Transcript

We'll go ahead and pick back up with a prayer in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Let's pray a Hail Mary together, asking our Blessed Mother to take us by the hand, to lead us to her son, Jesus, as we push through the remaining segment of tonight's reflesh- reflection as we pray Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, so, uh, we left off with looking at some of the images in Revelation chapter 14 that point us in the direction of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Uh, just to kind of review, the first image was the new song, uh, that St. John hears the Christians in heaven singing, that's identified as the new song of Moses.

The second image is seeing Jerusalem as the new Babylon, and as such, it coming under God's judgment as a new enemy of God's people.

And the third image was the scandal imagery.

We saw how, uh, the- the beast of the land, the great city is causing the nations to drink the impure passions, would drink, uh, of impure passions.

And then finally, image four, we looked at the coming of the Son of Man and the angel with the sickle and the reaping of the harvest.

Obviously in light of the Old Testament tradition, and even Jesus' prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem, this would seem to indicate, uh, God coming in judgment on Jerusalem.

Now, we pick up with image five.

I said we have seven images that point us in the direction of the destruction of Jerusalem.

Image five is in Revelation 14:18.

We read about the angel who has power over fire coming from the altar with a sickle and casting it toward the Earth.

So you have the imagery of fire, once again, coming from heaven, going toward the Earth.

Now, we've already looked at this imagery in Revelation chapter 8, um, Revelation chapter 8, verse 5, when the angel of judgment casts fire on Earth from the heavenly altar.

And we look at that image in Revelation 8, verse 5, as well as this imagery, almost the same here in Revelation chapter 14, in light of the Old Testament background of fire coming from heaven on Sodom.

And so thus the interpretive application is that Jerusalem is a new Sodom, like we've said already, and thus incurring judgment upon itself.

So once again, the imagery of the angel casting fire to Earth from heaven.

Uh, image six, in Revelation chapter 14, verse 20, we have the destruction of the wine press.

When you're reading chapter 14, and within this whole context, it talks about a wine press being destroyed.

Now, there are two Old Testament backdrops for the image of the wine press being destroyed.

The first Old Testament backdrop is Isaiah's prophecy of the ensuing destruction on Judah, the southern tribes, by the Babylonian Empire.

In Isaiah chapter five, verses five through seven, we read, quote, Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured.

I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down.

I will make it a waste.

It shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow up.

I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, for the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the house of Israel.

Now, so in this prophecy of Isaiah, he's prophesying about ensuing destruction on the vineyard of the Lord, okay?

So you have the vineyard of the Lord being destroyed.

And the vineyard of the Lord is identified as the house of Israel.

Now, some scholars disagree on particularly which kingdom Isaiah's prophesying the fall of, whether it be the northern kingdom, Israel, or the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah.

The northern kingdom being destroyed by the Assyrian Empire in 722 B.C., southern kingdom of Judah being destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.

All right?

Now, in the text, it seems to point toward the northern kingdom, because in the prophetical literature, the northern kingdom is referred to as Israel, or the House of Israel.

And this is what Isaiah's speaking of here.

But regardless, if you interpret this passage for the destruction of the northern kingdom by a foreign nation, or the destruction of the southern kingdom of Judah by a foreign nation, what you have here is either kingdom being destroyed, its destruction being associated with what?

The image of a vineyard, and how the vineyard is going to be destroyed.

Notice, I will do to my vineyard, I will remove its hedge.

It shall be devoured.

I will break down its walls.

It shall be trampled down, right?

So we come back to John's vision.

In Revelation 14:20, he talks about the wine press being destroyed.

Well, what is a wine press associated with?

A vineyard.

Okay?

So the interpretive application is that Jerusalem will indeed be destroyed, like Jerusalem in 587 B.C., or if you interpret Isaiah's prophecy of the northern kingdom of Israel being destroyed by the Assyrian Empire.

Either way you slice the pie, you get destruction on a nation, right, associated with the imagery of a vineyard being destroyed.

And that is what John is seeing.

So once again, another, um, clue that points us in the direction of the destruction of Jerusalem.

The second Old Testament backdrop for the destruction of the wine press imagery is that it calls to mind the sorrow, uh, expressed by the prophets over the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

Here's what we find in Lamentations 1:15.

