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Brief History of the book of Revelation
Study of revelation
Revelation in the holy bible
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Recommended: Brief History of the book of Revelation
Revelation, the last book of The New Testament, is believed to have been written by the Apostle John circa 95-96 AD. The writings in Revelation revolve around the idea of the end of time, the second coming of Jesus, and the time of judgment. Revelation is believed to have more symbolism than most of the other books in The New Testament. Revelation 18:1-17 can be interpreted in a number of ways, but the most likely, when viewing this in a historical context, is that it is referencing the corruption of Babylon throughout time. This means that the author was not simply talking about what was occurring within Babylon at that time of the writing, but also what has previously occurred. By looking at what was occurring in the city during the time in which it was likely to have been written and other references to Babylon within the New Testament, it is obvious that the author’s discussion of corruption within the city was referencing more than what was happening at the time. Although some readers may interpret the text to be symbolic in meaning, Revelation should be read with a critical min...
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.
Kenneth Gentry begins with a quote, “The closer we get to the year 2000, the farther we get from the events of Revelation.” This sentence summarizes the Preterist view nicely. The Preterist places weight on the historical aspect of Revelation by relating it to its original author and audience. The author was mainly concerned with the seven churches of Asia Minor who were facing difficulties during that time. John’s target audience was neither churches nor the 21st century. As most evangelical scholars would affirm, Revelation contains prophecies which were fulfilled in John’s near future. Their manifestation might not have been as graphic or literal as one might imagine, because John uses “poetic hyperbole,” yet these events were actually fulfilled in history. He argues that the use of highly figurative speech and symbolism is “not a denial of historicity but a matter of literary genre.” These were events that were to take place soon because the time was near. Then Gentry uses study of Greek language to support this. He argues that lexicons and modern translators agree that these terms indicate temporal proximity indicating that they expected to see the events in their lifetime. As much as a word study can be helpful, it can also be limiting. One certainly cannot base interpretation of the whole book on a loosely used term. Similarly, while the Apostle Paul spoke to the Thessalonians with urgency in plain language, we know that the Second Advent is yet to happen.
Truth, scripture and revelation are three concepts that the Bible has been based on. Truth is defined as the way that things are or should be. It can relate to reality or wisdom. Truth can be communicated in a variety of ways. Literally which is facts and figures and can be shown in math and science. Figuratively which is metaphor and simile and can be shown in humanity. Symbolically in fine arts such as art, drama and music and also narratively such as stories, parables and myths. Truth can be known in the head and the heart because it communicates through reason and intuition. Meanwhile, scripture is defined as being written and taken from script. Scripture is a way for religion to permanently preserve its worth of wisdom, ways of worship and to pass traditions on intact for future generations. Finally, revelation means to reveal. It refers to the initiative of God in communicating with humans. Truth, scripture and revelation are all related because they are all forms of communication that allow us to know God’s message. They allow us to see stories and events of how people lived with God in history and set an example of how we should co-exist with God in our world today.
America is threatening military intervention into Syria because of the recent chemical attacks. Every time there is talk of sending troops to the Middle East I get questions about the possibility of Armageddon being only weeks away.
It’s a fairly formidable task to come to a conclusion on a Bible verse that there simply isn’t an answer for. What I am referencing is Revelation Chapter 20: 1-6 in which we see a picture of Satan being thrown into an abyss for a thousand years and Christ ruling over the earth. As I dissected the research paper directions for this assignment I dove into the process of learning about each of the views that scholars would contend for. There were several and each of them fairly complex. Very early on in the assignment I easily came to one conclusion; this wasn’t going to be easy. This assignment certainly is not for the faint of heart and cannot be answered by looking at a few verses and then reaching a conclusion. If it were that easy then there would be no debate over the meaning of this eschatological (end times) passage. Simply stated here is the topic; what is the meaning of Revelation Chapter 20? Should we regard the thousand years that is referenced in the chapter as symbolical or literal? Certainly, it has sparked an interesting debate but how should we view this span of time taught to us by the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos? Opposing views that mainstream Christians hold today help us to get to the heart of that very question. There are a few questions we must explore to fully grasp the topic; (1) what are the three main views that believers hold today, (2) what happens during the millennium, (3) how long is it, (4) who will be there (and what is the relationship of Israel and the church to the millennial kingdom), and finally (5) when does it occur in relation to the Second Coming of Christ.
The Book of Daniel is the only full-blown apocalyptic book in the Protestant recognized version of the Canon. A literary device divides the book into two halves. Chapters 1-6 are a collection of stories that introduces the reader to Daniel and three other Israelites as unwilling guests of the Babylonia Empire ruled by Nebuchadnezzar. The second half, Chapters 7-12 consists of apocalyptic imagery of deformed beasts and the heavenly court. The focus of this paper will be on chapter 7, which serves as a bridge of the two halves. Chapter 7 is the earliest of the visions as it identifies with the genre of 8-12 while through language and content it reverts to Daniel chapter 2. The linguistic break down is not as neat as the literary divide in that Dan. 2:4b-7:28 was written in Aramaic while other portions of the book is written in Hebrew.
