[This Excursus has just been written and inserted into the upcoming second edition of my commentary on the Book of Revelation. I hope that you find it informative and helpful]

As mentioned earlier, there have been, and still are, many who claim that almost all the prophesies in the Book of Revelation have already been fulfilled in John’s era at the end of the first century AD. Theologically, this notion is viewed as ‘Preterism’. Generally speaking today, this view is very often linked to an eschatology which sees history as leading to a largely ‘Christianised’ world and a ‘golden age’ of godly peace and security on earth prior to the return of Christ.

Contrary to this belief, which is held by many professing Christians, the Bible does not present any real evidence that the return of the Lord will be preceded by a ‘golden age’ of global so-called ‘revival’ or a largely ‘Christianised’ world — a view which has sometimes been referred to as “the latter-day glory of the saints”.

It is most important that we understand the way that the Gospel operates in this world from a biblical perspective rather than from the systems and traditions of men, because the entire concept of a future earthly ‘golden age’ is fundamental to Jewish and Gnostic (and neo-Gnostic/New Spirituality) belief-systems rather than being part of the Word of God. Because these false notions directly affect how one interprets the Book of Revelation — in fact I believe that they utterly deface the whole thrust of The Book — this lengthy excursus is being inserted here.

The Scripture which is most often used as ‘proof’ of this ‘golden age’ notion is that in Isaiah which says, “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9; cf. Habakkuk 2:14). They claim that this prophesies a future Christianised world prior to the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and final judgement. But this is to randomly pluck a verse out of its context, where it clearly refers primarily to the conditions which will prevail in a wholly renewed creation, after the Lord’s return.

If one examines the full context of that verse in Isaiah 11, we will see that a vision of Messiah is presented where He is shown as ‘striking the earth with the rod of His mouth’ (verse 4), which is quoted in Revelation 19:15 as part of the return of Christ in mighty judgement. The rest of the vision which follows that in Isaiah 11 involves a world in which there is plainly no more curse of the Fall as it is infused with the symbols of the total resolution of human conflict such as “the wolf will live with the lamb” and “the infant will play by the cobra’s den, and the toddler will reach into the viper’s nest”. So if one examines honestly in its total context that verse which prophesies that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9), one will see that it is really about the conditions which will prevail AFTER the second coming of Christ, NOT before. As Professor E.J. Young, in his great commentary on the Book of Isaiah, comments on these verses:

“When the Messiah has completed His Messianic work, peace is introduced into the hearts of men, and insofar as men are true to the principles of peace which they have received from the Messiah, so far do the blessings depicted herein obtain. In its fullness, however, this condition will not be realized until the earth is covered with the knowledge of the Lord, and that condition will only obtain in the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness”. [Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah (Eerdmans, 1965), Vol.1, p.391].

In other words, on an individual basis a glorious peace is set up in the hearts of those who have been truly transformed by the Gospel. But those glorious conditions will not prevail generally across the world until the new heavens and new earth after Christ has returned in judgement to transform the cosmos.

So, let me again emphasise this point: The concept of the world being wholly (or almost wholly) ‘Christianised’ in some kind of global revival before the return of the Lord Jesus Christ has no basis in Scripture whatsoever and — just like the fictitious “Rapture” which has stupefied so many professing Christians — it holds out a false hope by which many saints will either become downcast or cherish dreams which cannot find fulfilment.

There seems to be a prevailing thought that unless the Gospel is seen to convert the vast part of humanity then it must be a complete failure. But this is merely humanistic thinking. There is no indication whatsoever from Scripture that most people will be saved and a ‘golden age’ is coming. In fact, Jesus Himself said, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But narrow is the gate and afflicted is the way that leads to life, and only a few find it” (Matthew 7:13-14). How much more explicit can He get? But the misplaced triumphalist spirit of many, who have a very humanistic and superficial understanding of the spiritual meaning of the word “victory”, and therefore use it very loosely, cannot accept the clear teaching of Scripture on the working of the Gospel in this world. This kind of misplaced triumphalism is rabid in many churches today which seek to humanistically “give Christ the victory” in a happy-clappy euphoria, carrying the idea that God would be shown to be impotent if most of the world is not saved. But God will save as many as He has ordained to be saved. He cannot be thwarted in His endeavours. We just have to spread the gospel uncompromisingly with might and power and leave the logistics to Him.

It is also futile to be waiting for a time to come in this world when “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” in the false sense that most will have been converted by the power of the Gospel. The fact is that in this current world the earth actually already IS full of the knowledge of the Lord, in the sense that almost everyone must have heard about Christ, but the vast majority of people have rejected Him. They do not want to know. That is the reality! Most people in this world do not at all believe that God was manifested in the flesh in the person of Jesus Christ. The knowledge about the Lord has been broadcast widely but most regard that knowledge as backward thinking and ‘unhelpful to global unity’.

Nowhere in Scripture is it implied that the world must be almost totally converted and ‘Christianised’ before Christ can return. Honestly, the fact that anyone at all who is essentially “dead in trespasses and sins” should respond to the Gospel is an absolute miracle (Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13). It is a miracle which is solely the gracious work of God (Ephesians 2:8-10). The fact that even just one person could be so transformed is a massive sign of the victory of Christ. I wonder if we appreciate that? The problem is that so many superficially think that coming to Christ is a humanly-engineered “decision” and fail to see the miraculous nature of conversion. The ‘god’ of free-will is the god of most today.

However, we are not in the ‘numbers game’. It is not the largeness of the number who are spiritually transformed which demonstrates the power of God. Here is the bottom line: Most people will pass through this world never awakening from the deadness of their spirit. However, they still have a part to play in the proceedings of the planet — they can even be useful to the people of God one way or another — but from a spiritual standpoint they are still “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction” (Romans 9:22) in the second death, separated from God (2 Thessalonians 1:8). Yet even their existence and destiny demonstrate the power of God to the world (Romans 9:22). Oh, these are the deep things of God! That is God’s business. He knows what He is doing so I just leave the logistics to Him. I do not want to get up on my hind legs and start ‘having a pop’ at God because He does things the way that I may not do them. Perish the thought! I would not want to hear a voice saying to me, “Who are you, O man, to talk back to God?” (Romans 9:20-21). I just let God be God and do whatever I can to be of some use. I love to serve. That’s what we are supposed to be good at. Really good at.

So, instead of imagining that a great global “revival” is next on the prophetic agenda before Christ can come again, let’s check out what the Bible really says on that matter. In fact, the Apostle Paul clearly said what is next on the prophetic agenda and it isn’t a global revival or a largely ‘Christianised’ world. Actually, quite the opposite. When some had been claiming to the members of the church in Thessalonica that the Day of the Lord had already come, Paul put them right by saying that Day (the return of Christ) “will not come until the apostasy occurs and the man of lawlessness—the son of destruction—is revealed” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). That “man of lawlessness” can surely be none other than the Antichrist referred to by John in 1 John 2:18.

Now, tell me that the apostasy is not already underway! It does not take a great deal of discernment to see that apostasy is all around us globally. I will be going into the whole realm of apostasy in §1 of chapter 8 in much more detail, especially in relation to spiritual prostitution. But suffice it to say that the word ‘apostasy’ is of serious significance in the moral and spiritual life of humanity. It means an abandonment of faithful allegiance to something, or the renunciation of moral principles, or a complete betrayal of religious or spiritual affiliation. Alternative expressions would be ‘falling away’ or ‘utter rebellion’. To apostatise represents a disintegration of moral and spiritual principles into godless betrayal, dissolution, debauchery, degeneracy or licentiousness. Apostasy is not a mere falling away from the faith by the previously faithful (i.e. a purely religious apostasy). It is an all-out revolt against natural and Divine law — a mass global rebellion against God the Creator by the created, an increasingly insistent denial that the Christ had come in the flesh, and the resultant hubristic promotion of the self. This is the natural outcome of the “spirit of the Antichrist” and the “mystery of lawlessness” and it builds exponentially as the end of the age draws near. It is, in fact, a principal form of Satanism.

