What Is Next?
(Conclusion)
Note: This Wake
Up Report! Concludes my response
to a question that asked last month.
The essence of John’s question
was: “I would like to know,
prophetically speaking, what is next?
One expert breaks this
down for me.”
John, please consider
the following parable: Three boys,
Abe, Brian, and Charlie, stood in
front of a clothing store display.
Two shirts were on the display in the
window and the prices on the shirts
were $30 and $50. Abe said, “If
I had $100, I would buy both
shirts!” Brian replied, “I
believe you could buy both of them
for $60. “The total for both
shirts is $80,” Charlie
declared. “That’s your
opinion, “retorted Abe. Brian
agreed saying, “That’s
right! No one really knows what the
total is. One person says one thing
and another person says something
else. Who are we to believe?”
Charlie asserted,
“The total price for these
shirts is not a matter of opinion, it
is a matter of fact!”
Brian concluded,
“A person can believe whatever
he wants, but who can say what is
truth is?” When the conversation
ended without coming to an agreement,
the boys went their separate ways.
The truth was spoken, but two of the
three boys (2/3’s) did not
recognize it.
Taking the parable one
step further, consider this: How can
a person tell if a prophetic
explanation is an opinion (a private
interpretation) or a fact? Thus far,
I have not directly answered your
question because to the untrained
ear, another response will appear to
be just another opinion and when it
comes to bible prophecy, opinions are
not particularly meaningful.
It is my hope you will embrace the
use of rules and discover for
yourself what comes next –
prophetically speaking. Now that the
book of Daniel has been unsealed (the
rules discovered), Bible prophecy is
not only easier to understand, but a
chronological order can be
determined! Last month, we discovered
three issues:
1.
Faulty rules of interpretation will
produce faulty conclusions.
2.
God sealed up the book of Daniel
until the final generation arrives on
Earth because God’s gift to the
honest in heart is a greater
understanding of truth. Those who
love truth are willing to abandon
traditions when greater truth comes
along because for them, truth has
greater value than tradition.
3.
Finally, God has put a chronological
sequence of prophetic events in the
books of Daniel and Revelation. These
events began to unfold about 600 B.C.
will continue without interruption
until the world is purified of sin
– 1,000 years after the Second
Coming. God also revealed eighteen
spans of time (time periods) within
the end time sequence so that people
searching for truth can determine
their chronological position within
God’s plan.
Current Behavior
Produces Rules
By God’s grace
and through stumbling efforts, I
discovered four self-evident rules in
the book of Daniel during the 1980s.
These rules govern all aspects
concerning the interpretation of
apocalyptic prophecy. (Apocalyptic
prophecy is defined in this article
as the unique prophecies contained in
the books of Daniel and Revelation.
There are five types of prophecy in
the Bible and each type of prophecy
has unique rules of interpretation. I
did not make up these four rules.
Rather, these are God’s four
rules that govern His prophetic
explanation of the future. I simply
observed these four consistent
behaviors within apocalyptic prophecy
and I have distilled my observations
into four rules. (This is similar to
the work of physicist Georg Ohm. He
studied the behavior of electricity
and after he observed a number of
consistent behaviors, he distilled
his observations into a set of
mathematical equations that we now
call “Ohm’s law.”
I believe the
discovery and validation of these
four rules are what unseals the book
of Daniel. These four rules control
the interpretation of Daniel and
Revelation. When properly applied,
the books of Daniel and Revelation
will make sense just as they read.
These rules address four issues:
chronology, fulfillment, the use of
language, and timing. According to
these rules, there are five
prophecies in the book of Daniel and
twelve in the book of Revelation.
When these seventeen prophecies are
properly aligned with each other,
they produce an amazing timeline.
This timeline contains a sequence of
more than 100 events that occur in
chorological order. This timeline has
been functioning for twenty-six
centuries and it will continue to
function until 1,000 years found in
Revelation 20 end and Earth is made
new.
Rule One
Given the brevity of
this article, we will examine Rule
One. I have arbitrarily made the rule
governing chronology “Rule
One” because determining the
order of events within the seventeen
prophecies is “Job One!”
