Disciples Global Network

The New Testament warns believers that before Jesus returns his Church will be under assault from within by deceivers, “ false anointed ones ,” and “ false prophets ,” and it does so repeatedly. Before the “ Day of the Lord ” begins, his disciples will be confronted by the “ Man of Lawlessness ,” a figure linked to the final “ Apostasy ,” the final great “ falling away ” from the true faith.

The first literary section of Hebrews concludes with an exhortation and ominous warning. Any disciple of Jesus who fails to heed the far “ better word ” that God is now speaking in His Son will suffer an even “ sorer punishment ” than the rebellious Israelites received when they disobeyed the Mosaic Law. The Torah was delivered to Moses by angels. Nevertheless, it was God’s word, and therefore, lawbreakers were punished severely.

Paul begins his  Letter to the Romans  with a lengthy introduction in which he identifies himself and his mission. The calling and “grace” of God have equipped him to preach the “ obedience of faith ” to the “ Gentiles .” In his introduction, he includes a brief description of the Messianic qualifications of Jesus of Nazareth, and links what God did in him to His promises recorded in the “ Holy Scriptures .”

The Church has been plagued for centuries by prophets, seers, and mystics who claim to possess secret knowledge and new insights into the mysteries of God beyond anything found in the Scriptures, knowledge obtained via visions and dreams, or perhaps by deciphering the Hebrew alphabet or the Jewish calendar. The Bible certainly does speak of God’s “ mysteries ,” His unexpected ways that differ radically from human wisdom, but they were disclosed in His Son twenty centuries ago.

After explaining the coming “Apostasy” and the “Man of Lawlessness,” Paul instructed believers in Thessalonica on how to avoid the coming deception and thereby find themselves standing “blameless” before Jesus when he “arrives.” To do so they must “stand fast” by adhering to the teachings and “traditions” of the Apostles. The conclusion to his discussion includes verbal links to his first letter to the Assembly. The second letter was written within a few weeks or months at the most of the first letter.

What was the original language of the documents that became the New Testament? For centuries, the scholarly consensus has been that it was written in the  Koiné  Greek dialect of the Eastern Roman Empire in the first century. However, there is a growing minority within the church that claims the New Testament was composed in the Hebrew or Aramaic language.

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.

The relevance of Revelation for today is lost if we ignore its historical context and read it with incorrect presuppositions . The  Book of Revelation  presents a sweeping picture of the church age that highlights the cosmic “ war ” that is being waged behind the scenes of History with individual “battles” that manifest in the daily struggles of the Assembly. Its visions show God working through the “ Lamb ” to implement His Kingdom, and it begins in the first century with the “ Seven Assemblies of Asia .”

The book of  Revelation  is comprised of a prologue, the vision proper, and an epilogue. The vision falls into four recognizable divisions, and each commences when John finds himself “ in the spirit ” and is transported to a specific location. For example, the first vision begins with John on Patmos where he “ comes to be in spirit ” and sees a vision of the one “ like a son of man .”

The book of  Revelation  is an account of the visions received by John while in exile on the Isle of Patmos - “ on account of the testimony of Jesus .” The document was addressed to first-century Christian congregations located in seven cities of the Roman province of Asia, and most likely, it was penned in the late first century when Domitian was emperor (A.D. 81-96).

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 .