Book of Revelation HIDEN TRUTH, JACOB GEORGE [free ebook reader for pc txt] 📗

the canon may throw light on the unfolding historical processes of what was officially considered orthodox, what was heterodox, and what was even heretical. Interpretation of meanings and imagery are anchored in what the historical author intended and what his contemporary audience inferred; a message to Christians not to assimilate into the Roman imperial culture was John's central message. Thus, his letter (written in the apocalyptic genre) is pastoral in nature, and the symbolism of Revelation is to be understood entirely within its historical, literary, and social context. Critics study the conventions of apocalyptic literature and events of the 1st century to make sense of what the author may have intended.

 

 

 

Focus

 

Figures in Revelation

 

In order of appearance:

 

John of Patmos

The angel who reveals the Revelation of Jesus Christ

The One who sits on the Throne

Twenty-four crowned elders

Four living creatures

The Lion of Judah who is the seven horned Lamb with seven eyes

Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Four angels holding the four winds of the Earth

The seal-bearer angel

Seven angelic trumpeters

The star called Wormwood

Angel of Woe

Scorpion-tailed Locusts

Abaddon

Four angels bound to the great river Euphrates

Two hundred million lion-headed cavalry

The mighty angel of Seven thunders

The Two witnesses

Beast of the Sea having seven heads and ten horns

The woman and her child

The Dragon, fiery red with seven heads

Michael the Archangel

Lamb-horned Beast of the Earth

Image of the Beast of the sea

The False Prophet

Whore of Babylon

Death and Hades

 

 

 

 

Focus

 

Christianity portal

 

 

Alpha and Omega

Apocalypse of John - dated astronomically

Apocalypse of Peter

Apocalypse Revelation

Apocalypticism

Arethas of Caesarea

Biblical numerology

Christian eschatological differences

Events of Revelation

Horae Apocalypticae

New Earth

Number of the Beast

Second Coming

The Beast (Bible)

Textual variants in the Book of Revelation

Woman of the Apocalypse

English Apocalypse manuscripts

 

Notes

Other apocalypses popular in the early Christian era did not achieve canonical status, except 2 Esdras (also known as the Apocalypse of Ezra), which is recognized as canonical in the Ethiopian Orthodox Churches.

 

Book of Revelation

Apocalyptic Epistle

Preceded by General Epistle of
Jude

New Testament
Books of the Bible

End

 

 

 

Focus

 

Main article: Events of Revelation

 

Revelation 6.2: And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer. White Rider from Tolkovy Apocalyps, Moscow, 17th century

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Focus

 

Apocalypse 7, the 144,000 elect. Beatus d'Osma, 11th century

 

The Fourth Angel sounds his trumpet Apocalypse 8. Beatus Escorial, circa 950.

Apocalypse 12, the Woman and the Dragon. Beatus d'Osma, 11th century

 

 

Focus

 

 

A seven-headed leopard-like beast Apocalypse 13, Beatus Escorial

An 1880 Baxter process colour plate illustrating Revelation 22:17 by Joseph Martin Kronheim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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"Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe." (14:15), Escorial Beatus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Application to Present day Context

 

While the "symbolic history" view (above0 was more-or-less the official view of Revelation adopted by the medieval church, there continued to be literalist readings throughout the Middle Ages. In general, these views took a literal view of the 1,000 years as being the current age of the church. As a result this way of looking at Revelation led some to look to it for ongoing events in the history of Christianity. This mode of interpretation, which sees later events in Christian history as fulfilling "predictions" in the Book of Revelation, is known as the "continuous history" view.

 

The first major interpreter to develop this view into a system of reading Revelation with current predictive value was Joachim of Fiore (1132-1202 CE). Based on the number 42 months (Rev. 11.2), the duration of the "trampling of the temple," Joachim concluded that this was period equal to the 42 generations in Matthew's genealogy from Adam to Jesus (Matt. 1.17). So, he said that these 42 generations (or 1,260 years) marked the period from the birth of Jesus until the end he saw predicted in Revelation. He then looked identified particular events and individuals in Christian history as fulfilling elements in Revelation in a continuum from the days of Jesus until his own time. So, for example, the beast with seven heads (Rev. 13.1), which are explicitly identified as seven kings (Rev. 17.10) he identifies as evil rulers beginning with Herod the Great and continuing to Saladin, the Turkish leader who had only a few years earlier repulsed the Crusaders from the Holy Land. Joachim thus saw, a figure of his own day, as predicted in Revelation's unfolding of history from ancient to contemporary times.

