REVOLATION
The most read and preached book of the early church was the first Book of Revelation written at the end of the century. There is also documentation for this. It is Jesus the most central of the books of the Bible!!! The book is the only one of the books of the Bible, the reading and teaching of which is promised a completely separate blessing! The book has more than 800 connections to other parts of the Bible. The book, as it were, brings everything together even before it was announced; puzzle pieces are placed in place; the puzzle is completed.
Since then, the book of the year is extremely rare in congregations today, let alone that someone would teach it meaningfully. Since when did even the so-called revivalist Christian circles wake up to proclaim the message of the most Jesus-centered book???
The book conveys the company to the last message of Jesus, as he prepares to take control of our world. In the book, Jla encourages, rules, and completes his work for humanity. John's task was to convey the angel's message about what Jesus sees in the midst of his congregation and what will happen after this. Weather 1
Something is wrong if a Christian is not interested in the book and Hollywood is the source from which the images have mostly come. The word Armageddon has indeed become a general term for destruction, but what is being destroyed in the Book of Revelation? I help that understanding it also opens up for us the big picture of the entire Bible from beginning to end. it doesn't work that way, so according to the Consumer Protection Act I promise "the money back" 😃 So why don't you take care of the matter.😋
My own Revelation-book project started when it was published in the summer, when I happened to listen to Eero Junkkaala, the principal of Radio De Evangeline College, talking to two people about his book. It is difficult to briefly describe the feeling I experienced; anxious tumult would perhaps be the correct expression. How to use a person in a position to speak without any understanding; washing as if you were trying to repair a car with the machine's instruction manual; no head and no tail 😖
BUT, did you either understand the answer to my question about why the situation is like the one I described at the beginning?
Right! Our image of the Bible has regressed to the level of timeless wisdom, mainly due to replacement theology. BUT we are not Israel and thus we cannot take for ourselves or the church what is written for Israel. However, this is what we do every day when we read the Bible; and most of the group doesn't even recognize what they're doing, let alone see anything wrong with it; this has a history of 1700+ years.
I myself was part of this Christianity that uses the Bible as timeless wisdom for approx. 40 years. Of course, the Bible can be used that way, but then something very essential is lost and it is in Satan's mind. What we should find is an approach that explains the Bible with the Bible, which of course requires that we have not "sold" part of the Bible to the altars of replacement theology or science. It is ridiculous to imagine that we would understand Jla's message to us if we reject the revelation here and there, taking what suits our time and worldview, sanctifying our own thoughts with detached verses. Only by sticking to the entire Bible will Jla's deep overall revelation about the path of humanity open up to us, and the Book of Revelation is not something mystical either. (see Replacement Theology)
If we approach the Book of Revelation with that "timeless wisdom" image of the Bible, we end up with confused symbolic interpretations, as well as modern explanations with helicopters, nuclear weapons, and tanks. We can't find the book near the "base message". We guess whether the Antichrist would be this or that, the mark of the beast this or that, whether the beast would be born from that or this state, etc. Some of those things may be right, but the actual message of the text may not be understood at the same time.
When we approach the Book of Revelation understanding the Bible as a whole, looking at the Bible with the method of explaining the Bible, we can understand the Book of Revelation. Just think how it will be if you watch only the end scenes of a movie you don't know; what did you understand? Right, the same goes with your book of Revelation unless you understand the big picture, the red thread from the first page of the Bible, because every verse in it is explained by 31000+ other verses. BUT it's not difficult in the end, as long as you get rid of the Bible image that has dominated Christendom for 1700+ years and you also start believing in the Bible as a revelation.
I will take one example of what our image of the Bible, which has degenerated into timeless wisdom, produces. Book of Joel chapter 2 ( -38 translation) Joel 2:28
"After these I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions...etc"
How often have we heard it declared that the great revival of the end times is beginning now or has begun then and there, as it is said in the book of Joel. Of course, those who understand that Pentecost could be involved are a little more on the wagon. After all, on Pentecost, Jews from all over the world gathered and the "autumn rain" promised by Jla came true for them; (see Bible passages below). Gentiles only became part of Pentecost later!!! ( Apt 10 )
However, the time of the spring rain is what Joel's text is actually talking about, and that time will come when the 70th anniversary week of Daniel's book = the last seven years, starts. After all, Pentecost was first given to the Jews and later spread, especially by Paul to the Gentiles; another Pentecost is given to the Jews. In a way, that second Pentecost initiates the selection of the 144,000 Jewish "firstfruits" (Revelation 14:4) as evangelists in chapter seven. During the seven years of the Book of Revelation, the greatest revival in world history is experienced, but more on that later.
