Are you ready to understand the mysteries of the book of Revelation chapters 6-19? The four horseman, the seven seals, trumpets and vials? These are very real events that were prophesied using highly illustrative language. To be able to do this do this you have to understand and accept the Bibles own interpretation of its own prophecies in the Old and New Testaments. If you refuse this or don't know to, then it is humanly impossible to understand the book of Revelation's prophecies. Yes, that means the four-hundred thousand books written on these prophecies and the six-hundred and fifty-million commentaries along with billion times some person said the Holy Spirit revealed to me..... are all wrong. This is why nothing anyone ever says regarding it comes to pass either. Sorry I can't make this easy reading for Social Media readers. This time you have to break out multiple windows of the Bible and history sites.
Daniel chapter 2 & 7 are prophecies of an age of universal oppression for all believers measured by four empires. The first one in Daniel chapter 2 is named as Nebuchadnezzar's Babylon. The second and third empires are named in Daniel 8 as Medo\Perisan and Greek. Rome's conquest of the Syrian and Egyptian quarters of the Greek Empire is prophesied in Daniel 11; and Rome is named all over the NT. The dates this age of universal oppression of the saints starts is 597 BC when Nebuchadnezzar conquers Judea and ends in 1453 AD when what had been the capitol of the Roman empire since 333 AD, Constantinople was conquered by the Turks. These prophecies actually gave us the date of the end of that age which you can see in my article- The Times and Seasons of the Bibles Prophecy.
After the end of the Roman Empire the Bible said this is what would take place: Daniel 7:27 And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him. Two things clarify the exact meaning of that. One is dozens of chapters of the Bibles prophecy like Isaiah 54, 60, 61, 62, 65:17-25, Psalm 72. etc. The other is what happened historically. The Bible began illegally making its way into the hands of the general public right when the Roman Empire ended. Those Bible reading people won and pioneered this growing free world and now billions are coming to Christ. This is exactly what was prophesied would happen. I have lots of articles on these prophesies in my web page or on my X articles tab as well as my book titled The Bible's Prophecy About The Free World. So lets get to the mysterious sections of prophecy in the book or Revelation.
Revelation 6-19 contain two parallel prophesies of the same events with different details. I'll be listing them appropriately.
Revelation chapter 6:1-8's first four
seals and four horseman are the four empires spoken about in the second
paragraph of this article.
The reason this is evident is that this prophecy in Rev.
chapters 6-11 is repeated in Rev. chapters 13-18. with the same seven
judgments as Rev. chapters 6-11. Only instead of four horsemen.
The four animals that are used in Rev. chap. 13 are the same ones in
Daniel 7 which has already been interpreted for us by the Bible as the
four empires. Now some might ask then; what is the lamb like animal in
Rev. 13? All the end time prophecy relating to the end of the old
covenant age and the end of the age of oppression of all the saints
everywhere measured by these four empires starting with Daniel chap. 2
are simply expansions, meaning added details of that original prophecy.
That is what the prophecy of of the lamb with two horns is. An
added detail of things that will transpire in the Roman Empire. It's a
prophecy of Roman empires split into an eastern and western branch. The
two horns illustrate the split. The fact that it is a lamb like animal
is the empires claims of Christianity that occurred at the same time the
capitol was moved to Constantinople. It speaking the words of the dragon
is self explanatory. The number 666 is the number of years between the
beginning of the age of these four gentile empires when Nebuchadnezzar
first conquered Judea in 597 BC and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70
AD. There is no year -0- making it 666 years. Buying and selling? Rome
had already enrolled the peoples of its empire to be taxed right at the
beginning of the Gospels as that was the reason Mary and Joseph had to go to Bethlehem to be enrolled.
Revelation 6:9-7:8 & Rev. 14:1-5,
the fifth and sixth seals are a prophecy about the destruction of
Jerusalem in 70 AD.
