Miracles, Signs, Symbols and Judgment God's Plan for the End Times: A Commentary on the Book of Revelation

By David G. Brown

Through the unique format of this text, David has given the answers to nearly six hundred questions that have plagued many regarding the book of Revelation. The product of his work is a book that addresses these concerns and amplifies the need for one to have a personal relationship with God. The following is just a sample.

If Babylon was destroyed by the Persians, how can it be destroyed again?

How important are truth and justice today?

But what is justice when it comes to God and us?

Just what does it mean to fear God?

Exactly who are the beast and false prophet?

When one thinks of heaven, what is the picture that comes to mind?

How many people can heaven hold?

If over 2,000 years have passed without Christs return, what assurance is there that He will return?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Nov 7, 2012
• ISBN: 9781449766955

David G. Brown

David Brown has ministered as an ordained elder for over thirty years and has taught the Bible for forty years at the adult level. During this time, he has researched and compiled an enormous amount of information regarding the book of Revelation and end times prophecy. He believes it is abundantly apparent the world is becoming more Bible illiterate and this trend seems to be more pervasive than ever before. It would be his belief that this lack of scriptural understanding is at the root of many of our societal problems today. The lack of adequate understanding of scripture is magnified when one speaks of end times prophecy and the book of Revelation.

Book preview

A COMMENTARY ON THE

BOOK OF REVELATION

MIRACLES,

SIGNS,

SYMBOLS

AND JUDGMENT

GOD’S PLAN FOR THE END TIMES

DAVID G. BROWN

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Copyright © 2012 by David G. Brown.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6694-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6696-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-6695-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012917255

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WestBow Press rev. date: 11/02/2012

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

The Study of Revelation

The Book Of Revelation

Chapter 1 - Opening vision of heaven to John

Chapter 2 - Letters 1-4 to the seven churches

Chapter 3 - Letters 5-7 to the seven churches

Chapter 4 - Door to heaven - rapture of the church

Chapter 5 - Scroll in God’s hand - Only Lamb is worthy to open the scroll

Chapter 6 - Opening of seals 1-4

Chapter 7 - ealing of the 144,000, Great Multitude of those in white robes praising God

Chapter 8 - Seventh seal and 1-4 Trumpet Judgments

Chapter 9 - Trumpet Judgments 5-6, 200 million horsemen

Chapter 10 - Angel standing on the sea and land holding a little scroll

Chapter 11 - Two Witnesses and seventh Trumpet

Chapter 12 - Woman and the Dragon

Chapter 13 - The beast of the sea and the beast of the earth

Chapter 14 - The Lamb and the 144,000, three angels, harvestingof the earth

Chapter 15 - Seven angels with seven Bowl wraths

Chapter 16 - Seven Bowl wraths are poured out

Chapter 17 - Woman as the harlot/city and the beast’s judgment of harlot/city

Chapter 18 - Destruction of the harlot/city

Chapter 19 - Heaven responds with Hallelujah, Jesus as the rider on the white horse, beast and false prophet are cast alive into the lake of burning sulfur.

Chapter 20 - Millennial Kingdom of Christ on earth

Chapter 21 - New heaven and new earth, New Jerusalem

Chapter 22 - Eternal home with God and Jesus

Endnotes

Bibliography

PERMISSIONS PAGE

•   Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament, Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Findex.Com. All rights reserved. Used as a product of Public Domain.

•   Adam Clarke’s Commentary on the New Testament, Electronic Edition STEP Files Copyright © 1999, Parsons Technology, Inc. Used as a product of Public Domain.

•   Tony Garland, A Testimony of Jesus Christ, A Commentary on the Book of Revelation, Copyright 2004-2009 used by granted permission by the Author Mr. Tony Garland

•   John MacArthur, Revelation 1-11 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1999), and John MacArthur, Revelation 12-22 : The MacArthur New Testament Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 2000). Used by granted permission from Moody Press.

•   NIV Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™. Used by permission of Zondervan, All right reserved worldwide. WWW.ZONDERVAN.COM

The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patient and Trade Offices by Biblica, Inc.™

•   Photographs of Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea are used by commercial license granted by Todd Bolen/BiblePlaces.com

•   Cover Photograph used by commercial license granted by HDR Photography by Captain Kimo.

