Who are the 144,000 mentioned in the Book of Revelation?

“I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

Revelation 7:4

The Book of Revelation is a mystery to most people.

Although we are told that there is a blessing for those who read it Rev 1:3, very few people read it and far less study it.

However, some phrases and concepts are sufficiently well-known so as to be quoted in secular situations. 

Thus ‘the four horsemen of the apocalypse’, ‘Armageddon’ and ‘the mark of the beast’ conjure up dramatic images used to frighten people in blockbuster films, but their proper meaning and the proper teaching of the Book of Revelation remains a mystery to many.

It is good to have a general overview of any biblical book before interpreting its details, and this applies to the Book of Revelation.

In a book with so much imagery it can be helpful to identify some key points in the book to help with interpreting the whole.

This is important because wrong interpretations can distort the whole message.  This wrong message is then given the force and authority attributed to God’s Word, sometimes with devastating effect.  This has happened with the Book of Revelation, which has had many different interpretations.

This variability can be seen most obviously in the different views about the man of sin 2Th 2:3 and The Antichrist 1Jn 2:18 – is he past, present or future and where does he appear in the Book of Revelation?  This alters one’s interpretation of the book.

The mark of the beast

However, different interpretations of the beasts, the mark of the beast, and so on, are not simply of academic interest but the mark of the beast is so important that your eternal destiny will depend upon your attitude to it Rev 14:9-11.  Has anyone ever told you this?  Why not?  If not, your friends need to study the Book of Revelation to find out about it.  How can Christians be so cavalier and unconcerned about the Book of Revelation when their eternal destiny is explained in it?  When they learn about this distinctive mark, they may change their attitude.

Plunging into details can be confusing. A general overview is the best place to begin, especially when people plunge into details.  We need to know if they are correct or not.

Dispensationalism

A large group of Christians who try to interpret the details of biblical prophecy are Dispensationalists in America, who believe in what they call the Rapture and a seven-year tribulation period some time in the future – an interpretation that cannot be tested until it arrives on the scene, suddenly, so they say.  Their detailed interpretation of events includes the idea that the 144,000 mentioned in Rev 7:4 are a group of zealous Jewish Christians who will evangelize the world in due course. Rather, when the Jewish nation is converted to acknowledge Jesus as their Messiah Rom 11:26, Whom they have neglected for so long, they will not need to evangelize the world. All they will need to do is to expose the Roman Catholic pope in Rome as the man of sin 2Th 2:3-4, because they will not submit to him nor admit that he is head of the Christian church on Earth. They know too much about him to accept this. This will certainly get the world’s attention.

Jehovah’s Witnesses

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a different interpretation, declaring that these 144,000 are a fixed number of people whom they call “The Administration”, who are designated to be kings and priests to serve over the rest of mankind on Earth from their place in heaven who, for the most part, are appointed since Christ’s time on Earth. Like the Dispensationalists, they do not interpret these 144,000 as Old Testament Jews, although the biblical context in the Book of Revelation clearly identifies them as Old Testament Jews.

So who are these 144,000?

1. They are described as a well-defined group of Jews.

2. The symbolical numbers 12 x 12,000 indicate that they are representative of all the tribes of Israel.

Why is the number so circumscribed?  It suggests that the number cannot be increased. In this respect, it differs from “the innumerable number” mentioned a few verses later, immediately after the Jewish tribes are detailed.

3. They are described as being sealed while on Earth Rev 7:1-4. This is before the angels were released to hurt the Earth Rev 7:2, and thus before the events in the remainder of the Book of Revelation. They are mentioned immediately before the next group introduced in this chapter, who are described in distinctly Christian terms. 

“After this I noticed, and, behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

Revelation 7:9

The Jewish and Christian church

These two groups in this chapter are distinguished as Jews and Christians. The first group moves seamlessly into the next group, which is described in Christian terms. What is more natural than that this describes the saints from the Jewish church in Old Testament times followed by the saints in the Christian church in the current era? Later, the Book of Revelation will describe the transition from pagan Rome to papal Rome.  Such transitions occur in various places in the Book of Revelation. The very structure of Revelation begins with the Seven Churches of Asia on Earth, which transitioned into the heavenly scene in Rev 4 with its heavenly perspective about earthly affairs, the “things which must be hereafter” Rev 4:1. In Rev 5:1 we are introduced to the seven seals, which will transition into seven trumpets and then into seven vials about future events.