No one ever said love was easy, they just said it was worth it. If someone did say it was easy, they were lying. You can be sure of that. Love is probably the hardest thing you will ever go through in your life. Sure, love can be fun and silly, but there are times when you have to make sacrifices and let go of things you want to keep. Love is not gratuitous. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Lysander says, “The course of true love never did run smooth,” which has many meanings.
Correspondingly, other canonical prophetic books interpret Yahweh’s will during periods of social or political crisis.4 Many minor prophets wrote during one of the three critical periods: the Assyrian Crisis, the Babylonian threat, or the postexilic readjustment.5 During the Babylonian threat of the late-seventh century, Habakkuk served as a link between God and humanity. The Assyrian kingdom, led by Shalmanasar V, forced the people of Judah into harsh conditions through a heartless deportation. In time, political drama spread throughout the region. After 612 B.C.E. when Assyria fell to Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Habakkuk wrote his prophetic book, focusing on the agony of humankind’s struggle to progress in such a wicked world. His message of faith and morality transcended the evil within society, ultimately revealing to the Israelites that justice would prevail.
The second half of the Beatitudes focuses on our relationships with each other. The first three of these deal with how to live like Christ. Verses 10 through 12 show what results from that kind of living. The second half of the Beatitudes also reflects the spiritual growth that is produced by the first half. When we are poor in spirit and place our trust in God's mercy (verse 3), the next step is to give His mercy to others, and this results in the blessing of receiving even more of God's mercy (verse 7).
Ezekiel lived in a time of international crisis and conflict. Assyria was the world power in the area under the rule of Tiglath-pilesar III. In 724 B.C Israel raged war upon Assyria, and Israel was no match for Assyria. In 627 B.C the last of the able Assyrian ruler, Ashurbanipal died. Right after the death of Ashurbanipal, Babylon under Nabopolassar wanted independence from Assyria. In 612 B.C the Assyrians under Nineveh surrendered to the rising Babylonians. In 605 B.C the Babylonians were at war against the Egyptians. The Babylonians won and they established themselves as the leading power in the area. During all of this Judea allied with the Babylonians and with this Judea kept her independence. During the last century before Judea was destroyed it was ruled by four rulers and of those rulers, all but Josiah were wicked. Josiah was committed to God and led Judea to him. All the others did not heed the warnings of Ezekiel and Jeremiah from God, and the rulers of Judea chose to rebel against God. God punished Judea by sending Nebuchadnezzar’s army to crush the nation of Judea and flatten the city of Jerusalem.
There are two kinds of revelations: (1) universal revelations, which are contained in the Bible or in the depositum of Apostolic tradition transmitted by the Church. These ended with the preaching of the Apostles and must be believed by all; (2) particular or private revelations which are constantly occurring among Christians (see CONTEMPLATION). When the Church approves private revelations, she declares only that there is nothing in them contrary faith or good morals, and that they may be read without danger or even with profit; no obligation is thereby imposed on the faithful to believe them. Speaking of such revelations as (e.g.) those of St. Hildegard (approved in part by Eugenius III), St. Bridget (by Boniface IX), and St. Catherine of Siena (by Gregory XI) Benedict XIV says: "It is not obligatory nor even possible to give them the assent of Catholic faith, but only of human faith, in conformity with the dictates of prudence, which presents them to us as probable and worthy of pius belief)" (De canon., III, liii, xxii, II).
Biblica Incorp. "Bible Gateway Passage: Revelation 1:17 - New International Version." Bible Gateway. Bible Gateway, 2011. Web. 10 May 2014. .
The kingdom of Jerusalem is one of the most important Kingdoms in the bible, thats why it was so important when it fell to the Babylonians. The beginning of the book is describing in first person from Jeremiah the prophet the destruction of Jerusalem and how sad it is of a site to see. In chapter two of the book Jeremiah is talking about the how mad the lord is at his people, and how he brought judgement to the wicked land. God is showing in chapter two how mad he is and he cut off the power of Israel, but in chapter three he Jeremiah tells us that he is faithful to us and he will restore the land. Even though he to is very sad from his city being taken and destroyed he remembers what the lord has told him. He then explains that the people of the kingdom of judah and the kingdom of Jerusalem need to fall back to the lord and get rid of those false gods. For the love and kindness of the lo...
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 term millennium does not appear anywhere in Scripture. The idea originated from a thousand year period of time that characterizes the reign of the Messiah. In fact, the phrase “thousand years” is stated six times in Revelation 20. There are three main schools of thought based upon one’s view of the thousand-year reign of Christ. These views are: Amillennial, Postmillennial and Premillennial. Over the centuries these prophetic differences have caused conflict within the body of Christ and are still currently widely debated. Instead of the book of Revelation being the basis of comfort (1 Thess. 4:18) among Christians it has become a bone of contention. However, this controversy should not deter Christ’s disciples from receiving the blessings that Revelation has to offer (Rev. 1:3; 14:13; 16:15; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14). Rather, one should study prophecy under the Spirit’s guidance and look at the data provided within the full context of the Word assessing each of the views for correct motives and presuppositions. Therefore, this paper will examine the nature, timing, and duration of the millennium as well as the occupants of the millennial kingdom and the relationship of Israel and the Church to the millennial kingdom. The aim of this paper is to address “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave to him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place” (Rev. 1:1, ESV).