Bible Prophecy Exposed: Unlocking the Language of the Prophets

By R. Michael Comstock

As time goes by, words can evolve and take on new meanings. Examining words from the first century can help us understand how definitions have changed. This book tries to determine how the people of that era recognized what the prophets were saying. As you learn to interpret their language, you may find the Bible takes on a whole new flavor.

The following are just a few issues we will address:

Are signs of the end times revealed in Scripture? Is there a rapture and when does it happen? Does the Bible disclose when Jesus return is near? When does the tribulation occur? Is the key to decoding prophecy found in the Bible? Can secular history help us unlock some of the mysteries?

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Apr 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781449787721

R. Michael Comstock

R. Michael Comstock attended a Baptist Bible college where his degree was cut short by a spinal injury. He’s a substitute preacher and adult Sunday school teacher. His late son encouraged him to write this book, believing Michael’s insights of Bible prophecy needed to be shared.

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 R. Michael Comstock.

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.

WestBow Press books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting:

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1-[phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8770-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8771-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4497-8772-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2013904370

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/29/2013

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1    From The Beginning

Chapter 2    The Fall Of Satan’s Kingdom

Chapter 3    The Kingdom

Chapter 4    Jesus Testifies About The End?

Chapter 5    The Book Of Revelation

Chapter 6    The Unveiling Of Jesus

Chapter 7    The Heavenly Vision

Chapter 8    The Sealed Scroll

Chapter 9    The Seven Seals

Chapter 10  The Trumpet Judgments

Chapter 11  The Woman And The Dragon

Chapter 12  The Culmination Of Judgment

Chapter 13  Apostasy

Chapter 14  Marriage Of The Lamb

Chapter 15  The New Creation

Bible References

Bibliography

Glossary

Bible Prophecy Exposed has expanded my understanding to the complexity of biblical prophecy. While I believe in a future application of Revelation, Comstock has compiled solid evidence, presenting a correlation between the end of the Old Covenant, and the wrath of God found in the prophecies. If you are willing to approach the evidence in Prophecy Exposed with an open heart and mind, you will gain an additional perspective of Revelation. In my opinion this book is a must read for students of God’s Word.

Bishop Anthony Arnett

Dedications

I dedicate this book to God for the grace, salvation, and the understanding He has given me about His word. I’m grateful His spirit prompted me to take this journey through prophecy.

I thank my wife Cindy for encouraging me to do my best in spite of my learning disabilities, and lack of understanding of how to communicate in writing. Without her patience my book would not have come close to being published.

I appreciate my parents for being faithful church attenders, which gave me a wonderful foundation in Christ and His word.

I want to express my gratitude for Pastor Glen Hossler, not only for his interpretive take on Revelation, but also for the friendship of both he and his wife LaRene.

I want to thank Ellie Arnett for her input on developing a new word to better describe the amillennial view.

Last, and certainly not least, my best friend and neighbor Tony Arnett. As a bishop in the Church of God, I value the many hours we spent discussing different viewpoints of Bible prophecy. I must also thank Tony’s wife Joan for her patience with our Bible prophecy consultations. In spite of all our end time discussions, she still allowed my wife and me to go camping with them, though this was likely for my wife’s companionship.

Preface

W hat has formed your opinion about biblical prophecy? I’m sure many of you have tried to read the book of Revelation, and ended up scratching your head for lack of understanding. Our views are usually formed from reading a commentary, watching a movie, or listening to our favorite minister on the subject. Why do we believe they are correct? Is it because they make sense out of what we can’t? Maybe it’s their degree in theology, or perhaps their renowned reputation? My motive isn’t to question the sincerity of what these experts believe; it’s entirely possible they could be correct. The problem is that expositors of the past were instructed by teachers they esteemed, they in turn teach others who respected them, and then they teach us, and we continue the cycle. But does this mean that what we have learned is accurate? I have had to challenge myself with this very question.

My purpose in writing this book is not to make you believe my interpretation of prophecy. My actual goal is to get you to be sure of what you hold to. I approach the biblical prophecies as if they were evidence in a trial. You as a juror must decide what the evidence shows. Does the Bible actually tell us how the world will end? Does it give us any clue as to when the rapture occurs, or when Jesus returns?

Most of us have been presented with the prosecutions side of the case. By this I mean that today’s popular view teaches that there will be: the rapture of the church, the great tribulation, Jesus’ return for a thousand year reign, the end of the world, and the judgment. I believe that if the evidence does point us in a different direction that it is only fair that it be disclosed to the jurors.

