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Category Archives: Exploring the Book of Revelation
666
Today’s theme has of course been made infamous in cinema. Films like The Omen and the Damian series portrays the antichrist since 666 is deeply ingrained on top of his head. Yet, the word antichrist does not appear in The Book of Revelation. It is mentioned in I John 2:18, “Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.” Also in II John 7: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.” There have been many apparent antichrists in Christendom, especially the Emperor Nero who John is writing about in Revelation. Essentially, Chapter 13 presents an “earthly” rather than heavenly struggle as in Chapter 12, in which the work of the serpent is carried out by his two lieutenants, the beast from the sea and the beast from the land.
Posted in Exploring the Book of Revelation
Tagged 666, Aleister Crowley, antichrist, Behemoth, Leviathan
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The Woman and the Serpent
11:15-19 appears to bring John’s entire eschatological, cosmic vision to an end—the messianic woes have occurred; God’s kingdom has arrived; God’s enemies have been defeated; the final judgment has been pronounced; punishments have been dispensed; and rewards have been bestowed. All that is lacking is the final “Amen!”
The Two Witnesses & The Seventh Trumpet
Chapter 11 is largely a puzzle for both interpreters and readers alike. It incorporates the measuring of the temple in Jerusalem with two witnesses that describe the end times and concluding with the blasting of the Seventh Trumpet. Exegesis is imperative here for breaking-down these dissimilar themes.
The Little Scroll
As was the same after the opening of the sixth scroll, there is a great pause in the dramatic action; the audience is waiting with baited-breath for the blaring of the final trumpet, but John inserts a little interlude—a time for contemplative reflection:
Locusts!
I love to watch the old sci-fi films from the 50’s and 60’s—centering on themes such as giant leeches, ants, spiders and locusts. They entertain to the hilt and thrill to open dark corners of the mind where these creatures lurk. One needs to be cautious, though, lest these creepy images consume an overly active imagination. The same can be said for Apocalyptic Literature, for as with horror movies, this literature is not factual but actually imaginative and surrealistic in nature and not to be taken literally. The Book of Revelation, although at times entertaining, is meant to convey messages that are deeply hidden on the spiritual level—which is why the vivid and shocking imagery is intended to wake-up the reader to higher Spiritual Truths.
Posted in Exploring the Book of Revelation
Tagged Abaddon, Hal Lindsey, locusts, the abyss, The Fifth Trumpet, The Sixth Trumpet
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The Seventh Seal
Today’s title has generated much interest in filmdom history, most particularly in a 1957 Swedish (sjunde inseglet) fantasy film adaptation written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Set in Sweden during the Black Death, it bespeaks of the journey of a medieval knight (Max von Sydow) and how he attempts to ward-off his own death in a game of chess he plays with the personification of Death; as the film progresses we see whether he wins or loses his life…but no spoilers here. The film is so popular that when one googles “the seventh seal”, the majority of images that pop-up are from this adaptation:
Posted in Exploring the Book of Revelation
Tagged aetos, censer, psalm 141, seven trumpets, Silence, The Seventh Seal, therible, Wormwood
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The 144,000
According to the JW publication, The Watchtower, 144,000 is the total number of people who will make it into heaven, and every last one of them will have been a Jehovah’s Witness. From time to time we receive these publications in the mailbox as their evangelists still travel door to door in hopes of finding new disciples to add to their flock. Today’s blog offers a different breakdown of that mystical number, one which adds a greater depth to the mystery.
The Four Horsemen
Just as the seven-eyed Lamb foreshadowed the eventual triumphant Christ, today’s ever-popular image of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse ushers-in the manner of Death that will swiftly descend upon an evil world. They are harbingers of total destruction from which no one is exempt. The opening of each seal introduces them as they thunder across the page undeterred and unfretted. In point of fact they represent all that is wrong with humanity—climaxing here in scenes of total self-condemnation and destruction.
The Lamb and the Scroll
We next come to a chapter in Revelation that houses the beginning of those mind-boggling images. The most outstanding one is the Lamb with the Seven Eyes. Today’s accompanying image at the top is one representation envisioned in a science-fiction flick from 1980, Altered States, starring a young William Hurt. It is truly a visionary extravaganza—for the most part one of the best mystically religious depictions in cinema, although the ending is a great let-down as it is the usual canned love-relationship theme that wipes out all the mystical-revelations that meticulously came before. It is still worth watching for the visually-startling and gratifying mystical themes that bracket the movie throughout. Today’s accompanying reference to the scrolls with the seven seals is a book of destiny in which events of the end-time are recorded (Dan 10:21; 1 Enoch 81:1-3). Opening the seals is equivalent to causing these events to occur. (JBC)
Posted in Exploring the Book of Revelation
Tagged Altered States, evil-eye, seven eyes, The Lamb, The Scroll
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The Throne of the Unborn One
The call of John to “come up here” in 4:1 indicates a radical shift for the remainder of the Book of Revelation. What we have now are layers of extraordinary visionary experiences, some which in modern parlance would be considered as acid trips of the mind. Yet, we need to bear in mind that these mind-boggling exposés are in reality literary devices of Apocalyptic Literature, tools of symbology. In this blog we must turn and invoke the aid of the Master-Mystical Theologian, Dionysius the Areopagite in his renowned work, The Celestial Hierarchy, for added spiritual clarification.