Bully's Blog

41. The cities of the nations never fell in A.D. 70 (Rev. 16: 19).

This is a symbolic passage, but when we understand its nature, its message is astonishing. The reference to Jerusalem being divided into three parts alludes to Deuteronomy 19:3 concerning cities of refuge. There is also a “trinitarian” judgment in Ezekiel 5. Both are the outflow of the structure of the Tabernacle, which in turn images the pattern of heaven. This verse in Revelation 16 is, ironically, at the Tabernacle/Ascension step in this matrix pattern:

Genesis: A loud voice: “It is done!”

….Exodus: Lightning, thunder and an earthquake (Sinai)

……..Leviticus: Herod’s Jew-Gentile worship disestablished:
……..Jews: The 3-level Tabernacle city is split up
……..Gentiles: the cities of the nations fall
……..(de-Ascension of those who exalted themselves to heaven)

…………Numbers: The harlot remembered and made to drink (Numbers 5)

……..Deuteronomy: Herod’s Jew-Gentile world de-created
……..Jewish mountains and Gentile islands (Abrahamic Land/Sea division)
……..are no more. There is no longer Jew nor Gentile in God’s economy.
……..Circumcision is totally meaningless.

….Joshua: Great hailstones fall from heaven upon men (or “Adams,”
….ie. Jews). This is the Laver step. The Old Covenant crystal sea is
….broken up and replacedwith a crystal city (Zion). The hailstones refer
….to those that fell upon the corrupted Jerusalem of Adoni-Zedek, a city
….that had been godly under Melchi-Zedek.

Judges: Instead of repenting and being wiser after such judgments, the men cursed God.

Both the great city’s priesthood (Jerusalem) and the Gentile oikoumene (Ezekiel’s Temple) are decommissioned. That is the meaning of this passage. It is a construction of worship that is being torn down here, not literal cities.

What is even more interesting is that this is the seventh bowl. Not only does each bowl follow the heptamerous pattern, but so do all seven together. The theme of this final bowl is thus the Feast of Tabernacles. It is a judgment upon Judah for failing to minister to the Gentiles and to join the new Jew-Gentile body of a slain and resurrected Israel. So unrepentant Judah would be uncovered. For this murderess, there was no city of refuge. Her mediating firmament (the crystal sea) was removed and she was face to face with the curses of the Law of God. All she did was curse Him right back.

42. Fishing in the Dead Sea is still off-limits (Ezekiel 47: 9-10).

This is another symbolic passage. But the symbolism is not a free-for-all. We all know that fish and fishermen symbols replaced sheep and shepherd symbolism as the gospel moved from Land to Sea, from Jew to Gentile.

The water is the knowledge of the truth flowing from a restored Judah after the restoration. It is interesting that the Dead Sea is revived but the swamps and marshes are not. The watery “Abyss” receives the water of life, but the compromised watery Land is given to a salty judgment. The hybrid behemoth, a Land beast living in waters, was the exact nature of Herodian worship.

43. A SINGLE wicked king did not persecute Israel from A.D. 67-70 (Dan. 11: 31-45).

This is the passage where dispensationalists say that up to verse 30 it refers to Antiochus Epiphanes, but after verse 30 it suddenly and inexplicably jumps over 2000 years in history to speak about the Antichrist. Well, it does speak about the Antichrist. The wicked king is the line of the Herods. Philip Mauro championed this interpretation in his Seventy Weeks and the Great Tribulation, and James Jordan proves it irrefutably in The Handwriting on the Wall. And no gap is necessary. The overall structure of the book of Daniel supports this also (see Totus Christus p. 303.) Herod was the “manface” of Rome on the faceless fourth beast. A pompous beast with the eyes and mouth of a man, speaking great things in the Garden of God. Sound familiar?

44. Thyatira (nor the other Asian assemblies) went through “great tribulation” (Rev. 2: 22).

From Peter Leithart (Jewish War):

Madden examines the Jewish War (66-70 AD) in some detail, using it as an illustration of the difficulty of controlling religiously motivated terrorism, and he interestingly points out that Diaspora Jews not only celebrated the exploits of Palestinian guerillas but also initiated conflicts in their own cities:

“As news of the violence in Jerusalem spread [in 66], the killing was mirrored across the region and then the empire… Diaspora Jews sympathised with their coreligionists, but few would condone this sort of slaughter. And yet, in some places in the Middle East, Jews celebrated the massacre of Romans. Several cities with large Jewish populations saw open warfare between them and their Gentile neighbours…”

“In places like Alexandria, Caesarea Maritima, Caesarea Philippi, Tyre, and Ascalon, the Jews had the worst of it, with many thousands killed. In other places like Sebaste, Gaza, Anthedon, Gaba, and the Decapolis it was the Jews who won out, massacring the Gentiles.”

“After six thousand Romans were killed in Caesarea Maritima, the citizens of Damascus “poured into the streets killing Jews wherever they could find them.””

This is of interest partly because of the light it sheds on the New Testament. Paul and the other apostles write to Christian communities scattered about the Mediterranean about a coming day of retribution. On a preterist reading of the New Testament, these are likely references to the Jewish War and AD 70. But why would Christians in Corinth or Rome care? Madden’s information clarifies this: As in the book of Esther, the conflict of “true Jews” and the “Agagites” is not confined to a single region or city but spreads throughout the empire.

45. Many who sleep in the dust (aphar) of the ground (adamah) did not awake in A.D. 70 (Dan. 12: 2).  [note: same Hebrew words are used in Gen. 3: 19].

If you believe there was a physical resurrection of the Old Covenant saints at the end of the Old Covenant, yes, they did.

50FPDZ