Author: Dr. A.A. Leenhouts
Date: 2016-06-30T00:00:00+00:00
Description: This book raises the question whether the Apocalypse does indeed contain a clear mirror—reflecting the concrete earthly history. Is it all that surprising that many people—notably due to the numerous interpretations of the text of the Apocalypse as pertaining to present and future—put aside this last book of the Bible with a sigh, as if it were sealed forever with seven seals? In The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse, Dr. A.A. Leenhouts postulates that it would be utterly meaningless if it were impossible to discover a historic context—even under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. In this book, h
Publisher: Jilco Ministries

The seven Shofarim in the apocalypse
judgments as a light breaking through

(cf. Hosea 6:5)

Rev. Dr. A.A. Leenhouts

______
shofar series
volume ii

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primo vere bv
the hague, (2010)

COPYRIGHT

© 2010 Primo Vere bv.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

Primo Vere bv, P.O.Box 82411, 2508 ek The Hague, The Netherlands.

www.primovere.nl

Original title: De zeven Sjofarim in de Apocalyps

Translation L.W. Dessauvagie, A. Kok – Stigter

Chief Editor Dr. C. Kutsch Lojenga

With recognition to H. Hanemaayer

Cover illustration by M. Koekkoek – Meijer

Design by C.M. Goslinga

Printed by Van de Garde Jémé, Eindhoven

Epublication by Jilco Ministries, 2016

P.O. Box 369, Clinton, BC V0K 1K0, Canada

The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse

Judgments as a light breaking through

A.A. Leenhouts
isbn 978-90-7301-15-2
ebook isbn 978-0-9869075-7-9

Scripture quotations taken from the holy bible, new international version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

Used by permission of Hodder and Stoughton, a member of Hodder Headline Ltd.  All rights reserved.

Some Scripture quotations have been taken from the holy bible, king james version. Copyright © by Oxford University Press, Aman House, London E.C. 4. Used by permission. All of these are marked as [kjv].

Some Scripture quotations have been taken from the new king james version. Copyright © by Thomas Nelson. Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All of these are marked as [nkjv].

Quotations from Dutch authors are translated into English from the Dutch language but are quoted verbatim in the footnotes.

Contents

COPYRIGHT

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

The pastoral nature of the Apocalypse

The voice behind Mary Magdalene

The voice behind the seer on the island of Patmos

The ancient frontline in the Apocalypse

A STRANGE RESIDENCE PERMIT

The calling of Abraham

The fulness of time

The antithesis of a temple tower

The recurring pattern

The day of Jesus

In the mirror of the episode of Abimelech

THE SHOFARIM AND THEIR FORMATION

The shofar

John’s tears

The coming of the Lamb

The formation

The outline of the Apocalypse

THE SHOFARIM AND THEIR EFFECT

The threshing season

A vacuum?

The decisive criterion

From the ‘night of the Passover’ to ‘Easter morning’

Merciful vengeance in a liturgical form

THE GREAT INTERLUDE

The herald and the king

The three aspects

The herald angel and the royal thunders in Revelation 10

The Feast of Tabernacles

The remote place and the late hour

The parallel with Revelation 10

PRAISE AND WORSHIP IN THE VANGUARD

The battle plan of the Most High

Jehoshaphat

A prophetic model

The prophetic pattern is always current

THE MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE IN THE SYMBOLISM OF DIVINE REVELATION

God’s silence

On the third day

The Samaritan woman

The miraculous draught of fish

The cleansing of the temple

New Age or God’s ‘Third Day’?

THE LAST ROUND

The curve of the end times

The temple

The interpretation

Measure the temple

PREFACE

The Apocalypse is a ‘musical arrangement’, whose score was written in liturgical hieroglyphs. The key for deciphering these hieroglyphs lies hidden in Revelation 10.

When a person thinks that God has allowed him to participate in the disclosure of the penultimate secret of Revelation 10, the only thing he should do is to glorify God for that. After all, there is a big difference between reaching a conclusion through study and meditation and then arbitrarily granting it a higher authority on the one hand, and direct revelation by the Holy Spirit on the other hand.

This book, along with the other volumes of the Shofar series, is meant to be a testimony of a revelation given by the Holy Spirit in 1948, for which God only be glorified. Furthermore it is meant to serve the purpose of establishing the true unification of God’s children.

“The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse” should not be read separately from the first volume, which has already been published, or from the volumes which, God willing, will follow. Each volume offers an explanation of the different aspects regarding the harmony of the given vision as a whole.

A.A. Leenhouts

April 1995

The Shofar series consists of

Introduction – A Call to the Church and to Israel

1. – The Man with the Jar (2008)

2. – The seven Shofarim in the Apocalypse

3. – Joseph’s Cup

4. – The Fulness of the Gentiles

INTRODUCTION

The pastoral nature of the Apocalypse

Since time immemorial, the liturgical use of the shofar has taken a central place in traditional Jewry. In the different meanings attached to the sounding of the shofar, the reminder of Isaac’s sacrifice, the so-called ‘Akedah’, is prominent. The ram in the thicket served as a substitute, and this substitute was the basis for the residence permit at the well of the oath: Beersheba.

Before contemplating the way in which the shofar became a metaphor in the Apocalypse, it is important to pay attention to a specific detail in the story of Isaac’s sacrifice on Mount Moriah. In Genesis 22:13, it says: “And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns...” [kjv]. So Abraham had to look back and turn around, and then go towards the ram. He had to release it and take it and accept it as the substitute. In doing so, Abraham became an example for the believers of all times. To say it in Isaiah’s words: “Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it” (Isaiah 30:21).

It is, therefore, much more than an insignificant incident that Abraham heard the angel’s voice behind him, and had to turn around. This shows us the pastoral character of all genuine prophecy.

Dr. L.A. Snijders makes the following remark on Isaiah 30:21:

“The people will not be lacking ‘torah’, i.e. instructions and indications or prophetic guidelines. The people will hear words behind them, guidelines for their lives. One should also bear in mind that the shepherd often walks behind his flock. The prophet makes it clear that in the new era, people will no longer be led astray.” [1]

In a footnote he adds:

“In K. Lange’s book “Egypt”, 1953, we find the following love poem on a preserved piece of limestone from Thebe:

let … the daughter of … walk behind me
as an ox behind his food,
as a servant girl behind her children,
as a shepherd behind his flock.” [2]

Here, one might ask the question if this is not in contradiction to the image that Jesus uses in John 10:4 about the good shepherd going ahead of his sheep.

Certainly not! One thing does not need to exclude the other. Once the sheep have been led out of the fold and taken to the pasture, the shepherd may also position himself behind the flock.

So, the voice that sounds from behind is the voice of the Shepherd.

The voice behind Mary Magdalene

It should, therefore, not surprise us to hear this ‘voice sounding from behind’, precisely in the most significant turns in the history of salvation. In Mark 16:9, we read:

“When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons.”

She was the first!

The Risen Lord already belongs to the “hereafter”, to the realm that is imperishable, to eternity. The entire history of salvation culminated in this crucial moment in world history: the crucifixion of Jesus as the Lamb of God, who was to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29). His resurrection is a confirmation of the fact that His sacrifice on the cross means reconciliation for a lost world. So it is certainly very special to be chosen by God as the first one to witness this.

A lot of fuss was made about the first landing on the moon and the first human being who set foot there. It was seen as a historic event and was acclaimed by all the media and got global publicity. But how infinitely more does the fact that Mary Magdalene was the first person to see Jesus after his resurrection stand out above this moon landing, however spectacular that was in our eyes. Nobody should say that it was a coincidence that it happened to Mary, and that it might just as well have happened to Salome or any other woman or disciple.

This was by no means a chance happening!

When a special ceremony is to take place, e.g., the coronation of a monarch or the inauguration of a president, the protocol is scrupulously taken care of prior to the event. So when studying carefully the report about Jesus’ resurrection, it becomes obvious that (as appears in the accompanying events in this great miracle) everything had been precisely and meaningfully arranged, including the burial cloths. The protocol had been decided upon in heaven.

What if we had been allowed to organise all the details around His resurrection? Let us assume this for a moment. We might have decided that the first person to see Him should be His own mother, Mary. She deserves it: A sword pierced her soul. Or maybe Peter, as that might benefit his prestige in the coming church. Somebody else might have preferred John. Had he not always had the place of honour close to Jesus?

However, it was Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons.

Why her?

Might it be that by doing so, God wanted to establish a sign of His love that seeks the lost, even the most profoundly lost and degenerate of humanity? Of course it is true that God’s love seeks to save that which is lost, but this is not the only explanation of the fact that He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. If we want to have an answer to this question, we should realise that from the very start of the divine revelation, the original theme has been that God betrothes a bride to Himself through the redemption that He is offering to a lost world.

In Hosea 2:19, God tells Israel: “I will betroth you to me forever.” And when John the Baptist (who was, as Jesus indicated, the Elijah for that period of time) appears, the theme of his message is: “The bride belongs to the bridegroom” (John 3:29). His entire prophetic work is the continuation of what had been announced in the Old Testament, namely that God is betrothing to Himself a bride on this earth.

The apostle Paul says the same in 2 Corinthians 11:2:

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to him.”

Again that same betrothal!

And the entire history of salvation will end in a new and redeemed Jerusalem coming down from heaven, from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband (Revelation 21:2). We are invited to the wedding of the Lamb. God betroths to Himself a bride by a redemptive intervention, namely by delivering her from a sevenfold demon possession.

This is what the essence of Israel’s exemplary history looks like. And Israel’s history is the representative core of world history. Israel is God’s firstborn son (Exodus 4:22).

The deliverance from Egypt was a deliverance through the blood of the Passover Lamb from the power of Satan. Satan intended to make use of the deified Pharaoh and his colossal totalitarian state in order to destroy the promised ‘seed of the woman’.

The same thing is true for the entry into Canaan.

Literally seven nations are driven out of the country, so as to make room for the people to whom God had promised the land under oath (Deuteronomy 7:1). It was no less than God’s own power of exorcism by which the land was delivered from a ‘sevenfold demon possession’. The entire exodus, the march through the desert and the entry into Canaan were only a foreshadowing of the breakthrough of the Kingdom of God in the fulness of time.

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead. And the first person allowed to be an eyewitness of His entry into the ‘promised land’ of imperishableness is Mary Magdalene, whom He has delivered from seven demons.

Jesus’ resurrection is the divine evidence of the truth that there is reconciliation for all who believe in the Name of Jesus by the blood sacrifice of Golgotha. But inextricably linked to this reconciliation is the fact that His resurrection establishes the sign that the works of Satan have been destroyed. Scripture puts this very clearly: “He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8).

We, who believe, have an enemy with a crushed head (Genesis 3:15).

A little dewdrop can reflect the entire surrounding nature: the plants and the trees, the clouds and the blue sky. Couldn’t it therefore be possible for one redeemed woman to reflect all God’s work of redemption and the ways in which He achieves that?

Mary Magdalene is definitely a prototype of God betrothing His bride, in particular from the Jewish people. Hence His words: “Touch me not” (John 20:17 [kjv]). By this, Jesus implied that He still needed to complete the betrothal of His bride from the Gentile world as well.

In this connection, Jesus says in John 10:16:

“I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.”

After this correction, he immediately tells Mary Magdalene: “Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). The ascension will imply the universal betrothal of the bride from all nations!

In Matthew 28:7, we find a further description of this command: “...and [He] is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.”

This is the Galilee of the Gentiles (Matthew 4:15; Isaiah 8:23-9:1).

This is where He recruited the ‘fishers of men’; this is where, twice, the miraculous draught of fish took place; this is also where He fed the multitude miraculously twice, and where He walked on the turbulent sea. This is also the place where the commandment “to go and make disciples of all nations”, was heard as the starting signal for casting out the ‘sevenfold demon possession’ in which all mankind is trapped. In this work of exorcism, God will involve His church completely. Paul says:

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Romans 16:20).

Mary Magdalene is a prototype of the church as the ‘bride’, in particular from Israel, just as the Samaritan woman is the prototype of the church as the ‘bride’ from the Gentile world. Jesus said to her: “...you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband.” (John 4:18), and He became for her, as it were, the ‘seventh’, the heavenly bridegroom. Behind that one corn stalk, He saw the full harvest shining. He was so deeply moved that He could not eat. “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34). Note He says: “to finish”!

The fulness of the harvest can already be seen through this one corn stalk: Jesus said: “Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35). And “... He stayed two days” (verse 40).

All the aspects of Mary Magdalene’s encounter with Jesus, the Risen Lord, were of a high and pure standard. This very clearly contains a message for all times. With this entire story, we are invited to acknowledge that behind all this must lie an election—a heavenly protocol—and so the details of the way in which Mary Magdalene’s eyes were opened to recognise her Lord and Saviour are certainly not accidental or irrelevant.

Let us restrict ourselves here to the decisive moment:

“Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned towards him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher)” (John 20:16).

Here again, we notice the pastoral theme: the voice behind her. In the I-you relationship of the bridegroom and the bride, the mutual recognition and the acknowledgement is something subtle and also very elementary. When Jesus asked her a few questions: “Woman … why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”, she did not recognise Him yet, not even His voice or His accent. Questions can often be penetrating. This is certainly so when God questions people:

“Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9).

“What is the matter, Hagar?” (Genesis 21:17).

“Woman,… why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” (John 20:15).

With these questions, Jesus already draws Mary’s attention to Himself. Somebody is trying to understand her pain. She still assumes Him to be the gardener, but then comes the amazing moment when Jesus calls her name.

From behind her!

Nothing but her name. Yes, simply her name.

But then, was it that simple?

Being possessed by demons is serious. One loses, either partly or entirely, one’s identity, one’s own personality. The sense of one’s self is being lost. We can find a clear example of this in the story of Jesus healing the man with the unclean spirit in the region of the Gerasenes. Jesus asked him: “What is your name?” “My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many” (Mark 5:9). So this man was completely depersonalised. He could not say his own name any more.

Such phenomena have been written about endlessly, yet, for our reasoning, they remain—psychologically or psychiatrically—difficult to analyse. Prof. Dr. M.N. Verbaten, professor of physiological psychology at the University of Leiden, says that every simplistic view on the functioning of the human brain is contradicted by the fact that everything is so complex. For example, the brain contains 15 to 20 billion neurons, whereas the number of connections of one individual nerve cell is estimated at twenty thousand.[3] This is very hard to count on one’s fingers, and maybe even the best computer will get confused trying to verify these numbers.

Man has been made in God’s image, but if demons take possession of the connections underneath our skulls, or get hold of the code of our identity, how then will this influence our deepest feelings?

Who will be able to calculate this? Who will procure the medicine for this?

Therefore, we cannot possibly comprehend the deeply touching miracle that Jesus performed in casting the demons out of Mary Magdalene. He then called her by her name and thus restored to her the identity of her being.

When now the Risen Lord merely mentions her name, she remembers her deliverance and now she recognises her Redeemer. She instantly realises she is the bride of this Groom.

Again, it was the pastoral voice behind her at which she turned around and then she tried to touch Him.

An overwhelming encounter.

A spontaneous cry: “Rabboni!”

When, one day, the Jewish people recognise their own Messiah, and call out before the forum of the entire world: “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Matthew 23:39), the fulfilment of Revelation 10 will have functioned as ‘the voice behind them’. All the fallacies in the churches, all the political, mixed-up ‘neurons’—even if there were billions or ‘legions’ of them—will be retrieved by the pastoral voice. The devil and his cohorts will be thrown into the bottomless pit.

God’s kingdom will come!

The Good Shepherd will be victorious!

The voice behind the seer on the island of Patmos

“On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet…” (Revelation 1:10).

“I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me” (Revelation 1:12).

The first thing John was confronted with at the vision on Patmos was ‘the voice behind him’, as was the case with Abraham and with Mary Magdalene. Moreover, it was a voice ‘like a trumpet’.

This shows us a kind of merger between the metaphorical language featuring the pastoral character of the voice behind the flock and the symbolism of the shofar, which, since ancient times—even since before its introduction in ancient-Israel’s worship—was used as an alarm signal by shepherds in lonely places to warn each other of imminent danger like wild animals approaching. This twofold metaphor gives the entire Apocalypse the characteristic of a pastoral book.

What is world history all about, after all?

The battle is either about the acknowledgement of the legitimate pastorship of God, or about the capitulation to the ‘prince of the world’, the power of darkness, God’s adversary, Satan.

Modernistic theologians may nurture the illusion that the existence of an anti-divine being is only for primitive tribes with their wild mythologies. The Bible, on the other hand, is very clear about the antithesis between God and Satan.

In 1 Corinthians 10:19-20, Paul says:

“Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons.”

Compare the above with Deuteronomy 32:16-17.

The antithesis between the good pastorship of God and bad pastorship has been stated in strong and clear language in Scripture. Both in the Old and in the New Testament, the pastoral theme as the imagery for God’s policy and His care is clearly present. The patriarch Jacob avowed on his deathbed: “...the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day...” (Genesis 48:15).

The author of Psalm 77 tells us in verse 20: “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.”

In Psalm 80, the moving Psalm of prayer, God is invoked as the Shepherd of Israel. And what tender image does Isaiah put before us when he says: “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young” (Isaiah 40:11).

Ezekiel, too, evokes the same kind of image in chapter 34, and so do Psalm 23:1-2; Luke 15:5 and John 10:11-16.

But in John 10:1-2, we also hear a warning: “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The man who enters by the gate is the shepherd of his sheep.”

No wonder, that in the ‘fulness of time’, when Jesus was born, the heavens proclaimed the good tidings specifically to the shepherds. When the deified emperor with his world-wide decree also wanted to exploit the house of David, and for that purpose climbed over the wall of God’s sheepfold, he was a thief and a robber, and instantly, there was a militant reaction by the Most High. He sent ‘one who brings good news’ from His ‘headquarters’, and with this ‘bearer of good news’, there was a host of angels singing: “The victory is God’s!”

In the same way as the shepherds kept watch over their flocks, God similarly kept watch over His flock, and intervened at the approach of the great robber, the emperor of Rome. The story of the birth of Christ in Luke 2 is, in form and contents, purely a ‘message from the battle front’.

When, in the old days, a battle was fought at a great distance from the capital, and there was a breakthrough, a D-day, a day on which the enemy was beaten and the danger of a siege of the capital was over, the commander-in-chief would not leave the people in ignorance, but a field officer would immediately be sent as a courier to bring the good tidings to the capital.

It was also a custom in those days to entwine the helmet and lance of the bringer of good tidings with laurel branches, and thus festively attired, the courier would hasten over mountains and through deserts, over seas or rivers to the threatened capital, however long and difficult the journey might be, to tell the citizens that the army was heading for certain victory.

No wonder that the sentries on the walls would look out over the hills in the wide surroundings with burning hearts, waiting for his coming. And when they saw a distant figure with a green headdress approaching, however vague it might be, there would be an outburst of joy:

“How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” Listen! Your watchmen lift up their voices; together they shout for joy. When the Lord returns to Zion, they will see it with their own eyes. Burst into songs of joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord will lay bare his holy arm in the sight of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:7-10).

The joy that is proclaimed by the Christmas angel is intended for all people. This means all the people of Israel and all those, who, through their faith, will be grafted as wild branches into the old tree of the fathers of faith (Romans 11:17). Peace for all mankind will come to earth only when, through God’s dealing with His chosen people, they will finally reach their Messianic destination of ‘kingdom of priests’.

The shepherds made known everywhere all the things that they had heard and seen.

When the moment comes at which the good tidings of great joy will have reached all the Jewish people, then they will glorify and praise God for all the things that they have heard and seen through the Holy Spirit, and they will proclaim this to all the nations. God is supreme. He will subjugate all opposition from hell.

The ancient frontline in the Apocalypse

It does not take long for the ancient frontline in the battle between God and Satan to become evident in the last book of the Bible. Immediately after John’s solemn blessing in Revelation 1:4-8, we find the pericope of the verses 9 and 10:

“I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet, which said …”

In this short pericope at the beginning of the Apocalypse, the ancient frontline appears at once, in two respects. John writes to the seven churches of Asia that he is their brother and companion in tribulation, but also their companion in the Kingdom and the patient endurance in Jesus. There are the two aspects: on the one hand, there is the tribulation and on the other hand, there is the Kingdom and the patient endurance in Jesus. Actually, this contrast is repeated in the words: “I, John ... was on the island of Patmos, because of the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus.”

The dark side of the frontline is his exile and yet the light on the other side is immediately visible in the statement: “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet …”

The exile is the result of the demonic ‘pastorship’, and the voice like a trumpet behind him is the sign of the presence of the good pastorship of ‘the ruler of the kings of the earth’ (Revelation 1:5; Psalm 89:27).

This clearly shows us the merger of the metaphors of the pastoral voice and the sound of the shofar.

[1]  Dr. L.A. Snijders: “De prediking van het Oude Testament – Jesaja, deel I”, page 306, Uitgeverij G.F. Callenbach BV, Nijkerk, 1985
– “Het zal het volk niet aan thora, d.i. aan onderricht en aanwijzingen of profetische richtlijnen ontbreken. De mensen zullen woorden achter zich horen, richtinggevende uitspraken voor hun levensweg. Men bedenke dat de herder vaak achter zijn kudde aanloopt. De profeet maakt duidelijk dat men in de nieuwe tijd niet meer op een dwaalweg wordt gebracht.” –

[2]  Dr. L.A. Snijders: “De prediking van het Oude Testament – Jesaja, deel I”, page 306, Uitgeverij G.F. Callenbach BV, Nijkerk, 1985
– “Bij K. Lange, Egypte, 1953, vinden we het volgende op een kalkstenen scherf uit Thebe bewaard gebleven liefdesgedicht:
‘laat … de dochter van … achter mij aanlopen
zoals een os achter het voer,
zoals een dienstmeisje achter haar kinderen,
zoals een herder achter zijn kudde’.” –

[3]  Elsevier, 46th year of publication, no. 13, March 13th 1990

chapter i

A STRANGE RESIDENCE PERMIT

The calling of Abraham

Is there any desert dweller who would worry about one single grain of sand when he finds himself in a sand drift?

Should we then, considering all the migrations of the nations known in world history, pay special attention to this one man, Abraham, who left his land and his people?

Yet the exodus of Abraham from Ur of the Chaldeans is a breathtaking event whose final consequences cannot be measured, even today.

Assyriologists report that the tower of Babel shows architectural features similar to the measurements and construction of Noah’s ark1. We may certainly take note of this report when considering God’s absolute and strict no to the building of the tower of Babel and later to the totalitarian and idolatrous government of Babylon. By calling Abraham, God utterly rejected the Babylonian system.

There certainly were various motives for building the temple tower of Babel. The generations after Noah would have been terrified for a long time after such a severe judgment in which almost everyone perished. The fear of a new catastrophe, the dread of being separated from one another in the huge expanse of our planet in which they could live and roam about, and especially the desire ‘to make a name for themselves’ (Genesis 11:4), drove them to find a preventative solution: the tower of Babel.

Whatever the origins of the thoughts and ideas of these ancient times were, we should realise that the inspiration came from the prince of darkness. We definitely find the tracks of the old serpent here. Jesus called Satan ‘the prince of this world’ (John 16:11). He comes and acts as an angel of light. He conjures up a salvation which is in reality no salvation, but an imitation. He shifts the attention from God’s work of salvation in the calling and deliverance of Noah to the achievement of man.

Climb the steps of the ziggurat![1] [2]

There, at the top is the Bab-El, the gate of God.

Even if archaeologists show us on clay tablets how Noah’s ark and the oldest ziggurat of Babylon are very much alike, the Scriptures show us how, all through the history of salvation, the devil is striving to supplant God by imitating Him. He presents himself as the prince of this world thinking that, in tempting Jesus as he did in the wilderness, he could thus achieve his ends by awarding all the kingdoms of this world to Him, provided that Jesus complied with his conditions.

Nearly everywhere, we find the pagan cosmological idea of the primeval mount, which is supposed to have first emerged from the waters and which was considered to be the navel of the earth. In that place, the umbilical cord connecting heaven and earth was cut. Such a place is therefore eminently suited to be the seat of the deified pastorate of a world emperor.

The temple tower of Babylon, the ziggurat, represented the primeval mount as did the Egyptian pyramids which also found their origin in the same mysticism. The ziggurat was also the original model of the structure of a totalitarian state with a god-king at the top. From the top of the primeval mount, where it emerged above the waters, a never-ending stream of creative energy, like the rivers of paradise, were thought to run, which would bring the ordering of existence and fertility as a blessing to all nations, even immortality in a shadow existence after death.

Against this so-called blessing, God placed a true blessing, through the calling of Abraham, with the words: “… all peoples on earth will be blessed through you!” Antithetically the emphasis is placed on the word ‘you’. The blessing of the Babylonian ziggurat or of the Egyptian pyramid involved forms of utter tyranny and cruelty. Deified despots, for example, like Nebuchadnezzar, heated their furnaces seven times hotter than usual in order to destroy opposition (Daniel 3:19).

The Babylonian ‘blessing’ is ultimately a ‘curse’ for all generations of the earth. Babylon has a bad reputation from Genesis to Revelation (Revelation 14:8). It seems as if the devil is practising genetic manipulation and through his deceptions, he is trying to put the beast, the antichrist on the throne:

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

The calling of Abraham is therefore an exceptionally important event. God, by His own hand, is turning a page in the history of the coming Kingdom of God.

In Mary’s hymn of praise, after the announcement of the coming birth of Jesus, and in Zechariah’s song of praise (Luke 1:55 and 73), the Holy Spirit referred back to the covenant which God swore to Abraham.

God’s no to Babylon is followed by God’s yes through the covenant with Abraham, who was called God’s friend (2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23).

In the divine calling of Abraham, the old battle front of the war between God and Satan, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the Serpent becomes manifest (Genesis 3:15).

