I've completed many different studies of Revelations. The 7 year period of The Tribulation leads to Christ's second coming, then a 1,000 year reign with a new Earth and new Jerusalem, at which point Earth is done away with.
Many things in Revelations are symbolic for the purposes of avoiding governmental intervention, but the symbolism is not so far stretched as to take away from the meaning of, "Revelation." The book is written from the perspective of a man who was at a minimum seeing things 2,000 years ahead of his time, and as such some, "symbolism" isn't even symbolism as much as it his his best ability to describe what he saw. The book is absolutely literal in the sense that the events happen as they are told, and are in no possible way written merely as metaphors or similar BS.
It is very clearly, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" and the conclusion of Earth.
Just to be clear. Symbolism is not just some BS to try and excuse things.
The fact that you have studied the bible is awesome.
We may disagree on this but in the end that is not what really matters.
Daniel, the Book of Revelation, Psalms and other books have similar language. As I am sure you know The Book of Revelation borrows some language from those earlier books. While the bible is a collection of many books they all combined tell a unified story of Christ dying for the sins of the world and then rising again.
To try and show you where I am coming from I would just like to show you one example.
You can read in Samuel about how David hid from Saul. You can read about how he survived Saul's attempts on his life.
In Psalm 18:7-15 David writes this
The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High Uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
That is Psalm 18: 7-15
God delivering David from his enemies and from Saul
If You read the book of Samuel you will see David hiding from Saul and what happened and how God delivered him. No where will you read what David wrote in Psalm 18 concerning those same events.
David was writing in a language pattern that the people at the time understood. They would read the psalm and not think that God sent lightnings in abundance, opening the sea, and the foundations of the world being uncovered.
That was language that touched something from within. It was an expressing for something that is not expressible.
You're arguing past yourself and misrepresenting your own position. Revelation is absolutely taken literally, and that doesn't take away from the symbolism that is present in it. Literal does not mean stupid, it means literal. As I said above, there is context which was used for various purposes, one of which being to prevent the government of the time from discarding the messages and preventing it's spread.
Nowhere did I say that symbolism isn't used in The Bible, or that some elements of Revelations aren't symbolic, but rather that the book as a whole isn't just some fantasy representing total mystery, confusion, and drama, which is what people mean when they say that Revelation is a book of symbolism. The Revelation of Jesus Christ is absolutely a book which can be deciphered and understood if one tries. No other book of The Bible comes with an explicit promise of blessing for it's study.
I agree 100% with... . The Revelation of Jesus Christ is absolutely a book which can be deciphered and understood if one tries.
We are given Free Will.
Our Free Will gives us two choices.
We can trust what God says about His love for us is true. Or we can trust self.
Trusting God is walking in the truth.
Trusting Self is being blinded to the truth.
Right now the world is controlled by people that trust in self. (self is anything that is not God)
I see the Book of Revelation pointing to a time when we are set free from the lie. A time when the control that evil has to hide the truth is gone.
It will be the Great revealing of the truth.
I see the Book of Revelation pointing to a time when we are set free from the lie. A time when the control that evil has to hide the truth is gone. It will be the Great revealing of the truth.
It will be The Great Awakening.
I was with you until here.
If you're claiming that Q and Revelation are about the same events, then I would love for you to suggest where America is mentioned in Revelation, or how anything from Revelation and the relevant prophecies, and Q match up. The simple fact is that believers who are here today are not present during The Tribulation because of The Rapture. There will be multitudes saved saved during The Tribulation who have never truly heard The Gospel before, but existing believers won't be around, save for the 144,000 + 2 witnesses (likely Moses and Elijah).
Again, I'd be very interesting in hearing about how you think Revelation/End Times Prophecy and Q match up. Or, please feel free to tell me if you were just using the term Great Awakening in a different manner than what I'm interpreting.
I've completed many different studies of Revelations. The 7 year period of The Tribulation leads to Christ's second coming, then a 1,000 year reign with a new Earth and new Jerusalem, at which point Earth is done away with.
Many things in Revelations are symbolic for the purposes of avoiding governmental intervention, but the symbolism is not so far stretched as to take away from the meaning of, "Revelation." The book is written from the perspective of a man who was at a minimum seeing things 2,000 years ahead of his time, and as such some, "symbolism" isn't even symbolism as much as it his his best ability to describe what he saw. The book is absolutely literal in the sense that the events happen as they are told, and are in no possible way written merely as metaphors or similar BS.
It is very clearly, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" and the conclusion of Earth.
Just to be clear. Symbolism is not just some BS to try and excuse things.
The fact that you have studied the bible is awesome.
We may disagree on this but in the end that is not what really matters.
Daniel, the Book of Revelation, Psalms and other books have similar language. As I am sure you know The Book of Revelation borrows some language from those earlier books. While the bible is a collection of many books they all combined tell a unified story of Christ dying for the sins of the world and then rising again.
To try and show you where I am coming from I would just like to show you one example. You can read in Samuel about how David hid from Saul. You can read about how he survived Saul's attempts on his life.
In Psalm 18:7-15 David writes this
The LORD thundered from heaven, and the Most High Uttered His voice, hailstones and coals of fire. He sent out His arrows and Lightnings in abundance, and He vanquished them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, the foundations of the world were uncovered at Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
That is Psalm 18: 7-15 God delivering David from his enemies and from Saul
If You read the book of Samuel you will see David hiding from Saul and what happened and how God delivered him. No where will you read what David wrote in Psalm 18 concerning those same events. David was writing in a language pattern that the people at the time understood. They would read the psalm and not think that God sent lightnings in abundance, opening the sea, and the foundations of the world being uncovered. That was language that touched something from within. It was an expressing for something that is not expressible.
You're arguing past yourself and misrepresenting your own position. Revelation is absolutely taken literally, and that doesn't take away from the symbolism that is present in it. Literal does not mean stupid, it means literal. As I said above, there is context which was used for various purposes, one of which being to prevent the government of the time from discarding the messages and preventing it's spread.
Nowhere did I say that symbolism isn't used in The Bible, or that some elements of Revelations aren't symbolic, but rather that the book as a whole isn't just some fantasy representing total mystery, confusion, and drama, which is what people mean when they say that Revelation is a book of symbolism. The Revelation of Jesus Christ is absolutely a book which can be deciphered and understood if one tries. No other book of The Bible comes with an explicit promise of blessing for it's study.
Okay, maybe I did not explain myself well.
I agree 100% with... . The Revelation of Jesus Christ is absolutely a book which can be deciphered and understood if one tries.
We are given Free Will. Our Free Will gives us two choices. We can trust what God says about His love for us is true. Or we can trust self. Trusting God is walking in the truth. Trusting Self is being blinded to the truth.
Right now the world is controlled by people that trust in self. (self is anything that is not God)
I see the Book of Revelation pointing to a time when we are set free from the lie. A time when the control that evil has to hide the truth is gone. It will be the Great revealing of the truth.
It will be The Great Awakening.
I was with you until here.
If you're claiming that Q and Revelation are about the same events, then I would love for you to suggest where America is mentioned in Revelation, or how anything from Revelation and the relevant prophecies, and Q match up. The simple fact is that believers who are here today are not present during The Tribulation because of The Rapture. There will be multitudes saved saved during The Tribulation who have never truly heard The Gospel before, but existing believers won't be around, save for the 144,000 + 2 witnesses (likely Moses and Elijah).
Again, I'd be very interesting in hearing about how you think Revelation/End Times Prophecy and Q match up. Or, please feel free to tell me if you were just using the term Great Awakening in a different manner than what I'm interpreting.