Discern the Signs of the Time
When does Revelation happen? Four chronological views hold some truth. The fifth, the polychronic view, captures the whole truth proving Revelation is now!
Chronological Views of Revelation
The theme of Revelation is the second coming of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:7). When does He come back? Before answering that question, when does Revelation take place? Four chronological views predominate. The modified prederists believe all of Revelation took place in the first century, except for the last few chapters starting with chapter 19 about the second coming of Jesus Christ. R.C. Sproul was a proponent. The historicists believe that all of Revelation took place in the last two millennia documenting the history of the church, except for the last few chapters. Oral Collins was a proponent. The futurists view everything in Revelation as in the future surrounding the second coming of Jesus Christ, except for the first few chapters. The classical and progressive dispensationalists (out of Dallas Theological Seminary) are proponents. The idealists do not see Revelation in literal time for it is symbolic of the struggle between good and evil. Everyone can see that struggle. There is a fifth chronological view.
I personally believe in a polychronic (many-times)view, a term I coined to mean God works across time and blesses anyone at any time who reads Revelation finding partial fulfillments. Nevertheless, the truest meaning will only surface when every detail of every prophecy begins the final countdown for complete fulfillment in reality. One hundred percent completion of all details is indispensable for recognizing the true advent of the events surrounding the Lord’s second coming. For the first time in history, total fulfillment of all prophecies surrounding the second coming of Jesus Christ is not only possible, but probable.
As the living word of God, the Holy Spirit is able to apply certain verses in Revelation to many peoples across many times in a limited fulfillment of certain verses that apply to them. Armies of angels found in Revelation do not sit idle for centuries, but are mobilized from time to time to create great prosperity or to inflict God’s judgment through wars, droughts, or oppression as He forewarned in Deuteronomy 28. God builds up (blesses), or He tears down (curses) based on obedience to His beautiful, edifying laws including loving Him with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength. Massive armies of angels interact with humankind to fulfill God’s will just as the biblical prophets in the OT and Revelation in the NT repeatedly portray.
Polychronic is not postmodern philosophy where anyone can believe anything and it will be “true” since “truth” is only perception. A person cannot assign meanings to verses in Revelation based on frail threads of conjecture between an historic event and a verse, such as, the second horse in Revelation’s four horsemen and the Communist flag are both red, so the red horse is Communism.[1] A polychronic interpretation is based on biblical laws of truth and sound rules of hermeneutics and guided by the Holy Spirit to help the believer through difficult times previously foreshadowed in Revelation.
There is some truth in the views of the prederist, the historicist, the futurist, and the idealist. The Reformers saw the popes as one or more antichrists/beasts of Revelation. Under popes’ authority, countless thousands were condemned to die outside of biblical law during in the Spanish Inquisition. Christians during World War II saw Hitler as an antichrist. John says, “Many antichrists have appeared.” “Blessed is he who reads . . . and heeds the things which are written in (Revelation), for the time is near.”[2] The time was near to everyone in some way; blessed everyone in some way. “For the word of God is living and active.” “Living” is flexible, dynamic, and ever relevant.[3] However, these interpretations are limited in scope and time by the Holy Spirit and incomplete in explaining all the facts and prophecies in Revelation. For example, the end time Antichrist/beast will have “authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.”[4] Neither popes nor Hitler ever had global authority.
The whole fulfillment of every word, of every prophecy in Revelation, centers on the theme of Revelation: “Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him.”[5] Total fulfillment of the true finality of Revelation surrounds the visible second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.[6] Revelation is global in context.[7] Fulfillment of prophecies heralding His second coming includes the gospel preached to every nation, a third of the creatures in the oceans dying, a third of global forests burning, a third of the global terrestrial waters killing masses of people, a third of the global atmosphere darkened, conquests, wars, famines, and massive death in populations.[8] Most of these prophecies are revving up now and are within a few decades of completion. The rest will be natural consequences of dynamics in motion today, such as when populations lose drinking water tensions arise. Water stress has historically led to hostilities (mortalities, migrations, conquests, wars) between cities and countries.
