God sets the perspective for Messiah's imminent coming. It is set in the light of Endtime signs; not of current events ... as of 2002. Daniel's Endtime begins when Great Babylon falls and Antichrist breaks the Covenant of Dan.9:27 ... fulfilling 2 of 5 Endtime Catalysts.
Because Christ spoke of what is "about to happen" with reference to His near return, every generation has expected Him. But only the last generation will see "all these (Endtime) things" taking place. These things begin with Five Endtime Catalysts and climax with His return in glory. They could not happen soon after He was "caught up to God and to his Throne"... for being "about to rule all nations with an iron rod" is couched in the Endtime context of Rev.12:5-14.
We are convinced what is "about to happen" refers strictly to Endtime events. The Prophetic ENDTIME does not occur between the prophecy of Daniel 9:26 ... when Messiah the Prince was cut off but not for Himself ... until Daniel 9:27 when the Endtime covers 3½ years from the midst of Week #70.
PROPHETIC TIME therefore does not count between Revelation 12:5 ... when Christ was "about to rule the nations with an iron staff" AND Revelation 12:6 ... when the Endtime begins. God's Time-Clock has no settings between Matt.16:27 ... when Christ is "ABOUT to come and reward every Believer" and many, having remained alive until the consummation of the Two Prophets' Kingdom Power 1260-Day Task, will face no more than three days of possible martyrdom! Only "some will taste death." Mark 9:1; Matt.16:28; Luke 9:27.
Fulfillment of Matt.16:28 and Rev.12:10, both of which refer to Christ's coming in Kingdom Power, anticipate fulfillment of Matt.16:27 at His coming in glory. Daniel's Week #70 begins earlier, but no one will know for certain it has begun ... until Babylon falls and Antichrist breaks the Covenant in the midst of that seven-year period.
The Endtime period from the Red Horseman of Rev.6, to Satan being cast into the Abyss in Rev.20, involves 250 verses. Most of these verses concern the Endtime conflict between God's Two Prophets and Satan's Two Beasts. But there is an historical flashback to Satan's attempt to kill Christ at His first Advent in Rev.12:1-5. Another historical flashback in Rev.17 reveals the influence of Mystery Babylon on the rise and fall of world powers since its origin in the time of Nimrod and Abraham. Its power and influence shifts from Rome during the Pre-Endtime to Jerusalem during the Endtime.
The Pre-Endtime Rider on the White Horse of Seal One and the short but global rule of Great Babylon will anticipate the Endtime catalyst of Ten Kings who will destroy Babylon in one hour by fire and totally support the one who becomes the Antichrist.
Six Trumpet Judgments and Six Plagues climax the Endtime with the world's armies gathering to Armageddon in the sixth of each series. At that crisis point, God's Two Prophets are killed just before the Lastday. Their task begins 3½ years before Christ returns and is subject to an exact 1260-day countdown. The remaining 30 days of Daniel's seven-year solar calendar will be "cut short." SEVENTY
There are 251 verses from Rev.6:1 to Rev.20:6 where the Millennial reign of Christ begins on earth. I do not count Rev.16:15 as an Endtime or Lastday verse since the blessing promised applies to Lastday survivors as well as the "some who must taste death" in the days after the Two Prophets are killed. "Behold, I come as a thief (on an unknown day after these two die on day #1260). Blessed is the one who watches (during the last two or three days and keeps His garments lest he walk naked and men see his shame." There are 100 verses that portray Lastday events ... beginning with the Sign of Rev.6:12-17. Therefore, no one will know the hour or the day in advance!
John wrote, years after Jesus ascended to heaven, that "Time will be no longer in the days whenever Trump Seven is about to sound." We cannot know in advance on which day it will sound. THE SIGN of the Lastday signals the Day of the Lord has come. Rev.6:12-14. The Lamb of God rescues 144,000 Jews from Mt. Zion and takes them to heaven. That day sees God's Two Prophets resurrected and taken to heaven. In the hour they arise, a great quake strikes a tenth of Jerusalem killing 7000 high ranking Beast-Worshipers. Rev.11:13.
