Transcript

We're gonna begin in chapter 15, but we left a few verses at the end of 14, and I think we would do we'd be right in looking at chapter 14, oh, beginning around verse 12 or so.

Let's just read Revelation 14:12-13.

This is leading right up to the outpouring of the seven bowls or chalices of wrath in Revelation 15 and 16.

Verse 12.

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying, 'Write this.

Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.' 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit.

'That they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them.' Now, I wanna just spend a minute or so looking at these two verses, because the message they convey in some ways represents the gist of the apocalypse, the main theme for us to take out practically.

Because here in verses 12 and 13 we see the practical and the personal effects of the eternal Gospel that was referred to back in s- uh, in, in verse 6, the eternal Gospel that has been proclaimed to those who dwell on Earth.

The Gospel, this eternal Gospel, is the conquest of the Lamb.

And now we get to share in the Lamb's victory over death.

And part of that victory involves a call for endurance, an acceptance of suffering.

Why?

Well, for specific reasons that are spe- uh, that are, that are given to us in verse 13.

This heavenly voice blasts the truth, Blessed indeed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth.

It isn't just a, a truism.

It isn't just a moral axiom, Hey, when you die in the Lord, oh, you're blessed.

There's something that from now on is true, that is, Blessed indeed are the dead who die in the Lord henceforth, because Jesus' death and resurrection brought about a radical and permanent change in the state of God's people after death.

Now, we can't delve into these mysteries too much, because most of the truth, most of the data have been withheld from us.

But the fact is, it's clear that in the Old Testament the faithful who died spoke of going to Sheol, this shadowy underworld which was anything but pleasant, even though they were destined for God's presence.

Now, as Catholics, we believe Sheol in Hebrew is Hades, and Greek is Purgatorio, in Latin, it's the same place.

But there's no necessity for saints, for God's people, even to go to Purgatory in the New Testament because ultimately, if we hear this call for endurance and we accept it, then we can bypass Purgatory and end our lives by going immediately into the presence of God.

So there is something radical and permanent that the Lord has brought about in the state of the faithful at death.

They rest from their labors.

That language is borrowed from the Jewish Sabbath ceremony, where we rest from our labors.

But this is the eternal Sabbath.

This is the inauguration of the seventh age, the seventh day of history.

And it goes on to say, Their deeds follow them.

What does that refer to?

Well, let's face it, the seer of the apocalypse, if it's St. John the beloved disciple, he's clearly a Catholic theologian at this point.

Not only in verse 13 in verse 13, but also look with me real briefly at 19, Revelation 19:8.

There we read, It was granted her, that is the bride, to be clothed with fine linen, bright and pure.

And usually people say well yeah, th- the bride is clothed with Christ, right?

Well sure, but look at the particular texture and the particular style and the particular fabric here.

The fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

That is what clothes the bride of Christ, and that is what verse 13 means when it says, Their deeds follow them.

Indeed, our deeds, our righteous works actually bring glory to Christ, but also bring splendor to the church.

This outlook here in Revelation 14 is meant to bring about in our thinking a total transformation of our own outlook when it comes to life and death.

And in fact, we experienced that in the early church fathers.

You read about this and you discover that in the early church, the fathers of the church, and the martyrs especially, really absorbed, they really digested, they really lived out the message of endurance.

Let me quote real briefly from St. Athanasius, his classic work On the Incarnation.

Uh, this one's published by St. Vladimir's Press with an introduction by C.S.

Lewis.

Reading from page 57, it says this.

A very strong proof of this destruction of death and its conquest by the cross is supplied by a present fact, namely this.

All the disciples of Christ despise death.

They take the offensive against it and, instead of fearing it, by the sign of the cross and by faith in Christ, they trample on it as on something dead.

Death has died.

Before the divine sojourn of the Savior, even the holiest of men were afraid of death and mourned the dead as those who perish.

But now that the Savior has raised His body, death is no longer terrible, but all those who believe in Christ tread it under foot as nothing and prefer to die rather than to deny their faith in Christ, knowing full well that when they die, they don't perish, but live indeed and become incorruptible through the resurrection.

By that, devil who have old wickedly exalted in death now that the pains of death are loosed, he alone it is who remains truly dead.

There is proof of this too, for men who before they believe in Christ find death horrible and are afraid of it, once they're converted, despise it so completely that they go eagerly to meet it and themselves become witnesses of the Savior's resurrection from it.

Even children hasten thus to die.

And not men only, but women train themselves by bodily discipline to meet it.

Doesn't sound like the Catholic Church in America in the '90s, does it?

So weak has death become that even women, who used to be taken in by it, mock at it now as dead thing robbed of all its strength.

Death has become like a tyrant who has been completely conquered by the legitimate monarch, bound hand and foot as he is now.

The passersby jeer at him, hitting him and abusing him, no longer afraid of his cruelty and rage because of the king who has conquered him.

So has death been conquered and branded for what it is by the Savior of the cross or the Savior on the cross.

It is bound hand and foot.

All who are in Christ trample it as they pass and, as witnesses to Him, deride it, scoffing and saying, O death, where is thy victory?

O grave, where is thy sting?

Now, what did Saint Athanasius quote from there?

First Corinthians 15.

Look, look real quickly at the quote there in First Corinthians 15.

That's the famous resurrection chapter.

In First Corinthians 15, Verse 55, Saint Paul quotes from Hosea 13, Verse 14, and that's what Athanasius just quoted from.

Beginning in Verse 4, 54, When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written.

Death is swallowed up in victory.

O death, where is thy victory?

O death, where is thy sting?

Now, look at Verse 56, because this gets us right to the heart of the apocalypse and the whole message of the entire New Testament.

The sting of s- of death is sin, and the power of sin is what?

The law.

The law.

The power of sin is the law.

We have to ask ourselves the question, why is the passing of the old covenant so significant?

Why have we stressed that the doing away by Christ of the Old Testament really represents the primary thrust of the apocalyptic visions of John?

I mean, might that not seem like we're making a mountain out of a molehill?

I mean, after all, the Old Testament was good and it was holy.

Now something better and holier's come along.

But why would we stress, as we have in the last few weeks, that the real message of the apocalypse is the passing of the old and the coming of the new?

Namely the old covenant, the old Jerusalem, the old heaven, the old earth, the old order, now replaced by a new covenant, the new Jerusalem, the new kingdom of the new heavens and the new earth.

A whole new order brought about initially by Jesus' resurrection, and then the shockwaves of this new world order emanate out from His resurrected body so that as we become united to Him in His mystical body, we then participate in this new kingdom, this new creation, this new covenant, the new Jerusalem.

Why is it so important to stress the passing of the old?

Because the power of sin, the power of death, is the law.

That is not the perspective that you'll find among Christian believers today.

I mean, if, if I, if I asked a question of all of you and just said, Okay, if we say this thing of sin is dea- uh, this thing of death is sin, the power of sin is what?

You'd say concupiscence.

You'd say that, The power of sin is original sin or something else.

But the New Testament tells us the power of sin is the law.

Now, the law, Paul tells us in Romans 7, is holy, just and good.

So how can we say the power of sin is the law?

Because the law comes through fallen human nature, which in itself is incapable of keeping that law, and so the law indicts and practically torments us because, while we can cultivate some natural virtue, ultimately we can't even keep the lateral law, much less attained by our own power the supernatural virtues we need to enter heaven, to enter into this vital fellowship with Christ.

So the law becomes our accuser, our tormentor.

It becomes the power of sin and death in our lives.

So it needs to be replaced.

Let's take a look real quickly at Hebrews, the book of Hebrews.

Let's look at Chapter 7.

We can see more of this as we take a look at Hebrews 7, Verses 18 and 19.

Here's the question again I'm answering.

What is so important about the passing of the old covenant that it would represent the main theme and primary burden of the Book of Revelation?

Hebrews 7, Verse 18.

