4 Views of Revelation
Why are there different
interpretations of who the audience is that the Book of Revelation was intended
for?
There is no question that we
live in a church culture that is very diverse in their eschatological beliefs.
Eschatology is the theological term we use to describe the study of end times.
Eschatology has several areas of theological implications, such as heaven and
hell, angels and demons, the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, the tribulation
period, etc.
For the purpose of this
article I will only be addressing the question at hand, “Why are there
different interpretations of who the audience is that the Book of Revelation
was intended for?” The reason that this question is
pertinent is because there are four prevalent views for interpreting the book
of Revelation, each one claiming that Revelation is intended for a different
Christian community.
This article is not meant to
convince you that any particular view is correct, but simply to inform you of
the 4 most popular mainstream views. I would also like to suggest to you that
there are very intelligent and godly men who wholeheartedly believe differently
from one another on all of these views.
1) Preterist View – There are a variety of views within this camp, the worst form is a
heretical view known as “hyper-preterist”. The “hyper-preterist” believes that
the Book of Revelation is already fulfilled, including the 2nd
Coming of Jesus. From the beginning of the early church, Paul warned his young
protégé Timothy about the dangers of this heretical belief when he said that
Hymenaeus and Philetus were teaching others, “the resurrection is already past;
and they overthrew the faith of some” (2 Timothy 2:18). We know that the
general resurrection that Jesus spoke about (John 11:23-25), takes place at the
Second Coming (Revelation 20:11-15).
A
more conservative and biblically sound form of the Preterist View believes that
the Book of Revelation was dealing with the first century church and Caesars
Rome. After all, when authors write letters, they do so for the original
audience. Meaning, when Jesus met John on the Island of Patmos (Revelation
1:7-8), and instructed him to write a letter to the seven churches of Asia
Minor (Revelation 1:19-20), Jesus actually intended for His message to be read,
heard, and responded to by these seven churches (Revelation 2:1-3:22).
Therefore, the preterist believes that a great portion of this letter was
written to the early church.
Preterist’s
also believe that the destruction that is spoken about throughout the Book of
Revelation is the destruction of Jerusalem that Jesus predicted (Luke
19:41-44), and the wars that took place in that era in which the Jewish
historian Josephus writes about in his account of Jewish history.[i]
The preterist will point to these biblical proofs and historical accounts to
support their beliefs.
Preterist’s
do not believe that the entire book of Revelation has been fulfilled yet. They
believe that the Second Coming which begins in Revelation 19:11 takes place at
the end of the age when Christ comes back to sit on the Great White Throne
(Rev. 20:11-15), which in the Preterist camp is also the time the sheep are
separated from the goats (Matthew 25:31-46).
This
means they are Amillenialists (no literal 1000 millennial reign). However, this
does not mean that they do not believe in a literal 1000 year reign
(Millennium). It means that they believe we are already in the Millennial Reign
of Christ, and it should not be taken literally as 1,000 years, but instead a
symbolic period of time that began at His First Coming, and will end at His
Second Coming. They believe that Scripture says that the Reign of Christ began
at His birth (cf. Isaiah 9:6-8; Luke 1:30-33), and He is currently reigning in
His kingdom now (1 Corinthians 1:20-25), and all who turn to Him in faith are
presently serving Him in His kingdom (Colossians 1:13).
2) Historicist View – The Historicist View was particularly popular during
the time of Luther, Calvin, Wesley, and Whitefield, and some argue that this
was the most prevalent view throughout most of Church History until the time of
John Nelson Darby in the 1800’s. They also believe it still remains the most
accurate view.
It
is the Historicist’s belief that Revelation 4-19 is referring to the entire
history of the church. There are some very intriguing ideas about this view
that give support to this camps belief. The major problem that most who oppose
this view have with it, is that the prophecies that are said to have been
fulfilled are debated even within the Historicist camp. The Historicist view
obviously should not be dismissed simply because they cannot all agree on what
portions of Revelation are referring to which events in Church History.
3) Futurist View – I would guess that most people reading this article would probably
fall into the “futurist” view when interpreting the Book of Revelation. If you
have read, watched, or heard about the Left Behind books or movie, then you understand what the
futurist view is.
The
futurist view believes that the book of Revelation is for the church that will
be here right before the 7-year tribulation period begins. The seven letters to the churches in chapters 2-3 apply to the early church that John was writing to, while at the same time represent every local church throughout the history of the Christian faith. The prophecies that
are contained within Revelation are referring to the end of the ages.
Some
“futurist” contend that Revelation 4:1, “Come up here” is referring to the
Rapture of the church, and all that follows is the 7 year Tribulation period,
followed by the Second Coming (Revelation 19:11), the literal 1,000 year reign of
Christ (Rev. 20:4-6), the final Great White Judgment of the world (Rev.
20:11-15), and then our eternal home in the heavens (Rev. 21-22).
4) Spiritualist View – The Spiritualist believe that Revelation should be
interpreted more as an ideology. For example; Chapter 11-13 – “The 1260 Days”
refer to the following: The 1260 days symbolize the entire church age. The two
witnesses are the church throughout the church age. The woman sustained in the
wilderness represents the same. (entire church age) The first beast signifies
political power that persecutes the church at any time in history and anywhere
upon the planet. The second beast is false religion and especially that which
venerates political power, etc. Even though their teaching could cause some to
say, “hmmm?” I believe it is a lazy doctrine. Meaning, it pretty much makes
Revelation irrelevant to the church, and removes any “blessing” that Jesus
promises to those of us who read Revelation (Rev. 1:3).
A great resource I would
like to recommend for you to find out more about the following four views of
Revelation is a book by Steve Gregg, entitled “Revelation: Four Views: A Parallel Commentary.” It is a verse by verse commentary through the book of Revelation that has each eschatological view side by side. It is fascinating to read as the
author takes some of the more well known Bible Scholars and Commentators to
explain each camps take on the book of Revelation.
[i] Flavius Josephus. The Wars of the
Jews or History of the Destruction of Jerusalem. Containing The Interval Of
About Three Years. From The Taking Of Jerusalem By Titus To The Sedition At
Cyrene. Book VII. Chapter 1.1. Also see The Wars of the Jews or History of
the Destruction of Jerusalem. BOOK VI. Containing The Interval Of About One Month. From
The Great Extremity To Which The Jews Were Reduced To The Taking Of Jerusalem
By Titus.. Book VI. Chapter 1.1
