Interpretative Key 8: The Book of Revelation Concerns Events That Were About to Take Place

The biggest flaw in modern Christian eschatology is the unquestioned assumption that the prophecies of Revelation represent the end of the Bible narrative. This is why Revelation is traditionally placed at the end of the Bible, even though we know from 1 Peter 5:13 that it wasn’t the last book of the Bible to be written (see Rethinking the Timeline of the New Testament Canon for more information).

In fact, Isaiah is the foundational prophetic text of the Bible. It covers the cycles of judgment and salvation found in the times of Hezekiah, the restoration of temple worship under Persian rule, and the coming of the Messiah. Moreover, as we shall see in the next article, its narrative extends to the end of the Church Age. The other books of prophecy in the Bible just fill in the overarching story of Isaiah with more details.

The Book of Revelation specifically covers the end times described briefly in Daniel 12. As mentioned previously, Daniel 10 and 11 represent the unsealing of the prophecy about the Maccabees that was sealed up in Daniel 8:26. Daniel 12:1-3 was likewise sealed up in 12:4, to remain that way until “the time of the end” (12:9).

In Revelation 5:1, we see this sealed scroll of Daniel 12, which the Lamb unseals in order to unleash the final judgment on the Jews who rejected their Messiah. The reason it was unsealed at that point in time is that “the time is near” (Revelation 1:3). In fact, at the end of the book, the angel warns John not to seal up the prophecy of the Book of Revelation, because “the time is at hand” (Revelation 22:10).

In Bible Evidence for a First-Century Parousia, I list out the overwhelming evidence in the Bible that the return of Jesus was expected within the lifetime of the apostles. There are few ideas more abundantly supported by Scripture than “preterism,” the idea that the Second Coming of Jesus occurred in our past.

Note: Any attempt to twist statements such as “I am coming quickly” (Revelation 22:12) into meaning “I won’t be coming for thousands of years, but when I do, it will happen suddenly” explicitly violates Jesus’ own statements that the end would not happen all at once (Luke 21:7-9).

The key to reconciling the past fulfillment of Revelation with the reality we live in today is to understand that the prophecies of Revelation concern the final judgment of the nation of Israel. To understand our future, we have to look to Isaiah, which I will do in the next article.

Calculations

3955 / 66 AD (Q2): The First Jewish-Roman War begins

3955 / 67 AD (Q1): Vespasian takes over the Roman invasion of Israel

3958 / 69 AD (Q4): Vespasian becomes emperor

3958 / 69 AD (Q4): Titus takes over the Roman invasion of Israel

3959 / 70 AD (Nisan): Titus besieges Jerusalem

3959 / 70 AD (Av): The Romans successfully sack Jerusalem and destroy the Second Temple

In Daniel 9:26-27, Gabriel mentions a “covenant-confirming” week (which I call the “Week of War”) that comes after the 70 Weeks of Years. We can only understand these two verses properly if we realize that it is the Messiah who is “confirming the covenant with many for one week,” not the prince who is to come.

This seven-year long week, which was associated with war, the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, and the end of sacrifice and offering, was fulfilled by two 3.5-year-long halves. The first half occurred during the First Jewish-Roman War, while the second half occurred during the Third Jewish-Roman War, the two times Israel tried to establish independence from Rome after Jesus’ ascension (the Second Jewish-Roman War was the Diaspora Revolt and did not involve a bid for national Jewish independence). When the Third Jewish-Roman War ended, “the power of the holy people [i.e., national Israel] was completely shattered” and “all these things [i.e., the end time events of Daniel and Revelation] would be finished” (Daniel 12:7).

This week-long war “confirmed” the New Covenant made with the first-century Church in several ways:

• It rescued (via rapture) Christians who were being persecuted.
• It resurrected Christians who had died, just as Jesus promised them.
• It brought judgment on the faithless Jews who murdered Jesus and persecuted Christians after His ascension.
• It destroyed the Second Temple worship system, proving the New Covenant was sufficient to stand on its own.
• It ended the Roman emperor’s special role as spiritual king of kings, replacing him with Jesus as the Messianic King of kings.
• It led to Judah being destroyed and the Jews being expelled from Jerusalem, thereby shifting the entire focus of the progression of God’s kingdom to the spread of the Church.

While the First Jewish-Roman War started in May of 66 AD, and the Jewish rebels established a provisional Jewish government (with Jerusalem as the capital city) later in 66 AD, the first half of the Week of War didn’t begin until the Roman general Vespasian, aided by his son Titus, assumed control of the Roman war effort in early 67 AD.