It is desirable in a trial to have jurors that are unbiased. The goal is finding people to judge the evidence, who have no opinion one way or the other. The largest hurdle to overcome is jurors that have already formed opinions based on what they’ve been told. Presenting additional evidence that changes their minds is not an easy task; particularly when the jurors have believed for a long period of time that the evidence is black and white.

The prosecution has made their case and now wants to prevent any other possible explanations that the evidence may present. My hope is that you will be an impartial juror in this trial. That you will set aside your preconceptions and give the physical evidence a chance to speak for itself.

I admit that in the end you may find you’re unable to vote one way or the other. That’s okay, because my purpose is to get you to think deeper about what the Scripture actually says. Any time I can help people look at the Bible more in depth gives me a sense of satisfaction. Concentration on God’s word is the best thing a person can do for themselves.        

I recall a time in Bible College when a professor was teaching a basic theological principle. To tell the truth I don’t recall what the doctrine was since it’s been more than twenty years ago. I remember that I had trouble understanding how the theologians came to their conclusion from only one obscure passage in the Bible. To my surprise the professor had no appropriate explanation other than that’s just the way it is. To say the least, I was not satisfied, nor were several others in my class.

If the so-called experts are correct, we humans only use, at best, four percent of our brain. This gives us a ninety six percent chance of misunderstanding any given subject! Okay, so I admit that might be a little over the top, but how definite should we be about what will happen in the future?

I’m in no way attacking the foundational tenants of Christian salvation. However, in discussions that I’ve had with others, a few have acted as if I were denouncing Christ. I think before we say to the world this is how your end will come, we need to be extremely positive that what we are presenting is true. Just because we are taught something, doesn’t mean that it is correct. We need to study the evidence carefully for ourselves.

Where would we be if Columbus and others didn’t question the flatness of the world? What if the Wright brothers had listened to those who said it is impossible for man to fly? Throughout history people have been proven wrong about beliefs they were so adamantly convinced were true. It wasn’t that long ago doctors thought they needed to drain the bad blood from sick people, and in many cases were responsible for their deaths.

Over the years I’ve done some occasional studying about Bible prophecy. Like most, I was curious about the end of the world, and the return of the Lord. The view I was raised to believe seemed to contain many reasonable explanations. At times however, I found questions arose when I read certain Scriptures. These passages appeared to contradict what I was taught. I assumed I wasn’t smart enough to understand the interpretation. After all, would my teachers and pastors teach me anything that wasn’t correct? I’m sure that none of them would on purpose.

My goal for this book is to try to simplify the information enough to make it understandable to most anyone. With the complexity of the information this is not an easy task. I also desire to present the information from an unbiased view. Being human I admit it is hard to set aside my own preconceived notions, but I will try. I pray that a special blessing will come to you from studying these prophecies about Jesus. I believe He is the world’s only hope for salvation!

1

FROM THE BEGINNING

T he book of Revelation is full of fantastic spiritual imagery and symbolism, but is it possible to accurately decipher these obscure visions? Can we unlock the secrets of Revelation, by learning the definitions of the ancient language in the Old Testament? I believe we can target the truth by learning to understand the ancient culture. I’m convinced the Old Testament contains most of the clues we need to define the language of the past. Let’s start with some foundational context in the Old Testament.

In the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve fell from their relationship with God, Satan was told that the offspring of the woman would crush his head.

¹⁵And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Genesis 3:15 (NKJV)

Most interpret this as a prophecy about Jesus, and I agree. There are some other things we need to understand in this passage. Literally and physically from that moment forward, mankind and snakes have been at odds. Spiritually, people, and Satan who is likened to a serpent, have been enemies as well.

At that time God separated mankind from the spiritual and physical perfection of the previous world. Death replaced the perfection as God had warned Adam and Eve that it would. Clues throughout the Bible tell us that Satan gained dominion over the earth, and the human race.

As was prophesied, Christ came, died, and rose again. From then on, God puts His Spirit into people who dedicate their lives to Him, thereby reclaiming their lives from Satan. Not only Christ, but Christians have been crushing the kingdom of Satan, his head, ever since.

