Revelation Bible Study

Examples of Fulfillment in the Fall of Jerusalem AD 66-70

Dr Chuck Crisco

Introduction: One of the schools of thought, one of the interpretive lens regarding the book of Revelation is the Idealist view. What I am presenting to you is the preterist view, but the idealist view is a view a that says there is no single fulfillment of these scriptures and these are just recurring themes in history. Some from the grace camp tend to lean towards this view and tend to spiritualize the text because of the death and carnage that the book has in it. Of course with any book in the bible, you can see recurring themes in history. But the problem with that is that we have to ask ourselves anytime we are interpreting the Bible… who was this written TO, what was the INTENTION of the author? When we spiritualize it, we just turn it into anything we want. But when we understand the historical context and the audience and the intention of the author, then we have the tools to better understand what it means.

Interpretive Key…1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John…

He at the very beginning of the book makes clear that this is an apocalyptic vision “Revelation” which means an uncovering of something/someone and that the angel is going to “signify it”, ie, tell him things in the form of signs (symbols that point to nearly 400 OT references).

Interestingly while the word apocalyptic is used here meaning to uncover, THE WAY that apocalyptic language works is the use of symbols, cartoonish exaggerations, and dramatic images.

So throughout Revelation, there are going to be signs, which point to something in the past to help them understand something that must SHORTLY come to pass. And these signs include apocalyptic exaggerated language sometimes and it also includes Old Testament references. That is different than spiritualizing a text and making it say some hidden meaning that the only person who gets it is the one who has special spiritual knowledge!

So.. tonight I am going to show you some of the scriptures in Revelation that have those elements and then some of the stories we know from history that fulfilled it in our past, not our future. Next month we will move on to the end of Revelation and talk about Revelation 20, the millennium, the lake of fire, the coming of the Lord, and the resurrection, and tie in Daniel 7, 9, 12.

I. Revelation 11: THE TRAMPLING OF THE OUTER COURTS

Luke 21:23 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. 24 And they will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led away captive into all nations. And Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

Jesus predicted this time as during time leading up to 70AD. Paul refers to the time of the Gentiles, too, regarding the remnant.

But we have been told that is somewhere out in the future. But it was their future, not our future.

Revelation 11:1, Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, “Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. 2 But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months.

Do you know how long the siege of Jerusalem was? Times, time and half a time. Or about 3 ½ years. The time of the Gentiles trampling the city until it was utterly destroyed… the forty two months… is the Roman assault on the city.

Very interesting that in Daniel 12, speaking of the time of the end, and the time, times and half a time... Would be consummated "when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered, all these things will be fulfilled." Same thing Dan. 9, the end would be with a flood when the holy city would be desolate.

II. BLOOD TO THE BRIDLES: Rev. 14:17-20

17 Then another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are fully ripe.” 19 So the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trampled outside the city, and BLOOD CAME OUT OF THE WINEPRESS, UP TO THE HORSES/ BRIDLES, for one thousand six hundred furlongs.

"Now, this destruction that fell upon the Jews, as it was not inferior to any of the rest in itself, so did it still appear greater than it really was; and this, because not only the whole of the country through which they had fled was filled with slaughter, and [the] Jordan [River] could not be passed over, by reason of the dead bodies that were in it, but because the Lake Asphaltitis [the modern Dead Sea] was also full of dead bodies, that were carried down into it by the river. And now, Placidus, after this good success that he had, fell violently upon the neighbouring smaller cities and villages; when he took Abila, and Julias, and Bezemoth, and all those that lay as far as the lake Asphaltitis, and put such of the deserters into each of them as he thought proper. He then put his soldiers on board the ships, and slew such as had fled to the lake, insomuch that all Perea had either surrendered themselves, or were taken by the Romans, as far as Macherus" (Josephus, “Account of the Lake Asphaltitis,” War of the Jews 4:7:6).

Josephus writes [concerning the Roman soldiers, after they had burned down the temple in Jerusalem], “they ran every one through whom they met with, and obstructed the very lanes with their dead bodies, and made the whole city run down with blood, to such a degree indeed that the fire of many houses was quenched with these men’s blood” (The Wars Of The Jews, 6:8:5).

III. Revelation 15: THE SONG OF WITNESS

15:1,3, “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues, which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished…And they sing the song of Moses the bond servant of God and the song of the Lamb, saying: Great and marvelous are they works, O Lord God, the Almighty, Righteous and true are thy ways, thou are King of the nations…

Why were they singing the song of Moses and then SAYING these words with it?

