REVELATION: FALL OF JUDEA, RISE OF THE CHURCH
Copyright 2009 Maurice A. Williams
EXCERPTS FROM PROFESSIONAL REVIEWS OF MY BOOK:
Richard R. Blake of ReaderViews.com says: “[Williams] presents his case in an orderly, logical way. Williams has opened my eyes to an amazing new appreciation of first century followers of Christ.”
Melissa Levine of IPBookReviewers.com says: “Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church will challenge the standard interpretations of the book of Revelations and open up discussions among Christians and non-Christians about the manifestation of the last days as recorded in the Bible. The author weaves an intricate web through the history of Judea as it relates to the four winds and the three woes to make his case against the futurist theory of revelation, the prediction that atrocities of the last days are yet to come.”
Michael Dunford of MidwestBookReviews.com says: “Have the events outlined in the book of Revelations already occurred? ‘Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church’ is an examination of that claim, explaining that all of those events have occurred in ancient and more biblical times, hence why the world is so engulfed in religious turmoil today. Looking at the early fall of Judea, the naming the Messiah, and the thousand years that followed, ‘Revelation’ is a different look at Christianity, refreshing and highly recommended.”
Amanda of GetBookReviews.com says: “Revelation: everyone talks about it, everyone speculates, but what is the history? What do we know for sure? No matter what religion you believe, this book will open your mind and your heart. Maybe it will challenge your beliefs or prove them more concrete, but you will gain insight and knowledge of history and faith. A history lesson and bible lesson all mixed into one, Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church is a great read for believers and non-believers alike.”
John Weaver of PageOneLit.com in an author interview says: "’Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church’ is very well written -- Who was John the Baptist? Who were the Judeans?”
Dr. Bennis, reviewing for Bookreview.com says: “In this ambitious work (an earlier edition of my work), Williams takes on a challenging subject in a masterful and unusual way. Not only does Williams describe in detail the political, financial and social woes suffered by Christian devotees in the years directly following the crucifixion, he ties together well-documented historical events that match Revelations 4 through 16. This book is a MUST HAVE for any true biblical scholar. It is an even-handed, well-written look at a subject that is too often moved from research and faith to pure fiction.”
Deborah Porter, reviewing for Faithwriters.com (of another earlier edition of my work) says: “In communicating this alternate view, Maurice Williams has done a credible job of presenting a case for believing that many, if not most, of the events outlined in the Book of Revelation took place during the time of Christ and the Apostles. [His book] may very well broaden your thinking to at least consider that there are other possibilities. I could be wrong, but I believe the author would be quite satisfied knowing his book had achieved that purpose.”
Links to all the reviews and available on my website
http://www.mauriceawilliams.comthrough the link “Professional Reviews of All My Books” in the left-hand navigation column.
INTRODUCTION – Chap. 1
The farther we get from Revelation’s composition, the more conflicting are the interpretations. Of the four major schools of interpretation: preterist, futurist, spiritual, and allegorical, the futurist interpretation is, today, the most widely accepted. It was popularized by Hal Lindsey in the 1980’s and now by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins, whose thirteen-volume series “Left Behind” has sold millions of books. Their adding fictional characters and presenting the interpretation as historical fiction very effectively popularized the futurist interpretation.
But is it correct? The notion that righteous people are suddenly taken during the proposed rapture, no matter what they are doing, even flying airplanes or driving cars, exposing those left behind to plane crashes, train wrecks, and highway accidents makes one wonder. How many righteous pilots do we have? How many unrighteous would die in crashes while the righteous are raptured? The authors propose that infants and young children are raptured because they are too young to sin. However, the people left behind will have children who are just as innocent. Why will those children not be raptured? Might the original visions be more symbolic and not written to be understood so literally? For example, the description of locusts as huge mechanical grasshoppers seems far-fetched.
Preterists claim many of the predicted visions were meant for people who first heard them preached. This position makes more sense. To recognize how plausible the preterist theory is compared to the futurist theory, we would have to be as familiar with the events of that time period as we are with our own “current events.” Curious, I spent many years studying the “current events” of the early Christian era to see if there are reasonable connections between those early events and the visions. I found compelling connections.
In 2004, Hank Hanegraaff and Sigmund Brouwer co-authored “The Last Disciple” series, published by the same publishing house that published the “Left Behind” series. “The Last Disciple” and “The Last Sacrifice” are the first two volumes in a series of historical fiction novels that propose a preterist interpretation. Hanegraaff and Brouwer have generated much interest and debate among readers over which interpretation makes more sense. Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church will present a fresh preterist interpretation of Revelation. It will start by examining the conflicting opinions of highly trained Biblical scholars. It will scrutinize Scripture verses relevant to the original intent of Revelation and compare them to available historical documents.
Although many Biblical scholars claim that John the Evangelist wrote all of Revelation at Patmos in A.D. 96, some Biblical scholars claim that the Evangelist did not compose chapters 4 through 11. John the Baptist was the source of those chapters. J. M. Ford in the Anchor Bible’s commentary, in the volume entitled Revelation, supports this claim (Ford, pp. 3, 28). She concurs with Boismard, Hopkins, and others that Revelation chapters 4–11 and 12–22 were the oral preaching of John the Baptist and reflect his own and, later, his disciples’ understanding of “He that cometh” before Christ began his public ministry (Ford, p. 3). Doyle, in his 2005 interpretation of Revelation, agrees with Ford (Doyle), p. xii) and states that Revelation was written over a thirty-year period, with many additions, insertions, and elaborations (Doyle, p. 97).
If these scholars are correct, these visions were not composed after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, but were composed before Christ began his ministry (Ford, p. 50). This seems to be supported by Scripture. “John (the Baptist) beareth witness of him, and crieth out, saying: This was he of whom I spoke: He that shall come after me, is preferred before me: because he was before me” (John 1:15). The big question is whether John preached only a few sentences, or did he preach chapters 4 through 11. I think John preached a very clear explanation of whom and what Christ is. Chapters 4 through 11 contain that clear explanation.
Ford suggests that chapters 12–22 were composed at a later date (in the mid 60’s) but still had their initial origin from the Baptist’s disciples who predicted the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Ford suggests that chapters 1–3 (the letters to the seven churches) were added last by a Jewish Christian disciple who knew Jesus Christ (Ford, p. 3). There is no doubt that disciple was John the Evangelist. Ford cites a nine-page “General Selected Bibliography” containing books and articles discussing Revelation (Ford, pp. 58–66).
Without getting into too much detail, the evidence Ford cites shows that the Greek writing style in the Evangelist’s Gospel, his epistles, and the letters to the seven churches is very much different from the Greek writing style in chapters 4 through 11 (Ford 43). The possibility that chapters 4 through 11 originated with John the Baptist before Christ began his ministry is the key I used to relate those visions to events when Christianity first started. If John the Baptist preached chapters 4 through 11, then these visions were meant for first-century Judeans, not for Gentiles living twenty centuries later.
What a simple yet eye-opening insight! These visions were meant for Judeans before they heard Christ’s preaching. They are the final revelation of the Old Testament, given by John the Baptist, the last Old Testament prophet, whom Christ said was the greatest of the prophets. These visions exemplified how the Baptist understood Christ. They include the last warning to the Judeans to be ready when the Anointed One arrives. The warnings seem stern, but the Messiah is already on earth. It’s too late to reject the Messiah. Within a few years of the Baptist’s ministry, the Messiah will appear in person. These visions in chapters 4 through 11 (the four winds and three woes) weren’t meant for latter-day Christians; they were meant for first-century Judeans.
Researching this book included reading many history books to see if Revelation could compare to historical events of first and second‑century Judea. There is a point-by-point relationship for chapters 4 through 16. Chapters 17 through 20 predict what Christ’s Church will experience from its inception to the final judgment. Chapters 21 and 22 describe how the Church and God’s heavenly kingdom will be in eternity. When John the Evangelist put all the visions into writing, many events and disasters the Baptist warned about had already taken place. John the Evangelist was an eyewitness to them. The Evangelist’s written text also warns us Gentile nations that we will face similar disasters if our nations are not ready when Christ comes the second time just as the Judean nation was not ready when Christ came the first time. That does not, however, diminish the primary application of the four winds and three woes to first‑century Judea. Here is how these visions compare to that time period.
The real tribulation started when Christianity started, and it struck the Judean people who tried to destroy Christianity. That tribulation literally destroyed the Judean nation. With Judea no longer a threat, Christianity survived. The four winds and three woes took place during the first and second centuries. Nero sent Vespasian to subdue Judea. His son, Titus, destroyed the Temple. Josephus, Tacitus, and Suetonius and other early historians describe the historical events. The destruction of the Temple and the events preceding it fulfilled the four winds and two of the three woes. The third woe took place in A.D. 131–5 when Bar Kochba was accepted as the Messianic King. He liberated Judea and established “The First Jewish Commonwealth.” The present Israeli government, incidentally, is “The Second Jewish Commonwealth.”
Hadrian assigned Severus to crush the revolt. Severus invaded Judea and utterly destroyed Bar Kochba’s army and the nation of Judea. The Judeans not killed were deported to other lands and foreign people were brought in. For many centuries, the Jews were a small minority in their ancestral homeland. For example, in 1856, out of a total population of a few million, only 10,500 Jews resided in their ancestral homeland (Harel, in Oesterreicher, p. 147). I contend that Judea’s destruction by Severus was the historical fulfillment of the Third Woe.
Revelation also predicts the rise of the Church and the release of Satan one thousand years later to deceive the nations. Deception is the key issue. I think the deception occurred during the events leading to the Reformation. These events occurred approximately one thousand years after the Church became the universal religion of the converted Roman Empire. The Reformation marks the beginning of a serious splintering of the Church and Christian beliefs into the thousands of conflicting beliefs and dissenting churches we have today. This deception has become so entrenched today, that many formally Christian nations tell us that we are now in the post-Christian era. The same nations, today, promote and encourage many non-Christian beliefs and practices, presenting them as a more modern approach to religious expression. This book will explore the release of Satan and the deception of the nations.
