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Subject: Study of Revelation
Replies: 86 Views: 3403
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:49pm
A Biblical Study of Revelation. How should Revelation be read? How should it be interpreted? How did the early church interpret Revelation, and have we deviated from that? *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:52pm
What about the imagery of Revelation? Will we see a literal 7 year tribulation? Will we see locusts overtaking the earth or a monster with 10 heads? Come, lets discuss the book of Revelation! *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:53pm
** The following information is taken from many sources and comes from a sermon I delivered about 3 months ago ** *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:55pm
Well it has been said that the 2 books in the Bible that Satan hates the most are the books of Genesis and Revelation. Genesis, because it tells us where Satan comes from, and Revelation, because it tells us where Satan is going! *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:56pm
Most Christians are afraid of the book of Revelation. Mostly because of the imagery we see in the book - locusts with faces like man and tails like scorpions, a beast coming out of the sea, 6 winged creatures with eyes at the front and back of their heads, a dragon with 10 heads and 7 horns. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:57pm
The main reason Christians are afraid of reading Revelation is because the book seems too hard to understand. But being afraid of Revelation and not reading it means sealing it up - which is being disobedient to Gods commandment in Revelation 22:10 *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:59pm
We are commanded not to seal it up. We are to read the book, study it and preach it. We are not to ignore it or be afraid of it. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 12:59pm
Most Christians allow authors and preachers and TV evangelists to tell us what Revelations means. But there are so many different interpretations of Revelation. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:02pm
Some say that the reestablishment of Israel as a nation in 1948 is predicted in Revelation *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:02pm
Some say modern Israel will play a pivotal role in the end times *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:02pm
Some say that before Jesus returns, Christians and Jews must rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and reinstate the old testament animal sacrifices *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:03pm
Some say giant locusts with faces like men and stings like scorpions will one day run around attacking people *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:03pm
Some say that Jesus will return to Jerusalem and lead an army of Christians against Russia, and just when it looks like the Christians are about to lose, God will intervene and save them at the last minute *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:05pm
There are some who say that the antichrist is Barrack Obama. Before that they were saying it was Osama Bin Laden. Before that they were saying the antichrist was Saddam Hussein. Before that they were saying its Gorbachev. Before that they were saying Hitler was the antichrist. And there were many others before him. There is apparently even a group who believe Jack Nicholson is the antichrist. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:06pm
All of these ideas and interpretations are taught in the most popular books on Revelation, and even in movies such as the Left Behind series *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:06pm
It is dangerous for us to settle for believing what others tell us about the scriptures. Rather, we should be like the Bereans in Acts chapter 17 from verse 10. The apostle Paul praised them because every time he left them after preaching to them, they would check the scriptures to see if what he was preaching was true. And Paul was an apostle! *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:07pm
So as we go into Revelation, I want to ask you to put aside any preconceptions you may have about Revelation and be open to the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and be like the Bereans and study for yourself to see if what I am saying is true *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:07pm
What is the book of Revelation? *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:08pm
We are given the answer to this question in the 1st verse of Revelation - it is the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is the last words of Jesus to His servants. It is kind of like God's will for His people. If you knew that there was a will and you were in it, wouldnt you want to read it and know what it says? *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:09pm
Revelation is in many aspects an Old Testament book. It uses a lot of Old Testament imagery. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:09pm
The Bible is its own dictionary, its own interpreter. If you want to understand the imagery of Revelation, you can compare it with the Old Testament. If you see a word or a symbol that you dont understand, go and find it elsewhere in the Bible and see what it says there. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:10pm
Some of the old testament imagery you will find in Revelation includes the Tree of Life, the wilderness, the tabernacle, Mount Zion, the Holy City, Babylon, Magog, Ceraphim, Angels, candlesticks etc *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:10pm
The source of most misapplications or misunderstandings of Revelation is that people dont know the Old Testament. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:10pm
So what does the symbolism in Revelation mean? *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:11pm
Does the war in the Middle East mean we are on the brink of the end times? Is the antichrist about to be revealed? Is Armageddon around the corner? The answers to those questions hinge on what you take literally and how much you believe takes place in the future. Those are the 2 biggest questions we face in interpreting Revelation. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:12pm
There are 4 main approaches to Revelation - Spiritist, Preterist, Futurist and Historicist *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:13pm
Spiritist - the view that the visions in Revelation are not about specific events, people or nations, but have a spiritual meaning only. They are not talking about real events, but are only stories with a spiritual lesson. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:14pm
Futurist - the view that every event in revelation after the letters to the 7 churches will happen in some future time.