In Daniel 7, we see that the Messianic kingdom would be established in the time of the king of Rome who was eleventh in line from the Roman king who would first gain dominion over the whole world. Julius Caesar was the mighty king of Rome who helped transition Rome into an empire that controlled most of the nations known to Israel. Vespasian was the tenth king of Rome, while Titus was the eleventh. Vespasian triumphed as emperor in the Year of the Four Emperors (69 AD), when three kings ruled briefly in quick succession before him. In this way, Titus (whose father’s political victory paved the way for him to become emperor) “subdued three kings” (Daniel 7:24). Titus took over the war effort against Israel when Vespasian became emperor in December of 69 AD.

By arrogating to himself the right to first war against Israel, then eventually besiege the holy city of Jerusalem and destroy the city and the Jewish temple, Titus was speaking pompous words against the Most High, persecuting the saints of the Most High, and intending to change times and law (Daniel 7:25). His persecution lasted for a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:25), i.e., for a year plus two years plus half a year, or 3.5 years (the Book of Revelation also expresses 3.5 years as 42 months, because there are 12 months per year, or 1260 days, because there are 30 days per month).

As Jesus prophesied, the Jews would experience intense tribulation under Vespasian and Titus (Matthew 24:21; Mark 13:19; Luke 21:23-24), culminating with the Second Coming and the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:29-31; Mark 13:24-27; Luke 21:25-28). The Romans sacked Jerusalem in Av (late summer) of 70 AD, exactly 3.5 years after Vespasian assumed control of the Roman war effort.

The seven seals of Revelation 6-11 describe the massacring of Israel under Vespasian and Titus. Titus besieged Jerusalem during Nisan of 70 AD, just as Jerusalem was full of Jews preparing to observe the Passover. In this way, the vast majority of the Jews who rejected Jesus and the gospel were trapped in Jerusalem for the horror of the siege itself (famine and pestilence) and the murder or enslavement (sword or captivity) of the survivors when the siege finally ended.

The siege lasted for about five months (the five months of torments of the fifth trumpet of the seventh seal in Revelation 9:5 and 9:10). After the five months are finished, a massacre occurs (the sixth trumpet), and then the angel swears that there will be no more delay (Revelation 10:6). In Revelation 11:1, John measures the temple, because its destruction is at hand. We then see that during the entire persecution of the Jews by Vespasian and Titus, which was brought about by God because of the apostasy and wickedness of the Jews and their rejection of Jesus as Messiah, God provided two witnesses to prophesy constantly in Jerusalem (which was under rebel Jewish rule the whole time), so as to make sure the Jews understood their judgment and also to give them one last chance to repent before they were utterly destroyed. These witnesses prophesied for 1260 days, the 42 months the Gentiles (the Romans under Vespasian and Titus) trampled the holy city, before being killed and then called up to heaven (Revelation 11:1-14).

When the Romans finally succeeded in sacking Jerusalem, halfway through the seven-year covenant-confirming Week of War that started with the appointment of Vespasian as head of the war effort, they burned the Second Temple, “bringing an end to sacrifice and offering in the middle of the week” (Daniel 9:27).

3919 / 30 AD (Nisan): The Last Days begin

3921 / 32 AD (Q2): Jesus ascends to Heaven

3921 / 32 AD (Q2): Jesus sits down at the right hand of the Father

3959 / 70 AD (Av): Jesus returns on the clouds at the Second Coming

3959 / 70 AD (Av): The Rapture and the Second Coming Resurrection occur

3959 / 70 AD (Av): The Last Days end

As previously discussed, Jesus cleansed the Second Temple for the first time in Nisan of 30 AD (3919). This began the process of the Mosaic Law’s way of dealing with a leprous plague in a house, as described in Leviticus 14:33-53 (credit to James B. Jordan for this idea in Biblical Horizons No. 25: The Abomination of Desolation – Part 1: An Overview). Jesus’ first cleansing in 30 AD was the initial inspection of the “house” (temple). His second cleansing shortly before His crucifixion in Nisan of 32 AD was the follow-up inspection, with the figurative removal of stones, scraping, insertion of new stones, and plastering of the house (because the plague had spread in the house).

The siege of Jerusalem began in Nisan of 70 AD, 38 years after Jesus’ second inspection. By this time, it was clear the leprous plague had returned. In Av of 70 AD, Jesus returned in judgment on Israel (the Second Coming) and proceeded to destroy the temple and cleanse the leprosy. 

At the Second Coming, the “tribes,” i.e., the faithless Jews who had been gathered from the nations and trapped in Jerusalem during the siege, would mourn at the coming of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:30; Revelation 1:7), because it represented their final destruction and the failure of their nationalistic hopes. During His return, Jesus came on the clouds (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27; Acts 1:11), in the lifetime of those who murdered Him (Revelation 1:7), just as He promised the Sanhedrin when He was on trial (Matthew 26:64).