These 144,000 represent Old Testament saints, a number that cannot be changed nor increased now that we are in the Christian era. In Old Testament times, the Gospel was preserved among the Jews for the most part, which the apostle Paul discussed in Rom 3:1-3.  Although there were others saved from other nations, for the most part the descendants of these people apostatized, and no nation as such worshipped the God of Israel. So these 144,000 Old Testament saints are described in terms of the tribes of Israel.

The number of godly Old Testament saints, who are now in heaven, is a fixed number.  Their number cannot be increased because we are now in the Christian era.

Meanwhile the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to add to the church daily Act 2:47, and we have no idea how many they will be – “which no man could number” Rev 7:9.

“Behold a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.”

Revelation 7:9.

This innumerable group in heaven are wearing white robes, washed white in the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Rev 7:9-14. The same description appeared earlier in Rev 6:11, in the context of those who had been martyred for their testimony to the Word of God. They were told to wait until they were joined by others similarly killed.  Here in Rev 7 these Old Testament Jewish saints are now joined by the Christian saints as an innumerable group, teaching us that they are one unified group of redeemed saints now “before the throne” in heaven, and described in Christian terms. The Christian Bible views the Christian Church as a continuation and development of the Jewish Old Testament Church.  Gentile Christians were grafted into the Jewish Church as one olive tree Rom 11:17. This union of Jew and Gentile explains the second mention of the 144,000 in the Book of Revelation:

“And I looked, and, behold, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with Him an hundred forty and four thousand, having His Father’s name written in their foreheads.”

Revelation 14:1

The use of the same number identifies them with the earlier group, but this time they are not described in terms of the twelve tribes of Israel but in distinctly Christian terms, as redeemed from the Earth and singing a song that only they knew Rev 14:3. 

This unity of Jew and Gentile is explicit in the next chapter where we read: “they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints” Rev 15:3. This demonstrates the unity of the redeemed saints in heaven, Jewish and Gentile Christians.

Will you be among them?

The Old Testament saints in Rev 6:9-11 had been told to wait patiently until they were joined in heaven by their Christian brethren as seen in Rev 7. Now the Christian Church must also wait for the next phase in God’s providential decree.

The Jewish Pleroma – Romans 11:12

The first major event will be the national conversion of the Jews Rom 11:15, which merits a theological term for so significant event. I have coined the term the Jewish Pleroma for this, based on the Greek word translated “fulness” in Rom 11:12. Rabbinic Judaism is still waiting for its messiah to appear, failing to recognize that the promised Messiah Dan 9:25-26 has already appeared.  This national Jewish conversion will have global repercussions, because the Jews will not accept the Roman Catholic pope in Rome as the ‘head’ of the Christian Church. Their exposure of the man of sin 2Th 2:3-8 as The Antichrist 1Jn 2:18 will be so significant that Scripture describes it as a global earthquake Heb 12:26. The nations will be forced to reconsider what is the Christian Church.  This will result in changing their national allegiance to Jesus Christ as Lord, prophesied in Rev 11:15.

The Millennial Advent

The Jewish Pleroma is the first stage of Christ’s promised and predicted spiritual coming, for which the Christian church is waiting and which Dispensationalism misinterprets as a physical coming. There are more stages mentioned in the Book of Revelation, which I describe and name below, but the whole global paradigm shift is the completion of Christ’s First Advent, which is intimated and illustrated by His returning to the mount of Olives Zec 14:4 from where He had ascended into heaven Lk 24:50-51, Act 1:9-11. He is building His church, to which Ezekiel’s temple-house points, not a physical temple in Jerusalem but “a spiritual house” as Peter calls it 1Pe 2:5, and its completion is the completion of Jesus’ First Advent, having accomplished this first phase of the divine plan for this world Ps 110:1. This spiritual coming of Christ also merits a theological term, for which I have coined the term the Millennial Advent. This spiritual coming is not the end of history but it is “the end of the beginning”, to borrow from Winston Churchill. Christ’s coming is not a footnote at the end of history but the whole purpose of history. The purpose of Christ’s Millennium Advent is to establish God’s Kingdom on Earth, and having accomplished the global change, having built His Church on Earth, a few millennia of prayers will be fulfilled – “Thy will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven” Mat 6:10 and Lk 11:2. Now the biblical Millennium can really begin.

