Principal traditional approaches to the Revelation

Pretorist view

This sees Revelation as having already been fulfilled in the early history of the Church. According to this view (Revelation 5-11) is seen as the Church's victory over Judaism; (Revelation 12-19) as the Church's victory over pagan Rome; and (Revelation 20-22)as the Church's glory because of these victories. In this approach, the entire book of Revelation is seen as fulfilled by the time of the Roman emperor Constantine, who ruled in the years AD 306-337.

(Since this method of interpretation holds that the Revelation has already been fulfilled, it is obvious that it could not address anything related to modern times.)

Continuous view

This sees Revelation as a panorama of the history of the church from John to the end of the age,  interpreting the prophetic symbols as the rise of papacy, corruption of the Church, and various wars throughout Church history. 

(Since this method of interpretation places emphasis on the Church rather than Israel, it does not address Israel's restoration or other possible recent prophetic events related to modern-day Israel. Versions of this method of interpretation have been adopted by those who hold that the Church has replaced Israel in God's Plan, thereby obviating the need for a literal Millennial Kingdom.)

Futurist view

This methodology is dispensational in its approach, holding a strong belief concerning the future of a restored Israel during a literal Millennial Kingdom, but organizes the book of Revelation so that all of the prophecies from (Revelation 4.1) onward are yet to be fulfilled. 

(Since this approach assumes that everything following (Revelation 4.1) is future, those remaining chapters are essentially ruled "off-limits" for any possible correlation with historic prophetic events like World War II, the 20th century rebirth of Israel, or those world events following 1988.)

The Olive Tree Studies approach to the Revelation
For details see what "the prophets" say!
(should be reviewed in the order shown)

The above footnotes to each traditional view are added to show that none of them are suitable, if our intent is to find some way of understanding Revelation that is in harmony with the work already completed in The Prophets Speak. Those earlier findings concluded that,

1. World War II was the "Great Tribulation" of the Olivet Discourse.

2. The State of Israel has completed the process of reproducing the Davidic pattern for the setting up of the Millennial Kingdom.

3. There are two seven-year timelines, i.e. 1988-1995 for "Daniel's people" and 1998-2005 for the "sons of Daniel's people", both indicative of the "70th Week". 

Surely, if we have correctly understood these matters, we are presently living in the final stages of the End Times, and the Revelation would most certainly have to contain information directly relevant to these results, since it purports to cover the End Times leading up to and including the Lord's Apocalypse. Consequently, those traditional approaches that either place Revelation entirely in history, or omit Israel's role in the End Times, or organize the book in a way that disallows any correlation with major 20th century events known to have been prophetic, are in fundamental conflict with the findings of this prophetic study. 

Accordingly, we are in search of a new way to organize Revelation that might bring it into harmony with the results already obtained. If this can be accomplished, we will be in a position to study Revelation on a chapter-by-chapter basis, identifying people groups and principalities, and placing those entities on the timelines already derived, for the purpose of determining what-happens-to-who-when.

The "Seven Churches" (Revelation 1-3) 

Upon opening the book of Revelation, our first concern must be the "Seven Churches" discussed in the first three chapters. 

There were indeed seven historic churches that actually existed in Asia during the first century. Yet while the letters written to them may be used to argue that they are also  typical of true born-from-above congregations of believers at any point in time throughout the entire two millennial span of the Church Age, it is nevertheless concluded that the Seven Churches also appear to depict seven specific chronological church periods covering that span of roughly 1900 years. 

A detailed review of statements made to each of the Seven Churches does not immediately uncover major issues, until an attempt is made to relate them to the seven churches in Paul's Letters. Then it is discovered that the letters to the Seven Churches contain numerous doctrinal statements that cannot be reconciled with doctrinal statements made to those seven churches in Paul's Letters, notwithstanding the commonality that both groups of people have trusted Jesus Christ, and been born-from-above. The remainder of this section attempts to understand the reasons for these troubling differences. 

Four keys to unlock the Revelation (Revelation 4-5) 

Getting into the Revelation requires a systematic approach. Four keys are discovered in chapters 4-5 that (1) provide a way to organize the entire book, (2) determine where chapter 4, immediately following the Seven Churches, fits in time, (3) define that portion of the Revelation relating to the Times of the Gentiles, and (4) uncover the correct way to study the book chronologically.

The first "key" connects a concordant text in the Olivet Discourse to Seal 6 of the Revelation, thereby showing that Seal 6 should be the first event to follow the Times of the Gentiles. With this possible division, a potential way is opened to correlate those Seals prior to Seal 6 against the results already obtained in the previous sections of this study of The Prophets Speak.