When Jesus returned, He became the spiritual overseer of Titus’ army. As Daniel 9:26 foretold, the “people of the prince who is to come,” AKA the Romans under Titus (who was literally a Roman prince once his father Vespasian became king of Rome), destroyed the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the Second Temple). That verse also mentions that the end of the city and the sanctuary would be “with a flood”; note that Jesus compared His return to the Flood of Noah (Matthew 24:37-39).

Therefore, the 40 years from Jesus’ first cleansing of the temple to His return at the sacking of Jerusalem (remember that years in the Bible are counted by crossing the New Year line, not by 12-month periods) were the “Last Days” of the Old Covenant and Second Temple Judaism. Per the usual pattern, those 40 years were divided into 2 years and 38 years by the second cleansing of the temple (the 38 years being alluded to in John 5:5).

The idea of the Last Days being 40 years is reinforced by Jesus’ statements that all the end times events associated with the Second Coming would “come upon this generation” and be completed “before this generation passes away” (Matthew 23:36; Matthew 24:34; Mark 13:30; Luke 11:51; Luke 21:32). In the Torah, the Exodus Generation had to wander for 40 years until they all died out and were replaced by the Conquest Generation.

This simile is called out even more explicitly in Hebrews 3-4, when Paul implores his readers not to fail to enter God’s rest the way the Exodus Generation failed to enter His rest during their 40 years in the wilderness. After Jesus’ ascension, during the remainder of the Last Days, He was seated at the right hand of God the Father (Hebrews 8:1; Revelation 3:21), while the Father made Jesus’ enemies His footstool (Psalm 110:1; Matthew 22:44; Mark 12:36; Luke 20:42-43; Acts 2:34-36; Hebrews 1:13; Hebrews 10:12-14).

The Resurrection at the Second Coming

According to Matthew 25:31-46, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.” Based on the details of this passage, it appears to be a judgment of those who knew who Jesus was and is based on how they specifically treated members of the Church (Matthew 25:40).

The context of this passage is very telling. In Matthew 24:1-35, Jesus describes the end time events leading up to the destruction of the Temple, culminating in Jesus’ return. The “end of the age” in Matthew 24:3 refers to the end of the age of the Old Covenant, when the “heavens and the earth” that existed at the time (i.e., Second Temple Judaism and its various elements, such as the Second Temple, the priestly vestments, etc.) would be destroyed by fire in the day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:7; 2 Peter 3:10). And indeed, this was fulfilled when Jerusalem and the Second Temple were burned by the Romans in 70 AD (I will discuss “the heavens and the earth” more in the next article). At that time, the jots and tittles of the Mosaic Law passed away (Matthew 5:18; Luke 16:17).

Starting in Matthew 24:36, Jesus then transitions to the implications of His return for his followers. He speaks about being ready like the master of a house protecting against a thief (Matthew 24:36-44), about faithful servants vs. evil servants (Matthew 24:45-51), about wise vs. foolish virgins (Matthew 25:1-13), and about good and faithful servants vs. wicked and lazy servants (Matthew 25:14-30). All of these parables are about one theme: Jesus’ faithful followers needed to spend their time and gifts wisely and pursue holiness while waiting for Jesus’ return, while the false followers of Jesus would indulge themselves in sinfulness and abuse of true Christians, because they didn’t fear the judgment of the Son of Man (as warned of in Luke 21:34). Note: There are other parables in the Gospels about this same theme, such as the wheat vs. the tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and the dragnet (Matthew 13:47-50).

Many letters in the New Testament included warnings from the apostles to the first-century Christians to persevere in faithfulness until the Second Coming. As it drew near, many Christians became skeptical that Jesus would return and fell away, pursuing their own fleshly desires (Acts 20:29-30; 2 Timothy 3:1-9, Jude 1, 2 Peter 2-3). Those who pursued the love of the world and denied Jesus in the last hour were antichrists (1 John 2:18-19).

Thus, it is reasonable to infer that Matthew 25:31-4, which follows first a description of the Second Coming (associated with the destruction of the Second Temple) and then parables about how Jesus’ followers should behave in anticipation of the Second Coming, is a description of Jesus’ judgment of His followers and His separation of the faithful followers from the faithless at the time of His return, based on their behavior prior to the Second Coming. This judgment therefore occurred with Jesus’ Second Coming and was limited exclusively to the first-century Church. All those who claimed to follow Jesus were either raptured or resurrected, at which point the truly righteous went to Heaven, while the wicked went to Hell.

