The Danielic Imperative, Episode 27

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We review the Scriptural depictions of what is happening in heaven and what is happening on earth in eschatology.

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I do a podcast. I'm not interested in your podcast. The anathema of God was for those who denied justification by faith alone.
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When that is at stake, we need to be on the battlefield, exposing the air and combating the air.
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We are unabashedly, unashamedly Clarkian. And so, the next few statements that I'm going to make,
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I'm probably going to step on all of the Vantillian toes at the same time. And this is what we do at Simple Riff around the radio, you know.
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We are polemical and polarizing Jesus style. I would first say that to characterize what we do as bashing is itself bashing.
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It's not hate. It's history. It's not bashing. It's the Bible. Jesus said, woe to you when men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.
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As opposed to, blessed are you when you have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness. It is on.
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We're taking the gloves off. It's time to battle. Welcome back to the
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Danielic Imperative, a podcast in which we explore the eschatology of the people of God in the light of the timeline revealed to us by the prophet
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Daniel. I am your host, Timothy F. Kaufman, and this is episode 27 on the topic of heaven and earth in eschatology, and the importance of knowing when
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Daniel and John are talking about which one. As we have stated many times, Jesus and his apostles revealed the future of the people of God to us in explicitly and implicitly
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Danielic terms. From Jesus' oblique reference in Matthew 21 to the two strikes of the stone of Daniel 2, to the abomination of desolation in Matthew 24 and Mark 13, to the beast of Revelation 13, which is in fact a compilation of the four beasts of Daniel 7, to the seven kings of Revelation 17 5, which is simply a list of the kings of the iron legs of the statue of Daniel 2.
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Jesus established an eschatological timeline in Daniel, and that timeline serves as the foundation of his revelation of the future of God's people.
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As the angel of Daniel 10 said in verse 14, I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days.
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Similarly, the angel of Revelation 1 said that he had come to John from Jesus to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass, or literally, must shortly begin.
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And Jesus' explicit instructions were that the information John recorded was to be sent to the churches.
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That's Revelation 1 11. While the books of Daniel and Revelation are written in figure, metaphor, and allegory, and Daniel recorded in words what he saw before him in visions and dreams and conversations, the prophecies were nevertheless given to us, as the angel said, to make us understand.
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I emphasize this in particular because of the broad spectrum of views on interpreting prophetic utterances, ranging from a despondent relegation of the truths of Daniel and Revelation upon the ash heap of incomprehensibility, to the unfortunate grasping at contemporary headlines as the lens through which the words are to be interpreted, an array of interpretive methods that largely divorce themselves from the scriptural tools we have been given to make us understand.
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And for the most part, they confuse when Daniel and John are speaking of heaven and when they are speaking of earth.
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It is a small wonder that people give up on Revelation in despair, and pastors and preachers speak of its contents only in generalities and platitudes like, it's really about Jesus and his love for the church.
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There is no doubt Jesus gave Revelation to his church because he loves it, but the book of Revelation is not just about Jesus' love for his church.
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It is also about his hatred of those who persecute his people and his particular and merciless vengeance upon them.
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And as it turns out, his vengeance is brutal and extraordinary and, to some degree, behind us, as we shall see as we proceed through the seals, trumpets, and vials of Revelation.
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There is yet more vengeance to come, but a lot of it has happened in the past. But first, a quick recap from our previous episode.
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Last time we answered a listener's question about the thirteen horns of Daniel 7 and how we can know that the division of the
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Roman Empire was in fact thirteen dioceses and the little horn took three of them, which is why there were ten left by the time
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Daniel saw the little horn rising among them. We showed that Roman Catholicism had risen up and claimed the dioceses of Italy, Egypt, and Orients through their three metropolitan cities of Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch, claiming that they were the three apostolic seas of Peter and that together they formed a sea of one upon which
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Christ had promised to build his church. That is how the earthly kingdom of Antichrist came to be, all the while claiming that it was the promised heavenly kingdom of Christ on earth and convincing the world that it was exactly what
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Daniel had prophesied in chapters 2 and 7 as God's promised kingdom. The reason everyone bought into the lie and the whole world wandered after the beast, including people who knew the scriptures, was because of a logically flawed interpretation of the
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Danielic timeline in which the stone of Daniel 2 only strikes once and in which there is a single judgment depicted in Daniel chapter 7.
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In fact, there are two strikes of the stone in Daniel 2 and two judgments in Daniel 7.
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The first judgment follows the introduction of Christ's heavenly kingdom and the second precedes the introduction of his earthly kingdom.
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It is the widespread and invalid conflation of those two judgments into one that legitimizes the religion of Roman Catholicism and leads people to the damnable conclusion that Roman Catholicism is the heavenly kingdom of God on earth.
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Once those two judgments are seen in scriptures, Roman Catholicism may be plainly discerned as the fifth earthly empire of Daniel's visions, the empire that disturbed
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Daniel's cogitations and troubled his countenance and shocked him to the core. When we see
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Roman Catholicism for what it is, we can certainly understand Daniel's shocked dismay from what he could see.
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The whole world was going to follow the fifth empire thinking it had found the religion of Christ, not knowing that it had wandered into the arms of Satan.
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At the conclusion of episode 26, we promised to proceed with a discussion of the seals of Revelation, and to do that, we're going to visit the heavenly kingdom of Christ, the earthly kingdom of Antichrist, and the earthly kingdom of Christ that follows it, and importantly, when each one is supposed to happen.
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Unfortunately, we have allowed our invalid assumptions to obscure what the scriptures are plainly telling us about them, and the remarkable but predictable result is that many have confused the kingdom of Christ with the kingdom of Antichrist.
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That is why otherwise intelligent people are so vulnerable to the claims of Roman Catholicism. So, to correct that error in our understanding, we'll need to visit the two judgments of Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, and once we do that, we will see that the first strike of the stone of Daniel 2 .34,
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the first judgment of Daniel 7 .10 against Rome, corresponds to the courtroom scene of Revelation 6 when
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Jesus begins to open the seals and, as a result, fragments the Roman Empire.
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And the second strike of the stone, the second judgment of Daniel 7 .26 against Antichrist, corresponds to the judgment scene in Revelation 19 when
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Jesus treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God, and the beast and the false prophet of Revelation 13 are cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.
