The Seventeenth Century Puritans on the Revelation

The Seventeenth Century Puritans
In tracing the development of the interpretation of the Revelation as ceaselessly following the unveiling of the plan of Providence by the events of history, we direct our attention at this stage to the fresh page of history which lay before the eyes of prophetic interpreters in the seventeenth century.

I. The Reformation of the sixteenth century was succeeded by the great Papal Reaction of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; a movement which included the founding of the Order of the Jesuits, the Marian persecutions, the wars in France against the Huguenots; the Auto-da-fes of the Inquisition in Spain; the decrees and anathemas of the Council of Trent; the diabolical attempt of the Duke of Alva to exterminate Protestants in the Netherlands, of whom 18,000 were slaughtered in six years; the fearful massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1572; the invasion of the Spanish Armada in 1588; the Jesuit attempts on the life of Queen Elizabeth; the Gunpowder Plot in 1605; the sanguinary Thirty Years War beginning 1618; the massacre of 20,000 Protestants in Magdeburg in 1631; the diabolical barbarities of Count Tilly in Saxony; the massacre of 40,000 Protestants in Ireland in 1641; and wholesale slaughter of the Waldenses in 1655; together with other wars, massacres, and persecutions too numerous to be mentioned.

The Sacrifice Begins

Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them. (Gen 3:21)

Adam and Eve stood before their High Priest having just received their death sentence, thou shalt surely die,[1] accompanied with the several curses that would be upon them and their offspring after being forced from the Garden of Eden. But this High Priest did not leave them without hope, their redemption and that available to all mankind would come through the Seed of the Woman.[2]

Interpreting the Seven Kings of Revelaton 17

Interpreting the Seven Kings of Revelation 17 by the criteria in the divinely given interpretation.

(v. 10) And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. (11) And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

First of all verse ten, the Angel time dates the 6^th king (or power) as contemporary with John, that is the present Roman Empire. Verse 11 identifies these kings (from the Greek βασιλεύς)^[1] as beasts. Therefore we must look in the scripture for our enumerated beast powers.

So as some believe Pagan Rome to be the 6^th, and Papal Rome to be the 7^th, this cannot be for several reasons:

1. Papal Rome is not a separate beast; and,
2. Papal Rome does not merely continue a short space, but in reality far exceeds the space of Pagan Rome.

Therefore the 6^th king/beast is both, Rome Pagan and Papal. The 7^th had not yet come. There is only one additional beast that shows up in the Revelation: and that is the Second or Earth Beast of chapter 13.

Interpreting the Earth Beast of Revelation 13

Interpreting the Earth Beast of Rev. 13 by the criteria in divinely given interpretations of the four preceding Beasts as revealed in Daniel and the Apocalypse.

(Dan 7:3-6) And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. The first was like a lion… the …second like to a bear… and the third …like a leopard…

Compare this with: (Rev 13:1) And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

We notice that all of these beasts come up from the same place, the sea. We also notice that all of these beast powers were original in themselves and only incorporated the others when they conquered them consecutively. The Fourth Beast devours the three beasts that were before it and therefore inherits the attributes of the three before it: leopard… bear… and lion. (v.2)

1. Each of these sea beasts, as they were introduced was an original power in the earth.

Learning The Lines – The Seven Year Tribulation & Who Is He?

Most adherents of the Futurist interpretation do not even have a clue as to where the seven year tribulation is derived from in the scripture itself, though it happens to be the host period of every key event that differentiates their view from the historical position.

There are two foundational scripture passages upon which the seven year tribulation is based: