End Time Insights

The  Book of Revelation  communicates symbolically, and it  provides several interpretations of its images. For example, it states that the “ Seven Golden Lampstands ” represent seven congregations. Likewise, the “ Seven Stars ” held by the “ one like a Son of Man ” symbolize angels or “ Seven Messengers .” Pictures of the smoke of “ incense ” rising to heaven represent the “ prayers of the saints .” And so on.

Christians become heirs of Abraham through Christ, and the gift of the Spirit is our assurance of participating in the full salvation to come . The possession of Canaan by Israel was an early stage in God’s redemptive plan, which always envisioned something larger than Israel and the small territory of Palestine. With the arrival of Jesus, “ the seed of Abraham ,” and the outpouring of the Spirit, the fulfillment of the covenant promises began.

Paul argued that adopting the rite of circumcision would constitute regression to something rudimentary, and an earlier stage in the redemptive history of God’s people. If Gentile believers did so, they would be obligated to keep the whole Law, and they could easily find themselves “ severed from Christ ” - (Galatians 5:1-4).

Was the New Testament composed in Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, or another language? The evidence points to Greek . What was the original language of the documents that became the New Testament? For centuries, the scholarly consensus has been that it was the Koiné Greek dialect spoken widely in the Eastern Roman Empire. However, certain voices in the church are claiming that it was composed in the Hebrew or Aramaic language. What follows is a brief overview of the primary evidence for a Greek original.

Are  Revelation ’s visions presented in chronological sequence as they unfold? If we assume this is the case, things quickly become untenable as key events are repeated over several visions. For example, the  “ sixth seal ”  culminates in the final day of wrath accompanied by celestial and terrestrial upheaval, yet the same events also occur in the “ seventh trumpet .”

The Book of Revelation informs the reader from the start that it communicates visually and symbolically . Must prophecy be interpreted only or primarily in the most “literal” fashion possible unless a passage specifically indicates otherwise? Often in our minds, there is an unstated assumption that literal language is more reliable than nonliteral language, an idea that becomes especially problematic when interpreting the visions of  Revelation .