One might say that we are back to the futurist view. To a limited extent, that is true. However, futurism is so laden with church-created beliefs, concepts, and interpretations–some accurate, some not–that I prefer to emphasize the hermeneutic for discerning the polychronic chronology; a literal hermeneutic wherein “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” is important.[9] The literalist interpreter concludes with an interpretation different from the other chronological views, because its final interpretation can be seen when every prophecy in every detail has begun their final fulfillment. The beginning of that complete and final fulfillment of Revelation surrounding the second coming can be observed today. Prophecy says that “a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died,” and this is happening today (Rev 8:9). Scientists calculate that 90% of the big fish are gone, 53% of all fisheries are fully exploited, and fishing fleets are 2.5 times greater than what oceans can sustain. Prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes. The oceans are free-falling toward a one hundred percent mortality of all living sea creatures (Rev 16:3), which scientists estimate–according to sizes of schools, rates of decline, overfishing, and growing marine toxicity and pollution–may happen as early as 2048.
The Bible and Science Agree on Earth’ Worsening State
A literal reading of biblical text (including rightly discerning between concrete and abstract concepts) can see some prophecies in Revelation in full swing today. When thoroughly investigated according to every fact in Scripture on the subject; when setting aside excessive assumptions, labyrinthine doctrines from authorities in high places so convoluted and confusing that no layperson could find them in the Bible on their own, especially when pressured by popular opinion, power, and prestige; then with childlike simplicity believing the face value reading of God’s word on the topic, truth shines brightly.[10] God says it clearly. We believe it simply. God says the oceans’ fish will die. Scientists say the oceans’ fish are dying. Jesus says, Be ready!” Prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes.
I will be struggling to influence the thinking of an elder who mocked me because I taught science. I will be challenging the thinking of one the smartest people I have ever had the privilege of knowing with surpassing character in kindness and caring, because she believes the Bible is out of date and irrelevant. If you don’t trust science (the study of God’s creation), then trust the Bible. If you don’t trust the Bible (the gift of God’s words to humanity), trust science. Both nature and Scripture are God’s creations (all truth is God’s truth) and they are in accord. Only by understanding how and why both are synergizing toward the global collapse of civilization surpassing anything that has ever or will ever happen on this planet in terms of human suffering, can we understand how to get ready. As it is, the elder thinks being saved in Jesus is enough preparation. He is wrong. He is like a Noah who “believes” God but won’t pick up a hammer. My friend thinks going green is enough. She is wrong. She has a hammer, but not the blueprint.
To put it another way, like the man who knows the tail and the woman who knows the trunk, neither sees or understands the Himalayan mammoth stampeding toward everyone on this planet. When biblical prophecies and scientific predictions are integrated, they portray a global cataclysm with terrifying accuracy, or as NASA’s James Hansen wrote, “The Coming Climate Catastrophe.” [11]
Many scientists are deeply concerned and trust in humanism. Many Christians are deeply complacent and trust in presidents. None of these can save them.[12] The “flood” is on the horizon, who is building their ark?
There are bright lights of exceptions where some actively and publicly proclaim faith in Jesus and intelligently study God’s creation through science. One is Dr. Katharine Hayhoe; outspoken born again, evangelical Christian, lecturer, professor and director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University.
While this website only focuses on the global breakdown of systems sustaining life-giving resources (in land, oceans, terrestrial waters, and atmosphere according to the first four trumpets and bowls in Revelation corroborated by science) in the face of growing population (12 to 20 billion by 2100), international math and sciences are sophisticated enough to estimate an approximate time period for the collapse of civilization (Rev 6:15; Isa 24). The countdown to our Lord’s return has begun and can even be estimated–not, of course, the day or the hour (Matt 25:13)–but perhaps which generation will see these things (estimates improve with incoming updates of data). Even NASA scientists and top-level U.S. national security leaders can estimate the coming global catastrophe.[13] “When you see these things happening, recognize that He is near, right at the door. Truly I say to you, this generation [that sees these things] will not pass away until all these things take place,” (Matt 24:33-34).
