Rev Background

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{BACKGROUND AND STRUCTURE}

[Click on the title below to open an article]

  1. Introduction to Revelation - {PDF Copy} - (An introduction to and overview of the book of Revelation)
  2. Fourfold Structure - {PDF Copy} - (The four major literary divisions of the book are each marked off by John finding himself "in the spirit")
  3. Provided Interpretations - {PDF Copy} - (Revelation communicates symbolically, and it provides the reader with many key interpretations of its images)
  4. Revelation's Recipients - {PDF Copy} - (Revelation was addressed to seven actual churches in the province of Asia in the first century A.D.)
  5. New Testament Language - (Was the New Testament originally composed in Greek or Hebrew? Overwhelmingly, the evidence points to the former) - {PDF Copy}
  6. Isle of Patmos - {PDF Copy} - (John was exiled to Patmos for his testimony – A fellow participant in the Tribulation and Perseverance in Jesus)

{INTERPRETATION}
  1. Unlocking Prophecy - (Jesus, the Word become flesh, is the interpretive key that opens the Hebrew scriptures and the book of Revelation) - {PDF Copy}
  2. The Mark of the Beast - Considerations - {PDF Copy} - (When we imbibe the values of the existing world order, we begin to take the "mark of the Beast")
  3. The Missing Seventy Weeks - {PDF Copy} - (The book of Revelation does not apply the Seventy Weeks prophecy to any of its visions)
  4. Literal vs Nonliteral Language - {PDF Copy} - (It is an error to insist on interpreting symbolic images "literally")
  5. Chronological Sequence? - {PDF Copy} - (Are Revelation’s visions presented in chronological sequence? If so, how do we explain the many parallel descriptions that link them?)
  6. Common Errors of Interpretation - {PDF Copy} - (The real-life relevance of Revelation is easily lost if we approach the book with incorrect presuppositions)
  7. Unsealing the Scroll - {PDF Copy} - (Daniel was commanded to seal the scroll, but the angel sent by Jesus commanded John NOT to do so since the season was now at hand)

{ONLINE COMMENTARIES}
  1. The Epistles to the Seven Churches, (By Richard Trench. PDF - Read online or download [public domain]).
  2. Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia, (By William Ramsay. Read online or download PDF [Christian Classics Ethereal Library - ccel.org]).

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