Endtime Visions

Study to shew yourself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

2 Timothy 2:15

Many teachers of bible prophecy will be ashamed, once the Endtime will come. The reality of those days will prove which prophetic interpretations were right and which were wrong. As Paul writes: 'the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is' (1 Cor.3:13). Such is the vastness in differences in interpretations, that not all of them can be right. We also might be wrong on certain issues but we keep reading, thinking and watching in order to get a better understanding as time progresses and the Endtime approaches. The time will come that God Himself will measure the value of each work that has been proclaimed in his name and determine who is worthy of any reward and who of the total burning of all that has been preached.

Here we will give a summary of most visions on the Endtime that have evolved in church history and we will comment on each of them.

Most explanations of Revelations are built on the following visions:

1. The idealist vision: Revelation is not about a certain period of time but is an allegory about the human struggle of all times. The only value of Revelation is an application to the daily christian life with its struggles and temptations.

2. The preterist vision: Revelation is about everything that has been fulfilled in the first century, especially during the Jewish revolt and the Jewish wars and the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman legions, that followed.

3. The historicist vision - The book of Revelation is mostly fulfilled during the past 2000 years of history. This vision was first held by the Roman Catholic Church ('The City of God' - Augustine), teaching that the first ages of the church were the development toward the millennial reign of Christ, seen in the power of Roman Catholicism. Later the historicist vision was completely turned around by Protestantism, learning that Catholicism was the Anticrhist power, described in Revelation. This vision has gained much prominence because of the work of Seventh Day Adventists. 

4. The futurist vision - The book of Revelation from the 4th chapter is to be taken literally and is therefore to be fulfilled in the future. No event of series of events in the past can seriously be matched with the events that are foretold in the book of Revelation. According to the futurist vision, the Lord Jesus will return before the start of the millennial kingdom, as is stated in Revelation 19, 20. The futurist vision therefore holds a premillennialist position. This vision is often associated with 'dispensionalism', because it cuts human history in 'dispensations', whereby the ways of God with man differ greatly from one dispensation to the other, while the visions 1-3 see human history as a continuum without to much differences between consecutive era. The futurist vision has multiple versions that mainly differ on the moment of the rapture of the church, which is taken literally as a bodily going to heaven of all those that have believed in Christ, as stated in John 14:1-3, 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-57. 

4.a A Pretribulanist Rapture (in short: pretrib) - The rapture of the church will take place before the 'tribulation', that is seen in 'last week of 70th week of Daniel', the last period of 7 years before the second coming of Jesus Christ. This 7 year period. This tribulation is the Endtime, with humanity in great turmoil because of unprecedented disasters and a tyrannical world government.

4.b A Midtribulanist Rapture (in short: midtrib) - The rapture of the church will take place halfway the 'tribulation', at the midpoint of the last week of Daniel of 7 years before the second coming of Jesus. 

4.c A Prewrath Rapture - The rapture of the church will take place before the outpouring of God's wrath in the 7 vials, at the end of the tribulation, as chastisement of the empire of the beast. 

4.d A Posttribulanist Rapture (in short: posttrib) - The rapture of the church will take place at the end of the tribulation even after the outpouring of God's wrath, at the moment of the second coming of Jesus.

Visions 1 and 2 deny the reality of a millennial kingdom, either because Revelation is believed to be purely symbolical and to have a fulfillment in peoples ordinary lives (idealist vision) or because everything has already been fulfilled in the first century and the millennial reign of Christ has somehow to be seen as realized in church history. Preterists equating chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation with chapters 20 and 21. Because of their denial of a future millennial reign of Christ, visions 1 and 2 are called 'amillianism'.  

Vision 3 is seen in multiple versions. The Roman Catholic version corresponds to post-millennialism, the teaching that Christ will return AFTER the millennial kingdom. The enormous power of the church in earthly matters during the Middle Ages was theologically defended by the teachings of Saint Augustine in 'The City of God'. Augustine viewed the age in which he lived as the millennium itself in which the "...kingdom of God (was) already manifest in the Church...the age between Pentecost and the return of Christ was the very millennium itself, marked by the ever increasing influence of the church in overturning evil..." From Augustine's perspective, the binding of the Devil occurred each time the Church spread its influence through evangelization and each time an individual was converted to Christ. Once the whole world would christianized, Jesus Christ would return, thus after the millennium. The Roman Catholic vision equates chapters 2 and 3 of Revelation with chapters 20 and 21, just like preterists do.

We will now assess each of these visions on their actual value.

