The Rosetta Principle:

On a trip to London, I visited the British Museum where the Rosetta Stone is exhibited. While in Egypt, Napoleon's engineers discovered a curious stele (a monument with writings on it) which bore inscriptions in three languages. One of these languages was the enigmatic Egyptian hieroglyphic, but the others were ancient Greek and Demotic. Using the known Koine Greek language, the mysterious ancient language of the Pharaohs was deciphered. This serves as an object lesson for prophetic scriptural interpretation: Apply the known to understand the unknown, use the transparent to observe the opaque, employ the obvious to unveil the mysterious.

Finding the Hook:

Applying the Rosetta principle of deduction to the Book of Revelation, there must be logical events which stand out and, when correlated, comprise a cohesive framework for interpretation, i.e. we should find the same thing being said in different passages which serve as a common point for interpretation - an interpretational hook. Indeed, one of the most obvious occurrences in the entire vision is the consistent mention of a great earthquake. The events which accompany the great earthquake in each of the various judgments: seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls; indicate the occurrence of a great battle between forces from the East and the rest of the world in the valley of Har Megiddo (rendered Armageddon in English).

Immediately following the great earthquake, all three serial judgments end with the ultimate divine punctuation: silence in heaven just before His return, His coming, and a resounding "It is done" (at the cross Jesus yelled "it is finished" but at the end, all heaven declares the finale). All of these events comprise what is theologically known as the "Parousia", a Greek term which simply means Christ's visible and physical appearing (see Mat. 24:27 "the coming"). The Parousia is co-temporary with Armageddon and is the Point C of the prophetic ABCs. Point C occurs as the ending point of the seven-year Tribulation period. After points A-B-C, the prophetic Word discusses the one-thousand-year millennial reign of Christ beginning at Point D. Then finally, Point E begins with the Final Battle of "Gog and Magog" and the Great White Throne Judgment (which launches us into an Eternity with a New Earth and New Heavens). We have to distinguish between tribulation with a small "t", which has been occurring for centuries, and Tribulation with a capital "T" which is a unique time frame that only occurs at the end of secular human history.

To put this into a timeline: 

The beginning of the seven-year Tribulation is Point A

 The middle of the Tribulation is Point B

The grand finale is Point C

Millennial Reign is Point D

The Battle of Gog and Magog & -- Great White Throne Judgement is Point E

The Paradigm:

The key to understanding the chronology of the Book of Revelation is found in the first chapter, verse nineteen:

"Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter" (Rev. 1:19 KJV)

Chapter one contains the vision of the resurrected Christ as presented to John in his present time, the things which he had witnessed up to that verse. Chapters two and three represent messages which would be delivered to the seven historical churches in the near future. The things which will take place hereafter are prophetic future events and begin in chapter four when John is ecstatically enraptured to heaven by the sound of the prophetic rapture trumpet (cf: 1Thess 4:16): "After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter." (Rev. 4:1 KJV)

The scripture in verse 1:19 is restated in 4:1 in order to eliminate any confusion as to the timing of this event (1Cor. 14:33).

The Final Seven Years of Secular History:

In chapters four and five, John is shown the heavenly scene as a prelude to the terrible judgments about to fall upon the earth. Chapters six through nineteen encompass the "shabua" of God's judgment (shabua in Hebrew is a period of seven), and the preparation for God's people to receive their Messiah. The primary purpose of the final week of secular history is to fulfill God's plan for the Jewish people; it is not about Christians nor about Muslims. Daniel's vision 9:24-27 is a timetable for the completion of God's prophetic promises to Daniel's people, the Hebrews. Without understanding this perspective, it is impossible to understand the prophetic unveiling as Christ himself verifies in Matthew 24:15 “when ye see...spoken of by Daniel: "Seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place." (Dan. 9:24; weeks = shabuas -  which means a period of 7s, in the case weeks

If the listener wishes to skip the intro, history, and overall context which sets up the ABCs, then they should start at this point and going forward for the purely Revelation ABCs presentation which starts with Chapter 3.

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Chapter 3: The ABC’s of Revelation "Seal up the book until the time of the end . . . the wise shall understand" (Dan. 12:4-10)

The Wise Shall Understand:

Jesus taught ultimate truth that even the greatest philosophers and theologians marvel at, and He did it in a way that was accessible to even a little child. Much has been written concerning the symbols and times set forth in the vision given to St. John on the Isle of Patmos at the end of the first century. Many elaborate charts have been created by ingenious students of prophesy in an attempt to understand the seemingly complicated and bizarre depiction of John's experience. The Word of God is line-upon-line, precept-upon-precept, and careful study and the anointing of the Holy Spirit brings understanding and clarity to Biblical prophesy and what God wants to convey to His people.

