by Jerry Huerta
copyright 2022
Christ’s mediation
can hardly be disputed as pertaining to the inter-advent era, our age. The
previous work on the true structuring of the Revelation conveyed a correspondence
between the struggles illustrated in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares and
Christ’s mediation of the seven churches in the Revelation.[1] The seven churches
represent Christ’s mediation under the New Covenant (1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrew
12:22-24). It was also furthered that a number of the Old Testament prophets
forecast that Christ would punish the shepherds of Judah
and sow the remnant of the house of Israel in the earth, which is the source of
the parable mentioned above (Psalm 118:22-23; Isaiah 49:5-7; Jeremiah 31:1-2,
27-28; Ezekiel 34:2, 9-10, 23-26; Zechariah 10:3-9; Hosea 2:21-23). It was
developed that this sowing was an insurgence or occupation into Satan’s
dominion, also depicted by the Parable of the Ten Minas.
And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to
this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is
come to seek and to save that which was lost. And as they heard these things,
he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because
they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said
therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a
kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten
pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. (Luke 19:9-13)
The parable in
Luke conveys the trials and struggles that the saints must endure between the
advents to be found worthy to reign with Christ at his return, which is
amplified in the Revelation.
And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the
end, to him will I give power over the nations And he shall rule them with a
rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even
as I received of my Father. (Revelation 2:26-27)
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in
my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his
throne. (Revelation 3:21)
The OT prophecies
that both houses were to be sown throughout the world must coincide with
Christ’s mediation, as it requires the tares as the vehicles to challenge and
chastise the saints to prepare them to reign with Christ at his return (Hebrews
12:1-11). The seven churches epitomize mediation, especially when interpreted
as prophetic, historical, and symbolic.
The initial
arguments against the interpretation that the Revelation represents Christ’s
mediation stem from preterist and untenable futurist rules of interpretations.
While futurists accept the prophetic view of the seven churches, which is
inconsistent with futurism, both futurists and preterists deny the Revelation
pertains to Christ’s mediation of the New Covenant. Futurist Stephen R. Lewis
maintains the traditional dispensationalist’s view that the New Covenant will
be enacted only upon Christ’s return, which precludes any interpretation that
the Revelation pertains to Christ’s mediation for the Church,
The Holy Spirit’s choice of words proves that the
Church (predominantly Gentile in composition) is not the entity with whom the
Lord Jesus Christ enters into the New Covenant… Romans 11:26 states that God
will establish the New Covenant with Israel at Christ’s second coming.[2]
In truth,
dispensationalism has vacillated tremendously on the New Covenant and its
relationship to the Church over the years. Little doubt, this vacillation stems
from its untenable view that the Church is a distinct entity apart from Israel.
Even so, the Old Covenant prophets foretold that Christ would come and punish
the shepherds of Judah and sow the remnant of the house of Israel in the earth.
These prophecies are the source of the Parable of the Wheat and Tares as well
as the Parable of the Tenants in Matthew 21:33-40. The Old Covenant people did
not simply disappear from the face of the earth at Christ’s first advent. As
Romans 11 states, “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew… at this
present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace”
(Romans 11:2, 5). It was this remnant that was foretold to be sown in the earth
and fed in the wilderness until Christ returns.
Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel,
prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be
to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds
feed the flocks… Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD; Thus
saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my
flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither
shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from
their mouth, that they may not be meat for them… And I will set up one shepherd
over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them,
and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my
servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make
with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of
the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the
woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill a blessing; and
I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of
blessing. (Ezekiel 34:2, 9-10, 23-26)
The Church is the
vehicle to restore the house of Israel, sending light to the Gentiles and unto
the ends of the earth (Isaiah 49:6). Christ’s pronouncement furthers this that
Jerusalem would suddenly no longer be the place of worship in John 4:21-24. In
a world in which Israel is sown throughout the earth, worship can no longer be
maintained as centripetal or tending to move toward Jerusalem, but centrifugal,
tending to move away from Jerusalem.