Revelation in the 21st Century
It is time to bring Revelation into the 21st century. Prophecies are being fulfilled before our eyes. The global implications are catastrophic–just as the Bible said they would be and scientists say they will be (if humans don’t change, and the Bible says they won’t). On June 22, 2020, NBC News reported that the massive plague of locusts across East Africa and West Asia was not touched by killing 450 billion insects with spraying by various governments. The skies still darken. The crops are devoured. Twenty million people are already suffering in hunger. The U.N. Security Council described it as a hunger pandemic that could lead to 300,000 deaths a day from starvation.
The New York Times database reported on the coronavirus pandemic (7/17/20) for the U.S.: 3,588,000 cases, 138,268 dead, 947 died yesterday, and the numbers are resurging in 42 states. The Washington Post reported 70,000 new cases a day. (That was last week, now it’s 76,000 a day.)
CBS, CNN, and UPI News all report that cities in the Arctic are recording their hottest temperatures ever –over 100˚F. Massive wild fires are spreading across northern Siberia and Russia. As permafrost melts, methane gas is released into the atmosphere–a greenhouse gas 23 times stronger than carbon dioxide, which is the time bomb that could reach a critical threshold (the tipping point) and take the world into runaway global warming. These scientific observations herald Jesus’ prophecies in Revelation (the 1st and 4th trumpets and bowls, and the 3rd and 4th seals).
The timing of the second coming is no longer pointing to some amorphous future–whether distant or imminent, totally in the dark. The timing can be calculated within a few decades, a generation! The signs setting the stage for the second coming of Jesus are visibly emerging at a breakneck pace.
From a literal interpretation of Revelation shining light on scientific discoveries pouring in from the top scientists at the highest facilities in nations all over the world (including the U.S., despite contrary politics), evidence about the land, the oceans, the terrestrial waters, and the atmosphere–the entire global system–is supporting biblical prophecies surrounding Jesus’ second advent to earth. Biblical prophecies and scientific predictions are emerging and merging like never before.
This blog will examine how far along we are toward the complete fulfillment of the prophecies on God’s judgment causing the deterioration of earth’s life-sustaining resources (in and on land, oceans, waters, and skies according to trumpets and bowls) and culminating in the global collapse of civilization–the precursor to the world’s acceptance of the man of lawlessness who will unite the nations to “save the planet” while destroying it. When he has done his worst, and humankind has suffered the consequences of our choices, then Jesus will return. The two most powerful men on the planet will then lock horns, send the world careening into the greatest all-time global war, and topple every government on the planet to determine who will rule.
Noah had a hundred years. We have less. We must be ready.
[1] Rev 6:4, “Another, a red horse, went out.”
[2] 1 John 2:18; Rev 1:3.
[3] Heb 4:12.
[4] Rev 13:7.
[5] Rev 1:7.
[6] This excludes chapters 2 and 3 covering the seven literal churches in Asia which existed in John’s day. However, in each of the seven messages, Jesus includes a small section with a universal message to all churches throughout history, which begins with “Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” The rest of the passage for each of the seven churches applied only to the specific historical church to which it was addressed.
[7] Rev 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 13:7; 14:6; 17:15.
[8] Matt 24:14; Rev 8:7–12; 6:3-12.
[9] Matt 4:4; Deut 8:3.
[10] Matt 11:25, “Jesus said, “You [Father] have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and have revealed them to infants.”
[11] Matt 24:34; Mark 13:29-30. In verses 24-27, the immediate context, Jesus is giving details on His second coming. NASA’s James Hansen has intensely studied the science, reported to our U.S. government in person, and written a book predicting that at current rates the collapse will occur in the generation of his grandchildren (by the end of the century). James Hansen, “Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth About the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity,” (New York: Bloomsbury, 2009).
[12] A born again Christian cannot lose her or his salvation, but disobedience to God can make life a lot harder and more painful. (Remember Jonah.)
[13] Hansen.
[14] “Melting Glaciers” (“rock formation in winter near body of water”) by Kristina Gain from Pexels. Corona Virus from an electron microscope. Credit: NIAID-RML. National Institute of Health (NIH) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID). NIH Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Treatment Guidelines, June 25, 2020. “Trump” image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay. “Child Reading Bible” image by Free-Photos from Pixabay.
[15] “Katharine Hayhoe” her facebook homepage found on Wikimedia.com. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=dr.+katherine+hayhoe+invites+church+and+world