1. The idealist vision

In the idealist vision, Revelation is not about a certain period of time but is an allegory about the human struggle of all times. The only value of Revelation is an application to the daily christian life with its struggles and temptations.

This view is in total contradiction with the content of the book of Revelation. Jesus Himself divided the book into three sections by telling John to write (1) what he had seen, (2) what is now and (3) what will happen hereafter (Rev.1:19). If one chooses to apply 'the apocalyptic horsemen' to wars, famines and health issues of all times, one has to ignore the very specific details like the power over a quarter of the world, given to the pale horse, to kill with sword, famine, 'death' and wild animals. The idealist vision presents no meaningful explanation of the worldwide impact of the catastrophe of the sixth seal, and the 'one third' of trees, ships, waters, heavenly lights and human beings that will be devastated under the trumpet judgments. Further, how are we to interpret the specifics of the two prophets, warning the world for 1,260 days? How is the time period of 3.5 years to be seen? What is the meaning of the two beasts of Revelation 13, leading to the introduction of the mark of the beast? What are we to make of the 7 vials with the wrath of God that are poured out, targeting very specific items in creation? If it is about humanity's problems of all times, what is the meaning of 'noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast'? (Rev.16:2) And what is 'the darkness of the beast's kingdom' once a vial is poured out on  'the throne of the beast'? (Rev.16:10) What is the meaning of the vial, poured out on the Euphrates making the way free for enormous military movements? (Rev.16:12) All specific information in Revelation turns totally meaningless, once one assumes that it is about 'history of humanity in general'. By teaching a idealist interpretation, one closes the book. It becomes irrelevant and superfluous. We do not need the sometimes very strange and outlandish descriptions in Revelation to guide us through the challenges of life. The historical books of the Bible and the letters contain enough support.

But most important, what are we to make of the return of Jesus on the white horse, bringing judgment upon an evil world and ushering in the kingdom of God? Is this nothing more than an allegory of the individual accepting Jesus as Lord? What then are the kings and their armies of the earth, gathered to make war against the returning Jesus? What are the beast and the false prophet, that will be thrown in the lake of fire?

One can imagine that the assumption of an idealist vision on the book of Revelation will make one to take an eternal hellfire (Revelation 20:15) with a grain of salt. Therefore we estimate the idealist vision as detrimental for the Christian faith. Those pertaining to this vision should leave it, heedful to the word of the Lord at the end of Revelation: 'And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.' (Rev.22;19)

2. The preterist vision

In the preterist vision, Revelation is about the first century, especially the Jewish revolt and the Jewish wars with the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple by the Roman legions.

The preterist vision is in conflict with the words of Jesus at the beginning of the book: 'Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter' (Rev.1:19). The book of Revelation is written when John was in exile on the isle of Patmos, which happened during the reign of emperor Domitian, who reigned from 81–96 AD. This means that the events of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple were already history at the time Revelation was written. If most of Revelation should be applied to the Jewish situation in the first century, then little remains as relevant text for future generations, that lived during the past 2000 years. Preterists also like to apply the 666-text of Revelation 13 to Emperor Nero, neglecting the fact that Nero was already dead for more than 13 years when the book was written. 

More important, the application of the prophetic texts to first century Jerusalem downplays the importance of the book. On different occasions the book clearly mentions 'every eye', 'all peoples of the earth' (Rev.1:7) - 'all the world' (Rev.3:10), 'every creature' (Rev.5:13) - a fourth of the earth (Rev.6:8) - 'a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language' (Rev.7:9) - 'a third of mankind' (Rev.9:18) - 'many peoples, nations, languages and kings' (Rev.10:11) - 'all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave - (Rev.13:16) - and we could mention more.

More importantly, if the book would only concern the past, what are we to make of the second coming of Jesus on a white horse, the imprisonment of satan, the throwing of the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire, the millennial kingdom, the resurrection of the dead after 1000 years and the new heaven and the new earth? The preterist vision leaves the Christian totally in the dark on these issues. Therefore the verdict on the idealist vision also applies the the preterist vision. It is born in unbelief and leads to unbelief in those who take it serious. Would the God that created the universe not be able to foresee and tell us what would be the end of 'this age' in the most staggering of details? Where is the faith in those upholding a vision that is contradictory to almost all of the book of Revelation?

Even where the book of Revelation indeed covers the city of Jerusalem, an explanation that preterists so eagerly want to apply to the complete book, the description does not match the historic events of 66-70AD. Where in 66-70 AD were the two prophets, witnessing from Jerusalem to all of the world and chastising the earth with old-testament plagues? (Rev.11:3) Where is the story that they were killed and resurrected and went to heaven? Where in 66-70AD was an earthquake that killed 7000 names of peoples? Moreover the 42 months of Revelation 11 cannot be applied to the short period that the Romans took the temple and offered to their gods. In short: one has to completely mutilate and violate the text of Revelation in order to fit it into the historic context of the first century.

The important fallacy of preterism is their mutilation of Daniel 9:27. They want the 70th week of Daniel to be fulfilled in the years of Jesus' ministry and the years that followed his crucifixion, denouncing his crucifixion as 'the abomination of desolation'. In our exposition on the book of Daniel, we will name multiple discrepancies between this preterist interpretation and the bible text. Here we suffice with noting that the destruction of Jerusalem did not happen in the 3.5 years after the crucifixion but that it happened 40 years later. Only this plain fact already makes it clear to everyone, that the 70th week of Daniel has absolutely nothing to do with the days of our Lord on earth. The 70th week has either started a short while ago or it is still future.

3. The historicist vision

In the historicist vision, the book of Revelation is mostly fulfilled during the past 2000 years of history. This vision has gained much prominence because of the work of Seventh Day Adventists, that see Catholicism as the core fulfillment of Antichrist prophecies in Revelation 13.

The historicist vision has some small advantages compared to the idealist and preterist visions. At least this vision respects the future fulfillment of large parts of Revelation, as indicated by the Lord in Revelation 1:19. However the way some parts of the book are explained by historicists, especially by the Seventh Day Adventists, does no right to the text of the book. They completely change the order of events in the book in order to fit them into history. Moreover historicists have decided to read the 3.5 years or 1,260 days as 1,260 years. They do so because of two bible texts. The first is: 'For forty years—one year for each of the forty days you explored the land—you will suffer for your sins and know what it is like to have me against you.’ (Numbers 14:34). The second is: 'Then lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself. You are to bear their sin for the number of days you lie on your side. I have assigned you the same number of days as the years of their sin. So for 390 days you will bear the sin of the people of Israel. After you have finished this, lie down again, this time on your right side, and bear the sin of the people of Judah. I have assigned you 40 days, a day for each year.' (Ezekiel 4:4-6)

In fact these are two opposite texts. The text in Numbers aggravates the days of the inspection of the promised land by the people into years of wandering through the desert. The text in Ezekiel diminishes the years of sins of the people into days that Ezekiel was ordered to lie on his side. Therefore, one cannot just on the basis of these texts say: in all of Bible prophecy - a day is to be interpreted as a year. We should always look at the context. In Numbers 14 and Ezekiel 4, the Bible itself tells us how to interpret the days: 40 years of wandering - 390 years of being unfaithful. But nowhere in the 8 texts (Daniel 7:25, 12:7, 11 and Revelation 11:2, 11:3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5) on the 3.5 years or 1,260 days or 42 months or 'times, time and half a time' does the Bible state that the days have to be interpreted as years. Who are we to determine that this would be the true meaning? Moreover, the Bible speaks of this period in three different ways - 1,260 days - 42 months - 'times, time and half a time' -, that all mean: 3.5 years. Therefore the Holy Spirit Himself makes it clear that we must interpret the 1,260 days as 3.5 years and NOT as 1,260 years. Moreover, Daniel 9:27 makes it clear that it is half of a 'seven' (period of 7 years) which again leads to only one conclusion: that we have to count it as 3.5 years and nothing else.

Looking at the interpretations of the Seventh Day Adventists, they see the imprisonment of the Pope by the Napoleontic forces in 1798 as a milestone in the diminishing power of the Roman Catholic Church. Going back 1,260 years in history, one arrives at the year 538, the end of the siege by the Ostrogoths of Rome. The Ostrogoths were a Roman-era Germanic people. This would have been the start of 'The beast was given a mouth to utter proud words and blasphemies and to exercise its authority for forty-two months' (Rev.13:5). And the imprisonment of the pope would have been fulfillment of 'one of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was filled with wonder and followed the beast' (Rev.13:3). The problem is that the order in the text has to be reversed in order to make it fit history. According to Revelation the healing of the wound and the wondering after the beast (13:3,4) happens before the 42 months of 'continuing the exercise of power' (13:5). And why does Revelation measure this period in months and not in days? Is that not a warning not to transform the period into 1,260 years?

Moreover the moment the Ostrogoths ended a siege of Rome cannot be seen as a moment that a worldwide rule of the Roman Catholic Church started. Saint Augustine wrote his 'City of God' (426 AD) even before the official fall of the Roman empire (476 AD). And the downfall of the RC Church did not start at the imprisonment of the pope. It started with the French Revolution (1789), which was for a great part instigated from the soil of the young USA (founded in 1776) with an enormous role by freemasonry (which started to flourish in France in the years before the French revolution).

And historically, one cannot state that the wound of the RC Church was healed after it had to step back from a 1,260 year reign and that this church has since been the fulfillment of: 'the whole world wondered after the beast, saying: who is like the beast and who is able to wage war against it?' (Rev.13:3,4). First of all: the healing of the wound would occurs BEFRORE the reign of 42 months, not at the end of it. And second: according to 7th Day Adventists, this would have been fulfilled in 1929 by Mussolini, who gave the Church the renewed right to create a papal state - the Vatican. But historic developments that have since set in, the enormous economic crises of the 30's, the second world war of the 40's and the worldwide influence of the USA ever since, make it clear that it is not the RC Church but the USA, which has to be seen as fulfillment of Bible Prophecy. 

The Seventh Day Adventist vision on the pope is derived from earlier protestantism that saw the pope as the 'little horn' from Daniel 7. This little horn came up from among the horns that resulted from the Roman empire and subdued three of them. It is correct to say that Roman Catholicism was the heir of the Roman empire. But one cannot claim that it defeated 'three horns'. According to Seventh Day Adventists, the three horns that the RC Church defeated were (1) The Heruli, in 493. (2) The Vandals, in 534, and, (3) The Ostrogoths in 538. But history tells another tale. The Heruli's were subdued by another German German people, the Lombards, not by the pope. The Vandals were defeated by Emperor Justinian not by the pope. The Ostrogoths were defeated by the Byzantine emperor, not by the pope. Almost all efforts to explain the book of Revelation with historic events totally fail. It is because the fulfillment of the book is still future.

The insurmountable problem with the vision that Roman Catholicism would be the beast out of the sea of Revelation13, with the pope as the Antichrist, is that it is in total contradiction with Revelation 17, which is complementary to Revelation 13. Revelation 17 sees 'the prostitute' as sitting on a beast with seven heads and ten horns. One explanation that Revelation itself gives of the 7 heads is that they are 'seven hills' upon which the woman is sitting. This is a clear reference to the city of Rome. Hence the 'prostitute', called 'Mystery Babylon the Great' cannot be anything else than the Roman Catholic Church, having exerted enormous power over the Western world for about 1000 years. But the prostitute would be severely hated and attacked and even eaten and burnt by the beast and its horns on which she was sitting. This plainly shows that the beast can never be 'the Roman Catholic Church' while the book of Revelation tells us that the beast would totally destroy the power of this church. In the end, the RC Church and the beast would be opposite powers.

While historicist views are far off a right explanation of Revelation, there are parts of the book which have a historicist character. The historicist vision is correct where it concerns the chapters 2 and 3 of Revelaton. The 7 churches in Asia follow the exact pattern of the church of Jesus Christ through history. Further the two heavenly signs of chapter 12 have also a historic context, being the true people of Israel under the rule of the empires since the fall of Jerusalem around 600 BC. Chapter 17 has first and foremost a historicist context, the place of the Roman Catholic Church in world history and the development of the beast that strove to get loose from her. There is also a historicist explanation of this same beast in the first four verses of Revelation 13 that, together with the little horn of Daniel 7, forms a perfect match with history, which we discuss in our page on the empire.

4. The futurist vision

According to the futurist vision, all of the book of Revelation from the 4th chapter is to be fulfilled in the future.

Where very little in the text of Revelation has had any serious fulfillment in history, most of it must be applied to the future. The only complete match between history and the chapters  of Revelation is found in Revelation 2 and 3.Therefore the futurist interpretation is mostly right but not totally. There are big fragments of chapters in Revelation that have been fulfilled: The first part of Revelation 12, the firs verses of Revelation 13 and big parts of Revelation 17. We will explain how these chapters fit in a historic context with our exposition on these chapters.