The second 144,000

The second 144,000 uses the same representative number of saints as Rev 7:9, but this time they are not only Jews but they represent all the saints of God, demonstrating the unity of Jewish and Gentile saints. Although they are an innumerable number from our point of view Rev 7:9, yet they are a distinct number known to God Rev 14:1. They are not a vaguely unknown number of redeemed saints. God the Father’s plan is to “gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth” Eph 1:10. 144,000 is a representative number, but it is now representative of unified Jews and Christians.  The fixed number shows that the number is definitively known to God, but it is not a final number, as demonstrated by the following scene.

This second 144,000 scene is immediately followed by an angel preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation and people on earth.  This second angel preaches “the good news” of the global judgment upon false religion, announced and explained with new imagery as the Fall of Babylon Rev 14:8.

A third angel then warns against receiving the mark of the beast and being identified with this beastly Babylon. Many Christians have no idea about this mark and therefore they do not take warning Mat 7:22-23. 

Holding out against the beast manifests the patience of the saints, who had waited for the Lord’s intervention in earthly affairs Rev 14:12, just as the Old Testament saints had been told to wait Rev 6:10-11. This patience arises from their spiritual discernment, which is so important that it is a central message of the Book of Revelation.

Waiting upon the Lord

The exposure of the man of sin and its associated global paradigm shift is the second major event for which the Christian Church is waiting, which Dispensationalism has mistaken and misapplied to some future person. This global exposure is described in the Book of Revelation as the Fall of Babylon, mentioned briefly in Rev 14:8 by the second angel and developed more fully in later chapters – Rev 17:5 and Rev 18:2-8,10,17-18,21.

The devilish fightback Rev 12:13 against Christ’s building His Church used persecution and false Christianity to deceive the nations. The beast successfully deceived the nations Rev 13:3, so successfully that all nations came under its deceptive false religion Rev 13:7-8. Meanwhile, the saints wait patiently for this prophesied exposure, when the time of “great Babylon” comes before God’s mind Rev 16:19 and this mystery is exposed Rev 17:5 and Babylon falls, never to arise again Rev 18:2,10,21.

The pre-millennial judgment

This global event is so significant that it also merits a term to identify it. I have coined the term the pre-millennial judgment because 1. it is a judgment, 2. it is global, 3. it is before the biblical millennium and 4. it ushers in the biblical millennium. Its spiritual nature has been completely overlooked by all the pre-millennial and Dispensational mis-interpreters of the Book of Revelation and other biblical prophecies, who mis-interpret it in terms of physical events. Certainly Jesus used cataclysmic terminology from the natural world Mat 24:29 for these events, but such spiritual terminology was already used and explained in Old Testament prophecy as the overthrow of opposing kingdoms Hag 2:6-7,20-21. Jesus chided His disciples for not yet understanding His spiritual terminology Mat 16:9-11, Mk 8:21 and this lack of understanding continues among pre-millennialists to the present day.

Christ Himself initiates this judgment Rev 19:11-21, which the second angel had announced Rev 14:8.

It is a religious judgment with such civil consequences that Scripture describes it as a global earthquake Heb 12:26. It will involve an international tribunal and “the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end” Dan 7:26. It is so significant that the seventh angel announces it as “the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ” Rev 11:15. The global hegemony will become Christian. The biblical Millennium will have arrived.

After this global judgment on false religion and ungodly nations, who refused to acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord Ps 2:10-12, the patiently-waiting saints finally witness the overthrow of Satan’s hegemony. Faithful preaching of the Gospel of Christ will restrain the devil’s influence to such an extent that Satan is described as being shut up in the bottomless pit Rev 20:1-3 from which he had emerged Rev 9:11 to do his nefarious work on Earth. By this exposure of false Christianity, the devil can no longer deceive the nations as he had done before Rev 20:3.  This ushers in the lengthy biblical Millennium Rev 20:3-6, which is the third major event for which the Christian Church had patiently waited so long. The glorious nature of this Millennium is described in Rev 21–Rev 22, using symbolic terms to describe what will be like “heaven on Earth”.