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That's Revelation 19 verses 15 to 20. Those are two different judgment scenes, and they are both depicted as two judgments in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7.
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When we see these two judgments of Daniel 7 and the two strikes of the stone in Daniel 2, it becomes very clear that between them there exists the satanic earthly empire of Roman Catholicism.
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However, when the two strikes or two judgments are collapsed into one, it allows Roman Catholicism to lay claim as the kingdom of God on earth, leaving otherwise intelligent people looking for Antichrist in the wrong place.
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We have depicted this graphically in the show notes. We'll see how and why that happens this week as a prelude to the seals of Revelation, the first strike of the stone in Daniel 2, the first judgment scene in Daniel 7.
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So, we have several things to talk about. First, we will revisit the propensity to mistake the earthly kingdom of Antichrist for the heavenly kingdom of Christ by collapsing those two judgments into one.
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Second, we will examine how Christ's two kingdoms, heavenly and earthly, are described in scriptures.
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This will illuminate our understanding regarding the order and sequence of Christ's and Antichrist's kingdoms.
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Third, we will demonstrate how John uses events occurring in heaven and events occurring on earth to reveal the
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Lord's timeline to us as events unfold in both locations. This is important because it shows just how important perspective is in eschatology.
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We have to know when the prophet is describing what is happening in heaven and when he is describing something that is happening on earth.
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It matters very much and will prepare us for our next episode in which we discuss how Daniel and John were using what is happening in heaven and what is happening on earth to help us understand the timeline of the seals of Revelation so we can explore that first judgment, the first strike of the stone in Daniel 2, the first judgment of Daniel 7.
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Those two references to the first judgment in Daniel, as it turns out, both refer to Christ breaking the seals of Revelation starting in chapter 6.
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And the information we have from Daniel and John together reveal to us exactly when
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Jesus started breaking those seals. So, let's get going. We have a lot to cover today.
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Point one, our historical propensity to misunderstand Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 by conflating those two judgments into one.
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As we have demonstrated in prior episodes, the stone of Daniel 2 actually strikes twice.
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First, striking only the feet of iron and clay, breaking them to pieces in Daniel 2 .34. And then in a second strike, breaking the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold together,
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Daniel 2 .35, just before the saints inherit their earthly kingdom. Those are two strikes, and Daniel actually indicates as much, as he says in Daniel 2 .45,
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that the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold were not broken just because they collapsed when the feet crumbled under them, which is typically what is assumed, but rather that it is the stone itself that directly break in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
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Remember, the first strike of the stone only broke the iron and clay to pieces. It did not break anything else.
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But upon the second strike, Daniel says, the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them.
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Those are two separate strikes. Jesus confirms this when he makes an oblique reference to the stone of Daniel 2 in Matthew 21 .44,
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saying, And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken. That's referring to the first strike of the feet, in which it would appear that the statue had stumbled or tripped.
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But on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder. That's referring to the second strike, in which the stone grinds all the materials of the statue into chaff that's carried away by the wind.
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And remember, Jesus said that in the context of the kingdom of God being taken away from the Jews and given to another nation, which is precisely what
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Daniel had foreseen in chapter 2. And in the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.
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And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms.
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And it shall stand forever. That's Daniel 2 .44. On that note,
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Jesus told us in Luke 21 that when we see his prophecies come to pass, we should know that the kingdom of God is near at hand.
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That's Luke 21 .31. That was a reference to his heavenly kingdom, and it was established during the fourth empire, within one generation of Jesus' words.
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As we will shortly discuss, that heavenly kingdom then proceeded to execute a judgment from heaven against the
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Roman Empire through the breaking of the seals of Revelation 6. That is the first strike of the stone, and it broke the
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Roman Empire to pieces, but did not grind it to powder. From those pieces, or fragments, of the
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Roman Empire arose the religion of Roman Catholicism, the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13.
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And that kingdom ruled on earth as the successor to the Roman Empire as Christ continued to reign in heaven.
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As the scriptures indicate, the beast of Revelation 13 is the little horn of Daniel 7 and is comprised of all the preceding empires together because it was likened to a leopard and a bear and a lion.
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That's Revelation 13 .2. This is what Daniel meant when he said that after the judgment of the fourth beast, the preceding beasts had their lives prolonged for a season and a time, as Daniel 7 .12.
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He was talking about Roman Catholicism. Roman Catholicism arose as a
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Roman horn from the fragments of the Roman Empire and ruled as its successor, but also embodied the three previous empires.
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Now at some future point, Jesus will return with his servants and take away the dominion of the little horn and consume and destroy it to the end, as it says in Daniel 7 .26.
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That second judgment is against the little horn, which of course is part iron and clay since it answers to the period of the toes in Daniel 2, but is also part gold, silver, and brass since it is in the little horn that the preceding empires receive a prolongation of life.
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And thus, the second judgment is against the little horn, which is to say that the second judgment is against the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold together, which is to say that the second judgment is against the sea beast of Revelation 13.
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That's the second strike of the stone, and it is only then, after the second strike, that the stone of Daniel 2 grows up and fills the whole earth, as he says in Daniel 2 .35.
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And it is only after the destruction of the little horn that the saints of God receive a kingdom under the whole heaven.
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That's Daniel 7 .27. So that is the sequence of kingdoms. The saints receive a heavenly kingdom with Christ during the
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Roman Empire as attested by Daniel 2 .44 and 7 .18. Christ in His heavenly kingdom executes a judgment against Rome in a first strike as depicted in Daniel 2 .34
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and Daniel 7 .11 and in the breaking of the seals of Revelation 6, resulting in the fragmentation of the
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Roman Empire from which Roman Catholicism arises as a toe of Daniel 2 or a horn of Daniel 7.
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The preceding empires, for reasons we have explained, received a prolongation of life in Roman Catholicism which arises as an earthly kingdom among the fragments and exercises civil dominion and persecutes the saints.
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And then later Jesus comes and destroys Roman Catholicism, the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold together, the little horn of Daniel 7.
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And the saints receive an earthly kingdom. Now that is a very important sequence and scriptures testify to it abundantly and repeatedly.
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And we would not want to get it wrong. Such a mistake could lead people into the wrong kingdom. And indeed, such a mistake has led people into the wrong kingdom.
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It is a very strong delusion. And apart from God's preservation of His people, it would be a delusion so strong it would be impossible to resist.