Shifting from the above brief introduction, let us imagine John the Baptist when he began his ministry. Coming from the hot desert, he might seek the cooler areas along the Jordan. He would, perhaps, set down his walking staff, motion to attract attention, and start describing his visions. This last prophet of the Old Testament provided vivid clues showing the relationship between the people God created and their creator. God sent an angel, even before John's birth, to announce John's special mission. After his birth, when John was still a child, he went to the desert. There he began preparation for his mission. Angels taught him through visions. His visions probably clarified what he should say when announcing the coming Messiah. Symbols and images within visions can easily teach concepts that are true about God, not as the concepts are themselves because John would not have understood them that way, but in a symbolic way that John could understand. Like, for example, the way we represent water by the symbol H2O.
Everyone knows that H2O is a molecule of water; yet, the visual symbol only partly resembles a molecule of water. One could go further and draw a symbol showing the nucleus of an oxygen atom surrounded by eight electrons. The oxygen nucleus lies between two nuclei of hydrogen atoms, each with one additional electron. All three nuclei share the ten electrons, which align to form two orbits around the oxygen. Two electrons are in the inner orbit; eight in the outer orbit. Now we have a more meaningful visual symbol that shows more detail about a molecule of water. Even if it is more meaningful, however, this new symbol is still not exactly like a molecule of water because the human eye cannot see a molecule of water. This is a limitation of our human nature. We cannot see things that are that small. Even if we became small enough to see them, a molecule of water would still not look like the visual symbol. It would look more like the solar system with immense space between the electrons and the nuclei of the atoms.
In spite of our human limitations, however, God has no problem infusing knowledge into prophets' minds. Nor do prophets have problems getting the knowledge across to their listeners. All we need do is listen with an open heart. John the Baptist is the Messiah's herald, the one sent to make the Messiah's arrival known so that people might recognize him. This voice in the wilderness, speaking with Elijah's spirit, saw visions similar to what earlier prophets had seen. John's visions made it clear that the Awaited One had finally arrived. The visions showed John what the Awaited One's arrival portends for the Judean people and for the whole world. Let us examine the Baptist’s first vision, a magnificent mental image, showing what God is like and the relationship between God and the promised Messiah.
Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church
Copyright 2009 Maurice A. Williams
http://www.mauriceawilliams.comLabels: Baptist, Futurist, LaHaye, Lindsey, Preterist, Rapture
THE BAPTIST’S VISION OF GOD AND CHRIST – Chap. 2
Many commentators view Revelation, chapter four, as prophesying future historical events. Understanding that John was taught through visions, and that the symbolic images in a vision can say much more than words, the following verses look very much like a symbolic vision revealing whom the coming Messiah is and his importance to God.
REVELATION 4:1–11
1 After these things I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven, and the first voice which I heard, as it were, of a trumpet speaking with me, said: Come up hither, and I will shew thee the things which must be done hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and behold there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne one sitting.
3 And he that sat, was to the sight like the jasper and the sardine stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the seats, four and twenty ancients sitting, clothed in white garments, and on their heads were crowns of gold.
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there were seven lamps burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
6 And in the sight of the throne was, as it were, a sea of glass like to crystal; and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes before and behind.
7 And the first living creature was like a lion: and the second living creature like a calf: and the third living creature, having the face, as it were, of a man: and the fourth living creature was like an eagle flying.
8 And the four living creatures had each of them six wings; and round about and within they are full of eyes. And they rested not day and night, saying: Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, who is, and who is to come.
9 And when those living creatures gave glory, and honor, and benediction to him that sitteth on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever;
10 The four and twenty ancients fell down before him that sitteth on the throne, and adored him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honour, and power: because thou hast created all things; and for thy will they were, and have been created.
The Baptist sees a throne with someone seated on it. In a circle around the throne John sees twenty‑four kings. Alongside the throne, he sees four living creatures. What the Baptist sees is a vision of the Most High God showing who and what God is. It is a theophany, a manifestation of God through visible symbols, to show what is not visible. The Father is the central person and appears in imagery already familiar to the Judean people as one whose face gleams like precious stones. Surrounding the Father is the Holy Spirit, shown symbolically as a group of kings who wear gold crowns. From the central throne come flashes of lightning, voices, and peals of thunder.
This vision is a mental image of God using symbols to get the details across. It is not actually what God looks like, because God does not look like anything. There is nothing visible about God. The Father does not look like a man seated upon a throne served and adored by heavenly beings. But there is something about the concept of a king who is worshiped and served by other kings that shows the dignity and majesty of the Father. The flashes of lightning, voices, and peals of thunder that come from the central throne show the Father's power. Many years earlier, lightning, thunder, and voices showed the Israelites God's power when God spoke on Mt. Sinai:
And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared; and behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounding exceeding loud, and the people that was in the camp, feared (Exodus 19:16).
Using more imagery familiar to Judeans, the vision shows the Son or the Word as four living creatures that stand between the Father and the twenty-four kings. The four living creatures stand around the central throne, one on each corner. They are covered front and back with eyes and have six wings. Each one looks different: one looks like a lion, another like an ox, the third like a man, and the fourth like a flying eagle.
The Word does not look like four living creatures that seem so powerful, but there is something about the concept of such beings that shows the Word's power and ability. The ancient Hebrews, as well as other Middle-East peoples, had adapted the imagery of four mythical beings to represent their concept of unlimited power. There are four beings to show that the power extends to the four corners of the earth. The faces show the nobility, strength, wisdom, and agility behind that unlimited power; the wings show its speed; the ubiquitous eyes, its all‑seeing and ever‑present knowledge. These are the attributes of God. This is what comes out in the concept of the beings: the awesome majesty and power of God that resides in the Word. Here is similar imagery used hundreds of years earlier by the prophet Ezekiel:
And I saw, and behold a whirlwind came out of the north: and a great cloud, and a fire infolding it, and brightness was about it: and out of the midst thereof, that is, out of the midst of the fire, as it were the resemblance of amber: And in the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures: and this was their appearance: there was a likeness of a man in them. Every one had four faces, and every one four wings . . . And as for the likeness of their faces: there was the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side of all the four: and the face of an ox on the left side of all the four: and the face of an eagle over all the four . . . And the living creatures ran and returned like flashes of lightning . . . And over the heads of the living creatures was a likeness of the firmament, as the appearance of crystal terrible to behold, and stretched out over their heads above . . . And above the firmament that was over their heads, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of the sapphire stone, and upon the likeness of the throne, was a likeness as of the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as it were the resemblance of amber as the appearance of fire within it round about: from his loins and upward, and from his loins downward, I saw as it were the resemblance of fire shining round about. As the appearance of the rainbow when it is in a cloud on a rainy day: this was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the vision of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And I saw and I fell upon my face (Ezekiel 1:4–28 & 2:1).
This vision shows the Father who rules, carried about by the Son, or the Word, the person who has unlimited power, knowledge, and swiftness to do the father's will with the speed of lightning. Most of us know from our Christian faith that they are both the same God. But God's nature is so far superior to ours that we cannot understand how one being can be more than one person. The mystery of God's true nature is what makes these visions so difficult to interpret. It makes sense that the prophet who paved the way for God's chosen Messiah understood this relationship.
But there is more. The Holy Spirit is present in John's vision. The twenty‑four kings praising the Father and the Son is a mental image of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not look like twenty‑four kings because the Holy Spirit is a single person, but the mental image of many kings voicing homage and love for a superior king who has unlimited power and knowledge is a useful image. It gives clues about the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit loves and serves the Father and the Son. They in turn love and serve the Holy Spirit. The boundless love and happiness within them permeate all creation through the activity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit moves humans to express the same love, happiness, praise, and adoration that flourish within God.
The image of twenty‑four kings points out this influence upon humans. The symbolism stems from the Israelite tradition of appointing twenty‑four priests to represent Israel in the Temple service (1 Chron. 24:19). It could reflect also the twelve tribal fathers of the first‑covenant through circumcision plus the twelve apostle‑fathers of the second covenant through baptism. The Son was promised to Israel, so Ezekiel saw a vision showing the Son's relationship to the Father. The Holy Spirit will shortly be promised to the baptized, so John (the baptizer) sees a vision showing the Holy Spirit's relationship to the Father and to the Son. The Son loves the Father and never stops singing songs of: "glory, and honour, and benediction to him that sitteth on the throne, (and he adores him) who liveth for ever and ever." And as he sings, the Holy Spirit joins in to worship the Father who is worthy: "to receive glory, and honour, and power: because thou hast created all things; and for thy will they were, and have been created."
REVELATION 5:1–7
1 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and without, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel, proclaiming with a loud voice: Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
3 And no man was able, neither in heaven, nor on the earth, nor under the earth, to open the book, nor to look on it.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open the book, nor to see it.
5 And one of the ancients said to me: Weep not; behold the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6 And I saw: and behold in the midst of the thrones and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a lamb standing as it were slain, having seven horns and seven eyes: which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne.
The king representing the father holds a book in his right hand, a book written within and without and sealed with seven seals. This must be an important document because it is sealed. That is the way contracts or covenants were documented in biblical times. I think this document is a symbol of God's intentions in creating the human race and what God expects from us in return. Since it is a contract, someone else must open it and comply with its conditions. We should be able to do that. But as it turns out no one on earth, in heaven, or under the earth can open it. No angel, no human, no one can meet the conditions. But the lamb can. The lamb is Jesus.
Jesus is the "the lion of the tribe of Juda, the root of David." He is the Word made flesh. In our human flesh, Jesus will be slain. John sees him "standing as it were slain." After his death, Jesus, the lamb, will be taken bodily to heaven and will sit—in our flesh—at the Father's right hand, the rightful position of the Son, the executor of the Father's will. The lamb, Jesus, will, even in our flesh, be given what belongs to God: power, divinity, wisdom, strength, honor, and benediction. He lives in intimate union with God, so intimate that it is impossible to separate him from God, so much so that, in fact, he is God. John recognizes this in the lamb's seven horns and seven eyes, which he understands to be the seven spirits of God.
REVELATION 5:8–14
8 And when he opened the book, the four living creatures, and the four and twenty ancients fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints:
9 And they sung a new canticle, saying: Thou art worthy, O Lord, to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; because thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, in thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,
10 And hast made us to our God a kingdom and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.
11 And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures, and the ancients; and the number of them was thousands of thousands.
