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════════════════════════════════ APOKALUPSIS THE RISE AND FALL OF SATAN’S EMPIRE THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN ROME ════════════════════════════════
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PREFACE Nothing is the subject of more controversy in the world of Christianity today than the interpretation of the book of Revelation. The controversy arises from the fact that no part of the Bible is so misunderstood as this book. The Revelation is a beautiful and fascinating work and serves to greatly build the faith of those who understand its message. However, the road that leads to its understanding must be traveled with caution. An improper interpretation is worse than no interpretation at all. I do not mean to discourage the would-be student of Revelation but merely to echo the sentiment of the Lord Himself. “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Revelation 22:18-19).
I do not think the number of years a person has been studying Revelation is a viable indicator of how correct their interpretation of the book is. You need only look at the so-called “experts” to realize this. Although they have many years of studying Revelation behind them, they hold vastly disparate views as to its meaning. There is a correct interpretation of Revelation and it is the only correct one. When all of these “experts” disagree one thing can be known for sure: at least all but one of them is wrong! So when we find that so many experienced men are wrong, we must dismiss experience alone as sufficient to enable someone to understand Revelation. Certainly it is desirable, but it alone will not suffice. Education also fails to be a good indicator of the validity of someone’s interpretation of Revelation for the same reason. Most of the “experts” have a list of college degrees as long as your arm, yet they still disagree as to its meaning. Therefore, education is not sufficient to ensure someone is able to properly interpret Revelation. In this sense, Revelation is no different than the rest of the Bible. There are literally hundreds of different “Christian” denominations in existence today. But there is only one set of “instructions,” the Bible, so only one way of doing things can be right. Yet we see so many experienced and well educated men disagreeing about just about everything in the Bible. The only real and important qualification for understanding the book of Revelation, or any other part of the Bible for that matter, is sincerity and open-mindedness. If a person is willing to humble himself and accept what God has to say, regardless of whether or not he likes it, or whether or not is disagrees with what his parents believed, or what his wife believes, or what he has always believed, or what is most popular, or anything else, then, and only then, will he come to a correct understanding of God’s word. In many ways, a proper understanding of the Bible is more a function of attitude than aptitude. I could not, in good conscience, proceed without pausing to give credit where it is due in the development of this work. I have been very fortunate and blessed by God to spend quite a bit of time over the past few years with Brother Harry Cobb, who has helped me in more ways than I will probably ever know. It was from him that I first gained a basic understanding of the Revelation. Although I do not agree with him on every point, we do agree closely on most things. My intention for this work was not simply to record what Brother Harry teaches, but to explain to the best of MY ability what the book of Revelation teaches. Since I feel he is essentially correct on most points, this work will certainly be similar to what he teaches in many ways. Just as his teachings echo those of others who came before. I must also give thanks to God for everything that He has done to make this work possible. He gave me the time to accomplish it, access to the resources to do the research necessary for it, and the desire to both start and finish it. I just hope that in some way He might be glorified through my small and simple efforts. I have sought only to bring to light the things God has revealed to us for our benefit. I hope that I have at least partially succeeded in doing this. I now commend this work to the reader for his benefit; not as a source of absolute truth (only the Bible has that distinction) but as a resource to help you study and understand the beauty of God’s Revelation to all of us, His children. May your efforts be fruitful, and may the God of Heaven bless us all with a better understanding of His Word. Tony Whiddon November 11, 2004 |
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INTRODUCTION |
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Format This work is a commentary on the Book of Revelation, but not necessarily in the traditional sense. Most commentaries tend to comment on each verse in a somewhat disjointed way. I say this not as a criticism, but by way of contrasting it with what I have attempted to do here. First let me state that Revelation itself is not written like other books of the Bible. Revelation flows eloquently from verse to verse and chapter to chapter. It is impossible to remove most of the verses from their setting and have them retain any semblance of their correct meaning. This is done far too often with the rest of the Bible anyway. The primary reason so many people come up short in their understanding of God’s Word is that they make the Bible into a very incoherent book. No one reads a