When people talk about the “great-capital-T” Tribulation of the coming future they mostly end with this comment: “I don’t want to be here (on earth) when it happens.”  

I don’t know if I’m screwed up in the brain for what – but with all seriousness, I want to be HERE – on planet earth – when things go down.

This isn’t a high-brow comment or a holier-then-thou attitude. It is feeling born out of a heart for people. I want to be here with those who are hurting. With those who are crying out for help; with those who are looking and searching for something or someone bigger then themselves or their lives.

I don’t want to be raptured. I want to stay and go about my Liege’s Work.

In the words of Noal Richards:

Would I stand for injustice? Speak for those who can not speak?
Could I be the hand that help the helpless and be your arms that hold the cold and weak?
Could I lose the life you gave me? Lay it down with all I own?
Will I walk with every pilgrim that walks this road of narrow way of love?

I will, I will,

So hear my prayer, let your spirit lead me on to where I stand with the broken
It’s what Jesus would have done
                              (from the song “What Jesus Would Have Done”)

[@more@]Now that I have shocked most of you – let me back up and explain things a bit more…
The concept of an end time Tribulation (capital “T” Tribulation as opposed to the small “t” tribulation of “regular” Christian life) comes from Revelation 7

After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands….. and he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelations 7:9 & 14)

The typical Pretribulation Dispensational view of this passage syas that this “great tribulation” is the judgment of God upon the earth after the “Church” has been removed or raptured from the earth. Folks who are left (ie. those who choose NOT to follow God) have one more chance to turn to Christ – ie. They must resist the Anit-Christ and be martyred for their faith.

Granted, there are variations on this view point – namely those who say that the church will be taken out during tribulation, but before the wrath of God…

You want to know something interesting? The Pretribulation / Rapture view point came about in the early to mid-1800’s in England. In other words, the concept that the church will be taken out of the earth before the judgment of God is a fairly new idea.

Plus, it is an idea that can be traced back to one man John Nelson Darby. Granted, just because one dude started the concept does not mean it is invalid. However, I do find it interesting to note that the concept took 1,800 years come about…and when it did, it was by a guy living in a fairly stable, Christian nation with little to no persecution…

Anyway, going back to the Scriptures….

The Final Judgment of God was talked about a lot by the Old Testament prophets. In their eyes, the people of Israel (God’s people at the time) where to be on the earth at the time of the judgment – which, it should be noted, would affect both Israel and the Gentile nations. It would be similar to the plagues of the Exodus – the unbeliever gets punished why the people of God go unharmed.

In addition, Revelation 7:14 is within the context of the seven seals of the scroll. A lot of scholars see this selection (Revelations 6-8) as mirroring Jesus’ Mt. Olive discourse on the end times (Matthew 24). If that is so, then the seven seals are not end, end time events as much as they are things that are happening in the world between the Ascension of Christ and His Second Coming.   

Meaning that the Great Multitude of Revelation 7 is The Church – meaning all believers who have ever followed God and have lived through the “tribulation” and suffering of this Present Evil Age.

Which brings us full circle back to my heart and prayer – “let your spirit lead me on to where I stand with the broken”

The book of Revelation is one of the most misunderstood and forgotten books of the Bible. In a nutshell – it is hard to read.

Yeah, there are certain themes and ideas that are easy to understand. Namely the fact that those who follow Christ Jesus win and those who don’t, lose.

As several of you know, I have been attending a Bible study on the book of Revelation through my local church. Well, actually it is a men’s group that decided to study the book rather then a specific class about Revelation.

The group is really interesting – you see, we approach the Bible study differently then most groups. Instead of having a study book or one specific leader, we just read a chapter of the Bible and then talk about it. Each person in the group is encouraged to study the chapter at home the week before so that they are ready to discuss it at the group.

As a result of this group setup, we get all kinds of ideas and thoughts – which are great! [@more@]

Yet sometimes it can be hard as each person has a different way of reading Revelations. This bent or worldview can slant the way you read the text – as such it is important to have a general knowledge of the different ways you can read the book of Revelations.

The first way is to read the book as a first century document. This is usually called the Preterist view. People to hold to this view state that John was writing to a first century church about things happening in their life time. Some people even go on to say that all the “prophecies” in the book where fulfilled during the 1st century.

The second view is the historical view. This view claims that Revelations details the full scope of human history (or, as some say, history from the time of Christ to the Second Coming of Christ). Folks who hold this view will read a passage and then look at world history to see if there is a corresponding historical time period.

The third way to read the book is called the Spiritualist view. This view says that the entire book of Revelations is taking about the spiritual fight between good and evil. Nothing in the book is literal – instead, it is all to be taken symbolical.

The fourth and most common way of reading Revelation is the Futurist view. Just as the name says, the view looks at the writings of John as events that will happen in the future. People who read the book this way often reference Daniel in their attempt to outline the events of the “end times”. However, it should be noted that not all futurist hold to time lines – instead, they just read the book as one long prophecy.

There are other ways of reading Revelations – but these are the four main views. Most of the others are combinations or variations of these four views.

On a personal level, I hold to reading Revelations through the eyes of both the Preterist and Futurist view points. This means that I up hold the view that the entire book (not just the first few chapters) had meaning to the 1st century church. As we read the book, we MUST ask ourselves what did the 1st century church think about the text? How did it affect them?

At the same time, I recognize that John was writing about the second coming of Christ – which has not happened yet. As such, when we read Revelations, we must read it with an eye to the future.

Some might say that this can get confusing as how does one know if the scriptures are talking about the future or the past? Yet, I don’t think it has to be that confusing as we start by asking ourselves what would the 1st century church think about the scripture in question?

If they would of taken it to be a future text about the second coming (similar to the way we read Paul’s writing), then it deals with the future. Those passages that would have been “fulfilled” in the past – well, some of them may have a double meaning… at that time, we need to get on our knees and ask God what He is saying.

However, overall we need to keep our eyes on the context – historical, cultural, and textual context – in which the book is written. We must resist the urge to create doctrines based upon one or two scriptures in Revelations – especially when those scriptures don’t seem to have support from the greater context of the entire Bible. (And yes, there are a few verses in Revelation that fall into this category).

*smile* I can’t help be chuckle as it is my determination to read Revelations in the context of the 1st century that keeps getting me into trouble at my Bible study. Most of the folks there are pure Futurist and as such, don’t like to – or don’t understand the need to look at the historically and cultural ideas the 1st century church would have held.

Oh well – at least it gives the group plenty of “life” as we debate things.