Listen to this.And this is almost a direct quote here, The Lord flouted all my mighty men in the midst of me.

He summoned an assembly against me to crush my young men.

The Lord has trodden as in a wine press the virgin daughter of Judah.

Not quite a quote, but a direct allusion, right?

Here you have in Lamentations, the Prophet Jeremiah expressing sorrow that Jerusalem was destroyed in 587 B.C.

And what is the imagery he uses?

It's a wine press that has been trodden and destroyed, trampled upon, right?

And so what does John see in the heavenly vision of Revelation 14:20?

The present Jerusalem of the first century.

He sees it being trodden upon.

That is a wine press being destroyed.

And so like Jerusalem in 587 B.C., it will be destroyed in 70 A.D.

It will be trodden upon, it will be destroyed.

Does that make sense?

Amen?

Okay, so I think it's pretty obvious that John's vision of the wine press being destroyed is a direct allusion to Lamentations 1:15 in reference to Jerusalem being destroyed in 587 B.C.

with the image of a wine press being trodden upon.

All right, finally, we come to the last image that suggests the destruction of Jerusalem, and that is the smoke filling the temple there in Revelation 15:8.

Uh, John's having his heavenly vision, and the temple room that he is in or getting a tour of, the heavenly throne room, is filled with smoke.

This seems to allude to Isaiah's vision of the heavenly throne room filled with smoke, after which he pronounces the ensuing attack on Jerusalem by the King of Syria and the King of Israel.

In Isaiah 6:1 and 4, we read the following, In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, so he's in the throne room, right, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.

And the house was filled with smoke.

Now, Isaiah would go on for the rest of chapter six throughout chapters seven and eight to prophesy about how the, uh, King of Syria and the King of The- The King of Syria and the King of Israel are collaborating to attack the southern kingdom, the Kingdom of Judah, okay?

Now, so here we l- l- Notice the pattern.

Isaiah has a vision, the throne room filled with smoke, after which you have a prophecy of ensuing attack on the southern kingdom of Judah, Jerusalem, right?

And so we come to John's vision, and what does John, John in his vision John is having a vision, like Isaiah, of the heavenly throne room.

Remember, he talked about the throne of the lamb, right?

And that throne room is filled with smoke.

And so fill in the blank.

What comes after that?

An- A p- A prophecy of an assuming attack on the southern kingdom, Judah, namely Jerusalem.

So Jerusalem once again will be destroyed.

So we see We have seven images in Revelation chapters 14 through 15, seven particular images that I've highlighted for you, that specifically orient us toward the interpretation that John is having a vision of the impending destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

by the Roman Empire.

Now, what I'd like to focus on, and we move to our next major component, and that is the seven chalices that are poured out, and we read about this in Revelation chapter 15 through 16.

Now, we're not gonna go through each and every individual chalice, because really there's not that much text devoted to the pouring out of each of the chalices.

But what is important to point out first of all is that we have the liturgical imagery.

In Revelation 15:5-8, we find images that call to mind liturgy.

First and foremost, the seven bowls or chalices themselves, right?

I- In the English translation, each of these angels have seven bowls to pour out.

But the Greek word there for bowl is, can be translated as cup, so seven cups.

And we've already seen throughout the Book of Revelation a liturgical setting, so it seems to indicate that these seven cups are seven liturgical cups, right?

Now, l- c- Seven cups being poured out for the Jew, as we mentioned in previous sessions, would call to mind the libation ceremonies that would take place during the temple rituals, the temple liturgy.

Whether it be the libation ceremony of blood or the libation ceremony of wine, where they would pour out th- of the liturgical cups either wine or blood, f- from the sacrificial victim, okay?

So liturgical cups calls to mind temple liturgy.

So what we have here are seven chalices, seven liturgical cups, so this is a liturgical setting.

Image number two, there are seven angels that come out of the temple there in Revelation 5- 15:6.

So you have angels coming out of the temple.

That's temple liturgy, right?

That's temple imagery, so that calls to mind temple liturgy.

Does that make sense?

Okay?

And then thirdly, the angels are actually wearing white gorbs and a golden girdle.

