So if it is allegory what does it mean? I find this whole topic interesting . I hope you answer some questions though before you leave regarding the allegory. Thanks
By allegory I mean spiritual symbolism, that is there is symbolism within the text that John employed (by the guidance of the Holy Spirit during the vision) to tell a message. That message is that despite all the evil in the world and the way things seem, Christ will be victorious and rule and reign forever. That was the message that the 1st century audience needed to hear in the face of a what was seen as a powerful and unstoppable Roman Empire and a message we always need to look back at, that Christ is Lord and King and He rules now and forever. No nation or event will thwart Him from His throne. Chirst is supreme over all.
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Alright i see that and i agree. But you believe he will return one day to get rid off any evil on this universe right? I do at least. Thanks
Might I suggest NT Wrightâs âSurprised by Hopeâ? While it does not address the book of Revelation specifically, it does talk about the positive view mentioned by @Sealkin about Jesusâ second coming and how it could occur outside of the premillennialist view. It is also very accessible.
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Thank you!! I will check it out:)
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Yes, Christ will return and set all things right, the final judgement shall take place and God will set up the New Creation.
N.T. Wright has been a huge love of mine and I have been reading his newest book, âThe New Testament in its World.â and getting back into that book and looking at Jesus ministry and his view of it all has led me away from the futurist and premill. view of understanding things.
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I share your enthusiasm. I am grateful everyday that I stumbled on his writings at a point of crisis. He is one of several reasons I am still a Christian.
I have that book, having got it for Christmas, but am a little intimidated by its 900 plus pages. I have wanted to perhaps use it for a bible study along with the videos, but it would be such a challenge to get through. Any experience with the videos?
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Wait? What VIDEOS!?!!?!??!?!?!?! 
I guess Iâll have to look into it. I just got back into reading the book, not even half way through with it at all. Been busy with a mixture of life and reading other books.
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Independent of how we interpret the Revelation, it is curious that some descriptions in it might be reality in the near future, although have been impossible during the earlier centuries. I pick up one example from Revelation 13, the mark of the beast.
Although the name of Nero may fit the number 666, the number is only one part of the story. The description tells that âno one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the markâ. In the past, who could have stopped all buying or selling?
After buying and selling becomes fully digital (with credit cards etc.), only those having an account can transfer money. In Europe, there are already shops that donât accept cash. In my country, even some banks donât accept cash, except during specific days and hours. Imaging a society without cash. If a strong political ruler gets control over the financial system, he/she would have a strong weapon against the opposition. Yield to my will or you will not get an account (no buying or selling). This a bit worrying scenario.
Dont like to sound like a doomsday gut but i can see that too. Here in Greece cash are starting to get replaced by credit cards and shops have at least two or three POS.
Antichrist will make a treaty with the Jews at the beginning of the last 7-year period (Dan. 9:27), yet 666 beast only rules for 42 months (Rev. 13:5). How can both facts be true? There was a beast that had 7 heads, which were 7 kings (Rev. 13:1, 17:10). The last king (antichrist), is also called a âbeastâ once he animates the dead body of the previous king that occupied his body (13:3). History tells us this final king is Nero! Caesar Neron, in both Hebrew and Greek, comes out to 666, when the lettersâ numerical values are added up. When John wrote Revelation in @ 97 AD, Nero was dead. Thatâs why 17:10-11 says, âthey are seven kings; five have fallen (including Nero), one is (when John wrote), the other (the seventh), has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not (was dead when John wrote), is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven .â So the seventh king, which was to come, is also an eighth, meaning the 666 beast will revive his dead body and live in it for 42 months. Itâs not a coincidence that Antichristâs body dies and comes back to life just in time to rule for another 42 months (Rev. 13:3-5). This is further shown by the facts that #7 makes the treaty and #8 breaks it and #7 couldnât control Enoch and Elijah, whereas #8 kills both. Modern parapsychology knows about dead people coming alive as someone else, and calls the new âspiritâ that makes the dead body live, a âwalk-in.â These walk-ins have entirely different personalities than the people that previously lived in their bodies. When married they usually divorce. Of course, the âspiritsâ reviving dead bodies are certainly demons! Nero, being from our human race, is an exception (Judas, though not clearly stated as a walk-in, is the only other). Neither of these is said to be in spirit form, nor are they resurrected. They must return as walk-ins.
The Satanic trinity is made up of the devil, the Antichrist and the False Prophet (believed to be Judas Iscariot, back from the dead). The Bible only calls two people âSon of perdition,â Antichrist in 2 Thess. 2:3 and Judas in John 17:12. Another reason I believe these are men back from the dead is because, the 666 beast is said to come up out of the sea âa Gentile,â (Rev. 13:1,18), and the False Prophet comes up out of the Earth âJewish,â (13:11). When Judas betrayed Jesus, Satan entered his body (Luke 22:3), but when he returns as the False Prophet, Satan stands âat his right handâ (Psalm 109:6). Acts 1:20 quotes Psalm 109:8 as being about Judas (the same person spoken of in 109:6). Satan stands at his right hand while he performs signs and exercises authority (Rev. 13:12-17).
It is not certain to me that Revelation was written in 97AD. Iâm curious how you say this confidently?