Truly, it is not merely human initiative, a sudden desire to wander, a vague urge for distant places, or a passion for adventure that can offer an explanation for the exodus of Abraham out of Babylon, which has become a prototype of the entire history of revelation. Every following exodus of Abraham’s descendants would be a variation on the same theme of this original calling.

God’s emphatic no to Babylon also finds expression in the divine severity with which He instructed Moses regarding the design of the tabernacle: “See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain” (Exodus 25:40). In the same way, a heavenly plan was prepared for Solomon’s temple: “‘All this’, David said, ‘I have in writing from the hand of the Lord upon me, and he gave me understanding in all the details of the plan’” (1 Chronicles 28:19). When Ezekiel announced the restoration of the temple and the coming of a new era of salvation, he had to proclaim everything he saw to the house of Israel (Ezekiel 40:4).

The place where God wants to live, the structure of the tabernacle, the temple and the Kingdom of God will not be left to the religious improvisations of men. It will have to be carried out according to His design. This also applies to the ‘building of the temple’ in Revelation 11:1. The content of the open scroll (Revelation 10:2) relates to the way God’s Kingdom will break through and what the structure of the temple of the Spirit should be. No human device in the shape of a League of Nations or a United Nations; no world organisation of churches or syncretistic amalgamation of world religions will ever be able to ward off the chaos of the nations to establish a New Age or a new world order, with world peace.

The temple of Revelation 11:1 will never show any similarity with the primeval mount, as it was represented in ziggurats in ancient times. God’s absolute no to the Babylonian design, through the calling of Abraham, will remain in force until the end of the world.

The ‘syncretism brokers’ in the service of a false ecumenical movement are all too willing to find similarities between the building of the temple and Babylonian, Egyptian or Phoenician sanctuaries. They state, for example, that the bronze basin in the outer court of the temple was a picture of the curtailing of the waters, that is, of the powers of chaos, above which the temple itself was situated on a higher level. We must remember that we don’t have the right to deny God His right to give His revelation in a language and form which fits the worldview of the ancient orient. Despite any similarities in detail, the contents of the tabernacle as well as Solomon’s temple may be considered a further commentary on Abraham’s confession: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” The whole purport of the ceremonial service of worship was focussed on the reconciliation through the blood of the everlasting covenant.

God does not call Abraham away from the building site of the tower of Babel in order to offer his descendants a plagiarised pagan copy of the same thing. The building of the tabernacle and temple is, consistent with the calling of Abraham, an antithesis of the mythological representation of paganism, in regards to the genesis of the universe. It is not for man to ascend step by step to the gate of God—the Bab-El—but it is God Himself who descends in unfathomable grace to redeem mankind through the Blood of reconciliation. The shadow ministry has been fulfilled by Jesus’ death on the cross. He Himself is God’s temple. He Himself is the true Jacob’s ladder upon which the angels ascend and descend (John 1:51).

Truly, the whole history of the world revolves around the question whether chaos or God’s temple will prevail.

The fulness of time

“When the time had fully come, God sent his Son” (Galatians 4:4). This confronted the Jewish people with a crucial choice. For, in the fulness of time, it was only ‘Babylon’ that counted. ‘Babylon’ in a new form, namely the deified totalitarian state of Rome, with the ‘divus Augustus’ who demanded to be worshipped at the top. He ordered that the whole world should be registered, including the house of David (Luke 2:1-7). With the dagger of this decree at her back and the true Prince of Peace in her womb, Mary had to go to Bethlehem’s stable to give birth to the Prince of the Kingdom of God.

These events were not accidental, as if they were a marginal note to his birth announcement. Rather, in the fulness of time, this was the beginning of an utterly cruel confrontation with the Roman ‘Babylon’. There was a reason for the signal which came from heaven with the appearance of the wise men from the east. And it was a very significant signal, indeed. Because the Jewish people failed to hold on to the example of Abraham’s faith, they were repeatedly exiled to those territories where Babylonian structures prevailed through the consecutive world empires. Now the tables are turned. Princely delegates from the land of the ancient tower of Babel are now kneeling down before the true Prince of Peace. Herod, on the other hand, who is the manager of the Roman ‘Babylon’, massacres the children of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:16).

The herald of the King, John the Baptist, as well as Jesus, the King Himself, fall under the violence of the Roman ‘Babylon’. What follows is a world-wide scattering, resulting in chaos. Following the end of Matthew 23, Jesus prophesies the destruction of the temple and the universal disruption of people’s lives.

Did the establishment of the Jewish state in 1948 bring a turn of the tide?

The Jewish people must continually ask themselves if by involving the United Nations in the creation of the state of Israel, they were, in fact, applying to a world-wide organisation with a Babylonian structure for help.

Time and again, the prince of this world is trying to establish his headquarters, a world-wide centre of power and violence. Economic ‘violence’ was used in the vote on the partition of Palestine[3]. What next?

The rejection of Jesus as the Messiah is closely linked to the kneeling down before a Babylonian ziggurat.

“If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar” (John 19:12).

“If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation” (John 11:48).

This is the conclusion Caiaphas reached. It was contradictory to God’s no to Babylon when He called Abraham. This rejection of Jesus was in essence a capitulation to the prince of darkness, who had established his headquarters as prince of this world in Rome—the new Babylon.

The credentials of Jesus, as Ambassador of the Most High, were established exactly because He was rejected in the confrontation with Babylon. The Jewish people will likewise be confronted when it becomes clear that they bowed once again before Babylon in calling for the help of a world-wide organisation in order to lift their exile. Jesus’ credentials as the Ambassador of God are still valid today.

The antithesis of a temple tower

The description of the calling of Abraham in the Scriptures certainly does not evoke the image of a priest ascending step by step towards a ‘Bab-El’, a gate of God. In fact it is the opposite. He is descending step by step.

Let us not think lightly of Abraham’s emigration. It was a complete uprooting. There was still enough room for a nomadic lifestyle in his day. There was no land title for each square meter of grass. This does not imply, however, that in the territory where he was to settle, the inhabitants did not have a system of usage rights for pastures or wells. This is evident from the many times Abraham was ready to pay for a kind of residence permit.

God had promised him: “I am your shield, your very great reward”. But in Egypt as well as in the land of the Philistines, he was ready to sacrifice Sarah for his own safety.

Sarah as a shield!

What an expensive price to pay!

In the deepest sense of the word, it was a threat to the purity of the Messianic future!

It would not be the last time that divine revelation by way of the Gentile world was needed to correct the chosen people.

For the ‘friend of God’, it was a deep humiliation.

He went one step downward!

Abraham was led from one test of faith to another by God’s strong hand. We cannot know what anxiety he must have endured when it was difficult to stick to God’s statement: “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore...”. In reality, he only saw death in himself and Sarah. From a psychological perspective, that, too, was a step down! When he involved the help of Hagar, it was yet another step downward. But the sorest trial came when God commanded him: “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about” (Genesis 22:2).

It seemed as if God, too, was saying to him (just as the pagans thought) “Abraham, your future will be lost if you do not sacrifice your firstborn”. Although this has not been described, it is possible that the pagans around him criticised him, saying: “You have suddenly settled here as a wealthy shepherd with a large flock and a great number of servants. You did not pay for the use of the land, which belongs to the gods. It is just as if you have taken possession of it and are using it extensively, all without sacrificing your firstborn to our gods”.

Abraham’s faith was being tested for its real meaning and content. Part of the substance of his faith was accepting that he had received this land at God’s expense.

Pro Deo—on God’s account, free of charge.

For the people around him, this was a totally foreign notion.

Sola gratia—by grace alone.

To these people, it would be more natural to try and placate the godhead by means of sacrifices and achievements, than to count on grace from Above. Driven by this notion of sacrifice and achievement, it is natural to sacrifice one’s most treasured possession, one’s firstborn to the gods.

Whether literally or figuratively, it is very hard to climb a Babylonian temple tower.

Furthermore, for the mystic feeling of many pagans, the new generation was not regarded as separate from the departed generations. The spirits of the ancestors needed to be appeased; otherwise, there could be serious consequences.

One of the practices of sacrifice was to bind together the front as well as the hind legs of the animal. When they started human sacrifice, they likewise bound together the hands and the feet of the firstborn. The hands and feet symbolised that with which one moves, and with which one succeeds in life. In this way, the child was entirely sacrificed as a burnt offering. Illustrations have been found depicting children, who, as a sacrifice to the town god, were thrown over the town wall by its defenders, to face a terrible death in the turmoil of battle (2 Kings 3:27). These gruesome practices are also described in Deuteronomy 12:31, 18:10, in 2 Kings 16:3 and 17:17.

Great demands are made of Abraham’s faith. When migrating to a foreign country, one wants to adapt to the norms and traditions of one’s new surroundings as much as possible for the sake of peace. And now, God tests Abraham in a new way.

The happy conclusion to this story shows how God, according to His promise, granted Abraham a miraculous residence permit without literally sacrificing Isaac.

Meanwhile, for the ‘father of all believers’, it must have been a difficult journey to go to the mountain which God would tell him about. We read in Hebrews 11:17-19: “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’ Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.”

Abraham went on his way with a heavy heart, thinking that all his expectations of the future were about to be demolished. God had staked everything in Abraham’s life in one throw: Isaac, whose name means ‘he laughs’, a name given to him by God’s command.

Would everything go up in flames now? Also God’s promise: “I will increase your descendants ... and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.”? Abraham, however, reasoned that God had the power to raise Isaac from the dead. Abraham believed that God’s word is stronger than death. For this reason, he could cope with the journey and with the conversation with his son, who asked him: “Where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” The answer was: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”

This is the abc of the gospel. The denouement of this story, however, is very dramatic. At the moment when Abraham lifted the knife with a trembling hand over Isaac’s heart, and, in utter obedience, was on the verge of slaying his son, the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven: “‘Abraham! Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied. ‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because you have not withheld from me your son, your only son’” (Genesis 22:12). In response to the angel’s call, “Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns…” (Genesis 22:13 [kjv]) God himself provided a lamb for the burnt offering.

The mystery of substitution was unveiled for Abraham. God would provide a substitute for his descendants. And here, that substitution means sacrificial love.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us” (1 John 3:16).

This love applies to all those who, by their faith, may be called Abraham’s children.

Although this history was to be only a revelation of the abc of the Gospel, the entire alphabet of the history of salvation will follow this line.

Babylon is called the gateway of God. In reality it is, however, the gateway of hell—a source of confusion of tongues and scattering. The Lamb provided by God, our Lord Jesus Christ, is Jacob’s ladder reaching up to the highest heavens.

The story of the sacrifice of Isaac is immediately followed by “And Abraham stayed in Beersheba” (Genesis 22:19). Owing to the substitution of the ram for Isaac, Abraham could dwell at Beersheba, the ‘well of the oath’ or ‘well of the fulness’ (‘sheba’ means ‘oath’ or ‘seven’: the number of completeness).

The Eternal God does not require child sacrifices, not even in the gruesome wars in which the nations drive their sons through fire. This is not the way mankind will reach ‘Beersheba’, the well of the fulness. The ‘Beersheba’ of the times of refreshing, or of the thousand years of the kingdom of peace will only be reached by accepting the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.

The acceptance of the Lamb of God counts as the ‘residence permit’ in the kingdom of eternal glory at the end of the age. Jesus is coming!

More than an earthly Beersheba is awaiting us, as believers, for there will come a time when God will be all in all!

The recurring pattern

In His work of salvation, God is drawing ever-expanding concentric circles. The same patterns are manifested in the broadening relationships from patriarchs to family, to nations, and to the world. This continuity in God’s actions is a ray of light coming from the Name Yahweh, ‘I am who I am’. A stone cast in a pond causes ripples which expand in ever-widening circles until they reach the shore.

The things God has done in the lives of the patriarchs may seem small, but in the continuation of the history of salvation, their experiences deepen and broaden until finally, the ripples reach the shore of eternity. Everything will come to fulness. To that end, Jesus has passed through the heavens.

The day of Jesus

In John 8:56, Jesus says: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” Then in John 8:58: “before Abraham was born, I am!”

In the mirror of his own life, Abraham could already see the day of Jesus. For Abraham, it was the path to glory through suffering. Abraham may have descended many steps through trials and tribulations, but eventually his life resulted in the recognition of the Hittites: “You are a mighty prince among us...” (Genesis 23:6). We may consider him a prototype of the kingdom of priests, a status which would be granted to his posterity, with the recognition by the princes of the entire world. But for his posterity, as for himself, there would not be another way than the way of glory through suffering.

Likewise we, Gentile Christians will—if, by grace, we share in Abraham’s faith—have no need for an ultrasound, so to speak, to find the embryonic beginnings of the day of Jesus in Abraham’s course of life.

In the long history of Israel’s repeated fall and rising, the road which the Lord is following with His people crosses through the Gentile world numerous times. This pattern of God’s acting is already visible as far back as in the life of the patriarch.

God intervened twice over, when, in a moment of weakness, Abraham endangered the authenticity of the Messianic future by introducing Sarah as his sister. He did this first in Egypt, and later with the king of the Philistines. God punished Egypt with severe plagues (Genesis 12:17), and appeared to Abimelech in a dream. In that dream, God threatened him and his entire kingdom with death (Genesis 20:3-4). God watches over His Word and over its unsullied fulfillment. In His revelatory dream to Abimelech, the Lord God called Abraham a prophet (Genesis 20:7).

One of the characteristics of a prophet is to illustrate the message he brings by his own life. Think of Hosea, Ezekiel, and Jonah; even of the entire Jewish people, and most particularly of our great Prophet Himself, Jesus.

God uses the Gentile world to correct Abraham, as He would later do with the entire Jewish nation.

We find an example of God’s correction in 1 Samuel 6. The Ark of the Covenant had to be returned to Israel from the land of the Philistines. The Philistines took a religious initiative to have it sent back on a new cart, pulled by two cows which had recently calved. If the cows would pull the ark away from their calves towards Israel, it would be a sign that it was the Lord, who had brought disaster upon them.

We find a similar initiative in the story of Ruth. Ruth, the Moabite, dissuades her mother-in-law from sending her back to her people and her gods with these words: “…Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). In this way, Ruth became an ancestress of the Messiah.

In the story of Jonah, the Gentiles took a religious initiative as well. When a severe storm arose at sea, the Gentiles cast lots and Jonah, who was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, was selected. Consequently, Jonah survived and went on to Nineveh in order to fulfil the mission to which God had called him (Jonah 1:1-17).

Likewise, God moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to allow the Jewish people to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-11). Again and again in the Old Testament, God uses Gentiles in His dealings with His chosen people. The principle of God using the Gentiles is also found in the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:21:

“They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.”

In the New Testament, the apostle Paul says:

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until de fulness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved: as it is written: The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” (Romans 11:25-27 [nkjv]).

From his vision of the coming fulness of the Gentiles, Paul lays a heavy responsibility on God’s church from the Gentile world. In Romans 11:30-31, we read:

“Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.”

At the Apostolic Council in Jerusalem, the same pattern of God’s dealings becomes evident when James solemnly declares:

“Brothers, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God at first showed his concern by taking from the Gentiles a people for himself. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written: ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the remnant of men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name,’ says the Lord, who does these things’ that have been known for ages’” (Acts 15:13-18).

Simeon is aware of the same pattern when he is led to the temple by the Spirit of God, where he takes the child Jesus in his arms and praises God with the words:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

In conclusion, ‘a light for revelation to the Gentiles’ has priority in God’s plan of salvation, but that priority is subservient to the glory intended for Israel.

In the mirror of the episode of Abimelech

Seeing how the Lord systematically used the Gentile world in the past, may we not expect that He will do the same today in order to put His chosen people back on the right track?

Looking earnestly in the mirror of the episode of Abimelech, we must come to the conclusion that what happened then is more than a mere account of an ancient episode of history which is no longer relevant. This episode is in itself a prophetic parable with aspects containing a message for all time.

1—Sarah imprisoned in the ecclesiastical ‘harem’

Abraham severely stumbled when he did not fully accept and honour God’s promise that it would be through Sarah that God would give him descendants. The Messianic future was at stake here. That future was in imminent danger of being soiled in the harem of a Philistine king.

Well then, if the Scriptures clearly promise a Messianic future, in which a converted Israel will function as a main axis in God’s plan of salvation, then the denial of this promise would mean, in a metaphorical sense, that Sarah is being extradited to an ecclesiastical ‘harem’. In essence, this represents replacement theology. Replacement theology is the widespread doctrine among Christian churches that, in God’s plan of salvation, the church—in an exclusive sense—has taken the place of Israel. This doctrine originates from the times of the church fathers, who followed the line of Justin Martyr, writing in about 140 A.D. Ten years later, his pupil Tatian literally said that the deicide (murder of God) had resulted in the Jewish people being stripped of their God-given status of being His chosen people.[4]

Even today, many Christian churches around the world adhere to this replacement theology, although the Dutch Reformed Church, for example, openly renounced it in 1951.[5]

This view that the Jewish people were absolutely and for ever cast off by God and that their status has been passed on to the church has had appalling consequences for this nation from the time of the church fathers onward, and it was a factor in provoking the holocaust.

Will God even now respond by means of prophecy and judgments?

Undoubtedly so!

Abimelech and his entire kingdom were threatened with death.

When the ‘fulness of the G entiles’ comes, a judgment like that of Mount Carmel will take place. The world has arrived at a crucial turning point.

2—The residence permit

Immediately after Abimelech had returned Sarah to Abraham, he says: “My land is before you; live wherever you like” (Genesis 20:15). The patriarch was given carte blanche by the Philistine king to settle wherever he liked: an unrestricted residence permit!

This is the first time we have seen the concept of ‘residence’ in a legal sense. It includes more than a permission to settle temporarily, as the nomads did. It was a right which the king of the Philistines could give.

This unrestricted permit granted to Abraham should not be seen as separate from God’s dealings in the lives of Abimelech and his people.

God had promised Abraham: “I am your shield, your very great reward.” Abimelech had encountered this awesome shield through divine revelation and judgment. If he did not return Sarah, he and all his people would surely die (Genesis 20:7). The fear of the Lord fell on him and his own.

God’s formidable intervention through revelation and judgment in a pagan territory opened the way to officially take up residence in the Promised Land.

Even today, there is no other way open for the Jewish people. The coming fulness of the Gentiles will also contain these two elements, prophecy and judgment (Revelation 10).[6]

The restoration of the kingdom to Israel (Acts 1:6) is also a matter of life and death for the non-Jewish world today. Nuclear weaponry is stacked up high in many places!

3—Abraham’s intercession

“Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not return her, you may be sure that you and all yours will die” (Genesis 20:7).

It was obviously not enough that Sarah was sent back to Abraham. Although Abraham, for a moment, was derailed in his religious life, he was recognised and maintained by God as a prophet and priest. Human unfaithfulness, in whatever degree, will never nullify God’s faithfulness. God’s calling and election are irrevocable. Therefore we may expect that, even today, God has not rejected His people (Romans 11:1).

When, through prophecy and heavy judgment, true ecumenism among Gentile Christians is realised, it will lead to Israel’s conversion. Consequently, the entire converted Jewish nation shall be called to priestly intercession, so that the many hotspots of the world will be extinguished, and our sick planet healed. After that, a time of refreshing for all mankind will come. Only in this way, Abraham and his descendents will become a universal blessing for this day and age, as well as eternity—because of the Messiah descended from him.

4—A summit

Modestly and without any ado, a summit between Abraham and Abimelech is announced: “At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, ‘God is with you in everything you do. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you.’ Abraham said, ‘I swear it’” (Genesis 21:22-24).

There is nothing against rulers, presidents, or prime ministers meeting at a summit now and then, but this summit between Abraham and Abimelech has an extraordinary flavour. The incident with Sarah clearly influences the motivation of the meeting between these two rulers. It was an existential and religious experience.

Abimelech wishes to consolidate their good relationship by means of a covenant under oath: “swear to me here before God.” He, as well as the chief captain of his army, had experienced how much God was with Abraham. That experience determined the atmosphere of the meeting. The attitude of both rulers was of a highly aristocratic quality. This atmosphere and distinguished level of conversation cannot be attributed merely to the usual ancient middle-eastern courtesy. Since we know more about the profound Messianic dimension of the episode with Abimelech, we should not attribute this aristocratic quality merely to cultural factors.

Summits held, even today, without any conscious or acknowledged relationship to the unfolding of the Lord’s future, hence purely secular meetings, will never be able to establish peace in the world.

But here, in the meeting between Abraham and Abimelech, problems certainly could be resolved.

Abraham was ready to swear an oath.

The favourable climate and the godly atmosphere of the summit must have made it easy for Abraham to put his displeasure over the feud about the well of Beersheba on the agenda. No small matter! In this dry country, a well was a matter of life and death.

Since Abraham had been granted an unlimited residence permit by Abimelech and had dug a well himself, Abimelech’s servants had no right whatsoever to challenge Abraham’s right to use that well. It was starting to look like war. The conflict was more than a mere skirmish between shepherds. It is difficult to evaluate the extent of the conflict, but we can estimate the number of people led by Abraham as their patriarch at approximately 2,500. He had been able to arm hundreds of soldiers in his battle to rescue Lot (Genesis 14:14). He was a very rich and prominent shepherd king with plenty of money, gold, silver, and cattle.

Furthermore, he had had every male born in his house, and all the Philistine and Canaanite servants he had purchased, circumcised according to God’s command (Genesis 17:23-27). Therefore, the cohesion of his large household had a religious foundation and thus was so much the stronger. He had even been able to conquer Kedorlaomer, king of Elam and his allies (Genesis 14:1-17).

The dispute regarding the well was indeed an important issue on the agenda. Abimelech is astonished; he had never heard anything about it before and does not know who is responsible for it. He frankly admits his ignorance, and Abraham accepts this as an apology and gives him some sheep and oxen.

A grand gesture!

After this, they made a covenant. Abraham set seven lambs aside, which surprised Abimelech who asked: “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?” Abraham answered: “Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well” (Genesis 21:29-30).

At this summit, two God-fearing, princely men made a covenant before the Lord. Therefore this place is called Beersheba, because ‘the two men swore an oath there’ (Genesis 21:31).

May present and future summits between the powers of the earth take place in such a holy atmosphere!

5—The ignorance factor

It is amazing how the ignorance factor has played a prominent role with Abraham as well as with Abimelech. Abraham expressed it in these words: “I said to myself, ‘There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife’” (Genesis 20:11).

What a wrong assumption!

Let this be a warning to every one of us, regardless of denomination, group or congregation, not to presume that God’s presence is exclusively with us and that His revelation works only through us; that we have been delivered out of ‘Babylon’ and that we cannot expect any fear of God nor prophetic light outside of our own walls. Such an attitude can do much harm.

Abimelech was also guilty, although he was not aware of it.

It is, therefore, possible to be guilty before God by ignorantly doing things against the will of God and to have been stricken by God’s judgment because of sin (Genesis 20:18). All this should prompt us to be on guard.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans, sternly warns them not to be ignorant of God’s plan for His chosen people:

“For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:25-26 [nkjv]).

The consequences of that ignorance—conscious or unconscious—have been catastrophic. They made Jesus weep when He entered into Jerusalem. He was enthusiastically praised as King and Messiah, but, unfortunately, inspired by wrong motives.

“If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes” (Luke 19:42).

And on the cross He prayed: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).

The apostle Peter also pointed out the ignorance of the people of Israel and their leaders:

“I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders” (Acts 3:17).

Do people today know what is going on in relation to the Lord’s future?

Does Israel know?

Do the churches know?

Do people presume that prophecy is impossible in the Gentile world today, and that the mystery of the thunders of Revelation 10 will never be revealed?

Churches, congregations and each individual ought to pray with David:

“Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).

6—Settling at Beersheba

“Some time later God tested Abraham...” (Genesis 22:1).

‘Some time later’ is more than a chronological indication. Although many years may lie between this story and the next, these words contain the idea of a connection. There is indeed a profound spiritual connection between God’s intervention, through prophecy and judgment, in the world of Abimelech on the one hand and the testing of Abraham’s faith when he is commanded to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering on the other. God’s intervention through prophecy and judgment with Abimelech resulted in a residence permit for Abraham at Beersheba. God’s intervention, when Abraham was on the point of sacrificing Isaac, resulted in a divine confirmation of Abraham’s right to live in the Promised Land by an oath, which was pronounced by the same angel who had called out: “Do not do anything to him...” (Genesis 22:12).

It says clearly: “The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time ...” (Genesis 22:15).

There is a connection, made by the Most High between the angel’s words, “Do not lay a hand on the boy ... Do not do anything to him.” and the angel’s oath, “‘I swear by myself,’ declares the Lord, ‘that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.’”

After this we read: “Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba” (Genesis 22:16-19).

Therefore, the first and the second utterances of the angel cannot be separated. The substitution of Isaac is the foundation for the permit to live in the Promised Land. God Himself provided a lamb for the burnt offering. It literally says: “Abraham went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son” (Genesis 22:13).

Abraham accepted the substitution. At the angel’s word, he looked up and must have turned around to see the ram caught in a thicket behind him.

In the future, may Jews as well as Christians turn around once again to see the substitution that took place at Golgotha. Then, mankind, with the Jews as the vanguard, may receive a residence permit in the ‘times of refreshing’ for this earth and one day for the eternal glory.

In Acts 3:19-21, Peter puts it like this:

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets.”

Beersheba—‘well of the oath’ and ‘well of the fulness’—is certainly a typological ‘pars pro toto’, a part of the whole, for all Israel and for all mankind.

7—Staying behind with the donkey

On the third day, the patriarch saw in the distance the place where the burnt offering was to take place. On arrival, he said to his servants: “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5).

The critical moment had come; a very intimate moment in Abraham’s relationship with God.

There is a tension here which cannot be transferred to others. What happens here is to some extent comparable to the denouement of the story of Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. Although the Egyptians knew more than the patriarchs did about Joseph’s cup used for divination and therefore enjoyed a certain intimacy with him, yet they had to withdraw when he revealed the great secret of his life. Joseph’s emotion was so intense that his weeping was heard by the Egyptians and those in Pharaoh’s house.

