Commentary of the book of Revelation

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Hi Everyone,

As you all know, there are a lot of diffrent interprations of the book of Revelation amongst protestants. I find that the small footnotes in my bible do not go that deep into understanding this book of the Bible to say nothing of what claims others make of it. I was wondering if any of you fine people would know of any resources, commentaries, or other that fill these dual wants?

As an example of what I am talking about, Some protestants (mostly Seventh Day Adventist but, other fundamentalist as well) will say that the Woman in Revelation is not Mary but the Church and the Church gone underground for 1,260 years (interpreting vs 6 1260 days as 1 day=1 year). I could go on giving other examples but, you get the idea. My profound lack of knowledge on this book puts me in an awkward spot and I need to fix it. Your help is appreciated.
 
They don’t look at the book of revelation with the right glasses on…ya gotta wear catholic church glasses…lol. You also need to have a good idea when that book was written.

I suggest to you: “The Lambs Supper - The Mass as Heaven on Earth”
By Scott Hahn.

I think he gives a good general depiction of the book of revelation. It’s only a couple hundred pages and very easy to read…costs about $20.
 
 
To piggyback on Mr. Howling’s reply, there is also a CD available from Lighthouse Catholic Media by Scott Hahn that discusses the Book of Revelation (the CD is also titled, “The Lamb’s Supper”).
 
I am a new member and glad that you posted a thread on the Book of Revelation.

I would like to present my theories about the final two chapters: 21 and 22 where St. John described the New Jerusalem, the City of God.

I am a 70 year old Orthopaedic Surgeon with partial training in Neurosurgery. Almost 40 years ago, it occured to me while talking to a relative who took the Bible very literally, that the description of Heaven was symbolic, not like a tour guide. But with my knowledge of neuroanatomy, it also seemed that the descriptions in those chapters described approximately the human skull and the base of the brain.

Wall = Cranium (the skull bones), 12 gates = 12 pairs of cranial nerves that exited through foramina (windows), Throne = sella turcica, the Turkish saddle like structure for the pituitary glad, the “master gland,” the clear water river running from there through the city = cerebrospial fluid in the Aqueduct of Syvlius near the midbrain, the city that never was without light = constant cerebral activity from electrical pulses in axons,
and other symbols.

For the Catholic perspective, I wrote to the Vatican in the late 1970s for the architectural plans of the Basilica of St Peter = head. They sent them and I had the Latin translated to English at Duke University.

I will look for some of my old notes to be more convincing.

Dominus vobiscum,

Norwich12
 
Here is a great selection of Patristic and other Catholic commentaries on Revelation. The Aquinas Study Bible commentary on Revelation is under revision but still loaded with great commentary from St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Albert the Great, Hugh of St. Cher, St. Andrew of Caesarea, Oecumenius, Haimo of Auxerre, etc. sites.google.com/site/aquinasstudybible/home/revelation
 
All the resources recommended above are great for gaining a Catholic understanding of the Book of Revelation. However, when discussing it with many Protestants, you also need to have some knowledge of the book that refutes their many misunderstandings of it (many based on an anti-Catholic premise). The book you want to read for this is by David Currie, and it’s called Rapture: The End Time Error That Leaves the Truth Behind.

This comprehensive book covers the errors of Dispensationalism (“Left Behind”) theology in general, but has in-depth chapters on all of the places in Scripture where Dispensationalists think they find support for their theology. This includes chapters on the Book of Daniel, Ezekiel, the Olivet Discourse, and 1 & 2 Thessalonians, but most helpful to you will be the chapter on Revelation. You can find Currie’s book here:

Rapture: The End Time Error That Leaves the Truth Behind

And here’s an old CAF thread about the book:

forums.catholic-questions.org/showthread.php?t=109745
 
Understand the Old Testament and you will understand the book of Revelation.

Revelation is at the end for a reason. It is assumed that you have read and understand everything before it, especially the work of the prophets. It really isn’t that difficult unless you have no clue about the Old Testaments.

There is no substitute for study. Footnotes and commentaries are only going to get you so far. Footnotes and commentaries are not the inspired word of God; Scripture however is the inspired word of God and that you have to read for itself, and study.

-Tim-
 
Norwich12 said:
I am a new member and glad that you posted a thread on the Book of Revelation.

