The Sealed Book
 

The Sealed Book

"But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days."

On the premise that perhaps we are about twelve years away from the end of the 6,000th year since Adam, it might be prudent to view the book of Revelation from that perspective. Unfortunately this leads us through the marshy bog of "ISTS"...preterist. historicist, dispensationalist, idealist, futurist, and any "IST" we missed. As we navigate this quagmire, may our guideposts remain the well documented math laid out in the scriptures. My Lord has recorded time in painstaking fashion in his word for such a time as this. At the end of the day, there is no "ISTING" around the chronology of scripture. And at the bottom of the blackboard math, we are nearing the end of 6,000 years since Adam. Neither the changing landscape, the revelations of science, nor the sensation of headlines can alter this stubborn constant of time. Like old man river, it just keeps rolling along.

Many people suppose that there is no specific 1,000 year time period just ahead. This position is often accompanied by strenuous didactic calisthenics, selective spiritualizing of the scriptures, and default appeals to the heavy symbolism employed in the book of Revelation. But a position of no seventh 1,000 years must not only ignore the math of chronology, it must also retain its soundness in the face of two glaring witnesses in scripture:

1). The 1,000 year millennial reign of Jesus, the Christ of God.
2). The 1,000 year binding of Satan with a great chain, in a bottomless pit.

In both cases, a specific 1,000 year time period is cited. Furthermore the argument against a literal 1,000 years must challenge six verses of scripture in a row, that attest to that selfsame period. Two or three verses would have been enough.

But perhaps the most notable discrepancy of this position, is its refusal to recognize the spiritual poetry of a seventh day of rest, as the perfect parallel to a seventh 1,000 years of life on earth. At this late stage it would seem a self-evident truth that earth-life sits within a very structured seven day/seven thousand year framework. It is a framework of mathematic genius, and of a master poet's beauty. To remove the seventh 1,000 year piece fabric from the tapestry renders it ragged and incomplete. It violates the basic math and the plain beauty, that life is a 7,000 year wonder. We are about twelve years away from completing 6,000 of those 7,000 years. That would leave 1,000 years ahead of us to complete the perfect timeline that God has created.

Viewing Revelation from this perspective, we might ask ourselves: "How much, if any, of the Revelation has already taken place over the past 2,000 years? Since John's vision some 19 centuries ago, how much of the Revelation still remains ahead of us? Have the seven seals been broken? Has the sealed book been opened? Have the seven trumpets or the seven thunders sounded? Have the seven vials of the wrath of God been poured out yet?"

It should here be noted that prophecy and vision always look forward in time. When John entered the spirit-zone 19 centuries ago (come up hither), it's a safe bet that everything he saw was still in the future. Moreover, if we look to the prophecies of old, we would have to consider a protracted period of time for Revelation's fulfillment, rather than a short 3 1/2 year period. God's prophecy to the serpent in Eden spans some 4,000 years. Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, while seeming to happen in an instant, took 14 years to transpire. In the 9th chapter of Isaiah, his prophecy has a progressive fulfillment. A child is born @760 years later. A son is given @793 years later. The remainder of the prophecy takes us past the end of days and into eternity. In another short instant of time Daniel sees an image made of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay. But its fulfillment requires the rise and fall of four consecutive kingdoms on earth, over many years.

Also noteworthy here is that the earthly things which represent heavenly things are very real. So too are those heavenly things which represent earthly things very real. They do not appear for but a moment to populate their vision, and then vaporize or vanish away. They are fixtures in that world, just as the tangible realities in our world.

With these things in mind we take up the Revelation in the spirit world. John has left Patmos, and gone up thither at the angel's behest. Before him is a panoramic view that we can only begin to imagine. From his new perch, John can now see both worlds at once: the spiritual events taking place in heaven, and the consequence of those events taking place on earth.
The activities begin with a book, penned and sealed in the ancient past. The book is held in the right hand of him that sits upon the throne of heaven. Jesus, the Christ of God, is the only one from both worlds who is qualified to take this book from the right hand of the ancient of days. The prophecy it holds has been held at bay by seven seals. So Jesus, some 19 centuries ago, proceeds to break these seven seals, and open the book.

Who said history will only be 7000 years?

