Armageddon Already Happened!
“The Revelation of Saint John” was not written by the alleged apostle John, but by a convert (or converts) calling themselves “John.” They were in Anatolia or Turkey, not The Isle of Patmos. The first part, the “Letters to the Assemblies” is thought by some scholars to be a separate work, and offers the zeal and urgency of the early Messianic Jewish converts. Overall, their message is they will be saved by their faith.
The next offering has bits of the Prophets Jeremiah, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Joel, Zechariah and parts of Daniel and the Book of Enoch. It is a retelling of the Bar Kokhba War of 131 to 135 CE.
The writing was telling the converts despite the death and destruction the hope of the Kingdom of God being in their midst. The Messianic expectations were very elevated as the Romans had made short work of Jerusalem and the Temple. The Temple tax, the fiscus Judaicus called “the mark of the beast” had already been instituted by Rome and anyone who did not pay was not able to sell or trade. The lack of a Temple did not mean the lack of a tax or “offering” as the Jews had called it. Why on the forehead and wrist? Torah has a provision for every male to have a scroll of the law on their forehead and wrist (Deuteronomy 6:8), meaning that God's Word should be evident in everything we do (hands) and in our thoughts (foreheads). They were comparing it with being complicit with Rome.
“666” is a mistranslation of 616, which is written in the oldest codices. It comes from Jeremiah 51:41, “king of Sheshach.” It was written in code, backwards, as it spelled BBL or Babylon or King of Babylon. In Revelation it is Caesar or” King of Rome.” This is why it says “he that understands” is a student of the Scriptures. The code is called the “atbash cipher.” The writers use the colorful symbolism in Joel to refer to the hordes of soldiers in the invasion, as curiously described in Ezekiel 38:5. This was the costliest war ever fought by Rome and it called in all legions as far away as Briton and Germany. General Sextus Severus used Har Megiddo or “Armageddon” as a staging ground. The book of Enoch is the source for other fantastic and eschatological passages.
Many have perverted the Book in order as not to nullify it, as the truth would do - THIS ALREADY HAPPENED. It comes with a warning in Chapter 22:18–19. It shows the resilient faith of Second Century believers in the wake of a huge historic disaster. Many had already migrated to Turkey and were living as refugees from Rome which had forbidden Jews entry in Jerusalem which it had renamed Aelia Capitolina and renamed Judah “Palestine.” The war cost at least 3 million or more lives and the bodies were so numerous the lay on the ground with no one to retrieve them, as referred to in Ezekiel 39:14.
“Let he with wisdom” refers to a student of Torah and the scriptures, then the Septuagint. The scribes had fled Qumran leaving their own eschatology with the “Ships of Kittim” or Rome. “The teacher of righteousness” had been killed leaving the Qumran community in disarray.
As written in Torah in Deuteronomy 28, YHWH warned the Jews of blessings and cursings. The survivors no doubt saw themselves as the victims of the cursing and a new felt sense of unity as they struggled to survive in the Roman Empire. Their newfound faith was all they had as Rome exercised a heavy hand on Jews.
Many have interpreted the writings to no avail, teaching this is an event yet to happen as their understanding of scripture and history was not keen enough to realize it.
Jesus never returned in the writers’ lifetimes, as he said he would in the Gospels. It is written he said that those hearing him would not taste death before he returned. it's curious that they wrote that when they knew the outcome.
The marveling of the beast is the Roman Empire. "Who is like the beast?" Rome was the greatest power known to history. They had conquered the known world, exceeding the achievement of Alexander. At the time Judea was under occupation and the longing for self rule gave rise to all kinds of militant groups. This would eventually give rise to Bar Kokhba and his army.
The head with the deadly wound was Julius Caesar. Augustus was the successor that gave life to the beast. The persecutions were already taking place, as under occupation Rome was a power not to contend with. Josephus is a great source for the suffering that took place in occupied Judea.
Oddly, the prophesied forty and two months or times, time and half a time was the length of the Bar Kokhba war: three and one-half years. Many are not familiar with this event as the Christian church teaches 70 CE as the end of Judea. It had another 70 years to go. "Seventy years are determined."
Shimon bar Koseva (Bar Kokhba) would be the one to challenge Rome one last time. Hadrian would not accept Judeacus in his name, as was the tradition of victors.
Thanks to:
The Jewish Encyclopedia
The Catholic Encyclopedia
Salo Wittmayer Baron
