The underlined portion is the problem. There are NO unrelated texts. If you read the bible from Genesis through Revelation, it reads like one continuous novel.
I agree with you that the Bible works together as a whole. However, the prophecies of Daniel speak of Christ's first coming, not his second. It is the Premillennial Dispensationalist that somehow turns Rome, the fourth beast, into ANOTHER future Rome from whence comes the Antichrist and end of the world scenarios. This is completely done in the imagination of the Dispensationalist. The text itself makes no such leaps. Rather, it pretty straight forward speaks of a time when sin would be dealt with and the Kingdom of God would be established by a stone cut without hands. It speaks of Babylon, Medo-Persians, Greeks, and finally the Romans before Christ comes and establishes the Kingdom of God on earth. That is the focus, period. So, yes, the book works together with the rest of the OT in that it points to the coming of the Messiah. No Jew living in Daniel's time or Jesus' time would have concluded that Daniels prophecy wasnt about the present Rome, but a rebuilt Rome...yadda, yadda, yadda. Again, at some point you have to realize that you are making these connections and they are not explicitly spelled out in the text. If its so explicit, again, why did no one see it for 1800 years?
You’ve only shown how you THINK the world ends 4 or 5 times but the fact is, it only ends once in Rev. 19:20 – Rev. 20:2.
Well, you are the one arguing for a "literal" interpretation. So why not literally interpret the sky rolling up and mountains fleeing....and "everyone" hiding from the wrath of the Lamb appearing in the sky in Rev. 6? Or that God has destroyed all the destroyers of the earth in Revelation 11:18? Again, you are the one who said we should interpret it literally unless given clear reasons to think otherwise.
The islands and mountains don’t vanish they are just “shaken” from a strong earthquake, that’s what “moved out of their places” means. This isn’t the end, it’s the beginning of the end.
Oh come on...read the text!
“When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the
sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood, and
the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. The
sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and
every mountain and island was removed from its place. Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and
everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”” (Revelation 6:12–17, ESV)
So you are saying this earthquake causes the stars to fall to the earth and causes people to hide from the face of Jesus? Some earthquake! The fact is, this text coincides directly with the words of Jesus about his second coming:
““Immediately after the tribulation of those days the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and
the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the
tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29–31, ESV)
I mean, apart from a verbatim quoting of Matt 24, I dont think the parallel could be any clearer.
I believe it has always been pre-millennial and a-millennial came out of Catholicism, which wasn’t the only church around, it just thinks it was. The only new thing that Darby introduced was a pre-trib rapture, which I don’t believe in. The whole of the prophetic parts of the old and new testaments are pre-millennial. Here are some quotes from the early church fathers which also show a pre-millennial viewpoint:
You need to do some more study on Dispensationalism. First, the early church knew nothing of dispensations. Second, the whole notion of a secret rapture where the wicked are left behind, the rebuilding of the Temple and God's focus on Israel in the end times is completely foreign to the early church. This was all introduced by Darby.
The early church held two views. Amillennialsm and historic premillennialism. Both views have held to belief in an Antichrist (although I personally do not) and both believed that the church was true Israel. Historic premillenialism did hold to a chronological reading of the book of Revelation and a literal millennial reign of Christ, but they did not view the "rapture" the same way as dispensationalists do today. Dispensationalists are notorious for trying to misquote early Christians to show earlier creedance for their views. However, most dispensational scholars readily admit that dispensationalism is completely foreign to early Christianity and the terms "rapture" and so forth used by early Christians had a very different connotation than what those terms mean for the dispensationalist (secret rapture with the purpose of removing the church, leaving wicked people behind so God can focus on the Jews and fulfill the unfulfilled promises in the OT to the Jewish nation).
You’re kind of proving my point by trying to find another sense when the bible plainly tells you who the 144,000 are in
Rev. 7:4. While it may be sad, it is also true, although some more will probably make it into the millennium via the sheep and goat judgment of
Matt. 25. The percentage of unsaved Gentiles who won’t make it in is much, much greater.
Oh, but isnt the sheep and goat judgment for literal sheep and goats? smh. So, tell me, how are there going to be 12,000 saved from the 10 northern tribes when those tribes vanished after the invasion of Assyria? Saying only 144,000 Jews will be saved in the end times is like saying that God owns the cattle on a thousand hills, but only a thousand. Or that literally a day is exactly 1,000 years to God. Or that Jesus' resurrected body has 7 eyeballs. Moreover, you never addressed my question: Will these have to be literal virgins to be saved? Is celibacy a requirement for Jewish salvation in the end times?
Look, Revelation tells us from the very beginning that it is written in symbols.
“Ἀποκάλυψις Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἣν ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ θεὸς δεῖξαι τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι ἐν τάχει, καὶ
ἐσήμανεν ἀποστείλας διὰ τοῦ ἀγγέλου αὐτοῦ τῷ δούλῳ αὐτοῦ Ἰωάννῃ,” (Revelation 1:1, NA27)
Esemanen is the verb form of the noun, "signs." Just like in John's gospel, Jesus performed many "signs." The miracles Jesus did were signs that pointed to a deeper reality (i.e. healing the blind man - Jesus is the light of the world; feeding the multitude - Jesus is the bread from heaven; raising Lazarus - Jesus is the resurrection and the life, etc.). The miracles were signs or symbols of a greater reality. The same is true in Revelation. The images and numbers are "signs" that point to deeper realities. John tells us from the beginning that the revelation was "signed" to him. If you dont understand this, you will never understand the message of Revelation. It is a message that we are to keep and not just one that predicts the future. Pretty hard to "keep" what is written in Revelation if it all pretty much speaks only to the 1st century churches in chapters 1-3 and the last few years of history from chapters 4-22! So is Revelation not a blessing for 99% of all Christians throughout history?
“Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear,
and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.” (Revelation 1:3, ESV)