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Are you saying that Rev 6 has been progressively happening for all those years?

Please clarify this.

Thank you.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

To my knowledge, nobody has said history will only be 7,000 years. I'm just stating the obvious...both from the chronology of scripture, and the signs of the times around us. It's like you always say elder...my thoughts anyway.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

From my studies, I think the seals, and subsequently the sealed book, were opened at the time John saw them when he was bid "come up hither". And as my post states, the work of the four horsemen, and the events of the other seals, have been unfolding from then through today.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

So everyman is right in his own eyes?

Jesus and Paul taught that everything else is left up to opinion?

Where does the Bible teach us that there would only be 7,000 years of human history? If you can freely give out such information, then why didn’t Christ? Why didn’t Paul? I understand you are saying it is your opinion. But you insert it as it should be doctrine. So, why didn’t any Bible writer bring up any thoughts to a 7,000 year wrap up of history?

Re: The Sealed Book
 

His NAME is Jesus!
Just a comment

When giving a Bible Study in a "series", I often ask that any questions be
withheld for the first two or three lessons of the series, because many
questions will be answered by then.
Your post seems to be leading to a series, therefore I thought it best to
reserve any questions or comments until then.

Brother Villathink it best

Re: The Sealed Book
 

You wrote....

It should here be noted that prophecy and vision always look forward in time. When John entered the spirit-zone 19 centuries ago (come up hither), it's a safe bet that everything he saw was still in the future. Moreover, if we look to the prophecies of old, we would have to consider a protracted period of time for Revelation's fulfillment, rather than a short 3 1/2 year period. God's prophecy to the serpent in Eden spans some 4,000 years. Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's dream, while seeming to happen in an instant, took 14 years to transpire. In the 9th chapter of Isaiah, his prophecy has a progressive fulfillment. A child is born @760 years later. A son is given @793 years later. The remainder of the prophecy takes us past the end of days and into eternity. In another short instant of time Daniel sees an image made of gold, silver, brass, iron and clay. But its fulfillment requires the rise and fall of four consecutive kingdoms on earth, over many years.

Yet in Revelation we see the Spirit say different.

Rev 1:19 Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

This verse seems to speak of the past, present and the future.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Possible time frames by chapters?

Chapter 1-3 current to the Author
Chapter 4 concurrent with Christ's Resurrection
Chapter 5-11 ?
Chapter 12-14 historical/symbolic
Chapter 15-22 current/future

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Can you use some historical evidence to match these verses in Rev 6, like post a verse, then evidence?

I am not hassling you, but have never heard your point of view.

Thanks.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

No elder, I do not insert this as though it should be doctrine. I am saying that this is my humble opinion based on my own studies. Jesus never told us about electricity. Paul never told us about radio wave frequencies. Do the math for yourself my friend. How much human history has transpired since Adam? Is it only coincidence that we are coming up on the 6,000th year since Adam? The light of our world was made on the 4th day. The light of the world appeared on the 4,000th year. The seven day/seven thousand year truth is verified several times in the scriptures. Nothing is left up to opinion.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Thank you for your response my friend. What I posted was chapter five of my 10th book. Because of it, I will go ahead and post part of chapter six.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

I respectfully disagree friend. The things which thou hast seen seems to be talking about Rev. 1:1-18, and not the things which John hast seen throughout his lifetime.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Umm...so you're just gonna ignore Gen 1:3-5?

Gen 1
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day

Re: The Sealed Book
 

His NAME is Jesus!
Beloved, that was NOT the light that was established on the 4th day.
The light that is mentioned on the 1st day of creation corresponds to Jn 1:14,9
which is: "In him was life; and the life was the light of men....the true Light,
which lighteth every man that cometh into the world."

Brother Villa

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Of course, I know Pharez was referring to the "creation of the sun on the fourth day."

My point was that the analogy falls flat since light CAME into the world on the FIRST day.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

His NAME is Jesus!
OH! Went back to Pharez's post, and could not discern any discrepancy between
his post and mine. I agree that the natural light was created on the 4th day. And
yes, I must agree that "...the life was the light of men..." was established on the
very 1st day.

Bother Villa

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Come and See

And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.

