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(10:1 I saw a mighty angel descending out of heaven, clothed with a cloud, and the rainbow on his head; his face was like the sun and his feet like pillars of fire; 2 and he had a little book open in his hand. He placed his right foot on the sea and his left on the land, 3 and he cried out with a loud voice, just like a lion roars. And when he cried out the seven thunders uttered their voices. 4 Now when the seven thunders spoke I was about to write, but I heard a voice out of heaven saying, “Seal up the things that the seven thunders said,” and “You write after these things.” 5 And the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to the heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created the heaven and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there would be no further delay, 7 but in the days of the blast of the seventh angel, when he is about to trumpet, the mystery of God that He declared to His slaves the prophets would be finished. 8 Now the voice that I heard out of heaven was speaking to me again and saying, “Go, take the little book that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and said to him, “Give me the little book,” And he says to me, “Take and eat it up; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey.” 10 So I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was as sweet as honey in my mouth. But when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And he said to me, “You must prophesy again over many peoples, even over ethnic nations and languages and kings.”¹

Introduction

This is my fourth sermon on Revelation 10, so if you have missed the first three, you will have missed some of the foundational building blocks for this one. But I will try to make it as clear as I can without those details.

So far I have been dealing with the spectacular nature of God's prophetic revelation that is recorded for us in the Bible. The Bible is totally sufficient for everything that we need. It is living and powerful, and we have seen how the attributes of God Himself stand behind His Word. And last week I spent a great deal of time showing how prophecy worked, using the image of the angel and the little book that John ate.

Today I want to demonstrate that not only was the canon closed, but that God ended the need for all prophetic revelation. Verse 7 indicates that the mystery of God was finished in AD 70.

Now, that is disappointing news to some people. To me it is exciting news. It all depends on how you interpret the word "finished." If you send your daughter to the food pantry to get some spaghetti to cook for supper, and your daughter comes back saying that the spaghetti is finished - there is no more, then you will be sad, because you need it. That is not the meaning of the Greek word for "finished" here. If you have been building a home for a year and the contractor finally announces the house is finished, that is a joyous word, because it now means that you have everything that you need; you can move in. That is the nature of the word for "finished" in verse 7. It has the idea of perfection and completion. In fact, the noun form of this verb is translated as "perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10. It is completed, perfected, and finished in the sense that we have all that we now need. And I want to go through this word by word to demonstrate that this understanding is the most natural one.

The contrast ("but" v. 7) is between the continuing revelation which John will "write after these things" (v. 4 with vv. 1-6 and 8-11) and the ending of prophetic revelation being discussed in verse 7.

First, any interpretation of verse 7 that is worth its salt has to account for the very strong contrast that the Greek word "but" introduces. He says, "but in the days of the blast of the seventh angel." He is contrasting something. And most other interpretations just breeze over that word. And we really can't. It is a very strong word in the Greek.

On my interpretation, the "but" is critical. The angel has give some prophetic revelation to the apostle John that he is commanded to hold onto for a while, and to write down later. In the Majority Text, verse 4 says,

Now when the seven thunders spoke I was about to write, but I heard a voice out of heaven saying, [And here come two distinct commands from this voice in heaven. First,] “Seal up the things that the seven thunders said,” and [second,] “You write after these things.”

We have seen that John was being given inspired revelation in this chapter, and before he could write it down, he had to go through the same process that Ezekiel went through when Ezekiel wrote Scripture. And I won't repeat what that process was. The only thing I will comment on is that the word "but" contrasts the ongoing revelation mentioned in verses 1-6 with the total cessation of prophetic revelation in verse 7. It is a most natural contrast. It takes seriously the central theme of chapter 10.

The timing is AD 70 (v. 7a)

So how do Charismatics handle this verse? There are two ways they try to get around that. The first way is to interpret the word "finished" to mean that Old Testament prophecy was fulfilled (which I will show shortly is impossible, though initially it may look like a good option). The second way they get around it is to say that the seventh trumpet is at the end of history. Now, if it is at the end of history, then yes, prophecy must continue until the end of history. Let me give you two quotes of charismatics who take this approach. Gordon Fee says,

...it is a signal that “the mystery of God is to be accomplished” before that final moment happens; but in the meantime there must be further prophetic activity.²

So the prophetic activity goes all the way up to the seventh trumpet, and on his eschatology, the seventh trumpet is at the very end of time. Tony Warren, another charismatic, gives a similar approach. He starts with 1 Corinthians 13, saying,

...The key to understanding this [cessation of prophecy in 1 Cor. 13:8-13] is in looking at the whole chapter in its proper context, and discerning exactly when "partial knowledge" shall cease. And obviously this can only occur at the consummation or completeness of all things. It occurs when Christ returns on the clouds of Glory. Only then will the mystery of God be complete, and knowledge will no longer be in part.

Revelation 10:7 [says]

"But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets."

