Featured Christians, Put Down Your Guns

Does this say "Anyone who does not kill his attacker has denied the faith and is worse than an infidel."? No, it does not. Therefore, you are forcing the text. Any discerning Christian will stand up against your poor exegesis.

 

We are in the Tribulation even as we write. Therefore it applies to us right now.

 

Because the Revelation of Jesus tells us we are in the Tribulation.

*Revelation 12:1-17*
Then I witnessed in heaven an event of great significance. I saw a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. She was pregnant, and she cried out because of her labor pains and the agony of giving birth. Then I witnessed in heaven another significant event. I saw a large red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, with seven crowns on his heads. His tail swept away one-third of the stars in the sky, and he threw them to the earth. He stood in front of the woman as she was about to give birth, ready to devour her baby as soon as it was born. She gave birth to a son who was to rule all nations with an iron rod. And her child was snatched away from the dragon and was caught up to God and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place to care for her for 1,260 days. Then there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon and his angels. And the dragon lost the battle, and he and his angels were forced out of heaven. This great dragon—the ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, the one deceiving the whole world—was thrown down to the earth with all his angels. Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens, “It has come at last— salvation and power and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth— the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony. And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Therefore, rejoice, O heavens! And you who live in the heavens, rejoice! But terror will come on the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he has little time.” When the dragon realized that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time. Then the dragon tried to drown the woman with a flood of water that flowed from his mouth. But the earth helped her by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that gushed out from the mouth of the dragon. And the dragon was angry at the woman and declared war against the rest of her children—all who keep God’s commandments and maintain their testimony for Jesus. Then the dragon took his stand on the shore beside the sea.

John is showing us that the battle has been going on from Eve to the present. Satan was waiting to destroy the Promised One and since Jesus defeated Him at the cross and is in heaven , in the throne, Satan has turned his anger to trying to destroy the adopted children of God. But God has marked us with a seal so that even if Satan is given authority to kill us, he cannot keep us from forever serving our King. Satan's doom has already been pronounced. But he is still wreaking havoc so that all the tares will be exposed and sifted from the wheat. We are in this great sifting right now.

Second, nowhere in Revelation do you find the rapture of the church before the tribulation. Therefore we are in the great tribulation even as we read these words.

 

Satan is behind every war that has ever existed, by God's ordination. We see the first four seals fully being presented throughout history. Hitler clearly had the spirit of antichrist, which John told us is always at work in this world.

 

We disagree on 42 months being literal. Throughout the entire letter, numbers are symbolic. They remind us, like Daniel 11 tells us, that everything is appointed, at the proper time, by God. Thus the time, times and half a time, is not a literal 42, Jewish calendar, months but it is a specific time. We are presently in the time, times, and half a time. I point to Revelation 11 where the woman is protected for that specific period of time and cared for in the wilderness. It is after that time when antichrist (the Beast) and his prophet (the second beast) take over the whole earth and no one can have any legal economic purchase without worshipping the beast. To take this time frame and make it literal would be contrary to the figurative and apocalyptic language John employs throughout the entire letter.
Since no rapture is ever expressed in Revelation, it is false to teach a pre-trib rapture from Revelation and it is a presupposition to force the rapture into Revelation.

As to the OP, I don't think God is opposed to us standing our ground against a physical aggressor. I do think the text tells us we are not to rise up in physical aggression against a government that God has ordained...even when it is an anti-christ government (which all human governments are).

 

John wasn't trying to give a timeline. He was looking at various panels in a mosaic and he was revealing the mystery of why Jesus hasn't yet set up his kingdom.
When all the elect come to faith and tares are separated from the wheat, Jesus will return, and "he shall reign forever and ever."

Any attempt to create a timeline is futile since that is not the purpose of Revelation.
The purpose of Revelation is to remind the Church that Jesus has won. Therefore, persevere in all things and be encouraged.

As for the Temple. Jesus is the Temple. We, the elect, are found in Christ. When John (and Ezekiel) measure the Temple, they are measuring the Israel of God who reside in Christ. It's poetic and non-literal language that points us to the New Covenant.