Popular notion is that REVELATION, the last book in the Bible, indicates a sequence of end-time events -- Rapture (in mid-heaven), 7 years Tribulation period, Jesus' second-coming to the earth, 1000 Years reign, Great White Throne judgment followed by New Heaven and New Earth. How old is this interpretation and when and where did it start? Greg Albrecht of Plain Truth Ministries, in his book ‘Revelation Revolution’, provides a fascinating insight into the book of Revelation.
The theological roots of what many believe to be special knowledge about eschatology (biblical prophecy), based upon the book of Revelation, goes back to a man named John Nelson Darby (1800-1882). Darby’s teachings became known as dispensationalism, a method of Bible Interpretation that grew in popularity by the 1870s. While dispensationalism covers more than just eschatology, the impact of the prophetic implications of it are significant. William Miller (1782-1849) one of Darby’s peers too had come to similar conclusions, and had proclaimed 1843 as the date for the second coming of Jesus Christ. When his prediction failed, he set a new date in 1844, which then came to be known as the ‘Great Disappointment’. Ellen G White (1827-1915) a follower of Miller soon founded the Seventh Day Adventist Church.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921) emerged as a leading advocate of dispensationalism, when prophecy conferences became a standard feature of Protestant fundamentalist churches in North America. Eventually in 1909, he published his Scofield Reference Bible, one of the first Bibles to have a human interpretation alongside the divinely inspired message of the Bible. Unfortunately many failed to distinguish his interpretations printed in marginal notes from the inspired Word of God, and accepted the teachings of dispensationalism without any question.
The twentieth century was filled with preachers and teachers who applied the prophetic “end times message” to their respective generation. Dallas Theological Seminary, founded in 1924 by Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952) attempted to give academic credibility to Darby’s eschatological methodology.
Hal Lindsey and Tim LaHaye were two most popular eschatological authors who popularized the “end times" message of dispensationalism. The Last Great Planet Earth (1970), There’s a New World Coming (1973)
and The 1980’s Countdown to Armageddon are some of Hal Lindsey’s best-sellers. In 1995, Tim LaHaye together with Jerry B. Jenkins, began a series of novels called the Left Behind series, propagating a fictional message of the end times. Again, as with Scofield’s marginal notes in his Reference Bible, the vast majority has taken these fictionalized narratives as gospel truth.
Earlier on, right in the middle of the second century, Montanus and his followers predicted that the new Jerusalem was about to descend upon the nearby village of Pepuza (in today’s Turkey). His influence spread rapidly among Christians throughout the Roman world, but his prophecy failed. By misinterpreting Revelation, Monatnus tarnished the book’s reputation to the point that some Christians thought it should not be part of the Bible. From Montanus to the present, the claims of Christian groups that Revelation pinpoints the events, personalities and time period of the ‘end of the world’ have all failed. This record of failed predictions should be a red flag for Christians against using Revelation as a predictive handbook.
Four Methods of understanding Revelation
Preterism – believes that most of the prophecies in the book of Revelation were fulfilled (Praeter = past) during the time of the Roman Empire.
Classical Preterism believes that much of Revelation was fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and certainly no later than the destruction of Jerusalem that followed in AD 135. Classical Preterists believe that the book was written a few years before the fall of Jerusalem in 1970. They believe that the last chapters of Revelation alone, with visions of a new Heaven and a new Earth are to be fulfilled at some point in the future.
Historicism – believes that the images of Revelation refer to the entire history of Christianity, and that its prophecies have been fulfilled throughout history and are still being fulfilled today.
Many of the great leaders of the Reformation and Bible commentators from the 19th century or earlier were historicists – Wycliffe, Knox, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. Most Protestant historicists believed that the Antichrist of Revelation referred to the pope and the Roman Catholic Church, the two witnesses referred to Luther and Calvin and the ultimate victory promised referred to the triumph of Protestantism over Catholicism. The challenge for the historicists is to be flexible enough to revise their interpretations over and over again, in the light of ongoing world events.
Futurism – is the view held by many contemporary evangelical pastors and teachers. Ironically modern futurism originated in 1585 with Francisco Ribeira, a Spanish Jesuit preacher for the purpose of refuting the anti-Catholic historicist view of the Protestant reformers.
Its most popular version today is dispensationalism – that teaches a secret rapture of the church followed by the ‘Great Tribulation’ and the ‘Millennium’. They insist upon a literal interpretation of Revelation and ignore the style of writing that John was inspired by God to use. This view has been greatly influenced by the peace and prosperity in North America. They have failed to identify the horrors produced by Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tung, Idi Amin, sadam Hussein and their like, as Tribulation.
Idealism – believes that most prophecies in the book of Revelation portray an ongoing cosmic conflict of spiritual realities. It takes into account the apocalyptic style of Revelations and sees the central theme as triumph of Christ over Satan. While other approaches may take certain passage as chronological, idealists take these as recurring realities in history. Though this view minimizes the focus on the ‘when’ factor in prophecy, that kind of focus is not fully removed.
Many Christians today are not aware of these four views. They think that the futuristic view that their Pastor or Evangelist holds is the only way to understand the book of Revelation, and believe that it talks about the ‘end times’ for today. A more serious problem is that they also label other views as inferior and even non-Christian, just because they interpret the book differently.