In the realm of science, technology evidences this principle of higher-level simplicity. An emerging technology always initially appears as a variation of the contemporary applied scientific state. However, as the new technology advances, it becomes increasingly complex and takes on its own character, e.g. the motorized kite at Kitty Hawk evolved into the Red Baron's bi-plane and onward to the multi-pistoned marvels of World War II. At a certain point, the system takes a quantum leap via a paradigm shift, and we see simplicity at an entirely new level, e.g. the introduction of the jet engine at the end of WWII.

The framework of the study of God's prophetic word is similar to that process - the simpler and more meaningful interpretation is to be preferred. Only the Holy Spirit can usher in the quantum leap that brings us into a new way of viewing the prophetic Word as the time draws near for its fulfillment. Each new generation of prophetic scholars stands on the shoulders of giants and must never take credit for that which only the Holy Spirit can reveal. As the prophet Daniel foretold:

"I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, My lord, what will the outcome of all this be? He replied, go your way, Daniel, because the words are rolled up and sealed until the time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand." (Dan 12:8-10 NIV)

I always wondered how the Antichrist Reich could recover and rebuild after each plague bombarded the world system into oblivion. Not much gets done when the world is constantly cleaning up from judgements and rebuilding from disasters. Another enigma was how the 7th Seal becomes the first Trumpet Judgement, and the 7th Trumpet becomes the first Bowl Judgement, and how the three woes fit into the judgments of the two witnesses: Moses and Elijah (the representatives of the Law and the Prophets).

And three are yet to come:

Number 6 is the spiritual numeric standing for "man", and WWIII is the final World War of secular history - but it is not Armageddon. America and Russia disappear as world powers, and Shiite Islam is devastated as a result of World War Three.

The number 7 is the spiritual numeric meaning perfection. All the nations of the world come to fight against Antichrist at Armageddon and Christ comes back to bring in the perfect Kingdom.

Number 8 is the spiritual numeric rendered new beginnings (e.g. the new heavens and earth). After 1000 years, the paroled Devil and all his antichrists make one final attempt to take on Christ and defeat Him – no contest, this is the Final Battle.

This is just a brief overview of what is to come...

One soon is:

Ezekiel chapter 38 mentions five Islamic nations attacking Israel under the leadership of Russia. These five are all distant enemies of the Jewish nation: Iran-Persia, Libya, Ethiopia, Turkey-Togarmah, and a contingent of former communist East Bloc nations (Gomer). Presently, only Iran is avowed to destroy the people of the Land. The other players listed have a long way to go before they will line up with the prophecy, and change character, to align for WWIII. What glaringly stands out in this Ezekiel 38 alignment is the absence of terrorist entities that immediately surround Israel. What happened to these ethnic adversaries? They either do not participate in WWIII, or something has occurred to neutralize them, a pre-WWIII crisis that prophetic scholars have missed? None of these terrorist groups would miss an opportunity to participate in the destruction of their avowed enemy, the Jewish State.

The next war of Israel is forming even as we speak. All the players are lining up as the Islamic militants raise their flags and gather forces for the future assault. Iran and Russia are flexing their muscle and working against the USA and Israel. Hezbollah has over 100,000 rockets pointed at Israel, and Gulf Nations are faced with the new threat of Shiite Iran and her proxies (against their oil fields and regimes). The Sunni Gulf Nations will be forced to get the “bomb” to counter the Shiite threat.

When will this happen? Sooner rather than later. When it does occur, it will realign and redraw the map of the Middle East in much the same way that the 1973 Yom Kippur War did. The aftermath of this war will sow the seeds of the mega-conflict to come: The Third World War. Although Iran and Russia are not mentioned in the scriptural references as predominate players, current events and political alliances guarantee that they will be indirectly engaged, backing their proxies as forward-operating pawns. This soon coming war and the defeat of Israel's enemies will be the rallying cry for today's Islamic youth as they grow into men, the war they will not forget and will swear to avenge. I believe that out of the ashes of this war will emerge the unifying factor that will pull all the Shiites together for WWIII: The Mahdi, the Twelfth Imam, the Islamic messiah.

The seeds sewn in this war will grow into the jihadists of WWIII.

Four have been:

All four of these wars are historical fact and are not subject to debate. We have already discussed how pivotal these years were, but let’s focus on America in the following synopsis with key points showing an interesting curve of ascension and decline:

Four have been, one soon is, and three are yet to come

Because modern Israel is in constant turmoil and conflict, we need to delineate between actual full-fledged wars and terrorist conflicts and incursions. There is clear consensus on the first four historical wars as I have listed them here, but since 1973 there have been many small to medium sized conflicts/incursions with military responses. It is tempting to list these with the "real" wars of modern Israel, but a clear and concise definition makes the categorization clear.