We will "know the End is Near" at the convergence of five specific Catalysts. All other signs give rise to a false hope regarding Christ's return! The Endtime signs to which we refer include Christ's Kingdom Power through the Two Prophets. Their Kingdom Power follows a war in heaven with Satan cast out, the fall of Great Babylon, Ten Kings giving their support to the Beast after they destroy her in one hour and the onset of a 42-month conflict which continues between supernatural forces of God and Satan. God's Kingdom Power through the Two Prophets clashes with Satan's power through the two Beasts for 1260 days ... with up to an extra 30 days cut short. Dan.12:11; Matt.24:22.
Seal Six, THE SIGN of the unknown Lastday, is the specific sign given by Jesus of that Day. It should occur "in the same hour" the Two Prophets ascend to heaven ... within three days after the tribulation. The days to be "cut short belong to the days after the Two Prophets are killed! The 1260 days are not cut short. Jesus shows that "no one knows the day of His coming" because they are cut short. Mark 13:20,24,32; Matt.24:22,29,36.
Prophetic Time in Revelation agrees with Daniel. John wrote that Christ was "caught up to heaven; that He was about to rule all nations with an iron staff." Rev.12:5. The next verses jump forward over 1900 years to the Endtime days when Michael casts Satan from heaven. Dan.12:1,11; Rev.12:7-9.
Satan's expulsion did not occur at the Cross. We still " wrestle against principalities and powers in the heavenlies." Heaven's war and Satan's banishment is the only time Revelation refers to Daniel's 3½ times. The exile of Satan to earth corresponds to the time the Two Prophets come in Kingdom Power to protect and feed those who flee to the desert for this Endtime period of 1260 days. Rev.12:6,14.
Near the End, while the Two Prophets lie dead on a street in Jerusalem, the wicked kill the last Martyrs. Earth's peoples rejoice over the Prophets' dead bodies by sending gifts to one another for up to three days. Technology is rapidly preparing for Satan's control over these things.
Also, armies of millions will have invaded Israel. "Lest no flesh be saved," even the days in which the Two Prophets lie dead will be cut short. Their days of death are part of the last month of Daniel's seven solar years or 85 Biblical months Even on the Lastday, Believers will not know in advance the Hour Christ must appear. That Day comes as a thief to the wicked; yet 100 verses describing its events must be fulfilled along with the Two Prophets rising up from death! In the "order of the first resurrection," they ascend before "the rest of the dead in Christ." I Cor.15:23.
Why are the Two Olive Trees, Two Lampstands and Two Prophets seen at the open door of the Temple in heaven in Pat Smith's graphic art-work on The Temple? It's because the Lastday occurs quickly after they finish their 1260-day task. John will have revealed "seven thunders out of the small Scroll" that were sealed in his memory when he wrote Revelation. God will avenge the Martyrs when the last one is killed. This determines the Day and Hour for Trump Seven to sound. Rev.6:11; Rev.10:7.
The Son of Man comes on the day these two rise up to heaven and the Lamb rescues the Firstfruit on Mt. Zion. (Indeed, Jesus promised that "all believers will rise up on the last day"). "Time ends whenever the seventh Trumpet is about to sound." Rev.10:6,7. That perspective forms the New Testament view for the imminence of Christ's coming. The Lastday is the unknown Day of the Lord.
Within three days after they die, the Two Prophets will rise up to heaven and the last Martyr will be killed. That is when the last Plague "completes God's anger" which is then about to implode with God's Cup of anger-induced-wrath! Thirty final days of Daniel's prophetic Time are cut short on an unknown day "after the great tribulation." All the Saints in heaven participate in a Three-Act Temple Drama ... "on God's Day of wrath ... and the wrath of the Lamb." Rev.6:17; Rev.7:9 to Rev.8:5; Rev.11:15-19.
Seal Six in Revelation signals the Lastday has come. With the world clothed in darkness as the stars fall to earth, Rev.7:9-17 describes Act One of heaven's Temple Drama. Act Two describes Seal Seven's Trial ... Daniel's Court Scene. Dan.7:9-27. In Act Three, Trump Seven proclaims Christ is King. No one enters heaven's Temple for this Drama until the Two Prophets finish their task and the last Plagues manifest God's righteousness. All the Martyrs are present. The Firstfruit of God's harvest, 144,000 Israelis, arrive in heaven to sing the "Song of the Lamb" and take part in the Drama.
