A Backwards Look to Find the Truth

By Lowell Porter

 

The literal return of Jesus Christ and His armies on white horses to destroy the beast and false prophet and their armies (See Rev 19:20). This is after the rejoicing because of the judgment of the great whore of chapter 17 & 18. We will look back to see what peoples are involved in the treading of the winepress and the great supper.

Rev 19:11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. Rev 19:12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. Rev 19:13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. Rev 19:14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Rev 19:15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Rev 19:16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Rev 19:17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; Rev 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

The bible says the beast was taken, not the whore. The time frame is the destruction of the beast and false prophet, not the whore of Rev 17 & 18, the mark of the beast was in effect before this time, and this is before the 1000 years of Rev 20.

Rev 19:19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. Rev 19:20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Rev 19:21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Within the lifetime of this beast and his armies, the Lord allows this confederation of the beast and his ten kings to destroy the city termed MYSTERY BABYLON, the city that setteth on seven mountains. Afterward, this beast and the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, are cast alive into the lake of fire, and the beast and his armies are destroyed by the armies from heaven.

Rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. Rev 17:17 For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. Rev 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Looking backward to Rev 17:8-15, we can see that the eighth head is "The Beast" that was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition. The beast along with his ten kings make war with the Lamb and are destroyed by the Lord of lords and King of kings. See Rev 19:8-21 where the one on the horse and His called, and chosen, and faithful come on white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.

Rev 17:8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. Rev 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. Rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. Rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition. Rev 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. Rev 17:13 These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. Rev 17:14 These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.  

A look farther back in Rev 16:10-16 finds the beast and false prophet gathering the armies that will join the Beast confederation to a place called Armageddon where their armies were to be overcome by the Lamb.

Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. Rev 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

In Rev 16:10-12 the beast and his kingdom are the ones that will not repent and are suffering the wrath of the vials, not the whore. Rev 16:10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, Rev 16:11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. Rev 16:12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.  

Those marked are the ones who have shed the blood of the saints, that are being punished at this time, not the people of Israel.

Rev 16:4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood. Rev 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and wast, and shalt be, because thou hast judged thus.

Rev 16:6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

Here again in Rev 16:1-3 we see the punishment upon the people with the mark and in association with the beast.

Rev 16:1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. Rev 16:2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image. Rev 16:3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.  

Rev 15:1-2 shows us that the mark of the beast is in force before the vials, we can see the time frame of these chapters is right before this gathering in the place called Armageddon, where the grapes of wrath are trodden without the city. Rev 14:20.

Rev 15:1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God. Rev 15:2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.  

Rev 14:14-20 These then are the grapes gathered the 1600 furlongs and cast into the winepress of wrath, trodden without the city.

Rev 14:14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle. Rev 14:15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. Rev 14:16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped. Rev 14:17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle. Rev 14:18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe. Rev 14:19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Rev 14:20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

Now we are all the way back to chapter 14 and we find we are still dealing with the time frame of the mark and that beast that is destroyed at Armageddon. The 144,000 that were sealed in chapter 7 are spoken of again (Rev 14:1) at this time frame also.

Rev 14:9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, Rev 14:10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: Rev 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Chapter 13 reveals to us that we are still dealing with the beast that is to implement the number system, old 666 himself.

Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Chapter 12 shows the protection of the clean woman during this 42 month period.

Rev 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. Rev 12:14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

The two witnesses of chapter 11 are killed by this beast power, showing they are witnessing during this same 1260 day time.

Rev 11:6 These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. Rev 11:7 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them.

The Angel of chapter 10 announces that time is up, no more delay, the seven trumpet judgments are finishes and the vials are next.

Rev 10:5 And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, Rev 10:6 And swore by him that liveth forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:

Because the 144,000 spoken of in chapter 14 are sealed in chapter 7, that makes the events in chapter 7 through chapter 14 and then even on to Armageddon and the destruction of the beast and false prophet, all in close to the same time frame.

Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed a hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.  

Now that we are dealing with the coming of the Lord in judgment against the whole world, not just Jerusalem, what kind of descriptive language would we expect to find when the bible describes His coming in judgement against the world except that used before, even in the Old Testament. So when do the events of chapter 4 through 6 and even on to Armageddon take place? According to the bible, is was after John's day.

Rev 4:1 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 show thee things which must be hereafter.  

We have gone backwards in the book of Revelation to help find the truth that some are unable, or unwilling , to see by going forward. We have found that the whore judged is not Babylon or spiritual Sodom, but "Mystery Babylon" A city that sets on seven mountains, according to Rev 17:18. What city is guilty of the blood of saints in our time? Although the whore is destroyed by the beast and his ten kings, the beast and his army are destroyed at Armageddon, not the whore. The time frame for all the events appears to be at the end of the age we are living in. Although I am willing to be persuaded by the great effort by many people to fit this into the time frame of AD 70, I find that it just does not fit with history or what the bible says. We must go by the bible, everybody has a right to study scripture, but sooner or later we will find we need to get back to what the book says.

Hope this is helpful.