•   All other quotes are used through the Fair Use Doctrine.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It would be difficult, if not impossible, to write a document such as this without the assistance of many people. The first of these is my wife Linda of forty-three years. She has supported me and this effort while putting up with the many thousands of hours of research, writing and discussion of this topic. The second person is Charlotte Miller, who has been invaluable in providing editing assistance and for making literally thousands of copies of pages from this document. The third is the Joy class that I have taught for nearly twenty years, who collectively has prayed for, encouraged and overall motivated me throughout this process. To each of you, a very big thank you.

PREFACE

It is interesting how one can become involved in various projects. About a year and half ago, I had begun to teach my class as usual when a friend in the class suggested that we study the book of Revelation. It was the beginning of the year and it seemed to be a logical time to venture into a new direction. For a couple of weeks I looked around for curriculum that I felt was appropriate for this class. It was during this search that I came to the conclusion that this is a subject that I had been interested in for forty years, and just maybe it was something that I should consider writing myself. I have always enjoyed the writing experience but had never written anything on this level. The roots of my interest in this subject of Eschatology travels all the way back to my first real involvement in the church where I led a high school youth group along with a friend. This particular friend had grown up in another church and his previous minister, a dear man whose name I have now forgotten, was very astute on this subject. While not remembering his name I can still remember the excitement he had in meeting with the two of us to share his life’s lesson on the end times. From this encounter, and the subsequent lessons to the high school youth group, this subject became a lifelong pursuit. It is amazing how the word of God can become addictive as one scripture leads to another and the first thing one knows, a light has gone off and you find yourself actually learning and understanding what God has planned for each of us.

I was in the church office the other day and a dear friend and the church administrator were asking me how in the world does one ever come up with a position on some of the more complicated aspects to Revelation. My response was, and would be the same regardless of the book of the Bible, but so one will have an understanding of my process I will give all a sample of my approach. The first thing I do is to ask God to open my mind and heart to receive His instruction. After this, I read the verse and think about it for a moment or two. In some cases I have a pretty good idea of the meaning and could begin to write but to verify my position I begin my research. For every verse in Revelation, my commentary included having at least five translations of the Bible open in my computer software. In addition, I have approximately ten commentaries from other commentators open in my software and two to three actual books. After comparing all of these I then perform a word search on all relevant words in the verse. This in some cases would produce anywhere from twenty to several hundred passages of scriptures which I would then go through in a systematic manner reading all of them. The last step is to look at the Greek to see what the various definitions were for the given words in the passage. Once all of this was completed, I would make a few bullet points of the direction that this verse should take and finally I would begin to write. I have had many to say, who in the world would ever go to this level of detail? The simple answer is anyone that wanted to get to the bottom of what God has given as a road map to live our lives, His Holy word. Being a devoted Christian is hard work, it will force one into positions that makes them extremely uncomfortable and will lead them into a greater level of commitment on reading and studying God’s word. My goal with this book is not to explain the answer to all the questions that you may have, even though it may help to do this. It is rather meant to ignite a spark that will not be quenched until you have reached the level of understanding that God has in store just for you.

While our Lord is a God of love and compassion, He is also a God of justice and judgment. Elijah sent his assistant to see if rain was coming after the three years of drought that he had prophesied and God had delivered. When he returned he said that there was a small cloud about the size of his hand forming on the horizon. For Elijah this grew into storm clouds that brought rain. It is my belief that a small cloud is now forming on the horizon that will bring the storm of judgment on this world. It seems as clear as the chime of a bell ringing out, ding, ding, ding, ding. The problem is that we all live in a high tech world that is slowly crowding out our relationship with God. Ding, ding, ding. The forces of materialism has crept into our lives as we seek more and more. Ding, ding. And the forces of social equality continues to water down the word of God by suggesting that sexual diversity requires tolerance. Ding. What was once clear as a bell has now fallen silent to many and all that remains is JUDGMENT! Don’t be unprepared to meet your Lord and God as the storm clouds grow ever so steadily.