For the purpose of illustration and discussion, we will use the following definition of an "Israeli War": A conflict between Israel and other nation-states where a nation or nations attack Israel, and Israel is forced to reply in kind and eliminate the thread via military retaliation.

To make this clear, the conflicts in Gaza by Hamas and the conflicts in the north with Hezbollah would not be included because neither terrorist entities are nation-states. Also, by this definition, the first Gulf War would not be included since Israel was the recipient of 39 Scud missiles but never retaliated against Iraq. However, the next four future wars are all classified as wars due to specific Biblical references or implications. That is, Israel will be central to these conflicts, and specific ethic groups and modern states will be involved as key players.

(1967 continued) Conversely, we had the Catholic Charismatic Renewal beginning in 1967 at Duquesne University. In California, Chuck Smith was building Calvary Chapel Fellowship reaching out to surfers/hippies which would become the Jesus Movement. The street preacher Arthur Blessitt began his ministry on the Sunset Strip reaching young people in Hollywood and preaching to rock festivals.

In 1973 (when Israel’s attacking enemies were defeated on Yom Kippur), Communist Party Chairman Mao died, ushering in a new Socialist Chinese state. Also, the Vietnam War was drawing to a close. For Israel and the Middle East, the map of the entire region was changed and has been essentially fixed until this day. The legacy of history for over 40 years has been based upon the structure that was established at that time, not just for the Holy Land but for the entire world. OPEC became a major player and exerted its power and influence over the US and the world. The most powerful man in the world, President Nixon, the president that opened up China to the West, was scandalized and stepped down. The repercussions of the Vietnam War and Nixon haunt us even to this day and the vocabulary from that period still permeates our culture.

There are many more examples that would take a new book, if the parallel years and trends were documented. Keep in mind that Bible prophecy is history written before it happens – the future told in advance.

Israel, the Church, and the World:

This book will unfold details as to how there is a historical "parallel fulfillment" between Israel, the Church, and the world. All the end time signs that are taking place are marked by the history and presence of modern Israel. What happens in the Middle East is a harbinger of what will happen in the world on some level. It has been this way since the end of the 19th century when the stirrings of nationalistic Zionism projected into the repercussions of both World Wars.

At the end of WWI, the Balfour Declaration allowed the Jews to return to ancient territory of Palestine. As a result of the Holocaust (WWII), the U.N. allowed the formation of the State of Israel to give the Jews a permanent homeland. Now once again history repeats itself as antisemitism is on the rise in Europe. This is confirmed by the constant negative news focused on Israel and the increase in Synagogue attacks.

We have seen four Israeli wars since the 1947 U.N. Mandate granted Israel the right to establish their ancestral homeland. Each of these time periods correlate to major world events and changes.

In 1948, Israel became a nation, and the Cold War began. We witnessed the birth of the greatest evangelistic preachers of our era: Billy Graham, Oral Roberts and many more. At that time, the USA rose to superpower status, and "flying saucers" emerged for the first time. The transistor was invented which would lead to the digital computer age, and chemistry took a quantum leap into the age of plastics and synthetic materials.

In 1956 (Israel’s second war with Egypt backed by Russia), we saw the birth of the space age as Russia began to plan for its first satellite, Sputnik in October 4, 1957. The USA followed quickly behind, and the race was on. This was also the year that Rock and Roll became popular with the advent of Elvis Presley.

Both technologically and socio-politically, our society and world took a gigantic step into the modern age. Technology became a major factor with the invention of electronic devices.

In 1967 (Six Day War when Israel recaptured the City of Jerusalem – after 1900 years), major changes were introduced that are still reverberating into the planet. The introduction of the drug culture by the Beatles along with the televised Vietnam War profoundly altered our perceptions of America and our "Happy Days" worldview. Color TV was introduced which brought an even more vivid depiction of the chaotic socio-political vision filtered by the media. This time period saw the production of the Integrated Chip which has fueled electronic development for decades. This new integration would grow into the light-fiber "connected" global-matrix in which we are now immersed (we are now on the cusp of quantum-light computational power).

During this time, we had the introduction of "Star Trek", pagan religions, and the occult, concepts which today have syncretized. It is now common to see occultic themes and Eastern religion concepts on the science fiction channels depicted as science-based entertainment. All this opened the gate for the paranormal, astrology, and all other manifestations of darkness into 1960's Christian America.