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Of all the books in the Bible, none has fired our imagination more than Apocalypse - the Book of Revelation to John.
On the Greek isle of Patmos, Apostle John has visions of angels, beasts, the Throne of God, surrounded by the rainbow in the sea of glass, Lamb who turns into the conqueror on the white horse, dragons etc..etc
These verbal images do resemble those from the medieval astronomical and astrological maps. Look at the ancient sky map painted by great Albrecht Durer. Astrology was an essential part of life in 14th 16th centuries; therefore the Apocalypse prophecy edited and printed during this time contains medieval astronomical and astrological images.
The astronomical interpretation of verbal images of Apocalypse yields the following horoscope of planets in the constellations:
Planet Jupiter in Sagittarius, Planet Saturn in Scorpio, Planet Venus in Lion;
Planet Mars in Gemini, close to Taurus, under the feet of Perseus;
Planet Mercury in Balance, Sun in Virgin , Moon under Virgins feet;
The tradition says the Apocalypse was written in 95 AD by Apostle John.
The Apocalypse we know today is the last book of the New Testament. First complete New Testament was edited only in 1515 in Basel, Switzerland by Erasmus of Rotterdam on the basis of half a dozen of sources. The text of the Apocalypse comes from the manuscript Erasmus lent from the German biblical scholar Reuchlin.
The only moment in time when the combination of planets and constellations described in the Apocalypse could have been observed live from the island of Patmos was from the 25th of september 1486 to 10th of October 1486.
So, when was the Apocalypse – Book of Revelation to Apostle John written?
The Book of Revelation
Although later Christian tradition holds that the Book of Revelation was written by St. John the Apostle, author of the Fourth Gospel, most modern-day historians and New Testament scholars believe that the author was not the apostle John but another man of the same name. It is generally agreed that the Book of Revelation was written by a Jewish Christian who saw the events following Jerusalem's destruction as a sign of the inevitable climax in the eternal war between God and Satan. John portrays the Roman Empire as demonic, the agent of Satan on earth, the antithesis of all that is Godly, and he predicted that Rome itself would soon fall. And John's Revelation - Apocalyps draws on earlier apocalyptic writers--Enoch's imagery of Hell, God and Satan; the prophet Ezekiel's image of 'The New Jerusalem;' and Daniel's vision of the triumph of God's earthly kingdom. Today Apocalypse is viewed as end times prophecy for America.
Less than one hundred years after it was written, however, readers of Revelation began interpreting it as a literal prediction that a new Jerusalem would descend to earth then and there. Montanus became the first of innumerable prophets who believed in the literal truth of Revelation. In the late second century Montanus inspired thousands to follow him to a remote hilltop believing that a plague outbreak signaled that the 1000-year reign of Christ was at hand.
The Book of Revelation in the New Testament has the literal title in Greek, the "Apocalypse of John." The word apocalypse means revelation. That which is uncovered. It comes from the Greek word which literally means to pull the lid off something. So that which is revealed is central to the way that apocalyptic literature works. ... The word "apocalypse" refers to a genre of literature like the Book of Revelation itself. They are pieces of literature that start by revealing something or seeing visions or having individuals be taken up into heaven where they can see what's going on from that vantage point.
Scholars also talk about "apocalyptic" or "apocalyptic environment," or "apocalyptic outlook." In this sense the word "apocalyptic" has a slightly broader meaning, and it refers to the spirit of the age that especially became prominent roughly between the years 300 B.C. and 200 C.E., the very years in which Judaism itself went through some cataclysmic changes, when the Temple was destroyed once again and importantly when the Christian movement itself was born and Jesus was executed.
Apocalypse of St. John the Apostle
Chapter 4
1 After these things I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven, and
the first voice which I heard,
as it were, of a trumpet speaking with me, said: Come up hither, and I
will shew thee the things which
must be done hereafter.
2 And immediately I was in the spirit: and behold there was a throne set
in heaven, and upon the throne
one sitting.
3 And he that sat, was to the sight like the jasper and the sardine stone;
and there was a rainbow round
about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
4 And round about the throne were four and twenty seats; and upon the
seats, four and twenty ancients
sitting, clothed in white garments, and on their heads were crowns of
gold.
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and
there were seven lamps
burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
6 And in the sight of the throne was, as it were, a sea of glass like to
crystal; and in the midst of the
throne, and round about the throne, were four living creatures, full of
eyes before and behind.
7 And the first living creature was like a lion: and the second living
creature like a calf: and the third
living creature, having the face, as it were, of a man: and the fourth
living creature was like an eagle
flying.
8 And the four living creatures had each of them six wings; and round
about and within they are full of
eyes. And they rested not day and night, saying:
Holy, holy, holy, Lord
God Almighty, who was, and
who is, and who is to come.
9 And when those living creatures gave glory, and honour, and benediction
to him that sitteth on the
throne, who liveth for ever and ever;
10 The four and twenty ancients fell down before him that sitteth on the
throne, and adored him that
liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:
11 Thou art worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory, and honour, and
power: because thou hast
created all things; and for thy will they were, and have been created.
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