THE STUDY OF REVELATION

INTRODUCTION TO ESCHATOLOGY

Before any meaningful study of Revelation can begin, we must first become acquainted with the terms and positions that are important to the fulfillment of the central belief of God’s plan for all humanity. To quote Henry C. Thiessen in Lectures in Systematic Theology If there is a beginning, there is also an end, not in the absolute sense in which the universe was non-existent before creation, but in the sense of an exchange of that which is temporal for that which is external.¹ Thiessen has put together an excellent resource to understanding theological terms. While it is usually used as a college text book, it makes for an interesting read and one that I would highly recommend for anyone serious about their faith and relationship to God.

This study is referred to in theological terms as Eschatology and is the study of the end times which include five major events; the rapture of the church, the reign of Jesus Christ here on earth, the period of the tribulation, the millennium, and of course the final judgment. A cursory understanding of this theology is vital to grasping the meaning God has for us in John’s Revelation.

While Eschatology can be divided into two main categories, General eschatology and Personal eschatology, for the purpose of this study we will focus our attention on General eschatology. Personal eschatology is a very interesting subject that deals with physical death and the transition from this life to the next. While this is a very interesting subject it has little to do with the focus of our attention, which is end times prophecy and fulfillment of that as revealed to us in Revelation.

To better understand the second coming we must examine the scriptural text to see what it says about the second coming of Jesus Christ. Rather than just giving scriptural reference and hoping each of you will look them up, I have decided to print the text in this document to enable you to see what God’s word has to say.

There are many biblical references to Jesus declaring that he would return:

•   Personally -

�   John 14:3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ;

�   John 21:22, "Jesus answered, If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.

•   Unexpectedly -

�   Matthew 24:42-44, 50, " ⁴²Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. ⁴³But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. ⁴⁴So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. ⁵⁰The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of."

�   Matthew 25:1–13; "¹At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. ²Five of them were foolish and five were wise. ³The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. ⁴The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.⁵The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. ⁶"At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’⁷"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ ⁹"‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. ¹¹"Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ ¹²"But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ ¹³Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. The moral to this verse is to be ready, there can be no excuse to explain why we have not moved into a saving relationship with God at the end times.

�   Mark 13:33–37, "³³Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come. ³⁴It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with his assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. ³⁵"Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. ³⁶If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you leeping. ³⁷What I say to you, I say to everyone: ‘Watch!’" Maintain vigilance, keep watch and prepare oneself for the day of the Lord.

•   Suddenly -

�   Matthew 24:26–28, "²⁶So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the desert,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ²⁷For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. ²⁸Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather." What should be taken from this verse is that when Jesus returns He will be visible from everywhere. No matter where you reside on this planet you will know that Jesus has returned.

•   And triumphantly -

�   Luke 19:28-38, "²⁸After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰"Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.’" ³²Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, Why are you untying the colt? ³⁴They replied, The Lord needs it. ³⁵They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. ³⁷When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: ³⁸Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest! Not only did Jesus enter the city of Jerusalem as King, one day we will see Him in all His majesty, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

In addition to Jesus’ exhortations about his second coming, Paul also testifies that he will come personally.

•   Personally and Suddenly -

�   1 Thessalonians 4:13-17, "¹³Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶For 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, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

�   Philippians 3:20, But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Hebrews, James, and Jude all testify to the public nature of Jesus’ coming.

Even with all of these scriptural texts and many other references, there still have arisen erroneous interpretations about the second coming of Christ, they include:

The coming of the Holy Spirit: This is the belief that Jesus in some way has returned as a part of the Holy Spirit descending upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, however, there is no biblical support for this assertion.

The conversion of the soul: This is a general belief that the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within man upon acceptances of Jesus as their Lord and savior and their baptism, is in some miraculous way the equivalent to the second coming of Jesus Christ’s return. Again there is absolutely no biblical evidence to support this view.

The destruction of Jerusalem: Some would suggest that the predictions concerning the Lord’s return as referenced in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 were realized at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It is the belief of many commentators including me that the writing of Revelation and 1 John was probably in the time frame of 94-97 A.D., which would mean that both of these books were written after the destruction of Jerusalem and thus their references to Jesus’ second coming are not influenced by or tied to this event. The follow are passages that speak to this:

•   1 John 2:28, And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming.

•   1 John 3:2, Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

•   Revelation 1:7, Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.

•   Revelation 3:11, I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.

