rightly
dividing the word of truth part 9
We have spent the past 8 Sundays in a series entitled
rightly dividing the word of truth, basics of bible interpretation. The first 6 weeks we spent discussing general
hermeneutics, principles of interpretation to be used throughout the Bible, and
the past 2 weeks we have focused on special hermeneutics, certain hermeneutical
considerations for approaching specific portions of Scripture. This morning we wrap up our section of
special hermeneutics as we turn to the book of revelation.
How do we interpret Revelation? Let me give you a handful of considerations:
BY
USING THE ALL OF THE INTERPRETIVE PRINCIPLES WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY SET FORTH
(DON’T BREAK THE RULES WE ESTABLISHED ALREADY)
1.
Be objective (set aside presuppositions)
2.
Context, context, context
3.
Interpret scripture with scripture (not newspaper)
4.
Audience relevance (wasn’t written/spoken to us)
5.
Pay attention to pronouns (don’t insert your name
into the “you”)
6.
Historical cultural analysis
7.
Investigate idioms
8.
Covenantal context (in NT remember overlap of the
OC & NC ages)
9.
Determine carefully the meaning of words (original
languages)
10.
Translation considerations
11.
Genre analysis (Revlation)
a.
1-3 epistle
b.
4-22 prophecy/apocalyptic
REVELATION IS ENTIRELY ESCHATOLOGICAL. It is eschatology.
Handbook of theological
terms (page 81) “eschatology”: literally
means “discourse about last things”…The eschatology of the NT is intelligible
only against the background of OT and Jewish apocalypticism. In general, the OT hope is centered around
the restoration of the Covenant with Israel, through which it is believed God
will restore his reign over the entire world.
For the most part, the OT writings about the Day of Yahweh are marked by
restraint, and so far as depictions of time and details are concerned, the
emphasis falls on God’s judgment of Israel and the hope for renewal.”
If you want to avoid eschatology, I would encourage you
not to venture outside of the book of Philemon, because that’s just about the
only book in the NT that you will find void of eschatology.
R. C. Sproul
in The Last Days According to Jesus says, "It has been said
that no less than two-thirds of the content of the New Testament is concerned
directly or indirectly with eschatology."
Others suggest that 35 % of the Bible, as a whole,
deals with this subject. Not only is
Revelation eschatological in its entirety, at least 2/3 of the NT is
eschatology.
4
MAIN APPROACHES TO REVELATION (ESCHATOLOGY)
Grasping God’s Word |
Duval & Hays (p 288-289) Interpreters have traditionally approached
Revelation in four primary ways. The preterist approach takes the historical
context of Revelation seriously and attempts to understand the book the way
that John’s audience would have understood it.
Many of the events of Revelation are seen as having been fulfilled in
the first century. The historicist approach views Revelation as
a map or outline of what has happened throughout church history from the first
century until the return of Christ. The futurist approach views most of the book
as related to future events immediately preceding the end of history. Finally the idealist approach does not understand Revelation in terms of any
particular reference to time, but rather related it to the ongoing struggle
between good and evil.”
All of the elders here at NCF hold to the preterist
position. But if you hold to a different
view, that’s fine, we love you, welcome you, worship with you, serve with
you. Eschatology is not something that
we are going to divide over here. So
regardless of where you are with eschatology, you are welcome to belong to this
family.
Though there are four main approaches, there are
several positions within those approaches, mostly within the futurist view,
which is by far the most commonly held view.
But futurism consists of postmillennialism, amillenialism, historic
premillenialism, dispensational premilennialism, within premil
dispensationalism there are the pre trib rapture view, mid trib rapture view,
the post trib rapture view.
Because there are so many views, that means we should
be humble in our approach to a subject that has so many perplexed and in
disagreement. Because eschatology can be
so confusing and so perplexing, it is imperative that we come to eschatology
open minded, teachable and do our best to set aside presuppositions; we should
do our best to set aside our dogmas when it comes to eschatology and be flexible.
Our goal here is to do a very brief broad sweep of
Biblical eschatology. I will probably
raise more questions than I can answer this morning, but my goal this morning
is not to answer all of your questions, but to equip you with the basics of
bible interpretation so that you have some fundamentals with which you can
begin to unravel the eschatology of the Bible and feel more confident than ever
to approach this perplexing topic.
HERMENEUTICAL
CONSIDERATIONS (PRINCIPLES) FOR ESCHATOLOGY
End Times Made Simple
| Samuel Waldron (p27-28) It is important, therefore, to state at the
outset several crucial principles of biblical interpretation that must guide
one in the study of eschatology. There
are three self-evident principles of biblical interpretation that ought to
prevent us from setting out on such a misguided course. The first principle is that we should study
the clear passages before we come to the difficult passages. To put this in others words, we should
interpret difficult passages in light of clear ones. The second principle is that we should study
literal passages before we come to figurative passages. Figurative passages should be interpreted
within the doctrinal boundaries set by the literal passages. The third self-evident principle of biblical
interpretation is that general truths of eschatology should be grasped before
we come to discuss the details of prophecy. Clarity will be served by an attempt to grasp
the big picture or the overall structure of prophecy.
