Revelation
No other book of the Bible and its interpretation is more controversial than the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation, written by John, is the last book in the New Testament and perhaps the most important book of the Bible. Revelation enforces the importance of faith and obedience to the concept of Christianity by describing God’s plan for the world and his final judgment of the people. Revelation answers the question of what the future holds for this planet and its inhabitants. While it is a sobering reality for those who have fallen astray, it can be a great comfort for believers. The book of Revelation is somewhat troubling to read because it is a forecast of God’s wrath upon humanity, and it is filled with warnings to the church to remain loyal and obedient so that they may avoid eternal damnation. Most other books in the Bible are concerned with teaching the church how to live in such a way that we will be at home in the New Jerusalem. The book of Revelation, however, tells the church why it is important to live according to God’s will in hopes that the church will be on the favorable side of God’s judgment.
In comparing the book of Revelation to the apocalyptic themed movie Contagion, it is important to realize that Contagion’s plot revolves around an event that causes widespread havoc and could have ended humanity, but never actually does. Revelation, on the other hand, speaks of God destroying the earth and then creating a new earth. The movie Contagion is about the threat posed by a deadly, highly communicable, flu-like virus that spreads a disease with no known cure, kills within hours of the onset of symptoms, and results in mass casualties. As you can imagine, this causes widespread panic and global ch...
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...emain loyal and obedient to his teachings no matter what hardships they may face. I believe that this is God’s way of warning his people and attempting to save them from the fate of those who have fallen away from the Lord’s will. To be human means to always be faced with a choice of which path to go on. Whether we chose to follow God or to go our own way will ultimately decide our fate and that is something that we cannot say of animals or other life forms. What it means to be human cannot be answered without acknowledging the fate of humanity, and Revelation provides us a glimpse of what that is. For some, what is means to be human will mean to be thrown into the lake of fire with Satan being eternally separated from the goodness of God, and for others, what it means to be human will mean to live forever on a perfect earth surrounded by the love of a perfect God.
Much of Revelation is the source of debate. Many passages are symbolic in nature, and the exact meaning of the symbols can be difficult to determine. Some passages can be interpreted in various ways. The identity of the Four Horsemen, the 144,000, and Babylon the Great in particular are points of contention. Nevertheless, proper hermeneutics and careful study can illuminate these difficult passages.
Revelation is the process by which God makes himself known to us. Being that humans are finite and God is infinite, God must take the step to make himself known if humans are to truly understand God in all His majesty (Vandenburg, 2010). There are two ways God makes himself known to us, general revelation and special revelation. Theologians have generally thought, through our contact with nature, we are given the ability to know and interact with God. Nature, as created by God, is an element of general revelation.
In the Bible, the book of Revelation can be intimidating to read or frightening to process the meaning of the words. Not only does it discuss Jesus’ second coming; it also expresses what will happen with earth, the people left on it, Heaven and also the believers that will ascend to live there for an eternity. There will be trials and tribulations that will occur on earth and to the people that are left behind. At the same time there will be praises and glory given to God by the people that trusted in Him and live in Heaven (Blackstone 11-13).
In chapter 1 of Revelation John, was instructing his audiences that he was instructed to record everything he seen so this makes John a true witness to the current events that is happening during this time period. The numbers that occur throughout the book of Revelation is very important to understanding and interpreting the Scripture. In Revelation 1:20 when is speaking of the seven stars or seven lampstands it really is speaking of seven angels and the seven churches in Asia Minor that John is writing the letters to. John wrote letters to the seven churches in Asia Minor in the following passages to instruct the people of the churches of the people of the Second coming of Christ and the punishment and salvation that will occur. We see that
Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight.” God desires for us to understand the book of Revelation and be prepared for what is coming. The blessing in these words is the warning and urging for us to study His word and know it. His desire is not for us to be taken by surprise, but for us to look up and see the redemption that draws near to us (Luke 21:25-27).
The book of Revelation is and has for a very long time been known as one of those books people just do not waste their time picking through - much less reading. Yarbrough considers this a great loss when he states, "From the early days of the church this book was turned to in times of persecution as a source of strength and encouragement" (Yarbrough, 358). This book is known as "the book about the end times." And rightfully so - it truly is about the times before Jesus makes His final return. While John was in exile on the Island of Patmos, Jesus sent him a series of visions - the book of Revelation is really just a series of over sixty visions all blended into one long book. John wrote this book in a very apocalyptic form. Meaning - he spoke
No part of the Bible and its interpretation is more controversial than the book of Revelation. The book of Revelation is the last profound book in the New Testament. It conveys the significant purpose of Christianity by describing God’s plan for the world and his final judgment of the people by reinforcing the importance of faith and the concept of Christianity as a whole. This book was written by John in 95 or 96 AD. What is, what has been, and what is to come is the central focus of the content in Revelation.