•   Revelation 22:12, Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

•   Revelation 22:20, He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming soon."

The conversion of the world: Sometimes this is mistakenly adopted from Jesus’ own prayer, "thy kingdom come" in Matthew 6:10. But when one examines the scriptures they find the exact opposite is true. Rather than the conversion of the world at the last days the scriptures literally teach that there will be a great falling away from the faith as seen in the following passages:

•   Luke 18:8, I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

•   2 Thessalonians 2:3 – 12, "³Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. ⁴He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. ⁵Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? ⁶And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹²and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness."

•   1 Timothy 4:1, The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

•   Luke 17:26 – 30, "²⁶Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. ²⁸"It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. ³⁰It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed."

The condition of humanity will be the same as in the days of Noah and Lot and God’s justice will again prevail. While it is true that God and Jesus both have a desire for all mankind to be saved; the truth of the matter is very few will be able to go through that narrow gate that leads to salvation.

It can be difficult to reconcile the many different aspects to Jesus’ coming. One does need to understand that the coming aspect of Jesus Christ is very important because in reality Christ comes in two different forms. First, he comes in the air which means he literally does not come to the ground. Second, Jesus will come literally to the earth. This develops into a point of difficulty for many Christians to reconcile. With all the plagues and other judgments that are going on at the end times, such as the judging of all men, the judging of the works of Christians, the conflict of the Antichrist and his supporters, the binding of Satan and the Great White Throne, it is easy to become distracted in one’s study and miss the importance of this duplicity of His return. The following is a brief summary of the two different returns:

Jesus will be returning in the air.

Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, for the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. This account as illustrated through scripture is one of Christ returning first in the air, receiving the dead and rapturing those that are in Christ as changed beings, all of this while Christ is still in the air. All Christians whether living or dead are impacted at this initial coming of Christ in the air. This is distinctively different from when Christ comes triumphantly to the earth to reign for a millennium.

Jesus will return to the earth

Christ is coming to the earth, is mentioned in both the New and Old Testaments. In Zechariah 14:4 one is told, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the East.. We are also reminded of the incident in the first chapter of Acts where the two men dressed in white clothing declared that Jesus would return in just the same way as He had departed. If one has ever wondered exactly where Christ will return one only needs to look at Acts 1:11, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.. Jesus will return, the search for the answer to the how and where question is over. Jesus ascended into heaven at the Mount of Olives and will be returning to Mount of Olives. But in some magical way all humanity will see Christ’s coming.

Having established these two uniquely different returns, we might wonder to what purpose does each present. In the case of Jesus coming in the air, there are at least three reasons for this coming.

First, Jesus comes to receive his own.

At this point all believers are either with Jesus in the spirit and their bodies are in the grave or they are still on earth waiting for Jesus’ return. To fulfill this scriptural teaching two things are necessary, the dead in Christ must rise which we see in Romans 8:23, Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies., and the living in Christ must be changed as Paul writes in Philippians 3:21, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.. While much time could be spent discussing this issue, for the purpose of this study it does not advance the explanation by continuing other than to mention the importance of the resurrection of the soul and the body by Christ.

Second, Jesus comes to judge and reward.

Unlike unbelievers, Jesus does not come to judge Christians for their sins, but to judge their works and to bestow rewards as is made clear in the following verses:

•   Matthew 10:42, And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.;

•   Matthew 16:27, For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.;

•   Luke 6:23, Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.;

•   John 5:24-27, "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life. ²⁵I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. ²⁶For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.";

•   Corinthians 5:10, Paul writes, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds and the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad;

•   Romans 14:10, writing to the Romans Paul says, but you, why do you judge your brother? Or your again, what you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God.

For Christians the issue is not whether they will be saved or lost, but to what extent will they be rewarded. For some the reward will be great, for others not so much. While the certainty of the reward is expressed in the scriptures, the exact nature of the reward is not fully explained. However, we are told throughout the scriptures that this reward is either a crown or trophy. Scripture teaches that there are several different crowns:

•   A crown of righteousness, as seen in 2 Timothy 4:8, Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.;

•   The crown of life, as recorded in James 1:12, Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.; again in Revelation 2:10, Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.;

•   And the crown of glory, found in 1 Peter 5:4, And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away..

