A History of the Church –
A dog that didn’t bark. Eusebius never associates the churches with the Apocalypse. He does mention six of the seven churches but does not connect them with the Apocalypse. Since Victorinus has the same problem, it suggests that there may have been a version of the Apocalypse that didn’t have the seven churches.
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A Fulfillment of Prophecy –
A victory over the beast. Constantinople used Greek fire on the Sea of Marmara, like a sheet of glass, and the year was 666. The problem with dates was noted by Gibbon. His 46 years gets you 668 but put it in an Islamic calendar converter, a calculation, and you will get exactly 666. An amazing fit with Revelation 15:2.
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A Commentary on the Apocalypse –
A dog that didn’t bark. Victorinus didn’t mention the churches. He does mention the seven churches that Paul wrote to. So why not mention the seven churches that John wrote to? It is possible that his version of the Apocalypse didn’t have the seven churches. We need to look at Eusebius to see if he has the same problem.
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A Number –
A count in some bibles. Another example where the translators can’t agree on the Word of God but they are in complete agreement with numbers. Only numbers can be trusted to tie what has been prophesied to historical events that confirm the fulfillment of those prophecies. You can count on them.
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A History –
A witness to what no longer exists. What was Victorinus looking at when he wrote his Commentary on the Apocalypse? What was Eusebius looking at when he wrote his Church History? We can only speculate based on what they wrote, what they didn’t write, and what is reasonable. Can we make sense of it? It makes more sense than most interpretations.
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A Dating Tool –
A common year. 666 of the Gregorian calendar, which didn’t start until 1582, will be a different year in a different calendar. The common year for the Julian calendar was 44 BC. 622, the year of the Hijra, would be 666 in the Julian calendar. That does require a calculation and not a count as stated in some bibles.
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A Canon –
A redaction at the turn of the fifth century. Jerome defined the bible when he finished the Vulgate which would become the official bible of the Church. It contains the oldest existing copy of the Apocalypse. We can only speculate on what it looked like before that time based on other older existing documents.
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A Beginning –
A start, a date, a year, a number. 666 Look for number in Daniel. It refers to years. So what happened in the year 666? Nothing. Historians are careful about that year. Dating is difficult without a calendar. A date is the most common mark on a product. Its origin. So what started in 666? What calendar should we use?
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A Christian Empire –
A bishop extraordinaire was in Ephesus to replace seven corrupt bishops at the beginning of the fifth century. John Chrysostom, who never quoted the Apocalypse, could not ignore what John the Apostle may have left there. At that time Jerome could have been looking for a reliable copy of the Apocalypse. He was finishing the Vulgate.
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A Future That is Unknown –
A way to learn. We are not prophets. We can only learn from history what works and what doesn’t. Think about the past and hope for a better future that will avoid the problems with the past.
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