Revelation: The Fuel Project Guide Part 23 – The Evacuation of Jerusalem
The Fuel Project study guide to the Book of Revelation.
In this video Mark that when Jacob’s Trouble begins, Israel is told to flee to the wilderness…
In the The Time Of Jacob’s Trouble study, you learned that is has already been fulfilled, when 1.1 million Jews died from famine, pestilence, infighting, crucifixion and the Roman sword, during 3 1/2 years of Great Tribulation, from 66-70 A.D.
The Time of Jacob’s Trouble does not represent the antichrist’s attack on Israel, it represents Jesus sending the Roman army to desolate the Jews in Judea, who rejected Him as their Messiah.
This fulfills Daniel 9:26-27, which says that the “people of the prince,” the Roman army that was sent by Jesus (Messiah the Prince in Daniel 9:25), will desolate the city and temple.
This fulfilled the Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers” where the wicked tenants (the Jews) killed the son (Jesus) of the vineyard owner.
“But when the vinedressers saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ So they cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy those vinedressers and give the vineyard to others.” Luke 20:14-15
This fulfilled Jesus words of Woe to the scribes and the Pharisees.
“Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” Matthew 23:34-36
This fulfilled Jesus’ parable of the Wedding Feast, as the Jews rejected Jesus as their husband.
“But when the king heard about it, he was furious. And he sent out his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.” Matthew 22:7
The disciples saw the abomination of desolation, the Roman army, surround the Holy City in 66 A.D. Then our Lord caused that division of the army to leave for no apparent reason, which allowed the followers of Christ to escape to the wilderness of the mountains.
To see the fulfillment of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble, the time of Great Tribulation from Matthew 24:21-24, and the time of trouble from Daniel 12:1, read this Bible Study Daniel 12 Is Not About The Antichrist Or The End Times
Marks explanations all depend on a futuristic fulfillment of Revelation, but that is biblically and historically inaccurate.
An explanation of Revelation 12:1-5 was covered in the previous study. Revelation 12 Fulfillment
Here’s the explanation of the historical fulfillment of Revelation 12:5-17.
“She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days.” Revelation 12:5-6
Mark quotes Revelation 2:26-27, which says that they would rule the nations with an iron rod.
The problem with this is that Mark has previously said that at this point in the end times, the church is gone; but then he references a verse that was written to the church. That makes no sense.
As you learned in the Two Witnesses Of Revelation 11 study, the rod of iron is the Word of God, and in the context of Jesus words to the Thyatira Church era in Revelation 2:26-27, He promised the overcomers that the Word of God would give them power over the nations.
This was fulfilled after the Protestant Reformation, when the Little Book, the Bible, was available for people to read; and with the Word of God, the Protestant Reformers took back control of the countries such as England, that used to be under the authority of the Roman Catholic Church.
So here’s the proper context of Revelation 12:5-6.
In speaking of Jesus, John said in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John said in Revelation 19:13, “His (Jesus) name is called The Word of God.”
Both Jesus and the Word of God are the same.
The woman in Revelation, is the Early Church, who birthed the New Testament, which testified that Jesus is only way to God.
The scrolls of the N.T. were gathered in Antioch of Syria, where the followers of Christ were first called Christians.
They made many copies and formed them into one book, the New Testament.
“And her Child was caught up to God and His throne” means that God preserved His Holy Word.
“The words of the Lord are pure words, Like silver tried in a furnace of earth, Purified seven times. You shall keep them, O Lord, You shall preserve them from this generation forever.” Psalm 12:6-7
God caused a people group called the Vaudois to go to Antioch to get copies of the N.T., and they took them to the wilderness of the Piedmont Valleys of the Alps at the NW corner of Italy, where they preserved them.
God caused them to be translated into Latin, which was the world language at the time, and Vaudois missionaries spread God’s words, even down to Rome, two by two, risking death.
These Vaudois would be fed by the Word of God, but as a result of them preserving it, many would be persecuted and killed during the 1,260 year reign of the Antichrist beast from 538-1798 A.D.
“And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Revelation 12:7-9
Mark implies that in the end times, Satan still has a place in heaven, which is ridiculous.