Third, Jesus will remove the restrainer.

Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-8, "⁶And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.".

If Christ, when he returns, is to remove the restrainer, exactly who or what is this restraint? Some see it as the power of law and order. Others see it as human government and some even identify it as Satan himself. In my estimation there is little evidence to suggest that Satan is the restrainer. Contrary to restraining evil, Satan is the embodiment of evil. One possibility is that the Holy Spirit will leave the earth and without the presence of the Holy Spirit evil will no longer be restrained by anyone or anything. With Christians gone and possibly the Holy Spirit removed, this will become a very dark period in the world.

Christ coming to the earth

Having looked at Jesus’ return in the air our attention turns to Christ literally coming to the Earth. The purpose of his trip to the earth is very different than the purpose of His coming in the air, at this point a theological position will need to be taken, due to the millennial reign of Christ. There are three possible positions that one can take.

The first of these is those who believe that the second coming of Christ will occur before the millennium and are called premillennialist. A second position is Postmillennialism which teaches that Christ will return visibly and personally after the millennium. The third position is Amillennialism whose supporters do not accept a literal millennium; rather, they see the millennium as either the disembodied state of believers who are with the Lord awaiting the resurrection, or the present spiritual reign of Christ in the hearts of believers. Of these three the first century church overwhelmingly were premillennialist.

There are specific tasks and purposes that Jesus’ earthly coming will produce.

The first of these is that Jesus will be revealed.

Unlike Jesus’ first advent where he came into the world as an obscure carpenter’s son, this second time Jesus will return with millions if not all the saints,

•   Zechariah 14:5, " ⁵You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.";

•   1 Thessalonians 3:13, May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.;

•   Jude 1:14, "Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones .

The second purpose is to judge the beast, the false prophet, and their armies.

This will occur at the end of the tribulation when the Dragon, the beast and the false prophet go forth and gathered together for battle along with the kings of the earth and their armies as recorded in Revelation 19:20, "But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur". This event will cause you to choose again whether you are a pre or post tribulationalist. The question that will need to be answered is, does the rapture of the church occur before or after the tribulation begins.

The third task of Christ is to Bind Satan.

When the beast and false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, Satan is a bound for a 1000 years. Revelation 20:1-3, "¹And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time." Amillennialism and postmillennialism take the binding of Satan and the millennium to be figurative. Boettner, a postmillennialist, writes, "the usual amillennial interpretation of Revelation 20:2 is that the binding of Satan took place at the first advent, and that it was accomplished with Christ triumphed over him at the cross."². On the other hand, some interpret the binding of Satan to be a continuing process through this dispensation. However, I believe in a literal interpretation of Revelation 20:1-3 which would signify the removal of Satan in some way which would prohibit him from conducting his work.

During this time Jesus will be performing many other tasks such as, judging the nations, to deliver and bless creation, and set up his earthly kingdom.

Having discussed that Jesus will return in the air and also to the earth, it is time to discuss the period between those two,

The Tribulation

Contrary to common speculation the duration of the tribulation is not told. However, a close study of Daniel will reveal the probable duration is seven years. It would seem reasonable to assume that the 70 weeks in Daniel 9:24-27 is actually a reference to years, "²⁴Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.²⁵"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’ It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble. ²⁶After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. ²⁷He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him". If this analysis is true the 69th week ended with the crucifixion of Jesus (Daniel 9:26). This then has caused many to speculate that the 70th week is the tribulation period. It seems clear that a week in Daniel’ s chronology is seven years. I will go into greater detail on the Daniel prophecy later in this document. Jesus tells us for the sake of the elect the days will be shortened, Matthew 24:22, If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. This too is not without speculation, for some would suggest that the church will pass through the tribulation and immediately upon its conclusion Jesus will instantly return. This position is called post-tribulationalism. Others say that the church will pass through the first half of the tribulation; and that the rapture will take place in the middle of the seven year total tribulational period. This view is designated as midtribulationalism. Those that advocate this position teach that the unspiritual part of the church will pass through the tribulation, but the mature and spirit filled will be caught up before the tribulation. The old will be caught up before the tribulation. And some say that Jesus will come for the church before the tribulation. In other words, his coming will be pretribulational, and the church as such, will pass through no part of the tribulation. The weight of the evidence seems to be that the church will not pass through the tribulation.³