The second "key" examines the "twenty-four Elders" seen in chapter 4 when John was first caught up into Heavenly places. Some who see John's translation as picturing the rapture of the Body of Christ, have identified these Elders as the Church already in Heaven. However, this study shows that the Elders may be related directly to Gentiles who lived during Old Testament times, both before and during the period of the Covenant of Law. As a result of this finding, the chapter 4 scene appears to be properly placed in the first century when John actually lived, not at the conclusion of the Church Age. This result allows us to bound the period of Revelation seals 1-5 so that they all occur between the first century and the end of the Times of the Gentiles.

The third "key" inspects the characteristics of those "four Living Creatures" also seen by John. That study again leads to the Old Testament where it is discovered that the "Seraphim" seen by Isaiah have the very same features, except that they had their faces covered. When it is remembered that the  new Covenant of Grace during the Times of the Gentiles was never revealed to those Old Testament prophets, this trail leads to the realization that Biblical scholarship has already associated the faces with the four principal Tribes of Israel. Since those Tribes played significant roles during the Old Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period, it became evident that those Living Creatures, who later administer seals 1-4, must provide important clues corresponding to the New Testament Covenant-to-Kingdom period.

The fourth "key" examines the characteristics of that seven-sealed Scroll received by the "Lamb" in chapter 5. Based on a knowledge of the physical makeup of such ancient scrolls, it is possible to establish that the seals had to be opened chronologically, therefore it follows that they must also depict events that are chronological through history.

Seals 1-4: The Covenant-To-Kingdom Period (Revelation 6.1-8) 

This portion of the study adopts the finding of the first "key" above, that seals 1-4 should relate to some aspect of the New Testament period. 

Within this context, the momentous impact of Christianity on the world system over the past 2000 years is inescapable, so the four major periods of world history are individually compared with the descriptions of the four horses associated with those four seals. It is found that,

1. The first "white horse" may be positively correlated with those first six centuries of world history when Christianity "conquered" the philosophies, arts, sciences, and minds of the people of the world during that period.

2. The second "red horse" with the "Middle or Dark Ages" when feudalism and internecine strife prevailed within the Christian world.

3. The third "black horse", as it appears to depict the time of the commercial revolution, when Christendom adopted materialism, and many of the clergy lived as the privileged wealthy, while the peasants barely existed in abject poverty.

4. The fourth "pale horse", whose rider was "death" followed by "Hades", seems to depict a period of world history like that during World Wars I & II, when nations with Christian roots laid waste the world.

A second perspective within this portion of the study builds on that fourth "key" above, by showing that the "four living creatures" who administer seals 1-4 may also be associated simultaneously, with those four major periods of history and with the descriptions given for each of the four horses. This result provides a second independent way of looking at seals 1-4 to confirm that these seals do relate to New Testament times.

Seal 5: Israel's Restoration (Revelation 6.9-11) 

After showing that the wording of seal 5 clearly identifies Israel as the subject, it is observed that the entire book of Revelation to this point seems to be providing links to relevant Old Testament scriptures, much like a Biblical "search engine" would do. Accordingly, it is postulated that the seal 5 word picture might likewise serve as a Biblical "hyperlink" to other scriptures that would explain it in more detail. Using seal 5 as a Biblical "icon", directing us elsewhere in the Bible, the seal 5 wording directs us to the Old Testament Psalms.

A subsequent study of the Psalter reveals it to be prophetic of the End Times beyond anything that might be imagined, for it is found that when the individually numbered psalms are correlated against their 20th century yearly counterparts, e.g. Psalm 42/1942, 43/1943, 44/1944, etc., they seem not only to describe  events that related to Israel in those years, but to describe them from a prophetic perspective with unerring accuracy! The potential import of this discovery seems so important that it is reviewed in four different ways:

1. Israel's formative years, from the 1942 beginning of the Holocaust until Israel became a nation, are compared with Psalms 42-48.

2. Israel is treated as a "person", following its "birth" in 1948, as it reaches significant milestones of age, e.g. 12, 13, 20 years, etc. prescribed according to the Levitical Law.

3. Those Psalms that should be related to the period of Daniel's 70th Week, i.e. Psalms 88-95, are compared with actual historic events that have already occurred in those years.

4. The overall organization of the Psalter into five separate books is overlaid upon the State of Israel's history since 1948 to the present time.

The results of this study is considered to be so astounding from the point of view of End Times prophecy that it is regarded as a confirmation of everything that has been discovered previously in this study of The Prophets Speak.

