The Revelation of John the Divine (Part 2)
The main sections of the Revelation of John the Divine
Besides addressing the churches, the Revelation can be divided into a general description of the plan of God and three successive woes.
The general description of the plan of God
Chapters 6 and 7 of the Revelation describe God’s plan for people and their trials through removing the seven seals.
Rev.6:2 describes the consequence of removing the first seal: “I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.” Of course, the “rider” here means Jesus Christ.
Rev.6:4 describes the consequence of removing the second seal: “And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.” You can understand what is meant by the “peace” and the “sword” from Mat.10:34-36: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household.”
Rev.6:5-6 describes the consequence of removing the third seal: “So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
The “denarius” here is the payment promised by the house owner for working in the vineyard in Mat.20:1-2: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” That is, the denarius is the promise of the millennial kingdom and the single payment for those beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God: “Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.” (Rev.20:4-5).
A quart of wheat here is the Greek measure of loose bodies equal to about one liter. Based on this, almost all interpreters understand that the wheat is expensive here. And they are right, wheat is very expensive, but primarily to God, not to people. The wheat here is the grains from the parable of the sower: “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Mat.13:23). That is, after removing the third seal, a fee for “the first resurrection” is announced and this fee is the spread of Christianity among those who also “bear fruit and yields” (“a quarts of wheat”), or three times more for those who won’t bear such fruit ("three quarts of barley”).
The Lord also speaks about it in the book of the prophet Daniel: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (Dan.12:2-3).
The words “but do not damage the olive oil and the wine” mean that this fruit can always be brought since the sacraments performed with olive oil and the wine will not lose their power until the end of time.
Rev.6:8 describes the consequence of removing the fourth seal: “I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.”
“A fourth of the earth” — are pagans who have never accepted the Word of God, mainly the Asian people.
What does this quarter consist of? If we mean Muslims as the first woe, as we will show further, then 1/3 are Muslims whose ancestors once converted to Christianity, but changed their faith: “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.” (Rev.8:7).
If the second woe is Protestants, whose ancestors also accepted Christianity, but changed it to please themselves, then 1/10 refers to them: “At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Rev.11:13).
Another 1/3 are Christians (Catholics and Orthodox) who have preserved their faith, albeit formally, as the Lord promised the prophet Zachariah: “In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our God.” (Zah.13:8-9).
Thus, by adding 1/3 + 1/10 + 1/3, we get 76%. The remaining 24% are the pagans who have never accepted the Word of God. Perhaps their ancestors also heard It but did not accept. That is why the name of the fourth rider is “death”, since it is impossible to earn “the first resurrection” outside of Christianity.
The proportions of Christians, Muslims, Protestants, and pagans given here are most relevant for our “last days”, which clearly indicates for whom these prophecies were given in the first place. However, these proportions are dynamic and keep changing even within 5-10 years. Probably this is why they are given in fractions to emphasize their approximation.
Rev.6:9-11 describes the consequence of removing the fifth seal: “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given.” “A white robe” in Rev.6:11 is a reward for those who likened “the first resurrection.” (Rev.20:5).
Rev.6:12-17 describes the consequence of removing the sixth seal: “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood.” The words “the sun became black as sackcloth” prove that by the time the sixth seal was removed, the Word of God had been “darkened.” And the words “the full moon became like blood” mean that the saints (Christians) living on earth will be infected with the third woe, which means worshiping the state, as we will show below. It was in the third woe that “it became like the blood of a corpse” (Rev.16:3), whereas in the first and second woe it was just blood that was mentioned.
And it will happen after the “violent earthquake” from Rev.16:17-21, which describes the events of World Wars I and II, as will be shown below: “And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a violent earthquake, such as had not occurred since people were upon the earth, so violent was that earthquake.”
The fact that these words refer to the last times becomes clear from the words of Jesus about the end of the century in Mat.24:29-30: “Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory.”
Chapter 7 of the Revelation describes the sealing of the “the seal of the living God” (Rev.7:2) “And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:” (Rev.7:4). It’s hard to understand who exactly the words “the people of Israel”, refer to, because already in Rev.7:9 we can read about a much larger number of those who likened “the first resurrection”: “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.”
