To confuse us and
cause division? No.
To scare us and
cause us to be unsure? No.
To cause
repentance because Jesus could be coming soon?
Yes.
To cause us to
worship God and his might and power?
Yes.
We will never
fully understand God and all his ways and purposes. Revelation will never fully be understood on
this side of earth. It hasn’t for 2,000
years. So we probably won’t figure it
out this year (unless Jesus returns).
We can’t read
into it something that’s not there.
That’s dangerous. We must ask
ourselves: what does Revelation say and where else in the Bible can we find
support for it?
Revelation is a
book of worship written in fantastic, descriptive language that echoes the Old
Testament throughout.
Like other Old
Testament apocalyptic books, it’s a book of warning.
All the stars in the sky will
be dissolved
and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree. Isaiah 34:4
and the heavens rolled up like a scroll;
all the starry host will fall
like withered leaves from the vine,
like shriveled figs from the fig tree. Isaiah 34:4
I watched as he opened the sixth seal. There
was a great earthquake. The sun turned black like sackcloth made of goat hair,
the whole moon turned blood red, and
the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by
a strong wind. The heavens
receded like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was
removed from its place. Revelation 6:12-14
Nobody
read Isaiah 34:4 and thought it would happen two thousand years later. It had a NEAR and a FAR meaning—judgment was
coming soon and a long time from now.