Letter to Laodicea - Fulfilled Prophecies

FULFILLED PROPHECIES

In a very short time, Jesus Christ is going to return to Earth as He promised. In the past I've always thought that this would be a positive event for those who constitute His Church. Lately however, I am beginning to see this in a different light.

For many years the Churches of God have been predicting a whole range of events that they believe must come to pass before Christ returns. These predictions are largely based on erroneous interpretations of Biblical prophecies, using the interpretation method known as "Futurism", which was devised by Catholic Jesuit priests as part of the Counter-Reformation.

Many Churches have made TV programs heavily laden with futurist ideas, with titles such as the United Church of God's "Seven Prophetic Signs Before Jesus Returns" and the Living Church of God's "Five Prophecies For The Middle East". Church ministers dogmatically state that "Christ can't return yet" until a whole host of their imaginary ideas first come to pass.

Time and again they refer to the same list of events that they believe must first happen, like "the Great Tribulation", the "Ten Toes" of a European power, and the "Two Witnesses", to name but a few.

I believe that if Christ were to return today, many members of the Church of God (COG) would say things like: "This is a hoax" or, worse still, "this must be the Antichrist", based on all the prophetic interpretations that they have been hearing during the final, Laodicean, era of the Church.

The simple question must be asked: How will those who fail to recognise Christ's return for what it is, because of their own unwillingness to adequately study the prophecies of the Bible, be viewed by Christ at that time?

Could this be something He is warning us about in the parable of the ten virgins of Matt 25, where those who aren't ready for His return are shut out of the Kingdom?

Is this also what Christ is referring to when He warns the final Church era in Rev 3:17 that it is "blind"?

When Christ came to this Earth the first time, His own physical people by and large failed to recognise and accept Him as the one who was prophesied to come. Are we going to see a repeat of this, when Christ soon returns to His spiritual people?

Let's look at a list of prophecies that according to the general consensus of the Churches of God are still in the future, but which can be shown upon closer examination to have already been fulfilled in history.

1) The Great Tribulation

This event is described in the "Olivet Prophecy" of Matt 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. A perusal of Bible Commentaries written in centuries past reveals that the general understanding in former days was that this prophecy was for the most part fulfilled in first century Judea. It is only in the last 150 or so years that the common view has projected the "great tribulation" into the future, and also viewed it as a worldwide event.

The "great tribulation" occurred in the time period from 67AD to 73AD, and is usually referred to as "The First Jewish Revolt" or "The First Jewish-Roman War".

In 67AD a large Roman army led by general Vespasian attacked Judea, conquering a vast number of towns and killing many of their inhabitants. Subsequently, Vespasian's son Titus took command and oversaw the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 70AD. This was 40 inclusive years after the Jews had rejected and killed Christ. The final battle of this seven year war was the 73AD conquest of the fortress of Masada in the south-east of Israel near the Dead Sea.

Whereas Matthew's account of the Olivet Prophecy uses the term "great tribulation" (Mt 24:21), Luke calls it "great distress" (Lk 21:23). Luke says that the great distress would affect "the land" (Judea) and "this people" (the Jews), and would result in this people being led captive, after which "the times of the Gentiles" (v 24, i.e. 2520 years of Jerusalem being trodden down by Gentiles - Lev 26:24) would continue until they came to their appointed end.

All of this fits exactly with what happened to the Jews at the hands of the Romans in the first century. Some people want to explain this passage by appealing to the concept of duality, thinking there is a second, end-time fulfilment in addition to the original first century fulfilment. However, Christ said the exact opposite. He said "For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be". How can that be dual?

Much is made of Matt 24:22 which states "And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened". The phrase "no flesh" is explained by the COG's as applying to the whole world. As noted above, however, Luke 21:23 shows that this calamity was to befall "the land" (Judea) and "this people" (the Jews), not the whole world. All people had to do to escape this calamity was to leave "Judea" and "flee to the mountains" (Matt 24:16), which is exactly what the Christians did when an initial Roman assault on Jerusalem in 66AD was rebuffed, giving them time to save their lives.