Seal 6: Apocalyptic Times (Revelation 6.12-17) 

Since Seal 6 must follow Seal 5 chronologically, the only question being when it should begin within the panorama of events depicted by the Psalter and the timelines of Daniel's 70th Week. This section establishes initially that Seal 6 should have been coincident with the beginning of Daniel's 70th Week. Of course, this raises an immediate issue, because if the language of Seal 6 must be interpreted literally, nothing even remotely approaching the awesomeness or intensity of the description occurred in or after 1988. However, this fact prompts a study concerning the way apocalyptic language is used other places in the Bible. This reveals that the kind of language used in Seal 6 is quite common throughout the Old Testament prophetic books, and that it was used to describe known historic events that simply involved the overthrow of kingdoms or other direct interventions by God in the affairs of mankind.

In light of this discovery, and the fact that conservative traditional Bible scholars of years past have widely interpreted such apocalyptic language in this way, historic events since 1988 are reviewed to show that  their prophetic nature similarly makes apocalyptic language appropriate.

Interlude: The "144,000" and "Great Multitude" (Revelation 7) 

As this prophetic study unfolds to this point, the Chapter 7 interlude between Seal 6 and Seal 7 must be placed in the time interval between 1988 and 1989. Consequently, when it is discovered here that the "144,000" must be of the Body of Christ, and the "Great Multitude" are apparently Gentiles who also lived during the Times of the Gentiles, important conclusions are implied.

• The finding that the "144,000" must be of the Body of Christ makes it evident that the Revelation makes an important distinction between that final Church of Laodicea and the residual elements of the Body of Christ who remain on earth till this time.
  
  

• The spectacle of the "Great Multitude" provides information to (a) associate them with Gentiles, (b) place their appearance in the period immediately following the Times of the Gentiles, and (c) identify the scene in which they appear as a post-Millennial setting. These findings provide substantial support for the conclusions reached in the Web Forum topic titled What about people ignorant of the Gospel?
  
  

• This interlude between Seal 6 and Seal 7 seems to explain the reason for the interval in Daniel's 70th Week timeline that separates its 1988 advent from the remainder of that seven-year period, causing all of the detailed timeline provisions pertinent to Seal 7 to actually have begun in 1989.

Seal 7: Trumpets 1-4 (Revelation 8) 

Immediately after the above interlude, but still in Daniel's 70th Week, Seal 7 is opened. There is a brief silence, apparently signifying that Seal 7 should be regarded as a solemn epoch in world history, for the events to occur are to have great impact on mankind, but especially on Israel. Following that silence, prayers of all the "saints" are offered upon the Heavenly Altar of Incense, and the officiating "angel" responds by filling the golden censer with fire and throwing it to earth. As each of the first four Trumpets are blown, an apocalyptic symbol depicts some event that immediately occurs.

Since each of the happenings in the first seven chapters of the Revelation were correlated with that seven-year timeline for Daniel's 70th Week, it is possible to place the advent of Seal 7 in 1989, therefore it is possible to relate each of the following Trumpets with actual historic events beginning in 1989 and thereafter. On this basis it is found that,

• Trumpet 1 should be related to the fall of Communism in Europe in 1989/1990.

• Trumpet 2 should be related to the Persian Gulf war and Iraq's defeat in 1990/1991.

• Trumpet 3 should be related to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991/1992.

For each of these relationships, the apocalyptic symbol used in connection with each Trumpet is first examined through concordant Bible texts to study the credibility of its association with that historic event, then each event is further studied (1) as an historic event viewed from man's perspective, (2) as a prophetic event viewed from God's perspective, and (3) as a prophetic event timed according to the Levitical and 360 day Calendars. This multifaceted approach aims to provide ways of looking at each of these major world events to reveal their underlying prophetic significance with respect to the End Times.

The vagueness of the Trumpet 4 apocalyptic symbol makes it difficult to relate it with confidence to any specific historic event. However, the fact that Trumpets 1-3 all have direct or indirect associations with the State of Israel, suggests that Trumpet 4 too might have such an association. Since Trumpet 4 should have occurred during 1992/1993, and since that was the time frame when the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Accord was being negotiated and signed, that association is made tentatively, subject to further study during the subsequent Woe judgements.

Seal 7: Woes 1-2 (Revelation 9) 

The use of the word "Woe" in connection with Trumpets 5-7 carries the idea of personal grief, affliction, and misfortune for its victims. Since Trumpet 5 (Woe 1) is now history and Trumpet 6 (Woe 2) is on-going,  it is possible to begin to understand how the character of the Woe judgements differs fundamentally from that of the earlier Trumpet judgements. 

Trumpets 1-4 related to events, which were primarily geopolitical or sociopolitical in nature, e.g. the  first three Trumpets focused successively on Eastern Europe, Iraq, and the Soviet Union, as whole entities. However, with the arrival of the Woe judgements, God's focus appears to shift to an individual level, with tests devised to determine which persons will inherit a place in His soon coming Millennial Kingdom. This characteristic is seen by the following brief summary of Woes 1&2 respectively.

