The book of Revelation is not a book of prophecy
, even though it contains prophecies. It is primarily prophecy being fulfilled. There are more elements of fulfilled prophecy in this one book than in any other book of the Bible (Matt. 16:16-17). It is what it is—the writing of
the Revelation
(revealing the life of Christ). It reveals the handiwork of God. We are presently in the timeline of Revelation. We can watch it every day. Don't look to this book as a fortune-telling calling card. The events are in process and have been for thousands of years.
Once the rapture takes place,
right around the 70th week of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. 9:27), the world will never be the same. Currently, Christians are still present on the earth, which is why the world is doing as well as it is. Once Christians (temples of the Holy Spirit) are removed, there will be no goodness in the air. All will fail and crumble within a concise period. The entire political system will be forced to submit to Satan's world leader—the Beast. Next, the primary ten powers/kings will rule. The old Roman Empire and its former Glory will surface again under a new look--a look that will deceive almost everyone that walks the face of the earth. This new world leader is called the
"Little Horn"
(Satan). He might think he is the BIG one, but in God's reality, he's not so big. He will have a colleague though; in fact, a couple of them: a political leader (
the Beast or Antichrist
) and a religious leader (
the False Prophe
t). Note the dynamic trio: Satan, the Antichrist (the Beast), and the False Prophet. What an ugly mess they are going to make! It's a good thing we won't be around for the cleanup!
Let's not forget mystical Babylon.
Everything horrid, ugly, torturous, deadly, or remotely sinful, will be under the leadership of the New Babylon, right before our Husband (Jesus) comes to seek revenge and overthrow the empires of the Beast.
From what we can tell from Scripture, Babylon is coming back! Old Babylon sits on a pile of dirt just a few short miles from what most call the center of the Garden of Eden or our modern-day Iraq. This territory has always been a significant battleground. Once this superpower takes full control, our Husband will come to overthrow its power and destroy "the great harlot." Next, Christ will proceed directly for the
Beast, then the Antichrist, and save the best for last —Satan!
We have many details to cover these facts. But now know this--we WIN!
The events, written in chapter four and forward,
cannot take place as long as Jesus' Bride is present. According to Hebrew custom and law, a woman is forbidden from casting her eyes upon the husband/father taking revenge. Remember Lot's wife? She turned around to watch the Father destroy Sodom and Gomorrah after He had explicitly commanded the family not to look back. What happened to her? Salt anyone? (Gen 19:15-26). Evil is presently working around us to set the order of this horrid structure that is to come. Believe it or not, the Holy Spirit is keeping the enemy and his followers restrained (2 Thess. 2:6-7). Nothing is going to happen before its appointed time. All of the praying, crying, and worrying will
not
stop the events recorded in the book of Revelation from occurring—I mean, nothing. The presence of Christ's Bride and the Holy Spirit brings all the restraint necessary to keep Satan on God's timeline. Until the Church at Philadelphia, the true Believers
(Rev 3:7)
, are raptured to meet her Husband in the air, the Antichrist's Church can
not
be revealed, destroyed, or separated from the real church.
In Greek, the word Revelation
(a
pokalupsis)
means
to take the cover off, to unveil full Glory, or to roll the veil aside. It is from this word we get
apocalypse—
the destruction or devastation of something. The integration of these two elements of Truth points to the unveiling of God's full Glory through the elimination of evil.
Listen carefully.
Most refer to the book as the book of Revelations—plural. There is nothing plural about it. It is singular because it is the book that reveals the one and only Christ—Jesus! Satan would like nothing more than to show more than one Christ, like himself. The entire book is a visual picture of Jesus coming to take action against the one (Satan) who has/is attempting to portray himself as the Christ. Biblically speaking, no one (human or spirit) is to replicate the Groom or His Bride.
The enemy is blinded to the truths
contained within this book. He cannot see or understand future events. This is why he works to have a "beast/antichrist" and a "false prophet" ready to rule in each generation. Christians are given long-range vision because the Holy Spirit is seeing in and through each Believer. Without the Holy Spirit guiding us, we are limited to view this book as a poetic, symbolic work of man.
This book is filled with symbolism
and fulfilled prophecies concerning the past, present, and future. What the book of Daniel is to the Old Testament, Revelation, is to the New. The author, John, is the same writer of the Gospel of John, and the three other epistles of John. He was considered to be the
beloved
of Jesus. John held a significant position with Christ, both in the relationship and as a
man of the pen
. His writings are passionate, direct and full of vigor. He is considered by most theologians as a writer to be
carefully considered,
most likely due to the intimate relationship he had with Jesus. If intimacy requires knowing the heart of an individual, John probably felt the heart of Jesus and the Truth He communicated.