In the spiritual realm, when Jerusalem’s defenses were breached, the seventh and final trumpet of Revelation sounded in Heaven, and Jesus began to reign over the kingdoms of the world (Revelation 11:15; cp. Jesus sitting on the throne of his glory in Matthew 25:31). This is when the still-living Christians were caught up to Heaven to judge Israel with Him (Matthew 24:31; Mark 13:27), an event referred to today as “the Rapture.” This event was repeatedly associated in Scripture with the sounding of a trumpet or the “last trumpet,” as seen in Matthew 24:31, 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, and 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 (note that those who had died in Christ would be resurrected first and then joined in the air by the raptured Christians).

This was also the moment when the “saints of the Most High” of Daniel 7:22 and Daniel 7:27 took over the kingdom. Those saints were Christians, the Jews of the heavenly Israel (Romans 2:28-29), who took over from the previous saints of the Most High of Daniel 7:21 and Daniel 7:25, the Jews of the earthly Israel.

Daniel 12:2-3 predicted that after this resurrection, when true Christians would awake to everlasting life but false Christians to shame and everlasting contempt, “those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” Jesus confirmed this would happen with His Second Coming, at the time of the rapture (Matthew 13:40-43). Paul confirmed that Christians were already shining and would thereby affirm his hard work on the day of Christ (Philippians 2:14-16).

In Daniel 12:1, Michael is Jesus’ angelic title as archangel (Jude 1:9), i.e., the angel who commands the angelic armies of heaven (Matthew 26:53). As the chief angel (note that “angel” literally means messenger and can refer to Jesus, the heavenly host, or God’s servants on earth, depending on context), He is referred to as “the Angel of the Lord” multiple times in the Old Testament when He appears in His pre-incarnate angelic form.

At any rate, Michael/Jesus is described as “the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people.” Note that in Revelation 4-5, we see that God is on a throne but is a separate entity from the Lamb (see especially Revelation 5:7). The God on the throne is God the Father, who in the New Heavens and the New Earth shares His throne with the Lamb (Revelation 22:1; Revelation 22:3). Thus, when Daniel was written, Jesus was a heavenly “prince,” who now co-reigns as King in Heaven with His Father.

In Daniel 7:9-14, God the Father is described as “the ancient of Days,” while Jesus is “the Son of Man.” In this scene (which is also referenced in Daniel 2:34-35 and Daniel 2:44-45), the Father takes the spiritual authority of Rome under Vespasian and gives it to Jesus and the Church (even though Rome still continued to exist and rule on earth, its divine mandate over the nations was gone from then on). All of this happened in Av of 70 AD. Note: The description of the Ancient of Days in Daniel 7:9 is similar to that of the Son of Man in Revelation 1:12-16 because “he who has seen [Jesus] has seen the Father” (John 14:9), because Jesus is the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3).

Note that Daniel 2:44 makes clear that Jesus would become King during the time of the tenth and eleventh horns of Rome (i.e., Vespasian and Titus). Note also that Jesus promised His apostles that when He returned, they would sit on twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30). These are the thrones of Daniel 7:9.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus mentions repeatedly that He will raise up His followers on “the Last Day” (John 6:39; John 6:40; John 6:44; John 6:54), which Martha also references in John 11:24. The simplest interpretation of these verses is that the “Last Day” was the last day of the Last Days, when the Rapture and the Second Coming Resurrection took place.

All of this occurred in 3959. This was the point at which the Old Covenant was completely destroyed and only the New Covenant remained.

Note: In John 12:48, Jesus mentions that those who reject Him will be judged on the Last Day. The context concerns believers who are afraid to confess Him (John 12:42-43). In fact, John 12:47 makes clear that Jesus is discussing the practice of believing in Him but not “keeping His words.” Hence, Jesus is warning hesitant followers about the perils of being goats instead of sheep during the Last Day judgment.

3921 / 32 AD – 33 AD: Stephen is martyred

3921 / 32 AD – 33 AD: Paul is converted

3922 / 33 AD (Nisan) Paul makes his first trip to Jerusalem as an apostle

3924 / 35 AD (Q4): Peter witnesses to Cornelius

3924 / 35 AD (Q4): The gospel officially extends to Gentiles

3933 / 44 AD (Q2-Q4): Paul makes his second trip to Jerusalem as an apostle

3933 / 44 AD (Q2-Q4): Herod Agrippa murders James the brother of John and imprisons Peter

After the Second Coming in Revelation 11, the prophecy jumps back in time to the birth of Jesus in chapter 12 to establish the character of the dragon, before moving into a description of the Third Jewish-Roman War. In Revelation 12, the woman giving birth is the Jewish Church, the body of Jewish believers from the time of Abraham to the time of Jesus (the twelve stars on her garland represent the twelve tribal patriarchs – see Genesis 37:9-10). The imagery here reinforces the idea that for faithful Jews, Jesus’ coming was a culmination of Jewish history, not something new.

