The command to John in Revelation 1, verse nineteen gives the key to the book of Revelation. Understanding revelation is dependent upon using the key.
Understanding Revelation 1
Matthew 24:1-15 is key to understanding revelation.
Matthew 24:1 And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple.
2 And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down.
3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
The end of the world
What is this “end of the world” that the disciples want to know about? Matthew 24:4-15 takes us right up and into the middle of it.
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake.
10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
15 When ye therefore shall see the “abomination of desolation”, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso reads, let him understand:)
Daniel’s “Abomination of Desolation”
The book of Daniel is a key to understanding Revelation. One of the chief angels of God came to Daniel and talked to him. 9:22 “I am now come forth to give you skill and understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
Seventy weeks are determined. (Dan 9:22-24) (The word weeks in Hebrew means sevens.) Seventy sevens are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city or seventy “seven year periods.” (Dan 9:24), Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
At the end of this seventy week period Jesus will return in the clouds to establish His rule and reign on the earth. Revelation 19:11
Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks
Dan 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah, the Prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: (this would be done under Nehemiah’s leadership and equal to seven weeks of years. Then 62 weeks of years until the coming of the Messiah or 69 weeks of years. One week short of the 70 weeks required to finish the transgression, seal up the vision, and to anoint the most Holy). Then, the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times.
Daniel 9:26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: (Messiah was cut off. Jesus was crucified and cut off before receiving His Kingdom. This happened 69 weeks of years after the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem was given.) And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. (The people of the prince did come and destroy Jerusalem and the sanctuary.)
The Destruction of Jerusalem
SEPTEMBER 8th, 70 AD, the destruction of Jerusalem was complete. Titus, the future Roman Emperor, had starved the city for months. At the end of July, they broke through the walls and, according to historian Josephus, the Romans killed over a million Jews in their conquest.
The final week of years or 7 year period hasn’t happened yet. We have 69 weeks of years up and until the death of Christ who was cut off before receiving His Kingdom. The best way to describe it is that we are in a holding pattern. After the death of Christ a new age was instated. We are currently living in the Church age. At the end of this age (which is getting close) the final week of years or 7 year tribulation period will begin. Revelation chapters 4-22 describe this period and beyond. Now we jump forward to the middle of the final seven year period.
Daniel 9:27 And he (speaking of Antichrist here whom Titus was a type) shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: (one week referring to the final week which is missing from the 70 weeks of years) and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. Notice also that the consummation time is poured out upon the desolate, not the church. The church isn’t around during this time.
69 weeks of years
Now, 69 weeks of years is an important date in history because according to the prophecy, from the time that the commandment goes forth to restore and rebuild Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince will be seven sevens and sixty-two sevens, or sixty-nine seven-year cycles, or 483 years. 483 years from March 14, 445 B.C., according to the prediction, the Messiah should have come.
The years in the prophecies of Daniel are 360-day years which were based upon the Babylonian calendar of a 360-day year. We use a Julian calendar of 365 and a quarter days a year. But Daniel’s prophecies were based upon the Babylonian calendar 360 days a year. It would be better to transpose the 483 years into days in order to figure out the time of the coming of the Messiah the Prince. And transposed into days, 483 times 360 would give you 173,880 days. Work it to our calendar and you’ll find it comes out to the date Jesus rode on a donkey into Jerusalem.
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey
On this day, Jesus said to His disciples, “Go over into the city and on a corner you’ll find a colt that is tied. Untie him and bring him to me. And if while you are untying him the master say, ‘What are you doing untying my colt?’ just tell them that the Lord has need of him.” They went over and just where Jesus told them they saw the donkey tied and they untied it.
The owner said, “Why are you untying my donkey?” And they said, “Lord the needs him.” And they brought the donkey to Jesus and they began to lay their garments in the path between Bethany and Jerusalem. They began to wave palm branches as they cried, “Save now, save now, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Psalm 118 declares, “This is the stone which was rejected by the builders, but the same has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord’s work and it is glorious in our eyes. Hosanna, hosanna, blessed is He who comes in the name of Lord. This is the day that the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
There is one seven-year cycle that has not yet transpired. Seventy sevens are determined upon the nation Israel. These seventy sevens were to begin at the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, 445 B.C. They were to culminate in the coming of the Messiah. That is, sixty-nine of them. But the Messiah would be cut off. The prophetic time clock stopped at that point. There is another event that will signal the beginning of the time clock.
The Prince of the People
(We’re still in Daniel Verse 27. This is the beginning of the tribulation period.) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week (the middle of the tribulation period) he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make [it] desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
The prince of the people that shall come is the Antichrist. He will be in league with ten nations federating together which were once associated with the ancient Roman empire. Go back to Daniel, chapter 2. Nebuchadnezzar had a vision of a great image, the legs of iron representing the Roman Empire and the feet of iron and clay with ten toes. Iron representing still the Roman Empire but mixed with clay showing that it is not as strong as the Roman Empire. It is weakened because it is a democracy, nations that are joined together with treaties.
Then there is the parallel vision of Daniel as he sees these nations as a beast with ten horns in chapter 7. This other little horn comes up and devours three of the horns. So the leader that will arise over this ten nation confederacy related to the Roman Empire will confirm the covenant with many for one week (Dan 9:27): or seven years.
Not with all of Israel, but with many of them. When he confirms the covenant it will not be with everyone in support of it, but with many. He will probably confirm the covenant that God established with Israel whereby they could relate to Him on the basis of sacrifices that they would offer.
The last 7 years
And when that covenant is confirmed by the little horn, the prince of the people, then at that point the last seven-year cycle will begin. The seventieth seven, the final seven-year cycle will begin. When it’s completed, Jesus’s reign on earth will be established. It will complete an important stage in the prophetic picture.
(This prince of the people will break the covenant half way through the tribulation period. He’s a liar. 2 Thess 2:3 describes this guy.)
2 Thess 2:3. Let no man deceive you by any means. For [that day shall not come], except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshiped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth [will let], until he be taken out of the way. 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.
(In other words, the Holy Spirit has His hands on things at the present time. When the Holy Spirit who dwells in the church is taken out of the way, along with the church (rapture), the wicked one will be revealed.)