Installment # 1

The Book of the Revelation for Today

With America in turmoil, and the world in conflict, many Christians have turned to the Bible for understanding and reassurance.  In particular, The Book of the Revelation seems especially relevant.  Are we on the brink of destruction, or on the cusp of utopia?

First, I wish to caution anyone reading this that I have no special ability to understand the Bible.  It is for each of us to read, and for each of us to receive wisdom from the Holy Spirit.  Absent that, we are all led astray.

What I can claim, if I may, is that over a period of years, I read the Bible, including The Revelation, and carefully compared it to what others, more famous than me, have said and written about it.  You well may ask, then, why should I even bother to write this?

It is because, all too often, I have read learned commentaries by credentialed experts, hoping to learn from them the solution, to so many problems I found in the Bible.  I discovered, to my great dismay, that many of these experts ignored the plain, clear text of the Bible.  They either skipped past them, or else, told their audience what people like to hear, instead of what the Bible actually says, in its own words.

One need not be an expert to know that when a supposed Biblical expert says that he is going to explain The Revelation “line by line,” and then skips right past a line that contradicts his desired interpretation—one need not be an expert to notice this.

That is the sort of thing that gave me the audacity to question my superiors, and to report to you, not what I would like to report, but what The Revelation actually says.  You can, of course, read through it yourself.  You should.  You do not need me.  I am only here to direct your attention to parts of the Bible that may have been mis-reported to you.  After that, it is between you and God.

One of the great confusions surrounding The Revelation is the question of whether Christians will be “raptured,” that is, lifted up into heaven, instead of being left on earth, to suffer the Tribulation.  Before digging into the weeds on this, I will begin by reporting what I find to be the big picture concerning that.  Later on, I will supply the weeds (lol).

The Tribulation is a seven-year period that will begin when Satan, the anti-Christ, will become ruler over all the world.  That, of course, is a terrifying prospect.  The Bible divides those seven years into two periods of three-and-a-half years each. 

The first period will seem to be the final victory of evil, the final defeat of good.  Evil men will dance in the streets, and enjoy an earthly society of sinful delights. They will think that they have won, and that God has lost. 

Those are the years in which Christians and saved Jews will be persecuted.  We will not be raptured out of that, no more so than Job was spared having to suffer at the hand of Satan.  Even today, Christians and Jews suffer persecution at the hand of evil.  We in America see very little of that, but what we see is the beginning, the setting of the stage.  Suffering will come to us, but God will give us strength to endure.  We will not fail, because God cannot fail.

At the halfway point, Christians will be taken by God from the earth, because while He did not spare us from the wrath of Satan, He will indeed spare us from the wrath of God.

The second period of three-and-a-half years will be Hell on earth.  The world empire of Satan will abruptly collapse.  I liken this to a mighty oak tree, strong and majestic on the outside, but on the inside, filled with rot and decay.  Finally, that tree will suddenly collapse of its own weight.  One might also compare it to a seemingly wealthy man with mansions, yachts, expensive cars and jewelry—but he is living off his credit cards, with no ability to repay.  Suddenly, he is astonished to find himself homeless and without any physical possessions.

In all these cases, the end was predictable.  No society can last very long in defiance of God, for God guides us to true happiness, not just the pleasure of the moment.  Breaking God’s law is like ignoring the law of gravity.  Sooner or later, one steps off into the abyss.

During the final three-and-a-half years, the evil ones will discover their folly, but few if any will repent.  Those who have chosen evil, who have knowingly and willingly taken the mark of the beast, will “shake their fists at God.”

When the seven years have ended, Jesus will return to earth, and establish His millennial kingdom.  A word of caution here.  This is one of those verses that many experts skip past.  It tells us that the only people returning with Jesus to enjoy the millennial kingdom, are those people who have died, been martyred, for Jesus.  Period.  The rest of us will enjoy eternity in the New Creation.

This is all I am writing for now.  I will continue on, especially if there are questions sent to me.  Again, I wish to emphasize that I am not an expert, but only your fellow student of the Word.

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