Bible Prophecy Explained

By Marcus Curtis

When many Christians think about bible prophecy, they are only concerned about two things. First, who is the Antichrist? and second, when will the second coming of Christ take place? There is so much more to bible prophecy than this. Many people are only interested in an escape when global apocalyptic events come upon us. Because of this, there is big money in predicting and writing about end-time events. Blood moons, the rapture, global governments, and doomsday scenarios sell lots of books. These books scare people but they also misrepresent bible prophecy. Many ideas and thoughts from books that were written in the 20th century carry over to our day and they have become traditional points of view. Books like “On Borrowed Time” and "88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be in 1988" are just two examples of errors found in 20th-century bible prophecy interpretation. There have been many wrong predictions!

To make matters worse there are different types of belief systems found in prophetic events and scripture is twisted to make these belief systems more believable. You can get lost just trying to understand the terminology found in these belief systems. Names such as Preterism, Historicism, Idealism, Futurism, Premillennialism, and Reconstructionist Postmillennialism are just some examples of the terminology found on this subject. People make things too complicated and bible prophecy is really not that hard to understand.

Bible Prophecy Explained seeks to explain all bible prophecy in laymen’s terms. The goal is to explain the terminology and provide a set of tools that the reader can use to come to their own conclusions about this subject. This book starts with the basics and helps those people who don’t know much about bible prophecy. It exposes the belief systems that came from charlatans trying to make a buck and reveals the true way prophecy is to be interpreted. It shows where some of these beliefs came from. Many of these modern-day biblical prophecy beliefs were never taught by the early church.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marcus Curtis
• Release date: Sep 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005195793

Marcus Curtis

Marcus Curtis has worked for a fortune 500 company for over 23 years. He has investments in the stock market and he has a diversified portfolio. Marcus has spent four years studying economics. He started his studies after the 2008 meltdown. Marcus is also a musician. He plays guitar, bass, and drums. He has studied a variety of styles some of which include Classical, Blues, Jazz, Ragtime, Contemporary Acoustic, Metal, Rock, Hard Rock. Marcus has also worked in several recording studios and today he operates his own home studio. He has done engineering work for musicians in the Tulsa area. Marcus also operates a music website dedicated to helping musicians

Book preview

Chapter One- Wrong Ideas Lead To Wrong Predictions

About the time of the end, a body of men will be raised up who will turn their attention to the prophecies and will insist on their literal interpretation in the mists of much clamour and opposition -Sir Isaac Newton 1642-1727

When it comes to bible prophecy, most people are only curious about two things. First, who is the Antichrist? and second, when is the rapture of the church going to take place? There is so much more to bible prophecy than this. Nowhere is the Bible more misrepresented by Christians than in the area of bible prophecy. There are so many wrong ideas and twisting of Scripture.

We need to understand that there is a certain way that Scripture fits together; a system that is used that makes every Scripture harmonize as one cohesive unit. This system is actually outlined in the Bible itself. Scripture is not meant to go together any other way. The Bible is not subject to personal allegorical views and private interpretations, yet if you look at modern books about bible prophecy you will find that many of these types of misinterpretations dominate the thinking among evangelical Christians today.

Isa 28:10 For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little. -ESV

Isaiah said line upon line, precept upon precept. He did not say number upon number as some seem to believe, trying to find hidden meaning in the way the verses are numbered. The numbering of Scripture was not an original part of the written Word of God, and first appeared in the Latin Vulgate in 1555 and in the English Geneva Bible in 1560 AD. There are many methods of interpretation used in modern day bible prophecy that have nothing to do with how the Bible is actually supposed to be interpreted, leading to many wrong conclusions. Let me give you a few examples.

William Miller used 2,300 year-days to calculate that Jesus would return in 1844. His theories helped to establish the Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and several other movements. This led to numerous predictions of Christ’s return. All of these dates have come and gone.

Edgar C. Whisenant was a former NASA engineer and Bible student. He predicted the rapture would happen in 1988, sometime between Sept. 11 and Sept. 13. He published two books about his theory. 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988 was one book, and On Borrowed Time was the other. These books were very popular in his day.

