Birth Pangs, Not Death Throes

Acknowledgement

To the love of my life, Yeshua Ha Mashiach, I give my thanks and adoration for the insights into the book of Revelation I have gained since I first read it 58 years ago.

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Preface

I am a historian who finds the study of Scripture is made clearer by the study of history. This is especially true of the book of Revelation. William Barkley points out that our book of Revelation is difficult for the modern mind to understand. It, he says has sometimes become [a] playground…use[d] to map out celestial time tables of what is to come.

John wrote the book, at the direction of Yeshua/Jesus, about A.D. 90. He wrote about things that are, things that are about to be – The Message. Therefore, the study of history is essential to the understanding of the book of Revelation by the modern mind.

Jewish mindset referred to the condition of the world after the fall as the things that are (this present age) and the perfect rule of the Mashiach/Messiah as things that are about to be (the age which is to come).

Therefore, the church of A.D. 90 would have had no trouble understanding the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:17-19).

The Jews also believed the Day of the Lord, or the Time of Terror, Destruction, and Judgment that would usher in the new age would be the birth pangs of the age to come.

In Matthew 24 we read that Yeshua/Jesus said these birth pangs (contractions) were the beginning of sorrows.

He also said when he returned he would blaze out of heaven

God told his children he was sending his messenger of the covenant to clear the way for him to visit in judgment. The messenger was to wash the sin away from his chosen God says those who honor him are his and will get special treatment when he goes into action. I’m sending Elijah the prophet to clear the way for the Big Day of God – and the decisive Judgment Day!

First Things

The preacher cautions us to enthusiastically guard clear thinking and common sense. There is a blessing for devotedly securing unobstructed cogitating and good judgment – the blessing of God’s presence and security.

The book of Revelation has the same message. Nothing has happened, is happening, or will happen that God doesn’t know about. He uses the events of our lives, that would otherwise be frightening and harmful, to work toward a joyful future for his beloved. Meanwhile we can count on his comforting presence throughout our lives, in both joy and sorrow

As we study the book of Revelation, it is important to remember we are the children of God’s great love. We are not appointed to wrath but have been saved from the wrath to come by the blood of Yeshua Ha Mashiach/Jesus Christ.

We have the seal (stamp) of God’s protection on us. That doesn’t mean we won’t have to go through hard trails but we can rest in the sure knowledge that victory is ours through Yeshua.

At the time Yeshua sent comfort to the Church through his revelation to John the people of God were suffering great tribulation by the world’s standards. However, remember, as Paul said, the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared to the glory being revealed in us. The Christian church had tribulation from the beginning. The Jewish Sanhedrin and Rome both felt their authority was being threatened by the Mashiach followers. What was good news to the repentant sinner was bad news to them.

Yeshua didn’t leave his disciples without warning and hope. Take special notice that Yeshua said that, following the hard times, we will realize the fulfillment of our Blessed Hope: the son of Man will arrive for all to see – no one will miss his second coming – and at the same time the trumpet will sound to call God’s chosen people out of the world – just in time to watch the Lord’s victory over this present world system. We will be with Yeshua when he binds Satan and throws him into the bottomless pit. Notice also, because we have no idea when Mashiach will come again and separate the sheep from the goats, we are told to be ready and watchful all of the time. He has given us the signs of his coming and we must be about our Father’s business, alert to what he is doing; and we must warn the world.

The early Christians expected trials and tribulations because they remembered what Yeshua told them. Opposition came from:

1.The Sanhedrin, the highest judicial court in Jerusalem, under the authority of the high priest. The word, Sanhedrin comes from the Greek noun synedrion which was used to indicate a council or civil court. The Sanhedrin had seventy-one members of leading aristocrats. It was controlled by lay representatives, mostly Pharisees, with some priestly Sadducees. Even during direct Roman rule, the Sanhedrin had authority over Jewish matters, even in many capital cases. James, the brother of Jesus was publically executed by the high pries Ananus. Since the Sanhedrin had Roman permission to supervise the civil and religious life of the state, they defended their prerogatives as interpreters and priests of the law. The Church’s authority was Yeshua: a direct threat to Jewish leaders.

