The Rapture Plot | Appendix A | Appendix B | Appendix C | Appendix D | Appendix E | Appendix F | Appendix G | Appendix H | Appendix I
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| Justin Martyr |
The Early Church was POST-TRIB & Held a Literal/Futurist View of Revelation
Justin Martyr (AD110-165)
"[T]wo advents of
Christ have been announced: the one, in which He is set forth as
suffering, inglorious, dishonored, and crucified; but the other, in
which He shall come from heaven with glory, when the man of apostasy,
who speaks strange things against the Most High, shall venture to do
unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians, ... Now it is
evident that no one can terrify or subdue us who have believed in
Jesus over all the world. For it is plain that, though beheaded, and
crucified, and thrown to wild beasts, and chains, and fire, and all
other kinds of torture, we do not give up our confession; but the
more such things happen, the more do others and in larger numbers
become faithful, and worshippers of God through the name of Jesus."
[Dialog
with Trypho, CX]
Irenaeus (AD120-202)
"And then he points out
the time that his tyranny shall last, during which the saints shall
be put to flight, they who offer a pure sacrifice unto God: And in
the midst of the week, he says, the sacrifice and the libation shall
be taken away, and the abomination of desolation [shall be brought]
into the temple: even unto the consummation of the time shall the
desolation be complete. Now three years and six months constitute the
half-week." [Against Heresies, Book V, XXV] "In a still clearer light has John, in the Apocalypse, indicated to the Lord’s disciples what shall happen in the last times, and concerning the ten kings who shall then arise, among whom the empire which now rules [the earth] shall be partitioned. ... And they shall lay Babylon waste, and burn her with fire, and shall give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight. After that they shall be destroyed by the coming of our Lord."
[Against
Heresies, Book V, XXVI]
Tertullian (AD145-220)
"In the Revelation of
John, again, the order of these times is spread out to view, which
"the souls of the martyrs" are taught to wait for beneath
the altar, whilst they earnestly pray to be avenged and judged:
(taught, I say, to wait), in order that the world may first drink to
the dregs the plagues that await it out of the vials of the angels,
and that the city of fornication may receive from the ten kings its
deserved doom, and that the beast Antichrist, with his false prophet
may wage war on the Church of God; and that, after the casting of the
devil into the bottomless pit for a while, the blessed prerogative of
the first resurrection may be obtained from the thrones; and then
again, after the consignment of him to the fire, that the judgment of
the final and universal resurrection may be determined out of the
books. Since, then, the Scriptures both indicate the stages of the
last times, and concentrate the harvest of the Christian hope in the
very end of the world."
[On
the Resurrection of the Flesh, XXV]
Hippolytus (AD170-236)
As these things, then, are
in the future, and as the ten toes of the image are equivalent to (so
many) democracies, and the ten horns of the fourth beast are
distributed over ten kingdoms, let us look at the subject a little
more closely, and consider these matters as in the clear light of a
personal survey. The golden head of the image and the lioness denoted
the Babylonians; the shoulders and arms of silver, and the bear,
represented the Persians and Medes; the belly and thighs of brass,
and the leopard, meant the Greeks, who held the sovereignty from
Alexander’s time; the legs of iron, and the beast dreadful and
terrible, expressed the Romans, who hold the sovereignty at present;
the toes of the feet which were part clay and part iron, and the ten
horns, were emblems of the kingdoms that are yet to rise; the other
little horn that grows up among them meant the Antichrist in their
midst; the stone that smites the earth and brings judgment upon the
world was Christ."
[Treatise
on Christ and Antichrist, 27,28]
"But it becomes us
further diligently to examine and set forth the period at which these
things shall come to pass, and how the little horn shall spring up in
their midst. For when the legs of iron have issued in the feet and
toes, according to the similitude of the image and that of the
terrible beast, as has been shown in the above, (then shall be the
time) when the iron and the clay shall be mingled together. Now
Daniel will set forth this subject to us. For he says, And one week
will make a covenant with many, and it shall be that in the midst
(half) of the week my sacrifice and oblation shall cease. By one
week, therefore, he meant the last week which is to be at the end of
the whole world of which week the two prophets Enoch and Elias will
take up the half. For they will preach 1,260 days clothed in
sackcloth, proclaiming repentance to the people and to all the
nations. For John says, And I will give power unto my two witnesses,
and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days,
clothed in sackcloth. That is the half of the week whereof Daniel
spake. These are the two olive trees and the two candlesticks
standing before the Lord of the earth. And if any man will hurt them,
fire will proceed out of their mouth, and devour their enemies; and
if any man will hurt them, he must in this manner be killed."