letter from a friend by picking out individual sentences from various parts of the letter and grouping them together and attempting to make sense of them. Yet all of us are guilty of doing just this at times with the Bible. We take a verse from here, another from over there, and finally a third from somewhere else, put them together, and then proudly display scriptural “proof” of our beliefs and practices. Everyone has no doubt walked into a room for a minute or two where a television was on and some show or movie we knew nothing about was in progress. If someone asked us after we left the room to explain what we had seen we would probably be unable to do so. Since we did not know the characters or the setting, nor did we know what happened before we entered the room or after we left, the brief segment we witnessed would make no sense to us. It would lack something very important: context. Context is the key to understanding the Bible. Before we claim to understand a verse’s full meaning we must make doubly sure we completely understand the context in which it was written. For example, who wrote (said) it, who were they writing (talking) to, what was their purpose in writing (saying) it. What was different about the situation of the author (speaker) and his audience compared to us today? It is very easy for us to assume things that were not assumed two-thousand years ago and vice versa. For example, many well intentioned people will say that salvation through faith only is taught when the Apostle Paul says “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house” (Acts 16:31). However, such a conclusion is erroneous because the context of the statement is not considered. In our society we would contrast faith in Jesus with not having faith in Jesus. These are the two most likely possibilities. This was far from the case in the first century Roman world. There was a long established tradition of polytheism and idolatry, which the jailer that Paul was speaking to was no doubt intimately familiar with. When Paul told him he could be saved by believing on Jesus Christ, he was not telling him how to be saved, but where. He was telling the man that salvation was of Jesus, the son of THE Living God, and not of Zeus, Apollo, Mars, or any other of the Greco-Roman pantheon of Gods. This is exactly what the jailer would have understood Paul to have been saying. The “how” of being saved came next. “And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes; and was baptized, he and all his, straightway” (Acts 16:32-33). After telling the jailer where to be saved, Paul then teaches him how and then baptizes him and his whole family. The above paragraph is a long, but I believe vitally important, point in Bible study. It is the lack of contextual understanding that has given rise to the vast number of different beliefs and practices found throughout Christendom. Often when we pick up a commentary it is to examine what the author says about a particular verse we are interested in. Generally, the commentaries are written to be used in this manner. Many times, however, we could answer our own question by examining the context of the particular verse. This book is not meant to be used to figure out the meaning of scattered verses, rather it is meant to illuminate the story told in Revelation. One noticeable difference in this book, as compared to other commentaries, is that the text under consideration is included. I did this so that as you read you will not have to have your Bible open going back and forth from one to the other. Additionally, in most cases where I have referenced other scriptures that have application to the topic at hand I have included the text and not just the reference. This again makes for easier reading and sustained concentration. My intent is more that this book be read from cover to cover than simply placed on the shelf as another reference when needed, although it can certainly serve well as the latter, but much more so after the reader has read the book and is thus familiar with the entire story that God has to tell us. |
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General Comments There are a couple of items that must be addressed before we begin our study of the Book of Revelation. First let me state that this book is really not as hard to understand as most people tend to believe it is. The book’s main purpose is to give reassurance to Christians throughout the entire age of the Church. Being now almost two-thousand years removed from the establishment of the Church, and the days of the Apostles, it is very reassuring to know God is still in control. The Book of Revelation leaves no doubt about this, as it clearly shows that God knew exactly how history would unfold. He even predicted the exact years when certain significant world events would take place, centuries prior to their actual occurrence. The subject of this entire book, from the first verse to the last, is the Lord’s Church. He tells us about many different things the Church was to go through. About many important world events that were to shape the world in which His people were to live. It is truly a work to inspire and amaze those who will diligently seek to discover its secrets. There are numerous approaches that people have taken to study the book of Revelation. For the sake of fairness, we will mention the five major ones so that the reader may have at least a basic understanding from which to form his own opinion. Some take the point of view that Revelation does not symbolize anything. That it is nothing more