As this is a purely therapeutic blog, not primarily intended as a source of humor or information for anyone else and is routinely throttled by the powers that be, I get to post on a broad variety of topics.
So, now, about that Book of Revelation.
One of the old white guys I most admire is Martin Luther. This guy literally put his life at risk to oppose the Emperor and the Pope. Think Obama and FBI times 10 as far as sheer authority to burn you at the stake, anytime, without opposition.
While in protective custody away from the Jesuits Luther translated the Bible into German and provided a brief preface to each book in the process.
When it came to Revelation, the still young ex priest expressed frustration at trying to understand it. He wrote:
“ ...it makes me consider it to be neither apostolic nor prophetic.”
“I can in no way detect that the Holy Spirit produced it.”
“He //John// seems to me to be going much too far when he commends his own book so highly [Revelation 22]”
“Many of the fathers also rejected this book a long time ago...”
“My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book. For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ is neither taught nor known in it.”
Oy! This from a guy who translated Ezekiel?
And, within Lutheranism that seems a common opinion. Most of our doctrinal documents are from the early reformation period.
Problem is - this low opinion of Revelation is NOT the opinion Luther held after he experienced plague, saw the Moslems advance as far as Vienna, continued to defy Popes who wanted him extra crispy, and raised a family. That Luther promoted The Book of Revelation as a source of warning and hope for Christians in times of oppression.
It was studying Revelation and Genesis - in some detail - that returned me to Christianity. Of the two, Revelation was the more challenging. This was, at first, because of the overwhelming amount of ... fertilizer ... being sold to gullible, needy, and frightened souls by televangelists and folks with political agendas irrelevant and even contrary to the message within the Word. Additionally, Revelation seemed a puzzle all by itself. There are major themes interleaved within it, a disjointed time presentation of events, and the events themselves are described in a hyperbolic, poetic, figurative language. The word is true of course, in essence, but many of the allusions fail an audience today because of the passage of 2,000 years since it was sent to the members of the seven churches. Like "Euphrates" .... whaaat?
As to exactly when it was written - it would remain opaque if one presumes it was written after the fall of Jerusalem. If one accepts the internal and external evidences that it was written around 65 AD however, then, suddenly the rubics cube is more easily solved.
What is critical for us to remember foremost is - this message was not written TO us. It is of real value for us as well, today, but, initially, it was addressed specifically to the members of 7 churches in Turkey in around 65 AD.
Below are some illustrations I produced in an attempt to explain it recently ... an attempt to disentangle the major themes, show the major emphasis - that a calamity was about to take place soon - and provide a few corroborating related historical and other scriptural references.
Caveat – I intend to neither “add” nor “take away” from the words of this book (R22: 18 - 19) so
READ the book!
yes, it's complex, but let me break it down ...
little debate here among most protestant and Catholics I expect.
This is the meat of the matter as it were. The cataclysmic event of which the initial audience was being warned was the SOON to come, horrific, destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Lots of good, and well studied Christians, especially since the mid 1800s will take issue with this analysis.
I found the fact that early copies of hand written Scripture used '666' or, in a few copies, '616' depending on the language so as to keep the clear reference to Nero amazing. An allusion easily understood by a 1st century AD audience. For many today... 'lost in translation' as they say.
This is the 'you are here' slide. As I figure it, we are blessed to be living in that long period of time represented by the "1000" years. To the good, we missed the burning and sacking of Jerusalem and the powers of Satan are constrained... to the bad - the "little season", and final judgement, is somewhere ahead.
Hey, I'm no theologian, or historian. The research help my understanding of this one book of the Bible and afforded a measure of understanding old scratch as well.
Read the Book. Live accordingly.
Thus endeth the lecture.
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