Day 3

A Bunch of Keys part 1 

Written by an old fisherman in exile, Revelation is not only the seal of scripture where all other books of the Bible meet, but it is also the Sphinx – puzzling yet full of promise. While one of the rules for interpreting its pages is that it was written for first-century Christians, it is relevant to every age, as will become evident when we look at the seven churches. However, if we are living on the borders of eternity then we are to expect increasing light on last things. If the world is approaching a final crisis then we would expect a warning and heavenly counsel as to how to prepare. There are several threads for the maze that will keep us from speculation, newspaper interpretations, and guesswork. There are a whole bunch of keys that will take us safely through the maze. The first is the structure of the book. It is arranged in the ancient format of Hebrew poetry called a chiasm. A chiasm can best be understood by visualizing a sideways  ‘V’ shape with corresponding letters on each arm that match. This is hard to explain in an SMS so I would direct you to the support material site below.  Basically, the book follows a pattern that is not like our western minds might expect with a linear progression. The beginning of the book and the end correspond and then methodically work to the apex of the ‘V’ which is the main point. This is Chapter 12 in our English versions. So e.g. the 7 trumpets and the 7 plagues match and are opposites on the chiasm. 

1. Rev 1:3 “Blessed is he who reads aloud the words of the prophecy and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written therein…” 

Support material for the Chiastic structure of Revelation here:  https://revelationofjesus.net/en/important-questions/chiastic-structure-is-key-to-understanding-revelations-symbols/