than a collection of meaningless images and figures, which, I suppose, is meant more to entertain rather than to inform the reader. I find this whole notion to be utterly preposterous. I cannot accept the idea that God would waste His time in conceiving of, the angel’s time in delivering, John’s time in writing, nor our time in studying, something that has absolutely no practical value to anyone. God never does anything unless He is trying to achieve some purpose. There has to be some reason for God giving us the Book of Revelation. Others take the view that Revelation does indeed have meaning, but that it is concealed in such difficult images and figures that there is just no possible way man could ever understand it. This viewpoint is just about as bad as the first. Again I must say that God would not waste His, the angel’s, John’s, nor our time with something than has no real purpose. God had a reason for giving us Revelation and it was not to show us that He could write something too difficult for us to understand. In fact, He clearly states within this book that He does intend for us to understand it. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that HEAR the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein” (Revelation 1:3). The word ‘hear’ means to understand. Still others, including some in the Church of Christ, take the view that Revelation was written specifically for Christians in the first century and its symbolism refers to the destruction of Jerusalem. I have several problems with this approach. First of all, the best information we have shows that Revelation was not even written for over two decades after Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70. Around the year A.D. 175, a Christian named Irenaeus wrote in a book entitled “Against Heresies” that “it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.”1 The apocalyptic vision he refers to is the Revelation that he was discussing and the person he speaks of is John who beheld the vision. Domitian was the Roman emperor from A.D. 81 to 96. This would place the writing of the Revelation near A.D. 95. Irenaeus was a disciple of Polycarp who in turn had been a close associate of John’s for over fifty years. Therefore, there is little reason to doubt the validity of Irenaeus’ statement. While this is only secular history and does not bear the same weight as scripture, it does nonetheless appear to be reliable. If it is anywhere close to being accurate, then it completely precludes the possibility of Revelation having anything whatsoever to do with the destruction of Jerusalem. Another point is that Christ had already dealt with the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew chapter twenty-four. Why would He then return to write an entire book on the subject later? Still another point is that we find the events in Revelation culminating in the end of the world (chapter twenty). The events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem did not conclude with the end of the world. One last point is that the symbols of Revelation simply do not fit with the destruction of Jerusalem. The fourth approach to interpreting Revelation is also the most popular today. Numerous denominations teach at least some variation of it. It is all tied in with the premillenialist doctrine. Revelation is supposed to symbolize actual events, the majority of which are still yet future. These events are to take place around the time of the ‘rapture’ and culminate with the end of the world after the millennium is completed. The main problem with this interpretation is that the premillennialist doctrine is false. Scriptures from both the Old and New Testaments have been taken out of context and twisted so as to fit with this baseless notion of a millennial kingdom here on earth. Then why is this view so popular today? First of all, it sounds good to most people. Since most professed Christians do not even take the time to study the rest of the Bible, they certainly do not study Revelation. This means they will be forced to take someone else’s word for what it all means. Adding to the ease with which most people accept this view is the fact that it assumes almost everything in Revelation still lies in the future. This makes it impossible to point out inconsistencies between the symbols and what they are supposed to stand for. But as soon as one sees that the premillennialist doctrine itself is false, then you need only realize that anything which is built upon it, namely this interpretation of Revelation, is also necessarily false. The fifth and final approach (and obviously, by the process of elimination, the one that I will use in this study) views Revelation as a historical view of the entire Christian era. The validity of this approach will be confirmed as we proceed with our study of Revelation. As we see each and every symbol coincide perfectly with world history there will be no room for doubt as to the correctness of our conclusions, nor of the omniscience of God. There is also a major Biblical argument for this interpretation. The argument is circumstantial but still quite compelling. From the dawn of creation God has been in continual contact with man. God walked in the Garden of Eden and talked with Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8). He visited Abram in person before going down to see Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18). He wrestled with Jacob (Genesis 32:24-32). He appeared to Moses as a burning bush (Exodus 3). There are many additional references of Him appearing to