Four Views of Revelation. Dr. Patrick Zukeran presents a summary of four of the major approaches to interpreting the book of Revelation and its meaning for the end times: the idealist, the preterist, the historicist, and the futurist views. For each, he presents the basic approach, strengths of the approach and weaknesses of the approach. Recognizing that God is the central mover in all of these, he encourages us to keep these questions from dividing Christians in our mission of sharing Christ with the world.

The Debate. One of the most intriguing books of the Bible is the book of Revelation. The imagery of the cosmic battle in heaven and on earth makes it a fascinating book to study. Sex Dating In Ivanhoe California. However, much debate surrounds the proper interpretation of this apocalyptic work.

The Tower of Babel By Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel (1525-1569) THE NEW WORLD ORDER AND THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. A study by Gavin Finley MD endtimepilgrim.org.

Is this book a prophecy of future events yet to take place, or have the prophecies of this book been fulfilled? Two popular authors highlight the debate that continues in our present time.

In his hit series Left Behind, Tim La. Haye writes a fictional account based on his theological position that the events of Revelation will occur in the future. Popular radio talk show host Hank Hanegraaff responded by attacking the theology of La. Haye. In his book The Apocalypse Code, Hanegraaff asserts that the events of Revelation were largely fulfilled in AD 7. Jerusalem Temple. He criticizes theologians like La.

• Revelation 18 New International Version (NIV) Lament Over Fallen Babylon. 18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the.
• Traditionally, the book of Revelation has been dated near the end of the first century, around A.D. Some writers, however, have advanced the preterist (from a.

Haye for taking a hyper- literal approach to Revelation. Throughout church history, there have been four different views regarding the book of Revelation: idealist, preterist, historicist, and futurist. The idealist view teaches that Revelation describes in symbolic language the battle throughout the ages between God and Satan and good against evil. The preterist view teaches that the events recorded in the book of Revelation were largely fulfilled in AD 7.

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Jerusalem Temple. The historicist view teaches that the book of Revelation is a symbolic presentation of church history beginning in the first century AD through the end of age. The prophecies of Revelation are fulfilled in various historic events such as the fall of the Roman Empire, the Protestant Reformation, and the French Revolution.

Late Dating Of Revelation

The Dating Of Revelation

The futurist view teaches that Revelation prophesies events that will take place in the future. These events include the rapture of the church, seven years of tribulation, and a millennial rule of Christ upon the earth. Each view attempts to interpret Revelation according to the laws of hermeneutics, the art and science of interpretation. This is central to the debate about how we should approach and interpret Revelation.

The idealist approach believes that apocalyptic literature like Revelation should be interpreted allegorically. The preterist and historicist views are similar in some ways to the allegorical method, but it is more accurate to say preterists and historicists view Revelation as symbolic history. The preterist views Revelation as a symbolic presentation of events that occurred in AD 7. Western church history. The futurist school believes Revelation should be interpreted literally. In other words, the events of Revelation are to occur at a future time.

The goal of this work is to present a brief overview of the four views of Revelation and present the strengths of each view as well as its weaknesses. It is my hope that the reader will gain a basic understanding and be able to understand the debate among theologians today.

The Idealist View. The first view of Revelation is the idealist view, or the spiritual view.

This view uses the allegorical method to interpret the Book of Revelation. The allegorical approach to Revelation was introduced by ancient church father Origen (AD 1.

Augustine (AD 3. 54- 4. According to this view, the events of Revelation are not tied to specific historical events. The imagery of the book symbolically presents the ongoing struggle throughout the ages of God against Satan and good against evil. In this struggle, the saints are persecuted and martyred by the forces of evil but will one day receive their vindication. In the end, God is victorious, and His sovereignty is displayed throughout ages.

Robert Mounce summarizes the idealist view stating, “Revelation is a theological poem presenting the ageless struggle between the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. It is a philosophy of history wherein Christian forces are continuously meeting and conquering the demonic forces of evil.”. The battles in Revelation are viewed as spiritual warfare manifested in the persecution of Christians or wars in general that have occurred in history. The beast from the sea may be identified as the satanically- inspired political opposition to the church in any age. The beast from the land represents pagan, or corrupt, religion to Christianity.