Well, folks, that's priestly garments as found in Exodus chapters 28 and 29 in the Old Testament in reference to the garments that are to be made for Aaron and his sons.

So John sees these angels coming out of the temple, pouring out seven chalices, dressed as priests.

This is a liturgical setting, right?

Now, as we've seen already, whenever we have a liturgical setting, what normally follows?

Judgment, right?

As we've seen with the blowing of the trumpets .

recall with the blowing of the trumpets, we had a liturgical setting, then you had the blowing of the trumpets, which suggests judgment.

Remember, recall all of the plagues that were administered with the blowing of each of the trumpets.

Well, here we have the same pattern.

We have the liturgical setting and then we have judgment administered with the pouring out of the seven liturgical cups or the seven chalices.

And with the pouring out of each of the chalices what you find is, in Revelation, um, chapter 15 on through 16, when each of these chalices are poured out, you have the same plagues as we found with the trumpets.

Now, if you were paying attention in, uh, was it last?

I'm thinking, no, two sessions ago perhaps or maybe last session.

I can't remember.

I'm losing track here.

Um, but it might, I think it was in last week's lesson when we talked about the trumpets.

Was it last week?

Okay.

Uh, if you paid attention, remember how it said that a third of everything was destroyed?

If you noticed that little detail.

With each of the plagues, the plagues only destroyed a third of everything, so there seemed to be sort of a partial destruction or a partial judgment.

And then here what we see is that with the pouring of the seven chalices, there is a completion of the third being destroyed.

So what is left is destroyed with the pouring of the chalices.

So the seven trumpets and the seven chalices go hand-in-hand.

The pouring out of the seven chalices and the judgment that comes from that completes the initial stage of the destruction and the judgment that came with the seven trumpets.

Now, what does this parallel What does this parallel within this literal historical context of Jerusalem?

Well, I think we can only speculate.

It's possible that the blowing of the trumpets and the partial initial stage of destruction and judgment began with the Roman-Jewish war in '66 A.D.

Recall how the Roman-Jewish war lasted for 42 months, three and a half years.

And so there would be persecution and war climaxing and culminating with the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in '70 A.D.

So it's possible that John's vision of the trumpets and then climaxing with the chalices would correspond to this sort of, uh, initial stage and final stage of the Roman-Jewish war.

Okay?

But nevertheless, we see that both end refer to the destruction of Jerusalem.

And so how do we know that?

Well, as we said already, with the pouring out of each of the chalices, what do we have?

Plagues.

It's the same plagues that we saw with the blowing of the trumpets.

And remember our exegesis.

It was the same plagues that were administered on Egypt.

So in the blowing of the trumpets in Revelation 8-11, in the pouring of the seven chalices in Revelation 15-16 you have plagues, so that suggests that this enemy of God is a new Egypt, right?

And remember, St. John already told us that, Revelation 11:8, that the great city where our Lord is crucified is allegorically called Egypt.

And so if it's a new Egypt, it's going to incur judgment upon itself.

Amen.

So as you see there on the PowerPoint, just as Egypt was destroyed, Jerusalem would be Just as God came in judgment on Egypt, Jerusalem would come under God's judgment as well.

Now, let's look at the sixth chalice in particular.

In Revelation chapter 16, uh, verses Verse 12, we come across the pouring out of the sixth chalice.

And there's an interesting detail I want to share with you.

In Revelation 16:12, it talks about the pouring the cup out on the River Euphrates, and how Euphrat- the River Euphrates was dried up and it actually prepares the way for kings from the east.

Okay?

So this is what we discover in Revelation 16:12, pouring out the chalice on the Euphrates River, Euphrates River dried up, preparing the way for kings from the east.

Now, there are three significant details here.

Number one, the significance of the kings coming from the east and the crossing of the Euphrates.

This image seems to parallel the literal historical context of the Roman army coming from the east, crossing the Euphrates Rivers, the Euphrates River to destroy Jerusalem.

And we know this from the Jewish historian Josephus.

Okay?

Does that Do you see that parallel?

So John sees the Euphrates River driving up, drying up, kings from the east coming, okay?

We're In- in this destruction, in this judgment parallels the Roman army coming from the east, crossing the Euphrates River to go and destroy Jerusalem.

