The Apocalypse Revisited: Unveiling the Alternate Realities and the Long Period of the Last Days

By Dr. Reginald O. Crosley

After two thousand years of history in which we have faithfully expected the Second Coming of Christ, we have met with recurrent disappointments. Why is that? At the beginning of the end of the ages that is the first century of the Christian era, the apostles and the early Christians were living with the expectation of an imminent return of Christ. Jesus himself was expecting a quick return, but the Father had a different planning. At the end of the first century, the Father revealed to John the content of a scroll with Seven Seals. That scroll outlined the main events that will occur in every century of the Christian era. A thorough review of the manifestations of the Seven Seals in every century is exposed in my book. We also call attention to Gods judgments upon the whole creation in the visible and the invisible worlds.

The Apocalypse Revisited introduces us to two realms of reality . It is written to make the symbols , the visions, the personalities and the time-table of historic events accessible to the readers.
We should no longer establish dates for events that are kept secret by the Creator . Also some events described in the Apocalypse are already occurring in history. The very end of the cosmos and the earth is not around the corner. It is in the future probably after a thousand year following Armageddon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781543440270

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Copyright © 2017 by Dr Reginald O. Crosley.

ISBN:                  Hardcover                     978-1-5434-4025-6

                            Softcover                       978-1-5434-4026-3

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KJV

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.

NKJV – New King James Version

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Rev. date: 09/14/2017

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Contents

Foreword

Preface

Chapter 1     John’s Close Encounter with Christ

Chapter 2     Christ’s Judgment upon the Churches

Chapter 3     Introduction to the Source of Alternate Reality

Chapter 4     The Mystery of the Seven Seals

Chapter 5     The Opening of the Seventh Seal and the Blowing of the Seven Trumpets

Chapter 6     The Rapture at the Seventh Trumpet

Chapter 7     What is the Nature of the Beasts?

Chapter 8     The Seven Wraths of God

Chapter 9     The Millennial Kingdom

Chapter 10   The Great White Throne Judgment and the New Creation

Chapter 11   The New Heaven and the New Earth

References* And Bibliography

Other Bibliography

Brackets inside some quotes have been added by the author for clarity.

The author has added italics to words in some quotes for emphasis.

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Foreword

W hy do we revisit the book of Revelation? Being the most difficult book of the Bible and of the New Testament in particular, the Apocalypse of John has been studied extensively by all generations and all denominations in every century of our era. During that long period that constitutes the last days, many Christians saw some signs of the blueprint and scenarios predicted in the book of Revelation, but the main event—the Parousia or the Second Coming of Christ in person—did not come to pass. The twentieth century is a case in point with world wars, atrocities, persecution of Jews and Christians, a powerful Antichrist promising the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, and other minor Antichrists claiming to be Yeshua or Jesus himself—such as the disastrous consequences in Waco, Texas, with David Koresh and Jonestown in Guyana with Rev. Jim Jones, for example. For many believers, the year 2000 was the target year for the return of Christ in power and glory, but there was no appearance of our Savior.

The blueprint for the events of history is spelled out in chapter 6 of the Apocalypse of John, and it covers the whole Christian era from the first century to the final one to come in the future. The book of Revelation is the direct communication of God the Father—Yahweh the Most High—to the Son, Jesus the Christ, concerning the remaining course of history and His plan of judgment and rehabilitation of the whole creation. The risen Christ, in turn, transmitted the revelation or the unveiling to the churches through the ministry of His angel to John the Elder. It is very important to recognize the role of the Father in transmitting that revelation (Rev. 1:1) to Jesus Christ.

The Apocalypse is also the unveiling to the churches of mysteries of God hidden to humanity and angels and now opened to us in the last days that started from the first coming of Jesus Christ in the first century of our era and down to the present.

The book also tells us about the hierarchy in the abode of God the Father in heaven, the position of the Holy Spirit in His seven manifestations, the central role of Jesus Christ in eternity and in time for the salvation of visible and invisible creatures (Col. 1:16 and 20), the entourage of God made of myriad upon myriad of angelic beings, and the presence of the twenty-four elders like Enoch and Elijah seated on their thrones, glorifying God.

The book tells us also of the final dissolution of the whole cosmos, the universe of galaxies, and the earth as we know them from the increase in knowledge predicted by the prophet Daniel for the last days. The conclusion of the scientists for the end of the cosmos differs from that of Yahweh the Creator, who can change time and space and all dimensions in creation.

By studying the events predicted in Revelation’s scroll of chapter 6 as they have occurred every century of our era, we can visualize what is waiting for us in the present and the future. My book gives an account of the main omens, calamitous events, world wars, epidemics, pandemics, earthquakes, tsunamis, persecutions, martyrdoms, the exodus, and the transmigrations of millions of people, races, or religions. All these, according to Jesus of Nazareth in the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s Gospel, are the beginning of sorrow.