The big problem with a purely futurist vision, not seeing the parts that are already fulfilled, is that Christians are unaware of how close we already are to the Endtime, that they are looking in the wrong direction when watching for evil and danger and that they take wrong positions in the face of unrighteousness or even lawlessness. A wrong or limited interpretation of Bible prophecy is an important instrument of deception. As Jesus said: 'Watch out that no one deceives you.' (Mathew 24:4)

For the most part we hold the futurist vision, certainly where the main text of Revelation 4-22 is concerned, the Lamb taking the scroll, opening the seals, the blowing of the trumpets and the pouring out of the vials. And insofar chapters 12, 13 and 17 have a start centuries or even millennia back in time, they all end in the Endtime, which is still future.

We thereby also hold a premillennial position, expecting a literal fulfillment of the Lord's return in order to save humanity from total destruction. Instead of coming to a humanity that is thoroughly prepared for his coming, as postmillenialists want us to believe, Jesus will come back to a humanity that will be in utter and total rebellion against his God and Father, a rebellion never before seen in history. This is in accordance with the words of Christ. Words like: 'However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?' (Luke 18:8) and 'At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other' (Mathew 24:10) and 'Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold' (Mathew 24:12) and 'If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive' (Mathew 24:22). And what does the apostle Paul teach us on 'the last days'? (2 Tim.3:1-5) And Revelation 19 teaches us that the situation on earth would not be a warm welcome to the Lord: 'And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.' (Rev.19:19)

We hold the vision of dispensionalism. Those rejecting this vision are not consistent for they all accept the change in God's ways with man after the flood in the permission of eating flesh, which was forbidden before the flood (Gen.9:3). They also accept the enormous change in God's dealings with humanity after the coming of Christ in (the at least partial) abolishment of the Mosaic law, and the total setting aside of the ceremonial part of it, where every jot or tittle of the law has been completely fulfilled in Christ and forever will be fulfilled in Him only (Mathew 5:17,18). Another enormous change brought by Christ's coming in the world is the inclusion of all peoples of the world in a community called the church, becoming one body with the Jewish believers. Further they acknowledge the enormous change in the choice of Abraham and his descendants as his special people, through which Messiah would come.

The only dispensations the non-dispensationalists do not want to hear about are the short period that we call 'the Endtime' and the millennial kingdom. However Jesus Himself referred multiple times to 'the end of the age' (Mathew 13:40) and to 'a future age' (Luke 20:35). Most importantly, the Bible itself uses the term 'dispensations' multiple times, for instance: the dispensation of the grace of God' (Eph.3:2) and 'the dispensation of the fullness of times' in which 'He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in Him'. (Eph.1:10)

4.a-d The moment of the rapture

We totally reject the concept of a prewrath or a posttrib rapture. The prewrath-believers hang on to this view because of the promise stated by Paul in 1 Thessalonians that Jesus would deliver us from the wrath to come. So when wrath is poured out on earth, believers should be gone. The word 'wrath' in 1 Thess.1 (orgḗ) is different from the word 'wrath' in Revelation        (thymos). Apart from that, it is true that 'wrath' in Revelation will only be applied in the vial judgments at the end of the Endtime. But the Lord also gave the promise to keep us from the 'hour of temptation' (Rev.3:10). Why would we believe the first and not the second promise?

Further, the wrath at the end of the Endtime is not directed at believers that will be on earth in those perilous times but at 'Babylon the Great', the religious / economical aspect of the empire, the USA and all its affiliates. The vials, however terrifying will come as a deliverance to the oppressed of the Endtime. Therefore, the Lord speaks of enormous devastating events, taking place 'after the tribulation of those days' (Mathew 24:29). And while the wrath of God is being poured out on the empire, the believers will be saved, by a second or even third rapture, not a rapture of church believers but a rapture of the elect from Israel, not by the Lord Himself (1 Thessalonians 4:16) but by angels: 'And He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other'. These elect will not be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air but they are seen with the King as his brothers when seated at his glorious throne on earth (Mathew 25:31, 40)

In short: the prewrath position is in contradiction with many statements in Mathew 24, 25 and in Revelation. We shall dive deeper into these discrepancies in our page on the rapture. The same holds for  the posttrib position, which sees the rapture like the going out of a city in order to escort a king that is returning from a battle, like in old Roman times. It would be a repetition of Palm Sunday, but now with Jesus not on a donkey but on a white horse. This would be appropriate in case of a so called 'postmillenialist' return, in which the millennial kingdom of righteousness and peace would have been accomplished by an obedient and faithful church. Alas, this is not the case. The Lord will come back to an earth that will have fallen in the deepest moral abyss one can imagine and He will have to fight to claim what is rightfully his, for all powers on earth will resist Him to the teeth. No, There will be no King to be accompanied on a cheerful return by citizens coming to welcome Him. On the contrary, we see armies of heaven, following the victorious King, as witnesses of the total devastation He inflicts on all of his mighty enemies on earth. Further, of all positions on the rapture, the posttrib position is mostly in contradiction with scripture. It is primarily based on one text in Mathew 24, which is totally taken out of context: 'Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken' (Mathew 24:29) We shall show the discrepancies between the posttrib vision and scripture in our page on the rapture.