I would like to present my theories about the final two chapters: 21 and 22 where St. John described the New Jerusalem, the City of God.

I am a 70 year old Orthopaedic Surgeon with partial training in Neurosurgery. Almost 40 years ago, it occured to me while talking to a relative who took the Bible very literally, that the description of Heaven was symbolic, not like a tour guide. But with my knowledge of neuroanatomy, it also seemed that the descriptions in those chapters described approximately the human skull and the base of the brain.

Wall = Cranium (the skull bones), 12 gates = 12 pairs of cranial nerves that exited through foramina (windows), Throne = sella turcica, the Turkish saddle like structure for the pituitary glad, the “master gland,” the clear water river running from there through the city = cerebrospial fluid in the Aqueduct of Syvlius near the midbrain, the city that never was without light = constant cerebral activity from electrical pulses in axons,
and other symbols.

For the Catholic perspective, I wrote to the Vatican in the late 1970s for the architectural plans of the Basilica of St Peter = head. They sent them and I had the Latin translated to English at Duke University.

I will look for some of my old notes to be more convincing.

Dominus vobiscum,

Norwich12
Click to expand...
Always loved that Book. I think we are near the end now :eek:. I think all that is left to be accomplished is the completion of the final persecution and the appearance of the man of evil and the two prophets.

Did you get those plans? They probably thought you were a terrorist planning an attack. 😉
 
Fidelis said:
The book you want to read for this is by David Currie, and it’s called Rapture: The End Time Error That Leaves the Truth Behind.
]
Click to expand...
I will second that . It is an excellent book on apocalyptic literature in the Bible .
 
Clement_Monk said:
Hi Everyone,

As you all know, there are a lot of diffrent interprations of the book of Revelation amongst protestants. I find that the small footnotes in my bible do not go that deep into understanding this book of the Bible to say nothing of what claims others make of it. I was wondering if any of you fine people would know of any resources, commentaries, or other that fill these dual wants?

As an example of what I am talking about, Some protestants (mostly Seventh Day Adventist but, other fundamentalist as well) will say that the Woman in Revelation is not Mary but the Church and the Church gone underground for 1,260 years (interpreting vs 6 1260 days as 1 day=1 year). I could go on giving other examples but, you get the idea. My profound lack of knowledge on this book puts me in an awkward spot and I need to fix it. Your help is appreciated.
Click to expand...
The Navarre Bible volume: ‘Revelation and Hebrews and Catholic Letters’, has about seven paragraphs on Rev 12:1-2. www.scepterpublishers.org/product/index.php?FULL=368 In a nutshell it says, **“The mysterious figure of the woman has been interpreted ever since the time of the Fathers of the Church as referring to the ancient people of Israel, or the Church of Jesus Christ, or the Blessed Virgin. The text supports all of these interpretations but in none do all the details fit.” **
The commentary then goes on to explain how each of the three above interpretations are supported.
 
To add a little to what Fidelis suggested, there is a wonderful resource written by Carl Olsen called “Will Catholics Be Left Behind”. I am a former Southern Baptist and Carl is a former Baptist himself, and his book on eschotology was the perfect book at the perfect time for me because I was coming into the Church and needed a sound Catholic perspective written for a long time Dispensationalist.
 
Revelation chapters 21-22 are the logical conclusion to Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image…”.

In the Catholic Forum thread by Linus the 2nd about the Human Soul, Linus explains how Aristotle/Augustine/and mainly Thomas Aquinas reveal that the soul has no matter, only spirit. The soul has cognition, memory, and will from the Mind (separate from the brain). The soul and mind live on after the death of the body and brain.

The image of God is in our Soul-Mind.

Chapters 21-22 give the answer that no un-aided human 2000 years ago could imagine.
The symbolism of the City of God, the New Jerusalem, corresponds to specific structures in the skull and the brain. The shape of the St. Peter’s Basilica is a head.

The will of God can be followed by the Soul-Mind of man. That is the full circle of Life.
 
I think the proper way to look at it is that God built number symbolism into the human head, and that thus the human head has a built-in analogy to the Twelve Tribes, the Twelve Apostles, the New Jerusalem, etc.

Our God is very fond of mathematics (which He also invented), and thus built the world with “order and number and measure.” We can expect to see reminders of God everywhere, including in numbers and in Creation.
 