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Unfortunately, the traditional interpretation is that the stone of Daniel 2 only strikes once. And that assumption leads to the conclusion, not only among Roman Catholics, but even among some
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Protestants and Reformers, that the rising political power and carnal influence of the late 4th century church was the fulfillment of the stone striking the statue and growing up to fill up the whole world.
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As allegedly prophesied, soon after the destruction of the Roman Empire, the stone grew up and filled the whole world with the bishop of Rome in charge.
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That assumption essentially legitimizes the satanic religion that has ever since masqueraded as Christianity and has in fact claimed that title based on a gross misinterpretation of the
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Daniel 2 prophecy. Never forget that Cardinal John Henry Newman left the
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Anglican Communion in 1845 and became one of the greatest apologists for Roman Catholicism, absolutely convinced that Daniel 2 had foreseen the growth, rise, and civil sovereignty of the
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Roman Church over the known world after the fall of the Roman Empire. In his famous essay
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On the Development of Christian Doctrine, in which he detailed his conviction that Roman Catholicism is the true
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Church of Christ, Newman's foundational axiom was that Daniel's prophecy had already determined that the religion established by the apostles was to be a power visible in the world and sovereign over it.
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Under Newman's invalid single -strike rubric, that sovereign earthly power could be no other than the rising religion based in Rome after the fragmentation of the preceding empire.
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Under that assumption, we can hardly blame Newman for converting to Roman Catholicism. It was a false and deadly assumption, but he took it where it led him, and that single -strike rubric can and does lead some people into the arms of Antichrist.
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Another more recent example is Taylor Marshall, who left the Episcopal Communion just a few years back, absolutely convinced that Daniel had foreseen the
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Church of Jesus Christ receiving an earthly kingdom from the Roman Empire in Daniel 2.
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This is quoting from his blog entry, The Roman Church as Prophesied in the Old Testament, and he says,
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As we see in Daniel 2, Rome's sovereignty shall be left to another people, and it would happen through the introduction of a stone or a rock, a
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Petros, or Peter. Again, that's former Protestant Taylor Marshall enthusiastically embracing
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Roman Catholicism because he assumed the stone only struck once. He, too, has since become one of the greatest apologists for Roman Catholicism, absolutely convinced that Daniel had seen the
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Church of Christ inheriting the earthly empire from Rome and then ruling over it. From that single -strike perspective, it sure looks like Roman Catholicism is that prophesied stone that struck the
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Roman Empire and then filled up the whole world. In fact, many people, including some
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Protestants, assume that the politically powerful late 4th century medieval church must have been the true religion of Christ because it grew up and filled the whole earth and ruled over it just like the stone in Daniel 2.
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Once you grant that assumption that the stone only struck once, it is a matter of simple deduction to arrive eventually at the conclusion that perhaps the
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Reformers were in error to separate from the church Jesus Christ founded. After all, they ended up breaking off from the stone
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Daniel had prophesied, right? And Jesus promised the gates of hell would not prevail against that church.
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Well, that's where the single -strike interpretation of Daniel 2 must ultimately lead the unwary student of Scripture.
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The same is true if you assume a single -judgment interpretation of Daniel 7. Daniel explicitly identifies two judgments in this chapter, just like he did in chapter 2.
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He says in Daniel 7 verses 10 -11 that the judgment was set, resulting in the destruction of the fourth beast, and Daniel 7 26 -27 says, but the judgment shall sit, resulting in the destruction of the little horn.
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It is only then that 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
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Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Those are two judgments.
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The first against the Roman Empire and the second against the little horn. And only then do the saints inherit an earthly kingdom under heaven.
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But if Daniel 7 is read as if there is a single judgment against the fourth beast and the little horn together, it gives the impression that the saints of God inherit the
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Roman Empire and receive an earthly kingdom immediately following the judgment of God against the fourth empire.
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I know we have covered this before, but it is incredibly important that Christians understand not only that there are two judgments depicted in each chapter, but also the grave consequences of collapsing them into a single judgment, as all the commentaries do.
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It plays right into the hands of Rome, which would be bad enough, but it misses what the scriptures are plainly warning us about, that the earthly kingdom that followed the
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Roman Empire is the evil, satanic religion of Antichrist, not the earthly manifestation of Christ's heavenly kingdom.
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If you assume that the fourth beast and the little horn of Daniel 7 are destroyed at once, it gives the impression that the saints of God inherit the
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Roman Empire from Rome and receive their earthly kingdom in the image and likeness of that pagan empire.
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That is exactly the position Roman apologist Taylor Marshall takes on Daniel 7 as well, namely that Daniel had foreseen the saints of God taking the
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Roman Empire away from its previous custodians and establishing an earthly kingdom of God with the
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Pope as its head. There are four kingdoms, Babylonian, Medo -Persian, Greek, and Roman, and then
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Roman Catholicism takes over, and the saints of God receive their earthly kingdom. This is Taylor Marshall in his book,
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The Eternal City. The kingdom is taken away from the fourth beast and given to whom?
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The last four lines leap off the page, read them over and over again. Who receives the kingdom?
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The people of the saints of the Most High. Again, Taylor Marshall, The Eternal City, Daniel foretells the
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Roman Church. That is, again, Taylor Marshall, former Episcopalian, absolutely convinced that Daniel had seen the
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Church of Christ inheriting the earthly empire from Rome and then ruling over it because he assumed there was only one judgment in Daniel 7.
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But we know better. There are two. These errors that I have highlighted in the thinking of the Roman apologists are precisely what is wrong with taking an approach to Daniel 2 and 7 in which there is a single judgment depicted, and yet that is precisely the assumption that is made by Protestant eschatologists as well.
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Calvin saw the stone of Daniel 2, the Church of Christ, as the fifth empire on earth.
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And John Gill, the English Baptist theologian, believed the stone striking the statue was fulfilled quote, especially when the
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Roman empire as pagan was destroyed by Constantine and the kingdom of Christ was set up in it unquote, as if Christ's earthly kingdom manifested immediately following the
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Roman empire. Small wonder that E. B. Elliot, when interpreting Revelation 12, 5 about the man -child that was caught up to God and to his throne, understood it to refer to the rise of the
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Roman Church to a dominant political power in which the Christians ostensibly became a political force and took their rightful place in Rome to rule the heathen and to coerce them with the rod of iron.