12 Saying with a loud voice: The Lamb that was slain is worthy to receive power, and divinity, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and benediction.
13 And every creature, which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them: I heard all saying: To him that sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb, benediction, and honour, and glory, and power, for ever and ever.
14 And the four living creatures said: Amen. And the four and twenty ancients fell down on their faces, and adored him that liveth for ever and ever.
Jesus, the lamb that is worthy to open the book, is so highly worthy that the twenty‑four kings and the four living creatures worship him and repeat to him the prayers of saints. This shows that he is somehow united with the divinity of God. The sealed book covers the conditions of God's gifts to us humans. We exist. We have immortal souls. We are created in God's image. And we have one superlative thing outranking everything else God gave us: the gift of freedom. Freedom gives us the ability to act without compulsion to obey God, if we choose, or—God help us all—to disobey.
The human race could have been created to share in God's good works and yet be incapable of disobedience. People would be happy under those circumstances, but they would be different from us. If we freely and deliberately choose to obey God, we have a dignity unattainable by those who cannot choose. This is a priceless gift: probably the main reason we can claim that we are created in God's image. The sealed scroll symbolizes the terms and conditions of this precious gift. We may choose to disobey. If we choose to disobey, our choice will unleash horrors upon our fellow humans and ourselves because disobedience to God has horrifying effects. Once these horrors are set free, no human, no angel, no one in heaven (other than God), on earth, or under the earth can undo the resulting damage. No one, that is, except the Lamb. The Lamb is Jesus who is the promised Messiah. He is David's descendant and a human being like us. The Lamb, Jesus, is worthy to open the book and comply with the conditions.
However, Jesus the Lamb is also the Divine Son, the Word, the one who has power to do anything God cares to do. Together (because you cannot separate them: they are both the same person), this person, through his human nature, which John had already recognized before both of them were born (Luke 1:44), meets God's conditions. So at the beginning of human history, this person, through his divine nature, opens the contract and makes everything ready for us humans to obey or disobey as we exercise our freedom. Our disobedience will set into motion events that are contrary to God's decrees. Once in motion, these events will cause chains of additional events that have widespread, long lasting, and horrifying effects. As the scroll is opened and humans exercise their freedom, the Word calls forth the famous four horsemen. These are symbolic mental images used to personify the flow of natural consequences set in motion as humans’ exercise their private wills during the term of the contract.
This all started at the beginning, for in the beginning the first human beings God created disobeyed. It will run through this present life from the beginning to the end of time. God will then remake the world, rewarding and punishing all persons according to how they used their freedom during the term of the contract. Revelation chapters four and five were John the Baptist’s method of describing the coming Messiah and showing the relationship the Messiah has with God
Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church
Copyright 2009 Maurice A. Williams
http://www.mauriceawilliams.comLabels: Baptist, God, Israelites, Judeans
THE WORD UNLEASHES THE FOUR HORSEMEN – Chap 3
REVELATION 6:1–8
1 And I saw that the Lamb had opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures, as it were the voice of thunder, saying: Come, and see.
2 And I saw: and behold a white horse, and he that sat on him had a bow, and there was a crown given him, and he went forth conquering that he might conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature, saying: Come, and see,
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and to him that sat thereon, it was given that he should take peace from the earth, and that they shall kill one another, and a great sword was given to him.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying: Come, and see. And behold a black horse, and he that sat on him had a pair of scales in his hand.
6 And I heard as it were a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying: Two pounds of wheat for a penny, and thrice two pounds of barley for a penny, and see thou hurt not the wine and the oil.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature, saying: Come, and see.
8 And behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon him, his name was Death, and hell followed him. And power was given to him over the four parts of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The horrors symbolized by the horsemen are fourfold. First is the horror of human ambition that refuses to serve God and demands to be served by others. It rides out of the human heart, like the white horse, in a spirit of conflict and envy, conquest and tyranny, exploitation and greed. The second horror is the reaction of humans who, not willing to serve God, are hardly likely to accept servitude to other humans. Their resentment will speed through the world, like the red horse, in a wave of rage calling for resistance and war. The third horror is the result of such activities. The tasks God requires us to do remain undone, and what we have already accomplished is attacked and destroyed. Ruin results and famine, blind terror, and despair. These spread behind the combatants like a black scourge that afflicts the innocent as well as the guilty and ruins everyone's happiness. In the wake of these three comes the fourth horror: sickness and death, the pale horse. This is the worst horror of all: humans seemingly abandoned by God, torn from the joys of this life and thrust into the unknown terror of death.
Such are the immediate risks of granting humans freedom, but there are more. Many will die; all will suffer if humans abuse their freedom. And God will punish the abusers. The lamb's opening of the seals, unleashing each horseman, represents the Son's divine nature. The Son, as God, created all of us and keeps us in existence as we disobey and spread havoc. The ability, the power for anyone to do anything comes from God. This, in a way, makes God our accomplice. It is our will that chooses to act but God's power that keeps us in existence and functioning as we actually carry out our deeds. This power comes through the Son, who unflinchingly carries out the Father's will that we have genuine freedom.
In a very real sense, the Son's divine nature is crucified against each person's freedom. The Son is immobilized from enforcing God's will by a perfect compliance with the free will given us, even our will to disobey. If the Son, clothed with God's divine nature, were to refuse cooperation with our freedom, then we might want to disobey, but we would not be able to carry it out. We have the guilt for all our sins because we willed to disobey, but Jesus in his divine nature is involved because we draw upon his power when we carry out our disobedience.
In his divine nature, therefore, Jesus is somehow implicated in our sins, but he is not guilty of sin. We are. In his human nature Jesus, the Lamb, will accept our guilt as well, and will suffer the same penalty we must suffer: conflict, persecution, hunger, hatred by others, abandonment by the Father, and physical death. He will merit forgiveness for all, not so much by the magnitude of his own sufferings but by his perfect and flawless acceptance of his Father's will.
REVELATION 6:9–11
9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held.
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying: How long O Lord, (holy and true) dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
11 And white robes were given to every one of them; and it was said to them, that they should rest for a little time, till their fellow servants, and their brethren, who are to be slain, even as they, should be filled up.
There have been many martyrs. The prophets sent preaching obedience met resistance, persecution, and murder. God's own Son, when sent, will meet the same. Many whom the Son will later send will also be martyred, sacrificed, that God might not have to withdraw human freedom. In the end God will have to anyway. Those individuals who do not wish to obey will, in the fullness of time, be forced to obey by God's unyielding and everlasting power. Until then, those who have been martyred must wait while even more are martyred until the time given the human race has reached its full.
Anybody who suffers because of another person's sin is a sacrifice. This sacrifice is not unacceptable to God. If it were unacceptable, God would prevent it, and all human suffering as well, by refusing to tolerate any disobedience. Do you wonder why God exposes so many people to martyrdom, and why God tolerates so much human suffering? This is the enormous price we all pay for the preservation of freedom.
REVELATION 6:12–17
12 And I saw, when he had opened the sixth seal, and behold there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair: and the whole moon became as blood:
13 And the stars from heaven fell upon the earth, as the fig tree casted its green figs when it is shaken by a great wind:
14 And the heavens departed as a book folded up: and every mountain, and the islands were moved out of their places.
15 And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and tribunes, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of mountains:
16 And they say to the mountains and the rocks: fall upon us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17 For the great day of the their wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?"
When the Lamb opened the sixth seal, John looked and saw the whole world in turmoil. There was a great earthquake. The sun became black. The moon looked red as blood. Stars fell from the sky. Everything in nature shook when God revealed what was yet to come as the debt for human freedom mounted. People screamed in terror when they saw it. If it were possible, they would have burrowed under mountains to hide from the face of him that sits upon the throne and from his wrath. The havoc caused by the continued misuse of freedom will escalate until it becomes intolerable. It will ruin all nature if it continues; but more important, it will, if people do not stop, move beyond the bounds God placed upon human disobedience. At that point, God will stop it, for the great day of wrath will have come.
The vision of the ancient one has been interpreted in this chapter and the preceding chapter. He is surrounded by twenty‑four kings and four living beings that appear to have unlimited power. This vision represents God. It uses symbols people can understand, similar to the way a molecule of water is represented by symbols. It shows the three persons in the one God and some activity of the three persons. And it uses symbols the Judean people should have understood, since many of the symbols had already been used in previous revelations.
The Lamb is in the visions. The Lamb is related to the three persons, especially to the four living creatures. The four living creatures represent the second person, the Word, the Son of God. The Lamb is worshiped within the Godhead because the Lamb is the Word's incarnation. John the Baptist was the Lamb's herald, so it is not surprising that the Baptist would open his ministry describing who the Lamb is. The Lamb is ready to begin his ministry. John's mission was to prepare the Lamb's way.
The Lamb will be accepted by some and rejected by others, who will kill him. Why is that? The vision provides an insight into this when the scroll is opened to release the four horsemen. The four horsemen symbolize the horrors unleashed upon the world if humans abuse the freedom God gave them. This freedom is dependent upon the Son. In his divine nature, the Son grants every person existence and provides the ability and the continued existence for every person to perform deeds, even if those deeds be disobedience.
Disobedience brings suffering to humans and to God, if God could suffer. But how could God suffer? Jesus Christ is truly God, and yet he is fully human as well. In his human nature, Jesus really did suffer, for his crucifixion and death really happened. He suffers today also in the extension of his human nature through those who have been baptized. They are a part of him, as branches are part of a vine. They suffer. He suffers. All humans suffer because of the abuse of freedom by those who do not obey God as they should. This suffering is symbolic of the underlying relationship that the Son, in his divine nature, has with each person. The Son is crucified against our will by his own perfect and flawless obedience to his father's will that we all be granted genuine freedom.
As a human being, he was willing to endure suffering and death rather than call us to judgment. But in his divine nature, he will not accept our disobedience forever. God always revealed from the very beginning that we would be held accountable. Each of us will be brought to judgment. That warning is in these visions. God will requite all people according to their deeds. It will be a terrible day then, the day God makes retribution for each person's disobedience.