Jesus is born, then caught up to God and his throne, which is a reference to His ascension. The woman (the body of Messianic Jews) then flees into the wilderness, which is an ironic reference to Jerusalem, where the Jewish church was headquartered (it is ironic because just as the “true Jews” were the Jewish Christians who would be persecuted by the earthly Jewish nation, the “true Jerusalem” had transitioned from the capital of earthly Israel to the heavenly capital, leaving the old Jerusalem as a spiritual wilderness).

Satan and his demons, who apparently still had some purchase in Heaven up to this point, are then cast out (as Jesus predicted in Luke 10:18 and John 12:31). This would be just after the ascension, when the blood of the Lamb had been shed and could be used against them in Heaven. The “word of their testimony” and the bravery of “not loving their lives to the death” is a reference to the Old Covenant martyrs who had previously been resurrected (to be discussed in the next article) and now had the power of the crucifixion to fully overcome Satan. Hence, Michael (Jesus), the two-thirds of the heavenly host who refused to follow Satan into rebellion (Revelation 12:4), and the Old Covenant martyrs collectively used the power of the cross to expel Satan and his demons fully from Heaven.

The “short time” of the devil refers to the time between the resurrection and the Second Coming, at which point Satan would be crushed under the feet of the Church (Romans 16:20). During that short time, Satan persecuted the Jewish Church (the “woman who gave birth to the male Child”), but she was protected from him for a time and times and half a time, or 3.5 years. The serpent spewing water like a flood after the woman was Satan’s attempt to murder the apostles shortly after the ascension, while the “earth helping the woman and opening its mouth and swallowing the flood” is a reference to Gamaliel thwarting the Jewish plot to kill the apostles in Acts 5:33-41 (the “earth” in Revelation is a reference to Israel, while the “sea” is a reference to the Gentiles).

The end of Revelation 12 mentions Satan shifting his focus from the apostles to “the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” This refers to the persecution and scattering of the Jewish Church under Saul in Acts 8.

To clarify the timeline in play here, we have to look at Galatians 1 and 2. Those two chapters mention two trips Saul/Paul took to Jerusalem: one after three years (Galatians 1:18) and one after fourteen years (Galatians 2:1). These two trips match thematically with his first two trips to Jerusalem as an apostle in Acts 9:26-30 and Acts 11:27-30. Galatians 1:22 in particular reenforces the idea that Paul took no additional trips to Jerusalem beyond what was recorded in Acts.

Paul’s second trip was to bring famine relief in the days of Claudius Caesar (Acts 11:28). Claudius became emperor in 41 AD, so this trip couldn’t have happened before then. Furthermore, the second trip happened “about the same time as” the murder of James the brother of John and the imprisonment of Peter (Acts 12:1-4) by “Herod the king.”

The Herod in charge of Judea from 41-44 AD was Herod Agrippa. After Agrippa’s death, Judea was entrusted by Claudius to a Roman procurator, and the next Herod, Agrippa II (who ruled over surrounding territories but not Judea itself), was still alive in Acts 25. Therefore, the Herod who harassed the Church and then was struck down and eaten by worms (Acts 12:23) had to be Herod Agrippa.

That means the second trip had to have happened somewhere between 41 AD and 44 AD (when Agrippa died). However, if Jesus was crucified in 32 AD, then this second trip couldn’t have been 14 years after either Saul’s conversion or his first trip to Jerusalem. Instead, it must have been dated according to the time period of the Last Days, which we have determined to have started in Nisan of 30 AD.

Assuming Galatians 1 and 2 are dated from the beginning of the Last Days (a LOLI) makes good sense of Acts and Galatians. Jesus was crucified during the Passover week of 3921, rose on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4), and then ascended 40 days after His resurrection (Acts 1:3). Shortly after that was the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Jewish Church (Acts 2:1-4).

The various conflicts with the Jewish leaders in Acts 3-7 would have happened within the next several months after Pentecost. Saul’s persecution of the church lasted a brief while after that, and then he was converted. Note that Acts 9:13-14 implies that Saul had only been focusing on persecuting Christians in Jerusalem so far (in other words, for weeks or months, not years), and he was just starting to chase them to other cities when he was blinded.

After his conversion, Paul went for a quick spiritual retreat in Arabia (Galatians 1:17), returned to Damascus, spent “many days” preaching Christ there (Acts 9:22-23), then went to Jerusalem (Acts 9:26). I posit that this trip to Jerusalem would have been for Paul to participate in his first Passover as a Christian.