According to Rev.8:1, these 144 thousand were sealed before the Judgment, i.e., most likely, at the time of sealing they were alive: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
If this is the case, then why are these people are mentioned separately? The chances are that it’s on their shoulders that the work of spreading the interpretation will fall. Accordingly, they will “bear fruit and yields” that os enough for “the first resurrection” even in the last time: “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Mat.13:23).
Is it not about them that Jesus Christ speaks inMat.19:30 after the speech to a rich young man: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Rev.8:1 describes the consequence of removing the seventh seal: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Here, in the only place of the Revelation, where there are words “for about” before indicating the duration. Should we use the logic that a day is equal to a year on earth and, accordingly, half an hour is equal to 7.6 days?
3Ezr.7:30-34 says the following words about the “primeval silence” before the judgement:
“Then the world shall be turned back to primeval silence for seven days, as it was at the first beginnings, so that no one shall be left.
After seven days the world that is not yet awake shall be roused, and that which is corruptible shall perish.
The earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who rest there in silence; and the chambers shall give up the souls that have been committed to them.
The Most High shall be revealed on the seat of judgment, and compassion shall pass away, and patience shall be withdrawn.
Only judgment shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong.”
Thus, on the one hand, the words “for about” can be interpreted as approximation of 7.6 days to 7 days, following the logic that a day is equal to a year, and on the other hand, these “half an hour” can be as 1,000 years for those who will liken the “first resurrection” at the very end of the century.
The first woe and the seven trumpets
Rev.8:2 to Rev.9:11 describe the first woe and further, up to Rev.10:7 – its consequences. We can assume that it describes the spread of Islam to a third of the earth that “sets up the abomination that makes desolate” from Dan.11:31.
Rev.8:7 describes the consequence of the first trumpet: “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”
The “trees” here mean the states with predominating Muslim population, and the “green grass” refers to the people who converted from Christianity to Islam. In general, in prophetic books people are often compared with grass, and a tree – with a particular state. Thus, in Dan.4:10 the tree is compared to the Babylonian kingdom: “Upon my bed this is what I saw; there was a tree at the center of the earth, and its height was great.” And the prophet Isaiah directly says that people are grass: “A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.” (Is.40:6-7).
“A third part” refers to a third of all states with predominating Muslim population. Nowadays, there are fifty-three countries where the majority of the population are Muslims. If we consider only countries whose population exceeds one million (i.e. exclude dwarf states), then the number of countries with predominating Muslim population will be 49 out of 159, or 31%, which is close to a third. The deviation can be explained by a spike in the number of countries in the postcolonial period. The estimated number of Muslims in the world is about 1.8 billion people, and it keeps increasing. According to some estimates, the share of Muslims may reach 30% by 2025.
Rev.8:8-9 describes the consequence of the second trumpet: “The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.”
Since the “mountain” is the beast’s head, or in other words, a state or a group of states united by common interests (the center of power), we can assume that this is the second beast, or the Mongol Empire from Dan.7:5, which ultimately decided on Islam. Thus, the Jochi Ulus (the Golden Horde), the Hulaguid Ulus (Ilkhanate), the Chagatai (Jagatai) Ulus, and even part of the Ulus of the Great Khan (the Yuan State) adopted Islam. At the same time, it is with the decline of the Mongol Empire the Mongols refused the principles of religious tolerance established by Genghis Khan, and decided in favor of Islam. The “sea” here means the people living on earth, and the “death of living creatures” is their falling away from Christianity.
We can understand that the sea is the people from the words of Jesus Christ to the Apostle Peter: “For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” (Lk.5:9-10).
Rev.8:10-11 describes the consequence of the third trumpet: “The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.”
“A great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch” is the Muslim Church, and the “springs of water” are future generations, “poisoned” by Islam.
In Ezra, there is a prophesy about the “third trumpet”: “Now concerning the signs: lo, the days are coming when those who inhabit the earth shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith. Unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly. And the land that you now see ruling shall be a trackless waste, and people shall see it desolate. But if the Most High grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion after the third period; and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night, and the moon during the day.” (3Ezr.5:1-4).
The words “and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night, and the moon during the day” probably refer to the unnatural Muslim prayer (namaz). Namaz consists of three prayers beyond light day (“the moon three times a day”): the morning prayer (fajr) is performed from dawn till sunrise, the evening prayer (maghrib) must be said after sunset till dark, the night prayer (isha) – from late evening till midnight. Namaz also includes two prayers in the daylight (“the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night”): the noon prayer (zuhr) is performed from noon till the time when the sun begins to go down to the west, and the afternoon prayer (asr) – from the time right before sunset till sunset. The fact that there is one sun and two prayers, may refer to the fact that sometimes it is allowed to unite the noon prayer with the pre-sunset one.
Thus, we get another confirmation that “a great star, blazing like a torch” is the Muslim Church. Since it is the church as an institution that introduces the uniform prayer rules.
Rev.8:12 describes the consequence of the fourth trumpet: “The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.” This is about declining preaching of the Word of God and decreasing number of believers since a third of people adopted Islam.
Rev.9:1-11 describes the consequence of the fifth trumpet: “And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit; he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.”
From the words “the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft” we can assume that five months, or 150 years, during which the power will be given to locust, will be the time at the end of this century. Thus, the words “from the smoke came locusts” most likely mean ideas of the Islamic fundamentalism. The Islamist rhetoric was first widely used in the Ottoman Empire from the 1870s. This originated from sultan Abdul Hamid II’s ambition to strengthen the position of the Ottoman dynasty, preserve the unity and prestige of the empire relying on Muslims’ religious feelings. Abdul Hamid II is the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the 99th Caliph, who ruled in 1876-1909. If we deduct 150 years from 2030, we get 1880, which is the very beginning of the reign of Abdul Hamid II.
These ideas “harm” the people who accept them, because they no longer can live in peace, but only for the sake of hating and struggling against those who have not accepted Islam.
Rev.9:12 states that the description of the first woe is complete: “The first woe has passed. There are still two woes to come.” Since further we find the description of the same “horses”, we can assume that the following lines describe the consequence of this woe.
Rev.9:13-21 describes the consequence of the sixth trumpet: “Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur; the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.”
As it has been said before, from the words “like human faces”, “two hundred million” and “the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths”, we can assume that the horses prepared for the war are spirits of malice, demons uttering curses (smoke). The main consequence of the first woe will be the spiritual death of a third part of people.
Rev.10:1-7 describes the order to hide the seven thunders of the seventh angel and the promise that “when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.” (Rev.10:7).
It should be mentioned that the seventh angel spoke “like a lion”: “he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded.” (Rev.10:3). Perhaps this is the same lion as in Ezr.11:37: “When I looked, I saw what seemed to be a lion roused from the forest, roaring; and I heard how it uttered a human voice to the eagle.” Then “the seven thunders” may be the seven years that have passed since the fall of the Contemporary Empire until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; each of them may be like thunder that will wake people from a “sinful sleep.” However, this interpretation doesn’t mean that “the seven thunders” can’t be certain recognizable events that should happen in the Middle East (which is now predominantly Muslim) in the end of time.
The second woe and the beast out of the bottomless pit
Rev.10:11 to Rev.11:14 describe the second woe and further, up to Rev.11:19 – its consequences. We can assume that these lines describe the Protestants rejecting the Church of Christ.
Rev.10:8-11 describes the order to eat the book from the hands of the previous Angel standing on the sea and on earth, and the command: “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (Rev.10:11). Here, we get confirmation that it will go about peoples and languages in the description of both the first and the second woe.
In Rev.11:2 about the holy city: “but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months.” 42 months is 1,260 days, or earth years. These are the same 1260 days described in Rev.12:6. But since Rev.11 (the second woe) describes the confrontation of the Church with heretics, and Rev.12 (the third woe) describes the confrontation with worshipping the state, John the Divine indicated the same time in months and days to emphasize the difference between these two.
Rev.11:3-4 describes the second Church in Smyrna and third Church in Pergamum: “And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” The words “two lampstands that stand before the Lord” tell us that these are churches, not prophets.
Rev.11:5-6 describes their virtues and power: “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.” It’s clear that those who “harm” the church will be excommunicated from it, which means “killed”. If it does not rain (the grace of God sent through the church), then the rivers (the Holy Spirit) that feed the sea (living people) will dry up. And, as the first woe has already shown, people who have fallen away from the church are like water turned into blood.
