#revelation # endtimes
Rev 1:3 "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."
Anyone going into the study of the book of Revelation should read The Apocalypse Code by Hank Hanegraaff. Revelation is difficult literature especially for those who look back two thousand years with a eye only to the future and no understanding of the past, when it was written and to whom. Hank Hanegraff is widely known as "the Bible Answer Man".
Hank goes through some interpretive principles that are helpful in reading any book, especially books like the Bible which have several different types of literary genre within the greater contexts of the entire book. Especially helpful is the application of these interpretive principles in relation to all the many irresponsible interpretations that are about these days concerning end times and Revelation.
Who has not heard many times over and again that something is a sure sign that the world will end on "this day"?
While it is worthwhile thing to read Revelation and a I am so blessed by the vision of the risen and reigning Lord who is Absolute Love, it will also take some astute interpretive work to not misconstrue the message written for real believers in the 1st century AD.
Hank Hanegraaff talks through the literal principle, the illumination principle, the grammatical principle, the historical principle, the typological principle and scriptural synergy, helping us see through the error of "modern day prophets" of apocalyptic doom. Rather than alarm the book of Revelation gives us comfort and a sense of triumph in the midst of struggle and our waiting upon Absolute Love.
No one will be "left behind"; 1Th 4:16-1"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words."
"If Revelation is principally a book that describes what is about to take place in the twenty-first century, it would have been largely irrelevant to first-century Christias. While Revelation is as relevant as Romans to modern-day readers, it was written to seven historical churches living in the shadow of Neronian persecution. It is in this milieu that John admonishes the churches in Asia to stand firm in the conviction that Christ, not Ceasar, is both Lord and Savior....
Those who stridently insist that the seven letters to the persecuted bride are addressed to modern-day believers are bound to muddle their meaning. ... It is inconceivable that our Lord was informing a persecuted first-century church that twenty centuries later the church would be spared persecution via a pretribulational rapture invented by nineteenth century believers.
Lest we be seduced into adding a great parenthesis of two thousand years between John's apocalyptic vision and the judgements the vision symbolizes, we should reread Revelation with and eye toward the words "soon" and "near". ... In the words of Milton Terry, 'When a writer says that an event will shortly and speedily come to pass, or is about to take place, it is contrary to all propriety to declare that his statements allow us to believe the event is in the far future. It is a reprehensible abuse of languag to say the words immediately, or near at hand , mean ages hence, or after a long time.'
Likewise, we should never suppose that the imagery of Revelation is exhausted in the firstcentury historical milieu. For one day, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dwelling of God will forever be with men (Revelation) 21:3); each person will be resurrected and "judged according to what he has done" (20:13; and the problem of sin will be fully and finally resolved(21:27) Hank Hanegraaff
The Apocalypse Code Thomas Nelson p 159,160 2007
Mat 24:23-27 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
Rev 1:3 "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."
Anyone going into the study of the book of Revelation should read The Apocalypse Code by Hank Hanegraaff. Revelation is difficult literature especially for those who look back two thousand years with a eye only to the future and no understanding of the past, when it was written and to whom. Hank Hanegraff is widely known as "the Bible Answer Man".
Hank goes through some interpretive principles that are helpful in reading any book, especially books like the Bible which have several different types of literary genre within the greater contexts of the entire book. Especially helpful is the application of these interpretive principles in relation to all the many irresponsible interpretations that are about these days concerning end times and Revelation.
Who has not heard many times over and again that something is a sure sign that the world will end on "this day"?
While it is worthwhile thing to read Revelation and a I am so blessed by the vision of the risen and reigning Lord who is Absolute Love, it will also take some astute interpretive work to not misconstrue the message written for real believers in the 1st century AD.
Hank Hanegraaff talks through the literal principle, the illumination principle, the grammatical principle, the historical principle, the typological principle and scriptural synergy, helping us see through the error of "modern day prophets" of apocalyptic doom. Rather than alarm the book of Revelation gives us comfort and a sense of triumph in the midst of struggle and our waiting upon Absolute Love.
No one will be "left behind"; 1Th 4:16-1"For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words."
"If Revelation is principally a book that describes what is about to take place in the twenty-first century, it would have been largely irrelevant to first-century Christias. While Revelation is as relevant as Romans to modern-day readers, it was written to seven historical churches living in the shadow of Neronian persecution. It is in this milieu that John admonishes the churches in Asia to stand firm in the conviction that Christ, not Ceasar, is both Lord and Savior....
Those who stridently insist that the seven letters to the persecuted bride are addressed to modern-day believers are bound to muddle their meaning. ... It is inconceivable that our Lord was informing a persecuted first-century church that twenty centuries later the church would be spared persecution via a pretribulational rapture invented by nineteenth century believers.
Lest we be seduced into adding a great parenthesis of two thousand years between John's apocalyptic vision and the judgements the vision symbolizes, we should reread Revelation with and eye toward the words "soon" and "near". ... In the words of Milton Terry, 'When a writer says that an event will shortly and speedily come to pass, or is about to take place, it is contrary to all propriety to declare that his statements allow us to believe the event is in the far future. It is a reprehensible abuse of languag to say the words immediately, or near at hand , mean ages hence, or after a long time.'
Likewise, we should never suppose that the imagery of Revelation is exhausted in the firstcentury historical milieu. For one day, the Lord himself will come down from heaven, and the dwelling of God will forever be with men (Revelation) 21:3); each person will be resurrected and "judged according to what he has done" (20:13; and the problem of sin will be fully and finally resolved(21:27) Hank Hanegraaff
The Apocalypse Code Thomas Nelson p 159,160 2007
Mat 24:23-27 "Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand. So, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."
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