Trumpet 5 (Woe 1) should have begun in 1993. Its study reveals that God permitted a Satanic deception to be perpetrated against the people of Israel, and that the vehicle used for that deception was the Israeli/Palestinian Peace Accord. Of greatest importance in this study is the discovery that the Peace Accord's principle of trading segments of the Land of Israel for peace lay at the root of the deception embedded in this seemingly beneficent peace treaty, for it turns out that the Bible expressly forbids anyone from "dividing" the Land of Israel, and that those who do so will be subject to God's judgement. Yet, that is precisely what many of Israel's leaders agreed to do during the 1993-2000 year tenure of the Peace Accord. Of course, it is recognized that those individuals who joined in that Peace Accord did so genuinely believing that it was the best way to achieve peace, but from a Biblical perspective, they were discounting God's will in the matter, and in effect regarding with contempt their part in an eternal inheritance in the Land during the Millennial Kingdom. Thus, the Satanic deception was intended to bring about their eternal destruction by having them "desire death". Of course, there was a national decision on this matter by the State of Israel's leadership, but there were also decisions by individuals within Israel, thereby causing Woe 1 to become a personal test, regarding an individual's allegiance to God's promise for his or her eternal inheritance.

Similarly, it becomes evident in the study of Trumpet 6 (Woe 2) that a different kind of test was applied to the Gentile world, prompting personal decisions leading to the selection of those who will likewise enter the Millennial Kingdom. That test came in the form of a major tragedy involving the death of almost 3000 people in the most heinous way imaginable. As the "9/11" terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, and the Pentagon were indelibly imprinted on the minds of hundreds of millions of people worldwide, the repeated questions heard were, "what does this mean?", and "why did God permit such a thing to happen?". Those questions could have been addressed simply by reading (Luke 13.1-5), when Jesus commented regarding two first century tragedies involving similar kinds of deaths of "innocent" victims. Jesus' answer was direct and to the point. "I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." Accordingly, this Woe 2 study finds that "9/11" not only possessed the features required to fulfill the provisions of Woe 2, but its concluding text indicates that it was also intended to induce an attitude of repentance in those who witnessed it. Thus it apparently became a test for the Gentile world, just as Woe 1 was a test for Israel. Unfortunately, it now appears that a majority of those in both people groups are in the process of failing those tests.

Both of these studies are conducted in a manner similar to those of Trumpets 1-4, by reviewing their history, prophetic nature, and prophetic timing, to relate them to specific statements made in Woes 1&2. 

Seal 7: The "Little Book" (Revelation 10)

Just before the blowing of Trumpet 7 and the beginning of the Lord's reign, a "little book" is offered to John. This "little book" is "open", apparently for anyone to read, yet it will have special significance for those people about to enter the period of the Lord's reign, leading up to His final Apocalypse. The purpose of this portion of our review of the Revelation will be to identify the "little book", and explore its contents in detail.

Seal 7: The "Two Witnesses" (Revelation 11.1-13)

Just before the blowing of Trumpet 7, "two Witnesses" appear on the scene. They are associated with a 1260-day period, during which time they testify in sackcloth and ashes. Immediately after their 1260-day testimony, a Satanic "beast" ascends out of the pit, making war with and "killing" them. However, after 3½ days they rise to their feet, and ascend to Heaven. All of these events precede the end of Woe 2, and are immediately followed by the blowing of Trumpet 7, when the Lord begins to reign. 

The purpose of this portion of the review is to identify these "Two Witnesses" who testify during this time frame, and the "beast" from the pit who "kills" them.

SUMMARY

I hope that your study of "The Prophets speak" gives you greater insight into God's workings in the affairs of mankind, and with that insight, causes you to more earnestly prepare for that day when we must all give a  final account  of our lives before the Great I Am. 

If you found this approach to be unique with respect to most prophetic material you have seen, I believe the differences stem from two approaches used in The Prophets Speak:

1. The Prophets Speak focuses only on the facts of history.
   
   This allows you to check the results, and avoids interpretations of scriptures pertaining to events still in the future, that may be arbitrary or even speculative.
     

2. The Prophets Speak employs techniques to detect recent prophetic events.
   
   Those three Biblical calendars (Jubilee, Levitical, 360 Day) provide a unique means to detect recent prophetic events, and when those events are placed within the context of Israel's repeated history, it becomes possible to determine precisely where we are presently living in the End Times. 

This prophetic material has been developed through personal study for about 27 years, causing a progressive picture of the End Times to slowly take form. The Prophets Speak attempts to encapsulate that entire process with the study you have just completed. You may also wish to quickly review the entire study with the provided Summary.