Joseph expresses the essence of the stirring course of his life with the words: “But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7). He was, therefore, the guarantee and substitution for his brothers, and in that way precursor of Jesus Christ.

The moment will come when Israel, in a figurative sense, will climb Mount Moriah and existentially will experience the substitution, and the veil which blinds them will then be taken away. In the court case between Jesus and His people, all else will be considered secondary and all those who have been servants will need to respectfully keep their distance when He reveals Himself to His people. The moment when the Jewish people meet their Messiah will be most intimate. The coming denouement will shock every nation. It will also be the fulfilment of Revelation 10.

The Kingdom of God has come near.

A ‘charter’ will descend from heaven, containing the revelation of the basic principles for the restoration of the kingdom to Israel.

For two days, Abraham travelled with his face set towards the place where he was to offer up his offspring. By the third day, he did not need the knife any longer for the sacrifice of his son as a burnt offering.

As a day is like a thousand years (2 Peter 3:8), so for two days, Israel travelled through history, which threatened to end in a total holocaust. A third day of Easter glory will come, however.

“What will their acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Romans 11:15).

The Lord is risen indeed!

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!

“Who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been his counsellor?”

“Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever!

Amen” (Romans 11: 33-36).

[1]  Th.A. Busink:  "De toren van Babel", page 53, Noordhoff-Kolff N.V., Batavia-Centrum

[2]  The Akkadian word is 'ziqqurratu', meaning temple tower

[3]  See: Shofar-series, part I, "The man with the jar", chapter 3

[4]  Dr. Hans Jansen: "Christelijke theologie na Auschwitz", deel I, page 69, Boekencentrum, 's-Gravenhage, 1981

[5]  From: "Israel, volk, land en staat – een rapport van de generale synode van de Nederlands Hervormde Kerk", page 8, 1995

[6]  More about this in Chapter 4

chapter ii

THE SHOFARIM AND THEIR FORMATION

The shofar

The usage of the shofar has involved several stages in the course of history. We can distinguish three consecutive phases:

– The original usage

– The usage in the religious ceremonies of Israel

– The usage in the Apocalypse

Phase 1 – The original usage of the shofar

As mentioned before, the shofar was used by shepherds to warn each other for approaching danger. It was also used in times of war as a signal to warn people against the enemy and to mobilise them, to call them together and to urge them to unity and concord. Furthermore, in the Ancient Orient, the coronation of kings was accompanied by the sound of trumpets. Kings and rulers liked to adorn themselves with the title of ‘shepherd’. Therefore, the shofar or the trumpet also served to honour a king as the shepherd of the country and the people.

The word ‘shofar’ means ‘horn’. Occasionally there is an additional word in the Old Testament, e.g. ‘shofar ha-yobel’, which means ‘trumpet of a ram's horn’ (Joshua 6:4,6,8 and13).

The translation of the Greek word ‘salpinx’ (σάλπιγξ) into ‘trumpet’ in the Apocalypse is in itself correct, but the translation into ‘shofar’ is also legitimate.

In the Septuagint[1] [2], the word ‘σάλπιγξ’ is used more than forty times as the translation of the Hebrew word ‘shofar’1 .

When John hears a voice as of a trumpet behind him, it is the sound of a shofar. It is a sound well-known to him from the religious ceremonies of Israel. Of course, this instrument, which was originally used for giving warning signals, has undergone a technical and also an esthetical evolution until it has become a trumpet made of metal. However, the original rams’ horn has always continued to occupy a central place in the liturgy of the synagogue.

Phase 2 – The usage of the shofar in the religious ceremonies of Israel

When the shofar started to be used in the religious ceremonies of Israel, the pastoral aspect was certainly not lacking. On the contrary, in a magnificent service of worship, God gave pastoral guidance to His people. The usage of the shofar in the religious ceremonies of ancient Israel was therefore not instituted by human initiative. It was based on commands of God.

God’s order to Moses sounds clearly in Leviticus 23:24: “On the first day of the seventh month you are to have a day of rest, a sacred assembly commemorated with trumpet blasts.”

Already at the establishment of the covenant at Mount Sinai, when the Lord descended on the mountain, there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled (Exodus 19:16). Again and again, the sound of the shofar in the religious ceremonies would remind the people of the establishment of the covenant, especially on festive days and with the proclamation of the Year of Jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-10).[3] [4]

Phase 3 – The usage of the shofar in the Apocalypse

By means of the seven trumpets, God causes alarm signals to be heard in a sevenfold way in order to prepare mankind in a pastoral manner for the coming Day of the Lord and to warn them against the attacks of the false shepherd, Satan, and the beast from the bottomless pit.

Up to the last day, the course of the history of the world will remain within the reach of the supreme Shepherd of the fold. That is why it is most important to note that John calls our attention to ‘the voice like a shofar’ twice. The first time is when he is called and receives the order to pass on messages for the churches concerning their vertical relationship with God, viz. the letters to the seven churches which are in Asia Minor (Revelation 1:10-11). The second time is when he has to pass on revelations which are situated on the horizontal level, in the future: “After this I looked, and there before me was a door standing open in heaven. And the voice I had first heard speaking to me like a trumpet said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1).

Twice he refers to the same ‘voice like a shofar’.

Also the outline of the course of history falls under de same pastoral denominator, ‘the voice behind him like a trumpet’. He, who loves us and has washed us from our sins in His blood, is also the ruler of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5-6).

The servants of the Lord ought to know the things which ‘must soon take place’ (Revelation 1:1).

It is this very disregard of the structural unity in the Apocalypse regarding the vertical and horizontal design of the supreme Shepherd that opens the door to all sorts of false messianic expectations in religious and political matters. The six times repeated pastoral sound of the trumpet will result in the fulfilment of God’s penultimate secret (Revelation 10). This secret will be to the benefit of all mankind.2 In Revelation 10, the sun starts shining.

John’s tears

The above-mentioned structural unity is indeed strongly emphasised by the shocking experiences which John had after having been caught up into heaven. He sees the throne of God and the figure of the glorified Son of Man, and gives an impressive description of this event.

He sees a scroll, sealed with seven seals in the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. This scroll must contain the unfolding of the course of the coming world history.

But then it seems as if a rhetorical question is resounding through the universe: “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”

Nobody appears to be worthy to do so.

We do not know how long this deadlock affected the soul of the apostle. Seeing the lack of someone to open the scroll caused him to suffer. He wept much.

John had to describe what he saw about the future, with the purpose of passing on these revelations to his fellow servants. Would he have nothing to report but a rigid, fatalistic sealing of the scroll concerning the future the Lord has planned?

The actual reality that he experienced in his own person was that he was exiled for the sake of the word of God. It seemed as if, by means of the deified totalitarian state, the devil had mankind permanently in his grip. And what kind of grip! Apparently no end is in sight of the succession of deified ‘super states’ with their cruel suppression.

Was it not exactly the same during Jesus’ time on earth? Did not all the lines of Satan’s strivings for centralisation converge in the fulness of time? Did not His own people deliver their Messiah to the anti-divine power of Rome?

But the apostle knew more. He had witnessed Jesus’ resurrection and His ascension. He had taken in Jesus’ instructions as no other. And now this—nobody was found worthy to break the seals of the scroll...

He wept much.

John’s tears proclaim to us the profoundest need of mankind. There would be an infernal deadlock, a horrible status quo, if there was no blood sacrifice at Golgotha and the resurrection of the Saviour of the world. For a moment, the apostle was confronted with the terrifying: “What if...?”

Apparently, there was no power, no authority capable of breaking through the state of emergency in the entire universe.

It looks very much as if John’s tears had a well-ordered place in a heavenly liturgical setting. First, there was this rhetorical, insistent question resounding along all the walls of the universe: “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?”

Silence!

Nobody!

Then the voice of the redeemed church was heard, represented by the elders: “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” (Revelation 5:5). After that, the Lamb came and “took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” And finally, a hymn of praise was heard:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth” (Revelation 5:9-10).

The word ‘sealing’ also contains a legal aspect. A seal is always a mark of ownership. This does not apply to material matters only, but also to spiritual ownership. In this context, it is a matter of a testamentary sealing. The scroll is in the hand of Him who sits on the throne. God Himself has control over it. It is a speech from the throne and at the same time it is a testament. However, a testament never takes effect as long as the person who made it is alive (Hebrews 9:17). It becomes evident here that Jesus’ death gives Him the right and the dignity—in a legal sense as well—to approach the throne of God and to take the scroll and to break its seals without any impediments.

The Lamb is worthy!

This ‘being worthy’ is more than an ethical qualification. It is also more than an appreciation of one’s IQ. It expresses how highly God Himself regards the blood sacrifice at Golgotha. Here we learn how God does not stop the Lamb when he comes to take the scroll. On the contrary, He Himself hands Him the scroll. It is—like the resurrection of Jesus—an acknowledgement of the Lamb being worthy—by virtue of His sacrifice—to shape the coming world history. His great sacrifice is characterised here as a victory: “Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals.” The worthiness of the Lamb is founded in His victory. A victory to release the history of the world.

This is what the servants of the gospel have to know. Otherwise, they might be in serious danger of minimising Jesus’ victory through His suffering and death. Our goal of preaching the Gospel is so often limited to the salvation of souls through faith in Jesus (1 Peter 1:9)—very true indeed—however, the influence of Golgotha on the horizontal line of history up to the last day should also be recognised and proclaimed.

The coming of the Lamb

How strongly and clearly had the coming of the Lamb already been depicted in the prophetic shadow service of ancient Israel (Colossians 2:17). There was an inseparable connection between the blowing of the shofar and the ministry of atonement. On the festivals of New Year and the Day of Atonement, the use of the shofar had a central place. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the atonement cover, which is on the ark, was the place where atonement was made between God and His people (Leviticus 16). No wonder that during this ceremony, people’s thoughts went mainly back to the sacrifice of Isaac and how he was saved by the ram as substitute.

God Himself provided a lamb for the burnt offering!

There was to be a lasting connection between the rams’ horn and the ministry of atonement. A striking example is the entry into Canaan:

“March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have ‘seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark’. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in” (Joshua 6:3-5).

Here we see very clearly how the trumpets, which are proclaiming God’s kingship, are linked to the atonement. The priests, blowing their trumpets, were walking in front of the ark of atonement. That is how the King of Israel entered into the Promised Land with His people.

No less striking is the way in which David had the ark brought back to Jerusalem:

“So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the ‘sounding of rams’ horns’ and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps” (l Chronicles 15:28).

Even up to the end of the age, the relationship between the ministry of atonement and the function of the shofarim is maintained. We read that when the seventh shofar sounded: “God’s temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his covenant...” (Revelation 11:15-19). The ark is the throne of God (1 Sam.4:4), as well as the central point in the service of atonement.

When in the Apocalypse, the seven angels are sounding their trumpets, then—as was the case in the old days during the entry into Canaan—we see, after the sounding of the seventh trumpet, God enter as King, with His people, into the eternal Kingdom of Glory.

“The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15; Dan. 2:44).

The formation

Before we get to know the order in which the shofar angels are lined up, we are shown how the entire end times actually fall under the scope of a worship service. The seven trumpets will have an effect that calls up associations with the plagues of Egypt and thus they refer to a battle which is similar to the exodus under the leadership of the Lord Almighty. This ‘battle’, however, is of a high spiritual calibre, which is already evident in the words of Exodus 5:1:

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a ‘festival’ to me in the desert.”

The plagues of Egypt will serve ‘the festival of the exodus’. The long march of the chosen people—40 years—will in essence be a service of worship from beginning to end.

Now that this story is like ‘paint and colour’ on John’s ‘palette’, by which he may depict the character of the end times, he sees to it that both the way the shofar angels are lined up and the contents of their actions can be subsumed under the same denominator, namely an exodus as a service of worship for the glorification of the Name of God.

This service has two parts: on the one hand, it offers room for the prayers of all the saints, and on the other hand, it offers opportunity for God’s answer.

We read in Revelation 8:1-5:

“When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets. Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake.”

And immediately after this:

“Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.”

It is remarkable that here, too, there is a clear analogy with the exodus out of Egypt. In Exodus 3:9 we read how the cry of the Israelites about their oppression has reached God, and how God instantly responds to it. He sends Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. In this parallel history, these two components are already present: the prayers that go up to God and His redeeming answer to those prayers.

In the great worship service of history, things take place with utmost orderliness.

In considering further how the lining up of the shofar angels is also subject to the holy order of God’s service of worship, we may first of all establish that there is a structural harmony with respect to the great incision in the penultimate phase of the end times.

1—When we are given a broad survey of the end times up to the last day by means of the breaking of the seven seals, we observe an incision between the fourth and the fifth seal.

2—Likewise, there is a space between the sixth and the seventh trumpet.

3—Furthermore, after the second woe, the description does not pass on smoothly to the third woe.

4—Comparing the visions of consolation of Revelation 7 and 14 shows us how these are aimed at very different viewpoints.

5—The above-mentioned issues are in complete harmony with Jesus’ speech about the last things in which He also points to an incision in the penultimate phase of the end times.

Further explanations:

1—The Lamb opens the seven seals. He is, after all, the executor of His own ‘last will and testament’. The end times forms the ‘inheritance’, which He Himself has at his disposal.

We may establish how by this summary of the entire history of the end times—under the imagery of a testamentary scroll with seven seals—Jesus’ sacrificial death counts as the main aspect for all the revelations in the last book of the Bible. The Lamb is standing in the centre of the throne (Revelation 5:6). In God’s plan for ruling the world, the Lamb takes the central place by virtue of His ‘having been slain’.

To the question, Why first a broad survey of the entire history of the end times under the imagery of the seven seals and after that an outline in the metaphorical language of the seven angels sounding their trumpets, the answer is: Jesus’ sacrificial death is strongly emphasised as the most important dimension of all revelation. “And when He opened the seventh seal ...” (Revelation 8:1), the shofar angels start lining up as an answer to the prayers of the saints. Then follows a specification of Jesus’ ‘exodus work’ through the ‘plagues’, which remind us of the plagues of Egypt. This specification does not mean that the shofar angels would chronologically line up after the opening of the seals on the horizontal timeline of history. When the seventh seal is opened, we find in the explanation about the trumpets an opening up like a fan. This is exclusively an apocalyptic figure of speech, a literary classification.

On the other hand, we should not conclude from the above that all visions refer to the same perspective and are therefore only meant as a different way to look at things. Granted, seals and trumpets may constitute an overall picture of the end times in its entirety; still, it does not alter the fact that the revelations relate to the “things which must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1). The Apocalypse clearly emphasises the progress of history, in which all these things will be fulfilled. History is unimaginable without progress in the actual time on earth. We must not simply assume that the visions have no reference to a historical development. A before and an after, a prior and a posterior, naturally belong to these visions.

The main incision in the seals as well as with the trumpets is made in the place where the general catastrophes end and a special phase in time will arrive in the form of ‘the Great Tribulation’ in the last round of history. The ‘judgment horses’ are trotting about under the first four seals, but when the fifth seal is opened, there is the vision of the souls under the altar; those who had been slain because of the word of God and their testimony. The fifth seal, therefore, refers to the congregation of the martyrs of the last round. After that, the sixth seal is opened and the end takes place under extremely severe judgments (Revelation 6:1-17).

Between the fourth and the fifth seal, there is an interlude.

2—There is an interlude between the sixth and the seventh trumpet as well. Between these two trumpets, we find the mighty vision of Revelation 10. The things we are shown here are no small matter. John complied with the command: “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later” (Revelation 1:19). However, when the seven thunders spoke, he had to put down his pen (Revelation 10:4). A part of world history—in the full realistic sense of the word—had to be sealed up. It is God’s penultimate secret. Part of the ‘film’ that was shown to John about the end times had to be cut out.

What an incision!

A prelude to the Day of the Lord!

A dress rehearsal before the ‘performance’!

3—The threefold woe

“As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in mid-air call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!” (Revelation 8:13).

The cries of ‘woe’ correspond to the trumpets, and the trumpet blasts of the ‘other’ three angels indicate in themselves the chronological progress of history.

Immediately after Revelation 8:13, we read in chapter 9:1 that the fifth angel blew the trumpet, which means that the first woe is about to take place. The contents of this woe are described in the following verses of chapter 9 (Revelation 9:2-11). Verse 12 says: “The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.”

With the sixth trumpet, mankind is confronted with the second woe and it is not until chapter 11:14 that we learn: “The second woe has passed; the third woe is coming soon.” So the second woe comprises everything that happens between Revelation 9:13 and Revelation 11:14. This also includes Revelation 10.

How can this be, as Revelation 10—albeit in veiled images—also contains signs of a salutary intervention of God? It looks like a paradox, a seeming contradiction. Yet it is possible, because the fulfilment of Revelation 10 will bear a strong resemblance to the ancient judgment on Mount Carmel.

There will be a restoration. The temple of God, the universal Messianic church will arise (Revelation 11), but not without a world-wide judgment of fire.

The feet of the interlude angel are like pillars of fire.

The thunders resound—as they did at Mount Sinai!

Who would not tremble?

In the same way as happened after the events on Mount Carmel with the prophet Elijah, the ‘revival’ will evoke fierce reactions in the shape of a demonic retaliation such as Jezebel envisaged after the defeat of the Baal priests. It is this retaliation that Revelation 11:1-13 refers to. Then the second woe will have passed and at the sound of the seventh trumpet, the third and last woe will present itself.

How terrifying and majestic is this incision between the sixth and the seventh trumpet!

4—Revelation 7 has systematically been placed as a vision of comfort before the first series of plagues of chapters 8 and 9 . Likewise, chapter 14 is a vision of comfort before the last series of plagues of chapters 15 and 16. These two exodus campaigns are far apart one from the other. The first series of plagues ends in the interlude event of Revelation 10, which is the great salutary turnabout, and the last series of plagues points to the chastisement of the great apostasy. The visions of Revelation 7 and Revelation 14 are clearly in tune with these different historical situations. The fact that these two visions of comfort and the series of plagues attached to them are so widely apart also indicates the reality of an incision in the end times, an incision which is found in Revelation 10.

5—It is perfectly justified to call the description of the end times in the last book of the Bible a paraphrase in apocalyptic terms of the speech about the end of the age that Jesus gave, as recorded in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21.

He too distinguishes between ‘the beginning of birth pains’ and the period of persecution (Matthew 24:8-9). Under ‘the beginning of birth pains’, He includes wars and rumours of wars, the rise of nation against nation and of kingdom against kingdom and the famines and earthquakes taking place here and there. But this is not yet the end (verses 6-7). The light of the gospel will still break through the dark clouds:

“And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:14).

The end will be proclaimed in a moving way with a loud call of the shofar.

“And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other” (Matthew 24:31).

The outline of the Apocalypse

The scope of the end times will only become clear to us when we have seen what framework the Apocalypse is following in recording “…what must soon take place” (Revelation 1:1).

In this framework, we clearly see the literary pattern which is so characteristic of the Apocalypse, namely that the main concept is mentioned first and the details are explained afterwards.

Chapter 1: This chapter describes how the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to John and instructed him to write down what he saw and to show it to the servants.

Chapters 2 and 3: These chapters make mention of the letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor, which are meant to show the vertical relationship between God and His Church.

Chapter 4: In this chapter, the apostle John is shown the throne of God in all its glory.

Chapter 5 is a hymn of praise to the worthiness of the Lamb standing in the midst of the throne.

Chapter 6 gives the general survey of world history.

Chapter 7 is a vision of comfort in which the security of the Church is promised.

Chapters 8 and 9 give a description of the first series of plagues using the imagery of the plagues of Egypt and ending in the interlude event of Revelation 10.

Chapter 10: The fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles within the framework of history—the revelation of God’s penultimate secret. All this is a pledge and a prelude to the day of the Lord, in which the mystery of God will be fulfilled.

Chapters 11-20: These chapters form one unit and deal with the final events of history.

Chapter 11: Similar to chapter 6, which gives an general survey of world history as a whole, chapter 11 gives an general survey of its last phase—the short ‘half a time’.

Chapter 12 presents a summary, a review and an overview of the basic motives that control the struggle of all times. The deepest background is unveiled and Satan, who, once again, is released, will turn his wrath against the rest of the offspring of the woman.

Chapter 13 describes how Satan is actually going to do this. He summons the antichrist and the false prophet.

Chapter 14: After mentioning the way in which the devil organises his last attack, this chapter describes the way God comes with a counterattack. But first, we get a vision of comfort in which—just as before the series of plagues in chapters 8 and 9—the security of the redeemed is guaranteed.

Chapters 15 and 16 deal with the second series of plagues, also described in the symbolic language of the plagues of Egypt. Now the seven last plagues are released.

Chapters 17-19: In these chapters, we find details of the last plagues: the judgment of the great prostitute, the antichrist and the false prophet, and finally that of Satan.

Chapter 20 closes the cycle of chapters 11-20 and reveals how the devil was bound for a thousand years and had to be set free for a short time.

Chapters 21 and 22 show us the new heaven and the new earth after the end of world history. The New Jerusalem, with the throne of God and of the Lamb, where His servants will worship Him and will see Him face to face, will become visible in all its glory.

[1]  Gerhard Kittel: "Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament", siebenter Band. Page 75 ff., W. Kohlhammer Verlag, Stuttgart, 1964.

[2]  The Septuagint (lxx) is the oldest existing Greek translation of the Old Testament and is named after the 72 translators (rounded off downwards to 70). This translation was probably made in the period of 250 and 130 bc.

[3]  See Chapter 4

[4]  For those who wish to do a more in-depth study of this specifically Jewish tradition of the usage of the shofar, I would like to refer to the ‘Encyclopaedia Judaica’, second edition (2007) volume 18, pages 506ff.

chapter iii

THE SHOFARIM AND THEIR EFFECT

The threshing season

In the preface of this book, I posited that the Apocalypse is like a ‘musical composition’ whose score is written in ceremonial hieroglyphs. The key for deciphering these hieroglyphs is found in Revelation 10.

Isn’t this statement somewhat one-sided?

That might indeed be the case if it meant rejecting or despising the numerous exegetical works which explain the difficult terminology and imagery of the Apocalypse to God’s Church. Many of these explanations deserve our appreciation.

How exactly then should we understand the statement above?

To help explain this statement, we should first of all establish how the apostle John arranged the Apocalypse around the festivals—as he also arranged the account of Jesus’ ministry during His life on earth.

This should be our point of departure in deciphering the Apocalypse; if not, there will be a lot of confusion about the exegesis of essential parts of the Apocalypse. For example, what explanation is given for the passage about the five months of torture, mentioned in Revelation 9:5?

“They were not given power to kill them, but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man.”

The following are some quotations on this passage from works
by three well-known (Dutch) exegetes, and they form only a selection from many books on the subject.

Dr. H v.d. Laan writes:

“The power which they receive over other people is restricted: they are not allowed to kill them, but only to torture them. The reader can imagine the kind of pain, which is like the sting of a scorpion.

The power of these locusts is restricted to five months, which is the period that locusts live. They are born in spring and die at the end of summer.”[1]

Dr. A.J. Visser, on the other hand, states:

“According to Hadorn (an exegete, A.A.L.), who notices a difficulty here: the fact that there should be a relation to the life span of locusts (about five months) is childish and overestimates the entomological[2] knowledge of the people who lived at that time.”[3]

Dr. L. van Hartingsveld, however, sees a connection between those five months and the duration of the Flood:

“The torture called forth by the angel with the fifth trumpet lasted for five months – just as long as the Flood (Genesis 7:24).”[4]

It appears that the various points of view differ and may be called contradictory, even though they deal with an essential part of the Apocalypse. This is just one single example of the many contradictory interpretations of the last book of the Bible. However, those who—by the grace of the Holy Spirit—have been allowed to understand how the temple of Revelation 11 will arise, through the ‘way of Elijah’ of Revelation 10, the roaring of the lion and the speaking of the seven thunders, will also understand why the apostle John has grouped the events of the end times around this temple with its cycle of festivals—be it then an inverse cycle of festivals, a true mirror image of the salvation cycle of ancient Israel.

In the same way as trees on the banks of a river or a lake reflect in the water with their trunks and crowns pointed downwards, the judgments mentioned in the Apocalypse reflect as a mirror image the cycle of festivals of the Old Testament.

Wherever the Lamb is rejected by Jew as well as Gentile, an inversion of Passover will emerge, an inverse Passover, and after that, an inverse Feast of Harvest and finally in the last round—after the great incision of Revelation 10, which will be a restoration—there will also be an inverse Feast of Tabernacles. The five months of torture of Revelation 9, therefore, indicate the threshing season between the harvest time and the Feast of Tabernacles. Leviticus 26:5 says literally:

“Your threshing will continue until grape harvest …”

This period of five months of torture, called the threshing season, fits harmoniously in the exegesis of the seven trumpets being a mirror image of the cycle of festivals.

The line of the inverse cycle of festivals can be pointed out clearly. In Revelation 7:2, the angel who has the ‘seal of the living God’ comes up from the east in order to put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of God before the four angels may harm the earth, the sea and the trees. This, then, is a reminder of the sign of the blood which the Israelites had to put on the top and on both sides of the doorframe, so that the deathly judgment would pass by their doors (Exodus 12:22-23). Likewise, Revelation 8 and 9 remind us clearly of the Egyptian plagues.

Let us compare:

1. The angel with the first trumpet—hail and fire on earth—with the seventh Egyptian plague (Exodus 9:22-25).

2. The angel with the second trumpet—a third part of the sea turned to blood—with the first plague (Exodus 7:19-21).

3. The angel with the fourth trumpet—darkness—with the ninth plague (Exodus 10:21-23).

4. The angel with the fifth trumpet—locusts—with the eighth plague (Exodus 10:1-20).

Revelation 7 makes an announcement with prophetic certainty of what will become a reality in chapter 10: the Church of Christ made up of Jews and Gentiles will come to its fulness in a breakthrough of the kingdom of God. However, this will come about in the shape of an inverse Passover, i.e. in the form of a chastisement with Egyptian plagues (Deuteronomy 28:60).

