Rapture: The End-Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind (45 page)

Rapturists looking for a literal, modern fulfillment miss the main message of The Apocalypse. The famous rapturist preacher Harry Ironside exhibited a rather severe case of Winkle Warp in 1938: “Who are these kings? It is not necessary to guess, as the word for
east
is simply
sun-rising
. The kings of the sun-rising! Japan has been known as the empire of the rising sun for a millennium.… There you have the kings of the sun-rising, all in readiness for … the Armageddon conflict.… The yellow peril becomes more and more ominous. The preparation of the day of the Lord goes on apace” (
TKB
, January 1938).

Rather than engage in this type of nonsense, it is better to understand the river Euphrates being dried up as an allusion to the Red Sea. The Red Sea protected the Hebrews on the original exodus. The Euphrates had always stood as a protective barrier to invasion of Israel from the north. No more. It would not stop the Roman army and its allies.

As the kings of the east pour
en masse
over the dried-up Euphrates in the sixth plague, we encounter the name of a new location: “They assembled them [the armies] at the place which is called in Hebrew ‘Armageddon.’ ” This was a famous military spot in ancient times. In fact, some military histories begin with a description of the battle between Syria and Egypt (commanded by Thutmose III) on this very spot. That famous battle occurred at the Mount of Megiddo, also know as “Armageddon.”

This mount controlled the pass between the plain of Jezreel and the plain of Sharon; in Scripture, this area was the scene of many battles. Deborah and Barak slew Sisera on this plain (Judg. 4–5). Gideon defeated the Midianites (Judg. 6–7) and the Philistines slew King Saul here (1 Sam. 29–31). By bringing up the Mount of Megiddo, St. John reminded his Jewish readers of all these events.

But by far the most pertinent previous battle of Armageddon was the battle of the Judean King Josiah against the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho. King Josiah was a great spiritual reformer in Judah. He did battle with Egypt and was killed (2 Kings 23:29; Zech. 12:10–11). History records that a short time later, Pharaoh and Egypt were defeated by a third country, Babylon. The holy city was destroyed, and Israel was sent into its seventy-year captivity in Babylon. The mention of Armageddon would bring to memory all the events that led to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of Solomon’s Temple by the Babylonians.

This parallel would have been evident to St. John’s initial readers. The great spiritual reformer (Jesus) was killed by the leaders of the city that St. John code-names “Egypt.” But then in 70 A.D., this new Egypt (Old Jerusalem) is defeated and the holy city destroyed by Rome (GR3).

At this point, we must take serious exception with the teachings of many popular rapturists. They speak continually about the “Battle of Armageddon,” but there is not the slightest mention anywhere in The Apocalypse of a battle near the Mount of Megiddo, which is west of the Jordan River in the plain of Jezreel.

Read the passage again: “They assembled them at the place which is called in the Hebrew ‘Armageddon.’ ” It describes only the gathering of the army there, and that is precisely what occurred in the Jewish-Roman War. General Titus gathered his troops in this area between ancient Samaria and Galilee. From there he pushed into the siege that eventually destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple. There is no future Battle of Armageddon awaiting the world. This prophecy was completely fulfilled by Titus.

With the seventh bowl, “the great city was split into three parts” (16:19). We have encountered this symbolism of thirds twice already. They were both in anticipation of this more developed treatment.

This symbolisim was undoubtedly included by St. John to bring to mind the prophecy of Ezekiel: “O son of man, take a sharp sword; use it as a barber’s razor and pass it over your head and your beard; then take balances for weighing, and divide the hair. A third part you shall burn in the fire in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are completed; and a third part you shall take and strike with the sword round about the city; and a third part you shall scatter to the wind, and I will unsheathe the sword after them” (5:1–2). Thus, Jerusalem was to suffer in three ways: death within the city by pestilence, death outside the city by sword, and the living death of exile. All three occurred when Rome defeated Jerusalem, just as Jesus had predicted in the Olivet Discourse.