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Again, that's E. B. Elliot, Protestant theologian, commenting on the fulfillment of Revelation 12 as the elevation of the
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Christian church to a political force in Rome. Calvin unfortunately took the same approach to Daniel 7, assuming that the fourth beast and the little horn were destroyed in one single judgment, something that Daniel does not actually say.
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At Daniel 7, 11, Calvin writes, the presumptuous speaking of the little horn was at an end and the fourth beast was extinct at about the same time.
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By collapsing the two judgments into one, Calvin is left struggling with how to reconcile
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Daniel's statements that the saints received a heavenly kingdom in the period of the fourth beast but also received an earthly kingdom at the destruction of the little horn at about the same time.
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The only way to reconcile that is to assume that Christ's heavenly kingdom and his earthly kingdom were formed simultaneously.
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And so, to make sense of the prophecy, Calvin appealed to the widespread fame and celebrity enjoyed by the church once the gospel began to spread in every direction and the saints began to reign under heaven as Calvin says.
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At Daniel 7, 22, he observes the kingdom of God and the saints obtained some fame and celebrity in the world through the general diffusion of the doctrine of piety in every direction.
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And then at Daniel 7, 27, he observes as well, the saints began to reign under heaven when
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Christ ushered in his kingdom by the promulgation of his gospel. Calvin had not noticed that there were in fact two judgments and so collapsed them both into a single judgment and thus concluded that the saints of God had obtained some fame and celebrity and an earthly reign following the collapse of the
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Roman Empire. It's the same conclusion that led Newman and Marshall and so many others to look at the medieval church as the fulfillment of Christ's earthly kingdom.
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The truth is, the saints never thought that they were reigning on earth and did not revel in their fame and celebrity and did not rise to a body politic in the early centuries and did not rise to supremacy in Rome to coerce the heathen until the end of the 4th century when they began to wield the civil sword.
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And I'm using saints in air quotes here. The saints didn't actually do this. Until then, there was no sense in which the saints thought that they were reigning on earth.
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Their hearts and eyes were ever heavenward, understanding that they were merely pilgrims on earth and were not in any sense reigning over it.
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Their citizenship, their kingdom, their king and their chief metropolis were all in heaven, not on earth and certainly not in Rome.
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And to our point, it is that perception of an earthly dominion that developed when what claimed to be
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Christ's church began to enjoy fame and celebrity and sway in the earthly administration of the collapsing empire, which is precisely why that single judgment approach to Daniel 7 is so catastrophic from an eschatological perspective.
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It plays right into the hands of the Roman apologist who believes the rising Roman religion that Christ allegedly founded was predestined to be the successor to the
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Roman Empire and to rule over it with a rod of iron. What these interpretations all have in common, of course, is that they missed the two judgments of Daniel 2 and 7 and thus inadvertently legitimized the
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Roman Catholic religion as it rose at the end of the 4th century. After all, if the church began to wield the
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Lord's rod of iron and the Emperor's civil sword and to coerce the heathen and to enjoy fame and celebrity on earth because of the popularity of their message, in what way is the earthly church of Christ any different than what
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Cardinal Numa described when he said after the first strike the stone grew up and exercised some sovereignty over the world?
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And Taylor Marshall claims when he says the people of God received an earthly kingdom from the
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Roman Empire. In some ways, the Protestant commentators have done the Roman apologist's job for him by stipulating that Christ's earthly kingdom through his church followed immediately upon the collapse of the
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Roman Empire, and his heavenly kingdom was manifested in the celebrity power and fame of his church.
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The truth is, the scriptures teach in Daniel 2 and 7 that the saints of God receive a heavenly kingdom during the 4th
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Empire and only receive an earthly kingdom after the destruction of Antichrist, after the second judgment, but that the
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Antichrist figure receives an earthly kingdom in the meantime, arising from the fragments of the 4th
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Empire. Only after that earthly reign of Antichrist does Christ return to destroy the ungodly earthly kingdom, and only then does the stone of Christ's kingdom grow up and fill the whole earth.
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Only then do the saints of God receive a kingdom under the whole heaven. Between the two strikes of Daniel 2 and the two judgments of Daniel 7 is an utterly satanic, fifth earthly kingdom masquerading as Christianity, and we miss that fact when we assume the stone only struck once, and that the fourth beast and the little horn of Daniel 7 are destroyed in a single judgment.
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That is why the Danielic timeline is so important, and that leads us to our second point. Point 2.
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We will now examine briefly how Christ's two kingdoms, heavenly and earthly, are plainly described in scriptures for us.
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We won't spend a huge amount of time on this, but it is worth a few moments to point out some pretty straightforward scriptural indications of a significant difference between Christ's heavenly and earthly kingdoms, both as to location and to timing.
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We have already covered Daniel 2, in which he says the stone strike in the statue of the feet indicates that the
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God of heaven shall set up a kingdom. That's Daniel 244. That's a heavenly kingdom set up during the fourth empire, and we know
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Jesus informed us that this was a heavenly kingdom, and that after the second strike, the stone grows up and fills the whole earth,
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Daniel 235, which is of course a reference to an earthly kingdom. That's pretty straightforward. The same may be said of Daniel 7.
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In Daniel 7, 14, the angel explains that after four kingdoms, the saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, which again, based on Christ's own words, must refer to a heavenly one.
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And then, in Daniel 7, 26, after the destruction of the little horn, the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the
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Most High. A clear reference to an earthly kingdom under heaven. Even in the heavenly scene of Revelation 5, we hear the saints thanking the
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Lord that he'd made them kings and priests to God, referring to the heavenly kingdom they currently possessed, and that one day they would even reign on earth, referring of course to their future earthly kingdom.
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This is the saints of God in Revelation 5, verses 9 to 10, reigning with Christ in heaven, speaking of a day when they would reign with him on earth.
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And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof.
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For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by the blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation, and hast made us unto our
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God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Again, Revelation 5, verses 9 to 10.
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They are currently kings and priests in heaven, and will one day reign on the earth. Fast forward now to Revelation 20, after the little horn, the beast of Revelation 13, and the false prophet had been cast into the lake of fire, and now those same saints are on earth, with Christ, reigning with him.
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This is Revelation 20, verses 4 and 6. I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
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They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. Again, Revelation 20, verses 4 and 6.
