I would love to know how you study. You are so confident in what you know. Any pointers? I am thirsty for wisdom. I feel that way too about currently being close to the end of the seals.
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Read your mail!
Leave no ‘stone unturned’. First of all, pray that God guides you as you study. Tell him that you want to understand his word with all your heart.
Read slowly, even reading a verse or sentence over until you’ve made sure that you understand it to best of your ability. Keep everything in context.
A good example of getting something OUT of context is the misunderstanding of 1Cor. 15:29, by a certain group that baptizes people in place of someone that had already died, but wasn’t baptized.
The confusion is that they fail to see the context:
Paul starts chapter 1Cor. 15 teaching of Christ’s resurrection, and shifts gears at verse 12, telling of the doubters arguments about no resurrection, and the hopelessness if Christ is not. This continues through verse 19, then he diverts for a few verses to teach of the Lord’s resurrection, and the results of it. Then.....
...in verse 29, he continues the thought from 19. He is saying that, why be baptized into Christ if he is not risen, or his saints will not rise from the dead? Then Paul closes the passage reaffirming that Christ is risen.
John 3:16 is a great verse. But, it must not be separated from the previous words of Christ in that chapter (the ‘rest of the story’, as Paul Harvey would say).
The events foretold by the prophets, THE Prophet Jesus Christ, and relayed to John (Revelation), tell of destruction worse than ever before, and worse than anything afterward.
Personally, I think that WW2 surpasses anything the Romans did to Israel, in terms of destruction (how many Jews died at the hands of Hitler and Stalin? millions). And even then, there was no ability for people around the world see the ‘two prophets’ do their work, finally be killed, and then rise from the dead and ascend to heaven. We didn’t have live TV from around the world in WW2, because there were no satellites yet, to make that possible.
Yes, the time is at hand, closer than ever.