Rev.11:7-10 describes the fate of these two churches: “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.”
Unlike “a beast rising out of the sea” (Rev.13:1),“the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit” is not a state, but Satan. The tempter, he persuaded King Henry VIII Tudor to marry Anne Boleyn (Queen of England from 1533 to 1536) and break ties with the Catholic Church in 1532.
From here we also find out that 3.5 days is 3.5 years of Anne Boleyn’s reign of – the legalized iniquity before God.
The words “in the street of the great city” should be understood as the fact that this marriage will be a signal to impunity for those seeking human glory. Protestant ethics more than satisfied all their wishes and aspirations.
From here we also get that 1,260 years begin with the year 110 (1370-1260). The time period from 110 to 1370 cover the Churches in Smyrna and Pergamum.
Rev.11:11-13 describes the execution of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s decision to restore relations with the Catholic Church, as well as Mary I Tudor’s (1516–1558) ascension to the throne – the Queen of England from 1553 and the eldest daughter of Henry VIII from the “legal” marriage with Catherine of Aragon: “But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them.”
The words “Come up here” can be interpreted as irrevocable changes in the church that took place after the Renaissance began, which led to the Reformation and the emergence of the next Church in Sardis.
As we will show below, the first Church in Ephesus was also likened to the fate of being “taken to God”. At the same time, no such words are spoken about any of the subsequent churches, even though they also replace each other like the first three. Here we can see that the first three churches were focused on expecting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (the eschatology they were characterized by). At the same time, the Reformation, which began during the period of the fourth Church in Thyateira, coincided with the period of fundamental scientific discoveries in natural sciences. In turn, this shifted attention of the next four churches from expecting the Second Coming to arranging life in the current century and focusing on the gospel events that already happened at the expense of the coming ones.
Rev.11:13 describes the punishment of Protestants for their iniquities: “At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Here the city is called neither “holy” nor “great”, which means that we are talking about 1/10 of all people living on earth. Nowadays, there are about 800 million Protestants in the world, which is around 1/10 of the total population of the Earth. 7,000 human names are probably English and Western European names, whose owners are usually Protestants. The fact that the names are mentioned emphasizes that not only people who adopted Protestantism will be punished, but their descendants as well. The fact that 7,000 names approximately correspond to 1/10 of the population can be confirmed by comparing almost the same English and Russian ethnic groups. Thus, N. M. Tupikov’s Dictionary of Old Russian Proper Names specifies 5,300 men’s and about 50 women’s names.
Rev.11:14 states that the description of the first woe is complete: “The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.”
Rev.11:15 speaks about the same seventh angel as Rev.10:7, when it described the consequences of the first woe: “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” Hence it is clear that Protestants will persist in their delusions to the end, just like Muslims.
Rev.11:18 probably provides two distinctive features of Protestants: “The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” The first is that they are recognized as pagan “nations”. The second characterizes them as “those who destroy the earth”, probably meaning that with their teaching they did not so much poison people (the sea) as the earth and life on it with their pursuit of profit.
Besides addressing the churches, the Revelation can be divided into a general description of the plan of God and three successive woes.
The general description of the plan of God
Chapters 6 and 7 of the Revelation describe God’s plan for people and their trials through removing the seven seals.
Rev.6:2 describes the consequence of removing the first seal: “I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider had a bow; a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer.” Of course, the “rider” here means Jesus Christ.
Rev.6:4 describes the consequence of removing the second seal: “And out came another horse, bright red; its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another; and he was given a great sword.” You can understand what is meant by the “peace” and the “sword” from Mat.10:34-36: “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household.”
Rev.6:5-6 describes the consequence of removing the third seal: “So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
The “denarius” here is the payment promised by the house owner for working in the vineyard in Mat.20:1-2: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” That is, the denarius is the promise of the millennial kingdom and the single payment for those beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God: “Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection.” (Rev.20:4-5).
A quart of wheat here is the Greek measure of loose bodies equal to about one liter. Based on this, almost all interpreters understand that the wheat is expensive here. And they are right, wheat is very expensive, but primarily to God, not to people. The wheat here is the grains from the parable of the sower: “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Mat.13:23). That is, after removing the third seal, a fee for “the first resurrection” is announced and this fee is the spread of Christianity among those who also “bear fruit and yields” (“a quarts of wheat”), or three times more for those who won’t bear such fruit ("three quarts of barley”).
The Lord also speaks about it in the book of the prophet Daniel: “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.” (Dan.12:2-3).
The words “but do not damage the olive oil and the wine” mean that this fruit can always be brought since the sacraments performed with olive oil and the wine will not lose their power until the end of time.
Rev.6:8 describes the consequence of removing the fourth seal: “I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him; they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and pestilence, and by the wild animals of the earth.”
“A fourth of the earth” — are pagans who have never accepted the Word of God, mainly the Asian people.
What does this quarter consist of? If we mean Muslims as the first woe, as we will show further, then 1/3 are Muslims whose ancestors once converted to Christianity, but changed their faith: “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.” (Rev.8:7).
If the second woe is Protestants, whose ancestors also accepted Christianity, but changed it to please themselves, then 1/10 refers to them: “At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” (Rev.11:13).
Another 1/3 are Christians (Catholics and Orthodox) who have preserved their faith, albeit formally, as the Lord promised the prophet Zachariah: “In the whole land, says the Lord, two-thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one-third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people”; and they will say, “The Lord is our God.” (Zah.13:8-9).
Thus, by adding 1/3 + 1/10 + 1/3, we get 76%. The remaining 24% are the pagans who have never accepted the Word of God. Perhaps their ancestors also heard It but did not accept. That is why the name of the fourth rider is “death”, since it is impossible to earn “the first resurrection” outside of Christianity.
The proportions of Christians, Muslims, Protestants, and pagans given here are most relevant for our “last days”, which clearly indicates for whom these prophecies were given in the first place. However, these proportions are dynamic and keep changing even within 5-10 years. Probably this is why they are given in fractions to emphasize their approximation.
Rev.6:9-11 describes the consequence of removing the fifth seal: “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for the testimony they had given.” “A white robe” in Rev.6:11 is a reward for those who likened “the first resurrection.” (Rev.20:5).
Rev.6:12-17 describes the consequence of removing the sixth seal: “When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and there came a great earthquake; the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood.” The words “the sun became black as sackcloth” prove that by the time the sixth seal was removed, the Word of God had been “darkened.” And the words “the full moon became like blood” mean that the saints (Christians) living on earth will be infected with the third woe, which means worshiping the state, as we will show below. It was in the third woe that “it became like the blood of a corpse” (Rev.16:3), whereas in the first and second woe it was just blood that was mentioned.
And it will happen after the “violent earthquake” from Rev.16:17-21, which describes the events of World Wars I and II, as will be shown below: “And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a violent earthquake, such as had not occurred since people were upon the earth, so violent was that earthquake.”
The fact that these words refer to the last times becomes clear from the words of Jesus about the end of the century in Mat.24:29-30: “Immediately after the suffering of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of heaven will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see ‘the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven’ with power and great glory.”
Chapter 7 of the Revelation describes the sealing of the “the seal of the living God” (Rev.7:2) “And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:” (Rev.7:4). It’s hard to understand who exactly the words “the people of Israel”, refer to, because already in Rev.7:9 we can read about a much larger number of those who likened “the first resurrection”: “After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.”
According to Rev.8:1, these 144 thousand were sealed before the Judgment, i.e., most likely, at the time of sealing they were alive: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.”
If this is the case, then why are these people are mentioned separately? The chances are that it’s on their shoulders that the work of spreading the interpretation will fall. Accordingly, they will “bear fruit and yields” that os enough for “the first resurrection” even in the last time: “But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” (Mat.13:23).
Is it not about them that Jesus Christ speaks inMat.19:30 after the speech to a rich young man: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
Rev.8:1 describes the consequence of removing the seventh seal: “When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.” Here, in the only place of the Revelation, where there are words “for about” before indicating the duration. Should we use the logic that a day is equal to a year on earth and, accordingly, half an hour is equal to 7.6 days?
