2022/09/19

57. Composition of the Book of Revelation Part 2

In the blog №47, we discussed the composition of the Book of Revelation, checking the behavioural principles that the characters related to the birth of Jesus in the New Testament had based on their worldviews. The Revelation prophesies the formation of the New Testament and infuses its trainees with the worldview of Jesus Christ, while in the latter half of the book, "blessedness" appears one after another to lead the trainees to the formation of the Holy Spirit and the Mass, accompanying them. This composition of Revelation reflects the stream of the Gospel. And this fact has been made clear in the consideration from the blog №50 to the previous one. Let us summarize our discussion from the beginning of Revelation to chapter 16, considering the trainees of Revelation, who receive the formation of the Holy Spirit while continuing the training of reciting Revelation and listening to its voice. The trainee accepted the prophecy of the establishment of the New Testament, overcame the appearance of dragons, beasts, false prophets, and evil spirits, proceeded in the way of Jesus while developing the habit of distinguishing the accidental information, and manifested "the way for the kings" (cf. this blog №56) leading to the Mass. In this way, the trainee assisted in the salvation of the evil spirits while himself saved from Armageddon, protected by the contents of the bowl the seventh angel poured into the air. Then, "a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, 'It is done!'" (Revelation 16:17). Next came the final big event in Revelation, marking the beginning of the Mass (cf. Revelation 16:18). However, the celebration of the Mass was postponed. That is because the events were inserted as follows: "The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered great Babylon, to make her drain the cup of the fury of his wrath" (Revelation 16:19). The following verse, "And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found" (Revelation 16:20), shows the passage of time and indicates that these events are a prophecy. It continues, "great hailstones, heavy as a hundred-weight, dropped on men from heaven, till men cursed God for the plague of the hail, so fearful was that plague" (Revelation 16:21), and the plague of "hail" in this context suggests divine judgment, as Isaiah also says, "And I will make justice the line, and righteousness the plummet; and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will overwhelm the shelter" (Isaiah 28:17). The stream above leads directly to the following verse at the beginning of chapter 17: "Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, 'Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk.' And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness" (Revelation 17:1-3). In the book of Revelation, the author John describes himself as being "in the Spirit" four times. The passage above, "he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness," is the third one. In seeing the new composition of Revelation here, we may find the key to understanding the meaning of the postponement of the celebration of the Mass caused by the insertion of the prophecy of Revelation 16:19. We will continue our discussion keeping this finding in mind from the next issue on.

Maria K. M.