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Starwynd
Guest
If it is only for god to know the moment when humanity will be gone from this planet, why did He give us the Book Of Revelations?
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Tantum_ergo
Guest
Revelation. (No ‘s’)
The Book of Revelation is not like some “Da Vinci” code that, should we ‘crack’ it, would give us the date of the Second Coming.
God ‘gave us’ the Book of Revelation as a part of Scripture, not some ‘stand-alone’ gnostic "figure this out and you’re part of the elite’ code book.
In fact, many of the prophecies have already ‘come about’ and were in reference to pagan Rome.
But we are to take this book in conjunction with all the rest of Scripture.
We are to ‘watch’, lest we forget our purpose on earth. We are to strive to do God’s will, not for some great cosmic reward (though God is generous and just as well as merciful) but because God always wills our good, and He is utterly and eminently worthy of our love and service.
The Book of Revelation is not like some “Da Vinci” code that, should we ‘crack’ it, would give us the date of the Second Coming.
God ‘gave us’ the Book of Revelation as a part of Scripture, not some ‘stand-alone’ gnostic "figure this out and you’re part of the elite’ code book.
In fact, many of the prophecies have already ‘come about’ and were in reference to pagan Rome.
But we are to take this book in conjunction with all the rest of Scripture.
We are to ‘watch’, lest we forget our purpose on earth. We are to strive to do God’s will, not for some great cosmic reward (though God is generous and just as well as merciful) but because God always wills our good, and He is utterly and eminently worthy of our love and service.
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COPLAND_3
Guest
The book of Revelation is not a book to reveal to us when Jesus will come again, but it does reveal to us what will happen when He does come. But even at that the book is very symbolic and we will not be able to figure it out completely until all those prophecies are fulfilled which have not yet been fulfilled.
I hear questions like the one you just asked, and I understand that many people are misled by what the purpose of the book of Revelation is because there have been so many so-called “prophecy preachers” out there who have misused it.
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P10
Guest
The Book of Revelation, or the Apocalypse, has as its stated purpose: ‘to show His servants things which must shortly take place.’ (1.1) and a blessing immediately follows for ‘those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.’ (1.3) John then moves directly into addressing seven real churches, with real issues, in Asia minor for which he was responsible.
I happen to believe that John wrote this prior to 70 AD, but in any case, the immediate purpose of this prophecy was to offer encouragement and hope to early Christians to prepare them for the terrible persecutions which were just over the horizon, and to assure them of the ultimate victory of Jesus, the Son of God.
That purpose, generally, hasn’t changed. We have to be careful not to make this prophecy, which has been fulfilled in principle, exclusively applicable to our generation. Just because a prophecy has been fulfilled doesn’t mean that we can’t derive great spiritual benefit from it.
All the Messianic prophecies, for example, would fall into this category. "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son…’ We rejoice in the fulfillment of this prophecy. We do not expect that this particular prophecy will have another future fulfillment. Just so, Revelation had as its primary purpose to prophesy events that would shortly come to pass in the lives of first century Christians. We must be careful to recognize that those events took place as predicted (no matter how expansive the prophetic, apocalyptic language that is used) and rejoice in the way the prophecies in the book of Revelation enlightened and sustained them in difficult and trying times.
No doubt, there are promises and truths expressed in the Apocalypse that can be used by Christians today for the same purpose. And that, I believe, is why God has gave this great prophecy to the Church in Asia minor, and to the Catholic Church of all times.
I happen to believe that John wrote this prior to 70 AD, but in any case, the immediate purpose of this prophecy was to offer encouragement and hope to early Christians to prepare them for the terrible persecutions which were just over the horizon, and to assure them of the ultimate victory of Jesus, the Son of God.
That purpose, generally, hasn’t changed. We have to be careful not to make this prophecy, which has been fulfilled in principle, exclusively applicable to our generation. Just because a prophecy has been fulfilled doesn’t mean that we can’t derive great spiritual benefit from it.
All the Messianic prophecies, for example, would fall into this category. "Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son…’ We rejoice in the fulfillment of this prophecy. We do not expect that this particular prophecy will have another future fulfillment. Just so, Revelation had as its primary purpose to prophesy events that would shortly come to pass in the lives of first century Christians. We must be careful to recognize that those events took place as predicted (no matter how expansive the prophetic, apocalyptic language that is used) and rejoice in the way the prophecies in the book of Revelation enlightened and sustained them in difficult and trying times.
No doubt, there are promises and truths expressed in the Apocalypse that can be used by Christians today for the same purpose. And that, I believe, is why God has gave this great prophecy to the Church in Asia minor, and to the Catholic Church of all times.
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ryanoneil
Guest
What do you mean by “humanity will be gone from this planet”?
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Ruthie
Guest
I took a course in college called “Dreams and Dream Visions.” It was fascinating. Please note that it was **not **new-age occult garbage!
Dreams are full of symbols that can have meaning in the real world. For example, the man that invented the sewing machine had the set-up nearly complete, but couldn’t figure out how to get the needle through the fabric. (Think of a regular sewing needle.) After struggling with this for a while, he had a dream in which cannibals chased and caught him and put him in a cauldron of hot water. They were poking him with spears, which all had a hole through the blade. When he woke up, he had his answer: put the hole at the pointy end of the needle!
There are more examples of this kind of thing, and that’s what the professor defined as a “dream vision.” I take it a little further… a dream sent by an angel!
When I first read Revelation as a Christian, I saw it as a dream vision. Still do, for the most part.
For instance, take all the numbers. Numbers in Judaism have symbolic meanings. 7 is the sign of the covenant, for instance, and symbolizes covenants between God & men (and vice versa). 12 is the number of the tribes of Israel, and signifies the People of God. To look at these numbers in Revelation as literal is… silly.
Well, I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.
God bless us all,
Ruthie, pretty foggy today
Dreams are full of symbols that can have meaning in the real world. For example, the man that invented the sewing machine had the set-up nearly complete, but couldn’t figure out how to get the needle through the fabric. (Think of a regular sewing needle.) After struggling with this for a while, he had a dream in which cannibals chased and caught him and put him in a cauldron of hot water. They were poking him with spears, which all had a hole through the blade. When he woke up, he had his answer: put the hole at the pointy end of the needle!
There are more examples of this kind of thing, and that’s what the professor defined as a “dream vision.” I take it a little further… a dream sent by an angel!
When I first read Revelation as a Christian, I saw it as a dream vision. Still do, for the most part.
For instance, take all the numbers. Numbers in Judaism have symbolic meanings. 7 is the sign of the covenant, for instance, and symbolizes covenants between God & men (and vice versa). 12 is the number of the tribes of Israel, and signifies the People of God. To look at these numbers in Revelation as literal is… silly.
Well, I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.
God bless us all,
Ruthie, pretty foggy today
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rocketrob
Guest
Revelation also gives us a glimpse into the heavenly worship that is eternally taking place, and in which we participate during every Catholic Mass. For more information, check out “The Lamb’s Supper” by Scott Hahn:
amazon.com/Lambs-Supper-Mass-Heaven-Earth/dp/0385496591/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226521411&sr=8-1
rocketrob
amazon.com/Lambs-Supper-Mass-Heaven-Earth/dp/0385496591/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1226521411&sr=8-1
rocketrob
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