Talk:Revelation, Book of (historical exegesis)

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One day, decades ago, I was reading the Apocalypse/Revelation to John and the words of 7:14 "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation" immediately read as a parallel to the text of Nehemiah 7:6 "These were the people...who came up out of the captivity", Deuteronomy 4:30 "when you are in tribulation", Ezra 1:4 "each survivor", and Ezra 6:20 "So they killed the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles", and I thought, "If this insight is valid, then if I go through the entire Book of Revelation I will be able to see a one-to-one correspondence between it and the entire history in the Bible." (I had already read the whole Bible through 52 times.) I found exact correspondences. For example, John 19:30 "It is finished" and Revelation 16:17 "It is done!". It occurred to me to see if other historians and Bible scholars had reached the same conclusion, and my researches disclosed that such a view is rarely represented in Biblical commentaries, but not altogether lacking. Mentioning this to some of my friends caused some bemused response when I suggested that I might publish a commentary. One of them said with a weary smile, "There are so many commentaries, I doubt anyone will pay attention to another." He told me to save myself the trouble.

I let the idea go for a long time, and then 4 February 2015 I decided that a reasonable (brief) commentary on Revelation point-by-point as an overview of salvation history would be useful to Bible students. A full commentary discussing in detail all the historical parallels found in the Revelation would fill a large volume. After praying for help, I decided to create the article, including links to online sources of Biblical commentary on Revelation which offer the same approach with similar variant interpretations. I was surprised that various commentaries and footnotes on parts of the Revelation representing historical interpretations and observations of historical and scriptural parallels have not apparently been collated and systematically presented in one commentary. That is essentially what I have attempted to do here. I have drawn on a multitude of sources and bits of footnotes in various editions of study Bibles, and put them together. But the ideas and most of the information presented here are not my own. I sought to summarize and condense as much as possible. The work spanned a period of 8 weeks, 25 September through today 13 November 2015.

I did not earn my living as a professional exegete and scripture scholar, and I therefore have no pressing need to publish a book on the subject. For this reason I have made the results of this research done in my retirement years available here on Conservapedia as a help to anyone who might benefit from it. Jesus said, "Freely you have received, freely give." Matthew 10:8.

While I find this exegetical interpretation useful and enlightening, I myself am not entirely convinced that it is without defects. As a representation of the literal sense of the Book of Revelation I believe it has value, even relevance. I have made every effort to present this method as objectively and neutrally as possible so that it may be evaluated on its own merits.

It is the best I could do using what little expertise I possess by the grace of God. I have proofread it several times, until I am satisfied with how it reads. If anyone can improve it, please feel free to make it better, including trimming it down. I happily release it to you.

Pax vobis. Semper Fi !

Realized and completed the feast of John the Chrysostom, Archbishop of Constantinople (Byzantine calendar)
--Dataclarifier (talk) 21:41, 13 November 2015 (EST)

Final finishing edit

The article is now finished. I had initially created it before performing a planned final check of all the external links. But I forgot. So over the past week and a half I went through the whole article top to bottom, correcting every defect I found, also making some improvements at the same time, and just now finished. Thank you for your patience.

A word about the frequent use of the Catholic NABRE and its footnotes: as pointed out in the article this version most closely represents the viewpoint of an historical exegetical interpretation of the Revelation. It also contains some very useful and informative objectively factual notes.

My own personal Bible is the RSVCE (Ignatius Bible), and I use as companion versions a Douay-Rheims Bible (Saint Benedict Press) and a King James Version (Red Letter Edition, Old Time Gospel Hour, copyright 1973 Regency Publishing House, New York), left to me by my paternal grandparents along with an antique 1881 edition large Family Heirloom Bible parallel KJV/1881 Revised Version (RV) with laminated leather hardwood covers displaying imprinted Bible illustrations. I have Strong's Exhaustive Concordance as an aide in locating elusive passages I can't locate from memory. It has been indispensable in checking parallel and cross- references.

I appreciate the understanding patience of the staff of Conservapedia during this final editing. This is my last extensive project. Completed on the Solemnity of Christ the King 22 November 2015.

Thank you. --Dataclarifier (talk) 00:32, 23 November 2015 (EST)

My final finishing edit of the table of contents as improved aid to understanding the article: 11:26, 30 November 2015
--Dataclarifier (talk) 12:10, 30 November 2015 (EST)