Revelation Rebuttal M O T General Audience No 3

Now, then he talks about the general audience of Revelation. He claims that the book was sent to all the churches in all generations throughout all time, and this is how he wants to get around the fact that the book was written to the primary audience, initially, as we've just discussed. He claims that the book was sent to all the churches in all generations throughout time, and if that were the case, how could the contents of the book then Then what becomes of his illustration that he's going over someone's house, and he's going to call them and say, I'll be there shortly. Did everything get fulfilled in the book of Revelation shortly? I don't think so. He doesn't even think they've been fulfilled to this day, some 2,000 years later. Then he mentions the symbolism in the book, the seven vials or bowls, the seven trumpets, the seven flags, and the seven churches, etc. But this is where he really shows his confusion on the book of Revelation and the primary audience to whom the book was written. The seven trumpets refer to Israel's feast days when the trumpet was blown at the beginning of each of Israel's month in their festival calendar. You can look up Numbers chapter 10 and verse 10, and you will see where at the beginning of every month in that series of festivals that they celebrated, beginning with the Passover in the first month all the way down to the Feast of Tabernacles in the seventh month, they would blow the trumpet at the beginning of the month, all right, at the time of the new moon. And so see Numbers 10.10 and also Leviticus 23 for those feasts. Now each of the preceding six trumpets were warnings that God's judgment was near. In other words, these feast days were appointed festivals that pretty much laid out what the end time was all about. And because we have many people, and there was a time when I didn't understand this, who do not understand the feast days and their significance, they cannot follow God's appointed time frame for the events to take place. And this is exactly what they're spelling out. And so the first trumpet began with the Passover, all right, and then you had the Passover, you had the Feast of Unleavened Bread, you had Firstfruits, then you had the Day of Pentecost, which was the spring and summer festivals, then there was an interval, and then the next feast day was the feast day that no one knew the day or the hour, because they had to have basically spotters who would go look for the first sign of the new moon, and then bring that information back, relay it to the priest, and the priest would confirm it, and then would send out the message for them to sound the trumpet. That's why no man ever knew the day or the hour of that feast day called the Feast of Trumpets. And it was also called the Hidden Days, Zechariah 14, verse 5. And that's the day that is referred to in Matthew 24, 31, when he says he will send his angels with the sound of a trumpet, that's the Feast of Trumpets referred to. And also in verse 36, when he says of that day and hour, no man knows. See, a person who was familiar with the feast days, and the Jewish idioms that are used there, they would automatically know what day Jesus was talking about. So he wasn't saying that the day wasn't going to occur in that generation, he was just saying the specific day and hour that this is going to happen is not revealed, but it is going to happen in that generation. Just like they knew every single year the Feast of Trumpets was coming, but they never knew the day and the hour of its arrival until they got that confirming information. And then what followed it, once you determine the first day of the month, then they would number 10 days down to the Day of Atonement, and then on the 15th of the month down to the Feast of Tabernacles. Now here's the significance. There was a 10-day interval between the Feast of Trumpets and the Feast of the Day of Atonement. And that was for the people to afflict themselves and to put on their sackcloth and ashes, etc., and repent in view of the coming Day of Atonement, which was a judgment whereby they would be determined whether they would live or die. And whether, in other words, whether they would be forgiven or not forgiven. And so for their sins to be removed. And if they repented, of course, they would receive life. They would repent, excuse me, they would be forgiven. And if they didn't, they would not be. And that's what that 10 days between was all about. And then after that, they would celebrate the harvest at the Feast of Ingathering or Booths or Tabernacles. And all of these feast days are laid out in the Book of Revelation. And it's very important to understand this backdrop and background. Now another significant point is this. And then following, let me just say this, following the Feast of Tabernacles was the eighth day festival, which was the new beginning. In other words, where things would start over as a new beginning. And all of that is laid out in the Book of Revelation. But people who don't understand the feast days don't get it. Now, here's the point. There is no single generation that would understand the symbolism of the feast days of Israel's old covenant. In fact, they were yet, that is following the time