In a century to come, we will see the seven-year period of God’s judgment upon the whole world. The calamities will be magnified; the final Antichrist and his triumvirate of evil will govern planet Earth. This period is also called the time of Jacob trouble (Jer. 30:7) when the triumvirate of Satan the dragon, the beast from the sea who is the Antichrist, and the beast from the earth that is the false prophet will have total dominion over the planet. Under their authority, the power of the holy people [shall be] completely shattered (Dan. 12:7), and it was granted to him to make war with the saints [Christians and Jews] and to overcome them (Rev. 13:7).

At the beginning of those seven years of Great Tribulation, God—Yahweh—will shelter 144,000 Jews in the desert, and by the middle of that period, God will shelter the Christians by the Rapture at the blowing of the seventh trumpet.

During the remaining 3½ years of the Great Tribulation, the seven bowls of the Father’s wrath will destroy our modern civilization and the configuration of the continents. The final blow will come at the Armageddon world war, pitting the Christ alone against the armies of the nations in the Valley of Megiddo in Palestine.

This will be followed by a period of reconstruction and rehabilitation of the planet while Satan and his cohort of rebellious angels will be imprisoned in the bottomless pit. This will lead to the dawn of the Millennial Kingdom lasting ten centuries. The end of that Millennial Kingdom will come when the Father God releases Satan from prison.

The wisdom of God is unfathomable. The permissive will of the Father lets Satan roam the earth to gather the nations for war against the imperial government of Christ and His saints. The wrath of God will fall on them as God’s fire annihilates them. In the wake of that disaster, God decides to annihilate the earth and the cosmos. The Father then proceeds to create a new heaven and a new earth in His eternity dimension. The old creation will be remembered no more (Isa. 65:17). The new creation comes under different principles and laws. There will be no degradation, no entropy, no quantum fluctuation or vanity, and no sin because the new creation is of the nature of God.

As we can see in following the blueprint of the Apocalypse of John, the end of the world, the earth, and the galaxies is not for tomorrow or in the next seven years. The premillennial disasters may come in our twenty-first century, but the annihilation of the universe is for a very distant future. There have been twenty-one centuries since we received that blueprint of history from the Father. So far, we are awaiting the second appearance of Christ. And He will come in the future to establish His Millennial Kingdom on earth. We will then inhabit this planet in the solar system for another ten centuries. Then after that, a new heaven and a new earth will be created for all eternity.

Preface

I n the Apocalypse Revisited , we follow the original interpretation of the early church or a premillennial point of view enlightened by the events of history as predicted by the Apocalypse of John itself. The book of Revelation outlined the course of history in the last days of man’s dominion on the planet.

For many of us, the last days or the end of the ages is scheduled to appear in some faraway century when, in fact, the last days began with the first coming of Christ in the first century of our era. In other words, the last days are what we call the Christian era.

The apostles and Christians of the first century AD believed that they were active in the period of the end, the final age. They were not mistaken. That explains in part their zeal in preaching the Gospel, in accepting martyrdom or ill treatment as their Savior was coming back quickly.

It is important to realize that the first coming of Christ was the onset of the end of the ages, as announced by the prophets of the Old Testament. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews put it clearly in this letter when he wrote, "But now once at the end of the ages, He [Christ] has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26). This is corroborated by John the Baptist, who began his preaching by announcing that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand (Matt. 3:3). The apostle Peter stated that Christ was chosen before the world foundation [was] revealed in those last days (1 Pet. 1:20). Also, Peter stated that the end of all things is at hand (1 Pet. 4:7). James in his Epistle warned his contemporaries that the end of all things is at hand … the Judge is standing at the door" (James 5:8–9).

The greatest event in the life of the church, which is Pentecost, came as predicted in the first century AD. And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17).

Furthermore, the book of Revelation uses many symbols, but some of them are expressions of an alternate reality or dimensions existing beyond time and space of ordinary reality. The seven churches in Asia Minor were real assemblies in that country, and John and the mother of Jesus lived in Ephesus, a place that was familiar to Paul and Timothy.

The problems or conflicts singled out in those seven churches testified of some historical realities. But besides these aspects, there was mention of beings of another reality presented as the angels of those churches. Those beings have specific duties as guardians of the assemblies. They are not the senior pastor or the archbishop of the churches. Their assignment can be compared to the archangels posted in the empires mentioned in the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. In the vision of the glorified Christ, they appeared as stars in his right hand, and the churches are symbolized as seven golden lampstands. The guardian angels of the churches are fighting the unseen wars raged against us by the allies of Satan or other powerful beings. The guardian angels are not always successful against the enemies. They often need a rescuer like Michael in the book of Daniel (Dan. 10:13).