Futurist Michael J. Vlach maintains
the typical view that the Revelation Illustrates what will happen to Israel
after the Church is raptured,
Pretribulationism takes a futuristic interpretation of
Daniel 9:24-27 and the book of Revelation. Daniel 9:24-27 gives the seven-year
chronological framework of the Tribulation while Revelation 6-18 details the
judgments that make up this period. Futurism sees prophecy as being fulfilled
in the future, namely with the Tribulation period, the Second Coming of Christ
to earth, and the Millennial Kingdom… In Revelation 4 and 5 Jesus is the One
found worthy to open the seals which He begins to open in 6:1. The opening of
the seals by Christ indicates that the seal judgments are divine wrath… According
to Daniel 9:24-27, the “seventy weeks” prophecy including the final “one week”
(seven years) is for Israel (“your people”). “While the church will experience
tribulation in general during the present age (John 16:33), she is never
mentioned as participating in Israel's time of trouble, which includes the
great tribulation, the day of the Lord, and the wrath of God.” (Ice and Demy,
The Truth About The Rapture, p. 36)[3]
Vlach echoes previous
dispensationalists such as Charles Caldwell Ryrie in their interpretation of
Daniel 9:24-27,
Certain important events were to happen after the
62 weeks (plus the 7 weeks, or a total of 69 weeks): the crucifixion of Messiah,
and the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by the Romans who are the people
of the prince that shall come. Since these events were to occur
after the 69 weeks had run their course and before the seventieth week began,
there must be a space of time between the conclusion of the sixty-ninth week
and the beginning of the seventieth.[4]
Ryrie is
inconsistent in using the Hebraic word translated “and after” in verse 26.
Concerning the crucifixion of the Messiah, he perceives “after” as straightaway
but not as it pertains to the seventieth week, which he maintains is
undetermined. The dispensationalists argue for an undetermined length of the
Seventy Weeks. Such a rendition mocks the Hebraic word translated as
“determined” in verse 24, “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and
upon thy holy city.” The Hebrew word in context denotes a division of time from
the whole of Providence, which is meaningless if it cannot be determined as the
dispensationalists render. Furthermore, the prophets foretold that Christ would
sow the remnant of the house of Israel in the earth and mediate for them in
contradiction to the dispensationalist’s rendition of Daniel 9. They maintain
the untenable view that Daniel upholds a postponement of Christ’s mediatorial
work for Israel until Christ returns, which contradicts the prophets.
But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written
in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of
sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24)
Vlach also misrepresents the
placement of the wrath of God in the Revelation in the citation above. He goes
on to cite another futurist,
“The judgments of these four seals include the sword,
famine, pestilence, and wild beasts, frequently used in Scripture as the
expressions of divine wrath. Indeed, they are all included and named when God
calls His ‘four severe judgments upon Jerusalem: sword, famine, wild beasts and
plague’ (Ezek. 14:21).” (Gerald B. Stanton, "A Review of the Pre-Wrath
Rapture of the Church, Bibliotecha Sacra, vol. 148 #589, January 1991) Plus,
plagues such as pestilence and wild beasts can hardly be caused by man.[5]
Vlach’s view does
not account for the evidence that the judgments of God rendered upon Israel
were to separate those who are indeed God’s from those who were not.
Consequently, the judgments portrayed in the Revelation are also initially
intended to separate those who are indeed Christ’s from those who are not,
which affirms the initial judgments illustrated by the seals do not represent
the wrath of God, as even Vlach must concede that those who are indeed Christ’s
are exempt from the wrath,
God has promised the Church deliverance from divine
wrath (1 Thess. 1:10; 5:9; Rev. 3:10) God made a special promise to the church
that it will be delivered from the future, tribulational wrath of God. It is
best to take this deliverance as a physical removal (Rapture)from this time of
divine wrath.[6]
This principle is
upheld in the evidence that the wrath of God is confined to the final woe and
the last trumpet.
The second woe is past; and, behold, the third woe
cometh quickly. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in
heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord,
and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. And the four and
twenty elders, which sat before God on their seats, fell upon their faces, and
worshipped God, Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art,
and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and
hast reigned. And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time
of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward
unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name,
small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth.