Great confusion also results from misinterpreting the word "end" in Matt 24:14, which states "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come". The commentaries of Matthew Henry, Adam Clarke, and Jamieson, Fausset, Brown all agree that this verse is about the New Covenant gospel beginning to become established, and going out into the world by the preaching of the apostles, after which all things associated with the Old Covenant in Jerusalem were destroyed and came to an "end" in 70AD. Hence Christ logically continues in the next verse "therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (Matt 24:15), i.e. "Jerusalem surrounded by armies" (Luke 21:20), "then know that its destruction is near" (rest of verse 20).

Even if one were to argue that the prophecy requires the gospel to have first been preached to an audience called "all the world", note that the Biblical writers already in their time considered the gospel to have gone "throughout the whole world" (Rom 1:8), been "made known to all nations" (Rom 16:26), "in all the world" (Col 1:6), and been "preached unto every creature under heaven" (Col 1:23). This shows that our understanding of the terminology used in Scripture may not necessarily be the same as what the authors had in mind.

Another verse in the Olivet Prophecy that causes modern interpreters to fall into error is Matt 24:34 "Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place". The term "this generation" is usually, incorrectly understood to mean our generation today.

In fact, what we find is that apart from the Olivet Prophecy the Gospels record 23 additional occurrences of the word "generation", and every one of them pertains to the people Christ was talking to in His day. In Matthew alone the word is used ten times. See the page "THE OLIVET PROPHECY" for a whole lot more on this topic.

In addition to all the above information, the text of Luke 21:23-24 says that the "great tribulation" or "great distress" happens before the "times of the Gentiles" come to an end. As the "times of the Gentiles" came to an end in the 20th century when the Jews got their country back, the "great tribulation" cannot still be in the future. See "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES" for more information.

2) The Ten Toes

This is a prophecy based on Dan 2 and Rev 17. The COG's believe this is about a still future power bloc of ten nations to emerge in Europe. Please see the page "THE TWO WITNESSES" which lists ten successive Islamic dynasties that ruled Jerusalem over a period of almost 1300 years, and which are the true fulfilment of the "ten toes". See also "DANIEL 2 - INTERPRETATION ERRORS".

3) The Two Witnesses

Rather than two individuals yet to emerge, the "two witnesses" of Rev 11:3 are the people of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (a.k.a. the Jews) who stood up on their feet after WWII and got their land back after 2520 years of punishment, as prophesied by God in Lev 26. This is clearly shown in detail in the description of the sixth trumpet in Revelation chapters 9 to 11. This also fits perfectly with the British Israel explanation of the "lost ten tribes" of Israel. The Two Witnesses are simply the other two tribes of the original 12 tribes of Israel, i.e. the ones that were not lost to history. See the page "THE TWO WITNESSES" for a full explanation.

4) Six of the Seven Trumpets

Six of the seven trumpets of Revelation 8 to 11 have been fulfilled. The seven trumpets picture seven major events to befall Jerusalem from the time that this prophecy was given, beginning with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70AD, and ending with the soon coming return of Christ to Jerusalem. See the page "THE HISTORICAL 7TH SEAL (THE 7 TRUMPETS)".

5) The Kings of the North and the South

These powers, described in Dan 11, denote the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid Empire which arose after the time of Alexander the Great and preceded the emergence of the Roman Empire, prior to the first coming of Christ. There are no remaining unfulfilled prophecies concerning these powers. See "DANIEL 2 - INTERPRETATION ERRORS", and "DANIEL 11 & 12 - KINGS OF NORTH AND SOUTH".

6) The Mark of the Beast

This is a prophecy described in Rev 13 and elsewhere in Revelation. The mark of the Beast is Sabbath breaking, something common to all Beast powers. The Papacy and traditional Christianity, however, took this "mark" a big step further, banning Sabbath keeping and replacing it with Sunday worship instead, until their power to do so subsided in recent centuries. Obviously, this is not a prophecy that has not yet been fulfilled. See "REVELATION 13 - THE BEAST".

7) The Man of Sin / Antichrist / False Prophet

The "man of sin" is a prophecy found in II Thes 2 which foretells the rise of the Papacy, not something, or someone still in the future today. The man of sin is also described as "the antichrist" in I John 2:18 and "the false prophet" in Rev 16:13, 19:20 and 20:10. See the page "THE MAN OF SIN".

8) The "Daily Sacrifice" and the "Abomination of Desolation"

Many of the Churches of God believe that a physical temple will be built in Jerusalem before Jesus Christ returns. The perceived need for this is based on Dan 12:11 which says that "the daily sacrifice shall be taken away", after which the Churches believe "the abomination of desolation" will be set up. The assumption has been made, incorrectly, that this passage is talking about literal, physical sacrifices in a literal, physical temple. However, this prophecy was fulfilled when non-Muslims were banned from praying (i.e. offering spiritual sacrifice) on the Temple Mount at the time that it was turned into an Islamic place of worship in the late 7th century, when the Dome of the Rock was constructed. Non-Muslims are still banned from praying on the Temple Mount, which is why we see the Jews praying at the Wailing Wall instead. See the "HOME" page for the Daniel 12 timelines related to the Dome of the Rock, using the "day for a year" prophetic interpretation method.

9) Armageddon

This refers to the Battle of Megiddo that was fought in September 1918, leading to the defeat of the Ottoman Empire's Islamic forces. This was a momentous historical milestone, as, with the exception of about 100 combined years of Crusader rule, Islamic dynasties had ruled the Holy Land since 638AD, a period of almost 1300 years! Read a brief description of the Battle of Megiddo here:

https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/battle-megiddo

Also see "THE REAL SEVEN PLAGUES", in particular the sixth plague.

10) The 200 Million Man Army

This number of military personnel is mentioned in Rev 9:16 as part of the sixth trumpet of the seventh seal, in the book of Revelation. In general, the COG's see in this a coming conglomerate of forces made up from a variety of nations. However, they fail to notice that World War I had over 70 million combatants and World War II had just under 130 million, making a total of 200 million. These two wars together led to the defeat of the Gentile powers that ruled the Holy Land, and the end of "Christian" state persecution of the Jews, exactly when the Jews' 2520 years of punishment came to an end. This in turn facilitated the return of the Jews to their country, an event frequently prophesied about in Scripture. Please see "THE TWO WITNESSES" and "THE HISTORICAL 7TH SEAL (THE 7 TRUMPETS) for more information.

11) The Seventy Week Prophecy

Most branches of the Church believe that a portion of this prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27 is yet to be fulfilled. Some think that there are seven years still remaining, but three and a half years seems to be the number most COG's are anticipating.

God gives the duration and the purposes of this prophecy in verse 24:

Daniel 9:24 "Seventy weeks (490 years - see "Days, Weeks, Months, Years and Times") are determined upon thy people (the Jews) and upon thy holy city (Jerusalem), to finish the transgression (to bring the transgressions of the Jews to a climax), and to make an end of sins (to bring to an end the reign of sin, and its resulting consequence, death), and to make reconciliation for iniquity (to pay the death penalty for repentant sinners), and to bring in everlasting righteousness (to create the pathway to eternal life), and to seal up the vision and prophecy (to complete the Old and New Testament Scriptures), and to anoint the most Holy (to anoint Christ as King)".

In a nutshell, the 490 years that this prophecy covers can be identified as follows:

Daniel 9:25 states "from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times". The first seven weeks (49 years) run from the edict of Cyrus until the end of the Ezra/Nehemiah period, during which Jerusalem and its Temple were restored, and the OT was completed. Then there follow 62 weeks (434 years): "And after the sixty-two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing" (Dan 9:26 ASV, NIV). Thus, in the year "after" the 434 years end, Christ was "cut off" from his position in the Godhead and begotten in Mary's womb, leading to His birth the following year, possibly at the Feast of Firstfruits (Pentecost), as it was in the sixth month of the year that Mary was told she would conceive Christ (Lk 1:26).

Through all this we can see that the 70 Week Prophecy bridges the time gap between the OT and NT Scriptures.

Numbers 4:3 stipulates that those who enter the service of the house of God must be "from thirty years old and upward". Christ lived 30 full years before He began His three and a half year ministry in His 31st year (Lk 3:23). This ministry succeeded in its ultimate goal when Christ instituted the New Covenant in His blood. After Christ's resurrection there followed a 40 year period for the Church to be set up, and for the unrepentant Jews to "finish the transgression" (v24) which would lead to their destruction (Eze 4:6).

Towards the end of this period the Roman "prince that shall come" (first Vespasian, then his son Titus, and two more rulers after Titus) attacked "thy people and thy holy city" (the Holy Land) and subsequently destroyed "the city and the sanctuary" (Jerusalem and the Temple), and about two thirds of the people (Zech 13:7-8, Rev 8:7 NIV), in a seven year campaign that started in 67AD and ended in 73AD. This fulfilled the 70th week of the prophecy ("he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week") (All quotes from Dan 9:24-27).

In 70AD, the middle year of this seven-year war, Titus' army demolished God's Temple ("in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering" - Dan 9:27). This destruction of everything associated with the Old Covenant did, at the same time, "confirm" the New Covenant that had been established by Christ on the day of His death ("this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you" - Lk 22:20).

In Matt 24:15-16 and Luke 21:20-21, Christ warns his followers to flee before the final "week" or seven-year Roman campaign that was to begin in 67AD. He does this based on the second half of Dan 9:27. Correctly translated, this reads "And on the perimeter (of Jerusalem) abomination of desolation (Jerusalem surrounded by armies - Lk 21:20), before the end which is decreed is poured out on the desolate". This surrounding of the city was carried out as part of the initial unsuccessful assault on Jerusalem in 66AD by Cestius Gallus and his forces, and Josephus tells us that the warning to flee was indeed heeded by many.

The destruction of the Temple also fulfilled Heb 8:13 which states (having been written prior to the 66-73AD events) "in that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away".

The entire Seventy Week Prophecy has therefore been fulfilled, and Christ has forever become the door for repentant sinners to enter and attain "everlasting righteousness" (Dan 9:24). Please see the chart on the "HOME" page and the "BIBLE CHRONOLOGY" page to gain a better understanding of the timeline described here.

12) "Gog" in Ezekiel 38 and 39

The identity of "Gog of the land of Magog" in Ezekiel 38 and 39 is Antiochus IV Epiphanes, leader of the Seleucid Empire in the second century BC. Major Bible commentators came to this conclusion hundreds of years ago, and many facts attest to this identification. So much for all the wild ideas held by Futurists regarding this prophecy today. For more on this please see the page "GOG IN EZEKIEL 38 AND 39".

13) "Babylon is Fallen"

Rather than describing some future event, as believed by the Churches of God, the phrase "Babylon is fallen" found in Revelation 18 concerns the current state that the formerly "Christian" nations of the Western world find themselves in. Having almost totally departed from the values of their Judeo-Christian heritage, they have increasingly embraced the most abominable perversions. At the same time, making no distinction between true and false religion, they have allowed themselves to be overrun by millions of people who embrace false gods. Please see the page "BABYLON IS FALLEN" for more on this.

14) Jacob's Trouble

The prophecies found in Jeremiah 30, which in verse 7 refer to "Jacob's trouble", can be explained by the suffering that people from all Israelite countries endured in World War 2. This is not a future event, as is commonly taught in the Churches of God. Please see the page "JACOB'S TROUBLE" for a more detailed explanation.

