Discussion Questions
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Why is it so important to understand what type of book Revelation is? How has what you’ve learned in this lecture changed your understanding of the book of Revelation?
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It is important to understand what type of book Revelation is because it helps the reader get a good understanding of God’s Word and enables him or her to interpret it in such a way that anyone can understand it. From listening to this lecture, my understanding of Revelation has grown. I really appreciated how the professor broke it down into the categories and in order of how it is written.
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Knowing what kind of book Revelation is will help us better understand and interpret the words in the book. We often want to place Bible writings in our world, our context today. When we do that we don’t always understand the true intentions of the writer. We must look at the books of the Bible from that time period. I like how the lecturer mentioned the symbolism that was used was something the people of that day could relate to.
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You need to understand what type of book Revelation is so you can properly interpret its meaning the way the first century readers would, as these were the people it was written to. Not knowing the interpretation of the first century readers would cause us to misinterpret the meaning today.
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It will help us to understand it better and not misinterpret it.
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It is very important to understand the type of Book Revelation is to have a better understanding of John’s vision by understanding the types of writing he uses. For example using symbols better describes his vision of what is to come by understanding imagery.
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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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It is helpful to understand that the 7 churches were under persecution and oppression of the Roman Empire. Their understanding of the symbols and metaphors would result in real messages unveiled from John’s visions. As I read and try to process this information, there may be some advantage in knowing another purpose for the visions, symbols and metaphors that may have been protective to those receiving the letters. Open predictions about destruction of the Roman Empire may have put them all in danger.
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We always need to take into account when and why a book was written. What was the author’s intent? My understanding has changed because I now realize that people of the day would have likely understood some of the symbols that we struggle with.
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It is important to understand the historical context because then we can view the book of Revelations from a balanced perspective. After learning its historical context, it helped me not to skew towards focusing on the apocalypse nature of the book but see it as having a fore-telling prophetic message and also it was written to encourage the first-century readers living under Roman’s rule.
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Actually, for any book in the Bible, the historical context is important to understanding that book. This is because God inspired human authors to write Scripture, addressed to contemporaries of their time. Hence these people must have written out of the situations they were facing, and they used language that was understood in those days. For this reason, it is helpful to know the historical, cultural and linguistic backgrounds to interpret a book correctly.
I have always known something of the historical context of Revelation, so this lecture has not changed my view substantially. However, I want to caution that Revelation is more of an apocalypse than a letter, although it is indeed a letter. This is because an interpreter who overemphasizes the latter aspect may insist on interpreting all details as addressing events in the author’s time and refuse to accept the possibility of a fulfilment in a time future to the author. Moreover, even Paul did not write ALL his letters primarily to address current problems in his recipient church. A letter can have other agenda, let us remember.
#Revelation
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Understanding the historical context of Revelation is essential to gaining a deeper and more complete understanding of the book. This is because the book is full of symbolism and imagery that would have been familiar to its original readers but may be obscure to us today. By understanding the historical context, we can better understand the symbols and imagery and therefore gain a better understanding of the book’s message.
For example, the book of Revelation refers to the Roman emperor Domitian as the “Beast” (Revelation 13:1). This would have been a clear reference to Domitian for its original readers, who would have been familiar with his tyrannical rule. However, for us today, who may not be familiar with Domitian, this reference may be confusing. By understanding the historical context, we can better understand who the “Beast” is and therefore gain a better understanding of the book’s message.
In addition, understanding the historical context can help us to read Revelation with the right mindset. The book is full of apocalyptic imagery, which can be disturbing and confusing to some readers. However, by understanding the historical context, we can see that Revelation is not simply a prediction of the end of the world, but rather a message of hope and encouragement to Christians who were facing persecution.