Until the second advent, we will always "know in part" or have partial knowledge, because the mystery of God cannot be finished [{Greek word} teleo] or come to the end or completion until that time. While we are on earth looking forward to His second coming, we will always see the things of God indistinctly and imperfectly. In this life we will never know, as we are known of God. Because this verse of Revelation chapter ten tells us that this will not happen until the voice of the seventh Angel sounds. And that is at the end of the world. Likewise, 1st Corinthians 13:9-10 tells us that when the perfect [teleios - {same Greek word}] or completion is come, that which is partial shall be done away with. That happens only with the coming of Christ in the consummation when that seventh trumpet shall sound. Thus it is impossible for these verses to be speaking of anything that occurs before Christ's second advent.³

I quoted him at length because he gives by far the best defense of a charismatic viewpoint on this verse that I have found. He agrees that the Greek word for "finished" here is exactly the same word as "perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10. He agrees it is a contrast between partial and complete. He agrees that it deals with the cessation of prophecy in both passages. And he agrees that prophecy cannot continue once the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11 sounds.

Where the disagreement comes is on timing. He believes the seventh trumpet is at the end of time; I believe the seventh trumpet is in AD 70. And the AD 70 interpretation makes the most sense for a number of reasons. First, God is not giving John a nebulous time frame that will "about to" happen thousands of years in the future that is utterly unrelated to his current prophetic activity. The words "about to" indicate an imminence. The word "but" indicates a contrast that John needs to be aware of. And it all relates to the finishing of the book of Revelation and the closing of the canon. That's the context.

But even if you were to ignore the subject matter of this chapter, which is the closing of the canon, you are still in trouble in terms of the timeframe of the book. We have been seeing that the first six trumpets come sequentially after the first seven seals. There is an unbreakable chain of events that are perfectly timed from AD 30 to AD 70. None are out of sequence and one follows immediately after the other. The seventh trumpet simply cannot be put off till the end of time without doing violence to the chronology of these chapters.

But even the immediate context of this two-chapter unit of thought militates against putting this off to the end of time. Everybody agrees that chapter 11 occurs right before the seventh trumpet, and all of chapter 11 is clearly pre-AD 70. For one thing, the temple of John's day is clearly still standing in verses 1-2. Second, the three and a half year war followed by a three and a half year occupation of Jerusalem by Roman forces takes place during that time. Everything about the seven trumpets points to a first century fulfillment.

Now some might want to fudge and say that the plural "days" can stretch the sixth trumpet out for a couple thousand years until the seventh trumpet sounds. But the word "days" is modified by "when he is about to trumpet." The words "about to" indicate sometime right before the seventh trumpet, and can't by any stretch of the imagination be used to refer to the whole period of the sixth trumpet. They refer to literal days, not an age. If you keep in mind all of the time sequences that we have been carefully following from chapters 5-10, the end of this prophecy has to refer to AD 70, and not a year earlier or later.

The subject matter is New Testament prophecy, not Old Testament prophecy (v. 7)

The Greek word for "mystery" or "mystery of God" always (without exception) points to New Testament prophetic revelation, whether oral or written (1 Cor. 12-14; Rom. 16:25-26; Eph. 2-3; cf. Matt. 13:11; Mark 4:11; Luke 8:10; Rom. 11:25; 16:25; 1 Cor. 2:7; 4:1; 13:2; 15:51; Eph. 1:9; 3:3,9; 5:32; 6:19; Col. 1:26; 2:2; 4:3; 2 Thes. 2:7; 1 Tim. 3:9,16; Rev. 1:20; 10:7; 17:5; 17:7)

But some try to get around the clear meaning of this passage by saying that the word "finished" simply means that Daniel's prophecy was fulfilled. So they take the word "mystery" to refer to Daniel's prophetic revelation, but not New Testament revelation. But that simply does not work. We will see later on that the word "finished" can't be interpreted that way. But let's first examine the word μυστήριον. In your outlines I've listed every occurence of the Greek word μυστήριον, from which we get the word "mystery," and without exception, every example refers to either New Testament Scriptures or New Testament oral prophetic revelation. There is not a single exception. And many of these passages emphasize the point that it is a mystery because it wasn't revealed in the Old Testament. Several of those passages explicitly exlude the Old Testament from the definition of the mystery of God. And I will just go through a few of the verses listed in your outline to illustrate.

Matthew 13:11, Mark 4:11, and Luke 8:10 all speak of the mysteries of the kingdom, and the context makes clear that He is talking about the Mediatorial kingdom of Christ. Everyone agrees with that. There is no controversy on those terms. The mystery there deals with New Testament revelation.

Romans 11:25 speaks of the revealed mystery that Israel must be partially hardened until the fullness of the Gentiles have come into the church, where both Jew and Gentile will be equal partners in the kingdom. Romans 16:24-25 makes clear that the New Testament Scriptures are God's "revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations..." So the word "mystery" is dealing with the revealed message given to prophets in New Testament times, and he includes in that definition of mystery, the New Testament Scriptures.

