Revelation Decoded - Secrets of the Bible's Most Enigmatic Book Revealed

By John Humble

Theologians have been puzzled for years over the symbols that appear in Revelation. This book will explore clues from Jewish mystical symbolism, and also the
history of what was going on in the word when St. John wrote it, in order to decipher the hidden code of the book.  It is fair to say that the symbols in this
letter to seven churches of the first century would not have been understood by Roman censors. A person coming from a Jewish background would have very clearly
understood their meaning. Thus, St. John is very crafty in writing a large letter that can only be understood by his intended audience. In this book, we will
dive into each of these symbols and what they would have meant to their original audience. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Better Price Quality Products, Inc
• Release date: Jun 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781387853175

Book preview

Revelation Decoded - Secrets of the Bible's Most Enigmatic Book Revealed

Copyright © by Better Price Quality Products, Inc.

All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.

Written by John Humble

Tulsa, OK, United States

All Bible verses quoted are references to the King James Version of the Bible unless otherwise noted.

Forward by the Author

This book began as a series of special lessons for a Sunday school class that I teach at my local Methodist church in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I never actually planned to collect those lessons into a book, much less publish it.

My class is made up of extremely intelligent people who, as devout students of the Bible, have always wanted to see the Bible behind the Bible, and there has always been an interest in prevailing research of historical and cultural context for any verse of scripture.

Our approach to Revelation was to study the various schools of interpreting the book and compare them. There tended to be a natural leaning toward the Preterist school.  This was at least in part, due to the fact that scores of books and movies have been written about Historic and Futurist views on Revelation.

If this had been just another Futurist Pre-Tribulation Rapture view of Revelation , this commentary would be one among thousands of similar commentaries.  As a Preterist interpretation,  this book will enjoy the minority view position, and not have so many similar interpretations stacking up against it in comparison.

It should be duly noted that this book is not based on FULL Preterism - which is the view that ALL events of Revelation happened in the past.  This work is PARTIAL Preterist, with some acknowledgment of prophecies that should be seen as future fulfillment.

Table of Contents

Revelation Decoded - Secrets of the Bible's Most Enigmatic Book Revealed

Forward by the Author

Introduction

Chapter 1: Christ in the Midst of the Lamps (Revelation 1:1-3:22)

Chapter 2: A Prophet’s Vision of Heaven (Rev. 4)

Chapter 3: The Seven Seals (Revelation 6)

Chapter 4: A New Series of Visions (Rev. 12)

Chapter 5: The Beast (Revelation 13)

Chapter 6: The Lamb and the 144,000 (Revelation 14)

Chapter 7: The Great Prostitute (Revelation 17 & 18)

Chapter 8: The Final Victory and Judgment

Chapter 9: The Reward of the Faithful

Conclusion

Appendix A: The Way Ancient Civilizations Divided History

Appendix B: Star Symbols in the Bible

Appendix C: A Certain Kind of Martyr

Introduction

The Three Most Common Schools of Interpreting Revelation

Futurism

This is the belief that John wrote primarily about events that have yet to occur, even in our day. Including the future rise of the Antichrist. Futurism is the interpretation put forth by the popular Left Behind series and is supported by the majority of mainstream Protestant Christians.

Historicism

This is the belief that John was writing future history as it would unfold from his day to the end of time, detailing the events of the church and major world powers all the way through to the second coming of Christ. Interestingly, this is the view that most of the great Protestant reformers used in their teachings.

Most of the popular literature available addresses either the Futurist View or a modified version of the Historicist View of Revelation. 

Preterism

This is the belief that the apostle John wrote Revelation to address what was happening to Christians during the rule of Domitian, and also to inspire hope, encouraging the persecuted believers to hang on and not give up their faith in Jesus.

Of the three schools of interpretation, this view of Revelation is the least popular, and it is for this reason that the author was inspired to write an interpretive commentary on Revelation that would align with this view.

According to this school of thought there are points of Revelation where predictive prophecy is being relayed, but the Preterist  view holds that these prophecies were expected and believed by St. John and his