morning and Evening Offering suggests a good reason for a month discrepancy occurring during that time.  Hosea 2 predicts the 24th of Kislev to be a time for rededicating The Temple.

The 2300 mornings and evenings is 3 years and 1 month.  So that fits also.

The Abomination of Desolation and it's relation to The Rapture

In the past I've said pretty definitively the AoD must happen before The Rapture.  As I've gotten deeper into the details of Prophetic Chronology I've rethought that.  But it is certainly still highly possible it happens first.

I absolutely still agree that 2 Thessalonians 2 refutes the Pre-Trib notion that The Church will never encounter The Antichrist.  And with it their entire Imminence Doctrine.  So I still stand by the gist of the very first post I ever made on this Blog.

2 Thessalonians 2 says the Man of Sin must be revealed first.  That he then describes his deifying himself in The Temple leads to the conclusion that his doing that is what reveals him.  I'm not so sure anymore, but I definitely still believe he's not fully revealed during most of the first half of the 70th Week.

The thing is that Paul goes on to elaborate on what he means.  Talking about lying signs and wonders, and a strong delusion.  And the removal of the Restrainer.  I still hold to the view of The Restrainer that I argued for in that first post.  That it's removal is in Revelation 9.  And that the AoD incident hasn't happened yet when that chapter ends, because it refers to normal non life-like idolatry.

An argument can be made that the Mortal Wound being healed is what reveals him.  To believers that incident should be clearly distinguishable from the true Resurrection of The Saved.

Ascending out of the Abyss I view as another idiom of his resurrection.  So either it happens before he kills The Two Witnesses, or they're killed by the other Beast.  But I prefer outside chapter 13 viewing all references to The Beast as the first.

Revelation 13 after talking about the Mortal Wound being healed, and allowed to continue 42 months.  Says something in verse 6 I feel is usually overlooked, as the actual direct reference to the AoD event in Revelation itself.

"And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven."

In fact this is also overlooked as an argument against both Post-Trib and Pre-Wrath in general.  Problem is Pre-Tribbers act like anything that disproves Post-Trib proves their view.  And visa-versa.

Matthew 24 is constantly debated.  In my view Revleaiotn is the key to deciphering the End Times Chronology, and other Prophecies, (including the Olivte Discourses), are not necessarily to be taken quite at face value.  At least not when they seem to be spanning many subjects in a short period of time.  Joel 2 also talks about the last two Trumpets and then goes on to the 6th Seal/Pentecost.

Now a face value reading of Matthew 24 can fit a Mid-Trib or Mid-Seventieth Week view, and I've aruged for that before.  With everything placed between the AoD and The Parusia being placed during the three and a half days The Two Witnesses are dead.  But recent insights of mine have lead to consider that Matthew 24 isn't so simple.  But what I argued for before could still be true.

Pre-Wrathers love to argue that they're the only ones taking Matthew 24 at face value.  But they don't in terms of their placing the persecution described in verses 9-14 after the AoD described in verse 15.  I know their argument is that it describes the persecution and then backtracks to describe how it started.  And that's perfectly grammatically justifiable even though it's not my view on that issue.  (To me that view is refuted by verses 9-14 clearly being about The Church and 15-20 clearly Israel correlating to Revelation 12:6, 14.)

But they won't accept that the same logic can apply to other apparent synchronizations.  A core wrong Assumption is the Parusia must be last because everything else is signs of that.  But The Rapture is only the beginning of the Parusia which spans the entire Day of The LORD.

In the Parable of The Fig Tree, when Jesus says "Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.".  The preterist view of that is wrong, but so is the popular sensationalist view that it refers to 1948.  It's the Generation that sees all those signs that won't pass before the Parusia is completed.  Even what's in verses 27-31 are merely signs of what's to come.  So the order of the signs are flexible.

Besides, more talk of "False Christs and False Prophets" comes after the AoD in the Discourse.  Once the AoD happens there are no more plural "False Christs and False Prophets".

