... just step back from it a few paces. Far from a wild, chaotic outpouring, it is probably the most carefully constructed and organized book in the entire Bible. After the introductory letters to the seven churches, there are seven sections, each with exactly seven subsections. The theme of the entire book is persecution - the persecution the church was then suffering, in roughly the year 95. The various visions speak of this persecution going on for forty-two months, or for 12,060 days, which is three and one ...
... will named me as his successor, but his final will gave the kingdom to my brother Archelaus, along with the provinces of Judea and Samaria. Another half-brother, Philip, was made ruler of Trachonitus, and I was made Tetrarch of Galilee. A tetrarch is a person who rules a subsection of an area. I contested the assignments, but Caesar upheld the will, and that is how I wound up where I did. I decided to make the best of it. I built a wall around the city of Sepphoris and made it a metropolis. I built the city ...