So before Christ can return there does not have to be a global revival. That is just fantasy nonsense propagated by those who cannot handle the truth of Scripture on this matter. With the apostasy well underway, the next item on the prophetic agenda will be the revealing of the “man of lawlessness”, the Antichrist. Many people who call themselves Christians do not like to hear this. They want a lovey-dovey religion which permeates the world with peace and goodness. They want a world where everyone goes to church and cries Hallelujah! They want to be loved by all in a cosy global unity. They want a situation of niceness to prevail everywhere — where smiles are on all faces and the whole smiling world welcomes Christ back and says to Him, “Here you are, Lord. We’ve converted the world for you as per your great commission. Now you can return”. Frankly, all that is skewed thinking and even blasphemous.

In contrast to these bogus prophetic systems devised by men, the Word of God tells a very different story. For there are many places, in both Old and New Testaments which speak not of a global revival but of the saints ultimately being ‘overcome’ by the powers of evil on the earth as the end of the age draws near. The prophet, Daniel, tells us of the time at the end of history, which corresponds to Satan’s allotted “brief period of time” (Revelation 20:3), as being one in which war will be made by a God-hating tyrant (surely, the Antichrist, the “man of lawlessness” mentioned by Paul) “against the saints, and prevailing against them, until the Ancient of Days came, and a judgement was made in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came for the saints to possess the kingdom” (Daniel 7:21-22).

Although such persecution has happened on many occasions in the Age of the Ekklesia, the situation here is particularly associated with the activities of the final manifestation of Antichrist. Here, the adversary of Jehovah-Christ is said to be “prevailing against” the people of God in the days before the return of the Lord Jesus — a reference which clearly militates against any idea of a ‘Christianised’ world in the throes of a global revival. Just to emphasise this point, we should note that Daniel then adds that the Antichrist “shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time” (Daniel 7:25) [emphasis added]

Then, in the following chapter, this period immediately prior to the Lord’s return is described as one in which the Antichrist “shall destroy…the holy people” (Daniel 8:24), and will “even rise against the Prince of princes” , i.e., the Lord Jesus Christ. But this tyrannical world-system under the Antichrist will be miraculously destroyed by the Lord — as the text so beautifully puts it, “broken without human means” (Daniel 8:25; compare this to 2 Thessalonians 2:8). This is a beautiful echo of the way in which the mighty Goliath (a type of the Antichrist) was miraculously destroyed by little David (a type of Christ), in whose hand “there was no sword” (1 Samuel 17:50). In the final chapter of the Book of Daniel, far from being told that the Church will bring about a ‘Christianised’ world, the prophet is informed by an angel that it is only “when the power of the holy people has been completely shattered” that the end of the age will come (Daniel 12:7). No golden age and ‘Christianised’ world there! Similarly, this same pattern is borne out repeatedly in the prophecy of the Book of Revelation, which shows that there will come a moment when the witness of the Church in the Gospel Age will be completed and Satan will be entirely unbound from his former restriction and “will make war against [the saints], overcome them, and kill them”, to the great rejoicing of the unbelieving world (Revelation 11:7). This is that time referred to by Jesus when “there will be great tribulation, unmatched from the beginning of the world until now, and never to be seen again” (Matthew 24:21). Some people vainly try to explain this away as referring solely to the ransacking of Jerusalem in AD 70. But we know that must refer primarily to the run-up to the end of this age because Jesus says there, “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29), which is right in the context of a major prophecy about His coming again (Matthew 24:26-31). If one is not constantly trying to explain Scriptures away with bogus interpretations the meaning usually comes easily to those with a teachable heart.

Elsewhere, when John is describing the culmination of the satanic world-system in the rule of the Antichrist (for that is where the age-long “beastness” of that chapter inevitably leads), he speaks of the fact that it will be “granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them” (Revelation 13:7). It is clear that this ‘war with the saints’ is really a war against the Lord — against the transcendent Jehovah of the Bible and the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the antichristian world-system embarks on its “brief period of time” under its ruler, Satan, waging war against the Lamb of God, the Lord “will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful” (see Revelation 17:12-14). This climactic spiritual battle is what is known as Armageddon.