But when the Book has become timeless wisdom and the whole eschatology is not understood, even the cow can be made to fly, so to speak. No wonder you don't see that wake-up call. Just a tip that the wake-up call is always on; you just have to wake up 😎
So below are some prophetic texts in the Bible besides Joel 2:23 that refer to autumn and spring rain in Israel. ("to the former and latter rain"; King James) The spring rain softened the earth and the autumn rain ripened the crops for harvesting. Understanding the context also helps us later to understand what is being talked about, because both "Pentecosts" are therefore primarily given to Jews; of course, with both spreading to the Gentiles as well. The texts of the OT are symbolic texts of the coming two Pentecosts for the Jews.
- Deuteronomy 11:14; ...then I will give your land rain in its season, fall rain and spring rain, and you will harvest your grain and your wine and your oil.
- Jer. 5:24; ... And they do not say in their hearts: "Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, autumn rain and spring rain in his time, and preserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest".
- Jack. 5:7; ...So be patient, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, patiently waiting for it until he receives the autumn rain and the spring rain.
The autumn rain softens the summer-hardened earth, and the spring rain prepares the grain and the fertility of the earth for harvesting; this is what Joel's story is about.
I remember a preacher from my youth who usually ended his speech at the 20 minute mark; or so I always thought. I was already able to see if my things were packed in order to leave the event after a while 😊 But no, the "zooming" of the spoken word began; the end, which I thought had already been reached, was approached again and again until at 45 min we finally had the closing words. The speech was full of gospel and it was offered even after the offering, until we got to the altar call.
The Book of Revelation is somewhat similar in structure. When you have gone through the 6 seals of the sixth chapter, you are almost at the end. Johannes is not only shown events progressing in time, but also zoomed in on these events from different perspectives. The gospel is offered even after it has been offered, as we shall see. The Word of the Gospel, which runs through the Bible, is available more than ever.
The Revelation of John, whose truer name would be the Revelation of Jesus Christ, as we can read in the text, is full of chapter seven. There are seven seals, seven trumpets, seven bowls of wrath, etc. The book's table of contents is also naturally divided into seven parts, as you can see in the slide below.
I'll go during the spring, unless this project expands impossibly 😎; through the book, telling what Jla has opened up for me about it. In order for it to open, for me, it was necessary to update the historical as well as the theological understanding into a Biblical form. A certain phase of my life a few years ago, led to the courage to see that neither myself nor the Christians around me were able to answer the questions of a person coming from the "outside". We knew the terms, but their content and relationship to each other was not a logical understanding tied to time. Our answers were coming from the "automatic machine of timeless wisdom", without understanding the big picture. This eventually led to the understanding of it as heresy = replacement theology, which is mainly behind everything and a powerful weapon of Satan to keep Christians out of understanding the Bible.
I try not to dwell on individual issues for a long time and to create a foundation for the reader to study the Bible with short weekly "inputs". Although I am approaching you with short writings, my hope and effort is specifically to create a picture of the big puzzle the size of the Bible that is completed in the Book of Revelation. I believe that once you understand the message of these episodes, your relationship with the entire Bible will also have a new beginning.
I think every Christian should master Biblical eschatology; those terms that you have sometimes heard, but whose content and relationship to each other and to time are usually badly confused, for the reasons mentioned earlier. It is completely clear that after God revealed his plans to us (Isa 46:9), we should control them in order to be ready for the work of service for which God has chosen us. We are ambassadors of the Kingdom of Jla, not automatons of timeless wisdom without understanding.
To summarize my argument; The book of Revelation is a cumulative revelation about the way of mankind, especially the history after the "dealing of the cards" of the tower of Babel after the flood. When we understand the Book of Revelation, we also understand the speeches of the prophets and the meaning of the OT in general; and vice versa; unless we understand Revelation, we likely will not understand most of the prophetic literature, nor the deepest meaning of the OT.
With my presentation, I try to bring out something other than guessing the details arising from the traditional Bible image and consecrating one's own thoughts with loose sentences. So I'm trying to open for you the "deep stream" of the Bible that the book of Revelation wants to open for us.
In this sense, my focus will be especially on chapters 12, 13, 17, 18 and 19. At that time, we will approach and finally reach "the day of the Lord, the day of vengeance", as the Bible speaks about that future time through the texts, and it will be revealed to us what is actually being destroyed in the book of Revelation.
Can you come up with a real reason why you shouldn't study Revelation?
The deeper you know the Bible, the less the enemy can lie to you. ❤
Table of contents:
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