Harold Egbert Camping was an American Christian radio broadcaster. Beginning in 1958, he served as president of Family Radio. This was a California-based radio station group that broadcast to more than 150 markets in the United States. Camping predicted that Judgment Day would occur on or about September 6, 1994. When this date came and went, he revised the date to September 29th, and then revised it once more to October 2nd. In 2005 Camping predicted the Second Coming of Christ would happen on May 21st, 2011, whereupon the redeemed would be taken up to heaven in the rapture, and that there would follow five months of fire, brimstone, and plagues on Earth, with millions of people dying each day, culminating on October 21st, 2011, with the final destruction of the world.

His prediction for May 21st, 2011 was reported and broadcast across the nation due to a large-scale publicity campaign by Family Radio. They spent millions of dollars on this date as donations poured in from all over America. Many people sold their homes and gave their life savings for the cause of notifying people of the soon return of Christ. This brought ridicule from atheist organizations, and rightly so. It also brought rebuttals from major Christian organizations. After May 21st passed without the predicted incidents, Camping said he believed that a spiritual judgment had occurred on that date and that the physical Rapture would occur on October 21st, 2011, simultaneously with the final destruction of the universe by God. In many cases, Camping would use verse numbers to try and find hidden meaning in Scripture.

During the 20th century, many authors tied bible prophecy to current events, and this practice continues today. Bible prophecy books were big business, and a lot of money was made from failed predictions of the soon-coming end of the world. Speculation on the identity of the antichrist would also appear in these books. I remember reading a book in the 1980s that claimed that Nero would be resurrected as the antichrist. Other books claimed a coming pope would be the antichrist. Several American presidents were also suspected of being the antichrist. It was also widely taught that the antichrist would come to power and make a peace agreement with Israel that will last 7 years. Daniel chapter 9 was taken out of context and used for this belief. (More on this later)

The current global political environment was also a part of these failed interpretations. In the 1980s it was taught that the next important bible event to happen would be a Russian invasion of Israel. This is how God would ultimately destroy communism. These predictions used Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39 as their text. Nuclear war was another popular prediction during this time, especially during the height of the cold war. In the 1980s it was also taught that The European Union was the newly revised Roman

Empire, and each nation represented a toe from a statue belonging to the prophecy found in Daniel chapter two. When they would get to a ten-nation membership then we would see the fulfillment of the end-time kingdom. Today the European Union is made up of twenty-seven nations.

I remember learning about a teaching that said Apache helicopters were predicted in the bible. They used Revelation chapter nine. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. (Rev 9:3) The locusts were identified by these so-called prophecy experts as Apache helicopters.

I remember a church in northern California during the 1980s that claimed to be the man child spoken of in Revelation 12:5. They claimed they were going to be the ones to rule all nations with a rod of iron.

Rev 12:1 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.

Rev 12:2 She was with child. She cried out in pain, laboring to give birth.

Rev 12:3 Another sign was seen in heaven. Behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns.

Rev 12:4 His tail drew one third of the stars of the sky, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth he might devour her child.

Rev 12:5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God, and to his throne.

This showed a complete lack of understanding of this passage, but sadly this was not the only group to do things like this. I was in a Christian chat room on one occasion in the 1990s and there was a woman in there that claimed to be one of the two witnesses from the book of Revelation. She was going around blessing the members of the chat room proclaiming herself to be this prophet. When I challenged her she became defensive. When I started posting Scripture to prove my point and told her according to Scripture, she would lie in the street dead while people celebrated her death, she left.

Rev 11:3 I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred sixty days, clothed in sackcloth."

Rev 11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands, standing before the Lord of the earth.

Rev 11:5 If anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth and devours their enemies. If anyone desires to harm them, he must be killed in this way.

You can’t pull a Scripture out of context without knowing the meaning and claim that your church or this person is a fulfillment of that Scripture. Not only is that delusional, but this approach to bible prophecy is completely wrong and misleading. You can’t take prophecies that describe coming apocalyptic global events and use them for your own personal interpretation. The Scripture was never meant for this. It is your job to find the meaning, not make one up. You cannot interpret even one Scripture according to your own use, personal beliefs, or feelings.