So the application obviously is the destruction of Jerusalem in '70 A.D.

We see the historical parallel.

The second detail, the significance of the Euphrates River being dried up.

Now, there are three Old Testament backdrops for this.

Okay?

Three Old Testament texts that we can look at this image of the Euphrates River being dried up in light of.

What would be the first thing that water being dried up calls to mind?

The Moses and the Red Sea, right?

Well, what was the context of that water being dried up?

God coming in judgment on an enemy of God, namely Egypt, right?

So if John sees water drying up, well then what's the implication?

God's gonna be coming in judgment on a particular enemy of God's people, a new Egypt.

In this case, Jerusalem.

The second Old Testament backdrop .

is that the idea of water being dried up calls to mind the prophecies of God leading a new Exodus, within the context of the Israelites being in the Assyrian captivity and the Babylonian captivity.

The prophets would foretell, in particular Isaiah 11:14-16, Isaiah 44:26-28, Zechariah 10:10-12, all talk about God leading the Israelites, delivering them from their enemies, and leading them on a new Exodus.

And the image that's associated with the new Exodus is the drying up of water.

The prophets would call to mind the first Exodus in order to emphasize a new Exodus.

And those prophecies of a new Exodus are about God coming in judgment on those enemies that are holding His people in captivity.

You see?

And so we come to John, and what does John see?

Water drying up.

And so thus implying that God is going to lead a new Exodus.

God is going to set His people free from the captivity they were under or in in the first century.

But the captivity that God's people will be set free from is not the captivity of Rome, which is what the Jews were hoping to be set free from, but the captivity from the Jewish persecution.

And the early Christians would be set free from that Jewish persecution led on this new Exodus to the heavenly Promised Land.

You see?

And that new Exodus is described with this imagery of the Euphrates River being dried up.

So this is something else that the imagery of the water being dried up calls to mind, right?

And then thirdly, it calls to mind the prophecies on the destruction of the Babylonian Empire.

In Jeremiah 50:37-39 and in Jeremiah 51:35-37, Jeremiah associates water being dried up with the indictment on Babylon, which would come under God's judgment and be destroyed.

And with the Medio By the Medio Per- Medo-Persian Empire, with King Cyrus letting the Israelites go back to Jerusalem.

Okay?

So bottom line is that when you s- have a vision of water being dried up, right, it's going to call to mind God's enemy Egypt.

It's going to call to mind a new Exodus, God coming to vindicate His people and judgment on God's enemies.

It calls to mind Babylon being destroyed, right?

And so for John, in this vision, I think it's safe to say that Jerusalem is coming under the judgment of God and indeed will be destroyed.

So this is what's a part of the sixth chalice, okay?

So once again, we have the pouring out of the chalices pointing us in the direction of judgment, right in line with the Jewish tradition.

Now, in Revelation 16:13, we come to the image of the false prophet, okay?

And as I mentioned previously, I said we would eventually get to this, the false prophet is Jerusalem.

And how do we know that?

Well, our first clue is that the false prophet in Revelation 16 is paired with the dragon and the beast from the sea, okay?

So you have this cluster of characters, false prophet, dragon, beast from the sea.

Well, where else did we see a cluster of figures involving the beast from the sea and the dragon?

We saw it in Revelation Let's see, what do I have the text from there?

Revelation chapter 13, there we go.

In Revelation 13, we saw the dragon, we saw the beast from the sea compared or, um, along with what figure?

The beast from the land, right?

In this cluster of figures of Revelation 16, we have dragon, beast from the sea, and the false prophet.

So when you look at these two sets of clusters of figures from Revelation 13 and Revelation 16, the only one that's different is the beast from the land and the false prophet, right?

But the same two are the dragon and the beast from the sea.

So I would suggest to you that the beast from the land in Revelation 13 is the same entity being referred to by the false prophet in Revelation 16.

And so if we've already demonstrated how the beast from the land is Jerusalem Remember that?

Well now that we see that the false prophet is the beast from the land, well then we can see that the false prophet is Jerusalem as well.

Does that make sense?

Follow that little logical connection?

Okay.

So that's our first clue, that the false prophet is Jerusalem by comparing the cluster of characters between Revelation 16 and Revelation 13.