It starts in chapter 6 citing the murder of the old testament saints,
many at the hands of their countrymen and telling them the judgment will
not come until the same ill treatment NT saints in Israel has reached
its zenith. The 144,000 illustrate the followers of the messiah in
Ancient Israel that escaped the destruction of the city by listening to
Jesus's many prophecies about it. Most notably in Matthew 24, Mark 13
and Luke 21. Now the attention of the prophecy turns to the Roman
Empire.
Revelation 7:9-17 & Rev. 14:6- 20
though still part of sixth seal is a prophecy of the great harvest of souls
in the Roman Empire.
While Rev. 7:9-17 emphasizes the tribulation Rome will put the saints
through along with a prophecy of what would occur when that tribulation
ends; both in this life or in the next life. Rev. 14:6-20 adds to that the
pronouncements of Rome's doom for its murder of the saints.
Revelation 8:1-5 & Rev. 15 is the
seventh seal. The prayers, cries and praise of the saints during the
time of their tribulation and heavens answer.
We are now close to the third century. Passed the time of the ten Roman
emperors spoken of as ten toes in Daniel 2 and ten horns in Daniel 7,
Rev. 12, 13 and 17. The ten after Titus who destroyed Jerusalem.
Starting with Domitian and included historically 5 "good emperors"
ending with Didius Julianus. During the time period the saints multiplied exceedingly,
partially due to the lack of imperial persecutions. This basically
sealed the fate of the Babylonian system of state imposed idolatry in
the empire. This system was part of the Roman government as people like
Julius Caesar and Mark Antony were the Head Pontiff's of this state
imposed religion. After Octavian became Rome's first emperor all titles
were now placed upon the emperor. This called for action as past
persecutions or just leaving the Christians alone did not work. That
action came in the form of Septimius Severus in 193 AD. The 11th (little
horn) of Daniel 7 who started the war on the saints that over came them
for 1260 years until the end of the empire. He passed the worlds first
blasphemy law. The death penalty for becoming a Christian. The end of
the Severun dynasty was when the first of the seven trumpets or plagues
came upon the empire.
Revelation 8:7 & Rev. 16:2. The
first trumpet, plague or vial was Cyprians plague. 249-262 AD. From here
on the acronym TPV will be used for Trumpet, plague or vial.
The plague is described in chapter 16:2 and the results in chapter 8:7.
Perhaps up to 5000 people a day were dying in Rome. By the historical
descriptions it is easy to imagine a third of the empire perishing from
the plague and resulting famines. This resulted in the destruction of a
third of the crops in the empire simply because there was no one to tend
to or harvest them.
Revelation 8:8-9 & Rev.16:3. The second
TPV lists more results of Cyprian's plague on the
empire.
The sea here illustrates the nations and a third of the peoples of the
Roman empire dying. The mention of the ships is because during this time
period by the end of the third century Rome's infrastructure was
destroyed. The system that was able to deliver goods empire wide in a
matter of weeks was gone. Great cities emptied out since they could no
longer be sustained. Money failed. The people turned to barter and
sustenance farming. Later imperial decrees created the serf system that
tied the people to lands as slaves to landholders. This is the reason
Rev. 16:3 uses the illustrative language it does about every living soul
dying in the sea- the empire. That is an illustration about the height and the
glories of the Roman Empire of the last few centuries perishing at this
point, never to return again. The world would not see and international
infrastructure like this being built until a few hundred years ago. One
might call this the beginning of the dark ages and be correct, but we
still have 5 calamities to go.
Revelation 8:10-11 & Rev. 16:4-7. The
third TPV was a breakup of a third of the empire, the
entire eastern part.
Remember the sea and waters are being used illustratively to speak of
the empire and the peoples. Interesting enough the area of the breakaway
state is where the wormwood plant pretty much exclusively grows. This
breakaway state called the Palmyrene Empire was also where the fountains
of the great rivers of Asia minor, the Middle East and Egypt arise from.
