Judgment: Wrath of the Lamb

by Brian Godawa

  “It is likely that Daniel 12:13 refers to this event. Daniel is told that he will enter into rest and then rise for his allotted portion at the end of the days. In context, the end of the latter days refers to the coming of Christ, for throughout Daniel the prophetic period is the Restoration Era, and that is what “latter days” and “time of the end” refer to.

  “Thus, possibly the resurrection of Daniel 12:2 refers to this same event, especially since it appears right after the statement about the Great Tribulation to come. We have to discard this possibility, however, since Revelation 20 says that the wicked in sheol do not rise for their judgment until after the millennium, at the last judgment.

  “In context, those who sleep in the dust of the earth are parallel to Daniel, who fell into deep sleep with his face to the earth when God appeared to him at the beginning of this vision. Daniel’s resurrection is a type and foreshadowing of the resurrection spoken of here.

  “The resurrection of verse 2 seems to connect to the evangelistic and teaching ministry spoken of in verse 3; thus, it is some kind of historical resurrection that is spoken of, a resurrectional event in this world, in our history.

  “The solution to our difficulty is found in Ezekiel 37. There the prophet is told to prophesy to the dead bones of the idolaters scattered all over the mountains of Israel (see Ezekiel 6:5). Ezekiel prophesies and the bones come to life again. This is explained in Ezekiel 37:11 as the national resurrection of Israel after the captivity. The language used by God is very “literal sounding,” to wit: “I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves” (vv. 12–13). Yet, this graphic language refers to the spiritual resurrection of the nation.

  “Now clearly, the resurrection of the whole nation does not mean the salvation of each individual. Thus, Daniel 12:2 tells us that in the days of Jesus the nation will undergo a last spiritual resurrection, but some will not persevere and their resurrection will only be unto destruction. The Parable of the Soils fits here (Matthew 13:3–23): three different kinds of people come to life, but only one of the three kinds is awakened to persevering, everlasting life.

  “During His ministry, Jesus raised the nation back to life. He healed the sick, cleansed the unclean, brought dead people back to life, restored the Law, entered the Temple as King, etc. Then, as always, the restored people fell into sin, and crucified Him.

  “Thus, a resurrection of Israel is in view. The wicked are raised, but do not profit from it, and are destroyed. The saints experience a great distress, and live with God forever and ever.”

  James B. Jordan, The Handwriting on the Wall: A Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, 2007), 617–619.

  From Kenneth Gentry on Daniel 12:

  “In Daniel 12:1–2 we find a passage that clearly speaks of the great tribulation in AD 70: “Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued” (12:1). But it also seems to speak of the resurrection occurring at that time: “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (12:2).

  “How are we to understand this passage? Does Daniel teach that the eschatological, consummate resurrection occurs during the great tribulation in AD 70? No, he does not. Let me explain.

  “Daniel appears to be presenting Israel as a grave site under God’s curse: Israel as a corporate body is in the “dust” (Da 12:2; cp. Ge 3:14, 19; Job 7:21; 20:11; 21:26; Ps 7:5; 22:15; 90:3; 104:29; Ecc 3:20; 12:7; Isa 26:9). In this he follows Ezekiel’s pattern in his vision of the dry bones, which represent Israel’s “death” in the Babylonian dispersion (Eze 37). In Daniel’s prophecy many will awaken, as it were, during the great tribulation to suffer the full fury of the divine wrath, while others will enjoy God’s grace in receiving everlasting life. Luke presents similar imagery in Luke 2:34 in a prophecy about the results of Jesus’s birth for Israel: “And Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, ‘Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed.’”

  “Though in AD 70 elect Jews will flee Israel and will live (Mt 24:22), the rest of the nation will be a corpse: “wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” (Mt 24:28). Indeed, in AD 70 we see in the destruction of the city of Jerusalem (Mt 22:7) that “many are called, but few are chosen” (Mt 22:14).18 Elsewhere he employs the imagery of “regeneration” to the arising of the new Israel from out of dead, old covenant Israel in AD 70: “You who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Mt 19:28).

  “Returning now to Daniel, it appears that Daniel is drawing from the hope of the future, literal resurrection and applying it symbolically to the first century leading up to the tribulation in AD 70. That is, he is portraying God’s separating believing Jews out of Israel through the winnowing of Israel in AD 70. Again, this is much like Ezekiel’s practice in his vision of the valley of dry bones.20 Though Ezekiel’s prophecy is concerned with Israel as a whole, whereas Daniel shows that Israel’s hope is the believing remnant.”

  Ken Gentry, He Shall Have Dominion, Second Edition (Draper, VA: Apologetics Group Media, 1992, 1997), 579-580.

