a commentary 

A Witness – 

A view of what was.  We don’t know what the Apocalypse looked like in the third century.  Victorinus knew and we know what his commentary looked like. It didn’t include the seven churches John wrote to.  It did include the seven churches Paul wrote to.  There is a reasonable explanation for this.  He is not the only witness.    

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a number 

A Reliable Word – 

A consistent interpretation.  Numbers are one of the few things all 60 English translations of the bible agree on.  They all agree on “a thousand years”, 666, “ten horns”, and “seven heads” .  Can we find historical events that have all these numbers in a meaningful way?  Start with the biggest number.  A thousand years.  

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a repetition 

A Recapitulation – 

A reinforcement, a necessary theory in understanding the Apocalypse first introduced by Victorinus of Pettau.  It holds that the visions are not necessarily in chronological order and possibly a repetition of other visions.  Many interpretation errors are a result of assuming the chapters are in chronological order.  

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a prophecy 

A Fulfillment – 

A historical event.  Only history can confirm the fulfillment of a prophecy.  Based on your interpretation.  Can it be trusted?  Can your bible translation be trusted?   Can 60 different English translations of the bible be trusted?  They don’t agree on the “word of God”.  Do they agree on anything?  Maybe numbers. Maybe colors.   

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a number 

A Color – 

A guide to interpretation.  You can trust numbers and maybe colors to be reliably translated.  Not so much with the other words.  The “words of God” are seen differently by the many different bible translators.  Who can you trust?  Historians.  What can you trust?  Maybe numbers.  Historians may have trouble with dates but they do get close enough.  

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a missing word 

A Kingdom of God – 

A reference to the millennium.  The word “kingdom” cannot be found in Chapter 20 .  It is not the “reign of Christ”.  They “reigned with Christ”.  A thousand years has a beginning and an end.  The Kingdom of God will not end.  Way too many think the thousand years will begin with the Second Coming.  They need to check history.  The first place to look.   

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