Immediately and emphatically, it must be mentioned here that the apostle has been instructed by his Sender to address the ‘servants’ of the gospel, which means that the Apocalypse has a universal message. His message is directed to all churches all over the world, throughout all ages and to all nations.

The pattern, the paint and the colour on his palette have been taken from the statutes of the ancient covenant of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 and from the ways in which God chose to break the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. The latter applies to the Jewish people as well as to the non-Jewish peoples, the Gentile world.

So, when Christian churches arise among the Gentiles and some get the idea that they have received Israel’s spiritual inheritance, and when it is proclaimed explicitly that Israel as a nation is finished with respect to the coming kingdom of God, then one needs to warn against this teaching together with the apostle Paul:

“Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either. Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off” (Romans 11:20-22).

It is impossible to collect Israel’s inheritance and at the same time to ignore the statutes of God’s covenant.

The fact that the Holy Spirit in the Apocalypse evokes an association with the plagues of Egypt is also intended to break the pharaoh-like hardening of hearts against the Lamb of God.

God does not lie!

Would He leave mankind with a torso, a trunk without a head or limbs, an unfinished piece of work, by merely referring to the plagues of Egypt and nothing else?

Does the story come to nothing?

Does the Lord evoke false expectations by including all these parallels in the Apocalypse?

We cannot accuse God of inconsistency. Granted—at the end of the series of plagues in chapters 8 and 9, there is nothing that reminds us of the tenth plague, but the enumeration of the iniquities of the world is indeed emphasised by the words:

“The rest of mankind that were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts” (Revelation 9:20-21).

A vacuum?

Since the account of the guilt of mankind is being presented in such a peremptory way, does this mean that there will never be a day of reckoning?

The reckoning will come indeed, namely in the fulfilment of Revelation 10, the chapter that immediately follows the final conclusion mentioned above. This fulfilment will have the attributes of a Passover in which the traits of the tenth plague will clearly become visible. Once more, God delivers an ultimatum to mankind—the Jewish people included—as He did in the exodus after the series of plagues over Egypt, where the tenth plague came in the form of an ultimatum:

“Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so that he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son’ ” (Exodus 4:22-23).

This brought about the definitive decision.

The fulfilment of Revelation 10 will take place exactly according to these basic features. The Lord will also thoroughly purge the threshing floor of Christianity and burn the chaff with unquenchable fire (Matthew 3:12). The Lord will strike where the ‘blood is not actually applied’.

We should take care not to think that this is a literal repetition of the ancient Passover event. It is about the spiritual principles. This also concerns our responsibility regarding the ancient penal statutes. Not every penal provision of the Law of Moses is applicable today. In Deuteronomy 22:22, for instance, the death penalty is claimed for adultery. However, when the Pharisees brought an adulteress to Jesus, wanting to tempt Him in order to accuse Him, Jesus’ attitude on this issue was very different. To the question of the Pharisees as to how He would apply the Law of Moses here, Jesus’ answer was: “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” And to the woman He said: “Has no-one condemned you? (...) Then neither do I condemn you … go now and leave your life of sin” (John 8:3-11).

However, Jesus does indeed put before all of us the compendium of the law with the words:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matthew 22:37-40).

And in Matthew 7:12, He says: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

This must and can suffice.

Paul’s warning: “Consider … the sternness of God”, however, remains in force. We should not mock the principal item of the law, as stated by Jesus!

Coming back to the statement: Wherever ‘the blood is not actually applied, the Lord will strike’—here, too, we have to keep in mind the basic spiritual principles.

The apostle Peter testifies:

“Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God” (1 Peter 1:17-21).

In 1 Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23, Paul expresses the same confession: “You were bought at a price.” Likewise the Apocalypse proclaims this essence for our redemption: “...because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.” (Revelation 5:9).

In true ecumenicalism, there is no other foundation to be found but Jesus’ sacrificial death. This is very clearly illustrated in the prophecy which Caiaphas pronounced beyond his own understanding:

“You know nothing at all! You do not realise that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one” (John 11:49-52).

The decisive criterion

The unity of God’s people will exclusively be a fruit of Jesus’ death on the cross. Against the background of this spiritual attitude, Jesus, knowing that His time had come, prayed the following in the high-priestly prayer, just before he was taken captive:

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (John 17:22-23).

What has been the result of this since the Day of Pentecost, throughout the centuries? Christ’s mystic body, His church, was soon divided by ecclesiastical powers, who imposed their own interpretations of the gospel on the people of God through brutal and cruel sanctions. The ‘bloodhounds’ of the inquisition dispersed God’s people. So did many councils and synods with their regulations and laws, whose only purpose was to defend and delimit their own spiritual territory.

That’s religious ‘cartel forming’!

That’s specific interest groups taking priority over the truth of the Gospel!

In this way, God’s people were and still are separated. The cup of the blood of the New Covenant cannot circulate any more at one table. There is an absolute disregard of the commandment which Jesus gave at the institution of the Last Supper, when He took the cup, gave thanks and said: “Take this and divide it among you” (Luke 22:17).

Instead, we find divisions, walls, partitions, fences, altogether an incredible institutionary mess, resulting in a rubbish heap, a ruin, which does not constitute an appeal to the world to believe in Jesus and His mission. Does not Jesus Himself in His high-priestly prayer, connect the unity of His children with the goal “… that the world may believe that you have sent me?” (John 17:21)[5].

Once more—what has become of this?

Well, when it comes to segregation—God can do that too! At the ninth plague, God drew a line of partition between light for the Israelites and tangible darkness for the Egyptians. For three days, no one could see anyone else or leave his place, but all the Israelites had light in the places where they lived (Exodus 10:21-23).

Who can imagine such a miraculous demarcation line?

In the night of the Passover, God drew another demarcation line between life and death—between the Israelites and the Egyptians. At midnight, He passed throughout Egypt and executed the announced judgment—“… then you will know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel” (Exodus 11:7).

When God separates, he does not apply human criteria but only the division made by the blood which is put on the top and sides of the doorframe (Exodus 12:23).

This separation caused the delivered people at the same time to be forged together into one indivisible congregation. God did not enter into a coalition with Pharaoh.

No syncretism, no false ecumenicalism will ever achieve a delivering exodus from the slavery of division.

No, there is no reminder of the tenth plague of the ‘exodus campaign’ in chapters 8 and 9 of the Apocalypse. However ‘another mighty angel’ does appear in Revelation 10, and John has to conceal what ‘the seven thunders spoke’ (Revelation 10:4).

This is God’s penultimate secret.

A crisis situation will arise in history. A ‘night of the Passover’ will come down on the nations. Before the ‘sun’ of Revelation 10 rises and a third day of the Lord dawns, there will be a ‘night’ which will be unlike any other night.

World history has seen many ‘nights’: nights of atrocious wars, of suppression and terrorism. But the coming ‘night’ will be different. Once more, at midnight, God will pass through those with ‘pharaonic hardening of hearts’ and ‘separate’.

At that time, He went “throughout Egypt about midnight” (Exodus 11:4-5). With His grace and His judgments, the Lord always strikes the central, the essential, the core issue.

In the middle of the Garden of Eden, God planted the tree of life as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9). This last-mentioned tree ranked as a criterion. If man were to eat of it, it would mean that he declared himself autonomous before God. ‘Knowledge’ has an intensive meaning here in the sense of man deciding for himself what is good or evil. And that happened in the representative middle of God’s creation, in the heart of paradise, of all places. Exile was the result.

In His great mercy, however, God called Abraham. He took him ‘from the ends of the earth’, and called him ‘from its farthest corners’ (Isaiah 41:9). Abraham was transferred from the ‘ends’ of the earth to the ‘centre’ of the nations. In Ezekiel 5:5, Jerusalem is very clearly called the centre of the nations:

“This is what the Sovereign Lord says: This is Jerusalem, which I have set in the centre of the nations, with countries all around her.”

But when rebellion against the living God is spreading among Abraham’s seed, the Word of God says:

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself am against you, Jerusalem, and I will inflict punishment on you in the sight of the nations” (Ezekiel 5:8).

Yet these very ups and downs of the history of Jerusalem prove how human unfaithfulness will never be able to nullify God’s faithfulness. Jerusalem will remain—in judgment and mercy—the focus of God’s revelation. In Jerusalem, it becomes clear what happens when people oppose God and His work of salvation. Jerusalem is the example that God uses to show to all mankind what He intends to do with His creation.

Jesus says in Luke 13:33: “…for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!”

What a miserable ‘privilege’.

But in spite of all unholy opposition against God and His Word, the promise remains in force: “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever” (2 Chronicles 33:4 and 1 Kings 8:29).

The worst opposition against God came when the measure of the sin of the forefathers was filled up and the ‘Author of life’, Jesus, the Messiah, was crucified. The spiritual level to which Jerusalem had been devalued by this is equated in the Apocalypse with Sodom and Egypt, “… where also their Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8). Compare to this also Isaiah 1:10, where Isaiah addresses the people in the name of God with the term ‘rulers of Sodom’.

It stands to reason that the name ‘Egypt’ in the Apocalypse does not mean the Egyptian country and people of today. ‘Egypt’ is used here for the purpose of depicting the pharaonic hardening of hearts, as it was in Moses’ days, so as to mark the circumstances in which Jesus was crucified. Figuratively speaking, Jerusalem did not put the blood of the Passover Lamb on its doorframes in order to be reconciled with God. On the contrary! It challenged God’s judgment with the words: “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” (Matthew 27:25).

This happened in the fulness of time, that is to say, in the centre of the centuries, in the midst of world history and at the same time in the midst of mankind.

God always uses the same criterion for the judgment to pass by, namely ‘applying the blood of the Passover Lamb’ for reconciliation. This criterion is still in force, even today. In a metaphorical sense, this means wholeheartedly accepting or rejecting the blood of an eternal covenant at the entrance and exit of life—the ‘doorframe’.

However, is Jerusalem today, two thousand years later, still the representative ‘centre of the earth’, where mankind’s relationship with God is concerned?

Undoubtedly so!

Jesus Himself has very clearly drawn a line across the field of the history of the end times. Speaking about the “time of punishment in fulfilment of all that has been written”, He proclaimed: “… and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:24). The fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles does not mean the end of world history but rather the coming to a conclusion of God’s plan with the Gentile world with respect to using them as an instrument in the execution of judgments as well as in showing mercy to Jerusalem.

Paul means exactly the same thing, when he says: “…blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel shall be saved…” (Romans 11:25-26 [nkjv]).

The translation ‘has come in’ may cause misunderstanding. A better translation would be ‘has historically come in’. ‘Fulness of the Gentiles’ does not refer to a full number, a complete quantity, but it means God fulfilling his work in the Gentile world with regard to Jerusalem.

Also, when Jesus takes leave of His disciples, it is clear how much He puts Jerusalem in a central position with respect to the coming ‘times and dates’ of the Father. As an answer to the disciples’ question: “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”, He does not say: God has finished with Jerusalem. No, He points out to them that the Father, in His authority, has reserved times and dates for this great purpose. For the fulfilment of this promise pertaining to the kingdom for Israel, however, they are told not to leave Jerusalem, but to pray and wait for the Holy Spirit to come on them (Acts 1:4-8). For it is through their world-spanning testimony in the power of the Spirit, that Jerusalem will yet receive the restoration of the kingdom to Israel! This same expectation of the end times is implied in Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:38-39: “Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” And immediately after having spoken these words, He says in Matthew 24:34-35: “I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” God is withdrawing from Jerusalem “…until…”, which means: not definitively!

It will soon become evident how His words: “Your house is left to you desolate” are a divine indication of the truthfulness of the fact that He was sent to this world by the Father. This horrifying sign will be a test case in the near future. It will not be a cursory test case, but it will be ‘flames of fire from within a bush’, whose flames and sparks will break forth towards the four winds. A bush burning with fire, lit by a fire from heaven, which does not consume it (Exodus 3:2). It will be a crucial test in which every human being would do well—even when meditating on it—to remove his shoes, as Moses did, when he tried to approach this phenomenon. The place on which he stood was ‘holy ground’.

Now that the ‘times and dates’ of the Father are drawing near, we should also prepare for this with our ‘sandals taken off’, and hear what the Spirit has to say from within this holy fire to the churches everywhere in the world. It is a holy ‘must’ for Christianity; they cannot get around obeying the voice from within the fire with reverence and awe when He tells them not to leave Jerusalem. This command resounds in Paul’s words: “…in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you” (Romans 11:31), and the kingdom to Israel may be restored.

The feet of the interlude angel of Revelation 10 are like pillars of fire. The Lord our God is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24).

In Luke 3:16, John the Baptist says: “I baptise you with water. But one more powerful than I will come, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.” This baptism with the Holy Spirit separates the wheat from the chaff, individually in our own hearts and lives—i.e. in the regeneration and the sanctification of our lives—as well as in
the wider-reaching structures of society. John the Baptist also mentions this in the following verse:

“His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing-floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

All prophets were prophets of fire. They lit the torches of their messages with the ‘loud voice out of the fire’ and they had to pass them on as in a relay race, from generation to generation, starting with Moses after the Law had been given to the Israelites on Mount Sinai:

“These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me” (Deuteronomy 5:22).

Traditional Judaism nurtures the hope that the ‘second deliverance’ will bear the characteristics of the Passover and will connect the celebration of Passover with the coming of Elijah, an expectation which was confirmed by Jesus Himself at the event of the transfiguration on the mountain in Mark 9:12. However, this does not mean that at a certain moment, somewhere in the world, this prophet will enter a house and join the Passover celebration in order to proclaim a deliverance in an exclusively Jewish sense.

Passover caused division, though not for ethnic reasons.

God’s chosen people were threatened with extermination in Egypt. Furthermore, they were drawn away from following the living God by the enticement of Egyptian idolatry. Joshua 24:14 and Ezekiel chapters 20 and 23 describe how Israel had joined in the worship of the Egyptian gods.

Egypt had quite a supply of gods. Especially the cult of zoolatry (animal worship) had a lot of adherence. There were holy calves, bulls, a cow goddess, and a ram, which were considered an incarnation of the sun god. The frog was also worshipped. There were for example a god and a goddess who were depicted with the head of a frog. These latter two were thought to have participated in the creation of the world!

It is by means of the very nature of the judgments which God brought on Egypt that Yahweh mocked the kingdom of darkness and the vanity of the idols. The sun was darkened; the Nile became a stream of blood; a cattle plague broke out. The very creation that was worshipped suddenly turned against their worshippers. God made frogs jump up everywhere against Pharaoh and his people. The message of these judgments is clear: deified nature is becoming aggressive against those who are guilty of this idolatry.

The prophets called this worship of the idols ‘prostitution’, and they announced the same retribution as was given to prostitutes. The objects of this spiritual prostitution became the fiercest enemies of those who committed this prostitution (Ezekiel 16).

The exodus from Egypt is therefore most essentially an act of exorcism, of exorcising demons! When Moses and Aaron acted in the Name of Yahweh, they were the most powerful exorcists in history. They delivered an entire nation which was doomed to death, from the dominion of Satan by the power of the Name of Yahweh. The people were delivered from the mouth of the dragon (Isaiah 51:9-10). It was a radical intervention of God, with Moses as His instrument.

Elijah had to fulfil a similar mission to the one that Moses had undertaken in the night of the Passover. Elijah had to carry out the Carmel judgment, in which he had to destroy the mixing of idolatry with the worship of the living God. When God leads His people out, He always separates light from darkness and truth from falsehood.

Likewise in the Apocalypse: the plagues, described in chapters 8 and 9, are gaining in magnitude and intensity until in Revelation 9:20-21, the sum of the atrocities and iniquities results in a crisis situation in which God intervenes by means of the penultimate secret of Revelation 10.

In the midst of our ‘night of the Passover’ and in the midst of our ‘Egyptian hardening of hearts’, the Lord will strike—figuratively speaking.

And yet, this is by no means less realistic in our era which we consider so advanced and ultramodern. We are the ones who change! God does not. His Name is Yahweh—I am who I am. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

From the ‘night of the Passover’ to ‘Easter morning’

After the night of the Passover, Easter morning will dawn. It is characteristic of all the prophets that they speak about things that are not yet as if they were already here. Their way of acting is anticipatory, because of the absolute certainty they had in their souls.

In this sense, we should also understand Revelation 7. Here, we see announced with prophetic certainty, through a process of a inverse Passover and a punishment with ‘Egyptian plagues’ that which will be realised in chapter 10, namely the coming to its fulness of the church of Christ made up of Jews and Gentiles in a breakthrough of the kingdom of God, as well as Satan being bound.

The plagues at the sound of the fifth and sixth shofar are extremely disturbing. We should see the phrase ‘the great river Euphrates’ in Revelation 9:14 as a very important expression in the secret language of the Apocalypse.

Near the Euphrates was the territory of paradise (Genesis 2:14); it was also the boundary of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 15:18), and the Messianic kingdom of peace will stretch all the way to there for Abraham’s offspring. (Psalm 72:8 and Zechariah 9:10).

The term ‘Euphrates’ is also referred to in the last round of history, after the great restoration:

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East” (Revelation 16:12).

This last statement points to the part of the inverse Feast of Tabernacles from the series of plagues mentioned in chapters 15 and 16. The bowls remind us of the liturgy of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The following statement from Dr. A.J. Visser’s excellent book “De openbaring van Johannes” (“The revelation of John”) shows how much we should take into account the penultimate secret of Revelation 10 and its disclosure in order to come to a sound exegesis of the Apocalypse. He writes the following about the ‘storm angels’ of Revelation 7:1-3, standing at the four corners of the earth:

“This part, furthermore, is remarkable because everyone can perceive a ‘gap’ in the text. The four angels of destruction disappear from the scene altogether. We would expect them to be released after the servants of God have been sealed on their foreheads, but nothing like that happens. Four angels of destruction also appear in Revelation 9:14, but these do not seem to have anything to do with the wind and they are not standing at the four corners of the earth, but on the banks of the Euphrates. One might, of course, attribute this to a lack of coherence, which is often the case with dreams and visions and one might consider that as a further proof for the hypothesis that a veritable prophet is speaking here, and not some author, who is improperly making use of ‘visions’.”[6]

This citation clearly shows the lack of a key for deciphering the hieroglyphs of the Apocalypse, which we find in chapter 10. The starting point for the interpretation of Revelation 7:1-3 ought to be the realisation that we are dealing with a prophetic and thus a forward-looking survey of the end times up to the end of the world. In this way, Revelation 7 is connected with Revelation 10.

A day of completion is approaching, the great and dreadful day of the Lord. Then the four angels at the four corners of the world will be set free and “the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare” (2 Peter 3:10). But first, the servants of the Lord will receive the seal of God on their foreheads. In connection with a new day of salvation, this priority will be strongly emphasised, as the angel with the seal of the living God will ascend from the east and cry with a loud voice to the four angels of destruction not to hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until the servants of God have received the seal of God on their foreheads (Revelation 7:3).

The situation in the end times will be threatening. This pericope might also be typified as an apocalyptic paraphrase of the last verse of Malachi.

The curse is imminent.

A fist, ready to strike, is raised over mankind, but it will unclench and become a hand of blessing from the Father through the priority which is granted to the Lord’s servants being sealed on their foreheads. The Messianic church from Jew and Gentile will come to fulness. Those who are sealed number 144,000 (12 x 12 x 1,000, which is a divine measure). These servants of God will also survive the last round of history, even though this final phase will bring along the great tribulation.

We must, however, bear in mind that, as soon as the purpose of the absolute world-wide threat of the four ‘storm angels’ of Revelation 7 becomes clear, there will be a tremendously strong exhortation and incentive to accept being sealed with the seal of the living God, i.e. with the sign of the blood of the Lamb. The codeword ‘Euphrates’ of Revelation 9 evokes associations with wars and exile. The angels of destruction, having been held in readiness for the hour and the day and the month and the year, will be set free. This can already be partly recognised in the course of history. As soon as the fulfilment of Revelation 10 makes this fully visible, an unequalled appeal will emerge!

This alarm signal will be heard all over the world!

It will be a warning that, in the same way as the four angels of destruction at the Euphrates were let loose and their actions became concretely demonstrable in history, likewise, the four storm angels in the four corners of the earth of Revelation 7 will be released, which will result in the end of the world.

In this vision, the relationship between the angels of destruction of Revelation 9 and the storm angels of Revelation 7 concurs perfectly with the oath of the interlude angel of Revelation 10:

“There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (verses 6-7).

The above-mentioned relationship will gradually become more visible according to the degree in which the church of God made up of Jews and Gentiles will be equipped with the charismata of the Holy Spirit, through the fulfilment of Revelation 10.

John the Baptist, the Elijah of the new-testament era, was announced by the angel Gabriel as the herald to make ready a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17). Likewise, the Elijah-like call of Revelation 10 will result in a people prepared for the Lord. The temple of Revelation 11 also points to that. When the Church made up of Jews and Gentiles has come to its fulness, it will be a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. How impressively Paul puts this in Ephesians 2:19-22:

“Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”

The preparation of the people of God also includes an enlightened insight into the interpretation or actualisation of what has already happened and of the course of history towards the end.

The fulfilment of Revelation 10 includes a conclusion of a certain phase. This enables us to look back on events that have taken place and draw conclusions for the future at the same time. Here too, the word of God to Moses is valid, when he asked the Lord to show him His glory:

“When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen” (Exodus 33:22-23).

In other words, only when the Lord has passed by shall we see—to a limited extent—His glory. This also applies to Jesus’ words:

“I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come” (John 16:12-13).

A premature insight into the mysteries of God may exceed the capacity of our hearts. This is one of the reasons why the prophets sometimes had to conceal or seal up a deeper insight into God’s plans.

The prophet Daniel was told the reason why he had to seal up the vision he saw: “…but seal up the vision, for it concerns the distant future” (Daniel 8:26).

A little further in the text, we read how Daniel is told to “close up and seal the words of the scroll until the time of the end” (Daniel 12:4). Here, we see very clearly how God wants to prevent premature knowledge of the mysteries of the future of His kingdom.

This is also the case with the disciples, who, at the transfiguration on the mount, had been granted a glance in the unfolding of the great and awesome future of the Lord. They were not allowed to talk about this vision until after His resurrection (Matthew 17:9). The apostle John was not allowed to write down what the thunders had spoken either (Revelation 10:4).

For that reason, the interpretation of ‘what will take place later’ (Revelation 1:19) in the Apocalypse is fully dependent on the Spirit of God, who—according to Jesus’ promise—will show us the things to come.

Merciful vengeance in a liturgical form

When—inasmuch as it is granted to us—we want to proceed to the interpretation, we would do well to look at the prophets, who in their days shed light on the coming intervention of God. Hosea’s words are significant: “…my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.” (Hosea 6:5). Isaiah witnesses to the same effect: “Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Lord, have we waited for thee…” (Isaiah 26:8 [kjv]).

With this interpretation of God’s judgments, the prophets refer back to the statutes of the covenant of Leviticus 26:31-35 and Deuteronomy 28:63-66, in which the Lord makes known to His people what the consequences will be if they unilaterally break the covenant with Him. Jesus gave similar warnings in Luke 21:22-24.

Taking possession of the land of Canaan was the completion of the exodus from Egypt. The punishment of exile, therefore, is the reverse of the exodus.

The exodus from Egypt was not just any mass migration, but a going up to God’s holy mountain, and therefore a service of worship, instituted by God Himself. As the reverse of the exodus, the plagues acquire a liturgical character at that point.

And what is more—the plagues even acquire a priestly character exactly because the culminating point of the exodus consisted in the calling to the status of kingdom of priests. The enemies of the people of God will also have to face these priestly judgments, for the Lord has a ‘fire in Zion’ and a ‘furnace in Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 34:6; Jeremiah 46:10). It is quite likely that this fire points to the fire of the altar.

Ezekiel gives a very clear account of the intervention of God:

“When I have brought them back from the nations and have gathered them from the countries of their enemies, I will show myself holy through them in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God, for though I sent them into exile among the nations, I will gather them to their own land, not leaving any behind. I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will pour out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Sovereign Lord” (Ezekiel 39:27-29).

The exile was, by the fact that its duration had been decided on beforehand, liturgically determined. It was a ‘Sabbath of punishment’. In 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, we read as follows:

“He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its ‘sabbath rests’; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfilment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.”

The way in which Malachi had to warn the priests is also liturgical:

“Because of you I will rebuke your descendants; I will spread on your faces the offal from ‘your festival sacrifices’, and you will be carried off with it. And you will know that I have sent you this admonition so that my covenant with Levi may continue,” says the Lord Almighty. “My covenant was with him, a covenant of life and peace, and I gave them to him; this called for reverence and he revered me and stood in awe of my name” (Malachi 2:3-5).

From these examples, we may conclude that God’s vengeance is merciful and that He uses this exact liturgical design of judgments for the purpose of calling Israel back to the true service of the Lord. This liturgical design of judgment, employed by the Lord to reclaim His people, was a reminder of the characteristic feature of the ‘transgression’, i.e. the falling away from God and His service. This is exactly how the richness of God’s mercy is really disclosed. The inverse cycle of feasts will never mean a definitive abandonment of His people to ‘Pharaoh’, to the antichrist, to the devil, to eternal darkness. It will never mean absolute rejection.

On the contrary!

It may sound paradoxical, but even the strict inverse of the original exodus is in itself a preparation for a new exodus of the people with whom an eternal covenant of peace was established (Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Hosea 2:14-23 and Isaiah 54:9-17).

According to the Apocalypse, the formula which God used when dealing with Israel, namely by using the liturgical form of judgment to produce an exodus, is also applied by the Lord universally to all the nations.

