and he sent and signified [it] by his angel

[JulieTang84]

 :HeartThrob:
Rev 1:1   ¶   The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified [it] by his angel unto his servant John:

Okay, I will come right out and ask:

Did John write only of the signs / symbols given him

sig·ni·fy
verb (used with object)
1.  to make known by signs, speech, or action.
2.  to be a sign of; mean; portend.

Or did he interpret them?

It is my understanding that the Book of Revelation is 100% symbolic/metaphoric and has little if any basis for literal interpretation.

Case it point. Spirits cannot burn nor be thrown in the abyss.

That this book has invoked fear and dread in countless numbers of people and in my opinion has caused the greatest division within Christianity.

Of course I have my own opinion regarding the book of Revelation, but I do want to test the waters before I say too much.  :eek:

This might have been discussed already (its a big room)

Love Julie  :HeartThrob:

[Lazarus Short]

Julie, I just had to reply, seeing that your post had no replies.  I'm the guy who picks up orphan threads like my daughter picks up lost puppies and/or kittens.

I subscribe to Scripture being inspired word for word, letter by letter.  There is a theological term for that, but I try not to pay too much attention to such things.  I also subscribe to the findings of Ivan Panin, a Russian literary critic and Biblical mathematician, who found the Hebrew and Greek texts to have a highly complex mathematical coding within the "plain text."  Hebrew and Greek, as well as many other ancient alphabets, had no separate set of symbols for numbers, so they had the letters do double-duty as numbers.  When you convert the letters of the text into their numerical equivalents, you get patterns of numbers.  The complexity of these number-codes is far beyond what any mere human mind could devise.  As a published poet, I know the difficulties of balancing rhyme, rhythm, and literal/grammatical meaning, and to that I could add literary style, word play, and a few other things.  A poet is juggling perhaps a half-dozen levels in a good poem, but the Bible's mathematical coding is operating on about three dozen levels AT THE SAME TIME.  It blows me away, and solidifies my faith!

Now, at the same time that the text of the Bible is making sense on the literal, grammatical level, and on the mathematical level, it is also making sense on the pictographic level.  Not only does a Hebrew letter have a phonetic value and a numerical value, it also has a very ancient pictographic value.  For instance, the name of God which is usually translated as "LORD," and transliterated as "Yahweh," is the tetragrammaton Yod He Vav He.  Sorry, I don't have a Hebrew font I can type with.  Now, if we plug in the phonetic values of the letters, we get this:  Behold the Hand, Behold the Nail - clearly, Yahweh is Jesus.  I don't presently know how this pictographic thing works for the Greek, or if it does.

To answer your question, Julie, I think John was told to write, but he wrote exactly as the Plan would have him write, word for word, letter by letter.  He did not interpret.

[jbertonbounds]

If John had interpreted, would it still sound like it were written in code?  For that reason, I don't believe he interpreted.

[JulieTang84]

Lazarus, you have made my day. For many years I have believed that Yahweh (Jehovah) was indeed Christ our Lord. I had never heard they way you presented it:

Behold the Hand, Behold the Nail - clearly, Yahweh is Jesus.

As for you saying that John wrote it word for word, letter for letter; that would follow that the book of Revelation is indeed "symbolic" of things to come and should not neccessarily be taken literal.

I have always held that it is a mistke to take much of it literally.

Thank you so much for your response  :HeartThrob:

Love Julie

[rosered]

   Hi Julie    and all  whom spoke up



Revelations   the unvelining of    Christ to me   , the key to unlock  the WORD OF GOD made flesh

  I do believe Jesus is the true witness and angel of the Lord , one of the first signs   is Abraham   here in Gen22 NLT
And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 


Gen 22:11 At that moment the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, "Abraham! Abraham!" "Yes," Abraham replied. "Here I am!" 


Gen 22:12 "Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son." 

Gen 22:13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. So he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering in place of his son. 


Gen 22:14 Abraham named the place Yahweh-Yireh (which means "the LORD will provide"). To this day, people still use that name as a proverb: "On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided." 


Gen 22:15 Then the angel of the LORD called again to Abraham from heaven. 


Gen 22:16 "This is what the LORD says: Because you have obeyed me and have not withheld even your son, your only son, I swear by my own name that 
Gen 22:17 I will certainly bless you. I will multiply your descendants [fn] beyond number, like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will conquer the cities of their enemies. 


Gen 22:18 And through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed—all because you have obeyed me." 

  I picked up the clue when Jesus says    while walking the earth   , you  love me more than mother father sons or daughters      , you are not worthy of Me 
    this    ACT  of faith   of Abraham   was counted for righteousness , even than  , JESUS IS SPIRIT AND TRUTH

  Jesus said here as well   he is the AMEN [let it be so]  the TRUE WITNESS and begining creation of God Proverbs  8  ;22-36   John 1 ;1    the Wisdom of God    Rev 3:14 ¶ And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God    
1Cr 1:24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

  all these little clues  that confirm   Christ / annointed  Jesus Yeshaua  YHWH , the name  ,  has been  all along  :girlheart: