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but when you see jerusalem surrounded by armies then know that her desolation is at hand then let those who are in judea flee to the mountains and [et those who are in the midst of the city depart and let not those who are in the country enter the city because these are the days of vengeance in order that all things which are written may be fu@lled luke 21:20-22[close]
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the days of vengeance an exposition of the book of revelation david chilton dominion press ft worth texas[close]
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copyright 1987 by dominion press first printing january 1987 second printing decembefi 1987 third printing march 1990 all rights reserved written permission must be secured from the publisher to use or reproduce any part of this book except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles published by dominion press p.o box 8204 ft worth texas 76124 typesetting by thoburn press box 2459 reston va 22090 printed in the united states of america library of congress catalog card number 86-050798 isbn 0-930462-09-2[close]
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table of contents foreword by gordon j wenham ix author s preface xi publisher s preface by gary north xv introduction 1 part one preamble the son of man revelational 49 l king of kings 51 part two historical prologue:the letters to the seven churchesrevelation2-3 85 2 the spirit speaks to the church overcome 93 3 the dominion mandate 119 part three ethical stipulations the seven sealsrevelation 4-7 141 4 the throne above the sea 145 5 christus victor 165 6 in the path of the white horse 181 7 the true israel 201 part four covenant sanctions the 8 liturgy and history 229 9 all hell breaks loose 243 10 the faithful witness 259 11 the end of the beginning 271 12 the holywar 295 13 leviathan and behemoth 325 14 the kingdon mount zion 353 part five covenant succession and continuity the seven chalicesrevelation 15-22 379 15 seven last plagues 383 16 judgment from the sanctuary 395 vii[close]
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the days of vengeance 17 the false bride 421 18 babylon is fallen 445 19 thefeasts of the kingdom 467 20 the millennium and the judgment 493 21 the new jerusalem 535 22 come lord jesus 565 lessons of revelation 581 appendix athe levitical symbolism in revelation by philip barrington 593 appendix b christian zionism and messianic judaism by james b jordan 612 appendix c common grace eschatology and biblical law by garynorth 622 select bibliography 667 scripture index 679 author index 701 subject index 705 viii[close]
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readers of the book of revelation are either mesmerized or mystified by it the mesmerized come up with such startling interpretations that the mystified often conclude that soberminded christians should leave the book well alone david chilton s commentary ought to be studied by both types of reader he shows that revelation is a book like every other book of the new testament addressed primarily to the first-century church and easily understood by them because they were thoroughly familiar with old testament imagery he shows that once we grasp these idioms revelation is not difficult for us to understand either revelation remains though a challenging and relevant book for us not because it gives an outline of world history with special reference to our era but because it shows us that christ is in control of world history and how we should live and pray and worship in vivid powerful imagery it teaches us what it means to believe in god s sovereignty and justice may this valuable commentary prompt us to pray with john and the universal church in heaven and on earth `even so come lord jesus gordon wenham the college of st paul and st mary cheltenham england ix[close]
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author s preface from the very beginning cranks and crackpots have attempted to use revelation to advocate some new twist on the chicken little doctrine the sky 1s fallingl but as i hope to show in this exposition st john s apocalypse teaches instead that christians will overcome all opposition through the work of jesus christ my study has convinced me that a true understanding of this prophecy must be based on the proper application of five crucial interpretive keys 1 revelation is the most biblicay book in the bible st john quotes hundreds of passages from the old testament often with subtle allusions to little-known religious rituals of the hebrew people in order to understand revelation we need to know our bibles backward and forward one reason why this commentary is so large is that i have tried to explain this extensive biblical background commenting on numerous portions of scripture that shed light on st john s prophecy i have also reprinted as appendix a philip barrington s excellent survey of the levitical symbolism in revelation 2 revelation has a system of symboiism almost everyone recognizes that st john wrote his message in symbols but the meaning of those symbols is not up for grabs there is a systematic structure in biblical symbolism in order to understand revelation properly we must become familiar with the language in which it is written among other goals this commentary seeks to bring the church at least a few steps closer to a truly biblical theology of revelation 3 revelation is a prophecy about imminent events events that were about to break loose on the world of the first century revelation is not about nuclear warfare space travel or the end xi[close]
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the days of vengeance of the world again and again it specifically warns that the time is near st john wrote his book as a prophecy of the approaching destruction of jerusalem in a.d 70 showing that jesus christ had brought the new covenant and the new creation revelation cannot be understood unless this fundamental fact is taken seriously 4 revehztion is a worship service st john did not write a textbook on prophecy instead he recorded a heavenly worship service in progress one of his major concerns in fact is that the worship of god is central to everything in life it is the most important thing we do for this reason i have devoted special attention throughout this commentary to the very considerable liturgical aspects of revelation and their implications for our worship services today 5 revelation is a book zbout dominion revelation is not a book about how terrible the antichrist is or how powerful the devil is it is as the very first verse says the revelation of jesus christ it tells us about his lordship over all it tells us about our salvation and victory in the new covenant god s wonderful plan for our life it tells us that the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our god and of his christ and it tells us that he and his people shall reign forever and ever i have many people to thank for making this book possible first and foremost i am grateful to dr gary north without whose patience and considerable financial investment it simply could not have been written the week i moved to tyler gary took me along on one of his periodic book-buying sprees at a large used bookstore in dallas as i helped him haul hundreds of carefully chosen volumes to the checkstand i bought a few books too a couple every hour or so just to keep my hand in the game gary asked me what long-term project i d like to work on along with my other duties at the institute for christian economics how about a medium-sized popular-style introductory-level easy-to-read book on revelation i suggested i think i could knock something like that out in about three months that was almost to the day 3 years and six months ago or as gary might be tempted to mutter under his breath a time times and half a time at last the tribulation has ended the book of course has vastly outgrown its projected size and scope no small part of that is due to the rev james b xii[close]
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publisher s preface by gary north with his first book on eschatology paradise restored 1 david chilton launched an eschatological revival revolution would be too strong a word for his viewpoint is an old one stretching back to the early church but overnight paradise restored began to influence religious leaders and scholars who had believed that the biblical case for cultural victory was dead a relic of the nineteenth century now comes the days of vengeance a verse-by-verse exposition of the toughest book in the bible the book of revelation what was generalized in paradise restored is now supported with chapter and verse indeed lots and lots of chapters and verses this book will become the new reference work on the book of revelation incredibly chilton s style is so lively that few readers will even notice that the author has tossed a scholarly bombshell the conservative christian academic world will be speechless chilton has offered a remarkable exegetical challenge to those who hold to the traditional rival eschatologies which i label pessimillennialism this is not just another boring commentary on the book of revelation even if it were only that it would be a major event for the publication of any conservative bible-believing commentary on the book of revelation is a major event w hendrikson s amillennial commentary more than conquerors was published in 1940 and is less than half the size of this one and not in the same league in terms of biblical scholarship john walvoord s the revelation of jesus christ is now over two dec1 david chilton paradise restored a bibiicai theology of dominion ft worth dominion press 1985 xv[close]
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the days of vengeanze ades old and it too is only half the size of chilton s despite all the fascination with biblical prophecy in the twentieth century full-length commentaries on this most prophetic of biblical books are rare they always have been rare few commentators have dared to explain the book john calvin taught through all the books of the bible save one revelation martin luther wrote something in the range of a hundred volumes of material as much or more than calvin but he didn t write a commentary on revelation moses stuart wrote a great one in the mid-nineteenth century but it is forgotten today the book of revelation has resisted almost all previous attempts to unlock its secret of secrets now david chilton has discovered this secret this longlost key that unlocks the code this long-ignored key is the old testament the old testament background very funny you may be saying to yourself all right i will admit it it is funny funny peculiar not funny ha ha what chilton does is to go back again and again to the old testament in order to make sense of the apostle john s frame of reference this technique works it is the only technique that does work those who have never worked personally with chilton cannot readily appreciate his detailed knowledge of the bible especially the old testament i used him dozens of times as my personal concordance he worked in the office next to mine i would yell to him hey david do you know where i can find the passage about i would relate a smattering of a bible story or some disjointed verse that was rattling around in my memory and he would almost instantly tell me the chapter he might or might not get the exact verse usually he was within three or four verses that was always close enough rare was the occasion when he could not think of it even then he would putter around in his extensive personal library until he found it it never took him long in this book he has taken his remarkable memory of the old testament and he has fused it with an interpretive technique developed by james jordan in his book judges god s 2 war against humanism 1985 jordan works with dozens of 2 tyler texas geneva ministries 1985 xvi[close]