• The Millennial Advent of Christ comprises:
  • The Jewish Pleroma Rom 11:12 – the national Jewish conversion.
  • The pre-millennial judgment – a global, spiritual earthquake Heb 12:26.
    • the exposure of the man of sin Dan 7:25, the national Jewish conversion exposing him as The Antichrist.
    • the fall of spiritual Babylon, false Christianity set up as a competitive religion, which deceived the whole world.
    • judgment on ungodly national leaders, who lament the fall of Babylon Rev 18:9-19.
    • judgment on those who received the mark of the beast and were deceived by the man of sin into worshipping the beast Rev 13:4,12,15, Rev 14:9,11, Rev 16:2, Rev 19:20, Rev 20:4.
    • judgment by an international civil and religious tribunal – “the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end” Dan 7:26.
    • the kingdoms of this world will become Christian Rev 11:15, completing Christ’s First Advent Ps 110:1.
  • The beginning of the biblical Millennium Rev 20:2-6 for an unspecified but long period of time.

The Fall of Babylon

The waiting Church will witness the Fall of Babylon “that great city” Rev 18:10-21 which deceived “all nations” Rev 14:8 with her false religion so that “the whole world admired and followed” its religion Rev 13:3.  This is evidently not Old Testament Babylon which destroyed the temple in Jerusalem.  Rather, Babylon’s name is re-used in the Book of Revelation, just as Sodom is re-used Rev 11:8 as a spiritual entity. Spiritual Babylon is central to the devilish fightback against Christ’s building His Church on Earth Mat 16:18. Jesus builds His Church by His Holy Spirit giving people spiritual life. Being born again they are “living stones” incorporated into His spiritual temple on Earth 1Pe 2:5, 1Cor 6:19. Jesus does not rebuild the temple in Jerusalem; He is building a better Temple.

The devilish fightback: Rev 12–Rev 20

I have detailed the three major themes for which the Christian church is waiting – 1. the national conversion of the Jews, 2. the exposure and judgment of the man of sin and 3. the biblical Millennium, so now I will describe another major theme in the Book of Revelation – the devilish fightback. Jesus told His disciples that He was building His church on Earth Mat 16:18 and He referred to it cryptically to the Jews in Jn 2:18-22. The devil has been fighting against it, but “the gates of hell will not prevail against it”. The Book of Revelation details this devilish fightback. The devil is described as “a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads” Rev 12:3. In Rev 12:4 he hoped to destroy Jesus as soon as He was born. Failing this, he hoped that crucifying Jesus would finish the job. Instead Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven Rev 12:5, where Satan’s accusations against the saints already in heaven were silenced Rev 12:10. He and his accusations were rejected and he was cast down to the Earth where he carried on his pursuit with a vengeance upon the Church of Jesus Christ on Earth Rev 12:13-17. The Church fled from the dragon who was in hot pursuit Rev 12:13-17. The following chapters in the Book of Revelation use the imagery of beasts controlled by the devil.  These various beasts have multiple heads, horns and crowns to show their conjoint but varied action in supporting this devilish fightback. The progression in this devilish fightback is illustrated using the various beasts in Rev 13 through to the scarlet-coloured beast in Rev 17:3, ridden by “the great whore Babylon” Rev 17:1,5. The Book of Revelation leads up to the Fall of Babylon and the destruction of the beast in Rev 19:19-20. Its characteristic ploy is deception Rev 19:20. Multitudes of people and whole nations will be deceived by it Rev 20:3, which is why we need to study the teaching of Jesus on the subject of false Christs Mat 24:24.

The Great Tribulation

Jesus said: “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”

Matthew 24:21

The Church of God has always suffered trouble and the predicted Messiah in the Old Testament was associated with “troublous times” Dan 9:25-27. Jesus told His disciples that they would have trouble Jn 16:33 and more specifically that there would be Great Tribulation throughout the Christian era Mat 24:21. He mentioned trouble yet again in Rev 2:9-10 among His messages to the Seven Churches of Asia.