Clear, literal,
and general first. Most of these are
coming from epistles, letters. So
remember, we are reading someone else’s mail and the you in the text refers to
them, not us. The text has relevance to
its original first century recipients.
James 5:1-9 1 Now
listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming
upon you. 2 Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your
clothes. 3 Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will
testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in
the last days. 4 Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who
mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have
reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. 5 You have lived on earth in
luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of
slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered innocent men, who were
not opposing you. 7 Be patient, then, brothers, until the
Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop
and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. 8 You too, be
patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. 9 Don’t
grumble against each other, brothers, or you will be judged. The Judge is
standing at the door!
1 Pet 4:7 The end of all things is
near.
1 John 2: 18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as
you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have
come. This is how we know it is the last hour.
Rom 16:20 the God of peace will soon
crush satan under your feet.
Heb 10:32-39 32 Remember those earlier days
after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest
in the face of suffering. 33 Sometimes you were publicly exposed to
insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who
were so treated. 34 You sympathized with those in prison and
joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you
yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35 So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37 For in just a very little while, “He who is coming will come and will not delay.
After equipping them for a mission trip, to the
disciples Matt
10:23 I tell you the truth, you will not
finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
Jesus said to his disciples in Matt 16:27-28 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory
with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. I tell you the truth, some who are standing
here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.
Matt 24:1-3, 30-34 1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when
his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2
“Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone
here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the
disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen,
and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
He
goes on to say…
30 “At that time the
sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth
will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with
power and great glory. 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and
they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to
the other.
32 “Now learn this
lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come
out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it
is near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will
certainly not pass away until all these things have happened.
We have looked at a handful of the multitude of end
times verses there are in the New Testament that are clear, literal, and
general. These texts all indicate to the
original audience that the end times events were imminent in their day.
Now that we have looked at some the clear, literal, and
general passages on eschatology in the NT, let’s look at the book of Revelation.
We have stressed context, context, context. So let’s take a look at the broad context of
the book of revelation by reading from the first and last chapters. Before we seek to grasp any content of the
middle of the book, which is difficult, figurative, detailed, let’s see how it
opens and closes so we can get some bookends.
Revelation NO
“S”
Beginning Rev1: 1-3
1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants
what must soon take place. He made
it known by sending his angel to his servant John, 2 who testifies
to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus
Christ. 3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy,
and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it,
because the time is near.
So the book, written in the first century, opens by saying that the events prophesied about in the book would take place soon (v1) and the time was near (v3).
End Rev 22 6 The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” 7 “Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
10 Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of
the prophecy of this book, because the
time is near.
So the book, written in the first century, closes
by saying that the events prophesied about in the book would take place soon
(v6) and the time was near (v10).
So John opens and closes in the same way that the rest
of the NT unfolds by indicating that the events foretold were imminent in the
days of the first century readers.
Milton Terry |
Biblical Hermeneutics (pp 356-357) “The
writer addresses the book of his prophecy to the churches of seven well-known
cities of western Asia, and expressly declares in the opening verses that his
revelation is of ‘things which must shortly come to pass.’ At the close (chapt 22:12,20) the Alpha and
the Omega, who himself testifies all these things, and manifestly aims to make
the thought of their imminence emphatic, says: ‘Behold, I come quickly;’ ‘Yea,
I come quickly.’ The prophet, moreover,
is admonished not to seal ‘the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time
is near at hand’ (22:10). Surely, if
words have any meaning, and thoughts are capable of emphatic statement, the
events contemplated were impending in the near future at the time this book was
written. The import of all these
expressions is in noticeable harmony with our Lord’s repeated declaration:
‘This generation shall not pass away until all these things be
accomplished.’ But when John wrote, the
things contemplated were much nearer at hand than when Jesus addressed his
disciples on the Mount of Olives.”
Revelation bookends with clear, literal, general
statements. Sandwiched between those
bookends is an apocalyptic vision.
Recall that we should read passages in light of their literary
genre. Thus, we would read this
apocalypse in similar fashion as we do the OT prophets, seeing the content as
symbolic, not literal; apocalyptic language is very vivid, cryptic, highly
symbolic language and we should read it as such.
Thus, we should understand this difficult, figurative,
detailed apocalypse in light of the clear literal general bookends.