Moses and Aaron. On down through the age of the prophets after Moses He always spoke to the people through a prophet. Finally, around 500 BC, the prophets ceased. But God was not silent; He did not leave His people without guidance and reassurance. He had given them the book of Daniel which contained many prophesies covering the time from the end of the prophets until the coming of John the Baptist and the Messiah Himself. Then the Lord dwelt on earth for about thirty three years until His crucifixion. After that His apostles carried on the work until about the end of the first century. With the death of John, the age of inspiration ended. For almost 2000 years now, God has been silent; or so it might appear. Although God no longer speaks directly to any man, He has once again left us a book of prophesies to cover the period of time when no direct communication is occurring. If we take any other view of the book of Revelation then we are making the Christian era the first and only period in history when God has been completely silent and left man to wonder if He is still there and in control. However, when we study and understand the book of Revelation as God intended, then we see the major events affecting the Lord’s Church unfold before us in a beautiful way that assures us that God is still in control. He knew long ago exactly what would occur as the Christian era unfolded. He may not be speaking to us directly, or even through prophets any longer, but He is definitely still speaking to us. The book of Revelation can reassure us and build our faith in God more than any other part of the Bible. |
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Revelation: A Book of
Symbols The Book of Revelation is a very unique work when you consider the way in which it is written. Unlike most of the Bible, Revelation is written in symbols instead of normal descriptive language. This need not be a cause for concern, but it must be realized before the book’s true meaning can be understood. Symbolism is just a way of conveying a message about something, without directly stating that message. When a person who is driving sees a traffic light ahead of him, and observes that it has turned red, he applies his brakes and comes to a stop until the traffic light turns green. No one told this man to stop. There was no sign with the word “stop” printed on it to tell him to stop. In fact there were no words involved at all, only symbols. He knew when he saw the traffic light turn red that he was supposed to stop. He understood what the symbol stood for: the word “stop.” There are thousands upon thousands of symbols in use around us each day, but we rarely notice them as symbols because we are so familiar with them. We automatically associate the intended meaning with the symbol. When the driver saw the red light with his eyes, his mind did not pause to focus on the light, but rather immediately went on to the word “stop.” When we are first learning a new symbol we may have to pause and perform a mental association between the symbol and its meaning, but once we have thoroughly learned its meaning, this process becomes automatic, and for all practical purposes instantaneous. But now the question arises, what if you encounter a symbol and you do not have any idea what it means? How can you successfully deal with this situation? Well, consider someone from a foreign country, who has never seen a traffic light, driving in the United States. As this person is driving down the road they encounter an intersection with a traffic light. What should they do? The smartest thing to do would probably be to pull off on the shoulder of the road and observe other cars as they approach the light. By doing this they might soon be able to conclude for instance, that a green light means “go” and a red light means “stop.” Although they never saw the words “go” or “stop” in English or any other language, they were able to logically deduce the meaning of the light’s different colors. Now let us apply this example to the Book of Revelation. Many people become discouraged and give up a study of Revelation, when they begin to encounter symbols that they do not understand. But this need not be the case. Rather than give up, we must try to find out what the symbols stand for. This can sometimes be done by looking elsewhere in the Bible. For example, by looking at passages such as Isaiah 2:1-2; 66:20, Micah 4:1-2, and others, it can be seen that the Lord often uses the term “mountain” as a symbol to stand for a kingdom. Then, when we encounter the same term in Revelation, such as chapter six, verse fourteen, we can see if the same definition would fit the symbol there, and it does. This procedure will solve many of the problems encountered in Revelation. Another avenue to use when the symbol cannot be interpreted in view of other passages of scripture, is to “pull off on the side of the road and see what happens.” In our example of the traffic light, since the driver was unsure what it meant, he sat back and watched what happened. This is precisely what must be done with Revelation. You see, prophesy is a prediction of the future. It predicts events that will transpire at some later time. After those events have taken place, they will be recorded as history. So if the prophesy was correct, then it should agree with history when the event is over. So by examining world history we can interpret the parts of Revelation that have already been fulfilled. Why should we care about prophesy after it’s over? For one thing it serves to reaffirm our faith in