After all, in the fulness of time, both the ecclesiastical power (Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin) and the secular regime (Pilate) submitted to the deified power of the Roman state. This submission to a deified power of the state resulted in rejecting the Prince of Peace and accepting the ‘murderer from the beginning’ (John 8:44).

It is impossible for us humans to fathom how deep the fall of mankind was in the ‘hour—when darkness reigns’ (Luke 22:53). God created man in His own image and after His likeness, which means that he was given a free choice. God did not create robots! “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” This is what Moses sang in Deuteronomy 32:4.

Therefore it is not appropriate to complain or to object, when, at the prayer of the saints in Revelation 8:4, very severe judgments are released. For repeatedly, we read: a third part was ‘burned up’, in nature, or ‘killed’ in the human world (Revelation 8:7-12 and 9:18). The number three has a symbolic value of entirety, of completeness. One-third, therefore, means a limitation.

When mankind uses their free will with which they were created in order to choose for the devil, then God, from His side, is so merciful as to set bounds to the consequences of this wrong choice.

His vengeance is merciful! What people thought for evil against Him, God will turn into good (Genesis 50:20).

And if, before this transformation, an intervention is necessary which resembles the tenth plague, then this plague will irrevocably come about. The voices of the thunders of Revelation 10 will speak.

The dwelling place in which God lives by his Spirit, the temple of Revelation 11, is being prepared.

[1]  Dr. H. van der Laan: “De openbaring van Johannes”, page 67, J.H. Kok, Kampen, 1992
“De macht die zij over de andere mensen ontvangen is een beperkte: ze mogen hen niet doden, maar alleen pijnigen. De lezers kunnen zich de aard van de pijn voorstellen, want de pijniging is als die van een schorpioensteek.
De macht van deze sprinkhanen is beperkt tot vijf maanden, de periode die sprinkhanen leven. Ze worden geboren in de lente en sterven aan het eind van de zomer.”

[2]  entomology = knowledge on the subject of insects

[3]  Dr. A.J. Visser: “De openbaring van Johannes”, page 92, G.F. Callenbach B.V. , Nijkerk, 1975
“De verklaring van Hadorn (een commentator – A.A.L), die hier ook een moeilijkheid voelt: ‘Diese Zeitbestimmung erklärt sich ganz einfach daher dass eine Heuschercke ungefähr 5 Monate lebt’, is kinderlijk en overschat de entomologische kennis der ouden.”

[4]  Dr. L. van Hartingsveld: “Openbaring”, page 50, J.H. Kok, Kampen, 1984
“ Vijf maanden, even lang als de zondvloed (Genesis 7:24), duurde de pijn, opgeroepen door de engel met de vijfde bazuin.”

[5]  More about this in volume 4 of the Shofar series

[6]  Dr. A.J. Visser: “De openbaring van Johannes”, page 79, G.F. Callenbach B.V., Nijkerk, 1975
“Dit gedeelte is verder merkwaardig, omdat hier voor een ieder een losse naad in de tekst valt waar te nemen. De vier verderf-engelen verdwijnen namelijk voorgoed van het toneel. We zouden verwachten, dat ze na de verzegeling kunnen worden losgelaten, maar niets daarvan gebeurt. Vier verderf-engelen komen nog meer voor (9:14), maar die hebben kennelijk niets met de wind uit te staan en bevinden zich niet aan de hoeken der aarde, maar bij de Eufraat. Men kan dit natuurlijk toeschrijven aan het gebrek aan coherentie (=samenhang A.A.L.), dat bij visioenen en dromen vaak optreedt en het als een bewijs te meer zien voor de hypothese dat hier een werkelijke ziener aan het woord is en niet een auteur die zich van de visioenen bedient.”

chapter iv

THE GREAT INTERLUDE

The herald and the king

“When the time had fully come, God sent His Son” (Galatians 4:4). The miracle of His appearance was surrounded by many events that were in harmony. This applies both to the preparation and to the actual event of His coming.

The same angel Gabriel was sent out to announce the birth of the herald as well as the coming of the King.

This fact in itself should make us realise that there will be a sacrosanct relationship, established by God Himself, between John the Baptist and Jesus—a relationship which lies anchored in the one indivisible loving heart of God.

The same angel Gabriel!

There will be a close relationship between the herald and the King in their public performances.

Although Herod is capable of using a sword to sever John’s head from his trunk, the macabre violence of whatever anti-Christian power will never be able to separate a prophetic message from its fulfilment.

The angel Gabriel’s appearance on the right side of the altar of incense (Luke 1:11), i.e. the place of honour, means no less than a divine sanctioning of the entire Old-Testament worship service and so the Most High Himself guarantees the entire Old-Testament revelation of God. The New-Testament fulfilment will be in harmony with the Old-Testament message.

The angel Gabriel—note the details—knew how far along Elisabeth’s pregnancy was and with this knowledge, he strengthened Mary’s faith. To say it in David’s words: His ‘frame was not hidden from God’, when John ‘was made in the secret place’, like an embroidery, in the depths of the earth, i.e. his mother’s womb. God similarly created and watched over the life He placed in Mary’s womb after the overshadowing by the Holy Spirit.

For nothing is impossible with God.

The indissoluble and harmonious connection between the mission of the herald and his King also finds expression in the course of both their lives.

We should give this our full attention, in particular in relation to the exegesis of Revelation 10, the chapter of the herald in the Apocalypse. It is not possible to separate the message of the interlude angel and the revelation of God’s Kingship in what the seven thunders say.

Three times, we notice a special harmony between the prophecy and its fulfilment: twice in the principal moments in the life of John the Baptist and once at a comparable action of the herald in the Apocalypse.

The two principal moments in John the Baptist’s life were when he baptised Jesus and when he died a martyr.

Principal moment I – The baptism of Jesus

“As soon as Jesus was baptised, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17).

Immediately after this main event in the life and work of John the Baptist, Jesus is led into the desert by the Holy Spirit. There, He resists the threefold temptation by Satan, which in principle proves that He has come into the world to destroy the works of the devil.

When Jesus is transferred into a situation which we may describe as a foreshadowing of the kingdom of peace, immediately after His victory over Satan in the desert, we perceive a series of miracles.

“He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him” (Mark 1:13).

When the kingdom is given to the Son of Man, as also Daniel says, the ‘parade of the beasts’ will be finished and the powers inspired by Satan will be subservient to the Son of Man.

Heavenly courtiers prepare the table for King Jesus and serve Him.

Furthermore, there is a straight line from this prophetic scene to His appearance in the synagogue in Nazareth, where He read from Isaiah 61 about the announcement of the year of the Lord’s favour (Luke 4:14 ff.).

Principal moment II – Jesus’ reaction to John’s death

Matthew 14:13 relates to us Jesus’ reaction to the announcement of the death of His herald. He does not organise a solemn memorial service, neither does He give a stirring funeral oration from a distance, although He had once said: “I tell you the truth: Among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist …” (Matthew 11:11).

Jesus does not draw the conclusion that this is the height of human frustration when the head of such a great person in the kingdom of God is presented on a platter to Herod and his wicked and extremely frivolous company.

Quite the contrary!

He begins to prove by means of a series of miracles how the message of His herald is being fulfilled. He calls up a scenario in the form of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand, and He walks on the sea in a stormy night proving thereby that several aspects of John’s message will be fulfilled in Him and through Him.

The three aspects

Aspect I – The Jewish Passover was at hand

Jesus had been announced by His herald, John the Baptist, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). We may therefore understand from the information in John 6:4, “The Jewish Passover Feast was near”, how much the miraculous feeding of the five thousand and His walking on the sea in the night of the storm were related to the Jewish Passover. In His prophetic scenario of the feeding of the multitude, Jesus presents Himself as fulfilment of the Passover Lamb that was eaten during the night of the Exodus. This matches the further and profound interpretation which Jesus gives of this event in John 6:22-59, especially by His words: “I tell you the truth, unless you can eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53 ff.).

Aspect II – The master of ceremonies

The herald typified his work with the words: “The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice” (John 3:29). He is, therefore, only the master of ceremonies who brings together bride and bridegroom and makes the preparations for the feast.

The wedding starts with a wedding meal.

That is why we have the story of the miraculous feeding of the five thousand in connection with this. Further to the message of His master of ceremonies, Jesus, as the Bridegroom, offers His bride a wedding meal in the shape of the miraculous feeding. Eating the Passover Lamb is at the same time the symbolic unification of the bride and the Bridegroom (Mark 6:30-44; Isaiah 25:6-9). The Messianic era will begin with a meal!

Aspect III – The King of God’s Kingdom

Jesus had been announced as the coming King by His herald, John the Baptist (Matthew 3:1-3). The Lamb is at the same time the Bridegroom, and the Bridegroom is also the King. The King controls the entire situation. It is in itself a miracle to have a multitude of 5000 men (the women and children were not counted) sit down in the grass for a meal in a great ‘ecumenical’ order (i.e. in ranks, by hundreds and by fifties [Mark 6:40]) with absolute dependence on one man and believing and expecting a miracle through one man. It is understandable that after being fed, the multitude wanted to make Him king by force.

Precisely because the Most High God stands behind Jesus’ sacrifice as the Passover Lamb, this sacrifice has the power to be multiplied without limit to feed the multitude. The meaning of this miracle is universal and the meal feeds the believer for eternal life.

The church, which is fed at this meal, will, together with Jesus, also be able to face the waves in the night of the storm in a royal manner. It is not necessary to become terribly frightened in the ‘fourth watch of the night’ of the end times, just so long as the church ‘understands the miracle of the loaves’, and does not enter the night of the storm with ‘their hearts hardened’ (Mark 6:52).

The herald angel and the royal thunders in Revelation 10

We notice how the King makes a perfect correspondence between the two main events in the life and death of His herald and the fulfilment of his message, be it only in symbolic form for the time being. We may therefore rightfully ask whether we may also expect a similar correspondence in the disclosure of the future the Lord.

We find the answer in Revelation 10.

A mighty herald comes down from heaven and subsequently, the voices of the seven thunders are heard.

So here, too, the fulfilment immediately follows the announcement.

However, does the Scripture itself offer us sufficient reason to extend the line from John the Baptist to Revelation 10 in this way?

It certainly does!

In Mark 9:12-13, Jesus answers the question of the disciples as to whether Elijah must come first, before what they have experienced as a miniature Apocalypse on the Mountain of Transfiguration with respect to His great power and future is fulfilled affirmatively with the words: “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

One thing does not exclude the other!

The disciples inferred from these words that He was referring to John the Baptist (cf. also Matthew 11:14 and 17:13). Meanwhile His words: “To be sure, Elijah does come first” are fully related to His illustrious future. The cloak of Elijah will fall back as often as God deems necessary for the purpose of announcing ‘restoration’.

Metaphorically, we might even state that in the end times, the ‘cloak of Elijah’ will fall back three times. The cloak is the symbol of his prophetic function. John the Baptist, as a herald, like Elijah, announces the coming of the King of kings. When he dies, it turns out that his announcement has not been in vain. Jesus organises a scenario—be it in symbolic form—in which He manifests His royal power and dignity through the miraculous feeding of the multitude and His walking on the sea in the night of the storm. Subsequently, God extends this line of John the Baptist (the herald) further to Revelation 10.

The angel Gabriel had announced the birth of the herald. The name ‘Gabriel’ means ‘God’s strength’.

Revelation 10 opens with the announcement of the coming of ‘a mighty angel’. He takes the entire earth as his platform and gives a loud shout, like the roar of a lion. In the Old Testament, prophecy is often compared with the roaring of a lion (Jeremiah 25:30; Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2). In Amos 3:7-8, the link between the prophetic word and the roaring of the lion is clearly expressed:

“Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign Lord has spoken—who can but prophesy?”

The power of the angel in Revelation 10 is apparent from the awesome description of his appearance and his actions. He sets his feet, which are like pillars of fire, on the earth and on the sea. This action signifies that he rightfully annexes the whole world, by which at the same time, he denies man the right to blow up the entire creation.

The covenant, which is symbolised by the rainbow above his head, remains in force. His face is like the sun, which is symbolic of the approach of a new day. After he has shouted, the voices of the seven thunders speak. It is not a mere indeterminate rumbling of the thunder or a volume of sound without content. On the contrary, the substance of what the thunders are saying can be formulated, but the Lord forbids doing so. Verse 4 says: “Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down.”

John was instructed to write down “what will take place later” (Revelation 1:19). So when the voices of the seven thunders speak and John receives the command: “… do not write it down”, it is obvious that these mysteries must be a part of the future. Thus the opportunity for another herald to appear and to reveal the mystery of the thunders is left open.

The interlude angel ‘roars’ what is written in the open little scroll. It is part of God’s counsel. God’s penultimate secret is being revealed and it is immediately associated—under oath—with the disclosure of the mystery of God, which will be fulfilled when the thread of this time on earth is being cut through, i.e. at the end of the age.

When mankind has concretely experienced the fulfilment of Revelation 10, it will be evident for all generations and nations that, as surely as a mystery has now been revealed and realised, so the mystery of God concerning the end of the world will also be realised for certain. The fulfilment of Revelation 10 is therefore a pledge, bearing the characteristic of a divine oath, of the coming end of the world when the seventh trumpet will sound:

“Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, “There will be no more delay! But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets” (Revelation 10:5-7).

The little scroll is sweet in the mouth and bitter in the stomach. This metaphor reminds us of the vision Ezekiel had at his calling (Ezekiel 2:8-3:3). This is the gospel, but the ‘flesh’ resists. Here, too, it is evident that the gospel is not something that man made up (Galatians 1:11).

When this call of the herald roars over the world, it will reach many kings and rulers. We may infer this from the command: “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings” (Revelation 10:11).

The restoration at the time of the great interlude will once again be followed by another period of a great apostasy and in this period, the two witnesses will appear. Then the ‘cloak of Elijah’ will fall back a third time, because the witnesses are clearly bearing the characteristics of a full authority like Elijah and Moses:

“These men have power to shut up the sky so that it will not rain during the time they are prophesying; and they have power to turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want” (Revelation 11:6).

Thus the line of the function of the herald, starting with John the Baptist, is consistently pursued until the end of the world.

With the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist, the angel Gabriel already indicated the fruit of his future ministry with the words: “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:16-17).

This is also the topic in Revelation 10. After the interlude angel acts as a herald, we find in Revelation 11:1 the command: “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshipers there.” The heart of the fathers has then been turned to the children, and a ‘well-prepared’ church made up of Jews and Gentiles has come into existence, a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

In God’s high plan of salvation, the contents of the last verses of Malachi and the interpretation Jesus gave at the Transfiguration on the Mountain—next to the recognition of John the Baptist—are identical to the contents and the meaning of Revelation 10.

The purpose of this chapter is also the coming of a herald, with a task like the one Elijah had, before the great day of the end of the world dawns. All Scripture references that point to ‘rebuilding David’s fallen tent’ may be associated with this.

John the Baptist’s herald message was followed by a manifestation of Jesus’ kingship in the symbolic miracles of the feeding of the five thousand and His walking on the sea.

The herald message of Revelation 10 is followed by a manifestation of His kingship in the speaking of the seven thunders. The great interlude is taking place.

The herald message of the two witnesses will be followed by the revelation of His eternal kingship at the end of the age.

The first fulfilment, announced by John the Baptist, took place in profound symbolism when ‘the Passover of the Jews’ was at hand.

The second fulfilment, that of Revelation 10, will concretely take place in a unique eschatological sense, when likewise, in the end times the ‘Passover of the Jews’ is at hand. The great restoration will have the character of a Passover. Mankind, with the representative Jewish people as a vanguard, is approaching the borderline between the second and third millennium.

We are not to forget that ‘the third day’ has a key position in the Old Testament: systematically a deathly situation will turn to life. In Hosea 6:1-2 we read e.g.:

“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence.”

This ‘revival’, this restoration, this resurrection will be realised through the end-time fulfilment of the Passover and the further fulfilment of Pentecost up to the heights of the fulfilled Feast of Tabernacles. The well-prepared church, the temple of Revelation 11:1, will not be denied a fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles. There is a fixed scope, a holy blueprint with God acting according to His plan in the fulfilment of the ancient Jewish cycle of feasts.

Three times a year, at the great feasts, the Jewish people had to go to Jerusalem in order to worship. Therefore, when the kingdom of God is to break through among all the nations in this world, the ‘great works of God’—in the form of judgment as well as restoration—will turn out to be entirely in harmony with this old calendar. Precisely on the day of the Passover, He gives His Son as the Lamb that takes away the sin of the world. And it is exactly on the day of Pentecost that the promised Holy Spirit is poured out. This punctual regularity will be maintained when, according to God’s agenda, it is the turn of the third feast—the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Feast of Tabernacles

The Feast of Tabernacles was Israel’s crown festival. It is the climax of the festive seasons of the Lord.

“Live in booths for seven days: All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 23:42-43).

On the first day, they were to take ‘choice fruit from the trees, and palm fronds, leafy branches and poplars’, and to ‘rejoice before the Lord their God for seven days’ (Leviticus 23:40).

The instructions regarding living in booths, as well as those regarding the palm fronds and branches, have a deeper meaning. It is a symbolic pointing towards paradise, to a Messianic time period in which God Himself seeks to dwell among His people. Their stay in booths is reminiscent of ‘being under way’. In the fulfilled Feast of Tabernacles, the ‘times of refreshing’ will only be temporary too, as a sign, pointing to eternity, in which God will be all in all.

After the exile, it became customary to wave the branches in every direction, horizontally and vertically, upwards and downwards, while singing Psalms 110, 117 and 118. This in itself is a significant proclamation of the kingdom of God, based on a universal reconciliation. The branches, consisting of a variety of plants, are a symbol of the unity, the equality and the coming peace (the palm branch) for mankind.

The high priest presents the offering for all the nations. In seven days, seventy young bulls are sacrificed with a decreasing number each day (Numbers 29:12-32). This number seventy contains a message in itself. It speaks of the seventy nations that we see coming into existence, according to the list of nations in Genesis. Israel is the representative centre of all these nations, as we find poetically expressed in the song of Moses:

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the Lord’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance” (Deuteronomy 32:8-9).

Seventy young bulls being killed in seven days is a proclamation of the coming universal atonement that God wants to bring about for mankind. On the seventh day, after the morning offering, a drink offering was made. Accompanied by the celebrating crowd, the priests, carrying golden bowls, went to draw water from the pool of Siloam. Accompanied by the sound of music and singing, this water, mixed with wine, was poured out beside the altar of the burnt offering, from where it flowed through a pipe into the valley of Kidron. On this occasion, Isaiah’s words were solemnly quoted: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3).

In itself it is not impossible that—just as at the time of the exodus, the blood was put on the entrance of the tent prior to the great journey—there was a custom in the Ancient Orient, based on the magical concept of participation, to provoke the autumn rains by pouring down water. However the meaning is—as is the case with the old rite of the shepherds—diametrically opposed to paganism. Israel experienced it as a prophecy of the streams of living water, which by the Spirit of God would flow to all the parts of the world (Isaiah 44:3; 55:1; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Joel 2:28; Zechariah 14:8).

At the conclusion of the Feast of Tabernacles, the people of Israel would form a large crowd celebrating around the altar, singing the words in Psalm 118:25: “O Lord, save us; O Lord, grant us success.” In the same way, all Israel will one day gather around Jesus’ cross as the ‘altar’ of Golgotha, where a universal atonement for the world was made.

Jesus left the temple with the words:

“For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Matthew 23:39).

These are the same words as the ones in Psalm 118:26, which were sung at the Feast of Tabernacles. And these same words will be the salutation at the fulfilled Feast of Tabernacles in the kingdom of God, when the true temple of His body made up of Jews and Gentiles will be built to become a dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit.

Therefore, the seventh month is the month of festivity, in which Israel celebrated the kingship of God. The opening festivity was the festival of the New Year in which the psalms, in which Yahweh is glorified as King and Judge of the earth, were part of the order of worship. The psalmists and the prophets were looking forward to a universal final fulfilment of the message that was heard in Israel’s cycle of feasts (Ezekiel 40 ff; Zechariah 14:16).

Solomon’s temple was also consecrated at the Feast of Tabernacles (1 Kings 8). It was to be a house of worship, meant for all the nations (Isaiah 56:7).

Thus we see how the Old Testament already mentions the Feast of Tabernacles, theocracy, the harvest of the nations, and the building of the temple in one eschatological perspective.

Returning for a moment to the Transfiguration on the Mountain as a miniature Apocalypse—Jesus solemnly announces this event with the words:

“ I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God” (Luke 9:27).

And in a direct connection to this, we are told:

“About eight days after Jesus said this, he took Peter, John and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray” (Luke 9:28).

So these three disciples saw the kingdom of God in a visionary form through what took place on the mountain. Moses and Elijah were talking with Him. The topic of the discussion was: “his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfilment at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31).

They were discussing the Passover!

On the basis of His sacrifice on the cross, the Feast of Tabernacles would also be fulfilled. This is what Peter refers to—entirely beyond his own comprehension—when he says: “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” His suggestion has nothing to do with the common human tendency to maintain places of special revelation as holy places, by erecting monuments or building chapels or churches. Peter experienced the coming of Jesus in His kingdom as a fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles. By means of this fulfilment, the Most High wanted to give a final and definitive identification of Jesus. Hence the voice from the cloud, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”

Three times in the long process of history, at the fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles, God gave a testimony of the truth that Jesus is the Redeemer of the world and the Judge of the future. Three times, the fulfilment of the festivals was a great miracle of God. Never did it appear to be the end result of human effort or achievement. On the contrary, the disciples disowned Him when His ‘hour’ had come. In spite of the predictions, they were not prepared for His resurrection either. The day of Pentecost shows how God strengthens weak people with supernatural power in order to proclaim the Name of Jesus in Jerusalem, which was filled with hatred.

It will be like this when the Feast of Tabernacles comes to fulfilment. The ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ and the ensuing conversion of the Jewish people will be an exceptionally great miracle of God.

The remote place and the late hour

“This is a remote place,” they said, “and it’s already very late” (Mark 6:35).

When Jesus is told that John the Baptist has been killed, He performs a symbolic fulfilment of John’s herald message by feeding the five thousand and walking on the sea in the night of the storm. Three aspects of this symbolic fulfilment have already been mentioned. But the statement “This is a remote place ... and it’s already very late” also has a deep eschatological meaning.

The herald was a person who was completely at home in the desert. His message was: Prepare a way through the desert for the coming King. The language he used also reminds us of the desert: brood of vipers—stones, out of which God can raise up children for Abraham. His desert life was also expressed in his clothing. He wore a garment made of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, like Elijah the Tishbite. His food consisted of locusts and wild honey. So in all respects, John the Baptist was different.

But was it merely his striking clothes or his life style that attracted many people from miles around? Or was it his urgent herald’s call? Was that the reason why even a delegation of the ‘ecclesiastical elite’ came to see this phenomenon?

It was obvious that the outward appearance of John the Baptist roused people’s curiosity, but the secret of his attraction lies much deeper.

For the Israelites, the desert had not just been a rough and rugged territory for ages. Neither was it only a broiling, merciless ‘sandpit’. In view of the history of the origin of these people, the desert was particularly the territory of divine revelation. It was here that the Jewish people received their eternally-valid Torah.

Moses was called in the desert from a burning bush. The book of Numbers is called by the Jews ‘Bemidbar’, which means ‘in the desert’. Numbers opens with the verse: “The Lord spoke to Moses in the Tent of Meeting in the Desert of Sinai ….” (Numbers 1:1).

The Israelites were led and shaped by God in the desert for forty years. The desert is an inhospitable territory with scanty vegetation. There was not enough food there for a crowd of 600,000 people. They were utterly dependent on the living God and His miracles.

Jeremiah spoke of the desert as a ‘land of deserts and rifts, a land of drought and darkness, a land where no-one travels and no-one lives’ (Jeremiah 2:6).

That is why the desert also was the place where God’s chosen people were set apart and where the separation from the idolatrous peoples, which started during the night of the Passover, continued. The absolute dependence on the living God also served to sanctify the people for their position as a kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6).

Nobody could travel through the desert without a guide. Sandstorms or mirages made it almost impossible to find one’s way. Moreover, it was scorchingly hot and horned vipers and scorpions contributed to the perils that endangered life in the desert. God, however, was a guide to the Israelites, by night in a pillar of fire and by day in a pillar of cloud. He split the rock to provide a great nation with water and He had manna fall from heaven at regular intervals to serve as food for the many thousands. In spite of all the testing and chastening, the time in the desert was seen as the ‘lovely bridal days’:

“The word of the Lord came to me: ... I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown” (Jeremiah 2:2).

Thus Hosea also testified:

“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt” (Hosea 2:14-15).

The prophets, who themselves lived long after the desert episode, spoke to Israel of these ‘days of her youth’ as an example. This was certainly not superfluous.

After the Israelites had lived for forty years in a kind of border situation between life and death, between the ‘iron furnace’ of Egypt and the Promised Land, a land flowing with ‘milk and honey’, there was the danger of feeling a false security, of having arrived and not needing God anymore. The prophets had seriously warned against this, referring to the words in the book of the covenant: “Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Saviour” (Deuteronomy 32:15).

‘Jeshurun’ is an honorary name for Israel.

The people are depicted here as a restive bull that is kicking. Because of their apostasy from the living God, the prophets reminded the people of their time in the desert, calling this period their bridal days, but at the same time, it was a serious warning for the future.

Hosea says that Israel will be lured to the ‘desert’ again. This refers to the exile. The exile will once again become the place where God will speak to the heart of Israel. Exactly as it was in the days in the desert, the people will be brought into a situation of absolute dependence on God.

Israel knew its history. Everything that the prophets had prophesied in this connection had come true. So when a figure of the desert such as John the Baptist appeared and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, urged the people to repent, his whole appearance and his actions evoked strong associations with Israel’s bridal days. They were reminded of the time of Israel’s birth and origin. Here as well, there is harmony between John’s conduct and Jesus’ way of acting. After being baptised by John, Jesus was led into the desert. There He, being the Word of God made flesh, resisted the temptations of the devil and arrived in a foreshadowing of the kingdom of peace. The King chose His way to Jerusalem and to the kingdom of peace right through the desert. And when, after the death of John the Baptist, he wanted to demonstrate in what way the message of the herald will be fulfilled, He fed the five thousand in a ‘remote place’ and at a late hour.

This remote place may not have been as inhospitable as the Sinai desert, but the point of comparison is that it was practically impossible to buy food in the surrounding villages. Jesus had the multitude of five thousand people sit down in the grass and gave them all something to eat with the available five loaves and two fishes. They all had enough to eat and twelve baskets of food were even left over. Undoubtedly this was a reminder of the manna that fell from heaven in their days in the desert. Once again, they were utterly dependent on the miracle through one Man.

The parallel with Revelation 10

Is it not too big of a leap when we compare the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand with Revelation 10?

Certainly not!

Can this manifestation of Jesus’ kingship by serving a wedding meal in a remote place and at a late hour be compared with what is announced in the chapter about the herald – Revelation 10?

Definitely!

Everything in Revelation 10 points to newly-uttered prophecy! The mighty angel shouts with a loud voice, like the roaring of a lion. A little open scroll comes down from heaven. Couldn’t this be a revelation on a universal scale in a desert situation?

The legs of the angel are like pillars of fire!

Might there not be ‘times and seasons’ when ‘bread’ is no longer available in a normal way?

A ‘desert place’ and a ‘late hour’ are imminent for all mankind, with the Jewish people as the vanguard.

A crisis situation?

Life ending in a deadlock?

The desert-like situation is expanding rapidly in the domains of religion, ethics, politics, economics and ecology. Will the ‘desert’ have the last word now that the contours of satanic influence are becoming visible in all domains of our existence? Will the ‘desert’ at last manage to strike with the power of a ‘curse’?

Concern about rising nuclear terrorism is justified—there is concern about the spreading of atomic, biological and chemical weapons—concern about the insidious spreading of economic recession—concern about racism and the atrocious practice of ethnic cleansing—concern about the destruction of the environment, etc.

Which power will still be able to distribute ‘loaves of peace’ in this world-wide confusion?

The great ecclesiastical denominations?

The World Council of Churches?

The Vatican?

Which political constructions of unity will still be able to offer solutions?

The United Nations?

The European Community?

nato?

Are they fertile fields, yielding enough to distribute ‘loaves of peace’ to the multitude?

In the ‘desert place’ and at the ‘late hour’, the entire multitude became dependent on and receptive to the miracle of one man.

The fulfilment of Revelation 10 will take place according to this prophetic model. And this fulfilment in itself will also be a model and a pledge—with the power of a divine oath—of the very last event, namely the end of the world. The fulfilment of Revelation 10 will be a prelude of that day when God “will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

Jesus is coming!

chapter v

PRAISE AND WORSHIP IN THE VANGUARD

The battle plan of the Most High

When John hears the call: “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this”, it sounds as if a shofar is talking to him (Revelation 4:1). It is the same as in Revelation 1:10, the first time he had a revelation on the island of Patmos. We have already seen that this shofar portrayed the pastoral character of the Apocalypse. Shepherds always used the shofar as a bugle to warn of imminent danger. For protecting their herds, the shofar was particularly used defensively. Protecting their herds was part of their pastoral duty and when the shepherd saw a need, he would sound the shofar to mobilise his colleagues. So the sound of the shofar also served as a call for mobilisation.

Scripture shows in many ways how God uses the customs of people in order to clarify aspects of His salvation. Here we see how He, as the supreme Shepherd of His flock, uses this symbol of the shofar to make known His intentions of salvation.

In Numbers 10:1-10 we see how God gives to each different signal of the trumpets its own significance. In verse 9, this is very clearly a signal for mobilisation:

“When you go into battle in your own land against an enemy who is oppressing you, sound a blast on the trumpets. Then you will be remembered by the Lord your God and rescued from your enemies.”

In Jeremiah 51:27, Joel 2:15 and Amos 3:6, the prophets also summon the people to blow the trumpet for mobilisation.

In the call that comes to John in this way, the military aspect is not lacking. We might therefore call the Apocalypse the ‘battle plan of the Most High’. It is all about the wars of the Lord, which are the ‘wars of liberation’ of God’s love. Creation must be liberated from all satanic infiltration.

It is indeed a special grace of God when an insignificant human being is allowed to take a look at this ‘battle plan’. This grace is for every believer, who—through the information of what the apostle is allowed to see—may share in the knowledge of God’s plan of salvation.

In studying this ‘battle plan’, which shows the position of God’s battle array, we immediately notice the place assigned to songs of praise and to worship. In chapter 4 of the Apocalypse, there is antiphonal singing of creation, symbolised by the four living creatures that never stopped, day or night, glorifying God with the words: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come” and the elders, who represent the re-creation, who fall down before Him who sits on the throne and lay their crowns before the throne, saying: “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being” (Revelation 4:8-11).

Victory is guaranteed ‘a priori’!

The singing heard from all categories of creation may be called forward-looking, anticipatory by faith, because of the great certainty which is implied in the Name of the Lord.

The hymns in the descriptions about the battles of God in the following chapters all anticipate victory. Worship and praise have been placed ahead, in the vanguard. Once again, it is obvious how the entire history of salvation is imbued with one Spirit.

The following example from the Old Testament may serve as illustration.

Jehoshaphat

“After consulting the people, Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendour of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated” (2 Chronicles 20:21-22).

If we pay attention to the position of Jehoshaphat’s army, we see something quite remarkable. From a military point of view, this position is utterly irresponsible. An extraordinary spectacle is unfolding before us. When Jehoshaphat goes into battle, he purposely does not place the heavy equipment at the spearhead of the army. In front of the heavily-armed soldiers are the Levites, dressed in holy festive attire, as these priests would wear in the temple at the feasts of the Lord, such as the Feast of the Passover, the Feast of Pentecost and the Feast of Tabernacles. These Levites are singing at the top of their voices: “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.” They are praising God by singing loudly, and in this way, they are marching against the enemy. At the moment they start singing, the enemy is taken by surprise from ambushes and defeated.

It is quite amazing that Jehoshaphat could decide to use this exceptional arrangement of his army. And it is just as amazing that the Levites accepted this, since they would be the first to die if things should come to a head. Singing, carrying no weapons, in priestly attire, festive caps on their heads and without being covered by heavy weapons, they were in the frontline! Moreover they were expecting the odds to be heavily against them when they faced a huge army of Moabites, Ammonites and Bedouins wanting to take revenge on Jehoshaphat. From a military point of view, things were looking quite bleak and King Jehoshaphat had no reason whatsoever to have his priests singing exuberantly before the battle: “His love endures forever”. Jehoshaphat had his forces celebrate victory even before the battle had taken place. From a human and military point of view, this is somewhat premature. And yet something miraculous happened!

When Jehoshaphat was informed of the gravity of the situation and of the overpowering, unstoppable army approaching, he decided to hold a prayer meeting in Jerusalem. We read in 2 Chronicles 20:3-15:

“Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the Lord in the front of the new courtyard and said: “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no-one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it for ever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, ‘If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.’ “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem!”

The Spirit never speaks vaguely. The person who is addressed is very precisely indicated and mentioned by name. Here too, the Spirit of God comes exactly at the moment when Jehoshaphat calls upon the Name of the Lord. Jehoshaphat appeals to God’s faithfulness by saying: “Is now the exodus going to be destroyed, with which your Name, I am that I am, is associated? There are no bounds to the power of Yahweh, are there?”

When all of Judah has called upon that Name, the Spirit of God answers:

“This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the Lord will be with you’ ” (2 Chronicles 20:15-17).

At these words, “Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down in worship before the Lord. Then some Levites, from the Kohathites and Korahites, stood up and praised the Lord, the God of Israel with a very loud voice” (2 Chronicles 20:18-19).

They ‘cried out’ before God: “We praise and worship you, O God, for this answer.” It was the Spirit of God that answered. It is awesome how all of Judah praised the Lord loudly for this prophecy. But that was not the end. They went for it. There was an internal conviction in their souls. They saw how this man, driven by the Holy Spirit, prophesied. So they all knelt down before God and the entire congregation said: “Amen!”

This was a genuine revival meeting: a confession of guilt, turning to the holy and trustworthy Name of God, paying heed to prophecy, immediately followed by praising and glorifying God exuberantly.

“Early in the morning they left for the Desert of Tekoa. As they set out, Jehoshaphat stood and said: “Listen to me, Judah and people of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld; have faith in his prophets and you will be successful” (2 Chronicles 20:20).

Here, Jehoshaphat deemed it necessary to admonish his people. He might have perceived doubt among his men. The singing of the preceding night had been beautiful. It was still ringing in their hearts. However, after a night’s sleep, one tends to wake up rather more sober-minded. And as a soldier to be placed before such an overpowering force, it would be only too human for some of them to rub their eyes, look around and say to themselves: Now we are facing grim reality.

Certainly, the revival meeting had been impressive. Jehoshaphat’s prayer had been powerful. And then, all at once, the words of that prophet! These words had penetrated their souls as a song of victory and an encouragement of faith: “Do not be afraid or discouraged ... for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”

But for now, grim reality! Here is this huge crowd approaching from all directions.

Couldn’t last night’s events have been some kind of mass suggestion? Did we allow ourselves to be religiously moved? Was that prophet sober, or was he some super-spiritual fanatic?

Doubt rises in the army. Jehoshaphat notices it when he walks past the ranks. There is a military assessment. The inner conviction of the night before is diminishing. Therefore he speaks to the people in an admonishing way and consults them, after which he has the priests, clothed in holy attire, take their unusual place at the head of the army in order to break into cries of jubilation, praising God’s mercy. God’s answer to this exultation was an instant victory over their enemies.

A prophetic model

This episode is not just an isolated incident in the history of God’s revelation. It is a divine response to the intimate expression of faith of His church. A similar heavenly response is also found at the dedication of the temple in 2 Chronicles 5:13-14:

“The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.” Then the temple of the Lord was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.”

The Psalms, too, show the same spiritual attitude and they mention God’s response to this disposition of His people. In Psalm 50:23 we read: “He who sacrifices thank offerings honours me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.”

In the personal struggle of faith, hymns of praise and worship should also be placed in the ‘vanguard’. Who else but our Lord Jesus Christ Himself has set us an example in this? Standing before a huge crowd and having ‘festively’ presented His death during the Last Supper, He leaves with His disciples for the Mount of Olives, after having sung the hymn of praise (Matthew 26:30). In this way, He faces the battle, with the song of praise before Him. At the supper table, Jesus, as the chief Author and Perfector of our faith, sang: “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone” (Psalm 118:22, Matthew 21:42). “Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar” (Psalm 118:27 [kjv]).

The apostles also showed very clearly the same spiritual attitude. They start their letters by praising God.

Peter’s opening words are:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3).

And further down, in verse 8, he says:

“…even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy…”

Paul opens his letter to the Ephesians as follows:

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).

The song of praise is in front!

When, in Romans 9-11, Paul gives his impressive account of Israel’s fall and future, he also puts his argument between two songs of praise, namely the closing verses 37-39 of Romans 8 and 33-36 of Romans 11:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39).

In Romans 11, he describes the mystery of the ‘fulness of the Gentiles’ and the conversion of Israel. In verses 33-36, Paul worships God:

“Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?” For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen”.

On his missionary journeys, Paul also put this spiritual attitude into practice. After severe maltreatment at Philippi and having been thrown into prison, in the inner cell, with their feet fastened in the stocks, Paul and Silas were praying, and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. God’s answer was a sudden violent earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately, all the doors were opened, and everybody’s chains came loose (Acts 16:25-26).

Concerning the spiritual formation in the battle for the kingdom of God, the pattern of the prophets and apostles does not differ from the formation of Jehoshaphat’s army: the song of praise in the vanguard in the battle of the Lord.

The apostle John did not deviate from this pattern when describing the imminent battles of God in the future, which will ultimately result in the total victory of God and of the Lamb. The opening chapters 4 and 5 of the Apocalypse show us how creation and the renewal of creation are imbued in every part with songs of praise to God and to the Lamb. All these songs of praise bear the marks of the same old pattern. They are forward-looking, they anticipate the coming victories and in their variation, they are attuned to the scenes of battle, succeeding each other in increasing violence.

Praise and worship have been placed in the vanguard.

We can find songs of praise to the victories of the Lamb in many places in the Apocalypse - read Revelation 7:10-12; 11:15-18; 14:1-5; 15:1-4; 19:6-8.

Even the general position of the seven shofar angels is a result of the prayers of all the saints (Revelation 8:1-13). God rules the world using the prayers of the church from all nations and from all times.

The prophetic pattern is always current

From the events cited above, it appears that throughout the history of divine revelation, similar traits are found to that of the prophetic pattern which we see in the Jehoshaphat expedition. Therefore, it is a good idea to summarise the principal features of this episode.

1. – King and people recognise the gravity of the situation: “…we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us…”

2. – When the king realises this crisis situation, he appeals in his prayer to the faithfulness of the God of the covenant: “But our eyes are upon you.”

3. – God responds by employing a prophet first.

4. – The message pronounced by the prophet is gladly accepted by the king and the people.

5. – On the basis of this prophetic message, Jehoshaphat consults the people.

6. – This consultation of the people, this ‘referendum’, results in the formation of the army with the priests in holy attire in front.

7. – Because of the Lord’s immediate intervention, they are victorious.

Since we determined earlier that we are living in the era of the fulfilment of Revelation 10, we can recognise these features of the prophetic pattern of the Jehoshaphat story. In principle, all mankind has reached a crisis situation, although this is not yet fully recognised. There is a certain awareness of this crisis situation and a sense of discomfort regarding ‘mankind’s progress’ is voiced in terms such as: ‘we’re in for some bad weather’, but there is no sign yet of a clear perception of an imminent ‘life or death’ situation for all mankind. There is certainly no awareness yet of the connection between this crisis situation and Jesus’ words about Israel’s fall and resurrection (Matthew 23:38-39). There may be a vague feeling of an impending deadlock, politically as well as ecologically, but the thought of any connection with Jesus and His gospel is entirely lacking. The great sign of the truthfulness of His divine mission—namely the worldwide exile of the Jewish people—is not taken seriously when considering the course of current history.

When now in Revelation 10, a prophecy is uttered, a ‘small open scroll’ descends and all the characteristics and the behaviour of the interlude angel point to a crisis situation, will then this prophecy be welcomed with the same exultation as was the case with Jehoshaphat and his people when the prophetic message came to them? At that time, the message was not put away in the archives of the king’s palace. On the contrary, the people jumped into action on the basis of the message! The king consulted the people. The result was a singing host of priests in the vanguard of the army, at which the enemy was defeated. We are indeed still a long way off from this form of defence and it has been like that for centuries!

In fact, many have followed false banners.

Think of the crusades. Think of the millions of people marching behind the banner of the swastika, or behind the banner with the emblem of hammer and sickle: banners which resulted in such horrifying oppression, notably for the Jewish people. Then the Jewish people quite understandably followed a new banner of their own, namely the banner of secular Zionism. The world still needs banners. We have several today, e.g. the banner of the United Nations. Many nations rely on the UN with great and small conflicts needing to be solved by them. International peace-keeping forces are being deployed all over the world to maintain peace. All these religious and political expeditions end up in catastrophes.

The fulfilment of Revelation 10 will also present an expedition. It will be an expedition of mercy towards the whole tent of Abraham; towards the Jewish people and likewise towards the Arab nations, with an outflow full of blessing towards all mankind. But a consultation with God’s people will have to be held. Not a theological discussion. The enemy is advancing, the banner raised! The position of Christians, therefore, has to be an exuberant proclamation of the death of Jesus Christ to the glory of God, in great unity, as in the time of Jehoshaphat, when the entire nation and the king bowed their heads with their faces to the ground to worship the Lord. This praise and worship will have to take place in the conviction that—through the blood of the Lamb—the victory over the devil is sure, whatever darkness or hellish powers are being prepared in this world to assail the church. At the time of this positioning, God will bring confusion in the lines of the enemy, Israel will repent and the devil will be bound. Victory is certain, for there are no bounds to Jesus’ power. He has come to destroy the works of Satan.

Jehoshaphat’s consultation did not take long. In comparison with this, we Christians have so far had quite a bit more trouble with our position to the unanimous proclamation of the death of our Lord. The ‘battalions’ are strongly divided. Each prefers to fight for his own ‘battalion’ instead of forming one united army. There are all sorts of names, institutions and offices which are considered far more important than the blood of the Son of God.

There is much darkness and Satanism to overcome. The devil has stationed his ‘chief officers’ in places that are strategically important to him, such as in the World Council of Churches, who, admittedly, are trying to create unity, but, in doing so, do not shy away from syncretism with liberalism and other religions. By creating a false unity in this manner, the power of the gospel is paralysed in the eyes of the world. It becomes one big mess, impossible for anybody to resolve. Besides, a false unity is diametrically opposed to Jesus’ prayer: “…that they may be one as we are one …”

Jesus is at the centre of the discussion, asking: “My people,—since I am laying down my life in the Name of God and will take it again at the resurrection in order to deliver the world and to destroy the works of Satan—could you not get together in unity for this purpose?”

For then we will see the fulfilment of what had been discussed at the apostles’ Council, namely that He will take from the Gentiles a people for himself and after that He will rebuild David’s fallen tent (Acts 15:14-16).

Indeed, these facts are interrelated. Simeon had already prophesied this when Jesus was taken into the temple as a baby to present Him to the Lord: “…a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:32).

Christianity will once again have to be led by the Holy Spirit and by the prophets and the apostles, so that after some consultation—however difficult this might be—the festive placement at the one table of God may be realised, in great unity. The only task we have is to send the same acknowledgement as Jehoshaphat to heaven in unison, namely “Your love endures forever”. In addition, the following statement is also valid in this day and age: “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony …” (Revelation 12:11).

– “Should the enemy stream towards us,

You will, Yourself, lift up the banner!

There will be truthfulness, where You lead us

And joy and peace forever and ever!” – [1]

[1]  Dutch hymn:
“Loopt als een stroom de vijand aan,
O hef Gij zelf omhoog de vaan!
‘t Zal waarheid zijn, waar Gij ons leidt
en vreugde en vrede in eeuwigheid!”

chapter vi

THE MEANING OF THE NUMBER THREE IN THE SYMBOLISM OF DIVINE REVELATION

God’s silence

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man ... heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell…” (Thus says Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, chapter 12:2-4).

As I am aware of my own insignificance, I would like to borrow this way of speaking from Paul concerning the revelation entrusted to me in 1948.

I know ‘a man’ who was told:

“If I remain silent for two days, do you think, O man, that a day of fulfilment for My redeemed will never dawn?”

In the history of divine revelation, prophecy has always been uttered in times of change. Prophets often come into action at a junction of events. They might also be called ‘switchmen of history’.[1]

Well, the prophecy mentioned above also deals with the imminent changing of the ‘switches’ at the transition from the second to the third millennium.

The apostle Peter says that with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day (2 Peter 3:8; Psalm 90:4).

In the words spoken in 1948: “If I remain silent for two days”, then the ‘two days’ signify the two thousand years that are almost behind us. A ‘third day of God’ is at hand, a third millennium, in which the Lord will break the silence. The signals of His great works will be changed. The ‘royal train’ of the Judge of the entire world will roll along on a different track towards the end of the world.

Did God indeed remain silent for ‘two days’? Had the Church not been preaching for centuries and did God not speak through His servants in the worldwide proclamation of the gospel? Certainly He did. However, ‘remaining silent’ refers here to the specific use of this phrase in the Old Testament, namely to indicate that God, by remaining silent, did not intervene for salvation.

This is very clearly expressed in Psalm 50:3-4:

“Our God comes and will not be silent; a fire devours before him and around him a tempest rages. He summons the heavens above and the earth, that he may judge his people.”

In Psalm 83:1, the poet prays:

“O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still.”

In Isaiah 62:1, God says, specifically referring to the coming salvation of Zion:

“For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.”

And in verses 6-7:

“I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night.

You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.”

When Joshua fought against the Amorites in the battle of Gibeon, there was a moment when the people needed more time to take revenge on their enemy. Then, in front of Israel, Joshua speaks to the Lord: “O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon” (Joshua 10:12). The Hebrew word which is used here is ‘dom’, which means ‘remain silent’. So, ‘remaining silent’ and ‘standing still’ are related concepts in this context. For the benefit of Israel’s deliverance, silence is imposed on the course of the sun and the moon, and they are stopped.

Word and deed are one with God. His ‘words’ are ‘deeds’. He speaks and it happens; He commands and it stands firm (Psalm 33:9).

Summarising we can say that ‘remaining silent’ expresses the idea of ‘refraining from action towards deliverance’.

When the words “If I remain silent for two days, do you think, O man, that a day of fulfilment for My redeemed will never dawn?” came to me, I experienced them as a warning—a warning against the thought that God would no longer act, and that His ‘redeemed’ would never experience deliverance within the framework of history.

At the same time, these words evoked associations with the expression ‘the third day’, which is frequently found in Scripture.

A day of fulfilment for His ‘redeemed’ will certainly arrive. The Scriptures are clear about who these ‘redeemed of the Lord’ are. God is Israel’s Redeemer (Isaiah 54:5). Hence, the ‘redeemed’ are, in the first place, the Jewish people as a whole, and furthermore all those, who, through the ‘redemption’ by the blood of the Lamb, have been grafted as wild branches in the natural trunk of the fathers of the faith. In Revelation 5:9-10, this is beautifully rendered in the song of worship by the elders, who fell down before the Lamb on the throne and sang: “…because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

The very specific calling of the chosen people is to be a Kingdom of priests (Exodus 19:6). The Jewish people are the ‘olive tree’, which God has not destroyed; He has only broken off some branches so that the ‘redeemed’ from all the other tribes, peoples and nations as wild shoots could be grafted in. This situation will last until the fulness of the Gentiles comes in, and so, all Israel will be saved (Romans 11:25 [nkjv]). The purpose of this ‘grafting’ is therefore aimed at the chosen people reaching their destiny.

We, Gentile believers, non-Jews, should therefore not assume a haughty attitude towards the Jewish people.

In this connection, Paul gives us the following warning:

“If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches. If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Romans 11:16-18).

On the third day

As mentioned before, the above-mentioned message immediately evoked associations with the expression ‘on the third day’. And who would not primarily think of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, which took place “on the third day according to the Scriptures?” (1 Corinthians 15:4).

The addition ‘according to the Scriptures’ appeals to us to pay attention to the patterns of the works of God in the entire history of revelation. Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was not just a coincidence—no, the supreme counsel of God set it exactly according to the old calendar, namely at the Feast of the Passover. Likewise, Jesus’ resurrection on the third day also took place according to God’s systematic patterns of action. Jesus’ resurrection is founded in His death on the cross and both these awesome facts are an integral part of the patterns of the great works of God. The risen Lord spoke along these lines with the two men from Emmaus, when, after Jesus’ crucifixion, they said sadly: - Jesus’ answer was: “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself” (Luke 24:21ff).

The pattern of ‘the third day’ is already found in Genesis. For our eyes, the writer sketches the image of a ‘bird’ brooding on the waters, on the chaos, as on a big ‘world-egg’. On the third day, life rises from the deadly chaos through the ‘integration’ of the water into the seas and the ‘integration’ of the dry land into the wealth of plants and trees.

After the Flood and the Tower of Babel, the people were scattered all over the earth, but out of this ‘chaos’, God created a new nation, starting from the miraculous birth of Isaac. In Genesis 22, however, we see Abraham, in a state of great suspense, going to the mountain which God was going to point out to him in the land of Moriah, in order to sacrifice his only son as a burnt offering. But when he lifts the knife to slay his son, then, on the third day, he hears the angel of the Lord saying: “Do not lay a hand on the boy”, and so Abraham did not need to use the knife to kill his son. There is a substitute sacrifice, and here is life for him and his offspring. God had provided Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

When, centuries later, Abraham’s offspring has grown into a nation and they have been pulled out of death in Egypt by God’s strong hand in the exodus, then, on the third day, the people get a revelation from God, in which He reveals Himself—for the first time in history—as Israel’s God in a holy covenant (Exodus 19:16-20). Speaking with reverence the third day was the ‘wedding day’. God accepted Israel as His bride.

There are theologians who, in my opinion quite plausibly, make a connection between the wedding at Cana and the establishment of the covenant on Mount Sinai, which both took place on the third day. The beginning of the signs of the glory of King Messiah among His people consists in helping the wedding feast, which had reached a deadlock, continue. In the same way, the deadlock of the wedding feast of God and His church will be removed by a miracle, whose formula only the Messiah knows.

In Joshua 3, we read how Israel entered Canaan exactly on the third day—a prelude to the resurrection of Christ, who as the firstborn from the dead enters the Canaan of imperishableness on the third day, according to the Scriptures.

In the book of Esther, it is striking to read how in a crisis situation of the entire nation, which was in principle doomed, Israel rises from mortal danger, is victorious, and Haman falls, exactly on the third day.

Then there is the prophet Jonah, whose life story, according to Jesus’ words in Matthew 12:40, is a prophetic reflection, a prophetic parable of His own death and resurrection:

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

It is also worth mentioning the consecration of the second temple on the third day of the month of Adar (Ezra 6:15).

The following prophecy of Hosea is particularly striking:

“He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence” (Hosea 6:1-2).

So the third day takes up a key position in the Old Testament. Each time, it represents a turning to life out of a deadly situation. The third day maintains this characteristic in the New Testament as well.

The Samaritan woman

“… and He stayed two days” (John 4:40).