The harlot represents the compromised church, or the seduction of the world in general. Each seal, trumpet, or bowl represents natural disasters, wars, famines, and the like which occur as God works out His plan in history. Catastrophes represent God’s displeasure with sinful man; however, sinful mankind goes through these catastrophes while still refusing to turn and repent. God ultimately triumphs in the end. The strength of this view is that it avoids the problem of harmonizing passages with events in history. It also makes the book of Revelation applicable and relevant for all periods of church history. First, this view denies the book of Revelation any specific historical fulfillment.

The symbols portray the ever- present conflict but no necessary consummation of the historical process. Followers of this approach have often allowed the cultural and socio- political factors of their time to influence their interpretation rather than seeking the author’s intended meaning. According to this viewpoint they are not merely symbolic of events and persons, as the historicist view contends; they are only abstract symbols of good and evil.

They may be attached to any time or place, but like the characters of Pilgrim’s Progress, represent qualities or trends. In interpretation, the Apocalypse may thus mean anything or nothing according to the whim of the interpreter. Preter, which means “past,” is derived from the Latin. There are two major views among preterists: full preterism and partial preterism.

Both views believe that the prophecies of the Olivet discourse of Matthew 2. Revelation were fulfilled in the first century with the fall of Jerusalem in AD 7. Chapters 1- 3 describe the conditions in the seven churches of Asia Minor prior to the Jewish war (AD 6. The remaining chapters of Revelation and Jesus’ Olivet Discourse describe the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans. Full preterists believe that all the prophecies found in Revelation were fulfilled in AD 7. Partial preterists believe that most of the prophecies of Revelation were fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem but that chapters 2. Christ to the earth.

Partial preterists view full preterism as heretical since it denies the second coming of Christ and teaches an unorthodox view of the resurrection. Church historians trace the roots of preterism to Jesuit priest Luis de Alcazar (1. However, some preterists contend that preterist teachings are found in the writings of the early church as early as the fourth century AD. Since it is a prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, preterists hold to a pre- AD 7. According to this view, John was writing specifically to the church of his day and had only its situation in mind. This letter was written to encourage the saints to persevere under the persecution of the Roman Empire. Preterists point to several reasons to support their view.

First, Jesus stated at the end of the Olivet Discourse, “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place” (Mt. A generation usually refers to forty years.

The fall of Jerusalem would then fit the time Jesus predicted. Second, Josephus’ detailed record of the fall of Jerusalem appears in several ways to match the symbolism of Revelation. Finally, this view would be directly relevant to John’s readers of his day. There are several criticisms of this view. First, the events described in Jesus’ Olivet Discourse and in Revelation 4- 1. Jerusalem. One example is that Christ described his return to Jerusalem this way: “.

Preterists believe this refers to the Roman army’s advance on Jerusalem. However, the Roman army advanced on Jerusalem from west to east, and their assault was not as a quick lightning strike. The Jewish war lasted for several years before Jerusalem was besieged, and the city fell after a lengthy siege. Jerusalem Temple. Rather, he destroyed the Temple and burned it to the ground. Thus, it appears the preterist is required to allegorize or stretch the metaphors and symbols in order to find fulfillment of the prophecies in the fall of Jerusalem.

Another example of allegorical interpretation by preterists is their interpretation of Revelation 7: 4. John identifies a special group of prophets: the 1. Israel.” Preterist Hanegraaff states that this group represents the true bride of Christ and is referred to in Rev. In other words, the 1. First, throughout the Bible the phrase “tribes of Israel” refers to literal Jews. Second, John says there are 1.

Israel. This is a strange way to describe the multitude of believers from all nations. Finally, the context shows John is speaking of two different groups: one on the earth (the 1.

Here Hanegraaff appears to be allegorizing the text. Robert Mounce states,The major problem with the preterist position is that the decisive victory portrayed in the latter chapters of the Apocalypse was never achieved. Mixed Race Dating Sites In South Africa. It is difficult to believe that John envisioned anything less than the complete overthrow of Satan, the final destruction of evil, and the eternal reign on God. If this is not to be, then either the Seer was essentially wrong in the major thrust of his message or his work was so helplessly ambiguous that its first recipients were all led astray.