02/25/2023 – Day 363 – Revelation – Chapters 18 through 22 //
Last cycle’s post of today’s reading was dated 05/15/21, using Halley’s Bible Handbook as a primary source. I encourage y’all to used the search engine on the date, or “Day 363. For this cycle, I am going to concentrate on footnotes from my Apologetics Study Bible. All other sources, if any, will be noted with a “(*)”, followed by a letter.
Let’s get started!:
18: 5-8: “Babylon may sit as a queen with a proud sense of security, but the judgment for her mountain of sins is sure and will be strong and swift. Those who doubt Christ’s coming in judgment misconstrue God’s incredible patience with the unrepentant world for a lack of power to bring about justice (2 Peter 3: 3-9).”
18: 20,24: “Babylon the Great must be an age-long entity, seen in Revelation its end-times manifestation, go even that she is held guilty of killing all the martyrs who have been slain on the earth.”
19: 11-16: “this passage portrays the second coming prophesied in Acts 1: 9-11. The full preterist view , claiming that Christ already came in spirit and power in the judgment of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and that there is no future second advent, is false. The unrivaled power of God’s Word is pictured as a sharp sword coming out the Lord’s mouth (Hebrews 4:12). Since the armies with the Lord are ‘wearing pure white linen,’ it is likely that this is another image for the same group elsewhere called the ‘vast multitude,’ the heaven dwellers and bride of the Lamb.”
19:20: “The beast and false prophet are thrown alive into the eternal lake of fire. That means that they were not destroyed and will suffer conscious torment forever.”
20: 1-3: “Satan (the dragon of Revelation) is incarcerated in the abyss for a thousand years. Some evangelicals believe that the reference to ‘1000 years’ is merely figurative for a long period of time. Others think it speaks of a literal period of a thousand years. Still others think that John saw a vision of a thousand years but that it is impossible to know how the apocalyptic image will actually be fulfilled.”
20: 11-15: “There are two sets of ‘books’ at the great white throne judgment. The names of all believers are in the book of life. The names of the earth dwellers are not in the book of life ((13:8; 17:8). They are judged according to their works, but no one can ever be saved by works because that would give place for human boasting. (Ephesians 2: 8-9).”
21: 9-11: “As the focus on Babylon the Great shifted from the woman to the ‘the great city being destroyed because of her sins (chapter 18), so the focus shifts from he bride of Christ to ‘the holy city’ new Jerusalem, showing forth the glory of God.”
22: 18-19: “… The context in Revelation is of a new Eden (verses 1 – 5). In Genesis 3, Eve added to the Word of God (Genesis 3:3) and the serpent took away from what the Lord had said (Genesis 3:4). The bookend effect of Revelation 22:18-19 looking back to Genesis 3: 3-4 infers that this curse of altering Scripture at the end of Revelation should be viewed as the last biblical word on the subject. “
Soli Deo Gloria!