On the one hand, a former commandment is set aside He's talking about the old covenant.

because of its weakness and uselessness.

That tells us right there that the old covenant law is weak and useless.

For the law made nothing perfect.

The law itself was perfect, but it could not perfect that which was imperfect.

That's what grace, that's what the Holy Spirit is for.

On the other hand then, a better hope is introduced through which we draw near to God.

And it goes on to describe that better hope.

Look at Verse 28.

Indeed, the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Then look down at the next few verses in Chapter 8 of the Book of Hebrews.

The point of what we're saying is this.

We have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.

In other words, we don't just have a high priest, we have a high priest who's also a high king.

He's seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.

A minister in the sanctuary.

And the true tent, which is set up not by man like in the Old Testament, but by the Lord, for every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices.

Hence, it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer.

This explains why Christ is dressed in linen, and Christ performs many of the duties of the high priest in John's apocalyptic vision.

This also explains why it is that we have at the center stage of Revelation, the heavenly temple, the Arc of the Covenant, the altar of incense, and all of the cups that we're gonna read about, which were used in the drink offerings which now pour out the blood of God's wrath upon the nations.

Because human history is controlled from the altar not from the Oval Office, not from Air Force One, not from the Kremlin, as we now know.

It's controlled from the altar in heaven, which we share in through the Eucharist.

So in the Eucharistic liturgy we are joining with the saints of the New Covenant.

Whether they're Old or New Testament saints, they're now in Christ and in the New Covenant.

We join ourself to them, and through our songs and through our prayers we release the judgments of God to vindicate and deliver the righteous and persecuted, and to avenge them, to bring judgment upon those who have blasphemed and persecuted God's children.

You can see then, especially in Hebrews, what we've seen in Revelation.

Not just the superiority of the new over the old, but the, the prominence of the liturgy of the New Covenant and its superiority over the Old Covenant liturgy, which was only a prototype of that which Christ has brought.

Let's go on, Verse 4.

Now if He were on Earth, He would not be a priest at all since there are priests who offer gifts according to law.

Other words, if He was on Earth, since He was not a Levite, He wouldn't be performing priestly ministry.

But these Levites, they serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary.

So the temple in Jerusalem was only a shadow of the heavenly sanctuary.

For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, See that you make everything according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.

There on the mountain, Moses had a vision of heaven.

There in heaven he saw the blueprint.

There he saw the reality which served as the blueprint for what he built in the tabernacle.

Verse 6, But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry which is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant He mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second.

Look at Verse 13 in that same chapter.

So in speaking of a new covenant He treats the first, that is the first covenant, as obsolete.

And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

It's that verse and a few others like it that lead most scholars to argue that Hebrews, like I contend Revelation, was written before 70 AD.

And I mean right before 70 AD, right when it was van- ready to vanish away with the conquest of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple and the cessation of the sacrifices and the abolition of the priesthood as well.

And you can hear just a little bit more of the same language in Hebrews 9.

Even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.

For a tent was prepared, the outer one.

Right?

That's the Holy Place, In which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the presence.

It is called the Holy Place.

Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the arch of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded.

In the tables of the covenant, above it were the cherubim of glory, overshadowing the mercy seat.

I stress the word gold because the New Covenant is being prefigured by the Holy of Holies, which was the inner sanctum in the temple that the high priest alone could enter and only once a year on the Day of Atonement, and then only briefly, to atone for his own skin- sins.

Then he had to skedaddle and get back out again, 'cause it wasn't safe to linger there.

Whereas the Holy Place, which was the bigger area, that signified the Old Covenant.

And in the Holy Place you have symbols of earthly realities, whereas in the Holy of Holies you have symbols of heavenly realities.

And just as we see in the Book of Revelation, the heaven, heaven, the heavenly Jerusalem in the apocalypse has streets of gold and everything is golden, so everything in the Holy of Holies which prefigures heaven and which prefigures the New Covenant is marked by gold.

All right?

So in the Old Testament people were being shown that they did not yet possess intimate fellowship with God, not even their high priest.

Not even the man closest to God.

Not even the man authorized with God's own authority.

He couldn't enter into God's presence except once a year.

Then he had to take in the blood of bulls and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat.

And why did he have to sprinkle the blood of bulls?

Because as high priest he was a descendant of Aaron, and Aaron's sin which kept him from God's presence was what?

Erecting a bull, the golden calf.

And so the rabbis always explained why the high priest sacrifice had to be a calf or a bull, to atone for Aaron's sins.

So they recognized in the Old Covenant God's plan for intimate covenant community with His people had not yet been established.

When it does, that's when the Holy of Holies prevails.

And remember what we've seen, that in the Book of Revelation the word used for the temple, the part which isn't measured, the part where God's people dwell, the part where people, gods, the, the place where God's people worship is called naos.

It literally means the inner shrine.

It's not the whole temple building.

It was a technical term that referred only to the Holy of Holies.

Because when 70 AD passes away, all that's left is face-to-face fellowship with our Lord.

Mm-hmm.

The Holy of Holies, and all of the realities that it signified.

Verse 6 of H- Hebrews 9.

These preparations having thus b- these preparations having thus been made, the priest go continually into the outer tent, that is the Holy Place signifying the Old Testament, performing the ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the err of the people.

By this, the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the sanctuary is not yet open so long as the outer tent is still standing, which is symbolic for the present age.

As long as the Jerusalem temple is standing, then something is still blocking our access to God.The inheritance is not fully delivered to the faithful until all of the, uh, all of the trappings, all of the scaffolding which was used to erect this new covenant is taken down.

You know, you whenever you refurbish a building you often have to put scaffolding up along the walls.

But once the job is done you have to remove the scaffolding before you can enter back into this building.

And that's what's happening here.

This is symbolic for the present age.

According to this arrangement of the old covenant, gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, implying that when the new age, when the new covenant is fully established, we'll have gifts and sacrifices which do perfect the consciences.

Verse 10.

These old covenants, gifts and sacrifices deal only with food and drink and various baptisms, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation, the reformation brought about by the new covenant.

There we have food and drinks and baptisms, which aren't just for the body, but touch the very soul.

You can see then, I think, a, a, a, a very clear Biblical rationale for developing the emphasis which, which we have been, you know, uh, making, uh, throughout our study of Revelation, that with the passing of the old and the introduction of the new covenant, we have the end of a world and the beginning of a new age.

All right?

We could go into some other passages too.

Let me just mention them to you.

You can look at them later.

Actually, the last one was just, uh, chapter 10, verses 1 through 14.

Very, very rich.

I'll just mention one verse, verse one.

Since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never by the same sacrifices which are continually offered year after year make perfect those who draw near.

So, the old covenant is only a shadow of the good things to come.

Have the good things come?

You bet.

He goes on to say that over and over again.

Verse 14.

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

All right, so we see clearly that this eternal Gospel proclaimed back there in Revelation 14 has brought about a radical change in understanding for the saints when it comes to death.

Now, I've already cited Athanasius.

It's worth mentioning that this was true for others as well.

For instance, the great church historian Eusebius who was a bishop, of- also was an eyewitness at many early martyrdoms.

He would record what often took place when Christians were placed on trial and executed.

I quote from Eusebius.

We were witnesses to the most admirable ardor of mind and the truly divine energy and alacrity of those that believed in the, in the Christ of God.

For as soon as the sentence was pronounced against the first, others rushed forward from other parts to the tribunal before the judge, confessing they too were Christians, most indifferent to the dreadful and multiform tortures that awaited them, but declaring themselves fully and in the most undaunted manner on the religion which acknowledges only the one supreme God.

They received, indeed, the final sentence of death with gladness and exultation, so far as even to sing and send up hymns of praise and thanksgiving until they breathed their last breath.

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.

And then also St. Ignatius of Antioch who was torn apart by wild beasts in Rome around 107 A.D..