Here's our second clue: the false prophet and the land beast are actually described in very similar ways.

If I may, uh, we could fast-forward to Revelation 19 where the false prophet is mentioned again.

And when we look at Revelation 19:20 and how the false prophet is described, we see a parallel with how the land, the beast from the land is described in Revelation 13.

Okay?

So we see this on the PowerPoint here.

Let's look at the false prophet in Revelation 19.

The beast was captured, and with it the false prophet, who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image.

So the false prophet deceiving those receiving the mark of the beast, worshiping its image.

Now, look at how the land beast is described in Revelation 13:14-15.

It exercises all the authority of the first b- beast.

In its presence What did the f- What did we see in Revelation 19?

In its presence Do you see that?

That's a parallel there .

okay?

And makes the Earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast.

So, the land beast is making the inhabitants worship the first beast from the sea.

Well, the false prophet is described as doing the same in Revelation 19, okay?

Moving on, in Revelation 13:13, In regard to the beast from the land, it works great signs.

And by the signs which it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on Earth, bidding them make an image for the beast.

So, the l- beast from the land is working signs, deceiving the inhabitants, leading them to the beast from the sea.

The false prophet is described as doing the same in Revelation 19.

So, the exegetical point is that the false prophet is the beast from the land, which we've already seen to be Jerusalem.

So, this false prophet is identified as Jerusalem.

So once again, we have this collaboration between the beast from the sea, Rome, and the false prophet, Jerusalem.

And it's gonna come to a fore, it's gonna come to a climax, um, next week when we get When we l- look further at Revelation 16 on to 17.

Okay.

So, we come now to our fourth major component for tonight's reflection, and I have five components, so we got two left.

And that is the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation 16:16, and this once again is still a part of the sixth chalice.

Um, I find this fascinating, when I learned this in my graduate studies, uh, the Battle of Armageddon actually is something that must be read in light of the s- history of salvation, salvation history in the Biblical tradition.

And when you do so, what you find is that the Battle of Armageddon is symbolic of a particular event, okay?

And so here we go.

Let's start off with the meaning of the word Armageddon.

It actually comes from the Hebrew words Har Magedon, or Magedon.

Har Magedon, all right?

Which actually means It can be translated as Mount of Megiddo, okay?

So, Armageddon is actually Har Magedon, which is Mount of Megiddo.

Now, Megiddo is a city that's spoken of in the Biblical tradition, but what's interesting is that the city of Megiddo is not on a mount.

So, the scholars point out how John here, in talking about the Battle of Hor Megiddo, Mount of Megiddo, John must be drawing together two images from the Old Testament to make a point, mm-kay?

So, let's first look at the city of Megiddo and, and its significance as found in the Biblical tradition.

Well, for any Jew, when you say Megiddo, you're gonna immediately call to mind the death of King Josiah who, uh Let's see here.

Yep, there we go.

You're gonna immediately call to mind the death of King Josiah, where he died on the plains of Megiddo when he went out to fight the Egyptian army in 2 Kings 23.

King Josiah was a righteous, young king who brought about great reform for the southern kingdom of Judah, okay?

Because you had a series of good kings and bad kings, good kings and bad kings.

You'd have a bad king, then a good king would succeed and reform everything.

Then you'd have a bad king, and mess everything up.

Then you'd have a good king, and reform everything, purify the temple and all that good stuff.

Well, King Josiah was a good, righteous young king who brought about reform for the southern kingdom of Judah, but he was the last of the good kings.

And when he goes out to fight the Egyptian army on the Plains of Megiddo, he dies.

And it causes great grief and sorrow for the people of Judah, for the Kingdom of Judah because their great, righteous young king is now dead.

And he would be the last of the good kings, and he would be succeeded by a few more bad kings which would lead to the destruction of Jerusalem in, uh, 587 BC, okay?

So to say Megiddo for a Jew is like saying Calvary for a Christian.

When you say Calvary for a Christian, you immediately think of the death of the son of David, Jesus, right?

And the grief and the sorrow that Calvary, um, wells up within our souls.

Well, for a Jew you say Megiddo, it calls to mind the death of the young, righteous King Josiah and the grief and the sorrow that is associated with that.

