Originally published in "The Lord's Coming Herald & Wesleyan Bible Prophecy Advocate," March Edition, 2011
Five Views Compared
The traditional Protestant view of Revelation chapter 17 is that the great whore Babylon, which is destined to be destroyed by fire in chapter 18, is Rome, the Roman Catholic Church, or the apostate Christian world under the dominion of popery. This ideology gave great impetus to the sixteenth century northern European revolt against Rome, and fueled the rise of modern Protestantism.
The Church of God (Anderson) theology of D. S. Warner and his followers is that the great whore Babylon of Revelation chapter 17 represents not only Roman Catholicism, but all the apostate Protestant sects as well. Warner sees the first beast of Revelation chapter 13:1-10 as representing the rise of papal Catholicism, and the second beast of 13:11–18 (also known as “the false prophet”) referring to subsequent Protestant sectism.
Warner’s interpretation of the apocalyptic symbols of the book of Revelation ties all of the time indicator expressions of the 1,260 days (which he says represents years), the 42 months, and the ”time, times, and a half” (see Rev 11:2, 3; 12:6, 14; and 13:5 to find exactly where these expressions are used) singularly to the length of the Roman papal dominion between the years of 270 to 1530 A.D.
Modern dispensational futurism, by contrast, says that those three time-frame indicators in the Book of Revelation, that is, the 1,260 days, the 42 months, and the “time, times, and a half” all refer to parts of some future seven year great tribulation period that happens on earth after the Church has been raptured out.
Historic preterism says that the 1,260 days, the 42 months, and the “time, times, and a half” expressions all refer to the period of the Jewish wars between 67-70 A.D., which cul-minated in the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, and the complete end of the old covenant nation of Israel.
Now we are saying, in contrast to all of the above, that the 1,260 days, the 42 months, and the “time, times, and a half” expressions of biblical apocalyptic lore all refer to the whole length of time between the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. and the time of Christ’s soon coming Second Advent. The 1,200 days particularly tie to the second half of Daniel’s seventieth week, which, we teach, has been elongated to include the whole present period of the calling of the Gentiles. The 42 months refer to the 42 “generations” of the past two-thousand years. For the interpretation of the “time, times, and a half” expression please see our published works.
We are now bringing to light the true unsealing of the long-hid mystery of Daniel 12:9. That’s good reason to get all excited! Bible prophecy has, in these very last days, now come roaringly alive!
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