All the blood letting due to this episode is what is being emphasized by
these prophecies.
Revelation 8:12-13 & Rev. 16:8-9 The
fourth TPV signals what would transpire that would
destroy a third of the luminaries which are the leaders, the stars, the
celebrity of the empire.
This was the beginning of a great 300 year long drying period in the
empire that would turn a lot of fertile land that fed it into desert.
This fourth TVP as a pronouncement of the next three of the seven
TVP's which also prophesied the three woes. Those three woes turned out to be the three
times the city of Rome was conquered by foreign armies during this
period to come.
Revelation 9:1-12 & Rev. 16:10-11 The
fifth TVP is because the drying period drives Huns and the Alans
west in a great migration into Eastern Europe over the next century.
This in turn drives the Germanic tribes, the Visigoths south,
eventually into Italy where they conquered the city of Rome, the seat of
the beast, which was the first woe.
Revelation 9:13-21 & Rev 16:12-15 The
sixth TVP is the full blown invasion into Europe by the Huns and Alans.
Chapter 9 illustrations describe the Huns and Alans quite well. I do not
know the significance of using the valley of Megiddo in Chapter 16 as
illustration in this prophecy.
Revelation 10-12
Before the seventh TVP and Third Woe the first of the two parallel
prophecies diverge for an explanation as to why John is receiving this
Revelation. Then it spends the next chapter in part of that explanation
before it prophesies the seventh TVP. Meanwhile the second of the two
parallel prophecies immediately prophesies the seventh TVP and
goes right to what you will see is the mystery revealed.
Revelation 10:7 is somewhat of a key to understanding why these
prophecies of future events are being given in Revelation. The book of
Revelation is not about a revelation about Jesus Christ. He was already
fully revealed. It is however a highly relevant revelation that Jesus
Christ is giving his first century people and those who will share their
tribulations during this age of oppression measured by these four
empires. Here is a verse regarding the mystery. "Acts 1:6
When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord,
will you at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? 7 And he said
to them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the
Father has put in his own power. 8 But you shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth." One must understand the
background to this question to understand the point I am trying to make.
The apostles knew the prophecies in the book of Daniel. Their people had
lived through the prophecies of the first three empires and were well
into the fourth empire. They knew that the messiah would end the fourth
empire and the promises\prophecies of Isaiah 54, 60, 61, 65:17-25, Psalm
72. etc would come to pass. They did not understand the sheer magnitude
of these prophecies and how they would transform the earth as we who are
living them out now see it. But instead, their thinking was confined to
their little corner of the world and their own freedom from oppression.
So what they were asking Jesus is when will these good news prophecies begin to come to pass.
Jesus straightly told his own apostles that this information would not
be given to them but they had a mission to fulfill. So one has to put
themselves in their heads. They could clearly see in Daniel 2 & 7 that
there were ten Roman emperors and an 11th that would overcome the saints
in war. Don't think for a minute they were not counting Roman emperors
looking for the hope of these prophecies laying ahead. That is where the
book of Revelation comes in. At the end of the lives of the original
apostles during the reign of the emperor Nero. John received the
revelation about the mystery of Daniels prophecies concerning the Roman
Empire. Something that would reveal the timeline of future events they
rightfully desired to come to pass in their generation. That is now
where these two parallel prophecies are headed. The revelation of the
mystery of the timing of the ten emperors which will signify the
beginning of the fulfillment of the dozens of chapters of good news
prophecy in the Bible. Now the first parallel prophecy starts in
Revelation 10-12 starts speaking about this before it gets to the
seventh TVP. The second parallel prophecy jumps right into it after it
prophesies the seventh TVP. So I will finish Revelation 10-12 before
finishing its parallel prophecy that goes much deeper into the details.
Revelation 10:1-6. I assume the seven
thunders is a prophecy of other things to come after the seventh TVP.