You know, and, uh, we have seven of his letters, the seven letters of Ignatius of Antioch.

In these lea- uh, in these letters he would plead with the Christian leaders of the various churches that he would write to not to seek his release, not to stand in the way of his own martyrdom, but to allow him to be, quote, poured out as a libation to God, as a drink offering, while there's still an altar ready.

I quote from Ignatius now.

I write to all the churches and I bid all men know that of my own free will I die for God unless you should hinder me.

I exhort you, be ye not of unseasonable kindness to me.

Let me be given to the wild beasts, for through them I can attain unto God.

I am God's wheat and I am ground by the teeth of wild beasts that I may be found pure bread of Christ.

Rather, instead, entice the wild beasts that they may become my sepulcher and may leave no part of my body behind so that I may not when I'm fallen asleep be burdensome to anyone.

Oh, my.

Then shall I truly be a disciple of Jesus Christ when the world shall not so much as see my body.

Supplicate the Lord for me that through these instruments I may be found a sacrifice to God.

And it goes on.

I have a book here, a doctoral study by William Weinrich entitled Spirit and Martyrdom: A Study of the Work of the Holy Spirit in Context of Persecution and Martyrdom in the New Testament and Early Christian Literature.

I won't read the whole thing.

But I'll read a concluding statement.

He compares and contrasts the Old Testament Jews and their attitude towards suffering and death with the New Testament believers.

He says, Faithful obedience to the command of the law was of the essence to martyrdom to the Jews of the Old Testament.

Just obeying the law, especially when it's hard.

However, suffering and death themselves were an embarrassment which raised an acute problem.

And then he says, The situation was fundamentally different for the early Christians.

Suffering and death for the name were accompanied with rejoicing and hymn singing.

Where believers were startled by persecution and reacted fearfully to it, the exhortation came to be glad and rejoice, for their suffering was a participation in the sufferings of Christ.

It goes on describing this.

The persecution and martyrdom of Christians, therefore, did not raise an acute problem for the Church.

They were rather indications that the community of believers was living in the new age whose Lord was the crucified.

So, the martyrological equivalent of the statement, in the cross, Jesus triumphed over death, is the statement, in persecution and martyrdom, the martyr proclaims and confesses Jesus.

Corresponding to this statement, the role of the Holy Spirit then could be understood in a twofold manner.

The Spirit was seen as the agency and power of Jesus' victory over death in His reign in that the Spirit effected the continual proclamation and confession of Jesus in the face of persecution and martyrdom.And he goes on to talk about how the Spirit likewise strengthened Christians to experience the same victory over death, and to manifest it to the world.

That should be what we take out of our study of Revelation; a desire to live, to suffer, and die for Christ, because that's what true witness entails.

Now, we've also seen all along here that the, uh, that the suffering and the persecution that the Christians experienced was largely experienced at the hands of who?

The Romans?

Au contraire.

The Jewish people who refused Jesus, and who rejected His messiahship, they're the m- the primary instigators of practically every single persecution.

I wanna read to you just quickly from a fascinating paragraph here by, uh, Tom Wright, N.T.

Wright in his book, uh, The New Testament and the People of God.

He asked the question, But why did Jews persecute Christians?

Were they not both in the same boat, branded by pagans as atheists, regarded as the scum of the earth?

They were both scorned when doing badly and resented when doing well.

The answer here clearly lies in the ferocity of polemic and argument, debate between the different pressure groups, parties within the same parent body.

He says, Sibling rivalry is fiercest when the siblings have an inheritance to share.

Or when one feels that another is ruining the chances of any of them inheriting it at all.

Reading between the lines of Paul, that seems to have been what was going on, in his case at least.

The Pharisees' program of intensifying the Torah was radically questioned by the Christians, not because they threw open the doors to Gentiles.

Lots of Jews ate with Gentiles, but bec- because they claimed that precisely in doing so they were celebrating the fulfillment of Israel's long-cherished hopes.

When the Church opens the doors and brings in the Gentiles, they're not making an exception to the Old Testament; they're proclaiming that therein lies its fulfilment precisely because Gentiles are now equal members.

Nothing could drive the Pharisees more crazy than that.

They might have exceptions to allow Gentiles into their fellowship at times, but they're clearly exceptions, hardly the fulfilment of their hopes.

And yet this is the claim of the Christians, that the inclusion of the Gentiles, the goyim, the swine, the defiled, this represents the culmination of everything we've supposed to we've been waiting for, everything we've been longing and praying for.

Here we reach the heart of it.

What evokes persecution is precisely that which challenges a worldview, that which upen- uh, that which upends the symbolic universe of the Pharisees.

It is somewhat threatening to other first-century Jews to regard your community as the true temple, and it goes on to talk about how if you go to the earthly Jerusalem and pay your tithes to the earthly priests and offer sacrifices there, then you're going to be threatened by people who say, Hey, no longer.

We now share in the Eucharist and thereby enter into the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly temple, the Melchizedek priesthood of Jesus the Christ.

This is a family feud.

This is fraternal rivalry.

This explains why the stakes are so high and the rhetoric is so intense throughout the Apocalypse.

Let's take a look now at Revelation 15.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels with seven plagues.

I love that.

Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and wonderful, seven angels with seven plagues.

.

Oh, hallelujah.

What is going on here?

Well, Isaiah said it so clearly, that when the judgments of God are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world finally learn righteousness.

It isn't that we're just, you know, eager for, for blood vengeance.

What we're eager is for the proper education of the nations, to learn and to walk in the righteousness of God.

One good thing about this that makes it so great and wonderful, these seven plagues, which are the last, for with them, the wrath of God is ended.

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name Of course, that's 666.

standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, 'Great and wonderful are thy deeds, O Lord God, the Almighty, just and true are thy ways, O King of the ages.

Who shall not fear and glorify Thy name, O Lord?

For thou alone art holy.

All nations shall come and worship thee, for thy judgments have been revealed.' That's why we regard the calamities and all of the catastrophes of divine judgment with pleasure.

They're awful in themselves, but look what they bring about.

All the nations shall come and worship thee, for thy judgments have been revealed.

So the seven angels bring seven plagues, which are the last, symbolizing the end of God's wrath.

And I would suggest that the initial first-century fulfilment corresponds to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, which represents the exhaustion of, uh, the wrath of the old covenant.

We looked at Leviticus 26 several weeks ago and saw how all the curses of the covenant are listed.

And Moses says, If you forsake the covenant, God will bring the curses upon you seven times.

Over and over again it speaks of the sevenfold curse.

So we have what?

Seven seals, seven trumpets, and now seven bowls or chalices, these seven plagues.

And it goes on.

After this I looked, and the temple of the tent of witness in heaven was opened.

It sounds like what we just read in the Book of Hebrews.

The Holy of Holies is now seen.

Then out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues, robed in pure white linen, and their breasts girded with golden girdles.

In other words, they're dressed like heavenly priests.

That's the role here.Yeah, it's interesting that we have a lot of Exodus imagery concentrated in these few verses.

We have plagues, like the 10 plagues that came on Egypt.

What else do we have?

In verse three, the song of Moses, which we'll consider in a second.

And then take a look at the plagues dropping down to verse, um, chapter 16.

The first plague, the sores upon men.

That corresponds with the plagues set on Egypt in Exodus 9.

The second bowl of plagues, the sea becomes blood.

The third bowl, the rivers and fountains become blood.

In Exodus 7 all the water in Egypt was turned to what?

Blood.

So in effect, we have the ultimate reversal of the old covenant.

God brought Israel out of Egypt only to discover what about Israel's spiritual state?

They were as hard-hearted as Pharaoh.

They worshiped the golden calf right out, right out after coming out of Egypt and 40 years later, the second gen- generation which should have unlearned their parents' sinful lessons worshiped Baal of Peor on the plains of Moab just a few yards from the Promised Land, a few minutes away from entering into their promised inheritance.

