Eyes To See The Revelation

To properly interpret the Book of Revelation, we must have a thorough understanding of the New Covenant Spiritual Life. We must learn to emphasize the spiritual over the material. We must have a Heavenly orientation, as opposed to an Earthly orientation, to life, history, and our future.

The final book of the Bible, Revelation prophesies the ultimate judgement of mankind in a series of allegorical visions, grisly images and numerological predictions. According to these, empires will fall, the "Beast" will be destroyed and Christ will rule a new Jerusalem. With an introduction by Will Self.

This is the second book in a three-volume series that will cover the entire book of Revelation in awe-inspiring detail, expounding and expanding on familiar verses in God's word that have been misunderstood and misconstrued for many years. In this volume, the authors explore the first half of Revelation from the perspective they established so clearly in Volume i - that of a Hebrew God speaking through a Hebrew believer to an audience that was intimately familiar with the Hebrew language, culture, customs, and concepts that form both the literal and the metaphorical foundation for vast portions of Revelation.

Through Old Testament Eyes is a new kind of commentary series that illuminates the Old Testament backgrounds, allusions, patterns, and references saturating the New Testament. This knowledge was second nature to the New Testament authors and their audiences, but often isn't the case for today's readers. Bible teachers, preachers, and students committed to understanding Scripture will gain insight through these rich Old Testament connections, which clarify puzzling passages and explain others in fresh ways. In Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes, Tremper Longman demonstrates that the confusion associated with the images throughout Revelation arises from unfamiliarity with symbolism that Revelation's first readers would have readily comprehended. Avoiding overly technical discussions and interpretive debates to concentrate on Old Testament influences, Revelation Through Old Testament Eyes combines rigorous, focused New Testament scholarship with deep respect for the entire biblical text. "As an Old Testament scholar, I learned much from this excellent contribution by a seasoned and thoughtful colleague; as a Christian, my new understanding led to worship. This is a volume that pastors, scholars, and laypeople will find a valuable companion to reading and studying the canon's final book." --Lissa M. Wray Beal, Providence Theological Seminary "There is no more sure-footed guide to this mysterious book than a premier Old Testament scholar like Tremper Longman. This exceptionally clear and cogent commentary will open your eyes to this capstone volume of the New Testament like never before." --Mark L. Strauss, Bethel Seminary "In short, to really get into a place where one can understand John's Scripture-saturated mind(which involves many more allusions and echoes than Old Testament quotes) you need a guide who himself has a Scripture-saturated mind. Tremper Longman is your man, for he has labored long in the scriptural vineyard, and always provides us with the good fruit of careful interpretation." --Ben Witherington III, Asbury Theological Seminary

This is a rewrite of a book I wrote in 1988 in which I presented my conviction that Revelation was first of all a warning to the Judean people that if they did not accept the prophesized Jewish Messiah when he arrived in A.D. 27, God would reject them. A secondary message is that, at the end times, if the gentile world also does not accept the Messiah, God will then bring this present world to an end and commence his eternal heavenly kingdom where God will judge every person he created according to their works.My first book picked up on an argument proposed by J. Massyngberde Ford (in her introduction to revelation in the Anchor Bible Series) that most of Revelation came from the preaching of John the Baptist, who preached directly to the Judeans. The disciples of the Baptist (John the Evangelist was one of them) continued preaching the Baptist's warnings right up into the ministry of Jesus Christ. Finally, near the end of his life, the Evangelist put what he preached into writing. It included what he learned from John the Baptist and became the concluding book of the New Testament.After the crucifixion, the unbelieving Judeans and their descendants tried to defeat the Church and could have wiped out the Church if the revolt under Bar Kochba was successful in liberating Judea from Roman control. But Bar Kochba was totally defeated by Severus in A.D. 135 causing an immense slaughter of Jews. The surviving Judeans were deported elsewhere in the Roman Empire and foreign people were introduced into Palestine. Not many people are aware that for hundreds of years thereafter, only a very small population of Jewish people living in the ancestral homeland of the Jews.No other interpretation that I have reads has pinpointed the historical event that coincided with the fall of Judea like I did. I identify the historical fulfillment of Rev: 15:17 when the seventh angel pours out his vial saying "It is done." as the final defeat of Judea by General Severus in A.D. 135. Most interpretations never discuss the fall of Judea in A.D. 135. Instead, they try to predict a future event (future even to us) that will cause the final conflict when all gentile nations will fall.I also discuss how I think the scenes in Revelation apply to the end of times. I think God has been warning the modern world all along through apparitions by the mother of Christ. I try to show the relevance of the Devil, Lucifer, as the cause of the wickedness of humans. Lucifer is identified in Scripture as the instigator of evil. I think God cannot correct the evils of man until he finally punishes Lucifer in eternal damnation.In my new book, I also point out that the rebellion of the angel Lucifer, the Devil, is the cause of the rejection of the Messiah by the human race. I trace the influence of Lucifer misguiding the human race from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden. I point out how his influence misguided the human race all through history with false ideologies and human conquest by human utopias to try to conduct ourselves outside of Gods embrace.I was unsure how readers would view my book when I first launched publication of my book, but now I have seen many favorable reviews by readers of many different religious convictions that do not take exception to what I have written. This encouraged me to continue.I hope you read my book and find it interesting. At the very least, it should at least give you food for thought.

Jesus Christ is arguably the most famous man who ever lived. His image adorns countless churches, icons, and paintings. He is the subject of millions of statues, sculptures, devotional objects and works of art. Everyone can conjure an image of Jesus: usually as a handsome, white man with flowing locks and pristine linen robes. But what did Jesus really look like? Is our popular image of Jesus overly westernized and untrue to historical reality? This question continues to fascinate. Leading Christian Origins scholar Joan E. Taylor surveys the historical evidence, and the prevalent image of Jesus in art and culture, to suggest an entirely different vision of this most famous of men. He may even have had short hair.