Interpretations and Views

Revelation is a book that takes a lot of intention and attention to understand. Many people throughout history have wrestled with it, and many different views and interpretations of it have grown out of those efforts.

When reading Revelation we should keep in mind that it is not as unique a book as we might think. It borrows a lot of phrasing, symbolism, and patterns from several old testament books, such as Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah, etc... Rather than trying to make everything Revelation says fit into our present-day perspective (which would have been irrelevant to everyone else over the past 2,000 years), we should view it through the lens of the old testament prophets and the rest of the Bible in general.

Methods of Interpretation

There are 4 views, or ways of interpreting, chapters 4-20 of the book of Revelation that have been prominent throughout history.

1. Idealist
2. Preterist
3. Historicist
4. Futurist

Idealist

The idealist view is very much a "spiritual" view, or a mostly symbolic interpretation. It does not try to reconcile anything in Revelation with any historical event, but interprets everything as symbolic of the ongoing struggle between good and evil that pervades life on earth.

It interprets Revelation not as a record or prophecy of events, but as themes that can be applied throughout the ages.

It depends on an early writing of the book - prior to 70 A.D.

Some strengths of this view are:

• there is no need, or attempt, to reconcile what it says with actual historical events
• it makes Revelation applicable and relevant to people at any point in history

Some weaknesses of this view are:

• it denies that there is any specific historical fulfillment of any of the events
• the symbols portray the struggle between good and evil, but do not allow for any final resolution to this conflict
• it opens itself to many different arbitrary interpretations allowing anyone to read any meaning they want into the text, allowing readers to read their own current circumstances into their interpretation of it
• depending on who you talk to, they could interpret Revelation to mean anything, or nothing

Preterist

Preter means "past," and the Preterist view sees the events of Revelation as having been fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Chapters 1-3 described conditions of churches that existed before 70 A.D. and the rest of the chapters are interpreted as describing the fall of Jerusalem to Rome.

It depends on an early writing of the book - prior to 70 A.D.

There are two sub-sets of Preterists:

1. Full-Preterists believe that Revelation was completely fulfilled by the fall of Jerusalem, and that we are now living in the eternal state of things.
2. Partial-Preterists believe that Chapters 20-22 have not yet been fulfilled, and are still awaiting the return of Jesus and the future resurrection of believers

Partial-Preterists view Full-Preterism as heretical since it denies the second coming of Christ.

The roots of Preterism are traced to Jesuit priest Luis de Alcazar (1554-1613) as a response to the Protestant Historicist interpretation that identifies the Pope as the Anti-Christ.

Historicist

The Historicist view sees Revelation as having been fulfilled throughout the past 2,000 years, including various popes, the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, and various rulers such as Charlemagne.

They view chapters 1-3 as representative of seven periods of church history.

Chapters 4-7 (7 seals) are interpreted as the fall of Rome.

Chapters 8-10 (7 trumptest) are interpreted as various invasion of the Roman Empire - by Vandals, Huns, Saracens, and Turks.

Reformed Protestants view the Anti-Christ as representative of the papacy.

Chapters 11-13 are viewed as the struggle between the true church and Roman Catholicism.

Chapters 14-16 (the bowl judgments) are interpreted as God's judgement on the Roman Catholic church.

Chapters 17-19 are interpreted as the future overthrow of the Roman Catholicism.

There are a few weakness to this view:

1. adherents tend to interpret their own current time as the "end time." They all seem to think that their generation is the last.
2. this view typically focuses on events in the Western church, and pretty much completely ignores events that effect the Eastern church, so it's more of a biased and limited view of the church as a whole.
3. This view would have had almost no significance to the church in the time when it was written. There would have been no way for John or his contemporaries to interpret any of the events from this view in their time because none of it would have happened or been conceivable to them.

This view was popular among most Reformed Protestants in the time period after the Protestant Reformation because of it's depiction of the Pope as Anti-Christ. Since the beginning of the 20th century it has declined in popularity and influence.

Futurist

The Futurist sees the Olivet Discourse and Chapter 1 as having already happened (Rev 1:19 "what you have seen"), chapters 2-3 as the present ("what is now"), and the rest of the book as future events ("what will take place later").

Futurists apply a literal approach to interpreting Revelation.

Chapters 4-19 refer to a 7 year period known as the tribulation (Daniel 9:27).

Chapter 13 represents a literal future world governement.

Chapter 17 represents the Church in apostacy.

Chapter 19 represents Christ's second coming and the battle of Armageddon, followed by a literal 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth.

Chapters 21-22 are events that will happen after that millenium.

Futurists use a literal interpretation - meaning that any symbolism should be interpreted using normal rules of grammar and structure - not denying that there is meaning in the symbolism itself.

There is evidence that this is the view held by the early church fathers such as Clement of Rome (96 A.D.), Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.), Irenaeus (115-202 A.D.), Tertullian (150-225 A.D.), and others. Origen (185-254 A.D.) introduced an allegorical interpretation, which was also taught by Augustine (354-430 A.D.) who made it popular.

