The Revelation and the History of Christendom

Most of us reach a time in our lives when we wonder about the purpose of our existence. Are we really only an accident of chemistry? Throughout the history of mankind every society has appealed to gods for immortality and, strongly, for forgiveness. However, we live in a scientific age that prides itself in discounting the call to God that we sometimes sense. We may attempt to ignore this sense of discontent with various activities, both good and bad. Perhaps different religions or philosophies claim our attention and loyalty, but we are often left with our doubts. We say that we lack the intellectual evidence for God that can be examined with dispassionate objectivity. Fortunately, such evidence exists, and it is presented here so that a belief in God and God in Christ may be only a small step for a doubtful mind.

It will be shown to the careful reader that the prophecies of the last book of the Bible have in fact been fulfilled during the last 2,000 years. The Revelation was written about 96 A.D. by John, the apostle of Jesus, while he was imprisoned by the Romans on the island of Patmos. The book is highly symbolic and confusing for the reader who does not realize that it is a representation of the long history of Christendom. The events that are envisioned are those that influenced the spiritual condition of Christianity. It is important to understand that the symbolic visions refer primarily to the history of history of Christianity encompassed by the old boundaries of the Roman Empire. This is where it developed for most of 2,000 years.

Much of the symbolism is rather obvious; however, some visions require historic information to recognize their fulfillment. Some of the Revelation has been understood as an historic set of prophecies since the Reformation of the 16th century, and considerable insights have been added by British writers in the last century. These have been ignored, possibly because some of the more mysterious statements were left unexplained. The work of others is completed here with additional historic information, and with the advantage of passing time.

The facts of history follow the symbolic visions of the Revelation in the same sequential order. This is clearly impossible if the Revelation is a pious fraud, as so many believe. In this commentary, the reader may easily match the Biblical verses with the historic circumstances that are indicated in the prophecy. The odds against this occurring by either chance or manipulation of historic facts are impossibly high.

This is good news for skeptics, who are now given very strong intellectual evidence for belief in God and God in Christ. With the end of the time sequences of Revelation upon us, we may believe that the long era of tribulation is ending and a new era with Christ will begin soon.