These visions were preludes to Christ's ministry. They nudged people who were already seeking God. The visions drew upon biblical traditions, using symbols already used by Old Testament prophets; to clarify whom Christ is and what relationship Christ has with God. Even David, long before Christ's time, had been inspired to comment that the promised one, though to be a descendant of his, was still his own Lord. He wrote in Psalm 109:1 "The Lord said to my lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.'" Jesus will affirm this during his ministry when he asks his critics: "If David then call him Lord, how is he David's son? They couldn't answer and didn't dare ask any more questions after that." (Matt. 22:45–6). Jesus will say the same thing about Abraham when he tells his critics that their father Abraham "rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad" (John 8:56). It is this Lord, the Lord of David and Abraham that the Baptist announced. Jesus really is Lord of King David and our Lord as well.
Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church
Copyright 2009 Maurice A. Williams
http://www.mauriceawilliams.comLabels: Freedom, Lamb, Martyrs, Seals
SEPARATING BELIEVERS FROM UNBELIEVERS – Chap. 4
The mission of the promised one was to gather the faithful from the “elect,” the descendants of the Israelites. The Baptist describes that happening in the following verses.
REVELATION 7:1–8
1 After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that they should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor on any tree.
2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the sign of the living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea,
3 Saying: Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we sign the servants of our God in their foreheads.
4 And I heard the number of them that were signed, an hundred forty-four thousand were signed, of every tribe of the children of Israel.
5 Of the tribe of Juda were twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Ruben, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand signed:
6 Of the tribe of Aser, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Nephthali, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Manasses, twelve thousand signed:
7 Of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand signed:
8 Of the tribe of Zabulon, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand signed: Of the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand signed.
The whole purpose of the covenant God made with Abraham was to prepare the way for the savior God promised to Adam and Eve. The savior is Eve's seed. He will repair the damage caused by Adam and Eve's disobedience. God called Abraham to cooperate in fulfilling this promise. Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and Jacob (later renamed Israel) would become a chosen nation, the progenitors of the Savior. They were to abide by a covenant that they sealed with blood through circumcision. To fulfill their part, they were to live according to God's precepts. To fulfill God's part, God would bless them and make them a holy nation, a light, an example of holiness to the other nations. In the fullness of time, God would bring out of their nation the promised one, the savior of all. There was great blessing attached to obedience to this covenant and dire consequences threatened for disobedience.
Now is the fullness of time. The Messiah is about to make his impact on history. He will go first to the descendants of Israel. He will call out of the twelve tribes all who will follow him. John describes a vision relating to this. Four angels stand at the four corners of the earth. They hold back the four destroying winds while another angel marks God's servants with a seal. A voice calls from the twelve tribes those who want to serve, twelve thousand from each tribe.
Filled with Elijah's spirit, John the Baptist spoke to all Judeans to prepare them to believe. He announced not just the coming of the promised one, but the fact that he is here. He is already at the door. He will start his ministry before the Baptist is finished. Shortly after that, God's judgment will fall upon those who do not believe. I can imagine the urgency with which the Baptist preached. The time is now! Turn away from your sins! Repent and accept baptism! Be ready when he comes! This portion of Revelation was part of the Baptist’s earliest preaching. His bold and imaginative words struck a chord deep in the minds of those who were pious. He cited biblical prophecies to show all Judeans how to recognize the Messiah. To those who were not pious, he warned what will happen should they reject the Messiah. The things he warned about are direct consequences of humanity's abuse of freedom. All humans must face those warnings, but he spoke first to the Judeans.
God had already called their ancestors through the covenant made by Abraham and ratified in every household by circumcision. They were to be a light to the other nations. They were expected to live as examples of God's holiness and to prepare, not only in their mentality, but even in their bloodlines for the Messiah, the king and redeemer of everybody. It was not likely that all Judeans would accept Jesus Christ. Like other nations, they had never agreed unanimously in the past. But this is Judea's moment of decision. If the Judeans choose right, they will experience the blessings God promised. If they choose wrong, they will experience the punishment the prophets, and John also, prophesied.
The punishment will be due when the Messiah is rejected and slain, but it will be postponed for a short time. This will insure that all Judeans will have had enough time to hear the Messiah's call, ponder it in their hearts, and decide whether they can believe. The forces bent upon destroying Judea: the rivalry of hostile pagans, Rome's oppression, the resentment and hatred of Zealots ready to start war—all are halted. God is doing this to allow Judeans sufficient time to make their choice to become sealed with the Lamb's sign, the Lord's baptism.
Not all Judeans will recognize the promised one and accept baptism, but John predicts that many would. John's vision uses a traditional way of expressing a large number. Not merely a thousand from each tribe, No! The traditional way the Judeans expressed a large but unspecified number was to say there would be twelve times a thousand. One hundred and forty‑four thousand will be sealed. This merely means that many descendants of Israel will believe.
I now compare events that occurred in Judea following Christ's death and the Church's birth to certain visions in Revelation. I want to show how the warnings of the early visions come true when the unbelieving Judeans oppose the Messianic kingdom set up by Judeans who do believe. The Judean believers began their mission to preach the good news at Pentecost. That was when the Holy Spirit descended as a wind and hovered above each apostle as a tongue of fire. Peter, strengthened by the spirit, went outside and talked to people who had been attracted by the commotion. He converted three thousand. After that, the apostles boldly went to the Temple and preached the good news. Every day, they baptized more converts.
The Temple leaders opposed them from the first. One day the leaders arrested them. That same night, an angel helped them escape. The next day they went back to the Temple. They were again arrested. This time the Temple leaders wanted to execute them, but Gamaliel talked them out of it (Acts 5:33). In spite of this opposition, Christianity spread rapidly in Jerusalem. By A.D. 35, Saul, leading those who did not believe, tried to end Christianity through a persecution. He had Stephen stoned. He then arrested the followers of Jesus, even within their homes, and brought them to trial. Those, who could, fled Jerusalem looking for safety throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. Their example and preaching spread the Gospel to all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob everywhere they went.
During this time, Philip the Apostle went to Samaria where, among other things, he converted Simon, the pagan magi. When the other Apostles heard of it, they sent Peter and John to pray that the Samaritans might also receive the Holy Spirit. Philip then went south to Gaza then worked his way back north to Caesarea. He baptized everyone who would believe.
Saul went to Damascus intending to arrest Judean Christians who had fled there. Half way there, Saul met the resurrected Jesus who asked him to explain what he was doing. This miraculous encounter caused Saul to believe. He then tried to convince others. For this he, himself, became ostracized and persecuted by those who continued in their unbelief.
Four years later (around A.D. 42) King Herod Agrippa moved against the Apostles. He ordered James executed. Encouraged by the approval of those who did not believe, Agrippa ordered Peter arrested. Again an angel released Peter, and the harvest of Judea continued until all who would believe were marked by baptism.
REVELATION 7:9–17
9 After this I saw a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and in sight of the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands:
10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying: Salvation to our God, who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb.
11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the ancients, and the four living creatures; and they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God,
12 Saying: Amen. Benediction, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, honour, and power, and strength to our God for ever and ever. Amen.
13 And one of the ancients answered and said to me: These that are clothed in white robes, who are they? and whence came they?
14 And I said to him: My Lord, thou knowest. And he said to me: These are they who are come out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he, that sitteth on the throne, shall dwell over them.
16 They shall no more hunger nor thirst, neither shall the sun fall on them, nor any heat.
17 For the Lamb, which is in the midst of the throne, shall rule them, and shall lead them to the fountains of the waters of life, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
When the harvest from Judea is completed, there still will not be the full number of those who should follow Jesus because not all the circumcised accepted him. They all were invited, not only from Judea but even their ancestors from all twelve tribes. They were all expected to prepare the Messiah's way and embrace him when he comes, but the descendants of ten tribes were already lost to history because of their ancestors' unfaithfulness. Of the two tribes that remained, some individuals accepted Jesus and some did not. So, just like the parable of the supper feast (Luke 14:21), God will send his servants to invite everyone they see so that there might be full attendance.
In his vision, John the Baptist saw not only the elect, but also others joined to the elect. These others are too many for anyone to count. They are from every nation and from all tribes, peoples, and tongues. They are, therefore, not Judeans. They are believers from the Gentile nations. St. Paul’s ministry fulfilled this vision. He openly claimed that Jesus inspired him to convert Gentiles. But Jesus also inspired St. Peter to convert Gentiles. St. Peter first understood this when God sent a vision to advise Peter that, contrary to the dietary laws given Moses, Christians may now eat all kinds of animals, reptiles, and birds. Immediately after this vision, Cornelius, a Gentile, sent word for Peter to come and talk about God. Peter went.
While there, Peter gave the first recorded missionary sermon to Gentiles. He saw evidence that the Holy Spirit moved his Gentile listeners. This convinced him that the Spirit given the circumcised is also given to the uncircumcised when they believe (Acts 11:17). During the first Judean persecution, the one that started in A.D. 35 when Stephen was martyred, many believers had fled Judea. When they settled down in foreign countries, they told the "good news" to Judean people who had previously gone to those countries. One group, however, which had gone to Antioch, told the good news to everybody. They won enough pagan converts that within several years their congregation had many Gentile as well as Judean Christians. When news of this reached Jerusalem, the apostles sent Barnabas to investigate. He rejoiced to see what had happened and then went to Tarsus to fetch Paul.
This is an irony of history because it was Paul who, before his conversion, caused the Judean Christians to flee Jerusalem. When he pursued them, he met the risen Christ and was converted. He then went to Jerusalem to preach Christ and encountered the hostility of those who did not believe. They thought him a traitor. Peter advised Paul to return home and wait for further instructions. This same Paul is now asked to minister to a unique congregation that resulted from his conduct before his conversion. He accepted, of course, and began his ministry to the Gentiles.
With the Antioch congregation firmly rooted, Paul then started his missionary journeys. His first journey, around A.D. 43, took him to Greece, Cyprus, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe. He made many Gentile converts in those areas, bringing pagans directly into the Church. This caused confusion among the Judean Christians and outrage among the unbelieving Judeans. Both groups were concerned about the status of circumcision and the law regulating food and daily customs. Does the Church believe they are no longer binding? The Council at Jerusalem resolved this question in A.D. 49. This is mentioned in Acts 15. The council's decision of what should be binding upon Christians is also mentioned:
For it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us, to lay no further burden upon you than these necessary things: That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication; from which things keeping yourselves, you shall do well. Fare ye well (Acts 15:28–29).
