Who decides what

 

The problem of authority

Let's start from an objective fact: hundreds of books that claim to explain the book of Revelation (or other prophetic books) have been written, especially in the last century.

Some of these are extremely voluminous, others are full of clear illustrations, still others 

they engage in reckless abstruse philosophical explanations … and each of them, in their own way, claims to be the truth .

Some of these books were written by extremely educated people, perhaps with three or four degrees or with extensive recognition in other fields.

The natural question that would come to any human being would be… “ Who is right among these?”.

Yes because, unfortunately, these books are far from in agreement.

If a person read ten books on this subject, written by ten different people, he would probably find as many as ten versions of Revelation.

And on the other hand, even in everyday life, on the most diverse topics, we find people with the most varied opinions.

How is it possible to extricate oneself in this Babel of words ?
The most important way is to let the Bible speak whenever possible.

The Bible is the Ultimate Authority – Matthew 4:4, 7, 10; Mark 11:17; 2.27pm; Luke 10:26; Luke 22:37; 

Acts 7:42

The Son of God himself, who could have spoken of his own initiative and according to his 

personal wisdom, always referred to the Word of God to give value to his teachings 

as well as silence all discussion – Luke 10:25, 26

An honest examination of God's word leads us to establish that His people did well when they read and 

applied Scripture and did wrong when he went his own way – Deuteronomy 30:19, 20; Proverbs 3:5

So the first and most important step, when we approach Scripture, is to forget who we are or think we are, forgetting even what we think we know .
Admitting that there is at least a particle of the possibility of being wrong; if this does not happen, no progress will be possible.

Who is most at risk of shutting down their perceptive faculties?
The last of the believers on earth or someone who holds important religious positions including teaching? - Romans 3:23

Whenever possible we should use the Bible itself to explain the Bible and remind us 

that we are all students.

None of us have to stop learning. - Isaiah 50:4; John 5:30

In this blog , the Word of God has been highlighted and it has been done in an honest way.

Many explanations presented here will be very different from the understanding of many but those who do not agree with the explanations presented here will have to recognize that they have tried to let the Bible speak, not their own beliefs or prejudices, and should find other Scriptures to disprove what was stated as well as use strong logic to explain why the scriptures quoted, regarding any subject reported here, would not be equally valid.

It's easy to expect that some things will only be understood when they're fulfilled, so it's only normal to make assumptions at some point.
In any case, let's not subscribe to the cliche and superficial saying that "we will understand the prophecies only after their fulfillment" because if this were the case, the prophecy would make no sense and would not be useful - compare 1 Thessalonians 5:4

It is also true that if we were to go back in time, perhaps three hundred years, and explain to a person of that time what television, a computer, a social network and so on are… this person would have enormous difficulty understanding our speeches and, assuming he cares to understand them, he could draw completely wrong conclusions.

As regards certain details, we could find ourselves in the same situation before the revealed truth of the Bible and there is no difficulty in admitting that the same thing could have happened in these articles.

The Bible has always told the truth but we, for various reasons, have not always understood it.

New technologies have opened a window in the probable interpretation of certain writings and scenarios.

Now it is certainly clearer to us when, speaking of the beast with two lamb's horns, the book 

of the Apocalypse says "who rains fire and sulfur from heaven" - Revelation 13:13

What may have seemed inexplicable 1000 years ago is no longer the case today as any human being could rain fire and brimstone from the sky with a fighter bomber or other war machine.

The Word of God, however, has a truly flawless internal consistency and certainly, digging 

and by carefully meditating, one can arrive at a shared vision – Proverbs 2:1-6

This will surely happen when the True God decides to fully open Scripture to His people - Amos 3:7

To explain the book of Revelation an attempt has been made to take any useful scripture from the Word of God  being the only true authority . There is no other authority.

The problem of temporal succession (chronology)

It has been said by some that the book of Revelation, like other prophetic books, was not written

in chronological order.

