Revelation: Preview of Things to Come

First of all, 'things to come' in the title line does not mean events soon to come in 2011 or beyond, but rather the things that I will be sharing with you in blogs and emails.

Almost a month ago, on Feb 15 I published an extensive quotation from Barnes' "Notes on Revelation," and I will be the first to admit that it could easily have been tedious reading to many.

As it happened, seven or eight years ago, while we lived in Maine I had mentioned this whole subject, (Guinness and Barnes, etc) to some ladies our age who had Sunday gatherings in their mobile home 50 miles away, which we attended regularly for nearly a year. One of the ladies mentioned to me that a relative had connections in the book business.

The result was that either by hand or in the mails, I forget which, a free copy of the Barnes book was one day put in my hands, and after an initial burst of interest it has lain on my shelf almost ever since gathering dust.

Now, only a few weeks ago, I have reopened it, and to my enormous satisfaction it possesses what Guinness book leaves out, namely a verse by verse treatment of the entire book of Revelation.

In the very front of the book, after the table of contents, is a several page outline of the entire book in column form, with corresponding events in history that are interpreted to be the fulfillment of the particular prophecies.

I say 'interpreted' because rigidity does not lend itself to this study very well. On the other hand as I continue reading in Guinness book it is very striking that some of the authors he quotes spend several years studying and meditating on certain portions of Revelation, with a careful attention to the events of history that were unfolding in their time period, to see if 'this' matched 'that,' that is, to see if the event in history fit, without forcing, the verse or verses in Revelation that were the center of attention.

One illustration ought to whet the appetite of those who are truly on the search here.

The pages in Guinness book that have captivated my attention in the last few days deals with the French Revolution in general (some of it very, very specific) and Napoleon Bonaparte in particular.

As I have been reading these pages I find myself admitting that my knowledge of history is very, very shallow. Yes, perhaps we were given a two or three minute, or one or two day cursory treatment in our history classes, in high school or college, on the French Revolution, but nothing that indicated the epochal transformation of society all over Europe that that Revolution brought.

It might be interesting, digressing for a moment, to consider that some of the Republicans with whom I associated in the Ron Paul campaign three or four years ago were what they called Jeffersonian Republicans. Thomas Jefferson was an admirer of the French Revolution. I would suggest that the reason why he admired it was because he didn't see it up close, and whether he did or didn't is not the subject of my writing, but rather to show that the events in Europe were felt by the founders of our own country.

Historically, however, it was the French Revolution and Napoleon Bonaparte that were instrumental in bringing down what at that time was the universal despotic power of the Roman Papacy. The only part of Europe that was not touched was England.

As I bring this post to a close I wish to emphasize an important biblical principle. "In the multitude of counselors there is safety," says Proverbs 11:14, and that which Guinness shows over and over and over again is that the interpretations held by himself and Barnes, were also held by many, many others, most of whom did not even know of each others studies. The co-incidence of this, multiple times, is very affirming.

May the Lord bless you in your studies.