However, what many fail to realise — and that failure is why they recoil at this teaching — is that in the moment that Satan will appear to have achieved his much desired suppression of the saints and dominion over the kingdoms of the world, in fact just the opposite will have taken place. This is always the Lord’s way of working: He permits evil to appear to be in the ascendency, to come to its climax, but then shows His supremacy by overturning it to His glory. When Satan appeared to have destroyed the Saviour of the world through His execution on the cross, this was in fact God’s supreme victory as Jesus’ death on the cross and His subsequent resurrection secured salvation and eternal life for all those who repent and believe in Him. In fact, because of that deception played on him by God, Satan is regarded as a laughing stock! (Colossians 2:15). This will also be the case at the time of the end. When Satan and his followers will suppose that they have finally achieved their sought-after dominion over the world and established his rotten kingdom, Christ will appear and loud voices will be heard in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).

The great ‘Mystery of God’ is that, all along, every nook and cranny of history — no matter how dark or evil — is leading to the moment when the Lord God Almighty will take His great power and reign (Revelation 11:17). This visibility of the divine victory could have been executed at any moment in time, if He had so chosen it; but that has not been God’s manner of working. In just the same way that Jesus deliberately refrained from calling down twelve legions of angels to assist Him in avoiding arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:53), so the Sovereign Creator has put in abeyance the moment when He could so easily have wiped out Satan and taken His great power and reigned. The power of evil has first to come to its fullness, to be ripe for judgement, then the end will come and there will “be delay no longer” (Revelation 10:6-7). But until that moment, the saints will suffer, especially as the time of the end draws near.

Let it again be said: The Bible does not present a picture of a ‘Christianised’ world prior to Jesus’ Second Coming. On the contrary, as throughout the age, “evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). According to the Lord Jesus Himself, when He returns to wind up this present evil age, the overall state of the planet will be very similar to the time of Noah just prior to the Flood (Luke 17:26-27), and the time of Sodom just prior to the cataclysm which destroyed that city (Luke 17:28-30). How were things in the time of Noah? Read Genesis 6:5,11-12 to find out. How were things in the city of Sodom? Read Genesis 18:20-21 to see. The picture here, in both illustrations, is of a wholly sinful, unconcerned world, carrying on its business without a care to know spiritual truth. With great relevance, Prof. R.C.H. Lenski makes the following astute observation in his comment on Revelation 12:6:

“The old Jewish dream of a grand Jewish dominion over all the nations of the world — a dream that is constantly being revived to this day in the minds of all those who work to make the kingdom of God an outward world power and dominion — is just about the opposite of what John is here given to see in regard to the church. Ever, here on earth, she is not on the throne but in a place in the wilderness, a little flock under the cross. But the day of her final… ‘ransoming’, ‘redemption’ (Luke 21:28; Romans 8:23; Ephesians 1:13-14), is fast drawing nigh”. [R.C.H. Lenski, Interpretation of Revelation (Augsburg, 1963), pp.370-371, emphasis added].

It is most important that the saints grasp these truths, otherwise they will become greatly downcast when they suffer at the hands of the world. However, the stark truth of an oppressed Church on earth is always displayed in Scripture in the context of spiritual supremacy and heavenly glory. In the eyes of the world, the true church is a weakling; but with the spiritual eyesight (insight) of the believer and in the eyes of God she is beautiful, powerful, and ultimately triumphant (cf. Isaiah 43:1-7). If we fool the Lord’s people into believing that the history of this planet is leading to a largely-converted world which will usher in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are inculcating a grave deception which will serve only to create a false sense of worldly security and complacency and could even lead to people eventually receiving the Antichrist as if he were the real Christ.

It is vital that we get a proper view of how evil has progressed like yeast through this world over time, while God has been restraining and balancing and controlling and permitting it all through His superior power. Prior to Christ’s incarnation the nations were living in sheer spiritual darkness as the Lord’s grace was confined almost exclusively to His chosen people, Israel. But since Jesus’ Ascension, Satan has been unable to wield the same global power and influence, as spiritual priority has been given to the worldwide spread of the Gospel to all nations. This was due to the mighty fact that in the wake of the Cross Satan ceased to be the “ruler of the world” (John 12:31). However, he has not been slow in devising a strategy to compensate for that loss of authority which he originally wielded as that usurper-ruler. For as a result of his restriction and restraint, Satan has been operating through the leavening factor of the politico-economic and religious structures of the satanic world-system which, as we have shown, are correspondingly symbolised by the two beasts in the Book of Revelation, chapter 13, and which will rise to a climax in the revealing of the Antichrist — the pinnacle of human lawlessness — at the close of this age. The Scripture expressly states concerning Satan that, in the Gospel Age, “his power, his throne, and great authority” was given to the beast which rose out of the sea (symbol of the restless political tumult of the nations, Revelation 13:2b; cf. 13:12). In other words, while Satan has been bound, restricted and under restraint from fomenting the nations into a Christ-hating entity, he has been working covertly through the world government of the nations, which, in turn, provide the power and authority behind the development of antichristian world religion and godless philosophy and science, symbolised by the second beast (Revelation 13:11-12).