The seventh plague, the hailstones, has an interesting fulfillment. The Roman army set up catapults to heave great stones into Jerusalem during the siege. Josephus tells us that each stone weighed about a talent, or approximately a hundred pounds. This was just what St. John predicted: “Great hailstones, heavy as a hundredweight, dropped on men from Heaven, till men cursed God for the plague” (16:21). Who could ask for a more historical fulfillment?

But Josephus adds a little irony in his narrative. When an incoming hailstone was spotted by the watchmen of Jerusalem, they would cry “out aloud, in their own country language, ‘The Son cometh’; so those that were in its way stood off … but the Romans contrived how to prevent that by blacking the stone” (
WJ
, V, 6:3). The irony is in the way Josephus translates the warning of the watchmen. In Hebrew the words for
son
and
stone
are
ben
and
eben
. These words could easily have been confused when the watchmen shouted their warning. But Josephus chose to record this misunderstanding in his book, which was not written in Hebrew, but in Chaldee or possibly Greek. In neither of these languages can the word for
stone
be misunderstood as the word for
son
.

Why would Josephus insert this ironic twist? He probably figured his Roman readers would get a good chuckle out of the irony of Jerusalem’s watchmen announcing the arrival of Caesar Titus, the son of Caesar Vespasian.

Of course, the Christian reader would discern an even deeper meaning. The coming of the stone was really a sign of the coming of the Son of man in judgment as predicted in Daniel and in the Olivet Discourse. Just as God came to judge Egypt in the army of the Assyrians, and just as God came to judge Babylon in the army of the Persians, so Christ came to judge Jerusalem in the army of the Romans (GR6).

The angel of the last bowl reveals Jerusalem just as the Church would perceive her: a harlot riding a scarlet beast. Remember, the Church is the Bride of Christ. We have already determined the identity of the harlot. The imagery surrounding the harlot reflects the Old Testament prophets’ denunciations of Jerusalem. The first three of the Major Prophets are emphatic in their denunciations of the harlotry of Jerusalem (Isa. 1:21, 57:8; Jer. 2:20, 3:1–25; Ezek. 16:15–39, 23:1–21). Hosea went a major step further. He married an unfaithful woman to illustrate dramatically the anguish and charity of God toward Israel, the harlot (Hos. 1:2ff).

The harlot (earthly Jerusalem) is the alter-ego of the Woman (the Church) who fled into the wilderness to escape the dragon. This contrast between these two women sets up a perfectly mirrored image of the battle in St. John’s visions. Christ joins battle on behalf of the Woman, New Jerusalem. He does battle with the harlot, old Jerusalem, who acts as the mouthpiece of the dragon. The description of this harlot dovetails with everything we have read about Jerusalem thus far in The Apocalypse.

The reference to the harlot’s being “seated upon many waters” is a reflection of Jeremiah’s description of the original Babylon, whose destruction was a type of Jerusalem’s destruction (51:13; GR3). But it is also true that Jerusalem was well known for its abundant source of spring water. This was one of the reasons Jerusalem was a difficult city to conquer. It could endure a long siege.

In this vision, the harlot sits on “a scarlet beast” that “had seven heads and ten horns” (17:3). We also know who this beast is from an earlier vision: none other than the sea-beast that symbolized Rome in the vision of the dragon’s strategy (III:A). Even rapturists admit this. The dragon’s ten horns are the ten kings of the provinces of the Roman Empire: Italy, Achaia, Asia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Germany.

The harlot is “drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” (17:6). In the early days of the Church, Jerusalem’s religious leaders were the major persecutors of Christians. The book of Acts makes this quite clear. The harlot rides the scarlet beast; symbolizing Jerusalem’s use of pagan, idolatrous Rome to implement their persecution of the Christian Church. It took her three decades to get Rome to initiate the Great Tribulation, but she eventually succeeded in 64 A.D.

Jerusalem enjoyed tremendous influence within the ancient Roman Empire. Her influence was such that it would not be an exaggeration to say of ancient Jerusalem that she exercised “dominion over the kings” (17:18). Josephus tells his readers that “the royal city Jerusalem was supreme, and presided over all neighboring countries as the head does over the body” (
WJ
, III, 3:5). The fact that the city was defeated and destroyed can obscure for us the vast influence and power it held before it fell from favor.