The book was written at a time when
the Christian Church was undergoing persecution and difficulty. The leaders in reign during his time were Nero (
AD
37-68) and Domitian (
AD
51-96). It needs to be noted, and the reconstructions are based on
gematria
(the assignment of a numerical value to letters). The identification number of the Beast in the Apocalypse is 666; Nero's numeric value also calculates to 666. I will discuss more the numeric values of names in future chapters. But this gives an understanding of the historical and spiritual importance of this time writing.
The revelation was addressed to the churches of Asia Minor. We must review a bit of the History of this area.
Some of the earliest
Neolithic
(the latest period of the Stone Age) settlements in the Middle East have been found in Asia Minor. This is a critical note because Asia Minor holds the key to one of the earliest known civilizations known to man. The descendants of Cain moved their way to this region. Man's History dates Catal Huyuk, near present
Konya
(modern-day Turkey), as early as 9000 BC. Following Biblical account, it is more like 5000 BC. Around 1900-1200
BC
, the
Hittites
, the most critical Anatolian culture of the succeeding Bronze Age, originated in the central plateau. (The Hittites are the second of the eleven
Canaanite
nations in the
Hebrew Bible
. They are purportedly descended from Heth,
son of
Canaan
, son of
Ham
—the rejected/cursed son of Noah. The book of Genesis mentions them as having sold the land to
Abraham
. More will be discussed about the Hittites later.) At its fullest extent, the Hittite Empire covered most of Asia Minor and rivaled Egypt as a Middle Eastern power. It was destroyed by invaders known as the Sea Peoples, who swept over Asia Minor and Syria toward the end of the twelfth century BC. The destruction of the western Anatolian city of Troy, an event celebrated in ancient Greek legends, probably occurred during these invasions. Their civilization rivaled (in war) that of the Egyptians (King of the South) and the Babylonians (Satanic Empire). In 560
BC
, Croesus (a billionaire in modern times) mounted the throne of Lydia in Asia Minor and soon brought all the Greek colonies under his rule. Croesus was overthrown by Cyrus the Great of Persia (Iran). Two hundred years later, Alexander the Great again spread Greek, roots of US democracy, over the peninsula.
One of the Sea Peoples, the Phrygians,
established a kingdom that became the dominant Anatolian power in the ninth and eighth centuries
BC
. Their king, Midas, was credited by the Greeks with the ability to change anything he touched into gold. Hittite culture survived in Carchemish, Milid (present-day Malatya, Turkey), and other small states in eastern Asia Minor until about 700
BC
.
Historical Note:
Rome believed that if you conquer a man's religion—you conquer the man--thus ruling his country.
After its conquest by Rome
in the second century
AD
, Asia Minor enjoyed centuries of peace—peace, but no peace. After the division of the Roman Empire in the fourth century
AD
, Asia Minor became part of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, Empire. The capital was Constantinople (or Byzantium) located on the European side of the Bosporus, across from the west coast of Anatolia. During the Middle Ages, as a part of the Byzantine Empire,
it became a center of Christianity
and the guardian of Greek and Roman culture. One of the best medieval trade routes passed through the region. As the power of the empire declined, Arabs (Islamic sector) and Mongols (now Mongolia, China, and Russia) invaded and were able to maintain their position until the tenth century.
During the eighth and ninth centuries
, the free peasantry of Anatolia provided recruits for the Imperial Army and was the main bulwark of the Byzantine state. During the eleventh century, Asia Minor was invaded by the Seljuk Turks (Sunni Muslim—the largest group of Islam), and the eastern part of the region became predominantly Turkish in character.
In the fifteenth century
, the Ottoman Turks (Sultan—political leadership of the Muslim people) conquered the peninsula and made Constantinople (modern Istanbul) the capital. The Ottoman Empire lasted until 1922. The next year, Asia Minor became the more substantial part of the Turkish Republic under Kemal Ataturk (an Islamic known for his diplomacy and support of Russia). He had established a government at Ankara, which became the new capital of Turkey.
Tayyip Erdoğan,
a recent leader of Turkey and a Sunni Islamic leader, is being carefully watched by the US, NATO, and the EU. He pushes for Islamic democracy with a flair for socialized welfare. He places Muslim theologians in political power and gives them the authority to rule in government affairs. On March 14, 2008, Turkey's chief prosecutor asked the country's Constitutional Court to ban the Justice and Development Party (AK party) and believed there was enough evidence to show Erdoğan had worked against Turkey's secular constitution. He was being blamed for integrating Islamic religion with political power. This leader, who is a critical player in the
Salvation Party,
needs to be watched with a spiritual eye.
It would behoove us to keep our eyes on the country of Turkey
. It holds the key to much of the end-times. Not only do the Turks possess and religiously protect Noah's ark, but they are babysitting the seven churches of Revelation.