December 23 Read Revelation 4-6 WHAT IT SAYS. (Chapter 4) A door opens into Heaven (4:1) and John is taken up into Heaven. There he witnesses a great throne room with God on a Throne and 24 elders in chairs around him. There are all sorts of colors and lightening flashing and four beast that fly around with four heads – lion, ox, human and eagle. They worship God and sing his praises. (Chapter 5) While we continue in the Throne Room there is a scroll with 7 seals on it and they are looking for someone “worthy” to open it. Finally they find a lamb that looks like it was killed. As he takes the scroll to open it the twenty-four elders and the four beast fall down in worship and sing. They are soon joined by all those in heaven and then all creation joins in singing that the lamb is worthy. (Chapter 6) The Lamb now starts to open the seals one at a time. As He opens the first four seals riders are sent out over the earth. War, conflict, famine and death roam freely over the earth. At the breaking of the fifth seal we look and see those who died as martyrs for the faith under the altar in the Heavenly Temple crying out to God for vengeance. At the breaking of the sixth seal nature goes crazy – huge earthquake, sun goes out, moon turns red, stars fall, and islands and mountains start moving around. Everyone on earth runs for cover to protect them from the wrath of God. PRETERIST INTERPRETATION (Chapter 4) John is having a vision of the glory of God. (Chapter 5) Important Roman documents were often sealed with 7 seals to insure they were not tampered with. Thus this scroll should be looked at as an official document of heaven and only the Lamb (Jesus) can open it to read it. This would show the position of Jesus in heaven. (Chapter 6) This interpretation says war, conflict, famine, death, earthquakes, and eclipses of the Sun all happened regularly in the first century. This would not be seen as extraordinary events. Vesuvius erupted in about 70 AD burying whole cities in Italy. The man on the white horse (first seal) with the bow and arrow would be called a Parthian. They lived to the east of the Roman Empire and they were fierce warriors who could skillfully shoot arrows while riding a full speed on horseback. They were a constant threat to the Eastern area of the Roman Empire where this was written to. Thus all of this is pretty common in first century life. PRESENT INTERPRETATION (Chapter 4) God is in control and everything revolves around worship of Him. (Chapter 5) In this interpretation the Lamb/Jesus has conquered evil and the scroll represents all authority in Heaven. It is given to the Lamb to read to show that Good still is in control. (Chapter 6) This interpretation would say these things have basically been going on throughout history. When has there not been a time of famine or war or conflict somewhere in the world? The interesting thing here is that they are being sent out by God. So these things are God’s way of dealing with evil around us. FUTURIST INTERPRETATION (Chapter 4) When John is taken up into heaven this represents the Rapture of the church. Thus the next important event that will happen in Christian history (since all of the churches have been fulfilled) will be the rapture of the church. (Chapter 5) This view would look at this as being the beginning of the end. Seven is the number of completion (God created the world in 6 days and then rested on the seventh) thus is means that everything has now been finished on earth and it is time to end it. There will be seven groups of seven in the book. The mysteries of God have been stored up until now and now God takes the mystery out and is ready to share it with all the creation. Jesus is the only proper person to read this and all creation is now happy that salvation is finally near. (Chapter 6) In this interpretation, this chapter is events that will be happening at the end of time. War, famine, death will scatter across the earth. A fourth of all the earth’s population will die – that will be almost 2 billion people! This interpretation was very active year before last with the Mayan prediction of the end of the world and the movie 2012. People were expecting all of the events listed in verses 12-17 to happen around Christmas if you remember. One of the problems with this view point, you will soon realize, is that every few years they have to revise what means what since things are constantly changing in the world. They see this as the beginning of a period of tribulation on the earth that will last for 7 years. In the middle it will get almost unbearable. Pictures: 1. God’s Heavenly throne 2. Horsemen 3. Scroll with seven seals Till Tomorrow Allen
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 11:22:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015