And so Deuteronomy 32, the song of Moses compares Israel to Egypt saying God brought Israel to Egypt, but so far He hasn't succeeded in bringing Egypt out of Israel, out of their hearts.

All right, so, the ultimate fulfillment of the old covenant consists of God bringing about a much greater exodus.

What is the new Egypt according to Revelation 11?

In Revelation 11 we saw, it's where the, the dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt where their Lord was crucified.

So now, it says in Luke 9 where Jesus tells Moses and Elijah about His exodus, which was to take place in Jerusalem, now we come out of the old covenant as Israel came out of Egypt, and we sing the song of Moses.

Now, it's kind of sad that you guys don't know the song of Moses.

Let's turn to Deuteronomy 32 and let's learn it together.

We're gonna sing it and then I'll, I only want to take away too long.

Yeah, that's okay.

You know parts of it, but it's the most unbelievable song you ever learned.

It begins on a kind of upbeat note.

Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

May my teachings drop as the rain, my speech distill as the dew, as the gentle rain upon the tender gl- grass, and as the showers upon the herb.

For I will proclaim the name of the Lord, ascribe greatness to our God.

The Rock, His work is perfect.

Interesting that he calls the Lord The Rock after striking the rock to give Israel the water.

There in 1 Corinthians 10:4, Paul says, The Rock was Christ.

The Rock, His work is perfect.

For all His ways are justice, a God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is He.

So far, so good.

Right?

Rather upbeat and positive.

That's the last time you hear anything positive.

Verse 5, the turning point.

They, on the other hand, have dealt corruptly with Him.

They are no longer His children because of their blemish.

They are a perverse and crooked generation.

The same exact words Jesus used in Luke 9:41 to describe the people at the end of the old covenant age, a perverse and crooked generation.

Do you thus requite the Lord, you foolish and senseless people?

Isn't He your father who created you, who made you and established you?

Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations.

Ask your Father and He will show you, your elders and they will tell you.

Then it goes on talking about how God heaped up all these blessings and advantages upon Israel and how He guided them, how He delivered them, how He fed them, how He taught them.

Verse 15, But you, Jerushaem, another word for Israel, waxed fat and kicked.

You waxed fat and you grew thick, you became sleek.

Then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the rock of his salvation.

Then they stirred Him, God, to jealousy with strange gods.

With abominable practices they provoke Him to anger, probably a reference to the golden calf.

They sacrificed to demons which were no gods, to gods they'd never known, to new gods that had come in of late whom your fathers had never dreaded.

You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

The Lord sought and spurned them.

Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters He said, 'I will hide my face from them.

I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.

They've stirred Me to jealousy with what is no god.

They've stirred, they've provoked Me with their idols so I will stir them to jealousy with those who are no people.

I will provoke them with a foolish nation.' In other words, if they go hankering after the gods of other nations, then fine, they'll go to the nations.

The song of Moses leads right up to Moses' last will and testament.

Deuteronomy 1 through 31 is a long series of sermons of Moses saying, Israel, hear the law.

Obey the covenant, for if you do you're blessed, and if you don't you're cursed.

And at the end of it, what do they say?

We'll keep it.

And Moses says, No you won't.

I have it straight from God.

In Deuteronomy 30, in Deuteronomy 29, but especially in Deuteronomy 30, we discover In Deuteronomy 29 and- and 30 we discover, like in Deuteronomy 29:4, To this day, the Lord has not given you a mind to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.

Why?

Because you haven't asked for them, because you don't think you need a new heart or new eyes or new ears or a new covenant.

You think you can keep God's law and get to heaven on your own, in your pride and folly.

And so God will gently, patiently show you, even if it means breaking your stiff neck.

That's how much He loves you.

If it takes driving you to the nations whose god you worship, God'll do that if that's what it'll take to open your eyes to see that God alone has the grace and power that you need to keep covenant with Him.So in Deuteronomy 30, after the people have been saying, We'll keep the covenant, we'll keep the covenant, Moses says, It isn't a question of if the curses come upon you for disobedience, when all these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you're called in the mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you In other words, Kids, obey the Lord.

We will.

No, you won't, but here's a good word of encouragement.

When you wake up some morning and you find yourselves slaves and captives and exiles in four nations, remember that the Lord told you so through me, His humble servant.

And along with this message of curse and wrath and judgment will come this message of hope in Deuteronomy 30.

When you wake up in this foreign land with all the curses around you, and you recognize that it's your sin that has caused you to experience all this, verse two, Return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey His voice and all that I command you, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes.

Verse six, The Lord your God will then circumcise your heart.

He'll give you a new heart, and that's what you need.

And so the rest of Deuteronomy is Moses saying, Look, you guys think you're gonna keep the covenant.

You think you're holy hotshots.

You're not going to.

You're gonna forsake it.

And then after you've been humiliated, then and only then you'll keep it.

Well, how long will it take?

Well, Moses didn't tell us how long it would take, but we discover at the end of the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32, and by the way, this is a long song.

In the end, around verse 40 and following, after God has sent them to the nations, it says, For I, the Lord, verse 40, I lift up my hand to heaven and swear as I live forever.

If I wet my glittering sword and my hand takes hold on judgment, I will take vengeance on my adversaries and requite those who hate me.

And then in verse 43, Praise His people, O you nations, for He avenges the blood of His servants and takes vengeance on His adversaries and it makes expiation for the land of His people.

So the last note of the Song of Moses is at the end of a long process of cursings and judgments, at that point, God will punish the people in the nations who led Israel astray.

He'll deliver Israel, giving them a new heart and a new covenant, and by giving all that to Israel, He will show the nations the way of the Lord.

In other words, the Song of Moses is what the saints sing in heaven according to Revelation 15 because finally, at last, 1,400 years later, everything's taken place just as Moses said it would.

You say you'll keep the covenant, you'll break it.

You'll be cursed.

You'll be cursed and with a sevenfold curse, but you'll still be too proud to admit it.

And then another series of curses and then another, until finally the curses are exhausted.

And at that point, God will bless Israel and God will also bless the nations.

That's the thrust of the song here that's being sung.

These are powerful, these are powerful words.

Let's take a look at Revelation 16.

Excuse me, Mr. Hyde, can we look at the

Sure you can.

Let's go back to Revelation, then.

Let's close out in chapter 15, which is one of the shortest chapters in the entire book.

We've seen in verse seven how the angels are like priests in the Heavenly Temple.

In verse eight, And the temple Which temple, now in verse eight?

It's the Heavenly Temple.

The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power so that no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were ended.

Now, where is this language found, where the temple was filled with the smoke of the glory of God so that nobody could enter the temple?

That language is found two times in the Old Testament, in Exodus 40 verse 34 and in First Kings eight verse 10.

Both times, the same thing is being described.

In Exodus 40, the first tabernacle is being erected and it's being consecrated and dedicated.

Remember that when Israel was a wandering people, nomadic, they didn't have a temple because they weren't stationary.

They didn't live on the land yet, so they had to have a mobile temple, which was a tabernacle, a tent which you could tear down and then set up again.

When the tabernacle was first erected as a tent, and then it was dedicated in, in Exodus 40, as soon as the prayer of dedication was finished, there in Exodus 40 verse 34 we have spectacular confirmation of God's presence there.

Verse 34, Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle and Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the glory cloud abode upon it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

So when the first dwelling place of the Lord was built and dedicated, this is what happened.

Then, then the second place this language is found is in First Kings chapter 8 verse 10.

In First Kings Chapters 1 through 8, we have the first temple being erected by Solomon.

Now that Israel is no longer a nomadic people wandering about, they don't need a tent.

They don't need the tabernacle.

Now at last they can have a big, grand temple, and Solomon builds it.

And in First Kings 8, we have the dedication of that temple, the first temple, the one built by Solomon.