Acts 9:27-30 mentions that Paul spent time with the apostles and preached in Jerusalem before fleeing to Tarsus. According to Galatians 1:18-19, the only apostles he actually saw were Peter and James the brother of Jesus. Apparently, the apostles were so terrified of Paul that they limited their exposure to him to just Peter and James, lest he betray them and wipe out all the apostles at once.

Likely the others would have met with him eventually, had he not left after only 15 days (Galatians 1:18). The Passover celebration lasts eight days, so Paul would have had enough time to complete the festival before fleeing for his life from the faithless Jews (the life-threatening nature of this trip was part of the reason it took an additional 11 years before he returned to Jersualem).

Therefore, all of Acts 1:4-9:25 must have happened before the Biblical year running from spring of 32 AD to spring of 33 AD (3921) ended. Acts 9:31 mentions that after Paul left Jerusalem, “the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified.” As Paul left Jerusalem right at the beginning of 3922, this peace would have lasted for at least the remaining 2.5 years of the 3.5 years of Revelation 12:14.

What happened when the 3.5 years ended? The next major event in the Book of Acts is the conversion of Cornelius and the extension of the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 10-11). I posit that the exclusivity of the gospel to the Jews ended with that conversion, after 2.5 years of a peace when the Jewish Church was growing, although there was a long period after that where the scattered Christians were wavering between evangelizing only Jews and also evangelizing Gentiles (Acts 11:19-21). The Jerusalem church sent Barnabas to encourage this broadening of the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles (Acts 11:20).

After Barnabas completed this mission, he went to Tarsus to connect with Saul (Acts 11:25). The two of them relocated to Antioch, where they spent a whole year teaching (Acts 11:26). During that year, they were warned of an upcoming famine, so they put together relief for the Christians living in Judea, which was sent to the Jerusalem elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul (Acts 11:27-30). This was the trip mentioned in Galatians 2, which happened 14 years after the start of the Last Days in 3919, which means 3933.

3933 lasted from Nisan of 44 AD to Nisan of 45 AD. However, shortly after Paul’s second visit to Jerusalem (Acts 12:1), Herod Agrippa killed James the brother of John and imprisoned Peter, which resulted in Peter fleeing to Caesarea. Shortly after that, Herod died, which happened in 44 AD. Therefore Paul’s second trip occurred in 44 AD (after the Jewish New Year).

In Galatians 2, Paul mentions that he was accompanied on his second trip by Barnabas, as well as Titus, a converted Gentile. Also, he mentions that there was a conflict between his party and false brethren who were attempting to bring the Gentile Christians into bondage (Galatians 2:3-5), which was happening because the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 had not occurred yet.

According to Galatians 2, during Paul’s second visit, the apostles in Jerusalem acknowledged how Paul and Barnabas were commissioned to witness to the Gentiles, much as Peter was commissioned to witness to the Jews. Paul and Barnabas returned to Antioch with John Mark (Acts 12:25) and then were soon sent out on a missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3).

They ended this trip with a long rest in Antioch (Acts 14:26-28), during which Peter visited at some point (Galatians 2:11). However, certain men came down to Antioch from James (Acts 15:1; Galatians 2:12), leading to Peter withdrawing from the Gentiles, for which Paul rebuked him (Galatians 2:13-21). Eventually Paul and Barnabas went up to Jerusalem for the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:2-5), and Peter, having taken Paul’s rebuke to heart, spoke in favor of freedom from the Law for the Gentiles (Acts 15:6-11).

The Jerusalem Council must have therefore occurred some time after Herod’s death in 44 AD, as Peter felt comfortable returning to Jerusalem from his exile in Caesarea.

4020 / 132 AD (Q1): The Third Jewish-Roman War (Bar Kokhba revolt) starts

4024 / 135 AD (Av): Simon bar Kokhba dies in the fall of Betar

After describing the first 3.5 years of the first-century Church in chapter 12, in chapter 13 Revelation jumps forward to the Third Jewish-Roman War (AKA the Bar Kokhba revolt), which started in 132 AD.

The beast from the sea was Simon bar Kokhba, the false messiah who attempted to establish Jewish independence from Rome a second time during the Third Jewish-Roman War. The beast being from the sea and having the body parts of the various Gentile empires from Daniel 7 probably represents the fact that by attempting to establish an independent Jewish kingdom on earth, Bar Kokhba was godlessly gathering the scraps of the beasts that Jesus had overcome in 70 AD, instead of pursuing the spiritual heavenly kingdom of Jesus that never ends.

