Details of the tribulation

This will be a really short chapter because I am going to let you do your own work here. The real fun of studying Revelation is mining it for treasures such as are found in chapters twelve, thirteen and fourteen. You have already missed much in the scenes which have been inserted in the sixth place of each series, because I walked us through them (superficially!). Perhaps you noticed at the time that there was much that we skipped. You were right.

My task in this book is to give you a framework for understanding how to mine Revelation. I want to give just enough detail so that the framework is complete and understandable, but not so much that my book of instructions becomes too dry and boring.

We closed out chapter nine of this little book by reminding ourselves where we are in the process that we call Revelation. Poised on the brink of a great major "operation" which has been called pouring out wrath.

We also, at regular intervals, remind ourselves that John has written this for us so that we can properly understand what Christ has told him.

Here, at this particular point, John is like the surgeon who comes in to see you just before that operation. He wants to give you all the information that you will need to understand the surgery before you go under - under anesthesia and under the knife.

The first thing he does in order to help you manage some of your fear is to objectify the procedure. If we can think about it objectively, our fear decreases because our attention has been diverted and we have also gained some faith and trust in those who are going to be operating.

So, he gives us the history of the development of the procedure, with the current track record of successes and failures. Then he gives details of how the procedure is performed, pointing out the obstacles and how the obstacles will be overcome.

Finally, he becomes very personal and does his best to reassure us.

That is what these three chapters of Revelation are. Chapter twelve is the background and development. Chapter thirteen details the obstacles. Chapter fourteen details how the obstacles are to be overcome and begins to really pile on the clues and hints to our understanding, so that by the time the "operation" begins, we are almost impatient for it to get underway, so that we can find out more.

Well, that is the case if you have been seeking out these clues as you have been delving and digging. That is why I have to let you do your own work here.

Remember that John thinks primarily in numbers. They are never accidental. Get your calculator out and figure out how many years 1,260 days represents, and what that might mean. Compare the numerical details of the dragon with the Lamb, and try to figure out what the differences might represent. Note the mimicry of the lamb. This will be true of the two beasts as well.

And speaking of the two beasts, do you catch the symmetry between the two beasts and the two witnesses? The two witnesses! Remember, back in chapter eleven? Come on - get going. I'm not going to do this for you. Who are the two witnesses, and who are the two beasts? And what is this 666 business at the end of chapter thirteen? I am not going to tell you. at least not here. I probably won't be able to resist sticking an appendix at the end of this little book with some of my findings. But I don't want to.

I do want to draw your attention to chapter fourteen, verse seven, because it pretty well establishes my point as to what the four living creatures represent. In fact, if you dwell on this verse, you'll see that it supports my whole premise of how Revelation is presented. In our every day existence we tend to make idols of the powers and manifestations of creation. In this verse, we are reminded to worship the one who created these powers, and whom the powers themselves worship. This is an echo of the Psalm which asks, "Shall I lift my eyes to the hills? Where does my help come from? (NOT FROM THE HILLS, WHERE THE SHRINE IS) My help comes from the LORD who made the hills and the heavens."

OK, I'm out of the pulpit. Here comes the wrath.

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