People and snakes are natural enemies, and this is why I believe there are physical fulfillments to prophecies. There are also spiritual fulfillments. Besides actual snakes, the serpent, Satan, became our spiritual Enemy as well. If you look for the dual physical and spiritual fulfillments of prophecies, you can usually find them. This may be important in helping us to interpret, and understand the book of Revelation.

Seeing the spiritual is not always easy. We tend to view things through physical eyes. This is why spiritual enlightenment from God is necessary for understanding prophecy, as well the rest of Scripture. Without seeing the spiritual side, we are only seeing half of reality, which brings up an interesting question, how do we interpret the language of prophecy correctly?

As an example, let’s imagine two thousand years from now someone finds a CD with rap music on it. Let’s assume they are able to access the music in it. It might be difficult to decipher the slang contained within the lyrics. What do you suppose they would think a nine is? Some of us currently understand that it’s a nine-millimeter pistol. How would they interpret five-o in the future? In the current slang it means police. Two thousand years from now they might think the musicians were singing about the fifty states of America. So you can see the current challenge of interpreting the figures of speech used in the Bible.

There is language in rap music that I do not understand. This is because I am not part of the rap scene. The only way for me to understand the slang is to ask someone within the culture, or to look for clues by studying all the rap music I can find. The same holds true for interpreting prophecy. Since the prophets of old are unavailable for questioning, we will need to examine the Scriptures for clues to help decipher the meanings of the prophetic visions. We must remain aware that the potential for misinterpretation is an ever present reality.

In the New Testament we can see how the disciples, as well as other Jews, were wrong about their understanding of the Messiah and his kingdom. The reason they were mistaken, was because those who taught them the prophecies failed to interpret them correctly. Jesus told His disciples what would happen, but they had trouble understanding Him. They could not get past what they had learned. I believe they still didn’t get it, even when Jesus was about to return to heaven. Let’s look at what the disciples asked Jesus:

⁶Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? ⁷ And He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

Acts 1:6-7 (NKJV)

They expected by what they were taught, that Jesus would set up His reign as king on earth. They struggled to understand, what Jesus had told them about Israel being destroyed within their lifetime. We now know that He returned to heaven, and left the disciples behind to build the spiritual kingdom of God.

What makes us think we understand any better than they did? Just because we have advanced in technology, does not mean we are smarter. We have the same potential for taking what we have been taught and misunderstanding what will actually happen.

Many of the views that I share in this book are things I’ve been taught over my lifetime. Over the past several years I set out to prove whether or not what I had learned was accurate. Some of the resources I have studied are a little difficult to read. It takes a lot of effort to understand the various interpretations and ancient ways of speaking. Revelation Four Views, by Steve Gregg, is one source full of good information. His book is predominantly unbiased, however, it is very in depth and I found it almost confusing at times, likely it is because I suffer from ADD and mild dyslexia.

Until recent years I wasn’t aware that there were any other interpretations of biblical prophecy. I started developing changes to what I believed on my own. I assumed I had some unique insight on the subject. But as King Solomon said, There is nothing new under the sun.

If you decide to read Revelation Four Views, Mr. Gregg explains the different views in detail. Here’s my abbreviated version of Gregg’s explanations:

•   Futurism is currently the most common view. This interpretation believes most of Revelation takes place in our future.

•   Historical or the Historicist view looks at Revelation as being fulfilled on a time line. Basically from 96 A.D. to the present. Each scroll, seal opened, or Scripture passage represents a different era of history.

•   Idealistic or the Spiritual interpretation believes Revelation repeats itself over and over until someday the cycle will result in the end of the world.

•   The Preterist view believes that all of Revelation describes the destruction of Israel, Jerusalem, and its temple in 70 A.D. Some preterists also believe Revelation includes the downfall of Rome. Lastly there are preterists who believe that the last few chapters of Revelation apply to our future. They are referred to as partial preterists.

In each of these interpretive methods there are differing opinions as to what the Scriptures represent. Sometimes all four views are in agreement about an interpretation, except for the time of its fulfillment. To further complicate matters there are different opinions as to when the millennium will occur:

•   Pre-millennial is the belief that Christ will return after a future tribulation, and set up an earthly kingdom which lasts for 1000 years.

•   The Post-millennial view believes that the gospel will eventually usher in a time of peace prior to Christ returning.

•   The Amillennial approach believes that the kingdom of Christ has been reigning since the cross. This word means no millennium. I don’t think it accurately describes their belief, so I will be using the term paramillennial.

