For the past eleven weeks (yes, it’s been eleven already!) the book of Revelation has been unravelling before us. Pastor Ben and I have been greatly encouraged that the challenges are being heeded by some, and many have appreciated the clarity which has come from the explanations of the various symbols and numbers.
Now if you haven’t noticed by now Pastor Ben and I have not taken an overly literal view of the book. This has come down to our understanding and view of the book’s genre, content and structure. For instance, last Sunday we were reminded that the various plagues of the ‘Seven Plagues’ in Revelation 15-16 have already been seen in Revelation 8-11 – reaffirming for us that the book of Revelation is less likely a series of chronological events and more likely a series of cyclical images which build on top of one another. Sort of like the ‘multi-view’ angle features on DVD movies of old where the viewer could select different angles of the same scene.
Behind this is the particular way in which we have viewed the book as a whole. Historically there have been four major views. They are outlined below (noting that there are lots of variations within the views):
Preterist: Revelation describes PAST events written as if it were ‘prophecy’. This is the view of many liberal scholars. It allows the book to have a message for us today – but not a predictive message for the future.
There are generally two forms of this view: that the judgement described in the book of Revelation relates to a) evil Israel; or b) the evil Roman Empire. The problem with this particular view is that the book judgement imagery tends to include other evil nations and extend beyond the mere confines of either 70AD (when Jerusalem fell) and the 5th Century AD (when Rome fell). Another problem encountered in this view is the reading of the final chapters of Revelation.
Historicist: Revelation describes the WHOLE OF HISTORY particularly from 70AD to the return of Christ. This was the view of many Reformation scholars. It allows the book to have both a message for today and an element of prediction.
Some historicist views have pushed the prophetic imagery a little far and have tried to argue that Revelation predicts major movements in Christian history. The problem with this modified historicist view is that predicted events are usually only seen with hindsight! Another weakness is that such projection of history would have had little relevance to the original readers of John’s letter.
Futurist: Revelation deals principally with events of the FUTURE ‘END TIMES’. This is the view of many modern writers, especially in America. This means whilst the book is interesting to read now, it will only be practically relevant at some time in the future.
Again, there are two forms of this view. The first is the one most popularly demonstrated in the ‘Left Behind’ books in which the events described in chapters 4-22 of Revelation are interpreted literally with the order of visions representing the order of future events. If it’s not clear already we do not hold to this view of Revelation for a number of reasons (which will be tackled in my next blog post).
A second version of this view overlaps substantially with the final view (below) with room to believe some elements in Revelation to be concerned with future end time events.
Idealist: Revelation is entirely symbolic and DOES NOT REFER TO ANY SPECIFIC EVENTS at all. Again, it allows the book to be relevant today, though the meaning may not be immediately obvious.
This final view affirms that Revelation is a symbolic portrayal of the conflict between good and evil, between the forces of God and of Satan. But holding a strict view of this means reading the book of Revelation as having no reference to the final consummation of history or God having final victory in the last judgement of evil.
Where do Pastor Ben and I stand?
Somewhere in an eclectic grab bag of all positions. To read the book of Revelation without reference to its historical setting, for instance reference to the Imperial Cult of the Caesars, is to miss some of the impact of the text and lose some of the richness of the book (the preterist position). Yet we’ve also tried to show that many of the warnings and challenges in the book relate to the whole church throughout the whole time of Jesus’ ascension and second coming (the historicist position) without pushing the imagery so far as to try to equate them with any specific historical event. And while we maintain that there are some events in the book which are best understood as referring to the end times immediately before Jesus’ return (the futurist position), we also maintain that much of the imagery does not refer to any specific events but contain lots of symbolic language to depict the reality of life for the church throughout history (the idealist position).
I hope you have seen, and will see in the coming weeks, how this makes the most sense of Revelation and the warnings, challenges and encouragements contained within. And as always, we’re most willing to sit down over a cup of coffee or tea to explain our thoughts further!