The evidence for @97 AD is overwhelming! Way more than I could do justice to in this space. I refer you to the online âChristian Courierâ article by Wayne Jackson, âWhen Was the Book of Revelation Written?â In Christ, Mike Riter
John is writing Revelation right now.
The letters, all seven of them to the churches, are being written even as we speak. John is a witness to them in real time. In fact a time that is not determined but could change.
The church like Jonah, instead of running to Tarshis, the world, could repent and humble themselves pray and seek Godâs face and in their own lands, a revival could happen that would completely change the narrative. It would not matter how any have viewed the book the last 1990 years.
There are 4 witnesses, Elijah did come the second time, because Elijah was Enoch. In fact Elijah could have come and gone many times. There are two candlesticks and two olive trees.
Enoch is the being represented as the ox. Moses is the witness who represents the Lion. Both these men appeared on the mount of transfiguration in glorified bodies. The third witness is John the beloved. History records John as being in his youth, and that they tried to kill him several times, but could not. It is interesting to note that John was said to be on the Mt. Of Transfiguration, but John himself did not record the event. It is quite possible that an event on the mount, caused John to age slower. This representing the third witness as the being with the face of a man, with the meaning it would take a very long process of aging. How humans should be without a decay and death condition we have now. While actually writing down what was happening in the thunders, he was told to stop mid process. Humanity would have to live it, without knowing before hand. The verses that describe each judgment whether seal, trumpet, or thunder, was the witness of those events live.
The chapters in between are allegorical explanations. John and the 4th witness, if Satan gets his 3.5 years, will die at the end. Those 3.5 days they lay dead, will be the times of the vials.
Genesis and Revelation are actual keys to understanding each one as exactly as they were written. The mark 666 has to do with Adam himself. The image is Satan attempting to create his own Adam in his own image. He then claims this Adam is his own Christ. So Revelation reveals a time where Satan can recreate his own version of the first 4 chapters of Genesis. That is what he wanted to do, ever since he had to sit and wait 1000 years between chapter 1, and then in chapter 2, God came and created a Garden.
For 1000 years the sons of God went around doing as they pleased to a perfect world in a perfect manner, while the angels just waited above as stars in the sky. All Satan could do is âsitâ and wait, and think. Think about all the things he would do as God.
If the church failed in turning the over 8 billion souls on earth by the time of the end to God, God would grant Satan 3.5 years. The Second Coming will happen in April 2023 AD. It is an 8 day event with the blast of the seventh Trumpet being blasted the whole week. Satanâs deal if needed will happen midway, leaving the last 3.5 days for the vials.
Yes, the seals that John is watching playing out on TV daily has already started. Revelation 6 is the church age and the Lambâs book of life being unsealed. Covid19 is the white army that went out as a conqueror to conquer. It was not meant to kill all, just what it was allowed to do. In Matthew 24, Jesus mentions 1 taken, and 1 left. This world wide phenomenon brought most work in most places to almost a complete stand still. For that is what Adamâs punishment included. 6000 years of labor by the sweat of the brow, after 6000, years the sweat will be replaced by the actual curse branding 666. 6000 years labor, 6 days a week, 6 hours a day. The mystery of the name of the man with that name. Adam was the one who disobeyed, Jesus Christ, the Lamb was the one who restored Adamâs descendants back to the image of God.
Part of Satanâs deception is presenting his own antichrist, but it cannot happen until after the Second Coming. He has convinced the church to look for the antichrist instead of being prepared for the return of Christ as the Lamb. The end of the church are seals 5 and 6. Those dead in Christ and those alive in Christ will all receive their glorified bodies (robes of white). Peace has been shattered, and the whole world is waiting to see what America will do with this race issue. Markets may still be affected good or bad with the 3rd seal of the economy. It is time for the church to decide what is going to happen. The 4th seal is the game changer. Will humans turn to God, taking away Satanâs desires, or will the status quo give Satan what he wants.
The other deception is science and cosmology. This reality only has a finite age of 8000 years. That is how Satan, even starting back in 500 BC, started deceiving mankind as Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2. From the Greeks to the Romans, to Rome and the church, western science was indoctrinated by Satan himself. This mathematical virtual reality that we have come to see is just an illusion that ends in seal 6. The sky will roll back like opening the top of a box. God on the throne and the Lamb will be in full view of every human on earth. The stars will fall to earth like fig leaves, not huge gas bombs. The angels throw stones later on though. Now this may be dismissed as just crazy talk, until 2 billion people do actually die, but I doubt any can call this year normal. Not even kids who cannot go to school. Well at least those whose parents have not been disciplined enough to keep the job up at home.
The point is to be prepared. God says the time to play church is over. The time of harvest is now. Just like John the Baptist did not know when, God sent him to warn that the Messiah would come, and that the ministry would be short, just 3.5 years. It has already been 8 months. No one can know when the church runs out of time, John did not write down the dates. The church would not have lasted 1990 years, if he had. The church is full of martyrs, even today. But the blessed church has grown cold and lax. Covid19 should have woken it up, but politicsâŚ
No one knows the hour or day. So how can you know it will hapen at 2023?
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Once the sixth seal is open, which is the one no one can know, any one reading the book of Revelation will know when the Second Coming is going to happen.
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