So, the interpretive application here is that the son of David, King Jesus, has been killed.

And thus, there is forthcoming persecution and destruction for Jerusalem.

So, the Battle of Armageddon, this Battle of Megiddo seems to refer to the death of the new Josiah, Jesus Christ, okay?

And just as after the death of King Josiah came destruction on Jerusalem in 587 BC, so too would the death of this new Josiah, Jesus, King Jesus, there will come eventually destruction on Jerusalem, which would take place in 70 AD.

So, this is what the image of Megiddo calls to mind.

Now, why would St. John write about the Mount of Megiddo?

We see the significance of Megiddo.

What's the significance of a mountain or a battle on a mountain?

Well, the idea of a battle on a mountain actually can be found in Ezekiel 39:4.Here's what Ezekiel writes, And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say, 'Thus says the Lord God.' And we're gonna get to this next week when we talk about Gog and Magog.

'Thus says the Lord God, behold I am against you, oh Gog, chief prince of Meshek and Tubal.

You shall fall upon the mountains of Israel.

You and all your hordes and the peoples that are with you, I will give you to birds of prey of every sort and to the wild beast to be devoured.' Close quote.

The idea is that God comes to bring victory for His people, and God comes in judgment on His enemies in battle on mountains, the mountains of Israel.

So mountains are associated with God's battles and His victories for His people, and it's defeat of His enemies.

So we come to John's vision, and what's the interpretative application?

The Battle of Megiddo signifies that God is going to come in judgment This battle on Mount of Megiddo, right, this battle on a mountain signifies that God is going to come in judgment on His enemies and bring victory for His people, victory for his messianic people.

And that judgment will be on the enemy of God, Jerusalem, that would take place in 70 AD.

That destruction and that judgment that follows the death of the new Josiah, King Jesus, okay?

So, the idea is that the Battle of Armageddon, within its literal historical context, refers to the death of the new Josiah, King Jesus, and the ensuing destruction on Jerusalem that will come about on the mountain of Israel, Mount Zion, that will be set on fire, right?

Now, could it possibly point toward and be a type of the end of time, of this final battle and the final push of evil, of the Antichrist, who will come and wage war against God's people, and God will come and bring about victory for His people and defeat His enemies, the nations in collaboration with the Antichrist?

Indeed, we see the pattern in the Old Testament, we see the pattern right there in the first century, and the same pattern will play out at the end of time when Christ comes in all of His glory, at least before Christ comes in all of His glory.

Amen?

Okay.

See, Christ comes It's interesting.

In-in the initial In this age that we're in, Christ came in judgment.

Remember, Jesus talked about the coming of the son of man, right?

Coming in judgment on Jerusalem.

Christ- Christ comes in judgment, but He comes still behind the veil of the senses, right?

But at the end of time, He will come again, but the veil of the senses will be lifted and He will come in all of His glory.

You see?

So these prophecies of the coming of the son of man in judgment, how Jesus comes in judgment on his enemies and vindicating His people, it applied to the first entry context indeed, but it also applies to the end of time when he will come in all of His glory and evil will be finally vanquished once and for all and the new heaven and the new earth will be ushered in, and there will be a new Jerusalem dwelling on this earth, that is heaven itself, right, as John depicts later in the Book of Revelation where he describes heaven as the new Jerusalem.

So, the conclusion as once again as I stated, Armageddon therefore is a symbol for mourning and destruction that will fall upon Jerusalem, which is now one of God's enemies, okay?

All right, now we finally come to the splitting of the great city in Revelation 16:17-19, and this comes about with the pouring of the seventh chalice.

We finally come to the pouring out of the seventh chalice.

The great city Remember the great city that John wrote about in Revelation 11:8?

That great Eight through nine and 10, et cetera.

That great city is split here.

And so let us talk about the significance of this splitting of the city by a great earthquake.

If I am familiar with the Old Testament prophetical literature, when I come across or encounter the splitting of a great city by an earthquake, I'm gonna immediately think of Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah 14:2, 4-5.

So let's look at this prophecy and see how it connects to John's vision.

We read in Zechariah 14:2, quote, God says, I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city shall be taken.

But then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.