Something happened during the two days that Jesus stayed in Samaritan territory, something that goes far beyond pastoral counselling with a Samaritan woman. This story has a far deeper dimension, which becomes particularly clear at the end of the encounter. So the beginning of the conversation and the context of this event need to be understood from that perspective.

“Meanwhile his disciples urged him, ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you know nothing about.’ (…) ‘My food,’ said Jesus, ‘is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, “Four months more and then the harvest”? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together’ ” (John 4:31 ff).

Jesus experiences something like a prophetic ‘fata morgana’ of His glorious future, so that behind this one ‘seedling’ of the Samaritan woman, He already sees the full harvest of the kingdom of God. His spirit tarries with the perspective of Amos 9:13: “…the ploughman will overtake the reaper,” the promise approaches fulfilment, and fulfilment turns the promise into reality.

He stayed there for two days. This is very strange, because after those two days, He is back in Jewish territory again, where He first heals the son of the royal official and after that restores to health a man at Bethesda who has been ill for thirty-eight years. This is exactly the term of Israel’s punishment in the wilderness (Deuteronomy 2:14). When the fulness of the Gentiles comes in after two ‘days of God’, Israel will also be restored.

The miraculous draught of fish

Jesus’ third appearance after His resurrection teaches us that the third ‘day of God’ will come along the lines of God’s acting in dispersion (the Diaspora) and gathering (the Return of Israel). The Eternal God, Israel’s Holy One, is standing on the ‘banks’ of world history. God will no longer be silent, He will act, and here, too, we might see this as a fugal repetition of the same theme: dispersion and gathering.

The symbolism of the number three certainly plays a role in this third appearance of Jesus. Three symbolises completeness. The draught of fish will be complete.

We see it depicted in a miniature image: an invisible Hand disperses the fishes and after obeying Jesus’ command to cast the net on the other side of the boat, they are gathered in one big shoal of fish again, to be drawn to the shore where Jesus is standing.

Who is able to perform a parable in this way? There is just one conclusion: “It is the Lord” (John 21:7). By means of this ‘microfilm’ of His future, He calls His disciples and us, too, to be world missionaries, so that, in the power of His resurrection, He would involve us in the ‘miraculous draught of fish’ at the breakthrough of the kingdom of God. However, there is this important condition: Cast the ‘net’ on the other side, which is the side of the theme: ‘dispersion and gathering’. This is the theme the apostle Paul treats in Romans 9-11. There will be no ‘miraculous draught of fish’ outside God’s plan with the Jewish people, as He initially dispersed them all over the world, and will finally gather them to reach their destined fulness as a kingdom of priests. With all due respect for the numerous faithful missionaries and evangelists, nothing has been caught in the ‘night time’ in comparison with this enormous event which will take place in the future. There has been nothing which might signify a decisive breakthrough of the kingdom of God. To stick to metaphorical language: in the course of the centuries, a lot of fishing has been done, unfortunately mostly for one’s own ‘auction’, for one’s own institution and many a ‘net’ was not drawn in the direction of the Lord and of the coming Messianic meal on the shore, something Isaiah mentioned in chapter 25:6-12. The net needs to be thrown on the other side—even today!

The cleansing of the temple

There is a very moving connection between the words Jesus spoke when He cleansed the temple and the scorn which was poured on Him when He was hanging on the cross.

After Jesus had cleansed the temple, the Jews asked Him: “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus answered: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:18-19). What He meant by this was the temple of His own body (verse 21). His authority to cleanse the temple is founded in His death and resurrection.

When Jesus was on the cross, at the mercy of the roaring crowd, He was scorned with these same words, though in a false rendering:

“You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!” (Matthew 27:40).

Since Jesus had spoken about the temple of His body, His divine authority to cleanse the temple was gloriously revealed at His resurrection on the third day. An authority that is still valid!

He is the Same today!

After two ‘days of God’ of destruction, there will be a ‘new day’ of restoration. The temple of Revelation 11:1 will rise again. This is the temple of His mystical body, the dwelling in which God lives by His Spirit, His Church made up of Jews and Gentiles—gathered together to fulness: an abundant grace of God!

When the most stinging scorn: “He is calling Elijah” will be rewarded with the greatest mercy, namely when Elijah will be sent to fulfil his task, why, then, could not every other form of scorn which Jesus suffered on His way to the Cross, be requited in a merciful way on the ‘third day of God’. God’s vengeance is merciful.[2]

The sneer: “He is calling Elijah” is to be considered as the gravest scorn, since it was a reaction to Jesus’ cry of distress: “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” —which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

His suffering on behalf of us came to a climax. It was the culmination of the three-hour period of darkness.

Three hours of darkness!

Complete darkness!

Forsaken by God!

New Age or God’s ‘Third Day’?

“He replied, ‘Go tell that fox, “I will drive out demons and heal people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal”’ (Luke 13:32).

Jesus spoke these words to some Pharisees, who warned Him to leave, because Herod wanted to kill Him. And He added: “I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (Luke 13:35).

The words ‘on the third day I will reach my goal’ have a profound meaning. With these words, Jesus was referring to His death on the cross in Jerusalem. It was an enigmatic statement addressed to Herod. On the third day, Jesus would reach His goal, He was ready to die. After His death on the cross, He would reach his goal—namely to receive from God the crown of imperishability, also on the third day, because of His resurrection.

Since Jesus’ whole life on earth, including His suffering and His death, has a profound meaning in the unfolding of world history, we could also ask the question: Will mankind ‘reach their goal’ on the third ‘Day of God’, in a new era of peace and happiness without considering the immensely great sacrifice He made at Golgotha? Can mankind conveniently slide away from the so-called ‘Age of the Fish’ into the age of ‘Aquarius’? Where does this widespread ‘inspiration’ come from?

Putting a label on things is not sufficient to explain the phenomenon of New Age. Certainly—it is possible to trace features of old esoteric ideas in New-Age thinking. Esoteric ideas comprise mysteries—things which are only understood by the initiated. The ancient Indian Karma doctrine is also a part of New-Age thinking. Karma means that a person’s destiny is determined by the sum of his deeds throughout his consecutive lives. This reincarnation philosophy is also applied to Jesus’ life. Buddha, for example, is said to be a reincarnation of Christ.

The uniqueness of Jesus’ life on earth as the Son of God and the atonement that He brought by His death on the cross are directly attacked by this—which we may simply call satanic.

Even if we cannot put all New-Age followers in the same box, the fact remains that in the ‘temple’ of new-age thinking, voices are heard which are clearly demonic.

Alice A. Bailey, the pioneer of the New-Age movement, who is said to have written her books as a medium, under the influence of the enlightened master Djwhal Khul[3], argues in her book “The destiny of the nations” that ‘the man with the jar’ from the story in Luke 22:10-11, who symbolically depicts Aquarius, takes the disciples to the upper room for the celebration of the first communion service, in which they all take part, and during which the close relationship which is characteristic of mankind in the coming epoch is predicted, after the trials of the Age of the Fish.[4]

Prior to this, however, the author states:

“The message of the birth of Christ rings ever new but is not today understood. The emphasis during the Aquarian Age, the age into which we are fast entering, will shift away from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, and from the infant Saviour to the Risen Christ. Pisces has seen, during two thousand years, the spreading light; Aquarius will see the Rising Light, and of both of these the Christ is the eternal symbol.

The ancient story of the Birth will become universalised and be seen as the story of every disciple and initiate who takes the first initiation and in his time and place becomes a server and a lightbearer. In the Aquarian Age two momentous developments will take place:

1. The Birth Initiation will condition human thinking and aspiration everywhere.

2. The religion of the Risen Christ and not of the newly born Christ or of the crucified Christ, will be the distinctive keynote.”[5]

Conclusion: In the new Age of Aquarius ‘the crucified Christ’ will no longer be the distinctive keynote of the then prevailing religion. Apparently Satan, in his battle with God, is going all out to delude people into believing there will be a new age which will only be due to the transition of the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius, without any consideration of Jesus’ death on the cross.

This is a rather bold falsification of the true function of ‘the man with the jar’, snatching him away, as is done in the above quotation, from the sacrosanct connection of the events in Luke 22. For it is only because of Jesus’ prophetic foreknowledge that the true chamber of the Passover is reached, by which Judas’ plan is thwarted at the same time. Only after being exposed at the Supper table was Judas able to betray Jesus.

The prophetic involvement of the man with the jar is of the same superior order as the command that Jesus gave to two of His disciples to get a colt on which He would enter Jerusalem. Jesus stated exactly how they were to find the colt which no one had ever ridden.

We may regard the man with the jar as a summing-up of all true prophecy that leads to the chamber of the Passover and to that which this chamber symbolises, namely nothing but proclamation—through the washing of the feet and the Supper—of His great sacrifice on the cross for the atonement of the sins of the world.[6]

In direct connection with the events that took place in the upper room, where the disciples had gathered for the unanimous celebration of the first Holy Supper, Alice A. Bailey writes:

“They had a touch of prevision, of prophetic insight, and foresaw a little of the wonder of the Aquarian Age. The vision in men’s mind today is that of the Aquarian Age, even if they recognise it not. The future will see the right relationships, true communion, a sharing of all things (wine, blood, life and bread, economic satisfaction) and good will (…)

Thus the expressed aims and efforts of the United Nations will be eventually brought to fruition and a new church of God, gathered out of all religions and spiritual groups, will unitedly bring to an end the great heresy of separateness. Love, unity, and the Risen Christ will be present, and He will demonstrate to us the perfect life.”[7]

Take note: A united church of all religions is propagated in this book and this in combination with the ‘coming to maturity’ of the United Nations! This is syncretism carried to the extreme. Is this ‘coalition’ going to form the basis for a new beginning?

In this time of great confusion, the ability to distinguish between spirits is indispensable for every Christian. For according to the Scriptures, Satan, too, has certain foreknowledge. Satan knows about a new era, which will flourish as the fruit of Jesus’ sacrificial death. The coming to fulness of the Gentiles and the repentance of Israel will be based on His death on the cross alone. It will be the fulfilment of Revelation 10 and along with it, Satan will be bound. The fulfilment of Revelation 10 will be the flaming borderline between the second and the third ‘day of God’. A ‘third day’, full of resurrection power, surely, but rooted in His death on the cross!

We have already established that, according to the Scriptures, Satan does have a certain foreknowledge of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. We can find an example of this in Mark 5, where Jesus heals a demon-possessed man. When this man saw Jesus in the distance, He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?” A man who had completely forgotten his own name, i.e. his identity, because of the numerous evil spirits that had taken possession of him was able to define precisely who Jesus was!

The same thing happened to the apostles, when—after Paul’s vision during the night of a man of Macedonia—they reached the gateway of Europe in Philippi, where they were to preach the gospel. They met a slave girl there who was possessed by a spirit of divination. This woman followed Paul and the others for many days, shouting: “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved.”

Both these examples speak of satanic foreknowledge.

There was nothing wrong in what this slave girl said and yet, Paul did not accept this propaganda. The pagans might be deluded by her behaviour into the syncretistic thought that the doctrine of the apostles was of the same nature as the prophecies of a possessed slave girl. These would be like hand in glove. Or popularly said: six of one and half a dozen of the other. If so, Europe would of course become inaccessible to the true gospel.

Paul discerned the evil trick and he was grieved. He spoke to the spirit who held the girl captive, saying: “In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!” At that moment the spirit left her” (Acts 16:16-18).

The spiritual gift to exorcise is necessary in order to banish syncretism—even today! Dialogue will be of no avail. A cooperative agreement with demons for the sake of missionary and pastoral work will irrevocably lead to the abyss.

A coalition between God and Satan is impossible.

No holistic philosophy can bring this about.

Anyone who is not armed with the gift of distinguishing between spirits will be confused when visiting a ‘supermarket’ specialised in esoteric products or—even worse—he will be misled by the abundance of shelves filled with ‘products’ influenced by New-Age thinking.

The greatest danger of deception lies, in my opinion, in these ‘esoteric products’, such as reincarnation, karma and astrological fantasies, which are presented under an ecclesiastical flag. However degenerated and corrupted the churches may be nowadays, the word ‘church’ still sounds like something trustworthy to many people. It is therefore bewildering to hear the way in which the radio pastor of the ikon (= Interdenominational Broadcasting Corporation in the Netherlands), Reverend Hans Stolp, deals with things that touch the very heart of the gospel. Dr A. C. Grandia writes the following about this pastor:

“I consider Hans Stolp to be an indisputable representative of ‘New-Age thinking’ within the churches. He is a radio pastor with the ikon and has been asking for attention to be given to this ‘New-Age thinking’ for years in his radio programme and in the publication ‘Mensen’ (‘People’) through his sermons, his books and via the foundation ‘De Blauwe Iris’ (‘The Blue Iris’). In his work, we come across the important themes of ‘New-Age thinking’, such as reincarnation, karma, angels and new revelations.”[8]

Dr A.C. Grandia continues:

“Stolp describes how an angel temporarily makes use of the body of Joseph, so as to procreate Jesus. At that moment, Joseph transcends out of his body for a moment. Stolp sketches Jesus
and Lucifer as the two sons of the Most High standing face to face in the desert.”[9]

My question would be: How can anyone possibly say anything significant at all concerning angels and their task, while daring to contradict in such a gross way the words of the archangel Gabriel, who is the highest-ranked before God!?

Yet Stolp expresses quite a few of his opinions on the subject of ‘angels’.

Once more, Dr A.C. Grandia:

“In an interview, Stolp is asked the question: ‘Why are the angels coming now?’

Stolp:

– “Angels are back from having been away—for a very special purpose, namely because the earth is facing a decisive period in its history. In circles of New-Age thinking, it is said that the earth will be lifted up to a new ‘frequency’, in which there is no more room for violence, war, and crime, but in which love, tolerance, and mutual respect will prevail. Christian tradition has always looked forward to this event – expressed by the words: Christ’s second coming. The angels are back from having been away in order to introduce and supervise this event. The earth is encircled by angels in order to protect and help us in this decisive period of transition, for without the power of their love, we would not succeed in transforming the earth into a kingdom of peace.”[10]

When these kinds of statements are made by a pastor of an interdenominational organisation, we can only come to the conclusion that they have been made under an ‘ecclesiastical’ flag. Of course, this is just one small treacherous aspect compared to the numerous attacks on the gospel that are universally made under an ‘ecclesiastical’ flag. That is why the transition to the Third ‘day of God’ will be marked by a ‘cleansing of the temple’, in the form of a judgment similar to that of Elijah on Mount Carmel. The Lord will thoroughly cleanse His threshing floor. Let the true Christians who will experience this rejoice beforehand because this is God’s divine way towards the ‘miraculous draught of fish’ on the third ‘day of God’ in the third millennium!

Moreover, when the great draught of fish has been realised, there will be a threefold reinstatement of the pastoral ministry after Peter’s threefold (i.e. complete) betrayal, as at the end of John 21. This event, too, we may see as a prophetic parable with respect to the coming of the kingdom of God. The pastoral ministry, however, will be different from those of the days before the great future transition.

Furthermore, the apostle John will continue to guide the churches and their pastors prophetically and therefore critically until the last day, by means of his Gospel, letters and the Apocalypse.

Jesus depicted this, too, in the same event when Peter was reinstated. The Bible says:

“Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me” (John 21:20-22).

This statement of Jesus has a profound meaning: if a prophetic intervention is necessary for the coming of His kingdom, the Lord will always keep this possibility open in His absolute authority. Likewise, in the last round of the end times, two witnesses will appear, with power and authority comparable to Moses and Elijah (Revelation 11:3-6).

[1]  Andre Neher: “The Exile of the Word – From the Silence of the Bible to the Silence of Auschwitz”, page 148, The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia, 1981 (original title: L’exil de Parole: du silence Biblique au silence d’Auschwitz)

[2]  See Shofar-series, volume 1: “The man with the jar”, page 11

[3]  Mr. Dr. A. v. Ootmerssen: “Getrouw”, 47e issue, number 3, page 6, June 1994

[4]  Alice A. Bailey: “The destiny of the nations”, page 149, Lucis Publishing Company New York + Lucis Press Ltd, London, 1968

[5]  ditto, page 149

[6]  See Shofar-series, volume 1: “The man with the jar”, chapter 3

[7]  Alice A. Bailey: “The destiny of the nations”, page 152, Lucis Publishing Company New York & Lucis Press Ltd, London, 1968

[8]  Rie Maaswinkel/Yolanda Voorhaar (red.): “Hier beneden is het”, page 23, Ten Have, Baarn, 1993
“Ik zie Hans Stolp als een duidelijke vertegenwoordiger van het ‘nieuwe tijds-denken’ binnen de kerken. Hij is radio-pastor bij de IKON en vraagt al jaren lang aandacht voor het ‘nieuwe denken’ in de IKON-rubriek en het gelijknamige blad ‘Mensen’, met zijn preken, zijn boeken en via stichting De Blauwe Iris. In zijn werk komen we de belangrijke thema’s tegen van het nieuwe tijds-denken zoals reïncarnatie, karma, engelen en nieuwe openbaringen.”

[9]  ditto, page 31
“Stolp beschrijft hoe een engel tijdelijk gebruik maakt van het lichaam van Jozef om Jezus te verwekken. Jozef treedt op dat moment even uit. Stolp schetst Jezus en Lucifer als de twee zonen van de allerhoogste die in de woestijn tegenover elkaar staan.”

[10]  ditto, page 29
“In een interview met Stolp wordt hem de vraag gesteld: Waarom komen de engelen nu?
Stolp:
De engelen zijn terug van weggeweest. Met een heel speciale bedoeling. Omdat de aarde voor een beslissende periode in haar geschiedenis staat. In kringen van het nieuwe tijds-denken wordt gezegd, dat de aarde zal worden opgetild naar een nieuw trillingsgetal, waarbij er geen plaats meer is voor geweld, oorlog en misdaad, maar waar liefde, verdraagzaamheid en respect voor elkaar het voor het zeggen zullen hebben. De christelijke traditie heeft altijd naar dit gebeuren uitgezien. En dat aangeduid met de woorden: ‘De wederkomst van Christus’. Om dat gebeuren in te leiden en te begeleiden zijn de engelen terug van weggeweest. Een kring van engelen staat rond de aarde opgesteld. Om ons te behoeden en te helpen in deze beslissende periode van overgang. Want zonder de kracht van hun liefde zou het ons niet lukken: de omvorming van de aarde tot een rijk van vrede.” –

chapter vii

THE LAST ROUND

The curve of the end times

The fulfilment of Revelation 10 divides the end times into three phases. This makes the scope of the end time visible to us.

Phase 1: There is a downward line, a decline, due to the apostasy from the original Christian faith.

Phase 2: As the fruit of the first exodus campaign in the form of the plagues of Revelation 8 and 9 (series of plagues I), there will be a formidable turn of the tide and a breakthrough of the kingdom of God up to the level of the fulfilled Feast of Tabernacles. This will be realised by means of the interlude event of Revelation 10. The millennial kingdom of peace will dawn.

Phase 3: After this millennium of peace—at the last and deepest decline of mankind—history will end with the last plagues of Revelation 15 and 16 (series of plagues II), and with the Lord’s return.

The nature of the second series of plagues points decidedly towards the end of time. It has a bearing on the end of world history and it is a further elaboration on what has been announced in the fifth and sixth seals (Revelation 6:9-17). Likewise, expressions such as ‘the seven last plagues’, in which ‘God’s wrath is completed’ (Revelation 15:1), speak of these plagues as being unequalled and conclusive—intended for a fixed period of time and for a special situation.

This explanation is further confirmed by the unity of the chapters 11-20. If chapters 8-10 and chapters 11-20 did not each form a complete unity, it would be difficult to speak of a curve of the end times, which in the illustration below is defined by the first series of plagues (provisional deliverance) and the second series of plagues (definitive deliverance).

At the end of each of these two series of plagues, a radical turn of events will take place. After chapter 10, this will be in the shape of the times of refreshing, and after chapter 20, earthly time will be cut off, and the new heaven and the new earth will be established.

The following illustration clarifies this by giving an overall view of the entire world history.

A – (alpha) and Ω (omega) represent respectively the Fall of man and the End of the world.

B – The Flood

C – The Calling of Abraham

D – The Fulness of the time, in which Jesus came

E – The Fulness of the Gentiles and the Conversion of Israel, the Binding of Satan and the Advent of the Kingdom of Peace (Revelation 10)

F – The beginning of the short ‘half a time’

G – Series of plagues I

H – Series of plagues II

A short comment on the above illustration:

Immediately after the Fall of man, God smashes the ‘peace treaty’ between man and Satan by turning the opposition between the ‘seed’ of the serpent and the ‘seed’ of the woman into the fundamental principle of history. He places the offspring of the serpent against the offspring of the woman by producing enmity between them. The counterattack of the prince of darkness is, therefore, continually aimed at turning this enmity into a counterfeit synthesis. Prior to the Flood, the ‘murderer from the beginning’ had made great progress with his action of mingling the two. The Lord, however, adhered to the mercy of this antithesis and cleansed the world by means of a severe judgment: the Flood!

Next, we see how God ends this universalistic period by calling Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldeans, the country where celestial bodies were idolised, where children were sacrificed, and where Shem’s religious zeal had declined to almost nothing. Because of this calling, Abraham wandered the earth as a displaced person from that time on. He became a guest and stranger on this earth. In those days, this was the position of an ‘outlaw’. The old protection of his people and tradition were no longer there. God only was his ‘shield and his very great reward’. This antithesis made him lonely, yet this was the only way in which God’s mercy towards a world lost in sin could emerge triumphant. Abraham’s isolation had a positive purpose: All the nations of the earth would be blessed through him.

When God’s chosen people emerge from Abraham’s offspring, Satan is very active, once again, to make them merge with paganism. The anger of God’s dark opponent turns against the holy ‘marriage’ of Yahweh with His people, and over and over again, he attempts to lure them into unfaithfulness towards the one true God. God repeatedly sent judges and prophets to proclaim His divine intolerance, for Israel’s Bridegroom was Yahweh, who could not tolerate anyone else beside Himself. The people of the Lord were to maintain their credo, their confession of faith—the “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one”, in word and deed. All of ancient history is one continuous struggle to preserve the holy seed from mingling.

When, however, the fulness of time had come, Caiaphas, who delivered Jesus to the Roman court of justice, was guilty of a greater sin than Pilate (John 19:11) and, from a religious perspective, the people had sunk to the level of Sodom and Egypt (Revelation 11:8). They killed the Just One, and in doing so, they alienated themselves from the holy line, thus landing directly on the line of Cain. In the fulness of time, the Lamb of God, promised centuries before, was slain for the sins of the world.

Afterwards, the apostles went all over the world preaching the cross, which is not something that man made up (Galatians 1:11). It was ‘a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (1 Corinthians 1:23). On all sides, the Hellenistic philosophy and the pagan mysterious rituals formed a threat to the Christian faith. The young missionary churches met with a host of pseudo-religions as they called for radical repentance and belief in the one Name under heaven given for salvation. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life!

Thus, in a fierce struggle and under much persecution and affliction, the banner of the cross was planted from town to town and from nation to nation. And when the truth of the Crucified One was in danger of being obscured by false doctrine and hierarchy, the Spirit blew the mists away and a reformation took place. Yet, each time, there is a tidal pattern: after each exuberant revival, a decline sets in with hardening, legalism, and cold intellectualism.

A spiritual low of syncretism and inner schisms arises in the world of Gentile Christians. However, the Lord will come in that low point to fulfil his word with certainty and without delay (cf. Rom. 9:28, Is. 10:22-23). He will pour out new strength through the Holy Spirit, and a ‘day of fulfilment’ will dawn over His redeemed. This is the ‘fulness of the Gentiles’, by which Israel will come to repentance. The world will be cleansed by a severe spiritual judgment of fire. Thus, the doors to a new era will be opened: the times of refreshing—the Millennium—in which Satan will be bound and all the nations will be saturated with the gospel. The great mission day is dawning!

But after these times of refreshing, Satan will be released once again to carry out yet more violently his ancient assault on the enmity which God had placed between the serpent’s and the woman’s offspring. This will result in the church becoming like Babylon. The official church will degenerate into the abominable prostitute riding on the scarlet beast. Apostate Christianity itself will have prepared the way for the period of the great tribulation. After the most radical revival history has ever witnessed, the worst decline and apostasy from the living God ever will follow. The false synthesis seems to be victorious for ever.

However, the Lord is a warrior!

Once again, He will arise and join the fight with the prophetic call:

“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes” (Revelation 18:4-5).

God will give a last reformatory injection to a terminally-ill world by introducing the two last witnesses. But when they have fulfilled their mission, they will follow their Lord and Saviour into martyrdom. So it will mainly be the ‘official church’ that will be guilty of the death of these two witnesses, because their dead bodies will lie “in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified” (Revelation 11:8).

After that, the great reckoning will soon take place, when our Lord Jesus Christ appears with great power and glory. Satan, together with his instruments and followers, will be cast into the lake of fire and God’s people will be led into eternal rest.

Thus the Lord has, through the ages, opposed all false unity, so that His mercy and truth would triumph and the way to the only Name under heaven by which we are saved would not be barred. In the dawn of history, the devout generations started calling upon that Name. Abraham saw the day of Christ from a distance (John 8:56). Shadows, signs, deliverances and prophecies in ancient Israel testified of the Messiah until the True Witness Himself appeared and made the good confession before Pontius Pilate (1Timothy 6:13). Then came the Holy Spirit to glorify the Son. The preaching of the One who was crucified reached the uttermost parts of the earth and the composition of the end of history itself records the glory of the Lamb.

Due to what happens in the interlude period, new ‘spotlights’ will be illuminating the cross in a very dark hour and the faithfulness of the innumerable multitude in the period of the great tribulation will in a unique way be a testimony of the infinite value of the blood of Jesus.

