Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Good Morning 

 

Today's Reading:    Revelation 16:12-16, Barclay 145-151

 

-- Barclay fleshes out some details in these sections from the reading yesterday.

 

-- "Kings from the east" are to be feared, as they are going to move on Jersusalem.  Barclay doesn't mention a specific thought about who that might be, just that in John's time, the Parthians were feared warriors from the East.  Note that the Euphrates flows through Iraq, so two countries that are to the East of the Euphrates are Iran, and well to the East, China, both of whom have been identified by end-times writers as their pick to be the "Kings from the East".  I think it is also interesting, though not mentioned by Barclay, that the King from the East reminds me of the Three Kings of the Nativity, who also came from the East.

 

-- On the frogs, Barclay's take is that it is simply word play, and that it symbolizes the evil thoughts and wordsand propaganda of the beast, etc.

 

-- The false prophet is first mentioned here, but in Barclay's interpretation of the symbolism, the false prophet is the same as the second beast who came from the land to help the first beast (from Chapter 13), and continuing in Barclay's line of thought, that would be governmental infrastructure that supported Rome and the worship of Caesar.  However, here is where, to me, Barclay's whole line of thought about this falls short.  With the seven bowls, in my mind, we are talking about events that haven't happened yet -- yet here is the Roman Empire and its infrastructure still around and part of the picture.  I just don't see how the beast, etc. can be equated to the Roman Empire and emperors, since this part of John's vision clearly hasn't happened.  I've read some commentary that says that this represents a modern return of the Roman Empire (that is, that one day, someone will come and rebuild the Roman Empire, declare themselves Emperor of that rebuilt empire, and thus restore the Roman Empire. Some commentators in the 1970s thought that the European Union represented just such a rebuilding).

 

-- Armageddon finally shows up in our reading -- it is interesting that this is one of the most well-known parts of Revelation to the average person, and it just now shows up, and only in passing.  Barclay talks about a number of possible locations for Armageddon, but the main thing to note is that the forces of the world are gathered by the beast and the false prophet to do battle at this place.  The one thing that I would be certain about is that it is in Middle East, and close to Israel -- otherwise I don't think that there would have been a Hebrew word for it.  The main thing to note here is that Armageddon is a place.

 

Today's Scripture 

 

Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain in me a willing spirit

 

Psalms 51:12 

 

Today's prayer requests:    Saundra Aaron

Valerie's brother's mother-in-law continues to go through treatment for cancer.  Need to remember her and her family in her struggles

Today's class member prayer: 

 Brandon Herring        

 

Jay