We cannot see them in the fullness of their manifestation in part because we vibrate at a different wavelength. In order to see them, some changes have to take place in the frequency of our vibrations like when a believer is engulfed in the Holy Spirit. In the book of Revelation, John was allowed to have a vision of the glorified Christ when he was caught in the fullness of the Holy Spirit. In order to see more manifestations in God’s own dimension, John had to be raptured into heaven, where he heard a voice saying, "‘Come up here and I will show you things which must take place after this.’ Immediately [he] was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne" (Rev. 4:1–2).

Furthermore, the apostle Paul tells us in one of his letters that we are continuously at war with forces of the unseen world, beings more powerful than us: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).

In the alternate reality of heavenly places, John saw twenty-four elders sitting on thrones. They are glorified human beings from the time of Adam to that of John. They are not all Jews. They are from different nations of the world. Their names were not given to John. Some could be wise men of the patriarchal time, some from Israel or from the country of Job, and some were prophets from the history of the Jews.

John also described angelic beings of the classes of seraphim and cherubim around the throne of the Creator. They are covering angels like Lucifer used to be before his rebellion. John also described huge crowds of angels: The number of these was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands (Rev. 5:11).

Other beings from the alternate reality of creation are the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the earth. They are described or presented in symbolic imagery with complicated anatomy and hybrid shape and form. For some students of the scripture, they are just concepts or ideas of evil. But in the alternate realities of creation, we cannot simplify those beings as pure concepts. The book of Revelation introduces us also to other realms from the alternate reality such as the bottomless pit that is located inside planet Earth under the oceans or the lake of fire that is situated in the nuclear core of the planet.

From the bottomless pit will come an invasion of hybrid demons or evil angels that will torment humans for five months during the Great Tribulation period. Those are the locusts with venom like scorpions. Following that, another invasion of hybrid demons will come not to torment only but to kill a third of mankind also. That will be a huge army of two hundred million released from the bottomless pit. They are not pure symbols of evil deeds but real creatures locked up now in that part of hell called the bottomless pit. For some students, they are symbols of sophisticated modern weaponry and troops. However, they are real creatures of an alternate reality. Their end will come after the end of the Millennial Kingdom established subsequently after the war of Armageddon. With the elimination of the current universe, the bottomless pit and the lake of fire and death will disappear forever.

The next aspect of the book of Revelation to consider is the enlightenment of the course of history from the first century AD to the last century of our era that is still in the future. Throughout the course of the Christian era, there have been some groups of Christians that have expected an imminent return of Jesus Christ like the Apostles and the believers of the first century AD. Unfortunately, they died without seeing that blessed hope. They were not mistaken as the Christ Himself was expecting a "quick return. There must be a reason for that delay. The Father Himself is responsible for the delay because He has blinded the Jewish nation into rejecting Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah or King of the nation of Israel (Rom. 11:7–8). In Matthew 23:39, Jesus said to them, For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say ‘Blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord.’"

The drama in this situation is the will of the Father versus the will of the Son. Jesus could have come during the First Roman-Jewish War that saw the destruction of the temple, but the Father did not want this outcome. The Father’s own plan will be revealed to John about twenty-five years after the destruction of the temple. In that Revelation, He gave an outline of the rest of history in these last days or end of the ages. In the scroll with the seven seals, the Father opens to the Son the deep secrets of the future.

In all fairness, we have to acknowledge that the Son always warned the disciples that the time of His Second Coming is an event that will be decided by the Father: It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority (Acts 1:7). Also, Jesus told the disciples before His crucifixion that of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only (Matt. 24:36).

Now, in chapter 6 of the Apocalypse, we have an outline of what is going to take place in every century of the Christian era or these last days that constitute the end of the ages.

The symbols used in the outline are the horses leading in the opening of the seals. The first white horse symbolizes the formation of empires. Before the last days or the Christian era, in antiquity, we have the empire of Nemrod in Mesopotamia, the superpowers of the Sumerians, then the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Medo-Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans at the time of Christ. In the last days or in the period of the Christian era, the same ambition is manifested among the nations of the earth.

The second red horse signifies the wars among the nations, leading to a split in the Roman Empire into west and east, followed by the invasions of the barbarians that raised their own smaller empires. With the red horse, peace was taken out of this world, leading to continuous wars among the nations. There will be some relatively short periods of peace in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America that will be interrupted by the formation of new empires such as the Muslim Empire and the European empires. We had the Genghis Khan Empire, the Chinese Empire, and Attila the Hun’s Empire. With other barbarians came the empires of the Franks, the Anglo-Saxons, the British, and the Germans, and at one point, the Muslim Empire covered the East and Europe. The Ottoman Empire persisted up to the nineteenth century. The white horse is still galloping with the Napoleon French Empire, followed by the British Empire. In the twentieth century, Hitler conducted World War II to establish a German Empire that would last for a thousand years. We have had colonization of many nations by the European kingdoms in Asia, in the Middle East, in Africa, and in the Americas. In the twentieth century came the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union and the American Empire. Today, the Islamist terrorists are on the path to recreate a Muslim Empire.

The book of Revelation does not predict a lasting period