We hold the middle of the pretrib and the midtrib positions. Our Endtime definition is vital in this position. If the 'hour of temptation' is indeed equal to the last 3.5 years, then multiple reasons exist for a rapture shortly before these last 3.5 years.That brings us at the intermediate position between pretrib and midtrib. Against the pretrib position (rapture before Daniel's 70th week will start) we offer the following arguments:

(1) A rapture before the last 7 years would not be necessary for the keeping of the church out of 'the hour of temptation', the last short period of pure evil, because that won't start till 3.5 years before Christ's return.

(2) A rapture before the last 7 years would be too soon. The church with the indwelling Holy Spirit has to remain on earth until shortly before the start of the 3.5 years of pure evil and lawlessness. The Holy Spirit in the church is the Restrainer of the coming of the lawless one, as Paul states in 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 7: 'And now ye know what withholds that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now holds back will continue to do so, until he be taken out of the way.' The lawless one with satan in the background will act very swiftly once the Holy Spirit has left a spiritual vacuum on earth. They probably won't need 3.5 years.

(3) A rapture before the last 7 years would not be in accordance with the words of Christ that those days would be shortened on behalf of the elect (Mathew 24:22). The 'cutting of' of those days is also seen in the reaction of the dragon, once he is cast to earth: 'Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knows that he hath but a short time.' (Rev.12:12)

(4) There are multiple arguments to relate the second Apocalyptic horseman, on the red horse of the second seal to the 'abomination of desolation', halfway the 70th week of Daniel (Dan.9:27). The horses seem to appear in rapid succession, so the rapture would be a short while before the midpoint and not at the beginning of Daniel's 70th week.

(5) The Lord promised 'to come with haste'. This coming will start with the rapture of the church and the opening of the seals. That also seems to indicate a shortening of that last period of 7 years by a rapture that will take place quite a while after the start of it.

(6) There is no indication of the length of the first half of Daniel's last week. The length of the second half is clearly indicated, 8 times in total, 3 times in the book of Daniel (7:25, 12:7, 11) and 5 times in the book of Revelation (11:2, 11:3, 12:6, 12:14, 13:5). Therefore, the first half of the last 7 years is not an established biblical period, like the second half.

Against the midtrib position (rapture halfway Daniel's 70th week will start) we offer the following arguments:

1. The 24 elders, symbolic of those partaking in the rapture, are seen in heaven in Revelation 4 and 5, and they honor the Lamb once it has taken the scroll of which it then starts opening the seals. This means the rapture has to take place some time before the start of the 'great tribulation', which is the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week.

2. According to Romans 8:10 and 1 Corinthians 5:10, Christians will be put before Christ's judgment seat. Only then will they receive crowns. This also has to take place after the rapture of the church and thus even more time between rapture and start of the Endtime needs to pass.

3. In our estimation, the Endtime will not start directly at the opening of the seals. First the white horse will be seen, bringing victory to the people of God on earth, that will be heavily attacked by satan as we will show from multiple prophecies. The turn in their circumstances by the Lord's deliverance will not last long, yet some time will have to pass until the last 3.5 years will be started by actions of the red horse.

4. The spiritual vacuum, left by the rapture of the Church and especially the 'taking away' of the indwelling Holy Spirit from the earth, will not be filled instantaneously. The powers of this world will need a short time to plan and coordinate their actions.

Combining all information we have, events in the world, in Israel and signs in the stars of heaven, which all started with the Revelation 12-sign in 2017, we come to the following assessment.

(1) The rapture will occur approximately 4 months before the opening of the first seal and the actions of the white horse.

(2) The start of the Endtime, at the second seal, with the red horse, will start about 6 months after the opening of the first seal and thus 10 months after the rapture of the Church - later than pretrib but ealier than midtrib

(3) We are already more than 2 years and 4 months into the last week of Daniel.

If 2 years and 4 months of the first 3.5 years have already passed, fourteen months of the first 3.5 years are still left. About ten months of the first 3.5 years would pass after the rapture until the last 3.5 years. This would mean that the rapture is about four months from now.  Amen, come Lord Jesus!