This Great Tribulation has been misinterpreted as an intense tribulation over a limited number of years some time in the future, whereas it refers to the long tribulation from Jesus’ day until the biblical Millennium.  Already it has lasted 2000 years, with two World Wars in the 20th century, but the signs of a change are in the air with the return of the Jews to the land of Israel, the increasing number of Jewish conversions in Israel and the general global tensions around Jerusalem Zec 12:2-3 and Zec 14:2-3.

During this long devilish fightback, the Church is protected and preserved, although persecuted and sometimes to the death Rev 12:14-17. It has gone on for 2000 years, so long that Jesus called it the Great Tribulation Mat 24:21. In Rev 12:14 this is described in the enigmatic phrase “a time, and times, and half a time” Rev 12:14, referring back to the first biblical reference to this phrase “a time, times, and an half” in Dan 12:7. It is described in various ways through the Book of Revelation “the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months” Rev 11:2, “My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days” Rev 11:3, the woman fled into the wilderness “a thousand two hundred and threescore days’ Rev 12: 6, helped with two wings “where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent” Rev 12:14, and the dragon gave power to the beast “to continue forty and two months’ Rev 13:5, whom they worshipped. These phrases refer to the same period of time and it is a signature timestamp for the Great Tribulation Mat 24:21, Rev 7:14. It helps to interpret Dan 12:7, Jn 16:33, Rev 1:9 and Rev 7:14. Further, Rev 7:14 shows that the Great Tribulation began long ago, and does not begin in the future as the Dispensationalists assert.

This Great Tribulation, during which the devilish fightback seeks to destroy the Church of Christ, lasts throughout the current Christian era, from Christ’s incarnation, till the present, and until the Millennium Advent when Christ shall have put down all His enemies globally Ps 110:1.

Progression in the Book of Revelation

Progression is a feature of the Book of Revelation. It begins with the Seven Churches of Asia in the lifetime of the Apostle John.  Rev 4 and Rev 5 move on to give us a glimpse of heaven’s interest in the earthly advance of Christ’s kingdom.  Rev 6 and Rev 7 shows us the transition from the Jewish to the Christian church, from a specific locality in the land of Israel to expand into the global Gentile scene, well-known to the apostle John’s readers and explained by the apostle Paul in Rom 11 in terms of Gentile branches grafted into the Jewish olive tree, but one Christian church.

The devilish fightback against Christ in Rev 12 is described and explained using the progression from one to two beasts in Rev 13, related to each other but with distinctive marks and characteristics, which progress to the whore called spiritual Babylon riding a scarlet beast, but intimately related to the earlier beasts described from Rev 13 to Rev 18 and motivated by “the great dragon, the Devil and Satan” in Rev 12:9.

The Key to the Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation tells us clearly how to interpret these future events. The apostle John tells us:

“The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Revelation17:18

In John’s day, this could be no other city than Rome, the capital of the Roman empire. To underscore this identification, John says:

“The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits.”

Revelation 17:9

This city on seven mountains was a proverbial term for the city of Rome even in the apostle John’s time. Those who do not see Rome in the centre of this devilish fightback against Christ’s building His Church upon Earth have fallen under the very deception described in these chapters Rev 12:9, Rev 13:14, Rev 18:23, Rev 19:20, Rev 20:3, which is the hallmark of the man of sin’s activities 2Th 2:3-4,10-12.

Pagan Rome and papal Rome

The apostle John’s vision described the persecution of the Christian Church under pagan Rome and its transition to papal Rome until finally this spiritual Babylon falls when 1. Jesus exposes its true nature 2Th 2:8-10 through the conversion of the Jews, and 2. it is overthrown in the pre-millennial judgment Rev 19:11-21, to usher in the biblical Millennium Rev 20–Rev 22. The opposition by papal Rome has gone through various phases, from its early persecution of Christians within its own ranks, then the Crusades, the Inquisition, and English martyrs, to such an extent that the recent pope Francis asked for forgiveness from Protestants in 2016.

Will you learn from the Book of Revelation?

