The Seventh Seal

In our work, we show that Revelation chapters 1–11 align with the seven festivals of the Hebraic cultic calendar, focusing specifically on the antitypical Yom Teruah, or Feast of Trumpets.

We hold that the seven months between the Spring and Fall Festivals in the OT foreshadowed the seven church eras, and that the events illustrated by the seven seals begin with the seventh church era, Laodicea, and the events of the seven trumpets begin with the seventh seal, confirmed in Rev. 8:1-6. Finally, the harvest commences with the seventh trumpet, confirmed in Rev. 11.15-18.

In this view, the seven seals follow the two-part pattern of the Day of the Lord, which is also supported in 1 Peter 4:17.

 

1 Peter 4

16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

The two-part pattern, or bifurcation, of the Day of the Lord is also supported by OT prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Amos, Zephaniah, Zechariah, and Malachi.

Furthermore, 1 Thessalonians 5:2–4, 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10, and 2 Peter 3:10-12 show that the Church should anticipate the Day of the Lord and not be overtaken like a thief if we are vigilant.

This evidence supports that the four horsemen and the opening seals represent judgment on God’s people, as made clear by the martyrs of the 5th seal. They want their blood avenged upon those who dwell on the earth, which refers to the phenomenon represented by the rider of the red horse, who takes peace from the earth so that they should slay one another.

They are told that the last of their brethren must expire in the same manner and must wait a “little season” before God judges those who shed their blood. At the opening of the seventh seal, God begins to judge those who shed their blood, and the release of the angels with the 7 trumpets reveals that the little season has passed. These illustrations fit the two-part pattern of the Day of the Lord. Judgment begins with God’s people and then shifts to those who refuse to obey him. Again, this evidence supports the view that the seven seals represent the Day of the Lord and that Revelation chapters 1-11 follow the pattern set forth by the seven festivals in the Hebraic cultic calendar.

 

The interpretation of the four horsemen as the Day of the Lord is also supported with the evidence that Sardis is warned that Christ would come upon them as a thief if they do not repent, which is idiomatic for the Day of the Lord. In 1 Thess 5:2 we read,

 

1 Thessalonians 5

2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

Paul connects the Day of the Lord to a phenomenon that comes as a thief upon those in darkness who fail to remain vigilant, supporting Christ’s delay rather than his imminence. Furthermore, the warning is to the Church in general and cannot be ascribed simply to one congregation, which supports the prophetic interpretation of the seven churches. In the prophetic interpretation, Sardis belongs to a period at the end of this age, as the Day of the Lord draws near. Furthermore, the trial before the next Church, Philadelphia, supports a linear prophetic narrative of the final three churches as this age draws to an end. In Revelation 3, starting in verse 7, we read,

Revelation 3

7 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.

8 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…

10 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.

In support of the linear narration of the seven churches, the antitypical Day of the Lord comes to fruition in the Laodicean period, marked by the evidence that she is ignorant and separated from God, which is the general condition of the people of God on the Day of the Lord according to the OT. This condition of God’s people on the Day of the Lord stems from scriptures like Amos 5:18-20, Joel 2:31, Zephaniah 1:14-15, Isaiah 13:6, and Ezekiel 30:3 that hold that the Day represents darkness, apathy, spiritual ignorance, and separation from God. This is the condition of the Church at the end, according to 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 1 Timothy 4:1–3, 2 Timothy 4:3–4, Matthew 24:12, 2 Peter 2:1–2, and 2 Peter 3:3.

 

Further evidence that the Laodicean period is the period of judgment, the Day of the Lord, is supported by Daniel’s time of the end.

Daniel 12

4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased…

9 And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand. 

Daniel prophesied that a time would come when knowledge and travel would explode or increase, while at the same time the righteous would be tried by the wicked doing wickedly, which relates to Christ’s delay in the NT. As 2 Peter 3:3 prophesied, scoffers are common when Christ returns, which again proves that the wicked do more wickedly in our days, coinciding with the increase of knowledge and travel, according to what Daniel prophesied about the time of the end.

 

In Jeremiah 4:19, the prophet relays “the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war” as a warning to flee from “the noise of the horsemen and bowmen” in verse 29. Here we see a parallel with the four horsemen in Revelation. Then in verse 30, he likens the people of Jerusalem to a woman and declares, “And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.”

