Revelation 11/12

As I make my way thru chap 11 and 12 of Revelation I find myself, as a middle aged Christian man, I'm wondering as to what I must have missed growing up.

 It's pretty clear that in several areas, I definitely slipped thru the cracks when it came to being whatever most these days think I should be.

I'm not sure when it happened but I'm more or less a black an white thinker in a gray world and the grayer it got the more black an white I became.

Things just are!

Plain an simple.

Men marry women, life begins in the womb, murder is bad and prayer is good an so on.

Oh,and books are to be read (get this) from the beginning, page one and you read straight thru to the end.
I wasn't the brightest kid growing up in school.


Funny thing about black and white thinkers. Not much around them makes sense. Take politics for example. People favor one thing over another, over another. These people think it's the success or failure of some system that is the problem.  They'd never even consider that it's mankind that's the problem. Not the system.

 Sure I even favor one system over another but I know that even in the systems I don't favor, theoretically they work but when anything (and I mean anything) is given over to mankind, it's a sure bet we will corrupt it.

Wouldn't that cause a thinking person to examine, "what's wrong with mankind?"
But we don't think in terms of "mankind."  We think in terms of "self"

Hey wait a minute, could THAT be the problem. (nah, too simple)

Thinking the way I do, so much of what's said to account for ones reasoning concerning many issues, like
why babies are not life in a womb or why men can marry men or evolution or even why trickle down economics is not good, the things they'd use to account for their beliefs were more far fetched and abstract than my own.

Is it any wonder, when it came to biblical interpretation, listening to others (Christians or not)  the reasons given were so elusive and subjective as anything I'd hear on liberal mainstream thoughts.

It's crazy.

I have more respect for the one who rejects God flat out than the multitude of theories given to allow liberal interpretation of God's Word.

Mind you, these theories can run side by side for some time, that is, till they get to a misplaced comma or discrepancy in age of a text, then the theory will go light years from what it previously aligned itself with, and it doesn't take much to do that.

Take for example, from chap 12. What's the woman represent? What's the dragon? What's the child? On and on it goes.

If the woman represents this, then your that but if the woman represents that, then your this.

And good luck trying to get this & that to worship together.

But do people, Christians, stop to consider this age we live in, this country we live in?
Can we grasp the price the one third fleeing too, after two thirds killed, in chap 12, can we grasp what cost the same salvation we have, they will too receive but at greater cost.

Place that next to the church in let's say, Iran.
Is it any wonder we toy with revelations imagery. If we didn't, we might just see clearly how stubborn our sinful hearts are towards God.

I shutter, cringe when I think of how lightly I once viewed my salvation.
Even the when & where I was born is a tremendous gift.

Revelation is filled with imagery that many over time have devoted there lives to studying.
The problem arises in those who haven't devoted there lives to this (that's us) what are we to do?

It's obvious, we're to bring our pre-made presuppositions to the text and then squeeze that text into it.

This is why i began this post by asking, did I have any to bring? If not, why not? Did I not care, back in the day? Was I paying attention to whomever was speaking about whatever? Did I have opinions then, do I have them now? Surely I do! So what gives?

All I can figure at this point, as I examine my upbringing, if I tend to be a black and white thinker, and I am, I learn things at its basic elements. Because of that, I've learned little over the years because I did little. I'm sure I've always had an excuse for doing little but thanks to modern technology, I no longer have an excuse.

Learning the context of any given issue has become as easy as falling off a log. My "problem", when it comes to God's Word was. I never read it along with, I rarely bought what was said about it, either by Christians or non christians.

  It goes without saying, there's plenty of downsides to that (because that trend is not limited to God's Word) and this pattern would sustain me for 40 years.

It only stands to reason that a black and white thinker, when finally getting around to reading their Bible, would have issues. Since I'm no better thinking this way than anyone else, for I've paid a big price by being so, I think it best to be content with what I am. Mankind loves the gray (seen "reality" TV lately) and loves the abstract.

Unfortunately though, by the time one gets to chap 12 in Rev, something gets missed.
Something is happening here.
A war. What occurs before it? What are the results of it?

With any question one might have in any given chap, a host of past influences are primed and ready to assist us in interpreting. It's those influences I question royally.

The 21 century American believers, of which I am one, has a tremendous amount of influences to wade through as we approach this.

Since proof texting is what we are accustomed to, it's easy to miss a running theme throughout scripture, one of intense demonic opposition to God's plan of salvation so if it were to ever see its conclusion, would we see it?

I mean really, is there anywhere in our Bible's a better picture of this plan, than the one found in Rev 12:10ff?

I heard this described as a song, I like that.

And what about God's provisions for what is representing God's Word at this time (or any time period throughout history)
Does anyone really think satan gives a rip about some obscure nation?

Whatever God chooses to use as a vessel for His Word, that's what will be under attack. If it's Israel, it's Israel, if it's the Church, it's the church. If it's a child, a town, a book, a tree or a rock, satan would attempt rid our existence of whatever God chooses to carry out His plan and at whatever time period He chooses. God chooses how He wants to do it, when He wants to do it, if He puts a method on hold for a time, that is His plan.

Rev 12 should give any believer an off the charts awareness of the intense nature, intense struggle, intense beauty, intense love and sacrifice of what God has been doing since Gen 1:1.

Why do we miss it sometimes? Try this little exercise.
Clear your mind as best as possible. Might take several minutes.

When your ready, think the word "demon"  (keep in mind, this can work with Any word)

Ok,  now whatever pops into your mind immediately, I suggest these to be the improper way to discern anything.

 I remember, after my first year of reading Bible first time, whenever my wife and I would get into an argument, I'd tell er, "listen, the first 3 things that come to mind over anything I say, is NOT what I'm taking about."  That would drive her nuts simply because, if she wasn't interested in examining further then I'd cease arguing.

 Most people would prefer arguing over examining what's said.

Btw, that method of asking that amidst an argument works both ways, or, whatever come to MY mind from what she says, is not the point. If a marriage gets to that point, it's something special.

Time to wrap this up. Been pondering this for days now. I'm sure I've missed much, thinking the way I do.

 I enjoy a mystery as much as anyone, I know I do not even have a complete command of the English language. But God's Word is pretty straightforward,

 it's central theme, central opposition, central conclusion.

 Any pitfalls I've avoided in life, but not over educating myself I've made up for by falling in the ones I've created, by not over educating myself.

But God in His mercy opened my eyes though His complete Word. How undeserved is that? My ongoing desire is to encourage anyone to just get that Bible & tryReadNit!