On that day, his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east.

And the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley so that one half of the mount So that one half of the mount shall Let me I've lost my place.

Shall withdraw north-northward and the other half southward.

And the valley of my mountain shall be stopped up for the valley of the mountain shall touch the sight of it and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah.

Then the Lord your God will come and all the holy ones with him.

Close quote.

Now, in this prophecy of Zechariah, it's talking about how God's enemies will come against Jerusalem but God will fight for His people against the enemies of Jerusalem and bring about victory for His people, okay?

And notice the imagery that's associated with that prophecy.

Jerusalem will be shaken, right?

It's gonna be taken.

It's gonna split in two.

So you have the idea of the earth being shattered and shaken and splitting in two within the context of God fighting for Jerusalem against enemies.

Amen?

Now, come back to John's vision.John says the great city is split in two, okay?

Or at least it's We- we're actually gonna see it split in three parts.

But it's split by an earthquake, okay?

Now, notice how in Ezekiel's prophecy, when, when Jerusalem, when the Earth was split, God was fighting for Jerusalem against enemies, right?

But in John's vision, God is fighting for Jerusalem, but not for the earthly Jerusalem, for the heavenly Jerusalem, right?

The church, the new Jerusalem, you see?

God is fighting.

God will come in judgment to fight for the new Jerusalem against an enemy of God's people, the earthly Jerusalem, which it had become by persecuting the Messianic people.

You see?

So this imagery of the Mount of Olives being split in two possibly would call to mind Ezekiel's vision.

So the idea is that God is coming to vindicate the new Jerusalem, his church, and fight the earthly Jerusalem, which has become an enemy of God's people.

Now, in Revelation 16:17-19, when it talks about the great city being split by an earthquake, John tells us that it's actually split into three parts, okay?

And you can read about this in Revelation 16:17-19.

But the idea of the city being split into three parts would call to mind Ezekiel 5:7-10, 12.

And by the way, I think a few minutes ago, a few moments ago, I misspoke.

I, I think I mentioned Ezekiel, about the Mount of Olives being split in two.

That wasn't Ezekiel.

I misspoke.

It's Zechariah, okay?

Zechariah 14.

That's the prophecy of splitting, just the image of splitting, okay?

Now, let's look at Ezekiel's prophecy, which talks about Jerusalem having this sort of There's a threefold division, uh, being administered for Jerusalem.

Let's read the prophecy.

Ezekiel 5:7-10, 12.

Here we go.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God, 'Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are round about you and have not walked in my statutes or kept my ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you ' So what does that signify?

Um, Jerusalem, the, the southern Israelites at this particular time were taking on the pagan ways, right?

They were assimilating to pagan worldview, to pagan ritual, to pagan actions.

Continuing in Ezekiel 5:8.

'Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, I, even I, am against you.' God is against Jerusalem here.

'I will execute judgments in the midst of you in the sight of the nations.' So this establishes the context.

God is gonna come in judgment on Jerusalem because of its infidelity to Yahweh, because of its assimilation with the pagan nations.

So we pick up in Ezekiel 5:12, I believe it is.

'A third part of you shall die of pestilence and be consumed with famine in the midst of you.

A third part shall fall by the sword round about you, and a third part I will scatter to all the winds and will unsheathe the sword after them.

Notice how, notice this threefold division here.

A third part pestilence, a third part the sword, a third part scattered to the winds.

Well, in John's vision, John saw that the great city was split into three.

So you have Jerusalem in the vision being divided into three parts.

Ezekiel's vision about the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.

was about Jerusalem being divided into three parts.

And so thus John's vision must be like Ezekiel's, a vision of the impending destruction on Jerusalem.

Now, check this out.

W- watch how, um, Ezekiel's prophecy actually parallels Josephus' three categories of torment for the Jewish people in his account of the Roman-Jewish war.

Remember Josephus, that Jewish historian?

He gave us the account of the Roman-Jewish war.

The way he describes the torment for the Jews by Rome parallels this sort of threefold division of Ezekiel's prophecy, which John assimilates into his own vision, right?

So watch this.

This is what Josephus wrote.

Here we go.

The Romans slew some of them, some they carried captives.