This settled matters for the Judean Christians but not for the non‑Christian Judeans. Their indignation and hostility grew as they saw those who had accepted Christ freely associating with Gentiles and bringing Gentiles into the synagogues. At that time, Christianity was still a sect of Judaism; the Christians still attended meetings in the synagogues.
Paul continued converting more Gentiles in Syria, Turkey, Greece, and Italy. He, more than any other apostle, spread the gospel directly to the uncircumcised, the others who through baptism were joined to the elect. This is how the others came to join the elect, the others who are too numerous to count. This gathering of a great multitude from all nations, tribes, and tongues is still in progress.
Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church
Copyright 2009 Maurice A. Williams
http://www.mauriceawilliams.comLabels: Baptist, Elijah, Eve, Gentiles, Israelites, Jacob, Paul, Peter, Philip, Saul
The Four Winds: Tribulation for Judea – Chap. 5
REVELATION 8:1–2
1 And when he hath opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as if it were for half an hour.
2 And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets.
Seven angels are given trumpets. When they blow their trumpets, God's wrath, previously restrained by four angels, will descend upon the unbelievers permitting a series of calamities described as the four winds and three woes.
REVELATION 8:3–5
3 And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God.
4 And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel.
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake.
The elect who do believe, especially those martyred, offer prayers to God. Their prayers, like Abel's prayers, are accepted. An angel adds incense to signify that angel's prayers are added. The angel then casts the fire of God's wrath upon the earth. Then seven other angels begin one by one to release the four winds and three woes.
REVELATION 8:6–12
6 And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound the trumpet.
7 And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the earth, and a third part of the earth was burned up, and a third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
8 And the second angel sounded the trumpet: and as it were a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and a third part of the sea became blood:
9 A third part of those creatures died, which had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed.
10 And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on a third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of water:
11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And a third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.
12 And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet, and a third part of the sun was smitten, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like manner.
These verses describe angels blowing the first four trumpets, notifying other angels to release, one by one, the four winds. The angels had been restraining the four winds while other angels gathered and sealed the elect as described in the previous chapter. Now the four winds are set loose. Through graphic visual symbols, we can see their effects on earth.
The first wind drops flaming hail mixed with blood to scorch the earth. The second wind hurls a burning mountain into the sea, turning the sea into blood. The third wind drops a flaming star named "wormwood" from the sky. It poisons the water. The fourth wind darkens part of the sun, part of the moon, and a third of the stars.
These images of physically dangerous things are really symbols of invisible dangers. They symbolize the dangers facing people who do not believe and are fighting against those who do believe. The unbelievers did not recognize their day of visitation, and this bears consequences. The four winds describe those consequences as coming from four symbolic sources. I think they can be understood as:
(1) Affliction from fallen human nature arising from human injustice. This is symbolized by hail and fire mixed with blood.
(2) Affliction from fallen angels, involving their conceits and their temptations of humans. This is symbolized as a burning mountain cast into the sea.
(3) Affliction from Judea’s subversion of the high destiny given it by God. Judea diverted its destiny inward toward human self‑interest and poisoned toward God's interests. This is symbolized as the fallen star "wormwood."
(4) Afflictions from ignorance of God's Will as Judeans drift further and further from understanding what God, through their cooperation, wants to do. This is symbolized as a darkening of heaven.
This chapter will highlight historical events between the crucifixion and the fall of Jerusalem, and compare them to the four afflictions. These four afflictions build up simultaneously as the Judeans react to the situation in which they find themselves. The afflictions intensify as the Judeans rebel against Rome. Then the afflictions (the four winds) give way to the three woes, which bring disaster for the whole country.
Many popular interpretations cite the four winds as the "great tribulation." They predict it will come just before Christ returns to establish the millennial kingdom. I think Christ’s kingdom is already here. Christ’s kingdom is Christ's reign with the righteous already in heaven guiding and protecting us struggling on earth. The heavenly souls already possess power and authority over Satan and the fallen angels. Christ will return to earth again, probably soon, not to start the millennial kingdom, but to conclude it and judge everyone God created.
When that time comes, the Christian nations might not be ready for his return. A profound rejection of Christianity permeates the western world. When the Lord does come, Gentile nations are not likely to be any more ready than Judea was the first time he came. The Gentile nations might experience their own "great tribulation." But the Judeans experienced it first. And their experience is itself a prophecy of what the later-day Gentile nations are likely to experience. Part of it is described as a darkness caused by diminished light from the sun, the moon, and the stars. This is symbolic of spiritual darkness.
A darkening of the spirit was the first problem the unbelieving Judeans faced after the crucifixion of Jesus. Their leaders who had rejected Christ bribed the soldiers guarding the tomb. They wanted the soldiers to say they fell asleep and, while they slept, someone took Christ's body. This false witness is against the Commandments. It leads to alienation from God—and spiritual darkness.
The Temple leader's insistence that Jesus is an impostor leads to an argument with the Apostles Peter and John. This happened shortly after Pentecost when Peter and John healed a lame man and then said Jesus did the healing. The Sadducees brought them before the Sanhedrin. During the trial, Annas and Caiaphas said: "What shall we do to these men? For indeed a known miracle hath been done by them, to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem: it is manifest and we cannot deny it" (Acts 4:16). The Temple leaders warned Peter and John not to speak in the name of Jesus. The Temple leaders' refusal to deal openly and sincerely with an obvious "miracle" will alienate them from God. It is exactly the way unbelievers dealt with the prophets. The darkness intensifies.
Two years later, the Temple leaders jailed some apostles, but an angel released the apostles that night. Arrested again the next day, these apostles went to trial. In their testimony they offended the Sanhedrin by referring to Jesus as the man "you killed." Some members of the Sanhedrin demanded death. Gamaliel, a highly respected Rabbi, advised against it:" . . . for if this council or this work be of men, it will come to naught: But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it . . ." (Acts 5:33–9). Other Judeans, in contrast, were able to believe, priests as well as ordinary people.
Around A.D. 35, some men from the Judean sect of "freedmen" argued with the Christian Stephen. Others soon joined, but none could refute Stephen. So they lied that they heard Stephen curse Moses and God. The Temple leaders then brought Stephen to trial. In his testimony, Stephen described the history of Israel's relationship with God. In the middle, seeing that they disagreed, he accused them of resisting the Holy Spirit, disobeying God, and betraying and murdering the Messiah. Enraged, they covered their ears to hear no more, took Stephen outside, and killed him. The darkness spreads.
The Sanhedrin then ordered the arrest of all believers. The Christians fled Jerusalem and went to Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. When the persecution caught up with them there, they fled even farther into Syria, Phoenicia, and Cyprus. Saul of Tarsus, as dedicated a Pharisee as he will later be as a Christian, set off for Damascus to arrest Christians who had infiltrated the Judean groups there. He was converted on the way, and the persecution lost its driving force. By A.D. 38, the Church had peace throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria.
During the next few years, many Judeans believed the apostles and accepted baptism, but some pagans did also. This raised the question of circumcision and the dietary laws, as I discussed earlier. In A.D. 41, Peter's vision made him realize that Christians could now eat all animal flesh. This encouraged Peter to recognize that the old custom regulating what could not be eaten was no longer binding. He brought this up during the Council at Jerusalem. The other apostles recognized it also.
Their decision angered the Judeans who did not believe. They saw it as an example of how far this new sect had deviated from their traditions. As Paul begins his witness, he will emphasize that the Messiah came to fulfill and end the old covenant. The Messiah started a new covenant. The Judeans who could not accept Jesus as Messiah naturally could not accept the end of the Mosaic covenant (the civil and dietary laws, not the Commandments). Faith in Jesus had become the stumbling block to understanding what God is doing. Those who did not believe Jesus plunged deeper and deeper into spiritual darkness as they insisted that God had not made a new covenant through Jesus.
The Second trumpet describes a burning mountain cast into the sea. I think this alludes to afflictions caused by fallen angels who tempt humans into serving them as gods. I want to provide some background on the Roman Empire before I try to explain this. Legend has it that Romulus and Remus founded Rome in 753 B.C. This is three hundred years after David centered his kingdom in Jerusalem. Before the founding of Rome, David's kingdom already fell apart because the Israelites were not faithful to God. Twenty‑two years after the founding of Rome, the Assyrians destroyed most of the Israelite nation. A minority, a remnant (only two of twelve tribes) remained to bring forth the Messiah. History dealt differently with the Romans.
Starting in 753 B.C., the people who founded Rome gradually extended their influence into their surrounding areas. In 510 B.C., they changed the government from a monarchy to a republic, and the government remained a republic until Caesar's time. Though a pagan people, they brought a fair‑minded and sensible system of law and justice to the peoples they conquered. Roman law became so well accepted that even today much of European law is based on Roman law. The mountain spoken of in the second trumpet has been built.
Scripture sometimes refers to human societies as mountains. For example: "Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? Thou shalt become a plain: . . . " (Zacharias 4:7). "And thou son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say: 'Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord: . . . '" (Ezechiel 36:1).
I think "mountain" cast into the sea is used this way. I think the mountain is the Roman Empire. I have already outlined the development of the Empire from its humble beginning as a small city‑state to its vast expanse of power as an empire, a "mountain" compared to other human societies. The mountain of Rome developed problems with the Most High God. Those problems involved the religion of the Roman people. They thought Rome had a spiritual patron in a goddess they named Roma. Roma guided Rome through kings in the old days. Then Rome became a republic, then ruled by three men, then two, and finally by Julius Caesar. Julius Caesar assumed full control of the Empire and ruled as dictator, influenced and guided by Roma, for four years until his assassination in 44 B.C.
His successor, Augustus, at first said he wanted to restore the republic, but once in power he decided to rule as dictator, just like Julius Caesar. He then did something new. He proclaimed that Julius Caesar was a god. This gave Julius Caesar a status similar to the status of the goddess Roma. Augustus then took the title "Caesar," and ruled the empire in Caesar's name. It seems an interesting coincidence that the head of the Roman Empire should dare to claim that a human being is divine at the same time God is preparing to send the divine Son into the world as a human being.