*One thing to consider as we seek to interpret the
symbology of the apocalypse is:
278 OF 404 VERSES OF REVELATION ARE EITHER QUOTES
OR ALLUSIONS TO OT (69%)
·
Crucial to interpret revelation through the lens of
OT
·
More familiar we are with OT, better we will be
able to interpret Rev
·
Remember that when NT author quotes OT, go to OT
passage to grasp entire context (459-2222)
·
We don’t compare Scripture with the newspaper,
rather, we compare scripture with Scripture to determine what these elements are
likely to symbolize
Let’s
have a look at one. Turn to Revelation 17 1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to
me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on
many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery
and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her
adulteries.”
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into
a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with
blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was
dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones
and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things
and the filth of her adulteries. 5 This title was written on her
forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of
the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
Revelation 18
1 After this I saw another
angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was
illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted:
“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil spirit, (Matt 12:43-45)
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
3 For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries. (Jer 3)
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, (John 19:14-15)
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“Come out of her, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Mix her a double portion from her own cup.
7 Give her as much torture and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow,
and I will never mourn.’
8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine. (Deut 28)
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
9 “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:
“‘Woe! Woe, O great city, (rev 11:8)
O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!’
11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ 15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out:
“‘Woe! Woe, O great city, (rev 11:8)
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! (rev 17:4)
17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’
“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ 19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:
“‘Woe! Woe, O great city, (rev 11:8)
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!
God has judged her for the way she treated you.’” (rev 17:6, Matt 23:34-37)
21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:
“With such violence
the great city of Babylon will be thrown down,
never to be found again.
22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters,
will never be heard in you again.
No workman of any trade
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again.
The voice of bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world’s great men.
By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.
24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth.”
We
have a Babylon here who is being judged.
This is clearly a symbol of something other than Babylon, it’s not the
literal Babylon since we know that the literal Babylon was destroyed in 539 BC
by the Medes per Dan 5, jer 51 & Isaiah 13.
So
what does this Babylon represent? I
propose to you that Babylon here represents first century Jerusalem.
V2 With a mighty voice he shouted: “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, First century Jerusalem had become a home for demons and every evil spirit Matt 12:43-45 43 “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. 45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation.”
Revelation 17 1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute
Rev 18:3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. (Jer 3) So this Babylon is identified as a great prostitute who is guilty of adultery.
God speaking to his covenant people, namely Judah Jer 3 1 “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, should he return to her again? Would not the land be completely defiled? But you have lived as a prostitute with many lovers— would you now return to me?” declares the LORD. 2 “Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished?
By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness. 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and no spring rains have fallen. Yet you have the brazen look of a prostitute; you refuse to blush with shame. 4 Have you not just called to me: ‘My Father, my friend from my youth, 5 will you always be angry? Will your wrath continue forever?’ This is how you talk, but you do all the evil you can.”
6 During the reign of King
Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She
has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed
adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she
would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8
I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of
all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she
also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel’s immorality
mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with
stone and wood. 10 In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah
did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense,” declares the
LORD.
Israel was God’s bride. The other nations served their gods of wood and stone. God’s concern was Israel. He was a husband to her and when she served other Gods THAT was adultery. So this Babylon who was a prostitute who committed adultery seems to point to the nation of Israel, namely Jerusalem who committed adultery against God by serving other gods.
V3 The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, Throughout history God’s people sought the protection of other kings like the king of Assyria and Egypt. In the first century, they were guilty of the most heinous of crimes in this manner. John 19:14-15 14 It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. 15 But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.
Rather than embracing God as their king in Christ, first century Jerusalem embraced and committed adultery with the kings of the earth, namely Caesar.
8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. (These plagues of death, mourning and famine were the curses inherent in God’s covenant with Israel as found in Deut 28 – which seems to identify this Babylon with Jerusalem)
v9 “‘Woe! Woe, O great city, (rev 11:8)
v 16 “‘Woe! Woe, O great city,
v19 Woe! Woe, O great city
3 times this Babylon is called the great city – this is pretty profound, John is giving us some real clues here. Rev 11:8 Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which is figuratively called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. Where the Lord was crucified. Where was the Lord crucified? Just outside the city gates of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the great city.
What is being said of Jerusalem here is that they are figuratively Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon – all of those were wicked cities in the OT, out of which God called his people.
First century Jerusalem, where the Lord was killed, is the great city, which is the Babylon. These texts, side by side, identify Babylon in Rev 18 as first century Jerusalem.
16 and cry out: “‘Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! (cf Rev 17:4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls.)
Here we have a description of how this great city,
Babylon was dressed. The tabernacle and
the priesthood were thus dressed. Ex 36:8 All
the skilled men among the workmen made the tabernacle with ten curtains of
finely twisted linen and blue, purple and scarlet yarn, with cherubim worked
into them by a skilled craftsman.
Exodus 36:35-36 35 They made the curtain of blue, purple and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, with cherubim worked into it by a skilled craftsman. 36 They made four posts of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. They made gold hooks for them and cast their four silver bases.