Bar Kokhba was a highly charismatic leader, which would explain Revelation 13:4. His effort at independence lasted 42 months (Revelation 13:5), from Q1 132 AD to Q3 of 135 AD, when he was killed in the fall of Betar (according to Jewish legend, Betar fell on the same day in Av that Jerusalem was sacked). Bar Kokhba declared war on any Jews who refused to support him, which primarily meant Jewish Christians who rejected his claim to be the messiah. This persecution and slaughter of Jewish Christians was the war with the saints of Revelation 13:7.

All the other Jews, AKA “every tribe, tongue, and nation” (Revelation 13:7; cp. Acts 2:5-11) and “all who dwell on the earth” (Revelation 13:8), worshipped him as messiah and followed him. But God assured the suffering saints that those who killed them or sold them into captivity would suffer the same fate (Revelation 13:10).

The beast from the earth (AKA the “false prophet” of Revelation 16:13, 19:20, and 20:10) was Rabbi Akiva, who as a rabbi was involved in spiritual shepherding (hence the horns like a lamb in Revelation 13:11) and promoted Bar Kokhba as the messiah (he “caused the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast” – Revelation 13:12). Note also that Bar Kokhba’s rebel government minted coins that declared him to be the “Prince of Israel.” By using the coins (“buying and selling”), a Jew would be accepting Bar Kokhba as messiah, thereby receiving a spiritual mark on his right hand or forehead (Revelation 13:16-17; cp. Deuteronomy 6:6-8, Deuteronomy 11:18).

Revelation 14-19 describes the final judgment of Israel. The seven bowls represent the suppression of Bar Kokhba’s revolt by the massive Roman forces sent to Judea by the Roman emperor Hadrian. Archaeologists have found evidence of a strategic Roman military base and camp near Megiddo (AKA Armageddon – Revelation 16:16), which is probably where the Romans mustered before their final conquest of Israel.

After the seventh bowl is poured out, the text returns to describing the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD in great detail (structurally, Revelation covers the lead-up to destruction in the First Jewish-Roman War, then the lead-up to destruction in the Third Jewish-Roman War, then the destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish-Roman War, then the destruction of the Jews in the Third Jewish-Roman War). Jerusalem is referred to as Babylon (see 1 Peter 5:13), which explains Revelation 16:19-21 (possibly the hailstones are stones from Roman catapults). Babylon being drunk with the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus (Revelation 17:6) refers to the slaughtering of prophets and saints by the Jews throughout history.

Revelation 19:11 then moves forward in time to describe the final defeat of Bar Kokhba’s forces. As the Romans finished suppressing the revolt, Bar Kokhba holed up in the fortress of Betar, which was besieged and captured by the Romans. This final defeat is referenced in Revelation 19:17-21, which also describes the aftermath of the revolt, namely the slaughtering of Jews throughout Judea on a genocidal level, the expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem, and the effective end of the nation of Israel until it was re-established in 1948.

As previously mentioned, the 42 months of Bar Kokhba were the “time, times, and half a time” of Daniel 12:7, after which “the power of the holy people [would be] completely shattered” and “all these things [i.e., the end times] shall be finished.” As the angel said in Revelation 16:17, “It is done!” While the Second Temple was destroyed in the First Jewish-Roman War, the complete judgment and destruction of Judea (which finally settled and wiped out the bloodguilt of the Jews that is described in 1 Thessalonians 2:14-16) didn’t occur until the end of the Third Jewish-Roman War.

Commentary

Point 1

3955 / 66 AD (Q2): The abomination of desolation occurs when the Jews stop offering sacrifices for the Roman emperor

Daniel 9:26-27 mentions desolations associated with the Week of War. According to the Jewish historian Josephus, the inciting event for the First Jewish-Roman War was when the Jewish rebels ceased offering sacrifices on behalf of the Roman emperor in 66 AD. This was the abomination of desolation Jesus referenced in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14. The reason both verses say “let the reader understand” is that this second abomination of desolation was not what most first-century Jews were expecting.

Most Jews at the time expected a repeat of the events of the Maccabean Revolt (which was initiated by the first abomination of desolation, when the forces of Antiochus Epiphanes erected a desolating sacrifice on the Jewish altar), in which the fourth empire would be the villain and the Jews would heroically overthrow them and establish independence once and for all under the earthly rule of a Messianic king.

Jesus, however, never challenged the legitimacy of Roman rule during His ministry, because Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 declared that the authority God had given Babylon in Jeremiah 27:4-6 was passed down to Rome by the will of God. Instead, He knew that Second Temple Judaism was set up in such a way that the Jews would be a priestly people for the entire world by offering sacrifices to God on behalf of the emperor (and by extension his empire), which was required by Darius the Great as his main motivator for assisting the Jews in finishing the Second Temple (Ezra 6:9-10). Because of this special job, the Jews were allowed (except during their persecution by Antiochus Epiphanes) to maintain their own system of worship that didn’t acknowledge the divinity of the emperor or his gods, and they also were free to travel throughout the empire to spread Yahweh worship to Gentiles of all nations.

