Episode 23--Revelations, How Scary Is It?

Episode intro:

Hello, Civilla Morgan here! Welcome to episode 23 of the Not Just Another Religion and Politics Podcast! Thank you for tuning in! So here’s the deal: 

I want this podcast to speak to people, not yell at people. Whether you are a Believer or not, a Christian or not, I want this podcast to be so plain in its language, that even if you have never stepped into a church, you will get this. You will get who Jesus is, and you will get what relationship with Him could be like, despite what people--Christians and non-Christians, try to do to get you to turn your back. Come along with me. I promise it will be a really cool experience! 

Body of episode:

The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God [a]gave him to show unto his [b]servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified [c]it by his angel unto his servant John; 2 who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.--Revelations 1:1.

The book of Revelations was written by John the Apostle. So in the intro above, aka verse one of Revelations chapter one, he is referring to himself. Why? According to research, all of the apostles wrote their contributions to the New Testament in the third person. Apparently, it was a thing. Maybe a way not to make their writings sound like it was all about them? A way to remain humble? 

According to my research: ‘The Book of Revelation was written sometime around 96 CE in Asia Minor. The author was probably a Christian from Ephesus known as "John the Elder." According to the Book, this John was on the island of Patmos, not far from the coast of Asia Minor, "because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Rev. 1.10).’--Google.   

Now some of my research said the book was written in 95 AD. I mean we’re talking the difference of a year. 

As I did my research for this episode, I decided to rely on the Bible I keep on my nightstand. It’s a Bible I have had since April 26, 1985. Woah! That’s older than some of you right? And as I reached for my Bible, I decided to pick up another Bible I keep on my nightstand, my dad’s study Bible. I started scouring both Bibles for old notes, but the funny thing was there were more notes in my Bible than there were in my dad’s. And that’s when I remembered that this was definitely not his only Bible. And the notes in my Bible were from his teachings.  

As I peruse my notes throughout the book of Revelations, I wish I had dated them. There are underlines, margin notes, stars, even a map key I used to get me to better understand.   

The first note I see above chapter one is that ‘Jesus is the key focus of this book.’

Written next to verse four is ‘seven is God’s perfect number.’ 

Next to verse 12 which says ‘And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden [l]candlesticks…’ I wrote the word ‘churches.’ So the golden candlesticks were churches. More on that in a moment.     

Verse 16  ‘And he had in his right hand seven stars…’  Next to that verse, I had written ‘leaders of the church.’  I did the note-taking/margin writing through the entire book of Revelations.

In chapter 18 where the tribulation and pre-tribulation are discussed.  In chapter 19 I have a note in the margin that refers me back to 1 Thessalonians 5 where the second coming is referenced.  

I mean if you just picked up the Bible for the first time today and started reading Revelations you would be like ‘whaaat?’ That’s how I was until I got the breakdown.  The book of Revelations was like Greek to me, with all of the allegory and The Apostle John doing the best he could at describing things he had never seen before. 

Some theologians believe he was seeing the future and would not have known the correct names for some of the things he saw. And I guess God was like ‘you know what? I am not taking you out of your time and place, it’s just too much for you.’ So God left him within his time-space continuum. Where have you heard that before?  

Speaking of John, there is some back and forth that I found in my research, that there were apparently two men named John around that time period and there is some question as to which John wrote Revelations. I put a link here in the show notes to an article for the argument that the John who wrote Revelations is John the apostle. I am going with that as it has always been my understanding, and the timeline in this article tends to bear that out. Of course, I know that there are theologians out there who are way smarter than me. So if you are listening and you have input, I would love to hear it. 

So, what I would like to do in this episode is not to necessarily break down every single verse and chapter, because what I explained, in the beginning, will help you do just that. Here are the clues I gave you: 

• The book of Revelations is an allegory.
• John called or named some things based on the best word he could use for them. I will give you a specific example. 
• And he, John. spoke in the third person. 

Armed with this information, you are literally halfway to understanding the book of Revelations when you read it.  Allegory and all.    

But I would like to go through a few more things just to give you some more context: 

• In chapters two and three those churches I mentioned earlier are directly spoken to about their behavior: good, bad, and ugly. And including changes, some of them needed to make. 
• Chapters four through six there are descriptions of Heaven and some activities going on in Heaven.  The seven seals are also discussed. 
• Chapter seven talks about four powerful angels holding the corners of the earth. I also have in my margin notes ‘the saving of the odd-lot people that were left after the original rapture.’ 
• The chapters go on to discuss the ‘tribulation saints’, ‘the three sets of people: ‘The tribulation saints, the 144k, and people left on earth after Jesus has come and gone. 
• I find it interesting in chapter nine I wrote in the margin ‘lifespan of a locust is five months.' Remember I mentioned earlier that John was seeing the future and did not have the name or names to describe some of what he saw? Chapter nine, verse nine is the perfect example: those locusts he mentioned, some believe he may have been talking about airplanes or some other modern technology! No kidding!  
• In chapter nine verse 16: ‘and the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand and I heard the number of them.’ My margin notes say ‘believed to be China since they have an army numbering the same.’
• Chapter 11 talks about the Millennial period beginning.      
• Chapter 14 talks about the end of times. In my margin notes, I have the words ‘what will happen to the wicked’, and ‘what will happen to the holy’.   
• In chapter 17 it is discussed that Rome will regain power, influence.  It is also discussed that some countries will turn their power over to the United Nations for a short period of time. The Millennial period is discussed again, in more detail.  
• Chapter 20 talks about an angel coming down from Heaven and subduing the devil. Then the thousand-year reign. And then in my margin notes by verse 11, ‘And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.’ I put the word hide in between no and place. In the margins, I wrote ‘final judgment of God himself. The wicked will try to flee.’   
• In chapter, 21. The new heaven and the new earth are described. Verse four is our closing quote for this episode.     
• In chapter 22, the final chapter, above verse one I wrote ‘continuation of description from chapter 21.’   

 

The bottom line once again is this: 

The book of Revelations is mostly allegory. Some of it literal, like when God spoke to the seven churches, telling them about themselves. Almost all of it seems quite scary to be honest. And it is suggested that as Believers we try our very best to understand every portion of the Bible, otherwise, what’s the point. But if you need a sedative after reading Revelations here it is: We win. The devil loses. Bottom line.  

I hope this overview has helped you. I know it helped me all those years ago when my dad went through it line by line. I mean he broke it down. There are a few other passages that I will always remember him breaking down, like Ecclesiastes chapter 3.  Whew, it was as eye-opening to me although probably on a smaller scale, as the breakdown of Revelations was. I will put the chapter in the show notes for you.   

Episode quote:

‘And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’--Revelations 21:4. 

 

Episode outro:

Thank you so much for tuning in. Let me know if you have feedback. I would love to hear from you! You may email me at [email protected]. Please give me 24 to 48 hours to respond.  You may also follow us on Instagram @religionandpoliticspod or on our Facebook page. 

And don’t forget to check the show notes for the sources used for this episode. Until next time! 

Remember, I would love to hear from you on the question: 

‘Who is God?’ 

 

Research links: 

https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1308&context=jams

https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/17428/who-wrote-the-book-of-revelation

https://www.greeka.com/dodecanese/patmos/book-revelation/

https://www.bibleref.com/Revelation/10/Revelation-10-4.html

 

Bonus content:

Ecclesiastes chapter 3:

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=ecclesiastes+3&version=NIV