2.The Roman Imperial Cult was based on the deification of Roman emperors. The dead emperor was given the status of a god by the Roman Senate and the ruling emperor was supposed to be possessed by his spirit. It was to the living emperor his subjects offered sacrifices. The practice of emperor worship was meant to unify the people and test their loyalty. Law breakers could be executed, but in the beginning Christians were considered a Jewish sect so they were allowed to worship as Jews. Archeological excavations have revealed synagogues with Christian symbolism near Nazareth and Capernaum. But soon the Church leaders were arrested, people were put out of the synagogues because of their faith in Mashiach, suffered physically, and had their property seized. After the Jewish Christians refused to participate in the revolt of A.D. 66-70 and their flight from the city as Yeshua had directed , the breach between the Jewish Christians and non-Christian Jews widened. As soon as Christians were distinguished, by Rome, as separate from Judaism the Church was classes as a secret society and considered a threat to the Roman State. Remember, the State was united in religion in order to promote unity and stability. Christianity’s claims on its people of moral and spiritual loyalty made it impossible to put Caesar first. The Roman State considered this a disloyal act of treason (Christians were accused of trying to set up a state within a state). The exclusive sovereignty of Mashiach threatened Caesar’s claim to sovereignty. Spiritual, internal worship of Christians was incomprehensible to the Romans. Peter and Paul were both executed during Nero’s reign. There was bloody persecution all over. Nero is said to have burned Christians alive, using them as human torches to light the night games, etc.

3.The restaurants in the temples were places where worshipers could go to feast together on the meat that had been sacrificed to the idols. Eating the meat was a demonstration of loyalty to the idol. Shopkeepers and craftsmen risked loss of income by refusing to join guilds, but their meetings included meals to patron deities. Aspects of emperor worship also affected most every guild. Christians of those days knew first-hand what it would be like to live during the reign of the Beast of Revelation. Unions today give money to support abortion, etc. and unusually demanded loyalty to its chosen standards even when they are contrary to objections based on religious beliefs. They are an example of what early Christians had to make choices about; to risk their monetary security if they were to be faithful to Mashiach. They are also a shadow of what Christians in Arab countries today have to face, and what the future holds for all of us. James had to warn the Church of his day (and Ruach ha Kodesh/the Holy Spirit tells us today through the scriptures) not to think it odd that tests and challenges come from all sides. Peter also reminded his readers that being abused for the sake of Mashiach was a good thing and much better than what the abusers will get when God avenges their maltreatment.

The book of Revelation was communicated to John. John was the son of Zebedee and calls himself the disciple that Yeshua loved, probably as a constant reminder to the reader that, Jesus loves you and love is the controlling factor in our relationship with Yeshua. A codex papyrus, the oldest copy of any portion of the New Testament, testifies that John’s gospel was being read in Egypt by the first half of the second century A.D. It was most likely written before A.D. 70. John was an Elder, a leader in the churches. He wrote I, II, III John to the churches on the mainland whose primary task was worship, according to the writer of the Message Bible. John was a pastor and poet who was passionate in his desire to bring his readers into the presence of Yeshua in unquestioned belief and adoration, as his other books testify. He was ranked with Peter as a leader.

Persecution and false teachings had a strong hold on the Church. We will discuss more about false teachings when we look into the letters to the churches. Persecution was a daily fact for the early Church as well as the Jewish community. The destruction of the temple affected both and had been prophesied by Yeshua. Josephus is our primary source of information for its devastation. The Jewish revolt of A.D. 66-70 ended in the siege of Jerusalem in the spring of A.D. 70. Jews inside the city were united. Bad move. Herod’s temple was an impressive structure, still being adorned in A.D. 63. The temple precincts were enormous although the temple proper had to be confined to puny Biblical standards (Solomon’s temple was a modest structure). Herod had to tear down Zerubabel’s temple and fill in three valleys to build a temple precinct that would be in keeping with the temple trend of the day. At the end of August A.D. 70, Romans under Nero’s orders attacked the temple. Set fire to its gates, and slew man, woman, and child. Not one stone was left on another and the only Jews who escaped were Christians who believed Yeshua and fled to the mountains.

"The abomination that causes desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet Antiochus IV Epiphanies, as the name indicates, claimed to be the earthly manifestation of Zeus. He killed most of the male population of Jerusalem in 167 B.C. and enslaved the women and children. He outlawed all Jewish rites including the daily sacrifice in the temple. A pig was sacrificed on Zeus altar; this was the abomination that causes desolation" spoken of by Daniel. The temple was later cleansed and godly worship reinstated. When Rome destroyed the temple in 70 A.D., nothing was left of the building. The Shiite Muslims took Jerusalem before the end of the first millennium A.D. in 637. In 653 they began construction of the Dome of The Rock. That, in my opinion, is certainly a desecrating obscenity at the Jewish place of worship. This Anti-Christ Allah who proclaims himself the only god and calls for war against Christians and Jews reminds me of Revelation 13.

We know the predictions of Daniel and Yeshua have been partially fulfilled, but the eleventh chapter of Daniel says the king of the north will take up with those who betray the holy covenant and then he will march into the sanctuary and desecrate it and the citadel. He will set up the obscene sacrifice in place of the daily sacrifice. That happened with Antiochus IV Epiphanies but Yeshua said to be ready to run for it when you see the monster of desecration set up in the sanctuary as the prophet Daniel described. If this is not a future event, he would have had to be talking about the Dome of The Rock, which has caused not only Jews, but Christians too, untold misery. If it is a future event, and we don’t know that it is, the temple will be rebuilt soon. Stay alert! Watch and pray. Remember we are looking at birth pangs, not death throes.

