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Revelation 1-3 - A Blessing, A Conundrum, And Seven Churches
Laying Out Revelation - Part 2
The first three verses present us with a challenge:
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.
- Revelation 1:1-3 NKJV
Historical records tell us that John wrote Revelation in AD 95 or 96. Those who say otherwise are ignoring a vast amount of evidence from Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 150-215), Eusebius (AD 260-339), Irenaeus (AD 130-202), Victorinus of Pettau (AD ?-304), and Jerome (A.D. 340-420). If you need proof, start here and here.
It wasn't Nero who put John on Patmos. It was Domitian. When Domitian was assassinated in September of AD 96, the Roman Senate freed everyone imprisoned by Domitian. This meant that John was able to return to Ephesus where he was reported to have died in AD 98.
So, what does this 'shortly' and 'for the time is near' mean?
I don't know.
I have my speculations. We all have those, but speculations are not facts. They aren't truth. And, there are many things in the Bible that are unexplained, but that shouldn't matter to us. Feel free to speculate, but make sure that your speculations do not stray over the boundaries laid out by the Bible.
Here are a few of my own:
The White Horse - When the first Seal is broken, and the first horse rides out, we don't know who that is, or when it happens. But, it is possible that this rider has been riding for almost 2000 years. Remember that the Roman way of governance has spread around the world.
The RCC Rising - When Revelation was written, the church at Rome was already beginning to the lay the foundation for the Roman Catholic Church. This Great Whore figures prominently in the Book of Revelation, and it started rising right about this time.
The Two Beasts - The Beast that rises out of the sea in chapter 13 and the one that rises out of the bottomless pit in chapter 17, don't rise just when the Antichrist comes. No, those beasts have been around for a while. Does their rise begin 'shortly'?
Something COMPLETELY different. There could be a completely different reason why these things must begin 'shortly'. We won't really begin to understand properly until Seal Three, or maybe even Seal Six.
Again, these are speculations and should NOT be considered fact. I get things wrong all the time, so I only offer these thoughts to help you avoid stumbling over the words 'shortly' and 'for the time is near'. As events progress, we will have a better understanding of what happens in Revelation and when it happens.
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