3Ezr.7:30-34 says the following words about the “primeval silence” before the judgement:
“Then the world shall be turned back to primeval silence for seven days, as it was at the first beginnings, so that no one shall be left.
After seven days the world that is not yet awake shall be roused, and that which is corruptible shall perish.
The earth shall give up those who are asleep in it, and the dust those who rest there in silence; and the chambers shall give up the souls that have been committed to them.
The Most High shall be revealed on the seat of judgment, and compassion shall pass away, and patience shall be withdrawn.
Only judgment shall remain, truth shall stand, and faithfulness shall grow strong.”
Thus, on the one hand, the words “for about” can be interpreted as approximation of 7.6 days to 7 days, following the logic that a day is equal to a year, and on the other hand, these “half an hour” can be as 1,000 years for those who will liken the “first resurrection” at the very end of the century.
The first woe and the seven trumpets
Rev.8:2 to Rev.9:11 describe the first woe and further, up to Rev.10:7 – its consequences. We can assume that it describes the spread of Islam to a third of the earth that “sets up the abomination that makes desolate” from Dan.11:31.
Rev.8:7 describes the consequence of the first trumpet: “The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth; and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.”
The “trees” here mean the states with predominating Muslim population, and the “green grass” refers to the people who converted from Christianity to Islam. In general, in prophetic books people are often compared with grass, and a tree – with a particular state. Thus, in Dan.4:10 the tree is compared to the Babylonian kingdom: “Upon my bed this is what I saw; there was a tree at the center of the earth, and its height was great.” And the prophet Isaiah directly says that people are grass: “A voice says, “Cry out!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All people are grass, their constancy is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.” (Is.40:6-7).
“A third part” refers to a third of all states with predominating Muslim population. Nowadays, there are fifty-three countries where the majority of the population are Muslims. If we consider only countries whose population exceeds one million (i.e. exclude dwarf states), then the number of countries with predominating Muslim population will be 49 out of 159, or 31%, which is close to a third. The deviation can be explained by a spike in the number of countries in the postcolonial period. The estimated number of Muslims in the world is about 1.8 billion people, and it keeps increasing. According to some estimates, the share of Muslims may reach 30% by 2025.
Rev.8:8-9 describes the consequence of the second trumpet: “The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.”
Since the “mountain” is the beast’s head, or in other words, a state or a group of states united by common interests (the center of power), we can assume that this is the second beast, or the Mongol Empire from Dan.7:5, which ultimately decided on Islam. Thus, the Jochi Ulus (the Golden Horde), the Hulaguid Ulus (Ilkhanate), the Chagatai (Jagatai) Ulus, and even part of the Ulus of the Great Khan (the Yuan State) adopted Islam. At the same time, it is with the decline of the Mongol Empire the Mongols refused the principles of religious tolerance established by Genghis Khan, and decided in favor of Islam. The “sea” here means the people living on earth, and the “death of living creatures” is their falling away from Christianity.
We can understand that the sea is the people from the words of Jesus Christ to the Apostle Peter: “For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” (Lk.5:9-10).
Rev.8:10-11 describes the consequence of the third trumpet: “The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water, because it was made bitter.”
“A great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch” is the Muslim Church, and the “springs of water” are future generations, “poisoned” by Islam.
In Ezra, there is a prophesy about the “third trumpet”: “Now concerning the signs: lo, the days are coming when those who inhabit the earth shall be seized with great terror, and the way of truth shall be hidden, and the land shall be barren of faith. Unrighteousness shall be increased beyond what you yourself see, and beyond what you heard of formerly. And the land that you now see ruling shall be a trackless waste, and people shall see it desolate. But if the Most High grants that you live, you shall see it thrown into confusion after the third period; and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night, and the moon during the day.” (3Ezr.5:1-4).
The words “and the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night, and the moon during the day” probably refer to the unnatural Muslim prayer (namaz). Namaz consists of three prayers beyond light day (“the moon three times a day”): the morning prayer (fajr) is performed from dawn till sunrise, the evening prayer (maghrib) must be said after sunset till dark, the night prayer (isha) – from late evening till midnight. Namaz also includes two prayers in the daylight (“the sun shall suddenly begin to shine at night”): the noon prayer (zuhr) is performed from noon till the time when the sun begins to go down to the west, and the afternoon prayer (asr) – from the time right before sunset till sunset. The fact that there is one sun and two prayers, may refer to the fact that sometimes it is allowed to unite the noon prayer with the pre-sunset one.