This conflict between the aspirations of the Roman Empire and the aspirations of God is the reason God cast the "mountain" into the sea. I am sure it involved fallen angels who tempt the Roman people, especially the chief fallen angel, Satan. Behind the scenes, in the spiritual realm, God disciplined Satan and the fallen angels worshiped by the pagan empire. This is part of the binding of Satan described in Revelation. This was a long process, but it reached one crisis point in A.D. 41 during the reign of Caligula. This was fourteen years after Pentecost; the day the followers of Christ first began their mission to spread Christ's teachings. It is logical to expect that Christ was active behind the scenes at this time. He began the binding of Satan so that his teachings could take root.
Tiberius reigned after Augustus, and, in A.D. 37, Caligula reigned after Tiberius. Caligula was a young man, twenty‑five years old. He ruled with wisdom and benevolence his first year, then he fell ill. When he recovered, he seemed a different person. His actions were so bizarre and so cruel that many thought him insane. He was convinced he was a god already. He had a life‑size, gilded statue of himself placed in a Roman temple and authorized a priestly cult to lead public homage to it. Instead of discouraging him from pursuing this folly, many influential Romans encouraged him. They wanted appointments as priests to gain political advantage. The emperor Caligula was the first Caesar to proclaim his own person as a god. He was the first one the Roman people worshiped as a god while he was yet alive. The mountain is now ignited.
Though Caligula seemed benevolent his first year as emperor, he always had a vile character. Many Romans feared and hated Caligula. His Uncle, Tiberius, raised him. The first-century Roman historian, Suetonius, quotes Tiberius as saying that he: "was nursing a viper for the Roman people and a Phaethon for the world" (Suetonius II, p. 419). The Roman historian Suetonius describes Caligula's character this way:
So much for Caligula as emperor; we must now tell of his career as a monster (Suetonius II, p. 419). He lived in habitual incest with all his sisters, and at a large banquet he placed each of them in turn below him, while his wife reclined above. Of these he is believed to have violated Drusilla while she was still a minor, and even to have been caught lying with her by his grandmother Antonia . . . (Suetonius, II, p. 441).
Suetonius also reports that Caligula was fascinated by torture. When he was young, he often ate his meals watching the torture of prisoners. As an adult, he liked to watch criminals fed to wild beasts. He had so little self‑discipline that even pagans considered him depraved. During banquets, he flirted with his guest's wives. If he could entice one out of the hall, he would come back later with no attempt to conceal the seduction or how he compared her to other women.
In A.D. 41, shortly after Caligula authorized the worship of his own person, the people of Jamnia, a pagan city in the Judean heartland, built a sacrificial altar to honor him. The Judeans, offended by this blatant idolatry, tore it down. This angered Caligula. In retaliation, he ordered a large statue with his facial features to be placed in the Jerusalem Temple within the Holy of Holies. The Judeans resisted. They resolved never to allow this desecration. They were ready to risk war to prevent it.
This claim of divinity shows that something is wrong in the collective mentality of the empire. That collective mentality, previously like a mountain among the nations, is now ignited with the insane claim to be the Most High God. Caligula ordered Petronius, the military governor of Syria, to march troops into Jerusalem and forcibly place the statue in the Temple. When Petronius arrived, some Judeans stood in his path and shouted that they preferred death rather than let him pass. Petronius turned back. This shocked Caligula. He ordered Petronius to commit suicide. Before Petronius could comply, however, Caligula was assassinated. Caligula lived twenty‑nine years and ruled Rome for three years, ten months, and eight days. His death ends this crisis over his statue. His actions, however, made emperor worship an accepted practice in the empire. This paved the way for subsequent emperors to insist that they are divine. This caused serious tensions for all Judeans, including those who were Christian. Shortly after Caligula's death, the next emperor appointed Herod Agrippa I as king of Judea.
Agrippa was born around 10 B.C. His grandfather, Herod the Great, ordered the Christ‑child killed. His uncle, Herod Antipas, ordered John the Baptist killed. Agrippa's father, Aristobulus, was murdered by order of Agrippa's grandfather, Herod the Great. Agrippa, himself, will try to destroy the Church. God will strike him dead. When Agrippa was six, his mother took him to Rome to be raised in the imperial court. When he was a young man, he made friends with Caligula who was fourteen years younger. When Caligula was twenty‑five, the emperor Tiberius heard that Caligula plotted for the throne. Tiberius blamed Agrippa and put Agrippa in prison. A few months later Tiberius died. When Caligula became emperor, he released his friend Agrippa and sent him home as king of northern Palestine and southern Syria. Agrippa's uncle, Herod Antipas, feeling he was the legitimate heir, went to Rome to protest. Agrippa also went to Rome to present his case. Caligula sided with Agrippa. He deposed Herod Antipas and allowed Agrippa to annex Galilee.
Later, when Caligula was assassinated, the Roman senate planned to abolish the imperial throne and restore the old republic. Agrippa spoke before the senate and convinced the senators to accept Claudius as Imperial Caesar. This averted a civil war and made Claudius his friend. Claudius then rewarded Agrippa by adding Samaria and Judea to his kingdom. This now made Agrippa king of all Palestine and placed under his rule many Judeans and practically all Christians.
Agrippa proved more popular than his uncle or grandfather. His zealous observance of the Law and support for the Temple won him the people's admiration. His promotion of traditional Judean practices and repression of any violations won their love and loyalty as well. Later historians will refer to his reign as the last "golden age" of the Jewish people (Potok, p. 210). However, he was engulfed in the spiritual darkness of his times. He did not recognize his nation's day of visitation. Instead of believing that Christ is the promised one, he could only see that Christianity deviated from tradition; therefore, he suppressed it.
While Agrippa defended tradition (A.D. 41–42), the apostles, especially Paul, were saying that traditional customs (the religious rituals and dietary law—but not the Ten Commandments) have been abolished. The Messiah's followers could now eat foods their ancestors could not eat. They could accept pagans for baptism without first requiring circumcision. This increased the wedge between the Judeans who did believe Jesus and those who did not. Agrippa tried to force Christians to follow the old customs. In A.D. 42, he ordered James, the first bishop of Jerusalem, arrested for violating the old Law. Found guilty, James was executed. Public sentiment favored this action. Agrippa then ordered St. Peter arrested. The Lord sent an angel to release Peter (Acts 12:7 ff.).
The Church's future in Agrippa's kingdom looked bad. The Judean people, with Agrippa as their visible head, misunderstood the high destiny God had given them. They diverted their energies inward toward their own goals and became poisoned toward God's goals, as symbolized by the fallen star "wormwood." Soon after, in A.D. 44, Herod Agrippa fell dead, struck by God:
And he (Herod) was angry with the Tyrians and the Sidonians. But they with one accord came to him, and having gained Blastus, who was the king's chamberlain, they desired peace, because their countries were nourished by him. And upon a day appointed, Herod being arrayed in kingly apparel, sat in the judgment seat, and made an oration to them. And the people made acclamation, saying: It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And forthwith an angel of the Lord struck him, because he had not given the honour to God: and being eaten up by worms, he gave up the ghost (Acts 12:20–23).
Josephus tells the story in more detail:
Now when Agrippa had reigned three years, over all Judea, he came to the city Cesarea, which was formerly called Strato's Tower; and there he exhibited shows in honour of Caesar, upon his being informed that there was a certain festival celebrated to make vows for his safety. At which festival a great multitude was gotten together of the principle persons, and such as were of dignity through his province. On the second day of which shows he put on a garment made wholly of silver, and of a contexture truly wonderful, and came into the theater early in the morning; at which time the silver of his garment being illuminated by the first reflection of the sun's rays upon it, shone out after a surprising manner, and was so resplendent as to spread a horror over those that looked intently upon him; and presently his flatterers cried out . . . that 'he was a god;' and they added, 'Be thou merciful to us; for although we have hitherto reverenced thee only as a man, yet shall we henceforth own thee as a superior to mortal nature'. Upon this the king did neither rebuke them, nor reject their impious flattery (Josephus, II, p. 102 [Antig. XIX, VIII, 2]).
Josephus goes on to say that Agrippa looked up and saw an owl (some translators say the word was "angel" not "owl"). At any rate, it reminded Agrippa of a prophecy about himself that he had heard years ago and: “severe pain . . . arose in his belly, and began in the most violent manner." Five days later "quite worn out by the pain in his belly . . . he departed this life" (ibid.).
The fall of the first chosen and the elevation of those not chosen first is a common theme throughout Scripture. Cain's sacrifice was rejected. Abel's sacrifice was accepted. In a fit of poisonous jealousy, Cain murdered Abel. Esau traded his birth right as first-born to his younger brother for a bowl of porridge. When Esau realized that he forever lost his right as first-born, he was poisoned with rage against his brother (Gen. 27:41).
King Saul was God's choice as king of Israel. When Saul continually disobeyed, God told Samuel to anoint David and inform Saul that Saul is no longer king. Saul refused to step down. He burned with envy of the new king. Seeing how the people loved David, Saul often tried to kill him. Saul came to a sad end. Even his heirs were killed because of what he did (2 Sam. 21:1–9). When he heard of Christ’s birth, Herod the Great sent men to murder him. Herod also came to a sad end. Every one of his heirs that dared to sit on David's throne came to a sad end as well.
The angels who disobeyed God, Lucifer and the devils, were God's firstborn and were first in knowledge and ability compared to human beings. Satan's name "Lucifer," "bearer of light" designates Satan as the first of the first, probably the most splendid angel God created. Because of their disobedience, God drove the fallen angels from heaven. So it is not without precedence that Israel (God's first‑chosen) should lose place to another (the followers of Christ) because of disobedience.
The affliction that propelled Judea into political disaster was caused by the injustice of her neighbors. Like hail, their injustice pounded the self‑esteem of the Judeans. This injustice incited some Judeans into unjust reprisals of their own. There had been much friction between the Judeans and the pagan peoples within Judea. The Judeans wanted to be free of pagan influence. The pagans wanted one religion throughout the empire. Rome's use of vassal Judean kings instead of Roman administrators served to minimize the strife. When Agrippa died, Claudius sent a procurator to place Agrippa's kingdom under direct Roman administration. Claudius gave the new procurator more power than Pontius Pilate had. This ended any semblance of self‑rule for the Judeans. In desperation, they turned to armed revolt.
