A Servant of God
A “lamb” and the “bare record” ties John the Baptist to the Apocalypse. Vischer holds the Apocalypse to have been originally a purely Jewish composition. It would not have included the seven churches that Eusebius and Victorinus failed to recognize. A reasonable explanation why they didn’t.
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A Lack Of Definition
A license for interpretation. Prophecy has been hijacked by changing the meaning of words and the future is the only place for it. The Word of God is at the mercy of translators. Even the numbers and colors that they agree on have been symbolized thus allowing many different interpretations.
A Lamb of God
A voice crying is the wilderness. The word “lamb” is mentioned 27 times in the Apocalypse. John the Baptist knew the “Lamb of God”. He was preparing the way for “the time is at hand”. John the Baptist did not know Jesus was the Lamb of God. John the Apostle knew that and was also aware of his following.
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A Veiled Prophecy
A revelation of what is to come. Sealed by Daniel but not by John. The future is not ours to know but history can confirm the fulfillment of prophecy. How? With numbers and colors. All the translators seem to agree on these words if not their meaning.
A Witness
A Church History that includes six of the seven churches that John wrote to but Eusebius never associates them with the Apocalypse. Victorinus doesn’t even mention them. Is it possible there is a version of the Apocalypse that doesn’t include the seven churches? It could be a reasonable explanation for what we are looking at.
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A Reason Why
A question not often addressed. What is the purpose of prophecy? Why was the Apocalypse written? To prepare the way for the first coming. A time that was near. “Make straight” the way of the Lord sayeth the voice crying out in the wilderness.
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.
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A sound of trumpets. The third part did not do so well. Woe to the world. What can you do beside watch? Repent. Just show up. You may not know what to do or say but just showing up is a good start. Get informed. Be a part of something.
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 Wrath Of The Lamb
A great day of his wrath is come. John the Baptist was watching for the Lamb of God. We need to watch for His wrath. A great day? Should we be worrying about the wrath of the lamb while we are being asked to worry about climate change?
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