This harlot also possesses vast wealth. “The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls” (17:4). Jerusalem straddled a major trade route in the ancient world. These merchants brought tremendous wealth into Jerusalem.

Just to be certain we do not misunderstand him, St. John points to the Woman’s identity by giving us a geographical clue related to the seven heads of the beast: “The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated” (17:9).

The interesting twist from our twenty-first-century perspective is that there were two ancient cities surrounded by seven hills. Almost every modern student of ancient civilizations is aware that Rome is surrounded by seven hills. Many modern students do not know, however, that Jerusalem is also built upon seven hills. Josephus even records the names of these hills: “Zion, Acra, Moriah, Bezetha, Millo, Ophel, and Antonio” (
WJ
, V, 5:8). The Apocalypse was written for Jewish Christians. They would undoubtedly have thought of Jerusalem as the city on seven hills. Many of them would have actually been there and walked through those hills.

We can be sure that the city symbolized by the harlot could not have been Rome, as many rapturists teach. Besides the intertwined code names and images that we have already discussed, there is a simple reason right in this vision. St. John may have used vivid imagery. He may seem extravagant in his verbiage to a modern reader. He may be accused of being long-winded and repetitive. But St. John has not once been contradictory or illogical in these visions. And that is what he would have been if he had used the harlot to signify Rome.

The sea-beast on which the harlot has been riding will change its mind about this evil woman and ultimately “will hate the harlot … will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire” (17:16). It is illogical to make Rome the object of Rome’s hatred and destruction. It makes much better sense to see the sea-beast as Rome and the harlot as Jerusalem. This understanding also has the advantage of consistency with the rest of The Apocalypse.

There could be no clearer fulfillment of these verses than in the events of the decade leading up to 70 A.D. Jerusalem’s Sanhedrin had sought to repress the Christians from the very first beating they administered to Peter and John (Acts 4). Three decades later, in 64 A.D., they finally convinced the Roman authorities to help them in their pursuit and persecution of the Christians. The harlot Jerusalem then rode the beast Rome into the Church’s Great Tribulation. But in 66 A.D., Jerusalem revolted. The Roman Empire turned on the city of the seven hills in rage at this treachery and utterly destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple. The beast Rome did indeed “hate the harlot … make her desolate … and burn her up with fire.”

St. John informs us that the seven heads of the beast have a double meaning (GR4): “The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated; they are also seven kings” (17:9–10). Throughout our examination of The Apocalypse, we have often noted a dual symbolism. The witnesses symbolize the Law and the Prophets, and also Moses and Elijah. The Woman symbolizes the Church and also Mary. The sea-beast symbolizes Rome and also her Caesars, whether Nero, Vespasian, or Titus. Here St. John explains that the seven heads symbolize not only the seven hills of Jerusalem, but also the seven kings who ruled the beast.

The seven horns “are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while” (17:10). As we discussed in the vision of the battle strategy of the dragon, the Julio-Claudio lineage of Roman emperors began with Julius Caesar; then came Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, and Claudius I. This would correspond to the method used by ancient Jews when counting emperors. These are the “five [who] have fallen.” Nero reigned after these five. Therefore, at the time of St. John’s vision, Nero is the who “is.” A seventh Caesar is spoken of as “the other [king who] has not yet come.” This would be Vespasian. He would not be emperor until mid to late 69 A.D. John predicts his reign before it is established (GR1). Vespasian came to attack Jerusalem, but “when he comes he must remain only a little while.” Vespasian actually led three campaigns against the Jews. The first one was in 67 A.D., the second in 68 A.D. When Nero died, Vespasian stopped fighting. He eventually went to Alexandria to intercept the grain shipments headed to Rome. He returned for a third short campaign in midsummer of 69 A.D. Since St. John’s perspective is that of 68 A.D., this short campaign is the one predicted here (GR1). When he left Judea after “a little while,” it was to return to Rome to claim the throne.