In the preceding chapters of this book we saw how the seven Accounts of Revelation can be harmonized into a single, consistent, detailed picture of the end times. In fact, the picture is filled with so many details that the overall structure may have been obscured.
So let's review our description of the end times, ignoring the details and concentrating on the bigger picture. Hopefully, this will allow us to acquire a better understanding of harmonistic eschatology and help us to gain a better appreciation of its fascinating predictions.
During this review you may want to refer to the expanded Harmony of Revelation contained in Appendix I and to the summary of harmonistic eschatology contained on the back flyleaf of this book. In fact, let me suggest that you begin the review by comparing the back flyleaf of this book with the front flyleaf. Notice the similarities and the differences between the two outlines. Specifically, notice that the front flyleaf tabulates the scriptural references that describe the events and chronology of harmonism while the back flyleaf outlines some of the major conclusions that result from harmonizing those scriptures.
One of the most unique aspects of harmonism is the fact that it divides time into seven days. As you know, I have given each of these days two names. The first name corresponds to the respective day of our week, and the second name indicates a primary characteristics of the respective day. Of course, the names I have chosen are not uniquely determined by harmonism, but the chronology and characteristics of the days are.
The first two days of Revelation occurred before the book was ever written, while the last five days were prophesied to occur at a later time. The first four of these last five days pertain to the "Last Days" of the earth and receive the greatest amount of emphasis in Revelation. Taken together the seven days of Revelation span the whole gamut of time from eternity past to eternity future.
The first day of Revelation was hardly mentioned in the book of Revelation for two obvious reasons: (1) Sunday was in the past while Revelation emphasized the future, and (2) the Old Testament had already described Sunday in full detail.
The full extent of Sunday was from eternity past until the birth of Jesus Christ. It was the day that God the Father manifested himself as the Creator and Sustainer of the world, the Author of the laws of morality and religion, and the God of the nation Israel. Although Sunday included such important events as the creation of the world, the fall of mankind, the great flood, and everything else that happened before the time of Abraham, only the 2000 years following the birth of Abraham are emphasized in the Bible. This is because those are the years that God began revealing himself to the world through the descendants of Abraham in order to provide a means of eternal salvation for all mankind through his promised Messiah.
Because these are the years that God was preparing the way for the coming of the Deliverer, I called Sunday the "Day of Preparation." Other appropriate names for Sunday might be the "Old Testament Period" (because that is when it occurred), the "Age of the Law" (because that is how God related to man during that period of time), or the "Day of Ignorance" (because only a handful of isolated individuals throughout the world and one nation, Israel, had any significant knowledge of God during this period of time).
The second day of Revelation, like the first, was hardly mentioned because: (1) Monday was history when this prophecy of the future was given, and (2) Monday would soon be described fully in writings we now call the New Testament.
Monday was the day that Jesus Christ came as a Suffering Servant of God to sacrifice his life for the redemption of man. Although it included the whole third-of-a-century life span of Christ, only the last three and a half years of this period are emphasized in the Bible. This is because those were the years of Christ's public ministry. They began with his baptism and temptation, and ended with his death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Since Christ is the central figure of Monday, I have called it the "Day of Christ." Other appropriate names for Monday would be the "First Advent" or "First Coming" (because those are the common terms used to describe this era), the "Day of Atonement" (because this is the day Christ atoned for our sins), or the "Day of Redemption" (because this is the day Christ redeemed us from our sins).
The third day of Revelation is the first to be emphasized in the book and the first to contain prophecy. It is the day that the Holy Spirit of God came as the revealer of Truth, the restrainer of Satan, and the empowerer of the Church. It began when the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost and will continue until the lukewarm Church is spewed out of the mouth of Christ.
Most of the prophecies pertaining to Tuesday have already been fulfilled. Two important examples of this are the dispersion of Jews (occurring near the beginning) and the regathering of the Jews (occurring near the end). Other signs prophesied to occur near the end of Tuesday are: a movement toward one-world-ism through the rise of a New World Order; the apparent death and miraculous resurrection of international communism; the decline of Christian commitment and influence after the Gospel has been preached to all nations in every tongue; and the reinstitution of animal sacrifices in a newly rebuilt Jewish temple.