Some people believe that all bible prophecy has already been fulfilled. They believe that the church has replaced Israel and the church is now the main focus of God. Israel has already fulfilled its purpose. This is known as replacement theology. Those who hold to this view tend to look at all bible prophecy in an allegorical sense. They believe that all prophecy has a hidden meaning and all prophecy is already fulfilled.

The really sad part is that many of these beliefs from the 20th century have been carried over to the 21st century and they are still believed by many Christians today. They have become traditional points of view even though many of these interpretations originated in the 20th century. You won’t find them among the early church fathers. In fact, you won’t find many of these views in the first 1800 years of Christian writings. Many of these literal beliefs have their origin within the last 200 years and most of them emerged in the 20th century. Many of the allegorical beliefs emerged more than 300 years after Christianity was an established belief system and they were never taught by the early church

This practice of deceit has not stopped. New books regarding blood moons and close fulfillments of prophetic events fill Christian bookshelves today. Even though they draw big money, many of these books are nothing but Cahn jobs as they put forth false teaching inciting fear, and the real goal is the pursuit of financial gain. In my view they spread massive amounts of misinformation, adding fuel to the fire of the many false narratives while serving to discredit real bible prophecy.

Today, if you were to study all the different belief systems found on the topic of bible prophecy, by the time you were done you would be so confused you would not know what or who to believe. The false teachings and failed predictions found in bible prophecy books have led many to reject the Bible altogether. Is it any wonder when Christians point to bible prophecy as proof that God's word is real, they are met with ridicule, doubt, and skepticism?

All the false teaching on this subject has caused an incredible amount of damage to people’s faith. People sold their homes and acquired a massive amount of debt due to many of these failed predictions. Some people put off education or learning trade skills to get a good job due to some of these beliefs. They felt that there was no time to pursue a normal earthly life. Time was short. Everything was going to end soon.

Something needs to be done to straighten out all of the misconceptions and false teaching. That is the reason for this book. Join me now as we explore real bible prophecy and expose all the myths. We will start by laying a simple foundation for interpretation. We will then look at the prophecy that has already been fulfilled. This will serve as a guideline to help us interpret future prophecies. We will expose many of the myths and misconceptions that were invented in the last 200 years, while at the same time explaining the true meaning and context of prophetic Scripture.

Most of the Scripture we quote will come from the World English Bible (WEB) unless otherwise noted. The reason for this is because I wanted to use a modern translation without the problems associated with copyrights. The WEB is the only version that allows me to do this. Whenever I quote from another version, I will note what version the quote comes from. I am limited because of the copyright laws associated with the newer versions. We will be quoting a large amount of Scripture. A secondary source will be the King James translation. Many of the prophecy books from the 20th century used this version.

We will ultimately discover that the bible interprets itself and there is no need for hidden meanings. Much of the Scripture can be taken in the literal sense. It’s really not that complicated. During this journey, we will discover that the bible can be pressed and questioned, and it will hold up to the toughest scrutiny. It is absolutely amazing how detailed these bible predictions can be, yet every detail is fulfilled no matter how small.

We will conclude with a final assembly of all the coming bible events into a last days timeline, but the ultimate goal is for you to interpret the meaning for yourself and come to your own conclusions. With a proper foundation and an understanding of hermeneutics, you will acquire the skills necessary to be able to spot false and misleading events as outlined by self-proclaimed bible prophecy experts.

At this point, I should talk about whose authority I am speaking with. A lot of people will casually say God told me, or they will say this is what God says. They claim that God is leading them to interpret these prophecies. I want to make it clear before we go any further that I am speaking from my own opinion of what I believe the Scriptures mean. Yes, I studied and prayed about this topic all my life, and yes, I believe some of this is personal revelation. However, I am not speaking on behalf of God as if He is telling me what to say or what to write. I am not a prophet. I am expressing my personal views.