The Ark of the Covenant was last seen 700 years before John wrote the Book of Revelation. In heaven's Temple, "after the last plagues," Rev.15:8, the smoke clears and the Ark glows in the Open Temple with God's glory at the sounding of Trump Seven. The Two Prophets have just risen from death after 1260 days of "standing before the God of earth" on behalf of Saints and the 144,000 "living Firstfruit to God and the Lamb." Rev.14:4. The latter never die!
The Ark of the Covenant will not be seen until the last Plague empties and the smoke clears from the Temple on the Lastday. Seal Six continues to warn of impending wrath during the Drama of Testimony, Tribunal and Triumph. Seal Seven opens the large Scroll for the jury of countless multitudes out of great tribulation. The Two Prophets and 144,000 "redeemed from earth" stand as witnesses in glorified bodies.
For about a half hour, the jury reviews Six Trumpet judgments mirrored in the open Scroll after the Lamb breaks Seal Seven. The judgments took place during the martyrdoms on earth. The armies of Trump Six and Plague Six are incarcerated at Armageddon's "winepress of God's great anger!" Rev.14:19.
God's Kingdom Power on earth climaxes with the action moving from earth to Heaven's Temple with its Testimony, Tribunal and Triumph. Trump Seven proclaims: "This world's kingdoms have become the Kingdom of our Lord and His Christ." Survivors on earth know Time Ends about three days before Trump Seven sounds. It sounds "quickly" after the Prophets arise." God's wrath has come and the appointed time to judge and reward the prophets and Saints and all who fear God, both small and great. The Ark appears in the open Temple" after seven last plagues exhaust God's anger. Rev.11:18,19; Rev.15:1-4.
Revelation does not always present events in chronological order. The Two Prophets rise up to testify against the wicked in the Court Scene of Seal 7. Seal 7 opens the Scroll three chapters before these Prophets join the Martyrs in spirit and seven chapters before they sing the Song of Moses. Yet both occur on the same day. We conclude they sing with the Martyrs in less than three days after they are killed. On that day all the world's kingdoms are "given to the Saints by the King of kings and Lord of lords."
On the Lastday, just prior to the Temple Drama, the Son of Man reaps the wicked to the Winepress of God's great anger (Greek) from a white cloud. Rev.14:14-19. All of Revelation 7 and 14 come between Seals 6 and 7. After the 144,000 are sealed with the name of the Lamb, the Lamb rescues these Harvest Firstfruit from Mt. Zion ... 144,000 Israelis who are blameless and who never die. Rev.14:1-5; Joel 2:32.
He brings them "on heaven's clouds to the Ancient of Days." They present the Son of Man to God in the Song of the Lamb! They are worthy because He is worthy. Foretold by Daniel, the Court "sits and kingdom sovereignty under the whole heaven is taken from the Beast and given to the Saints and to the people of the Saints." Dan.7:9,10,13,26,27.
The Two Prophets rise up from death, and having joined the Martyrs in spirit to petition God that "all nations should come to worship Him," they rise up bodily to witness in video reality before the grand jury what has transpired in Six Trumpet Judgments. Rev.15:4; Rev.8:1-5. The 144,000 also testify to God's Kingdom Power through the Two Prophets. John pictures much of this by way of flashbacks.
Daniel sees the Son of Man presented before God after coming with the 144,000 "on the clouds of heaven" from reaping the wicked. The Firstfruit of Harvest sing the Song of the Lamb prior to the open Temple Drama of Testimony, Tribunal and Triumph. That Song declares His worthiness to take the Kingdom just as an early scene in Revelation reveals He alone is worthy to open the seals. After they present the Son of Man in song, the Judgment takes place, for "the Books are opened" according to Daniel. Dan.7:9,10,13,22.
Countless multitudes out of great tribulation observe the evidence on the inner side of the open Scroll of Seal Seven. Incense mixed with the Saints' prayers rises up from the Altar before God in heaven's Temple. Coals of fire cast from the Altar by the Angel of Fire toward earth signify "God's wrath has come." Mankind has already acknowledged: "The Day of God's wrath has come." Modern scribes place Seal Six and Seven too soon ... up to 5 years before the Lastday. Seals Six and Seven belong strictly to the Lastday.
Trump Seven sounds immediately after Seal Seven's Tribunal! Rev.11:15-19 follows Rev.8:1-5. Jesus Christ is crowned King of kings. Only then does John observe the glowing Ark of the Covenant in the open Temple. Shafts of lightning, peals of thunder, great voices and a great quake accompany the second and third Acts of the Drama and God's Decree of wrath. The quake is history's greatest. Great Babylon falls again. Heaven, the Saints, Apostles and Prophets are summoned to rejoice. Rev.18:20-24.
Messiah comes with all the Saints as soon as the rejoicing ends. The ensuing Hour of Trial features aftershocks that destroy earth's cities. Mountains gradually disappear and the islands move out of place during the "Hour of Trial; the Hour of Judgment." Rev.14:7. All people over all the face of all the earth" are affected. Luke 21:35; Rev.3:10; Rev.16:19,20.
Two Olive Trees and two Lampstands represent God's Two Prophets who stand up for Christians and Jews against the Beast during the 42-month Endtime. Rev.13:5; Rev.11:4. John thunders the messages he sealed long before. Jesus anticipated this awful period and predicted "some were appointed here (in this Endtime expectation that He is about to come in glory) to not taste death, no matter what, until after they see Him coming in Kingdom Power." Mark 9:1; Matt.16:27,28.
That forces the gap of centuries between the prophecy of Matt.16:27 and its fulfillment in Matt.16:28. And between Rev.12:5 and 12:6. And between Dan.9:26 (with the second Temple destroyed in AD 70) and Dan.9:27 where the third Temple will be defiled; but not destroyed.
At the end, the two Olive Trees and the two Lampstands (representing the Two Prophets) lie dead waiting for Messiah as the Endtime conflict reaches its climax. They rise up on the Day of the Lord ... the day no man knows in advance. God alone knows when to avenge the last Martyr. He sends three angels to inform the Son of Man, waiting on a white cloud, to reap the wicked into the "Winepress of His great anger." Rev.14:14-19. The Son of Man, indeed The Lamb, takes the Harvest Firstfruit "on the clouds of heaven and they present Him to the Ancient of days seated on the Throne, aflame with fire and with a river flowing beneath." Dan.7:10; Rev.15:2.The Two Prophets join in singing the Song of Moses before they rise up for the Temple Drama. Read the order of events in three Concentric Paths.
The Prophets, since Isaiah's time, declared: "The Day of the Lord is Near!" Jesus Christ stated we will "know the End is Near when the abomination of Daniel's prophecy stands in the Temple." Matt.24:15,33. We will know the End of Time is Near, per Jesus, Daniel and Revelation, only when we know for certain, by Five Catalysts, the Endtime is HERE.
Jesus claimed to be the Son of Man. He would go away until He receives the Kingdom. Luke 19:11-44. He gives the Kingdom to the Saints and to the people of the Saints of the Most High God. He alone qualifies to take the Kingdom when God's verdict comes out of the Temple, from the Throne, saying: "It is Done, It has occurred, the End has come." Dan.7:27; Rev.16:17.
We will know Christ's coming is Near with the abomination standing in the Temple. Those claiming this occurred in AD 70 ignore that Jesus tied the restoration of Israel's "redemption and Kingdom" to Lastday events after Gentile Times are finished; not to what happened when Jerusalem fell. Gentile Times are finished when He appears to put them as a nation under the New Covenant. Luke 21:28,31; Rom.11:25-27; Heb.8:8-12.
The TIME-SPAN since Christ's resurrection in AD 32 is irrelevant to what is Near ... until Satan "knows" the Endtime is here ... and we know he has been cast from heaven for 3½ years. Rev.12:9-14. Those who claim Christ may come at any time, other than after the Two Prophets are killed, fail to recognize He spoke of His coming solely in light of what happens during the Endtime ... when He is "about to come in glory."
The Greek word for "about," (present tense in Matt.16:27; Rev.12:5; Rev.10:7; Rev.3:10,11, reveals His imminent return refers to what is about to happen when we "know the End is Near and Christ is about to keep us from the Hour of Trial that is about to occur at His coming in glory." The nearly 2000 year gap for Gentile salvation, between Rev.12:5 and Rev.12:6 and between Dan.9:26 and Dan.9:27, is a non-factor in what is "about to happen" or what is understood to be "Near."
Lastday events occur within three days after the Two Prophets are killed by the Beast. These events transpire "quickly" after the last Martyr. Armies have invaded the land of Israel before the last Plague empties or anyone enters heaven's Temple. Here is Jesus' definitive statement on that unknown day: "THE SIGN of that day occurs in the days after the tribulation." Mark 13:24; Matt.24:29. Joel states the Sign occurs "before (at the beginning and before the events of) the Day of the Lord." Joel 2:31!
