A French interpretation of End Times

I am still in Nantes, visiting my good friends Matt and Cristina Price, missionaries with the Free Will Baptists here in France. Today they took me to a 13th century castle in Angers, a town about an hour from Nantes. The castle is huge, and certainly would have scared me off from invading back in the 12oo's! I enjoyed wandering the castle and the extensive grounds, but the best part was Europe's oldest tapestry.

Yes, I know you are thinking that old tapestries can't be that exciting, and normally I would agree. But this one was commissioned in the 1300's and was originally 140 meters long! It contained 70 "scenes" of the Book of Revelation. Only 37 meters are missing today, and the rest is restored and on display with a guide who gives an explanation of each panel in very dramatic French. Knowing my Bible, I was able to interpret most of the panels for myself--angels blowing trumpets, seven churches, a multi-headed beast being slain, etc. But what was most fascinating was that the weavers had included tiny, obscure details about the French events of the time, indicating for example, that the "Babylon" of the Apocalypse was the Church of Rome! And the "Beast" that Satan allowed to rule temporarily was England. Very interesting to see how the Duke of Anjou interpreted his world and his Bible back in the 1300's.

More as I have time . . . . .

Comments

Dad said…
The Adult class at church is in a study of Revelation with Roger. I'll forward this to him. I'm sure he'll get a kick out of the "personalization" you mentioned for the who's who. Can't wait to hear about where you go next.
7:30 PM
Ben Rainey said…
how did you get the "email" option?
10:30 AM
Matt Boyer said…
I was going to ask the same question Ben. That email thing is pretty sweet. As far as the post, I found it interesting also. Laurie has been reading her way through the entire Bible over the last couple years and has now made it to Revelation. We're gonna look for a good study guide to help her through the book. Anyone have any good suggestions?
3:27 PM
Ben Rainey said…
If you put Syd in the answer key you'll pass everytime.
11:24 PM
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