Harmonism seems to predict that Tuesday will last approximately 2,000 years. If this interpretation is correct, we can conclude that our generation is probably the last ever to exist on this planet. There may be people living today who personally will participate in the events that accompany the end of the world (MAT 24:32-34).
Since Tuesday is the only day of Revelation that provides a significant opportunity for salvation, I have called it the "Day of Salvation." Other appropriate names for Tuesday are: the "Age of Grace" (because it is only through the grace of God that people are saved), the "Church Age" (because this is the only time that the Church exists as an organized institution), and the "Millennium" (because this is the thousand years[1] when Satan's power to deceive the nations is restrained by the Holy Spirit and when the resurrected saints are reigning with Christ in heaven as predicted in Revelation 20:4-6).
The fourth day of Revelation is the day that Satan is released unrestrained upon the world. It begins with the amazing resurrection of international communism and continues as the Antichrist uses deceit and military conquest to gain the position of undisputed ruler of the United World Government. Once he is in control, this Son of Satan persecutes the Church to the brink of extinction; blasphemes God and all that is good; and elevates his government, himself, and Satanism to the position of highest honor and absolute supremacy.
Wednesday lasts for three and a half years -- the same duration as Christ's public ministry.
Since it is the only day of the seven mentioned in Revelation that Satan's Antichrist reigns supreme over the whole planet earth, it could appropriately be called the "Golden Age of Satan" or the "Day of the Antichrist." Since it is also the day that essentially all the Christians in the world are persecuted to death, it could also appropriately be called the "Day of Persecution" or the "Day of Tribulation."[2] However, I have called Wednesday the "Day of Sin" because it is a time when sin in almost every conceivable form is allowed to run rampant.
The fifth day of Revelation is the day that the wrath of God is pored out upon those who persecuted his saints, and the day that the Antichrist is revealed as the destroyer of the earth and the enslaver of humanity. It begins with the total socioeconomic collapse of the United World System and ends as the armies of the world assemble for the battle of Armageddon.
Thursday, like Wednesday, lasts for three and a half years. It is a time of rebellion, anarchy, devastation, and death. Probably more than three-fourths of the world's population is killed during this violent time and the global ecology is totally devastated. Only Christians (those few who survived the awful Day of Sin) appear immune to the plagues that ravage the earth at this time. Throughout the duration of Thursday these Christians continue to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their literally lost and dying world -- but with no notable success except at the very end when a few people do believe.
On Thursday, the nation of Israel once again plays a major roll in world history. Some of the events associated with this roll are: the desecration of the Jewish altar; the ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of two special witnesses to the Jews; the salvation of the nation of Israel; and the assembling of the armies of the world at Armageddon to affect the total destruction of Israel.
Since Thursday is the day that God vents his wrath upon sinful mankind, it could be called the "Day of Wrath."[3] Because the Bible sometimes refers to Thursday as a time of "great tribulation" (MAT 24:21, REV 2:22), another appropriate name would be the "Day of Great Tribulation."[4] Thursday could also be called the "Day of Reckoning" because it is the day that the consequences of the sins committed during the previous three and a half years are brought to bear upon sinful mankind. But I have called Thursday the "Day of Death" because more human beings die on that day than during all the other periods of world history combined. In fact, the devastation of the earth itself is so great that almost every other living creature or organism on the earth also dies during this period of time.
The sixth day of Revelation is the day that Jesus Christ returns in power and glory to rule the nations with a rod of iron as King of King and Lord of Lords. It begins with the rapture of the saints as Christ appears in the clouds of the sky and continues with the destruction of sinful mankind, the end of the world, the termination of Satan, the resurrection of the dead, the final judgment, and the second death. There is nothing in the prophecy to suggest how long this day will last. In fact, physical time as we perceive it simply ceases to exist on this day as the physical universe comes to an end.
