The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter: An Important and Timely Excerpt
The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter
Blog to discuss the book "The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Revelation" and current events that point to the events described therein.
I post this excerpt because it is most pertinent to the times we are in - the time of the 200 million "horsemen". In this piece, Steven Paul reveals some of the symbolism used in the Apocalypse and how to discern what it means.
From Chapter 5 of The Apocalypse - Letter by Letter: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Revelation, by Steven Paul
In most instances, the word "earthquake" is a prophetic term signifying "social upheaval or revolution": the "great earthquake" in Apocalypse 6:12, for example. But, that is not the meaning here, because Jesus already included the idea of "social upheaval or revolution" by mentioning "lawlessness" and "wars." Rather, Jesus meant physical earthquakes.
Since "birth pangs" increase in their frequency and intensity, and since Christ included "earthquakes" in that term, it follows that the second and third woes will be a period of spiritual and physical violence ever increasing in frequency and intensity - including earthquakes.
St. Paul hinted at this,
"For the creation waits with eager longing for the revelation of the children of God...We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now..." [Rom. 8:19, 22]
The Apostle wrote "until now" because he thought, as did many others, that "the day of the Lord" was imminent; he did not know that it would be many centuries in coming.
So, in historical comparison, seismic activity during the second and third woes will be extraordinary; indeed, this activity will culminate at the very last event of this present evil age:
There came...a great earthquake, such as has not come since man has come on the earth, the violent earthquake was so great. The great city [Jerusalem] was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell down. [Apoc. 16:17-19]
The meaning of "nations" in that passage is made perfectly clear by the context: "all the nations," even the Great Eagle mentioned in Chapter 12.
It cannot be deduced from Christ's words, however, that the beginning of the second woe and the escalation of seismic activity to the extraordinary will be synchronous; this notwithstanding, it is a safe assumption that said activity will escalate soon after the second woe has commenced, perhaps, within a year or two: for Christ intended that His faithful be informed; and so, lest the information about earthquakes become otiose, Christ's words will be fulfilled soon after the four evil angels are loosed from the Euphrates. In that way, the faithful, especially, the Four Living Beings, will not mistake other phenomena, such as World War I or World War II, for the second woe.
By no means should the reader exclude from mind the possibility that seismic escalation might begin just before the second woe, even as the rumble of thunder warns of the approaching storm.
Those strong in faith will not despair as the 200 Million Horsemen slaughter both good and bad alike; the informed faithful will understand that the event is a divine judgment and a part of God's mysterious plan; and, too, the brethren will not deceive themselves about the eventual decrease in the violence, the decrease implied in Apocalypse 9:20, which reads,
"And the rest of the men, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so that they will not be worshipping the demons and the idols the gold [ones] and the silver [ones] and the bronze [ones] and the stone [ones] and the wooden [ones], which cannot see or hear or walk."
Dead men cannot repent; therefore, the general violence will decrease much, but not entirely, so that the men will have a chance to repent. Yet, Apocalypse 9:21 patently states that some forms of lawlessness will continue:
"And they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their fornications nor of their thefts."
Verse 20 points mainly at nations in Asia, such as China and India; verse 21 points mainly at industrial and technological nations, such as those in Europe and North America.