The new procurator, Cuspius Fadus, began his relationship with the Judeans by using military force to crush the revolt. The term of office was two years. Rome replaced Fadus in A.D. 46 with Tiberius Julius Alexander. Alexander was a Judean, but he had rejected Judaism and became a pagan. Rome replaced him two years later with Ventidius Cumanus. These new procurators used their appointments to enrich themselves and as stepping-stones to better assignments. This helped to create constant tension and political unrest.
Some unbelieving Judeans, bristling with nationalism and religious fanaticism, drew the uncommitted in one direction, while the apostles appealed to them from the opposite direction. Some extremists among the unbelievers claimed that God would bless any effort, endorse any method used to establish an independent Judea. Liberation of Judea could spread into Galilee, Samaria, and the surrounding nations. The entire area, they felt, the former kingdom as David and Solomon ruled it, might reassert itself under the leadership of a free Judea.
In this state of political tension, even a small spark can start a riot. A Roman soldier in Jerusalem insulted some Judean men by obscenely thrusting his breech toward them. Their reaction spread like fire. Before the riot was quelled, soldiers had killed many Judeans. Another time, also in Jerusalem, a Roman soldier unrolled a Torah scroll in public and burned it. Outraged Judean leaders went to the procurator's home in Caesarea and protested this blasphemy. After thinking it over, the procurator ordered the soldier beheaded rather than chance another riot.
Around A.D. 50, a terrorist group formed within the Zealot party. The Zealots sought Judean independence. They organized shortly after Herod the Great's death when Rome increased direct control over Judea. Simon the apostle was a former Zealot. This new group, unlike the original Zealots, used terrorism. They assassinated any prominent Judean sympathetic to Rome. Drawing small daggers, they, without any warning, stabbed their victims, even in public, and quickly vanished. The Latin word for dagger is "sica," so these terrorists became known as "Sicarri." Scripture calls them "the murderers" (Acts 21:38). The Sicarri justified their killing by claiming that any means, including terror tactics, may be used to help establish God's kingdom. Their motto was "terror may be used to oppose terror" (Zeitlin, III, p. 149). Though they claimed concern for the Judean people, they killed many Judeans, especially rich Sadducees.
The Sadducees did not believe in life after death, so they did nothing to prepare for the next life. All their hopes focused on worldly success. To preserve their wealth and social position, they were willing partners with Rome. Within twenty years, the Sicarri will have destroyed the entire Sadducee class—a telling example of affliction by fallen humans against those who did not recognize their day of visitation.
Agrippa's son was the last king of Herod's dynasty. The son was born in A.D. 17. Agrippa had his son educated in the imperial court in Rome. When Agrippa died, Rome bypassed his son, who was then twenty‑seven, and annexed his kingdom. But six years later, in A.D. 50, the emperor Claudius let Agrippa's son (known to history as Herod Agrippa II) succeed his uncle, Herod of Chalcis, who died in 48. Chalcis was a small kingdom in north Palestine.
Three years later, Claudius allowed Herod Agrippa II to exchange that kingdom for the one previously ruled by his great uncle Philip (whose wife lived with Herod Antipas). This new kingdom was northeast of the Sea of Galilee. A year later, A.D. 54 (I am getting ahead of myself now); the new emperor Nero will add Galilee and Perea. Galilee was to the north (above Samaria) and Perea was south along the Jordan's east bank and the northeast shore of the Dead Sea. Agrippa II will, by then, rule over many Judean people but not over the whole nation. He will never rule the whole nation. The Acts of the Apostles mentions him. He and his sister, Bernice, listened to St. Paul's testimony (Acts 25:23).
A few years later, in A.D. 55, Judeans and pagans rioted in Caesarea. Herod the Great had built the city and named it Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus. Rome used it as the administrative seat of Palestine. All the procurators made their headquarters there. It attracted a large Roman, and therefore, pagan population. The pagans and Judeans began to quarrel about whether Caesarea should be administered as a pagan or as a Judean city. Street riots erupted. The procurator Antonius Felix appealed to Rome. Nero decreed that it was a pagan city. Nero's decision made Judeans second-class citizens in their own country. Resentment spread throughout Judea.
Throughout these years, the Judeans heard this early portion of Revelation along with the oral Gospels and the Apostle's sermons. The Christians tried to convert as many Judeans as possible. They felt the Lord would return in their lifetime, so there was urgency in their witness: Believe! Believe now, and escape the wrath to come! Simultaneously, a different messianic hope spread among the Judeans who did not believe Christ. They expected the promised one to come, but not like Jesus. They expected him to come with power and glory. He would restore the Judean kingdom and usher in a new golden age. Many messianic leaders, or what the Christians would call "false messiahs," formed splinter groups at this time. Here are Josephus’ words about one:
But there was an Egyptian false prophet that did the Jews more mischief than the former; for he was a cheat, and pretended to be a prophet also, and got together thirty thousand men that were deluded by him: these he led round about from the wilderness to the mount which was called the Mount of Olives, and was ready to break into Jerusalem by force from that place; and if he could but once conquer the Roman garrison, and the people, he intended to domineer over them by the assistance of those guards of his who were to break into the city with him. But Felix prevented his attempt, and met him with his Roman soldiers, while all the people assisted him in his attack upon them, insomuch that, when it came to a battle, the Egyptian ran away, with a few others, whilst the greater part of those that were with him were either destroyed or taken alive; but the rest of the multitude were dispersed every one of them to their own homes, and there concealed themselves (Josephus, II, p. 260 [Wars II, XIII, 5]).
This messianist was mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles when Paul, during his trial by Felix, was asked if he were: “. . . that Egyptian who before these days didst raise a tumult, and didst lead forth into the desert four thousand men that were murderers” (Acts 21:37–8).
In A.D. 61, the Sadducees chose a new high priest. He judged cases according to Sadducee law. He had James the lesser, cousin of Jesus, brought before the Sanhedrin because James did not follow traditional customs. Found guilty, James was executed. The Sadducees then started a new persecution of Christians. In A.D. 63, the Sicarri kidnapped a rich Sadducee as hostage for the release of an imprisoned Sicarri. Albinus, the new procurator, for a fee, helped negotiate. With success in this first effort, the Sicarri kept on kidnapping Sadducees to get other prisoners released. It is said that Albinus got rich releasing men imprisoned by former procurators. The wealthy Sadducees suffered greatly from this injustice.
The above events happened within twenty‑eight years of the Crucifixion and happened to the same generation that witnessed the Resurrection. God is dealing severely with them; but then, millions of future people will doubt that Christ rose because so many people of this generation denied it. Supernatural events warned this generation also. Both the Judean historian, Josephus, and the Roman historian, Tacitus, report unusual sights in Jerusalem. They saw armies battling in the skies:
. . . (They saw) . . . the Temple illuminated by a sudden radiance from the clouds . . . (and later) . . . when the people were come in great crowds to the feast of unleavened bread, on the eight day of the month . . . and at the ninth hour of the night, so great a light shone round the altar and the holy house, that it appeared to be bright daytime; which light lasted half an hour . . . before sunsetting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities . . .
Moreover, at the feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner court of the temple as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said, that in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard the sound as of a multitude, saying 'Let us remove hence'.
There was also a young man who came to the Temple during a feast and: began on a sudden to cry aloud 'A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides, a voice against this whole people!' This was his cry as he went about by day and by night, in all the lanes of the city.
People tried to make him stop saying these things, but he wouldn't stop, even when they beat him: but he everyday uttered these lamentable words, as if it were his premeditated vow. 'Woe, woe to Jerusalem!'. . . This cry of his was loudest at the festivals; and he continued this ditty for seven years and five months.
This kept up even during the war. One day as he was on top of the wall surrounding the city: going round upon the wall, he cried out with his utmost force 'Woe! woe to the city again, and to the people, and to the holy house!' And just as he added at the last 'Woe, woe to myself also!' there came a stone out of one of the engines, and smote him, and killed him immediately: and as he was uttering the very same presages, he gave up the ghost (Josephus, II, pp. 431–2 [WARS VI, V, 3]).
The conflict between the Judean and the pagan populations kept getting worse. The government officials, most of whom were Roman pagans, were growing rich through graft and corruption. They heavily taxed the Judeans. Because of the tax, many small farming families lost their land. This produced a new class of Judean: the landless poor. The gulf between this class and the aristocracy that sided with Rome, particularly the Sadducees, became wider and more explosive. The expectation of a Messiah encouraged many who did not recognize Christ to follow several messianic cults, all politically minded and ready to fight for an independent Israel. All that was needed now was a spark to ignite the holocaust. Badly as events progressed under the four winds, they nevertheless proceeded slowly enough that all Judeans had time to hear and respond to the Gospel. The Christians also had time to gain new members. I outlined this above when I described the four winds as held back.
In A.D. 64, Nero began a new persecution against Christians, the first formal persecution by the Roman government. Christianity had grown for thirty‑seven years by then. Due to persecution by unbelieving Judeans, Christianity had already spread throughout the Empire. Peter and Paul planted Christianity in Rome. Christianity became a strong enough force that even Nero felt its presence. Nero revived the so‑called "Imperial Cult" and made it a test of Roman allegiance throughout the empire. This test required a sacrifice to Caesar. Judeans alone, because they believed in only one God, were exempt from it. Due to prior agreements with Rome they had always been exempt from observing the Imperial Cult.
Up to that time an outsider looking at Christianity would judge it to be a sect within Judaism. Both groups, in the holy land at least, consisted mainly of Judeans. In Jerusalem, both groups worshiped in the Temple. The Christians also had a Eucharist service, which they celebrated after the Temple service in a separate ceremony they usually held in a private room. The Judeans wanted to preserve their exemption. They wanted also to be rid of Christians. So they denied Christians access to the Temple. They wished to make it clear that Christians were not adherents of their faith. This prevented Christians from claiming exemption from the Imperial Cult even though they worshiped only the one true God of Israel.