Since Friday is the day that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, I have called Friday the "Day of the Lord." Another appropriate name would be the "Day of Judgment." And, since this is the day that the world comes to an end, it could also be called the "Last Day." The Bible uses all three of these terms when referring to Friday (2PE 3:10, MAT 12:36, JOH 12:48).
The seventh and final day of Revelation is the eternity that follows the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. It begins with this new creation and continues with the wiping away of tears, the wedding of the Lamb, and the wedding supper of the Lamb. It never ends.
I have called Saturday the "Day of Eternity" because it lasts forever. It could also appropriately be called the "New Age"[5] because it is the era that follows the new creation. Or it could be called the "Day of Rest" because it is the seventh day, the "Eternal Sabbath," the day after this universe is laid to rest, and the day we enter God's eternal rest (HEB 3:18-4:4).
There are many fascinating symmetries and anti-symmetries associated with the harmonistic view of eschatology. In fact, harmonistic eschatology reveals symmetries in the Bible that extend beyond the boundaries of Revelation.
For example, once the seven days of Revelation have been identified, certain similarities and differences can be found between the seven days of Revelation and the seven days of Genesis. The Genesis "week" occurs at the very beginning of the Bible while that of Revelation occurs at the very end. Both of these weeks contain seven days, thereby indicating that each constitutes a complete description of something. The Genesis week completely describes the creation of this world while the Revelation week completely describes the end of the world. In both cases the word "day" should not be interpreted literally to mean "24 hours." The total duration of the Genesis week is insignificant when compared to the total duration of the Revelation week.[6] And yet, the emphasized duration of the Revelation week is insignificant when compared to the emphasized duration of the Genesis week.[7]
Although, all of this may be interesting, it really has nothing to do with harmonistic eschatology per se -- nor with the symmetries and anti-symmetries of the Harmony. So let's take a look at some aspects of the Harmony that are the result of its symmetries.
Notice, for example, that the first three days of Revelation are associated with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit of God, respectively, while the last day is associated with the total Godhead. In other words, the seven days of Revelation begin and end with the Holy Trinity![8]
Notice also that the 3.5-year duration of the ministry of Christ on Monday suggests that that day is only half of Christ's complete visitation of mankind.[9] The other half of that visitation occurs on Friday. So we see that two, rather than one, of the seven days of Revelation are actually associated with Jesus Christ. Specifically, we see that on Monday, Christ comes as the Suffering Servant of God and the Redeemer of Man while on Friday, he comes as the Righteous Judge and the Lord of All. Since Monday and Friday are the beginning and ending of a normal "workweek," we can conclude that the work of our salvation both begins and ends with Christ. In other words, Christ is both our Sacrifice and our Judge.
It is interesting to note that the remaining two of the seven days of Revelation (Wednesday and Thursday) are not associated with God at all. They are associated with Satan (who is completely anti-God). More specifically, they are associated with the incarnated form of Satan commonly known as the Antichrist. This Son of Satan both mimics and mocks various aspects of the Son of God.
For example, both the Christ and the Antichrist are associated specifically with two days of Revelation rather than just one like the Father, the Spirit, and the Trinity. Furthermore, both of the days associated with the Antichrist are 3.5 years long, exactly the same duration as that of the public ministry of Christ. Furthermore, both Christ and the Antichrist exhibit their lordships on one of their days and their struggles on the other.
But the struggles of Christ and those of the Antichrist are not the same: Christ struggles against temptation in order to remain in his position as a Suffering Servant while the Antichrist struggles against humanity in order to regain his position as their tyrannical master. Similarly, the two lordships are different: Christ's Lordship is absolute, eternal, and spiritual while the Antichrist's lordship is conditional, temporal, and worldly. In fact, the kingdom of the Antichrist contains the type of world order that Christ was once tempted to establish[10] (MAT 4:8-10) while the Lordship of Christ exhibits the type of power and authority that Satan once attempted to assume (ISA 14:12-15). And finally, the order of the two days associated with Christ and the Antichrist are exactly reversed. Christ willingly suffered for others on his first day, while the Antichrist made others suffer for him on his second day. And Christ demonstrated his Lordship over all on his second day, while the Antichrist demonstrated his lordship over the earth on his first day.