There were also found slain there above 2,000 persons, partly by their own hands, partly by one another, but chiefly destroyed by the famine.

Okay?

So in Ezekiel's prophecy, you saw how Jerusalem was destroyed, divided into these three parts, and you had the sword and famine being associated with the destruction of Jerusalem.

John obviously ass- um, alludes to Ezekiel's prophecy for his vision of the destruction of Jerusalem.

How does Josephus recount the destruction of Jerusalem in the historical context, historically?

That they were persecuted and tormented by swords.

Some were carried captives, right?

What did, what did Ezekiel say?

Uh, I will scatter to all the winds.

You see?

So we see this sort of, uh, harmony here between Ezekiel's vision of the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C., John's heavenly vision and prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., and Josephus' a- actually account of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

So in light of all of these things coming together, I think we can see that, that John's vision of the great city being split, right?

By an earthquake into these three parts, obviously is an indication that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed .

in 70 A.D.

by the Roman Empire.

Amen?

Okay.

So, that concludes our reflection on Revelation chapters 13 through 16.

And next week when we come back, uh, we'll pick up with the remainder of chapter 16 and go on a few more chapters, I think to chapter 20, if I'm not mistaken.

And then in our last lesson, we'll look at chapters 21 and 22 and wrap everything up.

Amen?

So, uh, bottom line, once again, um, in- throughout this whole series, take note that we're emphasizing what is called the preterist view, uh, looking at John's vision in light of its literal historical context, that this is a prophecy and a vision of the impending destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

by the Roman Empire.

Uh, do some- k- does this prophecy have certain elements that can point forward and serve to be types of the future and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ at the end of time in all of His glory?

Indeed.

Are there certain patterns and principles that we can extract from this particular moment in salvation history and apply it to that particular moment in salvation history at the end of time when Christ comes again?

Yes, indeed, we can see these patterns, we can see these principles.

But in regard to applying detail for detail for certain historical events, that historical event fulfills this particular thing of the Book of Revelation as we look in the future, we're just simply in speculation there, okay?

So I'm sticking with what John is intending to communicate and then hopefully based upon that literal historical foundation, then we can springboard- spring board forward in application of moral sense of how it applies to our lives.

I mean, think about it, guys.

I mean, come on.

In every single instance that we see God coming in judgment upon Jerusalem, right, what can we see in that but our own soul, right?

God allowed the Roman Empire to come an- and to destroy the earthly temple because of Jerusalem's infidelity to the covenant, right?

That was the consequence.

That was the curse of the covenant, of infidelity to the covenant.

Well, what does Saint Paul say about our souls?

Are we not the temples of the Holy Spirit, right?

Well, folks, the moral application of all of this stuff is that if we are unfaithful to the covenant with Almighty God, made flesh, Jesus Christ, right?

If we persecute the Messianic people of God, the church, by leading them into sin and being a scandal to them and failing to be a light to the nations, right, well, then we will incur judgment and wrath upon our own soul, the temple of God.

And it will be destroyed, not in the sense that it will cease to exist, but it would be destroyed where?

In hell, right?

Uh, okay, so we see a very, very important truths that can be applied morally to our souls.

And this is not a condemnation, right, but it's a call to conversion, it's a call to repentance, it's a call to strengthen our resolve and our commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ that we will be faithful to him.

And know this, too, that like the early Christians in the first century who were being persecuted, and by being faithful to Christ in the midst of persecution, they were set free and delivered from their enemy, led on that new exodus to the heavenly Promised Land.

Amen?

Well, that too will be the same for us.

When we are persecuted and if we stay faithful in the midst of that persecution, the Lord God will indeed deliver us from such persecution, whether it be physically or d- by dying, right, and getting out of the persecution and being led on the new exodus to our true homeland, the true Promised Land of Heaven.

So you see how the literal historical context and that pattern and the principles revealed can be applied morally to our own lives, can be applied to Christ allegorically and to the church, and also it can be c- applied anagogically.

And that is in regard to the future and what will take place at the end times, the final coming of the Son of Man in all of His glory, and in what the church teaches about that.

Indeed, amen?

Okay.

Let's close with a prayer.

In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Let's worship the most blessed trinity as we pray, All glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, amen.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.