Until now, the four winds had been held back (as described in the visions). I think, now with the Christians no longer safe in Judea, the angels released the winds. I think so because from here on Judea's afflictions will rapidly build to a climax, so rapidly that within one year, Judea will be at war with Rome.
The final spark flared out of Caesarea. For a long time, there had been tension between the Judeans and the pagans. The Judeans owned a synagogue next to property owned by a pagan Gentile. The Judeans tried often to purchase the property, offering a generous price for it. The pagan said he would never sell. Instead, he began building workshops close by, so close that the work prevented free access to the synagogue. Some hotheaded Judeans then attacked the workers. They hoped this would stop construction. The pagans appealed to the procurator, Florus. Florus ruled in their favor and ordered the Judeans not to interfere.
The Judeans then offered Florus a bribe to stop the construction. Florus took the money; but, instead of stopping construction, he went to Sebaste, about twenty miles to the southeast. The next day, a Sabbath day, in late April or early May, A.D. 65, a pagan man, " . . . a certain man of Caesarea, of a seditious temper" as Josephus puts it (Josephus, II, p. 262 [Wars, II, XIV, 5]) went in front of the synagogue and set up a makeshift altar on an overturned pot. He sacrificed a bird to the pagan gods. Outraged Judeans rushed at him. Pagan observers came to his assistance. Soon a full‑fledged race riot erupted. News of this spread to other cities and sparked race riots there also. Seeing things rapidly get out of hand, some well‑to‑do Judeans who were sympathetic to Rome went to Sebaste to ask Florus to return and stop the rioting. Florus had them arrested.
When news of the riots reached Jerusalem, which was about fifty miles to the southeast, the people there grew tense and apprehensive. Florus took advantage of the situation and had his men raid the Temple. They stole seventeen talents from the Temple treasury. Florus claimed the emperor needed it. This happened on May 16, A.D. 65. Of all the procurators who oppressed the Judeans, Florus was the most unprincipled. He worried that the Judeans would ask the emperor to look into his conduct. Historians think he deliberately goaded the Judeans into rebellion to discredit their complaints. When news of the Temple robbery spread throughout Jerusalem, a crowd gathered around the Temple. They passed a collection basket so, as they put it, the impoverished Procurator need not resort to robbery. This offended Florus. He ordered extra troops, cavalry and infantry, to march from Caesarea to Jerusalem and punish those who mocked him.
The next day he held court and demanded those responsible be surrendered to him. When the people refused, he punished them by allowing his troops to take whatever they wanted from a neighborhood called "the upper market" and to kill anyone who resisted. The looters slaughtered three thousand and six hundred men, women, and children. Some they scourged and crucified, even Roman citizens. No Judean procurator ever before dared do the brutal things that Florus did that day. The Judeans were ready to revolt, but the priests talked them out of it. The Romans will kill them all, the priests argued. Hoping to end this crisis by a public gesture of submission, the people agreed to salute the Roman troops when they arrived from Caesarea. It was customary for troops to be saluted on their arrival and for them to acknowledge the salute. Florus, still angry, advised the troops not to acknowledge the salute. If any Judeans taunt them, they may retaliate.
When the soldiers ignored the salute, some Judeans insulted them. The soldiers attacked. After dispersing the crowd, they tried to storm the Temple. The Judeans blocked the way. The Judeans then destroyed the walkway between the Temple and the fortress, thus isolating the Temple. When Florus saw that he could no longer get access to the Temple and, therefore, could not easily rob its treasury, he sent for the Temple leaders. He told them that he would leave Jerusalem and take most of his troops with him if they, in turn, restored order. Florus then sent a report to Cestius Gallus, a Roman governor with higher authority. Florus falsely accused the Judeans of revolt. The Judeans also sent their report accusing Florus. To learn the facts, Cestius sent a man to investigate. The man happened to meet King Agrippa II on the way. Agrippa II had no authority over Judea but was concerned. He decided to go to Jerusalem also.
The facts supported the Temple leaders. Cestius then reported Florus' misconduct to Nero. Agrippa II advised the Judeans to repair the walkway and continue paying the Roman tax. This would show good faith when Nero investigates. Agrippa thought Nero would replace Florus. He encouraged the Judeans to continue respecting Florus as procurator until Nero sends a replacement. This the Judeans refused to do. Furious that he would ask such a thing, they would not listen to him anymore. Agrippa II then returned to his own kingdom. Later when war did break out, he went to Rome.
Soon after, Eleazar ben Jairi and some Sicarri captured Masada. Masada is thirty‑five miles south of Jerusalem in the mountains near the Dead Sea. Later, the new High Priest refused to accept any request for sacrifice from Gentiles. This was an open break with Rome. Ever since their first contact with Pompey, the Temple authorities always made a daily sacrifice on Rome's behalf. This conveyed the Empire's respect to the God of Israel. The Temple authorities in the past always accepted gifts to God from foreign kings. Josephus counts this refusal as the war's real beginning. The upper‑class Judeans, the rich ones who cooperate with Rome, including most of the Sadducees, but also including many rich Pharisees, priests, and well‑educated Judeans, were against war. Those for war were mainly the less well‑off and, of course, the Zealots and Sicarri. The middle‑class tried to remain neutral.
The upper‑class urged resumption of the daily sacrifice on Rome's behalf. They wanted to avoid any action that might lead to war. Opposed by Zealots and Sicarri, they then advised Florus and Agrippa to send troops to restore order. Florus already had a detachment in Jerusalem. Agrippa II sent some of his troops. Together they quickly recaptured the upper city, where the well‑to‑do Judeans lived, but the lower city and the Temple area remained under control of those who wanted war.
For seven days, both sides attacked each other without gaining any headway. On the eighth day the revolutionaries, taking advantage of a religious ceremony, caught the upper city by surprise. They defeated the well‑to‑do Judeans, burnt their homes, and massacred many. The survivors fled for their lives. The revolutionaries then burnt the public archives where all credit records were stored. This prevented the rich from collecting debts. The revolutionaries did this to win support from those who had debts. The revolutionaries then beat back the foreign troops and cornered them. After some negotiations, they agreed to safe conduct out of Jerusalem if the soldiers lay down their arms. When the soldiers did, the revolutionaries let Agrippa's troops leave but killed the Romans.
When the pagans in Caesarea heard what happened—the soldiers were their own relatives—the pagans killed twenty thousand Judeans. This prompted Judeans in other cities to attack and kill Gentiles. This led to further retaliation by Gentiles in other cities. Bloodshed and violence spread throughout Judea. Even outside Judea, as far away as Alexandria, Egypt, the Gentiles killed fifty thousand Judeans. All this happened in summer of 65, three months after the pagan man's bird sacrifice in Caesarea.
Cestius Gallus, without waiting for Rome's directive, brought in the Syrian‑based XII Legion to crush the revolt. He conquered many small Judean towns on his way to Jerusalem. He subdued most of Jerusalem by October 30, but reached a stalemate when the Zealots fought their way inside the Temple mount and shut the gates. Afraid that the whole population would attack from all sides if he attacked the Temple, he decided to withdraw from the city. The Zealots pursued him. With their greater number, the Zealots caused the Romans to break rank. Before the rout was over, the Zealots killed five thousand foot‑soldiers and more than four hundred cavalry (Faulkner covers this in detail, pp. 123–28). This unprecedented and humiliating defeat of a full‑scale Roman army filled the Judeans with confidence. They cheered Simon bar Giora, who led the attack, calling him their hero. This man will play an important role later in the war. Judea was now, in late November 65, in open rebellion against Rome.
The people planned their defense against Rome's retaliation. On January 28, A.D. 66, they formed a provisional government led by the middle class, who up to that time had been neutral. Now that war was inevitable, the middle class felt they should control the revolution. They appointed Simon, son of Gamaliel, and Joseph, son of Gorion, as joint heads of the new government, and Ananus, a Sadducee, as High Priest. The well‑known and influential Ananus wound up as the real head.
Ananus organized the country into military defense zones. One was Galilee. He placed Galilee under the command of Josephus, son of Matthias. Josephus will later become the Judean historian who will give an eyewitness account of this war. The government's policy was more of organizing a defense and secretly longing for a peaceful settlement rather than taking the offensive. Josephus, then, as military commander of Galilee, openly urged a plan against invasion, but, privately, tried to defuse the revolution. He soon had a rival, a Zealot extremist named John from Gischala in Galilee. John was very keen to fight the Romans.
Another extremist was Simon bar Giora, who defeated the XII Legion. Simon opposed the provisional government. He lost the political infighting and was forced to leave Jerusalem. He and his followers joined the Sicarri at Masada. After a while, he quarreled with the Sicarri also. He then took his men to the hills. There he recruited runaway slaves to build up an army and furnished it by raiding nearby towns. His indiscriminate raids on Judeans as well as Gentiles alarmed the provisional government. The government sent armed men out to destroy him, but he eluded them. It was at this time (A.D. 66) that the apostles Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome.
No one knows how Nero would have dealt with Florus, had the Judeans not revolted. Faced with open rebellion, Nero sent a fresh army commanded by Vespasian to crush it. Vespasian's army entered Palestine from the north, and began a systematic conquest, city by city. Within a year he conquered Jotapata, the headquarters of Josephus, and took Josephus prisoner. Later Josephus became an interpreter for Vespasian. In his service as interpreter, Josephus tried, many times, to get the Judeans to give up their hopeless revolt against Rome.
Vespasian's army then conquered Joppa on July 12, A.D. 66, causing 11,600 fatalities. By October Vespasian had conquered Gischala. John of Gischala, the rival of Josephus, fled with many followers to Jerusalem. Many refugees from other areas conquered by Vespasian also went to Jerusalem. The city could not hold so many people. Overcrowding and the new political ambitions of the refugees weakened the provisional government. What will happen to law and order if the government falls?
REVELATION 8:13
13 And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth: by reason of the rest of the voices of the three angels, who are yet to sound the trumpet.
Revelation: Fall of Judea, Rise of the Church
Copyright 2009 Maurice A. Williams
http://www.mauriceawilliams.comLabels: Agrippa, Augustus, Caesar, Caligula, Florus, Masada, Nero, Tiberius, Tribulation