The word revelation in translated from the Greek word apokalupsis, which means ‘unveiling’ or ‘revealing’. In English, apocalypse has come to mean disaster but the word originally referred to a revealing of things not generally known. Revelation is not written in a straight-forward style but in a literary style called apocalyptic. This style uses poetic language, metaphorical messages and figurative images and symbols to convey its message. The symbols, figures, numbers and colors in apocalyptic writing were not intended to be taken literally. The original readers of Revelation would have had a better sense of how to interpret because of their culture and familiarity with apocalyptic literature. We will need to decode its “true” meaning instead of taking the symbols to be literal.
Revelation was written to Christians who were suffering because of their faith. Some may have wondered if real power and future were in the earthly political and religious authorities like Rome’s emperor. This book answers that question. The real ruler of all things is Jesus Christ, not evil oppressors. Though Christians may suffer and die, we are safe in God’s hands and in the end He will destroy all wickedness. It not only looks forward to Jesus’ second coming but also insists that Christ has already won the decisive victory.
(READ SEQUEL . . . TO UNDERSTAND CHAPTERS 4-11 )
(RELATED ARTICLE . . . REVELATION AND YOU! )
The twentieth century was filled with preachers and teachers who applied the prophetic “end times message” to their respective generation. Dallas Theological Seminary, founded in 1924 by Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871-1952) attempted to give academic credibility to Darby’s eschatological methodology.
and The 1980’s Countdown to Armageddon are some of Hal Lindsey’s best-sellers. In 1995, Tim LaHaye together with Jerry B. Jenkins, began a series of novels called the Left Behind series, propagating a fictional message of the end times. Again, as with Scofield’s marginal notes in his Reference Bible, the vast majority has taken these fictionalized narratives as gospel truth.Earlier on, right in the middle of the second century, Montanus and his followers predicted that the new Jerusalem was about to descend upon the nearby village of Pepuza (in today’s Turkey). His influence spread rapidly among Christians throughout the Roman world, but his prophecy failed. By misinterpreting Revelation, Monatnus tarnished the book’s reputation to the point that some Christians thought it should not be part of the Bible. From Montanus to the present, the claims of Christian groups that Revelation pinpoints the events, personalities and time period of the ‘end of the world’ have all failed. This record of failed predictions should be a red flag for Christians against using Revelation as a predictive handbook.
Four Methods of understanding Revelation
Classical Preterism believes that much of Revelation was fulfilled in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, and certainly no later than the destruction of Jerusalem that followed in AD 135. Classical Preterists believe that the book was written a few years before the fall of Jerusalem in 1970. They believe that the last chapters of Revelation alone, with visions of a new Heaven and a new Earth are to be fulfilled at some point in the future.
Many of the great leaders of the Reformation and Bible commentators from the 19th century or earlier were historicists – Wycliffe, Knox, Tyndale, Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. Most Protestant historicists believed that the Antichrist of Revelation referred to the pope and the Roman Catholic Church, the two witnesses referred to Luther and Calvin and the ultimate victory promised referred to the triumph of Protestantism over Catholicism. The challenge for the historicists is to be flexible enough to revise their interpretations over and over again, in the light of ongoing world events.
Its most popular version today is dispensationalism – that teaches a secret rapture of the church followed by the ‘Great Tribulation’ and the ‘Millennium’. They insist upon a literal interpretation of Revelation and ignore the style of writing that John was inspired by God to use. This view has been greatly influenced by the peace and prosperity in North America. They have failed to identify the horrors produced by Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao Tse-Tung, Idi Amin, sadam Hussein and their like, as Tribulation.
Many Christians today are not aware of these four views. They think that the futuristic view that their Pastor or Evangelist holds is the only way to understand the book of Revelation, and believe that it talks about the ‘end times’ for today. A more serious problem is that they also label other views as inferior and even non-Christian, just because they interpret the book differently.
The word revelation in translated from the Greek word apokalupsis, which means ‘unveiling’ or ‘revealing’. In English, apocalypse has come to mean disaster but the word originally referred to a revealing of things not generally known. Revelation is not written in a straight-forward style but in a literary style called apocalyptic. This style uses poetic language, metaphorical messages and figurative images and symbols to convey its message. The symbols, figures, numbers and colors in apocalyptic writing were not intended to be taken literally. The original readers of Revelation would have had a better sense of how to interpret because of their culture and familiarity with apocalyptic literature. We will need to decode its “true” meaning instead of taking the symbols to be literal.
Revelation was written to Christians who were suffering because of their faith. Some may have wondered if real power and future were in the earthly political and religious authorities like Rome’s emperor. This book answers that question. The real ruler of all things is Jesus Christ, not evil oppressors. Though Christians may suffer and die, we are safe in God’s hands and in the end He will destroy all wickedness. It not only looks forward to Jesus’ second coming but also insists that Christ has already won the decisive victory.
(READ SEQUEL . . . TO UNDERSTAND CHAPTERS 4-11 )
(RELATED ARTICLE . . . REVELATION AND YOU! )