•   Paramillennial refers to the coexistence of the spiritual kingdom, or church age on earth, with Jesus’ reign as king in heaven. Since they believe that the thousand years are symbolic for a long period of time, these concurrent kingdoms are not bound by a single millennium.

No matter what millennial view you believe, it doesn’t limit which of the four interpretive positions that you can hold to.

As we move ahead in our study we will start with the writings of Daniel. God gave him several revelations of Christ and His future kingdom. Fortunately, Daniel was given some interpretation along with the prophecies. This helps us to enhance our understanding, of how to interpret prophecies from God.

2

THE FALL OF SATAN’S KINGDOM

I n the following Scripture Daniel explains the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

³¹You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. ³² This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, ³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. ³⁴ You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. ³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. ³⁶ This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. ³⁷ You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; ³⁸ and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all—you are this head of gold. ³⁹ But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours; then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth. ⁴⁰ And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others. ⁴¹ Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. ⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.

Daniel 2:31-42 (NKJV)

History tells us that the fourth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream was the Roman Empire. Rome was known as the iron kingdom, because the strength of its military helped them crush the entire known world.

Many expositors claim the two legs of iron, and the feet of iron and clay, do not fit the Rome of the first century. Though I’m not an expert historian, I have read about the Roman Empire. Conflict existed between the emperors, senate rulers, other government leaders, as well as the diverse people groups they governed. To me Rome could fit this mixed matched iron and clay scenario.

There are some who have claimed that Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the two iron legs may have represented the latter Roman Empire. Diocletian divided Rome into two parts, east and west, in 285 A.D. though I’m not sure how the ten toes would fit into this time period.

During Jesus’ life, while Rome was ruling over the entire known world, numerous troubles arose due to the many diverse types of people that were integrated into the Empire. These people could be viewed as the clay in the statues iron feet.

I recall reading several years ago that Caesar Augustus, who became the first Emperor in 27 B.C., ruled with his army over five of the most unstable provinces. Augustus decreed that the remaining ten provinces of Rome were to be ruled by governors of the senate. When Jesus was born, these two different legs of Roman power were still ruling. In Nebuchadnezzar’s dream Daniel interpreted that the ten toes would be ten rulers. Some see these two legs as the earlier Augustan division of Rome, along with these ten toes, or governors. For those who say that Daniel’s vision doesn’t fit the past, and therefore must be about our future, to me they seem ill informed.

⁴³As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.

Daniel 2:43 (NKJV)

I heard someone suggest once, that the way Daniel made this statement opens up the possibility, that these are spiritual entities that are controlling or mingling with the seed of men. In other words this is a declaration of the demonic possession of the people. The interpretation of prophetic Scripture is not always as clear as we would like. I suppose this could have something to do with demons, however, I think Daniel meant that integrating the world’s people into the Roman Empire would make it weak. With the ancient language barrier it is hard to be adamant of an exact interpretation. History does record that a lot of demonic activity took place during that era; is it possible that both interpretations are correct? While studying the Bible, I have noticed how the physical and spiritual realms appear to be intertwined. This allows each prophecy to have more than one fulfillment, one physical and one spiritual.

⁴⁴And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

Daniel 2:44 (NKJV)

According to Daniel, God would start a kingdom that would last forever during the reign of the Roman Empire. I’ve been taught that since Christ is not reigning on David’s throne, then this will take place sometime in our future. How could Daniel say that God’s kingdom would be set up during the reign of the fourth kingdom, yet the Roman Empire fell and there is still no physical kingdom of God? Could God’s kingdom that Daniel prophesied about, be spiritual and not physical as some have interpreted? Coming up in Isaiah, I underlined how Christ would rule over David’s kingdom. This may indicate that Jesus isn’t actually on David’s throne.

A predominant view of futurism believes that the Roman Empire will be revived, and then Jesus’ physical kingdom will come. A different analysis contends, that the evidence in Scripture points to a spiritual kingdom, not a physical reign of Christ on earth. There are many Scriptures in Jesus’ own words to defend this point of view. Here are a couple examples.

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Matthew 4:17 (NKJV)

This was an imminent declaration of the coming kingdom that would begin at Jesus’ crucifixion.

²⁰Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, The kingdom of God does not come with observation; ²¹ nor will they say, ‘See here!’ or ‘See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17:20-21(NKJV)

We will look at more kingdom Scriptures in the next chapter, for now let’s continue with Daniel.

⁴⁵Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this.