In verse 10, And when the priest came out of the holy place, a cloud filled the House of the Lord so that the priest could not stand and minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord.

And then Solomon begins to pray and he makes a big speech, and at the end of the speech we have once again, we have the same type of a manifestation of divine glory at the end of First Kings chapter 8.

Let's move back then, though, to Revelation 15.

My point is this, that twice in the Old Testament the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

When the tabernacle was dedicated, then later on the tabernacle was replaced .

and the temple was dedicated, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple, the earthly temple, when the earthly temple was what God used, what God designed to manifest His purposes.

But now, in 70, as 70 AD approaches, what has become of God's plan for the earthly temple?

Do away with it and replace it with what?

The heavenly Jerusalem and the heavenly temple.

That's why it's appropriate in verse 8, for once again, the third time, the heavenly temple was filled with smoke with, from the glory of God and from His power so that no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues are done.

The destruction of the old temple marks the dedication of the new temple.

The abolition of the old covenant, in effect, brings about the full institution of the new covenant.

And then in chapter 16, I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, 'Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.' So the first angel went and poured his bowl on the earth, and foul and evil sores came upon and it became like the blood of a dead man, and every living thing that was in the sea, every living thing died that was in the sea.

The third angel poured his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of water, and they became blood, and I heard the angel of water say, 'Just art thou in these thy judgments, thou who art and wast a holy one.

For men have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink.

It is their due.' So what is being poured out when you come to this particular cup?

Blood itself.

What are these cups?

I've mentioned before they're chalices.

According to 1 Maccabees 1:22, they probably refer to the cups, the sacred cups that the priests used to pour o- out drink offerings.

It's interesting that while sacrifices were being made, the trumpets would sound, and the last part of the sacrifice would consist of the pouring out of the blood upon the foot of the altar, upon the, the altar.

Also, in 1 Maccabees 11:58, we have the high priest being ordained and authorized to actually drink from the gold cups.

So these gold chalices then are all part of the, uh, the, what you expect to find in the temple, whether it's the earthly temple or now the heavenly temple.

Now, he's pouring out these chalices.

I also wanna mention that, uh, this cup imagery is found throughout the Bible in ways that display God's wrath.

For instance, uh, Jesus says to James and John, Are you going to drink the cup that I must drink?

What was he referring to?

Suffering.

Martyrdom.

Likewise, in Matthew 26:28, our Lord says He, He takes the cup, the third cup of the Eucharist, of the, of the Passover, and He says, This cup is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new covenant.

So here we have cup and blood closely associated in the sacrament of the new covenant.

In contrast, we have a kind of negative, or anti-sacrament being administered, but that kind of language is not entirely strange either.

Look at Matthew 23:35.

We're also gonna look quickly at 1 Corinthians.

Matthew 23:35.

Jesus is speaking to the Pharisees and scribes in verse 29.

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous saying, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' Just as Jesus says, All the prophets have one place to go to die, Jerusalem, like Isaiah, who was torn in two with a saw.

Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Fill up then the measure of your fathers, you serpents, you brood of vipers.

How are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Therefore, I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify some of you Some you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah.

Truly I say to you, all this will come upon this generation.

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

This is why I think as interpreters we have to reckon with this first century fulfillment when we look carefully at the Old Testament background and also the gospel background of what's going on here.

Because here in verse six, For men have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink.

It is their due.

So the blood of wrath which will be poured out now is the blood of the martyrs.

Later on we're gonna see how the harlot, the prostitute, Babylon, is drunk with the blood of the saints.

Many interpreters regard that symbol, the prostitute, as a sign of what city?

Rome.

That's been a common interpretation, because the ancient rabbis interpreted Babylon in their writings as a symbol for pagan Rome.

I'm convinced though, that here John is using a sort of ironic reversal, so that if the Book of Revelation falls into the hands of Jewish persecutors, they'll read and say, Huh.

So you're also bringing, hoping that God will bring judgment upon Babylon.

And the Christians would say, Yeah.

That's right.

.

Yeah.

And the Jews would say, Oh, then we have common cause.

Yeah, in a manner of speaking, we do.

.

It would be, in a, in a sense, a very strategic cloak to help preserve yourselves, in effect.

But I would argue that if Babylon, the prostitute city, is drunk with the blood of the saints, that alone fits.

I should say, that fits with Jesus' words about Jerusalem and nothing else quite like it.

I also wanna mention something too here.

Let's see, from, from Chilton.

On page 399 of Chilton's commentary, he suggests that the language of Revelation 16, especially the second and third bowl, may have had a close parallel in the actual events of the Great Tribulation around 70 AD.

I read from Chilton.On one occasion, thousands of Jewish rebels fled to the Sea of Galilee from the Roman massacre of Tarichea.

Setting out on a lake in small, flimsy boats, they were soon pursued and overtaken by the sturdy rafts of the R- of, uh, Vespasian's superior Roman forces.

Then as Josephus, this Jewish historian recounts, they were mercilessly slaughtered.

Now Chilton quotes from Josephus.

The Jews could neither escape to land, where all were in arms against them, nor sustain a naval battle on equal terms with the Romans, so 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 barks 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 aboard 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 surrounded by the enemy.

As they threw themselves on them, many were speared while still in the water.

Many jumped ashore where they were killed by the Romans.

One could see the whole lake, the whole Sea of Galilee stained with blood and crammed with corpses for days and weeks, for not a single man escaped.

During the days that followed, a horrible stench hung over the whole region, and it presented an equally horrifying spectacle.

All 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 brought it about.

So we hear this, you know, that the second angel poured his bowl into the sea and it became like the blood of a dead man, and every living thing died that was in the sea.

This is symbolic, but there's also true, literal, historic fulfillment of these things as well.

All right, let's move on.

Let's look at, um, verse 10, the fifth angel.

Verse No, let's do verse eight, the fourth and the fifth.

The fourth angel poured, poured his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch men with fire.

Men were scorched by the fierce heat, and they w- they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues, and they did not repent and give Him glory.

Isn't it odd how people, even in the most extreme of circumstances, won't wake up and recognize that God is judge?

That bring H- he requites us for our sins.

In a certain sense, we have to reckon with man's capacity to harden his heart, and I think he's stronger in that way than we really understand.

Verse 10.

The fifth angel then poured his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was in darkness.

Men gnawed their tongues in anguish and cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores and did not repent of their deeds.

Hmm.

What could this refer to?

The throne of the beast.

I think Chilton has a good, a good, um, interpretation here in suggesting that this now refers to Rome.

In other words, the beast, of course, we saw the beast from the sea was Rome, and we also see royal authority attached to Rome.

Let me read from Chilton on page 405 and following, where he says, It is also likely, however, that this judgment partially corresponds with the wars, revolutions, and riots and worldwide convulsions that racked the empire of Rome right after Nero committed suicide in June of '68.

F.W.

Farrar, a great 19th century British historian, writes in this connection of the horrors inflicted upon Rome and the Romans in the civil wars that followed.

Let me just read to you a few of the, uh, descriptive accounts.

It was not Let's see.

Um This describes all these massacres in and around Rome, especially the burning of the ground of the Temple of the Capitoline Jupiter on December 19th, AD 69.

It was not the least of the signs of the times.

Oh, here's Tacitus, the Roman historian, describing how the Temple of the Capitoline fell.

It was not the least of the signs of the times that the space of one year saw wrapped in flames the two most hallowed shrines of the ancient world, the Temple of Jerusalem, the temple of the great Latin god.

One brief passage from Tacitus provides some idea of the chaotic conditions in the capital city.

By the way, I'm sorry, I was quoting from Farrar a moment ago.

This is the quote from the Roman historian, Tacitus, describing the calamity that came down upon Rome.

Close by the fighting stood the people of Rome like the audience at a show, cheering and clapping this side or that in turns as if this were a mock battle in the arena.

