Material covered in Part Two

Begins with the scroll scene in Rev 5-6, similar to Ezekiel’s vision & scroll (Ezek 2:9-10) which was a message of judgement against Jerusalem. A document with seven seals was a testament – in breaking the seals, Jesus is giving Israel her certificate of divorce as God’s old covenant people / bride.

There are close correspondences with the descriptions in apocalyptic language found in Revelation, and accounts by first century historians such as Josephus of the Jewish-Roman war leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70.

First seal 6:1-2 The Rider on the white horse bent on conquest represents the victorious Roman march toward Jerusalem to fight the Jews in 67AD, who had decided to rebel against Roman rule.

Second seal 6:3b-4 The red horse represents the war that followed, with ‘the power to take peace from the earth’. At the time, Rome had enforced peace – known as the pax romana on its entire empire for many decades. Epictetus writes: ‘Caesar has obtained for us a profound peace. There are neither wars nor battles’. The Jewish revolt against Rome, h’ever, was a temporary interruption of this peace.

Third seal 6:5-6 The black horse is one of famine. The rider holds a pair of scales (for measuring food) and John hears a voice saying: ‘A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’ Josephus, a Jewish historian who had been a general in this war, writes: ‘As the famine grew worse, the frenzy of the insurgents kept pace with it…Many secretly bartered their possessions for a single measure of wheat if they happened to be rich, barley if they were poor.’

Fourth seal 6:7-8 The pale horse is one of death, by four means: ‘sword, famine, plague, & wild beasts’. These are the same four judgements made against unfaithful Jerusalem in OT times, found in Ezek 14:21.

Compare Rev 8:7 with Josephus: ‘Vespasian also set fire, not only to the city itself, but to all the villas & small cities that were round it…Galilee was all over filled with fire & blood.’

Compare Rev 8:8 with Josephus about the Sea of Galilee: ‘One might then see the lake all bloody, & full of dead bodies’. About the Mediterranean after a large fleet of ships was destroyed during the war: ‘the sea was bloody a long way and the maritime parts were full of dead bodies.’

Seen as representing Rome generally, and Nero specifically.

13:1a ‘out of the sea.’ The direction of Rome from Israel was across the Mediterranean sea.

13:1b ‘seven heads’ which are seven hills (17:9). Rome was famously surrounded by 7 seven hills.

13:2 ‘great authority.’ No-one could match the power & authority of Rome.

13:3 ‘the fatal wound had been healed’ When Nero committed suicide in 68AD, Rome underwent a time of civil war & political coup. It looked like it was going to fall, but then unexpectedly revived under the leadership of Vespasian.

13:5 ‘forty-two months.’ Nero’s persecution began in Nov 64AD, & ceased with his suicide in Jun 68AD – 42 months.

13:8 ‘worship‘. Nero thought he was the god Apollo & demanded worship.

13:16-18 ‘the number of his name’, ‘If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is [a] man's number. His number is six hundred sixty six.’

It was a common thing in the first century to play number games with people’s names, as they didn’t have numerals then, but letters did double-duty as numbers. (e.g. Roman numerals, like I, V, X, C, etc.) A surviving inscription in the buried city of Pompeii shows some first century graffiti – ‘I love her whose name is 545’. The letters of his beloved’s name would have added up to 545.

To get 666, take the Hebrew rendering of Nero Caesar (in its Greek form) & add up the number value of the Hebrew letters. If you added up the Latin form of his name, you would get 616 – which is a variation in a small group of manuscripts.

Most futurists see some role for the nation of Israel, based on:

• A belief that there are OT prophecies about Israel which are yet to be fulfilled – and that these prophecies require a literal, physical fulfilment in the nation of Israel, not a spiritual fulfilment in God’s new covenant people, the church.
• Paul’s difficult-to-understand comments in Rom 9-11, about a future work of salvation amongst Israel. This has been variously understood as Paul merely expressing a wish, a significant number of Jews becoming Christians, or a resumption of God’s plan with his old covenant people.

This is usually connected with Jesus’ physical reign for 1000 years on earth after his second coming. The physical temple will be rebuilt, memorial sacrifices will be offered again on its altar, and Jesus will reign from his capital in Jerusalem.

1. The rapture

Rapture means ‘caught up’, and is seen in 1 Thess 4:16-17. All views agree on some sort of rapture at Christ’s return.

Preterists, Idealists & some Futurists see it as a public, visible occurrence at the time of Jesus’ second coming (Futurists place it at the end of the tribulation). The image is of the first century practice of bridesmaids going out to meet the groom and escort him into the wedding ceremony.

Other futurists (mostly Dispensationalists) believe Jesus will come twice – the first time for a secret rapture which takes the church from the earth before the tribulation. Those who are Left Behind have 7 years of God’s wrath upon the earth – to endure. They can still repent & believe, but the restraining influence on the world – the Holy Spirit who indwells Christians – has been taken away.

It was first proposed in the 1820s, where it came via a revelation at a prayer meeting in a London church, which was a forerunner to the modern Pentecostal movement. It was picked up by the leader of the Brethren church in Plymouth – John Nelson Darby. He made six visits to the US, promoting his view at camps & conferences, and financing the production of pamphlets. C.I. Scofield prepared notes to go with an edition of the Authorised Version in early 1900s, which followed Darby’s system. This became the Scofield Ref Bible (revised and repopularised in1967), and because this view was printed in bible margins, it gave the impression of being the divinely inspired view. Two powerful bible colleges in the US (Moody Bible Institute & Dallas Theological Seminary) have continued to aggressively push this view. Although the history doesn’t disprove the view, the burden of proof lies with the new interpretation.

• Rev 3:10, part of the letter to the church in Philadelphia:

‘Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world….’

Firstly, this is a specific letter to a first century church, not a promise out of context to all Christians. Secondly, the Greek is unclear: it could be translated ‘keep you from the hour of trial’, or ‘keep you through the hour of trial’ – i.e. protect you while you still remain in the world.

• Mt 24:40-41

This was made famous in a 1970s Larry Norman song: ‘Two men walking up a hill / one disappears & one’s left standing still / I wish we’d all been ready / There’s no time to change your mind / The Son has come & you’ve been left behind.’

It’s a scary image, straight out of Matt 24 – Christians disappear, and you’re left behind to face the tribulation. However, the 4 verses before this image are about Noah’s flood – the rebellious people ‘knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came & took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken & the other left.’ The people being taken away in Noah’s time are taken away to destruction. Noah & his family are the ones left untouched by the flood. So in this image, the taking away can’t be a secret rapture, but rather being taken away to face eternal judgement.

• 1 Th 4:16 ‘For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God…’

That doesn’t sound like a secret, disappearing act of Christians.

• 2 Thess 2:7-8 – The restraining force in the world will be taken out of the way, seen as a reference to the disappearance of the Holy Spirit in the world, i.e. the rapture of the church. But the very next verse says this: ‘And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth & destroy by the splendour of his coming.’

Once again, taken at face value this looks like a public event. You can only see it referring to a secret rapture if you’ve already decided on that view.