I am simply speaking what I believe to be true. I am merely trying to understand a complicated subject while applying proper hermeneutics. I say this because a lot of Christians talk about bible prophecy and other things about God’s word and then say they are speaking for God by proclaiming thus saith the Lord while expressing their opinion in an attempt to make their personal opinion valid. I don’t want to make that same mistake or leave that same impression. This is merely what I believe about bible prophecy. So, with this disclaimer out of the way let’s begin.

Chapter Two- Laying A Basic Foundation

Many people look for hidden meanings in Scripture because they view all Scripture as allegorical. This system of belief is the worst form of misinterpretation out there. I was amazed to find all of the doctrinal differences that exist within bible prophecy. To get a basic foundation and understanding all we need to do is keep it simple. So, if you don’t know anything about bible prophecy you are in luck, because we are going to start at the very beginning. We just need to set some guidelines and explain how all of this works. The first thing we need to do is to establish the terminology associated with bible prophecy. This will help us to understand the names that have been given to various belief systems.

Eschatology

Eschatology is a major branch of study within Christian theology. Its focus is the study of end things, whether the end of an individual life, the end of the age, the end of the world, and the nature of the Kingdom of God. All end-time bible prophecy is considered to be part of a study in eschatology.

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics is the theory, principle, and method of text interpretation. When applied to the interpretation of bible texts it is the study of how to understand the Bible. While this can be a detailed topic, here are some basic principles for hermeneutics:

1. Seek to understand the author’s meaning. Don’t seek to put meaning into the text. You should pull meaning out of the text.

2. All Scripture must be taken in its proper context. The culture of the time the book was written, the time frame the Scripture is referencing, the author’s intent, and the Scripture surrounding the verses you are quoting are all taken into account when you determine the Scripture’s meaning.

3. Always compare Scripture with other Scripture. There is a certain way Scripture fits together. You cannot force a Scripture with one meaning into another Scripture that has a different meaning and is referencing something entirely different. One Scripture says Judas hung himself. Another Scripture says go ye and do likewise. You will have issues if you put these two Scriptures together because they don’t belong together. This is why Isaiah says line upon line, precept upon precept.

4. Determine the literal references of figures of speech. When the Bible is speaking in an allegorical sense it will let you know. Words such as like, as, or as it were, are used to convey allegory. Just because some Scripture is allegorical does not mean all Scripture is allegorical. In Rev 6:12 and the moon became as blood means the moon turned red in color. It does not mean the moon became a giant mass of blood. This is where the literal does not apply. I know I am using basic examples but you get the idea.

There are no contradictions! Through experience, I have found that if you think you have a contradiction in Scripture then you more than likely have the wrong hermeneutic.

Eight Key Concepts

Here are the eight key concepts that we will put into practice to help us in our understanding of bible prophecy.

1. The Bible Interprets Itself. This is an important one. Whenever you see Scripture that you don’t understand, just mark it in your mind and keep reading. Let me give you an example. In the book of Daniel chapter 2, Daniel reveals a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. then he gives the interpretation.

Dan 2:36 "This is the dream; and we will tell its interpretation before the king.

The same thing happens throughout Scripture. Prophetic visions are given, followed by interpretation. Sometimes the interpretations for visions might be found in another part of Scripture. This is especially true with the New Testament. We constantly read about prophecies that were fulfilled that were declared in the Old Testament. Don’t make up interpretations, especially if you don’t know the meaning.

2. Some Bible prophecy came by visions and dreams. There are two main ways we received prophecy in the Scriptures. The first is by vision or dreams.

Dan 7:1 In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed. Then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters.

Dan 8:1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.

3. Prophecy also comes by spoken word. Luke 21:5,6 As some were talking about the temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts, he said,

As for these things which you see, the days will come, in which there will not be left here one stone on another that will not be thrown down.

Here we see Jesus is speaking of the literal destruction of the temple which happened years later in 70 AD. under Titus.