There is one other symmetry in harmonistic eschatology that bears comment; namely, the symmetry of time. Notice, specifically, that only the first five days of Revelation have durations that are specified either by secular history or in biblical prophecy. These specified durations are the 2000 years before Christ, the 3.5 years of Christ[11], the 2000 years after Christ, the 3.5 years of "Sin", and the 3.5 years of "Death", respectively. Notice also that the two 3.5 year intervals associated with the Antichrist are so small compared to the 2000-year intervals that they can be completely ignored when looking at the larger picture. Therefore, we reach the amazing conclusion that the day of Jesus Christ lies at the very center of time as specified in harmonistic eschatology!
In fact, since there is an equally unspecified eternity both before and after the specified intervals of time, the same conclusion is valid even on the grander scale. So both from the eternal and temporal viewpoints, harmonistic eschatology places the day of Jesus Christ at the very center of God's timetable!
Now that we have an overall understanding of harmonistic eschatology, let us ask about its classification in traditional terms. Should it be classified as a form of premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism, or something else?[12]
The answer to this question is obvious to anyone who is familiar with the definitions of these classifications. Harmonism is a form of amillennialism, because it asserts that there never will be a time of perfect peace, harmony, and justice upon this sin-stained earth. According to harmonistic eschatology, the millennial age is synonymous with the current Church Age, a time when Jesus Christ and the resurrected saints reign supreme in heaven while good and evil continue struggling on the earth for the hearts and souls of mankind.
But harmonism differs from traditional amillennialism in many respects. For example, harmonism is based upon a single book of the Bible (namely Revelation) while traditional amillennialism is founded upon numerous passages scattered throughout the whole Bible. Harmonism is derived through a specific, systematic, harmonization process while traditional amillennialism is obtained through a more general, intuitive, argumentative approach. And, harmonism renders a detailed, unique picture of the end times while traditional amillennialism provides only a vague, somewhat ambiguous picture.
Of course, the harmonistic picture also contains ambiguity. In fact, many of the details of the preceding harmonistic scenario were the direct result of my own personal interpretation of certain scriptures. Obviously, any alteration of these interpretations would have yielded a different result.
But such differences affect only the details, not the substance of the theory. In fact, it is hard for me to believe that anyone could successfully harmonize all seven Accounts of Revelation and obtain a basic chronology differing significantly from what is presented here. So the ambiguity in harmonism provides plenty of room for personal reinterpretation of the details but essentially no room for alteration of the basic chronology.
This aspect of harmonism allows Christians everywhere to interpret specific passages according to their own understanding of God, the Scriptures, and current world events.[13] However, the overall structure of harmonistic eschatology is etched in stone so that the theory stands or falls as a unit.
This makes harmonism more vulnerable than any other theory of eschatology that I know of. A single violation of its basic chronology would render the whole theory invalid because, unlike most other theories of eschatology, harmonism cannot be modified arbitrarily to accommodate unanticipated future developments.
But this weakness of harmonism is also its strength. The very fact that its basic predictions cannot be modified without destroying the whole theory provides considerable assurance as to the validity of those predictions. Only when and if some past, present, or future violation of the predictions of harmonism is observed will this assurance be shaken. Of course, when and if that ever happens, assurance in the theory will be more than shaken, it will be totally shattered. In fact, the whole harmonistic concept of biblical interpretation will have to be rejected.
Notice that it is not necessary to wait until some future event violates the harmonistic scenario to demonstrate that it is false. Past and present events will serve just as well as future events. In fact, we do not even have to use past, present, or future events to test the theory. Any biblical prophecy outside the book of Revelation can be used just as well.