I've argued that the events of The Rapture/Parusia span 10 days, from Yom Teruah to Yom Kippur.  There are reasons I allude to elsewhere why I think perhaps he'll do the AoD on Tabernacles.  But that's all conjectural for now, the True Fulfillment of Tabernacles is the descent of New Jerusalem in my view.

It's also possible that the day the Image of The Beast is set up is not the same day The Man of Sin gives his big speech in the Holy of Holies deifying himself.  Looking at the type foreshadowing in Antiochus Epiphanes.  1 Macabees tells us he set up his Idol on the 15th day of that Month.  But did the big ritual consecrating it (possibly when he sacrificed the Pig) on the 25th, 10 days latter.

Rabbinic Tradition says the Golden Calf was set up on the 6th or 7th of Tishrei.  May not be significant but worth pointing out.

The Church as The Bride of Christ

There is a trend out there on The Internet of Christians seeking to reject the usual identity of The Church as The Bride of Christ.  Saying that term isn't in The Bible (The Trinity isn't either) and arguing that The Lamb's Wife is Israel and/or Jerusalem.  I feel the need to address this since New Jerusalem being The Church is important to doctrine I've build on this Blog.

First I need to address the suggestion that the Bride "making herself ready" contradicts the Doctrine of Grace if she's The Church.  Since I firmly believe in Justification by Faith Alone, that we're saved by Grace through Faith.  And also in Eternal Security.

I could point out how believers can lose their inheritance but not their Sonship (like the prodigal Son), and that some Church Age believers may get left out of The Wedding, but are still Saved.  But even that is unnecessary.

The statement in question about "making herself ready" in Revelation 19 is referring to her when she's already in Heaven.  This is after The Rapture.  It puts absolutely no burden on our Earthly walk, at all.

The argument is largely founded upon suggesting that we can't be Christ's Bride if we're His Body.  I addressed this once already on a different subject.  But I shall do so again in more detail.

Matthew 19:5-6

 "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?  Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder."

Husband and Wife are made one flesh.  The Lamb's Wife also being his Body fits perfectly.

The first Bride, Havvah/Eve, was made from a piece of Adam's flesh.  Likewise we are made new creatures in the Blood of Jesus shed on The Cross.  I believe part of the Reason Jesus' side had to be pierced by the Roman Spear was to fit him being The Last Adam.

The Church as The Body of Christ also overlaps with The Church being The Temple of God.  1 Corinthians 3:16, 1 Corinthians 6:19, and Ephesians 2:21.  Also referring to The Body of each individual believer as The Temple of God.  And in John 2 Jesus refers to His Body as The Temple.

New Jerusalem, which is The Lamb's Wife, is the final Temple in Revelation 21.  Don't be confused by the statement of there being No Temple, there is no Temple because The City is The Temple.  "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."  Like the last verse of Ezekiel.

The message to Philadelphia confirms New Jerusalem is The Church.

In John chapter 3, John The Baptist defines himself as distinct from The Bride.  If The Bride was Israel he'd absolutely be a part of her.

Israel is The Wife of Yahweh in The Old Testament.  Married to him at Sinai.  They point this out as if it contradicts The Church rather then Israel being The New Testament Bride.  Israel is the Wife of God The Father and The Mother of The Son/The Messiah, as demonstrated in Revelation 12.  [Also I'm not a strict Dispensationalist anymore, The Church is grafted into Israel as Romans 9-11 clearly Teaches.]

Genesis 22-24 is a very typological part of Genesis.  Abraham represents The Father, Issac The Son, the Unnamed Servant is The Holy Spirit, Sarah is Israel and Rebecca is The Church.  Likewise in Ruth, Ruth is The Church and Naomi is Israel.

I shall again quote what I consider the best Rapture Passage of The Old Testament.  Joel 2:15-16

Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

The Bride is Raptured, Israel is not.