REVELATION 4-6
SEGMENT III
page 5 OF
5
1.
The High Priest was found worthy on
the Day of Atonement.
The doctrine of
parallel temples contributes to the
matrix in the Chart above. In
Leviticus 16, the High Priest had to
be found worthy before he
could cleanse the earthy temple on
the Day of Atonement. To gain
God’s approval, the High Priest
had to present himself before God
within the Most Holy Place with the
blood of a young bull. The bull came
from the High Priest’s herd. In
other words, the High Priest had to
provide his own blood for the
sacrifice. The parallel here is
obvious, Jesus provided His own blood
for the redemption of sinners, and
after a careful examination, He was
found worthy before the Father, the
24 elders, and the angelic host to
receive the Book of Life.
After the High Priest
received God’s approval in the
earthy temple, the High Priest
proceeded to remove the record of sin
from the temple. (Leviticus 16) There
are three points in this process that
should be considered.
a.
The Day of Atonement service in the
earthy temple shadowed the cleansing
of Heaven’s temple. We know from
Daniel 8:14, the cleansing of
Heaven’s temple began in 1844.
Even though the Day of Atonement
occurred every year in the earthy
temple, Paul indicates that the
judgment day would convene once, near
the end of the world. (Acts 17:31;
Hebrews 9:26; 2 Corinthians 5:10) The
Jews, even to this day, call the Day
of Atonement, “Yom Kippur”
which means “The Day of
Judgment.”
Many people do not
recognize this, but the book of
Hebrews centers on the ministry of
Jesus in a “Day of
Atonement” capacity. Paul wrote,
“We have this hope [of
salvation] as an anchor for the
soul, firm and secure. It enters the
inner sanctuary behind the curtain,
where Jesus, who went before us, has
entered on our behalf…”
(Hebrews 6:19,20, insertion mine) “For
Christ is not entered into the [Most]
holy places made with [human] hands,
which are the figures of the true [temple
in Heaven]; but in Heaven itself,
now to appear in the [actual] presence
of God for us [just like the High
Priest did on the annual Day of
Atonement when he went behind the
veil.] Nor yet that he [Jesus]
should offer himself often [again
and again], as the high priest
entereth into the [most] holy
place every year [on the Day of
Atonement] with the blood of
others; For then must he often have
suffered [every year] since
the foundation of the world: but [right]
now once in the end of the world
hath appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself.”
(Hebrews 9:24-26, KJV, insertions
mine)
Paul clearly
understood the doctrine of parallel
temples. (Hebrews 8:1-5) He
understood the annual cleansing of
the earthy temple on the Day of
Atonement was a shadow of a “one
time” cleansing of the heavenly
temple that would begin near the end
of the world. Because Paul thought he
was living close to the end of the
world, he believed that Jesus had
entered into the Father’s
presence [that is, the Most Holy
Place] at the time of His ascension
to intercede for mankind. (Hebrews
6:19,20) The problem with this
perspective is timing. Paul, like the
other disciples of Jesus, was
convinced that he was living at the
end of the world and he clearly says
so in other places. (Hebrews 1:1,2; 1
Corinthians 7:29; Romans 13:12)
However, the book of Revelation did
not exist in Paul’s day and the
book of Daniel had not been unsealed.
The point is that Paul saw the
exaltation of Jesus as man’s
High Priest, and he saw Jesus serving
in the Most Holy Place at “the
end of the world” as our High
Priest without knowing the timing of
what he saw. Paul had the same
limitations that Daniel and John had;
they did not know about 1798 and
1844. To his credit, Paul wrote, “For
we know in part and we prophecy in
part, but when perfection comes, the
imperfect disappears.” (1
Corinthians 13:9,10)
b. In
ancient times, the worthiness of the
High Priest was determined just
before the temple was to be
cleansed. The heavenly process is
consistent with the fact because
Jesus was found worthy in 1798, which
is just before He begun to cleanse
the temple in 1844.
c. The High Priest could
not enter the Most Holy Place except
on the Day of Atonement. (Leviticus
16:2) This is a particularly
important point. Only one Service in
the earthy temple concerned the Most
Holy Place. This service occurred on
the Day of Atonement and the purpose
of this service was the cleansing of
the temple. Because the book of
Hebrews is concerned with the
exaltation of Jesus (Hebrews 1-5) and
Christi’s ministry in the Most
Holy Place on the Day of Atonement
(Hebrews 6-10), Paul’s comments
in the book of Hebrews must be
understood as taking place at, or
near, the end of the world.