This could be quite normal because this happens for example in many literary works.

This is not necessarily done to make the book even more difficult but simply because of the particularity of the book itself or to draw attention to certain details considered important.

If we were novelists, for example, in a given chapter we could describe a war scene and dwell on its natural epilogue.

In the next chapter we might choose to mention a certain aspect of this war 

(war now concluded in the previous chapter) to highlight the heroic deeds of a person 

or a possible love story consumed during the battle…

We could do this many times in the same story depending on the amount of detail we intend to include and the things that, in our opinion, are more important than others.

Can the same be said of the biblical book of Revelation?

While this would fit perfectly into the style of other prophetic books, this is an eventuality that should be ruled out for the book of Revelation.

Meanwhile, before "deciding" whether the last book of the Bible is in chronological order or not, the question we should ask ourselves is…

“ Who determines what is in chronological order and what is not?”

This is a very important aspect because an event placed in the wrong time can  completely change the interpretation of certain scriptures and also create the so-called "domino effect". It goes without saying that asserting that the book is written in "non-chronological" order can be very useful for stroking the doctrines of one's religious organization. If we can tear apart and stitch up a prophetic book as we please, then it is clear that anything can be taught. 

Could something like this have happened to us too? - Acts 1:6

Let's try to ask ourselves this question again.

Could this have happened to us?

Simple logic makes us understand that it is written in chronological order.

For example if we take chapter 12 of the Apocalypse there we speak of the vision of the woman in heaven 

about to give birth, the birth of a male child, war in heaven, etc.

Then chapter 13, speaking of the dragon, begins with the words… “And it stood still on the sand of the sea”  -Revelation 13:1a

It is clear that this part of the story is written in temporal succession (in fact the dragon has just been hurled onto the earth) and therefore everything that happens, the wild beast that ascends from the sea, 

the beast with two horns of lamb ascending out of the earth et cetera, is surely later than what is described in the previous chapter.

For the rest we have the succession of trumpets and the succession of vials of the wrath of God.

Considering the book of the Apocalypse in chronological order is the most logical thing to do because, whatever date we want to give to the beginning of the trumpet blasts, it is clear that they are sequential and this means that the seventh trumpet cannot sound before the sixth  or of the fifth.

All the events described under the seventh trumpet are subsequent to those described 

within the sixth trumpet and the same applies to all the others.

To assert that the seventh trumpet, for example, sounds before the second is both a logical and a scriptural stretch.

It is a logical stretch because the term "seventh" does not simply indicate the number of the trumpet 

but also a temporal sequence (and this even if you want to play with Hebrew or Greek words).

Simply "seventh trumpet" (or seventh angel who blew his trumpet) means he blew after the sixth and the sixth blew after the fifth and so on.

So there is no logical reason to assert or even assume that the seventh trumpet is not actually the seventh . 

It is also a scriptural problem because the apostle Paul, referring specifically to this trumpet, namely the one relating to the spiritual resurrection, specifically calls it "the last trumpet"  - I Corinthians 15: 51, 52; compare with Revelation 11:11-15

Thanks to the succession of trumpets and also to the succession of bowls of God's wrath we can say with certainty that the book of Revelation is in chronological order and if something "doesn't add up" with our understanding, it is this that must be changed, not the book of Revelation.

Obviously those who fear and respect the Word of God do not take liberty in this sense if there are no more than valid logical reasons for doing so.

There must be good reasons for assuming that Revelation is not written in chronological order and we, after stripping ourselves of religious interference, have found none - II Corinthians 13

Anyone who approaches Scripture with the intention of really understanding it should forget their own 

religious instruction to avoid forcing, even involuntary, and partisan views.

All of us should be prepared to overturn any beliefs in order for Scripture to flow freely.

If we fail to fully challenge ourselves, even with our deepest and most sacred beliefs , we are not fit to understand the biblical message - Matthew 11:25

The problem of signs

The book of Revelation was written in “signs” as some Bible translations say including the 

New World Translation.