God. But secondly, it can unlock some key symbols for us which might aid in understanding the parts that have not already occurred. Put succinctly, prophesy is history before it happens, and history is prophesy after it happened. So to understand Revelation, at least the parts that have already been fulfilled, we need only lay it along side world history, and see what events the symbols coincide with. In our example, we have an unknown symbol, the traffic light, and we can obtain history by watching what happens as others encounter the light. This information is the history we need to unlock the mystery of the traffic light. Likewise, history will unlock Revelation for us, and present us with a grand and wondrous view of the Christian age. Some will probably ask why God would chose to write prophesy in symbols, and not simply come out and say what He meant. The reason is that God did not want these things to be known until the proper time. By disguising them in symbols, most of them would be unrecognizable until they began to occur. I believe there are a couple of very compelling reasons why God chose to conceal these prophesies for a time. First of all, had He spelled everything out in easily understood terms, people would have went out of their way to either help or hinder the fulfillment of the prophesies. The whole purpose of these prophesies is to show that God knew what was going to happen, not to see if He could get people to cooperate in making it happen. He has always written most of His prophesy in such a way that it is nearly impossible to tell what he means until it was occurring or had already occurred. Only those people who were watchful would understand when it began to happen. This way His prophesies benefit His people, but do not interfere with the natural course of history. Another important reason why Revelation needed to be written in symbolic form is that if it were spelled out in very clear terms, man would have known long ago when the end of the world was to come. God does not intend for man to know this. He wishes for man to have that little doubt in his mind, thinking it possible for the Lord to return at any time. |
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The Definition of a
Prophetic Day Several times in the Book of Revelation we will notice things predicted and certain lengths of time associated with these predictions. These times are usually given in days but sometimes in weeks, months, or years which can all easily be converted into days. We should suspect something suspicious about this almost immediately. Why, when talking about events covering at least two millennia, would they be described in terms of days? Well, it turns out, that throughout the entire Bible a certain pattern is used to relate time in symbolic prophesy to actual time.
The formula that God has chosen to use for time in symbolic prophesy is that of one prophetic day being equal to one actual year in history. So fifty days in prophesy would mean fifty years in actual time. It can be seen that God did indeed use this pattern by two examples from the Bible. “After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years” (Numbers 14:34). “And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year” (Ezekiel 4:6). In these two examples God told someone what was going to happen, and then told them the time involved. In each case it was a day for a year. A further examination of prophesy in the Bible will reveal that symbolic prophesies always work out when the day = year formula is applied but never work out if anything else in used.
Sometimes we even find hours mentioned in prophesy. An hour in prophesy is a month of actual time. Unlike modern times when a day is always considered to consist of twenty-four hours, in the past a day was often used to refer just to the twelve hours of daylight. An example of this is found in John 11:9, where Jesus said “Are there not twelve hours in the day? When a week is given in prophesy it means seven days, or in terms of real time, seven years. A month in prophesy is thirty days. In the Jewish calenday months were reckoned from one new moon to the next. This averages to 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes, and 3⅓ seconds (29.53).2 You can see quite plainly that this figure would be extremely unhandy to deal with. So to make for ease of calculation the Lord rounded the number off to an even thirty days in a month for His prophesies. This relation can be seen in the story of the flood. “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat” (Genesis 7:11, 24; 8:4). From the seventeenth day of the second month to the seventeenth day of the seventh month would be exactly five months. We are also told this period was 150 days. 150 days divided by five months gives thirty days per month. In reality, some Jewish months had 30 days while other had 29. Today we typically say there are about 30 days in a month if we give a round figure, although the actual number is 30.44 days per month. A prophetic year is equal to 12 months or 360 (12 × 30) days. This would be 360 years of actual time. The solar year is “365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds.”3 Expressing it only in terms of days it is 365.242199 days or approximately 365¼ days. Why don’t we use this value? The Jewish year consisted on twelve months that averaged slightly less than 30 days long. The actual length of a typical Jewish year would be 354.36 (12 × 29.53) days. Since this is closer to 350 how can we rationalize using 360 days in a year? First of all it is closer to the length of an actual year, but more importantly, it coincides with the length you get from 12 months that are 30 days long. How could the Jewish calendar work if the average year was too short by 10.88 (365.24 – 354.36) days? To account for being off by nearly one-third of a month, the Jewish calendar added a thirteenth month approximately every three years. To be more exact, the thirteenth month was added to the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years of a 19 year cycle.4 |
