Revelation 19/20*

I wonder if this book is called Revelation because, when God's Word is read properly, it reveals how easily we're fooled.

I'm gonna be as simple as possible cause there are those who love throwing the "that's your interpretation" card.

I can't think of one christian who doesn't know that  Jesus will rule one day.
 All Christians know God will make things right again. 
So why would God not over and over encourage believers, throughout history of this?

Didn't God say He'd send a Savior? 
And when He left us didn't He say He'd BRB? He did, and didn't He say He'd restore all things? Sure did. And didn't He indicate there being a mystery in this?

Sometimes I wonder,(a silly thought) as I'm reading Revelation, when people see this stuff clearly, they will  know. 
It's written down plainly, for us. 
So all they have to do is the opposite of what Bible says to mess it up.

I don't think that'll be a problem considering that the church, the bride, the unique mystery , is currently reading about itself yet missing it.

If that's not true, then why are there sermons telling me, if I think of a woman in bed, I've committed adultery?
Obviously that fits for today, but it fits better, for an end time kingdom, Jesus is reigning & ruling over. 

Because reading our Bibles in modern churches , as Christ's bride, 
has become an adventure in, 
"welcome to missing the point"

When anyone considers how much law gets dumped on modern believers, it's pretty stunning.

Whether it's fullfilled Old Testament law or
 yet to be seen New Testament laws, it's a wonder anyone is sane.

All these laws, either from a time they've never lived or a Time they will not enter.

It's the Holy Spirit that allows us to live by kingdom rules in this present day. The idea of the Kingdom God was, and is,  referring to, can be seen in that. 

But do we really think that's the (only} kingdom the old & new Testaments are referring to?

As a matter of fact, many do believe that. Guess that's where your religions come from. 

Why the gospel alone was never enough to encourage the bride that it is something unique,  I've wondered  even before I read the Bible through.

I know what happened now, after asking many questions and comparing things, but alot of good it does me when so many are settled in their beliefs.

By mixing the gospel into kingdom passages and then presenting it in a church growth,emergent package, to a post modern American culture, 

this has created an atmosphere identical to the original temptation of man, 
that being "did God really say"

Folks my age either left this mess or reformed there thinking.

It just so happens that I was born at a time when ideas were coming forth,

As we read our Bible's, we don't read them, as too clarify what God's Word said. 

Instead, we read it as a manual, for coping with life. Church goers are becoming weary of being told that they need to cope with life, in part 'A'  of a sermon only to be told, they'll never be able to achieve that, in part 'B'  of a sermon. 

Is it any wonder people think Rev is a hard book? 

Getting back to what I originally said, all believers know Jesus will rule the earth one day. 
By reading God's Word with this in mind, nothing needs to be removed, spiritualised or historically explained. 

In keeping with things all believers can agree on,

Jesus will come to rule and He will have a bride.

Now if anyone wants to keep reading their Bible's applying kingdom passages to present life, knock yourself out.

I kinda know the reasons one would do this. None of them are good though, in the long run I mean, as far as this life goes anyway.

Of course, reading the Bible with only the church in mind, 
will also have the one reading it,  view the church returning, 
to reign with Jesus one day.

But to rule over what?? could be an issue? 

But that's a long way off (or in the next second... See how this works? ) why concern ourselves over that.

I keep asking myself, would having seen these kingdom passages correctly in all 66 books of God's Word, earlier in life, changed anything?

What I mean is, if passages concerning a time not meant for me was understood, would this have affected choices I've made?

Would I have a deeper appreciation for the church?

Would I be struggling with the 
hope that lies within?

Would it have changed how I shared the gospel?

I'm guessing that understanding the role of Christ's bride earlier would have changed things.

 It's a  sin to look to the past, I know. I should not be asking "what if"  questions. 

My view of the gospel has never changed and never will.
I've always known I was a sinner and I've always known I've needed a Savior. 

But my knowing one day we'll reign WITH Jesus sure has awakened the long dormant hope,  that so many miss. 
I may be somewhat less expressive than others in this, but the hope is still an amazing thing. 

Can hope like this apply to current days in our thinking? 

For example, when I think of even now, we are in the midst of the most disgraceful election process ever known to American history and whether it's Christians or non believers, we say things like "well , there's nothing we can do about it"

To believers who think that, I say,

Hang in there, a day is coming we will rule the earth with Jesus. Even though I don't know exactly what that means, it's true.

Spending our lives thinking we're meant for something, 
by applying methods, 
concerning a time we think is meant for us, 
has a way of us missing the time we are in currently. 

[ please forgive these attempts to put into words a difficult concept.]

We can only blame ourselves for creating a.. sin all we want - get a free forgiveness card,

 by turning promises for a future Day into unattainable laws we need to strive for now.

Chapters 19 &  20, when read literally, 
 in light of a reign with Christ, does  fit in with the whole of scripture,  but reading it this way does create questions pertaining to human behavior that I just don't think will be answered in this present day.

If nothing else, reading these chapters literally at least causes a believer to see how foolish we are concerning what we think are easy tenets of our faith.

For example ; sin nature. We say things like, 
when we get to heaven, we'll no longer sin or sin is removed. 
How long have we said that but we really don't know what's removed?

Sin becomes this "thing"  that needs to be removed? 
It's like we look at it from the inside to out, kinda wanting us to keep an arms length from this thing called sin. 

Sin is like a sickness,  it's even compared to disease.  We all have it and if it's just removed we'll be OK. 

Then by the time we get to Revelation,  when we read where we go to a place where sin is removed, we're happy and excited, but we're never quite sure what's been removed and can we be sure all of its gone. 

This happens because how we spend our lives reading the Bible.  Many preachers have made a good life addressing this area. 


Christians don't really need to know the answers to questions like this, but if they ever get tired of living in an abstract world of christian logic,

If they read  there Bible's anticipating ruling the earth with Jesus, 
along with keeping law and gospel in check, this 
helps to make sense of what you'd otherwise ignore.



Otherwise, the only other way to account for vague biblical truths is to remove basic elements of it. 
I don't fault anyone for doing that and I get the reasoning. 

It has to be better than leaving the church altogether. 

Scripture does not lose its hope in a Savior, with or without a rapture or 1000 yr reign with Jesus. 

[ I thought long and hard before typing last sentence ] 

The only thing I've found to come from removing elements of literal Bible reading is, it diminishes this time period we know of,  as the Church. 

Many will disagree. 

But If my choices are to either assign an historical event to an Old Testament prophecy 

Or

Assign an Old Testament Prophecy to a New Testament promise,

I'll go with the latter. 

I will finish out the final two chapters next week and I will probably in no way comprehend it. 
My brain can't and it shouldn't. 

The challenge is, not to refer back to mental images instilled in me over decades past, images received from books and movies and the like. 

Another challenge is not to succumb to the many questions that I am sure to come, as I go thru it. 

All that's desired is, a longing for the :

'and so shall we be with the Lord,  forever more "

PTL! 

tryreadNit.