[Treatise
on Christ and Antichrist, 43, 47]
"Now concerning the
tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from
the adversary, John also speaks thus, "And I saw a great and
wondrous sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, ... And to the
woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into
the wilderness, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and
half a time, from the face of the serpent." That refers to the
one thousand two hundred and threescore days (the half of the week)
during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church....
These things then, being come to pass, beloved, and the one week
being divided into two parts, and the abomination of desolation being
manifested then, and the two prophets and forerunners of the Lord
having finished their course, and the whole world finally approaching
the consummation, what remains but the coming of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ from heaven, for whom we have looked in hope."
[Treatise
on Christ and Antichrist, 60, 61, 64]
"For he says, I shall
make a covenant of one week, and in the midst of the week my
sacrifice and libation will be removed. For by one week he indicates
the showing forth of the seven years which shall be in the last
times. And the half of the week the two prophets, along with John,
will take for the purpose of proclaiming to all the world the advent
of Antichrist, that is to say, for a thousand two hundred and sixty
days clothed in sackcloth; and they will work signs and wonders with
the object of making men ashamed and repentant, even by these means,
on account of their surpassing lawlessness and impiety. And if any
man will hurt them, fire will proceed out of their mouth, and devour
their enemies. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in
the days of the advent of Antichrist, and to turn waters into blood,
and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will.” And
when they have proclaimed all these things they will fall on the
sword, cut off by the accuser. And they will fulfill their testimony,
as Daniel also says; for he foresaw that the beast that came up out
of the abyss would make war with them, namely with Enoch, Elias, and
John, and would overcome them, and kill them, because of their
refusal to give glory to the accuser. That is the little horn that
sprang up. And he, being lifted up in heart, begins in the end to,
exalt himself and glorify himself as God, persecuting the saints and
blaspheming Christ."
[Appendix
to the Works of Hippolytus, XXI]
"And at first, indeed,
that deceitful and lawless one, with crafty deceitfulness, will
refuse such glory; but the men persisting, and holding by him, will
declare him king. And thereafter he will be lifted up in heart, and
he who was formerly gentle will become violent, and he who pursued
love will become pitiless, and the humble in heart will become
haughty and inhuman, and the hater of unrighteousness will persecute
the righteous. Then, when he is elevated to his kingdom, he will
marshal war; and in his wrath he will smite three mighty kings, —
those, namely, of Egypt, Libya, and Ethiopia. And after that he will
build the temple in Jerusalem, and will restore it again speedily,
and give it over to the Jews. And then he will be lifted up in heart
against every man; yea, he will speak blasphemy also against God,
thinking in his deceit that he shall be king upon the earth hereafter
for ever; not knowing, miserable wretch, that his kingdom is to be
quickly brought to nought, and that he will quickly have to meet the
fire which is prepared for him, along with all who trust him and
serve him. For when Daniel said, “I shall make my covenant for one
week,” he indicated seven years; and the one half of the week is
for the preaching of the prophets, and for the other half of the week
— that is to say, for three years and a half — Antichrist will
reign upon the earth. And after this his kingdom and his glory shall
be taken away. Behold, ye who love God, what manner of tribulation
there shall rise in those days, such as has not been from the
foundation of the world, no, nor ever shall be, except in those days
alone. Then the lawless one, being lifted up in heart, will gather
together his demons in man’s form, and will abominate those who
call him to the kingdom, and will pollute many souls."
[Appendix
to the Works of Hippolytus, XXV]
Note that Hippolytus clearly describes a 7 year period of tribulation at the end of the age, where the 2 witnesses prophesy the first 3.5 years and the Antichrist reigns the second 3.5 years, after having killed the 2 witnesses.
The Rapture Plot | Appendix A | Appendix B | Appendix C | Appendix D | Appendix E | Appendix F | Appendix G | Appendix H | Appendix I
The Holy Remnant
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