The Futurist view has regained popularity in modern times. It has several versions, the most popular of which is the Dispensational view championed by Tim LaHaye's Left Behind series.

Some weaknesses of this view are:

• it is often misinterpreted by its adherents in light of current events
• other views argue that it should be interpreted allegorically and not literally

Date of writing debate:

• In favor:
  • Iraneus states that John wrote Revelation at the end of Emperor Domitian's reign in 96 A.D.
  • If written before 70 A.D. it would have overlapped with Paul's letters to Ephesians and Timothy, and Paul makes no mention of them losing their love or the Nicolaitans.
  • Laodecia is rebuked as being lukewarm, but Paul commends the church 3 times in Colossians
• Against:
  • Preterist ask why John did not mention the fall of Jerusalem - to which the answer is that John was writing about future events, not events from 25 years in the past - and he was writing to the church in Asia, which would not have cared as much about the fall of Jerusalem 25 years before.
  • Preterist ask what temple is mentioned in 11:11-2, Futurists argue that Daniel and Ezekiel both talked about temples that did not exist at the time, so John was doing the same.

Tribulation and Rapture

The futurists have an added division within their camp on when the church will be raptured, or caught up into heaven with Jesus. The other views, except for maybe some historicists, do not need to concern themselves with this division as it is irrelevant to them.

Pre-Tribulation Rapture

• Believes that the Rapture of the Church will occur before the Tribulation period begins.
• The Church will be taken up to heaven by Christ before the seven-year Tribulation, which includes the Antichrist’s reign, the rise of false prophets, and God’s wrath being poured out on the earth.
• This view holds that believers will be spared from the Tribulation’s horrors and will not have to endure its judgments.
• The Rapture is seen as a separate event from Christ’s second coming, which will occur at the end of the Tribulation.

Post-Tribulation Rapture

• Believes that the Rapture of the Church will occur at the end of the Tribulation period, simultaneous with Christ’s second coming.
• The Church will go through the entire seven-year Tribulation, including its judgments and tribulations, and will be resurrected and transformed at the end of it.
• This view holds that believers will endure the Tribulation’s hardships alongside the unsaved, but will ultimately be redeemed and glorified by Christ.
• The Rapture and Christ’s second coming are seen as a single event, with no distinction between the two.

In Common

All views do have some things in common, such as:

• the sovereignty of God
• the second coming of Christ (except the Full-preterists and some liberal forms of Idealism)
• the resurrection of the dead
• a final judgement
• an eternal state where all believers will be with God, and all unbelievers separated from Him.
• the importance of the study of prophecy and its edifying effects for the body of Christ

Chapter 20 - The millennium

There are 3 main views on what the 1,000 year reign of Christ on earth means.

They are called: premillennial, amillennial, and postmillennial.

Premillennial

• The binding of Satan is in the future when Christ returns
• The 1,000 years is a literal period during which Christ will rule on earth from Jerusalem, with His people.
• The loosing of Satan will bring the Millennium to its climax, followed by the resurrection and judgment of the wicked at the Great White Throne.
• The new heavens and new earth will be created after the Millennium (1,000 years after Christ's second coming).

Amillennial

• The binding of Satan represents the victory of Christ over the powers of darkness accomplished at the cross.
• The 1,000 years is symbolic of a long, indeterminate period, corresponding to the age of the church (now).
• Satan will be loosed briefly to wreak havoc and to persecute the church in the end of the present age.
• The fire coming from heaven and consuming the wicked is symbolic of Christs's second coming.
• A general resurrection and judgment of the evil and the good will occur at Christ's coming, followed by the creation of new heavens and a new earth.

Postmillennial

• Some interpret the chapter essentially as do the amillennialists, but with an added note of optimism about the success of the gospel in the present age.
• Others see the binding of Satan to represent a future point in time when the successful preaching of the gospel will have effectively reduced Satan's influence to nothing.

Definitions taken from the book: Revelation - Four Views, Revised & Updated by Steve Gregg

What is my view?

Before I started studying Revelation in depth I would have said I was a Post-Tribulation, Premillennial, Futurist; but that I did not hold tightly or strictly to that categorization because I don't presume to know exactly how the end times would play out. My views on this were mostly influenced by what seems to be the popular theological stance of our time, and was predominantly the only view I was adequately exposed to.

Now that I have been studying Revelation in depth I can't help but view it as an Amillennial Idealist. I still can't say that I am entirely defined by that label, as I want to remain faithful to Jesus and not presume to tell Him how He should behave when He returns (like the Pharisees did 2,000 years ago). I do see it as being symbolic, and containing references to other symbolism from the rest of the Bible, rather than being literal. I do think that there are prophetic aspects to Revelation of things that will happen and come to pass, but I don't think we can interpret Revelation literally - only learn from it as one learns from a parable.

The main point of Revelation appears to me to be an encouragement for all of Christ's bride to remain faithful to Him no matter what. Ultimately it doesn't matter what happens, or how good or bad things may get. The only thing that matters is that we keep our focus on God and remain faithful to Him - no matter what!