1 Corinthians 2 calls Paul's spoken prophecies, a mystery. And he makes clear that this was something not revealed in the Old Testament and secondly that it is authoritative revelation through the apostles. He says,

But we speak [not, "we write," but "we speak"] the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 8 which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory... But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (vv. 7,8,10)

So he explicitly says that the Jewish rulers didn't know this mystery, and if they had, they wouldn't have crucified Christ. So it can't refer to the Old Testament. He explicitly says that what was not revealed before is a mystery now revealed to us.

1 Corinthians 4:1 says, "Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God." The apostles were stewards of the mysteries of God because they were entrusted with infallible New Covenant revelation - revelation that had not been given before the time of Christ.

1 Corinthians 13:2 says, "though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries...", so you can see that mysteries is connected with the gift of prophecy. In chapter 14:2 Paul speaks of a person with the gift of tongues speaking mysteries. In chapter 15:51 Paul reveals something new about the resurrection and says that he is telling us a mystery - a revealed truth hidden from view until now.

Ephesians 1:9 says that God made known to the apostles "the mystery of His will," and he expands upon that in chapter 3. After saying in chapter 2 that the apostles and prophets were laying the once-and-for-all-time revelational foundation, chapter 3 says that what was really revealed to these apostles and prophets was a mystery. Chapter 3:3 says,

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, 4 by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), 5 which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 6 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, 7 of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.

So again he explicitly rules out the Old Testament Scriptures as being part of the revelation of the mystery of God. That mystery was only now in the New Covenant revealed to both apostles and prophets.

People object, "Then why did we need so many prophets if prophecy dealt with the giving of Scripture?" But you will notice in the outline that I don't see it as only dealing with the giving of Scripture. The word "mystery" refers to any infallible prophetic revelation, whether oral or written. That's the only definition that works with all of these passages.

Others object that we wouldn't need so many prophets to deal with the problem of Jew and Gentile being in one body. But actually, that is only one of nine issues that the apostles and prophets had to deal with that are labeled as mystery.⁴ But that one is a big one. The idea that Gentiles can be a part of the new Israel without being circumcised was such a big issue that it almost divided the church and it created great controversy. The Judaizers were constantly causing trouble. So God sent prophets to the churches to settle that mystery once and for all.

Anyway, if you keep reading through all the passages I have listed in your outline that have the word "mystery" in it, it is crystal clear that it refers to New Testament prophetic revelation, whether written or oral. And if you turn back to Revelation 10, you will see that the context supports this.

The references to prophets in the immediate context confirms this (10:7,11; 11:3,6,10,18), as does the context of God's infallible revelation in 10:1-11.

What has the whole chapter been dealing with? It's been dealing with prophecy and prophets. And he will go on to deal with more prophecy and prophets in chapter 11. This whole unit is preoccupied with that subject. But certainly in chapter 10 we have God revealing the content of Revelation to John just as He revealed the content of His revelation to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 2-3. And the words prophet, prophecy, and prophesy occur in in the immediate context six times - in chapter 10:7,11 and it flows smoothly into the subject of the two prophets who prophesy in 11:3,6,10,18.

This is confirmed by the exegesis of both charismatic and non-Charismatic commentaries.

Indeed, the evidence for "the mystery of God" being prophetic revelation is so overwhelming that many charismatic and non-charismatic commentaries acknowledge that to be the case. I will just give you two short quotes. Beale's highly acclaimed commentary says of verse 7,

God’s prophetic mystery began to be revealed at Christ’s first coming. The striking parallel of 10:6–7, 11 with Rom. 16:25–26 corroborates this conclusion: “Now to him who is able to establish you according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to the nations.…”⁵

Moses Stuart says,

Μυστήριον means the secret designs of God ... which only the prophets, i.e. inspired men in the Christian church, had been commissioned to make known.⁶

This New Testament prophecy was about to be definitively completed, finished, ended (the word for "finished" in the MT = τελέσθη - 3rd, sing, aor., pass., subjunctive, which is the same form used in 20:3,5,7 to indicate completion, not fulfillment)

The literal rendering of the Greek shows connections:

In your outlines I give the Greek of the Majority Text and the literal translation with the original word order. It emphasizes the word "finished" by putting it at the front of the clause. So the last clause literally reads, "perfectly finished will be the mystery of God just as He announced to His servants the prophets."

