Bible Matrix ⑦_162_REV 2:10 – You will suffer persecution for ten days

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Bible Matrix ⑦_162_REV 2:10 – You will suffer persecution for ten days

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIOVvC7822k

Bible Matrix ⑦: Historical & Scientific Views on Daniel and Revelation

Part 2. Revelation

Revelation 2:8~11 - To the Church in Smyrna, Tribulation/Persecution/Martyrdom, Receiving Only Praise from Jesus

Revelation 2:10 - You will suffer persecution for ten days

<Revelation> 2:10 - Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.(NIV); Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.(KJV)

○ Many people have different interpretations of ‘ten days’ in the verse of “you will suffer persecution for ten days.” Some say that 10 days equal to 10 years based on the 'Day-year principle', which states that a day is converted into a year, while others refer to 'a period of time’, namely, the ten periods during which ten Emperors of the Imperial Roman Empire persecuted Christians.

○ First of all, let's look at the 'Day-year principle’ as one day is one year (a day for each year or one year for each day). As I already mentioned in detail in <Bible Matrix ⑦_27>, in <Numbers> 14:34 and <Ezekiel> 4:6, there is an instruction from LORD God or an angel to “count a day as a year.” Therefore, 40 days is 40 years.

○ However, there are no instructions in other verses of Bible. For example, <Genesis> 7:4 and 15:13, <Jeremiah> 25:11, <Daniel> 12:11, <Revelation> 11:11~12, etc. Therefore, 40 days is literally 40 days, 400 years is 400 years, 70 years is 70 years, 2,300 days are 2,300 days, 1,290 days are 1,290 days, 42 months is 42 months, and 1,260 days are literally 1,260 days.

○ However, there are some people who interpret 10 days as 10 years even though there is no instruction to convert a day into a year in <Revelation 2:10>. According to this interpretation, 10 years is the historical year when the persecution of Christianity by the Imperial Roman Empire was the most intense and severe as follows:

☞ “10 days” means the ten-years persecutions between AD 303 and 312: during the reigns of Emperor Diocletian (Reign in the east, 284~305), Emperor Galerius(Reign in the east, 305~311) and Emperor Maxentius (Reign in the west, 306~312), it was the Empire's last, largest, and bloodiest official persecution of Christianity. As I mentioned in <Bible Matrix_⑦_20> and <Bible Matrix_⑦_125>, the persecution of Christians by the Roman Empire lasted until Constantine I (Rein in the west, AD 306~, Reign in the whole, AD 324~337), who was a pagan, converted to Christianity in 312, legally issued the Edict of Milan in 313, the first legal recognition of religious freedom.

○ Now let's look at ‘a period of time”. “Ten days” means the ten periods from AD 82 to 442: during the reigns of Domitian (reign 81~96), Trajan (reign 98~117), Marcus Aurelius (reign 161~180), Trajano Decius (reign 249~251), Diocletian (ruled AD 284~305), and Julian (331~363), etc., it was the 10 periods of time that 10 Roman Emperors persecuted Christianity.

○ Some scholars also see "ten days" as referring to ten times of persecutions during the 250 years from Nero (reign AD 54~68) to Diocletian (reign AD 284~305). 

○ However, in <Revelation> 2:10, (1) there is no direction from Jesus Christ to count one day as one year, and (2) the 'test for 10 days’ in <Daniel> 1:12 is in line with “The devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days” in <Revelation> 2:10, so I believe 10 days means literally 10 days.

☞ In other words, it means that it took a total of ten days from the day the holy saints were arrested and imprisoned until they were executed, that is, burned at the stake or thrown to the lions and finally martyred. These 10 days applied to the past, are applying to the present, and will apply to the future.

☞ However, I have failed to historically and chronologically find who was suffered to martyrdom for 10 days, when, where, and how. This is because the history data such as the exact day of the beginning and the end of the martyrdoms of the saints whom we have examined earlier like Polycarp was not accurately recorded. If anyone knows, please let me know. 

○ But Jesus said that the period of tribulation would be for 10 days. This means that the time for the devil's activities is set by God the Father and Jesus Christ. Every event in this world has the beginning and the end set by God the Father and Jesus Christ.

☞ It is a great comfort to the saints that the period of time is set by God the Father and Jesus Christ even though they suffer great tribulation and persecution. It is also for a limited and short period of 10 days (reference: Matthew 24:22 – those days will be shortened for the elect). The intensity of suffering is severe, but its duration is short. Although the period is short, Christians must pass through this period of tribulation. That is why <Revelation> 1:9 says, “I, John, ..in the suffering…that are ours in Jesus”.

☞ It is only now that I know another reason why Jesus Christ says in the beginning of the message to the church in Smyrna, that is, <Revelation 2:8>, it reads, “..the words of him is the First and the last..”. It emphasizes that Jesus Christ presides over the beginning and the end of the 10-day tribulation or persecution, which was in the past, which is now in the present, and which will be in the future.