This is the Song of Witness that we remember from Deuteronomy 31-32 where the Lord told Israel that he had fulfilled his promises of the land, but he knew that in the future they were going to go into idolatry and the shedding of innocent blood and it would result in him removing them from the land.

20 When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. 21 And when many disasters and calamities come on them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath.” 22 So Moses wrote down this song that day and taught it to the Israelites. (De 31)

28 “For they are a nation void of counsel, Nor is there any understanding in them. 29 Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would consider their latter end!... “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And render vengeance to His adversaries; He will provide atonement for His land and His people.”

44 So Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. (De 32)

Moses and Joshua… was to have every generation sing this song as a witness against them, as proof that he had been telling them this would happen all along.

Notice in this passage they sing the song of Moses and of the Lamb. Who is the Lamb? Jesus. And in Hebrew Jesus and Joshua are the same word.

They are singing this song and saying these words because they are testifying that God was righteous and just in the destruction he was bringing of Jerusalem. They confess that this his works are marvelous, causing them to marvel in awe, that the God thousands of years before…had given literally every single way possible to help them avoid this. He had them sing the song in every generation. He sent them prophets which they killed. He even sent the Son himself, but they murdered him too. And then they began to kill the saints too.

IV. Revelation 15: THE WRATH OF GOD IS FINISHED

The wrath of God is finished, in this. Remember Paul said that it is the Law that brings wrath, and it is this Law covenant in which they are as the apostate rebellious Jewish people in covenant with God.

The wrath is finished… for us, there is no more LAW. It has literally been destroyed. The priesthood, the sacrifices, the temple, the ark of the covenant, the 10 commandments… every bit of that covenant has been literally and utterly destroyed.

America doesn’t have a covenant with God as Israel did with blessings and curses based on the perfection of its national obedience. As Christians we shouldn’t even be talking about the Law when NO ONE is under the LAW… it doesn’t exist anymore. It died. OR as the author of HEBREWS says, “It is obsolete and vanishing away” Which it, along with a covenant with one group of people called Israel or the Jews.

The wrath of God even in the covenant has always been that he handed them over to their own devises (Romans 1) AND in that another nation came and brought destruction. That is exactly what happened to them, once and for all. THIS IS WHY THE IDEALIST VIEW DOESN’T WORK… NO MORE WRATH!

BUT WAIT SOME SAY THAT THE FOLLOWING YEARS ROME CAME AGAIN WITH MORE DESTRUCTION... YES, BUT IT WAS FINISHED IN AD70, once temple gone...if we are speaking covenantally.

V. Revelation 16: THE BOWL/CHALICE JUDGMENTS

“And the second angel poured out his Chalice into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man; and every living soul in the sea died.” (16:3)

“On one occasion during the Jewish Great Tribulation, “thousands of Jewish rebels fled to the Sea of Galilee from the Roman massacre of Tarichaeae. Setting out on the lake in small, flimsy boats, they were soon pursued and overtaken by the sturdy rafts of Vespasian’s superior forces. Then, as Josephus recounts, they were mercilessly slaughtered: “The Jews could neither escape to land, where all were in arms against them, nor sustain a naval battle on equal terms…Disaster overtook them and they were sent to the bottom, boats and all. Some tried to break through, but the Romans could reach them with their lances, killing others by leaping upon the boats and passing their swords through their bodies; sometimes as the rafts closed in, the Jews were caught in the middle and captured along with their vessels. If any of those who had been plunged into the water came to the surface, they were quickly dispatched with an arrow or a raft overtook them; if, in their extremity, they attempted to climb on board the enemy’s rafts, the Romans cut off their heads or their hands. So these wretches died on every side in countless numbers and in every possible way, until the survivors were routed and driven onto the shore, their vessels surround by the enemy. As they threw themselves on the them, many were speared while still in the water; many jumped ashore, where they were killed by the Romans. [Josephus records:]

“One could see the whole lake stained with blood and crammed with corpses, for not a man escaped. During the days that followed a horrible stench hung over the region, and it presented an equally horrifying spectacle. The beaches were strewn with wrecks and swollen bodies, which, hot and clammy with decay, made the air so foul that the catastrophe that plunged the Jews in mourning revolted even those who had brought it about.” (Chilton , p399,400)

VI. Revelation 16: THE DRYING OF THE GREAT RIVER EUPHRATES

“Upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun.” (16:12)

The Euphrates was Israel’s northern frontier. THIS IS MAINLY SYMBOLIC. “The image of the drying of the Euphrates for a conquering army is found in another place in the Bible, so this is simply representing something here. Cyrus the Persian Emperor conquered Babylon by temporarily damming up the riverbed up stream, so it would dry up and enable his army to march into the city and take them by surprise.