 

Jeremiah 4

19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trump, the alarm of war…

29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

30 And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

 

In Jeremiah 5, God punished ancient Jerusalem because their houses were full of deceit, likened to a cage of unclean or deceitful birds.

 

Jeremiah 5

25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you.

26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.

28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.  

 

We see this same condition of the harlot Babylon in Revelation 18:2.

 

Revelation 18

1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2 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…

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

In the typical historical account, the Babylonians were the spoilers, and instead of showing atonement to prevent the invasion, they relied on wealth, alliances with Egypt, and outward appearances. After seventy years of captivity in Babylon, God turns against Babylon to restore a remnant of his people to Jerusalem, following the pattern of the Day of the Lord. In Jeremiah 51 we read how God ordained the typical destruction of Babylon at the hands of the Persians. 

  

Jeremiah 51

1 Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind…

25 Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the LORD, which destroyest all the earth: and I will stretch out mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain.

 

The pattern of the Day of the Lord is obvious: God judges His own people first, then their enemies, and finally restores a remnant of His people who repent.

 

This whole pattern is illustrated in Christ's mediation to the Church in the apocalypse according to John. At the sounding of a trumpet, the seven seals are opened, and the bowman and horsemen. Christ’s voice sounds the trumpet, likened to Yom Teruah, the Feast of Trumpets. In Rev 4:1 we read,

 

Revelation 4:

1 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.

 

From a historicist’s perspective, at the sounding of Christ’s trumpet-like voice, the things that must be hereafter would be the phenomena of the four horsemen and the Day of the Lord, which judges God’s people, according to the fifth seal. In Rev 6 we read,

 

Revelation 6

9 And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11 And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

 

Again, the little season ends upon the sounding of the trumpets, since the judgments begin to fall on those who do not obey the gospel, fulfilling the pattern of the Day of the Lord. The locusts are commanded not to hurt those with the seal of God at the sounding of the fifth trumpet. And at the sounding of the sixth trumpet, fire burns the third part of men who refuse to repent of the worship of devils. They still hold to their idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, nor repent of their murders, sorceries, their fornications, and their thefts, which affirms the little season has ended, and God begins to avenge the blood of the martyrs.

 

In the apocalypse God warns his people to come out of Babylon because she has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. In Revelation 18 we read,

 

Revelation 18

1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.

2 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…

4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

 

Babylon is the enemy of God’s people in the apocalypse, since she is drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs in Christ. In Rev 17, we read,

 

Revelation 17

5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

 

There is debate about who Babylon is in the Apocalypse. In Jeremiah, Babylon is the ancient enemy of God’s people that shed their blood. Still, under Christ’s mediation, the enemy of God’s people is their own household, according to the gospels. In Matthew 10, we read,

 

Matthew 10

34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.

36 And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.

 

Under the Old Covenant, God used heathen nations to discipline His people, Israel, but under the New Covenant, the Church isn’t tied to one nation—it’s spread worldwide. Consequently, the four horsemen and Babylon can’t be interpreted as a heathen nation, and this agrees with Matthew 10:36. And according to the New Testament, the day of the Lord isn’t imminent until the church falls away and the enemy is within and seated in the temple of God.

 

2 Thessalonians 2

1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

 

Historicists agree that, in this age, God does not dwell in temples made by hands, according to Acts 7:48. In this age, the congregation represents the temple of God, according to 1 Corinthians 3:16 and other sources. Paul’s warning to the Thessalonians is that, as the Day of the Lord nears, the enemies of God's people will be in their households.

 

Micah ch. 7 is the source of Christ’s warning that the enemies of his Church would be those of their own household. In Micah 7, we read,

    

Micah 7

1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.

2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net…

6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

 

The gathering of the summer fruit, the grapes, pertains to the final harvest and is idiomatic of the Day of the Lord in the seventh month, the Feast of Trumpets, and the Day of Atonement.

 

 

The Mystery of the Seven Heads in Revelation

 

By Marsue and Jerry Huerta

 

 

In Rev 3:18 we are counseled to buy from Christ gold tried in fire and in 1 Cor 3:12-13 the gold tried in fire is defined as doctrine, the beliefs and teachings in Christendom.

 

The doctrines of Christendom throughout time are symbolized as gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble in 1 Cor 3:12. The significance is that the sound beliefs and teaching from Christ are hard to find, while the unfit ones are common and easily found. It’s like the road to salvation that’s hard to find.