  [←191]

  Some thoughts on the Two Witnesses:

  For this entire Chronicles of the Apocalypse I have depicted the Two Witnesses as literal people who may even have ties to real persons written of by Josephus. But these are theological novels. My ultimate goal is truth told entertainingly. Therefore, I have used creative license. What matters most is not whether they were literally alive but what the symbolism means in the vision. Here are some arguments for that theological proposition drawn from Gentry’s Divorce of Israel:

  “Though Jesus’ two witnesses have the power to plague their opponents “as often as they desire” (11:6c) for purposes of self-defense, now things change and they themselves are killed. This turn of events occurs only after they have finished their testimony (11:7a), that is, after they have completed their appointed time for prophetic ministry (1,260 days, 11:3). Their ministry was specifically linked temporally with God’s judgment on Israel during the Jewish War with Rome (cp. 11:2) and involved their prophecy of the temple’s destruction (see above). So when the temple fell, their ministry was over…

  “As Prigent observes regarding the “three and a half days” (11:9a; cp. 11:11a) of their exposure: “This death is placed under the same symbolic sign as the prophetic ministry: half of a sevenfold cycle.” Thus as Campbell expresses it, this period is “parodying the duration of their testimony.” This time frame seems intentionally to parallel the three and a half years of the Jewish War (11:2) during which the prophets witnessed to Jerusalem (11:3). John is apparently emphasizing the brief time of their public abuse in comparison to the much longer time of God’s wrath upon Jerusalem that it is likely that John relied directly on Ezekiel at this point.”..

  On the death and resurrection of the Witnesses:

  “We should probably not understand this episode as an actual public, visible, bodily resurrection. Rather it is reminiscent of Ezekiel 37 which speaks of the revival of Israel after her Babylonian judgment. Consequently, even though these witnesses are two individuals, they probably are representatives of Christianity. They would therefore picture Christianity’s “resurrection” as the true, living new covenant Israel from out of the false, dead old covenant Israel (cp. 2:9; 3:9 and the synagogue’s “lie”). This non-literal imagery occurs elsewhere in Scripture. Not only do we see it in Ezekiel’s vision, but Isaiah spoke of Israel’s return from Babylon as a resurrection (Isa 26:13–19). Daniel 12:2 probably uses resurrection metaphorically to speak of a remnant arising from wi
thin dead Israel.127 Similarly, Paul also speaks of his hope for Israel’s future conversion as if it were a resurrection (Ro 11:16–21). Luke 2:34 even uses anastasis (“resurrection”) to indicate that “those who accept him in faith are headed for vindication.”

  “Just as John himself heard the call from God’s throne to “come up here” (4:1), so the two witnesses are called into heaven. We have already seen that the two prophets are modeled upon Elijah and Moses (cf. 11:6), but they also reflect Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension. “The two witnesses . . . are an incarnation of the witness which the church renders to Christ (together with the law and the prophets)129 in the face of a hostile and unbelieving Judaism” (Feuillet 1964: 247). Biblical revelation informs us of Elijah’s literal cloud ascension (2 Ki 2:11), and Jewish and Christian tradition (though not Scripture) has Moses ascending to heaven in a cloud (Beale 598-99; Osborne 430)…

  “As in their resurrection (11:11), this additional imagery indicates God accepts them into heaven, blesses their witness, and vindicates their deaths (cp. 6:10–11; 14:13; 20:4–6), just as he does the “faithful witness” of Jesus “the first-born of the dead” (1:5; cp. Ac 1:8–11). Thus, “the fate of the church rests on that of her founder”. As Terry interprets the matter: “Their resurrection and triumphant going up into heaven is an apocalyptic picture of what Jesus had repeatedly assured his followers (Matt. x, 16–32; xxiv, 9–13; Luke xxi, 12–19), and corresponds to the triumph of the martyrs in chap. xx, 4–6, which is there called ‘the first resurrection.”

  Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation Vol. 1 (Dallas, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2016),

  [←192]

  CHAPTER 49

  The third seal and the price of food during the siege of Jerusalem:

  “Josephus actually mentions that during the siege, the Jews paid a talent for a measure of wheat (J.W. 5:13:7 §571). A talent “was the largest unit of weight” (ISBE2 4:1052) and therefore represents enormously high prices. In fact, Josephus speaks much about famine prices for food during the siege (J.W. 5:10:2 §427; 6:3:3–5 §198–219; cp. Dio 66:5:4). He even specifically notes the difference in wheat and barley, as per Revelation 6:6: “Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort; but of barley, if they were poor” (J.W. 5:10:2 §427). This removal of food from Jerusalem during the Jewish War seems to be another feature of God’s divorce judgment against her. After all, “the responsibility of the husband is to provide his wife with the necessities of life, such as food, clothing, and dwelling.”

  Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr., The Divorce of Israel: A Redemptive-Historical Interpretation of Revelation Vol. 1 (Dallas, GA: Tolle Lege Press, 2016), 588.

  [←193]

  For these stories in this chapter, I used the following testimonies of famine inside the city walls from: Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.10.1-5, §420-445; 5.12.3-4, §512-518; 6.3.3, §193-198.

  [←194]

  The story about Syrians and Arabs cutting coins out of Jewish intestines comes from:

  Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.10.1, §421

  “They had a great inclination to desert to the Romans; (421) accordingly, some of them sold what they had, and even the most precious things that had been laid up as treasures by them, for a very small matter, and swallowed down pieces of gold, that they might not be found out by the robbers; and when they had escaped to the Romans, went to stool, and had wherewithal to provide plentifully for themselves”

  Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 718.

  Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.13.4, §550-561

  “Yet did another plague seize upon those that were thus preserved; for there was found among the Syrian deserters a certain person who was caught gathering pieces of gold out of the excrements of the Jews’ bellies…

  “But when this contrivance was discovered in one instance, the fame of it filled their several camps, that the deserters came to them full of gold. So the multitude of the Arabians, with the Syrians, cut up those that came as supplicants, and searched their bellies. (552) Nor does it seem to me that any misery befell the Jews that was more terrible than this, since in one night’s time about two thousand of these deserters were thus dissected.

  “When Titus came to the knowledge of this wicked practice, he had like to have surrounded those that had been guilty of it with his horse, and have shot them dead; and he had done it, had not their number been so very great, and those that were liable to this punishment would have been manifold, more than those whom they had slain. (554) However, he called together the commanders of the auxiliary troops he had with him, as well as the commanders of the Roman legions (for some of his own soldiers had been also guilty herein, as he had been informed)…

  “Titus then threatened that he would put such men to death, if any of them were discovered to be so insolent as to do so again; moreover, he gave it in charge to the legions, that they should make a search after such as were suspected, and should bring them to him.”

  Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 726.

  [←195]

  CHAPTER 50

  Jews throwing dead bodies outside the wall instead of burying them:

  Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.12.3, §2

  “Now the seditious at first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury, as not enduring the stench of their dead bodies. But afterwards, when they could not do that, they had them cast down from the walls into the valleys beneath.”

  Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 724.

  Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 5.12.3, §514

  “As for burying them, those that were sick themselves were not able to do it; and those that were hearty and well were deterred from doing it by the great multitude of those dead bodies, and by the uncertainty there was how soon they should die themselves, for many died as they were burying others, and many went to their coffins before that fatal hour was come!”

  Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 6.1.1, §518

  “And indeed the multitude of carcasses that lay in heaps one upon another, was a horrible sight, and produced a pestilential stench, which was a hindrance to those that would make sallies out of the city and fight the enemy: but as those were to go in battle-array, who had been already used to ten thousand murders, and must tread upon those dead bodies as they marched along.”

  Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 723, 727.

  [←196]

  Gehenna as the Valley of Slaughter: Most Christians think references to Gehenna, translated sometimes in the NT as “hell,” is a reference to the final judgment of unbelievers. But the context indicates that the passages where Jesus refers to Gehenna are applied to the judgment of Jerusalem in AD 70, because the phrase is a duplication of the original reference used of the first destruction of the temple in 586 BC.

  “Witherington notes that the word geenna refers to the Hinnom Valley, south of the city of Jerusalem, that this place was associated in the Old Testament with the idolatrous practice of child sacrifice, that it was, therefore, a “place of uncleanness and horror in the Jewish imagination”, and that it was a wet and dry rubbish dump where maggots abounded and the fires never went out. So he concludes: “It’s a graphic image, and Jesus uses it to describe the eternally stinking, hot place that no one in their right mind would want to visit, much less dwell in.”

  “This account, however, overlooks a critical part of the interpretive background. Witherington cites the two places in the Old Testament where human sacrifice in the Valley of Hinnom is mentioned: the original account of the offence (2 Chron. 28:3; 33:6), and Jerem
iah’s reference to the abhorrent practice (Jer. 7:31; 19:2-6). But he does not stop to consider what Jeremiah is actually saying here.

  “The two texts are part of a proclamation of judgment on Jerusalem – not least because Ahaz and Manasseh burned their sons in the Valley of Hinnom. So the days are coming when “it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere” (Jer. 7:32).

  And in this place I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. And I will make this city a horror, a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them. (Jer. 19:7-9)