References to the Proclamation of the Gospel in Revelation

[Eugene Shubert]

The book of Revelation is both cyclical and climactic. There are three climactic epochs [1]. The rider on the white horse, the two ascending witnesses and the three angels’ messages, all refer to the gospel being proclaimed with power and glory at three major epochs in world history. The basic structure of Revelation is that God is revealing multiple scenarios [2]. The seals repeat the Olivet Discourse [3] and indicate that Matt 24:34 was a conditional prophecy. Jesus offered a true possibility. The world was scheduled to end in the first century. However joyous that promise was to the apostolic church [4], the immediate return of Jesus was delayed.

The two witnesses are the power of the gospel during the time of papal persecution. Their death is the result evil’s power over God’s word. Their resurrection followed the deadly wound of the papacy and the ascension of the two witnesses was the glorious elevation and circulation of the Bible from the many Bible societies that came into existence following the deadly wound of the beast. The mighty angel in Rev 10 who planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, giving a loud shout like the roar of a lion, is Jesus speaking through the Millerite movement in 1844. The little book in his hand is the book of Daniel. The seven trumpet judgments were scheduled to follow the Millerite’s message but that conclusion was canceled also (Rev 10:11). We are now in the final scenario. All that remains is for us to preach the three angels’ messages and to witness the complete fall of spiritual Babylon. There is very little time remaining.

[RonA]

Bro Eugene claims Matthew 24 was conditional? That all depends on one's interpretation. First off, to WHOM was Jesus speaking to? It was directly to his disciples. They asked him previously when the the temple would be fall. Jesus was telling them WHAT to look for, so that the disciples would know when the destruction of Jerusalem was near. There would be earthquakes, false Messiahs, pestilences throughout the land and when comparing Luke 21, Jerusalem would be surrounded by armies. All these were "signs" of Jerusalem's impending doom. All these things would occur in THAT GENERATION or the 1st century generation. Jerusalem indeed fell in 70 A.D. Josephus, a noted Jewish historian states emphatically, that because of the prophetic warning Jesus gave concerning the Olivet discourse, many Jewish Christian escaped the city of Jerusalem, right before it's terrible destruction by the Roman armies.

There was nothing conditional about Jesus' prophetic words at all. What he said, indeed came to pass..I believe all of Matt 24 was entirely fulfilled with the fall of Jerusalem. Revelation 6 and the seven seals is yet future, but yes they are very similar to the warnings Christ gave to his disciples concerning Jerusalem in Matthew chapter 24 and Luke 21.

[Eugene Shubert]

RonA,

I agree that all the items you listed happened. Events that didn’t happen in the first century include Mt 24:29-31. If you wish to defend preterism, I have specific threads for that:

What is the Blessed Hope of Preterism?
Consistent Preterism is Damnable Heresy