The themes of the book of Revelation encourage us because

God is in control. We have access to fearless confidence

We are confident of our Saviors sure return, and wait patiently, watching diligently

We can be sure no one who wants to come to God will be left out.

Things to think about.

Who do you think the book of Revelation was written to?

Why would God send this kind of information and comfort to the first century Christians?

If the book of Revelation was relevant to the first century Christians, how could it be important to us today?

What is the message of the book of Revelation to you?

What are some examples of modern life in the U.S. that make it hard to put God first and be faithful?

Can you think of some tribulation that Christians suffer today?

Paul said he wanted to know Christ and the fellowship of his suffering. What did he mean by that? Do you want to know the fellowship of his suffering? Think about it.

Caesar claimed to be sovereign in the first century. What false god claims sovereignty in the twenty-first century?

Yeshua said Christians would be thrown to the wolves and killed; and hated by everyone simply because we bear his name. A lot of Christians today are hiding their relationship with Christ in the closet. The Gay community came out of the closet. How can the Christian community come out of the closet without giving the world a legitimate reason to hate us?

Matthew 24 also records Yeshua as saying:

"Following these hard times

"Sun will fade out,

"Moon cloud over,

"Stars fall out of the sky,

"Cosmic powers tremble.

"Then the arrival of the Son of Man!

"It will fill the skies – no one will miss it. Unready people all over the world, outsiders to the splendor and power, will raise a huge lament as they watch the Son of Man blazing out of heaven. And then pandemonium, everyone and his dog running for cover, slave or free. (They hid in the mountain covers and rocky dome, calling out to the mountains and rocks, Refuge! Hide us from the One seated on the throne of the Lamb! The great Day of their wrath has come – who can stand it?) At the same moment he’ll dispatch his angels with a trumpet blast summons, pulling in God’s chosen from the winds, from pole to pole. …when the Master comes again to get us, those of us who are still alive will not get a jump on the dead and leave them behind. In actual fact, they’ll be ahead of us. The Master himself will give the command. Archangel thunder! God’s trumpet blast. He’ll come down from heaven and the dead in Christ will rise – they’ll go first. Then the rest of us who are still alive at the time will be caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Master. We are not all going to die but we are all going to be changed. You hear a blast to end all blasts on the trumpet, and in the time that you can look up and blink your eyes- it’s over. On signal from that trumpet from heaven the dead will be up and out of their graves, beyond the reach of death, never to die again. At the same moment and in the same way, we’ll all be changed. ref_49

In Matthew 24 Yeshua said to take a lesson from the fig tree. When you see its buds, spring is on the way. When we see the things happening he told us about, we’’ know the time is at the door. No one knows the exact day and hour so we must watch and pray. And Paul said , But friends, you’re not in the dark, so how could you be taken off guard by any of this? You’re Sons of Light, Daughters of Day. We live under wide open skies and know where we stand. So let’s not sleepwalk through life like those others. Let’s keep our eyes open and be smart.

Think about that!

The record of God – the Bible – assures us that God has always involved men and women in his activities in the world; and he has always been involved in the world. He always takes the initiative, but he always involves his people (for example: Noah, Abraham, Gideon, Rehab, Ester, Peter, Paul, James, and John). He let us know the future through his revelation to John, and he will, and always has, involved us in the fulfillment of his prophesies. If we are going to be about our Father’s business, we must accept his will about what he is doing and going to do. Our first assignment as his ambassadors is to believe him. We can’t present him with our own agenda and we can’t measure his plans by human standards. When we don’t see how or why, we need to develop tunnel vision – so we can see the light at its end.

I have often thought the great theme of the book of Revelation got lost somewhere in the rhetoric about it. I am praying God will push the theme to the forefront as we do these studies. I hope you will join me.

THE WITNESS

The Revelation of Yeshua Ha Mashiach which God gave to him, to show to his servants things which must shortly come to pass; he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John: and John was a faithful witness of the testimony of Yeshua and everything he saw.

God gave the Revelation; Yeshua revealed it, through his angel, to John; and John was a faithful witness of it.

The last thing Yeshua said to his disciples before he left this world was that the Church would receive power from the indwelling of Rauch Ha Kodesh and would be his witnesses to declare him to the world. It was because of the witness of those early Christians the Church grew so rapidly. They spoke as Rauch Ha Kodesh gave them words to speak Just as Yeshua told them they would. They quoted Scripture and revealed prophecy; they were dependable living witnesses – they didn’t sway back and forth between their own desires and the life God gave them to live. They continued daily to live the guideline of the resurrection power in constant fellowship with each other and God. Every day they celebrated his reawakening through the Lord’s Supper and prayers. They were united in joy and gladness and others saw God