 

 

On the subject of the 7 heads, there are a number of Beasts with 7 heads. The one we will focus on is the scarlet beast in Rev 17

 

Revelation 17

7    But the angel said to me, "Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her.

8    The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. ESV

 

The reason we use the ESV will become apparent presently. We highlight this beast because it’s uniquely stated that it, was and is not and is to come.  In essence, it has an inactive period and its revived again, which is not the case for the other beasts.  Furthermore, Revelation relates that grasping this mystery (that was, is not, and is to come) exposes the meaning of the seven heads.This is what we see when we continue in Rev 17,

 

Revelation 17

9    This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;

10   they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.

11   As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. ESV

 

Here is why we use the ESV. The KJV translates they are also seven kings as “And there are seven kings” which is poor translation. The KJV confuses the evidence that the seven heads are renamed mountains and then kings, making them a series of appositives. We also see John’s use of appositives in Revelation 12:9. Daniel and John both use the literary device of appositives to hide the prophecies from the powers that be so as to not arouse them to destroy the scriptures. If John had revealed the Dragon was the Roman empire they would have tried to destroy the book.

Let’s return to the passage in Revelation.

 

Now, each of the fallen kings in Revelation 17:10 WAS, AND IS NOT, from John’s POINT OF VIEW, which is the time that the sixth king or head reigns, insomuch as kings reign or have a time in which they hold power over a dominion.

 

Let us emphasize kings reign, they have power and dominion by every definition of the term king. And when it says they are fallen it means that each one was but is not at the time that the sixth king reigns.

 

Again, Revelation 17:10 means that the five kings held power over a dominion that ended before the time of the sixth king, just like the beast that was and is not from John’s POINT OF VIEW. This evidence proves the beast that rises out of the bottomless pit is one of the five kings who have fallen from John’s point of view. In essence, the beast that rises from the bottomless pit cannot be the sixth or seventh king, but must be one of the five kings or heads that reigned before the time of the sixth king, because it was, and is not, while the sixth king is!

 

The evidence that the revived head is one of the five that had fallen seems to evade most expositors, which consigns their doctrine on the seven heads as the common wood, hay and stubble of 1 Cor 3:12. They seem incapable of understanding tenses in grammar: past, present, future–was, is not, and is to come–is insolvable puzzle for the preponderance of expositors.

 

We see this problem especially with the supersessionists and dispensationalists in that they misrepresent that the revived head as the sixth one.

 

Supersessionist Jay Rogers and Daniel Morais hold the revived head is the sixth one, which they interpret as the emperor Nero,

 

Second, John says the eighth “is of the seven” (Revelation 17:11). This is an idiom that we might have difficulty with today. Apparently, he means that the eighth was revealed to him later, but he is of the seven. In other words, the eighth king is one of the seven. He is the king who “is” at the time John is writing Revelation. In other words, the “eighth” that John saw is actually the same emperor as the “sixth.” If this seems to be a stretch to say the eighth “is of the seven,” actually the sixth, compare this with Daniel 7:8.

Jay Rogers, “Notes on Daniel: Interpreting Revelation 17 with Daniel 7,” https://www.forerunner.com/daniel/X0023_Notes_on_Daniel__par

 

As explained in the commentary on Revelation 13, the head of the beast with the “fatal” wound in Revelation 13:3 is generally understood to be Nero who killed himself by stabbing himself in the neck. The healing of the fatal wound is generally understood to refer to the rise of the Flavian Dynasty at the accession of Vespasian… Vespasian must be the seventh, and Titus the eighth head of the beast.

Daniel Morais, “Revelation 17: A Preterist Commentary,” https://www.revelationrevolution.org/revelation-17-a-preterist-commentary/

 

Dispensationalist John Walvoord also treats the sixth head as the revived head,

 

The final form of world government, symbolized by the eighth beast itself, is the world empire of the great tribulation time. The revived Roman Empire which will be in sway immediately after the rapture of the church is apparently indicated by the seventh head, while the beast, described in verse 11 as the eighth, is the world empire, which is destroyed by Jesus Christ at His second coming.