Whenever one side gave way, men would hide in shops or take refuge in some great house.

They were then dragged out and killed at the instance of the mob who gained most of the loot, for the soldiers were, were bent on bloodshed and massacre and the booty fell to the crowd.

And then he describes the whole city of Rome.

The whole city presented a frightful caricature of its normal self.

Fighting and casualties at one point, baths and restaurants in another, here the spilling of blood and the litter of dead bodies, close by prostitutes and the like.

All the vice associated with the life of idleness and pleasure, all the dreadful deeds typical of a pitio- pitiless sack.

These were so intimately linked that an observer would have thought Rome was in the grip of a simultaneous orgy of violence and dissipation.

As if there were one more entertainment in the festive season, the people of Rome gloated over horrors and profited by them, careless which side won and glorying in the calamities of the state.

From So from 68 to 69, Rome was in a state of absolute violent anarchy unlike it had ever been.

Why?

Because God is bringing judgment upon them as well, even before Vespasian and then Titus take over the rule.

Let's go on now.

In, uh, the book Revelation, we get to the, the sixth bowl, and this brings us to one of the most interesting points of the whole book, verses 12 through 16.

The sixth beast poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.

That seems to be an allusion to one of the greatest events of history .

when Babylon, the impregnable fortress city, was being attacked by the puny little army of Cyrus the Persian.

Cyrus issued an ultimatum: Babylon surrender, which was a joke.

I mean, that would be like, uh, I suppose that would be like Albania demanding that Russia surrender or something.

In fact, the Book of Daniel describes how they began feasting the victory even before the battle began in the city of J- of Babylon because they were so confident that their city was impregnable, because Babylon was surrounded by seven different walls.

Each wall was so thick that you could actually put- ride two chariots side by side along the walls, and there were seven of them.

So how was Cyrus going to bring his troops in?

Well, he had a way.

A few miles up, around dusk, his engineers began damming up the f- the River Euphrates so that by morning, the River Euphrates, which flowed underneath the seven walls of Babylon, it was dried up.

They laid boards down and thousands upon thousands of Persian troops entered the city without a single fight because the city of Babylon was so hungover from the victory feast the night before.

The city fell without hardly a battle, representing one of the greatest battles, victories of- of all time, but also representing one of the unlikeliest fulfillments of prophecy of all time, because Isaiah had foretold that Cyrus by name would conquer the Babylonians over a century before it happened.

Not bad prophesying.

So the sixth angel poured his bowl on the great River Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east, and I saw issuing from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet three foul spirits like frogs, these demonic reptiles, for they are demonic spirits performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.

Lo, I'm coming like a thief.

Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed.

Here are themes, of course, from Seven Letters back in chapters two and three.

And they assembled them at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon.

Do you realize that the Battle of Armageddon which we hear so much about is all based upon one and only one mention of Armageddon in the entire book of Revelation?

Here in Revelation 16, verse 16.

They assembled them at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon.

Now, what is the Battle of Armageddon?

You can probably figure by now that I do not believe in a literal Battle of Armageddon that is right around the corner.

Fundamentalists do, and they keep warning about how Russia will come down upon Israel with the Arabs and so on.

I don't think so.

I don't think that John intended this to be literal, because literally Armageddon means Mount Megiddo.

Arm means mount, but Megiddo is not a mountain.

It's a plain.

In fact, there really aren't any mountains that close by Megiddo.

There's only one, and it's Mount Carmel, which is, as you know, rather famous.

So scholars believe that the language here, Armageddon, or literally Har Meggido, Mount Megiddo, is intended to combine two references.

It's a, it's an, it's an intentional double reference.

That is, it points to Megiddo and the plains of Megiddo, but it also points to Mount Carmel which is the mountain nearest to Megiddo or to Armageddon.

Carmel, of course, was where the harlot queen Jezebel's false prophets were defeated by Elijah, remember?

Megiddo is famous for at least two different reasons.

First back in Judges 5:19, it's where the prophetess Deborah defeated the Canaanite kings.

But by far and away the primary association that every Jewish reader would have with Armageddon, in other words, what would Armageddon conjure up in the minds of first century Jewish Christian readers?

That question's simple.

It would conjure up 2 Kings 23:29.

Let's turn to 2 Kings 23.

One of the greatest tragedies ever to befall the people of the Jews is described there in 2 Kings 23.

As you might remember, King Josiah was the greatest king in the line of David.

A good case could be made to argue that Josiah was far, far surpassed David and Solomon in righteousness, and Hezekiah as well.

They're really the only four kings in the line of David that were approved by God for righteousness.

But Josiah really surpassed them all.

But Josiah was also the grandson of King Manasseh, and a couple generations before Josiah, King Manasseh was the most wicked king in David's line, so wicked that he bowed down to every god but Yahweh.

He even built altars for these gods where he sacrificed children by the thousands.

Here is the Davidic king in Jerusalem offering thousands of child sacrifices to foreign gods.

For that, the Lord said Jerusalem must perish.

The prophets made it abundantly clear to King Manasseh that now your fate is sealed.

No matter what you do, there's no escape.

Jerusalem's doom is sure.

Why?

Because you do not slay innocent children by the thousands and escape the sword, whether you're ancient Judah or modern America.

That's why I'm not just arguing for first century fulfillment.

I- I'm convinced that these images will lead spirit-filled brothers and sisters in Christ to see how this stuff will be fulfilled again in our own day and in future ages.

But in 2 Kings 23 we discover that Manasseh had a grandson, Josiah, who was the greatest reforming king of all time .

he smashed the altars which his grandfather built.

He abolished all the practices.

He instituted all of the righteous observances required in the Law of Moses.

Without precedent, Josiah was the greatest, except it was too late.

By then, Jerusalem's fate was sealed.

God had no plan or intention to deliver Jerusalem at this point.

Verse 26, 2 King 23:26.

In spite of all of Josiah's zeal in instituting the Passover and proper sacrifices, still the Lord did not turn from the fierceness of His great wrath by which His anger was kindled against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him.

And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, 'My name shall be there.' God is gonna cast off His people, the Judahites, the Jews, and He's gonna destroy His own city and His own house, the temple, of which I said, 'My name shall be there.' Now, why?

Because the sins had been heaped too high.

How?

And where?

And when did God ensure that Josiah's reforms would not be sufficient?

Let's read on.

In Verse 28, Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did are not, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

In his days, that's around 609 BC, Pharaoh Necho, king of Egypt, went up to the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates.

King Josiah went to meet him, contrary to all the sound advice that God gave him.

In a moment of pride, at the prime of his youth, at the apex of his reforming career, at the moment when it seemed as though God would restore the fortunes of his people because of the zeal of Josiah, in the midst of all this, Pharaoh Necho slew him at Megiddo when he saw him.

And his servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem and buried him in his own tomb.

That's 609 BC.

Pharaoh was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar a few months later, and in 605 BC, within an echo of Josiah's lifetime, Jerusalem is captured by Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews are carried off into slavery by Nebuchadnezzar into Babylon.

So, the destruction of the First Temple, the conquest of Jerusalem the first time, is all previewed, all set up by Megiddo and the death of this firstbor- th- the, the death of the son of David, the king of Israel, who sought to reform Jerusalem, but he was cut down in his prime because the sins of Jerusalem had been heaped up so high.

This tragic event became a byword among the Jews.

Turn to Zechariah, chapter 12.

Zechariah, chapter 12 is the only other place where we hear about Megiddo.

Zechariah 12:10 and 11.

I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spirit of compassion and supplication so that when they look on Him whom they've pierced, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly over Him as one weeps over a firstborn.

On that day, the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Ahaz and Jotham in the plain of Megiddo.

A reference to Josiah, his other name.

So the mourning in Zechariah 12 is over a first-born son who's been slain and pierced, and who is that?

