Revelation 101 - Part One
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Title - Revelation 101 - Part One
Church - Living Word Lutheran in Katy, Texas (ELCA)
Author - Pastor Mike Aus
Citations - Revelation 5:6, Revelation 20:3-4, Habakukk 3:17-18
Quality -Good quality
Summary - Pastor Mike Aus takes on the many misconceptions about the Book of Revelation. Some Christians take this book very literally and think that they can predict the end times by looking into the numerology and symbolic language.
In order to understand the Book of Revelation, one must understand how it came to be. The book was written during a time when Christians were being persecuted in large numbers throughout the Roman empire. During this time a man named John (John of Patmos, to many) was sent into exile on a prison on the island of Patmos.
John is hoping to send a message, from prison, to Christians who were being persecuted. The language is a little strange. There are two reasons for this. First, if he just sent out a descriptive letter the Roman guards would have read it and not sent it. Second, John is trying to describe a vision that's hard to explain and uses highly symbolic language. If you take the passage literally... it's creepy.
Numbers are a major source of symbolism that are often misunderstood. Here's a quick key:
Four = The four corners of the earth
Seven = Is the number of the seven days it took to create the earth and represents perfection
Six = Is perfection minus one, and therefore imperfection
Twelve = The 12 tribes of Israel
Thousand = A lot of something, not literally 1,000
666 = Everyone's name in Hebrew had they're own number (David has the number 14). If you write out the name Nero Caesar in Hebrew you get 666. So, it doesn't mean an evil spirit, it was just code to identify a specific person who was persecuting Christians.
Of course, focusing on all of this is a pass time of many people, but it just distracts from the main point of Revelation. The main point was this: GOD WINS!
John wrote the Book of Revelation to tell the Christians of the Roman Empire that, no matter how bad things are now, God has things in control and you will persevere. It is a hopeful book and it shouldn't be used as a tool of spiritual terrorism.
Title - Revelation 101 - Part One
Church - Living Word Lutheran in Katy, Texas (ELCA)
Author - Pastor Mike Aus
Citations - Revelation 5:6, Revelation 20:3-4, Habakukk 3:17-18
Quality -Good quality
Summary - Pastor Mike Aus takes on the many misconceptions about the Book of Revelation. Some Christians take this book very literally and think that they can predict the end times by looking into the numerology and symbolic language.
In order to understand the Book of Revelation, one must understand how it came to be. The book was written during a time when Christians were being persecuted in large numbers throughout the Roman empire. During this time a man named John (John of Patmos, to many) was sent into exile on a prison on the island of Patmos.
John is hoping to send a message, from prison, to Christians who were being persecuted. The language is a little strange. There are two reasons for this. First, if he just sent out a descriptive letter the Roman guards would have read it and not sent it. Second, John is trying to describe a vision that's hard to explain and uses highly symbolic language. If you take the passage literally... it's creepy.
Numbers are a major source of symbolism that are often misunderstood. Here's a quick key:
Four = The four corners of the earth
Seven = Is the number of the seven days it took to create the earth and represents perfection
Six = Is perfection minus one, and therefore imperfection
Twelve = The 12 tribes of Israel
Thousand = A lot of something, not literally 1,000
666 = Everyone's name in Hebrew had they're own number (David has the number 14). If you write out the name Nero Caesar in Hebrew you get 666. So, it doesn't mean an evil spirit, it was just code to identify a specific person who was persecuting Christians.
Of course, focusing on all of this is a pass time of many people, but it just distracts from the main point of Revelation. The main point was this: GOD WINS!
John wrote the Book of Revelation to tell the Christians of the Roman Empire that, no matter how bad things are now, God has things in control and you will persevere. It is a hopeful book and it shouldn't be used as a tool of spiritual terrorism.
posted by LWL PODCASTS at 6:19 PM
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