This is because the truth of the Bible stands or falls as a whole. Either the Bible is or it is not the revealed truth of God. If it is, then everything in the Bible must be true when interpreted as God intended. Therefore, if the Harmony is a true and correct interpretation of Revelation, it must be consistent with everything else in the Bible, including all the other prophecies. If we can find a single prophecy anywhere in the Bible that cannot be reconciled with harmonistic eschatology, then we must conclude that harmonism is false.
In fact, we do not even need to identify prophecies that contradict the Harmony to prove it false. Prophecies that add essential information to the harmonistic picture will do just as well. This is because harmonism is based upon the assumption that the seven Accounts of Revelation are adequate in themselves to derive a complete description of the last days. So, the existence of even a single biblical prophecy that demonstrates conclusively that the harmonistic picture is incomplete is sufficient to prove that the harmonistic assumption (and therefore harmonism itself) is false.
The fact that harmonism must be both (1) consistent with all other prophecies in the Bible and (2) complete in itself provides us with two very stringent tests of the theory -- tests that no other theory of eschatology has ever had to face. All previous theories have been based upon the entire Bible rather than just a single book; so no scripture ever remained to form the basis of such testing.
Unfortunately, this testing constitutes a no-win situation for harmonism. Such tests can never prove that harmonism is true -- only that it is false. Furthermore, it is beyond the scope of this book to conduct such tests to exhaustion. In fact, listing every biblical prophecy of the last days and determining whether or not each one is consistent with the harmonistic viewpoint would be a truly monumental task -- a task I choose not to undertake at this time.
However, I would like to consider a sufficient number of examples of such prophecies to illustrate how such testing can be conducted and what type of results can be expected. Then I would challenge you, the reader, to search the scriptures yourself to see if you can find any other prophecies that might contradict the Harmony of Revelation.[14]
[1]Millennium means 1000 years and REV 20:4-6 states twice that this period of time will last 1000 years, which Biblical numerology interprets to mean a large number of years.
[2]The Bible itself calls Wednesday the day of "tribulation" (MAT 24:29) and asserts that on this day the saints experience "great tribulation" (REV 7:14). However, I have avoided using either of these names because the Bible also refers to Thursday as a day of "great tribulation" (REV 2:22).
[3]However, the Bible itself refers to Friday, the Day of the Lord, as the "day of wrath" (ZEP 1:14-15) because that is the day sinful mankind is destroyed as Christ returns. Consequently, I have avoided referring to Thursday as the "Day of Wrath".
[4]Indeed, that is the name that many people use to designate the last three and a half years of Satan's seven-year reign upon the earth. However, as stated previously, I prefer to avoid this name because of the possible confusion between the period of "great tribulation" of the saints (Wednesday) and the period of "great tribulation" of the world (Thursday).
[5]Do not confuse this term with the "New Age Movement" which brings about the United World Government to be ruled by the Antichrist. In other words, do not let the perversion of Satan have you confuse the beautiful New Age of God with the hideous New Age of this world.
[6]The Genesis week spans only the creation of the world while the Revelation week spans the whole gamut of time from eternity past to eternity future.
[7]The Revelation week emphasizes only the last days of mankind (the two thousand or so years between the first and second coming of Christ) while the Genesis week emphasizes the period of time required to create mankind (estimated by scientists to be about ten billion years).
[8]Again, such symmetrical beauty would hardly seem possible if the Harmony is nothing more than an erroneous interpretation of the book of Revelation.
[9]See Appendix C for an explanation of why the number 3.5 suggests that something is either half-complete or else a complete part.
[10]It is also the type of millennial kingdom most premillennialists believe Christ will eventually establish on this earth after he returns in power.
[11]If you prefer, you can substitute here the whole 3.5 decades of the life of Christ rather than the 3.5 years of his public ministry. The conclusions reached will be the same.
[12]If you are not familiar with these classifications, take a look at Appendix B. There you will find a brief summary of the various theories of eschatology that have been proposed through the centuries.
[13]It even allows me to alter my own interpretation of certain details as current events sharpen my own perception of the meanings of the prophecies.
[14]Some of these scriptures are included in the exercises in Appendix G.