As stated in the text, Revelation translates the Greek term apocalyptic, which means uncover because they claim to reveal new vision of reality. Some of the characteristics of the literature is Universality which focuses on universal scope. Cosmic Dualism have ideas about the parallel worlds of matter and spirit. Chronologic Dualism divides the universe into two opposing domains of physical matter and ethereal
The evaluated text comes from the apocalyptic book of Revelation 20: 1-6 and is an explanation of the captivity that Satan would endure and the freedom believers would receive in the end times. In Revelation 20, verses 1-3 it is written that an angel came down from heaven with a key to a bottomless pit and a heavy chain to bind together Satan, the dragon and the old serpent for a thousand years. The verse goes on to say that the pit would be shut and locked so Satan could not deceive the nations for at least another thousand years, when it would be opened for a little while. Revelation 20, verses 4-6 details what will happen to those who did not worship the beast or accept his mark on their forehead. They, though once in their graves, came
I would honestly have to say amongst all the books of the Bible Revelation has always seemed to frighten me the most. Ever since I was a child, my mother always said, “Revelation tells you how the end of the world will go, if you are a true believer you will have no fear.” Hearing this still didn’t make me feel any better I’ve always avoided reading the book of Revelation until a few months ago when the youth study program I’m in began to examine the book and its meaning. I never thought to look at the deeper meaning behind a text until my enrollment into your class. The chapter I will be giving a response to is Revelation 13: 1-17. I chose this chapter because it actually frightened me the most. To think of all the horrendous figures that will appear is pretty
In the 11th chapter of the book of Revelation, two mysterious witnesses are introduced. (Revelation 11:3-6) Who are these “who witnesses” that God empowers at the end of time to do his bidding? Some believe that Elijah and Enoch, who were miraculously “taken away” by God (2 Kings 2:11; Genesis 5:24; Hebrews 11:5) will return from heaven to prophesy for three and a half years. Others think that it will be Elijah who stopped the rain in Israel for three and a half years (1 Kings 17:1; James 5:17) and Moses who turned water to blood and brought plagues on Egypt (Exodus 7-12) will antagonize the Beast during the 42 months of his reign. Some religious institutions believe that the two witnesses will be called from within the ranks of their ministry to perform this task. Another theory is that the Old Testament and the New Testament symbolically represent these two witnesses. But the most popular theory is that the two witnesses are the two houses of Israel which are made up by the 144,000. This is the theory that is discussed.
The popular idea attached to the word "apocalypse", however, is one of a cataclysmic end of all things
In Revelation 21, the genre is mainly pros-discourse, as it was written by the apostle John. In this chapter, it is mainly talking about how God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth, and the author creates an image for us about what heaven is going to look like. When we reach the end of times, God is going to erase all that is on the earth and bring the Holy city down from heaven to earth. Also, God talks about who will inherit this land, as He declares, “Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
The Book of Revelation was written on a secluded island by John who was writing to seven churches in Asia Minor. The voice of Jesus came down and talked to John and told him that he needs to write down everything that comes to his mind and that he sees. John would write down these sights and that would later become the Book of Revelations. Revelations takes place in a time that has not happened yet, even now. It speaks of the persecution of Christians in an evil time and where people who are known for their faith are being killed for what they believe in. Evil times are ahead for the people who will live in the times of Revelation. But Jesus will come back at the absolute climax of the persecution of Christians and will take over from then
The first few hundred years of Christianity are represented by the theo-political model depicted in the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation shows a violent battle between God and the Devil. This battle in heaven reflects the battle on earth between Christians and the Roman Empire. Rome is being represented as the devil and Christians are being represented as God. Early Christians felt the world being hostile because of their religion, even when cooperating with authorities, the roman authorities were still hostile. The Roman authorities often accused Christians of treason and disloyalty to the Roman empire when they refused to worship the Roman gods. Christians were often persecuted against and blamed for empire being so weak. The Book of Revelation shows the eventual defeat of the devil by the son of God. Revelations keeps Christians hopeful that they will always be on the winning side even in the face of death.