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Significance of the Number Seven If there is a “special”
number in the Bible it must be the number seven. It appears in some 330
different verses of the Bible. What is the big deal about that? Look at
Figure I below. It is easy to understand why the number one is the most often
mentioned number in the Bible. There are numerous phrases such as “one to
another,” “every one,” “one of,” and many others that use the word one in a
generic sense. In addition, one is often used instead of the word “a” in
phrases such as “one came and said unto
Him” (Matthew 19:16) and “one pearl
of great price” The “week” of creation was seven days, including the seventh day on which God rested (Genesis 2:3). This is, of course, the basis for our week, and has been since the beginning of time. We always hear that Noah took the animals on the ark two by two, but this was only for the unclean animals. The clean animals were taken by sevens. “Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female” (Genesis 7:2). After Noah loaded the animals it was seven days before it began to rain (Genesis 7:4). Noah sent the dove out to test for dry land every seven days (Genesis 8:10-12). Jacob served Laban seven years each for Leah and Rachel (Genesis 29). Pharaoh’s dream featured seven kine (Cattle) and seven ears of corn (Genesis 41). After leaving Egypt the Children of Israel had to eat unleavened bread seven days (Exodus 12:15). The holy day for Israel was the Sabbath, or seventh, day (Exodus 35:2). Every seven years the Children of Israel had to allow their land to lie fallow (Leviticus 25:4). The year after seven seventh year Sabbaths was the year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-10). In order to conquer Jericho the Children of Israel had to march around the city seven days, and seven times on the seventh day (Joshua 6:3-4). Nebuchadnezzar was humbled for seven years by God (Daniel 4). I trust I have proven my point, and I never even made it to the New Testament. There are literally hundreds more similar examples. There are seventeen different uses of seven in the book of Revelation alone. But more than just occurring in numerous and important places, the number seven has a special significance. Seven means completeness. Without this understanding, much of the meaning of Revelation will remain unseen. But with it the beauty of God’s plan unfolds with ease.
Figure I Seven is not the only number ascribed significance by the ancients. Three was the divine or heavenly number. There are three parts of the Godhead: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God repopulated the earth after the flood with the three sons of Noah. God required Abram to sacrifice to him a heifer, a she goat and a ram, all three years of age (Genesis 15:9). Abraham was greeted by a Heavenly trio led by the preincarnate Christ (Genesis 18:2). Pharoah was asked to let the Israelites travel three days journey into the wilderness to worship God (Exodus 3:18). The Jews were required by God to have three feasts each year (Exodus 23:14). Jesus was in the grave for three days and three nights (Mathew 12:40). Peter’s Heavenly vision indicating that access to salvation had been granted to the Gentiles, was shown to him three times (Acts 11:10). As John said, “For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one” (I John 5:7-8). Numerous other examples can also be found throughout the Bible. Four is the number of the earth. Using the four cardinal directions any place or object can be located. The river coming out of the Garden of Eden was divided into four parts (Genesis 2:10). Most large animals walk abound on four legs. Christ’s garments were divided into four parts (John 19:23). Once again, numerous other examples could be cited. When the numbers three (heavenly) and four (earthly) are added the combination yields seven (completeness). If three and four are multiplied the results is twelve, the number of governmental authority. Both Testaments were initiated on the shoulders of twelve men. The twelve patriarchs, or sons of Israel, in the Old and the twelve Apostles in the New. |
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Historical References The key to understanding the book of Revelation is world history. Since prophesy is a prediction of the future, the prophesies are easily understood once that part of the future has become the past. When you have history to compare with the prophesy, this will allow you to determine its proper interpretation.
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1Against Heresies, book 5, chapter 30, part 3. Irenaeus 2Encyclopedia Britannica, (New York: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 1929), s.v. “Calendar.” 3The World Book Encyclopedia, (Chicago, IL: World Book, Inc., 1985), s.v. “year.” 4Britannica, 1929, s.v. “Calendar.” 5S. P. Scott,
Corpus Juris Civilis (The Civil Law,
the Code of Justinian), vol. 12, (Cincinnati, OH: Central Trust Company,
1932), p. 12. |
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