Mintaka said:
I think the proper way to look at it is that God built number symbolism into the human head, and that thus the human head has a built-in analogy to the Twelve Tribes, the Twelve Apostles, the New Jerusalem, etc.

Our God is very fond of mathematics (which He also invented), and thus built the world with “order and number and measure.” We can expect to see reminders of God everywhere, including in numbers and in Creation.
Click to expand...
Thanks Mintaka!
An excellent viewpoint you have.
St John would not have the modern understanding of anatomy but
the Creator would.
Thank you…
 
Norwich12 said:
I am a new member and glad that you posted a thread on the Book of Revelation.

I would like to present my theories about the final two chapters: 21 and 22 where St. John described the New Jerusalem, the City of God.

I am a 70 year old Orthopaedic Surgeon with partial training in Neurosurgery. Almost 40 years ago, it occured to me while talking to a relative who took the Bible very literally, that the description of Heaven was symbolic, not like a tour guide. But with my knowledge of neuroanatomy, it also seemed that the descriptions in those chapters described approximately the human skull and the base of the brain.

Wall = Cranium (the skull bones), 12 gates = 12 pairs of cranial nerves that exited through foramina (windows), Throne = sella turcica, the Turkish saddle like structure for the pituitary glad, the “master gland,” the clear water river running from there through the city = cerebrospial fluid in the Aqueduct of Syvlius near the midbrain, the city that never was without light = constant cerebral activity from electrical pulses in axons,
and other symbols.

For the Catholic perspective, I wrote to the Vatican in the late 1970s for the architectural plans of the Basilica of St Peter = head. They sent them and I had the Latin translated to English at Duke University.

I will look for some of my old notes to be more convincing.

Dominus vobiscum,

Norwich12
Click to expand...
Interesting. I have always considered it to be descriptive of a fortified city. Heavenly city. A capital that can’t be taken by an opposing force.
 
REVELATION CHAPTER 21 – THE NEW JERUSALEM

*1. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.

2 I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, 'Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them. *

(copy-pasted from the New Jerusalem Bible, 1985, English translation). The most widely used Catholic Bible in Europe.
This chapter is the symbolic depiction of Heaven in Eternity before and after the physical universe.

“ … **God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them…”

The image of God is in the human Soul-Mind in this world and the next.**

(more to follow tomorrow)
 
New Jerusalem Bible– Revelation Chapter 21 (bibliacatolica.com)
  1. Then** the One sitting on the throne** spoke. 'Look, I am making the whole of creation new. Write this, “What I am saying is trustworthy and will come true.”
  2. Then he said to me, 'It has already happened. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give water from the well of life free to anybody who is thirsty;’
Brain anatomy equivalents
the One sitting on the throne = the master gland (pituitary) sits in the sella turcica, like a throne.

Interior of the base of the skull – the top is the front of the head
View attachment 16077

water from the well of life = the ventricular system manufactures and circulates clear spinal fluid to the brain and spinal cord. It has nutrients (sugars) and helpful chemicals for the central nervous system. The important third ventricle as a conduit for cerebrospinal fluid is located above the master gland on the bony throne.

Side view diagram showing the pituitary in the sella turcica and the 3rd ventricle above it with spinal fluid in it.

View attachment 16078
These comparisons are based on my own experience and are not backed up by theological and scientific proofs. The theory comparing the City of God to structures in the skull and brain are from my half century of studying human anatomy plus reading the Bible and seeing an eternal pattern of life.
 
**REVELATION CHAPTER 21 **–
  1. One of the seven angels that had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came to speak to me and said, ‘Come here and I will show you the bride that the Lamb has married.’
  2. In the spirit, he carried me to the top of a very high mountain, and showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down out of heaven from God.
  3. It had all the glory of God and glittered like some precious jewel of crystal-clear diamond.
The physical propterty of a diamond is it’s brilliance and it’s hardness. It if the hardest of the jewels.
The Skull bone is very hard also and brilliant.
  1. Its wall was of a great height and had twelve gates; at each of the twelve gates there was an angel, and over the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel;
I* will post pictures and diagrams of the inside of the base of the skull. Twelve pairs of cranial nerves exit the skull through foramens (gates).*
  1. View attachment 16112
 
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