John F. Walvoord, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ,” https://walvoord.com/article/275

 

When Walvoord wrote the revived Roman empire becomes the seventh world empire it’s because the dispensationalists and historicists hold the seven heads or kings as world empires in agreement with Daniel, as opposed to the supersessionists who interpret them simply as Roman emperors. The interpretation that the seven kings are Roman emperors is founded on errors and misrepresentations, which is a subject for future videos. The kingdoms of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome in Daniel are renamed as heads, mountains and kings by John according to historicist and dispensationalists, which is the superior interpretation that complements Daniel’s work.

 

And here’s the issue with the supersessionists and dispensationalists. In the case of the supersessionists, how did Titus, whom the supersessionists hold as the revived head, come before Nero? Their doctrines are absent any answer to this because of their error that the sixth king is the one that is revived. If the sixth king or head is interpreted as Nero then the supersessionists have to explain the absurdity of how the Roman emperor Titus came before Nero. And when the dispensationalists interpret the sixth head as the ancient Roman empire they have to explain the absurdity of how a future revived Roman empire “was” before the ancient Roman empire.  

 

Revelation 17:9-11 affirms that the revived beast “was” before the sixth head or king, and if one interprets the sixth king as the Roman Empire then they must explain how the beast that rises out of the bottomless pit reigned before the Roman empire, which leads to all sorts of absurdities in preterism and dispensational futurism.

 

The only way to avoid such absurdities is to realize that John is taken to the future to see the judgment of the harlot Babylon and the passage is a prolepsis, a future act or development that is represented as if already accomplished or existing. Such literary devices are not uncommon in scripture and this is upheld in the evidence that one of the angels with the seven vials or plagues shows John the “judgment” of the harlot,

 

Revelation 17

1   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 prostitute who is seated on many waters,

2   with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk." ESV

 

From the historicist and dispensationalist’s rules of interpretation the judgments concerning the final plagues are at the end of this age, not at the beginning as the preterists hold. Here is where our evidence presented in our video “The Philadelphia Church” supports that Rev 17 is a prolepsis, a future perspective. Daniel 12 supports that the trial or judgement related in Rev 17 is at “the time of the end” in which knowledge is increased and men travel to and fro, which we see in modern times beyond anything in the past. Are we to suppose that God did not see that the greatest increases in knowledge and the transversing of the globe occurs in our modern times? If so, then the judgment of the harlot was set for our day, not John’s, and we will affirm this as we continue to produce future videos.

 

Furthermore, the head that is revived was presented in the previous chapter 13 as the beast that rises out of the sea,

 

Revelation 13

3    One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast…

 

11   Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

12   It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. ESV

 

The “first beast” in the chapter refers to the beast that rises out of the sea. According to verse 12, it is the head that is revived, which places Chapter 17 in chronological order, specifically around the time when the head is wounded or its power is broken, preceding the reign of the sixth king. This is supported by the detail that when the beast from the sea and the scarlet beast are revived, the world “marvels,” which supports their identity as the same. In other words, in Rev 17, John renames the beast that rises from the sea as the scarlet beast in its wounded period, using the literary device of a prolepsis,

 

Revelation 17

8   The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. ESV

 

Revelation 17:9-11 demands wisdom to understand; it reveals that the series of the beasts in Revelation starts with Daniel’s fourth beast. Daniel’s fourth beast is renamed the dragon in Revelation 12 through the literary device of appositives. Daniel’s little horn is renamed the beast that rises from the sea and is the fifth head, making the sixth head the beast that rises from the earth, and the image becomes the seventh head. Between Daniel and Revelation, we can account for all seven heads. A big part of the mystery of the seven heads is revealed in grasping that Daniel and Revelation complement each other in revealing the “time of the end.”

 

The understanding that John uses the literary devices of appositives and prolepsis, especially in Revelation 17, is as rare and hard to find as gold, silver, and precious stones. The eschatological doctrines of preterism and dispensationalism are as common as wood, hay, and stubble because they fail to grasp the devices in the chapter. It takes wisdom to learn that the fifth head is in our past and that we live in the time of the sixth head in Revelation 17:10.   

 

The exposé that Rev 17 utilizes these literary devices was developed some 60 years or more ago by Historicists like George McCready Price. Citing from Price’s book, Time of the End, concerning the harlot riding the beast, we read, 

 

But, as before stated, the point of time from which the beast and its rider are seen by the apostle is our own day, the time of the end, not the time of the Roman emperors.

