angel. The angel also told him in Rev. 22:8-9 to not seal up the book and that the end was near. This is a very important passage because it gives Christians hope. Many believe that the symbolism used is a sort of code language. That when John used imagery, such as the great beast and 666,he was referring to Rome and its ruler, Emperor Domitian. The writer of the article goes on to explain why the Book of Revelations is so hard to understand. John the Seer uses many examples of symbolism to explain certain events. It uses many images that had already been used in the Bible. For instance, the final chapter where Jerusalem descends from the sky was taken right out of Ezekiels writings. Some think that John uses symbolism to communicate certain messages to Christians of his day. We may not see exactly what he is talking about, but maybe back then they knew exactly what he was getting at. Next in the article, Bowe looks at how the Book of Revelations is ultimately scary to the believer, but how it offers some hope. Through all the beast, dragons, and fire, John tells a tale of a beautiful Lamb (the Lord) surrounded by thousands of people (I took it as angels). This is not at all bad, and this image gave the Christians of then and now much hope. At the end of Revelations, John speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. This vision was not at all new, as its mentioned in Isa. 65:17. This vision is available to the reader to make a future for their world. He describes the new heaven and the new earth as a place with no evils, filled with the presence of God. The new earth in Revelations is not some burning fire pit with poison spitting animals, but a place of paradise. The author then goes to say that this was the view that we should all have had for the millennium. This is the view that I have always had for the end time. I am not one to sit around and be scared. I am so excited to meet my God in his paradise. Unlike the millenarian in the first...