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author s preface jordan and the rev ray sutton pastors of westminster presbyterian church in tyler texas who have greatly influenced my understanding of the bible s literary and symbolic connections and liturgical structures the rev ned rutland of westminster presbyterian church in opelousas louisiana read an early version of some chapters and with consummate tact and graciousness steered me in a more biblical direction james m peters tyler s resident historian of antiquities and computer whiz was a rich treasury of information on the ancient world there are others who contributed in various ways to the production of this volume ice s patient and cheerful secretaries mrs maureen peters and mrs lynn dwelle assisted me with many technical details and secured out-of-print books they have developed the virtue of going the extra mile into a high art typesetter david thoburn a true artist labored long hours in works of supererogation solving unusual problems and ensuring the high quality and readability of the book he has abundantly confirmed my conviction of his superior craftsmanship his assistant mrs sharon nelson was a valuable mediator making sure our computers remained on speaking terms the indexes were prepared by mitch wright and vern crisler one of the most outstanding bible scholars of our day is the british theologian gordon j wenham of the college of st paul and st mary whose knowledgeable and well-written commentaries have made a significant mark throughout the evangelical world my first contact with dr wenham was last year when with no advance warning i sent him a copy of my book paradise restored to my great surprise and delight he wrote back to express his appreciation this encouraged me though not without a degree of fear and trembling to solicit his comments on the uncorrected proofs of the present work dr wenham graciously took valuable time to read it to offer suggestions and to write the foreword i am grateful for his kindness naturally he cannot be held responsible for the numerous shortcomings of this book the latter point should perhaps be emphasized this commentary makes no claim whatsoever to be the last word on the subject indeed if my eschatology is correct the church has many more years left to write many more words i am greatly indebted to the important contributions of many other com xlll[close]
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j the days of vengeance mentators-especiall yphilip barrington austin farrer j massyngberde ford meredith g kline j stuart russell moses stuart henry barclay swete and milton s terry and i hope i have done justice to them in building on their foundation yet i am painfully aware that the task of commenting on st john s magnificent prophecy far exceeds my abilities where i have failed adequately to set forth the message of the revelation i beg the indulgence of my brothers and sisters in christ and earnestly desire their comments and corrections letters may be addressed to me at p o box 2314 placerville ca 95667 my beloved wife darlene has always been my greatest source of encouragement our children nathan david jacob israel and abigail aviva endured our collective exile to patmos with true johannine grace mixed perhaps with occasional rumblings of boanergean thunder as well and if their bedtime stories were somehow filled with more than the usual quota of cherubs dragons flying horses and flaming swords they never complained finally i am grateful to my parents the rev and mrs harold b chilton i was immeasurably blessed to grow up in a home where the word of god is so highly honored so faithfully taught so truly lived the environment they structured was constantly flooded with musical grandeur and richness as the atmosphere was charged with rousing theological discussion all in the context of caring for the needy sheltering the homeless feeding the hungry and bringing to all the precious message of the gospel from the steaming jungles and rice paddies of the philippines to the shaded lawns of southern california they set before me a remarkable and unforgettable example of what it means to be bondservants of the lord some of my earliest memories are of seeing my parents faith tested beyond what seemed the limits of human endurance and when god had tried them they came forth as gold holding forth the testimony of jesus suffering the loss of all things in order to win christ they are what st john has exhorted us all to be faithful witnesses this book is dedicated to them david chilton tyler texas may 8 1986 ascension day xiv[close]
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publisher s preface old testament symbols that he has sifted from the historical narratives and the descriptions of the tabernacle and temple then he applies these symbols and models to other parallel bible stories including the new testament s account of the life of christ and the early church no one does this better than jordan but chilton has successfully applied this biblical hermeneutic principle of interpretation to the book of revelation in many creative ways chilton is not the first expositor to do this as his footnotes and appendixes reveal but he is unquestionably the best at it that the christian church has yet produced with respect to the book of revelation these old testament background stories and symbols make sense of the difficult passages in revelation he makes clear the many connections between old and new testament symbolic language and historical references this is why his commentary is so easy to read despite the magnitude of what he has accomplished academically the missing piece the covenant structure there was a missing piece in the puzzle however and this kept the book in chilton s computer for an extra year at least that missing piece was identified in the fall of 1985 by pastor ray sutton sutton had been seriously burned in a kitchen accident and his mobility had been drastically reduced he was working on a manuscript on the symbolism of the sacraments when a crucial connection occurred to him the connection was supplied by westminster seminary professor meredith g kline years earlier he had read professor kline s studies on the ancient suzerainty kingly treaties of the ancient near east s pagan kings would establish covenants with their vassals kline had pointed out that these treaties paralleled the structure of the book of deuteronomy they had five points 1 an identification of the king 2 the historical events that led to the establishment of the covenant 3 stipulations terms of the covenant 4 a warning of judgment against anyone who disobeyed but a promise of blessing to those who did obey and 5 a system of reconfirming the treaty at the death of the king or the vassal 3 kline treaty of the great king grand rapids eerdmans 1963 reprinted in part in his later book the structure of biblicai a uthority grand rapids eerdmans 1972 xvii[close]
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