I know contemporary Christians from Jehova's Witnesses to Evangelicals put a great emphasis on the apocalypse/rapture( millennialism). I was wondering what the traditional interpretation of Revelations and the rapture would be? Not just by Church fathers but by the general view of each of the *Big Three.
*Orthodox(East and Oriential), Catholic, and Mainline Protestants
Welcome to CF!
Great thread!
I am Amill, but leaning toward full fulfillment.
I and many others view 1st Jerusalem in Revelation.
I do not believe in a future "rapture".
I view Armegeddon and Gog Magog as the same event, but have to study on that more.
According to this thread, I am of course in the minority on that view, but was surprised to see at least 11 agreeing with me.
Armegeddon/Gog-Magog same event?
This commentator has a 198 part series [and still adding to it, tho since he died, his wife is now posting doing it]
Kingdom Bible Studies Table of Contents
Kindgdom Bible Studies Revelation Series Part 1
The mark of the beast. Armageddon. The Four Horsemen. The false prophet. Babylon the great. Falling stars, stinging locusts, and giant hailstones. The seven last plagues. The bottomless pit. The lake of fire. These images of terror and catastrophe from the book of Revelation have greatly influenced the thinking of millions of Christians through the ages. Even the secular press uses images such as "Armageddon" and "four horsemen of the Apocalypse" to describe calamities in our world. Despite 1900 years of fascination with the book of Revelation, John’s letter to the seven Churches of Asia continues to be misunderstood. And badly misinterpreted!,.........
One misconception shared by some is that the Revelation has nothing of importance to say to us. It’s considered to be merely a bizarre piece of first-century writing with no relevance for today. Another wrong idea is that the Revelation is a code book describing a specific outline of history written in advance. Countless interpreters have tried to "decode" the book from a historical perspective to find all the major world events of the past 1900 years. Others interpret it more literally as a handbook for predicting the cataclysmic events that will bring the final wrath of God and the end of the world. The claims of Christian groups from the early church to the present — that the Revelation pinpoints the events, personalities, and time periods of "the end" —
have all failed. This should be a caution to believers for using the book of Revelation as a
predictive handbook. Other people’s interpretation of the book of Revelation is based on the "Pan Theory" — it’s all going to
pan out in the end! Beloved brethren, the fact is,
it’s not panning out the way the end-time prognosticators are projecting!................
The book of Revelation is THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST. Revelation is a book that teaches who and what Jesus Christ is. It reveals Him in all of His glory, unveils Him in all of His fullness. You will find Jesus the Christ in every chapter of the book, for it is the revelation of Himself. When we read the message of the Revelation with a heart that seeks after Christ, we see in every page His face and hear from every line His voice. If we do not see Christ in the pages of the Revelation, then all we see is vanity. By drawing near to this book in the power of the Holy Spirit, we draw near to Christ. How beautiful that is! May the elect of God receive much grace to see more and more of Christ in the pages of this book......................