τελέσθη τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ, perfectly finished will be the mystery of God

ὡς εὐηγγελίσατο τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ τοὺς προφήτας. just as He announced to His servants the prophets

The word "finished" is the same verb used by Jesus when He said on the cross, "It is finished" (John 19:30)

The word "finished" is the same word that Jesus declared on the cross when He said, "It is finished." When He said that with regard to redemption, His redemption was 100% completed; nothing more needed to be added. And the same meaning can be seen with the word "finished" here.⁷ The mystery revealed to all God's prophets would come to an end and be 100% finished in AD 70, with nothing more to be added. Thayer's Dictionary defines this word "finished" as "to perform the last act which completes a process." Rienecker and Rogers define it as, "... to bring to the goal, to complete, to bring to completion."⁸

And certainly the canon of Scripture would be completed. Moses Stuart says on that verse, "immediately on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of the seven-sealed book is brought to a close..."⁹ Well, what was the seven-sealed book? It was the growing canon. And the canon was clearly closed in AD 70. And I have a book on the Canon of Scripture that goes into that in great detail.¹⁰

This is the verbal form of the word for "perfect" in 1 Cor. 13:10.

But for those of you who like to study this in depth, I find it interesting that the noun form of this word for "finished" is actually translated as "perfect" in 1 Corinthians 13:10. And actually, the charismatic commentary that I quoted at length makes that point. 1 Corinthians 13 prophecies that when the perfect is come, the partial of prophetic revelation will end. So this word for "finished" can mean perfectly complete or perfectly finished. If you have something complete (as we do in the Bible), you don't need the partial (as Paul describes prophecy in 1 Corinthians 13). If you have something perfect (as we do in the Bible), you don't need the immature (as Paul also describes prophecy in 1 Corinthians 13). Once the seventh trumpet sounds, the partial gives way to the finished.

This ending of prophecy in AD 70 had already been anticipated by previous prophets. Which prophets? Both Old Testament and New Testament prophets. Here is a brief listing of some of the key prophecies of this ending of the mystery of God's prophetic revelation:

But the last phrase of the Greek is "just as He announced to His servants the prophets." "...perfectly finished will be the mystery of God just as He announced to His servants the prophets." Which prophets predicted this cessation of prophecy? Aune's massive commentary says that it refers to Old Testament prophets.¹¹ Bratcher says that it refers to New Testament prophets.¹² But the vast majority of commentators say that this last clause refers to both Old Tesament and New Testament prophets who anticipated this finishing of the mystery of God. Thomas, Ladd, Lenski, Mounce, Swete, Morris - they all say it was both Old Testament and New Testament prophets.¹³ So what I want to do in the remainder of this sermon is take you through some of the key prophetic announcements that prophecy and prophets would cease to be needed after AD 70. In my book on canon, I go into this in much more depth. But let's at least get a brief view.

Isaiah 8-9

Turn first to Isaiah 8. In my book on canon I show how Isaiah 8-9 are quoted over and over again in the New Testament as being a series of prophecies spanning the time between the birth of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. And if you look at chapter 8, all of verses 11-22 describe God casting Israel away in AD 70. But look at what happens at that precise time in verse 16. God says, "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples." The first word, "bind," is צ֖וֹר (tsor) and means to bind up, wrap up, or tie up. It refers to everything being contained within one bundle and nothing outside that bundle. The second word, "seal," is חוֹתָם (chotam), and is used elsewhere in Scripture to refer to sealing in a bag not to be reopened (Job 14:17), shutting up within a house (Job 24:16), closing off a spring (Song of Solomon 4:12), or something being ended (Dan. 9:24). So applying this word to revelation, this word means that the stream of revelation is sealed up, the receptacle of revelation is closed off, and the giving of revelation is blocked.

In verse 19 God rebukes the Jews would would be seiged in Jerusalem as continuing to seek revelation, but doing so automatically involves them in demonic revelation. Verse 20 then reaffirms that anything outside of the Bible is not from God. So the two verses together say,

Is. 8:19   And when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

After AD 70, there is only one authoritative standard of revelation - the Bible. All commentators acknowledge that the phrase "the law and the testimony" is a synonymn of Scripture. If people seek revelation outside of the Bible, they have no light in them. There are many other pointers in these two chapters to continuing revelation from the birth of Jesus up until AD 70, but once that target date ends, all revelation is bound up and sealed up and restricted to the Bible. If you need more exegetical proof, I would urge you to download my free book on canon.

Daniel 9:24-27

Turn next to Daniel 9. This is the famous passage of the 70 weeks. Among Jews there were weeks of days with a sabbath day at the end of it, and there were weeks of years with a sabbath year at the end of it. So 70 weeks of years is 490 years. And my book goes into great detail on the specific meaning of each phrase, but I just want you to notice a couple things.

The first thing to notice is that verses 26-27 make the last week (or the last seven-year period) start after the Messiah dies (exactly 40 years after the Messiah dies), and that last seven-year period is a war against Jerusalem where both city and temple are destroyed. I'll go ahead and read verses 26-27 because it is referred to in Revelation 11, which we will look at next time. Beginning to read at verse 26:

26 “And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; And the people of the prince who is to come Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, And till the end of the war desolations are determined. 27 Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering. [That's when the temple was burned in AD 70. But the war lasts for another three and a half years. Anyway, verse 27 goes on:] And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

So that is the ending point of the 70 weeks. Now look at all the things that have to happen before that ending point. Verse 24 says,

“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

All seven of those things happened by AD 70. And notice the phrase, "to seal up vision and prophecy." The word seal up is exactly the same Hebrew word that is translated earlier, "to make an end of." It refers to a complete closing off and ending of prophecy. And interestingly, the Hebrew is literally "to seal up vision and prophet." So both the office of prophet and the revelation that comes through the prophet would be sealed up, closed off, or ended. And when would it happen? Before the seventieth week is finished.

Zechariah 13

Turn next to Zechariah 13. In my book I give several proofs that chapters 12-13 refer to the time between Pentecost and the destruction of Israel in AD 70. I don't have time to demonstrate that here. But if you have chapter 13 in front of you, I am going to read verses 1-6, but before I do so, I will just point out that verses 7-9 refer to the war against Jerusalem when two thirds of Israel were destroyed. It is in that AD 70 context that God says He will not only cut of idols and unclean spirits, but he will also cause all prophets to depart from the land. Let me read verses 1-6.

Zech. 13:1 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.>

Zech. 13:2   “It shall be in that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. 3 It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.’ And his father and mother who begot him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.>

Zech. 13:4   “And it shall be in that day that every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear a robe of coarse hair to deceive. 5 But he will say, “I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ 6 And one will say to him, “What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

There are six things I want you to notice: First, the context is the first century. Second, God is the cause of Cessationism (“I will also cause… to depart” – v. 2). Third, true prophetic revelation is contrasted with the demonic (“the prophets and the unclean spirit”). Fourth, false prophets do continue to exist for a time after God causes the “prophets” to depart from the land. This can be seen by the words “It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophecies” (v. 3). The word “still” indicates that there are some prophetic claims even after God causes “the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land.” Fifth, this Cessationism (“I will cause… to depart”) makes false prophets reticent and even ashamed to claim to be prophets (“every prophet will be ashamed of his vision”) and makes God’s people unwilling to receive new prophecies from others (“if anyone prophecies…[they] will say to him…you have spoken lies”). Sixth, this reluctance to receive new prophecies after the time of cessation is with regard to any prophecy, whether in the name of the Lord or not (“if anyone still prophecies… in the name of the LORD… every prophet”). So it is a universal prohibition - if anyone still claims to be a prophet, the righteous will say that it is a lie. Seventh, New Testament prophecy is treated just like Old Testament prophecy, and the prophets are judged according to exactly the same standard of Deuteronomy by being put to death (v. 3). This last point is a critical one in critiquing Continuationism because Continuationists do not believe New Testament prophets should be judged by the same standard as Old Testament prophets. But this is clearly referring to New Testament prophets, and they are so judged. Finally, this parallels Daniel 9 in making both the vehicle of revelation (“prophet”) and the message of revelation (“prophesies”) to cease. This answers those who claim that there is no office of prophet today, but that there is a manifestation of prophecy. The passage appears to discredit both.

Now, just in case some people think that this has to be a cessation of prophecy still future to us, I would point out that it still doesn't fit the charismatic interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13. And the reason I say that is that the prophecy in this passage ends during history, not at the end of history. The word “still” in v. 3 and the progress of history in verses 1-6 indicates that the cessation has to be within history. So regardless of one’s interpretation of the Zechariah 13 time period, the standard Continuationist interpretation of 1Corinthians 13 and Ephesians 4 (which says that prophecy will continue until the Second Coming) is contradicted. This also contradicts the interpretation that the office of prophet will cease in the first century, but the occasional act of prophesying will continue, because this rules out both office and prophetic revelation at some point in history. And again, my book goes into more detail.

Joel 2:28-32

Turn next to Joel 2. This is the passage that Acts 2 quotes as being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost. Verse 28 begins that passage by saying, "And it shall come to past afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophecy," etc. Notice that the Holy Spirit and the supernatural gifts are poured out "afterward." After what? After verses 21-27, which is the glorious times of the Maccabees. And the reason I point this out is that there can be God's power, blessing, favor, and presence with His people without any charismatic gifts. Commentators agree that there are no charismatic gifts in verses 21-27. Those only come afterward. So notice the fullness of the true faith is possible without charismatic gifts. Beginning to read at verse 21:

21 Fear not, O land; Be glad and rejoice, For the LORD has done marvelous things! 22 Do not be afraid, you beasts of the field; For the open pastures are springing up, And the tree bears its fruit; The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. 23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, And rejoice in the LORD your God; For He has given you the former rain faithfully, And He will cause the rain to come down for you— The former rain, And the latter rain in the first month. 24 The threshing floors shall be full of wheat, And the vats shall overflow with new wine and oil. 25 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, The crawling locust, The consuming locust, And the chewing locust, My great army which I sent among you. 26 You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, And praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; And My people shall never be put to shame. 27 Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel: I am the LORD your God And there is no other. My people shall never be put to shame.