George McCready Price, Time of the End (Southern Pub. Association; 1st edition, 1967), 31.

 

 

George McCready Price was a Canadian creationist. He produced a number of anti-evolution and creationist works, principally on the subject of flood geology. Price's defense of creation science first achieved wide notability in 1925 when his theories and arguments were utilized powerfully by William Jennings Bryan in the famous Scopes Trial; Clarence Darrow appealed fallaciously to authority. Price went on to study eschatology from a historicist’s perspective that led him to publish “Time of the End,” which has contributed to the wisdom in opening the book of Revelation.

 

One must do a tremendous amount of research to fine such doctrine today, which makes it was rare as gold, silver and precious stones. It is the gold tried in fire. With such knowledge we are able to discern the doctrines of gold, silver and precious stones from those that are wood, hay and stubble.  

 

To identify the little horn or fifth head, one must look at the criteria in Daniel and Revelation to find the power that rose at the end of the Roman Empire. Revelation 13:2 states that the dragon, the Roman Empire, gave its power and his throne and great authority to the beast from the sea. One has to have a grasp of the history of the Roman Empire to decipher what power arose to wield control of the defunct Roman Empire and upon the very seat that Rome held its dominion. Revelation 13 also maintains that the beast from the sea also has a likeness to the Greek, Persian, and Babylonian empires by the description of the beast,

 

Revelation 13

2   And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority.

 

The leopard, bear and lion are the beasts in Daniel 7 and what they all had in common is that they held established religions, they held no separation between religion and state.

 

The mystery of the seven heads begins with grasping the evidence that the final manifestation of Satan’s power is the revival of the fifth head or king, which is in our past, while the sixth king reigns now.

 

And identifying the fifth, sixth and seventh heads is the subject of future videos. 

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The Philadelphian Church Era

by Jerry Huerta

copyright 2024

Historicism holds the seven churches as literal, symbolic, and prophetic. In the prophetic sense, knowing the ethos or the defining spirit or mood of the Church in a particular historical period corresponds with the letters to the churches. The ethos of specific eras of the Church is not ignored by those who value knowledge and understanding,

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction… How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? (Proverbs 1:7, 22)​

Church history follows the letters to the churches. Respectively, we live in an ethos of a commercial society, and according to the prophetic sense, the Church in our day is market-driven, influenced by our market-driven society,

And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God… Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. (Revelation 3:14, 17)​

Seeking God and pursuing knowledge allows us to discern the characteristics of different church eras, which affirms the letter to the Church in Laodicea reflects our current ethos.

Understanding the ideal ethos of the Church, often referred to as the city on a hill, is crucial, insomuch Christ praised the church in Philadelphia. Philadelphia represents a brief but true restoration of the Church before entering the era of the Laodicea in modern times. Most historicists and even futurists agree that Sardis represents the Reformation based on the interpretation of the name. Historicist David Wilcoxson explains the meaning of Sardis,

is the “escaping one,” or those who “come out,” so it’s an excellent symbol of the church era during the Reformation period when the Protestants preached the Gospel.[1]​

The ethos of Sardis was outlined in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians,

Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18)​

Protestantism escaped the ecclesiocracy of the Papacy, only to be caught in the unholy union again, as documented by former associate editor of Ministry Magazine, Orley M. Berg,

The letter to Sardis is strikingly appropriate to the post-Reformation period of the church, a period fittingly described as “the age of dead orthodoxy.” Appropriate dates suggested for the Sardis period are from the close of the Council of Trent in 1563 to the beginning of the great religious awakening in 1734.​

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Instead of continuing its work of restoration, the Reformation committed the great error of submitting the church to the protection and support of civil authorities. Although separating from the established church, Protestants became subject to the state. In so doing, the church was forced to compromise some of the basic tenets of evangelical Protestantism and to protect her creeds in endless controversies.​

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This greatly contributed to spiritual deterioration. Church life largely became little more than form and ceremony; preaching centered on promoting right thinking, with little regard for the condition of the heart. According to Newman, the church historian, personal conversion, even in the case of ministers of the Gospel, seems not to have been expected.[2]​

