In February 2003, there was an International Prophecy Conference meeting in Tampa, in which doomsayers speculated on the war in Iraq. Since the sixteenth chapter of Revelation mentions the river Euphrates, and that river in Iraq, they speculated that this prophecy was talking about current events. The newspaper article said: “Then comes the clincher. In Chapter 9, Verse 11—yes, that’s 9:11—John says the leader of an army of locusts released to fight humankind is named Abaddon in Hebrew, Apollyon in Greek. Both words mean Destroyer, one of several meanings for the name ‘Saddam.’” Irvin Baxter, founder of Endtime magazine said that Iraq will play a role “in world-ending events if U.S.-led forces invade Iraq.” Then he predicted that World War III will  begin and “the lives of 2 billion people, the ‘one-third of mankind’ stated in Revelation” will be destroyed.

What is wrong with such sensational speculations?

First, the book of Revelation begins, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John” (Rev. 1:1).  The  last chapter says that God showed the holy prophets “the things which must shortly take place” (Rev. 22:6). That was shortly after the time John wrote those things in about 95 A.D. The Book is talking about persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire and the defeat of the persecuting empire. It has no reference to the nation of Iraq.

Second, such speculations are part of a system known as Premillennialism. That speculative system teaches that Christ is going to come back to earth, restore the Jews to Palestine, set up the throne of David in Jerusalem and reign over a physical kingdom for one thousand years before the final judgment. What is wrong with this?

God gave Israel all the land that He promised them. Joshua said “So the Lord gave to Israel all the land of which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they took possession of it and dwelt in it” (Josh. 21:43). Nehemiah said God “brought them into the land” and they “possessed it” (Neh. 9:23).  There is no land promise to Israel, nor any other nation today. Christ’s death abolished distinctions between nationalities. Paul said there is no longer Jew and Gentile, but all are one in Christ (Gal. 3:28,29).   

The Kingdom of Christ was established in the first century and is a spiritual kingdom. Jesus said, “there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power” (Mk. 9:1). He told Pilate “My kingdom is not of this world” (Jn. 18:36).  He told Nicodemus that “unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn. 3:3). Just as surely as people are born again, the kingdom of Christ has been established. Paul told the Colossians,  that God “has delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Col. 1:13). John wrote  the seven churches in Asia, and said he was their “companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:9). Jesus is not coming to establish an earthly kingdom. He is coming to “deliver the kingdom to God the Father” (1 Cor. 15:24).

Jesus is seated on the throne of David and ruling over His kingdom. An angel told Mary that she would have a Son, “and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David” (Lk. 1:32). After the resurrection of Christ, Peter said that David was not resurrected, but that he had predicted that God would “raise up the Christ to sit on his throne,” and this he spoke “concerning the resurrection of the Christ” (Acts 2:29-31). Premillennial speculators misuse Bible prophecies, and deny that Christ reigns as King over His kingdom—the church.