{"content":[{"text":"Revelation Revisited \n Why Try? \n The history of the Christian Church is littered with the broken reputations of those who \n “got personal” with the book of Revelation. Even our own church has its roots in the soil of \n failed prophetic expectations. After all, William Miller was wrong. \n But he is not unique. The historian Eugen Webber notes that the scriptures regarding a \n second coming have been misapplied hundreds of times, as different leaders and “prophets” have \n set numerous dates for the return of Jesus. \n In the face of this, why try? Why even open a book that has been the source of more \n argument and acrimony than light? Why should we believe that now is the time, and that we – of \n all people – will finally be given the opportunity to understand this remarkable book?","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.101202,"width":0.760928,"height":0.276793}},{"text":"Fair questions. And the short answer is that we won’t be able to understand all that this \n book has to say– at least not yet. \n But we can understand some of it – and we might even be able to understand more of it \n than those who studied it in the past. But regardless of how much or how little we come to \n understand, there are very good reasons to undertake this study. \n Here are some of them:","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.393136,"width":0.744294,"height":0.10985899999999998}},{"text":"1.","bbox":{"left":0.129085,"top":0.528542,"width":0.058811,"height":0.049960000000000004}},{"text":"God encourages us to do so. This is the only book in the Bible that contains a \n special blessing specifically for those who study it. You can read it in Rev 1:3. \n “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed \n the things which are written in it; for the time is near.”1","bbox":{"left":0.21732,"top":0.518136,"width":0.6399349999999999,"height":0.07450599999999996}},{"text":"2.","bbox":{"left":0.127451,"top":0.60935,"width":0.058811,"height":0.049960000000000004}},{"text":"Clearly portions of this book speak to end time events. As we are most certainly \n closer to the “end time” than ever before, those portions of the writing are just that \n much more relevant. We should be investigating them.","bbox":{"left":0.215686,"top":0.607783,"width":0.6456470000000001,"height":0.05556500000000009}},{"text":"3.","bbox":{"left":0.127451,"top":0.688896,"width":0.058811,"height":0.049960000000000004}},{"text":"History shows that God often gives prophecy in a manner that keeps it from being \n clearly understood until the time comes for the prophecy to be fulfilled. We \n shouldn’t be bothered by the fact that it couldn’t be understood by those who didn’t \n need to understand it.","bbox":{"left":0.215686,"top":0.679753,"width":0.6538819999999999,"height":0.07324199999999992}},{"text":"4. Ellen White wrote: “When we as a people understand what this book means to us, \n there will be seen among us a great revival. We do not understand fully the lessons \n that it teaches.” Testimonies to Ministers, p. 113 \n If the above statement is to be considered as prophetic, three conclusions can \n be drawn: A. The way that Revelation was understood in her time fell short of revealing all the \n truth that God had placed in this book. B. Since our approach to Revelation has not changed","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.768136,"width":0.7592159999999999,"height":0.11203099999999999}},{"text":"1 Unless otherwise noted, all scripture is taken from The New American Standard Bible, 1995 Update, (La Habra, \n California: The Lockman Foundation) 1996.","bbox":{"left":0.117647,"top":0.897111,"width":0.742362,"height":0.03192800000000007}}],"images_bbox":[],"images_bbox_not_text_overlap":[]}