Our coming Messiah, in His day, did not abandon forever those who were His chosen People. Tragically, many still fail to see why He wept when they did not "recognize the things that made for peace." They will bless Him when the Saints appear with Him, including some of the ones who saw Him pierced. In the presence of Caiaphas, Jesus said they would see Him coming (with the Saints) in the clouds of heaven: A dying thief, a Roman soldier, and believers who saw Him die. He told them "they will literally see Him coming in the clouds" when they rise up to meet Him. No one knows whether Caiaphas will be among them!
God will place Israelis under the New Covenant enjoyed by the Church and will no longer remember their sins. But they will reinstate the sacrificial system so that the "nations" may signify their faith or lack thereof by whether they come to Jerusalem annually to worship God. Rom.11:27; Heb.8:12; Zech.14:16; Rev.15:4. During the Millennium the resurrected Martyrs will "serve God as pillars in His holy Temple day and night. They will never hunger or thirst and neither the sun or any heat will fall on them again." This promise is given to the Church and the reward is obtained by Trib-Martyrs. Rev.3:12; Rev.7:15-17; Rev.20:4,5!
The Two Olive Trees signify the Two Prophets who represent both Peoples of God, OT saved Jews and NT saved Jews and Gentiles, the prophets and the apostles. These people rejoice together because the city of the great harlot will burn forever. United as one, the two peoples rule with Christ on earth for 1000 years as the sheep and goat nations form.
The former will look forward to "inheriting the earthly kingdom prepared for them from the world's foundation." They will bring their glory into the New Jerusalem. But the Lamb's Bride will inhabit the New Jerusalem forever. Rev.18:20; Rev.19:1-3; Matt.25:33,34; Rev.21:24-26; Rev.22:2; Rev.2,9.
First, the Son of Man gathers the 144,000 Firstfruit of the Saints to heaven. They are "blameless" and will never die. After angels cast the tares reaped by the Son of Man into the Winepress of great anger, He receives the Kingdom from the One sitting on the Throne in Daniel 7:9-27. He will "come with all the Saints and destroy His enemies" on the Day of the Lord. Unbelievers who mourn, if they are willing to die, may call on Him to "preserve" their lives on the day Christ is "revealed." Luke 17:30,33.
When He appears, Christ raises up and gathers His Elect from earth to heaven "on the four winds" to the very atmosphere through which He will have just ascended after reaping the wicked. Then the Angels gather the Elect "out of the same four winds" from all extremities of the heavens to the Synagogue in the Sky above Jerusalem. They do not disappear in a signless vacuum prior to the great tribulation.
Only Jesus reveals the Angels gather the Elect "out of the four winds from all extremities of the heavens after He gathers them from earth to heaven." Paul sees the Saints at the "gathering place above to our Lord Jesus Christ so all the Saints may share His glory and come with Him." I Thess.3:13; 2 Thess.2:1. So these verses, like Dan.7:22-27, include all the Saints coming with the Son of Man.
Paul confirms the word of the Lord about being "gathered together above" after the Lawless One sets himself above God in the Temple and exalts himself above every object that is worshiped." Mark 13:14,27; Matt.24:15,31; 2 Thess.2:1-4. In the Hour Christ appears to destroy this Beast and all the wicked, God tests the rest of mankind. This Day of the Lord that Isaiah and Joel and other prophets declared is "Near" brings deliverance and the prospect of an eternal kingdom on earth to many of the tribes of earth. They will become the sheep nations of Matt.25:33,34.
Kingdom growth during Gentile Times doesn't count as prophetic days until we know the Day of the Lord is Near ... until Five Endtime Catalysts show it is Near for certain. The End is always "Near" in God's timing; though it is "nearer to us than when we first believed." Only the days of Daniel's 70th Week for Israel counts as prophetic time. Only the last half belongs to the Endtime Countdown which begins with Babylon's fall by fire, in one hour, and with the Covenant being broken by the "coming prince at Midweek." Dan.9:26. Gentile Times end just before the appointed Lastday which is known only to God.
© Copyright by Mel Miller, 1999 - 2008 All rights reserved.
Accessed: 17 May 2008 .