If these are a further seven catastrophic events to come upon the Roman
Empire, since there is no further information about them. It would be
most difficult to say with any kind of confidence what they were.
Revelation 10:7-11 is Johns vision of
prophesying the completion of the revelation of the vision as opposed to
the fulfillment of all the prophecy.
There is a huge difference between the two. One means the revelation is
now fully revealed and the other would mean what was revealed as
prophecy in now completely fulfilled. Only the revelation of the mystery
of what Daniel prophesied about the Roman Empire is being revealed. Not
the fulfillment of it.
Revelation 11:1-13 is and example of
what John will be prophesying related to the mystery being revealed.
In Daniel seven it says the 11th emperor will begin a war that overcomes
the saints for a time, two times and a half time. That is the same
number as 42 months and 1260 days in this chapter 11:1-3. This is
verified in Rev 12 that repeats the number. What we can see looking
back, because this has been fulfilled, is that just like the prophecy
of the coming of the messiah in Daniel 9:24-27 of 7x70 weeks. It turned
out that the 490 days were illustrations of years. The messiah's
ministry was completed in Jerusalem at the end of 490
years from the time of the Medo\Persain Emperor's declaration. This is
the same thing. The 1260 days illustrates a prophecy about 1260 years.
How does this help the people living in the time of oppression? How are
they supposed to figure that out? You'll see when when we get to the
second parallel prophecy that goes into far greater detail than the
first we are looking at now. Verse 1-2 of Rev. Chap. 11 is a prophecy of
the oppression of the saints for 1260 years. They are the temple of God
according to basic NT teaching. And, according to Isaiah 54. 60. 61,
Revelation 21 -22 along with many other chapters, they are also the city
of God in verse 2. So what this is a prophecy of is a repeat about the
war against the saints prophesied in Daniel 7 for 1260 years. That they
will be overcome. God will dwell inside their spirits but the earth and
even their own bodies are given to the nations who will oppress and
murder them. They, as represented by the prophecies of the city of God
will not be the dominate influence in the world during that age of
oppression. That is why the two witnesses in verse 3 are clothed in
sackcloth for 1260 years. They illustrate the Holy Spirit and the Word
who were thought to be crucified when Jesus was crucified in Jerusalem
as per verses 8-10; but arose with his resurrection as per verses
11-13. The judgments against the world for its oppression and murder of
the saints are replete in the Bible.
Revelation 11:14-19 & Rev. 16:17-21. By
the time the the seventh TVP comes the second woe in Rev 11:14 has already
occurred.
This was the second time a foreign army conquered the city of Rome. This
time by the Alans and the Vandals in 455 AD. The first time was by
the Visigoths in 410 AD. The third time was in 546 AD was when the
emperor Justinian in Constantinople tried to re-establish the western
half of the empire. He succeeded for a short period but by the time the
Ostrogoth's conquered the city it only had 40,000 living in it and the
Ostrogoth's completely depopulated it. This prophecy is most notable
however by its illustrations of the destruction of the nations. In 535
AD a great explosion or thundering was heard all over the world as
recorded by those who have written histories. For three years the sky
was darkened which resulted in massive crop failures. This led to
horrific plagues in Europe as rodents sought food in cities. It is
perhaps why you see all these great cities buried in Jungle or forsaken
the America's. The civilizations may have perished during this time and
what Europeans found when they came to the America's was its re-build.
North American natives claim the great works on the continent were built
by the people who were here before them. This was the greatest world
wide calamity ever seen outside of Noah's flood. A true world wide
apocalypse that erased whole civilizations and who knows how many
species of animals. The dark ages had now fully descended upon the
world.
Revelation 12 & 17 continues the
completion of the revelation of the mystery of Daniel 2 & 7.