Revelation 12:3-4 isn’t talking about Satan being kicked out of heaven, and this passage in not talking about the heaven of God.
It’s talking about the heaven of this earth, which Satan controls. The sun, moon and stars symbolically represent political leadership, and here it represents that battle for control of the Roman Empire.
Satan had taken control of the most powerful Empire in the world. They worshiped him through their pagan religion of idol worship. They made sacrifices to him in killing Christians. He was in his glory.
But our Lord removed his power through the Seals of Revelation, causing the Empire to collapse, and causing Satan to lose his power, so he could not prevail over this Empire any longer.
He was cast out of the Roman Empire, which he had deceived. The whole world in prophecy is the Roman Empire. It doesn’t mean the whole earth.
The Heathen Roman Emperors, magistrates and priests, who acted under Satan’s power, are here designed as the angels. In 476 A.D., the last Emperor was cast down.
“Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down” Revelation 12:10
Satan had used the Roman Empire to accuse the Christians of crimes, and then they killed them.
But now Satan’s power had been cast down, so that he could not use the Roman Empire to persecute the Christians anymore.
“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!” Revelation 12:11
Satan is defeated when the followers of Christ do not deny their Lord and are willing to give their life for Him, as 10 million had done under persecution from the Roman Empire.
The Church was praising the Lord for carrying out vengeance via the seal judgements, that caused the Roman Empire to collapse.
“Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” Revelation 12:12
Now that Satan lost power in the Roman Empire, in his wrath he created something that was much worse.
Instead of using a Pagan kingdom to kill Christians, he created a false Church to kill Christians and eliminate the Word of God.
The Roman Catholic Church rose up in power after the Roman Emperors were removed, which fulfills Paul’s prophecy in 2 Thessalonians 2:6-7.
Paul told us that the ‘Son of Perdition’ would be revealed after the Roman Empire was taken out of the way. The Roman Catholic Church Popes fulfilled this when they rose to power after the Roman Empire collapsed.
“And now you know what is restraining, that he (the Son of Perdition) may be revealed in his own time… For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way.”
If Paul was referring to the Holy Spirit restraining and being removed, like many Pastors apply to the end times, then Paul would have just said that.
But Paul was writing during a time when the Roman Empire was in power, so if he would have written “only the Roman Emperors who now restrains will do so until the Roman Empire is taken out of the way,” it would have caused even greater persecution of the Church by Rome, who would not tolerate such statements.
And during the 1,260 years that the Papal Church reigned from 538-1798 A.D, they killed from 50-100 million Christians; and they banned and burned Bibles.
“Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child.” Revelation 12:13
Now that his heavenly throne of worship in the Roman Empire was destroyed, he sought to persecute the Church of Christ, who had birthed the New Testament.
You will see in the next studies how the Roman Catholic Church banned Bibles and killed Christ’s followers who had them.
“But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent.” Revelation 12:14
The Lord hid the Vaudois in the Alps and remote regions, where they were fed by the Word of God, during the upcoming time of Great Tribulation, from 538-1798 A.D.
“So the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.” Revelation 12:15
Mark says that Satan will try to literally drown the woman, but in Bible prophecy water represents people.
“Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.” Revelation 17:15
So Jesus is telling us that Satan would send a flood of people to persecute the Church of Christ.
And that He did that through the Roman Catholic Church, as they used the people of many nations, such as France and Spain, to kill them.
“But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.” Revelation 12:16
God caused the Vaudois to hide in the Alps, away from the attacking armies sent by the Papal Church.
“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Revelation 12:17
At this point the Church of Christ had survived the Roman persecutions, they continued to grow, and they were spreading the Gospel throughout the world.
And they had copies of the Word of God, which has the commandments of God and the testimony of salvation through Jesus.
Satan waged war with them through the Roman Catholic Church. Read Killing The Two Witnesses Of Revelation 11
To see how the Revelation seal, trumpet and bowl judgments all fit together, and to see where we’re at on the timeline today, click on Revelation Fulfillment Timeline.
Next Fuel Project Guide To Revelation Video: The Little Horn of Daniel