20 They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
I don't have much of a take from today. I did scan through that site you sent from yesterday. It always amazes me how much can be written in response or analysis of the bible. So are people just making stuff up or is there that much more to the words of the bible than meets my eye? sometimes I think yes, sometimes I think people just like to theorize.
I did find this note interesting--
'There is only one valley in Israel that fits the mile description. It is the Jordan Valley, which extends from just north of the Sea of Galilee to Eilat at the Red Sea.'
I guess its because I find the connections of the bible to things that can be seen and measured today fascinating.
not much of a take--
knut
I don't have any good insights today either. I am intrigued by the 144,000 pure people. I think this is the number that the Jahovah's witnesses are based on. They claim to be that number.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that caught my attention was the use of the sickle as the harvest device. I always think of the sickle as being associated with the grim reaper, but here it is the angel wielding it over the earth.
OK....so here's a question for you. Sometimes the imagery that is described is very old....like the sickle. So, that makes me think, how can John be witnessing something in future...and yet the things he is seeing are present in his day? Will the angel really be holding some kind of antique harvesting device in the future? I know this opens up a can of mind-bending stuff. Is time the same in heaven? Is John seeing the future, or is he simply seeing the end of earthly time, and its really happening congruently for those in heaven? Some tough things to wrestle with. And to be honest, these are the types of questions that people spend too much energy on, and probably miss the point of what God was trying tell us.
tp
very interesting that you raise this question, today. Last night Gina was telling me about a topic that came up in her woman's group around time/eternity. The idea some woman had was you can pray for people that are dead but maybe didn't appear to find Jesus in their living days. Since God lives outside of time he can respond to your prayers and help the person before they died to take a new path an be saved. I say no. What if that new path kept them from meeting you who prayed for them to be saved--then all actions that helped them get saved would never happen? So my point is to confirm your statement, I think the mind benders are fun but dangerous because they might cause us to miss God's message. Our little minds probably will never solve the time equation while we are on earth. Maybe same goes for the sickle, you named what I was feeling but wasn't sure why--a sickle has a negative connotation normally in my mind. I can't answer why God gave him a vision using an old tool for a future experience, but I'm guessing the sickle itself is not the critical part of the message.
ReplyDeletefun to dig into a bit
knut