Lecture six

Disclaimer:

I will type the notes as presented to me.
Again let me stress that what follows are NOT my words.
I will not add my thoughts in the post.
Comments allowed for friendly discussion and edifying.

II Timothy 2:15
Study to shew thyself approved unto G-D, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

I Thessalonians 5:11
Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

And for the record no one is ruling out dual fulfillment.











1. It appears that the basic thought of Jesus in Matthew 24 and the Book of Revelation are talking about the same subject. The word Revelation caries the idea of unveiling or what's about to happen. It should be remembered that ancient prophecies, whether Biblical or from the Dead Sea Scrolls, rarely have a single fulfillment. Dr. Ken Hanson points out that they have cyclical fulfillments - that is they go through cycles of fulfillment, in which a single event, usually from the past, is expected to recur in some way in the future. The circumstances and characters may be different, but the motif is the same showing that history repeats itself (Hanson, Armageddon, p.16).

2. A good example of this type of prophetic cycle is seen in the phrase abomination of desolation spoken of by both Daniel and Jesus hundreds of years apart (Daniel 11:31; 12:11; Matthew 24:15). By the time the Essenes of Qumran and Jesus arrived on the scene, the Temple had already been destroyed twice by antiochus epiphanes and the Roman general pompey. Yet, Jesus spoke of yet another abomination of desolation concerning the Temple of HIS day. This happened just 40 years after the resurrection in 70 AD.

3. Modern Believers often ask, doesn't Matthew 24, the Book of Revelation, and the lawless one in II Thess. 2:8 apply to the end of the world and the Second Coming of Christ? This is called telescoping prophecies, in which description of the Second Coming are linked with activities of the first century Church. This is not to say that in the future there will not arise one or more anti-christs with the same characteristics of the man of lawlessness, or at least his spirit, but remember the Church during the first century has no concept of millenia or a future yet to come. For them, they are the last generation and the Roman emperors carried the spirit of 666. In fact, many possibly would have given up if they were told the Second Coming of Christ would not occur for thousands of years. For that reason, many of these prophecies are telescoping back and forth from Daniel to Jesus to other periods.

4. One of the key verses in the Book of Revelation is 1:19 - Write the things which you HAVE SEEN, which ARE, and the things which SHALL BE HEREAFTER... This verse alone tells us that a minimum of 2/3 of the happenings in this book were during the first century. Have seen reflected the period in which he lived, which are reflected that which he presently was experiencing, and things which shall be hereafter linked with the other phrases in this book reflects the revealing of the immediate future of what was going to happen to those in this greatest tribulation of their life.

5. We mentioned briefly earlier that the concept of 666 referred to Nero a ruler who was apparently still on the throne. Nero ruled until June of 68 AD and the 666 of Revelation 13:18 issued a warning that demanded an immediate heeding: Here is wisdom. Let him who has this understanding count the number of the beast: for it is a number of a man and his number is 666. Remember, in the first century Hebrew every Hebrew letter also carried a numerical value. Numbers were commonly expressed as letters and every written word can be expressed in numbers. This was a masked way of communication mystery symbols related to Biblical themes among the Jews that a complex numeric scheme developed as a science known as gematria (sp?) and has been used by Jewish mystics for millennia.

6. A good example of this can be seen in the numerical equivalent of the name David (King David of Israel) which is fourteen, based on the three Hebrew letters comprising his name. The letter Dalet or D has a value of four. The letter Vav or V has a value of six. And the final letter in David's name is another Dalet or D with the value of four. The math is simple four plus six plus four equals fourteen. For this reason, along with a few other cultural concepts, the gospel of Matthew records in detail that fourteen generations elapsed between Abraham and David, fourteen generations between David and the babylonian exile, and fourteen generations from the exile to Jesus. This was a Jewish method of connecting Jesus with King David, the annointed king who was the prototype of the Messiah to come. In much the same way, the Jews took the name of the reigning Roman emperor which could not be mentioned outright without losing one's life. This name was Nero Caesar and in Hebrew is pronounced Neron Keisar. Note the numerical value of Nero Caesar.

Nun or N = 50
Resh or R = 200
Vav or V or O = 6
Nun or N = 50
Kuf or K = 100
Samekh or S = 60
Resh or R = 200

The sum of these numbers is exactly 666. Whether there will be one or more future anti-christs with the same spirit, we do not know. What is certain is that during the first century Nero Caesar was the man of lawlessness persecuting the Church.


Go lecture V or VII