The son of David, the king of Israel, the great reforming zealot, Jesus who came to Jerusalem to do away with the sin, but the leaders rejected Him, heaping up, heaping high their own guilt.

So Armageddon becomes a symbol of what?

The son of David, the king of Israel, a righteous reformer being cut down in his prime, thereby ensuring the captivity of the Jews and the destruction of the temple the first time around.

What an appropriate symbol then for the second time around, when the son of David, the king of Israel in his reforming righteous zeal is cut down, thus bringing down upon Jerusalem what?

Conquest and captivity and utter destruction once again.

That's why I'm convinced that studying the Old Testament holds the key to interpreting the New Testament.

That's why so many fundamentalists, I think, misinterpret the New Testament.

This is why.

If you ask a fundamentalist, What is the most important principle to a Roman Catholic interpreter who studies the Bible the way the early church fathers did?

They'll say, Well, the key for the early church fathers and for most Catholic scholars is interpreting the New in light of the Old.

That's always been the watchword for Catholic hermeneutics, and so it should be, even if many Catholic scholars have forgotten in our day.

Let's go back to Revelation 16:17.

The seventh angel poured into his bowl, into the air, poured his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, 'It is done,' and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder and a great earthquake, such as had never been since men were on the Earth, so great was that earthquake.

The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Great Babylon to make her drain the cup of the fury of His wrath.

And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found, and great hailstones, heavy as a hundredweight, dropped on men from heaven, till men cursed God for the plague of the hail, so fearful was that plague.

And I would contend that here again, in at least two different ways, we have symbolic references to what is going on in the first century with the destruction of Jerusalem .

for instance, the city being split into three parts.

That's a reference back to Ezekiel 5.

Ezekiel was commanded by Yahweh to shave his head with a sharp sho- sword, and then to divide his hair into three parts.

One-third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, this is Ezekiel 5:1-12, Then you shall take one-third and strike it with a sword all around the city, one-third you shall scatter to the wind.

So here, we have the city being broken down into thirds, as it were.

Thus says the Lord God, this is Ezekiel 5 again, This is Jerusalem.

I have set her at the center of the nations with lands round her.

Later, Ezekiel says that Jerusalem is literally the navel of the world.

If the world is a body, Jerusalem is the bellybutton.

But she has rebelled against my ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against my statutes more than the lands that surround her, for they have rejected my ordinances, and have not walked in my statutes.

Therefore, says the Lord God, Because you have more turmoil than the nations that surround you, and have not walked in my statutes, dropping down, I, even I am against you.

Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you and sons will eat their fathers, for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.

Josephus, the Jewish historian witnessed such cannibalism in 70 AD.

And it goes on, So as I live, declares the Lord God, He's swearing an oath, surely because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw and My eye shall have no pity and I will not spare.

One-third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one-third will fall by the sword around you, and one-third I will scatter to every wind and I will unsheath the sword behind them.

Bishop Carrington s- Archbishop Carrington suggests another application of this city being divided up into three parts.

Uh, and I quote now from Carrington's commentary on Revelation, page 266.

This refers to the division of Jerusalem into three factions, which became so acute after the return of General Titus.

While Titus was besieging Jerusalem from outside, the three leaders of these three rival factions were fighting fiercely against themselves within the city.

But for this, the city might have staved off defeat for a long while, even perhaps indefinitely, for great, no great army could support itself for long in those days in the neighborhood of Jerusalem.

There was no water, no supplies.

This fighting, however, within the city is what delivered it so quickly into the hands of Titus.

The days were shortened.

Titus himself admits that if these three warring factions had not done his work for them inside the city, he would not have been able to tear apart, he would not have been able to conquer the city.

That's how foolish they all were.

Okay, now, let's go back here.

Uh, there was something else that I had in mind.

It just flips my mind here.

Uh, the seventh angel

Quails born.

Oh, yeah.

The great hailstones.

Look again, we're in verse 21.

And great hailstones, heavy as a hundredweight, dropped on men from heaven.

What could this refer to?

Listen to this.

This is Josephus now, describing how Jerusalem was besieged, and he gives a strange account of stone missiles that were thrown by the Roman catapults into Jerusalem.

Quote, The s- the stone, 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 the ear by its whizzing sound.

Watchmen posted in the towers gave the warnings whenever the engine was fired and the stone came hurling toward them.

The watchmen would shout in their native tongue, 'The son is coming.' Son, S-O-N, is a pun on the Hebrew word for stone.

Ben is son, aben is stone.

And since the Christians had for 40 years been telling about how the Son of God will come again, so almost in mocking they would say of these white stones coming at them, The son is coming.

Those in the line of fire made way and fell prone, a precaution that resulted in the stones passing harmlessly through and falling to the rear.

To frustrate this, it occurred to the Romans to blacken the stones so they couldn't be seen so easily beforehand, then they hit their target and destroyed many with a single shot.

So again, this idea, we have images that aren't only symbolic, but may also have a kind of literal fulfillment.

Let's move on to consider chapter 17 just for a few minutes.

We'll probably end up spending more time next week dealing with chapter 17, 18, and 19.

Verse 1 of chapter 17, Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk.' So at last we come to the judgment on the harlot.

Now, who is the prostitute or the great harlot?

According to Luther, it's the Catholic Church.

According to Calvin, according to Knox, according to Cranmer, according to Jonathan Edwards, according to practically all of the founders of Protestantism, according to my testimony about 14 years ago.

I used to argue this as well- I'm ashamed to say.

I don't think so.

I think that interpretation can only be advanced by people who ignore systematically the Old Testament background.

Let's see how the prophets speak of the harlot.

Let's turn first to the Book of Isaiah, chapter 1.

Isaiah 1:21.

How the faithful city has become a harlot.

She that was full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water, et cetera, et cetera.

What is he talking about?

Jerusalem, how the faithful city has become a harlot.

What else does he compare Jerusalem to?

In Isaiah 1, verse 10: Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom.

So he compares Jerusalem to Sodom, as well as to a harlot.

We've already seen that the Lord w- the city where the Lord was crucified in Revelation 11 is identified as the great city and also Sodom and Egypt.

It's the only time, early in Revelation, that we have this phrase, the great city.

Here in Revelation 17, the harlot, the prostitute, will be referred to, in this chapter and in the next chapters, as the great city, Babylon.

The great city, Babylon, or the whore of Babylon, two ways of saying the same thing.

Isaiah, the first of the major prophets, identified Jerusalem as the harlot.

Let's look at Jeremiah 2:20 and following: For long ago, Jeremiah says, you, he's speaking to the people in Jerusalem, you broke your yoke and burst your bonds and you said, 'I will not serve.' Yea, upon every high hill and under every green tree, you bow down as a harlot.

Yet I planted you as a choice vine, wholly a pure seed.

How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

How?

The answer is easy.

By playing the harlot, Jerusalem.

There in Jerus- uh, there in Jeremiah 2.

Look also at verses 30 and following: In vain have I smitten your children; they took no correction.

Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ra- uh, a ravening lion.

Uh, verse 32: Can a maiden forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire?

Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

So here's a bride forgetting her husband, turning to harlotry as a prostitute to other lovers.

Look at Ra- uh, Jeremiah 3:1, 2, and 3: If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her?

Would not that land be greatly polluted?

You, again Jerusalem, have played the harlot with many lovers, and would you return to Me?

says the Lord.

Lift up your eyes to the bare height and see: where have you not been lain with?

By the wayside you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness.

You have polluted the land with your vile harlotry.

Therefore the showers have not ha- have been withheld and the spring rain has not come, yet you have a harlot's brow, you refuse to be ashamed.

Also, Jeremiah 5:7: How can I pardon you?

again it's Jerusalem.

Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods.

When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped down to the houses of harlots.

They were well-fed lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

Shall I not punish them for these things?

Jeremiah, just like Isaiah, identified Jerusalem with harlotry.

