Hi all!
Ben, I've not caught up on page 15: 2-3 have recently spoken @ 'the prophets not understanding what was being revealed to them', as Peter put it, & @ many prophecies being 'sealed till the time of the end, when knowledge & travel shall multiply'
Obviously, those living 2000, 2500 & 2800 years ago had no words for the many things only invented within living memory
You've said, several times, that futurists simply parrot what others have told them, but it's preterists who are much more likely to do that
Many Christians, on seeing 9/11 & Baghdad 'shock & awe' bombing - Hiroshima/Nagasaki A bombs too - have said that they were instantly reminded of Joel 2 'wonders in the heavens & signs on Earth: blood, fire & clouds of smoke'
Even secular journalists & broadcasters, confronted with live TV coverage of major famines, earthquakes, wars, etc frequently describe them as apocalyptic & of Biblical proportions - as in Revelation 6, 8, 9 & 16 etc
I came in asking God where to post this news @ a new coalition of evangelicals & scientists campaigning together about global warming & pollution, etc:-
http://www.crosswalk.com/news/religiont ... 64252.html
Worth printing from Revelation 16 & Isaiah 24 here:-
Revelation 16
The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath
1Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, "Go, pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth." 2The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and
ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.
3The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and
it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died.
4The third angel poured out his bowl on
the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
"You are just in these judgments,
you who are and who were, the Holy One,
because you have so judged;
6for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."
7And I heard the altar respond:
"Yes, Lord God Almighty,
true and just are your judgments."
8The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and
the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. 9They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him.
10The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was
plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony 11and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores,
but they refused to repent of what they had done.
12The sixth angel poured out his bowl on
the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13Then I saw three evil[a] spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14They are
spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.
15"Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed."
16Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
17The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" 18Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake.
No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath.
20Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
Isaiah 24
The LORD's Devastation of the Earth
1
See, the LORD is going to lay waste the earth
and devastate it;
he will ruin its face
and scatter its inhabitants-
2 it will be the same
for priest as for people,
for master as for servant,
for mistress as for maid,
for seller as for buyer,
for borrower as for lender,
for debtor as for creditor.
3
The earth will be completely laid waste
and totally plundered.
The LORD has spoken this word.
4
The earth dries up and withers,
the world languishes and withers,
the exalted of the earth languish.
5
The earth is defiled by its people;
they have disobeyed the laws,
violated the statutes
and broken the everlasting covenant.
6
Therefore a curse consumes the earth;
its people must bear their guilt.
Therefore earth's inhabitants are burned up,
and very few are left.
7 The new wine dries up and the vine withers;
all the merrymakers groan.
8 The gaiety of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the revelers has stopped,
the joyful harp is silent.
9 No longer do they drink wine with a song;
the beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10 The ruined city lies desolate;
the entrance to every house is barred.
11 In the streets they cry out for wine;
all joy turns to gloom,
all gaiety is banished from the earth.
12 The city is left in ruins,
its gate is battered to pieces.
13
So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
or as when gleanings are left after the grape harvest.
14 They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they acclaim the LORD's majesty.
15 Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD;
exalt the name of the LORD, the God of Israel,
in the islands of the sea.
16 From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
"Glory to the Righteous One."
But I said, "I waste away, I waste away!
Woe to me!
The treacherous betray!
With treachery the treacherous betray!"
17
Terror and pit and snare await you,
O people of the earth.
18 Whoever flees at the sound of terror
will fall into a pit;
whoever climbs out of the pit
will be caught in a snare.
The floodgates of the heavens are opened,
the foundations of the earth shake.
19
The earth is broken up,
the earth is split asunder,
the earth is thoroughly shaken.
20 The earth reels like a drunkard,
it sways like a hut in the wind;
so heavy upon it is the guilt of its rebellion
that it fallsâ€â€never to rise again.
21 In that day the LORD will punish
the powers in the heavens above
and the kings on the earth below.
22 They will be herded together
like prisoners bound in a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison
and be punished [a] after many days.
23 The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed;
for the LORD Almighty will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before its elders, gloriously.
Nothing on such scale has happened yet - let alone 2000 years ago - but today's techno can do all of it
Many times in the OT, God said, "
I will destroy..." - but used the armies of Assyria, Babylon, etc to do it - man is so often the instrument of his own doom
& surely that's the thrust of Romans 1:18-32 & 1 Corinthians 1:18-27 etc
Interestingly, on your point @ horses in Rev 9 etc, some commentators have said that, even in this age of tanks, horses would still be the fastest way to get the '200 million kings of the east' over the dried up R Euphrates of Rev 16:12, through the Iraqi mountain ranges to 'cover the land (of Israel) like a swarm of locusts'
7The locusts
looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8Their hair was like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth. 9They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10They had tails and stings like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.[a]
'70s classic,
Revelation Visualised, was by Arab Christian Salem Kirban & Messianic Jew Gary Cohen - who were both very familiar with the whole area
Cossacks & Mongols still train on horseback for large-scale manoevres thru just such mountainous terrain
Must go
Ian