Progressive Illumination

Progressive illumination explains why the current generation has focused on end times' events more than all preceding generations combined. Think about it. The Bible says that the beast will have a deadly wound that will be healed. For the first twenty centuries, people may have wondered how news of the beast's healing could be known by “all the world.”

Revelation 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

Of course, television, satellites and the internet make all of this possible. The advent of television did not take place until the end of the twentieth century. However, satellites and the internet have made covering news events an instantaneous worldwide phenomenon. This is another example of progressive illumination. The prophecy may have been written almost twenty centuries earlier, but not until this generation do people have the understanding of the prophecy's ease of fulfillment.

Additionally, could anyone in the first, or even the nineteenth, century have conceived how the mark of the beast could be IN the right hand or IN one's forehead? Yet, the Bible has always taught that the mark will be both UPON the forehead (Revelation 20:4) and IN the right hand or IN the forehead.

Revelation 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

What could the Bible mean by saying the mark will be "in" the individual's forehead or right hand? The writers nor prophetic teachers had any concept over the last 1,900 years of computer chips that could facilitate the prophecy concerning the mark of the beast.

In fact, no writer for the last 5,900 years ever wrote about other current spectacles. No writer mentioned prior to the last 100 years mentioned Social Security numbers, computer chips, RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) chips, verichips, cashless societies, brain scans or biometrics, so how could these serve as a fulfillment of end-times' prophecy since these concepts do not precede the current or last century? All this serves to validate the fact that our God declares “the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done” (Isaiah 46:10).

Christians prior to the current generation had no concept of satellites or surveillance cameras and drones used to spy and remotely kill. All of these gadgets have emerged to help prepare the world for the end times. However interesting these new developments, it is just as likely that the world could experience a high altitude nuclear electromagnetic pulse (HEMP), wiping out all electronic equipment, necessitating the return of swords, horses and maybe even guillotines as possibly alluded to in scripture.

Ezekiel 38:2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him, 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal: 4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

Ezekiel could simply have used this description to represent a mechanized military force or maybe a HEMP device will necessitate a return to primitive weaponry. This is most interesting because earlier generations would have accepted this truth with no question, but as intelligence progressed generations might have been tempted to doubt that warfare could ever return to such a primitive fashion. As intelligence has progressed to an even greater degree, men can once again imagine how militaries might be forced to return to the sword, shield, armour, and horses. This occurrence would also explain the necessity of beheadings of the followers of Christ during the tribulation.

Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

The beheadings could infer the return to antiquated weaponry or even point to the chosen method of Muslim execution. Regardless of the significance of the future beheadings, the book of Daniel offers further insights into the effects of progressive illumination.