Try this: Draw a time line and then
place all the events in the correct
chronological order. This is why I
consider the first rule about
chronology to be so important. This
rule is stated as follows: “Each
apocalyptic prophecy has a beginning
point in time, an ending point in
time and the events within each
prophecy occur in the order
given.”
This rule is
deceptively simple and it demolishes
2,000 of prophetic speculation and
tradition. Please give the following
sentence a full five seconds of
serious thought because the
ramifications are huge: God has
declared the order of events within
each apocalyptic prophecy – if
this is not the case, there is no way
to determine chronological order
within apocalyptic prophecy. If
God has declared the order of events
within each apocalyptic prophecy and
each apocalyptic prophecy is written
in Scripture, then the Bible will
reveal the correct order of events to
everyone – just as it reads.
If God has declared chronological
order, then there is prophetic
certainty instead of endless chaos
and cancelling views. On the other
hand, if god has not declared
chronological order, then everyone is
permitted to define and create a
prophetic order that accommodates his
or her religious baggage. In fact, we
see this process throughout
Christianity today and the result is
that there is no general agreement
among Christians on the next
prophetic event!
To resolve this
problem, some church groups turn to
external authority. This authority
can be a founding father, a prophet,
or even church tradition. There is a
simple test that determines if a
person uses external authority.
Present the Word of God and notice
the result. Jesus did this and He was
considered a blasphemer because the
Jews exalted religious traditions
above the Word of God! (See mark
7:8.9.)
Bottom line: If
God has not declared chronological
order in the apocalyptic prophecies
of Daniel and Revelation, then it
becomes impossible to factually
determine the next prophetic event.
On the other hand, if there is
chronological order, then we can
determine what event comes next. We
have has twenty-six centuries of
prophetic sequence since the book of
Daniel was written. Looking backwards
from our day, the book of Daniel
proves there is chronological
order and the result is truly
astonishing. This is good news
because the final generation can know
and understand a number of prophetic
truths that previous generations
could not discover! Remember,
God’s greatest gift to the
honest in heart is greater truth.
During the Great Tribulation, God
will separate the honest in heart
(His sheep) from those who worship
tradition (the goats) through greater
truth!
Avoiding Internal
Conflict
Last month, the
following paragraph was included in
my report: “There are time
periods in Daniel and Revelation
where a day should be translated as a
day for a year, (for example, the 70
weeks of Daniel 9 are translated into
490 years), but there are other time
periods where translation is not
permitted. For example, the 42 months
in Revelation 13 and the 1,335 days
in Daniel 12 are literal time
periods. Because some time periods in
prophecy are translated a day for a
year and others are not, a valid rule
is required to tell us when time
periods should be translated and when
they should not.”
If we use a faulty
rule that requires every time
period in Daniel and Revelation to be
literal or a faulty rule that
requires every time period to be
translated as a day for a year, the
Bible will be put in a position of
internal conflict (inconsistency).
In other words, the Bible will not be
able to speak for itself because Rule
One, which governs chronological
order, will be found in conflict with
Rule Four which governs timing!
A valid rule of
interpretation cannot have an
exception, for if it did, who would
have the authority to tell the world
when the exception is permitted? Let
me repeat this important statement. A
valid rule will not force the Bible
into a position of internal conflict.
I emphasize this point because valid
rules and valid conclusions are
always in harmony with god’s
Word! Perhaps a short demonstration
would be helpful. Consider the
chronological order in the following
prophecy.* Rule One forces this
prophecy to begin with Revelation
12:7 and it continues through
Revelation 14:5. Remember, an
apocalyptic prophecy is defined as
having a beginning point and an
ending point in time and the events
within the prophecy must occur in the
order given.
1. Revelation
12:7-12 (A.D. 30) – There is war
in Heaven on Resurrection Sunday.
Lucifer and his angels were cast out
of Heaven a second time.
2. Revelation
12:13-14 (538-1798) – Then, the
dragon (Lucifer) chased Woman
(God’s people) to the desert for
1,260 years ( a time, times and half
a time) According to Rule Four, this
time period must be translated using
a day for a year because the Jubilee
Calendar is in operation.
