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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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The Apocalypse
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I don’t think that there is another word that can conjure up the images of fear and terror in the minds of men as the Apocalypse. So much so, that every time some charlatan comes along claiming to know the hour of this “impending doomsday,” and that he can show the way to avoid the terror of it, many are sucked in and follow blindly.
From it’s dictionary meaning: apocalypse_ noun
1 the complete final destruction of the world, esp. as described in the biblical book of Revelation.
2 an event involving destruction or damage on an awesome or catastrophic scale:
__To it’s religious meaning.
The word is associated with catastrophe.
Actually “the Apocalypse” is just another name for the book of Revelation.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ also known as “the Apocalypse” is the book of “the consummation” of the Divine Plan, just as Genesis is the book of “the Beginning.”
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. (Revelation 1:1-2KJV)
The word apocalypse means “unveiling,” and for those who have received the knowledge of the Father through Jesus Christ, there is no fear of doomsday, the end of the world nor the wrath of a vengeful God.
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death. (Revelation 1:17-18KJV)
God is omniscient or all knowing, every sin that has been committed or will be in the future. Every one of us that will believe and those that will not, God knew before He created the first hair on Adam’s head.
God’s plan, laid out from Genesis to Revelation is man’s journey, his fall from grace and his return to grace through Jesus Christ.
God cannot be surprised, made angry or frustrated by His creation.
He is God: omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient and He is love.
The Bible is divided into two parts one old and one new. Each represent OUR UNDERSTANDING of the relationship between us and our Father.
Under the old covenant “disobedience and punishment” was our understanding. With the coming of Jesus Christ we have been given a new understanding one of “love and forgiveness.”
All this fear, is the evidence, that the vast majority of us, have not progressed from the old understanding to the new.
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the Holy is understanding. (Prov. 9:10)
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TRWord 02/17/2013 13:50 |
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Catholica
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02/19/2013 12:50 |
If the two testaments explain different understandings of God, and the understandings in your view differ, by extension that means that at least one of these two understandings is false. If one is false, then both may be false as well. How would one know which understanding is false? It may be that the Old Testament understanding is true and the New Testament understanding is false.
It is my belief that both understandings are true and compatible, and that parts of what you are saying are false.
For example, you say: "God cannot be surprised, made angry or frustrated by His creation." In fact God can be angry. Psalm 95 says: "9There your ancestors tested me; they tried me though they had seen my works. 10Forty years I loathed that generation; I said: “This people’s heart goes astray; they do not know my ways.” 11Therefore I swore in my anger: “They shall never enter my rest.”* In addition Jesus became very angry, fashioning a whip of cords and driving the money changers from the temple.
Anger is not always sinful, but rather it is a sign of love for someone. If someone is doing something that is very wrong and hurts themselves or others, it should make a Christian person angry. The anger should be righteous because we love that person, and ordered within right reason. Likewise it is fitting for a loving God to be angry out of love for us.
Ecclesiastes 7:4-5 Anger is better than laughter: because by the sadness of the countenance the mind of the offender is corrected. The heart of the wise is where there is mourning, and the heart of fools where there is mirth.
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TRWord
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02/20/2013 20:33 |
Catholica the two testaments are the two covenants.
You probably interpret the covenants as two contracts between us and God, but God does not change neither does His relationship with us.
What is changing is our understanding. This is our process of spiritual development.
The Old Covenant, the law, is the relationship between man and God through Moses. It’s a distant relationship bases on the idea of “disobedience and punishment.”
Ex. 19:21 And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish.
I hope you don’t interpret this verse of scripture “by the letter” to mean that if the people, should break through unto the LORD to gaze, that they would perish.
The verse is expressing the distance in the relationship between man and God at that time.
The New Covenant is the true relationship between us and God. A relationship based on the idea of love and forgiveness and of God as our Father.
Rom. 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
If we accept the truth that God is omniscient or "all knowing" we could never ascribe negative human emotions such as anger to Him. God knew everything that you and I would do even before He created us. He is neither surprised or disappointed or angry at what we do.
Rom. 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Rom. 8:30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.
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TRWord
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02/20/2013 20:35 |
The scripture is given to us in story form but there is always a much deeper message within each story. In Genesis we had the story of a conversation between a woman and a serpent and the message there was of man’s deception and his fall from grace. Here in Revelation we have the story of the beast and the fall of another female figure “the City of Babylon.” And here the message is of man’s redemption.
And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Revelation 14:8KJV)
It’s as important that we unveil the figures here so that we can receive the message, as it was with the figures in Genesis.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: (Revelation 14:9-10KJV)
Our understanding before the coming of Jesus Christ was founded on the misconception that “disobedience and punishment” is the message of the scriptures and God’s judgement is seen as God’s punishment for man’s wrong doings.
God’s judgement is the return to righteousness.
For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it. (Psalms 94:14-15KJV)
God is love and it is His plan to return all to rightness.
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. (Matthew 24:21-22KJV)
Left to his own devices man will continue on the path to utter destruction even though the signs before him are screaming at him to stop.
Thou didst cause judgment to be heard from heaven; the earth feared, and was still, When God arose to judgment, to save all the meek of the earth. Selah. (Psalm 76:8-9KJV)
The four horsemen represent the conditions in the earth that caused judgment to be heard from heaven; Man’s selfish desires and the conditions they have caused in the earth now requires God’s judgement.
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