(Revelation 11:14-18)
The timing of the
wrath is also supported by the evidence that the seven angels having the wrath
of God stand ready to pour them out only after God’s people have “gotten the
victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the
number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God”
(Revelation 15:2). Revelation 15 affirms that the seven seals and initial
trumpets do not represent the wrath of God and that the people Christ mediates
over must endure the first two woes before the last trumpet sounds. Revelation
11:18 states that the wrath of God comes upon the seventh and last trumpet and
at the same time, the dead are judged and rewarded, which corresponds with 1
Thessalonians 4:16-17. The dispensationalist interpretation of the Revelation
is untenable.
The rendition of
the Revelation by the preterist does not fare any better. On a website, Kenneth
L. Gentry expresses the preterist’s view of the Revelation,
Revelation presents God’s divorce of his old covenant
wife Israel in AD 70 (Rev 5 presents the divorce decree). In Rev 6-19 (with
interludes and asides) we witness his adulterous wife’s capital punishment. Now
in the two closing chapters, we are witnesses to his marriage to his new bride,
the new covenant church of Jesus Christ. The new creation is an image of the
new covenant. This new Jerusalem-bride is the “Jerusalem above” (Gal 4:26), the
“heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb 12:22) to which all believers in Christ belong.[7]
The preterist
believe that the Old Covenant had lawful standing until A.D. 70 and that the
Revelation depicts the historical events ending this standing. Preterist Don K.
Preston maintains this perception when he writes,
Jesus said that the events of the end of the Old
Covenant age would be the greatest that had ever occurred or that ever would
occur! I concur with Gentry, DeMar,1 and others that when Jesus described the
events leading up to and including the fall of Jerusalem as the greatest events
in history, Jesus was not focused strictly on the number of people who died,
but rather on the covenantal significance of the event. Jesus was emphasizing
the point that the events of the first century, namely, the Great Tribulation
and His parousia, were to be the greatest events that had ever occurred or that
would ever occur! Do you catch the power of that? Remember that types always
move from the lesser to the greater. Since the New Covenant of Grace is greater
than the end of the Old Covenant of Torah, would not it’s end be more
catastrophic? The end of the gospel, purchased by the Son of God’s blood, would
be greater than anything else that had or could occur. Would not the end of
time be far greater than the fall of Jerusalem and the end of the Old Covenant
theocracy?[8]
Preterist Michael J. Sullivan attempts to sustain the argument
that the Old Covenant had lawful standing until the time Jerusalem fell,
In (Hebrews 9:8) I would agree with the EVS
translation and those commentators that would identify the “first” compartment
being the Holy Place (not the entire tabernacle) – symbolizing the then
“present” Old Covenant age still having a “legal standing,” “have status”
“lasts,” “has continuance,” or “functioning” (cf. Matt. 5:17-19; Heb. 9:10
“imposed”) and the Most Holy Place being representative of the New Covenant age
in-breaking upon and overlapping the old.
The Bible teaches that full and complete face to face access is given
behind the veil within the Most Holy Place at the blowing of the last trumpet
when the Second Coming of Christ takes place at the end of the OC age in AD 70
(Rev. 11:15-19; 21:16–22:3-4, 6-7, 10-12, 20; 1 Cor. 13:12/2 Cor. 3:7–5:10/6:16;
Heb. 9:26-28).[9]
Sullivan is
mistaken. According to Hebrews, the lawful standing of the Old Covenant ended
by the crucifixion of Christ. The term stasis in Hebrews 9:8 does refer to lawful
“standing,” but there is no scriptural warrant to interpret that standing ended
with the destruction of the temple cult in A.D. 70.
But into the second went the high priest alone once
every year, not without blood, which he offered for himself, and for the errors
of the people: The Holy Ghost this signifying, that the way into the holiest of
all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing.
