Before I move forward from here, a little digression.
My first exposure to it was in junior high school, in the 8th grade. We were attending a Baptist church then. Although I can't recall a single sermon or Bible class about it, the Baptist way of thinking was somewhat strong in Florida in those days. I remember reading little comic books about the end of the world.
What I remember about that was that there was going to be this thing called the Rapture. After the Rapture, the world would only have seven years left. There was this guy called the Beast who was going to rise up out of nowhere, become a world leader, and everyone would have to have 666 tattooed on their forehead or right hand. The USSR was Gog. The USA was Magog. There was going to be this big war with this big battle called Armageddon. All sorts of chaos and death, and a bunch of locusts flying around and stinging people.
One of the tracts said that John was describing helicopters. Also, that creature rising out of the sea with the ten horns (or something with ten horns) was the Common Market, now known as the European Union. The EU now has more than ten member states, so I don't know what the person who wrote that would now say what it meant. Anyway, the message was this is it, we who are alive will witness the end, and you'd better get ready for the Rapture.
I will admit that I suffered from that way of thinking for several years. When I came back to repentance, this way of thinking was still with me. But I was determined to read the Bible from end to end, and skipping ahead. I got to the book of Daniel, and a chill went up and down my spine. It was coming. So I went out and bought Hal Lindsey's book that isn't in print anymore.....the one titled "The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon".
Trouble is, when you start reading the Bible to look for answers to back up the conclusions that you've drawn from others who read it before you and told you what it meant, when you're trying to figure out just exactly what will happen before the world ends, you might end up with a different set of conclusions......like I did.
I came to discard my original belief in the Rapture. The church I was attending didn't really believe in it anyway. I kept reading passages. Yes, it will get worse before it gets better. Yes, this will all come to an end. But I also noted a "business as usual" aspect as to what would be happening on the day before the last day. People marrying. People being given in marriage. Earthquakes. Famines. Wars and rumors of wars. And I'm thinking. It's this way now, but it's been this way now for a very long time.
What did people think when a world war broke out in Europe in 1914? That the end is near? That this is it, that Armageddon's on the doorstep?
What did people think in the 1930s, when there was a worldwide depression, this thing called The Dust Bowl, and FDR confiscating all the gold?
What did people think in 1939, when Europe's going at it again, and this time we've got this monster called Hitler who's the cause of all of this? Did people think Hitler was the Beast?
And what did people think in 1979, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan? Folks, I remember that one, because I was in college back then. I wasn't convinced that Armageddon was around the corner but I remember thinking that here we are in 1979, and are we now thinking some of the same things that people thought in 1939?
The Soviet Union has collapsed. China has emerged as a power to be reckoned with. We've had wars, earthquakes, and famines. Rome got hit with a big one sometime around 400 AD. San Francisco got a big one in 1906. And the earthquakes aren't done yet.
Here's something I just thought of. When Christ said there would be earthquakes and famines, he didn't have to tell his disciples what they were. They already knew what they where. Did he say "an earthquake is where the ground starts shaking, buildings fall over, and people get killed."? Did he have to say that "a famine is where there isn't enough food to go around, and a bunch of people starve to death"? They already knew what a famine was. Egypt had to prepare for a big one some two or three thousand years earlier, and it was written about!
But let's get back to where I was.
We've already had wars. We've had famines. We've had economic calamities.
Has some of Revelation already happened?
I suffer from the belief that some of it already has. I told someone that once some years back and he told me I was a "preterist". OK, I remember looking up what one was but I wasn't sure I was one or not. I might look that up later.
But let's get to something that I think most of us can agree on.
The first few chapters are Christ giving feedback to seven churches in Asia Minor. Here's what you're doing right. Here's what you're doing wrong. Here is what I have noticed. Here is what you need to do. I think that feedback that those seven churches got should be examined by a regular basis by any church in existence today. Folks, that's still relevant!
As for what's after that, we're getting into that now. We've been told to be careful about drawing specific conclusions. We've also been told to look at other Bible verses that might shed some light on what is being said in Revelation. And, something else: Revelation contains inside knowledge written by insiders for other insiders. Meaning........we're not going to figure it all out.
But we will have a lot to think about.
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