There are many commentaries on the Book of Revelation.  It mentions the Millennium in Rev 20:2-7, which means ‘a thousand’. There was great excitement whether Jesus would return about 1000AD .  When He did not return, many Christians gave up trying to understand the Book of Revelation. Some Christians think it is a sign of maturity not even to try, and they have a supercilious attitude to those who do study this part of Scripture.   This leaves the field open to those who will misinterpret it as they please.  Jesus says of those who ignore the signs of the times that it is a sign of their spiritual hypocrisy Mat 16:3 because they spend time on worldly matters but not on more important spiritual matters.  The Book of Revelation is so important that it helps us and warns us to avoid the deception of false religion and false Christianity in particular.

Dispensationalism
Dispensationalism is a recent movement, begun among the Brethren in 19th-century Britain but exported to America where it has flourished ever since. It drew upon the futuristic interpretation of the Book of Revelation begun by the Spanish Jesuit Ribera who wanted to deflect attention away from the Protestant interpretation of the Book of Revelation which identified the Roman Catholic pope in Rome as The Antichrist 1Jn 2:18 and the man of sin 2Th 2:3-4.  Ribera proposed that these biblical texts pointed to a particular individual person far in the future.  This was adopted by the Brethren and is now very common in America.  Some Bible commentaries do not see the Roman Catholic pope in the Book of Revelation.

Ribera’s interpretation was adopted by the Brethren and modified into their futuristic teaching about the Rapture and the seven-year tribulation.  This is central to their teaching, and its relevance to this blogpost is that the “great tribulation” is mentioned in Rev 7:14, the same chapter as the 144,000 in Rev 7:4 and the innumerable multitude in Rev 7:9.

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He Who sits on the throne shall dwell among them.”

Revelation 7:14-15

Dispensationalism misinterprets these 144,000 as Jews who are converted to Christianity during its misunderstanding of a future Tribulation. However, these 144,000 are Old Testament saints now in heaven rather than future saints on Earth.

Besides, the Great Tribulation is very much longer than seven years in the distant future.  It is already here, as Jesus mentioned to the seven churches of Asia Rev 2:9-10. The apostle John was their “companion in tribulation” Rev 1:9, just as Jesus Himself told His disciples in the Upper Room that “in the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” Jn 16:33. Jesus predicted that after the destruction of Jerusalem, which took place in 70AD, there would “be great tribulation” Mat 24:21. This Great Tribulation is the devil’s fightback ever since, described in the Book of Revelation, and lasting from apostolic times until the present day. It is great in the length of its time, with so much persecution “such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time” as Jesus said, that one wonders how this can be outdone by a seven-year tribulation some time in the future, as it is misinterpreted by Dispensationalism.

The details how to put together the biblical data on so important a matter has been a large project which has engaged me for many decades. This blogpost gives some of the biblical counter-narrative to Dispensationalism’s adopting of Jesuit Ribera’s misinterpretation, which has deceived the nations and the Christian church for centuries. The Reformed constituency has ignored these speculations but it has also woefully ignored the biblical exegesis of the multiple passages from which these misinterpretations arose, passages throughout the Old Testament and masterfully collated in the apostle John’s inspired vision in the Book of Revelation, a production so skillfully interwoven with Old Testament matter that the biblical critics’ penknives cannot prize it apart. I hope to be spared long enough to draw it all together for publication, but meanwhile I have put various sections of it online on my blog.

There are other recent posts of relevance to this interpretation of the Book of Revelation.

1. the danger of not studying the Book of Revelation.
2. the Books were opened.
3. when will the five wise virgins waken up?
4. Jesus’ answer about the timing of future events.

This post has taken some time to compose and as I post it today I note that this is the 620th anniversary of the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot that aimed to destabilise Protestant England. Similarly, false Christianity has been the devil’s method for millennia to destabilise the Christian Church, but Jesus is upon His throne and pushing forward His agenda Ps 110:1.

The practical point at present is that people need to study Jesus’ teaching to avoid being deceived by false Christianity of any kind, to learn to listen closely to His teaching and to follow Him. God bless you, my readers.

Links:

10 Aug 2018: the many comings of Christ.

10 Aug 2018: the Millennium Advent.

15 Aug 2018: how long does the biblical Millennium last?

5 Nov 2025: the Jewish Pleroma.