The tribulation will have multiple aspects to it including a political, religious, economic and restorative feature for the Israelites. Much time could be spent on the political and religious aspects. Both Daniel and Revelation give interesting information. Daniel 2:31-43, "³¹You looked, O king, and there before you stood a large statue—an enormous, dazzling statue, awesome in appearance. ³²The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. ³⁴While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them. ³⁵Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became like chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. The wind swept them away without leaving a trace. But the rock that struck the statue became a huge mountain and filled the whole earth. ³⁶"This was the dream, and now we will interpret it to the king. ³⁷You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you dominion and power and might and glory; ³⁸in your hands he has placed mankind and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air. Wherever they live, he has made you ruler over them all. You are that head of gold. ³⁹"After you, another kingdom will rise, inferior to yours. Next, a third kingdom, one of bronze, will rule over the whole earth. ⁴⁰Finally, there will be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron—for iron breaks and smashes everything—and as iron breaks things to pieces, so it will crush and break all the others. ⁴¹Just as you saw that the feet and toes were partly of baked clay and partly of iron, so this will be a divided kingdom; yet it will have some of the strength of iron in it, even as you saw iron mixed with clay. ⁴²As the toes were partly iron and partly clay, so this kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle. ⁴³And just as you saw the iron mixed with baked clay, so the people will be a mixture and will not remain united, any more than iron mixes with clay". This pictures the times of the Gentiles after the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman periods, the final form of the Roman empire appears with its ten cooperating kingdoms. In Daniel 7:1-28 the same prediction occurs under the figure of four beasts. The last one, with its ten horns, represents the final form of the Roman empire with its ten kings, "¹In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream, and visions passed through his mind as he was lying on his bed. He wrote down the substance of his dream. ²Daniel said: "In my vision at night I looked, and there before me were the four winds of heaven churning up the great sea. ³Four great beasts, each different from the others, came up out of the sea. ⁴"The first was like a lion, and it had the wings of an eagle. I watched until its wings were torn off and it was lifted from the ground so that it stood on two feet like a man, and the heart of a man was given to it. ⁵"And there before me was a second beast, which looked like a bear. It was raised up on one of its sides, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Get up and eat your fill of flesh!’ ⁶"After that, I looked, and there before me was another beast, one that looked like a leopard. And on its back it had four wings like those of a bird. This beast had four heads, and it was given authority to rule. ⁷"After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast—terrifying and frightening and very powerful. It had large iron teeth; it crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. It was different from all the former beasts, and it had ten horns. ⁸"While I was thinking about the horns, there before me was another horn, a little one, which came up among them; and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth that spoke boastfully. ⁹As I looked, thrones were set in place, and the Ancient of Days took his seat. His clothing was as white as snow; the hair of his head was white like wool. His throne was flaming with fire, and its wheels were all ablaze. ¹⁰A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before him. Thousands upon thousands attended him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him. The court was seated, and the books were opened. ¹¹"Then I continued to watch because of the boastful words the horn was speaking. I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire. ¹²(The other beasts had been stripped of their authority, but were allowed to live for a period of time.) ¹³"In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. ¹⁵"I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. ¹⁶I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. "So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷‘The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. ¹⁸But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’ ¹⁹"Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.²⁰I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. ²¹As I watched, this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them, ²²until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. ²³"He gave me this explanation: ‘The fourth beast is a fourth kingdom that will appear on earth. It will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, trampling it down and crushing it. ²⁴The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom. After them another king will arise, different from the earlier ones; he will subdue three kings. ²⁵He will speak against the Most High and oppress his saints and try to change the set times and the laws. The saints will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time. ²⁶"‘But the court will sit, and his power will be taken away and completely destroyed forever. ²⁷Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be handed over to the saints, the people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’ ²⁸This is the end of the matter. I, Daniel, was deeply troubled by my thoughts, and my face turned pale, but I kept the matter to myself. Revelation 13:1-10 gives the same prophecy except that the horns now have crowns, suggesting that the time of their power has come.⁴ There are many scriptures that point to the religious aspect of this, including Daniel 11:36-39, " ³⁶The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will say unheard-of things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been determined must take place. ³⁷He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all. ³⁸Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses; a god unknown to his fathers he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. ³⁹He will attack the mightiest fortresses with the help of a foreign god and will greatly honor those who acknowledge him. He will make them rulers over many people and will distribute the land at a price.";