In Rev. 12 we see and expansion of the prophecy in Daniel. A Roman
Empire illustrated by a dragon with 7 heads and the ten horns of Daniel
7. The persecuted woman that gave birth to the messiah is the New
Jerusalem of Isaiah 54 who are the believers in Ancient Israel,
now become the believers in the NT. Versus 6 & 14 show the 1260 year
time period of the universal oppression of the saints related to this
empire once more. Rev. chap. 17 gives us the clarity we need to see the
times and seasons of this revelation. In verse 9, the great city that
sits on seven mountains is obviously Rome. In verse 10 seven heads are
Rome's first seven emperors, John is receiving this vision during the
reign of the 6th, The Bible's prophecy is not counting claimants to the
throne during times of civil war the way historians do. Regardless of
what you think of that, the 8th emperor is Titus as illustrated by verse
11. He illustrates the beast that was, and is not, even he is the
eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition. This is who Paul
is referring to in 2nd Thessalonians 3 Let no man deceive you by any
means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away
first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who
opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself
that he is God. Also Daniel 9:26 .....and the people of the prince that
shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof
shall be with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are
determined. So you can see how Daniel and Paul emphasize the individual
but Revelation in chap. 17:11, the emphasis is on the empire. There is a
reason for this. Titus was the son of the emperor Vespasian when he
destroyed Jerusalem. He was not emperor at the time but the prince of Daniel 9:26. He sat in the temple
courtyard when he conquered Jerusalem. Revelations prophecy however
emphasizing the Roman Empire's destruction of Jerusalem and Titus who
was of the same dynasty as the first seven emperors becoming the eight
emperor is giving us precise dates through which we can determine the
end of the this age of oppression and the beginning of the age of
promise. How?
In the next verse, 12. John is shown that the ten kings of the Roman Empire prophesied about in Daniel 2, 7, & Rev. 12, 13, 17 are future to him receiving this vision during the reign of the sixth emperor. Based on that alone we still don't know which ten. But since we have hindsight and know the empire ended in 1453 AD. We can take 1260 years off that date which that brings us to 193 AD which is the first year of the reign of Septimious Severus. He fulfilled Daniel 7's prophecy abut him precisely. Three emperors fell before him in one year. He defeated two other claimants to the throne besides this. Why some historians would call those claimants emperors is beyond me. They never reigned as emperors like the three who fell in a year. He started what was essentially a war against the saints. The death penalty for becoming a Christian. This tells you who the ten emperors were since Severus is the eleventh in Daniel 7. Those ten are the ten who immediately followed the Titus's reign as emperor. So essentially what you have is that from the beginning of the times of the gentiles when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judea until the destruction of Jerusalem in 666 years by Titus the prince- Then Titus who illustrates the beast itself's emperorship, followed by the ten emperor's prophesied about in multiple places. Then from the beginning of Daniel 7's prophecy of the eleventh emperor is 1260 years until the Roman Empire and the times of the gentiles ends. Significant to demonstrate the supernatural nature of the Bible. But much more significant as to what prophecies we should put our faith in as to what the future holds.