4. Some Prophecies come by visions, but not all visions are prophetic. While it is true that some prophecies come from visions, that does not mean every vision in the Bible foretells a future event. Look at the vision Isaiah had.

Isa 6:1-3 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.

Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.

One called to another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!

Here we see a vision that reveals the glory of God. This is not some future glory; this is here and now! The point is this. We need to look at the vision very carefully and decide if it is meant to describe a future event or to reveal a hidden truth of some sort. It might surprise you to know that some of the prophecies in Revelation are not describing a future event at all. (More on that later)

5. Don’t separate the book of Revelation from the rest of the Bible. This is a mistake that a lot of people make. I saw this play out in a few different bible prophecy books. For every Scripture found in Revelation there is another Scripture somewhere else in the Bible that unlocks the meaning. Many Scriptures in the Old Testament explain what Revelation is all about. Revelation is the number one book on prophecy for our time. To unlock its meaning, we must look to other Scripture outside of Revelation.

I do not believe Revelation in a total allegorical sense. I believe that many parts of this book are describing actual events in the literal sense that will take place. The biggest mistake people make about this book is assuming that the whole thing is allegorical simply because they don’t understand its meaning! Some things are allegorical in Revelation, but so much of this book is literal.

6. The Bible is not subject to private interpretation. There is a certain way that Scriptures fit together. It won’t fit together any other way. Imagine a jigsaw puzzle on a table. Each piece of the puzzle represents a Scripture. That one Scripture can only be surrounded by other pieces that fit. That will bring a clear part of the picture into view. If you force pieces together any way you want then you will wind up with a distorted picture that makes no sense. You can’t take a border piece of the puzzle and force it to go with a piece from the middle of the jigsaw puzzle.

Yet this is how many people interpret bible prophecy. It only works when all of the pieces of Scripture are properly aligned with each other - line upon line, precept upon precept. Each verse is another piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately, there are a lot of distorted pictures presented in prophecy books, giving a wrong view of bible prophecy. This makes a lot of people write off bible prophecy as hokum and superstition.

7. You’ve got to have a basic understanding of history. Imagine you are at a huge shopping mall. You’re looking for directions. You come across a huge map that is hard to make out. You are trying to get a fix on your location but you don’t know where you are. All of a sudden you see a little red dot that says You are here. Now the map begins to make sense. You know where you need to go, and now you know the route to get there. Now imagine this same scenario, but this time the only thing on the board is a red dot with the words you are here. The outline of the mall is missing. This is a great example of what it is like to learn bible prophecy without a basic understanding of history.

You really can’t tell where we are going until you see where we are. You can’t tell where you are until you see where you have been. When you get a fix on your location in the timeline then you will have a better understanding of prophecy. You will see more clearly where we have been and where we are going. This is the important role that history plays in bible prophecy. A general knowledge of history will lead to a better understanding of bible prophecy. For this reason, we may start off going through historic events before we cover some of the prophecies found in this book.

8. Israel is at the center of most bible prophecy. This is our last key concept. The nation of Israel is the focal point of a lot of prophecies. This is why you need to have an understanding of Israel’s history, not only in bible times but also in the last 150 years. Many end-time prophecies are directed toward the nation of Israel, the Jewish people, or the church. You need to know which group the prophecy you’re reading addresses.

Different Views on Prophecy

Before we go any further let’s discuss the terminology that explains different prophetic belief systems. Sometimes people will use these terms and if you don’t know the meaning then things can get confusing.

When it comes to bible prophecy there are a few different points of view. I am just going to lay them all out here in this chapter, and then we will cover this in more detail as we go. Chapters 4 through 19 of Revelation have had four main views throughout church history.

VIEW 1. Preterism: Believes that all of the prophecies in Revelation have already occurred. This view believes in a 1st-century AD fulfillment concerning the literary text. According to this view every event has already been fulfilled. Some of the events listed in Revelation could be symbolic of other past events, thus taking a symbolic interpretation of certain scriptures. This view breaks down into two types - Partial Preterism and Full Preterism

Partial Preterism: Believes that most prophecies found in Revelation were fulfilled in the first