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Why is Revelation’s first-century historical context important to understanding the book? How has your understanding of Revelation changed after learning more about its historical context?
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I always thought that Revelation is all about the future. Knowing the historical context will help me to understand the book of Revelation correctly. It’s a book about the situation at that time which also gives visions about the heavenly world beyond what we can see. Fascinating!
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I think it’s especially important to understand the historical context since we don’t have apocalypse literature anymore, which makes it so easy to misread Revelation. I really liked the point/warning at the end that any interpretation that John’s readers wouldn’t have understood is probably incorrect.
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Understanding the historical context helps us in our interpretation of what John is conveying to his readers. This is a new concept to me.
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I always thought it was a revelation of future events. It is interesting to realize that it was written for people of the time how to live. Yes, I can see how that is true with the letters to the churches. This study hasn’t changed my mind, except that it has widen my view to include teaching us how to conduct our lives in view of the coming final world events.
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Most of the time, I have looked at the Book of Revelation from a futurists point of view, which seems to be the populist view in this generation. And while it may not be wrong to look at what is going on in the world in this this current generation when on reads Revelation, we still need to look at it in the light of what was the world condition and culture when it was written FIRST. God’s Word is eternal, therefore applicable in all generations of Believers, but we must have a firm grasp of the original intent!