This condition will prevail until the approach of the close of the age, at which time Satan and his fellow demons will, in the providence of God, be “released for a little while” from their restraint (Revelation 20:3,7-10), so as to galvanise the final manifestation of Antichrist (2 Thessalonians 2:3-12; 1 John 2:18). This evil horde will capitalise on the well-prepared, universal, religious movement (Revelation 13:11ff.) and global political confederacy (Revelation 13:1-8; 17:12-18), so that the previously-restrained “mystery of lawlessness” can come to its fullness and ripeness for judgement (Revelation 18; 20:7-10). In other words, once the testimony of the Church has been completed and the full number of the elect has been saved, the “rulers of the darkness of this age”, under their leader Satan, will be unleashed from their restraint and permitted to achieve their ambition. As John puts it: “Now when they [i.e., the two witnesses, a symbol for the Gospel message of the Church] finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them” (Revelation 11:7).

This eventual apparent ‘overcoming’ of the saints is a necessary and inevitable development which needs to be clearly understood by the people of God, lest they feel they have been abandoned by God and begin to walk by sight rather than by faith. It is for this reason that we have been given some great and precious promises in the Scriptures, as I have developed in this commentary in a number of places — not least of which are those given to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3 of The Book.

So, let us be quite clear on this: Rather than advocating the appearance of any golden age on this earth involving a ‘Christianised’ world in the time before Christ returns, the Scriptures show an outwardly ruinous phase of apostasy, false religion, godless philosophy and science, a multitude of pseudo-prophets and teachers, increased demonic activity and intensified persecution of faithful believers. As Prof. H.C. Leupold writes, in his commentary on Dan.12:7, concerning the naked reality of this complete ‘shattering of the power’ of the Ekklesia before Christ returns:

‘Hard though this seems, it is merely one of those necessities to which human pride and self-will put the grace of God before God’s gracious purposes can be accomplished. Strangely, man is so set on trusting in himself and depending on his own power that, unless that power is reduced to a helpless minimum, he will refuse to put his confidence wholly in the good Lord. Only after we have been rendered weak are we capable of becoming truly strong. Israel of Old Testament days had to be reduced to the impotence of the last times before the Saviour could come. So her trust in self will have to be broken again before the Christ can return. It is far more important to know that than to be able to foretell in exact terms of years how long this old world order is still to continue’. [H.C. Leupold, Exposition of Daniel (Baker Book House, 1969), p.541].

The profound truth which lies at the heart of all these verses in Daniel and Revelation is echoed in that great saying of the Apostle that “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Scripture reveals — no matter how events may appear to the contrary — that the oppressed saints throughout this age are blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Ephesians 1:3; 2:6). Take note that the Scripture says “in the heavenly places”; for it is not in earthly terms that the saints receive their primary blessings. Unless one has a simple grasp of these facts, one will live either in dreams or in misery, rather than in biblical reality. The ‘crown of life’ is worn by simple faith and trust rather than by the evidence of our eyes, until we come into glory (see Revelation 2:10). Although in the world we will indeed have tribulation, and we will even be hated by the world (Matthew 10:22; John 15:19), we can “be encouraged” because the Lord Jesus Christ assures us that He has already “overcome the world” (John 16:33), though that has yet to be ratified visibly when He returns. The saints of the first two centuries were painfully and exquisitely aware of all this; and as the end of this age draws to a close, believers will again have to muster that strength in the Lord in the face of the widespread persecution and tribulation which will inevitably develop, and in which they will inevitably be partakers.

“I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us…. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered’. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. (Romans 8:18,35-38).

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2023
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]