Many tried to predict the future of the earth based on Revelation. Somebody even tried to predict the second coming of Jesus Christ. Others believed it, left their job, sold their properties and waited for the second coming of Jesus. When the predicted event did not take place, it had become a joke in the church as well as press in the past. No one can guarantee the same will not repeat again. We all know why the book of Revelation has been used continuously for speculation. We will discuss in this article why Revelation is a difficult book to predict future events & time. Unless God reveals the secret, it is impossible for someone to understand the heavenly vision.
1. The book of Revelation was documented based on the happenings in heaven as is. The sequence of events happened in heaven happened in heavenly timing. There is no direct conversion exists between heavenly timing and earthly timing. For example, there are no easy answers to the following questions when we consider events in Revelation:
a. When each seal (Rev 6) was opened, how long it took to complete the consequence of opening the seal?
b. What is the time gap between each seal? Bible says “When the lamb opened the second seal” – Rev (6:3) and when the lamb opened the third seal – Rev (6:5). Did these two events happen in sequence without time gap or with the time gap?
There were many wrong opinions generated out of Revelation in the past by plainly converting the heavenly timing to earthly timing.
2. The book of Revelation does not distinguish between past, present, and future. The past, present, and future is an earthly concept and not applicable in heaven. Our God is a God who is, who was and who is to come. He is beyond time. Revelation consists of Seven seals followed by seven trumpets followed by seven plagues. The challenge is to understand how many of these events were already completed and how many waiting to happen in future? In 2011 someone posted a video on the internet saying the second horsemen (red) was captured in Egypt. It was shown in some of the very authentic new channels. But is it true or another speculation? God alone can answer.
Without the traceability of past, present and future events with respect to current time line, it is difficult to bring the events mentioned in the Revelation to current context.
3. The book of Revelation is filled with metaphors, which are difficult to decode. For Example Revelation chapter 17 mentions about woman, whose name is Babylon the great – Rev 17:5. Who is Babylon? It can not be a Woman based on subsequent explanation. Someone predicted it is the actual Babylon city. Another, it is the city of Rome (city of 7 hills) based on the verse “This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits” – Rev 17:9. Some other say it is commercial, political and religious aspects of Babylon, which is still alive all over the earth based on the verses Rev 18:11-19. Which is right?
There is another metaphor in Rev 12 about the woman who was running away from a dragon. Some of the Christian friends believe it is Mary mother of Jesus but the mother of Jesus does not hold 12 stars (Rev 12:1). Some others think the woman is the Israel. The twelve stars are the twelve tribes.
The association of heavenly metaphor with the wrong earthly object will lead wrong conclusion.
4. There is always an ongoing debate about Antichrist. Is he already born or yet to come? The revelation talks about the trinity of Satan. The dragon, the first beast (Rev 13:1) and the second beast (Rev 13:11). The dragon transferred its power to the first beast. It was the second beast which forced the people of the earth to worship first beast ( Rev 13:12). In the first century, the Christians were asked to declare the Roman emperor as Lord and God. Anybody refused to declare emperor as God was persecuted and killed. Hence this is not a new concept in the world. Now, who is the beast? Is he a human? Somebody speculated it is Robot or computer. Others even associated well known people in the earth to Antichrist. But there is no clear answer in the Bible. Most of the conclusions are based on individual opinions.
5. The code of the beast. This is another ongoing hot discussion. This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. - Rev 13:18 There were several opinions, speculation and innovative ideas to identify code 666. Few tried multiplying specific words or names with a constant and added them to arrive at 666. Others try to identify 666 in barcode which is now part of most of the retail products. None was convincing. The number appears immediately after identifying the trinity of Satan (Dragon, first and second beast) in Rev 13 and declared as the number of the 2nd beast (Rev 13:16).
The book of Revelation ends with the note of caution. The below warning should keep people away from making unnecessary speculations and passing on careless opinions.
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll. – Rev 22:18,19
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