I read that because of the slander of those who say that if you don't have charismatic gifts, you don't have God's presence or blessing. But this is clearly God's presence and blessing. But then God does something remarkable in verses 28-29. There will be an outpouring of prophetic gifts and miracles. And verse 31 says that all of this will be "Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD" which is clearly a reference to the destruction of Israel, except for the remnant that would be saved in verse 32 - a reference to the 144,000 Jews who were saved in the book of Revelation.

Acts 2:17-21

The only things that the Acts passage adds to this is that Pentecost was the time of this outpouring of charismatic gifts, that it was only to take place in the last days of the Old Covenant, that the pouring out of the Holy Spirit was proof that Jesus was enthroned, and that God was saving a remnant out of an unbelieving Israel.

Ephesians 2-3

Turn next to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2-3 is the passage that we read earlier about the apostles and prophets being given the task of telling the church about thy mystery of Jew and Gentile being in one body. But notice what he says in Ephesians 2:19-22.

Eph. 2:19   Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Paul is saying that the foundation of the church was being laid in the first century, and that this revelational foundation is made up of three parts: 1) Jesus Christ, who is the chief cornerstone of the foundation, 2) the apostles, who are part of the foundation and 3) the prophets, who also part of the foundation. Just as you can’t have multiple cornerstones and multiple Christ’s in every century, you can’t have multiple foundations in every century. That’s why Paul said that he was the “last” of the Apostles (1 Cor. 15:7-8) and an apostle “born out of due time” (Gal. 1:16-18). Well, if apostleship didn't cease, its illogical to speak of him as being the last of the apostles or of being an apostle born out of due time.

You see, the very nature of apostleship necessitated an ending of that office. Since the apostles were the direct representatives of Christ on earth (and Luke 10:16; Jn. 13:20 show that) and since they were the only human foundation for the church (Eph. 2:20; Matt. 16:18-19), and since the foundation can never be laid again (1 Cor. 3:11), it follows that there cannot be apostolic succession. However, if apostles have ceased, then so have the prophets who are just as foundational. If chief cornerstones cannot be multiplied over 2000 years, then neither can the prophets grouped with that foundational cornerstone.

1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Turn next to 1 Corinthians 13. This is probably the most difficult passage to interpret, but there are certain anchor points that I think are very clear. First, let me read this out of the ESV.

“Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

I won't deal with every possible objection, but let me give you several reasons why this cannot mean that prophecy continues until the end of time. First, this passage needs to be interpreted in light of the many other passages that say that prophecy will cease in AD 70. Any interpretation that contradicts the other passages should be suspect.

Second, if prophecy continues until the end of time, why does he say that prophecy will cease? It would make more sense to say that prophecy will not cease. Furthermore, when charismatics say that the three gifts of knowledge, tongues, and prophecy cease in heaven, I need to ask, in what way does knowledge cease in heaven? Isn't that the time when we enter more fully into knowledge.

Third, the temporariness of the three gifts of prophecy, tongues, and knowledge is contrasted with the abidingness of the three fruits of the Spirit, faith, hope and love. Verse 13 says, “But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” This statement would make no sense if knowledge, prophecy, and tongues only ceased at the Second Coming because that is precisely the time when faith will give way to sight, and hope will give way to receiving. No contrast could be sustained between the abidingness of these graces and the non-abidingness of the gifts. Romans 8:24 says, “But hope that is seen is not hope.” Moffat paraphrases: “Now when an object of hope is seen, there is no further need to hope.” Knox paraphrases, “Hope would not be hope at all if its object were in view.” 2Corinthians 5:7 and Hebrews 11:1-3 show that faith by its very definition will cease when we receive what we have had faith in. Now “we walk by faith and not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7), but in heaven faith as “the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1) will give way to seeing the things we have longed for. Thus, if faith and hope do not abide forever, but if they abide longer than the other gifts mentioned in the chapter, then those other gifts logically must cease before faith and hope cease; they must cease before the Second Coming.

I will be the first to grant that there are interpretive difficulties with this chapter, with several quite different competing interpretations. But that is all the more reason why this passage must be interpreted in light of the other prophecies of the cessation of prophecy in AD 70.

Other places in the book of Revelation where this subject is addressed (2:20; 10:7-11; 11:1-14; 16:14; 19:20; 20:10; 22:18-19 and with 1:1; 2:16; 3:11; 22:7,9,12,20; 22:6, 18-19)

Conclusion

I'm going to skip over the verses in Revelation.

“His servants the prophets” is a well-known O.T. expression: cf. 2 Kings 17:13, 23, 21:10, 14:2; Ezek. 38:17; Zech. 1:6; Jer. 7:25, 25:4; Dan. 9:10. But in our text we may take it that the phrase refers to the Christian prophets, the contemporaries of the Seer.

R.H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St John, vol. 1, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark International, 1920), 266.