Thus, we get another confirmation that “a great star, blazing like a torch” is the Muslim Church. Since it is the church as an institution that introduces the uniform prayer rules.
Rev.8:12 describes the consequence of the fourth trumpet: “The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining, and likewise the night.” This is about declining preaching of the Word of God and decreasing number of believers since a third of people adopted Islam.
Rev.9:1-11 describes the consequence of the fifth trumpet: “And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit; he opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given authority like the authority of scorpions of the earth. They were told not to damage the grass of the earth or any green growth or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were allowed to torture them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it stings someone. And in those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.”
From the words “the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft” we can assume that five months, or 150 years, during which the power will be given to locust, will be the time at the end of this century. Thus, the words “from the smoke came locusts” most likely mean ideas of the Islamic fundamentalism. The Islamist rhetoric was first widely used in the Ottoman Empire from the 1870s. This originated from sultan Abdul Hamid II’s ambition to strengthen the position of the Ottoman dynasty, preserve the unity and prestige of the empire relying on Muslims’ religious feelings. Abdul Hamid II is the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and the 99th Caliph, who ruled in 1876-1909. If we deduct 150 years from 2030, we get 1880, which is the very beginning of the reign of Abdul Hamid II.
These ideas “harm” the people who accept them, because they no longer can live in peace, but only for the sake of hating and struggling against those who have not accepted Islam.
Rev.9:12 states that the description of the first woe is complete: “The first woe has passed. There are still two woes to come.” Since further we find the description of the same “horses”, we can assume that the following lines describe the consequence of this woe.
Rev.9:13-21 describes the consequence of the sixth trumpet: “Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” So the four angels were released, who had been held ready for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, to kill a third of humankind. The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number. And this was how I saw the horses in my vision: the riders wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire and of sulfur; the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. By these three plagues a third of humankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths.”
As it has been said before, from the words “like human faces”, “two hundred million” and “the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths”, we can assume that the horses prepared for the war are spirits of malice, demons uttering curses (smoke). The main consequence of the first woe will be the spiritual death of a third part of people.
Rev.10:1-7 describes the order to hide the seven thunders of the seventh angel and the promise that “when the seventh angel is to blow his trumpet, the mystery of God will be fulfilled, as he announced to his servants the prophets.” (Rev.10:7).
It should be mentioned that the seventh angel spoke “like a lion”: “he gave a great shout, like a lion roaring. And when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded.” (Rev.10:3). Perhaps this is the same lion as in Ezr.11:37: “When I looked, I saw what seemed to be a lion roused from the forest, roaring; and I heard how it uttered a human voice to the eagle.” Then “the seven thunders” may be the seven years that have passed since the fall of the Contemporary Empire until the Second Coming of Jesus Christ; each of them may be like thunder that will wake people from a “sinful sleep.” However, this interpretation doesn’t mean that “the seven thunders” can’t be certain recognizable events that should happen in the Middle East (which is now predominantly Muslim) in the end of time.
The second woe and the beast out of the bottomless pit
Rev.10:11 to Rev.11:14 describe the second woe and further, up to Rev.11:19 – its consequences. We can assume that these lines describe the Protestants rejecting the Church of Christ.
Rev.10:8-11 describes the order to eat the book from the hands of the previous Angel standing on the sea and on earth, and the command: “You must prophesy again about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” (Rev.10:11). Here, we get confirmation that it will go about peoples and languages in the description of both the first and the second woe.
In Rev.11:2 about the holy city: “but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample over the holy city for forty-two months.” 42 months is 1,260 days, or earth years. These are the same 1260 days described in Rev.12:6. But since Rev.11 (the second woe) describes the confrontation of the Church with heretics, and Rev.12 (the third woe) describes the confrontation with worshipping the state, John the Divine indicated the same time in months and days to emphasize the difference between these two.
Rev.11:3-4 describes the second Church in Smyrna and third Church in Pergamum: “And I will grant my two witnesses authority to prophesy for one thousand two hundred sixty days, wearing sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.” The words “two lampstands that stand before the Lord” tell us that these are churches, not prophets.