 

From Joachim's day down to the mid-XIXth century, this pattern of calculation became the most common form of literalist interpretation of the "predictive" capacity of Revelation. It is therefore the most common mode of interpretation within literalist postmillenial expectation. It was a prominent feature of many end-time calculations and interpretations during the Reformation period in Europe. It was also used by Cotton Mather and others in colonial America and England; they regularly looked for current events that might be fulfillment of Revelation within this scheme, inevitably looking for elements that pointed toward the nearness of the end of time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Application to Present day Context

 

A new mode of interpreting Revelation beginning in the early XIXth century. It grew mostly out of Protestant theology with a strong reforming element, both in Britain and America. It also drew on the strong tradition of literalist interpretation of Revelation as predicting contemporary events that had become popular in these areas through the "continuous history" view. But this new mode began to look at the past history of Christianity from the New Testament through the Middle Ages and down to its own time in a different light. From this perspective, it was hard to compute how the 1,000 years, if taken literally, could refer to the past history of the church, since that would place the inauguration of the Millenium within the timeframe of the medieval Catholic Church. The new view, therefore, began to argue that none of the events described in the Book of Revelation after chapters 1-3 (i.e., John's vision and the letters to the seven churches of Asia) had yet come to pass. All the florid images of Revelation 4-22 were instead considered to be predictions of future events that would come to pass in literal terms as the return of Christ and the end approached. Thus, this view looks at Revelation as prediction of "future history."

 

Central to this mode of interpretation is the view that Revelation, along with most of the rest of the Bible constitutes a similar type of "prophecy" of the future, and it often refers to this overall scheme of interpretation as "Bible prophecy." Much of the interpretation that comes from this perspective involved linking various passages from different parts of the Bible to form a composite that fits current and future expectations. This mode of interpretation is also directly connected to the rise of pre-millenialism, the view that the 1,000 year reign of Christ will be a literal event that will occur only after Christ returns. Thus, the emphasis on interpreting Revelation, lies in equating its images with those events surrounding the return. Several different versions or systems have been proposed for how the actual events will work out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Application to Present day Context

 

The most popular has been that of John Nelson Darby (1800-1882), which is known as Dispensationalism, a view made popular in England and America in the early XXth century through the publication of Cyrus Scofield (1843-1921). First published in 1909, it came to be known as The Scofield Reference Bible. On each page it printed the King James translation of 1611 alongside of Scofield's own copious "notes" on how to read each passage of the Bible in conjunction with other "prophecies." It thus provided a chainlink interreferencing system to the Book of Revelation, by which one could jump from passage to passage to follow the "true" meaning. The Scofield Bible continued to be popular among certain Protestant Christian groups. From 1909 to 1967 it sold more than 10 million copies; reprinted in 1967, it is said to have sold another 2.5 million copies by 1990. More than any other "future history" interpretation, this one has had the most impact on current literalist interpretations of Revelation.

Prophecy and apocalypticism share a hope on the future, and theologically speaking, in the twentieth century, many mainstream or liberal pastors and theologians have argued that prophecy is not primarily prediction of the future, it's much more an advocacy of certain moral positions. For example social justice for the poor. But I think that prediction of the future is an important element in prophecy. ... That's not all they are, but that's an important element.

John's Apocalypse also relates to the future, but not a future historical event. ... The Book of Revelation has come to be read as prophesying the events of the end of history. A general resurrection, a general judgment and a new age.

 

  Knowing that Lucifer would grow bolder and bolder in his dealings with the people that would also eventually be there as well, the Lord allowed for a warning for all, through His apostle John, that a show down would finally have to take place.  Hence, we the people of earth will be caught up in that final struggle between good and evil.

 

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Application to Present day Context

 

Because the Lord loves us so much, remembering that the Bible says He knew us before we were born, in the end of times He is more than willing to bend over backwards to allow us the choice to continue on with Him.  That is what Revelation is all about from our perspective, that of His children.  In Revelation He lets us know what is to come through His prophesy to John, and He does such twenty-one times before the very end. That prophecy could only have begun with the forming of Israel as a country in and of itself in 1948.  The next indication that the final phase of the Lord's disdain with Lucifer and the evil he has spawned has begun, will be the calling back to heaven of all those that believe in Him and His son Jesus as the risen Christ, and the ones either too young or incapable of making such decision between good and evil.  That is referred to as "The Rapture". 

 

    Just prior to the instantaneous calling of His believing flock to heaven He will be giving all those on the edge of decision chance after chance to come under His wing.  Why?  Because after the calling, those left behind will be facing extremely trying times, the price for their folly.  If one looks at what is now happening around all of us, with the greed of some of the rich and powerful and those that kill without remorse in the name of religion, it becomes easy to see why the Lord might not be very happy with what He sees down here.

 

    There comes a time when a cutoff date must be set in order to proceed with what is to be.  That time is called "The Rapture" and the bible says it will come in an unknown instant, like a thief in the night leaving just one's clothing and such in their place.  The LORD holds the day and hour of that moment to himself, not even letting any of his Prophets or Angels know of it.  Though the "Left Behind" book series has the Rapture as a silent happening, believe that the "thief in the night" part of that only implies as to the surprise of the event and not the sound or sight of the event.  For that part of the Rapture, we go to Paul in First Thessalonians 15, commenting on the end of times. 

 

Paul says that when the "caught up" (later referred to as the Rapture) occurs, the LORD himself will descend with a shout, with the voice of an archangel