Quote:
Originally Posted by bearbear
When John wrote the book of Revelation he was reporting a vision that he saw with his own eyes. His audience would have also made the connection between a lot of what he wrote and what the OT prophets described such as the destruction of Babylon (which was never destroyed but replaced by the Medo-Persian empire, so the prophets were talking about another Babylon).
Paul on the other hand could only write about what he knew to be true and there is no indication that he or the other apostles knew about the millennial reign of Christ at the time of their writings.
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John wrote, not to the Jews as say the book of Hebrews, but to the nations, the Gentiles. Early church history (e.g. Schaff) actually speaks of Rome being Babylon and the return (resurrection?) of the dreaded Nero as common knowledge among the disciples.
Paul in I Cor 15 speaks of the coming Kingdom. In 2 Cor Paul mentions his visits to Paradise in Hades and the Throne of God. (Which I believed happened when he was stoned to death in Lystra.) Many things Paul saw and heard, he was forbidden to repeat.