“Mystery” is an important biblical word whose primary meaning is not something secret or mysterious but a divine purpose revealed to men. It is used this way in the Greek translation of Daniel 2:29–30, where it designates the eschatological purpose of God revealed first to the king and then to Daniel. In the Qumran literature, we read that, to the Teacher of Righteousness, the leader of the sect, “God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants, the prophets” (Commentary on Habakkuk 7:4–5). That is, God has revealed to the Teacher his divine purpose hidden in the prophetic writings. The classic passage in the New Testament is Rom. 16:25–26, where “mystery” clearly refers to God’s redemptive plan, at first hidden in the mind of God, but then revealed and made public to all who will listen to the prophetic word. This is the meaning in the present passage. The “mystery of God” is his total redemptive purpose, which includes the judgment of evil and the eschatological salvation of his people.

George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), 145.

How the Bible uses the term "the mystery of God"

The word "finished" is the same word that Jesus declared on the cross when He said, "It is finished." When He said that with regard to redemption, His redemption was 100% completed; nothing more needed to be added. And the same meaning can be seen with the word "finished" here.¹⁴ The mystery revealed to all God's prophets would come to an end and be 100% finished in AD 70, with nothing more to be added. And certainly the canon of Scripture would be completed. Moses Stuart says on that verse, "immediately on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of the seven-sealed book is brought to a close..."¹⁵ Well, what was the seven-sealed book? It was the growing canon. And the canon was clearly closed in AD 70. And I have a book on the Canon of Scripture that goes into that in much more detail.¹⁶

Now, some futurists who believe in ongoing prophecy have no problem with the idea that all prophetic revelation ceases at the seventh trumpet because they think the seventh trumpet is at the end of history. Their interpretation of 1 Corinthians 13:8 is that prophecy will cease on the last day of history - what they interpret as the seventh trumpet. So their conclusion is that prophecy must continue until the end of history. Well, that's a logical conclusion if you are a futurist on the trumpets. After all, they say, there will be two more prophets witnessing before the seventh trumpet sounds in chapter 11. It is only after those two die that the seventh trumpet sounds. So they agree with me that the seventh trumpet seems to signal the end of all prophetic activity.¹⁷ Even Gordon Fee, who agrees that the little book is John's prophetic revelation,¹⁸ says this: "...'the mystery of God is to be accomplished before that final moment happens; but in the meantime there must be further prophetic activity." His interpretation of verse 7 is that prophecy continues until the seventh trumpet sounds. So my interpretation of the seventh trumpet signaling the end of prophetic activity is not at all an odd one. Even charismatics like Gordon Fee have held to that viewpoint. The main question is the timing. And I believe that I have clearly demonstrated over the last several months that the seven seals and the seven trumpets are first century and the seventh trumpet blows in AD 70.

And that the term "mystery" includes both Scripture and oral prophecies can be seen in many passages. Ephesians 3 applies the word "mystery" to New Testament prophets. It speaks of "the revelation ... [of the] mystery... which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets." So the mystery has now been revealed to apostles and prophets. 1 Corinthians 13 and several other passages do the same thing with that word mystery.

But Romans 16:25-26 says that it is not just oral prophecy that contains this mystery. Romans 16 says that the New Testament Scriptures are God's "revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations..." So the word "mystery" is dealing with the revealed message given to prophets, whether written or oral.¹⁸ Kendell Easley points out that it includes the prophetic contents of the book of Revelation - what the apostle John eats.⁶ George Eldon Ladd points out that there is more than one revealed mystery and that the term mystery encompasses all prophetic revelation, whether the dream revealed to Daniel in Daniel 2, or the contents of the Bible.² And the second part of the clause makes that clear - John says that the mystery was what was proclaimed to God's prophets. All of that is about to end.

Something is definitively completed, finished, ended (the word for "finished" in the MT = τελέσθη - 3rd, sing, aor., pass., subjunctive. Same form used in 20:3,5,7 to indicate an endpoint reached)

This is the verbal form of the word for "perfect" in 1 Cor. 13:10.

This sermon will deal with Old TEstament background to verse 7.

Quotes

“The mystery of God” extends from the time of Christ’s exaltation (or from his ministry) until the consummation of history, which will occur when the seventh trumpet sounds. This means that God’s prophetic mystery began to be revealed at Christ’s first coming. The striking parallel of 10:6–7, 11 with Rom. 16:25–26 corroborates this conclusion: “Now to him who is able to establish you according to the revelation of the mystery, which has been kept secret for long ages past, but now is manifested, and by the Scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the eternal God, has been made known to the nations.…”

G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 543.

The mystery of God will be accomplished. Many scholars have trouble understanding the phrase “the mystery of God.” A mystery in the Bible is divine truth previously undisclosed but now made known through Christ or his apostles. In Revelation 5 a scroll with hidden contents had appeared in the hand of God—his Judgment Scroll. Only Christ was qualified to open the scroll and look inside. How better could the contents of the great sealed scroll be denoted than with the phrase “mystery of God”?

