Bible Question:
"At that instant, the Bible made sense to me, ALL OF IT. There were no difficulties, no hard verses, no bending and twisting to explain." I am curious- there are many passages in Revelation that I would think would be difficult: Rev 8:12 And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise. Rev 9:15 And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men. Rev 9:16 And the number of the army of the horsemen [were] two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them. Rev 11:3 And I will give [power] unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and] threescore days, clothed in sackcloth ... Rev 11:9 And they of the people and kindreds and tongues and nations shall see their dead bodies three days and an half, and shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put in graves. Rev 11:10 And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. Rev 11:11 And after three days and an half the Spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them which saw them. and the mark, the vials of Rev 16...? |
Bible Answer: Radioman, …I am curious- there are many passages in Revelation that I would think would be difficult… Agreed. There are very tricky passages out there, no doubt. But, the answer is there. One thing we must never do is look at the Bible, and then seek out answer in say Time, or Newsweek, or the World News. That is a devastating error that has lead most astray. With that said, let’s have a look Rev 8:12 This is similar to the ninth Egyptian plague of “thick Darkness” in Ex 10:21-23. This is prophetic imagery, and is often used by prophets to depict the fall of nations and ruler. Is 13:9-11, 19; 24:19-23; 34:4,5; Ezek 32:7,8,11,12; Joel 2:10, 28-32; Acts 2:16-21. Rev 9:15 To understand this, you have to understand that the context of Revelation is going to be about Israel and the Roman Empire. People too often feel that Revelation is about “Kosmocide” or the physical end of the world. It’s not. It was going to be confined to only a part of it, i.e. the Roman Empire. In this verse God allowed the Euphrates River to dry up, which allows Israel former foes to wage war on them. We must remember, that when Rome would sack Jerusalem, it was not just Italians outside the city. The Roman Empire was comprised of several countries, countries that were allowed to keep local rulers and there own national identity. So the “Angels” that were allowed to wage war, did so by allowing Israel’s former enemies to kill off a third of her. Rev 9:16 Unfortunately most people get caught up in a literal numbers game. But remember, this is a prophetic work, there’s quite a bit of imagery going on. Look at Psalms 68:17 “The chariots of God are double myriads, thousands of thousands.” John here is simple referring to a REALLY big army, not a literal number, and no it’s not China for the record. Rev 11:3 The two witness are also not to be taken literal, they aren’t two people. The sack cloth is a typical symbolic statement of prophets mourning over apostasy. John the Baptist and Elijah wore these. Without getting too in depth to it, this is a long explanation; there are seven lamps on the lampstand in Revelation. These are connected to two olive trees Jer 11:16 which flow an unceasing supply of oil, which symbolizes the work of the Holy Spirit. In short, the two witness are the royal priesthood of God, i.e. both Jewish and Gentile believers. Rev 11:9 and 10 The early Church was terribly persecuted almost the point of extinction. There was no great focus of persecution then in Israel. The Church, believers, were literally wiped out there. No doubt there was much joy in doing this. Remember, the early church was quite prophetic in nature, and no doubt much of its warnings were directed at the Jews, that the warth of God was upon them, that the Day of Vengeance was upon them. To not bury the dead was terrible, specifically among Jews. This would probably be symbolic and literal. One, symbolic of what the Jews truly thought of the Church, and two, the Jews probably did not literally bury dead believers. Rev 11:11 But the Church didn’t die out, did it? The horrendous persecutions didn’t stop the church. We just kept coming and coming! This no doubt frustrated, and horrified the non believers. The mark? Little more then a parody on the seal of God. Radioman, let me tell you were I got these answers from. I’ve studied Revelation for YEARS, read tons of books and commentaries on it, and hands down the most Biblically based is “Days of Vengeance” by David Chilton. Though he wrote it when he was only a Partial Preterist, and sadly it was never updated by him before he died, but it is still the best one currently out there. I and I’m sure Mr. Chilton disagree with the later chapters in that book, Rev20-22, but the bulk of it is apt. The beauty too is you can find this book FREE online. I personally have a PDF version of it on my Hard drive. Here’s the short of it though, Revelation and the Olivet Discourse were all about the first century. I HIGHLY urge you to read the NT from a 1st century perspective, it will help out TONS! Thanks, take care, SUEDE |