of the first century, they were yet practicing these very feast days at the time that Revelation was written, all the way up to the time of the destruction of the temple. Except for, you know, when the sacrifices were cut off. Remember, and that was during the siege, remember that Israel was required to celebrate three major feasts every year. That was the Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, the Day of Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. And you can see them in the Gospel of John, where Jesus went up to Jerusalem for those particular feasts. Now, here's the significance of that. The scripture in Exodus 23 and verse 17, and also in Deuteronomy 16 and 16, says that they were to appear in the place that God would designate, which was the temple. And therefore, more literally, when you check the words, according to Brown and Driver, the context there was that they would appear before the face of God, all right? And so that's what that literally means, that they would appear before the face of God, which was in the temple. So these feast days had to be associated with the temple. And all of that boils down to this, that no other audience would have the background to understand the Book of Revelation from the perspective of the temple cultus and these feast days than that first century audience where that temple was still standing. Once that temple was destroyed, then they had eliminated all of the background in terms of understanding everything from that perspective. And that's why you read about the temple, the throne of God, which was in the temple, and the feast days over and over again in the Book of Revelation, because it's laying out God's end time that they had rehearsed for about 1500 years before that time came about. Now, so it would make sense to write a book based on all this temple imagery. And the feast days, when all those things had become obsolete, were no longer being observed because there was no temple for them to even associate these events with. And the late date, therefore, is culturally inappropriate. It is scripturally, you know, inaccurate. And not even today is there a temple in which to pray. And all they're really doing is pretending when they claim that they are. So preterists don't have a problem distinguishing between the primary audience to whom these events were written and the secondary audience who learns about the events that were not primarily meant for them. So he's making up straw man arguments. We've never said that you couldn't apply the events in terms of making secondary applications, but they will never apply to you as a primary audience as they did in the first century. Then he gives the perfect example to refute himself. He doesn't even realize it. Because what he says is, why does the church recite the Lord's Prayer? And he was asking about us, why do preterists recite the Lord's Prayer? Well, first of all, any informed preterist doesn't recite the Lord's Prayer as it is written. Now, we will quote it if you want us to quote it. But in terms of praying the Lord's Prayer, we don't pray it as it is stated in the scripture. And here's the reason why. The Lord's Prayer says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Preterists are not waiting for the kingdom to come. We understand that the kingdom has already come. So what we do is we give thanks to God that the kingdom has come, that we are citizens or members of the kingdom and that the kingdom is present with us and we are present in the kingdom. So from that perspective, he's made a huge blunder there and basically affirmed the truthfulness because when you look of our position, when you look at Luke 21, verse 31 says, and when you, so likewise you, when you see all these things, look up, lift up your heads for the kingdom of God has drawn near, all right? And so when you see those things coming, know that the kingdom of God is near. And then the very next verse says, assuredly I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place. So there's the text that demonstrates that the kingdom had come in the first century. Now, another point that he makes is, he says that Jesus did say that those things apply to his generation. That is that it would not pass away until all those things were fulfilled. But he wants to include every generation, which he did when he was speaking about the seven churches. Did Jesus say that every generation or did he say this generation? It's very clear that the language says this generation. Which generation did he mean in Matthew 23, 36? You see, when Thomas Ice, who is a dispensationalist, debates a futurist, partial preterist or whatever, he will admit and acknowledge that Matthew 23, 36 is referring to the first century generation. And accordingly, every dispensationalist I know will admit that perhaps besides, you know, this messenger of truth guy. But nevertheless, and maybe he does, I'm not sure. But I wonder what prophets and the apostles do this guy believe are being persecuted and killed by those in the first century today. You see, you can't make a 21st century application to that text because the context says it was the people who was doing this during that particular time. Now, if you look at it, it's very, very important to see.