The principle upon which this verse-by-verse study of Revelation proceeds, is that the contents of the book are, in the main, yet future and that the fulfillment of the greater part of Revelation cannot take place as long as the Church remains here on earth. When the Lord JESUS comes in the Rapture, and the Church is caught up to meet Him in the air, then the events in Revelation from chapter four through chapter twenty-two will occur. The New Testament Church—CHRIST’s body and His bride—is now in the process of being called out and will be completed when the Rapture occurs. This is known as the Church Age—or the Dispensation of Grace. During this dispensation, both Jews and Gentiles are being saved and they all become members of the same body (I Corinthians 12:12-13). The New Testament Church is not a subject of prophecy, but is a New Testament revelation (Matthew 16:16-17, Ephesians 3). Before our very eyes in this day, political and religious events are taking place which point to the end of this age of grace. But after the Rapture the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy (Daniel 9:27) will bring about startling changes here on this earth. The entire political system will be rearranged under Satan’s prime minister—the Beast of Revelation. A gigantic confederation of ten powers will rule. The old Roman Empire in all of its power and glory will appear under new conditions. It will be guided and controlled by the “Little Horn” of Daniel 7, known in the New Testament as the Beast. His partner in murder and crime is the Antichrist, who will be the religious dictator and the head of the world church which is now in the making. What the Beast does politically, the Antichrist will do religiously. The two will control all political and religious activity here on earth. Bear in mind that this takes place after the Rapture of the church (Revelation 3:10; I Thessalonians 5:9). Just before the King of Kings overthrows the Beast and the Man of Sin, everything that is vile religiously will head up under the leadership of the whore (the mystical Babylon). Mystical Babylon will be overthrown by the ten kings (Revelation 17:16) who at first were with her and upheld her in all of her vileness, but who later turn to destroy her. The ruin of “the great whore” is lamented by the kings, the merchants, and the people outside the Roman Empire (Revelation 18:9-18). The final destruction and annihilation of the great whore will be by Almighty God Himself (Revelation 18:2, 21-24). This will take place shortly before the destruction of the Beast. The Beast will be destroyed by the Lord in person when He comes in mighty power (read Revelation 19). The destruction of mystical Babylon and the destruction of the Beast are separate events. The destruction of mystical Babylon precedes the destruction of the Beast. The events recorded in Revelation chapters four and following cannot take place as long as the Church is here on earth. Evil at the present is actively at work, and the mystery of iniquity is already working. But the mystery of iniquity is restrained, kept in check, by the Holy Spirit (II Thessalonians 2:6, 7). The presence of the New Testament Church and the presence of the HOLY GHOST restrain the development of the “mystery of iniquity!” The church of the Antichrist cannot be revealed and “the faith” cannot be totally annihilated from the visible Church until the church at Philadelphia (Revelation 3:7) is raptured to meet the Lord in the air, and until the Laodiceans are spued out and remain here on the earth. However, the principles are at work which are surely and rapidly undermining the moral foundations of the professing church and of society in general. The stage is set and the higher critics are doing all in their power to undermine the faith.