15) The Psalm 83 "Alliance"

Some of the Churches of God see in Psalm 83 a conglomerate of nations aligning themselves against Israel at some point in the future. Much speculation is made about who might be involved, and when this will come to pass. However, II Chronicles 20 describes a group of nations gathering against the Kingdom of Judah in the days of King Jehoshaphat that adequately fits with the details of Ps 83. At least four major Bible Commentaries, those of Adam Clarke; Matthew Henry; Keil and Delitzsch; and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, attribute this prophecy to the major events described in II Chron 20. The descendant of Asaph who was used by God to prophesy to Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah at that time is mentioned by name in II Chron 20:14, and it is most probable that God inspired him to write Psalm 83 as a memorial of this event. See Clarke's Commentary as an example of this explanation: https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/acc/psalms-83.html

16) 11 of 12 End Time Prophecies Involving Duration

In the year 1945 six Biblical prophecies involving duration were fulfilled. These are:

1) Lev 26:24 - "seven times" or 2520 inclusive years from the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem in 575BC. See "THE TWO WITNESSES" for more on this.

2) Dan 4 - "seven times" or 2520 inclusive years of the "Beast" powers trampling down Jerusalem and the Jews - same time period as above. Please see "DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AND TIMES" and "THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES" for more information.

3) Dan 7:25 - "a time, and times and half a time" or 1260 inclusive years of the Jews being persecuted by the "little horn", i.e. the Papacy/false Christianity. This period began in 686, when the Papacy became independent from the Roman Empire. See "THE TWO WITNESSES" for more on this.

4) Rev 11:3 - "1260 days" or 1260 inclusive years during which the "two witnesses", i.e. the Jews, fulfilled the time period of Dan 7:25.

5) Rev 13:5 - "42 months" or 1260 inclusive years of the Papacy/false Christianity given a powerful voice in the world. See the page "REVELATION 13 - THE BEAST".

6) Rev 9:15 - "a day, and a month, and a year" or 32 inclusive years, from the beginning of WW1 in 1914 until the end of WW2 in 1945. See "DAYS, WEEKS, MONTHS, YEARS AND TIMES" and "THE TWO WITNESSES" for more information.

Since 1945, five more Biblical prophecies involving duration have been fulfilled. These are:

7) Rev 11:11 - "after the three and a half days (three and a half years) the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet". This was fulfilled in 1948 as a result of the First Arab-Israeli War. See "THE TWO WITNESSES".

8) Dan 12:7 - "it would be for a time, two times, and half a time (1260 years); and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be accomplished" (RSV). This was fulfilled in 1950, 1260 inclusive years since the Dome of the Rock was built in 691. See point 11 below.

9) Lev 26:28 - "seven times", or 2520 inclusive years, since the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 564BC until the Second Arab-Israeli War in 1956. This is elaborated on in the article "THE TWO WITNESSES".

10) Dan 8:14 - "And he said unto me, unto two thousand and three hundred days (2300 years); then shall the sanctuary be cleansed". This period ran from Alexander the Great's 333BC conquest of the Holy Land until the Third Arab-Israeli War in 1967. See the page "TRUTHS LOST IN LAODICEA" (point 7) for more on this.

11) Dan 12:11 - "And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days" (1290 years). This period ran from the construction of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in 691 until 1980. For an explanation of points 8 and 11, please see the page "DANIEL 11 & 12 - KINGS OF NORTH AND SOUTH" (the latter part of the article).

A twelfth end time prophecy involving duration remains to be fulfilled. It is found in Dan 12:12 and pertains to a period of "one thousand three hundred and thirty-five days" (1335 years), which takes us to the year 2025. Again, see the page "DANIEL 11 & 12 - KINGS OF NORTH AND SOUTH" for more on this.

As far as I know, none of the 11 fulfilled prophecies listed here are understood by the Sabbath keeping Churches of God. Former Worldwide Church of God writer William Dankenbring did publish an article in the 1980's about the 2300 year prophecy that contained the correct beginning and end points, but it incorporated many other errors. There are also a few among the churches of this world that have some knowledge of this Dan 8:14 fulfilment, e.g. the Christadelphians, but that's about all.

From all the points listed on this page, we see that the final era of the Church is called "blind" for good reason (Rev 3:17). However, the question stated at the outset remains: Will this blindness have eternal consequences for the people of God?