Revelation 17-18 and the Babylonian Mystery Religion. Chap 18:24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. What this was specifically is the practice of kings and emperors imposing idolatry on the peoples. Today we would call it an intolerant official state religion like Islam. This was started by Nimrod in Babylon shortly after the the flood and was the reason Jehovah came down to earth and confused the languages and spread the human race all over the world. God did not want the entirety of his creation immediately separated from himself by state imposed idolatry. The reason kings and emperors practiced this because it makes people easier to deceive and manipulate as it separates the peoples from the voice of the Lord. In Daniel's first prophecy about these four empires and what would follow he notes that the ten toes, illustrating these ten emperors have the strength of iron but there is clay mixed with that iron illustrating a weakness. The weakness is the Babylonian system of government imposed idolatry to control the masses. Since these emperors did not realize the extent of the danger Christianity posed to their rule, they did not conduct large scale imperial persecutions against them. That gave the believers some breathing room to multiply exceedingly which spelled the doom of the state imposed idolatry. Idolatry is the first thing to fall when the gospel is preached, and to peoples under the influence of the kingdom of God. This is what verse 17:14 is a prophesying: These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. It is not a prophecy of the end of the empire but the beginning of the end state imposed idolatry. Septimius Severus's, the 11th emperor mention in Daniel 7, although to late to stop the momentum of the kingdom of God against the Babylonian mystery religion; turned to large scale imperial persecutions that set the stage for the 1260 years of military campaigns against the saints. As most westerners understand. the Babylonian system, due to its inability to control the masses was eventually replaced by an imperial\state church. That would serve the purpose of the emperors control over their domains for a millennium. If things got out of hand. Such as a region within their empire where the population was gaining access to the scripture and the people becoming aware of the freedoms promised in Christ. Military campaigns to wipe out those regions became the norm as this was a direct threat to the rule of emperors and kings. As noted earlier. The dynamic that changed all this was the invention of the printing press when the Roman Empire ended and the general public gaining access to the Bible. A public armed with the the truth of God's Word began to be dominate in all things including militarily over the ancient order of things and always tends towards freedom. The thinking that developed in Northern Europe due to the public reading Bibles migrated to North America. This was the beginning of the free world prophesied in God's Word that will eventually overtake the entire globe.
One hitch for me is the verses in chapter 17:16-17. They are a mystery to me as these ten emperors were not hostile to the Roman state religion or it's government supported priesthood. My assumption regarding these two verses, although it takes them wildly out the context of Chapter 17; is that they are speaking not of the whore of Babylon but of Jerusalem's whoredoms. These ten emperors where extremely hostile towards the remainder of any Israeli's in Judea and did in fact seek to totally destroy them. After the Kokhba Revolt in 135 AD the emperor Hadrian sought to erase Jewish identity and as part of that campaign renamed the region Syria Palaestina, or Palaestina for short. (After the Philistines) That is where we get the name Palestine from.
Revelation 19. The end of the age of universal oppression of the saints measured by the four empires and the beginning of the promised age. Like Daniel 2, 7 and many dozens of chapters of prophecy. Revelation prophesied a promised age of billions coming to Christ and the transformation of the world from despotism to a growing free world once the Roman Empire ended. That is what this particular instance, among many, of the coming of the Lord illustrates. As stated earlier. The main vehicle that would bring the judgment upon the despotic ancient world and the promise of a free one was the Bible for the first time in history, making its way into the hands of the general public. That is what is mostly being illustrated in verse 14 in Christ bringing the armies of heaven with him. They represent the old and new testament saint's labors and sufferings, mostly in bringing the world his written word. In other words all the labors of the saints over millennia will now begin to bring the fruit prophesied in a promised age. This was followed by another first outside ancient Israel. Many of the geographical area's that had gained access to Bibles surviving the war aimed at taking the scriptures from them but then, the Bible reading peoples becoming dominate in every area of life, including militarily. This phenomena has been growing in the earth ever since then and nothing the world has thrown at it has been able to stop it. That is what is illustrated in verses 15-16. The defeat in war of the entire order of the despotic ancient world. Mostly but not only, by the peoples influenced by the Bible. It is not beyond God to use the wicked to punish the wicked. As represented in the remaining verses of the destruction of the Roman Empire and end of the age of the universal oppression of the saints. The lake of fire illustrates total defeat in war.
Now I understand how hard it is to see this in chapter nineteen because the pictures presented about it are so highly illustrative. Intimate familiarity with the scripture and a yielding to its own interpretations of its own prophecies rather than familiarity with the many narratives and traditions the Bible is read through are a necessary component of understanding them. I'm going to leave chapter 20 out of this as it, along with chapter 21-22, belong to this current age. I'll write an article on it down the road and already have quite a few articles on the New Jerusalem on my website. My book covers all of it if you are interested in that: The Bible's Prophecy About The Free World. You can check it out on any book sellers website.
© Daniel Martinovich 2024-2025