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That's a definite reference to the two kingdoms. They are kings and priests reigning with Christ in heaven, before the breaking of the seals of Revelation 6, and they are kings and priests reigning with Christ on earth, after Jesus has returned on his white horse with his saints, in Revelation 19 and 20.
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That is a very clear scriptural reference to a plainly heavenly kingdom, which is later followed by a plainly earthly one.
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But it is even clearer in Revelation 12 and in Revelation 11. Notice in Revelation 12, 10, just after Satan is cast out of heaven and begins to persecute the saints of God on earth, there is a pretty clear reference to the fact that it is a heavenly kingdom that is being proclaimed and described in heaven.
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This is Revelation 12, 10. And I heard a loud voice saying, In heaven now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our
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God and the power of his Christ. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our
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God day and night. Revelation 12, 10. That is an unmistakable reference to a heavenly kingdom.
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It is certainly no reference to an earthly one, for Satan has been cast down to earth and will prevail there for a time.
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The passage then goes on to say, Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you.
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That's Revelation 12, 12. That's certainly not a description of an earthly kingdom of Christ, but Revelation 12 clearly provides a description of his heavenly one.
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But now in Revelation 11, 15, at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, at the end of the punishments and plagues, the voices in heaven say,
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The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.
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Again, Revelation 11, 15. That's an unmistakable reference to an earthly kingdom and Christ's reign there.
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The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord. Under a single strike rubric, the voices in heaven should have said that at the beginning when the saints began, in Calvin's words, to enjoy fame and celebrity on earth.
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But the truth is, the voices in heaven don't say that until Christ comes to earth and destroys
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Antichrist and assumes his earthly dominion. We revisit this important scriptural truth to emphasize just how important it is to understand that there are, in fact, two judgments.
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One executed from heaven by Christ after he assumes his heavenly dominion and begins to open the seals, and one executed by Christ and his saints when they return before they exercise their earthly dominion.
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Two kingdoms of Christ, separated by well over a thousand years, and between them the earthly kingdom of Antichrist.
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For obvious reasons, it is important not to confuse them, but many do. And we miss it because we overlook what
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Jesus has plainly told us of the timing and order of Christ's heavenly and earthly kingdoms in Scripture.
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And that leads us to our third and final point today, in which we'll show how John uses what is happening on earth and what is happening in heaven to confirm the
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Danielic timeline for us. So we proceed with point three. How John uses heaven and earth to reveal the timeline as events unfold in both locations.
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This is important because it shows just how important perspective is in eschatology. We have to know when the prophet is describing what is happening in heaven and when he is describing something that is happening on earth.
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It matters tremendously as we just showed in the discussion on a heavenly kingdom of Christ and an earthly kingdom of Antichrist and the earthly kingdom of Christ that follows it.
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The chronology becomes apparent when you understand what is happening in each place. And to demonstrate that, let's review the five throne room scenes in the book of Revelation.
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As we have discussed in previous episodes, the persecution of the saints of God as foretold by Christ through his apostles would unfold in a particular observable order.
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Civil persecution by the Jews followed by civil persecution by the Romans, followed by a brutal civil persecution by the devil as depicted in Revelation 12.
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Once the devil's wrath is spent, two parallel persecutions follow. The devil gives over his civil authority to the beast of Revelation 13, who then engages in civil persecution, while the devil spends his remaining efforts assailing the people of God with doctrinal error.
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And finally, the crowning achievement of the parallel persecutions is that the false prophet of Revelation 13 ultimately convinces the world that the image of the beast ought to be worshiped, and the beast puts to death and economically isolates anyone who refuses to worship it.
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These stages in the persecution of the people of God are depicted for us in the scriptures, and it is important to be familiar with them, because Jesus uses the order of those specific persecutions to show us the eschatological timeline of his people, leading up to the second strike of the stone.
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In fact, the first strike of the stone concludes in gloriously poetic fashion, precisely because of how his saints were persecuted, and we'll find that the second strike concludes the same way for the same reason.
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Let's revisit the order of the persecution from the scriptures, and then proceed with the revelation of the timeline.
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First, his people would experience civil persecution by the Jews, now citing from Luke 21, 12a and 16.
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But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and into prisons.
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And you shall be betrayed by both parents and brethren and kinfolk and friends. And some of you they shall cause to be put to death.
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Again, Luke 21. See also Matthew 10, 17, Mark 13, 9a, and don't forget
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John 16, 2, which says, They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
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God's service. John 16, 2. And in Acts 26, 10, Paul confesses that he was a
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Jew engaged in civil persecution of Christians. That all refers to Jewish persecution of the people of God.
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Second, his people would experience civil persecution by the Romans. Matthew 10, 18 says,
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And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake for a testimony against them, that is the Jews and the
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Gentiles. You can also find this in Mark 13, 9b and Luke 12, 11. And particularly
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Acts 16, 37. But Paul said unto them, They have beaten us openly uncondemned, being
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Romans, and have cast us into prison. That was, in fact, civil persecution by the
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Romans. Now, sometime after this, there is an intermediate period when the saints will experience civil persecution by the devil.
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This is extremely important and we must not miss it. Jesus identifies for us a period in time when the devil is allowed to exercise civil persecution against the saints while the
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Romans are still in power. But before Satan hands his authority over to the beast. For example,
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Jesus says explicitly that hell, death, and the devil will exercise civil power against Christians for a brief period.
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In Revelation 2, 10, he says, Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, be thou faithful unto death.
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Again, Revelation 2, 10. The period in Revelation 2, 10 when the devil has the civil power to imprison and put men to death is the same as that depicted in the fourth seal when hell and death have power on earth to kill with sword and with hunger and with death and with the beast of the earth.
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We'll want to pay special attention to that civil persecution especially because of the way Christians died.
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We know who they were and we know how they died about which we will visit in a lot more detail in the next episode.
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But it is important for now to know that those Christians were imprisoned and put to death by fire, by starvation, by exposure to the elements, and by being cast to the lions.
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This is the same brutal persecution depicted for us in Revelation 12, 13 which says,
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And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man -child.
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It was at that time that Christ's people overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives unto the death.
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Revelation 12, 11. The time and manner of that particular brutal persecution is known to us because it coincides with the fourth and fifth seals of Revelation which we'll get into in much more detail next time, but for now it is important to establish the particular methods of that civil persecution.
