by Elder Louis Holder
In discussing anything about the book of Revelation it is of supreme importance to consider what time period it was written in. The most popular time period, and apparently the one being taught in religious schools now, is 96 A.D. This date suits the Pre-Millennium preachers very well for, obviously, everything in Revelation would have to happen well after the war with Rome (66-73 A.D.) in which the Temple was destroyed and the Jews lost their homeland. This date is entirely dependent on one statement by Irenaeus, written 85 or 90 years after John’s death. Here is the statement.
We will not, however, incur the risk of pronouncing positively as to the name of Antichrist, for if it were necessary that his name should be distinctly revealed in this present
time, it would have been announced by him who beheld the apocalyptic vision. For that was seen no very long Time since, but almost in our day, towards the end of Domitian’s reign.
The Emperor Domitian reigned from 81 to 96 A.D. hence the late date for Revelation. 85 or 90 years is a long time to pass information from mouth to mouth, things can easily get misquoted or misremembered. The Emperor Nero’s birth name, before he was adopted by Claudius was Lucius Domitius Anenobarbus. There is an ancient Syriac version of the Bible with the inscription that John was on Patmos during the reign of Domitius Nero, Who reigned from 54 to 68 A.D. A brief look at some of the web sites dealing with the early date of Revelation (for instance Preteristvision.org or Preteristarchive.com) will show dozens of respected scholars who believe in the early date of Revelation, so you see that I am not alone in my belief that the early date is the correct one. Most early date scholars date Revelation from 62 to 69 A.D. with some dating it even earlier. I prefer a date before 66 A.D. because that is when the war with Rome began and I think that is part of the subject matter of the book. The key to understanding Revelation is given in the first verse.
…to show unto his servants things which must shortly come
To pass;…
God is communicating with us in human language and shortly means what we normally think it means.
Now I would like to quote the pertinent passage (Rev. 10:6) from several versions of the bible.
King James-… that there should be time no longer;…
The Amplified Bible-…there should be no more waiting or delay,..
The New American Bible-…there shall be no more delay.
The New Jerusalem Bible-…the time of waiting is over.
The New International Version (NIV)- there will be no more delay.
You might also want to check out John Gill’s commentary on Rev. 10:6. He does not understand this reference to be the end of all things either.
Some writers think that the end of time in Rev. 10:6 is the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy of the 70 weeks in Dan. 9:24-27. You might also compare Joel’s prophecy ( Joel 2:1-11)
A fire devoured before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. (Joel 2:3)
With Josephus’ account of the war with Rome,
The Wars of the Jews, book VI chapter 1:
And now the Romans, although they were greatly distressed in getting together their materials, raised their banks in one and twenty days, after they had cut down all the trees that were in the country that adjoined to the city, and that for ninety furlongs round about, as I have already
related. And truly the very view itself of the country was a melancholy thing, for those places which were before adorned with trees and pleasant gardens were now become a desolate country every way, …
On the same subject, Peter wrote:
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night;
in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat,
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up. (2 Peter 3:10)
Josephus, The Wars of the Jews book VI chapter 5
The flame was also carried a long way, and made an echo,
together with the groans of those that were slain, and
because this hill was high, and the works at the temple
were very great, one would have thought the whole
city had been on fire. Nor can one imagine anything
either greater or more terrible than this noise, for
there was at once a shout of the Roman legions, who
were marching all together, and a sad clamor of the
seditious, who were now surrounded with fire and
sword. The people also that were left above were beaten
back upon the enemy, and under a great consternation,
and made sad moans at the calamity they were under, the
multitude also that was in the city joined in this outcry
with those that were upon the hill. And besides, many of
those that were worn away by the famine, and their
mouths almost closed, when they saw the fire of the holy
house, they exerted their utmost strength, and brake out
into groans and outcries again; Pera did also return the
echo, as well as the mountains round about {the city,}
and augmented the force of the entire noise.
Peter, after telling the recipients of his letter that “the heavens and the earth which are now,..” (2 Peter 3:7) shall be destroyed, (in my view, the law service), did not leave them without hope for something even better:
“ Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness.”(2 Peter 3:13)
The promise that Peter refers to is from the writings of Isaiah:
“ For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and
the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind.”
(Isaiah 65:17)“For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will
make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your
seed and your name remain.” (Isaiah 66:22)
From Revelation:
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it,
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away;
and there was found no place for them.” (Rev. 20:11)
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the
first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
and there was no more sea.” (Rev. 21:1)
It seems evident to me that the Old Testament law service with its priestly class, its blood sacrifices, and its 600 and some odd laws to be observed, is gone (the old heaven and earth). Equally evident is the fact that we have the new testament church, embracing the gentiles, where all believers are kings and priests, and salvation is not by keeping hundreds of laws, but by the grace of God, through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift of God (the new heaven and earth.)
We see “end of time” events all the time, we just don’t think of them in that context. A tornado comes through a Texas town, it destroys a building that is 30 years old. That building came to the end of its time, it will never get to be 31 years old. A widower lost his wife at 77 years of age, she came to the end of her time, she will never be 78. The Old Testament law service came to the end of its time in 70 A.D. with the destruction of the Temple, the city of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of the Jews. This, in my opinion, is what is meant by “that there should be time no longer”.
God bless,
Elder Louis Holder
May 2013, updated June 2013