Kendell H. Easley, Revelation, vol. 12, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 175.

The mystery of God is not identical with mysterious calculations or reading heavenly tables or scrolls about the end. It is “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1:1) in judgment and in salvation. This “open” mystery is announced by the loud voices in heaven after the blowing of the seventh trumpet: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever” (11:15).

Gerhard A. Krodel, Revelation, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1989), 214–215.

When the seventh angel, who is about to trumpet his message, sounds his instrument, then the mystery of God preached through the prophets will be accomplished or completed. To “complete” or “finish” is a translation of the aorist passive indicative of teleō, the same verb the Lord used from the cross when he cried tetelestai or “it is finished.” The aorist tense here is the indication of complete action so that the reader is informed that the mystery known only to God and revealed to man through the revelation given by the apostles and prophets will now be brought to its conclusion. The significance of this statement can scarcely be underestimated.

Paige Patterson, Revelation, ed. E. Ray Clendenen, vol. 39, The New American Commentary (Nashville, TN: B&H, 2012), 233.

Καὶ ἐτελέσθη, one of those cases where the Praeter is said, by the older grammarians, to be put for the Future. But there is no need of such an enallage. The angel means to say, that immediately on the sounding of the seventh trumpet, the mystery of the seven-sealed book is brought to a close, all is fully completed. Had he used the Future here, it would have left open an indefinite time for completion, contrary to his plain intention. In fact the Greeks, like the Hebrews, employed a Praeterite sometimes to denote future actions which were regarded as certain. So in Eurip. Medea, 78, ἀπωλόμεσθʼ ἄρʼ, ειʼ κακὸν προσοίσομεν νεὸν παλαιῷ, i.e. we have been undone, in case we shall add a new evil to the old one. Plat. Repub. V. p. 462. See other examples of the like nature in Kühner’s Gr. Gramm. § 443. 2, from Homer, Plat. and Demosth.—Μυστήριον means the secret designs of God in respect to the enemies of his church, which only the prophets, i.e. inspired men in the Christian church, had been commissioned to make known.*

Moses Stuart, A Commentary on the Apocalypse, vol. 2 (Andover; New York: Allen, Morrill and Wardwell; M. H. Newman, 1845), 209–210.

Indeed, John keeps the ambiguity alive by speaking of this eschatological event in terms of the mystery of God that will be accomplished before the final moment occurs. The final clause is also full of ambiguity for the later reader. Does just as he announced to his servants the prophets refer to the prophets of Israel, whose oracles are written for posterity in the Old Testament? Or, more likely it would seem, is this an application of an Old Testament prophetic announcement to some Christian prophets of his own day, of whom he is one himself, as the final sentence in the present passage (v. 11) affirms? In any case, John stands in the long line of those who understood the prophets to be those to whom God has spoken so that in turn they speak in God’s behalf. All of this together makes it clear that this is not a signal that the End is immediate. Rather, it is a signal that “the mystery of God is to be accomplished” before that final moment happens; but in the meantime there must be further prophetic activity. Although one cannot be certain here, the “mystery of God” most likely points directly to the climax in 11:15–18, where God’s purposes with creation in general and humanity in particular are brought to completion with the sounding of the seventh trumpet. So why, one might rightly ask, include here still one more anticipatory moment in what itself is only an interlude vision? The most likely answer is precisely because it does occur in the interlude, where John pauses to remind his readers that their own ordeal is not in fact nearly over. John himself has much more prophesying to do, and the church has much more witnessing to do, which is precisely how this middle paragraph leads the reader into the main point of the whole scene—verses 8–11. John begins the main point of the vision by picking up the

Gordon D. Fee, Revelation, New Covenant Commentary Series (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2011), 143–144.

“Mystery” is an important biblical word whose primary meaning is not something secret or mysterious but a divine purpose revealed to men. It is used this way in the Greek translation of Daniel 2:29–30, where it designates the eschatological purpose of God revealed first to the king and then to Daniel. In the Qumran literature, we read that, to the Teacher of Righteousness, the leader of the sect, “God made known all the mysteries of the words of his servants, the prophets” (Commentary on Habakkuk 7:4–5). That is, God has revealed to the Teacher his divine purpose hidden in the prophetic writings. The classic passage in the New Testament is Rom. 16:25–26, where “mystery” clearly refers to God’s redemptive plan, at first hidden in the mind of God, but then revealed and made public to all who will listen to the prophetic word. This is the meaning in the present passage. The “mystery of God” is his total redemptive purpose, which includes the judgment of evil and the eschatological salvation of his people.

George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972), 145.

This passage is important for understanding the self-presentation of John, whose book is described elsewhere as ‘prophecy’ (1:3; 22:18–19). He sets himself at the end of a long line of those privileged to know the divine mysteries, as a prophet like them.

Ian Boxall, The Revelation of Saint John, Black’s New Testament Commentary (London: Continuum, 2006), 157.