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What follows after that is a parallel persecution in which the devil changes his tactics. He hands the civil authority over to the beast of Revelation 13 that is, the dragon gave him his power and his seat and great authority, and to the beast it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
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Revelation 13, 7. So, with the civil persecution now administered by the beast, the devil instead assaults the people of God doctrinally, that is, by the flood of air that came out of his mouth in Revelation 12, 13.
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It is the time of the great falling away, the great apostasy of which Paul warned in 2 Thessalonians 2, 8.
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It is at this time that the people of God flee to their place of protection in the wilderness, and are there nourished and fed by the word of God and protected from the error of the devil.
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And the rest of the world falls for the lie, as depicted in Revelation 12, verses 6 and 14.
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It is important to note in this persecution that the devil tries to overcome the people with error, but the people of God overcome him with the word of God, which is to say, by keeping the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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Revelation 12, 17. That's the doctrinal persecution by the devil, and in so far as the persecution was doctrinal, the devil did not overcome
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God's people. Now, while the devil was engaging in that doctrinal persecution, the beast himself enforces a unity of error at the business end of the civil sword.
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And therefore, in so far as the persecution was physical, the beast did overcome the people of God, since it says it was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them.
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Revelation 13, 7. This is the same period that the woman is in the wilderness in Revelation 12, and answers to the time times and a half of Daniel 7, during which the little horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them.
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Daniel 7, 21. And he shall wear out the saints of the Most High, and they shall be given into his hand until a time, and times, and the dividing of time.
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Daniel 7, 25. Just an interesting point there, that the devil does not overcome them doctrinally with false teachings, but the beast does overcome them physically with civil power.
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That doctrinal persecution by the devil comes to its crowning achievement when the false prophet had power to give life into the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
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Revelation 13, 15. So, that's the order of the persecutions as revealed to us in the
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Scriptures. Jews, Romans, the devil's civil persecution, the devil's doctrinal persecution, the beast's civil persecution culminating in the persecution of any who will not worship the image of the beast.
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That order of the persecution comes to us from the Scriptures, and as we proceed through our discussion on the seals, trumpets, and vials of Revelation, we will find that those specific persecutions become relevant in that order.
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But what is fascinating about John's record of these persecutions is how they are used to convey a timeline to us by describing whether those persecuted
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Christians are still on Earth at a particular moment in the timeline, or if they have died and gone to Heaven and are currently singing in the throne room of God.
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What we will see is one generation after another of Christians enduring persecution on Earth during one throne room scene only to be singing on a sea of glass before the throne in the next scene.
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It is one of the most fascinating aspects of the timeline of Revelation, and it is one of the ways
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Jesus conveys to us the significance of what is happening on Earth and what is happening in Heaven. We will be brief here, but we will expand on this considerably in future episodes.
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For now, we will simply walk through five scenes in the throne room of Heaven and observe how Jesus highlights for John the progression of the people of God as each persecuted group one by one transitions from their earthly suffering to their heavenly reward until all the saints of God are gathered to him and they join him on white horses to execute the second strike of the stone of Daniel 2.
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Those five throne room scenes are in Revelation 5, 7, 14, 15, and 19.
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Let's walk through them and you will see what I am talking about. The first throne room scene,
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Revelation 5. This is during John's first view of the throne room when the angel says to him,
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Come up hither and I will show thee things which must be hereafter. Revelation 4 .1 Jesus had told his disciples that the gospel must first be published among all nations within one generation.
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That's Mark 13 .10 and Matthew 24 .14. And what John sees in Heaven is those people who endured some of those early persecutions by the
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Jews and Romans when the gospel was being preached through all nations. They are already in Heaven, redeemed from every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
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And John hears them singing. And they sung a new song saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and thou hast made us into our
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God kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 5 .9
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-10 Okay, those saints are in Heaven. They are in the throne room of God.
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One day they shall reign on Earth, but for now they are kings and priests in Heaven before the throne. On the other hand, there are saints on Earth who are about to suffer greatly, especially since the fourth and fifth seals will soon be opened.
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In the fourth seal there was a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed after him.
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And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death and with the beasts of the earth.
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Revelation 6 .8 We will show that this took place during the Roman Empire under the
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Tetrarchy when the Roman Empire was in fact divided in four different territories and that the persecution was limited to one quarter of that empire.
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It was during that time that the devil was granted a brief civil authority to persecute the saints and kill them by starvation, exposure, being burned alive and being cast to the lions.
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And it occurred between 303 and 313 AD. It was the Diocletianic persecution and it was brutal.
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Revelation 2 .10 refers to this as a ten -day period of tribulation when the devil will imprison them and put them to death.
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And Revelation 12 refers to this as the time when the devil has been cast down to earth and the saints did not love their lives even unto death.
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In the fifth seal, the martyrs cry out for vengeance and are given white robes and told to be patient until their fellow servants and also their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
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Revelation 6 .11 Just keep that in mind. We'll revisit this in more detail but for now, in the first throne room scene of Revelation 5, there are
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Christians in heaven who have already endured the period of Jewish and Roman persecution. And at the same time, there are saints who are about to endure the devil's persecution when he is cast out of heaven.
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Those saints are still on earth. Now, the second throne room scene in Revelation 7.
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We now proceed to the next throne room scene. In chapter 7, those who were on earth during the devil's persecution in the previous scene are now in the throne room worshiping
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God. And please note they are all wearing their white robes. This will be important a little later.
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They had just come through the Great Tribulation when they were put to death by fire, starvation, exposure, and being cast to the lions.
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But they overcame the devil by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. They all have their white robes washed in the blood of the
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Lamb, and quite notably, now that they are in heaven, they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore, neither shall any sun light upon them, nor any heat, and God shall wipe away all the tears from their eyes.
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Revelation 7, verses 9 -17. These are saints who endured extreme suffering, starvation, exposure to the elements, and being burned alive.
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In the previous throne room scene, they were all still on earth about to suffer. These who were on earth in the previous throne room scene are now in heaven, and their suffering is over.
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No more hunger, thirst, sunlight, or heat to harm them. Meanwhile, back on earth, the devil is about to change his tactics.
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Having failed to catch any of Christ's saints through his brutal civil persecution, he changes his tactics and tries to overcome them by a flood of error.
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The saints on earth are about to undergo a great temptation that is coming upon the earth, which is the doctrinal error that proceeds from the mouth of the serpent.