Unfortunately, by the time of Jesus many Jews had lost sight of this mission, coming to see Gentiles as unclean, to the point that even Christian Jews were scandalized when Peter witnessed to Cornelius (Acts 11:2-3). Most Jews saw their Gentile overlords as a burden and couldn’t wait to overthrow them. But Jesus knew that to do so was to risk removing the necessity of the Jewish nation in the first place.

And indeed, the first-century Christians worshipped in the temple while it was still being used for its original intended purpose (Luke 24:52-53). But once the Jews abandoned their divine mission altogether by stopping the sacrifices on behalf of Caesar, and the Romans responded with an invasion, Christian Jews would have recognized that the time had come for Jerusalem’s desolation and would have followed Jesus’ warning to flee immediately (Matthew 24:15-21; Mark 13:14-19; Luke 21:20-24).

Because the faithless Jews left in Judah did not understand that Daniel 7:21-27 represented a shift from earthly Jews to faithful followers of Jesus and from an earthly kingdom to a spiritual one (recall Jesus saying that His kingdom “is not of this world” in John 18:36), they incorrectly thought this passage called them to fight the Romans for national independence, which ultimately resulted in their destruction.

Note: Most likely the “when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies” of Luke 21:20 refers to the initial assault on Jerusalem by Gallus in September or October of AD 66, from which Gallus unexpectedly retreated. Christians in Jerusalem would have known to flee at that time. For the faithless Jews, however, Gallus’ retreat emboldened them to establish a provisional independent government. Gallus was soon replaced by Vespasian, and the days of vengeance (Luke 21:22) began.

Point 2

To interpret the “Great Tribulation,” we must realize there were two Great Tribulations: before the persecution of the Jews by Vespasian and Titus (the Great Tribulation of the Jews), there was the persecution and martyring of Christians under Caesar Nero (the Great Tribulation of the Christians) after he blamed them for the Great Fire of Rome that happened in 64 AD (this tribulation is mentioned in Revelation 1:9 and Revelation 7:14). This persecution of Christians lasted until Nero died in 68 AD (3.5 years total) and claimed the lives of Peter and Paul, among many others.

The idea of two Great Tribulations, the first of Christians and the second of the Jews who rejected Jesus, is reflected in 1 Peter 4:12-19, when Peter mentions that judgment starts with the house of God and then falls on His enemies. The first Great Tribulation purged the Church of all false followers and brought the faithful who persevered to great glory, while the second destroyed the old system of worship that sustained the Jews who rejected Jesus and led to many of them being starved, killed by the sword, or being sent into captivity.

Point 3

In this article, we saw how the chronology of the Last Days reflects that of the Exodus (2 + 38 = 40). However, it also mirrors that of David.

Jesus became a rabbi when he was “about thirty” (Luke 3:23). Because Jesus was born in Nisan of 6 BC, the fact that Luke explicitly says “about thirty” indicates he didn’t become a rabbi near the beginning of the year. More likely, he became a rabbi halfway through the Biblical year, such that He was still 30 but not quite exactly 30 or close to 31.

He thus became a rabbi about halfway through 3914. That means He crossed the New Year line seven times during His earthly ministry before His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension in 3921. Similarly, David was said to have reigned for seven years in Hebron (1 Chronicles 29:27), which would be based on the number of New Year lines he crossed there.

This also makes sense of an odd verse in the Old Testament, Numbers 13:22, which says that “Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.” That verse doesn’t seem to connect to the narrative around it. However, when we consider that “Hebron” literally means “association” or “league,” which is not far from the meaning of “church” (assembly), and “Zoan” literally means “place of departure,” the verse might very well have been prophesying that Jesus would spend seven years building His church (league), then ascend (depart) to heaven.

Furthermore, according to 2 Samuel 5:4-5, “David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.” Recall also that David had lived in Jerusalem prior to his official move there, while the city was being rebuilt and fortified.

Jesus’ appearance to Paul represented the end of a continuing presence with His church (see the overarching narrative of 1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Therefore, we could say that Jesus was temporarily in Jerusalem after His ascension and didn’t “officially” move until Paul became the last apostle and the Church had peace (Acts 9:31). This happened right at the beginning of 3922, 7.5 years after the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Jesus then spent 33 years in the heavenly Jerusalem, until the First Jewish-Roman War started near the beginning of 3955.