Now, as it says in another passage, Jerusalem is being called Babylon, and Sodom, and Egypt. It is called Sodom because the sins are worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. It is called Egypt because they are the one received the judgments this time and it is the followers of Christ in the New Exodus who are coming out of Jerusalem/Egypt for rescue when they see these things happening, as Jesus said. But it is also called Babylon. Israel has become the New Babylon, an enemy nation of God that must be conquered by a new Cyrus.

Historians tell us that Titus came with reinforcements from the region of the Euphrates.

VII. Revelation 16: THE GREAT HAIL STORM

Ezekiel said the same thing about Jerusalem in his prediction of destruction by Babylon hundreds of years earlier. Now John predicts the same thing:

“And great hail, about the weight of a talent [100 lbs], comes down from heaven upon the men; and the men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, because its plague was exceedingly great.”

These are like the plagues of Egypt because they have become like Egypt as well. But they are curses of the law.

ALSO in the LAW, what was the punishment for the ADULTERY and MURDER? It was stoning! That is exactly what is happening here!!!!

Here is what Jewish eyewitness and historian Josephus says:

“The stone missiles weighed a talent and traveled two furlongs or more, and their impact not only on those who were hit first, but also on those behind them, was enormous. At first the Jews kept watch for the stone- for it was white- and its approach was intimated to the eye by its shining surface as well as to their ear by its whizzing sound. Watchmen posted on the towers gave the warnings whenever the engine was fired and the stone came hurtling toward them, shouting in their native tongue: “The Son is coming.” Those in the line of fire made way and fell prone, a precaution that resulted in the stone’s passing harmlessly through and falling in their rear. To frustrate this, it occurred to the Romans to blacken the stones so that they could not be seen so easily before hand; then they hit their target and destroyed many with a single shot.”

This is fascinating history… Stuart Russell records additional information saying, “It could not but be well known to the Jews that the great hope and faith for the Christians was the speedy coming of the Son. It was about this very time, according to Hegesippus, that St James, the brother of our Lord, publicly testified in the temple that ‘the Son of Man was about to come in the clouds of heaven,’ and then sealed his testimony with his blood.[i.e. they killed him]. It seems highly probable that the Jews, in their defiant and desperate blasphemy, when they saw the white mass hurtling through the air, raised the ribald cry, ‘The Son is coming,’ in mockery of the Christian hope of the Parousia, to which they might trace a ludicrous resemblance in the strange appearance of the missile.” (Chilton, 417-18)

VIII. Revelation 1: THE COMING ON CLOUDS,

Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen ; Matthew 16:27-28, 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. 28 “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Matthew 26:62 And the high priest arose and said to Him, “Do You answer nothing? What is it these men testify against You?” 63 But Jesus kept silent. And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” 64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” 65 Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy!

Josephus (A.D. 75) - Jewish Historian, "Besides these [signs], a few days after that feast, on the one- and-twentieth day of the month Artemisius, [Jyar,] a certain prodigious and incredible phenomenon appeared; I suppose the account of it would seem to be a fable, were it not related by those that saw it, and were not the events that followed it of so considerable a nature as to deserve such signals; for, before sun-setting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armour were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. Moreover, at that feast which we call Pentecost, as the priests were going by night into the inner [court of the] temple, as their custom was, to perform their sacred ministrations, they said that, in the first place, they felt a quaking, and heard a great noise, and after that they heard a sound as of a great multitude, saying, "Let us remove hence" (Jewish Wars, VI-V-3).

“A supernatural apparition was seen, too amazing to be believed. What I am now to relate would, I imagine, be dismissed as imaginary, had this not been vouched for by eyewitnesses, then followed by subsequent disasters that deserved to be thus signalized. For before sunset chariots were seen in the air over the whole country, and armed battalions speeding through the clouds and encircling the cities.” (rendered in Chilton)

Tacitus (A.D. 115) - Roman historian

"13. Prodigies had occurred, but their expiation by the offering of victims or solemn vows is held to be unlawful by a nation which is the slave of superstition and the enemy of true beliefs. In the sky appeared a vision of armies in conflict, of glittering armour. A sudden lightning flash from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the holy place abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving it, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people placed a sinister interpretation upon this. The majority were convinced that the ancient scriptures of their priests alluded to the present as the very time when the Orient would triumph and from Judaea would go forth men destined to rule the world." (Histories, Book 5, v. 13).