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The seal's narrative is paused briefly as 144 ,000 are sealed with the seal of God, and quite notably, they are still on earth.
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As the angel says, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our
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God in their foreheads. Revelation 7 .2 Those Christians were sealed against the great apostasy, the doctrinal error that was about to come upon the world.
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And to his church the Lord gave wings to fly above the flood, and the earth opened to swallow the flood to help them.
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When we proceed through the seal's narrative, we'll see that this takes place in 358 AD, in the latter part of the 4th century, when the flood of error was just beginning to rise, and would soon envelop the whole world.
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Just keep that in mind. In this throne room scene, Christians who were previously on earth, and have since endured the devil's civil persecution, are now in heaven.
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But there are now Christians on earth who are about to undergo a doctrinal persecution, the flood of error, as the whole world falls into apostasy, and aligns with the
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Roman Catholic religion. So let's proceed with the third throne room scene, now in Revelation 14.
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So we are now in the next throne room scene, and the first thing we notice is that those 144 ,000 who were on earth in the previous scene, are now in the throne room.
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And please know that they are accompanied by a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder.
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That's Revelation 14 2. That will be important in a few minutes. As John relates, those 144 ,000, having his father's name written on their foreheads, are without fault before the throne of God.
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That's Revelation 14 verses 1 and 5. Jesus referred to this period in Revelation 3, when he talked about the temptation coming upon the earth in Revelation 3 .10,
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and promised to those who endure it, I will write upon the name of my God, Revelation 3 .12.
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According to John's testimony, these are they which were not defiled by women, for they are virgins.
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Which is simply a reference to the fact that they had not succumbed to the flood of error, and had not gone over to Rome, the mother of harlots, the woman who rides the beast of Revelation 17, which had a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
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That's Revelation 17 .4. As the angel explained to John, That woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
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Revelation 17 .18. In other words, Rome. It was the time when the little horn was rising, but was not yet exercising civil power.
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The persecution had been doctrinal, as the city of Rome became the doctrinal standard of the new religion of the empire.
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Rome is a harlot, and the mother of harlots, and the 144 ,000 had been protected from those harlotries, because they fled to the wilderness, and were nourished and fed by the word of God.
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Safe in the wilderness, they remained undefiled by Rome's harlotries and fornications. They are virgins in that sense, undefiled by women.
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The fact that they endured that period of doctrinal persecution unscathed is evidenced by the fact that the highlighted attributes of these saints is that in their mouth was found no guile.
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That's Revelation 14 .5. Remember, in Psalms 34 .13, it says,
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Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. These saints who are now in heaven are those who had not succumbed to the error that proceeded from the mouth of the serpent.
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They are doctrinally untainted by the flood of error, for they had not succumbed to the flood that had come out of the mouth of the serpent.
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They keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Revelation 12 .17.
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These are they who were on earth in the previous throne room seen, but now they are in heaven.
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But a very difficult time awaits the saints still on earth. There is a dire warning of what was about to come.
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If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.
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Revelation 14 .9 -10. Those who follow the beast would be forced to drink the undiluted cup of the wrath of God.
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The time was approaching when the false prophet of Revelation 13 would cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
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The saints on earth were about to experience the persecution upon those who refused to worship the beast and his image.
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It is the time of the civil dominion of the beast, and many would wander after him. What is more, by the end of the 11th century, the false prophet will have erected the image of the beast, and many would be persecuted for not worshiping it.
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So, just keep that in mind. In this throne room seen, Christians who were previously on earth, and have since endured the devil's doctrinal persecution, are now in heaven with no guile in their mouths.
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But there are Christians yet on earth who are about to undergo a severe persecution when they refuse to follow the beast and worship his image.
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And now, the fourth throne room scene in Revelation 15. We are now in the next throne room scene.
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In this scene, the saints who were previously on earth being warned not to worship the beast or his image, are now in the throne room before the
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Lamb. And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
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Revelation 15 .2 Notably, they are singing the song of Moses, which is really a celebration of the truth and justice of God's judgments, according to Deuteronomy 32 .4,
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and concludes with avenging the blood of his servants and rendering vengeance upon his adversaries.
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That's Deuteronomy 32 .43. That's the song of Moses. Keep that in mind as we proceed.
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It will be important in a few minutes. But for now, we simply observe that these, who were on earth in the previous throne room scene, are now in heaven, before the throne.
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Meanwhile, the seven vile judgments are about to be poured out on the earth, and between the sixth and seventh vile, we hear
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Jesus say, Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
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Revelation 16 .15 This is clearly directed at those on earth, rather than those already in heaven.
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It is resonant of the exhortation Jesus gave to the church at Sardis, saying, Thou hast a few names which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
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He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment. That's Revelation 3 verses 4 -5.
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Indeed, they are on earth, and they are preparing for a wedding feast, and must be appropriately garbed.
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So, keep that in mind. In this throne room scene, Christians who were previously on earth, awaiting the persecution of the false prophet that forced men to worship the image and the beast on pain of death, are now in heaven.
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But there are Christians yet on earth who are exhorted to press on and keep their garments, for they are preparing for a wedding feast.
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And that leads us to the fifth throne room scene in Revelation 19. Jesus has successfully gathered the saints to himself in heaven, through many persecutions and trials.
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We are introduced to this scene, reminded that he has been gathering his people over time. We notice that they are singing of the truth and justice of God's judgments, and that he hath avenged the blood of his servants, which, as we noted, is simply the song of Moses from the fourth throne room scene.
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But we also hear the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, which is what we heard from the saints in the third throne room scene.
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And we also see the saints arrayed in their white garments, which is a reference to the martyrs from the second throne room scene, but also a reference to those who had been still on earth in the previous throne room scene, and had been admonished to keep their garments clean.
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Those who had been on earth in the previous scene are now in heaven with the rest. And please note that the company of saints described in this throne room scene is the aggregation of all the previous throne room scenes, plus the saints who had been very recently on earth.
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Now they are all with Christ together in heaven. And something really, really big is about to happen. Christ has gathered his saints in heaven, and they are about to ride their white horses to take vengeance upon the little horn of Daniel 7, the beast of Revelation 13, the wicked one, the son of perdition, of 2
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Thessalonians 2. Now, the most important point here is how Jesus describes the events in heaven and the events on earth in order to convey to us an ordered chain of events.