Rev.11:5-6 describes their virtues and power: “And if anyone wants to harm them, fire pours from their mouth and consumes their foes; anyone who wants to harm them must be killed in this manner. They have authority to shut the sky, so that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague, as often as they desire.” It’s clear that those who “harm” the church will be excommunicated from it, which means “killed”. If it does not rain (the grace of God sent through the church), then the rivers (the Holy Spirit) that feed the sea (living people) will dry up. And, as the first woe has already shown, people who have fallen away from the church are like water turned into blood.
Rev.11:7-10 describes the fate of these two churches: “When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will make war on them and conquer them and kill them, and their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is prophetically called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. For three and a half days members of the peoples and tribes and languages and nations will gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb; and the inhabitants of the earth will gloat over them and celebrate and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to the inhabitants of the earth.”
Unlike “a beast rising out of the sea” (Rev.13:1),“the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit” is not a state, but Satan. The tempter, he persuaded King Henry VIII Tudor to marry Anne Boleyn (Queen of England from 1533 to 1536) and break ties with the Catholic Church in 1532.
From here we also find out that 3.5 days is 3.5 years of Anne Boleyn’s reign of – the legalized iniquity before God.
The words “in the street of the great city” should be understood as the fact that this marriage will be a signal to impunity for those seeking human glory. Protestant ethics more than satisfied all their wishes and aspirations.
From here we also get that 1,260 years begin with the year 110 (1370-1260). The time period from 110 to 1370 cover the Churches in Smyrna and Pergamum.
Rev.11:11-13 describes the execution of Anne Boleyn and Henry VIII’s decision to restore relations with the Catholic Church, as well as Mary I Tudor’s (1516–1558) ascension to the throne – the Queen of England from 1553 and the eldest daughter of Henry VIII from the “legal” marriage with Catherine of Aragon: “But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and those who saw them were terrified. Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up to heaven in a cloud while their enemies watched them.”
The words “Come up here” can be interpreted as irrevocable changes in the church that took place after the Renaissance began, which led to the Reformation and the emergence of the next Church in Sardis.
As we will show below, the first Church in Ephesus was also likened to the fate of being “taken to God”. At the same time, no such words are spoken about any of the subsequent churches, even though they also replace each other like the first three. Here we can see that the first three churches were focused on expecting the Second Coming of Jesus Christ (the eschatology they were characterized by). At the same time, the Reformation, which began during the period of the fourth Church in Thyateira, coincided with the period of fundamental scientific discoveries in natural sciences. In turn, this shifted attention of the next four churches from expecting the Second Coming to arranging life in the current century and focusing on the gospel events that already happened at the expense of the coming ones.
Rev.11:13 describes the punishment of Protestants for their iniquities: “At that moment there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell; seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.” Here the city is called neither “holy” nor “great”, which means that we are talking about 1/10 of all people living on earth. Nowadays, there are about 800 million Protestants in the world, which is around 1/10 of the total population of the Earth. 7,000 human names are probably English and Western European names, whose owners are usually Protestants. The fact that the names are mentioned emphasizes that not only people who adopted Protestantism will be punished, but their descendants as well. The fact that 7,000 names approximately correspond to 1/10 of the population can be confirmed by comparing almost the same English and Russian ethnic groups. Thus, N. M. Tupikov’s Dictionary of Old Russian Proper Names specifies 5,300 men’s and about 50 women’s names.
Rev.11:14 states that the description of the first woe is complete: “The second woe has passed. The third woe is coming very soon.”
Rev.11:15 speaks about the same seventh angel as Rev.10:7, when it described the consequences of the first woe: “Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign forever and ever.” Hence it is clear that Protestants will persist in their delusions to the end, just like Muslims.
Rev.11:18 probably provides two distinctive features of Protestants: “The nations raged, but your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints and all who fear your name, both small and great, and for destroying those who destroy the earth.” The first is that they are recognized as pagan “nations”. The second characterizes them as “those who destroy the earth”, probably meaning that with their teaching they did not so much poison people (the sea) as the earth and life on it with their pursuit of profit.