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REVELATION: The Introduction[1]
Imagine the following paragraph on the sports page of the Chicago Tribune in the winter of 1999.
“The bull which once ruled the Earth for 72 months has suffered a mighty fall. For at the end of 72 months, the great right horn of the bull, whose number is 20 and 3 (let the reader understand) departed, and so did the great left horn of the bull. Then the third horn of the bull, which was pierced in many places and dressed like a woman, likewise departed. Then all the beasts of the Earth, the Hornets and Timberwolves, came and devoured the flesh of the bull, and the glory of the mighty bull was laid low.”[2]
What is this about? Michael Jordan and the Bulls, of course, in the context of the NBA. It tells a true story about real events, but does so in an imaginative and symbolic way.
Close to the end of the 1st century, John received a vision that critiqued Emperor worship and foresaw the collapse of the Roman Empire. Like the Jordan example, the language is primarily symbolic[3] rather than scientific or logical.[4] Like the Jordan story, it tells the readers something important about reality. Here’s the CliffNotes version.