So, the curved line of history after the day of Pentecost goes down, and up, and down, something like in the story of Elijah. After the decline, God’s intervention caused a restoration, an abundant rainfall, but Jezebel’s imitation act caused God’s people to fall back into their old evil ways. The only one who did not falter but kept the covenant spotlessly clean is He whose Name remains forever: I am that I am – Yahweh!

The temple

“I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshippers there. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months” (Revelation 11:1-2).

These words form the introduction to the description of the last round in the Apocalypse. Why is the temple of God suddenly mentioned and why in the centre of the Apocalypse, in the middle of the terrifying series of plagues? Well, the symbolism of the concept of the words ‘temple’ as well as ‘the holy city’ is almost inexhaustible.

The crown on God’s ‘exodus work’ was the building of the temple. God’s purpose with this work was to give His people a pledge and a token of a merciful return to the lost paradise on the basis of the blood of reconciliation. Without this basis, there is no entrance to the throne of God, which is represented by the ark in the Holy of Holies. For, according to Exodus 36:35, the curtain of the tabernacle was made of skilfully woven cherubim by a skilled craftsman. King Solomon had cherubim worked into the curtain of the temple as well (2 Chronicles 3:14). These images were reminiscent of Genesis 3:24: “After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.” In the Old Testament, it was only the high priest who, as the representative of the whole nation, was allowed—once a year—to pass beyond the curtain with the blood of reconciliation and thus was admitted to the throne of God. This priestly function has been fully accomplished by the death of our High Priest, Jesus Christ. At the moment of His expiatory death, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45). The temple service and all it stood for had been fulfilled.

From this moment on, the way to God’s throne was open for every believer. This is the vertical line between God and the believer. But likewise, the horizontal line of history to the Promised Land—a ‘foreshadowing paradise’ (at the fulfilment of Revelation 10) and finally an open road to an eternal paradise.

Professor Dr. C. van Gelderen states that all the wall decorations of the temple, except the cherubim, have been taken from the plant world and he draws the following conclusion:

“The idea of a pleasure garden, guarded by cherubim, is obvious here. And theologically, it does not seem improper to see the temple as a picture of God’s Paradise, to which free access is only gained in the way of reconciliation, with the greatest reverence for the Lord’s holiness, which is watched over by the cherubim.”[1]

The temple of the Old Testament was a ‘paradise’ in stone. In 1 Kings 6:29, we read how Solomon ‘carved cherubim, palm trees and open flowers’ ... ‘on the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer rooms’. In addition, everything was gold-plated, so it evokes an image of a golden, i.e. an imperishable pleasure garden, with cherubim looking into the mystery of reconciliation (1 Peter 1:12).

The building site which was chosen for the temple also had to emphasise the similarity between temple and paradise. In fact, the source of the paradise river was situated in a plateau of wells, so that from this one paradise stream, four great rivers could flow to all directions. The entire world was watered from one centre of wells, one life-giving central point! The high position of the temple illustrates this image (Psalm 68:16; Isaiah 2:2; Ezekiel 28:13-14; Micah 4:1; Revelation 21:10).

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills…” (Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1).

This is the way the proclamation of the kingdom of peace is announced. From this ‘paradise’, streams of living water will flow (Ezekiel 47). The prophet Ezekiel makes a connection between the lifting of the exile and the new temple as a picture of the time of salvation, in which the river flowing from the temple brings everything to new life. Isaiah also connects these two themes: the lifting of the exile and the temple as a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:7-8).

In Revelation 11:1, directly linked to the mystery of the thunders (compare also Psalm 29) and thus directly following an exodus campaign in the chapters 8 and 9 (the first series of plagues), the ‘temple of God’ is mentioned. This is no less than a divine promise of a heavenly breakthrough of the kingdom of God in this earthly dispensation. The notion ‘temple’ here means the Church, as the body of Christ, which has reached maturity.

Christ will fulfil everything! For that purpose, He ascended into heaven. Like Paul says in Ephesians 4:10-13:

“He who descended is the very one who ascended higher than all the heavens, in order to fill the whole universe. It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fulness of Christ.”

Indeed, on the thorny stem of the six-thousand years of history, a wonderful Sabbath flower will yet bloom: the Church, brought to its fulness, which will crush Satan under its feet (Romans 16:20), and which will experience the times of refreshing—the kingdom of peace, the pre-Sabbath, God’s promise, the fulfilment of the penultimate secret, the pledge of the end of the world!

Surely, this flower will wither once more—the courtyard of the temple will be trampled under foot for forty-two months—yet a short ‘half a time’ (the 1260 days) will follow, in which Satan will be released again, and in which the Lord God will give the opposite image of the Feast of Tabernacles by means of the seven last plagues. Immediately after this last exodus campaign (Revelation 15 and 16), God’s kingdom of eternal glory will break through, in which there will no longer be a temple (Revelation 21 and 22), because the Lord God Almighty will be the temple of the bride of the Lamb. The temple of Revelation 11:1 is the sign and pledge of this ultimate state of eternal glory. After the great breakthrough, the great apostasy will take place!

After the restoration of the great altar of Pentecost, ‘Christ’s sheep’ will be slaughtered at the foot of this altar during the great tribulation, but those days will be shortened for the sake of the elect (Matthew 24:22). The great apostasy postulates a great breakthrough prior to it! The antichrist is only expected to come after the revelation of the body of Christ.

Paul says:

“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).

We established earlier that the notion ‘temple’ means ‘a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit’. This is the Church made up of Jews and Gentiles, now united.

It is only after the completion of the temple in Revelation 11:1 that its outer court is trampled on, for a period of 42 months.

And only after the rise of the great Babylon, it is said: “Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself …” (Revelation 18:7).

As the first series of plagues is making use of the term ‘trumpets’ in order to describe a reversed Passover, so are the last judgments clearly described in terms of the Feast of Tabernacles in the second series of plagues. Again, as was the case in the first series of plagues, angels are performing a ‘priestly’ function, because by analogy with the function of the priests at the Feast of Tabernacles, who drew water from the well of Siloam in golden bowls so as to pour it out at the altar of burnt offering, here, the angels have to pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth (Revelation 16:1). The end of chapter 14 already corresponds to this: “The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God’s wrath” (Revelation 14:19). Then there is the description of the great prostitute in chapter 17:1 ff., which presupposes a church, which, as the bride, had come to fulness first, and after that, had fallen away. (The themes of Ezekiel 16 are clearly recognisable!) Jesus also alludes to this last episode of the release of Satan (Revelation 20:7-10) with His words concerning “…‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel …” (Matthew 24:15).

Revelation 20:1-6, which mentions the millennium, does not contradict this. To expect a millennium after the great tribulation is in direct contradiction with Jesus’ clear undisguised statement in Matthew 24:29-30:

“Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory.”

This event will be the definitive end of earthly time. One might ask the question: But how can it be that the martyrs of the last phase will rule with Christ as kings for a thousand years? How is this possible when the thousand years chronologically precede the great apostasy? This seems to be contradictory. I would, therefore, like to present the following points for consideration:

1. We should acknowledge that it is a good hermeneutical rule for exegesis to analyse unclear verses in the light of what is clear.[2] What Jesus states in Matthew 24, quoted above, is very clear.

2. Revelation 20 talks about the souls of those who had been beheaded. These souls have already been withdrawn from, and elevated above our standards of the chronological before and after. They have been taken up into eternity.

3. The passage of Revelation 20:4-6 gives us in apocalyptic terms the divine evaluation regarding their martyrdom and their function in the end times. The times of refreshing would be unimaginable without the threat of the last round. This threat will be all the more real to mankind when Revelation 10 has been completely fulfilled. The episode of the times of refreshing can be compared with a ‘banner’, which, as we know, has to be held up straight from two sides. In this case, one side of the ‘banner’ is the interlude of Revelation 10, and the other side is the last round.

4. The congregation of martyrs mentioned in Revelation 20 is the same as those in Revelation 14:4, where they receive the venerable title of ‘firstfruits’: “They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.” In the Scriptures, the concept ‘firstfruits’ is a very rich term. In his book “Bijbelse theologie” (Biblical theology), Dr. F.H. Breukelman expresses it as follows:

“The firstborn in the father’s house is the one in whom the blessing is concentrated, i.e. the amazing power that makes everything prosper and brings it to full growth, which is noticeable in all that a man is doing, and which is the mystery of the shalom, the prosperity and the welfare of the house (Genesis 39!).”[3]

Therefore we should not ask: How can these last martyrs, at the end of time, bring forth growth as ‘firstfruits’? They are, so to speak, a representative part of the entire body of martyrs of all times, starting with Abel.

5. We know in part, and we prophesy in part (1 Corinthians 13:9). Therefore, with regard to the difficult details we find in the Apocalypse concerning the last round, we may—in all modesty—expect the two witnesses, clothed in sackcloth, and specially called to prophesy for 1,260 days, to shed light on those details that people so far have not yet been able to clarify convincingly.

6. When we talk about those who are martyred as a result of the ministry of ‘sanctifying God’s Name’, we should be most reserved in our judgment. I think it is wise to put up a warning signal here. Speaking of the Jewish people, we sometimes hear the unceremonious expression ‘That serves you right’. It says in 1 Thessalonians 2:16: “The wrath of God has come upon them at last.” But what does ‘at last’ mean? It is not the end of world history that Paul has in mind here, but the end of the hardening of their hearts.

So, do we know what took place in their souls when the doors of the gas chambers were closed, after their terrible path of sufferings culminating in that appalling holocaust? Those last few minutes? Those last few seconds?

I see two parallel lines: On the one hand, Jesus saying to them: “… but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37), and on the other hand, Paul prophesying: “For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all” (Romans 11:32).

In mathematics, two parallel lines meet at infinity. Well, the above two parallel lines: deliberate unwillingness on the one hand, but at the same time, being divinely predestined—these two lines will indeed meet at infinity, but this refers to the eternal distances of God’s plan, which is still beyond us!

Would God not be able to bring to a positive solution what He has concluded Himself? Have they — however incomprehensible it may seem—in their terrible history, not in some way served the sanctification of the Name?

And what is still to come for the people of God’s revelation!?

The Holocaust and the suffering that is still to come do certainly form a mysterious introduction to the breakthrough of the kingdom of peace.

How inscrutable are God’s ways!

7. The book of Job is also part of the Bible. It teaches us that, when somebody like Job is involved in a dispute between God and Satan, human wisdom fails to give a final and satisfactory explanation for the suffering in this world. Job calls his friends who came to commiserate and comfort him with their theological arguments after all the sorrow that he had had to endure ‘miserable comforters’ (Job 16:2). Eventually, Job himself confesses:

“My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:5-6).

In Psalm 73:16-17, we find a similar humbling:

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”

Psalm 73 is nothing but an admonition to humble oneself before God.

Job puts on the hair shirt. This is indeed the best attitude to adopt concerning the eschatology, the doctrine of the last things, namely to bow down before God in dust and ashes. A dispute between God and Satan is what the Apocalypse is all about. This is evident when Satan is bound for a certain time, and then being released again for a short time. God’s people and all mankind are involved in this. The devil is called ‘the prince of this world’. Unfortunately, ‘miserable comforters’ are not lacking either in the worldwide process of suffering. Numerous ‘friends of Job’ have plunged into the Apocalypse and into the doctrine of the last things in general in order to comfort ‘Job’. Often, these ‘friends’ have had masses of followers in various sects, and, unfortunately, also in various church denominations.

Miserable comforters! False prophets!

Fortunately, Jesus gave the following promise to His followers:

“ But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment: in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned” (John 16:7-11).

The judgment of Satan—namely that he is bound—is part of the convincing material of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter. The Comforter will be victorious in the battle between God and Satan. The proclamation of the Word of God will turn out to be the sword of the Spirit which will cause a fatal wound to one of the blaspheming heads of the beast from the sea (Revelation 13:3). This fatal wound will heal. After this there will still be a period of apostasy. But first, the beast will be fatally wounded by the sword of the Spirit. This stroke with the sword of the Spirit is referred to in Revelation 10. The fulness of the Gentiles and Israel’s conversion will result in Satan being bound.

This is no ‘miserable comfort’. On the contrary—after this, God will have His peace come down on the earth!

The interpretation

This book emphasises that the series of plagues form a mirror image of Israel’s cycle of feasts. From a reversed Passover, we pass by way of the threshing time to the absolute reversed image of the Feast of Tabernacles in the last round. This line is the fundamental ingredient, and it should count as an axiom for every exegete!

As Christians, we have been called to pay attention to the signs of the times. Jesus urges us to do so in Matthew 24:32-35:

“Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

So, when John, an apostle of the Lord, is specially called to proclaim what will take place ‘after this’, it goes without saying that in paying attention to the signs of the times, we should not ignore the Apocalypse. It is right then that questions come up, such as: Does the Apocalypse truly represent a mirror in which the history of the world is recognisable? When, moreover, we see the numerous derailments, in particular concerning the ‘interpretation’ of the contents of the Apocalypse into the present and the future, is it that surprising that many people put this last book of the Bible aside with a sigh, as if it were forever sealed up with seven seals?

Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, we can surely find a historical context in this book. We should keep in mind that it is not only the series of plagues that form a reversed image to the cycle of feasts of ancient Israel, but that the reversed image refers equally to the function of the temple itself. As already mentioned, Revelation contains a paraphrase in apocalyptic terms of Jesus’ speech in Matthew 24. So one should pay special attention to the opening words of His speech.

Immediately after the announcement of the judgment on Israel’s ‘house’ (i.e. the temple) due to the killing of the prophets and the rejection of Jesus Himself, and after His words: “For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’”, we read:

“Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down” (Matthew 24:1-2).

This announcement of a judgment will count in the future as the divine sign that He was truly sent by God, the Father.

Let us now compare this with the apocalyptic paraphrase of Matthew 24 in Revelation. We notice the same opening words when the first judgments are uttered by the trumpet, namely the judgment on the temple and its function. What indeed was the essence of ancient Israel’s expectation with respect to the Messianic future? The prophets spoke clearly about this:

“In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Micah 4:1-3).

Isaiah evokes the same image in chapter 2:1-5. “They will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.” These words have been quoted in so many peace messages, but, unfortunately, often detached from the context of Micah 4, namely without taking into account what will happen to ‘the mountain of the Lord’s temple, as chief among the mountains’! In His eschatological speech in Matthew 23 and 24, Jesus spoke about the forthcoming fate of the Lord’s temple. When, in God’s eyes, this ‘chief among the mountains’ has spiritually reached the level of Babylon or Sodom and Egypt (Revelation 11:8), Jerusalem and the temple will fall under the same judgment as was predicted by the prophets regarding Babylon:

“I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth,” declares the Lord. “I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burnt-out mountain” (Jeremiah 51:25).

Jeremiah talks about the same thing in verses 41 and 63-64:

“What a horror Babylon will be among the nations!”

“When you finish reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the Euphrates. Then say, ‘So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.’ ”

The plagues of Revelation 8 and 9 evoke in severe apocalyptic terms the absolute opposite of ancient Israel’s Messianic expectation regarding the mountain of the Lord, which would be elevated above all mountains.

Revelation 8:7 says: “The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down upon the earth…”

This passage is an apocalyptic typification of the march of the Roman legions and the outbreak of the Jewish war at the beginning of our era (66-70 ad). The temple is thrown into the sea of chaos (verse 8), as a ‘huge mountain, all ablaze’. This is later followed by the destruction of the deified Roman Empire, on which the people and their leaders had thrown themselves away. The opposite of the expectation of ancient Israel regarding the temple might virtually be called a mathematical principle in the Apocalypse. For, inextricably bound to this pattern is the expectation that streams of blessing would flow from the temple and its spiritual value to barren regions, as Ezekiel had seen in his vision (Ezekiel 47:1-12).

The first two trumpet judgments, therefore, which refer to the destruction of the country and its holy centre—the temple—are immediately followed by the catastrophic fall of the star Wormwood (meaning ‘Bitterness’), which made rivers and springs bitter. Indeed, this is the absolute opposite of the expected paradise-like streams flowing from the sanctuary.

After that, the fourth angel sounds the judgment on how big the catastrophes will be on a cosmic scale, even though the judgments mentioned so far have been restricted. Here we see the ever-recurrent ‘one-third’. The number ‘three’ symbolises completeness. A third part, therefore, means a curtailment. But it is not a curtailment in the sense of a conclusion. On the contrary, it is also a prelude to the consummation. Jesus also spoke about this consummation in His speech about the end times:

“Immediately after the distress of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken” (Matthew 24:29).

The repeated use of ‘a third’ means that it is the beginning of the end. History has been set into motion and is going in the direction of the completion. ‘A third’ will extend to ‘three’; what is ‘restricted’ now is already related to completeness.

Numbers have a message of their own in the Scriptures. In the number ‘a third’, we may also hear the testimony that God rules—nothing escapes His counsel. The latter also holds good for the symbolic value of the number seven. Heaven, sea and earth make three. The earth has four points of the compass. These two together produce the number seven, depicting the totality of creation, and likewise of recreation. There are seven trumpet judgments, which are not meant to destroy, but rather, to lead to re-creation in a positive sense.

Much has been written about the imagery that John uses in the Apocalypse, some of which may have existed already in his mind. It is sometimes said of a child that he is not a blank sheet of paper. This expression may also be applicable to John’s mind. He, who could say in his gospel: “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25), must have carried in his mind an abundance of Jesus’ teachings. Added to that are his personal experiences with the things that happened in his time. However,—using again the image of a palette—whatever paint there may have been on his palette, John could not simply put this imagery on canvas. He had to act upon the call: “Come up here …” (Revelation 4:1), and a door was opened for him in heaven.

When still standing on the earthly side of the door of heaven, John must have had a great deal of visual material on the palette of his mind, based on his knowledge and experience, but when the ‘door’ was opened, the inscrutable miracle of divine inspiration stepped in. When God Himself touches the keys of the human brain and the human mind, our own analysis has arrived at a frontier. True prophets are aware of this! Then ‘a door’ is opened. We ought to be well-informed about this reality when we make comparisons with rituals in other religions. We already discussed an example of this in chapter 1, namely the concept of the ‘primeval mount’. We established that the Egyptian pyramids as well as the Babylonian ziggurats represented the primeval mount, the navel of the earth, where the earth rose above the waters, and that on this very spot, the ‘temple’ was built, where the deity resided in order to radiate his energies over the earth. This idea repeatedly comes back in ancient-eastern imagery.

Dr. Othmar Keel writes about this:

“In the Ugaritic sphere, the conquest of Chaos is also closely related to mountain (hill) and temple. After his victory over the sea god Yam, Baal receives a temple on Zaphon, the mountain of the gods located in the northern part of the city of Ugarit. The abyss is a dimension of Chaos and of death, but the high place, the mountain, belongs to the temple.”[4]

When Jesus starts His announcements of the judgments in Matthew 24 by drawing attention to the forthcoming destruction of the temple, and, straight from there, the disruption of human life and the elements of nature, this description looks very similar to the ideas of the Ancient Near East regarding the contrast between temple and chaos. Yet this is an apparent similarity. For the temple proclaims the ministry of atonement through the blood that God gives on the altar (Leviticus 17:11).

Likewise, the effect of the first sounding of the shofar, whereby ‘something like a huge mountain, all ablaze’ was thrown into the sea, is presented to us from quite a different perspective.

‘A door’ was opened.

Everything in the Apocalypse has been described focussing on the Lamb that was slain.

From the same perspective with which Jesus announces the destruction of the temple and the subsequent disruption of creation, we see at the next sounds of the shofar how the disruption of the elements of nature and of the nations take place here, too.

If the upper ‘crossbeam’ of the order of creation—the temple—goes down in the ‘waters’, nothing will remain standing, and the elements of creation will be disrupted. God, however, is still putting a brake on the effect of a fatal choice! The sphere of action of the beast from the abyss will remain restricted to a continually-recurring ‘third’.

The Apocalypse extends this line from the attack on the order of nature in general to human society. With the sound of the fifth trumpet, a star, which has fallen from the sky, will be given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. This star will receive authority to open the Abyss, and then smoke will rise from it like ‘the smoke from a gigantic furnace’ (Revelation 9:1-2). The smoke will bring about spiritual degeneration, which in turn will cause wars and all kinds of violence by which the people will be tortured.

The ‘Abyss’ in these verses is in sharp contrast with the temple mountain. From God’s temple mountain, the Word of salvation would go out to all peoples, and peace would be made among all nations (Micah 4:1-5). So here again, we see the contrast between the temple mountain and chaos.

Since we can look back on several thousands of years of history, we will be more or less able to imagine the smoke poisoning and its consequences. The twentieth century, in particular, is a century full of wars, violence and Satanism. The recent history of World War II fills mankind with horror. Torture chambers, concentration camps, genocide—the ‘smoke from the Abyss’ is suffocating. We may observe that the judgments of the trumpets are becoming more and more intense. This intensification of the judgments will continue, even after the subdivision at the fourth and the fifth trumpets, up to the great incision of Revelation 10.

Measure the temple

When Revelation 10 has been fulfilled and the ‘dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit’ has been established, i.e. the temple of Revelation 11:1, there will indeed be something to be measured. However, it will not be in the sense of a measurement of the area of a temple made of stone. Rather, it is the house of God, as the Lord has intended it for all peoples.

Consequently, in chapter 11:1, the church of Christ, which will have come to fulness, receives a heavy responsibility. The assignment is given: “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, and count the worshippers there.” This reminds us of the task God gave to Adam:

“ The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Genesis 2:15).

The word ‘measure’ points to a similar assignment. The Greek word ‘metreo’ (μετρεω) also means ‘to preserve’.

Dr. Greijdanus writes:

“In Scripture, the word ‘measure’ refers to complete destruction (2 Kings 21:13; Isaiah 34:11 and other verses) and to sound rebuilding (Ezekiel 40:2 ff; 43:13). Here, however, it speaks of a boundary, a limitation, and thus of protection.”[5]

A similar explanation is given by Gerhard Kittel, who translated ‘measure’ by ‘erhalten’, which also means ‘to preserve’.[6]

During the last round in the great tribulation, the true believers, the core of God’s church, will receive special protection. This is what the opening words of Revelation 11:1 refer to: “I was given a reed like a measuring rod...” It will be a task given by God and in that way also under official protection. For this purpose, God introduces His two witnesses, two prophets, who will overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony (Revelation 12:11). And in addition to the two witnesses, the general position of the believers will also offer resistance through what is called ‘patient endurance’ and the ‘faithfulness of the saints’ (Revelation 13:10). The threefold alliance of Satan, the beast from the earth, and the beast from the sea will lose the battle against God and His Church.

Babylon will fall.

The Holy City, Jerusalem, will come down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband, shining with the glory of God (Revelation 21:2 and 11). In this New Jerusalem, John does not see a temple, “because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22). However, although there is no visible temple there, we do notice the symbolic connection between the function which traditionally the temple used to have and the notion of the streams of blessing, which will make the earth prosper. Immediately after this picture of the New Jerusalem, in which God and the Lamb have taken over the function of the temple, there is the image of a “river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2).

In the imagery of the series of the shofar judgments, the contrast between the ‘mountain of the Lord’ and chaos has been developed strongly and consistently. Already at the first trumpet judgments, John sees that ‘something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea’, and consequently, the waters become bitter. Then, by way of contrast to the stream of blessing which proceeds from the temple mountain, there is the Abyss, from which spiritual and moral filth rise up, which results in wars and atrocious cruelties. Yet, these plagues will serve for the restoration of the temple of Revelation 11:1, which is preceded by the outcome of Revelation 10. From the restoration of this temple, streams of healing and blessing will flow towards the ends of the earth by the Word of God going out from Zion—as a fulfilment of the expectation of salvation announced by the prophets.

After Satan’s release, the temple will be fiercely assaulted, so that the ‘outer court’ will be trampled underfoot for forty-two months. After God’s counterattack in the last series of plagues, when the seven bowls of the wrath of God are poured out on the earth as a reverse of the Feast of Tabernacles, then the final victory through God and the Lamb will become manifest.

The old theme—temple or chaos—will be referred to again.

Once more, but this time for ever, the stream of eternal salvation and blessing will flow out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, who, Themselves, will now be the Temple:

“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” – (Revelation 22:3-5).

[1]  Dr. C. van Gelderen: “Korte verklaring der Heilige Schrift – Koningen”, page 122-123, J.H. Kok, Kampen, 1937
“De gedachte aan een lusthof, door cherubs bewaakt, ligt hier wel voor de hand. En theologisch schijnt het mij niet ongepast, in de tempel een afbeelding te zien van het Paradijs Gods, waartoe de vrije toegang slechts herkregen wordt in de weg der verzoening, onder de strengste eerbiediging van des Heren heiligheid, waarover de cherubs waken.”

[2]  Hermeneutics is an exegetical tool used in the interpretation of the Bible

[3]  Drs. F.H. Breukelman: “Bijbelse theologie”, deel 1,2, pag. 51, J.H. Kok, Kampen, 1992
“De eersteling is in het huis des vaders degene in wie de zegen zich concentreert, d.w.z. de wonderlijke kracht die alles doet gedijen en tot volle wasdom brengt en die in al wat een man doende is gespeurd wordt en het geheim is van de sjalom, de bloei en de welstand van het huis. (Genesis 39!)”

[4]  Dr. Othmar Keel: “The symbolism of the Biblical world - Ancient Near Eastern iconography and the Book of Psalms”, pp 113-114, The Seabury Press, New York, 1978

[5]  Dr. S. Greijdanus: “De Openbaring des Heeren aan Johannes”, page 226, H.A. van Bottenburg, Amsterdam, 1925
“In de Heilige Schrift doelt het meten op volkomene verwoesting, 2 Koningen 21: 13; Jesaja 34:11 e.a.; en op deugdelijke herbouw, Ezech.40:2 vv; 43:13. Maar hier spreekt het van begrenzing, afperking, en daardoor van beveiliging.”

[6]  Gerhard Kittel: “Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament“ – vierter Band, page 638, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart, 1942