With, admittedly, no hard scriptural evidence, it still makes the most human sense that when Jesus takes the book from the right hand of the Ancient of days, He would in a single sitting break open the seven seals. Not a protracted 2,000 year seal-opening ceremony, but a single sitting event some 19 centuries ago. What we see today are the long protracted results of that event. Before John's very eyes he sees what that voice had said was: "things which must be hereafter". Jesus had already told John to write:
1.) the things which thou hast seen.
2.) the things which are.
3.) the things which shall be hereafter.
We start with the four " Come and see " horsemen. At each seal John must be told to come...and once there...to see.

Thunder announces the white horse of the first broken seal. Thunder is the prolonged after-sound of lightening. With the breaking of this seal the rider bolts from his holding cell like lightening, rolling across the landscape as thunder. The rider has an archers bow and he is given a crown. Not only does he go forth conquering and to conquer, but perhaps more importantly, he never returns as in the bottom of Zechariah.

From our own late perspective how perfectly this matches with Satan's propensity to strike at beginnings...in the garden of creation, in the earthly ministry of my Lord, and here shortly after the birth of the new covenant church. This rider conquered at his release 1900 years ago, and continues to ride and conquer today. The tares sowed shortly after the birth of the new testament church have grown in size and in respect and social standing, until as overspreading trees these denominations blanket the entire landscape. They have grown for 1900 years. The apostolic Jesus name church of Acts...the greatest of all of my Lord's many creations...becomes just one of thousands of ecclesiastic disciplines, even though it is the only true and right one. After 1900 years the true gospel from scripture, and true doctrine from scripture, are much the rare exception rather than the rule. So did my Lord at the very start of his Matthew 24 prophecy, and repeated often, command us: " let no man deceive you ".

The white horse rider comes with an army of spirits and underlings long trapped by the seal. This force has influenced global religious activities, the birth of Islam and charismatic liberalism, and all the branches of Luther, Calvin, Roman Catholic, Episcopal, the many Orthodox's, Baptist, Presbyterian, and all the twigs that sprout from these. What we witness today is the " and to conquer " of the white horse who never returned. Every false denomination born after Pentecost are the handiwork of this white horse rider. He is spiritual deception and cunning, and he is nearing the end of his ride. None today can argue his success...look around you...nor deny him his crown.

The red horse of the second seal is the spirit of war released upon the earth some 1900 years ago. Power is given to him to take peace from the earth, that men should kill one another. He too rides with an army of underlings and spirits. Since the birth of the church nearly 2,000 years ago there have been over 275 documented wars killing over a half billion souls across our planet. Men killing one another...violently, brutally, and painfully. The red horse rider has wielded well his great sword after at last being freed from the binding of his seal. He still looms large on the horizon today, because he also has never returned as in the bottom by the myrtle.

The black horse of the third seal is a spirit of famine released upon the world 1900 years ago. The history is long and horrifying, as over 350 million souls have starved to death since the birth of church. This rider also never returns as in the bottom, and still rides today. Every war from the second rider brings a famine from the third rider.

The last " Come and see " of the fourth seal introduces John to a pale horse who's rider is named death. Unlike the previous three riders, this rider has a partner riding with him. The partner's name is hell. These two...death and hell...are given power over one fourth of the earth. Today that would roughly number 1.7 billion souls. Their power is to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the field. Again from our perspective the history of this past 1900 years is long and horrifying. Just one example is the Black Death associated with the Mongol expansion, wherein over 200 million souls lost their lives.

Adding these all up, the bottom line is that every since Jesus loosed these four spirits some 1900 years ago, they have wreaked havoc across the planet. Billions upon billions of souls have died...lost without God...and nearly the entire world is deceived at the hands of these four horsemen. They and their armies have fulfilled their mission, and it is found in our own history books.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Fail to see how the analogy falls flat. The scientific, natural light of our world was created on the fourth day. It was made the ruler of the day, the ruler of light. When Jesus came into the world he proclaimed that he is the light of the world. We are called children of the day.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

is NAME is Jesus!
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities
(white horse), against powers (red horse), against the rulers of the
darkness of this world (black horse), against spiritual wickedness in
high places (pale horse)."

Just Something to chew on.