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In the first throne room scene, there are saints in heaven who endured the Roman and Jewish civil persecutions, but on earth there are saints awaiting the civil persecution by the devil.
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In the second throne room scene, there are saints in heaven who endured the civil persecution by the devil, but on earth there are saints awaiting the doctrinal persecution by the devil.
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In the third throne room scene, there are saints in heaven who had endured the doctrinal persecution by the devil, but on earth there are saints awaiting the civil persecution by the beast and the false prophet.
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In the fourth throne room scene there are saints in heaven who endured the civil persecution by the beast and the false prophet, but on earth there are saints awaiting the consummation of the seven vile judgments.
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In the fifth throne room scene all those saints are gathered together for the wedding supper of the Lamb. It is a methodical revelation of the passage of time as saints are continuously gathered to the throne room to join their fellow saints in the worship of God.
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That's a pretty important point because it shows us how Jesus is using events in heaven and events on earth to reveal a timeline to us.
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We can know what is happening in heaven because we can see what has been happening on earth in the light of the scriptures.
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That's an important point and it is simply remarkable for what it reveals to us. Jesus's heavenly kingdom remains heavenly throughout the dominion of the beast on earth.
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That's where Christ's kingdom has been this whole time. Jesus has been in the throne room of heaven, not on earth.
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In heaven, heaven, heaven, heaven. It's a heavenly kingdom. That's where the kingdom is now and where it has been for a long time.
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It is not on earth. As the author of Hebrews said back in the first century, one day the
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Lord will put all things under him, but now we see not yet all things put under him. Hebrews 2 .8.
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He is reigning in heaven, but his kingdom is not on earth. That much we can establish from the scripture and the five throne room scenes of Revelation affirm that.
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But it's what happens next that has our undivided attention now. All things are about to be put under him to inaugurate his millennial reign and then afterward the last enemy to be destroyed will be death at the conclusion of that thousand years.
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As soon as Jesus has gathered his people into heaven, it is time for the marriage supper of the
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Lamb. What follows is nothing less than the second strike of the stone of Daniel 2 .35,
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which is, as we have pointed out, the second judgment depicted in Daniel 7. Jesus has been gathering his saints to the heavenly kingdom since well before the
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Jewish and Roman persecutions in the first century, through the earthly civil persecution by the devil, and through his flood of error and the reign of the beast and the persecution of the false prophet of Revelation 13.
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And when he returns to earth, whoever remains on earth will meet them in the clouds. That's 1 Thessalonians 4 .17.
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What follows from that point is what Daniel described as the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold were broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors.
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And the wind carried them away that no place was found for them. And what he described in Daniel 7 .22
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as, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High. And the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and destroy it unto the end.
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Daniel 7 .26. It is the utter destruction of the beast and the false prophet. It is the second strike of the stone.
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Here's how John describes it in Revelation 19 verses 11 to 21. And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse.
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And he that sat upon him was called faithful and true, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
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His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself.
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And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
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And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
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And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
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And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written,
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King of kings and Lord of lords. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven,
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Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit upon them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
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And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
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And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
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These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
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Again, Revelation 19 verses 11 to 21. That's Christ and his assembled saints dressed in white riding their horses to take up an earthly kingdom to judge the beast and the false prophet and utterly destroy them.
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And the beast and the false prophet are finally cast alive into the lake of fire. It is only now, now that the beast and false prophet have been dealt with, that the earthly kingdom of Christ begins, and the saints reign with him on earth.
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It is only after the second strike of the stone that it becomes a great mountain and fills the whole earth.
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Daniel 2 .35. And only now, only after the second judgment of Daniel 7, that the kingdom and dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven is given to the people of the saints of the
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Most High. And only now that all dominions shall serve and obey him.
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That's Daniel 7 .27. Only now that the saints who had been kings and priests of the heavenly kingdom will now reign on earth.
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Revelation 5 .10. Only now, after the sounding of the seventh angel, that the kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our
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Lord and of his Christ. Revelation 11 .15. The man -child of Revelation 12, who had long since been caught up to God and to his throne, will only now rule all nations with that rod of iron.
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Revelation 12 .5 and Revelation 19 .15. What happens next is none other than the thousand -year reign of Christ on earth.
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And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them. And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads or in their hands, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
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Revelation 24. And that is the timeline revealed to us. Christ takes his heavenly kingdom, and that heavenly kingdom is given to the saints at the destruction of Jerusalem during the fourth empire in the first century.
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This is what Jesus taught when he said, the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation, bringing forth the fruits thereof.
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That's Matthew 21 .43. And it would happen when the Lord rejected Israel and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.
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Matthew 22 .7. It is what Daniel meant when he described the saints inheriting a kingdom in the period of the feet in chapter 2, and what the angel was saying in chapter 7, that there would be four empires, but the saints would inherit the kingdom.
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From his heavenly throne room, Jesus then begins to break the seals in a judgment of Rome, through which the
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Roman Empire was broken to pieces, and from which pieces the little horn of Daniel 7 would arise to establish his earthly kingdom.
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Christ continues reigning in heaven and continues gathering the saints in heaven until he concludes the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls, and then with his gathered saints, he comes to earth, and the saints together with Christ judge the little horn, the beast of Revelation 13, and cast him into the lake of fire with the false prophet, and the saints rule together with him on earth.
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This is what Daniel meant when he said that the stone grows up and fills the earth in chapter 2, and that the saints receive a kingdom under the whole heaven in Daniel 7.
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And from our analysis of the seals, bowls, and trumpets, we can validate the entire sequence, not only because the scriptures speak to us plainly about what was happening in heaven the whole time, but also because he was also speaking to us plainly about what was happening on earth at the same time.
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It has in fact been his good pleasure to reveal to his saints what would be happening in both places, not only for our comfort but also for our instruction and protection, and to inform us of how the latter days of his people would unfold.
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In other words, to make us understand. That is how Jesus uses heaven and earth in eschatology, to reveal that timeline to us.
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And that's where we'll leave off today. We'll pick up next time as we discuss Daniel's and John's use of heaven and earth in two very important chapters in eschatology,
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Daniel 7 and Revelation 12. This has been episode 27 of the
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Danielic Imperative, and this is your host, Timothy F. Kaufman. Thanks for listening, and we'll pick up next time with episode 28.