(Hebrews 9:26) In other words, the
ministry of Jesus as our High Priest
– care- fully described in the
book of Hebrews – applies after
He was found worthy in 1798.
2.
The matrix aligns Daniel 7, Daniel 8
and Daniel 9 with Revelation 4-6.
After reviewing the Chart above, we
find the prophetic matrix easily
aligns Daniel 7, 8 and 9 with
Revelation 4-6. The doctrines
regarding the state of the dead and
parallel temples also contribute to
this sequence of events. Let us
review how Bible history and recorded
history affirm the presence of a
relationship between 1798 and 1844.
The 1,260 years of
persecution by the little horn, power
in Daniel 7 ended in February 1798,
because the Father issued a
restraining order against the little
horn shortly after He took His seat.
The seventy weeks of
Daniel 9 began in 457 B.C. and
terminated with A.D. 33. Jesus
confirmed the synchrony of these
dates by conducting the Passover
service for His disciples at the
right time in A.D. 30 (Mark 14) and
by dying on the cross in the middle
of the seventieth week. Jesus died on
Friday afternoon, April 7, A.D. 30.
John 19)
According to Daniel 9,
seventy weeks of probationary time
were granted to Israel as a last
chance to fulfill God’s
covenant. The seventy weeks were
“cut off” from the
beginning of the 2,300 years
mentioned in Daniel 8:14 so that if
Israel was faithful to God (in Plan
A), the 2,300 year prophecy (in Plan
B) would not be necessary. In fact,
the book of Daniel would have
remained sealed forever if Israel had
been faithful to God and His
covenant. Since Jesus affirmed the
middle year of the seventieth week
with His death, there is no question
that the seventy weeks and the 2,300
years began in 457 B.C. Consequently,
there is no question that the 2,300
years terminated in the Spring of
1844 and the cleansing of
Heaven’s temple began at that
time.
Daniel and John
Favorably Compare
Before we conclude
this investigation on timing, please
review the following parallels
between Daniel and John:
Daniel 7:9: “As
I looked, thrones [plural] were set
in place.”
Revelation 4:2,4: “…before
me was a throne… Surrounding the
throne were twenty four other thrones
and seated on them were twenty four
elders.”
Daniel 7:10: “…Thousands
upon thousands attended him; ten
thousand times ten thousand stood
before him.”
Revelation 5:11: “Then
I looked and heard the voice of many
angels, numbering thousands upon
thousands, and ten thousand times ten
thousand.”
Daniel 7:9: “The
Ancient of Days took His seat. His
clothing was as white as snow; the
hair of His head was white like
wool.”
Revelation 4:3,4: “The
One who sat there had the appearance
of a jasper [having translucent
brilliance, golden quartz color] and
carnelian [having the multilayered
brilliance of a ruby]. The elders
were dressed in white and had crowns
of gold on their heads.”
Daniel 7:9,10: “His
throne was flaming with fire and its
wheels were all ablaze.”
Revelation 4:5: From
the throne came flashes of
lightening, rumblings and peals of
thunder. Before the throne seven
lamps were blazing.”
Daniel 7:13: “I
saw one like a “son of
man.’ He approached the Ancient
of Days.”
Revelation 5:7: “The
Lamb approached the Father sitting on
the throne and took the scroll from
His right hand.”
Daniel 7:14: “He
[the Son of Man] was given authority,
glory and sovereign power.”
Revelation 5:9,12: “…They
sang a new song, ‘You are worthy
to take the scroll and open its
seals.’ ‘Worthy is the
Lamb, who was slain, to receive power
and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise.”
These parallels are
interesting, but not identical. In
fact, if there were no other
information, these parallels would be
close enough to say they were
describing the same event. However,
we have other data that tells us
Daniel and John are describing the
same scene, so the differences are
more helpful than harmful because the
details add information from two
different perspectives. The
differences between Daniel 7 and
Revelation 4-6 can be compared to
Daniel 2 and Daniel 7 where there are
two different perspectives of the
same thing, even though the visions
are very different.
Now that we have
examined the timing of Revelation
4-6, please review this next chart.
Notice the vertical alignment of the
various elements that have been
discussed thus far.
Revelation 4-6 Expands
The Matrix
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