Tag Archives: Revelation

Daily Bible Study

December 28, 2020 Bible Study The Last Days Will Not Be Short

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 9-12.

Every year when I read this passage I try to find an interpretation of the events John describes which feels like what John predicted, and every year I fail to be satisfied by what comes to my mind.  However, there are several things which are clear to me.  First, each trumpet blast takes place some length of time after the previous (for example, the suffering after the fifth trumpet blast lasts for at least five months). Next, the suffering brought about in response to the trumpet blasts was not directed at those who had been marked as being among those who serve God.  The final thing from this passage I want to comment on today applies to circumstances outside of those being described in this vision.  Those who experience plagues and other suffering because of their rejection of God will not respond to that suffering by repenting of their sin and turning to God.  This last never ceases to amaze me when I consider the number of people I have known who experienced suffering brought about by their own actions, yet refused to change those actions in order to reduce their suffering.

I am fascinated by the the account of the small scroll, the one of the two witnesses, and of the woman and the dragon.  Despite having some thoughts on those portions of today’s passage, I find myself unable to put those thoughts into a form which would allow me to write about them here.  Perhaps I should seek a small group study of the Book of Revelation where we can talk about what to make of these things.

Daily Bible Study

December 27, 2020 Bible Study Worthy Is The Lamb To Open The Scroll

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 4-8.

I do not believe that I have ever noticed before that in his vision of Heaven and the opening of the scroll John once again presents the idea that Jesus is both separate from God and God ( a central idea of the doctrine of Trinity).  So, John tells us that the twenty-four elders periodically bowed down to the one sitting on the throne (God the Father) and say “You are worthy to receive glory and honor and power.”  Then, when the Lamb (Jesus) comes forward and is given the scroll they bow down to Him and say, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”  Notice how similar these two statements are.

I know I have mentioned this in previous years, but I think it is worth highlighting again.  The four horsemen mentioned in this passage do not ride out together.  Each of them rode forth before the next one was summoned after the breaking of the next seal.  I have some thoughts about the meaning of each of the four horsemen and how they are related to each other, but that is not the direction I want to go today with this blog.  I want to instead focus on the delay between each seal being broken.  Each seal is broken, then something happens before the next seal is broken.  It would be easy to read this as happening in quick succession, but I believe we are intended to perceive a delay between each seal.  I think this becomes most clear after the breaking of the sixth seal when one angel shouts for those holding back the winds to wait until those who serve God have been marked.  Those who serve God will be marked and protected when God pours out His judgement upon the earth.  One last point I want to make: reading this it would be easy to feel like the seven trumpets which are blown after the seventh seal is broken are separated by as much time as each of the previous seals.  However, I believe that each of the seals were broken with a significant pause in between for what happens after them, while the seven trumpets are blown in relatively quick succession.

Bible Study

December 26, 2020 Bible Study The One Who Is, And Was, And Is To Come

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 1-3.

I want to comment on what Jesus said to John at the beginning of John’s vision.  Actually, I want to go back to what John wrote in his introduction, and forward into the intro portion of the message to each of the seven Churches.  In his introduction, John writes that God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,  I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”  Then when Jesus first speaks to John in John’s vision He says, “Don’t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the living one. I died, but look—I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave.”  So, we see Jesus telling John that He is God, that He was with God in the beginning and will be with Him at the end.  For me, this passage represents the starting point for understanding the idea of the Trinity.  Yet, there is much more to it than that.  It is a message of hope.

If we go on and look at the introductions to the message to each of the seven Churches, we see the theme continued.  In the message to the Church of Ephesus, Jesus describes Himself as the “one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, the one who walks among the seven gold lampstands.”  The “seven stars” are the angels of the seven Churches…their spirits, or their essence.  So, Jesus is telling John that He holds our essence, our spirit, in His hand.  In the message to Smyrna, He says He is the One who was dead, but is now alive.  Death has no power of Him, and since He holds us in His hand, death has no power over us.  To the Church in Pergamum, He describes Himself as the one who wields the sharp two-edged sword.  This is both a promise and a warning.  Because He holds the sharp sword, He can, and will, strike down our enemies.  Because that sword is two-edged, He can strike us down if we turn against Him.  To Thyatira, He describes Himself as having eyes of flame.  Nothing can be hidden from Him, and His gaze can strike down those who think their evil is hidden.  To Sardis, He says that He has the sevenfold Spirit of God.  Being sevenfold indicates that God’s Spirit is complete.  We too must seek completeness.  We cannot be satisfied with just a portion of righteousness, but must seek all aspects of it.  To the Church of Philadelphia, Jesus reminds them that what He opens cannot be closed, and what He closes cannot be opened.  When God gives us an opportunity, nothing can prevent us from taking advantage of it.  And when God closes a door nothing can come through it to harm us.  Finally, to the Church of Laodiciea He informs us that He is a faithful and true witness.  What Jesus has said is true and He will not change His testimony.

I hope the words I have written above convey the message of hope which reading this passage inspired in me.

Daily Bible Study

December 31, 2019 Bible Study — Perhaps Revelation Is a Vision About Now

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 20-22.

As I read this passage, it is unclear to me how literally we should take where it says that those who receive the first resurrection are those beheaded for their testimony about Jesus.  I am quite confident that the first resurrection is not limited to only those beheaded because of their faith in Christ.  I believe that the first resurrection includes all of those who were killed for their faith in Jesus.  However, I am not sure that the first resurrection does not include all who died while putting their faith in Christ.  Having said that I come to my main point on the description of those who experience the first resurrection.  The wording implies to me that everything which came before does not apply to a singular set of events future to when this was written.  Instead, all of the vision before this represents a picture of what each and every person faces throughout life (with perhaps some representation of the cycles which we see in history).  In particular, the Mark of Beast does not represent a particular time in the future when people will have literal marks in order to buy and sell things (although, I would still be very wary of things which fit that description).  Instead, it represents compromises of following our faith which everyone of us faces throughout our lives.  Do we compromise with evil in order to put food on the table?

Daily Bible Study

December 30, 2019 Bible Study — Just Because Someone Hates Another Who Does Evil Does Not Mean That They Hate Evil

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 17-19.

Every time I read this I find it confusing.  We have the woman who is a prostitute and rules over many waters.  And we have a scarlet beast that has seven heads and ten horns.  The seven heads of the beast represent the seven hills where the woman rules.  Yet, later in the passage we learn that the beast hates the woman and will bring about her downfall.  However, as I read the passage today I saw how today’s politics would fit into this scenario (although there are elements which I cannot match up).  I am going to loosely apply that because I think it helps us understand how we should relate to the world.

As I see the current world, the United States fills the role of “Babylon”, the prostitute, while the role of the Scarlet Beast is filled by the political elites of this world.  The political elites hate the U.S. and would destroy it if they could.  The important thing to remember about this vision, and this interpretation of it, is that both the Prostitute and the Beast oppose God.  The Prostitute has committed adultery with the kings of the world and the people of the world have become drunk on her immorality.  On the other hand, we see that the people whose names have not been written in the Book of Life will be amazed by the Beast.  A group which opposes one evil may support and promote another evil which is just as evil as that first evil.  We must not make the mistake of forgetting that fact and turn a blind eye to the evil that some do, even when they join us in opposing a different evil.

Daily Bible Study

December 29, 2019 Bible Study — Is It Already Over?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 13-16.

Just as the four Living Beings from earlier in this book corresponded with, but had differences from, the four Living Beings in Ezekiel’s visions, so the two beasts in today’s passage correspond, but differ from, the beasts in Daniel’s visions.  First, I want to say that there is more to the meaning of this passage than what I am writing today.  Trying to get a starting point on writing about today’s passage I did an Internet search on what people had written about these beasts.  I found that some believe the first beast represents the great Empires of history.  I will not say that they are wrong, but that did not seem right to me.  However, as I thought about what they had written, it struck me that the first beast is, in a way, government.  In the passage, those who worship this beast say, “Who is able to fight against him?”, which reminds me of the phrase, “You can’t fight City Hall.”  Over all, there are those who worship government and look to it for answers that can only come from God.  This view would make the second beast, those religious leaders who direct people to the government for solutions to problems for which they should turn to God and the transformative power of His Spirit.  I want to point out that such religious leaders are not just on one side of the political spectrum.  And such leaders do not necessarily represent themselves as religious.

OK, I did not expect to write that much about the beasts.  What I wanted to focus on is something which puts a different perspective on the timing of the entire vision.   After the seventh angel poured out the seventh bowl containing God’s wrath upon the earth a voice cried out from God’s heavenly Temple, “It is finished.”  This is exactly the phrase which John wrote in his Gospel as what Jesus said just before dying.  So, everything which came before that phrase in John’s vision happened, at least symbolically, before Jesus died on the Cross.  Having made that connection, I want to think about what that means for understanding the earlier portions of the Book of Revelation.

Daily Bible Study

December 28, 2019 Bible Study — Future Events Or a Description of Human Nature?

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 9-12.

Every time I read this passage I try to find some part of it where I can feel confidence either that the passage is about specific events in John’s future, or that it is a figurative account of human nature.  And every time I fail to do so.  I suspect that was God’s plan.  Having said that, during the description of the aftermath of the blowing of the Sixth Trumpet John writes something which reflects human nature (although it may represent a specific event as well).  He tells us that despite experiencing the terrible tortures which came after the Fifth and Sixth Trumpets, people will not repent of their sins and turn to God.  They will continue to worship demons and idols.  I want to expand on that a bit.  Many people today would claim that they do not worship idols.  Yet, they confidently proclaim that modern technology will allow us to solve problems of human nature.  Or, they proclaim that we just need to implement the correct laws and rules.  All of this represents a refusal to acknowledge that previous attempts to solve problems in that manner resulted in murders and thefts.  They refuse to accept that sexual immorality is even a problem and dismiss the idea that witchcraft exists while practicing it in the name of science.

Daily Bible Study

December 27, 2019 Bible Study — The Four Living Beings and The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 4-8.

One thing I meant to mention yesterday that I think is important to understand about what I believe about the Book of Revelation: I believe that the Book of Revelation describes a vision which John actually had.  However, John made editorial decisions about what words to use to describe that vision,  what things he chose to quote and what things he paraphrased.  Which brings us to the resemblance between John’s vision and some of Ezekiel’s visions.  Comparing and contrasting John’s and Ezekiel’s visions can give us insight into their meaning.  John saw the four living beings differently than Ezekiel did because the message he was being given in his vision was different.  In Ezekiel’s vision each of the beings had the face of a lion, an ox, a human, and an eagle.  In John’s vision, each being had a different face, one that of a lion, one that of an ox, one that of a human, and one that of an ox.  There is meaning in why those faces are present in both visions, but I have yet to see an explanation which causes me to care. 

I realized the other year that the popular understanding of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is based on a merger between what John writes here and elements from Ezekiel.  The common understanding is that the Four Horsemen were summoned one at a time and then rode out together.  In fact, John describes them as each being summoned, one at a time, and riding out immediately by themselves.   The Four Horsemen do not ride together, they follow one after the other.  I am not fully sure of how to interpret this, but the third and fourth Horsemen represent things which follow after the second.  The second Horseman brings war and violence, the complete breakdown of order, throughout the earth.  Famine, the third Horseman, follows such an outbreak of violence.  And death and disease follow closely behind that.  I am unsure of the connection between the first Horseman, the Conqueror, and the other three.  The second through fourth Horsemen represent something we see again and again throughout history.  Part of me thinks that the Four Horsemen described here represent a repeating pattern in history.  Another part of me thinks that the first Horseman represents a conqueror whose conquest will mark the beginning of the End Times

Daily Bible Study

December 26, 2019 Bible Study — Jesus Is the First and the Last, and What That Means For Us

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Revelation 1-3.

I think we should spend more time thinking about the end days, but I struggle deciphering God’s message for us in the apocalyptic writings of the Bible.  However, I really like the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation.  John uses some phrases which convey some basic truths in a way which conveys the mysticism which they truly contain.  The first of these (taken from the NIV) is

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

He could have written something like, “God is eternal”.  That would have said the same thing, but does not convey the same sense of immediacy that God is present at every moment in history, even those which have yet to happen.  All of time is laid bare to God.  When He acts today it is with full knowledge of what will happen tomorrow, just as His actions yesterday were based in part on what He knew would happen today.

The other phrase (also taken from the NIV):

I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

Another example where the idea could have been conveyed with more pedestrian phrasing.  John begins by connecting the being he saw in his vision to God, the Creator.  The phrase used here, “the First and the Last,” also makes sure that we understand what is meant by the phrase, “the Alpha and the Omega.”  The rest of the phrase communicates both the basic, essential Christian dogma that Christ lived, died, and rose from the dead and shows us what that means for us.  Because of Christ, those who put their faith in Him need not, should not, fear death.  He holds the keys both to death and to the place of the dead.  He can, and will, free us from death.  Even if we die, He holds the ability and willingness to raise us once more to life.  Death holds no power over Jesus, therefore we do not need to, and should not, allow it to hold any power over us.