(Hebrews 9:7–8)
Hebrews 9:8 avows
that as long as the first tabernacle continued to have lawful standing, the way
into the holiest was yet to be manifest. The exposé that the way into the
holiest occurred at Christ’s ascension and by his blood in Hebrews 10:19
affirms that the term “standing” or stasis in Hebrews 9:8 cannot be
rendered literally, as about the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem. Such
examination maintains stasis, rendered standing, should be viewed
abstractly as the authority from God to enforce the Aaronic priesthood and
minister his covenants. Hebrews 10:19 verifies that the authority of the SC was
taken away by the offering of Christ’s blood, also indicated by the veil being
rent (Matthew 27:51). This abstract rendering of stasis corresponds with
the need to change the law at the change of the priesthood (Hebrews 7:12),
which disannuls the commandment that only the descendants of Aaron could
mediate as high priests (Hebrews 7:18). The abstraction holds the “first” and
“second” in Hebrews 10:9 as respectively the old and new covenants, which
dispensationalist Rodney J. Decker affirms,
If this is a valid assessment of the text (and I think
it is), then in light of the larger argument of chapters 7–10, it appears quite
certain that we are talking about the first and second covenant, whether we explain
it more generally or more specifically… The negative term ἀναιρέω means “to
take away, abolish, set aside”… The positive ἵστημι, is “to put into force,
establish,” often with legal or covenantal overtones. The first covenant comes
to an end; the second takes its place.[10]
In truth, the New Covenant
came into force at the first advent and by the blood sacrifice of Christ, when Christ
presented himself before his Father at his ascension. The preterist
interpretation that the Revelation represent the end of the Old Covenant is
without merit. Hebrews affirms that the active judgments portrayed in the
Revelation, starting with the seven churches, are confined to the mediation of
Christ under the New Covenant, affirmed by the symbolism in the book. In
Revelation 1:13, Christ is “clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt
about the paps with a golden girdle,” representing Christ’s mediation, typified
by the Aaronic mediation in Leviticus 8:7. This attire affirms Christ’s
mediation in the Revelation. The seven candlesticks also typified Christ’s
mediation. The OT prophecies that both houses were to be sown throughout the
world must coincide with Christ’s mediation, as it requires the tares as the
vehicles to challenge and chastise the saints to prepare them to reign with
Christ at his return.
Again, the OT
prophecies that both houses were to be sown throughout the world must coincide
with Christ’s mediation, as it requires the tares as the instruments to
challenge and chastise the saints to prepare them to reign with Christ at his
return. And as stated in a previous paper, theologian Ernst Wilhelm
Hengstenberg’s influence on the historicist’s interpretation of the Revelation
maintains that God uses the locust army as the highest and last judgment
against his covenant people for their apostasy renders the traditional view of
the seven seals and trumpets untenable. The interpretations that the seals
represent long past phenomena do not agree with the portrayal of the locusts as
the highest and the last judgment upon God’s covenant people. Joel declares the
locusts have “the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run”
(Joel 2:4), which is precisely how the apocalyptic horsemen in the Revelation
are depicted,
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat
on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering,
and to conquer. (Revelation 6:2)
There are several
scriptural reasons why the apocalyptic horsemen represent God’s highest and
last judgment upon the covenant people and not past phenomena, as
traditionalists have thought. The nineteenth-century historicist Edward B.
Elliott, for instance, held the first rider to represent the prosperity and
triumph of the Roman Empire following the first advent of Christ. Moreover,
Elliott’s contemporary, H. Grattan Guinness, held the first seal representing
the depiction of the first century Church missionary exploits. However, a
critical analysis of the symbolism and narration does not support the
traditional interpretations. Firstly, horses as symbols are predominantly
associated with apostasy for reliance upon their illicit power (Deuteronomy 17:16;
Isaiah 2:6–7, 30:15–17; Amos 2:15), which is indicative of the end day covenant
apostasy prophesied of in the New Testament (Matthew 5:13, 24:12; 2
Thessalonians 2:1–12; 1 Timothy 4:1–3; Romans 14:10; 2 Corinthians 5:10). In
Jeremiah, “horsemen and bowmen” represent God’s agent Babylon in judging
Jerusalem because “as a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of
deceit: therefore, they are become great, and waxen rich” (Jeremiah 4:29,
5:27). We see this same condition met as an admonition to come out of mystery
Babylon, as the highest and final event, and from a historicist’s perception.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils,
and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication,
and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the
merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
(Revelation 18:2-3)
Furthermore, 2
Timothy 4:8 maintains we must await Christ’s next advent to receive a crown,
using the exact word for crown we see in Revelation 6:2, which does not support
the interpretation of the first seal as a first advent phenomenon.