Brother Villa

Re: The Sealed Book
 

According to Ussher's Annals, creation began in 4004 BC. It's been 6020/6021 years since then. Thus, the Seventh Millennium of man's (Biblical) history began about 20 years ago.

The Pharisees calculate the age of the current world to be about 5778 years old. However, there are problems with the Rabbinic chronology, most notably the intentional vaporizing of 240 years by the rabbis in the second century AD in order to make Bar Kokhba satisfy a then-current messianic expectancy related to Daniel's seventy weeks.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

Most Bible chronologists agree with Ussher with only minor differences of 10-20 years.

If one follows the Greek chronology the differences will be even greater (pushing Creation even further back).

While I do believe there MAY be something significant about the seventh millennium, I haven't seen anything that requires it to be equivalent to the millennium of Revelation 20. I used to think there was a connection, but I cannot say there MUST be a connection.

Also, there is a difference between actual solar years, modern calendar years, ancient calendar years, and Bible prophetic years (which appear to be 360 days long, not 365.25). Being able to correlate all four is a daunting task, to say the least. God speed on getting that accomplished. :)

Re: The Sealed Book
 

......"what shall be hereafter" is 2 chapters prior to chapter 6.

It(chapter 4) is saying that chapter 6 is future tense.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

If Revelation is about two women, the whore (the earthly city of Jerusalem) and the bride (the spiritual city of the church), then I would have to wager that, based on my studies, the sealed book is God's divorce decree against Jerusalem and the OT system. At least, this is what I'm discovering in my studies.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

The natural light of our world according to Gen 1 was created on the FIRST day. Matter of fact, there were already 2 full DAYS and NIGHTS before the sun was created according to Gen 1.

Gen 1
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day

Before the first day, it was all darkness. When God created light, darkness was separated. So also, when Jesus came into the world, He proclaimed that he is the light of the world, thus separating darkness

You cannot therefore say the creation of the sun on the fourth day corresponds to Jesus coming in the 4000th year.
The creation of light on the FIRST day is more analogous to Jesus coming into the world. (if one wants to build an analogy)

Obviously, this does not fit into your "one day is a 1000" year model.

You're, perhaps inadvertently, fitting the scripture into your presupposed timeline to make your view of prophecy work.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

His NAME is Jesus!
TGBTG: You make some good points.

We must ask ourselves: 'What existed first: the spiritual, or the natural?
Of course we must answer: the spiritual.

Gn 1:2 __ "And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness
was upon the face of the deep...". So this was prior to the creation of the
sun, the moon, and the stars. It speaks of the matter from which man was
formed: it was not fully developed, but in confusion (without form), empty
(without God's handiwork), and with iniquity abiding within (in darkness).

God SAW the problem, and spoke to resolve the issue: "Let there be Light."
God saw that the the Light was good; therefore, the darkness was bad (evil).
That light was NOT the natural light, but "...the light that lights every man that
comes into the world." It was man's salvation! So the first Law of Creation is:
the separation of light from darkness. Man in sin can be saved; but light cannot
have fellowship with darkness.

Brother Villa

Re: The Sealed Book
 

While I certainly appreciate your concern for my inadvertent errancy, I respectfully disagree with your summary. On the fourth day when God made two great lights...the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night...it seems clear what the allegorical meanings are. Same with the stars, unless you believe that the earth will somehow survive the stars falling to earth in the Revelation. So yes, I can and do say that the making of the sun on the fourth day corresponds to Jesus coming in the 4,000th year.

Re: The Sealed Book
 

His NAME is Jesus!

Here is my take on the 4th day.

(1) Each day begins in the evening, wich means we are prone to sin. Then it
becomes darker as sin progressively worsens.
(2) The light of the moon denotes mercy; while the light of the sun, grace.
(3) The stars represent those who believed in the gospel that saves; and their
fall from heaven (you guessed it), represents the apostasy or...fall from grace.

Matthew describes it thus: " the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give
her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens
shall be shaken:" The darkening of the sun implies (I believe) the lack of faith
in that generation, and men rejecting (shrugging off) mercy. What about the
shaking? "...Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this
word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as
of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain."

But that's only my take on that.

Brother Villa