Other biblical translations leave out this word but it is a fact that, the last book of the Bible, 

is a highly symbolic book.

The symbol is an element of communication that expresses contents of ideal meaning… 

as a kind of similitude between two parts; one word is used to effectively indicate another.

When the book says that "the stars will fall from the sky" it is evident that it is using language 

symbolic.

When he speaks of locusts with human faces, armor and tails like scorpions it is equally evident that these descriptions have a meaning.

We speak of Jesus as of the slaughtered lamb; we know who the Lamb is and therefore we do not think that there is a literal lamb with seven eyes in the kingdom of heaven and there is no need for anyone to explain to us the difference between symbolic and literal.

Here too, however, difficulties arise.

Should we conclude that the book of Revelation is all symbolic?

Are the angels symbolic or are only the trumpets and bowls symbolic?

Is the war of Armageddon a symbolic war or is it a literal war?

If the book were all symbolic we would no longer have any references and we would not know how to orient ourselves.

So the difficulty lies not only in establishing whether certain plagues are symbolic or literal but also their real meaning.
Understand if they are messages  of condemnation (mental or emotional annoyances) or real physical sores.

For example, speaking of the two witnesses of chapter 11 it is said that "fire comes out of their mouth" and that people "are killed".

How should we view this “plague”?

Obviously for God there is nothing impossible and therefore, in principle, He could give mere human beings special powers exactly as He did with Moses, Elijah, Samson and others.

When these are killed by the "beast that ascends out of the abyss", it is said that the people rejoice because  these "had tormented those who dwell on the earth"... and this expression could make us think that "the fire from their mouth" does not was a literal fire and that even the people "killed" were not literally. However, finding that they had tormented people with their judgments does not mean that they weren't really capable of killing them.

Other prophets in the past have shown to have this power.

In several places the issue is not so obvious.

How did we go about it in this case?

Always with the Bible in hand, similarities were sought with the past (the plagues of Egypt, Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of Jerusalem) and therefore in general it was decided to consider the plagues as literal and physical unless the context or a specific sentence regarding that event has not suggested otherwise .

The Bible shows that for God, nothing is impossible and that He has shown His power 

vigorously and frighteningly on many occasions.

This means that any "plague" on your part shouldn't be downplayed just because, from our point of view, it seems really incredible.

When Jesus spoke of the "end of the world" or "end of the system of things" he did so in no uncertain terms and in very strong sentences... and when he said that the sun would be darkened and the stars would fall from the sky it is not reasonable to believe that it referred to the spiritual condition of Christianity – Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:12, 13

We know that the "end of the world" will not mean the end of humanity as there will be gods 

survivors just as there were survivors during the destruction of Jerusalem 

in 70 CE but that does not mean that there will not be “fearful signs from heaven.”

The book of Revelation begins by saying “Happy is he who reads aloud and those hearing the words of this prophecy and observing the things written in it; for the appointed time is near” (Revelation 1:3) and if  the Apocalypse spoke of the total destruction of everything and everyone, it would be a big nonsense and there would be no reason to be happy.

Revelation is a message of salvation and was written to instruct and warn us of things that are about to happen.

Obviously the book does not hide that there will be great difficulties for everyone and it is obvious that if this "world", that is, this system of things, has to end, it cannot end in a "peaceful" way.

The Bible clearly speaks, in many scriptures, that there will be a "great tribulation."

The conditions that ignorant and disobedient mankind will bring about, at the behest of their god, will cause no small amount of trouble for all faithful  servants of God.

We therefore want to have the humility to question ourselves, whoever we are or think we are , 

because understanding the prophecy correctly could be the difference between living or dying 

exactly as it was for first century Christians – Matthew 24:15; I Thessalonians 5:20, 21

Posted 6th May 2017 by beware of prophecy