Only Christ lawfully possesses the authority residing in both miter and crown, authority over matters in church and temporal affairs, and the latter consummated at his return (Psalm 110). The Papacy’s attempt to wield power in both jurisdictions as an ecclesiocracy is what made it blasphemous, fulfilling Daniel 7:8 and Revelation 13:5. Protestantism separated itself from the blasphemous power of the Papacy but then held intercourse with the princes of the earth, which is why Sardis is judged almost dead, and many arrayed in defiled garments,

And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write; These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars; I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead. (Revelation 3:1)​

Historians such as sociologist George M. Thomas concur,

The Reformation found its first alliance with the territorial prince, partly because of a mutual interest in undermining imperial church authority, but basically because of a similar ontology based on rationalizing principles and a common acceptance of a rational central authority (Walzer 1965). The spread of the Reformation throughout the town councils must be interpreted in the larger political context of its isomorphism with the prince as well as with the town’s increasing dependence on and incorporation into the central authority.[3]​

Berg goes on to verify that “there were faithful ones in Sardis,”

Truly it could be said of the church in the Sardis period, “Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.”​

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But, as in every period of the church, there were faithful ones in Sardis. God declared, “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy” (verse 4).​

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During this time, a third force was at work, in addition to both Rome and the established churches of the Reformation. Known as the Radical Reformation, it advocated the principle of a free church in a free state.[4]​

Berg comments further on the Radical Reformers,

The hallmark of the Radical Reformers was their zeal for New Testament Christianity and their emphasis on complete freedom for each believer to worship God according to his own conscience…​

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History testifies that the basic principles of American democracy had their roots, not in the established churches of the Reformation, but in the so-called “sects” of the third force, or Radical Reformation. Through these groups the true spirit of the evangelical Reformation was preserved and advanced.[5]​

Berg verifies the origins of the movement that led to the Philadelphian era. The spirit or ethos of a free state abides where “rulers are the servants and the people,” which Benjamin Franklin and the founders of the United States held.[6] This is the ethos of the Philadelphian era, which Christ affirmed,

But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:25-28)​

The rules of the unbelievers cannot resist the carnal nature to subjugate and exploit the people under them. However, a free state is founded upon the principles of a more perfect union, one of the common good, a pledge to domestic tranquility, the common defense, and the general welfare to posterity. This was the pledge to the people of the United States and why it was in America that the Philadelphian ethos flourished for a brief interval. American evangelical author Nancy R. Pearcey documents this time as one in which the people briefly held the ethos of the common good, as opposed to self-interests,

In the colonial period, the husband and father was regarded as the head of the household— and headship had a highly specific definition: It was defined as a divinely sanctioned office that conferred a duty to represent not his own individual interests but those of the entire household. This was an extension of the classical republican political theory discussed in chapter 10, in which a social institution (family, church, or state) was regarded as an organic unity where all shared in a common good. There was a “good” for individuals, but there was also a “good” of the whole, which was more than the sum of its parts— and this latter was the responsibility of the one in authority. He was called to sacrifice his own interests— to be disinterested— in order to represent the interests of the whole. 12 Husbands and fathers were not to be driven by personal ambition or self-interest but to take responsibility for the common good of the entire household.[7]​

The ethos of the Philadelphian era is one of promoting the common good, in which the rulers are the servants to the people, which was held for a brief period at the founding and colonial period in America, lasting into the mid-nineteenth century. The era culminated with the rise of the merchants, who were fostered by Protestant factions bent on self-interest. It was this latter faction that held intercourse with the princes, fulfilling the illustrations of the harlot Babylon,

And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. 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. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. (Revelation 18:1-5)​

We are called to come out of an ethos of self-interest and into one in which we uphold the common good, which is the ethos of the Philadelphian Church and the 144 thousand.


[1] David Wilcoxson, Revelation Timeline Decoded, Independently published (January 14, 2021) 257.

[2] Orley M. Berg, Sardis The Dead Church, Ministry Magazine, November 1978, 17.

[3] George M. Thomas, Revivalism and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press; Revised edition (January 19, 1998), 147.

[4] Berg, Sardis The Dead Church

[5] Berg, Sardis The Dead Church

[6] July 26, 1787: A Last Debate before Adjourning, July 26, 1787: A Last Debate before Adjourning (U.S. National Park Service)

[7] Nancy R. Pearcey, TOTAL TRUTH Liberating Christianity from Its Cultural Captivity, Crossway; Study Guide edition (February 28, 2008), 328.

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