So we have Isaiah, and then Jeremiah.

Who's the next major prophet?

Ezekiel.

Let's turn to Ezekiel 16.

Ezekiel 16:30.

Once again, Ezekiel now is accusing Jerusalem of being a harlot.

Actually, you can drop down to, back to Ezekiel 16:1.

Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations, and say, 'Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites.' It goes on.

All of this now is describing how the Lord rescued you, the Lord chose you, the Lord cared for you, the Lord raised you, and what happened?

Verse 7, uh, let's see.

When I passed by you and saw you watering in your blood, I said to you, 'In your blood I live and grow up like a plant of the field,' and you grew up and became tall, and arrived at full maidenhood.

Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, yet you were naked and bare.

When I passed by you again and looked upon you, behold, you were at the age for love and I spread my skirt over you.

Which, as you know from the Book of Ruth, was the way you got engaged back then.

So here's God proposing to Jerusalem for marriage.

And covered your nakedness.

Yea, I plighted my troth to you and entered into a covenant with you, says the Lord God, and you became Mine.

And you became famous, verse 14.

Your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty.

Verse 15: But you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot because of your renown, and lavished your harlotries on any passerby.

And it goes on, describing how they did the same thing with the children.

Verse 35: Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of the Lord.

Thus says the Lord God: Because your shame was laid bare, and your nakedness uncovered, and your harlotries with your lovers, and because of all your idols, and because of the blood of your children that you gave them; therefore, behold, I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all those you loved and all those you loathed, I will gather them against you from every side, and will uncover your nakedness to them, that they may see all your nakedness, and I will judge you as a woman who broke wedlock and shed blood are judged, and bring upon you the blood of wrath and jealousy.

This is where John gets his imagery.

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, and other prophets identified one city as the harlot city.

It's Jerusalem.

So where do interpreters get off arguing that Rome is the whore of Babylon, this prostitute city, the great city?

I don't know.

It has to be defended in, uh, by neglecting the Old Testament background.

It also has to be neg- it, it can only be defended by neglecting the fact that Jesus says Jerusalem is the place where all the righteous blood shed on Earth will come.

So the passing of the old and the coming of the new in its fullness in 70 AD, I think this again provides us the background for Revelation 17.

Now, many of you are be- you know, is thinking this is sounding like a broken record, you know?

What I want to do- in, in our study is to show you how you adopt a working hypothesis.

Jerusalem's destruction in 70 AD has great covenant theological significance.

John's a covenant theologian.

He's talking about the new covenant established by Christ.

Let's apply this hypothesis to the data and see what it explains, and what you see is, I think, a growing mound of data which this hypothesis can explain very well.

I used to oppose it, and then I studied it carefully and prayerfully, and I'm convinced that this re- this interpretation represents the least inadequate way- of interpreting Revelation, at least in terms of its initial historic fulfillment in the first century.

Many scholars will disagree, many people who are far more brilliant and well-read than me.

But I have not yet come across a single scholar who has seriously interacted with this perspective.

It's denied, it's ignored, but it has not yet even been No refutation has yet even been attempted so far as I know, not only in English, but I've not heard of anything in German or Spanish or Italian or French.

Doesn't mean it's right, but I think it, it confirms that this, this heuristic approach to Revelation I think is very, very helpful.

All right, real quickly, look at Verse 3, Revelation 17: He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns.

So we have the beast again, and this harlot is riding on the beast's back.

I would argue that this is Jerusalem riding upon Rome, saying, We have no king but Caesar.

Mm-hmm.

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication.

And on her forehead was written the name of mystery, Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and of Earth's Abominations.

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

I think the cumulative evidence points clearly to identifying Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots, with Jerusalem.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly, but the angel said to me, 'Why marvel?

I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads.' Oh, and by the way, before I forget, I've n-, I've recommended this commentary in the past.

You can call Liturgical Press in Collegeville, Minnesota this month, uh, I think it'll go through May of '93, next month also, and get this, this book, The Apocalypse: The Perennial Revelation of Jesus Christ by Eugenio Corsini.

It usually goes for $12.95.

It's on sale, I think, for $3 or $4.

Ooh.

All right?

Very, very helpful guide.

Corsini is also I mean, Corsini is a professor of patristics at Turin, Italy, and he has access to very rare ancient commentaries by the early fathers on Revelation.

He's used these, among other sources, to write this commentary.

He argues I found this book about five years after I had changed my mind to accept this interpretative view of Revelation.

He argues the same view.

He argues that it's the passing of the old covenant and the destruction of Jerusalem that marks the fulfillment and the real meaning of the Book of Revelation.

For instance, on page 328, it says, In any case, whatever interpretation one gives the beast, it is important to see it as a dis- as a reality distinct from the prostitute.

Goes on, These words are nowadays still read as a prophecy against the destruction of about the destruction of Rome and its empire.

This is a logical interpretation when prostitute and beast are identified with Rome, but the difficulty is that it means that Rome destroys herself.

This leads to further theories about internecine strife and revolt.

Some return to the idea of Nero's revival returning to destroy Rome at the head of the Parthians, and it goes on.

But he says, No, we must make a distinction between the beast, which is Rome, and the harlot.

If the distinction is kept, the city can't be Rome, which is represented in some way by the symbol of the beast and the 10 horns.

The city which falls to the savage aggression is Jerusalem.

In the destruction which is mentioned, here we have a summary of a whole series of destructions of Jerusalem throughout our troubled history.

But the destruction mentioned in this passage is different from these preceding.

It goes on, Uh, therefore, if the destruction to which the passage alludes is to be understood in a literal material sense, it can only refer to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD.

Only then, in fact, after s- the slaying of Jesus Christ did Jer- did Jerusalem become in the eyes of John and the early Christians the definitive prostitute, the opposite of the holy city which it had once been.

The allusion to that historical event, however, is useful for John only to help him to identify the reality of Jerusalem hidden under the symbol of the prostitute.

It goes on saying this, uh, even more strongly, uh, The symbol of the prostitute, like the beast from the land and false prophet, also points toward Judaism.

The symbol signifies Judaism's perversion through the metaphor of prostitution.

Prostitution means idolatry, and Judaism has become idolatrous because it adores the beast and its statue, political authority.

This is the case not because it accepts the political dom- domination of the Romans, it certainly doesn't, but it's probably opposed to it and sees it as a demonic presence.

In its opposition to the Romans, however, Judaism adopts their mentality, the same means and goals.

And I would, I would correct Corsini, I, if I may venture to do so.

I would say that in John 18 and 19 where you have the people saying, We have no king but Caesar, we have a verbal expression of this sort of idolatrous harlotry.

Some people say, Well, it can't be.

It can't be, because look at Verse 10.

There are also seven kings, five of which have fo- Wait, no.

That isn't it.

Um, I just lost my place.

Where does it say the city with the seven hills?

Yeah, 17:9.

Sorry about that.

This calls from mine with wisdom the seven heads or seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

There are also So they say, Well, these seven hills must refer to the seven hills of Rome, and it may well, but that is not identifying the city.

It's identifying the beast.

The city, Babylon, the harlot, sits upon the beast, and the seven heads are seven hills.

So, we can easily identify the beast with Rome and its seven hills and see it as that which Jerusalem rests upon because of the Roman dominion there in Jerusalem and that statement, We have no king but Caesar.

When I saw it Let's go back now to Verse 7, Verse 6 and 7: When I saw her, I marveled greatly, but the angel said to me, 'Why marvel?

I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with seven heads and 10 horns that carries her.

The beast that you saw was and is not and is to ascend to the bottomless pit and go to perdition, and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is I'm sorry.

Because it was and is not and is to come.

This calls from mine with wisdom the seven heads or seven mountains on which the woman is seated.

There are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen.

One is The other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain only a little while.

We're not gonna be able to get into all of these different images here.

We'll pick up here next time.