3. Revelation
12:15, 16 (1776 to the present)
– Then, the earth helped the
woman. God provided a place (the
United Stated of America) where she
could escape religious persecution.
4. Revelation
12:17 (1798 to the present) –
When the 1,260 years ended and the
woman had not been destroyed, the
devil became furious. Knowing that he
will be given one last chance, he is
preparing for a massive assault on
the remnant of the woman
during the Great Tribulation.
5. Revelation
13:1 (Future) – When the world
is reduced to ruins by God’s
wrath (the first four trumpets), a
beast with seven heads and ten horns
will suddenly appear. This will be a crisis
government. This government will be
created by the religious and
political leaders of Earth for the
purpose of appeasing God so that His
wrath will cease. The seven heads
represent the seven religious systems
of the world. The head (religious
system) that was wounded in 1798 was
the Roman Catholic Church. When this
beast (also called Babylon) forms, we
can conclude that the pope will have
a leading role. This is how the head
that received the deadly wound in
1798 will be healed.
6. Revelation
13:2-6 (Future) – Babylon (the
crisis government) will be a
hand-puppet of the devil. The devil
will use Babylon to persecute the
remnant of the woman for 42
literal months. Since Rule Four
states this time period is not
translated because of the Jubilee
Calendar is not in operation, the 42
months in Revelation 13:5 will be 42
literal months.
7. Revelation
13:7-10 (Future) – The Bible
clearly states that the saints will
be conquered and defeated. Most of
them will be killed or put in prison,
and all inhabitants of the
earth will obey the laws of Babylon
– all, that is, except
the saints.
8. Revelation
13:11-18 (Future) – About two
years after Babylon is created, the
devil and his angels will be released
form the Abyss to physically appear
before the people of Earth during the
fifth trumpet. (See Revelation
9:1-11.) During the sixth trumpet,
the devil’s forces will kill a
third of mankind (most, if not all,
of the 144,000 will be killed), set
up a worldwide theocracy, and
implement the mark of the beast.
9. Revelation
14:1-5 (Future) – Then, the
144,000 will be resurrected at the
seventh trumpet and taken to Heaven
on the 1,265th day of the
Great Tribulation. They will be
presented to God as the first fruits
of the coming harvest.
Summary
John, I know my
response is more technical than what
you have expected. However, it is
necessary to understand four things
before your prophetic confusion will
end. First, opinions about the next
prophetic events are meaningless. On
the other hand, understanding the
architecture of apocalyptic for
itself is priceless! Second, when
two-thirds of the world’s
population hear the truth that comes
from God’s Word, like two boys
in the parable at the beginning of
the article, they will be unable to
recognize truth because they have no
tools to distinguish between truth
and error. Third, the unsealing of
the book of Daniel changes everything
in terms of understanding apocalyptic
prophecy. The time has come for
long-standing traditions to be
dethroned and truth exalted. History
says this process always comes at a
price. There will be rejection,
ridicule, and persecution for those
who love truth. God understands this
and He has promised to compensate the
faith of His children in due time.
The meek will inherit the earth!
Finally, the Bible teaches that the
next visible prophetic event
will be a series of dramatic physical
phenomena in the sky – including
a global earthquake. See Revelation
8:5. These intimidating
manifestations will be immediately
followed by four horrific judgments
from God. (See Revelation 8:6-12)
Larry Wilson
*Note:
For a comprehensive discussion on
these prophetic topics, please see my
book, A Study on the Seven
Trumpets, ‘Two Witnesses and
Four Beasts. For a discussion on
the selection and ministry of the
144,000, please see pages 151-206 in
my book, A Study on the Seven
Seals and the 144,000. These
materials are freely available on the
web. Please go to http://www.wake-up.org/Alpha/Subjindex.htm. Scroll down
and look for the articles titles,
“144, 000,” “The Seven
Trumpets,” “The Two
Witnesses,” and “The Four
Beast.” For a discussion on the
four rules of interpretation, please
see the article, “The Necessity
for Rules.”