Exodus 39:1-2 1 From the blue, purple and
scarlet yarn they made woven garments for ministering in the sanctuary.
They also made sacred garments for Aaron, as the LORD commanded Moses. 2
They made the ephod of gold,
and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen.
Exodus 39: 8-10 8 They fashioned the breastpiece—the work of a skilled craftsman. They made it like the ephod: of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. 9 It was square—a span long and a span wide—and folded double. 10 Then they mounted four rows of precious stones on it.
OVER AND OVER, just like Great city over and over. Fine linen, purple, scarlet, gold and precious stones to a reader of Revelation, would have called to mind the décor of the OC tabernacle and priesthood – aka Jerusalem. This Babylon, the great city sure does resemble Jerusalem.
20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.’” 24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints,
and of all who have been killed on the earth.” (rev 17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.) This Babylon was guilty of shedding the blood of the saints, prophets and apostles and would be found guilty of all the blood shed on earth. Matt 23:34-37 34 Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35 And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.
37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.
It was Jerusalem who killed the prophets, saints, and apostles and upon them would come the righteous blood shed on earth and it would be in that generation. Again, first century Jerusalem sure does fit the description of this Babylon.
Now,
let’s take a quick peek at another interpretive clue that Peter gives us at the
end of 1 Pet
5:13 She who is in Babylon, chosen
together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.
Where
was Peter writing from? Jerusalem. Again, interpret scripture with scripture and
identify Babylon as first century Jerusalem.
One
last consideration before we close:
REVELATION
RECAPITULATES.
That is a fancy way of saying that it tells the same story over and
over. When we read the gospel of
Matthew, we read the life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. When we move into Mark we don’t read a
continuation of the story, we read a recapitulation of the same story from a
different perspective. Then Luke
recapitulates the same events from yet a different perspective, and then John
recapitulates the same events a fourth time from a different perspective. In the same way, Revelation is not one story
that unfolds one time from beginning to end, rather it is the same story told
over and over from different perspectives.
It recapitulates.
In other words, this judgment of Babylon aka Jerusalem is
told from a different angle. Let’s look
at one text very briefly. Rev 11:1-2 1 I was given a reed like a measuring rod and was
told, “Go and measure the temple of
God and the altar, and count the worshipers there. 2 But
exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy
city for 42 months.
cf Luke 21:20-24 20 “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. 21 Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city. 22 For this is the time of punishment in fulfillment of all that has been written. 23 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! There will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people. 24 They will fall by the sword and will be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
These are parallel texts. Revelation 11:1-2 interpreted by Luke 21:20-24,
emerges as yet another camera angle pointed at the punishment of the great
city, the Babylon that represents first century Jerusalem.
We see it put yet another way in chapter 6.
Rev 6:8 (sword famine and plague)
Rev 6:10-11 the avenging of the blood of the
saints
Rev 6:16-17 16 They called to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! 17 For the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”
cf Luke 23:26-31
26 As
they led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene, who was on his way in from
the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27
A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed
for him. 28 Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem,
do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the time will
come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the barren women, the wombs that never
bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then
“‘they will say to the mountains, “Fall on us!”
and to the hills, “Cover us!”’
Jesus is quoting
Hosea 10:8. What do you do when the NT quotes the OT? dial 459-2222.
So Jesus quoting a part of Hosea would call to mind the entire
context. Jesus told his audience to weep
for themselves and children because what happened in the broader context of Hosea 10:8
was going to happen to the daughters of Jerusalem. Hosea 10 is about the destruction of Israel
at the hands of a foreign army, namely Assyria and this happened in 722
BC. Jesus was telling his audience that
they, like Israel of old would be destroyed in like manner, at the hands of a
foreign army.
Once again, the destruction of the great city where the
Lord was crucified.
So revelation tells the same story over and over; it
recapitulates the story of the judgment of Babylon, which seems to symbolize
first century Jerusalem.
A lot of people dismiss revelation as a book
that nobody can ever understand so why even bother with it? I think
that’s poor attitude and I believe that any book in the canon of Scripture is
worthy of time as it all works together as divine revelation to paint a
bigger picture of our amazing God.
This concludes our section on special
hermeneutics. Next week we will wrap up
this series by answering that question that is probably on your minds: if the
Bible has such a specific relevance to its original readers and since it wasn’t
written to us, in what sense is it for us and how do we make practical
application of it to our lives today?
www.ncfgeorgetown.com Church in Georgetown, Texas. Reformed church
Georgetown, Texas Preterist church Georgetown Texas. Pastor David Boone. Sermon
audio mp3 sermon download Full Preterism. Covenant Eschatology. New Covenant
Fellowship Georgetown. Page House 10:00 am Loving God. Loving Others. Realized
eschatology fulfilled eschatology
Preterist church Austin Texas.
Bible church Austin Texas Second coming of Jesus Christ churches in
Austin area. Churches in Georgetown TX
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