John 5:43, I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him.;

2 Thessalonians 2:6-12, " ⁶And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. ⁷For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.⁹The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, ¹⁰and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. ¹¹For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie ¹²and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.";

Revelation 13:11-18, " ¹¹Then I saw another beast, coming out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but he spoke like a dragon. ¹²He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed. ¹³And he performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men. ¹⁴Because of the signs he was given power to do on behalf of the first beast, he deceived the inhabitants of the earth. He ordered them to set up an image in honor of the beast who was wounded by the sword and yet lived. ¹⁵He was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that it could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. ¹⁶He also forced everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on his right hand or on his forehead, ¹⁷so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name. ¹⁸This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man’s number. His number is 666." and;

Revelation 17:1-17, " ¹One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. ²With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." ³Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. ⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. ⁵This title was written on her forehead: mystery babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. ⁶I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. ⁷Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. ⁸The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. ⁹"This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. ¹⁰They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. ¹¹The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. ¹²"The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. ¹³They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. ¹⁴They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers." ¹⁵Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. ¹⁶The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. ¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled. ¹⁸The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.".

Additionally, Jesus himself predicts that there will be another one to come in His own name. This Antichrist appears as the beast of the sea in Revelation 13:1-18. This reference to the Antichrist can be found four times in the New Testament:

•   1 John 2:18, Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour.;

•   1 John 2:22, Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son.;

•   1 John 4:3, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.;

•   2 John 7, Many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist.. This Antichrist will require that all take the Mark of the beast.

The millennium

The word millennium is from the Latin and means a thousand years. While this word is discussed often regarding the end times it is not found in scripture, but the term thousand years is used six times in Revelation 20:2-7, one such example is Revelation 20:2, He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.. While one may be a premillennialist or postmillennialist, it seems the early church was largely premillennial. Papias, who died 155 A.D., there will be a millennium after the resurrection from the dead, when the personal reign of Christ will be established on the Earth.⁵ Monomers, writing about 100 A.D., destroyer the time of the wicked man, and judge the ungodly, Jesus the son, and the moon, the stars, then shall he truly rest on the seventh day.⁶

"From the fourth century on, the belief in the millennium declined. There were several reasons for this decline.

1.   The persecution against the church drew to an end with the conversion of Constantine, and the church saw a new day of peace dawning.

2.   There was a change in biblical interpretation, from the literal hermeneutics to the allegorical method. The predictions of the millennial kingdom was spiritualized.

3.   Many began to interpret the binding of Satan and the resurrection and reign of Saints (Revelation 20:1-4) " ¹And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. ²He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. ³He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. ⁴I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years." as a personal victory of believers of Satan. In that sense, believers are, in this present life, reigning with Christ."⁷

Postmillennialism

"About the year seventeen hundred eight new era crept into the church, to which, postmillennialism. This was instituted by Daniel Whitby, an English divine, or proclaimed by him as a new a hypothesis, namely, that the church would prosper in extent unto the world should be converted, and this triumph of the church would constitute the millennium; and that Jesus would not come until after the millennium.

For want of space we refer the reader to the voice of the church, by D. T. Taylor, to show the long line of eminent witnesses, embracing Hermas, Justin and the Martyrs, Watts, Charles Wesley, Toplady, and a host of others, illustrious in the annuals of the church, who, to the past eighteen centuries, have borne overwhelming testimony to the truth of the pre-millennial coming of Christ."⁸

During this millennium Jesus will establish His kingdom.

Daniel 7: 15-27, "¹⁵I, Daniel, was troubled in spirit, and the visions that passed through my mind disturbed me. ¹⁶I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. "So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: ¹⁷‘The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth. ¹⁸But the saints of the Most High will receive the kingdom and will possess it forever—yes, for ever and ever.’ ¹⁹"Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws—the beast that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left. ²⁰I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and about the other horn that came up, before which three of them fell—the horn that looked more imposing than the others and that had eyes