They believe that there will be a future 7 year tribulation period, followed by the resurrection of the dead and the rapture of all living, after which Gods kingdom will come to earth. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:15pm
Most present day fundamentalists are Futurists. Some well known Futurists that you may have heard of include: John Nelson Darby, Schofield, Dwight Moody, Pat Robertson, Chuck Swindle, John Hagee, Jack Van Impey and Tim LaHaye *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:16pm
The vast majority of today's popular books on Revelation are written by Futurists. But it doesnt mean that because there are a lot of them, or that we respect these people, then that settles it they must be correct. We must never think that way.The majority of scientists believe in evolution, but that doesnt make it true. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:18pm
Preterist - the view that everything in Revelation already happened before and up to 70AD. They believe that the tribulation, Armageddon, the resurrection of the dead and Judgement Day have already occurred. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:18pm
They believe that Armageddon was the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:20pm
Preterists are not famous - mostly because there are not many of them. Also, most Christian publishers are not interested in printing their books. After all, what sells better? A book explaining what is going to happen in the future, or a book saying its already happened? It would be quite difficult to make a movie out of that as well! Some Preterists you may have heard of are David Shilton, Kent Gentry, Gary Dumar, Hank Hanegraaff and Walt Hibbert
*
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:21pm
Historicism - the view that some of what futurism and preterism teaches is true and some of it is false. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:22pm
Basically, Historicism teaches that revelation is a history book, that the first 5 chapters of Revelation refer to the 1st century AD, and chapters 6 and onwards describe events that happen or start to happen from 70 AD onward through today and to the end of time. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:24pm
For example, the rise and fall of the ancient Roman Empire is revealed in Revelation. (in fact some of you may have seen that the History channel has been airing a series on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire) *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:25pm
Historicism has been all but forgotten, but was the belief held by the early church fathers and the Protestant Reformers. Some Historicists include Ignatius, Urinaus, Justin Martyr, John Wycliffe (the first man to publish the Bible for the public), Martin Luther, John Knox, Tyndale, John Calvin, John Cotton, John Owen, Matthew Henry, Johnathan Edwards, Francis Nigel lee
*
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:26pm
ORIGINS: *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:27pm
While Historicism can be traced back to the early Christian church from the first century, Futurism and Preterism were first introduced around 1600 by Jesuit priests. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:29pm
For those of you who may not know who the Jesuits were, they were the stormtroopers of the Vatican. They were responsible for exterminating Protestants as part of the Inquisition. And did you know that the Inquisition still exists today? It clothes itself in political correctness and officially its closed, but it still exists. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:30pm
In 1590 a Jesuit theologian by the name of Francisco Ribera produced a commentary on the book of Revelation, in which he said that all of the prophecies in the book pertained to some future time. This was the birth of the Futurist interpretation of Revelation *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:30pm
Around the same time, Cardinal Robert Belamine produced a book with similar claims *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:31pm
Also at around the same time, another Jesuit theologian Luica Alchesar, produced a commentary which claimed that all of Revelation applied to Pagan Rome and the first 6 centuries after Christ. This was the birth of the Preterist view. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:32pm
Up until 1590, nobody had heard of Futurism or Preterism, and certainly nobody had interpreted Revelation in those ways. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:34pm
Now what is interesting to note, is that no Catholic theologian could publish a book without the direct consent of the Pope. So both of these works - Futurism and Preterism - were endorsed by the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church. The Catholic church, the self-proclaimed infallible interpreter of scripture, endorsed 2 incompatible and contradictory interpretations of scripture.
*
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:34pm
Why on earth would they do that? *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:34pm
Well if you consider what had been happening just prior to 1590 when those books were published then it all starts to make sense. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:36pm
In 1517, Martin Luther had nailed his 95 Thesis on the Wittenberg church door, igniting the flame that would become the Protestant Reformation, that consumed Europe with the Word of God at the expense of the Roman Catholic Church. Remember that in those times, the Bible wasnt available for the public. The only place you could hear the Word of God - and have it interpreted for you - was in the Roman Catholic Church. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:37pm
In 1560, John Calvin published the last edition of his Institutes of the Christian Religion, a book that had a major influence world-wide. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:38pm
The Roman Catholic church was under siege, and Christians by the thousands were leaving the Catholic church and joining the Protestant Reformers, denouncing the Roman Catholic church as a false church and an idolator. *
n1ck 15.06.09 - 01:39pm
.The Roman church created the inquisition, and tracked down and tortured and murdered protestant Christians. They said that if you werent Roman Catholic, then you were a heretic and deserved to be killed. *