There is every
indication that the symbolism and narration of the seven seals are associated
with covenant apostasy in the final days. The association with apostasy is
predicated in the warnings of final churches eras. The fifth church era,
Sardis, conveys a major falling away brought on by the denunciation: “thou hast
a name that thou livest, and art dead” (Revelation 3:1). The precedent for this
judgment is in Amos: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will
not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for
silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes” (Amos 2:6). Sardis represents the
fourth transgression of the seven churches, as Smyrna cannot be counted, and
the punishment is that Christ comes as a thief,
Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard,
and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on
thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
(Revelation 3:3)
The symbolism that
this judgment will come unexpectedly, likened unto to a thief, is also part of
the imagery of God’s locust army.
They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run
upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the
windows like a thief. (Joel 2:9)
The warning of an
impending, unanticipated and final judgment is also supported in the
admonitions to the church in Philadelphia,
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write;
These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of
David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;
I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can
shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not
denied my name… Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to
try them that dwell upon the earth. (Revelation 3:7-8, 10)
The key of David
is a reference to Isaiah 22:22 by which additional discovery can be garnered.
Commentators convey the chapter in Isaiah pertains to a typical example of
impending judgment at the hands of an invading army and the intervention of a
Messiah-type individual that determines who is fit or not to enter the city,
signified by the open and shut door. Again, we see this imagery as the
narration shifts from the seven churches to the seven seals.
After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in
heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking
with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be
hereafter. (Revelation 4:1)
The progressive
guideline “after this” and Christ’s trumpet-like voice gesturing to show us
“things which must be hereafter” convey a contiguous, linear narration and that
the phenomena that follow overlap the last era of the churches. John hears the
same voice heard in Revelation 1:10 that announces the “Day of the LORD,” the
voice that sounds like a trumpet. The sanctuary visions in Revelation 4–5
commences with the sound of the trumpet that represents the call to justice and
the release of the apocalyptic four horsemen that parallels the first part of
Joel. Here we have the “hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the
world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” (Revelation 3:7-8, 10). As the
time of the apocalyptic four horsemen draws near its end in Joel, it invokes a
cry for mercy, a solemn assembly that parallels the fifth seal of Revelation
(Joel 3:15-17). God answers the cries and turns back his locust army, while the
Revelation conveys the next event as the sealing of his covenant people in
chapter 7. This sealing precludes any further harm from the locust conveyed in
the fifth trumpet of Revelation. The forensic evidence that the apocalyptic
horsemen represent God’s highest and last judgment upon the covenant people far
outweighs the traditionalist view that the seals and trumpet are, for the most
part, past eschatological events.
[1] Jerry Huerta, The
Old Testament Prophets Affirm the True Structuring of the Revelation, https://www.academia.edu/70617654/The_Old_Testament_Prophets_Affirm_the_True_Structuring_of_the_Revelation
[2] Stephen R. Lewis,
“The New Covenant: Enacted or Ratified?” Chafer Theological Seminary Journal,
(vol. 8, October–December 2002), 60.
[3] Michael J. Vlach,
Biblical Evidences for a Pretribulational Rapture, https://biblebb.com/files/rapture.htm
[4] The Ryrie
Study Bible, s.v. Daniel 9:26, 1238.
[5] Vlach, Biblical
Evidences for a Pretribulational Rapture.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Kenneth L.
Gentry, Jr., The New Creation in Revelation, (Postmillennial World View
2019)
https://postmillennialworldview.com/2019/08/13/the-new-creation-in-revelation/
[8] Don K. Preston,
Was AD 70 a Type of the “Real” End of the World?, DonKPreston.com, https://donkpreston.com/was-ad-70-a-shadow-of-the-real-end-of-the-world/
[9] Michael J.
Sullivan, The “First” “Present” Holy Place (Old Covenant) Removed and The
Most Holy Place (New Covenant) Established in AD 70 at Christ’s Second
Appearing (Hebrews 9:6-10, 26-28),
Full Preterism.com, https://fullpreterism.com/meditations-on-1-kings-617hebrews-98revelation-2116-old-covenant-ageexodus-holy-place-v-new-covenant-ageexodus-most-holy-place-the-first-being-removed-and-the-second/
[10] Rodney J. Decker Th.D., “The Law, the New Covenant, and the Christian; Studies in Hebrews 7–10,” NT Resources.com, (September 2009), 23. http://ntresources.com/ blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/NewCovenantHebrews7-10 CDH 09x.pdf
This post is a postscript to the book above, which is available here.
